Person:Martha Greemore (1)

Martha Evelyn Greemore was born November 26, 1890 on her father's Potawatomi Indian allotment near Troudale, Indian Territoy. She was the youngest of three daughters born to Peter Basil and Adarka Elizabeth Ramsey Greemore. Her mother died when Martha was only three week old and she and her sisters, Isobelle and Clarissa, were cared for by their grandmother, Martha Johnson. Mrs. Johnson's first husband must have passed away at earlier for she had married Claiborn Johnson who had several children by his first wife. Martha or "Mattie", as she was called, said she was like her Poppa. When she got mad, she would run off and hide. Once, when she was poutin, she pulled up the corner of a hide her father was tanning on top of a big wooden box and climbed inside. She stayed inside so long she became drowsy and fell asleep. When she was missed, the family called in the neighbors and a search was made. Finally, Momma saw the corner of the hide was loose and said Mattie was probably in there, maybe with a big rattlesnake. When Momma found Mattie and saw she was safe, she started crying. Instead of padling her, Mamma picked her up and carried her in and put her to bed. Martha Evelyn Greemore and Thomas Alexander Springer were married on October 13, 1908 by the Rev. French of Shawnee at the home of her father, Peter. She was 17 years old. The next year, 1909, with all the girls married and startin their own families, Pete sold his allotment and he and Nancy Ann moved by covered wagon to land of the Osage near Fairfax, OK. Martha saw her father only one more time in 1920 or 21 when he came to visit her at Earlsboro before going on to visit the other two girls down near McAllister. Although Pete died in 1923, it was not untill 1966 that Martha got to her father's grave at Fairfax. I don't believe Isobelle or Clarissa ever knew where their father was buried. Martha and Tom set up housekeeping in Pottawatomi County, OK. and from this union was born four boys and four girls. Tom was a tenant farmer but he was afflicted with heart disease and was unable to work much of the time. Martha and the older children worked in the fieslds chopping and picking cotton and hoeing the corn. Then on December 2, 1940, Tom suffered a massive heart attack and passed away leaving Martha to raise the children by herself. Her oldest daughter, Velma, had married and had moved away but there were still seven mouthes to feed. Just keeping enough food on the table and clothes on their backs was a constant problem. Three of the boys were old enough to work but jobs were scarce and wages were low. The oldest boy, Elvin, was deaf and almost blind but he worked right along with the others. Somehow, Martha managed to put the kids through school and out into the world on their own and there were no children any closer to their mother or each other than Mattie Springer's kids. Martha Evelyn Greemore Springer passed away January 7, 1977 and was laid to rest beside her husband, Tom, in the pleasant Valley Cemetery, near Maud, OK. SOURCE: Jim Prine, Martha's son-in-law