Estelle Chisholm Ward (June 18, 1875 – December 9, 1946) was a

Chickasaw The Chickasaw ( ) are an Indigenous people of the Southeastern Woodlands, United States. Their traditional territory was in northern Mississippi, northwestern and northern Alabama, western Tennessee and southwestern Kentucky. Their language is ...

teacher, journalist, and magazine publisher from

Oklahoma Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...

. She was active in politics both civic and tribal and was elected as county treasurer of Johnston County, Oklahoma. Ward was the first woman to represent the

Chickasaw Nation The Chickasaw Nation () is a federally recognized Indigenous nation with headquarters in Ada, Oklahoma, in the United States. The Chickasaw Nation descends from an Indigenous population historically located in the southeastern United States, in ...

as a delegate to

Washington, DC Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and Federal district of the United States, federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from ...

Early life

Estelle Chisholm was born on June 18, 1875, in Chism, in the

Indian Territory Indian Territory and the Indian Territories are terms that generally described an evolving land area set aside by the Federal government of the United States, United States government for the relocation of Native Americans in the United States, ...

to Julia Ann (née McLish) and William Chisholm. The town was founded and named after her father. Her grandfather was Jesse Chisholm a mixed-blood

Cherokee The Cherokee (; , or ) people are one of the Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, they were concentrated in their homelands, in towns along river valleys of what is now southwestern ...

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

trader, after whom the

Chisholm Trail The Chisholm Trail ( ) was a stock trail and wagon route used in the post-Civil War era to drive cattle overland from ranches in southern Texas, across the Red River into Indian Territory, and northward to rail stops in Kansas. The trail cons ...

was named. Her mother's parents were Ginny "Gincy" (née Colbert) and George Frazier McLish, who were of

and Scottish descent. By her father's first wife, Hester Butler Cochran, she had a half-sister, Caroline, as well as seven full siblings: Eliza, Angeline, Mary V., Alice, Cora Ann, Julia Ann and William Jr. Chisholm attended the Bloomfield Academy and after graduating, taught in the school for a couple of years. She then attended Kidd College in

Sherman, Texas Sherman is a city in and the county seat of Grayson County, Texas, United States. The city's population in 2020 was 43,645. It is one of the two principal cities in the Sherman–Denison metropolitan area, Sherman–Denison metropolitan statist ...

, from 1894 to 1895, before moving to

Bowling Green, Kentucky Bowling Green is a city in Warren County, Kentucky, United States, and its county seat. Its population was 72,294 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of cities in Kentucky, third-most populous city in the stat ...

, to attend Potter College.

Career

Upon completing her education, Chisholm began teaching at Burris Chapel School, a neighborhood school that was part of the Chickasaw education system and located near Tishomingo. On December 23, 1896, in the Chickasaw Nation she married William Thomas Ward, who would serve as the long-time auditor of the Chickasaw tribe and later as a deputy United States clerk. They lived on their farm and raised their children in Garrett Township, near Tishomingo through the 1920s and then kept a home in

Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Oklahoma, most populous city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat ...

. She was a member of the National Bureau of Women Speakers and contributed articles to newspapers both inside and outside of Oklahoma. Ward published and edited a magazine in Oklahoma City called the ''Super Civilized Indian''. Ward was involved in politics and was elected as Johnston County Treasurer, as well as running several campaigns for Republican candidates. In 1928, she attended a convention of Choctaw and Chickasaw tribe members from throughout Oklahoma in Ardmore. The purpose of the convention was to discuss both financial issues and the burdens being placed upon the tribes because of implementation of the

Indian Citizenship Act The Indian Citizenship Act of 1924, (, enacted June 2, 1924) was an Act of the United States Congress that declared Indigenous persons born within the United States are US citizens. Although the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constituti ...

and the

Burke Act The Burke Act (1906), formally known as the General Allotment Act Amendment of 1906 and also called the Forced Fee Patenting Act, amended the Dawes Act of 1887 under which the communal land held by tribes on the Indian reservations was broken up ...

. The tribes were concerned about the inability to secure funds that were due them from the government for their coal and asphalt lands. They selected committee representatives, all men save Czarina Conlan for the Choctaw tribe and Ward for the Chickasaw, to draft a solution. The committee met to prepare the recommendations and decided to send Conlan and Ward to

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

It was the first time women had been sent to Washington as tribal representatives for either tribe. The women's task was to argue in favor of passage of a bill proposed by U.S. House Representative Wilburn Cartwright for sale of the coal and asphalt holdings, as well as continuing the restrictions of selling Indian lands. Ward died on December 9, 1946, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and was buried at City Cemetery in Tishomingo, Oklahoma.

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* * * * * * * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ward, Estelle Chisholm 1875 births 1946 deaths 20th-century American journalists 20th-century American women writers 20th-century Native American women 20th-century Native American people American women non-fiction writers Chickasaw people of Cherokee descent Chickasaw people on the Dawes Rolls Native American journalists People from McClain County, Oklahoma People from Indian Territory Chickasaw Nation politicians County treasurers in Oklahoma Native American women journalists