MY LUMSDEN AND LOCKE LINEAGE: Sarah Della Tignor Means 1874

SARAH DELLA TIGNOR MEANS, born 30 August 1874 in Omaha, Douglas, Nebraska. She is the daughter of Anna Laura Tignor. It is not know who her father is. It was during this time that the Sioux Indians were being forced from the land that the government had given them in a peace treaty. This land was known as the Great Sioux Reservation. The treaty allowed the tribe to keep some of their land. When gold was discovered on the Sioux land by white minors they began pressuring the government to open the land for gold mining. The government gave in and shrunk the Great Sioux Reservation and required all Sioux Indians to report to the reservation. Those that did not report were to be considered 'hostile' and were forced onto the reservation. It is easy to see why there was contention between the white man and the Indians.

When Anna Laura was 17 years old she and her family were traveling from Missouri going west. They were overtaken by a group of Sioux Indians in a raid. Anna Laura was raped and in August of 1874 she gave birth to Sarah Della. It must have been difficult for a young, unmarried woman to be pregnant in those days. Little is know of her life during those years. Anna Laura Tignor married Claiborn Davis Means sometime before 1877. He raised Sarah Della as his own. Sarah Della married John Henry Lumsden on 10 February 1891 in Choctaw, Indian Territory, Oklahoma. In the 1900 census we find John and Sarah Della along with their 4 children, Mary, Jennie, Lee and Edward, living in Wilberton, Indian Territory, Choctaw Nation, Oklahoma. According to a relative, it is speculated that sometime after 1901 the marriage did not continue. Another relative said that it is believed that John became a U.S. Marshall and was probably killed and left for dead. I have been unable to find any information about John Lumsden after the 1900 census. It is not known when he died or where he is buried. It is important to note here that a daughter named Moday May Lumsden was born on 26 December 1899 but died the same day.

Sarah Della then married Jacob Polk Moyer on 26 May 1908 in Sebastian County, Arkansas. To that union was born a son, Vermon Henry Moyer on 3 September 1909. On 27 January 1910 Jacob Polk Moyer was accidentally shot and he died from his wounds. He was buried in an unmarked grave with a headstone that was inscribed "unknown". It wasn't until 2013 that I found a newspaper article describing the accident and his burial in an unmarked grave. After the death of Jacob Polk Moyer she married Tom Means. What caused the split in this marriage is not known nor when it ended. She then married Benjamin Franklin Booker. He died 2 November 1924.
Sarah Della lived a long and interesting life. She died 15 July 1960. She is buried in the Old Bokoshe Cemetery.

RECORDS