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Contributed by Sandra Beagles 
E-mail: greenback95@yahoo.com

My great grandfather who is James Albert Beagles, who went by the name Jim. Jim died Sept 21,1953 in Glendale Ariz. He was hit by a car. He was married to Nannie Beatrice Thomas on Aug 8,1913 in Antlers, Okla he is buried in Antlers with his mom & dad.

Indian Pioneer History Project For Oklahoma
Date: August 16, 1937
Name: Jim Beagles
Location Address: Chickasha, Oklahoma
Date of Birth: December 9, 1894
Place of Birth: Arkansas
Father: Albert Beagles
Place of Birth: Tennessee
Name of Mother: Mittie Steward
Place of Birth: Kentucky
Field Worker: Jasper H. Mead

I was born in Arkansas, December 9, 1894, forty-three years age. We moved to Indian Territory in 1895. Place we landed was at Spiro as it is called now, but then it was called New Town. There were a store and blacksmith shop which composed the town. The Fort Smith and Western Railroad Company came through north toward the south. The principal business of this railroad was hauling passengers and cattle; the rails were the best transportation that could be had.

Our school building was what we called a split log school house as even the seats and desks were made of it. Children nowadays would rather do without education than go to that kind of a school; our book was a blue speller and we each had a slate and pencil; we generally sat two in a seat and it took all the chips and sla?? were in the country to keep our desks level.

The water supply came from dug wells and springs; there were many springs around Spiro and the water good. The land around Spiro was level and what was called prairie country, but there was very little farm there then. Most of the work was ranch work which paid $25.00 per month and board. A ranch-hand was furnished a horse to ride.

There were wold deer and turkey around Spiro; in fact, in 1895 and up to 1900, nearly everything and ev?? there were wild. There were many Indians around there; the Choctaw Indians were located on the south river and the Cherokees were located on the north side. The river divided the two nations, there wasn't an Oklahoma at that time. What has been the state of Oklahoma since 1907 was then divided into Oklahoma and Indian Territory.

We did not have any deputy sheriffs or policemen in those days; all we had were United States Marshals, were Edd Bowman and Tandy Walker, Cleave Manning was a deputy United States Marshal.

In 1908 the river washed everything we had away but one team and wagon, so in 1909 we moved to Antlers, was a pretty nice place; it had about six stores and some of the business men's names were W.P. Cochran, Zimmerman, Bill Silverman, the last two were Jews.

Antlers is located back in the mountains with a great deal of ranch land and open range; Antlers has much at the present time.