Equity Case 7071 CHAWANOCUBBY, Samuel Chickasaw Freedman #93

EQUITY CASE 7071

Empower Me to Know My History

CHAWANOCHUBBY, Samuel

• Chickasaw Freedman Card #93
• Enrollment #374
• Place of Residence: Johnsonville, Pontotoc County-Indian Territory, Chickasaw Nation

• Father: CHAWANOCHUBBY, Isom aka NEWBERRY, Isom-Chickasaw Indian (Deceased)
• Mother: Lina (Deceased)

CLARK, Mason

•          Chickasaw Freedman Card #54
•          Enrollment #231-234 & 4227
•          Place of Residence: Ada, Pontotoc County-Indian Territory, Chickasaw Nation
• 
  
•          Father: CHAWANOCHUBBY, Isom aka NEWBERRY, Isom-Chickasaw Indian (Deceased)
•          Mother: Lina (Deceased)

The case of Samuel CHAWANOCHUBBY to be transferred from the Chickasaw Freedmen Roll to the Chickasaw by Blood Roll is an interesting example of someone claiming citizenship. In many of the files of the Dawes Commission we don’t get an opportunity to see how the names of their parents become a part of the historical record. In the case of Samuel and his sister Mason CLARK the M1301 Interview Packet provides us with information I wish were a part of every record.

The documents contained in the file not only provide the name of Samuel’s father but it provides more information about his father that is not apparent when you look at what the clerk for the Dawes Commission recorded on the rear of his card. Sam provided the first name of his father as Isom and informed the commissioner that his father had an “English name” of NEWBERRY.

Sam informed the commissioner that his father and mother Lina “were married according the Indian custom; that is they lived together as man and wife…up to the time of the death of his father just after the war.” Sam went on to inform the commissioner his parents had five children in total but only two were living at the time of the Dawes allotment process.

M1301 CHAWANOCHUBBY, Samuel CHIF#93 p3

M1186 CHAWANOCHUBBY, Samuel CHIF#93F

M1186 CHAWANOCHUBBY, Samuel CHIF#93R

Included in the interview is another document that really demonstrates just how intertwined the former slaves of the Chickasaw Indians were with the culture of the tribe. Samuel’s sister Mason CLARK needed a certified interpreter to provide her testimony to the Dawes Commission because she did not speak the English language.

M1301 CHAWANOCHUBBY, Samuel CHIF#93 p5

M1301 CHAWANOCHUBBY, Samuel CHIF#93 p5

M1186 CLARK, Mason CHIF#54F

M 1186 CLARK, Mason CHIF#54R

There is another document included in the packet of Samuel CHAWANOCUBBY that is very revealing and again points to the hypocrisy of the Dawes Commission and the Chickasaw Nation. Despite the attempts to distance the Chickasaw Nation from the children of Chickasaw men and accept them as citizens in the nation; some citizens developed personal relationships that allowed them to testify about those relationships.

One of the prerequisites to prove an individual was entitled to receive a land allotment or prove their citizenship required the testimony of friends or relatives. In the case of Samuel CHAWANOCHUBBY and his sister Mason CLARK a “full blood” recognized Chickasaw citizen provided testimony about their parents based on her acquaintance and knowledge. Unfortunately the testimony of Mollie PORTER a Chickasaw Indian, was not enough to have the children of Isom CHAWANOCHUBBY aka NEWBERRY enrolled as Chickasaw by blood.

M1301 CHAWANOCHUBBY, Samuel CHIF#93 p7

M1186 PORTER, Joe (PORTER, Mollie) CHIBB#76

Let me point out one more important issue that shouldn’t be lost on those who don’t think the Chickasaw Freedmen shared the history and culture of the Chickasaw Indians despite their enslavement. I don’t know if you can make the intellectual argument that enslaved people were not acculturated to the culture of their enslaver and be taken seriously?

On the document that was generated by Mason CLARK and the woman who knew both her parents Mollie PORTER identifies the person that interpreted Mason’s testimony as Monroe CLARK Mason's son. There is no mistaking freedmen lived within the culture of the Chickasaw Nation.

M1301 CHAWANOCHUBBY, Samuel CHIF#93 p7

 Clearly there are some questions about this family and these people that warrant further research:

• Where are the descendants of Samuel CHAWANOCHUBBY today? 
• Where are the descendants of Mason CLARK today?
• Where are the descendants of Mollie PORTER the woman who stood up to do the right thing and testify that Mason and Samuel were Chickasaw Indians worthy of citizenship by blood in the nation of their father's birth?
• Would they have the courage to do what their ancestor did?
• Where is the Chickasaw Nation on issues of citizenship like this, will they continue to ignore their true history?

Empower Me to Know My History