Unresolved Issues Concerning the Western Catawba

Unresolved Issues

I transcribed the 1897 document I am referencing. It can be found here -- The Catawba Tribe of Indians, 54th Congress, 2nd session, Doc. 144; 23Feb1897 (wixsite.com)

UNRESOLVED ISSUES #1.A congressional document entitled “The Catawba Tribe of Indians, 54th Congress, 2nd session, Doc. 144; 23Feb1897”; refers to people in Indian Territory/Oklahoma as “former members of the Catawba Tribe of Indians” several times.

ONE and TWO.February 23rd, 1897 – ordered to be printed as Senate Document for use of committee on Indian Affairs. Mr. Pettigrew presented the following memorial on behalf of the individuals formerly comprising and belonging to the Catawba Tribe of Indians, and accompanying papers. Department of the Interrior, Wasington, Feb. 1, 1897.

THREE, FOUR, FIVE and SIX.

Sir, I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your communication of 23 untimo, with the following papers:

A memorial on behalf of the individuals formerly comprising and belonging to the Catawba Tribe of Indians.

Department of the Interior, Office of Indian Affairs, January 29th, 1897

Sir, I am in receipt, by Department reference, of * * * * * a memorial in behalf of individuals formerly comprising and belonging to the Catawba Tribe of Indians, with request of the inquiries contained in said memorial be answered and information concerning the statements therein and the appended memorandum be furnished., the memorial submitted by Senator Petigrew is signed by James Bain, and George E. Williamson, Secretary of the Catawba Indian Association, and they ask on behalf of the individuals formerly comprising and belonging to the Catawba Tribe of Indians to be informed “as to the status of the tribal lands of the Catawba Indians formerly occupied by the Catawba Tribe of Indians in the Carolinas,

Your petitioners come representing that they are the representatives of the individuals and their descendants who were formerly the members of the Catawba Tribe of Indians that owned and occupied lands in the states of North Carolina and South Carolina; that in pursuance of the policy of the United States to remove all the Indian Tribes to new homes to be provided for them west of the Mississippi River, Congress passed an act July 29,1848, appropriating $5,000 for the removal of the Catawba Indians, with their own consent, to the west of the Mississippi River, and for settling and subsisting them one year in new homes first to be obtained for them (9 stat. L., 264); that nothing was accomplished under this act; that the provisions and appropriations thereof were reenacted in the act of July 31, 1854 (10 stat. L., 316); that some efforts were made to secure for the Catawbas new homes among the Choctaw and Chickasaw Indians in the Indian Territory, and under the encourgement of hopeful results, and of the laws of Congress on the subject, many of the Catawba Indians left their lands and homes in the Carolinas and journied at their own expense to the country west of the Mississippi River, hoping and expecting to be there furnished with and loated there and subsisted for one year upon new homes; that the Department of the Interior has so far failed to accomplish anyhting towards securing for the Catawbas such new homes or in doing anything in their behalf as was contemplated and expected under the provisions of the law referred to; that the Catawbas reached the states and territories bordering on the then Indian Territory, where they expected to be settled in new homes, but have been left stranded in that territory and in the neighboring states, where they have had to seek a livelyhood s best they could, without any land upon which they could build homes for themselves and families; that they are in great need, and are very anxious to be given lands, . . .

There is an admission here that our ancestors were formerly members of the Catawba Tribe.

UNRESOLVED ISSUES #1 B.

An 1848 document seems to exist. Where is it? This 1897 that I have been referencing, refers to it.

MEMORIAL

To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress Assembled;

Your petitioners come representing that they are the representatives of the individuals and their descendants who were formerly the members of the Catawba Tribe of Indians that owned and occupied lands in the states of North Carolina and South Carolina; that in pursuance of the policy of the United States to remove all the Indian Tribes to new homes to be provided for them west of the Misissippi River, Congress passed an act July 29,1848, appropriating $5,000 for the removal of the Catawba Indians, with their own consent, to the west of the Mississippi River, and for settling and subsisting them one year in new homes first to be obtained for them (9 stat. L., 264); that nothing was accomplished under this act; that the provisions and appropriations thereof were reenacted in the act of July 31, 1854 (10 stat. L., 316); that some efforts were made to secure for the Catawbas new homes among the Choctaw and Chickasaw Indians in the Indian Territory, and under the encouragement of hopeful results, and of the laws of Congress on the subject, many of the Catawba Indians left their lands and homes in the Carolinas and journied at their own expense to the country west of the Mississippi River, hoping and expecting to be there furnished with and located there and subsisted for one year upon new homes; that the Department of the Interior has so far failed to accomplish anything towards securing for the Catawbas such new homes or in doing anything in their behalf as was contemplated and expected under the provisions of the law referred to; that the Catawbas reached the states and territories bordering on the then Indian Territory, where they expected to be settled in new homes, but have been left stranded in that territory and in the neighboring states, where they have had to seek a livelihood s best they could, without any land upon which they could build homes for themselves and families; that they are in great need, and are very anxious to be given lands, homes, or allotments of any of the lands that now are or may hereafter become available for that purpose in the Indian Territory or n Oklahoma Territory; that they desire to be informed as to the status of the tribal lands of the Catawba Indians formerly occupied by the Catawba Tribe of Indians in the Carolinas, and to secure anything that may be due them as accruing them from said lands; and also to receive any other or further relief, help, or benefits they may be found, upon careful investigation of the facts in their case, be entitled to receive in right, justice or equity, from the United States or otherwise in the matter of new homes in the West or as to their lands in the East; and they pray that all these as the facts may warrant, demand and require.

And your petitioners will ever pray.

Fort Smith, Arkansas, December, 7, 1896

James Bain, President of Catawba Indian Associatio

Geo. E. Williamson, Secretaty of Catawba Indian Association

This letter from the Western Catawba Indian Association was written in 1896 – in that year my direct ancestors were living in the Chickasaw Nation. We had earlier lived in the Choctaw Nation. These are the two locations it was stated that the Western Catawba wanted to live.

UNRESOLVED ISSUE # 1C.

Here is the reason it was stated that our petition was rejected;

In reply, I have to say that it is the policy of the government to abolish the tribal relationship of the Indians as fast as possible, and to settle each Indian upon a separate tract of land that he can call his own, to the end that he may become self-supporting and independent of government bounty. It would not be in keeping with this policy, I think, to gather up people who happen to have more or less Indian blood in their veins and are living among the Whites, separate and apart from Indian communities, and incorporate them into a tribe and place them upon an Indian Reservation.

The General Allotment Act of 1887 wisely provided for Indians who were not living upon any reservation at the date of passage of said act, or for whose tribe no longer no reservation had been created, by allowing them to apply for and secure to themselves lands upon the public domain.

One person even brings up the possibility of taking some of the Comanche, Kiowa lands for use by the Catawba, but It never came about. That is where my family moved during the first half of the first decade of the 20ieth century. The government official said, “You suggest that arrangements might be made whereby they could take land in severalty within the Kiowa and Comanche and Wichita Reservations, Oklahoma Territory, when the unallotted lands of said reservation shall be opened to public settlement . . .”

Ater in the document the government official said;

“Having furnished tis full and complete history of the Catawbas, as far as the same is disclosed is disclosed from the files and records of this office and other sources, you will see just what lands these Indians held and now hold in South Carolina. I know of no land that they own in their tribal capacity as Catawbas in North Carolina. I know of no reason why these individual Indians may not take up lands in severalty under the fourth section of the act of 1887 aforesaid. I do not think it would practicable or wise to ask the President to withhold from public settlement the lands ceded by the Kiowa and Comanche Indians by their last agreement, when that agreement is ratified by Congress, ntil such Indians had first taken allotments thereon. They should conform to the act of 1887, as all the other Indians in like condition have to do.

My great grandpa tried to do just that – he leased lands from the Kiowa Agency about 1905 and 6. This is written on a 3x5 card in the Oklahoma Historical Society in Oklahoma City diagonally across the street from the state capital building. Jeffrey H. Richey is my great grandpa.

I don't believe that the State of Oklahoma can designate State Recognized Tribes as we see in the East. Is there any way the "Western Catawba Indian Association" can be recreated, or resurrected and be respected by local Oklahoma tribes? I wouldn't be interested in doing this if we are just going to be called "wannabes" or something similar by local tribal governments.

Unresolved Issue # 2; Catawba in Granville County, Georgia

Those italicized desired permission of the president to settle in the Indian Territory, all of whom Mr. McDowell states were good and loyal people, and that if any Indian deserved assistance from the government these Indians did: that their grandfathers on both sides the government in the War for Independence, and that their names were on the muster rolls in the War Department.

William Guy, of Granville County, Georgia, and Simon Jeffers, of Belleville Virginia, Catawba Indians, served five years in the Army and were honorably discharged, and these 84 persons were their descendants.

The names of 84 persons are then listed here -- The Catawba Tribe of Indians, 54th Congress, 2nd session, Doc. 144; 23Feb1897 (wixsite.com) -- after stating their names, the memorial continues -- As these Indians were Catawba's and not Cherokees, Mr. McDowell was informed Oct. 22, 1872, that they could not receive any of the benefits arising from the Cherokee removal fund of 1848.

Now I have a problem. I have found several references stating there WAS an 1848 agreement with the Catawba as well as the Cherokee. This Memorial to the Western Catawba states; "Your petitioners come . . . in pursuance of the policy of the United States to remove all the Indian Tribes to new homes to be provided for them west of the Mississippi River, Congress passed an act July 29,1848, appropriating $5,000 for the removal of the Catawba Indians, with their own consent, to the west of the Mississippi River, and for settling and subsisting them one year in new homes first to be obtained for them (9 stat. L., 264); that nothing was accomplished under this act; that the provisions and appropriations thereof were reenacted in the act of July 31, 1854 (10 stat. L., 316); that some efforts were made to secure for the Catawba's new homes among the Choctaw and Chickasaw Indians in the Indian Territory . . .

So apparently there WAS an 1848 agreement with the Catawba as well as the Cherokee. Why would they "forget" it in this document, when this document itself also mentions this 1848 agreement, a few paragraphs earlier? I am proud to say I have a friend I have met online who descends from these Guy and Jeffries families. I don't know if this information will help them or not -- we are playing poker with a marked deck, and we know it's marked!

Unresolved Issues # 3;Grandma's brother Wrote:

Please note Dad's Uncle -- Oscar Taylor Richey, wrote about our family in "Indian Pioneer Papers". This was a Dust Bowl Era project to get old timers to tell what live was like in Indian and Oklahoma Territory before statehood. I transcribed what he and his wife said. Here are excerpts from what Oscar said --

Oscar was grandma’s brother. Both he and his wife were interviewed for this project. Here are those accounts.

Date: August 23, 1937

Name: Oscar T. Richey

Post Office: Lone Wolf, Kiowa County, Oklahoma

My parents were natives of Arkansas and grew up near Fort Smith which is just across the line from Indian Territory.

After they were married in the year 1872, they moved into Indian Territory and settled in either the present Sequoyah or Leflore Counties. I do not know on which side of the Arkansas River they lived, but I remember very clearly hearing my mother say that the territory was like a wilderness and that they had to go back to Fort Smith for everything they had to buy and that when they needed protection all the officers of the law had to come from Fort Smith" . . . later he wrote pending a few years in Texas where he was born, returning . . . "we came back to Indian Territory . . . Our lease was east of the present town of Duncan in Stephens County, on Mud Creek.

Muriel Hazel Wright wrote “A Guide to the Indian Tribes of Oklahoma” in 1951. In that book, she chronicled a history of all the sixty-nine tribes that either came to Oklahoma, or are indigenous to the state. Ms. Wright is (or was) Oklahoma's most famous historian.

She was Choctaw herself (her father was a former Principle Chief, and he was the man who suggested our present state be named "Oklahoma".). She said of the Catawba -- another group left the nation during the removal period. In 1897 they formed the Western Catawba Association at Fort Smith, Arkansas. She speaks of some who received Choctaw citizenship in 1853. Ms. Wright said of the Catawba who migrated to Arkansas and Oklahoma –

The descendants of some of the Catawba who settled in the Choctaw Nation are now absorbed into the Indian population of Haskell and Le Flore Counties. The descendants of some of those who settled in the Creek and Cherokee Nations have been reported living southeast of Checotah in McIntosh County.

Here is a record of what Ms. Wright wrote about the Catawba in Oklahoma ;

Her record of the Catawba was short. Only two pages.

So my family lived everywhere the Catawba were said to have tried to settle. My great uncle wrote we immigrated to LeFlore or Sequoyah County. He said later we went to Duncan and Stevens County, which was in the Chickasaw Nation. However, my family was there before the city of Duncan had been founded.

They think I'm stupid for playing with a marked deck. But I want to be able to say "I'm Catawba", or as they would have said in the old days, "I'm Esaw, or Yesah" without being called names. I wish there was another game in town . . . but there isn't.

My Letter to the Chickasaw Nation

I don't remember what I wrote to the Chickasaw, I am certain however, that I did not ask for tribal membership. I knew at the time that since we are not on Dawes we were not eligible. I think they got the wrong impression. Anyhow, I have always been proud of this reply. I didn't expect any reply, frankly, but to obtain a reply from the Governor of the Chickasaw Nation was a surprize.

I received this reply on October 18, 2002, so I probably sent the letter in the summer of 2002. In the last twenty years I have learned more about history.

In "The Catawba Indians, the People of the River", by Douglas Summers Brown, the author wrote; "the Catawba themselves expressed a preference for living among the Western Chickasaws . . . [who] at one time had invited the Catawba to settle amongst them. Government representatives promptly opened up negotiations with the Chickasaws among whom – the agent was told, some of the Catawba’s descendants were already settled.” It continues to say: “The principal men of the tribe assured the agent that the Catawba would be welcome, but only the council had the right to invite them, officially. But when a Chickasaw Counsel meeting was held in February of 1849, the Catawba proposal was voted down. This change of sentiment was attributed to the sudden death of old Chief Albertson."

In “Red Carolinians” Chapman J. Milling wrote the following –

"By the Indian appropriation act of 1848, $5,000 was set aside to completely remove the Catawba to the Indian country west of the Mississippi. In November of 1848 the heads of forty-two families sent a petition to the Indian Office requesting to be allowed to be removed to the Chickasaw Nation. Nothing materialized because of this request, however. Eventually a few families went to live in the Choctaw Nation and in 1855 several Catawba were adopted into the Choctaw Nation."

He also wrote;

"The Catawba Indian Association of Fort Smith, Arkansas," an organization having a membership of 257 persons, the alleged descendants of Catawba who went West under the act of 1848. [note: Here mention of that 1848 agreement again.] . . .It will be seen that most of those in the Indian Territory were living in the Creek and Choctaw nations. The petition sets forth that these Catawba families had removed west, some as late as 1854, "journeying at their own expense to the country west of the Mississippi River, hoping and expecting to be there furnished with new homes..." Having never been assigned lands, they were "left stranded in that Territory and the neighboring states." They therefore prayed for relief. The government took the position that the petitioners were white men with a trace of Indian blood, and therefore not entitled to relief. The memorial indicates, however, that descendants of Catawba Indians existed in considerable numbers in the Southwest only 44 years ago. Although no Indians are today recorded as Catawba in the state of Oklahoma, there is little reasonable doubt that an appreciable amount of Catawba blood persists in the eastern section of that commonwealth.

I have written the Chickasaw on two more occasions, this time in emails using email addresses I found on line, but have not received a reply. I would like to know who "Chief Albertson" was. As long as I live, I am hopeful I will receive a reply.