Indian Pioner Papers - B.W. Watson

Submitted by Brenda Choate  bcchoate@yahoo.com
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                    Garvin County Indian Pioneer Papers
                                      
                                                                    
                              B.W. Watson



Interview #10106

Field Worker: Maurice R. Anderson

Date:  February 23, 1938

Name: Mr. B.W. Watson

Residence: Pauls Valley, Oklahoma

Date of Birth:  June 26, 1865

Place of Birth: Mississippi

Father: George Watson, born in Mississippi

Mother: Sarah Jane Munn, born in Mississippi





I was born in 1865 in Mississippi and came to the Indian 

Territory from Texas in the fall of 1890 and settled near 

Pauls Valley.



I rented a farm from Zach Gardner, who owned the only gin 

and grist mill in this part of the country at that time.  

I was like most of the men coming to the Indian Territory 

 the early days with a family to support and not much money. 

I owned one cow and a few chickens when I settled here.

Farmers had a very hard time in settling up this country.  

When I came here there were not very many people living here.  

There were no roads to speak of and only one log school house 

and it was used for a church.  It was a subscription school 

and cost one dollar a month for each child sent and this made 

it very hard for some of us farmers who didn't have much money.  

The first winter I settled here my family lived off of corn meal 

bread and rabbits.  Of course, we had plenty of milk and butter 

and the few chickens I brought with us helped.   There were lots 

of turkeys then and some deer and the woods were full of quail 

and squirrels.



Zach Gardner, the man I rented land from, furnished me in corn 

until I made a crop. The fall I came here the fields were full 

of corn but they didn't make much that year.  Mr. Gardner told 

me the boll worms had cleaned the cotton.  The first crop I made, 

I raised about three thousand bushels of corn.  Corn was cheap, 

only worth fifteen cents a bushel.  I sold corn to Mr. Byers, who 

was a large cattle owner then and he had a feeding pen on the river 

not far from where I lived, where he fed out cattle every winter.  

The country was full of cattle and though there were no fences the 

cattle never got our crops as the cattle owners had cow-hands to 

herd them.



There was no court at Pauls Valley when I first came.  Court being 

held at Ardmore.  It was in 1895, when they began holding court at 

Pauls Valley and at that time, too, Amos White Built a school.  They 

always had school from six to nine months each year.  Before 1895, 

school was held about three months each year.   A church house was 

then built at Pauls Valley. 



The town of Pauls Valley didn't do much building until after 1900, 

although in the early days it was a main trading point.  By 1900 

Wynnewood was building into a nice town and it looked for awhile 

 it was going to best Pauls Valley for the county seat.  That was 

the biggest election I have ever seen.  At the time the Washita River 

overflowed and Pauls Valley had plenty of water over town.   People 

rode around town in boats and instead of hauling people to vote in 

automobiles they hauled them to the polls in boats. 



I moved to Gainesville, Texas, in 1902. 



 I now live with my daughter in Pauls Valley.