Samuel Taylor Blue

Samuel Taylor Blue (c. 1871-1959) was a chief of the Catawba Tribe from 1931 to 1959, although not for all of the years in this time frame. Blue has been called the last native speaker of the Catawba language.

Samuel Blue was the son of Anglo-American Samuel Blue and his Catawba wife Margaret George Brown.

In July 1887 Blue married Minnie Hester George. She died in late 1896 or early 1897. After this Blue married Louisa Hester Jean Canty.

Blue had three children by his first wife. Blue and his second wife Louisa had somewhere between nine and 20 children. Some have alleged that as many as 11 of these children were still born.

On May 7, 1897, Blue had been baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints South Carolina.[1] Blue also served as branch president of the branch of the LDS Church on the Catawba Reservation. In the early 20th century he would often help missionaries escape mobs.[2] In 1950 Blue traveled to Salt Lake City and gave a talk at the General Conference on April 9.[3]

Notes

  1. ^ Deseret Morning News. 2008 Church Almanac of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. p266
  2. ^ Tate, Lucille C., LeGrande Richards: Beloved Apostle (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1982) p. 169
  3. ^ Encyclopedia of Latter-day Saint History, p. 1165

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