Indian Pioneer Papers -      Lucy Case

                               
Submitted by  Brenda Choate  bcchoate@yahoo.com 


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                    Garvin County Indian Pioneer Papers
                                      
                                 Lucy Case



Interview #7712

Field Worker: Charline M. Culbertson

Date: September 21, 1937

Name: Mrs.  Lucy Case

Residence: Pauls Valley, Oklahoma

Date of Birth:  

Place of Birth: Cedar County, Choctaw Nation, Indian Territory

Father: George Washington Baldwin, full blood Choctaw

Mother: Jane Tony Baldwin, full blood Choctaw





I was born in Cedar County, Choctaw Nation, Indian Territory, in 

what year I do not know but do know that I was just a baby at the 

time of the Civil War.  The little log hut where I was born is located 

between Atoka and Antlers.  Most of my early days were spent about 

thirty or thirty-five miles north of Antlers.  My parents were George 

Washington Baldwin and Jane Tony Baldwin who were both full blood 

Choctaw Indians.  My parents are buried somewhere close to Antlers.  

They both died when I was five or six years of age.  Then I went to 

live with my grandmother.



I remember that my mother did most of the work.  She always did the 

breaking of the land.  This was done with oxen; however, Father did 

have some work horses.  He also had a few ponies.  We farmed more than 

the average family did in that vicinity.



I never attended school.  There was one school about five miles from 

my grandmother's place but they seemed to think it was not necessary 

for me to go.



I remember it was while my parents were living that we had a big rain 

and Ten Mile Creek got out of its banks and came up into our little log 

house.  We had to get out on the roof and had to stay there from Sunday 

till Wednesday.



Father would go to Paris, Texas, for our supplies and would be away 

on this trip for four or five days.  He would go once a year and would 

buy six hundred pounds of flour at a time.



Mother had a spinning wheel and loom.  I know she would stay up until 

way in the night spinning.  I know they used to shear the sheep and 

Mother would make her blankets.  She also used to make her dyes and 

our medicine.  Water, bark and some kind of weeds would make the black 

and yellow dyes.  The medicine was made from herbs.



I am in possession of her cotton carder today.  She also had a wool 

carder which was different from the cotton carder.



I married Mr. Case, a white man, when I was very young and continues 

living near Antlers.  Mr. Case was a cattleman and had been since he 

was fifteen years of age.  He drifted cows from Utah, Texas, Oklahoma 

and Nebraska.



He built the first store building at Antlers but I do not remember 

who operated the store.  The building does not stand today.



I remember going through the field one day and running on to the 

queerest snake I had ever seen and I have never seen one like it since.  

It had red feathers around its neck and looked very vicious.  We were 

so afraid we did not attempt to kill it.



I still own my allotment and am living and farming on it at the 

present time.  It is located two and three-fourths miles west of Pauls Valley.