Douglas H. Johnston

Douglas Hancock Cooper Johnston (13 October 1856 – 28 June 1939), also known as “Douglas Henry Johnston”, was Governor of the Chickasaw Nation from 1898 to 1902 and from 1904 to 1939. In office, he was notable for ratifying the Atoka Agreement and for defending the tribe against claims for more money.

Background

Johnston, the son of Colonel John Johnston, Sr, (? – ?) and of Mary Ann Cheadle Walker (1818 – c.1863) was born in Skullyville, Oklahoma, at a time when it was the capital of the Choctaw Nation. Johnston's name is sometimes given as “Douglas Henry Johnston”, but he was named for General Douglas Hancock Cooper. He had two elder brothers, William Worth Johnston and Franklin Pierce Johnston, and one younger, Napoleon Bonapart [sic] Johnston.

Colonel Johnston, who acquired the title “Colonel” during the Seminole Wars, had been a land speculator and a lawyer in Mississippi. Johnston had migrated with the “Six Town” Choctaws from Mississippi, leaving a wife (Jane Bettis, from whom there is no record of divorce) and six children.

Mary Ann Cheadle (1818 – c.1863) was the daughter of Thomas Fleming Cheadle, a Caucasian, and of Betsy Kemp, of some Chickasaw ancestry. Mary's brother, James Stuart Cheadle was variously a Circuit Judge of the Chickasaw Nation, a County Judge of Tobocksy, Choctaw Nation, and an appointed commissioner on the part of the Choctaws to negotiate with the Chickasaws. Mary's first husband, Lewis Walker, was the brother of Choctaw Chief Tandy Walker. She was later married to Isaac Moncrief. There is no legal record of a marriage between Colonel Johnston and Mary Cheadle.

Douglas Johnston was educated in the Chickasaw Academy and in the Bloomfield Academy. Colonel Johnston and then Mary died before Douglas was 9 years old. He was thereafter raised by a half-brother, Tandy C. Walker.

Johnston worked as a farmer and stockman. In 1881 he married Nellie Bynum, a woman of Caucasian and Chickasaw descent, by whom he had two sons. Nellie died of tuberculosis in 1886; In 1889 Johnston married Lorena Elizabeth Harper, again a woman of Caucasian and Chickasaw descent, by whom he had a daughter, Wahneta (sometimes given as “Juanita”) Elizabeth Johnston.

Douglas H. Johnston was an uncle of Chickasaw performer Te Ata Fisher.

In 1884, Douglas was made Superintendent of the Bloomfield Seminary (renamed ”Carter Seminary” in 1934), a school for Chickasaw girls. Johnston held this position until 1897, the year before he was elected Governor.

Governorship

In 1898 the Chickasaw National Party nominated Johnston as its candidate for governor. He won the election over Hindman H. Burris, and would serve as governor of the Chickasaw Nation until 1902. His mansion near the present community of Emet, Oklahoma, served as the "Chickasaw White House." Although his political critics claimed that he lived lavishly at tribal expense and indicted him in 1905, he was acquitted of the charge.

In 1897, during Johnston's term, the Chickasaw Nation ratified the Atoka Agreement. Johnston lobbied Washington politicians into passing the Supplemental Agreement of 1902 which modified the Atoka Agreement, allowing the Chickasaws and Choctaws to review tribal citizenship cases that had been accepted by the Dawes Commission. The Citizenship Court rejected nearly four thousand claims that it found false and saved the two nations about $20 million.

Johnston was returned to office in 1904. From then on, he served until his death in 1939. In 1907, the newly created state of Oklahoma tried to nullify a provision of the Atoka Agreement that prohibited taxing the allotted lands for 21 years. Johnston led the court fight against the state. The Supreme Court upheld the provision in 1912.

In 1924, the Johnston administration won permission to sue the Federal government and recover money that it had obtained illegally from tribal resources.

Honors

In 1907, Johnston County, Oklahoma was named after Douglas H. Johnston. He was inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame in 1931, and posthumously into the Chickasaw Hall of Fame in 1997.

References

• O’Beirne, Harry F.; Leaders and Leading Men of the Indian Territory, Choctaw and Chickasaw (1891).
• O’Beirne, Harry F., and E. S. O’Beirne; The Indian Territory, Its Chiefs, Legislators and Leading Men (1892).
• Cornish, Melvin; “Douglas H. Johnston”, Chronicles of Oklahoma v18 (1940) #1 (March).
• Parke, Franke E, with J.W. LeFlore; “Some of Our Choctaw Neighborhood Schools”, Chronicles of Oklahoma v4 (1926) #2 (June).
• Williams, Chad; “Johnston, Douglas Henry (1856-1939)”, Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History & Culture (accessed on 22 April 2007).

External Links

• Governor Douglas H. Johnston Profile & Videos Chickasaw.TV