MRIN-45 George Sizemore and Aggie Shepherd

George Sizemore and Aggie Shepherd

My paternal 5th great grandparents

MRIN-45

Please keep in mind that this is research in progress. I am working on accumulating all the stories and documents that I can and trying to make sense of it myself. Don’t take anything as fact until it is verified.

There are many stories about George Of All Sizemore and his wife Aggie Shepherd. The following is a compilation of some of those stories

The story of George: A girl named Susan Sizemore was kidnapped by Cherokee Indians and the Chief decided to make her his. Shortly afterwards, the girl was rescued by her brothers. She was pregnant by this time and later had a son named George Sizemore. George was described as “a huge, dark, hairy man” and was known as a prize fighter. During one fight he injured a man, William Twitty, so badly that he later died, forgiving George before hand with the agreement that if he recovered they would have a re-match.

The story of Aggie: Two little girls were kidnapped from a camp of settlers by Creek Indians. A rescue party retrieved them and a third little girl that they thought at the time may have been white. It turned out that she wasn’t. While deciding what to do with her, one of the men from the rescue party decided that he would raise her as his own, most likely saving her life.

(I thought the kidnappings were a little convenient, but if you read various histories of early colonies/states/counties, you’ll find that there are actually many documented cases of this happening quite often. With many raids on both sides, if the people weren’t killed then they were taken. Some were later killed while others were absorbed into the tribes or colonies.)

So according to these stories, even though both George and Aggie were Native American, both were raised as whites. This explains why they never included themselves in any of the Indian census’s that are required to be accepted by any Native American Nations.  Even if they had wanted to, doing so would have cost them their land, property, their place in the society in which they lived, and possibly even their lives.

(Y-DNA testing of several of their descendants has supposedly proven that one or both of them were Native American. I have not seen these tests for myself – the links were on a Rootsweb page from 2003 and ealier – those links no longer work and I am in the process of trying to locate those results. )

An interview with Mrs. Polly North, a granddaughter of George and Aggie was found in the Dickey Diaries dated 27 Mar 1878 in Perry County, Kentucky:

“I am 85 years old, was born in this county. My father was a Wilder, my mother was Rhoda Sizemore…My grandmother’s maiden name was Aggie Shepherd. I remember to have heard my grandfather Sizemore say to her ‘Dam-an-it Shepherd I can’t stand you much longer’…”

The Dickey Diaries, Notes from John J. Dickey dated March 1878:

“Felix Begley tells me that old Aggie Sizemore, the wife of “Old George of All”, used to roast terrapins alive as the Indians used to do. Other things he told me that I am sure she was the Cherokee instead of Sizemore. Old Aggie wanted to take a skull which was found under a cliff, for a soap dish.”

Another version of how the Sizemore’s came into Native American heritage is that during the Trail of Tears, a group of Native Americans escaped and were taken in by the Sizemore family in the White Top Mountains. They took the name of Sizemore and intermarried with the Cherokee tribes in the area. Sixty years later they formed the White Top Laurel Band of Cherokees. They never registered with the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indian census and therefor, their 2175 descendants who applied, would not accepted by the Cherokee Nation. An application will only be accepted if the applicant can prove their direct relationship to someone who appeared on those census.

George and Aggie are the ancestors of all the Sizemore’s of Southeastern Kentucky. That is how George obtained the name “Of All”.

George Sizemore

• Also known as: George Of All Sizemore
• Born: circa 1750
• Married: Aggie Shepherd
• Died: 1823 in Dry Hill, Leslie County, Kentucky
• Buried: Napier-Sizemore-Begley Cemetery in the mouth of Cutshin Creek, Dry Hill, Leslie County, Kentucky
• Cause of Death:
• Parents:

Aggie Shepherd

• Born: circa 1750
• Married: George Sizemore
• Died: 1839
• Buried: Napier-Sizemore-Begley Cemetery in the mouth of Cutshin Creek, Dry Hill, Leslie County, Kentucky
• Cause of Death:
• Parents:

Their Children

1. John “Rockhouse” Sizemore (1770-1850)
2. Winifred “Winnie” Minerva Sizemore (1772-1855)
3. Edward “Ned” Sizemore (1778-1855)
4. George “Goldenhawk” Sizemore (1783-1864)
5. Rhoda Sizemore (1789-1825) Her first marriage was to Aaron “Chief Red Bird” Brock who was murdered in 1797
6. Henry “Hunting Shirt” Sizemore (1790- after 1870)

Sources:

1. Godfrey Memorial Library, comp.. American Genealogical-Biographical Index (AGBI) [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 1999. Original data: Godfrey Memorial Library. American Genealogical-Biographical Index. Middletown, CT, USA: Godfrey Memorial Library.  Volume 160, Page 65, Heads of families at the first U.S. census. NC. By U.S. Bureau of the Census. Washington, 1908. (292p.):178
2. Wikipedia.com – Hyden, Kentucky
3. Wikipedia User Page of Lloyd Taylor about George “All” Sizemore
4. Adams and Sizemore Family History Website. Descendants of the Pioneers and Native Americans in Southeastern Kentucky by Samuel J. Adams (2003)
5. The Dickey Diaries – 50+ years of diaries written by Rev. John J. Dickey. He would write down interviews he did with many of the elder residents in towns that he visited. He would write them word for word as they were dictated.  Luckily, he talked with children and grandchildren of some of our ancestors who could give first hand accounts of the people, histories and stories that would have otherwise been lost to time. Samuel Adams provided many transcriptions of  those diaries that reference our Sizemore family on his website
6. Sizemore Legend and Fact by Ron Sizemore (2004)
7. Find A Grave Memorial# 25642915 – George All Sizemore (note: the picture of the Native American boy on this memorial is most likely NOT George All Sizemore. This picture is also circulating to be of George Goldenhawk Sizemore and probably of several other people who are believed to be Native American. If you actually read about these men you will see how this picture does not match up.
8. Find A Grave Memorial# 25643259 – Anges Shepherd Sizemore
9. Find A Grave Memorial# 35940852 – John Rockhouse Sizemore
10. Find A Grave Memorial# 31943771 – Winifred “Winnie” Minerva (Sizemore) Begley
11. Find A Grave Memorial# 70469334 – Edward “Ned” Sizemore
12. Find A Grave Memorial# 70468806 – Rhoda Sizemore Brock
13. Find A Grave Memorial# 69437523 – Aaron “Chief Red Bird” Brock
14. Find A Grave Memorial# 27860247 – Henry “Hunting Shirt” Sizemore
15. 1790 US Census, Stokes County, North Carolina Population Schedule, Page 2