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Transcript of Emberry Mayfield's Testimony for himself and his daughter Sallie
COMMISSION TO THE FIVE CIVILIZED TRIBES,
FORT GIBSON, I. T., APRIL 20th, 1901.
In the matter of the application of Emberry Mayfield for the
enrollment of himself and one child as Cherokee Freedmen; said May-
field being sworn and examined by Commissioner C. R. Breckinridge,
testified as follows:
Q. Give me your full name? A. Emberry Mayfield.
Q. How old are you? A. I am about 38 I think.
Q. What is your post office? A. Fort Gibson.
Q. In what district do you live? A. Illinois.
Q. Do you want to be enrolled as a Cherokee Freedman? A. Yes, sir.
Q. Do you want to enroll anybody besides yourself? A. One daughter.
Q. That is all? A. Yes, sir.
Q. How long have you lived in the Cherokee Nation? A. Ever since
my mother brought me here.
Q. That was after the war? A. Yes, sir.
Q. Give me the name of your father? A. Miles.
Q. Miles Mayfield? A. Yes, sir.
Q. Is he dead? A. Yes, sir.
Q. How long has he been dead? A. I could not tell you.
Q. You don't remember him? A. No, sir.
Q. Give me the name of your mother? A. Sallie Mayfield.
Q. Is she dead? A. No, sir.
Q. Are you on any of the rolls of the Cherokee Nation? A. I don't
think I is.
Q. Give me the name of your child? A. Sallie Mayfield.
Q. How old is the child? A. I reckon she is somewheres about 20
I reckon.
Q. How old is your mother; about 60 years old, isn't she?
A. I reckon, she might be that old and might be older.
Q. Is she married now? A. No, sir.
Q. Who is George A. Mayfield, of Muskogee? A. That is a cousin
of ours, his right name is Amos Mayfield.
Q. Is this daughter sallie, is she living? A. Yes, sir.
Q. Give me the name of the mother of this daughter? A. Her name
was Josephine.
Q. Is she living or dead? A. She is dead.
Q. How long has she been dead? A. Well, when she was small, a
little child.
Q. You said Josephine was the mother of Sallie? A. Yes, the moth-
er of Sallie.
Q. Josephine could not have died when she was small; I am talking
about your wife whi is the mother of Sallie? (NO response.)
Q. I want to know what was the mother of your daughter, Sallie?
A. Josephine.
Q. Your wife, Josephine, is dead? A. Yes, sir.
Q. How old was Josephine when she died? A. I don't know her age.
Q. Well, as near as you can come? (No response.)
Q. How long has she been dead? A. She has been dead about 22 or 23
years.
Q. How could she be dead 22 or 23 years and have a daughter that is
20 years old? A. I just said I guess she was dead that long.
Q. She died after your daughter Sallie was born? A. Yes, sir, she
died after she was born, of course.
Q. Well, where did you marry this woman, Josephine? A. I married
her in Texas.
Q. About how long before Sallie was born did you marry Josephine?
A. Well, about one year I reckon.
Q. About one year before Sallie was born? A. Yes, sir.
Q. What were you doing down there in Texas? A. Just rambling
around, just running around.
Q. You were pretty much of a rambler were you? A. Rambler yet.
Q. How long did you live down there in Texas? A. I didn't live
there, I just went around.
Emberry Mayfield, et al. -- 2.
Q. You have sworn to tell me not only the truth but the whole truth
and I want to all? A. Well, I didn't live there only about four
or five months.
Q. How much had you been down there in Texas before you married this
woman, Josephine? A. I went backwards and forwards from here and
stay here three or four weeks and stay there and go back to
about Denison and back up here.
Q. You were backwards and forwards? A. Yes, sir.
Q. You had friends and associations down there? A. Yes, sir.
Q. Were there people down there that you played with when you were
a boy? A. No, sir, I knowed them here.
Q. How did you happen to go down there and get acquainted with
people? A. They had left from here and went there you see.
Q. Your wife Josephine was a colored woman? A. Yes, sir.
Q. Give me the name of her father? A. I don't know her father.
Q. Do you know the name of her mother? A. Named Jennie.
Q. Jennie what? A. Jennie Thompson, I think her name was.
Q. Where was Jennie Thompson born? A. I don't know, sir.
Q. Where did she live as far as you know? A. She lived there in
Denison, Texas.
Q. Your wife, Josephine, was born there? A. Yes, sir.
Q. As far as you know she was? A. Yes, sir.
Q. And as far as you know her people were all Texas people?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Whom did you know down there that had come from this country
along when you were rambling down there? A. Just boys I got in
with that was rambling around like myself.
Q. Would you rambling boys harbor down there in Texas? A What do
you mean by harbor; we would just go down there on visits,
just to see the shows and after I come there I got acquainted with
this girl.
Q. What knowledge have you of having come back to the Cherokee
Nation after the war? A. After I come back.
Q. Yes; what knowledge have you of having gotten back to the Cher-
okee Nation after the war? A. I don't know, I was small.
Q. You don't remember when you came back? A. No, sir.
Q. What is your first recollection of Texas or the Cherokee Nation?
A. Why here, of course/ they said I went to Texas.
Q. Where you left up here what did you do before you went to
Texas? A. I left with my mother, she was going backwards and for-
wards down to Fort Smith.
Q. You just went around to different places with her? A. Yes, sir.
Q. How old were you when you first went to Texas, as far as you can
remember? A. I don't know, sir.
Q. What did you go down there for; what did you do down there?
A. Oh, just rambling around.
Q. Were you working? A. Yes, sometimes I would in cotton out in
the country and come on back.
Q. Is that the best account you can give of yourself? A. That is
the best I can give
Q. You have never been in the Lunatic Asylum have you? A. No, sir.
Q. And still you can't remember anything more than what you are
telling me now? A. No, sir.
Q. What proof have you got that you ever married this woman, Jose-
phine? A. My mother and my brother.
Q. Where is your mother; where is your brother? A. My brother
ain't in here, yonder is my mother.
Q. where is your mother? A. Yonder.
SALLIE MAYFIELD, being sworn and examined by Commissioner
Breckinridge, testified as follows:
Q. Give me your full name? A. Sallie Mayfield.
Q. How old are you? A. I don't know exactly, I am about 60 some odd.
Emberry Mayfield, et al.-- 3.
Q. What is your post office? A. Gibson here.
Q. Is this your son here? A. Yes, sir.
Q. Has he been married? A. Said to have been married, but I don't
exactly know his wife's name.
Q. He married down in Texas was he? A. Yes, sir. He was just ramb-
ling about as boys would.
Q. What was his wife's name? A. Named Josephine.
Q. He lived with her as husband and wife did he? A. Yes, sir, a long
time.
Q. Have they got a child? A. Yes, sir.
Q. Where is that child? A. It is here.
A. Here now? A. Yes.
Q. Is that child named Sallie? A. Yes, sir, it is named Sallie.
Q. When you came back to the Cherokee Nation after the war did you
bring your son with you? A. Yes, sir.
Q. In what year was that? A '66.
Q. Where was this child, Sallie, born? A. Born up in Denison I
think.
Q. Where did this boy live from the time he got to be quite a boy
and able to ramble around as you say? A. He had no particular place
to live.
Q. Well, has has been married a great number of years? A. Yes, sir.
Q. Ever since that he has just been rambling around? A. Yes, sir,
until he got this wife now.
Q. Has he got a wife now? A. Yes, sir.
He is not married to the wife named Josephine now? A. Yes, sir,
wife named Joanna.
Q. How long since he married this wife, Joanna? (No response.)
Q. Before that he was anywhere and everywhere; sometimes in Ark-
ansas? A. No, sir, I never knowed him to be in Arkansas.
Q. Oftimes in Texas? A. Yes, sir, he stayed, why, I don't know..
Q. But never much at one place? A. No, sir, he would go to this
place and that.
Q. How old was this wife, Josephine when she died? A. I don't know
her age.
Q. How long has this man's first wife, Josephine, been dead?
(No response.)
Q. A good many years? A. Yes, sir.
The 1880 Authenticated roll of citizens of the Cherokee
Nation examined and applicant's name not found thereon.
The 1896 Census Roll of citizens of the Cherokee Nation
examined and the names of applicants not found thereon.
The Kerns-Clifton roll of citizens of the Cherokee Nation
examined and the names of applicants not found thereon.
COM'R BRECKINRIDGE: -- The applicant applies for the enroll-
ment of himself and one child: It may be according to the
testimony of his mother adduced in this case, and reference
is also made to her case, Cherokee Freedman Card #D.91,
that the applicant was brought back to the Cherokee Nation
in 1866. It is contended in the mother's case that this
woman's family was taken to Texas in 1847. The applicant
appears to have married his wife in Denison, Texas; that
is his first wife, the mother of this child. He is not
identified upon the 1880 roll, Kerns-Clifton roll, or the
roll of 1896. He is either utterly unable or unwilling to
give any connected account of himself, but his mother states
that he has lived in a settled way in the Cherokee Nation
since his second marriage, some six years ago.
If it be assumed that he came to the Cherokee Nation with
his mother in 1866, it still appears extremely probable
that he has abjured his citizenship by his continued absence,
by his frequent absences, and as far as the evidence shows,
protracted absence down to six years ato, at which time
Emberry Mayfield, et al.-- 4.
he was 30 years of age, but giving him the benefit of all
existing doubts in the case, he will be listed for enroll-
ment as a Cherokee Freedman on a doubtful card, and refer-
ence is made as afore stated, for further evidence in the
case.
The child, Sallie, is not upon any roll. Her mother is
dead. This child is said to be 20 years of age and to be
living. The fact that she is a child of the applicant by
his first marriage is established by his own and his mother's
testimony, and she will be listed for enrollment as a Cher-
okee Freedman with her father on a doubtful card.
--- 000000000 ---
J. O. Rosson, being first duly sworn, states that as stenog-
rapher to the Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes, he correctly
recorded the testimony and proceedings in this case, and that the
foregoing is a true and complete transcript of his stenographic
notes thereof:
[J. O. Rosson signature]
Subscribed and sworn to before me this 23d day of April, 1901.
[signature]
Commissioner.