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Indian Pioneer History Project for Oklahoma
Date: June 1, 1937
Name:  Mr. John E. McCarty
Post Office: Erick, Oklahoma
Residence Address:  322 W. First Street, Erick, Oklahoma
Date of Birth:  November 26, 1866
Place of Birth:
Father:  William McCarty
Information on Father:
Mother:  Mary Loatchspach (Lotspeich?)
Information on Mother:
Field Worker: Velma Hance

John E. McCarty was born November 26, 1866. 322 W. First Street, Erick, Oklahoma

Mr. McCarty came to Indian Territory in 1880, from Youngs County,   Texas. There were ten families who came at this time. They settled a half mile from where Pauls Valley now stands and their post office was Cherokee Town.

Mr. McCarty fought with the Cherokee and Choctaw Indians, fighting from covered wagons. There were forty-five wagons in the camp in the year of 1882. They had scouts; two men were in front, two men behind, and two men on each side. When they discovered Indians, they would blow a horn. Then everybody would circle their wagons and oxen in a circle. This was called 'corralling the wagons'.  They put the oxen in the corrals.

Mr. McCarty settled in that part of the country because there was lots of grass and water. He leased land from the Indians.

There were no schools then. Mr. McCarty's father made his living mostly by truck farming. They went on hunting trips in the mountains, five or six families going together. They would bring back as much as 3200 pounds of meat at once. They carried their meat in wagons and they cured it as people do now.

Their first home was a dugout with home-made furniture, their chairs being split logs. They had lots of water and wood in those days. Their first employment was farming. They did their plowing with a bull tongue plow. Mr. McCarty bought their supplies from Denison, Texas.

He has a gun that he brought to Oklahoma with him November 8, 1880.

Transcribed and submitted by Brenda Choate <bcchoate@yahoo.com>  November 2000.