Marshall County History: New old Woodville, Pt 2

On November 8, 1881, the second town in what is now known as Marshall County was established. The town was named Harney, Indian Territory. It was originally located on the Red River about a mile and a half west of what is now known as “Old Woodville” and it was named after a full-blood Chickasaw woman, named Sison Harney. Then, sometime between 1881 and 1888, the Red River flooded the town and Harney was devastated. Thereafter, the town moved a few hundred yards north of the original location and was re-established.

On July 9, 1888, the town of Harney was renamed Woodville, Indian Territory. So, what prompted the change in name and from where did the name Woodville come?

On January 1, 1849, Laban Lipscomb (L.L.) Wood was born in Halifax, Virginia. He was the second son of MatthewG.WoodandLavina Henrietta Word. L. L. had three brothers and one sister.

When L. L. was about six years old, his father died. Thereafter, his mother remarried amannamedWesley Sheltoninabout1856-57,and the family moved to Winston, North Carolina.

His older brother, Warwick Whitfield Wood joined the Army of the Confederate States and fought in the Civil War. He was eventually promoted to the rank of Major. After the Civil War, L.L. served in the United States Army. He served between 1867-1870. L.L. ended his military career with the rank ofColonel. somepoint,hewas wounded and lost his arm.

Around 1870, L.L. Wood moved from North Carolina to Preston Bend, Texas. The town was formally named Preston, but because it was at the bend of the Red River, near the mouth of the Washita River, the area was better known as “Preston Bend.”

During the “Great Removal” of 1830, the Choctaw Nation signed the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit with the United States government on September 27, 1830. This treaty was the first removal treaty which was carried into effect under the Indian RemovalAct.Pursuanttothe treaty, the Choctaw Nation ceded about 11 million acres of their homeland in what is now Mississippi in exchange for about 15 million acres in the Indian territory, now the state of Oklahoma.

Then, pursuant to the Treaty of Doaksville in 1837, the Chickasaw Nation was granted the rights to lease the western half of the Choctaw Nation. In 1856, the Chickasaw and Choctaw Nations separated, and the western half of the Choctaw Nation was granted to the Chickasaw Nation as their permanent homeland and reservation.

These treaties and federal law barred all non-Indians from living in or working in Indian Territory except for federal employees and individualswhoweregranted work permits by the Indian Governments. Whites who were in the territory illegally were referred to “intruders.” Eventually, the term “Boomer” was attached to the intruders. The term “Boomer” came about when Dr. Morrison Munford of the Kansas City Times began publicizing the boom of white settlers in the unassigned lands in what is now northern Oklahoma. That term then began being used by the Indian nations as a pejorative for the white intruders.

The “Boomer Movement” symbolizedwhitehomesteaders in Indian Territory who had dreams of a new home and a new beginning. However, to the Indian nations, the movement symbolized their continual fear that they would once again face dispossession and removal.

Intruders were subject to expulsion by federal troops for the first offense, with a thousand-dollar fine added for each subsequent offense. However, non-Indian immigration accelerated after the Civil War with economic development of the territory. This included railroad construction, the range-cattle industry, and increased tenant farming.

The Chickasaw Nation then adopted a “permit law” which allowed tribal citizens to employ white men to work for them on their farms and ranches. To be able to hire whites, the tribal citizens were required to pay $25 per white employee into the United States Treasury, to be held in trust for the Chickasaw Nation. L. L. Wood was issued such a permit in 1871.

In October of 1871, Wood moved across the Red River into the Chickasaw Nation and secured a work permit from William R. and Betty Watkins who owned a farm and ranch just west of the junction of the Washita and RedRivers.Elizabeth'Betty' Tyson Watkins was born in 1848 at Ft. Washita to James Tyson and Charlotte Love. Charlotte Love was a Chickasaw Indian and was the granddaughter of Thomas and Sally Love.

William R. Watkins was born in 1843 in Missouri, but during the Civil War, he moved to Preston Bend, Texas.Itwasduringthistime that he met Betty. They were married November 8, 1865, at Preston Bend. W.R., as he was called, and Betty setup a farm about 2 miles west of the mouth of Mud Creek in whatisnowLoveCountyand they begin issuing permits to non-tribal citizens for work. By 1870 the Watkins had acquired land near the junction of the Washita and Red Rivers and had over 300 acres in cultivation. They also operated a ferry across the Washita. Like many citizen landlords they owned multiple farms throughout the Nation. It was here that L. L. Wood moved in 1871.

While living and working around the Washita and Red Rivers, Wood met Francis Ellen Burney. Ellen was born about 1856 in the Chickasaw Nation. She was the daughter of Emily Love and Judge David Burney. Ellen was also a granddaughter of Thomas and Sally Love and wasrelatedtoBettyWatkins. Ellen's brother-in-law was Benjamin Franklin Overton who was elected governor of the Chickasaw Nation in 1874. L. L. Wood and Ellen had one daughter Mary Margaret.

A few years later after their marriage, L. L and Ellen established a land claim at Courtney Flats, near Burneyville, in what is now Love County, but it appears they never moved to Courtney Flats. Sadly, Ellen died only four years later.

In August of 1876 Gov. OvertonappointedL.L.Wood as probate judge for Pickens County at the county seat in Oakland. He was from then on known as Judge Wood. Wood also served as auditor for the Nation.

As the brother-in-law of GovernorOverton,L.L.Wood became an advisor and confident to Governor Overton. He also served with other respected Chickasaw judges, Sam Love, Tom Johnson, Overton (Sobe) Love and B.F. Kemp.

In October of 1877, Wood and Governor Overton were traveling to Colbert’s Ferry on horseback, and as they approached a house occupied byamannamedMeeks,adog ran out and attacked Wood. When the dog began biting Wood on the leg, he drew his pistol and shot the dog. When Meeks heard the gunshot, he grabbed a shotgun and came out and began firing at the Governor and Judge Wood.

Wood returned fire but he missed. Overton and Wood were able to escape un-harmed, but Governor Overton’s coat and shirt were riddled with nine holes from the buckshot of the shotgun. Meeks, fearing that he had killed the Governor fled for Texas. The United States Marshall conducted a man hunt, but Meeks was not found. Following the attack, Governor Overton stated that “it was such white men as Meeks that he was trying to rid” from the Chickasaw Nation.

In November of 1877, Judge Wood was part of an envoy from the Chickasaw Nation that traveled to Washington DC to represent the Chickasaw Nation. In an article in the November 12, 1877, edition of the St. Louis Globe Democrat, it was reported that the “Honorable B.F. Overton, Governor ofthe Chickasaw Nation, accompanied by Josiah Brown, B.C. Burney, Captain Anderson and L. L. Wood, arrived here last night…These gentlemen are on their way to Washington on business connected with their people, one of them being the Treasurer of the Nation and another a Judge.” The men were going to Washington due “express concerns” about some tribal financial decisions made by General Carl Schurz, the Secretary of the Interior.

In October of 1878 Judge Wood traded his Courtney claim for William R. Watkin's farm a few miles west of the mouth of the Washita River where Wood had originally worked for Watkins. This farmwasonthesiteofwhatis now known asOldWoodville. There, Judge Wood owned several wood mills a cotton gin, had over 1600 acres of cotton in cultivation and at one time he owned the Denison Democrat newspaper.

On October 2, 1882, Judge Wood was hosting a dinner in his home for several employees of one of his wood mill. During the dinner, one employee named Mr. Slaughter usedsomeoffensivelanguage while at the dinner table. Judge Wood did not approve of vulgar and offensive language, and this led Judge Wood to scold Mr. Slaughter for his offensive language.

Slaughter was angered by Judge Wood’s rebuke and he stood up from the table and pulled out a knife and threatened Judge Wood. Other employees were able to separate Slaughter and Judge Wood and Slaughter left the table and went to his room. He quickly returned and shot Judge Wood in the shoulder and chest and Judge Wood fell to the floor, mortally wounded. But before losing consciousness, Wood pulled his pistol, and while steadying himself on the stump of his lost arm, he shot Mr. Slaughter, twice in the abdomen, killing him instantly. Judge Wood lived just a few hours, and then died from his wounds on October 2, 1882, at the age of 33.

InJulyof1888,andinhonor of Judge Laban Lipscomb (L. L.) Wood, the people of Harney renamed their town to Woodville. From 1888 to 1900 Woodville remained at the same location as Harney. But in 1900, Old Harney, renamed Woodville, became the first “New” Woodville.

Because in 1900, the St. Louis-SanFranciscoRailway (The Frisco) began building a line from Sapulpa to Texas right through the heart of Indian Territory. Unfortunately, the line was set to bypass Woodville, just as it had by-passed Oakland and King’s Town (Kingston.)

So, in 1900 Old Original Woodville moved again, to a new site, along the Frisco Line. That new Woodville site is the site that most know as Old Woodville. But Old Woodville was really “New” Woodville. Therefore, the community that is today called New Woodville, is really, New New Woodville.

When old, New Woodville was established, the town folks commissioned Alfred B. Beard to lay out and plat the new town. Alfred B. Beard was at that time, a resident of theMarshallCountyareabut he had previously laid out the towns of Ravia and Sapulpa. Additionally, Alfred B. Beard was involved in planning the route of the San Francisco-St. Louis Railroad line from Sapulpa to the Red River.

Once Beard had laid out the town, the citizens began moving buildings, houses and barns by horse drawn trailers. All of Old Woodville (Harney) was moved to New Woodville.

Therefore, from the time it was founded in 1881, the town of Harney, later Woodville, would occupy four different sites. Harney, New Harney, Harney-Woodville, New Woodville and finally, New New Woodville.

Still confused? The town of Woodville was named for LabanLipscomb(L.L.)Wood.