Interview #
Field Worker: Maurice R. Anderson
Date: February 17, 1937
Name: Mr. Albert Rennie
Residence: Pauls Valley, Oklahoma
Date of Birth: January 3, 1863 ?
Place of Birth: Ontario, Canada ?
Father: ??
Mother: ??
(This interview on
microfilm at the OU Western History Collection is very faded and the first page is
unreadable. The other pages are very hard to read. If you have a clear copy of
this interview please send it so this interview may be completed. We start this
reading at the bottom of page 1)
A herd of cattle were driven from the vicinity of White Bead Hill
north and crossed the South Canadian River at or near the old Arbuckle crosing. They
were driven north past old Shawnee town and then on past Sac and Fox Agency, where the
trail lead northeast to Red(?) Fork.
The shipping pens had not been completed at Red(?) Fork and it was necessary for Mr.
Rennie to hold the herd o the grass waiting for the workmen to finish building
them. While he was waiting another herd of cattle arrived from the Whistler
Ranch at Sac and Fox Agency.
A storm on the night before the day they were to ship stampeded both herds. Rennie's
herd scattered. As it was a two or three day job to gather them up, Mr. Rennie
surrendered his first place to the Whistler herd which was shipped first.
Rennie's herd shipped over what is now the Frisco to past St. Louis and
sold through Daley, Miller and O????any, commission agents. Mr.
Rennie was gone from home on this trip three months.
In 1885, Albert Rennie bought up 660 head of fat
hogs from the Bead (?) pens and drove them from White Bead hill to Lehigh. Lehigh
became a shipping point after a branch line was built there from Atoka, Oklahoma. He
had to wait shipment for ten days and feed these hogs shelled corn which was shipped from
Denison, Texas. There was a strike on the ??aty railroad at this time and that was
their railroad he was to ship over.
The town of Whitebead was name after an old Indian woman, who lived in a
double log house on the hill and wore a string of white beads around her neck, so that was
why they called that place White Bead Hill, according to early settlers.
Mr. Rennie said, Whitebead Hill started to building up
in the early seventys, so it was in the seventys that Major Herlon set James
Rennie up in the mercantile business. Their store was in this double log
house, where this old Indian woman lived. I think she was a Caddo Indian. James
Rennie worked up a good business there. Later he built a frame store on the
hill and from time to time he added ????? on to this until his building was ?? feet long
and 50 feet wide, well stocked with general merchandise that would invoice around
$40,000.00. He sold in 1894 to ?.?. Stows(?) and John S.
Myers. G.C. ?ooke, son-in-law of Major Herlon
was clerking for James Rennie at the time the sale was made. James
Thompson, a farmer who lived across the Washita River from Whitebead Hill,
furnished the money for a mercantile store and G.C. ?ooke ran this store
for him. The lumber for these buldings was hauled from ?.?. Scratches plaining
mill at Stoke, Oklahoma. The saw mill was at Stringtown, north of Atoka on the ?, ?.
& T. Railroad. It was in 1887 that the first trains came through Pauls Valley,
Oklahoma.
William S.(?) Randolph owned a hotel at Whitebead Hill.
Jessie Moore, his daughter had held the office of clerk of the Supreme
Court of Oklahoma. Riley Bandy(?) owned a boarding house at Whitebead Hill, and he
was a partner of ?.?. Baker(?) in the livery business.
White Bead Hill grew to be a large village; hotel, blacksmith shop,
carpenter shop, livery barn, a cotton gin was built there and operated by Mr.
Blanch(?), later by ??? ?arry. The church that was built
there was the Methodist Church and conducted by J.C. Howell. Today
Whitebead is just another one of Oklahoma's ghost towns.
April 22, 1889, Albert Rennie and others made the run,
from the south bank of the South Canadian River. Mr. Rennie was on
horseback and located the town of Noble, Oklahoma. He was elected Mayor and was also
elected the first postmaster. He also was postmaster at White Bead Hill. He
was post master at both places at the same time.
Mr. Rennie and several others had previously looked
over the country to be opened in 1889 and he decided that Noble would be a very good
location for a town because the Canadian river is narrow at that place and this insured it
would be easy to bridge the river there.
However; when the bridge was built across the river it was put at
Purcell, probably in order to make the Saloons in Lexington more accessible to the
citizens of Purcell.
On May 2, 1890, United States Court was estabished at Muskogee in Indian
Territory now Oklahoma. Having jurisdiction over the Indian Territory in 1891, the
territory was divided into three tri?ical division with the honorable James M.
Shackelford holding court at Muskogee Division , south McAlester division two,
Ardmore division three. The United States Clerks office at Ardmore being opened by
Hon. ?.?. Matthews, and ?ownson M. Foster
at South McAlester. Deputy ?uncer ?? Nelson ?? Muskogee. Albert
Rennie was sworn in as citizen of the United States and was appointed to the
practice of law by Judge Shackelford of Muskogee.
Mr. Rennie opened his law office at Purcell, Indian
Territory in 1890, afterwards he was appointed by Judge Shackelford as
U.S. Commissioner at Wewoka, Indian Territory. He took up his residence at Ardmore,
Indian Territory in 1892.
In 1893, Mr. Albert Rennie married Miss Laura
Matthews of Ardmore, a daughter of Hon. ?.?. Matthews. In
1895, they moved to Pauls Valley, Oklahoma where a branch of the U.S. Court had been
located. Mr. Albert Rennie was secretary of the
first republican territorial organization and he always retained an important position on
the committees. His excellent ability as an organizer and his thorough understanding
of the ??? of the work have made him a leader and his influence is widely and beneficially
felt.
Mr. Rennie, attorney-at-law, now lives in Pauls Valley
where he has resided since 1895.
Additional Notes:
Rennie's cattle brand was the bar traingle on the jaw.
Jack Florence worked for Henry Childs.
Jack used then team of oxen and hauled lumber from Stringtown to build Fort Sill.
J.J. McAlester was one time a clerk in a store at
Tishomingo, owned by Albert Rennie's brother.
