Henry Wolf

Interview #10161, 

Interviewer, John F. Daugherty, 

March 3, 1938

Father was John Wolf, born in Texas. Mother was Della Brown Wolf, born in Mississippi. She came to the Territory with her parents when the Chickasaws were moved. They settled on Big Blue, near Fillmore, in the Chickasaw Nation.

I was born near Mannsville in the Chickasaw Nation at Wolf Springs in a log cabin, March 27, 1887. I attended school at Harley Institute at Tishomingo, a Chickasaw Government school. There were about four hundred boys in school at that time. Everything was furnished but our clothes. All Chickasaw boys were allowed to go without tuition. There was a large acreage in connection with the school and there the boys learned to farm and raise gardens. They had cows, turkeys and chickens which were cared for by the students.

Father drove oxen when I was a child. I can remember how they were hooked to the wagon. The yoke was a board long enough to go across both of their necks  with holes hewed for their heads to slip through. The pole rested on top of their necks and pins of wood fastened them together under each neck. There were no tugs; a pole extended from the wagon to a ring on the yoke between the steers and hooked into this ring. There were no lines. They were driven with  a long whip and commands from the driver. Gee meant to go to the right. Haw meant turn to the left. They were fed a bale of hap and a bushel of corn each night. That was the only time during the day they received feed, if working. They were very hard to manage during hot weather. When they became tired, hot and thirsty they could not be managed and if they smelled water at any distance they would make a dash for the water and into it they would go.

The coffee we bought in those days was green and had to be parched and ground at home. It sold twenty pounds for a dollar. We didn't have a coffee mill. We put the parched coffee in a small muslin sack and pounded it up. We burned grease lamps with platted string wicks.

There were not many places to go, but we always had an annual camp meeting in the late summer. How we did enjoy those. Everything was orderly. There were Indian policemen there to see that everybody behaved. There were men appointed to care for the horses. They told each family where to leave their teams and wagon. The horses were turned loose and these men herded them the entire time. Committees
were appointed to get wood, haul water and kill hogs and beef. These were purchased from somebody in the vicinity. Each family brought its own provisions from home. There were several cook-sheds and tables and three or four families used each shed. There was a man appointed as "Dog Pelter". His lash was to keep the dogs away from the sheds and tables at mealtime. He had a long whip which he used to chase them. During services there was no whispering among the young people. If one became noisy, a policeman escorted him away at once. The sermons
were usually preached in Chickasaw and then interpreted into English.

I worked for Captain Charles LaFlore in the Choctaw Nation for two years. In the eighties he was captain of the Indian Police. He first rendered himself prominent  by killing the notorious black desperadoes, Dick Glass and Jim Johnson. They were shot down by LaFlore and a third member of their number tried to escape, but LaFlore captured him after a ride of six miles. He was a man of courage and determination. LaFlore County was named for him.

Later, I worked for the "Flying B.D." cattle ranch located in the Arbuckle Mountains, south of Sulphur in the Chickasaw Nation. I received thirty-five dollars per month and my board.

There was only one voting precinct in the Chickasaw Nation and that was at the capital, Tishomingo. We also drew our per capita payments once a year there.

Our moccasins were made of buckskin. This was tanned by putting the flesh side down  and covering with ashes and water to remove the hair. After the hair was scraped off it was pliable. Then it was pulled over a board until dry, soft and smooth. It was then ready for use.

Transcribed by Brenda Choate and Dennis Muncrief, October, 2000.

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