The Ox Woman
by Jean C. Taylor
From Update, vol. 6, no. 2 (February 1979). Miami, Fla.:
Historical Museum of Southern Florida.
South Dade had its full complement of odd characters in the early days: Preacher Tems who lived in a tree and had no visible means of support answered questions and preached in rhyme; John Wingate who brought a huge hogshead to the area by wagon and lived in it while he proved up his claim. When a hurricane blew it off his land he calmly rolled it back after the storm; J.R. Walker, an unordained Methodist minister who preached at the Silver Palm School and always sang religious songs at the top of his voice as he walked the roads. He could be heard at least a quarter of a mile away.
But far and away the most celebrated character in the early 1900s was the Ox Woman. The Widow McLain, or Aunt Sarah as she was known to the children, arrived in Dade County around 1907 driving her team of oxen from Georgia alone with only her dogs and her shotgun for company. She camped for a while near the John Murray home with her two wheeled cart and would sit on their porch and sing “Barbara Allen” and other sad songs. Sometimes she read the Bible to them and propounded her theory that the Seminoles were one of the lost tribes of Israel.
The Ox Woman eventually settled at Long Key, now in the Everglades National Park, built herself a shack and farmed the prairie land and sold her surplus vegetables. She also occasionally bought a beef and cut it up for sale at the various depots. The news would spread and people would arrive from all over the neighborhood and line up to buy. The beef was covered with fresh pine branches which kept it from spoiling. Annie Mayhew Fitzpatrick, who as a young girl was visiting her Aunt, Miss Lewis, was asked to take her aunt’s place in line while she did an errand. As her turn came she spoke up politely for steak. The Widow McLain gave her a withering look and said, “It’s neck I’m cutting, honey.” Annie knew by the tone of her voice it was neck or nothing so meekly accepted the proffered meat. The Ox Woman charged the same price for all cuts and since fresh meat was a great treat she had eager takers for every part.
On her selling trips up and down South Dade, Sarah McLain usually chose someone to spend the night with who had animals of their own and would be able to feed her oxen or horse and dogs. She was very fond of George Kosel’s mother, Bodil Kosel, and often stopped at her homestead at Redland and Plummer. She usually took a bath each place she stopped and seemed happy to spend the night in a good bed. One time Fred Kosel brought home a man from Long Island, N. Y., a soldier of fortune type, and took him hunting down near the widow’s camp. The man looked around and thought it would be just the place to spend the winter. The Ox Woman thought she could use an extra pair of hands so he stayed. Twenty four hours later he turned up at the Kosel home with a tale of woe. He said when he got up in the morning he had to chop wood before he could have coffee. Before he could have lunch he had to bring some sheet iron over to the camp which the widow had hauled and dumped on the other side of Taylor slough. He had to swim the slough with each sheet. On top of all that the mosquitoes were bad so one day was too much.
On one occasion the Widow McLain stopped at the Brewer home on her way back to the Everglades and asked to stay to dinner. It was pouring and she was soaked to the skin and had no clothes to change to as she told Mrs. Brewer she had left her “other garment” soaking at home. Mrs. Brewer got out her biggest nightgown and gave it to the Ox Woman to put on while her clothing dried. Mrs. Brewer didn’t dare laugh but the widow presented quite a picture with her arms hanging out at least a foot below the wrist bands and her 6 foot 4 inch height making the bottom of the gown hit her around the knee. The ribbon and lace trim made quite a contrast with her weather beaten face and arms.
A lot of the settlers seeing the feats of strength performed by the Ox Woman declared that she was a man. Not so answered Mrs. Clara Vihlen whose home was a favorite stopover for the widow. Mrs. Vihlen always fixed a hot bath in the family wash tub in the kitchen for her friend and said that her skin was soft and white under the garment and her figure obviously that of a woman. The Ox Woman had blonde hair and blue eyes and wore her hair in a bun at the back of her neck as did many women at that time. She was always polite and well spoken, behaved as a lady and was grateful for anything that was done for her. There is no record at all of her ever having misused her great strength to injure anyone or do harm.
The Widow McLain was also willing to help the settlers when needed. One day a group of women gathered at the Booe home as the word was out that a new lady was moving in across the street and Mr. Brewer was bringing her furnishings in his wagon. As he drove up they were disappointed to see that the new neighbor was not aboard and that the Widow McLain was riding with Mr. Brewer. Before he could get the mules and wagon jockeyed into position for unloading she shouldered the cook stove and in jig time had it up and smoke coming out of the stove pipe. Next she tackled a roll of fencing wire. Looking about she spied a low sort of log pen not too far from the house and fastened one end of wire to that. Unrolling as she went she circled the trees as far as the trail. She must have known exactly how many feet were in the roll of wire because she stepped it off along the trail side westward and came back and took up the roll and proceeded as before. Going south again and back to the starting point she came out with just enough to fashion a gate. She had set up an area for a chicken run and it mattered not a whit to her that the original plan had been to fence in the door yard as a protection against “varmints.” When the new neighbor arrived with the second load it turned out to be Lily Lawrence Bow.
By 1908 when Flora Chandler Caldwell remembers the Ox Woman visiting her father’s home the Indians had stolen her oxen and she was driving a poor old horse to a covered wagon with four hound dogs on chains in the back and a double barreled shot gun on the seat beside her. She wore a blue denim dress with a petticoat and large bob nailed boots. The Widow McLain usually arrived about dark and the Chandlers would feed the horse and dogs, the Ox Woman would eat supper with them, have a bath and sleep in a good bed. The Chandler children liked her because she was always willing to answer their questions and talk to them. On one visit she left in the morning and had only gotten about a mile down the road when her horse fell dead. Mr. Chandler helped her get rid of the horse and took care of the wagon. A few days later the Widow McLain returned with a new horse and reclaimed her wagon. There were only a few horses and mules in South Dade at that time so a new one was not easy to come by.
The Ox Woman continued to live in the Everglades until she heard that her sister Hannah Smith known as Big Six had been killed at the Ed Watson plantation in the Ten Thousand Islands where she had been hired to chop firewood for a syrup mill. The Ox Woman turned up at Chocoloskee several months after the shooting but did not stay as there was no farm land available. She then set out with her oxen for Immokolee thirty five miles to the north where she found an Indian mound of about ten acres. She built a palm thatched shack there and farmed for three or four years. About 1915 she moved to a farm near Fort Denaud on the Caloosahatchee River. In 1919 she suffered a stroke and her sister Lydia Smith Crews came down from Georgia and tried to get Sarah to go home with her, but she refused to leave. The Ox Woman died shortly after that and was buried in Fort Denaud Cemetery where her grave is unmarked but its location is known.
Sarah Smith McLain was one of four giant sisters, Hannah Smith or Big Six, Mrs. Lydia Smith Crews and Nancy Smith or Big Nancy. Their father was said to have been the biggest man in South Georgia. None of the big sisters had any children but they had three normal sized sisters who did. The family home was in Racepont, Georgia, where the rest of the Smiths remained. Hannah and Sarah were the only ones to become part of a Florida legend. Sarah married David McLain who was hanged in Charlton County, Georgia after being convicted of killing a man. She showed no reluctance to relate the story of his death. Annie Mayhew Fitzpatrick wrote of her:
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“Yes, I be the Widow McLain.
My man by a posse was slain.
Neither witty nor pretty
I’m asking no pity
I’m off to my homestead again.
I’m off to my home on Long Key
My pigs and my cow avail me.
In the open I cook Wash my clothes in a brook
I’m the Widow McLain, yes I be.”
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