Ida (Perryman) Broyles

Ida (Perryman) Broyles

(09/06/1876-10/11/1968)

Muscogee (Creek) Nation

Tribal Town: Big Spring

By Marcus Anthony Martinez (TU, BA Class of 2025) with assistance from Abby Rush (TU, MA 2024).

Early History

Ida Bell Perryman was born on September 6, 1876, to Eva Louella Brown Perryman (1855-1922) and the Reverend Thomas Ward Perryman (1839-1903) in the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, Indian Territory.1 She was the oldest of five children, the others being Arthur Robertson (1880-1965), Thomas Loughridge (1881-1968), Bessie (1883-1886), and Walter Lewis (1885-1976).2 Ida’s family held a relatively prominent position in the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, with several relatives in leadership roles. Lewis Perryman, or Kochuk na Misso, Ida’s grandfather, was a successful cattle rancher and landowner before the Civil War, and he most likely had African ancestry, although he became a slave owner himself.3 Ida’s uncle, Legus Choteau Perryman, was the Principal Chief of the Nation from 1887 to 1895. Ida’s father was a Presbyterian minister who was well known for his actions during the Green Peach War (also known as the Isparchecher War), when he was sent by the “Constitutional Party” to discuss terms of peace with the opposition without any regard for his own safety.4 In a letter to Mrs. Thomas Perryman after the death of her husband, Mrs. W.S. Robertson (Ann Eliza, the mother of Alice Robertson) wrote, “He seemed a natural lover of peace, and when to this was added the peace which the Saviour gave to his disciples, it is no marvel that he was a prompter of peace.”5

School

An entry from Ida in an autograph book indicates that she attended the Presbyterian School for Indian Girls as early as 1887 at eleven years old. Other documentation indicates that she was very successful academically.6 In 1889 Ida won second place in the category “Best Speller Boy or Girl under 16” at a spelling bee held in the city of Muskogee at the annual Indian International Fair, and in 1890 she made the school’s Honor Roll with a grade average of 98.7

Also attending PSIG was her cousin Emma Perryman, whose father George Perryman, Sr., was the brother of Thomas Ward Perryman, Ida’s father.8 An interview of Ella Kneedler, which is archived as part of the Indian Pioneer Papers, confirms this sibling relationship: “Mrs. Arthur C. Perryman, whose husband is the son of Rev. Thomas Ward, [...] was a brother of George Perryman.”9 (The Indian-Pioneer Papers Oral History Collection includes transcripts of interviews conducted in the 1930s by government workers with thousands of individuals in Oklahoma. The transcripts contain first-hand accounts of life in Indian Territory and then the state of Oklahoma from 1861 to the 1930s.)

In 1894, Ida was a member of the last graduating class of the Presbyterian School for Indian Girls, which transitioned into Henry Kendall College that fall.10 After her graduation she joined the Society of Christian Endeavor, a nationwide Christian youth organization with the stated goal of promoting a Christian lifestyle. She contributed to the Society of Christian Endeavor whenever they hosted concerts at the First Presbyterian Church in Tulsa. At these concerts, Ida, who was well known for her singing, was one of the main performers.11

In 1894 Ida left Indian Territory for Oswego College in New York, where she pursued studies in history and music.12 It is unclear when she graduated from Oswego College.

Adult Life

In 1898 Ida returned to Tulsa and married the Reverend Hubert Broyles (1873-1968).13 Born on April 18, 1873, in Carter, Tennessee, Broyles had moved to Indian Territory from Auburn Theological Seminary, New York, to become Minister of the First Presbyterian Church of Tulsa in 1896.14 

Ida regularly attended choir practice at the First Presbyterian Church of Tulsa, which was originally established in 1885 at 4th and Boston, with her brother Arthur Robertson Perryman. In a personal history of the First Presbyterian Church choir, Lilah D. Lindsay made reference to Ida and her brother Arthur, writing, “Arthur Perryman assisted occasionally; his sister Ida was organist and a very finished musician and also with a good soprano voice.”15

The newlyweds moved to Claremore, Indian Territory, in April of 1898, and then in 1900 they moved to Alva, Indian Territory, where Reverend Broyles took the position of Pastor at the First Presbyterian Church.16 On February 25, 1902, Ida directed a Presbyterian Sunday School play titled “The Courting of Mothers Goose” at the Alva Opera House.17 She also received recognition in a local newspaper for  singing an occasional solo for the church choir.18

In 1904 the couple moved to Harriman, Tennessee, where Hubert was appointed minister at the First Presbyterian Church of Harriman. Here the couple was closer to Hubert’s family in Tennessee. In 1906 Ida and Hubert moved back to Oklahoma, where Reverend Broyles became minister for the First Presbyterian Church of Skiatook.19

In 1912 the couple moved from Skiatook, Oklahoma, to Seattle, Washington, where Hubert was appointed pastor at Mt. Baker Park Presbyterian Church. There, Ida gave birth to Evelyn Louise on January 21, 1913.20 The family moved back to Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1916, and Hubert became Superintendent of the Home Missions of the Synod of Oklahoma. In 1919 he became Associate Secretary for the Presbyterian Church in Dallas, Texas.21 Instead of moving with her husband to Dallas, Ida and Evelyn stayed in Tulsa with Ida’s mother. Hubert moved the family to Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, in 1920, as he had been appointed Pastor at the First Presbyterian Church of Chester, a small nearby suburb of Philadelphia.22

On March 26th, 1922, Ida’s mother Eva Louella died in Tulsa.23 In a letter dated November 5, 1929, to Ida’s sister-in-law Daisy Perryman (wife of Ida’s brother Arthur), Alice Robertson reported finding pictures of Eva Louella Perryman and noting that she planned to send them to Daisy, with the request that she pass them on to Ida. Alice wrote, “I have a picture that was among Susan’s things of Arthur’s mother, which is like one that I saw at your house. I am going to bring that, because it may be that Ida would like to have it."24

Ida and her family stayed in the Philadelphia area for the rest of their lives. In 1940 the Broyles family visited Tulsa after being gone for ten years, with Rev. Broyles speaking as guest minister on “The Problem of Life”  at the First Presbyterian Church’s Sunday morning service.25 Ida and Hubert both appeared in public records in 1947, when the couple entered into a legal battle with the owners of a Philadelphia restaurant regarding a door that had hit and injured Ida. This case, which went all the way to the Pennsylvania Superior Court, resulted in a decision of longstanding public consequence that businesses were responsible for ensuring their doors did not injure pedestrians.26

In 1960 the Reverend Hubert Broyles retired from his ministerial position at The First Presbyterian Church of Chester, but he remained active within the church community as a volunteer.27 On December 12, 1965, Arthur Robertson, Ida’s closest sibling in age, died.28 Within the city of Tulsa, Arthur was a well-known and respected man. In an interview of 1930 with the Tulsa Tribune, Hubert described Arthur and Walter (Ida’s youngest brother), as pioneers of the city of Tulsa.29 Thomas Loughridge, third in the birth order of Ida and her siblings, died on April 12th of 1968, in Fort Worth, Texas.30 

Death and Legacy

On October 11, 1968, Hubert Broyles died at the age of 95.31 On December 5, 1968, Ida P. Broyles died in Broomall, Pennsylvania, with the cause of death listed as anemia.32 She was 92 years old at the time of her death. She was buried in Philadelphia Memorial Park in Chester County, Pennsylvania alongside her late husband Hubert. Ida and Hubert’s only child, Evelyn Louise, died in 2001 at the age of 84, never having married or had children, and she is buried in the same cemetery as her parents.33

Ida (Perryman) Broyles lived a quiet but active life as a mother, wife, and supporter of her husband’s work as a Presbyterian minister, especially through her leadership of and participation in church choirs. A compliment paid to her in an undated letter, from organist Clarence Scott Pedrick at the J.R. Miller Memorial Church to Dr. Robert E. Merwin of the Presbyterian Church, captures the contributions and qualities for which she was remembered. Describing Hubert Broyles’s contributions as a minister, Pedrick wrote, “In this and other departments [Hubert Broyles] has ever been ably seconded by Mrs. Broyles, a woman of fine culture, and with musical ability worthy of mention.” (Clarence Scott Pedrick letter to Dr. Robert E. Merwin).34

Tribal Enrollment Information

Enrollment Number: 5966

Card Number: 1887

Enrollment Date: March 28, 1902

In 1890, Ida Perryman is enrolled in the Muscogee (Creek) Nation as a member of Big Spring Tribal Town.

Endnotes

1 Ida Perryman, Muscogee (Creek) Nation, Dawes Roll number 5966, Card number 1887, Field Number 1892, Application May 8, 1900, Oklahoma and Indian Territory, U.S. Dawes Census Cards. National Archives ID 264702. Ancestry.com. https://www.ancestry.com/sharing/38126524?mark=7b22746f6b656e223a2250577158506d49706a635a7a696877367262566643744d43387a7055706f726e5730584f56714f306f35343d222c22746f6b656e5f76657273696f6e223a225632227d; Ida P. Broyles, Pennsylvania, U.S., Death Certificates, 1906-1972. Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. Ancestry.com. https://www.ancestry.com/sharing/38127731?mark=7b22746f6b656e223a2232317472776a556c58355272524f62635a546b4c304c48517432364b57456b4c67745568423153683067633d222c22746f6b656e5f76657273696f6e223a225632227d; Patricia Mechling, “Rev. Thomas Ward Perryman,” Findagrave.com, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/5609897/thomas-ward-perryman, accessed May 18, 2025;Patricia Mechling, “Eva Louella Perryman,” Findagrave.com, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/5611231/eva-louella-perryman, accessed December 16, 2024.

2Ida Bell Perryman, U.S. Census Bureau, 1900 Census Place, Moberly Ward 3, Randolph, Missouri. Enumeration District 0143, Roll 884, page 5. Ancestry.com, accessed on December 17, 2024. https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/7602/records/30382482 

3 For evidence of Lewis Perryman’s mixed Afro-Indigenous heritage, see Claudio Saunt, Black, White, and Indian: Race and the Unmaking of an American Family (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005), 169-172, and Gary Zellar, African Creeks: Estelvste and the Creek Nation (Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 2007), 176. For information about Lewis Perryman see Reuben L. Partridge, “Biography of L.C. Perryman, Tulsa, Oklahoma,” https://homepages.rootsweb.com/~cmamcrk4/crkst20.html, accessed October 21, 2024. Partridge’s mother was China Perryman, one of Lewis Perryman’s children with Ellen Perryman. Lewis Avenue in Tulsa, Oklahoma is named after Lewis Perryman, Ida’s grandfather. See the oral history, “Monetta & Robert Trepp: History of The Perryman Family,” Interview by John Erling. Voices of Oklahoma, September 9, 2010, https://www.voicesofoklahoma.com/interviews/perryman-family, accessed October 21, 2024.

4 Jackson, Effie S. Perryman, Thomas Ward Interview, https://repository.ou.edu/islandora/object/oku:10470?solr_nav%255Bid%255D=6022484929b99e80feed&solr_nav%255Bpage%255D=0&solr_nav%255Boffset%255D=0&search=Thomas%252520Ward%252520Perryman

5 Mrs. W.S. Robertson to Mrs. Thomas Perryman, 1888, Oklahoma, The Indian Pioneer Papers Collection, The University of Oklahoma Digital Collections. Accessed through OKgenweb.net, https://okgenweb.net/pioneer/ohs/perrymanthomasward.htm 

6 Alice Robertson’s Autograph book, Jan 4, 1887. 1931.001.5.1.5. Papers of the Robertson and Worcester Families, 1815-1932, Special Collections, McFarlin Library, The University of Tulsa, Tulsa, OK.

7 “Report of Rev. W.A. Duncan,” Our Brother in Red, November 2, 1889, Newspapers.com, https://www.newspapers.com/image/658946163/?match=1&terms=Ida%20Perryman%22%20  (accessed May 17, 2025); “Presbyterian Mission,” Muskogee Phoenix, October 30, 1890, Newspapers.com, https://www.newspapers.com/image/611428898/?match=1&terms=Ida%20Perryman%22 (accessed May 18, 2025).

8 Logsdon, Guy Williams. The University of Tulsa: A History, 1882-1972 (Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 1977), p. 32.   

9 Ella Perryman Kneedler, Interview by Effie S. Jackson, September 2, 1937, Tulsa, transcript, The Indian Pioneer Papers Collection, The University of OKlahoma Digital Collections, https://repository.ou.edu/islandora/object/oku%3A15156. [Hereafter cited as Kneedler, IPP Interview], 360-368.

10 “Henry Kendall College Notes,” Muskogee Phoenix, September 16, 1897, Newspapers.com, https://www.newspapers.com/image/611404960/?match=1&terms=Ida%20Perryman%22 (accessed December 17, 2024). 

11 “Society of Christian Endeavor Program,” The Tulsa Review, August 17, 1894, Newspapers.com, https://www.newspapers.com/image/630945902/ (accessed May 18, 2025). 

12  “Henry Kendall College Notes,” Muskogee Phoenix, September 16, 1897, Newspapers.com, https://www.newspapers.com/image/611404960/ (accessed December 17, 2024).

13 E.H. Brayles and Ida B. Perryman, Marriage Record, Muskogee, Oklahoma, Film number 001312337, U.S. County Marriage Records, 1890-1995, Ancestry.com, https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/61379/records/63671122 (accessed December 17, 2024).

14 The “First Minister of Presbyterians in Tulsa Returns,” The Tulsa Tribune, August 3, 1930, Newspapers.com, https://www.newspapers.com/image/900731566/ (accessed December 17, 2024).

15 “First Presbyterian Church Choir, 1886 to 1907,” (1976-016). Lilah Denton Lindsey Archive, 1866-1944, Special Collections, McFarlin Library,  The University of Tulsa, Tulsa, OK. 

16John Quincy Adams and William John Hinke, General Biographical Catalogue of Auburn Theological Seminary, 1818-1918 (Auburn, N.Y., Auburn Seminary Press, 1918), p. 280; (Rev. E. Hubert Broyles, Board of National Missions of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America 1937); “Local Doings,” The Alva Review, May 23, 1901, Newspapers.com https://www.newspapers.com/image/592787187/?match=1&terms=Rev%20E%20Hubert%20Broyles (accessed May 22, 2025); “Former Pastor, Here in 1896, Visiting Tulsa,” The Tulsa Tribune, June 21, 1940, Newspapers.com https://www.newspapers.com/image/902363743/?match=1&terms=Rev%20E%20Hubert%20Broyles(accessed May 22, 2025).

17 “Notice,” The Alva Weekly Pioneer, February 14, 1902, Newspapers.com, https://www.newspapers.com/image/582362804/(accessed May 22, 2025). 

18 “In the Oil Field,” The Ramona Herald,” May 18, 1906, Newspapers.com, https://www.newspapers.com/image/585794503/?match=1&terms=Broyles (accessed December 17, 2024). 

19 Adams and Hinke, General biographical catalogue of Auburn Theological Seminary, p. 280; Rev. E. Hubert Broyles, Board of National Missions of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America 1937.

20 Olympia, Washington,“Broyles in the Washington, U.S., County Birth Records,” Washington State Archives, Washington Births, 1891-1919, Ancestry.com, accessed May 22, 2025, https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/1209/records/335762; King Country, Seattle, Washington,“Washington, U.S. Birth Records, 1907-1920,” Washington State Archives, January 31, 1913, Ancestry.com, https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/6493/records/105514666 

21 Rev. E. Hubert Broyles, Board of National Missions of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America 1937.

22 Rev. E. Hubert Broyles, Board of National Missions of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America 1937.

23 Patricia Mechling, “Eva Louella Brown Perryman,” Findagrave.com, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/5611231/eva-louella-perryman, accessed May 22, 2025.

24 “Correspondence between Arthur Perryman-Pine and Alice Robertson” (1931-001) Papers of the Robertson and Worcester Families, 1815-1932, Special Collections, McFarlin Library, The University of Tulsa, Tulsa, OK. 

25 “Early Day Tulsan was here in 1896,” Tulsa World, June 23, 1940, Newspapers.com, 

https://www.newspapers.com/image/885379769/ (accessed May 22, 2025). 

26 “Owner is Held Responsible for Injuries Caused by Door,” Delaware County Daily Times, March 8, 1947, p.5 Newspapers.com, https://www.newspapers.com/image/54089424/ (accessed May 22, 2025). 

27 “First Presbyterian Church Hardships Recalled at Fete,” Tulsa World, October 6, 1960, Newspapers.com https://www.newspapers.com/image/887399477/ (accessed May 22, 2025).

28 Patricia Mechling, “Arthur Robinson Perryman,” Findagrave.com, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/5611263, accessed May 22, 2025. 

29 “First Minister of Presbyterians in Tulsa Returns” The Tulsa Tribune, August 3, 1930, Newspapers.com, https://www.newspapers.com/image/900731566/, accessed May 22, 2025.

30 Thomas L. Perryman, Texas Department of State Health Services, Austin Texas, USA, Texas Death Certificates, 1903-1982, Ancestry.com, accessed December 17, 2024. https://www.ancestry.com/sharing/27883531 

31 “Died,” The Philadelphia Inquirer, October 14, 1968, Newspapers.com

https://www.newspapers.com/image/168096439/, accessed May 22, 2025.

32 Ida P. Broyles, Pennsylvania, U.S., Death Certificates, 1906-1972. Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. Ancestry.com. https://www.ancestry.com/sharing/38127731?

33 Patricia Mechling, “Ida B. Perryman Broyles,” Findagrave.com, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/5611262/ida_b-broyles, accessed May 22, 2025. 

34 Clarence Scott Pedrick to Dr. Robert E. Merwin, n.d.  

Bibliography

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“First Minister of Presbyterians in Tulsa Return.” The Tulsa Tribune, August 3, 1930. Newspapers.com.

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 “In the Oil Field,” The Ramona Herald,” May 18, 1906. Page 1. Newspapers.com.

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“Notice.” The Alva Weekly Pioneer, February 14, 1902. Page 5. Newspapers.com.

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Partridge, Reuben L. “Biography of L. C. Perryman, Tulsa, Oklahoma.” Transcription. homepages.rootsweb.com. L. B. Howard, July 26, 1984.

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