Interview #9352
Field Worker: John F. Daugherty
Date: December 1, 1937
Name: Mrs. Ida Cunningtubby
Residence: Davis, Oklahoma
Date of Birth: 1883
Place of Birth: Rock Creek in Chickasaw Nation, southeast of Sulphur,
Oklahoma
Father: Cyrus Gilbert, born in Indian Territory
Mother: Lucy Alexander, born in Indian Territory
My father was Cyrus Gilbert, born in the
Chickasaw Nation on Blue River. Mother was Lucy Alexander,
born near Berwyn in the Chickasaw Nation. Father was a farmer.
There were five girls in our family. I was born on Rock Creek,
southeast of Sulphur, about 1883.
I attended the Indian schools at Sulphur and Davis,
during the first five years of my schooling. Then Mother died and
Father sent me to the orphan's home at Lebanon, east of Marietta.
This was a home for both boys and girls of the
Chickasaws and Choctaws. Our sleeping rooms were upstairs,
and the classrooms and dining room were on the first floor. The girls
helped wash dishes and iron and a woman was hired by the Chickasaw
Government to do the laundry. A Negro and a white woman did the
cooking. There was a Superintendent of Public Instruction who was
appointed by both houses, who devoted his time to visiting the
Government Institutions and this was one of the institutions which he
visited. These institutions were supported by the Chickasaw
Government through the United States Treasury. A sum of $50,000.00
was paid to the Chickasaws semi-annually for the support of their
schools. This money was the interest which accumulated on
investments in United States Bonds.
Chickasaw politics were very exciting at times in the
early days. My father has told me of a fight between two parties
in 1880. Ex-governor Harris was being run by one side and B.
Burney was on the opposing side. Harris had served four terms
as Governor. He was a very popular Governor, and peace prevailed
throughout his four terms. Governor Harris was installed and
cancelled enough votes to elect Mr. Burney, who was a member of his
party. After this, Governor Harris decided he would never again
run for office. It was then that Governor Harris put in a grist
mill on Mill Creek, where my father always went to have his corn ground
into meal. It was impossible to buy meal at the stores.
Everybody had a Tom Fuller patch and raised corn for their meal.
Flour was very scarce and very high, so nearly everybody used corn
bread. Biscuits were a rare treat.
Grandmother told me of an exciting adventure she had
with the Comanche Indians near the Arbuckle Mountains when she was a
girl. She and a neighbor girl decided to ride to another neighbors
house, about five miles away, one day to do some sewing. There
were very few sewing machines in those days and when a woman was
fortunate enough to own one, the neighbors for miles around would use
it.
It was a beautiful clear fall day, and as the two girls
rode along they saw a herd of horses being driven by one
man, whom they thought was the slave of the people to whose house they
were going. The girl suggested that they race with this man as he
drove the horses. No sooner was this suggestion made, than they
were off at full speed. To their horror they soon discovered they
were not racing with a slave, but with a Comanche Indian. They
turned their horses around in an effort to retreat. The Indian
gave a yell and a host of Indians appeared. The girls looked back
and to their amazement they were being followed by this band of Comanche.
Grandmother wanted to jump from her horse and hide in
the underbrush near the trail, but the other girl wanted to go on and
try to outrun them to the house. Finally Grandmother felt
that the best thing to do was to get off the horse. This she
did. The horse continued to run, and Grandmother crouched in the
underbrush near the trail. The Indians rushed madly past her.
The material which she was carrying fell to the ground as she jumped and
the other girl dropped hers at about the same place. As the
Indians raced by they stooped from their saddles and picked up the
cloth. Grandmother was so frightened that she hardly dared to
breathe. The Comanche continued their chase after her girl
friend and as she entered her home they shot and killed her.
Grandmother was indeed glad she had left her horse. They
took both the horses as they left
Grandmother said that many a night she has heard noises
near her home which she thought were made by the Comanche Indians.
She would awaken all her children and they would flee to the woods for
protection. The Comanche raids were much dreaded by the
Chickasaws. When the Choctaws and Chickasaws separated, after
coming to the Territory, the Choctaws gave the western part of the land
allotted them to the Chickasaws, because they were afraid of the Comanche
who were their neighbors on the west. The Chickasaws received
better land, but the Choctaws didn't have to fear the Comanche.
They were too far away to be bothered by them.
Indians had no marriage nor divorce laws. When an
Indian boy decided that he wanted to live with an Indian girl, he built
a little log cabin, and if he got the consent of the girl, they went and
lived together in this hut. If he became tired of her, he left and
sent her away and took another girl to live with him. When the boy
became angry and parted from his wife, no amount of persuasion could
induce him to return to her.
I am the mother of twelve children. I have lived
in Murray County all my life. My parents are buried on Guy Sandy
Creek, southeast of Davis. (this cemetery was moved when Arbuckle Lake
was built)
Transcribed by Brenda Choate and Dennis Muncrief,
December, 2000