Bryan Co., OK; Life in Indian Territory during the Civil War as told by - Frances (Fanny) Elizabeth Kemp in an interview - k510 --------------------------------- Viki Anderson vikia@novia.net --------------------------------------------------------------- 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. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Source: Oklahoma Indian-Pioneer Interviews is approximately 120 volumes of interviews describing the peoples and their lives in the Indian Territory. According to the "Guide to Manuscript Collections, Western History Collections, University of Oklahoma" (Bowie, MD: Heritage Books, 1994), compiled by Donald L. DeWitt, the Indian-Pioneer Papers Collection is in the custody of that institution. ---------------------------------------------------------------- My gg grandmother, Frances (Fanny) Elizabeth Kemp was interviewed several times in 1937. She describes her family, her friends and her life in general. It is a priceless gift that she gives us. Frances was 88 years of age when she was interviewed and she died two years later. She is buried in Calera, Bryan County, Oklahoma. The following are her interviews: MEAD, ELIZABETH KEMP, (3/18/1849 - 11/5/1939), Indian Territory later known as Oklahoma. She was the daughter of Joel Kemp and Mariah Colbert. Oklahoma Indian-Pioneer Papers. Volume 61-62 a.k.a. Fannie. OKLAHOMA INDIAN-PIONEER PAPERS FRANCES ELIZABETH KEMP INTERVIEW 162 My father, Joel Kemp, then a young man came from Mississippi with his parents, who were Levi Kemp and Polly Fraizer. He married Mariah Colbert, Chickasaw, whose father was Levi Colbert, Chief of Chickasaws. His wife was Minto-Ho-Yo, a full blood Chickasaw. They were married at old Docksville, OK near Idabel, and were the parents of ten children, six growing to maturity. We moved to Panola County, about 1852, near Red River which was later known as Kemp Ferry Place. Later built at same place a two-story log house with two rooms and two side-rooms with a hall between, two rooms upstairs, front porch 40 feet long. The house still stands and the logs are as firm as when put there in 1857. The old family graveyard is 300 yards from the house. My mother and father, with two of my brothers and four sisters, are buried there. Furniture was scarce, nearly all we had was home-made, made by John H. Carr, a missionary who later was Principal of Bloomfield. I remember two old trunks that seemed so mysterious to me, and when they were opened we children would all crowd around to see; but all I remember seeing was old papers, letters, dishes, and relics that my mother said belonged to my grandparents. My father operated a ferry across Red River before and after the Civil War. Toll was twice as high before the war. In 1888 my brother, Joel C. Kemp was granted a charter by the legislature of the Chickasaw Nation, giving him legal right to operate a ferry on Red River which he did for many years. Interview 163 My father was National Treasurer of the Chickasaw Indians. He would receive the Indian money from the United States and pay out according to the orders of the Legislature. The Council ground was at Emmet, called "Post Oak Grove." Later they moved to Good Spring, now known as Tishomingo. Father was a member of the Chickasaw Legislature, spoke good English and the Chickasaw and Choctaw languages. He was in Washington when the Civil War broke out and was made Captain to raise an army for the protection of the peoples who remained home. They were not allowed to cross the Arkansas line. One day, while he was stationed at Colbert Springs with the soldiers, a letter was sent to our home by Jim Reynolds from General Cooper, commander of the Choctaw army. My mother said it was important that the letter reach my father who was stationed fifteen miles away. I told her I would take it. So with my brother who was nine years old (and I was only twelve) we started horseback on our journey. Mother pinned the letter to my underwear and said not to let anyone see me, but give it to my father. As we neared his camp, he recognized us and came to meet us. I told him about the letter and he took me into the tent an I gave it to him. After reading it, he told me I would have to go four miles farther and deliver a letter to Mr. Colbert. I did and then Mr. Colbert sent a letter back to my father. It was past midnight before we reached home. Everyone was asleep but my mother. I gave her a note my father sent her and then went to bed. My brother and I were dead tire. The next day my mother told me the Federals were trying to take Fort Gibson and that after my father read the letter he, with a bunch of soldiers, rushed the Fort; but the Choctaw Army had driven the Rebels back. Interview 164 The refugees from the Cherokee Nation came in bunches and settled near us during the War. They were without food, and I have often seen them gathering the render leaves from Mulberry trees and cooking for greens. Father would kill beef and hogs and divide out among them; also, let them have corn to make bread. They would dig Briar Root, which was sweet and brittle like potatoes, and mix with with the meal when they didn't have enough meal for bread. I have beaten mortar and made shuck bread to send to the men in camp. The Rebel soldiers would pass our house for days, fifteen and twenty together, and stop for food. Mother would cook a whole hog in the wash-pot; they would eat everything and move on. I remember one day I was sick in bed and my mother was feeding a bunch of Rebel soldiers; the table was in the bed room. When each soldier left the table he came by the bed and gave me a present. I received my first China doll with other nice presents. They had obtained them in a raid that they make in Arkansas and Missouri. One night when it was very cold and the ground was covered with snow there was someone said, "Hello". My father sent his waiting boy to the door. It was a young girl, nearly frozen, who said her mother and sister were out in the wagon. They were all brought in, fed, and put to bed. My father had his negro put the team up and feed them. The next morning she told us her story. Her name was Jane George, and her husband was Bert George, who was serving in the Rebel Army. She had been accused by the Federals of feeding the Rebel soldiers. They took her to Fort Smith and put her in jail for several weeks and then let her out and said if she was inside the Arkansas line by sunrise they would kill her. Interview 165 She had two bull calves that she used to drag up wood with, so she hitched them to a wagon and with her two girls, 16 and 18, and what few belongings they could pack in the wagon crossed the Arkansas river after sun-up. They remained with us until after the war. while with us, Mrs. George taught my sisters and me to card, spin warp cloth and put on thread beam and then weave. My father would drive five yoke of oxen to a big government wagon to Bonham, which was the nearest trading post, and have meal ground. There was no grist mills in the county and some of the people used a hand steel mill of beat on mortar. My father's brother Jackson Kemp, later had a grist mill operated by one horse. which he ran night and day. That was the first mill in the county. Sugar was brought in wagons to the trading post from Shreavport, LA. My father would buy two bbls every fall, one white and one brown. It was 10 cents per lb. before the Civil War, but after was 25 cents per lb. Once a year, usually in October, father would go to "Giles Thompson Salt Works" at Boggy Depot and spend two months getting our winter's supply of salt. He had a large iron pot that held 50 gallons which he would load on the wagon and take to boil the water. My brother, a cook, and one or two Indians would go with him. Fifty gallons of water would boil out 8 and 10 pounds of salt. People came there from all over the county to get their salt; I don't remember what he paid for it but there was a charge. There was also a salt spring at Carriage Point, but wasn't very much salt in the water. We would use the water to make salt. Interview 166 We made our own rope, We used a flat board and had a stick with a knot on it that held the whirl that twisted the rope, Many times I have straightened the horse hair out and helped my brother make rope. We spun our thread for cotton rope; it would take a week to spin enough thread for 30 or 40 feet and a day to make the rope. The stage coach passed our house each day from Fort Washita to Bonham. they drove two horses and changed horses twice on the trip, once at our house and again at Bonham. We received our mail from Old Warren, which was also a trading post. My parents would send a peddling wagon each week loaded with country produce: dried beef, chickens, turkeys, eggs, butter, and vegetables when in season, The wagon always came back empty. There was very little fruit here. A few people had a few peach and apple trees. The only way we knew to keep our fruit was to dry it either on platforms or on top of the house. Our butter we buried in stone jars, which kept it fresh all winter. Wild game was plentiful: deer, turkey, buffalo, and quails. We could make traps in the shape of a pyramid out of small sticks, placing one on the top of another, tying them together with willow and then placing a trigger with corn on it under the trap. That way we caught birds and small game. One day while sitting at my window I saw a big buck deer coming up the lane. He came on near the house and the dogs chased him into Red River and when he swam to the other side my brother shot him. Our big camp meetings were held at Yarnaby camping grounds under a brush arbor. Later the Presbyterians built a log house, 18 feet long with a big fireplace in one end of the building. Interview 167 The Methodists also had a big campground. We attended each others meetings and worked together. It was a fine of not less that $25 or more than $50 to cut down a pecan or hickory tree or even a limb for getting the nuts within the limit of the Chickasaw Nation. Every winter there was an epidemic of smallpox and diphtheria among the fullbloods and the negroes. Among the intermarried, less disease prevailed on account of better sanitary conditions. At the first breaking out of the smallpox, the local people tried to treat the sick with roots and herbs. Later they were vaccinated against smallpox by doctors who were called to the locality. There were no doctors at that time in the vicinity. The nearest one was Mr. Mackey at Bonham. Our family was one of the first to be vaccinated. Many died from vaccination. My parents owned eleven negroes. Just three months before they were freed, Mother paid $1,000 in gold for two boys, ten and thirteen years old. They had been put up to the judge for bail by the wife of my half brother. Her husband had killed a man. I was thirteen years old when the Civil War broke out. At that time I was living with my parents on Red River, 12 miles north of Bonham. My mother wove and made all our clothes. I had the first homespun dress in the neighborhood. It was blue and white checked. If you had a change of clothes and extra suit you were considered well-off. A Mr. McCarty, refugee from Missouri, peddled underwear which he would bring in a wagon from San Antonio. It would take a month to make the trip there and back. Everyone that was able bought from him and our other clothes were made at home. -------------------------------------------------------------- The interview can be viewed online in full - under Biographies in the Bryan County Archives.