Nelson and Robert Colbert Son and Grandson of Daugherty Colbert

In 1906, Nelson Colbert, of Conway, I. T.,  filed a petition with the Dawes Commission requesting that his name and that of his son Richard, be transferred from the roll of Chickasaw Freedmen to that of Chickasaws by Blood. The claim was based on the relationship of Nelson Colbert to his father Daugherty Colbert a Chickasaw.

National Archives, Ft. Worth Texas
Perry Files: File Number 150 Image #28

Nelson Colbert was an elderly man by the time of the Dawes Commission. He applied for himself, his wife and two children and two grandchildren, at the time.  One of his children passed away before the finalization of the enrollment process and was thus the name was stricken from the card. Their names all appear on Chickasaw Freedman Card Number 35.

National Archives Publication M1186
Chickasaw Freedman Card #35

Nelson's father's name was Daugherty Colbert. Daugherty Colbert is indicated on the back of Nelson's card as being both his father as well as a Chickasaw Citizen. This does not mean that he was a Freedman citizen, because the Chickasaw Nation refused to adopt the Freedmen as citizens, though they had promised to in the 1866 treaty. His mother was an enslaved woman, Sally Colbert, who was enslaved by the same man--Daugherty Colbert.

Reverse side of card

Nelson's son Richard lived in Wapanucka, I. T, and submitted his own application for himself and his family. Their names all appear on Chickasaw Freedman Card, number 177.

Chickasaw Freedman Card #177

He clearly identifies his father Nelson on the card.

Reverse side of card

Although the entire interview is not there, a good portion of it is in the file, from which good genealogical data is found. However the name of his parents were not included in the "official" interview, even though the questions had to be asked in order to put that information on the enrollment card. The value genealogically is there, since he mentioned the names of adult married children as well as grandchildren.  The strong sense of family possessed by Nelson Colbert is evident, and the data in the summarized interview is useful for future generations to reconstruct that family's history and data. 

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National Archives Publication M1301
Interview from Chickasaw Freedman File 35

In cases such as these, the voice often missing the most is that of the enslaved woman. In this case it was Sallie---who was enslaved by Daugherty Colbert, who was also the father of her children. Such voices though silenced through slavery, and through time, and also by a policy of exclusion, their voices do carry on through the descendants. In many cases, the woman was the culture bearer of the family, and the strong sense of family and cohesiveness of the family was nurtured most often by the mother. And it is seen through Sallie's son who lived into the 20th century. He knew his father, and his mother, and he clearly had a strong sense of family through his painstakingly naming his descendants in the Dawes interview. who in his own final years, called their names.

It is encouraging that the children of Richard Colbert, the grandchildren and great grandchildren of Nelson Colbert, have a legacy, going through him, and to his parents Sallie, and Daugherty Colbert. They were the descendants of their Choctaw fathers and their legacy is strong.