Indian Pioneer Papers - Index

Indian Pioneer History Project for Oklahoma
Date:  Oct 29, 1937
Name:  Mildred McIntosh Childers
Post Office:  Broken Arrow, Oklahoma
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Field Worker: Effie S. Jackson
Interview # 12011

I am a descendant of eight generations of McIntoshes. You can find the genealogy of the old Scotch family in any history of Georgia. I will start with my more immediate ancestors. Captain William McIntosh, the ill-fated leader of his people who was murdered in Georgia, was married twice, each time taking a Creek wife; by one he was the father of Chief William McIntosh and by the other father of Roderick better known as Roley II.

Chief William McIntosh, leader of the Lower Creeks, was married three times; his first wife was Sussannah Coe, a Creek; his second wife was Peggy, a Cherokee, and his third wife was Eliza Hawkins.

By Sussannah he was the father of Daniel Hewman McIntosh and another son best known by his Indian name – Artuami ccache – an Indian name meaning Orator – for he was well known for his oratorical ability. He was often also called Armstrong according to Willie McComb, Eufaula historian. By Eliza Hawkins Chief William McIntosh was the father of Chilly McIntosh Artuami ccache married a Creek woman of the Tulladegee town. To them was born a son; Roley, who was called Roley III. He was my father. He had little formal education, but by contacts with whites in Washington and officials in Indian Territory he mastered the English language.

My father, Roley III, was admitted to the bar under the Creek law and had held nearly every office in his nation except that of principal chief. The unwritten law of the Creek Nation has seemed to decree that no McIntosh should ever hold the highest office in the Creek Nation; this dates back to the tragic death of William McIntosh. Isparhecher belonged to the McIntosh faction of the Creeks and when he was Principal Chief from 1895 to 1899 my father, Roley McIntosh III, was Second Chief.

My mother was Bessie Vann, a Creek girl of Cheyana town, whose home was near Catoosa; there were four children by the marriage of Roley III and Bessie Vann; Bonnar, known as Bunnie, Moses, Janet and myself, Mildred. There were two sons by my father’s second marriage, Tom and John. There was a Roley C. McIntosh, known as “Cub”, who was the son of Daniel N. and Jane Ward. A fifth Roley McIntosh, whom we might call Roley V is the son of the late “Bunnie” McIntosh, my brother. He was a captain in the 186th Division of the A. E. F. in the World War; his title is now Major Roley McIntosh and I believe he lives at Eufaula.

I was born in Little Coweta about eighteen miles west of Eufaula in the 60’s. I went to country school at Little Coweta and in 1885 to Bacone, finished Carlisle in 1891 and then west to Greyson College, Whiteright, Texas, and to Texas Normal at Denton.

I married Dan Childers in 1898 and moved four miles southwest of what is today Broken Arrow. The real Broken Arrow settlement was four miles south of the present Broken Arrow; it was a community or clan that came intact from Georgia at the time of the Removal. I was here four years before the present Broken Arrow was surveyed.

While Isparhacher was chief, 1895-1899, I was his private secretary and my father was Second Chief. I remember the two most important days in my life. Chief Isparhecher had been called to Fort Smith by Judge Isaac C. Parker, the “hanging judge” on some tribal business; my father was in Eufaula on some business and could not be located so I was invested with temporary authority to sign papers and to deal with all matters officially referred to the chief by the council then in session. I was the only woman ever so honored by the Creek Nation. I have received other recognition from my people. When my brother, Bunnie, died in 1932 I was elected a member of the House of Warriors to take his place. I was elected from the town of Cheyaha and have held that office ever since. At the nomination meeting in 1935 in New Town, my daughter, Mrs. Mitchell Boudinot, served as warrior pro tem.

When the Creek lands were being allotted J. H. Lynch and I served as clerks in the Creek Citizenship Court and passed on questions relating to doubtful claims of the white people, freedmen and alien Indians. Alex Posey and I were among members of the Committee of Eighteen which compiled the Creek census. In 1903, I was elected secretary of the House of Warriors defecting David M. Hodge. I am the only woman who had ever held any official position in the Creek National Council.

I was sent as one of the seven delegates by the Creek Nation to Washington in 1928 to seek extension of time on restriction of allotments. We succeeded in having the date moved forward to 1956. The other delegates were the Reverend Mr. Johnson E. Tiger (deceased), William A. Sapulpa, Sam Anderson (Muskogee), Sarty Cowie (Wetumka), Sarty Deacon (deceased) and H. M. Hargo (deceased). In 1935, I was the only Indian delegate at a convention of Women’s Missionary Council of the M. E. Church South, which was held at Centenary Church in St. Louis. Forty conferences were represented at this meeting. In December, 1935, I was a delegate at the Methodist Conference at Memphis. I took eleven young Indian delegates with me; there was an attendance of more than six thousand.

I have three children: Clarence Childers, in the Indian Service, Pine Ridge, South Dakota, Ruby (Mrs. Eliot Bruner), also in the Indian Service at Pine Ridge, South Dakota, Eloise (Mitchell) Boudinot, who lives with me in Broken Arrow; Okema (princess) Boudinot, eleven years old, is my granddaughter and she is well known for her dancing work in expression.

I was chosen by the Democratic Women’s Club of Broken Arrow to officially receive Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt, wife of the President of the United States on her visit to Broken Arrow (1937).

I have a picture of a group of Indian delegates to Washington taken in front of Mount Vernon. This photograph contains likenesses of Roley McIntosh, my father, David H. Hodge, Mrs. David Hodge, Yargee, Mr. and Mrs. A. P. McKellop, (Mr. McKellop is deceased, Mrs. McKellop is now living in California) and Thomas Knight, Greenleaf Town.

THE CHILDERS’ FAMILY

One mile south of Broken Arrow on State Highway #51, one mile west on a county road, three miles south and one mile west is the old Daniel Childers’ home. Daniel Childers was the father-in-law of Mrs. Mildred McIntosh Childers. Daniel had married an Ella Perryman long before the war. Mrs. Childers says that the old family legend is that the Childers’ family settled there at the time of the Removal. Old Daniel had nine sons all dead except her husband, Daniel. Some of the sons’ children are living, Zella and Floy, daughters of James Childers, Zella is teaching at Chilocco and Floy is attending schools at Stillwater A. and M. Ben Childers’ children, Mose and his two sisters live at Coweta.

Only a remodeled two room building remained of the original Childers’ homestead. A modern home adjoins the old building.

The old home was build before the war and was one of the first houses in that part of the country. It was a large double log house with an immense fireplace. Mrs. Childers recalls that the large hearthstone was of particular interest to her because imbedded deep in its surface were the carved words: Roley McIntosh. Where the carving came from or why it was there no one knows. The stone broke eventually.

Mrs. Childers says that Acee Blue Eagle is a McIntosh, the grandson of Alexander McIntosh, who was a grandson of Roley Roderick who was the son of Captain William McIntosh of Georgia. Alexander McIntosh was a member of the Creek House of Warriors in 1887, assistant judge of the Muskogee district for three years and in 1898 was appointed Superintendent of Schools for the Creek Nation by Chief Isparhacher.

Acee Blue Eagle’s name is Alexander McIntosh but he used the A in Alec and adopted the Blue Eagle, because he wished to make his name on his own and not on the basis of family recognition or influence.

[Transcribers Notes: In the IPP document, Mildred Childers states that Artuami Ccache was the son of Chief William McIntosh Jr. and his wife Susannah. According to information from Chinnubbie McIntosh and Bill N. Boatmun A.K.A Mcintosh, Artuami was not the son of Chief William McIntosh Jr.; he was the adopted son of Chief William McIntosh Jr. Artuami was not a McIntosh by Blood.]

Transcribed for OKGenWeb by Ron Long, April 2001.