Biography of a 1900 Beckham Co OK homesteader Posted by Edward C. Noonan ************************************************************************ USGENWEB ARCHIVES NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/ *********************************************************************** Saga of An Okie By Uncle Jesse Lee Wright (1907-19991) Trying to start a new chapter so many little details to attend to. First get the proper materials, and a good ball point pen. But getting down to the Brass Tacks. I keep thinking of my childhood down in Okla, Western Okla, out in the boonies. We lived in 2 half dug-outs, dug back into the hillside like badgers. Our family consisting of Father, Mother, sister Josie, brother Frank, and myself. The reason we moved out there was to help grandma prove-up on 80 acres. My grandmother being unable todo this on account of inablility to make a living. She had brought Uncle Lee out there but he wasnt much help, generally working on different farms, mostly getting beat out of his wages, being a harmless and mild mannered person, also slightly retarted. Anyhow, Granny talked up into going out there which was about 25-30 miles west of Cheyenne, Okla. We had been living in Hammon, Okla where my father was a section hand on the Clinton, Okla Western. This Road was called The Cow and Calf. Generally all youd ever see was an engin and a caboose. Father helped extend and build this road from Clinton to Cheyenne. He nearly got killed in an accident which was caused by rainy fog. Him and 2 or 3 other men were pushing a small flat car down the track in this heavy fog, when a train hit them head on, killing one man by the name of Matt Brady and injuring Father and the other man. I dont think he ever got hardly any compensation except Dr & hospital bills. This I believe was around 1912 or 1913, and right after the accident when Father got out of the hospital we loaded up the wagon, hitched the horses up and headed out. It probably took us 3-4 days to get there as Hammon is 45-5o miles to our new house. It was warm weather so we camped along the way. I do remember we had 1 or 2 cows which meant we had to go slow so the cows wouldnt go lame on us. I was born Oct 24th, 1907, 3 miles West of Sayre, in Beckham County, 25 miles south of Cheyenne, which is in Roger Mills County. I was about 4 or 5 when we made this trip. Josie was 1 1/2 years older and Frank was about 3 1/2 at the time of this trip. This change was quite a lark for us kids. We didnt worry about nothing, and moving out on Grannys 80 acre Govt tract meant we didnt have to go to school. I dont know how Father intended to make a living out there, but there was no kinds of improvements on this place just the two dug-outs mentioned before. Only virgin prairie, not even a well. Father later dug a well down the hill maybe 50 yards away from our cosy little home. He dug down perphas 18-20 ft deep and then made a square box with a cover over the well, with two uprights 2x4s a header to mount a pulley and rope with a pail. The water was never to plentiful. Also rabbits, ground squirrels, snakes was forever digging under the casement, falling in and drowned. When this happened, which was all the time----. It was easy to tell when something was in the well, wed go by how the water tasted at which there would be an election over who was to ride down the well and do the dirty work, it seemed I always won. If you didnt go down soon enough the animal would get fairly ripe, when youd try to grab a holt of same, it would fall apart. Afterwards Id have to bail all of the water out, then when the water would seep in we have to boil it in order to use it. Hunting was real good those days,and that was our salvation. Lots of rabbits both Jacks and Cottontails. Possums was plentiful. Lots of quail and prairie chickens. Skunks galore. Father would skin the skunks and possums stretch their hides and hang them in a couple of trees near the dug-outs. But he never got rich off the skins. Made 5 -10 cents a piece. Barely enough to buy corn to take to the mill and have ground up. The miller would grind it on share basis. In summer and fall wed pick lambs quarters and Pok salad, something on the order of turnip greens. If boiled with a hunk of sow bosom is something to write home about. Oh we made it alright but it kept us scrounging. For instance during the next summer Dad took off up into the Texas panhandle and got a job with a threshing machine crew if he made any money Ill never know but he did come back with lots of Graham flour like whole wheat. Now we had a different ballgame. Everyone was damn good and tired of corn dodger so called corn bread, but this Graham Bread was out of this world. We lived like a Royal family. I dont know what we would have done without the old dog we had aquired some place or other. Anyhow us kids would take Old Bruce and go hunting. Just about every other day. Hed always kill a few rattle snakes along the way and almost get himself killed himself. Ive seen him come in several times head swollen up nearly double, he would always dig a hole back into the hill and lay there 2-3 days until he got well. We always come home with a rabbit or two, Bruce would chase them into a hole in the ground and wed take a long wire and twist it around and around until we latched onto said rabbit, pull him out and he was our meat. Quite often we run onto quails nest or prairie chickens nests. Wed bring in the eggs then wed have a feast. Game isnt like that anymore down in that country. We made a trip down there two years ago I didnt see one rabbit. A man told me the chemical they spray crops with is responsible. We did see lots of read hawks especially in Kansas. Well after a few months Grandma and Uncle Lee came in to take a general look see but mostly I think to make sure we didnt get any funny ideas like maybe staying there and taking squatters rights thus freezing grandma and Lee out but they let us know who the boss was right from the start. Dad and Lee never did get along any too good and it wasnt long till there was open war but mostly verbal. I remember one of the first arguments took place over a glass demijohn & 1 gallon glass jug. The fight was waged back and forth 2-3 days, until grandma came out with the Jug in one hand and a claw hammer in the other and bringing the two together - ending the argument then and there. We being a quarrelsom family, Granny and Lee didnt stay there very long, but Lee came back after a few days, but not for long as Dad chased him off the place, Lee ran all the way down to Uncle Joe Meeks farm 26 miles away. Lee came running in out of breath. The Meeks asked him whats wrong? Lee says I need detection (his words) Well this left us in complete charge of the old homestead. This must of been 1912, as I remember the family taking a short trip in a wagon and team of horses to Berlin, Okla (no longer on map) 7-8 miles 1 way, and we met another home steader who stopped and visited a few minutes and gave us a newspaper and mama proceeded to read to us - she being the only one so capable, but anyway the whole paper being full of news of the Titanic Disaster. I really dont know how long we stayed there but we did leave and I think I know why. Our mother, she was always complaining about us kids not being able to attend school. After we left the place Grandma traded the place off for a team of horses, that was both just about dead from old age. The cows which we turned loose to browse on the plentiful grass, generally roamed far and wide, and we always had to go looking for them. One time they wandered onto a neighbors property who put them in a corral, and we had to pay $200 a head to get them back, this being legal under the Herd Law Statute. This country was indeed the Land of Sun and Flowers which was a few years before the dust bowl era. At one time in Okla it was a heavy fine to haul this grass or hay on a county or State hi way on account of once it got a toe hold it was nearly impossible to eradicate. You could just about raise anything cropwise as mentioned. Broom corn was a cheap crop. There being 2 types: standard, and dwarf. Dwarf stood about 4-5 feet high and the field works, generally called Broom corn Johnnies would go down the row pulling the broom heads off and leaving it in small bundles every few feet to be picked up by others later on and brought in to the main shed, later on to be run thru the thresher, removing all the seeds. This last operation was a very unthankful job. It took about 8-10 people who would arrange the broom corn on a long table, and run thru a conveyor chain against a revolving reel 3-4 ft long made of wood with spikes driven in and this reel was turned at a high rate of speed. It also created a white cloud of pollen which settled on everyone causing them to scratch like maybe they had the seven year itch, especially on a a hot day. The only relief was to go for a swim. Cotton was also raised around this area as well as water melons, cantaloupes, some peanuts, peaches, apricots, apples, plums, and grapes. There was another type of plant called citern which looked like a watermelon, real heavy, to open it up required an axe. I never could figger what good they were. I never saw cattle eat them. Nor used for any purpose. I could never get a straight answer from anyone on what good citerns were used for. A good deal like some people Ive observed, in my life, who never seem to have anything to do, standing around, generally in the way of everyone else, they never have anything and the want toshare it with everybody else. We finally moved off this 80 acre homestead and further south around Indiahoma, between Indiahoma and Cache along side of the Commanche Reservation. Father got parttime work thur the Indian Agent, everything, contracts, purchase agreements, had to be negotiated thru the agent. The work Father done was menial, like building fences, cutting wood etc. Then the great day arrived, the day us kids started school, located some 4-5 miles away. Mrs. Gilliam was the teach, also very strict. We were always having a run-in with her. One day Frank and I done something that displeased her, so she told Frank to go out and bring in a stick. He came back with a real small stick about 6 inches long. This brought a big laugh from the other students, the teacher then reached up over her desk and brought down a seasoned hickory limb about 3 ft long. Frank and I then got a shot of hickory tea across our rear ends, right in front of everyone present. But just wait till I tell you about the next morning when Father confronted her in the school room. He came a roaring in like a wild animal, marched up to her, and shaking his fist under her nose he called her about every name in the dictionary and a few thats not itemized. This little episode took about 10-15 min. She turned Pale and could hardly answer him back, probably afraid to. Us kids felt a little sorry for her. But Ill say one thing, she was so gentle with us after. We were somewhat ashamed. I think back to those long day ago, and have come to the conclusion that she must have taken a violent dislike to us 3 kids because we were so terribly poor and ignorant. In this school we had a few indians kids 2 or 3 boys 16-17 years old in 2nd-grade. Athletic type. They could really play ball, I think thats why they went to school to play ball and gaze at the girls. One of these boys name of Lap took to picking on us kids mostly when we were on our way home. This thing went on quite some time and Lap kept getting more agressive. So Father decided it was time to deal with Lap. Shortly thereafter Father caught Lap on his way home, riding his horse. Father caught the horse by the reins, and proceeded to give Lap a good cussing out all the while slapping him with his hat. From then on no more trouble from Lap. Once in a while if he came by our place it would be at a full gallup. I dont wish to convey the impression that Father was a tiger but he did have an ungovernly temper which was always getting him into fist fights which he seldom won. But in school us 3 kids didnt seem to get the hang of it. We were still in, I think the first grade, and not much home of getting any higher. About that time I got the measles - had to stay home maybe 7-8 days. I guess all Ill have to say I got the learning bug laying in bed nothing to do I started looking at books, then trying to read the stories in them. If I came to a word I couldnt make out, mother would help, and what a wonderful inspiration she was. She wasnt school trained so much having only went to maybe the 3rd Grade but she was always reading, and a very good letter writer. After the measles I went back to school, and right away I forged ahead, getting a promotion with in a short time, leaving Josie and Frank in the rear. We didnt stay by the Commanche Reservation very long especially after they found out where a lot of their chickes had disappeared to. What tipped them off was the smell of burning feathers coming from our chimney. This location was very scenic, being at the foot of the Wichita Mountains. Those days as now a good sized buffalo herd was kept in a National Park, near the Wichita Mountains. Some Sundays wed hitch up to the wagon and drive over to see the critters. After all we were wild live lovers, especially when cooked to a turn, and set in front of us. Wed stand and gaze by the hour at these pre-historic beasts, our mouths watering the meanwhile. The old man never could figger out a way to get a hold of one, safely that is. One time Frank and I wandered up into the mountains and came across a hold about 4 ft deep with a spring bubbling out of. It was nearly filled with trout swimming around. Someone had dug the hole and was keeping a live supply of fish. We couldnt see such sense in leaving fish cooped up in such a small place, besides they were probably homesick. We took off our shirts and tied up the sleeves thereby providing something to haul the fish home with. We had trout for 2-3 days. We didnt stay in this location only untill school was out then we headed for Lawton about 18-20 miles away. But somewhere, somehow we acquired 4 goats. I think Father traded a horse for them. This was a mistake. These animals was strickly a nuisance. Particularly after we got into Lawton. We had them tied up at first, but they got loose and from then on until he got rid of them, he was chasing goats day and night, sometimes when hed capture them, (with the help of the whole neighborhood, boys and men, fast of foot who seemed to enjoy the chase) hed bring the goats home, tether them out on a rope, and if there was clothes like underware theyd chew off the legs or arms of same. People walking by seeing the clothes would think a poor cripple man lived there. They ate up some clothes for my mother. When she found out about it the goats had chewed their tethers and escaped again. My mother was so out raged she vowed If I ever get my hands on them goats, Were going to have fresh beef! The police made trips over to see us every day or so, muttering dire threats. We did move out of that part of town and way out on I think the northside of Lawton, on the road going to Fort Sill, which was about 6 miles from Lawton. The Street car tracks was right near the house we moved into. About this time Father got into jail. For what reason I cant remember, but Im sure it wasnt about the goats, as he had traded them off by that time. So we had to go on Relief. There was a place downtown, I believe was ran by the Salvation Army. Called the Charity House. My job every live long day was to take a pail and go down to the Charity House and have it filled with soup, which tasted real good, like if you were on a diet as we were most of the time. The trip was about 2 miles one way. So Id generally walk down town, have the pail filled up, go over to where the street car stopped, hang around till the street car came and stopped and when it started up Id make a wild dash, jump on the cow catcher and get a free ride to the next stop nearest my house. But he didnt always stop there, which meant I had to hit the grit that is jump off when the car was doing 25-30 an hr. This took some doing to jump off and keep the soup pail which had a cover from spilling. The tracks was on a embankment 10-12 incline. Id slide down the bank taking off a little hide in the mean time. Lawton was a wild and woolyy town at the time which was during World War 1. There was always lots of soldiers from Fort Sill in town getting drunk, getting picked up by the street walkers of which there was plenty to go around. But the Charity House management also ran a clothing outlet having all kinds of 2nd hand wearing apparel, everything was clean, starched, and ironed. We never could find anything that would fit - all too big, mostly adult sizes. The shirts I had to wear had high starcted collors and the sleeves came down to my knees. My mother would take a pair of scissors and slash them off to proper length. Shoes? All they had was womens shoes, and thats what I had to wear all winter. In school one day, a boy near the front of the room, opens his big mouth and says: Miss Winters, Jesse is wearing a pair of womens shoes. I could of choked him! I guess we stayed a whole winter and it seemed to be a very cold winter, a lot of snow, blizzards with lots of cold wind. Oklahoma is known for its mild climate, but some years it can be rough. Then in the summer they can hot, dry winds. Blowing one day from the north and next day it turns around and blows right back from the south. I always loved the fall of the year, which meant no school till after xmas, as all us kids had to turn out, get fitted with new cotton sacks, anywhere from 8 to 4 ft long, with shoulder straps to fit each kid, then out to the cotton fields to pick cotton. The way we got paid was about 10% of what the farmer received after he had the cotton ginned. like if he received 40 cents per lb the picker received $4.00 per 100 lbs. The average picker can get 100-200 lbs per day. After I got to be 16-17 years old I was picking 500 lbs per day. The hardest work was hauling it to the scales. This took a little planning, like finding how much cotton it took to fill the bag and be as near the scales as possible. You wouldnt want to get too far away with a full bag and have to lug it all the way back. Wed usually pick cotton till end of the year. Then start school, with new shoes and clothes. We lived mostly day to day, never to sure where our next meal would come from, indeed we saw more meal times than meals. Wed move into an area, stay untill the wlecome wore out then on to the next place. It must of been in the summer of 1916-1917 when we took off on another odessy, and I believe it was around Paris, Texas, just over the Okla-Texas line. I know it was just about cotton-picking time. I remember a man gave us a job and he had a new house for us to stay in, not too big - no furniture, but we didnt notice the difference as we all slept on the floor. Ill always remember that house for the nice odor from the new lumber. Every Saturday wed hook up the horses to the wagon and head out for Paris, maybe 5-6 miles away. Wed always spend just about all wed earned during the week. Well anyway, after the cotton was pretty well picked we headed out east and ended up around a small town called Bagley, Texas. Not too far from Clarksville, Texas. This was a heavily wooded country and Father was supposed to start cutting cord wood. We were to stay in a real small shack, us kids was to go to school, about 1 to 2 miles away. I forget just how long we stayed, I think maybe till early spring. We went to school for most of the winter. That school is where I learned to take care of myself in a scrap. It happened this way. There was 2-3 bullies in this school, and the worst one was Al Dennis as we called him. Just about every evening after school us kids would head home, and Dennis would go up ahead waiting, and when we got there hed start harrassing us, Chasing us and landing a few blows now and then just to keep in shape. Mama knowed all about what was happening, and one afternoon she suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Right when Dennis was having a field day. She had a stick in her hand about 3 ft long and she says Jesse, either you whup him or Ill whup you! I tied into Dennis with everything I had. I knocked him down into a bramble bush. I stayed on top of him, beating him with both fists, until he cried and begged for mercy, I let him up and did he head for home, and me after him! I didnt catch him, but we didnt have further trouble from Dennis. One item they raised a lot of around that area was sweet potatoes. Instead of carrying a lunch, the kids would bring a large paked sweet potatoe. Thats the time we got separated, when Father took the team and wagon and disappeared. After awhile he didnt return, mama decided we would leave also. So after have a sale on the stuff we couldnt take on the train, we came back to Sayre, on second thought, we went to Cheyenne first then took a Model T Taxi out to the Meeks Farm. The Taxi Driver, a crabby guy about 50, wearing wrap leggins like World War 1 Soldiers, was going to charge us $6.00 but mama solved that little problem by giving him $3.00 and telling him to take it or leave it. He had really earned that $3.00 as it was 7 miles out to the farm and we had all sorts of bags, boxes, and everything we could bring, having shipped most of our bedding, cooking utensils by freight to be delievered later. We probably stayed a week or so at the Meeks until our welcome wore out, then we took off for Sayre. Mama rented a small house and we settled down for a long stay. It was time us kids started back to school. We still didnt know where Father was, and Mama was beginning to think of herself as a widow, at least not discouraging any one else from believing it. Also it made things a lot easier for us to get charity. Father had been gone like maybe a year. Late in the summer he pulled in our yard, his wagon loaded down to the axels with - you name it, he had it. I was his favorite so I had first crack at anything on the load. And what a treasure! I had trade goods that lasted I dont know how long. We had a joyous reunion, everyone being glad to see Father again. Ill have to say he was a very good father to us, but he always had a hard time holding a job, he never could read or write. His employment when he worked was a menial type, like working on the railroad as a section hand, farm work, Puttering about things, like that. Father and Mother was always looking for the pot of gold at the foot of the rainbow, never staying very long at any one place. Well, Father got a section hand job on the Rock Island Rail Road so now we were on easy street once more. Somehow mama managed to buy a small house on Railroad Hill in the West side of town. There was a small barn on the property so it wasnt long till she got a good milk cow. Now we were really cooking with gas. We were really doing good. Us kids were going to school. Father was working steady, this was about 1917, somewhere in that time zone. I remember the troop trains coming thru Sayre, the boys were allowed an hour or two to go down town 6-7 blocks away, getting drunk, all sorts of fights taking place, then getting them loaded up on the train, pulling out again. After sometime Father lost his job, but he wasnt off very long. It seemed they needed all the men available in the shipyards, so they got all the unemployed men from our locality, put tags on them, shipped them out on the next troop train that came in. Father ended up in Columbia, South Carolina working in the ship yard. There he stayed for the duration. The money he would send home, we could hardly believe our luck. We lived high on the hog. We ordered all kinds of stuff out of the Sears Catalog. First thing we ordered was a phonograph which we kept running almost day and night. Mostly playing patriotic songs like Over There. I didnt raise my son to be a soldier after that sort of music. Later on we started to get better records like classical music, piano music which has always been my love. Sayre was a very good town for us because of the farming activities, like cotton, broom corn, -------, maize, corn. You could always come up with a job. The farmers would make an appointment with the families to work on Saturdays, and would pick them up and bring them back in the evening. This being in fall of the year, but the summer was a busy time for pulling broom corn, chopping cotton. There was always something going on. Chopping cotton was going down two rows of young cotton with a hoe and cutting out the weeds & grass and thinning out the cotton plants so as to produce a healthier growth. As mentioned earlier some farmers would provide a large family with a habitiation of some kind. We always had some place where there was 2-3 bedrooms and wed stay all winter if theyd let us stay and a school wasnt too far. I think this is probably why we started our wandering life. If there was no farm work, we would just wander from one town to another, picking up junk like copper, brass, rags, bones. Bones was in very good demand for making fertilizer. Also, rags which brought about 3-4 cents a lb. Bones was worth about $20-24 a ton. Some places we come to where the cattle had died out from a drought or a heavy snow storm, we just camped out near the location untill we picked everything up and sold it. We would look around and find some old shack or house and move right in, seldom ever being challenged by the owner. That way wed unload the wagon so as to haul the junk. Old whisky bottles was in demand being sold to bootleggers. I took a load to the junk man one time in Lawton once - and he pulled the cork on every bottle, poured the small dab maybe a spoonfull all into one bottle and drank it down in one gulp! 1/2 pt bottles was worth 1 cent, 1 pint took 4 bottles for 1 cent. Rags was where every you found them. On our travels along country roads we always go to farm houses and burn them for rags, copper, or brass also zinc, never offering to pay for anything instead pleading poverty. We had this dog with us, who generally trotted along under the wagon in the shade in the summer. He was worth his weight in gold, hardly a day passed he didnt come up with something, like a rabbit or two, a chicken from a farm yard, and when got into turkey country down in Texas, we had turkey every day. Turkeys like to wander off from home base and this dog of ours could locate and capture one and be up the road waiting for us with our supper. I forget what year we moved out to Lawton, Okla, it might have been 1919. The year World War I ended. I remember the celebration tha took place at Fort Sill, 6 miles north of Lawton. Just about everybody went out there, mostly by street car, they were riding on top, hanging on both ends, any place they could get a holt of, in order to get there for the free food dished out that day. One kid told me he got away with six pies. None of our family went on account of the old man being in jail again, what for I cant remember. Never anything serious, mostly for stealing something like a couple of chickens or going in a cornfield and picking a few ears of corn, something hed get 10 days or so for. Our home life was mostly on the primitive side, living in a covered wagon bouncing around from pillar to post, working in cotton fields either picking cotton or chopping cotton that is removing the weeds and grass from around the young cotton plants. When these jobs came up the whole family turned out. Then we really lived high on the hog. byt we werent any better off when this work was finished, as we had nearly always spent the small amount of money as fast as we earned it. Still us kids loved every minute of it. Every fall or xmas mama generally got us into school, always a different school where ever we happened to be. Always in a new school. Wed have to show our mettle, getting into any number of fights. My brother Frank had a speech defect, and this always caused the kids to laught at him, this always brought a Battle Royal. -end- (Retyped from Uncle Jesses handwritten manuscript by Edward C. Noonan - 1606 Gold Street, Marysville,CA 95901 - (530) 743-6878 - ednoonan@2xtreme.net - Retyped 3rd time 01/25/2000) http://www.afamily.net