Evans Hill, Chickasaw

Evans Hill Et Al., Chickasaw
Commission No. (1896 case) 214.
United States court No. 12.
Citizenship court No. 66-T.

September 9, 1896. Original application made to the Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes for the admission of Evans Hill, Elizabeth Ann Hill, wife; Sampson E. Hill, Clark V. Hill, John T. Briscoe, Leonard Briscoe, Zemma L. Briscoe, Nolie N. Briscoe, Maggie E. Briscoe, Thomas W. Briscoe, Arthur Briscoe, Fannie E. Briscoe, John S. Briscoe, children: William C. Row, Aancy Ann Row, wife; Amanda Melissa Row, William Arthur Row, James Thomas Row, Dora Bell Row, Rosa Lee Row, John Franklin Row, children; John Melton Penn, as citizens by blood of the Chickasaw Nation.

Answer of the Chickasaw Nation duly filed.

November 28, 1890. Commission rendered a decree denying the applications of the persons above named. Appeal was taken from this decision to the United States court for the southern district of Indian Territory, Ardmore, in court case No. 12.

March 10, 1898. United States court reversed the decision of the commission and admitted Evans Hill, Elizabeth Ann Hill, Sampson E. Hill, Clark V. Hill. John T. Briscoe, Maggie E. Briscoe, S. M. Briscoe, Leonard Briscoe, Zemma L. Briscoe. Nolie N. Briscoe, Thomas W. Briscoe, Arthur Briscoe, Fannie E. Briscoe, John S. Briscoe, W. A. Briscoe, M. L. Briscoe, Dora Gibson, William Gibson, Rena Gibson, Belle Briscoe Cleaver, James Briscoe, Willis Briscoe, Karl Briscoe, Etoy Briscoe, Bessie Briscoe, William C. Row, Nancy Ann Row, Amanda Melissa Row, William Arthur Row, James Thomas Row, Dora Belle Row, Rosa Lee Row, John Franklin Row, and rejected R. L. Gibson, J. E. Cleaver, who are not original applicants before the commission.

May 27, 1899. United States court entered an order eliminating the following names from its judgment and denying their rights to citizenship in the Chickasaw Nation: W. E. Briscoe, M. L. Briscoe, Dora Gibson, William Gibson, Rena Gibson, Belle Briscoe Cleaver, James Briscoe, Willis Briscoe, Earl Briscoe, Etoy Briscoe, Bessie Briscoe.

Certified copies of both judgments hereto attached.

December 17, 1902. Judgment of United States court vacated by decision of Choctaw-Chickasaw citizenship court in the case of The Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations or Tribes of Indians v. J. T. et al., known as the "test case."

The applicants took an appeal and had their case certified to the Choctaw and Chickasaw citizenship court for a trial de novo.

June 29, 1904. Decree of Choctaw-Chickasaw citizenship court denying the citizenship in the Chickasaw Nation of the following persons: Evans Hill, Elizabeth Ann Hill, Sampson E. Hill, Clark V. Hill, John F. Briscoe (John T.), S. M. Briscoe, Leonard Briscoe, Zemma L. (Zemma L.) Briscoe, Nollie N. Briscoe, Maggie E. Briscoe, Thomas W. Briscoe, Arthur Briscoe, Fannie E. Briscoe, John S. Briscoe, William C. Row, Amanda Melissa Row, William Arthur Row, James Thomas Row, Dora Belle Row, Rosa Lee Row (Rosa Belle), John Frank Row.

Applications were made to the Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes for the enrollment of the persons admitted by the decree of the United States court and their children as citizens of the Chickasaw Nation under the acts of Congress of June 28, 1898, and July 1, 1902.

Subsequent to the judgment of the Choctaw and Chickasaw citizenship court denying these applicants the Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes because of the decree of the citizenship court dismissed the applications for the enrollment of their minor children.

As to those persons whose names were interpolated in the proceedings before the United States court, applications were made to the commission for their enrollment as citizens of the Chickasaw Nation under the act of Congress of June 28. 1898, as follows:

October 17. 1898: Belle B. Cleaver.
October 18. 1898: James Briscoe.

October 18. 1898: W. A. Briscoe, M. L. Briscoe, Dena Briscoe, Willis Briscoe, Earl Briscoe, Bessie Briscoe, Etoy Briscoe, William D. Gibson, Reena Gibson.

January 21, 1905. Decision of commission refusing applicants because their blood relatives had been denied by the citizenship court.

February 9, 1905. Decision of commission approved by department. Applications were made for the enrollment of the following children of those persons whose names appear in the judgment of the United States court as entitled to citizenship:

November 20, 1902: Rubie Jewel Ann Hill.

July 2, 1906: Lillie Hill, children of Sampson E. Hill.

September 22, 1898: William S. Penn.

May 24, 1900: Earl E. Penn.

June 22, 1900: Thomas Briscoe Penn, children of Amanda M. Penn (formerly Row).

October 17, 1898: Maudie L. Briscoe. child of John T. Briscoe.

June 12, 1906: Melton Briscoe, child of Thomas W. Briscoe.

September 22, 1898: Mabel J. Row, child of William C. Row.

June 22, 1900: Jewel Row, child of William A. Row.

February 12, 1901: Emmett B. Briscoe, John T. Briscoe, Tina O. Briscoe, children of Leonard Briscoe.

November 4, 1899: Lela Steele.

August 6, 1901: Maggie E. Steele.

June 22, 1900: Lloid Steele, Ross Reynal Steele, children of Zemma L. Steele (formerly Briscoe).

November 4, 1899: Osa Cletus Williams, child of Nollie N. Williams, formerly Briscoe.

February 6, 1906. Petitions were filed with the Commissioner to the Five Civilized Tribes under the ruling of the department in the Loula West case praying for the enrollment of the applicants herein.

All of the applicants herein base their claim to citizenship in the Chickasaw Nation on their Chickasaw Indian blood and long residence in the nation (since 1860) and upon the additional ground that certain of the applicants, viz: Evans Hill, Sampson E. Hill, Clark V. Hill, William C. Row, Nancy A. Row, Amanda Melissa Penn, William Arthur Row, James Thomas Row, Dora Belle Row, Rosa Lee Row, John Franklin Row, S. M. Briscoe, Leonard Briscoe, Zemma Steele, Nollie N. Williams, Maggie E. Briscoe, Thomas W. Briscoe, Arthur Briscoe, Fannie E. Briscoe, John S. Briscoe were in the year 1895 admitted with many other claimants to citizenship in the Chickasaw Nation by the Chickasaw court of claims. A certificate of citizenship was issued to them, which reads as follows:

Tills Is to certify that Mr. Evans Hill has presented his affidavit proving his Identity, and we, after examining the lawful evidence, do hereby decide that Mr. Evans Hill and all his heirs, viz: Sampson K. Hill, Clark V. Hill, Elizabeth A. Hill, J. T. Briscoe and his heirs, Nana Roe are Chickasaws by blood and are entitled to all the rights and privileges of same.

Given under my hand this the 21st day of February. 1895.

O. A. Burris, Chairman.
W. H. Bourland,
J. Brown,
Committee.

Section 7 of the act of the Chickasaw legislature, approved December 22, 1894. entitled "An act to establish a court of claims," provides as follows:

Be it further enacted. That the chairman of said court shall make a complete transcript copy of the proceedings of said court in all cases to be submitted to the legislature for their approval or rejection, and their decision shall be final.

The Chickasaw legislature subsequently on October 28, 1895, passed an act declaring all citizenship certificates issued by said court null and void and of no legal effect as against the Chickasaw Nation, and also declaring the parties for whose benefit said certificates were issued not citizens of the Chickasaw Nation.

The act of the Chickasaw council declaring1 void all certificates issued by the court of claims was based upon the action of the court in issuing the certificates without first submitting the findings of the court and the record in each case to the legislature for approval. There was no investigation into the rights of the individual claimants by the legislature. (The action of the Indian authorities, council for claimants submit, is entitled to but scant consideration other than that the proof submitted to the court was in the opinion of that court sufficient to citizenship.)

The record before the United States court in this case was destroyed by fire and therefore the proof then before the court can not be here reviewed, but as this same question had been squarely before the court in the case of Daniel McDuffie et al., presented to your committee, it is fair to assume that the court in this case, as in that, disregarded the action of the Chickasaw authorities and decided the case on its merits from the record before it.

February 7, 1907. Decision of commissioner was rendered holding that the applicants did not appear to have occupied a status entitling them to enrollment as Chickasaws, and that the decree of the Choctaw and Chickasaw citizenship court was final and the petition for enrollment was denied.

Note.-The commission at this time had no authority to enroll anyone whose name was not on some tribal roll.

March 4, 1907. Department approved this action of the commissioner. Applicants before the commission in 1896 alleged that they came from Tennessee to the Chickasaw Nation about the year 1860, and that they had resided in the said Chickasaw Nation since that time: that citizenship certificates were issued to them by the Chickasaw court of claims; that in compliance with the act creating said court of claims applicants case, with many others, was sent to the Chickasaw legislature for its approval: that when the case came before the legislature the then district attorney for the Chickasaw Nation complained of irregularities, and upon his motion to dismiss said case the same was acted on adversely by the legislature without examination into the merits of the case.

Copies of the depositions used before the Chickasaw court of claims were offered in evidence Allowing that Evans Hill and the other claimants herein derive their Chickasaw blood from Polly Matlock, who was the daughter of Charley Matlock: that Charley Matlock was a Chickasaw by blood and lived and died in Overton County, Miss.; that the claimants herein are the children and grandchildren of Polly Matlock, or their children.

Counsel for claimants represent that inasmuch as the claimants have established that they are of Chickasaw blood and their long residence in the Chickasaw Nation is not questioned that they are entitled to enrollment.

Those entitled to enrollment are Evans Hill, Elizabeth Ann Hill, Sampson E. Hill, Clark V. Hill, John T. Briscoe, Maggie E. Briscoe, Leonard Briscoe, Zemma L. Briscoe, Nollie N. Briscoe, Thomas W. Briscoe, Arthur Briscoe, Fannie E. Briscoe, John S. Briscoe, W. A. Briscoe, M. L. Briscoe, Dora Gibson, Dora Briscoe. William Gibson, Rena Gibson, Belle Briscoe Cleaver, James Briscoe, Willis Briscoe, Earl Briscoe, Etoy Briscoe, Bessie Briscoe, William C. Row, Nancy Ann Row, Amanda Melissa Row, William Arthur Row, James Thomas Row, Dora Belle Row, Rosa Lee Row, John Franklin Row, R. L. Gibson. J. E. Cleaver.

Newborns for whose enrollment applications were made within the time provided by law: Rubie Jewel Ann Hill, Verda Hill, Lillie Hill, William S. Penn, Earl E. Penn, Thomas Briscoe Penn, Maudie L. Briscoe, Melton Briscoe, Mabel J. Row, Jewel Row, Emmett B. Briscoe, John T. Briscoe, Tina O. Briscoe, Lela S. Steele, Maggie E. Steele, Lloid Steele, Ross Reynal Steele, Osa Cletus Williams.

(Fifty-three in all.)

Respectfully submitted.
Walter S. Field, Attorney for claimants.

Transcript Of Proceedings United States Court
Indian Territory, Southern district, ss:

At a stated term of the United States court In the Indian Territory, ______ district, begun and had in the court rooms at Ardmore, in the Indian Territory, on the l5th day of November, in the year of our Lord 1899.

Present: The Hon. Hosea Townsend, judge of said court.

On the 10th day of March 1898, being a regular day of said term of said court, among the proceedings had were the following, to wit:

Evans Hill et al. v. Chickasaw Nation. 12. Judgment

This day this cause coming on to be heard on this the 10th day of March 1898, upon the pleadings, evidence, master's report, and exceptions thereto: and it appearing to the court from said master's report and the evidence herein that the parties hereinafter named and set forth are Chickasaw Indians by blood, and as such are entitled to citizenship in the Chickasaw Nation or Tribe of Indians: and the court being fully advised as to the whole ease, finds that the parties hereinafter mimed have duly prosecuted their application for citizenship and have fully met every requirement of law therefor: and the court having declared them to be citizens of the Chickasaw Nation. It Is therefore ordered, decreed, and adjudged that the exceptions to the master's report be overruled and that the plea to the jurisdiction interposed by the defendant is also overruled, and said master's report is in all things confirmed. It is therefore ordered, decreed, and adjudged that the following-named parties be, and the same are hereby, admitted to citizenship in the Chickasaw Tribe or Nation of Indians, to wit:

Evans Hill, Elizabeth Ann Hill, Sampson E. Hill, Clark V. Hill, John T. Briscoe, Maggie E. Briscoe, S. M. Briscoe, Leonard Briscoe, Zemma I. Briscoe, Nollie N. Briscoe, Thomas W. Briscoe, Arthur Briscoe, Fannie K. Briscoe, John S. Briscoe, W. A. Briscoe, M. L. Briscoe, Dora Gibson, Dora Briscoe, William Gibson, Rena Gibson, Belle Briscoe Cleaver, James Briscoe, Willis Briscoe, Earl Briscoe, Etoy Briscoe, Bessie Briscoe, William C. Row, Nancy Ann Row, Amanda Melissa Row, William Arthur Row, James Thomas Row, Dora Belle Row, Rose Lee Row, John Franklin Row.

It is further ordered, decreed, and adjudged that all the aforesaid parties possess and be permitted to enjoy and exercise all the rights, privileges, and immunities of citizens and members of said Chickasaw Tribe or Nation of Indians.

It is further ordered, decreed, and adjudged that the following named persons be rejected, to wit: R. L. Gibson and J. E. Cleaver.

The clerk of this court is hereby ordered and directed to certify a copy of this judgment to the Dawes Commission, and said commission is hereby directed to place the names of the above named persons who are admitted to citizenship upon the rolls of citizenship for the Chickasaw Tribe of Indians. To all of which the defendant in open court excepts.

United States Court,
Indian Territory, southern district, ss:

I, C. M. Campbell, clerk of the United States court within and for the district and territory aforesaid, do hereby certify that the foregoing orders are truly taken and correctly copied from court journals of said court as the same appeal's to me.

In testimony whereof I have set my hand and affixed the seal of said court at Ardmore this 12th day of April A. D. 1898.

[seal.] S. M. Campbell, Clerk

This is to certify that I am the officer having custody of the records pertaining to the enrollment of the members of the Choctaw, Chickasaw, Cherokee, Creek, and Seminole Tribes of Indians and the disposition of the land of said tribes, and that the above and foregoing is a true and correct copy of a certified copy of a judgment of the court dated March 10, 1898, in the matter of the enrollment of Evans Hill et al. as members of the Chickasaw Nation.

J. Geo. Wright, Commissioner to the Fire Civilized Tribes.

By W. H. Angell, Clerk in charge of Chickasaw records.
Muskogee. Okla., November 3, 1910

Transcript Of Proceedings

United States Court.
Indian Territory, southern district, ss:

At a stated term of the United States court in the Indian Territory, southern district, begun and had in the court rooms at Ardmore, In the Indian Territory, on the 11th day of April, in the year of our Lord 1899. Present. The Hon. Hosea Townsend, judge of said court. On the 27th day of May 1899, being a regular day of said term of said court, among the proceedings had were the following, to wit:

Evans Hill et al. v. Chickasaw Nation. 12. Order correcting Judgment.

This day came on to be heard on a motion to correct the judgment heretofore rendered in this cause, and it appearing to the court that the names of W. A. Briscoe, M. L. Briscoe, Dora Gibson, Dora Briscoe, William Gibson, Rena Gibson, Relic Briscoe Cleaver, James Briscoe, Willis Briscoe, Earl Briscoe, Etoy Briscoe, and Bessie Briscoe were added by counsel after appeal was perfected and the papers filed in this court as admitted by said counsel, and the court being of the opinion that the court had no jurisdiction over said parties by reason of their not being parties to this action and said names ought not to have been contained in said judgment.

It Is therefore ordered, adjudged, and decreed by the court, that said judgment in this cause be so corrected find modified as to eliminate said named parties from the same, and that said judgment remain in full force as to the other parties contained therein, and it is further ordered that the Chickasaw Nation have judgment against the parties herein named for all costs incurred by reason hereof, that said parties be rejected and denied to citizenship in the Chickasaw Nation, and the clerk is directed to furnish a certified copy of this judgment at once to the Dawes Commission so that the judgment heretofore entered may be corrected by said commission.

United States Court,
Indian Territory, southern district, ss:

I, C. M. Campbell, clerk of the United States court within and for the district and territory aforesaid, do hereby certify that the foregoing orders are truly taken and correctly copied from court journals of said court, as the same appears to me.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and affixed the seal of said court at Ardmore this 26th day of February, A. D. 1900.
[seal] C. M. Campbell, Clerk.

This is to certify that I am the officer having custody of the records pertaining to the enrollment of the members of the Choctaw, Chickasaw, Cherokee, Creek, and Seminole Tribes of Indians and the disposition of the land of said tribes, and that the above and foregoing is a true and correct copy of a certified copy of an order correcting judgment of the court, dated May 27, 1899, in the matter of the enrollment of Evans Hill et al. as members of the Chicka- saw Nation.

J. Geo. Wright, Commissioner to the Five Civilized Tribes.
By W. H. Angell, Clerk in charge of Chickasaw records.
Muskogee, Okla., November 3, 1910

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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