Indian Territory Freedmen History, The Centenarians-Nancy Wright

Nancy WRIGHT           CHOF#1094            Enslaver Allen WRIGHT

Nancy Wright was born in Mississippi circa 1800 there isn’t any information on her parents or where they were born. Like other Centenarians Nancy lived to experience some monumental changes in the evolution of Indian Territory and the United States. 

Choctaw Freedman Card#1094 front

Nancy is also an example of why it’s important not to adhere to the hard rule that the age of the freedwoman is exactly what is written in the record. When you look at her Dawes card it was clear there was some issue of what Nancy’s  actual age; was she ninety or one-hundred years old? 

In Nancy’s interview jacket her son in-law D.K. Carson tells the commissioner Nancy’s age was ninety years in 1899 but a year later on the 1900 US Census for Indian Territory Nancy’s age is given as one-hundred. On the 1896 Census of Choctaw Freedmen living in Tobusky County Nancy was listed as eighty-seven year old. 

Of course all of these different ages only demonstrate how difficult it can be to get the correct age of some of African descent who was enslaved. However the record does show Nancy survived some of the most important history in America by way of Indian Territory and the Choctaw Nation. 

One of the things that is important about the life of Nancy and her longevity is we learn she and her husband Anthony Wright were enslaved by the Governor of the Choctaw Nation, Allen Wright; the grandfather of Muriel Wright the historian. 

Again it is wonderful to honor someone who was an eyewitness to so much history of Indian Territory. We don’t know the whole story of Nancy Wright but because her enslaver was such an influential character in the history of the Choctaw Nation there is hope her story can be found among his family’s papers.