This book is out of print. If the item is complete I will note <complete> otherwise what I have is snippets of information. If you are interested in the whole article you may order copies.

If you arrived here via a search engine please read the introduction

[article Joshua J Harman pg 182]

[photos of Joshua Harman, Leo D Harman, Sr, Leo D Harman, Jr & Joshua's boat The City of Muskogee pg 182]

[articles on Leo D Harman Sr, Leo D Harman Jr and Ike Herzog. Photo of Mr and Mrs Isaac Herzog, Charles & Bertha pg 183]

[article on James K, "Sandy" Blake. Photos of Mr and Mrs James Blake and Josephine Meigs Blake pg 184]

[article on R M Mountcastle pg 184 & 185]

[photos of Robet Milligan Mountcastle and Oscar Stewart pg 185]

[article on Murrell H Thornton and Mrs. Harriett Gladd pg 186]

[photo of Former Commanding Officer's Home, Once Owned and Occupied by James A Coleman Family pg 186]

[long article on Elinor and Annie Meigs pg 187 & 188]

[article & photo - Dr Albert N Earnest pg 188]

[photo of Mrs Theodore Robison, Artie, Mr Robison pg 188]

[articles on Theodore F Robison and Pearl Robison pg 189]

[article on Sam Iowa .... "a town character" pg 190]

[photo T H Dunning Store with Mr Dunning among those in front pg 190]

A headline in the Muskogee Phoenix dated November 30, 1915 was as follows: FAMOUS CHEROKEE DIES AT FORT GIBSON. A subhead was M. V. BENGE WITH HASTINGS NEGOTIATED SALE OF CHEROKEE STRIP TO U.S. the article states that he had lived in the vicinity of Ft. Gibson for the past 40 years. He was survived by "Aunt Addie" who taught many of the residents of Fort Gibson and was loved by all. Pg 191 <complete>

Will Rogers' relationship with Fort Gibson dates back to 1859, when his father, Clement Vann Rogers married the youngest daughter, Mary American Schrimsher, of "Grandma Elizabeth" Schrimsher. He took advantage of every opportunity to come to this historic place to visit his brother in law James K "Sandy" Blake, as well as to "get away from it all". He performed at the Muskogee Fair October 2, 1916, appearing at the Hinton Theater on the same trip to boost Liberty Bond sales. He appeared at the Broadway Theater March 15, 1826 and at the Orpheum October 22, 1926. There is no telling how many times he was in this vicinity between those dates. Bob Langston remembers his visiting with Louie Garland and it is said that he spent many an evening visiting with his friends at the Blakes as well as upstairs over the Corner Drug.

The Jan 13, 1917 issue of the Ft. Gibson Post had this headline. A GOOD WOMAN HAS DEPARTED. It is the obituary of Hannah Worchester Hicks ... pg 192

It has been very difficult to obtain information concerning the colored persons of Ft Gibson. Some of the persons who might have helped me were not available and others were indisposed or unwilling to provide information. Most of the material for this section has been provided by Mr and Mrs Robert Reynolds, with William Nave, Rev R H Nero, Jesse Daniels, Bob Langston and Earl Boyd Pierce giving some assistance.

Mrs. H B Upton gave me the picture of Alabama Moore with the information that she "raised all of the Ross children". She was one of the matriarchs of the colored community [photo of Alabama Moore] pg 193

[photo Mr and Mrs Robert Reynolds pg 193]

An article in the Muskogee Phoenix in 1916 gives the obituary of Elsie Skates, who died at Ft. Gibson at the age of 108 as follows: "Born a slave in the State of Alabama in 1808, the last year of President Thomas Jefferson's administration. Elsie Skates died at her home in Ft Gibson Friday at the age of 108 years. Her youngest son, Henry, whom she fondly called her baby is more than 60 years old, and has lived an adventurous life himself. The old woman, the daughter of a half-blood Indian father, and a mixed Indian, White and Negro mother, showed little trace of her African Descent. The old woman was a member of the colored Methodist church for seventy-six years. She came to Ft Gibson, Indian Territory with Ned Gunter, a well known Indian several years before the War Between the States. Until ten years ago she was hale and hearty and had never known what sickness was. She realized Thursday that the dawn of her day in the Great Beyond was near, and she refused to eat anything from that time until she died, spending her remaining strength in chanting Indian and Negro songs of death. She lived during the administration of twenty-six of our twenty-eight presidents, she lived through the Mexican War, the Civil War, the Spanish American War, and she saw the passing of the stagecoach and the advent of the railroads, the passage of tallow candles and the coming of electric lights, and thousands of other things that people of today could not do without."

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