Juneteenth Redo-An Ancestors Intervention
Just a few days ago I posted an article in honor of Juneteenth and highlighted my ancestor Margaret Ann Alexander-Colbert-Wilson (I’m not sure of the surname but I’m including them all because that is the unfortunate nature of researching enslaved people.)
Anyway I wrote in that article about how Margaret provided an affidavit on behalf of her daughter Bettie Love-Ligon’s 1896 Application for Citizenship in the Chickasaw Nation. Bettie was demanding she, her children and husband receive the same treatment any other applicant would receive based on their having a parent that was a recognized citizen of the Chickasaw Nation.
In the affidavit provided by Margaret Ann Wilson she states
that she was born in Tuscumbo (sic) Alabama and came to Indian Territory with
Benjamin Love, a Chickasaw Indian. Margaret goes on to say she was his property
and “lived with the said Ben Love until some time during the war, when I was
sold to Charley Wilson…”
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| M-1650 #73 Bettie Ligon et al., |
Two things become relevant about the “details” of that document discovered by Ean McCants because I had always assumed Margaret was talking about the War of the Rebellion from 1860-1866 (if you were enslaved in Indian Territory.) Problem is, Benjamin Love was murdered shortly after the close of the “Mexican War” circa 1848!
This is why it becomes important to be able to view all the
pages in that document. The details only state that Benjamin Love was being
sued by “merchants Josiah S. Doak and Vincent B. Tims over the ownership of
five people—Maria Maryann, Margaret, Catherine, Leonidas, and Caledonia—for
whom he had allegedly failed to make payments.” The inference is he failed to
make payments for all five people and they may have been owned previously by
the two merchants; Doak and Tims?
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| Page From Swann Auction Catalog March 28, 2019 Sale 2503 |
Additionally, the war that I thought was the Civil War HAD to be the Mexican War because that was the only thing that corroborates Margaret’s story in the 1896 Affidavit for her daughter. If that is true, Margaret went on the say that she was sold to Charley Wilson, a Choctaw and lived until she was freed in 1865.
There is one more aspect to this story that may or may not be true but we may never know without viewing the entire document. Did Benjamin Love sell Maria Maryann, Margaret, Catherine, Leonidas and Caledonia to settle that debt to Doak and Tims?
I believe the auction house said Benjamin Love was being sued because he failed to pay for the five enslaved people but as I read the only available page regarding the suit, Love already owned the people and the slaves were being used as collateral if he did not pay the $4,000 dollars in question? Again the only way to straighten that out is to see the entire 19 pages advertised.
I bring this up because in the document it mentions that the five people would be held as a bond and taken to the courthouse in Sherman, TX “with all their increase from the time they were levied upon” to be held at that courthouse until the payment was made on the “sixth Monday after the first Monday in March A.D. 1848.”
There is another question that has to be inferred from that
statement; were any of the people mentioned in the document the children of
Margaret? I ask because in 1900 Margaret was credited with giving birth to ten
children and only eight were alive at the time of the census. I think you have
to ask the question were any of the people among the five children Margaret's?
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| M-1186 Choctaw Freedman Card #122 Margaret Ann Wilson nee Alexander |
This opens up an interesting can of worms since it appears that whatever the outcome of the suit by Doaks and Tims, Benjamin Love maintain ownership of at least two of the five people because if they are who I think they are, they lived to be emancipated in the Chickasaw and Choctaw Nations and be enumerated on Chickasaw and Choctaw Freedmen cards. The two I refer to are Caldonia and Margaret; more research has to be done to determine what happened to the other three/ Maria Maryann (which may have been Caldonia’s mother,) Catherine and Leonidas, who could be the two dead or missing children of Margaret according to the 1900 census?
I am so grateful for Ean McCants being a persistent researcher and locating this document and I hope we are able to determine who purchased it so further research can be done to document and corroborate this important history of the Chickasaw and Choctaw Nation and the people they enslaved.
This story reminds me that there is a great deal of information we don’t know but need to continue to pursue so we can honor our ancestors and tell their stories! I may have to join with Ean and pursue copies of this important document that may have great significance to my family’s history?
There are more intriguing question about this incident (at least in my mind.) Did Benjamin Love sell the five people in question so he could raise the money to pay Doak & Tims?
Did Doaks and Tims use the money from the sale of five enslaved people to help fund their business in Doaksville, Indian Territory?
What other business entities were established from the sale of humans by Benjamin Love or his estate?
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| 1900 United States Census Indian Territory |
