Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma

you will want a copy of the marriage license.
a marriage license doesn’t indicate tribal heritage as non-tribal people also got married that way because government services were a little on the shy side in the frontier.
so this is a good start. the index gives approximate age, her husband’s name and her maiden name.
CHOCTAW NATION MARRIAGES
GROOM INDEX
1895 – 1907

Transcribed by MARY TURNER KINARD
COPYRIGHT 27 APR 1992 Mary Kinard

Printed here with the Permission of J.D. Kinard and family for your personal use
NOT TO BE COPIES FOR USE IN ANY COLLECTION FOR PROFIT OR DISPLAY

B SURNAMES

FIVE FEDERAL COURTHOUSES IN CHOCTAW NATION AT – ATOKA, ATOKA CO. OK, get copy of marriage from LDS Library BR – DURANT, BRYAN CO. OK. get copy of marriage from Durant Lf – POTEAU, LEFLORE CO. OK get copy of marriage from Poteau Mc – McALESTER, PITSBURY CO. OK get copy of marriage from Indian Archives OKC WIL – WILBURTON, LATIMER CO. OK you may be able to get copy from Muskogee Ok CODES USED un – NOT USED nr – NO RETURN er – ERROR col – COLORED

GROOM AGE BRIDE AGE DATE RESIDENCE BOOK©PAGE
BOYDSTON, B H 21 SLOAN, M B 18 28 NOV 1897 CADDO AT1©26©52

the family history center would have a microfilm of this. see your local center in the latter day saints church.
Marriage records (Atoka County, Oklahoma), 1892, 1897-1907
it’s in FHL 1312410

but i don’t see her name on the dawes roll.
you don’t list children in your post, nor birthdates or birthplaces. you post seems to indicate that she may have married a second husband.

on rootsweb, in the worldconnect records, there is an entry for a child.
Oscar Grant “Shorty” Boydston b: 15 DEC 1902 in Caddo, Bryan Co., OK
this is their website:
http://genmaster.home.mchsi.com/

http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/
this website is handy for social security death index 1964-present, location, surname and tribe websites and messageboards.

Social Security Death Index
about Oscar Boydston
Name: Oscar Boydston
SSN: 444-03-5673
Last Residence: 73149 Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Oklahoma, United States of America
Born: 15 Dec 1902
Died: Dec 1979
State (Year) SSN issued: Oklahoma (Before 1951)

Household Members:
Name Age
Oscar G Boydston 26
Tommy L Boydston 23
Betty Jean Boydston 5 2/12
Martha L Boydston 2 2/12

Source Citation: Year: 1930; Census Place: Eason, Pottawatomie, Oklahoma; Roll 1928; Page: 4A; Enumeration District: 24; Image: 448.0.

he rents a farm, grows corn and cotton.

Household Members:
Name Age
R J Blevnes 49
⁴⁸
Buelah Blevnes 48
George Blevnes 24
Willie Blevnes 22
Gus Blevnes 19
Lula Blevnes 16
Pearl Blevnes 13
Lina Blevnes 11
⁷
Jessee Blevnes 5
Oscar Boydstone 17
Source Citation: Year: 1920;Census Place: Canadian, Cleveland, Oklahoma; Roll T625_1456; Page: 9B; Enumeration District: 1; Image: 718.
this might be a mistake. oscar might be belonging to the household above the blevens?, since the other boydstone surname is there and that wife is named bell.
Household Members:
Name Age
O C Blackburn 27
Bell Blackburn 27
Bessie Blackburn 7
Roy Boydstone 13

i don’t know if this is correct, but you might know.
this census says bell was b. oklahoma but her parents were born in TX. the trail of tears didn’t go through texas, but there were many unofficial migrations from the reservations in the southeast to/through texas. you should look at the mississippi choctaw tribe. also look at where the familly lived, since some bands of natives stayed together and became state and federally recognized tribes.

Household Members:
Name Age
Benjiman Boydstun 33
Mollie B Boydstun 29
Ednie E Boydstun 10
Grant O Boydstun 8
Ella M Boydstun 6
Leroy Boydstun 4
Alva R Boydstun 1 3/12

Source Citation: Year: 1910; Census Place: Canadian, Cleveland, Oklahoma; Roll T624_1245; Page: 12B; Enumeration District: 18; Image: 806.
you can correct the ancestry name index so that others can find your family.

benjamin is a farmer, b. OK, parents b. TN
mollie b. TX, parents b. TX
children b. OK

Household Members:
Name Age
Ben H Boydsten 22
Mollie B Boydsten 17
Edner E Boydsten 5/12
Source Citation: Year: 1900; Census Place: Caddo, Choctaw Nation, Indian Territory; Roll T623_1853; Enumeration District: 183.
benjamin is a farmer, rents a farm. he is born OK father b. TN, mother b. AR. he was b. aug. 1877
mollie was b. aug 1880 TX, parents b. AR
edna was b. dec. 1899 IT (indian territory)

there were indian population pages in 1900 and 1910 and they were not on those pages. they were on the regular federal census pages.

there were some boydston names on the dawes roll but they were spelled variously.
you can see them if you put in boyds in the surname and look at all the people. if you want to see their family members, click on the # in the card column.
http://www.accessgenealogy.com/native/finalroll.php

however, you must be directly related to an original enrollee of the tribe. if you see an entry for a family member, ask for a copy of the enrollment application and census card. you should try to get a copy of the testimony in the case.
there are four possible sources:
the tribe might send you a copy.
NARA fort worth office http://www.nara.gov
http://www.okhistory.org/
http://www.footnote.com a subscription service.

the dawes roll shows people that applied, along with people who applied and were accepted as tribal members.

enrollment was controversial. some people who qualified refused to apply for enrollment. some people didn’t qualify for tribal membership.

if your family is mississippi choctaw, you should trace your family back to the 1830-1880 time period and check the land records for the name of the head of household for choctaw scrip in MS or AL.

if you cannot discover her parents’ names, then you can:
1) ask for a copy of her social security application, if she was living past 1/1/1937. then you can write for a copy of her birth certificate or delayed birth certificate (you have to specify that she might have had a delayed birth certificate.)
2) get a copy of a newspaper mention of the marriage or obituary.

genealogists use names, dates, locations, children and spouses to match records. if you have a common surname, you need to give more information rather than less. if you post about women, it is helpful to include the maiden name and the married name and designate which one is the maiden name.

first of all, heritage and tribal enrollment are two different things. many times natives didn’t apply for enrollment because 1) they didn’t qualify, 2) they were philosophically opposed to enrollment, 3) they didn’t have documentation, or 4) they were mississippi choctaw and their ancestor had accepted land or benefits in lieu of tribal enrollment.

the dawes roll was taken 1896-1906, so you should trace your ancestors down to that time period. mostly, they had to be living in oklahoma by that time and agree to live there permanently.

2 ways to search: http://www.okhistory.org/research/dawes/index.php
this will give you card# (family group) and enrollment #. they have some native marriage records too. other oklahoma records listed at left.

http://www.accessgenealogy.com/native/finalroll.php
this will let you enter partial names to get card#
other resources on the left and at the bottom of this webpage. native census records and databases are especially useful.

if the name is common, you may find too many possible records.

the tribe has an excellent information to help you. it is found under genealogy advocacy.
http://choctawnation.com/services/departments/community-services/

mississippi choctaw and choctaw tribe explained here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Choctaw_Trail_of_Tears

i have collected many resources over the years. if you want to write to me, shamlet76@gmail.com and request the choctaw resource list, i will be glad to send it to you.

i am just a volunteer that wants to empower people to learn how to do genealogy.

suzanne hamlet shatto

suzzane,
Thank you so much for all the information. Wow! You have given me a lot to look into. I really apperciate the time you have spent reading my message.
Your right about her being married more than once, Boydston looks like her first husband, my grandfather was Bowers and we cannot find anything on hiim. I have found all of the info I do have on Mollie from the Boydston name. I will look into the OK heritage link and more into the Dawes Rolls. I did find and Mollie and John Bowers on the Dawes rolls (Choctaw) however, we couldnt find a rolls number only a card number. I havent figured out what that meant. However, everyone in my family was surprised I did find that, as they havent been able to find anything with Mollie Bowers (except her obit). I have found census for her all the way back to 1880 and it shows her being less than a year old and born in TX. I think We have found her mother and father Caroline Franicis Gross and John Franklin sloan (doesnt sound indian to me by any means). I am thinking they accepted the land in leiu of being on the rolls.
I am going to continue looking, thanks again for replying and I really apperciate your time and knowledge.
Celesta

Susan,
I need to address some of the things you broght up.
Boydston was Mollie’s first husband (we think) the boydstons are not our relation but they have kept track of their side of the family.
I think we have found Mollie’s mother and father in the 1880 census and it says her mother was from Miss. (in later census it always says TX for both mother and father). She is also different ages at different times (I think she was a bit of a liar) one census shows her being 4 years older than my great grandfather and in another it shows her being 11 years older.
I will more into the reason why they were in TX,

they may be mississippi choctaw, as there were several unofficial migrations from the southeastern reservations. the trail of tears occurred in the late 1830’s.

as far as using age and birthplace as an identification, many really weren’t very concerned with those things. so when a census enumerator asked, many times people treated them casually. sometimes someone in the house gave the information and it was not as accurate as we’d like.

i still couldn’t find her. but if you can, you can put the information in here and get the enrollment#. then you can contact NARA (http://www.nara.gov fort worth office) or oklahoma historical society or subscribe to footnote.com or ask the tribe for a copy of the application and census card.
2 ways to search: http://www.okhistory.org/research/dawes/index.php
this will give you card# (family group) and enrollment #. they have some native marriage records too. other oklahoma records listed at left.

http://www.accessgenealogy.com/native/finalroll.php
use this to get the card#/family group. you can see the family group by clicking on the # in the card column.

check the geographic location in texas. you might find a tribe connection there.

http://www.lsjunction.com/places/indians.htm
http://www.native-languages.org/texas.htm
http://www.texasindians.com/map2.htm
http://www.archaeolink.com/texas_indian_tribes_texas_native.htm

you might find even more texas tribal information. remember, there are state-recognized and federally-recognized tribes.
also, the dawes webpage on accessgenealogy also has great native information. see the information at the bottom and to the left on that webpage. they have tribal information for texas too.

Celesta, To answer some of your question about the census…..first of all the reason of why your family was american indian but listed as white because of the whole assimilation process. The white man basically forced their religion,way of life on the natives after murdering,forcing us off of our lands. Natives listed themselves as white because they did not want to be discovered by other whites and they did not want to be socially rejected by society. So for you to say molly sloan was listed as white because she had “guilt” this is quite silly to say and is definately not the case. If you had family listed in mississippi that were choctaw then that would make them a mississippi choctaw and their is a seperate MS CHOCTAW DESIGNATION ON THE DAWES ROLLS. Second of all there will be designations on the rolls for example if you found this Molly Sloan to have a IW designation then that means she was actually a white woman who married into the choctaw nation. In other words she would have married a choctaw man and had choctaw BB (BY BLOOD) KIDS. HOPE THIS HELPS!! MANY BLESSINGS. CHEE PE SA LE CHEE NEE IKANNAH.