Chapter 2
SAVANNA,
CHOCTAW NATION
INDIAN
TERRITORY
1887-1888
After the Conference in October of 1887, the Shapard family moved from Eufaula to Savanna, Choctaw Nation, Indian Territory. Savanna was a mining camp that had shown growth as a small town since the discovery of coal in 1870. It was located along the MK&T Railroad tracks that linked the other coal mining towns together for export. It had its own post office which was established in 1876, yet was not operational until 1880.The miners, who often had large families, settled where there was work and generally lived in unpainted rent houses located close to the mines.
The coal provided industry which
allowed for businesses and population growth in Savanna; but earlier that year,
six months before the Shapard family arrived, on the night of April 4, 1887,
there was an enormous explosion in one of the main mines which shot flames 100
feet from the shaft entrance, turned the nearby two-story engine house into
splinters and killed 6 miners instantly.
The tragedy was amplified when twelve rescuers suffocated to death on
poisonous air while attempting to reach the trapped miners.
On account of this incident, the
mines were temporarily closed which caused an exodus of the miners and their
families, as well as, the abandonment of most of the town. Rev. Shapard
remarked that “I could occupy half a dozen houses and not discommode any
person.” By the time the Shapard’s arrived, there were only three businesses
remaining, those operated by Dr. Hailey, Mrs. Simpson and Mr. Coleman. Dr.
Hailey had donated a building to be used as a schoolhouse during the week and a
church on the weekends. Mrs. Calbertson was the school teacher of the town and
presided over approximately 20 pupils. 12 year-old Sumner and 7 year-old Edwin,
Jr., attended this school after their move and would have tried to make new
friends. Sumner greatly missed Eufaula and returned there as often as he could
to visit his old friends.
Despite the poor state of the town,
it was strategically a good location for the Shapard family to reside, as it
was near the center of Rev. Shapard’s work as he traveled up and down the MK&T
Railroad, known as the “Katy,” to his various appointments on the Railroad
Circuit. Overall, the Shapard family was lonesome in Savanna as the town died
around them and the population decreased. The Railroad Circuit, on the other
hand, was a very active circuit. It serviced the towns located in the coal
field belt extending across the Choctaw Nation, which were linked by the
railway. Rev. Shapard would ride the train to his appointments instead of a
horse. There were approximately 3,000 people within the circuit who were drawn
to work the coal. Rev. Shapard expressed the importance of his work there, as;
“Every year there will be an increase in laborers in the mines and we will need
to have houses of worship for them.”
Their first home in Savanna was
better than the small house they had in Eufaula, however, it was not suitable
for winter. In November of 1887, Mrs. Shapard wrote to her daughter, Lizzie,
about the move to Savanna; “I packed some Monday, and Sunday we ironed,
Wednesday we packed all of our things and Thursday we took up the carpets and
put all the mission things in one room. Thursday about four o’clock we bid our
little home good bye, and went over to Mrs. Cutless and stayed until the next
morning. When we came down here, we were met at the train by Mr. Calbertson and
escorted to his house where we stayed until the next morning. And then we moved
into our mansion. And since then I have been just as busy as I could be, I find
it right hard work to do any work with the baby. We left Sumner in Eufaula to
stay until Saturday morning. He was the bluest thing you ever saw when he came.
His Papa sent him back up there yesterday to attend to some business, and he
was the happiest boy you ever saw. Bro. Rogers bought your Papa’s horse, and if
he will let him have it back, Sumner is to aid it back tomorrow.
Well, of course you would like a
description of our new home. We have three rooms, in one we have a stove, a box
for a wash stand, and a box for a table, and three trunks, in one corner there
is a closet without any door. I have put my white curtains up to that. And in
the other room we have a bedstead, (as nice a one as you had in your room at
Eufaula). Sumner’s and Edwin’s bed is on the floor, and the washing machine.
The other is the kitchen, of course you know what is in that. We bought new
dishes since we came. I wish you could just take a peep in on us tonight, your
Papa has gone to preach tonight for the first time here, and Edwin and I are
alone. David is asleep. This is a beautiful country, although the town is
deserted…I never thought, though, that I could like the prairie. Especially in
cold weather. Stella LeFlores house is next to ours, but she has not lived
there for some time. It is vacant, like a good many others here…Your Papa has
been real blue for a day or two. He is not well, and being worried over a place
to live is too much for him.”
The following day, before mailing
the letter, Mrs. Shapard attempted to write a post script while nursing David
in her lap. As envisaged, she could only scribe a few sentences before the baby
became restless.
The Shapard family moved again in
late November of 1887, to a different house in Savanna that was suitable to
keep out the winter weather. The new house had five rooms. There was no
parsonage in this part of the country and Rev. Shapard had to rent a house
wherever he could get it, and then furnish it from his own credit and trust the
circuit to repay him.
The Shapard family spent the
Christmas season of 1887 together in Savanna. There was a ceremony at the
church where a tree was decorated with candles and lit. Afterwards, Santa Claus
made an appearance to pass out presents to all the attendees. On Christmas day,
the Shapard family received gifts from each other and from friends; Rev. and
Mrs. Shapard received a turkey, cake, mince pie, two cans of tomatoes, a can of strawberry
jelly, two cans of corn, two packages of coffee, some sugar and cheese, and a dressed ham, as
well as, a box of mixed nuts; Sumner received a ball of popcorn; Edwin Jr. received a set of set of tools, two sacks of
candy, a ball of popcorn and a horn
which subsequently broke the following day; David, the baby, received a
sack of candy. The day
after Christmas, the Shapards invited the school teacher, Mrs. Calbertson, and
her husband over for supper, and cooked the Christmas turkey the Calbertsons had given to them.
For the
summer and fall of 1888, Sumner Shapard, at thirteen years of age, was allowed
to return to his beloved Eufaula
where he worked behind the counter at Mr. Moore’s Drug Store. Charles Gates
Moore was born on February 7, 1863, in Missouri, and was the son of a merchant.
At 15 years old, he clerked in Fulton, Missouri, and eventually acquired an
extensive knowledge of administering and mixing pharmaceutical drugs. He moved
to Eufaula, Creek Nation, Indian Territory, in June of 1887, at the age of 24,
and became one of the first licensed pharmacists in the territory. His store
was located on Main Street in Eufaula. He was a member of the Methodist
Episcopal Church, South, and was a Mason. On January 20, 1904, he married
Harriett Morris Simpson. Mr. Moore died at the age of 83 years old on July 11,
1946, and was buried at Greenwood Cemetery in Eufaula, Oklahoma.
During the time that Sumner worked
for him in 1888, his store sold pharmaceutical drugs, chemicals, patient
medicine, toilet goods, brushes, paints, oils, books, etc. Sumner and Mr. Moore
had a long-term friendship and business relationship, and they would partner up
again, from 1895-1897, in the grocery business at South McAlester, Indian
Territory.
In the fall of 1888, Lizzie Shapard
began attending school at the North Texas Female College in Sherman, Texas. She
would remain there until her graduation on June 10, 1890.
The 43rd Annual Indian
Mission Conference was held at White Bead Hill, in the Chickasaw Nation, on
October 10-15, 1888. At the end of the 43rd Annual Indian Mission
Conference, Rev. E. R. Shapard was appointed to the Canadian District; Eufaula
Circuit.
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