J. B. Milam
Encyclopedia
Jesse Bartley Milam was the Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation
from 1941 to 1949.
to Sarah Ellen Couch Milam and William Guinn Milam, both Cherokees. His mother's family had fled the Cherokee Nation
to Texas in 1863 as refugees from the fighting during the American Civil War
. His father's family had immigrated to Texas from Alabama. Through his mother, Milam was a member of the Long Hair Clan. In 1887 his family returned to Cherokee Nation lands, in northeastern Indian Territory
and settled near Chelsea, Oklahoma
.
Milam attended the Cherokee Male Seminary
, a tribally run college in Tahlequah, Oklahoma
. In 1901 and 1902, he studied at the Metropolitan Business College in Dallas, Texas
. After college, he returned to Chelsea and worked in his father's hardware store. He also ventured into the burgeoning oil and gas business. Together with his brother-in-law, Milam founded the Phillips and Milam Oil Company, which grew rapidly.
On April 6, 1904, he married Elizabeth Peach McSpadden. Her Cherokee Dawes Roll
number was #12943, while his was #24953. These numbers are from the census rolls of Cherokee citizens from 1899 to 1907 documented by the US federal government's Dawes Commission to allot tribal lands. The couple had two daughters and one son.
In 1915, Milam became the president of the Bank of Chelsea, the first bank in the Cherokee Nation. He later founded the Rogers County Bank in Claremore, Oklahoma
.
Inspired by the inventor of the Cherokee syllabary
, Sequoyah
and his quest to unite Cherokee factions, J. B. Milam funded an expedition to Mexico to find Sequoyah's gravesite. Cherokee and non-Cherokee scholars drove from Oklahoma to Eagle Pass, Texas
in January 1939. They discovered what they believed to be his grave near a spring in the Mexican state of Coahuila
; however, they could not conclusively prove the grave belonged to Sequoyah.
. The Indian Reorganization Act
(IRA) was introduced in 1934 to enable tribes to develop unicameral governments. Opposition to the IRA led to the creation of the Oklahoma Indian Welfare Act
of 1936, specifically to restore tribal governments within Oklahoma
. However, the Cherokee Nation did not reorganize their government under these acts due to the restrictions on governmental structure dictated by the acts, and, as Principal Chief Wilma Mankiller
writes, "because of our historical relationship with the United States and our belief in our inherent sovereignty as a nation."
, a grassroots National Council of Cherokees gathered to choose their own Chief. They elected J. B. Milam. On April 16, 1941 Franklin D. Roosevelt
confirmed J.B. Milam's appointment as chief. Roosevelt, and later Harry S Truman, reconfirmed his appointment in 1942, 1943, and 1947. Milam served as chief until his death.
As chief, he wanted first and foremost to reconstruct the tribal government and renew tribal claims against the US federal government. He also sought to repatriate culturally and historically significant items to the tribe. To this end, he worked with representatives of the University of Oklahoma
, Northeastern State University
, and the Carnegie Library of Tahlequah. He placed repatriated items in the care of the Oklahoma Historical Society
.
Milam helped create several Cherokee language classes and was instrumental in creating the Cherokee National Historical Society
. He started negotiations for the tribe to purchase the site of the original Cherokee National Female Seminary
, the tribal college in Park Hill, Oklahoma
that had burned down in 1887.
In the interest of intertribal treaty rights, Milam was one of the founding members of the National Congress of American Indians
. He participated in their first meeting in Denver, Colorado
in 1944.
Shortly afterward, he established elections for a Cherokee tribal council, with an eye towards rebuilding the Cherokee Nation's democratic government. In 1946, Milam began purchasing land to put into trust for the Cherokee Nation. In a year's time, he purchased 21453 acres (86.8 km²) for the tribe.
With the blessing of the Bureau of Indian Affairs
, Milam convened a national convention in Tahlequah on July 30, 1948. The convention would pursue Cherokee rights to the Indian Land Claims Commission and elect and Cherokee National assembly. Seven hundred Cherokee men and women participated. Although the goal of the convention was Cherokee unity, it proved fractious. In some participants' views, the convention was dominated by non-Indian attorneys. As a result, the United Keetoowah Society formally expelled J. B. Milam on August 13, 1948. However, the convention did yield some positive results. A standing committee of eleven members was elected, to be led by the Principal Chief. Texas Cherokees were included among those represented.
His daughter, Mildred Elizabeth Milam Viles was active in Cherokee community development, particularly in Cookson, Oklahoma
. She maintained and expanded upon J. B. Milam's research library. Her son, J.B. Milam's grandson, Philip Hubbard Viles served as Chief Justice of the Cherokee Nation for two decades.
J. B. Milam's papers are archived at the McFarlin Library at the University of Tulsa
. Many of his personal effects and items connected to his membership to the Freemasons and Shriners
are in the collections of the Cherokee Heritage Center
.
Principal Chief Ross Swimmer
writes of Milam: "His story is in large part the internal history of the Cherokee Nation as it continued to function and grow despite the policy of the government in Washington. ... Milam's life is a touchstone for the history of Indian-White relations."
Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation
Principal Chief is today the title of the chief executives of the Cherokee Nation, of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, and of the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians, the three federally recognized tribes of Cherokee. In the eighteenth century, when the people were organized by clans and...
from 1941 to 1949.
Early life
J. B. Milam, as he was commonly known, was born on May 10, 1884, near Italy, TexasItaly, Texas
Italy is a town in Ellis County, Texas, United States. As of the 2000 census, the town has a total population of 1,993.-Geography:Italy is located at .According to the United...
to Sarah Ellen Couch Milam and William Guinn Milam, both Cherokees. His mother's family had fled the Cherokee Nation
Cherokee Nation
The Cherokee Nation is the largest of three Cherokee federally recognized tribes in the United States. It was established in the 20th century, and includes people descended from members of the old Cherokee Nation who relocated voluntarily from the Southeast to Indian Territory and Cherokees who...
to Texas in 1863 as refugees from the fighting during the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
. His father's family had immigrated to Texas from Alabama. Through his mother, Milam was a member of the Long Hair Clan. In 1887 his family returned to Cherokee Nation lands, in northeastern Indian Territory
Indian Territory
The Indian Territory, also known as the Indian Territories and the Indian Country, was land set aside within the United States for the settlement of American Indians...
and settled near Chelsea, Oklahoma
Chelsea, Oklahoma
Chelsea is a town in Rogers County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 2,136 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Chelsea is located at . According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , all of it land....
.
Milam attended the Cherokee Male Seminary
Cherokee Male Seminary
The Cherokee Male Seminary was a tribal college, established by the Cherokee Nation, and one of first institutions of higher learning established west of the Mississippi River.-Creation:...
, a tribally run college in Tahlequah, Oklahoma
Tahlequah, Oklahoma
Tahlequah is a city in Cherokee County, Oklahoma, United States located at the foothills of the Ozark Mountains. It was founded as a capital of the original Cherokee Nation in 1838 to welcome those Cherokee forced west on the Trail of Tears. The city's population was 15,753 at the 2010 census. It...
. In 1901 and 1902, he studied at the Metropolitan Business College in Dallas, Texas
Dallas, Texas
Dallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...
. After college, he returned to Chelsea and worked in his father's hardware store. He also ventured into the burgeoning oil and gas business. Together with his brother-in-law, Milam founded the Phillips and Milam Oil Company, which grew rapidly.
On April 6, 1904, he married Elizabeth Peach McSpadden. Her Cherokee Dawes Roll
Dawes Act
The Dawes Act, adopted by Congress in 1887, authorized the President of the United States to survey Indian tribal land and divide the land into allotments for individual Indians. The Act was named for its sponsor, Senator Henry L. Dawes of Massachusetts. The Dawes Act was amended in 1891 and again...
number was #12943, while his was #24953. These numbers are from the census rolls of Cherokee citizens from 1899 to 1907 documented by the US federal government's Dawes Commission to allot tribal lands. The couple had two daughters and one son.
In 1915, Milam became the president of the Bank of Chelsea, the first bank in the Cherokee Nation. He later founded the Rogers County Bank in Claremore, Oklahoma
Claremore, Oklahoma
Claremore is a city and the county seat of Rogers County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 18,581 at the 2010 census, a 17.1 percent increase from 15,873 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area and home to Rogers State University...
.
Fostering cultural studies
In 1922, Milam privately funded Emmet Starr's research of Cherokee genealogy and history, which resulted in the 1917 publication of Starr's Early History of the Cherokees . Milam, an avid bibliophile, amassed a collection of over 1600 volumes about Cherokee and Native American history and culture.Inspired by the inventor of the Cherokee syllabary
Cherokee syllabary
The Cherokee syllabary is a syllabary invented by Sequoyah to write the Cherokee language in the late 1810s and early 1820s. His creation of the syllabary is particularly noteworthy in that he could not previously read any script. He first experimented with logograms, but his system later developed...
, Sequoyah
Sequoyah
Sequoyah , named in English George Gist or George Guess, was a Cherokee silversmith. In 1821 he completed his independent creation of a Cherokee syllabary, making reading and writing in Cherokee possible...
and his quest to unite Cherokee factions, J. B. Milam funded an expedition to Mexico to find Sequoyah's gravesite. Cherokee and non-Cherokee scholars drove from Oklahoma to Eagle Pass, Texas
Eagle Pass, Texas
Eagle Pass is a city in and the county seat of Maverick County The population was 27,183 as of the 2010 census.Eagle Pass borders the city of Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico, which is to the southwest and across the Rio Grande. The Eagle Pass-Piedras Negras Metropolitan Area is one of six...
in January 1939. They discovered what they believed to be his grave near a spring in the Mexican state of Coahuila
Coahuila
Coahuila, formally Coahuila de Zaragoza , officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Coahuila de Zaragoza is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico...
; however, they could not conclusively prove the grave belonged to Sequoyah.
Tribal government
The Cherokee Nation's tribal government had been dismantled by the US Federal government under the Curtis Act of 1898Curtis Act of 1898
The Curtis Act of 1898 was an amendment to the United States Dawes Act that brought about the allotment process of lands of the Five Civilized Tribes of Indian Territory: the Choctaw, Chickasaw, Muscogee, Cherokee, and Seminole...
. The Indian Reorganization Act
Indian Reorganization Act
The Indian Reorganization Act of June 18, 1934 the Indian New Deal, was U.S. federal legislation that secured certain rights to Native Americans, including Alaska Natives...
(IRA) was introduced in 1934 to enable tribes to develop unicameral governments. Opposition to the IRA led to the creation of the Oklahoma Indian Welfare Act
Oklahoma Indian Welfare Act
The Oklahoma Indian Welfare Act of 1936, also known as the Thomas-Rogers Act, is a United States federal law that extended the US Indian Reorganization Act of 1934. It sought to return some form of tribal government to the many tribes in former Indian Territory...
of 1936, specifically to restore tribal governments within Oklahoma
Oklahoma
Oklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...
. However, the Cherokee Nation did not reorganize their government under these acts due to the restrictions on governmental structure dictated by the acts, and, as Principal Chief Wilma Mankiller
Wilma Mankiller
Wilma Pearl Mankiller was the first female Chief of the Cherokee Nation. She served as principal chief for ten years from 1985 to 1995.-Early life:...
writes, "because of our historical relationship with the United States and our belief in our inherent sovereignty as a nation."
Role as Principal Chief
During Milam's tenure as Principal Chief, chiefs were appointed by the US President, but this situation was unsatisfactory to Cherokee citizens. On August 8, 1938 in Fairfield, OklahomaFairfield, Oklahoma
Fairfield is a census-designated place in Adair County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 367 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Fairfield is located at ....
, a grassroots National Council of Cherokees gathered to choose their own Chief. They elected J. B. Milam. On April 16, 1941 Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
confirmed J.B. Milam's appointment as chief. Roosevelt, and later Harry S Truman, reconfirmed his appointment in 1942, 1943, and 1947. Milam served as chief until his death.
As chief, he wanted first and foremost to reconstruct the tribal government and renew tribal claims against the US federal government. He also sought to repatriate culturally and historically significant items to the tribe. To this end, he worked with representatives of the University of Oklahoma
University of Oklahoma
The University of Oklahoma is a coeducational public research university located in Norman, Oklahoma. Founded in 1890, it existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two became the state of Oklahoma. the university had 29,931 students enrolled, most located at its...
, Northeastern State University
Northeastern State University
Northeastern State University is a public university with its main campus located in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, United States, at the foot of the Ozark Mountains. Northeastern's home, Tahlequah, is also the capital of the Cherokee nation of Oklahoma...
, and the Carnegie Library of Tahlequah. He placed repatriated items in the care of the Oklahoma Historical Society
Oklahoma Historical Society
The Oklahoma Historical Society is an agency of the government of Oklahoma dedicated to promotion and preservation of Oklahoma's history and its people by collecting, interpreting, and disseminating knowledge and artifacts of Oklahoma....
.
Milam helped create several Cherokee language classes and was instrumental in creating the Cherokee National Historical Society
Cherokee Heritage Center
The Cherokee Heritage Center is a non-profit historical society and museum campus that seeks to preserve the historical and cultural artifacts, language, and traditional crafts of the Cherokee. The Heritage center also hosts the central genealogy database and genealogy research center for the...
. He started negotiations for the tribe to purchase the site of the original Cherokee National Female Seminary
First Cherokee Female Seminary Site
The first Cherokee Female Seminary was a boarding school opened by the Cherokee Nation in 1851 in Park Hill. On Easter Sunday 1887, a fire burned the building, but the head of the school, Florence Wilson, made sure all the girls got out...
, the tribal college in Park Hill, Oklahoma
Park Hill, Oklahoma
Park Hill is a census-designated place in southwestern Cherokee County, Oklahoma in the United States. The population was 3,936 at the 2000 census. It lies near Tahlequah, east of the junction of U.S. Route 62 and State Highway 82.-History:...
that had burned down in 1887.
In the interest of intertribal treaty rights, Milam was one of the founding members of the National Congress of American Indians
National Congress of American Indians
The National Congress of American Indians is a American Indian and Alaska Native indigenous rights organization. It was founded in 1944 in response to termination and assimilation policies that the U.S. government forced upon the tribal governments in contradiction of their treaty rights and...
. He participated in their first meeting in Denver, Colorado
Denver, Colorado
The City and County of Denver is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Denver is a consolidated city-county, located in the South Platte River Valley on the western edge of the High Plains just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains...
in 1944.
Shortly afterward, he established elections for a Cherokee tribal council, with an eye towards rebuilding the Cherokee Nation's democratic government. In 1946, Milam began purchasing land to put into trust for the Cherokee Nation. In a year's time, he purchased 21453 acres (86.8 km²) for the tribe.
With the blessing of the Bureau of Indian Affairs
Bureau of Indian Affairs
The Bureau of Indian Affairs is an agency of the federal government of the United States within the US Department of the Interior. It is responsible for the administration and management of of land held in trust by the United States for Native Americans in the United States, Native American...
, Milam convened a national convention in Tahlequah on July 30, 1948. The convention would pursue Cherokee rights to the Indian Land Claims Commission and elect and Cherokee National assembly. Seven hundred Cherokee men and women participated. Although the goal of the convention was Cherokee unity, it proved fractious. In some participants' views, the convention was dominated by non-Indian attorneys. As a result, the United Keetoowah Society formally expelled J. B. Milam on August 13, 1948. However, the convention did yield some positive results. A standing committee of eleven members was elected, to be led by the Principal Chief. Texas Cherokees were included among those represented.
Legacy
Milam died on May 8, 1949 from heart disease and is buried in the Chelsea Cemetery.His daughter, Mildred Elizabeth Milam Viles was active in Cherokee community development, particularly in Cookson, Oklahoma
Cookson, Oklahoma
Cookson is a rural community in the Cookson Hills of Cherokee County, Oklahoma. The post office opened April 11, 1895. The ZIP Code is 74427. It is said to have been named for the first postmaster, John H...
. She maintained and expanded upon J. B. Milam's research library. Her son, J.B. Milam's grandson, Philip Hubbard Viles served as Chief Justice of the Cherokee Nation for two decades.
J. B. Milam's papers are archived at the McFarlin Library at the University of Tulsa
University of Tulsa
The University of Tulsa is a private university awarding bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees located in Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA. It is currently ranked 75th among doctoral degree granting universities in the nation by US News and World Report and is listed as one of the "Best 366 Colleges" by...
. Many of his personal effects and items connected to his membership to the Freemasons and Shriners
Shriners
The Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, also commonly known as Shriners and abbreviated A.A.O.N.M.S., established in 1870, is an appendant body to Freemasonry, based in the United States...
are in the collections of the Cherokee Heritage Center
Cherokee Heritage Center
The Cherokee Heritage Center is a non-profit historical society and museum campus that seeks to preserve the historical and cultural artifacts, language, and traditional crafts of the Cherokee. The Heritage center also hosts the central genealogy database and genealogy research center for the...
.
Principal Chief Ross Swimmer
Ross Swimmer
Ross O. Swimmer is the Special Trustee for American Indians at the U.S. Department of the Interior. Swimmer attended the University of Oklahoma, where he received both his Bachelor of Arts and Juris Doctor degrees...
writes of Milam: "His story is in large part the internal history of the Cherokee Nation as it continued to function and grow despite the policy of the government in Washington. ... Milam's life is a touchstone for the history of Indian-White relations."