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Melvin Chatman's first Dudley interview is with Jack Reed of Dudley OK. The interview took place in March of 2004, at which time Jack was living in Bakersfield. Jack was born and grew up in Dudley. The interview is a recorded telephone conversation.
Mel: "I'm trying to complete a black history of Lincoln County. The unfortunate thing about the histories that have already been written is that they ignore the black communities. What I'm trying to do is identify them all, of which Dudley is one of the largest." People have called you the main person for the history of Dudley. John Harrison has also been especially helpful. Tell us when and where you were born and the names of your parents.
Jack: I was born 17 Jun 1940 in Dudley. My father, Creek Reed, came from Tylor TX. His mom, Laura Sullivan, came from Carl [Coyle?]. I think they married in Dudley. We are not related to William or Earnie Barnett & Irene Barnett, who lived further east on the section road toward Carney. They lived just inside Luther.
My earliest memories are of wagons and horses. In my childhood there was a store and 15-20 houses, but the town had been larger before. It had been much larger. No white people lived or had businesses in Dudley except one man who lived west of the house, up on the hill, not near the cemetery. My parents did not remember any white people living in Dudley or owning businesses, and I don’t either. The white man lived west of our house.
Mel: What year did your parents come to Dudley.
Jack: I don’t know. I just don’t know.
Mel: What did most people do in Dudley?
Jack: Most people farmed cotton, plus a lot of moon shining: "moon shining back in the day was everywhere, but we never fooled with it."
Mel [showing Jack an aerial map of Dudley made in 1933]: "Let me see if I know right where it's at." The RR line ran north and south, Jack says "right back of the old house." A road runs past Jim Harrison's house, going for 1-2 miles north then curving west. Another road goes due north." Jack says it curves around.
Jack: “There are two cemeteries."
Mel: “The one we visited, Enoch Bond is buried there."
Jack: "No, there's one west of the road that goes north, about 5 miles NW of the house (north from our old house then west about 5 miles). That railroad was the old Rock Island [Surely he means the Katy?]. I've got twin sisters buried there, Lesteen and Betty Jean Reid who died before I was born. It's a big cemetery, been there for years, probably has got slaves buried in it. Now they run cows on it. There are two cemeteries in Dudley.
Mel: Tell me about the other cemetery, not the one where Enoch Bond is buried. Jim Harrison and I visited it last year. Not hard to get to. Do you know the name of that one?
Jack: No, I couldn't say, but the other one is on the same road but maybe 7 or 8 miles west. You go north of our old house about a mile, the turn back west about 5 miles. The only people buried there were Dudley people. I got twin sisters that were buried there, Lesteen and Bettie Jean. They died before I was born. It was only Dudley people buried there.
Mel: One white guy I knew about that grew up in that area was Irvin Green. Another guy runs the only bait shop in Carney, and on the outskirts of town south of Carney. Had a little service station and a big tin-looking barn and the west side of the road.
Mel: Do you know the name Enoch Bond?
Jack: No, I don’t.
Mel: He was supposed to have been in Dudley in the very earliest years. Supposed to have road around on a horse with a big umbrella singing spirituals. Who were some of the most important people in Dudley that you remember?
Jack: I don’t remember anybody special like that.
Mel: Do you remember the Ellis family that lived in Chandler? I’m an Ellis, born in Chandler but I didn’t grow up there. I grew up in Michigan.
Jack: Then you should have grown up with the Burgesses?
Mel: Houston Burgess and all those people?
Jack: Bright people. Lived down under the hill in Chandler.
Mel: Yeah, I know them. My family lived on top of the hill.
Jack: Yeah, we played ball down in there. Dudley had a baseball team. Had big games on the 4th of July and at picnics. People came from all over to visit the Pilgrim Baptist Church, which was on the place where we lived. It was a big old church—two or three hundred people would come on Sunday. People came from Chandler, Carney, Langston, Wellston, Stillwater, all over. To that old church, that is. The new church was built north of there. That was beside the school.
Mel refers to a photo of William (or Ernie) Barnett and his wife.
Jack: “They lived about a quarter mile east from us. The house is gone now but the storm cellar is still there. Used to have a family there named Wallace Johnson. They lived on the hill where the oil well is. My family lived just outside of Dudley.
Mel: Growing up in Dudley, what was your happiest experience that you remember?
Jack: We always had a lot going on around there. We had a good time growing up.
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