Newspaper Article Answers Question: Why Did They Leave Oklahoma?

My daughter is taking a year-long geography course this year. Last week she was learning about the "pushes" and "pulls" that cause people to migrate or move. Sometimes people move because something disagreeable or unacceptable occurs and they are trying to get away from it. While other times the pull of something desirable in another place causes them to migrate.

Although I have yet to find any evidence that they won any land, I believe some of my family members moved to Oklahoma for the 1901 Land Lottery. (I know they were in Lawton by early 1903.) Free land? That's quite a pull for a farmer!

"Big Pasture 1905" map, public domain, originally published in "The Daily Oklahoman" in 1905
(image from Wikipedia)
Faxon, where my family lived, is above the A & N in "COMANCHE"

My great, great grandfather, Charles Peters, ended up dying in Comanche County in 1910 and his son, my great grandfather, returned to Kansas less than a year later. But why did they return?

We often struggle to find out why are ancestors moved. This time, though, I found the answer written quite plainly in the newspaper. It's a short clipping, but I'm thankful for it! It misspells my grandfather's name - his name was actually Emil Peters - but correctly identifies his wife. Here is what the article says:

Ama [Emil] Peters and his wife are here from Faxon, Okla. She was formerly Miss Myrtle Coppenbarger. They say that country will never see them again, everything is burned up by drouth [sic]. [Arkansas City Daily Traveler, Arkansas City, Kansas, 27 Jun 1911, page 6, column 2; digital image newspapers.com, (http://www.newspapers.com: accessed 02 Oct  2014)]

Decades before the Dust Bowl, the years of 1909/1910 were the driest consecutive years of the century in Oklahoma. And, 1910 was the single driest year of the century. (Information from Oklahoma Climatology Center.) These farming families must have really suffered!

I'm thankful to learn of the pull (free land!) & push (drought!) that took my ancestors from Kansas to Oklahoma and back to Kansas again. 

Have you been able to learn why your family left their homes and families and friends to move to a new place? Or do you have family members who returned home for an unknown reason? I hope to uncover more of these stories of the pushes and pulls that affected my family.

Do we share common ancestors? I'd love to talk! Please leave a comment or write me at drleeds@sbcglobal.net

Praise for Miracle Drug!

I found the following newspaper advertisement twenty-two times in the Arkansas City Daily Traveler. I guess Eckert (Eckard) Peters (1845- 1915) was sold on this miracle drug! Eckert was a brother of my great, great grandfather, Charles Peters (1847 in Germany - 1910 in Comanche County, Oklahoma). In 1894 they both lived in Sumner County, Kansas which was near the county line of Cowley County, Kansas where Arkansas City ("Ark City") is located.

Lagrippe Remedy, Arkansas City Daily Traveler, Arkansas City, Kansas, 08 Nov 1894, page 3, column 2;
digital image newspapers.com, (http://www.newspapers.com: accessed 20 Sep 2014)

Two years ago I bought a 25-cent bottle of Lagrippe Remedy for coughs and colds and it cured when all others failed. I buy it by the pint now and am never without it. - Eckert Peters, Ashton, Kan." For sale at Simmons' drug store.

Do we share common ancestors? I'd love to talk! Please leave a comment or write me at drleeds@sbcglobal.net

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - My Father's Mother's Paternal Line

I've done a few of Randy Seaver's "Saturday Night Genealogy Fun" challenges over at Genea-Musings. This week's challenge is about your father's mother's paternal lines.

1) What was your father's mother's name?

My grandmother's maiden name was Hazel Lucille Peters. At the end of her life, she lived with my aunt & uncle who lived in the same town as I. She had almost white hair and, as a young child, I thought that was just her hair color. So, when I received a doll with white hair, I named her Hazel. She died when I was only 5 and I have just a few memories of her - one of them being of her eating pork skins.

A photo of my grandmother Hazel long before she had white hair
(Photo in possession of my family)

2) What is your father's mother's patrilineal line? That is, her father's father's father's ... back to the most distant male ancestor in that line?
Hazel Lucille Peters was born in 1910 in Comanche County, Oklahoma. Five years before her birth & five years after her family was living in Sumner County, Kansas. So, I wonder why they were in Oklahoma for those years.

Photo of Emil & brother, Will, with their tractor & J.I. Case steam engine threshing machine
(posted by Teri, aka "Twee3", on ancestry.com)

Hazel's father, Emil Wilhelm Peters (1877-1955), was born in Sumner County, Kansas and stayed in that area except for the few years he lived in Comanche County, Oklahoma. He worked as a farmer & did threshing alongside his brother, William.

Charles Peters & his wife Fredericka (Werther) Peters
Photo from Webbe family album in possession of Scott Hawley of Westerville, Ohio
(used with permission)

Emil's father, Charles Peters (1847-1910), was also a farmer. He immigrated from Germany to Pickaway County, Ohio when he was about 11 years old. Shortly after he married in 1871 he moved to Sumner County, Kansas. Like his sons, Emil & Tony, and young granddaughter, Hazel, he was living near Lawton, Comanche County, Oklahoma in the early 1900's and died there in 1910.

1859 New York Passenger List for "Joach Peters", age 44, and family - traveled "Between decks"
(image from ancestry.com)

Charles' father, Joachim Otto Peters (abt 1815-abt 1894), was also a farmer. He was born in Germany, possibly Gustrow in Mecklenberg, and immigrated with his wife, Henrietta (Bingher), and six children to the United States in the summer of 1859. He lived in Pickaway County, Ohio before migrating to Sumner County, Kansas in the early 1870's. I have not been able to locate any information about this family in Germany.

3) Can you identify male sibling(s) of your father's mother, and any living male descendants from those male sibling(s)? If so, you have a candidate to do a Y-DNA test on that patrilineal line. If not, you may have to find male siblings, and their descendants, of the next generation back, or even further.

My grandmother had two brothers. One married later in life and didn't have any known children. The other had three sons, two of whom I remember from my childhood. I remember one had a grandson that was just a few years older than me. I'll have to ask some older family members to help me fill in this tree and trace these three brothers.

4) Tell us about it in your own blog post, or in a comment on this post, or in a Facebook or Google Plus post.

Clipping from "The Wellington Daily News", 13 November 1902

So, here's my post! It took me a little over two hours to write it as I was doing research as I went along. While doing it, I uncovered some new records! Specifically, some newspaper clippings about Charles Peters and the farm he sold when he moved to Oklahoma. Apparently, the buyer didn't make his second payment and so the farm was to be sold at auction. This is something I want to follow up on!

Do we share common ancestors? I'd love to talk! Please write me at drleeds@sbcglobal.net