Martin Blackwood, a full-blood Cherokee,
was born in Goingsnake District, Cherokee Nation, December 9, 1872. His
parents were Louis and Jennie Blackwood, Cherokees. His grandfather was George
Blackwood who came from North Carolina several years after the immigrants
came.
The family of Louis consisted of his wife
and eight children. His children were Hooley, Isaac, Caroline, Lydia, Lila,
Nancy, Jane and Martin. Martin married a fullblood girl named Susie CHEWEY.
They now live about five miles north of Stilwell, Oklahoma.
Early Life
Most of Martin’s early life was spent on a small farm that his father
operated in what is now the Peavine Community. He now lives just about one
hundred yards from where he was born on the same farm. He still operates the
farm that his father cleaned up when he settled in this country.
He now lives within a mile of the house
that his grandfather erected almost a hundred years ago. The logs will be one
hundred years old next year.
Martin was raised on a farm and he was
taught how to do all kinds of arm work at a very early age. He was a good
blacksmith at the age of fifteen.
Martin did not go to school to amount to
anything. His father was one of those queer Cherokees that did not believe in
education. He taught that education was the cause of the betrayal of the
Ridges and Boudinot in the east. Although there was a small school within a
mile of his home he never went to school a month in his life. Martin was a
born farmer. He liked the work and was a very successful farmer after he grew
to manhood. At allotment time he allotted this same old home place where he
was reared. He now operates about eighty acres.
Churches
The Old Peavine Baptist Church was the first Cherokee Church that was
established in the Cherokee Nation. This was on a small creek called Peavine.
I don’t know how long ago that church was established but when he got old
enough to recollect anything this was already a well-established church. This
was the church that the Blackwoods attended. Some of the old-time preachers
that he remembers are Nelson TERRAPIN and John JONES, a white man who was a
sort of a missionary to the Cherokee people. This house was of log
construction. It had four large rooms and a large chimney in the center. Each
room had a fireplace.
Camp Meetings
They held Camp Meetings at this place every year. Annually there would be
thousands of Cherokees gather here for the services. These meetings would last
about three weeks. The food was prepared on the grounds by some of the
Cherokees. Steers were killed at this meeting to furnish meat for the
visitors. He has seen as many as forty people baptized on Sundays at these
services. There were not many preachers.
Daily Food
The Cherokees ate almost the same food daily. This consisted of bread, usually
Bean bread, beans, wild meats, and some kinds of fruit usually dried fruit for
the canning of fruits were unknown to the Cherokees at that time.
Bread and meat was the chief food among
the Cherokees at that time. Meat was aplenty in the woods in the way of
squirrels, rabbits, deer and wild turkeys. The turkeys were to be found in
droves in the woods. Deer was also found the same way. Some of the Cherokees
dried their deer meat and kept it as they did their hog meat.
The woods were full of wild hogs that
anyone could kill if he had a claim. It was a man’s laziness if he did not
have any meat. Hogs were not sold on the market much for there were no buyers
in the Cherokee Nation. The only buyers that came to the Nation were the
Arkansas white men who came through the country buying stock. They did not
come often. Hogs were not like cattle, they were easily sold. People took more
care of their cattle than they did their hogs. Cattle did not run at large as
did the hogs.
Dye and Paint
These two necessities were made from the roots of weeds and the bark of trees.
I just don’t know how they were made. The Cherokees did not paint up their
bodies like the other Indians did at any time.
The only dyed articles I ever saw was
their yarn they made their stockings with. Some painted the chairs that they
made at home.
Medicine
All of the medicine used in the Cherokee doctoring was found in the woods.
Herbs were used to certain extent but most of the doctoring was done by the
use of fire.
There were not so many diseases in the
Cherokee Nation before the white man came. People had Chills which was about
all the disease there was. Sometimes a death would occur from consumption.
Some people call this tuberculosis now. They claim this can’t be cured now.
This is the only disease that the Cherokees dreaded. When any Cherokee had
this he usually gave up at once.
The Cherokees were very particular with
their medicine. They would not doctor just everybody.
Indian Chairs and Baskets
Chairs and baskets were the only articles the Cherokees made that could be
sold for cash in the early day. Many Cherokees were good chair makers. Among
those were Mack BULLET who was considered the best chair maker in the Cherokee
Nation. He lived on Dry Creek. Most all of the women made baskets at that
time. They sold them from ten to twenty five cents. They had to take them to
Evansville and other Arkansas towns.
Financing Farmers
The farmers at that time did not need much money. There was plenty of money in
the Cherokee Nation although everybody did not have it. There were several men
in this neighborhood that had plenty of money. Among the early day moneyed men
were the WALKINGSTICKs who lived on the Walkingstick Mountain. They usually
loaned money to their neighbors in case of urgent need. Martin Blackwood’s
father borrowed as much as two hundred dollars without any security. Notes and
mortgages were not yet known.
Cattle and Cattlemen
The early day cattlemen were Jim and John Walkingstick, Dick WOLFE, and
Jonathan WHITMIRE. They all lived in this community. The Walkingsticks handled
more cattle than Whitmire. They usually marked their cattle at Ft. Smith.
Driving cattle was a great sport in those
days. Martin has helped several times in these drives. The Walkingsticks were
peculiar Cherokees — they would not receive their pay in green backs. They
usually demanded the silver and gold for their pay. Many times the Blackwoods
have helped them bring the money back to the Indian country. Large sums of
money were usually kept around the house. There were no hi-jackers in those
days among the Cherokees. Everybody was honest.
Game and Fish
Game was plentiful in those days. There were no game laws to prohibit any one
from hunting. There were all kinds of game in the woods. Deer was found in
droves. Turkeys also went in droves of thirty or forty. Wild meat was the
chief food among the Cherokees. The Cherokees were good hunters. They knew how
to hunt. Same way about their fishing. They knew where to fish and to catch
the fish that they liked.
Horse Racing
This was a gambling game at that time. Watt SANDERS and a man by the name of
DUDLEY were the main Race men at that time in this part of the Goingsnake
District. Sanders lived near the town of Proctor now. Dudley lived on the
prairie north of Westville.
The only big race Martin ever witnessed
was the race between Watt SANDERS and a man from Arkansas. This race was run
on a small prairie near the old Court House site on Baron Creek, now near the
Whitmire School house in Adair County about 1890. Sanders beat this man. At
this race Martin saw a Cherokee lose everything that he had to bet. He lost
his saddle, spurs, hat and all the money he had.
The STARR boys had a Race mare, the
fastest horse west of the Mississippi River. They called this small mare
"Gray Alice." Martin saw this mare after it was dead when she killed
herself in a pasture in Joe Starr’s place, now the Lizzie DUNCAN farm at
Baron Creek.
Politics
The Blackwoods all belonged to the National Party. They were all against the
Allotment law. Mr. Blackwood was eighteen years of age when he first voted in
the Cherokee Nation. He remembers the voting precinct was located at Peavine
School. But the election was held outside under the shake trees. Everybody
voted by calling the person’s name that he wished to vote for.
Secret Societies
There were no Secret Societies at that time among the Cherokees. The only
Secret Societies that he every heard anything about was the old Society called
the Pen Indians. His father used to tell him this was organized back in North
Carolina before the Removal. The old man Blackwood was told that this was
organized by the grandfather of the Ridge boys who signed the treaty. By this
Society they were hunted and killed after they came to the Indian Territory.
Sports
The main sports among the Cherokees at that time was Stalk Shooting and Rock
Pitching. The Night Hawk Ball Game was also a favorite sport among that clam.
Submitted to OKGenWeb by Wanda Morris
Elliott <jwdre@intellex.com> November 2000.