The Okie Legacy
Oakie's Heart To Heart

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Millennium Edition - http://OkieLegacy.org

2 June 2001, Vol. III, Iss. 22

M County, O.T....

M County, O. T., pre-statehood, was once upon a time comprised of Alfalfa, Major and Woods County.

According to the research done by Mary Erskine, Hazel Dickson, Joan Hodgden, and the Cherokee Strip Volunteer League... "The Pioneer Footprints Across Woods County" states in an article written by Joan Wagner Hodgden (my husband's sister, deceased since 1986) that the Old Woods county was called "M" county and was organized for the land run of 1893 into the Cherokee Outlet.

When the run into the Cherokee Outlet started at noon, Sept. 16, 1893, the Outlet was surveyed and marked off into counties designated by letters from K thru Q. Woods County was originally called "M" county.

6 November 1894, a General election was held whereby three major political parties offered their own proposed names for the county... The Republicans proposed "Flynn"; the Democrats proposed "Banner"; and the Populists offered "Wood". As the rest of the story goes, the Populist party won, but due to a clerical error in registering the county.... It became Woods.

In 1907, pre-statehood, the county was divided into three counties... the eastern part became Alfalfa county; the southern part became Major county; and the part of Woodward County north and east of the Cimarron River (around Fairvalley, Freedom, etc...) was added to make the present day Woods county.

Great Uncle Charley...

Charles Robert & Elizabeth McGillGr-Uncle Charley & Gr-Aunt Sis still rest underneath the shade of the two overgrown cedar trees in a NW Oklahoma Cemetery located in Woods County. The gravemarker where Charles Robert McGill is buried with his wife (Elizabeth Nelson-Kidd McGill)are in the Capron Cemetery, Block 2, Lot 33, Plot 3 & 2, Woods County, Oklahoma.

According to Gr-Uncle Charley's Obit, Charles R. McGill was born in McPherson, Kansas, Sept. 5, 1884. Gr-Uncle Charley came to Alva, Woods County, O.T. with his parents in 1895. He attended the Goshen School District, Northwestern State Normal School. In 1905 Charley was the teacher at the Bethel School. He also taught school at Manila rural school and Gate, Oklahoma.

In 1909, Charley gave up teaching to become owner/operator of the McGill Drug Company & Garage in Capron, Oklahoma before entering the service in 1917 (WWI).

According the the 1911 edition of "The Capron Hustler," 9 June 1911 Charles married Elizabeth Nelson-Kidd (dau. of Captain John Nelson and Eliza Jane Boggess) at the home of the Presbyterian pastor (Rev. Kirkpatrick) in Woodward, Oklahoma.

Elizabeth Nelson (a.k.a. Aunt Sis) was born Feb. 19, 1871. She died Nov. 8, 1952. Elizabeth had a son by a previous marriage to her first husband, Daniel Kidd.

Charles Robert McGill GraveGr-Uncle Charley & Gr-Aunt Sis still rest their ancestral bones beneath the shade of the old cedar trees. Their grave marker is located under two, overgrown cedar trees, east of the Kidd family markers. The cemetery photo above was taken looking east towards the blacktop road that runs in front of Capron cemetery, in NW Oklahoma. I did a little tree trimming on the westside of the lower branches of the two cedar trees to get a better view of the McGill marker.

Oakie's NW Corner...

Although the evening thunderstorms & power outages hit Oklahoma hard this week, It did not stop me from scurrying across the NW plains of Oklahoma in search of ancestral gravestones & cemeteries.

For SALE: 1940 built Capron School, Woods Co., OKla.I found this empty (1940) Capron School barely standing on the northside of Capron's main street on the eastside of the road. It did have a "FOR SALE" sign out front, but.... you could see that it hadn't been used for years because the sky had fallen in on parts of it because smaller schools have since been consolidated with larger schools in the area. Leaving many smaller schools buildings to go unused.

Capron post office & old general storeIf you move on south down the main thorough fare of Capron, Okla., on the westside of the street is the local post office. Just south of that is an abandoned old general store of some type with an attached garage. The name on the building was faded so much so that this writer could barely read the name. These photos were taken looking north down the main street of town.

Capron Farmers Coop StationAcross the street from the post office is the local farmers Coop station. While I was there, a freight train could be heard tootin' its horn and giving a reminder that this once was an active little rural community once upon a time. The freight train blazed its way north towards Kiowa, Kansas carrying oil tankers on flat rail beds. The railroad tracks are on the eastside of Capron. BUT... there are now passenger stops anymore that I know of.

Oklahoma's Thunderstorms & Outages....

It has been reported on the news here in Oklahoma that over 44,000 residents/businesses across the state have experienced some sort of power outage with the thunderstorms that have passed through our state last weekend and during the week. While the Alva area had very little outage, they say the Alva area received 4.3 inches of rain this last week. I hope it stays dry Saturday, June 2, for the Nescatunga Arts Festival they usually hold downtown on the square.

This newsletter may be coming to your email programs a little bit early this evening. We are getting ready, like many other vacationers, to head for the majestic mountains for some silent solitude to regain the spirit of the soul. I will not forget about you. I want you to know that I still want to come smell the roses in your area and hear your legacies. Email Me! See you all next weekend from the majestic mountains somewhere out there.

-- Linda - "Oakie"

Linda K McGill Wagner
c/o WWW Publishing Co

Thanks! You can also view The OkieLegacy online. Copyrighted © 2008 by WWWPubCo & OkieLegacy.  All Rights Reserved.

 

Mailbag & Links....

A Star's Life...

I just wanted to share this "A Star's Life", an original by M.E. Wagner and Dedicated To DoRight Aunt Dorthy, 5/5/94. This was from Aunt Dorthy''s kids with Love on Mothers' Day 1994. Signed by Justin, Delano, Michelle & Nathan (in spirit) Colon, Robbie & Michael "M.E." Wagner.

A Star's Life...
Constellations overlay the night like diamonds
Retaining a wealth for which we all reach
And has a presence spanning incessantly,
A solitary star outshines its neighbors above.

She sparkles and gleams dancing above the rest.
Another luminary has fallen beneath her,
But she refuses to concede her established demeanor.
Her constellation glistens near offering adulation.

Outward toward the prow of the Earth,
The effulgentrays of the Sun are blinding.
A cloak of turquoise begins to blanket the night
As if to compete for control of the sky.

The luminescence engages to engulf the stars of the night
As a new day struggles to hide their glimmering presence.
At the summit of the vast vigor of this insolent Orb
Not even our illustrious star can shine unhindered.

As the day wares, the Rays develop fatigued and supine,
The mendacious light begins to flicker. The sky's ablaze
Disintegrating the deteriorated cloak of the darkness.
A single star surfaces and beholds a wish.

"I was told my Great Grandfather was a Sheriff in Alva, Ok., Woods Co. around 1888, is there any way to find out about this? Charles David Ross, born Feb. 25, 1868 and died Jan. 9, 1945 in Calif. He was born in MO and lived MO, OK, KS and Calif." -- Cathy
Old Washington School"Linda, I'm emailing a couple of pictures I have scanned of the old Washington & Longfellow schools. My schooling (1st & 2nd) were at Longfellow beginning in '44. Third grade was at Horace Mann, on the NSC campus, while the new Washington School was being built. We moved into the new Washington building for my 4th grade, which should have been about '47. Mr Harold Shirley was the principal at the new Washington School. In the vein of schools within the area, somewhere I have a picture of the 'Old Pleasant View School,' which was located 2 miles east and 1.5 mile south from the Dacoma corner on Hwy 64. Again, thanks for your weekly newsletter." -- Henry
"You know that I don't write you often but when I do it is important. Excellent new letter this time. They are all good but this one is special. Thanks." -- Ed
"Forgot to include this: 'The best index to a person's character is (a) how he treats people who can't do him any good, and (b) how he treats people who can't fight back.'. by Abigail van Buren. I think we know your Character." --. Ed
"Looking for info on a Joe or Joseph L. Clark of Woods Co. in 1933. Father was Lloyd Clark from Davies Co. Indiana.' -- Pat Clark
"I am searching for any marriages of James Hacker to a Mary Buckley and a marriage for a Samuel Hacker. This would have been near 1899 or early 1900s. If you have any information on this father and son that settled here briefly before moving back to Kansas let me know." -- Donna
Did You Know.... That just on the west side of the Wildcat Hills, in the Fairvalley community, Woodward county, O. T., the Ed Buckland family helped to organize the first school District 109 (Buckland School), located 1/4 mile north of his house on land now owned by McGill Sisters? I need to find out exactly where this school stood so I can put some kind of marker or reminder for those generations yet to pass this way.
"Many people will walk in and out of your life. But only true friends will leave footprints in your heart."
Nescatunga Arts Festival (June 2, 2001, Alva downtown square. Be there for the Arts! Keep the Arts alive!)... "Brings artists and crafts people from a four-state region to the downtown square to display and sell their handiwork. There also is entertainment and specialty food stands. The Nescatunga Arts Festival is usually held during the first week of June. " -- Alva Chamber of Commerce
"Great minds discuss ideas; Average minds discuss events; Small minds discuss people."
"Searching for J. M. Wing who marr. Sarah Eliz. Teller-Ruggles. marr. abt. l9ll. Sarah lived at one time in Stafford, Stafford Co, KS. b. in Keokuk County, Ia. She then went to Woods County, OK. and resided around Freedom, OK. Any info. would be greatly appreciated." -- Everett Evans
"The Populist Movement of the 1890s was a national farmers' movement. It was preceded in the 1870s and 1880s by farm organizations seeking reform: the Agricultural Wheel, the Farmers' Alliance, and the Colored Farmers' Alliance. American farmers faced many economic problems: low prices for cotton and other farm products, debts and mortgages, the crop-lien system, and the national money system. " -- Populism in Alabama
Populist Movement in 19th Century.... "One of the largest and most influential reform efforts in the late 19th century was the Populist movement. Born out of the concerns of farmers, the Populist Party was created to combat what many Americans felt was the domination of government by the industrial capital interests. In the elections of 1894 the Populists were able to elect several Senators and US Representatives. One of these was Congressman Tom Watson, a Populist/Democrat from Georgia. " -- Congressman Tom Watson - Perspective on US History
"Woods County is located two counties east of the Oklahoma panhandle along the northern border of the state with the Cimmaron River forming it's southern border making it easily recognizable as being triangular in shape.
     By 1890, the Outlet had been surveyed and divided into counties given the designations of K,L,M,N,O,P,and Q. The people were allowed to choose the name at the first general election held November 6, 1894. The Republicans chose the name Flynn. The Democrats chose the name Banner. The Populists won the election and chose the name Wood after a noted Kansas pioneer, Colonel Sam N. Wood. Through a clerical error the name was recorded as 'Woods'instead of 'Wood.'" -- Woods County History by LASR - Oklahoma Homepage
"The Populists attempted to include factory workers as 'fellow producers' to broaden the party's popular appeal. The Populist Party made sizable gains in 1894 and then joined with the Free-Silver wing of the Democratic Party in 1896 to support the presidential candidacy of William Jennings Bryan." -- Populist Party Platform (1892) Populist Party
The Populist Party.... "In the vast procession of American history, the People's party of the 1890s appeared and then passed into oblivion in the winking of an eye. The third party's heyday stretched from its victory in the Kansas legislative races of 1890 to the party's becoming an annex to Bryan Democracy in 1896. In those very few years, however, Populism permanently touched the soul of American politics by agitating issues that have never lost their vitality; namely who should rule and who should benefit from the fruits of modernization." -- A Centennial Historiography of American Populism by Worth Robert Miller

This is a Special Request of prayers, faith, hope and healing for all those who need it. Let us wish them all well and may all the electrically workers receive the respect & thanks they all deserve as they put their lives on the line when they go out to see that we have electricity to run our computers, keep our food cold, cook our meals, run our air conditioning, watch our news & weather alerts, just to mention a few.

Next time you see the electrically workers out in their buckets, 40 feet in the air... Give them a salute of thanks for all they do and put on the line just to see that we have electricity.

A Special Wish & Prayers of healing go out to the family of Dennis Pearson and to Dennis, himself. You see... Dennis was one of those power guys that got called out last week when Woodward, Shattuck and other Oklahoma communities had power outages caused by the thunderstorms that passed our way. He was one of those up 40 feet in the bucket working on the lines and fell face down on the ground. No damage was done to his spinal cord. He was rushed to University Center Hospital in Oklahoma City for surgery. May your prayers of faith, hope & healing reach Dennis and his family (Angie, Jessica, Carly, and others).

Let us wish them all enough... enough to pull them through this difficult time.

Let me leave you with this quote and thoughts... "Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is mystery. Today is a gift." Make the most of each day so that you can see what mysteries the tomorrow's bring for you todays.