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BOHHAM, ALBEIT INTIRYIXf 9926 ' 280 %
t - B - / Form A-(S-. DIOGRAFlO" FORM ' W(SRKS PROGRESS JfflfcONISTRATIQN Indlan-Plonoor History Project for.oklahoma 281 BQNEJlf, JJ SRT / INTERVIEW. 9926..: name; This n-pcrkujadc o$ (date-) T^hfrmi r % 1, x N st Oi'l'icc Mdruss 3. Residence acjfdrcsc C<?r loc-ition) R. p. g 4. DATE OF BH-pH: ' Month Day ft Yonr 5. Place of biirth Name of Father Jasper Bonhem Place of birth Other information about father of Mother &ll«n Sohrag. Ot..t;r injcrmrition alout mother Eousonife* Place of birth Illlnoia lotes or cjr.pl..tq narrative by-tho field wo-rkcr dealift^ v/ith the life and ;tory of the person intw'rviewo*r Rofdr to Manual for s^:,-:cstgd subjects and questions, -Continuo on blank shcr.tr if iiccossary ^rd attach firrcly to his form. N'jmber of sn.otr attschod - - # 9
282 9926. B. Lankford, reatigator. February 91 1988. Interview with Albert Bonham. RcJeky,,0klahon». Born [December fi» 1863. jr-jasper Bonham Schrag. came from Tercel to Cord ell, landing here September-3, I filed on one hundred and sixty acres of land three milsa south and one half mile west of the place where the present Cordell depot is now- I built a dugout to live in ard I.brought a yoke of oxen to this country and I jwdded my land down Working these oxen to an old sod walking plow. u Feed crops were all we raised, such as Kaffir corn and corn. t - Iehad to go to Minoo, SI Reno and Chickaaha to sell and buy. Wedid all of our freighting from these towns.! were usually on the road about twenty $&ys and sometimes longer if we were ceught in a rain or snow storm or even a bliaatrd; we always drove our oxen.. * I bought hens for $.00 a dozen, I sold eggs for 5 cants ' *. a dozen, and When I raised cotton, I had to hire a man to haul ' it to Duncan where I would get 4 cents a pound for it. I sold corn for IS cente a bushel and Kaffir corn sold for 1 cent % bundle ; and sorfcnum mo-lasaes for about 80 cents a gallon;
28*1 B0NH4U, ALBERT. INTEHVIEW. 9926. - 2 * For our fuel, wo would go to the creeks and rivers and get green oottonwood to burn and we would also go over the.prairie and gather up cow chips and let them dry and then burn theia. * ffc lived with snakes,, centipedes and fleas. Our dugout was full of them 1, one night a snake got in the bed with rat; it was so,cold to my back that it soared me at first', then I realized what it was, jso I got up and killed it. One winter the prairie chickens were so plentiful that we ate wild chicken and lots of times I would get on horseback and run down wilid turkeys, I would kill those large turkey gobblers. We had all kinds ofwild meat,to eat. We had One dugoit which was used only for schools and churches. We havt much school. ry Sunday for church, but we didn*t a^bree Months school term and some-,here^ I ran % peddling wagon^ I would go to Kl Beno, and buy^wime calico, oilcloth and a few tin cooking vessels then t wbuld chickens, then take the ckicke'ns, trade/my things for xas^and sell
284 )NHAM, AIBKRT. 9926. thorn. The chickens would gat so hungry, when X camped at night, that I would turn tham out and lot thorn feed; they would eat grasshoppers and. one Wooing a pig buck Indian rode up and said', *Get those chickens up,/* I sure was cared and I had a time catching those chickens before their tim* to go to roost, the Indian, sit on his horse and watched me until I go the chickens all in the coops, then gave a big I laugh and rode off. But the Indians war* my friends and I ' - - i really do give them a very kind word, eyeh today. Old Jot Bull Bear was a very dear friend of mine but he is dead now. i I am a vary old. man and can't work so I just sit around and think of the old times; they were hard times but very / / ' ' happy. I am blind in both eyes but X enjoy misic very much; I play the violin quite a bit and used to play for the Indian Dances.,