Indian Pioneer Papers - Index

Indian Pioneer History Project for Oklahoma
Date: March 18, 1938
Interview: Henry J. Stevenson
Post Office: El Reno, Oklahoma
Residence Address: Route E Box 1
Date of Birth: February 13, 1864
Place of Birth: Ohio
Father: Benjamin Franklin Stevenson 
Place of Birth: Ohio about 1832 
Other information about father: Died in about 1880
Mother: Mary Lavina (Jenkins) Stevenson 
Place of Birth: Missouri in 1842
Other information about mother: Died in 1873
Interviewed by: Nora L. Lorrin
Interview #10268
Vol. 82, page[s] 405-414

Henry J. Stevenson was born three and one half miles northwest of Salineville, Ohio, February 13, 1864. His father, Benjamin Franklin Stevenson [Stephenson], was born in Ohio, near Salineville, though not in the same place as his son Henry, in 1832 and he died on a farm near the same town in about 1880. His mother, Mary Lavina (Jenkins) Stevenson [Stephenson], was born near St. Louis, Missouri, about 1842 and died in 1873. Mr. Stevenson lived in Ohio until he was fourteen years of age and after that he spent his time roaming over the west. He was in Old Mexico and worked back and forth from Old Mexico to British Columbia, working on farms, in cow camps, and the various mines of Nevada. He was living in Denver, Colorado, when he read about the opening of the Kickapoo lands, that were located north and west of Shawnee, in 1895. He came with the intention of getting a claim, coming on the train to Oklahoma City." "They were building the old Choctaw railroad at that time, but had not gotten any farther than Shawnee with the rails but the grade extended on west to Oklahoma City. Mr. Stevenson walked from Oklahoma City to Shawnee, following the railroad grade all the way.

After arriving and going to all that trouble to get to the scene of the run he decided against trying for a claim. He was on foot and was unable to get a horse and there were at least ten men for every claim available. There was only about 200,000 acres of land in the reservation, much of it had been allotted to the Indians and about half of it was reserved for schools. Henry figured that if he did stake a claim he would probably have to fight for it so he watched the run and passed up the opportunity and returned to Oklahoma City.

He opened a photograph gallery on Broadway between Grand and Main Streets. There is a skyscraper now on the lot that he occupied and the lot was offered to him at the time for $150.00 and they tried very hard to sell it to him at that price. He turned the offer down, but ran the gallery for about a year calling it "The Stevenson's Art Gallery." He moved to El Reno on the first day of May, in 1896.

He got a job from a fellow of the name of Wallace, who was running a studio on Bickford Avenue in the 200 block on the east side of the street just south of the present Safeway Store that is located at 201 South Bickford. He worked for this man for quite awhile and then Mr. Wallace had to leave on account of his wife's health and Mr. Stevenson ran the studio for him for quite awhile after he went away, finally buying it from Mr. Wallace.

El Reno was pretty badly scattered when Mr. Stevenson first came here. There were little wooden buildings scattered all over town. A very few were made of brick, among these were the Kerfoot Hotel and a three story brick building at the corner of Bickford and Woodson Streets. The building is still there and is now occupied on the ground floor by the Blair's Drug Store at 101 South Bickford. Kerfoot Hotel is here yet. The most of the business was on Choctaw Avenue. There was no paving and no sewers and no city water and they hauled the water in barrels. You put your own barrel out and a man would keep it filled for so much a month. It cost Mr. Stevenson $1.00 per month for his water because, being a photographer, he used a lot of water. His photograph gallery was just next door south of Henry Schafer's saloon, which was located on the corner at 201 South Bickford.

After prohibition he bought the Schlitz Building at 115 South Bickford, and moved his gallery to the new location. He ran it from 1896 until eight years ago. His business was good all the time that he worked at his trade. He had three competitors, but he figured that he had at least two-thirds of the business in town until his eyes "went bad" on him about eight years ago and he had to quit and take things easy. He nearly always went out to the beef issues in order to get pictures of the old Indians, who were always there by the dozens. But it wasn't easy to get pictures of these old people for they were very superstitious about having their pictures taken. They thought that every time they got their pictures taken it took away some of their spirits. They would hide, shut their eyes, lie down on the ground and cover up with their shawls or blankets. In fact, would do anything they could think of to prevent their pictures from being taken.

Mr. Stevenson was out there at the Fort once and there were a lot of colorful and picturesque characters there who would make fine photos but he could not get any of them to pose for him. He was getting discouraged, when he ran into a young educated Indian who could talk good English. Mr. Stevenson told him that if he would persuade some of those old Indians to pose for him so that he could get some good pictures, he would give this young man two-bits. He does not know just what the young Indian told them or rather didn't until later, but the Indians all came running, after the young Indian talked to them and Mr. Stevenson got some good pictures. It developed after the pictures were taken that the Indians had all thought that each one of them was to get a two-bit piece. It would have "broke" him to have given them so much and so Mr. Stevenson told the Indians that he was not sure whether he had gotten a picture or not and they would have to wait until he had developed the plates to see. The Indians were angry and followed Mr. Stevenson to town. He paid two-bits to the young fellow whom he had promised to pay but he had to tell each on of those Indians that he had not been successful in getting a picture. One of the old Indians was smarter than the rest and he did not believe what Mr. Stevenson said but was very angry and he told them that they had been tricked and the Indians palavered around for quite awhile. Some of the Indians laughed and took it good naturedly but the one old Indian didn't like it a little bit but they finally got tired and went away and on back to the Fort.

When Mr. Stevenson first began to take pictures of the Indians he had to pay them to let him take them; later, he could get their pictures just for giving them one of the prints and later still, his gallery was over-run with Indians primping and using his comb to comb their dirty, greasy hair. They would pay to have their pictures taken, just as white people did but they had to be educated to it. Many times Mr. Stevenson's photograph gallery has been so full of Indians, intent on having their pictures taken that there was hardly room to turn around. They used his comb and got him in trouble on account of it as they were not clean and many of them had head lice. He got these head lice once and did not know it until a barber, very untactfully tried to tell him about it when he was in his shop one day, having a hair cut. Mr. Stevenson figured that the barber should have taken him to one side and not have told him outright. Anyway he did not catch on to what was meant until he got back to the shop and started thinking about what the barber had said. It made him so angry at this barber that he never patronized him again. It took Mr. Stevenson and his wife a month to get the pests out of his hair. You had to watch for things like that, however, as those old Indians knew nothing about sanitation; they did not think it was any disgrace to have head lice.

Mr. Stevenson sold a hundred and fifty Indian pictures to the State Historical Society of Oklahoma City, about twenty-five years ago.

He never personally saw the Indians using bows and arrows to kill the cattle at the beef issues, but he and a Reverend Grainger protested to T. F. Hensley, the Mayor of El Reno, about 1898, when it was reported that the Indians were going to be allowed to use their bows and arrows for killing the cattle at a beef issue at that time. It seemed so unnecessarily brutal and there was always so many men, women and children out there, he was afraid that someone would be killed or badly hurt. He and Reverend Grainger protested and whether what they said about it caused it to be stopped, he doesn't know, but any way, it was no longer permitted. The Government from then on furnished expert riflemen to kill the poor beasts.

In the saloon era, it was not an uncommon sight to see a man lying dead drunk in the gutter, or in the back alley and often three or four men instead of just one would be lying there. For a while after he arrived in El Reno, he took his meals at a boarding house. They had an exceptionally fine cook there and he told the landlord that he was going to take her with him when he left; of course he had to keep his word so he married her. He and Mrs. Lillie Chapman were married December 17, 1895. She had one little girl when Mr. Stevenson married her and they had three children, two girls and one boy, after they were married. All four of the children are living and he has six grandchildren and two adopted grand children. Mr. Stevenson drew a number in the Kiowa and Comanche opening in 1901 but it was such a high number and his business was of so much more importance to him than he assumed a claim would be that he did nothing about it. He has lived in his present home on Sunset Drive, for twenty-seven years. It is a small, nice little home, outside the city limits, west.

Transcribed for OKGenWeb and submitted by Bobbi J. (Schiffman) Henley <bhenley@attglobal.net>, December 2001.