Little is known of one of my ancestors, and so I search for articles about "Childers" who once lived in Indian Territory. Before Oklahoma became a state in 1907, the northeastern part of that state was land given to various tribes after being forced out of their homes in the South. There were many newspapers in the Territory and later, published in the new state of Oklahoma--several of which have been made available online. I find mention of Childers in articles about schools, marriages, city government, plenty who were cattle dealers, and those who ran ads looking for lost mules or horses.
Some of the more interesting news items:
First, Nola Childers' 1909 land dispute:
And another article on Nola Childers that displays the strong racism of 100 years ago:
Cissy Childers' Tulsa County land allotment had oil:
A nasty piece of journalism about Ellis Childers speaks to the racial sentiment of the time. This same Mr. Childers was the grandson of William Childers--a white clerk to prominent Cherokee leader Major Ridge, and his Cherokee wife, Maria Boots--granddaughter of Chief Chulio Shoe Boots. I have long studied this family in Indian Territory. Tiya Miles, Ph.D, has an outstanding book on the lineage and history of this Childers family, some of which is online. Go ahead: Type in "childers" in the box labeled "search inside": https://books.google.ca/books?id=xpusu6xQq6QC Better yet, buy her book!
After the Civil War, Ellis and his family requested and were accepted as members into the Creek Nation. In 1887 he became a lawyer and worked at his Childers & Mingo law firm. He served two terms as Speaker of the House of Warriors (Creek Nation). With his third wife, Tennie, he raised Ernest, their son who later won the Congressional Medal of Honor for extraordinary bravery while serving in Italy during World War II.
Today Oklahoma is proud to call Ernest Childers one of its own.
Dick Childers appears in a Tulsa, Oklahoma paper on September 5, 1922. NOTE TO COUSINS: Our Dick Childers died in 1891, leaving one son: our Uncle Sam's dad.
