Greenville Texas

Slave Narrative of Bert Luster

Person Interviewed: Bert Luster Location: Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Place of Birth: Watson County, Tennessee Date of Birth: 1853 Age: 85 I’ll be jest frank, I’m not for sho’ when I was born, but it was in 1853. Don’t know the month, but I was sho’ born in 1853 in Watson County, Tennessee. You see my father was owned by Master Luster and my mother was owned by Masters Joe and Bill Asterns (father and son). I can remember when Master Astern moved from Watson County, Tennessee he brought me and my mother with him to Barnum County Seat, Texas. Master … Read more

Emmons, Charlie – Obituary

Charlie Emmons, 98, a former Baker City resident, died Aug. 25, 2005, at the McAllen Medical Center in McAllen, Texas. His family was planning a special memory 99th birthday party for Charlie on Sept. 9, and he was really looking forward to it. The family will play a video of his life at his memorial service and hope he will be pleased. Charlie was born on Sept. 9, 1906, at Greenville, Texas. He married Erma McCormick in 1926, and they were married for 70 years. When they married she was 16 and he was 19. Erma was the love of … Read more

Mission’s Among the Southern Indians

Reverend Hugh Wilson

In the year 1819 the Synod of South Carolina resolved to establish a mission among the Southern Indians east of the Mississippi river. The Cherokees, Muskogee’s, Seminoles, Choctaws and Chickasaws then occupied Georgia, Florida, Alabama and Mississippi. Rev. David Humphries offered to take charge of the intended mission. He was directed to visit the Indians, obtain their consent and select a suitable location. Rev. T. C. Stewart, then a young licentiate, offered himself as a companion to Mr. Humphries. They first visited the Muskogee’s (Creeks), who, in a council of the Nation, declined their proposition. They then traveled through Alabama … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Miller Green

Miller Green, who lives at Black Jack Grove, is a native Texan. He was born in Red River district in the year 1837. Two years after his birth his father moved into the vicinity of where Greenville in Hunt County is situated. In the year 1854 he moved to where he is now living. In the year 1867 Miller married Ophelia Cole, daughter of Wash Cole, an old pioneer and one of the first who came to Hopkins County. He was highly respected and esteemed by all of his acquaintances. His name is agreeably remembered as that of one of … Read more

Biography of Warner E. Williams

Warner E. Williams. While now one of the great trunk railway systems of the country, the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad was largely developed as a Kansas corporation. The main offices of the company at Kansas are at Parsons, where 2,200 of its employes reside. The different lines of the road converge and diverge from that point in six directions: To Hannibal and St. Louis, Missouri; to Kansas City, Missouri; to Junction City, Kansas; to Joplin, Missouri, to Denison, Texas; and to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. For several years the general manager of the system with headquarters at Parsons was Warner … Read more

Slave Narrative of Francis Bridges

Person Interviewed: Francis Bridges Location: Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Place of Birth: Red River County, Texas Date of Birth: 1864 Age: 73 Occupatio I was born in Red River County, Texas in 1864, and that makes me 73 years old. I had myself 75, and I went to my white folks and they counted it un and told me I was 73, but I always felt like I was older than that. My husband’s name is Henry Bridges. We was raised up children together and married. I had five sisters. My brother died here in Oklahoma about two years ago. He … Read more

Choctaw Traditions – The Council Fire, The Nahullo

The faces of the Choctaw and Chickasaw men of sixty years ago were as smooth as a woman’s, in fact they had no beard. Sometimes there might be seen a few tine hairs (if hairs they might be called) here and there upon the face, but they were few and far between, and extracted with a pair of small tweezers whenever discovered. Oft have I seen a Choctaw warrior standing before a mirror seeking with untiring perseverance and unwearied eyes, as he turned his face at different angles to the glass, if by chance a hair could be found lurking … Read more