The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1895-07-04
ENORMOUS CHEROKEE CLAIM.
A Tract Of Sixty Square Miles IN South
y3 "a &E eastern Texas. s2#E @i

t.&tt 7sF-l#i S5 QtyfSNaiE! ~ "
4 Tract Of sixty square Miles IN South.
w &E& &4 eastern Texas. Fl
Certain members of the Cherokee
tribe Of Indians propose pushing q
claim to a tract of valuable land in
Texas that may form the basis to a
lawsuit in the court of claims that will
rival the famous Maxwell land grant,
not only in the amount involved, but in
the question of the validity Of q grant
based on the question of sovereignty
vested in the provisional government
of Texas before she was admitted to
the union. g..5 ;t.,s> 49,!
It is fact, little known outside the
Cherokee nation, says the St: Louis Re-
public, that certain members of the
Cherokee tribe own in fee simple sixty
square miles of land lying in what now
constitutes the counties of Anderson,
Ruslk and Cherokee, in southeastern
Texas, the same being in the form of a
land grant from the provisional govern
ment of Texas utter her independence
from Mexico and before she was admit
ted to the union by an act of congress.
When Sam Houston fled from Ten
nessee while in the zenith of his fame,
and while he was governor OF that
state and enjoying the luxury of new
ly welded bliss, he for awhile hid him
self away among his old friends, the
Cherokees, in the wilds of the Indian
territory. He took unto himself. an
other wife from among the dusky
maidens and lived with her until her
death, which occurred about one year
after her marriage with the noted
Tennesseean.
Texas and Mexico were then in the
throes of revolution, and Houston, fred
with an enthusiasm of patriotic loyalty
for his oppressed countrymen, per-
>suaded a few of his Cherokee friends
about twenty in number-to go with
him to the aid of Texas insurgents. The
result of his venture is already a mat
ter of history. Houston won fame and
renown in the conflict and became the
first provisional governor of the Lone
Star state. Here he exhibited his love
for his Cherokee friends, and, no doubt
cherishing an ambition of inducing the
entire tribe of Cherokees to ennigrate
and settle in the country where he had
won di:;:in ction, e.. . to his few follow
ers thes tract of la:ld mentioned, with
the understanding that they should re-
turn to their friends in the Indian ter
ritory and endeavor to induce general
emigration of the entire tribe. The
document conveying the grant was
properly made out and signed and
sealed with the insignia of Office of the
provisional governor of the state of
Texas.
The metes and bounds of the grant
are fully defined by the meridians, and
granted in trust to twenty Cherokees,
their heirs, and assigns forever. This
grant was delivered to one of their
number for safe keeping and they re-
turned to their brethren in the Indian
territory.
Time grew on apace. Other and more
pressing matters engaged the attention
of the Cherokees. They were striving
to build themselves homes in the lands
allotted to them by the United States
government, and the Texas land grant
was for years almost forgotten. Hous-
ton was elected to the United States
senate, and in the multiform cares of
public life forgot the interests of his
Cherokee friends.
The grant was lost or hidden, and
but one or two individuals knew of its
whereabouts until recently. 1t is now
in the possession of descendants of the
Texas refugee Cherokees, who are MAX
ing preparations to begin suit in the
court of claims at Washington for an
amount almost too enormous to readily
realize or estimate.