THREE FORKS HISTORY: Editor served several early newspapers

Aug. 5—In 1828 the Cherokees started publication of a newspaper called the Cherokee Phoenix. It began just a few years after Sequoyah had created a written form of the Cherokee language. The newspaper was published in New Echota, Georgia and its editor was Elias Boudinot. Assisting Boudinot in producing the paper, printed in both Cherokee and English, was a missionary named Samuel Worcester.

The Cherokee Phoenix continued for several years but was discontinued in the midst of the turmoil among the Cherokees regarding removal to Indian Territory. By 1842, most of the Cherokees had made the difficult journey west. In that year, William Potter Ross, a nephew of Chief John Ross, graduated from Princeton and settled at Park Hill.

William Ross was elected clerk for the Cherokee National Council in 1843. In this role, he helped to write the Cherokee Constitution. The following year, the National Council voted to establish another newspaper for the Cherokees. Called the Cherokee Advocate, this newspaper was also published in both Cherokee and English. William Ross was selected to serve as editor of this paper. It was the first newspaper to be published in Indian Territory.

The Cherokee Advocate, as its name implies, was meant to give native people a voice. The newspaper through Ross's editorials and articles was pro-temperance, pro-education and pro-agriculture. William Ross edited the newspaper for six years before resigning to become a merchant and later to practice law.

The Cherokee Advocate continued in operation sporadically from 1850 to 1906 with several other editors. William Ross continued to serve the Cherokees as a senator in the National Council. He also served as secretary to Lewis Ross, who was the national treasurer.

Following the Civil War, William Ross was a delegate to the reconstruction treaty negotiations in Fort Smith. He served as principal chief to the Cherokees twice, though he never ran for the office. In the first instance he fulfilled the term of his uncle John Ross who died in office in 1866. He also fulfilled the unfinished term of Lewis Downing who died in 1872.

After he left office as chief in 1875, William Ross worked as editor of the Indian Journal newspaper in Muskogee for one year. From that newspaper he went on to edit the Indian Chieftain in Vinita and the Broken Arrow newspaper published first in Fort Gibson and then in Tahlequah.

As editor for four different newspapers, William Potter Ross can rightfully be considered the father of journalism in Oklahoma. He was a gifted writer and orator who gave voice not just to Cherokees but all the Indians in the territory. Ross died in 1891 and was buried in the Cherokee Citizens Cemetery in Fort Gibson.

Reach Jonita Mullins at jonita.mullins@gmail.com.