St. Paul recorder. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1937-08-27
Something About
BOley, Oklahoma
(By ]. Nathaniel Smith)

deeply indebted to Prof. Letchen c..
Hill, Principal of the Boley High
School, and Mr.. E. C. Kennedy,
Postmaster, for assistance in gath
ering this material, in addition to
other old settlers.
1t was 1904, Teddy Roosevelt was
in the White House (big stick and
all). Newspapers throughout the
country knew the name of an en-
bryonic "Trust Buster" Frank B.
Kellogg of st. Paul, Minnesota, the
cplored town of Mound Bayou, Mis-
sissippi, was but II years old and
Negroes all over the United States
were being told about the begin
ming of an all Negro town in the
Indian Territory. At that townsite
all was action. Colored people were
coming in from all directions by all
modes of travel to settle in what
was to them the promise of life,
liberty and the pursuit of happi-
ness. Two hundred persons signed
the petition that was presented to
the U. S. District Court for the in
corporation of Boley. The formal
opening was hsd September %,
1904, while the townsite committee
worked feverishly to have Boley in
corporated.
So many Negroes from the sew
eral states worked so tirelessly for
the establishment of the little set
Element that our space here is too
limited to mention more than a
few of the pioneers. However, it
seems that names like T. M.
Haynes, H. C. Cavil and Hilliard
Taylor are inseparable from Boley
history. Although Mr.. Haynes is
regarded as the founder of Boley,
records of the first municipal cleo
ton show that T. B. Armstrong
was elected mayor, James Watkins,
city clerk, T. R. Ringo, Justice of
the Peace. So by May 10th, 1905,
Boley was on it's way as a full
fiedged municipality. If you had
lived in Boley then,. your mail
would have come to you addressed
"Mr. John Doe, Boley, I. T. Gin
dian Territory" The state of Ok
lahoma was as yet unknown. A
couple of years later the five great
Indian nations Greek, Cherokee,
Chickasaw. Choctaw and Seminole)
comprising the Indian Territory,
voted to unite with the Territory of
Oklahoma and apply for admission
to the union as a state. This was
accomplished in 1907 and the In
dian Territory faded into a soon
forgotten memory.
During the days of slavery in
America these Indians held Negro
slaves. With emancipation came
the ex-slaves' need for land upon
which to earn living. This need
was met by the allotment of a
tract of land to each family for
merly held in slavery by the In
dams. In the vicinity of what is
now Boley, former slaves of the
Creeks were allotted much land. and
today the townsite upon which
Boley stands was once the proper
ty of Miss Abigail Barnett (now
the wife of Major McCormick) i.
Benefciaries of such land a1lot-
ments were numerous, along with
the Barnetts were the Walkers, the
Graysons, the Johnsons and many
others too numerous to mention.
Even in a brief article like this
one is tempted to mention such
pioneer names as Miss C. M. Tay-
lor, Atty. M. j. Jones, D. M. Will
Hanson, H. ]. Jones, j. F. Gooden,
d. ]. Turner, James Barnett, ]. C.
Trimble, the Burners, R. B. Smith,
DR.. j. Allen White, James Will
hanson, R. C. Mccormick, Mrs.
Halle S. Jones, Abe Manuel, L. w.
Wallace, Henry Avery, A. E.
Houge and many other enthusiast
tic supporters.
After Boley was organized and
incorporated it developed along the
usual line of the small southwest
ern town located in a farming
community. When things went
well with the farmers in the Boley
trade area, business doomed in
Boley, when the farmers met re-
verses Boley's prosperity disap-
peared, and today it is like so many
hundred other such towns where
the old-timers can tell you 81 re-
member when"
Next week Mr.. Smith will have
another article on some other
phase of BOley. These articles win
appear in the Minneapolis Spokes-
man and also in the st. Paul Re-
cOrder.