The Peggs

To continue my story of the Jake William Pegg and Emerson family, my story this week is about Eliza Jane Pegg, whom I ended the story with last week.

She married Jim Story on April 16, 1895, a few years after the Pegg family came to Oklahoma Territory. Jim was a ¼ Chickasaw Indian, Roll E-678, and he and his children received many acres of land by allotment in Allen and in Lindsay, Oklahoma. He was educated at the Sacred Heart Indian Academy and he left school at age 14 and began carrying the mail. He was a member of the Pony Express, carrying the mail on horseback from the Sacred Heart Mission to Shawnee. Later he picked up the mail at Stonewall and brought it to a log store in Allen where residents picked up the mail. In later years, he was a U. S. Marshall and then a foreman of the Scales Ranch, north of Allen. At the time, it was noted to be second only to the 101 Ranch in Oklahoma.

The land that was part of the allotment of their daughter, Etta Mead, was still in the family a few years ago. It is located a few miles from Allen, on the highway to Atwood. It may still be in the family as it was a few years ago, and then I lost touch with the grandchildren.

Another part of the land was in the name of a son, Jake Story. This parcel of land was north of Broadway in Allen. Before Jake became of age, the town of Allen was being developed. His father, Jim Story, traded a part of Jake’s land in Allen to Edgar Hutchinson for another tract of land, and he also signed Jake’s name to other tracts when the railroad came to Allen in 1909 and as businesses began to be developed in Allen along the tract.

After Jake became of age and businesses would change hands, they had no clear title, and Jake signed a lot of Quit Claim Deeds. He did not charge anything to the schools and churches when they came to him. Many years later, Jake told me that one gentleman kept calling him for a signature on his deed, and was very threatening. Jake would not sign. After much harassment, Jake did sign, but he charged this gentleman a fee more than he had charged others for his signature. The last deed he signed was to Perry Blue. I failed to ask Jake if it was to his store or to his residence. (Blue’s Variety Store was in Allen for many years and his residence was at the end of Broadway). I think it was because Perry Blue’s store was on that side of the street. Apparently, this land of Jake’s was on the north side of Broadway, closer to the railroad tracks. Jake did tell me that one of the pieces of land had a hotel or rooming house, and that was near the tracks.

Jake married Eula Richardson, also of Allen, and they had a son, Richard, who was near my age. Richard spent a lot of summer days on our farm.