Jim Thorpe was born in what would become Oklahoma in May of 1888 "near and south of Bellemont – Pottawatomie County" (Wikipedia). In an article on his first wedding, Thorpe was described as "the world's greatest athlete" (Wedding of James Thorpe and Margaret Miller). From a page describing his third wife, the following is said concerning Jim Thorpe: "In 1950, the nations's press selected Jim Thorpe as the most outstanding athlete of the first half of the 20th Century. In 2001, he was named by ABC's Wide World of Sports as "The Athlete of the Century"" (Patricia Gladys Evelyn “Patsy” Woodbury Thorpe, Find A Grave). He would become ...
- An Olympic gold medalist (the first Native American to win gold for the U.S.).
- Track and Field.
- American football.
- Baseball.
- Basketball.
In 1925 Iva Thorpe would file for a divorce from
Jim on the grounds of desertion. The next year Jim would marry
Freeda Verona Kirkpatrick (who worked for the baseball team on which
he played) and that couple would have four children. Their marriage
would last 15 years, after which Freeda filed for divorce in 1941.
He married again in 1945, this time to Patricia Gladys Askew, and
they stayed together until his death in 1953 from a heart attack. He
was 65.
It was through Jim Thorpe's first wife, Iva
Miller, that our family has a connection. She and Dad were 7th
cousins. The chart below shows the connection.
| Richard Denton (b.
1603) & Maria Durden (b. 1604) |
|
| Nathaniel Denton b.1628 |
Samuel Denton b.1631 |
| Nathaniel Denton, Jr. b.1652 |
Jonas Denton b.1677 |
| James Denton b.1693 |
Robert Denton b.1695 |
| James Denton b.1713 |
Thomas Denton b.1746 |
| Daniel Denton b.1730 |
Josiah Denton b.1779 |
| Mary Denton b.1765 | Greenbury Jefferson Denton b.1816 |
| Platt Hull b.1787 | Martha Denton b.1859 |
| Ezekiel Hull b.1813 |
Iva Margaret Miller b.1893 |
| Rebecca L. Hull b.1841 |
|
| Franklin Martin Bragg b.1867 |
|
| Orval Bishop Bragg b.1895 |
|
| Don Cicero Bragg b.1920 |
|
It is not immediately clear Iva Miller's Native American status. Carlisle Indian School required that applicants be at least 1/4 Native American. Her mother, Martha Denton Miller, died in 1899 when Iva was five. Her application form for Carlisle was not signed by her father, James Finis Miller, which has led some to conclude that he also had died. However, it seems that he lived until the 1930s. On that form Martha Denton Miller is said to have been "half-blood Cherokee" (Tom Benjey's Weblog). Her next of kin contact on her school application was Grace Gray-Morris, Iva's older sister. According to Iva's Carlisle School student file, Iva's father was listed as white but her mother was "1/2 Indian of the Cherokee Tribe located in North Carolina" (Application for the Enrollment of). J. H. Robson testified of Iva that she "is known and recognized in the community in which she lives as an Indian; that in my opinion she can not receive proper and adequate schooling at home for the reason that the schools here do not give music or nurse training" (Vouchers of Disinterested Persons). She became a nurse after graduation.
Piecing together comments from the Miller side of the family, it seems that Iva's maternal grandmother, Charlotte McCarty, wife of Greenbury Jefferson Denton, is where the Native American bloodline was introduced.
