Indian Pioneer History Project for Oklahoma
Date: April 9, 1937
Name:
James Walkingstick (Mr. & Mrs.) & Mrs. R. L. Taylor
Post Office: none given
Date of Birth:
Place of Birth:
Father:
Place of Birth:
Information on father:
Mother:
Place of birth:
Information on mother:
Field Worker: W. J. B. Bigby
Mrs. R. L. Taylor, a Cherokee Indian, was born in Alabama, near Big Lee's Creek, on June 11, 1856. Her parents, Benj. F. Paden and Elizabeth (Miller) Paden, both Cherokees, came to the Cherokee Nation, now Adair County, Oklahoma, when Mrs. Taylor was only eighteen months old.
The Padens settled and made a farm near the head of Little Lee's Creek about three miles southeast of the present town of Stilwell, Oklahoma. Their reason for settling here was, the good land and a fine spring of water. Here is where Mrs. Taylor spent her childhood, she attended school and Sunday School and Church at Muddy Springs, Ewing Chapel and Honey
Hill.
On June 1, 1880, she married Richard L. Taylor, a Cherokee. They are the parents of five children, four girls and one boy. Mrs. Taylor now lives in Stilwell, Oklahoma.
Her husband, Richard L. Taylor, a Cherokee, was born in Flint District, Cherokee Nation, July 31, 1854.
He was a very successful farmer and in his middle life he became interested in politics, holding several offices. He was sheriff a number of times and National Councilman several times. He died August 13, 1934.
Transcribers Note: Mrs. R.L. Taylor was Margaret Elmira Paden youngest child of Benjamin Franklin Paden, a white man born in Virginia was an adopted member of the Cherokee tribe, and Margaret Elmira Miller Paden a Cherokee born in the Cherokee Nation, east. Mrs. Taylor was eighty years old at the time of this interview and lived until 1940. She lived in Adair County all of her life.)
[Transcribers Note: this interview varies slightly from another one attributed to Mrs. R. L Paden Taylor. Also a correction in pen appears on the copy indicating five girls and 2 boys]
Submitted to OKGenWeb by
Suzanne Grant Griffith
<SuzanneGriffith@email.msn.com>
07-2000.