Samuel Houston Mayes, Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation

Chief Samuel Houston Mayes, Jr.

• Born 11 May 1845 in Flint District, Cherokee Nation, Indian Territory, United States
• Died 12 Dec 1927 at age 82 in Pryor, Mayes, Oklahoma, United States
• Son of Samuel Houston Mayes Sr. and Nannie Adair
• Husband of Martha Elizabeth (Vann) Mayes — married 9 Nov 1871 in Saline District, Cherokee Nation, Indian Territory, United States. 3 children.
• Husband of Minnie Harrison - married 1913.
• Father of William Lucullus Mayes, Joseph Francis Mayes, Carrie (Mary)

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Biography

MAYES, SAMUEL HOUSTON (1845-1927)

Cherokee chief, rancher, and entrepreneur Samuel Houston Mayes was born to Samuel and Nancy Adair Mayes on May 11, 1845, at Muddy Springs, near present Stilwell, in the Cherokee Nation's Flint District. His parents named Mayes for his father and Sam Houston, a family friend and president of the short-lived Republic of Texas. In 1837 the elder Mayes, with his increasing family (of twelve children), removed from Georgia to Indian Territory. In 1849 or 1850 Samuel Mayes, with two of his sons, G. Washington and James, traveled to California to prospect for gold. Noticing the shortage of beef there, Mayes and two of his other sons, Thompson and Frank, drove a herd of cattle (reports vary from two hundred to one thousand head) from Indian Territory to the Sacramento Valley in 1852.

During the Civil War, sixteen-year-old Samuel Houston Mayes joined the Confederate Second Cherokee Regiment. In 1867 he turned to ranching, grazing his cattle near Pryor, as his father had done. In 1874 he expanded the ranch house built there in 1857 by his father, who had died in 1858. Samuel Houston Mayes accumulated substantial holdings and expanded into business, operating a ferry on the Grand River near Salina and later, in 1906, establishing a mercantile company. In 1871 he married Martha Elizabeth Vann, and they had three children.

Going into politics, in 1880 Mayes served as the sheriff for the Cooweescoowee District. He represented the same district as a Cherokee senator. In 1887 the Cherokee Nation elected Joel Bryan Mayes, one of Samuel's older brothers, as principal chief, and he served until his death in 1891. Samuel Houston Mayes himself achieved the position of principal chief in 1895. During his term (1895-99) the Dawes Commission worked to allot land to individual Cherokees, and the Curtis Act passed, abolishing tribal courts and effectively dismantling the governments of the Five Civilized Tribes. Mayes's first wife died in 1907, and in 1913 he married Minnie Harrison. Mayes died in Pryor on December 12, 1927.

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Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation,for which MayesCounty Oklahoma is named
SAMUEL HOUSTON MAYES, son of Samuel and Nancy Adair Mayes, born near Muddy Springs, in old Flint District, in the Cherokee Nation, May 11, 1845, and died at Pryor, in Mayes County, Oklahoma, at noon, on December 12, 1927. Funeral services at the First Methodist Episcopal

Church South, and buried under the auspices of the local Masonic lodge. A charter member Muskogee Knight Templars, and at his death an honorary member. His eleven brothers and one sister all lived to reach their majority (except Noel), towit: George Washington Mayes, John Thompson Mayes, James A. Mayes, Joel Bryan Mayes, Francis Asbury Mayes, Walter Adair Mayes, William Henry Harrison Mayes (Tip), Rachel Mayes (who married Cullough McNair), Noel Mayes, Wiley Beam Mayes and Richard Taylor Mayes.

His father, born in east Tennessee, married in the Cherokee Country in Georgia, and emigrated to the Cherokee Nation West in 1837, settling at Muddy Springs, about three miles from the present town of Stilwell, at which afterwards was a school operated by the Cherokee Government, and at that place a Methodist camp ground. The following persons taught at this school: William Penn Adair, William Fields, Joel B. Mayes, Sophia Vann, a man from Arkansas by the name of Bartlett, a Yankee from New England by the name of Edison, another Yankee from New England by the name of Gilbert, Mrs. Carrie Bushyhead Qaurrels and Warren Adair. He and his brothers were educated at this school and at the Cherokee Male Academy, near Tahlequah.

He was elected and served as Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation from 1895 to 1899, and as sheriff of Coo-wee-scoo-wee district from 1881 to 1885, and as a member of the Cherokee Senate from 1885 until he was elected Principal Chief. At the age of 19 he enlisted in the Confederate Army in Company "K" of which Ben Carter was Captain, Dick Carter First Lieutenant, Johnson Fields, Second Lieutenant, Ketcher Tehee, Third Lieutenant, Second Cherokee Regiment of which Clem Vann was Colonel, Joe Thompson, Lieutenant Colonel, and James Bell, Major. After the close of the Civil War he attended school a short time in Rush County, Texas.

Samuel Houston Mayes was married to Martha E. Vann, daughter of Dave and Martha McNair Vann, and as a result of that marriage the following children were born, towit: W. L. Mayes of Spavinaw, Oklahoma; Dr. Joe Mayes, of St. Louis, Missouri; and Carrie, now the wife of Clarence Samuels, of Pryor, Oklahoma; and a fourth who died in infancy. His wife died in 1907, he was afterwards married to, Miss Minnie Ball, who, together with the above named children survive him. He was a successful, active and exemplary citizen engaged in ranching, cattle, farming and mercantile business.

His brother, Joel B. Mayes, was elected Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation for two terms, dying during his second term.

Wash Mayes was high sheriff at Tahlequah for five years, having charge of the jail and penitentiary.

Samuel Mayes, Sr., in 1849, taking with him his sons, Wash and James, as the head of a party, went to California over what is known as the "Upper California Trail," north of the Arkansas, by way of Salina, intercepting the old Santa Fe trail somewhere in what was afterwards known as No-Man's-Land, there being between thirty and forty in this party. Samuel Mayes, Sr., owned fifteen or twenty slaves.

All of the brothers finished their education at the Cherokee Male Seminary except Wash; all of his brothers served in the Confederate Army except Francis Asbury, who was in California, Wiley and Noel, the latter having died in infancy.

Wash, Thompson, Joel and Frank were born in Tennessee and the other brothers and the sister were born in the Cherokee Nation. Dennis W. Bushyhead, who was afterwards elected Chief, was a member of the party going to California in 1849. On this trip cholera broke out and one of the party by the name of Will Goss died from it. Richard Fields was also a member of the party. Walter S. Agnew, who is now nearly 86 years old and resides in Muskogee, though then a little boy, remembers this party leaving from Mayes Prairie in old Flint District for California in the spring, or early summer, of 1849, his father and mother then living near the Samuel Mayes family. He remembers the party being camped at the head of McLees Creek, and that they went out by the way of Salina on the north side of the Arkansas River, and that the following persons were in this party, towit: Samuel Mayes, Sr., Wash Mayes, Thomas Mayes, Richard Fields, Dennis Bushyhead, Sam Lasley, Will Goss, William Holt and Charlie Holt, and several others whose names he can not remember. Within a year Samuel Mayes and most of the party returned from California to their homes in the Cherokee Nation.

In 1852 his father, Samuel Mayes, Sr., together with Francis Asbury and Thompson, his sons, and others, again went to California over what is known as the Marcy Trail, by the way of Taos, New Mexico, taking and driving with them 1000 head of cattle, and placed them on a ranch in the Sacramento Valley. His father had a mulatto slave by the name of Callis who desired to accompany him on this trip, but, on account of California being non-slave territory, he hesitated to take him with him. He finally, however, arranged with Callis to sell him his freedom for $1,000.00, and Callis indentured or bound himself to him to work until the $1,000.00 was paid. Under this arrangement Callis accompanied him to California and remained there with Francis A. Mayes on his ranch, under this indenture, until the thousand dollars was finally paid. After the close of the Civil War Callis returned to the Cherokee Nation to visit his former Master. Leaving the cattle in the possession of his son, Francis Asbury, Samuel Mayes, Sr., with his son Thompson returned within a year to the Cherokee Nation. His son Francis A. Mayes remained in California until 1863 when he sold the ranch and cattle and started back to the Cherokee Nation. Two men, Lige Terrell, who was a Cherokee, and another man by the name of Campo, were returning with Francis Asbury Mayes from California in 1863, there being five or six in the party. In the Rocky Mountains the party divided, or separated Terrell and Campo, after reaching the Cherokee Nation, reported that the wild Indians killed Francis A. Mayes and his companions. Francis Asbury Mayes was supposed to have the proceeds of the sale of his cattle and ranch in California in gold on his person in a belt, and there was a question in the mind of the brothers who resided in the Cherokee Nation as to whether or not the wild Indians killed him or he was killed by his companions for the purpose of robbery.

The home of Samuel Mayes, Sr., was a typical southern home characteristic of slave times, except that the father and mother also taught their children to work and labor. The boys, whilst sent to school also were caused to work in the field and to look after the cattle, sheep and hogs, each son having his particular assignment and regular job. His father also raised blooded horses. Back in east Tennessee he was acquainted with Sam Houston, and Sam Houston Mayes, the son, was named both for the father and also for Sam Houston. His father also owned a slave by the name of Dave, who was a blacksmith and mechanic. In making ready to go to California in 1852 he needed to borrow $1500.00 and pledged Dave, the slave, to John H. Murrell, a brother-in-law of John Ross, as security for the re-payment of this money within a certain time, in the meantime the tender having the use of Dave's services as interest on the money. Frequently, during the master's absence in California, Dave would come by the Mayes' home and inquire when "Mars Sammy" was coming back to redeem him. Immediately after his return he repaid the $1500.00 in gold, counting it out on a table, and Dave returned to the plantation of his master where he and his master made wagons, Dave doing the iron work and his master the wood work, and in the conduct and treatment on the part of the master a beautiful relationship between master and slave was exemplified.

Note.-The data as to the Mayes family was secured by Judge R. L. Williams from Samuel H. Mayes about six months prior to his death and also by him from Walter S. Agnew about one month after the interview with Samuel H. Mayes.)

CHRONICLES OF OKLAHOMA
Vol 6 No 2
June 1928, pages 229-231

• Residence: Township 21 N., Cherokee Nation, Indian Territory, United States - 1900
  • Reference: FamilySearch Genealogy - SmartCopy: Aug 19 2022, 13:36:02 UTC

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Source: Obituary for S. H. MAYES (Aged 82) 15 Dec 1927 Wagoner, Oklahoma Debbie Ferguson Debbie Ferguson Originally shared this article on 07 jul 2021 from Newspapers.com

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References

1. Reference: Find A Grave Memorial - SmartCopy: Nov 4 2021, 7:35:06 UTC
2. https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Mayes-1728 cites
   1. Find A Grave, database and images, memorial page for Chief Samuel Houston Mayes (11 May 1845–12 Dec 1927), Find A Grave: Memorial #11237574, citing Fairview Cemetery, Pryor, Mayes County, Oklahoma, USA ; Maintained by Mary Beth Henley (contributor 47984431) . https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/11237574
   2. Dawes Rolls, 1898–1914, Cherokee by Blood, Card 2704
   3. Name Age Sex Blood Roll No. Tribe Card No.
   4. Samuel H. Mayes 57 M 1/8 23497 Cherokee by Blood Card 2704
   5. Martha E. Mayes 49 F 1/8 23498 Cherokee by Blood Card 2704
   6. Carrie M. Mayes 22 F 1/8 23499 Cherokee by Blood Card 2704
   7. "United States Census, 1900," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MSR2-D82 : accessed 5 August 2020), Samuel H Mayes, Township 21 N., Cherokee Nation, Indian Territory, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 24, sheet 28A, family 22, NARA microfilm publication T623 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1972.); FHL microfilm 1,241,844.
   8. Starr, Emmet, History of the Cherokee Indians and Their Legends and Folklore, reprint by Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., originally published 1921, p. 404, 406-407. Book, History of the Cherokee Indians
      1. Larry O'Dell, “Mayes, Samuel Houston,” The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture, https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry?entry=MA045.