08-06-01

Last week a lady came into the store to inquire about some push brooms. As I was showing her the different push brooms we had and the width and how they were used for different floors, she told me that she was pushing waste dried on the floor from a horse stable.

She bought a large 36 inch coarse bristle broom, and as I was checking her out, she told me that she was ½ Shawnee and ½ Ponca Indian ancestry.

She wanted to know where the tipi under construction was located, so that she could drive by and look at the type of materials the tipi was constructed with.

I told her where it was being built and when she got ready to leave she told me that a friend of hers had loaned her a tipi that was made of animal hides, which were hard to maintain, so she made an outside covering of canvas material which was easier to keep clean and shed water more easily.

The lady suggested that the horse nut festival that is about to come up in Aubrey as a fund raiser for the library would be a good reason to locate this tipi in the downtown area for the festival activities.

I am beginning to find out that a large number of people are descendants of the native American tribes and are beginning to claim this inheritance of ancestry. Many of the people that are coming into the store and talking about their backgrounds, I find are very proud to be settling in this area because of this background.

Another lady came in to buy some solid brass rings for her horse’s harness. While talking with her I discovered that she was of Cherokee ancestry and her lineage dated back to Chief Guess. She was from Oklahoma and was visiting in Aubrey.

The Cherokees of Texas during and after the fight at the Alamo were quietly fighting to survive on land that they legally possessed in east Texas when tribe Chief Duwali was fighting with about 700 Cherokee warriors to keep their women and children safe from destruction against a well prepared Texas Army.

These same Cherokees were caught between the two fights as they were victims of the time and were following orders from the President of the United States Jackson, who had ordered all of the natives to get west of the Mississippi River or face death.

And as they wound their way around the forests to Texas, they found themselves between two thickets of utter defeat. It became difficult for them to go back to Indian Territory (Oklahoma Territory) and difficult to go to Mexico.

Thousands found that it was easier to change their identity in order to survive. And that is where we come in now, because it was this change of identification that allowed our existence to be a part of the society we are in now.

It was as late as 1964, that Attorney General Carr of the State of Texas was presented a petition to seek rights for the Cherokees and his decision was that the State of Texas didn’t have an indebtedness to the tribe.

I have found that the Cherokees that I know both here at home and in other areas are not a sympathy seeking group and are people who want to better themselves and their families as well as the community where they live.

I do not know a better way to be an American native and not depend upon a handout that exists in which so many other immigrants have come and made their way of life an impsition on all of us.

The photo this week is a photo taken this week documenting the progress of the construction of the tipi.

James Harmon told me he is going to paint the structure this week. The tipi is almost fire proof. He is also going to install a 110 volt air conditioner as well as make a door that resembles an animal hide that will swing back and forth.

James said that he used four bundles of expanded wire for the concrete and 20 bags of concrete. The long poles came out of a thick settlement of cedar trees that are long and straight and narrow that were growing back down in the valley behind this tipi.

The photos this week are not of the finished tipi. He still wants to smooth out the concrete for painting and finish it with some Indian art work, possibly by some of the local talented artists.

So just wait, watch and see how the tipi progresses.

The Cherokees will meet this Saturday at 11:00 am at Jackie’s Hardware.

On another subject, we are having an overwhelming response to the Tax Relief Petition that is on display in the hardware store. We are finding that people are just simply fed up with the local appraisal district’s tactics of establishing the market value of all of our tipis and similar dwellings in this and other areas.

Don’t forget that a meeting is going to be held at the Aubrey United Methodist Church at 6:00 pm this Thursday (August 9).

The Aubrey Methodist Church is located on the first dirt road street south of downtown which is just two blocks from the City Hall on 115 Plum (Dusty) Street.

The church was established 142 years ago and is still enjoying the dirt, dust and other pollutants when a service is conducted. So bring your dust masks and lets make a showing. No agency will supply the dust masks, but you can purchase them 3 for a dollar before taxes.

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