Volume 9 , Issue 18

Barten Family History

This is The Barten Family In America of remembrances as told by Annetah Rosalee Harms (Barten), and composed and written by Russell Dart.

It begins... "William F. Barten had rented ground from Christian Barten, his father. In 1898, William's in-laws were going to Oklahoma to find and homestead new lands, and he, wanting to get out on his own, decided to also go to Oklahoma. Those that went there that first year were William F. Barten; his father-in-law, Emery W. Arney; and Rebecca's (Will's wife); Brothers-in-law -- brothers married sisters -- Will and George Sauter. They drove a team and wagon all the way from Manning, Iowa, to Western Oklahoma and back to Iowa. In the spring of 1899, Will and Will Sauter rented a railroad car, loaded up all the livestock, machinery, furniture, etc. and left their home south and west of Manning, Iowa, where Rebecca had driven to Church in Irwin, Iowa, several miles to the south of their farm.

They had an old team of grays that they took to Oklahoma on the train, but when Rebecca learned that the old mare had died on the trip, she sat down at the station in Woodward, Oklahoma (the closest railroad station to their claim) and cried. She had ridden in the passenger train with her sister and her own three kids while the two Wills rode in the freight train. The rest of the Arney clan drove all their possessions that summer to Oklahoma.

But Woodward was still 40 miles from their winter home at a rented farm near Camargo. This farm was just on the north bank of the Canadian River. Papa had often used to ride his horse across the river behind the house. Well, one day he put little Dick on a horse - he couldn't have been more than 18 months old. As he put Dick on the horse, he gave the horse a slap on the rump, and the horse headed out for the Canadian River. There were two cowboys in the yard up at the house at the time and one of them roped the horse and saved the boy. The reason that they moved to this farm before going on to their homestead was that the homestead had not been improved yet, and they had to spend the winter somewhere.

The Will Barten's did improve the homestead during the spring and summer of 1899 -- they put in some crops and erected a temporary house for the winter. In the fall of 1899, either in October or in November, they did move to the homestead four and a half miles southwest of what would someday be Leedy, Oklahoma. The house was a dugout and tent affair described thusly: They dug 4 feet into the hillside and to keep the dirt from coming in they made walls and a plank floor out of 1x12's. Over this was erected a tent. It was about 24-ftx24-ft, was curtained off into a couple of bedrooms and had several poles holding it up. (This is remembered by a girl who wasn't even six at the time.) Continued on Barten Family History, Page-2" -- submitted by Roy K.
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