Help Save a Tsalagiyi Nvdagi Ancestral Gravesite!
Mr Goins and Mr Christian visiting the Goins Hill Tsalagiyi Nvdagi Gravesite
In 1989, my father, Tsalagiyi Nvdagi Tribal citizen Leon Goins happened to find a Texas Centennial Marker honoring William “Bill” Goyens, Jr of Nacogdoches, Texas. The large granite marker stood proudly and peacefully in a cow pasture on Goyens Hill, Co Rd 711. It was protected and maintained by Mr. Dois Holloway Christian, who as the owner of the land at the time, knew and fully acknowledged the monument was placed on the gravesite of Bill Goyens Jr. He allowed us to visit the site, where school children used to visit and place flowers at his grave.
The 1938 publication by the Texas Centennial Commission also verifies that this was one of only 10% of the monuments on a gravesite.
monument originally placed on William Bill Goyens grave
The marker proudly, yet inaccurately, states that William Goyens, Jr was a runaway slave from South Carolina who became the wealthiest man in Texas, despite Goyens’ own assertion in a court affidavit of 1836 that he was a free person of color born in Moore County, North Carolina in 1794. That affidavit, plus the fact that he verified passports for his nephew John Goings from Moore County, NC, to Rusk County, Texas, “son of his sister Leah,” acknowledged that he was born in our small Cherokee isolated family in Pocket Creek, Moore County, North Carolina.
abandoned vandalized gravesite on Goyens Goins Hill
After years of pilgrimage to the gravesite, my father and I returned in 1997 to discover that Dr. Abe Abernethy had moved the monument. It was moved from the grave to Hwy 21, where it could be seen, but the grave was left unmarked, desecrated, and abandoned.
Cow pasture and the abandoned Tsalagiyi Nvdagi Ancestral Gravesite
We were allowed to visit the empty mound in the pasture for a few more years, escorted by Mr. Johnny Christian.
In Texas, a cemetery is always a cemetery.
This is supported by law. Access must be provided.
artist rendition of Bill Goyens
The true story of William Goyens, Jr? He was recruited in 1814 by Chief Jsunaluska, War Chief, to answer Andrew Jackson’s call for Cherokees and allied tribes to help crush the Redstick Rebellion at the Battle of the Horseshoe Bend. Goyens genetically matches those who answered the call, including Gideon Morgan, John Lowry, John McLemore, and Chief Bowles. It is important to realize that Sam Houston and Thomas Rusk were also at this Battle, proving that Sam Houston knew William Goyens six years BEFORE Chief Bowles and his Cherokees crossed into Texas in 1819-1820. That is crucial in understanding the dynamic relationship between Houston,
memorial placed to honor William Bill Goyens
Chief Bowles, and Goyens during the Republic of Texas years.
This information was brought by us to Dr. Archie McDonald, head of the History Department at Stephen F. Austin University and President of the East Texas Historical Association, to inform them of the neglected documents in Nacogdoches and Rusk county courthouses and to appeal to them to mark the grave properly – to honor our ancestor for his contributions in history by correcting the misrepresentations and to make reparations on the gravesite. This has been a challenge for over forty years through three governors, the Texas Historical Commission, and the President’s office of Stephen F Austin University.
~ Cyndie Goins Hoelscher.
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