Lawful Conveyance

EXHIBIT A

Certificate of Allotment No. 1847

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR COMMISSION TO THE FIVE CIVILIZED TRIBES

To all persons to whom these presents shall come, Greeting:

Whereas, by the Act of Congress approved June 28, 1906 (34 Stat. L., 539), provision was made for the division of lands and funds of the Osage Nation among the members of said tribe; and

Whereas, JOSEPH KIHEKAH IRONBULL (Osage Roll No. 1847), has been found entitled under said Act to an allotment of land,

NOW, THEREFORE, be it known that the following described land has been set apart for and allotted to said JOSEPH KIHEKAH IRONBULL:

The Northeast Quarter of Section Twelve (12), Township Twenty-Six (26) North, Range Eight (8) East of the Indian Meridian, Osage County, Oklahoma, containing One Hundred Sixty (160) acres, more or less.

Together with all rights of a member of the Osage Tribe to share in the mineral estate of the Osage Reservation, said mineral interest to be held in trust by the United States for a period of twenty-five (25) years, as provided by law.

Given under my hand this 19th day of April, 1907.

TAMS BIXBY Chairman, Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes

EXHIBIT B

Letter from Joseph K. Ironbull to Superintendent of the Osage Agency, Pawhuska, Oklahoma

November 3, 1911

Dear Sir,

I write to ask about the lease on my allotment. The man from Prairie Oil & Gas was at my house again last Tuesday and says I need to sign a new paper. He says the old lease has terms that are no good for me and the new one pays better. He had a paper already written up and wanted me to put my name on it right there at my kitchen table.

I did not sign because my wife said to ask you first. She does not trust this man. She says he was at the Tallchiefs’ place last month and old Henry Tallchief signed something and now his lease money goes to a different office in Tulsa and he does not know where.

I can read English pretty good. I went to the Carlisle school three years. But the paper this man brought had words in it I do not know the meaning of and he would not leave me a copy to study.

Please advise what I should do. The oil on my allotment is producing good. I get my headright check regular. I do not want to change anything that does not need changing.

Your obedient servant, Joseph K. Ironbull

EXHIBIT C

Response from the Office of the Superintendent, Osage Agency

November 19, 1911

Mr. Joseph K. Ironbull Rural Route 2 Grayhorse, Oklahoma

Dear Mr. Ironbull:

Receipt is acknowledged of your letter of November 3, 1911, regarding oil lease matters.

You are advised that no lease on restricted Osage lands may be executed without the approval of the Secretary of the Interior, and any person who attempts to procure your signature on an unapproved instrument is acting without authority.

You are further advised to sign no papers presented to you by private parties without first consulting this office.

Respectfully,

H.A. LARSON Superintendent

EXHIBIT D

Letter from Joseph K. Ironbull to his brother, Paul Ironbull, Red Rock, Oklahoma

March 22, 1912

Dear Brother Paul,

They have found oil on the Lookout allotment three miles south of me. I could hear the rig working from my porch for two weeks and then on Thursday morning there was a sound like thunder under the ground and oil came up black as coffee through the derrick floor. I walked over to see it and there were already four white men from Tulsa standing by the fence with papers in their hands, waiting for the oil to stop spraying so they could talk to old Solomon Lookout about leases.

Solomon did not want to talk to them. He was standing by his barn watching the oil come up and his wife was next to him and neither of them said a word. The oil was going all over the pasture and the cattle had scattered. One of the Tulsa men said this was a great day for the Osage Nation and Solomon looked at him and said nothing and went inside.

I am writing to tell you that they will come to my place next. The geologists have been surveying all along the ridge and they say the formation runs north through my quarter section. If they find oil on my land I will have the headright payments plus the royalty from the surface lease. That is more money than our father ever saw. More money than any Ironbull has ever had.

I do not know what to do with this. Grace says keep the cattle and live the same way and let the money sit. She is probably right. But I will tell you something — when I watched that oil come out of the ground, I did not feel lucky. I felt like something had been buried on my land that other people wanted, and now they knew it was there.

Your brother, Joseph

EXHIBIT E

Osage County Marriage Record, Book 14, Page 231

On this 8th day of June, 1913, appeared before me, FRANK BEAUDOIN, age 29, of Pawhuska, occupation: cattleman, and ANNA IRONBULL, age 17, daughter of JOSEPH K. IRONBULL and GRACE WALKING-IN-THE-MORNING IRONBULL, both of Osage County, Oklahoma, who were by me united in marriage according to the laws of the State of Oklahoma, in the presence of the undersigned witnesses.

Witnesses: Thomas J. Beaudoin Robert H. Greer

J. MILLARD CORWIN Justice of the Peace, Osage County

EXHIBIT F

Deposition of Grace Walking-in-the-Morning Ironbull

Taken before the Osage County Court, Probate Division In the matter of the Estate of Joseph K. Ironbull, Deceased Case No. P-1917-0284

December 11, 1917

THE COURT: State your name.

THE WITNESS: Grace. Grace Ironbull. Before that I was Grace Walking-in-the-Morning. That is the English of it.

THE COURT: You were the wife of the deceased, Joseph K. Ironbull?

THE WITNESS: Yes. Forty-one years.

THE COURT: Can you tell the court the circumstances of your husband’s death?

THE WITNESS: He got sick in October. First it was just tired. He could not get up in the morning the way he used to. Then his stomach. He could not keep food down. I made bone broth the way my mother taught me but he could not keep even that. By November he was in the bed all day. The doctor from Pawhuska came twice but both times he said it was the influenza and Joseph should rest and take water.

THE COURT: And he passed on November 23rd of this year?

THE WITNESS: He died. Yes. November 23. Two days before Thanksgiving. I remember because I had bought a turkey already. The turkey was in the barn. My daughter Anna came and took the turkey home to her husband’s place and I did not eat that day or the next.

THE COURT: I’m sorry for your loss, Mrs. Ironbull. Now, regarding the estate — your husband held the allotment, the northeast quarter of section twelve. Do you understand that under the terms of the Osage Allotment Act, the surface rights of this property pass to his legal heirs?

THE WITNESS: I know about the land. We lived on that land since the allotment. Before the allotment we lived on it too. It was always our place. There was a creek on the east side where my boys used to catch crawdads.

THE COURT: For the record, the headright — the right to share in the mineral estate — descends separately under Osage law and custom. Mrs. Ironbull, do you know whether your husband had a will?

THE WITNESS: He did not write a will. He said he did not need one because I would get everything. He said that is how it works.

THE COURT: Under Oklahoma law, in the absence of a will, the surviving spouse receives a portion of the estate. However, for restricted Osage allotments—

THE WITNESS: What is restricted?

THE COURT: Restricted means the land is held in trust by the federal government. Transfers require approval from the Secretary of the Interior.

THE WITNESS: I know about the trust. They told us at allotment that the government would hold it for us. Joseph said it was like the government was our bank. I said no, it is like the government is our fence.

[Laughter in the courtroom]

THE COURT: Let the record show — please, let’s continue. Mrs. Ironbull, did your husband have debts at the time of his death?

THE WITNESS: He owed some money to Burkhart’s store in Fairfax. For provisions. Maybe forty dollars. And there was a note at the Pawhuska bank. I don’t know how much. He did not tell me about the note. I found the paper after.

THE COURT: The court will need to settle all claims against the estate before distributing assets. Are you aware that your son-in-law, Mr. Frank Beaudoin, has also filed a claim?

THE WITNESS: I know what Frank has filed. He wants the land.

THE COURT: He has filed on behalf of your daughter Anna, who is an heir—

THE WITNESS: Anna does not want the land taken from me. Frank wants the land. Ask Anna. She will tell you.

THE COURT: We will take all testimony in due course, Mrs. Ironbull. For now—

THE WITNESS: I want to say one thing more. Joseph worked that land. He ran cattle on it and he cut hay and he kept the fences. When the oil came, he did not change. He bought me a cookstove and he bought the boys new boots and that was all. He said the oil would run out but the grass would not. He was not a wasteful man and he did not owe anybody more than what he could pay, and I want that in the record. I want someone to write that down.

THE COURT: It is in the record, Mrs. Ironbull. The stenographer is taking it all down.

EXHIBIT G

Petition for Appointment of Guardian

IN THE COUNTY COURT OF OSAGE COUNTY, STATE OF OKLAHOMA PROBATE DIVISION

Case No. G-1918-0041

IN THE MATTER OF THE GUARDIANSHIP OF: THOMAS IRONBULL, age 14 WILLIAM IRONBULL, age 11 Minor children and enrolled members of the Osage Nation

Comes now FRANK BEAUDOIN, brother-in-law of the above-named minors and husband of ANNA IRONBULL BEAUDOIN, their elder sister, and respectfully petitions this court for appointment as guardian of the persons and estates of said minors, upon the following grounds:

1. That the mother of said minors, GRACE WALKING-IN-THE-MORNING IRONBULL, while a devoted parent, is unlettered and unfamiliar with the management of financial affairs, including oil royalties, lease income, and headright payments due to her minor children under the Osage Allotment Act.

2. That said minors are entitled to a share of the estate of their deceased father, JOSEPH K. IRONBULL, including interests in the surface allotment and the Osage mineral estate, the prudent management of which requires a guardian conversant in legal and financial matters.

3. That the petitioner is a man of good standing in the community of Pawhuska, a successful cattleman with substantial property of his own, and a fit and proper person to serve as guardian.

4. That the welfare of said minors will be best served by a guardian who can interact with oil companies, banks, and government officials on their behalf.

WHEREFORE, petitioner prays that he be appointed guardian of the persons and estates of THOMAS IRONBULL and WILLIAM IRONBULL.

Respectfully submitted,

FRANK BEAUDOIN By his attorney, ALBERT G. REID Reid & Comstock, Attorneys at Law Pawhuska, Oklahoma

EXHIBIT H

Order Appointing Guardian

Case No. G-1918-0041

The court, having examined the petition of FRANK BEAUDOIN and finding the same to be meritorious, and having heard no objection from the Office of the Superintendent of the Osage Agency, hereby ORDERS:

1. FRANK BEAUDOIN is appointed guardian of the persons and estates of THOMAS IRONBULL and WILLIAM IRONBULL, minor members of the Osage Nation.

2. Said guardian shall file an annual accounting of all income received on behalf of said minors, including headright payments, oil royalties, and any proceeds from the lease or use of allotment lands.

3. Bond is set at TWO THOUSAND DOLLARS ($2,000.00).

Entered this 14th day of March, 1918.

HON. JAMES T. PARRISH County Judge, Osage County

EXHIBIT I

Annual Guardian’s Report (Excerpts)

Case No. G-1918-0041 For the period January 1, 1919, to December 31, 1919

Income received on behalf of wards:

Headright payments (Thomas Ironbull): $2,340.00 Headright payments (William Ironbull): $2,340.00 Lease income, NE/4 Sec. 12 (boys’ share): $180.00 TOTAL INCOME: $4,860.00

Expenditures on behalf of wards:

Board and lodging (Beaudoin household): $1,200.00 Clothing and personal items: $340.00 School supplies and tuition (Pawhuska boarding school): $280.00 Medical and dental: $85.00 Guardian’s compensation (statutory 5%): $243.00 Attorney fees (Reid & Comstock, various matters): $600.00 Automobile (for transportation of wards): $475.00 Miscellaneous household expenses: $310.00 TOTAL EXPENDITURES: $3,533.00

Balance held in account: $1,327.00

Submitted by Frank Beaudoin, Guardian

Annual Guardian’s Report (Excerpts)

Case No. G-1918-0041 For the period January 1, 1922, to December 31, 1922

Income received on behalf of wards:

Headright payments (Thomas Ironbull): $8,760.00 Headright payments (William Ironbull): $8,760.00 Lease income, NE/4 Sec. 12 (boys’ share): $420.00 TOTAL INCOME: $17,940.00

Expenditures on behalf of wards:

Board and lodging (Beaudoin household): $2,400.00 Clothing and personal items: $890.00 Guardian’s compensation (statutory 5%): $897.00 Attorney fees (Reid & Comstock, various matters): $2,200.00 Automobile expenses (2 vehicles, maintenance): $1,680.00 Real property improvements (guardian’s ranch): $3,400.00 Insurance premiums: $640.00 Entertainment and travel: $1,120.00 Miscellaneous: $2,480.00 TOTAL EXPENDITURES: $15,707.00

Balance held in account: $2,233.00

Submitted by Frank Beaudoin, Guardian

EXHIBIT J

Letter from Thomas Ironbull to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Washington, D.C.

August 8, 1924

Dear Sir,

My name is Thomas Ironbull. I am twenty years old and a full-blood member of the Osage Nation, Roll No. 2341. I am writing because I have reached my majority and wish to have my estate released from the guardianship of my brother-in-law, Frank Beaudoin.

I have tried to get an accounting from Mr. Beaudoin of what has been done with my headright money since 1918. In that time the oil has been paying very good and I should have substantial funds in my account. Mr. Beaudoin tells me there is $4,100 in the bank. I do not believe this is right. I have talked to other Osage men my age who had guardians and their accounting shows much more even when the headrights were smaller.

I also want to report that Mr. Beaudoin has been using my mother’s allotment land without paying her a fair lease. He runs his cattle on her quarter section and on the allotment that should come to me and my brother William. My mother lives in a two-room house on the back corner of her own land while Mr. Beaudoin’s cattle graze all around her. She does not complain because Anna is her daughter and she does not want trouble in the family.

One more thing I should say. Mr. Beaudoin bought a Buick touring car and a new Ford truck last year and told the court they were for “transportation of wards.” My brother and I have never ridden in either automobile. William walks three miles to school. I walk to my job at the filling station in Fairfax.

I am a competent person. I can read and write English and I can do figures. I should be allowed to manage my own affairs. Please advise what steps I must take.

Respectfully, Thomas Ironbull General Delivery Fairfax, Oklahoma

EXHIBIT K

Response from the Office of Indian Affairs

September 29, 1924

Mr. Thomas Ironbull General Delivery Fairfax, Oklahoma

Dear Mr. Ironbull:

Your letter of August 8, 1924, has been received and forwarded to the Osage Agency at Pawhuska for investigation.

You are advised that under the Act of Congress approved February 27, 1925 — [Note: the Act referenced was not yet passed at the date of this letter; the letter may refer to pending legislation. — Ed.] — certain restrictions on full-blood Osage members will remain in effect. The question of your competency to manage your own affairs will be determined by the Superintendent of the Osage Agency in consultation with this office.

In the meantime, you are advised to consult with the Agency superintendent regarding your concerns about the guardian’s accounting.

Very respectfully,

CHARLES H. BURKE Commissioner of Indian Affairs

EXHIBIT L

Report of Special Investigator, Office of Indian Affairs

CONFIDENTIAL

Re: Guardianship of Thomas and William Ironbull (Case No. G-1918-0041)

November 14, 1924

To: Superintendent, Osage Agency, Pawhuska, Oklahoma

Sir:

Pursuant to instructions, I have conducted an examination of the guardian’s accounts and records in the above matter. My findings are as follows:

1. FRANK BEAUDOIN has served as guardian of the Ironbull minors since March 1918. During this period, total headright and lease income received on behalf of the wards amounts to approximately $71,400.00.

2. Of this amount, Mr. Beaudoin’s annual reports account for expenditures totaling $64,280.00. The current bank balance for the wards’ account is $4,127.00. This leaves approximately $2,993.00 unaccounted for.

3. Many of the reported expenditures appear inflated. The item “Real property improvements” in the 1922 report ($3,400.00) refers to fencing and stock ponds on Mr. Beaudoin’s own ranch, not on the wards’ allotment. The attorney fees paid to Reid & Comstock ($600-$2,200 annually) appear disproportionate to the legal services rendered. Mr. Albert Reid is Mr. Beaudoin’s personal attorney and handles his cattle business as well.

4. The wards’ mother, GRACE WALKING-IN-THE-MORNING IRONBULL, lives in a deteriorating frame house on the allotment without running water or electricity. Mr. Beaudoin’s ranch house, located two miles east, has both. I visited Mrs. Ironbull on October 30, 1924. She was splitting firewood in the yard. The house had a single stove and no glass in two of the four windows. She offered me coffee, which she boiled on the stove in a tin pot. When I asked about the boys’ schooling and welfare, she said Thomas was working at a filling station and William was at the Pawhuska school and they were both good boys and she did not want to cause trouble for Frank. I asked if she needed anything and she looked at the windows and said she could use some glass before winter. I noted this in my field memorandum. There is no record that glass was provided.

5. However, it must be noted that Mr. Beaudoin has generally complied with the reporting requirements of the court and that none of his individual expenditures, taken singly, are outside the range of what guardians in this county typically report. The pattern of spending is consistent with that of other white guardians of Osage wards in the district.

6. Regarding Thomas Ironbull’s petition for release from guardianship: given that Thomas is now 20 years of age and the Act of 1906 provides for restrictions on full-blood Osage members, the question of his competency is not straightforward. He is literate and employed. He is also a full-blood Osage Indian.

RECOMMENDATION: That the guardian be directed to file a corrected accounting for the years 1921-1923 and that the court consider a reduction in attorney fees. I do not recommend removal of the guardian at this time, as the wards’ welfare appears to be adequately provided for and disruption of the arrangement could lead to complications in the ongoing oil lease negotiations.

Respectfully submitted,

DAVID R. NICHOLS Special Investigator

EXHIBIT M

Pawhuska Daily Journal-Capital, January 14, 1925

OSAGE GUARDIANSHIP SYSTEM “WORKING AS INTENDED,” JUDGE SAYS

County Judge James T. Parrish, responding to inquiries from the Office of Indian Affairs regarding the management of Osage wards’ estates, told the Journal-Capital this week that the guardianship system in Osage County is “working as intended and for the benefit of the Indian wards.”

“These guardians are performing a necessary service,” Judge Parrish said. “The full-blood Osage is not accustomed to handling large sums of money. Without a competent guardian to manage their affairs, many of these Indians would fall prey to confidence men and swindlers.”

When asked about reports that some guardians have enriched themselves at the expense of their wards, Judge Parrish said such reports were “greatly exaggerated.”

There are presently 847 guardianship cases pending in Osage County. Approximately two-thirds of the guardians are white citizens appointed by the court.

Judge Parrish acknowledged that the court lacks the resources to audit every guardian’s annual report in detail. “We rely on the good faith of the guardians,” he said.

EXHIBIT N

Letter from Grace Walking-in-the-Morning Ironbull to Thomas Ironbull

[Undated. Written on the back of a Burkhart’s General Store receipt dated November 1925. Spelling and punctuation as in the original.]

Thomas

I am writing because I cannot come to Fairfax the roads are bad and Frank will not drive me. I want to tell you something and I do not want Frank to know I told you.

Frank had a man come to the house last week from an oil company in Bartlesville. They talked on the porch for a long time. I was in the kitchen and could hear some of it. The man said there was a new formation under the east part of the allotment and they wanted to put a well there. Frank said he would need to be compensated for the surface disruption. They talked about money. I heard the man say five thousand dollars.

Thomas that well would be on your part of the land not Frank’s part. The east side is your third. But Frank was talking to the oil man as though it was all his land. The oil man did not seem to know there were other owners. Frank did not tell him.

I do not know what to do about this. I asked Anna and she told me to stay out of Frank’s business. Anna has changed Thomas. She does not talk the way she used to. She wears the clothes Frank buys her and goes to the parties in Pawhuska and does not come to see me unless Frank drives her and Frank does not drive her often.

It is getting cold. The stove works but I am running out of wood. Last year Frank sent one of his men to cut wood for me but this year he has not sent anyone. I can cut some myself but the good timber is on the south section which Frank says is his now.

I wanted you to know about the oil man. You should go to the agency.

Your mother

EXHIBIT O

Death Certificate

STATE OF OKLAHOMA — BUREAU OF VITAL STATISTICS

Name of Deceased: GRACE WALKING-IN-THE-MORNING IRONBULL Date of Death: February 3, 1926 Place of Death: Residence, NE/4 Sec. 12, T26N, R8E, Osage County Age: 61 years Race: Indian (Osage) Occupation: None Marital Status: Widowed

Cause of Death: Exposure. Decedent found by neighbor in unheated dwelling. Evidence of malnutrition. Body discovered approximately 48 hours after death based on condition.

Contributing Cause: Chronic gastric illness (untreated)

Informant: Frank Beaudoin (son-in-law)

Attending Physician: None. Examined post-mortem by Dr. R.L. Kessler, Pawhuska.

Filed: February 7, 1926 J.W. OSBORNE, County Clerk

EXHIBIT P

Deposition of Thomas Ironbull

Taken before the Osage County Court, Probate Division In the matter of the Estate of Grace Walking-in-the-Morning Ironbull, Deceased Case No. P-1926-0092

March 15, 1926

Q. State your name for the record.

A. Thomas Ironbull.

Q. You are the son of the deceased?

A. I am her son. Her oldest living son.

Q. Mr. Ironbull, you have filed an objection to the distribution of your mother’s estate as proposed by Mr. Frank Beaudoin. Can you tell the court the basis for your objection?

A. My mother died alone in a cold house. She had headright money coming in — not as much as before they cut the payments, but enough to heat a house. Enough to see a doctor. Frank Beaudoin was supposed to be looking after the family’s affairs and my mother froze to death two miles from his warm house. That is the basis of my objection.

Q. Mr. Ironbull, the court is sympathetic, but the question before us is the distribution of the estate, specifically the surface rights to the allotment and any accumulated—

A. I know what the question is. The question is who gets the land. Frank wants the land. He has wanted the land since he married my sister. He married an Osage woman and he got himself appointed guardian of her brothers and he has been spending our money on his cattle operation for eight years and now my mother is dead and he wants the land.

Q. Those are serious accusations. Do you have evidence—

A. I have the guardian’s reports. I have his own numbers. Look at them. He spent seventy-one thousand dollars of Ironbull money and my mother died without heat.

Q. The guardian’s reports were filed with the court and reviewed—

A. Reviewed by who? By Judge Parrish, who plays cards with Albert Reid every Thursday night? By the agency superintendent, who has four hundred guardianship cases and no staff to audit them? Nobody reviewed anything. They stamped the papers and put them in a file.

Q. Mr. Ironbull, I’m going to ask you to confine your answers—

A. My mother could not read the reports. My mother spoke English but she could not read the legal language. She came to me once, two years ago, and said Frank had told her she needed to sign a paper allowing him to lease the west forty acres to Prairie Oil. I read the paper. It was not a lease. It was a quitclaim deed. He was trying to get her to sign away forty acres of her own allotment. I tore up the paper and Frank did not speak to me for six months.

Q. Was this reported to the agency?

A. I wrote a letter. I have written many letters. I wrote to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs. I wrote to the superintendent. I wrote to the Secretary of the Interior. I got back letters that said my concerns had been forwarded for investigation. Two years later my mother is dead in a cold house.

Q. Mr. Ironbull, the court will take your testimony under consideration. Is there anything else you wish to add?

A. I want to add that my mother’s name was not Grace. That was the name the school gave her. Her name was Walking-in-the-Morning. She was called that because when she was a baby she took her first steps at dawn, outside the lodge, while everyone else was sleeping. Her mother saw her from the doorway, walking toward the sunrise on fat little legs. That is how she got her name. Walking-in-the-Morning. I want that name in the record, not the other one.

Q. The record will reflect both names.

A. The record always reflects both names. That is the problem.

EXHIBIT Q

Order Regarding Distribution of the Estate of Grace Walking-in-the-Morning Ironbull

Case No. P-1926-0092

The court, having considered the testimony of all parties and the report of the Osage Agency, hereby ORDERS:

1. The surface rights to the NE/4 of Section 12, T26N, R8E, shall be divided among the three surviving children of the deceased as follows:

   a. ANNA IRONBULL BEAUDOIN — One-third interest (53.3 acres) b. THOMAS IRONBULL — One-third interest (53.3 acres) c. WILLIAM IRONBULL — One-third interest (53.3 acres)

2. The headright of the deceased, being a property of the Osage Nation held in trust by the United States, shall descend according to the laws and customs of the Osage people, as determined by the Osage Agency.

3. The accumulated funds in the deceased’s account ($347.12) shall be applied first to outstanding debts and funeral expenses, with any remainder divided equally among the heirs.

4. The guardianship of WILLIAM IRONBULL (age 19) shall continue under FRANK BEAUDOIN until such time as said minor reaches his majority or is declared competent by the court.

5. The objection of THOMAS IRONBULL regarding the conduct of the guardian is NOTED but insufficient evidence has been presented to warrant removal of the guardian at this time.

HON. JAMES T. PARRISH County Judge, Osage County

April 2, 1926

EXHIBIT R

Deed of Conveyance

Know all men by these presents, that ANNA IRONBULL BEAUDOIN, a married woman and enrolled member of the Osage Nation (Roll No. 2340), for and in consideration of the sum of TEN DOLLARS ($10.00) and other good and valuable consideration, the receipt of which is hereby acknowledged, does hereby grant, bargain, sell, and convey unto FRANK BEAUDOIN, her husband, all of her right, title, and interest in and to the following described real property:

The South Half of the Northeast Quarter of Section 12, Township 26 North, Range 8 East of the Indian Meridian, Osage County, Oklahoma, being approximately 80 acres and comprising the shares inherited by the grantor from the estates of JOSEPH K. IRONBULL and GRACE WALKING-IN-THE-MORNING IRONBULL.

This conveyance is of the surface estate only and does not affect or convey any mineral interest, headright, or participation in the Osage mineral estate.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the grantor has hereunto set her hand this 7th day of August, 1926.

ANNA IRONBULL BEAUDOIN

Witnesses: Albert G. Reid Mrs. Mabel L. Reid

APPROVED: Office of the Superintendent, Osage Agency Pawhuska, Oklahoma September 11, 1926

EXHIBIT S

Unsent Letter Found Among the Papers of Thomas Ironbull

[Undated, estimated 1926-1927 based on context. Paper is lined notebook stock, pencil. Some words are crossed out; crossings preserved where legible.]

Anna—

I am writing this but I do not think I will send it. I have been trying to figure out how to say this and I keep tearing up starting over.

I know you signed the deed. I saw it at the courthouse. Reid filed it and the agency approved it like they approve everything. You sold your share of our father’s of the land to Frank for ten dollars. Our mother’s land. Our father’s land. Ten dollars.

I want to believe he made you do it. I want to believe you did not understand what you were signing. But you went to the Pawhuska school same as me and you can read English fine and you know what a deed looks like. So either he scared you into it or you decided his comfort was worth more than our what that land means.

I walked the allotment last week. Frank has cattle on it again, all of it, right up to mama’s old house. The house is falling in. The porch roof came down over the winter and nobody has fixed it and nobody will. I stood in the yard and the cattle cows looked at me like I was the one who did not belong there.

Here is what I don’t understand. Frank is a white man. He came to Osage County because there was money here, same as all the others. He married you because marrying an Osage woman was the way in. I don’t blame him for that — a man goes where the money is, same as water goes downhill. But you are Osage. This was our mother’s land. She died on it. She is buried on it at the Catholic cemetery in Pawhuska because Frank said there was no room on the allotment for a burial plot but there are 160 acres, Anna. Where was there no room?

I am going to try to buy William’s share when he turns 21 next year. If I can get 53 acres back maybe that is enough. Frank can have the south 80 and I will have the north 53 and I will build a fence.

William says he does not care about the land. He says he wants to go to Haskell and learn automobile repair. Frank has been telling him the land is just dirt and the money is in headrights and why would a young man tie himself down. Frank has been saying this since William was fifteen.

I don’t know if I will buy the land. I don’t know if I can. The headright pays but the government still controls holds the trust money and I have to petition for every disbursement and the superintendent decides what I am allowed to spend my own money on. Last month I petitioned for $200 to fix the well on my third share and the superintendent said it was not a necessary expenditure.

My own money. My own well. Not necessary.

I am going to stop writing now. I said I would not send this and I won’t.

Thomas

EXHIBIT T

Oil and Gas Lease Agreement

THIS LEASE, entered into this 12th day of March, 1929, between FRANK BEAUDOIN (Lessor) and CARTER OIL COMPANY, a corporation organized under the laws of the State of West Virginia (Lessee),

WITNESSETH: That the Lessor, for and in consideration of ONE DOLLAR ($1.00) per acre annual rental and ONE-EIGHTH (1/8) of all oil and gas produced and saved from said land, does hereby lease unto the Lessee the following described premises for the purpose of mining and operating for oil, gas, and other minerals:

The South Half of the Northeast Quarter of Section 12, Township 26 North, Range 8 East of the Indian Meridian, Osage County, Oklahoma, containing 80 acres, more or less.

[NOTE: This lease pertains to surface use rights only. The Osage mineral estate is held in trust by the United States for the Osage Nation. However, surface access is required for drilling operations, and control of the surface estate grants the lessor effective control over the timing and placement of wells. — Compiler’s note]

EXHIBIT U

Testimony of William Ironbull (excerpted)

Taken in the matter of the Guardianship of William Ironbull Hearing on petition for release from guardianship Case No. G-1918-0041

August 12, 1929

Q. Mr. Ironbull, you are now twenty-one years of age?

A. Yes sir.

Q. And you wish to be released from the guardianship of Mr. Frank Beaudoin?

A. I want my money and I want to leave.

Q. Leave Osage County?

A. Leave Oklahoma. I want to go to Kansas City. I can get work there in the garages. I’m good with engines. I rebuilt the motor on Frank’s Ford truck last winter and he didn’t pay me for it.

Q. Can you tell the court what education you have received?

A. I went to Pawhuska school through eighth grade. I can read. I can do arithmetic. I know enough to know that the guardian’s reports don’t add up but that doesn’t seem to matter to anybody.

Q. Mr. Ironbull, your brother Thomas has raised questions about the guardian’s accounting. Do you share those concerns?

A. Thomas wants to fight about it. Thomas wants to go through every line and make the court look at the numbers. I don’t want to fight. I want to be done with it. If Frank says I owe him three thousand dollars for raising me, then fine. Let him have my share of the land. I don’t want the land. I don’t want to live in Osage County and watch Frank Beaudoin’s cattle eat the grass on my father’s allotment.

Q. You understand that your share of the surface estate has considerable value—

A. My share is twenty-six acres of a hundred-and-sixty-acre parcel that Frank controls. I can’t get to it without crossing his land. I can’t farm it. I can’t lease it without his cooperation. It’s worth whatever Frank says it’s worth, which is whatever gets me out the door.

Q. The court notes that Mr. Beaudoin has offered to purchase your interest for five hundred dollars plus release of the guardianship debts. Do you find these terms acceptable?

A. I find them acceptable because they are the only terms being offered and I want to go to Kansas City and I want to never come back here.

Q. For the record, do you understand that you are relinquishing all interest in the surface estate?

A. I understand I’m doing what this place was set up to make me do. Can I sign the paper now?

EXHIBIT V

Deed of Conveyance — William Ironbull to Frank Beaudoin

Filed: October 4, 1929

WILLIAM IRONBULL (Osage Roll No. 2342), for and in consideration of the sum of FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS ($500.00) and the release from all debts owed to FRANK BEAUDOIN for board, lodging, clothing, and support during the period of guardianship (said debts totaling $3,841.00 as shown in the final guardian’s accounting, Case No. G-1918-0041), does hereby grant, bargain, sell, and convey unto FRANK BEAUDOIN:

All of the grantor’s right, title, and interest in and to the North 26.65 acres of the Northeast Quarter of Section 12, Township 26 North, Range 8 East of the Indian Meridian, Osage County, Oklahoma, being the grantor’s one-third inherited interest in the surface estate.

[This conveyance transfers only the surface estate. The grantor retains all mineral interests and headright participation as a member of the Osage Nation.]

WILLIAM IRONBULL (his mark — X)

Witnessed by: Albert G. Reid Robert L. Kessler

APPROVED: Office of the Superintendent, Osage Agency October 19, 1929

EXHIBIT W

Letter from Thomas Ironbull to Hon. Patrick J. Hurley, Secretary of War

[Secretary Hurley was an Oklahoman; Thomas may have written to him believing a fellow Oklahoman would be sympathetic. There is no record of a reply. — Compiler’s note]

January 6, 1931

Dear Secretary Hurley,

Sir, I am writing to you because you are from Oklahoma and maybe you know what has happened here. I am an Osage Indian. My father’s allotment was 160 acres. He is dead. My mother is dead. My brother-in-law Frank Beaudoin now owns 106 acres of my father’s land. He got my sister’s share for ten dollars and my brother’s share for five hundred dollars. Both sales were approved by the agency and the court.

I still own 53 acres. The north 53 acres. Frank owns everything around me. He has put a gate on the county road where it crosses his land, so to reach my acreage I have to open his gate and cross his property. Last month he put a padlock on the gate and told me I was trespassing. I showed him my deed and he said take it up with the court.

I went to the court. The court said it was a civil matter and I should retain an attorney. The only attorneys in Pawhuska who handle Indian cases are Reid & Comstock and they represent Frank. I wrote to an attorney in Tulsa who said he would take the case for a $500 retainer. I do not have $500 because my headright payments go through the agency and the agency says a lawsuit is not a necessary expenditure.

Sir, what I want to tell you is that all of this is legal. Everything Frank Beaudoin has done is within the law. He married my sister legally. He was appointed guardian legally. He spent my money legally, or at least no one said it was illegal. He bought my mother’s land and my brother’s land through legal conveyances approved by the proper authorities. And now he has locked me off my own property and the law says this is a civil matter.

What has happened to my family has happened to many Osage families. The allotment system and the guardianship system were supposed to protect us. Everything that has been done to us has been done lawfully. That is all I wanted to say.

Yours truly, Thomas Ironbull

EXHIBIT X

Osage County Tax Assessment Records (Selected)

Parcel: NE/4, Sec. 12, T26N, R8E (Surface estate)

EXHIBIT Y

Letter from Thomas Ironbull to Henrietta Ironbull

[Thomas Ironbull married Henrietta Satepauhoodle (Comanche/Osage) in 1930. This letter was written during a period when Thomas traveled to Oklahoma City seeking legal representation. — Compiler’s note]

April 18, 1935

Dear Hennie,

I got to Oklahoma City yesterday and I am staying at the Biltmore which costs $1.50 a night so I will not stay long. I went to the offices of the Indian Rights Association this morning. They have two rooms above a shoe store on Robinson Avenue. A man named Stafford listened to my story for about forty minutes. He took notes. When I was done he asked if I had copies of the guardian’s reports and the deeds and I said yes, I have copies of everything, and he looked surprised. He said most people who come in do not have documentation.

I showed him the file. He read through it for a long time without talking. Then he said, Mr. Ironbull, the problem with your case is not that anyone broke the law. The problem is that the law worked. He said my case was one of thousands. He said the organization had written to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs but nothing had changed.

I asked him if he could take my case. He said the organization does not have the resources to litigate individual land disputes. He gave me the names of two attorneys in Tulsa who do pro bono work for Indian clients but he said I should know that both of them already have more cases than they can handle.

I am coming home tomorrow. I will take the bus and be back by Thursday evening. Kiss Joseph for me and tell him his father is trying.

I do not think anyone is going to help us, Hennie. I think the papers in this box are all we are going to have.

Thomas

EXHIBIT Z

Deposition of Thomas Ironbull

Taken before the Osage County Court, Probate Division In the matter of the Tax Sale, NE/4 Section 12, T26N, R8E Case No. C-1940-0318

June 3, 1940

Q. Mr. Ironbull, you are here to contest the tax sale of a portion of your allotted land?

A. I am here to contest the theft of my land, which you are calling a tax sale.

Q. The record shows that taxes on your 53.35-acre parcel were delinquent for the years 1937, 1938, and 1939, in the amount of—

A. I could not pay the taxes because I could not get to the land because Frank Beaudoin had locked the gate. I could not farm it. I could not lease it. I could not do anything with it. So the taxes went unpaid and the county put it up for sale and Frank Beaudoin bought thirty-three acres of it at the tax auction for sixty-two dollars.

Q. The tax sale was conducted in accordance with Oklahoma law—

A. Everything is conducted in accordance with Oklahoma law. That is what I am telling you. The law is how this works.

Q. Mr. Ironbull, did you receive notice of the delinquency?

A. I received a notice. I took the notice to the agency. I told the superintendent I could not pay because I was locked off the land and the land was generating no income. The superintendent said taxes on unrestricted surface land are the owner’s responsibility and the agency could not assist.

Q. Is it true that you subsequently sold twenty acres of your remaining parcel to Mr. Beaudoin?

A. In 1939, yes. He offered me eight hundred dollars. I needed the money. My wife was pregnant and we were living in Fairfax in two rooms above the hardware store. I could not get a job because I was Indian and it was the Depression and the white men needed the jobs. The headright was paying less every year because the oil was slowing down. So I sold him twenty acres and used the money to get through the winter.

Q. That leaves you with approximately 20 acres of the original 160-acre allotment?

A. Until today. Now you are taking thirty-three more acres through the tax sale, which means I have about twenty. Except twenty of the fifty-three was already sold. So I have — I can’t — let me think. I had fifty-three. I sold twenty. That left thirty-three. The tax sale took thirty-three. I have nothing. You have taken it all.

Q. The record shows you retain—

A. Check your record again. I retain nothing of the surface. Frank Beaudoin owns all 160 acres of my father’s allotment. The allotment that the United States of America gave my father in 1907 with a certificate that said it was his. Thirty-three years later, it all belongs to a white man from Kansas who married my sister. Check your record. Check all the records. Every page in this file is correct and every page is a lie.

[The witness declined to answer further questions.]

EXHIBIT AA

Last Will and Testament of Thomas Ironbull

I, THOMAS IRONBULL, of Fairfax, Oklahoma, being of sound mind, do hereby declare this to be my last will and testament.

I don’t have land to leave anyone. I have my headright, which the government holds, and which will go to my children according to Osage law, not according to this piece of paper or any judge in any courthouse.

I have a 1934 Ford pickup truck with a bad clutch. This goes to my son Joseph. He is named for my father and he should have the truck because it is the only thing I own that I bought with my own money from my own work and nobody approved the purchase.

I have some furniture and kitchen things. These go to my wife, Henrietta.

I have a box of papers in the closet. Letters I wrote and copies of letters I wrote. Court filings. Guardian’s reports. Deeds. Tax notices. All the paperwork from thirty years of losing my father’s land one page at a time. I do not know who would want these papers.

I leave them to whoever can use them.

Signed this 14th day of September, 1948.

THOMAS IRONBULL

Witnesses: Henrietta Ironbull Rev. Daniel Lookout

EXHIBIT AB

Letter from Henrietta Ironbull to the Osage Nation Museum, Pawhuska

September 4, 1971

Dear Sirs,

My name is Henrietta Ironbull. I was the wife of Thomas Ironbull, who died in 1952. I am writing to offer you a box of papers that belonged to my husband and to his family.

The box contains court records, letters, guardian’s reports, deeds, and other documents going back to 1907, when Thomas’s father received his allotment. Thomas kept these papers his whole life. He added to them whenever he could — copies of letters he sent, receipts, notices from the agency. He kept them in a wooden ammunition box under the bed.

After Thomas died, I put the box in the back of the closet and did not look at it for almost twenty years. Last month my son Joseph asked about it. He is living in Tulsa now and working for the tribe on land issues. He read through the papers and said they told a story and someone should have them.

I will be honest with you. I do not know if these papers are important to anyone besides our family. Thomas believed they were. He never said exactly why. He would sit at the kitchen table with the box open and read the documents one by one, which was not a good habit, especially toward the end.

Thomas was not a bitter man despite what the papers might suggest. He laughed a great deal and he was kind to our children and he liked to fish in Bird Creek when the catfish were running. But the box was always under the bed.

Joseph says you might put them in an archive where people can read them. I hope someone does.

I will bring the box to Pawhuska next week if you will have it.

Sincerely, Henrietta Ironbull

EXHIBIT AC

Certificate of Death

STATE OF OKLAHOMA — BUREAU OF VITAL STATISTICS

Name of Deceased: THOMAS IRONBULL Date of Death: March 7, 1952 Place of Death: Fairfax Municipal Hospital, Osage County Age: 48 years Race: Indian (Osage) Occupation: Laborer Marital Status: Married

Cause of Death: Cirrhosis of the liver

Informant: Henrietta Ironbull (wife)

Filed: March 10, 1952

EXHIBIT AD

Osage County Property Record — Current

Parcel: NE/4, Section 12, T26N, R8E, Indian Meridian

Owner of Record (Surface Estate): BEAUDOIN CATTLE COMPANY, LLC (Originally acquired by Frank Beaudoin, 1926-1940; transferred to Beaudoin Cattle Company upon incorporation, 1953)

Acreage: 160 acres Current Use: Improved pasture; oil and gas operations (3 active wells)

Mineral Estate: Held in trust by the United States for the Osage Nation. Headrights associated with this allotment descend to the enrolled heirs of JOSEPH K. IRONBULL (Osage Roll No. 1847) per Osage law.

Note: The mineral estate and surface estate are severed. The surface owner has no interest in subsurface minerals. However, the surface owner controls physical access to the property, including road access, well pad placement, and pipeline routing.

COMPILER’S NOTE

The foregoing documents were assembled from the files of the Osage County Courthouse, the National Archives at Fort Worth, and the personal papers of Thomas Ironbull, donated to the Osage Nation Museum in 1971.

Documents are arranged chronologically. Bracketed notes have been added only where necessary for context. Spelling and formatting irregularities in the originals have been preserved.

The voice of Anna Ironbull Beaudoin appears only as a name on legal documents; her testimony, if she gave any, has not been located. William Ironbull disappears from the Osage County records after 1929; fragmentary evidence suggests he moved to Kansas City but this is unconfirmed. Frank Beaudoin died in 1961 at the age of 77 and is buried in the Catholic cemetery in Pawhuska, forty yards from the grave of Grace Walking-in-the-Morning Ironbull.