Towson County was a political subdivision of the

Choctaw Nation The Choctaw Nation ( Choctaw: ''Chahta Okla'') is a Native American territory covering about , occupying portions of southeastern Oklahoma in the United States. The Choctaw Nation is the third-largest federally recognized tribe in the United ...

Indian Territory The Indian Territory and the Indian Territories are terms that generally described an evolving land area set aside by the Federal government of the United States, United States Government for the relocation of Native Americans in the United St ...

, prior to Oklahoma being admitted as a state. The county formed part of the Nation's Apukshunnubbee a District, or Second District, one of three administrative super-regions.

History

Towson County, Choctaw Nation was named for U.S. Army Col. Nathanial Towson (1784–1854), whose name was also commemorated by the territorial-era military post,

Fort Towson Fort Towson was a frontier outpost for Frontier Army Quartermasters along the Permanent Indian Frontier located about two miles (3 km) northeast of the present community of Fort Towson, Oklahoma. Located on Gates Creek near the confluence ...

, and by the present-day adjacent town of

. The military post, established in 1824, was named first. Towson County's boundaries were established and designated according to easily recognizable natural landmarks, as were the boundaries of all Choctaw Nation counties. The Red River formed its southern boundary;

Little River Little River may refer to several places: Australia Streams New South Wales *Little River (Dubbo), source in the Dubbo region, a tributary of the Macquarie River * Little River (Oberon), source in the Oberon Shire, a tributary of Coxs River (Haw ...

was its eastern boundary; and the

Kiamichi River The Kiamichi River is a river in southeastern Oklahoma, United States of America. A tributary of the Red River of the South, its headwaters rise on Pine Mountain in the Ouachita Mountains near the Arkansas border. From its source in Polk County, ...

was its western boundary. A line drawn to connect the Little and Kiamichi rivers formed its northern boundary. Four counties bordered Towson County:

Cedar County Cedar County may refer to: * Cedar County, Iowa * Cedar County, Missouri * Cedar County, Nebraska * Cedar County, Choctaw Nation * Cedar County, Washington The list of county secession proposals in the United States includes proposed new co ...

on the north, Bok Tuklo and Red River counties on the east, and

Kiamitia County Kiamitia County, also known as Kiamichi County, was a political subdivision of the Choctaw Nation, Indian Territory. The county formed part of the nation's Pushmataha District, or Third District, one of three administrative super-regions. Kiamitia ...

on the west. Its county seat was Towson Court House, a meeting ground which is no longer extant. The county served as an election district for members of the National Council, and as a unit of local administration. Constitutional officers, all of whom served for two-year terms and were elected by the voters, included the county judge, sheriff, and a ranger. The judge's duties included oversight of overall county administration. The sheriff collected taxes, monitored unlawful intrusion by intruders (usually white Americans from the United States), and conducted the census. The county ranger advertised and sold strayed livestock.

Statehood

As Oklahoma's statehood approached, its leading citizens, who were gathered for the Oklahoma Constitutional Convention, realized in laying out the future state's counties that, while logically designed, the Choctaw Nation's counties could not exist as economically viable political subdivisions. In most the county seat existed generally for holding county court and not as a population center. This conundrum was also recognized by the framers of the proposed State of Sequoyah, who met in 1905 to propose statehood for the Indian Territory. The

Sequoyah Constitutional Convention The Sequoyah Constitutional Convention was an American Indian-led attempt to secure statehood for Indian Territory as an Indian-controlled jurisdiction, separate from the Oklahoma Territory. The proposed state was to be called the State of Sequoya ...

also proposed a county structure that abolished the Choctaw counties. Towson County was included principally within the territory of the proposed Hitchcock County.Amos Maxwell, ''Sequoyah Constitutional Convention''. Although the map carried in Wikipedia’s article on the State of Sequoyah speaks to the matter of borders, Maxwell's book offers further insight. Much of this proposition was borrowed two years later by Oklahoma's framers, who adopted certain of these concepts for the future Choctaw County in Oklahoma. The territory formerly comprising Towson County, Choctaw Nation was divided almost equally between Choctaw County and

McCurtain County McCurtain County is in the southeastern corner of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. As of the 2010 census, the population was 33,151. Its county seat is Idabel. It was formed at statehood from part of the earlier Choctaw Nation in Indian Territory ...

. Towson County ceased to exist upon

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

’s statehood on November 16, 1907.

References

{{coord missing, Oklahoma Choctaw Former counties of Oklahoma 1907 disestablishments in Oklahoma