In W. David Baird and Danney Goble’s book “ Oklahoma: A History”, the chapter on “A New Society” states “The brand-new state offered brand -new opportunities. Acting on them, its brand-new people could transcend their past, improve their present and creatively shape their future” “One Oklahoman who did all those things was Elva Shartel Ferguson.
With her husband, Thompson B. Ferguson, she filed a homestead claim in the original land run of 1889, but they soon sold it and returned to Kansas. When the Cheyenne-Arapaho lands were opened in 1892, they came back to make their permanent home in Blaine County, where they began the Watonga Republican.
Even before its first printing, the newspaper was a joint venture.
While Elva drove one wagon carrying family necessities into the territory, Thompson drove the other, loaded with cases of type, racks and an old press. They set up the equipment in a small, unpainted frame building where they also lived. Thompson wrote most of the paper's editorials, and Elva filled nearly every other role as reporter, typesetter, subscription agent, advertising manager, and local feature writer. After 1901, when President Theodore Roosevelt appointed her husband as governor of Oklahoma Territory, Elva wrote most of the political news too.
When Thompson left office in 1906, both Fergusons returned to full-time newspaper work. She began writing an entire page in each issue: 'Local News Items, Personals, Social Observations and Remarks, by Mrs. T.B. Ferguson.’ Each column always included her home telephone number. After her husband's death in 1921 she ran the entire paper but continued to feature her personal column. Squeezed among local church news and church announcements were her sophisticated views on every political, cultural, and social question of the time. In addition, Elva Ferguson emerged as a political power in her own right. An active Republican, Elva served on the state party's executive committee, and in 1924 she chaired the Oklahoma delegation to the national GOP convention.”
The Friends of the Ferguson Home invite you to drive by (and come in) to see the new paint and other improvements. Bring your business, club or group of friends and family to take a tour or have an event at the Ferguson.