Emmaline Patsy Lattin

Of the Bogue Chitto clan of the Choctaw Nation.

Bogue Chiltto is a town in southern MS. Bogue Chitto was the name of a clan of Choctaw Indians that lived in central MS, mostly around the Philadelphia, Neshoba County area. Emmaline Patsy LATTIN was a member of this clan in a family headed by a man named Mack. When they were removed to Indian Territory (OK)

about 1851-52, they settled in Blue County (now Bryan Co. OK). There developed the town of Bokchito and a few miles west the town of Philadelphia sprung up. Emmaline's husband, Ramsey Douglas BETTS was the first preacher in the Philadelphia Baptist Church. They were both Choctaw. Bokchito is still a small farming town while Philadelphia has disappeared except for the

cemetery. Emmaline's mother was Liza TAYLOR who had a sister named Nancy.

Liza married Andrew LATTIN and Nancy married Drew AIRINGTON.

January 10, 1929

MRS. EMELINE BETTS

Mrs. Emeline BETTS was born near Ripley, Mississippi in 1838, died at her home in the Ward's Chapel community on December 29, 1928 at the age of ninety years.

Mrs. BETTS was converted and united with the church when just a girl of which institution she has been a faithful member for seventy years, 32 years of which she was a member of the Baptist church at Ward's Chapel.

She was laid to rest in the Ward's Chapel Cemetery on Sunday, December 30, the funeral services being conducted by Reverend L.B. SMITH of Atoka.

Thus another useful life has been brought to a close at a ripe old age.

Note- Emeline was the daughter of Andrew and Liza Lattin and the wife of Ramsey D. Betts.

1. Name: Emaline Patsy LATTIN
2. Sex: F
3. Birth: ABT. 1844 in Mississipi
4. Death: 27 DEC 1928 in Wards Chapel, Atoka, OK
5. Burial: Wards Chapel, Atoka County, Oklahoma
6. MISC: Phildelphia Baptist Church, Blue Co. IT
7. Event: Ethnicity Enrolled as One Half Choctaw (doubtful)
8. Event: Dawes Roll # 12192 Census Card # 4368
9. Note:

   The name is spelled variously. Her obituary has one 'm' but her headstone has two. Sometimes it is Emeline or Emaline.

We know that Emaline was born in Mississippi, but the year is somewhat cloudy. Also the exact place has not been established. Her obituary says it was 1838. The 1885 Choctaw census says she was born in 1846. I think 1844 is most near the actual date. When asked later in life how long she had been in Oklahoma, she said she did not know the exact years as she came as a small child. This would indicate that she did not know exactly how old she was. She told her descendants that her father, Andrew Lattin, was a mean drunk and killed her mother and brother. He hung the boy up by the feet on the fireplace. Emaline was taken by her grandmother. It is now believed that her grandmother was Syllen Durant Taylor. In the family of Syllen when she arrived in Lukfata, Choctaw Nation was a grandchild named Evelim. This name sometimes appears as Eveline and the surname varies from Taylor to Ashbrook to Coursey. On one document it is Emeline Taylor. Andrew Lattin had a sister named Eveline so she may have been named for her. We know that her mother's maiden name was Liza Taylor. Nowhere does the name Lattin appear except on her enrollment card. Considering the circumstances of her mother's death, it is not surprising that the family would not use the true name. I suspect that she was originally named Eveline Patsy after two of her aunts on her father's side.
Grandchildren remember Emaline saying that she was a cousin to Dickson Durant. This is significant in proving that Syllen Durant Taylor was her grandmother. If our premise is correct, Emaline and Dickson are second cousins.
As a result of a treaty between the Choctaws and the Chickasaws dated June 22, 1855, the Chickasaws paid an amount of money to the Choctaws. This money was divided between the members of the Choctaw Nation. Syllen Taylor's family appears and lists Emaline Taylor as a child. They were in Neshoba County, IT at that time. The family received a total of $48.
Evidence is surfacing now that her brother may not have been killed but sent to live with relatives. This is being pursued by this writer and others.
The father's name was Andrew Lattin or Latting. I have only seen it in print once (as her father) on Emaline's enrollment, where it is spelled Lattin. The name was actually Latting but Andrew Jr. often spelled it without the 'g'. He was from a prominent family in Chicot County Arkansas who spelled the name both ways. Emaline was illiterate. She could not sign her name, so it is doubtful that she could spell it. She did not speak English well either. Genealogists know that bureaucrats usually just wrote down names as they sounded. Many family names have been changed in just that way. I have been unable to find any Lattins in the right area of Mississippi at the time. See Andrew's note-page for details.
In later life, Emaline told her family about the trip to IT. She was with a small party of Choctaws.Their driver was Mack (or Mac or Mc.). This writer found a Mack who was head of a "family" of Choctaws of the Bogue Chitto Clan in Neshoba Co. MS. If he is the one who brought the party to IT, he returned to MS as many did, because I found a record of him there after this party came to IT. She was only seven or eight years old so it is possible that she remembered Mack from Mississippi. He was a prominent man in the clan. I also found a Mc. Durant who did move west and lived in San Bois County in 1872. He would have been a relative. Emaline told of the hardships and privation of the trip on "The Trail of Tears". This was very late in the government "Removal," being 1851-52. The Removal began in 1832. She said the party stayed for a while in the area of present day Antlers, OK and then moved down to the Blue River area. This coincides with what we know of Syllen Taylor's life. She was last noted in Nashoba Co. IT which is in the area of present Pushmataha Co of which Antlers is the seat. Little is known of Emaline's life while growing up. It is said she was married while very young to a man she did not like. She would put dirt on her face to repulse him. Finally he left and nothing is known about him, even his name.
About 1860 Emaline met and married Ramsey Douglas Betts. Ramsey was a Baptist preacher and founded the Philadelphia Baptist Church where Emaline was baptised on Nov 18, 1866, probably by Ramsey as he was the pastor there. The Philadelphia community was named for the county seat of Neshoba Co. MS by the same name. The new community was located on the west bank of the Blue River approximately three miles southwest of the present town of Blue, OK on the old hiway 70 to Durant. Nothing remains except the cemetery and that is on private property.
Emaline and Ramsey lived in Blue County (now Bryan) until they received their allotment of land near Boggy Depot in Atoka County. This was about 1902. They moved there and built a home where they lived out their lives. The home was approximately one mile east of the Newhope school (gone now), about two miles southwest of the Wards Chapel church and a couple miles from Boggy Depot as the crow flies. This writer was born across the road from the Newhope school. The Betts place was on what is now named Hardwood Rd.
Ramsey and Emaline's grandson Edgar, lived in the house with his family when the house burned as did the house where this writer was born.
In addition to their own sizable brood, Ramsey and Emaline took in and cared for several other children. They raised two orphan girls, Inez and Myrtie Delk.
Emaline and Ramsey are buried in the Wards Chapel Cemetery. Emmaline was laid to rest on Dec 30, 1928, services by Rev. L. B. Smith.
The author has a copy of a document wherein Emaline was giving a deposition in favor of Thomas Ashford who had applied for Choctaw Nation citizenship on the basis of his marriage to Virginia Airington, an enrolled Choctaw. Virginia was the daughter of Drew Airington and Nancy Taylor Airington. In her testimony Emaline stated that she and Virginia were cousins and that their mothers were "own sisters". We know from Emaline's enrollment sheet that her mother's name was Liza. This deposition firmly establishes that Liza's name was Taylor. Where and when Liza married Andrew Lattin or whether in fact she did marry him is still not established. No marriage record has been found. There were two legal means of marriage between an Indian and a white. They could be married by either Indian law or white law. The Indian marriage records are very difficult to find and in some cases, non-existent.
See notes on Liza Taylor for info on Emaline's mother.
Obituary from The Indian Citizen-Democrat, Atoka, Oklahoma
Jan. 10, 1929, page 4
Mrs. Emeline Betts
"Mrs. Emeline Betts was born near Ripley, Mississippi in 1838, died at
her home in the Ward's Chapel community on December 29, 1928 at the age
of ninety years. Mrs. Betts was converted and united with the church
when just a girl of which institution she has been a faithful member for
seventy years, 32 years of which she was a member of the Baptist church
at Ward's Chapel.
She was laid to rest in the Ward's Chapel cemetery on Sunday, December
30, the funeral services being conducted by Reverend L. B. Smith of
Atoka. Thus another useful life has been brought to a close at a ripe
old age."
In the 1900 Atoka Co. census it says Emaline was 56 years old, born in AL, her father born in AR and her mother born in MS. I am sure the Alabama part is incorrect. No record has been found to indicate that any of this family was ever in Alabama.
Liza's sister Nancy was married in Chicot County Arkansas from whence Andrew Lattin came. Other researchers have been to Chicot County and can find no record of a marriage for Andrew and Liza.
Researched by Carl Phillips