Indian Territory

On a foggy cool morning we were driving through eastern Oklahoma last week, which was called Indian Territory, before it became a state. I love getting off of the freeway and exploring small towns. We stopped in the tiny town of Atoka, Oklahoma (population around 3,000), where an old Phillip 66 gas station has been re- purposed  and is now the Chamber of Commerce.

Atoka was named after a Choctaw Indian Chief. Chief Atoko,  one of the signers of *The Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek, a treaty between the Choctaw Indian Tribe and the United States Government . The Indians signed over 11 million acres of the Choctaw Nation, which is now part of the state of Mississippi in exchange for 15 million acres in Indian Territory, which is now the state of Oklahoma. A large percentage of the Choctaws were then relocated . Sounds like a reasonable trade to me...until you realize that both areas already belonged to the Indians.

We were headed to Chicago...where we are now. Spending some quality time with my new granddaughter Hannah.

Just had to show you my bee-tiful little bee on Halloween

*I might add that my ancestors were some of the early Mississippi settlers that entered the state in the 1840's....after that treaty.

*all of my genealogy records are in storage, so I do not have the exact date. .