Eaton, Rachel Caroline (1869–1938) - Western U.S. History

Rachel Caroline Eaton was born in 1869, in Indian Territory, to George W. Eaton, a white man, and Nancy Elizabeth (Williams) Eaton, of Cherokee and Caucasian descent. She attended Cherokee public schools and graduated from Cherokee Female Seminary in 1887. She received a B.A. in 1895 from Drury College (cum laude) and returned to the Cherokee Nation to teach in the public school and at the Female Seminary. In 1911 she entered Chicago University and majored in history, receiving an M.A. in 1911 and a Ph.D. in 1919.

During Eaton’s professional career, she was head of the history department at State College for Women in Columbus, Missouri, professor of history at Lake Erie College in Paineville, Ohio, dean of women and the history department head at Trinity University in Waxahachie, Texas, and superintendent of schools in Rogers County, Oklahoma. During this time she wrote extensively on western history, including Domestic Science Among The Primitive Cherokees; Historic Fort Gibson; John Ross and the Cherokee Indians; Oklahoma Pioneer Life; The Battle of Claremore Mound; and History of Pioneer Churches in Oklahoma . In 1932 the Tulsa Historical Society founded the Rachel Caroline Eaton Chapter, and in 1936 she was inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame. Eaton died in 1938.