From the WPA Federal Writers Project - answers to Questionnaire - Arkansas HRS Form J

Interview by Evelyn Chapman, Caddo Gap, Arkansas

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Early Settlers Personal History

1.       Albert Pike Vaught
2.       Caddo Gap, Arkansas
3.       Retired farmer
4.       Farmed all my life
5.       March 6, 1866
6.       Howard County, Post Office, Star of the West
7.       Mollie Robbins, Nov. 6, 1886 – Caddo Gap
8.       Native born
9.       All of my life
10.   Native
11.   Native
12.   My first home was built in 1888, one mile west of Caddo Gap, constructed of lumber sawed at our own mill. The chimney was built of mud and sticks
13.   Pine knots
14.   1920 – Delco System
15.   Wood was plentiful and only available fuel.
16.   Wild game was plentiful, we also raised hogs for meat and Lard.
17.   Homespun, cotton being picked from seed by hand, spinning and weaving were done in the home.
18.   Shivarees
19.   Price about the same – vary on some articles
20.   Very often a beef was killed and shared with neighbors
21.   Corn, cotton, and wheat.
22.   Made all plow stocks, no other farm implements were used.
23.   Lumber mills, carding and weaving mill
24.   Polk salad as greens -  polk berries as dye
25.   None
26.   Swept trails with pine tops to combat forest fires – bucket and tub brigade in the village -
27.   Fancy hill taken from fancy rocks at a high peak in the mountain which could be seen for some distance
28.   My wife operated an inn, which was the regular stopping point on the old Caney Trace Route between Mena and Nashville, Arkansas. As the roads were so rough most travel was by horseback. The horses were also fed and care for a small charge being made for some.
29.   First school was on Lyle Creek in Pike County. Building was constructed of logs and equipped with slab benches
30.   Pike County
31.   Molye
32.   County funds from taxes
33.   McGuffey's First Reader – Blue Back Speller
34.   None
35.   Arkadelphia, 1880
36.   In the early days ox-carts were used in our community, and our village was to small to justify trolley cars.
37.   Womble, Arkansas 1900 – owned by Mr. Trumble of Trumble Lbr. Co.
38.   Hot Springs, Arkansas 1878
39.   Don’t remember.
40.   Have never had any busses
41.   Lyceum – about 1920
42.   The village of Caddo Gap marks the farthest point north reached by DeSoto and his followers. In 1936 a monument was created and unveiled with an attendance of some 3000 people.
43.   In 1863 Albert Pike came to Montgomery County and purchased our old homestead in Greasy Cove from my father John Berry Vaught, paying him $500.00 from a trunk of gold which he carried with him. When they rode up to our house he was sitting in the buggy beside one of his slaves, with his long flowing white beard reaching almost to the floor board. The trunk of gold was strapped on behind the buggy and three or four negro slaves rode in front of him and three or four behind him. A few weeks after the purchase of the place, my father moved on farther down the creek.
          Albert Pike lived on this place for 2 years completing 2 books while there. One morning about 2 o’clock our family was aroused by a crowd who had ridden up on horseback. My father was soon informed that they were “bushwackers” and that they were going to Albert Pikes home to kill and rob him. My father insisted that they stay for breakfast. In the meantime my older brother James Robert Vaught, was secretly mounted on a steed en-route by a short cut to warn Albert Pike. Albert Pike packed a few things, strapped the trunk of gold on the back of the buggy, leaving many important books and papers behind, was soon on his way. The “bushwackers” arrived about 30 minutes after the departure of Albert Pike, they were so enraged, that many pictures were torn from the wall and smashed, books piled in the floor and the place was burned.
44.   None
45.   None
46.   None
47.   I remember the Jessie James Robbery in Hot Springs, Arkansas
48.   Was borned immediately after close of Civil War.
49.   None
50.   No answer
51.   No answer
52.   I was an active participant in the Methodist Camp meetings held at Athens, Arkansas.
53.   None
54.   There were several Indian mounds, located where the Methodist church now stands at Caddo Gap, Ark. a few years ago some of the citizens of Caddo Gap dug into the mound and found a few pieces of pottery etc. about 4 years ago a perfect skeleton was found by a man was digging post holes upon digging away the dirt a perfect skeleton was found believed to be that of an Indian woman.
55.   {DeSoto Monument at Caddo Gap, Arkansas} marking the farthest point north reached by DeSoto and his followers.
56.   11 children, 17 grandchildren, 1 great-grand child
57.   (1) Chester Allen Vaught, Pampa, Texas
          (2) Mrs. A. C. Weeks, Caddo Gap, Arkansas
          (3) Mrs. Myrtle Hallman, Texarkana, Texas
          (4) Mrs. Grace Morris, Telephone, Texas
          (5) Mrs. Dewey Anderson. Heavener, Oklahoma
          (6) Mrs. Wanda Swift, Jackson, Mississippi
          (7) Mr. Charlie Vaught, Spiro, Oklahoma
          (8) Mr. Cecil Vaught, Caddo Gap, Arkansas
58.   Winfred McLean, Caddo Gap, Arkansas
          Mrs. Amos Horn, Mt Ida, Arkansas
          Mr. Billie Joe Anderson, Heavener, Oklahoma
          Patricia Anne Sanders (grandchild), Hot Springs, Arkansas
59.   None
 
Transcribed by Rachel Skerbitz, Class of 2011