Indian Pioner Papers - George Wiley

Submitted by Brenda Choate  bcchoate@yahoo.com
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George Wiley



Interview #1225

Field Worker: Maurice R. Anderson

Date: April 15, 1937

Name: Mr. George Wiley

Residence: Pauls Valley, Oklahoma

Date of Birth: 1850

Place of Birth: Texas

Father: 

Mother: 





Biography of Mr. George Wiley 

Told buy his son, Gloster Wiley



My father was born in Texas in 1850.  He was owned by the Taylors, 

who owned a big ranch in west Texas.  When he was ten years old he 

drove the chuckwagon for the cowboys on their roundup.  He helped 

do the cooking while on these roundup trips.  He said, in the 

evenings the cowboys would have fun out of him.  They would rope 

a yearling and make my father try to ride it.  He said that was 

how he learned to ride.



He left the Taylors in 1867 and went to work with the Vance boys, 

who owned a large ranch in Texas.  When he was eighteen years old 

he helped drive five thousand head of cattle from Texas to Kansas 

at one drive.  And he said they went through a little east of where 

Rush Springs, Oklahoma is now.  He was working for the Vance Ranch 

and in 1875 he came to the Indian Territory.



He came by the old Cherokee Town, then located about five miles 

north of where Wynnewood, Oklahoma is now.  At that time a Negro 

named Allen was living about a mile east of Cherokee Town and he 

had one daughter at that time.  My father stayed all night with 

Mr. Allen.  His daughters name was Jemmia(Jemima?) Allen.  

She was eleven years old.



My father went on to a big ranch between Blanchard and Purcell.  

I can't call the name of the rancher but my father went to work 

for him and after he had been working two years, one day he and 

six white cowboys were out on the range hunting and rounding up 

cattle.  He said he always carried a Winchester on his saddle.  

Alone that afternoon he had rode off about a mile from some of 

the cowboys and when he got in about a hundred yards of some timber 

looking for stray cattle, all at once arrows began sticking in the 

ground around him.  He did not know whether to make a run for it or 

ot.  About that time he got over the shock  his horse was shot by an 

arrow, so he grabbed his rifle and got behind his horse.  The 

Indians would run out in the open and shoot at him and run back to

the timber.  He said, all that save his life was the cowboys heard 

his rifle shots and knew something was wrong, so they came on the run.  

After the fight was over there was ten dead Indians and one cowboy.  

My father got shot in the shoulder with an arrow so he took his knife 

and cut around the arrow head and let the wound bleed good. 

 

They got the dead cowboy and went back to the ranch and the 

cowboy was buried that evening.  He said the cowboys dug a 

grave about a hundreds yards from the ranch house and rolled 

the dead cowboy in a blanket and buried him.  My father said 

e rode back to where they had the fight with the Indians about 

a week later and there wasn't any Indians there.  He said 

either the wolves ate them up or the Indians that got away 

went back and got the dead ones.  He said there was about 

twenty Indians altogether. They killed only ten of them.  

There were the Comanche Indians.



My father worked on cattle ranches until 1885.  He came to 

Cherokee Town about five miles north of Wynnewood, Oklahoma.  

He went to work for Mr. Allen, who he had stayed all night 

with in 1875.  He worked for Allen about a year then he 

bought a place and started farming for himself.  And in 1890, 

he married this Mr. Allen's daughter, Miss Jemmia(Jemima?) Allen.



My father lived on his farm north and east of old Cherokee Town 

from 1885 until his death in 1920.