lark, its owner and last occupant was an active member of the Oak
Hill church.

After occupying this building one or two years he moved to another one
near Red river and generously tendered the free use of this one for the
Oak Hill school. In 1885 Henry Friarson, another native teacher, taught
the school in this same "old log house."

All of these native teachers did the best they could, but deeply felt
their insufficiency for the task laid on them, by the pressure of an
urgent necessity. All had personal knowledge of the existence and
unusual privileges afforded the children and youth of the Choctaws at
Wheelock and Spencer Academies. It was also easy for them to see that as
farmers they succeeded as well in securing good results from the
cultivation of the soil as many of their Choctaw neighbors, and this
fact tended to increase their desire to have a "fair chance" and equal
share in the matter of educational privileges for their children.

The Oak Hill church and school happened to be near the center of the
widely scattered group of a half dozen churches that formed the monthly
circuit of Parson Charles W. Stewart. All who were interested in
securing a good mission school approved this location as the most
convenient for all of them, and, heartily uniting in an appeal for one,
pledged their united support of it, when it should be established.

APPEAL FOR OAK HILL

The appeal of the Choctaw Freedmen was presented to the Presbyterian
Board of Missions for Freedmen by Rev. Alexander Reid and Rev. John
Edwards, the missionaries in charge of the Indian work at Spencer and
Wheelock Academies, respectively.

In the early days many of the old Negroes were located near these
educational institutions and they were sometimes sent by their masters
to work for the missionaries. These men living in their midst had
opportunity to witness their extreme poverty, utter ignorance and
general degradation. They also heard their personal appeals for the
light of knowledge and Bible truth. Their sympathetic interest was
awakened and began to manifest itself towards them.

They were occasionally accorded the privilege of attending religious
services, and at Doaksville, during the ministry of Rev. Cyrus
Kingsbury, were permitted to hold occasional Sabbath afternoon meetings
in the Choctaw church. Primers, catechisms and testaments were sometimes
presented to them, and in this way a few of them learned to read the
Bible. The kindly