His mother Nancy Adair was of Scots-Cherokee descent, a granddaughter of Ga-hoga, a full-blood Cherokee woman of the Deer clan. Her father was of mixed race and belonged to his mother's clan, as the Cherokee were a matrilineal society, and children took their status from the mother.
His mother Nancy Adair was of Scots-Cherokee lineage, a granddaughter of Ga-hoga, a full-blood Cherokee woman from the Deer clan. His father belonged to his mother's clan due to the matrilineal nature of the Cherokee society, where children inherited their status from their mothers.