In the beginning ...

At high noon on April 22, 1889, thousands upon thousands of men, women, children and assorted animals departed staging areas in Arkansas and Texas. In a mad dash into Indian Territory (Oklahoma), these Boomer-Sooners rushed headlong into the Wild West in order to establish a legitimate claim to a parcel of land upon which they might begin a new and better life. Crooked federal agents and Rangers preceded the Sooners and illegally staked out many of the most desirable parcels for themselves. As remarkable as it may seem, The City of Guthrie, Oklahoma, was laid out, a government established and 10,000 citizens spent the night in what was to become the First Territorial Capital. That's right, unlike Rome; Guthrie was built in one day, actually in one-half day, between Noon and 6 PM. Guthrie is of more than passing interest to me as I will point out later. Try this link for the whole fascinating story of that day over a Century ago. http://www.library.cornell.edu/Reps/DOCS/ landrush.htm

A few years after this mad scramble to find and occupy a precious piece of land; a young Quaker-Methodist couple with their infant son, Earl, decided to, somewhat belatedly, join the trek westward to seek their fortune. Tom Davis, a water well driller par excellence, had been to South America working as a timber man, and was, in every sense, an entrepreneur. His wife, Vida K. was a lady in every sense of the word and cut out to be a mother and Grandmother; years later, I would describe her as 'regal', particularly in her later years with her beautiful white hair and her natural habit of crossing only her ankles and folding her hands in her lap.

Their parents had arrived in Pendleton, Indiana, many years before. Tom's father, Noble Washington Davis was the son of one Thomas 'Tom' Davis, who had been born in western Pennsylvania on 08 April 1796, married a Quaker lady named Rachel Stanbrough, born in Center MM, (MM stands for Monthly Meeting, a Quaker Community) Clinton County, Ohio, on 13 September 1802, fathered 3 daughters, and headed west to Indiana, where Tom petitioned the local MM to become a Quaker; this was granted.

The following notation was taken from "The History of Madison County, Indiana"

"In 1867, Thomas Davis, near Pendleton, was found dead in his woods. He was an old citizen, aged near seventy years." Official date of death is 17 Nov 1867. Rest in Peace most revered and oldest known progenitor. Thomas, Rachel and several offspring are buried in "The Old Cemetery" at the Friends Meeting House in Fall Creek, Pendleton, Indiana. Thomas owned the land.

Noble Washington, (better known as 'Wash') was born on 26 July 1833 in Spiceland, Henry County, Indiana. Wash inherited Tom's property, located primarily in Fall Creek Township, Madison County, Indiana, married a nice Quaker lady, Mary Elizabeth Garretson, born in York County, Pennsylvania on 08 November 1841 and continued the Davis line, now firmly in the Quaker Religion, with the birth of another Tom Davis. Vida K's predecessors were Methodists. Moses Elliott Kerr was born right at the turn of the 19th Century (c. 1801) in Greenville, Tennessee, into a family of circuit riders and preachers. By about 1830, he was a local government functionary in Monroe County, West Virginia, and she a rabble-rousing, extremely vocal anti-slavery activist, Mary Elizabeth 'Polly' Vawter, born 01 September 1809 in Monroe County, West Virginia. How and where they met and married is unknown to me. They left West Virginia in the early 1840s, floated down the Ohio River to Indiana and took root in Madison County, Indiana. They had five children; among them was Vida's father, James Vauter Kerr, born on 19 June 1843 in Princeton, Virginia, prior to the trip down the Ohio River.

James became a fairly well-to-do farmer and one of the organizers of the group that built and managed the first Indiana Turnpike. Vida's Mother was Rosa Belle Powell, born on 26 April 1852 in Fayette County, Indiana. James and Rosa married on 31 December 1876 in Alpine, Indiana.

Tom and Vida arrived ultimately in Indian Territory (IT) as Oklahoma was then known. Tom was an authoritarian, crack shot with a pistol, and, above all, businessman. Vida K. was a well-educated lady who learned to speak the languages of the Five Civilized Tribes; the Cherokee, the Choctaw, the Comanche, the Chickasaw and the Seminole who were the dominant tribes in IT. They were called the civilized tribes because they were willing to accept the white man's laws and to live in peace. There were other Tribes, The Kiowa, The Osage and the Quapah not as willing to abide by Laws of the Great White Father in Washington. Vida then organized a school to teach the Indian children to read and write English. Tom was busy forming and operating, with the help of young Earl, a drayage (hauling by horse and wagon) business, which came under attack frequently by renegade Indians. Tom also set up a general store, a newspaper and other enterprises. Needless to say, he was very successful. Over time, the family lived in several very small communities (Hector, Beggs, Sapulpa, Mounds, Muscogee and others) within the IT. Another son, Coral Benjamin (CB) was born in Sapulpa, IT, in 1902 and Vida gave birth to two more children, who lived for only a very short time.

In 1917, in contravention of Quaker doctrine, Earl joined the US Navy to serve during World War I.

He was discharged in New Orleans in 1918 and went back to Oklahoma which had become a state on 07 November, 1907. He worked at many laboring jobs in the oilfields around Tulsa, particularly in Kiefer, and with harvesting crews in Oklahoma, Kansas and Colorado. Earl worked for a short time on the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad before attending Ray's Automobile School in Kansas City

In about 1922-23, Earl landed in Milliken, Weld County, Colorado, and with a partner, opened an automobile shop. An entrepreneur like his father, Earl owned and operated a dance hall and a movie theater. According to him and others, Earl also transported illegal whiskey in a special car he built.

Sometime during his peregrinations, Earl met the local postmistress, one Inez Ethel Hupp, fell in love and on May 6, 1924, they were married. Inez quickly became pregnant with me. Sometime in 1924, Tom was diagnosed with Tuberculosis and he and Vida K. moved to Kerrville, Texas, where Tom entered one of the many TB sanitaria in the area. The prognosis was extremely dim for Tom.

Earl and the pregnant Inez decided to go to...