294

Log House Burning, Pulling Stumps 298

Oak Hill in 1902, 1903 299

The Hen House, Pigpen 295

The Presbytery, Grant Chapel 352

Bridges, Bethel, Starks, Meadows, Colbert, Crabtree 353

Crittenden, Folsom, Butler, Stewart, Perkins, Arnold, Shoals, Johnson 378

Teachers in 1899, Harris, Brown 379

Representative Homes of the Choctaw Freedmen 406

The Sweet Potato Field 407

INTRODUCTION

"The pleasant books, that silently among
Our household treasures take familiar places,
Are to us, as if a living tongue
Spake from the printed leaves, or pictured faces!"

The aim of the Author in preparing this volume has been to put in a
form, convenient for preservation and future reference, a brief
historical sketch of the work and workers connected with the founding
and development of Oak Hill Industrial Academy, established for the
benefit of the Freedmen of the Choctaw Nation, Indian Territory, by the
Presbyterian church, U. S. A., in 1886, when Miss Eliza Hartford became
the first white teacher, to the erection of Elliott Hall in 1910, and
its dedication in 1912; when the name of the institution was changed to
"The Alice Lee Elliott Memorial."

Some who rendered service at Oak Hill Academy, bestowed upon it their
best work, while superintendent, James F. McBride and Matron, Adelia M.
Eaton, brought to it a faithful service, that proved to be the crowning
work of their lives.

The occasion of receiving a new name in 1912, is one that suggests the
eminent propriety of a volume, that will commemorate the labors of
those, whose self-denying pioneer work was associated with the former
name of the institution.

Another aim has been, to place as much as possible of the character
building work of the institution, in an attractive form for profitable
perusal by the youth, in the homes of the pupils and patrons of the
Academy. As an aid in effecting this result, the volume has been
profusely illustrated with engravings of all the good photographs of
groups of the students that have come to the hand of the author; and
also of all the teachers of whom they could be