Chief David Cornelius McCurtain, Chief to the Choctaw Nation

Cornelius McCurtain was born in Mississippi on March 3, 1803 where he was a member of the Lower Town District in the Choctaw country, presided over by Chief Moshulatubbe. He married Mahayia Nelson and came to the old Indian Territory in 1833 with one of the numerous removal caravans of the Choctaws and settled at or near Ft. Coffee where he engaged in farming and stockraising. From those early years the Choctaw domain in the West was divided into three rather semi-independent districts, each presided over by a duly elected district chief. The first or Moshulatubbe District occupied the northern portion of the Choctaw country. In 1849, as a member of the Board of Trustees of the First District, Cornelius McCurtain was a factor in the establishment of neighborhood schools. This modest gesture was the inception of the public school system of the Choctaws in the West. In the fall of 1849, he was elected chief of the First District, which position he held until the fall of 1854. The National Council of the Choctaw Nation which convened at7 Nanih Waya, the capital, in October 1850, amended the tribal constitution and effected the removal of the capital to Doaksville, in the extreme southern portion of the Nation. This action provoked great opposition throughout the First District and Chief McCurtain and his people declined to recognize all council meetings held at Doaksville by refusing to send representatives. The Indians were influenced by circumstances affecting their own convenience rather than by reason or foresight and the cleavage thus created continued throughout the tenure of Chief McCurtain. Upon the expiration of his term as District Chief, McCurtain was appointed a member of the Board of Commissioners of the Nation to investigate what was termed the orphans' claims. The concluding reference to Cornelius McCurtain is in the act of November 12, 1856 directing payment to him of certain fees for services in this orphans' claims matter. He probably died shortly thereafter and is buried in an unknown and unmarked grave at a place called "The Narrows," some two or three miles northeast of Red Oak in what is now Latimer County, Oklahoma.

Chronicles of Oklahoma,Volume 13, No. 3,September, 1935,THE McCURTAINS,

BY JOHN BARTLETT MESERV p. 300

He was the father of Jackson, Edmond, and Green McCurtain, all of whom later served as Chief of the Choctaw Nation. Cornelius McCurtain was a member of the Council in 1844, 1846, and 1855, and a member of the School Board in 1849.

He was a brother of John, Luke, Daniel, Allen, William, Thomas, Dave, and Camper McCurtain, all of whom were prominent Choctaws.

http://www.mychoctawfamily.com/choctawchiefs.htm

• Updated from RootsWeb's WorldConnect via daughter Isabelle Mccurtain by SmartCopy: Mar 3 2015, 22:35:32 UTC