Tulsa Book Club

This past week Sally spoke to a book club in Tulsa where they enjoyed a delicious meal of pot roast, corn bread and dessert in a lovely home. As you can see, several dressed in 1889 attire.

First Families of the Twin Territories

August 4th the Historical Museum hosted a celebration of the First Families of the Twin Territories in Oklahoma City.

These are the winners of the costume contest.

Book Club

Sally visited with a book club in Oklahoma City recently. The hostess served ham and beans with cornbread, apple pie and ice cream . . . and of course, turnips.

Want to Speak With the Author?

Would your classroom or book club like to schedule an interview with the author via telephone? Interviews may be arranged at your convenience. Go to SallyJadlow.com and click the CONTACT button. An e-mail window will pop up. Put TELEPHONE INTERVIEW in the subject line.
Let's have a party!

Coming Appearances

APPEARANCES
Sally will be signing books in Oklahoma City at the Full Circle Bookstore on Friday, August 3rd from 5-7 pm.
She will be an exhibitor at the Historical Museum Saturday, August 4th, just east of the capitol building for the celebration of the First Families of the Twin Territories.
Come meet the author of “The Late Sooner.”
Cox Network will air an interview with Sally about “The Late Sooner” September 10th through the 15th.

The Twin Territories

Before Oklahoma was a state, it was two separate territories. The east was Indian Territory and the west was settled mostly by whites. In 1907 they finally hammered out the agreement to become one state--Oklahoma.

The symbol of this "marriage" was an Indian maid and a farmer standing in a marriage ceremony, forming a single state. Outside the Territorial Museum in Guthrie, is a life-sized bronze statue of these two shown at the right.

Medicines in the 1800s

Laudanum was a common use for a wide variety of pains, both real and imagined. This derivative of opium was often used for illness, particularly for any form of diarrhea. Even though it made the patient more corfortable, physicians did not recognize its addictive characteristics. One could order 4 oz. of Laudanum out of the 1897 Sears & Roebuck catalogue for $.29 or a dozen bottles for $3.00.

German Measles

When Lucy was four months pregnant, she contracted German Measles. This can result in growth retardation, cataracts, rashes, deafness, and congenital heart and organ defects. In today's society, abortion would have been an expected "cure." The connection between German Measles and birth defects were not discovered until 1941. If little Nora had been aborted, thirty-seven people would not be alive today and seventeen mates would have different spouses.

Pastors in Early Oklahoma

When settlers wanted to get married, pastors were few and far between. In Sanford's case, he speaks in his diary of calling a "presiding elder" to perform the wedding serivce. The presiding elder was an elder in the Methodist church who oversaw churches in a certain district. This term continued until 1939 when three Methodist denominations joined and the title became "district superintendent."

Newspapers in the Indian Territory

Fifteen newspapers were published in Indian Territory. The Cherokees published one. The Cherokee Advocate, a national paper in English and Cherokee; The Chickasaw Nation had seven papers, all by non-citizens and whites; and the Choctaws printed three newspapers, one of which was Indian. Four newspapers were published in the Creek Nation; the Seminoles had none.

New Photos Up

Check out the new photos about "The Late Sooner" at http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=11a0n8ig.z6i6hc8&x=1&y=-vd8xxv

If you are looking for free genealogical research in Oklahoma, the Logan County Genealogical Society in Guthrie, OK is a very helpful place. www.rootsweb.com/~oklcgs/ Logan County was the first territorial capitol of Oklahoma.
Also, help is available at the Oklahoma History Center’s genealogy library in Oklahoma City. You can e-mail them at OKGenSoc@aol.com

Fifth Land Run

Surplus lands of the Kickapoo Indians were claimed in the last land run on May 23, 1895.

Fourth Land Run

On September 16, 1893 about 100,000 people participated in the run for land in the Cherokee Outlet, making it the largest of all the land openings. The western half was drier and suitable only for grazing. It remained largely unclaimed until the 1900's.

3rd Land Run

The third land run opened the Cheyenne-Arapaho reservation on April 19,1892. The eastern half, which contained most of the Indian allotments, filled quickly. The western half was used primarily for grazing.

Second Oklahoma Land Run

The lands of the Iowa, Sac, and Fox Indians opened for non-Indian settlement on September 22, 1891. Approximately 20,000 homeseekers rushed for 7,000 quarter-sections of land. Each quarter-section is 160 acres.

Guthrie, Oklahoma

When the sun rose April 22,1889 Guthrie, Oklahoma consisted of a water tank, two section houses, and a train depot. By the end of the day, the first capitol of Oklahoma was a city of tents with a population of 10,000 to 15,000 people.

Oklahoma City Beginnings

On the morning of April 22, 1889, Oklahoma City was a treeless prairie around a train stop.Lathered horses and multiple double-engined 24-car trains poured in all day. By night-fall, Oklahoma Station was a community of more than 10,000--a city born in a day.

Unassigned Lands

In the first land run of 1889, most of the land offered had not been assigned to any tribe. Ten years earlier in 1879, Elias C. Boudinot, a prominent mixed-blood Cherokee lawyer, discovered this fact. He created a fire storm when he published a letter urging the opening of the Unassigned Lands to non-Indians. Thought to be working with the railroads and the boomers, he was called a traitor by his people.

First Oklahoma Land Run

April 22, 1889, an estimated 50,000 pioneers crowded along the borders of the Unassigned Lands to make the first land run in Oklahoma history. The race began at high noon. They came by train, horse, buggy, and bicycle to win 160 acres of their very own.

Farming in Oklahoma

About 900 A.D. Indians of Oklahoma grew beans, corn, and pumpkins. In the 1850's mixed-blood plantation owner Choctaw Robert M. Jones cultivated more than 5,000 acres and shipped his cotton to New Orleans on his own steam boats.

Military Posts

To control the Plains tribes after the Civil War, the government established a chain of forts from the Dakotas to Texas. In the Indian Territory the new western outposts were Fort Sill, Fort Reno, and Camp Supply. From these bases of operation, troops tacked and battled elusive Indians, chased and arrested horse thieves, and found and drove out the persistent armies of boomers led by David L. Payne and William Couch. In 1889 troops from Fort Reno supervised the land run.

General Allotment

The General Allotment Act, passed by Congress in 1887, was the beginning of the end for tribal sovereignty and reservations in the Indian Territory. After the government reached agreements with a tribe, heads of families received 160 acres of land, while single individuals under 18 received 80 acres. Allottees were able to choose which land they wanted. After the allotment was completed, surplus lands were purchased from the tribes and made a part of the public domain, thus paving the way for the numerous land openings. As each parcel was opened, it was added to Oklahoma Territory, important steps in the state-making process.

CATTLE TRAILS ACROSS OKLAHOMA

Longhorn cattle trails from Texas to Kansas railheads spanned the era from 1866 to 1889. Four primary trails cut through the Indian Territory: the East Shawnee Trail, the West Shawnee Trail, the Chisholm Trail, and the Great Western or Dodge City Trail.

Appearance at Main Library-Johnson County

I will be speaking at the Main Johnson County Library, 87th And Farley, Overland Park, KS, on Tuesday evening, January 23, 2007 at 7:00 P.M. about writing "The Late Sooner." Come join us. Everyone welcome.

Jesse Chisholm

Jesse Chisholm, half-Scot, half-Cherokee, was a dominant force on the frontier as a trader, interpreter, and guide. He arranged numerous peace councils with the Indians, accompanied several important military expeditions, and blazed a wagon trail through the center of the Indian Territory which became known as the Chisholm Cattle Trail.

Five Civilized Tribes and The Civil War

At the time of the Civil War, the Five Civilized Tribes owned most all of what became Oklahoma except for the Panhandle and Old Greer County. As punishment for siding with the Confederacy, the federal government took away the western half of their lands. These were the lands opened to settlers later in Oklahoma history.
They attempted to enter the Union as the state of Sequoyah in 1905, but instead joined Oklahoma Territory to become one state in 1907.