Jonas Thompson

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 00:01:00about 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 00:03:00Muskogee 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 00:04:00time, 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 00:06:00someone 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 00:07:00in 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 00:08:00had 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 00:09:00biscuit. 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. 00:11:00I 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 00:15:00had 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 00:16:00anything, 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, 00:18:00yeah, 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 00:19:00particularly 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 00:22:00you 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 00:23:00affected 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 00:24:00with 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 00:25:00going 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 00:26:00really 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 00:27:00surprised 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.