Nathaniel Gist

Nathaniel Gist was born in Maryland and fought during the French and Indian War and the American Revolutionary War. He was reputed to be the father of Sequoyah the famous Cherokee by Wurteh Watts. Like his father Christopher Gist , he served in Braddocks Expedition in 1755 and the Forbes Expedition in 1758. The outbreak of the American Revolution found him on the frontier. At first suspected of sympathizing with the British, he convinced the Americans of his loyalty.

Samuel C. Williams believed that Gist fathered Sequoyah around 1775 by his mother Wurteh Watts. She was the daughter of John Watts and Wurteh Giyosikoyohe, and sister of Doublehead. Of a prominent clan, she was also related to Old Tassel. Williams dismissed the story that Sequoyahs father was an itinerant German peddler by the name of Guess. He noted that Sequoyah went by George Guess, Guest, and Gist, and that he finished the Cherokee alphabet in 1821 when he was about 40. This was much too young for a man born in 1761. Williams noted that a letter showed that in 1828, Sequoyah visited Gist relatives in Kentucky and was acknowledged as a family member.

Source: Wikipedia