Indian Territory

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

Biographical Sketch of William Dexter Halfhill

William Dexter Halfhill, who has been a representative of the legal fraternity for a period covering forty-three years, took up his abode in Muskogee in 1904 and has here since engaged in general civil practice, in which connection he has built up a clientage of enviable proportions. He is a native of Morrow county, Ohio, and a son of Moses and Lydia (Kingman) Halfhill, the former a farmer by occupation. The public schools afforded him his early educational advantages and on attaining his majority he began teaching school. This he considered but an initial step to other professional labor; however, … Read more

John R. White Application Packet

John R. White is a white man, living in Indian Territory and married to a Choctaw woman.  He made application to the commission in the same manner as any Indian person.  Listed below are the pages from his application packet. These pages are provided to give you an idea of the type of information that may be contained in a packet.  Sometimes there is less and there can be more, there should be something for each person in the family if they made an application or an application was made for them. John R. White Folder, folder containing the contents … Read more

Choctaw War Against the Osage and other Legends

There were many traditions among all North American Indians, many of which bordered on the poetical and from which I will select one or two more, which shall suffice as examples of a few of the peculiarities of this peculiar yet interesting people. Thus says the tradition of “Ohoyo Osh Chisba,” (The Unknown Woman.) In the days of many moons ago, two Choctaw hunters were encamped for the night in the swamps of the bend of the Alabama River. But the scene was not without its romance. Dark, wild, and unlovely as a swamp is generally imagined to be, yet … Read more

Biography of James W. Duncan

James W. Duncan, born in 1861, is the son of Morgan H. Duncan, a white man, and Penelope C. Craig, a Cherokee descended from Granny Ward, one of the most remarkable women of her time. Young Duncan came with his parents to the Cherokee Nation in 1869, settling in the Delaware district, near the line of Chetopa, Kansas, on the Neosho River. He attended the neighborhood schools until seventeen years of age, after which he went to the Vinita school, and at the age of twenty-three years entered the national male seminary, Tahlequah, graduating from there in 1885. Immediately afterward … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Thomas Fox Taylor

The subject of this sketch was born in East Tennessee, in 1818, the eldest son of Richard Taylor, half Cherokee. His mother was a Miss McDaniel, a white lady. Thomas Fox was educated at the missionary schools of Tennessee, and at the Nashville and Knoxville colleges. At an early age he became a prominent politician, being endowed with a rare fluency of speech both in English and Cherokee. His first offices were those of clerk of the house and interpreter, after which he was elected to the house as a representative, and afterwards to the senate, unfortunately, however, he was … 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 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

Treaty of July 19, 1866

Articles of agreement and convention at the city of Washington on the nineteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, between the United States, represented by Dennis N. Cooley, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, [and] Elijah Sells, superintendent of Indian affairs for the southern superintendency, and the Cherokee Nation of Indians, represented by its delegates, James McDaniel, Smith Christie, White Catcher, S. H. Benge, J. B. Jones, and Daniel H. Ross—John Ross, principal chief of the Cherokees, being too unwell to join in these negotiations. Preamble. Whereas existing treaties between the United States … Read more

Treaty of February 14, 1833

Articles of agreement and convention made and concluded at Fort Gibson, on the Arkansas river on the fourteenth day of February one thousand eight hundred and thirty-three, by and between Monffort Stokes, Henry L. Ellsworth and John F. Schermerhorn duly appointed Commissioners on the part of the United States and the undersigned Chiefs and Head-men of the Cherokee nation of Indians west of the Mississippi, they being duly authorized and empowered by their nation. Whereas articles of convention were concluded at the city of Washington, on the sixth day of May one thousand eight hundred and twenty-eight, between James Barbour … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Mrs. Albert P. Goforth

(See Foreman) Elizabeth, daughter of Andrew and Jennie (Bigby) Taylor was born in the Cherokee Nation, east of the Mississippi. She married William Covington Ghormley, born March 25, 1817. He died September 10, 1896. Their daughter Isabel Jane Ghormley married Felix Nelson Witt. Rachel Matilda, daughter of Felix Nelson and Isabel Jane Witt was born in Going Snake District September 24, 1874 and educated in that District. She married on July 24, 1890 Albert Perry, son of Jefferson and Catherine Goforth, born February 14, 1864 in Georgia. They are the parents of: Eulelma Pearl, born January 5, 1892, married Philander … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Thomas Canard

Thomas Canard was born at Cane Creek in the year 1841, the third son of Yahartostanuggee, a full blood Indian and king of the Eufaula Town. His mother’s name was Polly, daughter of a white man. Thomas went to Asberry Mission for eight years, leaving that institution in 1857 and remaining at his home until 1861, when he married Miss Negaya, daughter of the king of the Thlopthlocco Town, and thus started in life on his own responsibility. By this marriage he had one child, Wisie, born March 18, 1865. In the meantime he joined the Confederate service as sergeant, … Read more

Biography of Frank Lee

From the year which brought statehood to Oklahoma, Frank Lee has been a member of the Muskogee bar and is regarded as one of the strong and eminent representatives of the profession in this part of the state. He has engaged in the practice of law altogether for thirty-five years and his professional career has been marked by continuous progress and constantly developing power. Born in Stockwell, Indiana, December 9, 1864, he is a son of Captain Smith Lee, who served with the Boys in Blue in the Civil war, becoming a member of Company I, Eleventh Indiana Cavalry. After … Read more

Biography of William Lafayette Trott

The subject of this sketch was born March, 1844, in Woodberry, Tennessee, third son of Rev. J. J. Trott, a noted missionary among the Cherokees, and who was arrested with Rev. Worcestor and others by the Georgian Guard, for refusing to take the oath of allegiance to Georgia. William’s mother was a Miss Rachel P. Adair. The young man attended Franklin College, Nashville, Tennessee, for five years, when, with his father’s family, he removed to the Cherokee Nation. Rev. J. J. Trott, however, did not move with the emigration to the new country, but remained in Tennessee until 1857, and … Read more

Biography of Francis Alexander Neilson

Francis A. Neilson was born in Oxford, Mississippi, June 2, 1860, eighth child in a family of twelve of W. S. Neilson, a prominent merchant of Oxford, and before the war a very wealthy man. Francis A. received his education at the State University, leaving his sophomore year at the age of twenty-one, after which he began a mercantile life as book-keeper in a large general merchandise store in Oxford, and remained in this occupation for three years. In 1885 the subject of our sketch went West to Arkansas City, Kansas, and there formed a partnership in the hardware business, … Read more

Kickapoo Tribe

Kickapoo Indians, Kickapoo People (from Kiwǐgapawa, ‘he stands about,’ Or ‘he moves about, standing now here, now there’). A tribe of the central Algonquian group, forming a division with the Sauk and Foxes, with whom they have close ethnic and linguistic connection. The relation of this division is rather with the Miami, Shawnee, Menominee, and Peoria than with the Chippewa, Potawatomi, and Ottawa. Kickapoo Tribe History The people of this tribe, unless they are hidden under a name not yet known to be synonymous, first appear in history about 1667-70. At this time they were found by Allouez near the portage … Read more

Biography of Jackson W. Ellis

Jackson W. Ellis was born in Sweet Town, Cherokee Nation, in 1859. In youth he attended the public schools, and as early as sixteen years of age went to work on a farm. Jackson was the only son of the late Edward Ellis, who, with his brother Samuel, was killed at Fort Gibson during the war while corralling the horses of their company. At the age of twenty-one he was appointed deputy sheriff of Tahlequah district, also sheriff of commissioner’s court; and later, in 1872, deputy warden of the national penitentiary, and in the same year commissioner of the quarantine … Read more

Biographical Sketch of John A. Smith

The subject of this sketch was born September 12, 1846, at Williamstown, Massachusetts, eldest son of Joseph Smith, of Vermont, a prominent mechanic of that State. John’s mother was a Miss Cope. John attended public school until he was seventeen years, after which he went to railroading, and from 1861 to 1867 continued that business, when he went west to the Cherokee Nation, and was appointed deputy marshal under Marshal Roots Sarber. He rode for the first court ever held in Fort Smith, serving during two terms of Marshal Buttons’ office. There are at present only two (including Mr. Smith) … Read more

Biography of Eli H. Whitmire

Eli H. Whitmire was born June 13, 1859, the son of George Whitmire and Elizabeth Faught. George Whitmire settled in the Going Snake district in 1828, being one of the early settlers. He was for some time judge of his district, and gave his name to the school where his son received his early education viz., the Whitmire Primary School. Here Eli attended until old enough to go to the Male Seminary in Tahlequah, where he studied for some time, leaving that institution to enter the Indian University, where he remained from 1876 to 1880. Having received an excellent education, … Read more