00:00:00Interviewer: Nancy Carolyn Camp Foster (NF)
Interviewee: Edith Mills (EM)
Other Persons: Lucy Mae Mills (LM) Unknown Woman (WS)
Date of Interview: Unknown
Location: Bristow, Creek County Oklahoma
Transcriber: Macy Shields
Organization: Bristow Historical Society, Inc.
Original Cassette Tape Location:
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.
(Indecipherable)
NF: Ms. Mills, we're so happy that you had us today. Let us come and talk to you
about this, because I have a feeling you have information and things that
happened that maybe nobody else that we've come in contact with would even know.
EM: I'll read this first and see if there's anything before you record.
NF: Okay.
EM: Now well, I didn't know whether you don't need to leave Mr. Mills name or
anything like that but that's what I had on the recording--
NF: Uh-huh.
EM: I mean on my history. He came here to this area in 1890 from Guthrie and he
helped lay the Frisco Railroad road bed. He-- by hauling ties with his mule
00:01:00team, between Tulsa and Oklahoma City. They-- he and his brother-- first his two
brothers and one brother dropped out. They lived on deer meat and wild turkey
which were plentiful. The deer came up to the door. They hated to kill the deer
because they came up for salt--
NF: Mm-hmm.
EM: --and they could just rope them and they had their deer meat.
NF: Wow.
EM: Or salt and let's see-- which were plentiful. The deer came up to the door
for salt and the wild turkeys roosted in trees at night. They'd catch all they
wanted at night. Indians taught them how to make (Indecipherable) from corn. So
00:02:00they had plenty of meat and then they had the (Indecipherable) that the Indians
taught them to make. Then here in Bristow, I had a note here on the old Skinner
Barn was located right down here.
NF: Now that would be here on Chestnut?
EM: Yeah, on Walnut Street.
LM: First.
NF: On Walnut.
EM: And Main.
NF: Uh-huh.
EM: Mainly on Walnut and Main.
NF: Walnut and Main.
EM: Old Skinner Barn.
NF: Now was that a livery stable thing or a barn to store stuff?
EM: For oil field--
NF: Oh--
EM: --hauling.
NF: Yeah.
EM: It was mules-- mules mainly. No trucks in those days. They located at Fourth
and Washington Street that is right down here one block. This was before the
00:03:00trucks took over. Horses were then the only means of transportation. Another
location was between Chestnut and Oak. They had one right here.
NF: Uh-huh.
EM: And located the large one between Chestnut and Oak. Mr Meirs, M-E-I-R-S I
think it was spelled, operated that out there. And that's just about all I had.
I might be able to answer some questions but I don't know.
NF: Well when did you come into this area?
EM: What did you say?
NF: When did you come into this--
EM: 1915.
NF: In 1915.
EM: Mm-hmm. I came here to teach, I taught school.
NF: Yeah.
EM: Came here to teach. Well, I came to visit my uncle and aunt. I was going to
take a year's vacation. I thought I needed it. I had taught-- let's see, I'd
taught six or seven years at that time, I think seven years. And I thought I
needed a vacation, so I came here but they needed a teacher (Chuckling). I broke
00:04:00the rule.
NF: (Chuckling)
EM: And we taught not very long. Ms. Fox (ph) took my place. I met Ethan and we
were married in February (Chuckling). I had taught from September to February--
NF: Wow!
EM: --and was married.
NF: Yeah.
WS: February 1916, huh?
EM:19-- I came here in 1915--
WS: But you married in 1916?
EM: That's right.
LM: Fifteen--
NF: Well I remember the first time--
EM: February the 13th.
NF: February the--
(Chuckling)
EM: The way that I know-- (Chuckling) -- he almost passed out because he was so
00:05:00superstitious and I never was about anything.
NF: Uh-huh.
EM: But it was February the 13th like it or not.
NF: (Chuckling)
WS: My mother was superstitious that way too. I think that was-- that's Syrian. Mm-hm.
EM: I think it's too bad because it gives you a lot of unhappiness that's unnecessary.
LM: Yes! Yes!
(Laughter)
EM: But that's sad. I wouldn't have thought, your mother's so happy go lucky I
wouldn't have thought she was superstitious at all! She was one of the happiest
persons I've ever met.
NF: Yeah.
EM: Liked to meet and be around. I worked on the country club.
WS: I recall that you worked on the country club cook book with her--
EM: -- together.
WS: Mm-hmm.
EM: Crowd had such a good time.
NF: Well a long time ago, when I first came to Bristow, I met you in JCPenny's
00:06:00store. And I had my daughter Claire in the buggy pushing her, and I think that
was the first time we met and you said then that you had known Arthur and
Louis's (ph) mother quite well.
EM: Oh my, yes. We were very dear friends.
NF: Well. Well, that's good. Interesting to me because I didn't ever get to know
her of course.
EM: Ranny?
NF: Uh-huh.
EM: Yes. She was a precious person.
NF: Well.
EM: Wonderful person.
NF: Yeah.
EM: And I knew her sister too, but--
NF: Edith, yeah.
EM: Ranny was-- really came in before her sister--
NF: Uh-huh.
EM: --did. Yes, she was a wonderful person. You don't see people-- or meet them
very often like Ranny Foster.
NF: Yeah.
EM: She was a doll.
NF: Well, that always makes me happy to hear things like that because I've never
felt that I've known her, you know? We loved Aunt Edith so--
EM: Oh well yes! This Ranny was absolutely without fault. You couldn't find a--
NF: Well.
EM: --fault of any kind with Ranny. Not any, she just is a doll.
NF: Well
EM: You're just kind of ruining your mommies--
00:07:00
(Chuckling)
LM: Here come here.
EM: --dress. Why don't you get down hmm? I put a chain on her so she wouldn't be
too friendly. She runs and gets on the company's lap. She thinks they'll be
friendly but she thinks theres the least doubt shes apt to bit em'.
(Laughter)
EM: Get the first bite.
NF: Ms. Mills where was the school in which you taught here in Bristow?
EM: Where was what?
NF: Where was the school where you taught? Where was it located.
EM: Oh, it was an old building. It's been torn down.
NF: Was it up here at Washington?
EM: No.
NF: Over--
EM: It was across it.
NF: Across it on the other side?
EM: That's right.
NF: Yeah. Did you have a number of grades in one room? Or were there enough
children to have a teacher for each grade?
EM: Let me tell you, I had sixty in one room.
WS: Oh!
EM: I had sixty and they were mixed. I had a few colored too.
00:08:00
NF: Yeah.
EM: Yes. Some school--
LM: What grades did you teach?
EM: --and you remember the old man Morgan (ph)? That lived out--
NF: Oh Brother Morgan (ph)--
EM: Yes.
NF: --the one they called Old Brother Morgan (ph)?
EM: Brother Morgan. I had his son.
NF: Well.
LM: You had Jack Abraham didn't you, grandma?
EM: I had to send Brother Morgan's (ph) son home to take a bath once or twice.
(Laughter)
EM: (Indecipherable) There might be some relatives around, I don't know. But
they were nice people.
NF: Uh-huh.
EM: They-- I'd take that they was just careless with the boy. I think he--
NF: Well he may have hid out on bath night too. (Chuckling)
EM: That's right.
NF: Boys are still like that sometimes.
EM: Oh yes, boys are boys. Can't make anything else out of them.
WS: Now what grade was that-- did you attend--
00:09:00
EM: When I came here, I came to visit my uncle and aunt. And the vacancy
occurred in the 3A and 4B grades. And I filled out until I--
NF: So those were not kids from grade one through six, they were grades in the
third and fourth grade.
EM: 3A and 4B--
NF: And you had sixty?
EM: Had sixty.
NF: Well Bristow was evidently growing.
EM: Yes.
NF: Fast at that time--
EM: And there was another teacher over here that had the same grade. Mrs. Gee
(ph). G double E.
NF: Yeah.
WS: Hmm.
EM: She was a very good teacher. Very good.
LM: She had the same grade on this side of town?
EM: Yes.
LM: You had two elementary schools then?
EM: At one time we did. Now I wouldn't say that they kept that up, but at one
00:10:00time there was, and I'm quite sure. We had a good superintendent, he was so sharp.
NF: Uh-huh.
EM: What was his name? And what was it-- Oh my stars. He passed away not too
long ago. The principal--
WS: Ray Powers?
EM: Ray Powers.
WS: Mm-hmm.
EM: That's right. Everybody liked Ray. He wasn't very much on discipline
(Chuckling) but he was a good ole boy. We all liked him.
WS: He was my first teacher.
EM: Really?
WS: Mm-hmm. Sixth grade. Over there at that school.
EM: Well I declare. Well we all liked Ray.
NF: Did you live in town here in Bristow, or did you live out on the ranch? When
you and Mr. Mills married.
EM: Oh, well I was living with my aunt--
NF: No, but I mean when you married Mr. Mills did you-- did you-- was your home
here in town?
LM: Across the street.
EM: No.
NF: Across the street.
EM: Oh, across the street.
NF: Yeah, uh-huh.
00:11:00
EM: You mean our first home?
NF: Your first home, yes.
EM: Uh-huh.
NF: Yeah.
EM: Across the street.
LM: Mr. and Ms. Bullington were living with him before you were married weren't they?
EM: Oh yes, he lived with Bullington.
NF: With George and--
EM: George.
NF: Oh--
EM: And Anna.
NF: George and Anna.
EM: Yes. Yes. He lived with them.
NF: Well.
EM: And then I lived with em for a little while--
NF: Uh-huh.
EM: --until they found another location that they liked.
NF: Uh-huh. Well.
EM: They're good people, George and Anna.
NF: Yes. We loved them too. In fact, our son, George is named after--
EM: Oh really?
NF: After George Bullington.
EM: Well.
LM: Hmm.
EM: We like George; in fact, we've got to see George pretty soon.
NF: (Chuckling) Well George will be back from vacation--
EM: Oh he's gone?
NF: --this weekend. He's been to Cal-- he's been in California.
EM: Oh! Well I'm glad to know that, I won't bother to make an appointment
until-- until I know he's back.
00:12:00
NF: Yeah. So you just taught the one term then.
EM: Not a whole term.
NF: Not even a whole term?
EM: Hmm-nnNF: Yeah.
EM: I just-- I was just filling in.
NF: Uh-huh. Filling--
EM: Anyway, you know. And I just-- I didn't come here to teach.
NF: Uh-huh. Well has the-- now when did the Baptist Church move where it is now.
The Bap-- was it Baptist Church there on ninth?
EM: I was going-- I joined the Baptist Church down there in that old church
building down on the other corner.
NF: Oh! Uh-huh.
EM: Mr. Mills joined up here at this location.
NF: Uh-huh. Yeah.
EM: Yes. We had quite a busy life. Different ways.
00:13:00
NF: Now you-- you helped start the city library too, did you not?
WS: Yes!
EM: Yes, let me see. I was-- did I or did I not-- anyway, we organized.
NF: Uh-huh.
EM: It had been helter-skelter and we organized the-- got it organized and going
in the right direction, I would say.
NF: There had-- there had been books to check out--
EM: Oh yes.
NF: --before that time.
EM: It had been a library before my time.
NF: Uh-huh.
EM: But it didn't have much of an organization. Burnett (ph) was a wonderful person--
NF: Uh-huh.
EM: --to work with.
NF: Uh-huh.
WS: Did Carnegie give the money for the building? Wasn't it called the Carnegie
Library? Didn't he give the--
EM: I don't-- I don't think that--
WS: I don't remember whether it was for the building or for books or something,
but I thought he helped.
EM: They may have-- we (indecipherable) Carnegie donation. I had forgotten about
that, but the records would show. But I've really forgotten.
00:14:00
NF: Do you remember many things of The Depression era? Now that's dropping back
more to the present.
EM: What years was it?
NF: Well, what were they? Twenty-nine, thirty, thirty-one, thirty-two, thirty-three?
WS: Twenty-nine probably--
NF: Twenty-nine.
WS: --when it started.
EM: Well I'd have to--
(Chuckling)
EM: --think quite a-- quite a lot if I remember-- if I do remember anything I--
NF: I remember when I first came to Bristow in thirty-five, we were fairly
close-- close to the railroad, and men were turning-- would often turn up at the
back door wanting to be fed.
EM: Oh.
NF: But you may have been far enough from the railroad they didn't come here.
EM: No I had-- I had some.
NF: Did you?
00:15:00
EM: Yep. Yes, I had a few I recall.
NF: And I wondered if you remembered about the-- anything about the soup kitchen
that I've heard Arthur say that his dad helped organize downtown where different
restaurant owners gave leftovers and groceries. And they fixed a soup I guess it
was and gave to anybody--
EM: Yes.
NF: --who needed food.
EM: And some people donated different things. Some delicacies and--
NF: Uh-huh.
EM: --some just plain food.
NF: Uh-huh.
EM: Different people donated but I didn't know very much about the soup kitchen, really.
NF: Uh-huh. Uh-huh.
EM: Didn't hear very much about it.
NF: I don't think it lasted too long until government stepped in and began to do
things. Well you've really lived in a period where you've seen it grow from a
sure enough pioneer times to--
EM: Oh, yes!
NF: --we're about to be a metropolis I guess! (Chuckling)
EM: And Mr. Mills really came in in the very early times and there was only
two-- he heard-- he and another fellow were the only two white men in this whole
00:16:00area and he never met any other white men. He tried his best but he couldn't.
And the Indians, the Yuchi and Creek were very friendly--
NF: Uh-huh.
EM: --and he loved them all and they loved him. So it was a-- the stories he had
to tell were very, very interesting. I got left out of this picture, I was
co-hostess with Mr. Black (ph) when I was-- I guess you'd call it co-hostess. He
was host and I was co, and they left me out of the picture and set me right
00:17:00there. They wanted to get the men.
NF: Oh!
EM: Over here and that is Mrs. Roosevelts visit.
NF: Oh, that's the time Mrs. Roosevelt came to--
EM: Yes. Mr. Black (ph) and I were on the committee, Receiving Committee.
NF: Well, now that's interesting.
EM: I didn't want to serve, but Mr. Black (ph) just absolutely forced me into it
and so that was that. But she was a very gracious person, but I'll never forget
her eyes. She and who else-- I believe its Oral Roberts, someone I've met seemed
to be looking way, way. They don't see anything around them, they see way, way
beyond. I'll never forget those eyes. Wonderful eyes.
NF: Well I barely remember; we were-- we went out when-- didn't she dedicate the
Youth Center out on the hill?
EM: That's--
00:18:00
NF: As I remember, she had on a lovely, blue, medium blue colored, suit. Do you
remember the--
EM: Yes.
NF: Uh-huh. Such a pretty blue.
LM: Very nice.
EM: It-- it looked so nice on her.
NF: Mm-hmm--
LM: Mother had been working with the NRA and the something then hadn't you
mother? She had been working on a lot of those things.
NF: Oh.
EM: I've worked on so many things, I've forgotten (chuckling)
NF: Yeah.
EM: So, yes I was--
NF: I remember those young men lived out at the Youth Center and made furniture--
EM: Yes.
NF: If I remember right.
EM: Mm-hmm. Yes.
NF: Now whose cabin is this?
EM: This is Mr. Mills pioneer log cabin.
NF: Oh my!
EM: That is Mr. Mills standing there--
NF: Yeah.
EM: --and that's me. I preferred to sit down and be out of the picture.
NF: Yeah.
EM: So (Chuckling)
NF: Well now, is this a breezeway between it or is it just a--
EM: A breezeway--
00:19:00
NF: --porch on it? It's a breezeway.
EM: It's a breezeway.
NF: Uh-huh.
EM: they built so many when they didn't have air conditionings, they built so
many breezeways.
NF: Uh-huh. Well they were-- they were smart. They knew there was going to be an
energy shortage someday, didn't they?
(Laughter)
EM: They must've looked ahead about fifty years.
NF: Well.
LM: That was located just west of Nells Chapel (ph)
NF: Oh.
EM: I didn't see that. That was torn down for that new, brick, Mills Chapel building.
NF: Oh I see.
EM: I say-- I hated to see it go down.
NF: Well it's a shame that we couldn't have preserved it.
EM: Yes, it could have been preserved. I really hated--
WS: There is one at Nashville. It's still at Nashville.
EM: What?
WS: One at Nashville, Tennessee just like that. That's that-- they preserved in
a park there. Probably rebuilt it.
EM: Oh you mean--
WS: One like it-- that cabin. Yes. Breezeway and everything.
NF: Well it looked like a nice, big, comfortable, one.
EM: Oh, he said it was. It was just-- it was nice on the inside was finished--
NF: Uh-huh.
EM: --it was finished quite nicely on the inside.
NF: Uh-huh.
EM: These two rooms.
NF: Uh-huh. Now you say his two brothers didn't stay in this part of the country?
00:20:00
EM: No, Dan (ph) and Jessie (ph) Jessie died and Dan didn't want to stay, so
Ethan toughed it out.
NF: Yeah.
EM: Himself. He was a pretty good cook. So he just toughed it out.
NF: Had he grown up around Guthrie?
EM: Well, while he was-- let's see he was-- he was fourteen years old when they
came. Let me think--
LM: He came over here, mother.
EM: To Guthrie. Am I right?
LM: Uh-huh. He came from Iowa in 1898.
00:21:00
NF: Oh, uh-huh.
LM: He was in that run to Guthrie.
NF: Oh! The run to Guthrie. Oh yes! Uh-huh.
EM: And then from--
LM: And then he moved to Chandler, and he and the boys came on over here.
NF: Uh-huh. Just crossed into Indian Territory.
EM: From Guthrie--
LM: His folks moved to Chandler.
EM: --came over here and the brothers-- one died-- I don't think Jessie died
here. He died of TB and I think he died at Chandler.
NF: Uh-huh.
EM: But Dan, the other brother stayed awhile and then left and Ethan batched it
out by himself.
NF: You know, in our talking with people to tell of the past, I have been
surprised at how many people seem to have had Tuberculosis. That two genera--
one gen-- two generations ago. And it must've been a quite common disease.
EM: It was. You know, there is a year where Small Pox will be common and then a
year where Diphtheria takes a wave and then a year that TB--
NF: Uh-huh.
EM: --or years really. Several years.
00:22:00
NF: Well did people usually go ahead and die when they had Tuberculosis or did
they ever get over it?
EM: I don't know of anyone that survived--
NF: Uh-huh.
EM: --in the early days, I don't.
NF: Uh-huh.
EM: I don't. I don't think they did.
NF: Well, we've certainly come a long way--
EM: His--
NF: --in medicine.
EM: His father really-- they thought-- in those days, they couldn't tell exactly
what they had. They didn't diagnose very well. But he thought his father died of TB.
NF: Well you know, I think from things that have-- that people have said about
Arthur's grandfather that after-- see he died within five years after he'd come
to Bristow and he was comparably young man. I just wondered if it could have
been Tuberculosis. It was about a year's length illness and it sounded much like it.
00:23:00
EM: That's just about the time it took to take them after they--
NF: And they came in 1901. That left her a widow with about five children. Mm-hmm.
WS: Now did you help organize the Culture Club?
EM: Let me see, did I or did I not? If I didn't, I was right-- the next one-- I
was right close because so many people thought that I did. So I don't know
whether I was in the first organization or not. Mrs. Cheeton (ph) was the main
00:24:00go ahead in the--
WS: The Embroidery Club and the Culture Club were the--
LM: There used to be a Dalcam (ph) society here years ago.
WS: Yes, that was after that. Uh-huh.
LM: Was it after, well I didn't know when--
WS: My mother and Ms. Lefflar (ph) I know. I can remember-- the volumes you see
in the libraries.
UI: Uh-huh
WS: Dalcam (ph)
EM: Your mother was very active in everything. She helped a lot to build Bristow
beginning and--
WS: Well it's a wonder with five children that she had the--
(Laughter)
EM: Well yes! And believe me, they weren't just children, they were busy bodies.
Those twins (Chuckling). I went there to-- George McMillian (ph) was having a
demonstration of this new kind of washer. You know the kind that kind of tipped
forward and over a hump. I don't know whether you remember it or not. And they
00:25:00couldn't-- you couldn't step one way or the other without stepping on one of
those twins.
(Laughter)
EM: They were the busiest little boys, but they were good. They weren't bad at
all, but oh they were busy. I will never forget 'em.
NF: Well did George McMillian (ph) have a store?
EM: No.
NF: He was just demonstrating?
EM: He wanted to-- he could get a free--
NF: Machine?
EM: --washing machine, by selling so many.
NF: Oh I see!
EM: So he had a demonstration.
LM: He had that in the old days too!
NF: Well (Chuckling)
EM: George (ph) didn't enter in to very many things like that. I was just
surprised, but he was--
WS: But I can recall that with ones in our family, that he'd order through a
catalog. I think it was Carson Pirie Scott from Chicago, and these things would
come in. Rugs and different pieces of furniture and things of that sort!
EM: Oh! He ordered more than washing machines and--
WS: I guess so! Mm-hmm.
EM: Well I never--
WS: From that catalog.
(Laughter)
EM: I expect for a lot of the relatives he was-- I didn't know there was
00:26:00anything besides washing machines, but they were good machines!
NF: Well what did George (ph)-- what did George (ph) do? You know his occupation.
WS: He was in the oil business too.
NF: He was in the oil business.
WS: Mm-hmm.
NF: Uh-huh. Well I guess--
EM: He started with the Jones (ph)--
NF: Oh.
EM: I don't know whether he ended up independently or not, but he was with the
Jones (ph) a long time wasn't he?
WS: Yes, the Jones's (ph) had the Burmont (ph) oil company.
EM: Yes.
WS: And then there was the JoMac (ph) which was Jones (ph) and McMillian (ph)
you see.
EM: That's right.
NF: Mm-hmm.
WS: At Mr. McMillian.
NF: Well about what time did all this oil business come to a head? Now when your
husband came in 1890 there was no oil business, was there?
EM: 1916 I would say--
NF: 1916.
EM: --was when it come to a head. That is when we got our first oil well.
NF: Uh-huh.
EM: And there were quite a few strikes east of town at that time too. I think
00:27:001916 was our first oil well out there on the home place. And it was pretty good
one. Pretty good one.
LM: Still is.
(Laughter)
EM: We had two. How many did we have on that one location?
LM: I don't know, there's one of 'em still pumping though. (Inaudible)
NF: Well.
EM: Yes, this was a busy place.
LM: Did--
EM: I recall this logging camp down here on the Old Skinner Barn it was called.
Was the headquarters for the oil field hauling. And was located at Fourth and
Washington Street that's down here. This was before the trucks took over. Trucks
were unknown.
NF: Uh-huh.
EM: Just horses. Horses then were the only means of transportation and another
00:28:00location was this block right here.
NF: Mm-hmm.
EM: Two-- two locations. Two different companies.
NF: Well. Well I expect the people really poured into this part of the country
during those years didn't they?
EM: (Chuckling) I wouldn't take a thousand dollars for this picture. This is a
street scene in Bristow and it was before my time. This was when the old dirt
road went through Bristow and the cotton wagons drove in and people that wanted
to buy cotton crawled up on the wagons and bid on--
NF: Oh.
EM: (Indecipherable) look one way and load.
NF: Now is this the-- that's-- that building-- that's the Safeway-- old Safeway
00:29:00parking lot now isn't it? Looks to me like--
EM: That's-- isn't that the American National Bank building?
NF: Well.
LM: One of them is still (Inaudible)
EM: I thought it was, but I may be wrong.
NF: Something back, it could be the old American Nat-- this could be the
American National Bank.
LM: That would be across the street from where the parking--
NF: Yeah. The-- yes-- cattycorner. That's a good picture.
EM: This was a-- where was this?
LM: This is a later date. That's Bristow.
EM: Huh?
LM: That was Bristow. You found Ernest was in that.
EM: Ernest was in that. That was a little parade that they--
LM: That's a later date in Bristow.
EM: I didn't-- I wasn't (Inaudible)
NF: Down the Main Street?
EM: --Bristow now.
NF: Yeah.
EM: Here's a sweet picture. That's Jack Abraham. He was one of my pets, but
people didn't know it. (Laughter)
NF: Oh, isn't he cute!
LM: That's the one that brought the apple everyday wasn't it?
EM: Huh?
LM: He was the one that brought the apple to the teacher.
EM: He brought an apple every day.
NF: Ah!
EM: Everyday an apple.
00:30:00
NF: (Indecipherable)
EM: He was a darling student. He wasn't spoiled! He didn't-- he scarcely ever do
anything wrong. Jack was ideal.
NF: Well. Well, he's a cute little boy. I had a little Thompson (ph) last year
that looks an awful lot like him. She'd be a great niece. She's--
EM: Oh.
NF: She's-- her daddy lives down in this Spanish style house down here. What's
that Abraham--
LM: Gene (ph)? Gene Thompson (ph)? Oh, Herby (ph).
NF: Herby! She's Herby's granddaughter.
LM: Karen (ph)
NF: She's Carolyn-- she's Carolyn's (ph) daughter. She looks a lot like this.
Has the same expression in her eyes.
EM: Well on an old hot day not very long ago, Carolyn (ph) drove up to the door
with a dish of ice cream.
(Laughter)
EM: It was such a hot day!
NF: Oh! Who's this handsome man?
LM: (Indecipherable)
NF: Let's see I can't--
EM: I don't know them but they (indecipherable)
00:31:00
LM: Yes.
EM: Can you read it?
LM: This came to me from this (Indecipherable) girl. Her sister, Mrs. Mcclendon no?
EM: It's an old, old picture.
LM: It was, he was-- oh, let me get my glasses. He was a editor of the early
newspaper here in Bristow.
NF: Oh I see! Eden (ph) Orval Eden (ph) I think. Orval Eden (ph). Does that
sound right?
LM: Something. I don't know. This is Mrs. Dye sent these to me. Viola Dye, that
00:32:00used to be here years ago. She used to teach school about the time I-- Orval
Eden-- editor of the Bristow enterprise or possibly The Record, in Bristow
Indian Territory. The year of 1905. He married a Ruth Appleview (ph) of Bristow,
Oklahoma. This picture may possibly be of interest to the local Bristow
Historical Society.
NF: Well, it will be!
(Inaudible)
NF: A number of times in the history at the library. But I hadn't known that she
was the sister to Mrs. Abraham (ph)
EM: Yes. Mm-hmm.
NF: Did-- now did Lucy West have a husband and children?
EM: She was a maiden.
NF: She was a maiden (indecipherable).
WS: Well I seen that name Lucy West but I didn't realize who-- the relationship
before but I never can recall that (Indecipherable) Abraham (ph) was a West.
EM: She was a very good teacher but a very strict one. She was very good to tell me.
LM: You need to tell them that dad used to run the Pony Express to Phillipsburg.
NF: Oh really!
EM: What?
LM: He used to run that Pony Express from Phillipsburg.
EM: Oh.
NF: Pony Express.
EM: Ethan did, yes. He rode the Pony Express for years to Phillipsburg. There
00:33:00was no Slick then and very few people know about Phillipsburg.
NF: Arthur was telling us yesterday lunch that there was a Phillipsburg and was
the other Robertsburg (ph)? He gave about three or four community names that I
have never hear of.
EM: Well the mail-- Ethan took the mail just to Phillipsburg.
NF: To Phillipsburg, and that was near Slick?
EM: Yes.
LM: About a mile and a half west of Slick, but they say the foundations are
still out there.
NF: Oh.
LM: Mr. Holcomb (ph) says he knows exactly where it is--
NF: I see.
LM: --mother had been there but she forgot about it.
NF: You know, probably somebody should check on those-- on that.
EM: Somebody should write a history of Bristow and some of those things.
LM: I've got this book. The Ghost towns of Oklahoma's. Slicks a ghost town and
Shamrocks a ghost town.
EM: There should be records of 'em down here at the Post office, you know? If Phillipsburg--
NF: Oh well they're not ghost towns.
00:34:00
EM: Ethan rode the Pony Express there.
LM: But he didn't have the (Indecipherable)
WS: Where did he come from, Chandler or Sac and Fox?
EM: He came from Chandler.
WS: From Chandler to Phillipsburg.
EM: Yes.
LM: He came from-- there is a Sac and Fox agency--
NF: That was his run.
LM: There is a Sac and Fox agency just north of Chandler. There is also the big
one down here north of-- west of-- south of Stroud.
NF: Uh-huh.
LM: But there was a little one north of Chandler.
WS: And that's the one, huh?
NF: And he rode from north of Chandler to--
LM: So far as we know.
NF: Uh-huh.
LM: He just gave the Sac and Fox agency.
NF: Uh-huh.
LM: But if you go that little road that goes from Chandler straight north to Stillwater--
NF: Yeah.
LM: You run onto where that old Sac and Fox-- one Sac and Fox agency was.
NF: Oh! Uh-huh.
LM: They used to have a sign there. I used to (Indecipherable) His father had
00:35:00kind of a livery stable didn't he? Or he rented out horses and things.
NF: Uh-huh.
LM: And of course--
EM: That's at Chandler.
LM: (Indecipherable)
NF: Mm-hmm.
LM: But that was before he came here to stay. He was just about fourteen years
or something.
EM: The livery stables were long before (Chuckling) the automobiles.
NF: Uh-huh.
WS: There was plenty of wild game too in that time.
EM: Oh yes!
WS: You outta see, talk about the turkeys and the deer and oh, they just must
have been so much.
EM: The deer would come up to the door for salt and you just felt guilty
capturing them when they were so tame.
NF: Uh- huh.
EM: And the wild turkeys--
LM: (Inaudible)
EM: Oh (Chuckling) an explosion!
NF: Okay.
EM: They've been blasting. I've heard at the noon hour.
00:36:00
NF: Hmm.
EM: Yes, those wild turkeys, you could just go out and sit out any night and
make the trees and just choose whatever bird you wanted.
NF: Now the buffalo had-- if there had ever been here, were long gone weren't
they-- by that time.
EM: Yes.
NF: And the Indians were not the wild west kind, they were--
EM: No, they were--
NF: --quite civilized.
EM: There were no atrocities--
NF: Uh-huh.
EM: --whatsoever that-- you didn't think there was any, they were quite civilized
NF: I noticed in the paper-- in looking through those old papers, it talked
about the Snake Indian-- Indian Uprising. That they were afraid the Snake
Indians are gonna come in through here and how they put guards around different
places. Now that was probably around 1900 I think or 19--
EM: Ethan didn't know anything about that--
NF: Well that was in Clad Purdy's (ph) history, come to think of it.
00:37:00
EM: Oh I see, way back.
NF: Yeah, way back. Uh-huh. And I think it's before he came probably. Before
they came. Probably was heresy.
EM: He said that all of the Indians were very friendly.
NF: Uh-huh.
EM: Very-- and very honest to deal with.
NF: Uh-huh.
EM: Of course they loved their costume jewelry. You could do almost anything
with a bracelet or a ring--
NF: Yeah.
EM: All the-- he could tell the most interesting things in those early days.
My-- I should've written them all down, but you know how you--
NF: Time goes fast.
EM: And he was really ill when he had time to talk those things and I didn't
want him to talk too long.
NF: Uh-huh.
WS: And did you always live in town? Or did you live out on the ranch?
EM: We lived across the street.
WS: Oh across the street.
EM: Yes.
WS: Uh-huh.
00:38:00
EM: Ethan's first wife and family lived out there on what we call the Home Place.
WS: Mm-hmm.
LM: It's where Anna (ph) and Sonny (ph) live-- were living now.
NF: Uh-huh.
LM: Just a little bit south of--
NF: Uh-huh. Uh-huh.
LM: That's where I was born and Ernest was born.
EM: They still have the old Home Place, but they've built a new-- Mr. Jackson
(ph) built a new house for the-- what's their names?
LM: Anna (ph) and Sonny Davis (ph).
NF: Anna (ph) and Sonny (ph)-- and they didn't save the old house?
LM: Yes, it's there.
NF: It's still there?
LM: I was looking for pictures--
EM: Yes!
LM: --the other night. We don't even have a picture of that. I had a picture of
the old Mills Chapel Schoolhouse--
NF: Uh-huh.
LM: --before they built the new one. But I don't have any of the other-- the old place.
WS: Can you recall living out there?
LM: Oh I was just four years old--
WS: Four years old.
LM: When they were married. Mother and dad were married.
EM: Yes. She was just a baby when Ethan and I were married.
LM: We went to live with my aunt in town-- our Aunt Ella (ph) my father's
sister. My brother was seven and I was four.
NF: Uh-huh.
LM: When we came back here.
NF: Well.
EM: Ernest said that he-- he told me that all he could remember of his mother--
first mother, he always said first mother-- was that he-- let's see, he cut his
00:39:00finger, thumb or something and she came and bandaged it for him.
NF: Oh.
EM: And he remembered that incident.
NF: Uh-huh.
EM: She hurried out and covered that.
LM: (Inaudible)
EM: But that's all he could remember-- anything at all. Of course Lucy Mae was
quite young.
NF: Mm-hmm.
EM: Too young to remember much.
WS: So you've always lived right here in this little (indecipherable) then
haven't you?
EM: Yes.
WS: And as far as you know--
LM: It's just (Indecipherable) the city limits.
EM: We--
LM: We had that big field over there. The high school used to (Inaudible)
NF: Oh it did, you mean in this whole block down here?
LM: This was all our pasture and field and barn and everything over there.
EM: There was ten acres over there and Ethan said to me one day, "If you want to
sell this off in lots-- if you want to bother with it, then we'll build a home
00:40:00over on these two and a half acres that I had bought." And of course, you know
me, I got busy. (Chuckling) And we sold that off in lots and sold plenty too.
And I remember he got excited and he ordered three carloads of brick (Chuckling)
I mean train-- trainloads! Flat cars, three of em' and so those brick that are
over there at Claude Freeland's. He just gave Claude the balance of brick that
was left.
NF: Oh my!
EM: They made the swimming pool.
(Laughter)
EM: Or it helped them make it.
NF: Well they went through a period that they certainly built houses well--
EM: Yes.
NF: --here in Bristow. Who built yours? Do you remember?
00:41:00
EM: Yes, Mr. Owens (ph) was the main man. He was real-- let's see he did most of
it, yes. Mr. Owens, I forgot his initial, but he was killed an accident-- a car
accident shortly afterwards. Mr. Martin finished, Leonard Martin.
NF: Mr. Leonard, yes. Uh-huh.
EM: Finished the job.
NF: Uh-huh.
LM: L.L Curl (Indecipherable)
EM: Let's see, this fellow was killed before and Mr. Martin did the rest of the
work. Mr. Martin was a wonderful builder.
WS: Yes.
EM: If he hadn't of gotten ahold (Chuckling) of this house when he did, I'm
afraid there would've been a disaster because the fellow in charge was just trying.
00:42:00
LM: That was that L.L. Curl (ph) wasn't it?
EM: Hmm?
LM: That was that L.L. Curl (ph), you had trouble with--
EM: Curl. C-U-R-L. Yes. C-U-R-L.
LM: He was working under this other guy--
NF: Uh-huh.
LM: --that was killed.
WS: Mr. Martin built our house in '40 and '41 and possibly was the last one that
he built.
EM: You have a good house.
WS: Yes.
LM: This was started during the Depression. You started before the Depression.
You had to end it. She was asking you a while ago about the Depression. Don't
you remember, you had trouble getting things for a while.
EM: Yes.
LM: Because of--
NF: Oh really!
EM: Lots of trouble.
NF: Uh-huh.
LM: Right after-- right around first World War. Just-- they started before that--
NF: Uh-huh. Yeah.
LM: --and then were still building.
NF: Well.
EM: Mr. Martin built quite a few houses here in Bristow. I never kept tab on them--
00:43:00
NF: Yes.
EM: --quite a few. They were all well-built.
NF: Mm-hmm.
EM: I always said a person should be proud of any house that was built. But Mr.
Martin-- they had something, a prize.
NF: That's right, something that would last. Something beautiful.
WS: Well ours was in '40 and '41 when we were you know going into the World War II.
NF: Uh-huh.
WS: So things were hard to obtain too. It held us up toward the last, you know
waiting for certain things to come in.
NF: Was yours about the last big home that he built in Bristow?
WS: I believe so.
LM: I believe it was too.
WS: And--
EM: About the last that Mr. Martin built.
WS: Yes.
EM: I think so.
WS: And the only one built right in that period, and then you know Bristow went
00:44:00for quite a long time before we needed more homes here in town.
NF: Well now did Mr. Martin build the Ekdahl house and the McMillian house over on--
WS: I don't believe so there was another man--
NF: He didn't. Uh-huh.
WS: Now he could've built one of em' I'm not sure.
NF: Can you think of anytime in Bristow that there was a real exciting time? How
about when the refinery caught on fire. Do you remember that?
EM: Yes, I remember. But there wasn't-- it didn't seem to me like there was a
terrible lot of excitement about it that I recall.
EVERYONE TALKING AT ONCE
EM: The most exciting days were when the school building burned up here and when
Eleanor Roosevelt came to town.
(Laughter)
00:45:00
EM: I think-- I think Eleanor's visit was the most exciting.
NF: Yeah.
WS: Do you recall that wreck out there close to Heyburn? Two trains, you see.
EM: Oh railroad.
WS: Railroad wreck.
EM: I don't recall.
LM: I don't think I remember much about (Indecipherable)
NF: We've never had a bad storm have we? Where it's destroyed the town?
EM: Well, I was visiting at my sisters, when we had our small cyclone that
struck out near Mills Chapel.
NF: Uh-huh.
EM: Lucy Mae was here.
LM: That was just a few years ago.
NF: Was that the one that happened about twenty years ago that blew away the
little pink church down on the road south and killed a couple of negro men? If I
00:46:00remember right.
EM: I think that's right.
LM: Tore up trees--
NF: Uh-huh.
LM: --and buildings and everything south of here.
NF: I guess that is the worst storm.
LM: That's the only one I know of.
NF: Uh-huh.
LM: My father was living here when they had the bad storm at Chandler, and he
didn't hear about it for two or three days. And he loaded up his wagon with supplies--
EM: (Laughter)
LM: --and things and then went on down there.
EM: Food of all kinds (Chuckling).
NF: Well.
LM: It was two or three days after it happened before the word got back.
NF: Uh-huh.
LM: That was when he was batching out in the country.
NF: Uh-huh.
LM: That's when they had that cyclone in Chandler. My grandmother's house was
blown over the hill there--
NF: Well.
LM: --and destroyed. Destroyed all of her pretty dishes.
EM: I was in Kansas when that storm came to Bristow.
LM: That hadn't been very long ago. That's when you're talking about that little
pink church was destroyed out there, mother.
NF: Yes, I remember. Uh-huh.
LM: When the little pink church was destroyed out there. Well, Nellie said she
had one brick in you know?
EM: Oh, yes! Yes.
NF: Well that little-- pink church has been built back and it' still just as pink--
LM: That's what she's saying. She gave a dollar, so that was her brick. Nellie West.
00:47:00
EM: Nellie didn't have much money to do with, but she was pretty hearted and
every time we'd go by, she'd say, "There's my dollar."
(Laughter)
EM: She got a lot of joy out of that dollar and that was-- it was really a sacrifice--
NF: Uh-huh.
EM: --for her to give. Beside what she gave to her church here.
NF: Yeah. Well don't you feel like we are going into a new period of growth
here? It seems to me that Bristow at one time grew very rapidly and then after
the Depression it coasted along and has for years and stayed about the same size.
00:48:00
EM: Well I'm wondering if we are picking up. I'm just wondering about it. I
don't see much indication, do you?
NF: Well when you ride out in the country, there's a trailer under every oak
tree (chuckling)
EM: Oh, I see! (Laughter)
WS: So many out in the country and then their group of houses close to the
railroad over on the west side and then the ones that are over here that have
been put up.
NF: Well its-- its grown. I've been here forty-three years--
EM: out in that McAlister area that they're building, I don't know anything
about it. I haven't been out there.
LM: Where Miss Sneed (ph) used to have those places out there.
EM: That was Sneed ( Indecipherable)
LM:
EM: I don't know.
NF: Down near the football field, in that area?
LM: No, it's the one out west of town where--
EM: Indecipherable
NF: Oh, Glen Acres.
LM: Glen Acres.
LM: (Indecipherable)
NF: Uh-huh.
LM: There are lots of houses every way you go. Everybody seems to be moving to
00:49:00the country. That is disturbing to me rather than fixing up the places in town.
NF: Uh-huh.
LM: And we were talking the other day about this railroad. Gosh when I went to
school, you could get out of town on the railroad or bus. There was lots of way
to go, and now days you can't get out of town except you (indecipherable)
NF: Well I think the bus still runs, but it runs under protest. They--
LM: It runs every four hours.
NF: Oh does it?
LM: You used to go to Oklahoma City and come back in one day or you could go to
Tulsa and come back in one day. Can you now?
NF: No, you can't go any place on the railroad.
LM: Bus either, I mean.
NF: And I don't know about the bus. But half the town takes off for Tulsa every day.
EM: During the Depression in the Depression days, you couldn't-- I guess you'd
call that Depression days, you couldn't get flour. Couldn't get whole-- whole--
00:50:00or white flour.
WS: Yes.
EM: And my-- Ethan's mother would-- she baked a lot and she wouldn't use that
new kind of flour at all. So I loaded up a fifty-pound sack, put it in a gunny
sack, and boarded the train and took her a sack of flour (chuckling)
NF: Oh!
EM: But was she happy. She was really happy.
LM: To Chandler.
EM: Chandler, yes.
NF: Yeah.
WS: That was hard for us to get accustomed to, I recall--
EM: Oh!
WS: --you took flour you know because--
EM: You recall.
WS: Yes.
EM: Those were pinchy days. We didn't bake. We quit baking much of anything.
00:51:00Biscuits, white loaves, (Indecipherable
WS: We certainly did use the corn mill then didn't we?
EM: Didn't we though?
WS: Because back when (Indecipherable) you see on long distances. Especially if
things had to go far or anything like that.
EM: You know that (indecipherable) is really good if you learn to make it right.
Really good bread.
NF: Oh, that was a bread then. I thought it was maybe something like a hominy or something.
EM: Well, it was a soft bread.
NF: More like a mush or a porridge?
EM: No, we baked our (indecipherable) in a big pan.
NF: And made it more like cornbread then.
EM: And we could lift out a piece about that size--
NF: Well. Uh-huh.
EM: It was good. Real sweet.
LM: They used to pick wild fruits and put 'em down in--
EM: Do what?
LM: They used to dry their wild-- I mean their wild fruits. They used to dry
them on boards on top of their house too didn't they?
00:52:00
NF: Grapes. Would it be grapes and dried fruits.
LM: Different dried fruits and they'd dry them up on--
EM: I guess I'm getting hard of hearing.
LM: I know you can't hear (indecipherable) They used to dry their things up on--
corn and wild things up on top of their house.
EM: Yes, yes. Lots of that.
LM: (Indecipherable)
EM: We did a little of that over there.
LM: But they did that when he was all together when he was young you'd get your
wild grapes. And what they had apples around here too didn't they? He said. What
were the fruits that they had around in here? When dad first came here. And I
think they put some down in big crocks didn't they?
EM: Well they made a lot of preserves in crocks. Lots of them. You remember
these-- you might not. These old crocks. They were about so big around and they
came up to gradually. When they got so high, then they came in gradually and
there was a top with a--
NF: Oh a smaller opening.
EM: Yes, with a smaller-- do you ever remember seeing any of those?
00:53:00
NF: Yeah.
EM: Your grandmother should have had some of them.
NF: Yeah.
EM: And they did a lot of their canning in those preserves especially.
Watermelon preserves that we cut the watermelon in pieces about that long and
about that wide. And make preserves really good.
NF: Well I'm sure they ate well and they didn't worry about calories.
(Laughter)
EM: I don't think they ever heard of calories.
(Laughter)
EM: They sure didn't worry about them.
NF: Well about their clothing now, did women made most of their own clothing in
those days? They didn't buy readymade dresses and--
EM: No. They didn't. They didn't have very many for sale in small towns. In
large cities I suppose they had plenty.
NF: Uh-huh.
00:54:00
EM: But they didn't have very many small towns.
NF: Did you have a town dress maker or did everybody sew for herself.
EM: (Indecipherable) Hallman (ph) was the town dress maker and she-- people who
wanted good things went to (Indecipherable) Hallman (ph).
NF: Well now, this is before she worked in the post office?
EM: Yes.
NF: I just supposed she'd been always worked in the post office. Well.
EM: No for years--
LM: She used to have a shop up there in the old stone building.
EM: She made all of Lucy Mae's clothes for years.
LM: I still have the top to a real pretty white wool. Had an accordion pleated
skirt that was an old white wool, had the fine lace all around.
NF: Oh.
LM: (Indecipherable) dress. I was looking at a picture with that on last night.
But I still got the top I didn't save the--
NF: Well.
LM: --the accordion pleat, I was just about eight or nine years old.
00:55:00
NF: Now what about Mrs. Klingensmith (ph)? When I came to town she was sewing
for people.
EM: Yes, she-- she was-- she did good work.
LM: She made the hats.
NF: Oh, she did.
EM: Mainly hats, that's right.
NF: Well.
LM: She had a regular hat shop downtown. She used to make lots of our hats.
NF: Well could you buy women's shoes here at that time?
EM: Mr. Jackson (ph) was the first person to-- that I recall Ethan ordered
(Indecipherable) from him.
NF: Yeah.
EM: And finally, he took orders for women's shoes, and eventually carried.
NF: I see.
EM: Then Cats (ph) came to town.
NF: Uh-huh and Cats (ph) had nice, nice things.
EM: Everything was good quality.
NF: Uh-huh.
LM: We used to go to Oklahoma City a lot to shop, didn't we?
00:56:00
EM: Oh yes.
LM: I remember Beaver Hat you got me in Oklahoma City when I was just a kid.
EM: We've been to Oklahoma City practically all together. We didn't shop in
Tulsa for years.
LM: The train went down.
NF: Uh-huh.
EM: Train connections were pretty quite good.
NF: And then what would you do when you got to the station in Oklahoma City? You
took a cab?
EM: Yes.
NF: A taxi cab up town?
EM: Mm-hmm.
NF: Yeah. And then you managed to come back the same evening?
EM: We could late in the evening.
LM: The train station-- train was just a little ways from town--
NF: Uh-huh.
LM: --the old station.
NF: Uh-huh.
LM: It was right-- no. I think it stopped almost on Main Street there. You could
almost watch--
NF: That's right because it still does. It comes right across--
WS: (Indecipherable talking in background). -- close to the Hookens (ph) hotel--
NF: Mm-hmm. Yeah.
LM: (Indecipherable talking in background)
WS: --if you stayed all night, you stayed at the Hookens (ph).
NF: Yeah.
LM: Cause you could practically walk on that town after you got there.
NF: Well.
00:57:00
LM: I remember one time I was a little kid, and mother had gone on to town for
something and I was to meet her down (Indecipherable) we was going on the train
and I didn't wear any hat. And even little kids wore hats in those days
(Chuckling). She was so (Indecipherable) cause I was going to Oklahoma City and
didn't have my hat.
(Laughter)
NF: Well I remember the first teachers meeting I went to. We went to Tulsa on
the train.
EM: You did? The first teachers meeting was in Tulsa?
NF: Well after I started teaching-- yeah.
EM: (Indecipherable talking in background)
LM: After she started teaching--
NF: Uh-huh. Thirty-one years ago. The first time--
EM: Oh!
NF: --the first state teachers meeting happened to be in Tulsa that year, and we
went up on the train.
EM: Oh. Old timers.
NF: Uh-huh. (Chuckling)
LM: When I went to school I went on the train to Chicago and to Chicago changed
over to-- to Madison.
NF: Where did you go, Lucy Mae?
LM: Wisconsin.
NF: Wisconsin. University of Wisconsin.
LM: Yeah.
NF: Well. Now you--
LM: And I came back one year from Madison, came through Kansas City and trains
00:58:00were late, it was Christmas. And some old (indecipherable) you know how hopeful
they used to be. He-- as I came in there, he said, "What train are you going on?
And I said, "I'm going-- had a reservation on the train going to Tulsa." He
says, "It's just about ready to leave. Come on, I'll getcha on it."
(Laughter)
LM: He did, we just went across tracks and everywhere. I got on it!
WS: As the rural people came down, at least your relatives and maybe some others
to see you off too! It was quite the thing to go down to the train.
EM: It makes me think of Ethan's niece, Helen (ph) used to live with us. She
taught (indecipherable) lessons here. And she would phone down and tell 'em that
she'd be a little bit late, to hold the trains.
(Laughter)
EM: I used to get so (Indecipherable) I could throw a brick at her.
(Laughter)
EM: And sometimes they did. "I'll be a little bit late, please hold the train."
(Laughter)
WS: The trains you see just had to stop in Bristow to get water.
EM: Yes.
WS: Our water was considered; you know so much better than these other towns.
00:59:00
NF: Oh.
WS: Yes, so trains stopped for us.
NF: Oh!
WS: Here when the--
EM: The water was-- they had soft water wells here I think for the railroad,
didn't they? Weren't they more soft than usual?
NF: Well I know Bristow water is comparatively soft. It's-- we have-- we have
good water.
EM: Mm-hm.
NF: Yeah.
EM: It's not real hard.
NF: Uh-uh.
EM: That is like some that--
NF: Uh-huh.
EM: --you used to just scum (indecipherable)
NF: Yes.
EM: --and pull the lime off. (indecipherable) Skim it off.
LM: I noticed in the paper they were talking about those Junior Colleges. The
Junior College that was had here in Bristow. You remember when we had that '28 reunion?
NF: Uh-huh.
LM: This boy asked how many of those had gone. It started in '29, you know. How
01:00:00many of those had gone to those Bristow Junior College and there will a big
bunch that held up their hands if you need any, I have the addresses to most of
that group that will be here.
NF: Oh.
LM: And then (Indecipherable) Fox (ph) sat next to me. I remember she held up
her hand.
NF: Uh-huh.
LM: And--
NF: Well that's good to know.
LM: If they can't get--
NF: (Indecipherable) Now according to paper, it sounds as though they had Junior
College a couple of years, and then didn't have it, and then had it again. Is
that right? Or was that wrong?
LM: I don't-- I don't recall. I went-- I didn't stay here that year, I went up
to Belmont. But they had-- that was the first time they ever had it--
NF: Mm-hmm.
LM: --in '29.
NF: In '29.
LM: And they were still-- they were having-- they had it also when I was
teaching up here. That was I think the last group, because Ms. McCormick (ph)
who was teaching with me had some college students.
NF: Uh-huh.
LM: I didn't. The last year I taught I had some from A and-- from Oklahoma A&M
that came over for observation. The state--
NF: Oh.
LM: --for several weeks. But I didn't teach in the Junior College.
01:01:00
NF: Uh-huh.
LM: (Indecipherable) the one that was connected here in Bristow. But they did
have it then when I was teaching, 'cause I remember she had some classes.
NF: Uh-huh.
LM: College classes. But I don't know too much about it. But I notice a lot of
those kids held up their hand.
NF: Well a whole group of that age group started here.
LM: Mm-hmm.
NF: Uh-huh.
LM: And I noticed (Indecipherable) held up her hand so. And there were-- Oh! The
boy that asked about it, not the (Indecipherable) boy, the other fellow, I think
(Indecipherable) did go to, but there was-- well ten or twelve that night that
held up their hands anyway. That they attended that first Junior College that
Black (ph) started here.
NF: Well I think we were blessed with having E.H. Black (ph) in charge of the
schools here. I think he set a standard--
EM: He was a wonderful fellow. Some people didn't like his-- because it was so
01:02:00strict in some ways.
NF: Uh-huh.
EM: That was good.
NF: Uh-huh. Well he set standards that you can still see traces of 'em in our
school system.
EM: Yes!
NF: It's made us hold to standards that a lot of schools have given up.
EM: Mm-hmm.
WS: And of course, Ms. Black (ph) taught too, didn't she in the schools.
EM: Yes.
WS: Yes.
Everyone talking at once
EM: And he had two or three little girls. I don't know whether it's two or three
little girls.
LM: Mr. Black, yes (Indecipherable)
NF: Yes, he has two daughters. Two daughters.
EM: I know there was two, but I wasn't sure about the third.
NF: Well I think the whole town had some advantages over similar towns, in that
we had fine music teachers and people with high educational standards and
01:03:00demands for the schools to be done a certain way, don't you think it made us
have a better school system?
WS: There was a Music Club here at one time.
EM: Yes, a good Music Club at one time.
NF: Uh-huh.
EM: I didn't belong to that. I'm not very music minded, but they had a real good club.
NF: Well it's kind of interesting to observe how students have turned out who've
gone through Bristow schools. We lose track, we don't really realize and
something will drift in. Well for instance, this year we went to our grandson's
graduation from Med School and here on the program was this youngster who
finished high school here about ten years ago and had gone in the Navy, and I'm
sure was doing it through the Navy help, but here he was finishing Med School.
The boy that-- what's his name? I can't even think of his name now.
LM: I saw that in the paper.
NF: Uh-huh.
End of interview
01:04:00
