Dutch White Turkey, long identified with the farming interests of Washington county and in more recent years connected with the oil development of this part of the state, was born on the 18th of June, 1857, in Kansas, seven miles east of Lawrence on the Delaware reservation. He was the eldest in a family of eight children, the others being: Sam; Robert; Albert; George; Katie, who became the wife of James Day of Bartlesville; Lilly, the wife of Dolph Fugate of Dewey; and Lucinda, deceased. Both of the parents were full-blooded Delawares and their name was really Simon. White Turkey is the name that was given to the ancestors by the Delaware tribe and it was adopted by them and they are so registered by the United States government.
It was in the spring of 1868 that the parents came to the Indian Territory. In their train were about two hundred wagons and they were led by Chief Charley, who was then quite an old man but who knew all of the trails, having been a hunter and trapper in an early day.
The party first located on the forks of the Little and Big Caney rivers in the vicinity of what is now the city of Dewey.
From there the parents removed to Hogshooter creek and afterward to a place near the present site of Bartlesville. Dutch White Turkey was a lad of but thirteen years at the time of his father’s death. His early home in this section of the state was a little log cabin, which was surrounded with a brush fence. His mother died about 1912.
He had acquired his early education in the schools near his home and after his father died he attended the male seminary at Tahlequah for three years. He then returned home and took up the occupation of farming, which he has since followed and now has an excellent tract of land of one hundred and sixty acres about two and a half miles northwest of Dewey. With the discovery of oil in this section of the country it was found that there was oil on his land and. several wells have since been developed, so that he has shared in the prosperity which has come through the utilization of the natural resources of this state.
Mr. White Turkey has been married twice. He first wedded Nellie Falleaf, about thirty-nine years ago and they became parents of two children: Dennis and Charles, who died in infancy. Thirty-three years ago, or in 1889, he married Lizzie Thompson, who was born near Bartlesville in 1875 and her parents were also Delawares.
The family residence is maintained in Dewey, where they own and occupy a substantial dwelling and from this point Mr. White Turkey supervises the further development of his farm and the oil production upon the place. He has spent the greater part of his life in this section of the state, where he is well known.