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Indian Pioneer History Project for Oklahoma
Date: April 22, 1938
Name: Mr. J. J. Loyd
Residence: Paoli, Oklahoma
Date of Birth: December 13, 1865
Place of Birth: Kentucky
Father: John Loyd, born in Kentucky
Mother: Mary Chartina, born in Kentucky
Interview # 10400
Field Worker: Maurice R. Anderson

I was born in Kentucky and worked on the farm there.

Later I moved from Arkansas to the Indian Territory in 1892 and settled at Doaksville in the Choctaw Nation and went to work in a grocery store. The Choctaw Indians would trade furs, snake-root and beads for groceries.

I have gone spear-fishing with the Choctaw Indians. Everyone had to have a cross painted on each side of his face and be bareheaded or they wouldn't let you attend. These Indians would put a herb called devils shoestring in the water, then the fish would come to the top of the water and would be speared with arrows.

I have stomp danced with the Indians and have seen the Indians dance till they were so weak they could hardly stand up.

I was living in Doaksville in 1893 and 1894 when the Progressives and Nationals had war over what governor won in the election. Both sides claimed to have won.

Governor Jones, then governor of the Choctaw Nation, sent the militia to stop them for fighting as several were killed and a number wounded.

I left there in 1894 and moved to a place called Crossroads now, then it was called the Stevens settlement, west of Paoli about two miles. I began farming in that settlement.

A subscription school was built there and it cost so much for each child sent and as they advanced in grades it would cost more. Each family had to furnish a bench for their children to sit on. I still have the old bench I made for my three sons who attended that school.

I lived and farmed in that community until four years ago at which time I rented my farm out and moved into Paoli where I now live.

Submitted to OKGenWeb by Brenda Choate September 2003