People

William Vann Carey was born on a Delaware reservation in Wyandotte County, Kansas in 1854, the son of Reverend Walker and Malinda (Downing) Carey.

William's mother was a descendant of Major John Downing, an officer in the British Army, who lived among the Cherokees in the 1700s, marrying a full-blood Hanna Fawling.

As a young man, William was educated in the Cherokee public schools and later at the Male Seminary. In 1880, he married Cora Lee Journeycake, a daughter of Charles Journeycake, a Baptist minister and Delaware Indian chief.

In 1885, William was elected Clerk of Cooweescoowee District and later was a member of the Cherokee Board of Education, which he served as President from 1893 to 1897.

Carey is thought to have been the builder of one of if not the first hotel in Nowata. It was destroyed by fire May 19, 1892 and a re-built hotel -- Hotel Carey -- opened January 19, 1893.

Carey was also the president and manager of the city's first lumber company and later served as Mayor of Nowata.

He was only 46 years of age when he passed away on June 19, 1900.