Overview
Location
near the Red River below Fort Washita, Oklahoma
Date Constructed/ Founded
1844
Associated Surnames
Love, Merrick
Historical notes
According to the narrative of ex-slave Mary Lindsay, Sobe Love, along with his relatives Benjamin Love, Henry Love, and a large group of Chickasaw Indians left Mississippi for Oklahoma in 1844 under stipulations of a treaty. The group settled at the Red River, below Fort Washita. There they endured low swampy land ridden with malaria and smallpox until eventually Sobe's settlement flourished into a large farm with about one hundred slaves.
Without the approval of her father, Sobe's daughter Mary married a poor white blacksmith named Bill Merrick. They moved to Texas, along with Mary's servant Vici, where Bill established a blacksmith shop, on the big road between Bonham and Honey Grove. Mary and her servant returned to the Love Farm for a brief stay. Mary Love, daughter of William and Mary Love, was sperated from her family when Sobe gave her to his daughter Mary Love Merrick before her return to Texas.
After the end of the Civil War, Mary had reunited with her brother Franklin in Texas, and returned to her birthplace at the Love Farm to live with her mother and sisters.
Associated Slave Workplaces
none
Associated Free Persons (Chickasaw)
- Sobe Love - owner
- Lottie Love - wife of Sobe Love
- Mary Love Merrick - daughter of Sobe and Lottie Love; wife of blacksmith Bill Merrick (white); moved to Texas
Associated Enslaved Persons
Slaves of Sobe Love
From "Voices From Slavery", narrative of Mary Lindsay, edited by Norman R. Yetman, 2000
- William Love - purchased from Chick-a-lathe by Sobe Love
- Mary Love - wife of William Love
- Mary "Ka-Chubbe" Love Lindsay (b.1846-d.?) - daughter of William and Mary Love; sent to live with Mary Love Merrick (Texas) when she was a little girl
- Franklin "Bruner" Love - son of William and Mary Love
- Hetty Love - daughter of William and Mary Love
- Rena Love - daughter of William and Mary Love
- Vici Love - Mary's personal servant
Note: Mary Lindsay recalls that Sobe Love owned about a hundred slaves
Research Leads and Plantation Records
Miscellaneous Information
References
- Yetman, Norman R. Voices From Slavery: 100 Authentic Slave Narratives. Dover Publications Inc. 2000.
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