Historian delves into controversy for new book
Cass County’s educational wisdom just went up a notch or two when Dan Wimberly and his wife, LaMarsha, decided to move and retire here.
Dan is Dr. Dan Wimberly, a historian who is just now having his second research book published.
The book is certain to interest Four States citizens. Its title and subject matter is “Cherokee in Controversy: The Life of Jesse Bushyhead.”
Before jumping into this interesting controversy, here are some basics.
Wimberly is a retired professor of history from Oklahoma Wesleyan University. He holds a doctorate degree in history from Texas Tech University, received in 1995.
He was born in Red River Parish, La., and said that as a child he was always interested in history and older things, including older people and their experiences.
“It was an innate thing. I loved anything old,” Wimberly said, adding, “My father was a school principal, and we lived next to the small school building ,which no longer exists. So I always had a library nearby and that’s where I spent my time.”
That love kept him in higher education and history for years.
“I’m a late-bloomer,” he said. “I started college in 1965 and got my Ph.D. in 1995.”
One reason it took so long was that he would often teach in the public schools and take college courses at the same time. This experience dovetails with his advice for the historian—be very careful and thorough with documentation.
“Leave no stone unturned, meticulously document and check the accuracy of your work,” he said.
The two books he’s written seem to be examples of his patience and love. His subjects are people deserving to be known. The first book was “Frontier Religion: Elder Daniel Parker—His Religious and Political Life.” In 1884, Parker led a group into Texas that was to become the first organized Baptist Church in Texas.
Wimberly’s treatment of Jesse Bushyhead is the first scholarly book published on this Cherokee leader who was also an ordained Baptist minister and missionary. He said he wants the reader to know of Bushyhead’s importance in unifying the Cherokee and improving their relationship with Baptists.
Bushyhead used both the Cherokee and English languages with such fluency that he was a reliable Cherokee interpreter and translated the New Testament into Cherokee. He also led a party of 1,000 people into Oklahoma on what was to be known as the Trail of Tears.
He was a participant in forming the new Cherokee government in the Cherokee Nation and served as a chief justice of the Cherokee Supreme Court.
Though a strong leader and revered by his people, Bushyhead became a lightning rod for the two sides of North and South, slavery and anti-slavery matters. The key to this story is that when he came to Oklahoma, his wife brought with her a slave. And at some point, Bushyhead himself had a manservant, a matter that would cause difficulty from both sides.
Bushyhead was honored by the Cherokees. His grave at the Baptist Mission Cemetery in Westville, Okla., is marked by a 15-foot-tall marble monument and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
In a quote from a review of his book, Wimberly remarked, “Jesse Bushyhead was both a statesman and a missionary. … The importance of the matter was his struggle and others like him to come to terms with assimilation, both religiously and politically, while maintaining a Cherokee identity.”
Wimberly said he and his wife, LaMarsha, chose Atlanta and Cass County for their retirement because of its central, four-state location, its smalltown atmosphere and its friendly spirit. He is a relative of the well-known Sawyer Wimberly family in Atlanta but did not know these Wimberlys lived in the area until arriving.
A member of the Atlanta First Baptist Church, Wimberly said he continues to do history research while gardening and playing the banjo for relaxation.
He said he would be pleased to meet and speak with local groups concerning history. He can be reached by email at danwimberly@att.net.