Search Results - Grierson, Elizabeth

Elizabeth Grierson

Elizabeth Grierson ( – 1847) was a 19th-century Muscogee woman from the Hillabee town in the Muscogee Nation, now present-day Alabama.

She was a businesswoman, who used the court system to her advantage. As the Muscogee relationship with Black people changed, she became a target of raids and retaliation. She enslaved multiple people and against Muscogee law was in a relationship with one of her former bondsmen, whom she had freed. In 1825, the Muscogee passed a law that barred the marriage of Native American and African American people. Though wealthy and influential, Grierson was eventually forced to leave Alabama because of her partnership. Settling in Indian Territory, the couple would be forced out of both the Muscogee and Choctaw territory because of their marriage. After living in Arkansas briefly, they found refuge in the Chickasaw Nation.

Since the 20th century, she has often mistakenly been claimed as the wife of William McIntosh, but records created during her lifetime, according to historian Claudio Saunt do not support that conclusion. Provided by Wikipedia