# Martin Luther Thompson

Martin Luther Thompson was a Texas Choctaw leader and rancher who along with his relatives, William Clyde Thompson (1839–1912), Robert E. Lee Thompson (1872–1959) and John Thurston Thompson (1864–1907), led several families of Choctaws from the Mount Tabor Indian Community in Rusk County, Texas to Pickens County, Chickasaw Nation, I.T. (now Marlow, Oklahoma)

## Background

Martin, a mixed-blood Choctaw and Chickasaw Indian, was the son of Thomas Umphres Thompson (1829–1864) and Martha Strong Thompson (1836–1920) (who were first cousins) was born in Rusk County, Texas, on September 20, 1857. He married Inez Monterey Fannin at Camp Colorado, Coleman County, Texas, on June 22, 1876. Inez who was born on May 15, 1860, at the Mount Tabor Indian Community in Rusk County, Texas, was the daughter of William Moore Fannin (1833–1877) a mixed blood Choctaw, and Sarah Horton (1840–1928) who was also a mixed blood Indian of Choctaw, Chickasaw and Cherokee ancestry.
The couple made their homes near New London in Rusk County before relocating to the Chickasaw Nation in 1894. While living in the Chickasaw Nation, the couple lived in what is now rural Stephens County, Oklahoma, near the community of Bray. Together the couple had eight children: Willie Newton (female), Althia, Decater Lee, Thomas Agatha (female), Clarence, Melissa Alavada, Cone Johnson and Mossie Brown. Martin died on August 25, 1946, in Jacksonville, Texas. He was preceded in death by his wife Inez on January 10, 1931, in Overton, Texas. Both are buried in Asbury Indian Cemetery near Troup, Texas.

## Mount Tabor Indian Community and the Chickasaw Nation

Martin L. Thompson, who had been chosen the leader of the Choctaws at Mount Tabor in 1885, was passed over in favor of William Clyde Thompson, to represent the Yowani Choctaw descendants in the Chickasaw Nation, in their attempt to attain citizenship by blood in the Choctaw Nation. During the period of the Dawes Commission building of a Final Roll of the Five Civilized Tribes (1895–1907), Choctaw and Chickasaw Indians could live any place they close within the two nations. The reasons for this were many, but primarily the two tribes had been one not long before European contact. They spoke the same language, with some dialectal differences, and were culturally similar. In fact shortly after removal, the two tribes were united into one group for a short period of time. Those that did relocate to Indian Territory from east Texas settled in or near the town of Marlow, Oklahoma, where William C. Thompson later served as Mayor. The lands that Martin Thompson settled was between Marlow and Bray in what is now Stephens County, Oklahoma. Although listed on the Choctaw Census as a "Choctaw Living in the Chickasaw Nation", Martin returned to Rusk County, Texas in 1896 before the close of the Dawes Roll and was therefore not entered onto the Final Roll.
Following his return to Texas he remained in a leadership position until his death. Although influential within the Mount Tabor Indian Community, the larger organization, the Texas Cherokees and Associate Bands was led only by Cherokees both within the community and in the Cherokee Nation. Most Cherokees had left Rusk County between 1866 and 1900. While the overall leadership moved from William Penn Adair until his death in Washington, D.C., in 1880, for a period it was again centered in Texas through John Martin Thompson. With his death in 1907, the executive committee of the Texas Cherokees and Associate Bands was shifted back to the Cherokee Nation with Claude Muskrat as chairman. He was succeeded by W.W. Keeler who was later to serve as Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation.
With the resignation of Keeler in 1972 and the adoption of a constitution for the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma in 1975, the Texas Cherokee Executive Committee was again led by Texans. Judge Foster T. Bean replaced Keeler and remained in that capacity until 1988. Judge Bean was succeeded by J.C. Thompson as chairman, serving from 1988 to 1998 and again from 2001 to 2018. J.C. Thompson being the great great nephew of Martin L. Thompson. Today, Ms Cheryl Giordano of Arp, serves as the Tribal Chairperson of MTIC, but is assisted by Deputy Chairman Rex Thompson of Troup, a direct descendant of Martin and Inez Thompson

## Later life

For Martin L. Thompson, family, ranching and oil would consume the remainder of his life. His only other claim to fame was his conflict with George Fields, attorney for the Texas Cherokees and Associate Bands in the 1920s. The issue was over inclusion of the Choctaws in litigation related to the Treaty of Bowles Village in 1839. From this conflict, the word Choctaw was scratched off the documents that were to be a part of the brief submitted to the United States Supreme Court in 1921.
Although his family was not able to be listed as citizens by blood on the Final Rolls of the Choctaw Nation, his return to Texas was for the best. Oil was discovered on his land and by the time of his death he was one of the wealthiest Choctaw-Chickasaws in the United States. From this start many of his descendants went on to prosperous lives as doctors, attorneys, ranchers and teachers. His family today remains active as citizens of the Mount Tabor Indian Community with his grandson Ras Pool serving as deputy chairman from 2000 until his passing in 2015 and his great-great-grandson Rex Thompson serving also as deputy chairman today.