Elk Creek in Grayson County, Virginia — The American South (Mid-Atlantic)
Caty Sage
Photographed by J. J. Prats, May 26, 2013
1. Caty Sage Marker
Inscription.
Caty Sage. . Nearby was the home of James and Lovice Sage, whose five-year-old daughter Caty was abducted in 1792. Fiftysix years later her brother Charles located her in eastern Kansas after a Wyandots Indian told him that a woman named Yourowquains, with similar features to his, lived with the Wyandots. Another brother, Samuel, investigated and confirmed that she was their sister. Through an interpreter, Yourowquains told them that a white man abducted her. She lived with the Cherokee, before they gave her as a present to the Wyandots, who adopted her. She had three Wyandot husbands and died in Jan. 1853.
Nearby was the home of James and Lovice Sage, whose five-year-old daughter Caty was abducted in 1792. Fiftysix years later her brother Charles located her in eastern Kansas after a Wyandots Indian told him that a woman named Yourowquains, with similar features to his, lived with the Wyandots. Another brother, Samuel, investigated and confirmed that she was their sister. Through an interpreter, Yourowquains told them that a white man abducted her. She lived with the Cherokee, before they gave her as a present to the Wyandots, who adopted her. She had three Wyandot husbands and died in Jan. 1853.
Erected 2000 by Department of Historic Resources. (Marker Number KC-10.)
Location. 36° 43.119′ N, 81° 10.085′ W. Marker is in Elk Creek, Virginia, in Grayson County. It is at the intersection of Elk Creek Parkway (U.S. 21) and Comers Rock Road (County Route 658), on the right when traveling south on Elk Creek Parkway. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: Elk Creek VA 24326, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Regionally, this marker is in Southwest Virginia and in the Blue Ridge Highlands. It is also in the American South, specifically in the Upper South, in Appalachia, and specifically in Southern Appalachia. Globally, it is in the North Atlantic Region, North America, the Western Hemisphere, the Western World, and the Anglosphere. Historically, it finds itself in what was once the territory of the Mississippian Culture, one of the original Thirteen Colonies, one of the Confederate States of America, and the Antebellum South.
Also see . . . Yourowquains: A Wyandot Indian Queen. Amazon.com listing for 1992 book by Bill Bland. “Historical biography of Caty Sage, a five year old white girl, kidnapped from her home in Elk Creek, Virginia in 1792. She was carried on horseback to a Cherokee Indian camp at Trade, Tennessee, where she was traded by her kidnappers to a Cherokee tribe. Four days after her capture, she was taken on a grueling 600 mile trek north which included a wild canoe ride down the New and Kanawha Rivers. In Ohio she was adopted by Wyandot Indians and named “Yourowquains.” At seventeen she married Tarhe, Chief of the Wyandots. At age twenty-eight she became Tarhes widow. Under an 1817 treaty with the U.S. Government, Caty received a large tract
Photographed by J. J. Prats, May 26, 2013
2. Caty Sage Marker
of Ohio land. She later married Tauyaurontoyou, a noble Wyandot warrior and leader who too became a chief. Tauyaurontoyou became a licensed Methodist minister and famous preacher under his translated name, “Between-the-Logs.” Following the death of Between-the-Logs, Caty married an Indian warrior named Frost. Two years later she was again widowed. In 1843 Caty and her Wyandot Tribe were driven out of Ohio by relentless U.S. Government pressure urged on by land-hungry whites. She and her fellow Wyandots traveled in wagons across Ohio and by steamboats from Ohio to Kansas. In Kansas, Caty built a new life among many hardships. Trauma had erased her childhood memory, but after a life as an Indian with much persecution by whites, one day in 1848 fate put her face-to-face with a brother she had never met. At last Yourowquains learned her own identity; and her aged mother learned her little golden-haired daughters fate.” (Submitted on June 8, 2013.)This website may earn income if you use this link to make a purchase on Amazon.com.
Credits. This page was last revised on November 3, 2024. It was originally submitted on June 8, 2013, by J. J. Prats of Powell, Ohio. This page has been viewed 14,588 times since then and 1,009 times this year. Photos:1, 2. submitted on June 8, 2013, by J. J. Prats of Powell, Ohio.
