Interview #7712
Field Worker: Charline M. Culbertson
Date: September 21, 1937
Name: Mrs. Lucy Case
Residence: Pauls Valley, Oklahoma
Date of Birth:
Place of Birth: Cedar County, Choctaw Nation, Indian Territory
Father: George Washington Baldwin, full blood Choctaw
Mother: Jane Tony Baldwin, full blood Choctaw
I was born in Cedar County, Choctaw Nation, Indian Territory, in what year
I do not know but do know that I was just a baby at the time of the Civil
War. The little log hut where I was born is located between Atoka and
Antlers. Most of my early days were spent about thirty or thirty-five miles north of
Antlers. My parents were George Washington Baldwin and Jane
Tony Baldwin who were both full blood Choctaw Indians. My
parents are buried somewhere close to Antlers. They both died when
I was five or six years of age. Then I went to live with my grandmother.
I remember that my mother did most of the work. She always did the
breaking of the land. This was done with oxen; however, Father did have some work
horses. He also had a few ponies. We farmed more than the average family did
in that vicinity.
I never attended school. There was one school about five miles from
my grandmother's place but they seemed to think it was not necessary for me to go.
I remember it was while my parents were living that we had a big rain and Ten
Mile Creek got out of its banks and came up into our little log
house. We had to get out on the roof and had to stay there from Sunday till
Wednesday.
Father would go to Paris, Texas, for our supplies and
would be away on this trip for four or five days. He would go once a year and would
buy six hundred pounds of flour at a time.
Mother had a spinning wheel and loom. I know she would stay up until
way in the night spinning. I know they used to shear the sheep and Mother would make
her blankets. She also used to make her dyes and our medicine. Water, bark and
some kind of weeds would make the black and yellow dyes. The medicine was made from
herbs.
I am in possession of her cotton carder today. She also had a wool
carder which was different from the cotton carder.
I married Mr. Case, a white man, when I was very young
and continues living near Antlers. Mr. Case was a
cattleman and had been since he was fifteen years of age. He drifted cows from Utah,
Texas, Oklahoma and Nebraska.
He built the first store building at Antlers but I do not
remember who operated the store. The building does not stand today.
I remember going through the field one day and running on to the queerest
snake I had ever seen and I have never seen one like it since. It had red feathers
around its neck and looked very vicious. We were so afraid we did not attempt to
kill it.
I still own my allotment and am living and farming on it at the present
time. It is located two and three-fourths miles west of Pauls Valley.
