The Autobiography of Mary Frances Earp

The Autobiography of Mary Frances Earp: Memories, Reflections, Dreams has just been published. The framework is fictional, as Great Grandmother left behind no other form of self-expression than her quilting (cover photo), but the contents are historically accurate and extensively researched. Great Grandma tells of her life beginning in Iowa in 1862, her marriage to Will Earp, and their lives as homesteaders first in Nebraska and then in Oklahoma. Her father was Rev. Martin Van Buren Wright, who established the first Church of God in Stroud OK, and died there in 1914. The book contains genealogical information about the WRIGHTS and EARPS. It is available here from Amazon.com.

A Tale that is Told: Autobiography of Opal Earp Pounds

My brother Wayne Pounds and I have just finished the big project of editing and publishing Mama’s autobiography, which she wrote in the last years of her life. (She died in 2009.) She called it “A Tale That Is Told” and we added the subtitle.It’s available first as an ebook, which you may download for free: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/740367 But an ebook, as you know, doesn’t give you anything to hold in your hands, pass around, or keep on the shelf. So we’ve also made it available in print form on Amazon, setting the price as low as possible. It's short (thank the Good Lord!), running to about one hundred pages, including ten of photos. We have received excellent reviews from the book and expect that you would enjoy it also. Order from Amazon.com . Price is $5.45.

 A Tale That Is Told: The Autobiography of Opal Earp Pounds

The tale that Opal Earp Pounds tells is that of a farm girl, born in 1920 near Stroud, Oklahoma, of farmers and grandparents who had homesteaded. After finishing high school,…

AMAZON.COM

https://www.amazon.com/Tale-That-Told-Autobiography-Pounds/dp/1974412253

SUCCESSFUL FARMERS

I must confess to being negligent and failing to post in several months. But you will probably be hearing from me frequently for a while and I have several things to share with you.

Here is an interesting article that my brother Wayne found in the Chandler Tribune, 28 Apr 1911, Chandler, OK. It sounds like he, William Earp, Great Grandpa, was being interviewed.

"W. A. Earp, Stroud, Route 4, came from Nebraska sixteen years ago. Says this is a pretty good country all around, and that he is like the Irishman who said he would never go back on the ship which brought  ___ "strapped to the wall" as he expressed it, when he came here at the opening, but is now worth about $22,000. Has made it in stock; went to raising stock the first thing. Never went in very deep on cotton. Corn and hogs made him his first money. Raised broom corn one year--that was enough for him.

Has always handled horses and mules. They have been his main hold for several years. Now has thirty-four head of fine ones. One of the finest jacks and two of the best Percheron horses in the country.

He says the only trouble with this country is that it has been abused. "Cotton, cotton, too much cotton." He has some of the oldest land in the county and it is washed the least. Has had it into small grain more than anything else. Raised cotton on it two years, but not two years in succession. Corn for two or three years, but most of the time in small grain. He owns 440 acres with 200 acres in cultivation. Has good springs in different parts of the farm. We looked upon some of them and wished not for them but for some just like them on our place. We imagine it would be very nice to have living stock water in the pastures.

Has a good family orchard and he needs a large one for he has a large family...seven boys and four girls. We only saw three of the girls and one of them was married, but the other two we wouldn't trade for all his boys and the boys are good ones too.

We came to his place about five o'clock and couldn't or at least didn't get away until the next morning. That evening we went with the young people to a literary at Oak Valley school house and had a splendid time. There was an interesting debate on the program. Resolved: "That cotton is of more benefit to the Oklahoma farmer than is small grain." As we naturally on the negative side their argument ................."

STOCK SALE - Thursday, Oct. 2, 1919 - W. A. Earp, Owner

 

Stock Sale for William A. Earp. This was published in the Stroud Democrat September 26, 1919.

Oklahoma Trails To The Past



I am so anxious to see this monument. Hopefully on my next trip to Oklahoma we will be able to make it happen. This bigger-than-life brass monument is located on Lincoln Blvd., Bricktown, Oklahoma City, OK.



OK Land Run monument by sculptor Paul Moore
Lt click to enlarge

The name Oklahoma comes from the Choctaw phrase, 'okla humma,' literally meaning red people.

Choctaw Chief Allen Wright suggested the name in 1866 during treaty negotiations with the federal government regarding the use   of Indian Territory, in which he envisioned an all-Indian state controlled by the United States Superintendent of Indian Affairs.  Equivalent to the English word Indian, okla humma was a phrase in the Choctaw language used to describe the Native American race as a whole. Oklahoma later became the name for  Oklahoma Territory, and it was officially approved in 1890, two years after the area was opened to white settlers. Formed by the combination of Oklahoma Territory and Indian  Territory on November 16, 1907, Oklahoma was the 46th state to  enter the union. Its residents are known as Oklahomans, and its capital and largest city is Oklahoma City. The state has 77 counties.