This and That Newsletter
www.OklahomaHistory.net
Vol 24  Issue 1,234     Circulation 5,000      September 17, 2020
Ardmore, Oklahoma
My email address:  butchbridges@oklahomahistory.net
580-490-6823

A Glimpse Into The Past - 1927 Photos

Ernest Martin (retired Oklahoma state senator) brought to me a brochure this week (Feb 1998) he found in one of his mother's books. He estimates it was published around 1927 and gives a pictorial view of sights around Ardmore in 1927. Let's see.... there was one looking down main street, one of the old First National Bank, the Ardmore Hotel, the convention center where the present day Civic Auditorium is located, Woerz Brothers Florist, central park, a tourist park, several of the magnificent homes in Ardmore, and many other photos.

What's interesting about the photos is no one outside me has ever seen them before today. (If you see any of them online after today, they were stolen from me. lol) In 1998 I didn't know much about scanning photos, so they are kind of small pictures, and some I even saved in .PCX format instead of .JPG.  But I found a website online that converted them all from PCX to JPG for free. Worked perfectly. Another interesting fact is none of the file names were more than 8 characters long back in those days. Today a file name can be 256 characters in length. This was because back in 1998 we didn't have Windows. There are 21 photos in the folder below, enjoy.

http://oklahomahistory.net/ErnestMartinPhotos/

July 1964
Glen Edward Smith, 27, was killed in a freak highway accident. The son of Mr. and Mrs. Buster Smith, who operate the Buster and Lilly Cafe in Lone Grove, was killed by driving a truck into a cable strung across a county road. The cables connected a car whose tires was being changed to a dump truck on the opposite side of the highway and holding the car in place. Smith is survived by his wife Martha Pauline Dunigan, daughter Helen Ann, and two sons, Leslie and Glen Edward, Jr.

July 1926
A stick of dynamite was found in a wheat bundle as it neared the threshing machine on the Henry Gilkey farm late yesterday and probably saved the lives of several members of the crew. A wagon driver was pitching a load in the separator when he discovered the end of the explosive stick in the bundle. The incident followed the discovery of a monkey wrench, pieces of arm bolts and small pieces of iron which had been secretive in other bundles of wheat which caused much damage.

July 1926
A rabbit drive will be staged in the vicinity of Wilson at 8 a.m. Wednesday morning according to an announcement made by O.L. Putman, County Agent, following a meeting of the cantaloupe growers in Wilson Saturday. At the meeting the growers said the rabbits are destroying the cantaloupe crop and plans were made to stage a drive to kill off the pest. Wilson promised a hundred men will take part in the drive.

July 1950
The "little mother" of Guam has grown up and she is a beauty. Six years ago when Dolores Mesa was 12 her mother was decapitated by the Japanese as a spy. Dolores fled into the jungle with three younger sisters and a smaller brother and cared for them until the Americans came. Then she took an even larger brewed under her wing slipping into the enemy camps with food for American prisoners of war. The troops gave her the title of "little mother." Today Dolores is in the United States on a tour after winning a beauty contest sponsored by the Guam Lions Club. She received more than 100,000 votes at $0.05 a vote, raising $5,000 for a tuberculosis sanitarium in Guam.

https://www.postguam.com/obituaries/dolores-mesa-crisostomo/article_8e906d22-5f9c-11ea-aa8a-53d71d22a01b.html

Q. What was the "Bone Dry Law"?
A.  Prohibition

Q.  What city in Oklahoma was saved by a trolley line in 2001?
A.  Answer in next week's newsletter

Below is from This and That newsletter archives of September 18, 2008

"I just found your site and love it. Was looking for information on Addington, OK, found your site and have now wandered down that history road you have done. This is awesome reading.

Just wanted to let you know that on your page glimpses you have a picture of the big dirt mound by Norman. It is now gone. They tore it down to build a Super Target. Anyway, wanted to share a story of what I was told it was when I was a youngin'.

We would travel south, headed to my grandparents, quite often. My dad told us that was where Paul Bunyan was buried. We believed him of course. Didn't honestly know until years later what it was. LOL I had even passed the 'legend' on to my children so when news came to those of us in the Norman area that they would be dozing it down my daughter got very upset. Seems she believed, as did I, that is should remain there forever because her grandpa Tom (Borden) had said it, so that made it true. LOL

Thank you for your work on your Oklahoma History site and for sharing it with those of us who can't travel so much." -Rebecca Hensley
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Butch, I found this bell this morning north of Temple, Oklahoma on Highway 65, about 10 miles southeast of Lawton.
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos8a/HulenBell8a.jpg

http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos8a/HulenBell8b.jpg
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
I was told this week that Elephant Rock was named by Jack Richards back when Lake Murray was built. Jack was working at Lake Murray at the time and when he was asked, he said it looks like an elephant. So, elephant rock it was.

http://www.oklahomahistory.net/lakemurray/elephantrock2.jpg
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Ernest Martin (1921-2010) out on Springdale Road stopped by to see me this week. I always learn something from Ernest, something from long ago, that most people either don't know, or forgot about, every time he stops and chats. We were talking about our new water well (it's doing great by the way) and he said the way they tested for hardness 50 or more years ago was using Tincture of Green Soap. You'd take a container and put 1 ounce of well water in it. Then let one drop of the Tincture of Green Soap drop into that ounce of water. Shake it. Keep dropping one drop at a time until it foamed up really well, and stayed foamed up. The droplet count determined your water hardness.
Tincture of Green Soap: a liquid preparation containing potassium soaps and alcohol; frequently advocated in skin cleansing, particularly after exposure to plant toxins such as poison ivy. It is not green, but a yellowish-orange color.

I did a search for Tincture of Green Soap on Amazon and found plenty of it for sale.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Some mail from this week's MAILBAG.....

New Whittington Hotel postcard 1909 with Jewel Whittington in the left bottom window. -Robert Hensley
http://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos20b/NewWhittingtonHotel1909.jpg

Turner Falls Aero-trolley circa 1950
http://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos20b/TurnerFallsAeroTrolley1950.jpg
-------------------------------------------
Nelson Chigley mystery solved

Butch, My father, Fay H. Shackelford was married to the daughter of Wyatt Chigley, son of Nelson Chigley. Her name was Garnet P. Chigley and they had one son, Joe Wyatt Shackelford. They lived in the Chigley Mansion with Wyatt, his wife Lizzie Belle Young Chigley at the time he was born in 1939. Wyatt Chigley had committed suicide while they lived in the Mansion earlier in 1939 before Joe was born. Lizzie Belle Chigley also died in 1945 while they lived there and finally Garnet died in 1949. My father and his son Joe Wyatt were the last family members to live in the house before my father sold the house to pay mounting medical bills among other things.

No family members were ever buried in or certainly under the house, there are no secret rooms in or under the house and no burial grounds on the 7+/- acres of land where the house sits. None of the family members or anyone else I have spoken with and none of the many books, papers, or other publications that I have researched ever mention any ritual of Chickasaw family members being buried in or under their homes. The Chickasaws were an advanced Civilized Native American Tribe made up of businessmen, lawyers, store owners, landowners, farmers, etc. and had adopted most of the "white man" practices many years ago. They were the last Tribe to be removed to Oklahoma because of being upstanding citizens of their communities and landowners.

From the following obituary that appeared November 16, 1922 on the front page the Davis News, we learn that Nelson Chigley died of natural causes (short illness) on Sunday, November 12, 1922. This answered the how and when, but not the where he was buried part of the mystery, we learn that from his signed and certified death certificate, funeral home records, and cemetery records as well as from family members.

"NELSON CHIGLEY, Prominent Indian, Died Sunday
The death of NELSON CHIGLEY, noted Indian, at his home in this city Sunday at 8:45 p.m. removes from our midst one of Davis' oldest citizens and most historic characters. Owing to his advance years, his health had been failing for several years, but his last illness was only two weeks' duration.
According to the best information, Mr. Chigley was about 92 years old. He was born in Mississippi and, when about two years old, moved with his parents to old Boggy Deport, Choctaw Nation, later moved to Cobb Springs, near Davis, where he resided until he moved to his Davis home where he spent his long, eventful life. He once owned the land on which the town of Davis is now located, and was one of the first settlers in this section. When a young man, he married MISS JULIA THOMAS and to this union, five children were born, namely:
MRS. W. M. TALLEY, who died about 35 years ago; EDMOND who died when small ; MRS. ELIZA PIERCE who died June 20, 1909; MOSE and WYATT CHIGLEY of Davis. His life companion died July 21, 1909.
In tribal days, Mr. Chigley took a great interest in affairs pertaining to his people. He served as a member of the Chickasaw Senate and his opinions and views were given great consideration by tribesmen because of his known honesty and fair mindedness. He wanted nothing, but the fair, square thing done. He had many admirable traits, one of which was his feeling for orphans. It is a known fact that he made homes for more orphan children than probably any man in the state.

Mr. Chigley was well thought of by Davis citizens, and many attended the funeral at the home of his son, WYATT CHIGLEY, Monday afternoon. The service was conducted by REV. J. J. FRANKLIN, after which short talks were made by REV. J. S. FERGUSON and S.H. DAVIS, who had known the deceased about a third of a century, and paid tribute to his splendid qualities as a man and citizen. 'UNCLE NELSON,' as he was called by his friends, had a big heart and was loved and admired by Indians and whites alike. Peace to his spirit."

The death certificate for Nelson Chigley signed by his son Wyatt, undertaker R.B. Hutchins and Dr. A.P. Brown, all of Davis, and states he was buried at Green Hill Cemetery in Davis, OK. This also confirms that he was buried at the cemetery in Davis and not on the grounds of the Chigley Mansion where he and his family lived for so many years.

Nelson Chigley was not poor and already owned a family plot in Green Hill Cemetery at Davis with his wife and life companion Julia buried there, so it makes sense that he would be buried alongside her. His grave marker is a small six-inch by eight-inch native stone that now only protrudes less than one-foot out of the ground bearing no markings is located immediately next to his wife Julia in the family burial plot in one of the most prominent spots in the old part of the cemetery overlooking the Washita River and the valley that lies before it with the Arbuckle Mountains in the background. I have also since shown pictures of the headstone to some family members who verified that this is indeed Nelson's grave marker and they know of no other story regarding his burial.

His sister Jane Chigley Cobb who died in 1890 is the oldest marker in the cemetery which was built on land he donated to the City of Davis specifically for a cemetery. His daughter Eliza Jane Chigley Pierce who died in 1908 and her infant children (Nelson's grandchildren) who died in 1901 are also buried in this same family plot near Nelson Chigley. This is the link to the Find A Grave page for the gravesite of Nelson Chigley. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/40958742/nelson-chigley

Again, if anyone knows anything more about the history of the Chigley family or the Chigley Mansion, please write to me and I will also try to answer any questions as well.

Mickey Shackelford
mcshack@gmail.com

http://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos20b/JuliaChigleyAndNelsonChigleyGrave.jpg

http://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos20b/NelsonChigleyGraveStoneGreenHillCemetery.jpg
-----------------------------------------------
A history lesson on Buck knives
from 1902 to today
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-ofB_4pUg8

-----------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------

"History is not history, unless its the truth." -Abraham Lincoln

See everyone next week!

Butch and Jill Bridges

"Friends Make Life Worth Living"
Lone Grove, Oklahoma
http://www.OklahomaHistory.net

 

Vicious Dog Attacks in Oklahoma
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/viciousdogs.html
Oklahoma Bells: http://www.OklahomaHistory.net/bellpage.html
Bill Hamm's Cemetery Database
http://www.usgwarchives.net/ok/carter/cartercm.htm
American Flyers Memorial Fund - Administration Webpage
http://www.OklahomaHistory.net/crash66.html
Ardmore Army Air Field/Ardmore Air Force Website
http://www.OklahomaHistory.net/airbase/
Carter County Government Website
http://cartercountyok.us

All previous issues of This & That can be found on my Website's archives.
Feel free to forward this free newsletter. Mailouts: over 1,300.
To be removed from my T&T mailings, just send me an email.
I do not sell, trade or give my mailing list to anyone for any reason.