While living at Lincolnville, we lived in rooms attached to the store building and living near and next door to us was a man who had a wife with tuberculosis and this man had to leave her with their two small children and work each day.  Each morning when I got up I would put on our breakfast and then leave my daughters to finish it while I went to their home and got his breakfast.  Afterwards through the day if we did not bring the woman and the children to our place, either my daughters or I looked after them until the husband would return in the evening.  Such were neighbors in those days.

          After the mining in this district began on so large a scale and the men began to desert Lincolnville, we moved to Cardin but then we located west of the railroad tracks on leased ground as we could not purchase the land.  At first we paid $1.00 each month to the Indian Land Owner as ground rent and built our own building.  In this way the first store on the site of the present Cardin which was then called “Tar River”.  Our building had to be built so that we could move it as we had no lease on the ground and could stay only from month to month and would have to move at any time they wanted to use the ground.

          As the mining activity increased in importance here, the agent for the land owner tried to raise our ground rent from $1.00 each month to $2.50 a month and this caused much confusion and  my husband compromised for himself and the owners by paying $2.00 per month.

          After the N E O built their tracks from Miami through the mining field by way of Commerce, Tar River, and Picher, my husband decided to enter the coal business in addition to the store so we leased lots for our home and the business on the present Cardin Townsite east of where we were and so moved to our present location which we purchased when the forty acres belonging to Oscar Cardin was platted and offered for sale.  Many of the better buildings were moved here to this forty where we could obtain deeds to our homes and the members of the Baptist Church which then had a small building west of the tracks also decided to buy a lot and build on it.  This is now the west side of the present school building and is called the auditorium.

          Our family consisted of two girls and three boys who have long   since made lives for themselves.  My husband died at our house here twelve years ago last October the ??th.  I have continued to live at the old place alone except for the frequent visits of my children.

 This interview was found in the Indian Pioneer History Collection, Oklahoma History Center, OKC, OK