HDEFMAJ?, «OTIE :ANfl . INTERVIEW

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Form A-(S~149)

' BIOGRAPHY ?QK-'TORES PROGRESS ADMINISTRATION

Indian-Pioneer History Project for OklahcEia

Field Worker's name Elizabeth L. Duncan

This repor t made on (date) October 19, 1937

1. Name Mat t i e Ann Huffman

2. Post Office Address Wichi ta . Kansas

3. Residence address (or location) 1554 South-Water*

4. DATS 07 BIRTH: tfonth June Day 15 Year ]?Q65

5. #lace of birth Platta City, Buchanan County. MisaouVi

.6. Name of Father pav1d Nalaon Priihar^lace of birth t a s O Q J M y ,i__!_______, Spencer County, Kentucky.

Other information "about fatKeT^stb1ae~'m1[li7T^

7. Fame of J'other ifexjLiteliLin Place of b i r t h waahihgtonCounty, Kentucky.

Other information about mother Housewife,

Notes or complete! narrative by the field worker dealing with•life and story of\the person interviewed. Refer to Manual for \suggested subjects and questions. Continue on blank sheets AXnecessary and attach firmly to this form. Number of sheets \attached ' '.

HUFFMAN, MATTIE ANN.

E l i z a b e t h L. Duncan,

Oct . 1 9 , 1937.

INT ElWIEW.178

8995.•

•

An Interview .With Mattie Huffman,1554 South Water, Wichita, Kansas,

Mattie Ann Huffman was born in Fla t te City, Buchanan

County, Missouri, June 15, 1855.

When Mattie Ann was nine months old her parents opved

t&SSdrt Leavenworth, "Kansas, and took a homestead some

eighteen miles west of Leavenvorth. The way in which her

father secured the land was that at a certain time the

State would hold the land topen to bids. The party could*

go and bid th i s land in that he was living'on at 25 o^nts

an acre and her father in t h i s way acquired a hundred and

sixty acres .

Fort Leavenworth was headquarters for-the. soldiers;

they got the i r mail from the Spring Dale Post Office which

was a Quaker settlement and Mattie Ann spent a happy child-

hood among these God fearing people.

Mattie attended school with the Dunkard children and

they were good to her.

The Dunkards took care of the women who were l e f t

behind while the men were a t war. The Dunkard faith for-

bids fighting with arms, so the Dunkard men were le f t be-

h*nd- to care for the women and children.

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HUFFMAN, MATTIE ANN. INTERVIEW. 8995.

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In 1879 Mattie was married to Henry MeCamant and*

they moved to Caldwell. Two children, Myrtle and Ki t t i e ,

wer.e born to th i s union.

In 1881 Henry McCamant died / leaving Mattie with

two children. • '

Mattie was then married to Charles Huffman and they

moved, six miles west of Caldwell and' lived on Bluff Creek.died in 1890

Mr. Huffman£and his family ?noved on the bank of the.

Chikaskia River one mile from the . l ine of the Cherokee

Str ip and on the main road at^^that t r i e from Caldwell to*.

Hunnewell where they were to learn of a great many people

arid their ways when the opening of the Cherokee Str ip was<*

declared for September-16, 1893.

•There had been no rain a l l summer and drinking water

and water for the hqrses was at a premium. "Each morning

early they f i l led t he i r buckets, tubs &nd cans to have

water for the family use. Then the wells were pumped dry

by the campers who were, in the groves, orchards, barnyards

and a l l along the roads. There was one "water hole" and

many horses were brought there froa several miles to get

a drink aSi for .the exercise each horse needed to be ready

to make the race.

180HUFFMAN, ttATTIE ANN. INTERVIEW. ' 8995.

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Each person expecting t o homestead bad to r e g i s t e r

at cne of the Government' booths along the l i n e . The

Hufitnan booth was a t Kunnewell and having to stand, in

l inn for hours was very t i resome. There were many th ings

to oe doing; horses to care for and exe rc i se , vehic les

to be looked over o r made^fjaaa-a^pa i r of wheels and a

few poles , canteens bought and t e s t ed and l a rge cans with

t i g h t t aps made ready to carry a few gal lons of water for

the teams after the long;dry trip.

i fThe ones who made ttie t r i p down here from thei

Gilbert family were flattie Huffman, Sam, Will and Zula

Gilbert, and Marion Gi!D»er;a neighbor boy.

The aorning of the race was a busy time with five .\ • *

ro l l s of bedding"to do up, five lunch boxes to f i l l and

a canteen of water for each, so each one could spend the

night by hipself or herself.

They had lunch at 11 A. M. Then they drove to Chaney's

on the state line, where they were joined by Charlie and

Bill Gfcaney, Willis-Graham and Pete Hoffman.

There were raany teams and many people on horseback,

k few minutes before 12:00 o'clock, everybody "got in

position for the s t a r t . There was not a sound anywhere.

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• Soldiers were to give the signal by firing a gun at

Hunnewell. Bill Chanay was standing on the cart seat

watchirig." He said, "Therethey gon, and they all were /

off. The phaeton^that was on.ce the proud possession of

Mattie was turned into a cart. The tea:a they were driTing

was a bay team. Will, Mattie ahd Marion Gilmer were the

ones to drive the team. They were*afraid soue of the

horses would be frightened but everything was all right.'

Sam advised theia to shut .their eyes if they thought any-

thing looked too scary.

, Bluff Creek with very high banks was but a mile from

their starting place. There were two crossings. Bill

•Chaney led for the main crossing and the others followed.

Charley Chaney went to the other crossing and crossed

without trouble. There was nothing then but the sound of

the horses' hoovef on the sod. By this tiaie people were

locating on claims on both sides, of the Gilbert, claim.

About five miles south of Bluff Creek they crossed

a cow path. It was,so deep and narrow that it gave them<

an awful jo l t , but things were a l l O . K. _^

Deer Creek Crossing was not bad. 2ula looked at her

watch and i t was one o'clock. They had come sixteen miles

in that hour.

: "' • . ' 182HUFFMAN, MATTIE ANN. * INDEHTCIW. 8995.

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When t i e y reached the high banks of t he Sa l t Fork,

Matt ie had t o shut her eyes . Soon the horses splashed

through shallow water a stream about twelve fee t wide.

One of the horses was young and began tfs'lag going

through the sand south of Sal t Fork. Marion sa id , "Hit

him a l i c k , Will,we must be almost t h e r e " . That was the

only time the whip was used. They had s takes with t h e i r

nanes on them. Matt ie staked the Northeast qua r t e r of

Sec. 15, Twp.25 t S ^ a n d the o t h e r s , Marion Gilmer and

Will*staked near t h e r e . Mat t ie spent the r e s t of the .

afternoon watching hes^ neighbors l o c a t e corner s tones .

After they reached t h e i r c la ims, Marion went to

Nelson!s spr ing for water, and a wheel dropped off of t h e

wagon. How i t had l a s t ed so long over the rough ground

was a mystery. * —

Jus t before dark t h e d r i v e r s of the r i g s a l l came to

stay a l l n ight with Mat t i e . Everyone a t e supper out of

h i s o r her lunch box. Then they spread t h e i r bedding on

the ashes of the "burned'• p r a i r i e . I t was not the f i r s t

time they had slept on the ground.

The next morning about day l ight Bil l Chaney called

to Pete Hoffman npen your hogs". Some one had been

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thoughtfiil enough to bring kindling and wood, so Graham

made a f ire. He told Mattie he was the first one to

build a fire on her place. They fried bacon and made

coffee. They visited and then looked over their possessions

- t i l l tj ie wind blew the ashes so that they had to leave.

They joined many other people on the Salt Fork and

had a picnic dinner. They left the rest' of the food with

Sara and Graham, as they were staying. The crowd/went to

Kansas to bring tents and supplies to live oh while build-

ing their houses.

Monday, Zula and Mattie went with their- father to

Enid on the train to file but could not get to file that

day. So they al l came back to Kansas. In December they

cameJ)ack to Enid to f i l e . Mattie s t i l l was holding on

to the- $20.00 gold piece her father gave her as that was

. her filing fee.

Soon after they al l had gone back to Kansas, the

boys went to South Haven to get the lumber to build the

houses. Mattie's house was twenty-four feet square.

Men with families made their home there the f irst

Winter and a subscription school was started. A

\\

HUFFMAN, MATT IE ANN. IOTEBYIBW. 8995.

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8ub8cription school i s one to which a few people who

could afford to contributed to pay a teacher, or to help

to keep up the school. The f i r s t school was taught

by Miss Mayme Burns in Will Graham's residence, a dugout.

A ruling was that there must be three months of school

and th i r teen pupils before a school could be s tar ted .

In March,1894, Mattie and her s i s t e r Zula came

down to live on the i r homestead.

In rthe summer of 1894, a meeting was called and the

school d i s t r i c t was organized with Mr. Mason, Mr. Burns

and Mattie elected as d i rec tors . Later Mattie resigned

in Mr. Robert's favor. Two terms were taught in Bi l l

Chaney*s residence by Miss Gautier and Miss Beagle. The

new school-house was named River Valley, Dis t r ic t Ro. 97.

Beginning ^tt the extreme north of the d i s t r i c t l ived

Pole Bunch and family, Art Kaywood, Mr. Mason and family,

Mr. Snyder and family, Mr. Lynch and family, Bi l l Chaney,

Willis Graham, Will Merri t t , Tom Cojbb and family, Ed Lee,

Mr, Dixon and family, Charley Chaney, Mrs. Mattie Huffaen

and family, Mr. Walcott, Zula Gilbert , Sam Gilbert , George

Cowen, Mr.f Serviss, and family, Sam Marston, Mr. Hall , Bert

Moulton,' Mr. Imel, Marion Gilmer, Will Gilbert and family,

Joe Wooley and family, Ryree and family.

185HUFFMAN, MATTIE ANN. INTERVIEW. ' 899&.

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Everyone was determined to make a home on a barren

piece of land', a l l were ready to help a neighbor and the

harmeny was wonderful. The social gatherings are memories

not to be forgotten. Many have left the i r homesteads, but

the experiences of l iving in a new country not too produc-

t i re for lack of rain during the f i r s t few years, miles

froa a rai lroad to supply provisions^ luaber and fence

materials, and getting the mail once a week, are t e s t s of

strong character. , ^

The early postoffices were Tilden, Golden,Osburn,

Albert and Dayton.

They also had church and Sunday School whenever a

minister came that way.

SNATCHES FROM NOTES WRITTEN by Kit t ie McCamant to

her s i s t e r Myrtle. A few 37 them were dated. The f i r s t

one was a large sheet of very heavy brown wrapping paper.

McCordia, 0. T.

March 4, "1894.

SistSr:

Please excuse my writing pa per.as I have no other .

Wo planted potatoes here and at Marion's today and got the

186HUFFMAN, MATT-IE ANN. INTERVIEW. ' 8995.

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A

ground ready fo#'Sam's. I am getting used to Oklahoma

ways. Tel l Zu I l ike my new dress very much end my

shoes are nice. Mammg says, "Tell Zu to get us nice.

8unbonnets to.wear In society". Marion laughs at Mama's

and she says she knows i t won't do to wear any place,

ing to Otterback>/one day th i s

Charley Ghaney has had }&£*ifrip. Sqg&'one has

taken his Bible and he doesn't Know what to do.

'Graham and Marion are working on the well and I got

soiae water in a cup and let i t s e t t l e and drank son» and

i t i s a l l r igh t . Then I put some- s a l t in i t to nake

Sam think i t was sa l t water. If you want"to see me co»»

down.

/April 6-1894.

I went to "Tail Holt" or Lamont with Mr. Robert's

l i t t l e g i r l . She can t e l l more jokes than any one I ever

saw. I want you to send my fishing pole so we can go

fishing. Tel l Grace to write to me.

I t was too funny yesterday. Net went orer to the

post office and stopped a t Charley's. Bil ly Fox came

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and he said to Charley, "Are you a married nan?."

Charley said, n0h yes, I have four of the prettiest kids.i.

There i s one of them"* and he pointed tq Net. Jones

eaae to t e l l us good-bye. Said he was going to get a

squaw.

Sam and Lee have gone across the r iver to get wobd.

The dry weather and cut worms are hard on gardens. The

turk'eys do not run off any more.

April 27-1894.

Zu and Net are v i s i t i ng at Uncle Wil l ' s today.

•Bina is one year old. Graham gave us some candy and I

sent part of mine to Bina. Zu and I slept in her house

last night. Tell Bun I would l ike to see her. Maim says

for you to raise a nice garden.

June.

Net went to Rose's and stayed las t night . The rain

didn ' t help the garden much. I was glad to gert the aprons.

We canned the cherries you sent. 1 baked a cake for Net 's

birthday. We took some l i t t l e chickens off the nest today.

A l i t t l e prairiipkchicken hatched but a turkey kil led i t .

188HDMMAH, MATTIE ANN. - INTEOTDBf/. J 8 9 9 5 .

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Killed two snakes Jast night. I will try to come up the

last of the month and stay most of .July so "fax can come

homestead awhile.