Estelle Chisholm Ward
{{short description|Native American journalist}}
{{use mdy dates|date=September 2022}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Estelle Chisholm Ward
| image = Estelle_Chisholm_Ward.jpg
| alt =
| caption = June 19, 1938
| birth_name = Estelle Chisholm
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1875|06|18}}
| birth_place = Chism, Chickasaw Nation, Indian Territory
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1946|12|09|1875|06|18}}
| death_place = Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
| citizenship = Chickasaw Nation, American
| other_names =
| occupation = educator, journalist, publisher, and political activist
| years_active = 1900–1946
| known_for = first Chickasaw woman to represent the tribe's interests in Washington, D. C.
| notable_works =
}}
Estelle Chisholm Ward (June 18, 1875 – December 9, 1946) was a Chickasaw teacher, journalist, and magazine publisher from Oklahoma. She was active in politics both civic and tribal and was elected as county treasurer of Johnston County, Oklahoma. Ward was the first woman to represent the Chickasaw Nation as a delegate to Washington, DC.
Early life
Estelle Chisholm was born on June 18, 1875, in Chism, in the Chickasaw Nation of Indian Territory{{sfn|Thoburn|Wright|1929|p=748}} to Julia Ann (née McLish) and William Chisholm.{{sfn|Pangburn|1994|p=133}}{{sfn|Walker|2012|p=61}} The town was founded and named after her father. Her grandfather was Jesse Chisholm{{sfn|Shirk|1987|p=50}} a mixed-blood Cherokee-Scottish trader, after whom the Chisholm Trail was named.{{sfn|Conley|2007|pp=64–65}} Her mother's parents were Ginny "Gincy" (née Colbert) and George Frazier McLish, who were of Chickasaw and Scottish descent.{{sfn|Walker|2012|p=61}} By her father's first wife, Hester Butler Cochran, she had a half-sister, Caroline, as well as seven full siblings: Eliza, Angeline, Mary V., Alice, Cora Ann, Julia Ann and William Jr.{{sfn|Pangburn|1994|p=133}}
Chisholm attended the Bloomfield Academy and after graduating, taught in the school for a couple of years. She then attended Kidd College in Sherman, Texas, from 1894 to 1895, before moving to Bowling Green, Kentucky, to attend Potter College.{{sfn|Thoburn|Wright|1929|p=748}}
Career
Upon completing her education, Chisholm began teaching at Burris Chapel School,{{sfn|Thoburn|Wright|1929|p=748}} a neighborhood school that was part of the Chickasaw education system and located near Tishomingo.{{sfn|Williams|1942|p=150}} On December 23, 1896, in the Chickasaw Nation she married William Thomas Ward, who would serve as the long-time auditor of the Chickasaw tribe and later as a deputy United States clerk.{{sfn|The Ada Evening News|1905|p=2}} They lived on their farm and raised their children in Garrett Township, near Tishomingo through the 1920s and then kept a home in Oklahoma City.{{sfn|Thoburn|Wright|1929|p=748}}{{sfn|U. S. Census|1910|p=15-A}}{{sfn|U. S. Census|1920|p=7-A}} She was a member of the National Bureau of Women Speakers and contributed articles to newspapers both inside and outside of Oklahoma.{{sfn|Thoburn|Wright|1929|p=748}} Ward published and edited a magazine in Oklahoma City called the Super Civilized Indian.{{sfn|The Daily Ardmoreite|1926|p=3}}
Ward was involved in politics and was elected as Johnston County Treasurer, as well as running several campaigns for Republican candidates.{{sfn|Thoburn|Wright|1929|p=748}} In 1928, she attended a convention of Choctaw and Chickasaw tribe members from throughout Oklahoma in Ardmore. The purpose of the convention was to discuss both financial issues and the burdens being placed upon the tribes because of implementation of the Indian Citizenship Act and the Burke Act. The tribes were concerned about the inability to secure funds that were due them from the government for their coal and asphalt lands. They selected committee representatives, all men save Czarina Conlan for the Choctaw tribe and Ward for the Chickasaw, to draft a solution.{{sfn|The Daily Ardmoreite|March 25, 1928|p=3}} The committee met to prepare the recommendations and decided to send Conlan and Ward to Washington, D.C. It was the first time women had been sent to Washington as tribal representatives for either tribe. The women's task was to argue in favor of passage of a bill proposed by U.S. House Representative Wilburn Cartwright for sale of the coal and asphalt holdings, as well as continuing the restrictions of selling Indian lands.{{sfn|The Daily Ardmoreite|April 3, 1928|p=2}}
Ward died on December 9, 1946, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma,{{sfn|The Chronicles of Oklahoma|1948|p=360}} and was buried at City Cemetery in Tishomingo, Oklahoma.
References
=Citations=
{{Reflist|30em}}
=Bibliography=
{{Refbegin|30em}}
- {{cite book|last=Conley|first=Robert J.|title=A Cherokee Encyclopedia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Jjfu4rAAyU8C&pg=PA64|year=2007|publisher=University of New Mexico Press|location=Albuquerque, New Mexico|isbn=978-0-8263-3951-5}}
- {{cite book|last=Pangburn|first=Richard L.|title=Indian Blood|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TZEIAQAAMAAJ|year=1994|publisher=Butler Books|location=Louisville, Kentucky|isbn=978-1-884532-05-4}}
- {{cite book|last=Shirk|first=George H.|title=Oklahoma Place Names|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KpAmsIFdutAC&pg=PA50|year=1987|publisher=University of Oklahoma Press|location=Norman, Oklahoma|isbn=978-0-8061-2028-7}}
- {{cite book|last1=Thoburn|first1=Joseph B.|last2=Wright|first2=Muriel H.|title=Oklahoma, a history of the state and its people|url=https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth20196/m1/446/|volume=4|year=1929|publisher=Lewis Historical Publishing Company, Inc. |location=New York, New York|oclc=903928097}}
- {{cite book|last=Walker|first=Rickey Butch |title=Chickasaw Chief George Colbert: His Family and His Country|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JqIbRd_EPDsC&pg=PA61|year=2012|publisher=Bluewater Publications|location=Killen, Alabama|isbn=978-1-934610-71-8}}
- {{cite journal|last1=Williams|first1=Robert L.|title=Hindman H. Burris 1862–1940|journal=Chronicles of Oklahoma|date=June 1942|volume=20|issue=2|pages=149–151|publisher=Oklahoma Historical Society|location=Oklahoma City, Oklahoma|issn=0009-6024}}
- {{cite web|ref={{harvid|U. S. Census|1910}}|author=|title=1910 U.S. Federal Census: Johnston County, Oklahoma|url=https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GRJF-ZVV?i=28&wc=QZZ7-QFV%3A133642201%2C138815901%2C133648601%2C1589089447%3Fcc%3D1727033&cc=1727033|website=FamilySearch|publisher=National Archives and Records Administration|access-date= August 14, 2016|location=Washington, D. C.|date=May 18, 1910}}
- {{cite web|ref={{harvid|U. S. Census|1920}}|author=|title=1920 U.S. Federal Census: Johnston County, Oklahoma|url=https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9RJ2-4MW?i=12&wc=QZJB-9ZQ%3A1036472701%2C1037571201%2C1037481401%2C1589332322%3Fcc%3D1488411&cc=1488411|website=FamilySearch|publisher=National Archives and Records Administration|access-date= August 14, 2016|location=Washington, D.C.|date=January 22, 1920}}
- {{cite news|ref={{harvid|The Daily Ardmoreite|1926}}|author=|title=Ardmore Acts as Host to Indians|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/profile/susun-wilkinson/clipnumber/67719/|access-date= August 14, 2016|newspaper=The Daily Ardmoreite|date=September 14, 1926|location=Ardmore, Oklahoma|via = Newspaperarchive.com}} {{open access}}
- {{cite news|ref={{harvid|The Ada Evening News|1905}}|author=|title=Ben Colbert Indicted|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/6232920/ben_colbert_indicted_the_ada_evening/|access-date= August 14, 2016|publisher=The Ada Evening News|date=June 24, 1905|location=Ada, Oklahoma|via = Newspapers.com}} {{open access}}
- {{cite news|ref={{harvid|The Daily Ardmoreite|March 25, 1928}}|author=|title=Chickasaws and Choctaws to Send Delegation to Capital|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/profile/susun-wilkinson/clipnumber/66010/|access-date= August 8, 2016|newspaper=The Daily Ardmoreite|date=March 25, 1928|location=Ardmore, Oklahoma|via = Newspaperarchive.com}} {{open access}}
- {{cite news|ref={{harvid|The Daily Ardmoreite|April 3, 1928}}|author=|title=Indians Break Precedents to Send Women Representatives|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/profile/susun-wilkinson/clipnumber/66011/|access-date= August 8, 2016|newspaper=The Daily Ardmoreite|date=April 3, 1928|location=Ardmore, Oklahoma|via = Newspaperarchive.com}} {{open access}}
- {{cite journal|ref={{harvid|The Chronicles of Oklahoma|1948}}|author=|title=In Memoriam|journal=Chronicles of Oklahoma|date=Spring 1948|volume=26|issue=1|url=https://archive.org/stream/chroniclesofokla2619okla#page/360/mode/2up|access-date= August 14, 2016|publisher=Oklahoma Historical Society|location=Oklahoma City, Oklahoma|issn=0009-6024}}
{{refend}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ward, Estelle Chisholm}}
Category:20th-century American journalists
Category:20th-century American women writers
Category:20th-century Native American women
Category:20th-century Native American people
Category:American women non-fiction writers
Category:Chickasaw people of Cherokee descent
Category:Chickasaw people on the Dawes Rolls
Category:Native American journalists
Category:People from McClain County, Oklahoma
Category:People from Indian Territory
Category:Chickasaw Nation politicians