Emely Waite

Emely was a Chickasaw woman

Biography

Emely was born in 1864. She is the daughter of Thomas Waite and Catherine McClure. (Emely is also spelled Emily on various documents.)

On 27 Aug 1898, John T. Hill was appointed guardianship for Emely as she was considered "insane". This took place in the U. S. Southern District Indian Territory, Pauls Valley.

It is noted in the records that while the initial effort to incarcerate Emely by her sisters into the privately owned Oklahoma Sanitarium, they balked when the determination of Emely being diagnosed as insane was needed for the Canton Asylum. The Canton Asylum was intended to provide those necessary mental services to the indigent Indian, the Waite family was well established, well off financially, and should not have accepted Emely as a patient inmate. And yet, Emely spent 23 years incarcerated therein.

Emily is buried in Mount Olivet Cemetery, Pauls Valley, Garvin County, Oklahoma, USA (Curator Note: FaG indicates this but the website Oklahoma Cemeteries does not concur. I reached out to Becky Ledbetter @ the City of Paul's Valley and she provided the following: Emely Waite is buried in Section 1, Block 21, Lot 43, plot #5. the tombstone shown below is also located here. See the attachment uploaded to the media tab.)

Daughter of Thomas F. Waite d. 1872 and wife Catherine Waite, born c. 1864 sixth child of ten, sister of Mrs. Irene Kerr, Mrs. Sarah Lasater, Mrs. Hannah Elliott, Mrs. Jennie Oliphint, Amos. R. Waite and others, the guardian was J. T. Hill, a resident of Pauls Valley, Indian Territory, "she will not speak to her sisters or brothers and they are all afraid of her".

It's curious, but until Canton, she is only described as being of unsound mind, she left the Sanitarium in Norman, traveled in the US, and for many years in Europe without apparent difficulty.
---Many of these commitments were initiated in the name of care. In 1906, for example, Emily Waite (Chickasaw) was sent to Canton under suspicious circumstances at the behest of her sisters Irene Kerr and Sarah Lasater (neé Waite), as a transfer from the State Sanitarium in Norman, Indian Territory. (54) As Irene explained in a letter to Indian Agent Dana Kelsey, she and her siblings were seeking a "comfortable home" for their sister Emily, who required care they ostensibly could not provide themselves. (55)

Although Emily was a member of the prominent Waite family (her brother Fred Tecumseh Waite was a notorious outlaw who traveled with Billy the Kidd, he was also known for later serving as a legislator in the Chickasaw Nation government, and as its Attorney General.) and Canton was intended as a facility for destitute non-citizen Indian people, her siblings were able to convince Agent Kelsey to approve her removal to Canton without ever bringing her "case" before a U.S. court of law to be formally adjudicated. (56)....more [13]

Research Notes
-Her guardian was J. T. Hill, resident of Pauls Valley, Indian Territory...Hr. Hill has a history of guardianship with other Indians for the furtherment of his own benefit, see Bonnin, Geretrude, et al. OKLAHOMA’S POOR RICH INDIANS:
-Emily was not buried in the asylum cemetery
-found dead in her bed on August 3, 1929, diagnosed with heart failure
-admitted to the Canton Asylum on March 30, 1906, diagnosed with "Delusional melancholia revised to paranoia (delusions of grandeur, "she imagines that she is the queen of some country")
-transferred from the Oklahoma Sanitarium Co. (a private asylum), Norman, Oklahoma via the Union Agency, Muskogee, Indian Territory
-Emily Waite shows as a resident in the Canton Asylum per the census reports from 1910 through 1929 (less years 1911-1916 which I've not located yet). Also, the census at the Canton Asylum seems to begin in 1910 with Dr. Hummer, for the years 1906-1909 I find no censuses prepared by Oscar S. Gifford as superintendent. (there is however in 1910 a statement from Dr. Hummer that identifies all forms of mental disease in patients "since opening", which could be used as a combined census for 4 years.) Also, note that the 1910 census had Special Inquiries Relating to Indians, in two parts.

Sources
(1) Bonnin, Geretrude, et al. OKLAHOMA’S POOR RICH INDIANS: An Orgy of Graft and Exploitation of the Five Civilized Tribes - Legalized Robbery: A Report, 1924. Oklahoma Collection 976.6004 Zit, Oklahoma Digital Prairie, Oklahoma Department of Libraries.
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..."Documents relating to forty-two-year-old Emily Waite (Chickasaw) reveal similarly bizarre circumstances around her commitment. These records also document how non-existent commitment procedures enabled exploitative family members to confine their kin to the facility.(86) Correspondence contained in Waite’s file reflects that she was sent to Canton in 1906, at the behest of her sisters, Irene Kerr and Sarah Lasater (neé Waite), as a transfer from the State Sanitarium in Norman, Indian Territory.(87) As correspondence from the Indian Agent at
Muskogee to Commissioner of Indian Affairs Francis E. Leupp reveals, however, that the circumstances around Waite’s commitment were rather unusual. Sensing duplicitous motives, the newly-appointed Indian Agent Dana Kelsey wrote to Leupp in a letter dated October 21, 1905. Evidently, he was becoming impatient with Emily’s relatives, who desired to have her transferred but who refused the requisite procedures:

During the early part of my term of office, the relatives of said Emily Waite addressed a letter to me saying that they had decided to place her in the Asylum at Canton and asked that steps be taken immediately looking wards her removal. In accordance with the rules and regulations of this office, I called upon them to fill out certain papers, giving information in regard to her condition, and to have her adjudged insane by the United States Court. This they refused to do, saying that they could see no reason for adjudging a person as insane who had been recognized as of unsound mind for seven or eight years, and they have become very impatient about having her transferred at once.(88)

To make matters even more suspicious, as a federal facility, Canton was (according to the public record) intended for destitute non-citizen Indians who had no other means of caring for themselves—circumstances that would have been altogether unknown by Emily. In fact, the Waites were a prominent—and somewhat infamous—Chickasaw family: Fred Tecumseh Waite, Emily’s brother, was a member of Billy the Kidd’s gang of outlaws before trading in his pistols for politics, and the Waite sisters were just as captivating. (89) While Fred would serve as the Attorney General of the Chickasaw nation before his death in 1895, both Emily and Sarah would go on to graduate with business degrees from Oberlin, the first coeducational college in the United States. (90) Emily’s highly-educated siblings also married quite well; for example, in1897 Sarah was wedded to a white man by the name of Milas Lasater, who would become one of the wealthiest men in their Chickasaw community of Paul’s Valley, and enjoy a long career in politics and banking, earning widespread admiration for his philanthropy and playing a substantial role in the drafting of the Chickasaw Constitution. (91)

But despite the Waite family’s extensive resources, documents contained in Emily’s file indicate that she was prevented from sharing in her family’s comfortable lifestyle and that her siblings claimed that her mental decline was precipitous. As a lengthy letter authored by Emily’s sister Irene and sent to the Indian Agent suggests, the Waites were concerned for Emily, who had embarked on elaborate travels after her father died and her eldest brother relocated the family to Ohio in 1891. As Irene explained, Emily did not care to finish her term of schooling at Oberlin like the rest of her siblings, and “She at once laid in a handsome wardrobe and went on a visit to friends of the family in Gainesville, Texas, where she remained for some time leading a gay society life.”(92) After traveling up and down the coast of California and eventually returning to Oberlin to earn her business degree, Emily soon grew tired of life in Ohio and set sail for France.

Irene continued, “[Emily] remained about four years in Paris, writing us at long intervals and seeming to be engaged in teaching young French children the English language.” She elaborated, “All of her letters were filled with abuse of the American people whom she termed ‘Foreigners,’ saying the Indians were the only true Americans and the nobility of America.”(93) Irene’s letter went on for a page and a half more, detailing the many places Emily traveled and reporting that her sister had even laid claim to the Swedish throne.(94)

To twentieth-century Americans, this behavior would have certainly appeared outlandish. Yet, it is difficult to rule out the possibility that Emily’s sisters simply resented the fact that she marched to the beat of her own drum, clearly rejecting the gendered expectations that women limit their ambitions in order to better serve the needs of others. In this light, it thus seems likely that the Waite sisters, although well-traveled and well-heeled themselves, were quite envious of Emily’s gumption. Significantly, buried in Irene’s lengthy letter to Agent Kelsey is information about the Waite estate, and a note about Emily’s earlier decision to separate her landholdings from those of her siblings. This detail, while seemingly incidental, could possibly explain the odd circumstances around Emily’s removal first to the Norman Sanitarium, and then even further, nearly 700 miles away from their home in Paul’s Valley to Canton, SD. The transfer from a local state facility to Canton even baffled the Indian Agent and another U.S. official, who exchanged letters that indicated they both thought the Waite siblings and Emily’s legal guardian—a white man named John T. Hill, who approved the transfer—were in grave error.

As C. G. Moore, the probate clerk of Paul’s Valley, wrote to Agent Kelsey, “Is it possible that some private Sanitarium could be selected that would not be to[sic] expensive, in which ward would receive better treatment, that is, more individual care and attention[?]” He explained,

“This ward has an allotment, a good one, that is rented out on a share crop basis and produces about $500. annually; the Judge feels that this ward is entitled to the best that her estate will afford, and desires that you state your ideas concerning same. From your experience do you know of a better place [than Canton], that her estate will justify the sending her to [?] (95)

Evidently, at least a few U.S. officials knew that Emily came from a family of means and could thus afford a private facility if she was destined for institutionalization. Despite the dubious circumstances around her commitment, however, Emily was transferred from Norman to Canton. When her first legally appointed guardian, John Hill, died in 1913, her sister’s husband Milas Lasater assumed her legal guardianship, thereby also assuming authority over her land and income.(96)

Oklahoma historian Angie Debo’s extensive work on corruption in Indian Territory in this era provides crucial insight into what was likely happening behind closed doors in the Waite family. As Debo remarks on the consequences of rampant Indian-white intermarriage within the southeastern tribes, “The Chickasaws had been recklessly generous to their intermarried citizens, and as a result, these white men monopolized the best agricultural lands in the Nation. In 1890 the Indians attempted to protect themselves by enacting a law providing that intermarried citizenship should confer no property or political rights, but the white men held meetings and defiantly resolved that if any attempt were made to dispossess them they would ‘exterminate every member of this council from the chief down.’”(97) Given these realities, it takes no great leap of the imagination to surmise that Waite’s vast landholdings, Lasater’s political ambitions, and the prospect of great power likely contributed to the bizarre conditions of Emily’s confinement, even in the absence of a smoking gun. Despite these unknowns, however, some remarkable facts are clear. In 1906, an advertisement for the Paul’s Valley First National Bank appeared in the Thursday, September 13 edition of the Paul’s Valley Democrat, a newspaper that Milas Lasater founded in 1898. Included among a list of the board of directors was John T. Hill, Emily’s first guardian. At the same time, Milas Lasater served as Vice President of “The People’s Bank.”(98) There was, at least, one concrete business connection between the two men who authorized Emily’s incarceration and removal from her community. One other detail rings out across historical time and space: Milas and Sarah Lasater would gain control over the entire Waite estate, including Emily’s separated landholdings, and after Oklahoma was admitted to statehood, donate the land for the development of a state-run epileptic hospital. (99)

Emily Waite would live out her remaining years at the Canton facility, where she would die in 1929. Heart failure was listed as her cause of death. (100)"
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86 This occurred less frequently than did the forcible commitment of Indian women and men at the request of
unrelated persons.
87 Indian territory at the time.
88 “Emily Waite File,” RG 75, Canton Asylum, box 1, Records of Indian Inspector for Indian Territory, Case Files
of Insane Indians, 1905-8, NARA-FW.
89 Billy the Kidd (1859-1881) was an outlaw who gained notoriety for his involvement in the “Lincoln County
War,” a violent dispute between two rival factions in the territory of New Mexico. For more on Billy the Kidd’s life
and death, see: Frederick Nolan, The West of Billy the Kid (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2015).
90 Mike Tower, The Outlaw Statesman: The Life and Times of Fred Tecumseh Waite (AuthorHouse, 2007), 146. 91 Ibid.
92 “Emily Waite File,” NARA-FW.
93 Ibid.
94 Ibid.
95 “Emily Waite File,” NARA-FW.
96 John T. Hill’s last will and testament was disputed by his surviving family members. See: Hill v. Buckholts,
Oklahoma Supreme Court, Oklahoma Reports: Cases Determined in the Supreme Court of the Territory of
Oklahoma (State Capital Printing Company, 1920), 196-204.
97 Angie Debo, And Still the Waters Run: The Betrayal of the Five Civilized Tribes (Norman: University of
Oklahoma Press, 1984), 13.
98 Pauls Valley Democrat, September 13, 1906, 3, no. 26, ed. 1, Pauls Valley, Indian Territory, “The Gateway to
Oklahoma History,” Oklahoma Historical Society.
99 Tower, The Outlaw Statesman, 216.
100 “Emily Waite File,” NARA-FW.

Source: Whitt, Sarah H. “False Promises: Race, Power, and the Chimera of Indian Assimilation, 1879-1934.” University of California, Berkeley, 2020.
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The sources listed from the “Oklahoma Applications for Allotment, Five Civilized Tribes, 1899-1907” show the Allotment index card, application for allotment affidavit, Letter of Guardianship, Chickasaw Citizenship Certificate

1897 - "Oklahoma Applications for Allotment, Five Civilized Tribes, 1899-1907," , FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q2H9-DV1P : 9 March 2018), Emely Waite, 1899-1907; citing Oklahoma, United States, tribe or clan Chickasaws by Blood Roll, file Pacific County Probate Estate Files., National Archives and Records Administration, Southwest Region, Fort Worth, Texas. Application Number 1273, ledger 7, page 78.

1897 - National Archives, Dawes Commission; Chickasaw Roll card 430, line 1

1898 Aug 27 - "Oklahoma Applications for Allotment, Five Civilized Tribes, 1899-1907," , FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q2H9-D24C : 9 March 2018), Emily Waite, 1899-1907; citing Oklahoma, United States, tribe or clan Chickasaws by Blood Roll, file Pacific County Probate Estate Files., National Archives and Records Administration, Southwest Region, Fort Worth, Texas, pg. 504/1284, 501/1285

Letter of appointment of guardianship to John T. Hill

1900 Jun 6 - "United States Census, 1900", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MMGC-X5B : Fri Oct 06 01:38:07 UTC 2023), Entry for Emily Waite, 1900, pg. 355/1149, line 75, single, living by herself, incarcerated in the Oklahoma Sanitarium (Hospital for the Insane), Norman, Norman Township, Cleveland County, Indian Territory, shown as 36 years old.

1903 August 31 - "Oklahoma Applications for Allotment, Five Civilized Tribes, 1899-1907," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HT-65L3-6R5?cc=1390101&wc... : 17 October 2016), Chickasaws by Blood > No. 1247-1305 > image 491 of 1285; National Archives and Records Administration, Southwest Region, Fort Worth, Texas.

1903 Aug 31 - "Oklahoma Applications for Allotment, Five Civilized Tribes, 1899-1907," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q2H9-DK39 : 9 March 2018), Emely Waite, 1899-1907; citing Oklahoma, United States, tribe or clan Chickasaws by Blood Roll, file Pacific County Probate Estate Files., National Archives and Records Administration, Southwest Region, Fort Worth, Texas.

Emely Waite certificatioin

1903 Aug 31 - "Oklahoma Applications for Allotment, Five Civilized Tribes, 1899-1907," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q2H9-DKLM: 9 March 2018), Emely Waite, 1899-1907; citing Oklahoma, United States, tribe or clan Chickasaws by Blood Roll, file Pacific County Probate Estate Files., National Archives and Records Administration, Southwest Region, Fort Worth, Texas.

John T. Hill, Guardian certification

1903 Sep 2 - "Oklahoma Applications for Allotment, Five Civilized Tribes, 1899-1907," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q2H9-D2JK : 9 March 2018), Emely Waite, 1899-1907; citing Oklahoma, United States, tribe or clan Chickasaws by Blood Roll, file Pacific County Probate Estate Files., National Archives and Records Administration, Southwest Region, Fort Worth, Texas.

Land allotment record for 520 acres

1904 Sep 2 - "Oklahoma Applications for Allotment, Five Civilized Tribes, 1899-1907," , FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q2H9-DKVL : 9 March 2018), Emely Waite, 1899-1907; citing Oklahoma, United States, tribe or clan Chickasaws by Blood Roll, file Pacific County Probate Estate Files., National Archives and Records Administration, Southwest Region, Fort Worth, Texas.

1907 March 4 - Choctaw and Chickasaw Rolls, Final Rolls of the Five Civilized Tribes, 1899–1914, Record Group 48 Records of the Office of the Secretary of the Interior, 1826–2009; Record Group 48; National Archives Building, Washington, DC.

1910 May 13 - "United States Census, 1910", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MPFS-XV9 : Wed Oct 04 12:34:48 UTC 2023), Entry for Emely Waite, 1910, pg. 82/1082, line 29 which shows the "Special Inquiries." required in the 1910 census, see: https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/United_States_Special_Inquirie...

1920 Jan 30 - "United States Census, 1920", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M6J7-FPR : Fri Oct 06 12:22:03 UTC 2023), Entry for Emily Waite, 1920, pg. 653/1130,

1921 Jun 30 - "United States, Native American, Census Rolls, 1885-1940", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:68Z4-CZ7T : Sat Oct 07 00:06:25 UTC 2023), Entry for Emily Waite, 1921, pg. 509/522

1925 - "South Dakota State Census, 1925", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MM4N-989 : Fri Oct 06 22:17:40 UTC 2023), Entry for Emily Waite, 1925, pg. 1993/3342, Walker, Corson, South Dakota, United States

1929 - Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/198251519/emily-waite: accessed 10 October 2023), memorial page for Emily Waite (1863–1 Aug 1929), Find a Grave Memorial ID 198251519, citing Mount Olivet Cemetery, Pauls Valley, Garvin County, Oklahoma, USA; Maintained by Susan B (contributor 47672097).

(Curator Note: the online registry for Mt. Olivet Cemetery in Garvin County @https://www.okcemeteries.net/garvin/mtolivet/w/wmtolivet.htm does not show registration for Emely (I've reached out to the area coordinator for guidance 10112023). The image of the headstone (above) is not sourced!)
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Additional user-provided information follows. (Curator Note: these statements are copied and pasted from Find-a-Grave without sources, (or apparent consideration of the data already present in the Overview above) use at your own risk.10/11/2023)

• UPDATED INFORMATION:

(1) DEATH RECORD FOR EMILY WAITE: According to the South Dakota Death Index, Emily Waite died on 1 Aug 1929, in [Canton], Lincoln County, South Dakota. NOTE: The Hiawatha Indian Asylum was located in Canton, Lincoln County, South Dakota.
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SOURCE: SOUTH DAKOTA DEATH INDEX. ("Name: Emily Waite. Death Certificate Number: 124139. Death Day: 1. Death Month: Aug. Death Year: 1929. County: Lincoln. Page Number: 995 ...").
(Curator Note: a copy of this document is located on Ancestry.com, which many do not have access to. A reference to a document on Ancestry that cannot be seen is meaningless. The user who provided this update needs to provide a copy of the document as evidence, a reference by itself is not evidence)
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(Curator Note: Regarding the following, see below @ Historical Background. This information is basically a duplicate as it is already included in the background above in a copy of the 1910 census with the Special Inquiries as Relate to Indians clearly shown.)
(2)HIAWATHA INDIAN ASYLUM:
Summary of the...
1910 INDIAN POPULATION CENSUS -- "Special Inquiries." (TWO SECTIONS!).
LOCATION: Canton, Lincoln County, South Dakota.

SECTION # 1 of 2: (Emily Waite: Line # 29, both sections).

NAME: Emily Waite.
RELATION / RELATIONSHIP: Inmate [Re: Hiawatha Indian Asylum, Canton, Lincoln County, South Dakota].
SEX: Female.
COLOR OF RACE: Indian 1/2. White 1/2.
AGE: 41. Born abt. 1869.
SINGLE, MARRIED, WIDOWED OR DIVORCED: Single.
PLACE OF BIRTH OF PERSON AND PARENTS: [Self]: Illinois. Father: Mississippi. Mother: Tennessee. [*CORRECTION: Emily Waite was born in Oklahoma].
WHETHER ABLE TO SPEAK ENGLISH; OR, IF NOT, GIVE LANGUAGE SPOKEN: English.
TRADE OR PROFESSION: None.
EDUCATION; READ: Yes. WRITE: Yes.

SECTION # 2 of 2: "SPECIAL INQUIRIES RELATING TO INDIANS (Emily Waite: Line # 29, both sections).

TRIBE OF THIS INDIAN: Chickasaw. Tribe of Father: Chickasaw [?]. Chickasaw [?]. [NOTE: The handwriting of the tribe is difficult to decipher].
PROPORTIONS OF INDIAN AND OTHER BLOOD. INDIAN: 1/2. White: 1/2.
GRADUATED FROM WHAT EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION [OR SCHOOL REPORTED FROM]: Mission Agency Oklahoma,(educated).

[End].

The Historical Background
Content
The 1900 United States Federal Census "Special Inquiries Relating to Indians"
The 1900 Special Inquiries Relating to Indians asked the following questions of Indians "both those on reservations and those living in family groups outside of reservations."
Other Name, If Any
Tribe of this Indian
Tribe of Father of this Indian
Tribe of Mother of this Indian
Has this Indian any white blood: if so, How much? (0, 1/2, 1/4, etc.)
Is this Indian, if married, living in polygamy?
Is this Indian taxed?
Year of acquiring citizenship
Was citizenship acquired by allotment?
Is this Indian living in a fixed or in a movable dwelling?
For a copy of the worksheet form for the 1900 Twelfth Census of the United States Special Inquiries Relating to Indians and the instructions to the census takers click here

The 1910 United States Federal Census "Special Inquiries Relating to Indians"
The 1910 Special Inquiries Relating to Indians asked the following questions of Indians "both those on reservations and those living in family groups outside of reservations.
Tribe of this Indian
Tribe of Father of this Indian
Tribe of Mother of this Indian
Proportion of Indian and Other Blood
Indian
White
Negro
Number of times married
Whether now living in polygamy
If living in polygamy, whether the wives are sisters
Graduated From What Educational Institution
Is this Indian taxed?
If Indian has received allotment, give year of allotment
Residing on his own lands
Living in civilized or aboriginal dwelling