The story of Monroe’s Cherokee Princess
Monroe once was home to an Indian princess who, as an actress, was friends with W.C. Fields and Will Rogers and, as a psychic, made predictions for U.S. Presidents and if the New York Giants would win the 1922 World Series.
The Genealogical Society of Monroe County received a request for assistance in finding information about a Cherokee Princess born in Monroe County, on August 4, 1885. The princess’s name was “Loretta Wahletka” and her parents were Romanian immigrants. She was married to Victor A Royal/Rothstein, an actor and a native of Russia, on May 15, 1912 in Jacksonville, Florida.
To this couple was born a son, Neal Vernon Royal (Buhler), on May 12, 1918 in Poughkeepsie, NY. Wahletka was naturalized on April 22, 1926 in New York. Princess Wahletka Royal and Victor divorced in 1931. In 1936, she married Edwin Buhler.
According to Rick Grassley of he genealogical society, she was a psychic, with a career spanning from 1912 to 1941.
"I know you think this is all made up, the request is a hoax, there were no Cherokees from Monroe, no Romanians in Monroe in 1885, certainly no psychics (hotlines were a long way from being popular!) and why would a person born in Monroe need to be naturalized?" Grassley wrote to The Monroe News.
Grassley said the archives group did some quick checks of births, marriages and census records without success. Ancestry and FamilySearch found a similar name (Illetewahke) in the Dawes Rolls, for the Chickasaw Nation, but no real match. He said it was believed those in asking for help must be mistaken; there is no verifiable connection to Monroe.
"Believe it or not," Grassley wrote. "Almost all of the information provided is correct."
A little more digging found the following information: Loretta “Lotty” May Navarre was born to Isadore G. Navarre and Marjorie O’Connor Navarre on August 4, 1885 in Monroetown, Monroe, Michigan. Isadore G. Navarre died in 1894 at the age of 37 and Marjorie died in 1905 in a kitchen fire.
Loretta Navarre married John H. Rhoads of Toledo in 1905 in Monroe. It is not known how long the marriage lasted but in 1912, she married Victor A. Royal in Florida. On August 11, 1912, Loretta performed as Princess Wahletka, “Indian Psychic,” in New Bern, North Carolina. Her son, Neal, was born in 1918 and adopted the name of Buhler when Loretta married Edwin Buhler in 1936.
On her New York naturalization record from 1925, it mentions her birth as August 4, 1885 in Monroe, Michigan, with her husband being from Russia and Romania and her name being Wahletka Royal “known as” Princess Wahletka. At that time, U.S. women lost their citizenship if they married a non-citizen so, in fact, she was petitioning for the return of her citizenship. Five years later, the 1930 census shows her living in Manhattan, NY and being born in Oklahoma with parents from Oklahoma and Canada. It appears Loretta was fulfilling her role as the actress and psychic.
Monroe’s Cherokee Princess Psychic performed in the U.S. and Europe until 1941. An internet search for “Wahletka” will show 2,228 matches highlighting her performances over the next 29 years.
Her obituary lists “Will Rogers, Fanny Brice and W.C. Fields and many others as her close friends.” In 1920, she was part of the Ziegfeld Follies and did predictions for Presidents Wilson and Harding.
In 1922 Princess Wah-Letka presented Manager John McGraw with a tomahawk on opening day ceremonies. She predicted the Giants would be champs again at the end of the season. The New York Giants won the World Series in 1922.
Loretta died in Chula Vista, San Diego, California on March 16, 1968.
Contact Rick Grassley at rgrasle641@gmail.com.
This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: The story of Monroe’s Cherokee Princess
