Seminole Indian Territory for Producer Installment I

First Installment for Seminole Producer

This will be the subject of this column. It will appear in published form later this year. Presently, it is a website:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/SeminoleITGhostTownsandHistory/

This has been a work in progress since 1986, when I began my family history/ genealogy. I published a book previously which captured part of this story. That too is included in another website regarding the book, Gwaithfoed the Pseudonym, Keeper of the Word [Law] with Castle and Sword:  https://www.facebook.com/Gwaithfoed/

Just over ten years following my primary study, DNA was introduced into the mix. I have taken every DNA test available to date. I will not get into the specifics of those results yet; that is another column altogether. I will tell you that my primary research and my DNA results converge, and one proves the other. My paternal Y-DNA takes me to the beginning in East Anatolia, now E Turkey, to around Lake of the Van aka Nairi Sea. From there, we made the trek to S Wales about 1,500 years ago. My family history, now in the British Museum, is considered official by Royal Genealogists. We are from the Tal-y-Van Tribe, and King Edward I and King Edward II concurred and approved our family tribal lands in S Glamorgan, Wales.

Now, let’s take a picture of the other side of the ledger. Haplogroup Q1a3a: Americas
The Q-M3 lineage was one of those that journeyed across the Beringia Land Bridge aka Bering Strait, into the Americas during the last ice age. It spread throughout the Americas. Over 90 percent of Native American lineages are Q-M3. The other 10 percent went west and commingled with other populations.
Source: Family Tree DNA
Haplogroup Q1a3a was first located in and around where Alaska is not. It is estimated to be 15,000 years ago. There are also tribes of 2 islands that emigrated, in part, in the same direction—Hokkaido and Sakhalin. The tribes were known as Ainu, Nivkh and Orok. Their migration was over the Aleutian Islands. If you refer to my Seminole IT website, there are maps and pictures. Keep in mind, the site is extensive and as with all Facebook web pages, the beginning is at the bottom of the page, working your way upward.

Bottom line, what brought us right here, coming from different directions? That is the subject of this column. Prior to the time of the 5 Tribes, there were other tribes that had been here for a long, long time. Where we are now were the tribes of Kiowa, Kiowa Apache, Osage and Wichita. The other tribes were Caddo, Comanche and Jicarillo Apache in W Oklahoma. It was not until 1836 that those tribes were moved to western Indian Territory to make room for the 5 Tribes, being removed to Oklahoma/ Indian Territory.

That is pretty much the summation of how all the tribes got here. On the flip side, I knew why we migrated from E Anatolia to Wales and from Wales to Ireland [1607]; then emigrated to the Colonies [1718] in Chester County, PA. Our move down the Wagon Road in Virginia to Lunenburg County [1730], VA was a known quantity. In 1750, we moved to Rowan County, NC. The reasons for that were known as were the reasons we moved to Stewart County, TN [1800] also had known reasoning, followed by the move to Izard County, AR just prior to the Civil War. Keep in mind when reading this, all of those moves were in packs. Families, more so congregations, moved from and to in wagon trains.

The missing piece was the move from Izard County, AR to Tidmore Indian Territory [IT]. What prompted that was a mystery until recently. Again, this move was made by a multiplicity of families, friends, business partners, congregations, etc. In fact, in our case, it was our cousins by blood and by marriage. If you have read my social media, you have heard this before. However, the larger question was what prompted all of us to pack up and move to Tidmore IT. My family was quite successful in Arkansas, as it had been in Tennessee and the Carolinas before that. The same was true in Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ireland and Wales. Massively successful in fact. So, why did we move to where we are now? I recently put it all together. One gentleman prompted it—W.E. “Doc” Grisso. The ancestors of “Doc” were from Germany. The rest of us in Izard Co. were Irish, Scots and Welsh. Having said that, we were all in Chester Co., PA at the same time and we made the same stair-step moves all the way to Arkansas. Point being, we all knew each other in the early 18^th century. Izard Co. was one of the original counties of Arkansas. As we developed as a nation/ states, counties were split. I will not go into the why and wherefore here at this time. That too would take a full column. It happened. The county line split some of our group but never having moved. “Doc” was now in Baxter Co. and we were in Izard Co.

It was “Doc” Grisso that prompted the whole move to IT. The Seminole Tribe was in dire need of a physician at Mekusukey. “Doc” resisted for some time but as it turned out, the Seminoles must have had one darned affective lobbyist. “Doc” explained to them that he still had about a year of Med School remaining. Long story short, the lobbyist prevailed, and “Doc” moved to set up a practice. That is why you always see “Doc” in quotes. He was not a fully qualified doctor but he could do the basics so there we have the story. Doc needed a town and townspeople and infrastructure, etc. He needed his buddies in Arkansas. Thus, he began his own lobbying. He worked on the families he knew and they all just so happened to be related—family above most else. These were the families of Chase, Harber, Matthews, McNeill, Noe, Seay, and many others. We all had the skills, trades, etc. that were required to begin Tidmore IT. In addition, we were all cousins/ family. Tidmore was the land area south of Seminole between that and Mekusukey. The first “White School” was established in 1906 by the sister of “Doc”, Lou Grisso. I have a photo of her first class on the IT website, as well as all the cousins, from a very early time.

My GGGrandfather had a working farm plus grocery and feed stores on the White River in Calico Rock, AR. His grandson, my grandfather, learned the trade the hard way. That was his role in the new Tidmore IT. Harber was a banker, Chase had other interests and financial backing as well. The same is true of the others. In 1906, three gentlemen purchased the original plot for Seminole, in what was probably an illegal transaction. Indians were not supposed to sell land to the “Whites”. Long story short, it was a fait accompli, notwithstanding. One of the gentlemen was none other than J.C. Matthews, great uncle to my grandfather. All of these families loaded their houses, buildings, etc. and moved to that new plot, north of the railroad tracks. Seminole IT was born but was not official until later, following statehood. It was later that Seminole was surveyed again and then annexed the territory south of the tracks. The original boundary was Broadway. That is why there is a “Krazy Korner”, due to an error in the original survey. “Old Man” Harber and my grandpa were in business together in what is now the old First National Bank building. Entrances were on both Main and Broadway. Granddad’s feed and grocery store wrapped around the bank on both sides. Harber decided he was not a grocer so he just stuck to banking and sold his portion of the feed/ grocery store to my granddad. He then financed the other 4 feed/ grocery stores my granddad opened in various parts of Seminole. Those of you who have followed my posts on social media are familiar with this story. One of my granddad’s brothers moved south to Bowlegs IT and opened Mattey’s Café.

My father’s baby sister, Jerry Sullivan, is doing quite well at Avonlea. I see her fairly often; about 2 weeks ago in fact. Of the 5 grocery stores, the one just above Krazy Korner, now Seminole Wine & Spirits, was her favorite. It had a soda fountain and soda jerk so that is where she hung out after school. I do not remember that one, although it should be said that it had a pickle barrel, cracker barrel, hard candy in jars etc. Granddad was his own butcher too. I remember the store that closed in 1960. It is now a slab of concrete across the street east of what is now Richard’s Quick Stop. Green Spray was in the opposite direction the other side of Richard’s. That story too had a cracker barrel, pickle barrel, meats and cheese, etc. Granddad would give me a soft drink and a piece of hard candy. My paper route just so happened to end at that intersection on Broadway. It was convenient for me to go chat with him and have a refreshment.

Jerry is my “go to” for our local history. More to come…