Week 8 - Power

 Week 8 - Power

This week the key word is Power, and so I thought I would jump from my own biological ancestors to one of my cousin Jackie’s biological ancestors, because he was a very colorful, fascinating character with a powerful intellect and powerful influence.  His name was Christian Gottlieb Priber, and he was Jackie’s 9th great grandfather.

Mr. Priber, born in 1697, was a highly educated German gentleman who is described as a “Utopian Socialist” and claimed to be a Jesuit priest.  This man was apparently kicked out of Germany, and went to London. From there he went to Georgia, then South Carolina.  Finally, he sold everything he owned and went to the Cherokee Nation to live among the Indians and establish a utopian empire of united Native American tribes who planned to drive the English off the continent.

Before he came to America, Christian Priber was married and living in Saxony, Germany. According to Rickey Butch Walker’s book (referenced below), Priber said,

“I was married to Christiane Dorothea Hoffman in Zittau, Germany and we had four girls together.  She was a portrait painter and very educated woman. Her father was the rector of the Classical College, a senator, and noted printer. I had wanted to bring my wife and children with me when I left Germany, but her father wouldn’t allow it.” 

Priber also said that he “studied law at the University of Erfurt, where he published his inaugural dissertation in October 1722 on The Use of the Study of Roman Law and the Ignorance of the Law in the Public Life of Germany.” Priber was also fluent in many languages: Latin, French, English, Greek, and Spanish.  He was said to have picked up the Cherokee language within a month of moving to live with them. 

After arriving in the Cherokee Nation, Christian Priber married Cloggitah, a member of the Long Hair Clan, who was the daughter of Moytoy (Jackie’s 10th great grandfather). Priber established a close relationship with the Cherokee and essentially became one of them. 

Christian Priber managed to establish an empire among the Cherokee, crowning Moytoy as Emperor, and naming himself as Prime Minister. He taught the Cherokees how to use weights and measures to avoid being cheated by the English; he also taught them how to pit the French and English against each other when negotiating and trading, so they could get better deals. Not only that, but Priber is credited with teaching the Cherokee about gunpowder and metalworking. He was said to be “an ugly little man” with an extremely strong memory.  He was thought to be “one of the smartest men to live among the Cherokee and would be considered a genius.”

While trying to expand his empire into Creek territory, he was captured by the Creek and handed over to the English, who held him prisoner in Fort Frederica, Georgia, where he eventually died in 1751 after catching a fever.  He seems to have been treated well in Frederica, having many visitors from the educated men of the time, as well as an extensive library. His family was also allowed to visit him. 

Priber was known to speak “profanely of all religions, especially the Protestants.” No evidence has ever been found to prove he was ever a Jesuit priest as he claimed. However, it is said that when missionaries showed up to convert the Cherokee, they were shocked to discover that the Indians were already quite familiar with the Bible.  Priber had taught them the Bible stories, and because they were already familiar with the Bible, they were the easiest tribe to convert. Based on the fact that he had an extensive education and that the Cherokee knew so much about the Christian faith prior to the missionaries arriving, it’s possible that Priber was telling the truth.

This information regarding Christian Priber can be found in much more detail in the following source: 

Walker, Rickey Butch. Doublehead: Last Chickamauga Cherokee Chief. Bluewater Publications, 2012,  pp. 39-46.

Germany map from Britannica.com

Cherokee territory map from Pintrest.