; STOCKTON, MART • WALTER STARR C R I T T S O T I .

- STOCKTON,. MARY - WALTER STARR QRITTENDEN.

Field <Vorker, Mary Stock ton rJuly 13, 1937.

HALTZP ET/RR CRITTPNDBW.

A. S, Criitonden was horn on'May 3, 1866, in

the h i l l country of what i s now Ke stern- Oklahoma,

then Flint Dis t r ic t , Cherokee Nation. Hie father*

was Goorgo «Vashington Crittenden-, v Cherokee c i t i -

Tie^ who had fought 'as' & so ld ie r under .General v/etle

in thc5 Confeder t e Army. He belonged to the Chero-

kee Regiment which General ^tvnd 7/atio commanded,

Uia mother was fcCias Marth" " t ^ r r , a l so a Cherokee,

nnd a s i s t e r of Walter A. S t a r r who served f i r s t

oe sher i f f and l a t e r as a Dletrl tf t Judgre of Coo-wee-

scoo-wee D i s t r i c t . * *.r,tarr Crittenden who i s familiarly known'

as "Uncle Watt" here in Rogers County, WBB the

nephew of Judge -.V. A. Sterr and ft f i r s t cousin of

Emmett McDonald Star r , the Cherokee historian,

author of the "Cherokee Genealogy," Cherokee West,"

and "Early History of .the Cherokees."

FTOGKTON, MARY - ffAJT*R ?T.»PR CP.ITTENBEN.

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No man In or around Claremore Is /better known or

more universally respected then i s Uncle Yatt,

wife, nAunt Rachel," died *» few year? a?o. ""he

mourned by many friends snd re la t ives froTi a l l over

the county. I visi ted in their home many a time

and enjoyed the Indian dishes,which Aunt.JV.chel was

very adept a t cooking. Especielly was the Co-nutch-ee

very delicious — also the Blue Dumplings. There

were so many hickory nuts on their* pl^ce tj>at i t was

easy to always make Co-n^tch-eej altho/dgh this i s

° tedious aad tiresome job.

Aunt Rachel's maiden name was Henry* She was

p siater>to the latfe Josiah Henry,at one time the

Solicitor (Distr ict Attorney) for Coo-vep-scoo-wee'

Dis t r ic t . The courts for t h i s d i s t r i c t were former-

ly held et Kephart Springs, six miles northeast of

Claremore, near the present head of Clareraore Lake.

About 1838 the d i s t r i c t courthouse was removed to

Claremore where i t remained un t i l Cherokee CourtsV

were abolished by the Curtis Bill and the Chsrokee

Treaty of 1902.

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TOOKTON, KA$Y\. WALTER STAftR CHITTEWDEN. 13*877 •'

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Uncle tfeWs mother waa an Old Pet t ier Chero- "

kee, which meana thp t she or her parents oeme weet

to the Indian -Territory before the general expflua w

of the Cherokaea under Chief John Poas and before

the signing of the new TSchot* Treaty. Hia f e t h o r ^

was an immigrant or one of the band who canie weatT

in accordance with the treaty «n<) under the guidh-,

ance of Chief John Ross. He. cams fr re in'1836 from

the old Cherokee Notion In Georgia. G«orge and

Martha wsra married during Civ i l »v«r time' which

began in 1B61«. -

Uncle Watt*a father was at one time a member

of the National Council, the aame as our S ta te '

'Legislature; while hia w i f e ' s father, Joe Starr*

served in the. Cherokee Senote. Ttie Chercka© Nation

was divided,for p o l i t i c a l and Judicial Durocae^

into e ight d ia tr io ta which corresponded to what

i s now termed oounfies under the Oklahcir.s Consti-

tut ion end lawa.

•TOCKTON, 'V&VCI - '.YAIT'-R

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138.77.

Unole Watt cme to what i a now Rogers County -

then Coo-wee-scoo-wee D i s t r i c t , in 1890 - f i f ty -seven

years ego-and has l i ved in the v i c i n i t y of Claremore

ever s inoe . He .vts a youug man, a mere boy, th

and for a few years l ived tilth h i s uncle and aunt'i

Judge and Mrs. .Yalter A. S t a r r , a t what has been .

termed "Old Claremore,w f ive miles nor theaa t of the

•present c i t y of Claremore, the change i n / l o c a t i o n

, having been mfde soon a f t e r bu i ld ing of the Frisco

Railroad in -1332.

A^ a young man he worked on the tfrm; fished -

in the Verdigr is River and.hunted deer and turkey

; rountf the famous Clareanore mound. He remembers B i l l

PMgin, one of the most famous, most dreaded and.

most highly respected outlaws of the' Cherokee tr ibe.

Pidgin, s t f i rs t c peaceable and law-abiding oltizen,

lived neer the present town of Locust Grove on

Spring Creek, or one of i t s principal tributaries

; called "Snake Creek,n>n the early eighteen eighties.i y •

STnOKTOH, MART - WAWB STASn OSITTEHDEN. 33877.

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He had an al tercat ion with a negro who claimed to,

be a Cherokee Freedraan (descendant o.f a negro who

was formerly the slave of-a Cherokee Indian c i t i z e n

over some hogs which the negro had stolen from Pidgin,

The trouble became intense, &e negro drew a gun

and probably would have shot Pidgin, who happened

to be "too" quick on the draw for him, and the negro

wns ki l led . Pidgtn was ready to surrender to John

Jumper, sheriff of I l l i n o i s Dis t r i c t , aif stand

t r i a l in the 'courts of thpt d i s t r i c t , of which

Hon. George W. Benge was presiding Judge. But the

feet developed that the slain negro was not what '

he seemed, waa not a cit izen of the Cherokee Nation

but a cit izen of the United States and subject to

t r i a l in the United'States Courts >.t Port Smith, -

Arkansas, presided over by Judge? Isaac C. Parker,

commonly called the "hanging Judge." Pidgin did '

not take kindly to this idea of standing t r i a l in >»

Judge Parker'-a soldi! a n f l v i r tua l ly "went intrt the brush"

to avoid this te r r ib le f a t e .

\

STOCKTON, MARY - WALTER STARR CRITTENDEN. / 15877./

He crossed t h e Grand River a t Bunk Mari^hara's

fe r ry naar Locust Grove a t midnight and before day-

l i gh t was witto h i s f r iends on a r^nch near what i s

now cal led "Scalybark Mountain" In what i s now the

southeastern p a r t of Rogers County. ' He changed h i s

rendezvous to a deep canyon ra^the Dog Creek h i l l

country, neor thp present loca t ion of Washington* v

school house and on lands now owned and occupied by

Arch Nelms, a Cherokee citizen and blood relative

of Pidgin. Here he built a miniature fort; the -

remains of1which are still in evidence, and where h©

evaded arrest for a year or two. He was a skilled

hunter and kept his friends and neighbors supplied

with venison. - deer brought down by his trusty rifle

in exchange for which he was supplied with ammunition,r /

tobacco, and othjer necessities. A fe'w years ago

children, of C. E. Fallen, while playing about this

old hiding-place, unearthed an old stone pipe,

favorite smoking paraphernalia of that period ,and .

evidently the property of Pidgin. This pipe wafe

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STOCKTON, MARY - WALTER STARR CRI-TTENOT. ,

presented to tft&>llanj R. Hnrp-er, of Claremore, who %

prices I t highly^ end firmly believes i t to b« e

genuine r e l i c of this outlaw of other daya. The

f a t t e r f inal ly died out, was forgotten, and Pidgin

:*e turned to his family and his cabin home between

;x>ouet Grove and the Village of Ross, Delaware County,

rhere ho committed puioide, and l i e s in an unmarked

grave on the banks of Snake Creek in an ancient

Indian cemetery near an Indian church called 'TLittle . '

Rook," so called because an older church a few miles

aw*y ia called Standtng Rock.

Mis8 Nannie-Lipe, daughter of the l a t e Major

Lipe, f i r s t county clerk of Rogers 8ounty, t e l l a an

interesting end somewhat t h r i l l i n g story about Pidgin^

escapades. I t appears that Federal off icers managed

a t one time to a r r e s t Pidgin and took him to the

Lipe home, near Oowala schoolhouse to spend the n ight .

He was put to sleep on a, pa l l e t between two off icers ,

both heevily armed. Pidgin apparently went to sleep

' , 80STO0KT0N, MARY w WALTER STARR .CRITTffNDKN. 1 2 8 7 7 .

early in the night while wintry blasts blew on the

outside. As he was apparently sleeping the sleep

of the blest and sndring loudly, itoe officers became

careless and soon fell asleep. About the middle of

the night they were awakened by an Indian **r whoop

from outside th« house and discovered their prisoner

and also their guns were gone. Pidgin yelled, firecFfK *"

a parting volley and- disappeared into the darkness.

He was never recaptured0

Uncle #att tells an interesting story of Indian1 4

Medicine, or'rfther the Indian's mod« of treatment.,

He ssya Aunt Rachel s health began to fail and >

ordinary home remedies failed to bring relief; the

' * malady was charged to evil influences or incantations

of a disappointed suitor, a former lover of Miss Rachel.i

His grudge.against tfati «6o so bi t te r that he "smoked

• the pipe of hatred" and the smoke passed through the

air to the young wife who suddenly became very sick.

According to tradit i on; si ckness could be brought on

• • . . 8 1t * *

STOCETQJI, MARY « WAI&ER STAR** CRITTENDEN. 13877.1 v *•

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ln t h i s way. l<ove could a l so be promoted 'by those

"in the know-how." The p-ipe was f i l l e d with a powrr-

ful nat ive herb,known only to members of the Ca-too-t

yah, an ancient Indian sectf similar to the druids

of Eerly England. The bride~vra- nerr the point of

deeth and on the advice of frieada, ,her doting and ,

grief-stricken husband transported her to the home

of an "Indian doctor "'residing In the hi l ls near

Tehlequah where healing waters 5|.ere applied and the

aid of the Great Spirit invoked in behalf of the

maiden who was slowly fading away. All that was

required of her was to ait on,the banks of the clear

stream and look upward towards heaven and listen to

tbe Indian doctor who in a whispered conversation

with*the Great Spirit sought her restoration. It

seems th"t the treatment was carried on for nine days.

Fach morning before sunrise Rachel Crittenden was

told to gather a handful of small atones or rocks,

tfhile stooping to gather the stones she *'ap to tninorge

them in water before she stood up and give them to

STOCKTON, MAHY - WALTER STARR

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her doctor. The dip-sing of th& stones in water

and the prayers of- the doctor, a l l this perform-

' " ' ' /' ance, lasted exactly nine days. That was the t ren t -

/•men-t of the Indian doctor who came from Oil Springs

there to t r e s t her. This was where he,took a l l h is

patients and eaot! had to. go throu^i .the some -eere- '

monies. • On the ninth day, Rachel fe l t the evi l s p i r i t

v (which, caused her severe/sickness) leave her". I t

• wr-s not.niany months untifL she regained her lr s l th **

sunny disposit ion. /She lived to be past sixty

years old.

IUncle i?stt real ly iknows of a remedy to cure

the toothache but he. is too supersti t ious to give v

me the remedy. He was,' cured of the very painful

toothache over twenty lyears ego by his. uncle who

belonged to the medicine,type of Indians. Uncle

.att said if he told me the herbs that they mad©

the toothache Tjediciae out of (he surely knows i t , too)

that his teeth would ache so bad that i t 'might cauae

him to die five years before i t was h is time to go.

STOCKTON» MARY - MLTER STARR CRITTBNDEN., ' :\.13&77.

At .any rate, there were thir teen different herb's gather-

ed and Boiled and made ijito^a tea. This wds RISO a >.

noted liniment for the rheumatism.' Mr. Cr.ittenden-S

honestly says that he has never been bothered w^th

the toothache since. ' t '

. Mr. Walter Starr Crittenden also explains the

''Clan" idea or custom of the ancient Cher-okees; a

question which has lpng lingered and remflined unanswer-

ed in the minds of many people of these modern times.v ' - .

He said thr-1 in olden d'̂ ys b'efore the white man came

« the Cherokees were divided into seven different clans, '

peoples or ' femil ies . They are referred to' as the

"Bird," "Deer," "Holly," "Long-Hair," MSe

"Paint" clans. When a man desired a. wife>

he sought her in another clan from that of his clans-

•men; e l l of his own clansmen being considered as •

re la t ives . Children belonged to the clan of their

mother aho was the head of the home (rather tent),

in those days; Anyhow the squaw 'was the boss as she

made the l iving and did a l l the work' while the husband

hunted and fished.