Edith Scrimsher

From Cecil R. Hall's study of the descendants of John Schrimsher and Edith Vann, Schrimsher Cousins (n.d.), at http://www.usgwarchives.net/ok/craig/schrimsher.pdf:

JOHN AND EDITH. John Schrimsher was Anglo and Edith Vann was part Cherokee. Later Cherokee records suggest that Edith was about ½ Cherokee. The home of John and Edith was located somewhere on the Conasuaga [sp: Conasauga] River in that part of the old Cherokee Nation claimed by the State of Georgia. John and Edith have been credited with six children but only four have been identified by name. These four are; Isaac, born in 1823. Rhoda in 1825. Leroy in 1827 and Margaret in 1830. In October 1831 John volunteered to move his family to Indian Territory, west of the Mississippi River. In the Spring of 1832, not long after their arrival in Indian Territory, the family received their subsistence allowance ($32.50 each) which was to carry them thru the first year in Indian Territory. Their new home was located somewhere along Honey Creek in what is now northern Delaware County Oklahoma. 13 The 1831 departure of John and family from Georgia was seven years before the infamous Forced Removal of the remaining Cherokees. About one third of the total Cherokee population had voluntarily vacated the old Cherokee Nation before Forced Removal began. Those Cherokees who voluntarily vacated the old Nation would become known as OLD SETTLERS. Those who were forced to vacate in 1838-39 (Trail of Tears) would become known as EMIGRANT CHEROKEES.

Following the arrival of the Emigrant Cherokees into Indian Territory open hostility broke out between the two groups. This hostility went to the brink of civil war over their respective claims to form a new Cherokee government. The Old Settlers lost the bid for supremacy. This political schism would be prevalent for years to come. The fate of John and Edith remains a deep mystery. Nothing is known about them beyond their year of arrival on Honey Creek in 1832. Neither of them are listed on the 1851 Old Settlers Roll. In the year 1846 an "Act" was approved and published by the Cherokee Council at Tahlequah which may provide a clue to resolving this mystery. One clause of this "Act" is quoted as follows.

"AN ACT RELATIVE T0 THE IMPROVEMENTS OF REJECTED CITIZENS"

• * * * * * Be it further enacted, That the person or persons, who may purchase the improvements occupied by Levi Childers, JOHN SCHRIMSHER, William Schrimsher, Edward Vann, James Childers, Eli Palmer, LABAN CORK and Lemuel Childers, shall not be entitled to possession of the houses before the first day of May 1847. The National Council having permitted the said named persons to remain in the Cherokee Nation until that time to enable them to settle up their business.
• * * * * * Tahlequah, Nov. 11th, 1846. Approved- JNO ROSS End Quote

The above "Act" smacks of political skullduggery. It tells us that John Schrimsher, and the others so named, lost their Cherokee Citizenship and were told to vacate the Cherokee Nation by l May 1847. Cherokee law had always provided Anglo spouses of Cherokee spouses identical Cherokee Citizenship rights as enjoyed by all Cherokee Citizens. So, what was the "flap"? Political? Or otherwise?

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Now, a word about another name on the above list of rejected Citizens- that of LABAN CORK. It is highly suspected that Laban Cork was, in reality, Elevenon Caulk, husband of Rhoda Schrimsher. Elevenon Caulk was not a common name and may have been misheard and misspelled by the recorder of the above "Act".

There is another clue that breaths life into this suspicion. In October 1901 Arabella Schrimsher Southerland gave testimony to the Dawes Commission concerning Louisa Jane Schrimsher Alexander, mother of Charles Alexander. The Commission wanted to know where Louisa went to live after the Civil War. Arabella said that Louisa went to live with her aunt in McDonald County, Missouri. The Commission then asked for the name of the aunt. (The following is quoted from the transcript of the Hearing):

"Q. what was her aunts name?" "A. Rhoda Cork"

Louisa Schrimshers aunt was in fact, Rhoda Caulk.

CHILDREN OF JOHN AND EDITH. The four known children of John and Edith were Isaac, Rhoda, Edward Leroy and Margaret Schrimsher, all Old Settlers. Their respective spouses were acquired from the Honey Creek/Cowskin Prairie area of what is now northern Delaware County, Oklahoma. Isaac had two wives- Ruth Fields and Arminda England. Rhoda married Elevenon Caulk, Leroy married Irene England, sister of Arminda and Margaret married Nelson Rogers. Ruth, Arminda, Irene and Nelson were all Emigrant Cherokees. Elevenon Caulk was the only Anglo spouse among them.

In about 1850 Rhoda and Elevenon went to California in search of gold then returned to Missouri. Only three of their large family settled in Indian Territory to claim their Cherokee heritage.

In about 1856 the families of Isaac, Leroy and Margaret moved from Honey Creek to settle in the virgin areas of Big Cabin Creek in the newly formed District of Cooweescoowee, Cherokee Nation. Isaac settled between the fork of Big Cabin Creek and West Cabin Creek. Leroy settled just up stream from Isaac on Big Cabin Creek while Margaret and her husband chose a place just south of the Fork. 15

In 1862-63, around the time that his last child, Ruth Ann Schrimsher was born, Isaac and family were ravaged by a band of renegades. Isaac and his Slave were killed and scalped then Arminda was whipped with Isaac's scalp. Before the renegades left they went thru the house emptying all containers and slitting the bedding- flour and feathers all over the place! Two of Isaac's older children, Elizabeth and Newt, panicked and took off to the south, later picked up by a troop of cavalry and taken to Ft Gibson. Arminda in the meantime gathered up the remaining children and went in search of her father, David England. David returned to the place to bury Isaac and his Slave. The graves have never been found. This was about the time that Louisa Jane Schrimsher, last child of Isaac and Ruth Fields, went to live with her aunt (Rhoda Schrimsher Caulk) in Missouri. Arminda later married Elias Jenkins and continued to work Isaac's farm.

Leroy Schrimsher and Irene England had at least ten children but only two- Laura and Maggie, lived long enough to be entered on the Dawes Final Roll. Most, if not all, of Leroy's family are buried in the Schrimsher Cemetery. Leroy died in 1871 and Irene kept the farm going until her death in 1882. A Bill of Sale for the farm gives a description of the farm.

“The farm known as the Irene Schrimsher farm consisting of all the buildings two hundred and fifty acres of farm under fence and in cultivation said improvement is located on both sides of Big Cabin Creek and about seven miles from and north of Vinita I.T.- - - -“ The farm was sold to LW Marks, 29 Sep 1886 for $1000.00.

The Estate inventory made in 1882 is as follows

Schedual of Property and Effects of Irene Schrimsher (dec) as rendered 4 December 1882. To Wit:

• 1 Improvement $ 700.00
• 24 cows and calves 600.00
• 3 dry cows 60.00
• 15 yearling steers 225.00
• 7 yearling he1fers 105.00
• 1 mare 20.00
• 1 mare and colt 40.00
• 1 wagon 50.00
• 2 ploughs 5.00
• 67 sheep 167.50
• 2½ doz chickens 3.75
• 6 barrow hogs 75.00
• 5 sows 25.00
• 17 pigs 34.00
• 1 sow 10.00
• 6 shoats 24.00
• 1 sofa 3.00
• 1 table 3.00
• 1 cook1ng stove 3.00
• 1 side saddle 3.00
• 1 bedstead 1.00
• 5 chairs 2.50
• dishes, knives & forks 3.00
• 1 clock 2.00
• jars and table 2.20
• 1 shotgun, 1 washpot 4.00
• 1 sausage mill, 2 food cans 1.25
• 1 mowing machine and rake 15.00
• 1 washing machine 3.00
• 1 cow and calf 25.00
• 1 yearling colt 20.00
• 160 bushels of corn 40.00
• Cash 60.65
• $ 2334.80

Appraisers: Lewis Rogers Abram Meeks E. Southerland

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LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT. In the final decade of the 19th Century “Doctors” (US Congress) declared that the Cherokee Nation was in her terminal state of life. “Attorneys” (Interior Department and the Cherokee National Council) drew up her “Last will and Testament” and appointed the Dawes Commission as “Executor” of her Estate. An inventory of her assets (land) was made and her legal heirs were identified. The Final Cherokee Roll became a “codicil” to the “Last Will and Testament” naming the sole heirs. SCHRIMSHER COUSINS were among those sole heirs and legatees.

INVENTORY AND DISTRIBUTION 0F ASSETS. The inventory process for the Cherokee Nation began with a surface land survey of the Cherokee Land Domain which revealed a total of 4,420,068.13 acres of Cherokee Land to be shared by the legatees. In tandem with the Surveyors, Soil Analysts studied the soil and terrain and discovered 18 different Land Classifications ranging from Open Bottom Land (Class 1) thru various classes of prairie and mountainous land to Flint Hills (Class 10b). Real Estate Appraisers established dollar values for the 18 different land classifications that ranged from more than $5.00 per acre to less than $1.00 per acre. The total dollar value of an individual land allotment entitlement was pegged at $325.60.

Following the inventory process a head count of legal heirs to the Cherokee Legacy was made. The Dawes Final Cherokee Roll identified 41,798 legatees eligible for individual land allotment entitlements. One hundred and eight SCHRIMSHER COUSINS are named on the Final Roll. Once the Estate assets and the legal heir count were determined a formula to provide fair and equal shares of land to the legatees was made. Each Cherokee legatee would be entitled to 110 acres of AVERAGE VALUED land. The actual number of acres allotted to an individual would depend on the area in which the allotment selection was made.

IN other words, the better the soil the smaller the allotment, the poorer the soil the larger the allotment- in acres of land.

Individual legacies received by SCHRIMSHER COUSINS averaged about 100 acres each- but with two exceptions. Two of Isaac's great grandchildren, even tho duly listed on the Final Roll, received no land. The land bank had been depleted leaving many minor legatees without land. Instead of land their entitlement provided a cash legacy which amounted to double the dollar value of the land allotment, towit- $651.20 each.

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SCHRIMSHER COUSINS then, who were the direct descendants of John and Edith Schrimsher and who were among the sole heirs of the Cherokee Nation received legacies in a combined total of 10,600 acres of land plus $1302.40 in cash. John and Edith would have been overwhelmed by such a fortune.....