Indian Pioneer Papers - Index

Indian Pioneer History Project for Oklahoma
Date: April 14, 1937
Name: J. E. (Mrs.) Hilton --
            Elizabeth (Lizzie) Lucas Ford Hilton
Post Office: Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Residence Address: 314 Northeast 11th Street
Date of Birth: 1865
Place of Birth: Manchester, Clay Co., Kentucky
Father: Col John J. Lucas
Place of Birth: near Manchester, Kentucky
Information on father: Died 11 April 1896
Mother: Maria Brawner Williams
Place of birth: near Manchester, Kentucky
Information on mother: Died in 1868
Field Worker: Harry M. Dreyer
Interview:

I, Mrs. J. E. HILTON, was born in Manchester, Kentucky in 1865.  My maiden name was LUCAS.  My mother’s name before she was married, was WILLIAMS.  Both of my parents were born near Manchester, Kentucky.  Mother had four children.  She died in 1868.  Father died April 11, 1896.  My father, Colonel John Lucas, enlisted in the 16th U. S. Infantry in 1847.  Was Captain from 1861 to 1864 and discharged in 1864.  My grandfather, Daniel GARRARD, was a soldier in the Army, volunteered from Kentucky in 1812 and was discharged in 1813.  My uncle, whose name was (James) Garrard, served in the 75th Regiment under William J. Bryan in 1855.  He was governor (second) of Kentucky.  He was elected in 1796 and reelected and served until 1804.  This statement is from a letter of William J. Fields, written to me, from him.  He was governor in 1927 and checked the records for me.

I came to Oklahoma (Indian Territory) in the winter of 1879.  I rode in the caboose from Newton, Kansas to Caldwell, Kansas, the end of the railroad then.  And rode on the wagon freight lines on top of sacks of flour from Caldwell to the Half Moon Ranch, with my brother and uncle.  I had two brothers, an aunt and my uncle W. G. Williams, who were in Oklahoma long before I came here.  We were from the 20th day of November to the 6th day of December, 1879, traveling from Caldwell to the Half Moon Ranch.

I met my first husband, Samuel L. FORD at Caldwell, Kansas, in 1879 and married him at Anadarko shortly after I met him.  Park at Anadarko at that time issued the Certificate and Mr. Hunt, an Indian Agent married us.  My husband, Mr. Ford, was born in Fayette County, Indiana.  He was Lieutenant in the Army under Captain Phirus A. Card, Company “D”, 21st Regiment, Illinois 1865; fought in the battles of Liberty Gap, Pine Mountain, Kenesaw Mountain, Jonesboro, Arkansas, Franklin, Nashville, Fredericktown, Siege of Corinth, Pariville, Kentucky.  He was wounded in this battle.  Battle of Knob Gap, Stone River, Chickamauga, and battle of Atlanta.  He was First Lieutenant of Illinois Volunteers in 1865.  He was sent by the government to Fort Riley and Fort Arthur to keep depredations from Indians.  In 1867 he made the treaty with the Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians at Darlington.  He helped move the Indians there.

In his employment in the Army he helped take the Kiowas and Comanches and settled them at Anadarko.  He was teamster for the government and cut first sod to build adobe houses for Fort Sill when it was built in 1867 and 1868.  He was with General Hatch then.  (Mr. Ford was discharged at Houston, Texas, and later died there.)  He went to Anadarko and farmed there and began teaming and freighting for himself.  Mr. Ford freighted from Fort Sill to Vinita, then Indian Territory, and from Caddo in Choctaw Nation (Bryan County, OK).  From Dennison, Texas, Caldwell, Kansas, and Honeywell, Kansas.  In 1869 we lived and farmed on the MAXFIELD farm at Pauls Valley.

Mr. Ford was ordered off the reservation in 1880.  An Indian Agent tried to put him off.  The complaint was carried to Washington.  Samuel L. Ford, showing his long service and right to make a living farming, was permitted to stay.  He also worked on the Half Moon Ranch which belonged to my Uncle W. G.  Williams.  Bill Murray used to work on this ranch.

My brother was killed by the Kiowa and Comanches in July, 1885 when Pat HENNESSEY was killed.  Mr. Ford was freighting down this road from Caldwell, Kansas, and missed being killed, by about an hour.  Many rushed to get their belongings together and what they could get as souvenirs of those that were killed.  I was well acquainted with Dave PAYNE and cooked many a meal for him at our house.

Mr. Ford also farmed at the present site of Anadarko and worked for Charles and William CLEVELAND, putting up ice on the south side of town.  They would pack this ice in a dug out to keep over the summer.  Cleveland was President then and John Harris was clerk there.  There was a single store there operated by permit from the government.  This was a Kiowa gathering place at this store.  I have seen Kiowas take their plows and harrows and set fire to them as they did not like to farm.

The Kiowa’s interpreter was Sim Po Ziddley.  He thought he was living pretty good.  He was pretty intelligent.  Colonel Sneed bought this store and sold it.  In 1886, he bought the store back again.  I have a picture of the store.  Also have a picture of the Kiowa and Arapaho Chief Ambassadors to Washington.

This was about the time Ande Le Martanis, Mexican, whose wife was a white missionary, was captured by the Apaches.  He was sent to Mexico once, but as he had a good many relatives in Oklahoma, he always came back.

The first store was built in 1872 in Anadarko, the original owner being Colonel FRED.  Colonel Fred, a white man, came there from Wheeling, VA under permit from the Government to open a store.

I have a picture of the Kiowa Agency, November 1907.  A picture of prominent Indians, Indian Agent and U. S. Attorney, John Hendrick.  I have a picture of Grana Houston, wife of Sam Houston, a Wichita Indian.  I have a picture of “Match”, wife of Chief of the Apaches, cooking dogs, that were given to her by Mr. Ford and I.  We had raised several pups and gave them away to the Apache Indian squaw.

I, also, have the compass that Mr. Ford used in the original survey of the Kiowa and Comanche Country.

My father, grandfathers (? Lucas and Sidney M. Williams), and grandmother (?  Lucas) were full-blood Cherokee Indians.  I was adopted by the Kiowa and Comanches.

Lone Wolf, Konialtie, Big Tree and Quanah Parker picked 160 acres of land for me and my four children but my husband refused to live there.  At that time, part of this property, after being again surveyed, became part of the Chickasaw Country.

The Mission was built there in 1900.  My son went to school.  He wanted to be a Catholic Priest.  (Father Isadore was head of the Mission.  He use to drink a lot of beer, and my son always said that Father Isadore would say to him, “Do not do as I do, but do as I tell you to do.”)  My son, John H. Ford, fought in the World  War in France.  He was a Sergeant in the 16th Company, and received a shrapnel wound.  He was returned to Bronx Hospital, New York.  He died of cancer, a result of his wound, shortly after being returned to the United States.  He was not back home before he died.

Two weeks after I arrived in Oklahoma on the Half Moon Ranch, my uncle invited all the Indian Tribes in and had horse races and dances.  That started at midnight and lasted until the following Wednesday, at noon.  A lot of beef and hogs were killed for the feast.  Indian children would take liver from a hog and break the gaul and spread over the liver.  The children would eat this raw with blood streaming from the raw meat down their chins from each side of their lips.  They would take the stomachs and cut them open, fill with flour and cook into dough to feast on.  The Indians camped beside the race tracks while others were at the ranch houses.

We danced square dances and then went down and joined in the Indian dances.

The Indians usually were friendly so long as there was anything to eat.  They were a good deal like the Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce, so long as there was a banquet to sit up to, but after the food was all eaten they are different.  This is the way the Indians were.

George Washington, was Chief of the Caddo Indians and his daughter, Annie Williams, was wife of W. G. Williams, owner of Half Moon Ranch, who was my Uncle.  All my family except the younger generation are gone.  I am the only one left.  Mr. Hilton came here in 1908 and we were married.

I, Mrs. Hilton, have seen deer split watermelon with their hoofs, scrape melon loose on the inside, drink juice and then eat melon.  While the (ra)coon would eat melon without breaking the inside loose.  There were also lots of fish, quail and wild turkeys.  My first husband used to leave me a gun in the house, and in 1884, the quail were so thick that from the window sill of the house with the butt end of the gun against the sill so that it would not kick me, I killed 28 quail with a single shot.

I have seen turkey walking four a breast.  I had caught a fish out of the Washita River in 1886, that weighed 50 pounds.

[NOTE:  Mrs. J. E. Hilton is Elizabeth (Lizzie) Lucas Ford Hilton, daughter of Col. John J. Lucas and Maria Brawner Williams.  Maria was a sister of William Garrard Williams. - submitted by Sandi Carter - A Williams relative ]

Submitted to OKGenWeb by Sandi Carter <SandKatC@aol.com> 07-1999.