CREEK I AM

"The way the Creeks treated enslaved Africans was considered a much different and kinder form of slavery than the way the white Americans, Cherokee, or Choctaw went about it. Families could work under different enslaved African owners and did not have to live on the same property as who they worked for. The enslaved Africans worked quite hard and were paid, but had to give most all of their pay to their owners, being allowed to keep a small amount. Lucinda was treated as a family member and did her duties. Her responsibility was taking care of the baby, amongst being an extra had for cleaning and cooking here and there. She was not beaten or disrespected. It was understood what was needed of her and she followed along."

Lucinda Davis was an enslaved African woman who grew up in the Creek Indian culture. She spoke the Muskogee Creek language fluently. The main information source was from an interview in the summer of 1937, at which time she was guessed to be 89 years old. Lucinda's parents were owned by two different Creek Indians. Being enslaved so young without her parents, she never found out her birthplace, nor the time of her birth. Her parents were both enslaved Africans who sold her close to her birth, because they left their own masters either by running away or buying back their freedom. When Lucinda's parents left, her mother's master sold her to Tuskaya-hiniha. Lucinda was brought up in the Creek family she was sold to.
- I Love Ancestry

"Her story draws a thin line between the Southern definition of slavery and the Creek understanding of family ties!" - Dawn Wolf, Keeper of Stories

Emma Curry Pitchlynn, born 1885

Emma, the wife of Garvin County Pioneer George Pitchlynn, (Chickasaw Roll number 3687), was born in Dublin, Montgomery County, Alabama in 1885.

She was the daughter of Arthur and Fannie Shaver Curry. Emma's mother was of Choctaw Descent. Her grandmother was named Caroline Shaver (1/2 Choctaw) and her great-grandfather was named John Ochiltree (full-blood Choctaw). Emma Curry was a pioneer of Garvin County.

She came to Wynnewood, Indian Territory in 1900 and married George Pitchlynn on December 10, 1902. She was a very religious person who cared dearly for all of her many children: Georgiann, roll no. 518, (born 1904), William, roll no. 114, (born 1905), Bertha (born 1907) and Theodore Pitchlynn (born 1908).