Here is a letter dated August 22, 1877 from Zach Bottom to Pitchlynn "Cor Peachlan sir I drop you a few lines to see if you know any thing about my Mother and Father I was a son of William Bottoms my Mother was a daughter of Mashulataba my Mother had a brother named Elacha he was bit by a snake and died in the old nation (Mississippi) and she had a brother name Yacannanataba her name was Ann I come to the Choctaw nation with David Folsom and stayed with him until the year 1837 and we had bought some guns from the Choctaws and hired me to go with him to the Cherokee nation to sell them and I stayed ther and married a Cherokee woman and stayed there until the summer two of my sons was killed there they got in a __- about the war my sons was __ and they war or was finde and I was threatened that they would killme and I left and came to red river near ___ the Chickasas said that I would have to pay twenty five dollars to live there I though that I would go and see some of my old friends so went down to Doaksville and all my old friends was dead but Brazziel Flores he told see Jerry Waid and he could tell me about my rights in the Choctaw Brassiel said to write to you all so Jerry Waid said that he knowed my mother and her brother he knew when Elacha was snake bit he sayd that Mashulataba was their father but their mother was a half Choctaw I have seen you a great many times when I lived at David Folsom I knew Folsom when he was Chief of the Choctaw and I knew all the old people about Doaksville I was a 11 yer old when I came from the old nation you plese look over my scribbling and if you can aid me in my getting in my rights in the nation plese write to me as soon as you get this please write direct your letter to Dexter cook County Texas Zach Bottoms I do not want to live in Texas if I can help and I will not live with the Cherokee any more So remain your Friend until death. Zach Bottoms" I have corresponded with Bobby R Curry LYRY80A@prodigy.com who said"...... He (Billy Bottoms) did goto Texas because he and Thomas Jefferson Pitchlynn, Peter P Pitchlynn's brother, killed a Doctor named Mr Ward in Indian Territory. I have some of the court records where the Bottoms family tried to get on the rolls. The complete record is at the Oklahoma Genealogy Society in Oklahoma City. The court records make it plain that Billy Bottoms was recognized as an Indian, he looked Indian and spoke Choctaw. He wa from one of the Choctaw Clans. .....The court case is quie long and would require a lot of money to copy the whole thing in Oklahoma city. The copies cost $ .50 a page. ... They were not enrolled because he went to Texas. If you left the Territories the Dawes Commission would not enroll your family, unless you had political pull. The same thing happened to Peter Pitchlynn's family, but they had political pull from the Tribe, and his descendants got on the rolls". NOTE: Bobby R Curry is a descendant of Pitchlynn family. Now to old family stories: My husband, Jerry, remembers his grandparents telling him that Billy Bottoms shot the Sheriff of Cooke County and fled over into Indian Territory. Also he remembers stories that he cut of the nose of some doctor because the doctor treated a member of his family and that family member died. [Don't we all wish we had asked more questions when our grandparents were living!]