Susan Pearl Miller

My great grandmother was Susan (Susie) Pearl Miller.  She has been, to say the least, an interesting study.  Here is her story.

Susan Pearl Miller (1876-1939)

Susan Pearl Miller was born May 22, 1876, in Winfield, Cowley County, Kansas, to Daniel D. and Martha Jane Duncan Miller.  Susan (or Susie) was the fourth of eight children, all girls, born to this couple.

Her father, Daniel, was born in Indiana in 1837 but lived in Missouri and Iowa before marrying Martha Jane.  She too was born in Indiana, in 1845.  The couple presumably met in Iowa and were married on March 17, 1861, in Warren County.  Of course, the Civil War was just beginning and Daniel found himself in the 34^th Iowa Infantry in 1862-63.  According to family history, he was wounded in the leg at Gettysburg and later drew a pension of $12 every three months because of the injury.

In spite of the war and the aftermath of it, Daniel and Martha had the first three of their girls in Iowa and Missouri.  These were Elva, Sarah, and Delia.  Sometime after Delia was born (in 1870) and March, 1875, Daniel and Martha moved their family to Winfield, Kansas.  As was common then, several of Martha’s family, including her mother and father, also moved to Winfield.  Daniel, like his father before him, was a blacksmith.

After the move to Winfield, Daniel and Martha had their remaining five girls, Susan, Rose, Nellie, Jessie, and Frankie.  Frankie, their last child, was born in 1886.  According to verbal family history, Daniel and Martha then moved with their family to Colorado, later taking part in the Oklahoma land run in 1889.  Sometime in 1899, before November, Daniel passed away; in that month Martha Jane made application for a widow’s pension.  At the time she was living in Ramona, Indian Territory, Oklahoma.

Martha Jane lived another 17 years, dying in 1916 in Ramona.  She and Daniel are both buried in the Ramona Cemetery near Bartlesville, Oklahoma.

On January 26, 1891, Susie Pearl married Harry Nash in Trinidad, Colorado.  She was 14 years old at the time.  She would not turn 15 until May 22.  It is not known whether her parents took her to Colorado or how else she may have gotten there.  According to family history, Harry was born in 1867, making him nine years older than her.  This has not been confirmed, however, and very little is known about him today.

Between 1892 and 1897, Susie and Harry had three children, Arletta Florence, Edward Everett and Sedelia.  Apparently, all of these children were either placed in orphanages or raised by relatives.

Sometime in the late 1890’s, something happened to Harry.  Either Susie Pearl left him or he died.  On July 10, 1900, she married Richard Leace (Dick) Young in Grand Junction, Colorado.

According to Susie’s obituary, she and Richard had fifteen children, making a total for her of eighteen.  To date, only eight of the fifteen have been identified: Daniel R., Dolores, Francis D., Dorothy, Stanley, John, Dolly, and Jack.  The youngest identified child was Dolly, who was born in October, 1917.

In 1910, Richard and Susie were living in Spokane, Washington and had three of their children living with them; Daniel, Francis, and Dorothy.

In 1920, Susie and Richard were still in the same household.  At this time, only three of the children were living with them; Daniel, Dolores, and Dolly.

Sometime after 1920, either Richard and Susie divorced or he died.  Susie’s obituary stated that she had been preceded in death by two husbands so it is surmised that both Harry Nash and Richard Young had died.  Sometime in the 1920’s, Susie married James Nicholas Adair.  The 1930 Census showed them living in Boise, Idaho with no children in the family.

On May 8, 1939, Susie died in the Twin Falls General Hospital in Twin Falls, Idaho.  She died of pneumonia and, according to her obituary, her husband, James, was also critically ill with pneumonia.  He did, in fact, die eleven days later in the same hospital.  Her oldest son by Richard Young, Daniel Young, provided the family information on the death certificate and much of it is incorrect as is the information in her obituary.  It is supposed that Daniel Young also provided that information.

It is not known where or who raised Arletta Florence, Susie’s oldest child.  Arletta did marry twice, the first time to John Michael Gervens on October 12, 1912 and divorced him sometime before 1922.  On May 8, 1922, she married Fred Roy Buckmaster and they lived in Idaho the rest of their lives.  Both died in the 1970’s.  She and Fred Roy had two children.

Edward Everett Nash, born in 1894, was taken in by a family in Moab, Utah, and lived there and in Arizona before moving to Cromwell, Oklahoma in the early 1920’s.  He and his wife, Lessie Hester Mooneyham Nash, had seven children.  They both lived in Oklahoma till their deaths, she in 1980 and he in 1983.

Sedelia Nash, born in 1897, the third and last child of Susie and Harry, was raised by Susie’s family, living first with Frank Duncan and his wife Jennie, and later with Elva Miller Barker and her husband.  She married William Clyde Topping in 1913 and they lived in Oklahoma and Texas the rest of their lives.  Sedelia and Clyde had two children, Rex and Vera.  Sedelia died in 1975; Clyde in 1976, both in Overton, Texas.

Daniel Young, Susie’s oldest child by Richard Young, was born in 1902.  He seems to have been the only child who kept in touch with his mother.  Daniel married Mary Isabelle Timblin and lived in Idaho and Spokane, Washington most of his life.  He died in 1957 in Spokane at the age of 55.

Dolores Young was born in Utah in 1904 and apparently lived with her parents longer than some of the other children.  She married Edward Warfield (date unknown) and they had three children.  She died in about 1960.

Francis D. Young, the next child, was born in Utah in about 1907.  Nothing more is known about her at this time.

Dorothy Young was born in 1909 and was apparently adopted out soon after her birth to a family whose surname was Summers.  Little more is known about her either.

Stanley Keith Sears was born on May 1, 2012 as Teddy Young.  He was adopted by Eugene and Eleanor Sears in February, 1916.  After living several years in the Salt Lake City area, they are believed to have moved to Mobile, Alabama.  Stanley died in 1994 in Florence, Kentucky.

John Stanley Perkins Jr., the next child that is known of, was born on September 9, 1916, in Pocatello, Idaho.  He was adopted by John S. and Annie Perkins of Salt Lake City shortly after his birth.  His original birth name is unknown.  In the adoption decree, signed by Richard Leace and Pearl Young, they attested that they had no “fixed definite home” and that “the permanent welfare of (John Stanley Perkins) would be more fully and completely insured through its adoption by …………..”.

John Stanley Perkins Jr. married Thelma Lottie Petersen in Salt Lake City on August 8, 1936.  They had six sons and two daughters, all while living in the Salt Lake City area.  John died in 1982; Thelma in 2004.  At the time of his passing, John did not know that he was adopted.  Partly through an interest in genealogy and partly through DNA testing, their son, William Perkins (Bill) has become known to this writer.

The next child known about is Dolly Young, born on October 11, 1917.  She was married twice and died on October 21, 1969 in Kodiak, Alaska.

At least one other son, Jack, was born to Richard Leace Young and Susan Pearl Miller, but nothing is known of him.

DISCLAIMER: Genealogy is a fluid, ever changing endeavor.  The information presented here is the best effort by the writer to summarize a family’s history.  It most certainly will change as more information is obtained.

Edd Alexander, May 30, 2015

J.O. Alexander Revisited

Yes, its been a while.  I've been either busy or lazy, take your pick.  I've written about my great-grandfather before but I just completed a fairly comprehensive history of him.

James Orville Alexander (Jr.), Born 1828, Died 1906

The Life of a Pioneer

James Orville, or J.O. as most people referred to him, was born on May 10, 1828, in either Obion or Fayette County in Tennessee.  The exact location is not confirmed.

He was the youngest child of four born to James Orville Alexander (Sr.) and Drucilla Abernathy Alexander.  James Orville and Drucilla both died very young.  He was 29; she was 28 and they died within 13 months of each other, reportedly of scarlet or typhoid fever.  At the time of her death, the oldest child was no more than eight years old; the youngest one, J.O., was about 18 months old. 

According to Naomah Alexander Lance in her Alexander history, the children were raised by their aunt, Matilda Sharp Alexander Abernathy.  J.O.’s older siblings included Susan Matilda who was seven years older, Milton Elbert who was five years older, and John Walker who was three years his senior.

In about 1854, J.O. married Malinda Abigail Bradford while still living in Tennessee.  Susan Matilda had married in 1840 and had already passed away by the time of J.O.’s marriage.  Milton Elbert had married Charity Yokley in 1852 and John Walker had married Rebecca Ussrey in 1850.

J.O.’s new bride, Malinda, was the daughter of Eli Bradford and Jane Benthal Bradford.  Her father, Eli, had died in 1838, a year after she was born but the cause is unknown.  Her mother, Jane, remarried sometime before 1847 to Joseph Knox.  At the time of their marriage, Joseph was at least 50 years old, Jane was fourteen years younger, about 36.

By 1855, J.O.’s older brother, John Walker, and his wife, Rebecca, has already had two girls, Drucilla in 1851 and Susan in 1855, both born in Tennessee.  J.O. and Malinda had three boys within a short time of their marriage, James Mack in 1854, Milton Walker in 1857, and William Marcus in 1858. These children were all born in Missouri.  Based on these dates, it appears that the Alexander migration to Missouri was led by J.O., who was closely followed by John Walker.  As mentioned earlier, their sister, Susan, had already passed away; their brother, Milton Elbert, remained in Tennessee with his wife, Charity.

Milton and Charity had eleven children, all of whom were born in Tennessee and most of them remained there.  Even today, there remains a large contingent of their descendants living in
Giles and Maury Counties there.

Moving with J.O. and Malinda from Tennessee to Missouri were her mother, Jane and step father, Joseph Knox.  Joseph and Jane had had two sons of their own after their marriage: James Polk Knox, who became a physician, and Joseph Burdine Knox, who died at the age of 15 in 1865.  Soon after the move to Missouri, the older Joseph Knox died and Jane became a widow for the second time.

In 1860, Jane and her two sons, James and Joseph, were living next door to J.O. and Malinda in Benton Township in Dallas County.  John Walker and his young family also lived in Benton Township.

John Walker and Rebecca had another daughter and three sons between 1858 and 1871: Sophronia, William, James Milton, and Frank, who were all born in Dallas County, Missouri.  J.O. and Malinda had two more children, both girls, who were born in 1865 and 1868.  They were Susan Augustine and Martha Alice, both reportedly born in Texas.

It is possible that the Civil War had an impact on these two brothers separating.  In 1861 when war broke out, John Walker was 36 years old; J.O. was 33.  John Walker did fight for the North and received a pension from the government for his service.  J.O. fought on the side of the Confederacy, mostly in Texas.

J.O. joined the Confederate Army in December, 1862, as a private and for the term of "three years or [the end of the] war." He enlisted in Company D, the Frontier Regiment, with Colonel J.E. McCord commanding. The last muster listed for him ended on October 31, 1863. However, because of an incident which occurred on January 8, 1865, we know that he was still in McCord's Regiment.  The Battle of Dove Creek was a skirmish between Confederates and Texas state militiamen on one side and a group of Kickapoo Indians on the other. At least twenty-two soldiers were killed as well as many Indians. The battle is regarded today as a colossal blunder by the Confederates since the Kickapoo were not hostile, but were only trying to migrate to Mexico.

In an article published in the June, 1924, "Frontier Times" magazine, Judge I.D. Ferguson of Denton, Texas, wrote of his experience in the battle of Dove Creek:   "Just as these thoughts [of dying] were trooping through my brain, I saw the panic stricken column checking up and a little man wheel his horse and with a loud voice say, "Here boys, here, follow me, let us save that boy's life!"  It was J.O. Alexander of our company, God bless his noble name; to him I owe my life. He came charging back, followed by our own company and also Foycett's company, with the old gray headed commander leading them; and in a minute the whole command had rallied and were coming flying back, screaming and shooting as they came. They drove the Indians back and we planted ourselves on a ridge of prairie to stand and fight until every man was dead".

 A Childress County, Texas, Confederate Veterans Camp listed J.O. as being a member but did not report his regiment.

Sometime in the early 1860’s, J.O. and Malinda moved from Missouri to Cooke County, Texas on the border between Oklahoma and Texas.  Within a couple of years they had moved a few miles south into Denton County.  J.O. and Malinda’s two girls were born during this period, Susan Augustine in 1865 and Martha Alice in 1868.

Soon after Martha Alice was born, J.O. and Malinda sold their property in Denton County and, with their five children, moved to Bentonville, Arkansas.  Accompanying them to Arkansas was Malinda’s mother, Jane.  By this time, Jane’s son, James P. Knox, was either in college in Bonham, Texas or medical school at the University of Nashville.  Her other son, Joseph Burdine, had passed away three years earlier.

J.O. became a merchant in Bentonville and had a store on the main square there.  The 1870 Census listed his occupation as "merchant" and one of the people living in his house was listed as a "Clerk in Store”.  One of the people in the listing listed his occupation as "tinner" which would indicate possibly that J.O. was involved either with making or repairing pots and pans.

Benton Lodge No. 33, International Order of Oddfellows, was chartered on November 25, 1870, and J.O. was one of the charter members. (Goodspeed's History of Benton etal Counties, Arkansas, The Goodspeed Publishing County, 1889, page 102.)

J.O. had several real estate transactions while he lived in Bentonville.  On December 11, 1869, he and Mr. H.L. Glass purchased Lot No. 71 in Bentonville for the sum of $200.  They purchased it from Mr. Samuel Woods.  This lot is on the town square, directly across from the Benton County Courthouse and is apparently the location where J.O. had his store.

On March 15, 1871, Malinda passed away.  An obituary clipping from an unknown newspaper which has been passed down through the family reads, "......the death of Mrs. Malinda A. Alexander, wife of Mr. J.O. Alexander [of our town?].  Mrs. A. had but recently returned from a long [ ? ] to visit friends in Tennessee.  She came home sick with measles, supposed to have been taken in Nashville, which terminated fatally on last Thursday night.  We extend to the bereaved family our sincere sympathy in this their great affliction.  Death under almost any circumstance is an unwelcome guest but when he comes the [ ? ] invader of the sacred precepts of the family circle and with [ ? ] grasp tears from its endearing associations a prized and faithful wife, a fond affectionate mother, we can only, in our creature weakness [ ? ] our grief stricken and bleeding hearts to heaven and say: "Thy will, not ours, O God be done"."

Malinda Abigail is buried in the Bentonville Cemetery, about one block from Walmart’s World Headquarters.

On April 20, 1872, James sold his half of the  store lot to his partner, Mr. Glass, for $400.  In the meantime he had purchased two residential lots south of the store.  The first, 900 feet south of the store, was bought on June 10, 1870, from Thomas and Maria Hurley for $300.  He sold it on March 9, 1872, to James Pearce for $250.  The second, 650 feet south of the store, was purchased on March 20, 1871, from Seaburn and M.V. Marquis for $300.  He sold this lot on January 4, 1872, to Samuel Howard for $700.  It might be conjectured that James was giving up the merchant business and decided to go back to farming in early 1872.  He sold his half of the store and the residential locations and purchased a 40 acre tract on January 4, 1873, from Samuel Howard, to whom he had sold the lot in town. It may have been that this was a trade, since the amounts are the same and the date is the same except for the year.

In 1874, James O. Alexander went to court in Bentonville to obtain guardianship of his children. Why he had to go to court to obtain this guardianship is unknown (Benton County, Arkansas, Court Clerk's Record's, January 21, 1874, Book C, Page 131).  Sometime after 1873 and the time of the 1880 Census, Jane Knox packed up J.O.’s five children (her grandchildren) and moved back to Denton County, Texas, where they were all living with Dr. Knox, who had started his practice in Bolivar in 1873.  It is suspected that the timing of this move coincided with J.O.’s next marriage.

In March, 1875, he married Nancy E. Faulkner Worthington in Benton County, Arkansas and remained married to her at least five years since they were together in the 1880 census.   Nancy was the widow of Dr. James Worthington, a Bentonville physician who had been shot and killed in 1871 by the suitor of one of his daughters.  In 1880, three of Nancy’s children were living with her and J.O. in Bentonville.  On July 15, 1875, James and his second wife sold their 40 acre farm to C.S. Pace.

Sometime between 1880 and 1887, J.O. moved to Childress, Texas, and Nancy moved to Missouri to live with a daughter, Sarah Annis.  She later moved to Pontotoc County, Oklahoma to live with another daughter, Florence Robertson.  Nancy died there in 1910.  Although the couple separated permanently, no record of a divorce has been found.

Sometime between 1880 and 1887, at least two of the sons, James Mack and William Marcus, both of whom were in their twenties, became reunited with J.O. in Childress County, Texas. It is not known whether he followed them there or they followed him.  No evidence that Milton Walker went to Childress exists; Susan Augustine did not, since she had married in Denton County in 1882.  Martha Alice also remained in Denton County with her grandmother, Jane Knox.  Jane Knox died in 1882.

Childress County, Texas and the town of Childress were not even formed until April, 1887. Prior to that time, there were very few settlers in the area and those that were there lived in dugout houses and worked as cowboys. There was not even a census taken of this area in 1870.

J.O. initially settled in Arlie where, according to his obituary, he was a merchant and the first postmaster. After a couple of years, he moved to the town of Childress, where he was elected as Justice of the Peace in precinct 3 in 1891, succeeding his son, James M., and served in this role until 1898.  At the time of the 1900 Census, J.O. Alexander was living with his son, James Mack, and listed himself as "widowed" (1900 U.S. Census, Texas, Childress County, E.D. 12, Precinct No. 1, Line 113-117).  From the Obituary in the Childress Index of Friday, June 29, 1906 (courtesy of Panhandle Plains Museum in Canyon Texas):  "J.O. Alexander died at the residence of his son, W.M. Alexander, June 16, 1906. Deceased was in his 78th year, and had been a resident of this county since 1887. He was the first postmaster of Arlie, first justice of the peace of precinct three and the first merchant. He was born and reared in Tennessee. Later he moved to Missouri, then in 1861 he came to Cooke County, Texas. He afterward lived in Denton and Wise Counties. He was the honest poor man's friend and a man of unusual business acumen. The deceased was father of J.M., at Childress, also has two daughters living."  Of interest, it is noted that Milton Walker Alexander, a son,  was not mentioned in this obituary; he was the only one omitted.

Interestingly, J. O. and his two brothers all died within a few years of each other.  Milton Elbert died in 1908 in Giles County, Tennessee and John Walker died in 1903 in Dallas County, Missouri.

J.O. and Malinda’s children all stayed in the Texas-Oklahoma area.  James Mack (“Uncle Mack”), his oldest son, married Nancy Garrison and they had six children.  The family lived in Childress, Texas, the whole time.  He died in Ardmore, Oklahoma in 1930, while visiting one of his sons.

Milton Walker (“Cap” or “Capt”) moved to Mannford, Oklahoma and married Mary May Stephens.  They had two children in addition to two she had from a previous marriage.  His grave is at Oak Hill Cemetery in Mannford.

William Marcus (“Uncle Billy”) married Flora Cooper and they lived in the Childress area all their lives.  They had eleven children of their own and one of Flora’s from a previous marriage.  For many years, he owned a drug store in Hollis, Oklahoma, just across the line from Childress.  They both are interred at Hollis.

Susan Augustine, the oldest daughter, married Ambrose Bourn in Denton County, Texas, in 1882.  They had two girls before he passed away in 1905.  After his death, Susan moved to Erick, Oklahoma to live near her sister, Martha Alice.  She died tragically in 1911 when her clothing caught fire as she attempted to built a fire in her cookstove.

Martha Alice married Bailey Tinsley in 1885 in Wise County, Texas, just west of Bolivar.  They moved to western Oklahoma shortly after that where he was a cotton farmer all his life.  Martha and Bailey had no children of their own but they did raise Susan’s two girls after her tragic death.  The couple is buried in Erick Cemetery in Erick, Oklahoma.

The Building of Keystone Dam

The construction of Keystone Dam and the existence of the lake have had a profound impact on Mannford and the surrounding area for the past 50 plus years.  At the time we were growing up, however, it didn’t seem to be a big thing.  Didn’t all teenagers grow up with a major construction project going on in their backyard?

We certainly were excited to be moving to a brand new school and watching the new town sprout up was interesting but, at the time, these events didn’t seem to be monumental.  The important things were what our classmates were doing, getting our driver’s licenses, and all the other things that kids everywhere were doing.

The construction of the dam did provide a large number of jobs for the teens who wanted them.  In the summer of 1963, I worked on a crew which laid sod alongside all the roads in the new parks.  It was hard work but the pay was good.  Many of the kids I grew up with had jobs like this.

In August, 1962, we moved into the new school.  One of the highlights of that first year was a poorly designed boiler system which couldn’t keep the new school building warm on really cold days.  Why was it a highlight?  Because we got to go home if it got too cold!  Unfortunately for us, the administration got the problem corrected after that first year.

Another aspect of the construction of the Dam and Lake did intrigue me: the actual filling of the lake.  The Corps of Engineers had announced that it would take about six months to fill the lake but we had a lot of rain that year and it only took six weeks.  Almost daily, we would check to see where the water level was.

I’ve often wondered what Mannford would be like today if it weren’t for Keystone Lake.  I think I like it the way it is!

Grade School at the Old School

Do you remember all your grade school teachers?  Although it’s been 62 years since I was in the first grade, I can remember all my teachers, some, of course, better than others.  Mrs. Krute taught the first grade, Miss Unger the second, Mrs. Rhoades, the third, Mrs. McDonald the fourth, and Miss Moorman the fifth and sixth both.  Mannford didn’t have a kindergarten back then.

The elementary classes were on the north side of the school and, as I recall, there were four classrooms there.  Miss Moorman’s combination class was located upstairs in the center part of the building.  If my memory on this is faulty, correct me the next time you see me.

Mrs. Krute and Miss Unger both left after I completed their grades.  I don’t know whether I had anything to do with that or not, I certainly hope not!  They were followed by Miss Hart and Mrs. O’Kieefe who wound up staying at Mannford for several years.

Mrs. Rhoades, my third grade teacher, was the wife of Lester Rhoades, the Mannford Postmaster, and she was quite a disciplinarian (or so I thought).  By the time I reached 50 years of age, I got to where I could call her Sylvia.  In later years, after I was grown and had children of my own, my mother and father would go camping at New Mannford Ramp with Lester and Sylvia.

Mrs. McDonald, our fourth grade teacher, was extremely relaxed and easy going and all the children loved her.  She was the widow of Dr. Clarence McDonald, one of Mannford’s early doctors.  He had passed away in the late 1940’s so she had been widowed for a long time.

Miss Moorman taught both the fifth and sixth grades and did it quite well.  With two classes in one room, she had to be the ultimate disciplinarian and she was!  Once, during class, she grabbed hold of me, lifted me out of my chair and gave me a really good spanking.  While she was doing that, I was protesting that I hadn’t done anything!  Her response: “That’s just it, you weren’t doing anything!”

When I got my last report card of the year in the fifth grade in 1957, I was mortified to see a “D” in one of my subjects (I don’t even remember which one now) for the last six weeks.  I knew that when I got home with that report card I was going to be in trouble!  While we were waiting out in front of the school for the bus, I saw a big pipe at the gate to the school and I stuffed that report card down in it.  When I got home, I told my mother that I had lost my report card but that all the grades were OK (I wonder if she believed me).

In the summer of 1957, Dad found out that the company he worked for had been sold and was moving to Pampa, Texas.  So, I didn’t get to complete grade school in Mannford.  In preparation for the move, Mom told me that we would have to get a copy of my report card!  When we went up to the school office to get the copy, the secretary put down only the semester grades; the “D” I had gotten did not show up.  I was the luckiest kid in Mannford that day!

I don’t remember exactly how many kids were in each of our grades but it was in the area of 25.  The other day, we participated in a vision screening at the elementary school; there were five to six classes for each grade and each class had about 25 students.  My, how things have changed.

Mischief and More Serious Pranks

Like lots of kids, I managed to get into all kinds of mischief when I was a teen.  My brother, Gary, who was only eleven months younger than me, was involved in most of these as well.  In almost every case, there were others involved as well who shall remain nameless.  They may not feel the need to repent of their sins!

I can't begin to get these in chronological order since they all happened in a two to three year period when I was between 15 and 18 years of age.  After that, I began to settle down and grow up a bit.  Fortunately, none of these pranks involved any serious physical harm although they certainly could have.

I'll start with the worst, at least from a financial point.  It was Halloween in either 1961 or 1962.  The new bridge over Salt Creek had been completed but the highway was not yet paved.  A bunch of us young bucks were out prowling and looking for ways to cause havoc.  After tipping over a few outhouses (yes, we really did that), we decided to build a bonfire on the new bridge.  We rounded up a few old tires and carried them out to the middle of the bridge where we lit them on fire.  It was a spectacular sight!  What we didn't consider was that the tire fire would burn so hot that would actually damage the concrete on the new bridge.  The next day, Mother asked if we were involved in building the fire.  Although we assured her that we weren't, I'm sure she knew the truth.  We heard later that the cost of repairs was substantial.

There was a railroad underpass on the east side of Mannford, just east of Glen Tate's Phillips station.  It was a perfect place for kids to get into trouble and we did.  Our favorite occupation here was to drop water balloons off the railroad tracks onto cars passing underneath.  One night we were engaged in this pastime when a convertible approached!  This was beyond our wildest dreams so we let a balloon go just as he went under the bridge.  It was a direct hit!  The only problem was that, even though the driver was soaked, he was mad enough that he stopped the car and started chasing us through the woods.  If it hadn't been dark, he could have easily run this short fat kid down.  As it was, we got away.

As we got older, Gary and I became less concerned about what time we got home after going out to town.  One early morning as we were attempting to sneak in the back door at home, we met Dad coming out on his way to milk the cow.  He gave us a disgusting look and, in his most stern voice, told us to get our clothes changed because we were going to the hay field in an hour.  I know that he worked us harder that day than he ever had before.

Then there was the time we were practicing our fast draws.  I know its hard to believe today, but we all had firearms as teenagers back then.  On the other hand, there weren't any school shootings or other tragic events back then.  At any rate, two of us had revolvers (good to practice fast draw with) and one had a semi-auto pistol (NOT good to practice fast draw with).  The guy with the semi-auto made a mistake and pulled the trigger before the pistol had cleared the holster.  The bullet traveled down the leg just under the skin and lodged just above the knee.  It didn't even bleed, although when his mother found out, she was panic stricken!

My initiation into the FFA (Future Farmers of America) was interesting, to say the least.  We all met up at the school and the new kids were given their assignments.  Mine was to steal the hubcaps off the local Marshall's 1957 Chevy.  The Marshall was Lee White and back then, he was the perfect man for that job.  The kids all respected him and he didn't try to scare them to death.  I didn't relish my assignment but I left the school and walked the two blocks to his house.  I was kneeling down trying to get the first hubcap off when a deep, loud voice behind me asked what I thought I was doing!  Yep, it was Lee White.  Come to find out, the FFA officers had called him and warned him that I was coming.  Apparently, this was an annual prank.

OK, now the truth is out.  Please remember that this was 50 years ago and I don't do things like that today!   Fortunately, I think most kids today are better behaved than I was!

Old Town Grocery Stores

In the 1950's and early 1960's, Mannford (the old town) had at least three grocery stores.  Convenience stores had been created by that time but Mannford wasn't ready for them.  In fact, the first convenience store in the United States was opened in Dallas, Texas, by the Southland Ice Company in the 1950's.  It later grew into what is today 7 Eleven stores.

The grocery stores I remember were Varnell's Grocery, Mannford Trading Company, and Vaught's Grocery.  Varnell's was located on South Main Street on the east side of the street.  Earl Varnell ran the grocery store and my most vivid memory of that store was that he had a cream station.  Did Earl's wife work there as well?  I don't remember.

In the early 1960's, we had a milk cow who could out-produce what our family could consume so we would run the excess milk through a cream separator and sell it in town at Varnell's Grocery.  Running the separator was hard work and you had to crank like mad to keep the speed up.  The cream was hauled into Varnell's and, as I recall, they measured the butterfat somehow to determine how much to pay you.

Hugh and Ethel Vaught's grocery store was across the street and west of the Bank.  I don't remember a lot about it except that it was relatively new and always appeared to be extremely clean.  Mr. and Mrs. Vaught, like most of the people in Mannford at that time, were wonderful people and really contributed to the community.  Mr. Vaught had run a grocery store just west of the drug store but sold it to a Mr. Willetts when he built his new store in the 1950's.  Mr. Willetts later sold that grocery store to Alfred Hughes who turned in into a feed store.

The other grocery store in Mannford at that time was the Mannford Trading Company.  It was probably the biggest store in town as well as being the oldest.  F.M.  Coonrod, who had opened the Mannford State Bank several years earlier, opened the Mannford Trading Company in about 1925.  I'm told that he and his wife, Jessa, ran the Trading Company for many years until their daughter, Juanita, and her husband, Les Hinton, took it over.

As a youngster, I found the Trading Company to be a fascinating place.  It was "L" shaped with an entrance on the south to Highway 51 and another entrance to the east opening to Main Street.  The groceries were all located on the west end of the store and best accessed from the Hwy. 51 entrance while the dry goods were on the north side of the store.

It, by the way, was the ancestor to today's Phelp's Market.  When the town moved in the early 1960's, Les and Juanita moved their grocery store to the new town.  The store was located across the walkway from the Bank.  After a few years, they decided to retire and talked their daughter, Peg, and her husband, Jack McIntire into running the store.  Later, in about 1969, the grocery store was sold to Bill and Harriett Phelps.

When my brother, Gary, and I were in our early teens, we made extra money by planting tomatoes and okra and then selling them to Mr. Hinton at the grocery store.  I can still visualize him standing behind the counter in that grocery store!

Your First Job

Do you remember the first real job you ever had?  Not doing chores for your parents or grandparents but a real, honest to goodness JOB?  My memories of my first job are very vivid, but some of that may come with age.  As I get older, some of the stuff that may have happened becomes fact!  The good news is that there are few people around to challenge it.

In 1960 our family moved back to Mannford from Pampa, Texas where we had lived for four years.  Dad was working in Tulsa and Mom got a job at Mannford State Bank, working for L.R. "Dick" Jones.  I was 14 years old and it was time for me to go to work, too.  I don't remember how I heard about the job washing dishes at one of the local cafes, but I went up there and applied to the owner, Callie Fields.  She was the wife of Gene Fields and was a bit intimidating to a fourteen year old boy.  My starting salary was 30 cents per hour.  After a few months, Callie sold the cafe to Lilly Hudson.  Lilly was just the opposite of Callie, she was one of the nicest, warmest people I've ever met!  Life was good; plus, I got a raise to 40 cents.

The name of the cafe is questionable but I do remember that it was called Gene's Cafe for a while.  Other cafes in town were the White Way, the City Cafe and the Coffee Cup cafe.

Judy Shaeffer and I worked there for a year or so, I would guess, and took turns doing dishes, cooking the easier things, and waiting tables.  I also got to work with Ollie Farrow there.  She was the mother of one of my classmates, Jesse, and was one of the finest women I knew.

To this day, I remember some of the prices of the meals.  Hamburgers were a quarter, hamburger steaks and chicken fried steaks were $1.25, "veal cutlets" were $1.35, and T-bone steaks were $2.65.  To prepare veal cutlets, we took a tenderized raw chicken fried steak and cut it into two pieces.  We may have put it in a different coating, I don't remember.

Judy must have worked the morning shift because she talks about preparing sack lunches for the workers who were building the roads, parks, and bridges in preparation for moving the town.  On the other hand, it seemed that I was always working in the evenings.  The only lunches I remember packing were for Lilly's husband, Otis.  He had a job as a night watchman on some of the construction sites and Lilly would pack a lunch for him in the evening.

About once a month, Dick Jones would bring all the employees of the bank over in the evening for dinner.  Everyone ate T-bone steaks and had a good time.  That was kind of strange for me because I had to wait on my mother.  I couldn't begin to name all the employees at the time but they included Bobby Greenwood, Paul McCrackin, and Hazel Tate.

Just east of the cafe on the corner was a covered triangular area.  This obviously had been a gas station years before but was closed when I worked at the Cafe.  We used it for storage of soft drinks and other supplies.  Lilly used to send me down there to fetch supplies and I would read magazines while I was there.  Lilly knew I was goofing off but she was too nice to say much about it!

I think your first job is alway kind of special.  At least, mine was.  I think I enjoyed it more than my last one but that may just be the years fading my memory!