Our names are Graham and Charlie Tower and our American Indian names are Silver Leaf and White Cloud. We are named after our father and great grandfather, who are American Indian. White Cloud is our great grandfather and Silver Leaf is our father. Over the years, we have heard amazing stories about our namesakes that we would love to share with anyone interested in hearing about American Indian ancestors. 

White Cloud was born in Alaska to an Iroquois Indian father and an Eskimo mother. He was raised by his grandfather, living in an American Indian village in the wilderness of Canada until he was a young adult. As a boy, White Cloud’s Grandfather, who was the medicine man of the tribe, often gave his grandson herbs in honey to eat for his health. One day, the Indian scouts of the tribe came back to the village with a grizzly bear they had killed. A cub of the killed bear followed the hunters back to the village.  Eight-year-old White Cloud befriended the bear using the same honey his grandfather had given him to take his herbs. The grizzly cub took a liking to White Cloud and his sticky honey smeared hands.  White Cloud named him Old Boney and he was his pet until Old Boney died at 16 years old.

White Cloud truly experienced coming of age in his early teenage years. At 11 he was sent into the wilderness for one week to learn how to survive on his own. He remembers a pack of wolves circle his fire at night but luckily the flames kept them away. At 13 he was sent out alone again to trap furs. He spent several months in the wilderness hunting animals. He became a proficient hunter and was honored with his grandfather’s name when he returned home and was able to wear one feather as a sign of survival. At 20, he earned a second feather for killing a panther that attacked his Indian village. When is grandfather died at 104, White Cloud was made chief of his tribe.  Another amazing job White Cloud had with his tribe was catching and taming bald eagles. The tribe would use the eagle’s feathers for their regalia. (Farlekas 20)

Soon White Clouds tribe’s lands were taken from them by lumber companies. The Allotment Act/Dawes Act of 1887 which privatized tribal land and was meant to break up reservations by granting small parcels of land to individual American Indians rather than the large areas of land owned by entire tribe. (Dawes Act 1887) The ultimate goal of this Act was to encourage American Indians to assimilate to the new, white civilization. (Dawes Act 1887) In the northwest, most lands were instantly transferred to timber barons, after this act was passed. (Kay and Maloney).  White Cloud fled into the wilderness, not wanting the “white man” to tell him where he was going to live. While he was wandering away from government control, he found a job at an inn. Another co-worker died while he worked there. White Cloud decided to take this man’s European name, Charley Dawson, since he did not have one. 

Charley eventually got married and ended up moving to New York. He never got used to wearing the “white mans” clothes and speaking the “white mans” language. He stated, “When I was growing up, I almost never saw a white man; now I almost never see an Indian”. (Farlekas 20) Our father remembers playing with White Cloud, who they called Gramps, during his childhood. Gramps would still speak Algonquin and talk about The Great Spirit. Our father grew up hearing his wonderful stories, which he has now passed down to us.

Emery Mayberry is our Great Grandfather and my grandmother’s father. As we researched our American Indian ancestors, many interesting stories came to life about this side of our American Indian heritage. Emery was a Creek American Indian, whose parents were originally from Kentucky. The stories of Emery’s ancestors are still falling together but let us tell you what we have found so far.

John Mayberry and Ellen Hamilton were Emery’s grandparents. John was born in Tennessee and Ellen in Kentucky. John Mayberry was a Creek American Indian, while Ellen Hamilton was a Chickasaw American Indian. Ellen and John had 8 children. John died in Kentucky but Ellen eventually migrated to Oklahoma just like all of the American Indians of their time. These were the years that were called the “Great Removal”, which spawned the “Trail of Tears”. The government at this time-period, between 1830-1900, decided they wanted the southern lands for farming. Therefore, they wanted the American Indians that resided on these lands out. They pushed all the American Indian tribes, now called the Five Civilized Tribes, which included Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctow, Creek, and Seminole, out to Oklahoma. These tribes reside in Oklahoma to this day.  Our ancestors where part of this “Great Migration” of American Indians westward. 

John and Ellen’s son, Edward Milton Mayberry, was our grandmother’s grandfather. He married a woman named Bertha Hayes Lewis. Their lives were filled with tragedy and resilience. Bertha and Edward had 5 children. They also migrated west to Oklahoma. They found a residence on the Otoe Tribe reservation where several of their children were born. The passed down story is a bit vague but here is what we have found so far. Edward travelled from Oklahoma to Washington State in the early 1900’s. It is recalled that he was going there to help the Indians in that region. He knew how to read English, but those Americans Indians did not. Edward went to Washington to assist these tribes by reading the government documents they were unknowingly being asked to sign, which were taking their land away from them. Edward was reading the documents to them and encouraging them not to sign them. Very sadly, Edward was labeled a troublemaker and was hung. (Seattle Times, 19 April 1917, 24)  The police made up a story that said he had killed a Native woman on the reservation, however, Edwards family denied these accusations. When we recently received our Great-Great-Great Grandfather’s death certificate, the spot on the form that explains the cause of death is completely erased. You can tell there was a lot of writing in that area but that someone had erased it. This seems very suspicious to us. 

After Edward died, Bertha was now a widow with 5 children. Initially, Bertha’s children were taken away from her and put into an orphanage. Bertha had to find jobs to make enough money to be able to pay to get her children out of the orphanage. She was able to get her oldest three out but the two younger children were stuck in the orphanage. Our Great Grandfather,, Emery, was the second youngest and endured the orphanage where he was getting bullied by the other children. His older siblings would bring him food and clothes to him to help him during this difficult time in the orphanage. Finally, Bertha was able to get her last two children out of the orphanage. At that point the family made their way back to Oklahoma, where they found residence in Tulsa. Two years after her husband had been hung, Bertha lost her home in a fire that was part of the Tulsa Race Riots during 1921. Bertha was widowed and then homeless. The resilience of our Great-Great-Great grandmother absolutely amazes us! She ended up moving to Texas and then finally, Colorado. Bertha died at 109 as the oldest resident in Colorado at the time of her death. (The Park City Daily News 3-A)

As we researched, both sides of our grandmother, Lovette’s (Red Fawn) American Indian ancestors, one main theme jumped out at us from both sides of our family. The theme was, they were unwilling to accept what was happening to their people. Neither side of our family was willing to be put on a reservation and given numbers like the government gave livestock. Both sides of our family would not conform to the new government and their plans of stealing their people’s lands. Even now, our grandmother’s outlook is that of independence and pride. The other interesting fact we have realized is how two separate sides of our family interconnected at the same timing. In the early 1900’s, while our Great Great Grandfather, White Cloud, was being pushed out of his land by the lumber companies in the northwest; our Great Great Grandfather Edward was traveling to the northwest from Oklahoma to persuade and help those same northwestern American Indian tribes by instructing them to not sign their land away to the government, which he ended up being killed for. Neither of these great great grandfathers knew each other but their lives were closely connected at the same time.   We will take these traits and these stories with us as we go out into our lives and let them guide us as we move forward. Furthermore, we will continue to research our ancestors so we can learn about our personal history and know what traits we are made up of. 

“Hang Indian at Spokan”. Seattle Times, 19 April 1917, p. 24

“Woman Dies at 109”. The Park City Daily News (Bowling Green, Kentucky), 16 February 1981, p. 3-A

“Colorado’s Oldest Resident Dies”. The Tyler Courier-Times (Tyler,Texas). 15 February 1981, P. 14

Farlekas, Chris. “That Indian Man has wonderful stories to tell”. The Times Herald Record, 7 August 1969, p. 20

“Dawes Act (1887).” Dawes+Act+(1887) (Print-Friendly Version), https://www.ourdocuments.gov/print_friendly.php?flash=false&page=&doc=50&title=Dawes%2BAct%2B%281887%29. 

Kay, Kira and Jason Maloney, directors. PBS, Public Broadcasting Service, 16 Oct. 2021, https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/why-native-americans-are-buying-back-land-that-was-stolen-from-them. Accessed 23 Oct. 2021.

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