Page 1: This is a few things that I remember about our dad.
He was born in Terre Houte Ind. Had five brothers, (to my knowledge he never
mentioned any sisters) [this was added to the side in his handwriting... but
one] They scattered going to Missouri, Luisianna, Texas, and so on. Uncle Lute
and his sister settled in Custer Okla., just south of Fay about 40 miles by
the Frisco RR.
Page 2: Most of the boys served in the Spanish American
War. Dad was a "Sooner" He cowboyed a lot. For a while he ran a
'quail route'. He would furnish the shells and pay them about 75 cents a dozen.
One time while going over the route he had a large wagon load of quail, the
tarp that covered them had come loose and the quail could be seen. Dad did not
know it until a game...
Page 3: warden passed by and looking back saw it and almost
fainted. "I would think". Dad shipped them back fast and to Guthrie,
Okla. One time at Fay, he shipped two truck loads and the deputy tried to
arrest him; Dad told him to come and take his guns, he wore pistols at that
time. By the was the deputy was a man by the name of Boyd. Later became Lester
Morse's father in law, your cousin dad's , married a Morse. Boyd never liked
Dad after that.
Page 4: Historical thought. Jessie James married a Whitson,
"his only wife" in Missouri. So by shirttail relation we are related
to him. After he met mother he settled down and became foreman of the Davidson
ranch, just out of Arnett Okla. There were over 350,000 acres in the ranch.
Part of it was government land. Today over half of it is a game reserve. The
day Dad married...
Page 5: Mother they had to cross over the south Canadian
River. They attempted to cross just below the Fresco RR Bridge. The bridge had
been washed out earlier. In crossing one of the horses drowned the other horse
in a deep pot hole. Dad cut the horses loose, lost nearly everything. Mother
had to strip down to her red flannels, "it was in the winter". If the
men working on the bridge had not come...
Page 6: to their rescue, mother might have drowned. The river
was near flood stage. My memories of him. Cotton Cake I was the fourth child.
At my first recollections as I look back dad was a kind family man, and was
until his ordeal with cancer. On the ranch he took me (only 4 or 5 years of
age) with him. Sometimes on the saddle with him, sometimes in a wagon loaded
with cotton seed cake. They would pour the cake out the back of the wagon onto
the ground.....
Page 7: ...for the cattle to eat. One time we were at the
watering place (windmill and tank). Mr Davidson and dad had pure alcohol from
Canada hidden near by. They would delute the alcohol with water and sugar. They
were very secretive about it. One time just as the moon was coming up, dad let
us kids fire his pistol. I thought I had hit it because of the fire from the
gun. Another time he came racing up on a beautiful ...
Page 8: ....blaze faced horse, grabbed and kissed mother
and told her about the *Champion Jack Johnson being whipped by Jefferies. He
always brought us kids something. One time he brought me little red cowboy
boots, they were too small. Shortly before that I had gotten caught in a cyote
(coyote) trap, a large bump had formed and I couldn't get the boots on. Dad was
quite a bronc buster.. He had many fine horses. We left off as Ray was telling Mary
that their dad was quite a horse buster and always and fine horses.
Page 9: Dad decided to move to Arnett so the kids could be
close to school. There were only one seven miles from home. There were about 6
kids by then. Mr Davidson offerd dad a junior partnership if he would stay, but
dad wanted us kids to get an education. Ive always thought he could have hired
someone to take us. He went into the freight business. It never turned out like
he thought it would. He tried farming...
Page 10: He had a model T FORD rigged up with tractor
wheels in the back, also had a barrel of water connected up to the radiator o
keep it from heating up. He would take one of us kids to be with him while he
plowed. On time I got sick on eating too much of the lunch. In the winter time,
he would come in from the cold and warm himself at the kitchen wood stove.
Often he would let me sit on his lap during these times. This shows the kind of
father he was.
 |
| newspaper article from that time period. Must have been what the tractor looked like. |
Page 11: We moved to Fay in three covered wagons, took
several days, onto grandmother's homestead. It was close to the Frisco River
Bridge. World War one broke out and dad went to Fort Sill to help as a taxi
driver, his own cab, The car did not have a door on the drivers side. He would
climb out over his side of the car hitting his knee on the mechanical horn,
bruising it. Which caused the cancer to start in the knee area.
Page 12: Doctors
didn't know much about cancer at that time. They thought at first it was only
pain cause by the continued knocking. He had a nervous breakdown and had to be
rushed to Oklahoma City where they cut the leg off at the knee. They tried to
get him to cut the leg off at the hip. He wanted to have an artificial leg,
being an outdoors man all his life. I think he would have lived many years
longer if had. It was at the time...
Page 13: that he became irritable and short tempered. No
one will ever know what he went through in the suffering, later he would hold
his stump in his hands to keep it from jerking. He didn't have the pain pills
we have today. His body finally rejected aspirins. He got to where he would
take a dozen at one time and it did not help much. I think this would adversely
affect anyone, don't you?
Page 14: Dear Mary I will quit for now. I will tr to fill
in gaps that I have overlooked. I have always loved the memory of my kids but
like my dad I have accepted it as something I had to give up and live with.
Your Brother Ray P.S. it the other kids would like to read the details of dad's
life will you let them?
(My notes on the historical background: I researched the Davidson Ranch. On page 43 of Notes from Ellis and Cimarron Counties, it says part of the land was 12 miles southeast of Arnett.
This Popular Science in 1894 explains about Cotton Cake and Cotton Seed.
*This was "The "Fight of the Century" in 1910 and my grandfather apparently had not stayed to the end. Champion Jack Johnston was the first African American world heavyweight boxing champion (1908–1915)
I researched and found that there was a kit sold that utilized the Model T and a tractor wheel. I have made a collage of newspaper articles and ads.
Surgery would have been done at St Anthony Hospital. This was the hospital I worked as an Inhalation Therapy Tech during the Viet Nam War.)
