She was a fixture at Lookout Mountain in Alabama in the early 20th century. Half Cherokee and half Scott, she was known locally for her amazing life, longevity, and Native American knowledge. Having escaped the Trail of Tears and Indian removal to the American West, she lived out her final years in a cabin in northeast Alabama in what is now DeSoto State Park. Some say her spirit still wanders the area and has been seen walking with her faithful companion in life, an old dog named Buster. This is the story of Granny Dollar, the legendary Cherokee woman of Lookout Mountain.
The Vagabond Articles
Milford Howard, the man best known for building the Sallie Howard Memorial Chapel near Mentone, also known as the church built on a rock, was a local character himself. Howard, a lawyer, Congressman, and author, started a school on Lookout Mountain for impoverished children called The Master School. It was there that Granny Dollar was taken in during her old age to "avoid the poor house" and allowed to live in one of the small log cabins on the school's campus. She soon became a well-known character and a local legend. Her life was memorialized in a series of newspaper articles authored by Milford Howard, who referred to himself as "The Vagabond." Most of this account of Granny Dollar is taken from a "Vagabond" article published in the Birmingham News in September 1928, where Howard interviewed and documented the colorful life of Granny Dollar.
Watch the Newsbreak video: The Sallie Howard Memorial Chapel in Mentone, Al.
Read more: Chapel Built Around a Huge Boulder in Alabama Holds a Lingering Story of Love and Loss: The Milford Howard Story
Family History
Most historical accounts say that Granny Dollar was born on Sand Mountain in Buck's Pocket, Alabama. Accounts of her full name and native American ancestry vary, but in the 1928 interview with Milford Howard, she said that her full birth name was Nancy "Em" Evangeline Callahan. She said that sometimes she was called Nancy and sometimes just "Em." Several other accounts of her life refer to her full name as Nancy Emmaline Callahan. She stated that her mother was Mary Sexton Callahan, a Scottish woman born in Gwinet County, Georgia, and her father, William Callahan, was a full-blooded Cherokee Indian. He was supposedly of great stature, as she said all the Callahan men were, and he stood at over 6 and a half feet tall. Granny Dollar herself was said to be nearly 6 feet tall, even in her elderly years. Granny Dollar stated that her grandfather and great-grandfather both fought in the Revolutionary War. The photo below is of Granny Dollar's mother, Mary Sexton Callahan (left), and Nancy Callahan "Granny" Dollar (right).
The Trail of Tears
Granny Dollar gave her account of escaping the Trail of Tears with many of her family members. She was only 13 or 14 years old at the time. Granny Dollar, her mother and father, and several siblings ran off and hid in a cave in Jackson County. Granny said that at night, she would venture out and steal potatoes and other food from local houses to sustain her family. She told about the establishment of Fort Payne, Alabama, during the Trail of Tears, as a roundup point for local Indians and a soldier's camp—an account that was historically accurate. She also told of the hardships of the native American women during the Trail of Tears, where they had to give birth along the way and immediately put the baby in a sling and continue walking.
The Civil War
Granny's family moved to Marthasville, Georgia, near Atlanta, after the great Indian removal. Her father had been in an altercation with a local family of outlaws. He was said to have bitten off a man's nose and ear during a fight with a member of that family, whom she named the Jukes. She said that many members of that family were eventually tried and hanged for the murder of a local man in Alabama. During the period that Granny and her family lived in Georgia, the civil war broke out. Granny Dollar told of the great hardships experienced by the women and children left behind while most of the men, including her father, were away fighting. She told stories of plowing fields for local families into the night just so they could grow enough crops to sustain themselves. Granny Dollar, always a survivalist, was a young woman at that time in her early 20s who learned to trade and barter and had the only mules for many miles around. She used those mules and an old wagon to haul supplies for outposts and stores between Atlanata and Alabama. One account of her life said that she was engaged to a young man who was the son of a shopkeeper, but sadly, he was killed in the civil war. Her father was also killed in the Civil War in the Battle of Atlanta. Granny Dollar had been told by her father before his death that it was unsafe for her to travel when Sherman's troops came to the south. She recalled vividly in 1928 how she never forgot the sound of cannons and combat in Atlanta, which was almost 30 miles away from her and her family in Marthasville, Georgia. She often spoke of the horrors of the civil war and what a desperate time it was.
The Sister Wives
Granny told another interesting story about her father. She said that when she was a baby, Chief McIntosh had called her father back to North Carolina to mark where the "Injuns," as she called them, had hidden their gold. She said that her father was gone a long time ago to North Carolina, and she remembers well when he came home. She said that her father was sitting in the yard crying, and when she asked him what was wrong, he admitted that he had taken an Indian woman named Cassie as a wife while he was away in North Carolina, and they had three children. He was worried that he had abandoned them, and they didn't have any food. Granny Dollar then told of how her mother told her father to go get his other wife and children and bring them back to Alabama, and she generously opened her home to them. Granny said the two wives lived together in amazing harmony, raising their children together and keeping a garden to feed them all. In the Vagabond article of 1928, Granny then said,
"You see, my pa jumped the broomstick with Cassie. but my ma (Mary) was the wonderfulest woman in the world, an' she felt for the Injun woman an' her little ones, because they was pa's babies, too. So pa, he took oft to North Carolina an was gone a long time, but came back with Cassie and her three chillens an' we all lived in the same house. When my pa went to the Florida War, my ma had 10 chillen an his broom-stick wife, Cassie, had 10. Pa shore was a lucky man about chillen, for while he was gone, both his wives had triplets. Cassie's triplets was all boys an Cassie died when the last one was born, an' that left my ma to raise all six of 'ern."
Her Marriage
Granny married late in life, when she was close to 40 years old, to a man named Nelson Dollar, who was several years her senior. (Although he was referred to as Wilson Dollar in the Vagabond article, his name was engraved on his gravestone as Nelson Dollar.) Dollar had fought for four years in the Civil War and drew a pension, which he was said to blow on whiskey, while Granny worked to support them both. By some kind of technicality, according to the Vagabond article, her husband's pension was denied and cut off shortly before he passed away. That put Granny in dire straights financially and nearly sent her to the poor house had the Master School not taken her in. Although her husband seemed to be of a rather sorry lot, Granny Dollar spoke of him only with great fondness and had even sold her cow to buy a tombstone for his grave.
Her Religion
In the Vagabond article of 1928, Milford Howard asked Granny Dollar if she ever attended church. She said that she was once a faithful and baptized member of the local Baptist Church, until a traveling guest preacher came and Granny couldn't stand for what he preached. The preacher said that there were infants in hell because they weren't saved, or "God's elect." Granny said, "An' fer a preacher to say what he did made me feel like fightin," and she told him so before walking out. Granny also said, "Didn't the master say 'Let the little chillen come to me?'" She continued, "They sent a deacon to talk to me, but I wouldn't take it back, so they turned me outen the church an' I ain't never been sorry fer it." Although Granny turned her back on the church, she never lost her faith, and she spoke of God that she called "The Great Spirit" often and even claimed that he visited her with a great light and visions many times. Although some locals criticized her for calling herself a "conjurer," she always insisted that conjuring to "an Injun" was the same as "praying to God," for white folks. She also spoke of this earth as the first level of heaven and how her visions had given her a glimpse into the "second level of heaven" (see the clipping below from her interview.)
Her Last Days
Granny Dollar enjoyed her last days in her little cabin atop Lookout Mountain. She was loved and respected by the students of The Master School, as well as by folks of the community. People said she had the best garden in the county and would share her bounty of various vegetables and roasting ears of corn with anyone who stopped by. She also loved to talk, and many of the locals visited her often to hear her colorful stories. Some say she was also a healer and a seer. She was always accompanied by her old dog, Buster, and her favorite laying hen, whom she bragged had laid an egg a day for 17 years. She became ill over the final weeks of her life and was cared for by Milford Howard and kind folks from the community. On January 28, 1931, the Fort Payne Journal announced to the community that their beloved Granny Dollar had passed away. I'm sure that many people thought about the words of Granny Dollar that were published in Milford Howard's article only three years prior to her death. Granny Dollar said, "I give myself to God a long time ago. I am jest waitin' fer Him to call me Home."
Her Gravestone
Granny had saved up twenty-three dollars for the purchase of her tombstone before she died. Unfortunately, someone ransacked the poor old woman's cabin and stole the money after her death. Granny was laid to rest beside her husband's grave in the Little River Cemetery near Mentone and Milford Howard officiated her service. Over 40 years after her death, in 1973, a community effort led by Annie Young of Fort Payne, provided a gravestone for Granny Dollar's grave. It included the image of an Indian Woman along with the inscription, "Daughter of the Cherokee." Since her actual birth year was never known, it was guessed to be 1826, which would have made her 105 at her death in 1931. When Milford Howard interviewed her in 1928, he guessed her age to be anywhere between 101 and 106.
Buster Honored
Poor old Buster, Granny's faithful companion, was said to be at least 20 years old when granny passed away. Milford Howard and some of the townsfolk tried to coax the old dog to come with them after hear death, but Buster would have nothing of leaving his vigil for his master. Rather than let the poor old dog grieve himself to death or starve, they felt it was the humane thing to do to put him down. A special service was held for Buster with Milford Howard officiating. On findagrave.com, Buster is listed as Granny Dollar's only "child," one of the few dogs listed on the website. Some say Buster was buried beside Granny Dollar and her husband, Nelson. However, it's rumored locally that Buster was buried per Granny Dollar's last wishes by a large boulder near her cabin.
The Ghosts of Granny and Buster
Over the decades, many people have claimed to have seen the ghostly figures of an old woman and her dog—thought to be the spirits of Granny Dollar and Buster—in the area where her cabin once stood. All that remains of her cabin today is a pile of rubble that was once her chimney, hidden behind the dense overgrowth of the forest. The ghost of Granny Dollar was said to be seen much less after the community erected her gravestone in 1973, leading many locals to speculate that her spirit had been restless over the thieves that stole the money for her tombstone after her death. Many more people say they still see or hear the spirit of Buster to this day, who is ever vigilant to protect his master's property. Maybe there is a part of Granny Dollar and her energy that is still connected to Lookout Mountain, but I prefer to think that after such a hard life, she and Buster are somewhere enjoying some level of heaven itself, as she spoke of in her interview in 1928. Ghosts or not, the legacy of her life and her colorful stories certainly need to be remembered. She will hopefully forever be a beloved legend of Lookout Mountain.
Read more by April Killian: Chapel Built Around a Huge Boulder in Alabama Holds a Lingering Story of Love and Loss: The Story of Milford Howard
Watch the Newsbreak video: The Sallie Howard Memorial Chapel in Mentone, Al.
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