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Indian Pioneer Papers - Index

Indian Pioneer History Project for Oklahoma
Date: 27 May 1937
Name: Mrs. Bill Moncrief [Pauline Lina Maupin Moncrief]
Post Office: Chickasha, Grady Co., Oklahoma
Date of Birth: 17 September 1857
Place of Birth: Louisville, Jefferson Co., Kentucky
Father: John Maupin
Place of Birth: Manchester, Clay Co., Kentucky
Information on father: Died 18 April 1913
Mother: Mary Jane Williams
Place of birth: Clay Co., Kentucky
Information on mother: Died 20 May 1898
Field Worker: Thad Smith, Jr.

Interview with Mrs. Bill Moncrief
Chickasha, Grady, Oklahoma

My folks and I came by train to Caddo in 1874.  From there we traveled by covered wagon to Pauls Valley, in the Chickasaw Nation, where my father rented a farm and farmed for three years.  He raised between forty and fifty bushels of corn to the acre and sold it for 15 cents a bushel.

Mr. MILLER and Mr. GREEN each had a general mercantile store in Pauls Valley. George LAUGHLIN did the freighting for both stores from Caddo.

There were no schools or churches at Pauls Valley in 1874 that I remember; but there was a Chickasaw Indian preacher south of Pauls Valley named STAR.

In 1875 the Masons sponsored a Fourth of July Celebration at Erin Springs.  A barbecued beef dinner was enjoyed by all.  That night there was a dance at the home of Frank MURRAY, near Erin Springs.

In 1877 I married Bill MONCRIEF, a quarter-blood Choctaw Indian.  We drove to a place near Ardmore in a hack and were married by Judge BOYD.  We then made our home for some time on the Little Washita River.  We did our trading at Erin Springs.  The Store was owned by Doctor RYAN, and Church was held in the Masonic Hall.

Our home was a log house covered with slabs chipped off of logs that had been sawed into two shirt lengths and then covered with dirt.

There were all kinds of wild game with the exception of buffalo.  We dried lots of beef by cutting it in strips, and salting it, then putting it in the sunshine.

I have seen thousands of Texas Longhorn cattle come up the Chisholm Trail.  They usually crossed the Washita at what was called Rock Crossing, southeast of Chickasha, then trailed in a northerly direction toward Silver City, (now a ghost town) where they crossed the Canadian River.

In 1882 my husband and I moved to a place four miles northwest of where Chickasha now is.  We crossed the river at the Maupin Crossing, near Pensee, then a store and post office run by Jacob Descombus.  Meek SMITH had one of the largest herds of cattle near Chickasha.  His brand was called “Long O.”

I used to wash clothes for some of the cowboys and nearly all of them wore flannel shirts the year around.  They also wore high top boots that reached to their knees.  Not many of the cowboys in those days had razors and their whiskers and mustaches would grow out long.  I have seen some of the cowboys cut their whiskers with a small pair of scissors.  They could cut their whiskers so short that they would look like it hadn’t been over two days since they had been shaved.

Frank FRED had a store north of the Indian agency between the agency and the river, and he was a mighty find man.  Dr. HUME was the Government doctor at Anadarko.  Colonel F. H. HUNT was the Indian Agent and Mr. SLAGLE was the Government blacksmith.

I have seen the Government men issue cattle to the Indians for beef purposes.  They would call out the Indian’s name and then turn his beef out and the Indian would run it out a little way and shoot it down and have it dressed in a very short time.

NOTE: Mrs. Bill Moncrief is PAULINE LINA MAUPIN MONCRIEF

Transcribed by Sandi Carter   SandKatC@aol.com     08-1999.