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JOHN F. MOYER
Vol. 3 p. 1136-1137

From many states and nations came the pioneer white settlers of 
Indian Territory, and the majority of them, except the missionaries, 
were from the old South. It is probably true that nine-tenth of the 
white men who have become intermarried citizens were originally 
Southerners, notwithstanding a goodly admixture of those of Northern 
parentage. Indian Territory was a melting pot of its own in the 
creation of a new citizenship as regards white men.
The case of John F. Moyer, a prominent live stock dealer and rancher 
at and near Antler, is an illustration of the manner in which 
speech, habits and customs of other regions were either abandoned or 
thrown into the pot to form parts of the ingredients of the new race 
of Indian Territory. Mr. Moyer's parents were English people and 
natives of Canada. They came to the United States in an early period 
and settled in Michigan, where Abram Moyer engaged in the lumber 
business. Later they lived in Southwest Missouri. John Moyer at the 
age of seventeen went to Little Rock, Arkansas, where for two years 
he was engaged in a shingle mill.

At nineteen he entered the Indian Territory, lost himself in a 
measure from the outside world, and for nearly thirty-five years has 
been an integral part of the life of this interesting region. Very 
necessary to this region was the blood of such ancestors as were 
his, since the form of civilization and manner of progress would not 
have been properly balanced under Southern influence alone. The 
formative period of Indian Territory history was that in which Mr. 
Moyer figured. It was the period in which ideals of other regions 
were thrown to the winds that swept through the timbered mountain 
valleys, and in which customs of other times and places were 
forgotten. Brain and brawn and some measure of education were the 
prime factors, and that man counted for most who had ability to 
accomplish something. It was rather by accident that John Moyer 
became a citizen of Indian Territory. River excursions from Little 
Rock to Fort Smith were frequent in the early '80s and of particular 
interest because Fort Smith was then regarded as a frontier 
community. Into that town came all manner of Indians and all manner 
of white men from the Indian Territory. It was the seat of the 
United States Court for Judge Parker.

The excursion steamer that brought Moyer to Fort Smith left him 
there, and he had not meant that it should be so. While viewing the 
interesting sights of the town he talked with a man who had driven 
there in a wagon from Savannah, Indian Territory, a place situated 
in the coal mining region. The man said he was looking for some one 
to make the return journey with him. Here was a chance for adventure 
and Moyer seized it. Having fifty dollars in money, he bought some 
overalls and a cotton shirt, and the following day the journey to 
Savannah began. Having had no experience in mining he remained but a 
few days at Savannah and then set out for Stringtown where he had 
heard the lumber industry was developing. He knew that business. At 
Stringtown he worked at a mill owned by Sam SCRATCH, but remained 
only a short time when he went to Atoka, and found employment there 
for two years. While at Atoka he attended Sunday school in the 
pioneer Baptist Church that Doctor MURROW had erected and that 
venerable missionary was his Sunday school teacher.
At that time Colonel NELSON, a fullblood Choctaw and a preacher of 
the Methodist faith, was running a store and a postoffice called 
Nelson in what is now Pushmataha County. Nelson needed a clerk in 
his store and Moyer was employed. He crossed the mountain country 
and at Nelson settled in a community that was inhabited almost 
exclusively by fullbloods. He soon learned enough of the Choctaw 
language to trade with the Indians and remained there until the Town 
of Antlers was platted. Colonel Nelson moved his store to Antlers 
and Moyer came with him. Later he engaged in the mercantile business 
on his own account.

As a pioneer of the Town of Antlers Mr. Moyer assisted in the 
organization of the Antlers National Bank and has been a director of 
that institution ever since. Associated with him in the organization 
were Captain LASEUREUR, W. P. COCHRAN, S. J. NEWCOMB, William 
FLETCHER and Miss Octavia LaSeureur. Eight miles northeast of 
Antler, at the foot of the mountains, Mr. Moyer has a fine ranch, 
and he raises and deals extensively in cattle and horses and grows 
feed and puts up large quantities of hay. His own allotments as an 
intermarried citizen were selected in the Chickasaw country and are 
in what is now Carter County.

Meantime, in 1886, Mr. Moyer married Mary Jane ELLIS. She was 
Chickasaw and Choctaw blood. The marriage ceremony was performed at 
the home of Colonel Nelson and by Colonel Nelson in his magisterial 
capacity. To this marriage were born four children, and only one now 
living is Grover S., aged sixteen. Mrs. Moyer died in 1902. Two 
years later he married Daisy TUCKER. Their two children are Mary 
Ruth, aged ten and Lucile, aged seven. Mr. Moyer has three brothers 
and one sister: James, W. R. And R. A. Moyer, all of whom live at 
Moyer Spur in Pushmataha County, the first two being in the 
livestock business and the last in the drug business; and Mrs. Mary 
Esther NICHOLS, widow of a railroad man and living at Harrison, 
Arkansas. Abram Moyer, the father of these children, was for many 
years a successful lumberman, came into Indian Territory to engage 
in that industry about 1884, and now lives retired at Antlers. Mr. 
John F. Moyer is a member of the Christian Church, is affiliated 
with the Masonic Order and the Knight of the Maccabees, and is an 
active member of the Texas Cattle Raisers Association.

Typed for OKGenWeb by Earline Barger, December 16, 1999.