Cherokee link to my Grandmother - All Things Cherokee

jsmith says

October 12, 2016 at 7:39 pm

Bertha Mae (Emberlin) Hutchison was the daughter of Lee Emberlin and Leona Fletcher. She was married a number of times and Earl was 21 years her senior.

Lee Ander Emberlin (1886 NM –1946) was the son of George Emberlin (1840 IL – 1922) and Elizabeth Christersen (1854 TX – 1922). George’s family came west by way of Illinois. Elizabeth’s family represented early Missouri settlers. They were not Cherokee or Native American.

Leona P. Fletcher (1882 TX–1966) was the daughter of George W. Fletcher (1842 MO – 1919) and Susan Geuring (1844 – 1910).

Alright, here is where it is going to get a little confusing.

The majority of trees associated with this Fletcher lineage are all thoroughly screwed up and just plain wrong. There is no Cherokee or Native ancestry on this Fletcher side, but some family members claimed to be “Choctaw” in the early 1900s, in an effort to get some land or cash payout. This was very common for poor, uneducated White settlers moving into Indian Territory in the late 1800s to early 1900s. There were no laws against it, and they had very little to lose anyway. They also saw mixed blood tribal members around them receiving allotment, so they figured they could claim some vague “mixed” ancestry too and cash in on the process. Tens of thousands of non-Native Whites put in erroneous or false Dawes applications actually, so this wasn’t an uncommon thing at all. Most of these cases were readily screened out, as was the case with this family.

However, modern descendants are often confused as to why their ancestors would put in these applications if there wasn’t any truth to the claim. So, then they begin grafting the false claims onto the family trees (e.g. ancestry.com) and pass on lore about being “part Indian.” It’s human nature to assume that our forebears were upstanding folks, always telling the truth. Being told they were liars, basically trying to scam the system, is a hard pill to swallow. But, the reality is there are more descendants of these scammers than there were legitimate tribally affiliated families that were correctly enumerated on the final By Blood rolls.

Here’s the context:

Leona’s father, George, claimed to be “1/8” Choctaw when he submitted a fraudulent Dawes application. He also continued this lie during the 1900 Census enumeration in Indian Territory.

George claimed this “1/8” blood through his mother. He stated his father and his wife were not Natives. He identified his mother as Elizabeth Hoggard – this would make here supposedly ¼ “Choctaw.” Yet, he is found living with his parents in the 1850 and 1860 Census in Texas and Missouri, respectively. He is also found in the 1880 Census living in Texas. All three of these records give his place of birth, correctly, as Missouri.

However, when he moved into Indian Territory in the late 1800s with the flood of White settlement to that location he needed to create a cover story. So, in the 1900s Dawes application he can be caught lying to the commissioners, saying he was born in Choctaw Nation. This misinformation is still listed on most online trees for this man. This is not accurate though. He was born in Missouri, plain and simple. There are no ifs ands or buts about that. He came from Missouri settler roots and he was born in that state in 1842.

During the hearing, he consistently lies about his family’s residence and history to fit the narrative that he thinks would help his application. But, he rambles all over the place and his application is rejected. He began his application in the 1890s under the Mississippi Choctaw provision. This allowed forMississippi Choctaws that had adhered to the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek to enroll with Choctaw Nation and receive Dawes allotments. This was also the path that most fraudulent White applicants chose (because it allowed for them to claim that distant relatives had “stayed in Mississippi.”). So, this is why he started saying his great-grandmother “Captain James Fletcher” had an association with Choctaw in Mississippi.

Again, all of the trees giving a “Captain James Fletcher” a Mississippi place of birth or Choctaw association based on George’s false testimony are perpetuating incorrect lineage. This family actually came from early Virginia and Carolina colonial roots and they pushed west over the generations, through Kentucky, then into Missouri by the late 1820s to early 1830s.

If you want to see the original Dawes application it is number MCR (Mississippi Choctaw Rejected) 4514 Fletcher, George W.

And if you want to compare the claims to the actual lineage it would look like this:

George W. Fletcher, b. 1840 Missouri

Parents:
James Fletcher, b. 1810 Kentucky
Elizabeth Hoggard, b. 1819 Kentucky

Maternal Grandparents:
Richmond Hoggard, b. 1794 Virginia *Can be found on the 1840 Census living in Missouri. Received a MO homestead land grant in 1843.
Sarah Fletcher, b. 1794 Virginia *1850 Census shows Sarah (Fletcher) Hoggard living right next door to her daughter Elizabeth and son-in-law James. They were residing in Navarro, Texas at that time. Her place of birth is listed, correctly, as VA.

You’ll also notice when you trace these branches that there was some intermarriage, with Fletcher and Hoggard cousins marrying. This further points to an Anglo colonial heritage. This is rather standard cluster pattern settlement we see in “allied” families that push west and move into new territory as parts of related groups. This naturally leads to a level of consanguinity.

A good overview of the family can be found here, although the Native American lore should be taken with a grain of salt (this lore is persistent and confusing to modern descendants trying to make sense of it all):

http://edensfamily.com/geneology/raw/research/nancy-jane-marries-george-linney-mattie-mollie.htm

Extant marriage records:

Name: Sarah Fletcher
Marriage Date: 5 Sep 1837
Marriage Place: Lafayette, Missouri, USA
Registration Place: Lafayette, Missouri, USA
Spouse: James Hoggard

Name: James Fletcher
Gender: Male
Spouse Name: Nancy Churn
Marriage Date: 13 Jan 1796
County: Northampton
State: Virginia

Bertha Mae Hutchison
[Bertha Mae Lyles]
[Bertha Hutchison]
[Bertha Mae Emberlin]
SSN: 441400210
Gender:Female
Race: White
Birth Date: 15 Apr 1911
Birth Place: Katie Garvin, Oklahoma
Death Date: 19 Nov 1998
Father: Lee Emberlin
Mother: Leona Fletcher
Notes:
Aug 1956: Name listed as BERTHA MAE HUTCHISON; 28 Nov 1998: Name listed as BERTHA HUTCHISON

Comments

jsmith says

October 12, 2016 at 7:39 pm

Bertha Mae (Emberlin) Hutchison was the daughter of Lee Emberlin and Leona Fletcher. She was married a number of times and Earl was 21 years her senior.

Lee Ander Emberlin (1886 NM –1946) was the son of George Emberlin (1840 IL – 1922) and Elizabeth Christersen (1854 TX – 1922). George’s family came west by way of Illinois. Elizabeth’s family represented early Missouri settlers. They were not Cherokee or Native American.

Leona P. Fletcher (1882 TX–1966) was the daughter of George W. Fletcher (1842 MO – 1919) and Susan Geuring (1844 – 1910).

Alright, here is where it is going to get a little confusing.

The majority of trees associated with this Fletcher lineage are all thoroughly screwed up and just plain wrong. There is no Cherokee or Native ancestry on this Fletcher side, but some family members claimed to be “Choctaw” in the early 1900s, in an effort to get some land or cash payout. This was very common for poor, uneducated White settlers moving into Indian Territory in the late 1800s to early 1900s. There were no laws against it, and they had very little to lose anyway. They also saw mixed blood tribal members around them receiving allotment, so they figured they could claim some vague “mixed” ancestry too and cash in on the process. Tens of thousands of non-Native Whites put in erroneous or false Dawes applications actually, so this wasn’t an uncommon thing at all. Most of these cases were readily screened out, as was the case with this family.

However, modern descendants are often confused as to why their ancestors would put in these applications if there wasn’t any truth to the claim. So, then they begin grafting the false claims onto the family trees (e.g. ancestry.com) and pass on lore about being “part Indian.” It’s human nature to assume that our forebears were upstanding folks, always telling the truth. Being told they were liars, basically trying to scam the system, is a hard pill to swallow. But, the reality is there are more descendants of these scammers than there were legitimate tribally affiliated families that were correctly enumerated on the final By Blood rolls.

Here’s the context:

Leona’s father, George, claimed to be “1/8” Choctaw when he submitted a fraudulent Dawes application. He also continued this lie during the 1900 Census enumeration in Indian Territory.

George claimed this “1/8” blood through his mother. He stated his father and his wife were not Natives. He identified his mother as Elizabeth Hoggard – this would make here supposedly ¼ “Choctaw.” Yet, he is found living with his parents in the 1850 and 1860 Census in Texas and Missouri, respectively. He is also found in the 1880 Census living in Texas. All three of these records give his place of birth, correctly, as Missouri.

However, when he moved into Indian Territory in the late 1800s with the flood of White settlement to that location he needed to create a cover story. So, in the 1900s Dawes application he can be caught lying to the commissioners, saying he was born in Choctaw Nation. This misinformation is still listed on most online trees for this man. This is not accurate though. He was born in Missouri, plain and simple. There are no ifs ands or buts about that. He came from Missouri settler roots and he was born in that state in 1842.

During the hearing, he consistently lies about his family’s residence and history to fit the narrative that he thinks would help his application. But, he rambles all over the place and his application is rejected. He began his application in the 1890s under the Mississippi Choctaw provision. This allowed forMississippi Choctaws that had adhered to the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek to enroll with Choctaw Nation and receive Dawes allotments. This was also the path that most fraudulent White applicants chose (because it allowed for them to claim that distant relatives had “stayed in Mississippi.”). So, this is why he started saying his great-grandmother “Captain James Fletcher” had an association with Choctaw in Mississippi.

Again, all of the trees giving a “Captain James Fletcher” a Mississippi place of birth or Choctaw association based on George’s false testimony are perpetuating incorrect lineage. This family actually came from early Virginia and Carolina colonial roots and they pushed west over the generations, through Kentucky, then into Missouri by the late 1820s to early 1830s.

If you want to see the original Dawes application it is number MCR (Mississippi Choctaw Rejected) 4514 Fletcher, George W.

And if you want to compare the claims to the actual lineage it would look like this:

George W. Fletcher, b. 1840 Missouri

Parents:
James Fletcher, b. 1810 Kentucky
Elizabeth Hoggard, b. 1819 Kentucky

Maternal Grandparents:
Richmond Hoggard, b. 1794 Virginia *Can be found on the 1840 Census living in Missouri. Received a MO homestead land grant in 1843.
Sarah Fletcher, b. 1794 Virginia *1850 Census shows Sarah (Fletcher) Hoggard living right next door to her daughter Elizabeth and son-in-law James. They were residing in Navarro, Texas at that time. Her place of birth is listed, correctly, as VA.

You’ll also notice when you trace these branches that there was some intermarriage, with Fletcher and Hoggard cousins marrying. This further points to an Anglo colonial heritage. This is rather standard cluster pattern settlement we see in “allied” families that push west and move into new territory as parts of related groups. This naturally leads to a level of consanguinity.

A good overview of the family can be found here, although the Native American lore should be taken with a grain of salt (this lore is persistent and confusing to modern descendants trying to make sense of it all):

http://edensfamily.com/geneology/raw/research/nancy-jane-marries-george-linney-mattie-mollie.htm

Extant marriage records:

Name: Sarah Fletcher
Marriage Date: 5 Sep 1837
Marriage Place: Lafayette, Missouri, USA
Registration Place: Lafayette, Missouri, USA
Spouse: James Hoggard

Name: James Fletcher
Gender: Male
Spouse Name: Nancy Churn
Marriage Date: 13 Jan 1796
County: Northampton
State: Virginia

Bertha Mae Hutchison
[Bertha Mae Lyles]
[Bertha Hutchison]
[Bertha Mae Emberlin]
SSN: 441400210
Gender:Female
Race: White
Birth Date: 15 Apr 1911
Birth Place: Katie Garvin, Oklahoma
Death Date: 19 Nov 1998
Father: Lee Emberlin
Mother: Leona Fletcher
Notes:
Aug 1956: Name listed as BERTHA MAE HUTCHISON; 28 Nov 1998: Name listed as BERTHA HUTCHISON

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phoggard says

April 27, 2017 at 11:38 pm

I am glad to see that there is someone who has not fallen for the Choctaw Chief legend. Just recently I went through all of the Dawes files and other info and wrote a little narrative, reaching the same conclusions. If you’re interested you can download it at patrickhoggard.wordpress.com. I’d be happy to have feedback.

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