I was born Jan. 20, 1872 in the Going Snake District of
the Cherokee Nation, at Oaks, one of the two oldest towns in the
Cherokee Nation. I am a full blood Cherokee; my mother, Elizabeth
Miller came from Georgia in the Trail of Tears in 1832, when the
Indians were driven out of Georgia at the point of bayonet and brought
here like live-stock.
They came here by boats, landed at the mouth of the
Verdigris River. A rock with the date of their landing carved on it
still marks the spot of their landing.
Upon their arrival here the Creek and Cherokee tribes
separated. The Creeks going west of Grand River and the Cherokees
settling east of the Grand River.
Upon coming here the Cherokees were permitted to take
claims at the land they wanted, anywhere east of Grand River. The
stipulations of the treaty were that this land was to be theirs as
long as grass grew and the waters run. But later, the white mans
greed for this beautiful and valuable country became so strong that,
they went to work and legislated laws in Washington where by this
country might be surveyed and divided up, allowing each Indian just so
much land as a homestead and certain allotment of surplus other than
their homesteads.
The full blood Indians never did agree to this
allotment system but were forced to accept it.
