Serving as a volunteer host at the T.B. Ferguson Home Museum in Watonga is a lot of fun. In the past three Saturdays, I have had an opportunity to tell of T.B. and Elva Ferguson, their remarkable family, Territorial government, show the Victorian style, three-story home, the 1893 jail and relate history of the IX and X Cavalry that used the respite on the North Canadian River. Visitors from Snyder, Weatherford, Edmond, Jones and McAlester have sought out this national treasure for various reasons. Some are visiting friends or relatives in Watonga, others teach students about Oklahoma history and government, and others are searching for information about loved ones in the past (I was able to help locate the residence only a block from the Ferguson of relative who practiced veterinary medicine in Watonga in the early 1900s using 1930 census data.) And there was a call from out of state concerning a statehood artifact given by T.B. Ferguson to their relative. It is an honor to represent the Ferguson Home Museum.
What I really enjoy though is telling the remarkable history of the family. Mrs. Ferguson has been the focus of several books, some that recount her own stories in “They Carried the Torch” to which the Friends of the Ferguson Home own the copyright. Some books of note are “Buckskin, Calico, and Lace” by Glenda Carlile donated to the Watonga Library by Hugh and Bessie Tyler. Hugh was the son of Dorothy Tyler, Watonga’s first dentist, who lived on the third floor of the Ferguson Home; “Remarkable Oklahoma Women” by Deborah Bouziden; and “The Story of Oklahoma Newspapers” by L. Edward Carter. And that does not include the account of Mrs. Ferguson as Sabra in Edna Ferber’s “Cimarron”.
Glenda Carlisle concludes her chapter on Elva Ferguson with Elva’s thoughts I try to convey to visitors.
“Out in Western Oklahoma where I live, the younger generation no longer call us pioneers. They say old timers, with the emphasis on the old. Sometimes I don’t like it, but mostly I feel sorry for them” “I feel sorry for anyone who has never known the fascination of pioneering and starting at the beginning of things. I feel sorry for anyone who is not an ‘89er or least a ‘92er, and I happen to be both.”
“I feel sorry for anyone who has never traveled in a covered wagon, stopping along the winding streams to make a camp in God’s beautiful outdoors” “I feel sorry for anyone who has never made a campfire between two stones on which to fry bacon and boil coffee, sending out an appetizing invitation to hungry travelers” “I feel sorry for anyone who has not had a part in helping build our grand state from the day of its birth. In laying the cornerstone of Oklahoma each pioneer has contributed his scroll, with achievement written thereon.”
We hope to have a new site director soon, but until then, stop by for a visit with a volunteer.