October 15, 1929 - The Daily
Ardmoreite
Surrounded by family and friends, Robert F. Scivally, 65, pioneer business man
and rancher, and once prominent in Carter County politics, died Monday, October
14th. He and Mittie Scivally were married in Lone Grove October 11, 1891. They
have seven surviving children. He was born December 5, 1864 in Tennessee and
landed in Lone Grove in 1887. As a clerk in one of the first mercantile
operations in Carter County, he sold the first bill of goods ever sold over the
counter. It was during his administration as a Carter County Commissioner (1907
- 1912) that the courthouse was built. When contractors defaulted on the job,
and a financial loss was staring at taxpayers, he borrowed $30,000 on his
personal note to complete construction of the building. The original board was
composed of Robert Scivally, and O.K. Darden, Lone Grove, and Allen Speake,
Woodford. Darden remains as a commissioner and has been teaching a Sunday
School class in the Methodist Church for 26 years.
Robert F. Scivally 12/05/1864 -
10/14/1929
Geraldine Mittie Riner Scivally 12/13/1870 - 11/07/1952
Children:
Frankie Scivally Culwell (1892 - 1974)
Earl Faulkner Scivally (1894 - 1894)
Bernice Marion Scivally (1898 - 1969)
Louis F Scivally (1900 - 1971)
Lorraine Scivally Chestnutt (1905 - 1940)
Robert F Scivally (1913 - 1978)
March 6, 1914 Age: 49 - Robert Faulkner Scivally purchased the Walter A. Ledbetter, attorney, home at 319 North Washington street. Moved from Springer, Oklahoma.
March 1, 1914 - CIGAR STAND IN
COURTHOUSE
Mrs. Bertha Bryant has obtained permission from the board of county
commissioners to open a cigar and news stand in the lobby of the county
courthouse and this will be done within a few days.
March 1, 1914 - COLEMAN and LASHER have moved from the old courthouse building now being overhauled by its owner, JOCK BAIRD, to the ground floor of the Noble Building, in the rear of Young's Furniture Store.
March 4, 1914
POST OFFICE NOW AT WILSON
New Wilson is the name of the post office located 20 miles west of Ardmore on
the Ringling-Hamon road. LAWRENCE DUNLAP, brother to ERRET DUNLAP, of this city,
was named as the first postmaster of the new town some weeks ago. Heretofore the
post office has been at Hewitt, located a mile away, and the citizens of Wilson
have had to hire some one to carry their mail to them. The name of New Wilson
does not attract like the plain old name Wilson. Twenty years from now New
Wilson will not sound good, but for some reason the post office department at
Washington put the prefix to the name, and CHARLEY WILSON who is now in
Sarasota, Fla., and for whom the town was named, ought to get the name changed
back to just plain Wilson.
Have you ever wondered how to explain or give directions to someone where you are right now? With the 'Send My Location' app you can easily (in seconds) send a link to a map of your current location to a friend via text message or email. Anyone with internet-enabled phone can receive the map. Many times over the years I have stood at a historical place, or a cemetery way back in the boonies, or even at a special grave site that I wanted to get the GPS readings on. For years I've use the "Where's this" feature on Google maps, and it works ok even though I had to write the GPS reading on a piece of paper for later use. This week I found a neat app for my android phone that gives me the GPS reading at the spot where I stand, AND within a few seconds I can email or text message those readings to myself (or anyone) for later use. Here is an example of an email I sent myself:
http://maps.google.com/maps/?q=loc:34.17169,-97.130337
Sent from Huawei Mobile
Using my app the red pin was placed about 15 feet to the NE of the actual graves, very accurate. You can zoom right on down and see the 2 white squares, a small open space (my mother's grave), and then two more white squares on to the north of my mother's space.
https://maps.google.com/maps?q=loc:34.147073,-97.137147
Sent from Huawei Mobile
While I was on my way out of Rosehill I decided to stop and try the GPS app on the grave of the only Carter county deputy killed in the line of duty, Con Keirsey in 1930. In this test the app placed the red pin about 15 feet to the SE of the two Keirsey headstones. Con Keirsey was 37 years old when he died, and his wife was only 36 years old when she died 6 years later.
https://maps.google.com/maps?q=loc:34.148299,-97.135102
Sent from Huawei Mobile
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos13a/ConKeirseyHeadstone.jpg
As a test for accuracy I first used Google Aerial Maps to locate the graves since I could find them exactly on Google. This is the location of my Carmon family (mother's side) within Rosehill Cemetery.
Using Google maps on my desktop: 34.147002 -97.137224
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos13a/StanleyCarmonGraves.jpg
Send My Location is great phone app especially for genealogists doing research at a cemetery.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=bg.angelov.send.my.location&hl=en
In summary the app worked perfectly, and fast. It took less than a minute to find the GPS reading and email it to myself. Nice. Now to find the time to GPS some of my important places in Southern Oklahoma!
Speaking of historical places, Doug Williams sent in a couple nice photos he took this week of the old Choctaw capital building and museum in Tushka, Oklahoma.
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos13a/ChoctawMuseum110313a.jpg
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos13a/ChoctawMuseum110313b.jpg
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos13a/ChoctawMuseum110313c.jpg
Also Doug has a link to the great pics he took in eastern Oklahoma during the fall foliage change. They were taken in the Broken Bow Lake and Talimena drive areas.
http://winterfamily.smugmug.com/Foliage-2013/i-ztRvz23
Flyer for the Carter County Commissioners' auction that's coming up Thursday November 14th at 9am. It will be held at the County Barn at Springer.
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos13a/Auction111413.jpg
Q. There is only one place in
the world to find hourglass (selenite) crystals. Where?
A.
The great plains of western Oklahoma including the
Great Salt Plains State Wildlife Refuge, NW
of Jet, Oklahoma
http://www.mindat.org/min-5527.html
Q. Where in Oklahoma is the
House of Rocks?
A. (answer in next week's T&T)
From This and That newsletter archives of November 6, 1999:
Last week I mentioned visiting probably the
oldest house still standing in Ardmore at 618 6th SE in Ardmore. The owner, Mr.
Rouse, says it was built in 1888 or there abouts. This is the north side of the
house.
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos6a/BerryhillHome99a.jpg
One more interesting thing about this old
house. Mr. Rouse has probably the only Louisiana Canebrake growing in the
backyard.
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos13a/ArdmoreCanebrake.jpg
And from "In the Louisiana Canebrakes" by
Theodore Roosevelt: The canebrakes stretch along the slight rises of ground,
often extending for miles, forming one of the most striking and interesting
features of the country. They choke out other growths, the feathery, graceful
canes standing in ranks, tall, slender, serried, each but a few inches from his
brother, and springing to a height of fifteen or twenty feet.
Canebrakes look like bamboos; they are well-nigh impenetrable to a man on
horseback; even on foot they make difficult walking unless free use is made of
the heavy bush-knife. It is impossible to see through them for more than fifteen
or twenty paces, and often for not half that distance. Bears make their lairs in
them, and they are the refuge for hunted things."
----------------------------------------------------
I received an interesting email about some
strange things going on near Coalgate and Hornet, Missouri. I don't know what to
think, but it sounds interesting. Anybody know anything more about these
mysteries?
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/textfiles/CoalgateHornet.txt
----------------------------------------------------
For as long as anyone can remember, there has
always been a Stolfa's Hardware Store at East Main and Mill Street. This is an
old Standard Computing Scales there in the store.
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos13a/StolfaHardwareScales.jpg
----------------------------------------------------
The two excursion to Browns Springs last weekend was interesting. 15 brave souls
went Saturday afternoon. Another 32 people visited the Springs on Sunday. And
the Sunday Oklahoman had a write up about Browns Springs. You can read all about
that and the Marietta, Oklahoma Monitor newspaper article.
----------------------------------------------------
"Wow Butch! You made the Sunday Oklahoman with your trip to the Brown Springs
cemetery (which I offered to attend, but you would not send me a ROUND-trip
ticket." -Judith in the UK
----------------------------------------------------
A friend let me take a pic of her backdoor
here in Ardmore. She said everyone who comes over to their house and sees this
door, sees a weird image on it.
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos13a/TheDoor.jpg
----------------------------------------------------
"Butch, was out driving around last week-end
and ran across an old bell you may not be aware of. It is located in someone's
front yard at the end of the service road which goes by Camp Classen. You might
want to check it out, I'm sure it would have a great story behind it. We turned
off interstate 35 at the Davis exit-I think this would be exit 51. You want to
turn back to your left (do not cross the washita river) look for the sign that
says Camp Classen, follow this road but do not turn into the camp itself, keep
going North (you'll cross a WPA 1937/1938 concrete bridge) keep going North till
you dead end. The beautiful home with the bell will be just after you cross a
cattle guard."
Follow-up:
In December 1999 I visited a Choctaw Indian lady
west of Davis, Oklahoma who has the original bell from the old Presbyterian
church of Davis in her front yard. How she came upon the bell, was the church
and property belongs to her and when the church closed down many years ago, she
moved the bell to her house near Camp Classen. -Butch
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/bellphotos/presbell.jpg
----------------------------------------------------
"On Tuesday night, Nov 2nd, 1999 I had an
experience I won't soon forget. A friend invited me up to the Arbuckle Mountains
north of Ardmore where he lives. In pitch darkness, five of us went into the
mountains in search of Bigfoot. He pointed out to me several interesting things
but I won't go into detail right now. My eyes were opened to some fascinating
stuff concerning this well publicized mystery. Fact or fiction? I don't know.
But I was glad we were all heavily armed with rifles and the people who took me
were highly knowledgeable and trained. Unless one is in that situation, in that
darkness, and in that unknown, one can not imagine the trust five people can
have in each other, relying on each other to come out of there safely. His wife
even pleaded with us not to go that night." -Butch Bridges
----------------------------------------------------
Gas prices today in the Ardmore area......
http://www.oklahomagasprices.com/index.aspx?mss=152754
Check gas prices by town or zip code anywhere in U.S.
http://www.kmov.com/traffic/gas-buddy
Non-ethanol gas (pure gas) stations in the Ardmore area (updated).
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/puregas.html
Some mail from this week's MAILBAG.....
"Butch, just wanted to update you regarding the Cherokee Restaurant in last week's T&T. It is actually closer to 70 than 50 miles west of OKC. They closed the restaurant several months ago and it is now a boot outlet. They did use to serve buffalo burgers, etc. and it was a really good place to eat - so sad that we've lost another good business in this part of the state." -Judy
Butch, I don't know if you noticed in the picture of the vault it reads above the door, "United States Marshall." Either marshall is misspelled or it is an alternate spelling. At any rate, the Eastern District still exists:
http://www.usmarshals.gov/district/ok-e/
Regards,Dave
My Willie 5/24/2011
I really don't know how to start writing about him. He has been gone out of my life a week ago today. First, I must say of his presence in my life. God, thank you for his being. He and I shared our lives for almost six years. What a blessing to me and to him. He was a sincere pup. He learned so much in his puppyhood. He was a funny pup. He had no meanness. He was not aggressive to anyone. In fact in his more mature years, he would meet and greet anyone who came to our house. He had a unique way of bawling to whoever drove up. and meet them with tail wagging. Trying to communicate with them. "Welcome to my Home!"
He had his personal favorites. Such as my daughter Necie, and Della's ggrandaughter, Addy. And of course me.
When I left and he was not with me, he would be laying on the front porch, and as I turned up the driveway, I would honk and here he come. Just bawling and talking to me. He missed me as much as I missed him. In his short years, he learned voice commands and hand signals. His memory was amazing. I could tell him to go check and see if Addy was here and he would jump down off my bed and start down the hall. 5:30 in the morning was his arousal time. He would be sleeping in my computer chair or at my feet on the bed. He would jump down. stretch, yawn, and lay on his back and wiggle back and forth to scratch his back.
After this, he would rear up on the side of my bed right in my face and breathe real hard or snort. His face between his to paws just standing there looking at me. He knew this would wake me. And it was time for him to go outside, while I made coffee. This was a ritual we went thru every morning.
I could be playing on the computer and he would come to me and lay his head on my wrist or on my leg. He wanted me to play with him.
He learned the words "Go eat your breakfast" no more snacks. And he would understand me.
We shared everything. Breakfast, lunch, or dinner. He ate anything I did. He loved onion rings, egg rolls, burritos, hot dogs, or just plain bread. And he loved bean juice poured over is dry dog food. Snap a piece of cheese out the the wrapper and he was at your side immediately. I would tear it in three pieces for him.
Open a can of vienna sausage, and he expected his share. And I usually gave him the extra one.
He loved to go get his bath, shampoo, and trim at Christy's dog house. When I would haul him over there early in the morning. We would usually beat her there. And he was up in my window with anxiety waiting for her. And he could recognize her SUV before it turned into the dog house. Such an amazing dog. And yes he met her the same way, bawling and tail wagging.
In his earlier years he had a girlfriend from next door. "Cowgirl". She would come over nearly everyday and they would play for hours. Then for some reason she disappeared and he spent weeks sitting in the backyard at the end of his limits waiting for her to return. She never came back.
So he learned to play by himself. He loved to play with a plastic bottle. He would grab it up and run countless times around our house dropping it every once in a while for the noise it would make and then grab it up again. It didn't have to be a plastic bottle, he would grab up anything and start running.
If he had a bad habit. This would be it. He loved to get one of Della's flip flops. And he would chew it up. She learned to keep her bedroom door closed.
One other bad habit, he knew Della didn't like him to get on
the sofa in the living room. So when she was gone, he would slip in there and
pull all the pillows off to the floor.
He never bothered any of my shoes. But he was famous for getting one of Addy's,
the ggranddaughter's stuffed animals. Just to chase and run.
Della's sister gave him a great big stuffed yellow rabbit when
he was a puppy. He thought it was his brother. He slept with it, played with it,
and I think was in love with it.
Until it disappeared, he had it with him when it was nap time or bed time.
I have many photos of him sleeping and napping with "Fuzzy Jack". And yes he knew it's name. I could tell him go get your fuzzy jack and he would head down the hall and bring it back to me to throw or have a tug of war with him.
Every evening at bedtime, I would tell him come here and get your collar off. He wore a collar with a shock device on it that kept him in the yard. And it had to be uncomfortable to sleep with it around his neck. He would come jump up between my legs and lay his head down on my leg. I would take off his collar and give him a massage. Oh he loved that. Rub his chin, scratch his back and massage his head all around his ears.
Then I would tell him go get in bed and he would jump up on my bed. He was ready for sleep.
We had such a communication. It is hard to explain. We just knew each other. I guess that is why I have written so much about him over the years. I included him in nearly all my emails.
My plans were for him to out live me. But God's plans are what we all live by. Again I say, thank you God for our time together, Willie and Me.
Ken @ Wilson
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos13a/Willie.jpg
"Dear Butch, LOVE Your Newsletter, thanks! Don't know about this area (I'm new to Ardmore), but the Great Salt Plains State Wildlife Refuge, NW of Jet, Oklahoma (I have cousins there!) is a great place to dig for Selenite Crystals. :) But I suppose you already knew this!" -Leslei
"Hi Butch, Great job. I do so enjoy your column each week. Re: buffalo chili, I make my own. I get the meat from Ernie's Meat Market on S. Washington and use my fav recipe. Thought this might be of Interest." -Jerry
"Butch: I have driven a school bus in Cache for the past 19 years. I go right in front of the Meers hamburger joint you mentioned four times every school day. They are known world wide because of Fort Sill soldiers eating there and then spreading the word in their travels. Before I retired at Fort Sill, every time we would have a visiting dignitary from another part of the country, they would want to be taken to Meers for a hamburger. That is probably still the case today. Judging by the cars always parked there, they still do a very good business." -Royse Samples, Cache, Oklahoma
10/19/13 Hollis, Oklahoma - A 4-year-old Hollis boy is still in an Oklahoma City hospital almost two weeks after he was mauled by a neighbor's dog. 4-year-old Gage Thornhill set out on a typical bike ride in his neighborhood. It ended tragically when he was violently attacked. Police arrived to find a small bicycle and two tennis shoes in a pile of dirt. Nearby, two men held the child in a jacket. Dirt covered Gage's wounds, and he is still fighting to recover from them.
http://www.kswo.com/story/23845950/hollis-boy-unable-to-walk-after-dog-attack
"This happened before there in Hollis to my cousin. It was about 12 years ago. My grandparents live there and my cousin, he was about 5 years old and he's 17 now, went to check the mail and the neighbor's pit bull attacked him and he almost died. It was 1/2 a centimeter from his jugular vein. So scary! All they did was put the dog down and check if he had rabies. My cousin still lives with a scared up face to this day." -Becka Harris
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/viciousdogs.html
Heartland Flyer ascends out of Big Canyon and BNSF 4336 descends into big Canyon, 11 03 13
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKwKo5o3CI4
"Unit tank car shot south of Ardmore. Crank of the volume". -C. Dwane Stevens
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_rtZJQEibg
"Butch, Once my parents moved into town, we lived on Stanley next to the Jewish Synagogue. That was in 1952. My dad, Ossian Cameron, had grown up around the corner on "D" Street. My dad had grown up with the Moore children. We would occasionally visit Mrs. Moore because she was confined to a wheelchair. I don't remember how many Moore daughters there were but they were close to my parents' ages. At some time in the mid 50s they changed the front room of the house. I remember them adding a sun room onto the front but maybe they just changed the windows in the living room. I do remember that the mailbox was removed from the front of the house during construction and they hung a Nieman Marcus shopping bag near the front door for the mailman to drop mail into. I had been in the Dallas store once with my mother but it was just another department store to me. I think it was during this work that they removed the railings from the porch. I am guessing that the addition of windows on the second floor was probably done once Mrs. Moore was confined to her bed, but I am not sure. I remembered her as always enjoying the sunlight." -Monroe Cameron
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos13a/WRMooreHome1906.jpg
"Back when I was the livestock manager and a pen rider for Longhorn Meat Packers we had a cattle hauler from Iowa who had his 15 year old son riding with him on night runs. I arrived at the plant at 5 in the morning and they were backed up to the chute unloading. I was visiting with the son while the dad was opening gates inside the lot unloading various decks and compartments. He moved up to unload the top deck and when he opened the gate he climbed up over the chute to let the cattle unload under him. A couple of the cows hesitated to leave the trailer and he told his son to hotshot them out if he could see him. It was pretty dark and the boy was having a hard time seeing the cattle but he did see something moving so he gave it a jolt with the hotshot. His dad screamed and dropped down to the floor of the chute. The yell must have given the cattle an incentive to move, because they ran down the chute over the top of him. Apparently the son had nailed his dad in the family jewels with the hotshot." -Tom Braudrick
When you were born, you cried
and the world rejoiced.
Live your life
so that when you die,
the world cries and you rejoice.
-White Elk
See everyone next week!
Butch and Jill Bridges
Nashobish Ikana
PO Box 11
Ardmore, Oklahoma 73402
Carter County Courthouse Paver Project
http://www.brightok.net/cartercounty/pavers
Save on long distance calls, just a couple cents a
minute!
http://www.CheapLongDistance.org
Ardmore High School Criterions Online
http://www.ArdmoreCriterion.com/
Oklahoma Bells:
http://www.OklahomaHistory.net/bellpage.html
American Flyers Memorial
Fund - Administration Webpage
http://www.OklahomaHistory.net/crash66.html
Official American Flyers
Memorial Website
http://www.brightok.net/~wwwafm
Ardmore Army Air Field/Ardmore Air Force
Base Website
http://www.brightok.net/~gsimmons
Mirror Site of the Ardmore Army Air Field/Ardmore Air Force Website
http://www.OklahomaHistory.net/airbase/
Carter county schools, past and
present
http://community.webshots.com/user/oklahomahistory
Carter County
Government Website
http://www.brightok.net/cartercounty/
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