Biography of Alfred Mason Gott

Alfred Mason Gott is quietly passing his days in the home of his niece, Mrs. D. D. Howell of Nowata, and around him are many relics, showing that all of his days have not been as quiet and peaceful as at the present, for he is numbered among the old Indian fighters of this section of the country and has passed through all of the experiences and hardships of pioneer life and the later era of progress and development. That his business affairs have been carefully managed is indicated in the fact that he is now one of the largest … Read more

Biography of John Henry Covel

John Henry Covel was born July 18, 1848, close to the national capital. He is son of the late Caleb Covel of Massachusetts, who came to Park Hill with the missionaries at an early date. His mother was Eliza Turtle, whose relatives were prominent in the old State. Henry was sent by his mother to the Illinois district to learn Cherokee (soon after the death of his father), and during a term of eight years attended the neighborhood schools. When the war broke out he accompanied a party of Cherokees going south, and traveled as far as Red River, where … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Virgil H. Adair

(See Adair)-Virgil Harvey Adair, born April 15, 1869, married October 2, 1892, Dorinda, daughter of Jesse and Hariette Calloway, born April 9, 1874 in Missouri. They are the parents of: Viola, born June 15, 1893, married A. B. Jordan; Millard Herron, born July 16, 1898, married Minnie Thompson; Winnie, born December 23, 1900; Virgil, born March 27, 1903; Velma born November 15, 1904; Delphia, born February 28, 1907; Gladys, born December 23, 1909; Francis, born June 27, 1913 and Neva Marie, born July 31, 1915. Mr. Adair belongs to the Wolf Clan and is a Mason. He was elected a … Read more

Otoe Tribe

Mission School for Omaha and Otoe

Otoe Tribe: An extensive resource for researching the facts, history, culture, genealogy, names, towns, treaties or ethnology of the Otoe Nation.

Biography of Joel B. Mayes

The subject of this sketch was born October 2, 1833, in Bates County, Georgia, near Cartersville, at that time in the Cherokee country. Joel was the second son of Samuel Mayes and Nancy Adair, the former of white blood from the State of Tennessee, but whose ancestors emigrated from England and Wales. His mother was the daughter of Watt Adair, a Cherokee who held many high offices in the old nation, while his great-grandfather Adair was an illustrious man during the reign of King George the Third of England. Joel moved to the Cherokee country with his people in 1837, … Read more

Biography of Mrs. Mary C. Bezion

One of the pioneer citizens of Nowata county is Mrs. Mary C. Bezion, residing on her farm two miles southwest of Delaware, hale and hearty at the age of seventy-three years. A native of Kansas, she was born in Wyandotte county, on the 14th of April, 1849, a daughter of Jim and Nancy (Washington) Secondine. Her father, who was chief of the Delaware, was born in Ohio. He was with General Fremont during the Mexican war and his picture has been preserved in the archives at Washington, D. C. Mrs. Bezion was but fourteen years of age when her father … Read more

Biography of John Caleb Storr

John Caleb Storr, a native son of Oklahoma and a member of one of the oldest families of the state, has resided in Vinita for the past twenty-three years and has become well known as an attorney, farmer, stock raiser and oil operator, being a man of versatile talents whose efforts are resultant factors in whatever he undertakes. He was born in the Flint district of the Cherokee Nation, near Stilwell, Indian Territory, October 15, 1870, and his parents were James and Emma Jane (Rider) Storr, the former born in Tennessee in 1832, while the latter was a native of … Read more

Biography of Ad V. Coppedge

Ad V. Coppedge, the pioneer lawyer of Delaware county and the first county attorney, has also been connected with every important constructive measure that has led to the up building, development and progress of this section of the state. He became a resident of Grove in 1963 and throughout all the intervening period has taken active part in shaping the county’s up building. Mr. Coppedge was born on a farm in Missouri near the Arkansas line, January 26, 1870, the old homestead being situated at Thayer. His parents were Houston Harrison and Tennessee Martha (Bledsoe) Coppedge, and the mother, a … Read more

Muskogean Indians

Muskhogean Family, Muskhogean Stock, Muskhogean People, Muskhogean Indians. An important linguistic stock, comprising the Creeks, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Seminole, and other tribes. The name is an adjectival form of Muskogee, properly Măskóki (pl. Maskokalgi or Muscogulgee). Its derivation has been attributed to an Algonquian term signifying `swamp’ or `open marshy land’, but this is almost certainly incorrect. The Muskhogean tribes were confined chiefly to the Gulf states east of almost all of Mississippi and Alabama, and parts of Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina. According to a tradition held in common by most of their tribes, they had reached their historic seats from some starting point west of the Mississippi, usually placed, when localized at all, somewhere on the upper Red River. The greater part of the tribes of the stock are now on reservations in Oklahoma.

Biography of W. H. Hendricks

W. H. Hendricks was born in Georgia, February 28, 1831. The subject of this sketch is the son of William Hendricks, his mother being a Cherokee orphan girl named Susanna. His parents emigrated from Georgia in 1832, and, strange to say, both died in January 1868. William was first sent to Park Hill Missionary School until his eleventh or twelfth year, after which he is indebted to his own industry and observation for whatever knowledge he acquired. In 1860 he married Narcissa Crittenden, by whom he has one daughter living, Mrs. Fannie Carr. In 1864 he again married, this time … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Thomas Leroy Wolfe

Thomas Leroy Wolfe was born in Tahlequah, April 12, 1871, the son of John W. Wolfe and Belle Gibson, daughter of Leroy Gibson, a white man. His grandfather, Thomas Wolfe, was one of the old settlers, and in conjunction with Blue Jacket, built the first house in Tahlequah. His father, John W. Wolfe, was district judge for some time, and at present resides within one-half mile of the capital. The subject of this sketch is the eldest of three sons. He was sent to the Tahlequah public school in 1879, and there continued till 1883, when he began work in … Read more

Biography of John L. McCoy

John L. McCoy is a half-breed Cherokee, and has for more than fifty years figured conspicuously in the affairs of that nation, having held many positions of trust and honor, reflecting credit on himself and his people. He is eminently a self-made man, having enjoyed but limited educational advantages in his youth. At the age of nineteen he was placed by his father in a store, where he remained one year, during which time, by dint of determined perseverance, he mastered, with but little assistance, the rudiments of an English education. His principal textbook was Webster’s blue-back speller. Of strong … Read more

Choctaw and Chickasaw Agreement, July 1, 1902

AN ACT To ratify and confirm an agreement with the Choctaw and Chickasaw tribes of Indians, and for other purposes.” Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the following agreement, made by the Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes with the commissions representing the Choctaw and Chickasaw tribes of Indians on the twenty-first day of March, nineteen hundred and two, be, and the same is hereby, ratified and confirmed, to wit: Agreement Between the United States and the Choctaws and Chickasaws This agreement, by and between the … Read more

Dawes Act

General Allotment Act or Dawes Act An Act to Provide for the Allotment of Lands in Severalty to Indians on the Various Reservations (General Allotment Act or Dawes Act), Statutes at Large 24, 388-91,      Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That in all cases where any tribe or band of Indians has been, or shall hereafter be, located upon any reservation created for their use, either by treaty stipulation or by virtue of an act of Congress or executive order setting apart the same for their … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Eli Tadpole

Dorcas, daughter of William and. Amanda (Fish) Foreman was born in Tahlequah District, January 9, 1871, educated at Eureka in above named District. Married January 1885, Eli, son of John and Lucinda Tadpole, born in Tahlequah District, March 18, 1865 and educated in the Cherokee National Schools. They are the parents of Lelia, born Apr. 10, 1890, married Emmet Shewbart and J. A. Wilson; they are the parents of Belle Christine born in 1921; Emma born May 15, 1892 married W. T. Gardner; they are the parents of Herbert, born Mar. 12, 1911, Wilford, born Apr. 5, 1917, Percy born … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Sampson O. Hinds

Born December 1846, in Jennings County, Indiana, the second son of John Hinds and Eliza Mace, of Beaver County, Pennsylvania. Sampson attended neighborhood school until the war broke out, when he joined Company E, 82d Indiana Infantry, Federal service, and was afterwards transferred to Company H, 122d Indiana Infantry. During the war his people had moved to Iowa, where he joined them in 1866, and took a three years’ course of study at the Leon High School. Afterwards he commenced reading law with Judge J. W. Harvey, of Leon, where he was afterwards admitted to the bar. In May 1873, … Read more

Ponca Tribe

Chief Standing Bear

Ponca Indians. One of the five tribes of the so-called Dhegiha group of the Siouan family, forming with the Omaha, Osage, and Kansa, the upper Dhegiha or Omaha division. The Ponca and Omaha have the same language, differing only in some dialectic forms and approximating the Quapaw rather than the Kansa and Osage languages. The early history of the tribe is the same as that of the other tribes of the group, and, after the first separation, is identical with that, of the Omaha. After the migration of the combined body to the mouth of Osage river the first division of the Omaha group … Read more

Biography of G. O. Hall, M. D.

The career of Dr. G. O. Hall, a leading physician of Bartlesville, is proof of the fact that it is only under adverse conditions that the best and strongest in the individual are developed, for he is a self-educated, self-made man whose indomitable purpose and untiring effort have enabled him to overcome all obstacles and difficulties in his path and work his way steadily forward to the goal of success. A native of Texas, he was born September 1, 1882, and is a son of Dr. P. B. Hall, who for the past twenty-one years has been engaged in the … Read more

Biographical Sketch of J. A. Lawrence

J. A. Lawrence was born October 18, 1856, in Smith County, Texas, and attended public school until eighteen years of age, after which he went to the Methodist Institute, Sulphur Springs, Texas, where he remained one year. Later he studied twelve months at the high school in Smith County, and commenced teaching the public school in Wood County, in 1878. In 1879 he began the study of law in Tyler, Texas, and in 1880 was admitted to the bar. In 1881 he located at Quitman, Wood County, and practiced law for a couple of years, when he was elected prosecuting … Read more

Biography of John Martin Bell

One of the representative agriculturists of Rogers county is John Martin Bell, who is engaged in farming eight and one-half miles southwest of Chelsea. A native of Texas, he was born in Russ county, on the 28th of October, 1859, a; son of John and Sarah Selesta (Harnage) Bell, both of Cherokee extraction. Upon the outbreak of the Civil war, Mr. Bell’s sympathies being with the south, he enlisted in the Confederate army and his death occurred while he was spending a furlough in Indian Territory. Mrs. Bell died in 1886. In the acquirement of his education John Martin Bell … Read more