


Born on December 22, 1882, in the small town of Rover, Thomas Lee Ballenger's journey through life was marked by a relentless pursuit of knowledge and an unwavering dedication to education and Cherokee heritage.
He was the son of Daniel Milton and Narcissia Elizabeth Ray Ballenger, who had moved to Arkansas from Mississippi in 1872. After moving to Arkansas the couple produced a family of seven children, including their first born, Dr. William Elliot Ballenger who served Rover, Plainview and surrounding communities for over fifty years.

In 1898, T.E. Ballenger enrolled in the college preparatory department of Ouachita Baptist College in Arkadelphia. By 1905, he had earned a Bachelor of Arts degree and began his career teaching history and English at a Baptist Academy in Mountain Home.
Driven by economic necessity, Ballenger accepted a more lucrative position as superintendent in Loco, Oklahoma, where he taught domestic science, music, and Oklahoma history for a year. He then served as principal of a grade school in Magnum, Oklahoma, for two years.
His thirst for knowledge led him to the University of Chicago, where he earned a second bachelor's degree while completing most of the requirements for a master's degree. To support himself, he worked as an usher at the Progressive Party Convention, which nominated Theodore Roosevelt as its candidate.

Ballenger's teaching career took him to Ft. Smith for the 1913-1914 school term, but he soon moved to Northeastern State College (then Oklahoma Normal) in Tahlequah, where he would remain for sixty-eight years.
During this time, he significantly contributed to the area's educational, intellectual, and cultural life. In the summer of 1914, Ballenger returned to the University of Chicago to complete his master's degree, studying with noted historians William E. Dodd and Andrew C. McLaughlin.
At Northeastern, Ballenger taught American and world history, as well as political science. One of his colleagues, Dr. Emmet Starr, inspired his interest in Cherokee history and genealogy.
On December 22, 1918, Ballenger married Mildred Josephine Parks, the daughter of Judge Jefferson T. Parks, an official of the old Cherokee Nation and the first judge of Cherokee County. Mildred, who was one-quarter Cherokee, was proud of her heritage, and together they deepened their connection to Cherokee culture.

Ballenger briefly left teaching to work at the Farmers' State Bank in Park Hill, but the post-war recession ended his banking career in 1922. He returned to teaching at Northeastern, now a four-year college, in 1923. He continued his education at the University of Chicago and the University of Oklahoma, ultimately earning his doctorate in history from the latter in 1939.
At Northeastern College Library, Ballenger established the Department of Special Collections, amassing over one thousand documents on Cherokee tribal history. His interest in the Cherokee Nation, nurtured with the help of his father-in-law, culminated in a doctoral dissertation on the tribe's legal development.

Ballenger published Around Tahlequah Council Fires in 1935, an anthology of myths and stories about the Cherokee Nation's capital. He chronicled his Arkansas boyhood and educational career in Reminiscences of a Half Century, followed by The Third Quarter in 1957, and The Final Chapter in 1976, which he revised in 1982.
Ballenger was an active member of the local historical society and the Carnegie Library Board. He cherished education and Indian culture, serving as a sponsor for the college's International Relations Clubs and participating in conferences on international law. He wrote extensively for The Chronicles of Oklahoma on a variety of topics, from local histories to Oklahoma outlaws.
In 1953, Ballenger served as the historical consultant for an expedition to Mexico searching for the grave of Sequoyah, the Cherokee syllabary inventor. His efforts were recognized with an honorary membership in the Oklahoma Historical Society in 1951.

Thomas Lee Ballenger passed away on November 8, 1987, at the age of 104. His wife, Mildred Josephine, predeceased him on May 5, 1985, at the age of 86. They are interred in the Tahlequah Cemetery, which is located at 1251 W Fox Street in Tahlequah. `
