INDIAN-PIONEER PAPERS PROJECT FOR OKLAHOMA
       
                                               GEORGE BALLEW
       
                                                 INTERVIEW
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Submitter:  Catherine Widener (catz@kcisp.net 
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      (?) Moore: Supervisor
       
      Indian-Pioneer History
       
      Frank J. Still-field worker
       
      Mr. George Ballew lives at 410 Academy Street, Tahlequah, Oklahoma. His 
      wife’s name was Carrie R. Gourd. He was born
      December 25, 1877, Mayes County, Locust Grove. He is a Cherokee Indian.
       
      Father: Jack Ballew
       
      Mother: Elizabeth Ballew, nee Woodard
       
      Grandfather Jeff Ballew came through the "Trail of Tears" in 1838. He said 
      that the soldiers just drove them like stock. Lots of the
      Indians died on the way out here. He was a member of the Council in 
      Cherokee times.
       
                                           SCHOOL AND INDIAN WORK
       
      I went to school at the Cherokee Orphan Asylum at Saline, Oklahoma. I went 
      to Central Business College, Sedalia, Missouri. I also
      attended the N. E. S. C. at Tahlequah, Oklahoma.
       
      My first school I taught was at Newhope School, 6 miles East of Choteau. 
      The next was at Barber, also Slate Bluff, Cherokee
      County. I taught at Omega Murphy, Oklahoma, in 1912.
       
      In 1904, I worked with the Dawes Commission. After statehood, I worked in 
      the Tahlequah Post Office. I established the Post Office
      at Barber, Oklahoma. I served as a numerator in 1920. I also took census 
      in 1930.
       
      I was elected Court Clerk of Cherokee County, in 1920. Served 1921 and 
      1922.
       
      My oldest daughter, Georgie Ballew, is now employed at Seneca Indian 
      School at Wyandotte, Oklahoma.
       
      I worked in the Indian Office here in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, as interpreter 
      under D. W. Wilson, Filed Clerk.
       
      Transcribed by Catherine Widener, 2002
      --