52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Mary V. Chisholm Cooke: A Legacy of Privilege and Perseverance in Indian Territory
The 1860s marked a particularly challenging time for the Chickasaw Nation. Many families faced poverty, disease, and the struggle to rebuild after the Civil War had devastated Indian Territory. However, Mary's earliest memories paint a different picture: a five-room log home with porches, good barns, granaries, and a smoke house. Her mother Julia Ann made butter and cheese to sell, and her father William Edward maintained a thriving orchard - luxuries unimaginable to many Native families of the time.
Jesse Chisholm's legacy of land ownership, successful trading operations, and respected position as an interpreter had created a foundation of stability for his descendants. His compassionate practice of ransoming kidnapped children from raiding tribes and raising them as his own demonstrated both his financial means and his standing in the community - resources that would benefit generations to come.
Yet Mary's life wasn't without its own challenges. She lost both parents young - her father to pneumonia in 1880 and her mother to tuberculosis in 1883. When her younger siblings were sent to the Chickasaw Orphan Home in Lebanon, Mary, at age 15, had the privilege of choice - she refused to go, instead attending day school in Wynnewood.
On November 19, 1885 - poignantly, the same date her father had died five years earlier - Mary married William V. Cooke. Their marriage would span decades, documented across multiple census records as they built their life together. The 1900s found them establishing roots in various Oklahoma locations, from Byars in McClain County to Oklahoma City, and later Maxwell in Pontotoc County.
Records trace their family's growth, including their daughter Estella "Stella" Luella Cooke, from whom my husband descends. The Dawes Rolls (1898-1914) officially documented Mary's Chickasaw citizenship, a process that for many tribal members proved challenging and sometimes devastating. Yet Mary's enrollment, backed by her grandfather's well-documented history and respected position, likely faced fewer obstacles.
As Mary aged, she and William settled into a comfortable life in Byars, McClain County. The 1940 census shows them receiving a pension, another marker of relative stability at a time when many Native Americans struggled with poverty and lack of access to such benefits. Mary passed away on March 30, 1946, and was laid to rest in the Cooke Family Cemetery in Byars - the family's own land, a final testament to the lasting impact of Jesse Chisholm's foresight in securing property rights.
In 1939, at age 71, Mary penned her memoirs, providing invaluable insights into life in Indian Territory. Her detailed descriptions of traditional foods and customs show how her family maintained cultural connections while enjoying economic advantages that set them apart from many of their contemporaries.
Today, Mary's descendants have scattered across the United States - from Idaho to Washington, California to Oklahoma. The family home in Byars, where her granddaughter Pat Strickland was the last occupant, still stands though now falling into disrepair. This silent witness to generations of family history serves as a physical reminder of both Jesse Chisholm's legacy of land ownership and the changing nature of Native American families in the modern era. While many descendants, including my husband and our children in Idaho, no longer live in Oklahoma, the connection to this place and its history remains strong.
The empty farmhouse and quiet land tell a story of their own - of how opportunities and circumstances can lead Native families away from their ancestral lands, even as they maintain their tribal connections and cultural heritage. Mary's memoir, paired with the physical reminder of their family home, serves as both a family treasure and a testament to the complex history of the Chickasaw people - a history of challenges, privileges, displacement, and endurance that continues to shape lives today.
Sources
Primary Sources:
Dawes Rolls: Oklahoma and Indian Territory, U.S.,
Dawes Census Cards for Five Civilized Tribes, 1898-1914<br/> The National
Archives At Fort Worth; Fort Worth, Texas; Enrollment Cards, 1898-1914; NAI
Number: 251747; Record Group Title: Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs;
Record Group Number: 75<br/> {{Ancestry Record|60543|167987}} (accessed
22 October 2024)<br/> Mary Cook (30).
1910 Census: 1910 United States Federal Census<br/>
Year: 1910; Census Place: Byars, McClain, Oklahoma; Roll: T624_1261; Page: 19b;
Enumeration District: 0182; FHL microfilm: 1375274<br/> {{Ancestry
Record|7884|156089010}} (accessed 22 October 2024)<br/> Mary Cook (43),
wife, in household of William I Cook (51) in Byars, McClain, Oklahoma, USA.
1920 Census: 1920 United States Federal Census<br/>
Year: 1920; Census Place: Byars, McClain, Oklahoma; Roll: T625_1470; Page: 20A;
Enumeration District: 75<br/> {{Ancestry Record|6061|49234241}} (accessed
22 October 2024)<br/> Mary Cook (50), wife, in household of William V
Cook (60) in Byars, McClain, Oklahoma.
1930 Census: 1930 United States Federal Census<br/>
Year: 1930; Census Place: Maxwell, Pontotoc, Oklahoma; Page: 12B; Enumeration
District: 0024; FHL microfilm: 2341661<br/> {{Ancestry
Record|6224|94921362}} (accessed 22 October 2024)<br/> Mary Cook (62),
wife, in household of William V Cook (71) at S6 T6nr4e, Maxwell, Pontotoc,
Oklahoma.
1940 Census: 1940 United States Federal Census<br/>
Year: 1940; Census Place: Byars, McClain, Oklahoma; Roll: m-t0627-03308; Page:
9A; Enumeration District: 44-3A<br/> {{Ancestry Record|2442|87182680}}
(accessed 22 October 2024)<br/> Mary Cook (72), wife, Pention, in
household of Victor W Cook (81) in Byars, McClain, Oklahoma.
City Directory: U.S., City Directories, 1822-1995<br/>
Original data: Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, City Directory, 1917-1920<br/>
{{Ancestry Record|2469|875449085}} (accessed 22 October 2024)<br/> Mary
Cooke, wife of William V Cooke, residence: 1517 W 23d, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
Marriage: Oklahoma, U.S., County Marriage Records,
1890-1995<br/> Original data: Marriage Records. Oklahoma
Marriages.<br/> {{Ancestry Record|61379|1564065773}} (accessed 22 October
2024)<br/> Mary Chism's daughter Lavina Cook marriage to W A Graham on 17
Nov 1910 in Pottawatomie, Oklahoma.
Probate: Oklahoma, U.S., Wills and Probate Records,
1801-2008<br/> Will Records, 1907-1956; Author: Jackson County
(Oklahoma). Court Clerk; Probate Place: Jackson, Oklahoma<br/> {{Ancestry
Record|9077|78062}} (accessed 22 October 2024)<br/> Mary A Chisum probate
in 1907-1951 in Jackson, Oklahoma, USA.
Burial: U.S., Find a Grave® Index, 1600s-Current<br/>
{{FindAGrave|52513141}}<br/> {{Ancestry Record|60525|3472981}} (accessed
22 October 2024)<br/> Mary A Cook burial (died on 30 Mar 1946) at Cooke
Family Cemetery, Byars, McClain County, Oklahoma.
Memoir: Memoirs of Mary V Chisholm Cooke<br/>
Written by Mary V Chisholm Cooke; Transcribed and Annotated by Kerry M.
Armstrong 22 Mar 1995, revised 29 Nov 1995.<br/> Found at http://www.chickasawhistory.com/cooke.htm<br/>
Original manuscript in possession of Pat (Bagwell) Strickland [deceased],
Byars, Oklahoma
Secondary Sources:
Website: Our History<br/> Chickasaw Nation (https://www.chickasaw.net/ : accessed 22
October 2024)
Article: Jesse Chisholm<br/> Handbook of Texas
Online, Texas State Historical Association (https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/chisholm-jesse
: accessed 22 October 2024)
Wikipedia: Jesse Chisholm<br/> Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesse_Chisholm
: accessed 22 October 2024)
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