Indian Pioneer Papers - Index

Indian Pioneer History Project for Oklahoma 
Date: May 19, 1937 
Name: John Henry Steward 
Post Office: Henryetta, Oklahoma 
Residence Address: 1401 West Broadway, Henryetta, Oklahoma 
Date of Birth: 1876
Place of Birth: Oklahoma
Father: John Steward 
Place of Birth: 
Information on father: 
Mother: Telia Winnie Vasser 
Place of birth: 
Information on mother: 
Field Worker: Grace Kelly

J. H. Steward was born on the Twelve Mile Prairie which was southeast of Tishomingo. When he was just a kid they moved to Choate Prairie where the Scipio Creek emptied into the South Canadian River on the east side. His father was a farmer and stockman. The farms were about the size of a good garden now.

The closest railroad was at McAlester.

MAIL.
Their mail was brought to Thurman, the nearest Post Office, from McAlester by horseback. As Thurman was twenty miles from McAlester it would take all day for the carrier to make the trip.

THURMAN.
There was a grocery store and Post Office at Thurman and every Saturday the Indians would come to the store for their groceries.

INDIAN SHOPPERS.
On Saturday there would be an extra clerk interpreter hired for the day, which would make two clerks in the store. When the Indians came, one of them, usually a woman, would peek in the door. The others would line up behind her in a long line of men and women. When the clerks' backs would be turned she would run in the store and all the others would follow her as close as they could, just like sheep following their leader. When they got in the store they didn't start buying immediately but would stand around for a while. Then one of them would buy a nickel's worth of coffee or sugar, just a little of this and a little of that. I don't know why they bought in that way unless it was that they didn't have enough money to buy more.

HOW THEY MADE A LIVING.
The women raised the corn and served it in several different ways besides making flour for bread out of it. The men hunted for the meat that they ate and there was all kinds of would meat including hogs. These hogs belonged to the Nation and whenever an Indian wanted to kill a hog he could; and if he sold it the money was his to buy whatever he wanted. A white man couldn't kill the hogs without paying for them. These hogs had been tame ones which had gone wild, or in other words, they had been turned loose and raised their young, and foraged for their food as no one fed them. Just as an old hen will steel as nest and hatch her chickens, raise them without help from anyone and they will be so wild that nobody can catch them. The Indians also sold hides to buy groceries.

EARLY SCHOOLS.
When I started schools there was only three months of school and it was in the winter. It was a log house with one window in each side but they had no glass in them, just shutters. The seats were logs split open and flat sides hewed to make them smooth; holes were bored in the round side for the legs to go in; there were no backs on them. A fireplace was on the north side of wall that would hold an eight foot rail. It was made that way on purpose so it wouldn't take so much cutting and make a better fire; on that would last longer, too. Sara Duncanon was the teacher a mean one too. There were twenty or twenty-five pupils and each had to pay two dollars a month tuition. It was on Judge Fulsom's place between Thurman and Choate Prairie. He was County or District Judge of the Choctaws.

Later they built us a two-story box house. It was built by a lodge and I think it was the Masons. I never will forget how proud we were of our new seats, the finest benches we had ever seen. They were slat benches with backs on them, like they have at revivals now.

Then I boarded and went to school at Indianola. All of the early schools for white children were subscription schools.

INDIAN NEIGHBORS.
Our nearest neighbors lived two miles away "just two miles to our neighbor's house," and we really thought it was near because other neighbors were so much farther away. His name was Allen Arch Archiebull, fullblood Choctaw, who had two wives, an older one and a young one who had tow children, a girl and a boy. The oldest was Wy-kee, the youngest Charlott and both were Creeks. I just want to say that there were never better neighbors than the Indians were. They would anything for you that they could.

ALLOTMENT STORY (SNAKES)
Archiebull was a Snake the same as Chito Harjo, which meant that he refused to allot. He wouldn't speak English at all, I don't know whether he could, but I could speak both the Choctaw and Creek at that time, I can't speak either now.

He was arrested and put into jail. Now remember he hadn't committed any crime except not filing. They cut his pretty long black hair and he either grieved or took cold and died. He left plenty of hogs and cattle to keep his family, but people stole the property and the tow wives died, leaving the children who were fourteen and sixteen years old.

Tom Beams was a Choctaw officer of Pittsburg County for thirty-tow years before and after Statehood, both in Pittsburg and Toboxi (Coal)-Permit Collector, Choctaw Officer, Deputy Sheriff and on term as Sheriff.

Someone went to Tom Beams and told him that something should be done with Archiebull's children, that both women were dead, the stock was all gone and they had gone "wild". I guess they were just living on what they could hunt. They lived in an out-of-the-way place, you had to cross the Scipio two miles from the mouth of it, where it went into the Canadian, or go around the mountain.

Tom Beams felt very bad about not knowing about them, as if he had neglected them and was at fault. He and three or four men on horses went there and sure enough, they were as wild as turkeys. They first roped the boy and tied him up, then they roped the girl and took them and sent them to school. The boy lives at Eufaula now; I'm not sure where the girls is; they made a fine man and woman, half Choctaw and half Creek.

Tom Beam's mother and brother live close to Ulan; anybody in Ulan can give you the directions to their home. The brother is sixty-one years old.

Tom took sick and they had to operate on him and when you operate on a Choctaw you might as well cut off his head. For some reason he will die and I do not know why.

RANCHERS I KNEW WELL.
Old J. J. McAlester had a big ranch on Gaines Creek, north of McAlester, and a feeding farm at Thurman, two ranches. His brand was: 6-6, and he grubbed one ear but I don't remember which. That meant he had one ear cut off even with the head; it was an easy brand to see, in fact you could see it almost as far as you could see the cow and it would be hard for anyone to steal.

He had a long beard and was the cleanest man you ever saw. He drove a good buggy team and when he was passing he would call me to him or he would come in for a while, and say, "John, I'm going to the farm and I want a box of quail when I come back." I'd get my traps fixed and I'd always have them for him when he got there.

One time father hid them in a boot box when some fellows were wanting to kill him (I don't know why). Boots were knee high and good ones came standing up in a wooden box, a little bit like a cedar chest but not exactly. Dad put the lid on until they were gone and then McAlester left on the train for a short while.

Dick Coleman had a ranch at Scipio, the C-, and a big store at McAlester. He also lived at McAlester.

Rex Cheatill was west of Canadian Switch; we did part of our trading at Canadian Switch; it was just a post, not a town. Old George Choate was the oldest settler and Choate Prairie was named for him. He was a Representative to the old Choctaw Council. His hewed log house is still standing. To go there on the main highway from Ulan to Indianola, go east past a big brick school about a mile, the old Choate Ranch is on the righthand side of the road.

L.H. Perkins, my uncle, was a farmer and rancher but his wife was a white woman. He went to Washington a number of times, and to the Council at Tuskahoma. He helped build and move Indianola to the railroad. There was a post office, drug store, eleven or twelve stores, two gins, one grist mill, and one bank. Dr Eubanks was the second doctor and it there now. Dr. Johnson was the first but is dead. There were good schools and churches there. One of my cousins owns the old place which is southeast of Indianola and lives there and a niece is teaching in a Consolidated school in Indianola.

Charlie McDuff had a nice large ranch six miles south of Indianola but lived at Canadian.

These were all Choctaws; they were more enlightened than the Creeks and could talk English; most of the Creeks had to have interpreters.

ROUND-UP TIME.
When Round-up time came each ranch that could afford it sent one or two men. It would take from thirty to sixty days. We would have one chuck wagon and the hardest job we had was to find it at night. There were no fences and the cattle would stray a long way from the home ranch. We would start at one ranch and each man would have a certain direction to hunt. All different brands were put in a bunch, driven to the next stop and we scoured as far around that stop as we could, then went on until we were through. At the end of round-up the cattle were separated and sent to the right ranch. If we passed a ranch and had some so their cows, we would leave them.

If a farmer was too poor to send a man we would keep a watch for his cattle the same as if he were there.

DR. ROBERTSON OF HENRYETTA.
The first time I saw Dr. Robertson, he was grown, and he was clearing hickory and blackjack at the school with the wooden shutters. He lived with his mother and two brothers, Lon and Irsay, and he was called I.W. He had some hogs and a violin, which paid his way when he left to learn to be a doctor. He first started to doctoring at Watsonville, which was where the K.O.&G. railroad bridge is, near Dustin, although there was no Dustin there then. When I was passing through I saw his sign hanging out and, of course, I knew who it was and got acquainted with him again.

POLECAT AND BUZZARD WAR.
GAINES AND TOBOXI COUNTIES, CHOCTAWS.
When I was very small, I had a saddle pony, and my father, some men and I rode down a ridge. They carried a white flag sot hey wouldn't get shot. The Polecats were lines up on one side and the Buzzards on the other, not firing but ready.

Some man came before they had started shooting and rode down between them with a white flag and whatever he told them, kept them from killing each other. I was so small that I can't remember anything except how they looked. I don't know if I was ever told what their quarrel was about or who the man was, but I've always thought he was from their Council.

EXPERIENCES OF PIONEER CHILDREN BY MRS. J.H. STEWARD
I can't remember anything to be interviewed about but there were two or three things I remember well, I guess they were imprinted on my mind firmer because I was so afraid.

I was reared on Blue River near where Mr. Steward was, but I was like a little wild thing. My sister and I would have to go after the cows and sometimes they would be a long way from the house. The tumble weeds were higher than our heads, and whatever we would see anyone coming, whether they were in a covered wagon or horseback, we would hide in those tumble weeds sometimes crawling along ways. It's a wonder we weren't shot for some animal.

One time a circus came through there, several wagons and behind were some camels. Men were riding the largest ones and some smaller ones were following, which had loads tied to them. I was too scared to enjoy the sight for I was sure that some of the wild animals would get out of those wagons and eat us before we could get away.

Another time mother had been reading us a story of how the Indians scalped the white people. Father had some cows that he couldn't keep up so he had made a rail fence so high that they couldn't jump over it. It must have been ten or twelve feet high. I liked to climb up and sit in the forks that were farmed at the top of the posts that held the rails in place. One day I was sitting on my perch when I saw some horses coming. The first were paint ponies, a lot of them. Behind these were some Indians who had stripes painted on their faces and arms. Some of the stripes went cross or around, others were lengthwise their arms, black and red. They had a thing (britch-clout) on with fringe on it. Their shoes were like sandals. They had no saddle and bridles. They just sat up there and the horse went without guidance unless it might have been spoken or knee pressure, I couldn't see any. Behind them came a bunch of white horses and they were all pretty and fat, not as some people think the Indian horses were; and then another Indians. The last one looked like old Jackson Barnett used to look. He had a thing on his horse like a rope, with loops in both ends to put his feet in, but that was all of the harness that bunch of Indians had. I don't know who they were or where they came from, as my parents weren't interested when I told them and just said that they were passing through. They may have been Western Indians with a passport to take the horses through to sell. I don't know. They wore no clothing except the cloth with fringe and the sandals.

Transcribed for OKGenWeb by C. Majors < cmajors@worldnet.att.net >, June 2002.

INDEX CARDS

Thurman
Postoffices-Thurman
Mercantile establishments-Choctaw Nation
Indian Trade-Choctaw
Family Life-Choctaw
Hogs-Choctaw Nation
Schools-Choctaw Nation
Marriage-Choctaw
Intertribal Marriages
Snake Indians
Allotment-Choctaw
Law enforcement-Choctaw
County government-Choctaw
Neighborliness-Choctaw Nation
Ranching-Choctaw Nation
McAlester, J.J.
Choate, George
Houses-Choctaw Nation
Perkins, L.H.
Indianola
Language-Choctaw
Cattle-roundups
Elections-Choctaw
Factions-Choctaw
Political parties-Choctaw
Plains Indians