William Wirt Hastings (Cherokee)
William Wirt Hastings was the son of William Archibald Yell and Louisa J.
(Stover) Lynch Hastings, a member of the Cherokee tribe. Born in Arkansas on
December 31, 1866, Hastings was reared on Beatties Prairie, Cherokee Nation
and attended Cherokee common schools. He later attended the Cherokee Male
Seminary, from which he graduated in 1884. After teaching in Cherokee
schools for a year, Hastings entered Vanderbilt University, receiving a law
degree in 1889. He formed a partnership with E. C. Boudinot and served as
attorney for the Cherokee Nation. After Oklahoma statehood, he served in the
U. S. Congress for eighteen years. He married Lula Starr. Hastings died on
April 8, 1938. His address was given July 16, 1917, at the dedication of
Sequoyah's statue in the national capitol.
