Mrs. Charles C. Mayberry Collection

Research was conducted concerning one of the names mentioned in the collection and a brief biography of Richard Wilkerson is included below. Any further information is appreciated.

Richard Wilkerson Richard Wilkerson, a full-blooded Cherokee, was born in the Choctaw Nation on August 26, 1866. He was the son of Thomas and Lizzie (Tenewey or Foster, the former the Indian name) Wilkerson. Thomas had left his family in the Choctaw Nation to join the South during the Civil War, and returned at the end of the war. Thomas died when Richard was only six months old, and Lizzie died in 1885.

Wilkerson was raised in the Canadian District of the Cherokee Nation. He entered the Male Seminary in Tahlequah which was a national school conducted by the Cherokee Nation. Within three years Richard was well-versed in the English language. He learned to farm and stayed in the Canadian District until he was twenty-four. He moved to the Cherokee Strip before 1893, and when the area opened he was the owner of eighty acres of land. By 1895, he was living outside of Dewey, owning 450 acres and several oil wells on his property.

Wilkerson was a well-known farmer, democrat, and member of the Baptist Church at Sugar Mound. He was affiliated with Bartlesville Lodge, A.H.T.A., and was a Master Mason. He married Anna Hendricks in March 1891. She was the daughter of David and Martha (Manning) Hendricks of Tahlequah, Oklahoma, both full-blooded Cherokee.

It is believed that the letters in this collection are written by Richard Wilkerson to his father-in-law David Hendricks.

Source: Thoburn, Joseph B. A Standard History of Oklahoma: An Authentic Narrative of its Development from the Date of the First European Exploration down to the Present Time, including Accounts of the Indian Tribes, both Civilized and Wild, of the Cattle Range, of the Land Openings and the Achievements of the most Recent Period, Volume V. The American Historical Society, Chicago & New York, 1916.