Volume 10 , Issue 18

Gold In NW Oklahoma Territory

Yep! There was Gold in them "thar hills" of Northwest Oklahoma! It wasn't the sparkling gold, though. It was the Gold Brothers who settled in Woods County, Oklahoma Territory in 1898.

Herb & Frank Gold were born in Moravia, in the Austrian Empire, now Czechoslovakia. They came to the United States with their mother and stepfather in 1887, and settled in Barton County, Kansas near Albert and Olmitz, where the stepfather engaged in farming. After the parents died, the Gold Brothers made their way to Woods County, in the Northwest Oklahoma Territory. This is where, in 1898, Frank Gold contested a claim in the Fritzlen township, NE/4, Section 22-28N-14WIM, 6 miles North of Alva on Grimes road.

Frank Gold, born February 10, 1879, was a simple man, upright, honest, gentleman. He was interested and active in community activities, politics and believed the right to vote was a privilege and duty.

Frank's true love was for the one and only woman in his life, but it was not returned. We aren't quite sure who that one and only was, but Frank never married. He was a bachelor for 40 years in his dugout he constructed at time he acquired his land in the Fritzlen township.

A longtime friend and neighbor, Merle Cunningham, went to Frank's home on Sunday, February 6, 1938, to take Frank home with him for Sunday dinner and a visit. The Sunday dinner never happened, though. Merle could not get any response by knocking on Frank's door that day. Merle sensed something wrong when he heard heavy breathing inside. Merle and his brothers found Frank on his bed unconscious. Frank died 4 days short of his 59 birthday. Since Frank never married, his land went to his older brother, Herb Gold.

Herb Gold, born the oldest son, March 22, 1874, at Langesdorf, Moravia, Austria. Herb was known as a unique and wonderful character around Northwest Oklahoma Territory. Herb was a veteran news columnist and was not only widely known, but his comments were widely read. His greatest interest was in people and his great fund of information about them was a source of wonder to his many friends.

Herb was a member of the Sacred Heart Catholic church at Alva, and was a naturalized citizen of the US by order of the district court of Grant County, Oklahoma, on September 18, 1906.

He was active in county and state politics for many years and his column carried comments on trends of the times from a local to international level. He was exceedingly well informed of European affairs and conditions and was also a diligent student of American history, current events and affairs, by reading magazines and periodicals from several countries.

Herb Gold knew more people personally than anyone else at that time, including present and former residents in Woods County. From reading the bio's in the Northwest Oklahoma history book, Pioneer Footprints Across Woods County, we find out that Herb Gold took part in many debates and was one of many northwest Oklahoma debaters from the Fritzlen township. Among those he debated with were: Dave Harrington, William Knox, Fred Gallon and Pete Lawson. Herb's friends would often coax Herb to sing, Who Put the Overalls In Mrs. Murphy's Chowder, after one of their debates at Fritzlen.

Herb Gold died Feb. 14, 1953 in Alva leaving no immediate relatives, never marrying and no one surviving him in either the US or Europe. At Herb's death Frank and Herb's land went back to the State of Oklahoma and was sold. [Information concerning Frank & Herb Gold was found in Pioneer Footprints Across Woods County, pages 247-248, 64, 187.]
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