Indian Pioneer Papers - Index
Indian Pioneer History Project for Oklahoma
Date: January 18, 1938
Name: Rachel Candy
Post Office:
Date of Birth: February 16, 1880
Place of Birth:
Father: Louis Dazley
Place of Birth:
Other information about father: German
Mother: Aggie Raincrow Dazley
Place of Birth:
Other information about mother: full blood Cherokee
Interviewed by:
Interview #
I was born February 16, 1880 at what was called the old Garfield place, now known as the Ballard place, about 10 miles northeast of the town of Braggs.
My father was Louis Dazley, german and my mother was Aggie Raincrow Dazley, full blood Cherokee. I was reared in the immediate vicinity of my birth place and attended the Cherokee National schools. My father engaged in farming and operated a grist mill on Little Greenleaf Creek about 1 1/2 miles southeast of Braggs, this being the first steam mill in the Cherokee Nation.
During my early life this country was very sparsely settled and our roads were only trail made by the early settlers and for several years our closest trading post was J. J. Patricks store, at that time situated on the Arkansas river north of Braggs. After the Missouri Pacific Railraod built through the Territory Patrick ___?___.
In 1897 I was married to Jesse Candy, full blood Cherokee. Three children were born to us, two now living. My husband died December 10, 1910. When Jesse and I got married I was 18 and Jesse just a little older. We began housekeeping in a one room log cabin which Jesse built on his claim near Greenleaf creek. The cabin had a fireplace in which we did our cooking as we had no stove at first. In warm weather I cooked on a fire on the ground under a brush arbor at the back of the cabin. My cooking utensils consisted of a dutch oven, a cast iron pot and a skillet. Our living expenses were not mush of a problem as the only articles we had to buy were our sugar and coffee, as we raised our corn from which our bread was made. As for salt, there was a salt water spring near our cabin from which Jesse would carrry jugs of salt water with which I would mix my bread and cook other food that needed salt. As for meat, that was the least of our worries as we had our choice at all times of killing deer and wild hogs.
Transcribed for OKGenWeb and submitted by Betty Spencer <bjss@intellex.com>, November 2001.