Indian Pioneer History Project for Oklahoma
Date: September 13, 1937
Name: Mary Jane (McKinney) Davis
Post Office: Poteau, Oklahoma
Date of Birth: December 1, 1860
Place of Birth: Scullyville, Choctaw Nation
Father: James McKinney
Mother: Elizabeth Lewis
Interviewer: Gomer Gower
Interview #7486, Vol. 22, pages 41-47
MARY JANE
DAVIS, nee McKINNEY, was born at New Hope College near
Scullyville, Choctaw Nation, on December 1st, 1860, where her
father, JAMES McKINNEY, had been for some time the
superintendent.
Her father and mother both came from North Carolina to the
Indian Territory at a very early date in its history. Her father
came as a missionary and her mother, ELIZABETH McKINNEY, nee
LEWIS, as his wife shared with him the vicissitudes of the life
of a missionary and teacher among a people which, at that time,
were scattered over a vast territory.
Her father continued in this work until some few years prior to
the Civil War, when he was appointed Superintendent of the New
Hope Female College, an institution supported by the Choctaw
Nation. However, upon the decision of the Choctaw authorities to
espouse the cause of the South in that great conflict, he
resigned his position with the College and moved his family to
Fort Smith, Arkansas, and then enlisted in the Federal Army in
which he served with distinction and attained the rank of
Captain.
After the close of the war in 1865, Captain McKINNEY settled at
Hackett, Arkansas, and established the first school in that
particular area and soon thereafter was made the first tax
assessor of Sebastian County, that state. Hackett, or Hackett
City as it was called at that time, was a truly border town,
being but about one and one-half miles from the line dividing
Arkansas from the Choctaw Nation. Due to this fact, many of the
Choctaw children attended the school which Captain McKINNEY had
established at that place, as no distinction was made between
white and Indian children.
One of the Indian boys, whose parents lived near Wallsburg, now
Rock Island, a short distance from the Territory line, who
attended the school at Hackett, was DAVIS JAMES, who evidently
was not content alone to master the three R's, but set his heart
also upon winning the consent of the staid school-master to a
union in marriage with his comely daughter, MARY JANE. He was
successful in both these endeavors. He took his young bride to
the home of his father nearby and quickly erected a cabin of his
own and in true Choctaw fashion the couple set about to clear up
a patch of ground and to acquire ownership of stock.
This occurred in 1880, long before the Frisco railway was built
through what is now LeFlore county. However, on account of the
influx of whites into the border areas of the Territory which
became so alarming as to cause Principal Chief, JACKSON
McCURTAIN, to use his military forces, known as the Light Horse,
to prevent illegal intrusion and occupancy of tribal lands, the
young couple in order to enjoy a wider range for their stock,
moved to a point about four miles north of what is now Poteau on
Tarby Prairie.
Soon after making this move, the husband, DAVIS JAMES, was
stricken with pneumonia and died, leaving the young mother with
four small children to provide for. Fortunately for her, the
Frisco railway was being constructed at the time, late in 1886
and part of 1887, near where she lived, and this activity
provided a ready and profitable market for what produce she had
to sell, such as milk, butter, eggs, meat and vegetables. Her
husband, having been of a provident disposition, had accumulated
quite a number of good milch cows, a large number of hogs and
chickens and with a ready market for the products of these
animals and fowls the task of providing for her fatherless
children was considerably lightened.
Of her young married life in the Indian Territory she relates
that Wallsburg, near which place she first lived, was located on
the Fort Smith - Fort Towson road at a point about fifteen miles
south and two miles west of Fort Smith, and consisted of but one
store with a post office in the same building and some three or
four residences. All merchandise used in the southern half of
what is now LeFlore county was freighted in wagons from Fort
Smith and by reason of there being but one passage - that of the
Fort Smith - Fort Towson road - over the Backbone Mountain a
short distance to the north, these caravans all passed by the
little village and very often camped for the night.
MRS. DAVIS is one of that good old fashioned type of pioneer
woman who can still see and feel the many benefits enjoyed by
the early settlers and which are denied to us of the present.
She dwelt at length upon the pleasing appearance of the
smoke-houses of that early period with their bountiful supply of
superbly cured hams, shoulders and bellies, and the great jars
of snow-white lard which would be used in just the proper amount
in making the fluffy biscuits which were served at each meal.
She spoke, too, of the ease with which one could enjoy all the
good viands of that time with a minimum of cost or effort. Their
hogs ran at large and upon the falling of the acorns and nuts,
in the fall of the year would not only thrive but would fatten
and with just a little finishing off with corn for a few weeks
would, when butchered, provide meat equal to the very best.
Then, too, there were huckleberries growing on the mountain
sides, and wild plums everywhere which ripened just when the
crops would be "laid by"; they would be gathered and made up
into delectable preserves, jams and jellies and stored away for
winter use. Sweet potatoes, usually of the yellow yam variety,
would be "hilled up" which means that after being dug, large
holes, six or eight feet in diameter and about one foot in
depth, would be made in the ground somewhere near the house and
well lined with straw or hay, the luscious yams would be
carefully placed in this well protected bed and built up layer
upon layer to a height of four to five feet above the ground and
then all carefully covered over, first with a protective
covering of straw, leaves, cornstalks or other moisture
absorbing material, and this then all covered over with a
coating of soil sufficiently thick to prevent the entrance of
frost into the hill. A small vent would be left at the very top
through which the heat generated by the curing potatoes would
escape. Only sufficient amounts to last a few days were taken
out of the hills at one time, then the hole was carefully
covered over until a further supply was needed.
After the death of first husband, DAVIS JAMES, MRS. DAVIS
remained a widow until 1900, when she married a white man,
WILLIAM DAVIS, who died in 1925. She now lives alone in her own
rooms and is hale and hearty.
COMMENTS by
Submitter:
Please refer to the Interviews of MONTIE DAVIS PAGE (dated April
30, 1937)
Page, Montieand MARY JANE McKINNEY (dated June 15, 1937)
Mckinney,
Mary Jane
While there are some differences, there are enough similarities
in the Interviews of MARY JANE McKINNEY and MARY JANE DAVIS to
believe two separate interviews were given by MARY JANE -- one
under the name of McKINNEY and the other under the name of
DAVIS.
Other children of ELIZABETH (LEWIS) and JAMES W. McKINNEY, in
addition to MARY JANE, were: ANN, WILLIAM R., HARMON, EMILY,
HELENA, ROBERT H., VIRGINIA, AND WILSON L.
JAMES W. McKINNEY is identified as a Methodist Missionary and
preacher in charge of the New Hope Female Academy near
Skullyville in the Interview of Mrs. JOE (ZOE) LeFLORE at:
eLeflore,
Joe (Mrs.)
Transcribed and submitted by
Peggy Joice Horton
January 2002
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