Elizabeth “Betsey” Hicks

Elizabeth Hicks was a Cherokee woman
(Curator note): It's unlikely that early Cherokee women used the surname of any of their white partners. Actual records do not show that any Cherokee in the 18th century actually used these names, it's more of a genealogical convention to keep track of people. Avoid trying to apply European naming and marriage conventions to Native people.
Marriage among the Cherokee has nothing to do with European-style marriages. Couples joined together and stayed together only as long as both were happy with the arrangement. While they were together they were “married.”
See Geni naming conventions here: xxx
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Elizabeth “Betsey” Hicks

Uncertain parents

The woman called "Na-ye-hi Conrad" is listed here as the mother of Elizabeth Hicks (and her siblings) and the Cherokee wife of white trader Nathan Hicks. Little is known about her and her family is speculative based on a statement in the Moravian diaries that says, "the very sick Gunrod left his own family to live with Charles Renatus Hicks a very close relative." Researcher James Hicks interprets this to mean that Charles Hicks was Gunrod's nephew, and that "Na-ye-hi" was his (Gunrod's) sister. Emmet Starr stated that Nathan Hicks wife was "a full-blood woman of the Wolf clan," [1] which would mean she was not the daughter of a white trader.

Biography

Elizabeth was Cherokee.
Elizabeth Hicks was born in the Cherokee Nation about 1766, the daughter of a white trader named Nathan Hicks and his Cherokee wife, possibly Nan-ye-hi Conrad. She is believed to have had three husbands, Samuel Bigby, James Vann (no children), and Richard Fields, and at least four children, James Bigby, [2] and George, Elizabeth, and John Fields. [3] Elizabeth's date and place of death are unknown, but her last child was born about 1802 in Tennessee. George and Elizabeth attended the Rev. Gideon Blackburn's mission school near Sale Creek in Tennessee about 1807, but there is no further information.

(Curator note: if this statement is correct and Elizabeth is the daughter of Nan-ye-hi who was the daughter of Jennie Ani'-Wa-'Ya, it is known that this Jennie was a member of the wolf clan, which would have continued via the matrilineal sequence. Elizabeth was therefore also of the wolf clan)

Sources

1. Hampton, David K. and Baker, Jack D., eds. Old Cherokee Families Notes of Dr. Emmet Starr. Baker Publishing Co., Oklahoma City, OK. 1987. p. 119 note C641
2. McClinton, Rowena, ed. The Moravian Springplace Mission to the Cherokees. University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, NE. 2007 p. 387 "... we received a very cordial visit from James Bigby, a cousin of our Peggy." [daughter of Elizabeth's sister Sarah]
3. Starr, Emmet. History of the Cherokee Indians. Oklahoma Yesterday Publications edition, Tulsa, OK. 1979. p. 308-9.
4. "The Hicks Family Lineage and many family branches" by James Raymond Hicks, Jr

Source: The WikiTree Native American Project @ https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Hicks-6797
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The following alternative or supplemental data is reported on “wives of chief james vann” by Jerry L. Clark (independent researcher) on Geneaoloy.com “ gathered from Dr. Emmet Starr's HISTORY OF THE CHEROKEE INDIANS and his unpublished notes, claims (by Polly Scott) submitted to the Bureau of Indian Affairs, correspondence of the Cherokee Agency in Tennessee, records of the Presbyterian Brainerd mission (Chickamauga, TN), diaries of the Moravians, and list of students (with names of parents) at the Spring Place school:”

Betsey [Elizabeth] Scott (1/4 blood?) was daughter of Walter Scott (white, British Agt. to Cherokees) and Sarah Hicks (sister of Principal Chief Charles Renatus Hicks).Betsey had 7 husbands:
1) Edward Adair, Sr. (white, his brother John Adair, m. Gahoga Foster)
…a) Edward Adair, Jr.
…b) James Adair
…c) Walter Scott Adair ["Red Watt"] (later a Cherokee Supreme Court justice)
2) James Vann
…a) Delilah Amelia Vann m. Capt. David McNair (white)(also administrator of Vann's estate) 1798-1838
3) Edward Springston (son of white Indian trader William Springston?)
…a) Jennie Springston m. Joseph ["Rich Joe"] Vann / Mitchell
…b) Edley Springston m. Elizabeth Foreman
4) William Burgess (white)
…a) William Burgess, Jr. m. Mary Vann (dau. of John Oowanna Vann)
5) John Shepherd (white)
…a) Jack Shepherd m. Sally McDonald / Ruth Falling (niece of James Vann)
6) Pleasant Rose (white)
…a) Tilgman Rose
7) ________ Vogt (brickmaker who helped build James Vann's house "Diamond Hill")
…a) Charles Vogt