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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.
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