There
are a number of things about this story that piqued my interest. If you have
followed the work of my wife, Marsha Ann Matthews, and I, you know that we have
been mapping, visiting and looking for all these ghost towns that were once
thriving establishments all over Seminole County. It has been a massive
undertaking but a labor of love and lots of laughs. I will just tell you; it is
time to get out of the big city of Seminole and see the beauty that surrounds
it. We have been absolutely stunned and sometimes overwhelmed at the raw,
bucolic scenery in our travels. You had to be there!
This brings me to one of my points about this story. We have been all over the
county in that area described in this story. What struck me is when I came
across a former settlement by the name of Dindy. As many ghost towns and
settlements as we have located, we continue to find others that are lost to
history and where there is no historical record of their ever having been here.
That is such a travesty. However, this is an ongoing project and we plan to
find all that can be found. I may be found some day on stilts in an Indian
grave, although all my DNA testing says that I do not have a drop of Indian
blood in me. We need to find Dindy and any help in so doing would be most
welcome. As much as I have tried, we have not come up with a credible Indian
Territory Historian to provide us with the stories, even anecdotal, that we
have sought. That too is a travesty! There has to be someone out there! Since I
first wrote this, some have been suggested and I will get around to them at
some point.
The story underpinning all of this is another chapter in the Seminole/ Creek Nation. I’ll bet not 1 in 10 in this county has any idea that, at one time, it was just Creek. It was not until later when that tribe split into two, creating the Seminole Nation. That is a whole ‘nother story. Marsha and I have been in and around that whole Indian Spring area. We also stopped at the site of the John Frippo Brown Cemetary. He was once the Principal Chief of the Seminole Tribe—1885 to 1901 and 1905 to 1906. His daughter was Mary Alice Brown, later the Principal Chief herself—1925 to 1932, appointed by President Warren G. Harding. She had land in the NE of the county, in what was and really still is to some of us, Arbeka, formerly a fairly large land area - Seminole Indian Territory [IT]; Red Mound Township. One of my recent acquaintances bought that parcel of land. I have been invited out to visit that area which still has visible wagon tracks for the wagon trains of yesteryear. There is a cave there where those waiting on their wagon would hold up while out of the inclement weather. It is just one of many such items on our Seminole IT Bucket List, which is quite lengthy and now growing. There is also a marker she told me about that has a rock hewed with arrows, pointing both east and west, with Arbeka on the East and Econtuchka Township on the west. Both extend to the eastern and western borders of the county.
Since you may be reading this on our website, you will find much more on all of the above as you wind your way down the page. It is loaded and will take some time if you want to see it all, but I believe it is so worth your time if you care anything about this very rich and fully loaded history of Seminole. Enjoy the story and ponder it all. There is so much more to come.
The story underpinning all of this is another chapter in the Seminole/ Creek Nation. I’ll bet not 1 in 10 in this county has any idea that, at one time, it was just Creek. It was not until later when that tribe split into two, creating the Seminole Nation. That is a whole ‘nother story. Marsha and I have been in and around that whole Indian Spring area. We also stopped at the site of the John Frippo Brown Cemetary. He was once the Principal Chief of the Seminole Tribe—1885 to 1901 and 1905 to 1906. His daughter was Mary Alice Brown, later the Principal Chief herself—1925 to 1932, appointed by President Warren G. Harding. She had land in the NE of the county, in what was and really still is to some of us, Arbeka, formerly a fairly large land area - Seminole Indian Territory [IT]; Red Mound Township. One of my recent acquaintances bought that parcel of land. I have been invited out to visit that area which still has visible wagon tracks for the wagon trains of yesteryear. There is a cave there where those waiting on their wagon would hold up while out of the inclement weather. It is just one of many such items on our Seminole IT Bucket List, which is quite lengthy and now growing. There is also a marker she told me about that has a rock hewed with arrows, pointing both east and west, with Arbeka on the East and Econtuchka Township on the west. Both extend to the eastern and western borders of the county.
Since you may be reading this on our website, you will find much more on all of the above as you wind your way down the page. It is loaded and will take some time if you want to see it all, but I believe it is so worth your time if you care anything about this very rich and fully loaded history of Seminole. Enjoy the story and ponder it all. There is so much more to come.
The
Story of Martha Jane Floyd
Seminole Indian Territory [IT]
If you would like to know the entire story, and you should, it appears in the Seminole Producer, October 29, 2017. I will post a piece on this story following this post. This will be the front page of another rather comprehensive piece on Seminole IT and my family history/ genealogy. That family history/ genealogy has been accepted and verified by the relevant authorities in Great Britain, as documented, to the time of Lord Ithel Ddu, aka “The Gwaithfoed.” He reigned c. 900-1000 AD. I will go no further with this angle other than to say there is a book about it, published by yours truly, and will have a sequel. It is a world history, not just a family history. I suppose it can be said it is also Seminole history.
I should mention too that I have been tested to 67 Markers Y-DNA, HVR-1 and HVR-2 mtDNA and the autosomal Family Finder Test which takes me as far as 6th cousins. If you are not familiar with these tests, my 6th cousins go back to the time of my 5th G-Grandfather, James Matthews [b. about 1697], the immigrant. My DNA has been uploaded to some worldwide DNA projects, including the National Geographic Genographic Project; long story. DNA is science; it is not family folklore, lies and Family Bible novels, if you get my meaning.
When you read this story, you will see a fascinating piece on the history of Oklahoma Indian Territory [IT], Seminole IT and the transition from Tidmore IT to Seminole, Oklahoma. You will see how Martha Jane Floyd obviously had a constantly moving wagon back and forth from Arkansas to Oklahoma IT, to the Land Run in 1889 [One of 8 Land Runs] and back again to Arkansas and then to Tidmore, IT and finally Seminole, Oklahoma. Her first “hotel” was a tent in Wewoka, IT, then a wood and tin model in Tidmore and one in the new Seminole, Oklahoma and the final being a brick model [The Commercial Hotel] on Main and Oak, still extant today. It is now occupied by Dixie Finance Co. [No comment] I would say that 95% of the residents here have not a clue of any of this story and history, generally. They largely tend to like nothing if it is not “new.”
The story mentions that Martha Jane was born in 1866, in “Izzard” Co., AR, 7 years after my G-G-Grandfather moved there from Benton Co., TN. She was born a Brinsfield, another family with a long history here in Seminole and that will be mentioned on Page 2, coming soon.
Firstly, it is Izard County, not Izzard. It was spawned by Arkansas Co., MO, in 1813. It was originally of the Cherokee Tract, prior to Arkansas Territory and Statehood. Izard became a county in 1825, as one of the original “Parent Counties” in Arkansas. From Izard County were spawned about 10 other counties which I will not name here but will name some of them later with a purpose. Ole “Doc” Grisso was sitting in his house on one day in Izard County and the next day he was in Baxter County, never having taken a step. It was not long before that, one would awaken in another state, never even getting on his horse. I had one G-G-Uncle who did not know where he was born. Different census records had him being born in 4 different states—Georgia, N Carolina, S Carolina and Alabama. That piece of land was where all those borders meet, and you can also throw in Tennessee and Virginia. It was the “Black Hole” of genealogy.
The story mentions that Martha Jane lived on 400 N. Highland and that was directly across the street from Winford Fizer Matthews and his wife, Ara Della [Barnett] Matthews, my grandparents, also from Izard Co., AR, and some of the other original settlers here. It should be said that there were many others too who were from Izard Co., AR, who built this city. I will not go into detail here but that too will soon follow.
In the autumn of 1906, land in an Indian Nation could not be bought, so the white residents of Tidmore had to rely on the uncertain and extra-legal lease system. When restrictions were removed from Seminole freedmen (Before they were removed from the Indians), Tom Biggers, J.C. Matthews and Jacob VanBuskirk acquired eighty acres in what is now the center of Seminole from a freedman named Wallace Carter and marked off lots and streets.
Here are just a few of the other notables from there and went to Tidmore IT and finally to Seminole, Oklahoma: W.E. “Doc” Grisso of Grisso Mansion fame, Robert Hutton Chase, James Henry and his brother Jasper Newton Harber, Andrew Jackson Seay and two sons, Jasper Newton and Andrew Howell Seay; Franklin Randolph Noe, Bill McNeill, etc. All of the above married the daughters and granddaughters of my G-G-Grandfather, Robert Calvin Matthews, Izard Co., AR [1859], via Benton Co., TN. By the way, all of the above came to Arkansas from that same spot in Tennessee. They moved in packs from Boston Harbor in 1718, to Chester Co., PA, to the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia, to Southside Virginia on the Wagon Road, to Rowan Co., NC and to two locations in Tennessee—Maury and Stewart Counties. Other members of these families were original settlers of Pottawatomie and Pontotoc Counties.
Seminole Indian Territory [IT]
If you would like to know the entire story, and you should, it appears in the Seminole Producer, October 29, 2017. I will post a piece on this story following this post. This will be the front page of another rather comprehensive piece on Seminole IT and my family history/ genealogy. That family history/ genealogy has been accepted and verified by the relevant authorities in Great Britain, as documented, to the time of Lord Ithel Ddu, aka “The Gwaithfoed.” He reigned c. 900-1000 AD. I will go no further with this angle other than to say there is a book about it, published by yours truly, and will have a sequel. It is a world history, not just a family history. I suppose it can be said it is also Seminole history.
I should mention too that I have been tested to 67 Markers Y-DNA, HVR-1 and HVR-2 mtDNA and the autosomal Family Finder Test which takes me as far as 6th cousins. If you are not familiar with these tests, my 6th cousins go back to the time of my 5th G-Grandfather, James Matthews [b. about 1697], the immigrant. My DNA has been uploaded to some worldwide DNA projects, including the National Geographic Genographic Project; long story. DNA is science; it is not family folklore, lies and Family Bible novels, if you get my meaning.
When you read this story, you will see a fascinating piece on the history of Oklahoma Indian Territory [IT], Seminole IT and the transition from Tidmore IT to Seminole, Oklahoma. You will see how Martha Jane Floyd obviously had a constantly moving wagon back and forth from Arkansas to Oklahoma IT, to the Land Run in 1889 [One of 8 Land Runs] and back again to Arkansas and then to Tidmore, IT and finally Seminole, Oklahoma. Her first “hotel” was a tent in Wewoka, IT, then a wood and tin model in Tidmore and one in the new Seminole, Oklahoma and the final being a brick model [The Commercial Hotel] on Main and Oak, still extant today. It is now occupied by Dixie Finance Co. [No comment] I would say that 95% of the residents here have not a clue of any of this story and history, generally. They largely tend to like nothing if it is not “new.”
The story mentions that Martha Jane was born in 1866, in “Izzard” Co., AR, 7 years after my G-G-Grandfather moved there from Benton Co., TN. She was born a Brinsfield, another family with a long history here in Seminole and that will be mentioned on Page 2, coming soon.
Firstly, it is Izard County, not Izzard. It was spawned by Arkansas Co., MO, in 1813. It was originally of the Cherokee Tract, prior to Arkansas Territory and Statehood. Izard became a county in 1825, as one of the original “Parent Counties” in Arkansas. From Izard County were spawned about 10 other counties which I will not name here but will name some of them later with a purpose. Ole “Doc” Grisso was sitting in his house on one day in Izard County and the next day he was in Baxter County, never having taken a step. It was not long before that, one would awaken in another state, never even getting on his horse. I had one G-G-Uncle who did not know where he was born. Different census records had him being born in 4 different states—Georgia, N Carolina, S Carolina and Alabama. That piece of land was where all those borders meet, and you can also throw in Tennessee and Virginia. It was the “Black Hole” of genealogy.
The story mentions that Martha Jane lived on 400 N. Highland and that was directly across the street from Winford Fizer Matthews and his wife, Ara Della [Barnett] Matthews, my grandparents, also from Izard Co., AR, and some of the other original settlers here. It should be said that there were many others too who were from Izard Co., AR, who built this city. I will not go into detail here but that too will soon follow.
In the autumn of 1906, land in an Indian Nation could not be bought, so the white residents of Tidmore had to rely on the uncertain and extra-legal lease system. When restrictions were removed from Seminole freedmen (Before they were removed from the Indians), Tom Biggers, J.C. Matthews and Jacob VanBuskirk acquired eighty acres in what is now the center of Seminole from a freedman named Wallace Carter and marked off lots and streets.
Here are just a few of the other notables from there and went to Tidmore IT and finally to Seminole, Oklahoma: W.E. “Doc” Grisso of Grisso Mansion fame, Robert Hutton Chase, James Henry and his brother Jasper Newton Harber, Andrew Jackson Seay and two sons, Jasper Newton and Andrew Howell Seay; Franklin Randolph Noe, Bill McNeill, etc. All of the above married the daughters and granddaughters of my G-G-Grandfather, Robert Calvin Matthews, Izard Co., AR [1859], via Benton Co., TN. By the way, all of the above came to Arkansas from that same spot in Tennessee. They moved in packs from Boston Harbor in 1718, to Chester Co., PA, to the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia, to Southside Virginia on the Wagon Road, to Rowan Co., NC and to two locations in Tennessee—Maury and Stewart Counties. Other members of these families were original settlers of Pottawatomie and Pontotoc Counties.
To
be continued…
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