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Julia Big Snake’s great-great-grandson showed up on my backdoor step to carry off the non-working upright freezer. The man was tall, like
those of the Big Snake family line, and he slid the big appliance onto the back of his truck with such ease he might have been doing the two step on a dance floor.
We did have a moment to visit and he was interested in our mutual ancestors, Sam Little Cook and Esther, our grandparents, and, of course, I could tell he wanted to know more about Julia, his grandmother.
I must remember to tell him this story:
Julia was a big woman. She was in fact unusually large. It was told she was so momentous in size the 101 Ranch actually used her in their western carnival-like show.
“Now Julia,” Coronel Zack could be heard to say, “Put that man down, you can’t go around picking people up off the ground from where they are standing, not if you want to get along. You are scaring the wits out of him.”
Dutifully, Julia was ready to obey her employer and owner of the Western show, this Miller brother, as she dropped the man she had been holding in the air.
Julia loved the “picture shows” that came to Ponca via the Poncan theater. On this particular night she enlisted some of her family to drive her to town.
She was patiently waiting in the car while her escort stood in line to buy tickets.
As it happened there was a crowd of boys, who decided to torment this very large Indian woman. She mostly ignored their taunts until one of them crawled on top of the car.
Her size didn’t hinder her as far as quick movements were concerned. She was suddenly out of the car, reached down to the running board and lifted the entire car up resulting in sliding the boy off the top as easily as if the car was a child’s toy. Needless to say, the boys were ready to stop their tormenting her so they could get away from this giant of a woman in a hurry.
Many were the stories Gramma told of her niece, Julia Big Snake.
those of the Big Snake family line, and he slid the big appliance onto the back of his truck with such ease he might have been doing the two step on a dance floor.
We did have a moment to visit and he was interested in our mutual ancestors, Sam Little Cook and Esther, our grandparents, and, of course, I could tell he wanted to know more about Julia, his grandmother.
I must remember to tell him this story:
Julia was a big woman. She was in fact unusually large. It was told she was so momentous in size the 101 Ranch actually used her in their western carnival-like show.
“Now Julia,” Coronel Zack could be heard to say, “Put that man down, you can’t go around picking people up off the ground from where they are standing, not if you want to get along. You are scaring the wits out of him.”
Dutifully, Julia was ready to obey her employer and owner of the Western show, this Miller brother, as she dropped the man she had been holding in the air.
Julia loved the “picture shows” that came to Ponca via the Poncan theater. On this particular night she enlisted some of her family to drive her to town.
She was patiently waiting in the car while her escort stood in line to buy tickets.
As it happened there was a crowd of boys, who decided to torment this very large Indian woman. She mostly ignored their taunts until one of them crawled on top of the car.
Her size didn’t hinder her as far as quick movements were concerned. She was suddenly out of the car, reached down to the running board and lifted the entire car up resulting in sliding the boy off the top as easily as if the car was a child’s toy. Needless to say, the boys were ready to stop their tormenting her so they could get away from this giant of a woman in a hurry.
Many were the stories Gramma told of her niece, Julia Big Snake.
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