Three of the first landowners in the Chickasaw Nation were strong women who provided leadership in the Tuttle community. At left is Minerva Pikey Cochran (1886-1923). She was born in that cabin on the Canadian River that is shown in the framed image below to Benson and Katie Pikey who served prominently in early Tuttle. Next to Minerva is her mother-in-law, Arnaca Wolfe Cochran, and her sister in law, Rachel Cochran Yates.
According to Homestead Patent Records, these women received their Chickasaw land allotments on Sept. 5, 1905. Typical allotments ranged from 200-320 acres. Minerva lived to only 37 years and survived hard circumstances but her legacy, like the other women pictured here, is determination and self-sufficiency. Her great-granddaughter, Betty Smith, lives on some of this allotted land today. This image was shared from the Zenobia Miller Collection, shared by Betty Smith and her mother, Edna Welch.
The Tuttle Then and Now gallery displayed at the First National Bank & Trust Co. in Tuttle was designed to commemorate the people and places that make Tuttle unique. FNBT has been an independent community bank serving central and southwest Oklahoma since 1892.