Our Jesse Chisholm Connection

When I meet my husband I was told, proudly, by his family that they were related to Jesse Chisholm, a famous Oklahoma Indian trader. Well I wasn't so sure of it, and became even less convinced when in my genealogy search for his family I found no connection. Then I found it! He is a descendant of Jesse Chisholm. His Great Great Grandmother is Mary A Chisholm. Here memories are even posted on websites such as http://www.chickasawhistory.com/cooke.htm

What I was told by his family is that his Great Grandmother was a Chisholm. Well she was in a way a Chisholm. However, her last name was that of her father COOKE. Until I was able to decipher that incorrect information I was unable to make the connection.

Here is the Chisholm family going back to 1755. They were Scottish however, I have yet to find when they migrated to the USA.


Descendants of John D Chisholm


Generation No. 1

1. JOHN D1 CHISHOLM was born 1755, and died 1818. He married (1) BETSY FAULING. She was born Abt. 1760. He married (2) UNKNOWN. He married (3) MARTHA HOLMES. She was born Abt. 1770. He married (4) PATSY BROWN. She was born Abt. 1760.

Children of JOHN CHISHOLM and BETSY FAULING are:
2. i. IGNATIUS2 CHISHOLM, b. 1778.
ii. JOHN D CHISHOLM, b. 1776.
iii. ELIZABETH CHISHOLM, b. Abt. 1780.
iv. DEBORAH CHISHOLM, b. Abt. 1782.
v. ELIJAH CHISHOLM, b. Abt. 1784.


Child of JOHN CHISHOLM and UNKNOWN is:
vi. JAMES2 CHISHOLM, b. 1770.


Child of JOHN CHISHOLM and MARTHA HOLMES is:
vii. THOMAS2 CHISHOLM, b. 1793.


Generation No. 2

2. IGNATIUS2 CHISHOLM (JOHN D1)1 was born 1778. He married SISTER OF CORN TASSEL, daughter of CORN TASSEL SR.. She was born Abt. 1780.

Notes for IGNATIUS CHISHOLM:
Ignatius was of Scottish descent. He worked as a merchant and slave trader in the Knoxville area in the 1790's.

Sometime around 1800 Ignatius married a Cherokee woman, the sister of Corn Tassel. Her name is unknown. They had three sons. The last child William was born in 1815, and sometime after Ignatius separated from his mother and moved to Arkansas Territory. When Tahlonteskee's group moved west to Arkansas in 1810, Jesse's mother joined them.

No one is quite sure what happened to Ignatius.

Children of IGNATIUS CHISHOLM and SISTER TASSEL are:
3. i. JESSE3 CHISHOLM, b. 1805; d. 04 Apr 1868.
ii. JOHN CHISHOLM, b. 1810.
iii. WILLIAM CHISHOLM, b. 1815.


Generation No. 3

3. JESSE3 CHISHOLM (IGNATIUS2, JOHN D1)2 was born 1805, and died 04 Apr 1868. He married (1) NANNIE BOWLES. He married (2) SAH-KAH-KEE SARI MCQUEEN. She was born Abt. 1810. He married (3) ELIZA EDWARDS 1836, daughter of JAMES EDWARDS. She was born 1810, and died 1845.

Notes for JESSE CHISHOLM:
Jesse came to Arkansas with his mother and two brothers in 1810. He moved to the Cherokee nation in the late 1820's and settled near Fort Gibson in what is now eastern Oklahoma.

Jesse married Eliza, the daughter of James Edwards in 1836. Jesse's father in law ran the trading post near what is now Hughes Co., OK. Jesse took supplies into the plains. He learned many languages and was highly sought after as a guide and interpreter. He interpreted treaties for the Indians in Texas, Indian Territory, and Kansas.

He was known as an honest Trader and peace maker. He was respected by the US Army and the Indians. He was adopted into many tribes. The Comanche's knew they could sell children they had captured in Texas to Jesse. He would then try to find their families, and if he couldn't he'd adopt them himself.

Jesse died of food poisoning after eating buffalo meat that had been cooked in a copper kettle at Left Hand Spring, near present day Geary, OK on April 4, 1868

His tomb stone says a lot about who he was. It reads:

"No one ever left his home cold or hungry"

Child of JESSE CHISHOLM and NANNIE BOWLES is:
4. i. JOSEPH4 CHISHOLM, b. Abt. 1835.


Child of JESSE CHISHOLM and SAH-KAH-KEE MCQUEEN is:
ii. JENNIE4 CHISHOLM, b. Abt. 1830.


Child of JESSE CHISHOLM and ELIZA EDWARDS is:
5. iii. WILLIAM EDWARD4 CHISHOLM, b. 15 Sep 1837; d. 19 Nov 1880.


Generation No. 4

4. JOSEPH4 CHISHOLM (JESSE3, IGNATIUS2, JOHN D1) was born Abt. 1835.

Child of JOSEPH CHISHOLM is:
i. JOHN5 CHISHOLM, b. Abt. 1875; m. MARY MURPHY; b. Abt. 1880.


5. WILLIAM EDWARD4 CHISHOLM (JESSE3, IGNATIUS2, JOHN D1) was born 15 Sep 1837, and died 19 Nov 1880. He married (1) JULIA ANN MCLISH. She was born 1846, and died 1883. He married (2) HESTER BUTLER COCHRAN. She was born Abt. 1847, and died Bet. 1894 - 1896.

Notes for JULIA ANN MCLISH:
It is noted by Chris Robbins in the Robbin/Saunders Family Tree that Julia was Cherokee Indian.

Children of WILLIAM CHISHOLM and JULIA MCLISH are:
i. MARY A5 CHISHOLM, b. 01 Jan 1868; d. 30 Mar 1946; m. WILLIAM VAUGHN COOKE, 09 Mar 1887; b. 1859.
ii. ELIZA E CHISHOLM, b. 29 Mar 1864; d. 18 Feb 1886.
iii. ANGELINE BIDDIE CHISHOLM, b. 14 Jan 1866; d. Feb 1894; m. SAM SILAS LEE; b. 21 Sep 1866; d. 03 Jan 1921.
iv. ALICE CHISHOLM, b. 12 Feb 1870; d. 19 Oct 1911; m. ALLEN STOKE ASBURY; b. 25 Apr 1867; d. 22 Apr 1950.
v. CORA ANN CHISHOLM, b. 23 Sep 1872; d. 06 Jan 1926; m. JOHN F MCKEEL.
vi. STELLA "ESTELLE" CHISHOLM, b. 06 Jun 1875; d. 1946; m. WILLIAM THOMAS WARD; b. 23 Oct 1870; d. 1936.
vii. JULIA ANN CHISHOLM, b. 15 Jan 1878.
viii. WILLIAM CHISHOLM, b. 1880.


Child of WILLIAM CHISHOLM and HESTER COCHRAN is:
ix. CAROLINE5 CHISHOLM, b. Abt. 1860.



Endnotes

1. Geocities.com Chapter Bio of Jesse Chisholm.
2. Handbook of Texas Online, Jesse Chisholm III.

And as they say the rest is history. Mary Chisholm married William Cooke. They had a daughter, Stella Cooke (my husbands great grandmother). Stella married James Rubin Ward, and they had my husbands grandmother, Ruth Ann Ward. She married Earl"Porter" Crooks. (Hince the Crooks name I have today) Well I'll pick up the history of the Ward and Crooks lines another time. We could probably write a book about Porter alone. LOL. He was a character.

Keep in mind when searching for your family. Names change spelling, our elderly realtives don't always have the most reliable memory, records can be incorrectly maintained, and there are many other things that can get you off track or keep you from pursuing a correct lead. It's like putting together a puzzle. You have to try the information several different ways until it fits or you know for sure it doesn't fit.

Happy Hunting