Received an email this week asking
for any info on living descendants of a Theo Torgerson. Here is all I have on
him from one of my 2008 newsletters:
1923 - Ardmore Wall Paper and
Paint Company, owner Theo Torgerson (1859-1946) opposite Ardmore Hotel at 304
West Main, Ardmore, Oklahoma
Maybe someone out there will recognize this name? We think this is a photo of
Theo.
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos14a/TheoTorgerson.jpg
History will come alive April 2, 2014 - April 6, 2014 at the Fort Washita Fur Trade Rendezvous. Located on Highway 199 between Madill and Durant, Oklahoma, the event hosts thousands every year from around the country. It will again showcase mountain men, traders, contests, Indians, trappers, vendors, demonstrations and allow participants to travel back in time. Its $5 per carload, best deal in southern Oklahoma!
http://www.kten.com/category/226290/video-landing-page?clipId=9978161&autostart=true
http://www.okhistory.org/about/calendar/event/fort-washita-fur-trade-living-history-event/
May 20, 1913 - The Union Mission on Caddo Street was crowded to overflowing capacity Sunday. As we called it, the little Sunday school mission at the beginning, we now have to do away with the word little as the number has increased to about 85 scholars. Mr. Osborne gave the school a nice treat last Sunday, which was a box of candy. We are so proud of all those bright faced children who are so glad to have a place where they can go and learn the way of eternal life… Mrs. Madden gave the school a splendid talk on the lesson…. Signed A Christian worker.
I love it when a local man makes good and gets the recognition he rightly deserves, especially when it's a long time Reader of my T&T. Most of you have seen the name David Cathey in my newsletters from time to time as a contributor as he is a history lover. David has been in law enforcement nearly 30 years, 9 of those as the fraud investigator for the Bryan County DAs office. This week David received the 2014 Brad Edwards Consumer Champion award. Congratulations David and keep up the good work. The citizens of Oklahoma need you and all the others in law enforcement who help put the scammers away!
Speaking of law enforcement, we've been updating Carter County Sheriff Milton Anthony's website, more links, photos, etc. Lots more to come too, so stay tuned....
Q. Stanley Street SW was named after what prominent Ardmoreite?
A. H.A. Stanley
Henry Austin Stanley, son of George Austin Stanley and Sallie Celina Grigsby, was
born on August 22, 1874 near Corsicana, Texas. The eldest of three children, his
mother died August 5, 1882. August 19, 1889, his father remarried and had 3 more
sons. In Navarro County, Henry Austin Stanley attended the district school until
he was 18, when he began teaching. He entered the University of Texas in 1900,
continuing there for three years. In 1903 he was hired as principal of the
Ardmore High School. Teaching English in the Ardmore High School that year was
Lela Gertrude Park. The daughter of James Thomas Park and Pernacy Pickens, she
was born September 2, 1877, in Jacksonville, Texas. She had graduated in 1899
from Sam Houston Normal Institute in Huntsville, Texas and in 1903 from Peabody
College in Nashville, Tennessee.
In 1905 Stanley became Superintendent of Madill Schools. He was in Ottawa, Kansas in 1906 where he must have obtained his law degree from Ottawa College. In January 1907 he entered the law profession and located at Marietta, Oklahoma where his rise in the profession was steady and sure. In September 1908 he married Lela Gertrude Park at her mother's home in Jacksonville. Their first son, Henry Park Stanley, was born at Marietta, but only lived about 6 weeks, passing away August 18, 1909.
In 1910 Henry Austin Stanley ran for County Attorney of Love County, he elected and took office January 9, 1911. On March 24 of that same year, their first daughter, Lela Jane (Mrs Richard W. Norman), was born. In 1912 he ran for re-election but I am not sure if he won. However, during his term of office he was generally successful in is prosecutions, and during the year 1911, ten men were sent to the state penitentiary from Love County. Violators of the prohibition law were the source of most of the criminal prosecutions in the county court and he was successful in convicting most of the old offenders and driving them out of the bootlegging business.
In Marietta, Henry and Lela became the parents of 3 more daughters: Sarah Virginia (Mrs. Phillip R. Monical), born February 6, 1914; Pernecia Carol (Mrs John A. Leet), born October 19, 1915; Mary Kathryn (Mrs J.R. Williams), born October 16, 1916. They moved back to Ardmore in 1917 where Henry became Police Judge of the Ardmore City Court, Lela returned to teaching in the Third Ward, Lincoln School. A son, Richard Austin Stanley was born February 24, 1919.
Lela established a private school in the home at 1023 Stanley Boulevard which grew as it became known for quality education. At its height, her school encompassed kindergarten through seventh grade. Lela taught until she was 88 years old, twice moving her school to smaller locations, the last being 121 K Street NW.
Henry Austin Stanley ran for County Attorney of Carter County in about 1952 and was elected to that office. When he won the Democratic Party nomination, he wrote announcing that he had been elected.
Henry Austin Stanley died March 2, 1958 in Ardmore and was buried at Lakeview Cemetery in Marietta. Had he lived an additional six months, Henry and Lela would have celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in September (the date), he said it was the last Monday. When told that the last Monday comes on different dates each year, he said that did not matter, "If you want to celebrate our anniversary, it's the fourth Monday!" In 1908, the last or fourth Monday was September 28, so I suppose that is the date.
Lela Gertrude Park Stanley died at a local nursing home in Ardmore August 25, 1971, a few days before her 94th birthday. She was buried beside her husband and infant son in Lakeview Cemetery at Marietta. -complied in 1981 by Stanley R. Williams from information by: Mary Kathryn Stanley Williams; Sarah Virginia Stanley Monical; Richard Austin Stanley; Pernecia Carol Stanley Leet; Leta Jane Stanley Norman; Sue Stanley; newspaper clippings from The Daily Ardmoreite and the newspaper of Marietta.
Q. In 1907 Oklahoma became the ??th state to enter the Union?
A. (answer in next week's T&T)
From This and That newsletter archives of April 1, 2000:
About 50 miles east of Ardmore is Coalgate,
Oklahoma. For many years there was one thing that Coalgate was noted for.. the
home of Hudson's Big Country Store. When I was a teen (1960s) I drove all the
way over there to buy some cowboy boots. But one thing I didn't have with me was
one of those Hudson's tokens.
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos14a/HudsonToken.jpg
----------------------------------------------------
I was digging around in a chest of
drawer the other day and found a ring I had made when I was a teen. I took
a fifty cent piece (they were silver in those days) with a spoon, to create a
ring. It would take me about a month of beating that half-dollar, round and round
and round, before I had it down to the size to fit my finger. I'd then take a
drill bit and carefully drill it out. You could see the date and some of the
wording on the inside. A person could use a present day fifty cent piece, but
remember it has copper in the center. I used a tablespoon and by the time I had
the ring made, the bottom of that spoon looked like it had been through a war.
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos14a/myring.jpg
----------------------------------------------------
"I notice that your courthouse photo
collection doesn't have one from Bryan County, so I'm in low-speed pursuit. Ours
is a little bit unique - out in front there's a statue of a Confederate soldier,
with his musket, at parade rest. It was a contribution many years ago of the
DAR. When I ask people if they have one I get an almost universal "No I
don't--but I wish I had one." We got side tracked a little the other day when
someone came up with an old color photo of Durant's now-gone Tom Tom Tavern.
Don't suppose you'd be interested in starting a page of famous Oklahoma beer
joints."
----------------------------------------------------
"Hi Butch. There used to be an old
feller that rode a mule, and behind him trailed a train of horses. This feller
also had a white beard, and was seen riding the roads of Carter, Love, Jefferson,
and countless other counties. If I remember correctly he was called whiskers, and
was a horse trader. Not many people knew anything about whiskers. He reminded me
of the bearded man riding the bike in Ardmore."
----------------------------------------------------
This week I had an unusual visit with a
man who may have stumbled across some more Brown Springs mystery. We have had
lots of comments and eye brow raising on the photo from Brown Springs and its
"image' of a child's face. He printed out the photo this week using a black and
white printer and found something astonishing. When I held this picture he
printed, one could easily see a large dark, sinister looking face on the right
hand side of the stone. On the left hand side was the face of a lamb. He said
his belief is the sinister face was that of the killer of the child. And the
face of the lamb was a message from the child telling us he or she was okay
and in a better place. I found it all interesting so I took the color photo and
saved it as a B&W pic. Here, you be the judge, see if you see anything. I will
tell you I can see the sinister image much better printed out.
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos14a/BrownSpringsChildbw.jpg
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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.
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/puregas.html
Some mail from this week's MAILBAG.....
"The Nocona, Texas Tales-N-Trails Museum will present the
following program on Saturday April 26, 2014. These gentlemen have put this
program on for others and I have attended one by Bob Alexander on the Texas
Rangers and it was great. Daddy Sam's Saloon is worth the trip as it is a
private concern and only open on special occasions and Nocona is the Car Capital
of Texas with two car museums and a very attractive downtown."
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos14a/BarbsBulletsAndBlood.jpg
Q. Where was Ardmore's Starlite Drive-In theater located in the 1950s.
A. It was located on South Commerce close to where Harvey Douglas Funeral Home is located today, but on west side of Highway 77.
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/maps/StarliteDriveIn.jpg
"March ends with massive amounts of snow (27") in the Big Sky, Montana area." -Monroe
http://bigskyresort.com/
"Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it" - David Henry Thoreau (1817-1862)
See everyone next week!
Butch and Jill Bridges
Nashobish Ikana
PO Box 11
Ardmore, Oklahoma 73402
Vicious Dog Attacks in Oklahoma
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/viciousdogs.html
Bells of Oklahoma
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/bellpage.html
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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