ADDIE SWEATT
DAUGHTER OF PIONEERS
by Lorena Travis, Staff Writer
After interviewing Addie Blanton Sweatt, at
the home of her daughter,
Marguerite
(Mrs. Frank Stauss) at 324 W. Shawnee, we
pondered her alertness, good
humor, and common sense in dealing with
details of the
moments. These
characteristics are common for a young
woman, but not an 87 year old
senior
citizen. Sharpening our awareness was
the presence of her two
active
great grandchildren, Susan and Steven
Stauss, near five and three years
respectively. They were in the care of
Marguerite, their
grandmother,
but getting attention from everyone.
Such experiences are
good medicine
for anyone hating the limitations that
declining years bring upon them.
Spring
colors were
all around us - from white azalea
blooming at the door step to the handmade
yellow dress for Susan; who
had
told Marguerite she wanted "a real Easter
dress and not a boughten
one."
However, as colors go, we shall probably
remember longest the image of
Addie Sweatt herself, engaged in her most
enjoyable hobby of late years
- crocheting. The piece at hand was an
afghan in browns,
yellows,
black, and beige. Holding it she
looked he picture of
health.
She talked easily about her young years, her
family, and the ups and
downs
she has experienced. "We worked
hard all our lives,
but
it was a good life, and we managed to get an
education," she said.
Addie
Blanton
Sweatt was born on a farm in Grayson
County, Texas, south of Whiteright (sic
Whitewright) on October 5,
1886.
She lived there with her parents until two
years after marriage - then
moved to Oklahoma. Her father was
Benjamin Franklin Blanton,
and
her mother was Julia (Blanton) Blanton (same
surname). Addie
was
the ninth of ten children. She has one
living sister, 90 year
old
Maggie (Mrs. W.A. Badgett) in Dennison
(sic), Texas. The
family has
a record of longevity: her mother lived
within seven months of a
hundred
years, and her father was 93 when he died.
Growing up
Addie
Blanton had varied experience since
her father was involved in different
enterprises. He farmed
mostly
cotton and wheat - had a cotton gin, general
merchandise store, and the
Post Office, at Bliss, Texas. "An exciting
part of my father's store
was
"the peddler's wagon," Mrs. Sweatt
said. "He hauled
merchandise into
rural areas and sold from two wagons; which
were set up to sell or
trade
with exchanges of chickens, eggs, and
vegetables for needed
articles.
A chicken coop was a part of the equipment."
"So much
work went
on that my mother had many extra
hands to feed. There were also many
visitors - especially
during
the summer vacations - and there were many
Blanton's, " Mrs. Sweatt
said.
"Our family would go and stay a month at a
time. Our mother
never
knew exactly how many would sit at her
table." Addie went to
Bethel
School, a mile from the Blanton home - at
one time they had three
teaches.
The school building was also the church
house.
After the
eighth
grade Addie enrolled in Whiteright (sic)
College
for two years. She and Minnie Sweatt,
her husband's niece,
rode horseback
to the school in skirts and on side
saddles. "I had a dandy
little
pony named "Dan" who could pace and outrun
our other ponies.
We had
a good time thought I didn't like algebra
and I wasn't too good at
diagramming,
" she said.
Addie
Blanton met
Noah Columbus Sweatt at the Baptist
Church in Bethel, Texas. He had come
from Oklahoma to work
for his
uncle, Joe Sweatt, who lived there.
"We rode horseback
together -
for special used (sic - use) a beautiful
horse and buggy. For
picnics
and revivals meetings we rode in a wagon
with other young
people.
Two years later we were married in my home.
I was 18
years
old. When Loys, our first child, was a
year
old we moved to Davenport, Oklahoma, where
my husband's people
lived.,
It took us three weeks to go in a covered
wagon. "Though my
husband's
father, John Sweatt, was part Cherokee, I
had never lived around
Indians
and I was scared, " Mrs. Sweatt
said. My
father was part French and brown eyed;
my mother was part Dutch, dark skinned and
blue eyed. They
had no
help after leaving the farm to live in
Whiteright (sic), but took care
of each other.
The
Sweatt Family lived in Davenport until
Marguerite was
school age and Lillian a baby. They
moved to a farm at
Georgetown
(by the trolley line) near Fort Gibson and
farmed four or five
years.
They worked hard hoeing and picking cotton
and raising their own
food.
A man of foresight, Sweatt became one of the
first diversified
farmers
switching from all cotton to include crops
such as corn and
alfalfa.
The same was true of livestock. With
the surplus they found
outlets
for poultry, eggs, milk and butter.
Sweatt also clerked in a
store
during the winter.
The next
move was
into Fort Gibson, where Sweatt operated
a cotton gin. One fall Addie weighted the
cotton on the wagons - then
weighted
the empty wagons. In Fort Gibson the
children all graduated
from
high school. From there Loys went to
A&M College in
Brian, Texas;
the girls to
Northeastern, Tahlequah. This
meant
packing a
trunk, riding a train - to Tahlequah on the
Frisco - and living a whole
term before returning home. Today the
children marvel at the
work
and management it took to pay for the extras
in high school (for such
things
as music lessons) and then on to
college. Loys played the
saxophone
and Marguerite the violin in the high school
orchestra. She also played
the banjo and both girls played the piano.
On March 13,
1933
came the first family tragedy with
the death of the father. He wasn't
quite 50 when a leakage of
the
heart succumbed to
pneumonia.
Afterwards,
Mrs. Sweatt stayed in Fort Gibson,
two years, clerking in a store until her
father died in
Texas. She
stayed with her
mother
for
the next 10 years but continued to work in a
department
store. After her mother died Mrs. Sweatt
came to Tahlequah and worked
another
10 years in the Stauss Drug - until she was
75 years old.
"Some people
are ashamed of having to work hard but my
family never felt that way, "
she said. Mrs. Sweatt spends most of
her time with Marguerite
and
Lillian - a teacher in Tulsa. Loys and
family live in
Kansas.
Addie Sweatt keeps busy and has crocheted
all granddaughters an afghan
and great granddaughters a poncho. All
told she has eight
grand and
14 great grandchildren.
Research note: Addie Blanton Sweatt's
mother, Julia Ann
Blanton,
was born in Rutherford Co., NC. She
was the daughter of
Fannin Co.,
TX pioneers Stephen Fletcher Blanton, a CSA
veteran, and
Sarah McDaniels.
Addie's father, Benjamin F. Blanton, was
also born in Rutherford Co.,
NC
and he was the son of Benjamin Edward
Blanton and Mary Ann Feagans.
Source: The Pictorial
Press,
Tahlequah, Oklahoma, Thursday, April
18, 1974 (article
featured
photo
of Addie Blanton Sweatt crocheting an
afghan)
