David McKellop Hodge

David McKellop Hodge (1841–1920) was born in Choska, Creek Nation, Indian Territory (near present-day Coweta) in Wagoner County, Oklahoma. He was the son of a white man and a Creek woman. He became involved with Creek Nation politics, was a translator of Creek and English, was licensed to practice law in the Creek Nation and was an orator and leader in the Creek Nation Council House at Muskogee.[1] He was often listed as "David M. Hodge" on legal documentation.[2] He was buried at Oaklawn Cemetery in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

David McKellop Hodge
BornApril 1841
Choska, Indian Territory, U.S.
DiedDec 13, 1920 in Tulsa, Oklahoma (aged 79)
OccupationPolitician

Ancestry

David M. Hodge was the son of Nathanel Hodge and Nancy McKellop, a mix-blood Creek Indian woman. Her parents were David McKellop,[2] who came from Scotland in 1810, and Susan Perryman McKellop, daughter of Chief Perryman.[3] According to Legus C. Perryman's Diary,[4] Hodge belonged to the Aktayace Clan, and according to the 1882 Creek Census,[5] he belonged to Big Spring Tribal Down (listed as D.M. Hodge).

Career

During the Civil War, Hodge identified himself as one of the "Loyal Creeks", fighting on the side of the Union Army. Educated before the war in Presbyterian Mission schools, he was appointed to write the Creek Constitution of 1868. He often served as clerk of the Creek National Council, and was appointed to several delegations that the Creek Nation sent to negotiate in Washington D.C. He also negotiated terms of the original allowances of the Curtis Act of 1898.[6]

In 1897, Creek Principal Chief Isparhecker appointed Hodge to serve on a committee to negotiate with the Dawes Commission for Creek Rights. He also represented the Creek Nation in Washington, D.C., before Congressional committees and the Courts. In 1905, he was appointed a delegate to represent Broken Arrow at the Sequoyah Convention in Muskogee. He was a member of the convention's Committee of Three, which assisted the chairman in appointing subcommittees. The other members of the committee included Charles N. Haskell and Robert L. Owen. Hodge is credited with translating parts of the Bible into the Creek language. He collaborated with Robert McGill Loughridge to complete and publish the "English and Muskogee Dictionary," in 1890. He helped establish the Loughridge Memorial Presbyterian Church, now known as White Church, and aided the development of a subscription school that operated out of the church building from 1870-1900.[1]

Hodge died in 1920 and is buried in Oaklawn Cemetery at Tulsa, Oklahoma.

References
  1. "Five Pioneers Charter Members of BA Hall of Fame". Tulsa World. Retrieved 2008-01-21.
  2. The Yuchi: Children of the Sun, by Carolyn Thomas Foreman, http://digital.library.okstate.edu/Chronicles/v037/v037p480.pdf
  3. Chronicles of Oklahoma, Vol. 15, No. 2, page 168, June, 1937, The Perrymans, http://digital.library.okstate.edu/Chronicles/v015/v015p166.html
  4. L.C. Perryman's Diary, page 42, http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cmamcrk4/crkst20.html
  5. 1882 Creek Nation Census, Big Spring Town, page 2, http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~texlance/1882census/bigspring.htm
  6. Grayson, E. G. A Creek Warrior for the Confederacy: The Autobiography of Chief G. W. Grayson. Ed. W. David Baird. p. 159. 1991. University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 0806123222, 9780806123226


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