Oakie's NW Corner...
Well! I spotted my first combine, harvester of the 2003 wheat harvest
season on the highway this last week. I hear tell they are starting
to cut in the southern parts of the state. The NW parts of Oklahoma
probably will not be harvesting for another week or so, but the
wheat is ripening fast with the 90-plus temperatures, sun, wind
and rain.
50th Anniversary of Monfort Fire...  The
middle of this last week (Wednesday, 28 May 2003) found us in a
daze, gazing at the memories of the 50th Anniversary of the Monfort
Drugstore fire. Also, a reminder from the youngest Monfort daughter
(Monet) jogged the memory cells concerning this early morning, devastating
fire that destroyed one of Alva's downtown landmarks on the Northwest
corner of 6th Street & Barnes Avenue when the Monfort Drugstore
burned, 28 May 1953. Click on the photo for more information and
photos about this fire.
 Summer
of '38 in Europe... Are you ready for some Summer of '38
photographs of Uncle Bob's
trip through Europe? I have stuck them over at Oakie's
Webshots in a folder entitled Summer
of '38. Bob's dance band played in 3rd class on the Ship Europa
during their Summer of '38 trip to Europe. They ventured to Italy,
London, Germany, Netherlands (Amsterdam and Utrecht), etc... Here's
a photo showing a Rhine Castle on the top of the mountain near Stolzenfels,
Germany.
The photo of Utrecht in the
Netherlands is interesting to this writer, because our VanKouwenhoven
(Conover) Ancestors came from Utrecht, Netherlands to Flatlands,
Long Island, New York (New Amerstoort, NY). Do some of these landmarks
still stand in 2003?
Back to NW Oklahoma history... In the Woods County Pioneer
Footprints history book I found a map showing the Woods County
school districts -- where Liberty 35 School was located. If you
go about two miles north of Hopeton on hwy. 281 and turn back east
two miles, on the southside of the road -- the Woods
County Map marked with a red "X"
shows where Liberty 35 school was located and where my Grandmother
Constance Warwick (McGill) taught school during 1904-1905.
When you are glancing through the Mailbag Corner this week, take
note of the Carmen IOOF
Home concerning Edmund
Stevenson. His son, Clyde, sent us some photos of the inside
of the Carmen Home and a copy of his dad's application as a resident
of the IOOF Home from December, 1907 to June 3, 1910 when Edmund
left the home and found work in Oakwood,
Oklahoma.
As to where Oakwood is located...  I
ventured through that rural, little community this week. If you
head southeast out of Seiling, Oklahoma on hwy. 3 (where hwy. 270
& 281 join with hwy. 3) for about 20 miles you will see on the
rightside of the road a road sign pointing to the right that reads
"Oakwood." I took that little detour to see what was there.
On the Main Street that runs east and west I found what some might
call a ghosttown and some empty buildings... One building being
the Oakwood Feed Store. The community is not exactly a ghosttown,
though. There are still a few residences and a First
Christian Church with a huge, old bell in it's bell tower.
Another Ghosttown in the Panhandle... I guess I am going
to have to make a trip out to No
Mans Land one of these days and check on the ghosttown of Baker
(Bakersburg), in eastern Texas County on highway 64 (about halfway
between Turpin and Hooker). Another reader sent us some information
about this panhandle ghosttown that you can read in the Mailbag
Corner.
 We
have reached the end of May 2003 with the June Wheat Harvest just
around the corner. Besides that, the first Saturday in June (June
7th) is the Annual Nescatunga Arts Festival in downtown Alva, Oklahoma.
If you don't have any plans for next weekend, head for Alva, in
Northwest Oklahoma. While you are in town, take a tour of our Murals
of Pioneer history. They have finished the mural that is on the
W. W. Starr Building
on the Southeast corner of 7th Street & Flynn Avenue.
Take care and keep cool, safe during Oklahoma's 2003 wheat harvest.
Watch out for the combines, farmers and harvesters traveling on
the rural roads and heading north. Keep sharing those Okie Legacies.
AND... See you safely next week, Friday, June 6th when our next
issue of The Okie Legacy comes out.
~~ Linda "oaKie" ~~
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Looking For An Old Friend!
It
was 14 September 1979 when this picture of an old friend (almost
like a sister) was taken. Ellen Faus is shown holding her youngest
son, Stewart Faus (born 1979), with her oldest son Baron Buss
(born ca. 1973) seated next to her. We became friends down in
Clear Lake City, Texas before she and her husband, Harry Faus,
Jr., moved their family to Richmond, Virginia in the late 1970s.
After leaving Richmond, Virginia,
they headed back towards Houston, Texas for a few years before
they ended back east somewhere in the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
area near Harry Faus' parent's. That would have been in the early
1980s sometime. I haven't heard from them since. I would love
to reconnect with Ellen and her family again.
If anyone out there knows the whereabouts
of Ellen Faus (55 yrs old), Stewart Faus (24 yrs old) and Baron
Buss (30 yrs old), I would love to hear from you or them. Contact
Linda at paristimes@earthlink.net. Thanks for your help!
Menu:
Linda K McGill Wagner
c/o WWW Publishing Co
PO Box 619, Bayfield, CO 81122
Thanks! You can also view The OkieLegacy online. Copyrighted © 2008 by WWWPubCo & OkieLegacy.
All Rights Reserved.
|
Mailbag & Links Corner....
 Carmen
IOOF Home ... "My dad (Edmund Stevenson) was at IOOF home
in Carmen - date of admission Dec. 25, 1907. Is there any records
of this home? He had three sisters and one brother in Carmen. Chole
Stephenson buried at the (IOOF)
Cemetery is my Aunt (Chole Nellie Stevenson). I also have pictures
of this Home in a booklet that they made. Some taken inside with the
childern and the people that run the home. My
Dad's paperwork. Is there any records of this home?" -- Clyde
Stevenson - E-mail: clydedean@bigplant.com
Robert Stephenson Family... "I am interested in your website
because the names STEPHENSON, WARWICK, GAY, McCLURE, EWING, GUINN,
among others, are listed.
I have a particular interest in James
STEPHENSON and Ann GARNER. Among the various family pages on the
Internet at Ancestry.com, or at the LDS FamilySearch site, in the
list of children belonging to these two is the name Robert STEPHENSON,
born around 1776, in Greenbriar, West Virginia or Augusta, Virginia.
There is no other information, and sometimes the name Robert is
not shown at all.
I am looking for Robert STEPHENSON,
who married Elizabeth WHITLEY, in Lincoln County, Kentucky, 28 May
1793. Elizabeth was the daughter of Col. William WHITLEY, the famous
frontiersman, soldier and friend of Daniel BOONE, George Rogers
CLARK, Issac SHELBY, the HOUSTONs, the CRAIGs, the LEWIS' and other
famous people of the time. Col. WHITLEY was killed in the Battle
of the Thames, War of 1812. He supposedly shot and killed the famous
Indian Chief, Tecumseh. His home, the Whitley House, in Stanford,
KY, is a Kentucky State Historic Site, and on the National Register
of Historic Places. WHITLEY's grandson was Phillip SUBLETTE, the
famous explorer and mountain man. SUBLETTE was born in the Whitley
House.
All the sons and daughters of Col.
WHITLEY married famous or well-known people. Elizabeth was his first
born. I know of all the children of Robert STEPHENSON and Elizabeth
WHITLEY, and can trace our ancestry down to my husband, from the
time they left Kentucky and traveled to Madison/Limestone County,
Alabama and from there to Lamar County, Texas in 1846. But....I
know nothing about Robert STEPHENSON. I have searched and searched
for years. It is said by some that he is the brother of James STEPHENSON
and David STEPHENSON, who were in Lincoln County, Kentucky, around
the same time. Much is known of the famous and well known people
associated with the WHITLEYs, but nothing of Robert STEPHENSON.
In searching for Robert, I have followed
leads about the GAYS in Woodford County, Kentucky, the McCLUREs,
the GUINNs, the HOUSTONs, the CLENINDENs, the EWINGs.... I could
go on and on as I have many files in my office. There seems to be
many Robert STEPHENSONs with the notation "went to Kentucky",
or born 1776, or born in Augusta, Virginia, and no other information.
Many of the sons and daughters of
Robert and Elizabeth went by the name of STINSON, the Scottish vernacular
of STEPHENSON. Our STEPHENSON family is connected to the BIARDs,
WHEATs, MINGs, BECKHAMs, NIXONs, and, of course, the WHITLEYs.
I hope you made it to the end of
this long story. I also hope that in your genealogical travels,
you may have come across a Robert that would fit.
Thanks for letting me bend your ear.
If you have any thoughts about the above, I would sure appreciate
hearing them." -- Marlene Stephenson - E-mail: marlene@inreach.com
Dick McGill Inquiry... "Years ago an elderly man named
Dick McGill gave my brother guitar lessons. As near as I can remember
he lived in a basement apartment in the Old Surety Life Building (Alva,
Okla.) or at least that is where he gave the lessons at. It's probably
been 35 years ago or so since then." -- Ken Case - kcase@itlnet.net
E Company 290th Inf... "I served in E Company 290th Inf.
Assigned to Weapons Platoon, Mortar Section, First Gunner. Remained
in Army and retired in July 1969 with the rank of SFC (E-7)Met Col
Duffner while stationed in Alaska at Fort Richardson. Col Duffner
was the Post Commander. Had other assignments in Okinawa, Philippines,
Korea and one other assignment back to Germany in 1958 thru 1959.
Finished my last ten years in Army in Finance Corp." -- Omer
H. Rimmer - E-mail: ohr0173@aol.com
1944 Air Cadets at Northwestern... "I viewed with interest
the Air
Cadet pics - Northwestern
campus in 1944. Early in that year my mother cleaned house for
Guy Barkley, who was the head engineer on campus and resided in the
living quarters in the power plant building. (The building is still
there, it's just to the south of the student union.)
I was a five-year-old pre-schooler at the time (they didn't have
kindergarten in Alva back then), and it was necessary for me to
accompany my mother there when she went to work.
I was fascinated by the Cadets marching
in cadence to their classes and would hurry out to the south side
of the building to watch them march down the street at the top of
the old horseshoe drive. There was just one problem . . . the dog.
One of the groups had a rather large
dog mascot that would start barking at me and chasing me as the
Cadets marched by. The Barkleys kept a trailer with stock racks
on it and threw their trash in there.
I assume that it was hauled to the dump when it became full.
At any rate, the stock racks served
as a ladder for a frightened five-year-old and I would climb out of
reach of the dog. The canine would snarl and bark for a while and
then seem to realize that the cadets had passed him by. He would take
off after them and I would be relatively safe for another day. Thanks
for the memories." -- Jim
Monet Monfort & Church Choir... "Hi, Linda, you surely
do not remember me. I am the brother of Jean Melton. I graduated Alva
High in 1962 and now reside in Colorado Springs. Some of my classmates
are looking for Monet Monfort, and I noticed on your wonderful website
that Monet's eldest sister married Robert
Lee McGill, who was apparently your father's brother. Perhaps
you can direct us to Monet. I will send your site URL to Jean, so
she can see her picture in that Christmas tree (Presbyterian
Church Choir -1950). Very interesting!" -- Joe
 Liberty
35 School 1904-05 & Benningfield Photo... "Thanks for
the newsletter. I like it. Can I subscribe to it? I looked at the
photos together (mine and yours). I cannot tell who is Ethel and Eva.
However, I can say that the second boy in from the left on the first
row with blondish hair dark pants and jacket and white shirt is Ernest
(Ernie) and the tiniest blond boy dressed all in dark clothes on the
front row is Earl. In fact the writing goes in order on them but the
names are switched. Hope this helps with that picture. Please keep
me in mind if you get any other Benningfield photos from anyone. I
am very interested in the early Oklahoma stuff. Thanks again this
has been very helpful. I really enjoy looking at all these old pictures."
-- Alice - E-mail: benningfield@cox.net -- [Liberty
35 School Map]
Ghost Towns - Baker, Oklahoma,
Texas County (Map)... "One place that surely a ghost
town, if even that, is Baker. It is (was?) in eastern Texas County
on highway 64 about half way between Turpin and Hooker. I actually
lived there in 1942 and 1943. In those days it was known as Bakersburg.
Even then there wasn't much there --- one store, a post office, probably
a grain elevator, and about 65 people. There was also the school,
known as the Eureka School. The school had been at one time 2-3 miles
northeast of Baker until the building burned in about 1935. The replacement
was built at Baker. My father was the superintendent of this school
when I lived there. Baker was a railroad crossing point. The Rock
Island ran from Liberal, Kansas, in a south-southwest direction while
the Missouri, Kansas, and Texas (MK&T, formerly known as the Beaver,
Meade, & Englewood (BM&E)) ran east-west. The trains on the
latter route always had to stop at the crossing point while a wooden
bar was swung aside to clear the way. I don't have any pictures, but
these are a few things I remember." -- Gary - E-mail: actgat@worldnet.att.net
History of Eureka Public School... "The original Eureka
School District (colored area on map) was established in 1908 on the
NE corner of Section 10, Township 5, Range 19, on the Robert T. Wray
homestead. Sold to O.P. Bookless on May 16, 1916. There was one teacher
until the 1917-1918 school year, when they had two teachers. The 1914-1915
school year listed 15 families and 31 students on the schoolastic
census. One teacher for all 8 grades. In the 1918-1919 school year
there were 3 teachers. In 1923 a new school building was built on
Section 22, Township 5, Range 19." -- School
Building Pictures - Eureka
Public School - Searchin'
& Researchin" Genealogy -- [Texas
County, Oklahoma - Genealogy & History]
Real Ice Cream Recipes... "I found a simple authentic
ice cream recipe on Food Network. I thought that this might be a great
start to a challenge to find the perfect ice cream recipe and get
people to submit recipes to www.okielegacy.org/cookbook."
-- MWags
Old Fashion Ice Cream
Memorial
Day - The Wall... "This country has set aside Memorial
Day to honor Americans who died in battle. Back on May 5, 1866, the
residents of Waterloo, NY marked the first observance of Memorial
Day, also called Decoration Day, by honoring the soldiers killed in
the Civil War. Businesses were closed, flags were flown at half-mast
and people decorated the graves of the fallen soldiers. Today, to
honor America’s men and women in memoriam, Aristotle Internet
brings you The
Wall, a place to pay tribute or write a remembrance. All are welcome
to participate."
101
Ranch... You might want to check out this site. The
101 ranch sprawled among 110,000 acres of leased Indian lands across
four counties. It was a working showplace, self sufficient and employed
thousands of people. It was founded in 1879 by Col. George W. Miller,
Confederate veteran.
HURT Family Link... "Mother had a uncle by the name of
Frank Hurt, whom had a son James Hurt whom married Venus Lillian Nesiba.
Mom wrote on back of the picture, James Hurt and his spouse Venus.
BUT I came to the conclusion .. it was actually Frank Hurt (His father
was James) and Frank the one whom married Venus Lillian Nesiba. I
will have to order their marriage record for sure. Sending out the
picture copy on paper also. Hope someone will know the others in the
picture. Mom just turned 82 years young on May 20. Venus' parents
were Joseph Nesiba (Marriage record listed as Nesyba) and Anna Hurt.
Anna was not a relative to my Hurt's. Anna Hurt parent's, Anton and
Eloize/Louise Hurt. So -- connected by marriage... but now to find
where my Hurt's were from in Bohemia. Plus... mom just sent me a picture
copied on paper of Venus Lillian (Nesiba) Hurt with her husband in
back of her, and two other couples in the picture. Will be happy to
send this picture to you... or others to identify the other couples.
Please do give me your address to run this picture by anyone interested
in helping out. Thanks again." -- Marilyn Huddleston - E-mail:
bill1243@juno.com
Magill - Roane County, TN... "Does anyone know of a William
and Joseph Magill, who were residents of Roane County, TN in 1855
and for at least 7 years prior to this? They are not my line, but
have found their signatures on a document about Martha Watson who
was applying for bounty land and wondered more about them... and whether
anyone related to these people wanted a copy of the said sigantures?
Many thanks." --
Jenna - E-mail: munchkinjen@hotmail.com
Monfort Drug Fire 50th Anniversary... "I'm the grand-daughter
of J.W. Monfort, early pioneer and businessman in Alva, owner of the
original Monfort Drug, 1894. My father, Marion Strawn Monfort joined
J.W. as a pharmacist in the late 1920's. He and my mother, Hazel Darling
Monfort, a pianist with studio in Alva lived here untill 1957. They
had 3 daughters: Felicia, Toni (Joyce Antoinette) and Monet. Toni
is married to Jerry Addleston, has one son, Stewart Hill and lives
in central California. Monet married Rod K. Lion, United Airlines
Pilot, in 1968; they have 2 daughters, Tristina Lindsey, and Angela
N. Phillips and a grandson, Eric and granddaughter, Cheyenne. Monet
now lives in Kent, Washington. I appreciate the section on Bob
McGill, my brother-in-law, who I adored as a child. The photos
of devastaing Monfort Drug
Fire were interesting also. MAY 28, 2003 is 50th year anniversay."
-- Monet Monfort Lion - E-mail: granmonet@nwlink.com
Oklahoma Music
Hall of Fame... "Oklahoma's musicians will make your
heart sing. Muskogee, Oklahoma is the home of the Oklahoma Music Hall
of Fame. Please visit!
Moman Pruiett... "What a great site. Attended a presentation
on Moman Pruiett last night 27 May 2003) and wanted to see more about
him. Your site was the answer." -- Nancy
Waynoka Miller's & Dean Spencer... "I found your site
looking for mentions of Dean (Spencer) on the net. There was a story
somewhere about the Freedom Rodeo where he was briefly mentioned.
Yep, I am from the Waynoka clan. I enjoyed the historical accounts
of the POW Camps near Alva.
My name is Brock Miller. You may remember me from jackpot ropings
at the ole Matison place near Quinlin. I was likely all of five years
old, and my dad, Larry Miller, would likely have ponied up a li'l
bit of money for such a thing. I have many memories from that place.
For the casual observer from the city.. possibly unsettleing rememberances
of learning first hand what calf fries are as I got to see them in
their fresh and uncooked state.. digging worms for fishing out of
a healthy supply of manure.. and watching mutt cowdogs.. (looked to
be blue healer and something else as memory serves..) feeding on the
carcass of a dead calf... Anyway.. I live in Ft. Worth Texas now..
and I cook for a living at the present moment.. the apple doesn't
seem to fall too far from the family tree.. as my grandmother Clara
Miller still keeps a hand in the Cafe in Waynoka.. anyway.. I wanted
to let you know in the event that you may not have known.. that my
grandfather on my mothers side.. E. Dean Spencer passed on a couple
of months ago. Dean announced the Freedom rodeo for many years.. and
I am sure that he is
remembered by many people in the area. You have a nice site, I hope
that others have enjoyed it as well. " -- Brock Miller |
Thanks! You can also view The
OkieLegacy online.
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