By T.S. Akers
I have long been aware of my ancestors’ association with Freemasonry in the Indian Territory, beginning with the establishment of the first lodge at Tahlequah, Cherokee Nation, in 1848. Unfortunately, I know nothing about my wife’s ancestry. Last November, when working to identify names of prominent tribal citizens on lodge rolls, I came across a curious name on the roster of Rush Springs Lodge No. 7. Conover, my wife’s maiden name, is an uncommon name in Oklahoma and there on the roll was a George Washington Conover. My wife’s father is an enrolled Comanche citizen and when I asked her about this Conover, she said that must be the other Conovers, the non-Comanche clan. The story she always relayed was that her Conover ancestor was adopted into the Comanche Nation. When I began to dig further, it became clear that George W. Conover married a woman who was originally a Comanche captive. And thus began the Comanche line of the Conovers, my wife’s lineage.
The Conover family arrived in the New World in 1625 when Wolphert Gerretse Van Kouwenhoven (1579-1662) of Amersfoort, Netherlands, immigrated to New Amsterdam.[1] In time, the surname was Americanized to Conover. The family later moved en masse to New Jersey. George W. Conover was the second son of William H. Conover (1810-1871) and Mary Ann V. McIntosh (1815-1889).[2] He was born on the 23rd of April, 1848, whilst the family resided in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The elder Conover was a cobbler and after two years moved the family back to Neshanic, New Jersey. The American Civil War began as Conover became a teenager and at the age of sixteen, he eagerly enlisted in Co. D of the 39th New Jersey Infantry Regiment when it was formed in late September of 1864.[3] The regiment was first attached to Benham’s Engineer Brigade in early October the same year and temporarily assigned to work on the breastworks to the left of the Weldon Railroad, a few miles south of Petersburg, Virginia. During the Siege of Petersburg, the 39th New Jersey captured Fort Mahone on the 2nd of April, 1865. The regiment then engaged in the pursuit of Robert E. Lee, leading to the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox Court House on the 9th of April.[4]
The American Civil War concluded, George W. Conover was mustered out of service as a private soldier at Alexendria, Virginia, in June of 1865. Returning to New Jersey, he soon enlisted in the regular army on the 3rd of January, 1867. Following three weeks training at Governor’s Island, New York, Conover was ordered to the 6th US Infantry Regiment, then headquartered at Charleston, South Carolina. After his arrival in Charleston, Conover was assigned to Co. E on Hilton Head Island. That June, companies B, H, E, and F of the 6th US Infantry were dispatched to the Indian Territory. Conover’s Co. E was to be posted to Fort Arbuckle, along with Co. F, whilst the other two companies were bound for Fort Gibson. Traveling by rail to Memphis and then by boat to Fort Smith, thus began Conover’s new odyssey on the frontier.[5]
In 1927 George W. Conover committed his life story to paper. The volume titled Sixty Years in Southwest Oklahoma or the Autobiography of George W. Conover provides interesting insights into life on the southern Plains during the height of the Indian Wars. This scarce volume has frequently been cited in scholarly articles on the subject printed in The Chronicles of Oklahoma, published by the Oklahoma Historical Society. Conover dictated the work to Frank W. Beach, his amanuensis, as Conover himself had lost his eyesight in 1915, the result of the “wrong medicine” being employed during a procedure.[6]
Having arrived in the Indian Territory in the summer of 1867, the reality of the hardships frequently encountered on the frontier quickly set in for George W. Conover. His detachment of the 6th US Infantry, having crossed the Blue River en route to Fort Arbuckle in the Chickasaw Nation, encamped along the Big Sandy Creek. Cholera quickly overtook the camp with twenty-eight soldiers and one woman succumbing to the sickness. Wrapped in army blankets, the dead were buried in shallow graves and left on the prairie.[7] Conover arrived at Fort Arbuckle that July. The post, which was made of hewn logs, was the westernmost active army installation in the Indian Territory at the time and was then garrisoned by a few Troops of the 10th US Cavalry Regiment, the famed Buffalo Soldiers. Upon his arrival, Conover was first detailed as a clerk to the post adjutant and then, following the creation of a library, made post librarian. In November of 1868, Conover’s Co. E, along with Troops D and L of the 10th US Cavalry, were ordered further west to Fort Cobb.[8] That post had been established in 1859 but was abandoned at the onset of the American Civil War.[9] The march to Fort Cobb took Conover through Elm Springs, which became Erin Springs in 1875, a town that would later become part of Conover’s life. The column located the ruins of the fort west of present-day Anadarko and began construction of new quarters and a stockade for defense.[10]
It was at Fort Arbuckle that George W. Conover first encountered Comanches. The post-Civil War western boundary of the Chickasaw Nation butted up against the Comancheria, or Comanche range. The Comanches had long been practicing the taking of captives and frequently took white children in Texas. For example, Quanah Parker’s own mother was a white captive.[11] During Conover’s time at Fort Arbuckle, a Comanche band brought in two white captives, a boy and a girl. It had been the practice of the federal government to offer payment in exchange for captives, which made their taking good business for the Comanches. On the march to Fort Cobb, another band of Comanches was encountered, who warned the troops of a larger party of Indians in the area. That group, Conover estimated to be between 1,500 and 2,000, and they objected to the army’s renewed presence. He described them as being the “wild tribes in all their wild and fantastic paraphernalia.”[12] This is likely a contrast to the Five “Civilized” Tribes whose Nations comprised the Indian Territory Conover had just come from. With the objections of this large party overcome, the column did ultimately arrive at Fort Cobb. In addition to being engaged in reconstructing that post, Conover also noted that he had his first experience hunting buffalo at Fort Cobb. Of that he said, “…the chase was exciting and, in some measure, dangerous and wild.”[13] Later in his volume, Conover says the excitement elicited from hunting was among the best features of the “old days.” He adds that deer, antelope, and turkey were plentiful, along with thousands of buffalo. Conover even had four encounters with mountain lions.[14]
In March of 1869, George W. Conover’s company of the 6th US Infantry Regiment was sent to Medicine Creek, roughly forty miles south of Fort Cobb.[15] The 10th US Cavalry Regiment, under the command of Colonel Benjamin H. Grierson, was already there, having established Camp Wichita.[16] That summer, construction began on what would become Fort Sill. Some of the first buildings erected included accommodations for the Indian Commissary. This compound consisted of two large buildings that featured ample storage and a council room. The establishment of Fort Sill marked the end of Conover’s military career. When his enlistment expired on the 3rd of January, 1870, Conover left the army as a commissary sergeant. He immediately entered government service in the Indian Commissary.[17] With the implementation of President Grant’s “Peace Policy” towards Indians, the Quakers lobbied for their members to be selected as Indian Agents. In July of 1869, Lawrie Tatum, a Quaker, received the appointment as agent for the Kiowa and Comanche.[18] The Quakers also erected buildings near the government compound to provide for the Indians, including accommodations for a doctor and a school.[19]
George W. Conover’s primary role in the Indian Commissary was as a government storekeeper.[20] In this capacity, he was responsible for dispensing rations every two weeks, which included beef, bacon, flour, sugar, coffee, soap and tobacco. Under the Treaty of Medicine Lodge of 1867, which placed the Kiowas and Comanches onto a reservation, the tribes also received certain annuity goods each year. These goods included cloth, beads, tinware, knives, kettles, etc.[21] Understanding the importance of communication, Conover also sought to learn the Comanche language, which he considered the “court language” of the various tribes in the region. Conover’s language lessons were proffered by Joseph Chandler, a farmer who had married a Comanche captive. This allowed Conover to also serve as a translator when called upon.[22] Lawrie Tatum resigned as Indian Agent at Fort Sill in March of 1873, at which time James Haworth was appointed agent.[23] Conover continued under Haworth briefly, leaving government service that August.[24] Conover’s time with the Indian Commissary not only brought him into regular contact with Fort Sill’s commander Colonel Grierson, but he also had occasion to meet General William T. Sherman.[25]
After leaving government service, George W. Conover remained near Fort Sill for a time, briefly working for the government cattle contractor, a Mr. Buckley. This marked the beginning of Conover’s career as a cattleman, for he soon left Fort Sill to take charge of the Widow Chandler’s ranch; Joseph Chandler having passed in January of 1873.[26] Chandler left behind his wife Tomasa and four children.[27] The ranch was located on the Little Washita River, roughly twenty-three miles northeast of Fort Sill. It was here that Conover’s younger brother Andrew joined him from New Brunswick, New Jersey, in 1874.[28] In time, the cattle operation grew to over 3,200 head.[29] Conover married Tomasa Chandler in 1875, and her personal story is quite interesting itself.[30]
Tomasa Chandler Conover, who was born around 1844, was taken captive in Mexico by Comanches. She was brought by her captors to the Brazos Agency in Texas in exchange for payment, at which time she was returned to Mexico. Unfortunately, her family could not be located, and she was placed with another who treated her as a slave.[31] Stealing a horse one night during a Fandango, Tomasa and a boy in a similar plight made their way north back to Texas, in search of the Comanches. At some point, the horse died, and the pair subsisted off it for a time. It is said that Tomasa had a dream of a trail leading to the Comanche camp; emaciated, they located the trail and found their way home.[32] As a girl, a Comanche man claimed Tomasa as his wife, but she refused to go with him when the time came. With her band now in the vicinity of Fort Cobb and the Wichita Agency, Joseph Chandler observed the refusal and paid the Comanche man two dollars and a chicken to leave Tomasa alone. Tomasa and Chandler married shortly thereafter in 1859.[33] Chandler had been allowed by the federal government to settle in the area and operate a farm, about twenty-two miles south of Fort Cobb on Chandler Creek, to provide foodstuffs for the agency.[34] The Chandlers were later given 320 acres on the Little Washita River, which is the ranch where Chandler died in 1873.[35] Tomasa’s marriage to George W. Conover yielded three sons: Andrew, William, and John.[36]
In the summer of 1876, George W. Conover took the degrees of Freemasonry in Elm Springs Lodge No. 7. That lodge, located in what had become known as the town of Erin Springs in the Chickasaw Nation, had received a dispensation to operate on the 21st of February that year. When the lodge was duly chartered on the 5th of September, Conover would be listed as a charter member.[37] Conover had passed through Erin Springs when he first arrived in the Indian Territory in 1867 and today the town and lodge are known as Rush Springs. Conover seems to have taken an active interest in Freemasonry and makes mention of the Fraternity several times in his autobiography. He first describes John Coyle, a native of Scotland, who was the charter Worshipful Master of Elm Springs Lodge and later Grand Master of Masons for the Indian Territory from 1894 to 1896.[38] Adding to the myth of Indian Freemasonry, Conover also claims he observed “chiefs” giving the grip of a Master Mason to federal officials whilst on business in Washington, D.C. He refers to these as “secret salutations” that certain tribes had always possessed.[39] Conover also mentions the famed army scout Sampson E. “Jack” Stillwell and his becoming a Master Mason in Elm Springs Lodge.[40] Conover served Elm Springs Lodge as Junior Warden and Senior Warden in 1877 and 1878 respectively but never advanced to Worshipful Master.[41] He and his wife Tomasa also joined Ella Morris Chapter No. 29 of the Order of the Eastern Star at Chickasha after she converted to the Methodist Church in 1893.[42] Among his other memberships, Conover was also counted amongst the Companions of Rush Springs Chapter No. 16, Royal Arch Masons and the Sir Knights of DeMolay Commandery No. 4, Knights Templar (I.T.) at Chickasha. He took the degrees of the Scottish Rite in the Valley of Wichita, Orient of Kansas.[43] Conover proudly lists these memberships, along with the Grand Army of the Republic, in the last sentence of his book.[44]
George W. Conover’s time in the American Southwest makes him a contemporary of several individuals whose names are well known in the region today, and he had opinions on them as well. Today, much is said of the Chisholm Trail. This cattle trail was named for Jesse Chisholm in 1870, who operated a trading post along its course west of present-day Oklahoma City.[45] Conover declares in his autobiography “that there is no such trail,” adding that Chisholm was not a trail maker. If anything, Conover felt the trail should have been called the Red Blanket Trail for the Delaware Indian he claims piloted the first herd of cattle north along the route, which passed near the Chandler-Conover Ranch.[46] Conover also spoke of the famed Quanah Parker, who favored leasing Indian land to Texas cattle ranchers. Conover was opposed to this and even accompanied a party of Indian headmen to Washington, D.C. who were also opposed to the leases.[47] According to Conover, Texas cattlemen had long been grazing their cattle on Indian lands, providing sustenance to the Indians in exchange for not molesting the herds, which made Indians dependent and not inclined to farm and ranch themselves.[48] The famed Texan, and Freemason, Charles Goodnight was one of the noted ranchers supplying Quanah Parker’s band of Comanche with beef in exchange for grazing rights.[49]
George W. Conover and his wife Tomasa moved from the ranch on the Little Washita River in 1880 to Anadarko.[50] This was fortuitous, as in 1892 the Jerome Commission forced allotment upon the Comanche Nation, and it was commonplace for Indian allotments not to be near one’s given homestead. The result was that each Comanche head of household received an allotment of 320 acres and dependents received 160 acres.[51] As the husband of a Comanche citizen, Conover also received Comanche citizenship himself, which he notes as having been adopted into the tribe. He indicates that he received two-quarter sections (320 acres) through the Jerome Commission’s allotment proceedings.[52] Federal land patents show that Conover received the south half of section 22 of Township 7 North, Range 10 West.[53] Tomasa received an adjoining 160 acres of the southwest quarter of section 23.[54] This allotment would have been roughly two miles south of Anadarko and fifteen miles from the Chandler-Conover Ranch. A portion of the original ranch, located in sections 33 and 34 of Township 5 North, Range 8 West, was allotted to William H. Conover, the second son of George W. Conover.[55] On the 6th of December, 1900, Tomasa passed away at the age of 55.[56] She was laid to rest next to her first husband Joseph on what had been their ranch.[57] Conover gave up ranching in 1901 and at that time became partners with Phil Romick at Anadarko in the mercantile business.[58] One of the various hardships of ranching included dealing with cattle rustlers. On one such occasion, Conover and his own posse apprehended a group of rustlers and delivered them to the guard house at Fort Sill. The ensuing trial required Conover to personally journey to Fort Smith for an extended period, as the case went before the famed Judge Isaac Parker.[59]
At Anadarko, George W. Conover only remained in the mercantile business for four years. During this time, he married again to Laura Smith in December of 1901, and the couple had two boys.[60] As was previously noted, Conover lost his eyesight in 1915 and lived out his remaining years in Anadarko. He transferred his lodge membership to Anadarko Lodge No. 21 in 1920.[61] The following year he crossed the sands of India Temple, Ancient and Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, at Oklahoma City on the 1st of July.[62] Conover passed away on the 19th of January, 1936, and was laid to rest in Anadarko.[63] Truly the best way to describe his life on the frontier, is as an odyssey. Conover was fortunate to observe the American Southwest as it was originally intended; a wild land filled with game before Manifest Destiny swept across the region. It is incredible to have so much detail available on the life of one of the Indian Territory’s early Sir Knights, a proud member of DeMolay Commandery No. 4, Knights Templar.
