PO Box 2, Ardmore, Oklahoma 73402
Email: [email protected], Phone: 580-490-6823
Boy, the weather has been crazy here in southern Oklahoma and north Texas this evening. Wind gusts to around 60 mph and sheets of hard rain. Predicted to last to around noon tomorrow.
Granville Walker “Bud” Young was born August 23rd 1856 in Baron County, Kentucky. His father James Leonard Young, was a hot-headed rebel Irishman and his mother Judy Glover Young was a mixture of French and Indian. Bud’s grandfather was Philip Young who was born in Ireland. Bud’s parents eventually settled in Cooke County, Texas and he begin running cattle on the trails through Indian Territory. During those rides he met Ataline Johnston and they were married. She was Chickasaw Indian, her father being George Johnston and her mother Lucy Colbert Johnston, daughter of Governor Winchester Colbert. The Colbert home was at Oil Springs, and the Youngs made their home about three miles away among the beautiful scenery of that area. Bud in addition to his four thousand acres of allotments was stockholder and director of the Ardmore National Bank, the first president of the First National Bank of Berwyn (now Gene Autry, Oklahoma), and was involved in extensive stock raisng. For 40 years he was a partner with Charles Henderson in the mercantile store at Berwyn. He represented the Chickasaws in their Senate for 8 years, and was a member of the first Constitutional Convention. He was a Carter County Commissioner for 8 years (1913-1920).
The young children are Lizzie Bell, wife of Wyatt Chigley whose father, Nelson Chigley, was a Senator and governor of the Chickasaw Nation, Mose, Wyatt, Lucy, Carrie, Lulu, Anika, Patsy, Jim, Betsy, and Rube Hardy. The Young farm extended from Young’s Ferry and the Washita Valley North, to the Nickel Hill and Buckhorn Gap in the little range of the Arbuckles. -Indian Territory and Carter County Pioneers 1983
Photo of G.W. “Bud” Young
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos18b/GWBudYoung.jpg
December 1934
The road over the top of the Seven Sister Hills in the Arbuckles was opened Sunday December 2nd. Southern Oklahomans flock to the Arbuckle Mountains to drive over the brand new road which connects Turner Falls with Price Falls and opens a vast new scenic area to the outing loving public. The road is the new Seven Sisters Trail. Although only 2 and 1/2 miles in length, the route is said by geologist and federal engineers, to be without parallel for natural beauty. The Seven Sisters face-lifting has taken a year and has required the services of 250 men, CCC camp boys for the most part.December 1934
Ernest Gibson and Nola Pierce are in jail and charged in the death of James “Mid” Norton, late owner of the Graham Telephone Exchange. Norton was run down and instantly killed in 1933 while working at the Caddo Bridge on Highway 77. The speeding car fled from the scene.Wanda Jackson, was born in 1937 at Maud, Oklahoma. Here she is in 1958 performing “Hard Headed Woman.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzJ3hiqsi0U
A couple pavers I sandblasted this week.
https://oklahomahistory.net/bricks/PhoebePaver.jpg
https://oklahomahistory.net/bricks/JacksonCookBSA.jpg
Q. Where in Oklahoma can one enjoy the company of camels and see them interact in their own habitat?
A. Passow’s Camel farm at Perry, Oklahoma. CLICK HEREQ. Where is a healing rock in Oklahoma that’s said to have mystical healing powers?
A. Answer in next week’s newsletterHere’s a couple of pavers I sandblasted the other day.
https://oklahomahistory.net/bricks/PhoebePaver.jpg
https://oklahomahistory.net/bricks/JacksonCookBSA.jpg
Below is from This and That newsletter archives of December 14, 2006
One article in the 1967 Ardmore Shrine Club program book that interested me, I never heard of this, is the ‘white mound’ located SW of Sulphur, Oklahoma in the Arbuckle mountains. The mound was an accumulation of fossils and the beginning reached 100 feet high. Today it is non-existent.
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos6a/WhiteMound.jpgThere was a group photo in the Program book taken in 1975 of the gang at the Ardmore post office. I bet there is someone out there that can probably name almost everyone in the photo.
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos6a/ArdmorePostOfficeGang1975.jpg
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“I have a book “History of Indian Territory”, published 1901, by D. C. Gideon. It is autographed by H.S. Suggs and Ed Suggs, of Berwyn, OK. I had some communication with a Gloria Jean Suggs quite a while ago, but have had no communication with any of the Suggs family sense. Does anyone know of anyone related to the Suggs family of Berwyn, or any information that could help me.”
https://www.aradernyc.com/travel-exploration/gideon-d-c-b-1848-indian-territory-descriptive-biographical-and-genealogical-including-the-landed-estates-county-seats-etc-etc-with-a-general-history-of-the-territory-new-york-and-chicago-lewis-publishing-company-1901
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The mail carrier was Roy Withers. The picture came from the Ringling Celebration Program that was handed out at the Ringling, Oklahoma Golden Jubilee Celebration in 1964.
Caption read:
Mail Must Go Through – This is Roy Withers, now of Wirt, as he started on his mail run one day from Old Healdton, one-half mile east of the present Healdton, before the railroad came through the area. The mail was picked up each day at Ardmore, hauled in covered wagons and various other vehicles, some with as many as four horses pulling them. Mr. Withers was the only one equipped with a car at that time. He’s pictured above as he started from Healdton, the distribution point, to deliver his load at Rag Town (Wirt), Old Cornish and Butcher Knife (Atlee). It must have taken some loading to get everything on the trusty old touring car. He remembers this day well; the round boxes tied on the front contained derby hats. Mr. Withers had just got started when the lashings broke “and some new derbies ended up as flat as a pancake.” This was in 1915 (Photo courtesy of Roy Withers) I am hoping someone, perhaps in the Withers family, has the original of this pic and would be willing to scan it and email it to me or make a copy to mail me.” -mindy taylor
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos6a/MailCarrier1915.jpgThe Wilson News
January 1915:
*The Oil Refinery at Ardmore took the first run of oil this week. *It is reported that the dynamite explosion here last Friday night was plainly heard two miles the other side of Healdton.February 1915:
*Misses Eula and Verda Marrs and Messrs. Jim McCorley and Bennie Darling drove to Healdton oil fields on Sunday for a pleasure trip. They report twelve rigs blown down by the wind storm. * The Wirt Post Office opened its doors last Monday. They have a carrier from the Healdton office. * In the state legislature the house passed a bill Friday providing for the payment of a pension of $10.00 a month to all disabled or indigent ex-confederate soldiers or sailors or their widows.
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“Hey Butch, A couple of years ago, I sent you a photo of a bell on display in Helena, MT. You put the pic on T&T and then contacted me about if I had a pic of the other side showing who made it. Well, I went up to Browning, MT this week for a burial on the Blackfeet reservation, and swung through Helena on the way home and got your photo for you. Weather conditions were not good so the photo might not be to good, but the back of the bell says “The Jones Troy Bell Foundry Company, Troy NY 1886″. Also the bottom of the bell is about 36″ diameter or a little larger.” -Kirk Holley Smith, Hamilton, MT.
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos6a/HelenaBell6a.jpghttps://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos6a/HelenaBell6b.jpg
https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos6a/HelenaBell6c.jpg
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————————————————————————-Some mail from this week’s MAILBAG…..
Another awesome story from Chef John Bennett:
Two weeks ’til Christmas but you’ll know that, don’t you ?
When I was 8 or 9 years old Christmas was the very best time of the year. We always would go to Ardmore from Healdton a couple of times in the weeks leading up to Christmas Day to visit Mama Bennett & Uncle Henry, pickup presents, shop downtown Ardmore, especially Daube Department Store on Main to see the festive, wildly popular, animatronics in their windows. The holiday display changed every year becoming more lavish & over-the-top every year. What a feast for a young boy’s eyes.And the cherry on that confection was getting to go inside Daube’s to buy something for Mama Bennett but mainly to watch the pneumatic tubes rattle overhead while waiting for change. Daube’s was one of the few stores in Oklahoma to use this outdated but effective method.
Mama Bennett & Uncle Henry lived a few miles East of Ardmore in what we called ‘the country house’. It was (and still is) a 3 story multi-room farmhouse with a lovely woven whitewashed fence, a basement, a small well equipped kitchen with a separate baking area, a grand formal living room with a butler’s pantry leading into the big dining room.
Just past the Steinway Concert Grand Piano in a rosewood & ebonized case was the reserved spot for our family Christmas tree, a Fir or Spruce with a silvery blue sheen, always touching the high ceiling & loaded with bubble lights in many colors, heirloom ornaments –some 50 years old, those heavy metal icicles, and volumes of angel hair (we were warned every year not to touch the Angel hair as it would cut). And of course I had to see for myself. Ouch !
Beneath the tree was Mama Bennett’s white and red tree skirt with our names cut out of felt and sewed onto the snow white felt skirt just like ours at home.
And there were loads & loads of presents for all the ‘kids’, lavishly wrapped containing wonderful treasures such as my first wrist watch & a Case knife.
Back home Daddy always had to have the biggest, tallest most perfect specimen tree and “D”, our cranky housekeeper, would drag out all the carefully stored lights and ornaments, get a tall ladder to reach the top (the tree was 9 or 10 feet tall & set up in the bay type windows near the plate class window that fronted the street).
She spent days placing every single treasured ornament, strings of bubble lights, fluffs of angel hair, all crowned by long heavy metal icicles carefully placed one by one never overlapping until the tree was a magnificent vision.
The girls, my sisters Barbara & Kaye, traditionally supervised the placing of the hand-made angel on top, which had always been mother’s favorite ritual. Oh, for the final trim she laid an old tree skirt that Mama Bennett had appliquéd years ago all around the base.
Of course we knew Mama Bennett would come to bring presents to place on her Christmas skirt and Daddy wanted to make sure it was showcased. Daddy made what he thought was the best egg nog with lots of ‘Nog’ with the top of the line Canadian Club blended whisky. Although prohibition was still in effect in Oklahoma until 1959 Daddy found a way around that & did we love it when he called a certain number, spoke quietly so we couldn’t hear but I knew what he was doing.
I would keep tabs on his bar stock but never dared open any or take a bottle. He had ordered from his Ardmore bootlegger to come over in an hour & go to the top of our driveway , almost hidden by overgrown hedges There Daddy would watch the bootlegger unload pint after pint of real Canadian Club whiskey from the huge trunk of his low riding ’51 black Ford coupe. As a thank you for his business the bootlegger would give Daddy a 5th of hard-to-get Crown Royale, in its little blue velvet bag.
Oh good another bag for my marble collection.
Needless to say the Crown was reserved for straight shots so the ‘Nog’ was CC. This Crown sweetened the pot but the price of the contraband more than covered any expense he may have had.They hoped no one saw this transaction but curtains in the windows were fluttering on both sides of the street. Secretly I wanted him to be caught but the Deputy Sheriff worked part time for Daddy at the shop so I knew that wouldn’t happen.
Christmas Day dinner we would always go to Mama Bennett & Uncle Henry’s for a very exciting dinner and would include traditional dishes such as A big fat 18/20 # Turkey (bought fresh locally) Cornbread dressing, giblet gravy , cranberry relish and the canned jellied kind. A country ham, cured by their neighbor ,baked with cloves and pineapple rings, brown sugar, with red eye gravy.
Always mashed. potatoes with the requisite lumps and sweet potatoes with toasted marshmallows
Green beans (put up from Mama Bennett’s garden), Corn pudding- a custard with not too much white corn & kind of sweet (I loved that dish a lot). Soft crescent rolls and corn sticks, cow butter Ambrosia, lime vegetable mold, Green salad. I’m sure there were other dishes that I hope to recall later. The dessert should have been presented with ruffles and flourishes because these sweets deserve attention.Of course, Mama Bennett’s 4 layer coconut cake served in big slabs accompanied by Ice Cream Santa Claus’s hand molded and air-brushed in traditional Santa attire. Ardmore’s Colvert’s Dairy was the only place besides Kaiser’s in OKC who had those rare collectible pewter ice cream molds. The molds had to be ordered weeks ahead for the holidays. Wish I had one now but my taste memory will have to suffice.
Wishing you all a Merry Christmas.
-Chef John Bennett in OKC
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Here is a pair of Ardmore Hamilton Shoes earrings from around 1900 . These were either sold at the store or were a give away promotion. -Robert Hensleyhttps://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos18b/HamiltonShoeEarrings.jpg
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———————————————–HOLIDAY WISHES
Holidays are special times
To meet with those we love
And maybe focus more our thoughts
On things that are above
The daily grind of living
As we go through each day.
And so to you my many friends
This I would wish to say:A very happy Hanukkah
But if that’s not your thing,
May your Christmas time be joyous
As the merry bells all ring.
And then of course there’s Kwanzaa,
And the harvest of ‘first fruits’
For those whose family tree is sown
In Africa’s deep roots.To all of you who very soon
Will welcome in New Year,
May you celebrate in company
Of those that you hold dear.
To those of you that I have missed
As neither is your thing:
A warm and cuddly winter
And a bright and joyful spring.-Joh Gainey, Sulphur, Oklahoma
See everyone next week!
Butch and Jill Bridges
“Friends Make Life Worth Living”PO Box 2
Lone Grove, Oklahoma 73443
Vicious Dog Attacks in Oklahoma
https://oklahomahistory.net/viciousdogs.html
Oklahoma Bells: https://oklahomahistory.net/bellpage.html
Bill Hamm’s Cemetery Database
http://www.usgwarchives.net/ok/carter/cartercm.htm
American Flyers Memorial Fund – Administration Webpage
https://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
https://oklahomahistory.net/airbase/
Carter County Government Website
http://cartercountyok.us