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Indian Pioneer History Project for Oklahoma
Date: April 28, 1938
Name: Ed McCune *
Post Office: Lawton, Oklahoma
Residence Address: 409 South Ninth
Date of Birth: December 7, 1883
Place of Birth: Lampasas, Texas
Father: Not Listed *
Place of Birth: Ohio
Information on father:
Mother: Not Listed *
Place of birth: Arkansas
Information on mother:
Field Worker: Ophelia D. Vestal

I was born December 7, 1883, near Lampasas, Texas; living there until I was about five years old, when with my parents I came to Fort Sill by wagon, driving two mules and bringing two cows and a few supplies.

When we came in sight of Fort Sill at Arbuckle Hill, east of Lawton, my father stopped the wagon looking the country over. My mother held me up to see Fort Sill but all I could see was the old corral.

We moved on slowly toward Mount Scott, finding a pretty fair location to camp, my father and the older boys finding work to do cutting wood to supply Fort Sill. When I grew large enough I worked in the wood, then worked at different jobs around the post and I have been working ever since.

This was a beautiful country, the clearest water, wonderful tall grass and pretty trees. An ideal spot for the big cattlemen to lease the grass for their large herds of cattle.

In the early days in this country, people were much different than they are now. Everyone was sociable and more neighborly. On Sundays the young people would gather at one home, sing and have good times, then the next Sunday they would gather at another home, always a big bunch and have good times.

I was almost grown and remember this incident very clearly. Some of the boys were told to carry some water and I went along to help. When we got to the spring, not so far from the house, we saw something partly uncovered. Dipping the water and taking it to the house as soon as we could, we came back to find the hidden treasure. After digging quite a while we found the remains of an Indian buried there long ago. After finding some bracelets we decided it was a woman. Many times after that we found some remains and one discovery was made; the Indian men did not have bracelets and the women always had several bracelets.

A queer custom which the Indians had, and all Indians know, thought very few white people knew of this custom, was when an Indian wore a certain color bow between the shoulders it meant that Indian was married, at another place on the back it meant they were engaged.

I have many real old Indian friends. Most people think the Indians are queer, but I don't know of anyone more jolly than they are to people they think are their real friends. We have had many enjoyable hours together talking of our early days here.

At the northeast side of [name withheld] is an old burying ground of the Indians.

I believe the records for the first county courthouse show the cost of the building to be $1,540. This temporary building was used a few years before the brick structure was erected and now a new courthouse is under construction.

I am working at Fort Sill as a teamster now, living in Lawton.

Submitter Comments - It is very unfortunate that individual names were not probed for by the interviewer; for example, one of the older boys referred to must be Robert A. White, a half-brother of Ed McCune - but who are the others? The other known siblings are female. There may have been more than one family supporting each other. 

* Ed McCune's full name Henry Edgar McCune; his father is Henry Patrick McCune; his mother is Altha Elizabeth McCune is the mother of Ed McCune. Henry Edgar McCune, b. December 07, 1883, Lampasas, TX; d. March 25, 1951, Ft. Sill, OK. Henry and his parents are buried in the Fort Sill Military Cemetery. There is much more information about this family and SW Oklahoma history at:
http://myweb.cableone.net/4jdurham/mccune/mccune.html ~ http://myweb.cableone.net/4jdurham/evans/granny.html 

Transcribed by Jack Durham ( 4jdurham@cableone.net ) April 2001.
[email updated Sept. 2005]