Interview #
Field Worker: Maurice R. Anderson
Date:
Name: Mrs. Julia Beavers Gibson
Residence: Paoli, Oklahoma
Date of Birth: May 10, 1875
Place of Birth: Tennessee
Father:
Mother:
Story of Mrs. Julia Beavers Gibson, born May 10, 1875 and
came to Indian Territory in 1897 from Tennessee.
When we first came into the Territory there were only a few houses.
We could see smoke coming out of the ground and we asked what it was and was told
that people lived in dugouts and some lived in tents. we lived in a dugout for a
while.
I married in 1897 in Pauls Valley, Oklahoma to Richard Gibson. At
that time the court house was where the Ford agency is now located at
Pauls Valley, Oklahoma.
People raised lots of corn in 1897 and in 1898. They piled it up in
big piles by the side of the roads. it sold for ten cents a bushel, butter ten cents
a pound, eggs five cents a dozen. Everything was cheap and money was hard to get.
I was a Paoli, Oklahoma when Oklahoma came into statehood
in 1907. It was like Armistice Day in 1918. People were all shooting and
shouting. There was lots of excitement.
I have been active in church work since I married.
I am the mother of 5 children, 2 now living.
My husband has been a barber for 36 years but has now retired.
We own our home where we now live at Paoli, Oklahoma.
