Creek Indina Nation -OK - Marriage Rules ==================================================================== USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, data may be used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or for presentation by other persons or organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for purposes other than stated above must obtain the written consent of the file contributor. This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by: Myra Gormley myravg@prodigy.net ==================================================================== Marriage records (if either the bride or bridegroom was a Creek citizen) prior to 1890 will be found in Creek Nation records. They are scattered and no known index exists to them. They can be found in the respective Indian Nation's records at the Oklahoma Historical Society and many of these have been filmed and are accessible through the LDS (Mormon) Family History Library system. From about 1890 until Oklahoma statehood in 1907, marriages of white and black citizens in Indian Territory were recorded in the various recording districts of the U.S. federal court. Most of these records have been transcribed and are on file at the Oklahoma Historical Society and the Family History Library. [14]Muskogee County has marriage records from July 1890. A white man who married an Indian woman became an adopted member of the tribe and was listed as an intermarried citizen. The number of intermarried citizens increased so rapidly that strict laws were enacted regarding these marriages. The cost of a license was expensive -- at one time it amounted to $100 in the Choctaw Nation. Among the Cherokees, a man had to get 10 citizens of that nation to vouch for his good character. A white man coming into the Indian Territory to work was required to take out a license or permit, and its cost varied according to the business. Ordinary laborers paid only a small fee, while peddlers, mechanics and professional men had to pay much more. All the Indian nations passed laws forbidding the leasing of land to white men, but in all of them the laws were broken. An Indian citizen could employ a white man as a laborer to work on a farm and could make a contract that the white man would have a share of the crops instead of a wage in money.