WPA Interviews with Oklahoma Indian Pioneers--FHC microfiche
#6016995.
Interview 9043 with William Felix Copeland by Ethel B. Tackitt,
Investigator, October 15, 1937. William Felix Copeland resides
Lone Wolf,
Kiowa County, Oklahoma.
I was born in Overton County, Tennessee, December 10, 1855.
My father,
Wilkerson Copeland, was a native of Tennessee and so was my mother,
Pollie
Copeland. They were farm people and also raised stock for a living.
My
father had been married before and had several children by his
first wife,
who was then dead. My half brothers and sisters were much older
than I and
most of them were grown when I was born.
My oldest half-brother, Foster Copeland, went away from home
when I was
quite a baby and the family did not know what had become of him.
Mother and
Father and his brothers and sisters grieved for him and did their
best to
find some trace of him. He had gone away from home with a band
of sheep
which were being grazed to market and part of them belonged to
him. The
Civil War came on and no one knew whether he had been killed or
not. He was
of age when he went away and was the oldest of the family. I
grew up with
the desire in my heart to find my brother and everywhere I went
I made
inquiry and asked my friends to assist me in the search.
As I grew up I followed the usual occupations of our family,
farming
and raising cattle. I have driven hundreds of head of stock through
the
hills of Tennessee to Lexington, Kentucky; from there we would
ship them by
train to Cincinati, Ohio, for the market.
I married Samantha Allen Sewell, who was also born in Tennessee,
January 23, 1858. She was the daughter of a Hardshell Baptist
preacher and
we lived in Tennessee until 1891 when we moved to Dallas County,
Texas.
My half-sister, Louisa Copeland, had married Clay Bilber
(That would be
Bilberry or Bilbrey, L.S.) and in the early part of 1870 they
had moved to
the Indian Territory as she, like the others of the family, were
still
hunting for her brother Foster and she had hope of finding him
in the Indian
Territory. Sister Louisa was left a widow with several children
and she
later married a Chickasaw Indian of the name of Fred Watkins.
He was an
intelligent man but not very well educated but he and my sister
worked
together and he expected her to look after their business matters,
so in
this way they prospered and owned much land and property in the
vicinity of
the little settlement of Arthur, which is now in Stephens County
twelve
miles southeast of Duncan. Mr. Watkins had also been married
before and had
two children, a girl, Lucie, who married Will Little, and a boy,
named
George Watkins.
In the early part of 1890's I came to the Indian Territory
to visit my
sister Louisa and also to see the country and while here she and
her husband
insisted that I buy a few head of cattle and leave the cattle
with them on
their range and they would take care of them along with their
own and in
that way they could accumulate some stock for me and be at no
expense
themselves. I purchased the cattle and my sister and her husband
took care
of them but I, of course, came back from time to time until in
1898 my herd
had reached such a number that I felt it was asking too much of
them to care
for my cattle any longer, so I moved my family to the Indian Territory
and
settled on some of their land near Arthur.
I farmed and raised cattle and prospered rapidly, but continued
to
inquire about my brother Foster. One day a man who had come to
be my
friend, of the name of John Blue, came and told me that he was
going to make
a trip over on Wild Horse Creek and he knew of a man who might
be my lost
brother and wanted me to go along with him. We went in a two-horse
wagon.
There were no roads except wagon tracks as that part of the Territory
was
thinly settled. In the afternoon we drove up to a board hut with
a lean-to
on the side, down on the creek where the brush was thick as a
jungle. There
was a rail and brush fence around the yard and John Blue said,
"This is the
place where I think you will find the man". I got out of
the wagon and Blue
sat still. No one can imagine my feelings as I went around that
cabin, for
I saw there was someone behind the house. I did not know a great
deal about
the home conduct of the Indians and I had learned that this place
belonged
to a Chickasaw by the name of Wolf.
Behind the hut sat an Indian woman churning with a wooden
dasher in a
big old fashioned big-at-the -bottom and little-at-the top cedarwood
churn,
bound with brass hoops. Near by, leaning against the wall, stood
an old
man, unshaven and ragged, with clothing as dirty as it was possible
for
garments to be. He spoke and I said, "A am looking for Foster
Copeland" and
he replied, "That is my name." I said, "I am Felix
Copeland of Tennessee
and I want to find my brother." He was very much like an
Indian, he said,
"Who was your Father?" and I said, "Wilkerson Copeland"
and I happened to
remember that my half-brothers and sisters had called my mother
Polly, so I
said, "I am Polly's oldest boy. At that he grabbed my by
the hand and began
to weep and said, "Yes and you are my baby brother".
We were both so happy
and I told him how we had searched for him and how near Sister
Louisa and
our brothers Joshua, Burl and Jim had been to him all the time,
as they were
all living at Arthur. I learned that the War had taken him away
for a long
time, then he had drifted into the Indian Territory and married
a Chickasaw
woman. They had lived in the Arbuckle Mountain region and had
reared one
child, a daughter. I do not remember her name. Then his wife
had died and
the girl had married and he had come to live with the Wolf family.
At last
I thought of John Blue in the wagon and I told brother who was
with me. He
said he knew Blue well. He intoduced me to the woman and said
she was the
wife of his employer. She insisted that we remain all night,
but Blue,
finding that I was in the right place, said he must go on.
I remained but they were all Indians and queer to me. I
did not know
how they might feel about me. But Wolf came home and saw that
Brother was
general manager of the stock and everything about the place.
Wolf was a
wealthy man and owned a great number of stock.
That night they put me to sleep in the lean-to on a strew
tick, but I
did not sleep. There was a little square window in the side and
I watched
those Indians all night as they kept up a continual coming and
going all
night.
Very early next morning I heard Brother tell Wolf that I
wanted him to
go home with me and spend a while. Wolf said, "Well, why
not go? That is
the thing to do." Brother said he thought we were society
people and he had
no clothes fit to wear. Wolf said he would get some clothes for
him, and
the next morning told brother to take two saddle horses and rise
over the
country and show me all I wanted to see, then take a load of apples
for they
had as fine an apple orchard as ever grew in Tennessee, and drive
over to
Davis and sell them, then go to a certain merchant and tell him
that Wolf
would pay for anything Brother wanted and to buy himself a suit
of clothes.
We did as Wolf said and sold the apples in Davis, then when
we went to
purchase the clothing, the merchant put out the suit we wanted
him to have
and Brother balked. He said it was too fine for him, but we insisted
and I
told the merchant that if Wolf should object to the price I would
pay for it
myself and that I wanted my brother fitted out with everyday clothes
also;
and, for Brother's benefit, I told him that my family were not
society
people but that we dressed and lived like our associates and had
as good
living as we could afford. Brother took the clothing and we went
back to
the ranch. I had him gather up all his clothes as I told him
my wife and
daughters would want to fix them up for him. He picked them up
from all
over the place, the lot, by the side of the fence and in the corners
until
he had two cotton sacks full. Mrs. Copeland said, "I never
saw such rags."
He went home with me, but acted just like an Indian in standing
off to
himself. He seemed glad to see all the family and our sister.
They fixed
up his clothing and he visited with us several days but he returned
to his
home on the Wolf Ranch. He ofter came back for visits.
I formed a partnership with John Horton and we put in a store
at
Harrisburg and we did a fine business, taking in a large amount
of money.
One afternoon, and the weather was very cold as it was Winter,
John
Horton and I were along in the store. Two men rode up on horseback
and came
in at the rear door. The building was large and long. They came
to the
stove and I asked if I could do something for them? One said
that he wanted
some Star Chewing Tobacco, which was at the far end of the store.
I took it
out and he said that he would take the plug but for me to cut
it up for him
so he could carry it easily. I did so and he handed me a ten
dollar bill
from a great big roll of the raggediest, dirtiest bills I ever
saw. Horton
had the money, which we had on hand, in a bag in his pocket as
we were
fixing to close up. He had about two or three hundred dollars,
the one
day's business. Because the robberies were common in those days
we always
sent any large amount of money to Duncan, and we had sent over
several
thousand dollars the day before. Horton started to hand me the
change when
I heard a gun click in the hands of the fellow walking behind
me and I saw
the other one draw on Horton. They said, "Hand it all over",
and he did.
Horton's twelve year old boy came in about that time and they
stood him up
beside us. They marched us all down the steps and made us stand
beside
their horses which were covered with guns and ammunition. They
jumped on
their horses and kept us covered until they got out of sight,
then they
began to shoot and were joined by six others who had stolen horses
and
mules. They had even gone into the lot of the Richison family
while they
were at supper and taken their horses and a new buggy with the
harness.
This was the Casey Band of outlaws and they knew where everything
in
the country was located but they missed our money by one day;
however, they
got some of our stock. They made a wholesale robbery and the
settlers were
so enraged that they formed a great posse and I hastened my eldest
son, Joe,
to Duncan to inform the officers and ask that they come to direct
the hunt
for the thieves and the stock.
The whole country took part in the chase and soon the officers
at
Wewoka in the Seminole Nation notified us that they had captured
some of the
Casey Band together with some of the stolen stock which had been
hidden in
the brush about one mile north of the present town of Wewoka,
which at that
time was nothing but a village with a few white people and a lot
of Indians
and negroes. One of my neighbors who had seen the robbers went
with me to
identify the man. One of the outlaws had been killed and I found
him to be
one of the men who robbed me and Horton; the other men I could
not identify
as I had not seen them, but Casey, who was the other man in the
store
robbery, had gotton away and gone back to the Arbuckle Mountain,
to which
place a posse trailed him and, running in on his camp, forced
the outlaws to
run for cover and one of the possemen grabbed Casey's own gun,
which he had
left, and shot him with it.
This was the last of the Casey Outlaw Band and the last robbery
raid in
that part of the country, of which I have any knowledge. We got
back most
of our stock and I made other trips to Wewoka to bring them back
as I was
acquainted with the rough country through which we had to travel
without
roads.
I learned that my brother Foster was well liked among the
Indians and
was known to them as Dad Copeland or just Dad. He continued to
live among
them until his death a few years later, than we brought him to
Arthur and
buried him in the cemetery there.
In 1903 I moved to the Kiowa country and settled on a farm
three miles
north and three miles West of Lone Wolf. I still own that farm
which I
farmed until recent years when I have grown too old to work.
I have now
bought a home in town and live in it, while my grand-children
are in
business around me. My, wife, I am happy to say, is yet also
living.
Submitted by:
Lynda Smith