Post by Okwes on Dec 19, 2006 16:08:21 GMT -5
American Indians Past and Present
By S.E. RUCKMAN World Staff Writer
www.tulsaworld.com/Multimedia/2006/indianspast/index.asp
<http://www.tulsaworld.com/Multimedia/2006/indianspast/index.asp>
Editor's note: World staff writer S.E. Ruckman and staff photographer
James Gibbard interviewed several American Indians from Oklahoma who
have photos of their ancestors from around the time Oklahoma be
PRESENT: Carolyn Codopony, a half Comanche/half Kiowa Indian and great
granddaughter of full Comanche Indians, Oscar and Ada Yellowwolf, taken
in the Wichita Mountains near Lawton.came a state. Gibbard took
black-and-white portraits of living relatives, and Ruckman profiled
their family stories. PRESENT: Carolyn Codopony, a half
Comanche/half Kiowa Indian and great granddaughter of full Comanche
Indians, Oscar and Ada Yellowwolf, taken in the Wichita Mountains near
Lawton. PAST: Oscar and Ada Yellowwolf, circa 1900s.
CACHE -- The land lasts forever, so it must be held close. Carolyn
Codopony remembers her grandmother, Hazel Codopony, saying that to her
since she was a small girl.
"Grandma always drummed this into our heads," she said.
A full-blood Kiowa-Comanche, Codopony is enrolled as a Comanche but
spent the first half of her life on the Kiowa tribal rolls. The land her
grandmother refers to is the family's trust property, Comanche land near
the tiny town of Indiahoma. Today, Carolyn Codopony and her three
siblings own a joint share of it.
And they will never sell it, she vows.
Unlike some tribal enrollees, Codopony's family still owns all its
assigned land from the federal Indian allotment act.
"The land is who we are, and this family has held onto the land allotted
to them," she said. "My grandmother always spoke about not selling the
land that we would some day inherit."
Historically, parcels of 160-acre allotments were given to these tribes
in the dawn of the 20th century near present-day Caddo and Comanche
counties.
Although time and circumstance have changed, her family's touchstone
remains the land. Codopony's great-grandfather, Oscar Yellow Wolf, was
known as the man who "always had fine horses," Codopony said. As the
family patriarch, he carried the family lore that was handed down like
an inheritance.
"His (Yellow Wolf's) father always told him, 'I want you to listen and
learn the white man's way; I want you to keep what you have and not
foolishly give it away or gamble," she said. " 'You learn to work with
horses and cattle . . . keep your land and don't sell it, and then you
will not have to work and dig and sweat.' "
Since that era, her family has tried to follow the advice. Their tale is
like many Indian families, speckled with alcoholism, poverty and missed
opportunities. The upside has been education, work ethic and a solid
reputation as a traditional family.
"I believe our family has fared well since statehood," Codopony said.
"The only regret I have is that we have not stayed fluent in our
language. It's frustrating, because I heard my grandparents speak
fluently when I was a child."
As the coordinator of her tribe's child day-care program, Cododpony said
that she inserts language into the children's daily schedule. That is
one way she can help preserve her tribal tongue, she said.
"The culture needs to be perpetuated more in my generation and the next
or it will be lost," Codopony foretells.
Like Codopony, descendents of Oklahoma's earliest families tell stories
etched in difficulty and dignity. Within their family circles, the quest
for a better life was always a priority.
PRESENT: Full-blood Osage Valentine Cheshawalla-Cobb, 86, taken at her
home in Tulsa, on Aug. 22, 2006. Cobb is the last surviving full-blood
daughter of Evart "Herbert" Cheshewalla, Osage Original Allottee. She
was born on Valentine's Day 1920 and had one full-blood sister and four
full-blood brothers. She has lived in her home on Admiral Boulevard
since 1979. PAST: Evart Herbert Cheshewalla, circa 1900.Valentine
Cheshawalla-Cobb, Osage of Tulsa
As the children of an Osage headrights owner, Evart Cheshawalla, Cobb
and her siblings lacked for nothing in the affluent Osage oil boom.
Cobb's mother was lost to tuberculosis when she was 9. Her father was a
solid horse trainer and attractive -- at least that is what most people
say upon seeing his photo, she said.
"Oh yes, he was a fine-looking man; he never had trouble with the
ladies," said his last living daughter.
She lived in Pawhuska and then Ponca City, having been married for 65
years. The life Cobb remembers while sitting in her Tulsa home is one of
discipline, opportunity and generosity.
"Overall, I'd say I had a pretty good life," she said. "I am so thankful
that I am Osage."
PRESENT: Clifford McElhaney of the Cherokee tribe, in Tahlequah.
PAST: Clifford McElhaney's fraternal grandma, Mary Chaney McElhaney
(right) and her sister Margaret Chaney Parmer, circa 1900.Cliff
McElhaney, Cherokee Nation of Vian
As one of 14 children, Cliff McElhaney is the picture of adaptation. His
family was typical of those of the time -- a Cherokee mom, white father
and a fleet of stair-step children. He comes from a family of unassuming
country folks, McElhaney said.
"They did whatever needed to be done to put food on the table," he said.
Today, McElhaney works at a nuclear plant in Arkansas on a clean-up crew
for recharging radioactive materials. He vaguely regards the dangers of
his job. The wage balances it out, he figures.
"People say, 'How can you work with that,' but the only thing that
really bothers me is how hot it gets in the room when we're refueling,"
McElhaney said. "I don't think about it much."
PRESENT: Principal Chief of the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma Kelly
Haney in his office in Wewoka. PAST: Samuel Haney, a Seminole
Indian and grandfather of Principal Chief Haney, circa 1900.Kelly Haney,
Seminole Nation
Seminole Principal Chief Haney, of Seminole, has a favorite saying that
he shares with tribal members and strangers alike.
"I know who I am, and I know where I came from," he said.
That is near Turkey Creek in Seminole County. His parents worked hard to
provide their family with enough in the hard-bitten country of Seminole
County. Haney says life showed him early on that he was born to do two
things: art and politics.
"I was an artist before I knew what an artist was," he said.
The man who designed the sculpture atop the state's capital was born
into a family acquainted with public service. Almost every generation of
men in the Haney family served in tribal government, including his
grandfather Willie Haney, who was chief in the 1940s.
" 'I am proud of who I am,' I always tell our tribal members. 'You don't
have to hang your head to anybody,' " he said.
PRESENT: Full-blood Chickasaw Nadine Lewis in Ardmore. PAST:
Full-blood Chickasaw Nadine Lewis's Chickasaw tribe great grandparents
Wall and Mary Lewis from Pontotoc, who helped raise her and her two
brothers and four sisters, in 1908.Nadine Lewis, Chickasaw of Ardmore
A fluent Chickasaw tribal member, Lewis has lived her entire life around
Tishomingo, deep in the heart of the Chickasaw Nation. Her family's
philosophy has been hard work and education. She learned these traits as
a youngster and passed them on to her five children.
"We lived with my grandparents when we were little" she said. "They were
kind of like the parents, you know. I've lived in these parts all my
life."
Throughout her 60-plus years, life has been always what she put into it,
Lewis maintains.
"We had to work hard to make it sometimes, but we did," she recalls. "I
think we had it better than some."
PRESENT: Historic Preservation Officer for the Muscogee Creek Nation
Joyce Bear in Okmulgee. PAST: Creek Nation Indian Kizzie Haikey
(sitting) with her three children Alice Burgess (left, grandmother to
Joyce Bear), William Tecumseh, and Margaret Loler, circa 1900.Joyce
Bear, Muscogee (Creek) of Okmulgee
Cultural preservation officer for the Creek Nation, this Creek
full-blood can tell you about her family's association with Tulsa after
it arrived in the Creek version of the Trail of Tears, she said.
Her family's legacy is about working its allotted land and making the
most of the relocation to Oklahoma Territory. Her maternal
great-grandmother, Kizzie Haikey, ran a country store called Pumpkin
Center, that was a lifeline in its heyday.
Bear has a look that bores right through.
"The trail is kind of like the Indian version of the Dark Ages," she
said. "The thing about the centennial is that we weren't citizens of the
U.S. yet, so how could we be citizens of the state?"
By S.E. RUCKMAN World Staff Writer
www.tulsaworld.com/Multimedia/2006/indianspast/index.asp
<http://www.tulsaworld.com/Multimedia/2006/indianspast/index.asp>
Editor's note: World staff writer S.E. Ruckman and staff photographer
James Gibbard interviewed several American Indians from Oklahoma who
have photos of their ancestors from around the time Oklahoma be
PRESENT: Carolyn Codopony, a half Comanche/half Kiowa Indian and great
granddaughter of full Comanche Indians, Oscar and Ada Yellowwolf, taken
in the Wichita Mountains near Lawton.came a state. Gibbard took
black-and-white portraits of living relatives, and Ruckman profiled
their family stories. PRESENT: Carolyn Codopony, a half
Comanche/half Kiowa Indian and great granddaughter of full Comanche
Indians, Oscar and Ada Yellowwolf, taken in the Wichita Mountains near
Lawton. PAST: Oscar and Ada Yellowwolf, circa 1900s.
CACHE -- The land lasts forever, so it must be held close. Carolyn
Codopony remembers her grandmother, Hazel Codopony, saying that to her
since she was a small girl.
"Grandma always drummed this into our heads," she said.
A full-blood Kiowa-Comanche, Codopony is enrolled as a Comanche but
spent the first half of her life on the Kiowa tribal rolls. The land her
grandmother refers to is the family's trust property, Comanche land near
the tiny town of Indiahoma. Today, Carolyn Codopony and her three
siblings own a joint share of it.
And they will never sell it, she vows.
Unlike some tribal enrollees, Codopony's family still owns all its
assigned land from the federal Indian allotment act.
"The land is who we are, and this family has held onto the land allotted
to them," she said. "My grandmother always spoke about not selling the
land that we would some day inherit."
Historically, parcels of 160-acre allotments were given to these tribes
in the dawn of the 20th century near present-day Caddo and Comanche
counties.
Although time and circumstance have changed, her family's touchstone
remains the land. Codopony's great-grandfather, Oscar Yellow Wolf, was
known as the man who "always had fine horses," Codopony said. As the
family patriarch, he carried the family lore that was handed down like
an inheritance.
"His (Yellow Wolf's) father always told him, 'I want you to listen and
learn the white man's way; I want you to keep what you have and not
foolishly give it away or gamble," she said. " 'You learn to work with
horses and cattle . . . keep your land and don't sell it, and then you
will not have to work and dig and sweat.' "
Since that era, her family has tried to follow the advice. Their tale is
like many Indian families, speckled with alcoholism, poverty and missed
opportunities. The upside has been education, work ethic and a solid
reputation as a traditional family.
"I believe our family has fared well since statehood," Codopony said.
"The only regret I have is that we have not stayed fluent in our
language. It's frustrating, because I heard my grandparents speak
fluently when I was a child."
As the coordinator of her tribe's child day-care program, Cododpony said
that she inserts language into the children's daily schedule. That is
one way she can help preserve her tribal tongue, she said.
"The culture needs to be perpetuated more in my generation and the next
or it will be lost," Codopony foretells.
Like Codopony, descendents of Oklahoma's earliest families tell stories
etched in difficulty and dignity. Within their family circles, the quest
for a better life was always a priority.
PRESENT: Full-blood Osage Valentine Cheshawalla-Cobb, 86, taken at her
home in Tulsa, on Aug. 22, 2006. Cobb is the last surviving full-blood
daughter of Evart "Herbert" Cheshewalla, Osage Original Allottee. She
was born on Valentine's Day 1920 and had one full-blood sister and four
full-blood brothers. She has lived in her home on Admiral Boulevard
since 1979. PAST: Evart Herbert Cheshewalla, circa 1900.Valentine
Cheshawalla-Cobb, Osage of Tulsa
As the children of an Osage headrights owner, Evart Cheshawalla, Cobb
and her siblings lacked for nothing in the affluent Osage oil boom.
Cobb's mother was lost to tuberculosis when she was 9. Her father was a
solid horse trainer and attractive -- at least that is what most people
say upon seeing his photo, she said.
"Oh yes, he was a fine-looking man; he never had trouble with the
ladies," said his last living daughter.
She lived in Pawhuska and then Ponca City, having been married for 65
years. The life Cobb remembers while sitting in her Tulsa home is one of
discipline, opportunity and generosity.
"Overall, I'd say I had a pretty good life," she said. "I am so thankful
that I am Osage."
PRESENT: Clifford McElhaney of the Cherokee tribe, in Tahlequah.
PAST: Clifford McElhaney's fraternal grandma, Mary Chaney McElhaney
(right) and her sister Margaret Chaney Parmer, circa 1900.Cliff
McElhaney, Cherokee Nation of Vian
As one of 14 children, Cliff McElhaney is the picture of adaptation. His
family was typical of those of the time -- a Cherokee mom, white father
and a fleet of stair-step children. He comes from a family of unassuming
country folks, McElhaney said.
"They did whatever needed to be done to put food on the table," he said.
Today, McElhaney works at a nuclear plant in Arkansas on a clean-up crew
for recharging radioactive materials. He vaguely regards the dangers of
his job. The wage balances it out, he figures.
"People say, 'How can you work with that,' but the only thing that
really bothers me is how hot it gets in the room when we're refueling,"
McElhaney said. "I don't think about it much."
PRESENT: Principal Chief of the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma Kelly
Haney in his office in Wewoka. PAST: Samuel Haney, a Seminole
Indian and grandfather of Principal Chief Haney, circa 1900.Kelly Haney,
Seminole Nation
Seminole Principal Chief Haney, of Seminole, has a favorite saying that
he shares with tribal members and strangers alike.
"I know who I am, and I know where I came from," he said.
That is near Turkey Creek in Seminole County. His parents worked hard to
provide their family with enough in the hard-bitten country of Seminole
County. Haney says life showed him early on that he was born to do two
things: art and politics.
"I was an artist before I knew what an artist was," he said.
The man who designed the sculpture atop the state's capital was born
into a family acquainted with public service. Almost every generation of
men in the Haney family served in tribal government, including his
grandfather Willie Haney, who was chief in the 1940s.
" 'I am proud of who I am,' I always tell our tribal members. 'You don't
have to hang your head to anybody,' " he said.
PRESENT: Full-blood Chickasaw Nadine Lewis in Ardmore. PAST:
Full-blood Chickasaw Nadine Lewis's Chickasaw tribe great grandparents
Wall and Mary Lewis from Pontotoc, who helped raise her and her two
brothers and four sisters, in 1908.Nadine Lewis, Chickasaw of Ardmore
A fluent Chickasaw tribal member, Lewis has lived her entire life around
Tishomingo, deep in the heart of the Chickasaw Nation. Her family's
philosophy has been hard work and education. She learned these traits as
a youngster and passed them on to her five children.
"We lived with my grandparents when we were little" she said. "They were
kind of like the parents, you know. I've lived in these parts all my
life."
Throughout her 60-plus years, life has been always what she put into it,
Lewis maintains.
"We had to work hard to make it sometimes, but we did," she recalls. "I
think we had it better than some."
PRESENT: Historic Preservation Officer for the Muscogee Creek Nation
Joyce Bear in Okmulgee. PAST: Creek Nation Indian Kizzie Haikey
(sitting) with her three children Alice Burgess (left, grandmother to
Joyce Bear), William Tecumseh, and Margaret Loler, circa 1900.Joyce
Bear, Muscogee (Creek) of Okmulgee
Cultural preservation officer for the Creek Nation, this Creek
full-blood can tell you about her family's association with Tulsa after
it arrived in the Creek version of the Trail of Tears, she said.
Her family's legacy is about working its allotted land and making the
most of the relocation to Oklahoma Territory. Her maternal
great-grandmother, Kizzie Haikey, ran a country store called Pumpkin
Center, that was a lifeline in its heyday.
Bear has a look that bores right through.
"The trail is kind of like the Indian version of the Dark Ages," she
said. "The thing about the centennial is that we weren't citizens of the
U.S. yet, so how could we be citizens of the state?"