Perry Eldridge Britten (1855-1927)

Birth and Family Background

Perry Eldridge Britten was born to Riley Britton and Julia Ann Strong 9 Dec 1855 in Wright County, Missouri. Riley and Julia were married 8 Oct 1840 in Steelville, Crawford County, Missouri. Riley was a Union Soldier who was born in 1814 to James Brittain and Frances “Frankey” Pound in Crawford County, Missouri. Julia was likely half Cherokee, her father being full blood. This is known not only through family tradition, but also from Perry’s second wife’s statements when applying for her own Choctaw status, in which she states that Perry was not white, but Indian, his grandfather being fully blood Cherokee.

Perry’s older brother, George Oliver Britton, ran off and joined the 2nd (New) Regiment Artillery Volunteers (Light Infantry) of the Union Army at a very young age. Perhaps his father’s stories spurred him on with feelings of patriotism or he experienced the typical boyhood desire for adventure. Who’s to say why he made this decision, but I did read that he took off after his father returned from his own service. 

If memory serves, George was 15, but said he was 19 (the age given on his Inventory of Effects of Deceased Soldiers). It was very common to lie about one’s age in order to be allowed to join in the cause prematurely. Sadly, he got the measles in the army camp and died, although the US Registers of Deaths of Volunteers, 1861-1865, states that he died 27 Aug 1864 of Inflammatory Rheumatism. His sister, Vienna, married Wilson Burr Harrison 19 Jun 1864, during the War Between the States. They were married in the home of Wilburn Britton in Crawford County, Missouri. 

Perry's sister, Sarah Ann Britton, married John K. Asher 14 Jun 1864, also in Crawford County. Another sister, Frances “Fannie” Britton, married Thomas Burrus 4 Apr 1869. For some reason, in 1870 Perry was living next door to his parents, with this newlywed sister. This was in Wright County, Missouri near Hartville. Oddly, Fannie (age 25, born in Missouri) was head of household with $300 in land and $25 in other assets. Her husband, Thomas Burris, was 32-year-old farmer born in Tennessee. Living with them was not only Perry, but also 16-year-old Elizabeth, born in Missouri. In the same household were siblings of Perry and Fannie, namely Martha C (10) and Caroline (7). All of the children were born in Missouri and attending school.

His parents, Riley (57) and Julia (47), were living alone next door with $500 in land and $200 in other assets. The only explanation I can think of for their minor children not living with them, is that perhaps either Riley or Julia were extremely ill with some contagious disease such as smallpox or TB. It would stand to reason that the children would be farmed out elsewhere so that they would not contract the disease. This is strictly a suspicion, though, so please take this idea with a grain of salt. It is even possible that it was simply a mistake made by the census-taker.

The next house down sheltered Perry’s brother, Louis. He and his wife, Hannah, and their children, Enoch, Sarah and Martha were living with Hannah’s parents, Abraham and Cynthia Odle/Odell, whose property amounted to $500 in land and $700 in assets. Louis Cass Britton and Hannah Catherine Odell were married 1 Mar 1870 in Hartville, Wright County, Missouri.

The Death of his Father
Only about two and a half years later, Riley passed away. This was 8 Feb 1873 in Hartville, Wright County, Missouri. He was only 59 when he died, suggesting that he might have had some sort of health problems or else met with some kind of tragic circumstances.

Marriage
Perry married Sarah Rachel Cantwell, daughter of Robert “Bob” Forrest Cantwell and Arlameada Ann “Macy” Bohannon, 13 Feb 1876 in the Cantwell Church House in Laclede County, Missouri. In the previous census (1870) Sarah was living with her parents in Osage Township, Laclede County, Missouri near Lebanon. The Cantwell family is a rather interesting bunch, they having had interactions with Jesse James and so forth. Her mother’s family, the Bohannons, were a rather fascinating lot as well.

There was some intermarriage here, since Sarah’s great grandparents were Enock Odell and Catherine Pryor, the same couple as was the grandparents of the wife (Hannah Catherine Odell) of Louis Cass Britton, Perry’s brother. Louis and Hannah were married about six years earlier. There was no blood relation really, though, as it was their wives that were related to each other. Sarah’s mother and Hannah were 1st cousins.

About the same year as Perry married, his widowed mother, Julia, also remarried at the age of 52 in Wright County. We know that her second husband’s last name was Eads, from Riley’s probate file. I believe his given name was William. William Eads was born 25 Nov 1820 in what later became West Virginia, to William Eads Sr and Elizabeth Douglas.

Perry was found on the Texas, County Tax Rolls, 1846-1910, in Erath County, Texas in 1878. It was here that his first son, Charles Edgar Britten, was born in 1877. By 19 May 1880, when Samuel “Sam” Pickney Britten, was born, they were back in Missouri. 

They are found in White River Township, Barry County, Missouri in the 1880 Census. Perry, a farmer, was living next to his brother, Louis Cass Britton and his family. Living with Perry was his wife, Sarah (20) and their children Charles (3, born in Texas) and Samuel (1 month old, born in June in Missouri). Perry was literate and born in Missouri, his parents in Tennessee. Sarah could not read or write, and was born in Missouri, her parents born in Ohio and Tennessee. Their last three children were born in Arkansas (LaVada Bell 1 Sep 1882, Etta Jane 13 May 1885, and Ida May 7 Oct 1887).

William Eads Jr, believed to be Perry’s step-father, died 28 Jul 1891 in Laclede County, Missouri and was buried in the McBride Cemetery in Competition, same county.

The Move to Oklahoma

In 1892, Perry moved his family to the Oklahoma Territory by covered wagon. They settled about 2 or 3 miles southeast of where Shawnee, Pottawatomie County, Oklahoma later stood. At the time, no town was in the vicinity, but Perry helped build the first building in Pawnee. He and his sons, Samuel and Charles, worked on the first railroad as it came through the region, it being called the Choctaw Railroad. 

There had been a land run in Pottawatomie County, where settlers raced to stake their claim on various parcels, 22 Sep 1891. Whether Perry was in this race, and the following year brought his family to land he had claimed, is not known to me. It is possible that he was simply one of the many who flocked to the region for the cheap, fertile land or for various other reasons. Some Native Americans who had intermarried with White settlers, also congregated here and took up assigned parcels of land.

Shawnee, Oklahoma soon became a bustling trade center, and saloons were almost as plentiful as all regular places of business combined. In 1903, it was reported in The Shawnee Herald that the daily alcohol consumption in the town was 700 gallons of beer and 25 gallons of whiskey. As a consideration the females of the town, these saloons were usually built along one side of a street, so that the ladies could walk down the other. Hotels were also erected and boarding houses thrived. Older residents likely remembered an elderly gentleman by the name of Tom Wright, who walked his pet goose down the middle of Main Street on a daily basis. Much of the historical information concerning Shawnee were taken from Fifty Years Ago in Shawnee and Pottawatomie County, and many other interesting details can be gleaned from the article as well.

Even though there was a decidedly colorful element to Shawnee, it was also a town of church-goers, most of the religious citizens being of the Baptist denomination. Church houses were filled to capacity, and additional summer revivals were prevalent, and life flowed at a leisurely pace.  The first trained arrived 4 Jul 1895, which many gathered to observe. It is entirely possible that Perry and his family were among those attending the parade and celebration.

Perry Loses Both his Mother and his Wife
11 Jan 1898, Perry’s beloved mother, Julia, passed away in Baxter, Stone County, Missouri at the age of 74, after having been widowed a second time for six and a half years. It is hard to say how long it took for word to reach him in the Oklahoma Territory by mail.

Perry’s wife, Sarah, died tragically and unexpectedly 18 Dec 1898 following a miscarriage. As the story goes, she was sick and the doctor gave her a particular medicine, they not knowing yet that she was pregnant. The medication caused her to miscarry, leading to her death. Perry was brokenhearted.

The following is quoted from information given by Ron, as recorded in an article entitled Some notes on Uncle Perry’s Family: 

“Perry Eldridge would just walk the yard and play lonesome tunes on his violin after his wife Sarah Rachel died. He was a very quiet man. Grandma Sarah’s last words to Vada, “Why don’t you go to bed: Grandma is sick and if you get sick I don’t know what we will do.” They woke to find her dead shortly, died from a miscarriage. She was hard of hearing too.

“In those days, neighbors would dig the grave and help build the casket which was made narrow at the bottom (foot I think) made of cheap pine lumber, lined with cream colored muslin. Outside of black cloth and embroidery around the top for trim. They would lay the dead on a board, each end on a chair. The body would cool faster. If it was possible they would put a bug of cracked ice under the body to help cool it. The would put a nickel and dime on each eyelid to keep them closed and tie a hanky around the face under the jaw to hold their mouth together. Sarah Rachel Britton was buried in Shawnee, Oklahoma at Indian Mission Cemetery.

“Perry Eldridge in later years re-married, Mrs. Nickols, but they separated. The last year of his life he spent in the home of F. A. and Vada Stevens. And was sick nearly the whole time, and was bedfast the last six months. He had T. B. of the muscles. F. A. patiently waited on him and he called F. A. (who was at work) just before he died. He was buried at Shawnee beside Sarah Rachel.”

In 1900, the remaining members of Perry’s family were in Forest Township, Pottawatomie County, Oklahoma Territory. He is listed as a 44-year-old widow, born in December of 1855 in Missouri, and his parents born in Missouri and Tennessee. Living with him were his daughters, Etta J (14, born Sep 1885 in Arkansas) and Ida M (13, born Oct 1886 in Arkansas). Both of the girls had attended school for 4 months out of the year. Perry was at this time a farmer with rented land.

Perry's Second Wife, of Chocktaw Descent

Mrs. Nichols, referred to in the above quotation, was Mary Elizabeth Boykin Nichols, widow of William Riley Nichols who had died of smallpox 4 Feb 1899 in Shawnee. I was able to learn this, and a great deal of other useful information, from “Elias Lacy Nichols and Descendants” on pages 168-172. 

Mary was born 22 Jul 1858 in Overton County, Tennessee to Nathaniel Boykin and Cecilia Phelps, her and William coming to Shawnee the same year as Perry had brought his family to the area. Perry married her 8 Dec 1901 in Pottawatomie County, Oklahoma, about three years after both had lost their spouses. At the time of their marriage, Perry was 45 years old and Mary was 43. One of Perry’s daughters from his first marriage, Ida May Britten, would eventually marry Mary’s son, Thomas Nathaniel Nichols.

Descendants of one of the five civilized tribes would apply for land in Oklahoma. Many did so, primarily from 1899-1906. These files are referred to as the Dawes Rolls, and enrollees had to state which tribe they were descended from and what fraction of Native American blood they had. Sometimes supporting documents were submitted. If approval was granted, they were eligible for a sizable amount of land. Mary applied 3 Jun 1902 for herself and her minor children from her first marriage (Maud O, Cordie, Henry E, Celia J and Aaron Nichols). The application (#5764) included a very pointed Q&A, some of which I have included below, and she explained some very interesting things therein. The gist of it was that she believed she was of Mississippi Choctaw ancestry (1/8) through her great grandfather.

Reference to Perry's Cherokee Ancestry
She also answered that her second husband, P. E. Britten, was not white, but Indian, and that his grandfather was full blood Cherokee. The following is a partial list of the questions she was asked, and her responses:

What is your name? Mary E. Britten – (spelled).

What is your age? Forty-four last July.

What is your post office address? Shawnee Oklahoma.

Where were you born? In Olden County, Tennessee.

What is your father’s name? M. W. Boykin.

What is your mother’s name? Celia Ann Boykin

Through which parent do you claim Choctaw blood? My father.

How much do you claim? My grandmother was said to be a half; I reckon that would make me an eighth.

Are you married? Yes sir.

Husband living and a white man? Yes Sir – no sir he is Indian.

How much of an Indian is he? His grandfather was full blood Cherokee.

You don’t make any claim for him as Choctaw Indian? No sir.

What is his name? P. E. Britten.

Have you an children by him? No sir.

You say you have five children by another man? Yes sir, my first husband was named William R. Nichols.

A Bad Storm
A tumultuous downpour, 29 May 1903, destroyed many homes and also washed out the railroad tracks nearby. I am sure that Perry and his family were well aware of this occurrence and helped alongside neighbors to make repairs and rebuild.

Industry in Oklahoma
The primary crop in the area was cotton. Interestingly, the region’s ability to produce it successfully was discovered purely by accident when a man bought too much cottonseed for feed. His wife complained incessantly about the pile in her yard, so he finally disposed of the remainder of it by spreading it out on uncultivated ground. Surprisingly, he ended up with a bumper crop. This quickly became the crop of choice among residents. In 1903 alone, 26,000 bales of cotton were shipped by train. One early resident recalled that there were so many bales down Main Street that one could jump from pile to pile, and successfully traverse five town blocks.

Perry and his Second Wife Separated

By 1910, Perry was in Olive Township, Creek County, Oklahoma, living with his son, Samuel. Interestingly, Perry was listed as widowed even though his second wife did not die until 30 years later. Likely, this had something to do with their being separated. Perhaps they did not want to say that he was divorced, or maybe a neighbor gave the census-taker the information if the family was not home, and he or she simply assumed he was widowed. He is shown to be 53 and born his Missouri, his parents born in Georgia and Tennessee. I have not been able to find Perry in the 1920 Census.

Death and Burial
Perry Eldridge Britten died 25 Aug 1927 in Texahoma, Texas County, Oklahoma and was buried beside his first wife in the Tecumseh Mission Cemetery in Tecumseh, Pottawatomie County, Oklahoma.