Indian Pioneer Papers - Index

Indian Pioneer History Project for Oklahoma
Date: 
Name: Laura Suagee Chaney 
Post Office: 
Residence Address: 120 N. Delaware, Bartlesville, Oklahoma
Date of Birth: February 5, 1874
Place of Birth: south of Grove Springs, Indian Territory
Father: David Suagee
Place of Birth:
Information on father: full blood Cherokee Indian
Mother: Louisa England
Place of Birth:
Information on mother: one sixteenth Cherokee Indian
Field Worker: Alene D. McDowell
Interview #:

A DAUGHTER OF OKLAHOMA

Mrs. Laura Chaney was born February 5, 1874, south of Grove Springs, Indian Territory, (now know as Grove, Oklahoma).

Father; David Suagee, a full blood Cherokee Indian

Mother; Louisa England, who was one sixteenth Cherokee Indian

I was born on the homestead south of Grove, the same place and in the same house where my father was born. Our home was a double log house with a hall through the center. My parents reared ten children of which there are two now living.

My father was born and reared on the homestead ranch, improved by his father, making his home there all of his life with the exception of eighteen months, when he moved his family to Afton, Oklahoma. We were all very dissatisfied and he decided to return to the farm. My father served as a Confederate soldier during the Civil War. He died of Tuberculosis and is buried in a country cemetery near the old home.

My mother was also a native of Oklahoma, but I do not know where her birthplace is located. She was left with six minor children at my father’s death. She continued to live on the ranch for awhile, then moved to Vinita, where we resided for a number of years. While living at Vinita she lost her six younger children with Tuberculosis, within a period of a few years.

After my father’s death, I remained at home to help my mother with the younger children and did not marry until I was thirty-four years of age. My mother died and is buried in Bartlesville, Oklahoma.

I received by early education in a country school near Grove. I later attended the Female Seminary at Tahlequah, Oklahoma, where I received a second grade certificate. Mr. W. W. Hastings, who was Congressman from that District for a number of years, was one of my teachers. I taught two terms of school, one at the Sager School and the other at the Sickatoo school. These were both country schools, held in a log cabin.

My allotment was located between the two forks of the Caney River, northwest of Bartlesville, Oklahoma. This was bottom land and was appraised at $5.00 an acre, and contained fifty acres. It was appraised too high, because of the fact it was overflow land, and I tried to have it re-appraised but due to the fact that I filed the complaint too late, this could not be done. There was a time limit for filing complaints. This took up the valuation of my allotment.

In 1908, I married William H. Chaney; also of Cherokee extraction. His mother was a full blood Cherokee and his father was a white man. His mother was a native of Oklahoma and his father was born in Maryland. After our marriage we made our home in Vinita for a number of years, later moved to Bartlesville, where we have lived for twenty years. Mr. Chaney is a driller in the oil fields.

We are the parents of two children, Lucille, who is twenty-seven years of age, works for the Indian Agency at Muskogee, Oklahoma. She was Chief deputy in the County Clerk’s office of Washington County for eight years before moving to Muskogee. Our youngest child died at birth.

While living at Vinita, we lived near ‘Chief Buffington’ who became an intimate friend of our family. ‘Chief Buffington’ was one of the early day Cherokee Chiefs.

Comments: Mrs. Chaney has a wonderful personality and is very interesting to talk with. Due to ill health the last year she states she has forgotten many things that would be of interest to Oklahoma History.

Mrs. Chaney has a book from the Tahlequah School that tells of the early history and the fire of the school. It also gives the names of the early enrollments in the school. 

Mrs. Chaney is of the opinion that the world is progressing too fast and believes the people are not as happy as they were in the old days when they had no modern conveniences, and had to work hard. Her parents were prosperous farmers and raised their living, now the farmer sells his produce and buys his living in cans and paper sacks.

Transcribed for OKGenWeb by Catherine Widener <catz@kcisp.net>  March 2002.