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Indian Pioneer History Project for Oklahoma
Date: August 13, 1937
Name: Glove Morris
Post Office: , Oklahoma
Date of Birth: 1866
Place of Birth: Gilmer County, Georgia
Father: Gabe Morris Place of Birth: Information on father: a white man
Mother: Francis Daugherty Place of birth: Information on mother: 1/8 Cherokee
Field Worker: W. J. B. Bigby S-149
Glove Morris, a one-sixteenth Cherokee, was born in Gilmer County, Georgia, in 1866. His parents were Gabe Morris, a white man, and Francis Daugherty, a one-eighth Cherokee woman. They came to the Indian Territory in 1870. Settled on Jim MCCLURE=s place about three quarters of a mile from the Arkansas line now known as John R. RUSSELL place. The family consisted of ten children namely: John, Henry, Glove, Virgil, Tom, Mary, Roxie, Alice, Carrie and Acie. Acie died immediately after coming to the Cherokee Nation.
Early Life Most of the early life of Glove Morris was on a small farm that the family operated. The farm consisted of about fifty acres. The principal crops in the Cherokee Nation at that time was corn, wheat, beans, oats and other small vegetables. The Cherokees had not learned to farm for profit yet. They usually raised just enough to put their families through the winter. Most of the farms were small, numbering on an average about ten acres. The fullbloods usually raised just corn. Each family had a small building where they stored their corn called cribs. Some stored corn in the lofts of their homes. Corn was the principal crop because it could be used for food in so many ways.
Most of the mixed breeds raised small grains as wheat and oats, but they had much difficulty in taking care of this at harvest time. There was no such things as a binder or a thresher. Most of the harvesting had to be done by cradles. But it was the custom for old-timers to help one another. So they usually went in bunches Cwhat was called harvest crews, going from one field to another. Several years after coming to the Cherokee Nation, Wash LEE, a prominent man of his time, bought the first thresher that was bought in the Cherokee Nation, that is, this part of the Goingsnake District.
School Baptist Mission was the only school near the home of the Morris=s at that time. Glove and his brothers attended this school until Glove finished the sixth grade. This was considered a fair education those days. Carrie BUSHYHEAD was one of their teachers. A white man by the name of HARRIS also taught there for several terms.
Church The Cherokees did not go to church very much in those days. Although the Baptist Mission was already a well established church, when Morris was still a small boy, this is the church that the Morris family attended. The earliest Preacher at this place that he knows anything about was Rev. GUPTON, a white man. Adam LACIE was the only fullblood that took an active part.
Camp Meetings Each year the Baptist people would hold, what they called Camp Meetings at this place. Many people from all over the Cherokee Nation would come to these meetings. Food was donated by the people. Those meetings would last for two or three weeks. He has saw many baptized on Ballard Creek from the results of said meetings.
Trading and Milling Points Cincinnati, Arkansas, was their main trading point. This was their milling point also. At that time the merchants were Bob and Bill RAY. A man by the name of CRAIG also operated a small store, in Cincinnati.
Moore Brothers operated the Mill. Many Cherokees from the eastern part of the Cherokee Nation came to this place to do their milling. This was the chief wheat milling point. There were several grists mills in the Cherokee Nation. Eli WRIGHT operated a small mill on Baron Fork Creek about four miles above the present village of Baron, Oklahoma. People by the name of BECK also operated a mill on Flint Creek, which is now Delaware County.
Dress shoes sold at Cincinnati at that time for about one dollar and a quarter. Calico cloth sold at five cents per yard. Corn sold at fifty cents per bushel. Good cows sold at twelve and fifteen dollars. Horses at twenty five dollars. Sorghum sold at forty cents per gallon. Isaac Morris, was the molasses King. His mill was located just east of the Baptist Mission Mountain. Among the people in their respective communities they did their trading the old Barter way. They traded with one another the things one had that he did not need, he traded such for the things that he did not have.
Dye The Cherokees among the fullbloods made their own dye. They used different trees and roots to make their dyes. Red Shoe-Make berries mixed with Walnut bark made a black dye. They used most of these dyes to dye their yarn and home-made cloth. Red Shoe-Make mixed with Hickory bark made a yellow dye.
Indian Medicine Herbs was the chief source for getting medicines. Among the herbs that was most used are the Gen-Sing roots, May Apple roots, Black root was also used for chills. They used the May Apple roots in making pills. They would boil these roots until they became thick. They were then fashioned into small balls about the size of a buck shot and taken as a pill. They sold these for a dime for fifty. Fire was also used to a great extent in their doctorings. The Cherokee=s sure could cure a snake bite. They were good to doctor head-aches.
Among the early day fullblood doctors was CHA-WA-YEU-GA, an old fullblood lady that lived in the community of Oak Hill school now. She was the mother of the two Dunowose boys that was hung at Tahlequah in 1891 for the murder of Wash Lee, a prominent Cherokee. Peggy DRY was another Indian Doctor of that time. Anna SIXBITS was another. She lived where the Ballard Village is now.
lived where the Ballard Village is now.Old-Timers The Old-Timers in this part of the country were Bill BRIGHT, John THORNTON, Wash LEE, Soldier SIXKILLER, Taylor Sixkiller, George WELCH, YELLOWHAMMER, Tom SWAKE, Zeke PROCTOR, Nelson GLASS and Steve DOG.
Ferries & Fords There was only one ferry in this part of the Cherokee Nation. That was a ferry on the Arkansas, known as Fisher Ferry. The Illinois River sometimes would rise and stay for three weeks in the early days. When the river was up this was the only place where it could be crossed.
There were several fords in the Illinois River in the early days. Ward Ford was about two miles north of Old Ft. Wayne. Proctor Ford about three miles northwest of now Watts, Oklahoma. Slick Rock Ford about four miles northwest of Ft. Wayne. Mitchell Mill Ford about ten miles west of Old Ft. Wayne. Chewey Ford fifteen miles west of Old Ft. Wayne. George Hughes Ford about ten miles northwest of now Watts, Oklahoma. Vann Ford at Oil Springs, and Boudinot Ford at Tahlequah, Oklahoma.
Game & Fish There was plenty of game and fish to be found in this part of the Cherokee Nation. Deer and Turkeys abounded in the woods. Many other small animals as squirrels, rabbits and wild prairie chickens were found. Mr. Morris at one time saw twenty eight deer all in a bunch. You could hear turkeys all over the hills in the early morning. The Illinois River was full of fish. He recalls one Fish Poisoning at Allen Bluff. There was about three hundred people present at this place. They bought one hundred and two bushels of Buck-Eye. They killed fish for three miles down the river. He would be safe in saying that they killed about three thousand pounds of fish. The people that was there were George MITCHELL, Fred GRANT (later hung for murder), Bullet WEAVER, Henry MORRIS, Bill GRISBY, Bill MITCHELL, Tom WELCH, Mose CRITTENDEN, John BROWN, Jim THORNTON, Rider HAMMER and Abraham SIXKILLER.
Horse Racing Horse-Racing was a leading sport in those days. The Redden Prairie Tracks was the place where they had their races. Among the early day race men was Miles MULCAR, Frank BROWN and Ned STILL. Just across the line in Arkansas lived white men that followed this sport they were Zack THOMASON, Dan SISS, Dick GLENN and Henry GARRETT. The greatest race ever ran at this place was between the Mulcar and the Thomason horses. This was in 1890. Mulcar horse won this race.
Music There was plenty of musicians in this part of the Nation at that time. The most loved of all music was singing - they had a very good quartet on Ballard Creek. This quartet consisted of George TA-KA-NE-SKEE, Taylor HARRIS, famous bass, Louis DRAGGER and May KA-HAWK. They were all Cherokees. If there had been any radios in those days, they could have sang over any of the broadcasting stations. There were many that played the old violin. When the Strip Payment was paid off they all bought organs.
Intruders Intruders were white men that came to the Indian country without permits. Sometimes outlaws from some other states would come to this country they were also intruders. We were not bothered very much with intruders those days.
Military Sites Old Ft. Wayne was the only military site in the Goingsnake District. When Morris was about twelve years old he helped dig some of the old brick out of the ruins of this fort. He saw the old log house that served as officers=quarters before they moved the logs.
Post Office The first Post Office in this part of the country was the Old Baptist Post Office. Carrie QUALLS (Quarles) was the Post Master at this place. The next Post Office in this part of the country was the Oil Springs Post Office at Oil Springs.
Revenue The Cherokee Nation paid her Officers from the royalties on land leases, timber and interest on the money.
Saw-Mills The earliest saw mill in this part of the Cherokee Nation was the mill operated by George WELCH on the Illinois River near Ft. Wayne. All of the lumber that was needed in building the present Baptist Mission came from this mill.
Zeke PROCTOR operated another mill across the Illinois River but the lumber used in building the home of Mr. Morris came from the Haney Mill near Chewey. Morris has in his possession an old home-made grind stone used at this mill to sharpen their axes at that time. This stone was shaped by Ike Ragsdale. Courts The Court House was located at Peacheater Branch. Mr. Morris was a juror at the trial of Walker BARK for the murder of Johnson REESE. Bark was convicted and hung for this murder. The other Jurors were Henry MORRIS, John BROWN, Bill PROCTOR, Elias FOREMAN, Bill HERN and Jim HERN. This trial was tried in 1888. The two years he was serving as deputy sheriff under Ben KNIGHT he helped arrest Fred and George DUNOWOSE brothers, for the murder of Wash LEE. This murder happened in a mile of the home of Morris. Fred had made a crop with Morris during the summer. He killed Wash Lee in September, the last day.
Those two boys were also hung at Tahlequah. He has the picture of these boys taken just about an hour before they went to the gallows. He also has a letter that Fred wrote to him in the last few minutes in this world. He warned Morris to be careful in raising his boy, Nick. He must teach his boy to beware of women - they was the cause of him to be where he was now.
Transcribed by Wanda Elliott <jwdre@intellex.com> 10--99
