Louise Catherine 'Lou' Mcintosh

Louise was a Cherokee woman

Muskogee in the early years Oklahoma Historical Society Photograph Collection, OHS

Muskogee was born a railroad town like most towns of the great American West. But its roots run much deeper than the rails that were laid across the prairie. Muskogee was established in 1872, but its history dates back to the Native Americans who inhabited the region around the three rivers—the Arkansas, Grand, and Verdigris—which meet just north of the city. Known as the Three Forks region, this area was the hub for the settlement and development of what became Indian Territory. Here European and American explorers and fur traders would rendezvous and later build some of the West’s first trading posts.

In 1874 U.S. Indian agencies for the Cherokee, Choctaw, Creek, Chickasaw, and Seminole tribes were consolidated into one office, the Union Agency, in Muskogee. Muskogee also became the location on March 1, 1889, of the first federal district court established in Indian Territory. In 1894 the Dawes Commission located in Muskogee to administer the enrollment of members of the Five Tribes. Both undertakings resulted in a 1900 claim that Muskogee was the site of the largest concentration of federal employees outside of Washington, D.C.

The largest and most destructive of historical fires occurred on February 23, 1899

In 1905, the Five Tribes attempted to join the Union as the State of Sequoyah, proposing Muskogee as the state capital. Instead, Congress had Indian Territory combine with Oklahoma Territory to form the State of Oklahoma.

Business district c. 1910 Wikipedia contributors. "Muskogee, Oklahoma." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 26 Jan. 2024. Web. 14 Mar. 2024.

Biography:
Louisa was born c. 1855 to parents Edwin Archer (white, of New York) and Mary Francis 'Pollie' Archer (Vann) (Cherokee), in probably Locust Grove, Saline District, Cherokee Nation, Indian Territory, United States. Louisa married Freland Buckner McIntosh in 1894 and had one child, a daughter named Lucille (Lou) Betina (McIntosh) Houston-Thomason. Both mother and daughter were teachers in the Saline District, Indian Territory, and Louisa moved to and also taught school in the Creek Nation. At some point around 1902, she was arrested in Muskogee as being "demented' and sent to jail in Muskogee pending the outcome of proceedings to determine her competency. According to the Dawes Commission interviews for the application of her daughter Lucille in 1902, she may have been sent to an asylum in St. Louis.

Louisa was admitted to the Canton Asylum for Insane Indians on April 21, 1905 (by the Union Agency and possibly transferred from an unnamed asylum in St. Louis to which she was sent in 1902), and diagnosed with chronic dementia, later in Jun 1910 the diagnosis was revised to dementia praecox, paranoid (Dementia praecox is a term that describes a group of mental disorders that include paranoid, catatonic, and hebephrenic psychotic disorders. These disorders share similar symptoms, such as hallucinations, delusions, and disorganized thinking. The degeneration theory suggests that dementia praecox is a form of mental deterioration that involves an irreversible decline in mental functioning and a poor prognosis. Being paranoid means a rare mental health condition in which one believes that others are unfair, lying, or actively trying to harm you when there’s no proof.)

According to the letter dated February 17, 1934, Dr. L.L. Culp to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Louisa died at the Canton Asylum on April 10, 1915, at age 60, and was buried in the Canton Hiawatha Cemetery tier 5 plot 22 possibly under the name McIntosh, Louisa (Porter).

Her profile is part of the The Canton Asylum One Place Study.

Research Notes:
-According to the 1910 census she is Indian but her father was born in New York; per the Dawes Commission, her mother Mary Francis (Pollie) Archer was Cherokee.
-In an asylum in St. Louis about March 1905 per Dawes commission interview with John Leiber, attorney, acquainted with Louisa for 10 years in Muskogee
-Arrested in Muskogee for being "demented"...
-Louisa was demented for 20 years before being incarcerated (according to some who knew her and who were interviewed by the Dawes Commission, but who had not seen her in many years!). During that time she went by many names, among them Kate Porter according to those interviewed. Kate is a favorite given name she used with other surnames, the surname Porter comes from an apparent hallucination, Louisa believes she was married to a Mr. Porter but this cannot be and has not been verified by anyone.
-After investigation. Louisa's Cherokee Doubtful card #D-2092 was vacated and she was awarded a Cherokee straight card #10873 together with a transfer card of the same number 10873.
-lived in and around Muskogee, IT, and the Creek Nation for around 20 years. She was a teacher.
-Louise and Lucille are on the 1880 Cherokee Census in Saline District as ("Lou" and "Pet", Louise is teaching school there) and in Cooweescoowee District in 1886 (although Louise is listed as "Sue"), 1893, and 1896. In 1900 Lucille is on the U.S. Indian Census with her grandmother.
-Daughter Lucille filed an Eastern Cherokee application #32088 (Lucile Houston); and stated she thought her mother had died sometime in 1902.
-Freeland's third wife was Kate Welsh, so people might have been confused about who "Kate McIntosh" was.
-I don't think there's any way to know if Louisa had a husband named Porter at any point. I don't find her on Cherokee or Muskogee rolls as Louisa Porter. No idea where that name came from.
-The people who described Louise for the Dawes Commission (including her own daughter) don't seem very well-informed. Nothing on any of the census records suggests that she was deranged for years, but she seems to have been incompetent by 1900.
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Sources:

1900 Jul 2 - "United States Census, 1900", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MSTM-LFV : Wed Mar 06 10:55:35 UTC 2024), Entry for James Rogers and Lizzie Rogers, 1900, pg. 859/1070, line 31, census of T 15N R 10E, Creek Nation, Indian Territory

1905 March 29 - "Oklahoma Applications for Enrollment to the Five Civilized Tribes, 1898-1914", , Record Group 75: Records of the Bureau of Indian AffairsSeries: Enrollment CardsFile Unit: Dawes Enrollment Cards for Cherokee, Citizens by blood (BB) @ https://catalog.archives.gov/id/218581366 10851-10993 Entry for Louisa McIntosh, from 1898 to 1914.

1905 March 29 - "Oklahoma Applications for Enrollment to the Five Civilized Tribes, 1898-1914", , Record Group 75: Records of the Bureau of Indian AffairsSeries: Enrollment CardsFile Unit: Dawes Enrollment Cards for Cherokee, Citizens by blood (BB) @ https://catalog.archives.gov/id/253839 10851-10993 Entry for Louisa McIntosh, from 1898 to 1914.

1910 May 12-13 - "United States Census, 1910", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MPXP-WD8 : Sat Mar 09 05:34:10 UTC 2024), Entry for Gilbert Schrager and Sigar Monson, 1910, pg. 79/1082, line 38 as Louise McIntosh-Porter age 55, widow, census of Augustana College lines 12-20, Indian Insane Asylum line 23 to inclusive, Canton Township, Lincoln County, South Dakota

1910 Jul 2 - "United States, Native American, Census Rolls, 1885-1940", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:68Z5-J9HY : Sun Mar 10 14:50:50 UTC 2024), Entry for Louiza McIntosh, 1911, pg. 506/522, line 45, census of the Asylum for Insane Indians

1910 Aug 12 - Camp Verde School: 1910-27; Canton Insane Asylum: 1910-22, Series: Superintendents' Annual Narrative and Statistical Reports, Record Group 75: Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, 7th and Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC, 20408 @ https://catalog.archives.gov/id/155854182?objectPage=674, line 49, Table 7 Form of mental disease of those admitted since opening of Asylum, Canton

1910 Aug 12 - Camp Verde School: 1910-27; Canton Insane Asylum: 1910-22, Series: Superintendents' Annual Narrative and Statistical Reports, Record Group 75: Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, 7th and Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC, 20408 @ https://catalog.archives.gov/id/155854182?objectPage=677, line 18, Table 8 Form of mental disease of those in Asylum, June 30, 1910, revised

1911 Jul 3 - "United States, Native American, Census Rolls, 1885-1940", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-89WZ-F9ZV-2 : Sun Mar 10 14:50:50 UTC 2024), Entry for Louiza McIntosh, 1911, pg. 506/522, line xx as Louiza, census of the Asylum for Insane Indians

1915 Apr 12 - Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/14491724/louise-mcintosh: accessed March 14, 2024), memorial page for Louise McIntosh (unknown–12 Apr 1915), Find a Grave Memorial ID 14491724, citing Hiawatha Asylum Cemetery, Canton, Lincoln County, South Dakota, USA; Maintained by Graveaddiction (contributor 46528400).

1915 Apr 12 - Hilton, M. (Ed.). (2023, July 10). Hiawatha Asylum for Insane Indians Historical Marker. Historical Marker. https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=183486 Photo by Ruth VanSteenwyk, July 10, 2023, courtesy of HMdb.org

Blue Sky 6-20-14 · Louise McIntosh 4-12-15 · Jane Burch 2-1-16