Person:Fereby Benton (1)

Fereby lived to be a very old lady, she died in May of 1850 in Madison County, Arkansas, where she lived with her many descendants. Benjamin Franklin Vaughan lived with William and Fereby -his grandparents- for some years, and on October 27th, 1892 made a sworn deposition in a case that a relative had brought before the Cherokee Nation in OK. In this deposition, Ben, a former State Representative and 3 time Sheriff of Madison County, states that he knew that his Grandmother Fereby was commonly thought of as a Cherokee Indian by Blood. He wrote, "I also became acquainted with a Cherokee Indian in my boyhood who was in the habit of visiting my Grandparents and who claimed to be a cousin of my Grandmother. The Indian's name-Looney Tol-lem-Tees-Key, and was a citizen of the Cherokee Nation. (And further) That I was a grown up man at the time I knew him. That I have often heard the Roggers (sic) (John and James) say that the Vaughans should have a right in the Cherokee Nation and old Capt. John Roggers wanted the deponent to remain in the Cherokee Nation while the deponent was there, for the reason that the Vaughans were descendants of the Cherokee Indians by blood."

This statement, taken by itself, means very little, as numerous whites tried to gain membership in the Cherokee Nation in the same way, and like Ben's relative, George W. Vaughan, were denied, due to lack of evidence.

However, the Fereby the Cherokee story has much more to it then this. In Wayne County, West Virginia, I am told that another descendant made similar claims, and this was without contact with the Arkansas Vaughans. The oldest stories on Fereby say that she married Welsh trader William Vaughan in the old Eastern Cherokee Nation. The LDS Church's genealogy library found evidence that William and Fereby's son Thomas was born in the town of Cherokee, in modern day Swain County, NC. Cherokee (obvious from it's name) was one of the towns in Cherokee territory.

Ben Vaughan, in his deposition mentions that Fereby's mother's maiden name was Looney, and Fereby was a Benton. Some have said that Fereby's maiden name was Looney, but this is doubtful. Even her first name has been debated. Some claim her name was Fair-a-bee, meaning (wrongly, I might add) in Cherokee, Fair as a bee. Some spell it Fariby, Feriby, Fairaby and so on.