Samuel Rasmus Sixkiller

SAMUEL RASMUS SIXKILLER, b. February 13, 1877; d. Aft. 1906.

• 1880 Census [CN]: Tahlequah, 2425
• 1890 Orphans [CN]: Tahlequah, 5 (B W Foreman, gdn [uncle])
• 1902-07 Dawes roll: card# 7075, roll# 16877
• 1906-09 Miller roll: Muskogee, OK, ap# 16328, roll# 24607
• Blood: 3/8 Cherokee
• Starr's Notes: A914

Source: Hicks, James R. “Cherokee Lineages: Register Report of John Anthony Foreman I” Genealogy.com, Sites.Rootsweb.com, https://www.genealogy.com/ftm/h/i/c/James-R-Hicks-VA/BOOK-0001/0013...

Studio portrait of Samuel Six Killer wearing school uniform, c. 1890. Carlile Indian School
Repository: National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Format: Glass Plate Negative
Photographer: John N. Choate, Carlisle, PA

Studio portrait of Samuel Six Killer, George Scott, and George Vallier. Two are wearing school uniforms, c. 1890. Carlile Indian School
Repository : National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Format: Glass Plate Negative
Photographer: John N. Choate, Carlisle, PA

Studio portrait of Samuel Six Killer wearing school uniform, c. 1891, Carlile Indian School
Repository: Cumberland County Historical Society
Format: Photographic Print, B&W
Photographer: John N. Choate, Carlisle, PA

Studio portrait of a large group of male and female students with a white male teacher in the center of the group. The caption identifies them as students who worked in the print shop. C. 1894
One copy of this image has the sitters identified. They are, back row, left to right: William Denomie, Robert Hudson, Leroy W. Kennedy, Leander Gansworth, Timothy Henry, W.R. Claudy (Assistnt Printer), John Sanborn, Luther Dahhah, William Dominick, William Lufkins, Sibbald Smith, Clark Gregg; middle row, left to right: Fred A. Wilson, Siceni Nori, Philp Lavatta, Levi Saint Cyr (Foreman), M. Burgess (Sup't of Printing), James Riley Wheelock, Thomas Hanbury, Brigman, John Webster; front row, left to right: George Buck, Pressly Houk, Susie McDougal, Alice Lambert, Ida LaChapelle, James Hill, Samuel Six Killer.
Repository: The Cumberland County Historical Society
Format: Photographic Print, B&W
Photographer: John N. Choate, Carlisle, PA
W. Clandy and Marianna Burgess were staff members.
This image appears in United States Indian School Carlisle, Penna (Carlisle, PA: The School, [1895?]), p. 49. The caption for the image is: GROUP OF PRINTERS.

Studio portrait of twenty-three male students, version 2. The caption for this image, as well as the other copies, identifies them as students who worked in the print shop and gives a date of 1894
1st. Tier (presumably the back row), Robert Hudson, Leroy W. Kennedy, Leander Gansworth, William Denomie, Timothy Henry, Luther Dahhah, John Sanborn, William Dominick, William Lufkins, Sibbald Smith, Clark Gregg.
2nd. Tier (presumably the middle row): Siceni Nori, Phillip Lavatta, James Wheelock, Levi St. Cyr (Foreman), James Hill, Crow, Thomas Hanbury, Brigman Cornelius.
3rd. Tier (front row): George Buck, Samuel Sixkiller, Pressly Houk, John Webster, Fred A. Wilson.
Repository: National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Format: Glass Plate Negative
Photographer: John N. Choate, Carlisle, PA

Studio portrait of Samuel Six Killer, c. 1894 (colorized version by the curator dvb)
Repository: Cumberland County Historical Society
Format: Photographic Print, B&W
Photographer: John N. Choate, Carlisle, PA

GRADUATING CLASS OF 1895, INDIAN INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL, CARLISLE, PA.
Clark Greg, (Assinaboine.) David Turkey, (Seneca.) George Warren, (Chippewa.) Laura Long, (Wyandotte.) Wm. Hazlett, (Piegan.) Wm. Lufkins, (Chippewa.) Isaac Baird, (Oneida.) Lewis Williams, (Nez Perce.) Ida LaChapelle, (Chippewa.) Melissa Green, (Oneida.) George Suis, (Crow.) Alice Lambert, (Chippewa.) Chauncy Y. Robe, (Sioux.) Wm. Moore, (Sac & Fox.) Nettie Freemont, (Omaha.) James Van Wert, (Chippewa.) Antoine Donnell, (Chippewa.) Samuel Sixkiller, (Cherokee.) Susie McDougall, (Chippewa.) George Buck, (Sioux.)
Repository: Dickinson College Archives & Special Collections
Format: Photographic Print, B&W
Photographer: John H. Andrews, Carlisle, PA

• Graduation: 1895, Carlile Indian School (Samuel R. Sixkiller was a student and poet at the Carlisle Indian School in Pennsylvania, class of 1895. He began studies in 1889 but withdrew and returned at a later date. He was readmitted Nov. 15, 1893, but It is unclear why there was an interruption to his studies.)

A View of the Campus, School Assembled c. 1895
Repository: Dickinson College Archives & Special Collections
Format: Lantern Slide
Photographer: M. J. Hoover, Carlisle, PA

Shortly after graduating, Samuel became an accomplished poet, with this poem published in Changing Is Not Vanishing A Collection of American Indian Poetry to 1930. And it seems that the Miss Paull, to whom SIX writes, taught at Carlisle for sometime.

My First Winter Out of School

Well, well, Miss Paull, forgotten you?
I don’t believe it’s right,
For when I think of Old Carlisle,
Come memories fresh and bright

Of the many familiar faces,
Of the many ups and downs,
Of every thing and every place
That is upon the grounds.

I was sitting here this afternoon,
With a paper in my hand,
And all at once I thought of friends,
Back in that Eastern land.
I knew that you had written me,
About two months ago,
And why I never answered you,
I’m sure I do not know.

I ‘spose you wonder what I’m doing,
And then would like to KNOW,
For every one who leaves Carlisle,
Of course, the mark must toe.

But I’ll tell you just the straight, of things,
If you’ll promise not to quack.
For it’s very little I have done,
Since Spring, when I came back.

You know when a fellow wants to work,
And tries to find a place,
If he cannot get just what he wants,
He’ll get down in the face.

Well, I’m in the position,
With nothing much to do,
But still with friends and kin-folks
I can most always chew.

I’m getting mighty tired, though,
With nothing ‘tall to do,
If a fellow cannot get a job,
I don’t blame him, do you?

This is my first winter out of school,
For quite a while, you know,
And all this thing of finding work,
With me goes pretty slow.

I’ve found out that a fellow,
If he makes a start at all,
Must have a great amount of cheek,
What most of us call “gall.”

You know that is my weakest point,
But still I’m in the ring,
And I guess ere very long,
This bird will learn to sing.

I have not heard from old Carlisle,
For two or three months, I guess,
Surely things about the place,
Haven’t got in such a mess

That you can’t write a fellow,
Or tell him what’s the news.
I haven’t got a HELPER,
Since the gray mule lost his shoes.

Tell the printers that a brother,
Away out in the West,
Is thirsty for some knowledge,
Of the big and cosy nest.

Some day their wings will stronger grow,
Then they will have to fly
To some far distant Western home,
And for the nest they’ll sigh.
How about the old bird (?) ?
I hope he’s well and strong.
And able still for many a year,
To help the cause along.

I’ve thanked him many and many a time,
For all that he has done.
The Indians had ne’er a better friend,
Beneath the shining sun.

You know now who I’m talking about;
You surely can see that.
Who in the wide world could it be,
But good old Captain Pratt?

Well seems to me it’s getting late,
I guess I’ll have to close,
For if I don’t I’m pretty sure,
That I’ll begin to doze.

The boys, I guess, that they’re all right,
And up to all their tricks,
But now goodbye, I said I’d close,
I remain as ever,

SIX
[1896]

• Samuel appears in the census record of 1908 North Carolina. Census Records 1908 | Millers Township. Indigenous People Records 1848–1970 | Drexel. Indigenous People Records 1848–1970 | Church Hill. Indigenous People Records 1908 under the heading “Cherokee Indian residing West of the Mississippi

Samuel R Sixkiller, "United States, Native American, Eastern Cherokee Indian Reservation Rolls, 1848-1970"

Name Samuel R Sixkiller
Age 29
Event Date from 1848 to 1970
Event Place Muskogee, Muskogee, Oklahoma, United States
Event Place (Original) Muskogee, Okla
Event Type Census
Birth Year (Estimated) from 1819 to 1941
Relationship to Head of Household Head
Entry Number 24607
Affiliate Publication Number M595

Source: "United States, Native American, Eastern Cherokee Indian Reservation Rolls, 1848-1970", database with images, FamilySearch (ark:/61903/1:1:QGNZ-XJCP : Tue Feb 14 07:21:26 UTC 2023), Entry for Samuel R Sixkiller, from 1848 to 1970.

• Samuel files an Oklahoma Applications for Enrollment to the Five Civilized Tribes, 1898-1914 @ https://www.fold3.com/document.php?doc=61884206&xid=215&p=ma

Publication: Dawes Packets
Tribe: Cherokee
Group: Cherokee by Blood
Card Range: 6942 - 7109
Case Number: 7075
Full Name: Sixkiller, Samuel R

Source: "Oklahoma Applications for Enrollment to the Five Civilized Tribes, 1898-1914," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XVJW-H2N : 7 July 2017), Samuel R Sixkiller, 1898-1914; from "Applications for Enrollment of the Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes, 1898-1914," database, Fold3.com (http://wwwfold3.com : 2008); citing case number 7075, NARA microfilm publication M1301 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), roll 225.

• Samuel files 1 Feb 1907 an application to the Eastern Cherokee Applications of the U.S. Court of Claims, 1906-1909 - Samuel R. Sixkiller -1 February 1907 to receive shares of the money that was appropriated for the Eastern Cherokee Indians by the Congress on June 30, 1906. The Eastern Cherokee applications, August 29,1906 - May 26, 1909, are part of the Guion Miller Enrollment Records. They are among the Records of the U.S. Court of Claims, Record Group 123. This publication also includes a two-volume general index to Eastern Cherokee applications @ https://www.fold3.com/image/228470258

Source: National Archives and Records Administration

• Samuel appears in the 1910 census for those who have filed an Eastern Cherokee Enrollment Application

Name Samuel B Sixkiller
Age 29 years
Event Date from 1908 to 1910
Event Type Census
Birth Year (Estimated) 1879-1881
Entry Number 16328
Affiliate Publication Number M685
Affiliate Publication Title General Index to Eastern Cherokee Applications.

Source: "United States, Native American, Eastern Cherokee Enrollment Records, 1908-1910", database, FamilySearch (ark:/61903/1:1:QGTF-DY7L : Tue Feb 14 03:28:51 UTC 2023), Entry for Samuel B Sixkiller, from 1908 to 1910.

• Samuel registered for the United States World War I Draft Registration on Sep. 12, 1918 in Muskogee, Oklahoma.

Name Samuel Rasmus Sixkiller
Sex Male
Event Date from 1917 to 1918
Event Place Muskogee, Oklahoma, United States
Event Place (Original) Muskogee City, Oklahoma, United States
Event Type Draft Registration
Citizenship Place United States
Birth Date 13 Feb 1878
Birthplace , , United States
Race Indian
Affiliate Publication Number M1509
Affiliate Publication Title World War I Selective Service System Draft Registration Cards

Source: "United States World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KZDX-YHY : 25 December 2021), Samuel Rasmus Sixkiller, 1917-1918.

Samuel appears to have been close to his sister Tookah ‘Emma’ Garrett, several times over the years being either a host or guest with her daughter Melba…and it did not go unreported in the local newspaper.

The Arrow-Democrat (Tahlequah, Okla.), Vol. 37, No. 22, Ed. I Friday, May 7, 1920. Tahlequah, Oklahoma

The Arrow-Democrat (Tahlequah, Okla.), Vol. 37, No. 26, Ed. I Friday, June 4, 1920. Tahlequah, Oklahoma

The Arrow-Democrat (Tahlequah, Okla.), Vol. 38, No. 40, Ed. 1 Thursday, September 29, 1921. Tahlequah, Oklahoma

Source: All newspapers are archived at The Gateway to Oklahoma History. http://gateway.okhistory.org''

• Samuel appears in the 1950 US Census then 72, living at 831 East Side Blvd, Muskogee, Muskogee, Oklahoma, United States, with his wife Mattie B., then 75.

Census
City Muskogee Series T628
County Muskogee Dwelling # 122
State Oklahoma Line 13
Date Apr 1 1950 House # 831
Enum. District 51-40

• Samuel R. Sixkiller died Dec. 5, 1958 in Muskogee, Muskogee County, Oklahoma, United States

Source: Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/50530842/samuel-rasmus-sixkiller: accessed 19 March 2023), memorial page for Samuel Rasmus Sixkiller (13 Feb 1877–5 Dec 1958), Find a Grave Memorial ID 50530842, citing Greenhill Cemetery, Muskogee, Muskogee County, Oklahoma, USA; Maintained by R Burnett (contributor 47445819)
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Sources Used:

• FamilySearch Family Tree - SmartCopy: Mar 3 2017, 6:56:10 UTC
• Sixkiller, S. (1879, November 25). Image Section. Carlisle Indian School Digital Resource Center. Retrieved March 19, 2023, from https://carlisleindian.dickinson.edu/student_records