Indian Pioneer
History Project for Oklahoma
Date: July 20, 1937
Name: Edgar Moore
Post Office: Spiro, Oklahoma
Date of Birth: January 7, 1873
Place of Birth: Scullyville, Choctaw Nation, Indian Territory
Father: Lyman Moore
Place of Birth: Alabama
Information on father: 3/4 Creek Indian
Mother: Fannie Eugenia McClain
Place of birth:
Information on mother: Choctaw, daughter of Susan Moncrief
and James Monroe McClain
Field Worker: Gomer Gower
Interview: #7073
BIOGRAPHY AND REMINISCENCES OF
Edgar Moore, Spiro, Okla.
July 20, 1937
Mr. Moore, the subject of
this sketch, was born at Scullyville on January 7th 1873, of
parent, who, when quite young, were brought from Alabama to the
Indian Territory in compliance with the terms of the treaty made
with the Federal Government at Dancing Rabbit Creek council
grounds on September 27th, 1830, on the part of the Choctaw
Indians and the treaty made on March 24, 1832, on the part of
the Creek Indians at Washington, D. C.
He attended the community
school at Scullyville until he reached the age of fourteen
years. Afterwards he was a pupil at Spencer Academy, near
Goodland, and then he was selected as one of a group of fifteen
young men to attend Roanoke College at Salem, Virginia, where
after one year, he was transferred to the Kemper Military
Academy at Booneville, Missouri, and where Judge D. C.
MCCURTAIN, now in legal department of the Indian Service at
Washington, D. C.; Reford BOND, now Chairman of the State
Corporation Commission, and J. B. MCALESTER, attended at the
same time.
This, indeed is a
remarkable accomplishment when it is considered his father,
Lyman Moore, died when he was scarcely eight years of age, and
reflects honor and credit upon his mother who was, before her
marriage, a member of the MONCRIEF family, for her maternal
solicitation for the education of her children in the absence
through death, of her life mate. She was permitted by Divine
Providence to live to the ripe old age of eighty nine years, and
was the mother of seven children, Edgar A., Lyman R., Louis C.,
(now dead), Herbert H., Napoleon B., Gertrude (now Mrs. BOWMAN),
and Lena (now Mrs. SMITH).
He was a member of the
first legislature and served as a member by appointment of
William H. Murray, who was then Speaker of the House, of the
Squirrel Rifle Brigade.
With the exception of the
years 1903-1904 he has been a member, and still is, of the
Choctaw Council. A membership which he has enjoyed since its
institution and of which he feels justly proud.
The land holdings of the
Moore family, before allotments were made embraced the area now
occupied by the city of Spiro. With rare foresight the two
brothers had a townsite platted on this land and sold lots
contingent upon the approval of the Townsite Commission. The
location of the townsite together with its provision for streets
of adequate width as shown by the plat was quickly approved by
the Townsite Commission, and the contingent sales were made
bonafide and in conformity with the townsite regulations. Thus
the beautiful little city of Spiro was born, and although it has
not attained note as an industrial centre, it has enjoyed a
brisk agricultural trade due to its location in an exceedingly
rich farming and stockraising area.
Mr. Moore, aside from his
activities in State and Tribal affairs, has devoted his life to
stockraising and overseeing of his vast farm interests.
His grandfather Moncrief
was tragically killed and his body burned at the time of a negro
uprising with occurred near Scullyville about 1860 or 1861. This
uprising was instigated by an overseer, in the employ of Mr.
Moncrief, who in reality was a northern sympathizer. After the
uprising, with its tragic result, the overseer took the slaves
out of the Choctaw Nation, disposed of them and never returned.
In another uprising which occurred about the same time, three
brothers, Joseph, Robert and Dave HALL, were brutally murdered
by the slaved owned by them, under the leadership of another
faithless overseer employed by the Hall family. However in this
case, the traitorous overseer was in turn killed by a surviving
brother who was assisted by one of the slaves who had heroically
refused to join in the uprising.
During the turbulent years
of the Civil War many of the families who owned slaves and
plantations in Scullyville County went as refugees to Doaksville,
and in some instances to Clarksville, Texas, taking the slaves
with them.
At the close of the Civil
War, the negroes who had been scattered in the confusing
conditions attendant on the prosecution of the war, in may
instances returned to the homes of their former owners and
insisted on being cared for in the same manner as that in which
they had been cared for before their freedom.
It is significant that
most, if not all, of the slaves in all the area lying north of
the Kiamichi Mountains and south of the Arkansas River were
owned by plantation owners having possessions in the Arkansas
and Poteau River bottoms, and that these slaves were owned in
the main by intermarried whites or mixed blood Indians, while
the fullblood Indians selected their homesites on the vast
prairies where game was more plentiful. Jonico Prairie, so
called by reason of its first settler being John JONICO, a
fullblood Choctaw Indian, was noted for its abundance of game
and excellent fishing streams. The Poteau River is its eastern
boundary, while on its south side Brazil Creek traverses it for
several miles.
What a paradise for the
nimrod and the angler. The present village of Panama is located
on its eastern side, while it extends westward into Haskell
County. Its north and south extent is approximately fifteen
miles. Small wonder the fullblood Choctaws saw in this a
realization of their dreams; a return to the life of their
forefathers in which for unnumbered centuries they had lived by
the chase. One can mentally picture their extreme happiness and
contentment amid such surroundings, and which they could still
be enjoying had the whites not thrust their unwelcome presence
into their midst.
As a relic of those bygone
days, Mr. Moore has in his possession a treasure in the form of
a letter which was written by his paternal grandmother, dated at
Micco Creek Nation, West of Arkansas to her son, (his father)
Lyman Moore, while he attended school at Cane Hill, Arkansas,
admonishing and pleading with him to shun evil companions while
he was thus unavoidably deprived of her personal care and
direction. Time has obliterated the date, however since he was
born in 1837, it may reasonably be presumed it was written
somewhere between the years 1850 and 1855.
A perusal of this letter
will set at ease all misgivings we may have as to the
intellectual attainments of the Indians of that period who had
been favored with educational advantages. It fairly breathes
maternal love; couched in language so beautiful and expressive
that one is led to believe that the communion of the Most High
was very, very near when it was written. The chirography, too,
is excellent and attractive, having a similarity to both the Old
English Script and the Spencerian types of handwriting. A copy
of this letter may possibly be in the archives of the Historical
Society, as the original was sent to it as historical matter and
afterwards it was returned to Mr. Moore, who doubtless receives
much inspiration from the angelic thoughts expressed by its
author.
Mr. Moore, entering upon
young manhood in the early nineties, has not only personally
experienced the epochal changes which have been brought about
since that period, but has been highly instrumental in directing
the course of those changes on through the years. Truly a type
of citizen of which Oklahoma, his native state, may well feel
proud.
Submitted by Sandi Carter <SandKatC@aol.com>
07-2000.
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