Equity Case 7071 Rebecca SAMUELS Chickasaw Freedwoman #284

EQUITY CASE 7071

Rebecca SAMUELS

• Chickasaw Freedman Card #284
• Enrollment #1155-1159
• Place of Residence: Purcell, Pickens County; Indian Territory Chickasaw Nation
• Father: KEMP, Gibson (Deceased)
• Mother: KEMP, Manda (Deceased)

·         Joe and Dillard PERRY files BIA Record Group 75, Entry 90C,  Folder F-131

M 1186 #284Front Rebecca SAMUELS Chickasaw Freedwoman 

The family of Rebecca SAMUELS is one of those cases where you have read between the lines and know a little something about the hundreds of individuals who sought to be transferred from the Chickasaw or Choctaw Freedman Roll to the Chickasaw or Choctaw by Blood Roll.

The importance of this issue should never be lost on anyone; these people were descendants of African and African Natives as well as Chickasaw or Choctaw Indians. They were attempting to exercise their rights to receive three hundred and twenty acres of land just as the other “mixed” Chickasaw Indians.

On the rear of Rebecca SAMUELS Chickasaw Freedman Dawes land allotment card is the name of her parents and the parents of her children and sister Mollie HOLDER. Rebecca named her father as Gibson KEMP a Chickasaw Indian who was deceased at the time of the enrolling process. This information was not taken into account and given value by the Dawes Commission and in most cases the admission someone’s father was a Chickasaw Indian ended with that notation on the back of their Dawes card.

Who was Who Among the Southern Indians a Genealogical Notebook 1698-1907 by Don MARTINI p362

The information from the index by Don MARTINI indicates there was a Chickasaw Indian with a similar name to the one on the rear of Rebecca SAMUEL'S Dawes Card and as most genealogist know, "spelling doesn't count." Clearly the information provided indicates Gibson/Gipson KEMP was deceased at the time of the land allotment process but because he may more information and/or other descendants who might connect genealogically with the descendants of Rebecca SAMUELS?

M1186 #284 Rear Rebecca SAMUELS Chickasaw Freedwoman

However there was a subtle clue inserted into the application packet (M1301) that provided more information about her claim to be a descendant of a Chickasaw Indian. On page two of her packet she makes a profound and important statement; “my mother is Amanda, daughter of John

KEMP (see Chickasaw Freedman Card 274.”) In addition it is important to note that she includes information about her sister Mollie HOLDER and the fact “we are sisters by the same mother.” 

M1301 #284 Rebecca SAMUELS Chickasaw Freedwoman

If you will recall a previous article about the KEMP clan there was no mention of Amanda as the daughter of John KEMP, yet there is a reference in Rebecca’s file that mentions “Chickasaw Freedmen Card 274.)”

This is another file that demonstrates just how important it is to obtain and research the Joe and Dillard PERRY database. Many of the individuals that are claimants on Equity Case 7071 only have hints to their Chickasaw or Choctaw ancestry in their files because the Dawes Commission only summarized the information provided in oral testimonies. As a researcher it is necessary to follow the clues given that may provide the necessary information that will tell the story of the African-Chickasaw and African-Choctaw Indians who were denied inclusion in the nation of their ancestor’s birth.

I don’t know that it is possible to definitively state that these people possessed Chickasaw or Choctaw ancestry. Our best sources for determining if they did have an Indian ancestor will be the information provided on the Dawes cards and various other sources like the PERRY files and DNA test that will support the claims of our ancestors.

I mention DNA test because I’m constantly struck by the reaction from some in the so called Native American community to dismiss these test. However it was the Dawes Commission, the United States and the Five Slave Holding Tribes that came up with the concept of “blood rolls,” “blood quantum” and “degree of Indian blood.” If they have relied on those concepts and now want to dismiss the science of DNA testing one has to wonder why?

I say this because recently I was unceremoniously “removed” from a Facebook page devoted to the descendants of Thomas LOVE a recognized Chickasaw citizen after posting a “link” to my previous article. It was argued I was angry and hated the tribe for writing about the issues like Equity Case 7071. Subsequently I was challenged about my ancestor’s claim of having Chickasaw ancestry and she began to attempt discounting the claim and the paper trail.

Another member wanted to know if I had a DNA test perform for which I informed her I had and posted my GEDmatch numbers on the site so anyone there who claim to be descendant from Thomas LOVE and his Two Wives could compare their results if they took a test. It was not long that someone informed me they took the test and when they checked, they did not see a match to me after putting my name in the database.

I suggest changing the criteria to both the surname LOVE or Chickasaw and each time she came back with the response that she did not come up with a match. However EVERY time I put those words in the database I came back with matches for someone with a LOVE or COLBERT ancestor. Now I am not an expert on DNA testing but I have to conclude that if I can come up consistently with a LOVE or COLBERT Native American ancestor and someone else and this individual didn’t; maybe they don’t have LOVE or Colbert ancestry at the least and possibly no Chickasaw ancestry to speak of?

I must say, I am getting to point of believing a statement I read in Dr. Daniel F. LITTLEFIELD Jr.’s book “The Chickasaw Freedmen a People Without a Country” (and I’m paraphrasing) that there will come a time when it is shown that many of the people on Equity Case 7071 and their descendants have more Native American blood than those on the Dawes by blood rolls. Perhaps that time has come?

Original Brief Equity Case 7071 (Courtesy of Julia POWERS)