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JAMES CULBERSON
Vol. 3, p. 1059

There is no man in the Choctaw Nation better acquainted with Choctaw
politics that is the Hon. James Culberson, deputy tax assessor of
Bryan County, at Durant, Oklahoma. For a number of years he has been
actively associated with the prominent men of that nation in the
successful conduct of its affairs. From the age of twenty-two until
the admission of the Indian Territory to the Union, with Oklahoma, he
was associated with Governor Green MCCURTAIN, and perhaps no man knew
the life and character of this famed and brainy Choctaw better than
did Mr. Culberson.

It has been said, and with some degree of accuracy, that the
politics of the State of Oklahoma are as child's play in comparison
with the political and maneuvers of the Choctaw and Cherokee
politicians. These two tribes are by nature given to the study of
politics, and their sons are trained carefully in the art and
chicanery that is ever the key to political supremacy. They are
leaders among the tribes in matters of education, and their combined
talents make them formidable opponents in all matters bearing a
political aspect. And Chief Green McCurtain was foremost among them
all. Mr. Culberson, in speaking of Chief McCurtain said: "He was a
powerful Orator." And again he said: "He was an honest man, and the
smartest man we ever had." Other leaders whose privilege it was Mr.
Culberson's to know intimately, where Governor Dukes, Wilson Jones,
Joe P. Tolsom, Allen Wright, and Dick Locke, the latter now governor.

James Culberson was born in old Skullyville County of the Choctaw
Nation on April 21, 1870, and he is the son of John and Lucy
(MCDONALD) Culberson. The father was a full-blood Choctaw, while the
mother was a white woman of Texas birth. They were married in 1869
and they became the parents of three children. James, of this review,
is the eldest. E. W. is a resident of Bower, Oklahoma. Joan married
J. P. LEE, a farmer of Albany, Oklahoma. John Culberson came from
Mississippi with the first delegation of Choctaws in 1832. At that
time he was only a little boy. When he grew up he located near
Skullyville, then a steamboat landing on the Arkansas River, and
there lived until the Civil war broke out, when he enlisted in the
command of Gen. Douglass H. COOPER. He passed through the war with
only minor injuries, and when peace was restored he returned to
Skullyville and resumed his life as a ranchman. Mr. Culberson was a
man of a deeply religious nature, and was a devout member of the
Methodist Church. His wife was the daughter of a Scotchman who had
come into the territory prior to the war and conducted a blacksmith
shop at old Skullyville. It was there the young Choctaw met and won
the white daughter of the Scot, and they were married in 1869, as has
already been stated.

James Culberson had the best educational advantages his people could
arrange for him. He was graduated from Spencer Academy and the
Southwestern Presbyterian University at Clarksville, Tennessee,
receiving the degree of A. B. from the latter institution in 1890.
His return to his home in the Choctaw Nation was marked by his
entrance into the politics of the nation, and he was well equipped in
his mentality and training for that life. He was elected county clerk
of Sugar Loaf County when he was twenty-two years old. He was later
elected district clerk and served in that office for a term, after
which he became attorney general for the Choctaw Nation, filling that
office during the time when Green McCurtain was principal chief of
the nation. During these years Mr. Culberson attended the various
political conventions held throughout the nations, and when the
Sequoyah Convention was called at Muskogee in 1904, to prepare a
constitution for separate statehood, he had served as member of the
convention for the allotment of lands, held at Atoka. His service in
the nation has been singularly valuable throughout, and it would be
difficult indeed to accurately estimate the extent and merit of his
activities since he came to manhood.

In 1897 Mr. Culberson was married to Martha HARRIS, daughter of M.
H. Harris, of LeFlore, Oklahoma. Their children are James M.; Mary
C.; John; and Ruth. The two first named are now students in the
public schools. Mrs. Culberson is the daughter of white parents, and
her father is a merchant in LeFlore. She was a school teacher for
some time prior to her marriage.

Mr. Culberson and his family have membership in the Presbyterian
Church. He is a Mason and a democrat in his political faith. In 1904
he moved to Durant and took up his residence, having made his
allotment of land in the vicinity of this place, at the time of the
Government distribution.

Mr. Culberson speaks the Choctaw, as well as the English language,
fluently and has translated various court documents into the English
language and which are now on file in the Supreme courts of the
United States, besides acting as an interpreter at any and all
necessary occasions and most especially in court proceedings. All
this difficult and tedious work has been done by him conscientiously
and with a strict adherence to truth for the benefit of his people.
He is enrolled as a half-blood Choctaw and as A-6722.

Typed for OKGenWeb by Janie Edwards, August 1999.