They lived awhile in Elk county, Kansas. they later moved to Arkansas City, where they awaited the Opening of the Cherokee Strip. they staked their ground about 3 miles south east of what is now Tonkawa, Kay County, Oklahoma. Here they built the home they would raise their family in. Later they moved into Tonkawa, where they spent the remainder of their life. 29,30


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James was estranged in some degree from much of his family of origin. The story I heard was he sold his mother’s milk cow without permission. I don’t remember why he did it or other circumstances. When I visited Tonkawa and my grandmother, Anna Stone the widow of Thomas William Stone, we never interacted with his family and they lived only three or four blocks away.
Ralph (another brother) and William built houses on adjacent lots in Tonkawa. Alda, Ralph’s wife, and Anna were very very good friends. I remember sleeping in Alda’s home (long after Ralph’s death). Incidentally, Alda rehomed her black Cocker Spaniel, Lady, with us when she could no longer care for her.
My grandmother and others made it very clear that James Stone was a “sooner”. He snuck into the territory before the starting gun so he could stake a claim on very good land. The newspaper article in the note here, says the four men who stayed together in a group were able to claim four plots with a common corner. And none of the claims were contested—this doesn’t prove anything and the competition for land was fierce.
The newspaper article (in another note) says James horse, Dell, carried him 29 miles in 1 hour 47 minutes. This is about 16 miles per hour over rough ground. In addition, they didn’t take a direct route and the article says they had to take time to push a horse over a river bank for the others to follow. Wikipedia says a typical 100 mile Endurance Run for a horse will take 14 to 15 hours which includes stops for vet inspections of the horses. This is something like 8 miles/hour. I really doubt Uncle Jim’s horse could have carried him the distance in the time. And its another argument indicating my grandmother probably had her facts right

Thank goodness you can’t libel the deceased so this is just gossip.—Burrton Woodruff III on August 13, 2019

Family Records, Everett Stone, Gilliam, Missouri. Family Group sheet dated 21-Sep-1980. Mother’s name given as “Catherine” not Katherine

1870 Federal Census (Ohio, Licking, Kirkersville, 4): Samuel J. ?2 M W Grocer 5000; Catherine 31 F W Housekeeping; Alice 12 F W house work; Carrie 8 F W; Mary 6 F W; James 4 M W; Charles 3 M W; William 2 M W; Ralph 0/12 M W born Mar; Creedo Rebecca 36 F W house work Pennsylvania cannot read cannot write. All others born in Ohio. Alice, Carrie, and Mary attended school that year.

1880 Federal Census (Kansas, Coffey, Neosho, 049, 5). Samuel A. Stone W M 52 Farmer; Catherine M. W F 41 Wife ; Keeping House, Carrie M W 18 F Daughter At Home; Mary E. W F 16 Daughter At Home; James H. W M 14 Son At Home; Charles T W M 12 Son At Home; William T. W M 11 Son, At Home; Ralph H.  M 10 Son At School; John C. W M 8 Son; Ruth V W F 2 Daughter. Samuel and Catherine are indicated as married. All the children are marked as single. All children from Carrie to John were in school that year. All four grandparents were born in Virginia. John, Frank, and Ruth were born in Kansas. All the others in the family were born in Ohio.

The Ponca City (Okla.) News, Thursday, October 2, 1952, Page 4

Pioneer Gives Horse Monument to Oklahoma Historical Society
By Phyllis Asbury
TONKAWA--The State Historical Society of Oklahoma now owns a monument to a horse named “Dell.” Pioneer resident Jim H. Stone and (sic) presented the deed to the 20-foot square plot of ground and the monument to Gov. Johnston Murray during the Cherokee Strip celebration in Ponca City.
The monument, which honors those pioneers of the famed September 16 run of 1893 is also a tribute to Stone’s 3-year old horse Dell. The dappled gray mare carried Stone 29 miles in an hour and 47 minutes on that memorable day.
The marker is located a short distance southeast of Tonkawa on U. S. Highway 177 on the quarter section which Him staked out. Originally the moment was given to Stone by the Hahn Brothers monument builders of Blackwell in honor of their uncle, Carl Hahn, who was a life-long friend of Stone and its unveiling climaxed the day’s activities of the annual Old Settlers Reunion of September 15, 1940.

Officers Named
Also included on the memorial are the names of the officers of the Old Settlers of the Cherokee Outlet in 1940. They were Harvey L. Wile, Jim H. Stone, Amos Thomas, Oliver L. Chambers, and Tom Sheets.
Jim Stone’s life in the new country is typical of that of the pioneers which the monument honors.
Prior to the opening of the Cherokee Outlet, Jim, his wife and two small children were living on a small farm in Elk County, Kan. Jim made his first visit into the Indiana Territory in 1890. On this trip he camped one night by Duck Creek, a few miles northeast of the present site of tonkawa. There were wild deer and turkey and the blue-stem grass was so high in many places that it would tie over a horse’s back. Jim’s object in visiting this country was to become familiar with the land in order to be ready for the opening which everyone believed would come in a short time.
When the “run” was announced, Jim, along with 10 other men from Elk County, went to Arkansas City to register. They lined up on a Sunday evening but it was Wednesday before they got through the lines as so many would “sooner” in. Relatives and friends would bring food and water to those trying to hold places.

Dell Dies at 28
Excitement rand high during this pre-run period and the hot and dusty streets were crowded with gamblers and shysters of all kinds. Horse buyers with strings of ponies were selling mounts to the eager settlers but they did not interest Jim as he had a 3-year-old mare named Dell which he had been training for a year. Dell proved her worth by carrying Stone from the south-west corner of umber county to this homestead (29 miles) in an hour and 47 minutes. She died in 1916 at the age of 28.
The Stone party of 11 began the run 2 miles west of the Chilocco Indian school. However the group became scattered and only four remained together—Stone, his brother-in-law Frank Davies, Davies’ brother Jim and a young man named Charlie Wooster.
The riders traveled light carrying only a canteen of water and a sack filled with oats in one end and dry biscuits in the other.
Two wagons loaded with horse feed and other provisions had been left at the state line and drivers of the wagons were instructed to meet the riders at Box Springs, about 5 (3?) miles southeast of Blackwell, that night.

Change Course
After running some distance the Stone party members decided competition was too strong for them to get Chikaskia River bottom claims so they changed their course, crossed the Chikaskia and went to the Tonkawa Indian Agency. Looking west they saw other riders and knew their best chance lay to the fourth. As they came to the Salt Fork River they found the banks very steep but rather than lose valuable time by going west to ford the river they pushed one horse off the bank and the others followed.
Crossing the river, which had very little water, they proceeded a little over a mile south where they found unstated claims. Stone had a map which showed Indian allotments in one color, school land in another and homesteads in still another. With this map, the aid of cornerstones and the relative position of the river they found the number of their claims. Stone still regards himself as very fortunate because an Indian allotment lay to the north and to the east of the land and he could so easily have missed the homestead. As far as is known Stone and the Davies brothers were the first to stake in the district and none of the claims was contested.
The four men had neighboring claims and the next morning they hitched four horses to a plow and made a furrow around their land. They then erected a tent over the joint corner stone so each man could sleep on his own claim. However, Wooster had the misfortune to stake an Indiana allotment.
Their next step was to go to Perry to “number up” and file for their land.

Lived in Dugout
The Stone family moved from Kansas to the new territory in February of 189 and lived in an 8 X 11 dugout which had one window and a door. A small houses built later for the summer months but the dugout was used through-out the winter. The family furnishing included two beds, a chair and table, a safe, a stove and a sewing machine, which so filled up the small room that only a passageway remained. A dugout was not much protection against gophers, centipedes, snakes and tarantulas and often great piles of dirt would be found on the bed where a gopher had dug into the sides and roof of the sod shanty.
A son, the first white child born in the district, was born to the Stones one month after they moved to the claim. He died at the age of 2 from membranous croup. Two weeks before the infant’s death twins were born to the Stones but they lived only one week. During this trying time of seasickness and death, coupled with other pioneer hardships, a neighboring coupled, Mr. and Mrs. Homer Hollister greatly assisted the Stones.

Juice for Sugar
Jim broke out 10 acres with a sod plow and an ax the first year which he planted in korn, a kafir (a form of sorghum) and watermelons. He had no cultivator but hoed his land as best he could. His crops were good wit the corn making 20 bushel to the acre. Mrs. Stone boiled down the watermelon juice to make syrup which she used in place of sugar. The first wheat crop made about 3 bushel per acre and tested 35. Stone had borrowed seed wheat and was to pay this debt with one-fourth of the crop.
This gave the family a start which continued toward prosperous times and little by little the sod of the Salt Fork river bottom was tilled into rich productive land.
The Stone family now consisted of Lola, Mrs. Lola Shawver, Mary, Mrs. Mary Jenkins of Houston, Tex., Everett of Gilliam , Mo. and the late Jessie.
In 1915 the Stones moved into Tonkawa and built what was known as the Stone Mansion at 600 North Sixth and also the first filling station at the corner of Seventh and Center. Beginning in 1916 the family made extensive hunting and fishing trips each summer and for several years had a private bus which was converted into a home on wheels.”
The pioneer settler is now 86 and is still active in overseeing the land which he staked out, another 100-acre farm just across the Salt Fork to the north and a 160-acre piece of land directly west of the original quarter section.
He lives at 600 North Sixth with his daughter, Mrs. Shawver, Mrs. Stone died in 1945.
The monument which now officially belongs to Oklahoma will stand as a silent reminder of Jim Stone and other hardy pioneers settlers of 1893 who changed this ??? wild grassland into a vital agricultural center.