Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma

stephen cooper m. mary reed, but no location or dates.
william cooper b. 1828 d. 1890 m. letitia ?
no location or maiden name for spouse.
george cooper b. 11/7/1844 LA d. 6/28/1911 LA m. martha bennett

it sounds as if you should get a copy of the testimony. i don’t know where you got those dates,, whether census or civil war pension or what.
if they were living in louisiana, they may be jena choctaw.

cemetery:
http://files.usgwarchives.net/la/washington/cemeteries/nobles.txt

Dawes Card Information

tribe last first middle age sex blood card roll misc type
Choctaw Cooper Lutitia 0 F MCR2497 P
Choctaw Cooper Martha 0 F MCR2497 P
Choctaw Cooper William 0 M MCR2497 P
Choctaw Cooper Curtis 12 M 3/16 MCR2497 MCR
Choctaw Cooper George 56 M 3/8 MCR2497 MCR

p=parent

it sounds as if you should try to find the testimony in the case.

footnote.com has put several dawes packets online and you might want to consider a subscription to view them. note the monthly rate, which could be cancelled after one month.
http://go.footnote.com/results.php?xid=214&u1=DawesCard&query=George+Cooper+MCR%202497&s_tribe=Choctaw&type=hard&category=dawes
“George Cooper MCR 2497 Choctaw”:
30 pages available

Household Members:
Name Age
George Cooper 55
Martha A Cooper 55
George H Cooper 19
Lovy L Cooper 15
Curtis Cooper 11
Source Citation: Year: 1900; Census Place: Police Jury Ward 4, Washington, Louisiana; Roll T623_585; Page: 2A; Enumeration District: 99.

Household Members:
Name Age
George Cooper 65
Martha Cooper 64
Source Citation: Year: 1910; Census Place: Police Jury Ward 3, Washington, Louisiana; Roll T624_534; Page: 17B; Enumeration District: 128; Image: 183.

Household Members:
Name Age
George Cooper 35
Martha Cooper 34
Jordin Cooper 17
Frances Cooper 13
Samuel Cooper 9
Cooper 6
William Cooper 4
Luticia Cooper 3
Source Citation: Year: 1880; Census Place: 5th and 6th Ward, Washington, Louisiana; Roll 473; Family History Film: 1254473; Page: 198B; Enumeration District: 196; .

Household Members:
Name Age
George Cooper 24
Martha Cooper 24
Jordan Cooper 8
Francis Cooper 4
Bertha Cooper 10/12
Source Citation: Year: 1870; Census Place: Ward 2, Tangipahoa, Louisiana; Roll M593_532; Page: 134B; Image: 272; Family History Library Film: 552031.

you will want to map out these locations to see where it is likely that he would be in 1860 and before. he could have been a slave. he might have been in the military.

his family might have been displaced by the civil war.

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#. click on the card# in the card column and you can see other names in that family.
other resources on the left and at the bottom of this webpage. native census records and databases are especially useful.

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.

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

http://www.choctaw.org/

jena choctaw tribe in louisiana:
http://www.jenachoctaw.org/

MOWA tribe
http://encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h-1368
http://www.uab.edu/uabmagazine/2009/july/losttribe
http://www.native-american-online.org/MOWA-Choctaw.htm
MOWA Band Of Choctaws Wilford Taylor 1080 Red Fox Road Mount Vernon, AL 36560 (251)

829-5500. E-Mail: chieftaylor@mowachoctaw.com

texas tribes
http://www.native-languages.org/texas.htm
http://www.accessgenealogy.com/native/texas/index.htm
http://www.texasindians.com/
http://www.texasindians.com/
http://www.lsjunction.com/places/indians.htm

oklahoma tribes:
http://500nations.com/Oklahoma_Tribes.asp
http://www.accessgenealogy.com/native/oklahoma/index.htm
http://www.cowboy.net/native/tribes.html

types of records available for native americans:
pages 366-369 in particular although the entire native american chapter is helpful.
The Genealogist’s Companion and Sourcebook:
Guide to the Resources You Need for Unpuzzling Your Past
Emily Anne Croom
you can ask for these particular pages from your local public library. if they don’t have the book, you can get the pages through the interlibrary loan program.
native american records are discussed in pages 352-386.

Tracing ancestors among the Five Civilized Tribes: Southeastern Indians …
By Rachal Mills Lennon
this book could be accessed through the interlibary loan program also.

always find the state archives. some records are online, some records are not. but many times you can find a record not found in other places. you want to see also about newspaper mentions for obituaries, births, marriages in particular.

check courts for probate, civil and criminal cases, marriage records.

this book is a good read about the dawes roll and how they implemented it.
The Dawes Commission and the allotment of the Five Civilized Tribes, 1893-1914
By Kent Carter

if your relatives came from a different geographic location or belonged to a different tribe, try searching google for the state and tribes. you might find a contact for a state-recognized tribe or a federal recognized tribe.

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

Thanks for the reply. I have done extensive research for several months using, I think, all of the resources you list and more, plus a trip to NARA to look at payroll records, and such.

As mentioned in my original post, I already have copies of George Cooper’s enrollment card and application packet. The information I’ve listed where they claim to be descended from Stephen Cooper b.?, Full Blood, and Mary Reed b?, one-half blood, is taken from their testimony to the Dawes commission. Likewise, the dates you question are from the Dawes application packet.

Regarding other family member names, as mentioned in my original post, the MCR 2497 packet is a consolidated case that includes the applications for all the associate family members, so I have those names.

I wasn’t looking for basic information about how/where to do research . Rather, I was simply hoping someone may have knowledge of this family outside of the publicly available database.

John, copy and paste the below link to get the “Dawes” enrollment number, not a census number. This is the Oklahoma Historical Society’s official website for searching the Dawes roll.

http://www.okhistory.org/research/dawes/dawesresults.php?fname=george&lname=cooper&tribe=&rollnum=&action=Search

The Choctaw Nation genealogy advocate’s office is overwhelmed with requests and are 6 months or great behind.

You may want to try Ancestry.com, because someone else may already be building a family tree that incorporates the people you are looking for. I came across 4 “cousins” that were researching mutual family members. Hope this helps.

John,
I have a copy of some correspondence between a surveyor and the superintent of the Greesnburg Land District in Louisiana stating that Stephen Cooper had been the owner of land in that District.
If interested you may e-mail me at bettebee@wildblue.net
louis b

Jonathan,

Thanks for the info. Unfortunately, the George Cooper that’s enrolled is not the one I’m chasing. As noted in my original posting, my George got rejected and wasn’t added to the roll because his application did not prove a connection to a tribal ancestor. I do appreciate your response. John

Lous, please look for an email from me following up on your post. The Greensburg Land District is the correct location – I’m excited to see something with Stephen’s name on it! John