Tookah ‘Emma’ Garrett

Tookah Sixkiller was a Cherokee woman.

Biography

Tookah (also known as Emma) Sixkiller was a daughter of Sam Sixkiller, “Cherokee Frontier Lawman,” and his wife Fanny Foreman. She was born 15 Jan 1876 at Tahlequah in Indian Territory, current day Cherokee County, Oklahoma. Her father was murdered in 1886 when she was 10 years old, and her mother died of consumption in 1889, when Tookah was 13. She was living with her mother’s relatives in 1890.

Tookah Sixkiller was educated at the < Cherokee Female Seminary >, the boarding school that opened in 1889. “ Native American Female seminaries were a larger cultural movement across the United States in the mid-nineteenth century, by which time they had taken over the role played traditionally by the boarding school, which had offered a more family-like atmosphere.[5]”. She graduated in 1894, and was teaching before then:

From < GenealogyBank >:

She visited with friends and relatives:

The Telephone 26 Apr 1895, Fri · Page 6: < newspapers.com >

Claremore, Oklahoma · Saturday, August 24, 1895 < newspapers.com >

She taught school in Flint District, Indian Territory:

Cherokee Advocate, Tahlequah, Oklahoma · Saturday, August 29, 1896. < newspapers.com > Teachers for Tahlequah, Goingsnake, and Flint 1896

When Tookah was 21, she first married to Rufus Daniel Ross (1873-1946). He was the son of Robert Bruce Ross and Frances Delilah Thornton. The marriage was registered at Culpeper, Culpeper County, Virginia on 12 August 1897, ceremony performed by E.L. Goodwin. (document attached). Both groom and bride were listed as residents of Indian Territory.

Newspaper announcement of the marriage of Rufus D. Ross and Touka Sixkiller at the Federal Cemetery Lodge, at Culpeper C. H., Virginia on 13 Aug 1897: (document attached).

Additional accouncements:
Announcement in the Alexandria Gazette https://www.genealogybank.com/nbshare/AC01161130012538276511679170066
Announcement in The Daily Nonperiel of Council Bluffs https://www.genealogybank.com/nbshare/AC01161130012538276511679168428''

Raymond Ross was born 10 February 1898 at Flint in the Cherokee Nation.

The Dawes app for Rufus Ross (he was in Louisiana at the time) says that Tookah's child was not his; he had been living in Louisiana and Mexico between 1898 and 1900. His father and brother testified that he was only gone temporarily and so he was enrolled by the Dawes Commission.

The marriage between Tookah/Emma and Rufus did not last long.

> The Daily Chieftain. Vinita, Oklahoma · Tuesday, September 19, 1899. < newspapers.com >

In Tookah's 1901 application for enrollment in the Cherokee tribe, she says her full name is Tookah Ross, daughter of Sam and Fanny Sixkiller. She identifies her English name as Emma. She is married to Rufus, but says that they do not live together. (document attached).

In 1903, she claimed Raymond Ross was the son of Rufus D. Ross on their Dawes enrollment card (document attached):

In 1905 when she was 29, Tookah Ross married Dr. George Harvey Garrett (1876-1953). A Texas native, he was the son of Levi Jordan Garrett and his wife Sarah Melissa Jones. A marriage license had not yet been found.

On 26 April 1910 at San Angelo in Tom Green County, Texas, George Garrett’s household was enumerated for the federal census. (document attached). He’s shown as a physician married five years to wife Tookah, who has had two children: Ray Ross, 12 years old, (his) step son, and Maxiene Garrett, 1 year old, daughter.

On 27 June 1920 at Del Rio in Val Verde County, Texas, George Garrett’s household was enumerated for the federal census. (document attached). He’s shown as a doctor (general practitioner) who rented his home. His wife is unnamed, and two children are listed: “Pancho Garrett” age 11, and Maxine Garrett age 8.

Mrs. Tookah E. Garrett died 10 June 1927 in Del Rio, Val Verde County, Texas at 51 years, 4 months and 25 days. Cause of death was cancer of the stomach. She was recorded as a white housewife, and the death certificate informant was Dr. G.H. Garrett (her husband).

Mrs Jackah [Tookah] E Garrett in the Texas, U.S., Death Certificates, 1903-1982. < AncestrySharing >

She was buried in the Masonic Cemetery in Del Rio on 12 June 1927. < FindAGrave Memorial # 24087317 >

Her widower remarried to Ione Josephine Huff in 1934, and had four children with her. He died in 1953 at his home in Antler Lodges, Texas. His burial notice mentions his two oldest children, Mrs. Maxine Darst of San Angelo, and Elver Garrett of Pecos, along with his widow and their children.

Origins

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/143769266/frances-flora-sixkiller

Frances Flora “Fannie” Foreman was the daughter of Thomas Foreman and Elizabeth Chicken. She married Sam Sixkiller in September 1865.

Their children were:

• Twins Rachel and Eliza, born May 5, 1870; Rachel died on July 4, 1889, after a long unknown illness; Eliza married George Washington Morgan and died 7 May 1895 in Talequah.
• Minnie, born 1871, died 1880 (drowning)
• Emma 'Tookah', born 15 Jun 1876, died 10 Jun 1927 at Del Rio, Texas, wife of ?? Garrett; buried at Del Rio
• Cora, born Sep 4, 1874, died 1913; wife of Frank McSpadden
• Sam R., born Feb 13, 1877, died 1958; married to Mattie Bell Sixkiller (daughter of Luke Sixkiller and Emma Blythe)
• Lucas, born 1879
• 'Fannie' Frances Edna, born 16 Jan 1879, wife of Carl J. Haglund; died 26 Dec 1964 in Los Angeles, CA

  ---

References

• “Little-known Cherokee Female Seminary facts shared.” By WILL CHAVEZ Assistant Editor (May 5, 2015) < CherokeePhoenix.com > Some subjects taught at the schools included geometry, Greek history, algebra, geography and vocal music. "These rigorous academics prepared young Cherokees to become educators," he said.
• 1880 Census [CN]: Tahlequah, 24231890 Orphans [CN]: Tahlequah, 3 as Tooca Sixkiller (B W Foreman, gdn [uncle])1902-07 Dawes roll: card# 7049, roll# 16835 as Tookah Ross 1906-09 Miller roll 1: Tahlequah, OK, ap# 14099, roll# 23061 as Emma T Ross 1906-09 Mill
• Tookah Sixkiller in the Virginia, U.S., Marriage Registers, 1853-1935 < AncestrySharing > Name: Tookah Sixkiller Race: White Age: 24 Birth Date: abt 1873 Marriage License Place: Town, Culpeper Marriage Date: 12 Aug 1897 Marriage Place: Virginia, USA Person performing the Ceremony: E.l. Goodwin Parent 1: Saml. Sixkiller Parent 2: Fannie Sixkiller Spouse: Rufus D. Ross
• https://www.genealogybank.com/doc/newspapers/image/v2%3A11158FCC38E...
• "Virginia, County Marriage Records, 1771-1989," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6ZSB-LPTM : 28 June 2022), Tookah Sixkiller in entry for Rufus D. Ross, 13 Aug 1897; citing Marriage, Culpeper, Virginia, United States, Circuit court clerk offices, Virginia.
• "United States, GenealogyBank Historical Newspaper Obituaries, 1815-2011", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q572-3XY9 : 30 July 2020), Miss Touka Sixkiller in entry for Rufus Ross, 1897.
• "Texas Birth Certificates, 1903-1935," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VXMG-YV8 : 1 March 2021), Tookah Garrett in entry for Garrett, 14 Aug 1908; citing El Paso, El Paso, Texas, United States, certificate 45608, Texas Department of Health, Austin; FHL microfilm 2,339,693.
• Tookah Ross in the U.S., Native American Enrollment Cards for the Five Civilized Tribes, 1898-1914 < AncestrySharing >
• Tookah Ross in the Oklahoma and Indian Territory, U.S., Dawes Census Cards for Five Civilized Tribes, 1898-1914 < AncestrySharing >
• "United States Census, 1910," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M2QC-NHS : accessed 18 March 2023), Tookah Garrett in household of George Garrett, San Angelo, Tom Green, Texas, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 283, sheet 17B, family 324, NARA microfilm publication T624 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1982), roll 1592; FHL microfilm 1,375,605.
• She died 10 Jun 1927 in Del Rio, Texas "Texas Deaths, 1890-1976," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K37X-7PP : 20 February 2021), Tookah E Garrett, 10 Jun 1927; citing certificate number 21717, State Registrar Office, Austin; FHL microfilm 2,114,278
• Mrs Jackah E Garrett in the Texas, U.S., Death Certificates, 1903-1982. < AncestrySharing >
• https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/24087317/emma-tookah-garrett
• https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/143734611/samuel-sixkiller
• https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/143769266/frances-flora-sixkiller
• https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/63757805/george-harvey-garrett
• https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/41260493/sammie-maxine-darst
• https://scraperfamily.angelfire.com/texts/Scraper.htm
• Reference: MyHeritage Family Trees - SmartCopy: Mar 3 2017, 6:54:32 UTC
• Reference: FamilySearch Family Tree - SmartCopy: Mar 3 2017, 6:56:10 UTC
• Reference: MyHeritage Family Trees - SmartCopy: Mar 3 2017, 7:10:37 UTC
• Reference: FamilySearch Family Tree - SmartCopy: Mar 3 2017, 6:56:10 UTC
• https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/L7XL-Q35

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Other Research Notes

• Married Rufus Ross also Cherokee in Culpeper, Virginia 1897; she was there as a guest of family named Dickson had a big white wedding described in the local paper.
• https://www.genealogybank.com/nbshare/AC01161130012538276511679168428
• "Virginia, County Marriage Records, 1771-1989," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6ZSB-LPTM : 28 June 2022), Tookah Sixkiller in entry for Rufus D. Ross, 13 Aug 1897; citing Marriage, Culpeper, Virginia, United States, Circuit court clerk offices, Virginia.
• Why the marriage was reported in a newspaper in Council Bluffs, Iowa is also unknown. The article as cited at Family Search was a marriage notice, not an obit. I think it made the news because it was unusual.
• They were the parents of Raymond Ross, born 1898. Emma and Rufus were separated by 1902. She's on the 1900 census as Emma Sixkiller
• She married George Garrett about 1909 and was living in Waldrup, Texas, on the 1910 census in San Angelo, Texas. "United States Census, 1910," database with images,
• FamilySearch

(https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M2QC-NHS : accessed 18 March 2023), Tookah Garrett in household of George Garrett, San Angelo, Tom Green, Texas, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 283, sheet 17B, family 324, NARA microfilm publication T624 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1982), roll 1592; FHL microfilm 1,375,605.

• She died 10 Jun 1927 in Del Rio, Texas "Texas Deaths, 1890-1976," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K37X-7PP : 20 February 2021), Tookah E Garrett, 10 Jun 1927; citing certificate number 21717, State Registrar Office, Austin; FHL microfilm 2,114,278.