Elijah Harlan Chickasaw Freedmen

by Robin L. Hughey January 14, 2020

As I start this journey of 52 Ancestors in 52 weeks. I’ve started with the first person I came across on the Dawes Roll Elijah Harlan. Elijah Harlan is one of my second great grandfathers.His son Eli Harlan Sr. is one of my maternal great grandfathers. Eli third child JoAnn Harland Norton is my maternal grandmother, she was the 3rd of 10 children. Elijah Harlan was born 1871 in Indian Territory present day Oklahoma to former slaves mixed with Africans, European and Native American who were enslaved by the Chickasaw and Choctaw. Elijah wrote to the Dawes Commission asking to placed on the by blood rolls. Per Elijah’s daughter Callie Harlan (my great grandfathers Eli Harlan’s full sister) application packet. Please note that Elijah packet cannot be located at this time. Many other Freedmen records have gone missing or said to be misplaced through the Dawes enrollment process.

Please note that Elijah Harlan wrote the Dawes commission asking that him and his brother Joe Harlan be moved to the by blood for the Chickasaw nation.Due to his mother Malinda James( my 3rd great grandmother) being half Chickasaw by blood, she is dead at the time of Dawes enrollment. This means that if he and his sibling are recognized as Citizens of the Chickasaw Nation they would receive a land allotment of 320 acres compared to the 40 acres they received as Freedmen.Please also note there are many other Freedmen with similar tales of this Ancestry all through the Dawes Enrollment process. What is not known at present is who were Malinda James parents? Tams Bixby replied with a narrative that he and his sibling had already been approved as Freedmen. An if his mother was part Native that might be the case but, she was still a “SLAVE’. Please note that Tams Bixby after working for the Dawes Commission stayed in Indian Territory and became a local community leader an sold by land parcels that the government had not allotted to the Natives and Freedmen to white settlers of Indian Territory. Elijah did receive his land allotment but, not his Chickasaw Citizenship. Many mixed African and Native American were placed on the Freedmen rolls, I can only guess due to there complexion and general appearance. I can’t imagine having your heritage literally stripped away from you with a swipe of a pen. As my family’s heritage way done just that way. Please note that from other family historians. It’s said that they spoke the language and practiced the cultural of the Chickasaw people and community that they had grown up in.

I had long been told that we were part Native American as I grew up here in Texas and as we visited our family in McAlester Oklahoma frequently. But as I grew older and family members start to pass away. You start to question this lineage. Am I really part Native American or is this really family lore as so many other families have come to find out. What I discovered back in 2018 when I started my genealogical journey is something that has been erased from History books. I rediscovered that my SOME of family were former slaves of the Five Civilized Tribes. The Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek and the Seminole.

Wait!?! what? Wow, this discovery sent me into a tailspin. Enslaved! A quick Google search of Choctaw or Chickasaw Freedmen quickly lead me to some blogger and historians on the subject. Like Angela Walton Raji, Terry Ligon and Nicka Smith all descendants of said history like myself. From these bloggers and historical records on the matter, truly left me a little confused and fascinated. Nobody talks about this, “Indian slave owners.” So I buckled down and started to research this lineage. I immediately called my maternal grandmothers youngest sister to try to confirm this newly discovered information. Who,when its said and done still lives on what is left of one of our ancestors Dawes Allotment ( Please see Curtis Act) in Oklahoma. The Dawes Act was really an attack on tribal sovereignty but, that’s another whole another blog post. As,I started to tell my great aunt of my finding she was elated. I told her of my finding and states those names sound familiar. Please note that my great aunt is the youngest of 10 children and there father Eli Harlan died when she was just 18 months old. Currently there are 6 of Elijah and Isabinda Blue Harlan grandchildren still living present day.Four from there son Eli Harlan and 2 of there daughter Amanda Harlan. Eli Harlan family history has been hidden from my Harlan clan until I went looking for this history.So, she wasn’t really sure about a lot of the information I had discovered. She quickly referred me to Amanda “Mandy” Harlan descendant Eli Harlan full older sister born in 1899. I quickly realized this part of my family knew a lot. Amanda lived until 1980 unlike Eli who died in 1953.

So I trekked on to get to concrete answers to my newly discovered family history. From Amanda Harlan’s descendant gave me clues to other family members listed on the Dawes Roll. Some by blood and some of Freedmen descendant. Like the Cochran’s, Frazier’s, Blue’s, Colbert’s, Nolitubby’s and James’s just to name a few.

I don’t think I could have imagined such a detailed historical data reference as the Dawes Commission has provided for descendants of this history like myself. Please note that the back of Freedmen cards specifically names there enslavers by name. Here in black and white I get a name to an origin to my for my maternal grandmothers surname. Which her brothers and a lot of there descendant still carry present day in 2020. The Harlan family has a long lineage of being slave owners here in the United States of America. We will get to that part of the family history in other blogs. Please also note I have tested several members of this lineage and we do share dna with by blood members of the Choctaw, Choctaw, Cherokee and Creek Nations. We do share dna with some of our mixed Native and European enslavers descendants. What cannot be said at this time is which particular ancestors we share. I am currently trying to sort out this part of our DNA mystery.

At first glance, we see that Elijah names S.A. Harlan as his former families slave owners. Please note that the S.A.Harlan on the back of this card is Sarah Ann Moncrief Harlan 1/8th Choctaw Nation Citizen. Sarah Ann Harlan lived a long life. Long enough to get into the Western History Indian Pioneer Papers at Oklahoma University a collection of the first arrivals to Indian Territory. Sarah lived to be almost a hundred years old. Sarah’s Ann Harlan’s Biography in the Pioneer Papers does give a horrific and detailed account of the Choctaw and there enslaved that accompanied them on the Trail of Tears from their homelands in Alabama an Mississippi. Unlike poorer Native American rich slave owners mixed Natives like Sarah and her European descendant husband Aaron Harlan. Received a government payment for there move into Indian Territory. As I read through Sarah biography it isn’t quite the Trail of Tears narrative portrayed in American History books. The narrative is truly still very troubling but, a one of resilience and perseverance. But as many history books tell of a long suffering walk. My ancestors took a steamboat from the Gulf of Mexico through New Orleans an up the Mississippi River into Indian Territory. That’s the part that the History Books leave out among other things. The tale that Sarah tell is still one of disease, death and distrust. She tells how they are preyed upon by the steamboat crew. Just because they are just part Native . The steamboat crew tried to take advantage of that heritage and this time of uncertainty, by stealing and robbing from them. I couldn’t believe how I was able to find a detailed wise witness account of my ancestors “Trail of Tears” narrative. Just “WOW”.

I hope you have enjoyed my first blog post.This was a lot of information to process for a first post. So many ancestors and so many stories to tell. Please feel free to leave a comment or ask a question.