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This picture was taken in about 1917, when Jim, or "Jamie" as she was called then, was about 4 years old. It's one of my favorite pictures of my mother. She had just refused to join the other children for a family portrait. She had climbed up on the porch thinking she was out of the picture, but the photographer - Pappa? - included her anyway. Actually there's another picture taken later, after Jim had been coaxed down to join the group, but I like this one better.
The other children are - starting from the left - Haskell age 10, Bob age 2, Kaliteyo age 7, and Homer (Snip) age 13. Absent from the picture is Jim's oldest brother Willie, who was 16 at the time this picture was taken. He was away at military school in Alton, Illinois.
Haskell was Mamma's "Angel boy." He was neat, studious, and shy. Once when he was little a teacher prejudiced against Indians kept him in after school, and Pappa made a visit the superintendent. Haskell was changed to a different class. Mamma's comment was, "If you don't like Indians you shouldn't live in Indian country."
Bob was a toddler at this time but he would soon become Jim's favorite playmate. They climbed trees together, and played on top of the family's two story house. They went to the farm, about three miles from town, and rode the horses, and they fought. Jim said, "The glass window in the back door was always broken from being slammed when Bob and I chased each other."
Kaliteyo and Jim had completely different personalities. As Jim put it, "Mamma tried to make a lady out of Kaliteyo." Actually Mamma kept Kaliteyo inside most of the time because she was 'sickly' instead of letting her run and play with the other children. Kaliteyo was four years older than Jim, and Mamma made her take Jim along when she visited her friends. Kaliteyo eventually came to think of Jim as a pest. The two sisters had to sleep together though until Kaliteyo went off to college. Jim recalled, "I would try to snuggle up to Kaliteyo when it was cold. I can still feel her elbow in my ribs."
Jim's other brother, Homer, nicknamed "Snip" because his baby picture had a corner snipped off, was as opposite from Haskell as Jim was from Kaliteyo. Snip was outgoing and popular in school but he never studied. Jim said, "When Snip graduated from high school Mamma said she wanted to go out on the front porch and yell Hallelujah!" Snip loved animals and he always had several pets.
At this time Jim's "Grandpa" lived with the family. Jim, his namesake, was his favorite, and she remembers him singing to her and telling her stories. Grandpa always had several pins stuck in his lapel that he had picked up off the floor so the children wouldn't step on them. He chewed tobacco and spit into a spittoon which sat in the living room. Stuck in every roll of tobacco was a pin with the figure of a donkey on the end. Jim cherished the collection of donkeys that Grandpa had given her. Every day after breakfast Grandpa would put on his hat - he never seemed to know where it was even though it was always in the punch bowl where he had thrown it the day before - and walked down town to visit with his 'cronies.'
Mamma and Pappa were having conflicts by this time, but it seems that the family had adjusted to it. Pappa drank, but his drinking was in sprees and Jim said that he was never drunk at home. He got dressed every morning in a suit and tie; went out and revved up his Model A Ford, - Jim said he loved to race the motor - and drove off to his real estate office downtown.
In spite of her parents' conflicts Jim said, "Mamma and Pappa always loved each other." Pappa never had affairs with other women, and Mamma kept getting pregnant. Mamma had ten children all together, and Jim's youngest brother Tom was a "change of life" baby. Mamma devoted herself to her children. Jim said, "When I think of Mamma, I think of babies." Once when Mamma had just returned from picking up Pappa stranded after one of his "toots," she recalled, "I was sitting in the train on the way to Oklahoma City, and I kept thinking that something was missing. Finally I realized it was because I wasn't holding a baby."
The other children are - starting from the left - Haskell age 10, Bob age 2, Kaliteyo age 7, and Homer (Snip) age 13. Absent from the picture is Jim's oldest brother Willie, who was 16 at the time this picture was taken. He was away at military school in Alton, Illinois.
Haskell was Mamma's "Angel boy." He was neat, studious, and shy. Once when he was little a teacher prejudiced against Indians kept him in after school, and Pappa made a visit the superintendent. Haskell was changed to a different class. Mamma's comment was, "If you don't like Indians you shouldn't live in Indian country."
Bob was a toddler at this time but he would soon become Jim's favorite playmate. They climbed trees together, and played on top of the family's two story house. They went to the farm, about three miles from town, and rode the horses, and they fought. Jim said, "The glass window in the back door was always broken from being slammed when Bob and I chased each other."
Kaliteyo and Jim had completely different personalities. As Jim put it, "Mamma tried to make a lady out of Kaliteyo." Actually Mamma kept Kaliteyo inside most of the time because she was 'sickly' instead of letting her run and play with the other children. Kaliteyo was four years older than Jim, and Mamma made her take Jim along when she visited her friends. Kaliteyo eventually came to think of Jim as a pest. The two sisters had to sleep together though until Kaliteyo went off to college. Jim recalled, "I would try to snuggle up to Kaliteyo when it was cold. I can still feel her elbow in my ribs."
Jim's other brother, Homer, nicknamed "Snip" because his baby picture had a corner snipped off, was as opposite from Haskell as Jim was from Kaliteyo. Snip was outgoing and popular in school but he never studied. Jim said, "When Snip graduated from high school Mamma said she wanted to go out on the front porch and yell Hallelujah!" Snip loved animals and he always had several pets.
At this time Jim's "Grandpa" lived with the family. Jim, his namesake, was his favorite, and she remembers him singing to her and telling her stories. Grandpa always had several pins stuck in his lapel that he had picked up off the floor so the children wouldn't step on them. He chewed tobacco and spit into a spittoon which sat in the living room. Stuck in every roll of tobacco was a pin with the figure of a donkey on the end. Jim cherished the collection of donkeys that Grandpa had given her. Every day after breakfast Grandpa would put on his hat - he never seemed to know where it was even though it was always in the punch bowl where he had thrown it the day before - and walked down town to visit with his 'cronies.'
Mamma and Pappa were having conflicts by this time, but it seems that the family had adjusted to it. Pappa drank, but his drinking was in sprees and Jim said that he was never drunk at home. He got dressed every morning in a suit and tie; went out and revved up his Model A Ford, - Jim said he loved to race the motor - and drove off to his real estate office downtown.
In spite of her parents' conflicts Jim said, "Mamma and Pappa always loved each other." Pappa never had affairs with other women, and Mamma kept getting pregnant. Mamma had ten children all together, and Jim's youngest brother Tom was a "change of life" baby. Mamma devoted herself to her children. Jim said, "When I think of Mamma, I think of babies." Once when Mamma had just returned from picking up Pappa stranded after one of his "toots," she recalled, "I was sitting in the train on the way to Oklahoma City, and I kept thinking that something was missing. Finally I realized it was because I wasn't holding a baby."
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