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Vaughn - Duncan
Consolidated Cases, M. C. R.
Robert L. Vaughn Et
Al., M. C. R. 340.
Annie M. Duncan Et Al.,
M. C. R. 339.
June 19, 1900. Applications were made to
the commission at Colbert, Ind. Ter., for
the enrollment of Robert L. Vaughn and his
minor children, Edna A. Vaughn, Arthur C.
Vaughn, Walter A. Vaughn, Victor K. Vaughn,
Ora M. Vaughn, Mary J. Vaughn, Robert
Vaughn, and for the enrollment of Annie M.
Duncan and her minor children, Jesse Duncan,
Robert L. Duncan, Mary E. Duncan, as
Mississippi blood Choctaws.
Annie M. Duncan and Robert L. Vaughn, the
two principal claimants, are brother and
sister and claim through the same ancestors.
'The examination of records show that when
said applications were made the applicants
testified to, among other, the following
facts:
Annie M. Duncan, 30 years old, child of
Allen Vaughn, half-blood Choctaw, and
grandchild of Alexander Vaughn, a full-blood
Choctaw, who resided in the Choctaw Nation,
Mississippi, in 1830. Applicant, Annie M.
Duncan, was born in the Choctaw Nation and
had lived in the Choctaw-Chickasaw Nations
all her life; had been recognized by the
Choctaw Indians as a Choctaw, though not
officially recognized by the Choctaw
national authorities; had held and improved
land as other Choctaws; had never applied
for enrollment or admission to citizenship
in the nation prior to this application, as
it had never been necessary, as she was a
Choctaw Indian and her rights had never been
disputed. She claimed that her grandfather
was a beneficiary under the fourteenth
article of the treaty of 1830.
Robert L. Vaughn, 39 years old, testified
that he was born and had lived in the
nations all his life; was the son of Allen
Vaughn, a half- breed and a grandson of
Alexander Vaughn, a full blood, who took
land under the treaty of 1830; that his
rights as a Choctaw had never been disputed;
that he had exercised all the rights of a
Choctaw, but did not know whether his name
appeared on any of the rolls. He stated that
he applied to the commission in 1896, but
his application was received too late and
was returned to him; that ho again applied
in 1899, at Atoka, for enrollment as a
Choctaw Indian, and that he now applied for
enrollment as a Mississippi Choctaw.
The applications in both of these cases were
submitted for the enrollment of the
claimants as Mississippi Choctaws because of
the act of May 31,1900, which prohibited the
commission from receiving, considering, or
making any record of any application of any
person not a recognized and enrolled member
of the tribe. This act did not apply to
Mississippi Choctaws who were beneficiaries
or descendants or beneficiaries under
article 14 of the treaty of 1830.
Other witnesses testified before the
commission to the facts as stated by the
claimants, and on August 21, 1902, the
commission rendered its decision, in which
it says:
It also appears that all of the said
applicants claim rights in the Choctaw lands
under article 14 of the treaty between the
United States and the Choctaw Nation
concluded September 27, 1830, by reason of
being descendants of one Alexander Vaughn,
who is alleged to have been a full-blood
Choctaw and to have resided in the old
Choctaw Nation, States of Mississippi and
Alabama, in 1830.
It further appears from the evidence
submitted in support of said applications
and from the records In the possession of
the commission that no one of said
applicants has ever been enrolled as a
member of the Choctaw Tribe by the Choctaw
tribal authorities or admitted to Choctaw
citizenship by a duly constituted court or
committee of the Choctaw Nation, or by the
Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes, or
by a decree of the United States court in
Indian Territory under the provisions of the
act of Congress approved June 10, 1896.
From the records in the possession of the
commission it is found that the name of one
Alexander Vaughn appears upon page 27,
volume 1, Court of Claims Record, The
Choctaw Nation v. The United States, in a
list of Choctaw Indians whose reservations
were sold under article 14 of the treaty of
1830.
It Is further found that the name of one
Alexander Vaughn appears on page 116 of
volume 7, American State Papers, Public
Lands, in a list of names of Choctaw
Indians, heads of families, who resided in
Greenwood Le Flore's district, in the
territory occupied by the Choctaws in 1830,
and who had land in cultivation, in exchange
for which they were to receive stipulated
tracts of land. The records referred to in
no way relate to or show any compliance or
attempted compliance on the part of the
persons therein named with the provisions of
article 14 of the treaty of Dancing Rabbit
Creek.
The commission therefore held that claimants
were not, entitled to enrollment and
rendered a decision denying them.
October 17, 1902. The decision of the
commission was approved by the Secretary.
Counsel for claimants respectfully submit
that these people are Indians, children of
recognized Indians, and born in the Choctaw
Nation; that this made them citizens of the
nation, and that no admission by an Indian
council could add to their rights; that they
should not be deprived of their rights
because of an act of Congress conceived by
attorneys for the nations who were being
paid per head for all persons they could
keep off the roll and enacted by Congress
without any Member of Congress in the House
or Senate realizing its effects-the act of
May 31, 1900.
The following persons are entitled to
enrollment: Robert L. Vaughn, Edna A.
Vaughn, Arthur C. Vaughn, Walter A. Vaughn,
Victor K. Vaughn, Ore M. Vaughn, Mary J.
Vaughn, Robert Vaughn, Annie M. Duncan,
Jesse Duncan, Robert L. Duncan, Mary E.
Duncan.
Respectfully submitted.
Walter S. Field, Attorney for Claimants.
Department Of The Interior. Commission to
the Five Civilized Tribes.
In the matter of the application of Robert
L. Vaughn et al. for identification as
Mississippi Choctaws, consolidating the
applications of Robert L. Vaughn et al., M.
C. R. 340, and Anna M. Duncan et al., M. C.
II. 330.
Decision
It appears from the record herein that
applications for identification as
Mississippi Choctaws were made to this
commission by Robert L. Vaughn, for himself
and his seven minor children, Edna A.,
Arthur C., Walter A., Victor K., Ora M.,
Mary J., and Robert Vaughn, and Anna M.
Duncan, for herself and her three minor
children, Jesse, Robert L., and Mary E.
Duncan, and it also appears that application
for identification as an Intermarried
Mississippi Choctaw was made to this
commission by Robert L. Vaughn for his wife,
Ruth Vaughn, under the following provision
of the act of Congress approved June 28,
1898 (30 Stats.. 495):
"Said commission shall have authority to
determine the identity of Choctaw Indians
claiming rights in the Choctaw lands under
article fourteen of the treaty between the
United States and the Choctaw Nation
concluded September twenty-seventh, eighteen
hundred and thirty, and to that end may
administer oaths, examine witnesses, and
perform all other nets necessary thereto,
and make report to tho Secretary of the
Interior."
It also appears that all of said applicants
claim rights in the Choctaw lands under
article 14 of the treaty between the United
States and the Choctaw Nation concluded
September 27, 1830, by reason of being
descendants of one Alexander Vaughn, who is
alleged to have been a full-blood Choctaw
and to have resided in the old Choctaw
Nation, States of Mississippi and Alabama,
in 1830.
It further appears from the evidence
submitted in support of said applications
and from the records in the possession of
the commission that no one of said
applicants has ever been enrolled as a
member of the Choctaw Tribe by the Choctaw
tribal authorities, or admitted to Choctaw
citizenship by a duly constituted court or
committee of the Choctaw Nation, or by the
Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes, or
by a decree of the United States court in
Indian Territory under the provisions of the
act of Congress approved June 10, 1896 (29
Stats., 321).
From the records in the possession of the
commission It Is found that the name of one
Alexander Vaughn appears upon page 27,
volume 1, Court of Claims Record, The
Choctaw Nation v. The United States, in a
list of Choctaw Indians whose reservations
were sold under article 19 of the treaty of
1830.
It is further found that the name of one
Alexander Vaughn appears on page 116 of
volume 7, American State Papers, Public
Lands, in a list of names of Choctaw
Indians, heads of families, who resided in
Greenwood Le Flore's district, in the
territory occupied by the Choctaw Indians in
1830 and who had land in cultivation, in
exchange for which they were to receive
stipulated tracts of land. The records
referred to in no way relate to or show any
compliance or attempted compliance on the
part of the persons therein named with the
provisions of article 14 of the treaty of
Dancing Rabbit Creek.
It does not appear from the testimony and
evidence offered in support of said
applications, or from the records In the
possession of the commission relating to
persons who complied, or attempted to
comply, with the provisions of said article
14 of the treaty of 1830 and to persons who
heretofore were claimants thereunder that
the said Alexander Vaughn, or an ancestor
less remote, or any of the applicants herein
signified (in person or by proxy) to Col.
William Ward, Indian agent, Choctaw agency,
an intention to comply with the provisions
of said article 14 of the treaty of 1830 or
presented a claim to rights thereunder to
either of the commissions authorized to
adjudicate such claims by the acts of
Congress approved March 3, 1837 (5 State.,
ISO), and August 23, 1842 (5 Stats., 513):
It is therefore the opinion of this
commission that the evidence herein is
Insufficient to determine the identity of
Robert L. Vaughn, Edna A. Vaughn, Arthur C.
Vaughn, Walter A. Vaughn, Victor K. Vaughn,
Ora M. Vaughn, Mary J. Vaughn, Robert
Vaughn, Anna M. Duncan, Jesse Duncan, Robert
L. Duncan, and Mary E. Duncan as Choctaw
Indians entitled to rights in the Choctaw
lands under the provisions of said article
14 of the treaty of 1830, and that the
applications for their Identification as
such should be refused, and it is so
ordered.
It is the further opinion of this commission
that under the provisions of law above
quoted no person is entitled to
identification as a Mississippi Choctaw by
intermarriage, and that the application made
by Robert L. Vaughn for the Identification
of his wife, Ruth Vaughn, as an Intermarried
Mississippi Choctaw should therefore be
refused, and it is so ordered.
The Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes:
Tams Bixby, Acting Chairman
T. B. Needles, Commissioner
C. R. Breckenridge, Commissioner
Muskogee, Ind. T., July 21, 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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