JUDGE REUBEN BOURLAND.
[CHICKASAW.]
The subject of this sketch was born in Hopkins county, Ky., March, 1820. Reuben was chiefly educated in the neighborhood schools, coming to Texas in 1837, where in company with his brother he practiced surveying and alternately farmed. In 1842 he came to the Indian Territory and improved a farm, after which he returned to Kentucky and Mississippi. Here in a short time he married Eliza Moore, a Chickasaw. In July, 1843, he moved back to the Territory and continued farming for many years. By his marriage he had eight children, four of whom are living; William, John, Mary and Martha. Two of his deceased sons, James and George, were killed by the accidental discharge of a gun. George was a member of the Chickasaw Legislature at the time of his fatal accident. Mr. Bourland has been judge of Tishomingo county, Chickasaw Nation, and William, his eldest son, was National secretary of the same Nation; while John, his second son, was National jailor. Mrs. Bourland died Oct. 8, 1851; since that time Mr. Bourland has made his home with Mrs. T. J. Phillips , his oldest daughter. Mr. Bourland is one of the old landmarks of the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations, and is a gentleman of superior intelligence.
Source: Leaders and Leading Men of the Indian Territory, Vol. I, Choctaws and Chickasaws, by H.F. O’Beirne, published by American Publishers’ Association, Chicago, 1891; Pgs. 277-278
