Sarah Lasater

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)

Source: Whitt, Sarah H. “False Promises: Race, Power, and the Chimera of Indian Assimilation, 1879-1934.” University of California, Berkeley, 2020.