McCurtain Scott, of Stigler, Oklahoma, passed away, May 19, 2008. He resided in Stigler, Oklahoma, and lived to be 93 years old. He was born July 10, 1914, in Kinta, Oklahoma, to George W. Scott and Alice McCurtain-Scott.

The McCurtain Family are of Native American Choctaw Indian Heritage, and their Ancestory Spans, in Past Years, to an Ancient Indian Tribe, who had settled on the banks of the Mississippi River, by 1778, when the Folsom Brothers, married Princess Daughters of the Two Chiefs, of this Ancient Indian Tribe. From those Marriages, many descendants, came to Indian Territory, Oklahoma, and hundreds of them, played a part in the Forming of the Government for Indian Territory, and Many of Them, served in the U.S. Congress, as Delegates too, from the Choctaw Nation of Indian Territory.

McCurtain Scott attended Connors State College for two years and then went to the University of Oklahoma, where he was a Member of the Sigma Chi Fraternity. He also attended Georgetown University for three years studying foreign service, and later returned to the University of Oklahoma to attend Law School.

McCurtain Scott was Employed as a Bank Trust Officer for the First National Bank of Oklahoma City Trust Department frm 1954-1957. In 1957, he worked in Cincinnati, Ohio, as Trust Officer for the Central Trust Bank and later worked at Pittsburg National Bank, retiring in 1970.

McCurtain Scott, Served five years in the United States Army and was Stationed in North Africa, during World War II.

McCurtain Scott was Preceded in Death, by his parents, brothers, and sisters. He is the Grandson of the Late Green McCurtain, who was the Last Principal Chief of the Choctaw Nation, of Indian Territory, Oklahoma.

Funeral Service Will Be at 10 a.m. Friday, May 23, 2008, at Mallory-Martin Chapel, withthe Reverend Jack Kemper Officiating. Burial will follow in Sans Bois Cemetery, under the Direction of Mallory-Martin Funeral Home & Crematory.

Military Rites will be Conducted by the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 4446, of Stigler, Oklahoma.

Pallbearers are Steven Fioretti, Tom Trent, Tristan Firoetti, John Criswell, Trey Conklin and Douglas Martin. Honorary Pallbearers are George Benton, Wayne Wilson and Louis Fioretti.

                            The Great Heritage, which This Family, Leaves Behind

A Story, taken from a Book, called, "The Kinta Years", written by Janice Holt Giles, published 1973, by Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston.

The Prairie was Endless and the Prairie was Mysterious, but to Everybody, the Prairie wasCentral, to the Life of the Town. Out on it's Swelling, gently rising and falling, slowly breathing bosom, were the cattle ranches and the farms which were the reason, for the town's existence.

From the Prairie, if you looked East, a Swell rose, over which the Road to LeQuire, wound. A White house on the Crest of that Swell. A white house with a white picket fence around it. Built in a rambling, one-story style, with gingerbread gables and gingerbread front across the proch. One knew that, that white was guarded, that men with guns kept watch night and day. Or so at least the town legend went.

Because in this white house lived, Choctaw Indian Chief, Green McCurtain. In his lifetiime of brilliant, dedicated service to His People, he had inevitably made many enemies. Although there was no longer any Choctaw Nation, Green McCurtain, himself, had to lead His People, out of their National Sovereignty, into the State of Oklahoma, it was still said that His Life was, by no means, secure. That it was constantly threatened and that devoted men, guarded him well.

Governor Green McCurtain was the father of Lena McCurtain-Moore, and the Grandfather of Corinne Moore-Rabon, Inez Moore and the young Green McCurtain Moore, and the later Moore Children.

                                 THE   CHOCTAW  INDIANS

For hundreds of years, the home of the Choctaw Indians had been Mississippi and southwestern Alabama. The Chickasaws were north of them, mostly in Tennessee, and the Creeks lived to the east in Alabama and Georgia. The Choctaw Indians were the Largest Branch of the Muskogean Linguistic Stock. they were closely related to the Chickasaws, who spoke a dialect of the Muskogean Language, and they were also, but more distantly, related to the Creeks and Seminoles.

As with all Indians there were tribal traditions about their origin. The Choctaw Tradition said they came from the Far West in the Distant Past, and as with the children of Israel, Moses guiding them with his rod, Their Leader, had a Sacred Pole, which he crried during the daytime. When the Tribe camped at night the pole was stuck in the ground. Every morning it was examined carefully. If it leaned in any directin, this was the direction they were to take, for their travels. It seems always to lean toward the east which meant they must continue traveling eastward.

When they reached a place in northern mississippi, they found the pole remaining upright one morning. This place they called Nanih Waya, the End of Their Journey, the place where Their Gods intended them to make their new home.

They built mounds and fortresses and the place became the Ceremonial and Ritual Center of Their Nation. Nanih Waya is in Present-Day Winston County, Mississippi.

The Legendary Account for the Chickasaws says that twin brothers, Chahtaw and Chikasah, actually led them out of the west, but as they neared the end of their long journey the two brothers quarrelled. Some of the people followed Chikasah, who branched off northward. The main group, however, continued to follow Chahtaw and setted in Mississippi.

For several centruies they lived peacefully and undisturbed. They were not a warlike people, usually going to war only in defense of their homes. They early became an agricultural people, raising corn, beans, squash, pumpkins and melons in little plots by their cabins. They were a very practical people. Although they owned less land than any of the surrounding tribes, they made better use of it, always raising more corn and beans than they needed and storing the surplus.

Corn was the most important element in their economic life, althought they also appreciated the importance of fruits, nuts, seeds and roots from the woods and made use of them, and stored them also. Every house had a corncrib, however and corn in the form of hominy and meal was the staple of life.

They hunted, too, but hunting was always secondary to agriculture. The buffalo had long disappeared, but they hunted deer, soetimes as far afield as Arkansas and Louisiana. they valued the meat of deer but primarily they needed the skins for clothing. The woods in Mississippi were full of small game which furnished them all the meat they needed. There were turkeys, pigeons, squirrels, beaver, otter, raccoon, possum and rabbits.

With great sense of organization they grouped their towns into three geographical divisions or districts: the Sixtown Indians, or Okla Hannali, in the south; the Long People,  or Okla Falaya, in the west; the Okla Tannap, or the People of the Opposite Side, were in the east.

There was No Tribal Chief. Instead, each district had a Head Chief. In War and other enterprises requiring a cooperative effort of the whole nation, the three chiefs acted together. There Was no Capital in the modern sense, since any chief might be succeeded by one from another village in his district. Succession to chieftainship depended partly upon personal ability and position and partly upon inheritance. Very early, therefore, certain family Dynasties of Great power and Influence, emerged.

Each town in a district also had it's chief who came somewhat under the authority of the Head Chief.  Besides the town shief, each village had a Tichou Mingo, who acted as the Chief's Speaker and Arranged the Feasts, Ceremonies, dances and so forth. There was also a War Chief, who led the men of the Village to War, and two Taskaminkochi, assistants to the War Chief.

Councils of a District were called by it's Head Chief, and councils of the Entire Nation, by the Three head Chiefs, acting together. Runners were sent to summon all the town shiefs to the assembly. The members of the council were greatly influenced by the judgment of the Head Chiefs, were usually guided by Their Suggestions and Recommendations, but  the decisions were always made in a democratic fashion and in accord with the wishes of the majority of those assembled.

The council usually dealt with such matters of Public Policy as Peace, War or Foreign Relations, but it also Exercised a Certain Judicial Power.

murder was the One Great Crime, Recognized among the Choctaws and was Invariably Avenged by the Relatives of the Victim. This was Tribal Law, and a Murderer Expected to be killed, in turn, and either quietly awaited his execution, or fled the country. This Tribal Law, so old and so inevitable, was Continued, well up into the Nineteenth Century.

As Practical as the Choctaws were, they were Not a Mystical People. They believed, rather vaguely, in some Deity or Great Spirit, but they believed this spirit lived pretty far off, was not too bothered about them, and they had No Religious Ceremonials, Honoring the Spirit, Nor did they Pray to it. They believed in Immortality in a somewhat vague way also, in some distant land, into which the deceased person eventually took up his abode.

The First Contact the Choctaws had, with the Whiteman was with De Soto and his men in 1540. The Spaniards were welcomed when they arrived...welcomed by Chief Tuscaloosa in his town of Tuscaloosa. De Soto demanded carriers and women. The Carriers were furnished and Chief Tuscaloosa promised them women, at Mabila (Mobile). To reach Mabila, De Soto demanded canoes. The Choctaws had no canoes, but made rafts for the Spaniards.

Then Chief Tuscaloosa was required to accompany the Spaniards. He managed to send runners ahead to assemble the warriors at Mabila. A pitched battle occurred when the Spaniards arrived. All the Choctaws were killed, but the Spaniards also suffered heavy losses. Twenty-two of De Soto's men, were killed and 148 were wounded, suffering 688 arrow wounds. De Soto remained in the vicinity about a month, burning and ravaging the country, then he marched northwest across the entire Choctaw country and entered the Chickasaw domains. Failing to find the wealth he was looking for, he then left, making no settlements.

For a Century and a half, the, the Choctaws saw no more of the white man. From 1700 on, however, the French were close neighbors along the Mississippi and around New Orleans, and the entire period of the eighteenth century was a time of French, Spanish, English and finally american intrigue and encroachment.

It was during htis period the Choctaws became acquainted with European grains and garden vegetables and began to acquire horses, cattle, hogs and barnyard fowls. It was during this period, also, that white men started marrying into the tribe, (one set of Brothers, three Folsom Brothers...1778). and began to Influence the Tribal Councils. Among the Most Prominent of them were the Folsom, who came from South Carolina; John Pitchlynn, the son of an Englishman; the French Canadians Louis and Michel LeFlore; and a Scotch-Irishman, named William McCurtain. William McCurtain, who is reputed to have come from County Ulster, Ireland, fathered ten sons. The brothers were: Cornelius McCurtain, Thomas McCurtain, Daniel McCurtain, John McCurtain, Luke McCurtain, Allen McCurtain, William McCurtain, jr...Canada McCurtain, Samuel McCurtain and Camper McCurtain.

All these men settled among the Choctaw Indians, during the last quarter of the eighteenth century and their descendants became Leaders, within the Choctaw Indian Tribe.

Mississippi became a Territory of the United States in 1798 and white men began to flock to the New Territory. The Choctaws were pressured to Cede Parts of Their Domain, to the American Government. Through various treaties from 1801 to 1820, they were persuaded to Cede most of Thier Outlying Lands, all of those in Alabama, all in the south and west of Mississippi.

By 1820 they had remaining to them, only their land in the North and the Northease. The payments for the land, Ceded, were Held in the Federal Treasurey and Issued to the Choctaws, in annuities each year.

If they had lost most of their land, they had made great material progress. The practical-minded Choctaws adapted themselves quickly to the white man's way of life, following his customs, in dress, in trade and in farming the land.

Many of them had great herds of cattle and they learned to raise cotton,learned to ca4rd, weave and spin it and make it into clothing, and they learned to market their surplus crops. Some of them accumulated considerable wealth and, following the example of the white planters, owned Negro Slaves.

Mississippi became a State in 1817, and the State could not abide a Separate Government of Choctaw Indians, in it's midst. It was also so crowded now that the Choctaw Lands, were coveted. In a series of treaties between 1820 and 1830, the Choctaws were persuaded to Cede Their Remaining Lands, in Mississippi and to Accept in Exchange, the Lands set aside for them, in the Indian Territory, west of the Mississippi River.

The Original Land Set Aside for Them, was the Entire Southern half of the present State of Oklahoma, bounded on the North by the Arkansas and Canadian Rivers, on the East by the Arkansas State Line, on the West by the Texas Line, and on the Wouth by the Red River.

Before any of the Choctaws could remove to their new country, however, it was discovered by the United States Government, that White Settlers were living in the Eastern Section and the Arkansas State Line had to be redrawn farther west. The Choctaws were persuaded to Cede this portion of their new country.

In time they were required to Cede or Lease the Entire Western half of their New Lands, One Portion to the Chickasaws, the farthest Western Portion, to the Plains Indians.

The Federal Government hoped the Choctaws would move voluntarily. An indian Agent, Mayor William McCellan, was appointed in 1826, and the next year he began to erect buildings for his agency about fifteen miles from Fort Smith, near old Fort Coffee, at what became known as Skullyville. By 1820, however, only 150 Choctaws had been induced to settle in the new land.

Mississippi State Leaders were becoming increasingly impatient over the slow removal of the Choctaws. in 1829 they passed legislatin abolishing the Tribal Government of the Choctaws and Making Them Citizens of Mississippi.

This threat to their national life caused the Choctaws to enter into a final traty at Dancing Rabbit Creek, in 1830, with the Federal Government. At Dancing Rabbit Creek, Secretary of War, John H. Eaton bullied the Choctaws, reminding them of their helplessness, and firmly declining to intervene in their behalf with the State of Mississippi. Hopeless and helpless, the Chctaw Leaders Signed the Treaty on September 17, 1830.

The Treaty provided that the United State would secure to them, "the jurisdiction and government of all the persons and property that may be within their limits west, so that No Territory or State Shall Ever Have a Right to Pass Laws, for the Government of the Choctaw Nation of Red People and their descendants; and that No Part of the Land Granted Them shall ever be Embraced in any Territory or State; but the U.S. shall Forever Secure said Choctaw Nation from, and against all laws except such as from time to time may be enacted in their own National Councils, not inconsistent with the Constitution, Treaties and Laws of the United States; and except such as may, and which have been enacted by Congress, to the extent that Congress, under the Constitution, are required to exercise a legislation, over Indian Affairs.

For three quarters of a century this was the Magna Charta, of the National Existence of the Choctaw Nation.

The Treaty Promised Numerous Annuities for the Support of their Government and Schools. It also gave Every Choctaw Head of a Family, the Opportunity of Remaining in Mississippi, selecting an allotment of land and becoming a Citizen of the United States. Those who chose to mover were to be paid for their cattle or other property left behind, and were to be provided with transportation to their new homes, and with food for twelve months, after their arrival.

Most of the Choctaws elected to move the  main removals occured during 1831, 1832 & 1833. Bids for the removals were opened to white contractors, who guaranteed food and transportation. But so ruthless were the contractors, in their greed, so poor were the food and transportation that many of the Choctws who could afford it bore the expense of removal themselves.

The suffereings of the emigrants were indescribable and beyond belief. The way was terribly difficult under the best circumstances--350 miles through swamps, dense forests, impenetrable thickets and canebreaks and swollen rivers. The Choctaws were Forced to Walk Most of the Way. Crossing the Mississippi River they were crowded onto anything that would float. One ancient steamboat blew up, crowded to the rails with the Indians, and several hundred were killed.

A white child, a girl about thirteen years of age, lived with her parents on the road the Choctaws took through northern Mississippi. She witnessed the terrible sufferings of the Indians as, for weeks and weeks in 1831, the long, heartbreaking lines filed past her home. The people were pushed and prodded along like cattle. The old and the sick, all who weakened and could not keep the pace, were abandoned. Of the old and the sick, many were simply shoved into a hollow log and left to die.

The white family helped those who could be helped, gave them food and shelter until they could take up the march again--and they buried those who died. The wondered at the brutality of the white man in charge of this removal.

Elizabeth Wooverton, the White Child, was to become great-grandmother, to Janice Holt-Giles. Her parents, personally had nothing to do with the removeal of the Choctaws, but multiplied by hundreds of thousands like them, who had swarmed into the country, they had everything to do with it, and must share the collective guilt.

Perhaps the figures tell the story best. Around 20,000 Choctaws attempted the removal. The population of the Choctaw Nation in 1845 was 12,700. Their hardships did not end when they reached the end of the trail in their new country. They endured two or three years of starvation, sickness and death after their arrrival.

One cannot escape the thought that while in Washington, D.C. it may have been believed the most humane solution to the problem of Choctaws in Mississippi had been reached, in the lands of local agents of the Federal government the best solution seemed to be the death of as many Choctaws as possible.

Three centuries after their first contact with the white man, the Choctaws were expelled from their Ancient Home. They settled into their new home to work out their problmems.

They took with them their own forms of National Govenment. They divided the New Land into three familiar districts: the Okla Falaya, along the Red River, in the southeast; the Moshalatubbee, in the north, bounded by the Arkansas River, and the Pushmataha, to the west of the Kiamichi River.

As soon as they recovered from the trauma of the removals, the Choctaws began to prosper. Their new country was wild, but beautiful, and soon towns and settlements sprang up and trails and roads crisscrossed the ocuntry. The largest town was Doaksville, in the southeastern district. The Federal Government established a Post Office there in 1832. Other post offices were estblished at Skullyville, near Fort Smith, in 1833; Eagletown in 1834; Perryville in 1841, and Boggy Depot in 1849.

These were small but thriving towns, with hotels, blacksmith shops, general stores and markets. They were located on important highways which flowed through the Nation toward Texas. A newspaper, the Choctaw Telegraph, was established at Doaksville in 1848, succeeded in 1850 by the Choctaw Intelligencer.

All lands were held in Community. No Choctaw owned land, but he was free to settle upon the land where he pleased so long as he did not trespass upon land already fenced and worked by somebody else. He could fence as much as he pleased and let his cattle roam in the enclosure, he could plow and farm as much land as he had the funds, the equipment, the time and family members to farm.

Inevitably some families already grown wealthy by their efforts in Mississippi, already owning slaves, took over vast acreages and fenced and ran extensive herds of cattle on them, raised hugh fields of cotton and became wealthier still.

Among these families were the Folsoms, Pitchlynns, Walkers, LeFlores, Joneses and McCurtains. They were the Leaders among the Choctaws, accepted, honored and respected by them. The people looked to them for leadership and the members of these families provided it in very much the same way the members of the Aristocracy in England assumed political Responsibility for their nation. They were Better Educated and Better Trained, by Tradition and Experience, for Positions of Leadership.

The Choctaws were fortunate in the appointment of a New Agent, shortly after the Removal. William Armstrong was to prove a Valian and Trusted Friend. As soon as the Choctaws were settled in their New Home, Armstrong Urged Them to Build Log Buildings and Organize the Schools, provided by the Treaty annuities. Some of these schools were opened as early as 1833-1834. By 1842 a comprehensive school system was established and every district had schools.

In 1834 the Choctws, again following in the footsteps of their white brethren, changed their form of government. They wrote a Constitution and They Vested All Authority in a General Council which should be composed of twenty-seven elected members, paid for their services from the tribal annuities.

The Three District Chiefs were also to be elected and, EX OFFICIO, were to be members of the General Council. Any two of them could Veto Legislative Enactments. The Laws were in Written Form and a Copy was Deposited with the U.s. Agent. In the Central Part of Their Settlements near the Present Site of Tuskahoma, they built a Spacious Log Council House, which wa given the Sacred Name of Naih Waya.

This Experiment in an Elective Form of Government was Amended in 1843, when a BiCameral Council was Decided Upon. A Senate was Established with Four members from Each District, Holding Office for Two Years, and a House of Representatives Elected Annually, Based on the Population of the Districts.

but this Form of Goernment Proved Unsatisfactory. It was too unwieldly and there was No Central Power. Finally, in 1857, a New Constitution was Drafted at Skullyville Which Abolished the Office of District Chief and Created a Principal Chief, or Govenor, for the Entire Choctaw Nation.

this almost caused a civil War in the Nation, because a Considerable portion of the Citizens objected to the Abolition of the District Chiefs, and to the removal of the Capital From Tuskahoma to Doaksville. A Compromise was Eventually reached and in January of 1860, at Doaksville, a Constitution was Written which Satisfied All. The Final Constitution retained the District Organization the District Chiefs and courts, but provided for a National Government, with  a Principal Chief.

The Districts wree now divided into counties which constituted an election district for members of the Council and served as a unit of local administration. Moshalatubbee District, into which John and Lucy Holt moved in 1902, consisted of five counties...Sugarloaf, Skullyville, San Bois, Gaines and Tobucksy.

The County Officers were elected for a term of two years and consisted of a Judge, a Sheriff and a Ranger. The Ranger's Duty was to attend to the Advertising and Sale of Strayed Livestock. The county Judge appointed an Official who served as Clerk and Treasurer, and the Sheriff Appointed His Deputies.

The Principal Chief was elected by the People for a two-year term. He could succeed himself for another two-year term, but he then became ineligible for re-election until at least one term of office had intervened. He was the head of the National Government and had great executive authority, partly through his Constitutional Powers and partly through Legislative Enactment.

Principal Chiefs actually never retired from Politics. As soon as they retired from their two terms in succession they entered the Council where their experience was much valued. It was also customary to seek election for a third term as soon as the the Constitutional ineligibility had expired.

The Official Title was Principal Chie, but unofficially the Head of the Nation was usually called, "Governor".

The Other Executive Officiers of the Government were the National Secretary, National Treasurer, National Auditor and National Attorney. These Officials were elected for two-year terms in the years between gubernatorial elections. Thus the Choctaws had National Elections every year, on the first Wednesday in August.

With very few amendments, the Constitution of 1860, which provided for a General Concil of two houses and a Supreme Court and the executive officers, was the Fundamental Law of the Choctaw Nation throughout the Rest of it's Existence.

The Official Seal of the Choctaw Nation, with it's Bow and Crossed Arrows and Combined Pip and Hatchet, now form a Part of the Great Seal of the State of Oklahoma.

In the Moshalatubbe District in Mississippi, the McCurtain Family had been Prominent since the Last Quarter of the Eighteenth Centruy. As has been said, the Original William McCurtain, who married into the tribe had ten sons. The Most Outstanding of these sons was Cornelius who was born in 1803.

As has also been said, in the New Choctaw Country the Moshalatubbee District was located in the Northern Section of the Choctaw Lands, near the Arkansas and Canadian Rivers, near the Arkansas Town of Fort Smith. Under the New Constitution it became the First District, it's Largest Settlement was Skullyville. The Post Office was at Skullyville and annuities, in the First District were paid at Skullyville. The name derives from the Choctaw word ISKOLI, which means Money.

After the family, of the Author of this Book, moved from Kinta, they lived for two years in the Village of Cowlington, just twelve miles from Skullyville. Many times they drove to Spiro, the Larger Town which grew up near Skullyville, to shop. On the way they passed through Skullyville. The Writer of this Book, remembered a School, a General Store and the Post Office. It was in the Post-Office Building that Annuities had been paid to First District Choctaws for so many years. The Old Post-Office Building is still standing, the only builidng of Olde Skullville, left. It is now occupied by an Antique Shoppe. Skullyville died because the Fort Smith & western Railroad bypassed it and everybody moved to the New Town of Spiro, created by the Railroad's Route.

NOTE: For the Continued Story...of the Choctaw Nation & It's Leadership...see the Story of Cornelius McCurtain, in a separate article than this one...One Called: Cornelius McCurtain, The Heritage...Continues !!                             (Hazel Davis, bojacks1@yahoo.com)