Person:Esther Sharrai (1)

Title: Department of Interior - Indian Affairs - Probate 51963-34 Esther Darling Smith Woolard was holding an Allottment (#66) from the Citizen Pottawatomie Nation; she was a member by adoption. The file includes a declaration of heirs from the Department of Interior, an Allottment / Estate Record, a Summary Report of Heirs (October 12, 1934), testimony (October 11, 1934) from Esther's daughter Honor Smith Anderson, testimony from Esther's daughter Dora Smith Jarboe (October 11, 1934) and testimony (May 11, 1917) the Esther provided in the settlement of the estate of her son William O. Darling

Obituary in The Oklahoma County News, Jones City, Oklahoma, Friday, December 8, 1933:

Mrs. Esther Woolard, a pioneer resident of this community passed away at the home of her daughter Mrs Emory [Mary Hartwell Emory, Esther's oldest child, daughter of George Hartwell], two miles east of town on Monday night December 4th after a long illness, but being entirely bedfast about 3 weeks. Mrs Woolard was 84 years of age and leaves a number of relatives and friends to mourn her passing. Funeral services were held here Wednesday in the Baptist church, followed by burial in Elmwood cemetery near here.

The following was written by Cleda Jarboe Rooker, daughter of Dora Smith and John Francis Jarboe and granddaughter of Esther Therese Sharrai and John William Smith:

My grandmother, Esther Smith, was born in Michigan on April 14, 1853 to Lois and Esther Sharrey (pronounced Sha-ray). Her father, a frenchman from France, always spoke broken English. My grandmother was named Esther after her mother. When she was three years old her mother died. She had a brother, George, and a brother, Luke, who froze to death in a Kansas blizzard. Also a brother, Sylvester, younger than Esther, and a sister, Mary, who was older.

Her father soon married again and decided to to come to Oklahoma, then Indian Territory, and settled near Hearthorn. He was Catholic and wanted to put his children into a Catholic school. That was in 1860. They came to Indian Territory in covered wagons and lived in a log house.

There was a deep, though narrow, spring on her father's place and she and Sylvester played in the woods where the spring was. One day they got some poles and would jump across the spring. Sylvester missed his footing and fell in over his head in the water. Esther grabbed the pole and yelled for him to grab it, which he did and she fished him out. His clothes were all wet. She stripped him off and put her apron on him, hanging his clothes on some bushes to dry. They slipped to the house and got a hot sod iron off the stove and ironed his clothes, burning a spot on her leg. They did not dare tell their stepmother.

She attended the Catholic convent there. A few Indian girls attended, too. This convent was known as Sacred Heart. She learned to sew beautifully but did not learn to read and later on taught herself to read.

At 13 she married a northern soldier 36 years old named Frank Hartwell [George Frank Hartwell] and had a daughter named Mary. They also had a son, Bobby. My mother was just 14 when Mary was born.

Just before Mary was born she decided to go to her brother's home for her confinement. She took along scissors and string in case the baby might be born on the way. She rode horseback several miles to his home but fortunately the baby was not born until later. The night her baby was due her brother sent her husband, Frank, to the doctor seven miles away. Finally the baby girl was born and the next morning, up in the day, here came Frank. He had gone to sleep and when he awoke he was seven miles in the opposite direction, which made my grandmother furious. Before her next baby was born she left him and went to live with her brother and his family.

Then later she sued for divorce. In those days it was shameful to be divorced, so Grandma put on a hat with a black veil so no one in court could see her face. She did get the divorce.

Grandma, at 17, married a man 65 years old, a Louis Darling [Lucius Ripley Darling], who was an interpreter for the Pottawatomie Indians. He first had married an Indian girl [Elizabeth Ouilmette] and was adopted into the Pottawatomie tribe and shared as a full blood himself and my grandmother shared throug his headright. She got 160 acres of land near Wanette [just north of the Canadian River in Pottawatomie County, Oklahoma] which she traded later for 160 acres near Choctaw, OK [Choctaw, Oklahoma County, Oklahoma]. She had three little boys by him: Will Darling, Ford Darling and Bob Darling [William O. Darling, Fordyce S. Darling and Herman W. Darling]. Her husband Louis accidently shot himself three months before Bob was born.

His son Luke [Lucius A. Darling], stepson of Grandma's, had gone deer hunting a week before the accident and his father asked him to pick the bullet out of the gun or fire it off because it was dangerous to leave it loaded around the children. Luke said he would but he put it off and forgot about it.

Mr Darling and his renter needed to go to town about 30 miles away for supplies. It was in the late fall [actually it was March 18, 1875] and quite cold so he wore his heavy overcoat. He decided to take the gun along as he might run across some game. He did not see any after all and when he got back to the renters home he went to the back of the spring wagon and pulled the gun and it discharged. The bullet penetrated his side and he died two hours later.

My grandmother later moved into Wanette and started a boarding house. By then the older children were going to school. Their teacher Gordon Lilly was 18 years old. He was known as Pawnee Bill and boarded with her. She worked so hard I sometimes wonder how she survived.

She kepted meat salted down in a barrel. One day the barrel was almost empty. Leaning over to reach what she wanted she bruised her right breast and it rose and absessed. She suffered much agony and had it lanced nine times and the last time the doctor started to lance it she asked him if he could make it less painful. He said yes. There was a new medicine called ether so he poured out a spoonful and gave it to my grandmother. As she swallowed the medicine she fought for breath and thought she was dying. He lanced the breast. My grandmother said she had told several doctors about this and they could not believe that any doctor could be so ignorant. But there were few doctors in those days and they had very little training.

My grandfather, J.W. Smith [John William Smith], born in Canada in 1843 [actually May 4, 1836], lived in California. Everyone called him Uncle Jack. He came across the plains in a covered wagon from Canada where he was born. His father [John P. Smith] had gone to California several years ahead and he, being quite young, was left with a married sister in Canada. When he was 12 he joined a wagon train and eneded up in Sacramento, California. There he joined his father and sister Ella. She afterwards married a man named Merkley and he became very wealthy growing hops.

My grandfather was a ham and he became an actor, a comedian whose stage name was Billy Emerson. He had a sad love affair and, disallusioned, he entered the gold rush in California and Colorado. He finally ended up in Indian Territory and sought lodging in Grandma's boarding house. He felt sorry for the way she had to work; then his sorrow turned to love and they were married.

They sold out and moved on her 160 acres of Indian land near Choctow. It was a raw 160 acres and winter was coming on so they built dugouts. Uncle Ford had married and they built a dugout also. These were lined with white muslin so dirt could not fall on you. One was to cook and eat in and the other to sleep in. In stormy weather they felt safe there. As soon as warm weather came my grandpa was a good carpenter and he built a two story house with a long porch across the front.

To this marriage was born four little girls: Frances, Dora (my mother), Honor and Pearl. All have passed away.

When they moved to Choctow my grandmother and granddad Smith lived in the middle of 160 acres, half a mile from Choctow. A long road led up to the house from the highway but when you reached the house all was wonderful. There were some lovely woods close by where we little girl cousins built play houses, made mus pies, and fried leaves in our worn out pans for stead [sic]. Then there was a big pond with ducks and geese swinmming in the clear water. My grandparents had turkeys and guinie chickens. I remember the big family reunions when we kids slept on palets on the floor. One time I remember Grandma caught eight fryers for the next day dinner and put them under the tub. She propped the tub up a little so they could get air but some way the tub was knocked down and the next morning Grandma found the chickens all dead. She caught eight more and we had fried chicken anyway. She had a three gallon jar she kept full of sugar cookies for her grandchildren. She made at least six pies for a meal and my Grandpa loved navy beans and she always fixed his favorite. Sometimes for breakfast she would fix Indian fry bread. She aways made her own sausages and always crushed a dried hot pepper in it. Always she had spicy preserves on the table.

Grandma made her pickles in a barrel. A layer of cucumbers, then sliced green apples and grape leaves until the barrel was almost full, then poured salt brine over all of it. She waited about six weeks and then they were ready to eat.

After supper in the summer time we would all sit in the yard watching the stars and see the moon come up. Then Grandma would tell Bible stories to us. We would talk about a lot of interesting things. She would tell of their travels to Oklahoma in covered wagons, how they lived in dugouts, how she used to wash down by the pond and boil her clothes. They had outdoor toilets called privies and in the winter time you almost froze there.

Everyone bought coffee in the bean Grandma bought. Everyone had a coffee grinder and that is the first thing they did in the morning. They would grind the coffee and put it in water in a 10 cup pot made of granite. They would go to the flour box and get the wooden bowl and fill it full of sifted flour. They made delicious biscuits. We always had bacon or sausage, sour cream and gravy and fried eggs. Grandma had a big Alberta peach orchard. We ate sliced peaches for every meal in season. When visiting Grandma, my granddaddy was blind for eight years before he died, and Grandma read to him for they were both interested in the Bible and daily news. My grandfather predicted that someday we would have to fight Red China. He died of a heart attack just after World War I [actually he died August 8, 1914].

World War 1 began in 1914 in Europe, and he was so sure the US would be dragged in to the War. The night he died he got up in dreadful pain, and ask Grandma Smith to fan him , he felt faint and she grabbed his big Black Hat and he said " Oh! Lord make it easy "and he died. She ran to the renters who lived in the old house in their yard, after 8 [comment: Thomas Turner died in 1921, so this should be six years, not 8] lonely years Grandma married a Mr. Turner , and he died of a massive stroke in a year, Her daughters were unhappy when she married at 75 years old. Mr. Turner's friend a Mr. Woolard came to see her and console her, and Lo and Behold!! she up and married him- 11 years younger than she was, she was already married before she broke the news to her Children. He was a good old guy Tho. and Grandma could stay in her own home, he had a car and could drive, and by the way he drove her down to visit me for a few days before my last baby Timothy Paul came. I really enjoyed Grandma's visit, and I had the baby while she was here. I think she was a little nervous , altho she had helped many women in Child birth. She had a fit over the baby. She said " He would be stingy because his ears stuck to his head so close" Mr. Woolard died of a heart attack , then Grandma decided to sell out and live with her daughters, but she wasn't happy really, she had kept house too long. She had a big sale and gave me several little things one her iron skillet, and some dishes which I handed down to my daughters. I miss Grandma yet. I have fond memories of her, she was plenty smart - although not well educated, she learned the hard way. She died of pnemonia. You probably knew all this - Grandma smoked a pipe for years, then lived to be 81 years old. 81 the 14th of April and she died in May - I think? I had it type written then copied for the children a little History of Grandma Smith and Grandpa Jarboe. I am adding something I left out. Grandma Esther died at Aunt Mary's house, Mama ( Dora Jarboe) went everyday taking her things she could eat. ( Betty Rooker Dinkins Great Grandaughter of Esther Smith is wondering if Aunt Mary was her first child Mary Hartsell ? ) By Cleda Jarboe Rook