Volume 9 , Issue 49

Pioneer Charles Edwin Moyer

The death of the late Charles Edwin Moyer occurred January 20, 1911, at his home in Alva, Woods county, Oklahoma. He was a man who had contributed to Alva, Woods County's welfare and upbuilding and who had lent material encouragement to its agricultural interests. Mr. Moyer was pre-eminently a self-made man, and from the outset of is career was compelled to overcome obstacles and survive disappointments in his struggle for success and position.

Charles Edwin Moyer was born May 5, 1848, in the State of New York, where his parents had been pioneers. He was reared in the atmosphere of the farm and attended the public schools of Illinois, whence his parents removed when he was a lad of six years, although he was largely self-educated.

During his youth he divided his time equally between working on the farm and railroading, but in 1878 he removed to Kansas and entered upon a venture of his own, taking up his residence and establishing a farm on Government land located in Harper County. There he was forced to endure all the hardships and inconveniences incident to life in a pioneer community, but he persevered in his efforts, and during his seventeen years of residence there was successful in operations as a farmer and raiser of stock.

Moyer first came to Oklahoma in the original opening of 1889, making the run with the other aspirants for land. He was not successful, however, and returned to Kansas, where he remained until 1893, in that year again seeking a farm in the opening of the Cherokee Strip. Once More he was disappointed, not securing a claim, but the country seemed to hold out attractive opportunities to him, and he elected to remain. For a time he grazed a herd of cattle in old Woods County, and with the proceeds from this business gradually leased school land, and at the same time continued to feed his cattle on the open range.

In 1894 he removed his family to Alva, having built a comfortable residence there, and from that time he began to realize his ambitions. With careful management, energetic industry and strict integrity, he built up a large and profitable cattle ranch, located 12 miles west of Alva, and in the management and operation of this property passed the remaining years of his life.

On June 14, 1874, in Iroquois County, Illinois, Charles Edwin Moyer was united in marriage with Miss Ella Burr, who was born June 12, 1856, at Ottawa, Illinois, daughter of Hiram F. and Mary A. (Hower) Burr, the former a native of new york, who was living in 1916 at Pomona, Missouri, and the latter a native of Ohio who died in 1878.

Four sons and three daughters were born to Mr. and Mrs. Moyer, as follows:

Bert Homer, born may 8, 1875, a 32 degree Mason, who died December 11, 1911, at Oklahoma city, married in 1900, Leta Spalding, and had three children -- Marguerite, Kenneth and Charles;

Pearl, born october 7, 1877, graduated from the high school at the age of sixteen years, subsequently attended the Northwestern Normal School, of Alva, taught school for two years in Woods county, became an expert stenographer and was deputy register of deeds and an abstractor, and in 1901 was married to Howard Searcy, an abstractor, and reside in 1916 at Wagoner, Oklahoma;

Roy Benjamin, born June 19, 1879, who owned and operated his father's cattle ranch 12 miles from Alva, to which he added additional land by purchase, was married in 1907 to Miss Nellie Brown, and had one child -- helen, who was born May 6, 1912;

Grace C., born December 8, 1880, married in 1909 Edwin Carlin of Anadarko, Oklahoma, and had two children -- Geraldine, born November 20, 1910, and Moyer, born May 20, 1912;

Olive S., born may 16, 1882, married A. c. Miller in 1906, and resided in 1916 at Wagoner, Oklahoma, with two children -- Louise, born June 21, 1907, and A. C., born November 30, 1909;

Bruce E., born may 22, 1884, married in 1913, Ollie McAlpin, and lived in 1916 at Mills, New Mexico;

Harry, born August 28, 1886, married November 10, 1914, Alma Boone, and in 1916 lived at Altus, Oklahoma.

Mrs. Moyer survived her husband and in 1916 was living at her comfortable home at Alva where she was active in the orders of the Eastern Star and the Rebekahs. She was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. [found in the 1916 A Standard History of Oklahoma, Volume 4, by Thoburn.]
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