By: C.H. (Harvey) Huff, Moorewood, OK [1923] I was born near Walnut Hill, Jefferson County, Ill, May 14, 1853. In the fall of 1859 my father, James R. Huff moved to Texas and settled in Wise County on a tract of land upon a part of which the town of Newark was later built. We lived there until 1866, during which time the Indians made several raids and on Sept 24, 1865, they killed and scalped one of our neighbors, a Mr. Moffit, in one and a half miles of where we lived. Three miles farther south they killed a Mr. Wright, who lived in Denton County. In June, 1866, we left there and went to Southwest Missouri and lived four years near what is now South West City. In December, 1870, we started back to Texas, landing in the old neighborhood in January, 1871, where we lived until December, 1872. We moved about ten miles northwest and settled near what is now the town of Boyd. It was there I first met W.J. Stokes, whose letter appeared in The Farm News a short time ago. I have spent many pleasant hours with him and his wife. Perhaps some one may read this who will remember Uncle Tom Harvey. I have often heard him tell about an experience he had with the Indians. He and his two boys, John and Tommy, age 16 and 14, lived in a small log house. The yard was rather small and was fenced with rails. One day they started to go up to Salt Lake Valley, some two miles west of where they lived, where salt was being made. Uncle Tom had his old trusty cap-and-ball rifle along. They had gone but a short distance when they discovered a bunch of Indians who were off their horses in the shade of some trees. Uncle Tom and the boys held a short council of war and quickly decided that they would postpone their trip to the salt works; so they turned their horses and started back toward home, Uncle Tom bringing up the rear. Some of the Indians gave chase. They had quite a steep, rocky hill to go down and the younger boy's horse fell in making the descent. The boy did not wait for the horse to getup, but made the rest of the trip home afoot. Uncle Tom said he made better time than the horse was making. He succeeded in getting the boys in the house and the ponies in the yard. He then sat down inside the yard laying his gun across the fence to await developments. The Indians rode up to within twenty or twenty-five yards of him and sat there on their ponies for quite a while, jabbering. One Indian shook Uncle Tom's hat at him, which had been lost in the race. The Indians finally rode off without a shot being fired by either party. I, afterward built a house and lived for several years within fifty yards of where the Indians were when Uncle Tom discovered them. He visited me many times while I lived there, and it always brought this incident to memory. I left Wise County in April, 1899, and came to Oklahoma and settled in the northwest part of Custer County, twenty-eight miles north of Elk City, where wife (formerly Emma Hays), and I are still living. I have three daughters living and six grandchildren. I am in my seventieth year and am not able to work any more. We live on the farm, but keep it rented out. If this is read by any of my old friends I would be glad to hear from them.
The above article was a news clipping that was written about 1923, and was given to me many years ago. We have yet to find a connection between C.H. (Harvey) Huff and Thomas Harvey. He calls him "Uncle Tom" but it is not known if they were related. Young Tom in the article died the year of the Indian chase. It is not known what the cause of death was. Thomas H. Harvey (Uncle Tom in the article) was born about 1820 in Tennessee, died 4 Jun 1900, Bonham, Fannin Co, Texas. He married 2 Nov 1845, Jefferson Co, Missouri, Diana B. Honeycut, born about 1824, in North Carolina. Jefferson Co, is where we found her family in the 1850 census (close to the same area C.H. Huff had moved to for awhile). She died about 1860, exact year is unknown. We have no documentation of where she was buried, but believe it to be in the Paradise Cemetery, Wise Co, Texas. They had three children, Tom being the youngest. Young Tom died when he was 13 or 14 years old which was about the same time the story took place. Thomas Harvey, married a second time, to Elizabeth Catharine Copeland, about 1864. My grandfather, Charles "CH" Harvey was born to this marriage in 1872, three years after the indian incident. Elizabeth Catharine Copeland was born in Indiana, but the family moved to Illinois where we found them listed in the 1850 census. She had married first, in 1861, to James McLain. "He went to war and never returned." No further information has been found on him. Now comes the coincidence of the whole story. C.H. Huff was born as he indicates, in Walnut Hill, Jefferson Co, Illinois. Walnut Hill sits directly on the border of Jefferson Co, and Marion Co. The family of Catharine Copeland lived in Walnut Hill, Marion Co. The families of both the Copelands and the McLains were scattered through out both counties. There are also Harveys living in the area during that time period, according to the census records, but we have found no connection between this Thomas Harvey and the Harvey families of that area. We still have not found out where Thomas Harvey and Catharine Copeland McLain met. We have stories of Thomas traveling by Wagon Train from Tennessee to Arkansas, and then to Texas, many years before his marriage to Catharine Copeland McLain. But... his oldest daughter from the second marriage was born in Arkansas on a Wagon Train after his marriage to Catharine. This indicates a possibility that they met and married in Illinois. Why he would be in Illinois at that time is not know, especially since he had two young sons on the farm in Texas. Could he have been visiting relatives? We have never been able to make a connection. Yet, C.H. Huff calls him "Uncle".... And the search goes on....
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