In need of a Researcher

[radensmom]

I am the 4th generation to look for birth/death records for my ancestors and get stuck. I have emailed countless advertised researchers to find someone who can try to find National Archives records and/or records from Oklahoma regarding my ancestors and no one has ever responded. I have found more information than any other member of my family but I, too, got stuck. I was thinking maybe if I could find information on my ancestor's farms then it might lead me to their burial cites or even possibly church records that may have marriage/birth/death records; but the problem is that family stories put their farms where present day Sardis Lake is. The previous 3 generations who have tried to find this info went to Oklahoma in 1983 but came up empty. Piecing together family stories passed down in writing, I have been able to find corroborating facts of family ties but birth/death/land records still elude me. Here are the facts I have confirmed from family stories that match with census records, Dawes records, or Armstrong Roll records: Alexson Vaughn was married to Fallamahona (AKA Tallahoma) supposedly in Mississippi and migrated to Oklahoma on the Trail of Tears with their children. I found in the Armstrong Roll where Alexson Vaughn was given a 640 acre land allottment located near Laflore's line on Military Rd adjoining the Prairie Settlement in Mushulatubbe District, Greenwood Leflore's District, Wade County, Oklahoma on 27 Sept 1830. He was married to Fallamahona (AKA Tallahoma) who was given 5 acres out of 80 elligible acres in Greenwood LeFlore's District same as her husband Alexson Vaughn and son, Alex. Vaughn Jr. They show a family of 9 at that time. I find no record of Alexson or Fallamahona's birth or death and only have the Armstrong Roll listing and Dawes Roll listings showing him as the father to confirm his existence. I have the Armstrong Roll, Dawes Roll listings, and the 1885 Choctaw Nation Census confirming Fallamahona's existence. Additional children I have found through these sources are: Sallie Ann Vaughn Williams, Wisey Vaughn McCoy, Nancy Vaughn Billy, Maggie Vaughn Billy, Isabel Vaughn Bond. Sallie Ann Williams (Williams is believed to be a married namesake but I have not found the husband and they may have had a child based on family stories) married Marion L Brooks in the Indian Nation, Oklahoma around Talihina, Wade County but I can not find record of their marriage. The first child they had together was in Jan 1871 and her name was Anna Abigail Brooks . They would have divorced sometime between 1889 and 1894 as she has her last child in 1887 and returns to Oklahoma and ML Brooks remarries in 1894. Sallie Williams is born abt May 1850 in either MS, TX, OK and known residences are: Choctaw Nation Township 2R246 resident on the 1900 Census living with sisters Wisey McCoy, Isabel Bond, & Maggie "Miky" Billy; Wade County resident when she is listed in 1893 on the Wade County Pay Roll for Indian Allottment Payment as name Sallian Williams; Muse Township, Wade County resident when she is granted Dawes Roll listing as full-blood in 1903 but registers 29 May 1889; Muse Township, LeFlore County resident on the 1910 Census living with sister Wisey McCoy. There is no evidence I have found of Sallie's death except a possible indication of the year of death as abt 1917 when it is believed sister, Wisey, goes to live with her neice, Lizzy Billy Bohanan, after Sallie's death and the Billy family names a child after Sallie that same year. Evidence in the Talihina, LeFlore County 1920 Census shows Wisey McCoy at 105 years old living with her neice, Lizzy Billy Bohanan, and I find a 3 year old child named Sallie born to the Billy family relatives in 1920 as well. Sallie and ML Brooks had many children of which one is named Mintie Elizabeth Brooks b. 11 Feb 1879 but I could not find them married with their children on any census. I can not find record of Mintie's birth and her children have listed various states of birth as OK, TX, and MS. Mintie married Isaac Newton Johnson m. 22 Mar 1896 in the Indian Nation in Tuskahoma, Cedar County or present day Pushmataha Counties. "Newt" is said to have been a lawman for the Chocktaw Nation in Cedar County and owned the local blacksmith shop for 17+ years while living in the Indian Nation where they had a farm near Finley Township and raised their children until abt 1917. It is unknown if the farm land was owned by Newt's parents, Harlen and Mary Jane Talley Johnson, or if it was the farm that belonged to Fallamahona or Alexson Vaughn Sr or Jr and other family members. I could find no record of the marriage or the sale of their farm but family stories said if Newt failed to return from Texas then the farm was to be given to Green Bohanan who had the farm next door and was a family friend and related by marriage. Newt did not return as he died of throat cancer 25 May 1925 Harris County, Texas. We were unable to find his death records. In 1900 Mintie and Newt were in Delta, Texas but were on the 1910 Census in Finley Township, OK. It is believed they left Oklahoma because Newt's family had died and Sallie died. Mintie died 13 Mar 1919 in Angelton, Brazoria County, Texas but there is no death record I have found because she died in the flu epidemic and is said to have been buried in a mass-burial pauper's grave with several hundred other people. I have confirmed these are the correct persons by many family stories that tell tales of events that took place in our family history and I had some pretty good event dates to start from. But this is as far as I have gotten and don't know what to do further. I will be travelling to the Fort Worth National Archives Branch for 2 days and then on to Oklahoma for 2 days in June 2010 to do research unless I can find a researcher to do it before then. I would love for that trip to be to take pictures of things that have been found instead of struggling to find info that eludes me. I am doing this for my nephews who breathed new life into this research endeavor that was started in 1969 when my great-grandmother, Mary Alice Johnson Raby, set out to find out what happened to her mother in 1919 and the great-grandmother, Sallie Williams, that died a few years before. My great-grandmother was a young girl when she lost her family matriarchs and never stopped telling thir stories tothe many generations that were born. I had the pleasure of spending almost every day of my life with her until her death in 1979 and to find the end that she sought would be one of the greatest fulfillments of my life. And I would be so very proud to show the link of our Choctaw Ancestry to my children and neices and nephews that we have always been told existed but we could never legally prove. If anyone can help with research tips or point me in the direction of a serious researcher who is willing to take on this research task please email me at: radensmom@yahoo.com. My name is Christy Bear, Victoria, Texas, 3rd Great-grand-daughter to Sallie Ann Williams, Dawes #6088