Beckham Co. OK - History of Carter, OK., page 10 ==================================================================== USGENWEB ARCHIVES NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, data may be used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or for presentation by other persons or organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for purposes other than stated above must obtain the written consent of the file contributor. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by: Jerri Hodde ==================================================================== Descendants of Page Ten Carter, Oklahoma Generation No. 1 1. PAGE TEN3 CARTER, OKLAHOMA (BECKHAM COUNTY2 OKLAHOMA, BECKHAM1 CO.OKLAHOMA). Notes PIONEERING IN BECKHAM COUNTY,OKLAHOMA By: Mrs.L. STREET I have been asked how we lived to ever get a start when we first came to Oklahoma,since there was nothing here.My answers were:We brought some provisions with us such as meats,some flour and meal and canned goods,etc.After this was gone we went to a little grocery store which was here before we came.It was ten or twelve miles away.We also brought two cows which soon freshened.Then we were never without milk and butter.Also we brought a few chickens in a coop fastened to the side of the wagon.In the summer we would take buckets and tubs,get in the wagon and go to the river and pick wild plumbs.There was an abundance.In one summer I made ten gallons of plum jelly besides plum butter and preserves.At one time ,when my family was all at home I had 226 gallons of canned fruit and vegetables.We always practiced thrift.The first winter we sat by our little cookstove and burned green cottonwood from the creek.Next winter my husband built a fireplace in the side of the dugout in which we lived two years.We got water from streams and holes on the prairie.Some people burned corn,cottonseed,cow chips or anything they could find to burn.Only one dugout and not a house was in sight we located on our claim December 28,1898.But we soon had neighbors as people kept coming to file.One entertained strangers many times coming in search of homes like we did.As the country kept settling up we had religious services in our dugouts and were as happy as we knew how.As our families grew up we had church services every Sunday,prayer meetings Wednesday nights,match spelling and ciphering and literary at the schoolhouse every Friday night and community singing at our homes every Saturday night.When we first came to Oklahoma our family doctor was Joel D.BAKER who lived at Port.Many others came later but Dr.DENBY was our choice.He saved my late husband in several attacks of flu.He also saved our 16 year old daughter of a siege of 243 days of typhoid fever.After that she had quick pneumonia and Dr.DENBY had to have help to get here because of real bad weather and roads.The doctor said she would not have lived until morning if he had not given her a shot to run her fever down. People were calling for him and could not find him.When we later found out where he was he had driven off to the side of the road to take a rest.Many are living today because of Dr.DENBY'S services.No doubt his loss of sleep and rest and exposure hastened his death.Though he is gone some are still living because of his efforts to save people.Another of our favorite doctors has been Dr.Margaret MACKENZIE--deceased--sister of J.C.MACKENZIE,the banker,also deceased.Dr.MACKENZIE did almost miraculous service in our family and I know she saved the life of this writer after other doctors said there was no use,they couldn't do any good.----THIS writer was 92 Christmas Day 1967 and has been writing the Poarch News ever since there has been the town of CARTER for the first paper----THE CARTER EXPRESS.First Editor was Mr.WAGONER.******** EMANUEL BIBLE SCHOOL*** Beulah (now CARTER)Oklahoma By:Francas CHESTER ----My father,Frank Talmedge ALEXANDER,who founded Emanuel Bible School,was born December 28,1873,near Chalk Mountain,Texas.My mother's name was Nettie Ella EILAND.She was born near Chalk Mountain,April 23,1874.Father passed away in Los Angeles in 1954.Mother passed away February 14,1940 at Visalia,California.Father filed on land where Carter,Oklahoma,is now located in 1898.He started the Bible School there in 1907.Brother HAIR and Brother HIGH and Brother STREET helped to start that work.Father got the name "Beulah"out of the Bible from Isaiah 62:4.The Bible school was not a college,but a school for all ages.R.E.WINSETT was one of the teachers and Brother ORWEY was a Bible teacher.The school building was built in 1907 and it burned in the fall of 1910.A paper was published "Apostolic Faith."I don't think a copy could be found.I know of none.I can't recall how many students were enrolled in the Bible School.The most at any one time would not exceeded forty,I feel sure.I had six brothers,Calvin,Monta,Roy,Wesley,Sam and Paul.They have all passed away but Roy and Wesley.I have two sisters,Ruby and Jewel.All of my family that are alive live here in California except Ruby who lives in Arizona.We left Carter in 1911 and went to Oklahoma City.From there we went to South Texas in 1912.We went back to Oklahoma in 1915 locating at Vinson in Harmon County.We came to California in 1934 and settled at Visalia.****Emanuel Bible School was a project of people of the Pentecostal Denomination.They planned a colony named "Beulah"which was later changed to the town of Carter,Oklahoma.Ed.****** EARLY DAY HOMESTEADING IN WESTERN OKLAHOMA By:R.G.WOODS****** I have been reading some of the letters of the old settlers of this country and feel like I might be one of them.In the fall of 1898 I landed with my brother at ElReno.That was as far west as the Rock Island went at that time and they were working on it.In the spring of 1899,we got as far west as Weatherford.I want to say that I was on the first train that got into Weatherford.That spring I filed two and one half miles north of where Carter is now.I made a dugout or a dug in,I don't know which,any way it was covered over with cotton wood poles and they were covered over with dirt.The door was the only bit of lumber in the dugout and I bought it from Weatherford.Well,it sure looked like home sweet home to me.I had a bunch of hay and two old comforts in the corner for a bed.I had a box for a table and cottonwood blocks for chairs,tin cups and plates for dishes and I used a tin cup and a hammer to grind my coffee.How well do I remember one night about 12 o'clock when I came home and raised up the door and lighted my oil lamp.A real nice cat had taken possession of my bed.He had a big fluffy tail and a pretty white stripe down his back.Well,I'm not going to tell you what happened .I put up with this kind of living for about three years and I got money enough to build a little box house 12X14 and bought a team of ponies.I went to church one night and met a little black-haired gal and I decided that my batching days were over.After talking her into taking me for better or worse,we settled down on the homestead and raised a family of three boys.I have paid taxes all these years and I feel that my little bit has gone into making this country what it is today.The first trip I made was from Weatherford out here to Roger Mills County,as that was Roger Mills at that time.There wasn't a bridge on the road so I feel like I helped build those highways and those modern schools and Churchs,the county court house and also the State Capitol.My tax alone did not amount to much but with all the rest ,the job was done.