, HSNRY I. mwnsfl #C695 _
FALCONER, HENRY I. Form A-(S-14S) BIOGRAPHY VOW. WOHKS IO&tESo ADMIN ISTSATIGN Indan-Poneer Hstory Project for Oklahoma 6695 9 eld Worker f s name Gomer Gower Ths report made on (date) July 15th 19S Name Henry I and Ida L. Falconer Post 0:1 co.a Spre, Oklahoma. 3, Rfsdcco oddrcse (or locaton) Outskrts of 3pro.Henry I, Nov. 18th, 1870 4, DATE OF BIRTH: Month Ida L.-»September Day 50th. Year 1874 5, Place of brth Henry I Falconer near the present t»t?n of Cedars, L. Born on.rng Prare, Skttllyrllle County, near fort Smth Arkansas. 6, Name of Father John Taylor Place of brthsktllytlle C». Otler nformaton about father Jula V. Hawkns. 7, Name of Mother' Lucreta Taylar cotnty Place of brth, Other nfornator about mother Notes or complete narratve by the feld worker.dealng wth the lfe and story of the _,eruon ntervewed. Rof-r to Manual for su^ostod subjects and questons. Contnue on blank sheets f necessary and attach frmly to ths form. Number of sheets utt-jdaed d ;
FALCONER, HENRY I. DSTEPVIEW. 6695 Gomer Gower Investgator ^ July 15th, 1937 Lfe t and Remnscences of Henry I and hs wfe, Ida L. Falconer Spro, Oklahoma., Henry I. Falconer was born November 18th, 1870, n what was then the eastern part of Skullyvlle County, now the northeastern one thrd part of LeFlore County. Hs father was Wllam C. Falconer, who was born n about 1845, near Fort Smth, Arkansas. The Falconers later were closely dentfed,wth the poltcal, socal and cvc lfe of Fort 3mth. Hs mother, Jula V. Hawkns, was the daughter of 3arah A. Hawkns. Sarah A Hawkns^ wth other mmgrants, landed at Fort Coffee, and after the death of Mr. Hawkns marred Wllam Harlan. Ida L. Falconer was born September 30th, 1874, on Rng Prare at what had been the ranch house of John G. Rng? who n addton to the ranch, conducted a plantaton and stagestaton at a pont about two mles northeast of the ranch, at whch pont emgrants to Calforna would buy the necessary supples* for^jthe overland journey whch they undertook n quest of gold n the "days of forty-nne^
FALCONER, HENRY I. INTERVIEW. ' 6695 _ 11 sometmes called the gold rush. Her mother, Lucreta Taylor, was the'daughter of Lucreta Gary who, before her marrage to John Gary, was the wdow of John Rng. Ida L. Falconer's fether, John Taylor, dstngushed hmself by servng as County Judge, frst In Sans Bos County and afterward n /. Skullyvlle County. He jklso served as County Clerk ofj Skullyvlle County. It jwas durng hs ncumbency of the offce of County Judge of Skullyvlle County that the last 1 1 trbal executon- that 0f Levl James - occurred. She attended school when a chld at Skullyvlle, later at flew Hope Femal Semnary, then at Bard College at Clnton, Mssour,and last at Jone3 College at Pars, Texas. Thus t s shown that both Mr. and Mrs. Falconer trace ther pedgrees, at least on one sde, back to members of the Choctaw Trbe who entered the Indan Terrtory n complance wth the provsons of the treaty made at the Dancng Rabbt Creek Councl Grounds on September 27th, 1830, and the racal stran of each, of whch they feel justly proud, s shown on the "Trbal Rdls of the Fve Cvlzed Trbes". As already stated, both Mr. and Mrs. Falconer were born and reared n Skullyvlle County. Skullyvlle County, due to ts embracng
FALCONER, &ENRY I. INTERVIEW. 6695 ' _ the northeastern proton of the Choctew Naton and also because t contaned a favorable landng pont at Fort Coffee on the Arkansas Rver and because of ts nearness to the shppng facltes at Van Buren, Arkansas, was for a number of years the trade centre for all that vast terrtory lyng 3outh of the Arkansas Rver and extendng to ts confluence wth the Canadan Rver; ths terrtory extended north of what s now McCurtan County and westward wthout end and consequently was the scene of much actvty because of the dsembarkng of the Choctaw mmgrants n Skullyvlle and ther austenan.ee after arrval. For these reasons, those Choctaws whose famles were part of the unusual actvtes, such as the famles of the subjects of ths sketch were, have nherted s/ wealth of knowledge concernng the early experences of the Choctaws.n the entre Choctaw Naton, a3 for a number of years Skullyvlle County shared wth Fort Towson County whch s located n the southeastern corner of the Indan Terrtory, the poston of beng one of the eastern gateways of all the commercal and socal actvtes n the early lfe of the Choctaw Naton,
FALCONER, HENRY I. INTERVIEW. 8395 13 Mr. and Mrs. Falconer learned from^ther/forebears that Skullyvlle County, or at least the northern half of t, was deally stuated for slave-operated plantatons. The rch bottom lands along the south bank of the Arkansas Rver whch formed the northern boundary of the county and the equally fertle land lyng along the Poteau Rver, whch traversed the eastern half of the county, provded a large area of r tllable land^ so necessary for the practcal use of slave owners^a condton whch dd not exst n areas farther dstant from the rvers. As a result of thscondton, the northern half of the county was settled and occuped by slave owners, who were, n the man, ntermarred whtes and mxed breed Indans, whle the southern half of/the county was gven over to those who were not so, plentfully, suppled wth wealth and who could,wth a mnmum of tme and effort^erect ther log cabns and place n cultvaton small patches of ground. The southern half of the county was^n the man, a vast prare upon whch belts of tmber appeared-at, ntervals provdng means for ' the erecton of houses and jtendfed, and whch at the same tme provded deal grazng grounds for ther small herds ' \ /
FALCONER, HENRY I. tview.- 6695.. 14 *.. of cattle and Horses. An era of, prosperty was enjoyed n Skullyvllle County untl the outbreak of the ''.'a-r between the States, when practcally all actvtes relatng to socal advancement came to an end. Fully realzng the effect of whatever moton the Choctaw Naton took as between the nterests of the contendng forces, mwfljbj hought and tme was gven over to evolvng a soluton whch s would serve the best nterests of r ~the Choctaw people. Propagandsts from both sdes *were busy weldng nfluences among the Choctaws favorable to the cause*they represented. However wth the Choctaws, t was not so much a matter of States Rghts or the freeng of the slaves', ag t was a matter of nsurng to them the carryng out of exstng treates, whch they feared would not be done by the Federals In the event the Confederate forces were vctorous n the conflct and although" ther exstng treates were wth the Federal.Government, the Confederates had promsed more lberal agreements to take the place of these treates n the event of the success of the Secessonsts. It was these promses, no doubt, that actuated most of, though not all, the Choctaw, people to'cast ther lot wth the cause of the South,yand
FALCONEB, HENR7 I. INTERVIEW. 66 6 thereby, however unjustly^penng up the way by whch all exstng treates were abrogate^ and a very severe penalty appled when new treates were maqle wth the Federal Government n 1866. None but those who actually lved through that humlatng experence of the Reconstructon perod can realze the extreme hardshps suffered by the Choctaws of that perod. Ther herds had been preyed upon to/a pont approachng extncton; ther homes'-burned; ther feftle felds agan overgrown wth brush,and ther fences of splj.t.rals destroyed. Wth no money and' nothng but ther own /Labor wth whch to undertake the task of rehabltaton, t/was, ndeed, a tme to try the souls of " men. After.the rehabltaton of the^plantatons and the small homes, apother era of prosperty was experenced. It was n ths era that outlaw's from tb States ntruded nto the; otherwse peaceful lves I of the Cfaoctew trbe and other trpes of the Indan Terrtory. As a Result of ths ntruson, much 7 r / ; lawlessness exsted and regardless of the efforts of I. I. ' courts/ to mantan a semblance of order, the rule cam to be that ^ach man took the responsblty of admn$terng punsh- I I \ - ' ment jpon those who had afflcted an njustce,/whether real
FALCONLR, 'ERRY I. INTERVIEW. x or fanced, upon hmself or those near to hm* Ths state of, affars led to many kllngs, among whch was one that-* occurred under the personal observaton of Wllam C. Falconer, father of Henry I, Falconer, who^fonducted a store near SkullyTlle and had arranged to open up another store at poggy Depot* I Mr. W. C. Falconer employed a man named McClan and a young negro to take two wagon loads of merchandse to ; Boggy Depot and he^hmself, was to follow a day or two later. Tfhen the laden ox-drawn wagons reached a pont near the home of Wade Hampton, southwest ^f what was known as Mountan Staton, James McClan and the negro boy camped for the nght. They dscovered that another man, Lev McCurtan, a Creek Indan, and n no way related to the Choctaw McCurtan, was also camped not far dstant from the spot selected by McClan. McCurtan.as also accompaned by a negro boy. Ths camp ste was n vew of the home of Wade Hampton, *ao on the followng day saw that one of the campers, wth two wagons, j had departed and that the remanng two wagons appeared to be unattended. He Immedately repared to the camp-ground to nvestgate and whle ke was thus engaged, the young negro
FALCONER, HENRY I. INTERVIEW. 6695 8 who accompaned McCurtan appeared upon the scene and told Hampton that McCurtan had sent hm back ^«nget some oxen belongng to McClan and the negro boy, or more properly to Mr., Falconer, as McCurtaln had stalled wth hs load. Upon questonng the negro boy more closely he was told that McCurtan had murdered James McClan and the other negro boy wth an*ax, whle they lay asleep; had robbed McClan of $80.00; had loaded some of the goods from McClan*a wagons * onto hs own wagons t dragged the bodes of the murdered men to a canyon not far dstant fr«m the camp ste end had drven away,ntendng to return and get the oxen and wagons of hs vctms. Wade Hampton lost no tme n notfyng Mr* Falconer and later asssted n brngng the culprt to justce, whch, owng t the fact that McCurtan was a Creek Indan, and therefore not amenable to the Choctaw Courts, cmld only be done befere the Federal Court at Van Buren, Arkansas, aa the Federal courts were gven jursdcton n all ntertrbal matters. It was before ths courjt that MoClan was * tred, convcted and hanged pror to the removal of the Federal court thereafter. I t# Fort Smth, Arkansas, whch occurred soon
F2LC0NER, BERRY I. 6695 9 Henry I. Falconer served aa Unted-States Deputy Marshal for the Western ;)strc of Arkansas durng,the f 9Q'a and. n the same poston n what was known as the 'Sandy Land" court, under Chef Marshal J. J. McAlester. I He also served as Deputy Sherjlf of Skullyvlle County under Wllam G. Kayser and also ' under Lews Lucas n Sans Bos County at dfferent perods and, /consequently, has had much to do wth the law-enforcement agences whch acqutted themselves so sgnally durng the perod of the I transton from Terrtoral to Statehood status. Snce the advent estate of busness. statehood Hs he has wfe, made Ida and L. lost Falconer^s fortunes the n daughter the real of Judge John Taylor, Judge of the Skullyvlle County Court, was j gven the best ojf educatonal asvantages procurable at that f tme*