Saturday was a great day at the Ferguson Home. We had a group come by from a Methodist Church in the Oklahoma City area called the Sisterhood of the Traveling Church Van. They said David Clewell used to be their pastor. They were going to go by Clewell’s Hardware and say hi. We were told they try to go somewhere off the beaten path once a month and we were chosen this time. While they were walking out a lady brought her two daughters for a tour. They were from Elk City and were in Watonga visiting her grandmother who lived down the street. She said she thought the museum was closed. Barbara told her it wasn’t that it just needed attention. The open flag has been a good thing to have. She isn’t the only one to see it and come for a visit.
Clay worked two days this week getting the back porch room repaired and painted. It will be the office after it is finished. It’s sometimes hard to hear someone come in if you are upstairs in the old office. It’s amazing what Clay can do with hammer, nails, and paint. We have been blessed for him to have discovered the home and decide to donate his time.
There is a paper clipping, that doesn’t have the name of the newspaper or date, reading there were twenty-five Republican delegates from Oklahoma at the state convention. Nine were delegates-at-large picked by the state convention and the other sixteen delegates were named at congressional district meetings, two from each district. Mrs. T.B. Ferguson from Watonga, former state vice-chairman, was one of them. She stayed involved after T.B. passed away.
In the book They Carried the Torch written by Mrs. Ferguson she mentions Dennis Flynn a candidate for congress. I wondered who he was and found this information on the Oklahoma History Center web site. During the Oklahoma Territorial period the most important official after the governor was the delegate to the U.S. Congress. Elected every two years, the delegate held a seat in the House of Representatives and could speak upon any measure but was not allowed to vote. Dennis Flynn held this position a total of eight years (1892-1896 and 1898-1902) longer than any other Oklahoman. Flynn’s greatest legislative achievement as delegate was passing the Free Homes Act in 1900. This act relieved settlers on former Native American lands in Oklahoma of all charges except filing fees. In the opening of the Unassigned Lands in 1889 settlers filed claims under the Homestead Act (1862) which made the land free except for land office fees. In later land openings the settlers purchased the land at a price set under agreements with the tribes and varied from one dollar to two and one half dollars per acre in addition to fulfilling the land improvement requirements and residency.
Also a paragraph in her book said the Watonga Republican was advising its delinquent subscribers that it needed cash, but would take stove wood in exchange for subscription.
We will have a booth at the Christmas Bazar. You can vote either at the museum or the Christmas Bazar on the Christmas trees that are decorating the museum this year. It’s $1.00 per vote and you can vote as many times as you want.
The Breakfast with Santa will be held at the Christian Church, 400 N. Noble, December 11, 2021, 9:00 to 11:00 am. It will be dine in or carry out. Santa will be there for pictures. You can vote on the Christmas Trees there too.