My Creek History

Blaze’s Creek Family Tree Chart

My maternal great grandmother Letha King was Creek and Scotch Irish. She recounted her lineage in a book she wrote about how the town Bowlegs got its name. Her great grandmother Betsy McGeely was Creek and came to Oklahoma at age 16 from Alabama on the Trail of Tears.

“She grew frightened when tribal difficulties in Indian Territory nearly came to war and she took her infant son to Kansas. Riding horseback with only a sack of ‘blue dumplings’ tied to the saddle horn for food, she and her son made the trip alone. She later married a Scotch Irishman who ran a trading post and married him, coming back to Oklahoma when the land allotments were distributed and settled in Hughes County. “
Letha King

Betsy’s mother known only as McGeeley hung herself because she was blind and she feared no one would help her on the long trip to Oklahoma. She loved her only known homeland Alabama and did not want to leave.

“I’ve had people ask me if I had anything my ancestors brought with them on the ‘Trail of Tears’. What they don’t understand is that those people were walking a long distance. They couldn’t afford the luxury of carrying possessions with them. They couldn’t preserve anything… except grit.” – Letha King

This grit was evidenced by her great-aunt Zora who outlived four children, lost an arm at the age of ninety-five and doggedly set about learning to do everything left-handed.

Letha’s mother was Myrtle McCaslin (far left in photo below)who was daughter of Jennie Tuttle McCaslin McRay Adelhelm (far right in photo below)and John Wesley McCaslin who was Scotch Irish. Jennie was daughter of Betsy McGeeley and Chester Tuttle.

1925-26

North of Holdenville, Hughes Co., OK

Left to Right: Myrtle McCaslin Long, Zora Belle McCray Williams, Lucinda Brown, Jennie Marie Tuttle McCaslin Adelhelm. Children in front: Aliene Long, Hazel Williams, Dee Williams.

William Adelhelm(Jennie Tuttle’s 3rd husband), Aunt Zora (Myrtle’s half sister), Jennie Tuttle and Adelhelm children Chester, Charlie, Tina, Louis

Amelia Brown, Jennie Tuttle’s sister Julia’s daughter, father was Stanton Brown, brother of Governor John Brown

Julia Tuttle Brown “Aunt Sis” -sister of Jennie

Stanton Brown, husband of Julia Tuttle- whose mother was Seminole, Lucy Greybeard and father was from Scotland John Frippo Brown MD

Stanton’s brother Governor John Brown
Last elected Seminole Chief until 1906

Julia “Aunt Sis” and Stanton Brown and children

The Creek Dawes Roll Numbers for Myrtle McCaslin was #3518, and her mother Jenny Tuttle McCaslin was #3515. Her sister Julia Tuttle Brown was #4425. And Myrtle’s siblings were May #3516, Nettie #3517, Jessie #3519, and Bellzora #3520.

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