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Laura May Satihites' Letter
Albuquerque, New Mexico
March 15, 1958
Mrs. E. M. Powers
Barksdale, Texas
Dear Mrs. Powers:
I received your letter and it makes me think of the earlier days. Yes, I can give you the exact date you asked for- I have heard my parents talk about it many times. I was only six weeks old when they came to the Nueces River-
My Father, John N. Reagan moved from near Waco, Texas, down to Brady, and from there to the Nueces River. He Arrived at Barksdale on August 2, 1882, with his wife Mary Ann (every one called her Mollie) and their three children; Monroe, age 5 years, Will age 3 years, and Laura, myself, age six weeks. In company with us was Mother's parents; Barney Payne, his wife Rachel and their two sons, John and Will Payne. John was married, had a wife and three children.
Barksdale, in the early years, was a big cow ranch, owned and operated by the Barksdale brothers. My Father and grandfather, with the help of eight or ten single men, drove a large herd of cattle through. They located on a canyon called Spring Creek, at the time and lived there three years
While living on Spring Creek, Father took his wagon and 6 mule team to San Angelo after a load of Buffalo meat. He camped on the Concho River near San Angelo, and that night, he tied his mules to the wagon wheels, made his bed in the wagon, which was covered with sheet and bows, and went to bed. He had been in bed just a short time, when to "Cyottes" began to howl and the "Owls" began to hoot. Knowing what this meant , he jumped out of the wagon and crawled under it, wrapping. a dark blanket around himself. The Indians shot his wagon all over with arrows, cut the mules loose and got away with them. A few of the Indians stayed to pilfer his wagon and one Indian hid behind a big log near the wagon. Every few minutes this Indian would jump on the log and howl like a Coyotte and shoot at the wagon. The moon was shining on the log, but Father was in the shade, and then they began to shoot under the wagon so Father shot the Indian and crawled from under the wagon, out through the brush and walked to the Soldier Camp, or Fort, which was several miles from his camp. He had to walk barefooted as his boots were in the wagon. When he arrived at the Fort the Soldiers gave Father some shoes, and a horse and saddle, then they went after the Indians. They had a fight and recovered four of the stole mules. When the soldiers arrived at Father's camp, they could see that the Indians had raided it, taking all of his food, bedding and clothes. The dead Indian had been left by a log, with a large bundle of dried meat on top of him, also bows and arrows, beaded bags and belts. The beaded things were real pretty and Father kept them for years.
While Father was away from home, Uncle Will Payne heard there was a large bunch of Indians in the country, so he come over to stay with Mother and the children. He owned a very fine horse, which was really a pet and he didn't want the Indians to steal him so at night he tied the horse to the porch post, tied the dog on the porch, then went to sleep with his head in the door-this, of course, frightened Mother very much. During one night the Indians slipped up, cut the rope and jumped on the horse and got away before he could get a shot at them. Next morning Mother's milk cow had arrows in her side, and several arrows were found embedded in the porch.
Father and Grandfather bought homes on Pulliam Creek above Barksdale in the year of 1885, and moved their cattle there. Our nearest store was at Uvalde. Ranchers had to go in wagons for their supplies, and sometimes be gone for a week or longer, especially if it rained, making the roads very bad.
In spite of this, it was a fine country-could not have been better. All good water at the time, with big springs all over the country, and an abundance of wild game; Deer, Hogs, Turkey, quai1, and still a few Buffaloes; Wild fruits and vegetables, such as Plums. Cherries, Mulberries, Haws and many other kinds of berries-even strawberries and grapes, and wild greens; mustard, turnips, lettuce peppers, onions, poke salad, and nuts and lots of honey could also be found in abundance. There were many different kinds of pretty flowers.
I remember my first school in a little log house on the East Side of the river, from the George Taylor home and near the Coats mountain. My first Teacher was Sebe Degaw. He taught until Christmas and Miss Annie Ramsey finished the school year, and how I did love her. They built us a new school house near the old one with new lumber, big glass window, nice seats with desks and we were very proud of it all. Miss Annie moved the children in one day at noon and that night our new school house burned down, and all of our books were burned also. We had to go back to the little log house until they could build us another one. The Taylor children attended this school; Jim, Vesta, Nadyne, Will and John. Jim and Vesta came while Degaw taught. Robert and Scuff Raney , Gardner and Lissnie Franks, Austin Allison came until Christmas, J. T. Wallace and Steve Wallace, John, Sam and Robert Satathite. I can't remember the Woods and Fie1ds children coming, although they lived on the river at this time.
My husband, John Satathite and his brothers lived on the river when they were boys, and their Father, Tom Satathite was one of the first settlers on the Nueces River. My parents lived on Pulliam Creek for many years, and raised a large family. Their next move was to the Frio River where they bought a home with a mineral well on the land. This was built into a health resort and is now called the Reagan Wells.
I hope this information will be of help to you, and I want to thank you, Mrs. Powers, when I come to that part of the country again, I want to visit you and get better acquainted.
Sincerely yours,
Mrs. Laura May Satathite
Last Update Monday, 07-May-2018 17:56:16 CDT
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