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The Tulsa Beacon

 

Rosemary Durham

History is not sequential, but many parallel ventures

Tulsa Beacon

[Why our area has its unique political and religious attitudes.] To most people, the history of Oklahoma and Indian Territory began at the atrocity called the Trail of Tears. We have traced the Cherokee to 1824 in previous columns, which brought the early groups to the location of the original Dwight Mission near Petit Jean…

Radios play a crucial role in dealing with our weather

Tulsa Beacon

[Why our area has its unique political and religious attitudes.] After the most wonderful time of the year and the winter solstice, people familiar with our area begin the preparation and anticipation for spring storms. There is a reason the area has the moniker “Tornado Alley”. This column will take a decidedly contemporary application of…

What were Christmases like in early Indian Territory?

Tulsa Beacon

[Why our area has its particular political and religious attitudes.] Christmas! What other Holy Day creates such feelings of joy, happiness, mirth, merriment, and despair? I am naturally of the ‘feel good’ temperament driven by dopamine, but also see the melancholy side of many. To everyone, the year has been fraught with frustration, apprehension, and…

A community of mission leaders helped bring about peace

Tulsa Beacon

[Why our area has its unique political and religious attitudes.] Among the very first Old Settler Cherokees, who migrated from near Chickamauga, Tennessee, was a distinguished clan who influenced the nation to this day. Talontuskee (Disrupter) was the leader of the tribe after 1817 while they lived near Illinois Bayou and Petit Jean Creek along…

The mother of a Cherokee clan truly changed the world

Tulsa Beacon

[Why our area has its unique political and religious attitudes.] The leaders of the Old Settler Cherokee who moved west of the Mississippi were of the same clan, and apparently the same mother. For over 30 years, we have pursued genealogy with history. Deciphering the mothers of the late 1700s is extremely difficult. Why? Until…

The New Madrid earthquake shook up a lot of Indians

Tulsa Beacon

[Why our area has its unique political and religious attitudes.] Road trip, some of our favorite words. Ehh, we have to navigate Memorial Drive to reach the backroads. The first villages of Old Settler Cherokee had moved from Tennessee to the New Madrid area, west of the Mississippi River the year before the great earthquakes,…

Crossing the Mississippi River was a complicated process

Tulsa Beacon

[Why our area has its unique political and religious attitudes.] The movement of the southeastern woodlands Indians across the Mississippi River occurred over a century in spurts. As a new village chief became frustrated with the state-of-affairs, he would move his clan across the great river to get away from the burgeoning United States and…