Samuel Hopper (1772-1857): Cherokee Land Lottery

 Samuel Hopper is my 4th great-grandfather.  He was born about 1772 in North Carolina, according to the 1850 Census.  

1850 Census, Militia District 536, Rabun, Georgia

He died around 1857, and he and his ten children are mentioned in the Georgia Estate Records, Deed Book E.  Here is the transcript below:

"This indenture and entered unto this ninth day of April eighteen 
hundred and fifty-eight between Jasper Hoper of the county & state
aforesaid of the one part & Charles Hoper, Henry Hopper, the 
children of Caroline Hemphill formerly Caroline Hopper, Jasper 
Hopper, Zachariah Hopper, Thomas Hopper, John A. Hopper, Joseph
Hopper, Florian Norton formerly Floriann Hoper, & Sarah Adline
Gillespi formerly Sarah Adaline Hopper of the other part. Witnesseth
that the said Jasper Hopper for and in consideration of the sum of
two hundred and ninety seven Dollars to him in hand paid the receipt
whereof is hereby acknowledged hath granted bargained sold and 
conveyed and do by these presents grant bargain and sell unto the 
said Charles Hopper, Henry Hopper, Jasper Hopper, Caroline Hemphill
heirs as children, Zachariah Hopper, Thomas Hopper, John H. Hopper,
Joseph Hopper, Floriann Norton, Sarah Adaline Gillespi, these heirs
and assigns two lots of land lying and being in the Second District
of Rabun County known and distinguished in the plan of said District
by the numbers one hundred and eighty four (184) and one hundred and
eighty five (185) the same being the lots whereon Thomas Hopper and
Jasper Hopper now live with all and singular rights members
and appertainancy thereunto belonging as in any wise appertaining to
have and to hold the said bargained premises unto the said Charles
Hopper, Henry Hopper, Jasper Hopper, Caroline Hemphill, heirs, 
Zachariah Hopper, Thomas Hopper, John W. Hopper, Joseph Hopper, 
Flora Ann Norton and Sarah Adaline Gillespi, the above named parties
being the heirs and representations of Samuel Hopper late of said
county deceased to the heirs and assigns and to their own
[propesrise?] been [left?] and behoof forever in fee simple and the
said Jasper Hopper for himself his heirs and assigns will and doth
warrant the right and title to the above described property to the 
above named parties against my self my heirs & assigns & against
no other person.

In witness whereof the said Jasper Hopper hath hereunto set his hand
and affixed his seal the day & date above written

Signed sealed and delivered in presents of 

James Bleckley                          Jasper Hopper  LS
H. G. Mozeley, JIC"

His wife is never mentioned in the estate records and she wasn't listed in the 1850 census, so I'm assuming she had already died by then. The land mentioned in the estate records is land that Samuel won in the Georgia Cherokee Land Lottery.

In 1832, the area of Georgia known at the time as Cherokee County was divided into four sections, which were further subdivided into dozens of districts with parcels of 160 acres each. "Draws" were sold at $18 each for a chance to win a lot. Essentially every adult male residing in Georgia for the three years leading up to 1832 was eligible to one draw in this lottery. Widows, orphans, and certain veterans were eligible for two draws. Some were excluded from participating – people who had been convicted of a felony in the state, previous winners in land lotteries, people who had been living in Cherokee territory. A group of highwaymen called the “Pony Club” that operated in old Cherokee County was also explicitly excluded from the lottery! One drum was filled with slips of paper containing the registration information on each eligible person. Another drum was filled with slips of paper specifying a parcel. Blank slips were added to the parcel barrel to equalize the number of pieces of paper in each barrel. A slip of paper was drawn simultaneously from each barrel to determine who had won which parcel. (Thus, lottery losers were those matched to a blank piece of paper.) This implies that winning and losing was assigned randomly, and also that the specific parcel awarded to an individual, even conditional on winning, was random. Over 85,000 people bought chances for 18,000 lots.

The land in this area was made available to white settlers by the eviction of the Cherokee from that area. The Cherokee nation fought the eviction through the legal system, and the state of Georgia was not able to evict the Cherokees until 1838. Meanwhile, information on the parcels as well as a list of winners was circulated throughout the state and compiled into a single source by James F Smith.

Samuel Hopper won lot 189, in District 16, of the first section.  The names of his ten children and their spouses are:

Caroline Hopper(1810) + Joseph Hemphill

Henry Hopper(1814) + Rebecca Malinda Keener

Charles Hopper(1816) + Elizabeth Coffee

Jasper Hopper(1820) + Ruth Dickerson

Zachariah Hopper(1821) + Mary Elizabeth Hinton

Thomas W Hopper(1825) + Louisa Ritchie

John A Hopper(1826) + Mary T Mathis

Joseph Hopper(1829) + Amanda Gillespie

Flora Ann Hopper(1832) + Berrick Norton

Sarah Adaline Hopper(1833) + Henry D Gillespie

Samuel Hopper's wife and his daughter Caroline died before him.  When he died in 1857, he was 85 years old and had 33 grandchildren!