Ferguson Features

Mrs. T.B. (Elva) Ferguson, in her book, “ They Carried the Torch” writes about early Watona (a “g” was accidentally added and Watonga stuck). One aspect of early Watonga life was the area of religious services. “The first religious service to be held in the new town of Watonga was on Sunday following the opening, in the unfinished store building of W.H. Munger. It was held by a preacher who had been a missionary in Siam (now Thailand), who was home on a vacation and had drifted to the new territory. It was queer crowd of folks who attended, but an orderly one, no shots fired and no one killed.

Soon the Missionary Baptist erected a little church with services twice a month held by Rev. Job Ingram, of Kingfisher. This was the only church building for several years and other denominations also held their services there. It was used for funerals, socials, Christmas trees and school entertainments”. (page 19 in the 1989 Levite of Apache reprint.)

A slightly different account is given in the Centennial History of the Watonga Area, which indicates the church was named the Union Baptist Church organized by Mrs. LeGrand Marshall. It was, the book tells, at the corner of Second and Weigle and the first services held there were Nov. 3, 1892. Those in attendance included Baptists, Presbyterians and Methodists, the book claims.