Indian Pioneer History Project for Oklahoma
Date:  April 29, 1938
Name:  Elleby Weaver
Post Office:  Heavener, Oklahoma
Residence Address:  Heavener, Oklahoma
Date of Birth:  August 7, 1857
Place of Birth:  Camden, North Carolina
Father: George Weaver
Place of Birth:  Georgia
Information on father:  English
Mother:  Sue Weaver
Place of birth:  Tennessee
Information on mother:  Irish
Field Worker:  Kenneth C. Black
Interview: 13760

Interview With Elleby Weaver,
            Heavener, Oklahoma.

I was born August 7, 1857, near Camden,  North Carolina.

In 1885 I married Miss Sisie McCannington at Gainesville, Texas. I was working on the Santa Fe Railroad. We completed work there and we moved on to Tuskahoma to work for the Frisco Railroad. They were just laying the track
through Tusksahoma, the capital of the Choctaw Nation. A school and a court house were built. The school still stands.

In 1888 we made another move to Mansfield; Arkansas: where my oldest son was born. From there we went west to Oklahoma traveling in wagons  and oxen. We settled in a community known as Prissill, Wayne  being the nearest  trading post.

In 1889 we came to Heavener still traveling by wagons, with a team of oxen. There were many adventures traveling this way. Camping out at night on the prairie: listening to the coyotes, wolves, and panthers. Deer were very plentiful and by hunting we kept a good supply of meat, our meals being cooked over a fire in open. The wife and children slept in the wagon, while I took my blanket and rolled up Indian fashion to lie by the fire which we kept going to keep wild animals away from our camp. On our travels ,we came upon many Indian villages, but they were all peaceable.

We arrived at Heavener and settled in what is  now the western, part of the town. There were very few houses here then. Most of the population came here after the 'Kansas City, Southern Railroad came through Heavener. We
stayed in Heavener until 1924 when my wife died. I still make my home here..