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Was that the lady who’s picture you sent? Are you saying somebody busted her legs to get her to sign over her land, then dumped her on a bus? What year was that?
Indiana was nasty with the clan in the 30’s. Is that when this happened?
To: William Rieffer & itconani,
Regarding the Thomas surname, I have one ancestor named Thomas Thomas. That’s not a error, his first name was the same as his last. He was from Virginia. Another thing I noticed the Whited name, it reminded me of the Whitehead family of Virginia. Maybe a short version of the same name? Just a thought. My family surnames are below:
CASH
SKINNER, ELIZABETH
GARRETT
WALKER, RUTH HOWARD
GOINGS (do to this female being one of several marriages to the same man, can’t prove that she is my ancestor yet.)
TURNER
THOMAS
ARTHUR
NORTH
AGEE
BOUNDURANT
FORD
PATTERSON
CHASTAIN
NOW FOR A FEW FAMILY SURNAMES CONNECTED, BUT NOT MY DIRECT LINE:
BROWN
MASSEY
OHMAHUNDRA (SPELLING MAY BE WRONG)
WRIGHT
PHELPS (MAYBE DIRECT ANCESTOR)
FEATHERSTONE
HIGGINBOTHAM
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The reason I put the indirect relatives, is simply because these families lived side by side, & they are family none the less. Hope this helps. I wish I had more info on the Thomas family but I don’t.
Sincerely,
CoheeLady
I have one Thomas in my line. Here is the information and of course they lived in west Virginia. THOMAS JONES and LAVINAH THOMAS
WILLIAM3 WILLIAMS (HUGH2, JEREMIAH1) was born 1794 in Greenbrier Co. Va.., and died 1869 in Nicholas Co. WV. He married (1) REBECCA HEATERS. He married (2) ELIZABETH JONES 1818 in Kanawha Co. WV, daughter of THOMAS JONES and LAVINAH THOMAS. She was born 1796 in Greenbrier Co. WV, and died 1882 in Nicholas Co. WV.
Children of WILLIAM WILLIAMS and ELIZABETH JONES are: i. ROBERT4 WILLIAMS, b. 1818, Nicholas Co. WV; m. MIRIAM NEAL, 1839; b. 1820. ii. SENNETT WILLIAMS, b. 1820, Nicholas Co. WV; m. NELLIE NUTTER, 1841; b. 1823, Nicholas Co. WVa.; d. 1869. iii. HARRIETT WILLIAMS, b. 1822, Nicholas Co. WV; m. GEORGE N. GRAY; b. 1821, Nicholas Co. WVa.. iv. REBECCA WILLIAMS, b. 1825, Nicholas Co. WV; d. 1857, Nicholas Co. WVa.; m. DAVID S. NUTTER; b. 1825. 2. v. JOHN JONES WILLIAMS, b. 1826, Nicholas Co. WVa.; d. Bef. 1880, Nicholas Co. WVa.. vi. ALEXANDER WILLIAMS, b. 1829, Nicholas Co. WV; d. 1891, Nicholas Co. WVa.; m. ALMERINDA O’DELL; b. 1833, Nicholas Co. WV. vii. WILLIAM T. WILLIAMS, b. 1832, Nicholas Co. WV; m. MARY SIZEMORE; b. 1838. viii. SAMUEL F. WILLIAMS, b. 1833, Nicholas Co. WV; m. ELIZABETH MARY BAILES, 1856; b. 1839. ix. SHELTON PARKER WILLIAMS, b. 1834, Nicholas Co. WV; m. (1) MARY JEFFERS; m. (2) SUSAN DUNBAR; m. (3) MARY O’DELL; m. (4) CATHERINE BARRETT.
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Life is a Rainbow made up of Many Different Colors…..
Hello Linda, yes the lady in the photo that I had sent is the lady that Iam refering to. The year was 1946.
You are very correct with the clan issue in Indiana , during the 1930 they announced that they were the Law this was over the radio.
I can tell you that one I will go back to her land and do a search since we do know who the leg and claim busters are.
They forced her into signing papers of transfer to them , she didn’t want to and then they beat her, put her on a train to her daughters in California where she died.
Sorry to bring this up I know I said thet talking about how our ancestors were mistreated didn’t do them justice but I was wrong, silencing the victims is not justice!
Best to all Tom
That is horrific. I hope you do dig all that up and find lots of evidence to substantiate the story and there’s a big ugly stink in their backyard.
Hello Linda, yes Iam sure one day that there will be a big ugly stink in thier back yard since Gramma’s front yard was a coal mine and her back yard an oil field! NO Kidding.
This is a true fact! Mom’s Uncle, this ladies son was on her farm not long before it happened.
Thank you and best to All, Tom
Do you know any more of the story? Did anybody first offer her any money for her land? Or did they just go straight for the baseball bats to go break an old lady’s legs? I bet they’re still stuck in that back yard, wondering, what am I doing here? Why can’t I leave?
Hello linda, well I don’t know if the “Boy’s” are still there, I have heard of one still near there.
One elderly lady that I called remembered Grama and her suddenly leaving, I know that I’ll have to be very careful when I go there,it’s all oil fields now. Well time will tell all, what is done in the dark is known by day!
Tom
Do you have a sense that this was done by a few thugs, an organized group, or some corporate thieves? I take it nothing was said to your gr-grandma that her land was suddenly worth a fortune, just some goons busting in, busting her legs and forcing her to sign some papers? All the while figuring nobody will care because she’s not quite white enough for a scandal? Saw that she got some rudimentary, inadequate medical care and then shipped her out of state? Is that the gist of it?
When I mentioned Angie Debo earlier on this thread, she documented many, many cases in the 1910s & 1920s of unscrupulous White men goin into Eastern Oklahoma and either declaring Indians “incompetent” (some judges were “on the take” and if Indians couldn’t answer some basic questions right, the judge declared them to be incompetent. Perhaps they didn’t answer the questions right because they didn’t speak English, & that was never brought up in court), or outright killing them, and having themselves declared “guardian” of any children, then taking the land for themselves — many oilmen got their wealth that way. Do a search for “Angie Debo” — very famous lady, here in Oklahoma. Some of these folks went as far as marrying an Indian girl then she & her family & or/and heirs suddenly dissapeared . . . This is well documented, and she (Angie Debo) earned her Ph.D. scandalizing a loooot of names of oil barons here, some names of which you might recognize on logos at the gas pumps. For details, get and read her books. They’d be at any Universite library, and they are in other larger libraries I’d imagine, or you can get them “on loan” from smaller libraries.
But don’t take my word for it — You ought to research her work yourselves if you are interested.
vance hawkins
To mention a pretty pedestrain source for what you’re talking about, there’s the old Jimmy Stewart movie about an FBI man. One of his stints was in Oklahoma and there was a scenario in which a white man had forced his nephew into marrying an Indian girl, then next thing you know her parents’ house blows up, with them in it, a few more relatives turn up murdered, and a will surfaces giving the nephew control of the land. If this movie plot is accurate, the FBI was able to prove that the will was fraudulent, authored by the white uncle.
I think Tom’s story’s a little unique though, being set in Indiana in 1946.
[This message has been edited by Linda (edited 08-05-2002).]
Hello well it was her 2 step sons that did the leg busting, her husband was obviosly in on it and who knows whoelse.
Gramma passed on in 46 so she may have been shipped out earlier, my cousin said that she just showed up one day and stayed until Auntie made her go to the hospital where she stayed for 6 weeks or so before she passed away.
I have heard of Angie Debo and have seen a book or 2 she did but will track them down once again, Thank you all, Tom
Here’s an interesting tidbit from my mom’s side of the family (the one with documented NA ancestry): my great-grandfather was a member of the klan back in the day…. the funny thing was is that he was part-Native American and part German-Jewish. Isn’t that just slightly ironic?
One of my only memories of him (as he died when I was 10, and I had very little contact with him as we lived in Iowa for much of my earlier life) was of him getting a washcloth and trying to scrub the skin on my face until it was nearly raw, because he said I was dirty… when really I was just very dark. Of course, before he could do any real damage, my g-grandma would swat him with a fly swatter. Its funny, the things you remember.
Thanks for that info, Vance. That would be good to look into. These stories, and the one about Carrie Buck, give me a sense of why in my own family there was such an urgency about getting educated and worldly, there was a sense that the wolves were at the door, it wasn’t social climbing out of greed or ambition, it was desparation.
I just wanted to add to the thread that there was a “mental” hospital in existence for about 30 years in Canton, South Dakota in which “incompetent,” crazy, beligirent, non-cooperative Indians were sent. Most if not all who were sent there died there that I can recall.
Canton Hospital was open from approximately 1900-1930 at which time a physician came out from Washington after several complaints about the treatment of the “patients” there. The conditions were appalling–people were left naked or part naked and dirty, they were emotionally, physically and sexually abused. The food was often wormy, rotten inedible leftovers from other places. Virtually all of the women who had children on the premises died as did their infants.
The physician from Washington immediately fired the head of the hospital and over some months everyone who was still alive was transferred to facilities back east.
The people committed to this place were Indians from all over the country. The property was taken over by the town of Canton and turned into a golf course. The caretaker there, however, is somewhat considerate of the events and helps protect the small graveyard in the middle of the course.
I have been to this graveyard several times; most of the names listed on the plaque are in whatever language the person spoke, some are French-origin surnames and some are Anglo. One or two are listed by one name only.
If anyone is interested in the full story and the list of names, let me know and I can get all of that information for you.
Lee
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