Lula Catherine Dearman

Lula Catherine Dearman

Birth 23 Jul 1885 in Winefield, Fayette, Alabama, United States
Death 29 Dec 1935 in Okemah, Okfuskee, Oklahoma, United States

1900 United States Federal Census
Township 3, Chickasaw Nation, Indian Territory

Marriage 20 Apr 1903 (Age: 17)
to John Wesley Cook

1910 (Age: 25)
Moore, Pottawatomie, Oklahoma

1920 (Age: 35)
Morse, Okfuskee, Oklahoma

1935
29 Dec 1935 (Age: 50)
Okemah, Okfuskee, Oklahoma, United States

We knew my mother's mother's mother was Native American but until this year we had searched and searched:

Aunt Helen searched for more than 50 years!!!!

Besides the fact that those knew her stated she spoke Chickasaw to her relatives.
She carried the unmistakable features of the Chickasaw physical characteristics.
And if stories are true also the temperamental characteristics of the Chickasaws.
Grandmother Lula did not like my Grandfather Harry Chapin Reed. Harry Chapin Reed was the husband of Alta Vay Cook. More stories about that another time. (teaser)

Lula Catherine Dearman (1885 - 1935)
is my great grandmother

The lineage is through all female lines:
so I may not be able to prove all lineage but I can prove this one!!!!

Alta Vay Cook (1906 - 1984)
Daughter of Lula Catherine
Ida Belle Reed (1925 - 2000)
Daughter of Alta Vay
Ruth Elizabeth Hayley


Knowing that Lula was born previous to the
1900 United States Federal Census in
Township 3, Chickasaw Nation, Indian Territory to James Thomas Dearman and Laura Helen Bunyard we went hunting for Bunyard and/or Dearman connections to the Chickasaw nation. The clues came from a pedigree chart hand typed in the 1930's. a copy of a Louisiana Marriage Bond and oral stories.

More research will reveal more connections to other Native American Tribes. And yes all of them were this complicated!!!
50 years research and I will tell you where the path went sour. After exhausting years and years on the Dearman lineage which we probably will still find Native Indian heritage, it was highly suspected the Chicksaw lineage came from the Bunyard lineage.

Because Laura and her children are listed (but not JT Dearman, on this particular page) he is on another page. Another blog.......

U.S. Native American Enrollment Cards for the Five Civilized Tribes, 1898-1914
about Laura Dearmon
Name: Laura Dearmon
Gender: Female
Birth Year: abt 1880
Age at Census Enrollment: 22
Enrollment Date: 25 Sep 1902
Tribal Affiliation: Chickasaw By Blood
Census Card #: 349

The Bunyard lineage looked like this:

James Bunyard (1650 - 1678)
is my 9th great grandfather

and very ENGLISH orgin

James Bunyard

OUR 9th great grandfather
Birth 1650 in Old, London, , England
Death 1678 in St Olave Old Jewry, London, , England
still looking for Chickasaw Lineage --------

James Bunyard (1678 - 1722)
Son of James

James Bunyard (1717 - 1800)
Son of James

James Beal Bunyard (1744 - 1817)
Son of James

James Beal Jr. Bunyard (1781 - 1870)
Son of James Beal
married Lucy Jones born in England 1770

William "Pitman" Bunyard (1808 - 1842)
Son of James Beal Jr.
married Anna Sophie Vann's father is Joseph Vann****** traced to
John Vane
Birth 1282 in Monmouth, Monmouthshire, Wales

BUT JUST ABOUT HERE IS WHERE THINGS GET INTERESTING

Joseph Vann****** married a very English sounding named woman named Mary "Polly" King.
With a name like Mary King and having many records to try to trace her to the English KING's a very prominent name in colonized America --- she was overlooked for years!!!!

But alas the Chickasaw connection is found: Mary is the daughter of Thawakilla (mother) and
Squirrel The Chief of Chickasaw Indians. The Chickasaw's were Mississippi's second largest Indian group after the Choctaws. Before the United States government forced their removal in the 1830s,the Chickasaw resided in north Mississippi with their villages centered between the headwaters of the Yazoo and Tombigbee rivers around present-day Tupelo.

In 1727, the government of South Carolina invited the Chickasaw Nation to move from Mississippi to South Carolina. A small band of about 100 under the leadership of Chief Squirrel settled at Horse Creek about a mile upriver from the Fort Moore on the Savannah River between Georgia and South Carolina. They remained in the area until the Revolutionary War.

Mary's brother was Succabee Mingo Stoby

KING was a title given to Squirrel by the Carolinas such that his name would fit in their name structures.

Mary married Edward Ned Vann 1740 ****** son of Edward Ned Van 1720 and Mary Barnes

THESE VERY ENGLISH SOUNDING NAMES WERE NOT THE INVENTION OF THE PROUD NATIVES BUT THE Convenience OF THE EUROPEAN OCCUPANTS

Sources: Descendants of William Vane
http://www.cdo.weblinq.com/~vanns/wvdg06.htm
Note: In an old letter dated 11/01/1818; An old man named Ned Vann visited Spring Place. He was a "Blood Brother" of the father of James Vann and the mother of Joseph Crutchfield." After the death of his first wife, Edward Vann moved to the Ninety-Six District of South Carolina.

Per: Dick R Rogers e-mail January 15, 2003: VANN FAMILY DOCUMENTATION

Edgefield County South Carolina Deed Books
Deed Book 12, Pp 527-528, 10 June 1793. Edward Vann Sr. and Mary his wife to William Courey for 500 pounds- sold 1000 acres. Sworn by oath 27 June 1793.

Deed Book 17, p141, Mary Vann to Robert Mosely renunciation of dower 1 July 1799 signed by Mary Vann recorded 1 July 1799.

Deed Book 26, p375, Benjamin Jernigan to Edward Vann, land, 25 May 1805 witness James Vann, signed Benjamin (x) Jernigan, proven 25 May 1805, recorded17 january 1806.

Deed Book 28, p 530, Edward Vann to Morgan Murrah 3 Nov 1807, (originally to Swearingen 4 Sept 1797, Swearingen to Benjamin Jernigan 5 June 1802, Benjamin Jernigan to Edward Vann 25 May 1805).

Edgefield County South Carolina marriages 1769-1880 implied in probate records Martin Cloud to Edith Vann daughter of Edward Vann Box 35 Pack 1281 Frames 001,004. Lived 1793.

William Vann's will- dated 16 April 1735 lists wife Sarah, son Edward Vann, grandson William Vann son of Edward Vann, daughter Sarah Hughs, daughter Ann Vann, daughter Elizabeth Vann. 5 years before his death.


Father: Edward Vann b: ABT 1690 in North Carolina
Mother: Mary Lewis b: ABT 1718 in Chowan County, North Carolina

Marriage 1 Mary King b: 1743 in New Windsor Chickasaw Settlements-South Carolina
Married: in Edgefield District, South Carolina


Isham B Bunyard (1825 - 1890) married Catherine Mc Caskills traced to Scotland Laura Helen Bunyard (1867 - 1908)

Daughter of Isham B
Lula Catherine Dearman (1885 - 1935)
Daughter of Laura Helen
Alta Vay Cook (1906 - 1984)
Daughter of Lula Catherine
Ida Belle Reed (1925 - 2000)
Daughter of Alta Vay
Ruth Elizabeth Hayley
I am the daughter of Ida Belle