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I
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sabella Gillispie was enrolled as a Chickasaw
Freedwoman in 1898 with her thirteen children ranging from eighteen year old
son Christopher to her son Andrew who was born May 18, 1902. The
family resided in Pontotoc County in the community of Wiley, Indian Territory.
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| M 1186 Chickasaw Freedman Card #40 Front GILLESPIE, Isabella |
Isabella and her children filed a petition
to be transferred from the Chickasaw Freedmen Roll to the Chickasaw by Blood
Roll which became part of the Joe and
Dillard Perry files as petition ninety-five. Their claim of Chickasaw blood
like so many on Bettie’s List is
based on her father being a Chickasaw blood citizen. Also like other
African-Chickasaw mixed people her mother Unity
Chico, was a slave of the same man that was her father; his name was Osburn (sic) Fisher also known as David
Osborne Fisher.
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| M 1186 Chickasaw Freedman Card #40 Rear GILLESPIE, Isabella |
David
Osborne Fisher was well known in the Choctaw and Chickasaw community and
was first married into the large slave owning Kemp family through his wife Elizabeth Kemp. Elizabeth died in 1866 and Fisher married a Matilda Olive in Fort Smith, Arkansas in 1868. Prior to his death, Osborne filed an application for
enrollment in the Chickasaw Nation with his “intermarried white” wife Matilda, their children as well as an “intermarried
white” son-in law Henry Muldrow Jr.
Unfortunately
there is not a lot of information contained in either file that provides the
basis of Isabella’s claim of her Choctaw
ancestry other than the information on the rear of her Chickasaw Freedman
enrollment card number 40. The summary page indicates she was the property of Elizabeth Fisher; the wife of David Fisher, contrary to the
information provided on the enrollment card. Isabella also provided the names of her eleven children who were
also classified as Chickasaw freedmen and not Choctaw or Chickasaw by blood.
Because
there is not a lot of information contained in these files the “petition to
transfer” file # 95 becomes a very important document to analyze and determine
the merits of Isabella’s claim of
being the daughter of David Osborne
Fisher.
Another
interesting insight would be if the descendants of David’s “other” children who appear on Choctaw enrollment card “by
blood” number 308 submitting to have their DNA compared to the DNA of Isabella’s descendants.
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| Don Martini Who's Who Among Southern Indians, a genealogical notebook 1698-1907 p232 |
