Trahern Family

So there has been posts about the Trahern's on my blog. They start here and encompass about 6 posts. Some of that will be repeated here, but since I went so in depth in the past, I won't be as thorough here.


Margaret Trahern the wife of Jason Arthur Adams was born in 1880 in the Skullyville district of the Choctaw Nation. Her home was likely not located far from Trahern Station which was in current Leflore County, Oklahoma. Margaret died in Tulsa in 1955.

Margaret was the second child of Robert Trahern and his wife Cornelia Gardner. Margaret and all her siblings enrolled as 1/2 Choctaws on the Dawes Roll of Choctaw Indians. It probably wasn't  accurate. Descendants of all the children say there ancestors were "full bloods" though that is impossible. They were probably around 3/4, if Cornelia Gardner was indeed a full blood. Based on the only lead I have for her, she was as close to it as she could get.

Robert and Cornelia Trahern's children were Admona (Addie), Margaret, Serena (Rena), Loren, Martha and William Trahern.

Robert Trahern was a son of James N. Trahern and Sarah Hall. He was born around 1849 and he died in 1899. I suspect that he and his brother Joseph were killed at the same time. I know our family believed he was shot over land. Unlike his brothers Lysander and James, there is nothing suggesting Robert was an upstanding individual. He was tried for attempted murder at Fort Smith, and family tales have him as a boot legger, which is probably true.

Cornelia Gardner I think is the daughter of Samuel Gardner and his wife Mary. Samuel has a girl in his home on the censuses for Towson to suggest that this is a valid theory. She was born about 1860. Samuel Gardner and Mary had in 1856 Nancy (Nicy?), Loring Nolen and Sissy Gardner. In 1868 he has a son Loring's age and a daughter under 16 with no wife. In 1874 Sam had married Isabelle Durant and had a son, Basil Gardner, the census shows a male under 10, 2 males age 21-45 (Loring and Sam) and 2 females over 16.

I have not found any paper documenting this relationship, but it's the strongest because of the name. Loring Gardner and Loren Trahern, and Loren also names a daughter Serena, the true name of Rena in our family. No other Gardner's have names similar to Cornelia's family.

Samuel Gardner should be a son of John Gardner and Alatoma, and John Gardner would be a son of James Gardner and Margaret. But that is speculative at this point.

James N. Trahern was the son of James Trahern, a Virginian, and Peggy. He was born around 1814 and died in 1883. His wife Sarah Hall was the daughter of William Hall and Susan Riddle. She was born around 1818 and died in 1873.

James Trahern and the Virginia bunch I will refer to the previous blog posts that I already linked.

Peggy was the daughter of Nahotima and a white trader. Personally I favor Thomas James as the most probable at this point. She was born in the early 1770's and had her first child with Charles Juzan around 1793. She had one full sister, Delilah who had five children. Both women were named in the Supplement to the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek. Thanks primarily to the efforts of their relatives, her half sister's sons James L. McDonald and Robert M. Jones, and hopefully through the efforts of her son Pierre Juzan.

Peggy had half siblings from both her father and her mother. (DO NOT EVEN BRING UP THE LEFLORE FAMILY THEY AREN'T PART OF THIS LINE) Through her father she had a half sister named Molly who was the mother of Alexander Hamilton and James L. McDonald, one named Sally who was married to Middleton Mackey and the mother of his eldest children including David Mackey, and unknown named sister who was the mother of Robert M. Jones. It is possible that Sally had a son with John McKee too.

Through her mother her half siblings were Tappenahoma and Oklahoma both leaders in the Kunsha clan, her brother Tappenahoma succeeded her Uncle Pushmataha  upon his death. I no longer believe Nitakechi is a relative, though most historians have suspected that from the succession. I think they are unrelated. Shanke is also quite possibly a half sister to Peggy. I have lists of the descendants of all of these folks from documented sources, including Pushmataha. Most of what you read elsewhere (Running Deer, Favre, Anderson, Leflore) is rumors and has no documentation.

William Hall the father of Sarah Hall was a mixed blood choctaw. He had at least two sisters, Margaret who married John Ring and Amos W. Geary and Sarah who married Jeremiah Gardner. His family is a bit unusual, they are early to marry within white society and were educated and could read. Margaret was a teacher with the missionaries according to records. Margaret had no children, but Sarah and William both did.

I have no idea who William Hall relates to on both the Hall or Choctaw side at this point. He married Susan Riddle, a niece of Mushulatubbee, which would probably indicate he had some sort of favored or elite status. William Hall and Susan Riddle according to their tomb stone were born in 1793. They are buried at Skullyville Cemetery, which originally was part of their land.

Three of the Hall sons were killed in 1860 or 1861 by a slave uprising, the remaining family sold their land and slaves after that before the end of the civil war. Most were bought by Walker Folsom. Of the Hall family, we only have traceable descendants for Jane Hall who was the second wife of David Folsom, Margaret Hall who married William Moncrief, Sarah Hall and Katherine Hall who married Thomas Wall and Tandy Stephens.

Susan Riddle the mother of Sarah Hall was also a mixed Choctaw. Her parents were William Riddle, a white man and Caty, a sister of Mushulatubbee. Susan's brothers were sent to the mission school at Mushulatubbee's and a letter refers to them as his nephews.

Caty's sister was the mother of Sophia Folsom and Joseph and Andrew Kincade. Based on a Choctaw trading post debtor list, her name may have been Rebecca. Letters from John Pitchlynn in 1808 link John Kincade to the area, and I suspect he is the father of Joseph and Andrew. He was in trouble for selling alcohol, and it's about this time that his family ends up moving to Louisiana.

We know that Caty and Mushulatubbee had at least one more brother, Atoba who killed himself after he was acquitted of murder of a white. I found the original newspaper article where he wrote an apology to the white settlers. It is quite probable that there are more siblings that we don't know about.

Caty had with William Riddle daughters Lucinda, Susan and Mary, and sons William, John and Joseph. After the death of her husband, she married John Jones Sr with whom she had no children and she emigrated to the Choctaw Nation and died living near her son John Riddle.