Sources
Sources
3. Jess Long, “Billie Guynes GED,” Aug 17, 1998, longjohn@wt.net.
4. Eagleson, Pamela Stone, In Search of An Ancestry: The Stone-Shearmire Family History, p39.
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6. “Thomas Stone Will.”
“In the name of God Amen, I THOMAS STONE of Prince William County and Commonwealth of Virginia, being in a weak & low state of Health ----but of sound and perfect mind and memory andunderstanding (Blessed be God) therefore calling to mind the Mortality of my body and knowing its appointed for all men to die, I constitute and ordain this my last Will and Testament. That is first and pricipally of all, I recommend my Soul into the hands of Almighty God, my Body to the earth to be buried in a decent and Christian manner--Burial at the discretion of my Executor, not doubting, but at the general Resurrection, I shall receive the same again by the Almighty Power of God, and as touching my Estate wherewith it--hath pleased God to Bless me with in this life, I give and bequeath in the following manner Viz: IMPRIMISE: I give and bequeath unto my Grand-son, THOMAS STONE, that part of my land where my son, JAMES STONE, formerly lived to be divided
from the rest of my land by a branch that comes out of Mr. Hammiles Plantation and running to a red oak standing on the said branch, to him & his heirs forever and my desire is that my son----JAMES STONE may have the usa of the said land---during his Natural life, but to make no sale of it nor anything thereunto belonging. ITEM: I give all the remainder of my land unto my son, GEORGE STONE---to him and heirs of his body Lawfully Begotten forever and for default of such heirs, I give the said--land to be equally divided between my two DAUGHTERS, ELIZABETH BRADFIELD & SARAH
BRADFIELD and their heirs forever. ITEM: I give unto my loving wife, SARAH STONE, one third part of my Estate, both Real and Personal during her Natural life & after her decease, I give the same unto my son, GEORGE STONE. ITEM: I give unto my children hereafter mentioned VIZ: GEORGE STONE and SARAH BRADFIELD and my loving wife, SARAH STONE (if she chooses it) rather than what has already been willed her, all the remainder of my Estate after my just debts are paid, to be equally divided among them and their heirs forever----ITEM: I give unto my son, JAMES STONE and my Daughters MARY LEATHERWOOD & ELIZABETH BRADFIELD one Shilling Sterlilng, each to them and their heirs for ever. LASTLY: I so hereby constitute and ordain my loving wife SARAH STONE and my son GEORGE STONE sole Executrix and Executor of this my last Will and Testament. In witness wherof I have hereunto set my hand and affixed my seal this twenty second day of October 1782”
Signed, Sealed and Delivered THOS [mark] STONE [seal]
in the presence of
Howson Hooe GEORGE [mark] LATHAM ELIZABETH [mark] ROBN
“In the name of God Amen, I THOMAS STONE of Prince William County and Commonwealth of Virginia, being in a weak & low state of Health ----but of sound and perfect mind and memory andunderstanding (Blessed be God) therefore calling to mind the Mortality of my body and knowing its appointed for all men to die, I constitute and ordain this my last Will and Testament. That is first and pricipally of all, I recommend my Soul into the hands of Almighty God, my Body to the earth to be buried in a decent and Christian manner--Burial at the discretion of my Executor, not doubting, but at the general Resurrection, I shall receive the same again by the Almighty Power of God, and as touching my Estate wherewith it--hath pleased God to Bless me with in this life, I give and bequeath in the following manner Viz: IMPRIMISE: I give and bequeath unto my Grand-son, THOMAS STONE, that part of my land where my son, JAMES STONE, formerly lived to be divided
from the rest of my land by a branch that comes out of Mr. Hammiles Plantation and running to a red oak standing on the said branch, to him & his heirs forever and my desire is that my son----JAMES STONE may have the usa of the said land---during his Natural life, but to make no sale of it nor anything thereunto belonging. ITEM: I give all the remainder of my land unto my son, GEORGE STONE---to him and heirs of his body Lawfully Begotten forever and for default of such heirs, I give the said--land to be equally divided between my two DAUGHTERS, ELIZABETH BRADFIELD & SARAH
BRADFIELD and their heirs forever. ITEM: I give unto my loving wife, SARAH STONE, one third part of my Estate, both Real and Personal during her Natural life & after her decease, I give the same unto my son, GEORGE STONE. ITEM: I give unto my children hereafter mentioned VIZ: GEORGE STONE and SARAH BRADFIELD and my loving wife, SARAH STONE (if she chooses it) rather than what has already been willed her, all the remainder of my Estate after my just debts are paid, to be equally divided among them and their heirs forever----ITEM: I give unto my son, JAMES STONE and my Daughters MARY LEATHERWOOD & ELIZABETH BRADFIELD one Shilling Sterlilng, each to them and their heirs for ever. LASTLY: I so hereby constitute and ordain my loving wife SARAH STONE and my son GEORGE STONE sole Executrix and Executor of this my last Will and Testament. In witness wherof I have hereunto set my hand and affixed my seal this twenty second day of October 1782”
Signed, Sealed and Delivered THOS [mark] STONE [seal]
in the presence of
Howson Hooe GEORGE [mark] LATHAM ELIZABETH [mark] ROBN
8. “James Stone Will,” Will Book 3-Page 2.
In the name of God Amen, I James Stone of Hardy County and State of Virginia, being weak in body but of sound mind and disposing memory (for which I thank God) and calling to mind the uncertainity of human life is, and being desirous to dispose of all such Worldly Estate as it hath pleased God to bless me with, I give and bequeath the same in manner following, that is to say:
#1. I give and bequeath to my Lovving wife, Rebeckay Stone the Plantation whereon I now dwell, containing two hundred acres and also all my Personal Property that is on the said Plantation at my decease during herNatural Life and at her death to be disposed of as follows. To Wit: #2. I give and bequeath to my sonThomas Stone, one dollar. #3. I give and bequeath to my son George W. Stone one hundred and thiry six acres of land lying on the big ridge adjoining the land my son Thomas sold, to him and his heirs and assigns forever. #4. I give and bequeath to my son James Stone one hundred acres of land adjoining the land he sold to Harmon, to him, his heirs and assigns forever. #5. I give and bequeath to my son Samuel Stone one hundred acres of land lying in the State of Ohio, Licking County between the lands of my sons George & Thomas, to him, his heirs and assigns forever. #6. I give and bequeath to my daughter Mary Davis fifty dollars to be paid twelve months after the death of my wife, out of my Estate. #7. I give and bequeath to my daughter Margaret Johnston fifty dollars to be paid twelve months after the death of my wife out of my Estate. #8. I give and bequeath to my daughter Sarah Baker fifty dollars out of my Estate to be paid twelve months after the death of my wife. #9. I give and bequeath to my daughter Rebekah Myers fifty dollars to be paid twelve months after the death of my wife out of my Estate. #10. I give and bequeath to my youngest son William B. Stone after the death of my wife, the land whereon I now live and all the land adjoining to it with all the remaining part of my Estate that is left when he has paid off all claims and the Negro Girl Sharlote and all her increase to be sold and equally divided---among all my children and I do ordain this to be my last Will and Testament and I do desire that this Will shall only be proved and recorded and no administration at all, only proved and recorded and I do ordain my wife and William B. Stone and Samuel Stone to be Executors of this my last Will and Testament in presence of us. To which I shall set my hand and seal the 3 November 1809.”
Acknowledge to be my last Will James Stone
William Read
Benjamin Warden
Thomas Hamel
In the name of God Amen, I James Stone of Hardy County and State of Virginia, being weak in body but of sound mind and disposing memory (for which I thank God) and calling to mind the uncertainity of human life is, and being desirous to dispose of all such Worldly Estate as it hath pleased God to bless me with, I give and bequeath the same in manner following, that is to say:
#1. I give and bequeath to my Lovving wife, Rebeckay Stone the Plantation whereon I now dwell, containing two hundred acres and also all my Personal Property that is on the said Plantation at my decease during herNatural Life and at her death to be disposed of as follows. To Wit: #2. I give and bequeath to my sonThomas Stone, one dollar. #3. I give and bequeath to my son George W. Stone one hundred and thiry six acres of land lying on the big ridge adjoining the land my son Thomas sold, to him and his heirs and assigns forever. #4. I give and bequeath to my son James Stone one hundred acres of land adjoining the land he sold to Harmon, to him, his heirs and assigns forever. #5. I give and bequeath to my son Samuel Stone one hundred acres of land lying in the State of Ohio, Licking County between the lands of my sons George & Thomas, to him, his heirs and assigns forever. #6. I give and bequeath to my daughter Mary Davis fifty dollars to be paid twelve months after the death of my wife, out of my Estate. #7. I give and bequeath to my daughter Margaret Johnston fifty dollars to be paid twelve months after the death of my wife out of my Estate. #8. I give and bequeath to my daughter Sarah Baker fifty dollars out of my Estate to be paid twelve months after the death of my wife. #9. I give and bequeath to my daughter Rebekah Myers fifty dollars to be paid twelve months after the death of my wife out of my Estate. #10. I give and bequeath to my youngest son William B. Stone after the death of my wife, the land whereon I now live and all the land adjoining to it with all the remaining part of my Estate that is left when he has paid off all claims and the Negro Girl Sharlote and all her increase to be sold and equally divided---among all my children and I do ordain this to be my last Will and Testament and I do desire that this Will shall only be proved and recorded and no administration at all, only proved and recorded and I do ordain my wife and William B. Stone and Samuel Stone to be Executors of this my last Will and Testament in presence of us. To which I shall set my hand and seal the 3 November 1809.”
Acknowledge to be my last Will James Stone
William Read
Benjamin Warden
Thomas Hamel
9. Eagleson, Pamela Stone, In Search of An Ancestry: The Stone-Shearmire Family History.
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14. Eagleson, Pamela Stone, In Search of An Ancestry: The Stone-Shearmire Family History, 42.
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18. Eagleson, Pamela Stone, In Search of An Ancestry: The Stone-Shearmire Family History, p45.
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19. Schaff, Morris, History of Granville, Etna, and Kirkersville.
“Our postoffice, after 1850 was Kirkersville (generally called Kirk). In its stores, the family trading was done. Our Family Physician lived there, Dr. Farrell, a tall, broad shouldered man with large rather cowering blue eyes, but a naturally happy nature. At its Grist Mill, owned by Captain Jim Stone, about all our flour and corn-meal was ground. All around the tow, on the richest of farms and amid plenty lived our warm hearted neighbors, Stones, Deweeses, Finkbones (Henry, Isaac, and John), Jacksons, Wells, Gills (Nicholas and John), Charles, Bucklands, Whites, Larrimore, Hewetts, Stoolfires, Cunningham, Holmes and many others.
Captain James Stone, so frequently mentioned in this sketch, was easily its foremost citizen in my day. He was about my father’s age, having been born in Licking about 1800, only a few years after its settlement. The Captain, like my father, was a Democrat and a leader in his party, serving as County Commissioner from time to time, and in other positions of Trust and Responsibility. I do not know how he got his title but doubtless for service in some of the early militia regiments. His acquaintance extended to the widest limits of Licking and Fairfield Counties. He knew their people, their woods, their creek runs and swamp. Many a time, with a pleasure that he was not conscious of, did I hear him talk of them, the game and the times of his youth. It does not need to be said that his sketch would have been immeasurably benefited if I had realized the historic value and had written down at the time all I heard from him and his contemporary pioneers.
The Captain was a short, stocky man with a square, open face. His ways were quiet, his eyes blue with expansive kindness beaming in them. His voice low and his laugh melody itself. He rarely told a story, but loved a good one dearly. Although he was much older than most of those who used to gather in the stage tavern bar room or on its porch, and although naturally sedate, he was always one of them. I doubt if there was anyone who heard more of Kirkersville’s humor, or who appreciated it more highly.
This pioneer, good advisor and good friend of everyone, sleeps in the graveyard on the gravelly knoll across Bloody Run, almost due south from his mill and within sound of its wheel. Whenever I was on a visit at home, while the Captain was alive, I always went down to see him and many a time spent hour after hour in the mill. I can see now the bags of wheat and corn standing around the pillars and against the side of the mill marked with their owners name and waiting for their turn. The hopper with its trickling stream of grain as it jiggled down into the whirling burr stones, the great noisless, revolving bold and the windows dimmed with flour dust.”
---------------
“Dennis Smoke’s farm was south of ours. He lived in a log house in the center of the field he had cleared with his own strong arms. In this field was the house he reared a large and well respected family. Any boy or girl, who can trace their linage back to them, may well be proud of the blood.”
“Our postoffice, after 1850 was Kirkersville (generally called Kirk). In its stores, the family trading was done. Our Family Physician lived there, Dr. Farrell, a tall, broad shouldered man with large rather cowering blue eyes, but a naturally happy nature. At its Grist Mill, owned by Captain Jim Stone, about all our flour and corn-meal was ground. All around the tow, on the richest of farms and amid plenty lived our warm hearted neighbors, Stones, Deweeses, Finkbones (Henry, Isaac, and John), Jacksons, Wells, Gills (Nicholas and John), Charles, Bucklands, Whites, Larrimore, Hewetts, Stoolfires, Cunningham, Holmes and many others.
Captain James Stone, so frequently mentioned in this sketch, was easily its foremost citizen in my day. He was about my father’s age, having been born in Licking about 1800, only a few years after its settlement. The Captain, like my father, was a Democrat and a leader in his party, serving as County Commissioner from time to time, and in other positions of Trust and Responsibility. I do not know how he got his title but doubtless for service in some of the early militia regiments. His acquaintance extended to the widest limits of Licking and Fairfield Counties. He knew their people, their woods, their creek runs and swamp. Many a time, with a pleasure that he was not conscious of, did I hear him talk of them, the game and the times of his youth. It does not need to be said that his sketch would have been immeasurably benefited if I had realized the historic value and had written down at the time all I heard from him and his contemporary pioneers.
The Captain was a short, stocky man with a square, open face. His ways were quiet, his eyes blue with expansive kindness beaming in them. His voice low and his laugh melody itself. He rarely told a story, but loved a good one dearly. Although he was much older than most of those who used to gather in the stage tavern bar room or on its porch, and although naturally sedate, he was always one of them. I doubt if there was anyone who heard more of Kirkersville’s humor, or who appreciated it more highly.
This pioneer, good advisor and good friend of everyone, sleeps in the graveyard on the gravelly knoll across Bloody Run, almost due south from his mill and within sound of its wheel. Whenever I was on a visit at home, while the Captain was alive, I always went down to see him and many a time spent hour after hour in the mill. I can see now the bags of wheat and corn standing around the pillars and against the side of the mill marked with their owners name and waiting for their turn. The hopper with its trickling stream of grain as it jiggled down into the whirling burr stones, the great noisless, revolving bold and the windows dimmed with flour dust.”
---------------
“Dennis Smoke’s farm was south of ours. He lived in a log house in the center of the field he had cleared with his own strong arms. In this field was the house he reared a large and well respected family. Any boy or girl, who can trace their linage back to them, may well be proud of the blood.”
20. “Helen Visits Kirkersville,” 1979, Helen Stone Woodruff, Kirkesville, Ohio.
We visited Kirkersville in 1979 and talked with the sone of Henry Geiger. He told us of the fire that had destroyed the old mill. He had built a replica of the mill in his basement and allowed us to take pictures of it. We were also given a picture of the covered bridge that was in front of the Stone home.
We visited the Cemetary, and although there are many Stone graves, we were unable to find one for James or Ruth. Many stones had been broken by vandals and destroyed by time, some were in fence rows. One noticeable thing was that the Stone markers that were still there, and in Pataskala were the largest in many instances.
We visited Kirkersville in 1979 and talked with the sone of Henry Geiger. He told us of the fire that had destroyed the old mill. He had built a replica of the mill in his basement and allowed us to take pictures of it. We were also given a picture of the covered bridge that was in front of the Stone home.
We visited the Cemetary, and although there are many Stone graves, we were unable to find one for James or Ruth. Many stones had been broken by vandals and destroyed by time, some were in fence rows. One noticeable thing was that the Stone markers that were still there, and in Pataskala were the largest in many instances.
22. Brister, E. M., Centennial History of the City of Newark and Licking County.
“Among the original member of the Methodist Church were William Moody and wife, John Channell and wife, Thomas Taylor and wife, William Montgomery and wife and others. Prior to the erection of a church, services were often held in the cabins of William Moody and John Channell.
“John Channell, a great hunter, Thomas Deweese, and Henry Smith were pioneers in 1804. they were Virginians. John Channell was a somewhat remarkable pioneer on account of his hunting exploits, a recital of which would make a volume. Some idea may be gleaned of his prowess in this direction by the single statement that he once informed Thomas Taylor that he killed nine bears one day before noon. These animals were very plentiful on the bluffs lining Licking Valleys, Channell had been raised among the Indians, was tall, straight as an Indian, had black hair and a swarthy complexion. Indeed looked and acted more like an Indiana than a white man. He raised quite a large family and his boys were all hunters.”
“Among the original member of the Methodist Church were William Moody and wife, John Channell and wife, Thomas Taylor and wife, William Montgomery and wife and others. Prior to the erection of a church, services were often held in the cabins of William Moody and John Channell.
“John Channell, a great hunter, Thomas Deweese, and Henry Smith were pioneers in 1804. they were Virginians. John Channell was a somewhat remarkable pioneer on account of his hunting exploits, a recital of which would make a volume. Some idea may be gleaned of his prowess in this direction by the single statement that he once informed Thomas Taylor that he killed nine bears one day before noon. These animals were very plentiful on the bluffs lining Licking Valleys, Channell had been raised among the Indians, was tall, straight as an Indian, had black hair and a swarthy complexion. Indeed looked and acted more like an Indiana than a white man. He raised quite a large family and his boys were all hunters.”
24. “John S. McMillen 1995 Information,” 2 May 2004, Attached.
JOHN ALFRED McMILLEN was born 27 June 1839 at Winchester, Adams County, Ohio, the fourth of twelve children born to George Washington McMillen and Cornelia Anderson Field.
George Washington McMilIen was the son of a James McMiIlen, (said to have' been a veteran of the Revolutionary War). Cornelia Field was a granddaughter of John Field and Margaret Pearle of Fauquier and Loudoun Counties, Virginia, and of Charles Anderson and Lucy Stokes of Amelia and Lunenberg Counties, Virginia. Lucy Stokes was (probably) the great-great-granddaughter of a John and Anne Stokes who came to Jamestown, Virginia, in 1624. Charles Anderson was the son of James and Elizabeth Anderson; this Elizabeth was Elizabeth Ligon (there is some slight doubt as to this identification), who was of royal descent from the kings of England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, France, Spain, Italy, Germany, and Greece; among her American ancestors were a Thomas Gurganey, who came to Jamestown in 1608, and Thomas Harris, who came to Jamestown in 1610.
When John A. McMillen was four, his family moved to Foster, Bracken County, Kentucky, then to Effingham County, Illinois, and after his mother died there in 1859, back to Kentucky. Later that year, he followed two of his brothers, J.W. McMillen and Drury McMillen, to Missouri, settling in Utica where his brother J.W. McMillen was a lawyer as well as publisher of the Utica Times and a manufacturer of buggy tops in Chillicothe. Soon thereafter, John and a friend, George Stone, rented land from George's father and grew tobacco. Being a Southern sympathizer, John left Missouri in 1862 to avoid the Union draft and returned to Kentucky where in 1863 he was appointed a deputy sheriff in Grant County, Kentucky Later, when his brother was been elected as state legislator and so made John immune from the draft, John returned to Utica.
On 2 February 1865, he married:
SUSAN MELVINA STONE, born 13 September 1845 at Utica, Missouri, the seventh of eight children of Judge John Stone and Susan Stover.
John Stone's ancestry has been traced back to his great-grandfather, Thomas Stone, who had a plantation on the Occequon (Bull Run) River of Virginia. Susan Stover was descended from the German settlers of the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. Through her mother, Susanna Brumback, Susan was (possibly) descended from Sarah Boone, aunt of Daniel Boone, while the Brumback family can be traced back to prominent ironworking families of 1375 in the Siegen Valley of Germany.
After their marriage, John and Susan first lived in Utica where John was. in partnership in a drug and grocery' store with Susan's brother Ashford Stone. In 1873, they moved to their farm one mile south of Utica, on land. given them by Susan's father, where they lived
---until-1902-.John farmed onal 160 acres on Creèk, anda1s was a breeder of fine horses. In 1902, they moved to Mooresville where he helped organize the bank in 1904 and served as President of the Board of Directors. John died there in Mooresville on 17 January 1923. After his death; Susan and one of their daughters, Lucy, built a house in Utica and moved there in 1925, where Susan died on 30 August 1931. John and Susan are buried in the Utica City Cemetery.
As of this writing, John and Susan are known to have had 10 children, 38 grandchildren, 75 greatgrandchildren, 176 great-great-children (including 6 adopted), 176 great-great-great-grandchildren (including 2 adopted), and 7 great-great-great-great-grandchildren:
Received 2 May 2004 from John S. McMillen, Brookings, OR
My grandfather is Samuel Stone McMillen son of John and Susan---Sam married Hermie Wanschaff...they had five children one of which is my late father John Henry McMillen. Received May 3, 2004
JOHN ALFRED McMILLEN was born 27 June 1839 at Winchester, Adams County, Ohio, the fourth of twelve children born to George Washington McMillen and Cornelia Anderson Field.
George Washington McMilIen was the son of a James McMiIlen, (said to have' been a veteran of the Revolutionary War). Cornelia Field was a granddaughter of John Field and Margaret Pearle of Fauquier and Loudoun Counties, Virginia, and of Charles Anderson and Lucy Stokes of Amelia and Lunenberg Counties, Virginia. Lucy Stokes was (probably) the great-great-granddaughter of a John and Anne Stokes who came to Jamestown, Virginia, in 1624. Charles Anderson was the son of James and Elizabeth Anderson; this Elizabeth was Elizabeth Ligon (there is some slight doubt as to this identification), who was of royal descent from the kings of England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, France, Spain, Italy, Germany, and Greece; among her American ancestors were a Thomas Gurganey, who came to Jamestown in 1608, and Thomas Harris, who came to Jamestown in 1610.
When John A. McMillen was four, his family moved to Foster, Bracken County, Kentucky, then to Effingham County, Illinois, and after his mother died there in 1859, back to Kentucky. Later that year, he followed two of his brothers, J.W. McMillen and Drury McMillen, to Missouri, settling in Utica where his brother J.W. McMillen was a lawyer as well as publisher of the Utica Times and a manufacturer of buggy tops in Chillicothe. Soon thereafter, John and a friend, George Stone, rented land from George's father and grew tobacco. Being a Southern sympathizer, John left Missouri in 1862 to avoid the Union draft and returned to Kentucky where in 1863 he was appointed a deputy sheriff in Grant County, Kentucky Later, when his brother was been elected as state legislator and so made John immune from the draft, John returned to Utica.
On 2 February 1865, he married:
SUSAN MELVINA STONE, born 13 September 1845 at Utica, Missouri, the seventh of eight children of Judge John Stone and Susan Stover.
John Stone's ancestry has been traced back to his great-grandfather, Thomas Stone, who had a plantation on the Occequon (Bull Run) River of Virginia. Susan Stover was descended from the German settlers of the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. Through her mother, Susanna Brumback, Susan was (possibly) descended from Sarah Boone, aunt of Daniel Boone, while the Brumback family can be traced back to prominent ironworking families of 1375 in the Siegen Valley of Germany.
After their marriage, John and Susan first lived in Utica where John was. in partnership in a drug and grocery' store with Susan's brother Ashford Stone. In 1873, they moved to their farm one mile south of Utica, on land. given them by Susan's father, where they lived
---until-1902-.John farmed onal 160 acres on Creèk, anda1s was a breeder of fine horses. In 1902, they moved to Mooresville where he helped organize the bank in 1904 and served as President of the Board of Directors. John died there in Mooresville on 17 January 1923. After his death; Susan and one of their daughters, Lucy, built a house in Utica and moved there in 1925, where Susan died on 30 August 1931. John and Susan are buried in the Utica City Cemetery.
As of this writing, John and Susan are known to have had 10 children, 38 grandchildren, 75 greatgrandchildren, 176 great-great-children (including 6 adopted), 176 great-great-great-grandchildren (including 2 adopted), and 7 great-great-great-great-grandchildren:
Received 2 May 2004 from John S. McMillen, Brookings, OR
My grandfather is Samuel Stone McMillen son of John and Susan---Sam married Hermie Wanschaff...they had five children one of which is my late father John Henry McMillen. Received May 3, 2004
25. Eagleson, Pamela Stone, In Search of An Ancestry: The Stone-Shearmire Family History, p57.
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27. Eagleson, Pamela Stone, In Search of An Ancestry: The Stone-Shearmire Family History, p48.
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28. Nonpopulation Census Schedules for Ohio, 1850-1880. T1159, rolls 14-15, 29-30, and 102-104. National Archives and Records Administration, Washington D.C.
29. “James Henry Stone Cherokee Strip Opening was memorable history-making event for all Oklahomans,” The Tonkawa News, Tonkawa, Kay County, Oklahoma, August 2, 1979, ?, Newspaper, Helen Stone Woodruff’s Stone Genealogy.
[Editor’s Note: The late Mrs. Edna Porter, a teacher at Billings, attended the Oklahoma History Class at Oklahoma A & M College with Mrs. Conaghan, and wrote the following historical story about James Henry Stone.]
By Mrs. Edna Porter
James Henry Stone, son of Samuel A. & Catherine O’Kane Stone, was born at Kirkersville, Ohio. His wife Margaret Elizabeth Plants Brewington, was born at Winfield, Kansas.
Samuel and Catherine Stone, with their family of eight children, moved to Burlington, Coffey County, Kansas, in 1871. Mr. Stone bought six hundred acres of grazing land along the M K & T Railroad at $6 acre.
There was still much land in Kansas that was open for homestead entry, but one could purchase railroad land (land given to the railroads by the government to facilitate the building of railroads in the middle west).
The land selected by Mr. Stone was grazing land and not productive for other purposes. Some part of it was broken out and crop raising tried, but was later allowed to go back to grass. The land was two miles from the Neosho River.
Mr. Stone was a Miller by trade in Ohio and followed this line of work after moving to Kansas. He was an expert in dressing burrs. Unfortunately for the family finances, Mr. Stone was unable to collect the accounts in many instances in which he had given credit to such an extent as to materially decrease the family’s income. The usual miller’s luck.
Mr. Stone had put all his money into the six hundred acres of land, but Mrs. Stone had received as an heir to an estate, and she invested this money in cattle. The proceeds from this herd kept the family going, but after a few years of unsuccessful attempts to raise crops on this farm, the family moved to a farm on the Neosho River, living in a log house.
J. H. Stone was fourteen years old when his father died. His mother moved to a prairie farm, not far from the Neosho River, and kept the family together. The cows still being the mainstay of the family resources. They lived near a big timber area of two or three hundred acres, and prairie chickens and fish were abundant. Deer and wild turkey were also plentiful in the early days of Kansas.
J. H. Stone pays a grateful tribute to his mother for her splendid efforts in taking up the task of rearing the family after his father’s death. There were now nine children to be fed and clothed and taught how to meet life’s problems. She insisted that her children save and be self-supporting and the lesson thus learned proved very helpful to those who came into Oklahoma to make homes.
In common with those families who came into Kansas in the early 70’s the Stone family was visited by the grasshopper plague. The grasshoppers came in the afternoon about four, or five o’clock and they were so numerous that they hid the sun and it became so dark that one could see the stars. In a few days, the crops were eaten. Pumpkins, corn, etc, were gone. Where the onions had been were only holes in the ground. Even the soft layers of wood on the wooden material of the fences were eaten.
While Government and private aid was sent to various parts of Kansas following the ravages of the grasshoppers, no aid reached the stone family. It was a case of solve your own problems by yourself. Thus were the principles of self-reliance thoroughly grounded in this family?
The fill of are of the pioneer Kansas family of the 70’s did not contain a great variety of food, but the Stone family, living near the Neosho River, had more meat on their menu owing the number of prairie chickens, deer and fish in that locality. There were times however, when the family had to sell all the butter in order to buy groceries at the store. There was a time when flour was so high that the farmer had to buy shorts instead. They lived one half mile from a sorghum mill. Old timers know how large a part sorghum played in the sweetening of the family menu in the early days.
J. H. Stone was married December 29, 1897 and by 1893 they had a family of two children. The panic of 1893 did not particularly affect them as they did not owe anybody and were not compelled to borrow or pay back any money. They had very little money, but thy had a few head of cattle and with what they raised and the small amounts which Mr. Stone earned by plowing, etc., the family were getting by.
Mr. Stone moved to Elk County, Kansas, to await the opening of the Cherokee Outlet. He had an uncle living in this county. He rented and farmed a little play while living in this county.
In 1890 Mr. Stone made his first trip into the Cherokee Outlook to look over the country. He visited parts of the Red Rock and Ponca Indian reservations and sections of the Osage Nation. He had also met a man who was familiar with this portion of the Outlet and from him he gleaned much information as to the location of the better land and the route to take in reaching desirable claims.
On this trip Mr. Stone camped one night on Duck Creek, a few miles northeast of the present site of Tonkawa. At that time the bluestem grass was from six to seven feet high over much of the country. There were still deer in this section, as he saw quite a herd while in camp on Duck Creek. He saw many wild turkeys also. His chief interest in this trip was to look overland becoming familiar wit the best-looking lands be ready for the opening which everyone believed would come in a short time.
Mr. Stone was one of a party of eleven which came to the line two weeks before the opening. They came from Langton, Elk County, to Arkansas City, and on Sunday evening they lined up to register, but it was Wednesday before they got out of line, as so many would “sooner” in on the lines and delayed those further back in the line. Relatives and friends would bring food and water to those trying to hold their places in the line. Standing in line was a gruelling experience on account of the dust and heat. Finally the men organized in companies and registration was more orderly.
There were exciting times in Arkansas City during this period, for in addition to hundreds of homemaker there were many gamblers, slickers, and fakirs of all sorts. The boomers held meeting in a large theater building.
(to be continued)
Horse buyers with strings of ponies were at hand to sell mounts to the settlers, but these did not interest Mr. Stone who had a three-year-old doppled (sic) gray mare, named Dell, which he had been training for a year and she proved her mettle by carrying Mr. Stone twenty nine miles in one hour and forty-seven minutes. (There is a historical marker on Highway 177, south of Tonkawa, which commemorates the aid this mare gave Mr. Stone in getting and keeping a claim.)
Mr. Stone had been over part of the Outlet with Mr. Suttlemeyer from Geneva, Kansas. Mr. Suttlemeyer had come to Arkansas City three years ahead of the opening, as he thought the time and date of the opening might be indefinite, even at night and the first fellow along the line might have a great advantage. Mr. Suttlemeyer advised that if they missed staking a claim in the Chikaskia bottoms it would be well to cross the river and make for the Salt Fork Bottoms.
The Stone Party of eleven had two covered wagons and ten horses and one mule. They went down to the line about nine o’clock one Saturday morning, but the crowd was so large and so eager for places of advantage that Mr. Stone and his party were pushed out 100 yards into the Outlet.
They began their run about two miles west of the Chilocco Indiana School. Mr. Suttlemeyer soon outdistanced the other embers of the party, having provided himself with a big whip, but he soon found himself riding in the midst of a big party also ran into “sooner” and did not secure a claim. However, within a few miles the party became scattered in the rush and only four styed together--Mr. Stone, his brother-in-law, Frank Davies; a brother of Mr. Davies; and a young man named Wooster. The three men who stuck by Mr. Stone were relying upon his knowledge of the country as an aid to running to desireable locations.
After running some distance they decided the competition was too strong for them to get Chikaskia River bottom claims, so they changed their course slightly, crossed the Chikaskia and came to the Tonkawa Indiana Agency. Looking east they saw other riders and knew their best chance lay to the south. Coming to the Salt Fork River they found the banks very steep, but they knew valuable time would be lost if they went west to the ford, so they pushed one horse off the bank and the other followed.
At this time the Tonkawa Indians were in tepees south of the Agency and some of the land was fenced. Mr. Stone’s party found fences in the bend of the river where they desired to cross, but they tore down enough to allow them to cross and were soon on their (line ends)
Crossing the River which was low with very little water in it, they proceeded a mile or two south; where they found opportunities to stake. Mr. Stone had a map which showed Indian allotments, in one color, school land in another and homesteads in another. They consulted this map and with the aid of cornerstones and the relative position of the river, they got the numbers of their claims. Mr. Stone regards himself as very lucky, because of the fact that an Indian allotment lay to the north of him and to the west, and he could so easily have missed the homestead.
The wind was in the southeast during the race. A big fire was raging east of them, but they were not affected by it as they were ahead of some of the fires and later west of others. The grass was rank and fires were dangerous to those unlucky enough to be close to them.
As far as is known, Mr. Stone and Mr. Davies were the first to stake in the school district and neither man had a contest.
The two wagons, loaded with horse feed and provisions, have been left at the state line and the drivers had been instructed to meet the riders at Box Springs that night. Box Springs was about five miles southeast of Blackwell and had been the scene of a visit in the Outlet in February 1892. At that time the grass in this vicinity was so tall it would have tied over a horse’s back. The grass along the Salt Fork river was probably about two feet tall.
In the race the men had carried a canteen of water, a peck of oats in one and a sack, and a quantity of dry biscuits in the other.
After arriving on their claims, they unsaddled their horses and led them around as they hunted corner stones and traced boundary lines. As they milled around over their claims, they also kept off any fellows who might have wanted to jump the claim.
At dark they selected two of their number to remain on the claims and build fires and two were appointed to go back and meet the wagons. Mr. Stone, being more familiar wit the country was one of the two to go back. They followed the route back as nearly as they could in the dark and when they thought they might be near the wagons, they shot a revolver, but no answer. Going on another quarter of a mile the shot was repeated and they found they were close to the wagons. The drivers had made camp and were asleep, but awakened within the shot was fired. Mr. Stone and his companion got the men up, the horses were harnessed and the trip back to the claims was started. they experienced some difficulty in finding a place to cross the river, but arrived at the claims safely, bing aided by the campfires on their claims.
The riders in the race were too busy making time to pay very much attention to what was happening any distance from them, but Mr. Stone remembers a big group of perhaps 25 or 30, who were known as the Missouri Bunch. One of the number had a large American flag which all were to follow. Those who could do so ran fast to keep ahead of this large group.
He also remembers a man, with a span of mules, who had two girls with him. After eight or nine miles the man let out one of the girls who immediately staked. After running a little farther the man stopped to stake.
Mr. Stone tells of two men in a two-horse buggy without a top. As Mr. Stone was riding near them, one of their hats blew off and Mr. Stone rod alongside and reached down with the whip he was carrying, rescued the hat and handed it back to the man without either of the parties stopping. Mr. Stone did not know the men and has often wondered who the owner of the hat might be, but there was not time during the race to stop for social amenities.
South of Blackwell is a junction of two trails and when nearing this junction, Mr. Stone saw a crow of several men and one woman. He spurred his horse and beat this group to the junction and here gained a little time.
He saw a man with a team, plowing on a claim. The man had come from the Ponca country, which was only two miles away. Later the courts decided that those who ran from the Ponca country were not eligible to file.
Thus with good horses and skillful maneuvering, when the Stone party crossed what is now the Esch place, they were ahead of the crowed. The first Indians they saw were two men at a wooden pump near the Agency. Here is where the decision was made to go south through the tepees instead of going to the ford.
One Sunday morning they hitched four horses to a plow and plowed a furrow around their claims. They then erected a tent over the corner stone, so each man could sleep on his own claim at night in the tent.
One man was unlucky in staking an Indiana allotment, but the three men who had valid claims were immensely delighted with their lands. Most of the early settlers were poor men, who had never known what it was to own a home of any kind, and when they had such good land in these new claims, it was the happiest days of their lives. Owing to the trining received in the pioneer days of Kansas, these men never faltered at any undertaking, or became weak hearted over the first trying in the new country.
On Monday the men decided to go to Perry to number up. They went east toward the Ponca country and followed fences part of the time. At Perry they gave a man twenty-five cents each for his services in forming the men into companies to facilitate the numbering and hold their places in the line. On October 12 they came back to file.
When he came back to begin his improvements, he brought a door and window with him a few little strips of lumber. He made a dugout 8 X 11 feet, on his claim. He crossed the river and cut down some trees, 8 or 10 inches through, and laid the logs around the edge of his dugout. The roof was dirt The sheds for his stock were later built of cottonwood slabs. He had brought along an old stove, which he now set up in the dugout. Later he built a small house in which they lived during the summer months, moving back to the dugout in the wintertime.
He went back to Kansas and returned with his family, landing on the claim February 10, 1894. They brought along a bedstead, table, chair, safe, and sewing machine, and these with the stove and later another bed practically filled the dugout, leaving only a narrow passage way.
A dugout was not much protection against some of the wildlife; The gophers would dig in the sides and roof of the dugout and often they found great piles of dirt on the bed. Many of the settler’s wives greatly feared the centipedes, snakes, and tarantulas which found their way into the dugouts and sod shanties.
Mr. & Mr.s Stone brought two children with them when they moved to their claim and one month later a son was born to them, being the first white child born in the school district. This son lived to be two years old and died from membraneous croup. Two weeks before the death of this son, twins were born to the Stones, but they lived but one week.
During this trying time of sickness and death, Mr. & Mrs. Homer Hollister were of great assistance. Like many another pioneer family, they had very little money, and could not have bough services and good if any had been on hand to buy. There was no undertaker near, so Mr. Hollister made a casket out of walnut lumber and Mr.s Hollister took window curtains and lined the home-made casket. The children were buried in the McKee graveyard, where the Smith children had been buried some time previous.
The Stone family were very grateful for the help which Mr. & Mrs. Hollister had given them when the baby was sick and in later years Mr. Stone was afforted [sic] an opportunity to repay. A group of men were fishing in the river and Mr. Hollister was missed. After several attempts to located Mr. Hollister in the rather deep water, Mr. Stone dived and found Mr. Hollister and succeeded in bringing him to the surface. The men worked with Mr. Hollister and after a long time he finally came to, but was sick for a long time.
In 1894 Mr. Stone had five horses, a colt and five head of cattle. He broke out 10 acres with a sod plow and with an ox he planted this ground to corn, kafir, and watermelons, etc. He had no cultivator with which to plow this crop but hoed it as best he could. He raised 20 bushel per acre of corn and the people who passed were sure the corn had been planted on old land, which had previously been in cultivation. He also had a good crop of kafir and melons. Mrs. Stone boiled down the juice of the watermelon and made a sirup which she used in place of sugar in much of her cooking.
The first wheat crop made about three bushel per acre and tested 35. He borrowed the seed wheat and was to pay one-fourth of the crop for the seed. Thus for another year they were in financial straits, but when the corn played out for cornmeal they could always all back of kafir corn meal. Sometimes it was even necessary to sell the butter to buy coffee and flour. Butter sold for ten cents a pound and eggs for five cents a dozen.
He used this poor wheat for sowing the next crop, but forty acres yielded at the rate of 40 bushels per acre, and this gave the family a start which continued toward prosperous times. they then built a house of six inch flooring, paying $#14.00 a thousand for this lumber and hauling it from Ponca City, which was also the market for the wheat.
In hauling to Ponca City, Mr. Stone crossed the Salt Fork at the Lorry ford and then went east until they crossed the Chikaskia River and then angled northeast to Ponca City. Other settlers used a ford farther north on the Chikaskia, that is those living north of the Salt Fork. It was often necessary for the settlers to help one another across the fords in the river.
The first wheat brought fifty-two cents a bushel. Later wheat sold from 80 cents to one dollar a bushel. Mr. Stone hauled some of the first corn crops to the 101 Ranch and received 12 to 14 cents a bushel. He rented land and was lucky in getting some good corn crops.
In these trying days of the first two or three years on the claims much credit must be given to the wives of the settlers. With no conveniences and very little to work with, they made a home out of the dugouts and sod houses. Like Mrs. Stone they bought the groceries with the butter and egg money, and managed to save a little each time until they could buy some clothing. Everything was patched or darned as long as it was possible to do so until such time as a garment was completely useless.
Nothing was bought ready made that could be fashioned at home. Many of the mothers knit stocking and mittens. The pioneer woman was always ready to give a hand outdoors when occasion arose. One time when Mr. Stone was away for several days, Mr.s Stone took up the job of plowing and getting the ground ready for seeding.
The first school house in District 81 was built by public donation and a little help from the county. Church and Sunday school were held in the school horse until later years when church buildings were erected throughout the country.
Mr. & Mrs. Stone went down to the river and got young trees of every available variety and planted them around their farm and in addition, as soon as they got a good crop, they put out an orchard of all kinds of fruit. Then years following this, they put out 1,000 apple trees which produced for 18 years. Mr. Stone also established a deer park on this farm.
The legal description Mr. Stone’s homestead was the Northwest Quarter of Section 23 Township 25 North, Range 1 West, Kay County, Oklahoma, about 3 miles southeast of the town of Tonkawa.
[Editor’s Note: The late Mrs. Edna Porter, a teacher at Billings, attended the Oklahoma History Class at Oklahoma A & M College with Mrs. Conaghan, and wrote the following historical story about James Henry Stone.]
By Mrs. Edna Porter
James Henry Stone, son of Samuel A. & Catherine O’Kane Stone, was born at Kirkersville, Ohio. His wife Margaret Elizabeth Plants Brewington, was born at Winfield, Kansas.
Samuel and Catherine Stone, with their family of eight children, moved to Burlington, Coffey County, Kansas, in 1871. Mr. Stone bought six hundred acres of grazing land along the M K & T Railroad at $6 acre.
There was still much land in Kansas that was open for homestead entry, but one could purchase railroad land (land given to the railroads by the government to facilitate the building of railroads in the middle west).
The land selected by Mr. Stone was grazing land and not productive for other purposes. Some part of it was broken out and crop raising tried, but was later allowed to go back to grass. The land was two miles from the Neosho River.
Mr. Stone was a Miller by trade in Ohio and followed this line of work after moving to Kansas. He was an expert in dressing burrs. Unfortunately for the family finances, Mr. Stone was unable to collect the accounts in many instances in which he had given credit to such an extent as to materially decrease the family’s income. The usual miller’s luck.
Mr. Stone had put all his money into the six hundred acres of land, but Mrs. Stone had received as an heir to an estate, and she invested this money in cattle. The proceeds from this herd kept the family going, but after a few years of unsuccessful attempts to raise crops on this farm, the family moved to a farm on the Neosho River, living in a log house.
J. H. Stone was fourteen years old when his father died. His mother moved to a prairie farm, not far from the Neosho River, and kept the family together. The cows still being the mainstay of the family resources. They lived near a big timber area of two or three hundred acres, and prairie chickens and fish were abundant. Deer and wild turkey were also plentiful in the early days of Kansas.
J. H. Stone pays a grateful tribute to his mother for her splendid efforts in taking up the task of rearing the family after his father’s death. There were now nine children to be fed and clothed and taught how to meet life’s problems. She insisted that her children save and be self-supporting and the lesson thus learned proved very helpful to those who came into Oklahoma to make homes.
In common with those families who came into Kansas in the early 70’s the Stone family was visited by the grasshopper plague. The grasshoppers came in the afternoon about four, or five o’clock and they were so numerous that they hid the sun and it became so dark that one could see the stars. In a few days, the crops were eaten. Pumpkins, corn, etc, were gone. Where the onions had been were only holes in the ground. Even the soft layers of wood on the wooden material of the fences were eaten.
While Government and private aid was sent to various parts of Kansas following the ravages of the grasshoppers, no aid reached the stone family. It was a case of solve your own problems by yourself. Thus were the principles of self-reliance thoroughly grounded in this family?
The fill of are of the pioneer Kansas family of the 70’s did not contain a great variety of food, but the Stone family, living near the Neosho River, had more meat on their menu owing the number of prairie chickens, deer and fish in that locality. There were times however, when the family had to sell all the butter in order to buy groceries at the store. There was a time when flour was so high that the farmer had to buy shorts instead. They lived one half mile from a sorghum mill. Old timers know how large a part sorghum played in the sweetening of the family menu in the early days.
J. H. Stone was married December 29, 1897 and by 1893 they had a family of two children. The panic of 1893 did not particularly affect them as they did not owe anybody and were not compelled to borrow or pay back any money. They had very little money, but thy had a few head of cattle and with what they raised and the small amounts which Mr. Stone earned by plowing, etc., the family were getting by.
Mr. Stone moved to Elk County, Kansas, to await the opening of the Cherokee Outlet. He had an uncle living in this county. He rented and farmed a little play while living in this county.
In 1890 Mr. Stone made his first trip into the Cherokee Outlook to look over the country. He visited parts of the Red Rock and Ponca Indian reservations and sections of the Osage Nation. He had also met a man who was familiar with this portion of the Outlet and from him he gleaned much information as to the location of the better land and the route to take in reaching desirable claims.
On this trip Mr. Stone camped one night on Duck Creek, a few miles northeast of the present site of Tonkawa. At that time the bluestem grass was from six to seven feet high over much of the country. There were still deer in this section, as he saw quite a herd while in camp on Duck Creek. He saw many wild turkeys also. His chief interest in this trip was to look overland becoming familiar wit the best-looking lands be ready for the opening which everyone believed would come in a short time.
Mr. Stone was one of a party of eleven which came to the line two weeks before the opening. They came from Langton, Elk County, to Arkansas City, and on Sunday evening they lined up to register, but it was Wednesday before they got out of line, as so many would “sooner” in on the lines and delayed those further back in the line. Relatives and friends would bring food and water to those trying to hold their places in the line. Standing in line was a gruelling experience on account of the dust and heat. Finally the men organized in companies and registration was more orderly.
There were exciting times in Arkansas City during this period, for in addition to hundreds of homemaker there were many gamblers, slickers, and fakirs of all sorts. The boomers held meeting in a large theater building.
(to be continued)
Horse buyers with strings of ponies were at hand to sell mounts to the settlers, but these did not interest Mr. Stone who had a three-year-old doppled (sic) gray mare, named Dell, which he had been training for a year and she proved her mettle by carrying Mr. Stone twenty nine miles in one hour and forty-seven minutes. (There is a historical marker on Highway 177, south of Tonkawa, which commemorates the aid this mare gave Mr. Stone in getting and keeping a claim.)
Mr. Stone had been over part of the Outlet with Mr. Suttlemeyer from Geneva, Kansas. Mr. Suttlemeyer had come to Arkansas City three years ahead of the opening, as he thought the time and date of the opening might be indefinite, even at night and the first fellow along the line might have a great advantage. Mr. Suttlemeyer advised that if they missed staking a claim in the Chikaskia bottoms it would be well to cross the river and make for the Salt Fork Bottoms.
The Stone Party of eleven had two covered wagons and ten horses and one mule. They went down to the line about nine o’clock one Saturday morning, but the crowd was so large and so eager for places of advantage that Mr. Stone and his party were pushed out 100 yards into the Outlet.
They began their run about two miles west of the Chilocco Indiana School. Mr. Suttlemeyer soon outdistanced the other embers of the party, having provided himself with a big whip, but he soon found himself riding in the midst of a big party also ran into “sooner” and did not secure a claim. However, within a few miles the party became scattered in the rush and only four styed together--Mr. Stone, his brother-in-law, Frank Davies; a brother of Mr. Davies; and a young man named Wooster. The three men who stuck by Mr. Stone were relying upon his knowledge of the country as an aid to running to desireable locations.
After running some distance they decided the competition was too strong for them to get Chikaskia River bottom claims, so they changed their course slightly, crossed the Chikaskia and came to the Tonkawa Indiana Agency. Looking east they saw other riders and knew their best chance lay to the south. Coming to the Salt Fork River they found the banks very steep, but they knew valuable time would be lost if they went west to the ford, so they pushed one horse off the bank and the other followed.
At this time the Tonkawa Indians were in tepees south of the Agency and some of the land was fenced. Mr. Stone’s party found fences in the bend of the river where they desired to cross, but they tore down enough to allow them to cross and were soon on their (line ends)
Crossing the River which was low with very little water in it, they proceeded a mile or two south; where they found opportunities to stake. Mr. Stone had a map which showed Indian allotments, in one color, school land in another and homesteads in another. They consulted this map and with the aid of cornerstones and the relative position of the river, they got the numbers of their claims. Mr. Stone regards himself as very lucky, because of the fact that an Indian allotment lay to the north of him and to the west, and he could so easily have missed the homestead.
The wind was in the southeast during the race. A big fire was raging east of them, but they were not affected by it as they were ahead of some of the fires and later west of others. The grass was rank and fires were dangerous to those unlucky enough to be close to them.
As far as is known, Mr. Stone and Mr. Davies were the first to stake in the school district and neither man had a contest.
The two wagons, loaded with horse feed and provisions, have been left at the state line and the drivers had been instructed to meet the riders at Box Springs that night. Box Springs was about five miles southeast of Blackwell and had been the scene of a visit in the Outlet in February 1892. At that time the grass in this vicinity was so tall it would have tied over a horse’s back. The grass along the Salt Fork river was probably about two feet tall.
In the race the men had carried a canteen of water, a peck of oats in one and a sack, and a quantity of dry biscuits in the other.
After arriving on their claims, they unsaddled their horses and led them around as they hunted corner stones and traced boundary lines. As they milled around over their claims, they also kept off any fellows who might have wanted to jump the claim.
At dark they selected two of their number to remain on the claims and build fires and two were appointed to go back and meet the wagons. Mr. Stone, being more familiar wit the country was one of the two to go back. They followed the route back as nearly as they could in the dark and when they thought they might be near the wagons, they shot a revolver, but no answer. Going on another quarter of a mile the shot was repeated and they found they were close to the wagons. The drivers had made camp and were asleep, but awakened within the shot was fired. Mr. Stone and his companion got the men up, the horses were harnessed and the trip back to the claims was started. they experienced some difficulty in finding a place to cross the river, but arrived at the claims safely, bing aided by the campfires on their claims.
The riders in the race were too busy making time to pay very much attention to what was happening any distance from them, but Mr. Stone remembers a big group of perhaps 25 or 30, who were known as the Missouri Bunch. One of the number had a large American flag which all were to follow. Those who could do so ran fast to keep ahead of this large group.
He also remembers a man, with a span of mules, who had two girls with him. After eight or nine miles the man let out one of the girls who immediately staked. After running a little farther the man stopped to stake.
Mr. Stone tells of two men in a two-horse buggy without a top. As Mr. Stone was riding near them, one of their hats blew off and Mr. Stone rod alongside and reached down with the whip he was carrying, rescued the hat and handed it back to the man without either of the parties stopping. Mr. Stone did not know the men and has often wondered who the owner of the hat might be, but there was not time during the race to stop for social amenities.
South of Blackwell is a junction of two trails and when nearing this junction, Mr. Stone saw a crow of several men and one woman. He spurred his horse and beat this group to the junction and here gained a little time.
He saw a man with a team, plowing on a claim. The man had come from the Ponca country, which was only two miles away. Later the courts decided that those who ran from the Ponca country were not eligible to file.
Thus with good horses and skillful maneuvering, when the Stone party crossed what is now the Esch place, they were ahead of the crowed. The first Indians they saw were two men at a wooden pump near the Agency. Here is where the decision was made to go south through the tepees instead of going to the ford.
One Sunday morning they hitched four horses to a plow and plowed a furrow around their claims. They then erected a tent over the corner stone, so each man could sleep on his own claim at night in the tent.
One man was unlucky in staking an Indiana allotment, but the three men who had valid claims were immensely delighted with their lands. Most of the early settlers were poor men, who had never known what it was to own a home of any kind, and when they had such good land in these new claims, it was the happiest days of their lives. Owing to the trining received in the pioneer days of Kansas, these men never faltered at any undertaking, or became weak hearted over the first trying in the new country.
On Monday the men decided to go to Perry to number up. They went east toward the Ponca country and followed fences part of the time. At Perry they gave a man twenty-five cents each for his services in forming the men into companies to facilitate the numbering and hold their places in the line. On October 12 they came back to file.
When he came back to begin his improvements, he brought a door and window with him a few little strips of lumber. He made a dugout 8 X 11 feet, on his claim. He crossed the river and cut down some trees, 8 or 10 inches through, and laid the logs around the edge of his dugout. The roof was dirt The sheds for his stock were later built of cottonwood slabs. He had brought along an old stove, which he now set up in the dugout. Later he built a small house in which they lived during the summer months, moving back to the dugout in the wintertime.
He went back to Kansas and returned with his family, landing on the claim February 10, 1894. They brought along a bedstead, table, chair, safe, and sewing machine, and these with the stove and later another bed practically filled the dugout, leaving only a narrow passage way.
A dugout was not much protection against some of the wildlife; The gophers would dig in the sides and roof of the dugout and often they found great piles of dirt on the bed. Many of the settler’s wives greatly feared the centipedes, snakes, and tarantulas which found their way into the dugouts and sod shanties.
Mr. & Mr.s Stone brought two children with them when they moved to their claim and one month later a son was born to them, being the first white child born in the school district. This son lived to be two years old and died from membraneous croup. Two weeks before the death of this son, twins were born to the Stones, but they lived but one week.
During this trying time of sickness and death, Mr. & Mrs. Homer Hollister were of great assistance. Like many another pioneer family, they had very little money, and could not have bough services and good if any had been on hand to buy. There was no undertaker near, so Mr. Hollister made a casket out of walnut lumber and Mr.s Hollister took window curtains and lined the home-made casket. The children were buried in the McKee graveyard, where the Smith children had been buried some time previous.
The Stone family were very grateful for the help which Mr. & Mrs. Hollister had given them when the baby was sick and in later years Mr. Stone was afforted [sic] an opportunity to repay. A group of men were fishing in the river and Mr. Hollister was missed. After several attempts to located Mr. Hollister in the rather deep water, Mr. Stone dived and found Mr. Hollister and succeeded in bringing him to the surface. The men worked with Mr. Hollister and after a long time he finally came to, but was sick for a long time.
In 1894 Mr. Stone had five horses, a colt and five head of cattle. He broke out 10 acres with a sod plow and with an ox he planted this ground to corn, kafir, and watermelons, etc. He had no cultivator with which to plow this crop but hoed it as best he could. He raised 20 bushel per acre of corn and the people who passed were sure the corn had been planted on old land, which had previously been in cultivation. He also had a good crop of kafir and melons. Mrs. Stone boiled down the juice of the watermelon and made a sirup which she used in place of sugar in much of her cooking.
The first wheat crop made about three bushel per acre and tested 35. He borrowed the seed wheat and was to pay one-fourth of the crop for the seed. Thus for another year they were in financial straits, but when the corn played out for cornmeal they could always all back of kafir corn meal. Sometimes it was even necessary to sell the butter to buy coffee and flour. Butter sold for ten cents a pound and eggs for five cents a dozen.
He used this poor wheat for sowing the next crop, but forty acres yielded at the rate of 40 bushels per acre, and this gave the family a start which continued toward prosperous times. they then built a house of six inch flooring, paying $#14.00 a thousand for this lumber and hauling it from Ponca City, which was also the market for the wheat.
In hauling to Ponca City, Mr. Stone crossed the Salt Fork at the Lorry ford and then went east until they crossed the Chikaskia River and then angled northeast to Ponca City. Other settlers used a ford farther north on the Chikaskia, that is those living north of the Salt Fork. It was often necessary for the settlers to help one another across the fords in the river.
The first wheat brought fifty-two cents a bushel. Later wheat sold from 80 cents to one dollar a bushel. Mr. Stone hauled some of the first corn crops to the 101 Ranch and received 12 to 14 cents a bushel. He rented land and was lucky in getting some good corn crops.
In these trying days of the first two or three years on the claims much credit must be given to the wives of the settlers. With no conveniences and very little to work with, they made a home out of the dugouts and sod houses. Like Mrs. Stone they bought the groceries with the butter and egg money, and managed to save a little each time until they could buy some clothing. Everything was patched or darned as long as it was possible to do so until such time as a garment was completely useless.
Nothing was bought ready made that could be fashioned at home. Many of the mothers knit stocking and mittens. The pioneer woman was always ready to give a hand outdoors when occasion arose. One time when Mr. Stone was away for several days, Mr.s Stone took up the job of plowing and getting the ground ready for seeding.
The first school house in District 81 was built by public donation and a little help from the county. Church and Sunday school were held in the school horse until later years when church buildings were erected throughout the country.
Mr. & Mrs. Stone went down to the river and got young trees of every available variety and planted them around their farm and in addition, as soon as they got a good crop, they put out an orchard of all kinds of fruit. Then years following this, they put out 1,000 apple trees which produced for 18 years. Mr. Stone also established a deer park on this farm.
The legal description Mr. Stone’s homestead was the Northwest Quarter of Section 23 Township 25 North, Range 1 West, Kay County, Oklahoma, about 3 miles southeast of the town of Tonkawa.
30. “Samuel Stone’s son runs away,” May 2004, Burrton Woodruff, Ponca City, OK.
Jim Stone ran away from home. to get money he stole his mother’s milk cow and sold it. Seemed to create a breech that was never healed. Also it was generally believed he was a Sooner--that is he snuck into the strip before the opening so he could get prime land. Later he erected a statue to his horse that got him there so fast.
Jim, William, and Ralph only lived a few blocks apart in Tonkawa. There are no pictures of the three of them together because of the hard feelings.
My informant was Robert Holland, grandson of Ralph Stone
Jim Stone ran away from home. to get money he stole his mother’s milk cow and sold it. Seemed to create a breech that was never healed. Also it was generally believed he was a Sooner--that is he snuck into the strip before the opening so he could get prime land. Later he erected a statue to his horse that got him there so fast.
Jim, William, and Ralph only lived a few blocks apart in Tonkawa. There are no pictures of the three of them together because of the hard feelings.
My informant was Robert Holland, grandson of Ralph Stone
31. Michael A. Barbieri, “Wastie Gesslien,” 10/28/1999, email files.
your "Wasta Gesslein" is actually "Wastie Gesslien, b.unknown in
Germany. His parents are: Christopher Gesslein b.4/9/1836 in Germany,
d.1/17/1906 in Frontenac, KS. Christopher m.Cora Double. Cora b.
Germany in 1849, d.Frontenac, KS in 1933. Christopher and Cora are my
g-g-grandparents.
Wastie had 8 brothers and sisters. Wasties oldest sister, Rachel (my
G-grandmother) was born in Penzberg, Germany.
I have other tidbits on Wasties brothers and sisters, and another
contact in Texas if you would like.
Michael
Dublin, CA
mikeybar@pacbell.net
your "Wasta Gesslein" is actually "Wastie Gesslien, b.unknown in
Germany. His parents are: Christopher Gesslein b.4/9/1836 in Germany,
d.1/17/1906 in Frontenac, KS. Christopher m.Cora Double. Cora b.
Germany in 1849, d.Frontenac, KS in 1933. Christopher and Cora are my
g-g-grandparents.
Wastie had 8 brothers and sisters. Wasties oldest sister, Rachel (my
G-grandmother) was born in Penzberg, Germany.
I have other tidbits on Wasties brothers and sisters, and another
contact in Texas if you would like.
Michael
Dublin, CA
mikeybar@pacbell.net
32. IOOF (International Order of Odd Fellows) Cemetery in Tonkawa. Ralph, Alda, Frances, and Vera’s baby are pretty much directly in front of the building that is at the North edge of the cemetery. William Thomas Stone, Anna Back Stone, Virgil Eugene Stone, Burrton Woodruff Jr, Helen Nadine Stone are at the Stone plot. Burrton Woodruff Sr, Emma Belle Bentley are south of them just on the west of the inner loop road.
34. Robert Holland Fulton, “Ralph Stone Story,” Received 2004; Probably written 1978.
THE RALPH H. STONE FAMILY IN OKLAHOMA
Ralph Holland and Alda Hickman Stone, and their two children Vera and Olin, entered the Oklahoma Territory in 1902 from the Coffey County, Kansas area.
Ralph and Alda were married in Redmon, Illinois in January, 1898 and established a home n Crandall, Kansas. Their daughter, Vera Catharine, was born the following year, May 28, 1899, their son, Olin Ralph was born on May 17, 1901.
The family first settled on an Indian lease along the bank of the Chikaskia River in a three-room twostory house they shared with good friends Newt and Naiinie Riley, and their three children. This house was quite near what was known as the Bill Gunn bridge over the Chikaskia river, to the east.
The ground was leased from a Ponca Indian, allotee #133 G. Collins, but was later purchased from the survivors of Collins, and a Patent was awarded, #389689, through the office of the President of the United States.
This 120 acres then became their home, described in the deed as the NE 1/4 of NW 1/4, and the N 1/2 of NE 1/4, Section 19
Township 25 North, Range 1 East. Their living quarters were only a tent and a dugout while the ground was being tilled and planted, and the crops harvested. (See Page 7. )
In October, 1905 an additional 80 acres was purchased from H. D. Wycoff that was south across the Salt Fork River, the E 1/2 of SE 1/4, Section 30, Twp 25N, R1E. It was here that they built the house that was to he the family home, and where their second daughter, Frances Alda Eleanor was born on April 1, 1906, and another child that died in infancy in January, 1910. The house was built with two rooms downstairs and two upstairs.
In March 1907 an area called Lot 7, that laid north of the above 80 acres, consisting of 30. 7 acres, was leased from Grover Story Teller for two years at a rate of $2. 00 per acre, paid semiannually. When this lease expired, it was purchased in September 1910, and the home place consisted of 110 acres, laying south to north from the section line to the Salt Fork.
In March 1908 an additional 156 acres was leased from David Little Cook, the N 1/2 and SE 1/4 of the NW 1/4 and Lot 1 of Section 33, Twp 25N, RIE at a rate of $1. 50 per acre paid semiannually. Also specified in the lease was a 14' X 24' barn to be built, with solid stone foundation, 10' high studding 3' apart, with drop or box siding, and painted two coats, with doors and windows, feed boxes and racks.
During this same time, in the Fail of 1907, the older two children of Ralph and Alda started to school. Vera and Olin began together attending Valley Center, some four miles to the west, and would continue going there through Grade five. During the fail and winter of 1912-13, the Joint District #1 Bird's Nest School was completed, and Vera, Olin and now Frances would he attending there. This school was just one mile to the south of the home place, on the Kay/Noble County line.
Bird's Nest School rapidly became the social center of the District, drawing on talent from the surrounding neighbors for regular monthly entertainment, as well as the occasional box suppers. Proceeds from these get togetthers provided funds for which to purchase an organ and stool, a dictionary and holder, calico and thread for curtains, lamps and coal oil, hymn books, chalk and other supplies.
The Ledger Books also show entries from July 1912 to February 1913 where slightly over $686. 00 was paid for the building. And during this same period, teacher salaries were $40. 00 per month. Sample entries show Nella Knable and Fay Kirkpatrick as teachers, and a Souvenir Leaflet for this Joint District #1 of Buffalo Township , Oklahoma show C. G. Vannest as Superintendent; C. W. Case, Director; H. D. Wycoff, Clerk; and Ralph Stone, Treasurer. A Report Card for Frances Stone for October 1916 to March 1917 is signed by Winnie Osborn, Teacher.
Other important changes were being made during these years. In August 1909, Creth Little Cook leased to Ralph Stone an 80 acre plot of ground across the road south and 1/4 mile west of the home plsce. This was the W 1/2 of NE* of Section 31, 25N, R1E, and the $2. 50 per acre was paid semiannually. Little Cook decided to sell this land in 1918, and it was purchased by W. H. Vanselous. Shortly after, Ralph purchased a like 80 acres in Section 26. For their mutual benefit, these two 80's were traded in 1920.
Also in November 1909, Ralph and his brother Bill purchased 54 acres of ground laying just north of the Tonkawa City limits, from the Board of Regents, University Preparatory School. This ground, 733' eastwest and 330' north-south would later become the Stone Addition to the City of Tonkawa, with Ralph owning the north half, and Bill the south half, aLoric; Stone Avenue. No improvements were made at this time, :15 both men end their families were totally involved n their farming ventures southeast of town. Bill was farming well to the East, near the 101 ranch, with his wife of two years, Anna Back, of Billings.
Ralph and Alda were seeing their children growing up, and provided them with the best education available. In 1912 they purchased a piano for the home, and Vera began taking lessons. During the summers, she would drive their horse and buggy into town to take instruction from Mrs. Vic Walling and practicing on rented pianos. Olin helped out on the farm throughout the plowing, planting and harvesting seasons, and continued his education. Frances began her First Grade in 1912, and she, Olin and Vera all attended Bird's Nest School together.
In March 1917 seven members of the rural community went together to establish telephone service to the Surrounding area. Ralph Stone was elected President of the association at their first meeting, and T. J. VanVoris the Secretary. Records show the expenses for Wire, Poles, labor and exchange service to start up came to just under 0250. 00, or $35. 52 for each of the line owners: B. H. Stone, T. J. VanVoris, Fred Sipe, C. F. Stark, W. J. Liles, Owen Ambrose and James H. Stone. Others renting a share of the line were: Alfred Regnier, Percy Davis, Clarence McElhaney, and Alfred Henibree. The list expanded as time went on, and the official duties of President and Secretary changed as new members bought-in or replaced original line owners. The association continued into the early thirties, but the final entry in the ledger listed only K. C. Smith, R. H. Stone, John Coiwell, J. H. Stone and Earl Davies.
Health problems began to plague Ralph, and in September 1920, the family moved to town. A house and four lots were purchased from D. T. Irhy in the Ansel Addition of Tonkawa, Lots 19, 20, 21 arid 22 in Block 4, or one block directly south of the University Preparatory School. The house *as on Lot 21, at 300 South Frantz Street, south of Oklahoma Avenue. From here, the children took their High School courses at the Preparatory School and attended many other school functions.
Vera graduated in 1920 and went on to Edmond one summer to earn a teaching certificate. She taught for a while at Fair'riew near Billings. She married Kenneth C. Smith in July 1921 and they moved to the Stone farm, remaining there for six years. During this time, their two daughters were born, Virginia in April 1922, and. Catharine in June 1925. In 1927 the family moved to the Gardener place, 2 1/2 south and 2 miles east of Tonkawa, where their son Roger was born in September 1927.
In 1930 the Smith family moved to a farm owned by W. J. Liles, northeast of the Stone farm, and lived there until 1938. Their son Olin Dail was born there in December 1931. In 1938, they returned to the Stone farm where their son Larry Deane was born in April 1939. They would farm both the Liles and Stone places until 1944, when they bought a farm north of the Salt Fork river northeast of Tonkawa from Harry Leach.
Olin graduated from High School at the Preparatory School in the Spring of 1921, and worked in and around Tonkawa for the next several years. He married Nellie Musselman in April 1923, and while they were living in a house that had been moved in across the street from Ralph and Alda in Tonkawa, their daughter Maxine was born in January 1924. For the next ten years, Olin and his family would live and work in Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas in the oil-related industries.
It was from March to November 1923 that a new home was built on the ground previously purchased on the north edge of Tonkawa. This was to become 807 North Seventh Street, . after the area was platted into Lots, Blocks, Streets and Alleys in April 1926, and given the name of Stone Addition. Ralph was deeded ownership of Lots 1, 2, 3, 11 and 12 in Block 1, and Lots 1 through 6, and 19 through 24 in Block 2. As before, Ralph retained the north half of the Addition, and his Brother, William T. Stone the south half, on which he was to build a home in 1925.
On the Lots in Block 2, Ralph and Alda built their home, a chicken house and a small barn, and a garage. Their Jersey cow, flock of chickens and large garden provided them with food and a small source of income. Alda would sell eggs through the winter months and eggs and asparagus in the spring. Her expertise in the culinary arts was a constant joy to her family and neighbors, and her kitchen was always full of the aromas of her cooking, baking, canning vegetables, and making jellies. She would usually fix enough to share with her sisterin-law Anna Stone, and husband Bill, after they had built their home just to the south on Stone Avenue.
Though living in town, Ralph and Alda took over the managing of the farm during the years from 1928 to 1933, with mostly hired help during the harvests. Olin, Nell and Maxine returned to the Tonkawa area in 1934 and moved onto the farm, staying until 1938. It was during these years that the Bird's Nest School would have the Smith children, Virginia, Catharine, Roger and Olin Dail, as well as Maxine attending at the same time.
And it was also during this period that the talents of the community worked as a team to put on a play at the school that was the subject of family stories and laughs for years thereafter. The play was titled "Hobgoblin House" and the acting by Vera, most particularly, brought the house down. Though the stage was small, the production was hugely successful! It was not surprising, however, that no Broadway offers came pouring in!
Ralph and Alda's youngest daughter, Frances, had graduated from High School in 1923. While working as a cub reporter for the Tonkawa News, she met and: married Ira Hobson Fulton in July 1924. Their son, Robert Holland, was born in January 1926 at the home on North Seventh of Ralph and Alda. The Fiilton family would live in Braman, Marshall and Enid, Oklahoma until 1935 when Hobson and Frances divorced. Hobson was a pharmacist for the Evans Drug store in Enid for many years. Be remarried and moved to California, staying in the seme field until his retirement.
Frances and Holland moved back to live with Ralph and Alda in Tonkawa. Frances would work at various jobs in Tonkawa, Tulsa and Oklahoma City, and also remarried in 1945 to Harry Miller, an Army Recruiter, in Beaumont, Texas. Holland would live with Ralph and Alda while he continued his education, graduating from now Tonkawa High School in 1943.
'After Olin and his family moved off the farm and left the area in 1938, Kenneth and Vera farmed the home place until 1944, when their daughter Catharine met and married Glen Veal in March of that year. Glen and Cathanne moved onto the farm and lived there until the summer of 1949. During this time their daughter Carol was born in May 1946 and another daughter Glenda, born in January 1949, Their son Coburn was born in July 1951, at their new home northeast of Tonkawa.
In 1949, Olin and Nell returned to the home place and farmed it until her death in Couer d'Alene, Idaho, while on a vacation trip, in August 1973. Their daughter Maxine and her husband Bill Noles and their three daughters were living in Tonkawa, . and Olin moved into a mobile home on their property on Renee Street. Olin would die in 1983, after suffering many years, in the nursing home in Tonkawa.
Maxine and Bill continued to live in Tonkawa for several years while their daughters completed High School. Janice was born in September 1945, Kevin in June 1955, and Erin in December 1958. Ilaxine and Bill now live hear Pryor, Oklahoma in their home on Lake Hudson.
During this same general period, Ralph and Alda's youngest daughter Frances had taken painting courses and lessons from well-known Oklahoma artists. She would eventually open her own galleries in Ponca City, Oklahoma, Buena Vista, Colorado and in Tahiequah, Oklahoma. She was well known as an accomplished landscape artist, working in such mediums as pencil sketches, oils and pastels. She died in Talequah after extensive surgery in May 1977.
It was also in this same period that the home of Kenneth and Vera, Ralph and Alda's oldest daughter, became the focal point of the many Smith family get-togethers Kenneth was a skillfull story teller, and his jokes were both highly amusing as well as instructional. The home was always full of the sounds of laughter, and the sounds of reverence. Kenneth and Vera were active members of the Baptist Church all of their married lives.
Vera died in January 1979 after health problems began to seriously affect her life. Kenneth would continue to farm their place with the help of their Grandson, and would continue as an ardent church-goer and worker in the community, until he passed away in November 1985.
Frances' son Holland would marry shortly after his graduation to Emma Rose Fuller, with whom he had been classmates in school. In March 1944 he entered the U. S. Army at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, and spent the next two years overseas in Germany. Their daughter, Roberta Ann was born in October 1944, but was not to see her father until she was eighteen months old. Staff Sergeant Robert H. Fulton received an Honorable Discharge from the Army at Fort Smith, Arkansas in 1946.
He would spend most of his working years in the Manufacturing and Construction Industries. He and, his family would work in Kansas and South Dakota, where Ann would graduate from the Rapid City High School In 1962. From there they would move to Tucson, Arizona and Ann would enter the University or Arizona, and
move away from home. Holland and Rose would eventually
work in states from coast to coast until his retirement in 1983. They bought a home in Tonkawa, where they reside today, just a block south of the house his Grandfather built in 1923.
Ralph Stone would live out his years in that house on North Seventh Street. He passed away in December 1945 at the age of 75. Alda soon sold this house and bought a smaller house and garden area at 506 North Sixth Street. There she would live until her death in October 1968 at the age of 94. She and Ralph, as well as their three children, are buried in the I. O. O. F. Cemetery just west of Tonkawa.
A magical period has disappeared Into the sands of time. Gone are the people and places that are still held so dear in the memories of the seven Grandchildren of Ralph and Alda Stone.
11. H. Fulton May 1993
COMMENTS AND ADDENDUM
Paragraph 5 on page one has been subject to much scrutiny and discussion. There is no documented proof that Ralph and Alda used this tract or land as the location of their dugout and tent. It is known, however, that Ponca Indian George Collins had an Indian Land Patent on it, and that much later, Ralph Stone received a U. S. Government Land Patent on it. The Collins-to-Stone link has not at this time been established, but a planned search of the files at Anadarko may turn up such evidence in the near future.
Other references to Farming arid Grazing Leases held by Ralph are taken from actual copies of these leases, but no clue is apparent that they were not continuances from previous leases, or were followed by continuing leases. In light of this, it is quite possible that the site of the dugout arid tent home could have been in Section 29 or 33, on the east side of and bordering the Salt Fork River.
Statements concerning the purchase of property in the Ansel Addition of Tonkawa are supported by copies of Tax Statements in hand, and old photographs showing members of the family in front of the house on Frantz Street, south of UPS, A copy of the Town Plat of this area 1. s attached.
The same holds true! for the property in the Stone Addition, with tax statements, old photographs, and as before, . a copy of the Town Flat is attached.
The comments and narratives concerning the building of the Bird's Nest School are derived from old hand-written ledger entries and School Warrants, and show names and dates of recipients, and dates of the sums received from the entertainment and box suppers.
Other ledger books show the annual meetings of the group that formed the telephone exchange, the dates and amounts the line owners were assessed for their part of the expenses.
Copies are also attached of the Kay County Townships and U. S. Geological Survey maps to aid in locating the various pieces of ground mentioned in the main body of this work.
FURTHER ADDENDUM
In referring back to Page 2, Ralph and his brother Bill purchased the five or so acres north of the Tonkawa City Limits in 1909. Nothing more was done until much later, when in 1923 the home on North Seventh Street was built.
Curiously, an old receipt has come to light that has the date of April 23, 1910, that shows Ralph paying the sum of $50. 00 for House Rent from April 1st to September 1st, to W. H. Wiles. No further information or location noted.
In referring back to Page 3, Tax Receipts from the Kay County Treasurer sunport the data in Paragraph Three wherein the family of Ralph Stone resided on Frantz Street in Block 4, Lots 19, 20, 21 and 22, each lot measuring 25' by 130'.
When Ralph was 53, and Alda was 50 years old, the task of building their home on North Seventh was begun. This would entail the clearing and grading of the lots, the engineering layouts for the house, garage, driveway, sidewalks as the first steps. Following that would come the excavation for the foundations and the half-basement under the west one-half of the house, and the Carpenter crews would be erecting the batter boards and stakes for the concrete and masonry workers. Materials ranging from Portland Cement, sand and gravel, to lumber and reinforcing bar and wire would be arriving on the site.
Gradually, the house and outbuildings would be taking shape. From the start in March, 1923 to the first of May, the house was wired, and by the first of June, was ready to paint. Cancelled checks show that by the first of July, 1923, the house was complete, with the garage, chicken and other outbuildings completing later. Certainly, by November of 1923, all was done.
The cancelled checks show the general breakdown of the expenses, as itemized below:
To Lumber yards for materials -- $2,171.38
J. N. Schwab for carpentering -- $964.31
Misc. Craftsmen and Laborers -- $547.93
Wilking & Fountain Co, Hardware -- $90.75
Madison Paint Co. for Paint, etc -- $66.18
C. K. Crawford for electrical wiring -- $37.00
Total -- $3,877.55
Other expenses would be quite likely, but nothing is available to document any more than is shown. This was a three-bedroom, one-bath house, with Living Room, Dining Room and Kitchen. The basement served as a spare bedroom with shelves built-in for home-canned fruits and vegetables. The one-car garage was also wide enough for the laundry area.
FURTHER ADDENDUM II
The Bird's Nest School, as described on Page 2. was located directly south of the H. H. Stone home place in Section 30 of the West Part of Miller Township in Kay County, into Noble County, Buffalo Township, specifically in the North-west corner of the North-west Quarter of Section 5.
As mentioned before, the children of Ralph and Alda Stone, Vera, Olin and Frances, would walk the one mile to the school, noted as Joint District No. 1, in Kay & Noble Counties. School District Warrants numbered 1. through 11. , all drawn on the Building Fund, cover the period from July 12, 1912 to February 16, 1914.
The Wilkins & Son Company had the building contract, for a sum of $509. 55; the next highest expenditure was to Sears and Roebuck, $63. 44 for seats and desk. Other expenses for Limber, a Stove, a Pump and Bucket, Insurance on the House to Agent Lillie Clark, and labor and Hauling from Bliss.
The town of Bliss was located three miles south and four-and-a-half mile -East of the school, along the AT & SF Railroad. Bliss was to he later renamed to Marland, in deference and honor of Mr. E. W. Marland, a noted Oilman.
The amount received from the sale of school bonds through the above period was $700. 00, and at the end of the period only forty-one cents was remaining.
The Teacher's salaries, school supplies and hauling coal and 'wood all came out of the General Fund, but proceeds from box suppers and entertainment allowed for other purchases such as an organ for $25. 00, dictionary and stand, organ stool, lamps and oil, a coal house, a stage platform, and other miscellaneous items.
Copies of old photographs of the period show the general size and construction of the school house, and number of students at various times standing on the West and South sides. A clipping from the Tonkawa News of April 6, 1916 listed seven students on the Term Honor Roll, and had Frances Stone, Elva Trueblood, Cleytus Van Voris, Irma Stark, Verle Van Voris, Dessie Hembree, Lloyd Hembree and the teacher, Leona Trueblood.
The photographs, news clipping and Township Maps mentioned above are attached.
Alda Hickman b 12-26-1873 d 10-26-1968 at Tonkawa, Oklahoma. Her mother, Persona Hanna Hickman died when she was only 4 years old and her sister, Bertha, approximately 2 years younger. Her father Cornelius Hickman, placed the little girls with different relatives. Alda was left with her Grandmother Sarah Hanna (whose husband had died before Alda was born). So Alda's grandmother and older aunts raised her until she was old enough to help her aunts where she was needed. She was born at Redmon, Illinois and met RALPH HOLLAND STONE in Kansas where she was working for her aunt, Araminta Brinkerhoff. She married RALPH HOLLAND STONE at Redmon, Illinois January 12, 1898 and they settled in Coffey County (Crandall) ansas. In 1904 or 1905 they moved on a farm they purchased which was very near the border of theCherokee Strip, buildt their home and raised their family. It is situated sougheast of Tonkawa, Oklahoma in Kay County. Ralph Stone was the son of Samuel Stone and Catherine O'Lane. He was born 3-11-1870 and died 12/31/1945 and both are buried at Tonkawa, Oklahoma. They had four children, one of whom died in infancy.
I. Vera Catharine, b 5-23-1899 at Crandall, Kansas, on 7-21-21 she married KENNETH S. SMITH, sone of Jesse and Dora Smith at Tonkawa, Oklahoma. There farm is 2 miles from Tonkawa, Oklahoma. They are Baptist, he is a deacon in the church and both have worked in the church most of their married life. They ad six children, one of whom died in infancy.
I.1. Virgina Dora, b 4-21-22 at Tonkawa, Oklahoma. On 10-21-45 she married Q. D. Lamb, sone of Henry Clayton and Kate Lamb, an early-day before Oklahoma statehood Baptist preacher. Q. D. Lamb,b. 12-10-20 is an insurance examiner for the State of Arkansas. They have 2 children.
I.1.a. Sharon Catharine, b. 9-22-48 at Okmulgee, Oklahoma, is a high school business teacher. On April 7, 1973 she married DANIEL WILLIAM BOKAMPER, b. 10-11-46, son of Jesse and Dorthy Bokamper, and words fot eh Finance and Administration Department for the State of Arkansas. They have one son.
I.1.a.1 Brock William Bokamper, b. 12-7-77
I.1.b. Neil Kenneth Lamb, b. 7-20-1951 at Jonesboro, Arkansas. On May 4, 1971 he married Michelle Murdock, daughter of Wayne and Dolores Murdock of Mt. Pleasant, Pennsylvania. They live at Ponca City, Oklahoma where he works for his uncle, Roger A. Smith, in the plumbing contracting business. Their first child is due in March, 1978.
I.2. Catharine Alda, b. 6-9-25 at Tonkawa, Oklahoma. On 3-26-44 she married Glen Edward Veal, son of _____ Veal. He was born 4-16-22, has worked as a welder for Continental Oil Company for several years and is also a farmer at Tonkawa, Oklahoma. They have three children.
I.2.a. Carol Joan, b. 5-24-46 at Tonkawa, Oklahoma. On 7-1-66 she married James Scott, b 4-19-46 and they live in Morland, Kansas where he works in a bank and is the town's mayor. They have 2 children.
I.2.a.1. French, b. 1-17-67
I.2.a.2. Joanna Suzanne, b 7-25-77
1.2.b. Glenda Catharine, b. 1-22-49 at Tonkawa, Oklahoma. On December 30, 1977 she married Richard Tennis, sone of Carol and Louise Tennis of Pasco, Washington, whom she met while working in a Baptist Church there. They live at Eltopia, Washington where they farm.
I.2.c. Coburn Lile, b. 7-17-51 at Tonkawa, Oklahoma. He is not married and he works in Ponca City, Oklahoma for his uncle Roger A. Smith, a plumbing contractor.
I.3. Roger Alan Smith, b 9-19-27 at Tonkawa Oklahoma. On 9-29-46 he married Janet Selvey, daughter of Lloyd Selvey of Ponca City Oklahoma. They are Baptist and he owns a plumbing contracting business in Ponca City, Oklahoma. They 2 children.
I.3.a. Dan Michael, b. 10-29-48, has a doctorate of psychology from OSU and is practicing at Arkansas City,lKansas and Ponca City, Oklahoma. On 11-10-73 he married Julia White and they are expecting their first child in May, 1978.
I.3.b. Becki Lynn, b 7-12-50 at Ponca City, Oklahoma. On 9-8-73 she married Ron Carbutt of Seminole, Oklahoma. They live in Ponca City, Oklahoma where he works for Roger A. Smith in the pluymbing contracting business. They have 1 child.
I.3.b.1. Bart Thomas, b 5-22-77
I.4. Olin Dell Smith, b. 12-15-31 at Tonkawa, Oklahoma. He has a Ph.D. in Agronomy from the University of Minnesota and is a professor and head of the peanut experimentation program at Texas A & M at Bryan, Texas. On 9-5-51 he married Thelma Fairless of Tonkawa, Oklahoma, daughter of Eugene Fairless and they have 3 children.
I.4.a. Brenda Marie, b. 10-25-55 at Stillwater, Oklahoma. She is a graduate of Texas A & M and teaches at Huntsville, Texas.
I.4.b. Brent Wayne, b. 7-17-58 at Stillwater, Oklahoma. He is attending Texas A & M at Bryan, Texas.
I.4.c. Beth Ann, b. 11-17-64 at St. Paul, Minnesota.
I.5. Larry Deane Smith, b 4-1-39 at Tonkawa, Oklahoma. He has a Ph.D. in biochemistry from Oklahoma A & M. He is a professor at Southern Methodist (University or College ??) at Winfield, Kansas, and is also Director of a cancer research foundation located there. On 9-8-61 he married Barbara Lomax of Okmulgee, Oklahoma and they have three children.
I.5.a Kerry Deane, b. 10-18-62
I.5.b. Catharine Louise, b. 8-27-64
I.5.c. Cheryl Ann, b. 8-25-67
II Olin Ralph Stone, b 5-17-1901 at Crandall, Kansas. He moved to Oklahoma with his parents, Ralph and Alda Stone, and lived around Tonkawa, Oklahoma all his life. He worked for Continental Oil Company for some years and then has faremed until he retired. On 4-6-1923 he married NELLIE MUSSELMAN, b. 11-13-1905 d. 8-30-1973. Her father was also an early-day farmer around Tonkawa, Oklahoma. They had 1 daughter. They are presbyterians.
II.a. Maxine Marie, b. 1-2-1924 at Tonkawa, Oklahoma. She is married to Billy Ray Noles, son of Thomas Noles of Tonkawa, Oklahoma. They own and operate an insurance agency at Tonkawa. They have 3 children.
II.a.1. Janice, b 9-16-45. married; lives in Oklahoma City
II.a.2. Kevin, b. 6-9-1955. married; lives in Oklahoma City
II.a.3. Erin, b. 12-3-1958. married. husband is in the armed services.
III. Frances Alda Eleanor, b 4-1-1906 at Tonkawa, Oklahoma. On July 20, 1924 she married Hobson Fulton, they had one son and were later divorced. She later married Harry Miller. She was an artist of some fame and operated her own galleries at Buena Vista, Colorado, and then at Tahlequah, Oklahoma. She died 5-16-1977 and is buried at Tonkawa, Oklahoma.
III.1. Robert Holland Fulton, b 1926 at Enid, Oklahoma. On 12-18-43 he married Rose Fuller, daughter of George Fuller, also an early day farmer around Tonkawa, Oklahoma. He is with a large industrial contracting business (contrsuction) and their permanent home is in Tonkawa, Oklahoma. They have one daughter.
III.1.a. Ann, b 10-1-44 at Tonkawa, Oklahoma. She married 6-65 to Jay Ruehlen and they have one son. She now lives in California. Divorced in 1977.
III.1.a.1 Jamie b 7-11-70
THE RALPH H. STONE FAMILY IN OKLAHOMA
Ralph Holland and Alda Hickman Stone, and their two children Vera and Olin, entered the Oklahoma Territory in 1902 from the Coffey County, Kansas area.
Ralph and Alda were married in Redmon, Illinois in January, 1898 and established a home n Crandall, Kansas. Their daughter, Vera Catharine, was born the following year, May 28, 1899, their son, Olin Ralph was born on May 17, 1901.
The family first settled on an Indian lease along the bank of the Chikaskia River in a three-room twostory house they shared with good friends Newt and Naiinie Riley, and their three children. This house was quite near what was known as the Bill Gunn bridge over the Chikaskia river, to the east.
The ground was leased from a Ponca Indian, allotee #133 G. Collins, but was later purchased from the survivors of Collins, and a Patent was awarded, #389689, through the office of the President of the United States.
This 120 acres then became their home, described in the deed as the NE 1/4 of NW 1/4, and the N 1/2 of NE 1/4, Section 19
Township 25 North, Range 1 East. Their living quarters were only a tent and a dugout while the ground was being tilled and planted, and the crops harvested. (See Page 7. )
In October, 1905 an additional 80 acres was purchased from H. D. Wycoff that was south across the Salt Fork River, the E 1/2 of SE 1/4, Section 30, Twp 25N, R1E. It was here that they built the house that was to he the family home, and where their second daughter, Frances Alda Eleanor was born on April 1, 1906, and another child that died in infancy in January, 1910. The house was built with two rooms downstairs and two upstairs.
In March 1907 an area called Lot 7, that laid north of the above 80 acres, consisting of 30. 7 acres, was leased from Grover Story Teller for two years at a rate of $2. 00 per acre, paid semiannually. When this lease expired, it was purchased in September 1910, and the home place consisted of 110 acres, laying south to north from the section line to the Salt Fork.
In March 1908 an additional 156 acres was leased from David Little Cook, the N 1/2 and SE 1/4 of the NW 1/4 and Lot 1 of Section 33, Twp 25N, RIE at a rate of $1. 50 per acre paid semiannually. Also specified in the lease was a 14' X 24' barn to be built, with solid stone foundation, 10' high studding 3' apart, with drop or box siding, and painted two coats, with doors and windows, feed boxes and racks.
During this same time, in the Fail of 1907, the older two children of Ralph and Alda started to school. Vera and Olin began together attending Valley Center, some four miles to the west, and would continue going there through Grade five. During the fail and winter of 1912-13, the Joint District #1 Bird's Nest School was completed, and Vera, Olin and now Frances would he attending there. This school was just one mile to the south of the home place, on the Kay/Noble County line.
Bird's Nest School rapidly became the social center of the District, drawing on talent from the surrounding neighbors for regular monthly entertainment, as well as the occasional box suppers. Proceeds from these get togetthers provided funds for which to purchase an organ and stool, a dictionary and holder, calico and thread for curtains, lamps and coal oil, hymn books, chalk and other supplies.
The Ledger Books also show entries from July 1912 to February 1913 where slightly over $686. 00 was paid for the building. And during this same period, teacher salaries were $40. 00 per month. Sample entries show Nella Knable and Fay Kirkpatrick as teachers, and a Souvenir Leaflet for this Joint District #1 of Buffalo Township , Oklahoma show C. G. Vannest as Superintendent; C. W. Case, Director; H. D. Wycoff, Clerk; and Ralph Stone, Treasurer. A Report Card for Frances Stone for October 1916 to March 1917 is signed by Winnie Osborn, Teacher.
Other important changes were being made during these years. In August 1909, Creth Little Cook leased to Ralph Stone an 80 acre plot of ground across the road south and 1/4 mile west of the home plsce. This was the W 1/2 of NE* of Section 31, 25N, R1E, and the $2. 50 per acre was paid semiannually. Little Cook decided to sell this land in 1918, and it was purchased by W. H. Vanselous. Shortly after, Ralph purchased a like 80 acres in Section 26. For their mutual benefit, these two 80's were traded in 1920.
Also in November 1909, Ralph and his brother Bill purchased 54 acres of ground laying just north of the Tonkawa City limits, from the Board of Regents, University Preparatory School. This ground, 733' eastwest and 330' north-south would later become the Stone Addition to the City of Tonkawa, with Ralph owning the north half, and Bill the south half, aLoric; Stone Avenue. No improvements were made at this time, :15 both men end their families were totally involved n their farming ventures southeast of town. Bill was farming well to the East, near the 101 ranch, with his wife of two years, Anna Back, of Billings.
Ralph and Alda were seeing their children growing up, and provided them with the best education available. In 1912 they purchased a piano for the home, and Vera began taking lessons. During the summers, she would drive their horse and buggy into town to take instruction from Mrs. Vic Walling and practicing on rented pianos. Olin helped out on the farm throughout the plowing, planting and harvesting seasons, and continued his education. Frances began her First Grade in 1912, and she, Olin and Vera all attended Bird's Nest School together.
In March 1917 seven members of the rural community went together to establish telephone service to the Surrounding area. Ralph Stone was elected President of the association at their first meeting, and T. J. VanVoris the Secretary. Records show the expenses for Wire, Poles, labor and exchange service to start up came to just under 0250. 00, or $35. 52 for each of the line owners: B. H. Stone, T. J. VanVoris, Fred Sipe, C. F. Stark, W. J. Liles, Owen Ambrose and James H. Stone. Others renting a share of the line were: Alfred Regnier, Percy Davis, Clarence McElhaney, and Alfred Henibree. The list expanded as time went on, and the official duties of President and Secretary changed as new members bought-in or replaced original line owners. The association continued into the early thirties, but the final entry in the ledger listed only K. C. Smith, R. H. Stone, John Coiwell, J. H. Stone and Earl Davies.
Health problems began to plague Ralph, and in September 1920, the family moved to town. A house and four lots were purchased from D. T. Irhy in the Ansel Addition of Tonkawa, Lots 19, 20, 21 arid 22 in Block 4, or one block directly south of the University Preparatory School. The house *as on Lot 21, at 300 South Frantz Street, south of Oklahoma Avenue. From here, the children took their High School courses at the Preparatory School and attended many other school functions.
Vera graduated in 1920 and went on to Edmond one summer to earn a teaching certificate. She taught for a while at Fair'riew near Billings. She married Kenneth C. Smith in July 1921 and they moved to the Stone farm, remaining there for six years. During this time, their two daughters were born, Virginia in April 1922, and. Catharine in June 1925. In 1927 the family moved to the Gardener place, 2 1/2 south and 2 miles east of Tonkawa, where their son Roger was born in September 1927.
In 1930 the Smith family moved to a farm owned by W. J. Liles, northeast of the Stone farm, and lived there until 1938. Their son Olin Dail was born there in December 1931. In 1938, they returned to the Stone farm where their son Larry Deane was born in April 1939. They would farm both the Liles and Stone places until 1944, when they bought a farm north of the Salt Fork river northeast of Tonkawa from Harry Leach.
Olin graduated from High School at the Preparatory School in the Spring of 1921, and worked in and around Tonkawa for the next several years. He married Nellie Musselman in April 1923, and while they were living in a house that had been moved in across the street from Ralph and Alda in Tonkawa, their daughter Maxine was born in January 1924. For the next ten years, Olin and his family would live and work in Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas in the oil-related industries.
It was from March to November 1923 that a new home was built on the ground previously purchased on the north edge of Tonkawa. This was to become 807 North Seventh Street, . after the area was platted into Lots, Blocks, Streets and Alleys in April 1926, and given the name of Stone Addition. Ralph was deeded ownership of Lots 1, 2, 3, 11 and 12 in Block 1, and Lots 1 through 6, and 19 through 24 in Block 2. As before, Ralph retained the north half of the Addition, and his Brother, William T. Stone the south half, on which he was to build a home in 1925.
On the Lots in Block 2, Ralph and Alda built their home, a chicken house and a small barn, and a garage. Their Jersey cow, flock of chickens and large garden provided them with food and a small source of income. Alda would sell eggs through the winter months and eggs and asparagus in the spring. Her expertise in the culinary arts was a constant joy to her family and neighbors, and her kitchen was always full of the aromas of her cooking, baking, canning vegetables, and making jellies. She would usually fix enough to share with her sisterin-law Anna Stone, and husband Bill, after they had built their home just to the south on Stone Avenue.
Though living in town, Ralph and Alda took over the managing of the farm during the years from 1928 to 1933, with mostly hired help during the harvests. Olin, Nell and Maxine returned to the Tonkawa area in 1934 and moved onto the farm, staying until 1938. It was during these years that the Bird's Nest School would have the Smith children, Virginia, Catharine, Roger and Olin Dail, as well as Maxine attending at the same time.
And it was also during this period that the talents of the community worked as a team to put on a play at the school that was the subject of family stories and laughs for years thereafter. The play was titled "Hobgoblin House" and the acting by Vera, most particularly, brought the house down. Though the stage was small, the production was hugely successful! It was not surprising, however, that no Broadway offers came pouring in!
Ralph and Alda's youngest daughter, Frances, had graduated from High School in 1923. While working as a cub reporter for the Tonkawa News, she met and: married Ira Hobson Fulton in July 1924. Their son, Robert Holland, was born in January 1926 at the home on North Seventh of Ralph and Alda. The Fiilton family would live in Braman, Marshall and Enid, Oklahoma until 1935 when Hobson and Frances divorced. Hobson was a pharmacist for the Evans Drug store in Enid for many years. Be remarried and moved to California, staying in the seme field until his retirement.
Frances and Holland moved back to live with Ralph and Alda in Tonkawa. Frances would work at various jobs in Tonkawa, Tulsa and Oklahoma City, and also remarried in 1945 to Harry Miller, an Army Recruiter, in Beaumont, Texas. Holland would live with Ralph and Alda while he continued his education, graduating from now Tonkawa High School in 1943.
'After Olin and his family moved off the farm and left the area in 1938, Kenneth and Vera farmed the home place until 1944, when their daughter Catharine met and married Glen Veal in March of that year. Glen and Cathanne moved onto the farm and lived there until the summer of 1949. During this time their daughter Carol was born in May 1946 and another daughter Glenda, born in January 1949, Their son Coburn was born in July 1951, at their new home northeast of Tonkawa.
In 1949, Olin and Nell returned to the home place and farmed it until her death in Couer d'Alene, Idaho, while on a vacation trip, in August 1973. Their daughter Maxine and her husband Bill Noles and their three daughters were living in Tonkawa, . and Olin moved into a mobile home on their property on Renee Street. Olin would die in 1983, after suffering many years, in the nursing home in Tonkawa.
Maxine and Bill continued to live in Tonkawa for several years while their daughters completed High School. Janice was born in September 1945, Kevin in June 1955, and Erin in December 1958. Ilaxine and Bill now live hear Pryor, Oklahoma in their home on Lake Hudson.
During this same general period, Ralph and Alda's youngest daughter Frances had taken painting courses and lessons from well-known Oklahoma artists. She would eventually open her own galleries in Ponca City, Oklahoma, Buena Vista, Colorado and in Tahiequah, Oklahoma. She was well known as an accomplished landscape artist, working in such mediums as pencil sketches, oils and pastels. She died in Talequah after extensive surgery in May 1977.
It was also in this same period that the home of Kenneth and Vera, Ralph and Alda's oldest daughter, became the focal point of the many Smith family get-togethers Kenneth was a skillfull story teller, and his jokes were both highly amusing as well as instructional. The home was always full of the sounds of laughter, and the sounds of reverence. Kenneth and Vera were active members of the Baptist Church all of their married lives.
Vera died in January 1979 after health problems began to seriously affect her life. Kenneth would continue to farm their place with the help of their Grandson, and would continue as an ardent church-goer and worker in the community, until he passed away in November 1985.
Frances' son Holland would marry shortly after his graduation to Emma Rose Fuller, with whom he had been classmates in school. In March 1944 he entered the U. S. Army at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, and spent the next two years overseas in Germany. Their daughter, Roberta Ann was born in October 1944, but was not to see her father until she was eighteen months old. Staff Sergeant Robert H. Fulton received an Honorable Discharge from the Army at Fort Smith, Arkansas in 1946.
He would spend most of his working years in the Manufacturing and Construction Industries. He and, his family would work in Kansas and South Dakota, where Ann would graduate from the Rapid City High School In 1962. From there they would move to Tucson, Arizona and Ann would enter the University or Arizona, and
move away from home. Holland and Rose would eventually
work in states from coast to coast until his retirement in 1983. They bought a home in Tonkawa, where they reside today, just a block south of the house his Grandfather built in 1923.
Ralph Stone would live out his years in that house on North Seventh Street. He passed away in December 1945 at the age of 75. Alda soon sold this house and bought a smaller house and garden area at 506 North Sixth Street. There she would live until her death in October 1968 at the age of 94. She and Ralph, as well as their three children, are buried in the I. O. O. F. Cemetery just west of Tonkawa.
A magical period has disappeared Into the sands of time. Gone are the people and places that are still held so dear in the memories of the seven Grandchildren of Ralph and Alda Stone.
11. H. Fulton May 1993
COMMENTS AND ADDENDUM
Paragraph 5 on page one has been subject to much scrutiny and discussion. There is no documented proof that Ralph and Alda used this tract or land as the location of their dugout and tent. It is known, however, that Ponca Indian George Collins had an Indian Land Patent on it, and that much later, Ralph Stone received a U. S. Government Land Patent on it. The Collins-to-Stone link has not at this time been established, but a planned search of the files at Anadarko may turn up such evidence in the near future.
Other references to Farming arid Grazing Leases held by Ralph are taken from actual copies of these leases, but no clue is apparent that they were not continuances from previous leases, or were followed by continuing leases. In light of this, it is quite possible that the site of the dugout arid tent home could have been in Section 29 or 33, on the east side of and bordering the Salt Fork River.
Statements concerning the purchase of property in the Ansel Addition of Tonkawa are supported by copies of Tax Statements in hand, and old photographs showing members of the family in front of the house on Frantz Street, south of UPS, A copy of the Town Plat of this area 1. s attached.
The same holds true! for the property in the Stone Addition, with tax statements, old photographs, and as before, . a copy of the Town Flat is attached.
The comments and narratives concerning the building of the Bird's Nest School are derived from old hand-written ledger entries and School Warrants, and show names and dates of recipients, and dates of the sums received from the entertainment and box suppers.
Other ledger books show the annual meetings of the group that formed the telephone exchange, the dates and amounts the line owners were assessed for their part of the expenses.
Copies are also attached of the Kay County Townships and U. S. Geological Survey maps to aid in locating the various pieces of ground mentioned in the main body of this work.
FURTHER ADDENDUM
In referring back to Page 2, Ralph and his brother Bill purchased the five or so acres north of the Tonkawa City Limits in 1909. Nothing more was done until much later, when in 1923 the home on North Seventh Street was built.
Curiously, an old receipt has come to light that has the date of April 23, 1910, that shows Ralph paying the sum of $50. 00 for House Rent from April 1st to September 1st, to W. H. Wiles. No further information or location noted.
In referring back to Page 3, Tax Receipts from the Kay County Treasurer sunport the data in Paragraph Three wherein the family of Ralph Stone resided on Frantz Street in Block 4, Lots 19, 20, 21 and 22, each lot measuring 25' by 130'.
When Ralph was 53, and Alda was 50 years old, the task of building their home on North Seventh was begun. This would entail the clearing and grading of the lots, the engineering layouts for the house, garage, driveway, sidewalks as the first steps. Following that would come the excavation for the foundations and the half-basement under the west one-half of the house, and the Carpenter crews would be erecting the batter boards and stakes for the concrete and masonry workers. Materials ranging from Portland Cement, sand and gravel, to lumber and reinforcing bar and wire would be arriving on the site.
Gradually, the house and outbuildings would be taking shape. From the start in March, 1923 to the first of May, the house was wired, and by the first of June, was ready to paint. Cancelled checks show that by the first of July, 1923, the house was complete, with the garage, chicken and other outbuildings completing later. Certainly, by November of 1923, all was done.
The cancelled checks show the general breakdown of the expenses, as itemized below:
To Lumber yards for materials -- $2,171.38
J. N. Schwab for carpentering -- $964.31
Misc. Craftsmen and Laborers -- $547.93
Wilking & Fountain Co, Hardware -- $90.75
Madison Paint Co. for Paint, etc -- $66.18
C. K. Crawford for electrical wiring -- $37.00
Total -- $3,877.55
Other expenses would be quite likely, but nothing is available to document any more than is shown. This was a three-bedroom, one-bath house, with Living Room, Dining Room and Kitchen. The basement served as a spare bedroom with shelves built-in for home-canned fruits and vegetables. The one-car garage was also wide enough for the laundry area.
FURTHER ADDENDUM II
The Bird's Nest School, as described on Page 2. was located directly south of the H. H. Stone home place in Section 30 of the West Part of Miller Township in Kay County, into Noble County, Buffalo Township, specifically in the North-west corner of the North-west Quarter of Section 5.
As mentioned before, the children of Ralph and Alda Stone, Vera, Olin and Frances, would walk the one mile to the school, noted as Joint District No. 1, in Kay & Noble Counties. School District Warrants numbered 1. through 11. , all drawn on the Building Fund, cover the period from July 12, 1912 to February 16, 1914.
The Wilkins & Son Company had the building contract, for a sum of $509. 55; the next highest expenditure was to Sears and Roebuck, $63. 44 for seats and desk. Other expenses for Limber, a Stove, a Pump and Bucket, Insurance on the House to Agent Lillie Clark, and labor and Hauling from Bliss.
The town of Bliss was located three miles south and four-and-a-half mile -East of the school, along the AT & SF Railroad. Bliss was to he later renamed to Marland, in deference and honor of Mr. E. W. Marland, a noted Oilman.
The amount received from the sale of school bonds through the above period was $700. 00, and at the end of the period only forty-one cents was remaining.
The Teacher's salaries, school supplies and hauling coal and 'wood all came out of the General Fund, but proceeds from box suppers and entertainment allowed for other purchases such as an organ for $25. 00, dictionary and stand, organ stool, lamps and oil, a coal house, a stage platform, and other miscellaneous items.
Copies of old photographs of the period show the general size and construction of the school house, and number of students at various times standing on the West and South sides. A clipping from the Tonkawa News of April 6, 1916 listed seven students on the Term Honor Roll, and had Frances Stone, Elva Trueblood, Cleytus Van Voris, Irma Stark, Verle Van Voris, Dessie Hembree, Lloyd Hembree and the teacher, Leona Trueblood.
The photographs, news clipping and Township Maps mentioned above are attached.
Alda Hickman b 12-26-1873 d 10-26-1968 at Tonkawa, Oklahoma. Her mother, Persona Hanna Hickman died when she was only 4 years old and her sister, Bertha, approximately 2 years younger. Her father Cornelius Hickman, placed the little girls with different relatives. Alda was left with her Grandmother Sarah Hanna (whose husband had died before Alda was born). So Alda's grandmother and older aunts raised her until she was old enough to help her aunts where she was needed. She was born at Redmon, Illinois and met RALPH HOLLAND STONE in Kansas where she was working for her aunt, Araminta Brinkerhoff. She married RALPH HOLLAND STONE at Redmon, Illinois January 12, 1898 and they settled in Coffey County (Crandall) ansas. In 1904 or 1905 they moved on a farm they purchased which was very near the border of theCherokee Strip, buildt their home and raised their family. It is situated sougheast of Tonkawa, Oklahoma in Kay County. Ralph Stone was the son of Samuel Stone and Catherine O'Lane. He was born 3-11-1870 and died 12/31/1945 and both are buried at Tonkawa, Oklahoma. They had four children, one of whom died in infancy.
I. Vera Catharine, b 5-23-1899 at Crandall, Kansas, on 7-21-21 she married KENNETH S. SMITH, sone of Jesse and Dora Smith at Tonkawa, Oklahoma. There farm is 2 miles from Tonkawa, Oklahoma. They are Baptist, he is a deacon in the church and both have worked in the church most of their married life. They ad six children, one of whom died in infancy.
I.1. Virgina Dora, b 4-21-22 at Tonkawa, Oklahoma. On 10-21-45 she married Q. D. Lamb, sone of Henry Clayton and Kate Lamb, an early-day before Oklahoma statehood Baptist preacher. Q. D. Lamb,b. 12-10-20 is an insurance examiner for the State of Arkansas. They have 2 children.
I.1.a. Sharon Catharine, b. 9-22-48 at Okmulgee, Oklahoma, is a high school business teacher. On April 7, 1973 she married DANIEL WILLIAM BOKAMPER, b. 10-11-46, son of Jesse and Dorthy Bokamper, and words fot eh Finance and Administration Department for the State of Arkansas. They have one son.
I.1.a.1 Brock William Bokamper, b. 12-7-77
I.1.b. Neil Kenneth Lamb, b. 7-20-1951 at Jonesboro, Arkansas. On May 4, 1971 he married Michelle Murdock, daughter of Wayne and Dolores Murdock of Mt. Pleasant, Pennsylvania. They live at Ponca City, Oklahoma where he works for his uncle, Roger A. Smith, in the plumbing contracting business. Their first child is due in March, 1978.
I.2. Catharine Alda, b. 6-9-25 at Tonkawa, Oklahoma. On 3-26-44 she married Glen Edward Veal, son of _____ Veal. He was born 4-16-22, has worked as a welder for Continental Oil Company for several years and is also a farmer at Tonkawa, Oklahoma. They have three children.
I.2.a. Carol Joan, b. 5-24-46 at Tonkawa, Oklahoma. On 7-1-66 she married James Scott, b 4-19-46 and they live in Morland, Kansas where he works in a bank and is the town's mayor. They have 2 children.
I.2.a.1. French, b. 1-17-67
I.2.a.2. Joanna Suzanne, b 7-25-77
1.2.b. Glenda Catharine, b. 1-22-49 at Tonkawa, Oklahoma. On December 30, 1977 she married Richard Tennis, sone of Carol and Louise Tennis of Pasco, Washington, whom she met while working in a Baptist Church there. They live at Eltopia, Washington where they farm.
I.2.c. Coburn Lile, b. 7-17-51 at Tonkawa, Oklahoma. He is not married and he works in Ponca City, Oklahoma for his uncle Roger A. Smith, a plumbing contractor.
I.3. Roger Alan Smith, b 9-19-27 at Tonkawa Oklahoma. On 9-29-46 he married Janet Selvey, daughter of Lloyd Selvey of Ponca City Oklahoma. They are Baptist and he owns a plumbing contracting business in Ponca City, Oklahoma. They 2 children.
I.3.a. Dan Michael, b. 10-29-48, has a doctorate of psychology from OSU and is practicing at Arkansas City,lKansas and Ponca City, Oklahoma. On 11-10-73 he married Julia White and they are expecting their first child in May, 1978.
I.3.b. Becki Lynn, b 7-12-50 at Ponca City, Oklahoma. On 9-8-73 she married Ron Carbutt of Seminole, Oklahoma. They live in Ponca City, Oklahoma where he works for Roger A. Smith in the pluymbing contracting business. They have 1 child.
I.3.b.1. Bart Thomas, b 5-22-77
I.4. Olin Dell Smith, b. 12-15-31 at Tonkawa, Oklahoma. He has a Ph.D. in Agronomy from the University of Minnesota and is a professor and head of the peanut experimentation program at Texas A & M at Bryan, Texas. On 9-5-51 he married Thelma Fairless of Tonkawa, Oklahoma, daughter of Eugene Fairless and they have 3 children.
I.4.a. Brenda Marie, b. 10-25-55 at Stillwater, Oklahoma. She is a graduate of Texas A & M and teaches at Huntsville, Texas.
I.4.b. Brent Wayne, b. 7-17-58 at Stillwater, Oklahoma. He is attending Texas A & M at Bryan, Texas.
I.4.c. Beth Ann, b. 11-17-64 at St. Paul, Minnesota.
I.5. Larry Deane Smith, b 4-1-39 at Tonkawa, Oklahoma. He has a Ph.D. in biochemistry from Oklahoma A & M. He is a professor at Southern Methodist (University or College ??) at Winfield, Kansas, and is also Director of a cancer research foundation located there. On 9-8-61 he married Barbara Lomax of Okmulgee, Oklahoma and they have three children.
I.5.a Kerry Deane, b. 10-18-62
I.5.b. Catharine Louise, b. 8-27-64
I.5.c. Cheryl Ann, b. 8-25-67
II Olin Ralph Stone, b 5-17-1901 at Crandall, Kansas. He moved to Oklahoma with his parents, Ralph and Alda Stone, and lived around Tonkawa, Oklahoma all his life. He worked for Continental Oil Company for some years and then has faremed until he retired. On 4-6-1923 he married NELLIE MUSSELMAN, b. 11-13-1905 d. 8-30-1973. Her father was also an early-day farmer around Tonkawa, Oklahoma. They had 1 daughter. They are presbyterians.
II.a. Maxine Marie, b. 1-2-1924 at Tonkawa, Oklahoma. She is married to Billy Ray Noles, son of Thomas Noles of Tonkawa, Oklahoma. They own and operate an insurance agency at Tonkawa. They have 3 children.
II.a.1. Janice, b 9-16-45. married; lives in Oklahoma City
II.a.2. Kevin, b. 6-9-1955. married; lives in Oklahoma City
II.a.3. Erin, b. 12-3-1958. married. husband is in the armed services.
III. Frances Alda Eleanor, b 4-1-1906 at Tonkawa, Oklahoma. On July 20, 1924 she married Hobson Fulton, they had one son and were later divorced. She later married Harry Miller. She was an artist of some fame and operated her own galleries at Buena Vista, Colorado, and then at Tahlequah, Oklahoma. She died 5-16-1977 and is buried at Tonkawa, Oklahoma.
III.1. Robert Holland Fulton, b 1926 at Enid, Oklahoma. On 12-18-43 he married Rose Fuller, daughter of George Fuller, also an early day farmer around Tonkawa, Oklahoma. He is with a large industrial contracting business (contrsuction) and their permanent home is in Tonkawa, Oklahoma. They have one daughter.
III.1.a. Ann, b 10-1-44 at Tonkawa, Oklahoma. She married 6-65 to Jay Ruehlen and they have one son. She now lives in California. Divorced in 1977.
III.1.a.1 Jamie b 7-11-70
36. Andreas, A. T., History of the State of Kansas, 1883.
“The first hotel in Burrton, Kansas was opened by A. A. Woodruff in 1874, in the building now known as the Burrton House. The first birth was that of Bert, a son of A. A. Woodruff in 1874.”
Isaac Hempy, farmer-P.O. Leroy, was born in Ohio in 1831 and in 1860 went to California. In 1866 returned to Ohio and in 1880 came to Kansas and located on a farm in Leroy, Coffee County. He was married to Miss Ann E. Smart, a native of Ohio. They had four children: Maggie L, Thomas G., Wilbur J., and Tena M. He is a member of the IOOF and of the Method Episcopal Church. While in California he mined.
“The first hotel in Burrton, Kansas was opened by A. A. Woodruff in 1874, in the building now known as the Burrton House. The first birth was that of Bert, a son of A. A. Woodruff in 1874.”
Isaac Hempy, farmer-P.O. Leroy, was born in Ohio in 1831 and in 1860 went to California. In 1866 returned to Ohio and in 1880 came to Kansas and located on a farm in Leroy, Coffee County. He was married to Miss Ann E. Smart, a native of Ohio. They had four children: Maggie L, Thomas G., Wilbur J., and Tena M. He is a member of the IOOF and of the Method Episcopal Church. While in California he mined.
38. JLD (Laurie) Woodruff, “Mathew Woodruff and Sir David Woodruff,” 2011 March 4, woodrufffamilytree@hotmail.com.
From: Woodruff Family Tree <woodrufffamilytree@hotmail.com>
To: burrton@mac.com, burrton@gmail.com
Subject: Mathew Woodruff and Sir David Woodruff
Date: Fri, 04 Mar 2011 07:58:56 -0500
MIME-version: 1.0
Content-type: multipart/alternative;
boundary="----=_NextPart_000_0068_01CBDA42.03423B40"
X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook 14.0
Thread-index: Acvaa+pTFv4KQ0ubTTyD4J4HpN0rEQ==
Content-language: en-us
X-OriginalArrivalTime: 04 Mar 2011 12:58:53.0560 (UTC)
FILETIME=[EA309780:01CBDA6B]
Burrton
I have come across your interesting website and thought to write to you
about Mathew Woodruff and Sir David Woodruff.
I would dearly like to believe that this connection as son and father
exists.
Have you seen a copy of Frederick O. Woodruff, George N Mackenzie and George
S Stewart, Woodruff Genealogy: Mathew Woodruff of Farmington, Conn. 1640-1.
Lexington Massachusetts: Privately Published, 1925.?
In the introduction Frederick describes a person named Norris Woodruff
(coincidentally my Grandfather's name but not the same person) whom he paid
for information that indicated Mathew was one of Sir David's six sons. With
some bitterness he goes on to describe his efforts and expense contacting
English genealogists to prove this. The reports he received identified 5 Sir
David sons but no Mathew. "Therefore, it is my sincere belief that this
party who styled himself as Norris Woodruff and sold the information. was an
imposter for as far as I can learn, Sir David Woodruff of Poyle, England had
no son by the name of Matthew."
Have you evidence that Frederick was unable to unearth to indicate that
Mathew was the son of Sir David?
Regards
Laurie
____________________________________________________________________________
_______
JLD (Laurie) Woodruff FCA CPA
Executive Director and Editor Woodruff Family Tree
woodrufffamilytree.com | <mailto:woodrufffamilytree@hotmail.com>
woodrufffamilytree@hotmail.com | 416 917 6029
From: Woodruff Family Tree <woodrufffamilytree@hotmail.com>
To: burrton@mac.com, burrton@gmail.com
Subject: Mathew Woodruff and Sir David Woodruff
Date: Fri, 04 Mar 2011 07:58:56 -0500
MIME-version: 1.0
Content-type: multipart/alternative;
boundary="----=_NextPart_000_0068_01CBDA42.03423B40"
X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook 14.0
Thread-index: Acvaa+pTFv4KQ0ubTTyD4J4HpN0rEQ==
Content-language: en-us
X-OriginalArrivalTime: 04 Mar 2011 12:58:53.0560 (UTC)
FILETIME=[EA309780:01CBDA6B]
Burrton
I have come across your interesting website and thought to write to you
about Mathew Woodruff and Sir David Woodruff.
I would dearly like to believe that this connection as son and father
exists.
Have you seen a copy of Frederick O. Woodruff, George N Mackenzie and George
S Stewart, Woodruff Genealogy: Mathew Woodruff of Farmington, Conn. 1640-1.
Lexington Massachusetts: Privately Published, 1925.?
In the introduction Frederick describes a person named Norris Woodruff
(coincidentally my Grandfather's name but not the same person) whom he paid
for information that indicated Mathew was one of Sir David's six sons. With
some bitterness he goes on to describe his efforts and expense contacting
English genealogists to prove this. The reports he received identified 5 Sir
David sons but no Mathew. "Therefore, it is my sincere belief that this
party who styled himself as Norris Woodruff and sold the information. was an
imposter for as far as I can learn, Sir David Woodruff of Poyle, England had
no son by the name of Matthew."
Have you evidence that Frederick was unable to unearth to indicate that
Mathew was the son of Sir David?
Regards
Laurie
____________________________________________________________________________
_______
JLD (Laurie) Woodruff FCA CPA
Executive Director and Editor Woodruff Family Tree
woodrufffamilytree.com | <mailto:woodrufffamilytree@hotmail.com>
woodrufffamilytree@hotmail.com | 416 917 6029
40. U.S. and Internationsal Marriage Records 1560-1900. Source number: 837.002; Source type: Pedigree chart; Number of Pages: 6; .
Source Information:
Yates Publishing. U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004.
Original data: This unique collection of records was extracted from a variety of sources including family group sheets and electronic databases. Originally, the information was derived from an array of materials including pedigree charts, family history articles, querie.
Source Information:
Yates Publishing. U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004.
Original data: This unique collection of records was extracted from a variety of sources including family group sheets and electronic databases. Originally, the information was derived from an array of materials including pedigree charts, family history articles, querie.
41. Helen Stone Woodruff, History of Louisa.
Louisa was born in Sweden, about 200 miles from Stockholm. I only know what members of the family have told me about her. Born about 1833. Heirs to her estate, in Burrton, Harvey Co. Louisa’s maiden name was Wrenn, probably had a brother, John in the USA.Abnor Norland from Galva (Oklahoma? BGWIII 12/19.1997), a great grandson of Gus Aelmore, believed that the wife of Gus (Eliza Catherine Johnson) was a sister of Louisa, but I believerather her to be a sister of Louisa’s #2 husband, John Johnson. Eliza was born in Locksbo, Sweden. Lauries Sailor, a grand daughter to HuldaContradine (Minnie Teresa) gives me the following information: “The first marriage to Lawson, she had Charlotte Eugunia. She married Andrew Stone (Bud) and they lived in San Jose. they had two boys. Vernon Stone and a baby, and it seems llike they called him Joseph. John was a brother to Charlotte (Aunt Lottie), and he looked like Uncle Burt (Burrton Glenn, Sr). They had no children, but he was married to Aunt Maggie. Louisa was then a widow and married John Johnson and had Clara Matilda Louisa (Aunt Tillie). Our mother was Huldah Contradine. She let John and Mary Atkinson in rock Island, Illinois take our mother and raise her, but did not adopt her. They changed her name to Minnie Teresa. I think Woodruff was a school teacher. I was told my grandparents came from Vesterrick, Sweden, 100 miles from Stockholm Sweden, Smowliles. She also said Socken County. As I was told, Aunt Lottie was 12 years old, Uncle John was 8 years old, Aunt tillie 3 years old, and my mother 3 months. She cam to Rock Island to her brother John Wrenn.
Louisa was born in Sweden, about 200 miles from Stockholm. I only know what members of the family have told me about her. Born about 1833. Heirs to her estate, in Burrton, Harvey Co. Louisa’s maiden name was Wrenn, probably had a brother, John in the USA.Abnor Norland from Galva (Oklahoma? BGWIII 12/19.1997), a great grandson of Gus Aelmore, believed that the wife of Gus (Eliza Catherine Johnson) was a sister of Louisa, but I believerather her to be a sister of Louisa’s #2 husband, John Johnson. Eliza was born in Locksbo, Sweden. Lauries Sailor, a grand daughter to HuldaContradine (Minnie Teresa) gives me the following information: “The first marriage to Lawson, she had Charlotte Eugunia. She married Andrew Stone (Bud) and they lived in San Jose. they had two boys. Vernon Stone and a baby, and it seems llike they called him Joseph. John was a brother to Charlotte (Aunt Lottie), and he looked like Uncle Burt (Burrton Glenn, Sr). They had no children, but he was married to Aunt Maggie. Louisa was then a widow and married John Johnson and had Clara Matilda Louisa (Aunt Tillie). Our mother was Huldah Contradine. She let John and Mary Atkinson in rock Island, Illinois take our mother and raise her, but did not adopt her. They changed her name to Minnie Teresa. I think Woodruff was a school teacher. I was told my grandparents came from Vesterrick, Sweden, 100 miles from Stockholm Sweden, Smowliles. She also said Socken County. As I was told, Aunt Lottie was 12 years old, Uncle John was 8 years old, Aunt tillie 3 years old, and my mother 3 months. She cam to Rock Island to her brother John Wrenn.
42. JTG3592 Ancestry.com site April 20, 2020
Isabelle Katie Woodruff and the Alemores
Your ancestry site cleared up a couple of family mysteries for me. My grandfather Woodruff was orphaned at age 5. His sister, Isabelle Katie was taken in and raised by Augustus Swan Aelmore’s family. My mother, the family historian never mentioned why the Alemores did that. Your site may have answered that question. My great grandmother was Lovisa Jonasdotter (who later used the last name of Wren for reasons until now, unknown to me). Augustus Aelmore’s mother was Lisa Catharina Jonasdotter which leads me to believe they were sisters. So it makes sense that Lisa would have taken in her sister’s child. Lovisa was also from Sodra, Kalmar, Sweden born in 1833 (her mother would have been 37, certainly getting old for a new baby in those days but still possible; and, of course, the dates might be wrong). Lovisa was married 3 times with children by each husband (Lawson, Johannison, Woodruff).
Family tradition says Johanisson was killed on the docks of Liverpool with Lovisa continuing traveling to the Chicago area to be with a brother. That’s where she met my
Your tree also clears up my ggrandmothers name of Wrenn. Her presumptive father was Jonas Johansson Rönn.
So we are related by descent from Jonas Johansson Rönn. He was our great great grandfather.
This information on your site fits so nicely with what we’ve known. My thanks to you and all the folks who researched this material. If you have additional documentation to support this lineage I’d really appreciate links or bibliographic citations.
Sincerely,
Burrton Woodruff
burrton@gmail.com
Isabelle Katie Woodruff and the Alemores
Your ancestry site cleared up a couple of family mysteries for me. My grandfather Woodruff was orphaned at age 5. His sister, Isabelle Katie was taken in and raised by Augustus Swan Aelmore’s family. My mother, the family historian never mentioned why the Alemores did that. Your site may have answered that question. My great grandmother was Lovisa Jonasdotter (who later used the last name of Wren for reasons until now, unknown to me). Augustus Aelmore’s mother was Lisa Catharina Jonasdotter which leads me to believe they were sisters. So it makes sense that Lisa would have taken in her sister’s child. Lovisa was also from Sodra, Kalmar, Sweden born in 1833 (her mother would have been 37, certainly getting old for a new baby in those days but still possible; and, of course, the dates might be wrong). Lovisa was married 3 times with children by each husband (Lawson, Johannison, Woodruff).
Family tradition says Johanisson was killed on the docks of Liverpool with Lovisa continuing traveling to the Chicago area to be with a brother. That’s where she met my
Your tree also clears up my ggrandmothers name of Wrenn. Her presumptive father was Jonas Johansson Rönn.
So we are related by descent from Jonas Johansson Rönn. He was our great great grandfather.
This information on your site fits so nicely with what we’ve known. My thanks to you and all the folks who researched this material. If you have additional documentation to support this lineage I’d really appreciate links or bibliographic citations.
Sincerely,
Burrton Woodruff
burrton@gmail.com
43. From Teri Tracey Ancestry tree via Ancestry.com Pro genealogists.
44. 1926 Tonkawa City Directory shows the following entries on page 33:
Woodruff, B. C., (Emma), Bolt Shop, H, 405 W. Grand
Woodruff Bolt Shop, 202 S. Main
Woodruff, Edwin, (Minnie), Welder, H, 102 S 12th
Woodruff, Herman, (Grace), Contr., H, 600 N Main
Woodruff, L. K., (Sarah), Oil Leases, Rms. 404 N. 10th
[“H” indicates homeowner)
Woodruff, B. C., (Emma), Bolt Shop, H, 405 W. Grand
Woodruff Bolt Shop, 202 S. Main
Woodruff, Edwin, (Minnie), Welder, H, 102 S 12th
Woodruff, Herman, (Grace), Contr., H, 600 N Main
Woodruff, L. K., (Sarah), Oil Leases, Rms. 404 N. 10th
[“H” indicates homeowner)
45. “William Gaither Bentley, 1885 Kansas Census,” Sedgwick, Sedgwick County, Kansas, Ancestry.com, 13 Jul 1009.
Wm Bentley 46, M, W, Married, Blacksmith
Emline Bentley 41 F, W, Married
Gaither Bentley 20, M, W, Single, Laborer
Alferd Bentley 20, M, W, Laborer
Edward Bentley 16, M W Atended school within the year
Milton Bentley 12 M W Atended school within the year
Harry Bentley 11 M W Atended school within the year
E. B. Bentley 9, F, W Atended school within the year
Georgeana Bentley 6 F W
C. A. Bentley 4 M W
D. A. Bentley 1, F W
All born in Ohio
All came to Kansas from Ohio
Otto was not listed. Supposedly died in 1888.
Wm Bentley 46, M, W, Married, Blacksmith
Emline Bentley 41 F, W, Married
Gaither Bentley 20, M, W, Single, Laborer
Alferd Bentley 20, M, W, Laborer
Edward Bentley 16, M W Atended school within the year
Milton Bentley 12 M W Atended school within the year
Harry Bentley 11 M W Atended school within the year
E. B. Bentley 9, F, W Atended school within the year
Georgeana Bentley 6 F W
C. A. Bentley 4 M W
D. A. Bentley 1, F W
All born in Ohio
All came to Kansas from Ohio
Otto was not listed. Supposedly died in 1888.
46. “William Gaither Bentley 1870 Census,” Fairfield Twnsp, Highland County, Ohio, 9 July 1870, Ancestry.com, 13 July 2009.
Post Office Samantha
Bentley William 34 M W Works on Farm
--- Emiline 27 F W Keeping House
--- Gaither 6 M W At Home
--- Alfred 3 M W At Home
--- Eddie 1 M W At Home
All Born in Ohio
Post Office Samantha
Bentley William 34 M W Works on Farm
--- Emiline 27 F W Keeping House
--- Gaither 6 M W At Home
--- Alfred 3 M W At Home
--- Eddie 1 M W At Home
All Born in Ohio
47. “Mary E Bentley 1905 Kansas Census,” Wichita, Sedgewick, Kansas, March 1, 1905, Ancestry.com, 13 July 2009.
(line 17) Mrs. M. G Bentley 61 F Born Ohio, To Kans from Ohio Housekeeper
Milton Bentley 29 M born Ohio, To Kansas from OHio, Ex Ofice work
Charley Bentley 24 M Born Ohio, To Kansas from Ohio, Blacksmith
Daisey Bentley 21 F Born Ohio, To Kansas from Ohio, Housewife
Hary Offenstein 8 M Born Kansas School
(line 22)Rossie Offenstein 7, M Born Kansas
(line 17) Mrs. M. G Bentley 61 F Born Ohio, To Kans from Ohio Housekeeper
Milton Bentley 29 M born Ohio, To Kansas from OHio, Ex Ofice work
Charley Bentley 24 M Born Ohio, To Kansas from Ohio, Blacksmith
Daisey Bentley 21 F Born Ohio, To Kansas from Ohio, Housewife
Hary Offenstein 8 M Born Kansas School
(line 22)Rossie Offenstein 7, M Born Kansas
48. “Pat Jordan Visit,” April 25, 2002, Burt Woodruff II, Seilling, OK.
Transcribed from notes Patricia Woodruff Jordan took when Emma Bentley Woodruff visited her.
Not yet transcribed into reunion
Transcribed from notes Patricia Woodruff Jordan took when Emma Bentley Woodruff visited her.
Not yet transcribed into reunion
51. Minnie Avada Atteberry.
Minnie’s trip to California. No Year Known
[p 1]Started from home at 12:45 Sun Oct 20. Stayed all nite in Camp Ideal, 2 mi out of Edmond Okla., The same house (dead even to a Ladies toilet!) Lee & Opal & Mabel stayed in when they went on their vacation. Beautiful day but chilly nite & pretty good cabin. Started Mon. morn at 7:00. Took picture of a huge St Bernard dog at a filling sta. just outside of Okla City. Got to El Reno Okla at 9:30 Bud’s car running bum. Took it to a Dodge Agency o be worked over & will probably have to stay till 2:00 this afternoon. Mama went to a men’s toilet! Did some shopping at Anthony’s & Penny’s while we waited. Got car done at 11:10, three hours earlier than
[p 2] expected. Stopped for dinner at west side of El Reno. Been on a detour all day and prettty rough. More cotton than I knew there could be -- miles and miles of it. Bud thot his car on bum again. Geo. & him decided it wasn’t. Geo rode in Bud’s car & I drove ours. Speeded up to 30 & 35 & some 40. Trying to get Bud’s knock located & get it fixed. We struck 66 pavement 15 mi out of Sayre Okla. Stayed at Sayre. Lovely new cabins. Name of camp was Highland Park. Got started at 6:35 Tues 22. Looks kinda rainy. Had a good breakfast all feeling fine this morning but Mama had a pretty bad headache last nite. On detour. Pretty rough.
[p 3] Lots of sand, sagebrush & shinnery (sic). Looks like a regular wate-land. Discovered we made an unneccsary detour. Could have gone around on gravel road. Terribly barren country--so lonesome & cold. A box fell off the fender and scattered contents over road. Nothing lost or damaged. Fred asked when we’d get to the “sulted woods”! Meaning Petrified Forest. Had a good laugh. What fields of Texas. Acres & acres of it. I wouldn’t have imagined there was that much land in the world planted with one crop. We traveled a day & saw nothing but wheat! Ate dinner in Groom Texas. More wheat & good land. Stopped several
[p 4] times today to see what was wrong with back cars. Wheat ! Wheat! Wheat! We’re making good time now at 30 & 35. Bud’s car going good. Made good time this afternoon. Passed sstate line at 5:20 into N. M. Made over 231 miles today. Stayed at a little wayside station 8 miles south of Glenrio N. M. Eva’s took a room in the house because they had one cabin. Had only an oil stove and kerosene lamp. Awfully bum cabin but couldn’t do any better. Slept with our clothes on & didn’t get any breakfast. Only coffee. Started at 6:30 Wed. morn. 23. It’s terribly cold. We wish we had our gloves! Beautiful sunrise.
[p 5] We’re at the foot of the Socorro Mts. On the summit of the highest peak there is an M. It looks about as high as I ned [can’t figure out what she means here]. The man at the curio shop told us it was a huge pile of stones 138 X 108 ft The letter stands for the state school of mines that sets at the base of the mts. It is the duty of the “Freshies” each year at the school to go up there and paint that letter. They have to wait till it snows so they can get water to make white-wash. The man at the curio shop saves all his old brooms for them to use. They have to stay all nite to get it done and its quite an event in the town. Wingned’s spring broke again and he had a new leaf put in. We had Chili & crap [??] for supper. Docia came to tell us it’s going to be “dum”.
[p6] Adobe houses in Newkirk N. M. First class roads. Keeping 30 & 35. Got to Santa Rosa at 2:20. Went to Hotels, Depot & Post office to inquire about Rog. No information. Wroate a card to tell him we’re going on. We were supposed to set out watches back 1 hr at Tucumcari but waited till we got to Santa Rosa. Were 6091 ft above sea level. 4:30 and snow on the north side of things. We’re going to stay the next stop. Got to Willard at 5:20. Found pretty good cabins, better than last nite but lots poorer than Okla. Have to burn wood & its unhandy. ha! We’re high in the mts & getting higher. Air is different enough to make mama’s nose bleed. Rest of us didn’t notice change. Some of
[p 7 left edge of this page not photocopied] Eva’s did. Still cold & seems to be getting colder. Man we rented cabins from was “stewed” and sold papa a gallon of Mobil A oil at $1.00 gal. Winfred & Bud got some! Started at 7:00 Thurs morn Oct 24. Cold. Heavy frost. Ice in road. Mountains way off pretty. Saw acres & acres & acres of beans. Saw a hill that looked pretty close, went 34 miles before we were even with it. Never saw so many cedars [or] that there were so many. Acres & acrtes of ‘em. Came to our first [mt] today. Was going a good gait [to] make it over the hill when all [of] a sudden we came to a turn! The road was narrow & Dad had to put on the brakes to stop. Several
[p 8] short turns. So short we had to creep along. We were kinda afraid for Winfred & Bud. Stopped and watched for them. He killed his engine & they had to push up. Made the curves fine & stopped to take some pictures. We were all scared. And thrilled! stopped to get gas first out of Socotto N. M. Wasn’t good. Lost sight of Bud’s Good road and on a grade so we went on. STopped at 11:30 & ate dinner at side of road & waited anhr. for Bud’s White waiting Mabel, Fred, & I started out to climb a hill. It looked fairly close but we discovered it was farther than we expected. It was about 1/2 mile away and 1/2 mi. up it. We got to the top and Dad looked about 3 ft hi. We hollered &
[p 8] he answered. We heard easily & he only raised his voice a little coming down we saw a snake. Fred cut it almost in two. Told Dad & he said it was a raller. He took his pistl & they went back to find it. He shot it almost in two again & still it wiggled! Mama said we had looked like specks on top of the hill. Decided we’d bettwe go back. Went 2 mi & saw Bud’s parked along the road. Car had completely refused to run. Turned it around & brot it back to Socorro to a garage. The valves were burned out and had to be ordered from Albuqurque 85 miles away. Went ot find camp houses. Stayed at Camp Aztec. Good houses. There are about 26 houres in the camp. The
[p 10] biggest camp I ever saw. The parts for Bud’s car were ordered yesterday afternoon--this is Friday at 5:00 & they haven’t come yet & probably won’t until tomorrow at 8:00 & have been known to have to wait a wk. for oderes like that. If anybody’s got a job for us we’ll take it! ha! They’ve phoned & order has been sent. Discussed calling Roy by telephone but decided not to. Went to an Indian curio shop. Saw many lovely & odd things. Bot a box of hand-made hand-painted cards & envelopes made of wood. Beautiful. Got a handmade hankerchief made of Mexican silk & a small earthen tray handmade & painted. Sent a card, the tray & handerchief to Roy for birthday. Can’t tell what all we saw in shop
[p 11] Cold tonight. We’re payong $1.25 for the cabin here. Some have been cheaper & some higher. Gas gets higher as we go along and groceries are too. Us girls went walking to-day to pass the time away & took a picture of an adobe house with 4 or 5 Mexicans sitting out in front. Took picture of the curio shop. There are strings of chili peppers hanging on the outside walls of the adobe house. Never saw so much pepper in my life. Saw one wagon load of chili peppers! This is Sat 26. We’ve stayed here at Socorro two nights. The parts for Bud’s car came this morn at 8:30. We’re all packed up & ready to go when the man gets the car finished. We’re getting
[p 12] started at 10:40. Car fixed by a real mechanic. We’ve gone 10mi & the cars are heating badly. We bo’t Magnolia gas at the last station and is about to warm cars. Got to continental divide at 2:25. Got Springerville at 6:35 tonight. Awful bum cabin with monkey stove 14 X 20 “ Pretty cold. Good roads and made good time --163 mi. A U. S. inspector went thru our cars & trailers last nite just over the line to see if we had any honey or S potatoes. We had some S P but they were fromN. M. so we kept them. They didn’t find Eva’s Pear Honey. Ha! Getting started Sun Oct 27 at 7:00 Cold. Our radiator froze but not burst
[p 13] bit we
re a;; tirmed arpimd bit Fred & Papa. Winfred’s got a spring leaf broke. Ten miles to next town where we’ll have it fixed and get breakfast. Stopped at Saw Jon (Saw Hon) to have card fixed. Us women folks came in by fire. It’s a little “come & go” town only one garage. Have to have spring welded. Can’t get a new leaf. The man told Fred to go get some coal. He wanted to send Opal a piece! We had cheese, lunch mt, butter & Lt bread for breakfast. Not so good but the best we could do. Got started at 10:00. Lost 4 hrs but couldn’t be helped. Goting to have to make better time or we’ll spend all our money. Lots of scenery.
[p 14] Got to Petrified Forest at 11:00. Got out and wandered around an hr. Beautiful. Wonderful to see but I can’t describe it. We ate dinner on the road. Some bad washboard roads but the rest were wonderful. Bud had two flats. Got a small view of the Painted Desert. Stopped at Mosaic Studio. Saw many pretty stones & pictures made of sand from the Painted Desert. Went through the deseert about 50 mines. Stuck asphalt thru Coconino National Forest Mt. Elden the biggest mt we’ve seen. Saw Canyon Diablo (Devil) and Canyon Padre (Father_. Pretty big. Got to Flagstaff at 6:00. Found real good cabins. Nice & comfortable with bed & cot. Eva’s got flue don’t know whether
[p 15] whe’ll be able to get up in morning. We’re all tired. Leaving Flagstaff at 8:50.Eva’s feeling a little better. Went over 8 mi of the awfullest detour you ever saw. All bad roads today. Got to Kiugmant at 6:00. Found good cabins but no cook stoves. Went to another and got cook stoves. Eva’snot very good this morn. Got started at 6:00 Tuess 2g. Looks like it’s going to be pretty day. Went thru desert all day long; got so tired of it we could hardly stand it. All of the rivets but one came out of the trailer wheels. Tho’t we were going to lose it but guess we drove all day wit it that way. Drove on to Deagget [??agget]. Got there at 5:30
[p 16] where they inspected us again. Got good little cabins with gs. Getting started at 7:20 Wed 27 [??} Eva’s better. Bud had 2 flats when he went to look this morn. Mae 230 mi yesterday. Ate dinner at Monolith. Got to Bakersfield at 4:00. Eva to tired to go on so we stopped for night. We’re 75 mi from Lindsey. Not very go???? ours stinks. Getting started at 6:45 Cold. Pavement all way to Lindsey. Got plenty of time so went slow. Got to Lindsey at 9:50. Found Mays but no one was home. Geo [??} say Mabel & I thru the window at school & came over to take us to Charleys. Got a house. Pretty good but had to be cleaned up.
[End of photocopy pages]
Minnie’s trip to California. No Year Known
[p 1]Started from home at 12:45 Sun Oct 20. Stayed all nite in Camp Ideal, 2 mi out of Edmond Okla., The same house (dead even to a Ladies toilet!) Lee & Opal & Mabel stayed in when they went on their vacation. Beautiful day but chilly nite & pretty good cabin. Started Mon. morn at 7:00. Took picture of a huge St Bernard dog at a filling sta. just outside of Okla City. Got to El Reno Okla at 9:30 Bud’s car running bum. Took it to a Dodge Agency o be worked over & will probably have to stay till 2:00 this afternoon. Mama went to a men’s toilet! Did some shopping at Anthony’s & Penny’s while we waited. Got car done at 11:10, three hours earlier than
[p 2] expected. Stopped for dinner at west side of El Reno. Been on a detour all day and prettty rough. More cotton than I knew there could be -- miles and miles of it. Bud thot his car on bum again. Geo. & him decided it wasn’t. Geo rode in Bud’s car & I drove ours. Speeded up to 30 & 35 & some 40. Trying to get Bud’s knock located & get it fixed. We struck 66 pavement 15 mi out of Sayre Okla. Stayed at Sayre. Lovely new cabins. Name of camp was Highland Park. Got started at 6:35 Tues 22. Looks kinda rainy. Had a good breakfast all feeling fine this morning but Mama had a pretty bad headache last nite. On detour. Pretty rough.
[p 3] Lots of sand, sagebrush & shinnery (sic). Looks like a regular wate-land. Discovered we made an unneccsary detour. Could have gone around on gravel road. Terribly barren country--so lonesome & cold. A box fell off the fender and scattered contents over road. Nothing lost or damaged. Fred asked when we’d get to the “sulted woods”! Meaning Petrified Forest. Had a good laugh. What fields of Texas. Acres & acres of it. I wouldn’t have imagined there was that much land in the world planted with one crop. We traveled a day & saw nothing but wheat! Ate dinner in Groom Texas. More wheat & good land. Stopped several
[p 4] times today to see what was wrong with back cars. Wheat ! Wheat! Wheat! We’re making good time now at 30 & 35. Bud’s car going good. Made good time this afternoon. Passed sstate line at 5:20 into N. M. Made over 231 miles today. Stayed at a little wayside station 8 miles south of Glenrio N. M. Eva’s took a room in the house because they had one cabin. Had only an oil stove and kerosene lamp. Awfully bum cabin but couldn’t do any better. Slept with our clothes on & didn’t get any breakfast. Only coffee. Started at 6:30 Wed. morn. 23. It’s terribly cold. We wish we had our gloves! Beautiful sunrise.
[p 5] We’re at the foot of the Socorro Mts. On the summit of the highest peak there is an M. It looks about as high as I ned [can’t figure out what she means here]. The man at the curio shop told us it was a huge pile of stones 138 X 108 ft The letter stands for the state school of mines that sets at the base of the mts. It is the duty of the “Freshies” each year at the school to go up there and paint that letter. They have to wait till it snows so they can get water to make white-wash. The man at the curio shop saves all his old brooms for them to use. They have to stay all nite to get it done and its quite an event in the town. Wingned’s spring broke again and he had a new leaf put in. We had Chili & crap [??] for supper. Docia came to tell us it’s going to be “dum”.
[p6] Adobe houses in Newkirk N. M. First class roads. Keeping 30 & 35. Got to Santa Rosa at 2:20. Went to Hotels, Depot & Post office to inquire about Rog. No information. Wroate a card to tell him we’re going on. We were supposed to set out watches back 1 hr at Tucumcari but waited till we got to Santa Rosa. Were 6091 ft above sea level. 4:30 and snow on the north side of things. We’re going to stay the next stop. Got to Willard at 5:20. Found pretty good cabins, better than last nite but lots poorer than Okla. Have to burn wood & its unhandy. ha! We’re high in the mts & getting higher. Air is different enough to make mama’s nose bleed. Rest of us didn’t notice change. Some of
[p 7 left edge of this page not photocopied] Eva’s did. Still cold & seems to be getting colder. Man we rented cabins from was “stewed” and sold papa a gallon of Mobil A oil at $1.00 gal. Winfred & Bud got some! Started at 7:00 Thurs morn Oct 24. Cold. Heavy frost. Ice in road. Mountains way off pretty. Saw acres & acres & acres of beans. Saw a hill that looked pretty close, went 34 miles before we were even with it. Never saw so many cedars [or] that there were so many. Acres & acrtes of ‘em. Came to our first [mt] today. Was going a good gait [to] make it over the hill when all [of] a sudden we came to a turn! The road was narrow & Dad had to put on the brakes to stop. Several
[p 8] short turns. So short we had to creep along. We were kinda afraid for Winfred & Bud. Stopped and watched for them. He killed his engine & they had to push up. Made the curves fine & stopped to take some pictures. We were all scared. And thrilled! stopped to get gas first out of Socotto N. M. Wasn’t good. Lost sight of Bud’s Good road and on a grade so we went on. STopped at 11:30 & ate dinner at side of road & waited anhr. for Bud’s White waiting Mabel, Fred, & I started out to climb a hill. It looked fairly close but we discovered it was farther than we expected. It was about 1/2 mile away and 1/2 mi. up it. We got to the top and Dad looked about 3 ft hi. We hollered &
[p 8] he answered. We heard easily & he only raised his voice a little coming down we saw a snake. Fred cut it almost in two. Told Dad & he said it was a raller. He took his pistl & they went back to find it. He shot it almost in two again & still it wiggled! Mama said we had looked like specks on top of the hill. Decided we’d bettwe go back. Went 2 mi & saw Bud’s parked along the road. Car had completely refused to run. Turned it around & brot it back to Socorro to a garage. The valves were burned out and had to be ordered from Albuqurque 85 miles away. Went ot find camp houses. Stayed at Camp Aztec. Good houses. There are about 26 houres in the camp. The
[p 10] biggest camp I ever saw. The parts for Bud’s car were ordered yesterday afternoon--this is Friday at 5:00 & they haven’t come yet & probably won’t until tomorrow at 8:00 & have been known to have to wait a wk. for oderes like that. If anybody’s got a job for us we’ll take it! ha! They’ve phoned & order has been sent. Discussed calling Roy by telephone but decided not to. Went to an Indian curio shop. Saw many lovely & odd things. Bot a box of hand-made hand-painted cards & envelopes made of wood. Beautiful. Got a handmade hankerchief made of Mexican silk & a small earthen tray handmade & painted. Sent a card, the tray & handerchief to Roy for birthday. Can’t tell what all we saw in shop
[p 11] Cold tonight. We’re payong $1.25 for the cabin here. Some have been cheaper & some higher. Gas gets higher as we go along and groceries are too. Us girls went walking to-day to pass the time away & took a picture of an adobe house with 4 or 5 Mexicans sitting out in front. Took picture of the curio shop. There are strings of chili peppers hanging on the outside walls of the adobe house. Never saw so much pepper in my life. Saw one wagon load of chili peppers! This is Sat 26. We’ve stayed here at Socorro two nights. The parts for Bud’s car came this morn at 8:30. We’re all packed up & ready to go when the man gets the car finished. We’re getting
[p 12] started at 10:40. Car fixed by a real mechanic. We’ve gone 10mi & the cars are heating badly. We bo’t Magnolia gas at the last station and is about to warm cars. Got to continental divide at 2:25. Got Springerville at 6:35 tonight. Awful bum cabin with monkey stove 14 X 20 “ Pretty cold. Good roads and made good time --163 mi. A U. S. inspector went thru our cars & trailers last nite just over the line to see if we had any honey or S potatoes. We had some S P but they were fromN. M. so we kept them. They didn’t find Eva’s Pear Honey. Ha! Getting started Sun Oct 27 at 7:00 Cold. Our radiator froze but not burst
[p 13] bit we
re a;; tirmed arpimd bit Fred & Papa. Winfred’s got a spring leaf broke. Ten miles to next town where we’ll have it fixed and get breakfast. Stopped at Saw Jon (Saw Hon) to have card fixed. Us women folks came in by fire. It’s a little “come & go” town only one garage. Have to have spring welded. Can’t get a new leaf. The man told Fred to go get some coal. He wanted to send Opal a piece! We had cheese, lunch mt, butter & Lt bread for breakfast. Not so good but the best we could do. Got started at 10:00. Lost 4 hrs but couldn’t be helped. Goting to have to make better time or we’ll spend all our money. Lots of scenery.
[p 14] Got to Petrified Forest at 11:00. Got out and wandered around an hr. Beautiful. Wonderful to see but I can’t describe it. We ate dinner on the road. Some bad washboard roads but the rest were wonderful. Bud had two flats. Got a small view of the Painted Desert. Stopped at Mosaic Studio. Saw many pretty stones & pictures made of sand from the Painted Desert. Went through the deseert about 50 mines. Stuck asphalt thru Coconino National Forest Mt. Elden the biggest mt we’ve seen. Saw Canyon Diablo (Devil) and Canyon Padre (Father_. Pretty big. Got to Flagstaff at 6:00. Found real good cabins. Nice & comfortable with bed & cot. Eva’s got flue don’t know whether
[p 15] whe’ll be able to get up in morning. We’re all tired. Leaving Flagstaff at 8:50.Eva’s feeling a little better. Went over 8 mi of the awfullest detour you ever saw. All bad roads today. Got to Kiugmant at 6:00. Found good cabins but no cook stoves. Went to another and got cook stoves. Eva’snot very good this morn. Got started at 6:00 Tuess 2g. Looks like it’s going to be pretty day. Went thru desert all day long; got so tired of it we could hardly stand it. All of the rivets but one came out of the trailer wheels. Tho’t we were going to lose it but guess we drove all day wit it that way. Drove on to Deagget [??agget]. Got there at 5:30
[p 16] where they inspected us again. Got good little cabins with gs. Getting started at 7:20 Wed 27 [??} Eva’s better. Bud had 2 flats when he went to look this morn. Mae 230 mi yesterday. Ate dinner at Monolith. Got to Bakersfield at 4:00. Eva to tired to go on so we stopped for night. We’re 75 mi from Lindsey. Not very go???? ours stinks. Getting started at 6:45 Cold. Pavement all way to Lindsey. Got plenty of time so went slow. Got to Lindsey at 9:50. Found Mays but no one was home. Geo [??} say Mabel & I thru the window at school & came over to take us to Charleys. Got a house. Pretty good but had to be cleaned up.
[End of photocopy pages]
54. Linda Martin Lochridge, “Merlin Emil Back Descendants,” 22 Oct 2011, ELochridge on Ancestry.com.
Hello again Burt,
Let me see if I can fill in some of the blanks for you. Starting with Gene's mom, Audra.
Married Lawrence Paschell - 13 Sept 1933 (very short lived marriage, probably about 1 year, if that long - Divorce
Married Merlin Emil Back - 20 Oct 1936
He died 17 Feb 1956
Married Charles Claud Lochridge - 1957
Divorce -
Married Walker "Dub" Sutton - July or August 1964
He died June 1986
Audra (B) 1 Oct 1910 (D) 1 Oct 1994
LaDonna Jean (B) 21 Nov 1938
(D) 7 Mar 2007 - Ponca City, Oklahoma
Married: James Logan About 1955-56
(D) About 1958-59 (suicide)
One child-son Ricky Logan (B) 2 Apr 1957
Rick was married twice: First wife, Faith, 2 children, Ernie and Christina; Second wife, Kathy, two children, Danielle and Christopher
Second son: Michael Logan (She did not reveal his father's name) (B) 23 June 1962 (D) 1 Feb 1999 (something to do with brain)
Mike had 3 children 1 son, Jason, and 2 daughters, one marriage to Darla Maudlin (B)1963 (D)2001
LaDonna's second marriage was Paul Sisco
Third Marriage - Freeman Frank (B) 12 Nov 1921 (D) 16 July 1999
We understand she was married a fourth time but she and Gene were estranged and we have no info about him.
Her death certificate is in the name of LaDonna Jean Logan
Now, Gene and I:
Eugene Emil Back (B) 2 Nov 1945 Ponca City, Oklahoma
Adopted name change: Eugene Claud Lochridge
Me: Linda Darlene Martin (B) 4 Feb 1947 Ponca City, Oklahoma
We were High School sweethearts and married 8 July 1966 in New Orleans, Louisiana (Gene started a job in New Orleans on June 15, 1966)
We have one child, a son, Scott Eugene Lochridge (B) 13 Aug 1969 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (actually in Tinker Air Force Base Hospital); He has been married twice and has one stepson by his second marriage (no biological children, I'm sorry to say) First wife, Karen Bloom; Second and current wife, Ashley Collins; Stepson is Ashley's son, Cody Miller.
Well, I know this is long but I hope it gets you started. Any other info - just ask. We only have contact with one of Gene's cousins, the daughter of his mom's brother, so it's great to hear from another one.
Our email address is: LOCHRIDGE@CHARTER.NET.
Hope we can stay in touch. Email is a great thing, isn't it!
Linda
Hello again Burt,
Let me see if I can fill in some of the blanks for you. Starting with Gene's mom, Audra.
Married Lawrence Paschell - 13 Sept 1933 (very short lived marriage, probably about 1 year, if that long - Divorce
Married Merlin Emil Back - 20 Oct 1936
He died 17 Feb 1956
Married Charles Claud Lochridge - 1957
Divorce -
Married Walker "Dub" Sutton - July or August 1964
He died June 1986
Audra (B) 1 Oct 1910 (D) 1 Oct 1994
LaDonna Jean (B) 21 Nov 1938
(D) 7 Mar 2007 - Ponca City, Oklahoma
Married: James Logan About 1955-56
(D) About 1958-59 (suicide)
One child-son Ricky Logan (B) 2 Apr 1957
Rick was married twice: First wife, Faith, 2 children, Ernie and Christina; Second wife, Kathy, two children, Danielle and Christopher
Second son: Michael Logan (She did not reveal his father's name) (B) 23 June 1962 (D) 1 Feb 1999 (something to do with brain)
Mike had 3 children 1 son, Jason, and 2 daughters, one marriage to Darla Maudlin (B)1963 (D)2001
LaDonna's second marriage was Paul Sisco
Third Marriage - Freeman Frank (B) 12 Nov 1921 (D) 16 July 1999
We understand she was married a fourth time but she and Gene were estranged and we have no info about him.
Her death certificate is in the name of LaDonna Jean Logan
Now, Gene and I:
Eugene Emil Back (B) 2 Nov 1945 Ponca City, Oklahoma
Adopted name change: Eugene Claud Lochridge
Me: Linda Darlene Martin (B) 4 Feb 1947 Ponca City, Oklahoma
We were High School sweethearts and married 8 July 1966 in New Orleans, Louisiana (Gene started a job in New Orleans on June 15, 1966)
We have one child, a son, Scott Eugene Lochridge (B) 13 Aug 1969 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (actually in Tinker Air Force Base Hospital); He has been married twice and has one stepson by his second marriage (no biological children, I'm sorry to say) First wife, Karen Bloom; Second and current wife, Ashley Collins; Stepson is Ashley's son, Cody Miller.
Well, I know this is long but I hope it gets you started. Any other info - just ask. We only have contact with one of Gene's cousins, the daughter of his mom's brother, so it's great to hear from another one.
Our email address is: LOCHRIDGE@CHARTER.NET.
Hope we can stay in touch. Email is a great thing, isn't it!
Linda
56. ca 1979.
Letter from Marguerite Viola Stephenson with information about husband, children, grandchildren
Letter from Marguerite Viola Stephenson with information about husband, children, grandchildren
57. Consolidated Lists of Civil War Draft Registrations, 1863-1865. NM-65, entry 172, 620 volumes. ARC ID: 4213514. Records of the Provost Marshal General’s Bureau (Civil War), Record Group 110. National Archives at Washington D.C.
58. Original data: National Park Service, Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System, online <http://www.itd.nps.gov/cwss/>, acquired 2007.
59. General Index to Pension Files, 1861-1934. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration. T288, 546 rolls.
60. U.S. City Directories, 1821-1989 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.
61. Johnson, W. F., History of Cooper County Missouri, Historical Publishing Co., Topeka 1919, ISBN 0-916440-07-9.
64. “Mariage License, Jackson County Missouri,” Jan 9, 1895, St. Vincent’s Church, 1715 Oak St. Kansas City Missouri, 10828, Ancestry.com; Missouri Marriage Records., http://search.ancestry.com/iexec/?htx=View&r=a...src=&pid=2786460.
65. Irene Meisburger Lehman, “Family Info,” 11/25/98, In Freeform.
I am sorry I haven't written sooner. Both my daughters are corresponding
with you, it seems. We have no objections to being listed on your
ancestors' information page Please don't delete us!
Both my brothers and sister have all enjoyed your pages and pictures. Both
of my brothers, one especially, are into the genealogy aspect of our family.
We were thrilled to see the pictures of John and Magdelena Meisburger who
were the parents of our grandfather, Frank N. Meisburger. Their son (our
dad) was Edward Paul Meisburger, Sr.
My brothers are: William F. Meisburger and Edward P. Meisburger, Jr. (the
latter being very much into the genealogy). Ed is out of town for a few
days to visit his daughter and family but when he gets back, I believe he
will want to correspond with you as will my other brother. My sister, Anna
Marie Hartley (Ann) is not on the internet but she enjoys hearing the info
from me. I am Irene K. (Meisburger) Lehman.
We'd be glad to give you any info we can to fill in any of the blanks. My
grandpa, Frank Meisburger had five brothers and two sisters (Louisa and
Mary, John, Edward, etc.)
His parents raised my dad for several years in Bunceton, MO, until his
second marriage to Katie Meisburger.
Our BIG mystery and something we especially long for, is a picture of my
dad's mother, Mary (Mae) Landrigan. She died at about 21 years of age, six
weeks after my dad was born in 1895. We have searched for years but never
found anything. We are hoping that somewhere YOU might have an old picture
of my grandpa and possibly with Mary, his wife. My grandpa always said I
looked like her but she had red hair and I had dark brown (now white,
colored blonde)..
My dad and mother never saw a picture of her (Mary Landrigan) but I remember
that my mother contacted her brother several times but he said he had no
pictures. He never even wanted to meet his nephew, my dad. We were told
that her (Mary Landrigan's) family disowned her when she married my grandpa
but we have no idea why. She is buried in Kansas City, MO, (my hometown)
and I have been to her gravesite several times. Her tombstone says "Mae
Landrigan" instead of Mary. Must have been a nickname.
Well.I won't bore you any more but did want to mention that my dad looked
exactly like his grandmother, Magdelena. Maybe we can mail you a picture
some day and you can see for yourself! We don't have a scanner.
Do you mind if I give your e-mail address to my brothers? I won't until I
get your permission. Thanks so much for putting all this info on the
internet.
Best wishes,
Irene Lehman
I am sorry I haven't written sooner. Both my daughters are corresponding
with you, it seems. We have no objections to being listed on your
ancestors' information page Please don't delete us!
Both my brothers and sister have all enjoyed your pages and pictures. Both
of my brothers, one especially, are into the genealogy aspect of our family.
We were thrilled to see the pictures of John and Magdelena Meisburger who
were the parents of our grandfather, Frank N. Meisburger. Their son (our
dad) was Edward Paul Meisburger, Sr.
My brothers are: William F. Meisburger and Edward P. Meisburger, Jr. (the
latter being very much into the genealogy). Ed is out of town for a few
days to visit his daughter and family but when he gets back, I believe he
will want to correspond with you as will my other brother. My sister, Anna
Marie Hartley (Ann) is not on the internet but she enjoys hearing the info
from me. I am Irene K. (Meisburger) Lehman.
We'd be glad to give you any info we can to fill in any of the blanks. My
grandpa, Frank Meisburger had five brothers and two sisters (Louisa and
Mary, John, Edward, etc.)
His parents raised my dad for several years in Bunceton, MO, until his
second marriage to Katie Meisburger.
Our BIG mystery and something we especially long for, is a picture of my
dad's mother, Mary (Mae) Landrigan. She died at about 21 years of age, six
weeks after my dad was born in 1895. We have searched for years but never
found anything. We are hoping that somewhere YOU might have an old picture
of my grandpa and possibly with Mary, his wife. My grandpa always said I
looked like her but she had red hair and I had dark brown (now white,
colored blonde)..
My dad and mother never saw a picture of her (Mary Landrigan) but I remember
that my mother contacted her brother several times but he said he had no
pictures. He never even wanted to meet his nephew, my dad. We were told
that her (Mary Landrigan's) family disowned her when she married my grandpa
but we have no idea why. She is buried in Kansas City, MO, (my hometown)
and I have been to her gravesite several times. Her tombstone says "Mae
Landrigan" instead of Mary. Must have been a nickname.
Well.I won't bore you any more but did want to mention that my dad looked
exactly like his grandmother, Magdelena. Maybe we can mail you a picture
some day and you can see for yourself! We don't have a scanner.
Do you mind if I give your e-mail address to my brothers? I won't until I
get your permission. Thanks so much for putting all this info on the
internet.
Best wishes,
Irene Lehman
66. Helen Stone Woodruff, “Meisburger Information.”
These first pages of this manuscript is an update to the material I had written in 1981. I was fortunate to get in touch with a lady in France, Madame Jean Peres, who has been very helpful. The first record I now have of the MEISBURGER family is from Harrstatt, Upper-Rhin, France. Later information is from Herrlisheim, Haute-Rhin, France
The origin of the Meisburger family may have been in Busch in Turgau, France and the name may have been spelled at that time, MOSBURGER
Wedding of Pierre & Barbara Baur: Witnessess to the wedding were Christain Baur (father), Johannes (brother), and Fendel Hartenbeck (Grandfather). Barbara Baur Meisburger died in Herrlisheim, France on 9-April-1795 (the 20 germinal year 3 of the French Republic).
The birth record reads: “Was born ERASMUS, sone of Peter Meisburger, mason by profession of this place (Hattstatt) and of Barbara Baur, his wife legitimate. God father is Joseph Hinniger, age 32 years. Godmother is Maria Anna Steinbrucker.”
I stated in the original manuscript that there were suppose to have been eight children come to America with Mas Meisburger, but no one had identified but four. There are eight recorded births in Herrlisheim, but only seven living at the time they departed for America
These first pages of this manuscript is an update to the material I had written in 1981. I was fortunate to get in touch with a lady in France, Madame Jean Peres, who has been very helpful. The first record I now have of the MEISBURGER family is from Harrstatt, Upper-Rhin, France. Later information is from Herrlisheim, Haute-Rhin, France
The origin of the Meisburger family may have been in Busch in Turgau, France and the name may have been spelled at that time, MOSBURGER
Wedding of Pierre & Barbara Baur: Witnessess to the wedding were Christain Baur (father), Johannes (brother), and Fendel Hartenbeck (Grandfather). Barbara Baur Meisburger died in Herrlisheim, France on 9-April-1795 (the 20 germinal year 3 of the French Republic).
The birth record reads: “Was born ERASMUS, sone of Peter Meisburger, mason by profession of this place (Hattstatt) and of Barbara Baur, his wife legitimate. God father is Joseph Hinniger, age 32 years. Godmother is Maria Anna Steinbrucker.”
I stated in the original manuscript that there were suppose to have been eight children come to America with Mas Meisburger, but no one had identified but four. There are eight recorded births in Herrlisheim, but only seven living at the time they departed for America
67. Johnson, W. F., History of Cooper County, Missouri.
“Max Meisburger, with his family of eight children arrived in Boonville, Missouri in 1848. Max Meisburger had served for six years as a soldier in the army of the great Napoleon and was very proud of the medals he had received for bravery. During the progress of the Franco-Prussian War (1870-73) he kept posted through the French papers which he received. When the Prussian Victory was announced, he, with clenched fists and tear dimmed eyes, declared ‘If our great Napoleon had lived, he and I would never have tolerated the Prussians to lord it over our Beloved France’. He expressed the belief that his grandchildren would be live to see the happy day when Alsace Lorraine would be liberated from the Prussian domination. During the time of America’s participation in the World War, which resulted in the return to France of the ‘lost’ province, nine of his great-grandsons answered the call to the front and when the Armistice was declared in the fall of 1918, six more were waiting for the next call.”
“Max Meisburger, with his family of eight children arrived in Boonville, Missouri in 1848. Max Meisburger had served for six years as a soldier in the army of the great Napoleon and was very proud of the medals he had received for bravery. During the progress of the Franco-Prussian War (1870-73) he kept posted through the French papers which he received. When the Prussian Victory was announced, he, with clenched fists and tear dimmed eyes, declared ‘If our great Napoleon had lived, he and I would never have tolerated the Prussians to lord it over our Beloved France’. He expressed the belief that his grandchildren would be live to see the happy day when Alsace Lorraine would be liberated from the Prussian domination. During the time of America’s participation in the World War, which resulted in the return to France of the ‘lost’ province, nine of his great-grandsons answered the call to the front and when the Armistice was declared in the fall of 1918, six more were waiting for the next call.”
68. Helen Stone Woodruff, “Notes on Max Meisburger.”
There is a Deed in the Courthouse at Boonville, Cooper County, Missouri, stating 1-Aug-1852, Maxamin Meisberger bought a lot of ground in the City of Boonville from Jeremiah Rice for One hundred and seventy five dollars.
In the 1860 Census for Cooper County list Max Meisburger as a Vine Grower, with wife, Hannah.
The only christening in the Catholic Church at Boonville that I was able to find “Mary Magdalena Meisburger, daughter of John Meisburger and Maria Magdalena Diringer born 31 Jul-1863. Sponsers: Max Meisburger, Margaret Anna Meisburger”. I have found no record of the death of either. Agnes Meriwether, a direct descendant of Theresa Meisburger Immels, says she had been told that Hannah (Margaret Anna) was buried on the lot of her son, Joseph, in the Catholic Cemetary in Boonville, Missouri. She also said she had been told that Max had died in the home of his daughter, Therese Immele and was buried in the St. Martins Cemetary near Pilot Grove, Missouri. No one I have talked with has been able to identify more than four of the eight children.
There is a Deed in the Courthouse at Boonville, Cooper County, Missouri, stating 1-Aug-1852, Maxamin Meisberger bought a lot of ground in the City of Boonville from Jeremiah Rice for One hundred and seventy five dollars.
In the 1860 Census for Cooper County list Max Meisburger as a Vine Grower, with wife, Hannah.
The only christening in the Catholic Church at Boonville that I was able to find “Mary Magdalena Meisburger, daughter of John Meisburger and Maria Magdalena Diringer born 31 Jul-1863. Sponsers: Max Meisburger, Margaret Anna Meisburger”. I have found no record of the death of either. Agnes Meriwether, a direct descendant of Theresa Meisburger Immels, says she had been told that Hannah (Margaret Anna) was buried on the lot of her son, Joseph, in the Catholic Cemetary in Boonville, Missouri. She also said she had been told that Max had died in the home of his daughter, Therese Immele and was buried in the St. Martins Cemetary near Pilot Grove, Missouri. No one I have talked with has been able to identify more than four of the eight children.
69. Johnson, W. F., History of Cooper County Missouri, Historical Publishing Co., Topeka 1919, ISBN 0-916440-07-9, Vol II p846.
72. email from juliespencer11 on ancestry.com Jan 30, 2016
Answering to this message and the other message from you today - The W. J. Stretz who married Adelaide Diringer was Walter Joseph Stretz, s/o Charles Walter Stretz & Anna Elizabeth Lowengrim. Louisa Katherine Waber/Weber was the wife of Jerdowie/Lewis/Louis Diringer. Her dates are b 19 Feb 1850 in Cedron, Moniteau, Missouri - d 12 Jan 1933 in Boonville. I have a Frank Stretz, s/o Johann Georg Stretz & Sophia Emmert, b 22 Sep 1854 in Germany (probably Elsenz, Baden) - d 4 Jul 1890 in Boonville. He was a policeman. His obit states he had been on the Boonville police force for 6 years when he suddenly died. Obit further states he left a widow and 3 children which would be correct as he had 4 children with 1 child dying in 1887. I believe this would be my 2nd great uncle Frank Stretz. He is buried at Walnut Grove cemetery in Boonville. Who did you email this picture to? Would you also email the picture to me?
Answering to this message and the other message from you today - The W. J. Stretz who married Adelaide Diringer was Walter Joseph Stretz, s/o Charles Walter Stretz & Anna Elizabeth Lowengrim. Louisa Katherine Waber/Weber was the wife of Jerdowie/Lewis/Louis Diringer. Her dates are b 19 Feb 1850 in Cedron, Moniteau, Missouri - d 12 Jan 1933 in Boonville. I have a Frank Stretz, s/o Johann Georg Stretz & Sophia Emmert, b 22 Sep 1854 in Germany (probably Elsenz, Baden) - d 4 Jul 1890 in Boonville. He was a policeman. His obit states he had been on the Boonville police force for 6 years when he suddenly died. Obit further states he left a widow and 3 children which would be correct as he had 4 children with 1 child dying in 1887. I believe this would be my 2nd great uncle Frank Stretz. He is buried at Walnut Grove cemetery in Boonville. Who did you email this picture to? Would you also email the picture to me?
73. Rita Meistrell, 8/6/99, PVMeistrell@aol.com.
This is from my Meistrell family history:
"Nicholas' younger sister, Margaret, was married after the Civil War. On
October 29, 1868 she married Michael Diringer. Michael had been born in
November of 1843 in the Alsace Province of France to Igatius and Magdalena
Diringer. When he was about 7 years old, his family came to this country and
engaged in the vineyard buisiness. At the age of 16, Michael set out to
learn the blacksmith trade. He worked in a blacksmith shop until the
outbreak of the war. Like Nicholas, he joined the Boonville Home Guards and
then later enlisted in a federal cavalry company. After the war he resumed
his career as a blacksmith, later expanding his work to include wagon making.
Margaret and Michael had eight children. They were:
(1) Frank Ignatius, b. Oct. 21, 1864
(2) John Nic. Syl., b. Dec. 31, 1870
(3) Catherine, b. Mar. 1, 1873
(4) Frank Ignatius, b. Aug. 12, 1874
(5) Henry Joseph, b. Oct. 2, 1876, d. Apr. 22, 1881
(6) Rosaline "Amelia", b. Jan. 10, 1880
(7) Barbara Catherine "Stella", b. May 8, 1883
(8) Marjorie, b. after 1900.
Only four of these chiildren were to survive to adulthood: Frank, amelia,
Catherine and Marjorie. Marjorie was adopted years later after the other
children were grown. She was in fact still living at home when her mother
Margaret died on September 15, 1917. Michael Diringer died on October 29,
1906."
followed by copy of her obituary... 2 of the daughters were named as Mrs.
Edward Kelch of St. Louis, Mrs. M.J. McDonald of Dennison, TX
Unfortunately I can't say whether the above were baptismal dates or birth
dates. Since computers came around my records and sources are so much
better. Unfortunately, I would have to do a lot of digging. One of these
days I hope to include this large database into my computer.
Rita
pvmeistrell@aol.com
This is from my Meistrell family history:
"Nicholas' younger sister, Margaret, was married after the Civil War. On
October 29, 1868 she married Michael Diringer. Michael had been born in
November of 1843 in the Alsace Province of France to Igatius and Magdalena
Diringer. When he was about 7 years old, his family came to this country and
engaged in the vineyard buisiness. At the age of 16, Michael set out to
learn the blacksmith trade. He worked in a blacksmith shop until the
outbreak of the war. Like Nicholas, he joined the Boonville Home Guards and
then later enlisted in a federal cavalry company. After the war he resumed
his career as a blacksmith, later expanding his work to include wagon making.
Margaret and Michael had eight children. They were:
(1) Frank Ignatius, b. Oct. 21, 1864
(2) John Nic. Syl., b. Dec. 31, 1870
(3) Catherine, b. Mar. 1, 1873
(4) Frank Ignatius, b. Aug. 12, 1874
(5) Henry Joseph, b. Oct. 2, 1876, d. Apr. 22, 1881
(6) Rosaline "Amelia", b. Jan. 10, 1880
(7) Barbara Catherine "Stella", b. May 8, 1883
(8) Marjorie, b. after 1900.
Only four of these chiildren were to survive to adulthood: Frank, amelia,
Catherine and Marjorie. Marjorie was adopted years later after the other
children were grown. She was in fact still living at home when her mother
Margaret died on September 15, 1917. Michael Diringer died on October 29,
1906."
followed by copy of her obituary... 2 of the daughters were named as Mrs.
Edward Kelch of St. Louis, Mrs. M.J. McDonald of Dennison, TX
Unfortunately I can't say whether the above were baptismal dates or birth
dates. Since computers came around my records and sources are so much
better. Unfortunately, I would have to do a lot of digging. One of these
days I hope to include this large database into my computer.
Rita
pvmeistrell@aol.com
75. Ancestry.com. Virginia, Select Marriages, 1785-1940 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc, 2014.
Original data: Virginia, Marriages, 1785-1940. Salt Lake City, Utah: FamilySearch, 2013.
Original data: Virginia, Marriages, 1785-1940. Salt Lake City, Utah: FamilySearch, 2013.
77. “Mark “Woody” Woodruff Obituary and Tribute,” http://aurora-24468.tributes.com/show/Mark-Woody-Woodruff-91037089, Jan 26, 2013.
Mark "Woody" Woodruff
DIED: March 7, 2011
LOCATION: Casa Grande, Arizona
Mark “Woody” Woodruff, 47, of Casa Grande died on March 7, 2011, at Casa Grande Regional Medical Center. The celebration of life will be at 1 p.m. Saturday at J. Warren Funeral Services, Cole & Maud The Gardens Chapel, with the Rev. Jeanne Rasmussen officiating. Mr. Woodruff was born on July 15, 1963, in Wheat Ridge, Colo. He worked in rehabilitation. He was a kind and loving man, an accomplished musician and avid astronomer. Survivors include his wife, Rhonda; two stepdaughters, Amanda Harer and Samantha Keith of Mesa; a stepson, Troy Rodriguez of Casa Grande; and a sister, Donna Tissaw of Williams. He was preceded in death by his parents, William and Hazel Woodruff, and a brother, James Ayres.
Mark "Woody" Woodruff
DIED: March 7, 2011
LOCATION: Casa Grande, Arizona
Mark “Woody” Woodruff, 47, of Casa Grande died on March 7, 2011, at Casa Grande Regional Medical Center. The celebration of life will be at 1 p.m. Saturday at J. Warren Funeral Services, Cole & Maud The Gardens Chapel, with the Rev. Jeanne Rasmussen officiating. Mr. Woodruff was born on July 15, 1963, in Wheat Ridge, Colo. He worked in rehabilitation. He was a kind and loving man, an accomplished musician and avid astronomer. Survivors include his wife, Rhonda; two stepdaughters, Amanda Harer and Samantha Keith of Mesa; a stepson, Troy Rodriguez of Casa Grande; and a sister, Donna Tissaw of Williams. He was preceded in death by his parents, William and Hazel Woodruff, and a brother, James Ayres.
78. “William Smith 1860 Census Massie twnsp, Warren cty, Ohio ,” Postoffice: Lebanon, 23 July 1860, Page 3, Ancestry.com.
William Smith 50 male white farmer, born New Jersey
Hannah A 44 female white born New Jersey
Phebe A 25 female white born Ohio
Margaret E 23 female white born ohio
Rachel I 20 female white born Ohio
Mary E 18 female white born Ohio
John C 16 Male, White born Ohio attended school within the year
Alfred S 11 Male, White born Ohio attended school with the year
William Smith 50 male white farmer, born New Jersey
Hannah A 44 female white born New Jersey
Phebe A 25 female white born Ohio
Margaret E 23 female white born ohio
Rachel I 20 female white born Ohio
Mary E 18 female white born Ohio
John C 16 Male, White born Ohio attended school within the year
Alfred S 11 Male, White born Ohio attended school with the year
79. “William Smith 1850 Census,” Dist 150, Washington Twnsp, Warren Cty, Ohio, 13 Sept 1850, ancestry.com, July 12, 2009.
William Smith 35 M Farmer born New York Cannot read and write
Hannah A Smith 33 F born New York cannot read and write
Pheba A Smith 15 F born Ohio attended school within the year
Margaret E Smith 14 F born Ohio attended school within the year
Rachel J Smith 11 F born Ohio attended school within the year
Mary E Smith 9 F born Ohio attended school within the year
John C smith 6 F born Ohio attended school within the year
Alfred T Smith 1 M born Ohio
William Smith 35 M Farmer born New York Cannot read and write
Hannah A Smith 33 F born New York cannot read and write
Pheba A Smith 15 F born Ohio attended school within the year
Margaret E Smith 14 F born Ohio attended school within the year
Rachel J Smith 11 F born Ohio attended school within the year
Mary E Smith 9 F born Ohio attended school within the year
John C smith 6 F born Ohio attended school within the year
Alfred T Smith 1 M born Ohio
80. “William H. Smith 1830 Census, Clay Twnsp, Scioto Cty, Ohio,” ancestry.com, July 13, 2009.
Line 14 of No. 4, page 62
William H. Smith
1 male 20 to 30
1 female under 5
1 female 15 to 20
Ages are correct for William, Hannah, and Phebe.
Line 14 of No. 4, page 62
William H. Smith
1 male 20 to 30
1 female under 5
1 female 15 to 20
Ages are correct for William, Hannah, and Phebe.
81. “William Smith 1840 Census Turtle Creek Twnsp, Warren, Ohio,” ancestry.com, jul 13, 2009.
William Smith
1 male 5 and under 10
1 male 30 to 40
1 female under 5
1 female 15 to 20
1 female 20 to 30
William Smith
1 male 5 and under 10
1 male 30 to 40
1 female under 5
1 female 15 to 20
1 female 20 to 30
82. “Charles M. Bentley 1880 Census,” Leesburg, Fairfax Twnsp, Highland County, Ohio, 28 June 1880, Ancestry.com, 13 July 2009.
Bentley Charles W 74 Blacksmith Self & parents born in Virginia
--- Margaret W F 67 Wife keeping house Self & parents born in Virginia
--- Otho W M 33 Son Laborer Ohio, Va, Md
Otho was maimed, crippled, bedridden, or otherwise disabled.
--- Mary W F 24 Daughter At Home Ohio Va Md
Bentley Charles W 74 Blacksmith Self & parents born in Virginia
--- Margaret W F 67 Wife keeping house Self & parents born in Virginia
--- Otho W M 33 Son Laborer Ohio, Va, Md
Otho was maimed, crippled, bedridden, or otherwise disabled.
--- Mary W F 24 Daughter At Home Ohio Va Md
83. “Charles M Bentley 1850 Census,” Leesburg, Fairfax, Highland, Ohio, 16 August 1850, Ancestry.com, July 13, 2009.
Charles M. Bentley 41 M Blacksmith Virginia
Margaret A. Bentley 38 F Md
Sharah B Bentley 15 F Ohio
Wm G. Bentley 13 M Ohio
Matilda D Bentley 11 F Ohio
John W Bentley 7 M Ohio
Richard O Bentley 6 M Ohio (NOT checked he is feebleminded, etc)
Ann M Bentley 1 F Ohio
Charles M. Bentley 41 M Blacksmith Virginia
Margaret A. Bentley 38 F Md
Sharah B Bentley 15 F Ohio
Wm G. Bentley 13 M Ohio
Matilda D Bentley 11 F Ohio
John W Bentley 7 M Ohio
Richard O Bentley 6 M Ohio (NOT checked he is feebleminded, etc)
Ann M Bentley 1 F Ohio
90. William Duane Scroggin (b 1954), “Obituary,” beginning around 2000, itcscrog@aol.com, on person card, W. D. Scroggin sent me many obituaries, Received August 10, 2003.
92. Johnson, W. F., History of Cooper County Missouri, Historical Publishing Co., Topeka 1919, ISBN 0-916440-07-9, Vol II, p749.
97. Johnson, W. F., History of Cooper County Missouri, Historical Publishing Co., Topeka 1919, ISBN 0-916440-07-9, 1020.
98. “From Ray Back,” July 11, 1999, BGWIII files.
11201 CR 50
Billings, OK 74630
Dear Mr. Burt Woodruff,
I am Ray Back, the son of Joseph Rock Back who is the son of Charles E. Back. My great grandfather’s name was Joseph Back who father is Joseph Wm Back who in turn is the son of Anton Back who was born in Rotert-Nassau, Germany in 1824. He came to the US via the Port of New Orleans to St. Louis then to Booneville, MO. Anton Back became a US citizen in 1857.
One of my father’s cousin’s has studied our family and gave me most of my information. The most regret I have is that her house burnt down and all other information she had was lost even a copy of the family crest. She did tell me some other information, fefore she passed away. She told me that we are related to Kaiser Whelhelm II of Prussia and to Johane Sebastian Bach the composer. I was also allowed to see the crest of the family. It was a red and blud background at diagonal split with an eagle with a septar in its talons. I am sending a copoy of the family tree I have listed the things that I do know for sure.
I would appreciate any other information you could provide to me. thanks very much. I do enjoy learning about my family and its heritage.
Sincerely,
Ray Back
11201 CR 50
Billings, OK 74630
Dear Mr. Burt Woodruff,
I am Ray Back, the son of Joseph Rock Back who is the son of Charles E. Back. My great grandfather’s name was Joseph Back who father is Joseph Wm Back who in turn is the son of Anton Back who was born in Rotert-Nassau, Germany in 1824. He came to the US via the Port of New Orleans to St. Louis then to Booneville, MO. Anton Back became a US citizen in 1857.
One of my father’s cousin’s has studied our family and gave me most of my information. The most regret I have is that her house burnt down and all other information she had was lost even a copy of the family crest. She did tell me some other information, fefore she passed away. She told me that we are related to Kaiser Whelhelm II of Prussia and to Johane Sebastian Bach the composer. I was also allowed to see the crest of the family. It was a red and blud background at diagonal split with an eagle with a septar in its talons. I am sending a copoy of the family tree I have listed the things that I do know for sure.
I would appreciate any other information you could provide to me. thanks very much. I do enjoy learning about my family and its heritage.
Sincerely,
Ray Back
100. Eagleson, Pamela Stone, In Search of An Ancestry: The Stone-Shearmire Family History, p61.
LC 84-70711
LC 84-70711
102. Judith Cole, “Swafford Family Genealogy,” July 17, 2008, cojocj@s cglobal.net.
103. Stone, James H., Of the Stones: Ancestry of William Stone.
©1997 by James H. Stone, 365 Lincoln Avenue, Palo Alto, CA 94301-2731. Seen at Allen County Public Library, Fort Wayne, IN. 929.2 ST71o
©1997 by James H. Stone, 365 Lincoln Avenue, Palo Alto, CA 94301-2731. Seen at Allen County Public Library, Fort Wayne, IN. 929.2 ST71o
104. Matthews, H. W. & Matthews, M. C. M., Marietta Carlene Mitchell Matthew Family History, p357.
Published August 10, 2001. Seen in Allen County Public Library. Call No. 929.2M692ma. I question this source re era around Gov William Stone.
Adds Children to William Stones (1490-1573) that source 31 does not include.
Published August 10, 2001. Seen in Allen County Public Library. Call No. 929.2M692ma. I question this source re era around Gov William Stone.
Adds Children to William Stones (1490-1573) that source 31 does not include.
105. Stone, James H., Of the Stones: Ancestry of William Stone, p118-119.
©1997 by James H. Stone, 365 Lincoln Avenue, Palo Alto, CA 94301-2731. Seen at Allen County Public Library, Fort Wayne, IN. 929.2 ST71o
©1997 by James H. Stone, 365 Lincoln Avenue, Palo Alto, CA 94301-2731. Seen at Allen County Public Library, Fort Wayne, IN. 929.2 ST71o
107. Matthews, H. W. & Matthews, M. C. M., Marietta Carlene Mitchell Matthew Family History.
Published August 10, 2001. Seen in Allen County Public Library. Call No. 929.2M692ma. I question this source re era around Gov William Stone.
Adds Children to William Stones (1490-1573) that source 31 does not include.
Published August 10, 2001. Seen in Allen County Public Library. Call No. 929.2M692ma. I question this source re era around Gov William Stone.
Adds Children to William Stones (1490-1573) that source 31 does not include.
109. Stone, James H., Of the Stones: Ancestry of William Stone, p120.
©1997 by James H. Stone, 365 Lincoln Avenue, Palo Alto, CA 94301-2731. Seen at Allen County Public Library, Fort Wayne, IN. 929.2 ST71o
©1997 by James H. Stone, 365 Lincoln Avenue, Palo Alto, CA 94301-2731. Seen at Allen County Public Library, Fort Wayne, IN. 929.2 ST71o
110. Matthews, H. W. & Matthews, M. C. M., Marietta Carlene Mitchell Matthew Family History, p357.
Published August 10, 2001. Seen in Allen County Public Library. Call No. 929.2M692ma. I question this source re era around Gov William Stone.
Adds Children to William Stones (1490-1573) that source 31 does not include.
Published August 10, 2001. Seen in Allen County Public Library. Call No. 929.2M692ma. I question this source re era around Gov William Stone.
Adds Children to William Stones (1490-1573) that source 31 does not include.
111. Stone, James H., Of the Stones: Ancestry of William Stone, p118.
©1997 by James H. Stone, 365 Lincoln Avenue, Palo Alto, CA 94301-2731. Seen at Allen County Public Library, Fort Wayne, IN. 929.2 ST71o
©1997 by James H. Stone, 365 Lincoln Avenue, Palo Alto, CA 94301-2731. Seen at Allen County Public Library, Fort Wayne, IN. 929.2 ST71o
125. Stone, James H., Of the Stones: Ancestry of William Stone, p 124.
©1997 by James H. Stone, 365 Lincoln Avenue, Palo Alto, CA 94301-2731. Seen at Allen County Public Library, Fort Wayne, IN. 929.2 ST71o
©1997 by James H. Stone, 365 Lincoln Avenue, Palo Alto, CA 94301-2731. Seen at Allen County Public Library, Fort Wayne, IN. 929.2 ST71o
127. Paul Leroy Miller, Jr. April 2003. Picture, notes, narratives. Obained from Dorothy L. Atteberry.
129. Onessa Freasier, 10/16/2008, ofreasier@hotmail.com.