The Stone Family Tree
Maude and Elmer came down from Sheridan, Wyoming. They left the twins, Jack & Jean with Norma and Everrett to go to school. Elmer had asthma so bad. They spent about a year with Grandma and Grandpa. Elmer didn’t get any better, so they went back to Sheridan. Maude worked at the cotton mill for awhile. Then worked at housework for some woman in Tulsa for quite awhile. I worked at the cotton mill until they laid off a bunch, then I was called back in 1925 and worked for about 18 months.
Fern took a course in shorthand and typing, then went to work at Woolworths store. She worked for them for a good many years. We had some hard times, which I won’t go into, but things got better again.
Charlie got a good steady job for the Cosden Pipeline Co. so I quit at the cotton mill.
Robert was born Dec. 3, 1927. In June of 1927, Beaulah went to the hospital for an operation and died in 5 days. She had been married to Jim Sutton then.
Grandpa sold his house in Sand Springs and went on a farm near Hanna. They moved down there in August and the next spring, we moved down there to help them. Charlie worked hard, pulling stumps, plowing and planting corn and cotton.
Dollie was in Perry, stayed with Icie and went to High School. She graduated that spring. Then she came down on the farm too. The girls and the 3 boys hoed corn and chopped cotton.
Some afternoons one of the girls stayed in with Robert and I went out. All we got was our groceries.
Everything had to be done just like Grandpa wanted it, he was hard to work for, thought the kids ought to be in the field all the time.
In July, Fern went to Perry and went to work in a clothing store. Before that, in Sand Springs, she went to Tulsa and worked at Woolworth store. Charlie soon had enough of working for Grandpa. We wrote to his old boss, and he said he had a place for him whenever he came back, so he went back to Tulsa.
We had a lovely garden that year and I canned some tomatoes, berries and grape juice. We didn’t have the pressure cookers then, so didn’t know much about canning vegetables.
When Charlie had worked a month, he came after us, brought a truck to get our household goods. We lived in West Tulsa a month, then moved into a house at Bruner Station on the Sand Springs line. Fern came and worked at Woolworths again and Dollie got on there too. We were all so much better satisfied.
Jimmie was born Feb. 9, 1930. Ma came to see us in Dec. 1929.
I’ll have to go back a little. Nora and her 7 yr. Old boy, Maurice came and spent the month of June, 1929. She had lost her husband the summer before. Ma stayed with us until after Jimmie was born. She left sometime in March.
It had been a hard winter, lots of snow for Oklahoma, and it stayed cold so the snow that fell before Xmas was still on when she left in March.
That summer, we moved to west Tulsa to be close to Charlie’s work.
In 1931, Charlie came home sick the 1st of June. We got the Dr. and he said he had a gastric ulcer that had busted. He would have to have an operation. He was in the hospital until June 16th.
Fern had known for some time that she needed a goiter operation, it was enlarged thyroid. Charlie had been in Morningside Hospital, now they call it Hillcrest. Fern went to St. John’s a day or two after Charlie got home. She was there a week before they operated, think she came home the last of the month.
We were all glad when that month was over and they were home well again. They couldn’t either one go to work for some time, so that put us behind considerably. Dollie got on at Brown Dunkin for awhile, later she went to work for Holmes Clothes Store and worked there until after she got married.
Roy Stone came to see us that summer while Fern was in the hospital. He had spent 3 yrs. in the Dutch East Indies for some oil company. He was Uncle Bob’s boy from Wyoming.
Ma had been with Nora and they had been in California for awhile. I think it was in February of 1932 that they came to Tulsa. Nora rented a little house at Vern Station on the Sand Springs line and the last of March, we rented a house at Medio Station.
It was a two story house, so for the first time, we had plenty of room. Nora found a nice little house close to the Catholic church in Sand Springs, so she moved in there. She came out real often. Ma went back to Wisconsin. Nora was lonely and dissatisfied, Maurice too, wanted to go back to Couer d’ Alene, Idaho. She had a nice little home there, so she left the first of July.
Grandma and Grandpa came to see us that summer, also Icie and Norma from Perry. Bird & Homer lived at Hanna on a farm, so Grandma and Grandpa saw them quite often.
On December 15, 1932, Jane was born. Icie came over a few days before to be with us. I was in bed with an awful cold when she came and also, some of the boys. Think Fern was laid up a few days too, but I remember Fentley was a big help to Icie.
Pipeline slowed down and Charlie signed up on W.P.A. There were lots of people out of work. It had been that way for some time, but Charlie had been lucky enough to be working and the girls helped out. He never got to work on W.P.A., as Sunday night, May 14th, Icie, Norma and Everrett came, said they had word that Grandpa died, they were on their way to Hanna, so he went with them. They buried him in Sand Springs the 17th. I had 16, besides our own family for dinner and supper that day. Everett and Norma, Babe, Marguerite and Otto and Jeanette went back to Perry, but I had the Hanna folks all night.
Icie went back with Grandma and Charlie went back. They wanted us to move down there and try to farm the place.
As Charlie was out of work, it seemed like a good thing. Fern and Dollie moved into an apt. in Tulsa and stayed with their jobs. We moved to the farm the 4th of June.
We enjoyed some things, but seemed like all the enjoyment I had was in the children. We were awful hard up sometimes.
Fern got married July 11th, of course we were expecting that. Dollie came on vacation and we enjoyed that so much.
Evenings, I missed the girls coming from work and the chats we had. They always had some little funny experiences to tell in the evening.
Fern came down the next spring and stayed a couple of weeks. She and Henry came about twice a year. Sometimes Dollie and Harry with them.
The boys had two friends in Tulsa that came once in awhile and spent a month with us. Bus Poteet and Pete Farley.
When Warner was 18 yrs. old, he went to Perry and joined the C.C.C. camp. He got $30 a month, but $25 was sent home us us, so that helped. He was in Ponca City awhile, then sent to Colorado. Was in there one year.
Dollie and Harry got married in Oct. 1936. The next spring they went to California. That same spring, Fentley and Warner went to California. They spent the summer putting up hay and chopping cotton. Tuffy went to C. C. camp that summer but got out in the fall. He got married that fall to Katie Mouser. They built a little house on our place. He put in some crop and worked on W.P.A.
Charles went to High School, was in his last year when he decided to try C. C. Camp.
Warner was in the same camp awhile in Checotah. When Charles got out of C.C.Camp in 1942, he married Ruth Jones.
Fentley was married to Kathryn Sneed in July of 1941. he and Charles and their wives lived in Okla. City for awhile.
Charles and wife came home on a visit in the fall and a couple of weeks later, he was drafted. He was in Anti-aircraft, had training in Texas, in Indio, California, then Richmond, Virginia and in Georgia before going overseas. He spent some time in England, then France and in occupation in Germany.
I think he came home in the fall of 1945. He came direct to the farm and Ruth was there to meet him.
Warner was in the Air Force. He had training in Texas and South Dakota. Was stationed in Wisconsin awhile and in Arizona. Had orders to go to Guam just before they bombed Japan. He never was in combat. He was discharged in Dec. of 1945.
I think Fentley went in in 1943 and came home Xmas in 1945. Kathryn and baby were in Oklahoma City. He was in the thick of it in the Pacific Islands.
Things seemed pretty wonderful when they all came home safe.
Tuffy and Katie had a little girl, Freda and lived in Tulsa for awhile. Then he was called, was in Texas for a few months. Then they turned him out as Katie’s mother was ill and they needed someone on the farm.
The spring of 1943, Nora wrote, said she, Elma and the girls would send me a ticket if I would come. Ma was in her 80’s and not very well. Of course, I was delighted to go, as I hadn’t seen Ma for 11 years, and hadn’t seen Elma since I left Canada in 1912.
Jane and I went May 1st on the the train. It was a tiresome trip, wartime, trains were crowded. “Service men first”, wherever you went. Jane got sick in Kansas City. Think it was just nerves.We stopped off one day and night at Sheridan, Wyoming and stayed at Maudes. That helped a lot and we got a good visit.
Nora was living in Spokane, Washington, so we stopped there overnight. She was working for some governmet outfit, but next day was her day off, so we went by bus to Couer d’ Alene, Idaho, where Elma lived and Ma was with her. Elma had 6 girls, all married except two. We stayed there a week, then Ma went with us to Nora’s and we spent a week there. Nora had to work days, but we had the evenings together and of course the main thing was our good visit with Ma. We left for home again May 23rd, stopped again at Sheridan on the way back.
I’ll have to go back a little. I don’t know just what year it was that Dollie and Harry and her little boy, I think he was 4 yrs. old came. They stayed with us awhile, then decided to live in Tulsa, maybe Harry could get work. They came back later in the summer, cause they were there when Charles and Ruth came home, must have been in 1942.
They were there in March also, when we got word that Aunt Norma died very suddenly. Charlie went to Perry to the funeral.
Late that fall, Dollie and Harry went back to California. When the boys got out of the service, they had a hard time getting work. Fentley went in first within 3 months, then we heard Charles had enlisted again and then Warner. I think I neglected to say Warner had been married before he went in the service the first time, but was separated.
They all had family trouble, the girls wasn’t satisfied to sit at home and wait. Fentley and Kathryn separated, Warner and Lil got a divorce, had one little boy. Ruth went to Texas with Charles for awhile.
When the goys got discharged, Fent married again to Hazel Pancratz. They both went to school in Okmulgee for awhile. Then they lived in Illinois and Iowa, finally separated and at present he is in Tucson, Arizona, married to a Spanish girl, Rose.
Warner married a Spanish girl, Melinda in California. They have 3 children.
Charles and Ruth have 2 girls and are in California.
Tuffy worked in Henryetta and has a home there. At present is on construction in Illinois, has a boy, Steve and a girl, Freda.
We stayed on the farm 15 yrs. until May 1948. When Robert was 18 yrs. old, he was drafted, was in Korea awhile, but it was in peace time so wasn’t so bad. He came back the fall of 1947.
When he came home, Jimmie went to Tulsa to work.
I was in very poor health. Grandma had signed the farm over to Dad. She died the 1st of January 1945, so we decided to sell out and move to Henryetta. Soon as we got moved, I went to see a Dr. Haynes. I had myxedema, was anemic and had kidney poison. I think I was lucky to get a good Dr. He done me a world of good, by fall, I was feeling better than I had for 10 years.
Jimmie joined the Air Force and Robert went to work at the Smelter. Jane started High School that fall, so everything looked pretty good. We lived close to Tuffy, which was nice. Jane finished high school at Dewar in 1952. She worked awhile in Tulsa at the telephone office, then Sept. she married Don Vaughn. She has 2 little girls, Sandra and Susie.
One fall, I had the good luck to go to Spokane again. Mrs. Robertson’s mother was visiting her. She wasn’t able to travel alone, so paid my way to go with her to Seattle. I took her to Seattle, then on the way back, stopped at Spokane for a week and stopped a couple of days in Sheridan with Maude. It was a wonderful trip. I done some ironing and saved my money and in 1953, I made another trip. I was gone about 6 weeks. While I was gone, Charlie spent some time in Perry and in Tulsa. While I was in Spokane, Alvin and Alma, their son Earl and wife, Edna and Uncle Andy came from Canada. I hadn’t seen Alvin since I had left there in 1912. I also met several cousins who I hadn’t seen for years. Again, I stayed a few days with Maude on my way back.
In 1953, Jane and Don went to Iowa, he got on at Alcoa and has been with them ever since. Charlie and I went up there one May and came back with Jane and Don when they come on vacation.
One summer, we went to Perry and went with Icie, Bird & Homer to Wyoming. We were gone about 3 weeks, had a good visit. While there, I went to Spokane for 1 week.
Ma was gone, she broke her hip in November the year I had been there, in 1953, and never recovered. She died in Feb. 1954, so my last trip up there was when I went from Sheridan. Elma came over to Nora’s and we three had a good week together. Elma is a widow and lives in a rest home.
Then in 1957, I made my first trip to California. I went to Charles at Bakersfield first, spent a week there, then on to Los Angeles to Warners. Spent one night with Cousin Ida, saw Uncle Dan and Aunt Mae and Uncle George Lee, also Nettie.
Then I spent a weekend with Dollie and Harry at Santa Barbara and came back for a few days with Warner. I really enjoyed it all.
We sold our house in 1959 and rented a more comfortable house. After Tuffy and Jimmie moved away, it seemed foolish for us to stay in Henryetta. We were so alone and the children couldn’t come very often. They all came on vacations but, they seem a long ways apart, so last October we moved to Tulsa. Right now, we are close to Fern, which makes it nice.
I forgot to say in 1959, Nora came in October and stayed about a month. We had such a good time together, such a wonderful visit. She had just been home a couple of weeks when her only son, Maurice got killed in a truck accident. Then in 1961, she and her granddaughter, Pat came. They were here all the month of July.
She was in very poor health, and in July 1962, she had a gall bladder operation and died July 26th.
Maude died last summer, so the families are getting smaller.
On Saturday before last Thanksgiving, Warner and Melinda called, said Dollie was coming for Thanksgiving, also Fentley. So, they said if I would come, they would send me a ticket, wanted me to come by jet so I wouldn’t have to be gone long. I went on Wednesday and came back Sunday. Charlie stayed with Fern while I was gone.
I got to Los Angeles Wednesday afternoon. Melinda had to work that evening, but Warner and I had a good visit, catching up on things. Then Fentley and wife came Thursday about 10 o’clock. He surprised us by being married, had just been married a few days before. He was so surprised to see me there. Then about noon, Dollie came and we sure surprised her. Saturday, we all went to Disneyland.
Sunday, everyone had to get back as Monday was a work day for all of them.
I enjoyed my plane ride very much, will probably be my last. Tuffy, Katie and Steve came before Xmas and spent a week here and in Henryetta and Hanna. Now, we are making plans and hope they can all come on vacation this summer. Would like to get as many as possible home together.
Whoever reads this will probably find many mistakes and I’ve probably left out things that I should have remembered. I think I’ve been in too much of a hurry.
This is the 28th of Feb. 1964.
Yesterday and old timer from Canada called on us. His name is Eric Oleson. He came to Canada from Sweden in 1905 when he was 3 yrs. old, so was there before we were and has been there ever since. He knew all the folks that we did and remembered seeing us, although he was just a little boy when we were there. He had been to British Columbia, down through Washington, Oregon and California and from here was going to New Orleans and Florida, quite a trip.
May 23, 1964
A few changes since I wrote, we moved in March, we are not as close to Fern, but see them quite often. We found a small place that we like better. We bought a second hand piano, so I’ve been brushing up on my music. I get lots of enjoyment out of it, but can’t play like I used to 50 yrs. ago.
Now, we are waiting for Jane & Don and girls, also Dollie to come on vacation.
We hope that Charles and family can come also while the girls are here. Think I will close this now and hope someone gets a little enjoyment out of reading it.
April, 1965
Have a few pages left, so will keep on with this scribbling. Fentley was at home a few days last summer, then Dollie, Jane & Don and girls were here a couple of weeks.
Dad spent a week in the hospital in June.
Jimmie and family were here in July and later Ida Venneman, a cousin from California came for a few days. We enjoyed them all so much.
In October, Dad and I went with Fern & Henry to Iowa and Illinois for a week. We enjoyed that so much. Jane had a baby boy in December, she calls him Jimmie. We haven’t seen him yet.
Charles was home for 2 weeks in January and soon after he left, Dad went to the hospital for a week. He came home but was in bed all the time. Warner and his family came home the last of February. The first of March, Dad was back in the hospital for 8 days. He was in pretty bad shape, but surprised us all by snapping out of it.
Continued...