RACKLiFF, ICATi. INTJSRVIiffl ' / 7382

Z 73

• • ' . ' : - 8 -

• ' ] ' • . •'- • . Form, A-(.S-149)

' .BIOGRAPHY" EQRM . .' WORKS PROGRESS ADMINISTRATION

Indian-Pioneer -History Pro jec t f o r Oklahoma .

74

[eld Worker's name Nannie Lee Burns

tis report made on (date) .August g is t .' 193 7

Namo Mrs. Kate Rackleff

. Ppst Office Address Fa i r l and ,

, Residence address (or location)

. DATE

u Place

i. Name

Oth«

<OF BIRTH: 'Month

i of bir th

Cherokee, Indian

of Father Bock Meugin

;r information about father .

Oklahomai

• i

Day Year.

••

Place of b i r th

1880

>

I

Name of Mother Rebecca Ketcher Place of bir th

Other information about mother

(Totes or conpKte narrative by the field worker deal in/.- 'story of the -x.rc:on interviewed. Refer to Manual for -vEind questions,^ Continue on blank sheets if nccorsary .'.-nithis form, N-.jmber'of sheets att-sched • ' "

.1 ;.' j< rri>s-.f'i f irinly to

RACKL5FF., KATE .. . ' f INTERVIEW. *' -7382

Nanni8 Lee Burns, ,Interviewer, - 'August 31, 193*7.

Interview with Mrs. Kate Rackleff -i

Fairland, JJklahoma

My mother, Rebecca Neugin nee Ketcher^was the daughtar

of John Ketcher. I do, not know the name of his wife. Both,

were fullbloods.. My mother was .born in Georg^j* about 18£9.

The Trai l of TearBv.~

My mother, said to be the las t survivor of those who* \ > • •

came over the Tra i l of iWrSjWas about ten years 'old ?fhen

thejA left Georgia. *

They came in rude wagons drawn by ozen, each family

i t s own transport&tion'or at leas t my grandfather

did anti he loaded his wagon'with i.rQvisions for his feui. i ly

for the; t r i p . This left l i t t l e rpom as he had a wife and

six children^of whom my mother was next to tfas youngest.' "*

They we'de compelled to have a l i t t l e bedding. They left"

"I *Georgia in the summer and did not reach t h i s s ta te t i l l thenext summer.

These people were brought through Tennessee and South-

ern Missouri^under soldiers commanded by General Winfield

Scott. General Scott lef<t these people under command of h is

assistant about the middle of the t r i p that he might attend

the National Whig Convention whioh was at that t i , e •ontes t -

. " • 76BACKLEFF, KATE . '.' IKPBRVlEW. , • • 7 3 8 2

a • ,

ing t*he nominations of Henry Clay and William Henry Har-

rison, for President of the United Sta tes .

Mother started with a l i t t l e pig. that she named

"Toby", When they started he"was no larger than a large

rat and each' day at noon <q&ji at night mother would l e t him

run around ana watched him and she kept him t i l l he was

a large hog and he disappeared one day at the noon hour and

she was never eble to find/him.

In those days there were no roads and few t r a i l s and

very few bridges. Progress of t rave l le r s was slow and often

times they would have to wait many days for the streams to

run down before they could cross. Each family did*i ts ownr x

cooking, on the.road. People then had no matches and they

started a f i re by rubbing two 'f l int rocks together and

catching the spark on a piece of dry' spunk held jdirectly

underneath' the. rocks. Sometimes, they would' have to rake

away the snow ana clear a place to build the to. • Travel-

lers carried dry wood in the wagons to bui ]^ the i r f i r e s .

^Jhe wagons were so heavily loaded and Jiad traveled'so many

days that when they came to a h i l l the persons in the wagons

would hav.e to get out and walk up the h i l l . Ihey^did not •

ride much of the time but walked a good deal,not tfnly -to res t

themselves but to save their-teams* ' *

77RA0KLEFF, KATE :• . IMTEHVIlsW. 3 . 7382.

Often, teams would give ou1\and could go no f a r t h e r

and then those who were with t h a t wagon would be d iv ided

up among the o the r wagona and hur r i ed a l o n g . One day mother

saw a team of oxen f a l l dead, hitolied to t h e i r wagon. The

par ty she was with were in^-a- severe snowstorm on the way

which' caused much Buffering. Many died from exposure on

the t r i p §nd mother said that she thought that a third of

those who "started died on the way although a l l of her family

lived to reach the new country. Those who came over the

Trail of Tears would not stop for sickness and viould stop

only long enough, to dig a rude grave when any one-'died and

then the bereaved family was forced to move right along.

Mother said that thearfood lasted them t i l l they

reached the Indian Territory but towards the l a s t of the

t r ip that they had l i t t l e to eat and had to plan to make

it l a s t . I t was indeed a p i t i fu l band that f inal ly reach-

ed the new home promised them for they had been a year on

tae road, food had become scarce, t he i r clothes which were

homemade were wearing out, many had died on the t r a i l , some

had lost t he i r teams and. wagons and had been placed with

other families and there were smal) children in the band

*who had loet the i r parents.

J&CKLEFF', Ki lE . . ifflfflVIBt) ' 7382

• ' 4

-The New Horn*.

It was warm weather and the country to shich they

came was covered with much good timber, had* good water and

many wild berries and fruits and besides i t abounded with

wild game. Destitute as they were after the t r ip , i t was

a "Happy Hunting Ground" to them to be free to do as they

chose and not have to take up the long t ra i l ' each morning.

They cams with their tired oxen into the Goingsnake District

and Grandfather began looking around for a location for his

home. He blazed trees to raark his claim. Next, he cut small

poles and" set them up and made a frame which he covered with

cloth and this made a place to cook and eat. Then he made

another shelter just like that as a place to sleep and ber«

they livpd t i l l he could cut tjie logs and build a rude ona

log house for his family. Grandfather had reached here

with his team of oxen but they were worn out end unfit' for

work so he managed to get hold of a team of l i t t l e mulea to

work and farm with that f i rs t year.

My grandparents were fullbloods and had lived in a0

log house in Georgia,so perhaps it was not eo hard for themt

* 5

to accustom themselves to the new country as it was for some

of the others. Then, ioo, Grandfather had been willing to

come and had planned towards that end*. .. • \ ^

BACKLEFF, KATE .' ' • INTERVIEW. 7382 —

5- "

In the old home, Grandmother had her loom and had

woven the c loth for t h e i r c lo th ing but t h i s was l e f t be -

hind but soon her husband had made her another loom and by

the time tha t they moved from t h i s loca t ion f ive or s i x

years l a t e r , into the Goingsnake D i s t r i c t , they 'had a l a rge

drove of sheep, plenty of hogs and cows and had b u i l t two

small log houses of one room each near to the o ther , had

bui l t o ther small outbui ld ings and besides they had ra i sed

what cotton they needed for home use»

My grandmother died during my mother*s t e e n s .

My Mother.

Mother did not have the opportuni ty to a t tend school

and always signed her name by mark; she helped with the

family's spinning and weaving, made her own dresses and

helped to^dry and preserve the f r u i t s and b e r r i e s fo r winter

use. At f i r s t , having no j a r s to can in, the f ru i t s and

berries were dried as were the corn, beans and pumpkins.

The peaches were placed on a scaffold and a f i re was buil t

under them to dry them and the apples were dried in the sun.

One day, I rememberjOiy s i s t e r got choked on a-peach kernel

and as I had seen Mother s t r ike a baby in the back when. •

choked I walked up behind inyv s i s t e r and struck her in tha

back and the kernel, flew out of her mouth. They 14$«r cam*

aid plums in gallon bucketa»

• • ' . . • • . • . ' : s oMOKLSFF,' KATE . 'nWEHVIHl. ' 7388

' * Mothfer lived to be ^13. years old and as long as she

lived she was -busy and only the winter before she died she

pieced a ^quilt. She always smoked a l i t t l e clay pipe. I

QO not mean to say. that"she did mare work than the rest of

the family. She had three brothers, Mose; Ben and'John, and

one sister who lived to be grown, Li^nie(and those children

ail shared the home tasks.

After1 Grandmother's death Mother's father gave her the

loom that he had made for his wife and on th i s Mother l a t e r

•wove the cloth* for her children's clothes.

The family _?.oved jfrfisn-y froa Goingsnake Dis t r ic t to a

piece on Clear Creek^west of Eulbert*

Marriage.

Mother married' Book Keugin, a fullblood' Cherokee,, who

spoke Cherokee and who,was a Captain in the Union Army dur-

ing the Civil'ft'ar. They were married before the War and lived

not far from where Tahlequah is .now during the War,

I was born in 1880; about the time of my fa ther ' s death,

and know only whatthey have told me of him as I am the young-

est of the seven children. My brothers were Henry, Dave, and

Jleai. My s i s t e r s , Sabe, Lizzie and Cynie.

KAT45 . INTERVIEW - 7388 8 1

Civ i l War Days.' * * • . •

\ly father being a t i d i e r -c'buld not come Lome often and i t

was only occasionally that he could stop and see his *ifa

enc\then he had to be very careful. Mother d'id not far© quite

so hard as some of her friends for Father could give her

s"ne money and' then she was entitled to draw rations at Fort

'Jibson at certain time's but there were times when she and her» •children were forced,to "rustle" for th<riselves.

* •-

Sometimes, when they needed fresh raaat, the women

would run a s teer up in the chimney corner and knock him in

the ucad. The women were ready with t h e i r butcher knives

am they would soon neve, the skin off and would begin to

cut/ wut the chunKs of meet* Hogs were a l so knocked in the

fjeed hj th.e women and the meat shared among them, so much

for each fai i i ly.

Mother often went to Fort Gibson with.a load of

a, plea, i'eople did not buy those apples but j u s t gathered

them where they found them. They would camp -overnight on

t; e way and sometimes the apples would f r eeze . They could

not s e l l the apples but exchanged them for anything tha t

they could use . Flour was ten d o l l a r s a sack and once in

a wmle Mother would get some sugar. Narrow cal ico was

five cents a yard.

. 82RACKLEFF, KATE . . INTERVIEW • 7388

The Confederates ?;ould come in and rob us and cut

up our feather beds. The boys had to be kept out of s ight - \

for the Confederates weje watching for them. If those boys

nere large enough to fo'rce into the army, they would be

taken and perhaps k i l l e d and even th«? smaller ,boys were

sometimes k i l l ed and not always by the Confederates but

sons times i t was the Pin Indians who k i l l ed those boys.

One. day, Mother had gone to a s t o r e for some f lour

and her horse wa^hitched out in front when one of the women

tola her that the Confederates were taking her hor se .

Mother went out where they were(and to ld thtfm tha t she was

on an errand for Stan Watie and the Confederates l e f t her

horse for her . This was not t-rue but i t saved t i e borae»

Sometimes in going to Fort Gibson tney would, t r ave l

the old Mili tary Road and camp over night on the way, som»-

•-.roes not but they never took any ch i ld ren with them. I t

was aengerous to take the boys and they f e l t i t unsafe to

taxe t,\e l i t t l e g i r l s but the g i r l s were never molested.

. I remember my f a t h e r ' s uniform^as i t ' hung u p s t a i r s

for so;.ie years, af J»er h i s death and was burned when our

borne burned. The coat and".trouserB were blue and I remsmb**' ~~

the clue cap wlth> i t s tr immings. Then, t o o , t he re Wirft h i s

sword and scabbard and h i s p i s t o l e *

• RAClftEFF, M E • INTERVIEW ^ * 7382 ,-. 8 3r

9

f ' Mother*s Later Life.r

r

l«e lived seven miles from Hulbert and the house where

,1 was born there, is now destroyed. I t 'was a one room log

house with a wooden chimney, an old log barn* and log cribs*

Here my mother lived the res t of her l i f e . Wtfen allotment

came, she al lot ted the land next to i t and th i s land went

to her grandson, Bock Keugin>?then a baby and she made her

home with him t i l l "her death, July 15, 1932.T

After Father rs death, Mother, with the help of my

older brothers,did some farming and sent us children to school

and when Mother needed money she would walk to Tahlequah, ' r

a distance oft fifteen miles and work at tne1 old ^Jail-house*

for a week washing and then she would buy the things she

needed and then my brothers would come af ter her in a wagon.

They r<culd come one day and stay over night and go home the-t

next day. ' .. '

She had described seeing two brothers hung while she

was corning there . They were brought out dressed jus t al ike

.and she said that she wstched t i l l they put the black hand-

Kerchiefs over the i r eyes and she couldn't stand i t any

I longer ana she put her arm across her eyes*.

I have said that mother died at the old place where

•he had lived for so many years*

"" 84RACKL2FF, FwkTS . . JNEEHVJEW . 738E

10

My Life

Uy sister and I were s nt to toe old Presbyterian,

ilission for the six years-before it burned. We childrenV

called i t the"01d Hed~Headed Mission'* and often wished i t

would ^burn down. I t s roof was of boards pointed red.night i t did burn many of us escaped only in our night gowna5

tuough some g i r l s did get t h e i r dresses* \ was with those-

who-were taken to the home of the minister and l a t e r a t tend-

ed school et the Presbyterian Church the rest of the term.

The next year I was sent to the Baptist Mission and

remained there some years t i l l I was in the tenth grade, I

liked a l l my studies except I never could understand arthmetic

and Dora French used to help me with t h a t .

After I ' l e f t school, I hired out to^ork and worked for

•a while at Wagoner in the &otel, and while working here I

married Edward Rackleff t a white man who was born in Missouris

er.d who had a wagon yard in Tahlequah. I do not remember the

date arid I do not have the marriage license.

I should like to ask one question—My brothers are en-

rolled as fulibloods, ,my sisters as half-breeds and I am on

t;.e rjlls as three-quarters, Indian.