Silas Dinsmoor

Silas Dinsmoor (September 26, 1766 – June 17, 1847) was an appointed U. S. Agent to the Cherokee (1794–1798) and to the Choctaw (1801–1813). He later served as a surveyor in Alabama before eventually retiring to Boone County, Kentucky, where he is buried at the Dinsmore Homestead.

Born in Windham, New Hampshire, Silas Dinsmore was of Scots-Irish descent and was part of a large group of inter-related families who settled in southern New Hampshire in the early 1700s. Through his mother, Martha McKeen, he was related to Joseph McKeen, the first president of Bowdoin College in Maine. He was also a first cousin of Pennsylvania Governor Thomas McKean, a signer of the Declaration of Independence. Silas worked his way through Dartmouth College by teaching, a profession he continued to practice after his graduation. At nearby Atkinson Academy he taught a newly formed co-educational class of students, opening up the chance for young ladies to learn Logic, Greek, and Rhetoric - topics normally reserved for male students.

In 1793, Silas traveled to Philadelphia to look for a position with the government. He was offered the appointment of United States Agent to the Cherokee by President George Washington, a job that would last the next four years. In that capacity, Dinsmoor was expected to keep peace between the Native Americans and white settlers, serve as treaty commissioner, and introduce "civilization" to the Indians. This last task meant that he was to attempt to coax the males of the tribe to take up farming which was traditionally the occupation of females, and to teach the women to plant cotton, spin, and weave textiles. He spent much of his time at Tellico Blockhouse (in present-day Tennessee). As the agent, Dinsmoor was a witness to the First Treaty of Tellico, signed in 1798 between the U. S. Government and tribal leaders, which signed away land in eastern Tennessee. At the time, Silas wrote to his brother, "the Cherokees know the worth of their land too well to sell it for a song or anything under the value."

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