Thomas Mitchell Buffington (1855-1938) was a Cherokee Nation politician and an elected district judge. He was born October 15, 1855, in Going Snake District of the Cherokee Nation,

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, ...

, now in Adair County, Oklahoma. His parents were Ezekiel Buffington, who was born in Georgia in 1807 and settled in Oklahoma Territory in 1835 as part of the Cherokee diaspora. His mother was Louisa (Newman) Buffington, who was born in Tennessee in 1817 and died in 1898. Buffington was one of eight children. The family lived near Westville and Buffington attended the Baptist Mission School, which was a public school operated by the Cherokee Nation. His teacher was the Cherokee educator Carrie E. Bushyhead. He married Susie Woodall in 1878 (b.1857-d.1891); she was a school teacher. Four years after his first wife's death, he married E. Gray, a teacher in the Cherokee schools. Thomas Buffington became active in Cherokee politics and aligned himself with the Downing party. In 1889 he was elected district judge for the Delaware district, but resigned in order to serve as senator, for which he was elected in 1891. He served as temporary Principal Chief of the

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 ...

from the 14th to the 23rd of December, 1891, upon the deaths of the Principal Chief

Joel B. Mayes Joel Bryan Mayes (''Tsa-wa Gak-ski'', in Cherokee) (1833 – 1891) was Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation. Early life and education Mayes was born on October 2, 1833, in present-day Carterville, Bartow County, Georgia to the former Nancy ...

and the Second Chief Henry Chambers, as he had right of succession, being president of the Senate. He was appointed as a delegate to Washington, D.C. to represent the Cherokee Nation before the United States Congress. There he supported passage of the

Curtis Act of 1898 The Curtis Act of 1898 was an amendment to the United States Dawes Act; it resulted in the break-up of tribal governments and communal lands in Indian Territory (now Oklahoma) of the Five Civilized Tribes of Indian Territory: the Choctaw, Chickasa ...

, which weakened tribal governments, brought all persons in the territory under federal law, and facilitated land allotments. He later served as mayor of Vinita. In 1899 he resigned as mayor and ran for the office of Principal Chief and won, serving until 1903. After serving as Principal Chief for the second time, Buffington served as mayor of Vinita till 1917. He died in Vinita, Oklahoma on February 11, 1938.''Chronicles of Oklahoma'', Volume 17, No. 2, June, 1939, ''Chief Thomas Mitchell Buffington and Chief William Charles Rogers'', by John Bartlett Meserv

References

1855 births 1938 deaths Cherokee Nation politicians (1794–1907) Cherokee Nation mayors in Oklahoma Principal Chiefs of the Cherokee Nation (1794–1907) Oklahoma Democrats 20th-century Native American politicians 19th-century Native American politicians 19th-century mayors of places in Indian Territory Native American people from Oklahoma {{Oklahoma-mayor-stub