Ignatius Chisholm was a white man living among the Cherokee. He had various Cherokee wives, perhaps simultaneously and perhaps members of the same clan as his children treated their half siblings as closely as full. Much misinformation abounds about Ignatius and his family. He is mostly known for being the father of Jesse Chisholm the famous scout, translator and trader. One of the earliest accounts of him is by Narcissa Chisholm Owens his half-niece who names his wife as Martha Rogers. Tennessee deeds show he acquired 1200 acres on the Holsten river in 1784, so he must have been at least 21 by that date. Based on records relating to his father and the Cherokee tribe, he appears to have run a trading post on Long Island of the Holston. A firm of Chisholm & Rogers is mentioned in the records and it appears father and son had formed a business with John Rogers. It is probably through this business connection that Ignatius married a Rogers girl by the name of Martha or Mariah. Ignatius is named in his mother's estate papers as residing in Arkansas by 1819. Other tribal papers indicate he married or at least had a child by Lucretia Parris, Martha who married a white trader named David Biggs. Martha Chisholm Biggs was well recalled by her Parris and Chisholm kinsmen and in the Dica Llewelyn claim suit depositions are given that identify her mother Lucretia who was alive in the 1830s, but did not remain with Ignatius. The Arkansas records of the estate of Corn Tassel (1842) also tells us that Ignatius had children by his sister (unnamed) but that the famous Jesse Chisholm and his brother John and William were also by this woman. We find negative reports of Ignatius Chisholm in Arkansas described drunken and of bad characters. In these records he is called Ig Chisholm. These claims appear to be born out by the James George Thompson Day Book, a record of a general store on the Canadian River where we find Igg Chisholm along with his sons and kinsmen Jesse, Thomas, Dennis, George, Joseph and Nick. His entries are heavily weighted with purchases of whiskey, though he may have owned some sort of inn or tavern that required such quantities of liquor. Narcissa Owens states he died in 1839, which is probably based on the recollection of her step father who she relied on for many facts in the book.
His birth is usually estimated as 1775, but the Washington County deeds in 1784, suggest he must have been at least 21 by that date placing his birth before the arrival of his father. However, the account given by John Chisholm of his arrival in America is in some doubt; however, why he might have lied about the date of his arrival is hard to understand. It seems likely that he was in America before and during the American Revolution as a John Chisholm is found in the same company as the Massengale men and John's fortunes seem to have been assisted by his connection with the Massengales with whom he appears to have intermarried.
https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Chisholm-816
