| Notes |
- Submitted via GEDCOM by Daniel Frederick Montgomery, CMS 2419, on 14 Jul 2004.
William Thomas Gilcrease was born February 8, 1890 in Robeline,Natchitoches Parish, LA to William Lee and Mary Elizabeth (Vowell).Shortly after his birth the Gilcrease Family moved to Indian Territory.Due to his mothers Creek Indian ancestry the family lived on the CreekNation tribal land, where Thomas grew to adulthood. The federalgovernment at the turn of the century disbanded the Indian Tribes anddistributed their tribal lands to private ownership.
At the age of 16 Thomas, who had dropped the name of William, sued thegovernment for his majority rights and was awarded his tribal membershipentitlement of 160 Acres in Glenpool, OK located twenty miles south ofTulsa. Several years after his allotment, the land became part of one ofOklahoma largest oil fields. By the age of 21, Thomas had proved himselfan astute businessman accumulating great wealth.
August 22, 1908 Thomas married Belle Harlow, a member of the Osage tribe,in Harrisonville, Missouri. The union of the couple produced two sons,the first Thomas Jr. born in 1909 and the second Barton Eugene in 1911.
In 1914 Thomas purchased a native sandstone house and the 80 acres thatit sat on from Flowers and Carrie Nelson, who had built the home. Thishouse became commonly referred to as Toms Place, The Little Stone Houseon the Hill and The House on the Hill and is now known as the GilcreaseHome.
The 1920s and 30s proved to be very eventful in Thomas's life. Hetraveled through Europe extensively during this time and visited EuropeanMuseums, which is what inspired him to create his collection. In 1922,Thomas founded Gilcrease Oil, acquired his first oil painting and wassued for Divorce by his wife of 14 years. In February of 1924 Mr.Gilcrease entered into an agreement with W.O. Ligon Jr. and his wife AdaBlanche for them to purchase 13 of the 80 acres of land, at a cost of$60,000.00. This transaction was by contract and deed, but the deed wasnever recorded. In 1928 Mr. & Mrs. Ligon defaulted on the payments of thecontract and foreclosure proceedings were initiated. During these 4 yearsthe Ligons had lived in the house as Thomas traveled abroad. A compromisewas made by trade and the land was given back to Thomas on April 9, 1928.
On September 3, 1928 Thomas married Norma Smallwood, the first Oklahomanto be crowned Miss America in 1926. Miss Smallwood was much his juniorbeing the same age as his first born son, Thomas Jr. This union produceda daughter Des Cygne in 1929 and like the first marriage ended in divorceon October 3, 1933.
By the time Gilcrease established his office for Gilcrease Oil in SanAntonio, Texas and an office in Europe in 1937 he had greatly expandedhis holdings.
It was not until after 1939 that his art collection had amassed. Pride inhis Indian American heritage and interest in the history of the AmericanWest provided the focus of this collection.
The first Gilcrease Museum opened at his oil companys headquarters in SanAntonio in 1943. This same year he established a Home (orphanage) forqualified Indian Children of the 5 Civilized Tribes. He converted thesecond floor of the stone house by adding more rooms for the girls andbuilt a second building for the boys. The supervisors for the orphanagewas his brother-in-law and sister, Mr. & Mrs. Logan, they resided on thefirst floor of the stone house. In 1946 he was made an honorary tribalmember of the Sioux (Lakota) and was given the name Wicarpi Wakatuya,which means High Star.
Within a few years Mr. Gilcrease returned to Tulsa to live full timebringing not only his oil company but his growing art collection as well.Collection of art depicting the American West did not yet enjoy wideappeal the Gilcrease Collection grew rapidly.
In 1949 Gilcrease opened a gallery to the public for viewing on his TulsaEstate. During the early 1950s he had acquired numerous works of art,artifacts and documents, but the decline of oil prices made it difficultto finance major purchases. Insurmountable debts faced Mr. Gilcrease andforce him to offer his entire collection for sale to keep it intact. In1954, a small group of citizens fearing the Gilcrease Museum would leaveTulsa, organized a bond election which was approved by Tulsans by a 3 to1 margin, this bond issue satisfied Mr. Gilcrease debts. Thomas Gilcreasedeeded his collection to the City of Tulsa in 1955 and in 1958 theGilcrease Foundation conveyed the museum building and grounds to theCity. In addition Gilcrease committed oil property revenue to Tulsa forassistance in maintaining the property until the 2.5 million-dollar bondwas fully repaid.
In the years following the transfer of his collection Thomas funded anarchaeological excavation and acquired additional materials for hiscollection.
Thomas lived in the little stone house exclusively from 1949 until hesuffered a heart attack in the home in 1962. It is unknown if he diedwhile in the home or while in route to the local hospital. At the time ofhis death Thomas bequeathed to the museum the material he had collectedduring his final years. Thomas is buried in a mausoleum on the Grounds ofthe Gilcrease Museum.
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1890 - 1962 (72 years)
