[okie in tx]

I am Coctaw on my mothers side my great grandmother was said to be 1/2, I can not find a row number though. I am Simenole indian on my dads side great great grandmother was full blood, a guide st the Battel of Turkey creek down in Florida and the chiefs daughter,she married a confederate captain, anyway we know her story and can trace our family to her but can not find a row number. So I tell every one that I am indian I just can not find a row number.

[verynicebecky]

Originally Posted by verynicebecky

Thank you LadyRobyn.

Here is the link to my family's Dawes card. John V is my great grandfather. His son, my grandpa, wasn't yet born and isn't listed but the children listed are my great aunt and uncles. Ninta (should be Minta) was John V Carter's wife. I don't know who Eli and Mary are. I don't think that they are John's parents. I think that they might be his brother and sister.

Dawes Commission Case File #MCR983

Hmmm, seems I was right about Eli and Mary. I found them and John on the 1880's census in Holmes, MS with their parents Henry and Nelly Carter. Henry and Nelly are listed as being from Virginia. All are listed as "Mulatto."

[peggydavis]

I'm just being picky, but the government was not granting land to the Choctaws during this period. The land in OK already belonged to the Choctaw tribe, but each Choctaw received title by allotment to a certain amount of land. The rest of the Choctaw land was taken by the federal goverment.

[Trinaz]

Thanks Peggy, for clarifiying.

I finally got off my tuff and walked over to my bookshelf and pulled out a book "The Chocaw" written by Jesse O McKee. This is a great read as it tells the history of the Choctaw and list many of the treaties signed between the Choctaws and the Untied States.

Following is a condensed summary taken from the book that may fill in the gaps of my previous post.

March 3, 1893 Congress passed a bill that gave President Grover Cleveland the right to form a committee of commissioners the right to negotiate the termination of the Five Civilized Tribes' land titles by persuading the Indians to allot their territory to individuals or to cede it to the Untied States. The committee was known as the Dawes Commission after committee chariman Henry L Dawes.

December 18, 1895, in the town of Muskoggee in the Cherokee Nation, it was agreed that the United States would divide the Choctaw territory equally among the citizens of the Choctaw Nation. The land occupied by towns and public buildings would be sold and all citizens would be given a share of the proceeds.

The Dawes Commission set about compiling a roll that would list everyone entitled to an allotment. This process was complicated when many people who claimed to be Choctaw, but who had never lived in and were not citizens of the Choctaw Nation, applied for an allotment. In 1900 Congress legislated that these applications were not valid with the exception of the Choctaws in Mississippi. The law stated that Mississippi Choctaw were entitled to an allotment if they agreed to live on the land granted them and if they could prove they were decendents of the Choctaw who had requested tracts in their homeland in 1830 according to the terms of the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek.

I hope I don't get in trouble for posting something out of a book, but geeze, it's history and provides information for those wondering why "MCR' is written next to their family members name on the Dawes papers.

[peggydavis]

Good post, Trinaz.

No, you won't be in trouble, because you summarized the information from the book. If you copied the book or parts of it and posted it, that would be a copyright violation.

[Choctaw2]

My dad and his dad were alotted land in OK I have the discription of my dad's alottment. I wonder how one would find out what happened to this land. We were told all our lives that it has 2 oil wells on it. I believe it is in the Lindsey area somewhere. As the story goes (through the Grapevine) My dad was very young when he recieved his alottment, probably 2 or 3, So of course it would have been his dad's responsibility. We were told it was sold for back taxes. Others have told me that they did not have to pay taxes on the alotted land.

[peggydavis]

This information can be obtained at the county courthouse in the county where the land was allotted. It would be hard for a layman to look the info up. A landman or a lawyer would be the one to do the work. I would look into that if I were you, or go to the county courthouse and try to sweet talk the clerk.

[verynicebecky]

Did the Choctaw not keep birth records? Would my grandfather born in the Choctaw Nation in 1903 have a birth certificate?

[peggydavis]

I don't know. I googled Choctaw Nation birth records, and I came up with several geneology websites. You might look at some of those.

[verynicebecky]

thanks peggy, i will try that.