First Families of the Twin Territories

To become a member of the First Families of the Twin Territories you have to prove your descent from an ancestor who lived in Oklahoma—in Indian Territory or Oklahoma Territory--before the day Oklahoma became a state, November 16, 1907.  All four of my grandparents lived in Oklahoma before statehood, and my goal is to submit qualifying membership applications for all four.

In 2007 I became a member by proving my descent from my grandmother Cora Bell Wheat Altstatt, who was born in Indian Territory and was living with her parents, Thomas J. and Cornelia Bell, in Chickasaw Nation, Indian Territory, on the 1900 census.  In fact, my great-grandparents were living in Chickasaw Nation as early as 1893 when they got married in Woodford, Pickens County, Indian Territory, so I could have become a member based on their residence, but I decided that qualifying on each of my grandparents was a do-able goal that I wanted to pursue.

Bell family on the 1900 census, Chickasaw Nation,
Indian Territory

The problem was—even though each of my grandparents was here before statehood, it was going to be hard to prove for the other three.  I really wasn’t sure when my grandfather Wheat came to Oklahoma; in fact, on the 1910 census he was living in Cottle County, Texas.  However, fairly recently I found out that he spent a 3-year enlistment in the U.S. Army starting in 1906.  And he enlisted in Guthrie, Oklahoma Territory, on 5 March 1906, stating that he lived in Blackburn, O.T.  I submitted that information along with proof of my descent from him and received my second membership certificate from FFTT yesterday!

My next goal is to apply for my grandpa, Weaver Harris Smith, who was born in 1895 in Catoosa, Indian Territory, but of course, long before required birth certificates.  The biggest problem is that I have never been able to find the Smiths on the 1900 census.  My grandpa’s mother Francis died in 1905 and is buried in Oologah, but I’m not sure that a headstone by itself proves anything. The family did make application for membership in the Cherokee tribe after they moved to Indian Territory, and my grandfather is listed in that document, so I am hoping that the OGS will accept it as proof of his residence in Indian Territory.

Application for Guion-Miller Roll 

Ironically, the one grandparent that I might not be able to prove is the one that actually remembered the day that Oklahoma became a state.  The Castle family had moved to Davenport in Oklahoma Territory the summer before statehood, and my grandmother remembered hearing the bells ring on that November day.  Since they had moved to Oklahoma so recently, I don’t know what document would ever prove they were here.  All I can do is keep looking and hope that something will turn up—a newspaper article, maybe?

By the way, if you’re not from Oklahoma (or even if you are), you might assume that if your ancestor was in Indian Territory before statehood, he or she was able to prove Native American ancestry.  Or, on the other hand, that they were in Oklahoma Territory because they had participated in a Land Run.  I can tell you that neither of those things was true for any of my four grandparents.

I would encourage anyone that thinks they might qualify to check out the application process at http://www.okgensoc.org/firstfamilies.htm.  If you’re thinking about joining the DAR or some other organization that requires proof of ancestry, the FFTT application is a fairly stress-free way to get acquainted with the proof that is required for membership.  Just don’t expect to get your certificate right away.  The OGS members that read the applications are volunteers.  My first certificate came fairly quickly, but the second one took about four months.

Grandparent #1: Weaver Harris Smith

Weaver Harris Smith was born 18 December 1895 in Catoosa, Indian Territory.  He was the youngest son of Stephen A. and Fannie Smith and the only child born in Indian Territory.  His mother died when he was almost 10.  While his sister Lou was kind to him, his older brothers did things like filling his Christmas stocking with coal and switches.  One of them recommended he try "toilet water," but didn't explain exactly what that was, leading to an incident that was comical, but probably not to Weaver.  He spent his younger years in Oologah, using the town pump as home base for games of Go Sheepie Go.  We once took him back to Oologah to see his old home, and he remarked that he remembered it as much bigger.  

Smith home in Oologah, Oklahoma

My son at the Oologah water pump, about 1980

He was living in Collinsville in 1917 when he registered for World War I.  He met my grandmother there, courted her for several years, and married her on 30 June 1918.  On their honeymoon the newlyweds visited Waterloo, Alabama, the Smiths’ old home. 

Fannie and Weaver, 1919

Weaver and Fannie at the Beckham home in Waterloo, AL

They rented a house on the corner of W. 41^st St. and S. 26^th W. Ave. in Red Fork and started “housekeeping.”  Grandpa joined the union as a pipefitter and worked at the Sun (DX) Refinery in West Tulsa.  He helped build the gasworks on the Arkansas River.  They had really hard times because he was often on strike, but maybe they did a little better than the other families because Fannie was working as a teacher.  The other men would give him a hard time about it, and he would say, “Well, at least my wife is smart enough to get a job!”  By 1934 Weaver and Fannie had bought a house at 2717 W. 42nd St., just a few blocks from their old rent house.

My grandparents, me and my brother on porch
at 2717 W. 42nd St., Christmas 1960 

Grandpa began to have health problems when he was in his 40's.  He survived a cerebral hemorrhage because the doctor in Red Fork performed an experimental operation, drilling holes in his head to relieve the pressure.  He had several heart attacks and had a leg amputated at about age 70 because of circulation problems.  

Grandpa was a nice-looking man now that I look back on it.  He was wiry and strong and had a shock of heavy hair that I think was just beginning to go gray in his 70’s (although he always wore a hat.)  I think it must be telling that I remember him as tough and strong, because he had health problems from the time I can remember him.  I never thought of him as weak.  In his late 60’s he could still do a trick that he had done all his life.  Holding a matchstick between the fingers of his right hand, he would hold his left hand behind his back, doing a one-handed pushup and grabbing the matchstick with his teeth! My recollection of his toughness might have something to do with the fact that he cussed like a sailor, and though he often seemed to be in a bad mood, I always knew he loved me.  He and my grandmother seemed like the mismatch of the century, but they were completely devoted to each other.


He was helpful around the house in a day when most men weren't.  Before my grandmother retired, he stayed home with my brother and me after our mother died.  He was the family dishwasher.  He used to complain that all he did was "wa' dish, wa' dish."  He and my grandmother hardly ever fussed, but I remember them getting into an argument once in the kitchen when he was washing dishes.  He threw a wet rag at my grandmother and knocked her wig askew, and they ended up laughing, the argument forgotten.

My grandparents washing dishes at the house
on 42nd St.

Grandpa had a lot of colorful expressions.  On 42^nd St., he had his own bedroom at the back of the house that he called the “north 40.”   My favorite was “shoe mouth deep,” indicating the depth of water you were stepping in.  He also talked about being so “poor that you couldn’t buy a mosquito a wrassling jacket,” although I can’t imagine what that means.  Grandpa loved “wrassling”--professional wrestling. He would get so excited watching it on TV that we were afraid he’d have another heart attack.  Although he certainly couldn’t help it, I think that the fragility of his health made a big impression on me as a kid.  Between that and the Smith motto “If anything can go wrong, it will,” I grew up pretty fearful, but also pretty appreciative of all the small things that you can lose at any time. 

Christmas at the house on 38th St., 1965 

It was always hard for me to go away from home to spend the night with somebody, because I was afraid that something would happen to him while I was gone (although what I thought I could do about it, I don’t know.) And then something did.  My dad and brother and I had gone out to eat on a Saturday afternoon.  When we came home, my grandmother had had to call an ambulance to come and get Grandpa.  He had had another heart attack, and this time he didn’t recover.  He died on May 17, 1970. 

The Smiths in Oklahoma

My great-grandfather, Stephen Albert Smith, brought his family to Indian Territory from Waterloo, Alabama, in 1893. Making the trip were his wife, Fannie; daughters Molly Ann, Lou Ellen, and Barbara; and sons Owen Stephen, John Jackson, Albert Cleveland, and Turner Lee. His mother-in-law, Elizabeth Simmons Mansell Cotton, may have also made the trip, although that has been questioned.  My grandfather, Weaver Harris, the youngest of Stephen Albert and Fannie’s children, was born in Indian Territory in 1895. Ella Victoria, the second oldest daughter, stayed behind in Alabama with her husband Len Beckham.

Fannie stated her purpose in coming to Oklahoma in an 1896 affidavit for the Dawes Commission: “I left the State of Alabama and came to this Country with the avowed purpose of becoming a Citizen of the Territory and identifying myself with the Cherokees whom I know to be my people by blood.”  She was denied citizenship. In 1905 she died and is buried in Oak Hill Cemetery in Oologah.  In 1907/1908, still living in Oologah, Stephen again made a claim of Cherokee citizenship on behalf of his minor children, and the Smith children who were by then adults applied on their own behalf.  All their claims were denied because no relationship could be proved with anyone listed on the Cherokee rolls.

Headstone -- Oak Hill Cemetery, Oologah, OK

  

I have never been able to find any of the Smiths on the 1900 census, and believe me, I have looked—even searching probable locations page by page.  On the 1910 census the family, still mostly intact, is living in Collinsville, probably at the boarding house pictured in my post “Beginnings and Endings,” because the census lists quite a few “boarders” living with the family. Mollie and her children, Jimmy, Alice, and Ella Scott, and Maggie Kirk; Owen, Barbara, Albert, Turner, and Weaver are all living with Stephen Albert. Lou is living with her husband Albert Barlow near Collinsville in Rogers County.

On October 11, 1927, Stephen married his daughter Lou’s mother-in-law Nancy Barlow at age 80+.  It was written up in the Tulsa World. He died July 27, 1938, in Collinsville.  Because he was one of the last Confederate veterans in Oklahoma, that was written up in the paper, too.  He is buried in Ridgelawn Cemetery in Collinsville.  All of his children, except Ella, lived and died in Oklahoma.

Stephen Albert Smith and children

Headstone -- Ridgelawn Cemetery, Collinsville, OK

I knew my Smith relatives in Oklahoma. We visited Uncle Owen and Aunt Lou in Collinsville.  Uncle Turner came by to visit us.  We saw Uncle Albert's wife Gertrude (he had died in 1953) all the time because she lived near Red Fork in Carbondale, another westside Tulsa community.  I had names and dates of birth, pictures, and funeral cards of the Smith siblings, thanks to my grandmother.  I knew that the Smiths came from Waterloo in Lauderdale County, Alabama.

But then, I found out how little I really knew.