Indian Pioneer Papers - Index

Indian Pioneer History Project for Oklahoma
Date: January 25, 1937
Name: Elizabeth Ballard Sanders
Post Office: East of Braggs, Cherokee Nation
Date of Birth: January 19, 1868 
Place of Birth: 
Father: 
Place of Birth: 
Other information about father: 
Mother: 
Place of Birth:
Other information about mother:
Interviewed by: C. C. Davidson 
Interview #

I was born January 19, 1868 in the Cherokee Nation in what was known as the White Oak settlement, nine miles East of Braggs, I.T. 

My mother's people came here from Tennessee with what was known as the first settlers. My great-grandmother died on the way over here. My grandmother was only nine years old at the time. She (Betsy Riley Romine) and her father came on alone. She grew up and married Wright Romine who was my mother's father. He died and she later married Jacob Bushyhead, an uncle of Chief Dennis Bushyhead. 

My father's people came here from Tennessee also, but they came later as emigrants when the Indians were driven West. My people were not full bloods. There was some white blood in the family, but I don't know just what per cent. My father, Thomas Ballard, ran away from home when he was 16 years old and joined the Northern Army and fought in the Civil War. I can just remember hearing him say he fought in the Battle of Bull Run and that of Bunker Hill. They are the only battles I can remember hearing him mention. He and my mother were married after the war was over in 1865.

When I was real small my mother had her loom, her spinning wheel and her wool cards. Father always kept some sheep to produce the wool and mother carded the wool into rolls, spun it into thread, then she would dye the thread in different colors, making her own dye from the barks of different trees, such as Oak, Ash, hulls from green Walnuts. She would then weave the thread in to cloth and make clothes for the family. She knit our socks and stockings. The men all wore what they called hunting shirts. The cloth was woven with stripes of all colors, generally running the full length of the garment. Mother would make the garments and then trim them with fringe which she would make from yarn thread. 

When I can first remember my father had a yolk of oxen that he did his plowing and farm work with, but later he bought some horses. We didn't raise any cotton in hose days. Just corn and a little wheat for bread. The nearest mill to grind the wheat was what was called the Cane Hill Mill, just across the line in Arkansas. When they would take a load of wheat to the mill, it would take several days to make the trip and of course, every farmer had a few cows and hogs, killed their own meat and of course, had plenty of milk and butter and with our gardens all we ever bought for the table was a little sugar and coffee. When we would run out of money for these things, we would sell a cow or a hog. And, in addition to that, wild game was very plentiful. I have seen many, many times 12 or 15 deer in a drove grazing around on the hillside near our home. Wild turkeys were so plentiful that we would eat turkey sometimes until we would become so tired of it that we wouldn't even shoot a turkey at all.

There was plenty of squirrel, raccoon, fox and opossum. The man would hunt and trap the wild animals for their furs. When someone in the neighborhood wanted to build a house, clear a piece of ground or make rails to fence his ground, instead of hiring hands to do it, he would prepare all kinds of meat and other foods and invite everyone for miles around to come. The women cooked the food on log fires in big wash pots. They would piece quilts and quilt them while the men put up the building, cleared the ground, split the rails or whatever the job was. The man accomplishing the most work would receive a prize, such as tobacco or money and the woman that pieced the most quilt blocks or quilted the most would get a cake and when the days work was done everyone danced. 

My father (Thomas Ballard) was a member of an Indian fraternity, called the Kee-Too-Wahs Society. While my family was not fullbloods, we lived in the neighborhood of many fullbloods and they were all very fine neighbors. They were all honest and lived very much as the people live today. Of course, they had very few churches. They would have camp meetings. People would come for miles and miles and bring their families and camp and stay for weeks at a time. They would kill cattle, hogs and sometimes wild deer and turkeys. The meats were cooked in big pots, pits were dug and the meats were barbecued. Everyone ate together. The preacher always preached and prayed in the Indian language. The first school I ever went to was known as the White Oak school. It was built of logs, hewed square. The school had a good board floor in it and the seats, benches we called them, were made of pine lumber and painted. Captain Cookson was instrumental in organizing the school and building the house. I can remember him well. He was a large man, very gruff in his ways. I was always afraid of him. He wore long beard, reaching almost to his waist line, but with all his gruff ways he was a very good man, a good citizen and very valuable to the community. 

All full blood children of that neighborhood went to school at White Oak. They soon learned to read, write and speak the English language. Later I went to school at Braggs. The school there was called South Bethel. There were many fullbloods there, also, but they were all taught the English language and the customs of the white people. Henry Starr, who later became a notorious outlaw, was one of my school mates. He was a very fine boy, studied hard and learned very fast. He was always very genteel and polite. 

The Indian burial custom was considerably different to that of the white man. They buried their dead with singing and prayer, and when the casket had been lowered into the grave the men would all march around the grave, each one throwing in a handful of dirt. After the grave was filled they would go to the nearest stream and wash their face and hands. They said by doing this, that they would not be lonesome for the dead. Then months, sometimes a year later, all the relatives and friends would gather and build a brush arbor, prepare all kinds of meats and food. Great crowds would come from miles around and a preacher would preach the funeral. I knew of one man who had his wife's funeral preached several months after she had been buried, and before the crowd had been dismissed he stepped out before the preacher with a bride and was married again. 

My father is buried at the Pettit cemetery between Braggs and Gore. My mother is buried at the Cookson cemetery. (see note below) 

The fullbloods used to gather all kinds of nuts from the woods, dry them, pound them in to fine bits with stones, then run them through a kind of sifter they called a riddle. A riddle was made from small strips of cane. After the nuts were run through the riddle, they put it into a mortar and pounded it with a pestle until it was a fine powder. It was then ready for use. They would pour hot water over it and run it through a sieve and it was eaten with hominy. They called it cenuchi. 

In April 16, 1899, I was married to Samuel Sanders who served for 4 years as representative of the Cherokee Nation in the Cherokee council at Tahlequah. He was a member of the Council when statehood was declared. I only attended two stomp dances in my life. One at Tahlequah and one at Sallisaw. They would gather for the stomp dance just like they would for the camp meetings. They prepared plenty of food and _____ stayed for days at a time. The women dressed in Indian costume with great strings of shells of terrapins, turtles and such, around their ankles. They always had a big log fire burning and danced in a circle around that fire, always chanting or humming and sometimes whooping. The nearest post office to my old home in the White Oak settlement, until in 1882 or 1883, was at Fort Gibson, but in 1882 or 1883 a post office was established there near the White Oak school. It was called Garfield post office after James A. Garfield, who was President at that time.

[Comment by Betty Sanders Spencer: Caroline was married to David Sanders and she, David and their son, Arthur were buried at their homeplace off of Black Hollow road and later moved to Greenleaf in 42 when Camp Gruber was built) 

Indian Pioneer History Project for Oklahoma
Date: January 18, 1938
Name: Elizabeth Ballard Sanders
Interviewed by: Ella Robinson
Interview #2

This is a second interview 
My grandparents on my mother's side were Wright Romine and Betsy Riley. Grandfather was an Irishman who came into the old Cherokee Nation in the early days and married my grandmother, a half breed Cherokee. They started westward with the first colony of Cherokees, known as "old settlers" in 1834. As they were crossing the Mississippi river on a ferry boat, my grandmother (Betsy Riley Romine) died. My mother was a small child and never had any very distinct recollection of her mother but said she well remembered after her mother's death that they opened a large chest that contained her clothes and she saw a lot of gold money in the chest. They halted on their journey and buried her beside the river. Her sister, Mrs. David Carter and her husband who were in the party took charge of my mother and reared her.

When they reached their destination they located in the vicinity that was afterward known as Park Hill, near Tahlequah. Grandfather (Wright Romine) was a large slave owner and had brought his slaves with him. With the help of the Negroes they erected comfortable log houses in which to live and house the Negroes. 

When the Cherokee Female Seminary was established in 1846, mother (Caroline) was enrolled in the first class. Mrs. Jane Ross, niece of Chief John Ross, was one of the teachers. Martha Schricmaher, mother of Mr. William Gulager, was a classmate. 

I have heard my mother relate many amusing and unusual incidents that occurred during her childhood in a new country. One was when the children killed a sheep. Her uncle David Carter raised sheep as did many of the Cherokees. In the herd was a ram that would chase the children whenever he saw them and they had been warned against him. One day he attacked them and my mother did not run and when the ram came in reach she grabbed him by the horns and gave his neck a twist and he fell to the ground. Another child ran for the ax and they chopped his head off. 

At the beginning of the Civil War, all of the slaves owned by her uncle ran away one night and as that left them entirely without servants much of the heavy work devolved upon her. As she was not accustomed to it, it was very distasteful. Later her uncle's family refugeed to Texas as did many of the Cherokees. Mother did not go but preferred to stay with friends and other relatives. 

My father, Thomas Ballard, a ¾ Cherokee Indian, joined the Confederate Army at the age of 17 and served under General Stand Watie. His Captain's name was White Catcher. He participated in the Battle of Pea Ridge and all the skirmishes in that section of the country. After the war was over he met and married my mother, Caroline Romine. They established their new home in the Cookson Hills two miles from the Illinois courthouse. I was born there January 19, 1868. Jack Cookson for whom the community was named was one of our neighbors, a highly respected man and a leader in the community. Mr. Cookson operated a general store and cotton gin at Garfield. His son, Levi Cookson served several years as a member of the Cherokee council. Tom Madden who married my sister, was a pardner in business with Mr. Cookson. My father engaged in farming and stock raising. The chief source of his income was from cattle which were no great expense to raise as the range was fine and free. 

I entered school at the Cherokee Female Seminary at the age of 16 and was there when the building burned in 1886. Miss Mable Cobb, afterwards Dr. Cobb of Wagoner, and Miss Ida Archer of Pryor were the teachers there. Miss Florence Wilson was the principal. 

In 1889 I was married to Samuel S. Sanders, a Cherokee, and we located on a farm near Braggs. We were the parents of four children, all living. They are William Sanders of Braggs, Sam of Muskogee, Mrs. Jacqueline Starr Benge of Fayetteville, Arkansas and Mrs. Katie Combs of Haskell. My husband attended the Cherokee Male Seminary and received his business training at Sedalia, Missouri. He served several terms as a member of the Cherokee Council and was always interested in the political life of his people. He engaged in cattle raising and farming as that was the chief industry at that time. During the first Oklahoma State Legislature he served as Journal Clerk, at Guthrie, which was then the capital. Ex-Governor Murray was one of his most intimate friends. Mr. Sanders died in 1910. 

Once when the Cherokees rolls were to be copied, I with several other Cherokee girls was given the work at Tahlequah. This was the first time a woman had ever been employed in clerical work in the Cherokee Nation. 

I recall that while we lived in the Cookson Hills, among our neighbors were the Pettit and Ratliff families, well known in the Cherokee Nation. We often had full blood Indian preachers who came to the school house and preached. One day I had a girl friend, who was white, visiting me and asked her to go with me to hear the Indian preacher. She went but got dreadfully frightened, as she did not understand anything the preacher said, fearing that he might be planning to massacre the whites. 

The Cookson Hills community was a respectable, quiet place with none but the most desirable citizens living there. A few years later some bad characters found they could take refuge in the inaccessible country and did so. Then with a lot of advertising from the United States officers, the community became one of the bad sections of the country by reputation. For that reason perhaps it was taken over by the Federal Government and will be converted into a public playground.

Transcribed for OKGenWeb by Betty Spencer bjss@intellex.com  November 2001.