Indian Pioneer Papers - Index

Indian Pioneer History Project for Oklahoma 
Date: March 24, 1938
Name: Susan (Gregory) Powell
Post Office: Bokoshe, Oklahoma
Residence Address:
Date of Birth: August 31, 1861
Place of Birth: East of Poteau River, near Cedars, about ten miles south
and west of Fort Smith, Arkansas
Father: Abraham Gregory
Place of Birth: Tennessee
Information on father: Buried near Cedars, Oklahoma
Mother: Sarah (McClain) Gregory
Place of Birth: Mississippi
Information on mother: Died during Civil War
Field Worker: Gomer Gower
Interview # 13436

Susan (Gregory) Powell, the subject of this sketch, was born near what is now Cedars, on August 31st, 1861. Her father, Abraham GREGORY, was a white man, while her mother, Sarah (MCCLAIN) Gregory, was one eighth Choctaw, who had come with her parents to the Indian Territory during the removal period. In common with the many others of the most prominent Choctaw families upon arrival in the Indian Territory, Mrs. Powell's grandparents, the McClains, settled in the north-east part of what is now Leflore County, as the rich bottom lands lying along the south bank of the Arkansas River and the west bank of the Poteau River afforded excellent opportunity to develop large plantations in that area, while a high ridge which parallels the east bank of the river afforded ideal and more healthful home sites than were available in the lowlands. An added inducement to settlement was the excellent pasturage afforded on the prairies which extended from the ridge eastward to the Arkansas State line; the combination lent itself admirably to agricultural pursuits and stock raising, each pursuit being directed from one home site. Then, too, the area was easily accessible to the shipping point at Fort Smith, Arkansas, where cotton, corn and other products of the land were sent by steamboat to the markets at Memphis, Tennessee, and at New Orleans, Louisiana, and from there sent by seagoing vessels to the industrial centers of the world.

It is notable that not one of the full blood Choctaws settled in this area. They, seemingly, preferred locations in which their love for hunting could be indulged, and left the farms to the mixed bloods. This condition led to a well defined class distinction between the hunters and the farmers, and doubtless contributed to the lack of unanimity of action which was so noticeable not alone in the Choctaw Tribe but in all the tribes, when they were confronted with the problem of what course the various tribes should pursue in the conflict between the states. The slave owning farmers, of course, felt that their interest would best be served by adherence to the cause of the South, while those who were hunters and fishermen felt that a strictly neutral position should be maintained by the tribe.

It was amid this turmoil and uncertainty that Susan Gregory was born, and before she was two years of age her mother died. However, kind friends and relatives cared for her on through the reconstruction period and through her school days, which, at first were at Pocola, a distance of some four miles from the home of her relatives; she and her school-mates traveled these four miles each night and morning and after three years attendance at that community school, Susan attended the New Hope Female Academy, near Scullyville (sic), for a period of five years. Of her stay at the Academy she relates that a prayer was offered at the breakfast table each morning by the superintendent, who, during her entire stay, was Dr. SHEPARD. The students themselves performed all the work of cooking and housekeeping. One of the Classes was assigned to the duty of doing the laundry, another class the cooking, another class the housekeeping, and still another class the sewing. These duties were alternated in such a manner that each of the classes was given instruction and training in all phases of house work. In short, all the students were taught by actual performance of the work all the duties pertaining to the proper method of good housekeeping. The Sabbath morning was devoted to the work of the Sunday School. Sunday afternoons, to other forms of religious worship and thus the spiritual as well as the material needs of the students were met.

The Academy was established at Scullyville for the convenience of those Choctaws who lived in the northern half of the Choctaw nation. Another - the Wheelock Academy - was established near Fort Towson for the convenience of those who lived in the area drained by the Red River. This fact, alone, indicates that in that early period, a vast area lying between the Red River on the south and the Arkansas and Canadian Rivers on the north, of what was then the Choctaw Nation, was sparsely populated in comparison with that of the extreme southern and northern parts. A further indication of just where the centers of population were, and also that but a few of the Choctaws had wandered far to the west of the point of their entrance into the new country, is the fact that these Academies were each located near the eastern boundary line.

In 1878 Susan Gregory was united in marriage to Julius Augustus POWELL. At this wedding, Doctor Shapard, who as superintendent of the New Hope Academy had directed her school life for five years, officiated. From that union nine children were born, seven of whom survive at this time. Upon their marriage the young couple lived for one year at Fort Smith, Arkansas, and then moved to the Choctaw Nation and established a home, as citizens, at a point about ten miles southwest of Scullyville, where their nine children were born. The land upon which their home was located, being under laid with coal, was segregated and the couple were thereby forced to vacate it and accept an allotment which was not segregated. The husband, Julius Augustus Powell, was a deeply religious man and at his own expense built a church near the home so that religious services could be conducted from time to time. He also contributed freely to the erection of a school building for the benefit of the children of the community. In addition to that contribution he boarded and lodged the teachers without cost.

It is of note that even at that comparatively late date, 1879, the young couple found little trouble in finding unoccupied land on which to locate their future home at a point not more than fifteen miles distant from Fort Coffee, the point at which the Choctaws disembarked on their arrival in the 1830's. In fact, their nearest neighbor, John JONICO, lived at a distance of three miles from them. This fact shows the inclination of the Full Bloods to seek the interior where game abounded rather than the farming districts. Most of their wants were supplied by itinerant peddlers who drove over the country in wagons and offered for sale almost everything needed to supply any well regulated household - shoes, dress goods, tinware and crockery. 

However, an occasional trip was made to Fort Smith, a distance of about twenty five miles. On such occasions, the family was loaded into the two horse wagon, bows and wagon sheet put in place, with a plentiful supply of provisions and bedding for camping and a family getting an early start would set out on the all day journey. At noon the driver guided the team to a watering place where shade was near, and while he was engaged in unhitching, watering and feeding the horse, the wife, with the aid of the children, would quickly spread the noonday meal which in most instances had been prepared before leaving home. Arriving late in the evening at Fort Smith, the team was directed toward one of several wagon yards, which dotted the landscape in what is now the vicinity of the Goldman Hotel. Wagon yards consisted of a solid side enclosure and a sloping roof extending in the direction of the center providing shelter for the stock. This roofed area was partitioned into stalls in which feed troughs and hay racks were provided. A wagon yard with stalls for as many as one hundred horses was not uncommon in the larger trading centers. They were maintained by the collection of a fee for each horse stabled, with an additional fee for feed supplied by the wagon yard. In the center of the enclosure a large house was built for the accommodation of the patrons. Firewood and water was provided free of cost. Many of the patrons when delayed by inclement weather, bad roads or other reasons, housed up at the wagon yards for several days or perhaps weeks before proceeding on their journeys. The sheet - covered wagons provided sleeping quarters and the large house with two to three commodious fireplaces was used to cook and eat meals.

These wagon yards were frequented by horse traders and many a poor traveler fell a victim to their wily gab and after being talked in giving more or less "boot" in a horse trade left the wagon yard a sadder but a wiser man. A tale is told of one horse trader and an unsuspecting victim who had cast a longing eye upon a horse of good appearance owned by the trader. In the negotiations of the sale, the trader said that the horse had but two faults, one of which he would make known when the price was agreed upon and the other after the money was paid. An agreement as to the price to be paid was duly made and the trader was asked to name the first fault, where upon he reluctantly admitted the horse "was hard to catch." The victim, who intended to keep the horse in the stable when he was not using him, regarded that fault as insignificant. Inwardly fearing that the trader would retract the agreement unless he acted quickly, he paid the trader the price agreed upon and after gaining possession of the animal, demanded to know just what the second fault was. To which the trader replied, "He ain't worth a hoot after you do catch him."

Mrs. Powell, now in her seventy-seventh year, remembers well when she, both as a child and later with a family of her own, occasionally made trips to Fort Smith in a covered wagon and spent some time at the wagon yards enjoying the conversation in which she engaged with the women who, like herself, hailed with delight an opportunity to break the monotony of their usual secluded lives.

Submitted to OKGenWeb by Lola Crane <lcrane@futureone.com> December 2000.