52 Ancestors: #8- Nickatie Cherokee Acord-O`Neal

Nickatie Cherokee Acord was my 1st cousin, 4 times removed. She was the daughter of my Great Grand Uncle, John "Old Jack" Acord. Uncle John is rumored to have lived to be 115 years old! I certainly know he was not the last Acord family member to live a long life. It appears as though I have inherited the longevity gene from my Acord ancestors. Though momma always told me if you obey your parents, scripture says you will live a long life.
Uncle Jack was known to be a great hunter and a story teller. Its no wonder that a lot of his stories got handed down through the generations. One story in particular that has survived the length of time through the Acord family is that his mother Rachel COMBS-ACORD, was captured by Native Americans and held captive for two years and when she returned she had two sons born of the Native men who held her captive.
There certainly could be some truth to the story but then again it could be just plain old fiction. We may never know. I do know that DNA is lost over time as it is handed down through the generations so that by the time it reaches someone as far down as I am, there may be none left to inherit. My DNA does show some Native American, but whether or not its coming from my Acord line, its too soon to tell.
Back to the reason for this post, Cousin Nickatie. Out of all the children Uncle Jack had why did he choose the name Nicaktie Cherokee? Was there some significance to the name? Was he perhaps a friend to the Cherokee?
We know that he lived up in the Mountains in Raleigh and Beckly West Virginia. In fact, much like the fictional TV series, The Walton`s, our Acord family has it`s own Mountain Acords Mountain. Lots of the family are buried atop that mountain.  Was Uncle Jack a trader of some sort with the Natives?

Nicaktie was born about 1836 in Logan County, West Virginia. She married one John Wolfe O`NEAL and together they had nine children, three daughters and six sons to be exact.  Her mother was Nancy HARPER.
I think if you sat down and talked to just about everyone who has looked into their family history at one time or another, there will be some sort of rumor of Indian blood. Sometimes those rumors turn out to be true and other times they do not. As for the Acord family, I am still uncertain to this date whether we have any Native Blood within our veins. The rumors are fun to entertain, none the less it makes for some lively conversation.