Rachel Caroline Eaton (born July 7, 1869, near Flint Creek,

Cherokee Nation The Cherokee Nation ( or ) is the largest of three list of federally recognized tribes, federally recognized tribes of Cherokees in the United States. It includes people descended from members of the Cherokee Nation (1794–1907), Old Cheroke ...

) was believed to be the first Native American woman from Oklahoma to be awarded a

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

Background

Rachel's father, George Washington Eaton, and her mother, Nancy Elizabeth Wared Williams, were married May 17, 1868. George was a

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

Veteran, born in the

Republic of Texas The Republic of Texas (), or simply Texas, was a country in North America that existed for close to 10 years, from March 2, 1836, to February 19, 1846. Texas shared borders with Centralist Republic of Mexico, the Republic of the Rio Grande, an ...

. Nancy was part

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 ...

, and Nancy's mother walked on the

Trail of Tears The Trail of Tears was the forced displacement of about 60,000 people of the " Five Civilized Tribes" between 1830 and 1850, and the additional thousands of Native Americans and their black slaves within that were ethnically cleansed by the U ...

. Rachel had three siblings: James Calvin, Martha Pauline, and John Merrit Eaton. James Calvin was a farmer near Oolagah, Oklahoma. Martha Pauline married James Morning York, who was elected Assessor of Rogers County in 1918.

Education

Rachel Eaton attended tribal schools and Cherokee Female Seminary in

Tahlequah, Oklahoma Tahlequah ( ; , ) is a city in Cherokee County, Oklahoma located at the foothills of the Ozark Mountains. It is part of the Green Country region of Oklahoma and was established as a capital of the 19th-century Cherokee Nation in 1839, as p ...

. She graduated Seminary in 1887, but during her senior year the building burned down. For college, Rachel attended

Drury College Drury University, formerly Drury College and originally Springfield College, is a private university in Springfield, Missouri, United States. The university's mission statement describes itself as "church-related". It enrolls about 1,590 undergr ...

in Springfield, Missouri, then went on to the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

, where she got her Ph.D. Her dissertation, '' John Ross and The Cherokee Indians'', was published in 1921, as a Cherokee history book.

Career

Rachel taught in public schools of Cherokee nation,

Cherokee Female Seminary The Cherokee Female Seminary was built by the Cherokee Nation in 1889 near Tahlequah, Oklahoma, Tahlequah, Indian Territory. It replaced their original girls' seminary, the First Cherokee Female Seminary Site, first Cherokee Female Seminary, that ...

(the new building built after the fire),

Lake Erie College Lake Erie College is a Private university, private liberal arts college in Painesville, Ohio. Founded in 1856 as a female seminary, the college converted to a coeducational institution in 1985. History Lake Erie Female Seminary The semi ...

in Painsville, Ohio, and the

Industrial Institute and College Mississippi University for Women (MUW or "The W") is a coeducational public university in Columbus, Mississippi. It was formerly named the "Industrial Institute and College for the Education of White Girls" and later the "Mississippi State Coll ...

of Columbus, Mississippi. She also was the Dean of Women at Trinity University in Waxahachie, Texas. In 1920, Rachel was elected Superintendent of Public Instruction of

Rogers County, Oklahoma Rogers County is a County (United States), county located in the Green Country, northeastern part of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 95,240, making it the sixth-most populous coun ...

, for 2 consecutive years. In 1936, she was inducted into the

Oklahoma Hall of Fame The Oklahoma Hall of Fame was founded in 1927 by Anna B. Korn to officially celebrate Statehood Day, recognize Oklahomans dedicated to their communities, and provide educational programming for all ages. The first Oklahoma Hall of Fame Induction Cer ...

as one of Oklahoma's outstanding women. Rachel died September 20, 1938, in Claremore, Oklahoma, after a long battle with breast cancer.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eaton, Rachel 1869 births 1938 deaths Deaths from breast cancer in Oklahoma Cherokee Nation academics 20th-century Native American people Cherokee Nation women