Indian Pioneer History Project for Oklahoma
Date: June 17 1937
Name:
C. B. Campbell
(Mrs.)
Post Office: Chickasha, Oklahoma
Residence Address: 1428 Kansas Avenue
Date of Birth: September 6, 1868
Place of Birth: Pauls Valley, Indian Territory
Father: W. G. Williams
Place of Birth: Kentucky
Information on father:
Mother: Anna Washington
Place of birth: Louisiana
Information on mother: 1/2 degree Caddo Indian
Field Worker: Thad Smith, Jr.
Interview: # 4456
I was born at Pauls Valley, in the Chickasaw and Choctaw Nation in 1868. When I was a small child my mother and father moved to what was later called Silver City on the South Canadian River.
My father had a large ranch. Some of the cows were common but were bred to registered Hereford bulls, and later he had one of the best high grade Hereford herds in the country.
We had our supplies freighted from Wichita, Kansas at first; a little later, we got our groceries at Caldwell, Kansas. It took the freighters three weeks to a month to make the trip.
The Chisholm Trail crossed the south Canadian River about two miles from our ranch. Many Texas herds came by. Sometimes the river would be up and the herds would have to lay over for a week at a time.
There used to be a lake northeast of Minco that was called Buffalo Lake, as many buffaloes watered there. I have seen them trail in there to water by the dozens.
My father owned a store at Silver City, and he traded groceries and tobacco to the Indians for beautiful, tanned buffalo robes. Sometimes the under side of the robes would have painted pictures and designs on them.
There were thousands of deer, wild turkey, prairie chickens, and quails, also fish.
Some of the Indian men made pipes out of deer horns by hollowing out the main horn and one of the prongs for the stem. I have also seen them made out of the door shin bone.
The Indians mixed sumac leaves with their smoking tobacco, which gave it a fragrant odor.
The most common human ailment in the eighties was chills. We doctored mostly with Grove's and Cheetham's chill tonic.
My father always sent several freight wagons, and nothing but flour was hauled in one wagon. The other wagons had assorted groceries. Our coffee was bought in the bean and had to be roasted and ground.
We also mailed letters and got our mail at Kansas points.
Our home was built of logs, chinked with mud and then whitewashed with lime. The roof was covered with shingles hauled from Wichita, Kansas, as were the windows and doors and flooring. Our kitchen was built separate from our living quarters with a big wide hallway between.
We had kerosene lamps; but sometimes we ran out of kerosene and we made tallow lights by filling a cup with beef tallow, which had a string or small twisted rag down the center. We also had candle molds, which we used to make candles by using a cord and beef tallow.
My father sent several large herds of beef cattle to Kansas to be shipped to market. They generally started with the cattle in the spring, and arrived in Kansas at shipping points in the fall by following the Chisholm Trail.
Our nearest doctor was about thirty miles northwest, at the Cheyenne and Arapaho Indian Agency. John D. Miles was the Indian agent at Darlington.
Occasionally we attended preaching at camp meetings, which would last for a week at a time.
My father and C. B. Campbell (who later became my husband) attended the Masonic Lodge meeting at Erin Springs once a month. They were Charter members. They made the trip horseback and would be gone several days, as
Erin Springs was about fifty miles southeast of home.
I have attended a good many Indian dances. Some of them were called gift dances. When a tribe from some other reservation came visiting, they had big dances and feasts and the visiting tribe was given presents. Some of the different presents were horses, blankets, shawls, cattle, beaded moccasins, and many other articles.
I got all of my schooling in Texas and other places, out of Oklahoma.
Note by submitter:
Margaret Jane Williams, 6 Sep 1865 - 2 Jan 1957
Married 15 Dec 1884 - Charles Bryant Campbell
Charles Bryant Campbell, 28 Jan 1861 - 25 Feb 1925
Both buried at Rose Hill Cemetery, Chickasha, Grady CO, OK
Her father was William Garrard Williams who owned the famous Half Moon Ranch north of Verden, Grady Co., Oklahoma.
Submitted to OKGenWeb by
Sandi Carter, First cousin three times removed <SandKatC@aol.com>
07-2000