Indian Territory

Biography of W. T. Bluejack

Since 1871 the Bluejacket family has figured prominently in connection with the development of Oklahoma along agricultural, industrial and legislative lines, aiding in laying the broad foundation upon which has been built the present prosperity of the commonwealth. W. T. Bluejacket has ably supplemented the efforts of his father, having for many years been numbered among the progressive agriculturists and successful business men of his part of the state, although he is now living practically retired, having accumulated a comfortable competence through the capable management of his interests. A native of Kansas, Mr. Bluejacket was born October 16, 1866, his … Read more

Treaty of September 25, 1818 – Osage

A treaty made and concluded by, and between, William Clark, governor of the Missouri Territory, superintendent of Indian affairs, and commissioner in behalf of the United States, of the one part; and a full and complete deputation of considerate men, chiefs, and warriors, of all the several bands of the Great and Little Osage nation, assembled in behalf of their said nation, of the other part; have agreed to the following articles: Article 1. Whereas the Osage nations have been embarrassed by the frequent demands for property taken from the citizens of the United States, by war parties, and other … Read more

The Eastern Cherokee Nation in 1890

The Cherokee Nation by a treaty made in 1817, ceded to the United States an area of land lying east of the Mississippi river. In exchange for this the United States ceded to that part of the nation then on the. Arkansas. River as much land on that river, acre for acre, as the United. States received from them east of the Mississippi River, and provided that all treaties then in force should continue in full force with all of the Cherokees. This established the two names, eastern and western Cherokees. The eastern band of Cherokees is the portion now … Read more

Biography of Nathaniel Skinner

Nathaniel Skinner was born April 8, 1851, at Harrison county, Kentucky, third son of Nathaniel Skinner, of that county. His mother was a Miss Cleveland. Nathaniel attended public school till fifteen years of age, completing his education at Sedalia after one year’s schooling in that city. His family moved from Kentucky to Cooper County, Missouri, in 1856, Nathaniel went to western Kansas and thee embarked in the cattle business, remaining till 1871, when he moved to Vinita in the Cherokee Nation, and there carried on the business, buying and shipping cattle to Northern markets. In 1878 he opened a stock … Read more

Biographical Sketch of George R. Rucker, M.D.

George R. Rucker was born in Randolph County, Missouri, in March 1862, the son of J. M. Rucker, of Muskogee. He was educated at the public schools until 1881, when he took a course in the industrial university, Fayetteville, Arkansas. In 1882 he entered the Missouri Medical College, St. Louis, and studied for two terms, graduating in 1887. He then commenced practice in the Cherokee Nation, and the following year moved to Eufaula, Creek Nation, where he resides at present. Dr. Rucker is local surgeon for the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad, and is insurance examiner for the Mutual and … Read more

Biographical Sketch of David Albert Mounts

The subject of this sketch was born June 1854, the eldest son of W. J. Mounts, of Wheeling, W. Va. He was educated in Kentucky, Missouri, Texas and Indiana, having been with his father in these states. After coming to Fort Gibson he went to work for O. W. Lipe, in 1877, for half interest in the profits of his business. He remained two years, and in 1879 married Miss Carrie Thompson, one of the belles of the Cherokee Nation and highly accomplished. In 1881 he went to work for Mr. Scott as head clerk in his mercantile establishment, and … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Penelope Adair

The subject of this sketch is the wife of John Thompson Adair, recently deceased, whose portrait and biography will be found elsewhere in this volume. Mrs. Penelope Adair is the daughter of Jesse Mayfield, of South Carolina, who married Sarah, daughter of Caleb Starr, of Tennessee. Her parents emigrated to this nation in 1839 with the Bushyhead detachment. In January 1840, Penelope Mayfield married John Thompson Adair, and they settled near Tulu, Washington County, Arkansas, near the Indian Territory line, beside the present family home. Mrs. Adair had a family of nine children, two having died in infancy. Her oldest … Read more

Ponca Indians

The Ponca Indians were located on the right bank of the Missouri River at the mouth of the Niobrara River.

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

Biography of Mrs. Ellen Howard Miller

Mrs. Ellen Howard Miller is a woman of broad interests and accomplishments, her greatest pleasures centering around those things that are instructive and up building to herself and the people and conditions around her. To her the realm of civics is one of unlimited interest, in which she loves to spend her time when business, home and Church interests will allow, and in this field many enterprises and activities of economic value owe their birth and fostering to her inspiration and initiative. One of the earliest of these enterprises was the forming of an organization of the women of Vinita, … Read more

Biography of Rev. D. C. Murphy

D. C. Murphy was born in Hickman County, Kentucky, the son of James Murphy, of Cork, Ireland. Mr. Murphy was educated at the county schools and soon after his father’s death commenced laboring on his mother’s farm, where he remained until fourteen years of age. The twelve months following he spent endeavoring to learn the printers’ trade in Hickman, Fulton County, Kentucky, but a certain wild vein in his nature conquered his disposition to learn the trade and he ran off without a farewell, wandering he cared not whither, and with no other object than the gratification of a love … Read more

Biography of Cyprian Tayrien

Fifty years or more have been added to the cycle of the centuries since Cyprian Tayrien took up his abode on the farm which is still his home and through all these years he has contributed to the agricultural development of the region, thus utilizing the natural resources of the state and adding to the general prosperity of the community, as well as to his individual fortunes. Mr. Tayrien is a native of Missouri. He was born in Clay County, in 1836, his parents being Enoch and Mary Louise (Borboney) Tayrien. The father was a French-Canadian, while the mother was … Read more

Biography of H. G. Laughlin

H. G. Laughlin, who follows the occupation of farming, his home being situated about two and two-thirds miles northwest of Ramona, in Washington county, was born in Milan, Texas, August 27, 1867. He is a son of James McClellan Laughlin, who was a native of Mississippi and went to California in the year 1849. There he engaged in farming in the Sacramento valley for several years, after which he returned to Georgia and was married in that state. He then started again for California but became water bound while en route and returned to Texas, where there was no danger … Read more

Biography of Anthony Kerns Douglas

One of the pioneer farmers of Rogers county is Anthony Kerns Douglas, who was born Caldwell county, Missouri, on the 29th of August, 1858, a son of Arnett Patrick and Emily (McGee) Douglas, and of Scotch-Irish decent. Mr. Douglas was named in honor of the family physician in Missouri. His father was born in Ohio and went to Missouri with his parents, when eight years of age. They located in Caldwell county and A. P. Douglas engaged in farming there until his demise about ten years ago. He achieved gratifying success in that connection and was one of the representative … Read more

Biographical Sketch of William F. Crabtree

William F. Crabtree was born October 1846, in Lafayette County, Arkansas, and moved to Eufaula in 1873. He was sent to school at Rondo, Arkansas, just before the war, but soon joined the Confederate service, attaching himself to the courier battalion whose headquarters were at Washington, Arkansas. After the war, in May 1866, he married Miss Hattie Carter, daughter to Dr. T. A. Carter, of Ozark, Arkansas, by whom he has four children, Bettie, Hattie, Fount and Anna. The former young lady, aged fourteen years, is by nature an artist, having given convincing proofs of this fact through several oil … Read more

Biography of James G. Harris, M. D.

Dr. James G. Harris, a physician and surgeon of Muskogee, who is specializing in urology, was born on the 18th of February, 1889, in Muskogee county, and is a son of P. Collins and Mary A. (Davis) Harris, who were natives of Georgia and of Alabama respectively. The father served for two years with the Confederate army in the Civil war and was taken prisoner, being incarcerated for about a year. Soon after the war, owing to the fact that he was part Cherokee, he received an allotment from the government in Oklahoma, then Indian Territory, and removed to this … Read more

Slave Narrative of Betty Robertson

Person Interviewed: Betty Robertson Location: Fort Gibson, Oklahoma Age: 93 I was born close to Webbers Falls, in the Canadian District of the Cherokee Nation, in the same year that my pappy was blowed up and killed in the big boat accident that killed my old Master. I never did see my daddy excepting when I was a baby and I only know what my mammy told me about him. He come from across the water when he was a little boy, and was grown when old Master Joseph Vann bought him, so he never did learn to talk much … Read more

The Meeting in 1811 of Tecumseh and Apushamatahah

Peter Perkins Pitchlynn was the Choctaw Principal Chief from 1864-1866

The meeting in 1811, of Tecumseh, the mighty Shawnee, with Apushamatahah, the intrepid Choctaw. I will here give a true narrative of an incident in the life of the great and noble Choctaw chief, Apushamatahah, as related by Colonel John Pitchlynn, a white man of sterling integrity, and who acted for many years as interpreter to the Choctaws for the United States Government, and who was an eye-witness to the thrilling scene, a similar one, never before nor afterwards befell the lot of a white man to witness, except that of Sam Dale, the great scout of General Andrew Jackson, … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Thomas A. Chandler

Thomas A. Chandler was born in the Cherokee Nation, July 1871, the eldest son of B. G. Chandler, a Tennessean, and Anne Gunter, a Cherokee by blood. Thomas attended the public schools at Hicho, Arkansas, and Delaware district, Cherokee Nation, after which he entered Worcester Academy, Vinita, and there graduated in 1888, having taken a scientific course. Later he entered Drury College, Sprinfield, Missouri, and remaining half a year, went to Muskogee, Creek Nation, where he opened a grocery business, conducting the same with success for one year and a half, when he sold out October, 1891. On the thirteenth … Read more