Rachel Caroline Eaton

Class of
1936
Rachel Caroline Eaton

Rachel Caroline Eaton

“Reticent in disposition and positive in her decisions, she was one of the outstanding personalities reared under the regime of the old Cherokee Nation as an Indian republic.”
Muriel H. Wright

Biography

Ms. Eaton’s early schooling was in the public schools of the Cherokee Nation, and she graduated from the Cherokee Female Seminary in 1887. Her B.A. degree was awarded in 1895 from Drury College (now Drury University) in Missouri, and she received both her M.A. and Ph.D. in history from the University of Chicago. Miss Eaton taught in public schools of the Cherokee Nation, and for a time was a faculty member at the Cherokee Female Seminary in Tahlequah. In 1920 she was elected and served two terms as superintendent of schools of Rogers County, Oklahoma.

Upon retirement she devoted herself to research and writing Cherokee history, including the book John Ross and the Cherokee Indians, published in 1910. Active in the work of the Federated Club and the Eastern Star, she was also a member of the Tulsa Women’s Indian Club. In 1935 frail health brought her return to her old home in Claremore, Oklahoma, where she completed her last work, still unpublished, The History of the Cherokee Indians.

Fun fact

Throughout her life Miss Eaton was a loyal and devoted member of the Presbyterian Church and at one time early in her life had considered entering the missionary field.

Oklahoma connections

Eaton was born in the Cherokee Nation in 1869.

Hometown

Claremore

Profession

Historian

Presenter

Born

1869

Died

1938
No items found.
No items found.