He belonged to a generation that could neither read nor write, and that which he accomplished for Oak Hill and his needy children during the short period of his co-operation with the superintendent, is but another beautiful illustration of what may be done for a needy and worthy cause, by one, however unlearned, whose sincere and burning interest leads him to lend a helping hand and to use the power of his voice in its behalf.
He had come to appreciate and, before the Presbytery, emphasized the importance of these three vital facts:
1. The need of a good christian education for all the members of his own rapidly growing family.
2. The great value of the educational and religious privileges, and the facilities for industrial training, afforded the young people of the colored race at Oak Hill Academy, located in the very midst of them.
3. The great meaning of the changes, that were taking place in the country around them since the building of the railroad, the transition to statehood, the allotment of the lands to them individually, and the incoming of large numbers of white folks from Arkansas, Texas and other sections; who were founding and building towns, leasing and occupying the farm lands, gaining control of the business interests of the community; and thus making it ten fold more necessary for the young people of the colored race to have sufficient intelligence to enable them to do their own thinking and manage successfully their own business interests, in order to avoid the impending doom, of being soon crowded out of their present homes and possessions.
His burning desire as he often expressed it, was to bring it to pass, that their children and the generations to come might rise up and be able to say, "Our Fathers, in grateful acknowledgement of the inestimable value of the educational, moral and religious privileges, that the Presbyterian Board of Missions had established and so long maintained, for the benefit of the colored people of that section, had contributed the funds, paid for and donated the lands occupied by the buildings of Oak Hill Industrial Academy."
The members of his family, in whose names the allotments for Oak Hill were secured, were Catherine, his wife; Roland (died Nov. 24, 1911), John, Margie and Ellen.
LAND FUNDS CONTRIBUTED
The following is a brief summary of the funds contributed for the purchase of the land at Oak Hill.
Rev. F. W. Hawley, Sam Harris, Bertha L. Ahrens, Adelia M. Eaton, Wiley Homer, William Butler, R. D. Colbert, Malinda A. Hall, Noah S. Alverson, R. E. Flickinger and Jo Lu Wolcott, each $10.00; Samuel Gladman, W. J. Starks, S. H. Buchanan, John Richards and Finley Union Sunday school, Lehigh, per Isabella Monroe, each $5.00; Virginia Williams, and Matt Brown, each $3.00; Simon Folsom and Alonza Lewis, $2.50; specials from churches in Oklahoma, as follows: Anadarko, Bartlesville, Perry and Vinita, each $2.00; Chelsea, $2.50; Muskogee and Wagoner, each $3.00; Oklahoma First, $5.00; Oak Hill $10.00; and Alva $50.00.
The Oak Hill Aid Society in 1906 gave $39.00; in 1907 $46.00; in 1908, $16.00 and in 1910 to 1912, $19.00; making for it $120.00, and altogether $335.00.
This amount covers the cost of the forty acre allotment of Samuel A. Folsom, on which the Academy and Boy's Hall are located. This was the first tract purchased, and it was obtained August 30, 1908, a few days after the Choctaw Freedmen were legally authorized to execute warranty deeds.
These facts are worthy of note, since to that extent they indicate the achievement of that object, for which Sam Harris plead so earnestly and effectively at Presbytery.
A lady at San Jose, California, gave $200 in 1909, for an annuity bond to cover tract No. 5, on the Oak Hill plat, containing twenty acres and allotted to Caroline Prince. Bertha L. Ahrens in 1908 purchased the three fourths inheritance of three of the heirs of William Shoals, in tract No. 8, containing thirty acres, that in course of time, it might be included; and in 1909 and 1913, R. E. Flickinger donated tract number 4, containing twenty acres north of the buildings. These three specials include and cover the 70 acres on section 20, north of the public road, north of the buildings.
The Oak Hill Women's Missionary society was organized in October 1906, and at the end of its first year contributed to Home Missions, Gunnison, Utah, $5.00; and to the Board of Freedmen, $15.00.