Class 8.
The claimants in the following case have been enrolled as freedmen, but as the tribal officials had previously enrolled them as citizens by blood, and as there is no question as to the lawfulness of such enrollment they should be placed upon the final roll by blood.
The applicant in the following case was enrolled as a freedman but should have been transferred to the roll by blood at the time her brothers and sisters were transferred to that roll.
Annie McGee, Chickasaw, Commission, No. F. 82. Commission Freedman, No. 572.
February 20, 1900. Petition was filed with the Commissioner to the Five Civilized Tribes for the transfer from the roll of Chickasaw freedmen to the roll of Chickasaws by blood, among others, of Annie McGee. It was alleged in the petition that Annie McGee and the other petitioners named were the children of Jesse McGee by his lawful wife, Dora McGee, and that Jesse McGee was an enrolled citizen of the Chickasaw Nation by blood.
July 2, 1906. Hearing was had in this case, at which time it developed that the child, Annie McGee, was not the child of Dora McGee but was the child of Jesse McGee by Caroline Wilson, a freedwoman.
February 18, 1907. The commissioner rendered a decision granting the petition and enrolling the other petitioners in said petition as citizens by blood of the Chickasaw Nation, but held as follows with reference to the petitioner, Annie McGee:
The record herein further shows that the petitioners, except Annie McGee, were minors on September 25, 1902; that the said Annie McGee was 15 years of age In 1898.
The act of Congress approved July 1, 1902 (32 Stats., 641), provides in part as follows:
“The word ‘minor’ shall be held to mean males under the ape of 21 years and females under the age of 18 years.”
Said Annie McGee was therefore not a minor on September 25, 1902.
The names of none of the petitioners appear upon any of the tribal rolls of the Chickasaw Nation in the possession of the Commissioner to the Five Civilized Tribes. The name of Jesse McGee appears on the 1893 Chickasaw leased district payment roll and on the 1896 Chickasaw census roll.
I am therefore of the opinion that, inasmuch as it does not appear that Annie McGee has ever been recognized and enrolled as a citizen of the Chickasaw Nation by any duly constituted authority, the application for her enrollment as a citizen by blood of the Chickasaw Nation and the petition herein, in so far as it applies to said applicant, should be denied under the provisions of the act of Congress approved July 1, 1902 (32 Stats., 641), and it is so ordered.
March 4, 1907. The department approved the decision of the commissioner as to the petitioner Annie McGee.
Statement By Counsel
This case comes within the opinion of the Assistant Attorney General for the department, which opinion was approved by the Secretary of the Interior and has never been reversed. Under said opinion the petitioner herein is entitled to enrollment.
Counsel also represents that the other children of Jesse McGee, claiming their Chickasaw blood through him, have been enrolled as citizens by blood of the Chickasaw Nation, their names appearing upon the final roll of Chickasaws by blood as approved by the Secretary of the Interior, as follows:
5049. McGee, Florence.
5050. McGee, Mattie.
5051. McGee, John.
5052. McGee, Allison.
5053. McGee, Wade.
5054. McGee. Ruby.
5055. McGee, Oliver.
5056. McGee, Elsie.
Counsel therefore submit that the petitioner herein is entitled to enrollment.
Entitled to enrollment: Annie McGee.
Respectfully submitted.
Ballinger & Lee.