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Indian Pioneer Papers - Index

Indian Pioneer History Project for Oklahoma
Date: April 29-30, 1937
Name: Louis Medlen
Post Office: Tulsa, OK
Residence Address: 1634 East Admiral Boulevard
Date of Birth: 1870
Place of Birth: Kansas
Father: Wilson Jasper Medlen
Place of Birth: Knoxville, Tennessee
Information on Father: Farmer
Mother: Nancy Ann Wiseman
Place of Birth: Nevada, Missouri
Information on Mother: Housewife
Field Worker: Mary D. Dorward

Subject was born in Kansas along the Caney River just across the border from old Indian Territory. With parents, two brothers, and a five sisters, he came to Indian Territory in 18__ (possibly 1882), settling twelve miles north of where Bartlesville now stands. His mother was part Cherokee and had come from Tennessee. Through her, he had sufficient Indian blood to have entitled him to enrollment by the Dawes Commission, but was told that due to the fact that she had come to Indian Territory after the great exodus from the eastern state, he was ineligible for an allotment.

Knew Emmett Dalton well, but recalled no particular incident with regard to him. Was a friend of United States Marshall Gibson, who once promised him a trip to Fort Smith. Gibson frequently had trouble with bootleggers, and once after arresting two young fellows for........... (believe all of first page did not get copied at the bottom - some words missing from this point to the word "guard")

.......guard when he took them to Fort Smith. Before they had scarcely more than started, however, one of the criminals rode ahead to a farm house, rode back behind the barn and shot himself, thus spoiling Medlen's trip to Ft. Smith.

In spite of the fact that there were so many bandits or outlaw gangs
abroad, residents never locked their doors, homes were never molested,
while cattle rustlers never bothered the cattle of a poor man. It was only the big cattle barons whose hers were raided. Texas cattle grazed northward across Indian Territory to shipping points in Kansas, starting in the early summer for the trip so that by the time they reached their destination they would be nice and fat. Mr. Medlen states he has seen herds fully three miles long and one hundred yards wide.

He was prepared to make the run when the Cherokee Strip was opened but was prevented at the last moment. Had new hay in the field just mowed when a rain and hail storm came up and he was compelled to remain and take care of the hay.

Lived among the Shawnee in the southern part of the state for awhile. Can always tell a Shawnee by the fact that he points with his chin instead of using his hand.

Transcribed for OKGenWeb by Sally Medlen Bishop, Grandniece to Louis Medlen, May 2002.