Marena: The Homestead in Oklahoma

By Percy "Pat" A Tankersley

Transcribed by Charles H. Tankersley June 20, 2001

When Oklahoma opened for settlement on April 22, 1889, Father filed on a claim near Marena, Payne County, eight miles west and four miles south of Stillwater. After arranging with a neighbor to build him a log house, he returned to Geuda Springs, Kansas, where he was teaching. He got a week's leave from his school so he could bring Mother back to hold down the farm. When he returned the house had not been built as promised. Some neighbors helped build a small log house with a clapboard roof but no floor or chinks between the logs. After chopping a supply of stove wood and getting Mother and us children settled, he returned to Kansas to finish his school.

Fanny, my dog:

One day a Negro with a pack of hunting dogs was passing through the country. He gave Mother one of his dogs because he said a lone woman with small children should have a dog. Of course I claimed Fanny but I got mad when she chased rabbits instead of following at my heels.

The Opossum:

One night Mother heard Fanny barking. She lighted a coal oil lamp and went out to investigate. Fanny had treed a 'possum on the wood pile. Mother found a large stick and killed the 'possum, then went back to bed. In about thirty minutes the god barked again. When she went out, there was the 'possum up on the wood pile so Mother killed it, as she had done before. In another thirty minutes the dog was barking at the 'possum a third time. This was just too much. Mother killed it once more with the stick, then laid it across the chopping block and cut its head clear off with the ax, not leaving any skin attached. The next morning Mother went out to see how things looked and found thirteen baby 'possums in the brush. Recently, I read in OUTDOOR OKLAHOMA that thirteen young is the greatest number that can survive.

Lonesome:

Staying alone was so nerve wracking, and Mother became so lonely that when Mr. Collier, a neighbor, was making a trip back to Kansas, she took us children and rode back with him. She stayed until Father's school was out, when they both came back to the farm.

Grandparents:

Mother's parents, Susan and Michael Bixler came to stay with us and help the family get settled. Grandpa was a Kansas pioneer and was very efficient and inventive. He built a fireplace for warmth. He prepared the house for winter by chinking the walls. In the absence of lime mortar he used red clay mud.

The Smokehouse:

Grandpa considered a smokehouse a necessity. He built one by using sod blocks for the walls. The roof was made by placing poles across from one wall to the opposite wall and covering them with brush and dirt, leaving a hole in the center for the draft and smoke to escape. There was a door but no windows. Port was hung inside for curing. A smoldering fire of hickory wood and chips was kept in a shallow hole in the center of the floor. Curing pork with hickory smoke gives it a savory flavor.

Growing Tobacco:

Grandpa Bixler grew his own tobacco. To prepare the bed for planting the tobacco seed he burned large piles of brush to destroy the weed seed and to fertilize the ground. The tobacco grew well here and Grandpa knew how to cure it to make in into twists. He would not sell his tobacco because it was illegal to sell without paying federal tax. However, he gave it to his neighbors and they generally left something of value. Sometimes he would find money on the table after they left.

Rattle Snake:

One night Grandpa came in late after the dew was on the vegetation. He told the family that he thought there was a rattlesnake in the brush near the road because he had smelled the odor of green cucumbers. Several days later he killed a large timber rattlesnake near the place where he had smelled the odor. The snake measured longer than a rake handle. After that, there was no odor of green cucumbers.

The School and Churches:

The Marena school was one half mile north of our corner. The Marena store with the Post Office was one mile north of the school. A blacksmith shop and Methodist Church were on this corner with the cemetery nearby. The Baptists had services once a month at the schoolhouse. Father was friendly with any religious group. He assisted Mr. McReynolds, a Presbyterian, in finding places to preach. Mr. McReynolds was always welcome in our home, for meals or to stay overnight. The McReynolds family later moved to Stillwater, and still later, we moved there. He became a university professor, and wrote an outstanding history of Oklahoma.

In addition to the Methodist Church at Marena there was another Methodist Church, Mount Vernon, east of us. When they were building this church, Father donated a large tree to be saws into boards. Hopewell Church, Presbyterian, was farther east. There was a Quaker Church in the Cimarron City community, and a Dunkard Church at Clarkson.

The "Holiness" group held camp meetings every ear somewhere in the area. Preachers of various denominations held revival meetings in the brush arbors after the crops were laid by. The Seventh Day Adventists and the Christians (Disciples) had a "debate" in the tent pitched on Father's farm.

Religious doctrine was quite important to many early settlers. Emotional demonstrations were common in church services. One of our neighbors and best friends, Mrs. Si Hatcher, was quite demonstrative. The oldest Hatcher daughter, Bertha (Gilbert), became a United Brethren minister. Years later, we had her officiate at Mother's funeral.

Several early day preachers deserve mention: Stokesbury, Brooks, Pucket, McReynolds, Holbrook, and I am sure there were others.

Legal Description:

Land surveys in Oklahoma are based on the rectangular system. The Initial Point is about eight miles west of Davis, Oklahoma. The Indian Meridian extends north and south and the Indian Base Line extends east and west, both intersecting the Initial Point. (Sketch #1 - not included).

A tier of townships six miles square extends east and west for the Indian Meridian, parallel to the Base Line, and numbered north and south from the Base Line.

A range is a row of townships extending north and south, parallel to the Indian Meridian. They are numbered east and west of the meridian.

The township is sub-divided into thirty-six sections, numbered as in sketch no. three (not included). Homesteaders were entitled to file on one quarter section containing one hundred sixty acres.

Father's homestead was SE1/4 Sec.8,T 18 N, R 1 E It is shaded in sketch 3.

Witness Tree:

I went with Father to locate the southeast corner of the farm. He first found the "Witness" tree. This tree had a blaze on one side, that is, the bark was cut down to the solid wood. This indicated that a corner marker, usually stone, was near with the surveyor's mark on it. By using his shovel, Father soon found the corner marker.

Tanning Hides:

Grandfather Bixler wanted to so some tanning in order to have leather for making shoes or patching harness. There was an ideal place on George Noblitt farm, about two miles from us. There was a small creek fed by a running spring where the hides could be treated and washed. After the hair was removed from the hides they were treated with tannin from oak bark, then put through a sweating process.

Grandfather had served in the Mexican War and had been a war prisoner. He developed a sore on his leg which, as he thought, brought on heart trouble. Mother plead with him to quit work and stay home. He promised to do so after he finished the batch he was working on.

Mr. Noblitt come to our place one night and called Father out. Grandfather had died on his way from the spring to the Noblitt house. He was lying on his back near a picket fence, his hat over his face, his cane through the picket fence, his head resting on a sack of hides, the ones that finished the batch.

Indians:

In my first year of school I often saw Indians with their teams and carriages traveling north on the section line east of our farm. I think they were Sac and Fox with possibly Kickapoo and Shawnee. Each year they went to the Otoe reservation south of Ponca City for a powwow. Their teams and carriages, surreys, and spring wagons were better than those of the local farmers. The Indians were receiving money form the government in payment for the surplus land, probably around $1.25 per acre.

I had no fear of Indians until our hired man, Steve Crenshaw, told me that Indians liked to eat little tow headed boys. When I passed Indians after that, I pulled my cap down on my head to they could not see the color of my hair.

One day Father took me with him to courthouse in Stillwater. He went to the Judge's office where a number of men were sitting around. An Indian couple with their interpreter came in to be married. The Judge asked the man the usual questions and got the answers through the interpreter. Then he asked the woman the questions and she answered "yes" without waiting for the interpreter. Some of the men looked sheepish because they has been careless in some of their remarks.

Senate and Council:

Father was elected to the Territorial Senate (Council) for the 1895 session, as a Populist. A. C. Scott of Oklahoma City, a Republican, was a fellow senator. They were the best of friends, and Dr. Scott told me later, because they both stood for the principle. After the legislative session of 1895 Dr. Scott served as president of A&M College until statehood.

I quote a paragraph from an article by Dr. Scott in the Oklahoma City Times of April 17, 1925:
"One of my best friends in the legislature was Tankersley of Payne County, a Populist. He was a man of high character, but of course I didn't like his politics and he abominated mine. His son Percy (Pat) was afterwards a highly esteemed student of mine at the Agricultural and Mechanical College."

Fence Posts:

Ready cash was a problem for the early day farmer. Besides selling butter and eggs, which the woman of the house took care of, the fence posts and wood could be sold for cash. To sell the posts Father hauled them to Mulhall, twelve miles. He received one and three quarter cents per post. By driving sex mile farther to Orlando he could get two cents per post. Father could haul a maximum of two hundred fifty posts if he used the oxen, but he was taking a chance of the wagon breaking down. To make the round trip in one day it was necessary to start before daylight. He got home between midnight and three o'clock in the morning.

The Skunk:

When I was about fourteen years old I was at the home of a neighbor, Frank Bowen, to pick cotton. We were working together in the field when we heard the dog barking in the woods near by. Mr. Bowen went to investigate and of course I went along. The dog was barking at a skunk near its den. Mr. Bowen outlined his strategy. He would throw a large stick at the skunk, knock it over, then rush it, grab its tail, swing it around and hit its head on a log to kill it. Everything worked as planned but for one thing. He got the skunk by the tail but it got it's head and shoulders in the hole in the ground and he could not pull it out.

I found a sharpened heavy picket and tried to pry the skunk loose but he was too stout. I jammed him in the ribs with the sharp end of the picket. About the third jab he squirted the foul smelling fluid right into my face.

I needed to wash it off and started for the cotton wagon where a jug of water was kept. My boy friend, John Bowen, Frank's nephew saw is all and still tells how I started in a walk and increased my speed to a run. When I reached the wagon the jug was empty and I had to go to the house to get water. Mrs. Bowen gave me a wash pan, soap, and some fresh cloths. I drew water form the well and went to the barn to bathe and change cloths. It took days for the odor to disappear. I have often wondered how Mr. Bowen got loose from the skunk without being doused.

Leaving the Farm:

The stress of teaching and running the farm was undermining Father's health and he gave up farming. He bought the Paradise Store, about six miles northeast of Coyle (then Iowa City). I attended Paradise school. He sold the store and bought one at Cimarron City, about five miles east of Coyle north of Cimarron River. I attended the Johnson school. (An excellent article about Cimarron City is in the Cimarron Valley Historical Society journal, 1973, by Leonard Parks.) After a short time at Goodnight Father moved the family to Stillwater so the children could have the advantage of a college education.

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