Her father was nominally 1/16 Choctaw. But both he and my mother
knew a secret truth. He was three-quarters American Indian, half
Choctaw and a quarter Cherokee. He spent his whole life passing
as white, but the threat of the local MD was too great a risk to
take. How did 3/4 in reality become virtually white in the
records? Therein lies the difficulty of proving Indian heritage.
The Dawes Rolls of 1906 were the final census of the Indian
Nations prior to dissolution of the reservation system. Those on
the rolls could get compensation for the loss of reservation
lands if they had at least 1/8 Indian blood. At the same time,
the Indian Territory, now Oklahoma, had local law requiring any
full blood Indian to have a white custodian. Antipathy towards
the Tribes for their reluctance to surrender their lands to
whites created an atmosphere of intimidation. To reveal one's
true blood might have invited recrimination along with a
custodian. As a result, many chose the sensible compromise with
the government and whi