The Starrs: An Early History of a Cherokee Family, 1776-1846

The Starrs were a mixed heritage Cherokee family who lived in East Tennessee prior to the Trail of Tears. In 1835, one member of the family, James, signed the Treaty of New Echota, alongside other prominent Cherokee politicians, like John Ridge, Major Ridge, and Elias Boudinot. The Starr family were supporters of Cherokee emigration and removal, and their political activism led to much bloodshed and violence in the late 1830s and 1840s in Cherokee Territory in Oklahoma. Much of that violence was politically motivated, and it resulted in the Starr family, specifically male members of the family, being hunted by their political rivals.