We didn’t have as much traffic for the Breakfast with Santa as we’ve had in the past. There was also another fund raiser going on the same time which we were glad to share with. The ones that came seemed to enjoy seeing Santa. We want to thank the Watonga Christian Church for setting up the tables and decorating them. The room was beautiful. And a big thanks for always letting us use their facilities.
Clay hasn’t been here this week because of things he needed to take care of at home.
The Christmas trees decorating the museum also made it easier for us this year. They all were beautiful and decorated differently. Thank you for taking your time to do this.
We have an apron crocheted by Mrs. Ferguson and given to Mrs. J.B. Cronkhite at the Mother’s Self Culture Club Christmas party in 1946. It is white with three blue stripes. I checked to see if the Mother’s Self Culture Club was an affiliate of the Oklahoma Home & Community Education (OHCE) and found it wasn’t. It was an affiliate of the Federation of Women’s Club at that time located in Canada and USA. Their mission statement was “the General Federation of Women’s Club is an international women’s organization dedicated to community improvement by enhancing the lives of others through volunteer service.” The Mother’s Self Culture Club bought the Fergusons’ home for $9,000 and the City of Watonga helped with the first jobs. Later the Oklahoma Legislature appropriated $35,000 for restoration with the Department of Tourism and Recreation assistance. The first curator was Florence Tomlinson. During the first ten years about 34,000 people were escorted through the museum. The above information was found in A Journal of Western Oklahoma Westview by Opal H. Brown Garrity, 12-15-1985.
There also is a note card that looks like it was possibly an invitation to a dedication for Mrs. Ferguson for her “long years of service to the Ladies of WMC organization of the Watonga Methodist Church.”
A feature in the book, They Carried the Torch, by Elva Ferguson talks about a family of German royalty whose family name is linked with the Hohonzollerns, the von Moltkes, and other German names in history. Maas committed the offense of falling in love with and eloping with a daughter of the people. His family protested, the army heads attempted to show him his error. He went ahead and married her and came to America. Maas and his girl bride settled in Blaine County. He had no training for such a life. It was far removed from the uniform of the German Army and the dress costume of the Berlin ballroom. He knew nothing of tilling the soil, putting in a crop or harvesting it. The girl believed in her husband and did not complain of the hardships and was happy according to the neighbors. Life became sordid to Mass and he had time to reflect and remember the gay times in Berlin. He thought his bride stood between him and his career back home. He committed one of the most dastardly and blood thirsty crimes in the annals not only in Oklahoma but in the West. He killed his wife with an ax, fled the scene, but eventually came back and turned himself in. There was no compassion for Maas and he was given life in prison. His lawyer tried to say he was insane but to no avail. Back then prisoners were sent to Kansas. He was very unruly and so Kansas said he was insane and sent him back to Oklahoma. Here he was found to be sane. Kansas and Oklahoma were in a peculiar situation and he spent many years in the Blaine County jail. After statehood and the prison at McAlester was built he was sent there. He spent his time painting pictures and passed away there. His family back in Germany offered a great amount of money for his release back to Germany. Tom Ferguson was governor by then and would not permit any leniency in the Maas case. In 1916 a cousin of Maas a Mr. Herman Coonitz came to Oklahoma from Berlin in an attempt to secure his release but he failed. The European war was heating up and if he had been released he would have fought in the Kaiser’s army. After the war there were no more attempts to get him out. It’s possible that Germany was in such bad shape they were concentrating on rebuilding or most of his family was gone because of the war.