|
a.
|
Note: Notes about John Newton and Loucinda Collier and their Families In 1894, when John Newton and Loucinda were ages 39 and 40, left Alabama with their 10 children on a journey to Indian Territory,Okla, They were accompanied by some of his brothers and sisters and their families, His Mother, Malinda Caroline, was also with them. they had 17 wagons loaded with all their worldly goods and their livestock, Mules and horses were used to pull the and wagons. They went to Calvin,I.T. settled at the Bear Community on South Canadian River.They began immediately clearing the fertile, virgin river bottom. The indians of that area were shy and kept to themselves, not bothering the settlers at all. Some of John Newton's brothers settled in Okfuskee county,in and around Okemah,OK, As ·they cleared the land on the so. canadian they also cut logs to build their homes. At one time they had 5 log cabins on John Newton's land because they built one for each married son or daughter. They had to cross the river to get to Calvin for th'eir supplies.The so.canadian river was very treacherous because of quicksand and undertows. The sand bars shifted positions daily at times. Rains miles upstream could and did make the sandbars very quicky.Before putting their teams and wagons into the stream someone would walk out and check to see if it was safe. Some of the stories I was told when I was a child,was told to me by my Grandfather, Henry David Collier, who was never to busy to sit down and talk to me. Also there was my Great-uncle John Wilburn,who would sit in his front porch swing and tell me tales by the hour.Tales of the civil war,learned from his Father,John Newton.I was only a year and a half when my 9reat-grandfather died.I would 3.ave loved to have known him,but there was Uncle John to keep me entertained for hours. On July 14,1904, Loucinda Jane Warneck Collier, John Newton's wife of 33 years, died, leaving at home 2 daughters ages 11 and 14 and a son age 17. She is buried at Spring Creek cemetery, close to the original homestead, John Newton married Rebecca Willingham Weems later that same year; Rebecca Weems was my maternal great-grandmother. John Newton died in 1929 and is buried in Spring Creek cemetery next to his 1st.wife, Loucinda. After John Newton married Rebecca, they moved to Castle,Ok.where they bought a cotton gin and store, which he ran until 1919. - page 6 - In 1904, John's mother, Malinda Caroline Collier had been staying with her son Jesse. He was John Newton' brother. During her stay with Jesse she became ill and on June 8, succumbed. to her illness, They lived in Castle, Ok. near Okemah.It had been raining for days but Jesse and one of his sons started with her body to Bearden,Ok. for burial. They reached the banks of Sand Creek and found it overflowing; and impassable to ford. Having no other alternative, Jesse's son traded the horse he was riding and his saddle to an Indian for a tract of land there by Sand Creek, and there they laid to rest, M.C.L. Collier my Great Grandmother. Today the cemetery is Known as Sand Creek Cemetery and her grave is in the south-east corner.; There are several other Colliers buried there including my Great Grandmother, Rebecca Weems Collier. ****************
|