Simon CLARK Choctaw Freedman #1

Simon CLARK

Choctaw Freedman #1

Ada, Indian Territory

Over the years of researching the individuals on Equity Case 7071 I’ve determine there may be many other people who did not get their names on the list of claimants to be rightfully placed on the Chickasaw or Choctaw by Blood Roll. 

My research has taught me that in most cases there is precious little information in the M1186 (Dawes Cards) and M1301 (Application Packet) that provides “evidence” that supports the claims of the people seeking a transfer to the blood roll. However, I have also learned that the more you look the more information you find to help support those claims for a transfer to the blood roll. 

One of the records that provide additional information about the claim of “Indian blood” are contained in the record group known as the 1896 Applications for Citizenship (M1650.) Most people are aware of the Dawes cards and the so called interview packets that don’t provide a great deal on why someone claimed to have a Chickasaw or Choctaw parent or ancestor. 

Most people are unaware that prior to the Dawes cards application in 1898 and 1899 were generated another application occurred in 1896 and for a brief period many people made a claim of Chickasaw or Choctaw ancestry. The 1896 applications provide a great deal more about these claims that are missing (I think deliberately) in the M1301. 

As I read through the files I am reminded of a statement given by Charles COHEE a Chickasaw Freedman who lived in Berwyn, Indian Territory and was appointed by R.N. HARRIS the governor of the Chickasaw Nation as a member of the committee to sit with the Dawes Commission for the purpose of identifying applicants for enrollment as “freedmen.”  

In his sworn affidavit submitted as testimony to refute claims “not one person complained” about not being properly enrolled as a citizen by blood Mr. COHEE stated; “at the beginning of the work the committee of which he was  a member in making statements to the Dawes Commission of the status of applicants made particular mention of those who claimed to have Indian blood; that the applications of such persons claiming Indian blood were for a while received by the Commission, but that in a short time, about fifteen days after the committee began its sittings, all such applications were rejected by the said Dawes Commission and the committee…”  

Mr. COHEE continued “…those applicants who were born to slave mothers or to negro women who were descended of slaves, were freedmen, and would be enrolled as such only, and the said committee was advised to discontinue hearing the statement of applicants as to their Indian blood, as in no case would they be enrolled as Indian citizen…” 

Senate Report 5013 part 2, page 1610

This leads me back to my initial statement about the files found in the 1896 Applications for Citizenship and how they play a role in the fight and legacy of the people listed in Equity Case 7071. When people were asserting their rights as Chickasaw or Choctaw by blood they were denied earlier in 1896 which carried on during the enrollment process of 1898 and 1899.

These become some very important records for the few people who sought to be “properly” enrolled as “citizens by blood” and they provide some of the first person testimony that is critically missing from the majority of the Dawes packets.

The Dawes cards can be useful in providing certain clues about the people who may have claimed to be descendant of a recognized Chickasaw or Choctaw by blood but remember in 1898 those who sought this distinction were soon to be denied that information included in the record. However, if you know what you are looking for the clues begin to reveal themselves in consistent and obvious ways.

The 1896 Applications for Citizenship are an important set of documents for some of the claimants on Equity Case 7071 and in my opinion they help support the claims of the other litigants. One individual that has always been a mystery to me is the man on Choctaw Freedman card number one, Simon CLARK.

When you view Mr. CLARK’S Dawes card you don’t see anything that jumps out at you that says he sought enrollment as a Choctaw by blood. He was living with his family in Ada, Indian Territory near the seat of the Chickasaw government. He was enslaved by Jincy COCHRAN. His age of fifty-six implies he may have traveled to Indian Territory during the removal but because the Choctaws began their removal in 1831 that means either he came at a later date or was born in Indian Territory circa 1842?

Looking further at this card there are three things that stick out to me as a researcher; first, Mr. Simon CLARK died on April 12, 1901. Secondly, he had a “contested case” that left his enrollment in “doubt.” And most glaringly is the section under the title of “Tribal Enrollment” Simon CLARK and his family all had tribal enrollment numbers, clearly indicating at some point he and his family were “citizens” of the Choctaw Nation!

M-1186 Choctaw Freedman Card #01 Front 

As you can see there isn’t a lot to this card that anyone not familiar with the records or have done more digging could conclude Simon CLARK or anyone in his family asserted a claim of Choctaw or Chickasaw blood. As such it becomes part of the process to look at the rear of card number one to see if there is something that would demonstrate the nature of Simon’s application for freedman in the Choctaw Nation.

1896 Application for Citizenship M1650 #127 Simon CLARK

In the most obvious cases the rear of the card will provide the names of the parents of the individuals on the front of the card. The rear might indicate if that parent was alive or dead, the rear in most cases would name the “owner” of that parent if applicable and it might indicate if the parent was a non-citizen of that nation. The rear of Choctaw Freedman card #1 provides just the basics and it is not reflective of someone seeking to be enrolled as a citizen by blood. This is where the 1896 Applications for Citizenship can be more informative when researching the individuals on Equity Case 7071.

In application #127 Simon CLARK states his desire to be enrolled as a Chickasaw Indian because his “father Jacob CLARK was a Chickasaw Indian and his mother Tena was ¼ blood Chickasaw Indian.” In addition, Simon indicated if he was a Chickasaw Freedman and enslaved during the days of slavery “until the negroes were freed.”

It was the conflict of being enrolled as a Chickasaw Indian or a Chickasaw Freedman in 1896 Simon made a positive assertion of his “Indian blood” but was enrolled as a Choctaw Freedman based on testimony he was sold by his Chickasaw enslaver to one in the Choctaw Nation in 1858 when he was sixteen years of age.

There are other affidavits in the application for citizenship submitted by Simon CLARK and they reveal a great deal more about him, his parents and other siblings that are not obvious when you just look at his M-1186 Dawes Card #01.

Remember when looking at his Dawes card there is an interview (summation) that accompanies the file and like so many other Dawes records there is little that demonstrates Simon CLARK sought enrollment as a Chickasaw Indian based on his mother or father’s connection to the tribe as a Chickasaw Indian. Since the 1896 Application preceded the Dawes card and interview it is a very important record for the descendants of Jacob and Tena CLARK.

There is one document in his M-1301 file that should be investigated for what could demonstrate another aspect of this man that might explain why he appears to be a leader in his community and why he was enumerated on the first Choctaw Freedman card.

M-1301 Interview Packet #01 Simon CLARK p2

When I read this document I have to ask the question why Simon went to Missouri. Missouri was a great distance from the Chickasaw Nation and was involved in fighting during the War of the Rebellion; why go there?

Why did he go to Fort Gibson in 1865? I recall several freedmen who may have participated in the war found their way to Fort Gibson following the war for Simon to find himself there begs the question, was he a soldier during the war?

I’m also almost certain that the person he mentions as his cousin Aaron NEWBERRY indicated in a statement that he participated in the War of the Rebellion, did he follow his cousin from the Chickasaw Nation, to Missouri to Fort Gibson, to Fort Coffey, to Skulleyville and finally back home to Ada in the Chickasaw Nation?