Jesse Bushyhead
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Bushyhead, Rev. Jesse, Grave
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| Nearest city | Westville, Oklahoma |
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| Coordinates | 36°2′8″N 94°34′58″W / 36.03556°N 94.58278°WCoordinates: 36°2′8″N 94°34′58″W / 36.03556°N 94.58278°W |
| Area | less than one acre |
| Built | 1844 |
| MPS | Cherokee Trail of Tears MPS |
| NRHP reference # | |
| Added to NRHP | December 06, 2004 |
The Reverend Jesse Bushyhead (1804–1844) was a Cherokee religious and political leader. He was born near the present-day town of Cleveland, Tennessee. His Cherokee name was Unaduti. As a young man, he was ordained a Baptist minister. A member of the John Ross faction of the Cherokees, he was dispatched by Ross in 1837 on a mission to the Seminoles. Although he opposed the policy of removal to the west, he accepted the inevitable and led a party of about 1,000 people on the Trail of Tears. On his arrival in 1839 near present-day Westville, Oklahoma, he established the Baptist Mission, which marked the end of the Cherokee Trail of Tears. He became chief justice of the Cherokee nation in 1840 and remained in that office until his death.
Jesse Bushyhead was born in September 1804 to a full-blood Cherokee woman named Nancy Foreman in a Cheerokee settlement near the present city of Cleveland, Tennessee. He was educated at Candy's Creek Mission, then taught at several schools for boys in the Candy's Creek area.
Jesse was baptized as a Christian and became an avid member of the Baptist church in 1830. He began converting other Cheokees to Christianity, established a church at Amohee in Tennessee (then his home town), and became a close associate of noted Baptist missionary, Reverend Evan Jones. Jones preached in English, while Bushyhead translated the sermon into Cherokee. One writer claimed that Bushyhead was, "... the best interpreter in the nation."
In 1832, Reverend Jones recommended to the Baptist Board of Foreign Missions that Bushyhead be appointed as an assistant missionary. The appointment was made, and Bushyhead served in this role for the next eleven years. He is said to have been the first Cherokee to have been ordained as a Baptist minister. He continued to work closely with Jones, not only preaching to the Cherokees, but translating the Book of Genesis and other religious books into the Cherokee language, using the Cherokee Syllabary. He also served as pastor of the Amohee church.
Jesse Bushyhead married twice. He had two children with his first wife, whose name is apparently unknown. His second wife was Eliza Wilkerson or Wilkinson, who bore nine children. His oldest son, Dennis Bushyhead, was notable for serving as Principal Chief for two terms, from 1879 to 1887.
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