Table Of ContentCAMPBELL'S
ABSTRACT
OF
Creek Indian Census Cards
AND
INDEX
913
PHOENIX JOB PRINTING COMPANY
MUSKOGEE, OKLAHOMA
JUL 12 1915
PREFACE.
The preparation of this record has been a tedious work. It is believed by
the Compiler that its publication will have a decided effect for good on land
titles in Eastern Oklahoma. No one thing has been more responsible for the
bad titles of Eastern Oklahoma than the lack of knowledge of the facts on the
part of the public.
Congress after the making of certain treaties under which citizens of the
Creek Nation were enrolled and received their allotments, enacted many
laws materially effecting these treaty provisions and as a result the title to
land. These laws, of course, were made public, but the facts under which
any one of these laws were applicable, in any specific instance, were not given
the same publicity. Many facts were purposely suppressed by the Govern-
ment, and this was done in an effort to protect these allottees from the land
shark. Their day, however, is now passed, and Congress, by subsequent
laws, has so protected the allottee that the widest publicity of the facts is for
the best interest of the allottee, as well as the public generally.
The publication of the Tribal Rolls, in 1907, gave the roll number, name of
the allottee, age, sex and blood, and operated to a large extent to inform the
public, but this information was not sufficient, in fact, it aided only those who,
by reason of their familiarity with the workings and records of the Indian
Offices, knew how to secure additional information. I emphasize ihe words
"those who knew how" for this reason: only those who had a working famil-
arity with the procedure and the records of the Dawes Commission, later the
office of the Commissioner to the Five Civilized Tribes, and now the office
of the Superintendent of the Five Civilized Tribes, knew what to ask for to
advise themselves. An investor from Iowa, Illinois or New York knows
nothing of these records. He is shown the roll book, published by the Interior
Department, and he takes the information there given as a verity. It did
not occur to him to make further investigation, in the office of the Commis-
sioner to the Five Civilized Tribes. If he did think of making further investi-
gation he was given a copy of the census card of the particular allo—ttee in which
he was interested. He was told that this was the family card, he was not
told that a member of that same family might be found on 1, 2, 5, 10 or 15
other cards, as the case might be. In fact, no one knew of this in each particu-
lar instance. Those familiar with the records knew that members of the same
fam'ly might appear on different cards, but what cards no one knew.
The records here presented are the firsteffortat cross-indexing,thepurpose
being to locate the different members of any particular family. The indexing
has been made with great care, and we have not been content with indexing
under the name as spelled on the card, but have, in many instances, indexed
under two, three and even four different spellings. An examination of the
card itself will show the necessity for this. The same names have on these
records been spelled many different ways, in fact, in many cases the same
name appearing twice on the same card will be spelled differently, and we
.have sought by this index to cover all such discrepancies, and in cases where
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doubtmay exist, wehave indexed soastocoverboth endsofthe doubt. Where
different members of famihes spell their names differently, we have likewise
covered both ways of spelling.
Your index may refer you to a particular card, turning to that card you do
not find the name given in the index, if you will look at the card carefully,
study it, you will in most instances see the reason for the reference. In some
cases this reason is not apparent from the card, but there is a reason, never-
theless, in each case, and cross references of names found on the card will un-
doubtedly show the reason.
Many believe that the date of enrollment is the date from which you cal-
culate to determine the age of the allottee. In a great many instances this
is true, but in many cases this is not true. The law says, that the enrollment
record shall govern as to age. The enrollment record may include the testi-
mony taken at the time of enrollment, affidavits, birth certificates, etc. Every-
one ought before purchasing, or leasing lands, to secure from the Commis-
sioner a certified copy of the enrollment testimony, if there be any question
as to age.
More than one-third of the Creek allottees are dead, at this time: the
balance must die. The object of this record is to present to the public a
means of determining the heirs. It is a presentation of the material facts
which the public should know in order that they may secure further infor-
mation from the Superintendent's office.
Thousands and thousands of deeds have been placed of record, one might
say at ramdom, because of lack of information on the part of those taking the
deeds. It is believed that the publication of this record will put a stop to
such practise.
The enrollment records are the basis of title of these Indian lands. Judge
Sanborn hasso declared them to be, and even if he had not so declared, common
sense would tell us that they are. These facts should be given the same
publicity as other public records. The magnitude of the task has prevented
this. The government at some time will make all these records public in some
form, but when it does it will be complete, it will not be an abstract such as
is given here. Lack of knowledge of these essential facts is almost universal.
An instance possibly will show something of this. The compiler of this record
prepared a brief in a case, pending in the Supreme Court of Oklahoma, and
filed this brief with the court. In this brief was detailed the procedure and
manner of work of the Dawes Commission and of its records. One of the
justices wrote the writer that he had read the brief and was amazed at the
contents. He stated that he had no idea that the facts were such as they
were shown to be and added that the public generally were not advised of this,
and asked permission to file the original brief in the Historical Library of this
State.
The need of such a book as this has been so apparent for years that the
writer had in course of preparation a copy for his own use. Other lawyers
seeing the work wanted copies, and this was the inspiration for publication.
A canvass of the larger cities of the Creek Nation convinced the compiler of
the record and index that the public wanted it. After deciding to publish
the work it was necessary that all records be gone over carefully again, and
compared with the originals in the office of the Superintendent to the Five
Civilized Tribes. The work was begun under the administration of Mr. J.
George Wright, Commissioner, continued under the administration of Mr
