Native American

Mrs. Susan Taylor was born July 6, 1803, daughter of “Fields,” a half-breed of Scotch descent. Her mother was a Miss Brown, sister of Judge Brown, prominent in Cherokee history. Susan Taylor was educated at the Moravian Mission, Spring Place, Georgia, and moved with the emigration to the Indian Territory in 1839. Her husband, Richard Taylor, held many prominent positions in the nation, and was second chief when he died, in 1853. The subject of our sketch settled in Tahlequah before there was a residence in that place, and in 1849 built a fine brick residence, one of the first … Read more

George A. Alexander was born in March 1842, the eldest son of James Alexander, who moved to the Creek Nation with the first general emigration, and was forage master for the Indians on their trip to this country. At the time of his death he was clerk of the council and correspondent for his people. George Abner’s mother was half-blood Creek, of the Jacob family. George received the additional name of Abner at the particular request of Mr. Abner, a general merchant, located in the Creek Nation close to where Alexander had made his home. The subject of our sketch … Read more

The present chief of the Creek Nation was born at Sodom, Creek Nation, Indian Territory, March 1, 1838. His parents, Lewis Perryman, of Big Spring Town, and Ellen Perryman (nee Winslett), of Hechittee Town, emigrated to this nation from the old Creek Nation in Alabama, in the year 1828. Chief Perryman is the oldest of a large family of children. The Perrymans were a large, energetic and enterprising family at the breaking out of the Civil War in the United States; and the Winsletts were recognized as the brightest intellects of the country at that time, as is attested by … Read more

John T. McSpadden was born near Fort Payne, Alabama, March 15, 1852, the third son of I. K. B. McSpadden, a minister of the M. E. Church, South, who, in 1869, came to the Indian Territory as a missionary. Mr. McSpadden, Jr.’s mother was a Miss Elizabeth J. Green, daughter of a leading citizen of Athens, Tennessee. The subject of our sketch was educated in the Phoenix Academy, near Fort Payne, Alabama, until his nineteenth year, when he followed his parents to the Indian Territory, and there engaged in school-teaching two years. After that he followed the blacksmith’s trade three … Read more

The subject of this sketch was born June 8th, 1866, at Tahlequah, being third son of John L. Adair, of that town. John L., Jr., began attending the Indian University in 1879, and after three years, went to the Male Seminary at Tahlequah, where he remained four years. On leaving there he devoted his time for three years to assisting his mother in the post office, after which he entered his father’s business house as clerk, in March 1890. In 1891 he was appointed district clerk, to fill the vacancy left on the death of Allen Ross, which office he … Read more

The late distinguished lawyer and statesman, E. C. Boudinot, was born August, 1835, near Rome, Ga., and was the son of Kille-kee-nah, a Cherokee descended from a long line of chiefs. Elias was first educated for a civil engineer at Manchester, Vt., but finally concluded to adopt the law as a profession. He was admitted to the bar in 1856, and practiced in the State and Federal Courts. One of his first cases was the defense of Stand Watie, defendant in a murder case, in which it is recorded that young Boudinot made one of the most effective and polished … Read more

The subject of this sketch was born September 8, 1838, at Chandlersville, O. He is the eldest son of W. F. Frazee and Isabella Mahon, from County Armagh, Ireland. Morris attended the public schools until sixteen years of age, when he entered Knox College, Galesburg, Ill., and there remained until, in three years, he completed his sophomore course, after which he read law with Messrs. Muse and Gaston, at Zanesville, Ohio, for one year. Returning to his home at Warsaw, Illinois, he studied medicine until the outbreak of the war, when he joined the Federal service as a second lieutenant, … Read more

The subject of this sketch was born September 10, 1846, at New Orleans, La., the third son of Nathaniel H. Nash and Sarah Jane Smelser. William attended school in New Orleans until he was thirteen, when he went to Fort Gibson in 1861, and the year following went to New York, returning to Fort Gibson in 1864. In 1884 he embarked in the mercantile business, and in the January of 1878 married Miss T. Thompson, daughter of Richard Thompson, a prominent Cherokee. By this marriage they have three children (living), Carla A., born November 1880; Bertha M., born December 1884, … Read more

Frederick B. Severs, the subject of this sketch, born August 13, 1835, in Washington County, Ark., the only son of Charles J. Severs and his wife, Basima T. Ballard. His father was from Tennessee and his mother from South Carolina. She was related to the Rutledges, Pinckneys and Austins, families of considerable prominence in that State, their record dating back to Revolutionary days. His father, Charles J. Severs, moved to Arkansas, then a Territory, in 1834. Frederick attended school in his father’s neighborhood until he was about fifteen years old, when he went to Cane Hill College, Boonsborough, Ark. He … Read more

The subject of this sketch was born at Tahlequah, Indian Territory, December 17, 1868, eldest son of R. B. Ross, ex-treasurer, and great-grandson of Chief John Ross. Chas. M. Ross received his education at the Male Seminary, Tahlequah, graduating in 1887 with high honors. Soon after he entered the Missouri Medical College, St. Louis, where he graduated March 31, 1891, and returning to Tahlequah commenced the practice of medicine. He moved to Claremore August 1st of the same year, and established himself with Dr. J. C. Bushyhead, son of the ex-chief and an old classmate of his in the medical … Read more

Almon C. Bacone, A.M., President of the Indian University, was born in Scott, Cortland County, N.J., April 25, 1830. His early days were spent on a farm, but his father dying, and the young man’s health and strength rendering him unfitted for physical labor, he walked to the village of Cortland at the age of fifteen and sought occupation in a tailor shop. During three years spent at this place, he acquired a keen desire for education, and moving to the village of Homer, became a student in the Cortland Academy. During his early studentship he was forced to labor … Read more

The subject of this sketch was born near the mouth of Little River, Creek Nation, in 1856; the son of Palmer, a half-breed French and Creek, who came from the old country in 1833 and died at Fort Gibson in 1865, only surviving his wife (Watey Palmer’s mother), about two weeks, she dying rather suddenly, close to Fort Scott, Kansas. At the outbreak of the war, the subject of out sketch went with his parents, who refugeed for three and a half years among the Sac and Fox Indians in Kansas. When ten years of age, after the death of … Read more

This eminent soldier and judge was born July 7, 1827, in Lincoln County, Ky., the seventh son of Edmond Shackelford and Susan Thompson, both of Virginia. At the age of twelve years he was placed at Stanford University, Kentucky, for two years, after which he became a pupil of the celebrated teacher, James F. Barber. In 1848, under the last requisition of the government, he was elected by a company in Washington County, Kentucky, as lieutenant, and received a first lieutenant’s commission from the government, in Company I, of the Fourth Kentucky regiment of infantry, which was commanded by John … Read more

The subject of this sketch, George W. Grayson, was born in 1843, within four miles of Eufaula, Creek Nation. He is a son of the late James Grayson and Jennie Wynn, a half-breed Creek. The original name of Grayson was Grierson, having become corrupted in some unaccountable manner. The original Grierson was a Scotchman, reputed to have come from the city of Edinburgh, Scotland. He married a Creek woman of the Hillabee Town, who bore him several children, among whom was the grand-parent of the subject of our sketch. George W. was the first-born of his family, and his parents, … Read more

W. E. Gentry was born March 11, 1842. He is the second son of James Gentry, of Alabama, and grandson of Elijah Gentry, a white man who married a full-blood Catawba Indian, and Miss Caroline Bush, a United States citizen. William was sent to school for a short time in Mississippi, and then moved to the Creek Nation, in 1855, with his father and mother. Here he went to Asberry Mission, Eufaula, for one year, after which he commenced agriculture with his father, continuing until the outbreak of the war, when he joined the Confederates under Colonel Chily McIntosh, Second … Read more

Judge James M. Keys was born March 25, 1845, son of Louis Keys, who came from the old State in 1828 and settled on the Illinois River near Tahlequah. His mother was Catherine McDaniels, daughter to James McDaniels, of Irish descent. William Keys, the grandfather to James M., was a United States citizen of Scotch-Irish blood. James was educated at the Tahlequah schools, and at sixteen years of age enlisted in Captain Tennent’s company, Fourth Arkansas, serving three months and twenty days, when he joined Stand Watie’s First Cherokee Regiment, and remained with them until the termination of the war. … Read more

The subject of this sketch was born November 1860, at Sulphur Springs, Texas. He is the eldest son of Judge S. B. Callaghan, present Chief Justice of the Creek Nation, who is the son of Oliver Callaghan of Scott county, Pennsylvania. Mrs. S. B. Callaghan (Dr. Callaghan’s mother) is the daughter of Rev. Wm. Thornburg, a minister of the Methodist Church, who came from Mississippi to Texas and died in that State about the year 1845. Up to the age of fourteen James received his schooling at Sulphur Springs public school, after which he went to the Alley High School, … Read more

Ellis M. Alberty was born May 4, 1854, in Going Snake district, the son of Moses Alberty (a Georgian, who settled in this nation in 1832) and Elizabeth Buffington, daughter of Ellis Buffington. Ellis, while but six years of age, commenced attending school at Prairie Grove, but after the outbreak of the war refugeed with his parents near Goodwater, Choctaw Nation. Here Ellis visited the mission school off and on until 1866, when his family returned to the home place in Going Snake district. At the Baptist Mission in this district Ellis completed his education. On June 14, 1874, he … Read more

The subject of this sketch was born August 1, 1829, being seventh son and fourteenth child of Joseph E. Patton, of Buncombe County, North Carolina, a farmer and stock-raiser. His mother was a Miss Orr, of South Carolina. William went to a neighborhood school until fifteen years of age, and at eighteen went to Lafayette Academy, Walker County, Georgia, where he remained two years. In 1853 he went into the mercantile business in Georgia, and continued in it until 1860. In that year he opened out in Chattanooga, and in 1862 joined the Confederate army, continuing in service until the … Read more

Leroy L. Crutchfield was born in Collin County, Texas, October 25, 1844, second son of John Crutchfield, from Alabama, who married Miss Mary E. Ladd, of Tennessee. Leroy attended private schools till 1861, when he entered the Confederate service joining the Fifteenth Texas Calvary, under Col. G. H. Sweet, and was in continual service till the close of the war. IN 1870 he went into the cattle business with his father, and was then elected sheriff of “Jack” County, in which capacity he served five years. Afterward he engaged in merchandise in Jacksborough, and continued it till November 1887, when … Read more