Sanders, Henry Kenneth (minor).
Cherokee by blood. Indian Office files: Land 35264-1908. Department 5-51, miscellaneous. This boy was born October 1, 1902. He is the son of William E. Sanders, Cherokee by blood, enrolled opposite No. 11977. There are six members of this family now enrolled, the father as a quarter-blood Cherokee, the mother a half blood. The only objection to this boy seems to be that application was not received for him in due time. It is claimed that affidavits of birth were mailed to the Dawes Commission, but were not received in time prescribed by law. This case was the subject of correspondence with Hon. James S. Davenport.
Number of claimants in this memorandum, 1.
Savage, Virginia, et al., including
Savage, James L.
Savage, David L.
Savage, Sarah Virginia.
Savage, Melvin F.
Savage, Earl V.
Savage, Ernest V.
Savage, Omer.
Savage, Sylvia O.
Savage, Mable P.
Chickasaws by blood. Indian Office files: Land. 5370-19088. These persons are undoubtedly Chickasaws by blood, being members of a well known Chickasaw family, a number of whose members have been enrolled on the approved rolls. It is claimed and is probably true that Mrs. Savage is a cousin of Hon. Charles Carter, who is an enrolled Chickasaw by blood. She was born in the Choctaw-Chickasaw country and claims that her home was therein until after she was married. The governor of the Chickasaw Nation recommends favorable consideration of the petition. The only question of importance so far as Mrs. Savage is concerned is whether she lost her Indian right by removal to Colorado. There was no law of expatriation in the Chickasaw Nation, and in view of the enrollment of other absentees the case should be given reconsideration. The children may have less right than the mother, as there is to be considered in connection with some of them the effect of birth outside of the nation to an alien father. Number of claimants In this memorandum, 10.
Choctaws By Blood
(See Indian Office flies.)
Scarborough, Jerry
One-fourth blood Choctaw. Residence, Pontotoc County, Choctaw-Chickasaw country, since 1881.
Adams, Mollie. et al.
One-fourth blood Choctaw. Born and raised in the Choctaw-Chickasaw country. Member of Scarborough family.
Dunham, Nannie.
One-fourth blood Choctaw. Residence, Indian Territory since 1895. Member of Scarborough family.
Scarborough, John.
One-fourth blood. Removed to Indian Territory prior to June 28, 1898. Brother of Nannie Dunham.
Riddle, Wincy.
Claims over half Choctaw. Residence, Choctaw Nation since 1887.
Crutchfield, Everett.
Other members same family on approved rolls.
Bumgarner, George A.
Scheduled for enrollment by Commissioner to the Five Civilized Tribes. Denied enrollment on jurisdictional grounds.
Approximate number of claimants in this memorandum, 10.
Schufeldt, Charles E.
Cherokee by adoption. Files: Records of Commissioner to the Five Civilized Tribes and letter of Martha Ann Schufeldt of March 16, 1909, on file in Indian Office. It is claimed that this boy is a member of the band of Shawnees who were adopted as Cherokees by treaty stipulations. It is also claimed that other children who are members of the same family have been enrolled.
Number of claimants in this memorandum, 1.
Scott, Etta, et al (Including Etta Scott, her five minor children, and her sister).
Creek freedmen. Files: I. T. D. 4840. 12580-1905; also 22 A. A. G. 81. The applicants were denied enrollment on technical and Jurisdictional grounds, although having a clear legal right thereto under Article II of the treaty of 1866 between the Creeks and the United States. The first of these grounds was that application was not made until July 11, 1904. This would have been fatal prior to the act of April 26, 1906 (34 Stat.. 137), but by section I thereof authority was given to consider applications filed prior to December 1, 1905. Hence this defect was cured. The second ground upon which adverse action was possible was that the names of the principal applicants (heads of families) were not to be found on the Dunn roll, which was made “prior to March 14, 1867.” As to this it should be noted that the Dunn roll was an imperfect and incomplete roll in that it was completed more than five months prior to the termination of the year In which the Creek slaves were allowed to return to the Creek Nation by Article II of said treaty. The result of this was that beneficiaries under the treaty were deprived of five months of the time due them. It should be noted also that the older members were eligible to enrollment on the Dunn roll.
Number of claimants in this memorandum, 7.
Scott, Lucy. Melvin, Okla.
Cherokee freedman, new born. Files: Report of November 15, 1007, from Commissioner to the Five Civilized Tribes. Newborn case No. 542. Application was received May 31, 1906, for the enrollment under the act of April 26, 1906, of Lucy Scott, born September 21, 1903, a child of Jim Scott, a noncitizen of the Cherokee Nation, and Mary Scott, whose name appears upon the approved roll of Cherokee freedmen opposite No. 3755. This child was living March 4, 1906. When this application was first received Lucy Scott was listed for enrollment on Cherokee newborn card No. 2757. Instead of a Cherokee freedmen newborn card, it being recited in the application for the child’s enrollment that its mother. Mary Scott, was “a citizen by birth of the Cherokee Nation.” On February 7, 1907. Commissioner Bixby ordered the transfer of the name of Lucy Scott from the Cherokee newborn case to a Cherokee freedmen newborn case, it being found that the mother was enrolled as a Cherokee freedman. It appears that no further action was taken looking toward the enrollment of Lucy Scott until March 4, 1907, when Mr. Bixby wired the department as follows:
“From evidence now in my office it appears that minor Cherokee freedman applicant, Lucy Scott, is minor child of Mary Scott, Cherokee freedman roll number thirty-seven twenty-two; was born September twenty one, nineteen hundred three; living March four, nineteen hundred six; made application within time limited by act April twenty-six, nineteen hundred six, and has been listed on card number five forty-two. I recommend that said applicant, Lucy Scott, be placed on minor Cherokee freedmen roll and approved.”
Fearing that the telegram would reach the department too late, the commissioner wired his employee, then in Washington, calling his attention to the telegram, which was quoted him, in order to secure, if possible, the enrollment of this child. March 8, 1907 (I. T. I). 8200-1907), the Acting Secretary of the Interior notified the commissioner that said telegram was not received In the Secretary’s office until March 5, 1907, and that no further action could be taken.
Number of claimants in this memorandum, 1.
Screechowl, Annie, alias Thompson.
Screechowl, Concherty Micco
(Including two other children referred to but not named in the testimony.) Braggs, Okla.
Creeks by blood. Files: Letter of January 22, 1910. Acting Commissioner to the Five Civilized Tribes to Hon. J. George Wright. The names of these claimants were on the list mentioned in the above letter from Mr. Ryan, who stated that the persons referred to therein were Indians who are probably entitled to enrollment and who were not enrolled by reason of failure to make application. With his letter is enclosed testimony taken in the field through an interpreter relating to each case. The principal applicant named herein is a full-blood Creek, 30 years of age. She drew the $29 payment made by the Creek Nation in 1890 to each of its citizens. Several of her children have been enrolled, but not the ones referred to above. She says she did not make application for enrollment because she is a Snake Indian and is opposed to the allotment of the lands, believing that under the treaty of 1832 she has land in the Creek Nation and did not have to make application to the Commissioner to the Five Civilized Tribes to have any set aside for her. She says, however, that she will now accept land, but under protest, as she still thinks that the treaty of 1832 holds good.
Number of claimants In this memorandum, 4.
Sealy, Permelia (minor).
Chickasaw by blood Files: Record in office of Commissioner to the Five Civilized Tribes. This applicant is a full-blood Chickasaw and the child of Susan and Isham Sealy, and was born April 5, 1899, in due time to be entitled to enrollment under the Choctaw-Chickasaw agreement. Notice of her birth was received by the Dawes Commission about July 17, 1903, but the matter was overlooked when later acts providing for the enrollment of minor children were passed. Both parents are enrolled as citizens by blood of the Chickasaw Nation, Susan Sealy appearing as No. 801 mid Isham Sealy as No. 3885 upon the approved roll of citizens by blood of the Chickasaw Nation.
Number of claimants in this memorandum, 1.
Secor, Annie (later Annie Owen). (Memorandum 244.) Now deceased.
Bailey, Rufinia (her daughter), Hamden, Okla.
Choctaw by marriage. File: Part 1 of report of March 3, 1909. Applicant claims enrollment through marriage to William H. Secor, Choctaw by blood, roll No. 9589; was denied by commission because of temporary residence in Texas after her divorce from Indian husband. Decision was affirmed by department in the rush incident to closing of the rolls prior to March 4, 1907. This applicant had two children. Rufinia M. Bailey (nee Secor) and Sillin Secor, both of whom have been finally enrolled as citizens by blood of the Choctaw Nation and who resided with their said mother from the time they were born until her death In March 1904. We believe the commission misconstrued the law in this case under decisions of the department in a number of cases, notably the Joseph P. Yeargain Cherokee case, and certainly if the department Is to be consistent this woman should be enrolled as a citizen, by intermarriage, of the Choctaw Nation. The record shows that she did not abandon her residence and citizenship which had been acquired in the Choctaw Nation.
Number of claimants in this memorandum, 1.
Seitz (nee Lawrence), Lula.
Choctaw-or Chickasaw by blood. Files: Part III, report March 3, 1909. This woman claims that she is entitled to enrollment as a citizen by blood. Her name appears on the freedmen roll. She says she was born in 1871 in the Choctaw-Chickasaw country and that she has resided there all her life. She states further that her father. Joe Lawrence, was enrolled as a Choctaw or Chickasaw, being a full-blood Indian; also that he had a brother named Silas, or Si, or Sid, who was enrolled. Claimant also states that her mother, Ellen Perry, was a slave, but that she (claimant) was born after the emancipation of her mother. Number of claimants in this memorandum, 1.
Shields, Ecius.
Shields, Barney.
Chickasaws by blood. Files: Report of November 15, 1907, from Commissioner to Five Civilized Tribes. Applications for the enrollment as citizens by blood of the Chickasaw Nation were received by the Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes on December 31, 1903, for Ecius Shields, born January 10, 1900, and on October 12, 1904, for Barney Shields, born October 1, 1901. These applicants are the children of Simon and Mandy Shield (Shields), whose names appear opposite Nos. 637 and 253, respectively, upon the approved roll of citizens by blood of the Chickasaw Nation, and were living September 25, 1902.
Number of claimants in this memorandum, 2.
Sies, John, et al.
Choctaw and Chickasaw by blood. Files: See records Indian Office; also statement of John Sies made at Chickasha, Okla., November 24, 1908. See Part 2. Exhibit F, report March 3, 1909. This applicant is an old man who claims to be a full-blood Indian. His testimony shows, however, that his father was one-half Chickasaw and his mother a full-blood Choctaw. He was unable to produce sufficient proof to establish that he was a full-blood Mississippi Choctaw, or a descendant of a person entitled to the benefits of article 14 of the treaty of September 27, 1830, and his application was therefore denied as a Mississippi Choctaw. As his name could not be identified upon the tribal rolls, he was also denied enrollment as a citizen by blood of the Choctaw Nation, under the act of May 31, 1900, which limited the jurisdiction of the Dawes Commission to persons having tribal enrollment. The record in his case shows that he has been a continuous resident of the Indian Territory and Oklahoma for more than 40 years and that he has occupied and improved tribal land during that time. His original application included three or more children.
Number of claimants in this memorandum, 4.
Sills, Oliver (adult).
Sills Lizzie (minor).
Sills, Perry (minor).
Mississippi Choctaws. Files: Records in Indian Office files. March. 2, 1907, these applicants were adjudged by the Secretary of the Interior to be entitled to identification as Mississippi Choctaws. Notice of this favorable action could not possibly have been given them prior to March 4, 1907. Even if it had been given, it would have been a physical impossibility for them to remove to and establish bona fide residence in the Choctaw-Chickasaw country, as required by section 41 of the act of July 1, 1902. In this case the arbitrary closing of the rolls on March 4, 1907, deprived the applicants of a right which would have been theirs under the Choctaw-Chickasaw agreement. In other words, they were permitted under said agreement to establish a right to identification as Mississippi Choctaws, and they did establish that right, but were deprived of the fruits of their efforts by a subsequent statute, which took from the Secretary the power to approve the enrollment of any person after March 4, 1907.
Number of claimants in this memorandum, 3.
Simmons, Samuel (minor).
Simmons, Della (minor).
Simmons, Mandy (minor).
Creeks by blood. Files: Letter of December 18, 1908, from Fred S. Cook, district agent, Checotah, Okla. (See Exhibit F, Pt. IV, report Mar. 3, 1909.) Mr. Cook reports that these persons are full-blood Indians, who, through ignorance or mistake, have been left off the approved rolls, and that their parents belong to the Snake faction of Indians, and that their cases should be given every consideration, for the reason that their said parents, owing to their affiliation with the Snakes, prevented the enrollment of these children and the allotment of land to them. They are the children of Charley Simmons, post-office address Hanna, Okla.
Number of claimants in this memorandum, 3.
Sinclair, Sallie M., et al.
Dobbs, Jennie, et al.
Cherokees by blood. Files: Part I, Exhibit F. report March 3, 1909. These claimants are sisters. It is alleged that Mrs. Sinclair and Mrs. Dobbs are the children of Sarah Benge: that the latter was the daughter of one Benge, a full-blood Cherokee and an early settler in the Cherokee Nation. It Is claimed that those people placed their case in the hands of attorneys, but that, so far as they were ever informed, it was never investigated by the Dawes Commission. The other applicants are members of their families.
Number of claimants in this memorandum, approximately, 10.
Sledge, Daniel, et al.
Sledge, Will, et al.
Gordon, Harriet, et al.
Tucker, George, et al.
Tucker, Tom, et al.
Choctaws by blood. Number of claimants, 5.
Smith, Bessie.
Suagee, Jennie and Nannie.
Shade, Striker.
Scott, Ista.
Cherokees by blood. Files: Report Acting Commissioner to the Five Civilized Tribes. January 13, 1910. addressed to Hon. J. George Wright. Bessie Smith, daughter of Hill Smith, a Cherokee, and Phenie Poorboy, a white woman. Age. unknown. No application of record. Jennie and Nannie Suagee, children of Stand and Yorksie Suagee, Cherokees. No application of record. Striker Shade, 7 years old, son of Bushyhead and Allie Shade, Cherokees. No application of record. Ista Scott, child of Liza Scott, a Creek, and whose father appears to have been Cherokee (name unknown). No application of record.
Number of claimants in this memorandum, 4.
Smith, James R., et nl. (including children).
Choctaws by blood. Files: Part III. report March 3, 1909. This man states that he was born in Mississippi and that he removed to the Choctaw Nation in 1895; he also states that his mother was a full-blood Choctaw and that his father was a white man. If his statements are true, he removed to the Choctaw Nation, Ind. T., prior to the time fixed by the Curtis Act of June 28, 1898, and was entitled by reason of his Choctaw blood to reaffiliate with the tribe.
Number of claimants in this memorandum, approximately, 5.
Smith, Mary.
Choctaw by blood. Files: Records in Indian Office, the Commissioner to the Five Civilized Tribes, and Part I, Exhibit F, report March 3, 1909. This woman claims that her father was a full-blood Choctaw, or nearly a full blood, and partly white: that her mother was one-fourth Choctaw and probably balance Negro. She and her mother are enrolled as freedmen. She also claims that her father lives near Idabel, in Choctaw Nation, and that his name is Daniel Webster.
Note.Examination of approved Choctaw by blood rolls shows three persons thereon named “Daniel Webster.”
Number of claimants in this memorandum, 1.
Smith, Mary Ann.
Choate, Annie Corine.
Choate, Robert
Choate, Ed.
Choate, Jewel Ella.
Choctaws by blood. Files: Part IV, Exhibit F, report March 3, 1909. The information relating to this family is furnished by Mr. S. G. Brink, district Indian agent, McAlester, Okla., who reports that Mary Ann Smith, age 18, of Hartshorne, Okla., appeared at his office and claimed to be entitled to enrollment as a Choctaw, stating that her father, John Smith, is a white man and that her mother, Eliza Page, is a half-blood Choctaw. The other claimants named above are the brothers and sisters of Mary Ann Smith.
Number of claimants in this memorandum, 5.
Smith, Nancy (unsound mind).
Choctaw by blood. Department files, Op. A. A. G., June S. 1901. 16 A. A. G., 21. This woman was denied enrollment under the act of May 31, 1900, on the ground that the Dawes Commission was without Jurisdiction to receive or consider her application, because her name could not be identified upon the tribal rolls or as that of a person who had been admitted to enrollment by the tribal authorities or by the Government of the United States. The papers submitted in her case tend to show that she is by descent a Choctaw Indian: that at the time of her said application she was 48 years old, and that she had been of unsound mind for 31 years. This case illustrates that the act of May 31, 1900, did not give the Dawes Commission broad enough jurisdiction to permit of u proper consideration of all case on their merits.
Number of claimants in this memorandum. 1.
Smith, William C.
Cherokee by blood. Files: Case on file in office of Commissioner to the Five Civilized Tribes. See also Part IV. Exhibit F. report March 3, 1909. This man was denied enrollment by the Dawes Commission under act of May 31, 1900, on the ground that under said art it had no jurisdiction to consider his case, because his name could not be identified on the tribal rolls. The record shows that some time between l876 and 1879 he was convicted of murder and was sentenced to life imprisonment in the Federal penitentiary at Detroit, Mich., where he had died December 13, 1903. He was undoubtedly a Cherokee by blood. It was claimed that his degree of Indian blood was one-fourth. The record shows that he was recognized by the tribal authorities as a citizen; also that it was claimed he was on the 1876 Cherokee roll, but the commission was never able to secure this roll from the tribal authorities. This is an important case, because it is typical of a class of cases embracing probably hundreds of people who were denied enrollment not because it appeared from the records in their cases that they were not entitled thereto, but instead merely by reason of lack of Jurisdiction. The act of May 31, 1900, supra, was responsible for this condition of affairs. Number of claimants in this memorandum, 1.
Speaker, Peter.
Speaker, Che-yaw-si (Betsy).
Foreman, Thomas.
Bullfrog, Chelousa.
Cherokees by blood. Files: The record in these cases Is on file in the office of the Commissioner to the Five Civilized Tribes. These claimants are all full-blood Cherokee Indians. It is understood that they were members of the Snake Band or faction known in the Cherokee Nation as “Knight Hawks.” Thomas Foreman is grandson of Peter Speaker. Chelousa Bullfrog is adopted child of the latter. Their application was dismissed because of lack of proof to show that they were living September 1, 1902. The testimony in the case shows, however, that they were living as late as August . 1902. Probably information concerning them can be obtained from Mr. J. W. Craig, of Tahlequah, who originally made application for their enrollment. Number of claimants, 4.
Springwater, Eli. Long, Okla.
Cherokee by blood. Files: Report of November 15, 1907, from Commissioner to the Five Civilized Tribes. Case No. memorandum 200. Application for the enrollment of this applicant was made August 1, 1900. Emily A. Springwater, his mother, is a white woman and alleges that she was married to Johnson Springwater, the father of Eli Springwater, in 1888 or 18889, and that they lived together for about three years. Other than her uncorroborated testimony, there is no evidence of the marriage of herself and Springwater, but from the information received it appears that they lived together for next three years: that the child, Eli Springwater, was born while they were living together; that he was recognized In the community as their child, and also by his putative father, Johnson Springwater, The name of Eli Springwater can not be identified upon any of the tribal rolls of the Cherokee Nation in the possession of this office. Johnson Springwater is identified upon the 1880 Cherokee tribal roll, Sequoyah district, at No. 1213, and his name appears upon the approved roll of citizens by blood of the Cherokee Nation opposite No. 25726. Number of claimants in this memorandum, 1.
Stark, Walter (minor).
Creek by blood. Files: Part III, report March 3, 1909. This boy is about 13 or 14 years of age. Both parents are full-blood Creeks and have received allotments. It appears that, following the death of his father, no one took sufficient interest in him to make application for his enrollment.
Number of claimants in this memorandum, 1.
Stephenson (Stevenson), Dick et al.
Stephenson, Benjamin. et al.
Williams, Henderson, et al.
Stevenson, Riley, et al.
Williams, John E.
Douglas, Earnest.
Chickasaws by blood. Files: Parts I and II. Exhibit F, report March 3, 1909. These people seek transfer from the Chickasaw freedman roll to the Chickasaw blood rolls, claiming that they were enrolled as descendants of a woman named Laney, supposed to be n slave, but that said ancestor was in fact a free Indian woman, who was stolen from the Indian Territory and sold elsewhere as a slave. In support of this contention the applicants state that the said ancestor was adjudged to be a free woman by the case of Laney v. Jones, by the district court at Paris, Tex., and the Supreme Court of the State of Texas. It is understood that the case was finally disposed of because no application was of record showing claim by blond asserted prior to December 25, 1902. Number of principal applicants, 6.
Swadley, Minerva F.
Swadley, John W. W.
Choctaws by blood. Indian Office files. Land 21072-1909. Department files 5-51. Minerva F. Swadley was adjudged entitled to enrollment December 15, 1906, by the Commissioner to the Five Civilized Tribes. This decision was affirmed by the Secretary February 16, 1907. A schedule was prepared containing her name. This schedule was disapproved by the Secretary March 4, 1907, without notice or opportunity for hearing. In supposed compliance with an opinion rendered February 19, 1907, by the Attorney General. Query: Did the favorable decision of the Secretary of February 16, 1907, constitute in legal effect an enrollment? If so, was she deprived of same by due process of law? By letter of August 9, 1909 (File 5-51), the department restored the name of her husband, William F. Swadley, to the approved roll, it having been stricken there from without notice. Thus it will be noted that he is enjoying the benefits of citizenship because of marriage with a woman who has been deprived of those benefits. The said John W. W. Swadley is the son of Minerva F. Swadley, and has the same natural right to enrollment as his mother. A decision was rendered by the Commissioner to the Five Civilized Tribes holding that his parents were entitled to enrollment but that he was not so entitled. This decision was affirmed by that of the Secretary of February 16, 1907. referred to above.
Number of claimants Id this memorandum, 2.
Swimmer, Nancy (minor child of a dumb woman).
Cherokee by blood. Files: Case on file in Office of Commissioner to the Five Civilized Tribes. May 2, 1902, Charlotte French, a full-blood Cherokee Indian, whose post office is Stillwater, Okla., applied for the enrollment of her ward. Nancy Swimmer, whose age at that time was given as 7 years, as a citizen by blood of the Cherokee Nation. The testimony shows that Nancy Swimmer is the child of John Swimmer (or Weaver or possibly Beaver and a dumb woman named Tianna or Annie; that both of said parents were full-blood Cherokees and recognized citizens of the Nation: that her father is dead and her mother living, and that sufficient Information could not be obtained from which to identify either of the parents of Nancy Swimmer on any of the tribal rolls of the Cherokee Nation. February 27, 1907, the Commissioner to the Five Civilized Tribes issued an order holding that, under the provisions of the act of May 31, 1900, he was without authority to receive, consider, or make any record of the application for the enrollment of Nancy Swimmer, and his order was approved by the department March 4, 1907. This case illustrates that the act of May 31, 1900, by depriving the Dawes Commission of the necessary jurisdiction, rendered it unable to enroll a full- blood Cherokee minor.
Number of claimants in this memorandum, 1.
