tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24303265369361367452024-03-05T04:44:32.745-05:00SlantsCurrent EventsStephen P Matthewshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13711508007664626422noreply@blogger.comBlogger1122125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2430326536936136745.post-31136238330844069772022-01-22T13:34:00.004-05:002022-01-22T13:34:55.068-05:00 Original SHS Nominated for National Registry Listing<p> <span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Original SHS Nominated for National Registry Listing</span></p><div dir="auto" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">By Ken Childers</div><div dir="auto" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Editor, The Seminole Producer</div><div dir="auto" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">One of the most iconic buildings in central Oklahoma, if not the entire state, is one step away from being recognized as a national treasure. The original Seminole High School building on Timmons Street has been nominated for listing in the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) as well as the Oklahoma State Register of Historic Places. The nomination was made Thursday by the Historic Preservation Committee, which meets four times per year in Oklahoma City. </div><div dir="auto" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Final approval rests with the National Park Service, which within 45 days from the date of nomination, will either list the property in the NRHP, find it ineligible, issue a formal determination of eligibility, or return the nomination for revision.</div><div dir="auto" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">The building has been vacant since 2015 when the school board, citing safety issues, voted to move students to what was then known as the Dan Boren Business Development Center on Strother Avenue. </div><div dir="auto" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">In the fall of 2017, voters approved a $21.66 million bond proposal to build a new high school on Highway 9, just west of Seminole State College. The new school opened its doors in January 2020.</div><div dir="auto" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">The “old” high school still holds a special place in the hearts of SHS alumni, including Dr. Larry Inman, who graduated in 1972. “I am delighted to hear that the SHS building on Timmons has been nominated to be listed on the historical building registry,” Inman said. “Thousands of people, including many of our family, have walked through those hallowed halls since 1930. I will always remember more than the building, those educators that influenced me through their academic teaching and their life example. But now, because of the building’s preservation, others can draw on its rich past, knowing that from these classrooms went forth SHS alumni that influence this world in so many ways.”</div><div dir="auto" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">In June 2020, the building was declared a surplus asset by the school board and was put on the market via an open bid process. GuRuStu Communities, a real estate development company located in Tulsa, submitted the sole bid of $150,000. The company hopes to renovate the former educational space into a loft-style apartment complex. Inclusion on the national registry could mean funding in the form of state historic and housing tax credits for the developer.</div><div dir="auto" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">“I think this is another positive step closer to launching the [GuRuStu] project at the Seminole High School building,” said Dr. Bob Gragg, Superintendent. GuRuStu would keep the school auditorium intact and open it for public events, Gragg added.</div><div dir="auto" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">The former high school was designed by the architectural firm of Hawk and Parr, which also designed the Seminole Municipal Building. Other properties located in Seminole that are listed on the NRHP (as of Dec. 31, 2021) include the Grisso Mansion, the Home Stake Oil & Gas Company Building, the Seminole Municipal Building and the Strother Memorial Chapel.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhyO988lNTByQiaqvbLG8hezVX_vbOBMvOkFr_P98tNWn7l2KNklpsH956N5HxTfmkjo7cFN6C9koMPCsxbGPofDoiiHLdHmVQzR9YIsA3XaH1dTVFTTD4qS7kNAiPBb9n-EgN32Fl34rgMhPIyiAlC-MY3UXpwCZ-PZoEHxIm6goDWepwEAT2pY9_M6w=s362" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="139" data-original-width="362" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhyO988lNTByQiaqvbLG8hezVX_vbOBMvOkFr_P98tNWn7l2KNklpsH956N5HxTfmkjo7cFN6C9koMPCsxbGPofDoiiHLdHmVQzR9YIsA3XaH1dTVFTTD4qS7kNAiPBb9n-EgN32Fl34rgMhPIyiAlC-MY3UXpwCZ-PZoEHxIm6goDWepwEAT2pY9_M6w=w626-h240" width="626" /></a></div><br /><div dir="auto" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></div>Stephen P Matthewshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13711508007664626422noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2430326536936136745.post-73678284168300835552021-10-14T02:20:00.001-04:002021-10-14T02:20:18.567-04:00Fuck Facebook<p>What a bunch of faggots! What must it be like, with "men" wearing Victoria's Secret and the "ladies" with hairy legs. What must it be like to be a twenty something that no one gives any consideration? Lonely? Masturbate a lot? Kiss my ass!<br /></p>Stephen P Matthewshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13711508007664626422noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2430326536936136745.post-55061387577871056782021-05-24T13:26:00.000-04:002021-05-24T13:26:08.930-04:00Seminole Indian Terribory Installment XVII<p> I will mention here that
Booker T Noe, a cousin, was the Master Distiller for Jim Beam Brands and has a
Single Barrel Bourbon in his name. I met Booker many years ago while I was a
lobbyist for The Distilled Spirits Council of the U.S., Inc. He is a rather
rotund, jovial sort and looks like many of his descendants and cousins. We
talked a bit about how we were cousins, a fascinating story. I got to taste his
product out of a barrel before it actually hit the market. I know that will
surprise many of you LOL. It is one of 4 single-barrel bourbons which are
blended to make Jim Beam White Label.</p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
J.C. Matthews was a descendant of James Calvin Matthews, named for his
grandfather, oldest son of Robert Calvin Matthews, who was lost after the Civil
War Battle of Peay Ridge, never to be seen again. My grandfather partnered with
Mr. Harber in his first grocery and feed store and then Harber financed that
one and 4 more owned by my grandfather. Mr. Harber learned early that groceries
and feed was not his cup of tea. One of my grandfather’s brothers settled here
too and had Mattie’s Café in Bowlegs, OK. For the old-timers in Seminole, the
amazing stories of the others named here are mostly well known.<br />
I do not know why Izard Co., AR settlers were also settlers of Tidmore IT,
other than to say that is what they did, moved in packs. I have been to Izard
County—Mt. Home, Pineville, Calico Rock, etc. I attended a Matthews Reunion in
2001. It is still a setting way back in time and is a beautiful, bucolic area,
resting on the ill-famed White River of Clinton lore. There are so, so many
stories and they will be added here over the next several days, weeks and
months. For those in Seminole especially, it will be, in large part, the
history you never knew. <br />
*I am pictured here at the front of Calico Rock Hardware Store, the location of
G-G-Grandfather’s general store on the White River. It is rumored that he had a
barrel of fine whiskey and sold it by various quantities, depending upon your
level of interest. There are a number of fun family anecdotes that may have
mentioned that, which I have in my possession. I can neither confirm nor deny
the stories. He built the first school, Masonic Lodge, AME Church and more.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Page 2 of Seminole
Indian Territory<br />
They Built This City<br />
Once again, in the Seminole Producer, 85 Years Ago column, we find other
notables who came to Tidmore IT/ Seminole from the beginning. The date of this
story was October 30, 1932. The story concerns the Seminole newspapers into one
– “The Producer Publishing Company became the sole owner of Seminole Morning
News…” A new weekly edition became the sole news horn for the area, now named
The Seminole County News. The Stockholders of Producer Publishing company were
of course, James T. Jackson, President; S.A. Jackson, Secretary; W.E. “Doc”
Grisso, Vice-President; H.W. McNeill, Director. Stockholders of the Seminole
County News were W.S. Livingston, president; Mrs. W.S. Livingston,
vice-president; V.C. Cope, secretary-treasurer; and Ralph Livingston, director.<br />
In the previous segment of this continuing saga, I have mentioned Doc Grisso
and H.W. “Bill” McNeill and others. I will now supply a little nugget or two on
Mr. and Mrs. Livingston. Mrs. Livingston was none other than Amy Dell Schenck,
daughter of Joseph Applegate Schenck, MD and Clarissa Ellenor Matthews.
Clarissa was the daughter of Robert Calvin Matthews, my G-G-Grandfather, also
mentioned previously. Clarissa was born in 1849, in Benton Co., TN, also previously
mentioned. Clarissa will be pictured here, along with a family photo. <br />
W.S. Livingston was actually William Shelby Livingston, b. 1871, and I would
safely guess in Benton Co., TN. He and his wife are buried at Maple Grove
Cemetery in Seminole, Oklahoma, along with many other family members. Ralph
Livingston was born Ralph Schenck Livingston, just a few months before
statehood in February, 1907, in Seminole. Many of you old-timers here will
remember many of the family, certainly Rena Jo Livingston, her brother William
Shelby Livingston, Jr. This family not only helped build Seminole but Shawnee
as well. I knew Jack Livingston, a grandson, the best. He worked at Mick Tool
Co., along with my father, as a machinist of oil field “fishing tools”. I spent
a lot of time there as a youngin’. That is probably where I first met Joe
Mills, father of my spouse, Marsha Ann Mills Matthews. Jack always wore that
engineer cap and was never without his pipe/ tobacco, packing it and puffing
away. He and Everett Dobbs, who also worked there always came to my Little
League baseball games. I think E.L. Mick even attended a few. “Mick” bought the
latest model Thunderbird, trading it every year. They were all just like
family, and in fact, Jack was family. I know Rita Presley Baker will recall
“Dobbs” quite well. She comes from another family or two who have been here
forever.<br />
Page 3 of Seminole Indian Territory<br />
They Built This City<br />
The Seminole Producer, 85 Years Ago Column, November 8, 1932, mentions one Paul
Noe, former Seminole Insurance Agent, defeated his republican opponent, Leo G.
“Happy” Nichols by a margin of 10,548 votes to 3,131 for county treasurer. I
guess ole “Happy” was none too happy after that thrashing. Please do note the
number of votes—a total of 13,678 votes cast. Our most recent election here had
a total of just over 1,400 votes cast. If we keep “growing” we will be playing in
the Little River Conference.<br />
I do recall Paul Noe quite well and in fact, I recall being at their place on
Jefferson Street as a wee tyke. I believe the house number was 226 Jefferson
St. I had a Daily Oklahoman paper route that included Jefferson, University,
etc. so I do recall house numbers in some cases. I also remember phone numbers
when there were just 3 digits; ours was 291, then it became 2911 and then
EV2-[Evergreen] 2911. I will add a picture below of Fizer M. Noe and his wife,
Myrtle Maude Jones. Myrtle Maude Jones was the daughter of Rufus Philo Jones
and Mary Alice Matthews, daughter of Robert Calvin Matthews. If you like to
calculate these relationships, Myrtle was my 1st Cousin, twice removed. Her
mother was my 2nd Great Aunt.<br />
Paul Noe was of course a descendant of Fizer Noe. Fizer is somehow a family
name. My grandfather was Winford Fizer Matthews. My father was Winford Fizer
Matthews Jr. and I was about to be Winford Fizer Matthews II but Mom won that
argument. If I recall correctly, Paul had a son named Paul Noe Jr. I knew the
daughter of Fizer Noe and Myrtle, Angie Ruth Noe, now of Houston, TX. Angie was
one of two cousins who helped get me started on the family history/ genealogy
in 1986. The other was Mary Jones, a descendant of Rufus Philo Jones. The rest,
as they say, is history. Pictured are: Franklin Randolph Noe and his wife,
Serena Elfrenza Matthews, daughter of Robert Calvin Matthews. Also pictured,
Fizer M. Noe and his wife, Myrtle Maude Jones. I have also added a photo of
Bill McNeill and his wife, Eliza Ann Wilmoth Matthews McNeill, daughter of
Robert Calvin Matthews. They were mentioned previously on Page 2 of this
series. Fizer M. Noe is of course the descendant of Franklin Randolph Noe. Last
but certainly not least is a photo of cousin, Booker T. Noe, Master Distiller,
Jim Beam [Boehm] Brands, with a link to his obituary in the New York Times. I
think we last spoke in 1999, in Louisville, Kentucky.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-weight: normal;">*All photos are at our
website:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/SeminoleITGhostTownsandHistory">(17)
Seminole Indian Territory [IT] Ghost Towns and History | Facebook</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Booker T Noe Photo:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/27/us/f-booker-noe-ii-74-master-bourbon-distiller.html?fbclid=IwAR3HEFmImMnDxhtR7Pjz8LbpEYvnFIyt4ZIMnfo5hex6IGQ-T4RARJPu0LM">https://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/27/us/f-booker-noe-ii-74-master-bourbon-distiller.html?fbclid=IwAR3HEFmImMnDxhtR7Pjz8LbpEYvnFIyt4ZIMnfo5hex6IGQ-T4RARJPu0LM</a><a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10212429902117145&set=pcb.856942024468255&type=3&ifg=1&__tn__=HH-R&eid=ARBZLJNUygjuuBvNrB-pO6yeWvYCibFjUpG2tVk8uMq8yenaFL9yEhBB5VWzr5s6ZNjofH4JJWRqFVox"><br />
</a>Page 4 of Seminole Indian Territory<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-weight: normal;">They Built This City<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-weight: normal;">The Seminole Producer,
85 Years Ago column, features November 12, 1932, mentioning two notable
Seminole families that I have mentioned time and again. I just previously
mentioned Rena Jo Livingston. Two other names are mentioned in the same
column—Norma Jean and Mildred Chase.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Leola Mildred Chase is
the daughter of Robert Hutton Chase and Cora Maude Noe, previously mentioned.
Cora was the daughter of Franklin Randolph Noe and Serena Elfrenza Matthews,
daughter of Robert Calvin Matthews, my G-G-Grandfather. Norma Jean Chase is the
daughter of Virgil Randolph Darius Chase, the son of Robert Hutton Chase.
Virgil is another favorite son of Izard Co., AR. Robert Hutton Chase brought he
and family from Elijay, Georgia. Virgil came to Seminole, along with a host of
others in the Chase family. He rests in Maple Grove Cemetery as well.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Ricky Chase Dell and her
little sister lived behind me on Roosevelt Street with a whole lot of family
and friends. Ricky and her sister are absolutely gorgeous, as their mother;
good genes as it is said. The Sullivans, also cousins, lived on Roosevelt as
well, having lived directly across the street from us on Coolidge before their
move.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Russell Herbert “Herb”
Chase also came here to Seminole but later moved to Fairland, Ottawa County,
Oklahoma, in the NE part of this state. William Darius Chase, the head of
family, was the father of Robert Hutton Chase. He was born in 1839, in Fulton
Co., Georgia, where he married Elizabeth Harrison Spruell. They ended up in
Elizabeth, Fulton Co., Arkansas, another spinoff of Izard Co., Arkansas. It is
fair to say he knew my G-G-Grandfather, Robert Calvin Matthews, both arriving
in Izard Co. at about the same time. Another son of William Darius Chase,
Wilson Alexander Chase, ended up in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Oh, what a tangled web we
weave.<o:p></o:p></span></p>Stephen P Matthewshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13711508007664626422noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2430326536936136745.post-91708933048659258482019-12-20T14:03:00.000-05:002019-12-20T14:03:09.117-05:00Seminole Indian Territory Installment XVI<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 12pt;">The
Story of Martha Jane Floyd</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 12.0pt;">If
you would like to know the entire story, and you should, it appears in the
Seminole Producer, October 29, 2017. 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, British Museum in London, 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. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 12.0pt;">I
should mention too that I have been tested to 67 Markers Y-DNA, HVR-1 and HVR-2
mtDNA and the autosomnal Family Finder Test which takes me as far as 6<sup>th</sup>
cousins. If you are not familiar with these tests, my 6<sup>th</sup> cousins go
back to the time of my 5<sup>th</sup> 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.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 12.0pt;">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. 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.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 12.0pt;">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.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 12.0pt;">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.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 12.0pt;">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. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 12.0pt;">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.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 12.0pt;">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.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 12.0pt;">As
an aside, I will mention here that Booker T Noe, a cousin, was the Master
Distiller for Jim Beam Brands and has a Single Barrel Bourbon in his name. I
met Booker many years ago while I was a lobbyist for The Distilled Spirits
Council of the U.S., Inc. He is a rather rotund, jovial sort and looks like many
of his descendants and cousins. We talked a bit about how we were cousins, a
fascinating story. I got to taste his product out of a barrel before it
actually hit the market. I know that will surprise many of you LOL. It is one
of 4 single-barrel bourbons which are blended to make Jim Beam White Label. It
is his son now that is the Master Distiller for Jim Beam Brands, Fred Noe.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 12.0pt;">J.C.
Matthews was a descendant of James Calvin Matthews, named for his grandfather,
oldest son of Robert Calvin Matthews, who was lost after the Civil War Battle
of Peay Ridge, never to be seen again. My grandfather partnered with Mr. Harber
in his first grocery and feed store and then Harber financed that one and 4
more owned by my grandfather. Mr. Harber learned early that groceries and feed was
not his cup of tea and sold his interest to my grandfather. One of my
grandfather’s brothers settled here too and had Mattie’s Café in Bowlegs, OK.
For the old-timers in Seminole, the amazing stories of the others named here
are mostly well known.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 12.0pt;">I
do not know why Izard Co., AR settlers were also settlers of Tidmore IT, other
than to say that is what they did, moved in packs. I have been to Izard
County—Mt. Home, Pineville, Calico Rock, etc. I attended a Matthews Reunion in
2001. It is still a setting way back in time and is a beautiful, bucolic area,
resting on the ill-famed White River of Clinton lore. There are so, so many
stories and they will be added here over the next several days, weeks and
months. For those in Seminole especially, it will be, in large part, the
history you never knew. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 12.0pt;">I
am pictured here at the front of Calico Rock Hardware Store, the location of
G-G-Grandfather’s general store on the White River. It is rumored that he had a
barrel of fine whiskey and sold it by various quantities, depending upon your
level of interest. There are a number of fun family anecdotes that may have
mentioned that, which I have in my possession. I can neither confirm nor deny
the stories. He built the first school, Masonic Lodge, AME Church and more.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 12.0pt;">To
be continued…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Pictured above: James Henry Harber and spouse, Nancy Jane Matthews<br />
<br />
<br />Stephen P Matthewshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13711508007664626422noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2430326536936136745.post-75690104080408984032019-12-20T13:14:00.000-05:002019-12-20T13:14:19.077-05:00Seminole Indian Territory Installment XV<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 12pt;">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!</span></div>
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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.<br />
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.<br />
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.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The
Story of Martha Jane Floyd<br />
Seminole Indian Territory [IT]<br />
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.<br />
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.<br />
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.”<br />
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.<br />
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.<br />
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.<br />
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.<br />
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.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 12.0pt;">To
be continued…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />Stephen P Matthewshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13711508007664626422noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2430326536936136745.post-65297814292617299322019-12-10T12:05:00.000-05:002019-12-10T12:05:07.339-05:00Seminole Indian Territory Installment XIV<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 12pt;">Bands
of Seminole Indians, from Florida, first settled in what is now known as
Seminole County, Oklahoma. Most of them came from about 1830 to 1840. Having
fought to prevent removal from their ancestral homes in Florida against
frontiersmen and U.S. Regular Army soldiers under Generals Scott and “Old
Hickory” Andrew Jackson, for more than ten years, until their great chief,
Osceola, was finally captured and imprisoned; yet, quite a few of these
courageous Indians managed to evade the soldiers, hiding out in the deep
fastnesses of the Everglades, where many of their descendants sill live today,
and not many were forcibly evicted. Out of six or seven thousand Seminoles,
perhaps, a few hundred were rounded up at the time, and set by boat and
overland, by way of New Orleans and up the Mississippi; thence, across
Arkansas, to the site chosen for them between the Canadian rivers in what is
now known as Seminole County. Hundreds more emigrated, voluntarily, to join
relatives here as the years went by; and there were a hundred or two hundred
Negro slaves who came along, too. Population was less than 3,000.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The
Indians had their own tribal form of government, with clans, and band-chiefs,
setting up their capital in the early-day, small settlement of log-cabins,
called from the creek by which they settled “We-wo-ca” in the Seminole tongue,
but interpreted into English “Barking Water,” and spelled by the English
“Wewoka.” Other small towns in Seminole county, first settled by the Indians,
were called Konawa, or “Skunk-town,” in English; and Sasakwa, or “Goose-Town.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The
Indians established mission-schools, named Mekusukey and Emahaka, nicely built
brick and stone structures, as time went on, located on the east and west sides
of the Seminole Nation. Emahaka being south of Wewoka, and the Mekusukey
Academy being maintained for many years after Emahaka had been abandoned. They
hired white teachers of good name and well educated for that time. White people
coming into the county, as time went on, first raised money for schools by
subscription. But with the coming of statehood, money was provided for better
schools by state provision. Some nice, two-story, brick and stone buildings
were erected in towns like Seminole, Konawa and Wewoka. Frame buildings, some
one-room schools, served the rural districts; and there was very little
equipment. Grade-schools taught most of the subjects taught today, but no art
or music. Later, high schools were added. Gradually, better instructors were
obtained, and most of the high schools today will not employ instructors who do
not have degrees.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Of
course, there was much better and finer equipment for the teaching of sciences,
and rooms and facilities for music and art instruction, all representing the
investment of millions of dollars. Rural schools were among the best in the
state. All were well-staffed, well-kept and carry on a program of
extra-curricular activities and community-development.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Churches
in Seminole county had a rude origin, indeed. Many were merely brush-arbors in
the summertime, and services were held in schoolhouses on Sundays, or when not
otherwise in use. But it wasn’t long after statehood, and after much
mission-work, that good churches began to be constructed. Some had only
part-time ministers, but early-day elders often preached; and singing schools
were held on many occasions. Many churches had small organs. Today the fine
churches seen in every Seminole county town, have beautiful furnishings, all
the embellishments of church-architecture, and a musical and education program,
along with the regular religious services.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Oil
came to Seminole county in 1923, the discovery-well just south of Wewoka. The
old Standard drilling-rigs had wooden walking-beams and slow, heavy drilling
equipment, taking weeks for a well to be brought in. Sometimes gushers came in,
wasting oil before the well could be capped; but the drilling went right on. In
1926, the first well in the great Seminole field was brought in. People came
from everywhere, greatly increasing the population of Seminole and Wewoka; and
boomtowns like Cromwell and St. Louis mushroomed into being in a matter of
weeks. Many became wealthy overnight. Oil attracted the nation’s attention to
Seminole county. It also brought about recognition for the need of better
things money could buy. Oil companies and generous oil men donated large sums
to schools, churches and for public parks, auditoriums, golf-courses, swimming
pools, etc. Many newly rich men built fine homes and sent their sons away to college.
Today, most oil-wells are drilled with Rotary rigs that can go down thousands
of feet in a few days. Water-flooding has increased the production of many old
wells and newer and more efficient engineering methods are producing more oil
everywhere. Proration has caused the wealth from oil to last longer. But many
other professions and businesses have profited from oil, immeasurably.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Seminole
county has many small streams, running between low hills, and there is much
good fertile farmland in Seminole county. There is, also good upland pasture
and range land. Cotton, corn, oats, alfalfa and all kinds of truck-crops make
for prosperity on the farm. The soil is generally sandy, clay or dark
river-bottom land. It can be made to produce wonderfully.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Thomas
Town Church Celebrates 150 Years<br />
From Seminole Producer<br />
Friday, August 25, 2017<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 12.0pt;">This
is one of those stories that just fires my rockets. Oklahoma, and Seminole
specifically, has forgotten more history than it recalls and that is sad. This
story began just post-Civil War, and the same length of time following the
freeing of the slaves of the “Civilized Tribes”, called Freedmen. Just that
fact alone has escaped all but a few. It is fair to say that all the black
folks I grew up with, at school and at play, are descendants of Freedmen. This
history has some rather tender feelings for so many and both sides tend to
avoid the subject.<br />
While it may give some pause, it is most certainly our history—the story of the
Trail of Tears, the story of the Tribes in the Civil War, the story of Stand
Watie, a Cherokee Indian, made a Brigadier General by none other than the
President of the Confederacy, Jefferson “Jeff” Davis. It is a story that must
be understood to know about Indian Territory and the finally the story of Oklahoma,
admitted to the Union just 40 years following the beginning of this story,
1867. In short, it was the punishment of the Tribes for opting for the
Confederacy, although understandable under the circumstances. You see, those
who were made to walk the Trail of Tears had never forgiven the USA for their
removal and resettlement. Can you blame them?<br />
Following the Civil War, many Union Veterans were provided their 100 acres
along the northern border of Oklahoma Indian Territory in return for their
service. That was not well accepted. That was the beginning of the end of
Indian Territory, as they knew it. The Federal Government was going to take
their land in punishment for their service to Jeff Davis.<br />
Another crucial fact to point out here is that in the agreement between General
US Grant and Robert E. “Marse” Lee, as an attachment to the Articles of
Surrender was made plain, that these Articles were not fully effective unless
and until “Captain” Stand Watie cease and desist aka stand down in Indian
Territory. He did not and never did; part of his war continued, largely in
attacking the Union Veterans in their new Settlements in their territory. Thus,
when you hear that the Civil War never ended, technically and in reality, never
did. It was not just some idle cliché.<br />
On June 23, 1865, General Stand Watie, a member of the Cherokee Nation and
Brigadier general of the First Indian Brigade of the Army of the
Trans-Mississippi, surrendered to Union forces at Doaksville in the Choctaw
Nation. With his signature upon the cease-fire treaty, Watie became the last
Confederate general in the field to “surrender” during the Civil War. Oh, he
clearly signed what was known as the Stand Watie Treaty, but it was done with a
wink and a nod. The “hostilities” continued unabated. Thus, what was signed was
not worth the paper on which it was written. If I had been Stand Watie, I would
have done the same thing, period!<br />
So, now that you know a wee bit about Freedmen, when you read the story, you
will have a little of perspective of the times. I should point out that
lawsuits have been filed, heard, settled, filed again and heard in the US
Supreme Court regarding the rights of Freedmen vis-à-vis their former owners
and tribal rights. Thus far, the Freedmen have been unsuccessful in achieving full
tribal status. I’m pretty sure the issue is not dead but that is just my own
editorial comment. As Yogi Berra would say, “It ain’t over ‘til it’s over”, and
“I ain’t heard the fat lady sing.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Stephen P Matthewshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13711508007664626422noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2430326536936136745.post-69729563626723964242019-12-03T19:42:00.002-05:002019-12-03T19:42:57.414-05:00Coming Home Part IV - The Final Act<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 12pt;">I
arrived here in Seminole in May, 1915. Unfortunately, I arrived without my
little buddy, Marsha Ann Mills. I was supposed to pick her up in S Louisiana,
enroute from Knoxville, TN to Seminole. She had had a major crash due to her
COPD and she was in the Intensive Care Unit in Westlake, LA. I was absolutely
scared to death. I had known that little girl since she was just a tyke. I was
8 years her senior. We were all in the same neighborhood. It was almost by accident
that she was to come home with me. We communicated by various means when I was
in Knoxville and she was in S Louisiana. She was not being treated well by
those who were supposed to be caring for her. In finality, I told her I was
going home and that I was going to retrieve her; no discussion, no debate. It
was about 2 weeks before she was well enough to travel. I had gotten a house,
suitable for her needs, a new truck and got it ready for her arrival.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 12.0pt;">When
I got to her, she was very weak. I took care of her there for 3 days, feeding
her, etc., getting her ready to travel. We finally pushed off and it was a very
hard trip on her. I had planned to take a nurse with me for the trip up here but
those plans fell through. We finally arrived here about 4 am in the morning and
carted her medical supplies—O2, O2 machine, etc. and got her settled. We were
both exhausted. I did everything for her, and I mean everything. Almost 2 years
later, she told me it was time to make her an “honest woman”. Thus, on May 6,
2017, we were married. It was providential, especially for those of you who
know us and know our story. I cannot describe just how much we meant to each
other. EVERY DAY was just another fun day and a BLESSING! We were HOME! We both
grew up here. This was it!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 12.0pt;">We
did everything together but for the errands, etc. Her COPD had her largely
confined. We did however run all over Seminole Indian Territory [IT] to put
together the 10,000 year-old history of this very spot. We packed all of her stuff,
medical and otherwise and drove and walked this county. That girl was the
happiest she had ever been and that is no exaggeration. It was the best of my
life too. THAT is no exaggeration. We put together our FB Website:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/SeminoleITGhostTownsandHistory/">https://www.facebook.com/groups/SeminoleITGhostTownsandHistory/</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Everything
is documented there; our travels and travails. It was/ is a massive
undertaking. It remains a Work in Progress and will take the rest of my life to
finish it. I shall!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 12.0pt;">I
lost my wife on September 24, 2017. That was the worst day of my life. The COPD
and an emergency gall bladder surgery was just too much for her frail body. I
am still lost. I lost my heart. She took it with her. You must visit our
website. Here you will find this:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/MarshaMills.Matthews?fref=gs&__tn__=%2CdK-R-R&eid=ARAa5wXSSIBe30inQxzLh0xjfZCdqMO4zuWu4fIyvmixMwnoO9GVv50-Qcm3GLZrSW3QoVxwxtZTmVyY&dti=661270504035409&hc_location=group" title="Marsha Mills Matthews">Marsha Mills Matthews</a> and I created this
group for those in Seminole, Oklahoma, past and present, who have interest in
their history. This history is not complete without the complete history of the
Seminole Nation Indian Territory [IT], following their removal on the
"Trail of Tears"--this was the "End of Trail". This will
cover Seminole Lighthorsemen, the Civil War, Famous Lawmen and Outlaws, Ghost
Towns, etc. This is an ongoing and quite massive project and it will culminate
in presentations in various venues. We hope you enjoy the product as much as we
enjoy putting it all together. The earliest posts begin at the bottom of the
page. I should say too that some of this goes beyond just Seminole IT and
includes Oklahoma history generally. Marsha, the Love of my Life, passed into
the Lord's Hands on September 24, 2017. She loved working with me on this as
well as other sites we developed together. I miss her. I will always miss her.
This site is dedicated to her memory and what a memory it is. The background
photo above is the old Mekusukey Mission. This site remains a Work in Progress.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 12.0pt;">This
is my final chapter[s]. Here I will remain. I grew up here in an idyllic time and
place. I will be going nowhere. My name is at Maple Grove on her memorial. We
will be there forever and a day. That is the one request she had that stood out
– “I want to be with you forever and a day.” There it will be…we will be
comingled.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 12.0pt;">This
book that follows is her book, as well as mine. As stated, it is dedicated to
her; her life, her smile, her loving heart; her very being is more than I can
convey. She is my life, my love, my heart…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The
book follows, dedicated to that most wonderful of human beings. I was honored
that she asked me to make her an “honest woman.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Vaya
con Dios<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br />Stephen P Matthewshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13711508007664626422noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2430326536936136745.post-48807833299867016162019-12-03T18:49:00.000-05:002019-12-03T18:52:42.364-05:00Coming Home III<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12pt;">I
recall clearly coming home to take care of mom following her massive stroke in
2005. I was on vacation with my Greek American Princess [GAP] in La Crescenta,
CA, with my friend and his wife, Danny and Marja Webster. Danny is another
Seminole boy, son of Bob and Mary Jo Webster. We were in a seaside inn north of
Santa Barbara when I got the call. We had to cut the trip short, re-book our
flights and fly back to DC.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;">We
had flown American Airlines and I requested a family emergency relief on our
tickets. Long story short, AA gave me a ration of shite and charged us an
additional $150 per ticket. I requested to speak to her supervisor and there
was no help there. I told the nitwit to write my name down because he would be
hearing from me. Being a lobbyist on the hill, I knew the AA cadre of
lobbyists. I had contacted then US Senator George Allen R-VA. I told him the
story about the AA debacle and asked him if he would file a piece of
legislation for me. He loved the idea and got Representative Frank Wolf R-VA to
file it on the House side. They got to work and had a passel of bill sponsors
and the legislation got legs, so to speak. Since I was still in Oklahoma,
taking care of mom, I could not hand deliver the legislation, so I called the
AA chief lobbyist and referenced the bill and why I had gotten the ball
rolling. At that time, I gave him the names of the culprits that had put the
screws to me. He went ballistic! Not at me but at the situation I had endured.
He begged me to relent but I reminded him that they would be hearing me and
besides that, airline policy had to change. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;">When
such a bill is filed like this one, it kicks in a lot of machinations. AA had
to hire what are termed, “Hired Guns”, private lawyer/ lobbyists. Not only that
but the Airlines trade association had to take the lead on the issue since all
airlines were thrown into the same boiling water. The trade association had to
employ some hired guns. The die was cast. Just a few days following our
conversation, I received a check in the amount of $300 US Dollars. The trade
association dude pleaded with me to pull the bill. I did not relent, the bill
flew, and it is now law. There is a saying, F with the bull and you get the
horn. It applied in this instance. FYI, a bill like this costs $millions to
play. It cost the airline industry $multi-millions.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;">In
order to get to OK, we flew to DC so I could pack and take my car, knowing I
would be here for a while. That was the longest drive to OK I had ever taken. I
drove straight through, 1,350 miles. Just as I was crossing the AR/ OK line, I
was almost nailed by a staginny! That sumbiatch had a wingspan the width of my
car. I was in my Cobra, top down on a beautiful September evening. I had my
summer tan on so I guess he thought I was an Indian. Believe me when I tell
you, I had that Cobra on afterburners. It is a small wonder I did not end up in
the ditch. I pulled over at the first gas station that would take me all the
way to Seminole. I was still shaken by that damned owl. In addition to gas, I
got a 6-pack which would also get me to Seminole. I pulled into the house I had
bought for mom at about 10:30 pm. The house was an oven so I kicked in the AC
and went outside to inspect things. The lawn was a wreck so I had to get
someone to mow it the next day. I was also a wreck and I had to drive to
Integris Baptist in OKC the next day. I spoke to the doctor and he told me that
2 things saved her life. The stroke occurred while she was at the Senior Center
rather than at home. Everyone kicked it into high gear and got her on
Medi-Flight. That saved her life. Her stroke was massive. I stopped in Shawnee
to buy some things I would be needing due to her condition. She could not chew/
swallow like normal so I had to run her food through a food processor. No
lumps! I remained in Seminole for 6 months, feeding her, monitoring her meds
etc. Her sister came down from S Illinois to retrieve her. Mom had 3 sisters
there, other family and friends so she would be better served there. This was
an assisted facility in Flora, IL. Martha and her daughter Stacy had cleaned
out the 4-horse trailer and we loaded that up for the trip. I remained there a
few more days and ended up selling the house. That is another fun story
altogether. I did get in some Crappie fishing during this time, beginning in
January. and I actually got a tan, fishing in shorts and tank tops. Barb took
one look at me when I got back and said, you son of a …. :-). We both got a
good laugh out of that.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;">I
took the route to DC whereby I could go to Flora on the way back. We got her sister
the Power of Attorney and other affairs in order and then I was on my way back
to DC. This was one of my 6 months living in Seminole affairs. The next one was
to be in 2012, when I was in the process of retiring. That too is another fun story
altogether. My final landing was here in May, 2015…long story. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Isn’t
this fun? You are getting to read parts of my book and little bit at a time. To
be continued…<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LkLYBvl-oOU/Xeb07oBqQTI/AAAAAAAATGo/MNNKns8u3Oc7oCtU0PazvWK4Is-qH0VfgCEwYBhgL/s1600/sm%2BB%2Band%2BW.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="184" data-original-width="184" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LkLYBvl-oOU/Xeb07oBqQTI/AAAAAAAATGo/MNNKns8u3Oc7oCtU0PazvWK4Is-qH0VfgCEwYBhgL/s1600/sm%2BB%2Band%2BW.jpg" /></a></div>
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<br />Stephen P Matthewshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13711508007664626422noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2430326536936136745.post-83654421902935120302019-12-03T18:45:00.001-05:002019-12-03T18:52:00.983-05:00Coming Home Part II<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12pt;">In
January 1977, I moved to OKC to work for then Governor David Boren. I was back
in Seminole quite often. I played tennis at Twin Lakes with some of our local
yahoos. I still play tennis here but with a Tennis Tutor ball machine. I took
the Seminole Producer by mail so I could keep up and I have always loved what
is now named 85 Years Ago. Back then, I believe it was 45 Years Ago. Growing up
here, I knew the players. I did that all the time I was in OKC and when I moved
to Washington, DC, following my 20-year SHS Reunion, 1987. That continued until
the Producer went digital and I opted for that instead of mail delivery. I was
back here quite often even while in DC. All that time away, I had several
friends and family keep me abreast of all the scoop of what was going on in
Seminole. In so many ways, I was never really “gone”.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;">When
I returned here in May 2015, I was at the bus station for breakfast. One of my
friends was there and we talked a bit. He asked me if I was going to be able to
acclimate, having been gone for 38 years. He stated further that I had been
living in the fast lane and the Seminole pace might bore me. I said not at all.
I was done with the fast lane and I was back HOME, where I belonged. I guess
one could say this red dirt is in my veins. Throughout my professional career,
half of my life had been in airplanes, hotels, restaurants, etc. I loved every
minute of it, but I was done, stick a fork in it. The last thing I want to do
now is board a plane or check into a hotel. I am afraid to leave town now,
fearing I would get lost and not find my way back home. Crossing the state line
is not even in the cards but for one trip I must take to finish business. I
dread that! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;">I
was not born in Oklahoma; I was born in Effingham, IL, land of my mother. We
moved here when I was 3, in time for my sister’s birth. This was the land of my
father and his father. I suppose than makes me a naturalized Okie. That
notwithstanding, Oklahoma is all that I recall of my youth. I am back home. I
could live anywhere I wish. I will be going nowhere; this is where I belong.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<br />Stephen P Matthewshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13711508007664626422noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2430326536936136745.post-78868745121584269462019-12-03T18:41:00.000-05:002019-12-03T18:51:26.163-05:00Coming Home Part I<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12pt;">Well
Lucy, it is 4:30 am. I just thought you should know that. Why are we up? This
is the time of day my alarm would go off to deliver the Daily OK when I was
just a tyke here in Seminole America. I also had an afternoon route which was
the Seminole Producer. Usually I would see the stack of newspapers drop out
front by about 2:30 pm, that is unless it was baseball season and then I would
bike my way to the Producer, fold my papers, deliver them and then bike to
summer league baseball practice. Since dad was coach, I would toss the
bicycle in his pickup and we would go to supper. Dinner btw was what we now
call lunch. Back then, Milt Phillips was head of the Producer. They lived one
block north and half a block west. Joe Mills, Marsha's dad, was a few doors east
of Milt. That was when Milt Phillips Avenue was 1st Street. Those were heady
times in Seminole. Growing up here was not hard to do. I had a schedule even then
as I do now. It seems that I have always had a schedule. Thus, I had a reason
to be up at 4:30 am. I do not now. Why then am I up now. I guess I will go get
the paper and see what's what in Seminole America.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;">
My paper routes were south of Strothers, from Lincoln on the West to Highland
on the east, to Broadway on the south. I knew every house by the name of its
occupants. Since I was raised at the First Baptist Church, by a Deacon, I was
in church when the doors were open. So, with school, summer baseball, paper
routes, church, etc. I knew most everyone and they knew me, for good or for
bad. If I acted out, mom would know within seconds, simply by dialing 291. I
still remember 3-digit phone numbers to this day. Later, it was 2911 and
finally, EVergreen 2-2911. Back then, a sign on the corner of Strothers and 1st
street read Seminole Population 13,000. Like a lot of things now, that is no
longer. There was never a time when I considered anything but returning here to
retire. Like a lot of things, I have come full circle; back where my
grandfather came 113 years ago, when this was Tidmore, Indian Territory [IT]. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;">This
is the runup to my book to be published later. Coming Home for me came in segments.
I will present two more following this one and later, another part or two will
follow.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;">More
to come...<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<br />Stephen P Matthewshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13711508007664626422noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2430326536936136745.post-74254628784995757532019-12-03T18:13:00.001-05:002021-05-22T15:16:31.921-04:00Seminole Indian Territory Installment XIII<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12pt;">Seminole
IT Ghost Towns Trek October 7 2016</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12pt;">
Our trek began just north of I-40 on SH 56 at Irene Seminole IT Ghost Town
which later became Schoolton.<br />
IRENE – Six miles south of Boley, A post office from October 31, 1903 to
November 28, 1907. Named for Irene Davis, the late Mrs. W. S. Key of Oklahoma City,
daughter of Chief Alice Brown Davis, Seminole leader. On December 19, 1907 a
post office named Schoolton was established at approximately this same site.
Sect 27 11N 8E.<br />
SCHOOLTON – Six miles south of Boley. A post office from December 19, 1907 to
June 30, 1917. Until November 28, 1907, a post office named Irene had been
located at this same proximate location. The name was selected by William P.
Weston, local educator, in recognition of plans for a fine school system. ODOT
places it in Sect 27 11N 8E. GNIS: 35 23 30 N, 96 27 30 W.<br />
As with previous treks, we found some things on purpose and many other things
quite by accident, but pleasantly thus. One such accident was in finding
Sandcreek Cemetery. There you will see some very old headstones. See:<br />
</span><a href="https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.okcemeteries.net%2Fseminole%2Fsandcreek%2Fsandcreek.htm%3Ffbclid%3DIwAR2H3gyeLNiLP5Oyl2m-MmzkPQxDSCIskqV0gHuBfWNYPgQoGYVDuCl1I3k&h=AT0cr4ZViftecoXjs-CnYFp9y6QNBfP6_ughreCdSfPOApAdYoN4qxM5X23G8j4g4U31-ZVv96G--y3zhRgMTn3WzwvSpjJfpineCdvgS7-UY0-WgzM8h9phd872ZMSAsCql2E24dcwCXStPDA" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12pt;">http://www.okcemeteries.net/seminole/sandcreek/sandcreek.htm</span></a><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12pt;"><br />
For further information on Sandcreek as well as Schoolton Cemeteries, see this:<br />
</span><a href="https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.travelok.com%2Farticle_page%2Fseminole-county-genealogy-resources%3Ffbclid%3DIwAR2wRypleC-WbdB1P2p4EqDNzWo_BCALhHHGTD25WyboC2nANDGEHKYlTkM&h=AT1GKYzKiqhdZo0Chscdmk-hj-EAbJEKer3u8G5lh-6MvrLj-H7_EH2Bi_NUBFg26ft7KTQ01PcW9-Lrt64G_8fU8u4aGn3I7gsLK5WADOc9XObUvMdhnD3khT7OhkrWO_hSXZAG8BtoZpt6ZQ" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12pt;">http://www.travelok.com/…/seminole-county-genealogy-resourc…</span></a><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12pt;"><br />
The above gives a plethora of information other than just cemeteries.<br />
Our overall objective was to begin in Irene/ Schoolton and work our way up to
Arbeka, on NS 368, beginning at EW 112, points in between and other spots, time
permitted. You will be able to see on the maps provided the county roads, both
NS and EW, in case you would like to explore further. We ended up as far north
as just above EW 108. Many of these county roads just end with no warning.<br />
We worked our way around the Irene/ Schoolton Twp and went on to locate the
Schoolton Cemetery, on EW 111, which we located but did not drive into it. It
is privately maintained, with no help from any government sources. A sign gave
you a heads up if you wished to make donations for upkeep. You will find there
some very old headstones as well.<br />
From there, we went to see some spots on EW 110 that I had interest in seeing.
It was on that road, as far as one could go west, where it ends up at a farm/
ranch. That is where you will find, among other things, a heard of Llama—photos
at </span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/SeminoleITGhostTownsandHistory/"><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12pt;">https://www.facebook.com/groups/SeminoleITGhostTownsandHistory/</span></a><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12pt;">. We were both blown away!
You had to be there, pictures just won’t do.<br />
Following that big surprise, we went to Arbeka. ARBEKA aka Arveka…<br />
in extreme northeastern corner of Seminole County. A post office from September
10, 1883, to December 14, 1907. Taken from Abi' h' ka, meaning 'peace town' or
'a place where justice was received.' The topo map shows Arbeka Church in the
NE corner of that section at 35 26 58 lat. N And 96 27 33 long. W<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>ODOT list places it in 9-11 N 6E.<br />
SEE also: Arbeka, Vytauto gatvė, Vilnius, Lithuania [Map at same website]<br />
Arbeka is in the rather large Red Mound Seminole IT Township. We drove all over
this area, including trying to locate the Arbeka Church and cemetery. As with many
of these places, some of this is so overgrown that finding anything will
require some exploring on foot. That was not the objective of this trek—that
will come later. Since we had some time available, we decided to head a little
south and a little west and see if we could locate Haney Church, cemetery and
Twp. We found the area but finding said cemetery and church was about with the
above, overgrown, requiring some foot traffic. See HANEY on website maps.<br />
Ten miles northeast of Seminole. A post office from February 17, 1908, to
November 30, 1916. Named for Reverend Willie Haney, prominent Seminole. Sect.
22 10N 7E. I believe however it is Sect 24 10N 6E, although the extent of the
boundaries is not known in most cases. Just below Haney Church is Heliswa,
which we will visit on the next trip.<br />
Two very unexpected things occurred next which also were a pleasant surprise.
One was finding the ruins of the Excelsior School. Neither of us had ever heard
of such. Photos are provided of the ruins in what became the Butner/ Cromwell
School District. We believe you will find the photos to be a surprise and
informative. We just do not know our own history; that much is quite clear. We
have provided some of that for you here. There is also a website referenced
that will provide a photo of the school intact, as well as some history on the
school.<br />
Following this, we meandered all over the general area. I should say we will
return to Arbeka for what will be an expected, at least to Marsha and I, very
big revelation that you will find fascinating and a very large part of the
history of Seminole County. What we found on our way back to the big city was
also a blast—a graveyard of some very old farming implements. Another big
surprise was finding, in Seminole County, a Creek Stomp Grounds—see photo of
the sign. We assume this may have been here before the boundaries were drawn in
finality.<br />
This is an ongoing and a massive project that will culminate at a point certain
in time; or should I say times. We will fill in many blanks as this unfolds.
One of the most important facets of this is that we are having more fun than at
any time of my travels south of the border, north of the border, the Far East,
Britain, W. Europe, etc. Being with Marsha Mills Frank throughout and seeing the
smiles and hearing the comments is worth more than gold. I know that many of
you will understand that. This is a labor of love and I was lucky to share it
all with one that I love. Our own history is a fun thing in itself. All of this
will be made available in time, at a time of our choosing, as well as the
venue. Eat your hearts out LOL.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12pt;">A
Creek Stomp Dance Grounds in Seminole IT. The Seminole Nation split from the
Creek Nation and present day Seminole County became its own Seminole IT. On EW
112 just west of 367 NS.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12pt;">Farm
equipment grave yard on NS 359 between EW 117-118<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12pt;">Excelsior
School<br />
This history was taken from the "The Lions Roar Again"
Newsletter<br />
Established during the rich oil boom of the 20's and fed by revenues from major
oil companies, Excelsior became one of the richest school districts in the
state, The district first included three "wing" grade schools located
at Goodwill, Struggleville, and Forty Nine which were all moved to the main school
site in 1937.The total community was united in providing a quality educational
curriculum as well as student involvement in successful, competitive athletics,
vocational agriculture, home-economics, and extracurricular activities such as
school plays, glee clubs, and operetta. The first class graduated in 1926. The
last class graduated in 1960 after which Excelsior consolidated with Butner at<br />
Cromwell.<br />
Brief History Of Excelsior<br />
(From John Hopper's Article)<br />
See this:<br />
</span><a href="https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.butneralumni.com%2Fbutner-history.html%3Ffbclid%3DIwAR2n4ZOPnASJumSIXnUbkTjJnEfCSPGzhyuNWUlvP2QZLtARn9PhDhh5UO0&h=AT1yLO6gTF7oqg2-SRJHicbuBpYaLj_k7BVPB-a-KPDLWquYhTVEbH-XhJ1cx3oaoNM7DGl5jY8kQ4ftNCwz4chxDt9rYQt0XVWBJeJI_4uxPM5qJkSlEbHiUjLK1n9zMEq7nJTEThh9xd5plw" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12pt;">http://www.butneralumni.com/butner-history.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12pt;"><br />
Something of note on the former boundaries of Seminole/ Hughes counties:<br />
First Butner School: 1898:<br />
The very first Butner (Oklahoma) schoolhouse was built in 1898, nine years
before Oklahoma, then Indian Territory, became the 46th State of the Union of
The United States of America in 1907. The main street of Butner was the county
line between Seminole and Hughes Counties. The school was located nine miles
northeast of Wewoka. The first Butner School was actually located just inside
Hughes County. The Hughes-Seminole County line was moved east after statehood
to its present location.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12pt;">To
be continued…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br />Stephen P Matthewshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13711508007664626422noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2430326536936136745.post-92097001423092319152019-11-25T12:30:00.000-05:002019-11-25T12:30:49.472-05:00Ex Post Facto Laws<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Retroactive Law</span><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> and <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Legal</span> Definition. <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Retroactive</span> refers to extending the scope or <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">effect</span> to matters that have
occurred in the past. In other words it is the <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">application</span> of a given rule to events that took place before
the <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">law</span> was in <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">effect</span>. For example, <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">retroactive</span> tax. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<i><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Ex
post facto</span></i><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> laws
are expressly forbidden by the <a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Constitution" title="United States Constitution">United States Constitution</a> in
Article 1, Section 9, Clause 3 (with respect to federal laws) and Article 1,
Section 10 (with respect to state laws).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;">FB
Post:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;">When
I post items about Reparations for Slavery or Elizabeth Warren's new proposal such
as the Tax Refund Equality act, a Bill that would allow same-sex couples to
amend past tax returns and receive refunds from the IRS, you will see me post a
little Smiley at the end of that post. I am sure some of you think I am just
being flippant or political. I am not. Here is why:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Ex
Post Facto Law<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Retroactive
Law and Legal Definition. Retroactive refers to extending the scope or effect
to matters that have occurred in the past. In other words it is the application
of a given rule to events that took place before the law was in effect. For
example, retroactive tax. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Ex
post facto laws are expressly forbidden by the United States Constitution in
Article 1, Section 9, Clause 3 (with respect to federal laws) and Article 1,
Section 10 (with respect to state laws).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;">As
I often state, the first rule of setting goals is to set goals only that are
achievable. Not one of these proposals being trotted out there by these
presidential hopefuls is even achievable. They know that. That is impertinent.
What is pertinent, and they know this too, is that it sounds "purty"
to the unwashed. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Now
you know :-)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;">p.s.
We are a Federal Republic with each State being guaranteed a Republican form of
government, in the Constitution. Always keep that in mind. These are just some
of the plethora of reasons the New Democratic Party hates the Constitution--it
disallows their playing of grab-A$$ on the playground. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />Stephen P Matthewshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13711508007664626422noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2430326536936136745.post-81055799579363423442019-11-25T12:16:00.000-05:002019-11-25T12:19:25.425-05:00Seminole Indian Territory Installment XII<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12pt;">I
began this quest for my family story in 1986. I am by no means an accredited
genealogist. My genealogy credentials are simply a thorough study, having read
volumes of materials, in the trenches grunt work. Part of those studies
included the study of ancient maps of the old world from the beginning of
written history by the Sumerians and related cultures. I have ancient places/
place names plotted on maps in my Google Desktop Maps program.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;">
My Y-DNA and mtDNA has been tested and along with it, my DNA is a part of the
Family Finder Test at Family Tree DNA. It is also a part of the National
Geographic DNA Project and has been for several years. My research, along with
all of the above took me to Wales a very long time ago and even more
importantly, to East Anatolia to a spot just below the Lake of the Van, in what
is now Turkey. That is just north of what is termed “The Cradle of
Civilization”, where it all began; NOT Africa. DNA has begun to dispel the
Fables, Nursery Rhymes and Voodoo Science what was previously passed down to us
by some very creative practitioners of doo doo but NOT science. DNA is science.<br />
I was also contracted with to help splice the Ancient Mathew [Madawg aka Madoc
aka Madog] family with that on the other side of “The Big Pond”, the USA
Mathews, Matthews, Mathis, Matthewes, Mateus, Mathias, Mattice etc. families.
That was a few years ago as well. That was a massive project and too large a
subject for discussion here. See </span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/Gwaithfoed"><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;">https://www.facebook.com/Gwaithfoed</span></a><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br />
Wales was originally settled by the ancient Khumry of 13 tribes, all coming
from that area around Lake of the Van. This history is well known and was in
fact reiterated by Kings Edward, the second and third, in tax collections for
the “Crown”. Those nasty taxes can sometimes be very useful in the study of
ancient histories. My line was referred to in that document as the Tal y Van
Tribe. Lake of the Van is still well-known and you can google it today. On
ancient maps, it was referred to as the Nairi Sea. Tushpa, the capital of
Urartu, was located near the shores of Lake Van, on the site of what became
medieval Van's castle, west of present-day Van city. The ruins of the medieval
city of Van are still visible below the southern slopes of the rock on which
Van Castle is located. Please note that place name—Tushpa for later discussion
in this paper.<br />
The many place names in and around Urartu will also be found quite liberally in
South Wales. It will also interest you to know that these place names are found
quite liberally in the USA, especially in Pennsylvania and the South, including
here in our little slice of the South. We have maps of migratory patterns from
these ancient locations to various other parts of the world—China, Russia, and
points east, as well as to the southwest into Africa—not vice versa as the
voodoo scientists would have us to believe. You will have maps that showed
migrations from this area up Ukraine, Lithuania, etc. to what is now
Scandanavia and points south and west. You will also have maps that show the
migration of my line from that area west and across the Aegean and
Mediterranean into Greece, Italy, France, Germany, Switzerland, while my line
continued to the Pyrenees where France and Spain meet and points north, ending
up in Brittany [Formally Briton], Cornwall and S. Wales. There are very good
migratory maps of the Tribes of Israel and their various Diaspora over time.
None of these migrations and migratory patterns are fables but are now
supported with our DNA which has really exploded of late.<br />
China, Russia, E. Europe, W. Europe, Scandinavia, Britain etc. remain comprised
of tribes; make no mistake about that. They still don’t like each other. Some
of this tribal stuff extended to the settling of the New World, Australia,
Indonesia, etc. Many of these tribes have been at war with one another for
millennia.<br />
Now to the point of all this… If you will now refer to that website created
by </span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/MarshaMills.Matthews?__tn__=%2CdKH-R-R&eid=ARCFHPIvJNJtHnuhkIqHx15SahbMVGPMNarOJSZgnaauNORx1YpsMkPDojn1sBQ_GEGjU1akSVOGVsNS&fref=mentions&hc_location=group" title="Marsha Mills Matthews"><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Marsha
Mills Frank</span></a><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> and
yours truly, you will find maps, photos of some tribes and a wee bit of
narrative on the subject. In our study of Seminole IT Ghost Towns, school
names, cemetery names, church names, etc. we have been driving to these places
and are becoming quite familiar with these places, now plotted on Google Desktop
Maps. You are going to see place names on these maps such as Arbeka aka Arveka,
Tushka aka Tuchka, Econtuchka, Heliswa, Mahaka aka e Mahaka, etc. These
locations were of Creek/ Seminole origin. They are also place names in Russia,
E. Europe, Scandinavia, Spain, etc. and were as a result of the various
migrations taken by the ancient tribes. This is neither coincidence nor by
accident. These migrating tribes brought these place names with them and
plopped them down, right here in Seminole County, and other parts of Oklahoma.<br />
Just this morning, in reading The Daily Oklahoman, I read where Tushka HS won
in a Class A baseball game. This high school just happens to be in Atoka, known
more for the Chickasaw or Choctaw Tribe than Creek or Seminole. You will see
all of these place names all over especially eastern Oklahoma, formerly Indian
Territory. In Seminole County, there was formerly a Tushka School in what was
formerly known as Econtuchka Township, a rather substantial land area in
northwestern Seminole IT. Arbeka is in the Red Mound Township IT in
northeastern Seminole County. Marsha and I have been all over this area in our
travels and travails. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;">We
also posted some photos of some tribes, now and for time immemorial, in Tuchka,
on the island of Sakhalin, once a disputed territory of Japan and Russia,
finally settling in Russia. Take a good look at the photos of these tribal
members. Also, take a good look at the different perspectives of this island in
4 different frames in relation to the Aleutian Islands and the Bering Strait,
formerly land bridges to Alaska. It is more than just a wild guess that
peoples/ tribes came to what is now, N America across these land bridges. Other
tribes came from S. America to the American Southwest. The final point being,
that there are NO INDIGENOUS TRIBES IN THE USA. The Creator didn’t just plop a
few down here like turnips in a garden. EVERYONE who is here now is an
immigrant from somewhere. It just depends upon when they arrived and from which
direction. To think otherwise is just delusional; a fairy tale to fit a
present-day narrative but still just a big lie. All maps and photos are to be
seen at:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/SeminoleITGhostTownsandHistory/"><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;">https://www.facebook.com/groups/SeminoleITGhostTownsandHistory/</span></a><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br />
Having said all that, neither did Columbus discover America--he never set foot
in America. Fully documented ancient histories have a Khumric [Welsh]
expedition that landed and explored here in about 560 AD. There are other
documented expeditions from the Irish and Scandinavians, although there have
been many attempts to hide these histories. I will not even go into all of that
here—it would take a book or two. In fact, it is all in a book. You can find
excerpts/ an outline at </span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/Gwaithfoed/?__tn__=%2CdKH-R-R&eid=ARDZzJJ3JAFpqvmO8CMvZMB7I1MxoSWv8dAL7nBv2ZXd7KOko8qn99rpiPnV7x3o0NVe7c7PFXIJeyK3&fref=mentions&hc_location=group"><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;">facebook.com/Gwaithfoed</span></a><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> if you have interest
in that sort of thing.<br />
I, for one, do not celebrate anything on Columbus Day other than thanking the
Creator for Spanish olives. Silly me…<br />
I think you will get the drift. You see, when the Romans made the attempt to
wipe out all of the histories in Britain [Briton] in books, poetry, official
records, they failed miserably, as they almost always do. Their attempted
incursions in S. Wales were a disaster—they got their arse sufficiently kicked
time after time. They were unfamiliar with the Welsh expertise with the yew bow
and arrow and that cost them thousands of their legions. They were unfamiliar
with the Welsh terrain as well, which can be treacherous and where the Welsh
warriors knew to take a stand from time to time. They were also unfamiliar with
the Khumric practice of Gavelkind and the requirement that every Khumric family
head was to know at least 9 generations preceding him, their history, titles,
lands, etc. and that of their wives aka concubines-- it was passed down from
generation to generation mnemonically.<br />
Most importantly of all is that they did not know the ancient Khumric language
and still do not today. That is also true of the N. Welsh tribes. They too are
wholly unfamiliar with the Khumric ancient language, firstly carved on sticks,
including their tribal names. The poor l’il buggers got hoodwinked. The
histories are still there and known today. They kind of look down their noses
at the rest of us due to our general ignorance on such matters and deservedly
so. We simply don’t know the language and we certainly do not know the art of
wordsmithing, any more than we know the art of the yew bow. It is all there
though, even today.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br />Stephen P Matthewshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13711508007664626422noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2430326536936136745.post-68331053299343679542019-11-12T09:59:00.002-05:002021-05-21T23:02:32.481-04:00Seminole Indian Territory Installment XI<br />
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<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12pt;">This is to give you a general idea what I am talking about; it is clearly a
remote area with remote access and worthy of exploration. In fact, I would like
to do it on horseback, as far east as NS 352, west to NS 350, from EW 111 to
I-40. Marsha however, suggested a burro instead. I think she sought a photo-op, with my country ass in a sombrero and serape.
When I return, if that bridge below I-40 on NS 351 is still impassable, I will
approach, northbound, on NS 352, then west on EW 112 where it ends, for all
practical purposes, at NS 351.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12pt;">It
is also important to note that NS 350 is the boundary line of Pott/ Seminole
Co. Boundary surveys back when were not exact, so that has likely been a moving
target prior to the final official survey following statehood. I have dealt
with this issue many times in my family/ genealogy research on the borders of
KY/ TN, TN/ NC, TN/ AL, GA & SC; also, VA/ NC, NC/ SC, etc. You get the
picture. There were border wars over these moving lines—taxes of course. What
else?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12pt;">There
are even more issues here with Indian Territory borders, Seminole IT being a
“Johnny Come Lately”, formerly being part of Creek IT. I won’t even begin to
get into that here—that will come later.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12pt;">At
one point, we took a GPS reading: N 35.37180 / W 96.84263. I had it that,
looking south and west from this point, Econtuchka would have been here,
approximately. However, that is not certain because we were driving around in
circles, due to the fact section line roads just stopped dead; thus, we had to
retrace and find another way through. We were at times in Pott Co., Seminole
Co., Okfuskee Co. and somehow, we found ourselves in Lincoln Co. I have no clue
how we did that! My navigator was apparently lacking a properly calibrated
gyroscope. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12pt;">On
the north and east of that GPS reading lay South River Ranch and South River
Farms. Corn, wheat, beans, etc. as far as the eye could see. Charolaise,
Longhorns, Brahmas, Angus, etc. that were show cattle, to a beefsteak. These
were large herds, not itty-bitty ones. The corn and wheat were immaculate.
Never seen anything like this, ANYWHERE! The irrigation systems, surveillance
and fencing were par none. I would not doubt if the fencing had voltage. They
did not want anyone wandering about onto the property—warnings posted everywhere.
I considered peeing on the fence to see—Marsha nixed that idea. The farming
equipment was aplenty and high $$$. We are talking not in $Millions. There may
be a $B or 2 in there. There were OK Dept. of Wildlife hunting areas posted in
places, sprinkled about. I would kill to take a 12 gauge and Pointer in there!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12pt;">The
active production, mostly that of New Dominion, was everywhere. Again, the
units, tank farms, etc. were fairly new and huge! This was not “Stripper”
production either—it was large and top $. Marsha and I were astounded! As some
of you know, Marsha knows her way around the industry so we are not neophytes
in that department. Unfortunately, most of my minerals are in the Greater
Seminole Field, south of Seminole.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12pt;">The
other 3 IT Ghost Towns that were on the agenda were:<br />
ARBEKA<br />
In extreme northeastern corner of Seminole County. A post office from September
10, 1883, to December 14, 1907. Taken from Abi' h' ka, meaning 'peace town' or
'a place where justice was received.'<br />
HANEY<br />
Ten miles northeast of Seminole. A post office from February 17, 1908, to
November 30, 1916. Named for Reverend Willie Haney, prominent Seminole.<br />
IRENE<br />
Six miles south of Boley, A post office from October 31, 1903 to November 28,
1907. Named for Irene Davis, the late Mrs. W. S. Key of Oklahoma City, daughter
of Chief Alice Brown Davis, Seminole leader. On December 19, 1907 a post office
named Schoolton was established at approximately this same site.<br />
These locations are noted on the second map.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12pt;">I
tried to pinpoint, approximately, a fifth location--TBD:<br />
HELISWA<br />
Five miles northwest of Seminole. A post office from January 10, 1891 to
November 27, 1895. The name is from the Creek word heleswv, meaning medicine. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12pt;">In
trying to pinpoint these locations, I have spoken with several Seminole IT
historians, etc. I have spoken with the Director of the Seminole Museum in
Wewoka, for instance. Several names have been suggested. I have talked to some
and others are on my list. I have determined this to be a massive project, but
I am further determined to get it done. Marsha and I were having a blast. We
will both tell you this—you have no idea the beauty of this county, its
resources, and the largely unknown farming, ranching and oil / gas production
operations. Our suggestion would be to get out of town and see this beautiful
land. It is truly amazing!<br />
Once again, I will post here the Seminole IT Ghost Towns. If anyone can help us
pinpoint these locations, definitively, please let me know. I want to pinpoint
the exact GPS coordinates when all is said and done. There is a method to my
madness which will be known at a later date. This list is not exhaustive, as I
have learned. There are many more ghost towns, stretching back to the Trail of
Tears. The history here is beyond your imagination, or, at least it is beyond
mine.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12pt;">Marsha
and I took another drive in "the sticks" today. We went up to Chimney
Rock. The road my Mobile Google Maps took me on a different approach than I
recall back in the 60s. It was just not right--I recall driving north and
the access to the chimney was on my left [West]. I am going to get my Topo maps
out and find the approach from the east, not west. Thus, I did not actually get
out and walk to the chimney. However, when we came back through Seminole, after
looking for a turnout/ lookout that I recall, from Hwy 9, looking north, we got
my minerals map and headed to my leases, one of which still gets me checks from
Sunoco [Communities #2]. We found it, on Mathews Land Co. properties--no
relation. Then we headed from there to Hwy 59 W to one I have just on the west
edge of Bowlegs. What a surprise. We had been to Wildcat Hollow a few days ago.
I did not walk to it, due to its being on private lands. Guess what; Wildcat
Hollow is on my mineral lease lands!!! Blew my mind. Here's a tip--take Ideal
St. as far as it goes to the south. That's where Wildcat "Holler" is!
Not kidding! Thus, we visited Wildcat Holler twice in one week, unknowingly. We
came back up north on Ideal St. to Strothers, headed west, passing Phelps Farm.
We headed to what ended up passing PG School on our right and went up what I
think is Good Hope Road, passing the Ironhead Bar. I've been there a few times
and found it to be quite nice. It's been a while though. Marsha and I did not
go in but I wanted to make sure it was where I thought it was. BTW--I am still
getting my bearings. I plan to drive every darn back road in the county--part
of my bucket list. You have no idea how pretty the drive was today. Beautiful!
We got Homeland Fried Chicken and had a picnic on the drive; washed it down
with Lone Star w/ limes. It was a blast!!! Also btw, NS 355 is Ideal St. We got
some good pics too.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12pt;">One
of Seminole's Favorite Sons and formerly, Principal Chief, Enoch Kelly Haney
with a personal anecdote. I gave a speech in Oklahoma City in about 1985, to
HEACO, an organization of higher educators in the state of Oklahoma. Kelly
spoke at the same and was on the dais with me. In my remarks, I spoke about my
immigrant family hitting the shores of Colonial America. Just as I was completing
that story, then Senator Haney chimed in, "...and my people met your
people at the boat". You know, he was right.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12pt;">Continuing
on EW 1330, westbound, you come to a fork, whereby 1330 ends for all practical
purposes, it dips south on NS 3610 and becomes EW 1340. This road meanders due
to the configuration of those Oklahoma Hills but finally straightens out at NS
3580, moving due west. When you reach NS 3570, you are now in Snomac, Seminole
IT Ghost Town, on the north side of EW 1340. Approximately 1/2 mile west of NS
3570, you will stumble upon Spring Creek Cemetery. We found it quite by
accident, locating a sign in a very obscure location, just off the road,
covered by a very woodsy stand of trees and brush. I will offer a guess that
former Snomac residents utilized this cemetery. That would take a venture into
the woods to confirm by checking markers. Approximately 1/2 mile west of that,
lies Wolf Cemetery. According to my map, the entire southern section was Snomac
and the northern section was Wolf. It is now Wolf in its entirety. The western
border of this section is Old Hwy 99. The northern boundary of this section is
EW 1330. To give you some perspective, If you drove north to Seminole, NS 3570
is Harvey Rd, although good luck on that, since this road meanders all over the
place and you cannot drive this road all the way to Snomac/ Wolf unless you
have really good maps.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12pt;">To
be continued…<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<br />Stephen P Matthewshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13711508007664626422noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2430326536936136745.post-88625381902901093082019-11-10T12:11:00.001-05:002019-11-10T12:13:49.633-05:00Marbury vs Madison<br />
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<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12pt;">In
Landmark Supreme Court Ruling (Marbury vs Madison) the Court Ruled "All
Laws Repugnant to the Constitution are Null and Void" The US Constitution
is the Supreme Law of the Land and any statute to be valid must be in
agreement.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Madison
went on to say that laws can enhance but not diminish that which is in the
Constitution [Madison’s Notes].<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Final
Ruling of Justice Marshall:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The
Constitution declares that "no bill of attainder or <i>ex post facto</i> law
shall be passed."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;">If,
however, such a bill should be passed and a person should be prosecuted under
it, must the Court condemn to death those victims whom the Constitution
endeavours to preserve?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;">"No
person," says the Constitution, "shall be convicted of treason unless
on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or on confession in
open court."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Here.
the language of the Constitution is addressed especially to the Courts. It
prescribes, directly for them, a rule of evidence not to be departed from. If
the Legislature should change that rule, and declare one witness, or a
confession out of court, sufficient for conviction, must the constitutional
principle yield to the legislative act?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;">From
these and many other selections which might be made, it is apparent that the
framers of the Constitution contemplated that instrument as a rule for the
government of courts, as well as of the Legislature.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Why
otherwise does it direct the judges to take an oath to support it? This oath
certainly applies in an especial manner to their conduct in their official
character. How immoral to impose it on them if they were to be used as the
instruments, and the knowing instruments, for violating what they swear to
support!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The
oath of office, too, imposed by the Legislature, is completely demonstrative of
the legislative opinion on this subject. It is in these words:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;">I
do solemnly swear that I will administer justice without respect to persons,
and do equal right to the poor and to the rich; and that I will faithfully and
impartially discharge all the duties incumbent on me as according to the best
of my abilities and understanding, agreeably to the Constitution and laws of
the United States.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Why
does a judge swear to discharge his duties agreeably to the Constitution of the
United States if that Constitution forms no rule for his government? if it is
closed upon him and cannot be inspected by him?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;">If
such be the real state of things, this is worse than solemn mockery. To
prescribe or to take this oath becomes equally a crime.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;">It
is also not entirely unworthy of observation that, in declaring what shall be
the supreme law of the land, the Constitution itself is first mentioned, and
not the laws of the United States generally, but those only which shall be made
in pursuance of the Constitution, have that rank.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Thus,
the particular phraseology of the Constitution of the United States confirms
and strengthens the principle, supposed to be essential to all written Constitutions,
that a law repugnant to the Constitution is void, and that courts, as well as
other departments, are bound by that instrument.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Full
Text of the Ruling:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="https://www.owleyes.org/text/marbury-v-madison/read/opinion-of-the-court#root-362">https://www.owleyes.org/text/marbury-v-madison/read/opinion-of-the-court#root-362</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Fascinating
stuff! This is a testament to the time when we adhered to and were bound to the
Constitution, as the Framers intended. “Case Law” was not even a consideration.
It was simply the Constitution vs the law in conflict. Period!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Detinue:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>a legal claim to recover wrongfully detained
goods or possessions.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Mandamus:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mandamus is a judicial remedy in the form of
an order from a court to any government, subordinate court, corporation, or public
authority, to do some specific act which that body is obliged under law to do,
and which is in the nature of public duty, and in certain cases one of a
statutory duty.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<br />Stephen P Matthewshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13711508007664626422noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2430326536936136745.post-37294704504912025452019-11-08T10:18:00.002-05:002019-11-08T10:19:02.831-05:00Seminole Cook Book 1933<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Ladies and Germs:</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">I am providing your Birthday and early Christmas present. The Seminole Cook Book 1933. It was republished in 1996 by the Seminole Historical Society. My mother gave it to me for Christmas that year. It is a treasure and I refer to it quite often. It is also historical. You will notice old Ads, going back to the beginning. The 2 digit phone numbers are of course the beginning of business/ commercial interests. Then, at some point, they had to go to 3 digit, followed my 4 digits. My home number went from 291 to 2911. The other more modern numbers are of course provided by those businesses who sponsored the 1996 reprint.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">At the beginning of the publication, just following the Fly Page, there is an interesting piece on just what businesses were extant in 1933, in total. Try to imagine what it was like at that time, the heyday of Seminole. Read the old Ads. They are noteworthy. I hesitated including Page 2 of the book, knowing some of y'all are quite capable of doing just that. If we find a Gerald Jones pork roast at some point, we will know where she got the idea. I suppose that could make me a co-conspirator and that gives me pause. The Rod Shoppe on Page 4 is the location of one of my grandfather's grocery stores. On Page 6 is an ad for H&M Food Market. That was also one of my grandfather's grocery stores. That one was in a partnership with Jim Hendren. The "M" of course is Matthews. That location is now Seminole Wine & Spirits at 104 E Broadway, phone #1077.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">I remember so many of these old places. I have pictures of many at my Seminole IT FB website. On pages 52-53 are some Helpful Hints, many of which are a blast. The Table of Weights & Measures is quite interesting, as is the Table for Baking Meats. The Index, P. 54-59 is quite helpful.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">I hope you get a kick out of it half as much as I have over the past many years.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">NOTE: If this does not work for you, please let me know. I may have to Zip the Folder. Here is the link to the folder:<a href="https://drive.google.com/open?id=1sKy5Lr84oThZ4Aw5V2mWTff1bt7AJpDg">Seminole Cook Book 1933</a></span>Stephen P Matthewshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13711508007664626422noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2430326536936136745.post-47207050073764198992019-11-06T13:23:00.001-05:002021-05-21T22:54:36.566-04:00Seminole Indian Territory Installment X<br />
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<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12pt;">George
Birdwell and his gang robbed the Merchants Bank in Boley on November 23, 1932.
Birdwell was known to many as the "chief lieutenant" of Pretty Boy
Floyd. Floyd forewarned Birdwell against robbing the bank in Boley. The Boley
bank robbery followed bank robberies in Earlsboro, Maud, Mill Creek, Roff and
Henryetta. Pretty Boy's warning came a little like this: "Go anywhere
else, but do not rob Boley. The people there need their money and they do not
have much of it in their bank." The warning was couched by a reference
that Birdwell and his gang would look quite unusual in an "all-black"
town. Birdwell was Irish, although with a mix of Cherokee and Choctaw. In other
words, he just ain't gonna fit in there. To make matters even worse, the day
they chose was the first day of bird-hunting season--need I say more. The
entire town was armed to the teeth! The gang was decimated, to say the least.
As a personal aside, the Mayor of Boley is Joan Matthews...who knows? Henrietta
Hicks is the Municipal Judge and Fran Shelton is the President of the Chamber
of Commerce. Marsha and I will be dropping by in our travels,
commencing again soon, in the many Seminole IT Ghost Towns. It may just be that
Joan and I can determine whether we are related. I will just tell you, that in
learning my family history, it is as likely as not we are blood cousins. </span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/charles.sims.71?__tn__=%2CdKH-R-R&eid=ARCJHvBXpOTXPCN5Pr-o30lZpkPKsy5fQE029oHAKrBDZuUpYrS0zGTkn5JtONCFfkiAcXp6B2uam7NU&fref=mentions&hc_location=group" title="Charles Sims"><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12pt;">Charles
Sims</span></a><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12pt;">, I
hope this brings you up to date. BTW--this article appeared in The
Seminole Producer, June 12, 2016. Jaime Birdwell-Branson is a darned good writer--in
my humble opinion. This Land Press: </span><a href="http://thislandpress.com/"><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12pt;">http://thislandpress.com/</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12pt;">Wallace
C. Moore, Seminole Co., OK, native, Butner graduate, Cromwell, OK, 1964. How
many of you know that name? You should. The 1866 Treaty Memorial Event, marking
the 150th Anniversary of the Emancipated Freedmen of the Five Civilized Tribes,
as outlined in the ratified Treaties of 1866, began in OKC on June 24, 2016.
Wallace C. Moore was a keynote speaker. His presentation depicts an account of the
signing of the Treaty and the role of a man called Mikko "Cow Tom",
played in concluding the treaty. Wallace has many talents as a historian,
re-enactor, poet, etc. History and contributions made by black men and women,
Freedmen, in the settling of the Old West is just one of those talents.
Subjects covered are a history of “Negro” Lawmen and Outlaws in Indian
Territory, “Negro” Scouts of the West, Black Cowboys, Buffalo Soldiers, etc.
After the Civil War, Freedmen, former slaves of the Tribes, were emancipated by
treaties signed in 1866 between the USA and Tribal Nations. These treaties
guaranteed that the Freedmen and their descendants would have rights as native
citizens, including rights to land and national funds. These treaties have been
the subject of debate, even to this day. If you ever have the chance to see
Wallace perform, do it. As an aside, the subject of Black Cowboys is one of the
most fascinating aspects of Old West History but, unfortunately, largely
unknown. Ever heard of Bill Pickett, Stagecoach Mary, Bass Reeves [I've written
a lot about him on my websites], Crawford Goldsby aka Cherokee Bill, Nat Love?
How about a modern-day black cowboy like Jason Griffin, who is a four-time
world champion bareback bucking horse rider? You're fixin' to.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12pt;">Some
Fun and Not So Fun Factoids:<br />
LIMA – Known as one of Oklahoma's thirteen remaining historically All-Black
towns, Lima is located south of U.S. Highway 270 on County Road N3600
between Seminole and Wewoka. At the turn of the twentieth century Seminoles and
Seminole Freedmen occupied the area. The community known as Lima, named for the
local limestone quarries, existed at least by 1904. In 1926 the discovery and
development of the Greater Seminole Oil Field brought prosperity and white
settlers to the town. The newcomers started a separate village east of Lima,
which became known as New Lima. This community never incorporated but built its
own school, post office, and businesses. The combined population numbered 239
in 1930 and 271 in 1940. With the decline in the oil boom, the population
dropped to 99 in 1950 and 90 in 1960. In 1957, with the end of segregation, the
Lima and New Lima schools merged. The population of the two communities climbed
to 256 in 1980, but slowly fell to 74 in 2000.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12pt;">MAUD
– Rockabilly singer Wanda Jackson was born here in 1937<br />
• "Pretty Boy" Floyd robbed the bank here in 1931.<br />
• On January 8, 1898, MS. Julia Leard was murdered by a “half-breed” Negro.
When a mob of white men captured Lincoln McGelsky, who they suspected had
killed Mrs. Leard, they strung him up repeatedly in an attempt to make him
confess. It was later reported that two other men were burned at the stake for
the murder.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12pt;">SEMINOLE
– Outlaw George Birdwell was buried here in the Maple Grove Cemetery. On November
24, 1932. He was a partner and friend of Oklahoma outlaw Pretty Boy Floyd. He
was killed while robbing the bank in the African-American community of Boley,
Oklahoma in November, 1932.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12pt;">WEWOKA
– Wewoka was the capital of the Seminole Nation in 1888.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12pt;">1889-
Oklahoma Territory- the first Oklahoma Land Run takes place. With the shot of a
pistol at high noon the Oklahoma Land Rush began as 10,000 prospective
land-grabbers rushed forward to get their 160-acre claim for a $15 filing fee.
The U.S. Federal government had purchased almost two million acres of land in
Central Oklahoma from the Creek and Seminole Indians. Some folks snuck in
earlier and are known as “Sooners”, those that followed the rules were known as
“Boomers”. (In case you ever wondered where the tern “Boomer Sooner” in college
football came from.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12pt;">SEMINOLE
– <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12pt;">85
Years Ago, The Seminole Producer, Text reads: "April 11, 1931--The last
chapter in what has aptly been called the 'most brutal murder of 1931' was
written in District Court when a local 31-year-old black murderer was sentenced
by Judge George Crump to spend the remainder of his life at hard labor in the
state penitentiary. He pleaded to clubbing to death Joseph M. White, 73-year-old
storekeeper at Elmwood, a small community eight miles southwest of Seminole.
The brutal murder occurred on February 8". Question is, where the heck was
Elmwood? Maud is 8 miles SW of Seminole. Was it a "suburb" of Maud,
which reached an estimated population of 10,000 at the height of the oil boom?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12pt;">Search
for Econtuchka<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12pt;">We
left our house on Cherokee St at approximately 10:45 am and arrived back at
approximately 6:00 pm. I had mapped, on Google Desktop Maps, 4 former Seminole
IT Ghost Towns that had a Post Office, Churches, etc., well before statehood.
We spent the entire time however, looking for a way to access the location for
the first one—Econtuchka. Here is the book on Econtuchka: “ECONTUCHKA<br />
Extreme northwestern part of Seminole county is a post office from September
15, 1881 to November 30, 1907. On October 19, 1899, the post office was
established slightly to the west at a new site in the Pottawatomie Nation. This
is the Seminole/Creek word meaning a “surveyed line.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12pt;">We
meandered all over these section lines in order to arrive at an approximate
location where I thought the center of this Ghost Town and PO would be. You
will note that the PO moved west into Pott County. It is also important to note
that NS 349 aka 3490 is aka Econtuchka Road and that is in Pott Co, the first
quadrant of sections west of the Pott/ Seminole Co. boundary. Thus, Econtuchka,
Seminole IT Ghost Town and PO is the farthest NW quadrant of sections east of
that boundary. The approximate boundaries of that area are EW 111, just below
the N Canadian River on the north, NS 350 on the west, approximately EW 112 on
the south and approximately NS 351 on the east; all just north of I-40. The
reason I say, “approximately”, in some cases is that EW 112 stops dead at NS
350—there is no way through to NS 351. The same can be said for EW 111—it stops
dead at NS 350, although, there is an obscure line on Google Desktop Maps
[GDM], where it appears there is a roadbed where it was once traveled. I am
going to try to find that and see just what that looks like at ground level.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12pt;">To
be continued…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />Stephen P Matthewshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13711508007664626422noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2430326536936136745.post-47231733827403219122019-11-04T14:21:00.001-05:002019-11-04T14:21:19.097-05:00What is the Democratic Party vs the Grand Old Party<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 12pt;">The
platforms of the parties were developed at very different times in the history
of this Republic. When Jefferson developed the basis of the Democrat-Republican
party, we had just begun to practice what the Founders had set in concrete, the
Constitution of the United States. At that time, the opposition party was the
Federalist Party. Some referred to it as the Tory Party and so it began.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Jefferson’s
approach was comprehensive, as it was his world view, having served in
ambassadorial functions before he served as president. If one reads the three
documents referenced here, one will see that the parties evolved in each case.
The Federalist Party simply disappeared and fragmented into other political
parties, serving more narrow interests.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 12.0pt;">When
Andrew Jackson entered the scene, it was largely due to his prominence as a Major
General in the War of 1812. The Democrat-Republican party split due to Jackson.
Adherents to the Jacksonian party considered themselves Jacksonian Democrats
but the others remained true to Jefferson’s Democrat-Republican party
philosophy and principles. Jackson was a little rough around the edges, raised
in the area around old Rowan County, NC, on dirt floors. His education was
sporadic. He did study law, under the old tutorial system and ended up
practicing law in Tennessee. He was considered a scalawag and scoundrel by his
detractors but a war hero to others. He was self-described as a Democrat for
the common man. I ran across Jackson in my study of my own family history. He
and my 3<sup>rd</sup> G-Grandfather were born 7 years apart in what became
Statesville, Iredell County, NC, carved from the original Rowan County, NC. At
that time, there were only about 100 families, largely a Presbyterian
settlement. It would have been impossible for the two to be unfamiliar with one
another, all things consider. I have a map of the settlement, showing the
relationship of the families. They were the creators of the Fourth Creek
Presbyterian Church. My 4<sup>th</sup> G-Grandfather is buried there as his
brother, Mussendine Matthews. It appears we all headed to Tennessee in c. 1800
+/-. Jackson served as the first Representative of Tennessee in the US
Congress.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 12.0pt;">I
registered as a Democrat in 1970. I was a self-described Jeffersonian Democrat
and it can be said that I remain just that. However, on September 24<sup>th</sup>,
2018, I split from that party and registered otherwise. In short, that was due
to the fact that Jefferson no longer has a place in today’s Democratic Party.
Thus, it can be said, and accurately so, that I no longer have a place in that
party.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 12.0pt;">When
I look to the parties now, I still look to the original platforms of the
parties to determine my place. I also look to the Constitution for my place in
each. I am a strong adherent to one statement by Thomas Jefferson:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“On every question of construction carry
ourselves back to the time when the Constitution was adopted, recollect the
spirit manifested in the debates and instead of trying what meaning may be
squeezed out of the text or invented against it, conform to the probable one in
which it was passed”. To do otherwise is a mockery to those Founders. These
Democrats of today look to spurious Case Law. Most law schools, especially on
the east coast, do not even study Constitutional Law. They study Case Law. Cave
Dwellers they are. This Democratic Party are enemies of the Principles of
Jefferson. Thus, they are enemies of mine. In fact, there is no Democratic
Party. It disappeared, just as did the Federalist Party.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 12.0pt;">I
go where Jefferson goes, wherever that might be. In my opinion, Jefferson now
resides in the wing of the GOP which was the old Democrat-Republican party. I
will precede a description of the original parties with this synopsis, in my
own opinion.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />Stephen P Matthewshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13711508007664626422noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2430326536936136745.post-7417445219925247602019-11-04T14:19:00.003-05:002019-11-04T14:28:50.251-05:00Republican Platform of 1856<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12pt;">This
Convention of Delegates, assembled in pursuance of a call addressed to the
people of the United States, without regard to past political differences or
divisions, who are opposed to the repeal of the </span><a href="http://www.ushistory.org/us/23c.asp"><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Missouri Compromise</span></a><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12pt;">; to the policy of the
present Administration; to the extension Slavery into Free Territory; in favor
of the admission of Kansas as a Free State; of restoring the action of the
Federal Government to the principles of Washington and Jefferson; and for the
purpose of presenting candidates for the offices of President and
Vice-President, do</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<i><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Resolved:</span></i><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> That the maintenance
of the principles promulgated in the </span><a href="http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/"><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Declaration of Independence</span></a><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;">, and embodied in the
Federal Constitution are essential to the preservation of our Republican
institutions, and that the Federal Constitution, the rights of the States, and
the union of the States, must and shall be preserved.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<i><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Resolved:</span></i><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> That, with our
Republican fathers, we hold it to be a self-evident truth, that all men are
endowed with the inalienable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of
happiness, and that the primary object and ulterior design of our Federal
Government were to secure these rights to all persons under its exclusive
jurisdiction; that, as our Republican fathers, when they had abolished Slavery
in all our National Territory, ordained that no person shall be deprived of
life, liberty, or property, without due process of law, it becomes our duty to
maintain this provision of the Constitution against all attempts to violate it
for the purpose of establishing Slavery in the Territories of the United States
by positive legislation, prohibiting its existence or extension therein. That
we deny the authority of Congress, of a Territorial Legislation, of any
individual, or association of individuals, to give legal existence to Slavery
in any Territory of the United States, while the present Constitution shall be
maintained.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<i><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Resolved:</span></i><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> That the
Constitution confers upon Congress sovereign powers over the Territories of the
United States for their government; and that in the exercise of this power, it
is both the right and the imperative duty of Congress to prohibit in the
Territories those twin relics of barbarism — Polygamy, and Slavery.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<i><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Resolved:</span></i><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> That while the
Constitution of the United States was ordained and established by the people,
in order to "form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic
tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and
secure the blessings of liberty," and contain ample provision for the
protection of the life, liberty, and property of every citizen, the dearest
Constitutional rights of the people of Kansas have been fraudulently and
violently taken from them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Their
Territory has been invaded by an armed force;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Spurious
and pretended legislative, judicial, and executive officers have been set over
them, by whose usurped authority, sustained by the military power of the
government, tyrannical and unconstitutional laws have been enacted and
enforced;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The
right of the people to keep and bear arms has been infringed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Test
oaths of an extraordinary and entangling nature have been imposed as a
condition of exercising the right of suffrage and holding office.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The
right of an accused person to a speedy and public trial by an impartial jury
has been denied;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The
right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects,
against unreasonable searches and seizures, has been violated;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;">They
have been deprived of life, liberty, and property without due process of law;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;">That
the freedom of speech and of the press has been abridged;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The
right to choose their representatives has been made of no effect;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Murders,
robberies, and arsons have been instigated and encouraged, and the offenders
have been allowed to go unpunished;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;">That
all these things have been done with the knowledge, sanction, and procurement
of the present National Administration; and that for this high crime against
the Constitution, the Union, and humanity, we arraign that Administration, the
President, his advisers, agents, supporters, apologists, and accessories,
either before or after the fact, before the country and before the world; and
that it is our fixed purpose to bring the actual perpetrators of these
atrocious outrages and their accomplices to a sure and condign punishment
thereafter.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<i><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Resolved,</span></i><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> That Kansas should
be immediately admitted as a state of this Union, with her present Free
Constitution, as at once the most effectual way of securing to her citizens the
enjoyment of the rights and privileges to which they are entitled, and of
ending the civil strife now raging in her territory.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<i><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Resolved,</span></i><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> That the highwayman's
plea, that might makes right," embodied in the Ostend Circular, was in
every respect unworthy of American diplomacy, and would bring shame and
dishonor upon any Government or people that gave it their sanction.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<i><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Resolved,</span></i><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> That a railroad to
the Pacific Ocean by the most central and practicable route is imperatively
demanded by the interests of the whole country, and that the Federal Government
ought to render immediate and efficient aid in its construction, and as an
auxiliary thereto, to the immediate construction of an emigrant road on the
line of the railroad.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<i><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Resolved,</span></i><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> That appropriations
by Congress for the improvement of rivers and harbors, of a national character,
required for the accommodation and security of our existing commerce, are
authorized by the Constitution, and justified by the obligation of the
Government to protect the lives and property of its citizens.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<i><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Resolved,</span></i><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> That we invite the
affiliation and cooperation of the men of all parties, however differing from
us in other respects, in support of the principles herein declared; and
believing that the spirit of our institutions as well as the Constitution of
our country, guarantees liberty of conscience and equality of rights among
citizens, we oppose all legislation impairing their security.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<br />Stephen P Matthewshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13711508007664626422noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2430326536936136745.post-219754675574256092019-11-04T14:18:00.000-05:002019-11-04T14:26:28.240-05:00Federalist Party<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12pt;">The
Federalist Party originated in opposition to the Democratic-Republican Party in
America during President George Washington’s first administration. Known for
their support of a strong national government, the Federalists emphasized
commercial and diplomatic harmony with Britain following the signing of the
1794 Jay Treaty. The party split over negotiations with France during President
John Adams’s administration, though it remained a political force until its
members passed into the Democratic and the Whig parties in the 1820s. Despite
its dissolution, the party made a lasting impact by laying the foundations of a
national economy, creating a national judicial system and formulating
principles of foreign policy.</span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;">History
of The Federalist Party<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The
Federalist Party was one of the first two political parties in the United
States, and thus in the world. It originated, as did its opposition, the
Democratic-Republican Party, within the executive and congressional branches of
government during <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/george-washington">George
Washington</a>’s first administration (1789-1793), and it dominated the
government until the defeat of President <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/john-adams">John Adams</a> for
reelection in 1800. Thereafter, the party unsuccessfully contested the
presidency through 1816 and remained a political force in some states until the
1820s. Its members then passed into both the Democratic and the Whig parties.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Who
Supported The Federalist Party?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Although
Washington disdained factions and disclaimed party adherence, he is generally
taken to have been, by policy and inclination, a Federalist, and thus its
greatest figure. Influential public leaders who accepted the Federalist label
included John Adams, <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/american-revolution/alexander-hamilton">Alexander
Hamilton</a>, <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/john-jay">John Jay</a>,
Rufus King, <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/john-marshall">John
Marshall</a>, Timothy Pickering and Charles Cotesworth Pinckney. All had
agitated for a new and more effective constitution in 1787. Yet, because many
members of the Democratic-Republican Party of <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/thomas-jefferson">Thomas
Jefferson</a> and <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/james-madison">James Madison</a> had
also championed the Constitution, the Federalist Party cannot be considered the
lineal descendant of the pro-Constitution, or ‘federalist,’ grouping of the
1780s. Instead, like its opposition, the party emerged in the 1790s under new
conditions and around new issues.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The
party drew its early support from those who—for ideological and other
reasons—wished to strengthen national instead of state power. Until its defeat
in the presidential election of 1800, its style was elitist, and its leaders
scorned democracy, widespread suffrage, and open elections. Its backing centered
in the commercial Northeast, whose economy and public order had been threatened
by the failings of the Confederation government before 1788. Although the party
enjoyed considerable influence in <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/us-states/virginia">Virginia</a>, <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/us-states/north-carolina">North Carolina</a> and
the area around Charleston, <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/us-states/south-carolina">South Carolina</a>,
it failed to attract plantation owners and yeoman farmers in the South and
West. Its inability to broaden its geographic and social appeal eventually did
it in.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Alexander
Hamilton And The Bank of the United States<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Originally
a coalition of like-minded men, the party became publicly well defined only in
1795. After Washington’s inauguration in 1789, Congress and members of the
president’s cabinet debated proposals of Alexander Hamilton, first secretary of
the treasury, that the national government assume the debts of the states,
repay the national debt at par rather than at its depressed market value, and
charter a national bank, the <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/us-government/bank-of-the-united-states">Bank
of the United States</a>. Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson and Congressman
James Madison rallied opposition to Hamilton’s plan. Yet not until Congress
debated the ratification and implementation of the <a href="https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/george-washington-signs-jay-treaty-with-britain">Jay
Treaty</a> with Great Britain did two political parties clearly emerge,
with the Federalists under Hamilton’s leadership. Federalist policies
thenceforth emphasized commercial and diplomatic harmony with Britain, domestic
order and stability and a strong national government under powerful executive
and judicial branches. Washington’s <a href="https://www.history.com/news/a-history-of-the-presidential-farewell-address">Farewell
Address</a> of 1796, prepared with Hamilton’s assistance, can be read as a
classic text of partisan Federalism as well as a great state paper.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;">John
Adams<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;">John
Adams, Washington’s vice president, succeeded the first president as an avowed
Federalist, thus becoming the first person to attain the chief magistracy under
partisan colors. Inaugurated in 1797, Adams tried to maintain his predecessor’s
cabinet and policies. He engaged the nation in an undeclared naval war with
France and after the Federalists gained control of both houses of Congress in
the 1798 election, backed the infamous and Federalist-inspired <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/alien-and-sedition-acts">Alien and
Sedition Acts</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;">In
addition to a widespread public outcry against those laws, which restricted
freedom of speech, Adams met with mounting attacks, especially from the
Hamiltonian faction of his own party, against his military priorities. When
Adams, as much to deflect mounting Democratic-Republican opposition as to end a
war, opened diplomatic negotiations with France in 1799 and reorganized the
cabinet under his own control, the Hamiltonians broke with him. Although his
actions strengthened the Federalist position in the presidential election of
1800, they were not enough to gain his reelection. His party irreparably split.
Adams, on his way to retirement, was nevertheless able to conclude peace with
France and to secure the appointment of moderate Federalist John Marshall as
chief justice. Long after the Federalist Party was dead, Marshall enshrined its
principles in constitutional law.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Decline
of the Federalist Party<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;">In
the minority, Federalists at last accepted the necessity of creating a system
of organized, disciplined state party organizations and adopting democratic
electoral tactics. Because their greatest strength lay in <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/us-states/massachusetts">Massachusetts</a>, <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/us-states/connecticut">Connecticut</a> and <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/us-states/delaware">Delaware</a>, the
Federalists also assumed the aspects of a sectional minority. Ignoring
ideological consistency and a traditional commitment to strong national power,
they opposed Jefferson’s popular <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/westward-expansion/louisiana-purchase">Louisiana
Purchase</a> of 1803 as too costly and threatening to northern influence
in government. Largely as a result, the party continued to lose power at the
national level. It carried only Connecticut, Delaware and part of <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/us-states/maryland">Maryland</a> against
Jefferson in 1804.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;">That
defeat, the party’s increasing regional isolation and Hamilton’s untimely death
at the hands of <a href="https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/burr-slays-hamilton-in-duel">Aaron
Burr</a> that same year threatened the party’s very existence. Yet strong,
widespread opposition to Jefferson’s ill-conceived Embargo of 1807 revived it.
In the 1808 presidential election against Madison, the Federalist candidate,
Charles C. Pinckney, carried Delaware, parts of Maryland and North Carolina,
and all of New England except <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/us-states/vermont">Vermont</a>. The
declaration of war against Great Britain in 1812 brought <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/us-states/new-york">New York</a>, <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/us-states/new-jersey">New Jersey</a>, and
more of Maryland into the Federalist fold, although these states were not
enough to gain the party the presidency.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;">But
Federalist obstruction of the war effort seriously undercut its newfound
popularity, and the Hartford Convention of 1814 won for it, however unjustly,
the stigma of secession and treason. The party under Rufus King carried only
Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Delaware in the election of 1816.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Although
it lingered on in these states, the party never regained its national
following, and by the end of the <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/war-of-1812/war-of-1812">War of 1812</a>,
it was dead. Its inability to accommodate early enough a rising, popular
democratic spirit, often strongest in towns and cities, was its undoing. Its
emphasis upon banking, commerce and national institutions, although fitting for
the young nation, nevertheless made it unpopular among the majority of
Americans who, as people of the soil, remained wary of state influence. Yet its
contributions to the nation were extensive. Its principles gave form to the new
government. Its leaders laid the foundations of a national economy, created and
staffed a national judicial system and enunciated enduring principles of
American foreign policy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br />Stephen P Matthewshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13711508007664626422noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2430326536936136745.post-24818035059729517432019-11-04T14:15:00.001-05:002019-11-04T14:23:12.292-05:00Jefferson's Platform for His Democrat-Republican Candidacy and Presidency<br />
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Political parties in the 1790s did not issue official platforms, but our
co-founder Thomas Jefferson issued a major statement in January 1799 that was
widely reprinted and circulated. It became the basis of his party's philosophy
and is no longer the basis of the platform of the Jefferson Democrat-Republican
Party today:<br />
<br />
<i><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">…In confutation of these and all
future calumnies, by way of anticipation, I shall make to you a profession of
my political faith; in confidence that you will consider every future
imputation on me of a contrary complexion, as bearing on its front the mark of
falsehood and calumny.</span></i><br />
<br />
<i><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">I do then, with sincere zeal, wish
an inviolable preservation of our present federal constitution, according to
the true sense in which it was adopted by the States, that in which it was
advocated by its friends, and not that which its enemies apprehended, who
therefore became its enemies; and I am opposed to the monarchising its features
by the forms of its administration, with a view to conciliate a first
transition to a President and Senate for life, and from that to a hereditary
tenure of these offices, and thus to worm out the elective principle. <span style="background: yellow; mso-highlight: yellow;">I am for preserving to the
States the powers not yielded by them to the <st1:place w:st="on">Union</st1:place>
and to the legislature of the <st1:place w:st="on">Union</st1:place> its
constitutional share in the division of powers.</span></span></i><br />
<br />
<i><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">And <span style="background: yellow; mso-highlight: yellow;">I am not for transferring all the powers of the States to
the general government, nor all those of that government to the Executive
branch</span>. I am for a government rigorously frugal and simple, <span style="background: yellow; mso-highlight: yellow;">applying all the possible
savings of the public revenue to the discharge of the national debt</span>; and
<span style="background: yellow; mso-highlight: yellow;">not for a multiplication
of officers and salaries merely to make partisans,</span> and for <span style="background: yellow; mso-highlight: yellow;">increasing, by every device, the
public debt,</span> on the principle of it's being a public blessing.</span></i><br />
<br />
<i><span style="background: yellow; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-highlight: yellow;">I am for relying, for internal defence, on our militia solely, till
actual invasion</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">, and for such a
naval force only as may protect our coasts and harbors from such depredations
as we have experienced; and not for a standing army in time of peace, which may
overawe the public sentiment; nor for a navy, which, by its own expenses and
the eternal wars in which it will implicate us, grind us with public burthens,
and sink us under them. <span style="background: yellow; mso-highlight: yellow;">I
am for free commerce with all nations, political connection with none, and
little or no diplomatic establishment.</span></span></i><br />
<br />
<i><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">And <span style="background: yellow; mso-highlight: yellow;">I am not for linking ourselves by new treaties with the
quarrels of <st1:place w:st="on">Europe</st1:place></span>; entering that field
of slaughter to preserve their balance, or joining in the confederacy of kings
to war against the principles of liberty. <span style="background: yellow; mso-highlight: yellow;">I am for freedom of religion</span>, and <span style="background: yellow; mso-highlight: yellow;">against all maneuvers to bring
about a legal ascendancy of one sect over another</span>: <span style="background: yellow; mso-highlight: yellow;">for freedom of the press</span>,
and <span style="background: yellow; mso-highlight: yellow;">against all violations
of the constitution</span> to silence by force and not by reason the complaints
or criticisms, just or unjust, of our citizens against the conduct of their
agents.</span></i><br />
<br />
<i><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">And <span style="background: yellow; mso-highlight: yellow;">I am for encouraging the progress of science in all its
branches and not for raising a hue and cry against the sacred name of
philosophy</span>. For awing the human mind by stories of raw-head & bloody
bones to a distrust of its own vision, & to repose implicitly on that of
others, <span style="background: yellow; mso-highlight: yellow;">to go backwards
instead of forwards to look for improvement, to believe that government,
religion, morality, and every other science were in the highest perfection in
ages of the darkest ignorance, and that nothing can ever be devised more
perfect than what was established by our forefathers</span>.</span></i><br />
<br />
<i><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">To these I will add, that I was a
sincere well-wisher to the success of the French revolution, and still wish it
may end in the establishment of a free and well-ordered republic. But I have
not been insensible under the atrocious depredations they have committed on our
commerce.</span></i><br />
<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">-Thomas Jefferson</i><o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://jeffersonrepublican.blogspot.com/2007/04/jeffersons-platform.html">http://jeffersonrepublican.blogspot.com/2007/04/jeffersons-platform.html</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br />Stephen P Matthewshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13711508007664626422noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2430326536936136745.post-43411529234504245152019-10-29T08:16:00.001-04:002021-05-21T22:44:10.694-04:00Seminole Indian Territory Installment IX<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12pt;">Seminole
County, Oklahoma, 1924. Prohibition agents attack a moonshine still, blasting
away at the moonshiners. Prohibition agent, Wiley Lynn [Murderer of Bill
Tilghman], arrests the main moonshiner, saying that he is in violation of the
Volstead Act. Wiley then kicks the moonshiner in the face.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12pt;">The
agents take the moonshiner to a building used by the oil well drillers. Wiley
asks the moon shiner who he makes his deliveries to? The deputy agent tells the
moonshiner that he better tell the man who he delivers to. The moonshiner says
that Mr. Lynn already knows who he delivers to. Wiley pulls out his gun and
shoots the deputy agent. The moonshiner then pushes the deputy agent down an
oil well opening. Wiley starts laughing and the moonshiner joins in on the
laughing. Then, suddenly, Wiley got very menacing saying that he did warn the
moonshiner. He then tells the law breaker that he better get out of Seminole
County and never come back. The moonshiner agrees to that and starts walking
out of the building. Wiley calls out to the man, who turns around, and Wiley
shot the fellow in the chest. He then throws the body into the same oil well
opening. Wiley now bloodies his forehead by banging it against a pipe. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12pt;">The
Guthrie Daily Leader, July 24, 1896<br />
George King, a Negro from the Seminole nation, was brought here last night by
Deputy Marshal Ryan and lodged in the federal jail. He is charged with having
committed a rape on a white girl in that country. He will be taken to Fort
Smith. Under the laws of the Indian Territory the punishment for rape is death
by hanging.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12pt;">Robert
Reed, Deputy U S Marshal<br />
U. S. Marshals<br />
Robert Reed and Sore Lip Willie had been appointed Deputy U S Marshals for the
limited duty of apprehending a black man named Coffey Barnes for stealing
horses. The lawmen located Barnes in the Seminole Nation and when Barnes
resisted arrest and he was killed in the shootout. Later, on Sunday, October
27, 1889, the lawmen were sitting on their horses talking to John Halsey at a
gate near his home. As the three were talking, five men were observed riding
toward the house. As the five men neared the gate, they drew their pistols and
opened fire on Reed and Willie, shooting them out of their saddles. The lawmen
were dead when they hit the ground. The five men then rode away without saying
a word. Halsey recognized the men as Cudge Barnett, Prince Hawkins, Ross Ryley,
D. Brown and a man he knew only as Lane. No record can be found indicating if
the five men were ever arrested for the murder of the deputies.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12pt;">Cherokee
Bill aka Cherokee Kid<br />
At eighteen, while attending a dance at Fort Gibson, Texas, he shot Jake Lewis
twice for beating up Crawford’s little brother. He then headed for the
Creek and Seminole Nations (now Oklahoma) where he met Jim and Bill Cook, a
couple of outlaws.<br />
In the summer of 1894, the Cook’s and Crawford got the owner of a restaurant to
go and collect some money due each of them as a payment share for some Indian
land called the Cherokee Strip. The government had bought the land. She did
collect the money for all three, and on her return was followed by a sheriff’s
posse trying to catch up with the Cooks. There was a gunfight at one point, one
killed and one wounded. The owner of the restaurant was questioned about the
gunfight and was asked if Crawford was amongst the group. She replied no but
that it was the Cherokee Kid. This, apparently, was where he gained his
nickname.<br />
The famous Cook gang made itself known across the Cherokee and Seminole Nations
(in now Oklahoma) in July 1894 with robberies and murder.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12pt;">Famous
Lawmen and Outlaws in Seminole County<br />
The early 1920's also saw the discovery of oil in Oklahoma, and "boom
towns" began to spring up around the state. These oil towns became the
scene of much violence. One such town was Cromwell in Seminole County. Oil had
been discovered in October of 1923 and by 1924, Cromwell had 10 unsolved
murders. Governor M. E. Trapp called upon former deputy United States marshal
Bill Tilghman, now retired, to take on the job of town marshal and clean up the
boom town. But in November 1924, the famous lawman died at the hands of a
drunken federal prohibition agent [Wiley Lynn]. His murderer was tried, but
found not guilty, and lived to slay another lawman a few years later.
Tilghman's body was taken to the rotunda at the state capitol, where thousands
of Oklahoman citizens paid their respects to one of the "Three
Guardsmen" who had fought the bad men in the territorial days.<br />
In 1907 Seminole County was created when Indian and Oklahoma territories were
joined to form the state of Oklahoma. At 1907 statehood the county's population
stood at 14,687, rising to 19,964 in 1920. In 1908 residents voted to designate
Wewoka, the largest town in the county at that time, as the county seat. The
Seminole National Capitol Building, built by the Seminole after the Civil War,
served as the courthouse until a new structure was constructed in 1927. The
Seminole County Courthouse is listed in the National Register of Historic
Places (NR 84003429). County Courthouse, 1904.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12pt;">One
of the most famous occurrences in the county was the Green Corn Rebellion. In
August 1917 a group of radicals associated with the Working Class Union formed
groups in Seminole and surrounding counties to oppose and evade the World War I
draft by destroying utilities, confronting law authorities, and, ultimately,
marching to Washington, D.C. Approximately 450 were arrested. The event seemed
to mark the end of Oklahoma's flirtations with socialism. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12pt;">In
1832 Washington Irving was among the early explorers of the area that was first
settled by the Creek and Seminole in the 1830s. In 1856 the Seminole moved east
of the county area to a separate reservation. As a result of the Reconstruction
Treaties of 1866 and ensuing agreements over the following two decades, the
Seminole were assigned lands that comprise present Seminole County. Confusion
over boundaries caused the Seminole to purchase land from the federal
government and the Creek Nation, which had been resettled to the east. The
Seminole established their capital at Wewoka.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12pt;">Twenty-five
archaeological sites represent Seminole County's prehistory. One site dates to
the Paleo period (prior to 6000 B.C.), thirteen to the Archaic
period (6000 B.C. to A.D. 1), four to the Woodland period (A.D. 1 to
1000), and seven to the Plains Village period (A.D. 1000 to 1500). Between 1971
and 1972 archaeologists found stone dart points and other evidence indicating
occupation of people from the late Archaic period at the Raulston-Rogers
(SM-20) Site (listed in the National Register of Historic Places, NR 78002262).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12pt;">More
Seminole Memorabilia--Connection to In-Laws and Outlaws. It should be noted
that I have posted several tidbits about Jake Sims, Seminole Lawman of
yesteryear. Both my grandfather and father told me many stories about Jake and
a host of other Lawmen of this county, as well as the lore of many outlaws
connected with Seminole--there are MANY! There was mention of Jake in one of my
previous posts, referencing 85 Years Ago, The Seminole Producer, June 17, 1931,
see below. In some of my previous posts, grandson of Jake Sims, </span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/charles.sims.71?__tn__=%2CdKH-R-R&eid=ARDJ_D5WKZDdhvBRzbuwVD53awkrWRYb19-1MF3IeL56dfeoTf3KcJ5_2Ura1Y1uE2f-0MsW2rckuUji&fref=mentions&hc_location=group" title="Charles Sims"><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12pt;">Charles
Sims</span></a><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12pt;">,
inquired whether Boley, OK was still extant. I am glad to report that it is.
Boley has often been referred to as an original Oklahoma "Negro"
town, just across the border of Seminole County, lying in Okfuskee County.
Well...that ain't all there is to that story. It really should be known as one
of the original Oklahoma Freedman Counties; that just so happens it is what it
is. Strangely, the day following an exchange between </span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/charles.sims.71?__tn__=%2CdKH-R-R&eid=ARBr8C26CBzRI3OVl4Hl2o6sN69EX_KuEYaq5ObBCDK8lCmQUekmBFIfrZ9d5IJzjdudalF7m0CiLsuP&fref=mentions&hc_location=group" title="Charles Sims"><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12pt;">Charles</span></a><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12pt;"> and I, what would
appear but a piece in The Seminole Producer about Boley and outlaw, George
Birdwell, written by his G-G-Granddaughter, Jaime Birdwell-Branson, in This
Land Press. It is a fascinating article; it is almost a full page in the
Producer so I will not post in its entirety. Further, I am not sure how many of
you are familiar with This Land Press, but if you have any Okie in you, I
heartily recommend it. I will post a link to it, below. Boley was one of 50
"all-black" towns in Oklahoma, settled by former slaves of Native
Americans, following the Civil War. These are/ were known as Freedmen, not
"all black", by any stretch. Boley was incorporated in 1905, built on
land given to Abigail Barnett, daughter of a Creek Freedman. Boley was hailed
by the famed Booker T. Washington as, "the most enterprising, and in many
ways the most interesting of the Negro towns in the U.S." <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12pt;">To
be continued…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br />Stephen P Matthewshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13711508007664626422noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2430326536936136745.post-81439162242154923832019-10-19T08:00:00.001-04:002021-05-21T22:26:24.888-04:00Seminole Indian Territory Installment VIII<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12pt;">If
we don't know our history, how the heck can we know what we're doin' or where
we’re goin’?! The Trail of Tears, War Chief Jumper, amongst many others, are a
fascinating history. I had the pleasure of working for former Governor
George Nigh, a notable Oklahoma historian. He passed much of this along to me
and I love to pass it along to others. I am a proud Okie--that darned red dirt
runs through my veins, just like the music--Red Dirt genre... </span></div>
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<a href="http://www.seminolenation-indianterritory.org/leaders.htm"><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12pt;">http://www.seminolenation-indianterritory.org/leaders.htm</span></a><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12pt;">I
posted these stories here to prompt discussion about Seminole anything history.
My grandfather and my father told me many stories and provided colorful
anecdotes. Many of the "Lawmen and the Lawless" around these parts
left descendants that still live/ lived and play/ played here today. These
stories need to be told. Please tell them, whether absolute fact, family
anecdotes, whoppers and tales. I am sure many of us would love to know them. I
moved back here finally to retire after living in other places--OKC,
Washington, DC, Knoxville, TN, etc. I was away from 1977 through May of 2015,
although I came back in 2005-6 to take care of mom following a stroke and again
in 2012-13 before leaving again to care for a friend with a broken leg.
Although I was away, in many ways, I never left, always being kept up by family
and friends and returning often for vacations etc. I am retired and I would not
do it anywhere else. I love being an Okie and especially an Okie from Seminole.
I would love to hear YOUR stories.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12pt;">David
Samuel “Sam” Robertson, Constable / Deputy Sheriff<br />
Wolf Township / Seminole County Sheriff’s Office<br />
Seminole County Deputy Sheriff Robertson also served as the Constable for the
small town of Wolf, two miles south of Bowlegs. In the early morning hours of
Wednesday, December 11, 1929, Robertson was raiding a gambling game in Wolf.
Otis Lackey was acting as a lookout for the game but had left his post when
Constable Robertson entered the game. Robertson was standing near the game,
amiably telling the players to present themselves in front of the judge the
next day, when Lackey returned and saw him. Lackey drew a gun and shot the
officer twice in the back. Robertson died several hours later. Seminole County
Deputies John Poe and Jim Villines arrested Lackey the next day. Lackey was
convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison. Deputy Robertson was
survived by his wife and eight children. Robertson was one tough SOB!<br />
The Muskogee Phoenix on September 22, 1894 carried a story about a shooting
Rufus Cannon was involved in: "About a year and a half ago, Rufus Cannon
and W.L. Stanphill, deputies under Marshal Yoes, had a fight near Wewoka with a
portion of the Woodward gang. Joe Pierce was killed and his friends claim that
the killing was unjustifiable. They attempted to have the deputies indicted for
murder, but failed. The special grand jury.......took up the case again and
returned indictments against both. Stanphill was in the city and surrendered at
once. Rufus Cannon was out in the Seminole Nation, but came in today and gave
himself up to C.J. Lamb. Both had admitted to bond and are confident of their
acquittal."<br />
Belle Starr<br />
Sam Starr, John Middleton and maybe other associates of Sam's were suspected of
the robberies of the Creek and Seminole Nations treasuries. A posse raided
Younger's Bend looking for Starr and Middleton and evidence to tie them to the
robberies. The pair was not at the ranch when the marshals arrived and the
posse found nothing to implicate them in the hold-ups. With the heat on at
Younger's Bend, Middleton decided to go back to his home in Dardanelle,
Arkansas and asked the Starr's to help him. Sam and Belle hid Middleton in a
wagon covered with a tarp. With their saddle horses tied to the back and the
children little Ed and Pearl in the wagon, Belle and Sam headed for Arkansas.
When the group camped for the night on the first day out, probably near Keota, OK, Middleton somehow offended Belle Starr and she refused to go any further or to
allow Middleton to take her horse.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12pt;">Another
Jake Sims story:<br />
The robbery of the bank in Kendrick included the shooting of one man. The
outlaws escaped in a Nash coupe, and in November 1929 the vehicle was found on
the streets of Seminole. Two men were arrested. Within two days, Keirsey
learned that Owen Edwards, and possibly other outlaws, were in Harjo, OK, hiding at
the Dyer place. A call was quickly made to Oklahoma City for the assistance of
agent Claude Tyler of the State Bureau of Criminal Identification and
Investigation. Tyler immediately travelled to Seminole, where he joined
Keirsey, Seminole chief of police Jake Sims, and Seminole County deputy sheriff
George Hall. The four lawmen arrived in Harjo shortly after sunset.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12pt;">They
left their car in front of the Dyer place and Chief Sims went to the front
door. Keirsey and Tyler went to the back door while Hall covered the side of
the house. Sims encountered Edwards at the front door and a gunfight broke out.
At the back door, Tyler and Keirsey encountered Sam and Ruth Dyer. Tyler held
them at gunpoint in the back room. Sims, having shot Edwards in the shoulder,
continued to stand his ground at the front door. Edwards, seeing that escape in
that direction was blocked, retreated toward the rear of the house and picked
up a second handgun on the way. At this point, James Keirsey stepped through a
doorway with gun drawn and encountered Owen Edwards, who had a gun in each
hand. As Chief Sims moved in from the front of the house, Keirsey told Edwards
to drop his guns. In response, Edwards opened fire with both guns and shot
Keirsey numerous times, killing him. Keirsey returned fire as he fell to the
floor, hitting his killer once or twice. Tyler rushed to the aide of Keirsey -
the Dyers escaped out the back door. Chief Sims approached Edwards from one
side as Tyler moved in from another direction. Edwards was still blazing away
with his handguns. Sims and Tyler filled his head with bullet holes and brought
the gunfight to an end.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12pt;">A
Seminole newspaper started a benefit fund for James Keirsey's family, which
included his wife and three children. According to the newspaper, he was known
as an "upstanding, fearless and intelligent gentleman, engaged in
upholding the law and protecting the members of society." Almost 10,000
people attended Keirsey's funeral, the largest ever held in Durant.<br />
Here is more on the Keirsey story:<br />
Cliff Keirsey began his law enforcement career when he became a Bryan County
night jailer in 1914. He then served as a Bryan County deputy sheriff, a Durant
city policeman, a Texas peace officer, an Ardmore policeman, and he served with
the Seminole police department for 12 years. James A. Keirsey was born in about
1890 and upon becoming an adult he served as a Durant policeman for many years.
James moved to Seminole during the oil boom days and served as a city
policeman. In late 1928 or early 1929 he was asked to fill the unexpired term
of the Durant police chief. James returned to Durant for a period, and then
resumed his work at the Seminole police department, where he was the assistant
chief of police in 1929.<br />
During his law enforcement career, James Keirsey had arrested Owen Edwards a
few times. Edwards was reportedly a member of the old Kimes gang of bank
robbers and had escaped from jail in Arkansas in the summer of 1928. He was a
suspect in a string of 1929 Oklahoma bank robberies, including the banks in
Minco, Prague, and Kendrick. During the time period that Keirsey was
temporarily the chief of police in Durant, Owen Edwards reportedly vowed to
kill Keirsey.<br />
The robbery of the bank in Kendrick included the shooting of one man. The
outlaws escaped in a Nash coupe, and in November 1929 the vehicle was found on
the streets of Seminole. Two men were arrested. Within two days, Keirsey
learned that Owen Edwards, and possibly other outlaws, were in Harjo hiding at
the Dyer place. A call was quickly made to Oklahoma City for the assistance of
agent Claude Tyler of the State Bureau of Criminal Identification and
Investigation. Tyler immediately travelled to Seminole, where he joined
Keirsey, Seminole chief of police Jake Sims, and Seminole County deputy sheriff
George Hall. The four lawmen arrived in Harjo shortly after sunset.<br />
To be continued.</span><br />
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<br />Stephen P Matthewshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13711508007664626422noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2430326536936136745.post-53323928444739194342019-10-15T17:19:00.001-04:002021-05-21T22:17:53.173-04:00Seminole Indian Territory - Installment VII<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12pt;">One
of the things about Jake’s [Jake Sims] unique career that stands above all others was that
after a famous gun fight with a gang of bank robbers known as the Edward’s Gang
where Jake shot and killed a few bad guys and some of his fellow lawmen were
shot and killed, Jake never again carried a gun. After the fatal gun fight, he
is reputed to express the belief that there had to be a better way to enforce
the law than with a gun. There were exceptions to his no gun rule but for the
most part, he was a master at convincing criminals to surrender rather than run
or resist arrest. The legend is that criminals from all over Oklahoma would
come to Seminole to surrender to Jake Sims because they knew they would not be
shot or abused while in his custody. This is pretty amazing for a lawman that
stood at five feet, six inches and probably weighed less than 120
pounds.<br />
Jake Sims never learned to drive. The story is that early in his career as a
cop, he went to one of the new car dealers in Seminole to pick out a car to
purchase so he could learn to drive. He drove the new car thought the wall and
show room window of the car dealer. That was the end of his attempt to learn to
drive. From then on, until his retirement, he always had a driver. The driver
was always a cop who was armed.<br />
With that minimal background information I can relate the following story. I
was a small child [His grandson--Charles]. I am not sure how old I was when all this was happening but
I would have been under the age of six because I was too young to go to
school.<br />
Jake, in his capacity at the Oklahoma Crime Bureau, traveled all over Oklahoma
to visit with his informants and look for bad guys. He and his driver would
leave OKC early in the morning and stop at various beer joints and BBQ places
to meet with every sort of criminal and n'er do well imaginable. Sometimes
they made it home at night. Sometimes they spent the night in various hotels.
Jake liked to, on occasion, take me along on his trips. He and his driver would
put me in the back seat of their enormous Buick and off we would go for an
all-day or sometimes two-day trip.<br />
My mother hated this. At the time, I did not understand why my mother did not
like me traveling with Jake. My father was adamant that I be allowed to go with
Jake on these trips. There were a lot of harsh words exchanged in our house
over these trips. At the time, as a small child, I had no idea of why my mother
would have objected to what, for me, were great adventures. Later in life I
came to understand my mother’s point of view.<br />
A typical day trip would consist of multiple stops in bars, BBQ joints and
other shady places. Jake and his driver would take their place in a back booth
or table. The driver would bring in a case of pint liquor bottles from the
trunk of the car. Remember that Oklahoma was officially dry during this time
period. A succession of what I can now understand was informants and criminals
would sit down at Jake's table and tell Jake about god only knows about bad
things and bad people. When the conversation with Jake was finished, the informant
was rewarded with a pint or two bottles of whiskey. Most of these people who
talked with Jake were probably not motivated by free whiskey. I think what was
going on here was what we would more likely recognize today as some form of
plea bargaining. You told Jake what you knew about the safe hijackers and he
would have a talk with the local cops about your petty theft. I was never
allowed to listen to these stories. I was always put at the counter or a table
beyond hearing range. The bartender would give me a coke and entertain me.<br />
Was I in any danger during these meetings? Probably not. I have a memory of
setting at the bar when a very rough looking guy came into the bar and plopped
down on the bar stool next to me. He made some comment to me and the bartender
said to him, that is Jake Sims’s grandson you are talking to and Jake is sitting
right over there watching you. The man jumped off his stool and told the
bartender to tell Jake that I didn’t mean no harm. I was just being friendly.
About that time, Jake’s driver stood up and wiggled his finger at the guy in a
come here motion. The guy ran for the door. The driver said to the bartender, I
ain’t going to chase him but you tell him that he needs to come see Jake the
next time we are in town. I suspect the guy showed up for his
appointment.<br />
All of which gets us to my story:<br />
One of the places I visited with Jake and one of my favorite places was outside
of Moore, Oklahoma. At that time, Moore was just a wide spot on the road
between Norman and OKC. It was a rural area. We would stop at a huge, two story
house that was in the middle of farm field. A farm field where nothing grew.
The house looked like a country and western version of Tara. Jake, his driver
and I would climb the stairs to the front door where we would be escorted
inside by a lovely lady. Jake and his driver would climb the sweeping staircase
to the second floor while I would be taken to the "pallor" which was
a large room decorated with big stuffed couches and chairs that reinforced the
Tara image. This was my favorite part of the trip. The pallor would be full on
some of the nicest ladies I have ever meet. Those nice ladies were so happy to
have a small child to entertain. They would make me cookies and milk. I took
turns setting on their laps and being kissed and hugged. As a child, I was
always taken by the nice ladies’ form of dress. They did not dress like my mom
or the other ladies in Seminole. They were very colorful. Some wore great,
flowing skirts. Others did not seem to wear a lot of clothes and favored black
stockings with huge seams. For a child, it was a little like going to the
circus. Nevertheless, for a short time at the house, I would have the company
of a lot of ladies who really loved me.<br />
I assume that by pre-design, there were never any other men in the house while
we were there. Occasionally there would be a knock on the door, but no one was
ever admitted into the house. Jake and his driver would come down the stairs
after an hour or so and we would load into the car and be off to our next stop.
I have no recollection of ever asking what Jake and his driver were doing
upstairs.<br />
I am embarrassed to admit that I thought nothing of this particular stop for
many years. Then one day when I was in my twenties, a great gestalt occurred.
Holy crap. That was a whore house. It just never occurred to me while coming of
age in Seminole. Now perhaps we all have dirty minds and what we are thinking
was going on upstairs was not really what was going on upstairs. Maybe Jake was
meeting with a higher level of informants, crooks and politicians out of OKC
and that house provided the privacy they needed to conduct police business.
Sure, that is possible.<br />
I don't think my mother ever knew about this stop on my trips with Jake but
maybe she did. Was I in any danger? Probably not. I think those ladies would
have ripped the eyes out of anybody who tried to harm me.<br />
We all have regrets in life. One of mine is that I was not old enough to really
get to know Jake before he died. Can you imagine the stories that he could have
told if I could have gotten him to talk. My guess is that a lot interesting
names and places went to the grave with Jake.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />Stephen P Matthewshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13711508007664626422noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2430326536936136745.post-28066508441074520022019-09-21T12:03:00.002-04:002019-09-21T12:04:09.615-04:00Seminole Indian Territory for Producer Installment VI<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12pt;">Here
is a piece of Seminole history. I have talked about it numerous times. The
tribes in Indian Territory opted to fight for Jeff Davis, President of the
Confederacy, during the Civil War. It cost them dearly and the final result was
the opening of Oklahoma Territory to a series of 9 Land Runs, which ultimately
became the 46th State. What you will read below is a historical rarity. Thomas
Wilson, Seminole Tribe, was actually in possession of a rare discharge, signed
by General Robert E. "Marse" Lee on May 1, 1865, 21 days following
the surrender at Appomattox. The discharge certificate is most likely still in
the state museum. As a footnote, the Articles of Surrender had a proviso that
unless and until Stand Watie, Cherokee, officer of the Confederacy, stand down
in Indian Territory, these Articles do not become effective. In fact, he did
not. That is why you often hear that it never ended.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;">It
is not surprising that agrarian radicalism emerged in Seminole County in the
early twentieth century. The region was a relatively infertile agricultural
area, made up predominately of tenant farmers who raised cotton, corn, peanuts,
oats, and, hay. However, that changed in the early 1920s after O. D. Strother
began searching for oil in the county in the late 1910s. The first great
discovery well, the Betsy Foster Number One, was drilled near Wewoka in 1923.
In rapid succession the Cromwell pool was developed in 1924, and the Fixico
Number One brought in a gusher in the summer of 1926 in Seminole. The oil rush
was on. At the height of its production the Seminole (city) Field accounted for
2.6 percent of the world's oil production. The county population increased from
23,808 in 1920 to 79,621 in 1930. The rapid influx of men, women, and machinery
taxed the local infrastructure and produced colorful tales. Town histories
relate stories of streets so muddy that cars sank up to their fenders. Hastily
erected shacks, Bishop's Alley (a red-light district), and railroad activity in
the city of Seminole were second only to Chicago. Cromwell, known as the
"wickedest town in the United States," brought legendary William
"Bill" Tilghman out of retirement to patrol its streets. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The
early 1920's also saw the discovery of oil in Oklahoma, and "boom
towns" began to spring up around the state. These oil towns became the
scene of much violence. One such town was Cromwell in Seminole County. Oil had
been discovered in October of 1923 and by 1924, Cromwell had 10 unsolved
murders. Governor M. E. Trapp called upon former deputy United States marshal
Bill Tilghman, then retired, to take on the job of town marshal and clean up
the boom town. But in November 1924, the famous lawman died at the hands of a
drunken federal prohibition agent [Wiley Lynn]. His murderer was tried, but
found not guilty, and lived to slay another lawman a few years later. Tilghman's
body was taken to the rotunda at the state capitol, where thousands of
Oklahoman citizens paid their respects to one of the "Three
Guardsmen" who had fought the badmen in the territorial days.<br />
</span><a href="https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.truewestmagazine.com%2Fthe-killing-of-bill-tilghman%2F%3Ffbclid%3DIwAR3xGfNAYGSg4QDOw5BPL9_0yW5-Rg2vBLcrLXelMsIMm8CXvgPXRhGYShM&h=AT3AgFEpYmaqDbfHUejBKa62shjVx6wYGMAiNlCd7G3m6raoIrpo0Tn10BhkDgAp-GGH1t8IeUHMaTmKCjfZdE10J9FSVT3qwcuE57HozQketonVtIfdmMCn3fi9uPCoM4y-oRprznl7iTsynzM" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://www.truewestmagazine.com/the-killing-of-bill-tilghm…/</span></a><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Bill
Tilghman<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Tilghman
heard that Bill Doolin, a member of the Wild Bunch, was hanging around the
Eureka Hot Springs over in Arkansas. So, he dressed as a musician,
complete with a violin case, and walked past all the customers around the
hot springs resort. He walked up to the main room where the men were getting
massages and he looked at all the men's faces until he found Doolin. He pulled
out a shotgun from the violin case and said to Doolin: "You know my name,
Doolin." Doolin started reaching for his pistol, but Tilghman came closer
to the outlaw, and said: "Don't make me kill you, Bill."<br />
Tilghman and his wife later go to the premier of Bill's movie. The capture of
Bill Doolin was put in Tilghman's movie. Also in the movie was Bill's
involvement with the capture of two young ladies with the Wild Bunch gang,
Cattle Annie and Little Britches. Tilghman is called out of the movie to speak
with a man, a store owner named John Sirmans from Cromwell, Oklahoma. John
represents the Citizen's Committee for Law and Order. He says things are out of
control in Cromwell, in Seminole County, and they want Bill Tilghman as their
first chief of police, because everybody knows the name of Bill Tilghman and
his presence will show the outlaws that they mean business in Cromwell to stop
the crime wave.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;">1924
-- at the age of seventy, Tilghman becomes the marshal of Cromwell in Seminole
County, Oklahoma. He is warned that the gangsters of the town could kill him
while he is on the job. On November 12, he dies from two shots fired by Wiley
Lynn, a corrupt Prohibition agent. One month after Tilghman's murder, the town
of Cromwell is torched, with every brothel, bar, flophouse, and pool hall being
burned to the ground.<br />
The Legendary Jake Sims<br />
In our research we learned the bootlegger business in Seminole, Oklahoma, was a
taxi company, setting within a half block and direct view of the front window
of the Seminole Police Department and the Chief of Police's office window. The
view out both windows provided a clear view to see every vehicle driving in and
out for a liquor purchase, every day, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, from the
boom days of the 1920's until the state was went wet in 1959.<br />
What is significant about the Seminole situation is the Chief of Police was
none other than, Jake Sims, one of Oklahoma's most respected and storied
lawman. Jake Sims, was the Seminole Chief during the oil boom years, moving on
to serve stints as the head of the Oklahoma Highway Patrol's Division of
Criminal Investigation, the director of OSBI, the Oklahoma State Bureau of
Investigation, and finally back as the Seminole Chief of Police until
approximately* the time state went wet.<br />
To review our point, bribery and kickback, cover-up and protection, fraud and
corruption, have long been accepted as the normal.<br />
*Note:<br />
Jake Sims' dates of service. No records could be found showing Jake Sims' last
date of service. However, we did find reference to his active presence at the
Seminole Police station, as late as 1955, and he was still relatively young.<br />
Full story here:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<a href="http://prowlingowl.com/Comments/OKWideOpenKickbacks.cfm?fbclid=IwAR2lQBO8x_FXnilnVhBr3m70B0Y8Hy7lXbnNW_4uElwmwQCBOtokdctM5eI"><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;">http://prowlingowl.com/Comments/OKWideOpenKickbacks.cfm?fbclid=IwAR2lQBO8x_FXnilnVhBr3m70B0Y8Hy7lXbnNW_4uElwmwQCBOtokdctM5eI</span></a><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Jake
Sims a Personal Anecdote<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;">By
Charles Sims<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;">This
is a story which some might think I probably should not tell but since it happened
in a time and place where standards and morals were much different
from today and all the participant but me are long dead, I think no harm
can come from the tale.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; font-size: 12.0pt;">My
grandfather on my father’s side was the notorious Oklahoma lawman Jake Sims.
Much of what I am going to relate in this post is based on family stores I
overheard as a child growing up in Seminole and assorted rumors that I have
picked up during my lifetime. This story that involves me as a small child is
related to the best of my memory.<br />
Jake started his life in law enforcement as an FBI agent. How that came to be
is really unknown but is very unusual because he appeared to be at least half
Indian. In those days, it would have been very unusual for some one of Indian
blood to admitted into the FBI. Although at the time the FBI was far from the
professional law enforcement agency that it would later become. Jake was
recruited to be the Chief of Police in Seminole, OK to bring some law and order
to the boom town. The time period of some of these events is rather obscure.
Jake Sims became the Chief of Seminole police and served in that capacity
during the great Seminole oil boom days of the 1920’s, 30’s and possibly the
early 40”s. He later became the head of the Oklahoma State Crime Bureau.<br />
Jake Sims stands out as an Oklahoma lawman for several reasons. He was very
effective in catching bad guys. He was basically honest although the standard
of honesty for cops in that time and place was much different than today’s
standard. Most lawmen practiced some form of “honest graft”. Cops of that time
were so poorly paid that they needed some way to supplement their meager
earnings. That made taking a little money from the purveyors of “victimless
crimes” such as bootlegging, gambling and prostitution an excepted practice.
Jake Sims always lived on the edge of poverty and died penniless so we can
assume that he kept his “honest graft” to the minimum he needed to survive.<br />
To be continued in Part VII<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />Stephen P Matthewshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13711508007664626422noreply@blogger.com1