Indian Pioner Papers -      Mrs. John W. Gibson

                                

Submitted by  Brenda Choate  bcchoate@yahoo.com 


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                    Garvin County Indian Pioneer Papers
                                      
Mrs. John W. Gibson



Interview #9147

Field Worker: Maurice R. Anderson

Date: November 11, 1937

Name: Mrs. John W. Gibson

Residence: Pauls Valley, Oklahoma

Date of Birth: June 12, 1877

Place of Birth: Texas

Father: Jesse Reaves, born in Arkansas

Mother: Emma Wilburn, born in Texas





I was born in 1877 in Texas and came to the Indian Territory with my 

father and mother from Texas in 1888.  My father settled at Thackerville 

in the Chickasaw nation and went to farming and raising cattle.  

We lived there two years, then we moved nine miles northeast of Pauls 

Valley and my father leased a large farm and continued his farming and 

raising of cattle.   That part of the country was a fine place to raise 

cattle.  there were very few fences at that time and it was open range.  

Some of the cultivated land, of course, was fenced.



We lived on the farm about two years when my father bought a hotel in 

Pauls Valley from C.J. Grant.  It had been owned and operated before 

then by Colonel Hopkins and today it is called the Rice Hotel. While 

we operated this hotel there were no dances given in it as my mother 

didn't believe in dancing, but according to stories told by old settlers 

who lived here when Colonel Hopkins operated the hotel some of the largest 

dances given in that vicinity were held at the Hopkins Hotel. My father 

took care of his ranch and farm, and my mother operated the hotel and 

boarding house.  When the Federal Court was established at Pauls Valley 

all the court officials boarded at our hotel and among them was Judge 

Townsend, who was the first judge of the first court held at Pauls Valley.



Before the court was established here court was held at Paris, Texas, and 

Fort Smith, Arkansas.



When we moved to Pauls Valley there was a subscription school and two small 

church houses.  One was the Presbyterian Church and the other was used by the 

Methodists and Baptists and it was called the Community Church.



The only fun we children would have would be on Sunday and we would look 

forward to Sunday, for nearly every Sunday our Mothers would fix a big basket 

lunch and we would all meet at the Gardner Mill on the river east of 

Pauls Valley where there was a fine shady grove and playground, and there 

would be large crowds of people out there nearly every Sunday.



There were several weddings held at our hotel and I was married there to 

John W. Gibson in 1897.  My father sold the hotel to Mr. Wade Hampton.



Several years before John Gibson and I were married, my husband, his father 

and brother had come from Arkansas, bringing with them several buggies and 

horses and they had started a livery barn at Pauls Valley.



When we came to Pauls Valley there were only about three or four nice 

homes, Mr. Paul's home, Zach Gardner's home and Mr. Kimberlin's home.

  

Pauls Valley had no paved streets when we first came and only had board 

side walks.  Each man who owned a place of business would build a board 

side walk in front of his place and some of the side walks were lower than 

the others and when you went from one store to the other you would have to 

go up some steps or down some steps.

 

The town was the first town in Indian Territory to incorporate but it wasn't 

incorporated until 1898.



The first free school was established in 1899 and this was the first free 

school in the Indian Territory.



I now live in Pauls Valley which has been my home since 1892.