My Uncle - Mountain Man, Indian Interpreter, Barber, Dentist

The 25 May 1859 issue of The Deseret News, contained the following marriage notice:

At American Fork, Utah county, on the 27th ult., by Bishop L. E. Harrington. Mr. JOSEPH A. GEBOW, Indian Interpreter, G. S. L. City, and Miss PRUSSIA P. WALTON, of Provo.

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NOTE: Prussia was the daughter of Alfred WALTON,
my 4th great grandfather.

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Joseph A. GIBAULT was born about 1822 in Canada. The parish register of l'Assomption Paroisse (Assumption Parish) St. Pierre du Portage, in the District of Montreal, Quebec, records the baptism of Joseph Amable GIBAULT who was born 12 Apr 1822 and baptized 13 Apr 1822. It is possible this was the same person.

(French) Le treize Avril de l'an mil huit cent vingt deux par nous Toussigne Prêtse a été baptisé Joseph Amable née hier du legitime mariage de Jean Baptist Gibault cultivateur de calla Paroisse St de Maria Louisa Rachel Evans, Parrain st Amable Archambault, marreine dame Catherine Josepha Louisa Degoine que ont signé avec nous le pere á ont déclaré ne scavoir signer.                     Amable Archambault, Jos deBelleville (English-a poor translation) The thirteenth of April one thousand eight hundred twenty two by us all signed Priest was baptised Joseph Amable born yesterday of the legitimate marriage of Jean Baptist Gibault, farmer of "calla" from St Maria Parish, Louisa Rachel Evans, Patron St Amable Archambault, godmother Lady Catherine Louisa Josepha Degoine that we have signed with the father has said they know how to sign.                     Amable Archambault, Jos deBelleville

By 1845 he was living among the Indians in the mountains (presumably the Rocky Mountains). He was the interpreter for Dr. Jacob Forney, Superintendent of Indian Affairs for Utah Territory.

In 1858 he was living in Great Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, where he began teaching a class on "The Snake or Shosone Dialect." In 1859 he published a booket called A Vocabulary of the Snake or Shoshone Dialect.

It appears, at least for a time, he became a Mormon, and on 27 Apr 1859, he married Prussia P. WALTON, who was born 24 Aug 1841 in Plymouth, Richland County, Ohio. (Prussia was the daughter of Alfred WALTON, an Elder in the church.) On 25 Sep 1859, Joseph advertised the opening of his "Indian School at Wardle's Hall in the 16th Ward." Cost was 25¢ per lesson.

Joseph and Prussia GIBAULT were listed in the 1860 census, living in the 9th Ward, Great Salt Lake City.

21 Jul 1860 Jos A. GIBAULT, age 38, indian interpreter, born in Canada Prussia GIBAULT, age 18, born in Pennsylvania

No further record of Prussia has been found and she may have died soon after, as Joseph married Pooewet, an Indian, and about 1861 had a daughter named "Bruzasly".

On 17 Sep 1864, The Deseret News reported:

JOSEPH A. GEBOW, was arrested on the 1st inst., charged with giving whisky to Indians. The case being a plain one, Gebow begged for mercy, promised reformation of character, which there is plenty of room for, and then allowed judgment to be entered pro confesso. Fined $30.

The 21 Sep 1864 issue of The Deseret News reported:

Jesse Ewbanks was brought before Alderman Clinton on Thursday last, charged with insulting the wife of Joseph A. Gebow. The defendent brought witnesses to prov that the house of Gebow was generally known as a house of ill fame, and that such propositions as were made by Ewbanks were of common occurance.

Joseph left Utah and moved to Wyoming Territory about 1865. The 11 Jan 1865 issue of The Deseret News contained a list of unclaimed letters at the Post Office, including one for Joseph A. GEBOW. Joseph and Pooewet had a second daughter, Josephine, born about 1866 in Wyoming Territory.

The 1870 census listed them living in Green River, Sweetwater County, Wyoming Territory.

27 Jun 1870 Joseph A. GEBOW, age 48, barber, born in Canada Pooewet GEBOW, age 35, Indian, born in Wyoming Brazasly GEBOW, age 9, Indian, born in Wyoming Josephine GEBOW, age 4, Indian, born in Wyoming

A sermon by Bishop Wooley, given sometime in the 1860s or early 1870s and published 1875 in Mormon Expositor, contained a reference to Joseph GEBOW who appears to be an excommunicated Mormon.

Our streets are filled with whores, thieves, gamblers, pimps, etc. The only way to purify it is to drive them out. Tear down their houses and send them where Gebow and his gang (looking toward the camp) went. That Gebow was a Mormon–Brother Gebow–was a Mormon once (laughter); but it is true though.

He moved back to Utah, living in Ogden, Weber County. He was listed in the 1879-80 Utah Directory, Odgen Business Directory, under two categories (Barbers and Dentists), as J A GEBOW, opposite Fireman's Hall.
The 1880 census listed him as a widower, living with the Alonzo and Marie Stephen family in Ogden.

3 Jun 1880 Joseph GEBOW, age 58, barber, born in Canada

No further record has been found concerning Joseph A. GIBAULT/GEBOW

The Northcutts and the Oklahoma Land Run

There were actually several land runs. For complete details of Oklahoma land settlement, visit the OKGenWeb site: http://www.okgenweb.org/~land/.

The Oklahoma "Land Runs"

1st Run: 22 Apr 1889 (Unassigned Lands)

The First Land Run opened all or part of the present Oklahoma counties of Canadian, Cleveland, Kingfisher, Logan, Oklahoma, and Payne. At noon on 22 Apr 1889, millions of acres land that was formerly Indian Territory (commonly referred to as "unassigned lands") was made available to white settlers. The land was laid out in 160-acre homesteads and could settlers could claim title to the land if they lived on the land and improved it. An estimated 50,000 people lined up on the border waiting for the noon "rush." The hopeful, by all kinds of transportation - horses, wagons, trains, bicycles or on foot) raced to claim their land. Settlers who illegally entered the territory early in order to claim the best land became known as "Sooners." By the end of the day, tent cities had sprung up from nothing at Oklahoma City, Kingfisher, El Reno, Norman, Guthrie, and Stillwater. Oklahoma City and Guthrie had populations of 10,000 after only half a day.

2nd Run: 22 Sep 1891 (Iowa, Sac and Fox, Pottawatomie, and Shawnee Lands)

In 1891, three Indian Reservations (which had been purchased from the Indians) bordering on the former "unassigned lands" were declared "surplus" and opened for settlement. About 20,000 people lined up to settle the land in Counties "A" and "B" which became Lincoln and Pottawatomie Counties.

3rd Run: 19 Apr 1892 (Cheyenne and Arapaho Land)

In 1892, 25,000 settlers "rushed" to settle land in Counties "C" (Blaine), "D" (Dewey), "E" (Day, obsolete county combined with Ellis county in 1907), "F" (Roger Mills),"G" (Custer), and "H" (Washita).

4th Run: 16 Sep 1893 (The Cherokee Outlet)

The 1893 run was the largest of the land runs. An estimated 100,000 people raced to claim land, The Cherokee Outlet was land leased by cattlemen from the Cherokee after the Civil War. The U. S. Government eventually purchased the land and allowed settlement of the area originally known as Counties K, L, M, N, O, P, and Q. It was decided that the inhabitants of each county could select the name after the run. The names selected were Kay, Grant, Woods, Woodward, Garfield, Noble, and Pawnee. (In 1907, after Oklahoma achieved statehood, the following counties were made from existing counties in the Cherokee Outlet: Alfalfa County was formed from Woods County; Ellis County from Day and Woodward Counties; Harper County from Indian Lands, Woods, and Woodward Counties; and Major County from Woods County.)

5th Run: 3 May 1895 (Kickapoo Lands)

The last, and smallest, land run in Oklahoma was the opening of 183,000 acres of Kickapoo land. The area was added to Lincoln, Oklahoma, and Pottawatomie Counties.

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The NORTHCUTT Family and the Oklahoma Land Rush

Shadrach Daily NORTHCUTT was an older brother of Willis NORTHCUTT (great grandfather my wife, Judy).

Shadrach was born in Champaign County, Ohio, and moved with his family to Wapello County, Iowa, then to Harrison County, Missouri, where he married Mary Jane FALLIS on 3 Nov 1872. Four children were born in Missouri and in 1882, they moved to Stafford County, Kansas, where they had four more children and lived until 1893.

In 1893, Shadrach made the land run into the Cherokee Outlet. He staked his claim to the South West Quarter of Section 28, Township 28 North, Range 6 West (in what is now Jarvis Township, Grant County), approximately 5 miles northwest of Wakita, and rode 80 miles to Kingfisher to file the claim.

His name is inscribed on the Homesteaders Memorial, located at the County Courthouse in Medford, Grant County, Oklahoma. The monument reads:

To the homesteaders and early settlers of Grant County this monument is gratefully dedicated. In recognition of their courage in the face of untold hardships the descendants sincerely acknowledge their sense of obligation.

These early Grant County settlers were among some 100,000 who lined up September 16, 1893 to race for a 160 acre claim. The homesteads scattered throughout an area comprising six million acres. The award went to the first person arriving, planting their stake and duly registering their location at the land office.

Others while not actually making the run acquired the land at an early date, either by purchase or barter, lived on it and raise their families and together with the homesteaders became the early pioneer settlers of Grant County, laying the foundation for our modern society.

The family, including seven children, settled on the claim. They lived in a small sod house, complimented by a large white tent. According to Mary's diary, they arrived "with our stock, goods, chattels, twelve head of horses, four cows, no money, no house, no fence, and no fuel except surface coal (cow chips)."

Ten years later, on 17 Aug 1903, Shadrach recieved the homestead certificate for his land. In 1907, the sod house was replaced with a two-story frame house, only a few months before Shadrach died. He died 19 Dec 1907 in Grant County.

Two of Shadrach's brothers later moved to Oklahoma, Jesse (1841-1917) and Willis (1854-1940), settling in Grant County.

Beer Barrel Polka

One of the first songs I learned to play on the accordion was "Beer Barrel Polka." The song, often called "Roll Out The Barrel," was composed by Czech musician, Jaromír Vejvoda in 1927 and was originally written as music only. The lyrics were added in 1934 by Václav Zeman and the song was known as "Škoda lásky" ("Wasted Love").

Will Glahé and his Glahé Musette Orchestra recorded the German version in 1934 and in 1939, recorded an English version, Beer Barrel Polka, with lyrics by Lew Brown and Wladimir Timm. The Andrews Sisters recorded the song that same year.

During World War II, the song became immensely popular with soldiers on both sides.

LYRICS

Common Version There's a garden, what a garden, Only happy faces bloom there And there's never any room there For a worry or a gloom there. Oh there's music and there's dancing And a lot of sweet romancing When they play a polka They all get in the swing. Every time they hear that oom-pa-pa Everybody feels so tra-la-la They want to throw their cares away They all go lah-de-ah-de-ay, Then they hear a rumble on the floor It's the big surprise they're waiting for And all the couples form a ring, For miles around you'll hear them sing: Chorus: Roll out the barrel, we'll have a barrel of fun. Roll out the barrel, we've got the blues on the run. Zing! Boom! Ta-ra-rel,      ring out a song of good cheer! Now's the time to roll the barrel, For the gang's all here.

1939 Andrews Sisters Version There's a garden, what a garden, Only happy faces bloom there And there's never any room there For a worry or a gloom there. Oh there's music and there's dancing And a lot of sweet romancing When they play the polka They all get in the swing. Every time they hear that oom-pa-pa Everybody feels so tra-la-la They want to throw their cares away They all go lah-de-ah-de-ay, Then they hear a rumble on the floor, the floor, It's a big surprise they're waiting for And all the couples form a ring, For miles around you'll hear them sing: Chorus: Roll out the barrel, we'll have a barrel of fun. Roll out the barrel, we've got the blues on the run. Zing! Boom! Ta-rar-rel,      ring out a song of good cheer! Now's the time to roll the barrel, for the gang's all here. Da-da-da-da, da-da-da-da, da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da Then they hear a rumble on the floor-or-or-or It's a big surprise they're waiting for, And all the couples they form a ring For miles around you'll hear them sing Zing do da do ding do da-do-do-day ----- instrumental break ----- Roll it out, roll it out, roll out the barrel. Dump-dump-da da-da da-dat en da-da-da-da-da. Sing a song of good cheer, 'Cause the whole gang is here. Roll it out, roll it out, Let's do the beer barrel polka.

Here is the 1939 version by the Andrews Sisters.



This version is by Canada's Polka King, Walter Ostanek And His Band (recorded in 1994). They sing the chorus but only play the verse.