Oklahoma County OK

Slave Narrative of Red Richardson

Person Interviewed: Red Richardson Location: Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Place of Birth: Grimes County, Texas Date of Birth: July 21, 1862 Age: 75 I was born July 21, 1862, at Grimes County, Texas. Smith Richardson was my father’s name. and Rliza Richardson my mother’s. We lived in so many places round there I can’t tell jest what. but we lived in a log house most of the time. We slept on the flo’ on pallets on one quilt. We ate cornbread, beans, vegetables, and got to drink plenty milk, We ate rabbits, fish, possums and such as that but we didn’t … Read more

Biography of John William Bartholomew

In no profession does advancement depend more entirely upon individual merit and ability than in the law. Close application, keen analysis, clear mental perception and careful preparation are indispensable elements in the life of every man who attempts to gain prominence in this arduous calling. That John William Bartholomew is lacking in none of these requisites, is indicated in the fact that he is numbered among the most capable lawyers of Miami and throughout his career he has maintained the highest standards of professional ethics. A native of Indiana, he was born near Morocco, in Newton County, November 20, 1858, … Read more

Chaves, Frances R. – Obituary

Frances R. Chaves, 91, Oklahoma City, Okla., former resident of Baker City, Ore., died Feb. 24, 2007 in Oklahoma City. Rosary will be held Friday, March 9, 2007, 7 p.m. at Gray’s West & Company Pioneer Chapel. A graveside service will be held Saturday, March 10, 10 a.m. at Mt. Hope Cemetery. Viewing will be at Gray’s West & Company, Thursday and Friday, March 8 and 9 from 2 p.m. 7 p.m. Vault Interment will be at Mount Hope. In lieu of flowers contributions may be made to the American Lung Association, American Heart Association, Catholic Charities or a charity … Read more

Lee, Adelaide Marie Murray Howard – Obituary

Funeral services over the body of Mrs. Oscar Grant Lee who died Saturday afternoon [September 2, 1911] at 3 o’clock in St. Paul’s Cathedral. The body of the deceased arrived in Oklahoma City Monday morning [died in Cook Co., IL] and will remain at the residence of Harley E. Lee, 212 West Thirteenth Street, until the time of the funeral. Contributed by: Shelli Steedman

Biography of George B. Franks

George B. Franks. Considered as an art, landscape gardening is one that has a definite place in life, appealing to and satisfying that innate sense of the beautiful that all possess to some degree. Nature points the way and it is the precious gift of the landscape gardener to be able to reproduce, in limited space, her noble effects and most pleasing arrangement of tree, shrub and flower. The wonderful facility in this direction, as in other artistic talents, is largely an inherited gift, although to make it practical, of course, there must be much definite knowledge, mathematical and otherwise. … Read more

Lee, Burnham ‘Bernie’ D. – Obituary

Bernie Lee, 52 years old, brother of Oscar Lee, pioneer city developer, died Monday [September 12, 1932] in Kansas City after an illness of 11 months. Services will be 2 p.m. Wednesday at Hahn’s Funeral Home, with burial in Fairlawn Cemetery [Kingfisher Co., OK]. Survivors are his wife [Julia], a sister, Mrs. A. E. Bracken [Nellie] of Kingfisher, and three brothers, Oscar, Harley, and Harker of Kansas City. With his twin brother, Harker, Bernie Lee once was prominent in University of Oklahoma athletics. He was an Oklahoma City resident for 20 years before moving to Kansas City eight years ago. … Read more

Biography of John T. Cooper

Checotah numbers among her representative citizens John T. Cooper, attorney at law with offices in the Peoples National Bank building. He is a southerner by birth, born in Scottsboro, Jackson county, Alabama, on the 7th of August, 1881, a son of Abe and Julia (Anderson) Cooper, both natives of that state. The father engaged in agriculture in Alabama until 1894, in which year he removed to Indian Territory and located at Sallisaw. He engaged in farming there for three years and subsequently came to McIntosh County. He became one of the prominent and successful agriculturists of this community. He is … Read more

Biography of Colonel Jacob H. Bartles

Time is the perspective which places the individual in his true position in relation to the history of the community with which he has been identified and time serves but to heighten the fame and brighten the good name of Colonel Jacob H. Bartles, in whose honor the town of Bartlesville was named and who was also the founder of Dewey. He was ever a man of most progressive spirit, of which many tangible evidences may be cited, including the fact that he was the first man to establish electric light and waterworks plants in the state. He was also … Read more

Rosales, Manuel G. – Obituary

Manuel G. Rosales, 80, of Vancouver, Wash., a former longtime Baker County resident, died June 5, 2005. His memorial service will be at 11 a.m. Thursday at Evergreen Staples Funeral Chapel, 4700 N.E. St. Johns Blvd., at Vancouver, Wash. Manuel was born on Feb. 22, 1925, to Ben and Savina Rosales at Merkel City, Texas. He grew up in Anadarko, Okla., and attended school there. He entered the Civilian Conservation Corps camp in Oklahoma in 1941. In December 1943 he married his beloved wife of 61 years, Mary L. Castillo. They lived at Oklahoma City and then moved to Durkee … Read more

Slave Narrative of Stephen McCray

Person Interviewed: Stephen McCray Location: Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Place of Birth: Huntsville County, Alabama Date of Birth: 1850 Age: 88 Occupation: Fisherman I was born in Huntsville County, Alabama, right where the Scottsboro boys was in jail, in 1850. My parents was Wash and Winnie McCray. They was the mother and father of 22 chillun. Jest five lived to be grown and the rest died at baby age. My father’s mother and father was named Mandy and Peter McCray, and my mother’s mother and father was Ruthie and Charlie McCray. They all had the same Master, Mister McCray, all the … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Mrs. Snowden Parlette

(See Oolootsa) James Columbus Morris married Ellen F. McElrath, and they were the parents of Mary Trimble Morris, born at Fort Gibson October 5, 1882, and was educated at Tahlequah and the Female Seminary. She married at Tahlequah May 15, 1898, Snowden, son of Franklin and Alice Parlette, born Jan. 29, 1880 in Wamego, Kansas. He was educated in Baker University and graduated from Harvard University. They are the parents of John, born April 17, 1911, and Snowden Parlette, born Jan 16, 1918. Mr. Parlette is in the wholesale book and stationery business in Oklahoma City. He is a thirty-second … Read more

Biography of Juniata Adams

Juniata Adams, one of the successful educators of Kansas and now connected with the El Dorado schools, is a native Kansan and represents a pioneer family in that section of the state. Benjamin Franklin Adams, her father, was a widely known Kansan and for years was distinguished by his enterprises and success in the field of general farming and stock raising. He was born in Center County, Pennsylvania, December 2, 1834, and represented a family that came out of England to Pennsylvania in colonial times. His father, John Adams, was born in Center County, Pennsylvania, and spent his life there. … Read more

Biography of H. B. Rodecker

H. B. Rodecker, an enterprising and successful druggist of Ramona, was born near Eureka, Illinois, on the 22d of August, 1874, and was taken by his parents, William B. and Leona (Hellen) Rodecker, to Newton, Harvey county, Kansas, in 1880. The mother is a niece of the late Cecil Rhodes, multi-millionaire and statesman of South Africa. The father was a tinner by trade and followed that pursuit until 1889, when the family removed to Oklahoma City and he entered the employ of W. J. Pettie, a hardware merchant, conducting a business that has since been developed into a large wholesale … Read more

Slave Narrative of Bert Luster

Person Interviewed: Bert Luster Location: Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Place of Birth: Watson County, Tennessee Date of Birth: 1853 Age: 85 I’ll be jest frank, I’m not for sho’ when I was born, but it was in 1853. Don’t know the month, but I was sho’ born in 1853 in Watson County, Tennessee. You see my father was owned by Master Luster and my mother was owned by Masters Joe and Bill Asterns (father and son). I can remember when Master Astern moved from Watson County, Tennessee he brought me and my mother with him to Barnum County Seat, Texas. Master … Read more

Slave Narrative of Ida Henry

Person Interviewed: Ida Henry Location: Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Place of Birth: Marshall, Texas Date of Birth: 1854 Age: 83 Occupation: House Girl I was born in Marshall, Texas, in 1854. Me mother was named Millie Henderson and me father Silas Hall. Me mother was sold in South Carolina to Mister Hall, who brought her to Texas. Me father was born and raised by Master John Hall. Me mother’s and father’s family consisted of five girls and one boy. My sister’s names were: Margrette, Chalette, Lottie, Gracy and Loyo, and me brother’s name was Dock Howard. I lived with me mother … Read more

Chaves, Frances Roena Sturgill Mrs. – Obituary

Frances Roena Sturgill Chaves, 91, died Feb. 24, 2007, at Deaconess Hospital in Oklahoma City of complications brought on by pneumonia. Visitations will be until 7 o’clock tonight at Gray’s West & Co. Pioneer Chapel, 1500 Dewey Ave. The rosary will be said at 7 p.m. Friday at Gray’s West & Co. There will be reception afterward at the Best Western Sunridge Inn, 1 Sunridge Lane. Her graveside service will be at 10 a.m. Saturday at Mount Hope Cemetery. Born on Jan. 15, 1916, at Baker City, she was the third child of Cecil R. and Jessie Osborn Sturgill. She … Read more

Biography of Carl E. Seastrand

Carl E. Seastrand, manager for the John Lumbard Tire & Supply Company of Muskogee, was born in Sweden on the 12th of April, 1877, and is a son of Carl A. and Christina Sjostrand, who were also natives of Sweden. The father was a shoe merchant in that country, devoting his entire life to the business. He also engaged in the manufacture of shoes, employing twelve men in that connection. He died in February, 1918, and is still survived by his widow, who yet makes her home in Sweden. Carl E. Seastrand was reared and educated in his native country, … Read more

Biography of Browning E. Lewis

Browning E. Lewis is identified with one of the representative business interests of Strang, Mayes county, as president and manager of the Cherokee Grain & Mercantile Company. He was born near Clinton, Henry County, Missouri, on the 11th of January, 1884, a son of Joe L. and Elizabeth (Wilson) Lewis. The father was born in Ohio and the mother in Kentucky. They both went to Missouri at an early age, with their respective parents, and their marriage was celebrated in Clinton, that state. In 1886 they came to Fairland, Oklahoma, and the father was active in the conduct of a … Read more

Durr, Carolyn Bonitz Mrs. – Obituary

Halfway, Oregon Carolyn Durr, 70, died Nov. 5, 2004, at St. Luke’s Hospital in Boise. Her graveside service was at 1 p.m. today at Pine Haven Cemetery in Halfway. Friends were invited to join the family for a reception at the Lions Hall afterward. Carolyn Durr was born to Aubrey and Thelma Bonitz at Oklahoma City, Okla., on June 14, 1934. Her family later moved to Albany where she graduated from Albany High School. It was in high school that she met David Durr. They were married in 1954 while he was serving in the U.S. Marines. They spent the … Read more

Jackson, Preston “Tex” – Obituary

Preston “Tex” Jackson, 79, a former Baker County resident, died as the result of a stroke on Aug. 1, 2001, at Oklahoma City. His graveside funeral was Aug. 3 at Pleasant Hill Cemetery at Edmond, Okla. Elder Allen Daniels, pastor of the Primitive Baptist Church of Tuttle, Okla., officiated. Arrangements were under the direction of the Baggerly Funeral Home. Mr. Jackson was born on June 12, 1922, at Duncan, Okla., to James P. and Elizabeth Foster Jackson. After he was honorably discharged from military service, he married Nadine Marrow on Oct. 1, 1943. They would have been married 58 years … Read more