Volume 11 , Issue 17

Looking Back ... To 1891 - Clark Pioneers

January 3, 1891 Clark Pioneers In Oklahoma Territory -- The following story is a recollection of the Pioneers, the Clark's that came to Kansas, around Kiowa, and made the run into Oklahoma Territory, November 16, 1893. The Clark's mentioned below are ancestors of J. L. "Bud" Clark of Alva, Oklahoma.

Bud gave us permission to share some of his family stories to show what times were like back in the Territorial days before the Run of 1893 and afterwards as Bud's Uncle tells his story.Bud's father was the Lawrence mentioned as the brother of William "Bill" who is telling the story.

"Times were very close at this time and father found it difficult to feed and clothe the family on the meager wages he received. The Section work paid $1.00 per day. The children were too small to be of much help financially. I remember my sister Ledona got a job with a man and his wife and daughter at $1.00 per week. Which seemed to be about the prevailing wage at that time. We had a couple of milk cows which helped out giving milk for our mush and apple dumplings. One or the other of these was usually on our menu every day. During the summer months we grew vegetable and disposed of the surplus to our neighbors in town.

"Lawrence and I took the milk cows out from town and herded them all day. We received about $1.00 per head a month. That made us enough money that we could buy our clothes and a little left over. We usually pastured the cows in the Cherokee Strip before it was opened for settlement on September 16, 1893. The Strip was one mile South of Kiowa. Shortly before the opening of the strip for settlement the soldiers came and ordered us to keep our cows out of the strip. This was followed within a few days by a bunch of Indians.

"The run is something that will never be forgotten by me. The Run was to be started at 12 Noon on September 16 (1893), by the firing of a gun to start the men and women on their race for a home in the strip. A few minutes before the Run was to start someone fired a gun by mistake or on purpose and the Run was on. The people were along the line for miles in every conceivable conveyance that could be thought of. Horseback (some with race horses), buggies, wagons and carts and some few just walked across the line and staked a claim.

"My father, John A. Clark and I were on our horses and ready to go at the crack of the gun. We started just west of the Santa Fe railroad on the line one mile South of Kiowa.

"The Santa Fe train was also on the line with several coach loads of people that were to get off the train as it proceeded slowly along the railway to Alva, Oklahoma, the county seat of Woods county. The race to Alva was for town lots which some of the people wanted instead of a farm.

"My father John A. Clark staked a claim about 4 or 5 miles southwest of Kiowa. I rode back to Kiowa to have the folks bring the wagon with some bedding and grub so we could stay there for awhile. A few days afterwards father saw another stake not too far from where he had stuck his stake and he was afraid it was on the same claim he had staked. Rather than face a contest he gave it up and he and uncle Albert Williams went down by Alva. He filed on a claim about 4-1/2 miles Northeast of Alva, which was to be our home from then on.

"In the Fall of 1893, father came down from Kiowa and dug a hole in a bank on the farm and covered it with sod. That was to be the place Lawrence and I were to spend the winter with the cattle father had accumulated. Being some milk cows among the cattle we were to winter, Lawrence and I had milk. Father and mother got us some meal and short and a grear__(???) which started us through the winter.

"We had to watch out for rattle snakes getting into our dugout as they were very numerous at that time. One bit our dog that winter. Prairie chickens were plentiful and we thought that we could take our old zulu out once in awhile and kill one to provide us with some meat. After killing and cooking one we found out it was no good. In the new country there was no grain to put any fat on the birds.

"In the fall of 1893, hardly any homesteaders had come down to start work on their claims. It was about two miles to the nearest neighbor Lawrence and I had that first winter.

"In the Spring of 1894 there were plenty coming in as they had to establish residence within six months after they filed on their claims. Father came down in the Spring of 1894 bringing the horses and farm tools so that he could break sod to get out some spring crops and garden. He built another half dugout and covered it with lumber preparing to bring the family down from Kiowa.

"One time when he came back from Kiowa the latter part of April 1894 he informed Lawrence and I that we had a little sister who was born on April 7, 1894 and that they had named her Susanna Andrew Clark for her father and mother. Lawrence and I were surprised and wanted to go up to see the baby as soon as we could.

"Father also informed me that he and uncle Albert had talked to the Missouri Pacific Agent and he wanted a messenger boy which paid $10.00 per month and they had recommended me for the job. I went up and took the job which was the beginning of my railroad career.

"Mother and the younger children came down to their new home. Ledona and I rented a small house in Kiowa and lived there for a short time while I worked. Tom Wilkinson was seeing Ledona quite often then. Dona was around Kiowa for some little time and worked for different families and was well liked by all of them. Father had been working out in the country for some people and the weather was cold and wet. He contracted a cold which went to his throat and lungs and he passed away on April 15, 1897, the first of the family to pass to their reward.

"Mother and the smaller children remained on the home place and managed it with the aid of hired help. Lawrence had a job on a ranch. Dona continued to work in Kiowa after fathers death for a few months. On September 28, 1897 she was united in marriage to Thomas J. Wilkinson. They moved to a farm owned by Tom, 5-1/2 miles northeast of Alva. Their first house was a "soddy" as the natives who had taken claims in the Cherokee Strip called them.

"They were built of sod and covered with sod. In most cases they made a very desirable house to live in until the settlers could do better. I would say that 75 per cent or more of the settlers taking claims in the strip either had dug outs or sod houses. Many of the sod houses were plastered and fixed up inside so you could hardly tell them from a house built of lumber.

"The newly weds were a very happy couple on their 160 acre farm. Dona having worked so much for other families was a very satisfactory cook. She was rejoiced to get a home of her own that she could manage and raise her children.

"On August 13, 1898 they were blessed with their first child which they named Thelma Octa May. Dona spent quite a little time with her mother during the early age of Thelma as her mother was sickly. They only lived 1/2 mile apart. On April 2, 1900 another child was born who was named Martha Victoria, for her two grandmothers. I thought that she looked like a little doll. Mother went to a sanitarium at Kansas City, Mo. to be treated for her illness. She was only there a short time until I received a telegram from Ledona asking me to go to Kansas City and bring mother to Sister Marg's at Hutchinson. This was in June 1900. Mother passed away on July 31, 1900. She was returned to Capron, Oklahoma for burial beside her husband John A. Clark.

"Sister Mary in Nursing mother had contracted the same illness that mother had. On June 14, 1901 she passed to her reward at Hutchinson, Kansas. She was returned to Capron, Oklahoma for burial beside her father and mother.

"Mary left a son, Alva Matteson, who was about 9 months old at the time of his mothers death. In 1903 Tom and Dona sold their farm to the Wagners and purchased 160 acres of land from Trent Jones 2-1/2 miles South of Capron, Oklahoma. Dona always expressed a desire for her children to have a good education. So as soon as they were old enough she started them to school at Centerview. A school about one mile south from their home. One of the teachers at Centerview was Laura French who taught Thelma in her early school years. Another was Grace McKitrick.

"Tom and Dona spent about six years of happy life on this farm. Tom was raising wheat and in the fall he would run a threshing macine. Dona was raising fruit and vegetable and disposing of the surplus to her neighbors around Capron and Alva, hitching her old horse, "Bally," to the the buggy to deliver her produce.

"The children were going to school and raising cain. They were blessed with some extra good neighbors. Joe and Anna Fash, Fred and Edna Fash, Bert Schroth and wife and Tom Johnson and wife and others. The Year 1909, they sold their farm to Thomas Fennesy. Tom and Dona had an auction sale of their personal belongings. Colonel Bill Campbell was the auctioneer.

After the sale of their personal belongings they began to get ready to make their trip to Oregon where they had thoughts of making their future home."
  |  View or Add Comments (1 Comments)   |   Receive updates ( subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

---