Caddo County, Oklahoma Biography - A. P. Black -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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.usgwarchives.net/ Submitted by: Sandy Miller ------------------------------------------------------------------------- CADDO PRIDE SCHOOL DISTRICT #64 by A.P. Black. Published by the Southwestern Oklahoma Historical Society in 'Prairie Lore' Vol. 8 No. 4, April 1972, pages 218-219. In 1910 my father acquired 80 acres of land which was the west half of the northwest quarter section 29, T5N, R9W, I.M. This was one mile east and one and one-half miles south of the town of Cyril, Oklahoma. My father built a two-room house in which we lived for several years. I was the oldest of our family. My brothers were HOWELL, WARWICK, VIRGIL, WALDO, who we always called Ted, WOODROW, HUERBERT and WARNER. My sisters were ELINE, ELLA and JOHNNIE. I have never known who were the early teachers at Caddo Pride School No. 64. The first teacher I remember was my father who taught the 1910-1911 term. I followed him as a teacher in 1911-1912. Other teachers at Caddo Pride were NINE WILLIAMS, LOLA DAVIS and ALICE BOYDSTON. Some of these teachers taught more than one term. A good many years ago, I do not recall the date, Caddo Pride School, Indian Hill School and Liberty School formed a consolidated district, which took the number 64, formerly the number of Caddo Pride District and located the school building in the town of Cyril. One event stands out in my memory clearly. In February of 1912, while I was teaching at Caddo Pride, one afternoon, one of the school board members, whose name I do not recall, came to the school building, sat down, and remarked about the snow storm which was raging outside. He said, "It looks bad." I didn't pay much attention to the remark until about an hour later when I discovered that the windows on the side of the school building were completely covered with snow, which had drifted to the roof of the school building. A neighbor, PAT CALLAHAN, who lived near the school, came in a short time later and suggested that we have the 16 pupils all line up, clasp hands and go to his home, which we did. One boy, FRANK MOSER, walked home, rather over my protest, and he arrived safely by following my instruction to stay near the fence, all the way home. After seeing the children safely to the Callahan home, I walked to my home west across the fields. However, I got lost on the way home in the blinding blizzard, and was only able to find where I was by locating a tree with which I was well acquainted. From there I made it on home. This same storm resulted in the tragic death of two boys, who were lost in the blizzard, and froze to death trying to find their way home from Fletcher. My father, WARNER BLACK, was a medical doctor and a graduate from the Medical Department of Vanderbilt University in Tennessee. However, he practiced medicine but a little in the Caddo Pride area, preferring the life of a farmer to that of a doctor. I remember several Comanche Indian families in the Caddo Pride community, among them being BIG LOOKING GLASS, RED BIRD, WAH-NEE, MARTINEZ, who was actually a Mexican, and not Comanche, WAT-CH-A-CARDY, MON-A-TO-BOY, and FRANK BOSIN, a Kiowa. No Indian children attended the Caddo Pride School, so far as i remember. There was but little community life at Caddo Pride, as it was so near Cyril, where people attended and took part in other community activities. (NOTE Audrey P. Black, son of Warner and Mattie (Williams) Black, was born near Nashville, Tenn., December 4, 1887. He came to the Caddo Pride community near Cyril, Oklahoma, with his family in 1910. Ed.)