Marshall County, Oklahoma

Dark Corner is located in Marshall County, Oklahoma, the smallest county in the state. The total land area in the county is 269,440 acres, or 421 square miles. The county water acreage stood at 40,910 acres in 1978, most of which helps make up Marshall County's portion of Lake Texoma. The creation of Hauani Lake, a new water supply lake west of Madill and Lake Rex Smith, a rural water supply lake on Buncombe Creek, and west of Kingston has since upped those numbers.

Marshall County is a part of the Chickasaw Nation of Indian Territory, which was established in southern Oklahoma by a treaty in 1855. Burney Institute, a Chickasaw girls' school, was located about 1 mile east of Lebanon. This institute, a two story brick structure with a metal roof still stands, and though long ago abandoned, was established before the Civil War. The first post office to be established in what is now Marshall County was started at Burney Institute on July 3, 1860. A historical marker is located on Highway 32 just north of the old institute, which is visible from the highway. Incidentally the property is now fenced with a beautiful state-of-the-art white rail-type fence. The Chickasaw tribe has plans for preservation and possibly restoration of that cultural landmark.

The county is in an area originally designated Pickens County and named for Edmund Pickens, who came from Mississippi in 1852 and settled at Pettyjohn Spring, which is north of Madill. The Pickens County courthouse was three miles from Lebanon. Later, Marshall County was created from the southeast part of old Pickens County. The town of Madill was established in 1900, and the Marshall County courthouse was erected there in 1915.

The old Pickens family cemetery was located on what is now known as "Graveyard Bluff", a Lake Texoma island in the mouth of Hickory Creek. One of the few legible tombstones is for Johnson Pickens, just 16 years old at the time of his death. On a visit to the site, I scratched the data on and old brick, by using a nail as a stylus. (In Memory of Johnson Pickens Bron Febury 12, 1822 Died Novebor 27, 1838) (Febury and Novebor are not misprints, they appear that way on the tombstone). I showed the brick to the late Virgie White. She took one look at the dates and retorted, "He got shot with a poison arrow over at Oakland." There is an "Edmond Pickens" historical marker on Hwy 32 in Enville.

At one time the proposed name for the county was "Overton". The following account appeared in the Woodville Beacon in 1905: "There is an election being held in Woodville today, Tuesday the 7th of Nov. 1905: All men 21 years of age, having resided in the county six months are entitled to vote; this is the first time that the white man has ever taken part in a general election in this Territory: and while not authorized by any existing law, it may be fraught with great results: … the greatest interest in the election at this point is in the location of the county seat for the proposed county of Overton: Kingston and Madill are the aspirants for this honor."

A proposed plan was to divide Oklahoma into two states. A convention was held in Muskogee in 1905 and Indian Territory was to be called Sequoyah. Under this plan Marshall County would have been Overton County. The U.S. Congress favored making one state out of Oklahoma Territory and Indian Territory. A constitutional convention was held on June 16, 1906 and decided to make Oklahoma a single state. George O. Henshaw was a delegate to that convention. His mother's maiden name was Marshall, so Overton was changed to Marshall.

Marshall Street in Kingston got its name in a somewhat familiar fashion. My mother Alice McWilliams was the city clerk. A question came up concerning the city limits of Kingston. While studying the map it was noted that the street going north between the elementary school and the cemetery didn't have a name affixed to it. My mother spoke up and said, "Yes it has a name, that's Marshall Street." Without questioning her, the name was penciled in on the map. We never knew if it had at one time been called Marshall Street or if she just named it on the spot.

My son John gave me a framed 1887 map of Indian Territory for Christmas 2005. Oakland, Rocky Point, and Harney were the only three Marshall County towns appearing on that map. However, when the railroad came through Madill in 1905, it quickly flourished and outgrew Oakland. Rocky Point was located near the present town of Lebanon. It became known as Lebanon and another Rocky Point community was later located south of the Hwy 32 and Hwy 377 junction. Lebanon later relocated and after a flood it moved to its present site.

Harney was very near the Red River almost straight south of the present Alberta Creek Resort. It had a post office in 1888. Harney was being called Woodville by the turn of the century before the new town of Woodville was built. An 1899 Department of Interior map shows it as Woodville. Practically everyone in Old Woodville/ Harney moved to New Woodville when the railroad was built. Of course, there was another New Woodville that came into being when the lake was built. So Woodville, like Lebanon, is at its third location. The 1899 map also showed the addition of Cliff, Linn, and Willis, plus Browns V., which I assume was Brownsville, to the Marshall County towns. The community of Willis existed long before it was recognized as a town.

The Chickasaw Nation extends from the Red River to the South Canadian River to the north. It reaches from Rush Springs on the west to just east of Colbert. In addition to Colbert and those towns previously mentioned the only other towns in this area of the Chickasaw Nation in 1887 were Tishomingo and Burneyville. Tishomingo's post office was established June 29, 1857. The town was named for Tishomingo, the last War Chief of the Chickasaws. Tishomingo was the capital of the Chickasaw Nation. Tishomingo reportedly died on the Trail of Tears near Ft. Smith, Arkansas at the age of 102. His mother, age 120, reportedly lived with him before he was forced to leave Tishomingo County, Mississippi. Little is known of h is father, Piamingo (spelling questionable). Our local city councilman, Frank Johnson once posed for a portrait that was then made into a statue of the old chief. Overton James also posed for the statue. They used his head and Franks body to portray Piamingo.

The Dark Corner school district came into being with statehood and continued until it consolidated with Woodville on March 22, 1927. The south boundary of the (DC) school district was what is now Alberta Creek Road. The west boundary extended one half mile west of Texoma Park Road and the north boundary was one half mile north of McDuffee Road. The Washita River formed the east boundary.

My brother Archie of Norman, Oklahoma gave me a set of old encyclopedias. Inside the back cover of a couple is this inscription: "presented to the Dark Corner School by Moody McCuan". My grandparents, Moody McCuan and Eunice (Sullivan) McCuan were both school board members. The school district was bordered on the north by the Sullivan School district. The Sullivan's lived near the south end of the Lake Texoma State Park airstrip, (30) just west of the Rooster Creek Bridge. John Henry Sullivan and Sarah Anne (Greenfield) Sullivan were the parents of my grandmother, Sarah Eunice (Sullivan) McCuan. John and Sarah's other children were Eva, Jesse, Fred, and Ora. Descendants of Jessie Sullivan and a few other Sullivan relatives still have a reunion each Labor Day weekend in the old state park near where the Sullivan family was raised. The McCuan-McWilliams families and the Sullivans voted to combine for a joint reunion for the years 2011 and 2012.

There were 46 school districts originally designated for Marshall County. Districts 36 and 45 never had a school and consolidated with adjacent districts. The Yellow Hills district had school for only a year or two before it was split between the neighboring districts to the north and south. The Powell School district was split and consolidated with Kingston and Madill on June 30, 1962. The present road going south from Powell to the lakes was the dividing line with those on the east side going to Kingston. The Shay School district was annexed to Kingston on July 16, 1958. The Lark School district was annexed to Kingston on July 3, 1967.

There were also at least two schools for the African-Americans. One was in Madill and it was called Dunbar School. The other was east of Woodville. If you go south from Alberta Creek Road on Texoma Hill Road it will lead to the site of the old school. The school was inside the triangle formed where Texoma Hill Road ends at Catfish Drive, with Stripper Lane connecting the two. It was on the side of the hill facing west. The old cemetery is about 100 yards north of Catfish Drive on Sand Bass Lane.

The first oil well was drilled in Marshall County in 1909. One well was drilled just south of the old Alberta Creek. That well was plugged with a black jack post before the lake waters covered it. Natural gas bubbles from that well still rise to the surface in the middle of the Alberta Creek Professional Stripper Guides cleaning dock.

Attorney Reuel Little brought a lawsuit against the Corps of Engineers on behalf of the owners of mineral rights that were covered by the lake. He was successful on behalf of his clients and made a handsome profit out of the deal. It's been reported that he made his first million from that lawsuit.

Milan E. Ewing of Madill is the man credited with naming Lake Texoma. However, at a meeting of the Red River Valley Development Association in Denison, Texas on August 8, 1944, Reuel Little suggested dropping the 'H' from the name 'Texhoma' that Ewing suggested. The vote was unanimous and that name "Texoma" was sent to Congress where it was approved. Also attending that historic meeting with Ewing and Little was Dr. J.F. York. Paul Harvey might call that "the rest of the story".