Mary Musgrove

Mary Musgrove (c. 1700 – 1767) facilitated in the development of Colonial Georgia and became an important intermediary between Creek Indians and the English colonists. She bridged the gap between two distinctly different societies and became a cultural mediator, who not only translated but counseled those who acknowledged her capabilities. She attempted to carve out a life that merged both cultures and fought for her rights in both worlds. Born Coosaponakeesa, she was the daughter of a Yamacraw Creek Indian woman and Edward Griffin, a Carolina trader from Charles Town, South Carolina. Her mother died when she was nine years old, and soon after, she was taken into the custody of her father. She later became known by her Christian and married names, Mary Musgrove Matthews Bosomworth. She decided that she would be named Mary by having her father read her a story of a woman who was "royal" from the Bible. Coosaponakeesa was born in the key Creek town of Coweta, and she came from a prestigious matrilineal family. Her mother was claimed to be the sister of Brims, an important headman of Coweta.

Coweta was connected by a trading path to the Upper Creek town of Tuckabatchee. It is likely that Coosaponakeesa’s family traveled, traded, and lived in both towns and had kin in each town, which may account for some historians considering her a Tuckabachee Creek. Coosaponakeesa herself stated she was born in Coweta and lived with the Creeks until the age of seven when she “was brought Down by her Father from the Indian Nation to Pomponne in South Carolina; There baptized, Educated and bred up in the principles of Christianity.” After being baptized her Christian name became Mary. Mary continued to live in Pon Pon until the Yamasee War of 1715 broke out and then she returned to her Creek home.

Captain John Musgrove Sr. was a South Carolina trader and planter. He was employed by the Carolina Assembly to arrange peace between the Creeks and the English. Musgrove’s party was welcomed in Coweta by “Chieftainess Qua” who most probably was the elder sister of Brims, and if not her mother, at least the aunt of Mary. John Musgrow met the Coweta headman Brims, who the English had earlier designated as “Emperor” so that in the eyes of the English at least Brims could speak for the other Chiefs or headmen. In talks with Brims it was decided a young niece from Brims' family would be betrothed to Musgrove’s son, so as to maintain the native rules of kinship and reciprocity and thus help reinforce the peace treaty. Captain Musgrove was married to a Creek woman and therefore his son Johnny Musgrove, like Mary, was of “mixed blood.”

Mary and Johnny Musgrove in time married and lived amongst her Coweta kin which was the traditional practice of matrilineal cultures such as the Creeks. But in 1725 the couple moved to Pon Pon. By the 1730s they had four sons, but none of their children lived to adulthood. John and Mary owned land in Colleton County and in 1732 they were asked by the Carolina Governor and the Yamacraws, a group of Creeks and Yamasees, to start a trading post near the Savannah River. Their trading post was well established by the time James Oglethorpe (1696–1785) and his colonists landed near Georgia.