Elizabeth English Ward, EC# 11147

Elizabeth English was verified and certified “Creek by Blood” by the Bureau of Indian Affairs during their processing of land claim settlements ordered by the Indian Claims Commission (Docket 21 first ruling on 6/4/1951, Docket 272 on 12/8/1971, Docket 275 on 4/15/1970, and Docket 276 on 12/15/1965¹).  The Bureau reviewed over 3,900 applications claiming Elizabeth English as their qualifying Creek Indian ancestor.  Of these, over 3,700 applications were found eligible and received a portion of the settlement money, while less than 200 failed to prove lineal descent, filed their application too late, or had other discrepancies resulting in a rejected application.²

An approximate breakdown of applications claiming Elizabeth English as their qualifying Creek Indian ancestor for each Docket is shown in Table 1.  Applicants were required to submit a separate application for Docket 21 and 275.  Dockets 272 and 276 were awarded without applications to those previously found eligible.

Reasons noted for rejected applications include:

• application received after submission deadline;
• applicant failed to prove lineal descent; and
• other miscellaneous reasons.

Total money distributed to descendants of Elizabeth English is unknown.  At least one of the disbursements awarded amounts based on descent (i.e., grandchildren received more money than great-grandchildren, etc.). Docket 21 award letters issued in 1971 included the statement "When payment is made, we do not expect it to be more than $90 for each eligible person."

The Indian Claims Commission was created in response to the Indian Claims Act of 1946 to provide arbitration between any “tribe, band, or other identifiable group of American Indians residing within the territorial limits of the United States or Alaska.”⁴ The Commission completed 546 dockets and awarded $818,172,606.64 in judgements⁵ before it was adjourned in 1978 by Public Law 94-465, and, transferred 170 pending cases to the United States Court of Claims for completion.⁶

To qualify for these awards, each Creek Indian descendant East of the Mississippi was required to submit an application, with supporting documentation, to the Department of Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Muskogee Area Office.  Each applicant was required to provide evidence their ancestor was “Creek by Blood” and that they were a lineal descendant of that ancestor.  The Muskogee Area Office reviewed each application, corresponded with the applicant seeking additional clarification or evidence when needed, and issued letters notifying each applicant as to the final determination of their application – eligible or not-eligible.⁷

In the 1970s, only a small percentage of Elizabeth English’s descendants were members of the Muscogee Nation of Florida.  Of the 2,350+ applications submitted under Docket 275’s November 15, 1979 deadline, less than 500 were members of the Tribe.⁸  The remaining descendants were living in other communities and submitted applications and supporting documentation independent of the Tribe and at their own discretion.  Some of these descendants lacked resources and/or skills to hire or conduct adequate research. Unfortunately, this led to the fabrication of documents – which were rapidly propagated later in the 1990s when the Internet became a conduit for genealogy research.

In the mid-1950s – 60s, members of the Muscogee Nation of Florida received assistance from tribal leaders with their Docket 21 Applications. Specifically, the tribal leaders:

• communicated with legal and government entities to better define options, requirements, and make sure members of the tribe received a settlement.  For example, one letter from Attorney LeNoir Thompson in Pensacola, FL alerts tribal leader J.J. Ward in Bruce, FL of a fraudulent copy of the 1870 Census in circulation.⁹  Earlier letters indicates J.J. Ward was coordinating the receipt of papers and/or forms.¹⁰ Mr. Ward also communicated with other political and community leaders such as Claude Pepper, Bob Sikes, and John Crews.¹¹
• oversaw the collection and verification of affidavits providing first-hand knowledge of Elizabeth’s ancestry, her life, and relationships to her children, grandchildren, etc.  Not all affidavits were recommended as some were placed in a folder labeled “CAMPESI Draft Federal Petition with Areas Marked Needing Further Documentation.”¹²
• oversaw the collection and verification of government documents (such as census records) documenting the life of Elizabeth English and her children.
• provided applicants with a list and copies of recommended documents to attach to their application.  Seventy years later, a portion of one such list survives, but it does not identify each affidavit.  Instead, it says “Affidavit about Elizabeth English death,” and “Affidavit on life and death of Elizabeth English.”¹³

It is important to note submitting a Docket Application was a personal choice and many members of the Tribe were too afraid to submit.  They feared the offer of payment for Indian lands was a trick to identify Indians still living in Florida and force them to relocate or reclassify them as “colored.”  It is also important to note before the federal Civil Rights Act passed in 1964, Florida maintained various laws prohibiting Indians from living outside a Reservation.​

Racial issues in the South had forced all Indians living freely in southern communities to choose between “colored” and “white” jobs, schools, pubic establishments and even drinking fountains and bathrooms.   After all, Jim Crow laws were aimed at protecting “whiteness” and not so much about classifying the different shades of “brown.”  Muscogee Nation of Florida tribal members were also well aware of the ongoing racial issues in other Indian communities such as Poarch, the Mississippi Choctaws, etc. who were engaged in segregation battles at the same time members were expected to submit Docket applications.  Even closer to home were the ongoing efforts of the Seminoles and Miccosukee tribes in Florida to become federally recognized (in 1957 & 1962).¹⁴

In spite of these risks, many of Elizabeth’s descendants submitted Docket 21 & 275 applications.  By 1971, these applications with their attachments – affidavits, census records, individual birth certificates, etc. – created a body of evidence meeting the Office of the Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs’ requirements to prove Elizabeth English was “Creek by Blood” and award her descendants a portion of the Indian land settlement claims.

Ten years later, Elizabeth English was one of the Creek Indian ancestors identified in a petition for federal recognition from the Principal Creek Indian Nation East of the Mississippi.  Eleven percent of their members reported Elizabeth as their Creek Indian Ancestor.  The 1984 report to the Assistant Secretary of the Interior further says the:

“Branch of Federal Acknowledgment’s genealogical research in Federal and local repositories was aimed at verifying the connections between the current membership [Principal Creek Indian Nation East of the Mississippi] and the early Creek ancestors claimed.  The early Creek ancestors claimed appear, or the names of their immediate ancestors appear, on one or more of the several early sources recognized as being Creek which were prepared prior to 1870.”  They further say “The Branch of Federal Acknowledgment’s genealogical research in Federal and local repositories produced no genealogical evidence to conflict with the information on ancestry provided by the petitioner.”¹⁵

In other words, the Office of Federal Recognition determined Elizabeth was a Creek Indian in 1984.

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