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| The William H. Waggoner Family from an interview with Barney Waggoner
W. H. (Tipp) & Dora Waggoner with two sons Wes & Barney
The William Henry Waggoner family came to Russett before statehood. They were one of the original families to settle in Russett. There was thought of naming the town Waggoner instead of Russett. But, there was already a town called Waggoner in Oklahoma. The Waggoner family moved from Tioga, Texas. William's wife was Dora Lee Pierce. She was a sister to Aunt Fannie (Pierce) Cumbie another Russett pioneer. The family and their birthdates are as follows:
All of the children were born at Russett.
The Waggoner family had a store and post office that was located just north of the Russett church. The store burned down while Barney was still a child and was never rebuilt. Barney remembers a tobacco cutter that was used to cut off plug tobacco from a large piece of chewing tobacco. After the store/post office burned, the mail was delivered by a P. W. Williams in a buggy.
When Barney was five years old his father died. As was the custom in those days, Barney's father's body was laid out in the home for folks to view. Barney recalls walking to the Russett cemetery with his father's body to be buried.
Barney worked as a kid for Fred Chapman for 50 cents a day. He married Cora Musick from Mannsville in 1939. Cora went on to become a Holiness Preacher building a church on east main street in Mannsville.
Barney is a decorated WWII veteran having fought in the Battle of the Bulge.
Barney still owns property in Russett just north of the church. He and his brother Wes ran a water well digging business for a while and then opened a grocery store and garage in Mannsville.
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Tipp and Dora Waggoner with son Wesley Photo taken at old Waggoner homesite in Russett (Photo Courtesy Barney Waggoner)
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