Sequoyah, a half-breed Cherokee Indian, was a native of Georgia. His father was a German named Gist and his mother was a Cherokee woman. Sequoyah's English name was George Gist, the surname becoming corrupted into 'Guess." About 1825, while conversing with some of his tribe about the "talking papers" of the white men, he conceived the idea of inventing an alphabet by which the Cherokee language might be written. He first attempted to devise a character for each word, but found that would involve the use of too many marks. His next step was to invent a character for each syllable. By this method he found 126 symbols, all that were necessary, and even this number he finally reduced to 86. When he had his alphabet completed he taught a few of his friends to write. Later he went to Arkansas, and while there wrote a letter in Cherokee to his brother in Georgia. About 1828 a paper called the Cherokee Phoenix was started, and it is believed to have been the first paper ever printed in Indian characters. Sequoyah subsequently removed with his people to the Indian Territory and died there.