John Leak Springston

Who was John Leak Springston?

John Leak Springston "Oo ne qua ti", a Cherokee, is best known as an Indian activist; during his life he was a Cherokee Interpreter, Editor, Lawyer, and Keetoowah Revivalist. Springston was born in the fall of 1844 in Indian Territory near Lynch's Mill, five miles east of the present site of Spavinaw Dam in the state of Oklahoma. He was the son of Anderson Springston and Sallie Eliot, Cherokees who walked the Trail of Tears from Gunter's Landing, Alabama on the Tennessee River, some 600 miles to Indian Territory. After removal, Anderson practiced law in the Cherokee courts of the Delaware and Tahlequah Districts, and as a young boy, John received instruction in tribal law and Cherokee culture at his father’s side.

Young Springston, who attended school in the Delaware District, was a native Cherokee speaker, and did not learn English until age seven. An eloquent speaker and writer, he was employed as a clerk and court reporter in the Saline District by the age of fifteen and planned to pursue a law degree at Shurtleff College at Alton, Illinois.