Duchess of Weaselskin

Bayfield, Colorado - According to the New York Tribune, dated Sunday, November 10, 1907, the big headline was reading, "Next Week Oklahoma Becomes the Forty-Sixth State In the Union." The front page also showed a couple of pictures of a typical Oklahoma village of eighteen years earlier of an Arapahoe Indian town; a typical town and street in Shawnee; and the product of a single farm (12 bushels of corn piled on the ground for want of cribs).

Who was the first president of the Oklahoma Flying Farmers? We heard through a comment on OkieLegacy Ezine Feature #1035 that Charles Ray Mickle mentions, "I have a belt bucket that says that H. G. "Heinie" Bomhoff was the first president of the Oklahoma Flying Farmers."

If this is so, we would like to learn more. If you have some facts that might help us sort out this information, we would like to have a copy to share with everyone out there through "The OkieLegacy Ezine."

N. Dale Talkington gave us this information about, "Henry Gilford "Heinie" Bomhoff . . . born June 21, 1898, Oklahoma; USA Died November 15, 1981, El Reno, Canadian County, Oklahoma, USA. He was born Heinrich Gottlieb Bomhoff, but he took a more American name of Henry Gilford Bomhoff. His burial was in the El Reno Cemetery, El Reno, Canadian County, Oklahoma, USA (The Angel Hunter Record added: Nov 28, 2008 Find A Grave Memorial# 31779889 ~N. Dale Talkington"

BUT . . . was he the first president of the Oklahoma Flying Farmers? This is what we found out online at International Flying Farmers

". . . . . On Aug. 3, 1944, the meeting was held and the Oklahoma Flying Farmers Association was born. The following year, after the idea had spread to other states, Bennett's vision became reality. On Dec. 12, 1945, the National Flying Farmers Association was incorporated under Oklahoma law.

"Airplane ownership then was not so very complicated. Farmers fixed their own tractors, and likewise, they fixed their own airplanes too. And, if they couldn't find a part, they made one. Farmers were very creative in their use of airplanes. During harvest time, they would land their airplanes in the fields to talk with the harvesters. One husband-wife team used its Piper to locate 200 prized Herefords scattered throughout a thousand-acre pasture. Sometimes the farmers-ranchers set their airplanes down in pastures during calving time to check on their livestock. As the first leader of the Oklahoma group, Heinie Bomhoff, had 4,000 hours to his credit, most of it flown at less than 100 feet while hunting coyotes. (Bomhoff, a self-taught flier, went on to teach some 200 of his neighbors to be pilots.)"

How's Winter in your neck of the woods? Any rain to measure in the old gauge? We have been hanging in the mid 40's during the day around the southwest corner of Colorado.

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On This Day In History (30 January)

America - On this day, 30 January 1948, Indian political and spiritual leader Mahatma Gandhi was murdered by Hindu extremist. The 78-year-old Gandhi, who was the one person who held discordant elements together and kept some sort of unity in this turbulent land, was shot down at 5:15 P. M. as he was proceeding through the Biria House gardens to the pergola from which he was to deliver his daily prayer meeting message. The assassin was immediately seized. READ ARTICLE

On Jan. 30, 1882, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the 32nd president of the United States, was born. Following his death on April 12, 1945, his obituary appeared in The Times.Go to obituary

On this day 30th January . . .

• 1649 - England's King Charles I was beheaded.
• 1882 - Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the 32nd president of the United States, was born in Hyde Park, N.Y.
• 1883 - James Ritty and John Birch received a U.S. patent for the first cash register.
• 1933 - The first episode of the "Lone Ranger" was broadcast on radio station WXYZ in Detroit.
• 1948 - Indian political and spiritual leader Mahatma Gandhi was murdered by a Hindu extremist.
• 1968 - The Tet offensive began as Communist forces launched surprise attacks against South Vietnamese provincial capitals.
• 1969 - The Beatles performed in public for the last time in a 45-minute gig on the roof of their Apple Records headquarters in London.

NW Okie's Corner

Bayfield, Colorado - Are there any Dever-Gwin descendants out there that might have stories and photos of Samuel Gwin (1825-1871) and Eleanor Dever, born 18 January 1834? I have a photo identified as my father's great grandmother, Eleanor "Ellen" Dever Gwin, that was amongst my Warwick photo album. The photo image on the left is a photo of my great grandmother Signora Belle "Sigga B" Gwin Warwick.

What I do know about the Dever-Gwin family connection is that our 2nd great grandmother (Eleanor Dever Gwin) was born 18 January 1834, in Back Creek, Highland, Virginia, to John Dever (1798-1862) and Elizabeth Gilmore (1802-1882). Eleanor (a.k.a. Ellen) married 12 October 1854, in Highland, Virginia, to Samuel Gwin (1825-1871).

Eleanor and Samuel Gwin had at least three children that I know of with the youngest being my great grandmother, Signora Belle (a.k.a Sigga B) Gwin (1860-1934), who married 16 January 1882, to John Robert Warwick(9 April 1857-1 December 1937). Signora's older brother was Walter P. Gwin (22 April 1856-?), who married Florence K. (last name unknown).

Signora's older sister was Reuhama "Hami" Gwin, born 15 November 1857, in Monterey, Highland, Virginia. Reuhama's death is still unknown, but we do know that "Hami" married Jobe Eckard (1845-1910) at the age of 20, in 1877. Jobe and Reuhama's children were Isaac (1880-), Lucy E. (1884-), Kenton (1888-1956), Charles Pinkney (1890-), William M (1891-), Oliver (1894-1954) and Samuel E. (1898-). Are there any Dever-Gwin connections still in Highland or around the area of Monterey, Virginia? Would love to connect and compare ancestry.

If you are one of those hooked on the NBC series, "WHo do You Think You Are," They are starting in again February 3, Friday's 8/7c, with 12 new celebrity histories. From the irish Civil War to the American Revolution, and fro the African nation of Cameroon to the Republic of Bulgaria, Season 3 of "Who Do You Think You Are?" will take you all over the world and inside the fascinating family histories of martin Sheen, Marisa Tomei, Blair Underwood, Reba McEntire, Rob Lowe, Helen Hunt, Rita Wilson, Edie Falco, Rashida Jones, Jerome Bettis, Jason Sudeikis and Paula Deen.

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100 Years Ago Today 30 January 1912

America - The big headlines topping the page of The World, 30 January 1912, were: "Wilson Tried to Win Col. Harvey Back - Rich Admirer Slashes Youth in flat of Mrs. Dan Reid's mother."

As the news story goes, an aged man slashed boy on visit to Mrs. Carrier, Dan Reid's mother-in-law. It goes on to state that a Porto (sic) Rican staggered from apartment and the assailant was barred from building. The victim was in the hospital. The assailant was D. C. Dwyer, who formerly employed the young man he attacked.

The gossip was abound in this so called splendidly appointed building as the West One Hundredth Street Station investigated the stabbing that occurred in the apartment of Mrs. Fannie Carrier on the tenth floor of the Bennington Corners Apartments, at the southwest corner of One Hundredth street and West End Avenue.

The police information gathered from various sources was that one D. C. Dwyer, an elderly and wealthy man, stabbed and badly injured a younger man while both were visiting Mrs. Carrier the evening of 29 January 1912. The young man was Mr. Dwyer's son, Umberto Roberts, a Porto Rican, 19 years of age, a private secretary of Dwyer.

The impression that he was the son of Mr. Dwyer was gained from the fatherly attitude of the elder man and his assertions to various persons that he looked upon the young man as a son and was willing to legally adopt him.

After Umberto Roberts left the employ of Mr. Dwyer, Roberts took a furnished room at No. 233 West 49th Street. His brother, who was i business in this city, said at that address that MR. Dwyer stabbed Umberto because of some statements about Mr. Dwyer that Umberto had made to MRs. Carrier and refused to retract.

The news article goes on to state, "Interest in the occurrence was heightened today by the actions of MR. Dwyer, who, on several occasions sought to force an entrance to the apartment of Mrs. Carrier but was not allowed even in the lower hallway of the Bennington Corners. Balked in his efforts to enter the house, Mr. Dwyer visited public telephones in the neighborhood, called up the Bennington Corners and breathed threats of his intentions to convey information in his possession to Daniel G. Reid of No. 115 Broadway and No. 875 Fifth Avenue."

It seems that Mr. Dwyer also visited the West One Hundredth Street station and complained that he had been assaulted in the apartment of Mrs. Carrier. He expressed a desire to go tot he West 54th Street Police court and swear out a warrant but did not keep an appointment with a detective who was to accompany him.

Mr. Dwyer was trying to force his way into Mrs. Carrier and bombarding the Bennington Corners with telephone messages, all the while the victim of the stabbing was a patient in St. Luke's Hospital. View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

Tulsa Oklahoma's Holland Hall School of 1922

Tulsa, Oklahoma - Can anyone out there help with the following message that was left as a comment in the OkieLegacy Ezine, Vol. 10, Iss. 8, dated 2008-02-24, Feature #3382?

There was no name mentioned. Only an email address listed in the comment. rpalma1@cox.net says, "I am writing a history of Holland Hall School in Tulsa, OK, founded in 1922. Mr. J. E. Crosbie is among the founders. I would very much like to learn about the other founders, esp. George S. Bole, Richard Mather Young, Thomas K. Smith, Frank L. Moore, and Henry N. Greis. (I have enough information on Waite Phillips, Wm Grove Skelly, and James A. Veasey.) Thanks! Contact Email: rpalma1@cox.net if you have any information and history of the Holland School, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, that was founded in 1922." View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

Holland Hall School of Tulsa, OK

Tulsa, Oklahoma - Wikipedia states that the Holland Hall School of Tulsa, Oklahoma is affiliated with the Episcopal Diocese of Oklahoma and the Episcopal Church. It was founded in 1922, by James Alexander Veasey, lawyer formerly employed by the Dawes Commission. The school was named after the first headmistress, Winnifred Shureman of Dutch background.

The campus consists of 162 acres with athletic buildings and the Walter Arts Center and a number of athletic facilities. Each having its own library. The school currently enrolls over 1,000 students and professed an "A cubed" philosophy of values - Academics, Athletics and the Arts.

It is located at 5666 East 81st Street, Tulsa, Oklahoma with grades Kindergarten through 12 and listed as a private school. View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

Our European Forefathers

America - We have been reading about the history of Highland County, Virginia this week and bring you some insights into the European forefathers that emigrated to America in the 17th century. The main reasons they emigrated were religious persecution and economic oppression

Why did certain countries establish the American colonies? Why certain other countries settlers established no colonies? These are just some of the questions.

We are all immigrants to some extent! We find that the causes of early America immigration from Europe was for religious intolerance and economic oppression starting back as early as the seventeen century, when in 1607 there was an actual beginning of those thirteen colonies which grew into the United States of America.

Back then it was not a pleasure trip to cross the Atlantic. The voyage often consumed more than a hundred days, and the speed of the sailing vessel was no greater than that of a man on foot. If the winds were contrary, the supply of water and provisions would fail. Disease like smallpox and others were liable to cause havoc in the crowded and untidy ships. Besides all that, there was the peril of shipwreck, and the further peril of capture boy pirates.

Passengers might congratulate themselves if his person were put ashore, no matter where the spot might be. Once safely across the ocean, the average immigrant was not al all likely to revisit his old home ever again.

It is no wonder why our forefathers sought the separation of church and state. Our forefathers believed in the freedom to choose the religion that was their own choosing without it being crammed down their throats and into their lives. That does not mean persecution was not brought to America. It was, but it never took deep root and was mild here to what it long continued to be in Europe.

As it was in the British Isles back in the seventeenth century, any sect that found itself in power proceeded to persecute other sects with a bigotry and cruelty which we should in they century find it hard to comprehend instead of falling into that persecution trap. It was thought that in America it was a wilderness where men could not agree might still get beyond elbow touch with another. It was so that the Pilgrims came to Massachusetts, the Baptists to Rhode Island, the Quakers to Pennsylvania, the Episcopalians to New York and the South, and the Presbyterians to the frontier.

Economic Oppression

We find that the long rule of the Roman Empire made Europe thoroughly acquainted with despotism. When it fell apart the lawlessness of the Western Empire became intolerable. The masses of people saw no other recourse but to put themselves under the protection of military chieftains.They toiled for the support of the leader and his household and followed him into war. They became known as serfs, villeins and lived in virtual slavery. the chieftains became the dukes and barons of the Middle Ages. They lived in castles, wore armor in battle, and boasted of their coats of arms. They were proud and overbearing, held labor in contempt and despised the serfs on whose toil they lived. There was no thought of social equality or intermarriage toward these peasants.

This structure of society was known as feudalism. It slowly gave way as new monarchies rose here and there. The nobility landlords were enclosing large tracts so that they might hunt deer and pheasants. This process of enclosure and the growth of population made the rents too high for comfort. Poverty was spreading; the yeoman farmer, the natural backbone of society, was being crowded to the wall. The farmer and the backbone of the society perceived that the future was with the mass of the people and not with the small privileged class. The land owners and aristocrats would control the government and determine the structure of society. Europe would remain aristocratic until land monopoly was overthrown, and this result would come only after a long and bitter struggle. The tendency of the high rent was to leave the toiler only enough to enable him to exist. It was the rent that determined the wages.

In America there was a seemingly boundless amount of wild land. Wild land meant free land, free land meant ownership, and ownership meant relief from unjust rents. Free access to land meant that direct participation in government would be generally diffused. It further meant that the resulting society would be democratic rather than aristocratic. It was the desire for economic freedom that lured men to America even more than the desire of religious freedom.

Economic and religious opportunity were the two arms of the magnet that drew Europeans to America and made this country great. View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

17th Century European Emigration

America - England was foremost in breaking the power of feudalism and giving the masses of her people a will to assert themselves because she was a seafaring nation and laid nearer the American shore than was the case with continental Europe.

It was also believed that the strong religious sects were better able to take care of themselves than was of the other European lands, excepting Holland. The english were brave, sturdy and venturesome. They were empire builders by nature and inclination. Different classes of the English were impelled to go to America as several colonies were founded instead of one colony only.

It was Scotland, Wales and Ireland that contributed to the stream of emigration. The interests of the Scotch, Welsh and Irish in the new continent were identical with those of the numerous English, they did not seek to from colonies of their own.

Holland was small, but was the first commercial country of Europe and owned as many ships as all the rest of the continent. Holland was also the freest of the European lands when it came to the respect to civil and religious liberty. They were exempt from persecution and had a keen eye to business. The Hollanders founded a single colony primarily for the purpose of trade rather than agriculture. This took place, in New Amsterdam (New York).

Germany and Scandinavia took no interest in American exploration. Scandinavia was not then a united country. From 1618 to 1648 it was in the throes of the most terrible war that ever desolated Europe. Germany had not time to think of founding colonies of her own. Sweden was then a great military power. To find a haven for persecuted Protestants, her king started a little colony on Delaware Bay.

France, Spain and Portugal had been very active int eh exploration of AMerica. But the French were not emigrants by temperament or inclination. They had made no resolute effort to colonize the Atlantic seaboard. Spain and Portugal took little interest in lands which laid outside the tropics.

France and Germany sent many of their people to our shores. A bigoted king undertook to crush the strong foothold the Reformation had secured in France. His protestant subjects, known as Huguenots, were the most intelligent and enterprising of his people. They were the mainstay of French commerce and industry. The toleration extended to them by a former king was revoked and it was made difficult for a Huguenot to escape with his life. Yet 300,000 did get away and found a refuge in England and Germany. In England they joined the Puritans and adopted English surnames. In Germany they became in a large degree a German speaking people. These emigrants settled in New England and South Carolina where they were particularly numerous.

The devastation of the Palatinate, a province on the Rhine and bordering France was a part of Germany that was desolated by are. This province was made a temporary desert by order of the French king, when villages and farmhouses were burned tot he ground, orchard trees were destroyed and wells were filled up.

William Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania, invited the homeless people of Palatinate to pin his colony. This early German emigration was almost wholly from the valley of the Rhine and from Switzerland.

When the colonies of America were a century old in the eighteenth century, the inhabitants thought of themselves as Americans and not as Englishmen. They viewed with considerable disfavor the heavy volume of Scotch-Irish and German immigration which was setting in during this time and giving an alien appearance in part to the speech of the newcomers. The Scotch-Irish and Germans settled in the Highland of Virginia.

Because of the consequence of rebellion and famine at the close of the sixteenth century, the north of Ireland had become almost depopulated. The English invited immigrants to Ireland and it scarcely ceased between 1625 and 1782 to make alive a burden to them. The few native inhabitants were in a most wretched condition. The English government confiscated a great amount of the land, and took measures to repeople this province of Ulster, the natives being treated with slight consideration. The oppression of Ireland was both religious and industrial. The Scotch and Irish did not mix well and resulted in a war 1641.

The Church of England was made the established church in Ireland, and the Presbyterians were included among the Non-conformists, they were made to feel the displeasure of the government. The Scotch-Irish ministers were deposed imprisoned, or made to flee the country. Many people had to cross to Scotland to enjoy the ordinance of communion.

It was in 1639 that all the protestants of Ulster above the age of 16 years were required to take an oath binding them to an explicit obedience to all royal commands. The penalties were so severe that multitudes (Both men & women) fled to Scotland or hid themselves in the woods, leaving their homes to go to ruin.

After enduring oppression almost a century, the Scotch-Irish began flocking to America in 1718. The movement was flow at first, but in 1729, 6,000 arrived at Philadelphia. In some of the years following the number rose to 12,000, and by 1775 200,000 (a full half of the Ulster people) had crossed the Atlantic.

The emigrants from Ulster were among the hottest foes of King George during the crisis of The American Revolution. The loss of the American colonies was the price which England had to pay for her persistent hostility toward the Scotch-Irish.

It was believed as a matter of course, the emigrants to America in the colonial period represented the pick of the European nations. They were well above the mass of the people they left behind in intelligence, progressiveness and industry. BUT . . . this class was indigent, with good quality, yet poor with respect to worldly substance. The immigrants were of two sub-classes: redemptorists and convicts.One was voluntary and the other was involuntary.

The redemptorists were people more than willing to come to America, yet unable to pay their passage. They were given this name because they could redeem the cost of fare by a term of labor. Many were from Germany. The cost of passage was usually $80 to the adult and $40 to the half grown child. Small children were a no charge. ARticles of agreement were signed before leaving Europe. The ships were crowded, the hard bread was often moldy and the water bad. In one year 2,000 of these redemptorists died at sea or soon after landing at Philadelphia. This is where the surviving people were advertised to be sold for a term of years, and purchasers flocked to the port much as people no congregate at a county fair. The young and single were soon disposed of, but widows and elderly or infirm people were dull of sale. Such persons had children, their own passage was charged to the children's account, and thus the children had to serve extra time. Until the children were sold, the parents could not leave the ship.

When the term of servitude was over, the newcomer was a free man (person). But . . . if in the meantime he ran away and was caught and returned, his term was extended.

The other (involuntary immigrants) were not wholly made up of British jailbirds. Some had been kidnapped from British seaports. Some were married consorts, whom the other party, whether husband or wife, contrived to have sent out of the country. Some were homeless children. Still others were never do wells and other derelicts, sent here by their relations in order to be out of sight if not out of mind. Their actual cost of transpiration was $25 for each person and the average price paid by the planter in Virginia was about $150.

In 60 years 10,000 convicts were sent here from the famous "Old Bailey" prison of London until after the revolution when this practice had come to an end and England then proceeded to unload her trash upon Australia.

With respect to religious faith, practically all the colonials were protestant, excepting the English CAtholics in Maryland. View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

The Peculiarities of European Stocks

America - The peculiarities of the European Stocks that settled in America were The English, the Lowland Scotch, the Saxon Irish, the Hollanders, the Germans, and the Swedes that were of the Germanic stock, which was cool-blooded and persistent. The Welsh, the Highland Scotch and the native Irish were of the Celtic stock, which was more turbulent than the other and more impatient of restraint. The Huguenots were of the Latin stock, which, like the native Irish, was of warm sensibilities.

The English people had come from the North German coast eleven centuries before, and in this time had grown much away from their German cousins. The Englishman was earnest, dignified, and strong willed. He was also enterprising, industrious, and a lover of order. Wherever he settled he never failed to hold his ground.

The Lowland Scotch were shrewd and thrifty, much less under the influence of aristocratic ideas than their English kinsmen. The Highland Scotch were at the outset of the seventeenth century a cluster of disorderly clans, each one much given to fighting its neighbors and stealing their cattle. The Welch were industrious and prosperous, living on good terms with the English. The Celtic Irish had been much oppressed by their English masters because of their Catholic faith.

The Saxon Irish were derived front he English who settled around Dublin in the twelfth century. They developed a difference from the English, just as the english developed a difference from the Germans.

The Hollanders resembled both the English and the Germans. They were industrious, thrifty and progressive. The Germans from the Rhine had lived under very repressive rule, and because of this fact they were a little slow in getting used to the ways of colonial self government. These people came wholly from the farming and industrial classes. They were peaceable and industrious, yet clannish. The Huguenots differed from the English in being less stern in disposition, more active in mind, more intense in their affections, more chivalrous to woman, more flexible and hospitable to men and ideas, and more keen and enterprising in mattes of business. The Swedes, were few but excellent people and were soon absorbed in the population around them.

The Scotch-Irish during the colonial era were spoken of as Irish because they arrived from Ireland. They were unite distinct from the Celtic Irish. and were fundamentally Scotch, especially the Scotch of the Highlands. There was also a considerable mixture from the north of England and a slight sprinkling of Huguenots. They were a composite people, a stock that was usually forceful. View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe