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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Pinehill Histories
Subject
The topic of the resource
History of the Pinehill area north of Bristow
Description
An account of the resource
Several interviews were done by Mary and Bob Mc Carty of people who grew up in the Pinehill area north of Bristow. This collection is the Pinehill subset of the Bristow Oral Histories
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Bristow Historical Society, oral history collection
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Oral history.
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
Interviewer
The person(s) performing the interview
Robert L. “Bob” McCarty
Interviewee
The person(s) being interviewed
John Rossander
Iva Irene (Millhouse) Rossander
OHMS Object
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Viewer)
https://bristoworalhistory.org/ohms/viewer.php?cachefile=OHP-0005-02_John_Rossander.xml
Interview Keyword
This field adds keywords to the Omeka Oral History item type. Keywords are
included in the OHMS XML, this field in Omeka will allow for full data migration
between OHMS XML and the Omeka Record. This field does not impact the
OHMS / Omeka integration and is optional if you do not need to map the
“keywords” field in the OHMS XML to the corresponding Omeka record.
Pinehill
oil
farming
cotton
OHMS Object Text
This field contains the OHMS Index and / or Transcript and is what makes the
contents of the OHMS object searchable in Omeka
5.4 OHP-0005-02 John and Iva Rossander OHP-0005-02 Bristow Historical Society - Oral History Archive Pinehill Community Bristow Historical Society, Inc. Pinehill Community and School Pinehill oil farming cotton John Rossander Iva Irene (Millhouse) Rossander Robert L. “Bob” McCarty MP3 1:|27(6)|49(2)|67(3)|83(2)|91(9)|105(9)|129(4)|150(7)|183(1)|215(14)|233(12)|265(5)|309(3)|344(7)|365(8)|401(9)|416(10)|436(14)|447(11)|466(5)|480(2)|488(18)|502(6)|514(3)|532(9)|550(8)|564(11)|591(3) 0 https://bristoworalhistory.org/interviews/OHP-0005-02 Rossander, John & ; Iva.mp3 Other audio 0 Making the move to Pinehil BM: --here with John Rossander and Iva Rossander in their home, 10/22/1976 time 20 minutes ‘til four. pause in tape BM: John, what year did your mother and dad come into this community? JR: Nineteen-nine. BM: What was their names? JR: Zeke and Sarah Rossander. Discussion of moving to the Pinehill community Iva Rossander ; John Rossander ; Pinehill ; Sarah Rossander ; Zeke Rossander Pinehill ; Rossander 91 Pinehill School BM: How many of them went to the Pinehill School? JR: Well, every one of them except—no, let’s see, there’s four: Rubilee (ph)—I mean Maudie (ph), Rubilee (ph), Alice (ph) and Evelyn (ph) didn’t go. They died when they were young. BM: Whenever your folks came to this part of the country, where did they migrate in here? JR: Right from north of Drumright. Going to school at Pinehill and first teacher Edith Whiteneck ; Pinehill ; Pinehill School ; teacher Pinehill 183 Oil and Cotton BM: What did you family do for a liv—what did you or your parents do for a living whenever they came to this part of the— JR: (laughs) Farmed. Cotton. BM: They had a cotton farm. JR: Yep. Family's cotton farm and the first oil well in the Pinehill area cotton ; drilling ; Elsa Self ; farm ; Hennesson Ware ; Iva Ware ; oil ; Owen Ware ; wells Farming cotton ; Oil wells 346 Members of Pinehill Community BM: What year did you and Iva get married? JR: In ’26. BM: Well, we better back up a little bit. You said a while ago that you remember Jake Roberts (ph). Discussion of where Pinehill community members lived Jake Roberts ; L.J. Florence ; log house ; Pinehill ; Smith Bruce ; Vann log house ; Pinehill 505 First Pinehill School MM: Where was the first school he went to? BM: Where was the first school that you went to, John? JR: Victory Chapel. BM: You went to Victory Chapel first, then— Location of the first Pinehill school Abner Bruce ; Leo Pinehill ; Mosquito place ; Pinehill ; Pinehill school ; Victory Chapel Pinehill school 578 Location of Pinehill School MM: Did you check and see if it’s running? (pause) There weren’t but one. BM: There’s been talk that there was one schoolhouse here, possibly two. Now do you know anything about that? JR: Well now, that don’t seem right to me. But there wasn’t but one. And it was right in the corner, in the northeast corner of Mosquito Creek. That’s where it sat. I can show you the rock, I think, where it sit. It wasn’t in the corner on Pinehill, this was close to the road where it turns down— Discussion on the location of the Pinehill school Abner Bruce ; Mosquito Place ; Murta Mosquito ; Pinehill ; school ; schoolhouse Pinehill school 748 Second Pinehill School JR: Because they built the new schoolhouse over here, then. BM: They built a new schoolhouse up on the hill. JR: On the Grandpa Bly’s (ph) place. BM: On the Grandpa Bly (ph) place. JR: Yeah, other word to it was, I guess it was Phoebe Bruce’s. No? Location of the second Pinehill school Bly ; Phoebe Cairnly ; Pinehill ; Pinehill School Pinehill School 802 Activities at the school house BM: What all, what all activities was the school used for? JR: Well, when I went to school? BM: Yeah, when you went to school there, from the time that you remember the school starting— JR: It was just baseball and— The many activities that took place at the Pinehill schoolhouse baseball ; Christmas Programs ; church ; fairs ; literary ; pie supper ; Pinehill ; polling precinct ; school ; Sunday School activities ; Pinehill ; school ; schoolhouse 906 Mark Saxon BM: Who done the fighting? JR: Who? BM: That you remember? JR: (laughs) Uh, Mark Saxon (ph) and oh, I can’t think of that other guy’s name. That was the first fight I ever seen. Seeing Mark Saxon get in a fight and his family history Arthur Barnes ; Bill Baker ; Ellen ; fights ; Gertrude ; Mark Saxon ; Pinehill ; Skeeter Creek ; Smith Bruce Mark Saxon ; Pinehill 1088 Rabbits for dinner JR: Well, now, on this same place I can’t think of them people that lived there. After that, a while after that, they had two girls and one boy and they was great big old husky girls and what their names was now I can’t think of it. I used to tease Homer about one of them girls. In 19—I don’t know what. They killed rabbits and it was a baaaad winter. Hunting rabbits during a bad winter hunt ; Rabbits ; winter hunting rabbits 1191 John and Iva marry BM: What year did you and Iva, what year was you and Iva married? JR: In ’26. BM: 1926. JR: Third day of February. The date of John and Iva Rossander's marriage 1926 ; Iva Rossander ; John Rossander ; marriage Marriage 1224 Poem from the Literary BM: --you said while ago that you [inaudible] (tape garbled) --or you know a poem that—literary-- IR: --remember it—[inaudible]. (tape garbled) BM: Well, let’s have it! Iva recites the poem from the literary literary ; poem literary 1313 Working Days MM: You want to ask him about the [indecipherable]? BM: You, John, what all work have you done since you and Iva were, had been married? JR: Well, I mostly farmed, but we went to New Mexico in ’36. I worked for a rancher out there and I worked seven days a week from sun ‘til sun for two dollars a day. And I kept wantin’ them to give me a day off, ‘cause it was just driving me crazy. Memories of working and various jobs biscuits ; Culverson Saw Mill ; drop herds ; Edward Hunt Sheep Company ; farm ; lamb ; mutton ; sheep ; sidelined ; work farming ; sheep ; work 1530 Jake Roberts Place BM: What about the Jake Roberts place, you said something about the Jake Roberts place, the Jake Roberts lease or place? Earlier? JR: Well, Jake Roberts, they, they used to when we first came here, they had all the good horses. Good horses. They was workin’ negroes. Colored folks. Really working. And there was Jake, he was old as I am, and then there was Johnny Roberts (ph) and Walk Roberts (ph), and—Walk lives over here this side of the 66 yet. Arthur, that’s Arthur. Discussion of Jake Roberts and slaves allotted ; freedman ; horses ; Indian Slaves ; Indian Territory ; Jake Roberts ; Johnny Roberts ; Rubin Moore ; slavery ; Walk Roberts ; white slaves Indian Territory ; Jake Roberts ; slaves In this 1976 interview, John Rossander (1904-1984) and wife Iva Irene (Millhouse) Rossander (1905-1999) discuss their childhood and the early days of their marriage spent in the Pinehill community outside Bristow, Creek County, Oklahoma, as well as time spent working in New Mexico at a sheep farm during their early marriage. John describes childhood events such as tracking a missing hog for a neighbor. He also works with the interviewer to pinpoint the locations of neighbors and the locations of early Pinehill school buildings on a map. John also discusses the Jake Roberts, an African-American freedman living on an Indian allotment who was a successful horse breeder. BM: --here with John Rossander and Iva Rossander in their home, 10/22/1976 time 20 minutes ' ; til four. pause in tape BM: John, what year did your mother and dad come into this community? JR: Nineteen-nine. BM: What was their names? JR: Zeke and Sarah Rossander. MM: [Inaudible.] BM: What was your mother' ; s name before-- JR: Stanton. BM: Stanton. How many children were they to that marriage? JR: Twelve. BM: Would you give me their names? JR: Well (laughs), yeah, I can give--Vera (ph)--I mean, Esther (ph), then Vera (ph), John (ph), Cecil (ph), Homer (ph), Marcella (ph), Buford (ph), Rubilee (ph), Maudie (ph), Alice (ph), and Evelyn (ph). (talking in background) JR: I named Homer (ph). IR: Hilma (ph)! JR: Oh, Hilma (ph)! MM: [Inaudible.] JR: She was born after Evelyn (ph). BM: How many of them went to the Pinehill School? JR: Well, every one of them except--no, let' ; s see, there' ; s four: Rubilee (ph)--I mean Maudie (ph), Rubilee (ph), Alice (ph) and Evelyn (ph) didn' ; t go. They died when they were young. BM: Whenever your folks came to this part of the country, where did they migrate in here? JR: Right from north of Drumright. BM: What, do you know or did you hear them say what year they came to the state of Oklahoma? JR: Yes sir--oh! State of Oklahoma, oh, they were more or less raised here. Grandpa came from Kansas and dad came down here when he was twelve years old, out on the homestead. BM: They come down from Kansas, then, when he was twelve years old? JR: Yeah. BM: Who was your first teacher at Pinehill School? JR: Well, really I can' ; t really tell you for sure, but I think it was Edith Whiteneck. I was small for my age. BM: What did you family do for a liv--what did you or your parents do for a living whenever they came to this part of the-- JR: (laughs) Farmed. Cotton. BM: They had a cotton farm. JR: Yep. BM: What year do your--what year do you remember seeing the first oil well in this community? JR: Let' ; s see, [indecipherable] a well, it was--I guess it was 1912. Believe it was. BM: Was it--what do you remember about the old Ware (ph) place over there? JR: Owen Ware (ph)? I just, myself, the only thing I can remember, well, I can remember several things but I remember when they lived there, Iva Ware (ph) and all them was there, and Old Man--old Hennesson Ware (ph) had a hog to get out, a big old spotted sow, and he came over there to dad' ; s and wanted dad to take and go and get her in, get her for him, because he couldn' ; t--he couldn' ; t get her in, couldn' ; t find her. And somebody' ; d told him that we had a dog that' ; d trail a hog up might near, regardless how old the scent was. And we went off east of his house and found a track, which it looked dim to me. And I took that old--dad told him that he couldn' ; t, but he said I could. So I took my dog and went over there and I pointed down at the track, I said, " ; Get it, Nigs." ; And he took off. And he, he bayed that hog back east of Elsa Self, way back over in them hills in there. But what year that was, I can' ; t tell you. MM: You don' ; t remember drilling early oil wells on the Ware (ph) place, do you? BM: Do you remember the early oil wells that was on the Ware (ph) place? JR: No, I don' ; t remember what year that--I remember ' ; em but I don' ; t know what year it were. BM: What year did you and Iva get married? JR: In ' ; 26. BM: Well, we better back up a little bit. You said a while ago that you remember Jake Roberts (ph). JR: Yep. BM: You said also that you remembered when he came into this part of the country. Where did he settle first? JR: Over here east of Smith Bruce' ; s on Browder (ph), Browder' ; s (ph) place. In an old log house there. And Smith Bruce and them used to live there and in 1910 they built their log house over here. And they moved on that twenty acres. He bought twenty acres and he moved on it in 1910. BM: And he built a log house there in ' ; 20 that he bought-- JR: Yeah. In 1910. BM: In 1910. JR: And Jake lived there in that house down there I guess 1910, I don' ; t know what year it were. I can' ; t tell you that. BM: Then whenever they left, whenever they moved from the Browder Bruce (ph) place, they moved down over, then, and [indecipherable] the school, is that right? JR: No. BM: Where did they move to from there? IR: North of the school. BM: North of the school. JR: No, when they left there, they moved from there over to--they went from there over to L.J. Florence' ; s (ph) close to over here, and lived in a little old tent right over here by the big pecan tree and picked cotton for L.J. Florence (ph). Which that was their uncle. Yeah, that' ; d be Ella (ph) and them' ; s uncle. BM: When you say over here, back over here pointing back over here, what place would that be, John? JR: Well, that' ; d be the Vann place, used to be the Vann place, or BM: Step out there and get that map, Pat. We' ; ll come back to that in a minute, so get that map and then we can pinpoint, he can pinpoint the exact place that it was. MM: Where was the first school he went to? BM: Where was the first school that you went to, John? JR: Victory Chapel. BM: You went to Victory Chapel first, then-- JR: And they wouldn' ; t let us go up there because we was in a different district. BM: You were in Pinehill District? JR: Pinehill District. BM: So they stopped you from going to Victory Chapel. JR: Yeah. MM: [Inaudible.] BM: Now that first Pinehill School that you remember, where was it located at? JR: That I went to? BM: Yeah. First Pinehill School that you remember, where was-- JR: Oh, well I remember the one right there where [indecipherable] to Abner Bruce' ; s. Sat there in the corner on [indecipherable], one of the Mosquito places. BM: In other words, you remember this one here, then. JR: Yeah. BM: You remember the first one, then, that was built on Leo Pinehill. JR: Yeah, yeah. Well, it wasn' ; t Leo' ; s, wasn' ; t it? BM: Yeah, it-- JR: It was his dad' ; s, wasn' ; t it? BM: It' ; s Pinehill allotment, Leo--Leo' ; s JR: Yeah. BM: Leo' ; s, Pinehill' ; s allotment. JR: Yeah. MM: People argue that there wasn' ; t one. Some says that there was just one there and some say there were two. pause in recording MM: Did you check and see if it' ; s running? (pause) There weren' ; t but one. BM: There' ; s been talk that there was one schoolhouse here, possibly two. Now do you know anything about that? JR: Well now, that don' ; t seem right to me. But there wasn' ; t but one. And it was right in the corner, in the northeast corner of Mosquito Creek. That' ; s where it sat. I can show you the rock, I think, where it sit. It wasn' ; t in the corner on Pinehill, this was close to the road where it turns down-- BM: That runs east and westward. JR: Yes. It was in the northeast corner of that Mosquito place. MM: [Inaudible.] JR: I don' ; t know what section that' ; s in, but-- MM: [Inaudible.] JR: The section line goes east toward Abner Bruce' ; s. It sat right across the road in the northeast corner, right there. BM: Well that must' ; ve been there on--evidently, now, there had--there was two, there was two schools there, then. MM: Yeah. BM: There was two schools built there on that corner, then. The first one was built--this is that road that goes across there-- JR: This is north. BM: Right. This is the road that runs up and down the creek here. MM: [Inaudible.] BM: This right here is the road going across toward Abner Bruce' ; s. The first one was built on, over here on this Leo. And you said the other one was built in the northeast corner, so this' ; d have to be in here on this Murta M-U-R-T-A, Murta Mosquito, or something like that. JR: Yeah, it was built right in the corner. BM: Well, that would be right in this corner in here, then. JR: Well, I don' ; t know. I don' ; t understand-- MM: [Inaudible.] BM: That would be right here in that northeast corner. JR: And you know what happened to it, don' ; t you? BM: Well, they tell me this one here burnt in about 1908. The one up on the hill burnt in about 1908. And-- MM: Ask him what happened to that one. BM: What happened to this one? JR: Well, it burnt down, them boys, big boys, would go in there and have their parties and things in there and they, they just burnt it down. MM: See, now, he-- BM: Well how long-- MM: What year? BM: What, about what year was that, John? JR: Well, it was after 1909, I don' ; t know when. MM: About ' ; 12, I was told. JR: I can' ; t tell you that. IR: [Inaudible.] JR: Because they built the new schoolhouse over here, then. BM: They built a new schoolhouse up on the hill. JR: On the Grandpa Bly' ; s (ph) place. BM: On the Grandpa Bly (ph) place. JR: Yeah, other word to it was, I guess it was Phoebe Bruce' ; s. No? MM: [Inaudible.] JR: Grandpa Bly (ph) lived there, I don' ; t remember what year he came there. But it was built in the southeast corner of that place. BM: Down at Phoebe, Phoebe-- JR: Phoebe Bruce, Cairnly (ph). BM: Yeah, it' ; d be Phoebe Carinly (ph). JR: Yeah. Well, that' ; s where it was built. BM: Well that shows it to be right there. Then what year did that school burn, John? JR: I don' ; t know. BM: But it burnt too, did it or did it not? JR: Yeah. Yeah. MM: Three of them. BM: Then they built one down on the other hill. JR: Yeah. BM: Is that right? JR: Yeah. BM: What all, what all activities was the school used for? JR: Well, when I went to school? BM: Yeah, when you went to school there, from the time that you remember the school starting-- JR: It was just baseball and-- BM: What I' ; m trying to say, John, is this--was it used for other things than school activities? Now this goes back to the time that you remember the first school until it closed. What all different activities was it used for? JR: Well, they had a literary there and they had pie suppers there and they had Sunday school and church and--huh? MM: [Inaudible.] JR: And anyway, Christmas programs, all of them, they had them there. And that' ; s--huh? MM: [Inaudible.] JR: Yeah, they had fairs but I don' ; t know what year that were. But I think it were in--see I was about 14 or 15 years old. I guess I was 14, ' ; cause the year before I went to Inola. BM: Well was there any other activities that it was used for, besides what you had named? JR: Well, not that I can think of. BM: Did it ever, did the old--did the school ever use, was it ever used as a polling precinct? JR: Oh yeah, lots of--lot of fights there! BM: Who done the fighting? JR: Who? BM: That you remember? JR: (laughs) Uh, Mark Saxon (ph) and oh, I can' ; t think of that other guy' ; s name. That was the first fight I ever seen. BM: Sexton (ph)? JR: Mark Saxon (ph). BM: S-A-X-T-O-N? JR: Yeah. BM: Or S-A-X-O-N? JR: I, I don' ; t know which way it' ; s spelled. BM: Now, by any chance did he have two sisters? JR: Well-- BM: That you know of. JR: Now, Mark had, had two daughters. BM: Okay, now then, this--this is kind of light, now. That would be Gertrude and, oh-- JR: Ella-Ella-- BM: Ellen, Ella or something. I think it' ; s Ellen. Ellen. JR: Yep. BM: Gertrude and Ellen, that was their father. JR: Yeah, yeah. BM: Okay, where did they live, John, or do you remember? JR: Mmm-hmm. I don' ; t know who owned it, but I think Bill Baker owned it. Over on--well, let me see, it' ; d be three--one, two, three. It' ; d be three miles south and a mile east over here. Other words it' ; d be three miles straight south right down here by Smith Bruce' ; s. It' ; d be three miles straight south on the hill, the rocky hill up there. You know where Arthur Barnes lived. And it' ; s, it' ; s just built right around--and there' ; s a branch come in from the, the south and east, and then Skeeter Creek was on the west of it. And the house sat right up on that old rocky point. BM: In other words, they lived out on the very south end of the school district? JR: Yeah, yeah. Right on the south edge. BM: Right on the south edge of the school district. JR: Yeah. The section line runs through here and I think their house wasn' ; t as far as from here to the window to the highway. To the road. BM: To the road. But it was right on the south edge of the Pinehill district. JR: Yeah. BM: Alright. We get back to this, this thing I' ; ve got here, isn' ; t right. We know it isn' ; t, in fact it doesn' ; t cover enough south. MM: Well, but I was just going to say that poem from the literary-- IR: [Inaudible.] BM: And that' ; s one reason that I want you and Iva, when we get this other map and put these things down on it, you come up with some more information where people lived and anybody that I hadn' ; t run across yet. JR: Well, now, on this same place I can' ; t think of them people that lived there. After that, a while after that, they had two girls and one boy and they was great big old husky girls and what their names was now I can' ; t think of it. I used to tease Homer about one of them girls. In 19--I don' ; t know what. They killed rabbits and it was a baaaad winter. You could just go out with a club and just knock ' ; em in the head. And they had a barrel full of hind legs and backs. Backs. Of rabbits. Barrel full. And they had about a half a barrel full of front legs and the ribs and stuff. Sorted them! That was their meat for that summer. BM: But they used the rabbit as their--they used the rabbits as their meat. JR: Yeah, I told--that year, and they had them in the barn! Had these barrels out in the barn. BM: What year did you and Iva, what year was you and Iva married? JR: In ' ; 26. BM: 1926. JR: Third day of February. BM: Was there any children to that marriage? JR: No. [Inaudible.] (tape garbled) BM: --you said while ago that you [inaudible] (tape garbled) --or you know a poem that--literary-- IR: --remember it--[inaudible]. (tape garbled) BM: Well, let' ; s have it! IR: (reciting) " ; I jumped up in the cold morning in high glee and put on a [indecipherable] coat and [indecipherable] pants--Miss Kate [inaudible] (tape interference) when I got over there, there sat Bud Fat (ph)-- I did no more expect to see him sitting there than I' ; d expect to see a hare hid behind Uncle Tom Smith' ; s bald head. We got over there, we thought we' ; d go [indecipherable] hunting [inaudible] (tape interference) --one of these great big old squabby bullfrogs. He knew how to holler just as well as I did, he goes " ; WHOOO!" ; Knocked Miss Kate off in the creek half-waist deep. Old Fool Bud Fat (ph) ran down the creek to get a pole to help Miss Kate out and I jumped in there and I had her out in a little while! I ask her if she loved me to squeeze my hand, and she squeezed and she squeezed and she squeezed it off! My, how that felt. The next time Old Fool Bud Fat comes over to my house, I' ; m going to souse his head in the slop bucket." ; BM: (laughs) MM: You want to ask him about the [indecipherable]? BM: You, John, what all work have you done since you and Iva were, had been married? JR: Well, I mostly farmed, but we went to New Mexico in ' ; 36. I worked for a rancher out there and I worked seven days a week from sun ' ; til sun for two dollars a day. And I kept wantin' ; them to give me a day off, ' ; cause it was just driving me crazy. And they wouldn' ; t let me off. So I quit ' ; em. I' ; d been telling ' ; em I' ; d quit ' ; em. So I went to Culverson (ph) Saw Mill. And I begin to work at the mill. And I worked at the mill there for, oh, three to four days, a week, and they was supposed to get me some help and they wouldn' ; t do it--they didn' ; t do it. So I quit them and I worked for the--what' ; s his name? Hunt, Edward Hunt Sheep Company. And I picked up the drop herds. BM: When you say drop herds, what do you mean by the drop herds? JR: Well, the old ewes that had young and they wouldn' ; t claim ' ; em lot of times. And I had a thing concern with jointed pole and I' ; d hook them old ewes, I could see that they' ; d had young, and I' ; d hook them with that pole, catch ' ; em around the leg, and I' ; d hold ' ; em and I' ; d sideline ' ; em. And then I' ; d push a little lamb up there and they' ; d nurse, and I' ; d turn her loose. I mean, let her go. I' ; ve leave her sidelined. BM: What does sideline mean? JR: Well, I just put, tie her one front foot and one back foot together. That is, you know, where they can walk but still they couldn' ; t kick ' ; em or anything. And if you let ' ; em nurse one time, well then they' ; d take ' ; em and go on. BM: They' ; d take the, the little ones then and go on and raise the little ones? JR: Yeah, yeah. And I had to go to the sheep camp every day. I didn' ; t have to work only about--well, I' ; d start out early of a morning and then I' ; d have to go to the sheep camp and get there about 11:30. And I had to report in and every day I was there. There was hard tack biscuits and mutton and brown beans. That was the regular meal. MM: [Inaudible.] BM: Well how long were you in New Mexico? Why were you in New Mexico? JR: Well, I went out there more or less so maybe it' ; d help Iva, and she--other words, she had poor health and I thought maybe it' ; d help her, and she was homesick for her folks. BM: You mean Iva was still momma' ; s baby. JR: No, she was--she' ; s pretty good, but still she' ; s homesick. BM: She wanted to go see momma. MM: [Inaudible.] BM: What about the Jake Roberts place, you said something about the Jake Roberts place, the Jake Roberts lease or place? Earlier? JR: Well, Jake Roberts, they, they used to when we first came here, they had all the good horses. Good horses. They was workin' ; negroes. Colored folks. Really working. And there was Jake, he was old as I am, and then there was Johnny Roberts (ph) and Walk Roberts (ph), and--Walk lives over here this side of the 66 yet. Arthur, that' ; s Arthur. Walk is dead, that' ; s right. And them and then there, the old Rubin Moore' ; s (ph), back there across the road over there. We went right through their yard all the time. BM: The Robertses, then, the dealings that you had with Jake Roberts was buyin' ; horses off of him, is that right? JR: Oh, we didn' ; t buy any off of him, but they just had them-- BM: You weren' ; t trading with him, or-- JR: Huh-uh, no, we just knew him well, they was good clean colored folks. BM: Well you knew that, did you, or did you know that they, Jake Roberts was a freedman, out of slavery? Did you know that? JR: Well, yeah, yeah. BM: I' ; ve been trying to pinpoint down why that those colored people had been allotted land in the Indian territory. Some said they were Indian slaves. Others said no, they were white slaves. JR: I don' ; t know what, now, whether-- IR: There was-- JR: --Indians or whites, I can' ; t tell you that. IR: They were the Indian' ; s slaves. BM: Well that was report-- IR: They moved back here from the east, they had these slaves. BM: They were Indian slaves. JR: But I can' ; t tell you-- BM: Well, that there--that is what I wanted to make sure of. IR: [Inaudible.] BM: Speak up a little bit louder. IR: Oh, I' ; m just [inaudible]. BM: Okay. JR: But, I can' ; t, I can' ; t tell you that, but I do-- end of interview audio 0 https://bristoworalhistory.org/ohms/viewer.php?cachefile=OHP-0005-02_John_Rossander.xml OHP-0005-02_John_Rossander.xml
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John and Iva Rossander
Description
An account of the resource
In this 1976 interview, John Rossander (1904-1984) and wife Iva Irene (Millhouse) Rossander (1905-1999) discuss their childhood and the early days of their marriage spent in the Pinehill community outside Bristow, Creek County, Oklahoma, as well as time spent working in New Mexico at a sheep farm during their early marriage. John describes childhood events such as tracking a missing hog for a neighbor. He also works with the interviewer to pinpoint the locations of neighbors and the locations of early Pinehill school buildings on a map. John also discusses the Jake Roberts, an African-American freedman living on an Indian allotment who was a successful horse breeder.
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OHP-0005-02
Subject
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Pinehill Community and School
Date
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1976-10-22
Format
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audio
Coverage
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550
-
https://bristoworalhistory.org/files/original/c0ed8040a7cbed3c1f3af59e498da131.jpg
9b3b3e44a5fc16f931346a78a6b50f4a
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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Family Histories
Type
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Oral History
Subject
The topic of the resource
Oral accounts of various family histories
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Bristow Historical Society, oral history collection
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
Interviewer
The person(s) performing the interview
Wanda Newton
Interviewee
The person(s) being interviewed
Jonas Thompson
OHMS Object
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Viewer)
https://bristoworalhistory.org/ohms/viewer.php?cachefile=OHP-0041A_Jonas_Thompson.xml
OHMS Object Text
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contents of the OHMS object searchable in Omeka
5.4 November 28, 1990 OHP-0041A Jonas Thompson OHP-0041A 0:00-28:08 Bristow Historical Society - Oral History Archive Bristow Historical Society, Inc. Jonas Thompson Wanda Newton 1:|27(4)|46(2)|65(14)|79(9)|109(11)|133(15)|152(16)|184(3)|207(9)|223(9)|235(13)|260(4)|285(1)|304(2)|330(7)|350(10)|371(10)|399(6)|426(2)|444(8)|478(5)|527(6)|561(9)|578(12)|603(13)|617(10)|641(14)|676(6) 0 https://bristoworalhistory.org/interviews/OHP-0041A Thompson, Jonas.mp3 Other audio 0 Early Life & ; Family WN: On November 28, 1990, I’m down at the Rainbow Nursing home, and I’m interviewing a patient who’s down here. And I want him to tell you his name and when he was born. JT: We have to do that now? WN: Yeah, you tell me your name. JT: Jonas Thompson. WN: Jonas Thompson. JT: I was born 1902. WN: 1902. And where were you born, Mr. Thompson? JT: In Alabama Jonas talks about moving from Tuscaloosa to Muskogee, and finally, to Bristow. Alabama ; family ; farming ; Indians ; Muskogee ; Tuscaloosa early life ; family 114 Cotton Farming WN: What did you raise on that farm? JT: Mostly cotton. WN: Did you work in the cotton field? JT: Sure! Picked cotton and chopped cotton. WN: Do you remember the most you ever did? JT: Well, I did a lot of that picking cotton. I used to, after I got grown, I’d pick through 580 pounds a day. WN: What’s the most money you ever made picking cotton on a day? Do you remember? JT: Well, it wasn’t paying very much. I don’t remember what we was getting, but I think it was right at a dollar, dollar and a half maybe. Jonas talks about picking and chopping cotton and how much he made from working on his family's cotton farm. chopping cotton ; cotton ; earnings ; farming ; Muskogee ; picking cotton Cotton farming 316 Food WN: Well, what about your food? Do you remember your mother making soap or killing hogs? JT: Yeah, we killed hogs and had soap. WN: Well, tell me how you did the hogs. Do you remember how you did the hogs? JT: Yeah, we kill them and put ‘em on a [indecipherable] and feed them that yellow dead corn for four, five, six months and then take ‘em out and, I tell ya, they was in good shape. WN: Well, how did you kill ‘em? JT: Take ‘em out there with an ax, one of them ball-faced ax, as I call it. WN: Uh huh. On the farm, they slaughtered hogs for food and stored them in the smoke house. food ; food theft ; hogs ; poor ; slaughtering ; smoke house ; soap 484 Attending School WN: Were you able to attend school? JT: Oh yeah. We went to school at the old place when we come from Muskogee here, we lived close to Tallahassee, we called it. We went to school up there at Tallahassee. WN: Was it a one-room school or? JT: Yeah, it was a one house school. WN: How far did you have to walk? JT: Oh, about three miles to school. That was the only way we could get there is to walk. If walking was bad, my dad would carry us up there in a bucket. Jonas tells about what it was like to attend school when he was young. books ; lunch ; Muskogee ; reading ; school ; Tallahassee 596 Chores WN: And you had chores to do after school? JT: Yeah, I had to feed the hogs and the chickens. Other than that, that’s probably all we had to do. Of course, after we moved up there, the rest of us [indecipherable] had chickens to feed. Of course, that was several years after we moved from Muskogee. We stayed in Muskogee six months before we found a place to move. We didn’t want to stay in town. They wanted to raise us in the country. Wanted to learn how to pick cotton and chop cotton, so that’s where we moved. Jonas had to feed the chickens and the hogs after school. chores ; feeding livestock ; Muskogee ; picking cotton Chores 639 Home Life WN: Do you remember any of the dust storms we used to have? JT: Oh yeah, we used to have them things so bad. It was so dusty you couldn’t see hardly. Yeah, it was bad. It looked like sundown in a cave it was so dusty. I mean that dust would choke you. WN: What kind of a house did you live in? JT: Well, just an ordinary, plain house. WN: How many rooms were there? JT: Let’s see, there was three rooms if I can remember. WN: Can you remember when you got…or tell me about how did you study? You had coal oil lamps or kerosene lamps? JT: Yes, coal oil lamps. Even though they were poor, Jonas talks about never being cold or hungry. They didn't really have money, so they traded for the things they needed. coal oil lamps ; dust storms ; home ; outdoor Johnnies ; poor ; The Depression ; trading home life 752 Church Life WN: Well, what about your religious training? Did you attend church regularly? JT: Well, after I got old enough I did, cause then I went to Sunday school. Had a primer you called it. You remember a primer? WN: Yes I do. I remember that. JT: That’s the only book I had, a primer. Went to school up there from Tallahassee. [indecipherable]. WN: Where is that exactly? Can you tell me where that Tallahassee school is not there now. JT: I know it isn’t. It was north of Muskogee. I’m trying to remember. That’s been several years ago. Jonas talks about attending Sunday school. church ; primer ; Sunday school ; Tallahassee Church life 802 Indian Relations & ; Integration WN: Well, how about the Indians, then, were you all… JT: Well, we wasn’t bothered too much with the Indians cause they [indecipherable]. Of course, there was quite a bunch of them around here at that time. WN: Well, can you tell me of any bad incidences that happened to you or anything between the whites the blacks before integration? JT: No. Never have had that. I’ve been very fortunate. WN: Well, I think in our community we’ve always had good relationships, don’t you think? JT: Yeah, that’s true. They are very nice. Jonas recalls Indian relations being good and desegregation being a positive experience. Freedmen ; Indians ; integration ; The Depression Indian relations ; segregation 916 Social Life WN: Well, let me ask you, what did you do for your social life? How did you entertain each other? JT: Well, just go to someone’s home and entertain them, talk and [indecipherable] back then. WN: Did you ever go to any dances? JT: Oh, no. After I got grown, I did. But I never could dance. My feet would be in the way. I never could dance. I was ashamed of myself [indecipherable]. Couldn’t dance. WN: Were you ever in the service at all? JT: No. Sure wasn’t. A social life for Jonas included visiting a friend's house. He didn't attend dances until he was older but said he could never get the hang of dancing. dances ; social life ; visiting friends social life 1059 Food Storage WN: Do you remember anything about when you, how you kept your food from spoiling in your home? JT: We had an old smoke house. It was a pretty good smoke house. WN: How did you keep things cool? Did you have a spring? JT: Spring? WN: Uh huh. JT: Yeah we had a spring about a quarter from the house, west of the, I mean, yeah, west of the house. I mean south of the house. It was about a quarter down there to the spring. Jonas talks about the various ways they kept food from spoiling. food storage ; smoke house ; spring ; well food storage 1126 Discipline WN: Do you remember anything, in particular, about your childhood, like a spanking? Did you ever get a spanking at school? JT: Oh yeah. WN: You did? JT: I was bad, I guess. It must have been. I got it. WN: Was the discipline, do you remember, a teacher that disciplined you particularly for something horrible you did? You don’t remember anything that you got the spanking for? JT: Well, I guess I was bad. I didn’t get my lessons done, maybe? Jonas talks about getting a spanking when he misbehaved. childhood ; discipline ; spanking discipline 1180 Medical Treatment WN: Can you tell me any kind of medicines that you used to take? When you had something, and ear ache or anything, can you remember anything that your mother used to do for you? JT: Yeah, they’d put some kind of, uh, let’s see, what kind of oil you call that? I forget the name of it. But they’d put that in your ear. WN: Do you remember going to the doctor or anything? JT: Oh, no, we never go to no doctor. We’d always have a home remedy of some kind. You wouldn’t have to go to the doctor. WN: If you had a stomach ache, she gave you something? JT: Yeah, some turpentine. Jonas tells about home remedies they used and how much he loved Dr. King. doctor ; Dr. King ; medicine ; turpentine medical treatment 1258 Family WN: Jonas can you tell me where your father came from? JT: From Alabama. WN: He came from Alabama, too. And your mother was from Alabama, too? JT: Uh huh. WN: How many children did you have, Jonas? JT: How many? WN: Uh huh. JT: Me? WN: Uh huh. JT: One. WN: One? JT: A daughter. WN: A daughter? JT: Yes. She lives in Chicago. Jonas tells of his parents coming here from Alabama and having one daughter that lives in Chicago. Alabama ; Chicago ; church ; daughter ; father family 1378 Integration WN: I’m glad. But now, Jonas, tell me about integration of the school and how it affected you with desegregation. Do you think… JT: No, we didn’t have that. All them kids I went to school with was just as nice, like I was one of the family. WN: Do you think that it had been better since we integrated, or do you think, how do you feel about that? JT: I think it was a good thing. We are all human beings. God made us all. We shouldn’t be separated from one another in my book. Jonas describes how integration affected him. integration ; kindness integration 1436 Nursing Home Life WN: Alright, now then, tell me how you feel about your old, your aging process with how has it affected your life since you’ve given up your home and come to the nursing home. Can you tell us how you feel about that? JT: Well, I kinda hate to leave my home cause that was on account of my leg, I had to, but we still had it so, the Lord willing, some day we may go back there. WN: Well, that’s true. JT: Yeah, your brother is waiting for me and I’ll be here [indecipherable]. WN: Oh, that would be wonderful. Have you got another leg to replace that one that’s missing? JT: Then I’ll go back home. Jonas is hopeful to return to his own home at some point, but due to his leg, had to move to the nursing home. nursing home nursing home 1488 Things to Remember WN: Alright, now, Jonas before we sign off, is there anything that you’d like to say to leave a message or anything for the people who come after us? This is going to be in the library for anybody to listen to a tape to check if there looking back for any ancestors or? Is there anything that you’d like to say? JT: What’d you mean? Jonas is thankful people were always nice to him and believes you should treat people how you want to be treated. kindness kindness 1613 Dr. King JT: You know I think about old Dr. K (ph), he was a wonderful doctor. WN: Yes he was, and very generous, wasn’t he? JT: Oh yeah. I bet he pays for a lot of people owe him. I bet so! I wouldn’t be surprised if people owed that old doctor. Not a better doctor that ever walked on his feet. He was. I loved him. WN: I think a lot of people love Dr. King. Jonas tells about how much he loved Dr. King and what a wonderful doctor he was. Dr. King ; kindness Dr. King MP3 In this 1990 interview with Jonas Thompson, he talks about moving from Alabama to Muskogee and, finally, to Bristow. He talks about his family, early life and what it was like growing up on a cotton farm. Even though times were tough, he talks about the importance of kindness. WN: On November 28, 1990, I' ; m down at the Rainbow Nursing home, and I' ; m interviewing a patient who' ; s down here. And I want him to tell you his name and when he was born. JT: We have to do that now? WN: Yeah, you tell me your name. JT: Jonas Thompson. WN: Jonas Thompson. JT: I was born 1902. WN: 1902. And where were you born, Mr. Thompson? JT: In Alabama. WN: Can you tell me where in Alabama? JT: Well, as far as I know it was Tuscaloosa, they called it. Tuscaloosa. WN: Tuscaloosa. How long did you live there? JT: Oh Lord, I guess I was pretty near a grown man. We come in to Muskogee from Alabama. And we stayed there in Muskogee, I think, about six months, and my dad found a place west of Muskogee [indecipherable] on a bridge and run on west about three miles, west of there, from that bridge. We stayed down on that farm and farmed it for, oh I don' ; t know, several years. WN: Were you tenant famers or did you own the land? JT: No, no, it belonged to an Indian. We stayed there, I guess, four or five years, and, finally, moved off of that place. WN: Do you remember the Indian' ; s name? JT: No, I don' ; t. It' ; s been so long. It belonged to him. WN: Wasn' ; t that your mother and daddy, now, with you? JT: Yeah, and my brother. I had three brothers and two sisters. WN: What did you raise on that farm? JT: Mostly cotton. WN: Did you work in the cotton field? JT: Sure! Picked cotton and chopped cotton. WN: Do you remember the most you ever did? JT: Well, I did a lot of that picking cotton. I used to, after I got grown, I' ; d pick through 580 pounds a day. WN: What' ; s the most money you ever made picking cotton on a day? Do you remember? JT: Well, it wasn' ; t paying very much. I don' ; t remember what we was getting, but I think it was right at a dollar, dollar and a half maybe. WN: For the whole day or? JT: Yeah, sure. Maybe one and a half or two dollars. That was way back then, you know. Times was tough and bad. We finally moved off that place then. We moved to Muskogee and stayed in Muskogee six months. Then after that, we moved here. Right here in Bristow, Oklahoma from Muskogee. We rented that place, and we finally moved off that place and moved onto another place. I don' ; t know just how far we did go west, but it was quite a little ways. That' ; s all I know about is farming, picking cotton and chopping cotton, picking cotton. WN: When did you come to Bristow? JT: From Muskogee? WN: Uh huh. JT: Well, we stayed there six months and then left Muskogee, and I don' ; t remember just exactly when we come here to Bristow. I was quite a boy at that time, you know. I was born in 1902, so I was pretty young. WN: Can you remember any kind of stories your mother and daddy ever told you? JT: Well, it' ; s been so long. I don' ; t know. WN: Were they, do you remember, did they say anything about slavery in those days or do you remember anything about your grandparents? JT: No, I don' ; t remember. WN: Do you remember, uh-- JT: I do remember my grandma. WN: You remember your grandma. JT: Yeah. WN: Did she come from the south with you? JT: Yeah. No. She come over here with some other people. WN: Oh. JT: And we all come here with daddy and mother. WN: How did you get here? JT: Well, we come from Alabama to Muskogee and dad rented us a place west of Muskogee. WN: I know, but how did you travel? JT: Oh, uh, most of the time we was in the [indecipherable] didn' ; t have no cars then. I don' ; t remember a car at all then. WN: Well, what about your food? Do you remember your mother making soap or killing hogs? JT: Yeah, we killed hogs and had soap. WN: Well, tell me how you did the hogs. Do you remember how you did the hogs? JT: Yeah, we kill them and put ' ; em on a [indecipherable] and feed them that yellow dead corn for four, five, six months and then take ' ; em out and, I tell ya, they was in good shape. WN: Well, how did you kill ' ; em? JT: Take ' ; em out there with an ax, one of them ball-faced ax, as I call it. WN: Uh huh. JT: Had big on one end and other part on the other end was [indecipherable] have someone hold it with a rope so it wouldn' ; t run off. Then my dad would always hit him right between his eyes. WN: And it killed him instantly? JT: Yeah, it killed him. Dead as door nail. WN: Well, how did you handle him then? JT: Well, after you' ; d do that, he would fall over, and the time he would fall over, and my dad had a big long knife. He would stick that knife through his heart, and he' ; d go to bleeding. Then he' ; d bleed out all that blood out of him. Then he' ; d take him up there and lay him on a table. They' ; d cool a little bit, then cut him up, cut the hams up, have them all set, and the ribs, and all that. Neck and feet and then have him ready to put in a pot to eat. WN: Well, did you have a smoke house? JT: Oh yeah, we had an old smoke house. It wasn' ; t too good, but we had to put it in there because we didn' ; t have another place to put it. So it happened one night, dad had butchered a hog, two, three hogs, and we got up one morning and one of them was gone. WN: Oh! What happened? JT: Guess somebody that didn' ; t have no meat come and got it. WN: Oh, I bet your daddy was angry, wasn' ; t he? JT: Huh? WN: Was your father angry? JT: Well, I don' ; t think he was too angry because times was tough back then. WN: Yeah. JT: I' ; m telling you it was tough days back then that time. WN: Do you ever remember being hungry? JT: No, I don' ; t. He sure was good about trying to have food his children. There was eight boys and three girls. WN: How wonderful. JT: And I know sometimes I wonder how he feed all of us. WN: And how did he clothe you? JT: Well, some way or another, I don' ; t know hardly how he did it, but he already had something for us to put on. WN: Were you able to attend school? JT: Oh yeah. We went to school at the old place when we come from Muskogee here, we lived close to Tallahassee, we called it. We went to school up there at Tallahassee. WN: Was it a one-room school or? JT: Yeah, it was a one house school. WN: How far did you have to walk? JT: Oh, about three miles to school. That was the only way we could get there is to walk. If walking was bad, my dad would carry us up there in a bucket. WN: What did you do for your lunch? JT: Well, we carry us a lunch from home to school. WN: What did you usually have for lunch? JT: Well, most of the time just some biscuits and, uh, butter mixed in that biscuit. Of course, it' ; d eat good then. I don' ; t know how it' ; d eat now. That was good eatin' ; .WN: Well, of course it was. JT: Yeah. Always have some kind of sweet, a cookie, or something to mix with it. WN: How about your books? How did you get your books? JT: Dad got ' ; em some way. I don' ; t know how he got ' ; em but he had my books. I always had me a reader, it' ; s what you called it, and then dad would teach us how to read, learned how to read. WN: You saw that you got your lessons after school? JT: Oh yeah. WN: And you had chores to do after school? JT: Yeah, I had to feed the hogs and the chickens. Other than that, that' ; s probably all we had to do. Of course, after we moved up there, the rest of us [indecipherable] had chickens to feed. Of course, that was several years after we moved from Muskogee. We stayed in Muskogee six months before we found a place to move. We didn' ; t want to stay in town. They wanted to raise us in the country. Wanted to learn how to pick cotton and chop cotton, so that' ; s where we moved. WN: Do you remember any of the dust storms we used to have? JT: Oh yeah, we used to have them things so bad. It was so dusty you couldn' ; t see hardly. Yeah, it was bad. It looked like sundown in a cave it was so dusty. I mean that dust would choke you. WN: What kind of a house did you live in? JT: Well, just an ordinary, plain house. WN: How many rooms were there? JT: Let' ; s see, there was three rooms if I can remember. WN: Can you remember when you got--or tell me about how did you study? You had coal oil lamps or kerosene lamps? JT: Yes, coal oil lamps. WN: And outdoor Johnnies. JT: Yeah. WN: Yeah, I remember those. I remember one time a chicken pecked me on an outdoor Johnny and I thought I was snake bit! But anyway, do you remember being very poor during the depression? JT: Oh yeah. We was poor. Hard times. Money--we didn' ; t have no money then. Money was something that was kind of unusual. WN: You just kind of traded around? JT: Yeah, tried to do right and the best we could. WN: I remember my daddy taking potatoes in sometime for payments and just whatever you could get is what you took, wasn' ; t it? JT: Yeah. It was hard times. I' ; m telling you, it was rough. WN: Were you ever cold and hungry? JT: Well, no, not probably cold because we had daddy' ; s [indecipherable] and plenty of wood. Of course, we weren' ; t living in that good of a house, but we had plenty of wood to keep us warm and dry. WN: Well, what about your religious training? Did you attend church regularly? JT: Well, after I got old enough I did, cause then I went to Sunday school. Had a primer you called it. You remember a primer? WN: Yes I do. I remember that. JT: That' ; s the only book I had, a primer. Went to school up there from Tallahassee. [indecipherable]. WN: Where is that exactly? Can you tell me where that Tallahassee school is not there now. JT: I know it isn' ; t. It was north of Muskogee. I' ; m trying to remember. That' ; s been several years ago. WN: Well, how about the Indians, then, were you all-- JT: Well, we wasn' ; t bothered too much with the Indians cause they [indecipherable]. Of course, there was quite a bunch of them around here at that time. WN: Well, can you tell me of any bad incidences that happened to you or anything between the whites the blacks before integration? JT: No. Never have had that. I' ; ve been very fortunate. WN: Well, I think in our community we' ; ve always had good relationships, don' ; t you think? JT: Yeah, that' ; s true. They are very nice. WN: And everybody tries to help one another. JT: Yeah. If you didn' ; t have a good problem, I made a good problem [indecipherable] they' ; re good about that. WN: That' ; s wonderful. JT: People are nice. They was all nice. The Indians, I called them the Freedmen. They was all nice to me. WN: Can you tell me a little bit about the Freedmen? JT: The who? WN: The Freedmens. JT: Well, all I can say about them is they was really nice. They treated people like they wanted to be treated. WN: But let me ask you this, do you remember anything about The Depression at all? JT: Well, no I can' ; t remember too much about The Depression, because we always had something to eat and a house to live in. It wasn' ; t a good one, but we still had to live in that. And dad always had plenty of wood. That was the only way we could keep warm was plenty of wood and food to eat. WN: Well, let me ask you, what did you do for your social life? How did you entertain each other? JT: Well, just go to someone' ; s home and entertain them, talk and [indecipherable] back then. WN: Did you ever go to any dances? JT: Oh, no. After I got grown, I did. But I never could dance. My feet would be in the way. I never could dance. I was ashamed of myself [indecipherable]. Couldn' ; t dance. WN: Were you ever in the service at all? JT: No. Sure wasn' ; t. WN: Do you remember your mother and father ever telling about the Civil War or anything, or your grandmother, or anything like that? JT: Grandmother had passed several years after we come here. WN: And where was she buried? Do you remember that? JT: I sure don' ; t. I don' ; t remember where she was buried. WN: Do you remember how it was in early Bristow down here? Do you remember Bristow in the early days at all? JT: Well, no not in the early days. I don' ; t remember. WN: Now, about when did you come to Bristow, did you say? Do you have any idea when you came to Bristow? JT: Let' ; s see, I don' ; t remember exactly when we come here to Bristow. Not exact. WN: Can you tell me kinda sorta when you came? Was it in the 20' ; s or the 30' ; s or? JT: Let' ; s see, it must have been in the 20' ; s, I guess. WN: Did you ever work in the oil fields? JT: Never worked in no oil fields. The only thing I did was chopped cotton and picked cotton. WN: Who, what--do you remember any of the early people that you worked for? Do you remember going to the cotton mills? Do you remember the Bishop' ; s or the? JT: No, didn' ; t really know the Bishop' ; s. [Indecipherable] Dad already took his cotton to the gin. WN: Yeah. JT: [Indecipherable] WN: Do you remember anything about when you, how you kept your food from spoiling in your home? JT: We had an old smoke house. It was a pretty good smoke house. WN: How did you keep things cool? Did you have a spring? JT: Spring? WN: Uh huh. JT: Yeah we had a spring about a quarter from the house, west of the, I mean, yeah, west of the house. I mean south of the house. It was about a quarter down there to the spring. WN: And you kept things, did you keep things in the spring sometime? JT: Yeah [indecipherable] kind of a well, but it was just about eight or ten feet deep. We' ; d always put the stuff down in there for it to keep. We didn' ; t have no icebox or deep freeze or nothing. WN: You didn' ; t have a well by your house that you had dug or anything like that? JT: There was an old there when we moved. WN: Oh, there was a well? JT: Dug well. It was about 20-30 feet deep. WN: Do you remember anything, in particular, about your childhood, like a spanking? Did you ever get a spanking at school? JT: Oh yeah. WN: You did? JT: I was bad, I guess. It must have been. I got it. WN: Was the discipline, do you remember, a teacher that disciplined you particularly for something horrible you did? You don' ; t remember anything that you got the spanking for? JT: Well, I guess I was bad. I didn' ; t get my lessons done, maybe? WN: How do you think our boys and girls of today compare, like if they' ; d say, you were bad. You' ; d think they would laugh at what you were bad for, wouldn' ; t they? JT: Yeah, they would. WN: Yeah, they would. WN: Can you tell me any kind of medicines that you used to take? When you had something, and ear ache or anything, can you remember anything that your mother used to do for you? JT: Yeah, they' ; d put some kind of, uh, let' ; s see, what kind of oil you call that? I forget the name of it. But they' ; d put that in your ear. WN: Do you remember going to the doctor or anything? JT: Oh, no, we never go to no doctor. We' ; d always have a home remedy of some kind. You wouldn' ; t have to go to the doctor. WN: If you had a stomach ache, she gave you something? JT: Yeah, some turpentine. WN: Yes, I can remember my grandmother used to put my hand in turpentine if I cut it or anything. JT: Yeah. WN: Or if I cut something, sometimes she' ; d sprinkle salt all over it. JT: Yeah, that turpentine was a big medicine back then. WN: Yes. Do you remember Dr. King? JT: Oh, Lord, yes. He was a good a doctor as ever walked on two feet in my book. WN: Yes, and he was kind to everybody. JT: Yes, he was. I bet he died [indecipherable]. WN: Oh, sure you know they did. JT: I bet that' ; s true. WN: I' ; m telling you when my father died-- WN: Jonas can you tell me where your father came from? JT: From Alabama. WN: He came from Alabama, too. And your mother was from Alabama, too? JT: Uh huh. WN: How many children did you have, Jonas? JT: How many? WN: Uh huh. JT: Me? WN: Uh huh. JT: One. WN: One? JT: A daughter. WN: A daughter? JT: Yes. She lives in Chicago. WN: Is she still living? JT: Yeah, she lives in Chicago. WN: Does she ever get to come down here? JT: Oh yeah. Quite often. WN: That' ; s wonderful. JT: Yeah, she sure is sweet and she is mine. WN: You probably raised her right. JT: I sure did. WN: Do you remember any disasters that you had, any tornadoes or any floods or? JT: No. Never was in none of that. WN: Never was in any of those? Do you remember any kind of hobbies that you ever had. Did you ever do anything musical, Jonas, or did you ever wood carve, or did you sing with your church or? JT: Oh yeah. I' ; d go to church and sang up in the church. WN: And you sang in the church? Can you remember anybody in Bristow that was important to you, that helped you in any way? Do you remember any early people that? JT: Way back? WN: Or anytime in your life that was a good friend to you. JT: For one, I' ; ll say one, your brother' ; s one of them. WN: Oh really? JT: He' ; s a main [indecipherable] to me. WN: That' ; s a nice thing to say, Jonas. JT: He is. That' ; s the truth. I think so much of your brother. WN: Well, good. JT: He sure is a loving person. WN: Well, that' ; s-- JT: And I believe he' ; d do anything, God willing, for me. WN: Well, that' ; s nice, Jonas. JT: He is. He' ; s really nice. I think a lot of him. WN: I' ; m glad. But now, Jonas, tell me about integration of the school and how it affected you with desegregation. Do you think-- JT: No, we didn' ; t have that. All them kids I went to school with was just as nice, like I was one of the family. WN: Do you think that it had been better since we integrated, or do you think, how do you feel about that? JT: I think it was a good thing. We are all human beings. God made us all. We shouldn' ; t be separated from one another in my book. WN: That' ; s in my book, too. JT: That' ; s right. I sure mean this is the best way it ought to be. Not segregated at all cause God made one and made us all. WN: Alright, now then, tell me how you feel about your old, your aging process with how has it affected your life since you' ; ve given up your home and come to the nursing home. Can you tell us how you feel about that? JT: Well, I kinda hate to leave my home cause that was on account of my leg, I had to, but we still had it so, the Lord willing, some day we may go back there. WN: Well, that' ; s true. JT: Yeah, your brother is waiting for me and I' ; ll be here [indecipherable]. WN: Oh, that would be wonderful. Have you got another leg to replace that one that' ; s missing? JT: Then I' ; ll go back home. WN: Yeah. JT: Then I' ; ll [indecipherable]. He' ; s a nice person. I think so much of him. WN: Well, at least he' ; ll try. JT: I know it. He' ; s a good person. WN: Alright, now, Jonas before we sign off, is there anything that you' ; d like to say to leave a message or anything for the people who come after us? This is going to be in the library for anybody to listen to a tape to check if there looking back for any ancestors or? Is there anything that you' ; d like to say? JT: What' ; d you mean? WN: Well, I mean would you like to tell us anything, any kind of advice you' ; d like to give for the people that are going to come after us that we don' ; t even know about or is there any story you' ; d like to tell for them to remember about your early days? What would you like to leave for our heritage for these people that are coming after us? JT: Well, one thing I' ; d like to leave is, as far as I know, since I' ; ve been big enough to know anything, I' ; ve been very fortunate to have the people being nice to me. I' ; ve never been pushed back or nothing like that. I' ; ve been where I can really enjoy. Of course, now some people said people was kind of selfish, but I have never been [indecipherable]. WN: Well you get what you give out, don' ; t you? JT: Yeah, that' ; s true though. You be nice, then people will be nice to you. WN: That' ; s right. JT: But now, you get up and get ugly, then they will, too! WN: That' ; s right. My mother used to say when I' ; d say, " ; Make Kenneth stop doing that." ; She' ; d say, " ; Every ugly thing he knows, you taught him. Shame on you." ; JT: But that is true. You be nice to people and more than likely they going to turn the same thing back to you. WN: That' ; s right. JT: You know I think about old Dr. K (ph), he was a wonderful doctor. WN: Yes he was, and very generous, wasn' ; t he? JT: Oh yeah. I bet he pays for a lot of people owe him. I bet so! I wouldn' ; t be surprised if people owed that old doctor. Not a better doctor that ever walked on his feet. He was. I loved him. WN: I think a lot of people love Dr. King. JT: Yeah, I sure did. And like I said, a lot of people were waiting for him when he died. WN: That' ; s right. JT: Because he' ; d sure come. He told me he everyone at our house was sick and it was at night and checked to see how I was doing. WN: Isn' ; t that wonderful? JT: Oh, he was lovely. WN: Yes, we were fortunate to have Dr. King. JT: That' ; s right. WN: We were all young. JT: He was about a good a doctor that ever walked on two feet. WN: That' ; s right. JT: It makes me cry to think about it. WN: Well, don' ; t weep with tears, Jonas. We gotta sign off on a happy note. I want to thank Jonas for talking with me today, and so-- JT: Oh, I enjoyed it! WN: Well, I' ; m glad you did. JT: And I want to say again, I think about you and your brother, God bless you. WN: Well, thank you. JT: Kenneth will do anything, I believe, for me. audio 0 https://bristoworalhistory.org/ohms/viewer.php?cachefile=OHP-0041A_Jonas_Thompson.xml OHP-0041A_Jonas_Thompson.xml
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Jonas Thompson
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In this 1990 interview with Jonas Thompson, he talks about moving from Alabama to Muskogee and, finally, to Bristow. He talks about his family, early life and what it was like growing up on a cotton farm. Even though times were tough, he talks about the importance of kindness.
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OHP-0041A
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1990-11-28
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audio
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Family Histories
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Oral History
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Oral accounts of various family histories
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Bristow Historical Society, oral history collection
Oral History
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Tammy Levin
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JoNell Jones
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5.4 April 6th, 2021 OHP-2021-20 JoNell Jones OHP-2021-20 0:00-60:27 'Bristow Historical Society - Oral History Archive' Bristow Historical Society, Inc. JoNell Jones Tammy Levin MP3 1:|65(2)|117(4)|161(2)|222(8)|273(14)|325(2)|354(2)|392(7)|433(3)|488(2)|514(2)|565(2)|589(3)|628(16)|668(2)|698(5)|759(4)|789(7)|831(11)|864(3)|908(13)|943(7)|972(1)|1009(11)|1043(3)|1074(4)|1106(11)|1132(10)|1170(9)|1203(12)|1235(15)|1264(4)|1309(9)|1362(5)|1399(2)|1450(8)|1477(2)|1513(5)|1539(2)|1563(8)|1592(2)|1623(14)|1644(11)|1679(3)|1698(4)|1723(6)|1756(2)|1797(2)|1829(2)|1868(4)|1922(2)|1962(14)|1993(4)|2021(2)|2038(17)|2057(4)|2080(3)|2130(3)|2166(11)|2190(8) 0 https://bristoworalhistory.org/interviews/Jonell Jones.mp3 Other audio 4 Introduction TL: Okay, are you ready? JJ: I guess so TL: Okay. This is Tammy Levin with the Bristow Historical Society in Bristow, and this interview is part of the historical societies ongoing historical oral history project. The date is April 6th, 2021, I’m sitting here with— JJ: JoNell Jones TL: At Bristows train depot, who’s going to tell me a little bit about their history in the Bristow area. Now give me your full name. JJ: JoNell Sears was my maiden name Bristow Historical Society ; JoNell Jones ; JoNell Sears ; Tammy Levin 56 Family TL: Alright let’s begin. Okay, what was your full name at birth? JJ: JoNell Jones TL: Okay, and where was you born? JJ: I was born in Tulsa but I was brought right back here TL: Okay JJ: I’ve been here all my life TL: Okay, okay. And was you born—were you born in, at the home or in a hospital? JJ: In the hospital TL: In the hospital, do you remember which hospital? JJ: Well it was Morningside then but it’s Hillcrest now Eileen Lee Sears ; James Sears ; William Edgar 220 Childhood TL: Okay? Tell me about your life and what it was like at home when you was younger. Okay, can you tell me about some of your early memories of being younger here in Bristow? JJ: In this office TL: We’re gonna really work your memory today JJ: One of my big memories is we lived out on Jefferson TL: On Jefferson? JJ: And it was still a dirt street TL: Okay JJ: And I was playing out in front of my house in the dirt and mother was not very happy about it because she just knew that some car was gonna come by and run me over Bishops ; Glen Acres ; Roberts ; Treadle Sewing Machine 871 Grandparents TL: Okay? Do you remember hearing your grandparents describe their lives? JJ: Not really, my daddies parents lived in Bristow, they came before statehood. TL: Oh wow JJ: And they came out on a covered wagon, of course that’s the only way they can get here TL: Right JJ: They had five boys TL: Okay JJ: I think, and then they lost two little girls at a young age TL: Okay JJ: But they lived over on the corner of second chestnut their whole life TL: Second and chestnut, okay. Okay and their names? JJ: Sears, Ira and Eula (ph) Eula Sears ; Ira Sears ; Joe Lee ; Tana Lee 1104 School TL: That’s wonderful. Okay now we’re gonna go to your school memories JJ: Okay TL: Okay, where did you first attend school? JJ: Washington school TL: Washington school JJ: First grade, we didn’t have kindergarten then. TL: Oh really? Okay. Who was the first teacher that you had? JJ: Her name was Christian TL: Christian, okay. JJ: Hazel, Hazel Christian TL: Hazel Christian, okay. JJ: Actually, she and my mother went to college together Catherine Cane ; Donna Doke ; Hazel Christian ; Jean Sampson ; Washington Elementary 1422 Church TL: Okay, okay. Okay now we’re gonna go to church life. Did your family attend church when you were a child? JJ: Yes TL: Okay, and which church? JJ: First Christian TL: First Christian JJ: Disciples of Christ TL: Okay, and do you still attend that church? JJ: Yes TL: Okay. Can you describe the Sunday services when you were a child? JJ: Pretty much like they are now, we had Sunday school early and I always went and then we had church service, you know had a choir. First Christian Church 1660 Medical Care TL: What was medical care like when you were a child? JJ: Doctor King made house calls TL: Doctor King, I’ve heard that name a time or two JJ: Yeah TL: Okay, uh-huh. JJ: They took care of me, he didn’t deliver me because mother went to Tulsa, but he took care of me all my life, and my mother and my dad and my grandparents. TL: So why did your mom go to Tulsa? Was there a—? JJ: I think her family had had hard deliveries TL: Okay JJ: So she just went in TL: Just to be safe? JJ: Mhm Doctor King 1747 Town Life TL: Okay now we’re going to town life. JJ: Okay TL: Okay, what are your recollections of Bristow in your early childhood? How about main street? Any special stores that you really enjoyed? JJ: I loved Anthonys and I loved Pennys TL: Okay JJ: And then Miss Stanford had a shop that—for children TL: Okay JJ: That was fun TL: Okay, okay. So about those stores, was it just because you went shopping there a lot or was there—? Anthonys ; Lions Cafe ; Miss Stanford ; Pennys ; Wade Hardware 1927 Holiday Events TL: Okay, what were the main holiday events held in town? JJ: Halloween, Christmas, I don’t remember any others. TL: How did they celebrate Halloween? JJ: Well they just opened up main street and let everybody run up and down it TL: Okay, did you dress up as a child to go trick-or-treating? JJ: Oh yeah TL: Yeah? What was your favourite costume? JJ: Well I think I was a witch TL: Yeah, yeah. And what about July 4th, did they celebrate July 4th? JJ: Yes TL: Yeah? JJ: They did, had fireworks and— 1989 Early Adulthood TL: Uh-huh, good. Okay, early adulthood. As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up? JJ: I wanted to be a teacher but I never did that TL: Yeah, why not? JJ: I just did not like college and quit TL: Where did you go to college at? JJ: OSU TL: OSU? JJ: [Indecipherable] TL: Okay, what was your first job? JJ: Oh, I worked at a bakery Bunny Baker ; Meta Hill 2234 Travel TL: Okay, now it’s asking about travel. How did you travel to Oklahoma City or Tulsa in the early? JJ: Well usually by car, we always had a car TL: Okay JJ: During the war we used to trade a lot TL: Did you, and when did you get married? What was the date? JJ: July the 27th, 1961. TL: 1961. Okay, when you took the train, what are your memories of this depot here? JJ: It looks pretty much—I was trying to think, what was the ticket office in here? TL: I’m assuming where it’s at now, but I don’t know. 2412 Segregation and Racism TL: Right. Okay we’re gonna be talking about racism about the blacks and Indians here in town, okay? Was the town segregated? JJ: Yes TL: Yes, what are your memories of it? The segregation? JJ: Segregation. I remember the Indians really more than the blacks TL: Okay JJ: And they would just sit on the sidewalks TL: Okay, on main street? JJ: On main street TL: Okay JJ: And the blacks had their own town, they didn’t really come into the main part of Bristow very much that I recall 2721 The Great Depression TL: Okay, the great depression. Do you have any memories of the great depression? JJ: Just that there wasn’t any money TL: No money, yeah. Hard times. How did it affect your home life? JJ: It really didn’t because my daddy worked in the post office and always had a job TL: Okay, yeah. JJ: But I had friends that were very, very poor. There just was nothing. They would love to have something to eat. TL: Right. And so your dad didn’t lose his job during that time? JJ: No 2784 Amphitheater TL: Do you remember the work being done to construct the lake or the park? JJ: I remember work in the park when they were building the amphitheatre. TL: Do you? Okay, what do you remember of that? JJ: I was trying to think who was president then. She came, the president’s wife came. TL: Eleanor Roosevelt? JJ: Was it Eleanor? It could’ve been TL: She came and she dedicated that JJ: Okay, she came and dedicated the amphitheatre TL: Uh-huh, did you guys go out there? JJ: Oh yeah TL: Was it pretty exciting? JJ: Yup Eleanor Roosevelt 3014 Politics TL: Was your family politically involved? JJ: Not really TL: No, okay. Did any of your family members ever run for office? JJ: Well I had a great uncle that did TL: Yeah, here in Bristow? JJ: Mhm TL: Okay, and who was that? JJ: Cal Foster TL: Okay, and do you remember what office? JJ: Probably county commissioner, I don’t really know TL: Okay, okay. Did he win? JJ: I think he did? 3076 WWII TL: Okay, World War II. What are your memories of WWII? JJ: Well, I had bunches of uncles in the army and the navy and the marines TL: Uh-huh JJ: I had one uncle killed in Italy TL: Okay, and who was that? JJ: Daddies youngest brother TL: And his name? JJ: Milton TL: Milton? JJ: Sears TL: Milton Sears (ph), okay Milton Sears ; The Bristow Record ; Tribune 3251 Most Important Invention TL: So what would you consider to be the most important invention during your lifetime? JJ: Oh dear. I suppose one that affected most people is the television TL: Okay, and why do you say that? JJ: It’s just a better way to get the news. [Indecipherable] TL: Right JJ: I remember sitting in front of the little radio listening to it TL: Right, while everyone gathered around it. How is the world different now than when you were a child? JJ: So many ways. Travel, it’s so much easier now than it was then. But I miss, I really miss the slow pace of my childhood 3319 Biggest Problems that Face Our Nation TL: As you see it, what are the biggest problems that face our nation and how do you think they could be solved? JJ: I’m not smart enough to solve them, but I think the race problem is the biggest one we have. I don’t know why people can’t accept you for who you are. And then there’s so many more, there’s drugs and there’s all this stuff, but I really think race is the big one. TL: And then I was just gonna ask you, how are your feelings about COVID? How do you think it’s changed how we are doing things? JJ: I think they have overplayed it ; I’ve always thought it was a political thing. TL: Okay. JJ: I don’t pay attention to it 3389 Closing Thoughts TL: Yeah. Okay, your—Linda said that you kind of have some information about that grand piano back there, you kind of knew a little bit about the history about it? JJ: Oh, I don’t really. I’ll tell you who probably could give you some is George Foster TL: George Foster, okay. JJ: Because that looks exactly like the piano that his grandmother had TL: Okay, good deal JJ: She had it in her house TL: Okay. I think we’re good. Is there anything else that you would like to tell us about? About your life or? JJ: I don’t really think George Foster ; William Edgar In this 2021 interview, JoNell Jones shares her experience growing up in the Bristow area. She discusses family, town life, and travel. Interviewer: Tammy Levin Interviewee: JoNell Jones Other Persons: Date of Interview: April 6th, 2021 Location: Bristow, Creek County Oklahoma Transcriber: Abby Thompson Organization: Bristow Historical Society, Inc. Original Cassette Tape Location: OHP-2021-20 00:00 -- 60:27 Abstract: Preface: The following oral history testimony is the result of a cassette tape interview and is part of the Bristow Historical Society, Inc.' ; s collection of oral histories. The interview was transcribed and processed by the Bristow Historical Society, Inc., with financial assistance from the Montfort Jones & ; Allie Brown Jones Foundation. Rights to the material are held exclusively by the Bristow Historical Society, Inc. The reader should bear in mind that he or she is reading a verbatim transcript of spoken, rather than written prose. Insofar as possible, this transcript tries to represent the spoken word. Thus, it should be read as a personal memoir and not as either a researched monograph or edited account. To the extent possible, the spelling of place names, foreign words, and personal names have been verified, either by reference resources or directly by the interviewee. In some cases, a footnote has been added to the transcript in order to provide more information and/or to clarify a statement. Some uncertainties will inevitably remain regarding some words and their spellings. In these scenarios, a (ph) follows a word or name that is spelled phonetically. The notation [indecipherable] is used when the transcriber has not been able to comprehend the word or phrase being spoken. The notation [inaudible] is used where there is more mumbling than words, or when interference on the tape has made transcription impossible. TL: Okay, are you ready? JJ: I guess so TL: Okay. This is Tammy Levin with the Bristow Historical Society in Bristow, and this interview is part of the historical societies ongoing historical oral history project. The date is April 6th, 2021, I' ; m sitting here with-- JJ: JoNell Jones TL: At Bristows train depot, who' ; s going to tell me a little bit about their history in the Bristow area. Now give me your full name. JJ: JoNell Sears was my maiden name TL: Okay JJ: Jones TL: Alright let' ; s begin. Okay, what was your full name at birth? JJ: JoNell Jones TL: Okay, and where was you born? JJ: I was born in Tulsa but I was brought right back here TL: Okay JJ: I' ; ve been here all my life TL: Okay, okay. And was you born--were you born in, at the home or in a hospital? JJ: In the hospital TL: In the hospital, do you remember which hospital? JJ: Well it was Morningside then but it' ; s Hillcrest now TL: Okay great. And your parents' ; names? JJ: James and Eileen Lee Sears (ph) TL: Okay, so your maiden name was Sears? JJ: Mhm TL: And how do you spell that? JJ: S. E. A. R. S. TL: Okay great. And when were your parents married? JJ: Let' ; s see here, about 27' ; I think TL: 27' ; , 1927? JJ: 1927 TL: Okay, do you remember where they were married? JJ: Here in Bristow TL: Oh here in Bristow, okay. How many children did they have? JJ: Me TL: How many children did your parents have? JJ: Me TL: Just you? Oh goodness JJ: Just me, I was enough TL: Man, they stopped with perfection, right? JJ: yeah, yeah. TL: Yes. What did your father do? JJ: He worked in the post office TL: In the post office? JJ: He was a mail carrier TL: Okay JJ: But he had hurt his back when he was an [Indecipherable] for years from the time I was 11 TL: Okay JJ: And he died when I was 22 so he was, it was pretty much bed fast that whole period of time TL: When he worked in the post office, did he work just in the post office or was he a mail carrier? JJ: Well he started out as a mail carrier TL: Okay JJ: But that' ; s where he hurt this back, and then he moved into the window TL: Okay, okay. And what about your mother, what did she do? JJ: She was a homemaker TL: Okay JJ: A then after daddy died, she had to go to work and she worked at the Community bank as a secretary. TL: Okay, okay good deal. Okay, and what' ; s your spouse' ; s name? JJ: William Edgar TL: Okay, and what was the date of your marriage? JJ: July the 27th, 1961 TL: 1961 okay, and how many children did you have? JJ: Okay, both of us together had four TL: Okay JJ: He had a little girl and I had a little girl, it was a match TL: Ooh! JJ: And then we had two TL: Okay, okay. And their names? JJ: Julia TL: Julia? JJ: Becky TL: Becky JJ: Laura TL: Laura JJ: And Bill TL: And Bill, okay. Okay so what was--he had two you say? JJ: He had one TL: No he had one and you had one JJ: Uh-huh TL: Okay, okay. Okay can you--we' ; re going to go now to your early childhood. JJ: Okay TL: Okay? Tell me about your life and what it was like at home when you was younger. Okay, can you tell me about some of your early memories of being younger here in Bristow? JJ: In this office TL: We' ; re gonna really work your memory today JJ: One of my big memories is we lived out on Jefferson TL: On Jefferson? JJ: And it was still a dirt street TL: Okay JJ: And I was playing out in front of my house in the dirt and mother was not very happy about it because she just knew that some car was gonna come by and run me over TL: Oh, uh-huh. She was worried about that, yeah yeah. JJ: And we just lived alone in a two-bedroom house and at that time it was right on the edge of town TL: Uh-huh JJ: Daddy had built it for her when they got married TL: Okay, is the house still there? JJ: Yes TL: Is it? JJ: Yes TL: Okay do you drive by it to look at it? JJ: Occasionally TL: Do ya? JJ: Occasionally, yeah TL: Uh-huh, does it still look the same? JJ: No TL: No, okay. JJ: They' ; ve changed it TL: Okay, what was the address of that house, do you-- JJ: 512 TL: 512 Jefferson? JJ: 512 east Jefferson TL: East Jefferson, okay. 512 East Jefferson. JJ: Isn' ; t that funny? TL: That you still remember it, yeah. What about some of the neighborhood kids? Do you remember any of the neighborhood kids? JJ: There was one little boy that lived next door but he was really old, her name was Ward (ph) TL: Okay JJ: There weren' ; t any kids out there TL: Okay, okay. What about--this is kind of an odd question, but what kind of bed did you sleep in? JJ: I had a regular full size bed TL: Oh okay, what about your favorite toy as a child? JJ: Oh I had a little doll that was named Sabra (ph). But I think I still have her. TL: Do you? JJ: Yeah TL: Wow, what kind of doll was she? Was she a porcelain? JJ: Just a baby doll TL: Was it a porcelain type doll, porcelain head, china head? JJ: I' ; m sure it had a China or Porcelain head because it was way before plastic. TL: Right, uh-huh. Was it a blond or a brunette? JJ: It didn' ; t have--it didn' ; t have hair, it had just-- TL: It had the painted head? JJ: Yeah TL: Painted hair? JJ: She was kind of blonde TL: Blonde? Okay JJ: Yeah TL: Okay, okay what kind of role did your mother play in the home? JJ: She was the homemaker TL: Until she had to go to work JJ: Yeah TL: Okay JJ: She didn' ; t go to work until my daddy couldn' ; t work anymore. TL: How was the laundry done? JJ: We had a black woman that came and did it TL: Okay, mhm. Okay, what about the cooking? Did she do the cooking as well? JJ: Mother did all the cooking TL: Did she do the cooking? JJ: She was a fantastic cook TL: Was she? What was your favorite meal that she fixed? JJ: Oh dear, fried chicken. TL: Fried chicken, oh that sounds good! Did you have mashed potatoes and gravy with that fried chicken? JJ: Oh of course. TL: That sounds wonderful, what kind of stove? JJ: She had a [Indecipherable] which was a really big stove for that little house TL: Uh-huh JJ: She won it at a drawing at the movies TL: Oh wow JJ: Isn' ; t that fun? TL: At the theater downtown? JJ: At the Princes (ph) TL: At the Princes JJ: Yeah TL: Did you hear that we just got some movie theater seats from the Princes movie theater? JJ: No TL: Yup, I just--they were put out on the street curb and so I went and grabbed them really quick, so how about that? So this lady that did your laundry, is that all she did was for you? She just did the laundry for you or did she help out some? JJ: As far as I remember, I don' ; t think--mother was an immaculate housekeeper, I doubt if she let anybody come in. TL: Okay, and what were some of the normal daily meals that you had? JJ: We had three meals a day, we had breakfast and lunch and dinner. TL: Okay, okay. JJ: Supper, not dinner. TL: Yeah, that' ; s what I grew up with supper too. Are there any family recipes from your childhood that you still make? JJ: Oh yes TL: Yeah? And what--can you tell me about some of them? JJ: Well let' ; s see, I still make mothers chocolate pie TL: Do you? JJ: And she made a coconut cake that I still make occasionally TL: Do ya? Do your kids still make some of those recipes? JJ: No TL: No? JJ: They don' ; t cook, my children. TL: Uh-huh, do they still ask for those two recipes? JJ: No because they usually have them when they come TL: Okay. Where did you shop for groceries? JJ: What was her name? Shopped at Bishops, and we shopped at Roberts TL: Okay, and were those neighborhood grocery stores? JJ: They were on main street TL: On main street, okay. Were there other neighborhood grocery stores though? JJ: Yes, there was one or about two that was out on chestnut, I can' ; t even think of the name of it. TL: Okay JJ: [Inaudible] TL: And did you have any daily chores that you had to do when you were little? JJ: Had to make my bed TL: You had to make your bed, uh-huh. JJ: And help with the dishes TL: Okay, okay. And I' ; m guessing you probably didn' ; t have any livestock if you lived in town JJ: No we did TL: Oh you did, did you? JJ: My grandfather had a little farm just about four or five blocks from us east over where Glen Acres (ph), or not Glen Acres. Anyway, we always had a cow and chickens down there. TL: Okay JJ: A big garden TL: Okay, and what did you grow in your garden? JJ: Everything TL: Did you have a favorite? JJ: Green beans TL: Green beans? JJ: Yeah TL: Did you help snap them? JJ: Oh of course! TL: Yeah? Did you eat more than you--? JJ: No, I was not a very good eater TL: Okay, okay uh-huh. Okay did you do your own butchering if you had cattle or did--? JJ: They butchered hogs TL: Okay JJ: We never butchered cattle, but they butchered hogs. TL: Okay, now did you use the cattle, the cow for the milk then? JJ: Milk TL: Milk? Okay. And how did you store your food? JJ: How did we store? TL: Uh-huh JJ: We had a--I think we had an icebox when I was a real little girl and as soon as we got a refrigerator, daddy bought one. TL: Okay, so you had the old fashion icebox? JJ: Yeah with the ice in the top of it TL: So where did you get your ice from? JJ: They delivered it, the ice company down on 1st street, or--down where [Indecipherable] is now, about that area, there was a big ice plant. TL: Okay. Okay this question is did your family employ household help? So yes JJ: Some TL: And did you have anyone else besides the lady that helped you with the laundry? JJ: No TL: No, just her okay. And it' ; s asking how much were they paid? I' ; m sure you probably don' ; t-- JJ: I have no idea TL: Yeah JJ: I want to say a dollar a day TL: Okay JJ: But that' ; s strictly a guess TL: That' ; s an--right, right. Okay and what kind of clothes did you wear? JJ: Whatever mother made. TL: Oh did she make your clothes? JJ: Yeah TJ: Okay JJ: She was a really good seamstress TJ: Yeah JJ: She was a really good homemaker, I mean she--she did all that, yeah. TL: Right, the sewing machine, I' ; m guessing a treadle sewing machine? JJ: Mhm TL: Uh-huh? Do you still have that or is that long gone? JJ: No it' ; s long gone. TL: Uh-huh, did you like to sew? JJ: Not really TL: No, that wasn' ; t your thing? JJ: I did a lot of sewing when my girls were growing up TL: Uh-huh JJ: But I didn' ; t really like it TL: Okay, did you have shoes to wear all year round JJ: Yes TL: Did you? Okay. And it' ; s asking who did you play with most of the time? JJ: Oh I had, I had two or three real good friends that we played. They were not neighbors but they were close, close enough to get to. TL: Did you have cousins to play with? JJ: I had cousins to play with but they didn' ; t live here TL: Okay, okay. What were some of the common childhood games that you played? JJ: Red rover, I' ; m sure we played Ring around the rosy when I was little bitty TL: Right JJ: Jacks TL: Right, uh-uh. How about some of your favorite songs that you sang as a child? JJ: I don' ; t even remember them TL: Okay. It' ; s asking about your fathers' ; work and that was we already discussed that. What was his role in the house? Did he help in the garden? JJ: He--I' ; m sure he did anything that needed to be done but he was a [Indecipherable] for years. TL: Okay JJ: So--my memories of him are in bed pretty much TL: So how did he get hurt on his job? JJ: Slipped on the ice TL: Oh, okay. JJ: Went down to crippling arthritis. TL: Oh okay, you said he died when he was 22? JJ: I was 22 TL: 22 JJ: Daddy was 44 TL: Aw so he died very young JJ: But when he died, he could use his right elbow and his right hand. TL: [Indecipherable]. Okay how about do you remember the first time you heard a radio? JJ: We always had a radio TL: Did you? JJ: Yup TL: Okay, saw television? JJ: I was in college. The people of Bristow bought my dad a television when they first came out TL: Uh-huh JJ: Because he was bed fast and they put it in his room TL: Aww JJ: And we had a--it was one of the first televisions in town TL: Wow, do you remember what show was playing the first time? JJ: No, I was in college so I really didn' ; t pay much attention to it TL: Okay, I bet he was very appreciative of that JJ: Yeah he was, he was. TL: That' ; s neat, how neat. Okay now we' ; re gonna go to your grandparents JJ: Okay TL: Okay? Do you remember hearing your grandparents describe their lives? JJ: Not really, my daddies parents lived in Bristow, they came before statehood. TL: Oh wow JJ: And they came out on a covered wagon, of course that' ; s the only way they can get here TL: Right JJ: They had five boys TL: Okay JJ: I think, and then they lost two little girls at a young age TL: Okay JJ: But they lived over on the corner of second chestnut their whole life TL: Second and chestnut, okay. Okay and their names? JJ: Sears, Ira and Eula (ph) TL: Okay, okay. So they would' ; ve came here before statehood, or they wanted to--probably one of the first settlers here then. JJ: Yes, my oldest, my dads oldest brother was the first white child born in Bristow TL: Oh okay, that' ; s interesting JJ: Grandma talks about the Indians, they had a--they called them stomp grounds TL: Uh-huh JJ: It' ; s where they did their dances TL: Right JJ: And they walked down chestnut right by the house to the stomp grounds and she said they just would go in in streams down there to their dances TL: So did she say where the stomp dances were located? JJ: Well south of town, I' ; m not sure where TL: South of town, okay. That had to be a very interesting-- JJ: Yup, yup. TL: Do you have memories of your grandparents, the Sears, then? JJ: Oh yeah TL: Okay JJ: I was a big girl when they died TL: Okay JJ: Was in high school TL: Oh okay, so you got to spend a lot of time with them then JJ: Yeah I did TL: Okay good, grandparents are pretty special JJ: Yes TL: Yes, very special. JJ: My mother' ; s parents lived here too TL: Okay and their names? JJ: Lee (ph) TL: Lee JJ: Joe and Tana TL: Okay JJ: And they had moved at that time, but they lived in Tulsa TL: Okay JJ: So TL: When did they move out of Bristow? JJ: I guess after mother got out of high school in 27' ; TL: Okay JJ: Her older sister and her husband opened a big feed store in Tulsa TL: Okay JJ: And grandad went up, he had a little ice stock right there on the corner from it TL: Okay JJ: But he was in the feed store with uncle Frank, so. TL: Okay, okay [Inaudible]. Who was the oldest person in your family you can remember from when you were a child? The oldest person that you can remember from childhood. JJ: My great grandmother Roberts was 92 TL: 92, okay. And who--from what side of the family? JJ: My mother' ; s side TL: Your mother' ; s side, okay. JJ: My grandmother Foster was--I had two great grandparents--I had four grandparents and two great grandparents alive while I was growing up and they were all real well liked. I mean, nobody died young. TL: That' ; s great, yeah! JJ: Yeah TL: And how old are you? JJ: 91 TL: 91, and happy belated birthday! Happy birthday! JJ: Thank you TL: Yes! So what do you remember about them? They were pretty active? JJ: Yes, granddad was the first fire chief in Bristow, granddad Sear TL: Oh okay JJ: And, yeah. TL: You have a lot of history here in Bristow JJ: Yeah, they came and settled and we stayed so-- TL: They must' ; ve liked it JJ: Who didn' ; t? TL: That' ; s wonderful. Okay now we' ; re gonna go to your school memories JJ: Okay TL: Okay, where did you first attend school? JJ: Washington school TL: Washington school JJ: First grade, we didn' ; t have kindergarten then. TL: Oh really? Okay. Who was the first teacher that you had? JJ: Her name was Christian TL: Christian, okay. JJ: Hazel, Hazel Christian TL: Hazel Christian, okay. JJ: Actually, she and my mother went to college together TL: Really? That' ; s neat. What hours were the school held? JJ: I think 9 to 4 TL: 9 to 4, okay. So what age did you start school then if you didn' ; t go to kindergarten? JJ: Six, which was first grade. TL: Okay. Did you walk? JJ: Yes TL: Yeah, how long? JJ: It was about five blocks TL: Okay JJ: I had two neighbor girls that were older than I was, and I walked with them. TL: Okay, do you remember how many children attended your class? Was it a large class? JJ: I think they were pretty large classes, I' ; d say 25, 30. TL: And what year was this? JJ: 1936 TL: 1936, okay. Do you remember what year you graduated? I' ; m sure you do. JJ: 48' ; TL: 1948, okay. Who was your best friend? Let' ; s start--okay, who was your best friend in first grade, do you remember that? JJ: Catherine Cane (ph) TL: Catherine Cane, okay. And how about when you-- JJ: And Donna Doke (ph), [Indecipherable] TL: Oh okay, okay. JJ: Yeah, they were my best friends TL: Okay, and did they remain your best friends throughout school? JJ: Pretty much TL: Aw that' ; s pretty special JJ: They' ; re all gone now, but-- TL: Oh, right. And I' ; m assuming, you said you went to college so you completed? JJ: No I didn' ; t complete it, I went two and a half years TL: Okay, okay. What kind of building was the school in? Grade school JJ: Actually they just tore it-- TL: Washington JJ: Washington? Yeah, it was that very first build that they had, it was--it was new, they had [Indecipherable] TL: Yeah, I got to walk through it before they tore it down so--and then you went to the high school here? JJ: Mhm TL: Yeah, and that was Bristow High School? JJ: Mhm TL: Okay, were you a member of any of the clubs or organizations in high school? JJ: I was a member of everything TL: Yeah? Like what? JJ: Well I was in the band, I was a cheerleader, and I was president or vice president of the senior class. TL: Of the senior? JJ: Mhm TL: Okay, like choir? Was it the same as choir or was it-- JJ: I didn' ; t sing in choir, I don' ; t sing TL: Okay, so what was that? What' ; s the singer class then? JJ: Senior [Indecipherable], senior class TL: Senior class, okay okay. Uh-huh, good. JJ: I did everything, I liked it. TL: Well good. Was the school building used for any other community purposes? JJ: Not that I know of. TL: What types of food did your mother pack in your lunch if she packed your lunch? JJ: She didn' ; t pack my lunch, I went home for lunch TL: Oh did you, okay. Was she home for lunch with you or--? JJ: Most of the time TL: Okay JJ: My daddy was always there TL: Okay, so did she have lunch ready for you or did you fix lunch together or how did you spend your lunch? JJ: She probably had gotten it ready before she went to work. TL: Okay, and then did you eat lunch with your dad since he was home there? JJ: Mhm TL: Did you? Okay, so that' ; s nice. Okay what do you remember about your classroom? JJ: Well blackboards and the musty smell that it had TL: Okay, okay. JJ: All the books that were in there TL: Do you have any favorite teacher from grade school? JJ: Not really TL: No, how about high school? JJ: Jean Sampson (ph) was my--he was the science teacher and he was my favorite teacher TL: And why was he your favorite teacher? What about him? JJ: I don' ; t know, he was just funny and he was--it was good, yeah. [Background noise] TL: Did you-- [Background noise] TL: Did you have a favorite subject in high school? JJ: Yeah, biology TL: Did you, so you' ; re a science person? JJ: No TL: Oh no JJ: I just like biology TL: Okay, okay. Okay now we' ; re gonna go to church life. Did your family attend church when you were a child? JJ: Yes TL: Okay, and which church? JJ: First Christian TL: First Christian JJ: Disciples of Christ TL: Okay, and do you still attend that church? JJ: Yes TL: Okay. Can you describe the Sunday services when you were a child? JJ: Pretty much like they are now, we had Sunday school early and I always went and then we had church service, you know had a choir. TL: Okay, do you remember any songs? Anything special? Any favourite songs during that time? JJ: Not really TL: Can you describe the holiday events at church? JJ: Oh, it' ; s been--not really. We always had a church for the--when I was growing up, we had a big youth group, we had a lot of kids. And we had church, we did church Sunday once or twice a year, us youth group and, oh we had parties and did all the things that you' ; d probably do TL: Did your friends attend the same church? JJ: No TL: No JJ: Well Donna did TL: Donna, okay. Sometimes that makes it a little bit--what were your Christmas' ; like as a child? JJ: We always went to my grandmothers TL: Which grandmother? JJ: Grandmother Lee TL: Okay, okay JJ: And, oh they were big deals. TL: Cousins there? JJ: Cousins and aunts and uncles and-- TL: Uh-huh, did you usually go for Christmas eve or Christmas day? JJ: Oh we went Christmas eve and spent the night and had a big Christmas breakfast TL: Aw, special meals? JJ: Yup TL: Yup, all of that? JJ: All of that TL: Did Santa-- JJ: Santa came TL: Yeah, good. Was there a special food that brought back memories or that was always served? JJ: We always had turkey, I think. It could' ; ve been chicken and I didn' ; t know it TL: Right JJ: We always had ham. For Christmas breakfast we always had ham TL: Oh, okay mhm. And what about the Christmas tree? Was there anything special about the Christmas tree or just-- JJ: No it just was loaded with stuff I' ; d made and stuff my cousins have made TL: It was just spending time with family, right? JJ: Yeah TL: Yeah, good deal. Did your mother sing in the choir? Did you sing in the choir? JJ: No TL: No, what was your parents' ; involvement in the church? JJ: Let' ; s see, daddy taught a Sunday school class, mother taught a Sunday school class. Daddy was an elder TL: Okay JJ: Back before women could be elders TL: Right JJ: I' ; m an elder now, I was the first woman elder in our church TL: Really? JJ: Yeah TL: Congratulations, and when did that happen? JJ: Oh let' ; s see ; it was probably--it' ; s been a long time. Let' ; s see, probably in the 60' ; s TL: Oh okay JJ: When they first started letting women be active in--and our church, our disciples church was one of the first that did I think TL: That' ; s neat. Okay what were weddings like in your church? Anything special? Nothing? Okay. Okay now we' ; re going to medical care. JJ: Okay TL: What was medical care like when you were a child? JJ: Doctor King made house calls TL: Doctor King, I' ; ve heard that name a time or two JJ: Yeah TL: Okay, uh-huh. JJ: They took care of me, he didn' ; t deliver me because mother went to Tulsa, but he took care of me all my life, and my mother and my dad and my grandparents. TL: So why did your mom go to Tulsa? Was there a--? JJ: I think her family had had hard deliveries TL: Okay JJ: So she just went in TL: Just to be safe? JJ: Mhm TL: Okay. It' ; s asking here, did women generally give birth here or at home and most likely they did but your mom just wanted to be-- JJ: My aunty had lost a baby at home birth, so. TL: Yeah, yeah. What were some of your mother' ; s home remedies? JJ: She' ; d just called Doctor King TL: Okay, were you ever hospitalized? JJ: When I had my tonsils out TL: Okay, and here in Bristow? JJ: Yeah TL: Yeah? Which hospital? JJ: Well it was up on 8th street, the old one they tore down TL: Okay, I' ; m not from Bristow so was that--? JJ: Okay, it was the Sisler TL: Sisler, that' ; s what I was thinking, okay. Do you have any special memories of that time? Did you get lots of ice cream? JJ: Yes, I remember a sore throat TL: Sore throat JJ: Yeah TL: Nothing- okay now we' ; re going to town life. JJ: Okay TL: Okay, what are your recollections of Bristow in your early childhood? How about main street? Any special stores that you really enjoyed? JJ: I loved Anthonys and I loved Pennys TL: Okay JJ: And then Miss Stanford had a shop that--for children TL: Okay JJ: That was fun TL: Okay, okay. So about those stores, was it just because you went shopping there a lot or was there--? JJ: Oh we didn' ; t shop very much, but when we shopped that' ; s where we went TL: That' ; s where you went, okay. How did you travel when you went to Tulsa? Did you travel by car ; did you travel by train? JJ: We travelled by car, but I travelled by train a lot. When I was having my teeth straightened, I had to go to Tulsa every three weeks and I rode the train up there and back every three weeks. TL: And did you go by yourself or did you go with your mom? JJ: No I went by myself, I was in high school TL: Oh okay, so you were older, okay. JJ: Actually there were about four of us going, so TL: Oh, okay JJ: We all went to the same orthodontist TL: Okay, who were some of the biggest businesses in town? JJ: Hm, Wade Hardware, there were a lot of businesses. Of course Anthonys and Pennys, and Miss Stanford, [Indecipherable] I can' ; t remember. TL: What kind of shops did your mother frequent a lot? The ones that you mentioned earlier? JJ: Mhm TL: Okay. What about restaurants, did you eat out very often? JJ: Not very often TL: Okay JJ: If we did, we ate--when I was in high school we ate at Lions Café TL: Okay, okay. JJ: I' ; m sure you' ; ve heard of that one TL: I have, and I hear about an ice cream shop a lot too, but I' ; m not for sure about the time period though, so. How did people dress? Like during, how about high school days? Was there a particular-- JJ: Dress code? TL: Yeah JJ: We wore dresses TL: Dresses, okay JJ: And they had to be a certain length TL: Okay, and what length was that? JJ: They had to come at least below your knee TL: Below your knee, okay. Did you have a favourite dress, or a skirt? Did you like to wear skirts or dresses? JJ: I wore both TL: Both, okay. It' ; s asking did you mostly buy your clothes or did you make them? JJ: Mother made most of my clothes TL: Okay, what were the main holiday events held in town? JJ: Halloween, Christmas, I don' ; t remember any others. TL: How did they celebrate Halloween? JJ: Well they just opened up main street and let everybody run up and down it TL: Okay, did you dress up as a child to go trick-or-treating? JJ: Oh yeah TL: Yeah? What was your favourite costume? JJ: Well I think I was a witch TL: Yeah, yeah. And what about July 4th, did they celebrate July 4th? JJ: Yes TL: Yeah? JJ: They did, had fireworks and-- TL: Did they do that out on at the lake or--? JJ: They did it at the lake and then of course the country club they always had a golf--as I got older, they always had a golf tournament that we played in. TL: Okay JJ: And usually a lunch TL: Okay, what' ; s your favourite holiday to celebrate? JJ: Christmas TL: Christmas? Yeah. JJ: That' ; s the day we all get together TL: Uh-huh, good. Okay, early adulthood. As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up? JJ: I wanted to be a teacher but I never did that TL: Yeah, why not? JJ: I just did not like college and quit TL: Where did you go to college at? JJ: OSU TL: OSU? JJ: [Indecipherable] TL: Okay, what was your first job? JJ: Oh, I worked at a bakery TL: At a bakery, oh that could be very dangerous JJ: It was, but I was thin then TL: Right, and which bakery? JJ: I don' ; t even remember the name of it, these people came in and put a bakery in TL: And that--was that here in Bristow? JJ: Yeah, it was between 7th and 8th down in that area TL: Oh goodness JJ: And it was really nice bakery, they were here for several years TL: Uh-huh JJ: And I worked it a lot through high school TL: Did you sample a lot? JJ: Oh of course TL: Oh what was your favourite? JJ: They made the best donuts you ever ate, make you hungry TL: Yeah, I love bakeries. JJ: I do too TL: Pastries are my downfall JJ: You don' ; t look like you had a downfall TL: Oh yes, what kind of jobs have you held in the past? JJ: Well let' ; s see, I' ; ve worked in the bank, I worked at the gas company, [Indecipherable] Natural TL: Okay JJ: I never worked much. As soon as I got married, I never worked after that. TL: Yes, you worked very hard JJ: I worked, I raised four kids. TL: You worked very hard, yes. JJ: I didn' ; t get paid for it. Well I did, ultimately. TL: You did, yeah. Okay, you didn' ; t work in the military. When did you meet your spouse? So Ed is your spouse JJ: Mhm TL: Okay, when did you meet him? JJ: Met him in 1960 TL: Okay, and where? JJ: I was working for Bill [Indecipherable], and he worked--he had an office across the street. TL: Okay, and where was that at? JJ: By the post office TL: Okay JJ: On 6th street TL: Okay, okay. JJ: And we just happened to meet. Actually I went to him, he was--I had a really bad back and I went over there to see if he could fix it. TL: So he was a doctor here in town then? JJ: Yeah TL: Okay, so that' ; s where his practice was at? JJ: Mhm TL: Okay, okay. And what was your first impression? JJ: How shy he was TL: Aw, really? JJ: Yeah TL: Uh-huh JJ: He was extremely shy until you knew him TL: Okay, how long had he been practicing here in town then? JJ: Not too long, maybe a year TL: Okay, and where did he come from? JJ: Oh he came from basically Seminole (ph) TL: Okay JJ: Well he first came from Arkansas, did we run out your tape? TL: Nope, I just heard a squeaky noise. Seminole? JJ: Mhm TL: Okay, can you tell me about your engagement? JJ: We weren' ; t really engaged very long, we just started dating then got married TL: Okay, how long did you date then? Just a short time? JJ: Probably three or four months TL: Okay, okay. Can you tell me about your wedding? JJ: Yes, it was in my mother' ; s living room that was just mother and my step-father and me. And Bunny Baker. TL: Bunny Baker, really? JJ: I had worked with her downtown TL: Okay, okay. How about that. So after you got married, did you live here in Bristow then? JJ: Mhm TL: Okay, and did you work after you got married? Stayed home? JJ: No, this doesn' ; t get head shakes, does it? TL: Huh? JJ: I said that doesn' ; t pick up headshakes, does it? TL: No it doesn' ; t pick up headshakes, no. Where did you live after you got married then? JJ: Oh, we lived out on Meta Hill (ph) when we first got married, and then we moved ; we bought our house on sixth street. TL: Okay JJ: The corner of sixth and pecan, yeah. TL: Okay JJ: We outgrew our first house TL: Did you? JJ: Yeah TL: Okay, now it' ; s asking about travel. How did you travel to Oklahoma City or Tulsa in the early? JJ: Well usually by car, we always had a car TL: Okay JJ: During the war we used to trade a lot TL: Did you, and when did you get married? What was the date? JJ: July the 27th, 1961. TL: 1961. Okay, when you took the train, what are your memories of this depot here? JJ: It looks pretty much--I was trying to think, what was the ticket office in here? TL: I' ; m assuming where it' ; s at now, but I don' ; t know. JJ: But I do know it had two waiting rooms TL: Okay two waiting rooms, okay. JJ: And there were lots of trains through town, there were about six a day TL: Six a day, okay. JJ: Maybe more. It looks pretty much like it does now. TL: Okay, and now you were talking about the waiting rooms, can you tell me a little bit about the waiting rooms? JJ: They just had lots of chairs, they had a black--one for the blacks and one for the whites. TL: Okay now where was the black waiting room and the white waiting room? JJ: The black one was over at the side TL: Okay, back there? JJ: Yeah TL: Okay JJ: I may be wrong on that, but that' ; s what I can recall TL: Okay. And okay, looks like we' ; re going back. Okay we' ; re going to route 66 now, you remember route 66? JJ: Oh yes TL: Okay, do you remember route 66 being built? This would' ; ve been, this would' ; ve been before--this would' ; ve been 1920 so, yeah. JJ: No I don' ; t remember TL: No, you wouldn' ; t remember, yeah. 1926, yeah so. But do you remember it, people traveling it a lot? JJ: Oh yeah TL: I' ; m guessing so, yeah. Do you remember it being a big to do? Probably not because that was just the way people travelled, yeah JJ: That just normal, yeah. TL: Yeah. JJ: And we really didn' ; t travel an awful lot here, you know. People didn' ; t travel like they do now TL: Right. Okay we' ; re gonna be talking about racism about the blacks and Indians here in town, okay? Was the town segregated? JJ: Yes TL: Yes, what are your memories of it? The segregation? JJ: Segregation. I remember the Indians really more than the blacks TL: Okay JJ: And they would just sit on the sidewalks TL: Okay, on main street? JJ: On main street TL: Okay JJ: And the blacks had their own town, they didn' ; t really come into the main part of Bristow very much that I recall TL: And when you say they had their own town, where was that located at? JJ: It was over on the east 9th and 10th TL: Okay, over on east 9th and 10th which would be over--okay. JJ: Yup TL: And I think I know where that' ; s at, okay JJ: It' ; s up east of us north TL: Okay, okay. JJ: We can go over there now, there' ; s a big media hall of some kind over where that used to be TL: Okay, so that' ; s kind of where they stayed in their own part of the town, okay. And when you say that, that' ; s kind of like when you were a child or during that time period, or what time period are you? JJ: When I was a child TL: Child, okay. JJ: Segregation came in--see my brother' ; s 18 years younger than I am, and he was in one of the first segregated classes in school. They segregated the third grade I think TL: Okay JJ: But I was not--schools were segregated when I was in school TL: So they just kind of kept--the black' ; s kind of kept to their own part JJ: Yeah they had their own high school and they had their own grade school TL: And then so the Indians just kind of, you say just kind of sit on the sidewalks and stuff? And what did they do then? JJ: That' ; s all I ever saw them do TL: Okay, okay. Was there any kind of problems or anything? JJ: Not that I was aware of. Of course mother made sure I wasn' ; t aware of a lot of stuff TL: Okay. Okay, do you remember the names of any black families in town during your childhood? JJ: No TL: Okay, were you allowed to socialize with any of the black children? JJ: Wasn' ; t done TL: Okay, and I' ; m guessing none of them attended your school JJ: No TL: They had their own schools, okay. Did you ever swim at the Bristow pool? JJ: Oh yeah TL: Did ya? JJ: Yeah TL: Were there any black children allowed at the pool? No, okay. How were black people employed? JJ: I think mostly as maids and-- TL: Okay JJ: Neighbour, and see I don' ; t really know because I do know that they had--their school teachers were all educated like they had to be to teach TL: Right, so did they have their own teachers then at their school? Okay. Do you remember any freedmen in Bristow? JJ: Any what? TL: Freedmen? JJ: No TL: Okay. What are your memories of any racism in early Oklahoma? JJ: You know when you grow up with them like that you don' ; t even know it' ; s racism. I' ; m sure there was a lot of it, but my parents were very kind and very gentle and they never, never said bad things. TL: Right JJ: I' ; m sure there were bad things said, but they didn' ; t say them. TL: Right. Okay, how were the Indians treated in town? JJ: I don' ; t know ; I really don' ; t know. I know we had a lot. TL: Right JJ: As far as how they were treated, I don' ; t have any idea. TL: Do you remember any of the Indian families in town? JJ: No TL: Do you remember how they were employed? Any of the jobs that they held in town? Do you remember any of the Indian allotment holders? JJ: No, I' ; m sure there were--I' ; m sure I did but I don' ; t remember them. TL: Okay now we' ; re gonna go to the oil drilling here in town. JJ: Oh okay. TL: Okay, was your family involved in any of the early oil drilling here? JJ: No TL: Okay, the great depression. Do you have any memories of the great depression? JJ: Just that there wasn' ; t any money TL: No money, yeah. Hard times. How did it affect your home life? JJ: It really didn' ; t because my daddy worked in the post office and always had a job TL: Okay, yeah. JJ: But I had friends that were very, very poor. There just was nothing. They would love to have something to eat. TL: Right. And so your dad didn' ; t lose his job during that time? JJ: No TL: Yeah. What did it do to your grocery supply? Did you guys have to cut back at all? JJ: Not that I know of. My little mother was miss frugality so you wouldn' ; t have known it. TL: Aw, yup. Okay, do you remember the work being done to construct the lake or the park? JJ: I remember work in the park when they were building the amphitheatre. TL: Do you? Okay, what do you remember of that? JJ: I was trying to think who was president then. She came, the president' ; s wife came. TL: Eleanor Roosevelt? JJ: Was it Eleanor? It could' ; ve been TL: She came and she dedicated that JJ: Okay, she came and dedicated the amphitheatre TL: Uh-huh, did you guys go out there? JJ: Oh yeah TL: Was it pretty exciting? JJ: Yup TL: Uh-huh JJ: Pretty crowded TL: I bet, that had to be a pretty big-- JJ: It was a big deal TL: --event for Bristow JJ: Yeah it was a big deal TL: How old would' ; ve you been? JJ: Probably about 6 or 7 TL: Oh JJ: I was in, well it was in 30' ; , I think it was 36' ; [Indecipherable] TL: Did she get a pretty--did she give a speech? Is that right? JJ: I' ; m sure she did but at that age I didn' ; t-- TL: Right JJ: I thought, probably just thought it was boring TL: Right, that' ; s pretty neat JJ: More exciting TL: Uh-huh. You probably just--you knew there was excitement, you know? Not for sure what was going on but there was an excitement. So when they was building the park and the amphitheatre, did your family go out there to kind of watch the progress of it? Or not? JJ: Not that I know of TL: Okay. Did you attend events at the amphitheatre? Where they held the different events out there? Did you, besides going to the dedication of it, what events did you go to? JJ: Well over the years I' ; ve gone to a lot. They' ; ve had band things and-- TL: They used to hold graduation? JJ: Graduation TL: For high school? JJ: We' ; ve had graduations out there TL: Okay JJ: In fact, I was trying to think. I can' ; t even remember where ours was, it may have been out there TL: Really? Okay, that' ; s neat. What was the lake used for, besides people going out there for picnics, picnics and-- JJ: Fishing and-- TL: Fishing, okay. Anything else, or no? Did they ever allow boats or-- JJ: You can put little boats out there TL: Okay JJ: With little trolley (ph) motors or-- TL: Okay JJ: Actually, they had a boat house and they had boats you could rent TL: Oh JJ: But you had to paddle, we used that a lot in high school TL: Okay JJ: We' ; d go out and spend the afternoon with--on the lake just paddling around TL: And what about swimming? Did they allow or have they ever allowed? I' ; ve never seen-- JJ: Not on the lake, they' ; ve never, never allowed swimming in the lake TL: Okay I was gonna say I don' ; t think I' ; ve ever--we' ; ve been here about 20 years and I don' ; t think I' ; ve ever seen someone-- JJ: But they' ; ve always had a nice pool here so we didn' ; t need to swim in the lake TL: Okay, okay. How about ice skating? JJ: Yes, I can remember times they ice skated out there TL: Oh JJ: But I was little TL: Uh-huh JJ: I didn' ; t have any ice skates but I did skate around with my slick shoes, yeah TL: Right, yeah. Has it ever been a very, like, a lot of people going out there or--? JJ: Yeah there used to be a lot of people go out, I don' ; t know what they do anymore but-- TL: Yeah, I see a lot of walkers out there JJ: Lots of walkers TL: Yeah, I love it out there JJ: Yeah it' ; s so pretty and it' ; s peaceful TL: That' ; s what I like about it JJ: Well maintained and-- TL: It' ; s very peaceful and just, I love it out there. Okay politics JJ: Okay TL: Was your family politically involved? JJ: Not really TL: No, okay. Did any of your family members ever run for office? JJ: Well I had a great uncle that did TL: Yeah, here in Bristow? JJ: Mhm TL: Okay, and who was that? JJ: Cal Foster TL: Okay, and do you remember what office? JJ: Probably county commissioner, I don' ; t really know TL: Okay, okay. Did he win? JJ: I think he did? TL: Did he? JJ: Yeah TL: Okay, that' ; s good. Did women commonly vote during your childhood? JJ: I don' ; t know TL: Do you remember your-- JJ: I think mother voted, yeah I' ; m sure she did TL: Good for her, good for her. How was voting done during your childhood? JJ: I think pretty much like it is right now TL: Okay JJ: Here in Bristow. No, we didn' ; t have any machines, we just marked ballets TL: Right, right. Have you always voted? JJ: Yes TL: Good for you. Okay, World War II. What are your memories of WWII? JJ: Well, I had bunches of uncles in the army and the navy and the marines TL: Uh-huh JJ: I had one uncle killed in Italy TL: Okay, and who was that? JJ: Daddies youngest brother TL: And his name? JJ: Milton TL: Milton? JJ: Sears TL: Milton Sears (ph), okay. JJ: And actually I think he has a [Indecipherable] out at the cemetery TL: Okay, that would be very hard for the family JJ: I remember ration cards TL: Right JJ: And we had three gallons of gas a week, and that' ; s why we rode the train a lot TL: Right, yes. JJ: They were hard times TL: Hard times, yeah. Yeah. JJ: I remember reading the obituaries and holding your breath that nobody that you knew was gonna be on the list TL: Right, now did Milton have a family, I mean a wife? JJ: He had a wife, he was--he was only I think 19 when he died so, he was real young TL: But still hard for the family JJ: Oh yeah, Carmen never got over that. TL: I can' ; t even imagine JJ: Oh I can' ; t either, I can' ; t either. TL: So what branch was he in? You said the navy? JJ: No he was in the army TL: In the army, okay. JJ: He was a first lieutenant ; he was--he was killed on [Indecipherable] TL: For 19, he--oh, so how did they get the, how did the family get the news that he had-- JJ: With a telegram TL: Telegram JJ: They finally brought his body home TL: Did they? Okay, okay. JJ: He' ; s buried out at Magnolia TL: Oh okay. What newspapers did you read here in Bristow during that time? JJ: Oh, Bristow had two papers. They had the Record and the Citizen (ph) TL: Okay JJ: Tulsa had two papers, Tribune and the World TL: Okay JJ: We would get our Oklahoma City papers part of the time TL: Oh okay. Yeah, looking at those papers during that time, just that' ; s all front page every day, every day reading about the news. JJ: I really miss the newspapers TL: So what would you consider to be the most important invention during your lifetime? JJ: Oh dear. I suppose one that affected most people is the television TL: Okay, and why do you say that? JJ: It' ; s just a better way to get the news. [Indecipherable] TL: Right JJ: I remember sitting in front of the little radio listening to it TL: Right, while everyone gathered around it. How is the world different now than when you were a child? JJ: So many ways. Travel, it' ; s so much easier now than it was then. But I miss, I really miss the slow pace of my childhood TL: Yes JJ: Seems like we stopped longer and enjoyed it TL: Took time to enjoy things JJ: Yup TL: As you see it, what are the biggest problems that face our nation and how do you think they could be solved? JJ: I' ; m not smart enough to solve them, but I think the race problem is the biggest one we have. I don' ; t know why people can' ; t accept you for who you are. And then there' ; s so many more, there' ; s drugs and there' ; s all this stuff, but I really think race is the big one. TL: And then I was just gonna ask you, how are your feelings about COVID? How do you think it' ; s changed how we are doing things? JJ: I think they have overplayed it ; I' ; ve always thought it was a political thing. TL: Okay. JJ: I don' ; t pay attention to it TL: Yeah. Okay, your--Linda said that you kind of have some information about that grand piano back there, you kind of knew a little bit about the history about it? JJ: Oh, I don' ; t really. I' ; ll tell you who probably could give you some is George Foster TL: George Foster, okay. JJ: Because that looks exactly like the piano that his grandmother had TL: Okay, good deal JJ: She had it in her house TL: Okay. I think we' ; re good. Is there anything else that you would like to tell us about? About your life or? JJ: I don' ; t really think TL: Are you sure? JJ: I know the elections day is for a new hospital and I remember why they built this one TL: Yeah? Do you? JJ: Oh yeah TL: What can you tell us about it? JJ: Oh well I remember how excited Ed was TL: Uh-huh JJ: Because he had a new hospital to work at TL: Yeah, where did he have his practice? You say it was across from the post office? JJ: Oh TL: The first, his first, okay JJ: His--out where the health department is now. TL: Oh JJ: On first street, that was his office TL: Oh, okay. JJ: He and doctor McAlester shared a building TL: Okay, okay. And how long did he practice? JJ: Probably 40 years out there. He retired the day he turned forty--65 he retired TL: Good for him JJ: Yeah TL: Good for him JJ: And we had 20 years before he died TL: Uh-huh, right. Good. JJ: And we made the most of it TL: Good. Did he do surgeries or-- JJ: Mhm TL: Did he? What kind of surgeries? Just everything? JJ: He did almost anything. He actually was a trade surgeon ; he was train out in colleges but he didn' ; t wanna do a gynaecology practice TL: Uh-huh JJ: Because he would have had to go to the city and he didn' ; t want to go to the city TL: Uh-huh, did he have a special, a favourite surgery that he liked to do or? JJ: He just liked surgery, he liked to do surgery TL: Uh-huh, did-- JJ: The nurses all said he was the best surgeon out there TL: Wow, did he like doing--making house calls? JJ: Oh he made house calls TL: Uh-huh JJ: He didn' ; t like them in the middle of the night TL: Of course not, yeah JJ: And he delivered babies, he delivered babies--one of the nurses out there called him in and said " ; I' ; m having a baby and you' ; re gonna deliver it" ; TL: Did he keep tabs of how many babies he delivered? No? JJ: Said he wished he had TL: Uh-huh, yeah. JJ: He liked delivering babies, but he didn' ; t want to do it all the time TL: Right, would he walk down the street or " ; I delivered that one" ; or " ; I remember--" ; ? Did he recall memories to you of patients? No? JJ: We didn' ; t discuss patients much. Well I didn' ; t work out there unless I--he was absolutely desperate. He didn' ; t think I needed to be involved in his practice and I didn' ; t want to be TL: Smart man JJ: Yeah, well anyway. We had a good life and we raised four kids and they' ; re all successful so. TL: Good deal. JJ: Yeah, when you look at your kids and you think " ; they turned out good! And we thought in high school you were [Indecipherable].TL: Exactly, and you wonder many days and many nights JJ: Are you gonna survive this? Am I gonna survive this? TL: That' ; s right, that' ; s right. Yes, yeah. JJ: Anyway TL: Well this has been very pleasurable, thank you for doing this with us JJ: Okay TL: So yeah, okay well this concludes this interview JJ: Good TL: Thank you JJ: Thank you TL: Uh-huh. Can I--let' ; s see audio 0 https://bristoworalhistory.org/ohms/viewer.php?cachefile=OHP-2021-20_Jones,_JoNell.xml OHP-2021-20_Jones,_JoNell.xml
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4100
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
JoNell Jones
Description
An account of the resource
In this 2021 interview, JoNell Jones shares her experience growing up in the Bristow area. She discusses family, town life, and travel.
Identifier
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OHP-2021-20
Date
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2021-04-06
Format
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audio
Creator
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Bristow Historical Society, Inc.
Publisher
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Bristow Historical Society, Inc.
Rights
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Bristow Historical Society, Inc.
Type
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sound, oral history
amphitheater
Bristow Public Schools
Community Bank
drive-in theaters
First Christian Church
Great Depression
home life
Native Americans
segregation
statehood
stores
television
Washington School
World War II
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8a5c92d800e602825239b6d99ab97e37
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
Interviewer
The person(s) performing the interview
Debbie Blansett
Interviewee
The person(s) being interviewed
Joseph Alfred "Joe" Ihle
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https://bristoworalhistory.org/ohms/viewer.php?cachefile=Joe_Ihle.xml
Interview Keyword
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Bristow
Pecan
Hospital
OHMS Object Text
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contents of the OHMS object searchable in Omeka
5.4 OHP2-0003 Joseph Alfred " ; Joe" ; Ihle OHP2-0003 Bristow Historical Society - Oral History Archive Bristow Histories Bristow Historical Society, Inc. History in Bristow Bristow Pecan Hospital Joseph Alfred " ; Joe" ; Ihle Debbie Blansett MP3 MP3 1:|22(2)|61(7)|88(2)|106(4)|130(3)|153(7)|201(3)|234(5)|273(8)|291(3)|306(4)|326(4)|346(6)|361(6)|383(1)|407(4)|419(10)|437(3)|455(4)|469(2)|505(2)|529(4)|544(1)|583(6)|593(2)|603(12)|635(2)|644(8)|662(11)|677(9)|694(9)|717(3)|728(10)|736(8)|749(2)|760(11)|770(1)|778(4)|789(8)|819(2)|840(5)|864(2)|877(12)|894(12)|913(4)|926(5) 0 https://bristoworalhistory.org/interviews/Joe Ihle.mp3 Other audio 0 Introduction and Family DB: This is Debbie Blansett with the Bristow Historical Society in Bristow, Oklahoma. And this interview is part of the Historical Society’s ongoing Oral History Project. The date is July 8, 2020, and I am sitting here with Joe Ihle in his home in Bristow, Oklahoma, who is going to tell me a little bit about their history in the Bristow area. Okay! Let’s begin. What was your name when you were born? JI: What was my name? DB: Mmm-hmm [affirming]. Introduction and family history Bristow ; Iva Mae ; Joe Ihle ; Joseph Alfred Ihle ; lumber yard ; Margarie ; Marine Corps ; oil boom ; Quantico ; rigs Joe Ihle 205 Childhood, Schools, Teachers, and Fun DB: Two boys and two girls. Okay. Now. Early childhood: what do you remember about growing up? In Bristow? JI: Bristow was really a great place to grow up for kids. You didn’t have the problems then with drugs and so on and so forth that you have now. We had a great swimming pool, we had a good school system—really good school system. Good athletic programs. And it was just a—just a good place to grow up. DB: In school, how—I’ve seen pictures of old yearbooks. Did—and it looks like people dressed differently when you would’ve been in school. So, can you tell a little bit about—I mean, you dressed up to go to school, right? Memories of Bristow school, teachers, and activities basketball ; Bristow ; football ; Joe Jackson ; Junior College ; Washington School Bristow ; schools ; teachers 451 College, coaches, and sports DB: Wow! And you went—did you go to college? JI: I went to junior college for a year, and then went down to OU . DB: Boomer Sooner! JI: Yep, Boomer Sooner. I had uncles that played down there, that I’d been down there a lot of times to college football games, and— DB: Who was the coach then? JI: At Bristow? Discussion of college and college athletics Mose LeForce ; Snorter Luster ; University of Oklahoma ; weight program college ; football ; University of Oklahoma 542 Childhood home, summer times, and the pool DB: It’s a completely different way of thinking now. When you were growing up, did you live in town or did you live in the country? JI: Lived in town. DB: In town? Is your house still here? JI: Yes. DB: It’s still here! Your childhood home. And what do you remember playing with when you were little? Like, did you have a favorite toys, or— JI: Oh, gosh! We had a great neighborhood—Sherman Smith, Bill Ross, Buddy Brown, Quince Brown, Johnny Raney, it was a great neighborhood— Memories of childhood friends, swimming, and the amphitheater amphitheater ; Bill Ross ; boxing ; Buddy Brown ; childhood home ; Eleanor Roosevelt ; Johnny Raney ; Quince Brown ; Sherman Smith ; softball ; wrestling amphitheater ; Bristow ; Eleanor Roosevelt 844 Career, Pecans, and Raw Fur DB: Tore it down. So—and I know you’ve had lots of jobs. JI: I’m sorry? DB: You’ve—you’ve had a lot of work yourself, you’ve done a lot of different things. JI: Yes. DB: Through your life, what were some of those things? JI: Well, outside of what I did growing up, you know, after I got out of the Marine Corps we went—we put in a—Pete Folk (ph) and Dick Vining (ph) and myself put in a pecan processing plant. Which was a—wasn’t the smartest thing we ever did. Discussion of career after the Marine Corps Clyde LeForce ; Creek Mill ; Dick Vining ; Grain elevator ; harvester ; Marine Corps ; pecan ; Pecan & ; Ag ; pecan processing ; Pete Folk ; raw fur ; tree shaker agriculture ; Pecan & ; Ag 1190 Elementary School and Activities DB: Let’s see, we covered school. Were you a member of any club or organization in school? JI: In school? I don’t—DeMolay. DB: Do what? JI: DeMolay. DB: I don’t know what that is. JI: It’s a youth organization of the Masons. DB: Oh! JI: And the DeMolay was for boys and Rainbow for the girls. And— Discussion of school activities and walking to school DeMolay ; Masons ; Rainbow ; Washington School Masons ; Washington School 1315 80s Fashion DB: --You just, yeah, it’s just different. Okay, let’s see—what—we could’ve talked a little bit about how people dressed. Pretty much—we talked about how people dressed. Pretty casual. JI: That was pretty casual. There wasn’t— DB: I remember when I moved here in ’81, like, the women wore dresses to work, there were—we didn’t wear slacks, but some in other places there were, so I guess maybe that was a little different. JI: Oh, you know, for many years there weren’t any shorts. You know, today, shorts is the dress of everybody, just about, during the summertime. DB: Absolutely. Short discussion on 80s fashion 80s fashion ; shorts ; slacks 80s fashion 1403 Church and Modes of Transporation DB: Well now, I know you go to the Methodist Church. Did you always go to the Methodist Church? JI: Yes. My mother was very, very devout Christian and we were in church twice on Sunday and once during the week. Every Sunday school—I mean the whole— DB: Every—when the door was open, you were there. JI: And—yeah, and there was no picture shows on Sunday or anything like that until finally it got, the pressure got—she backed off of that. (laughs) Discussion of church and modes of transporation Marine Corps ; Methodist Church ; plane ; train church ; travel 1601 Military, Segregation, and Integration DB: (laughs) Didn’t have a choice. And you were in—so you were about eighteen or nineteen when you enlisted? You were in college? JI: I was probably nineteen. DB: About nineteen. And— JI: It was the thing to do. There was none of this—I’d say ninety-nine percent of the guys would’ve been heartbroken if they couldn’t get in, and they couldn’t serve. There might’ve been one percent that—or less that they did not want to. And then those that were physically unfit that couldn’t serve because of their physical conditions, they were really heartbroken. I mean it was a, it was a completely different thing and it was a—the war was a—just everybody was involved. Everybody was—the people at home suffered greatly. They—it was—everybody participated. Discussion on enlisting into the military and memories of segregation and integration enlisted ; integration ; segregation ; Teen Town ; war ; World War II integration ; Marine Corps ; segregation ; World War II 1873 Oil Boom DB: Let’s see. Any oil drilling in your family? An oil people in your family? JI: Oil? Oh, my dad was involved with all of the rig building back there-- DB: Oh, yeah. JI: --during the boom. That’s when your derricks were all built—they had a rig, you know, timber and they’d—on their drilling sites, and, yeah. And he was involved with that but never got involved in owning any oil, or— Short discussion on the oil boom derricks ; lumber yard ; oil drilling Oil 1919 Bristow Hospital JI: I’d like to talk to you about the hospital. DB: Oh, I’d love to hear about the hospital. JI: We had a clinic in Bristow. Dr. Cowart and Dr. Sisler kept this clinic going. It was two story, their offices were downstairs and upstairs there was a half a dozen beds, upstairs. And they served Bristow. If—if you had a child born downstairs, then you had to get people to help carry mama and the baby upstairs. And there’s no elevators. I mean, it was up a narrow stairway. All of my children were born there, in fact. Discussion on the history of the Bristow Hospital Don Lewis ; Dr. Cowart ; Dr. Sisler ; Henry Lamb ; Hill-Burton Act ; hospital ; Johnny Horany ; Lawrence Jones ; memorial ; Mike Jones ; Roland Hotel ; Veterans of Foreign Wars ; VFW ; World War II Hill-Burton Act ; hospital ; VFW ; World War II 2496 Restaurants in Bristow and Closing JI: Oh, no, that—you know, in the period that I was growing up, there was Highway 66, and it carried a lot of traffic between Tulsa and Oklahoma City. And we had three eating establishments here. The Anchor was built out on Highway 66 in my time. The Hamburger King is where the restaurant is there on South Main. DB: Beach House. JI: And then, on up towards Fifth Street was the J& ; J Café. And the J& ; J Café—the people traveling from—between the cities always made a stop in Bristow for lunch or something like that—it was very— DB: About halfway. Discussion of the restaurants in Bristow and closing comments Anchor ; Beach House ; Hamburger King ; J& ; J Cafe ; Jack Abraham ; Jack and Joe Lee ; Route 66 Anchor ; Hamburger King ; Route 66 DB: This is Debbie Blansett with the Bristow Historical Society in Bristow, Oklahoma. And this interview is part of the Historical Society' ; s ongoing Oral History Project. The date is July 8, 2020, and I am sitting here with Joe Ihle in his home in Bristow, Oklahoma, who is going to tell me a little bit about their history in the Bristow area. Okay! Let' ; s begin. What was your name when you were born? JI: What was my name? DB: Mmm-hmm [affirming]. JI: Joe Ihle! (laughing) DB: No, middle name--just Joe Ihle? JI: Alfred is my middle name. DB: Joe, not Joseph? JI: Yeah, Joseph. DB: Joseph Alfred Ihle. JI: Yes. DB: And when were you born? JI: August 7, 1922. DB: Were you--and you were born in Bristow? JI: Yes. DB: Were you born at home? JI: In a home, yes. DB: In your home. Your parents' ; names? JI: My parent--my dad' ; s name was Joseph Alfred, and my mother' ; s name was Iva Mae (ph). DB: Iva Mae (ph). Do you remember when they were married? JI: No. DB: No. And-- JI: I wasn' ; t here yet. DB: (laughing) Good answer. How--you are out of how many children? How many brothers and sisters did you have? JI: I had one brother and one sister. DB: One brother and one sister. Do you remember what your father did for a living? JI: He was a manager of the lumber yard here in Bristow. DB: Manager of the lumber yard. JI: It was during the oil boom, and he furnished the timber to build these rigs over this whole area--had a yard in Bristow and another one in Depew. DB: And your mother, did she work outside the home? JI: No. She had, oh--she was the-- DB: Homemaker. JI: Not until my dad died, she never had worked outside the home. DB: What was the, her--the favorite thing she used to make for you? What was her fav--your favorite thing? JI: Oh, gosh, I--she was a, she was an excellent cook and everything she made was good, I-- DB: Everything she made was good. Okay, and you were married. JI: Yes. DB: And your wife' ; s name? JI: Was Margarie. DB: Margarie. And do you remember your anniversary? JI: No, that' ; s--we got married while I was in the officer school at Quantico, Virginia, in the Marine Corps. And we later--she' ; s the mother of my children, but we later got divorced. And I don' ; t know, I-- DB: Okay. JI: I--don' ; t ask many dates. I don' ; t remember any dates. DB: Okay, that' ; s--that' ; s alright. And you had how many children? JI: I had four children. Two boys and two girls. DB: Two boys and two girls. Okay. Now. Early childhood: what do you remember about growing up? In Bristow? JI: Bristow was really a great place to grow up for kids. You didn' ; t have the problems then with drugs and so on and so forth that you have now. We had a great swimming pool, we had a good school system--really good school system. Good athletic programs. And it was just a--just a good place to grow up. DB: In school, how--I' ; ve seen pictures of old yearbooks. Did--and it looks like people dressed differently when you would' ; ve been in school. So, can you tell a little bit about--I mean, you dressed up to go to school, right? JI: Oh, no, not really dressed up, no. DB: Oh, no? JI: No, no. DB: Not like slacks and shirts? Jeans? You wore jeans? JI: Well, I don' ; t remember wearing jeans as much but there was no uniforms. I don' ; t think jeans were--when I was a boy, was--it isn' ; t nothing like it is today, and the--everything was pretty casual. DB: What did you like about school? JI: That school? DB: Mmm-hmm (affirming). JI: The kids. DB: The kids? What were your favorite subjects? JI: Probably recess. DB: (laughing) JI: I didn' ; t--I was not a good sch--student. But I never did have any problems getting through, but I just didn' ; t--I didn' ; t apply myself. DB: You have a favorite teacher? JI: Well, my favorite teacher would' ; ve been out of high school, his name was Joe Jackson. DB: Joe Jackson. JI: Taught government. And then we had a lot of really good teachers that were really--I mean really sharp teachers. It was a good, good group of them. DB: Good group. High school--where was the high school? JI: Well the high school was there on Ninth and Elm, where they tore that building down three or four years ago--that was the high school. DB: That' ; s where you went to high school? JI: Junior high was just over on Tenth Street, right behind it. And the grade school was just where the grade school is now. DB: But it was a smaller school? JI: Oh, yeah. They would-- DB: Was Washington on the other side--was Washing-- JI: Yes, Washington School was over there, they tore that building down a couple years ago. DB: But was it Washington, or was it the junior college? JI: It was, no--Washington. Junior college was in the high school building-- DB: Ohh. JI: --on the top floor. DB: On the top floor. JI: And--the--most of the teachers taught both junior college and high school. DB: Oh! JI: And the only athletic program we had in junior college was the basketball program. DB: Now, did you play basketball? JI: Yes. DB: What position? JI: I was forward. DB: Forward. JI: To guard-- DB: Whatever they told you to do? JI: Ma' ; am? DB: That' ; s what--whatever they said to do, that' ; s what you played? JI: Well, wherever they didn' ; t--(chuckles)-- DB: Needed you? JI: --needed a poor athlete. (chuckles) DB: Now, and you played football? JI: I, I played at it, yes. DB: You played at it? JI: Yeah. I was very, very small. When I graduated my senior year, I weighed 110 pounds. DB: Oh, my. JI: And was the slowest down the whole thing. So, I--my athletic career wasn' ; t stellar. DB: One hundred and ten pounds! JI: When I was a senior. DB: Wow! And you went--did you go to college? JI: I went to junior college for a year, and then went down to OU. DB: Boomer Sooner! JI: Yep, Boomer Sooner. I had uncles that played down there, that I' ; d been down there a lot of times to college football games, and-- DB: Who was the coach then? JI: At Bristow? DB: No, at OU. JI: Snorter Luster was the coach-- DB: When you went there, when you visited? JI: He was the head, let' ; s see, to start with, and then--I think most of the time I was there. DB: Okay. Who were the coaches that you remember at Bristow? JI: Oh, Mose LeForce. He was the--he coached-- DB: Football? JI: Football, basketball, track, everything. DB: Everything. JI: I mean, it was so different and-- DB: And he was a pretty great guy? JI: Hmm? DB: He was a pretty great guy? JI: Yeah, he was. He was a very, very good coach and--didn' ; t have near the facilities that you have today. Growing up, they thought that a weight program made your muscle bad, and no schools had a weight program, and-- DB: Oh, wow. JI: And-- DB: It' ; s a completely different way of thinking now. When you were growing up, did you live in town or did you live in the country? JI: Lived in town. DB: In town? Is your house still here? JI: Yes. DB: It' ; s still here! Your childhood home. And what do you remember playing with when you were little? Like, did you have a favorite toys, or-- JI: Oh, gosh! We had a great neighborhood--Sherman Smith, Bill Ross, Buddy Brown, Quince Brown, Johnny Raney, it was a great neighborhood-- DB: That was your gang? JI: --and we used to--things was so different that--in the summertime we' ; d just gather the guys together and have--play baseball. Of course during the sch--during the year, we were active at school so we didn' ; t, but--it was a, it was a fun period. DB: No shenanigans? JI: No. As we got older, the swimming pool opened of a morning and stayed open until about--I think was even nine or ten o' ; clock at night. Opened at nine in the morn. And we swam three times a day. We' ; d go out there, and we' ; d come home to eat lunch, and go back out and--Bristow had, I guess, the best group of really strong swimmers anyplace, ' ; cause the--the pool at that time held a million gallons of water-- DB: Oh, wow. JI: And it--the archives' ; d show you, but they--it was built by an Indian. I can' ; t remember his name. And he finally, he gave it to the city and it was just a super place, it-- DB: And they' ; ve--it' ; s still a nice place, but it was a lot bigger then. JI: Oh, it was bigger and a lot more activity. I mean, it, it--there was some of us kind of cent--growin' ; up kind of centered around there. DB: Any other, well--were there any other active spots beside the swimming pool? JI: No, that was the main-- DB: In the summertime. Parks? We still had parks? JI: Yeah, the--had the same parks. DB: The amphitheater, was it there yet? JI: Yes, the amphitheater was there. You know, Eleanor Roosevelt spoke at that amphitheater one time. And there was a colosseum there, a big three story red brick building that is where the parking lot is now. And it served a lot of things over the years. They had a lot of government offices in there, and they had a basketball court. DB: Oh, my gosh. JI: I--I had remembered seeing my mother play in softball--indoor softball in that building. And my dad' ; d taken me to wrestling matches and boxing matches out there. DB: I had no idea there was a--an arena inside there. JI: There was a basketball court. And over the years it got so run down everybody moved out and as we were rebuilding the park, we took the building down. DB: You were part of the park committee? JI: Yes. DB: You were part of the--at one time, when that happened? When I came here in 1981, that building was still there. So I remember that building. JI: Yeah, there was a lot of controversy to taking it down. DB: It had been there a while. JI: Hmm? DB: That happens when a building has been someplace for a long time, always controversy. JI: Well, it--there was a lot of controversy about it, and there was nothing--it was, it was inhabit--I mean, uninhabitable. It was a risk being in it, and--but they liked it because of how old it was and, and that' ; s right--I liked that, but it was an eyesore outside of that, and we finally gave them, I think, six months to come up with a solution for the building, and they even brought a guy in from Washington as far as the historical--and they couldn' ; t do anything with it at the end of the six months. We went ahead and took it down. DB: Tore it down. So--and I know you' ; ve had lots of jobs. JI: I' ; m sorry? DB: You' ; ve--you' ; ve had a lot of work yourself, you' ; ve done a lot of different things. JI: Yes. DB: Through your life, what were some of those things? JI: Well, outside of what I did growing up, you know, after I got out of the Marine Corps we went--we put in a--Pete Folk (ph) and Dick Vining (ph) and myself put in a pecan processing plant. Which was a--wasn' ; t the smartest thing we ever did. DB: (chuckling) JI: We didn' ; t even come close to having the capital to do it, you couldn' ; t possibly do it today with what we had. I mean, they' ; d laugh you out of the building. And we got that in, and it--then a little later, Clyde LeForce, who was playing professional football at the time, bought in with us and we brought the Creek--bought the Creek old-- DB: Mill? JI: Mill. Grain elevator. And which--put us in more jeopardy. DB: (chuckles) JI: And-- DB: You didn' ; t have enough already! JI: Hmm? DB: You didn' ; t have enough already-- JI: Yeah. DB: --you had to get into something else. JI: And we--when we got the mill, we went into the raw fur business, buying raw fur during trapping season. Mink, muskrat, ' ; coon, opossum, skunk--all of, all of the furs in Oklahoma. Which is a real growing concern at--I mean, it--there' ; s--there' ; s a lot of trappers that that was their livelihood during the winter. And we got into that and grew that, we were the largest fur buyers in the state. And that was a very interesting business. But as time has gone by, there' ; s, there' ; s not hardly any market for your-- DB: Hmm-mm (agreeing no). JI: At one time a good mink, buck mink, would bring forty-five to fifty dollars. And there' ; s just--times were a lot different, lot harder then and there' ; s a lot of people that trapped for a living, so--but now there' ; s no demand for that. Which really shows up in the country, now--we' ; ve got ' ; coons and opossum and the skunk and they just overrun you and are a problem, but they will be forever. DB: Forever. JI: Unless their fur got to be worth something. DB: So, a lot of your work was agricultural? JI: Yes. I got really interested at--through the pecan business. I was doing business with growers around the state. And I got really interested, and I love the outdoors. So I found this land in the southeast corner of the county that' ; d been a--for sale for years and years and years. And nobody was interested in it, it was basically a jungle. And that changed my life. I started with clearing the land and did most of it by hand. And I started establishing a pecan operation down there, growing pecans. DB: Oh. I didn' ; t know that! JI: I still, I still have that land. And-- DB: A few trees left? JI: I' ; m sorry? DB: A few trees left? JI: Oh, we--we cleared out all of the native timber, and even the pecans, and then as time went by, well we thinned those pecan trees out, and then we' ; ve planted a whole lot of trees since. DB: So you still--that' ; s still an operation? JI: Oh, yeah, that' ; s--that' ; s my--everything I do now is tied to that. I' ; ve sold everything else. I started an equipment company back there. We got where we could produce pecans, but you just--the hand labor was gone. You couldn' ; t really--so I was the--there was different companies trying to develop or manufacture a--a pecan harvester. And these are very difficult conditions that you do that in. Nothing' ; s been successful but one--I was the contact person in Oklahoma for this company and one year they came through and they had a machine that would work. I mean that--we tried it and it would work. So I set up an equipment company. I got a franchise on that harvester. And then we' ; d look for tree shakers and sprayers and chemicals and all that, and I developed that into a--we covered all of Oklahoma and parts of Kansas, Missouri, and Texas. And that was a--my son has a cut in that, he bought that, and--my son Bill--he' ; s developed it a long ways past where I was, so he-- DB: And that' ; s Pecan & ; Ag? JI: Yes. DB: Let' ; s see, we covered school. Were you a member of any club or organization in school? JI: In school? I don' ; t--DeMolay. DB: Do what? JI: DeMolay. DB: I don' ; t know what that is. JI: It' ; s a youth organization of the Masons. DB: Oh! JI: And the DeMolay was for boys and Rainbow for the girls. And-- DB: So are you still a Mason? JI: No, I never did become a Mason. DB: You never did become-- JI: But my dad had been at the highest--as far as you can go in that. But-- DB: My dad was-- JI: Forty-second degree, I believe it was. DB: My dad only got to, like, thirty-something degree. But--did you pack your lunch when you went to elementary school? JI: I' ; m sorry? DB: Did you pack your lunch when you went to elementary school? JI: No. I lived within four blocks of the school and I walked home for lunch, and--this business of buses and people riding and having cars and stuff--(chuckles) DB: It wasn' ; t like that. JI: There is more kids that' ; s got cars driving to school now in the high school than there was when I was at OU. You had to have a permit to park down there and there' ; s more cars here than there was down there during the school year. DB: Wow. JI: I mean, it' ; s just so different. So different. DB: But ya' ; ll had a car--your parents had a car. JI: Oh, yeah. But kids walked from Washington School to over here--I mean didn' ; t nobody thought anything about it. You just went in time, and-- DB: You just went. JI: It' ; s just different, I mean you just didn' ; t think about it-- DB: --You just, yeah, it' ; s just different. Okay, let' ; s see--what--we could' ; ve talked a little bit about how people dressed. Pretty much--we talked about how people dressed. Pretty casual. JI: That was pretty casual. There wasn' ; t-- DB: I remember when I moved here in ' ; 81, like, the women wore dresses to work, there were--we didn' ; t wear slacks, but some in other places there were, so I guess maybe that was a little different. JI: Oh, you know, for many years there weren' ; t any shorts. You know, today, shorts is the dress of everybody, just about, during the summertime. DB: Absolutely. JI: And some people, because of their business, don' ; t wear shorts, but they do as soon as they get off. I mean, it' ; s just a--and they just weren' ; t a popular item at the time. DB: Mmm-hmm. JI: And-- DB: But everything seems a little bit more casual now. JI: Yeah, and probably more casual in Bristow than they would be in Tulsa. DB: Mmm-hmm, mmm-hmm. (Phone buzzing in background) JI: Ahh, I can' ; t-- DB: Is that your phone? JI: Yeah. DB: Do I need to go get it? JI: Naw. DB: Okay. JI: If they want me, they' ; ll call back. DB: Well now, I know you go to the Methodist Church. Did you always go to the Methodist Church? JI: Yes. My mother was very, very devout Christian and we were in church twice on Sunday and once during the week. Every Sunday school--I mean the whole-- DB: Every--when the door was open, you were there. JI: And--yeah, and there was no picture shows on Sunday or anything like that until finally it got, the pressure got--she backed off of that. (laughs) DB: (laughs) She said go do! Do what you want to do! Let' ; s see. So, really no--I' ; d like, not really hard times growing up? Like, Christmases or out of work times, or-- JI: Oh, we didn' ; t have--you might have called it hard times today, but we didn' ; t consider it hard times. They--some families had a whole lot more money than the majority of others but I don' ; t know--we just didn' ; t pay any attention to it. It was just--it was-- DB: I--I think I get it. We were very middle-class, we never wanted for anything, but we--there were others who probably--who I know had more, but we were fine. JI: That' ; s exactly the way it was then. The most of us were middle-class and, and--there' ; s always gonna be people--be people with more. DB: Mmm-hmm. Always. Always. Did you ride the train? Did you ride the train? JI: Well, hitchhiked more than riding the train. We' ; d--we rode the train maybe if we were alone, but I can' ; t ever remember taking a family trip on a train. I took the train home when I' ; d--had enlisted in the Marine Corps and when I found out, when I was going in on active duty I left school and I rode the train home then. That' ; s the only time I ever rode in my life! DB: From Norman to Bri--from Norman or from-- JI: From Norman. DB: From Norman, home. JI: Yeah. And you didn' ; t think anything about hitchhiking. DB: Huh. JI: Today I wouldn' ; t pick a hitchhiker up for anything in the world, and I thought I' ; d never see that time. But I just wouldn' ; t do it today. DB: Umm-- JI: And-- DB: --first time you flew on a plane? JI: First time was when the Marines flew me. (chuckles) DB: (laughs) Didn' ; t have a choice. And you were in--so you were about eighteen or nineteen when you enlisted? You were in college? JI: I was probably nineteen. DB: About nineteen. And-- JI: It was the thing to do. There was none of this--I' ; d say ninety-nine percent of the guys would' ; ve been heartbroken if they couldn' ; t get in, and they couldn' ; t serve. There might' ; ve been one percent that--or less that they did not want to. And then those that were physically unfit that couldn' ; t serve because of their physical conditions, they were really heartbroken. I mean it was a, it was a completely different thing and it was a--the war was a--just everybody was involved. Everybody was--the people at home suffered greatly. They--it was--everybody participated. DB: Your brothers--your brother--every--were you the only one-- JI: He had a--he had a--he had a, a physical condition and couldn' ; t-- DB: He couldn' ; t do it. Now had your father served? Had your father served? JI: My father? No, he was in-between. DB: He was in-between. Let' ; s see. Do you remember any segregation in town? Any segregation in town? JI: Oh, when I was growing up the schools were segregated. And all the time I was in school. And-- DB: Did they have their own-- JI: An incident that changed my mind completely on this subject happened when we were putting in a Teen Town. Put in a Teen Town and it was, it was segregated. And there got to be a problem over that when they integrated the school. So at a board meeting when we were trying to decide what we were going to do, make a decision--Richard Stromme (ph) who was a high school athlete at the time, came in--we had kids in talking, and he says, I don' ; t know what the problem is. I can still remember him saying-- (cell phone music playing in background) DB: Sorry. JI: I can still hear Richard saying, You expect us to go out. We get in a dressing room. We dress with ' ; em. We go out, we play football with ' ; em. We come back in and we undress, shoulder to shoulder. We take a shower together. Now are we supposed to--when we walk out of the--are we supposed to say, We' ; ll see you tomorrow, we' ; re going to Teen Town and we' ; ll just see you in the morning. And that changed my mind completely on the subject and-- DB: Absolutely. JI: It was--it was absolutely right, no question about it, and the integration in Bristow was as--went off as easy as it did any place in the country, I believe, as far as any memory I have of it. We had two or three black elderly guys that were very, very prominent through the black neighborhood, and who also had been involved in the white world. DB: Mmm-hmm, mmm-hmm. JI: And they--they was just invaluable in this thing. I don' ; t remember any problems happening, any riots or any--anything over it. DB: Well, that' ; s-- JI: I think it went off easier here than any place. Which it should' ; ve been-- DB: Too bad there weren' ; t cameras so that we could do that now. JI: Isn' ; t that the truth. DB: Let' ; s see. Any oil drilling in your family? An oil people in your family? JI: Oil? Oh, my dad was involved with all of the rig building back there-- DB: Oh, yeah. JI: --during the boom. That' ; s when your derricks were all built--they had a rig, you know, timber and they' ; d--on their drilling sites, and, yeah. And he was involved with that but never got involved in owning any oil, or-- DB: The production or the drilling. Well, and then he would' ; ve had that lumber yard right in the middle of the boom. JI: Yep. DB: So he would' ; ve done really well. Supplying the wood. Well-- JI: I' ; d like to talk to you about the hospital. DB: Oh, I' ; d love to hear about the hospital. JI: We had a clinic in Bristow. Dr. Cowart and Dr. Sisler kept this clinic going. It was two story, their offices were downstairs and upstairs there was a half a dozen beds, upstairs. And they served Bristow. If--if you had a child born downstairs, then you had to get people to help carry mama and the baby upstairs. And there' ; s no elevators. I mean, it was up a narrow stairway. All of my children were born there, in fact. But anyway, when we got back after the war, the Veterans of Foreign Wars did not have a chapter here. And we started a Veterans of Foreign Wars chapter, and it was extremely active. The American Legion at that time wanted a separate operation, so they kept theirs. The golf course--the country club--had been turned into a cow pasture during the war, the building had sat there and was just completely--just completely run down. And the guys that--we decided to take that golf course over. Don Lewis' ; s folks--Don Lewis was one of the guys who were involved and we later had his parents in to run the place. But anyway, we just started and did a lot of the work on the fairways and the greens. They were just old Bermuda grass greens and--but it was a place to play. And then we did a tremendous amount of work getting the clubhouse back in shape. All of the members--people dreaded to see us come because we always had three or four books of chances on something we were raffling off and that' ; s--and we rebuilt it with that kind of money. I mean, it was all done and--there weren' ; t contributions in the way there are today. These guys--all of the guys were--wanted some kind of a memorial to the people that had given their lives and the ones that had served during, during the war. And of course, all the ideas, you know--put a monument up here, a statute, or this kind of a thing. And we wanted something better. The government had a hospital program at the time--it was the Hill-Burton Act, that you signed up for. There were so many people that signed up for it, you just had to wait your turn. But we did all the paperwork knowing that when we got the chance, if it--when our name come, would come up--that we did not have the lead in our britches to get this thing done. We knew that. But nobody else had started it, so we got it started. When the--well, we got word then from the people that' ; s running this, well we-- DB: The act, or whatever-- JI: That our due day--I mean, that we were accomp--we were approved. And we had to give them an answer by X whatever the date was. Well, we started promoting it. And it was so different then. Your Main Street was full, and it was individually owned and they--they were the fa--the city fathers and, and the--so we got involved with those guys. It might' ; ve been through the chamber or something, but it was--we had all the business--most of the businessmen in Bristow were involved on that end. And we kept promoting this thing to them. And they kept saying, You know that' ; s a wonderful idea but it' ; s too big for Bristow, we can' ; t do this. And we' ; d go back and we' ; d try again. Well it came down, tomorrow' ; s the day we' ; ve got to let ' ; em know we' ; re gonna do this, had one last meeting with them. And it was in the Roland Hotel. There was something going on in the ballroom, so we met on the stairs. Now here' ; s all these business guys sittin' ; up there and we' ; ve made our last, we' ; ve made our last approach to it, and it just--it was just a negative attitude. And finally Lawrence Jones, who was Mike Jones' ; grandfather, got up and he was--oh, up the stairs a way, and he went and got down in front and he turned around, and he--he was a great big good lookin' ; guy, smart as thunder, and he gave the best speech you ever heard in your life and he shamed these guys to who laid the chunk. I mean, it was no--. DB: (laughing) JI: It was--he laid it on ' ; em. I mean, good. He sat down, this thing passed, a hundred percent, a committee was formed, that the VFW accepted this the next day and the ball was turned over to the committee. The next--within a day or two, we were going up and down the street and getting fifty dollars--fifty-dollar contribution from the business people for the--to get enough money to operate to get a bond issue. And nobody--everybody kicked in the fifty. I mean there wasn' ; t anything, they had it, and the bond issue was promoted. One of the best promotions you ever saw in your life. And passed with ninety-nine--as I recall, ninety-nine point something of the votes. I mean it was just overwhelming. DB: Wow. Wow. JI: And it was built as a memorial to the--to the people that' ; d served in, in World War II. DB: Wow. JI: They' ; ve gotten away from that now, but the VFW started this thing, Johnny Horany (ph) is the guy that, that made--that brought this up at one of our meetings. Said, I think--what about this? What about if we built a hospital? This--you know, We' ; ve got this down there, but what if we-- DB: Brought it here. JI: And-- DB: That' ; s amazing. JI: Yeah, it is. It was--it was a great story, and it will be lost unless it goes into the-- DB: Yes. JI: All the dates and the figures and everything can, can be-- DB: I' ; m sure there' ; s-- JI: --gotten from the newspaper archives. They, they were one hundred percent supportive. DB: So our build--our hospital is what was built-- JI: That was it. DB: --because of that? JI: Ma' ; am? DB: Because of that bond issue and that' ; s our building that we have right now? JI: That' ; s our building! That--that was it! DB: Wow. JI: The doctor building wasn' ; t included. But about--I don' ; t know, I believe it was the guys that these--superintendent out there was Henry Lamb, and he told us that unless we got more doctors, we just didn' ; t have enough doctors, but they didn' ; t have any place to operate and they had to have support. So the hospital board went in and, three or four years later, and had a--raised the money and, and built the doctor' ; s building that' ; s there now. DB: That is just--that is a good story. That is amazing. JI: And that--that is factual. I mean, I-- DB: I can just see those businessmen: on the stairs, in the hotel, because there wasn' ; t a room--it was something going on. JI: We were sittin' ; on the stairs, and it, it-- DB: And the guy got up and said (pounding sound). JI: Oh, he got up and-- DB: (laughing) JI: He laid it on ' ; em. (chuckles) I was ready to-- DB: I like what you said, that he shamed ' ; em and--you said it a different way, but, I think I got it. That was a--that' ; s a good story. No more good stories like that? JI: Oh, no, that--you know, in the period that I was growing up, there was Highway 66, and it carried a lot of traffic between Tulsa and Oklahoma City. And we had three eating establishments here. The Anchor was built out on Highway 66 in my time. The Hamburger King is where the restaurant is there on South Main. DB: Beach House. JI: And then, on up towards Fifth Street was the J& ; J Café. And the J& ; J Café--the people traveling from--between the cities always made a stop in Bristow for lunch or something like that--it was very-- DB: About halfway. JI: And they barbecued their own meat out there, had a big barbecue pit built out beside, behind. The Hamburger King--oh, I can' ; t think of his name. But there' ; s a Hamburger King in Shawnee, Oklahoma right now. DB: I didn' ; t know that. JI: You go in and they got pictures of this guy, and it was an offshoot from Bristow. DB: I did not know that! JI: There was a long counter in there, and--what was his name? He sat with his cash till in the middle of this counter and one end--on the south end--you could see the cook down there and he' ; s--that' ; s where he cooked the hamburgers. And he could sit there and watch up and down and he always had a cigar--always had a cigar. Most of the time it wasn' ; t lit. Sold ten cent hamburgers and got wealthy. DB: Wow. JI: After the wa--when we came back, one of my friends bought it. (laughs) He put in a club back there, got to building it to put in a club and everything and dress things up and had different venues and went broke! (laughs) DB: (laughing) JI: (claps) DB: Should' ; ve gone back to ten cent hamburgers! JI: Oh, yeah, oh that story tickles me to death. DB: Oh, that is funny! JI: But it wasn' ; t anything to see, see the pro wrestlers loved the Anchor. It wasn' ; t anything to go in there and there' ; d be guys that' ; d been down there killing each other on the mat, rode together back to Tulsa, and they' ; d stop in there and they' ; d eat. Everybody' ; s fun and games. (chuckles) And it was a--and Jack Abraham is one that owned the J& ; J Cafe--named after his two boys. Jack and Joe Lee (ph), but it was--it was an up--upbeat restaurant. I mean it was first class. It was in--they got a lot, a lot of traffic between Tulsa and Oklahoma City. DB: Those were good times. JI: Oh, yeah. DB: Good times. Well, Joe, I appreciate your time. And this is gonna be an important part of the archives. It will be uploaded eventually to the archives at Oklahoma State where people will be able to go, if they' ; re researching Bristow history, and listen to some of your stories. And if you don' ; t have anything else-- JI: Debbie, I can' ; t think of anything else that-- DB: You could probably tell me stories all day. JI: If somebody could say something then that would bring back a memory and--we just had a, it was just a good place to grow up and, and then to start a family. It was just a, a--so different than it is today. DB: Yes. Well again, thank you very much. JI: Now I can talk off the record. audio 0 https://bristoworalhistory.org/ohms/viewer.php?cachefile=Joe_Ihle.xml Joe_Ihle.xml
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Joseph Alfred "Joe" Ihle
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OHP2-0003
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History in Bristow
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2020-07-08
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audio
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Oral History
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Interviewer
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Ed Cadenead
Interviewee
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Kate Corey
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https://bristoworalhistory.org/ohms/viewer.php?cachefile=OHP-0025-02_Kate_Corey.xml
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Oil Boom
World War I
World War II
Teaching
Entertainment
Racial Intergration
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5.4 Unknown OHP-0025-02 Kate Corey OHP-0025-02 0:00-39:08 'Bristow Historical Society - Oral History Archive' Bristow Historical Society, Inc. Oil Boom World War I World War II Teaching Entertainment Racial Intergration Kate Corey Ed Cadenead MP3 1:|60(9)|82(8)|97(1)|105(1)|118(8)|134(4)|150(7)|170(6)|189(13)|211(4)|222(15)|230(14)|245(14)|252(8)|265(5)|274(10)|289(7)|303(13)|319(5)|338(3)|351(2)|360(9)|368(9)|381(4)|392(4)|407(2)|421(8)|430(5)|442(9)|460(15)|471(9)|479(14)|488(11)|504(13)|516(3)|524(2)|530(13)|540(6)|555(8) 0 https://bristoworalhistory.org/interviews/OHP-0025B Corey, Kate.mp3 Other audio 0 Bristow Before, During, and After The Oil Boom KC: I’m Kate B. Corey, and I was reared in Western Oklahoma, but when I was married, came to Creek County in 1920, during the oil boom at Depew. A little town seven miles from here, and we lived there five years and then moved to Bristow. We have been here ever since. EC: Alright, and where was your husband from? KC: He was— well he’s from— he was born in Kansas, but he’d lived in Oklahoma— Edmond and other places. His father was a railroad man and so he traveled up the Frisco Line and he was at two or three stations but had been here as I said since 1899. EC: Well why did you happen to move to Bristow? KC: Well, just because the boom was dying out over at— the oil boom was dying out over at Depew, and then my husband’s father had a bank here and so he came over to do some work there and then he was working as— in the (Indecipherable) until he lost his shirt. (Laughter from both) KC: — right at the time that the banks were closing and— and the—there were three banks of the five in Bristow that closed that year. EC: Which bank was your husband’s fathers? KC: The First State Bank. Life during the Oil Boom in Bristow Cotton ; Cotton Wagons ; Creek County ; Depew ; Dust ; First State Bank ; Frisco Line ; Oil Boom ; Oilfield Slick ; Substitute ; Teaching Bank ; Bristow Before and After the OIl Boom ; Bristow During the Oil Boom ; Oil Boom 293 Nightlife with Bootleggers, and Bank Failure EC: Someone told me that woman, that she didn’t like early day Bristow because she couldn’t go out. KC: M-HM. EC: — and you had the same experience. KC: I had the same experience, at night. Went all the time in the day time, and we— it was when we were— we lived in Depew but we came over here almost every day because my husband’s parents lived here. We’d come over in the evening and when we’d go home, I would just take off my wedding ring and anything else I had of any value and hide it, and several times we’d go home just to find out that someone had been held up the night before— EC: Oh. KC: — and one night as we were driving home, a car turned in from a side road and followed us all the way just shooting up in the air and yelling at us, and when we tried to drive fast they did, and if we slowed they did. So my husband went to the, oh I guess the cuffs force— somebody at Depew. There wasn’t any policeman, and report him and had him put in jail because he came into town. So long in the middle of the night, the phone rang and it was one of his friends and it was his casing crew who had been arrested. They had just had a little bit too much to drink and were just having a good time. Coming a long (Indecipherable) but it was as effective as if they’d really went (Indecipherable). Laughter. EC: Yes. Any other memories of those days? KC: Well— EC: (Indecipherable) oil business KC: — another time we were driving home and passed the place that we’d always called it a “Bootleggers Camp” and suddenly we stopped because a woman was lying right across the road and a man stepped out to attend and he said, “I have one down here, would you help me get her inside?” So my husband stepped out, and just as he did, she stepped up and grabbed the whiskey bottle and in no uncertain oilfield terms told him just exactly what he was. (Laughter) EC: Oh my! American National Bank ; Bank Failure ; Bootleggers Camp ; First State Bank Bank Failure ; Bootleggers ; Nightlife 1459 Teaching and Schools In Bristow EC: When did you start teaching school here? KC: Well— EC: The second time. KC: —the second time I started, in 1930. I had— we had two older children and when they were about seven and eight there was another one and he was born just a few weeks after the October 29th crash and my husband was— he had multiple skin cancers and in depression times it was just better for him to go to the veteran’s hospital, and the nearest one was Chicago, and so he— and they wouldn’t, they’d treat him and then he had to stay there until he was dismissed. So, he would wood work when he was out, but that would take a month or two out of six months every once in a while. He’d had over— already had an overdose of radiation. Guinea pig for a (Indecipherable) EC: What was the school system like? KC: Well, it was pretty great, it was the best school I ever was in. Including the later years. The CH Black his name was there, was the head of the school system, superintendent and he was, he was considered a slave driver by many people. But he was alright as long as, as teachers did what they were asked to do, and I found him very well. It was pleasant working for him because he accomplished much. Bristow had a reputation of having one of the best schools in the state and for instance, one year the freshmen— in the freshmen class at both OU and Stillwater, Bristow High School received the trophies for highest grade point averages of freshmen in school. Which spoke very well for them and there was a— a very strong faculty of dedicated teachers and with Mr. Black there if you didn’t get— if you weren’t dedicated you became dedicated or you didn’t stay. EC: How long did you continue to teach? KC: I taught from 1930 to 1961. EC: Schools stayed as good? Teaching, Bristow High School and the Integration of Students Bill Mitchell ; Crazy Snake Uprising ; Intergration ; Lincoln Heights ; Lincoln High School ; Marjel Frye ; Mrs. Franklin Roosevelt ; Mrs. Lucinda Johnson ; Mumford McGee ; National Youth Administration ; OU ; Stillwater ; Tulsa Bristow ; High School ; Intergration ; School ; Teaching 1740 Entertainment In Bristow EC: Going back in time, thinking back to the—your— the 1920’s when you first married, what was life like in Bristow? What did you do for entertainment? KC: Oh! We had— it was great! (Laughter) For the women it was bridge clubs and the town was— had grown so fast and we were in the habit of inviting everybody that we knew to the bridge club ya know? Well as more people came in, we still invite em’ and it— it wasn’t anything unusual to have a bridge party of fourteen to twenty tables and we moved out everything but the beds and the kitchen stove to have em’. Everyone dressed up in their best dress and we wore our hats and kept em’ on all the time that we were playing and it was an occasion to use the best china and the silver and the— and the linen cloths and it was so easy because you could have em’ made four dollars a week. EC: M-HM KC: And, that was great, and for a while long in those boom days the— we had dances and— EC: Where did you have them? KC: At the, oh in the— at the country club. I think it was built, it was built about 1923 or 25 and the Roland Hotel had a (Indecipherable) and you’ve heard of the (Indecipherable) KFRU the— EC: Yes, I have. KC: —the radio station, and the men wore their tuxes and it was just a very great life. There was a, my husband was one of the charter members of the golf country club, the country club and played golf all the time and we had picnics, and swimming parties and movies every night. Ya know, we didn’t have (laughter) televisions to sit around, because we had two movies. EC: Someone told me there were three here at one time. Entertainment in Bristow and Vacationing of those who lived there Branson ; Chamber of Commerce ; Eureka Springs ; Kemp's Drugstore ; KFRU ; OSU ; OU ; Roland Hotel ; Sports ; TU College Sports ; Country Club ; Entertainment ; Parties ; Sports ; Vacation 1992 World War II's Affect on Bristow KC: Yes, it did. EC: — on Bristow? KC: It closed down. EC: It closed down? KC: (Crying) Our son was killed in it. EC: Oh I am so sorry. KC: And the World War I had a very dramatic effect too. My husband’s mother was secretary of the Red Cross and everybody was— I wasn’t here at that time but I’ve heard of all, them— the only— the oldest club in Bristow, our embroidery club, which is still hanging on, gave up all their time to roll bandages and my husband and his brother were in the army. My husband was over in England for seven months, and— and it had— and I was at (Indecipherable) at that time, and so I was spotching Doves and baby Merritt’s and selling (Indecipherable) and everything of the kind. EC: Getting to more recent events, I forget it’s history. Making to say the last twenty-five years in Bristow, anything that has happened that you think is significant? World War II's Affect on Bristow's population and economy Army ; Baby Boom ; Cotton Gin ; England ; Red Cross ; Transcontinental ; Wilcox Refinery ; World War I ; World War II Baby Boom ; Bristow Population ; Economy ; World War I ; World War II 2355 Stories Of People and Places In Bristow EC: You mentioned earlier that some of what you knew about Bristow was stories your husband had told. Are there any particular stories that he told that come to mind? KC: A lot of his stories were about his very good friends, the Lebanese, Syrians they were then who came in, there were many Syrians here and you’ve heard of Joe Abraham? and his brother Ed Abraham and many of the stories were just fun stories about them. He liked them they were his very good friends, but they’re— they’re troubles with making— Joe Abraham— (indecipherable) isn’t that an awful name for an old man? EC: (Laughter) KC: When I, I don’t like saying, my husband, I can’t call him Mr. Corey, but— always liked people so much and he tried to help him teach, learn English and he was gonna learn Syrian but he found out that most the words that he was were not words (laughter) and many of the stories were about— just about the fun things that they said. EC: Had there been any spectacular scandals or finds or anything of that sort of kind in Bristow? Memories of People and Places in Bristow Baseball ; Boyce McMillian ; Bridge Club ; Chamber of Commerace ; Ed Abraham ; Episcopal Church ; Joe Abraham ; Lebanese ; Music Club ; Neva Gurley ; Presbyterian Church ; Syrians ; Theater Churches ; People of Bristow ; Scandals ; Teaching English In this interview, Kate B. Corey (1897-1996) discusses her family’s experience in Bristow. She moved with her husband in the 1920’s and lived there for the remainder of her life. She describes life during the oil boom, teaching during racial integration, entertainment, and the effects of World War I and World War II. Interviewer: Ed Cadenhead (EC) Interviewee: Kate B. Corey (KC) (1897-1996) Other Persons: None Date of Interview: Unknown Location: Bristow, Creek County Oklahoma Transcriber: Macy Shields Organization: Bristow Historical Society, Inc. Original Cassette Tape Location: OHP-0025B Side B at 00:00 to 39:08 Abstract: In this interview, Kate B. Corey (1897-1996) discusses her family' ; s experience in Bristow. She moved with her husband in the 1920' ; s and lived there for the remainder of her life. She describes life during the oil boom, teaching during racial integration, entertainment, and the effects of World War I and World War II. Preface: The following oral history testimony is the result of a cassette tape interview and is part of the Bristow Historical Society, Inc.' ; s collection of oral histories. The interview was transcribed and processed by the Bristow Historical Society, Inc., with financial assistance from the Montfort Jones & ; Allie Brown Jones Foundation. Rights to the material are held exclusively by the Bristow Historical Society, Inc. The reader should bear in mind that he or she is reading a verbatim transcript of spoken, rather than written prose. Insofar as possible, this transcript tries to represent the spoken word. Thus, it should be read as a personal memoir and not as either a researched monograph or edited account. To the extent possible, the spelling of place names, foreign words, and personal names have been verified, either by reference resources or directly by the interviewee. In some cases, a footnote has been added to the transcript in order to provide more information and/or to clarify a statement. Some uncertainties will inevitably remain regarding some words and their spellings. In these scenarios, a (ph) follows a word or name that is spelled phonetically. The notation [indecipherable] is used when the transcriber has not been able to comprehend the word or phrase being spoken. The notation [inaudible] is used where there is more mumbling than words, or when interference on the tape has made transcription impossible. KC: I' ; m Kate B. Corey, and I was reared in Western Oklahoma, but when I was married, came to Creek County in 1920, during the oil boom at Depew. A little town seven miles from here, and we lived there five years and then moved to Bristow. We have been here ever since. EC: Alright, and where was your husband from? KC: He was-- well he' ; s from-- he was born in Kansas, but he' ; d lived in Oklahoma-- Edmond and other places. His father was a railroad man and so he traveled up the Frisco Line and he was at two or three stations but had been here as I said since 1899. EC: Well why did you happen to move to Bristow? KC: Well, just because the boom was dying out over at-- the oil boom was dying out over at Depew, and then my husband' ; s father had a bank here and so he came over to do some work there and then he was working as-- in the (Indecipherable) until he lost his shirt. (Laughter from both) KC: -- right at the time that the banks were closing and-- and the--there were three banks of the five in Bristow that closed that year. EC: Which bank was your husband' ; s fathers? KC: The First State Bank. EC: The First State Bank. So the oil business was what got you here and almost did you in. KC: M-HM. It did us in. It was very good to my husband' ; s father, and to us for a while but it folded up like all oil business. EC: What was Bristow like in the oil boom days. KC: Well I really came here before the-- before the oil boom days. I forgot to say that I came here to teach when I was nineteen years' ; old. EC: Uh-huh. KC: -- and just taught ten weeks in the winter term as a sort of a substitute and it was always remembered the busy streets during the cotton season. You couldn' ; t go down the streets on paved streets because of the big cotton wagons, and the dust, and the crowds of people and that was-- that was all in 1916, so I have been here longer than I told you in the first place and then I went back to school and graduated and did not teach here anymore. EC: So you noticed the difference when you came the second time? KC: I really did because in the-- in the meantime the Oilfield Slick was open first and then the first time I came here that we were about to see the wells pouring over the top at Slick and it was just a booming, busy place and I loved the oil boom so much. The sound of the hammers and the dust and the horses, and the cussin' ; (Laughter) but, that was-- it must' ; ve been in 19-- oh I don' ; t know, 18 or 19. I' ; m not an authority on the times of the oil boom, but it had struck Oklahoma, it had struck Bristow-- it had moved in from Okmulgee and Slick and then on this way and when we were--let' ; s see, when we were married, just about that year 1919 I think it was, we were married 1920. But I think it was about 1919 just after the war was ending that they began drilling quite a bit out here and Bristow came along about 1920 or 21. I' ; m sure it was just a rounded off guess, but they said it had sixteen thousand people and it could easily of had, because every garage and barn and camp was filled with people and my husband was a gentlemen of the old school, he wouldn' ; t let me go to town at night. He went alone because there were so many dope heads and drunks and oilfield followers on the street and it was-- it was quite a life. EC: Someone told me that woman, that she didn' ; t like early day Bristow because she couldn' ; t go out. KC: M-HM. EC: -- and you had the same experience. KC: I had the same experience, at night. Went all the time in the day time, and we-- it was when we were-- we lived in Depew but we came over here almost every day because my husband' ; s parents lived here. We' ; d come over in the evening and when we' ; d go home, I would just take off my wedding ring and anything else I had of any value and hide it, and several times we' ; d go home just to find out that someone had been held up the night before-- EC: Oh. KC: -- and one night as we were driving home, a car turned in from a side road and followed us all the way just shooting up in the air and yelling at us, and when we tried to drive fast they did, and if we slowed they did. So my husband went to the, oh I guess the cuffs force-- somebody at Depew. There wasn' ; t any policeman, and report him and had him put in jail because he came into town. So long in the middle of the night, the phone rang and it was one of his friends and it was his casing crew who had been arrested. They had just had a little bit too much to drink and were just having a good time. Coming a long (Indecipherable) but it was as effective as if they' ; d really went (Indecipherable). Laughter. EC: Yes. Any other memories of those days? KC: Well-- EC: (Indecipherable) oil business KC: -- another time we were driving home and passed the place that we' ; d always called it a " ; Bootleggers Camp" ; and suddenly we stopped because a woman was lying right across the road and a man stepped out to attend and he said, " ; I have one down here, would you help me get her inside?" ; So my husband stepped out, and just as he did, she stepped up and grabbed the whiskey bottle and in no uncertain oilfield terms told him just exactly what he was. (Laughter) EC: Oh my! KC: -- and what the man was, because he left her there to run that shack all afternoon, and I think she must have drunk all the contents. EC: (Laughter) Wow. How-- you said the (Indecipherable) of a boom is a big up and a down. KC: M-HM. EC: Well was the down as fast as the up? KC: I don' ; t-- I don' ; t believe it was, but the down was accelerated probably by the general economy. There were several years of crop failures and the depression really hit Bristow before 1929, and whether it was a result of the overcrowding and the great expectations, and all the money that was made and then when they found out that the field wasn' ; t as big and as permanent, that left unemployed people here. Would be my, it' ; s my way of saying-- EC: You say three of five banks went broke? KC: Yes, M-HM. EC: You remember which-- what the names of them were? KC: No, I remember-- let' ; s see. I don' ; t even remember the names of the other banks. There were the American national and the First State. EC: Well were there any-- KC: I really don' ; t remember? EC: --were there any major failures for individuals because of the bank failures. KC: Well my husband' ; s father, because he had the-- he was the active vice president and the president was, maybe you better turn that off (Laughter). The president was informed of drilling some dry holes. EC: With bank money? KC: It was bank money-- EC: Oh. KC: --and that really brought on the failure of that bank, before the general bank failures, and Dad Corey thought that, well he just felt responsibility for the people. His friends who had put their money into the bank, so he paid them out of his own money. EC: When did you start teaching school here? KC: Well-- EC: The second time. KC: --the second time I started, in 1930. I had-- we had two older children and when they were about seven and eight there was another one and he was born just a few weeks after the October 29th crash and my husband was-- he had multiple skin cancers and in depression times it was just better for him to go to the veteran' ; s hospital, and the nearest one was Chicago, and so he-- and they wouldn' ; t, they' ; d treat him and then he had to stay there until he was dismissed. So, he would wood work when he was out, but that would take a month or two out of six months every once in a while. He' ; d had over-- already had an overdose of radiation. Guinea pig for a (Indecipherable) EC: What was the school system like? KC: Well, it was pretty great, it was the best school I ever was in. Including the later years. The CH Black his name was there, was the head of the school system, superintendent and he was, he was considered a slave driver by many people. But he was alright as long as, as teachers did what they were asked to do, and I found him very well. It was pleasant working for him because he accomplished much. Bristow had a reputation of having one of the best schools in the state and for instance, one year the freshmen-- in the freshmen class at both OU and Stillwater, Bristow High School received the trophies for highest grade point averages of freshmen in school. Which spoke very well for them and there was a-- a very strong faculty of dedicated teachers and with Mr. Black there if you didn' ; t get-- if you weren' ; t dedicated you became dedicated or you didn' ; t stay. EC: How long did you continue to teach? KC: I taught from 1930 to 1961. EC: Schools stayed as good? KC: Well you know they-- there were a lot of things that mattered into it, the times mainly I think. They were always-- I think they were always higher than average but to-- they didn' ; t have quite the reputation, but you know it-- it became just a little bit more difficult to teach and a little bit more difficult to accomplish anything and I think, well when the World War II came in we' ; d had a very strong junior college, small but a good junior college and it almost died out with the-- when so many of the students left to go to the different branches of the service and then when it was started again, oh about 1945 or something. I don' ; t know these dates are just off the top of my head. It was reorganized and it didn' ; t last very long. For one thing, it wasn' ; t supported as much by the superintendent at that time and-- and people had more money and more of em' ; were able to send their children to larger schools, but each of our three children-- two of em' ; during the first good times of the junior college and then one later in 1947 or 8 or something like that, had one year of junior college and I thought it was the greatest asset to a small town-- EC: Where was it located? KC: It was in the high school building, and it was separate from the high school as far as the discipline and the hours and we tried to make as much of a college out of it as possible, but the high school teachers taught the subjects and I don' ; t know-- I don' ; t remember how many hours were given, but enough that in two years they can get what would' ; ve been an Associate of Arts degree. EC: Were there any problems in Bristow over the years that you can remember? Worth telling about. KC: This isn' ; t a problem, but another thing in regards to schools. During the NYA, the National Youth Administration, we had a school here in that building out at the park. It is now called the Farm Center. It was a dormitory. It wasn' ; t built for that, but it was made into a dormitory for the NYA and Mrs. Franklin Roosevelt came here to the dedication of it and the students were from this area, but they contributed a lot to the success of the junior college in numbers and all that. There were never any very startling times to me, now I remember my husband telling about the Crazy Snake Uprising. EC: What do you remember of that? KC: I don' ; t remember anything about it-- EC: You remember what he told-- KC: I remember what he told. Well that the Indians were encamped somewhere out in the country from here, and there were-- I may not be telling this, this just may be one of those heresy, and it is a heresy report, but it' ; s interesting he said it started because the Indians thought that someone in a general store in Bristow was charging them more than they charged-- they charged the white people and my husband' ; s father as I said was deployed and so a message came to round up all the deputies here in the area and his older brother got on a horse and rode down to country with the telegrams, and it was quite exciting times because they could hear the songs and the tom-toms and all the uproar at the encampment. EC: M-HM. KC: And that-- I' ; d really have to go to a history book to find. (Laughter) (Indecipherable) EC: Speaking of Indians, has there been a good mix of Indian and White in Bristow, or was there discrimination? KC: I' ; ve never thought that there was any discrimination. In high school we didn' ; t have a very high percentage of Indians, but we always had some and I' ; m sure they were accepted probably for football (Indecipherable) You know that' ; s the biggest integrator in the world, and there were several who were very artistic and generally good students and if they ever felt any discrimination, I don' ; t know anything about it, but this just occurs to me, has anyone suggested that you talk to Mrs. Lucinda Johnson? EC: I don' ; t think so. KC: Or Majel Frye? EC: That name sounds familiar. KC: Well Mrs. Johnson is Majel Frye' ; s mother, and she was born here. She' ; s the daughter of a white man named Jess Allen (PH) and his wife had her allotment out on the road to Slick. I' ; d say halfway between here and Slick and the house is still out there where-- where her father lived, but Mrs. Allen now lives-- oh her name is Johnson, her name is now Johnson. She was married again. In fact, her maiden name was Allen, and she now lives over near Slick but she comes to Bristow almost every day because her son lives in the nursing home here and she just spends a lot of her time here and I-- I' ; ve heard my husband tell about when he was, he was a few years older than she, several years I expect, but her father would bring her and her sister to the railway station to send them to a Catholic school at Sapulpa. They didn' ; t (Indecipherable) and I' ; m sure she would, she might remember a lot of things that would be very helpful. EC: I have seen of things like that. I have read and heard about the Black population of Bristow that lived in what I guess was Lincoln Heights-- KC: Yes-- EC: -- and was moved. KC: M-HM EC: I don' ; t understand who moved em' ; and how do you move em' ; ? KC: Well, now Lincoln heights was right up here, and the black neighborhood is over, oh six blocks I guess. Just down north of here, six or eight blocks, and they-- there was a black neighborhood out there and then this Lincoln Heights area. I can' ; t speak with any voice of authority. I think it belonged to Mumford McGee (PH) that the land belonged to Mumford McGee (PH) and that (Indecipherable) sold and then he-- he opened-- this is a housing development and the Negros were not allowed to lived here, but some of them kept their houses. Even as far as two or three blocks north than the new high school building, where the new high school building is. Have you-- you' ; ve seen that haven' ; t you? EC: Yes, I have. KC: Well, between that area and west of there. EC: Have there been any racial problems in Bristow over the years. KC: No, not that I know of. I was trying to connect it with-- I was thinking really of the Tulsa, but there wasn' ; t anything like that, and it was always said that integration was carried on very peacefully and easily here and I was teaching at the time that we were integrated and we had-- we spent the year before trying to get the students and the teachers to, and I was one of them (laughter) into the mood of acceptance of em' ; , and I heard the superintendent say several times, how smooth integration was for us and how easily it was accomplished, but I always felt just a little bit of sadness about it. Not for the whites but for the Negros, because they had an ideal in school that they' ; re with their own debate clubs, and wonderful chorus, and basketball teams and everything of the kind. Well when, and they have again taken their place as leaders in athletics, but when they-- the first years-- the first year to that they moved to high school, just frankly I' ; d look up and I' ; d think well what are you doing it over here, but after I, I was counselor and after I had worked with em' ; for a year or so it just changed me so completely. When I could see the problems they were having and the struggles that they had to do anything. You see the white teachers-- the Negro teachers were all dismissed and several families who had-- whose children had been leaders in the-- what did they call that school? Lincoln High School, came over to high school and they were too new to it to find their place in the high school, and I think we definitely tried to, but really one reason integration was so successful and so many of them simply dropped out of school. EC: M-HM KC: And I think, I don' ; t think that' ; s the case now. I think, I expect there' ; s high percentage in the Negros graduating according to the number who enter as whites, and they seem more and more to be getting meeting places back to presidents and student council last year with the negro, Bill Mitchell a veterinarian' ; s son and he' ; s a fine student. EC: Going back in time, thinking back to the--your-- the 1920' ; s when you first married, what was life like in Bristow? What did you do for entertainment? KC: Oh! We had-- it was great! (Laughter) For the women it was bridge clubs and the town was-- had grown so fast and we were in the habit of inviting everybody that we knew to the bridge club ya know? Well as more people came in, we still invite em' ; and it-- it wasn' ; t anything unusual to have a bridge party of fourteen to twenty tables and we moved out everything but the beds and the kitchen stove to have em' ; . Everyone dressed up in their best dress and we wore our hats and kept em' ; on all the time that we were playing and it was an occasion to use the best china and the silver and the-- and the linen cloths and it was so easy because you could have em' ; made four dollars a week. EC: M-HM KC: And, that was great, and for a while long in those boom days the-- we had dances and-- EC: Where did you have them? KC: At the, oh in the-- at the country club. I think it was built, it was built about 1923 or 25 and the Roland Hotel had a (Indecipherable) and you' ; ve heard of the (Indecipherable) KFRU the-- EC: Yes, I have. KC: --the radio station, and the men wore their tuxes and it was just a very great life. There was a, my husband was one of the charter members of the golf country club, the country club and played golf all the time and we had picnics, and swimming parties and movies every night. Ya know, we didn' ; t have (laughter) televisions to sit around, because we had two movies. EC: Someone told me there were three here at one time. KC: There were! Just as I said that, there were three but there were-- one was about where, long about where Kemp' ; s Drugstore is, not entirely and another one down about where the Chamber of Commerce, right in that area. Now another one across the street and as soon--as soon as the roads were-- they didn' ; t even have to be very acceptable, we got up to Tulsa to The Opera and baseball games and always went to all the football games at OSU who had such a good pick of teams and at OU and at TU. My husband was in for all kinds of sports, and so for a long time he went alone while the children were little and then I began going with him and we had season tickets at OU and OSU for the last years (Indecipherable) EC: Were than any particular vacation spots that people in Bristow used? Did people take vacations in the 40' ; s? KC: Yes. Well up in Missouri around Branson-- EC: M-HM KC: --and, Eureka Springs, and I can' ; t even remember the names of the place, and then we made trips to Canada. My husband' ; s father was very fortunate in some of his land he owned and had five producing wells on it at one time. So we were the typical new rich, it didn' ; t last long but it was fun while it lasted. (Laughter) EC: Did World War II have any dramatic effect-- KC: Yes, it did. EC: -- on Bristow? KC: It closed down. EC: It closed down? KC: (Crying) Our son was killed in it. EC: Oh I am so sorry. KC: And the World War I had a very dramatic effect too. My husband' ; s mother was secretary of the Red Cross and everybody was-- I wasn' ; t here at that time but I' ; ve heard of all, them-- the only-- the oldest club in Bristow, our embroidery club, which is still hanging on, gave up all their time to roll bandages and my husband and his brother were in the army. My husband was over in England for seven months, and-- and it had-- and I was at (Indecipherable) at that time, and so I was spotching Doves and baby Merritt' ; s and selling (Indecipherable) and everything of the kind. EC: Getting to more recent events, I forget it' ; s history. Making to say the last twenty-five years in Bristow, anything that has happened that you think is significant? KC: Now ya know, Bristow dwindled from that sixteen or seventeen thousand to about-- well we always had a sign up by the turnpike that said population seven thousand but it really since didn' ; t show it that way, and for years there was no building, it was just-- it held-- it stayed alive. I guess that would be the best way to put it and they-- I think that the school population was always, remained about the same until the last four or five years. That' ; s just common I think everywhere with the-- with the end of the Baby Boom, and Bristow had-- it suffered a lot in the depression and really never did come back to itself. There were at one time-- there were several refineries here. The Transcontinental one' ; s the big one, and the Wilcox refinery. (Inaudible) maybe there was just two and they finally closed. They ya know, there were cotton gins. There were five cotton gins at Depew. I don' ; t know how many were here, and with the-- when they quit farming, well there were none. There' ; s a great-- for a while, peanuts were the-- you know this was the peanut capital of the world. Do you know the-- oh I don' ; t know that it was a law, but anyway something was passed making it mandatory to serve peanuts to every café customer and that big building down-- big empty big storage building was the peanut storage place and that helped it a little bit. The economy and I think all of it, Bristow was always a very good place to live but not a very good place to make a living and that was-- that' ; s what happened to our children, that they would' ; ve liked so much to stay here but unless you were one of the half dozen oilers who could make a living here or a merchant and so our children all left. EC: You mentioned earlier that some of what you knew about Bristow was stories your husband had told. Are there any particular stories that he told that come to mind? KC: A lot of his stories were about his very good friends, the Lebanese, Syrians they were then who came in, there were many Syrians here and you' ; ve heard of Joe Abraham? and his brother Ed Abraham and many of the stories were just fun stories about them. He liked them they were his very good friends, but they' ; re-- they' ; re troubles with making-- Joe Abraham-- (indecipherable) isn' ; t that an awful name for an old man? EC: (Laughter) KC: When I, I don' ; t like saying, my husband, I can' ; t call him Mr. Corey, but-- always liked people so much and he tried to help him teach, learn English and he was gonna learn Syrian but he found out that most the words that he was were not words (laughter) and many of the stories were about-- just about the fun things that they said. EC: Had there been any spectacular scandals or finds or anything of that sort of kind in Bristow? KC: No, I don' ; t know if they have. There' ; s something I was going to say, and what was it? I think that Bristow would be described better as a-- as a very-- other people, everybody might not feel it this way but I' ; ve felt that it was a very close knit family, and many of the people who came here, and settled in were from Missouri and south, down especially Mississippi. The Jones family came here Boyce McMillian' ; s (PH) husband' ; s relatives and were at Drumright, made their first money over there, and they-- and they and the-- they kind of set the tone for (indecipherable) I don' ; t know that it' ; s always been a place of great culture but many of the people who were here had a culture background and they kept em' ; developing it and had been responsible. Now way back during the, let me see, after the it was the twenty-five to the thirties and very good music club a little theatre. (Indecipherable) Bridge Club, (laughter) baseball teams, football, tennis then and it died out and came back in a big way. If there' ; s-- if Bristow has had anything really startling or exciting, I don' ; t know what it was. We built this house in 1940 and it was one of three or four houses built in that many years. There just wasn' ; t any there. There were two or three little houses over on second street that were built a little bit after we built this one and-- and then for a period of five, ten years or so. I don' ; t think anybody ever felt-- anybody who lived in Bristow and-- and was a chamber of commerce spirit felt that we were any worse off for the slowness of it. EC: Which-- which buildings in Bristow today, as far as you know are the oldest ones? KC: Well, a little brick build-- a little brick house over on fourth street is one of the oldest. There were either two or I think probably three of those brick houses together and the others or other one demolished-- was demolished last, oh in the last year or two and I thought that that little brick house was made of the bricks that were, made out of a brick factory that was here near the-- out by the--over there across the railroad tracks and a little bit further-- EC: You have any idea who built this house? KC: No, I don' ; t-- (indecipherable) would' ; ve known all about that, but I just don' ; t know. EC: Any other house or buildings-- KC: Well, I think they-- you' ; ve probably heard this, but the-- probably the oldest church in town in the little Christian science church. That was built by where the Episcopal church, then was used after they-- there weren' ; t enough Episcopalians here and the Presbyterian church leased it or did something for a while. It' ; s on the corner of, I believe eighth and Elm. Pretty little church and then they-- Oh let me tell you somebody else. Do you have Neva Gurley' ; s (PH) name on that? EC: I don' ; t. KC: Hmm. Well you (inaudible) End of interview audio 0 https://bristoworalhistory.org/ohms/viewer.php?cachefile=OHP-0025-02_Kate_Corey.xml OHP-0025-02_Kate_Corey.xml
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Kate Corey
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In this interview, Kate B. Corey (1897-1996) discusses her family’s experience in Bristow. She moved with her husband in the 1920’s and lived there for the remainder of her life. She describes life during the oil boom, teaching during racial integration, entertainment, and the effects of World War I and World War II.
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Regan Siler
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Kattie Farris
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6.0 September 6, 2024 OHP-0066 Kattie Farris OHP-0066 00:39:01 Bristow Historical Society, Inc. bristowhistory Kattie Farris Regan Siler 0 https://bristoworalhistory.org/interviews/OHP-0066 Farris, Kattie.mp3 Other audio 0 Birth Regan Siler 00:00
 ; This is Regan Siler with the Bristow Historical Society in Bristow, Oklahoma. This interview is part of the Historical Society's ongoing oral history project. The date is September 6, 2024 and I'm sitting here with Kattie Farris at her home at Woodland Village. She's going to tell us a little bit about her life and her history living in the Bristow area. Can you please state your full name?
 ; 
 ; Kattie Farris 00:26
 ; Kattie Jo Russell Farris.
 ; 
 ; Regan Siler 00:30
 ; Okay. And do I have permission to do this interview? 
 ; 
 ; Kattie Farris 00:33
 ; Yes.
 ; Kattie Jo Russel Farris was born on December 13, 1934. She was born at home in Depew, Oklahoma. The doctor was Dr. Harz from Bristow. Bristow Historical Society ; Bristow (Okla.) ; Woodland Village ; Katie Jo Russell Farris ; Depew (Okla.) Birth 0 61 Parents Regan Siler 01:01
 ; Okay, so let's talk a little bit about your family. Can you tell me both of your parents full names?
 ; 
 ; Kattie Farris 01:11
 ; My dad is Sidney Vern Russell [3/3/1893-12/2/1956] and my mother is Clara Ellen "Kate" Gross Russell [9/14/1897-1976].
 ; 
 ; Regan Siler 01:18
 ; Okay, now, when I looked them up, I have your father's birth date as 3/3/1893. Does that sound right?
 ; 
 ; Kattie Farris 01:27
 ; Yeah, mm-hmm.
 ; 
 ; Regan Siler 01:27
 ; And then I have your mother as September 14, 1897?
 ; 
 ; Kattie Farris 01:32
 ; Yes.
 ; Kattie's parents were Sidney Vern Russel and Clara Ellen Gross Russel. Her father was a pumper. Her mother was a housewife most of her life but did end up working some for Jack Abraham at J& ; J Cafe. Kattie's mother was half Cherokee Indian. Sidney Vern Russel ; Clara Ellen Gross Russel ; Jack Abraham ; J& ; J Cafe ; Bristow (Okla.) ; Depew (Okla.) ; Jay (Okla.) ; Cherokee ; Arkansas Parents 0 213 Siblings Regan Siler 03:33
 ; You're part Cherokee. Okay. Do you have any siblings?
 ; 
 ; Kattie Farris 03:37
 ; Oh, not left, but they were seven of us. 
 ; 
 ; Regan Siler 03:40
 ; Oh, my goodness, you had seven or six, or you had six siblings? 
 ; 
 ; Kattie Farris 03:42
 ; Are you talking about brothers and sisters? 
 ; 
 ; Regan Siler 03:46
 ; Yes.
 ; Kattie was one of seven siblings. She had four sisters and two brothers. Kattie's mother had four girls and then didn't have the last three children until she was in her forties. Kattie's sister above her was twenty years older than Kattie. Kattie had a brother three years older than her and a brother three years younger than her. Siblings Siblings 0 270 Extended Family Regan Siler 04:30
 ; So, she pretty much had kids her whole life, then, didn' t she? Okay, um, growing up, did you have family that lived nearby you?
 ; 
 ; Kattie Farris 04:44
 ; You mean, like, what?
 ; 
 ; Regan Siler 04:45
 ; Like aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents.
 ; 
 ; Regan Siler 04:46
 ; Really?
 ; 
 ; Kattie Farris 04:46
 ; Yeah, oh, yeah, we did, yeah. We had no, no grandparents. they was all gone time I was born, but yeah, I had aunts and uncles. Yeah, because dad had some sisters and brothers that was one, the brother was at Dustin, Oklahoma, and his name was William Bill, William Russell, and his wife was Indian. She was geranium (ph), but I don't know her, her maiden name or anything, but geranium (ph) was her. And, then, I had Uncle Carl, and Aunt Nat (ph), and they had a cafe in in Tulsa, because I've, then you could get on the bus here in Bristow for a quarter because I was in junior high school, and I'd ride over there and work at the cafe, and they'd bring me home on Sunday night. There's a big Cafe there in Red Fork.
 ; Kattie had some extended family that were decently close when she was growing up. She had an aunt and uncle who had a cafe in Tulsa. Kattie would ride the bus to Tulsa and work at the cafe when she in junior high. Bristow (Okla.) ; Tulsa (Okla.) ; Red Fork (Tulsa) ; Red Bank Road ; Mid-America Stockyards ; Fred Losi Family 0 386 Greyhound Bus Station and Other Bristow Businesses Regan Siler 06:26
 ; So, what did was there a bus system here for quite a while?
 ; 
 ; Kattie Farris 06:30
 ; Yeah, there where the liquor store is, you know, where, oh, what's that place right next to it, the, oh.
 ; 
 ; Regan Siler 06:38
 ; The liquor store, currently?
 ; 
 ; Kattie Farris 06:40
 ; It's right on Main Street, right there, and the, oh, what is that cafe on the corner there right next to it?
 ; Kattie recalls Bristow having a Greyhound Bus Station on Main Street. She says Bristow was booming and had probably 12 or 13 factories. Kattie remembers some of the other businesses around town: JCPenney's, Anthony's, Shamus, Cox Bakery, Harvat's Jewelry Store and Silver's Jewelers. Bristow (Okla.) ; Main Street ; Subway Restaurants ; Greyhound buses ; Gus Hayes ; JcPenney's ; Anthony's ; Shamus ; Cox Bakery ; Harvat's Jewelry ; Silver's Jewelers ; Magic Freight ; Tulsa (Okla.) ; B& ; F Body Shop Greyhound buses ; Business 0 561 Childhood Regan Siler 09:21
 ; Right. Yeah, I know that. Okay, well, let's, let's back up a little bit before we get get into that and talk about your childhood and your home life. So, do I'm going to take you way back. So, do you remember any of your favorite toys or childhood games that you played?
 ; 
 ; Kattie Farris 09:42
 ; Well, we didn't have TV back then, so we had an imagination, and we played outside, and I had them two brothers, we played a lot of football and stuff like that, yeah. But the most of the dolls I had, well, I had four older sisters. They brought me dolls and stuff. Yeah, I can remember I had a good life, because, you know, it's just dad being a pumper. He got a check every month, and our electric and gas and all that was free because, you know, so that for all the years I, you know.
 ; 
 ; Regan Siler 10:12
 ; And then you had older siblings that probably, really, took care of you, too.
 ; Kattie says they did not own a television when she was young. They used their imagination to play. Kattie says they played a lot of football and dolls. She enjoyed going to the skating rink and to school dances when she was in junior high. California ; Galveston (Tex.) ; Television ; Tulsa (Okla.) Childhood 0 772 Meeting Her Husband Regan Siler 12:52
 ; Yeah, that was okay. Um, well, can you tell me about your school life? Now, didn't you tell me you just went from first to 10th grade? Is that what you said?
 ; 
 ; Kattie Farris 13:02
 ; So, you wrote to him for how many years total? 
 ; 
 ; Kattie Farris 13:02
 ; Yeah, I quit in the 10th grade. Yeah. I started dating Blackie [James Albert "Blackie" Farris 10/11/1929-4/17/2017]. I met him one Saturday night with my brother, and they both had to go to the army that Monday, Camp Chaffee, Arkansas. And we started writing. And I didn't even know him, but he asked my brother for my address, and he said he would, she won't write to [indecipherable] she said, you might as well forget it. But, we wrote it for two years. We wrote and then when he did get out, he though,t for a month, this was 1950. He had to go to Camp Chaffee, Arkansas. Well, he was at Fort Bliss, Texas, two years. And we wrote two years there at Fort Bliss. Then when we thought he was out, they called him right back two or three weeks, and he had to go to Camp Chaffee, Arkansas, so I just told mom and dad. I thought I'm going with him without permission or not. I'd like to get married, if you'll sign the papers. And they did.
 ; Kattie met her husband, Blackie one Saturday night with her brother. Her brother and Blackie left for the army on Monday. Kattie and Blackie communicated by letters while he was in the army. James Albert Farris Jr. ; Fort Bliss (Tex.) ; Camp Chaffee (Ark.) ; Sidney Vern Russell ; Clara Ellen Gross Russell Husband 0 887 School Regan Siler 14:47
 ; So, can you tell me about your school life? Did you attend Bristow school? 
 ; 
 ; Kattie Farris 14:51
 ; Yeah, the whole time. 
 ; 
 ; Regan Siler 14:52
 ; Okay, and that was grades one through ten?
 ; 
 ; Kattie Farris 14:54
 ; Yeah. 
 ; 
 ; Regan Siler 14:55
 ; And did you have any influential teachers during the time that you were in school? 
 ; Kattie attended Bristow Public Schools through the tenth grade. She did not finish because she got married. She says that RC Lester was the best math teacher she had in school. Kattie also really enjoyed Carolyn Foster as an English teacher. Bristow Public Schools (Bristow, Okla.) ; RC Lester ; Carolyn Foster ; Arthur Foster School 0 992 Childhood Homes Regan Siler 16:32
 ; Um, well, so can you tell me about the house that you grew up in? I know you said you lived in the country, and then you moved to Pecan Street.
 ; 
 ; Kattie Farris 16:39
 ; Yeah. 
 ; 
 ; Regan Siler 16:39
 ; Can you tell me about the which house did you live in the longest?
 ; 
 ; Kattie Farris 16:46
 ; Probably out here that I remember.
 ; 
 ; Regan Siler 16:48
 ; In the country?
 ; Kattie and her family lived out in the country between Bristow and Depew on Red Bank Road. They lived in a big house provided by the oil company her father worked for. Her parents later moved into Bristow when her father retired. Bristow (Okla.) ; Depew (Okla.) ; Sidney Vern Russel ; James Albert Farris Jr. Home 0 1076 Mealtimes Regan Siler 17:56
 ; So, you you enjoyed the swimming pool? So, what were meal times like for your family? Did everybody sit down together?
 ; 
 ; Kattie Farris 18:04
 ; Oh, yeah, dad had it to everybody in the house, no matter who it was, it would have been a salesman. He had everybody at the table. Cause mama cooked all that, her and, usually, that one older sister of mine lived with us the biggest part of her time. She she was married to a guy that was a boss of Bass Ross (ph) in Oklahoma City, but he traveled all over everywhere, and she didn't like the traveling, so she stayed with us the biggest part of time. But she loved to cook, so her mom cooked all the meals. Naturally, back then, that's all they had to do. They didn't have tv.
 ; Kattie enjoyed many family meals cooked by her mother. She really enjoyed the big breakfasts that her mother cooked. Kattie says that she won't even look at beans now though because of how frequently they were cooked in her childhood. Sidney Vern Russell ; Clara Ellen Gross Russell ; Oklahoma City (Okla.) ; Bass Ross Mealtimes 0 1171 Community Activities Regan Siler 19:31
 ; Well, thinking about your life growing up in Bristow, do you remember, like, what were your favorite community activities? For instance, like, I know you said you were at the pool a lot. What about Western Heritage Days or day camp or fairs, or anything like that?
 ; 
 ; Kattie Farris 19:48
 ; Well, now they had a they had the fairs every now and then, but we didn't have any - main street, now, they had one thing every year, but they didn't have that Western Heritage Day back when I was growing up. I don't remember what it was they had. It might have been a Christmas something or something. It was a holiday thing that they had.
 ; Kattie spent a lot her childhood at the Bristow pool. She says that Bristow didn't have the Western Heritage Days when she was growing up, but they did have fairs. Kattie also says that there was a community activity around Christmas, but she doesn't remember what it was exactly. Bristow (Okla.) ; Western Heritage Days ; Christmas Community 0 1207 Bristow Businesses Regan Siler 20:07
 ; Okay, well, do you remember any of the biggest or most popular businesses around town when you were younger?
 ; 
 ; Kattie Farris 20:15
 ; Oh, yeah, every store was full. Like I said, we had JC Penney, Anthony's, you know, and a couple of banks. It was American National then. And Spirit was something else. What was that before? Spirit, whatever it was. And every town, I mean, everything up and down Main Street had something in it.
 ; Kattie says Bristow was thriving when she was young. She remembers Bristow having JCPenney's and Anthony's. She enjoyed eating at a burger cafe behind the bank. They had 10 cent hamburgers. Business ; Bristow (Okla.) ; American National Bank ; SpiritBank ; JCPenney ; Anthony's ; Main Street ; Sidney Vern Russel Business 0 1272 Teen Town Regan Siler 21:12
 ; Right. Did you have a favorite place to hang out as a teenager?
 ; 
 ; Kattie Farris 21:20
 ; Well, they had a Teen Town that I went to over Penneys. I can't remember the teachers, I think, is one that took turns to sponsor it up there, and they they played music, and they had games and stuff up there. 
 ; 
 ; Regan Siler 21:33
 ; There was an interview I did yesterday, and that person was telling me about Teen Town, and I had never heard anybody talk about it. So I think that's funny
 ; 
 ; Kattie Farris 21:42
 ; Yeah, but, but back then, you know, they had teen dances like out at the country club and stuff like that, you know, that the like I said, there's always teachers and stuff that was there to
 ; Kattie enjoyed Teen Town as a teenager. She says it was a great big game room. It was located over JCPenney's. Kattie also says there were lots of dances for the teenagers at the country club. Teen Town ; JCPenney's ; Bristow (Okla.) ; Main Street Teen Town 0 1373 Clothing Regan Siler 22:53
 ; Okay, okay. Um, so did you, as far as your clothes, your clothing that you were as a youngster did is, did you usually get to shop for your clothes? Or did your mom make your clothes? Do you remember? 
 ; 
 ; Kattie Farris 23:08
 ; Yeah, well, if anything special came up, now, my sister bought me stuff at Stanford's, Stanford's there, I don't where you they anyway, it was a little boutique that she thought was really neat. But yeah, we had JC Penney's and everything. My older sister made sure I was dressed properly.
 ; Kattie says that her older sister made sure she was dressed properly. She would buy Kattie new clothes from Stanford's if a special occasion came up. Kattie also says they had JCPenney to shop for clothing. Stanford's ; JCPenney's Clothing 0 1414 Family's First Car Regan Siler 23:34
 ; Right, right. Do you remember your family's first car?
 ; 
 ; Kattie Farris 23:40
 ; Well, it was a mile away. Daddy always had to wear, have a Model A [Ford Model A], because he had to go to the wells, and it was back then, he didn't have jeeps and stuff, you know. And we had a Model A, because it would, it was up high off the ground, and he could make it in the winter time and stuff to his wells. 
 ; 
 ; Regan Siler 23:57
 ; Boy, I bet that was something in a Model A though. Can you imagine?
 ; Kattie said her father needed a car for his work checking oil wells. He drove a Model A because it was high off of the ground and would be able to handle driving in the winter conditions. Sidney Vern Russel ; Ford Model A automobile Car 0 1456 Vacations Regan Siler 24:16
 ; So, did you get to take any vacations?
 ; 
 ; Kattie Farris 24:19
 ; Back when we as kids? Very few.
 ; 
 ; Regan Siler 24:22
 ; Very few.
 ; 
 ; Kattie Farris 24:22
 ; I can't remember. We might go across Oklahoma, there to one of the girls' house or something other. My sisters all married and had kids, you know, because they was so much older than I. We might go there for a couple of days or something. And no, no vacations overseas or nothing like that.
 ; Kattie says her family took very few vacations. They would sometimes go across Oklahoma to visit one of Kattie's sisters and her family. Vacation ; Oklahoma Vacation 0 1477 Learning to Drive Regan Siler 24:37
 ; Right, right. Do you remember who taught you how to drive? 
 ; 
 ; Kattie Farris 24:42
 ; Yeah, Mose LeForce, the the coach at Bristow, had drivers education. My dad never let you touch his car, and he's the one that I had drivers education. 
 ; 
 ; Regan Siler 24:55
 ; And what was his name?
 ; 
 ; Kattie Farris 24:57
 ; Mose LeForce.
 ; Kattie says that she learned to drive from Mose LeForce. He was a coach and taught the driver's education at the school. Kattie says her father never let her touch his car. She did not own a vehicle until after she was married. Mose LeForce ; Bristow (Okla.) ; Sidney Vern Russel ; Drivers Education Drive 0 1511 Entertainment Regan Siler 25:11
 ; Yeah, or they took you places. Alright, so do you remember how old you were when you got a TV in your house?
 ; 
 ; Kattie Farris 25:22
 ; Well, we didn't have whenever I had then. I mean, we my folks got one later on, but, you know.
 ; 
 ; Regan Siler 25:29
 ; You never did whenever you were a young person?
 ; 
 ; Kattie Farris 25:29
 ; At home? No.
 ; Kattie did not have a television in her home when she was young. She says they had a radio and played a lot of games together. Kattie enjoyed country music. Television ; Radio ; Faron Young ; Ernest Tubb Entertainment 0 1605 Church Regan Siler 26:45
 ; Right there. Okay. Did you attend, did you attend church growing up?
 ; 
 ; Kattie Farris 26:49
 ; Nazarene. We usually went to the Nazarene.
 ; 
 ; Regan Siler 26:50
 ; Went to the Nazarene. And do you remember any, I don't know, any details about going to church there, things that stuck, stuck out to you or favorite activities at church?
 ; 
 ; Kattie Farris 27:03
 ; No, really is just church mostly.
 ; 
 ; Regan Siler 27:06
 ; Just church.
 ; Kattie and her family attended the Nazarene Church. She says they had a place for the children at the church that kept growing. Nazarene Church Church 0 1652 Holidays Regan Siler 27:32
 ; Okay, um, so what were holidays like for your family? Can you just describe a typical Christmas at your house?
 ; 
 ; Kattie Farris 27:42
 ; When I was growing up?
 ; 
 ; Regan Siler 27:43
 ; Yeah.
 ; 
 ; Kattie Farris 27:43
 ; Yeah, dad would go cut a big Christmas tree and bring it in, and we decorated it. Oh, yeah, they's all into Christmas.
 ; Kattie says that at Christmas her father would cut a tree, and they would decorate it. She says her older sisters would come back home and bring their families to celebrate. Kattie says her mother bought lots of gifts for everyone. Holidays were a big deal in her home. Holidays ; Christmas ; Sidney Vern Russell ; Clara Ellen Gross Russell Holidays 0 1737 Jobs Regan Siler 28:57
 ; Okay, well, so we've touched a little bit on the different jobs you've had in your life, and obviously B& ; F Body Shop was a big deal because you did that for 30 years. Can you, can you tell me
 ; 
 ; Kattie Farris 29:08
 ; Well, when he slowed down, though, the mayor called me one of oh, I worked for the city for 14 years. Let's see, what year was that? He called and wanted me to take over, because the woman that was head of the senior citizens center passed away just with a heart attack all at once. And he knew that I helped her every now and then, taking the people here and there, you know, and helping her get stuff ready. So, he asked me if I'd take that over. So, I was 14 years as head of the senior citizens center, and we had busses back then, Bristow busses. And this desk up here is my desk. And whenever they first open this in January in 2006, I was up here, senior citizen, up here.
 ; Kattie worked at her and her husband's body shop (B& ; F Body Shop) for 30 years. She also helped later on at the senior citizens center. B& ; F Body Shop ; Creek County (Okla.) ; Bristow (Okla.) ; Oilton (Okla.) ; Kellyville (Okla.) ; Drumright (Okla.) ; James Raney ; Blackie's Body Shop ; James Albert Farris Jr. Jobs 0 1964 Husband, James Albert Farris Jr. (Blackie) Regan Siler 32:44
 ; Right, okay, um, and, okay, so, let's talk about your husband a little bit. I I know you've told me a little bit about him, and I know you said that you wrote letters, and that's how you but how did you actually first meet him?
 ; 
 ; Kattie Farris 33:01
 ; Well, he went to, they signed up together. I didn't even know him. They signed up together with my brother, and that's what to say they that's how I met him. And that was Saturday night, and we wrote them letters for two years.
 ; 
 ; Regan Siler 33:13
 ; So, you basically just met him once? 
 ; 
 ; Regan Siler 33:15
 ; Right. Can you tell me his full name, so we can have that on record?
 ; Kattie married James Albert Farris Jr. "Blackie" when she was about sixteen. He was going to be sent off to Camp McCoy, Wisconsin and she decided to go with him. They were tired of being apart and communicating by letters. They were married by the justice of the peace. James Albert Farris Jr. ; Husband ; Camp McCoy (Wis.) ; Fort Bliss (Tex.) Husband 0 2041 Marriage Regan Siler 34:01
 ; So, there really wasn't an engagement or anything? You just decided to get married? Okay. And then you were married
 ; 
 ; Kattie Farris 34:15
 ; Well, we knew we was going to get married. We just had to wait till we could afford it.
 ; 
 ; Regan Siler 34:20
 ; The logistics of it?
 ; 
 ; Kattie Farris 34:22
 ; Yeah.
 ; Kattie kept busy after she was married by working in a cafe. She was away from her family and living in Wisconsin. Marriage ; Wisconsin ; James Albert Farris Jr. Marriage 0 2107 Children Regan Siler 35:07
 ; Right. Okay, um, so how many children do you guys have?
 ; 
 ; Kattie Farris 35:12
 ; Four.
 ; 
 ; Regan Siler 35:12
 ; You have four children. Can you tell me each of their names, please?
 ; 
 ; Kattie Farris 35:17
 ; My oldest was Darlene Kay Farris Pierson. P I E R S O N.
 ; Kattie has four children. Their names are Darlene Kay Farris Pierson, James Albert Farris III, Sharon Rena Farris Campbell and Rhinda Jo Farris Knight. Children ; Darlene Kay Farris Pierson ; James Albert Farris III ; Sharon Rena Farris Campbell ; Rhinda Jo Farris Knight Children 0 2224 Grandchildren Regan Siler 37:04
 ; Okay, alright, um, do you have any grandchildren?
 ; 
 ; Kattie Farris 37:10
 ; Yeah, I have 11. The three of them was that last one that I told you was nuts, just about she was only one of my kids that was on the honor roll all through high school. And she made the worst decisions, so she graduated as any kid could possibly make, but the last guy that she was with, those girls come around once in a while, you know, but they're kind of like strangers, but outside that they was eight, eight that lived around here.
 ; 
 ; Regan Siler 37:42
 ; Around here, okay. 
 ; Kattie has eleven grandchildren. Many of them are still live close to her. Grandchildren Grandchildren 0 2267 Important Invention Regan Siler 37:47
 ; They're all over. Okay, well, I'm going to ask you a hard question, and this might make you think a little bit.What would you consider to be the most important invention during your lifetime?
 ; 
 ; Kattie Farris 38:01
 ; Probably the washing machine. With that many kids, I used that thing more than I did anything that was really handy. Because I remember my mom had a rub board.
 ; Kattie believes that the washing machine was the most important invention in her lifetime. She says it made things easier with having children. She says her mother had to use a rub board to wash her family's clothes. Invention ; Washing machines Invention 0 2293 Nation's Biggest Problem Regan Siler 38:13
 ; Yeah, man, I bet. Okay, well, that's a good answer. Um, so what do you feel is our nation's biggest problem right now, and how do you think it can be solved?
 ; 
 ; Kattie Farris 38:28
 ; Well, as long as they keep social security going, as far as I'm concerned, for older people, that's the way to go, and if they'll work till they get up social security age, they've got her made. Because you can live on that if you want to.
 ; 
 ; Regan Siler 38:42
 ; Rright.
 ; Kattie believes things will be okay in our nation as long as social security keeps going. She says it is great for people to have worked hard and then receive it when they get to that age. Kattie says her and her husband worked hard and played hard. Her husband owned a Harley. Social security ; Harley Davidson motorcycle ; James Albert Farris Jr. Nation ; Problem 0 MP3 Kattie Farris was born December 13, 1934, in Depew, Oklahoma. Kattie's parents, Sidney Vern Russell and Clara Ellen Gross Russell, were a pumper and a housewife. Kattie had six siblings, including two brothers and four sisters. She attended Bristow Schools until the 10th grade and worked at J& ; J Cafe. Kattie married James Albert Farris Jr. after exchanging letters during his army service. They had four children: Darlene Kay Farris Pierson, James Albert Farris III, Sharon Rena Farris Campbell, and Rhinda Jo Farris Knight. Kattie worked at B& ; F Body Shop for 30 years and later at the senior citizens center. NOTE TRANSCRIPTION BEGIN 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:26.000 This is Regan Siler with the Bristow Historical Society in Bristow, Oklahoma. This interview is part of the Historical Society's ongoing oral history project. The date is September 6, 2024 and I'm sitting here with Kattie Farris at her home at Woodland Village. She's going to tell us a little bit about her life and her history living in the Bristow area. Can you please state your full name? 00:00:26.000 --> 00:00:30.500 Kattie Jo Russell Farris. 00:00:30.500 --> 00:00:33.109 Okay. And do I have permission to do this interview? 00:00:33.109 --> 00:00:33.679 Yes. 00:00:33.679 --> 00:00:39.100 Okay. Can you tell us when and where you were born? 00:00:39.100 --> 00:00:45.909 Yeah. Out of Depew. Depew, Oklahoma. It was out in the country. 00:00:45.909 --> 00:00:47.679 So, you were born at home? 00:00:47.679 --> 00:00:48.100 Yes. 00:00:48.100 --> 00:00:49.119 Okay. 00:00:49.119 --> 00:00:51.880 Dr. Harz was the doctor. 00:00:51.880 --> 00:00:52.780 Harz like? 00:00:52.780 --> 00:00:53.000 H A R Z. 00:00:53.000 --> 00:00:58.280 H A R Z, okay. And what was your date of what's your date of birth? 00:00:58.280 --> 00:01:01.579 December 13, 1934. 00:01:01.579 --> 00:01:11.439 Okay, so let's talk a little bit about your family. Can you tell me both of your parents full names? 00:01:11.439 --> 00:01:18.730 My dad is Sidney Vern Russell [3/3/1893-12/2/1956] and my mother is Clara Ellen "Kate" Gross Russell [9/14/1897-1976]. 00:01:18.730 --> 00:01:27.129 Okay, now, when I looked them up, I have your father's birth date as 3/3/1893. Does that sound right? 00:01:27.129 --> 00:01:27.819 Yeah, mm-hmm. 00:01:27.819 --> 00:01:32.480 And then I have your mother as September 14, 1897? 00:01:32.480 --> 00:01:32.780 Yes. 00:01:32.780 --> 00:01:33.530 Does that sound right? 00:01:33.530 --> 00:01:33.859 Yeah. 00:01:33.859 --> 00:01:38.540 And you had told me, how do you spell her name? Gross? Is it G R O S S? 00:01:38.540 --> 00:01:42.799 I'm not really sure. I thought it was G R O S E. 00:01:42.799 --> 00:01:47.000 Okay, when I looked online, it said G R O S S. I wasn't, I wasn't sure. 00:01:47.000 --> 00:01:52.000 Now that might be it. Going about what she said at school and stuff like that. 00:01:52.000 --> 00:02:01.959 Well, sometimes the stuff online isn't correct, so that's why I wanted to ask. Okay, well, what type of work did your parents do? 00:02:01.959 --> 00:02:06.040 My dad was a pumper all of his life, and my mom was just a housewife. 00:02:06.040 --> 00:02:06.430 Okay. 00:02:06.430 --> 00:02:17.680 Well, not all of her life, because when he retired, they moved to Bristow, and he was retired, but she went to work for Jack Abraham at J & J Cafe. 00:02:17.680 --> 00:02:18.129 Okay. 00:02:18.129 --> 00:02:21.520 And she worked there probably for 20 years, at least. 00:02:21.520 --> 00:02:23.259 Like as a cook or? 00:02:23.259 --> 00:02:29.710 No, no, she worked in the kitchen. Yeah, I think she, I don't know, in the kitchen is all that they told me. 00:02:29.710 --> 00:02:33.050 Okay, okay. And your dad was a pumper around Bristow? 00:02:33.050 --> 00:02:46.129 Between Bristow and Depew. Well, and then the the last pumping job that he had when I was at home was on the old Red Bank Road. I caught a bus out there, you know, so I'll remember that as out on the old Red Bank Road. 00:02:46.129 --> 00:02:50.509 Okay, and so, has your family always been in the Bristow area? 00:02:50.509 --> 00:02:51.139 Yes. 00:02:51.139 --> 00:02:51.889 Okay, so. 00:02:51.889 --> 00:02:58.129 Well, between Bristow and Depew. He was pumper one time way back there between Bristow and Depew. 00:02:58.129 --> 00:03:05.719 Okay, so your your parents have always lived here. What about your great grandparents? Did they live here as well? 00:03:05.719 --> 00:03:09.330 No, they lived in Arkansas, and I'm not for sure where. 00:03:09.330 --> 00:03:13.199 Or, I guess I said great grandparents. That would be grandparents, that would be grandparents. 00:03:13.199 --> 00:03:13.860 Yeah, right. 00:03:13.860 --> 00:03:15.509 Okay, okay. 00:03:15.509 --> 00:03:26.939 My mom was part, half Indian, so some of her way back there was on reservation out by Jay, Oklahoma. Jay and there's another little town next to Jay that it was right in between there. 00:03:26.939 --> 00:03:31.199 Okay, and what do you remember what type, what tribe, she was? 00:03:31.199 --> 00:03:32.189 Cherokee. 00:03:32.189 --> 00:03:33.330 Because I'm part 00:03:33.330 --> 00:03:37.740 You're part Cherokee. Okay. Do you have any siblings? 00:03:37.740 --> 00:03:40.400 Oh, not left, but they were seven of us. 00:03:40.400 --> 00:03:42.460 Oh, my goodness, you had seven or six, or you had six siblings? 00:03:42.460 --> 00:03:46.689 Are you talking about brothers and sisters? 00:03:46.689 --> 00:03:46.870 Yes. 00:03:46.870 --> 00:03:51.400 Yeah, yeah, yeah, I had two brothers and five sisters. 00:03:51.400 --> 00:03:52.990 Oh, my goodness, so you had a big family. 00:03:52.990 --> 00:04:03.189 No, four sisters, counting me was five. I told you that tape don't work all the time. Yeah, there was five girls, two boys in our family. 00:04:03.189 --> 00:04:03.819 Five girls. 00:04:03.819 --> 00:04:05.289 And I was the youngest. Yeah. 00:04:05.289 --> 00:04:06.000 So, you're the baby? 00:04:06.000 --> 00:04:06.240 Oh, my goodness! 00:04:06.240 --> 00:04:13.590 Yeah. Mom had four kids, the four girls, and then she waited until she was in her 40s, to have us the last three. 00:04:13.590 --> 00:04:17.579 Yeah. And they was all gone before, you know, I got up any age. 00:04:17.579 --> 00:04:19.000 So, it was almost like she had them in sections, didn't she? 00:04:19.000 --> 00:04:24.730 Yeah, she did, because my sister, that's next to me was 20 years older than me. 00:04:24.730 --> 00:04:25.149 Oh, my goodness! 00:04:25.149 --> 00:04:30.339 Yeah, but then I had a brother three years older me, and a brother that's three years younger. 00:04:30.339 --> 00:04:44.110 So, she pretty much had kids her whole life, then, didn' t she? Okay, um, growing up, did you have family that lived nearby you? 00:04:44.110 --> 00:04:45.250 You mean, like, what? 00:04:45.250 --> 00:04:46.000 Like aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents. 00:04:46.000 --> 00:04:46.120 Really? 00:04:46.120 --> 00:04:46.149 Yeah, oh, yeah, we did, yeah. We had no, no grandparents. they was all gone time I was born, but yeah, I had aunts and uncles. Yeah, because dad had some sisters and brothers that was one, the brother was at Dustin, Oklahoma, and his name was William Bill, William Russell, and his wife was Indian. She was geranium (ph), but I don't know her, her maiden name or anything, but geranium (ph) was her. And, then, I had Uncle Carl, and Aunt Nat (ph), and they had a cafe in in Tulsa, because I've, then you could get on the bus here in Bristow for a quarter because I was in junior high school, and I'd ride over there and work at the cafe, and they'd bring me home on Sunday night. There's a big Cafe there in Red Fork. 00:04:46.149 --> 00:04:49.000 Yeah. 00:04:49.000 --> 00:05:05.949 So, you would just ride a bus all the way to 00:05:05.949 --> 00:05:10.360 Red Fork, Tulsa. 00:05:10.360 --> 00:05:15.699 Right. 00:05:15.699 --> 00:05:49.149 And get off, yeah, and then they'd bring me back to go to school the next day, because we lived out on the old Red Bank Road, which is three miles from Bristow, two miles and then a mile back in the country. 00:05:49.149 --> 00:05:54.730 So, you when you're saying two or three, which direction is because that I'm not familiar with Red Bank Road. 00:05:54.730 --> 00:05:55.629 The old Red Bank Road. 00:05:55.629 --> 00:05:56.649 I'm not familiar with that. 00:05:56.649 --> 00:05:59.410 Well, it's like you go out to Mid America. 00:05:59.410 --> 00:05:59.829 Okay. 00:05:59.829 --> 00:06:00.819 You cut off back. 00:06:00.819 --> 00:06:03.699 Okay, gotcha, gotcha. So, you lived out that way. 00:06:03.699 --> 00:06:04.180 Yeah. 00:06:04.180 --> 00:06:12.379 So, and you, do you remember the name of the cafe in Tulsa by chance? 00:06:12.379 --> 00:06:18.829 Well, the guy owned the whole block. He had a movie place, and he had an apartment place and everything. Fred Losi (ph). 00:06:18.829 --> 00:06:20.269 Fred Losi (ph) was his name? 00:06:20.269 --> 00:06:26.269 Yeah, and he owned the whole block, and they just rented the cafe, I guess, or whatever. 00:06:26.269 --> 00:06:30.170 So, what did was there a bus system here for quite a while? 00:06:30.170 --> 00:06:38.990 Yeah, there where the liquor store is, you know, where, oh, what's that place right next to it, the, oh. 00:06:38.990 --> 00:06:40.670 The liquor store, currently? 00:06:40.670 --> 00:06:47.899 It's right on Main Street, right there, and the, oh, what is that cafe on the corner there right next to it? 00:06:47.899 --> 00:06:49.819 The one that's changed names a whole lot. 00:06:49.819 --> 00:06:56.810 Yeah, you go around the corner there and you go Fourth Street. What is the name of that? Subway. 00:06:56.810 --> 00:06:57.600 Oh, okay. 00:06:57.600 --> 00:07:00.180 Yeah, the liquor store right next to the Subway. 00:07:00.180 --> 00:07:01.439 Oh! The old liquor store. 00:07:01.439 --> 00:07:05.490 Yeah, yeah, that that used to be Greyhound Bus Station. 00:07:05.490 --> 00:07:06.569 Well, I'll be darned 00:07:06.569 --> 00:07:07.199 Yeah. 00:07:07.199 --> 00:07:08.819 And, so, do you remember? 00:07:08.819 --> 00:07:21.209 I think Gus Hayes (ph) owned that, but I'm not for sure, but I think he did, because he owned all the, he put cigarette machines and stuff like that, and pop machine stuff in every place in Bristow just about. 00:07:21.209 --> 00:07:22.079 What was his name? 00:07:22.079 --> 00:07:22.920 Gus Hayes (ph). 00:07:22.920 --> 00:07:30.449 Gus Hayes. And, so, the, do you remember how long the Greyhound Bus Station was in Bristow? 00:07:30.449 --> 00:07:32.310 Well, it was there for a long time. 00:07:32.310 --> 00:07:34.139 So, most of your youth then? 00:07:34.139 --> 00:07:35.519 Yeah, yeah. 00:07:35.519 --> 00:07:43.740 Well, okay, I guess cars, people, getting cars changed to where there wasn't a need for it, is that what it left? 00:07:43.740 --> 00:07:54.420 I don't know how come it left. You noticed all Bristow was really booming back that time. I bet they had probably 12 or 13 factories and everything. You know, Main Street was buzzing. 00:07:54.420 --> 00:07:54.810 Right. 00:07:54.810 --> 00:08:05.519 JC Penneys, Anthony's Shamus has a great big old department store. There was everything in Bristow had something in it, cafes, you know, and everything. 00:08:05.519 --> 00:08:07.600 So, you've seen a lot of changes in Bristow? 00:08:07.600 --> 00:08:27.279 Yeah, because back then they was cafes, all up and down, about three beer joints. There's all kinds of stuff all up and down Main Street, you know. And the bakeries, you know, we probably had a couple of bakeries. One of them was Cox Bakery, because that's where I got stuff all the time. There's another one. We had two jewelry stores, uh, Harvat's. 00:08:27.279 --> 00:08:28.000 I remember Harvat's. 00:08:28.000 --> 00:08:34.960 Yeah, and Silvers. You know, the little guy is foreigner that was on this side, him and his wife was on. 00:08:34.960 --> 00:08:39.000 Well, that's interesting. 00:08:39.000 --> 00:08:52.409 We deliver Magic Freight for, I don't know how many years, 13 years, while we was in the body shop. So that's how I got acquainted with all because we take frieght to everybody in Bristow just about. 00:08:52.409 --> 00:08:54.570 So, you, you hauled frieght? 00:08:54.570 --> 00:09:00.419 Well, they brought it down from Tulsa and dropped it off of our body shop, and it was just extra income for us. 00:09:00.419 --> 00:09:02.190 So you just, you were, like, a distributor? 00:09:02.190 --> 00:09:03.570 Yeah, we just distributed it. 00:09:03.570 --> 00:09:05.970 And what was that called? What was your business called? 00:09:05.970 --> 00:09:11.000 Magic Freight, well, that was Magic Freight. My, our business was B&F Body Shop for 30 years. 00:09:11.000 --> 00:09:13.850 So, Magic Freight was just something 00:09:13.850 --> 00:09:21.350 Yeah, right. We had, we had B&F Body Shop for like, almost 30 years. Right there on Fifth Street. It's still got the sign up. 00:09:21.350 --> 00:09:42.320 Right. Yeah, I know that. Okay, well, let's, let's back up a little bit before we get get into that and talk about your childhood and your home life. So, do I'm going to take you way back. So, do you remember any of your favorite toys or childhood games that you played? 00:09:42.320 --> 00:10:12.200 Well, we didn't have TV back then, so we had an imagination, and we played outside, and I had them two brothers, we played a lot of football and stuff like that, yeah. But the most of the dolls I had, well, I had four older sisters. They brought me dolls and stuff. Yeah, I can remember I had a good life, because, you know, it's just dad being a pumper. He got a check every month, and our electric and gas and all that was free because, you know, so that for all the years I, you know. 00:10:12.200 --> 00:10:14.700 And then you had older siblings that probably, really, took care of you, too. 00:10:14.700 --> 00:10:20.340 Yeah, yeah, I did. Four older sisters. And they was all, of course, they was scattered. One of them lived in California forever, and we just seen her on holidays and stuff, you know. And the other one was in Galveston, Texas for a long time. So they just kind of scattered. Two of them pretty well stayed around here, but 00:10:20.340 --> 00:10:20.879 That you would see. 00:10:20.879 --> 00:10:53.970 Yeah, well, Marie was the one that lived up there and worked for my Uncle Carl at that cafe I was talking about that I went up there. Well, she worked for him and lived in an apartment up over the cafe, and I'd stay with her whenever I was up there. 00:10:53.970 --> 00:10:55.379 So, in Tulsa? 00:10:55.379 --> 00:10:56.070 Yeah. 00:10:56.070 --> 00:11:03.330 Okay, um, do you remember having any chores that you were expected to do whenever you were a young person? 00:11:03.330 --> 00:11:09.480 No, not really, because I had all them older people that done all the chores. I never done nothing. 00:11:09.480 --> 00:11:11.669 You were the spoiled baby, weren't you? 00:11:11.669 --> 00:11:14.309 Yeah, I was because I didn't really have to do nothing. 00:11:14.309 --> 00:11:17.940 So, did you have friends that would come over and play at your house? Or did you mainly play with siblings? 00:11:17.940 --> 00:11:53.850 Well, when I got older, I had friends. Now, then, we lived out in the country, and we didn't have, you know, that many friends, but we moved, when we moved to town, dad changed jobs for some reason or other and started working on drilling rigs. Back then, Bristow had drilling rigs all the way around, and he was a boss, so he made a lot of money doing that. So, whenever he got in between doing that out there, he moved, we moved to town, and moved up on Pecan Street, and by that time, I was probably almost in junior high school, you know. And then I had a lot of friends, because I was here forever. 00:11:53.850 --> 00:12:01.659 Right, right. Um, did you have any favorite activities or hobbies as a child that you that you did? 00:12:01.659 --> 00:12:19.929 Well then we had a skating rink and stuff like that here at Bristow and and, and when I got in junior high school, they had, you know, dances and stuff back then for the school did. The teachers would sponsor them and stuff. You know, we had a lot of activities like that that they don't have now. 00:12:19.929 --> 00:12:27.850 I know that's what I was going to say. It seems like it was a lot of, there was a lot of fun and activities. 00:12:27.850 --> 00:12:30.519 There was just a whole lot of stuff going on in Bristow. 00:12:30.519 --> 00:12:30.960 Right. 00:12:30.960 --> 00:12:38.580 You know, they had a bowling alley, and they had a, of course, I didn't do any bowling, but I done a lot of roller skating. 00:12:38.580 --> 00:12:40.049 And that's at the skating rink [indecipherable] 00:12:40.049 --> 00:12:52.559 Yeah, that was open all the time from the time I was old enough to skate on up. And then our, that was on Sixth Street, and our body shop was just right, we walked over there, my kids and us walked over there. 00:12:52.559 --> 00:13:02.000 Yeah, that was okay. Um, well, can you tell me about your school life? Now, didn't you tell me you just went from first to 10th grade? Is that what you said? 00:13:02.000 --> 00:13:02.039 So, you wrote to him for how many years total? 00:13:02.039 --> 00:13:15.769 Yeah, I quit in the 10th grade. Yeah. I started dating Blackie [James Albert "Blackie" Farris 10/11/1929-4/17/2017]. I met him one Saturday night with my brother, and they both had to go to the army that Monday, Camp Chaffee, Arkansas. And we started writing. And I didn't even know him, but he asked my brother for my address, and he said he would, she won't write to [indecipherable] she said, you might as well forget it. But, we wrote it for two years. We wrote and then when he did get out, he though,t for a month, this was 1950. He had to go to Camp Chaffee, Arkansas. Well, he was at Fort Bliss, Texas, two years. And we wrote two years there at Fort Bliss. Then when we thought he was out, they called him right back two or three weeks, and he had to go to Camp Chaffee, Arkansas, so I just told mom and dad. I thought I'm going with him without permission or not. I'd like to get married, if you'll sign the papers. And they did. 00:13:15.769 --> 00:13:57.080 Probably about two years, two years before and about two years after, because he was in the army the first two years, and I didn't get to be 00:13:57.080 --> 00:14:02.960 So, you basically got to know each other through letters? 00:14:02.960 --> 00:14:26.480 That's exactly right, mostly, because he would just come in for a weekend once in a while. But you talk about love at first sight, it was that away for both of us. I guess because he was, everybody said he was a real rounder. That's how come my brother didn't even want me to write to him. 00:14:26.480 --> 00:14:27.000 He was looking after you! 00:14:27.000 --> 00:14:32.820 He didn't want him to write to me either. Blackie Farris, he was known as a rounder, you know. 00:14:32.820 --> 00:14:37.710 Well, that's kind of a neat story that you wrote letters for that long. 00:14:37.710 --> 00:14:38.700 We did. 00:14:38.700 --> 00:14:40.470 To get to know each other. 00:14:40.470 --> 00:14:44.460 He just come in once in a while, you know, for furlough for a weekend. 00:14:44.460 --> 00:14:45.090 Right. 00:14:45.090 --> 00:14:47.190 He never did get a whole vacation. 00:14:47.190 --> 00:14:51.389 So, can you tell me about your school life? Did you attend Bristow school? 00:14:51.389 --> 00:14:52.470 Yeah, the whole time. 00:14:52.470 --> 00:14:54.720 Okay, and that was grades one through ten? 00:14:54.720 --> 00:14:55.169 Yeah. 00:14:55.169 --> 00:14:59.820 And did you have any influential teachers during the time that you were in school? 00:14:59.820 --> 00:15:16.000 I had some real good teachers. All of them seem to be really good. Uh, math was one of my hardest subjects. And RC Lester was the best math teacher I had. I learned more from him than anything. It's a good thing, because I needed it, when I got up there, they opened that body shop and had to all them estimates and stuff. 00:15:16.000 --> 00:15:18.220 Right, you had to, you had to use your math, didn't you? 00:15:18.220 --> 00:15:24.789 Oh, God, yeah, that was come in real handy, because they wasn't nothing like you got nowadays to help you. 00:15:24.789 --> 00:15:30.700 To figure it out. You had to do everything by hand. Well, do you remember how you got to school as a youngster? 00:15:30.700 --> 00:15:31.659 On the bus. 00:15:31.659 --> 00:15:39.700 Rode the bus, okay, yeah. And do you remember being in any clubs or organizations whenever you were in school? Were you involved in anything? 00:15:39.700 --> 00:15:45.000 Yeah, Pep Club was all I went to all the football. I love football. I still love football. 00:15:45.000 --> 00:15:48.990 You still love football. Well, did you like school? Did you enjoy school? 00:15:48.990 --> 00:15:50.789 Oh, yeah, I loved school. 00:15:50.789 --> 00:15:55.830 Did you have a favorite subject? 00:15:55.830 --> 00:16:09.990 Well, I think I liked Carolyn Foster that taught English, because that gave me the option that I want to go overseas as soon as they get [indecipherable]. Well, my oldest daughter did, too. So, we have went everywhere, overseas. 00:16:09.990 --> 00:16:10.590 Oh, really? 00:16:10.590 --> 00:16:17.070 We loved it. Every two years there for about 30 years, we went overseas some place. 00:16:17.070 --> 00:16:24.000 Well, Mrs. Foster is somebody that is brought up a lot as a favorite teacher when I've interviewed people. She sounds like a very beloved. 00:16:24.000 --> 00:16:29.371 We knew her husband. He was Arthur Foster at the bank, you know, President, we liked him, too. 00:16:29.371 --> 00:16:29.509 Right. 00:16:29.509 --> 00:16:32.029 That's where we've always banked. 00:16:32.029 --> 00:16:39.529 Um, well, so can you tell me about the house that you grew up in? I know you said you lived in the country, and then you moved to Pecan Street. 00:16:39.529 --> 00:16:39.889 Yeah. 00:16:39.889 --> 00:16:46.070 Can you tell me about the which house did you live in the longest? 00:16:46.070 --> 00:16:48.710 Probably out here that I remember. 00:16:48.710 --> 00:16:49.639 In the country? 00:16:49.639 --> 00:16:56.929 Yeah, we've always lived in the country. Then they moved to town when dad retired, but that was after I was already married. 00:16:56.929 --> 00:17:00.110 So, can you tell me about your house in the country? What was it like? 00:17:00.110 --> 00:17:14.869 It was always a big house, and all the utilities was free, so we could just do anything we wanted you. You didn't have all the stuff, like TVs and stuff like they do now, though, so I'm sure didn't, didn't hurt their pocket book that much. 00:17:14.869 --> 00:17:17.269 Right. The utilities probably weren't too much, then? 00:17:17.269 --> 00:17:18.829 Yeah. 00:17:18.829 --> 00:17:21.000 And did you have your own room growing up? 00:17:21.000 --> 00:17:27.599 Yeah, yeah, because it was always a big house. Yeah, they always furnished a big house for dad on the being a pumper. 00:17:27.599 --> 00:17:30.509 Right, right. Sounds like that was a good living for him. 00:17:30.509 --> 00:17:33.240 Yeah, it was for him, because it was a steady check. 00:17:33.240 --> 00:17:33.480 Right. 00:17:33.480 --> 00:17:38.000 Now, Blackie's dad was a farmer, and that was a lot different. Blackie and I got married, and I thought, I'm glad [indecipherable]. 00:17:38.000 --> 00:17:49.789 And did you spend most of your time outside as a, as a young person, or did you have, I mean, did you? 00:17:49.789 --> 00:17:56.930 In the summer we probably did, you know, and we went out to that, they had the swimming pool out here at Bristow, and we went out there a bunch. 00:17:56.930 --> 00:18:04.000 So, you you enjoyed the swimming pool? So, what were meal times like for your family? Did everybody sit down together? 00:18:04.000 --> 00:18:37.750 Oh, yeah, dad had it to everybody in the house, no matter who it was, it would have been a salesman. He had everybody at the table. Cause mama cooked all that, her and, usually, that one older sister of mine lived with us the biggest part of her time. She she was married to a guy that was a boss of Bass Ross (ph) in Oklahoma City, but he traveled all over everywhere, and she didn't like the traveling, so she stayed with us the biggest part of time. But she loved to cook, so her mom cooked all the meals. Naturally, back then, that's all they had to do. They didn't have tv. 00:18:37.750 --> 00:18:42.009 Right, right. So, did you have to help clean up? 00:18:42.009 --> 00:18:46.150 I didn't really have to, unless I wanted to, but like I said 00:18:46.150 --> 00:18:48.460 You might have been spoiled just a little bit. 00:18:48.460 --> 00:18:50.900 I probably was, because I didn't have to do none of that. 00:18:50.900 --> 00:18:58.279 Well, do you remember your mom making like a favorite recipe or meal? What was your favorite? 00:18:58.279 --> 00:19:15.349 Well, I like breakfast with because she made the best biscuits and gravy, and, you know, all of that, because she made a lot of stuff, you know. They we, we had so much beans, though, back then, you know, beans was that, now I don't even look at beans. 00:19:15.349 --> 00:19:22.250 Well, so did you get, did you come away with any of her special recipes that you have today? 00:19:22.250 --> 00:19:22.819 No. 00:19:22.819 --> 00:19:28.039 Not really? Okay. Did anybody teach you how to cook? 00:19:28.039 --> 00:19:30.019 Well, I just watched them enough to know how. 00:19:30.019 --> 00:19:31.369 That you kind of figured it out? 00:19:31.369 --> 00:19:31.880 Yeah. 00:19:31.880 --> 00:19:48.740 Well, thinking about your life growing up in Bristow, do you remember, like, what were your favorite community activities? For instance, like, I know you said you were at the pool a lot. What about Western Heritage Days or day camp or fairs, or anything like that? 00:19:48.740 --> 00:20:07.250 Well, now they had a they had the fairs every now and then, but we didn't have any - main street, now, they had one thing every year, but they didn't have that Western Heritage Day back when I was growing up. I don't remember what it was they had. It might have been a Christmas something or something. It was a holiday thing that they had. 00:20:07.250 --> 00:20:15.500 Okay, well, do you remember any of the biggest or most popular businesses around town when you were younger? 00:20:15.500 --> 00:20:36.619 Oh, yeah, every store was full. Like I said, we had JC Penney, Anthony's, you know, and a couple of banks. It was American National then. And Spirit was something else. What was that before? Spirit, whatever it was. And every town, I mean, everything up and down Main Street had something in it. 00:20:36.619 --> 00:20:40.000 Did you have a favorite? Did you have a favorite business that you would frequent? 00:20:40.000 --> 00:21:05.559 Well, now I ate mostly at that little cafe that was right behind the American National Bank. It was just small mom and dad thing. Their hamburgers was 10 cents. Daddy gave me a quarter to eat on. Ten cents for that, and then I could have a pop for nickle and a candy bar for a nickle, so a quarter. But you had to get in junior high to get to go downtown, otherwise, you had eat at the cafeteria or bring your lunch. 00:21:05.559 --> 00:21:06.880 Okay, okay. 00:21:06.880 --> 00:21:12.009 And it was a quarter for cafeteria back then, too, so you could have your you know. 00:21:12.009 --> 00:21:20.079 Right. Did you have a favorite place to hang out as a teenager? 00:21:20.079 --> 00:21:33.910 Well, they had a Teen Town that I went to over Penneys. I can't remember the teachers, I think, is one that took turns to sponsor it up there, and they they played music, and they had games and stuff up there. 00:21:33.910 --> 00:21:42.359 There was an interview I did yesterday, and that person was telling me about Teen Town, and I had never heard anybody talk about it. So I think that's funny 00:21:42.359 --> 00:21:54.660 Yeah, but, but back then, you know, they had teen dances like out at the country club and stuff like that, you know, that the like I said, there's always teachers and stuff that was there to 00:21:54.660 --> 00:21:56.069 Chaperone. 00:21:56.069 --> 00:21:58.349 But I don't think they have any of that now. 00:21:58.349 --> 00:21:59.440 I know. 00:21:59.440 --> 00:22:05.000 My grandkids all go to, great grandkids, all goes to school, and they, they don't go to nothing. 00:22:05.000 --> 00:22:12.680 Well, whenever he was talking about the Teen Town, I thought, man, that would be something that would be fun to have now. 00:22:12.680 --> 00:22:17.930 Yeah, it was. We had a lot of fun up there, because it was kind of like a great big game room, you know. 00:22:17.930 --> 00:22:19.549 Where was it located? 00:22:19.549 --> 00:22:25.250 Over Penneys. Like that one I went to was over Penneys. Now, this was 100 years ago. 00:22:25.250 --> 00:22:27.000 So, it was Penneys on Main Street? 00:22:27.000 --> 00:22:39.450 Yeah, because it was right on the corner right there where, well, there's nothing in that now. That would be, this is what, Ninth? Oh, that'd be Eighth, probably, or something. 00:22:39.450 --> 00:22:40.470 So, at Eighth and Main? 00:22:40.470 --> 00:22:53.309 In that empty building there that used to be, what was there? But it was that Teen Town was up over that. Now our Penneys was, maybe, that was Penneys underneath there. I believe it was. 00:22:53.309 --> 00:23:08.940 Okay, okay. Um, so did you, as far as your clothes, your clothing that you were as a youngster did is, did you usually get to shop for your clothes? Or did your mom make your clothes? Do you remember? 00:23:08.940 --> 00:23:28.319 Yeah, well, if anything special came up, now, my sister bought me stuff at Stanford's, Stanford's there, I don't where you they anyway, it was a little boutique that she thought was really neat. But yeah, we had JC Penney's and everything. My older sister made sure I was dressed properly. 00:23:28.319 --> 00:23:31.000 So, you you always wear dressed cute then, because 00:23:31.000 --> 00:23:34.000 Well, back then you had to wear dresses to school. You couldn't wear pants. 00:23:34.000 --> 00:23:40.869 Right, right. Do you remember your family's first car? 00:23:40.869 --> 00:23:57.220 Well, it was a mile away. Daddy always had to wear, have a Model A [Ford Model A], because he had to go to the wells, and it was back then, he didn't have jeeps and stuff, you know. And we had a Model A, because it would, it was up high off the ground, and he could make it in the winter time and stuff to his wells. 00:23:57.220 --> 00:24:01.019 Boy, I bet that was something in a Model A though. Can you imagine? 00:24:01.019 --> 00:24:13.619 Well, there's two great big old oil tanks that he had to make, and he had to call him every morning and sometime in the evening, too, and report what he had, you know, was a gauges. 00:24:13.619 --> 00:24:13.920 Right. 00:24:13.920 --> 00:24:15.299 Had to gauge them and 00:24:15.299 --> 00:24:15.750 Right. 00:24:15.750 --> 00:24:16.319 Turn it in. 00:24:16.319 --> 00:24:19.779 So, did you get to take any vacations? 00:24:19.779 --> 00:24:22.029 Back when we as kids? Very few. 00:24:22.029 --> 00:24:22.539 Very few. 00:24:22.539 --> 00:24:37.599 I can't remember. We might go across Oklahoma, there to one of the girls' house or something other. My sisters all married and had kids, you know, because they was so much older than I. We might go there for a couple of days or something. And no, no vacations overseas or nothing like that. 00:24:37.599 --> 00:24:42.559 Right, right. Do you remember who taught you how to drive? 00:24:42.559 --> 00:24:55.549 Yeah, Mose LeForce, the the coach at Bristow, had drivers education. My dad never let you touch his car, and he's the one that I had drivers education. 00:24:55.549 --> 00:24:57.259 And what was his name? 00:24:57.259 --> 00:24:58.250 Mose LeForce. 00:24:58.250 --> 00:25:02.809 Okay, alright, and do you remember your first car? 00:25:02.809 --> 00:25:04.759 Well, I didn't have one till I got married. 00:25:04.759 --> 00:25:05.210 Oh, you didn't? 00:25:05.210 --> 00:25:09.289 We didn't have cars back then. Dad had one car, and that was it. 00:25:09.289 --> 00:25:10.700 You guys had to share that? 00:25:10.700 --> 00:25:11.180 Yeah. 00:25:11.180 --> 00:25:22.279 Yeah, or they took you places. Alright, so do you remember how old you were when you got a TV in your house? 00:25:22.279 --> 00:25:29.000 Well, we didn't have whenever I had then. I mean, we my folks got one later on, but, you know. 00:25:29.000 --> 00:25:31.490 At home? No. You never did whenever you were a young person? 00:25:31.490 --> 00:25:35.990 Okay, alright, so what type of entertainment did you have at home? 00:25:35.990 --> 00:25:43.609 Well, we had a radio, and we played games. We was big into just card games and stuff. 00:25:43.609 --> 00:25:47.660 Do you remember having any particular music that you liked or any? 00:25:47.660 --> 00:25:48.710 Yeah, country. 00:25:48.710 --> 00:25:50.509 You listened to country music? 00:25:50.509 --> 00:25:51.440 Yeah. 00:25:51.440 --> 00:25:52.329 Alright. 00:25:52.329 --> 00:25:57.970 Faron Young, Ernest Tubb. Well, back then it would be like Ernest Tubb and some of them older guys. 00:25:57.970 --> 00:26:05.099 Yeah, right. Um, so what was medical care like for you growing up? Did you have a family doctor or did you mainly handle things at home? 00:26:05.099 --> 00:26:07.400 Well, mostly Dr. Hars (ph). 00:26:07.400 --> 00:26:08.240 Oh, really, okay. 00:26:08.240 --> 00:26:15.859 Yeah, but they might have had a few more, but he we knew him almost personally, because Dr. Hars was there. 00:26:15.859 --> 00:26:18.230 Okay, and he was a Bristow doctor? 00:26:18.230 --> 00:26:18.619 Yeah. 00:26:18.619 --> 00:26:19.000 Okay. 00:26:19.000 --> 00:26:34.750 And our dentist was, well, Johnson (ph) would will pull your teeth for $1 a tooth. But if you wanted anything else to do, mom took us to East to start with. Then me and Blackie moved on up to Petit, though, when we got married. 00:26:34.750 --> 00:26:37.210 So, there was a Dr. East that was a dentist? 00:26:37.210 --> 00:26:45.789 Yeah, right down from the on Sixth Street there where the post office is. He is just right there. 00:26:45.789 --> 00:26:49.839 Right there. Okay. Did you attend, did you attend church growing up? 00:26:49.839 --> 00:26:50.000 Nazarene. We usually went to the Nazarene. 00:26:50.000 --> 00:27:03.619 Went to the Nazarene. And do you remember any, I don't know, any details about going to church there, things that stuck, stuck out to you or favorite activities at church? 00:27:03.619 --> 00:27:06.710 No, really is just church mostly. 00:27:06.710 --> 00:27:07.400 Just church. 00:27:07.400 --> 00:27:13.849 Yeah, they had a place for smaller kids, and then we just kept getting bigger and bigger. 00:27:13.849 --> 00:27:24.710 Just grew up in that, okay. Well, and I failed to ask, do you remember or recall any serious illnesses or epidemics that either you or your family went through? 00:27:24.710 --> 00:27:30.950 Just in the school we had mumps, measles and that sort of thing. No, no, we didn't have anything. 00:27:30.950 --> 00:27:32.119 But other than that? 00:27:32.119 --> 00:27:32.539 Nothing, yeah. 00:27:32.539 --> 00:27:42.470 Okay, um, so what were holidays like for your family? Can you just describe a typical Christmas at your house? 00:27:42.470 --> 00:27:43.750 When I was growing up? 00:27:43.750 --> 00:27:43.960 Yeah. 00:27:43.960 --> 00:27:50.859 Yeah, dad would go cut a big Christmas tree and bring it in, and we decorated it. Oh, yeah, they's all into Christmas. 00:27:50.859 --> 00:27:51.000 They loved Christmas? 00:27:51.000 --> 00:27:58.049 Yeah. Everybody, all of my sisters and their kids and stuff always came to mom and dad's for holidays. Yeah. 00:27:58.049 --> 00:28:03.000 So, did you make gifts? Did you buy gifts for each other, or was it mainly about having a big dinner? 00:28:03.000 --> 00:28:16.140 Well, some of them probably did make stuff, because two of my sisters sewed really good and they made stuff, you know. But I think, best I can remember, Mom always just bought us toys and stuff like that. 00:28:16.140 --> 00:28:20.849 Okay, alright. Were there any other holidays that were a big deal in your home? 00:28:20.849 --> 00:28:29.430 All of our holidays was big. All of those girls came back with their kids and stuff. Because Dad always had a big house. They always furnished him a big house. 00:28:29.430 --> 00:28:32.000 Right. Well, it sounds like it was, it was pretty fun growing up there. 00:28:32.000 --> 00:28:32.900 Well, do you remember as a kid thinking about what you wanted to be when you grew up? Did you have any aspirations when you were a little kid? 00:28:32.900 --> 00:28:51.740 Yeah, it was. I really enjoyed it. I couldn't gripe about my growing up or my marriage with my 67 years with my husband. That was good, too. So, I had a good life. I really did. 00:28:51.740 --> 00:28:53.480 No, I don't think I did. 00:28:53.480 --> 00:28:55.099 You couldn't, can't remember anything? 00:28:55.099 --> 00:28:57.140 Nothing that I really wanted to do. 00:28:57.140 --> 00:29:08.000 Okay, well, so we've touched a little bit on the different jobs you've had in your life, and obviously B&F Body Shop was a big deal because you did that for 30 years. Can you, can you tell me 00:29:08.000 --> 00:29:50.509 Well, when he slowed down, though, the mayor called me one of oh, I worked for the city for 14 years. Let's see, what year was that? He called and wanted me to take over, because the woman that was head of the senior citizens center passed away just with a heart attack all at once. And he knew that I helped her every now and then, taking the people here and there, you know, and helping her get stuff ready. So, he asked me if I'd take that over. So, I was 14 years as head of the senior citizens center, and we had busses back then, Bristow busses. And this desk up here is my desk. And whenever they first open this in January in 2006, I was up here, senior citizen, up here. 00:29:50.509 --> 00:29:52.700 So, do they still have the senior citizen? 00:29:52.700 --> 00:30:07.970 No, all of them in Creek County, just all of a sudden, six months after I retired from being well, I was also voted in as president of the Creek County Council on Aging by all the senior centers here in Creek County. 00:30:07.970 --> 00:30:08.000 Okay. 00:30:08.000 --> 00:31:08.390 Creek County, I was that for two terms. They, why they did, well, they did because I think I was always opened up their meetings. At that time, every month we'd go to somebody's. Ours was September here at Bristow, but every month we'd go to different ones, like Kellyville and all around, you know, that Oilton, and all up to Drumright, all of them like that. Once a month we'd take the busses, or however they brought their people, and we had them big senior meetings where they had to have a buffet and entertainment, and then a speaker. And all of us done that every month. And then on the last month of, like November or December, we had it at where they have that Creek County, oh, barn out there, that they have all the fairs and stuff. Well, they didn't call it that. They called it something else then, that's where we had had that at is that place. 00:31:08.390 --> 00:31:18.230 And, so, as far as circling back to your body shop days, can you tell me what a typical work day was like, working at the body shop for you? 00:31:18.230 --> 00:31:26.329 Well, we also had wreckers, so that was a thorn in the side, because you had to deal with that, yeah. 00:31:26.329 --> 00:31:28.000 So, you were definitely multitasking? 00:31:28.000 --> 00:32:09.190 Yeah, we, yeah, yeah, I can we, it was just when they had a wreck, you know, we, we knew, that's how we knew a lot of people in Bristow, because we picked them up with the wrecker, and then we would fix their car if we could. If it totaled out, I had to make an estimate, you know. I dealt with a lot of adjusters, you know, insurance adjusters always, you know. And you'd have to have an estimate ready, and then they'd make their own, you know, and you compared it and all. But you also had a crash book that told you the price of the part and also the labor. So, you made your own thing, and then he'd come and pair it with his. 00:32:09.190 --> 00:32:14.980 Right, and, so, you did that for 30 years, and then you sold it to James Raney? Is that? 00:32:14.980 --> 00:32:15.609 Yeah, yeah. 00:32:15.609 --> 00:32:19.390 And then you, but he opened another body shop, Blackie's Body Shop, right? 00:32:19.390 --> 00:32:23.589 No, it was Blackie's Body Shop. Well, it was B&F Body Shop. 00:32:23.589 --> 00:32:24.000 But I thought 00:32:24.000 --> 00:32:29.970 Then, when we was in the country, he'd had to change names, because I know James never did change it. 00:32:29.970 --> 00:32:30.299 Right. 00:32:30.299 --> 00:32:44.460 Yeah, we was six miles right there on, well, five from Bristow, you know, right on 66, and it was Blackie's Body Shop. We had to get our book work all changed to Blackie's Body Shop. He left it B&F, so we couldn't have the same name, you know. 00:32:44.460 --> 00:33:01.470 Right, okay, um, and, okay, so, let's talk about your husband a little bit. I I know you've told me a little bit about him, and I know you said that you wrote letters, and that's how you but how did you actually first meet him? 00:33:01.470 --> 00:33:13.000 Well, he went to, they signed up together. I didn't even know him. They signed up together with my brother, and that's what to say they that's how I met him. And that was Saturday night, and we wrote them letters for two years. 00:33:13.000 --> 00:33:15.000 So, you basically just met him once? 00:33:15.000 --> 00:33:15.779 Right. Can you tell me his full name, so we can have that on record? 00:33:15.779 --> 00:33:44.880 Well, yeah, he'd come in on the weekend or something. But then after two years, and he got sent to Camp McCoy, Wisconsin. Well, he was at Fort Bliss, Texas, and we wrote, but when he got sent to Camp McCoy, Wisconsin, that's when I told my dad and mom, and I wasn't quite 16, and I'd have been 16 in two months, but I went ahead and told them, I was going with him. We'd done had enough of that writing. 00:33:44.880 --> 00:33:47.099 James Albert Farris, Jr. 00:33:47.099 --> 00:33:51.809 Okay, and I have his date of birth as October 11, 1929? 00:33:51.809 --> 00:33:52.000 Yeah. 00:33:52.000 --> 00:34:00.660 Does that sound right? Okay. Um, so whenever you decided to go with him, did you guys just decide to get married or what? How did that work? 00:34:00.660 --> 00:34:01.000 Yeah, we went to the justice of the peace. He didn't have no money. Had been in the army, and his dad was a farmer, and that's what we did. Just went to the justice of the peace. 00:34:01.000 --> 00:34:15.820 So, there really wasn't an engagement or anything? You just decided to get married? Okay. And then you were married 00:34:15.820 --> 00:34:20.980 Well, we knew we was going to get married. We just had to wait till we could afford it. 00:34:20.980 --> 00:34:22.780 The logistics of it? 00:34:22.780 --> 00:34:24.199 Yeah. 00:34:24.199 --> 00:34:28.489 So, what was early married life like for you? 00:34:28.489 --> 00:34:42.739 Well, we was in, like I said, Wisconsin, you know, and I had, I worked for 50 cents an hour, just like where I could eat, because he ate out of the camps. There was no problem with him, with me, though I've lived in an apartment up there. Well, he did, too. 00:34:42.739 --> 00:34:44.809 Well, were you lonesome to move away from 00:34:44.809 --> 00:34:47.809 No, because I worked in a cafe all day long and 00:34:47.809 --> 00:34:59.199 Well, it seems like coming from a big family, a big family that was family oriented, to go and move off to another state that young, it seems like you might be a little bit homesick, but I guess you rolled with it. 00:34:59.199 --> 00:35:07.039 There's people around, and I didn't, you know. I didn't get lonesome. I guess he was all I needed. I don't know what else? 00:35:07.039 --> 00:35:12.079 Right. Okay, um, so how many children do you guys have? 00:35:12.079 --> 00:35:12.559 Four. 00:35:12.559 --> 00:35:17.860 You have four children. Can you tell me each of their names, please? 00:35:17.860 --> 00:35:24.159 My oldest was Darlene Kay Farris Pierson. P I E R S O N. 00:35:24.159 --> 00:35:27.610 And I have her birthday as October 5, 1951. 00:35:27.610 --> 00:35:28.210 Yeah. 00:35:28.210 --> 00:35:30.250 And then who's the next one? 00:35:30.250 --> 00:35:33.099 James Albert Farris, III. 00:35:33.099 --> 00:35:37.630 I have him as January 24, 1954. Does he go by Buddy? 00:35:37.630 --> 00:35:38.739 No, yeah, Buddy. 00:35:38.739 --> 00:35:39.000 Okay. 00:35:39.000 --> 00:35:43.199 He has that Broken Arrow brewery, you know, up there, yeah. 00:35:43.199 --> 00:35:47.429 Okay. And, so, was that his correct birthday? January 24, 1954. 00:35:47.429 --> 00:35:48.300 Yeah. 00:35:48.300 --> 00:35:50.980 Okay. And then your next one? 00:35:50.980 --> 00:35:58.929 Sharon Rena Farris Campbell. C A M P B E L L. 00:35:58.929 --> 00:36:02.260 Okay, and I have her as June 9, 1960. 00:36:02.260 --> 00:36:02.800 Yeah. 00:36:02.800 --> 00:36:04.000 Okay. And then your last one? 00:36:04.000 --> 00:36:09.070 Rhinda Jo Farris Knight, and what'd I say that guy's name was? 00:36:09.070 --> 00:36:09.670 Knight. 00:36:09.670 --> 00:36:10.840 You told me 00:36:10.840 --> 00:36:15.099 Okay, that was her last one. She was married by five or six times. K N I G H T. 00:36:15.099 --> 00:36:18.250 Okay. And I have her as June 30, 1964. 00:36:18.250 --> 00:36:18.639 Yeah. 00:36:18.639 --> 00:36:27.000 Okay, um, so what would you say were some challenges of being a mom of of little kids, or, you know, throughout growing up? 00:36:27.000 --> 00:36:52.199 Yeah, well, we tried to get them involved in stuff that we knew they'd like when they grew up. Because we, you know, knew, already knew that if they could get involved in something, and the girls was, couldn't care less, but Buddy, right off the reel, he wasn't three-years-old, wanted a guitar, and it went amplified right on up to electric guitar on up the way. And he still has [indecipherable]. 00:36:52.199 --> 00:36:53.980 So, he and he enjoys music. 00:36:53.980 --> 00:37:04.199 And he's 70 years old or something now, and he still likes that. But he has two businesses, Broken Arrow brewery and Tulsa auto, I mean, Tulsa Fire & Police Supply. 00:37:04.199 --> 00:37:10.329 Okay, alright, um, do you have any grandchildren? 00:37:10.329 --> 00:37:42.219 Yeah, I have 11. The three of them was that last one that I told you was nuts, just about she was only one of my kids that was on the honor roll all through high school. And she made the worst decisions, so she graduated as any kid could possibly make, but the last guy that she was with, those girls come around once in a while, you know, but they're kind of like strangers, but outside that they was eight, eight that lived around here. 00:37:42.219 --> 00:37:44.320 Around here, okay. 00:37:44.320 --> 00:37:47.170 Well, they don't live all around here. 00:37:47.170 --> 00:38:01.559 They're all over. Okay, well, I'm going to ask you a hard question, and this might make you think a little bit.What would you consider to be the most important invention during your lifetime? 00:38:01.559 --> 00:38:14.219 Probably the washing machine. With that many kids, I used that thing more than I did anything that was really handy. Because I remember my mom had a rub board. 00:38:14.219 --> 00:38:28.690 Yeah, man, I bet. Okay, well, that's a good answer. Um, so what do you feel is our nation's biggest problem right now, and how do you think it can be solved? 00:38:28.690 --> 00:38:42.369 Well, as long as they keep social security going, as far as I'm concerned, for older people, that's the way to go, and if they'll work till they get up social security age, they've got her made. Because you can live on that if you want to. 00:38:42.369 --> 00:38:42.460 Rright. 00:38:42.460 --> 00:38:51.190 I mean, that's only thing I know, that just if you don't work, you know, my husband and I, we worked hard, but we played hard. 00:38:51.190 --> 00:38:53.440 Well, that's good. That's a good balance. 00:38:53.440 --> 00:39:00.099 Yeah, we did. We we loved to ride a motor, he had a Harley all the time that we got enough money to get one. NOTE TRANSCRIPTION END ]]> audio 0 https://bristoworalhistory.org/ohms/render.php?cachefile=OHP-0066_Kattie_Farris.xml OHP-0066_Kattie_Farris.xml
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Kattie Farris
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Kattie Farris was born December 13, 1934, in Depew, Oklahoma. Kattie's parents, Sidney Vern Russell and Clara Ellen Gross Russell, were a pumper and a housewife. Kattie had six siblings, including two brothers and four sisters. She attended Bristow Schools until the 10th grade and worked at J&J Cafe. Kattie married James Albert Farris Jr. after exchanging letters during his army service. They had four children: Darlene Kay Farris Pierson, James Albert Farris III, Sharon Rena Farris Campbell, and Rhinda Jo Farris Knight. Kattie worked at B&F Body Shop for 30 years and later at the senior citizens center.
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OHP-0066
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2024-09-06
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audio
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61eb499f6f294e9a8a3beacac8df9e22
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Family Histories
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Oral accounts of various family histories
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Bristow Historical Society, oral history collection
Oral History
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Wanda Newton
Interviewee
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Lafayette Johnson
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https://bristoworalhistory.org/ohms/viewer.php?cachefile=OHP-0039B_Lafayette_Johnson.xml
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5.4 November 28, 1990 OHP-0039B Lafayette Johnson OHP-0039B 0:00-15:55 Bristow Historical Society - Oral History Archive Bristow Historical Society, Inc. Lafayette Johnson Wanda Newton 1:|32(5)|66(3)|96(9)|142(2)|171(16)|205(16)|241(14)|285(9)|315(5)|353(3)|384(10)|408(11)|428(14)|456(5)|486(1) 0 https://bristoworalhistory.org/interviews/OHP-0039B Johnson, Lafayette.mp3 Other audio 0 Family WN: Wednesday, November 28, 1990. I’m in the Red Bird Shoe Store and I’m talking with Lafayette Johnson. Okay, Lafayette, will you tell us when you were born and where? LJ: March 17, 1936 in Creek County, Bristow, Oklahoma. WN: Okay, can you tell me anything at all about your mother? LJ: My mother was raised in Creek County. WN: And what is her name? LJ: Annie Belle Whittenburg. WN: Can you tell me anything about your grandparents? LJ: My grandmother—they was farmers. WN: Where did they farm, Lafayette? LJ: We farmed here in Bristow. WN: North? East? South? LJ: East of Bristow. WN: East of Bristow. And how many children were there in your family? LJ: There was six. WN: And where were you in the family? Were you the oldest? LJ: Next to the oldest. Lafayette talks about his family and being the next to the oldest of six children. Annie Belle Whittenburg ; Creek County ; family family 65 Farming & ; Travel Can you tell me anything that your mother and father did while you were out in the country that was of particular interest? What did they farm? LJ: They farmed mostly cotton. WN: Did you own your own land? LJ: No, we was farm sharecropping. WN: You were sharecropping. Lafayette recalls cotton as the primary thing his family farmed as sharecroppers and also traveling via horses and a wagon. cotton ; farming ; horses ; sharecropping ; travel ; wagon farming ; travel 185 School WN: Okay. Do you remember where you went to school, Lafayette? LJ: Lincoln High. WN: At Lincoln High. Can you tell me what it was like at Lincoln High? How many years did you go? LJ: Twelve years. WN: You went twelve years. Can you tell me what it was like? LJ: It was a great school. WN: It was a great school. Can you remember a special teacher you had? LJ: Well, Mr. Franklin (WH “William” Franklin). Lafayette remembers attending Lincoln High School and his favorite subject being history taught by Mr. Franklin. discipline ; Lincoln High School ; Okmulgee Technical School ; school ; WH " ; William" ; Franklin school 286 Wagons & ; Farming WN: Okay, did your mother and daddy ever have a wagon—a new wagon or can you remember anything special that they had? LJ: Well we always had a nice wagon because that’s how we had to travel! (laughs) WN: Do you remember picking cotton ever? LJ: Yes, ma’am! WN: You remember how much you were paid? LJ: Well just by what you could eat, and in clothing, I mean—(laughs) WN: Alright, do you happen to remember how many cows that you owned, Lafayette? LJ: Well, we probably had—we had probably, had two or three cows. Most every people, most all farmers had they own milk cows because that’s where they got the milk. Lafayette remembers having a nice wagon for the family and working on the farm with his siblings. cattle ; cotton ; farming ; wagon farming ; wagon 365 Home Life WN: What kind of a house did you live in when you were little? LJ: Oh, they was probably about a three-four room house. They was just farmhouses, just farmhouses. WN: Okay, you didn’t have any—no log cabins or anything. LJ: Naw. It wasn’t any electricity then, when I was— WN: You didn’t have electricity? You had the outhouses? LJ: Yeah, outhouses, kerosene lights. WN: And did you have to chop wood? LJ: Yeah. Started with a crosscut saw, not with a chainsaw. (laughs) WN: Did your mother ever make any soap? Do you remember your mother making soap? LJ: No. I think my grandmothers made lye soap. Lafayette recalls living in a small farmhouse with an outhouse and no electricity. He remembers helping around the house with everything from laundry, chopping wood or cleaning. butchering ; crosscut saw ; farmhouse ; kerosene lamps ; outhouse ; rendering lard ; washing board home life 510 Town Trips & ; Social Life WN: Alright, what you remember best about Bristow when you were a little boy? LJ: Well, the most important time I used to come to down, you know, is when you picked cotton all week and then you’d come to down and you’d ride, you’d see ‘em gin the cotton. And then you’d eat a hamburger and get a Coke and that was special because most then you didn’t—you wasn’t used to that. WN: Well, I expect that’s true. Well, tell me what about your social life? LJ: Well, we rode horses, swim. WN: Where did you swim? LJ: We just swim the creeks. Lafayette fondly remembers weekly trips to town after picking cotton all week. The highlight was purchasing a hamburger and a coke. horse riding ; Little Deep Fork ; swimming ; town trips social life ; town trips 566 Clothing & ; Church WN: Alright, how often did you get to buy new shoes, Lafayette? LJ: Well, most of the time you bought shoes in the fall of the year, you know, when you get the crop, you know, you get two pair of shoes—a work pair and a dress pair. WN: And where did you go to church, Lafayette? LJ: I went to the Baptist Church. It was out in the country. It was called Jacksonville. You remember Mr. Jackson used to live down here out east of town? WN: Yes. LJ: It was a Baptist church and that’s why they named it Jacksonville Church, Jacks— WN: Do you remember who the minister was? LJ: Reverend Taughtry (ph). Lafayette remembers getting to purchase two pair of shoes once a year and also attending the Baptist Church. Baptist Church ; church ; clothing church ; clothing 634 Jail WN: Were you ever in jail, Lafayette? LJ: Oh, yeah, once or twice. WN: What for? LJ: Oh, everybody gets out and take a drink or two, you know. (laughs) I mean, that’s part of growing up! (both laugh) Lafayette recalls being put in a jail a time or two. jail jail 647 Jim Crow Laws WN: What did you think about the Jim Crow laws when we had segregation, Lafayette? LJ: I never had very little problem, you know, and they had them here in Bristow, your restrooms, but—and I think everybody makes his own segregation, in my though--my thinking. WN: Well, that’s a nice way to think, isn’t it. But we have had—we haven’t had many racial problems here in Bristow— LJ: No, I started work at Bristow and Raymond (Raymond Cecil) for – when I was fifteen years old in the shoe shop. And I had very little trouble out of anybody in Bristow. WN: Yeah, you had lots of friends, didn’t you, Lafayette, yeah. LJ: Yes! WN: Okay, can you think of anything that was especially hard for you, Lafayette, because you were black? LJ: Well, no I really, I don’t think—I think, I think it might’ve been—because the last year I finished school I took mechanical drawing, and that was 1958 and Lincoln was segrega—I mean, was integrated. Lafayette didn't feel that segregation or racism really affected him in his life in Bristow. Jim Crow Laws ; Raymond Cecil ; segregation Jim Crow Laws 794 Clothing WN: Okay, well let’s see what else we need to (sound of pages flipping) find out about here. Let’s see. What dress fashion did you think was the – maybe the best for you? LJ: Well I always wore boots and Levis, overalls, you know, that what I was raised—you know, I was raised in that. WN: And that’s your favorite? LJ: Yeah. WN: That’s your favorite thing. Do you remember any dust storms at all, Lafayette? LJ: No, I never was in any dust storms. I was, that was way back. That was back in, I think, in— WN: In the ‘30s. LJ: In the ‘30s, I wasn’t born ‘til ’36, so— Lafayette recalls boots, Levis and overalls being his primary clothing. boots ; clothing ; Levis ; overalls clothing 829 Family Disasters WN: Wow, so you missed all that. Well I remember that. Do you remember any kind of disaster that happened to you or your family? LJ: Yeah. Well I remember one year that we was—I think we was gathering the crop, we was on the—closing it out and we come back and our house was completely burnt down, and we’d just bought all the clothes, all the Christmas presents, and everything. We come back to all ashes. WN: And what happened after that? LJ: Well, I was in a tornader. You know when the tornadoes through here? WN: Yes, I remember that. LJ: That was a night disaster. WN: That was in the ‘60s, wasn’t it? LJ: Yeah, it was in the 60s. Lafayette remembers his family surviving a house fire and a tornado. He also recalls having open-heart surgery and the kindness of his friends and townspeople who visited him after. disasters ; house fire ; Red Cross ; surgery ; tornado family disasters MP3 Lafayette Johnson (1936-2002) discusses his early life on a farm east of Bristow, chores, trips to town, social life as a young man, Jim Crow laws, dress fashions, and family disasters and events. WN: Wednesday, November 28, 1990. I' ; m in the Red Bird Shoe Store and I' ; m talking with Lafayette Johnson. Okay, Lafayette, will you tell us when you were born and where? LJ: March 17, 1936 in Creek County, Bristow, Oklahoma. WN: Okay, can you tell me anything at all about your mother? LJ: My mother was raised in Creek County. WN: And what is her name? LJ: Annie Belle Whittenburg. WN: Can you tell me anything about your grandparents? LJ: My grandmother--they was farmers. WN: Where did they farm, Lafayette? LJ: We farmed here in Bristow. WN: North? East? South? LJ: East of Bristow. WN: East of Bristow. And how many children were there in your family? LJ: There was six. WN: And where were you in the family? Were you the oldest? LJ: Next to the oldest. WN: Next to the oldest. Can you tell me anything that your mother and father did while you were out in the country that was of particular interest? What did they farm? LJ: They farmed mostly cotton. WN: Did you own your own land? LJ: No, we was farm sharecropping. WN: You were sharecropping. Do you remember anything that your mother told you particular about when she was a little girl? Or your grandmother? Can you remember anything? LJ: Well, one thing they told me would be honesty. Tell people the truth. WN: Okay, how did they travel? How did your mother travel? Did you all have a car? LJ: No we traveled wagon. WN: Wagon. LJ: And walk. WN: And did you have any horses? LJ: Yeah! WN: What else did you grow besides cotton? LJ: They growed high-gear (a type of sorghum), corn, vegetable crops, you know, and gardens. WN: Can you tell me whether your grandparents or anybody in your family was involved in any war or can you remember any stories of the Civil War or World War I, or-- LJ: No, I had an uncle that was in World War II. WN: In World War II. When your mother had her children, do you remember, did she have a midwife, or? LJ: I had a midwife that birthed me. WN: You had a midwife that birthed you. LJ: Yeah. WN: Did you ever help with any of the births of any of the children? LJ: Nah. WN: Did your mother ever go to the hospital for any of them? LJ: I don' ; t remember. WN: You don' ; t remember. Do you remember anything that she--did she ever tell you anything about the early slave days, Lafayette? LJ: No, my grand--my mother wasn' ; t in the slaves, the slavin' ; . WN: She was not in the-- LJ: No. I think some of my great-grandparents were, but-- WN: You don' ; t remember where they were? LJ: No. I think they was raised around Paris, Texas. WN: Okay. Do you remember where you went to school, Lafayette? LJ: Lincoln High. WN: At Lincoln High. Can you tell me what it was like at Lincoln High? How many years did you go? LJ: Twelve years. WN: You went twelve years. Can you tell me what it was like? LJ: It was a great school.WN: It was a great school. Can you remember a special teacher you had? LJ: Well, Mr. Franklin (WH " ; William" ; Franklin). WN: Mr. Franklin. Can you tell us any kind of memories about him? LJ: Well, he was a history teacher. WN: He was your history teacher. LJ: And he was the basketball coach at Lincoln High for a long time. WN: What kind of discipline did you have at the school? LJ: Very strict. WN: Did you ever get a spanking? LJ: Yeah. Two. I can tell you who I got ' ; em from, too! WN: Who? LJ: It was W.M. Bitsy (ph). WN: Oooh! And what did you do, Lafayette, to have to get a spanking? LJ: Well, I just mis--misobeyed her orders and she-- WN: (laughs) What did you use in school? Did you have your--did you have to buy your own books, or? LJ: Well we bought, I think we bought, we had to buy our own workbooks. WN: And your own pencils and papers and things like that. LJ: Yeah. WN: Can you tell me what subjects you studied in school at any time that were important to you, Lafayette? LJ: History. WN: History. That was your favorite one. When you finished high school, Lafayette, what did you do? LJ: Well, I went to work at the shop here and then I went to go--I mean I went to Okmulgee Tech and took shoe repair. WN: Did you ever make enough money, Lafayette, to buy a car? LJ: No. I mean, I never did care for a car! (both laugh) WN: Okay, did your mother and daddy ever have a wagon--a new wagon or can you remember anything special that they had? LJ: Well we always had a nice wagon because that' ; s how we had to travel! (laughs) WN: Do you remember picking cotton ever? LJ: Yes, ma' ; am! WN: You remember how much you were paid? LJ: Well just by what you could eat, and in clothing, I mean--(laughs) WN: Alright, do you happen to remember how many cows that you owned, Lafayette? LJ: Well, we probably had--we had probably, had two or three cows. Most every people, most all farmers had they own milk cows because that' ; s where they got the milk. WN: Do you remember working for anybody else in the fields? LJ: Yeah, I worked for--you remember the Grimeses (ph) in here, don' ; t you? I worked with them. WN: Yes, I do. LJ: You know, they was about eighteen or twenty of those in the family. WN: Yeah. Did your brothers and sisters work on the farm, too? LJ: Yeah. Most all of us worked on the farm. WN: And you' ; re all--don' ; t tell me that Frankie ever-- LJ: No, no, he, no, he' ; s the youngest one, he never did get any of that. He got in the wood cutting and everything, like that. WN: Can you remember the most cotton you ever chopped or pulled or anything like that? LJ: Well, I never was a very good cotton picker, I never could pick enough to go to sleep on. (laughs) WN: What kind of a house did you live in when you were little? LJ: Oh, they was probably about a three-four room house. They was just farmhouses, just farmhouses. WN: Okay, you didn' ; t have any--no log cabins or anything. LJ: Naw. It wasn' ; t any electricity then, when I was-- WN: You didn' ; t have electricity? You had the outhouses? LJ: Yeah, outhouses, kerosene lights. WN: And did you have to chop wood? LJ: Yeah. Started with a crosscut saw, not with a chainsaw. (laughs) WN: Did your mother ever make any soap? Do you remember your mother making soap? LJ: No. I think my grandmothers made lye soap. WN: My grandmother did, too. Did you ever help with the laundry? LJ: Sure, I learned everything. How to wash my clothes, and-- WN: Are you--did you have a washing machine? LJ: We had a washing board, mostly. WN: Yeah, that' ; s right. And you helped your mother? LJ: Yeah. I used to help clean house, wash dishes, cook, I mean--do anything. WN: Did you remember anything about butchering back in those days? LJ: Yeah. WN: Well tell me a little bit about how you butchered. LJ: Well, you used to take a hog, you know, and they used to--and you' ; d boil a swill (ph) and get it real hot then you' ; d put lye in there and then you' ; d put the hog down in there with the lye, you know. WN: And you stuck the hog? LJ: Yeah. In the hot water, you know, and got all the hair off. WN: I know, but you had to kill it, first. LJ: Yeah, you had to kill it and cut its throat. WN: Oh, did you ever do that? LJ: I helped folks do it, I helped my folks do it. WN: You didn' ; t cry, or? LJ: Naw, you get used to it. WN: (laughs) And then after you got it in the lye water, what did you do, Lafayette? LJ: Then after you pull out, then you scraped all its hair off and then you hang him up and let him, you know, cool out, you know. WN: How long did that take? LJ: Probably two or three days. ' ; Cause it' ; d be so cold, you know, they would freeze. And then all that blood, you know, drip out. WN: Do you remember your mother rendering lard? LJ: Yeah. WN: How did she do that? Out in the open or in the house? LJ: Yeah, used to do it in the house, you know, used to take that fat and you just cook it all, and the grease, and let it set, and when it sets, you know, it forms, you know, and it cools down. WN: And then she stored it in cans? LJ: Yeah. WN: Oooh. Alright. Do you remember anything that was special that your mother used to cook for you that you really liked? LJ: Blackberry cobbler. (laughs) WN: Who picked the blackberries? LJ: Oh, I' ; d pick the blackberries. WN: Where did you find them? Out on your fields, or-- LJ: Yeah. Out in--you' ; d find ' ; em out in the farms around. WN: Alright, what you remember best about Bristow when you were a little boy? LJ: Well, the most important time I used to come to down, you know, is when you picked cotton all week and then you' ; d come to down and you' ; d ride, you' ; d see ' ; em gin the cotton. And then you' ; d eat a hamburger and get a Coke and that was special because most then you didn' ; t--you wasn' ; t used to that. WN: Well, I expect that' ; s true. Well, tell me what about your social life? LJ: Well, we rode horses, swim. WN: Where did you swim? LJ: We just swim the creeks. WN: Oh, in the creeks? Which creek? Sand Creek, or-- LJ: Well we live out east of town there, it was called, it was part of Little Deep Fork. Little Deep Fork, you know, runs through lots of places. WN: Well were you ever worried about the quicksand? LJ: Naw, you didn' ; t worry about anything. (laughs) WN: How about sand burrs? LJ: Oh, yeah, you' ; d get a bunch of those, uh-huh. WN: Alright, how often did you get to buy new shoes, Lafayette? LJ: Well, most of the time you bought shoes in the fall of the year, you know, when you get the crop, you know, you get two pair of shoes--a work pair and a dress pair. WN: And where did you go to church, Lafayette? LJ: I went to the Baptist Church. It was out in the country. It was called Jacksonville. You remember Mr. Jackson used to live down here out east of town? WN: Yes. LJ: It was a Baptist church and that' ; s why they named it Jacksonville Church, Jacks-- WN: Do you remember who the minister was? LJ: Reverend Taughtry (ph). WN: Reverend Taughtry (ph). Oh, I remember the Taughtrys (ph) real well. LJ: And there was another one that was Reverend Morrisey (ph) used to preach after--used to ride a bicycle from town. WN: Oh, my. LJ: If we took up three dollars, that was great, you know, that was a big offering. (laughs) WN: Well, things have changed, haven' ; t they? Well how about your social life out there, Lafayette? Did you all--did you have most of your social life with the church, or-- LJ: Yeah, it was mostly church activities. And you played a little baseball and a few games and other things like that. WN: Were you ever in jail, Lafayette? LJ: Oh, yeah, once or twice. WN: What for? LJ: Oh, everybody gets out and take a drink or two, you know. (laughs) I mean, that' ; s part of growing up! (both laugh) WN: What did you think about the Jim Crow laws when we had segregation, Lafayette? LJ: I never had very little problem, you know, and they had them here in Bristow, your restrooms, but--and I think everybody makes his own segregation, in my though--my thinking. WN: Well, that' ; s a nice way to think, isn' ; t it. But we have had--we haven' ; t had many racial problems here in Bristow-- LJ: No, I started work at Bristow and Raymond (Raymond Cecil) for -- when I was fifteen years old in the shoe shop. And I had very little trouble out of anybody in Bristow. WN: Yeah, you had lots of friends, didn' ; t you, Lafayette, yeah. LJ: Yes! WN: Okay, can you think of anything that was especially hard for you, Lafayette, because you were black? LJ: Well, no I really, I don' ; t think--I think, I think it might' ; ve been--because the last year I finished school I took mechanical drawing, and that was 1958 and Lincoln was segrega--I mean, was integrated. WN: Integrated, yes. LJ: Well, I think sometimes, you know, it' ; s--I would say, you know, it' ; s--it wasn' ; t too embarrassing because I never did want to force myself on anybody. WN: I know, but have you found it difficult in any situation with the--between the whites and the blacks? Did you feel resentful when you couldn' ; t go swimming in the swimming pool and these kinds of things? LJ: No, I--that--I never was around the pool. WN: And so it just didn' ; t simply, didn' ; t bother you. Did you do any kind of--well, let me go back up. Did you ever feel that your parents or your grandparents suffered because they were black? LJ: Well, I--I think back then, people, you know, they--if they had, you know, if they was qualified they wasn' ; t hired after jobs, you know. And you know, some of them didn' ; t have an opportunity to get an education, but I had to get it. WN: Yeah. And that was the greatest difficulty, getting-- LJ: Yeah. WN: --getting an education. Did you ever, were you ever in the military, Lafayette? LJ: No, ma' ; am. WN: Okay, well let' ; s see what else we need to (sound of pages flipping) find out about here. Let' ; s see. What dress fashion did you think was the -- maybe the best for you? LJ: Well I always wore boots and Levis, overalls, you know, that what I was raised--you know, I was raised in that. WN: And that' ; s your favorite? LJ: Yeah. WN: That' ; s your favorite thing. Do you remember any dust storms at all, Lafayette? LJ: No, I never was in any dust storms. I was, that was way back. That was back in, I think, in-- WN: In the ' ; 30s. LJ: In the ' ; 30s, I wasn' ; t born ' ; til ' ; 36, so-- WN: Wow, so you missed all that. Well I remember that. Do you remember any kind of disaster that happened to you or your family? LJ: Yeah. Well I remember one year that we was--I think we was gathering the crop, we was on the--closing it out and we come back and our house was completely burnt down, and we' ; d just bought all the clothes, all the Christmas presents, and everything. We come back to all ashes. WN: And what happened after that? LJ: Well, I was in a tornader. You know when the tornadoes through here? WN: Yes, I remember that. LJ: That was a night disaster. WN: That was in the ' ; 60s, wasn' ; t it? LJ: Yeah, it was in the 60s. WN: Well did people befriend you and come and-- LJ: Yeah! Everybody helped us. And they--it was no problems. WN: And it all worked out then, didn' ; t it? LJ: Yeah. The Red Cross helped to get us a house and everything we [indecipherable]. WN: Well that' ; s wonderful. Well, is there anything you' ; d like to say on the tape, Lafayette? This is gonna be for posterity, now, I' ; m gonna put this tape in the library and it' ; s gonna have Lafayette Johnson' ; s name on it. Can you think of anything you' ; d like to say? LJ: Well, the most recent I had an open-heart surgery, you know, back in 1988, ' ; 89, and which the people of Bristow was real grateful and I really enjoyed it. WN: Well, you enjoyed that surgery?! LJ: I enjoyed the visits after it, you know, and the kindness. WN: Oh, that' ; s wonderful. LJ: And I think it gives you a new lease on life, you know. Because when you' ; ve got friends-- WN: You' ; ve been a good friend to everybody! LJ: That' ; s right! WN: I' ; ll never forget, Lafayette, when you tried to sell me that cream to make me beautiful-- (both laugh) WN: You' ; ve did a lot--done a little bit of everything, haven' ; t you? LJ: I was up there at baseball, I' ; ve made it all! WN: Yes, you' ; ve helped a lot with the young people, haven' ; t you? LJ: Yes. WN: And what suggestion would you make for the black people in our community today? LJ: Is to work real hard and get an education and be qualified. WN: That' ; s the most important thing, isn' ; t it? LJ: Yes. WN: Alright, this is Wanda Newton and Lafayette Johnson, signing off, on November 28, 1990. audio 0 https://bristoworalhistory.org/ohms/viewer.php?cachefile=OHP-0039B_Lafayette_Johnson.xml OHP-0039B_Lafayette_Johnson.xml
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Lafayette Johnson
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Lafayette Johnson (1936-2002) discusses his early life on a farm east of Bristow, chores, trips to town, social life as a young man, Jim Crow laws, dress fashions, and family disasters and events.
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1990-11-28
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Oral History
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Bristow
Architecture
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5.4 Unknown Date OHP-0016-01 Lecture on Storefronts of Bristow OHP-0016-01 Bristow Historical Society - Oral History Archive Lectures Bristow Historical Society, Inc. Lecture on Storefronts of Bristow Bristow architecture MP3 1:|20(1)|30(9)|42(6)|52(8)|63(1)|74(3)|85(7)|97(11)|108(5)|120(13)|133(9)|147(2)|158(13)|171(10)|182(8)|191(10)|204(7)|215(8)|230(1)|241(13)|253(11)|267(14)|278(10)|291(7)|305(6)|319(2)|331(2)|344(10)|358(2) 0 https://bristoworalhistory.org/interviews/OHP-0016-01 Townscape Lecture.mp3 Other audio 0 Patterns in Buildings UW: --Slide four is also an example of the assets of Main Street. This is decorative brickwork along the tops of the buildings. Sometimes you find this special decorative brickwork around the windows, as in the Stone building in Bristow. Or you can find the special asset that’s hidden, such as the brass pavers which denote the crosswalk in Bristow. When we stop to look at Main Street, we discover that the changes taking place over time have begun to obscure these special assets. It becomes more and more difficult to distinguish those special details that make the community—Main Street particularly—an interesting place to be. Patterns in building and architecture in Bristow Anthony's ; architecture ; Bristow ; patterns ; Stone Building architecture ; Patterns 163 Alignment Alignment is another term that we use in a townscape program, and this particular example—number twenty—shows the alignment of the rooftops of these three buildings, the alignment of the windows on the second and third floors, and the alignment of the storefront. It’s a very strong, horizontal element on this street which gives you a feeling of visual continuity. Slide twenty-one is an example of Granbury, Texas, and how they maintain the alignment in the second floors of the buildings, even though one of the buildings has been altered to accommodate a drive-in bank. Another technique for maintaining that horizontal band on the street, if a building has been demolished, is something like the addition of the brick columns that we see here in Tulsa that finish off a vacant lot. Alignment is explained in reference to buildings in Bristow alignment ; architecture ; Bristow ; Stone Building ; townscape architecture ; Bristow ; buildings 401 Facades and Windows Another change that we’ve seen happening on main street is closing down of facades, because possibly the use has changed in that building and there’s more privacy required for one reason or another. An alternative to this is the Fig Tree Restaurant idea which—when they needed more privacy for the diners, rather than boarding up the large display windows in the first floor of the building, they simply added a coat of black paint to the glass and added their logo so that they had the privacy for the new use of the space, but on the street you’ve maintained the original shapes and patterns of the windows. Discussion of facades and windows in buildings in Bristow Ada ; Allen's Alley ; architecture ; Bristow ; Calthy's Half-Size Shop ; Elk City ; facades ; Fig Tree Restaurant ; Jeans Crossing ; June's Fashions ; storefront ; The Coreys ; the Gift House architecture ; Bristow ; facades ; windows 646 Painting Buildings This opportunity exists on many Oklahoma Main Streets. This particular case in Bristow really only needs some basic maintenance and you could have the original design intact. Now in many cases, changes are necessary on the street, and a townscape program does not mean we really oppose change just for the sake of opposing change. Discussion of painting buildings in Bristow Ada Men's Store ; architecture ; B& ; B Rexall Drugs ; brick arches ; Bristow ; buildings ; Jackson Office Equipment ; Leventhal Furs ; Main Street ; paint ; townscape program architecture ; Bristow ; buildings ; main street ; paint 813 Mini-malls and Joining Buildings The mini-mall is a kind of marketing concept that we’re beginning to see on more main streets as larger buildings are not really viable for one establishment. This particular example is in Elk City, and let’s just juxtapose it with the next example, and that way of advertising the retail establishments in that mini-mall. You can see how much stronger it is when you’re using the whole façade of the building to advertise what’s going on inside, and not trying to attract people just by the use of a less-than-interesting white plastic sign. Discussion of the mini-mall and joining buildings approach of marketing architecture ; Bristow ; JC Penney ; marketing ; minimall ; Otasco ; Todd Furniture Store architecture ; Bristow ; marketing ; mini-mall 958 Signs and Awnings The next section we want to discuss will be signs and the fact that signs come in many different forms in the community [and] are obviously a very strong visual element. In this case, the furniture store and also kitchen stuff in Ada, you see the painted-on sign and you also see the flush-mounted sign. In many cases there’s a place right within the architecture of a building to put the sign, and that area was called the sign band. Here’s an example of the H& ; H Tire Center in Elk City that has used that existing place within the architecture to put the sign. You can see what that does to the total façade of the building—you use the whole building as a way to advertise the store, not just the sign, not just the display windows. A much stronger kind of marketing approach. Signs and Awnings being used for marketing architecture ; awnings ; Bristow ; H& ; H Tire Center ; Main Street ; marketing ; sign band ; signs architecture ; awnings ; Bristow ; Main Street ; marketing ; signs 1169 Pedestrians and Street Furniture Townscape programs are also concerned about pedestrians and the areas within the street that are intended for pedestrian use and for automobile use. And in this example you can see that there’s normally very little definition between those zones. There’s no way of defining that edge. Now here’s one way that could improve that—the use of some simple shrubs to define where the pedestrian area is, where the parking lot is, where the area is for the automobiles. Discussion of pedestrians and street furniture on main street brick paving ; pedestrians ; sidewalk ; street furniture ; townscape program pedestrians ; sidewalks 1333 Public Information and Parking Public information is something that every community is concerned about, and this is typically the way it is presented on a tall aluminum pole, which becomes rusted and is easily bent. A very simple alternative to that would be the use of a low wooden stake that actually puts that information at driver’s-eye level and doesn’t have the spindly quality, I guess you could say, of the aluminum poles. Ways to display public information and a discussion on parking Bristow ; Main Street ; Parking ; Public information parking ; public information 1447 Alleyways and Water Towers Alleyways are another thing to consider in a townscape program because while you have existing assets in a town, as we talked about in the beginning of the show, there’s also hidden opportunities and simple treatments, as in this case the addition of some trees to the alleyway, can make a huge difference in the impression that people have of the community. Alleyways and water towers are discussed in this section alley ; alleyways ; townscape program ; water tower alleyways ; water tower 1502 Other Townscape Projects Any size community can participate in a townscape program, and this particular example is Normandy, Tennessee. You can see the interesting hand-carved sign they’ve selected to announce their community and give it a special identity. You can also see here that they’ve applied some of these principles we’ve been talking about. Brief overview of other townscape projects Chelsea, Massachusetts ; Normandy, Tennessee ; Townscape project Townscape Project 1699 Closing Comments Basically, this gives you an overview of the issues we’re concerned about in a townscape program, and once again the thing to consider is What are the assets on your main street and your town. Drop back and look for those and then look at the things that maybe you’re not so proud of and begin to consider what kinds of changes could be made that will highlight the assets that exist within your community, strengthen those architectural features in the buildings, and not disrupt those original patterns that existed and that gave main street its special identity and gave the buildings their special unity. Closing comments of the lecture architecture ; Bristow ; buildings ; Main Street ; townscape project architecture ; Bristow ; Main Street ; townscape project This is an undated recording of an unknown woman presenting a professional lecture on maintaining the historical storefronts and township of Bristow. [Transcriber' ; s note: This is a lecture by an unknown woman made in conjunction with a slideshow. The click of the slide projector is audible throughout the lecture ; however, as of the date of the transcription and without additional information, we unfortunately cannot collate her comments to images. If you have any information about this lecture, please contact the Bristow Historical Society.] UW: --Slide four is also an example of the assets of Main Street. This is decorative brickwork along the tops of the buildings. Sometimes you find this special decorative brickwork around the windows, as in the Stone building in Bristow. Or you can find the special asset that' ; s hidden, such as the brass pavers which denote the crosswalk in Bristow. When we stop to look at Main Street, we discover that the changes taking place over time have begun to obscure these special assets. It becomes more and more difficult to distinguish those special details that make the community--Main Street particularly--an interesting place to be. When we talk about a townscape program, there are certain terms that we use, and one of those is " ; patterns." ; And you discover patterns at many different levels within the street. One of the places is within the building materials, as in the example of this two-colored brickwork from Elk City. Patterns also occur at different scales, as in this example from Bristow where you can see the patterns of the buildings' ; shapes and also the patterns of the decorative elements within the building facades themselves. Historically, our Main Streets had very strong patterns. This historic photo of Ada shows examples of the patterns of the rooftops, the patterns of the windows, and the patterns of the storefronts, all of which reinforce each other as your eye travels down the street. This is an example of those same kinds of patterns being reinforced on a contemporary main street. This particular example, slide number sixteen, is from Galveston. Now as we look at a contemporary main street--and in this example, slide seventeen, we' ; re looking at Bristow' ; s model block--we discover that changes on the street as in this addition of the aluminum to the Anthony' ; s store, begin to disrupt those historic patterns on the street. Slide eighteen is an example of the new pattern that you can add to the street when you add street trees, as they have in Elk City. It' ; s another way of reinforcing the appearance of the street and adding a special level--layer of interest. Alignment is another term that we use in a townscape program, and this particular example--number twenty--shows the alignment of the rooftops of these three buildings, the alignment of the windows on the second and third floors, and the alignment of the storefront. It' ; s a very strong, horizontal element on this street which gives you a feeling of visual continuity. Slide twenty-one is an example of Granbury, Texas, and how they maintain the alignment in the second floors of the buildings, even though one of the buildings has been altered to accommodate a drive-in bank. Another technique for maintaining that horizontal band on the street, if a building has been demolished, is something like the addition of the brick columns that we see here in Tulsa that finish off a vacant lot. Let' ; s take a look at the classic Victorian storefront--it had three main parts, or it has three main parts: the band of glass above the display windows, which are called transom windows or the clerestory ; the display window itself ; and the band beneath the display window, which is the kick plate. Slide twenty-four is an example of a storefront which is almost completely intact on an Oklahoma main street. The glass above the display windows in the Stone building in Bristow is actually the original leaded glass that was put in when the building was constructed. Unfortunately, we don' ; t have the original storefronts intact in many--in most examples on our main streets, and slide twenty-five shows one of the first changes that have happened on the street, and that' ; s the closing-down of the clerestory or transom window area. Now that' ; s occurred for many different reasons. Generally, because of recessing ceilings and putting in heating and cooling ducts, people did not want that exposed to the outside, so they had to come up with an alternative for blocking in that area. Now what' ; s happened when they' ; ve done that, is they' ; ve begun to destroy the original pattern of the building front as in those two examples. Now, alternatives to how to handle that clerestory area quite obviously--one would be to maintain the original glass, and that' ; s the ideal because you do recapture or maintain the original integrity--design integrity. Possibly a more practical alternative in many of our main street cases in Oklahoma is the idea of using colored panels of just simple plywood that fit within that clerestory area and maintaining the same shape of the original windows so that you keep the pattern of the building façade intact. Typically, the example in slide twenty-nine is in Bristow and what' ; s happened is the simple closing-down of that clerestory area by using some fiberglass panels. That' ; s totally separated that interesting terra cotta detail work on the top of the building from the pedestrian and the store entrances at the first floor of the building--something that you really don' ; t want to have happen because you' ; re losing a marketing opportunity. An alternative use for that area would be the--using the clerestory area as a place to put the sign advertising the retail establishment within the building as in these two examples in Fort Collins, Colorado. Another change that we' ; ve seen happening on main street is closing down of facades, because possibly the use has changed in that building and there' ; s more privacy required for one reason or another. An alternative to this is the Fig Tree Restaurant idea which--when they needed more privacy for the diners, rather than boarding up the large display windows in the first floor of the building, they simply added a coat of black paint to the glass and added their logo so that they had the privacy for the new use of the space, but on the street you' ; ve maintained the original shapes and patterns of the windows. Second stories and what to do with space that' ; s no longer commercially viable are a real problem on Oklahoma main streets. The Coreys (ph) example is in Elk City. An alternative to that simple boarding-up of the windows would be this example of Allen' ; s Alley (ph), which uses the second-story windows as a place for actually painting a sign right on the window. They' ; ve also closed off those windows by the use of drapery and some venetian blinds. Typically, though, the Cathy' ; s Half-Size Shop and the Gift House in Ada represent what happens on the street. Rather than trying to select a way of closing down those second-story windows that keeps the design of the building front intact, you have this sort of blanket boarding-up of the second story space. The complete cover-up is another kind of change that we' ; ve seen on many main streets, and that' ; s happened because people wanted something new and something that really looked very up-to-date. What happens when you choose that approach, though, is that the mass of aluminum really effectively erases the architectural detail of the building that it' ; s covering. And very rapidly, as in the June' ; s Fashions photo slide--(chuckles) June' ; s Fashions slide--it becomes Main Street Any Place. This example' ; s in Elk City, and there' ; s nothing really particularly outstanding. All the buildings look the same. This is an example in slide thirty-nine of a building in Fort Collins, Colorado which was completely covered up as in this photo at the beginning of the townscape problem. You had no more idea what the carriage of that building was like than anything. During a townscape program, this next slide shows you what was discovered beneath all of that aluminum. You can see the arch windows, the two-color brickwork, and the very simple but interesting Victorian storefront that was all lurking beneath that aluminum. So you can reclaim what' ; s behind the aluminum. It' ; s a matter of doing a little bit of historic research with some photos to find out what to expect once you get the aluminum off. The Jeans Crossing is an example of using the total storefront to advertise the retail establishment, not just the sign, not just the display windows on the first floor, but capture the identity, the architectural interest of the whole building and have that identify the retail establishment. This next slide is also an example of the same concept. In this case, they' ; ve gone to the point of actually reflecting some of the architectural details in the diamond pattern between the second and third floor windows in the gold design on the display windows. And this kind of opportunity exists in lots of main streets. (break in recording) This opportunity exists on many Oklahoma Main Streets. This particular case in Bristow really only needs some basic maintenance and you could have the original design intact. Now in many cases, changes are necessary on the street, and a townscape program does not mean we really oppose change just for the sake of opposing change. What we do try and have people think about is that when change needs to happen within a building, that it be done sensitively and in keeping with the original design of the building, as in this example where they have altered the storefront but maintained the original brick arches that are part of the building so that you have some compatibility with the renovated first-floor with the rest of the building. The Leventhal Furs is a good example of a building which has had the first floor entirely renovated, but they' ; ve done it in such a way that it' ; s compatible with the colors and the building materials of the second and third floors, so that they did go ahead and make the change but they' ; ve maintained the continuing and the unity of the total façade. Color is quite a big issue in a main street program because it' ; s obviously--it' ; s one of--it' ; s obviously a huge visual element. Unfortunately, when we' ; ve had our brick buildings painted, as in the Ada Men' ; s Store example, that begins to eliminate a lot of the architectural detail that was right within the brickwork on the building. The B& ; B Rexall Drugs in Bristow is also an example of a native stone building, in this case, that' ; s been completely painted and so you' ; ve lost that warm, interesting color and texture of the native stone. Once buildings have been painted, there' ; s no safe way to remove the paint without damaging the brick or native stone surface, and so the thing to do is use the paint to recapture the original character of the building as in this example, you can use the color to really bring out those architectural details. The Jackson Office Equipment building in Elk City is a marvelous opportunity to use color to really highlight the details of that building, and unfortunately that hasn' ; t been discovered yet by the owners. The mini-mall is a kind of marketing concept that we' ; re beginning to see on more main streets as larger buildings are not really viable for one establishment. This particular example is in Elk City, and let' ; s just juxtapose it with the next example, and that way of advertising the retail establishments in that mini-mall. You can see how much stronger it is when you' ; re using the whole façade of the building to advertise what' ; s going on inside, and not trying to attract people just by the use of a less-than-interesting white plastic sign. The very prosperous building owner is another reason that we' ; ve--very prosperous retailer--is another reason we' ; ve seen a lot of changes on main street, and in this case at the Otasco store in Bristow, you can see the typical approach has been to paint the buildings all one color and then store of string the sign down the block to show the joint ownership. This next example is another way of expressing that joint ownership, or the expansion of a prosperous retailer. And simply by using coordinated sign bands placed right within the architecture, you understand that all three of those stores are under the same management, but they' ; ve left the original integrity of the three separate structures intact. The J.C. Penney in Elk City is the more typical approach that we see on Oklahoma main streets of simply painting the buildings the same color and then tacking the sign somewhere midway between the two. Another alternative way of announcing that joint ownership is this example of the awnings and the use of the color--the green paint--to denote the mutual ownership of this, of these three buildings. And the Todd Furniture Store in Elk City is an example of the painting everything one color and spreading the signs out, basically. Not a very exciting approach, it doesn' ; t add very much to the street. The next section we want to discuss will be signs and the fact that signs come in many different forms in the community [and] are obviously a very strong visual element. In this case, the furniture store and also kitchen stuff in Ada, you see the painted-on sign and you also see the flush-mounted sign. In many cases there' ; s a place right within the architecture of a building to put the sign, and that area was called the sign band. Here' ; s an example of the H& ; H Tire Center in Elk City that has used that existing place within the architecture to put the sign. You can see what that does to the total façade of the building--you use the whole building as a way to advertise the store, not just the sign, not just the display windows. A much stronger kind of marketing approach. The Alamo is also a good example of placement of sign within the architecture so that it' ; s integrated into the façade of the building. Both the Alamo and then the Tuckbox Alamo are good examples of that approach. Sims Mini-Mart is in a group of buildings that the owners got together and decided that they would try a joint marketing approach, and by coordinating their sign bands, using a new coat of paint and some awnings, came up with this kind of a joint statement which really strengthens the street and helps each of the retailers within the establishment attract more customers. The white plastic interior lip sign with the red letters is a very classic sign for main street. The problem is, there' ; s so many of them now that it really doesn' ; t stand out. It' ; s not special, it doesn' ; t say anything unusual to potential customers. The idea of shape signs is a creative alternative to that very standard white plastic approach and it' ; s something that has a great deal of appeal to pedestrians. The Cook' ; s Fancy is a neat kind of example of using the shapes within the sign and then reflecting it within the display and the display window to reinforce that identity for potential customers. Awnings are another kind of element on the street and awnings can be used--as in this case at the Big Cheese--to make a clever kind of marketing statement. Or, in this example where we have two retailers within the same building who decide they want to work together, the awnings and the use of coordinated sign bands integrate that whole façade so that they are reinforcing one another' ; s marketing strategy. Here' ; s an example with two brick buildings--one-story brick buildings in Bristow that are of a very similar type and a joint approach between these retailers using coordinated awnings and placement of signs could make a very strong statement to the street. As it is now, they' ; re each sort of trying to get their own message across and neither one terribly successfully. Townscape programs are also concerned about pedestrians and the areas within the street that are intended for pedestrian use and for automobile use. And in this example you can see that there' ; s normally very little definition between those zones. There' ; s no way of defining that edge. Now here' ; s one way that could improve that--the use of some simple shrubs to define where the pedestrian area is, where the parking lot is, where the area is for the automobiles. And here' ; s another way of defining that edge--the use of an inexpensive wooden fence and also some shrubbery. You can see in this example, they' ; ve also used some courses of brickwork within the sidewalk to vary the paving surface and add a little bit more interest to the street for the people, and obviously you want people on your streets if you want people to come into your stores and do some business there. But more typically, this example in Ada is the way we find out streets divided into different zones. You can see that the pedestrian zone is gray concrete that' ; s separated from the gray asphalt of the street through the use of the gray aluminum poles--not very interesting, not very inviting. Here' ; s an alternative: the use of some brick paving along the edge of the sidewalk and the addition of a few street trees and planters. A simple kind of alternative that makes a huge difference to people on the street. Here' ; s another kind of alternative--the use of some granite pavers for the sidewalk surface, and then some plants and trees and benches, that makes the street an inviting place to be and lets the pedestrian know that there really is a place intended for them, that they' ; re welcome on the street, and obviously the automobile zone is clearly defined. " ; Street furniture" ; is an interesting kind of euphemism which refers to the items that we furnish our streets--the signs, the waste receptacles, and in this case also the mailbox. Here' ; s an example of how street furniture can be effectively grouped--you see the waste receptacle, the slight swelling of the corner so that there' ; s a place for the shrubs, and then the bicycle rack. Street furniture can be used to add a lot of special interest and character to the community. Also, makes the street an interest place for people to spend time. Public information is something that every community is concerned about, and this is typically the way it is presented on a tall aluminum pole, which becomes rusted and is easily bent. A very simple alternative to that would be the use of a low wooden stake that actually puts that information at driver' ; s-eye level and doesn' ; t have the spindly quality, I guess you could say, of the aluminum poles. Another way to add special interest to a community is through the different signage that you use to communicate street names as in this case. The Two Market Street indicator just really makes the place seem a little bit more interesting than just your average standard way of explaining that. Now this is an example of how you can find parking and this is also an example. There' ; s two different ways of presenting it, and just think for a minute which way you would rather get your information and which--and what kind of an impression it gives you of that community. Parking is always an incredible issue in downtowns. There never seems to be enough parking, so let' ; s take a minute and look at parking lots--and this is a typical one in Ada. You can see that generally, parking lots tend to be rather inhospitable environments that aren' ; t terribly inviting. And a little bit of landscaping can make a huge difference, as in this case with a simple grass median and a few trees, a different type light fixture, makes the parking lot more manageable, less dreadful in the summertime when we have all that heat rising up off the asphalt. Alleyways are another thing to consider in a townscape program because while you have existing assets in a town, as we talked about in the beginning of the show, there' ; s also hidden opportunities and simple treatments, as in this case the addition of some trees to the alleyway, can make a huge difference in the impression that people have of the community. Storage tanks and water towers are also another neat kind of opportunity that we have in many Oklahoma towns, and it' ; s potentially a very good project for local arts councils to sponsor a design competition and come up with some sort of a mural that can be used to decorate those tanks. This example is a mural that was done on some storage tanks outside of Boston. Makes them a real asset, rather than some sort of a looming eyesore on the horizon. Any size community can participate in a townscape program, and this particular example is Normandy, Tennessee. You can see the interesting hand-carved sign they' ; ve selected to announce their community and give it a special identity. You can also see here that they' ; ve applied some of these principles we' ; ve been talking about. They' ; ve used some awnings, the use of color coordinating the awnings with the buildings, they' ; ve put street trees in, little shrubs and planters, and also some interesting light fixtures. Now this is a very small town. That' ; s the entire main street of Normandy, Tennessee, population 350. Yet they felt strongly that they wanted to make a special statement about their community and chose this approach. A larger townscape program happened in Chelsea, Massachusetts and in that townscape program stores like Hattie' ; s discovered that behind that oversized sign they had this kind of a storefront lurking. Very simple, brick columns with capitals at the top replace the large sign with a sign that fits within the architecture of the building and simply used some dark anodizing paint on the bright aluminum storefront so that it toned it down and brings the whole façade into a unity so that now Hattie' ; s is not advertised just by her sign, but by the whole front of that building. Allen' ; s was also a building in a Chelsea and you can see that it' ; s really anybody' ; s guess what' ; s going to be under all of that advertising once it' ; s peeled away from the building, but through using some old photos the designers discovered that behind that advertising would probably be a façade of this type. You can see the dental work in the brick at the top of the building. Well here on the left is Allen' ; s implemented today. And you can also get some sense of the other stores on that block in Chelsea and how they applied these townscape principles we' ; re talking about. Look at the rather attractive shuttered treatment on the second story of the Card Gallery. An alternative to the main street problem, the second-story main street problem we' ; ve been talking about for Oklahoma towns. This is the way the street looked in Chelsea prior to the townscape program. That same lack of definition problem, lack of edge, there' ; s the gray asphalt, the gray aluminum poles, and then the gray sidewalk. Not a very inviting place for pedestrians. And here' ; s that same street today, after the townscape program. Now you can see, this is a rather elaborate approach. They' ; ve bricked the sidewalks, added new light fixtures, the street trees and very elaborate grillwork to protect the trees. But look how inviting and interesting it makes that street, and obviously there' ; s a whole lot more activity going on on that street now because it' ; s more of a vital place to be. Basically, this gives you an overview of the issues we' ; re concerned about in a townscape program, and once again the thing to consider is What are the assets on your main street and your town. Drop back and look for those and then look at the things that maybe you' ; re not so proud of and begin to consider what kinds of changes could be made that will highlight the assets that exist within your community, strengthen those architectural features in the buildings, and not disrupt those original patterns that existed and that gave main street its special identity and gave the buildings their special unity. (end of recording) audio 0 https://bristoworalhistory.org/ohms/viewer.php?cachefile=OHP-0016-01_Lecture.xml OHP-0016-01_Lecture.xml
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Lecture: Storefronts of Bristow
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This is an undated recording of an unknown woman presenting a professional lecture on maintaining the historical storefronts and township of Bristow.
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OHP-0016-01
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Lecture on Storefronts of Bristow
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audio
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Pinehill Histories
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History of the Pinehill area north of Bristow
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Several interviews were done by Mary and Bob Mc Carty of people who grew up in the Pinehill area north of Bristow. This collection is the Pinehill subset of the Bristow Oral Histories
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Bristow Historical Society, oral history collection
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Robert L. “Bob” McCarty
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Leo Frank Bruce
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https://bristoworalhistory.org/ohms/viewer.php?cachefile=OHP-0012-01_Leo_Bruce.xml
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Pinehill
oil
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5.4 OHP-0012-01 Leo Frank Bruce OHP-0012-01 Bristow Historical Society - Oral History Archive Pinehill Community Bristow Historical Society, Inc. Pinehill Community and School Pinehill oil Leo Frank Bruce Robert L. “Bob” McCarty MP3 1:|28(7)|60(9)|78(12)|100(9)|122(15)|142(8)|165(10)|205(2)|229(4)|247(8)|258(8)|279(1)|314(10)|345(3)|358(4)|383(7)|409(1)|420(8)|439(11)|471(2)|496(2)|518(4)|546(8)|572(15)|598(15)|607(2)|614(14)|631(13)|647(4)|650(11)|661(13)|671(7)|693(3)|712(3)|727(1)|745(11)|759(8)|777(14)|785(8)|798(3)|810(5)|827(4)|847(12)|858(7)|876(6)|885(4)|905(9)|925(7) 0 https://bristoworalhistory.org/interviews/OHP-0012-01 Bruce, Leo.mp3 Other audio 0 Family History BM: This is [indecipherable], 10—or 11/12/1976, ten minutes until four o’clock. Leo, whenever— MM: What was [inaudible] BM: What was your mother and dad’s name? Leo Bruce discusses his family history Abner Bruce ; Clarence Bruce ; Ella May ; Leo Frank Family History 158 Pinehill School BM: You stated here a while back, Leo, that you remembered when the first school was built there. LB: Well, I should be able to give you that [indecipherable] description, but I can’t and I don’t know— BM: Why, Leo, we—we uh— Discussion of the first Pinehill School being built Pinehill ; Pinehill School ; schoolhouse Pinehill School 240 Location of Childhood Home BM: At that time, Leo, where did your parents live? LB: They lived—well, now, they lived in a little—I’m turned around. I get my directions crossed up there. But the road that goes down to, past where Abner Bruce lives now? Well they lived on down that road at the foot of that hill, you know, there’s quite a hill there. Discussion of the location of his childhood home 1908 ; log home ; statehood childhood home 359 Pinehill School and Teachers BM: Tell us about what’s in that first schoolhouse being built. LB: Well, I was so small it’s hard for me to— MM: Tell us--you kind of played around it, [inaudible] while they was building it [inaudible]. Discussion of building of Pinehill School and teachers Nell Evans ; Nell Watson ; Pinehill School ; schoolhouse ; Witty McKeehan Pinehill School ; Teachers 511 Pinehill Classmates and Teachers BM: Who all went to school with you there at that time, Leo? That you can remember? LB: Well, that was— BM: Take your time now, and think. Memories of classmates and teachers and Pinehill School Big Mosquitoes ; Biggs ; Bill McEwan ; Charlie Stubblefield ; Clarence Myers ; classmates ; Ernest Sawell ; Frank Bruce ; Leo Pinehill ; Letch Stubblefield ; Mayes ; Pinehill ; Rosie Lindsey ; Sammy Stubblefield ; Tom McEwan ; Will Wilson ; Willie Mayes classmates ; Pinehill School ; Teachers 814 Moving back to Pinehill and running a store BM: In later years, then, Leo, in later years you went to—you came back in that country. You came back in that country. Did you or did you not? LB: Yes, it was several— BM: In later years, several, several years after that— LB: In later years. Discussion of moving back to Pinehill and opening a store armistice ; canned goods ; Coleman Bruce ; flour ; Pinehill ; Polecat Bridge ; tobacco Pinehill ; store 976 Father as County Clerk BM: When your parents moved into the Sapulpa area, what did your father—what was your father’s occupation at that time? LB: Well, of course he was a farmer, well then he was elected. He ran for county clerk. And he was elected county clerk. BM: He was elected country clerk. MM: What year? Leo Bruce's father is county clerk County Clerk ; election ; term county clerk 1090 Marriage and Children MM: What did your mom and dad do? Did they move back to the Pinehill community? LB: No. BM: At the present time, do you still-you still own some land out in that part, do you or do you not, Leo? LB: Yes. BM: Let’s back up. What year, Leo, did you get married? Discussion of marriage and children Cherry Creek ; Elesia Montaguerrez ; Francisca Alexius ; Ida Shockley ; Kay Don Bruce ; Robert Bruce ; Troy Livingston children ; marriage 1268 Locations of Pinehill Schools MM: How many Pinehill school buildings do you remember? [Inaudible.] LB: Well I don’t know whether there’d have been three, there were three, wasn’t there? BM: Well we’ve got reports of three, we’ve got reports of four, so we don’t know. MM: The one that [inaudible]— Discussion of the locations of the Pinehill Schools John Rossander ; Pinehill ; Pinehill school Pinehill School 1375 Creek County Sheriff BM: Was your dad—wasn’t your dad elected to a term as sheriff? In Creek County? LB: Yes, he served two terms as sheriff. BM: He served two terms as sheriff of Creek County. Well then, he was—that was in what year, Leo? Do you remember? LB: No, I don’t. I’m not sure, I’d have to look that up. Leo Bruce's father as Creek County Sheriff Creek County ; Sheriff Sheriff 1506 Activities at Pinehill School BM: --I never had got that off any of the, anybody else but you. (pause) Is there any funnies that you can—that you remember that went on at the school during your school days there? Is there anything, any funny happened that you remember? LB: Well, I can’t think of anything amusing right now. BM: To you memory, then, what, what all was the school used for, Leo? LB: It was—they had church there a lot, as I remember it, and then they had a literary society there in the community. I can remember those meetings were a lot. They’d have—they’d come in there of an evening and I guess they had a certain night of the week that they’d have the literary but I can’t remember when. Activities held at Pinehill School church ; dialogues ; kangaroo court ; literary ; Pinehill School ; recitations ; schoolhouse ; Virgil Vann ; voting Activities ; Pinehill School ; schoolhouse 1721 Family Tree MM: As far as we know, and as far as we’ve been able to tell, Leo, you were the first white child born in that community. Leo Frank Bruce. And you was born (pause) what the date was—10/01/1897. October the— LB: Ten the eighteenth. The family tree of Leo Bruce Abner Louis Bruce ; Adam Bruce ; Alpha Bruce ; Alpha Stephens ; Balsora Dalton ; Coleman Bruce ; Jonathon Bruce ; Katie Bruce ; Leo Frank Bruce ; Morton Bruce ; Pleasant Bruce ; Richard Bruce ; Susan Bruce ; Wesley Bruce Family Tree ; Leo Bruce 1901 Pinehill Memories and a Story of Shoes for a Dog LB: Well I was—I don’t know how to describe it. I really liked the community out there, you know, and of course the mental [indecipherable] child, why, they usually appreciate or like the child more than they do after they get grown and have to get out and face the— BM: Face the world. LB: --cold, cold world. MM: Well, you were never really apart from it. Your folks has always been there, you’ve been back and forth the whole dang—your life, haven’t you? Memories of growing up in Pinehill and a story about shoes for a hunting dog Coleman Bruce ; community ; dog ; fish ; Heyburn ; hunting ; Pinehill ; Polecat ; shoes ; swimming hole memories ; Pinehill 2200 Oil Industry and Crossing a Cold Creek MM: Do you remember any of the early oil industry in there, or anything like that? LB: Well now, see, when I had the store out there they had a (pause) I think they called it a booster station, didn’t they, the Texas Oil Company had a station right down below the hill there from where the store was. BM: Be out west. Discussion of early business including oil and crossing a cold cree, creek ; Oil ; oil industry ; Old Stockade House ; pipeline ; Polecat ; telegraph operator ; Texas Oil Company creek ; oil 2488 Surrey with a Fringe on Top MM: I believe you told me one time about you and Charlie Blythe watching the first surrey with a fringe on top. Do you remember that? It was there at your grandpa’s, and— LB: Yes, I just barely, I can remember. Well, I can remember that was kind of a, kind of a meeting place for a lot of people over the country there at my grandparents’ house. I think Charlie—seems like I can remember Charlie stopping in there more than once— MM: What about surrey with a fringe on top? Memories of seeing a surrey with fringe on top Charlie Blythe ; Cherry Creek ; fringe ; surrey Surrey 2556 Talks of Visiting and the Location of Leo Bruce's Property BM: You can still drive down—or you could, you could still drive down to that old crossing there on Cherry Creek. You could here a few years back. I don’t know whether you still can or not. Down by where the Old Stockade House was. There was a cross there, that was the roadway where the crossing was there on Cherry Creek, went right down to Polecat, on down to just above what they call the lower falls. LB: Those lower falls, I don’t know if I was ever right at that location or not. But I can remember the people speaking of the lower falls and— Discussion of visiting the Pinehill area and the location of Leo Bruce's property Cherry Creek ; Dan Masterson ; lower falls ; Loyd Bruce ; Mastersons ; Old Stockade House ; Pinehill ; Polecate ; Roy Bruce Pinehill ; property records In this 1976 interview, Leo Frank Bruce (1897-1990), the first white child born in the Pinehill Community outside of Bristow, Oklahoma, describes his life in the area prior to statehood including their early home structures and the approximate location of their homesteads. He also identifies some of the first schoolteachers and his schoolmates in the community. He discusses talks about running a small dry goods store prior to refrigeration/electricity, his family’s subsequent move to Sapulpa when his father was elected as the first Creek County clerk, and subsequently as the Creek County sheriff. Finally, he describes social events in the Pinehill community such as literaries, fishing, and the first time he ever saw a surrey with a fringe on top. BM: This is [indecipherable], 10--or 11/12/1976, ten minutes until four o' ; clock. Leo, whenever-- MM: What was [inaudible] BM: What was your mother and dad' ; s name? LB: My dad' ; s name was Abner, his middle initial was L.--Abner L. Bruce, but he was just known as Abner, you know, mainly everyone knew him as Abner Bruce. Now, my mother' ; s name was Ella May. I don' ; t remember how she spelled it--whether she spelled it M-A-Y or M-A-E, probably with a Y. I think they most--heared it spelled it back in those days. BM: Her maiden name was what? LB: Stowe. BM: Stowe. LB: S-T-O-W-E. BM: How many children were to that marriage, Leo? LB: Well, there were three children. Is it too warm in here for you folks? BM: No, it' ; s fine for me. UM: It' ; s a little bit too warm for me, but [inaudible]. MM: [Inaudible.] BM: There were three children to that marriage. LB: Yes. BM: And their names were what, Leo? LB: Well, let' ; s see--let me get the Bible. BM: Okay. pause in recording BM: There were three children. LB: Iva' ; s the oldest. Leo Frank. MM: Born in what year? BM: What year were you born, Leo? LB: Oh, in 1897. BM: 1897. LB: October the 18th. BM: Then? LB: Then Clarence Bruce was born March 3, 1902. And he died in infancy, didn' ; t live but a few days. And there was a girl born, oh the first--no, she was born February 4, 1906, and she didn' ; t--she died in infancy. She died May 1, 1906, that same year. MM: You were the sole-- BM: You' ; re the sole, you are the only one that-- LB: The only child. BM: The only child. LB: Mmm-hmm. BM: You stated here a while back, Leo, that you remembered when the first school was built there. LB: Well, I should be able to give you that [indecipherable] description, but I can' ; t and I don' ; t know-- BM: Why, Leo, we--we uh-- LB: [inaudible] BM: --we have the-- LB: --already-- BM: --we have the description and all of that. You stated, though, that you remembered when the first school was--first schoolhouse was built. Is that right? LB: Yes, sir. BM: Any particular thing happen during the building of that school that you remember of? LB: Nothing that was really of importance. I knew that I was just very small boy and I was standing around and getting where I was in the way when they were--the people were putting up the school, building the school. And they--some of them got after me for being in the way there, I can remember that part of it. BM: At that time, Leo, where did your parents live? LB: They lived--well, now, they lived in a little--I' ; m turned around. I get my directions crossed up there. But the road that goes down to, past where Abner Bruce lives now? Well they lived on down that road at the foot of that hill, you know, there' ; s quite a hill there. BM: Yeah. On that hill there. LB: Mmm-hmm. They lived on the, right past Abner' ; s. They lived on the left. BM: On the left-hand side-- LB: Left-hand side of the road right at the foot of the hill. BM: Right at the foot of that hill. LB: Mmm-hmm. BM: That would be on the north side of the road there, then. What' ; s that road run east, east and west. They lived here right at the foot of the hill, then, before they got down to that little creek where Frank' ; s house was. Is that right? LB: Yeah. Mmm-hmm. BM: What type of a house was that, Leo? LB: It was a log a house. BM: It was a log house. So, how many rooms was it? LB: I believe it was just two rooms. BM: How long did they live there in that house? LB: They lived there until statehood, you know, more of [indecipherable]. What would' ; ve been the election, you know, when they--in the fall of the year before statehood, would' ; ve been 1907, and I think statehood was January 1908. And they moved to Sapulpa in the fall of the year prior to statehood. BM: They moved to Sapulpa prior to statehood. MM: [Inaudible.] BM: Tell us about what' ; s in that first schoolhouse being built. LB: Well, I was so small it' ; s hard for me to-- MM: Tell us--you kind of played around it, [inaudible] while they was building it [inaudible]. LB: Well, I can' ; t remember that the--it was just out in open land, there, you know, and I don' ; t know whether they had any fences to speak of at that time that cut through there. Maybe it was just open land and I was just--didn' ; t have anything else to do that I would just, just knew of the men that were working there and a big part of the time I was in their way. MM: And they kind of chased you off. BM: Uh-- MM: And you started school in the year-- BM: You started to school there when the--in that year of 19--when the first school opened, then. Is that right? LB: Yes. BM: And that teacher-- LB: Well, it must' ; ve been Nell Evans (ph). BM: Nell Evans (ph)? Or Nell Watson (ph)? LB: Nell, Nell Watson (ph), now wasn' ; t she-- BM: She was the one that was in 1903. LB: --wasn' ; t her maiden name Evans? BM: Well I--it could' ; ve been, I don' ; t know. LB: And I think she married a Watson there in Bristow, could that be right? LB: Well, now that, that-- MM: No, Nell Evans was the third one. BM: Nell Evans was the third teacher down. LB: Oh, well-- MM: Might be the same one if she-- LB: I' ; m, I' ; m sorry--Witty McKeehan (ph) was the first teacher that, wasn' ; t that right? MM: No, Nell Watson-- BM: Nell Watson and then Witty McKeehan (ph) was the second teacher. LB: Is that right. Well, I don' ; t believe I went to school with a teacher Nell Watson on my time, I can' ; t remember that. Because I always had the impression that--well, Witty (ph) and I talked about it, but I told people that Witty (ph) was my first schoolteacher. BM: Mmm-hmm. LB: But that might' ; ve been wrong, but as I remembered it, and I can remember with Witty (ph) teaching school there, and I was thinking that he was my first schoolteacher. MM: And what do you remember about Witty (ph)? BM: What do you remember about Witty McKeehan (ph) as a teacher? LB: Well, I thought that--of course, it was easy for me to somehow make an impression on me, you know, but I thought he was really smart. (laughs) MM: [Inaudible.] BM: Who all went to school with you there at that time, Leo? That you can remember? LB: Well, that was-- BM: Take your time now, and think. LB: It' ; s hard to remember many of them because they' ; re so--there was a family by the name of Campbell. I don' ; t remember for sure how they spelled their name, I think it was C-A-M-P-B-E-L-L Campbell. I think they went to school there. And there was (pause) and there was two (pause) I want to say scholars, pupils, that were, they were practically grown. [Indecipherable] a boy and a girl, they--they were--to me they were man and a woman. BM: Mmm-hmm. LB: --went to school there, and I can remember that. And then there was, I think there was more than one Stubblefield, I believe. There' ; s a Charlie Stubblefield, I think Charlie Stubblefield is still there, and there' ; s--we knew him as Letch, was that his actual name? BM: I have a Letch Stubblefield-- LB: Letch Stubblefield. BM: There was a Letch Stubblefield as well as a Charlie Stubblefield. LB: And then Sam, there was a Sammy Stubblefield. Those three might' ; ve gone to school there. And I' ; m pretty sure Clarence Myers went to school there. And the Mayes (ph) children, Miss [indecipherable] Mayes (ph) was [indecipherable] a teacher there. And her brother, Willie, his name was Willie Mayes (ph), they went to school there. And a Tom McEwan (ph), I think his father' ; s name was Billy--Bill McEwan (ph), he would' ; ve been a nephew to the teacher, Woody. BM: To Woody. LB: [inaudible] Now that first year I can' ; t be sure about that but those are the pupils that I remember that went to school to Pinehill there in the early days. And Rosie Lindsey (ph) went to school there. And she was always in school. That was before she and Frank Bruce were married. BM: Your mother taught school there too, in case you hadn' ; t-- LB: That' ; s right. BM: Do you have any idea--there had been a story and we had been told that she didn' ; t complete her term there for some reason or other. Do you have any idea what that reason was, Leo? LB: Well, it' ; s possible that it could' ; ve been her--they moved to Sapulpa there. I don' ; t know. MM: No, that she-- BM: No, they said something about her health or something or other, about that time. LB: Can' ; t remember that. BM: Clarence Myers was the one that told us that. Now, could it have been possible that it could' ; ve been on the count of the youngest girl. LB: That' ; s possible. [inaudible] BM: I believe on her-- LB: It was 1906 when she died, that-- BM: Yeah, in 1906. So it' ; s very possible then, that the reason your mother didn' ; t complete that term of school was on the count of your sister. LB: I don' ; t know. MM: Do you remember Ernest Sawell? BM: Do you remember Ernst Sawell? S-A-W-E-L-L? LB: No, I don' ; t recall. MM: He finished the term [inaudible]. BM: He finished the term, that term, for your mother. That was according to Clarence Myers. MM: Do you remember Will D. Wilson (ph)? LB: [Indecipherable.] BM: He came in, Will D. came in, after your mother taught there. LB: It was the next term, probably, wasn' ; t it. BM: And Ernest Sawell, the next term, well then Will D. Wilson came in and taught the next term. LB: Hmm. Well I--you asked who went to school there, I' ; m sure Leo Pinehill went to school there. MM: Yes, [inaudible]. LB: And [indecipherable] probably Mary and-- MM: Mary. BM: The--all three of those kids. LB: --Pinehill children. UW: I don' ; t know whether the Biggs went that early or not. And some of the Big Mosquitoes (ph). LB: [Inaudible.] BM: In later years, then, Leo, in later years you went to--you came back in that country. You came back in that country. Did you or did you not? LB: Yes, it was several-- BM: In later years, several, several years after that-- LB: In later years. MM: About what year was that? BM: About what year was did you come back out in there, Leo? LB: Oh, (pause). When was the [indecipherable] war, well that' ; s--I just read it in the history--day before [indecipherable], World War I? When the armistice was signed? MM: [Inaudible.] BM: Nineteen-eighteen or 1919. LB: It was about two or three years before that, prior to that, that I was out there. BM: Was any you--when you came back out there, then, where did you, where did you move to at that time? LB: Oh, I just stayed there with my grandparents, Coley Bruce--Coleman Bruce. And I ran a store for a few years. BM: You ran a store there. Alright, where was that store located at? LB: It was about--how far would it be from where the last school was there east across--just across Polecat Bridge there, and about a quarter-- MM: Quarter east and a quarter north-- BM: No, half east and a quarter north-- MM: Half a mile east and quarter north. BM: Half east and a quarter north. MM: Alright, what kind of store, how big a store, tell us about it. BM: How big a store was that, Leo? LB: Oh I just--couldn' ; t really call it a store, it was more--in this day and time you' ; d think of it more as a concession stand because we had no refrigeration, you know, and didn' ; t even keep ice, but about all I kept was flour and canned goods and stuff that was not perishable, couldn' ; t spoil. And tobacco, cans of tobacco. MM: How long did you run it? LB: Didn' ; t even have, didn' ; t even have sodee pop. (laughs) BM: How long did you run that store, Leo? LB: I think it was a little over two years. BM: When your parents moved into the Sapulpa area, what did your father--what was your father' ; s occupation at that time? LB: Well, of course he was a farmer, well then he was elected. He ran for county clerk. And he was elected county clerk. BM: He was elected country clerk. MM: What year? BM: What year was he elected county clerk? LB: Well, that would' ; ve been in 1907, wouldn' ; t that be right? Nineteen-seven, prior to statehood. Statehood I think was January 1908. MM: How many years did he serve? LB: He served seven years [inaudible]. The election they held before statehood--or the first election as I remember it was an off year, and when they had the next election why, they held it when--on the regular year that the elections have always been held since and the [inaudible]-- BM: On an even year, then. LB: --the terms were two years, two year terms. And his first term as I remember it was only a year there. He just served a year until the next election and then it was like a regular term, for two more terms. BM: Now he was elected down near the--the first term, then, he would' ; ve been elected. He went in, then in about 1909. His first term would' ; ve been about 1909. MM: No, 1907-- LB: A full term. BM: A full term, first year--first term. MM: What did your mom and dad do? Did they move back to the Pinehill community? LB: No. BM: At the present time, do you still-you still own some land out in that part, do you or do you not, Leo? LB: Yes. BM: Let' ; s back up. What year, Leo, did you get married? LB: That would' ; ve been 19--(pauses), that would be 1927. It was [indecipherable]. MM: He was married October 18, 18--no. LB: It may not give it. MM: March 26, 1927. LB: [Inaudible.] BM: And what was her name? LB: Ida Shockley. BM: Ida Shockley. And to that marriage how many children were there, Leo? LB: Two. BM: Two. What were their-- LB: Two boys. BM: Two boys. What were their names? LB: Kaye Don, K-A-Y-E Don D-O-N, Kaye Don Bruce, and Robert Bruce. BM: Kaye Don and Robert Bruce. Are those children still alive? LB: Yes. BM: Where is Kaye Don at, at the present time? LB: He' ; s in Richmond, Washington. State of Washington. BM: And Robert? LB: He' ; s in Mexico City. BM: Mexico City. He' ; s down with all them pretty senoritas, then. LB: Well, both those boys married senoritas. BM: Oh, they did! MM: Kaye Don was married to Francisca Alexius (ph) and Robert married Elesia Montaguerrez (ph). BM: Kaye Don, I know, went to school out here. I remember Kaye Don going to school out there at Pinehill. LB: [inaudible] that' ; s right. BM: Kaye Don went to school out there. LB: About one year. BM: Yeah, and he--at that time, I think, my best memory, it was just--you lived just west of Cherry Creek (ph) on the south side of the road. In later years the house burned. Troy Livingston (ph)-- LB: Was living in there-- BM: Troy and Plessie (ph) was living in the house when it burned. I believe it' ; s right, is that-- LB: That' ; s right, that' ; s right. MM: How many Pinehill school buildings do you remember? [Inaudible.] LB: Well I don' ; t know whether there' ; d have been three, there were three, wasn' ; t there? BM: Well we' ; ve got reports of three, we' ; ve got reports of four, so we don' ; t know. MM: The one that [inaudible]-- BM: But when do you remember the ones that you remember, Leo? Where were they located at? LB: West--well the first one, of course, was there at the crossroads where--and the next one was (pause) Well, you see, the next one as I remember it was a higher elevation than the last one. BM: Yeah. LB: It was kind of up on the hill-- BM: It would' ; ve been a mile--the second one that you remember would' ; ve been a mile north and about a quarter of a mile west of where the first schoolhouse was built. Then the third one was built down in under the hill. LB: As I remember-- BM: Is that--that' ; s the way you-- LB: As I remember it, yes, but if there were four buildings, why-- MM: The first one apparently-- LB: --that could' ; ve been crossed up some way there, see. BM: The first one-- MM: The one they think was the second one only lasted three years before it was burned, from 1909 to 1912. LB: Could it' ; ve been where the last one burned? And then-- MM: No, one was a quarter of a mile--a mile south of the last one and about--what, a quarter east? BM: The first one, from the first school house, where the first one was built, was a mile south and about a quarter east, kind of sitting on the hill up there on the prairie. Was the third where you remember the first one being built, is that right? That would be at the crossroads. LB: That' ; s right. BM: That would be a mile south of the last schoolhouse. LB: That' ; s right. BM: And about a quarter east. Or was it right in the corner? LB: Seems to me like it was right at the road, almost at the road there. BM: Well on this, that would be the one John Rossander was talking about, then. MM: John Rossander says he can show you the foundation, he must know. LB: I guess so. MM: ' ; Course he-- BM: So then they tell me that there was another one built up on top of the hill, which would be east of the one on the crossroads. LB: [Inaudible] it' ; s possible, but I wouldn' ; t remember that. BM: Was your dad--wasn' ; t your dad elected to a term as sheriff? In Creek County? LB: Yes, he served two terms as sheriff. BM: He served two terms as sheriff of Creek County. Well then, he was--that was in what year, Leo? Do you remember? LB: No, I don' ; t. I' ; m not sure, I' ; d have to look that up. BM: Well they did Mote-- LB: Mote ran for sheriff but he-- BM: After Abner was-- LB: After Abner served just two terms, yes. BM: That' ; s what I--that' ; s the way I remember it but I never had got that-- LB: That' ; s right. BM: --I never had got that off any of the, anybody else but you. (pause) Is there any funnies that you can--that you remember that went on at the school during your school days there? Is there anything, any funny happened that you remember? LB: Well, I can' ; t think of anything amusing right now. BM: To you memory, then, what, what all was the school used for, Leo? LB: It was--they had church there a lot, as I remember it, and then they had a literary society there in the community. I can remember those meetings were a lot. They' ; d have--they' ; d come in there of an evening and I guess they had a certain night of the week that they' ; d have the literary but I can' ; t remember when. BM: We' ; ve got different reports on these literaries, but we never have really pinpointed it down to just what all went on at these literaries. LB: I can remember they had the dialogues and recitations and they' ; d have songs. They didn' ; t have a musical instrument there, but I think sometimes someone would try to sing a song, I can remember that. But the main thing that I remember was the recitations and dialogues and I can' ; t remember--I can' ; t remember the church meetings so well. That--I' ; m sure that they did have church in the first building. BM: Also we have been told that it was used for a voting precinct in later years. It was used as a voting precinct. And in the early days they held court in that school. Do you know anything about that? LB: No. BM: We' ; ve been told something about a kangaroo court and I' ; ve tried to pinpoint that down. LB: Mm-hmm. No. BM: I forgot now who it was that--Virgil Vann, I believe it was, that was telling us about the kangaroo court, but I never could get him pinned down. Tried to find out if the kangaroo courts--that they put on during one of these literaries meetings or whether it was a real honest to goodness kangaroo court. But I' ; ve never been able to get it pinned down. MM: [Inaudible.] BM: Okay. MM: As far as we know, and as far as we' ; ve been able to tell, Leo, you were the first white child born in that community. Leo Frank Bruce. And you was born (pause) what the date was--10/01/1897. October the-- LB: Ten the eighteenth. MM: --ninety-seven. Your father was Abner Louis Bruce and he was born 09/23/1871, died 01/18/1952. His brothers were Frank--James Franklin, J. Smith, and Moten R. and Roy Clyde and his sister was Cora Belle. Your mother was Ella May Stowe, she was born 06/27/1876 and died 05/09/1948. Your grandfather was Coleman Robert Bruce, he was born in 1847 and died in 1926. His broth--your uncles and aunts was--his brothers and sisters was Pleasant Alfred, James A. (ph), John H. (ph), Richard H., Moten (ph), Charles F. (ph), Wesley A., George Washington (ph), Adam Vivian, Alpha Ann, Laura E. (ph), Susie Jane, Dora Ree (ph) and Katie V. LB: There was a bunch of them. MM: And his wife was Alpha Ann Moore, she was born in 1848 and died in 1923. Your grandfather--your great-greatfather, then, was James Thomas Bruce, he was born August 1824 and married in March 1846, he married Francis S. Vivian pause in recording as tape switches to Side B MM: --Bruce was born December 1802 and died March 1885, he was married Elizabeth L. Swinney and I think that' ; s enough of the tree to go back on there. I just found the tree on his father' ; s side. His mother' ; s tree is here also but I don' ; t think we' ; ll run anything on it. This was from Leo Bruce' ; s family Bible. Leo, what do you remember--what did you think about Pinehill? What does it mean to you? LB: Well I was--I don' ; t know how to describe it. I really liked the community out there, you know, and of course the mental [indecipherable] child, why, they usually appreciate or like the child more than they do after they get grown and have to get out and face the-- BM: Face the world. LB: --cold, cold world. MM: Well, you were never really apart from it. Your folks has always been there, you' ; ve been back and forth the whole dang--your life, haven' ; t you? LB: Mmm-hmm. Yeah, I remember several times that we moved to town here, why, during my school vacation, why, I would go out there and when I' ; d go out there, why, I planned to stay all summer! And spend the summer vacation out there. But just a little while I, I' ; d get homesick, I' ; d want to see my folks and come back to Sapulpa and that, that' ; d be about the end of my vacation. BM: About the end of your vacation. MM: What' ; d you do on vacation out there? LB: Well, they--I pretended to help a little with the farming and I remember my grandfather Coleman Bruce, he and I fished a lot and I really enjoyed that. MM: Where' ; d you fish? LB: Fished in Polecat. MM: What' ; d you catch? LB: Well, we didn' ; t catch anything but little old--little fish. Perch and catfish. Sunfish. MM: Did you ever hunt? LB: Not much. I' ; ve hunted some but I' ; m not much of a hunter. MM: Where was your swimming hole? LB: Well the main swimming hole there was--it was in Polecat there, and it was just this side of where, where we lived, you know, when Don went to school there at Pinehill. Just this side there, down--walk to what would be the south side of the road there, just a little ways from the road. MM: Did you get in on them watermelon stealing on them summer vacations? LB: No, I can' ; t remember stealing any watermelons. But I can remember, I can remember the Polecat there, it wasn' ; t anything like it was in later years. I can remember one place on further down--can you two remember where the falls was? BM: Yes. I do. LB: I think since Heyburn' ; s been built, Heyburn dam' ; s been built there, I guess there' ; s not any falls there anymore, it' ; s filled up. But just above--just north of where the falls were there, I can remember at one time there was a big hole there and it was deep. And I can remember several times, people talking about it, that they were impressed with it--that you could take regular cane fishing pole, you know, and you couldn' ; t-- BM: Couldn' ; t touch bottom. LB: Couldn' ; t touch bottom. BM: Now, was that the hole that they call the old Blokesie (ph) Hole? LB: I wouldn' ; t know. I [inaudible]. MM: Was any hunting done, any--do you remember any hunting? LB: Well, not to speak of. I can remember my uncle Frank Bruce, I can remember that he hunted quite a bit and I can' ; t be sure about that. I don' ; t know--I noticed you said that in the [indecipherable] there, you read where they sold quails on the market, but I can' ; t--I don' ; t know if he ever sold quail on the market or not. But I can remember he had a bird dog that he was real proud of, and that poor old dog would--he hunted with him so much that he had, his feet would get sore. And I can remember he tried to--it wasn' ; t a success, he couldn' ; t do much good with it, but he would try to make shoes or moccasins for this poor old dog, for his feet. Course he wouldn' ; t keep them, couldn' ; t keep them on, you know, but that worried him a lot that-- BM: Thought the old dog' ; s feet would get so sore. LB: Mmm-hmm. MM: Do you remember any of the early oil industry in there, or anything like that? LB: Well now, see, when I had the store out there they had a (pause) I think they called it a booster station, didn' ; t they, the Texas Oil Company had a station right down below the hill there from where the store was. BM: Be out west. LB: And, yes, that' ; s right. They worked several men, I don' ; t--I can' ; t remember how many men, but there were several men worked there. And I know they had a telegraph operator. Of course they had the old line that went right along with the pipeline there, you know. MM: What, did they send messages to local people if they needed it? LB: No, not much, they may have but I didn' ; t hear of it. But they used it for the old business down there. But I can remember that the line walkers--they' ; d have a line walker that would walk this line and I think they had [inaudible] can remember more than one line walker that they had that' ; d stop in there at the store and-- MM: Do you remember any flooding caused at Polecat before the dam up in that area? LB: No, I don' ; t think it flooded much but I can remember that--I can remember the creek would really get high and they had more rain than they have now. I can remember you hear could the creek roar. You could hear the roar of the waters. I remember one time, I don' ; t know whether it would be of interest to you or not, it wasn' ; t very important, but really made an impression on me when--you see, my grandfather, that was the house where I was born as I remember it. They referred to it as the Old Stockade House. The logs were built, or placed, up-and-down and not--how do I want to say it? Horizontal? BM: They were vertical but wasn' ; t horizontal. LB: Mmm-hmm. And it was a story-and-a-half house, I guess. See, I know they had rooms or a room up above, they had a stairway I know. But I know that was the house where I was born, this Old Stockade House. Well I can remember one time my uncle Mote Bruce--we were going from that--as I remember it, now--we were, I was behind him on a horse, and we were trying to go from this Old Stockade House over to where my parents lived there at the foot of the hill where I told you about. I can remember the creek being up. And it was probably right there about where the bowl where the falls was, you can remember there was a crossing there. And I remember that he stopped there on the-- BM: Bank of the creek. LB: --other side of the bank of the creek and watched that water for, oh, several minutes. He didn' ; t say anything, you know, just sit there, we sit there on the horse and just watching the water. And he finally said to me, he says, Now Leo, you hang on to me real tight, you hear? Of course that made an impression on me and I grabbed ahold of him and we slid down into the water there. And course the water came right up to our waist, you know, we were--and all you could see of the poor old horse was just his head and ears sticking up there right in front of us and I can remember the logs and stuff floating down the river, the creek there. And I can remember that horse was really pulling, but we swam the creek to get on the other side but I never knew what was so important that he had to get from my grandfather' ; s house over there back to our house. He might' ; ve just been wanting to get rid of me! (laughs) He swam that creek to get-- BM: He swam the creek with the old horse to-- LB: To get back to where [indecipherable]. BM: To get back-- MM: I believe you told me one time about you and Charlie Blythe watching the first surrey with a fringe on top. Do you remember that? It was there at your grandpa' ; s, and-- LB: Yes, I just barely, I can remember. Well, I can remember that was kind of a, kind of a meeting place for a lot of people over the country there at my grandparents' ; house. I think Charlie--seems like I can remember Charlie stopping in there more than once-- MM: What about surrey with a fringe on top? LB: --on Sundays, you know. But what I remember, one time, there was a surrey that crossed that little--there was a little--oh, we called it--it was probably Cherry Creek. It was Cherry Creek would' ; ve been right there. I can remember that surrey with a fringe on top coming and crossing that creek and coming up right up by our--my grandparents' ; house. MM: Was it pretty or what-- LB: But who they were--yeah, it was, I thought it was a really fancy carriage. But I can' ; t remember who was driving it, who they were, or anything about it. BM: You can still drive down--or you could, you could still drive down to that old crossing there on Cherry Creek. You could here a few years back. I don' ; t know whether you still can or not. Down by where the Old Stockade House was. There was a cross there, that was the roadway where the crossing was there on Cherry Creek, went right down to Polecat, on down to just above what they call the lower falls. LB: Those lower falls, I don' ; t know if I was ever right at that location or not. But I can remember the people speaking of the lower falls and-- BM: Now, this next summer, when we present and dedicate this thing to the state of Oklahoma, we' ; d like--I want you to come out and if the Lord is willing, I' ; ll try to take you back up Polecat as far as we can and show you where the old falls that you remember crossing on the horse, where it is located today and show you where the old lower falls were there on Polecat and try to show you where the old roadway used to go down through there. LB: Mmm-hmm. BM: You can drive down quite a ways down in there by where the Old Stockade House used to be. What you would--at the present time you would have to cross from where you lived there where the house burned for Troy and Plessie (ph) lived, and it burned, you would have to come back east across Cherry Creek, to Cherry Creek. There' ; s Little Cherry and Big Cherry Creek. Big Cherry Creek-- LB: Yeah, that' ; s what I was wondering about-- BM: Big Cherry Creek was the one that you were talking about the old crossing was down by the Old Stockade House-- MM: I don' ; t think you asked him where his property he owns out there is. BM: --come back to where, oh, it' ; s about two hundred yards east of Little Cherry Creek, there' ; s a road that goes south, goes back off down, winds back around, down almost to where the Old Stockade House used to be. And where the old crossing was down here. At the present time I think Louis or Andrew, one of them, has it fenced in and you can' ; t drive all the way down to where the old crossing was. LB: I was--oh, several times I went over there when we lived out there, you know, in the house that burned, you know, when Troy and Plessie (ph) lived there. I went there several times, I went over to that location but it' ; s changed so much, it' ; s-- BM: It' ; s really changed now. LB: --wouldn' ; t, wouldn' ; t know it was the same place. BM: It' ; s changed, it' ; s changed altogether now to what it was then, even. MM: Ask him where his property is [inaudible]. BM: The property that you still own out there at the present time, Leo, where is it located? LB: Well, it' ; s right there at the corner of the road where the road, one road goes over to what is Shepherd Point and the other [inaudible] and seventy acres. BM: You own seventy acres there. LB: But I really don' ; t own that place because--see, I just had forty acres and that road goes right through that forty so forty in here a few years ago, I bought the surface thirty acres from the allottee, I forget who she was, she lives down at Okmulgee. That joins there on the west there, thirty acres, so I really have what you and me would call for seventy acres but the road takes up a lot of it, I don' ; t know how many acres [inaudible]. But part of that goes right where the, goes right up where--you remember where Loyd Bruce used to live there. I don' ; t know, you folks--did you ever [inaudible]. Because that' ; s--oh, Mastersons lived there a while, one of them. BM: Yeah, right there in the corner, say, Roy Bruce had the house right there in the corner with a cedar tree in the yard. LB: Yeah. Mmm-hmm. BM: We didn' ; t live there in that corner there. Dan, Dan Masterson (ph) lived there in the corner. And Louis lived south over there on--well, just north of the Old Stockade House. LB: Mmm-hmm. BM: Where the Old Stockade House was. LB: Mmm-hmm. BM: And we lived on south down there, well it' ; d just be right there on the banks of the creek. And we moved over in the field, back over west of there in a field by the old Blokesie (ph) hole, the old swimming hole. LB: Mmm-hmm. MM: [Inaudible.] BM: Then we moved back up-- end of recording. BM: This is [indecipherable], 10--or 11/12/1976, ten minutes until four o'clock. Leo, whenever-- MM: What was [inaudible] BM: What was your mother and dad's name? LB: My dad's name was Abner, his middle initial was L.--Abner L. Bruce, but he was just known as Abner, you know, mainly everyone knew him as Abner Bruce. Now, my mother's name was Ella May. I don't remember how she spelled it--whether she spelled it M-A-Y or M-A-E, probably with a Y. I think they most--heared it spelled it back in those days. BM: Her maiden name was what? LB: Stowe. BM: Stowe. LB: S-T-O-W-E. BM: How many children were to that marriage, Leo? LB: Well, there were three children. Is it too warm in here for you folks? BM: No, it's fine for me. UM: It's a little bit too warm for me, but [inaudible]. MM: [Inaudible.] BM: There were three children to that marriage. LB: Yes. BM: And their names were what, Leo? LB: Well, let's see--let me get the Bible. BM: Okay. pause in recording BM: There were three children. LB: Iva's the oldest. Leo Frank. MM: Born in what year? BM: What year were you born, Leo? LB: Oh, in 1897. BM: 1897. LB: October the 18th. BM: Then? LB: Then Clarence Bruce was born March 3, 1902. And he died in infancy, didn't live but a few days. And there was a girl born, oh the first--no, she was born February 4, 1906, and she didn't--she died in infancy. She died May 1, 1906, that same year. MM: You were the sole-- BM: You're the sole, you are the only one that-- LB: The only child. BM: The only child. LB: Mmm-hmm. BM: You stated here a while back, Leo, that you remembered when the first school was built there. LB: Well, I should be able to give you that [indecipherable] description, but I can't and I don't know-- BM: Why, Leo, we--we uh-- LB: [inaudible] BM: --we have the-- LB: --already-- BM: --we have the description and all of that. You stated, though, that you remembered when the first school was--first schoolhouse was built. Is that right? LB: Yes, sir. BM: Any particular thing happen during the building of that school that you remember of? LB: Nothing that was really of importance. I knew that I was just very small boy and I was standing around and getting where I was in the way when they were--the people were putting up the school, building the school. And they--come of them got after me for being in the way there, I can remember that part of it. BM: At that time, Leo, where did your parents live? LB: They lived--well, now, they lived in a little--I'm turned around. I get my directions crossed up there. But the road that goes down to, past where Abner Bruce lives now? Well they lived on down that road at the foot of that hill, you know, there's quite a hill there. BM: Yeah. On that hill there. LB: Mmm-hmm. They lived on the, right past Abner's. They lived on the left. BM: On the left-hand side-- LB: Left-hand side of the road right at the foot of the hill. BM: Right at the foot of that hill. LB: Mmm-hmm. BM: That would be on the north side of the road there, then. What's that road run east, east and west. They lived here right at the foot of the hill, then, before they got down to that little creek where Frank's house was. Is that right? LB: Yeah. Mmm-hmm. BM: What type of a house was that, Leo? LB: It was a log a house. BM: It was a log house. So, how many rooms was it? LB: I believe it was just two rooms. BM: How long did they live there in that house? LB: They lived there until statehood, you know, more of [indecipherable]. What would've been the election, you know, when they--in the fall of the year before statehood, would've been 1907, and I think statehood was January 1908. And they moved to Sapulpa in the fall of the year prior to statehood. BM: They moved to Sapulpa prior to statehood. MM: [Inaudible.] BM: Tell us about what's in that first schoolhouse being built. LB: Well, I was so small it's hard for me to-- MM: Tell us--you kind of played around it, [inaudible] while they was building it [inaudible]. LB: Well, I can't remember that the--it was just out in open land, there, you know, and I don't know whether they had any fences to speak of at that time that cut through there. Maybe it was just open land and I was just--didn't have anything else to do that I would just, just knew of the men that were working there and a big part of the time I was in their way. MM: And they kind of chased you off. BM: Uh-- MM: And you started school in the year-- BM: You started to school there when the--in that year of 19--when the first school opened, then. Is that right? LB: Yes. BM: And that teacher-- LB: Well, it must've been Nell Evans (ph). BM: Nell Evans (ph)? Or Nell Watson (ph)? LB: Nell, Nell Watson (ph), now wasn't she-- BM: She was the one that was in 1903. LB: --wasn't her maiden name Evans? BM: Well I--it could've been, I don't know. LB: And I think she married a Watson there in Bristow, could that be right? LB: Well, now that, that-- MM: No, Nell Evans was the third one. BM: Nell Evans was the third teacher down. LB: Oh, well-- MM: Might be the same one if she-- LB: I'm, I'm sorry--Witty McKeehan (ph) was the first teacher that, wasn't that right? MM: No, Nell Watson-- BM: Nell Watson and then Witty McKeehan (ph) was the second teacher. LB: Is that right. Well, I don't believe I went to school with a teacher Nell Watson on my time, I can't remember that. Because I always had the impression that--well, Witty (ph) and I talked about it, but I told people that Witty (ph) was my first schoolteacher. BM: Mmm-hmm. LB: But that might've been wrong, but as I remembered it, and I can remember with Witty (ph) teaching school there, and I was thinking that he was my first schoolteacher. MM: And what do you remember about Witty (ph)? BM: What do you remember about Witty McKeehan (ph) as a teacher? LB: Well, I thought that--of course, it was easy for me to somehow make an impression on me, you know, but I thought he was really smart. (laughs) MM: [Inaudible.] BM: Who all went to school with you there at that time, Leo? That you can remember? LB: Well, that was-- BM: Take your time now, and think. LB: It's hard to remember many of them because they're so--there was a family by the name of Campbell. I don't remember for sure how they spelled their name, I think it was C-A-M-P-B-E-L-L Campbell. I think they went to school there. And there was (pause) and there was two (pause) I want to say scholars, pupils, that were, they were practically grown. [Indecipherable] a boy and a girl, they--they were--to me they were man and a woman. BM: Mmm-hmm. LB: --went to school there, and I can remember that. And then there was, I think there was more than one Stubblefield, I believe. There's a Charlie Stubblefield, I think Charlie Stubblefield is still there, and there's--we knew him as Letch, was that his actual name? BM: I have a Letch Stubblefield-- LB: Letch Stubblefield. BM: There was a Letch Stubblefield as well as a Charlie Stubblefield. LB: And then Sam, there was a Sammy Stubblefield. Those three might've gone to school there. And I'm pretty sure Clarence Myers went to school there. And the Mayes (ph) children, Miss [indecipherable] Mayes (ph) was [indecipherable] a teacher there. And her brother, Willie, his name was Willie Mayes (ph), they went to school there. And a Tom McEwan (ph), I think his father's name was Billy--Bill McEwan (ph), he would've been a nephew to the teacher, Woody. BM: To Woody. LB: [inaudible] Now that first year I can't be sure about that but those are the pupils that I remember that went to school to Pinehill there in the early days. And Rosie Lindsey (ph) went to school there. And she was always in school. That was before she and Frank Bruce were married. BM: Your mother taught school there too, in case you hadn't-- LB: That's right. BM: Do you have any idea--there had been a story and we had been told that she didn't complete her term there for some reason or other. Do you have any idea what that reason was, Leo? LB: Well, it's possible that it could've been her--they moved to Sapulpa there. I don't know. MM: No, that she-- BM: No, they said something about her health or something or other, about that time. LB: Can't remember that. BM: Clarence Myers was the one that told us that. Now, could it have been possible that it could've been on the count of the youngest girl. LB: That's possible. [inaudible] BM: I believe on her-- LB: It was 1906 when she died, that-- BM: Yeah, in 1906. So it's very possible then, that the reason your mother didn't complete that term of school was on the count of your sister. LB: I don't know. MM: Do you remember Ernest Sawell? BM: Do you remember Ernst Sawell? S-A-W-E-L-L? LB: No, I don't recall. MM: He finished the term [inaudible]. BM: He finished the term, that term, for your mother. That was according to Clarence Myers. MM: Do you remember Will D. Wilson (ph)? LB: [Indecipherable.] BM: He came in, Will D. came in, after your mother taught there. LB: It was the next term, probably, wasn't it. BM: And Ernest Sawell, the next term, well then Will D. Wilson came in and taught the next term. LB: Hmm. Well I--you asked who went to school there, I'm sure Leo Pinehill went to school there. MM: Yes, [inaudible]. LB: And [indecipherable] probably Mary and-- MM: Mary. BM: The--all three of those kids. LB: --Pinehill children. UW: I don't know whether the Biggs went that early or not. And some of the Big Mosquitoes (ph). LB: [Inaudible.] BM: In later years, then, Leo, in later years you went to--you came back in that country. You came back in that country. Did you or did you not? LB: Yes, it was several-- BM: In later years, several, several years after that-- LB: In later years. MM: About what year was that? BM: About what year was did you come back out in there, Leo? LB: Oh, (pause). When was the [indecipherable] war, well that's--I just read it in the history--day before [indecipherable], World War I? When the armistice was signed? MM: [Inaudible.] BM: Nineteen-eighteen or 1919. LB: It was about two or three years before that, prior to that, that I was out there. BM: Was any you--when you came back out there, then, where did you, where did you move to at that time? LB: Oh, I just stayed there with my grandparents, Coley Bruce--Coleman Bruce. And I ran a store for a few years. BM: You ran a store there. Alright, where was that store located at? LB: It was about--how far would it be from where the last school was there east across--just across Polecat Bridge there, and about a quarter-- MM: Quarter east and a quarter north-- BM: No, half east and a quarter north-- MM: Half a mile east and quarter north. BM: Half east and a quarter north. MM: Alright, what kind of store, how big a store, tell us about it. BM: How big a store was that, Leo? LB: Oh I just--couldn't really call it a store, it was more--in this day and time you'd think of it more as a concession stand because we had no refrigeration, you know, and didn't even keep ice, but about all I kept was flour and canned goods and stuff that was not perishable, couldn't spoil. And tobacco, cans of tobacco. MM: How long did you run it? LB: Didn't even have, didn't even have sodee pop. (laughs) BM: How long did you run that store, Leo? LB: I think it was a little over two years. BM: When your parents moved into the Sapulpa area, what did your father--what was your father's occupation at that time? LB: Well, of course he was a farmer, well then he was elected. He ran for county clerk. And he was elected county clerk. BM: He was elected country clerk. MM: What year? BM: What year was he elected county clerk? LB: Well, that would've been in 1907, wouldn't that be right? Nineteen-seven, prior to statehood. Statehood I think was January 1908. MM: How many years did he serve? LB: He served seven years [inaudible]. The election they held before statehood--or the first election as I remember it was an off year, and when they had the next election why, they held it when--on the regular year that the elections have always been held since and the [inaudible]-- BM: On an even year, then. LB: --the terms were two years, two year terms. And his first term as I remember it was only a year there. He just served a year until the next election and then it was like a regular term, for two more terms. BM: Now he was elected down near the--the first term, then, he would've been elected. He went in, then in about 1909. His first term would've been about 1909. MM: No, 1907-- LB: A full term. BM: A full term, first year--first term. MM: What did your mom and dad do? Did they move back to the Pinehill community? LB: No. BM: At the present time, do you still-you still own some land out in that part, do you or do you not, Leo? LB: Yes. BM: Let's back up. What year, Leo, did you get married? LB: That would've been 19--(pauses), that would be 1927. It was [indecipherable]. MM: He was married October 18, 18--no. LB: It may not give it. MM: March 26, 1927. LB: [Inaudible.] BM: And what was her name? LB: Ida Shockley. BM: Ida Shockley. And to that marriage how many children were there, Leo? LB: Two. BM: Two. What were their-- LB: Two boys. BM: Two boys. What were their names? LB: Kaye Don, K-A-Y-E Don D-O-N, Kaye Don Bruce, and Robert Bruce. BM: Kaye Don and Robert Bruce. Are those children still alive? LB: Yes. BM: Where is Kaye Don at, at the present time? LB: He's in Richmond, Washington. State of Washington. BM: And Robert? LB: He's in Mexico City. BM: Mexico City. He's down with all them pretty senoritas, then. LB: Well, both those boys married senoritas. BM: Oh, they did! MM: Kaye Don was married to Francisca Alexius (ph) and Robert married Elesia Montaguerrez (ph). BM: Kaye Don, I know, went to school out here. I remember Kaye Don going to school out there at Pinehill. LB: [inaudible] that's right. BM: Kaye Don went to school out there. LB: About one year. BM: Yeah, and he--at that time, I think, my best memory, it was just--you lived just west of Cherry Creek (ph) on the south side of the road. In later years the house burned. Troy Livingston (ph)-- LB: Was living in there-- BM: Troy and Plessie (ph) was living in the house when it burned. I believe it's right, is that-- LB: That's right, that's right. MM: How many Pinehill school buildings do you remember? [Inaudible.] LB: Well I don't know whether there'd have been three, there were three, wasn't there? BM: Well we've got reports of three, we've got reports of four, so we don't know. MM: The one that [inaudible]-- BM: But when do you remember the ones that you remember, Leo? Where were they located at? LB: West--well the first one, of course, was there at the crossroads where--and the next one was (pause) Well, you see, the next one as I remember it was a higher elevation than the last one. BM: Yeah. LB: It was kind of up on the hill-- BM: It would've been a mile--the second one that you remember would've been a mile north and about a quarter of a mile west of where the first schoolhouse was built. Then the third one was built down in under the hill. LB: As I remember-- BM: Is that--that's the way you-- LB: As I remember it, yes, but if there were four buildings, why-- MM: The first one apparently-- LB: --that could've been crossed up some way there, see. BM: The first one-- MM: The one they think was the second one only lasted three years before it was burned, from 1909 to 1912. LB: Could it've been where the last one burned? And then-- MM: No, one was a quarter of a mile--a mile south of the last one and about--what, a quarter east? BM: The first one, from the first school house, where the first one was built, was a mile south and about a quarter east, kind of sitting on the hill up there on the prairie. Was the third where you remember the first one being built, is that right? That would be at the crossroads. LB: That's right. BM: That would be a mile south of the last schoolhouse. LB: That's right. BM: And about a quarter east. Or was it right in the corner? LB: Seems to me like it was right at the road, almost at the road there. BM: Well on this, that would be the one John Rossander was talking about, then. MM: John Rossander says he can show you the foundation, he must know. LB: I guess so. MM: 'Course he-- BM: So then they tell me that there was another one built up on top of the hill, which would be east of the one on the crossroads. LB: [Inaudible] it's possible, but I wouldn't remember that. BM: Was your dad--wasn't your dad elected to a term as sheriff? In Creek County? LB: Yes, he served two terms as sheriff. BM: He served two terms as sheriff of Creek County. Well then, he was--that was in what year, Leo? Do you remember? LB: No, I don't. I'm not sure, I'd have to look that up. BM: Well they did Mote-- LB: Mote ran for sheriff but he-- BM: After Abner was-- LB: After Abner served just two terms, yes. BM: That's what I--that's the way I remember it but I never had got that-- LB: That's right. BM: --I never had got that off any of the, anybody else but you. (pause) Is there any funnies that you can--that you remember that went on at the school during your school days there? Is there anything, any funny happened that you remember? LB: Well, I can't think of anything amusing right now. BM: To you memory, then, what, what all was the school used for, Leo? LB: It was--they had church there a lot, as I remember it, and then they had a literary society there in the community. I can remember those meetings were a lot. They'd have--they'd come in there of an evening and I guess they had a certain night of the week that they'd have the literary but I can't remember when. BM: We've got different reports on these literaries, but we never have really pinpointed it down to just what all went on at these literaries. LB: I can remember they had the dialogues and recitations and they'd have songs. They didn't have a musical instrument there, but I think sometimes someone would try to sing a song, I can remember that. But the main thing that I remember was the recitations and dialogues and I can't remember--I can't remember the church meetings so well. That--I'm sure that they did have church in the first building. BM: Also we have been told that it was used for a voting precinct in later years. It was used as a voting precinct. And in the early days they held court in that school. Do you know anything about that? LB: No. BM: We've been told something about a kangaroo court and I've tried to pinpoint that down. LB: Mm-hmm. No. BM: I forgot now who it was that--Virgil Vann, I believe it was, that was telling us about the kangaroo court, but I never could get him pinned down. Tried to find out if the kangaroo courts--that they put on during one of these literaries meetings or whether it was a real honest to goodness kangaroo court. But I've never been able to get it pinned down. MM: [Inaudible.] BM: Okay. MM: As far as we know, and as far as we've been able to tell, Leo, you were the first white child born in that community. Leo Frank Bruce. And you was born (pause) what the date was--10/01/1897. October the-- LB: Ten the eighteenth. MM: --ninety-seven. Your father was Abner Louis Bruce and he was born 09/23/1871, died 01/18/1952. His brothers were Frank--James Franklin, J. Smith, and Moten R. and Roy Clyde and his sister was Cora Belle. Your mother was Ella May Stowe, she was born 06/27/1876 and died 05/09/1948. Your grandfather was Coleman Robert Bruce, he was born in 1847 and died in 1926. His broth--your uncles and aunts was--his brothers and sisters was Pleasant Alfred, James A. (ph), John H. (ph), Richard H., Moten (ph), Charles F. (ph), Wesley A., George Washington (ph), Adam Vivian, Alpha Ann, Laura E. (ph), Susie Jane, Dora Ree (ph) and Katie V. LB: There was a bunch of them. MM: And his wife was Alpha Ann Moore, she was born in 1848 and died in 1923. Your grandfather--your great-greatfather, then, was James Thomas Bruce, he was born August 1824 and married in March 1846, he married Francis S. Vivian pause in recording as tape switches to Side B MM: --Bruce was born December 1802 and died March 1885, he was married Elizabeth L. Swinney and I think that's enough of the tree to go back on there. I just found the tree on his father's side. His mother's tree is here also but I don't think we'll run anything on it. This was from Leo Bruce's family Bible. Leo, what do you remember--what did you think about Pinehill? What does it mean to you? LB: Well I was--I don't know how to describe it. I really liked the community out there, you know, and of course the mental [indecipherable] child, why, they usually appreciate or like the child more than they do after they get grown and have to get out and face the-- BM: Face the world. LB: --cold, cold world. MM: Well, you were never really apart from it. Your folks has always been there, you've been back and forth the whole dang--your life, haven't you? LB: Mmm-hmm. Yeah, I remember several times that we moved to town here, why, during my school vacation, why, I would go out there and when I'd go out there, why, I planned to stay all summer! And spend the summer vacation out there. But just a little while I, I'd get homesick, I'd want to see my folks and come back to Sapulpa and that, that'd be about the end of my vacation. BM: About the end of your vacation. MM: What'd you do on vacation out there? LB: Well, they--I pretended to help a little with the farming and I remember my grandfather Coleman Bruce, he and I fished a lot and I really enjoyed that. MM: Where'd you fish? LB: Fished in Polecat. MM: What'd you catch? LB: Well, we didn't catch anything but little old--little fish. Perch and catfish. Sunfish. MM: Did you ever hunt? LB: Not much. I've hunted some but I'm not much of a hunter. MM: Where was your swimming hole? LB: Well the main swimming hole there was--it was in Polecat there, and it was just this side of where, where we lived, you know, when Don went to school there at Pinehill. Just this side there, down--walk to what would be the south side of the road there, just a little ways from the road. MM: Did you get in on them watermelon stealing on them summer vacations? LB: No, I can't remember stealing any watermelons. But I can remember, I can remember the Polecat there, it wasn't anything like it was in later years. I can remember one place on further down--can you two remember where the falls was? BM: Yes. I do. LB: I think since Heyburn's been built, Heburn dam's been built there, I guess there's not any falls there anymore, it's filled up. But just above--just north of where the falls were there, I can remember at one time there was a big hole there and it was deep. And I can remember several times, people talking about it, that they were impressed with it--that you could take regular cane fishing pole, you know, and you couldn't-- BM: Couldn't touch bottom. LB: Couldn't touch bottom. BM: Now, was that the hole that they call the old Blokesie (ph) Hole? LB: I wouldn't know. I [inaudible]. MM: Was any hunting done, any--do you remember any hunting? LB: Well, not to speak of. I can remember my uncle Frank Bruce, I can remember that he hunted quite a bit and I can't be sure about that. I don't know--I noticed you said that in the [indecipherable] there, you read where they sold quails on the market, but I can't--I don't know if he ever sold quail on the market or not. But I can remember he had a bird dog that he was real proud of, and that poor old dog would--he hunted with him so much that he had, his feet would get sore. And I can remember he tried to--it wasn't a success, he couldn't do much good with it, but he would try to make shoes or moccasins for this poor old dog, for his feet. Course he wouldn't keep them, couldn't keep them on, you know, but that worried him a lot that-- BM: Thought the old dog's feet would get so sore. LB: Mmm-hmm. MM: Do you remember any of the early oil industry in there, or anything like that? LB: Well now, see, when I had the store out there they had a (pause) I think they called it a booster station, didn't they, the Texas Oil Company had a station right down below the hill there from where the store was. BM: Be out west. LB: And, yes, that's right. They worked several men, I don't--I can't remember how many men, but there were several men worked there. And I know they had a telegraph operator. Of course they had the old line that went right along with the pipeline there, you know. MM: What, did they send messages to local people if they needed it? LB: No, not much, they may have but I didn't hear of it. But they used it for the old business down there. But I can remember that the line walkers--they'd have a line walker that would walk this line and I think they had [inaudible] can remember more than one line walker that they had that'd stop in there at the store and-- MM: Do you remember any flooding caused at Polecat before the dam up in that area? LB: No, I don't think it flooded much but I can remember that--I can remember the creek would really get high and they had more rain than they have now. I can remember you could the creek roar. You could hear the roar of the waters. I remember one time, I don't know whether it would be of interest to you or not, it wasn't very important, but really made an impression on me when--you see, my grandfather, that was the house where I was born as I remember it. They referred to it as the Old Stockade House. The logs were built, or placed, up-and-down and not--how do I want to say it? Horizontal? BM: They were vertical but wasn't horizontal. LB: Mmm-hmm. And it was a story-and-a-half house, I guess. See, I know they had rooms or a room up above, they had a stairway I know. But I know that was the house where I was born, this Old Stockade House. Well I can remember one time my uncle Mote Bruce--we were going from that--as I remember it, now--we were, I was behind him on a horse, and we were trying to go from this Old Stockade House over to where my parents lived there at the foot of the hill where I told you about. I can remember the creek being up. And it was probably right there about where the bowl where the falls was, you can remember there was a crossing there. And I remember that he stopped there on the-- BM: Bank of the creek. LB: --other side of the bank of the creek and watched that water for, oh, several minutes. He didn't say anything, you know, just sit there, we sit there on the horse and just watching the water. And he finally said to me, he says, Now Leo, you hang on to me real tight, you hear? Of course that made an impression on me and I grabbed ahold of him and we slid down into the water there. And course the water came right up to our waist, you know, we were--and all you could see of the poor old horse was just his head and ears sticking up there right in front of us and I can remember the logs and stuff floating down the river, the creek there. And I can remember that horse was really pulling, but we swam the creek to get on the other side but I never knew what was so important that he had to get from my grandfather's house over there back to our house. He might've just been wanting to get rid of me! (laughs) He swam that creek to get-- BM: He swam the creek with the old horse to-- LB: To get back to where [indecipherable]. BM: To get back-- MM: I believe you told me one time about you and Charlie Blythe watching the first surrey with a fringe on top. Do you remember that? It was there at your grandpa's, and-- LB: Yes, I just barely, I can remember. Well, I can remember that was kind of a, kind of a meeting place for a lot of people over the country there at my grandparents' house. I think Charlie--seems like I can remember Charlie stopping in there more than once-- MM: What about surrey with a fringe on top? LB: --on Sundays, you know. But what I remember, one time, there was a surrey that crossed that little--there was a little--oh, we called it--it was probably Cherry Creek. It was Cherry Creek would've been right there. I can remember that surrey with a fringe on top coming and crossing that creek and coming up right up by our--my grandparents' house. MM: Was it pretty or what-- LB: But who they were--yeah, it was, I thought it was a really fancy carriage. But I can't remember who was driving it, who they were, or anything about it. BM: You can still drive down--or you could, you could still drive down to that old crossing there on Cherry Creek. You could here a few years back. I don't know whether you still can or not. Down by where the Old Stockade House was. There was a cross there, that was the roadway where the crossing was there on Cherry Creek, went right down to Polecat, on down to just above what they call the lower falls. LB: Those lower falls, I don't know if I was ever right at that location or not. But I can remember the people speaking of the lower falls and-- BM: Now, this next summer, when we present and dedicate this thing to the state of Oklahoma, we'd like--I want you to come out and if the Lord is willing, I'll try to take you back up Polecat as far as we can and show you where the old falls that you remember crossing on the horse, where it is located today and show you where the old lower falls were there on Polecat and try to show you where the old roadway used to go down through there. LB: Mmm-hmm. BM: You can drive down quite a ways down in there by where the Old Stockade House used to be. What you would--at the present time you would have to cross from where you lived there where the house burned for Troy and Plessie (ph) lived, and it burned, you would have to come back east across Cherry Creek, to Cherry Creek. There's Little Cherry and Big Cherry Creek. Big Cherry Creek-- LB: Yeah, that's what I was wondering about-- BM: Big Cherry Creek was the one that you were talking about the old crossing was down by the Old Stockade House-- MM: I don't think you asked him where his property he owns out there is. BM: --come back to where, oh, it's about two hundred yards east of Little Cherry Creek, there's a road that goes south, goes back off down, winds back around, down almost to where the Old Stockade House used to be. And where the old crossing was down here. At the present time I think Louis or Andrew, one of them, has it fenced in and you can't drive all the way down to where the old crossing was. LB: I was--oh, several times I went over there when we lived out there, you know, in the house that burned, you know, when Troy and Plessie (ph) lived there. I went there several times, I went over to that location but it's changed so much, it's-- BM: It's really changed now. LB: --wouldn't, wouldn't know it was the same place. BM: It's changed, it's changed altogether now to what it was then, even. MM: Ask him where his property is [inaudible]. BM: The property that you still own out there at the present time, Leo, where is it located? LB: Well, it's right there at the corner of the road where the road, one road goes over to what is Shepherd Point and the other [inaudible] and seventy acres. BM: You own seventy acres there. LB: But I really don't own that place because--see, I just had forty acres and that road goes right through that forty so forty in here a few years ago, I bought the surface thirty acres from the allottee, I forget who she was, she lives down at Okmulgee. That joins there on the west there, thirty acres, so I really have what you and me would call for seventy acres but the road takes up a lot of it, I don't know how many acres [inaudible]. But part of that goes right where the, goes right up where--you remember where Loyd Bruce used to live there. I don't know, you folks--did you ever [inaudible]. Because that's--oh, Mastersons lived there a while, one of them. BM: Yeah, right there in the corner, say, Roy Bruce had the house right there in the corner with a cedar tree in the yard. LB: Yeah. Mmm-hmm. BM: We didn't live there in that corner there. Dan, Dan Masterson (ph) lived there in the corner. And Louis lived south over there on--well, just north of the Old Stockade House. LB: Mmm-hmm. BM: Where the Old Stockade House was. LB: Mmm-hmm. BM: And we lived on south down there, well it'd just be right there on the banks of the creek. And we moved over in the field, back over west of there in a field by the old Blokesie (ph) hole, the old swimming hole. LB: Mmm-hmm. MM: [Inaudible.] BM: Then we moved back up-- end of recording. audio 0 https://bristoworalhistory.org/ohms/viewer.php?cachefile=OHP-0012-01_Leo_Bruce.xml OHP-0012-01_Leo_Bruce.xml
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2000
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Title
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Leo Frank Bruce
Description
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In this 1976 interview, Leo Frank Bruce (1897-1990), the first white child born in the Pinehill Community outside of Bristow, Oklahoma, describes his life in the area prior to statehood including their early home structures and the approximate location of their homesteads. He also identifies some of the first schoolteachers and his schoolmates in the community. He discusses talks about running a small dry goods store prior to refrigeration/electricity, his family’s subsequent move to Sapulpa when his father was elected as the first Creek County clerk, and subsequently as the Creek County sheriff. Finally, he describes social events in the Pinehill community such as literaries, fishing, and the first time he ever saw a surrey with a fringe on top.
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OHP-0012-01
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Pinehill Community and School
Date
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1976-11-12
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audio
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60ab497a49701c80b9cb390ea9e4ccbf
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Family Histories
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Oral History
Subject
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Oral accounts of various family histories
Source
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Bristow Historical Society, oral history collection
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
Interviewer
The person(s) performing the interview
Debbie Blansett
Interviewee
The person(s) being interviewed
Leola Roebuck
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https://bristoworalhistory.org/ohms/viewer.php?cachefile=OHP-2021-22_Leola_Roebuck.xml
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5.4 March 31, 2021 OHP-2021-22 Leola Roebuck OHP-2021-22 0:00 - 26:26 Bristow Historical Society, Inc. Leola Roebuck Debbie Blansett MP3 1:|65(4)|114(2)|153(9)|206(2)|239(3)|272(7)|307(2)|343(2)|392(2)|441(2)|487(9)|540(2)|575(3)|632(2)|676(4)|715(3)|754(5)|798(3)|848(3)|889(3)|922(2)|974(5)|1020(4)|1066(8)|1108(5)|1137(6) 0 https://bristoworalhistory.org/interviews/Leola Roebuck.wav Other audio 0 Introduction DB: Alright let’s give this a try, I’ve got to read this. This is Debbie Blansett with the Bristow Historical Society in Bristow, Oklahoma and this interview is part of the historical societies ongoing oral history project. The date is March 31st, 2021 and I am here with Leola Roebuck in her home and, say your name. KR: Kenneth DB: Kenneth Roebuck, her son. And— MR: Michelle Roebuck Bristow Historical Society ; Bristow, Oklahoma ; Debbie Blansett ; Kenneth Roebuck ; Leola Roebuck ; Michelle Roebuck 45 Moving to Bristow DB: Okay, does she remember—do you remember when you came to Bristow? KR: What year did you come to Bristow mom? LR: What? KR: What year did you move to Bristow? DB: Do you remember? KR: You know, from Boley. From Arkansas, you moved to Oklahoma from Arkansas, what year did you move to Bristow? LR: [Indecipherable] KR: You don’t remember what year? Boley, Oklahoma 135 Farm KR: Did you work outside the house? LR: [Indecipherable] KR: [Indecipherable] DB: Oh did you have a big garden? LR: Yeah, I made a big garden DB: Did you grow tomatoes? LR: Tomatoes, yeah anything you could plant in a garden DB: Anything you could plant, you’d put in your garden LR: Uh-huh DB: And you just—did you make your own bread? LR: Did I make my own what? 250 Babysitting KR: And then when we moved here, you sued to babysit kids while we were in school, other kids. DB: You took care of other babies when your kids went to school? LR: Uh-huh DB: Uh-huh, for a long time? LR: Mhm DB: What did they call you? KR: What did the kids call you? LR: What? KR: What did the kids call you? The kids you kept when— DB: When you were babysitting, what did they call you? Did they call you Miss Leola? Did they call you grandma? 357 Family DB: And Melvin is your grandson? Melvin? He wanted us to come talk to you. KR: Melvin, Melvin. Melvin. LR: Who? KR: Melvin, Melvin wanted her to do this interview. Melvin, Mary Allen’s boy the daughter’s boy. LR: Oh DB: He said “You have to talk to my grandma”. You sure have a pretty hair thing on KR: [Indecipherable] LR: [Indecipherable] KR: Huh? LR: [Indecipherable] KR: Yeah your brother do stay with you Mary Allen ; Melvin 489 Church DB: Did you go to church? LR: Yeah I go to church DB: What church do you go to? LR: I go to Duffys Chapel KR: Duffy Chapel DB: I do know Duffys Chapel LR: My church DB: That’s your church? LR: Uh-huh Duffys Chapel ; Myrtle Alexander ; Reverend Parker 588 Food DB: I know they could make peach cobbler ; they were known for their peach cobbler. Can you make peach cobbler? Do you like peach cobbler? KR: Do you like peach cobbler momma? LR: Huh? KR: Do you like peach cobbler? LR: Yeah DB: Oh yeah KR: Her specialty is peach dumplings DB: Oh, peach dumplings KR: With the cinnamon in them DB: mm, It’s probably been a while since she’s got to make some. KR: Mhm, tell them about your homemade cake and the homemade ice and that white icing with that sweet milk, sugar, and butter, and vanilla flavouring. You remember that? Boley, Oklahoma ; Oklaha 802 Moving KR: You gonna tell her about Oklaha, what y’all used to do in Oklaha? LR: [Indecipherable] KR: Huh? LR: [Indecipherable] KR: Oklaha, the town LR: Oh yeah, down in Oklaha, we stayed all around that little place DB: She what? MR: She stayed all around that little place DB: Oh alright KR: Oklaha, Boley City, all of it DB: Right [Indecipherable] LR: Muskogee Aunt Bea ; Boley City ; Muskogee ; Oklaha ; Uncle Buddy 952 Sewing DB: What did you like to do in Bristow? Did you go to the grocery store in Bristow? LR: Yeah, [Indecipherable] DB: Made quilts LR: Curtains DB: Curtains LR: Childrens clothes KR: Childrens clothes DB: Childrens clothes. So you had a sewing machine? KR: She done it by hand LR: I did it by hand DB: You did it by hand? KR: Everything by hand DB: You didn’t have a sewing machine? 1106 Lye Soap KR: Tell her--hey, tell Mrs. Blansett how you used to make the lye soap LR: What? KR: Tell Mrs. Blansett— DB: How you made soap KR: Soap LR: [Indecipherable] KR: The soap, the lye soap. You know the soap LR: Yeah KR: Tell her how you used to make that lye soap 1229 School KR: Tell her about you used to have to walk five miles to school, tell her about your school day. LR: More than five minutes [Indecipherable] KR: More than five—I know DB: More what? KR: More than five minutes, I know. You told me you used to walk about five miles in the snow and stuff. Tell them about how y’all used to go to school while— DB: Did you have to walk to school? Did you walk to school? LR: [Indecipherable] DB: And no bus? LR: Momma couldn't keep me out of the field KR: Huh? LR: Momma couldn’t keep me out of the field 1446 Conclusion DB: Alright, well miss Leola I’m so glad you talked to me today, I’m glad Kenneth and Michelle were here to help me understand KR: She said— LR: What? KR: She said thank you DB: Thank you LR: [Indecipherable] KR: She said thank you LR: [Indecipherable] KR: No she isn’t talking about [Indecipherable], she’s talking about she wants to thank you for letting her have her interview with you, talking with you today In this 2021 interview, Leola Roebuck shares her experience living in Bristow. She talks about her farm, babysitting, sewing, and cooking. Interviewer: Debbie Blansett Interviewee: Leola Roebuck Other Persons: Kenneth Roebuck, Michelle Roebuck Date of Interview: March 31st, 2021 Location: Bristow, Creek County Oklahoma Transcriber: Abby Thompson Organization: Bristow Historical Society, Inc. Original Cassette Tape Location: OHP-2021-22 at 00:00 to 26:26 Abstract: Preface: The following oral history testimony is the result of a cassette tape interview and is part of the Bristow Historical Society, Inc.' ; s collection of oral histories. The interview was transcribed and processed by the Bristow Historical Society, Inc., with financial assistance from the Montfort Jones & ; Allie Brown Jones Foundation. Rights to the material are held exclusively by the Bristow Historical Society, Inc. The reader should bear in mind that he or she is reading a verbatim transcript of spoken, rather than written prose. Insofar as possible, this transcript tries to represent the spoken word. Thus, it should be read as a personal memoir and not as either a researched monograph or edited account. To the extent possible, the spelling of place names, foreign words, and personal names have been verified, either by reference resources or directly by the interviewee. In some cases, a footnote has been added to the transcript in order to provide more information and/or to clarify a statement. Some uncertainties will inevitably remain regarding some words and their spellings. In these scenarios, a (ph) follows a word or name that is spelled phonetically. The notation [indecipherable] is used when the transcriber has not been able to comprehend the word or phrase being spoken. The notation [inaudible] is used where there is more mumbling than words, or when interference on the tape has made transcription impossible. DB: Alright let' ; s give this a try, I' ; ve got to read this. This is Debbie Blansett with the Bristow Historical Society in Bristow, Oklahoma and this interview is part of the historical societies ongoing oral history project. The date is March 31st, 2021 and I am here with Leola Roebuck in her home and, say your name. KR: Kenneth DB: Kenneth Roebuck, her son. And-- MR: Michelle Roebuck DB: Her daughter-in law who is going to tell me a little bit about their history in the Bristow area. Okay, does she remember--do you remember when you came to Bristow? KR: What year did you come to Bristow mom? LR: What? KR: What year did you move to Bristow? DB: Do you remember? KR: You know, from Boley. From Arkansas, you moved to Oklahoma from Arkansas, what year did you move to Bristow? LR: [Indecipherable] KR: You don' ; t remember what year? LR: [Indecipherable] KR: Okay what year was it? LR: [Indecipherable] KR: Huh? DB: She doesn' ; t know LR: I don' ; t remember KR: [Indecipherable] DB: 1920 maybe? KR: That' ; s when she was born DB: No that' ; s when she was born KR: Uh-huh. DB: Did you live in the country? LR: Uh-huh DB: Uh-huh, did you have a lot of kids? LR: Lot of kids KR: A lot of kids DB: Did you have a lot of babies? LR: I had a couple KR: You had--no you ain' ; t had, but you had ten kids, remember? DB: Ten kids? KR: Yeah LR: Uh-huh KR: Yeah she had ten of them DB: Ten, what did you--did you, were you just momma all the time? Did you work outside the house? LR: What? KR: Did you work outside the house? LR: [Indecipherable] KR: [Indecipherable] DB: Oh did you have a big garden? LR: Yeah, I made a big garden DB: Did you grow tomatoes? LR: Tomatoes, yeah anything you could plant in a garden DB: Anything you could plant, you' ; d put in your garden LR: Uh-huh DB: And you just--did you make your own bread? LR: Did I make my own what? KR: Your bread, you know you made biscuits every morning. DB: Biscuits every morning? KR: Mom made biscuits, yeah. DB: Did you have chickens? No chickens? KR: Yeah she had chickens, tell them about the--tell them about where y' ; all used to do your hogs. Put them in the sweat house and salt them down and all of that. You remember when you had to farm when you stayed on the farm? LR: Nuh-uh KR: When you stayed on the farm LR: Oh yeah KR: You raised hogs and chickens and stuff DB: And you have to butcher them? That was pretty hard work LR: Yeah DB: Did you-- LR: [Indecipherable] KR: No she isn' ; t talking about [Indecipherable] she' ; s talking about how you raised the animals on the farm DB: Uh-huh, and you had pigs? KR: Pigs, you had hogs and stuff DB: hogs LR: Yeah I had hogs and chickens KR: Chickens DB: Chickens LR: Guineas KR: Guineas LR: Turkeys KR: Turkeys DB: Wow, that' ; s a farm KR: Y' ; all had a set of mules too, didn' ; t we? LR: Uh-huh DB: You had a set of what? KR: Mules DB: Oh, some mules. KR: That' ; s how they done all their farms LR: Yeah I [Indecipherable] KR: And then when we moved here, you used to babysit kids while we were in school, other kids. DB: You took care of other babies when your kids went to school? LR: Uh-huh DB: Uh-huh, for a long time? LR: Mhm DB: What did they call you? KR: What did the kids call you? LR: What? KR: What did the kids call you? The kids you kept when-- DB: When you were babysitting, what did they call you? Did they call you Miss Leola? Did they call you grandma? LR: [Indecipherable] KR: She' ; s wanting to know what did the kids call you? Did they call you grandma? I bet most of them called you Aunt Leola DB: Aunt Leola, how many did you keep? LR: How many did I keep? KR: Kids at one time, how many kids did you keep at one time? You know you babysat, how many kids did you babysit? That' ; s what she' ; s asking you LR: About four or five DB: Four or five, you are brave. What about this guy? Is he a pretty good guy? LR: Yeah, he' ; s pretty good KR: What? MR: She said yes, he' ; s pretty good DB: Does he take god care of you? LR: Awful good DB: Awful good KR: Yeah, but she' ; s out here-- DB: Michelle takes good care of you too? LR: Michelle KR: Michelle, Michelle my wife, your daughter-in-law Michelle LR: Oh yeah, uh-huh DB: And Melvin is your grandson? Melvin? He wanted us to come talk to you. KR: Melvin, Melvin. Melvin. LR: Who? KR: Melvin, Melvin wanted her to do this interview. Melvin, Mary Allen' ; s boy the daughter' ; s boy. LR: Oh DB: He said " ; You have to talk to my grandma" ; . You sure have a pretty hair thing on KR: [Indecipherable] LR: [Indecipherable] KR: Huh? LR: [Indecipherable] KR: Yeah your brother do stay with you MR: She says she favours Buddy KR: Yeah her brother DB: You sure are a pretty lady KR: Thank you, she said you' ; re pretty LR: Huh? KR: She said you' ; re a pretty lady. She said you' ; re a pretty lady LR: Yeah KR: You act surprised she ain' ; t said that, I know [Indecipherable] LR: [Indecipherable] My oldest daughter [Indecipherable] DB: Her oldest daughter maybe? KR: Yeah she passed, Melvin' ; s mom, she would' ; ve been--see we wrote down all her brothers. DB: Okay, okay, okay. [Indecipherable] LR: [Indecipherable] KR: No, them are papers she' ; s gotta fill out to put you in the magazine DB: How old are you? LR: Huh? DB: How old are you? LR: 101 DB: 101, did they give you 101 spankings? LR: No, I didn' ; t get spankings DB: No spankings for you LR: I didn' ; t want spankings DB: Don' ; t want any LR: [Inaudible] KR: Huh? LR: [Indecipherable] KR: No DB: Did you go to church? LR: Yeah I go to church DB: What church do you go to? LR: I go to Duffys Chapel KR: Duffy Chapel DB: I do know Duffys Chapel LR: My church DB: That' ; s your church? LR: Uh-huh KR: Yeah she was treasurer up there for 38 years DB: Now isn' ; t that where-- KR: [Indecipherable], we' ; re having Reverend Parker do it now DB: Okay, and-- KR: New Life, they changed it to New Life DB: Myrtle, Myrtle Alexander, that was her church, I mean she kept kids at our church but that was always her home church KR: Yeah, yeah, yeah. DB: Odell' ; s and Clydals momma KR: Yeah before they moved to the Methodist, yeah. DB: Do you remember Myrtle Alexander? Do you remember Myrtle? KR: She probably don' ; t DB: No KR: You remember Mrs. Alexander? You remember-- MR: Mrs. Alexander KR: You remember Mrs. Cross LR: Who? KR: Mrs. Cross LR: What? KR: Mrs. Cross, that would' ; ve been Myrtles mother. You remember Mrs. Cross, right? LR: Yeah KR: Okay now she wants to know, did you know her girl, daughter. LR: Yeah KR: Mrs. Myrtle LR: [Indecipherable] KR: No Mrs. Alexander LR: [Indecipherable] DB: Duffys Chapel, I haven' ; t heard that in a long time. LR: I remember [Indecipherable] KR: Yeah she knows, she [Indecipherable] DB: I' ; ve got all this stuff KR: She used to go to church there LR: No more DB: Did you sing in the-- LR: [Indecipherable] KR: [Indecipherable] DB: I know they could make peach cobbler ; they were known for their peach cobbler. Can you make peach cobbler? Do you like peach cobbler? KR: Do you like peach cobbler momma? LR: Huh? KR: Do you like peach cobbler? LR: Yeah DB: Oh yeah KR: Her specialty is peach dumplings DB: Oh, peach dumplings KR: With the cinnamon in them DB: mm, It' ; s probably been a while since she' ; s got to make some. KR: Mhm, tell them about your homemade cake and the homemade ice and that white icing with that sweet milk, sugar, and butter, and vanilla flavouring. You remember that? LR: Yeah, [Indecipherable] KR: [Indecipherable] DB: It best is, sounds like a birthday cake KR: Yeah she' ; s the best LR: Yeah DB: It sounds good KR: That' ; s good eating DB: That' ; s good eating right there. KR: Hey, hey, hey, tell them about how you like the black eyed peas and cornbread LR: I love black eyed peas and cornbread DB: That' ; s what we have at our house KR: [Indecipherable] LR: Yeah I love black eyed peas and cornbread DB: And cornbread, black eyed peas, what do you like in your black eyed peas? LR: Yeah KR: She said what you like to put in them, what kind of meat you season them with LR: With bacon KR: Bacon DB: Bacon LR: Uh-huh KR: And what else we put in that? LR: Salt meat KR: Salt meat, and what else? Ham [Indecipherable], remember? DB: Ooh, I' ; ve got some of those in my freezer KR: We keep ham [Indecipherable] DB: I need to go pull one out and make some of those, I think my husband would like that LR: Yeah DB: He likes cornbread KR: Yeah she loves cornbread DB: Hard to cook it in a big skillet LR: Yeah KR: She' ; s-- LR: [Indecipherable] KR: What? LR: At home DB: At home? LR: [Indecipherable] KR: She likes that, she eats cornbread, pulled pork, buttered milk DB: Oh. I don' ; t know what else she would feel like telling me about KR: Hey, tell them about--we moved to Bristow from Boley, right? LR: What? KR: From Boley, Boley Oklahoma? You know you stayed-- LR: [Indecipherable] KR: Did you stay down Boley and Oklaha LR: Yeah KR: Tell them about them towns LR: [Indecipherable] DB: Good what? LR: [Indecipherable] KR: Yeah but she wants to know about the time when you lived in Oklaha and moved to Boley. Remember? DB: Well she was saying something straight out of the oven KR: Yeah about how they used to cook the biscuits DB: Ohh come straight out in the oven KR: Yeah LR: So good DB: So good LT: Yeah, really good DB: I' ; ve got her talking about food now KR: Yeah LR: The what? KR: The food, the food you like DB: My grandma always made angel food cake, she liked to make angel food cake for our birthday. LR: Yeah DB: Yeah LR: [Indecipherable] KR: You gonna tell her about Oklaha, what y' ; all used to do in Oklaha? LR: [Indecipherable] KR: Huh? LR: [Indecipherable] KR: Oklaha, the town LR: Oh yeah, down in Oklaha, we stayed all around that little place DB: She what? MR: She stayed all around that little place DB: Oh alright KR: Oklaha, Boley City, all of it DB: Right [Indecipherable] LR: Muskogee KR: Muskogee and all them DB: Just moved from house to house? LR: Yeah we moved from house to house DB: Yeah LR: [Indecipherable] KR: Stayed all night [Indecipherable] DB: Uh-huh, with all those kids? LR: Huh? DB: With all your kids? Moved around with all those kids? LR: Yeah I think I had one or two MR: She said one or two DB: Oh KR: [Indecipherable] which one? Aunt Bea (ph) or Uncle Buddy(ph)? DB: Maybe both of them KR: Yeah, but [Indecipherable] LR: [Indecipherable] KR: Yeah he left-- LR: [Indecipherable] KR: You only lost four of your siblings DB: She still has brothers and sisters living? KR: No, she' ; s the only one DB: She' ; s the last one? KR: She' ; s the only one, she' ; s talking about her kids. DB: Oh KR: Let me see that, lick your tongue out, you' ; ve got something on-- LR: Oh DB: It' ; s-- LR: [Indecipherable] KR: I got it, okay DB: He got it KR: Okay, just tell them about something what you' ; ve done during life. Your life, I mean-- DB: Hundred and one years, that' ; s a long time. Did you have a birthday party? LR: Oh yeah KR: A small one DB: A little [Indecipherable]? KR: The [Indecipherable] DB: This COVID thing is bad LR: Yeah DB: Did you all get your shots and everything? KR: Yes DB: I have too. Well you look nice and snug, you look good and wrapped up, you' ; re not cold. KR: She stays cold, she don' ; t like cold, that blood thing. Tell them a little more about your life mama. MR: What' ; d you used to do LR: Huh? MR: What did you used to do? DB: What did you like to do in Bristow? Did you go to the grocery store in Bristow? LR: Yeah, [Indecipherable] DB: Made quilts LR: Curtains DB: Curtains LR: Childrens clothes KR: Childrens clothes DB: Childrens clothes. So you had a sewing machine? KR: She done it by hand LR: I did it by hand DB: You did it by hand? KR: Everything by hand DB: You didn' ; t have a sewing machine? MR: How' ; d you sew it? Did you sew it with your hands? LR: What? MR: Your clothes and quilts? LR: Yeah I did it at home, [Indecipherable] DB: Uh-huh. Where did you get your material for your quilts? Where did the material come from? LR: The material MT: [Indecipherable]. Did you get your material from old clothes and stuff? DB: Feed sacks? Flower sacks? Did you have a frame for your quilts? Did you have a quilting frame? LR: Uh-huh DB: Was it big? LR: Uh-huh DB: Yeah, that' ; s what my grandmother used, one of those. And she did hers by hand LR: Yeah DB: Oh there' ; s one of your quilts, Kenneth has one of your quilts KR: Pizza man, look here mom, mom. Mom, ain' ; t this yours? DB: Did you make that? LR: Make what? DB: Did you make this quilt? LR: Yeah DB: That' ; s beautiful LR: Made out of scraps DB: Made out of scraps LR: Uh-huh DB: Where' ; d you get the scraps? LR: [Indecipherable] MR: From where? Where' ; d you get your scraps from? Old clothes? LR: Yeah I did KR: Where did--how did you make your quilts? What' ; d you make the quilt--what material did you make the quilt out of? LR: The what? KR: The quilt, where' ; d you get the material to make the quilts? LR: [Indecipherable] KR: I said where did you get the material to make the quilts LR: At the store KR: At the stores-- DB: At the stores KR: Some of it at the general store, lot of it was old jeans and she' ; d cut that into pieces and she done everything by hand. Tell them, hey, tell Mrs. Blansett how you used to make the lye soap LR: What? KR: Tell Mrs. Blansett-- DB: How you made soap KR: Soap LR: [Indecipherable] KR: The soap, the lye soap. You know the soap LR: Yeah KR: Tell her how you used to make that LR: Well, you put so many cans of lye DB: So many cans of lye LR: So much grease KR: So much grease LR: Water KR: Water DB: Water LR: [Indecipherable] KR: [Indecipherable], ok. And then you [Indecipherable] right? DB: And you cook it? LR: Huh? DB: You cooked it? LR: You had to cook it [Indecipherable] KR: In my storage house, I' ; ve got a piece she made DB: In a big pot? LR: Yeah DB: Did it get you clean? LR: Sometimes DB: Sometimes. Did you use it for your clothes? Did you use it to wash? KR: The soap LR: [Indecipherable] and mop DB: And mop. So you worked pretty hard LR: Huh? DB: You worked pretty hard. KR: You worked pretty hard when you were growing up. You worked hard, did you work hard? LR: Uh-huh DB: Oh yes KR: I still got a piece of her lye soap DB: Oh my. Did you--when did you get electricity? LR: [Indecipherable] KR: Huh? LR: [Indecipherable] KR: No when did you--when did y' ; all have lights? How old was you when y' ; all had electricity in your house? DB: When you got lights in the house? KR: You remember how old you were? DB: Much later KR: Huh? About how old were you? Tell her about you used to have to walk five miles to school, tell her about your school day. LR: More than five minutes [Indecipherable] KR: More than five--I know DB: More what? KR: More than five minutes, I know. You told me you used to walk about five miles in the snow and stuff. Tell them about how y' ; all used to go to school while-- DB: Did you have to walk to school? Did you walk to school? LR: [Indecipherable] DB: And no bus? LR: [Indecipherable] KR: Huh? LR: Momma couldn' ; t keep me out of the field DB: Momma something KR: Yeah your momma couldn' ; t keep out of the field DB: Oh, did you have a horse? LR: Yeah, I had a horse and I had a plow DB: Horse and a plow, did you have a buggy? LR: Yeah, I had a buggy KR: Did you have a buggy to ride in? Did the horse pull a buggy? LR: Yeah I-- KR: A wagon or a buggy, did you have a wagon or a buggy? LR: Yeah, a wagon DB: A wagon KR: Wagon LR: And a buggy too KR: And a buggy too DB: And a buggy too LR: Momma gave me a buggy too KR: Your momma did DB: Momma used the buggy LR: Bouncing up and down the road KR: Bouncing up and down the road DB: Yes. Was it hard to plow? LR: I had a plow DB: You had a plow, was it hard? LR: No DB: No? Not with the horse? LR: Working the peas KR: Working the peas DB: Working the peas, you had a lot of peas? LR: We had a lot of [Indecipherable] DB: Were they black eyed peas? LR: [Indecipherable] KR: [Indecipherable] LR: [Indecipherable] KR: Raise and eat [indecipherable] trade and sell off the farm too DB: Oh, they would sell their things? KR: They would sell, you know, what they didn' ; t keep they would sell. They raised enough to make money off of. That' ; s what she used to tell us all the time. When I was a kid, [Indecipherable] used to make the whole yard a garden DB: Make the whole yard a garden KR: Yeah LR: Huh? DB: He said the whole yard was a garden LR: Who? KR: The field, you know like the field? LR: Yeah KR: The whole field, y' ; all would plow the whole field up wouldn' ; t you? LR: Oh yeah [Indecipherable] KR: She would help her sister DB: Did you go to school? LR: I did if could DB: How long did you go to school? LR: I did go to school KR: Yeah she said how long did you go LR: [Indecipherable] I' ; d go to school KR: It would change when you wasn' ; t working you would go, but you went up the the 8th grade, 7th grade DB: To 8th grade KR: I think she took the 8th grade LR: Don' ; t tell that boy about [Indecipherable] KR: I Won' ; t tell him DB: What did she said KR: Don' ; t tell that boy about [Indecipherable]. Hey, what year--you went up to the 8th grade, didn' ; t you? Your 8th grade, [Indecipherable] in 8th grade? LR: Yeah KR: Yeah DB: Did you make good grades? LR: Yeah DB: Yes, did you like to read? LR: I like to read KR: She loves reading the bible, well used to LR: Everything I went to do, I got it KR: Everything she went to do she got it DB: Alright, well miss Leola I' ; m so glad you talked to me today, I' ; m glad Kenneth and Michelle were here to help me understand KR: She said-- LR: What? KR: She said thank you DB: Thank you LR: [Indecipherable] KR: She said thank you LR: [Indecipherable] KR: No she isn' ; t talking about [Indecipherable], she' ; s talking about she wants to thank you for letting her have her interview with you, talking with you today DB: Thank you for letting me talk to you. Will you let me take your picture? KR: She wants-- LR: [Indecipherable] KR: Mom she wants to take a picture now, you gonna let her take a picture of you? DB: Yes LR: Huh? KR: You gonna let her take a picture? She wants to take a picture DB: You' ; re so pretty KR: Let' ; s fix your little bonnet up here a little bit LR: [Indecipherable] It' ; s not no bonnet KR: Okay I know it ain' ; t a bonnet but I just said that, okay. DB: Oh, she looks so pretty. You want to hand me my purse over there? They keep you looking mighty fine. KR: Say thank you MR: She said you look good, you gonna smile? KR: Smile so she can take a picture. Look at the phone, she' ; s gonna take a picture of you DB: I get the camera first, alrighty. One, two, wait let me try this one. One, two, three KR: Cheese DB: I think that' ; s wonderful, 101 years' ; old KR: Yes DB: Miss Leola MR: Her mommas gonna go down to the corner, she said DB: Now she' ; s laughing MR: She said her mommas gonna go down to the corner and catch a man DB: I think they' ; re not gonna let you do that. You' ; re gonna go catch a man? KR: [Indecipherable] LR: [Indecipherable] audio 0 https://bristoworalhistory.org/ohms/viewer.php?cachefile=OHP-2021-22_Leola_Roebuck.xml OHP-2021-22_Leola_Roebuck.xml
Sort Priority
This field should be added if you are using the Philly Theme with your OHMS
Plugin Suite. Consult the Philly Theme User Guide for details.
5400
Location
The location of the interview
Bristow, Oklahoma
Duration
Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.)
26:26
Interview Keyword
This field adds keywords to the Omeka Oral History item type. Keywords are
included in the OHMS XML, this field in Omeka will allow for full data migration
between OHMS XML and the Omeka Record. This field does not impact the
OHMS / Omeka integration and is optional if you do not need to map the
“keywords” field in the OHMS XML to the corresponding Omeka record.
home life, farming, Duffy Chapel
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Leola Roebuck
Description
An account of the resource
In this 2021 interview, Leola Roebuck shares her experience living in Bristow. She talks about her farm, babysitting, sewing, and cooking.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
OHP-2021-22
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2021-03-31
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
audio
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Bristow Historical Society, Inc.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Bristow Historical Society, Inc.
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
Copyright Bristow Historical Society, Inc.
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
sound, oral history
Duffy Chapel
farming
home life