1828 Miller County Petition
Arkansas Territory
This petition can also be found transcribed on pages 629-630 of
The Territorial Papers of the United States, The Territory of Arkansas 1825-1829, Volume XX, compiled and edited
by Clarence Edwin Carter, Government Printing Office, 1954.
Copies of the original 1828 Miller County, Arkansas Territory petition were a
little harder to locate. A microcopy of the original petition is located on National Archives Microfilm
Publications, Microcopy No. 234, Letters Received by the Office of Indian Affairs, 1824-81, Roll 29, Arkansas
Superintendency, 1824-1834, The National Archives, National Archives and Records Service, General Services
Administration, Washington, 1957. Special thanks to Mary Frances Ronan, Indian and Land Records, Archives 1
Reference Section, Research Services, National Archives, Washington, D.C. for her assistance in locating the
microfilm roll upon which the 1828 petition was located.
A similar petition was submitted to the President of the United States in 1825. See
a complete transcription of the 1825 Miller County
Petiton here.
The Reference section of the Clayton Library in Houston, Texas produced an excellent scan of both
the 1825 and 1828 petitions as transcribed by Clarence Edwin Carter. Click here to read both
petitions.
*Montgomery County, Texas historians should notice Andrew Montgomery's signature on both petitions. In the 1820s,
Andrew Montgomery was not operating a trading post in what is today Montgomery County, Texas. He was living in Miller County in the Arkansas
Territory of the United States of America during the 1820s.
PETITION TO GOVERNOR IZARD BY CITIZENS OF MILLER COUNTY
[March 20, 1828]
To his Excellency Genl Geo Izard Govr of
Arkansas Territory
Your petitioners Citizens of the Territory of Arkansas Miller
County, and living within the Civil and Military jurisdiction of the United States humbly sheweth, that we are and
for some time past been verry much annoyed by the Indians, particularly Shawanees, setling among us, building their
huts contiguous to our corn Cribs & fields, pilfering from houses and Corn-cribs Killing Hogs, Driving their
Stocks of Horses and Cattle among us, Cutting Down Timber &c and all done under authority of his
Excellency Don Jose Antonio Saucedo of the Department of texas who has given them a permission in writing,
dated the 20th March 1827 at Nacogdoches to settle at this place (pecan point) untill the line between
the two Governments shall be run, then they are to be confirmed in their title—Your petitioners believing it to be
within the power of the Executive of this Territory to cuase the removal of the aforesaid Indians, humbly solicit
the Interferences of His Excellency—in the behalf this section of the country, Otherwise we see no prospect but of
being oblidged to abandon our homes and fields which most of us have cultivated from Ten to 12 years or be oblidged
to come to an open rupture with them as they have frequently threatened to drive us off if not pleased with their
conduct
Your petitioners will await with impatience the commands of his
Excellency and in duty bound will ever pray Pecan Point 20th March 1828.
Petitioners Names
J. G. W. Pierson
Geo: C Wetmore
Isaac Clover
James Leavins
Joseph Leavins
James Walters
James Ferguson
William Montgomery
Edley Montgomery
Andrew Montgomery
James J Ward Sen
James J. Ward Juni
Joseph Green
John Rolins
Thomas Humphris
Peter Hammond
David Clapp
J. Wallis
Wyatt Woods
Jno Newman
J. Edmondson
H. Shaw
James S. Hanks
H. McHanks
Wm Slingland
Jonathan Jones
Franklin J. Greenwood
Clayborn Wright
Elijah Cutbirth
Peter Cleck
Geo. F. Lawton
David Tammell
John Bowman
Jas Hordy
Walter Hagan
John Cutbirth
J B Ballard
Pharo Kitchens
Wm Hogan
Zachariah Killey
David Lorrence
William House
John Pelin—
Martin G. Noll
We the Undersigned Grand Jury impanneled at the March term of the Miller circuit
court for the year 1828 present that the facts stated in the foregoing petition are true and the community suffer
much from indian depredations.
Geo: C Wetmore
Jno Robins
James T Ward Senr
Willis Mccann
James Clark
John Teal
Pharah Kitchens
John Dunlop
Wm McAtee
Thomas hunpres
Levi Davis
James S. Hanks
Andrew Dolahide
H McHanks
Ben Patton
[Endorsed] Petition to His Excellency Genl Geo Izard
Govr of Arkansas Territory
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