iabciiMATTHEW MORGAN McCALL, M.D, Alikchi Chukma of the Choctaws, Page

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Matthew Morgan McCall believed to be a son of John McCall and Eliz­abeth Thomas McCall, was born about 1805, probably in Tennessee.  His daugh­ter stated that he was born in "Choctaw Nation" in her 1880 census enumeration.  Rob­ert Marshall McCall stated in 1880 that his parents were "born in Vir­ginia."  Oliver Hazard Perry McCall stated in 1880 that his parents' birth­places were "unknown."  In the 1900 enumeration he stated that his father was "born in Tennessee."

 

It is believed that Matthew Morgan McCall received medical training at Nash­ville, Tennessee, perhaps under the tutelage of an older physician.  The vast majority of doctors in the early nineteenth century were products of the apprentice system.  As of 1800 only four medical schools existed in the United States.

 

Medical training began to expand rapidly after 1810.  In the following three decades 26 medical schools were founded.  In 1824 Nashville, with 4,000 population, was to re­ceive a new president for Cumberland College.  Philip Lindsley, acting president of Princeton College of Princeton, New Jersey was induced to move to Tennesse, according to "Philip Lindsley and Education" by John F. Woolverton.

 

Lindsley arranged for great educational advances for Tennesse, although he was not en­thusiastic about the state.  According to "Works of Philip Lindsley," he wrote:

 

"You find nothing but cotton, tobacco, corn, whiskey and negroes in Tennessee, and they're not worth the growing.  Doctors are made by guess, lawyers by mag­ic, parsons by inspiration, legislators by grog, merchants by mammon, farmers by necessity and editors and schoolmasters by St. Nicholas."

 

In his occasional articles in the Nashville newspapers Lindsley inveighed also, with much humor and a touch of snobbery, against tobacco chewing, the wearing of hats in church and the city's propensity for committee meetings.

 

He took over the helm of Cumberland College which had been chartered as Davidson Acad­emy in 1785.  Cumberland College reopened in 1807 and granted its first degrees in 1813.  Poorly funded, it closed in 1816, was a grammar school in 1819 and reopened in 1820 with "moral philosophy, rhetoric & languages," according to a letter written Aug­ust 25, 1988 by Carol Kaplan of Nashville Public Library.  Lindsley saw the school re­named the University of Nashville shortly after his arrival.  Under his guidance the university was expanded to provide a wide academic range, and medical lectures were added to the curriculum.  By the time of his resigna­tion in 1850 the University of Nashville Medical College, forerunner of Vanderbilt University, was the fourth largest in the nation.

 

Carol Kaplan wrote, "It is possible that Dr. McCall attended the University of Nash­ville, however the list of graduates, 1813-1848, does not include him.  I also checked the Davidson County marriages, census and histories, to no avail."

 

Robert O. DePriest, archivist of Tennessee State Library and Archives, wrote September 9, 1988:

 

"We have a catalogue of officers and graduates of the University of Nashville.  This publication lists the graduates of the institution from 1813 to 1850, but does not list students attending lectures or refresher courses.  Dr. McCall is not on the list of graduates.  We have a collection of records of Cumberland College and the University of Nashville which may contain data on your ancestor.  Volume 4 of the collection lists all the students who attended the University  from 1826 to 1850 and lists comments about the students, faculty and trustees."

 

Later Matthew Morgan McCall moved with his brothers to Hinds County, Missis­sippi, ac­cording to John D. McCall.  Mary Alnora "Nora" Cox Drennan sug­gested that the doctor was married to Nancy Elizabeth Thompson, probably in Mis­sissippi. 

 

On January 5, 1835 the Medical College of Louisiana, forerunner of Tulane University, opened in New Orleans, and it is believed that Dr. McCall also attend medical lectures there, being careful to avoid the "sickly season," in the crescent city.  In spring and summer yellow fever flourished in cities up and down the Mississippi.  It would be 60 years later during the Spanish-American War in Cuba that Major Walter Reed would demonstrate that it was mosquitos that spread the mysterious jaundice.  In addi­tion the port city was plagued occasionally in summertime with Asiatic fever, cholera, and consumption.

 

Cholera which had been gradually creeping westward from India since 1816 reached New Orleans in January 1832, according to "Journal of Army Life" by Rodney Glisan.  Along the rivers, steamboats left their dead at every landing.  Against these dread epi­dem­ics the New Orleans medical students would prescribe huge doses of calomel [mercurous chloride], the most widely used drug in the nineteenth century, according to "Tulane University Medical Center" by John Duffy.

 

Each four-month course at the university initially cost $20, and the faculty decreed at the end of the first year that four years of medical practice would be considered the equivalent of a course of lectures, thus enabling individuals in practice to ob­tain a medical degree by attending one series of lectures, December through March.

 

Sixteen students enrolled in 1836.  Out-of-state students began to be attracted to the university's medical training which at times was bartered.  In 1839 a medical student stated that he "expected some cotton down to pay his way."  The school ledger recorded that the student later "Pd. $30 in Mississippi currency [$26.50 in Louisiana curren­cy.]"  By 1850 over 200 students were enrolled there, making the Medical College of Louisiana, the fifth largest in the nation, ranking just behind the University of Nashville.  In a letter written August 30, 1988 the information services department of Rudulph Matos Medical Library, Tulane University Medical Center advised that a search for the name of Matthew Morgan McCall among the students of Medical College of Louisiana had been fruitless.

 

Not to be outdone by their English-speaking counterparts, the French physicians of New Orleans also opened a medical school there in 1815.  The name of Matthew Morgan McCall does not occur in "Registie du Cumite Medical de la Nouvelle Orleans, 1816-1854."

 

In Mississippi Matthew Morgan McCall began to practice medicine more like the Choctaw alikchi [medicine man] than his white counterparts who still resorted to cau­terizing, blood-letting, cupping and leeches.  He observed that the alikchi were skillful with use of herbs and traditional tribal medicine.  He gained from them a knowledge of the medicinal properties of leaves, bark and roots of plants which were common in the woodlands and on the prairies of Mississippi.

 

Virginia R. Allen writing in "Medical Practices in the Choctaw Nation" described some of the Indian remedies that Dr. McCall doubtlessly used:

 

"Tea made from Broomweed was given for colds and pneumonia.  Burnweed teas was used for chills.  Blackroot was given as a purgative.  Ball willow was used to treat measles and smallpox.  Jeusalem oak and walnut was made into candy and given to children as a dewormer.  Bloodweed was to purify the blood.  Scurvy grass was used as a cleanser for the teeth and gums.  Pink root, combined with whiskey, was a favorite tonic.  A piece of prickly ash bark was held in a cav­ity to stop toothache.  Modoc weed or yellow root was boiled in water, mixed with whiskey and given for fainting.  Pottage pea root stopped diarrhea.  Poul­tices made of ground ivy was used to treat sores.  Rattlesnake root was applied directly to snakebites and also chewed by the victim.  Sycamore bark was boiled in water and sweetened with honey to arrest coughs.  Slippery elm and milk were combined to treat burns.

 

Little Blue Hen, a Choctaw wife who came to Indian Territory in the first re­moval, had a remedy for skin cancer which had been passed down to her through several generations.  She made a salve from equal parts of honey, butter and the juice of green vines and the leaves of the pole bean.  The ingredients were steamed slowly together until the mixture formed a soft salve.  Persons using the cancer cure were to refrain from the use of whiskey, fat meats, oily food and the drinking of any liquid except water or the liquid from boiled corn.

 

The Choctaws believed that roots were purer in the fall of the year before new sap began to rise.  A supply of roots, herbs and barks were gathered then at the proper state of maturity and hung in the house."

 

The Choctaw alikchi attempted to inject the supernatural with their herbal treatment.  Many of his practices were no more primitive that those of some of his white counter­parts.  The white physicians could apply splints to broken bones, remove bullets with their forceps, suture up wounds, make amputations and perform elementary surgery, but were just as helpless as Indians in the face of the virulent contagious diseases.

 

Dr. Matthew Morgan McCall, whose mother was a Cherokee descendant, apparently did not have Choctaw blood, but did have close ties to his friends among the tribesmen and was very sympathetic to their plight when the Americans deter­mined that they must be removed.

 

The Choctaw tribe lived for centuries in southern Mississippi.  They had not given the Americans any resistance.  Instead they had aligned themselves with the Americans in their battles.  Several hundred of their braves fought with the Mississippians in the Creek War, according to "Rise and Fall of the Choctaw Nation" by Angie Debo.  They fought with Gen. Andrew Jackson in the Battle of Horseshoe Bend and in the Battle of New Orleans in the War of 1812.  They invited American missionaries to establish sta­tions and schools in the Choctaw Nation and gave permission for the construction of the Natchez Trace across thier land.

 

The white population in Mississippi grew from less than 9,000 in 1800 to over 70,000 in 1830 and the pressure upon the Indians began to increase exponentially.

 

The Choctaws were the first tribe to succumb to the pressure of the encroaching white settlers.  In 1830 they agreed to remove to Oklahoma and became known as one of the "Five Civilized Tribes."  Almost 7,000,000 acres were ceded to the Choctaws in south­eastern Oklahoma, "South of the Canadian River, north of the Red River, from Ft. Smith west."  The Creeks and Seminoles began arriving in Oklahoma in 1832.  The Cherokees traversed the "Trail of Tears" in 1835.  In 1837 6,070 Chickasaw and their slaves be­gan moving from Chickasaw Bluffs [present site of Memphis, Tennessee] to their new capital at Tish­omingo, Oklahoma.  The territory they gave up was generally the north­ern 1/5 of Miss­issippi.  They were transported to an area just west of the Choctaws' new home­land.  Subsequently a portion of 67 Indian tribes were removed to Oklahoma.

 

In Oklahoma the Choctaws were settled primarily in McCurtain, Pittsburg, Le Flore, Pushmataha and Choctaw Counties.  Some remained in Mississippi in Neshoba County where a Choctaw reservation is maintained today.  In 1988 about 4,000 of the county's popu­lation of 23,789 are Choctaws.  Adjoining Winston County also holds a high concentra­tion of Choctaws.

 

A Choctaw census taken in 1831 in Mississippi showed a total of 19,554.  Of those 12,500 came to Oklahoma. 

 

The American government showed a very devious nature in dealing with the Choctaw Na­tion.  It signed 16 different treaties with the tribe and reneged shamefully on com­mitments it had no intention of keeping.  Apparently it was concluded that it was eas­ier to sweep the Indians westward than to exterminate them.

 

In the Treaty of Treaty Ground, Mississippi signed October 20, 1820 by Gen. Andrew Jackson and Chief Pushmataha the United States ceded land in southwest Arkansas, the southern half of Oklahoma as well as land in Texas and New Mexico [which belonged to Mexico.]  The Choctaws gave away still more in the Treaty of Washington January 20, 1825.  Chiefs Mushulatubbe, Pushmataha and Apuckshunnubbee undertook the journey to Washington to sign the agreement.  Apuckshunnubbee died on the way, and Pushmataha died in Washington in December 1824 before the treaty was signed.  It seemed that the Indians suffered in every contact with the whites.

 

The treaty finalizing the Choctaw removal was signed September 28, 1830 at the council grounds on Dancing Rabbit Creek, Mississippi.  This treaty specified that "no part of the land ceded to the Choctaw Nation shall ever be embraced in any territory or state."  It further provided for a Choctaw delegate in the U. S. Congress, but Con­gress never granted such representation.  The Choctaws gave up 10,000,000 acres of prime Mississippi land in the bargain.  To soothe the objections of the Indians who protested that the land being offered in the treaty was already occupied by the whites, Andrew Jackson assured the Choctaws that he would drive out the settlers.  Arkansas Territory which was created in 1819 embraced the land that was being offered.  Old Miller County, Arkansas Territory had been created in 1820 and by 1821 already had a "population of 999 and 84 slaves," according to the March 3, 1821 edition of the "Arkansas Gazette."  The population of Old Miller County had increased to 2,500 in 1825.  Very few of this first settlement of "sooners" were ever disturbed by Jackson's promise.

 

The Americans used every means of duplicity to gain the upper hand.  They freely dis­tributed whiskey among the Indians, undermining their will to work and to produce.  They distributed lavish bribes among the chieftains to gain their consent to the treaties and to influence them to "sell out" their people and their heritage.  The In­dians received nothing but misery for their passive resistance.

 

The Choctaws in Jasper and Newton Counties wrote a letter delineating their oppression to George S. Gaines, one of their few trusted friends in Washington:

 

"Our tribe has been woefully imposed upon of late.  We have had our habitations torn down and burned; our fences destroyed, cattle turned into our fields and we ourselves have been scourged, manacled, fettered and otherwise personally abused, until by such treatment some of our best men have died.  These are the acts of the persons who profess to be the agents of the Government to procure our removal to Arkansas and who cheat us out of all they can, by the use of fraud, duplicity and even violence." 

 

The treaty of 1830 specified that 7,000 Choctaw were to remain in east central Missis­sippi, but again the Americans weaseled out.  The white citizens of Alabama and Mis­sissippi maintained a constant clamor for their removal also.  Senator Jefferson Davis of Mississippi was foremost among those determined to expel to remaining remnants of the Choctaws from Mississippi.  He wrote, "It is an object of great importance that the Choctaws be completely removed and prevented from returning." 

 

American officials circulated reports about the generous conditions given to the Choc­taws by the terms of the treaty, but many church officials objected to the bullying of the Indians.  Mary Elizabeth Young in "Redskins, Ruffleshirts and Rednecks" re­ported on the reaction of the missionary officials:

 

"The missionaries of the American Board, angry because the treaty granted no compensation for their expensive schools and mission stations, did not consider it generous in any respect.  They regarded the extensive reserves given to In­dian leaders as mere bribes.  They deplored the scanty provision for emigrating tribesmen whose improvements were small.  They bitterly resented the commis­sioners' misrepresentation of the way in which the agreement had been negoti­ated."

 

William Armstrong undertook a Choctaw census in 1831 and enumerated 17,963 Choctaws, 151 whites and 521 slaves living in Choctaw Nation, according to "The Choctaws" by Jesse O. McKee and Jon A. Schlenker.

 

The editor of the "Vicksburg Daily Sentinel" recorded the beginning of the exodus:

 

"They are going away!  With a visible reluctance which nothing has overcome but the stern necessity they feel impelling them, they have looked their last on the graves of their sires--the scenes of their youth, and have taken up the slow toilsome march with their household goods among them to their new homes in a strange land.  They leave names to many of our rivers, towns and counties, and so long as our State remains, the Choctaws who once owned most of her soil will be remembered."

 

The horrors of the Choctaw migration were never publicized to the extent as were the Cherokee's "trail of tears," but they were just as devastating.  From 1831 to 1834 forced marches of tribesmen, mostly on foot, in groups of 500 to 1,000 started out for Oklahoma, invariably in the fall and winter months.  The trip of 550 miles passed through unsettled country of dense forests, swamps, thick canebrakes and swollen rivers.  The suffering, caused by the mistakes and inefficiency of the War Department combined with one of the regions's worst blizzards in history was indescribable.

 

Choctaw Agent William S. Colquhoun at Vicksburg, Mississippi wrote December 10, 1831 to Brigadier General George Gibson that a party of Choctaws had arrived there after marching 24 hours through sleet and snow.  "Their situation is distressing and must get worse, they are often very naked and few moccasins are seen amongst them." 

 

A party of 2,500 Choctaws traveling by steamboat were disembarked at Arkansas Post and kept in open camps through the worst of the blizzard.  Many had to remain for weeks awaiting horses which were being driven overland from Louisiana.  Cholera broke out on a boatload of Indians nearing the Memphis transfer station, and many panic-stricken women and children refused to board another steamboat.  They were ferried across the Mississippi and continued the journey on foot.

 

When he observed the Choctaws crossing the Mississippi at Memphis Alexis de Tocque­ville wrote:

 

"In the whole scene there was an air of ruin and destruction, something which betrayed a final and irrevocable adieu; one couldn't watch without feeling one's heart wrung.  The Indians were tranquil, but sombre and taciturn.  There was one who could speak English and of whom I asked why the Choctaws were leav­ing their country.  'To be free,' he answered."

 

Many hundreds fell victim to blizzards and cold weather and all manner of disease.  Epidemics of smallpox, cholera, typhoid and "intermittent fever" devastated the tribe en route and in its early years in Okla­homa.

 

No physicians were among the Indians in the initial treks, but many churchpeople be­came aware of their suffering and volunteered to help.  Teachers and preachers were sent.  Dr. Alexander Talley, a PhD. and a Methodist missionary, accompanied the first Choctaw party moving westward.  Soon the War Department elected to have doctors accom­pany them.  On the steamboat Reindeer in November 1832 Dr. John T. Fulton and a Dr. Rayburn, government agents, reported 12 deaths in three days in a party of 445 Choc­taws due to cholera "for which they knew no effective treatment," according to Indian Agent A. S. Langham.  In a five-week period ending in September 1833 600 died of fever alone, according to "Indian Removal" by Grant Foreman.

 

Cyrus Bennington who was a missionary among the Choctaws before the removal and who traveled to Indian Territory with them estimated that 6,000 died during the migration, according to "History of Choctaw, Chickasaw and Natchez Indians" by H. B. Cushman.  President Andrew Jackson had appointed Major Francis W. Armstrong "Superintendent of Indian Affairs for the Choctaw Nation West of the Mississippi" and dispatched him to Ft. Smith, Arkansas Territory.  He arrived at Ft. Smith just ahead of the first Choc­taw contingent and had little time to prepare to assist the Indians, according to "Ft. Smith" by Edwin C. Bearss and A. M. Gibson.

 

By ones and twos other missionaries and teachers vol­unteered to undergo the hardships in Oklahoma to serve.  They, too, paid the price of having their bodies racked with disease.  In 1833 Miss Eunice Clough, a teacher at Lukfata, 10 miles from Ft. Towson, lay near death, prostrate with fever, and the near­est doctor was 70 miles away--in Arkansas.  In desperation the missionaries contracted with the medico to come and treat Miss Clough and paid $70, more than a year's income, for his services.  In that year a Mr. Wright treated 322 cases of "intermittent fever" among the Indians.  Star­vation was also a threat in the early years.  The U. S. gov­ernment reneged on supply­ing the steel plows they had contracted to supply to the tribe so that they could raise corn on their land.  In June 1833 a 10-foot flood on the Arkansas River washed away all the mills, ferries and improvements that had been built along the river. 

 

Maj. Armstrong wrote, "The Choctaws are dying to an alarm­ing extent.  Near the agency there are 3,000 Indians, and within the hearing of a gun from this spot, 100 have died within five weeks."

 

Capt. George A. McCall, a Pennsylvanian on the staff of Gen. Matthew Arbuckle at Ft. Gibson reported on political conditions in the Choctaw Nation, "There is bitter con­tention in the selec­tion of chiefs and great animosity toward the authority that caused their removal as well as their chieftains who had acquiesced."

 

In 1838 smallpox carried away between 400 and 500 Choctaws.  Rev. Ebenezer Hotchkin, teacher in a girls' academy,  wrote in May 1840, "We have had some sickness this spring.  Intermittent fever, pleurisy, scurvy, worms, bots, lice, vermin, etc.  But after we get through the old scurf and dirt, the little girls come out as bright as other children.  To effect this change strong nerves are necessary."

 

In 1842 it was reported that Doaksville, one mile from Ft. Towson, had the services of a physician, name unknown.  It is possible that the medico was Dr. Matthew Morgan Mc­Call.

 

The Mississippians continued their relentless campaign to expurgate the Choctaws.  Five hundred were removed in 1843, 1,280 in April 1845, 1,000 in 1846, 547 in 1848 and 450 in 1850.  The capital of the Choctaw Nation in Oklahoma was established at Tuska­homa in Push­mataha County.  Allen Wright, an early-day Choctaw tribal leader gave Ok­lahoma its name when the Choctaw-Chickasaw treaty of 1866 was written.

 

Early in the 1840s Matthew Morgan McCall removed to Texas "along with his brothers."  It is believed that he was touched by the suffering of the Choctaws and was moved to arrange with the U. S. government to attend to their medical needs.  He did not appear as a taxpayer in 1840 norr 1846, according to "The 1840 Census of the Re­public of Texas" by Gifford White.

 

He was married January 5, 1844 to Mrs. Lucinda Rogers Bowlin Willis, accord­ing to Rusk County, Texas marriage records.  Rusk County had been organized in late 1843, and they were the twelfth couple to become married in the new county.  John D. McCall wrote in 1941, "Her brother was a banker.  The Rogers were from Ten­nessee where Dr. McCall probably first knew them.  Some of the Bowlin family still live at Shelbyville, Texas."

 

She was born in Sullivan County, Tennessee about 1810 and was married there at age 16, about 1827, to Solomon Bowlin who was born October 5, 1804 in Sullivan Coun­ty.  He was the sixteenth child of John Bowlin and Mary Tarpley Bowlin.  John Bowlin, legendarily a direct descendant of Pocahontas, was born in 1756.  He was a Revolutionary soldier and drew a pension to his death in 1835.  The Sullivan County courthouse was burned during the Civil War, destroying valuable records of the Bowlin family.

 

Solomon Bowlin emigrated to Texas with his family and received a land grant of 4,444 acres in the Teneja District from the Mexican government January 19, 1835, ac­cording to records in the Texas General Land Office.

 

Solomon Bowlin had petitioned the Mexican government in 1834 with an applica­tion written in Spanish:

 

"I, Solomon Bowlin, a citizen of the United States of the North, present myself before you with all respect and state that attracted by the generous disposi­tion of the colonizations laws of this state, I have come with my family, con­sisting of my wife and four children, to locate here, if you in view of the hereunto attached certificate would grant to admit me under the class of colo­nizers, conceding me a place of settlement.  I agree to abide by the laws of the government and terms of colonization as agreed upon between the government and David G. Burnet.

 

Nacogdoches, November 1, 1834                              Solomon Bowlin"

 

On January 19, 1835 the request of Solomon Bowlin was granted, and the grant was sign­ed by Jorge Antonio Nixon, commissioner for the governor of the state of Coahuila y Tejas.  His land lay in the colony of Empresario David G. Burnet, later the first president of the Republic of Texas.  His land, which included "ochos labores" [1,418 acres] of temporal land and an unknown quantity of arable land, was bounded on the east by the land grants of John Little and James Hall. 

 

They appeared in the 1835 Mexican census of Teneja District:

 

        "Boling, Solomon           32, Catholic, farmer

                       Lucinda             25, Catholic, his wife,

                       Mary Ann           8, daughter

                       James                 5, son

                       Ann                    2, daughter

                       William H.   9/12, son"

 

James A. Bowlin, 314 Pitman Street, Nacogdoches, Texas, 75961 wrote August 18, 1973 of Solomon Bowlin:

 

"Dear Mrs. Ward,

 

Solomon Bowlin and another man had some very serious trouble back in one of the older states, and perhaps to avoid a possible killing, Bowlin came to what is now the Shelbyville area.  The area was known as 'no man's land' because so many outlaws had come there to escape prosecution elsewhere.  Sometime later Bowlin's adversary also came to the area and, finding Bowlin there, hatched up a story implicating him in horse-stealing.  A kangaroo court was convened, and the so-called jury sentenced Bowlin to hang upon his adversary's testimony.

 

When I was in the University of Texas back in the thirties I became interested in the Regulators and Moderators War which took place in Shelby County in 1842.  To my surprise I found the story about Solomon Bowlin being hanged by the neck until dead for horse-stealing.

 

Whether this is the same Solomon Bowlin you refer to, we cannot say.  I do know that the Bowlin names you refer to were typical names in the family.  My Gran­dad was named William Bowlin and one of my Dad's brothers was named James and one was named Solomon.  I was recently told that my great grandfather was named James Bowlin.

 

We recently happened to get a research paper entitled 'The Parish Family and the Bowlins of Virginia' by H. Carroll Parish, F.A.S.  It traces the family back to the Roffes and to Pocahontas. 

                                                Sincerely,

                                                James A. Bowlin

 

In "First Settlers of Shelby and Harrison Counties" by Gifford White reference is made to a document dated April 6, 1838 which read, "the estate of Solomon Bolin, who ar­rived in 1835, is entitled to 1 labor.  Lucinda Willis, Administratrix of the estate."  In an adjoining entry it was stated that "Ephriam Rogers, arrived in 1835, entitled to a league and a labor, H. L. Wiggins, assignee.  It is believed that this individual was a brother to Lucinda Rogers Bowlin.

 

Elsewhere in the volume "Lucinda Bowlin in a report dated July 12, 1839 was described as a "First Class Claimant who arrived in Texas in 1832 and who was entitled to a league and a labor."  The Shelby County Courthouse was burned in 1882, and only a few earlier records were brought in for re-recording.  This may explain the apparent dis­crepancies between the two entries.  It is likely that the entries were "reconstruc­tions" of earlier records which had been destroyed.  Perhaps affidavits and other doc­uments were used in the reconstructions.

 

Harrison County was created in 1839 and Panola County was created in 1846, both with land taken from Shelby County.  It is possible that the early records of these latter counties might reveal something of the early residency of the Bowlin family there.  No McCall or Bowlin individuals were found in the 1850 census of Harrison County.  Since Lucinda Rogers Bowlin is described as a widow in 1838, it is believed that Solomon Bowlin was not a casualty of the war between the Regulators and the Moderators that started in 1842.  This disturbance broke out in that year over charges of land fraud, and Shelby County was divided into two armed camps.  In about two years some 50 men were slain, and the courts ceased to function in the county.  President Sam Houston quieted the disturbance in 1844, but the bitterness and ill will persisted for decades.

 

Subsequently Lucinda Rogers Bowlin had married a second time, husband's name Willis.  On the basis of present research it is impossible to know when and which Wil­lis man was married to Lucinda Rogers Bowlin.  Arthur Willis, "native of Ten­nessee, head of a family of five persons, emigrated in 1823 to San Augustine County," according to "1830 Citizens of Texas."

 

On April 7, 1838 William J. Willis of Shelby County signed a petition addressed to the Texas House of Representatives re­questing the creation of a "new county of Caddo," [County of Franklin having been marked out.].  Theodore G. A. Willis was approved in May 1839 by an examining board for a Shelby County land grant of 320 acres.  Arthur Willis was approved for a Shelby County land grant of 1/3 league February 14, 1838.  Robert Willis received a Second Class Land Grant of 640 acres in Shelby County in May 1839.  "Robb Willis" paid a tax on "one poll" in Shelby County in 1840, according to "The 1840 Census of the Republic of Texas."

 

"Lucinda Willis" [not believed to be Lucinda Rogers Bowlin Willis was mar­ried August 3, 1847 to William Wendle, according to Rusk County marriage records.

 

Lucinda Rogers Bowlin Willis McCall was described as a nurse by descendants who reported that she had long red hair that cascaded to her waist.  She was born "in Choctaw Nation," according to her daughter's 1880 census enumeration, suggesting some Indian blood.  She was part-Cherokee, according to Blanche Maurie Duncum Monroe.

 

"Matthew McCaul" and "Robert McCall" appeared in Hopkins County, Texas in 1846, ac­cording to "Republic of Texas Poll Tax Lists, 1846."  Hopkins was formed from Red River County in that year.  He was not found in the 1850 cen­sus of Hopkins County.  Richard C. Crawford of the National Archives staff wrote August 10, 1988 that Matthew Morgan McCall did not appear in the "Commissary General of Subsistence" rec­ords nor in the "Official Register of the United States, Indian Department" for Sep­tember 1847.

 

In 1849 they lived in Red River County, Texas  where he was employed as a "government doctor to the Indians" according to his daughter, Melissa Ann McCall.  Other physicians began to appear in Choctaw Nation about this time.  In the May 3, 1849 edi­tion of the "Choctaw Telegraph" published at Doaksville appeared an announcement, "Dr. Walner having permanently located at Doaksville respectfully offers his services to the public generally.  He will be found at his residence when not professionally en­gaged."  On August 1, 1850 Dr. J. M. Pirtle inserted his card in the "Choctaw Intelli­gencer."

 

"Medical Practices in the Choctaw Nation" quoted several advertisements from the two newspapers:

 

"Drugs were advertised from as far away as New Orleans by E. J. Coxe and Com-pany, who had for sale such preparations as Coxe's Cholera Syrup and Pills, Coxe's Tonic Ague Syrup, Coxe's Nerve & Bone Liniment and numerous other items.  'A single trial is alone sufficient,' claimed the firm.  Nearer home was Isaiah W. Wells & Company of Pine Bluffs, Red River County, Texas who had a 'general assortment of medicines direct from Philadelphia for sale, wholesale & retail.'  At Doaksville, Berthelet & Jones, the 'Post Office store' had for sale 'arti­cles which should be kept in every family,' including Dr. Jayne's Expecto­rant, Vermifuge, Sanative Pills and Ague Pills.'"

 

Matthew Morgan McCall had a medical practice among the white settlers as well as in the Choctaw Nation across the Red River.  Descendants relate that the doctor had to resort to "merchandising" to get his practice established initially.  Finding it difficult to get patients to start with him, the doctor began to ride briskly through town in his buggy with the horse in a trot.  Each day he took a different road out of town, and the citizens began to notice how "busy" he was and how quickly he responded to calls.  In a short time he had all the patients he could handle.  Lucinda Rogers Bowlin Willis McCall accompanied Dr. McCall on his Indian rounds, both riding horses.

 

On August 23, 1850 Matthew Morgan McCall and Lucinda Rogers Bowlin Willis Mc­Call sold Bowlin's Mexican land grant to a Martin, according to Anderson County, Texas Deed Book C, page 100.  Martin resold the property January 20, 1851 to a Coleman, according to Deed Book C, page 236.

 

In the short time that they lived in Red River County they apparently amassed a siz­able amount of real estate there--some 3,000-4,000 acres, according to John D. McCall.  Mary Alnora "Nora" Cox Drennan wrote that they owned "sawmills and lum­beryards in addition to timberland."  It is possible that this was the separate prop­erty of Lucinda Rogers Bowlin Willis McCall from the estate of her first hus­band.  They were not found in the 1850 census of Red River County nor in the 1850 cen­sus of adjoining Titus County.  The index of the entire 1850 census of Texas gives no sign of them, suggesting that he may have arranged for the family to live in Choctaw Nation at that time.  The Choctaws were not enumerated in 1850.

 

Matthew Morgan McCall died in November 1850.  His untimely end suggests that he may have contracted some deadly malady from his contact with the Indians.  Whether he fell victim to disease because of his desire to help his fellow man in a pure ap­plication of the Hippocratic oath or whether he was motivated solely by personal gain, it is unknown.  He may have fallen victim to the yellow fever epidemic while attending a "refresher course" at Medical College of Louisiana.  His daughter Melissa Ann McCall once recalled the sadness she felt watching her parents ride away on a long trip to attend medical school, leaving the children with relatives.

 

The widow and her son-in-law John P. Barton applied for let­ters testamentary December 3, 1850:

 

"State of Texas

County of Red River

County Court in Vacation to December Term 1850 A.D.

 

To the Honorable Chief Justice of the County aforesaid:

 

The Petitioners, Lucinda McCall and John Barton, citizens of Titus County and said state, would respectfully represent that Morgan McCall, late a citizen of Red River County and state, departed this life on the -- of November 1850 in­testate, that he left considerable property and effects which will require to be administrated.  They would further state that the said Lucinda McCall is the widow of said Morgan McCall and therefore entitled by law to be the administrator of said estate they would therefore in view of the premises ask of this court to have letters of administration to them jointly at the next term thereof and that the notice be required by law be given.

                                                      his

Noted                                          John P. X Barton

Hugh F. Young                                         mark

 

Know all men by these presents that we, John Barton as principal and Thomas R. Wilson and Henry Little as sureties are held and firmly bound unto the Chief Justice of the County of Red River in the sum of Five Hundred Dollars for pay­ment of which will and truly be made unto the Chief Justice, we bind ourselves, our executors and administrators, jointly and severally, firmly by these pre­sents.

 

Signed by our hands and sealed with our seals, the seals being scrawled this 3rd day of December A.D. 1850.

 

The condition of this obligation is such, that whereas the above bound John P. Barton has been appointed administrator pro tem of the estate of Morgan McCall deceased.  Now if the said John Barton shall, will and truly perform all the duties required of him under said appointment, then this obligation shall be null and void, otherwise to remain of full force and effect.

 

                                 John P. Barton

                                                                                      Thos. R. Wilson

                                                                                      Henry Little"

 

On April 21, 1851 the Chief Justice of Red River County directed the sheriff of Titus County to deliver a summons to John P. Barton to appear before the court April 28 to show cause why he should not be removed from the administration of the es­tate of Matthew Morgan McCall.  John Barton wrote a reply to the court:

 

"Mr. George F. Lawton

Dear Sir:

 

I received the citation concerning the administration of Matthew Morgan McCall on yesterday, and it being out of my power to be there at Court I address you by letter to inform you of my opinion on the subject.  I have concluded  to proceed no further with the administration so you may dismiss me at once if you deem it necessary for I do not wish to go to any further trouble or expense about said estate.  Sir, you will please drop me a few lines and inform me of the cost of said administration and I will pay the said without any more cost being taxed.

                                                                                      Yours respectfully,

                                                                                      John Barton"

 

On May 5, 1851 the court directed the sheriff of Titus County to arrest John P. Barton "and him safely keep so that you have his body before our court . . . on the 26th of May A.D. 1851 then and there to make report and file inventory of said estate and to show cause why he should not be fined for contempt of this court."

 

Agnes "Aggie" Gates Ward wrote, "Grandma Melissa remembered the officer com­ing for John Barton.  Mary Ann was in the corral breaking a wild horse, and she didn't even look up when they took him away."

 

His arrest occasioned the need for another bond:

 

"State of Texas}

County of Titus}

 

Know all men by these presents that I John Barton as principle and Thos. S. Beams and M. C. Martin as sureties are held and firmly bound unto the Chief Gustice of Red River County, Hugh V. Young in the sum of Five Hundred Dollars to which payment well and truly to be made and paid unto the proper authority as aforementioned we bind ourselves and heirs gointly and severally by these presents this the 22nd May AD1851.

 

The conditions of the above obligation is such at the whereas on the 5th day of May AD1851 Hugh V. Young Chief Gustice of Red River County and State of Texas caused to be issue an attachment against John Barton's body to come before said Chief Gustice in the town of Clarksville, county and state aforesaid, on the 26th day of this month May, AD1851.  Then and there to answer said complaint before said Chief Gustice about and concerning his inventory of the estate of Matthew Morgan McCall, Decd, and he, John Barton being the lawful administrator of said estate.

 

Now in the event the said John Barton presents himself the said county court in the town of Clarksville on the 26th day of May AD1851 and there remain until released by the court then this obligation to be null and void, otherwise to remain in full force and effect, according to law and equity."

 

John P. Barton appeared on the date specified and reported to the court that the supposed estate of the deceased consisted of 15 head of cattle and two horses and "that the wi­dow of the dcsd. claims the same as her separate property."

 

On June 24, 1851 Holly Page of Titus County provided a sworn statement to the court that "the following described property was the property of Lucinda Willis and her fam­ily before her marriage with Morgan McCall, viz: One Black Horse, seven or eight years old, sixty head of cattle and 200 hogs, or about the same number.  Hogs were marked with a split and underbit in each ear."  Early records of Titus County were destroyed when the courthouse burned in 1895.

 

In Red River County Probate File 24, No. 321 labeled "Estate of Morgan McCall" was found a sheet believed to be an inventory of the estate of Matthew Morgan McCall.  Most of the writing is illegible.  Words which appear to be "ginger" and "whiskey" suggest an inventory of medical supplies which total $8.75.  Written at the bottom of the page was the notation, "Settled October 14, 1851."

 

On February 5, 1852 Lucinda Rogers Bowlin Willis McCall purchased from Bennett H. Martin five tracts of land in Red River County.  The first tract was formerly the property of J. J. Montgomery, deceased, according to Red River County Deed Book I, page 414.  She received a $1,000 bond to guarantee title from Martin "who is to receive the deed from L. M. Martin, purchaser at the sale."  The "Montgomery place," containing about 320 acres included "buildings and the tanyard."

 

At the same time she paid Martin $417 for land in his headright certificate located four miles north of Clarksville, according to Red River County Deed Book J, page 180.  Simultaneously she said $700 for "one-half of 8 labores on Blossom Prairie, 15 miles southwest of Clarksville, patented in the name of Benjamin Gooch, assignee of James Ward," according to Red River County Deed Book J, page 181.

 

As an additional part of the transaction she received from Martin 640 acres, "the headright of Henry B. Christian, 9 miles north of Clarksville" for $640, according to Deed Book J, page 182.  In conjunction she paid him $223 for "223 acres of the headright certificate of Bennett H. Martin located about 14 miles north of Clarksville," according to Deed Book J, page 183.  For $650 she also purchased of Martin 650 acres "located three miles southeast of Clarksville, surveyed as the headright of John Wadkins," according to Deed Book J, page 184.

 

On August 5, 1852 Lucinda Rogers Bowlin Willis McCall deeded to Michael Looby "the tracts of land known as the Montgomery place, including the building and tan yard and containing about 320 acres" and gave bond of $1,000 to guarantee delivery of tit­le, according to Red River County Deed Book I, page 416.  The deed, conveyed July 24, 1852,  was witnessed by Nathaniel A. Rogers and James W. Bowlin.  Nathaniel A. Rog­ers is identified as an attorney by Agnes "Aggie" Gates Ward and suggested as a nephew to Lucinda Rogers Bowlin Willis McCall.  He did not appear in the 1850 census of Red River County, but later appeared in Fannin County, Texas

 

Nathaniel A. Rogers received a deed there to 55 acres from Edmund J. Hart of New Orleans, Louisiana for $1 and three notes of $25 each December 22, 1876, according to Fannin County Deed Book 3, page 592.

 

"N. A. Roggers" was enumerated as the head of a household in the 1880 census of Fannin County, Enumeration District, page 41, precinct 3, June 14, 1880:

 

        "Roggers,  N. A.  53, born in Tennessee, minister, father born in

                                            North Carolina, mother born North Carolina

                         C. A.   41, born in Arkansas, wife

                         H. C.  19, born in Texas, son

                         S. E.   16, born in Texas, daughter

                        N. J.    13, born in Texas, daughter

                        A. A.  10, born in Texas, daughter

                        J. P.     4, born in Texas, son"

 

The widow sold to G. B. Calhoun 100 acres, "part of the headright of John Wadkins," for $100 June 4, 1853, according to Red River County Deed Book J, page 148.  A. H. La­timer and Nathaniel A. Rogers witnessed the transaction.

 

On July 23, 1853 "Lucinda McCall of Hopkins County, Texas and John Barton of Titus County" sold 640 acres about nine miles north of Clarksville, Texas, apparently the Henry B. Christian headright which she took a loss on, to M. P Hendricks of Titus County for $160, according to Red River County Deed Book J, page 148.  H. H. Beck was a witness.

 

"State of Texas, County of Delta, May 19, 1856 "Lucinda McCall of Hopkins County" acknowl­edged receipt of the payment of $1,000 by Michael Looby for the "Montgomery place," according to Red River County Deed Book L, page 429.

 

On September 20, 1856 Lucinda Rogers Bowlin Willis McCall gave power of at­torney "to my son, James Bowlin, to sell land in Red River County," according Deed Book K, page 609.  William Smith and Missouri Smith were wit­nesses to the document.

 

She sold to Owen Baker September 23, 1856 "land situated in Red River County about three miles southeast of Clarksville, being a part of a survey for John Morton decd. on the headright certificate of John Wadkins, being of the same land conveyed to me by Bennet H. Martin on the 5th day of February 1852 less 200 acres heretofore sold by me out of the same to G. B. Calhoun and M. Looby" for $130, through her attorney, James W. Bowlin, according to Red River County Deed Book K, page 386.

 

On June 24, 1857 James Beel made an affidavit before James Cowan, Titus County J. P:

 

The following described property was the property of Mrs. Lucinda Willis and her family, viz: 1 black horse, six or seven years old, possessed about the number of cattle and hogs as set forth in the affidavit of Mr. Page.  The hogs and cattle were marked with a split underbit in each ear, to the best of his knowledge."