My name is Ruby Cox and I was born in Decater, Ill. on June 16, 1901. I came to Oklahoma in a wagon as a babe-in-arms. My family came to Jenks and crossed the Arkansas River on a mule-drawn ferry. We lived in a tent and were rescued by men on horseback when we got flooded out once.
We also lived in Bixby where our people grew corn. Some of the ears were 16 inches long. Some went to meals and some to the animals for feed. It was our money crop.
We moved to the Olive community where I attended Olive schools through the eighth grade. The high school in Sapulpa was 14 miles away and the mode of transportation was walking, horseback riding, or wagon. I couldn't go that far to school so I went through the eighth grade again.
My father, E.W. Trueblood, carried the mail from Olive to Mannford and Mannford to Olive in 1909. Olive was a thriving community because of the oil boom. There was a big two story mercantile store owned and operated by H.G. Matherly. He carried groceries, hardware, machinery, shoes and clothing.
There was also a post office, hotel, blacksmith shop and a barber shop. The streets were paved naturally as it was on solid rock. There was a community well in the middle of town.
My father would talk about a young boy in Mannford that hung around the stock pens because he liked the horses and cattle. The men would pay him a dime or quarter to ride the calves to see him fall off. Eventually he would be a pretty good cowboy. He still lives in our community and his name is Curtis Peacock. He's the ripe old age of 90 plus some years. He is still a cowboy and has had no other job than that of a cowboy. He still owns a horse.
I have seen the long horned cattle driven through on the way to Abilene, Kan. You could hear the clatter of the horns and see the dust long before you could see them. They also pastured in the area, and if you had a crop you had to fence it and when you gathered the crop, they were there to meet you as you left the field. Since they were so curious, they tried their best to get to you or whatever you had in your wagon. You had to get away as best you could.
I saw Drumright come alive because of the oil boom. My father had big horses and he used to work in the oil fields. They had back hoes, trucks or loaders. Everything was done with horses. The boilers were steam and were big and heavy. The rigs were built on the spot with wood and lumber. If it was dry it was torn down and sold for lumber or given away for wood. Everything was big and heavy and it took a lot of big, strong horses to move it through the mud. Mud, Mud, Mud! It was everywhere during the rains and wintertime storms.
I also saw Bristow when the main street was a solid mass all the way out of town with horses and wagons filled with cotton. Bristow had two cotton gins. That is what made Bristow. You had to leave during the night to get to town early and get in line to wait your turn to unload your cotton and then head for home after you went by the grocery store and bought: 50 lbs. of sugar, 100 lbs. of beans, 50 lbs. of flour, 10 lbs. of salt, a stand of lard, some coffee, a can of coal oil and a sack of candy for the kiddies.
It would take another night to get home so it was quite a struggle to market your crop after it was picked.
Mannford was also quite a busy community. They had the railroad. That is how you went to Tulsa or Tulsey Town, by train. These trips were seldom and almost never by the women folk.
Sapulpa was really a busy town. They had oil, street cars to Tulsa, the county court house, the brick yard, and in fact, were in competition with Tulsa in the beginning.
My father liked Sapulpa. He liked politics and spent a lot of time around the courthouse. He had lots of friends running for office. He campaigned for (them) and he got a few easy jobs like that because he was not really fond of farming.
He liked and was proud of his horses. He kept their appearances up with rings and tassels on their harnesses, and could care less what the horse looked like just so he had a good bed but he wanted his horses to look good. The horses did all the road work and they used a big shovel like a piece of machinery to scoop and smooth the roadways.
I also saw my first automobile on the road that would run by the Lacey Place. I lived north by the old McGuire Place. The contraption was coming toward us and it looked like a horseless wagon that was running away. My little brother ran and got under the fence until it was gone. We were wide-eyed and scared because we had no idea what it was.
We lived with my grandmother, Mary Elizabeth Severns Fraily. She was my first knowledge of a liberated woman. My mother was the typical stay at home, mind the children, cook the meals woman of the times but my grandmother was interested in politics, the community, her neighbors, and the school. She was a Rebecca and took great pride in her meetings that were held over the big store. She also helped with all the sick and she liked her newspaper, the Kansas City Star. She had a great influence over me and made me see there was life beyond your own backyard.
I married Louis W. Cox in 1917 and have lived my entire life within a 20 mile radius of where I now reside. We raised 5 children, 2 boys and 3 girls. All attended the Olive School System as most of my grandchildren have done.
I have had a happy life, have worked hard most of it but I wouldn't change a thing.
Oklahoma is OK by me and is a beautiful place to live.
* * * A QMS Deezyne * * *