Philip and Elzora Lewis A Creek Freedmen Family

Many people assume that ALL Indian tribal freedmen were enslaved or children of enslaved people. There were people of African ancestry who were free people, living within their tribe, and those whose mother was also free born, as well. The case of Philip and Elzora Lewis is an interesting example.

This family resided in Muskogee, Indian Territory. Both were born about 1869 long after the war had ended, and thus were not born enslaved. Philip's father belonged to Arkansas town, and there is no indication that his father had been enslaved. His mother was enslaved by Roly McIntosh a well known name in Creek history. But since his mother had been enslaved, one might assume that is why he was put on the Freedmen roll. Elzora's father was a Choctaw Freedman, which would have had no bearing at all on her status as a Creek. Her mother Bettie had been a "free born" woman, and thus should have made her eligible to be considered or treated differently, and not as a woman once enslaved. Sadly the concept of treating those once enslaved was so easily acceptable as being something acceptable, which is as it is still among the tribes today.

Of course the race-based policies of the Dawes Commission, as well as racially based policies that the tribes continue to embrace, put Elzora also on the Dawes roll as "Freedman" even though her mother was a free woman living as a Creek. Although it is often said that a child follows the status of the mother, clearly Elzora's mother was Creek, lived as a Creek, belonged to a Creek town. But---as is evidenced---she was classified as a Creek Freedman. The status of her mother is reflected on the second image--the reverse side of the enrollment card.

Creek Freedman Card #105

The National Archives at Ft Worth; Ft Worth, Texas, USA; 

Enrollment Cards for the Five Civilized Tribes, 1898-1914; 

NAI Number: 251747; Record Group Title: Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs; Record Group Number: 75

(Source same as above)

Unfortunately, there is no Dawes Interview packet for the Lewis family. Within the Creek nation, many of the Dawes interviews are "missing" and simply not found among the microfilmed records. However, thankfully there is much more to learn about the Lewis family, and in fact, a far better interview with Elzora is found in the Western History Collection at the University of Oklahoma. 

In January of 1937, Elzora was interviewed by the team working for the Indian Pioneer History project. Those interviews are part of the Western History Collection of the University of Oklahoma. And thankfully they are also digitized and online. Elzora's story is found there among them. Because she was able to speak freely, Elzora's interview was wonderfully rich with data about her family and far greater than the Dawes interview, wherever it may be, would contain.

Her life story and that of her parents is an amazing one. Her mother was the daughter of a Rolla Scott, a Creek who came to the Territory quite early. Elzora even had information about her father's parents--her grandparents, some of whom were reluctant to remove to the Territory.

Western History Collection, University of Oklahoma, Indian Pioneer Project
WPA Interview with Elzora (Fulsom) Lewis, June 28, 1933, Interview #6432

Elzora points out that she attended a "Baptist Missionary School located on Agency Hill, on Honor Heights in Muskogee.  People familiar with Honor Heights know that this was the site of the former Evangel Mission school for Creek children, and that this building is now known as the Five Civilized Tribes Museum.

(Source: Same as previous image)

(Source: Same as previous Image)

In her interview, we learn more about her family, because Elzora mentioned not only her children, but also her grandchildren who would have still been living in Muskogee at the time. It is hoped that their descendants are now aware of their rich history that has been well documented from multiple sources.

Elzora's Father - A Choctaw Freedman

From the Choctaw Nation, but also living the Creek nation, was Elzora's father Louis Folsom. He was admitted by the commission as a Choctaw Freedman. His own card can be found on Choctaw Freedman Card #466. His parents were Yap Colbert and Lydia Colbert. His parents were enslaved by Pittman Colbert, whereas he himself had been enslaved by Sampson Folsom. (He also has four additional Creek Freekmen children who are listed on Creek Freedman Card #360 on Field Card Number 370. They all reside in Checotah, in the Chambers household.)

Choctaw Freedman Card #466

The National Archives at Ft Worth; Ft Worth, Texas, USA; 

Enrollment Cards for the Five Civilized Tribes, 1898-1914; 

NAI Number: 251747; Record Group Title: Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs; Record Group Number: 75

(Source: Same as image above)

Within Louis Folsom's Dawes packet are several interesting pages. There is an interview with him, and also an interview with one of his grown children, as well. His own interview was not complicated and a simple forthright one that cleared him through the Dawes enrollment process.

Another interview found in the file is with an adult daughter Lizzie. This daughter would have been a half-sister to Elzora Lewis. She was questioned about her father, and though she could not answer some of the questions about him, she was still enrolled on the same card with him. Also it comes out during Lizzie's interview that she resided in Goodland, and not in the same area with her father, nor with her half sister Elzora.

National Archives Publication M1301
Dawes Packet for Choctaw Freedman #466
Accessed on Fold3.com: https://www.fold3.com/image/260/54844206

(Source: Same as above image)

An interesting hand-written note also appears in the Dawes enrollment packet verifying the history of Louis Folsom, Elzora's father. Individuals who knew him since birth testified that he was indeed born where he stated that he was and that he had truly lived in the community stated. It should be pointed out that at the time of the Dawes interview, Louis Folsom was in his sixties, which makes these hand-written sworn statements even more amazing and important. In that letter, the three people quoted were able to provide the exact birthdate for Louis Folsom, Elzora Lewis's father. He was born in 1837 and those who signed the letter knew him from his earliest years.

Source: Same as above image

The family history of Elzora Lewis's family is a rich one, and it shows how inter-connected many of the Freedmen families were. Their often overlapped with citizens of other tribes, and they were aware of their histories and were able to prove who they were. Elzora and her family were strongly Creek in culture, lifestyle and identity. However, her father and half-siblings were Choctaw Freedmen.

From her interview with the Indian Pioneer project we learn on Elzora having been educated at Evangel Mission School (now the home of the Five Civilized Tribes Museum) and how deeply a part of the Creek Nation her life and history were.

This is a wonderful example of a rich family legacy, and it is also hoped that the descendants of Lizzie Williams as well as Elzora Lewis someday met, or will meet and can appreciate their shared history.

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This is the 14th article in a series devoted to sharing histories and stories 

of families once held as slaves in Indian Territory, now known as Oklahoma.
The focus of the series is on the Freedmen of the Five Civilized Tribes and these posts
are part of a project goal of documenting 52 families in 52 weeks.

Johnson Family of Benge, Indian Territory, A Cherokee Freedman Family

The Johnson family of Benge, Indian Territory (now Muldrow, Oklahoma) is a family of Cherokee Freedmen rooted in the Cherokee Nation, in what is now the old Shady Grove Community. This family was descended from Mose Johnson, an early arrival in the Territory.

During the years of the Dawes Commission, Lewis Johnson who was then the head of the Johnson clan, appeared in front of the commission in 1901. The family lived in the Sequoyah District of the Cherokee Nation, (now Sequoyah County). Lewis Johnson was 50 years old at the time, and at one time he was enslaved by Cherokee Ben Johnson.

He appeared for the purposes of enrolling himself and his sons, James, Sanford, and Lewis Jr. as well as his daughter Louella.

Cherokee Freedman Card #113
Source:
The National Archives at Ft Worth; Ft Worth, Texas, USA; Enrollment Cards for the Five Civilized Tribes, 1898-1914;
NAI Number: 251747; Record Group Title: Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs; Record Group Number: 75

Source: Same as Above

Color images accessed on Ancestry:Ancestry.com. 

Oklahoma and Indian Territory, Dawes Census Cards for Five Civilized Tribes, 1898-1914 

[database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014.

The mother of Lewis Johnson's first 3 children was Hester Pope Johnson, and the mother of his last child was Frances Smiley Gunter Johnson his second wife. He pointed out when asked, that both women were non-citizens of the tribe, and it was he who was the Cherokee citizen making the application on behalf of the family.

The Dawes Application PacketThis interview with Lewis Johnson was a straight forward one and their case was without complication. The head of the family Lewis was asked about his past and whether he was a citizen. Of interest to the commissioner was where he was during the Civil War Conflict, and when he returned to the Cherokee Nation after the war. This was an important question, because for many Freedmen, if they returned after 1866 there may have been problems and that was often a line of questioning for Cherokee Freedmen.

Source: National Archives Microfilm Publication M1301
Cherokee Freedman File 113
Image accessed through Fold3.com

Although the wife was not applying for citizenship there was strong interest in the marriage between Lewis and first wife, Hester.  Because J. H. Alexander, was in the vicinity of the hearings he was able to provide a marriage record, hand written, and he recalled performing the marriage several years earlier. He indicated that he personally knew Lewis Johnson, and that he did perform the marriage between Lewis Johnson and Hester Pope. At time of the marriage, J. H. Alexander was serving as clerk of the Sequoyah District, of the Cherokee Nation.

There does not appear to have been any doubt about J. H. Alexander's statement, therefore the document was accepted as an official certificate.

The result was that the family was enrolled without complication.

Acquiring the Land

As enrolled Cherokees, each member of the family was to receive a parcel of land. The Land Allotment jackets reveal more detail about the family and their selection of land. Apparently Lewis Johnson had received land through this process, but he chose to relinquish it, because he had already selected land and was making improvements upon the parcel of land where he had been residing. This was reflected in a second interview. (This interview was found among the records of the Land Allotment process, also on Ancestry.)

Ancestry.com. Oklahoma and Indian Territory, Land Allotment Jackets for Five Civilized Tribes, 1884-1934 

[database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc, 2014.

(same as above)

At the end of the process each land owner received a letter similar to this one sent to Sanford Johnson, one of Lewis's sons.

(same as above)

It might generally be assumed that there is not much more that can be learned about the Johnson family. However, years ago, it was pointed out by Doug Johnson, a descendant of Lewis Johnson, that his ancestor, Mose Johnson had an interesting headstone and it looked as if it was a military stone. After that conversatin, he went to visit the cemetery, and sure enough Mose Johnson did have an interesting headstone.  He shared the information from the stone with me, and it turns out that Mose Johnson, (the father of Lewis Johnson) was a Union Army Civil War soldier. Having been born enslaved--he was a true freedom fighter.

Upon learning of his service, I took a look to see what could be learned about him. It turns out that he served in the 83rd US Colored Infantry, having enlisted in Ft. Scott, Kansas. After enlisting, he served as a nurse in the medical unit of the 2nd Kansas Colored, the original name of the regiment.

His Civil War service is noted and most interestingly, there is additional information to be found on the Johnson family, because Moses Johnson, (known as Mose) also left behind a widow after his death and she filed for and received a Civil War widow's pension.

The family receive payments from the Civil War service of Moses Johnson, in the 83rd US Colored infantry, and the family survived living on the family land allotments for several decades.

The Johnson family now has many branches from coast to coast, and many are now part of other families such as the Davis family clan of western Arkansas, the Waltons also of Western Arkansas, the Dedners of Washington DC, the Moons of Colorado, and many extended parts around the country.

Much more to the family's history can be examined and the story deserves to be told. Mose Johnson's name is also inscribed on the wall of Civil War soldiers at the Civil War African American Memorial in Washington DC.

This Cherokee Freedman family has a rich legacy literally from that of people enslaved, to people empowered. They were freedom fighters, survivors in freedom, and the family still strives to continue its legacy.

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(This is the 11th article in a series devoted to sharing histories and stories
of families once held as slaves in Indian Territory, now known as Oklahoma. 
The focus is on the Freedmen of the Five Civilized Tribes, are part of a project goal of documenting 52 Families in 52 weeks.)

Family of John Kemp, Oldest Chickasaw Freedman

On September 1898, John Kemp of Wynnewood, Indian Territory appeared in front of the Dawes Commission to enroll himself and several members of his family. His goal was to enroll his wife, Meline and their children Gabriel and Louis P.  An interesting note appears on the bottom of his card about a "petition to transfer". This may suggest that he was on the list known to some as Bettie's List--a list of hundreds of Chickasaw Freedmen requesting to be transferred to the Blood Roll, having had at least one parent or grandparent, to have been of Chickasaw blood.

On the reverse side of the card, the names of the parents are found. John's father was a man known simply as "Louis", and his mother was a woman referred to only as "Jennie". (See images below.)

National Archives Publication M1186
Chickasaw Freedman Card No. 274The National Archives at Ft Worth; Ft Worth, Texas, USA; 

Enrollment Cards for the Five Civilized Tribes, 1898-1914; 

NAI Number: 251747; Record Group Title: Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs; Record Group Number: 75

Source: Same as for above image

His file deserves attention because he was 98 years old at the time, and John Kemp was the oldest Chickasaw Freedman to be enrolled. He was a man who by his age would have been among Chickasaws in Mississippi, long before their removal and arrival in the west. His was a life that was able to endure the horrors and cruelties of slavery, as one of the many people enslaved by Jackson Kemp.

For one to have been so old, I became curious to learn more about the man, his life and his family. As a slave was his life a difficult one, and could more be learned?

Would his Dawes interview reveal much detail, or as a Chickasaw Freedmen who were mistreated and neglected by their own nation during the Dawes process, would he have one of the notorious "summaries" in his interview?

I pulled up his Dawes application packet, and was surprised to see more than a 2-3 sentence summary. What the file contained was again a summary, but several summaries about his children--all of them. Included among the names of his children are the names of his daughters who were then married, with different surnames. This amazing list of his children is even further enhanced, as he goes on to then name his sons and daughters their spouse, as well as the names of their children. This is one of the few Chickasaw files that goes into that much detail on a Freedman family.

Because of the extensive detail on the record, the children and their families deserve to be cited here.

Children of John Kemp:
  Malinda Kemp Sears
  Emily Kemp Allen
  Lottie Kemp
  Larena Kemp
  Jennie Kemp Blue

  Ebenezer Kemp
  Smith Kemp
  Gabriel Kemp
  Louis Park Kemp

  Additional children:
   John Kemp
   Serena

   George Reynolds
   Adline Kemp Collins (name added from additional source below)

In addition to the names of John Kemp's children are the names of the grandchildren, providing even more data for the Kemp family researcher. Combined with the enrollment cards, the case of John Kemp contains 4 generations of data.

National Archives Microfilm Publication M1301
Chickasaw Freedman File No 274

Images accessed through Fold3.com

(same as for above image)

(same as for above image)

I could not help but wonder why so much information was asked of John Kemp, when countless others had the well known "abbreviated" files. The age of the man is a marvel in itself, and perhaps because he was an elder among the freedmen, that he may have been interviewed so extensively. Thankfully this is one of the more unique files that document multiple generations of a large clan of Kemps from Chickasaw country.

It should be noted that the Kemps were a large clan among Chickasaw Freedmen families and there are others, who are possibly related to John Kemp that deserve equally as extensive research to determine if there are even more connections to the Kemp clan. The families of Henry Kemp and Isaac Kemp for example are worth studying to see if there were connections to the John Kemp family clan.

(This family clan is quite extensive and most likely interacted socially and possibly married into to two other large family clans from the Chickasaw Freedmen community--the Stevensons, and the Cochrans. Those families were from the Ada and Stonewall communities, but chances are strong that many did have contact with each other.)

Could more be learned about John Kemp?

What additional resources might there be to learn more about the man himself? The answer would come from the Indian Pioneer Papers, which are part of the Western History Collection at the University of Oklahoma.

I know that since he was the oldest Chickasaw Freedmen on the Dawes Roll, and I know he would not have lived till the 1930s to be interviewed by the Indian Pioneer Project--but what a wonderful surprise to see that one of his sons was interviewed. Ebenezer Kemp was interviewed by the Indian Pionner project---an undertaking in the 1930s to interview citizens who had ties to Oklahoma before statehood.

The interview of John's son Ebenezer is quite fascinating and reflects some of the life of John Kemp and his family in the years after the Civil War.

University of Oklahoma, Western History Collection, Indian Pioneer Papers

Item accessed from: 

http://digital.libraries.ou.edu/cdm/ref/collection/indianpp/id/4773

(Source: Same as previous image)

(Source: Same as previous image)

(Source: Same as previous image)

More on John Kemp was found when I read another interview from the Pioneer papers from the Western History Collection. Another daughter of John Kemp was Adeline Collins who was interviewed in July 1937. Her father was also John Kemp.

The piece is heartbreaking to read, for she described a whipping given to her father John under the orders of Jackson Kemp the slave holder. It answers the question about John's life while enslaved and reading about the whipping that the other slaves were forced to watch, describes the horrors of Black chattel slavery as practiced in Chickasaw country.

(Source: Same as previous image)

(Source: Same as previous image)

(Source: Same as previous image)

(Source: Same as previous image)

Both Adeline Collins and Ebenezer Kemp spoke of life after slavery when the father worked for a Mr. Garner (or Galner). A study of the 1860 slave schedule reflected the name of a Mr. Galner for whom John may have worked after freedom from bondage.

I was also curious to see what kind of community that John lived in while enslaved. Was he living among a large community of enslaved families, or was he part of a single household of slaves. I was surprised to see the size of the community of people enslaved by Jackson Kemp. He held over 60 men, women and children in bondage, as his human chattel.

Note: Slave Schedule of Indian Territory found at end of Arkansas Slave Schedule
National Archives Publication M653 Roll 54 Image No 776 Chickasaw Nation.
Accessed from Internet Archive: HERE

It should be pointed out that among the many enslaved people reflected as being held by Jackson Kemp, about 20 of them were listed as "fugitives". In other words they were seeking freedom and had runaway from the estate of Jackson Kemp. They were people of all ages, which suggests that some fled with their children. Could John have been among them? One of the oldest slaves held by Kemp was a 60 year old woman. Was John among others who fled? Was this older woman related to him? 

Close up of previous image.

The life of John Kemp, is the story of a man who survived removal to the west with Chickasaws, a slave whipping as a younger man, made it freedom, and later lived through the years of  westward expansion and the continuing trials endured by Chickasaw Freedmen.

In spite of hardship as a man enslaved, his story is a remarkable story of resilience and a desire to survive. John Kemp was able to live to not only experience freedom for himself, but also to see his children and grandchildren enjoy life in freedom. In the post war years the Kemp family clan lived near Blue Creek, then Cherokee Town, and with time, there was final settlement in and around Tishomingo and later Wynnewood.

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(This is the 7th article in a series devoted to sharing families held as slaves in Indian Territory (now known as Oklahoma). The focus is on Freedmen from the Five Civilized Tribes and are part of the efforts in 2017 to document 52 families om 52 weeks.)

Estate Record in Cherokee Nation Bequeathing Slaves

Estate record of John Sanders, of Cherokee Nation, 17 April, 1847

OHS Microfilm: CHN 38  Digitized by Ancestry - Original Title: Old Marriage Record - Flint District, 

Image 214 of 717

(WHOLE IMAGE BELOW)
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(Transcription of two paragraphs from above image):

"To Charles Sanders, my son, one Negro Man by the name of Alfred, and his wife Tilda. My farm lying on Salisaw Creek, known as the farm, whereon I have formerly lived, and one yoke of oxen, one wagon, all my stock of hogs, and also one half of my stock of cattle."

"To my daughter Elizabeth, I give her one half of my stock of cattle, and I give unto my daughter Pagy, one Negro girl Lucy."

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While examining the thousands of pages from the Cherokee Nation that were digitized 2 years ago, I was surprised to come upon some estate record. This set of records comes from an Oklahoma Historical Society microfilm, CHN 38 and is entitled Old Marriage Records Flint District. However, it was a surprise to see that within this small set of records a ledger that begins with a last will of a Charles Sanders leaving his children enslaved people as part of their inheritance.

A majority of the records entered into the ledger were dated after the Civil War, but this document from 1847 is rare for many reasons. First, it is uncommon to find estate records from pre-Civil War Indian Territory. The county system and court-house repositories from that time period do not exist and if there are probate records of any kind from the Territory, they may be private collections and are not in the public domain.

Secondly, to find a document prior to the Civil War from Indian Territory reflecting ownership of slaves by anyone living in the Territory is rare. Slavery as an institution practiced on the western frontier is not widely studied and rarely taught. Slavery in the Cherokee Nation, and likewise in the other tribes where slaves were held in bondage, is not included in the historical narrative of the tribes themselves, so it is truly remarkable that such a document survived, and that such a document was microfilmed.

Thirdly, the discourse of slavery in the Territory and has yet to unfold. Some of it has become known to a larger audience when descendants of the enslaved have sought to have their rights as citizens recognized. Similar to that in the deep south, true historical scholarship on American slavery unfolded as the occurrence of a struggle for rights of oppressed African Americans increased. Perhaps as the struggles of oppressed people increase, so too one sees an increase in the history of the same population.

Several years ago I studied runaway slave ads in Indian Territory press, and have found some in the Choctaw Intelligencer, as well as early issues of the Cherokee Phoenix & Indian Advocate. The discussion of slavery brings about discomfort for many. But discomfort among those of the dominant culture is also the discomfort that brings about change. It is that discomfort that makes people examine their own values, and pre-conceived notions about people whom they have never sought to know, and often later learn that there are more similarities than differences.

In the earlier days of the "current" movement from the Freedmen community, many would whisper that Freedmen were descendants of "slaves" as if that in itself put the shame upon those who never enslaved themselves--and many would use the term as if the ancestors of the Freedmen, had committed the crime of their enslavement themselves. The fact being of course that many (not all) of the ancestors of the dominant culture were the actual perpetrators of the heinous act of enslavement of others.

But---with more exposure, and voice from the oppressed, comes the courage to look at the history with a different eye. Not an eye of discomfort and distance, and disdain, but with an eye of comfort--with oneself and one's ability to see oneself, and to see the humanity of those once oppressed as part of the human family.

Partial list of the slaves of John Ross, from 1860 Slave Schedule
"Lands West of Arkansas" 1860 Slave Schedule, Tahlequah District p. 26
Image can be accessed on Internet Archive (Image 863 of 865)

And that gives one freedom to study the history objectively and not to hide it. That gives all of the tribes to mention the practice of slavery among their historical leaders, from Ross, to Pitchlynn, to Love, to Bowleggs, to McIntosh. To tell the story of American history without mentioning slavery is to put a gaping gash of omission on that historical narrative which leaves it flawed. To tell the story of Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek and Seminoles, without the story of slavery is to put a gash of omission on that historical narrative as well.

Hopefully more documents will emerge to tell some of that story. The purpose of studying them, is not to accuse, but to learn more about the human family of which we are all a part.

(Entire image. For citation, see above)