This old portrait shows Clara Elizabeth (Hodge) Gibson in her later years. We don't know when or under what circumstances this picture was taken, but we can see she is standing in front of an articical background, as though posing for a portrait picture. The photo was probably taken somewhere in the Chickasa Nation, Indian Territory in the 1880s, although it could have been taken much later than that.
This remarkable lady lived to be well over 80 years old. According to a personal history that survives to this day, she was a very small lady, perhaps no more than about 4 feet, 6 inches tall. She has been believed by members of the families of her descendants to have been Cherokee Indian. No one has ever been able to show that to be true.
Author: Roger L. Roberson, Jr. • Last updated: 11 January 2003