Mrs. Rhoda James was born near Shady Point, Sugar Loaf
County, in the Choctaw Nation, some time in the year 1869, and now
resides within eight miles of where she was born. Her mother, Emily
Tobley, came to the Indian Territory at the time of the Removal of the
Indians from Mississippi and settled near Shady Point. She does not
know whether or not her father accompanied her, as he died when Mrs.
James was a small child. She attended school at Shady Point-then
called Double Springs - where for a time John Payne was a teacher.
Later the school was taught by Jacob Jackson. The terms of school
usually run from September to March each year.
She cannot recall the year in which she was married but
assumes it was at an early age. At the time of her marriage, both she
and her husband were very poor. They erected a small cabin on the
ground where she now lives. Her husband worked around in the
community wherever work could be found. He found considerable work
making fence rails, for which he received seventy-five cents per
hundred. This was usually paid in trade, such as bacon, lard, flour,
sugar and dry goods...........
She recalls hearing her mother relate her experiences
both before and after the removal. Her mother said that there was
considerable opposition among the Indians to being removed from their
Mississippi homes to the Indian Territory. This opposition was so
strong that quite a number refused to leave their homes, with the
result that only a part of the Choctaw people were removed. The
oppositionists warned those who consented to the removal that the land
then offered them would again be taken from them just as it had been
done in Mississippi. According to the mother of Mrs. James, the
Choctaws were not accorded the best of treatment while in
Mississippi. They were not permitted to hunt on any land owned by
Whites, and if any game was killed on such land by the Indians, they
would be subject to severe punishment. The Indians were restricted in
many other ways and were far from being happy under such
restrictions. After removing to the Indian Territory the Indians had
not fully recovered from the effects of the trip from Mississippi,
before the Civil War with its devastating effects overtook them. The
families of such Choctaws as entered the war were left helpless.
