L. W. Wilson interviewed Mrs. Josephine Wilson Pennington in Hulbert, Oklahoma, on October 12, 1937. In this excerpt, Wilson uses the third person to paraphrase what Mrs. Pennington said.

In the early nineties the Dawes Commission was formed and by 1896 had started operating.

Arrangements were affected and laws made that the Cherokee Nation was to be owned individually not severally. Headquarters for the Commission in the Cherokee Nation was at Tahlequah. Enrollment parties were organized, to get all qualified Cherokees to enroll so that land could be allotted to them. A great many wanted to enroll, who had hardly ever seen an Indian but they were not allowed to do so in most instances. Some, however, did sneak in and enroll. Many of the Indians did not like the idea and would not enroll but the Government enrolled them anyway, knowing they were entitled to allotments.

The land was appraised at from $.50 to $6.00 per acre. This appraisal accounts for some receiving more acreage than others since the allotment to Cherokees was by value rather than acreage.

Townsites were laid out, section lines run and allotments made. Mrs. Pennington’s mother was allotted the old home of her grandfather, Chief John Ross. Many of the Cherokees were allotted the land which they occupied at the time allotment was made.

One of the men who rode the hills trying to get the full bloods to enroll was himself a full blood Cherokee, who talked and wrote Cherokee as well as English. He is a farmer living today in Gooseneck bend, southeast of Muskogee. One of the appraisers was Jim Henderson.

In the office at Tahlequah was Osie Rattlingourd who was the official interpreter or at least one of them for the Commission. Walter Rattlingourd was one of the file clerks, and there was a Mr. Cobb who was a clerk in some capacity. Mrs. Wilson enrolled all of her children and each received an allotment.1

ENDNOTES

1 Josephine Pennington, Interview 7783, vol. 70, Hulbert, Okla., Oct. 12, 1937, 398–99, Indian Pioneer Papers, Western History Collections, University of Oklahoma, Norman, Okla.