Lula Brannon Briscoe, ca. 1903. Courtesy of the Brannon/Briscoe family
It’s time for Episode 17 of “Voices from the West,” our blog series featuring audio recordings of historical documents from the Museum’s Dickinson Research Center.
Our goal is to show that history is more than a timeline. At its core, it’s about people. And not just the famous and infamous, but the everyday and ordinary. If you missed previous episodes, you can start here.
About Lula
The oldest of six children, Lula had moved with her family from Texas to the Chickasaw Nation in 1898. They settled in Sugden, a small community near today’s Texas border that consisted primarily of farmers. She married Robert Willis Briscoe and together they had five children.
Listen Now
[audio mp3="https://nationalcowboymuseum.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/17-12191903.mp3"][/audio]
Store interior, Payne County, Oklahoma ca. 1905. Robert E. Cunningham Oklahoma History Collection. Dickinson Research Center. National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum. 2000.005.5.09A&B.
Fun Facts
Lula worked in the Jackson & Bird General Store in Sugden and the interior likely looked similar to this store in Payne County, Oklahoma. The Jackson and Bird families also operated a dry goods store in Clay County, Texas, about 40 miles southwest of Sugden. Lula knew the families well enough to receive an invitation to Leva Jackson and John Bird’s wedding. The couple married in Clay County and lived in Texas until moving to Oklahoma City around 1935. They had two children: Ben and Beverly.
