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308

Form A-(S-149)

BIOGRAPHY FORIvIWORKS PROGRESS ADMINISTRATION

Indian-Pioneer History Project for Oklahoma

Field Worker's name' • Grace Kellev

This report made on (date) 19 193 7

1. Name Steward end 1'rs. J» H. rjte.-?.rd

2. Post Office Address Henryetta. OKIa

3. Residence address (or location) ' 1401 .,'est Broedvjav

4. DATS OF BIRTH: Month. 1876. Day Year

V. >

5. Place of birth

6. Name of Father John Ste

Other information about father-

7. Name of Mother fygss .v^sser,

O^her information about mother-

Place of birth

. Place' of birth

Notes or complete narrative by the field worker dealing with the lifeand story of the person interviewed. Refer to Manual for suggestedsubjects and questions. Continue on blqnk sheets ifc-necessary andattach firmly to this form.' Number of sh^4-? attached ip.

STEWARD, JOHN H&EY.1 INTERVIEW,

S.V '.VITH J". E. STSVARD

FlilLL yO.uCIR Glu-CK KiJ.I.2Y.LAY 13, 1957

J . H. Steward was born on the Twelve r i l e P r a i r i e

whicji was southeast of Tisho.i.irr,yo. When he ' s j u s t a9

kid they -noved to Ghoate Pra i r ie where the Scipio Jreek

emptied into the South Canadian River on the east s ice .

His father v;as a farmer and stoWnan. The farms were

about the size of a rood garden r\pw.\

The c loses t railroad was at L\?Alester.• • ' • \

•> - I AIL \Their rr.ail vies brought to ThurmaVi, the nearest Fost

' • v

Office, from KcAlester by horseback. As Thurxan was twenty

~iles from l.icAlester i t would take a l l day for the carr ier to

make the t r i p .

There -.ves a groeery .'-tore and I-ost Office p.t Thurman snd

every Saturday the Indians would co! e to the store for the i r

groceries.

IIJDIAi: ShOPPEiS. • *»

On Saturday there would be an extra clerk interpreter

hired for the day, which would rake tv.o clerks in the store.

STEWARD, JOHN HENRY. INTERVIEW.'

310

#hen.Nthe Indians came, one of then, usually a woman, .;

peek in the door. The. others wrvald l ine up behind her in

a long l ine of men end wxnen. './hen the c le rks ' backs woujd

be turned she would"run. in the store snd a l l the others vnu1d

follow her es close as they eouVd, just like.sheep following *•

their lead.-r. '.Vhen they £ot in the store they didn't s t a r t

buyir.f immediately but would stand around for a wLile. The

one of them would buy a n ick le ' s worth of coffee or su~;ar,

just a l i t t l e of th is and a l i t t l e of th&t. I dor'jb know

v<hy they bought in th^t way unless i t ,.as that they didn ' t

have enough Joney to buy : rore.

The 'A'omen raised the corh an., served i t in. several

different ways besides making flour for bread out of i t .

The men hunted for the L.eat that they ate and there was a l l

kinds of wild meat Includinc hogs. These hors belonged to

the Nation and whenever an Indian wanted to k i l l a hog-he

3o .ild; and* if he .sold i t the money vies his to buy whatever

he wanted. A white men couldn't k i l l the hogs without pay-

ing for -themvrhese hogs had besn tame ones which had gone

wild, or in oth r words, they had been turned loose and

STEWARD, JOHN HENRY. INTSRVJE...

3

fed them. Jus t MS en old hen w i l l s t e a l a nest- and hatch

her chickens, r a i s e them without help from anyoie and thdy

wil l "be so wild tha t nobody can catch them,' The Indians ;

a lso sold hides t o buy g roce r i e s ,

SAlxLY SCHOOLS.

When I s t a r t e d - t o school there was only three ..onths

of school and i t "was in the w in t e r . I t was & log house with

one window i n each s ide but they had no glpss in them, jus t

s h u t t e r s . The sea t s were lOoS sj) l i t open and the f l a t s ides

hewed t o .neke them smooth; holes were bored in the round s ide

for the legs to go i n ; there v. j re no backs on them. A" f i r e -

piece was on the nor th side cf wall t ha t would hold an e igh t

foot r a i l . I t was ^iade t ha t way on purpose so i t wouldn ' t

take so r.uch c u t t i n g and rr^ke a b e t t e r f i r e ; ' one t h a t wQuld

l a s t "longer, t o o , Sara Duncsnon was t h e teacher and a mean

one t oo . There were twenty or twenty-f ive u ; i l s and each

had to pay tv.o do\l?-.rs a Jionth t u i t i o n . I t was on J u d c e ^ ^

Fulsom's place between^Tiiurman and Cnoste F r a i r i e . *He was*

'Couchty or D i s t r i c t Judge of the Chocttws. •;

Later t h e y - b u i l t us a t w o - s t o r y b o x house, > I t was b u i l t

by a lodge and I t h i n k i t was the Masons. I never w i l l forget

STEWARD, JOHN HENRY.s iKT^RVB w.\

' . ' ' 312

how proud we were of our new s e a t s , the fi/nest benches we

had ever seen. They^were s l a t beaches with backs on the^

l ike they have nt r ev iva l s now. .

Then I bo'.rded find we.it to sc'rlool 3 t Incignolg,. All

of the ea r ly schools for vvr.ite ch i ldren ..ere subsc r ip t i on

schools* ' •,

Our neares t neighbors l ived tv.o .oiles awcy " jus t - two

ni les to our ne ighbor ' s house," and we r e e l l y thought i t

was near because other neighbors were so ix.uch f a r the r a/.'sy.

His name'was Al len Arch Archi~ebull, ful lblood Choctfw, who

had two wives, an olaer one and a younc one who had two

children, a cirJL and a boy. The o ldes t was Wy-kee, the

youngest Charlot t and both were Creeks. I jus t want to

.say that t he re never were b e t t e r neighbors than the Indians

were. They wDuld do anything for you t h a t they could .

' • ALLOTLSET STORY '(3KAKL3)

Archiebull was a Snake the same s s Chito Herjo, which

r.eant t h s t he refused t o a l l o t . He woi'ldn'J^speak English

at a l l , I don ' t know whether he could,, but Icou- ld speak

both the^ Ohoctaw and Creek af t h a t t ime , I c a n ' t speak e i t h e r

now, . . . . _ '

STEWARD, JOHN. HENRY.A IHTERVIfcV;.

He wes a r r e s t e d and put in to j e i l . .Now remember he

hadn' t committed any crime except not f i l i n g . They cut

his pretty long, blnck hair and he either grieved or took

cold and died. He lef t plenty of ho rs and ca t t l e to keep

his family, but :eople stole the ;:roporty and the two wives

died, leaving the children who v:ere fourteen and sixteen

years old.

Torn Beams w.s a Choctaw officer of Pittsburg County

for thirty-two years before and af ter Statehood, both in

pittsburg and Toboxi (Goal)-Fer-~.it Collector, Choctaw ..__

Officer, Deputy She'riff snd one term es Sheriff.

Sor.eoae went to Ton Beams and told hi.r. that PO et'ni'.g

sho-jM be done'\vith Archiebull 's children, that both wo .en

v/ere dead, the stock wus a i r gone and they had r.one "wild",

I guess they were'just living on whst they could hunt. They

lived in an out-of-the-way pi- ce, you hed to JTOSS the Seijrio

tv.o rrdles from the ir.outh of i t , where i t wenTTnto the Canadian,

or go s'ro-jnd the mountain.

Tom beams f e l t very bad pbout not knowing about them, es

if he had neglected them and was at f au l t . He and three or

four men on horses went there and sure enou£h, they were as

'.vild as turkeys. " They f i r s t roped^he boy and t i ed him up,

STEWARD, JOHN HEN3Y. ,INTERVIEW.

311

' 7

,„•»*». •>.then,, they roped the g i r l and took them end sent them to

school. The boy l ives at Sufaula now; I»rr4 not sure where

the f i r l i s ; they, made a fine man end woman, half Choc taw

end half Creek. 'i

Tom Beam's nother «nd brother l ive close to TJl.p.n; any-

body in Ulan ccn j ive you the direct ions to thsfr ho e. The

brother i s sixty-one years old.

Torn took sick and they had to operate on nin end when

you operete on a ChoctbW you ..'l^ht as v.ell cut off h is head.

For sorr.e reason he wil l die and I do not know why.

RANCHERS I KNEW VffiLL.

1 Old J . J» KcAlester had a big ranui. o.i Gaines Greek, •

north of McAlester, and a feeding farm a t Thurman, two ranches.

His brand wes: 6-6,'and he grubbed one ear but I don't remember

which* That meant he had one ear cut off even with the head;

^' IT wag an easy bThiul tu t *eip»j?a«#«i<H "ytyu couid see i t alnost

a s far as you could see the cow end i t would be

one to s t e a l .

. He hed a long beard and was the cleanest man you ever saw.

He drove a good'buggy team and when he was-ppssing he ftould cal l

me to^him or he would cone in for a while, and say, "John, I'm

STEWARD, JOHN HENRY. INTERVIEW.

7"

going to the farm and A want -a box of quail when I co:.e•* "i •.

back."' I ' d get ray traps fixed and I ' d always bs-ve then

for him when he got thei;e.

One time f ether hid. him in a boot box when sane f e l - '

lows were wanting to k i l l him (I d on ' t know why)"... Boots

were knee high and good ones came standing up in a wooden

box, a l i t t l e b i t l ike a cedar chest but not exactly. Dad

put the* l i d on unt i l they were gone and then LcAlester le f t

on the t ra in for a short while.

L>ick Coleman had a ranch at Scipio, the C-, and a big .

store at KeAlester. He 31 so lived et ICcAlester.

Rex Cheatill was west of Canadian Switch; we did part

of.our trading at Canadian Switch; i t was just a post, not

a town. Old ueorge Choate was the oldest s e t t l e r end Choate

Frair ie wss naiaed -for him. He was a Representative to the

old Choctaw Council. His hewed log. house i s r t i l l standing.

"Tu1 go there on. the x.ain highway from Ulan to Indianola, go

east pest a big brick school about a n i l e , the old Choate4

Ranch is pn the righthand side of the road. -

L, E. Ft rkins , my uncle, was a farmer and rancher but

his wife was a white,.woman. . He went to Washington a number

STEWARD, J C O %iNRY. IT^TSHVIE;;.

8- «

* of t ines , end to the Council ^t Tuskahona. Ke helped/ •

build end ove Indianola to the ra i l road. There wa«s s ,

post d'Cfice, &rut"s.tore, eleven or t.velve s tores , tv.'O ' '

£ins, one gr is t ~ i l l , 'ind one bank. Dr. Subanks vs^s the* fc

second doctor and i s there now. Dr-. Johnson,was the f i r s t

but i s dead. There were irood schools and churches there .

One of rr.y cousins owns the old plac wnich i s southeast of

Indianola and l iyes there and a niece is terc":inr in 8

Gonsolidetec .school ?.t Indianola.

Charlie LcDuff hr.d a nice lnr e r-nch six . . i les

south of Indianola but lived at Canadian.*

/These were e l l '^hoctcnys; they v;e^e ore &::1 i_htane^.

t.-i£.n the Greeks and could ta lk Bnclish; . ost of "the Greeks

hsd ,to have in te rpre te rs .HOUNL-LT m^afi.

'..Tien Kound-up time ct >:e each ranch that could'afford

i t seat one or two :en» I t vrovld take fron th i r ty to sixty

days, n'e ^o'.ii.d hpv-e one chuck wagon snu the hardest job

T\e hpd was to, find i t at ni-£.ht. There were no fences and

the ca t t le would strsy a lon^, way from the h^:e ranch.- Wei >

v.'ould st; r t at one ranch and each ruaii would hsve a certain«. ''

direction to hunt. All different brands were put in a bunch,

STEWARD, JOHN H3NRY. IJCTERVOT. - , ~ " ' x'• •

* 317

driven to the next stop and we,-scoured as. far around that'

stop a a we could, then went on unti l we vje're through. At. * • • ' . • " . < - .

the end of round-up the cat t le were '"separated and sent too "• " • • .

the riirht ranch. If vje'ppssed a ranch ^nd had sor.e of t h e i r

CO\JS, we w^uld leave them.

If a farmer* v.es too poor t o "send e ::,r;;i ve »'could keep £.

for h is c a t t l e the seine as- if he v.ere t a o r e . « -

DR. ROBERTSON OF ILSKRYSTTA. ' -The f i r s t time I ssw Dr.. ^obertson, he was grown, and . '

he was clearing hickory and blackjack et the school . i th the

vrooden shut ters . He lived with, his Mother and tveo brotlTers,

Lon anc Irsay, and he ^ss called I . ,V. He had soc.e 'hogs end

a violin-, .'.hich* paid bis-wa-y when-he lef t to learn to be a

' doctor. He f i r s t s tar ted to doctoriic a t watsonville, which

'.»ras 7.here the K. 0 . &, G. railroad bridge i s , near Dustin,

although there %as*no Dustin there then. »hen I was passing

through I* SPW his sign hanr-int: out and, of course, I knew9

who i t was and »;ot acquainted v,i th him again-* "**

POLECAT -AKD nT12,Z.^tD 'fAR.

GAIKES AI'iD TOBOXI C0H4TISS, CIIOCTA'.JS.

When I was very sraell, I had a saddle nony,, and my f a t h e r ,

• sope aien and I rode down a r i d ^ e . They ca r r i ed a white f l ag

• STEWARD, JOHN HENRY. INTErtVIS.V.

10-

ao they wouldn't £,et shot . The Po leca t s .were l i n e s up* on

one s ide and the Buzzard^ on the o t h e r , not firv'.'t* out ready.

, Some man came bef-fre they had s t a r t ed shooting and rode

down between them vath a white f lag £ nd 'whatever he to ld thdin,

kept "them from k i l l i n t each o'tb. r . I V;PS so small that. 1 c a n ' t

remember anything except how they looked. I don ' t know i f I '

was ever to ld what t h e i r quarre l wag sb->ut or who the nap. vjae,

but I ' v e always thought he v;es fror. t h e i r Council .

^ 2XEEHI£:C 3 OF 1'I0N:"J23 CHILD .EN3Y !.5tS. J . H. 3

I can ' t remember snythir.r t o be interviewed a lou t but.

there were two p r three t h i r d s I rei:B::.ber.*v.ell, I jua ss they

were imprinted on ray uind fir.aer^because I was' so afraid.->

I kps reared on 3lue River ne^r wnore Iv'r. Steward was,

but I was ' l ike a l i t t l e wild $hin^,» My sis"ter and I would

have to go a f t e r the cows and so~e t i r« s they would be a long '

way from the house. The iuribleweeds were h i rhe r than our

heads, and whenever we would, see anyone coming, whether they

were in a covered wa§;on or horseback, we would hide ir^ those

tumblewebds sometimes era??fling, a lon^, ways. I t ' s a wonder we

"weren't shot for some animal .

STEV/ARD, JOHN HK8HY; .1NTERVISU.

- . 3 1 9

' 11

One time a circus came through there , several wagons

and behind were so'-e camels. Lerj, we/e Tiding the largest

ones and some smaller ones .were following, :h ich ir. d lords

tied on them. I was* too scared to enjoy the sight for I

was sure ' that sou.e of the \ i l d anira&l s vow Id f.et out of

those wagons and eat us before we could f.et-away.

/Another time mother had been reading us e story of

how the Indians scalped the vfcite neo.."e. Father had some

cows th&t he co . ldn ' t 'keep up so he ha.d :aade-a r a i l fence

so hifh that they couldn't jump over -i t . I t must hove been•. • ' f>-

ten or twelve feet hi£h. I liked to climb up snd s i i in

the forks Uhat*were famed at the top of• / •

the r s i l s in place; One day I was s i t t ing on :.iy*perch when

I saw s"Vief&orses cohifrg. The fi£§t v;ere peint-ponies, a

lot of them. Behind these were sone ^nCians "who had s t r ipes

rainted on. thei r faces and arms. So.iie of the s t r ipes went

cross or around, others MI ere lengthwise the i r arms, black%

ann red. They had a thing ("byitch-clout) on.?4,th fringe on

i t . Their "shoes vjere l ike sandals. They hpd no'saddle e.nd -t

no bridles* They* just sat up there end the horses went without

unless i t igirifc have been syoken or knee .pressure,

.STEWARD, JOHN ITCNRY. JHTERVE'.V.

asso

I couldn't see any. behind, thera oeme a bunch of white

horses and they we're e l l pre t ty and f a t , not as so"-e

think the Indian horses we're;'and then o not her bunch of

Indians.' The lf-st one looked l ike 'o ld °ackson Bernett used

to l">ok. He had a thiii£ on his horse like a rope, with

loops in both ends to put his feet in, but that was a l l

of the harness that bunch $£ Indians had. I oyn't knov:-^

who they were of where they came from, ss my pcrents were-• *

1' n ' t interested when I told them and just said "that they

were passing through. They may have been western Indians

Vv-ith a passport to take the horses" through to s e l l . I

don't know.. They wore no clothirL exempt the cloth vith

fringe and the ssndalsA - • • •\ 4