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Indian Pioneer Papers - Index

Indian Pioneer History Project for Oklahoma
Date: December 28, 1937
Name: Josephine Baxter Freeney
Post Office: Caddo, Oklahoma
Residence address: Six miles northeast
Date of Birth: April 28, 1868
Place of Birth: Texas
Father: William Baxter
Place of Birth: Georgia
Information on father:
Mother: Linda Brown
Place of birth: Texas
Information on mother:
Field Worker: Lula Austin
Interview #12656
 
I came with my parents from Texas when I was three years old. We lived near Boggy Depot. My father peddled goods through the country; he would be gone six weeks at a time.

When six years old I could spell every word in the Blue Book Speller.

One day at school they were having a spelling match. among those in line were the HESTER girls. The world "stertorous" was given out and no one in line could spell the word. I was sitting in the back of the room. I was so thrilled because I could spell the word that I was jumping up and down. The teacher, Allen WRIGHT, noticed me and said, "Can you spell the word?" I said, "yes." One of the boys in the line said, "That little dirty-faced brat can't spell." The teacher called me to the front; I spelled the word - the teacher seemed surprised and said, "I will investigate you between now and Monday morning."

The first time I met this boy who called me "dirty face" he knocked me down, hitting me in the eye. He said that was his vengeance.

My father tanned the leather and made our shoes. He would put brass toes on them and he made the laces from squirrel hide.

Transcribed by Barbara Morris; submitted to OKGenWeb by Rusty Lang, a Choctaw descendant <Rlang90547@aol.com> 02-2000.