We had a couple from out of town come for a visit Saturday.
Louise Dunn and I continued straightening the old office. Mostly Louise D. did the work because of my back. It’s really hard for me to go up and down the stairs, let alone carry something up or down. It sure looks nicer now. The air conditioner went out again this week and Terry was out to work on it.
In the book of interviews done by Frank Beneda, there is an interview with John Howry. Mr. Howry said his grandfather emigrated from Switzerland to the United States in 1851 coming in a three man [sic] schooner, likely he meant a three-masted schooner. He said they were in the water three months and ran into a storm which threw his grandmother over board. She passed away shortly after they got here from the bruises. John’s father had a younger brother, Charlie, and they fought side by side in the Civil War. Charlie was killed in the Battle of Antietam and his father was wounded. That battle was also called Battle of Sharpsburg. His father farmed in Ohio for a while after the war then moved on to Sturgis, Michigan, and ran a saw mill. President William McKinley was John’s father’s captain during the civil war. Governor Ferguson was in Washington, D.C., and McKinley was president at the time and sent his best regards back to John’s father in Watonga. John’s father came during the Cheyenne Arapahoe land run in April, 1892. His land was five miles west and six miles south of Watonga, on the east side of the road. Have you ever thought of how people in Iowa heard about a land run in Oklahoma Territory, and when they did hear about it they had to get here in time for it? John said his dad came, then his older brother drove the team down here about a year later bringing his mother, two sisters, another brother and John. He said they didn’t have a map and that they just kept driving in this direction going southwest. He said up by Hitchcock they stopped by a stream to let the horses drink but they just threw their heads up and wouldn’t drink. They tried to drink it and it was too salty. Watonga was a small town with tents and lots of covered wagons and lots of saloons. They asked if anyone knew where the J.C. or John T. Howry farm was. No one knew but they knew of him because he had been in trading and getting groceries. So they took out southwest again fording the river since there weren’t any bridges. They kept going until they thought they recognized some of their stuff. J.C. wasn’t there; he had gone to Kingfisher to pick up the stuff they had shipped there. He didn’t get back until the next day. They lived in a dug out until they had a chance to go down in the canyon and chop down cedars to build a log house. The outlaw Black’s homestead adjoined J.C.’s place but they never met him. George Haynes had it after Black was shot. Old John Russworm who lived about a mile south of Howry’s was a blacksmith so they didn’t have to bring anything into Watonga for repair. John said the government furnished some seed the first five years. He said each saloon had a bullpen behind them which were ten foot tall and they would throw the drunks in and leave them until they sobered up. Sounds like the saloon keepers figured out their own way of dealing with unruly drunks. He said the government would build the Cheyenne Arapaho a house which they didn’t want to live in and they would put up a teepee beside it. Three months after getting here the Cherokee Strip opened up and his brother who was 23 at the time staked a claim a mile north and east of Fairview. He said the Black and Yeager gang robbed his brother that lived by Fairview. He didn’t have much but a 32 Winchester rifle and they took it. He got it back after the gang was caught.
Anyone that wants to volunteer or become a member of Friends of Ferguson Home is welcome. We welcome all the help we can get.
Hours of operation are Wednesday thru Saturday 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.. Closed city and state holidays. Give us a call at 580623-5069 or 580-614-1018 to make arrangements for after hours tour.