Duchess of Weaselskin

Bayfield, Colorado - Let us begin by wishing you all a "Happy Valentines Day" of Love and Peace throughout this Global World! We have not totaled the inches we have received up todate, but this weekend we received another 6 inches or more of accumulation. And it is still snowing on this Monday, February 13, 2012.

We hear it started to snow in northwest Oklahoma Sunday afternoon, 13 February 2012, with a dry snow. The weathermen kept changing the expected total of snow accumulation, but they first expected around 8 inches. So . . . how much snow did you receive and is it still snowing? Did Oklahoma get any icy snow mixtures in the central or eastern part of the state?

We are expecting another cold front of snow coming through southwest Colorado later and continuing through Tuesday or Wednesday.

We have been researching more on the Native Americans, especially the Keetoowahs (Cherokee) people. Some of that research appears and is featured in this week's Issue of The OkieLegacy Ezine. We also found the following "Ten Indian Commandments" by Shanti that we have included below:
The Ten Indian Commandments (Shanti)

1. Remain close to the Great Spirit.
2. Show great respect for your fellow beings.
3. Give assistance and kindness wherever needed.
4. Be truthful and honest at all times.
5. Do what you know to be right.
6. Look after the well being of mind and body.
7. Treat the earth and all that dwell there on with respect.
8. Take full responsibility for your actions.
9. Dedicate a share of your efforts to the greater good.
10. Work together for the benefit of all man kind.

On This Day In History (13 February)

America - On February 13, 1935, Flemington, N.J., Feb. 18 - Bruno Richard Hauptmann was convicted of murder in the first degree at 10:45 o'clock tonight for the killing of Charles A. Lindbergh Jr. at Hopewell on the night of March 1, 1932. He was sentenced to die in the electric chair at the State prison in Trenton some time during the week of March 18. Go to article

On This Date, February 13:

• 1542 - The fifth wife of England's King Henry VIII, Catherine Howard, was executed for adultery.
• 1635 - The Boston Public Latin School, the first public school in what is now the United States, was founded.
• 1914 - The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers was founded in New York City.
• 1920 - The League of Nations recognized the perpetual neutrality of Switzerland.
• 1945 - Allied planes began bombing the German city of Dresden.

NW Okie's Corner

Bayfield, Colorado - Does anyone out there have any additional information on an Alva pioneer that we featured in our in Vol. 10, Iss. 1, dated 2008-01-06, concerning Pioneer William Franklin Hatfield - Alva, OK?

Karyn Brooks is researching an old Alva resident "William Franklin Hatfield" who was also a founder, editor of a newspaper. Hatfield was also heavily involved in Democratic party, etc.

Karyn found an old picture in a thrift shop that she is trying to trace. "William Franklin Hatfield" and "Mammoth Hot Springs Yellowstone National Park" are stamped on the back. It is very old simple picture of a road winding through a mountain pass. Karyn is trying to find out if he took picture or was given picture to Wm. F. Hatfield.

Does anyone have any information or interested in helping Karyn Brooks (Karyn via Facbook)?

1322 Locust, Alva, Woods, Oklahoma
We heard from a lady that was born in Alva, Oklahoma in the old hospital December 1942, by Dr. Simon. Charlotte Anne Waggoner (married BLOCK). The Waggoner's lived in this 1322 Locust, Dutch colonial house her parents built in 1939-40 while her dad taught at the university in Alva, Woods, Oklahoma.

Charlotte says her mom was Charlotte Anna Tuenge (married Waggoner). her dad was Dr. Marion Arthur Waggoner (from Tonkawa). Charlotte says, "My mom was German, had been naturalized before the war. She told me later, during the war, everybody in Alva was nice to her, only the sheriff (or a police person) had to visit regularly. They ate cake and drank coffee. Her mother (also naturalized, all emigrated to St Louis Missouri in 1929). There she met my dad as students. My parents moved to Alva in 1939 when they got married. I went to KU for grad work and my mom died in 1967. I had a happy childhood in Alva, live in Germany. Worked with the ITS in Arolsen, Germany."

I also heard from another person that Dr. Fred Green, D.O. and his family lived in the 1322 Locust house after the Waggoner's. Dr Fred Green, D.O. had an office on Center Street, between 7th & College (Chiropractor in that building today.

Would love to know who else owned, lived in this house and the stories it could tell. Does anyone else know has has owned, lived and owns, lives in 1322 Locust Street house today?

I have been told that the vacant lot next the the house was used to pasture a horse. It was outside of the city limits back then. Did you know that the Ensor House across the street had a stable for horses, also. I did not know that.

Good Night and Good Luck researching your ancestry! View/Write Comments (count 4)   |   Receive updates (2 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

100 Years Ago Today February 13, 1912

America - What was happening in America and Ohio one hundred years ago today? According to The Democratic Banner, dated Tuesday, February 13, 1912, which sold for two cents, some of the front page headlines were: "Anti-Suffrage Fight Started, Chihuahua's Acting Governor Issues Proclamation Urges Rebels To Drop Arms, The Maine Floated, Roscoe School Teacher Defies Incendiaries, Young Lad Suicides, Let-up Promised on Frigid Weather, Seven People Killed In Railroad Accidents, Big Fire At Kent, Announces Candidacy.

Announces Candidacy, Youngstown, O., Feb. 12 -- "E. H. Moore, state insurance superintendent, stated positively that he would not be a candidate for the Democratic nomination for governor. He announced, however, that he would be a Harmon candidate for delegate to the Democratic National Convention from the Eighteenth District."

The Maine Floated, Havana, Feb. 12 -- "The wreck of the Maine floated free of the mud when water was turned into the dam surrounding the wreck. The Water within the dam is about 14 feet below the harbor level at low tide. It is the intention today to admit the water more rapidly, so that by nightfall the wreck will be raised to the harbor level, leaving nothing more to be done except to break the dam and float out the whip."

To Fight Herrick, Washington, Feb. 12 -- "Senator cummins of Iowa, it was reported, will lead a fight by progressive Republican senators against the confirmation of Myron T. Herrick as ambassador to France. The senate progressives are offended at a public reference which Mr. Herrick was reported to have made to Senator LaFollette." View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

Cherokee Song - Wash Your Spirit Clean

America - There is a Native American (Cherokee) song that Native Americans sang to wash their spirits clean. We found the following video on YouTube concerning this song (Cherokee & English version), Wash Your Spirit Clean.



Cherokee version:
Gebe die Dinge die dich belasten weg
bald wirst du erkennen wenn der Geist
gewaschen und sauber ist
wie wunderbar die Dinge der Welt sind
gehe und bete auf einem Berg
gehe und bete und wasche deinen Geist
mit dem Wasser des Ozeans rein
sei dankbar für die Niederlagen
und Lektionen die dir erteilt wurden
und schöpfe Kraft aus dem reinen Geist

English version:
Give away the things you don't need
Let it all go and you'll soon see
And you'll wash your spirit clean
Wash your spirit clean
Go and pray upon a mountain
Go and pray beside the ocean
And you'll wash your spirit clean
Wash Your spirit clean
Be grateful for the struggle
Be thankful for the lessons
And you'll wash your spirit clean
And you'll wash your spirit clean
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Pioneer Jerome Robert Gamble

Woods County, Oklahoma - Are there any descendants of this pioneer, Jerome Robert Gamble, out there online? The following information about this pioneer that settled in Woods county, Oklahoma Territory near Alva was taken from History of Oklahoma, page 1497, written by Joseph B. Thoburn.

Jerome Robert Gamble was born November 30, 1874, at Lancaster, Missouri, a son of Jerome Bonaparte and Mary B. (Frank) Gamble. His father, who was born near Nashville, Tennessee, in 1847, was the son of a farmer, who who came to Missouri at an early day, and early in life the son left the farm and began the study of law. From the age of seventeen he had taught school, and at the age of twenty-four was admitted to the bar at Lancaster, Missouri.

Though his early life was one of considerable hardship and out of sheet necessity he had educated himself, he became a prominent lawyer and for twenty years practiced at Lancaster, Missouri. he also took an active part in democratic politics, and for a number of years was county attorney of Schuyler county.

In 1888 he removed to Manhattan, Kansas, practiced there two years, and was then located at Wallace, Kansas, nine years. In 1900 he brought his family Alva, Oklahoma, and was one of the members of the Woods county bar until his death in 1905.

Jerome B. Gamble was married at Lancaster, Missouri, in 1868, to Mary B. Frank, a daughter of Sanford frank, and she was born in 1853. There were eight children in the family. Back when this History of Oklahoma book was published Alma Matilda was the wife of Benjamin Johnson of Fredonia, Kansas; the next two were twins, a son and daughter, who died in infancy; Jerome Robert; Myrtle Mary, widow of B. M. Spaulding, living at El Campo, Texas; and Carrie Etta, wife of C. J. Snoddy, a farmer in Woods county, Oklahoma.

Jerome R. Gamble finished his education in the public schools of Manhattan and Wallace, Kansas. Prior to that time, at the age of twelve, and following an enthusiasm which has led a great many boys into the printing and newspaper business, he found opportunities to learn the printing trade in an office at Lancaster, Missouri. He finished his apprenticeship at Sharon Springs, Kansas, and at the age of twenty bought the office of the People's Voice at Sharon Springs, and was editor and owner of that small journal two years. When he sold out he then secured an interest in the daily and weekly Pioneer of Alva, and was one of its editors and proprietors four years. Since that date that he was out of the newspaper business altogether and had a large clientage as a real estate and loan broker.

In politics Mr. Gamble was a democrat, and for two years served on the state committee from Woods County. He was one of the veterans of the Spanish-American war. Early in that period of hostilities in 1898 he enlisted as a private in Company L of the Second United States Volunteer Infantry, a regiment that was of the "Rough Rider" class and was recruited from the territories of Oklahoma, Arizona, New Mexico and Indian Territory.

On January 1, 1902, at Alva Mr. Gamble married Miss Evangeline Matilda Lloyd, daughter of the Rev. R. Thomas Lloyd. Mrs. Gamble was born February 28, 1875. To their marriage were born four children: Robert jerome, who died in infancy; Daisy Marie; Robert jerome; and Thomas Frederick, born August 20, 1914. Gamble and his family were members of the Episcopal Church.

A Standard History of Oklahoma -- by Joseph B. Thoburn is an authentic narrative of its development front the date of the first European Exploration down to the time of 1916, including accounts of the Indian tribes, both civilized and wild, of the cattle range, of the land openings and the achievements of the most recent period. Joseph B. Thoburn was assisted by a Board of Advisory Editors when he compiled this history of Oklahoma, Volume IV, published by the American Historical Society, Chicago and New York, in 1916. View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

Wynnewood Chickasaw Nation's Dr. Wilson

Wynnewood, Oklahoma - This bit of history was taken from the History of Oklahoma, page 1343, by Joseph B. Thoburn and published in 1916. It concerns the pioneer Herbert Posten Wilson, M.D.

It was back in 1900, when Wynnewood was one of the small but growing villages of the old Chickasaw Nation, Doctor Wilson identified himself with the medical fraternity there and has since continued in practice a period of fifteen years, being one of the oldest physicians in that part of the state in point of continuous residence.

Dr. Herbert Posten Wilson brought with him a thorough experience from Texas, where he had practiced for a number of years. Doctor Wilson was the type of physician who was not only progressive as to his own attainments and ability, but did much to promote the welfare of the community in which he lived.

Wilson was a native of North Carolina, having been born at Rutherfordton in Rutherford County, January 25, 1858. The Wilson ancestors came originally from ireland and settled in Lauderdale County, North carolina, and were residents in that section during colonial times. The doctor's father was William F. Wilson, who was born in rutherford County, North Carolina, in 1833. He became a farmer and stockman, and from North Carolina he entered the Confederate army during the war between the states and served four years. He was wounded in the battle of Manassas. In 1870 he removed to Bethany, Tennessee, and in 1880 established his home in Denton County, Texas. He lived at Pilot Point for a number of years, but died while temporarily at St. Joe, Texas, in 1905. He was a democrat, a member of the methodist Episcopal Church. The maiden name of his wife was Martha Stafford, who was born in North Carolina in 1835, and died at Altus, Oklahoma, in 1911.

Their children were: Alice, wife of T. C. Price, a carpenter and builder at Pilot Point, Texas; Dr. herbert P.; Ada, wife of T. Brown, a farmer at Altus, Oklahoma; H. N., who graduated M.D. from the Vanderbilt University at Nashville, and lived at Dye, Texas, where in addition to his profession he is a merchant, farmer and stockman, and one of the leading citizens; Fannie was the widow of B. R. Newman, a former stockman, and she lived at Nocona, Texas; L. S., whose death occurred at Dye, Texas, was a stockman; Parthenia was the wife of Patten Cole, a cotton dinner at Altus, Oklahoma; Santippe was the wife of Judson Wilheit, a farmer at Altus; Andrew resided at Wynnewood, Oklahoma.

Dr. Wilson was 12 years of age when his parents removed to Bethany, Tennessee, where he continued his early education in the common schools and in the Bethany Academy. After leaving that institution in 1877 he was a teacher in Tennessee until 1882 and then moved to Grayson County, Texas. For five years he was in the drug business in that section of the state, and in the meantime had definitely decided upon his future profession, and entered the Vanderbilt University at Nashville, where he was graduated M.D. in 1893.

R. Wilson progressiveness in professional matters was indicated by the fact that he had since taken two post-graduate courses in the New Orleans Polyclinic and two in the Illinois Post-Graduate School at Chicago, where he specialized in surgery. The first year of practice was spent at Tom Bean in Grayson County, texas, and after that he was located at St. Joe, Texas, until 1900.

In his fifteen years spent at Wynnewood Dr. Wilson had acquired a large patronage and his skill as a surgeon had been especially appreciated. He was local surgeon for the Southland Cotton Oil Company. His offices were in the Wilson Building on Main Street, a building that was one of his contributions to the material progress of the community. He had served as president of the Garvin County Medical Society, was for nine years a councillor of the Oklahoma State Medical Society and was a member of the American Medical Association. In 1916 he was serving as health officer of Garvin County.

In politics Dr. Wilson was a democrat. He was chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Wynnewood and was a member and past master of Wynnewood Lodge No. 40, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and had taken eighteen degrees in the Scottish Rite Valley of Guthrie Consistory No. 1.

While living in Tennessee in 1880 Dr. Wilson married Miss naomi Hughey, whose father, H. H. Hughey, deceased, was a farmer. Their one daughter, beatrice, was the wife of George L. Bradfield, who was cashier of the State National Bank of Wynnewood. View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

Resolutions Adopted By Chiefs At Eufaula Convention - 1903

Eufaula, Oklahoma - The Daily Ardmoreite, Ardmore, Indian Territory, Sunday Morning, dated 24 May, 1903, had the following front page headline concerning "Resolutions Adopted" by the chiefs of the five civilized tribes at a convention at Eufaula, I.T., where plans were formulated for separate statehood for the Indian Territory, Independent of Oklahoma.

The article stated the resolutions adopted by the Indian chiefs and representatives of the five civilized tribes, sitting in convention at Eufaula, I.T., for the purpose of formulating plans for statehood for Indian Territory alone:

"Whereas, the United States government in the several treaties with the five civilized tribes under which the present trivial governments were organized guaranteed that the limits of no state or territory should ever now occupied by the five civilized tribes, without their consent , and in the act of congress of June 28, 1898, 30 Statute, 495, agreed that the lands now occupied by the five civilized tribes should, when prepared be admitted as a state of the Union, and

Whereas, we believe that the Indians of the five civilized tribes are opposed to any territorial form of government for Indian Territory, either now or hereafter, and to any legislation by congress, whose object is the absorption by Oklahoma of the Indian Territory, in whole or in part, and

Whereas, we feel that some method should be adopted whereby the Indians of the five civilized tribes may, by popular vote, determine whether or not they are in favor of statehood for Indian Territory, separate from Oklahoma, after the expiration of their tribal governments;

Therefore, we, the chief executives and representatives of the five civilized tribes, assembled at Eufaula, creek Nation, on may 21, 1903, do hereby make the following recommendation, the Cherokee and Choctaw executives concurring:

1. the chief executive of each nation, shall in his next message tot he general council of his nation, recommend legislation authorizing the chief executive to call an election to decide whether or not the members of his nation are in favor of an international convention. This convention shall be composed of twenty delegates from each of the five civilized tribes, and shall be held for the purpose of framing a constitution for a state government to succeed the several tribal governments which expire by treaty provisions on March 4, 1906. The chief executive shall also recommend that the general council prescribe a plan for selecting delegates to the constitutional convention. The general council of each nation shall instruct its delegates to incorporate in the constitution a provision prohibiting the sale of intoxicating liquors within the boundaries of the state to be formed out of Indian Territory.
2. We recommend that the citizens of each nation vote for the constitutional convention.
3. We recommend that each nation hold said election not later than December 20, 1903, and that said election be held in the same manner as other elections are held in the several nations, the votes cast in each nation shall be certified by the precinct officers and forward to the chief executives, the chief executives of the five nations shall constitute a board of commissioners, who shall canvass and count the votes cast in each nation and issue proclamation of the result not later than January 4, 1904.
4. If a majority of the qualified voters of the five nations are in favor of a constitutional convention, the convention shall be held. We recommend that the international convention be held not later than February 1, 1904.
5. We recommend that the general council of each nation at its next session memorialize congress for statehood separate from Oklahoma, to become effective March 4, 1906, and that such memorial be transmitted to congress, the president and the secretary of the interior.
6. We further recommend that the general council of each nation address a memorial of the various religious and temperance organizations of the Untied States, requesting them to assist the Indians of the five civilized tribes in their efforts to prevent the annexation of Indian Territory to Oklahoma and to secure a state government for Indian Territory under a constitution which will protect the Indian front he baleful influences of intoxicating liquors.
7. Knowing that the non-citizens of Indian Territory, not members of either of the five civilized tribes, prefer separate statehood for Indian Territory and realizing that the efforts of the non-citizens and the Indians will cause congress to favorably consider our demands, we recommend that the non-citizens hold a convention and ratify the constitution framed by the convention of the five civilized tribes or propose whatever amendments they deem proper. Should amendments be proposed by the non-citizens, their convention shall appoint a committee of two persons from each nation, this committee appointed by the convention of the five civilized tribes and these two committees shall constitutes a conference committee of twenty persons, who shall adjust all differences in the constitution.
8. The president of the constitutional convention of the five civilized tribes shall appoint two delegates from each of the five nations. These ten delegates shall invite the co-optation of a like number of delegates appointed by the convention of the non-citizens and the two delegations shall take the constitution adopted by the conference committee and proceed to Washington and urge congress to pass an enabling act authorizing the people of Indian Territory to vote upon the ratification of this constitution for the members of the house of representatives of the United States and for all elective officers provided for by said constitution.

Keetoowah Cherokee People

Cherokee Nation, Oklahoma - Have you heard this Cherokee history of the Keetoowah Cherokee people? The Cherokee Indian tribe were powerful detached tribe of the Iroquoian family, formerly holding the whole mountain region of the south Alleghenies, in southwest Virginia, western North Carolina and South Carolina, north Georgia, east Tennessee, and northeast Alabama, and claiming even to the Ohio River and (referred to as the Eastern Cherokee). Red Bird Smith was the moving spirit of the Nighthawk branch of the Keetoowah organization of Full-blood Cherokees. Part 1 & 2 of their history is related below in these YouTube videos.

Part 1 -
Part 2 -


It was on 16 May 1903 that the Keetoowah leaders attempted to defuse the situation in what proves to be an informative letter written to Federal Judge Joseph Albert Gill, in Muskogee, Indian Territory. The letter below tells us a great deal about the nature of the society, and its eloquence, revealing the high educational level of those who wrote it. It was addressed to Judge Joseph A. Gill, dated May 16, 1903. It was not signed by any individual but probably spoke for the entire Keetoowah Society that remained after the departure of the Nighthawks.

"Dear Sir:
We have had our attention called to an article in the Muskogee Times, of recent date, wherein you are represented as having said that you have instructed a commissioner of your court to make a tour of the Cherokee Nation, and get after the Keetoowahs; that the society takes the same attitude in the Cherokee Nation with respect to the policy of the Government, as that taken by the Crazy Snake band in the Creek Nation; that it has opposed the work of the Commissioner of the Five Civilized Tribes, and given much trouble to the Government; that you propose to stop their obstructive methods, and the intimidation of would-be allottees; that a man was recently murdered by the Keetoowahs because he had selected his allotment; that the commissioner referred to had been instructed to run down the Keetoowahs who did this, and that the leaders of the Society will all be in jail before long."

"Whether the newspaper article referred to correctly represents your views or not, such injustice has been done to leaders of the Keetoowahs, and the whole Society, by this publication, in misrepresenting the purpose and objects of the Society and the attitudes of its leaders toward the work of the Commission, that we feel called upon, in justice to ourselves and the Society, and in order that you, and the general public, shall be advised of our position, to take notice of it, and to make answer to the statements it contains that could only be justified by ignorance of the objects of the Keetoowahs."

"In the first place we wish to emphatically and without qualifications to deny that the purposes of the Keetoowahs are the same in the Cherokee Nation as those of the Crazy Snake band of the Creek Nation, as we understand the purposes of that band, or that the Keetoowahs or their leaders have continuously opposed the work of the Commissioner to the Five Civilized Tribes, or that they have given trouble to the Government. We also deny that the Keetoowahs as an organization have advised, counseled or countenanced the murder of a man, or set of men, or violence of any kind, on account of allotment of land, or on any other account."

"if any Keetoowah was connected with the murder of the men referred to in said article, the fact that he or they, if there were more than one, is a member of the Keetoowahs does not signify an organized effort to intimidate allotters, as has been persistently and we believe maliciously reiterated in the press and by the enemies of the Indians, who appear to desire to make money out of their land."

"The Keetoowah Society was organized in 1859, and the basic principles of its Constitution are loyalty to the Government of the Unitied States, and the preservation of the property of the Cherokees, for those to whom the treaties intended it should go."

"It is composed of Cherokees by blood, who can speak or understand but little, if any, English, and they are, therefore, at a great disadvantage in getting their views or their attitudes toward the important changes in progress, respecting the holding of property by the members of the Cherokee tribe, before the public so that they can be understood."

"The fact that the Keetoowahs have always been loyal to the United States can be amply remarked by any stranger who may out of curiosity or for any other purpose visit a convention of the Society. The stranger will observe that nearly all of the older members wear in the lapel of their coat, a button of the Grand Army of the Republic. The Society furnished a great majority of the Cherokees who risked their lives and property by joining the armies of the government in the Civil War."

"There is another organization, within the Cherokee Nation, which we understand is composed of former members of the Keetoowah Society. This organization is known as the Knight Hawks (sic). It is a secret society, and we know more of its objects and purpose that the general public. We do not intend to speak for them . . . The Keetoowahs have been so vilified, and lied about, that we appreciate how hard it will be to put us right in the minds of the people. We are charged with the responsibility for a failure on the part of the fullbloods to enroll, because they do not rush to the land office and take their allotments. The fullblood Indian, as is well known by those familiar with the Indian character, is timid and suspicious, because he is not acquainted with the ways of the whites; and has so often been the victim of the cheats and frauds who take advantage of his ignorance. He is deliberate in all of this business dealings, and becomes confused when hurried, yet he is abused because he does not come to the land office and take his allotment in low grade public lands while there are many more intelligent citizens unlawfully in possession of thousands of acres of the best land, to the exclusion of the would-be allottees."

The letter ends with the suggestion that the court address these problems and then perhaps the full bloods would be more willing to cooperate. View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

Dacoma (OK) Pioneer - Albert Wesley Lewis

Dacoma, Oklahoma - Those living in the vicinity of Dacoma, Oklahoma might remember this pioneer lumber company business manager and treasurer, Albert Wesley Lewis. Albert was manager and treasurer of the Dacoma Lumber Company and of the Dacoma Grain Company, and was one of the most prominent.

Albert Wesley Lewis had been a resident of Dacoma since 1904, and since that time had participated in all movements that had made for its growth and development, at the same time contributing of his abilities in managing its civic affairs.

Mr. Lewis was born on a farm in Iowa county, Iowa, 19 July 1867, and was the son of William Wesley and Susan Jane (Rogers) Lewis. His father was born in the City of Cincinnati, Ohio, of Scotch ancestry, and had spent his entire career in agricultural pursuits. AS a young man he removed to Iowa, where he resided until 1877, when he removed to Kansas and located on Government land in Pratt County. There he served as postmaster of the Town of Naron for eight years, and during 1879 and 1880, in the turbulent period regarding the location of the county seat, was a member of the board of county commissioners. In 1888, with his family, he removed to "No Man's Land," a strip ceded to the United States by Texas in 1850, for many years without any government, and now constituting Beaver county, Oklahoma, where he handled cattle on the open range. In 1892 Mr. Lewis participated in the opening of the Sac and Fox Indian Reservation, taking claims with his four sons in what is now Lincoln County, where he continued to be engaged in farming for nine years.

At the end of that time he moved to Alva, where he was living in comfortable retirement. Mr. Lewis was married in 1850 to Miss Susan Jane Rogers, who was born March 13, 1837, in Pennsylvania, a daughter of Samuel Rogers, a native of the Keystone State. Five sons and four daughters were born to this union, as follows: Ida, who is the wife of henry Burns, of Prague, Oklahoma; Margaret, who was the wife of W. R. Dennison, of Alva, Oklahoma; Dewey, a resident of Meeker, Oklahoma; Austin, who lived at Carmen, Oklahoma; GEorge, who died in infancy; Columbus W., of Hardtner, Kansas; Albert Wesley, of this notice; Carrie, who married in 1893 John Godfrey, and died in 1911 at South Greenfield, Missouri; and Laura, who died in 1910 at Pawnee, Oklahoma, as the wife of Charles Stevens.

The public schools of Pratt County, Kansas, furnished Albert Wesley Lewis with his educational training,and he grew up in the atmosphere of the farm. He was 21 years of age when he accompanied his parents to "No Man's Land," so that he may be said to be something more than a pioneer of Oklahoma. Later he was one of the first settlers of what is now Lincoln County, Oklahoma, himself proving up land, and for a number of years thereafter divided his time between farming and teaching in the public schools.

In 1900 Mr. Lewis entered the employ of Crowell Brothers, at Alva, with whom he thoroughly initiated himself into the mysteries of the grain and lumber business, and in 1904 was sent by his employers to Dacoma, to open a branch lumber yard, this city (Dacoma) having since been his home.

In 1908 was established the Dacoma Grain Company, which, i 1914, handled almost 1,000,000 bushels of wheat, the officers of this large concern being: George W. Crowell, president; George Weaber, secretary, and Albert W. Lewis, manager and treasurer.

The Dacoma Lumber Company was organized in 1913, with main office at Dacoma and Branch yard at Hopeton, Oklahoma, the officers of this enterprise being the same as those of the Dacoma Grain Company. Mr. Lewis was recognized as an energetic, capable business man of shrewd foresight and excellent judgment. His management of the interests of the large firms which he resented had been progressive and efficient and his associates had every reason to place the utmost confidence in him. While his business interest have been heavy, entailing constant attention and heavy responsibility, he had found time to aid in civic government, and for eight years had served capably as mayor of Dacoma. He was a warm friend and supporter of education, and during twenty years had been a member of school boards at various places in Oklahoma.

Fraternally, Mr. Lewis was a Royal Arch Mason and a member of the Odd Fellows. He and the members of his family belonged to the United Brethren Church.

On 9 October 1888, at Englewood, Kansas, Mr. Lewis was married to Miss Mary B. Kees, who was born September 17, 1870, in Ohio, daughter of A. W. Kees, of Gate, Oklahoma. At the time of their marriage, the young couple were living in "No Man's Land," where there were no courts of record, nor clergy, and Mr. Lewis and his bride went to Englewood, Kansas, to have the ceremony officially and legally solemnized. They were the parents of four children: William R., born August 23, 1890, married December 25, 1910, Miss Josie B. Frye, born in Iowa, July 17, 1890, and they had two children - Albert William, born August 28, 1912, and Audrie, born January 20, 1915; Nettie, born December 8, 1892, married in 1911 W. F. Hiatt, and had two children - Eldora and Walter; Erdice, born February 25, 1894, died May 25, 1910; and Miss Alta Maud, born September 9, 1898, lived with her parents. View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

Untold Truth Native Americans

America - Have you heard this untold truth about the Native Americans and their Chief Big Foot that were murdered at Wounded Knee Creek?

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Indian Removal Act of 1830 Andrew Jackson

America - It was in 1823 the Supreme Court handed down a decision which stated that Indians could occupy lands within the United States, but could not hold title to those lands. The Cherokee of Georgia instead of fighting took the government to court and the Supreme Court ruled that the Cherokee did not have to move, but President Andrew Jackson thought otherwise. What followed was the "Trail of Tears" as the Indians were moved westward to Arkansas and Indian Territory.

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Role of Ghost Dance In Wounded Knee Massacre (1890)

America - Wikipedia says, "The Ghost Dance (Caddo: Nanissáanah, also called the Ghost Dance of 1890) was a new religious movement which was incorporated into numerous Native American belief systems. The traditional ritual used in the Ghost Dance, the circle dance, had been used by many Native Americans since prehistoric times."

The chief figure in the movement was the prophet of peace, Jack Wilson, known as Wovoka - a Paiute spiritual leader and creator of the Ghost Dance. Wovoka prophesied a peaceful end to white expansion while preaching goals of clean living, an honest life, and cross-cultural cooperation by Native Americans.

In accordance with the prophet Jack Wilson's teachings, it was first practiced for the Ghost Dance among the Nevada Paiute in 1889. The practice swept throughout much of the Western United States, quickly reaching areas of California and Oklahoma. As the Ghost Dance spread from its original source, Native American tribes synthesized selective aspects of the ritual with their own beliefs. This process often created change in both the society that integrated it, and in the ritual itself.

Practice of the Ghost Dance movement was believed to have contributed to Lakota resistance. In the Wounded Knee Massacre in 1890 when the U.S. Army forces killed at least 153 Lakota Sioux.

Wounded Knee Massacre

It was February 1890 when the United States government broke the Lakota treaty by adjusting the Great Sioux Reservation of South Dakota into five smaller reservations. The government wanted to accommodate white homesteaders from the eastern States. It intended to "break up tribal relationships" and "conform Indians to the white man's ways, peaceably if they will, or forcibly if they must."

On the reduced reservations, the government allocated family units on 320-acre plots for individual households. The Lakota were expected to farm and raise livestock, and they were encouraged to send their children to boarding schools with the goal of resembling, integrating and forbading inclusion of Native American traditional culture and language.

To help support the Sioux during the period of transition, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) supplemented the Sioux with food and hired white farmers as teachers for the Sioux. The farming plan failed to take into account the difficulty which Sioux farmers would have in trying to cultivate crops in the "semi-arid" region of South Dakota. By the end of the 1890 growing season there was a time of intense heat, low rainfall. It was clear that the land was "unable" to produce substantial agricultural yields. The government's patience with supporting the Indians ran out. They cut rations for the Sioux in half. With the bison having been virtually eradicated a few years earlier, the Sioux were at risk of starvation.

The people turned to the "Ghost Dance ritual," which frightened the supervising agents of the BIA. Kicking Bear was forced to leave Standing Rock, but when the dances continued unabated, Agent McLaughlin asked for more troops, claiming the Hunkpapa spiritual leader "Sitting Bull" was the real leader of the movement.

A former agent, Valentine McGillycuddy, saw nothing extraordinary in the dances and ridiculed the panic that seemed to have overcome the agencies, "The coming of the troops has frightened the Indians. If the Seventh-Day Adventists prepare the ascension robes for the Second Coming of the Savior, the United States Army is not put in motion to prevent them. Why should not the Indians have the same privilege? If the troops remain, trouble is sure to come."

But . . . thousands of U.S. Army troops were deployed to the reservation. It was 15 December 1890 that Sitting Bull was arrested for failure to stop his people from practicing the Ghost Dance. During the incident, one of Sitting Bull's men (Catch the Bear) fired at "Lieutenant Bull Head," striking his right side. He instantly wheeled and shot "Sitting Bull," hitting him in the left side, between the tenth and eleventh ribs. This exchange resulted in deaths on both sides, including that of Sitting Bull.

Big Foot, (known as Spotted Elk) was a Miniconjou (a subdivision of the Lakota Sioux that inhabited western South Dakota) leader on the U.S. Army's list of "trouble-making" Indians. He was stopped while en route to convene with the remaining Sioux chiefs. U.S. Army officers forced him to relocate with his people to a small camp close to the Pine Ridge Agency. Here the soldiers could more closely watch the old chief.

On the evening of 28 December 1890 the small band of Sioux erected their tipis on the banks of Wounded Knee Creek. The following day, during an attempt by the officers to collect weapons from the band, one young, deaf Sioux warrior refused to relinquish his arms. A struggle followed in which somebody's weapon discharged into the air. One U.S. officer gave the command to open fire, and the Sioux responded by taking up previously confiscated weapons. Of course, the U.S. forces responded with carbine firearms and several rapid-fire light-artillery (Hotchkiss) guns mounted on the overlooking hill. Amongst the 153 dead Sioux, most were women and children. Following the massacre, Chief Kicking Bear officially surrendered his weapon to General Nelson A. Miles.

Outrage in the eastern United States emerged as the public learned about the events that had transpired. The U.S. government had insisted on numerous occasions that the Native American had already been successfully pacified. Many Americans felt the U.S. Army actions were harsh. Some related the massacre at Wounded Knee Creek to the "ungentlemanly act of kicking a man when he is already down." Public uproar played a role in the reinstatement of the previous treaty's terms, including full rations and more monetary compensation for lands taken away.

Millenarianism

Some have said that the Sioux variation on the Ghost Dance tended towards millenarianism, an innovation that distinguished the Sioux interpretation from Jack Wilson's original teachings. The Caddo Nation still practices the Ghost Dance today."

Millenarianism is the belief by a religious, social, or political group or movement in a coming major transformation of society, after which all things will be changed, based on a one-thousand-year cycle. The term is more generically used to refer to any belief centered around 1000-year intervals.

Millenarian groups claimed that the current society and its rulers were corrupt, unjust or otherwise wrong. They believed they would be destroyed soon by a powerful force. Others who held millenarian views such as those held by the earliest christians were condemned in 1530 by the Lutherans.

Millenarian beliefs have been claimed as causes for people to ignore conventional rules of behavior, which can result in violence directed inwards (such as the Jonestown mass suicides) and/or outwards (such as the Aum Shinrikyo terrorist acts). It sometimes includes a belief in supernatural powers or predetermined victory. In some cases, millenarians withdraw from society to await the intervention of god.

Millenarian ideologies or religious sects sometimes appear in oppressed peoples, such as the 19th century Ghost Dance movement among American Indians, just to mention only one of many others who practiced millenarism.

Many followers of the Ghost Dance understood Wovoka's role as being that of a teacher of pacifism and peace, others did not. View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

Ah Nee Mah - Sun Circle (Ancient Voices)

America - Love this Native Spirit Ah Nee Mah! Love the sound of the wooden flute! I may not have any Native American bloodline in my ancestry, but it is in my heart and soul!

Ah Nee Mah - Sun Circle (Ancient Voices)
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