Indian Pioneer History Project for Oklahoma
Date: September 13, 1937
Name: Mary Jane (McKinney) Davis
Post Office: Poteau, Oklahoma
Date of Birth: December 1, 1860
Place of Birth: Scullyville, Choctaw Nation
Father: James McKinney
Mother: Elizabeth Lewis
Interviewer: Gomer Gower
Interview #7486, Vol. 22, pages 41-47

MARY JANE DAVIS, nee McKINNEY, was born at New Hope College near Scullyville, Choctaw Nation, on December 1st, 1860, where her father, JAMES McKINNEY, had been for some time the superintendent.

Her father and mother both came from North Carolina to the Indian Territory at a very early date in its history. Her father came as a missionary and her mother, ELIZABETH McKINNEY, nee LEWIS, as his wife shared with him the vicissitudes of the life of a missionary and teacher among a people which, at that time, were scattered over a vast territory.

Her father continued in this work until some few years prior to the Civil War, when he was appointed Superintendent of the New Hope Female College, an institution supported by the Choctaw Nation. However, upon the decision of the Choctaw authorities to espouse the cause of the South in that great conflict, he resigned his position with the College and moved his family to Fort Smith, Arkansas, and then enlisted in the Federal Army in which he served with distinction and attained the rank of Captain.

After the close of the war in 1865, Captain McKINNEY settled at Hackett, Arkansas, and established the first school in that particular area and soon thereafter was made the first tax assessor of Sebastian County, that state. Hackett, or Hackett City as it was called at that time, was a truly border town, being but about one and one-half miles from the line dividing Arkansas from the Choctaw Nation. Due to this fact, many of the Choctaw children attended the school which Captain McKINNEY had established at that place, as no distinction was made between white and Indian children.

One of the Indian boys, whose parents lived near Wallsburg, now Rock Island, a short distance from the Territory line, who attended the school at Hackett, was DAVIS JAMES, who evidently was not content alone to master the three R's, but set his heart also upon winning the consent of the staid school-master to a union in marriage with his comely daughter, MARY JANE. He was successful in both these endeavors. He took his young bride to the home of his father nearby and quickly erected a cabin of his own and in true Choctaw fashion the couple set about to clear up a patch of ground and to acquire ownership of stock.

This occurred in 1880, long before the Frisco railway was built through what is now LeFlore county. However, on account of the influx of whites into the border areas of the Territory which became so alarming as to cause Principal Chief, JACKSON McCURTAIN, to use his military forces, known as the Light Horse, to prevent illegal intrusion and occupancy of tribal lands, the young couple in order to enjoy a wider range for their stock, moved to a point about four miles north of what is now Poteau on Tarby Prairie.

Soon after making this move, the husband, DAVIS JAMES, was stricken with pneumonia and died, leaving the young mother with four small children to provide for. Fortunately for her, the Frisco railway was being constructed at the time, late in 1886 and part of 1887, near where she lived, and this activity provided a ready and profitable market for what produce she had to sell, such as milk, butter, eggs, meat and vegetables. Her husband, having been of a provident disposition, had accumulated quite a number of good milch cows, a large number of hogs and chickens and with a ready market for the products of these animals and fowls the task of providing for her fatherless children was considerably lightened.

Of her young married life in the Indian Territory she relates that Wallsburg, near which place she first lived, was located on the Fort Smith - Fort Towson road at a point about fifteen miles south and two miles west of Fort Smith, and consisted of but one store with a post office in the same building and some three or four residences. All merchandise used in the southern half of what is now LeFlore county was freighted in wagons from Fort Smith and by reason of there being but one passage - that of the Fort Smith - Fort Towson road - over the Backbone Mountain a short distance to the north, these caravans all passed by the little village and very often camped for the night.

MRS. DAVIS is one of that good old fashioned type of pioneer woman who can still see and feel the many benefits enjoyed by the early settlers and which are denied to us of the present. She dwelt at length upon the pleasing appearance of the smoke-houses of that early period with their bountiful supply of superbly cured hams, shoulders and bellies, and the great jars of snow-white lard which would be used in just the proper amount in making the fluffy biscuits which were served at each meal. She spoke, too, of the ease with which one could enjoy all the good viands of that time with a minimum of cost or effort. Their hogs ran at large and upon the falling of the acorns and nuts, in the fall of the year would not only thrive but would fatten and with just a little finishing off with corn for a few weeks would, when butchered, provide meat equal to the very best. Then, too, there were huckleberries growing on the mountain sides, and wild plums everywhere which ripened just when the crops would be "laid by"; they would be gathered and made up into delectable preserves, jams and jellies and stored away for winter use. Sweet potatoes, usually of the yellow yam variety, would be "hilled up" which means that after being dug, large holes, six or eight feet in diameter and about one foot in depth, would be made in the ground somewhere near the house and well lined with straw or hay, the luscious yams would be carefully placed in this well protected bed and built up layer upon layer to a height of four to five feet above the ground and then all carefully covered over, first with a protective covering of straw, leaves, cornstalks or other moisture absorbing material, and this then all covered over with a coating of soil sufficiently thick to prevent the entrance of frost into the hill. A small vent would be left at the very top through which the heat generated by the curing potatoes would escape. Only sufficient amounts to last a few days were taken out of the hills at one time, then the hole was carefully covered over until a further supply was needed.

After the death of first husband, DAVIS JAMES, MRS. DAVIS remained a widow until 1900, when she married a white man, WILLIAM DAVIS, who died in 1925. She now lives alone in her own rooms and is hale and hearty.

COMMENTS by Submitter:
Please refer to the Interviews of MONTIE DAVIS PAGE (dated April 30, 1937)
Page, Montieand MARY JANE McKINNEY (dated June 15, 1937) Mckinney, Mary Jane

While there are some differences, there are enough similarities in the Interviews of MARY JANE McKINNEY and MARY JANE DAVIS to believe two separate interviews were given by MARY JANE -- one under the name of McKINNEY and the other under the name of DAVIS.

Other children of ELIZABETH (LEWIS) and JAMES W. McKINNEY, in addition to MARY JANE, were:  ANN, WILLIAM R., HARMON, EMILY, HELENA, ROBERT H., VIRGINIA, AND WILSON L.

JAMES W. McKINNEY is identified as a Methodist Missionary and preacher in charge of the New Hope Female Academy near Skullyville in the Interview of  Mrs. JOE (ZOE) LeFLORE at: eLeflore, Joe (Mrs.)

Transcribed and submitted by Peggy Joice Horton  January 2002