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Julia Thompson Examination by the Commission
Meridian,
Mississippi, April 17, 1901.
In the matter of the application of Julia Thompson for identification as a
Mississippi Choctaw.
Julia Thompson, having been first duly sworn, upon her oath testifies as
follows:
Examination
by the Commission:
Q. What is your
name?
A.
Julia Thompson.
Q. What
is you age?
A.
About seventy four.
Q. What
is your post office address?
A.
Hale, Clarke County, Mississippi.
Q. How
long have you lived in Mississippi?
A. I
have been living her about sixty years.
Q.
Where did you live before you came to Mississippi?
A.
Alabama close to Barrington.
Q. What
county?
A. I
don’t know.
Q. Born
in Alabama?
A. Yes,
bred and born in Alabama.
Q. And
lived there until you came to Mississippi?
A. Yes
sir.
Q. You
were a slave?
A. Yes
sir.
Q. Whom
did you belong to?
A. Bill
Trotter, this here lawyer Trotter’s brother. I stayed with him three
years after
the surrender.
Q. You claim you have Choctaw
Indian blood?
A. Yes
sir, my great grandfather was a Choctaw.
Q. What
was he, a full blood Choctaw?
A. Yes.
Q. What
does that make you?
A. My
papa’s father----
Q. That
was your grandfather in place of your great grandfather?
A. Yes.
Q. What
do you claim --- one quarter?
A. I
reckon that would make me a quarter.
Q. Is
your father living?
A. No.
Q. What
was his name?
A.
Willoughby Trotter.
Q. You
father was a slave?
A. Yes
he was freed before the war by his master.
Q. He
was a slave at one time?
A. Yes.
Q. Did
he claim to have Choctaw blood?
A. Yes.
Q. What
proportion did he claim?
A. His
father was Choctaw.
Q. Full
blood Choctaw?
A. Yes.
Q. That
would make him one half?
A. Yes.
Q. His
mother did not have Choctaw blood?
A. No
sir.
Q.
Where did your father live?
A. He
lived over the river down here in Mississippi.
Q. Is
your mother living?
A. No.
Q. What
was her name?
A. Ann.
Q. Was
she a slave?
A. Yes.
Q. A
Negro?
A. Yes
sir.
Q. You
get your Choctaw blood through your father?
A. Yes.
Q. Were
your father and mother married?
A. Yes
Q. Sure
about that?
A. Yes
and had five children.
Q. How
were they married?
A.
There was no license in those days.
Q. How
did they marry in those days?
A. They
just had a preacher come and passed a ceremony.
Q. The
master gave his consent to their marrying?
A. Yes
Q. Were
they married that way?
A. Yes.
Q. Are
you married now?
A. No.
Q. You
have been married?
A. Yes.
Q. Have
you any children under twenty one years of age?
A
.No.
Q.
This application is solely on
your own behalf?
A. Have
you ever received any benefits as a Choctaw?
A. No.
Q. Is
your name upon the Choctaw tribal rolls in the Indian Territory
A. Not
as I know of.
Q.
You never made any effort to
have it placed there?
A. No
sir.Q. Did
you ever make application to the Choctaw tribal authorities in the Indian
Territory for citizenship in the Choctaw Nation?
A. No.
Q. Did
you make application to this Commission in 1896 for citizenship in the
Choctaw Nation?
A. No
sir.
Q. You
never have been admitted to citizenship in the Choctaw Nation in the
Indian Territory either by the Choctaw tribal authorities, by this
Commission in 1896, or by the United States Court in the Indian Territory?
A. No
sir.
Q. You
have never be recognized in any manner as a citizen of the Choctaw Nation?
A. No
sir.
Q. Did
you ever appear before this Commission prior to this time?
A. No
sir.
Q. Is
this your first application for identification as a Mississippi Choctaw?
A. Yes
sir.
Q .Do
you want to make application for identification as a Mississippi Choctaw
A.
Yes sir.
Q. What
makes you think you are entitled to be identified as a Mississippi
Choctaw?A. All
my eight children made application and it looks as if I could.
Q. You
didn’t hear that one of your children was successful and got any land?
A. No
sir, I have not heard from them since I have been up here.
Q. What
makes you think you are entitled to have any land out there—just because
you have Choctaw blood?
A. Yes
sir, my husband was a full blood Choctaw. I raised eight children by
him.
Q. You
do not know your father had Choctaw blood?
A. Of
course, you can see it in the children.
Q. I
mean you father –did he have Choctaw blood?
A. Yes.
Q.
Could he speak the Choctaw language?
A. Yes,
I never could understand him?
Q. How
did you know he was a Choctaw.
A. By my Indian the one I had
eight children by—I never learned to talk from him.
Q. May
be your father was a Creek?A. No,
he was not a Creek but Choctaw. His father was a Choctaw.
Q. Did
you ever see his father?
A. Yes
Q. What
was his name?
A. Sam.
Q. Was
not your grandfather a slave?
A. No.
Q. Did
he look like an Indian?
A. Yes
Q. Did
he speak the Choctaw language?
A. Yes
Q.
Where did you see him?
A. In
Bigbee river.
Q. This
state?
A. Yes
Q. When
did you see him?
A. When
I was eight years old.
Q. When
did he die?
A. I
don’t know when he died.
Q. Do
you want to base your claim upon the provisions of the fourteenth article
of the treaty of 1830?
A. Yes
sir.
Q. Did
you ever hear of that treaty before just now?
A. No.
Q. What
makes you want to claim under it.
A. I
have heard it, but I never heard it like you explain it now. I have
heard it through white people.
Q. You
have heard of the treaty?
A. Yes sir.
Q. What
makes you claim under it.
A. I
heard whit folks say I was entitled to it.
Q. Do
you know what the fourteenth article is—do you remember of ever having
heard it read or seen it?
A. No.
Q. Do
not know a thing it contains?
A. No
sir.
Q.
Do you remember when the Choctaw Indians—the main body of the tribe moves
west?
A. Yes.
Q.
Where were you living?
A. In
Alabama. There were about three hundred came to our house.
Q.
Where were they going?
A.
Going off—white folks were carrying them off. The white folks had
two wagon loads of guns My boss fed them.
Q.
Did they tell you they were
going west to their new country?
A. My
white folks did—they did not tell me anything.Q. How
big a girl were you?
A.
Seven years old.
Q. That
was about the time the stars fell?
A. Yes,
directly after-wards.
Q. Did
you get any land her in Mississippi about that time from the government of
the United States.
A. No
sir.
Q. Did
the government give your father any land about that time?
A. Not
as I know of.
Q. Did
you ever own any land here in Mississippi?
A. No
Q. Did
your father own any land here.
A. Yes
he owned a piece of land about fifteen or sixteen years before he died.
Q.
Where did he get it?
A.
Below Shubuta, Mississippi. My brother Robert is living on the land
now.
Q.
Where did your father get the land?
A. From
Trotter, Trotter gave it to him.
Q. The
government did not give it to him?
A. No sir.
Q.
Where was your father when
these Indians were moving out west?
A. He
was over there. I was living up in Alabama and he was living down at
Shubuta..Q.
Neither you nor your father got any land from the government?
A. No
sir.
Q. Were
you or your father ever recognized by the Choctaw Indian authorities or
the United States government as members of that tribe?
A. No
sir.
Q. You
were slaves?
A. Yes
sir.
Q.
Neither of you went out west with the Indians when they moved that time?
A. No.
Q. Did
you ever get any money from the Choctaw tribal government in the Indian
Territory?
A. No
sir.
Q. Do
you know whether your father appeared before the United States Indian
Agent within six months after the treaty of 1830 was ratified and told him
he wanted to stay here and become a citizen of the states?
A. No.
Q. If
he ever did you never heard of it?
A. No
sir.
Q.
In case the Commission should
be able to identify you as a Mississippi Choctaw entitled to rights in
the Choctaw lands in the Indian Territory under the provisions of the
fourteenth article of the treaty of 1830, would you be willing to move
out to the nation and make that you home?
A. Yes
sir.Q. Is
there any additional statement you want to make at this time.
A. No
sir..
Q. Have
you any papers you want to offer in evidence at this time?
A. No
sir.
Q. Did
you ever see any deeds or patents, papers of any kind showing that your
forefathers ever got any land from the government?
A. No.
Q. Did
you ever hear of such a thing.
A. No
sir.
You will be furnished at a later date with a copy of the decision of the
Commission in regard to this application which you make at this time for
identification as a Mississippi Choctaw mailed to you at your proper post
office address.
This applicant has the appearance of being a Negro. She shows very
little if any indication of being possessed of Choctaw Indian blood.
H.C.Risteen, having been first duly sworn, upon his oath states; that as a
stenographer to the Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes he reported in
full all proceedings had in the above entitled cause on the 24th day of
April, 1901, and that the above and foregoing is a
Full, true and correct
transcript of his stenographic notes of said proceedings on said date.
H. C. Risteen
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