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John R. Kirk, Choctaw
John R.
Kirk Et Al.
Commission jacket No. R-155.
August 31. 1896. Original
application filed with the commission for
the enrollment of Amanda N. Kirk as a
citizen of the Choctaw Nation by
intermarriage, and her children, John R. and
Malinda, as citizens by blood.
Amanda N. Kirk claimed her right by reason
of her marriage to John C. Kirk, deceased,
who was a citizen of the Choctaw Nation by
blood.
November 10. 1800. Commission rendered its
decision in words and figures as follows, to
wit: " Rejected."' From this decision there
was no appeal.
November 10, 1896. John R. Kirk. 14 years of
age, appeared before the commission at
McAlester, Ind. T., and applied for the
enrollment of himself and his sister,
Malinda Kirk, 12 years old. The record shows
that claimants are the children of John C.
Kirk, a half-blood Choctaw Indian who died
when applicant, John R. Kirk, was 4 years
old and when his sister was an infant; that
claimants were born in the Choctaw Nation;
that there mother was a white woman, who
upon the death of her husband married a man
by the name of Blackburn: that upon the
death of claimants' father the two children.
John R. and Malinda, were taken by a white
man by the name of John R. Davis to
Oklahoma, where they lived for a period of
five rears; that the said John R. Davis then
returned to the Choctaw Nation, bringing the
children with him. and that they have since
continuously resided therein.
It appears from the affidavits of Hawkins
Seeley and Billie Duke that the father of
John C. Kirk, a white man. went to the war
and never returned, and from the affidavits
of Richard Duran and Nancy Underwood that
John C. Kirk's mother, Annie Kirk, nee
Parker, a full-blood Indian, died in the
year 1863, thus leaving John C. Kirk, father
of the claimants, an orphan.
It further appears that although the father
of applicants received his share of the net
proceeds claim, paid in 1889, and was born
and lived in the Choctaw Nation, where he
was always recognized as a Choctaw, his name
is not on any of the tribal rolls.
It further appears from the record that on
November 14, 1899, the mother of the
claimants appeared before the commission at
McAlester and made application for the
enrollment of the children. John R. Kirk and
Malinda Kirk, as citizens by blood of the
Choctaw Nation. (Copy of the examination
records of John R. Kirk, John R. Davis, and
Novella Blackburn are hereto attached and
marked " Exhibits A-A 1.")
The affidavits of Billie Duke and Hawkins
Seeley, John R. Davis and E. J. Davis,
Richard Duran and Nancy Underwood are hereto
attached and marked " Exhibits B, C, and D."
April 14, 1902. Commission rendered its
decision denying claimants because their
names and the names of their father did not
appear on the tribal Indian roll. (Copy of
the said opinion hereto attached and marked
" Exhibit E.")
May 14, 1902. Decision of the commission
approved by the Secretary.
Counsel for claimants respectfully submit
that to deny these infant children their
clear right to enrollment as citizens by
blood of the Choctaw Nation because their
names, or the name of their father, do not
appear on the tribal rolls is gross
injustice in view of the fact that their
father was left an orphan when an infant and
John R. and Malinda Kirk were taken by white
people to raise when the former was only 4
years old and the latter but 2 years old.
The blood and residence of the claimants is
clear and they should be enrolled.
(Two in all.)
Respectfully submitted.
Walter S. Field, Attorney for Claimants
Exhibit A
Commission To The Five Civilized Tribes,
McAlester, Ind. T.,
November 13, 189V.
In the application of John R. Kirk and
sister for enrollment as Choctaws, being
sworn and examined by Commissioner McKennon,
he states:
Q. What is your name?
A. John R. Kirk.
Q. How old are you?
A. Fourteen.
Q. Where were you born and raised?
A. I was born in the Choctaw Nation.
Q. Have you lived there all of your life?
A. Most all of my life. .
Q. Where did you live besides that?
A. In Oklahoma.
Q. How long?
A. About six years.
Q. When did you come back to the Choctaw
Nation from Oklahoma?
A. About five years ago.
Q. You had been six years there and returned
here five years ago from Oklahoma?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Have you any father and mother living?
A. I have a mother living; my father is
dead.
Q. Is your mother a white woman or an
Indian?
A. She is a white woman.
Q. Was your father an Indian?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. What kind?
A. Choctaw.
Q. What was his name?
A. John C. Kirk.
Q. Do you know how long he has been dead?
A. I was about 4 years old when he died.
Q. Do you know whether your father was a
recognized Choctaw citizen or not?
A. I don't know.
Q. You don't know whether he was ever on the
rolls or not
A. No, sir.
Q. Have you got any brother or sister
living?
A. I have got a sister.
Q. What's her name?
A. Malinda Kirk.
Q. How old is she?
A. She Is about 12 years old.
Q. What is your mother's name?
A. Novella Kirk. She has married again, and
her name is now Novella Blackburn.
John R. Davis, being sworn and examined,
states:
Q. What is your name?
A. John R. Davis.
Q. How old are you?
A. Fifty-six.
Q. You are a white man?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Don't claim citizenship in the Choctaw
Nation?
A. No, sir.
Q. Do you know John Kirk?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. And his sister. Malinda Kirk?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Did you know their father?
A. I did.
Q. Was he an Indian?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. What kind of an Indian?
A. He claimed and showed to be a half
Choctaw Indian.
Q. How long did you know him?
A. I knew him about 20 years, up until he
died: he died 2 years after Oklahoma opened
up.
Q. About how many years ago was that?
A. I think about 10 years. It seems to me: I
had been in Oklahoma 2 years when he died.
Q. Did yon know their mother?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. What is she?
A. She is a white woman.
Q. The mother of these two children?
A. Yes. sir.
Q. Where were they married?
A. In Red River County, Tex.
Q. Have these children always lived here in
the Choctaw Nation?
A. With the exception of pretty near 5
years: I kept them in Oklahoma after their
daddy died.
Q. When did you return to the Choctaw
Nation?
A. Going on 5 years ago.
Q. Are they living with you now?
A. Yea, sir; this boy does; the girl is
going to school at Pauls Valley.
Q. Do you know whether their father was ever
a recognized Choctaw citizen?
A. I don't know that he was ever on the
rolls.
Chick Com Peter Maytubby. Did you try to
enroll these children at Tishomingo?
A. I tried to enroll them at Stonewall, but
not at Tishomingo.
Commissioner McKennon. These two children
are not on any of the Choctaw rolls.
Examined by Choctaw Commissioner Lewis :
Q. Did these children draw land out in
Oklahoma?
A. No, sir.
Commissioner McKennon:
Q. Did they draw money?
A. These applicants' father got money at
Atoka : I don't know how much he got.
Q. That was the net proceeds?
A. That was in 1889. I think.
Commissioner McKennon. That was the net
proceeds, and was distributed to the heirs
of the parties entitled to it.
Witness. The only time the children has ever
been out of the Territory was when their
father died, and I come and got them and
took them to Oklahoma and kept them there,
and when they come back the Indians that
knew them let them go to the Indian schools:
that was the Chickasaw schools.
Commissioner McKinnon: Enrollment refused.
Department Of The
Interior, Commission To The Five Civilized
Tribes.
I hereby certify, upon my official oath as
stenographer to above named commission, that
this transcript is a true, full, and correct
translation of my stenographic notes.
M. D. Green.
Exhibit A1
Commission To The Five Civilized Tribes
McAlester Ind. T., November 14, 1899.
In the application for the enrollment of
John and M. C. Kirk, as Choctaws. Novella
Blackburn, being sworn and examined by
Commissioner McKennon, testifies as follows:
Q. What Is your name?
A. Novella Blackburn.
Q. How old are you?
A. Thirty.
Q. You are a white woman?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. You say you have two children; what are
their names?
A. John Kirk and M. C. Kirk.
Q. How old is John?
A. Fourteen years old.
Q. How old is the other?
A. She is 12 years old.
Q. Application was made for them in 1896 to
the Dawes Commission, and they were
rejected?
A. Yes, sir; they were overlooked; we had no
attorney whatever.
Q. They were rejected by the Dawes
Commission?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. That judgment was not appealed from?
A. No. sir.
Commissioner McKennon. That judgment is
absolutely final against them, and their
enrollment is. of course, refused.
Department Of The Interior, Commission To
The Five Civilized Tribes.
I hereby certify upon my official oath as
stenographer to above named commission that
this transcript is a true, full, und correct
translation of my stenographic notes.
M. D. Green.
Exhibit
B
Indian Territory, Southern
District:
In the matter of the application for
enrollment as citizens of the Choctaw Nation
of Amanda N. Blackburn. John C. Kirk, and
Malinda C. Kirk on this the 26th day of
June, 1899, before me a notary public in and
for said district and Territory, Willie Duke
(alias Willis Suchy) and Hawkins Seeley, the
former of Jesse, Ind. T., and who by me
being first duly sworn did upon their
respective oaths state and depose as
follows:
That they were personally each well
acquainted with John C. Kirk in his
lifetime, and who was the father of said
John R. and Malinda Kirk, and the husband of
Amanda N. Blackburn: that they knew said
John C. Kirk when he- was a small boy in the
Choctaw Nation ; that he was a Choctaw
Indian by blood, and they knew him by the
name of John Parker, and his mother's name
was May Parker; that was her Indian name but
she married a white man by the name of Kirk
who went off to the war and never came back.
May Parker had two children, a boy and a
girl. We do not know what became of the
girl. We saw John Kirk, the father of said
John R. and Malinda Kirk, often until bo
moved from our part of the nation to near
Purcell, Ind. T. We knew him after he
married Amanda Blackburn, nee Davis, the
mother of the children John R. mid Malinda
Kirk. After they were married they lived for
over three years in the same neighborhood
with us. and we were at their house
frequently, and we saw the said children
after they were born and knew them to be the
children of said John Kirk whom we knew as a
boy by the name of Parker. He took the name
of Kirk after his father when he became a
grown man. John Kirk (Alias Parker) was
undoubtedly a Choctaw Indian. Our mother was
n sister of May Parker's mother and we
always called John Kirk (Parker) a cousin of
ours. He looked like an Indian. He was dark
skinned, black, straight hair, and brown
eyes.
(Signed) Bille Duke (Billie Duke).
(Signed) Hawkins (his X mark) Seeley.
Witness to mark:
T. N. Patmell
Subscribed and sworn to before me on this
28th day of June, 1890.
[seal.] T. N. Palmett,
Notary Public.
(Endorsed on back: "Department of the
Interior, received Jan. 6, 1900. No. 56.
Indian Territory division. Affidavit of
Billy Duke." "1021. Department of the
Interior, received Oct. 2, 1899. No. 2827.
Indian Territory division. John K. Kirk et
al. vs. Choctaw Nation. Affidavit of Billie
Duke and Hawkins Seeley."
Exhibit
C.
Indian Territory, Southern
District:
On this the 21st day of July, 1899,
personally appeared before me a notary
public in and for said district and
Territory, J. R. Davis and E. J. Davis,
residents of the Chiekasaw Nation, Ind. T.,
mid stated in relation to the Choctaw
citizenship of J. R. Kirk and Malinda Kirk,
orphan children of J. C. Kirk, deceased, as
follows. That he (J. C. Kirk) lived in the
house with them for two years in Texas, and
they lived with him in the Choctaw and
Chickasaw Nation for five years: that he
died in April, 1891, at Purcell. Chicasaw
Nation, and was buried at Purcell Chickasaw
Nation, and that they had taken his children
and had taken care of them for six years in
Oklahoma. And I, J. R. Davis, brought them
back to Stonewall, Chickasaw Nation in
August 1897, to be enrolled by the Dawes
Commission, and they were rejected by said
commission because they were not found upon
the Indian enrollment, and it was stated by
Bill Bowlin that their names had been taken
from the enrollment by and through the
directions of Palmer Mosby, governor of the
Chiekasaw Nation, also that said children
have been attending the Indian schools at
Colbert and Pauls Valley before and since
said rejection. And they further state that
they first became acquainted with their
grandfather who was a white man, formed said
acquaintance in the Choctaw Nation near
where Antler now is in the year sixty-two
or three, and that Kirk volunteered in the
United States Army and died in Little Rock,
Ark., during the war, and their mother died
in 1863. Her maiden name was Annie Parker:
and they further state that said J. C. Kirk,
now deceased (who was the father of J. R.
Kirk and Malinda Kirk), was taken care of by Chas. Payne, a white man who had taken
him down on Red River with whom he lived for
three or four years. He then went back to
Choctaw Nation and afterwards lived
with him for two years in Red River County,
Texas prior to his marriage with Novellan
Davis, their, daughter. They also state
that when he was with the Indians that he
was known as John Parker, or John Counter
Parker, Parker being the maiden name of his
mother.
And I. J. R. Davis, further state that I
went with J. C. Parker to Atoka in time of
the payment of the annuity in the year 1899,
and he drew his annuity and his citizenship
was not questioned nor disputed. He drew
said money in the name of Parker, which was
the name of his mother prior to her marriage
with Kirk.
And they also state that the mother of J. C.
Kirk, alias J. C. Parker, was a full-blood
Choctaw Indian.
(Signed) J. R. Davis.
(Signed) E. J. Davis (his X mark).
Subscribed and sworn to before me this the
21st day of July, 1899.
[seal.] (Signed) A. B. Swanson, Notary Public.
Exhibit D
Indian Territory, Southern District:
On this the 20th day of July 1899.
personally appeared before me, a notary
public in and for said district and
Territory, Richard Duran and Nancy
Underwood, citizens of the Chickasaw Nation,
Ind. T.. and stated in relation to the
Choctaw citizenship of J. R. Kirk and Malinda
Kirk, orphan children of J. C. Kirk,
deceased, as follows: That they knew J. C.
Kirk and his mother in the Kimishi Mountains
in the Choctaw Nation. Ind. T., and that his
mother was a full-blood Choctaw Indian, and
that her maiden name wus Annie Parker, and
that she died in time of the rebellion
between the States in the year 1863. and
that J. C. Kirk, deceased, drew money in
1889 in the Choctaw Nation at Atoka in the
name of Parker, his mother's name before
marriage: and they further state that the
said J. R. Kirk and Malinda Kirk, whose
names appear in this affidavit, are the
identical persons desiring enrollment before
the Dawes Commission Indian Territory,
and that they are the children of J. C.
Kirk, deceased, whose Indian name was Jhen
Parker, or by which he was known among the
Indians.
(Signed) Richard Duran (his x mark).
(Signed) Nancy Underwood (her x mark).
Subscribed and Sworn to before me this the
20th day of July, 1899.
[seal.] (Signed) A. B, Swanson, Notary Public.
Endorsed on back: "Department of the
Interior, received Jan. 6, 1900. No. 56.
Indian Territory Division. John R. Kirk et
al. vs. Choctaw Nation Affidavits."
Exhibit E
Department Of The Interior,
Commission To The Five Civilized Tribes
In the matter of the application of John R.
Kirk and his sister, Malinda Kirk, for the
enrollment of themselves as citizens by
blood of the Choctaw Nation.
Decision
The record in this case shows that on
November 13, 1899. the applicant, John R.
Kirk, appeared before the commission at McAlester. Ind. T.. and there and then made
personal application for the enrollment of
himself and his minor sister, Malinda Kirk,
as citizens by blood of the Choctaw Nation.
It appears from the records of this
commission that Amanda Kirk filed the,
original petition for the admission of John
R. Kirk and his sister. Malinda Kirk,
children of John C. Kirk, as citizens of the
Chickasaw Nation with the commission under
the provisions of the act of Congress of
June 10, 1896. (29 Stats.. 321.)
Under this act the applicants submitted
their rights as citizens of the Chickasaw
Nation for adjudication to the Commission to
the Five Civilized Tribes, and in the
Chickasaw case. No. 68, the commission
denied the applicants citizenship in the
Chickasaw Tribe, and no appeal was
prosecuted there from to the United States
court in Indian Territory, and the rights of
applicants as Chickasaws became res
adjudicata.
Applicants now ask to be enrolled as
citizens of the Choctaw Nation, and the
evidence shows that they are the children of
John C. Kirk, a Choctaw Indian by blood, and
it further shows that John C. Kirk's name
was never on any of the rolls of said tribe,
nor was he ever recognized by any of the
tribal authorities as a citizen of said
nation, nor does it appear that said John C.
Kirk, the father of these applicants, was
ever admitted to citizenship by the legally
constituted authorities of said Choctaw
Nation.
It does not appear from the evidence offered
in support of this application and an
examination of the tribal rolls of the
Choctaw Nation in the possession of the
commission that the applicants have ever
been enrolled as citizens of the Choctaw
Nation, nor do their names appear on any of
the tribal rolls of the Choctaw Nation in
the possession of the commission, nor does
it appear that they have ever been admitted
to Choctaw citizenship by the legally
constituted authorities of the said nation.
It further appears from an examination of
the records in the possession of the
Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes that
neither of the applicants have ever been
admitted to citizenship in the Choctaw
Nation by the Commission to the Five
Civilized Tribes or by a decree of the
United States court in Indian Territory, in
accordance with the provisions of the act of
Congress of June 10, 1896. (29 Stats.. 321.
supra.)
The act of Congress of June 28. 1S9S (30
Stats.. 495). provides as follows:
"Said commission is authorized and directed
to make correct rolls of the citizens by
blood of all the other tribes (excepting
Cherokee), eliminating from the tribal rolls
such names as may have been placed thereon
by fraud or without authority of law.
enrolling such only as may have lawful
rights thereto, and their descendants born
since such rolls were made, with such
intermarried white persons as may be
entitled to Choctaw and Chickasaw
citizenship under the treaties and the laws
of said tribes."
It is therefore the opinion of this
commission that John R. Kirk and Malinda
Kirk are not lawfully entitled to he
enrolled as members of the Choctaw Tribe of
Indians in the Indian Territory, and that
their application as such should be refused,
and it is so ordered.
The Commission To The Five Civilized Tribes.
_______ _______, Acting Chairman.
________ _______, Commissioner.
________ _______, Commissioner.
Muskogee, Ind. T. April 14, 1902
Notes About the Book:
Source: Five Civilized Tribes In Oklahoma, Reports of the Department of the
Interior and Evidentiary Papers in support of S. 7625, a Bill for the Relief of
Certain Members of the Five Civilized Tribes in Oklahoma, Sixty-second Congress,
Third Session, Published 1913, by the Department of the Interior, United States.
Online Publication: The manuscript was scanned and then ocr'd. Minimal editing
has been done, and readers can and should expect some errors in the textual
output.
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