Volume 13 , Issue 22

Devine Homestead Near Fairvalley OK

Wes Devine shared some photos of his family's Old Homestead near Fairvalley, Oklahoma. The photos show the old house and storm cellar with Henry Devine's inscribed on it with the date 1922. I did not know that the old Devine Homestead set on the Eastside and south of our Fairvalley Ranch. See Googl map below of the Fairvalley area.


View Fairvalley, OK in a larger map

Wes Devine says, "It's been about fifteen years since I was there but my understanding is, that if you go one mile east of the curve on E0190 headed toward Waynoka to N2250 Rd, then south about one and half miles you're there. I looked at if from the Google Earth website with Bryant. He walked me down the road south to what looked like a Y or another curve back to the west. There is a pond on the left as your are going south at the Y. Bryant told me that the old house set in a grove of trees on the right, just to the north of the Y."

This picture of the cellar doorway with "J Bickford" etched in the concrete. They found that the name "Bickford" may referred to Joe Bickford, a carpenter from Alva, Oklahoma.

Wes Devine's son, Bryant, made a trip to Freedom and Fairvalley, Oklahoma this Memorial weekend. He went straight to the cemetery to visit his grandfather's grave. He was amazed of the amount of Devine headstones present. Wes says, "I had given him a list of names that are family related. He was taking several pictures when he was approached by a lady, whom asked if he was somehow related to the Devines. He stated he was in fact a Devine. She said that her last name was Devine also. To make a long story short, the Devine's are the ones taking care of the Fairvalley Cemetary (Larry and his wife Judy and their son Darrell). Larry Devine's Dad was Lewis Devine and a brother to Henry Devine (my grandfather).

"Larry and Judy directed Bryant to the old homestead where he took some pictures. They also said that Herman, May Hoyle and Henry Devine lived in this house. My grandfather Henry was still residing in the home when he passed away, at the age of sixty eight. The house is not much, but I can remember being in this house when I was very young. One of the things I remember was my granddad was making some corn or wheat mash. As a curious fellow, being very young and my dad being a jokester, he told me to taste it.

"It befuddles me that throughout my life I have never heard the name Lewis Devine and or family from my dad or aunts, so this was quite an accident and a great surprise. Here are some pictures of the house and the storm cellar with my granddad's name etched in the concrete dated 1922. Notice the old leaf spring for the top of the cellar doorway. The date stamp on the pictures are incorrect, it should have read 2011. "   |  View or Add Comments (0 Comments)   |   Receive updates ( subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

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