GOTT, 1VALKSB INTERVIEW #12457 70 -"-•Tt-r Form A-(S-149)
BIOGRAPHY /OR" .w^ r^OOR^SS An>'TriS7RATT01.' Indian-Pioneer History projert for Oklahoma #12457
GOTT, WALKER INTERVIEW
Field Worker's name Hummingbird & Bigby
This report made on (date) December 14, 19S7
fl. Name Walker Gott |2. Post Office Address ^tilwell, Oklahoma
|3, Residence address (or location) Stilwell City p i • i 11 i ii i - • » ii i i • i i > DAT3 >'•? '>IH?H: ''cr.tk December pay &, Year __ Place of birth Goingsnake District, Cherokee Ifetion
:;anie of Father John Gott Haoo of birth Tennessee
Other infonaati'-n -ibcit f^t'-.er
of T'other Ruth Bean "Pl^ce of birth ^f^^
Other information fib ^it mother \
ies or complete narrative by the field worker dealing with the £ and story of the person interviewed. R^fer to Tuanual for jested subjects and questions. Continue ^n blank sheets if pessary and attach firmly to this fcrm, Kuraber of sheets iched 9 . 72
GOTT, WALKER 1V.TK VIEW 12457
Hummingbird & Bigby, Investigators, December 14, 19S7. «n Interview with. Mr, Walker Gott, Stilwell, Oklahoma.
Walker Gott, a one sixteenth Cherokee was born in
"what is now ^dair County, December 2
The Beans were-Old Settler Cherokees who came to this country ten years before the immigrants.
To this union tnere v Jennie, William,George, Jack, Joseph, ..alter, Lou, Buth ani Uellie. Their mother earns from Tennessee, Their grandmother Yic.3 a Starr before her narriage. Early Life least cf the ecrly life of .*c.lker Gott was spent on a small farm that his father operatsd about seven rales east of otilwell, -it t::at time the nearest to.vn «us Greersburg, Arkansas, 73 GOTT, WALKER II.TERVIEU 12457 The family claimed one hundred ten acres of good land in the community now known as Oak Grove, .about forty acres of t\is farm v/as in cultivation. The principal crops at that tine ./ere corn, oats end wheat, but there was not so much or the v.he. t rLised for it wtis difficult to thresh the crops then. The first thresher tiu.t ever entered the Cherokee country was operated be a Full Blood named Lecie .Vclfe. Trading and killing Point Evansville, ^rkansas^was the main trading point for the Cherokees in the eootern ;art of the Cherokee Ifetion. It vffcs tlready a goo^ sized tcvm at thbt tine. That is before the »)br or immediately after the''. The Gott family lived about three miles in the Indian Territory side, Evansville was ulso their nill- ii.g point.The early"dty trader at this place was named Yol English; he v/as also a stock roan. Ke does not know the name of the early doy miller at this place. Education Walker did not receive much of an education. The 74 GOTT, WALKER INTKRViM 12457 _ 3 — first school he attended was in the Choctaw Nation during the Civil War. The ftinily of Gotts favored the South in this W r. ^hey were slave holders ut that time, '^herefore,they v/ent south in order to pro- tect their property. They owned five sieves v.hen the War began, walker attended school ^t Goodwater Station about three months. This was a Choctaw school but all the Cherokees were allowed to go to this school, Juany Cherokees .vent to that part of the Choctaw Nation when they >vere driven out of the Cherokee Nation, He attend- ed this school about three months, riis teacher wes .-.D. Duncan, a Cherokee. Church The earliest Church was Oak Grove which was built soon after the Civil The old tuners who took an active pert in the building and donated funds to build this church were John T» i*dair, Walker Gott, W, M, Ghormley, Jim ^igby, Ellis Buffington, This was later used as a school house. The old teachers who taught et this place were Jim Bates, Mark Bean GOTT, .'.ALKER INTERVIEW 12457 - 4 - and Carl Starr, Civil War .n.s said before when the fibr began the Gotts own- ed several slaves. Therefore^they went with the South. .after the father of ./alker Gott joined the Southern .army the family remained ut home for a year or longer. Most of the full blood Cherokees joined the .\Torth. So after the fc .r ,*as &t its height in the Indian Territory the Federal Scbuts pillaged the homes of the Confederate c families and forced them to move to some other plt.cc. They even killed what stock the families of the Confed- erate owned c-t that time. The Gott family mo^ed to •'•ebbers Falls which w.s about u hundred miles south, -^t that place -it-lker saw a buttle fought. The Federal -omy was stationed ut Fort Gibson at that time. » - There were several familes of Confederates living at fYebber Falls then. The small detachmer.t oi Southern men had to retreat, .after the retreat of this Southern Army the families of these Southern men also left and followed th<-ir people. GOTT, WALKER. INTERVIEW. #12457 -5- They went to the Choctaw Nation and remained there i until after the War, It was at this place at Goodwater Station that Walker attended his first sohool. His father and two brothers served in the Southern Array. One of his brothers was captured and killed near Park Hill by the Federals. Walker remembers all of the slaves that they owned before the War. They owned four women and one man. Their names were Flora, Liza, Menda, Ann and Commodore. Commo- dore was a bad colored man. He tried to rob some full blood Cherokee8 and his arm was slashed with a hunting kinfe. After they were freed they left. Twenty years after that Commodore paid the Gott family a visit. At that time he was operating a large ranoh in Texas for some rich white man. When the Gott family left and went South during the War there were two more families who went with them. These were the families of Easky and Dannenberg, Prehistorio Landmarks., There are two or more of these landmarks in this 77 GOTT, WALKER INTERVIEW 12457 - 6 - community, Spanish explorers have left nu-rks in this community along the Evansville Creek. The holes th&t are drilled in the rock bottom of creek above the Old I Oak Grove Church are Opposed to be the work of the 3pen- ish explorers. In this aaine community to the north i.re c range of mountains known as Crittenden Mountains, ^t the north end of these jaountains in the ecrly days was a cemetery. This was a new cemetery ..hen the Old Settlers came in 1835, TKey said that this was a Mexican Cemetery. Thert are several graves it this place. Secret -societies The only society that iValker Gott ever knew anything about was the Kee-Too-wah which was an organization start- ed back in the east. They claimed it was a part of this organization who killed the treaty*signers, ~t the beginning of the Civil •i«r part of this society organized ~no her society called the iJin Indians. This bunch was to pillage and kill any Confederate Cherokee. It was this organization that caused ell of the families of 78 GOTT, WALKER INTERVIEW 12457 - 7 - the Confederates to move out of the Cherokee Nation. There* were Bushwhackers -rnong them, iifter the War the Cherokees had & called meeting at Old Tom Fourkiller's place on Evansville Creek, The purpose of this meeting was to make friends among themselves. That is the Cherokees who lived in what was then Goingsnake District. There were thousands of Cherokees who attended.^rch Scrsper, a captain in the Union ^rmy was the speaker for the Federal Cherokees. William Perm Adair spoke for the South, Sawmills and Grist Kip a The earliest sawmill and grist mill »vbs located on Barren Fork Creek. This was a combined mill for ' lumber and grist mill for grinding. It was operated by a man named Eli V/right; a Cherokee; und a >vhite nan named ' Legge, He was a "permitted" white man, •vilsonville, .Arkansas^ras the milling point before , * • the War, This was the name given to Greersburg before* t the W » 79 GOTE, .VALKER INTEHVIE.7 1H457 - 8 - .among the Old Timers who settled this community were William Ghormley^ a preacher, Gus Rider, .atie Mayfield and John T, Adair, a merchant^ Jim Starr who was killed by unknown Cherokees for his part in the signing.of the treaty back in the East, Jim Crlttenden and Tonete Twist. Salt Springs Many Cherokees made their own salt dt that time. The main Salt lake was located at Chotea^ or somewhere near that place, Andy Easkey wes t,he chief salt maker of this community. John Meckey owned the land that the lake was located on. It was walled the Mackey Selt Lake. Courts Walker Gott has served in several cases,^het is as- a juryman, ^he most interesting esse he ever served as e juror was in the case of Jack Parris for larceny. They convicted Parris and sentenced him to five yeers. The jail was located at Tahlequah. 80 GOTT, WALKER INTiBVIM 12457 - 9 - Railroad The legislature that passed the railroad law was composed of Iiooley Bell, Watt Benge, Jonathan A'hitiaire, Dick Wolfe and Zeke Proctor. In 1887 there was e bunch of Turkish people drowned at Oak Grove. This company of Turks had been operating a small show at Dutch Mills. The people at tnat place hed become tired of those people and gave them orders to move out of their town. rlhey camped near the town of Evansville late in the afternoon. In the night there'came a forty foot rise of the ^vansville Creek and drowned them all. Note: (Evidently this group of people were gypsies, not Turks. -.editor.)