Callahan, Sophia Alice (1868–1894)

Sophia Alice Callahan was born in Sulphur Springs, Texas, on January 1, 1868. Her father was part Creek Indian and had a large farm and cattle ranch in what later became Oklahoma. He became a significant figure, serving the Creek Nation in an official capacity as a representative of the Creek and Seminole Nations to the Confederate Congress during the Civil War. Her mother was a Methodist minister's daughter, so Sophia followed the Protestant religion and was sent to a women's school in Staunton, Virginia, where she became certified as a teacher.

When she was 23 years old, Sophia wrote a romantic fictional account called Wynema, about a young Creek girl who becomes a teacher and sets up a school in her village. It was a ...