The Influencers

       Much gratitude goes to Alan Yarborough and Sue Remick for these vintage photographs over a hundred years old. Alan and Sue are cousins who also descend from Cull-ca-yer (the spelling on his military record) and Rachel Kingfisher Smith. Thanks to both of them for sharing!

             March 13 marked 129 years since my maternal grandpa’s birth. Grandpa, Calvin Callcayah Smith, was born in the Cherokee Nation and named for his paternal grandfather, Cul-lah-ca Smith, who walked the Cherokee Trail of Tears with his mother and brother when little Cul-lah-ca (the spelling of his name on the 1851 Drennan Roll) was under ten years old.

              Cul Smith and his wife, Rachel Kingfisher Smith had four children – Walter, my great-grandfather, John, Josephine, and Elizabeth. Both parents were deceased by the time Walter was twelve. Family lore indicated these children orphaned directly by the Civil War’s incursion into the Cherokee Nation went to live with their maternal grandparents, the Kingfishers.

One of the few 
photos of Grandpa 
smiling.

           My grandpa highly regarded his aunts, Jo and Lizzie, as he referred to them. He never indicated that his father and siblings lost their parents violently when they were quite young.* In his few conversations about these beloved aunts, he highlighted how well educated they were.

 

Josephine Lee Smith West - given by 
Alan Yarborough, a grandson of Elizabeth
Purcell Hammer, Mother's cousin.

           Josephine Lee Smith West was born in 1860. According to family information from Elizabeth Purcell Hammer, Mother’s cousin, the Mayes County Historical Book had a section about Grandpa’s beloved Aunt Jo. “When Josephine was older, she was taken to Salina to enter the Cherokee Orphan Asylum, where she finished her schooling in 1880 at the age of 20.”

          Mabel Elizabeth Smith Wood Moore was born in 1862 making her the youngest of the children of Cul-lah-ca and Rachel Smith. According to her great-granddaughter, Sue Remick, Lizzie entered the Cherokee Orphan Asylum around 4 years old and lived there for some time. Sue located academic records showing that her great-grandmother was enrolled around the age of 10-11. She said there is a family story about Lizzie going to school and being sent home because she already had enough knowledge. Lizzie taught school in Rose, Oklahoma, in 1890, when she was 25 and already married.

Mabel Elizabeth Smith Wood Moore - photo
given by Sue Remick, her great 
granddaughter.

          The word “asylum” was used because it meant a “refuge, shelter, retreat” for the many Cherokee Civil War orphans or “half-orphans” (A half-orphan had lost one parent in the bloody conflict). The Cherokee leaders allotted money and used the palatial brick home built by Lewis Ross, the brother of Chief John Ross. Orchards, gardens, a cotton field, a cotton gin, a gristmill, and other farm buildings dotted the area for the much-valued Cherokee orphans. Only the gristmill still stands today.

          Grandpa held education in high esteem. Even though his own education was limited, even into his eighties, Grandpa voraciously read and studied, especially his Bible.

          His multi-lingual father spoke Cherokee, English, and Spanish. We have copies of Great-grandpa Walter’s writing in Cherokee and English.

          Grandpa insisted I would go to a “teachers college” and earn a degree. He usually cited the examples of his Aunt Jo and Aunt Lizzie. He was proud of his nieces, Elizabeth Purcell Hammer and Fern Purcell Anders, who were also educators earning their degrees on the beautiful campus of Northeastern State University at Tahlequah on the original site of the Cherokee National Women’s Seminary. 

          At the time, I would not consider education as a possible career since I observed students daily who seemed to have little desire to learn from the dedicated teachers. Never would I let Grandpa know, but I thought I was headed for a career in the medical field. I did not want to disappoint him.

          Maybe Grandpa watched me play “school” with Angie when she was only three years old. She focused so well that I could teach her much more than she supposedly was old enough to master.

          As a retired career teacher, I did fulfill Grandpa’s goal for me. Job asked in Job 12:12: Is not wisdom found among the aged? Does not long life bring understanding?

                May we be willing to share our experience with those younger - not imposing our opinion but listening and observing the younger ones with whom we are interacting. This activity is not instantaneous but requires time, patience, and building of a relationship, earning the right to be heard before sharing. Happy influencing for a lifetime in someone you love!

  *To learn more about my great grandfather and his family, go to this link  https://bernadeanjgates.blogspot.com/2016/05/its-more-than-first-holiday-of-summer.html