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Indian Pioneer Papers - Index

Indian Pioneer History Project for Oklahoma
Date: April 9, 1938
Name: Ed Hicks
Post Office: Tahlequah, Oklahoma
Residence Address:
Date of Birth: January 1, 1866
Place of Birth: Fort Gibson, Indian Territory
Father: Daniel R. Hicks
Place of Birth:
Information on father:
Mother: Nancy Rider
Place of birth:
Information on mother:
Field Worker: Hattie Turner

The First Telephone 
The Cherokee telephone company which placed in operation the first line in Indian Territory, now Oklahoma, came into existence in 1886. A franchise authorizing the erection of the line was granted by the Cherokee National Council at Tahlequah in the autumn of 1885. Work was begun the following year and before its close the first telephone line was a reality, connecting Tahlequah with Fort Gibson in the Cherokee Nation, and with Muskogee in the Creek Nation.

Before the completion of the line much delay was experienced in communicating from Tahlequah with the Union Indian Agency at Muskogee, and also with business men by other business men at the Cherokee capital. E. D. Hicks, a young business man of Tahlequah began thinking of the great convenience and value of more direct communication and suggested to a number of the leading men the convenience and feasibility of a telephone line. Much interest was aroused among those to whom he talked, with the result that a franchise was requested of the Cherokee National legislative bodies.

The route selected for the telephone line lay through some rugged and densely wooded sections. There was no surveyor. Contrary to the belief of many the route did not follow that of the old and long-used road lying between Tahlequah and Fort Gibson, but led over heights and ridges, through flat woods and down steep-sloped valleys. In order to get the proper direction it was often necessary to ascend a hill and carefully observe the sylvan scene. There were times, too, when the weather conditions were bad, heavy rainfalls, resultant mud, snow and sleet, and gloomy days when the wind blew coldly from the North. But steady progress was made. No one sought to impede the workers, and eventually completion of the preparation of the route was realized. All that was necessary was to make correct connections.

No one of the workers had ever seen connections made, for this was the first telephone being completed in all the vast Indian Territory. The workers were nonplussed, but in their time of difficulty a blue-coated soldier from the fort upon the hill arrived. He had learned back in Ohio how the connections were made and offered his services, which were gladly welcomed. With a rather brief period the telephone was in working order so far as the office at Fort Gibson was concerned, but the same connection must be made over at Tahlequah, twenty-three miles eastward over the telephone route. No one at the old capital knew anything about telephones, so a good-sized picture or diagram of the parts which were to be assembled and connected with the wire was placed in the hands of Manuel SPENCER, a large and very black Negro, and mounted on a horse, Manuel set out for Tahlequah. He was several hours on the road but he finally arrived at the store of J. W. STAPLER & Sons and handed the diagram to James S. Stapler. The latter carefully studied the diagram, then set to work, and soon had the proper connections made. Talking was in order between Tahlequah and Fort Gibson.

The bell rang. From Tahlequah came the query from James S. Stapler: "Who is this?" From Fort Gibson went back the reply from E. D. Hicks: "The devil, and I'm coming after you."

In the beginning of the efforts to secure permission from the Council to operate the telephone line there were some who had misgivings, for there were some very conservative members of the Council. but several of the leading native members were consulted and they decided that the franchise should be granted. A short "sample line" was utilized by two notables in testing the powers of the telephone. George SANDERS, usually called Soggy Sanders, a large man, weighing probably 300 pounds stood at one end of the line, and another leading Indian of the name of Smith at the other. These men held an animated conversation in their native tongue. At conclusion of their talk Sanders laughed and remarked that the telephone was all right. "It talks in Cherokee," he said.

The Cherokee Telephone company was in operation until 1896, when E. D. Hicks and W. P. THOMPSON established an exchange in Tahlequah and the name, the Tahlequah Telephone Company superceded the original name. This name was retained until 1905 when the exchange was sold to the Southwest Bell Telephone Company. During the years the manager of the telephone under its several designations was E. D. Hicks, whose retirement after forty-eight years and six months of service is of comparatively recent date.

Edward D. Hicks is a member of historic Cherokee families. He is the son of Daniel R. and Nancy RIDER Hicks, and was born at Fort Gibson, Indian Territory, on January 1, 1866. In his youth he attended the Tahlequah schools, later studied at the Cherokee National Seminary, and spent the years 1880-81 at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. Except for brief periods his lifetime was principally spent in Tahlequah, which he always regarded and called his home town.

The first white member of the Hicks family was Nathan Hicks, who, in the "Old Nation" east of the Mississippi river, married a daughter of Chief BROOM, for whom Broom's Town was named. It was at this old town or settlement that the first written law of the Cherokees was made in 1888 (?). It was somewhere near the American Revolutionary War period that Nathan Hicks became identified with the Cherokees. His oldest son was Charles R. Hicks, the first educated Principal Chief. For thirty years before he assumed the office of Principal Chief, Charles R. Hicks had wielded great influence. He was a penman of ability and about 1826 was elevated to the highest office in the Indian Nation, but his tenure of office was brief for his death occurred within a year. He was succeeded briefly by his brother, William Hicks, and the latter in 1828 was succeeded by John ROSS, who was to hold the position until his death nearly forty years later.

Another notable man of the early days was Elijah Hicks, son of Chief Charles R. Hicks. Of Elijah Hicks it is recorded that he was educated in South Carolina. His wife was Margaret Ross, a sister of Chief John Ross, and their son was Daniel R. Hicks, to whom reference has been made. Thus E. D. Hicks is the grandson several times removed of Chief Broom; the great grandson of Chief Chas. R. Hicks; the grandson of "Acting Principal Chief," old Elijah Hicks, and a grand nephew of Chief John Ross.

Note: Elijah Hicks served for a period as editor of the Cherokee Phoenix, first Indian newspaper, at New Echota, Georgia. He was a leading man in the Nation in Indian Territory, delegate to Washington, besides occupying other important positions. On an occasion when Chief John Ross was absent from the Cherokee Nation Elijah Hicks served as Acting Principal Chief. [This note was added by Hattie Turner, the interviewer]


Indian Pioneer History Project for Oklahoma
Date: April 9, 1938
Name: Ed Hicks
Post Office: Wagoner, Oklahoma
Residence Address:
Date of Birth: 1 January 1866
Place of Birth: Fort Gibson, Indian Territory
Father: Daniel R. Hicks
Place of Birth:
Information on father:
Mother: Nancy Rider
Place of birth:
Information on mother:
Field Worker: Hattie Turner

The Ross Cemetery in the Park Hill locality had its origin in 1841, when John McDonald Ross, twenty-one year old son of Lewis Ross, died at the home of his uncle, Principal Chief John Ross, and was buried on an eminence due south of the home of the Chief. Lewis Ross erected a handsome marble monument at his son's grave, the top of the monument being broken to represent his unfinished life. He enclosed the plot in a low stone wall which supported a high iron fence. At the middle of each of the upright iron rods was a globular ornament composed of pure lead.

In the course of time other interments were made in the private burial ground of Lewis Ross, Senior. Among those buried within the iron fence was Minerva Ross Murrell who died in 1855. Lewis Ross, about 1843, removed to a distant section of the Cherokee Nation, but in after years when he and his wife died, they were buried in the enclosed plot with their relatives. As time passed people who had no knowledge of the origin of the burial ground began to refer to the Lewis Ross plot as the Murrell plot, and almost generally that is the designation today.

While the Civil War was raging and the Cherokee Nation was the scene of some of its ravages, the leaden ornaments on a large portion of the iron fence were removed and utilized, it is said, in the making of bullets for the weapons of soldiers of the Confederate Indian force under command of Stand Watie. In this connection there have been some who contended that deer hunters removed the ornaments, but there have been others who personally recalled that a number of the Confederate Indians spent a portion of a day at the old burying ground and asserted that the lead was then removed.

A graduate of "the college at Princeton" (now Princeton University) in 1841, young John McDonald Ross had reached the home of his parents probably in July. He had come back to be a big man among his tribe, or so his parents hoped. Early in September he called on chief John Ross, his uncle, fell suddenly ill, lingered a while and died. The broken column at his grave is symbolic of the brevity of his life.

As the years passed by many interments were made in the vicinity of the graves of the members of the family of Lewis Ross, Senior and for some decades it was known as the Ross Cemetery.

The memoranda for this manuscript was procured in part from: Mr. Ed Hicks who was born at the close of the Civil War and whose address is Box 155, Tahlequah. Mr. Shorey W. Ross, aged 65, of Park Hill. Mr. Blake Ross of Tahlequah, Oklahoma.


Indian Pioneer History Project for Oklahoma
Date: April 9, 1938
Name: Ed Hicks
Post Office: Tahlequah, Oklahoma
Residence Address:
Date of Birth: January 1, 1866
Place of Birth: Fort Gibson, Indian Territory
Father: Daniel R. Hicks
Place of Birth:
Information on father:
Mother: Nancy Rider
Place of birth:
Information on mother:
Field Worker: Hattie Turner

Tahlonteesky 
The capital of the Western Cherokee Nation for nearly ten years was Tah-lon-tee-sky, near the mouth of the Illinois River which was named for a head chief of the Western group that preceded the main body of Cherokees to the west for a number of years. Most important of the chiefs who once lived at Tahlonteesky was John JOLLY, noted as the friend of General Sam Houston. When Houston arrived from Tennessee in 1830 he stayed a while with Chief Jolly at Tahlonteesky, a picturesque place atop a high ridge where were the home of Jolly and the houses of the Council. In the thirties of the last century the Western Nation had three chiefs, designated as first, second and third chiefs. In case the first chief died or was killed, the second succeeded, and in the event this successor was removed by death or disability, the third chief became the head chief. 

Some important acts were passed by the Council at Tahlonteesky, one of the most interesting being an act passed October 31, 1831, which admitted to Cherokee citizenship Sam Houston, the former governor of Tennessee. In these days there are many persons who erroneously believe that Sam Houston was a Cherokee citizen by intermarriage but this noted character was never married to a Cherokee, as has been mistakenly asserted by many. In the event he had been so married the Act of the Council would not have been necessary, for marriage to a Cherokee would automatically have made Houston a Cherokee, so far as citizenship was concerned. Several months after being adopted by Act of the Council, Sam Houston took his departure (1832) never to return. The Act of the Council was passed at the request of Chief Jolly, who had known Sam Houston as a youth in Tennessee. As mentioned in biographies of Sam Houston, he once spent several years among the Cherokees in their country east of the Mississippi River.


Indian Pioneer History Project for Oklahoma
Date: April 9, 1938
Name: Ed Hicks
Post Office: Tahlequah, Oklahoma
Residence Address:
Date of Birth: January 1, 1866
Place of Birth: Fort Gibson, Indian Territory
Father: Daniel R. Hicks
Place of Birth:
Information on father:
Mother: Nancy Rider
Place of birth:
Information on mother:
Field Worker: Hattie Turner

Barbecued Fish 
A custom long prevalent among the full blood Cherokees was to visit the banks of the steams in the summer season and capture large numbers of fish which were slowly roasted or barbecued over fires kindled beneath the shade of the nearby trees.

In order to procure the fish the roots of the buckeye shrub were bruised and beaten into a great mass of pulp and in shallow places above long and deep stretches of water the pounded buckeye was "planted" and weighted down with heavy stones. The water below was in consequence vitiated and soon numbers of fish arose to the surface, not dead but stupefied from the effects of the buckeye. The men and boys and sometimes the women and girls, then entered the water and engaged in picking up the fish. In the deeper water men in boats used spears or gigs and tossed the larger fish into their canoes or boats but the fish which were too small to be used were allowed to float downstream and upon reaching the pure waters soon recovered and swam away.

When enough fish had been procured everybody went to the shady spots and engaged in cleaning the fish, after which the barbecuing began and the barbecued fishes were delicious. Other eatables were provided, but corn bread, made from fresh Indian corn meal and cooked after the Indian manner, and fish were the principal articles consumed, except that strong black coffee, the favorite Cherokee Indian beverage, was provided and drunk in abundant quantities. After the feast the women sat down and talked together and the men did likewise, smoking their pipes in great enjoyment.

There have been no fish barbecues in many years, the fish and game laws prohibiting the adulteration of the streams with buckeye or other deleterious substances. But in the interval before the laws protected the streams, great damage was done the fish population by men who exploded dynamite in the rivers and creeks.

In one locality near the Illinois River lived two young men who were owners of two very useful dogs and these dogs assisted in bringing fish to the shore when barbecues were held.

Submitted to OKGenWeb by Wanda Morris Elliott <jwdre@intellex.com>.