Director Martin Scorsese has been in Oklahoma preparing for his film Killers of the Flower Moon. It will be filmed in Osage Nation. In Osage County. Oklahoma's largest county. Hence the renewed interest in a sad part of Osage history when Pawhuska was labeled America's foremost "murder capitol." Perhaps you're unfamiliar with the book on which Scorsese's film is based? Well, meet Nola Childers in two articles below.
My dad had uncles and cousins in nearby Keystone and Cleveland 100 years ago. Forever grateful for archived newspapers, I searched tonight for articles about my ancestors. I got sidetracked by the news of the day.
The following are items cropped from the front page of the January 18, 1917 Pawhuska Capital.
Colonel W. F. Cody's estate caught my eye. Could it be THE Cody? Yes, Buffalo Bill had just died in Denver.
80 year old Admiral Dewey also died that same week. THE popular hero Admiral Dewey.The paper reported he was "hale and hearty" at work one day. The next day? He collapsed. Some might call it a "good death." Not prolonged. A neat demise. He was a Navy man after all.
I wonder what became of Nola Childers and her popular allotment? My esteemed employer's office is located on land downtown that was initially called the "Childers Addition." Was it Nola's headright? If so, who was it who decided (on her behalf, of course *snort*) to divide her land into parcels? Is this article dripping with greed, or what?
Oil, and more oil talk.Then news of Miss Panther spending a tidy sum of money on an eight room house. But does she live there? No. It will be the home of S. M. Clark and wife. What's up with that? Was Mr. Clark the administrator of Louise Panther's Osage allotment? Do you smell a rat? Perhaps Miss Panther had an eye for homes to lease?
I'll leave you to ponder Mr. Tuman's horrific Saturday night on your own.
Next up, Dr. Sam Kennedy. I'm a fan of this Tulsa pioneer. His Kennedy Building in downtown Tulsa is beautiful inside. Did you know it was built on Kennedy's original homestead at 4th and Boston? He was instrumental in the young city of Tulsa growing to the south--rather than developing northwest of town. He had married Agnes Lombard, an Osage Nation allotee, and used her allotment to buy land. A LOT of land. Oil was later found on some of their land in 1913.
[me waving here] I KNOW, I know what Dr. Sam did with his money.
Much has been written about Sam Kennedy. But I've seen little about his wife. Yes, his wife. An Osage woman whose allotment helped make them rich(er). She could have been the "little woman" who helped make it possible for him to shine as an astute businessman. But I'd like to see some recognition of her, too. Just who were these pioneer women along side these men who get credit for building a community?
Sam married Miss Agnes Lombard in September 1896. They had seven children before her untimely death in 1912.
Remember. The Osage once lived up north and held vast amounts of land. Americans moved west and pushed them out. Many of them were killed or died from hardships imposed just to get them out of the way of, wait. What's that term some believe makes us more entitled than others? Yeah, Western expansion. We sent the proud and mighty Osage packing. Sent them to an area no one else wanted. Until oil was found. Then the population doubled.Tripled. Boomed. But guess who owned the mineral rights?
Couldn't resist. I looked for earlier articles about Nola Childers. This is from 1910. Seven years earlier:
Four years ago I first wrote about Nola after finding Tulsa news articles on how her allotment was being fought in the courts. I had forgotten her father, William Childers, had been murdered. Check it out:
https://treepig.posthaven.com/childers-in-indian-territory-newspapers