In a message dated 12/11/01 7:05:35 AM Eastern Standard Time, MaeMay510@aol.com writes: > Tom married 3) Rufina Folsom, a barely teen daughter of a Choctaw judge and > an angry one at the marriage. There are no records of his marriage to > Rufina > in Indian Territory. Their first son, George Washington Drake, was born in > "New" Mexico, MO, 10 Dec. 1886. His birthplace on the 1900 census listed > NM > and puzzled all of us, since we knew he was born in Mexico, MO, but an > article on the county site explained the New Mexico name. > The fact that Tom chose this area was intriguing. I wonder if Tom was > familiar with the area as this was his place of "shelter" from an angry > father and leader in the Choctaw Nation, Indian Territory where he was no > longer welcomed? Could he have spent the earlier years in this area after > Sarah died and prior to his travel to Indian Territory? > Wonderful family lore. Who said the Judge was angry? Mixed maraiges were common form day one , and very common i the territory. Have you contacted the Choctaw Nation, they mayhave record ofthis eithr via the tribal roll files, or via the claims files, which you can get access to yourself. Wehn a family filed for land under the Guion Miller--Dawes Act---they had to give their lineage, and also give that of siblings. If the Judge had other children the one who md. YOUR ancestor may well be mentioned. Judge Folsom was obviously a Tribal Court Judge, a mixed blood himself. He had no jurisdiction off Indian land, outside the Nation. I suspect wife # 2 was also Native. many whites, traders, mixed bloods were married within the tribe, or, by family members // friends--- who were MG // JP---it kept them out of the court house--the laws at the time were getting stiffer and stiffer--Jim Crow having raised his ugly head high over the years since the 1830s. The Osage, who seem to have big connections to Audrain Co., etc---were to become the richest Idnians of the time--head rights, oil money--and many families had ties to them--the Cheutreau (Chowtrow) who I asked about, many others. Whites couldn't live in the IT without permission/license in the time you are talking aobut. OR--and keep this one in mind--had Native family in the Territory. For the Historical soc. to say there "should be a record" is a blanket statement that doesn't ring true. Indians unless one was a Treaty Indian, or a Reservation/Tribal Trust land Indian---were not citizens of the United States (til June, 1924) and had NO rights---those who could, passed--Black, or White---and this type of problem split families every which way but loose. (I'm a big Clint Eastwood fan). Sheila // Firehair Eastern Delaware/Minisink Band Tribal Genealogist, Ethnohistorian, lecturer consultant on school curriculum "What you accept, you teach----the choices you make dictate the life you --those you impact----lead" http://www.rit.edu/~rbbetc/index.htm This is a subscribed/requested mailing by the participants, not Spam mail under AOL TOS. If you wish to be added/removed, please notify ShngSprt@aol.com, you'll be deleted/added immediately. I'm not responsible for the forwarding of email I send to others who aren't subscribers/requesters. This letter isn't Spam as long as a Remove Link is included.