McCullar Family Stories

1. I had wondered for several years what caused John J. McCullar to leave Mt. Ida, Ark and move to Indian Territory. He had a large well improved farm that was assessed at more than was typical for the area. Then in May 2009, Joyce McCullar James came with a large part of her collection of photos and genealogy records she had been collecting for 30 years. The following is an excerpt from a fetter written to her from Lanie McCullar on July 23, 1983. He was in his 80's at that time and lived in Oregon. He was Alonzo's first cousin.
   
   Excerpt: From Lanie McCullar's letter, son of George Wiley McCullar who was J.J. McCullar's son.
   
   After Martha died (J.J.'s first wife), Grandpa went back to Mississippi and married her sister which was Harriet Ellender, which was Dad's (George Wiley) Mother, which was my Grandmother and she was a full blood Cherokee. I guess she was a holy terror - Unia (Lanie's sister) remembers when she tried to poison the family- guess she decided she did not like white people. When she poisoned the food my Granddad on my Mother's side, Dave Gentry, got on to it and wouldn't let the family eat the food - so Dad (George Wiley) gave him an argument that he thought the food was OK - so Dave told him to feed some to (George Wiley) my Dad's prize dog - he did and in a little while the dog was dead.
   
   This happened in Arkansas. J.J. immediately sold the farm, Harriet's x was placed on the deed of sale. He then gathered up all the family except his daughter Jane J. whose husband James R. Wheeler was not willing to move and came to the Pocola area of Indian Territory. This was November 1895. He did not bring Harriet with them and thru this date of April 11, 2013, we still have not been able to find out anymore about her. The baby Howard H. was 4 years old at this time.
   
   J.J. McCullar rented from a Choctaw named I.B. Coffee from 1895 thru 1897. With several sons in the area, even if he was not able to work himself, the children could have handled the farm, so it is likely that he died in 1898 and 1901.
   
   *Excuses allow us to change history when it is desirable. Harriet was not a full blood Cherokee. Her Father Richard Ellender was born 1813 in Dover, Kent, England. Her Mother Katherine Edwards could have had some Indian Blood but probably not Cherokee as she was born 1813 in Caroline, Maryland.
   
   J.J.'s unmarried children that he brought with him married into local families. Most of these families had already been here several years, renting from the Choctaw Indians.
   
   This is an excerpt from the Scott County Citizen, a newspaper sited in Waldron, Arkansas.
   
   May 24, 1889 "The Marshal took Fate Terry from our jail to Fort Smith, AK, Monday to answer a charge of violating the Internal Revenue laws by peddling whiskey on our street sometime ago.
   
   J.J.'s youngest daughter Sarah Elizabeth born 1891 died 1974, married Louis A. Terry born 1880 died 1958 whose Father was Fate Terry. Although they moved to the State of Washington and divorced while there, with Fate returning to Spiro, Sarah Elizabeth never remarried and when she died her children brought her back to Good Hope Cemetery east of Spiro and buried her next to Louis, which was her desire. She has a Granddaughter and grandson still living at Hansville, Washington. Ann has made several trips here and her last two trips she has stayed with Philip and Joy Tanksley Arter.
   
   When J.J. moved the family to the Pocola area, they attended the Missionary Baptist Church of Christ at Friendship. Friendship was an old subscription school area. It is on the old military road that turns west at George Street and wanders along the Poteau River and then comes out at Williams.
   
   The recorder for this church was Martin Switzer, the Uncle by marriage who raised Minnie Herring McCullar. I, have a copy of the minutes of the business meetings, some excerpts are below:
   
   July 1897-Among other items, Brothers accepted by baptism: J.J. McCullar, (it has been suggested that this is John Jewell, but it is unlikely as he never used 1J. on any of his records, also in 1900 he was living near Wilburton next door to his wife Opie Stafford's brother and there first child was born in late 1900). I feel that it is their father John Jackson) r.M. McCullar, W.T. McCullar (Alonzo's Father). Sisters accepted by baptism: Ethel Spicer, Ida McCullar (Alonzo's sister who married Elias M. Butler, 10/10/1880), Sarah E. Switzer (we knew her as Aunt Sally Muncy} Minnie Herring McCullar's first cousin). July 1901-Sarah McCullar (Alonzo's Aunt who married Louis Terry) was baptized.
   
   March 1902-There was an argument the church got involved in on who owned a mare whether it was owned by W.T. McCullar or A.J. Henson. "resolved by this church that the whole report is false and that the said mare never was the lawful property of W.T. McCullar but was a stray running loose on the range at the time. Bro. Henson taking her up and had the pony posted. Resolved"
   
   July 1904-Brother Alonzo McCullar reported of being intoxicated.
   
   After Alonzo's funeral Grandmother Minnie told Aunt Ruth Broome that she knew her funeral would be held at the Church of Christ but she had always been a Baptist at heart. Things have a way of working out. Because there was no church large enough to hold her family when she died her funeral was held at the School Cafeteria at Bokoshe, Oklahoma.



2. Palmyra Jane McCullar's first husband John Cooper has been reported as being hung for stealing horses but I have not at this time verified it.



3. Palmyra Jane's second husband Lewis Spicer was a brother to Sarah Spicer, W.T. McCullar's wife. Lewis had gone back to Mt. Ida helping some family member to move back. Word was sent to him that Palmyra had died of appendicitis, the weather was cold and raining and he rode a horse back from Mt. Ida. Took pneumonia and died within days leaving all the children orphans. W.T. and Sarah took them in and finished raising them/the Spicer descendants say two Indian Boys brought them to W.T and Sarah McCullar. At the time Palmyra and Lewis died they were living in the Eufaula area and they are buried in the Checotah cemetery in unmarked graves. The oldest son still living tried to show his niece Nan Green Ervin where they were buried but when they got there the cemetery had been enlarged and he could not pinpoint the area of the old fence, which they were buried next to it.
   
   
4. Palmyra Jane is the Great Great Grandmother of the singer Carrie Underwood. Carrie could be the identical twin of Nan Green Ervin's daughter Marla, except Marla is the older.
   
   
5. During the depression of the 1930's they held Booster Day's on Saturdays at Bokoshe. My Mother, Opal McCullar Tanksley was a teenager at that time. She told me that it embarrassed her when W.T. McCullar insisted on going to town with them. She said "that old man with a beard down to his waist would stand on his head on the corner so people would toss pennies to him". Two weeks before he died Sam Morgan who was older than my parents called and wanted me to stop by his home at Shady Point. I did and what he wanted was to talk about the McCullar family as someone had told him I was working on the family history. He told me the same story but did not think it was an embarrassment but rather how great it was that at 80 years of age he could still be that active.
   
   
6. There has been consistent rumors that J.J. purchased 80 acres of land around SkullyvilJe which had either a vein of silver on it or some buried silver. This cannot be true as J.J. lived on one side of Williams and W.T. lived on the other side. Also they did not start selling the excess Indian lands until after they gave the Indian their allotments. Very little of the property was sold prior to 1905. A family was supposed to have a lease with the Choctaw Nation and the majority did but there was also a number of squatters. Also if there was as much hidden silver and gold in LeFlore County as is reported, a lot of people would be out with metal detectors and digging lots of holes. I can tell you that what we have experienced is finding a lot of broken horse shoes, broken plows and pieces of barb wire.
   
   
7. Now back to Martha (J.J.'s first wife), after years of believing that she was Harriet Ellender's sister, I found a census that gave the ages of Richard and Catherine Edwards Ellender, which proved that she was not their daughter, and that she could not have been Hariett's sister. It lists their information as follows. Richard arrived in America 1839, he was 25 years old. He married Catherine Edwards at Shelby, Alabama in 1845. Their children were Sarah born 1846, Mary born 1849, Susan born 1850, Richard born 1852 and Harriett born 1854. Richard died prior to or just after Harriett's birth in 1854. Martha who married J.J. was born 1828, this was 11 years before Richard Ellender came to America.
   
   
8. Harriett was 25 years younger than J.J. She was only 16 years old when they married. He had at least 4 children at home at this time and she had 11 more children in the next twenty-five years. That is a child every 25 months. I think that I would probably considered killing the entire family had I been in her circumstances.
   
   
9. Since the print out given to me by Lannie Partain said that Harriett was Martha's sister, he got blamed for the error.
   
   
10. The error really was started by Lanie McCullar in 1983. He was George Wiley's son, but until recently I did not know there was two Lanie's in the family.
    
    
11. Hariett did not have a sister named Martha. Her sibling, Mary, married J.J.'s brother Benjamin Franklin McCullar.
    
    
12. I then started digging through old census records and additional old letters. J.J.'s wife Martha was Martha McCullar (various census McColer, McCullough, McCulla) whose parents were William McCullar and Abagail "Unknown" .
    
    
13. J.J.'s Mother was Jane Unknown and his father William McCu"ough. Grandpa Alonzo told me before he died that the name had been changed. Census takers basically spelled by sound (Phonics) so every 10 years the name could be spelled differently. EXCEPT in this case it is true as William McCullough had migrated to America a very few years prior to marrying Jane Unknown.
    
    
14. Martha's, Father William, I have traced back to prior the Revolutionary War. As no immigration records was kept at that time, a researcher must research ship manifest records which can be very time consuming.
    
    
15. As you read the copies of the old letters I have included you can see how confusing this family is. 1J. and Martha have Uncles named McCullar on both sides of the family and what is worse they have the same family names for the men. Benjamin, John, Thomas, George and William. I have not had time to work through the census records to see who belonged to who.
    
    
16. Joyce McCullar James, Ann Terry and Joy Tanksley paid to have Joyce's brother Markey McCullar's DNA work up. This will be extremely helpful, as it only follows the male line. We found that Kelly McCullar of Mt. Ida, AK matched 65% with Markey, which means that his great Grandfather was J.J.'s Uncle or Martha's Uncle? It is strongly possible that he was Martha's Uncle, as so many years had passed after her ancestor left Scotland that there had been time for the DNA to weaken before 1J.'s Father left. Also Markey has matched with one man in Scotland, John McCully born 1763. Kelly has not matched with him.
    
    
17. When Ann and I proposed that Joyce talk with Markey about her swabbing his cheek and sending the swab off to have his DNA worked up. She was real hesitant because she was afraid he would not understand. It was really important as their was only three McCullar men left with the direct line. Ray McCullar of Oklahoma City, Arlin McCullar's son Ray of Selma, California and I had lost contact with him and Markey. She finally gave in and talked with him. He had been watching all those murder shows and knew what she was talking about and was happy to do it.
    
    
18. He called her every day until the results came in. This was his reaction when he found he matched with Kelly McCullar and two McCullar men, one in Ireland and one in Scotland. "WELL WE KNOW THERE WEREN'T NO INDIANS IN THE WOOD PILE"
    
    
19. Another note is that the letter is correct that they were Scot-Irish. The McCullar's were originally in Scotland, which was over populated and when the English King closed down the Catholic Church, he paid for the removal of entire clans from Scotland, this was several hundred years ago and they are still divided in Ireland into North and South Ireland. At least they now have very few bombings.
    
    
20. A clan is an extended family, what we would call a tribe when the Europeans started migrating to America and taking over the country. Another odd name is Plantation. Each section of land that the King moved a clan to was called a Plantation. Not because they were growing crops but because he was planting people. Again Americans corrupted the definition to mean a large farm growing cotton, corn or tobacco. I have included some history and information on family name in this booklet, instead of trying to type it into these memories.
    
    
21. The McCullar-McCullough's were removed from Scotland to Ulster in Ireland. The majority of Ulster County population is of Scot descent. When they migrated to America most sailed from the Town of Sligo.
    
    
22. Now to a tragic drowning. J.J. McCullar's sister Penelope Lucinda married Thomas Martin. Richard Ellender's wife Catherine Edwards Mother was Mildred Martin. At this point I think that Thomas Martin was Mildred's brother, which means Catherine Edwards Ellender was his niece.
    
    
23. Memories are long, even though they may not be entirely accurate, there is a kernel of truth in all of them. Doris Jean Kennedy asked me if I had ever heard of two people drowning while crossing the Mississippi River. I had heard it but could not find out anymore but the internet is a great thing and e-mail even greater. I had e- mails from two of John Martin's ( John Martin is the son of Lucinda Penelope McCullar and Thomas Martin), descendants, who had found our family tree. One a granddaughter and the other a great granddaughter, one living on the east coast and one on the west coast. They wanted to know if I was a part of the family that raised him. If so, could they use our McCullar info to fill in their spaces in their trees. I certainly gave them permission and sent them the information that J.J.'s sister Penelope Lucinda married Thomas Martin and since Thomas and one other drowned that J.J. raised their son. I wanted to know who was the other person that drowned but they do not know.
    
    
24. This now leads us back to J.J. riding to Mississippi. Of course he did, but not to get Harriet as she was living in Louisana at that time and it appears that he had known the family for years. Thomas Martin drowned sometime in 1879, as John Martin was 10 years old in 1880 and living with 11 and Hariett. At the time of Thomas Martin's death Penelope Lucinda and Thomas Martin were living in Mississippi not far from Richard and Catherine Edwards.
    
    
25. It is quite reasonable to believe that J.J. rode a horse to Mississippi and then moved both families back to louisana, where he and his brothers could help them. Of course Harriett was 8 years old at this time.
    
    
26. I was rereading an e-mail from linda Reed dated March 25, 2010, at that time it meant nothing to me. John Martin left a will, it states he died Nov. 29, 1852. Mildred Martin was his daughter. This resulted in our knowing that Thomas Martin was her brother. Following the custom at the time Thomas and lucinda named their son John after his Grandfather who died just before he was born.
    
    
27. Linda Reed is a descendant of Mary Ellender, Richard's daughter who married Benjamin Franklin McCullar, J.J.'s brother.
    
    
28. When 11 brought them back to louisiana he kept Thomas Martin with him and Harriett. When he moved to Indian Territory he brought Thomas Martin along with his own children.
    
    
29. On the 1900 census John Martin was still living at Williams, his wife's name was Polly, she had been married previous and had a 16 year old son. They had two daughters and two sons. He and Polly died in Polk County, Arkansas, this is very near the Oklahoma east line and just southeast of Poteau.
    
    
30. I am not sure if Penelope had some health issues or not. But the true fact is she, her daughter Ellen, and J.J.'s Mother Jane, always lived with Penelope's sister in law, Elizabeth Martin Myers and she never remarried. They all returned to Gwinette County Georgia, several years after the drowning. Penelope Lucinda died 1920 and is buried in Bibb County, Georgia.
    
    
31. In addition, the e-rnail from Linda Reed, Mary Ellender McCullar's descendant who stated that the other person who drowned was Richard Ellender.
    
    
32. This brings in the only thing that Aunt Beaulah McCullar Partain ever told me about the family. I had tried for years to get her to talk to me but she always called it gossip and refused. The day before she died I was sitting with her and thought she was asleep. All at once she said "Joy, I want you to know that my Father did not know how to read or write, none of his family did. My Mother taught him to read and write, while she was teaching us older children". All of the census state that Penelope could not read or write but her sister in law could. The census records also show that almost none of the McCullar's could read or write.
    
    
33. I do not know why everyone refused to give us information about Grandmother McCullar's family. I know she did not know anything but did want to know. She would ask me every time I saw her if I had found anything out for her. What is so sad is that John Martin lived next door to her Uncle Hamp Talley's brother George. Uncle Lawrence Kennedy's Grandfather lived and preached at Pocola. So many people knew and she had not asked them prior to their deaths and I think they believed that she was old enough when her Mother died to know how everyone was kin to her. Also Alonzo surely knew a lot about her, the McCullar's do not seem to have any hang ups about discussing their dirty laundry. People living in Arkansas and Oklahoma and descendants who have e- mailed me have told me about Harriet's wrong doing, about John Cooper being hung for a horse thief which I believe is true. Some of these people have never visited with any of our family line prior to running across my family tree in Ancestry.com
    
    
34. One thing that really helped me was after Uncle Lawrence ran across the little book about the Edward's store that mentioned Malachi's murder. Uncle Lawrence used that booklet to look all around Red Oak and Lodi for Grandmother's parents graves and could not find them. Mr. Edwards did have a store and a stage stop for the Butterfield Stage line at Lodi which is south and east of Red Oak, and is also known as Old Red Oak. I also looked every where for years. One day in visiting with Dave Monks, Jr.'s Mother, Minnie "Granny" Robinson Monks, I asked her where she was born. She said Milton. I said I thought at Poker Bend, she said no. When I married PaPa "Dave" Monks we moved to Poker Bend as it was within walking distance of the Tahona mine where he worked. I asked her if she lived near several of our relatives, she knew them but they lived to the East. She said we lived adjacent to "MR. EDWARDS STORE AND COnON GIN". I was absolutely floored. Mr. Edwards had two stores, the one at Lodi and the one at Poker Bend. That of course was the answer to everything, and explained how Grandma and Grandpa McCullar got together. They were living within the same area. After that things began to turn up that resulted in my putting things in their place.
    
    
35. OF INTEREST: Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations to Lon McCullar-Lots 3 & 4 and East Half of Southwest Quarter of Section 18 Township 8 North Range 24 East, LeFlore County, OK. 147.67 acres - Sale price $369.18 - Date Dec. 3D, 1916. If this seems very cheap look at the 1897 survey included in this book. All the round circles are trees. What a job to cut those trees with a cross cut saw and dig out the stumps to prepare a field for plowing. This is where the house was.
    
    
36. I WILL NOW TURN TO "MINNIE HERRING McCULLARS FAMILY.
    
    
37. Unfortunately I have not much information on her ancestry. There are numerous Stephen Herring's in the early census records and of course Herring is spelled in many different ways. I have not yet decided which one Stephen is the correct one. I have to decide on who in the 1850 is our Stephen because prior to 1850 only the parents name and then the children were grouped by ages and sex.
    
    
38. One big break through was her Mother's name. Opal McCullar Tanksley always said that Grandmother Minnie said it was Susan Roberts. I finally found Susan Roberts and she was living with her family two houses apart from Malachi Herring in Izard County, Arkansas. Also Hamp Talley who married, Malachi's sister also lived near them.
    
    
39. I purchased a book called Murder and Mayhem in Indian Territory. It was written by Edward Herring of Mt. Hope, Alabama. In hopes that they had a family genealogy at that time, 2000, I wrote to him. He was nice enough to answer and they did not but he was researching old newspapers for a future book and the day he got the letter, he found mentioned in the August 13, 1885 issue of the Dallas Herald, the murder of Malachi Herring. Then on August 14, 1885 issue mention of the Capture of Thomas Bowman who admitted he killed him. It is also in the Ft. Smith Elevator issue of August 11, 1885. Printed as follows: Murder in the Territory.-Items of Interest from Scullyville. Last evening a bout 5 0' clock Melakiah Herrin a white man, living on Jesse Hardway/s farm on Poteau River ---an unseen party fired on him from the brush with a shot gun, three large buck-shot taking effect in the back and thigh. He suffered extremely for five or six hours when death relieved him. No clue to the murderer has been discovered as yet. The same report is also in the Joplin Daily Herald of 14 Aug. 1885.
    
    
40. How sad it is that when all of us were looking for Malachi's grave and we knew he was buried next to "Hamp" Talley's grave that two things happened. #1 we did not know that Hamp was Hamilton H. Talley's nickname and second that when Henry Peck's book "The Proud Heritage of LeFlore County" which was published in 1963, it had a typo error. My Father "Cotton" Tanksley purchased the book and then gave it to me to read and keep. I've read all of it at least six times and use it constantly. The typo error resulted in my not knowing where the Talley's were buried because the book lists one grave W.H. Talley but there is no W.H. buried there it is H.H. Talley. This cemetery should have been called the Talley Cemetery as it started in their yard.
    
    
41. The 1882 rental record stated that Malicha Herring had 3 in the family and had been in the Choctaw Nation for five years. Since Grandma Minnie was the sixth pregnancy, I am very hopeful of eventually finding them in Arkansas and being able, if the courthose was not burned during the Civil War of being able to locate their marriage license.
    
    
42. The wonderful thing about Ancestry is the e-mails people can send you through the web site. Since early 2011 have been in contact with Lynette, "Hamp" Talley's Great Grand niece. Included in this Book of Memories are two letters written by Alexander Talley, Hamp's brother to their Mother in Whitfield County, Georgia. Her name was Sallie Goss Talley and was living with a daughter. I think they are very poignant and I do not want to just give a short statement regarding them.
    
    
43. Martin Switzer was born in Switzerland 26 September 1845. He arrived in New York 26 day January 1866. He sailed from Hamburg, Germany aboard the ship "Germanic". He may have been married before he married Mary Jane Herring, this I am not sure but I have had e-mails stating that they think he was. I would think he had as his and Mary Jane's oldest child Aunt Sarah Muncy was born in 1882 which was 16 years after he arrived in America. Martin Switzer was renting from a prominent Choctaw woman, Margaret Haggard in 1897. Her second husband was a Wade and her third and last husband was Mr. Edwards, yes him again. The one that owned the stage stop at Lodi and the store and cotton gin at Poker Bend. Also Mr. Bowman that killed Malachi was her Uncle. These families all wrapped around each other in the late 1800's and we all still wrap around each other in the 2000's. I think of it as a grape vine wound around for a door wreath instead of a tree.
    
    
44. The three aunts that helped with the raising of Grandma Minnie was Aunt Camsada "Sadie" Herring Bonds, that I discussed in the October 2010 booklet, Aunt Mary Jane Herring Switzer that she spent most of the time with and Aunt Arminta "Minnie" Herring Jones whom she was named for. It does not appear that Aunt Minnie married prior to 1888 at which time she would have been 28 years old. It was the custom in that time period that the youngest child would look after the parents until they died. This possibly happened with her. Her parents then would have died about the age of 70. This is not a positive fact at this time but I have not been able to find them in the census records. Anyway she surely married an interesting person. James B. Jones was a Medical Doctor. He also was the first post master for Shady Point, which at that time was called Harrison, this was in 1871. His first wife had died and he had four children at home. The oldest Mary Lora followed him into the postal service. They had one child Walter and the way Opal talked about him I thought for years he was her age. Walter was 30 years older than Mother and in fact his son Lawrence Montie Jones was near Mothers age. Any way Dr. James B. Jones liked to move. After he left home until his death every 10 years the census found him in a different place. Grandma Minnie told me that once when she was living with them, they were living at Bengal, which is an old coal mining community near Talihina. Winter came and food was in short supply and Dr. Jones decided to return to Shady Point. So the mules was hitched to the wagon, hay piled in the bed along with their belongings, rocks heated and wrapped in burlap sacks to keep their feet warm. She thought she would freeze to death, as none of them had coats. When they arrived, Aunt Mary Switzer took her in. She said I had long hair but I had head lice. Aunt Mary cut my hair and then shaved my head. I did not think much of her after that, as it took a long time for me to get hair back, also when she would comb my hair, she always pulled it and I thought she did it on purpose.
    
    
45. My memories of Alonza McCullar call to mind three things.
    
    
    1. His sitting on the outside of the pew, near the front at the LeQuire Church of Christ and keeping time to the beat of the song by patting his left foot. He had a beautiful voice.
    2. The other thing is his telling me that he was afraid I would not amount to much, after I fixed their kitchen sink drain so it would quit leaking, as I was a Jack of all Trades.
    3. Larry Kennedy and I moving his bottle of Peach Brandy from the bottom shelf on the left hand side of the garage as you went in and placed it under the boat in the shed, hiding it from him. The next time I was there, he told me it was not nice to hide Grandpa's bottle and where was it. I was to afraid to say anymore than "I don't know".
    
    
46. My memories of Minnie McCullar:
    
    
    1. Of her sitting in the kitchen while she made the greatest stew in the world, she used T-Bone steaks for the meat.
    2. She would whistle to me real quiet and I loved it, until Grandpa came in and said "Minnie, I've told you and told you that a whistling woman and a crowing hen will come to a no good end". This always irritated me.
    3. I admired her greatly, she was always so quiet and calm.
    4. After Grandpa died and she began to talk to me of her childhood, I could not understand how someone that had been through that, had eleven children and worked so hard could be so easy going. No whimpering or complaining about her life, just wanting to know about her parents and grandparents.
    5. I remember her saying that just before her Mother died and was ill in bed she told her to go to the neighbors and get their supper. Grandma said "there is snow on the ground and I have no shoes", the answer "tie those rags around your feet and be thankful that people who are not kin to us will feed us". How very sad.
    6. Then a few days before she died, Mom and I went to see her. When we started to leave, Mom leaned over and kissed her on the cheek and said "Momma I love you". Grandma said "Opal I love you to but I love everyone". This hurt Mom's feelings so bad and I felt sorry for her, she wanted to be at the top in Grandma's feelings but Grandma just was not that kind of person. I believe she truly did love everyone.
    7. What a grand person she was. I think the pet name that the younger grandchildren had for her, says that about her they called her "Big Momma" and she truly was in her personality a "Big Momma".