Muskogee Co, OK

Turning Back The Clock

By: C. W. "Dub" West (c) 1985

Muskogee Publishing Company, Box 1331, Muskogee, OK 74402

Snippets # 12

(Pgs 87 & 88) Alex Posey- Creek Poet Laureate. It was reported May 28, 1908 that Alex Posey, the poet laureate if Indian Territory, had drowned in the Canadian River three miles north of Eufaula.

Alexander Lawrence Posey, the son of Lewis and Nancy Posey, was born near Eufaula Aug. 3, 1873. His mother was a full-blood Creek, and his father who was a United States Marshal for a period, was a Creek "with a percentage of Scotch Irish blood."

He spoke nothing but Creek until he was 12 years old, when his father "compelled him to speak English." He eventually became exceedingly proficent in both languages, expressing the thoughts, moods, and philosophy of the Creeks to the delight of his English-speaking public to the extent that he was proclaimed the Creek bard and the poet laureate of Indian Territory.

His early education consisted of a period of instruction from a tutor, a "dried-up, hard-up, weazened-faced, irritable little fellow with an appetite that caused the better dishes to disappear from his father's table." Though his formal education was limited during his early years, he absorbed the folklore and mythology of the Creeks from his mother, which was to supplement his literary pursuits.

He attended the public school at Eufaula long enough to enter on a second academic grade at Indian University (Bacone College), which he entered in 1890 when he was 17 years old.

While at Indian University, he acted as librarian on Sundays, and after school, he set type for The Instructor, a little newspaper published by the faculty. The paper gave Posey his first opportunity to publish his literary efforts with "The Comet's Tale" appearing in October 1892.

Alex gave the commencement address when he graduated June 20, 1895. The presentation and content of the address, entitled "Room for the Top" impressed the Pheonix so much that it proclaimed him a finished orator and his oration masterpiece in rhetoric and eloquence the next day.

He worked for Gov. John F. Brown of the Seminoles during the summer after his graduation.

Posey set up a school in the family home during the fall of 1895. One of his pupils was Thomas Gilcrease, then 6 years.

He married Minnie Harris of Fayetteville, Ark.. May 9, 1896. She encouraged him in his literary efforts and published his poems after his death.

Posey was elected Superintendent of Creek Orphanage at Okmulgee in the fall 1896, continuing unsigned to become Superintendent of Public Instruction of the Creek Nation.

During this period, he moved to his farm near Stidham to be with his father. It was during this time that he wrote many of his poems, inspired by his strolling about the farm.

He was asked to take charge of the National High School at Eufaula, which he developed to a high degree, after which he did the same for the Wetumpka School.

Completing these important assignments, Posey returned to Eufaula to become the editor of the Indian Journal to which he contributed his poems under the pen name of Chinnubbie Harjo.

After editing the Journal two years, he came to Muskogee to be near the center of things. He was editor of the Muskogee Times for a period but was urged by the Dawes Commission to use "his knowledge of the ways of the Indian and his influence to search out and enroll the lost Creeks" who had refused to be enrolled. He was very successful in this regard.

He was elected secretary of the Sequoyah Convention when it met in Muskogee Aug. 21, 1905, and his influence was a moving force of the convention.

When his work was complete on the Dawes Commission, he returned to Eufaula and bought the Indian Journal.

It was only natural that one of his ability, devotion, earning, and prestige should lead his people during the difficult period of transition from the Indian way to white man's way, and he was guiding them in this regard when his life was cut short by a tragedy.

Posey and a friend attempted to cross the rain-swollen North Canadian River in a boat when it was capsized. <complete>

(Pgs 88 & 89) Oklahoma's Weather. Will Rogers said, If you don't like Oklahoma weather, wait a minute and it will change." Oklahoma weather, is a favorite topic of conversation.

...Many of them kept records of the weather. Malcolm Rosser, the father of Frances Rosser Brown, kept a careful record of Oklahoma weather during his entire adult life.

... Oldtimers tell stories of extremes in weather that are beyond most of our imaginations. For example, it seems impossible that the Arkansas River was ever frozen over to the extent that loaded wagons could be driven across it.

Pat Stephens says that he recalls persons crossing the Arkansas in wagons loaded with huge boilers and that Mrs. Stephens' grandfather crossed it below Fort Smith on Christmas Day about 1876.

Fannie Margaret Darrow of west of Hulbert says that in the winter of 1903, her father needed to haul some corn to the other side of the Arkansas River. He bored holes in the ice, finding no thickness less than 8 inches, and crossed the river with two loads of corn.

Teck Fricks recalls that in the 1920s, his father, C.W. Fricks, crossed the Arkansas River with several wagonloads of cordwood that were used to fire the boilers at Bacone College.

Phil Harris gave an account in his Round Up column dated Jan. 9, 1972, of Grover Marr having crossed the Arkansas near Okay and that the Verdigris and Grand also could also be crossed because the ice was 18 inches thick.

According to the Oklahoma Almanac, the lowest temperature ever recorded in Oklahoma was 27 degrees below 0 at Watts Jan. 18, 1930 and at Vinita Feb. 13, 1905.

...The Oklahoma Almanac gives 120 degrees as the highest temperature that has reached in Oklahoma - at Alva July 18, 1936; Altus July 19, 1936 and Aug. 12, 1936; Poteau Aug. 10, 1936; and Tishomingo July 26, 1943. ... [remainder of the article cites highs & lows for rain, snow, etc.]

(Pgs 90 & 91) Pleasant Porter- Outstanding Creek Chief Word was received Sept. 3, 1907, that Chief Pleasant Porter had died of a stroke in Vinita, Indian Territory. He and M.L. Mott, tribal attorney, stayed over in Vinita Sept. 2 to transfer to another train which was to take them to Missouri on business for the Creek tribe, and he died during the night.

Thus ended the career of a distinguished, highly respected Indian leader. He had made many trips to Washington as a representative of the Creek Nation and was recognized as an outstanding proponent of the cause of his race. His commanding physical appearance and his congenial personality were reinforced by a command of English, as well as the Creek language, spoken in a fluent manner. making him highly respected by senators and congressmen.

John Bartlett Merserve pays the following tribute to him: 'He easily ranks as one of the most distinguished and influential Indian leaders of all time."

Pleasant Porter, the son of Benjamin Edward and Phoebe Porter, was born on the Porter plantation near Clarksville Sept. 26, 1840. He attended Tullahassee Mission for five years where he received a solid foundation, which he supplemented with private study, becoming a scholar of the classics and philosophical writers. After leaving school, he clerked in a store for a period, and in 1860 he and Sam Brown drove some cattle to New Mexico.

He enlisted as a private in the Confederate Army in the First Creek Regiment under Col. D.N. McIntosh. He was wounded three times in the conflict and was highly complimented by his superiors.

At the conclusion of the war, he returned to his farm to find it in devastation. He proceeded to rebuild the log cabin and to split rails to fence the property. Hi widowed mother, sisters and brother depended upon him for support.

Porter's agricultural pursuits were interrupted in 1865 when he accompanied the Creek commissioners to Fort Smith as a guard, but he returned to farm life after the meeting.

He operated a store at Hillabee for a short time before establishing a general store in Okmulgee, which he sold in 1869. He then moved to the vincinity of present Leonard where he resided until 1889 when he moved to Muskogee. The Masonic Temple was built on the site of his Muskogee home.

The public service of the future chief of the Creek Nation had its beginning 1871 when he was elected superintendent of the Creek schools. He was re-elected in 1872.

In the fall of 1882, he made his first trip to Washington as a delegate of the Creek Nation. During this trip, he married Mary Ellen Keys, a daughter of Judge Riley Keys, longtime chief justice of the Cherokee Nation. She died in 1886. He then married Mattie Lenora Bertholf, a cousin of his first wife.

[a list of the positions Porter held within the Creek Nation and the dates]

... [military] Sands Rebellion as head of the Light Horse. ... in bringing an end to the Green Peach War.

... Gen. Porter ran for principal chief of the Creek Nation in 1895 but was defeated by Isparhecher.

He became chief in 1899 and served during the period when it was necessary for the tribe to make adjustments as the result of the provision of the Cart's Act and the work of the Dawes Commission.

He realized that his people could not survive without cooperating with the United States government and was one of the guiding forces of the Sequoyah Convention. When his plans were thwarted in this regard, he supported statehood. Unfortunately, he died just two months before the big event.

[Photo - Pleasant Porter]

(Pgs 91 & 92) Muskogee- A Friendly City [the welcome sign on the main page of this Muskogee website is mentioned as follows] It was announced Sept. 12, 1910, that a Welcome to Muskogee arch would be built at Broadway and Main Street between Patterson Mercantile and Turner Kardware at a cost of between $1 500 and $3,000. It was to have letters 8 feet high and 55 feet above the ground. ... The unusual sign was another effort of Muskogee residents to let the world know that the hand of hospitality always was ready to greet visitors. ... [remainder of the article mentions different clubs but no names of members.]