---Addie Doan and Albert Masonhall were my paternal grandparents and a part of my ancestry that will always live in my heart. Understanding, loving, friendly, humorous and kind are just some of the many positive adjectives to describe this unique couple. Childhood memories flood back in waves when I recall the times we spent together at their farm in Western Oklahoma, a few miles from Eagle City and the North Canadian River.
---The hunting trips with Grandpa in his later years when I should have realized how much he was physically sacrificing to tromp through the surrounding countryside with me; his twinkling eyes and occasional sense of somewhat ribald humor; driving the old pickup at age 9 during harvest time; Grandma's beyond-excellent country-fried chicken; her windup and firing a fastball to the waiting bat of her 11-year-old grandson at the age of 60; snuggling in that huge feather bed on those nippy winter nights; watching "Gunsmoke" with Grandpa; crawling out of bed at 4:30 or 5:00 am because Grandpa was already up and "purposely" making noise because he didn't see any reason for anyone else to stay in bed; remembering the touch of coyote fur on my feet as they were the standard-issue bedroom "rugs" in the house; watching Grandpa blow his cigar smoke on the inside of the windshield of the pickup and seeing the various gnats and other insects fall to the dashboard; firing his blackpowder 12 gauge shotgun at age eight and remembering his knowing smile as I picked myself up from the damp earth following the recoil; Grandma's trips to Dyke's General Store in town, 2 miles away, when I would be the pilot of their '51 Chevy or old pickup; the annual 4th of July fireworks display in the large area surrounded by the house, barn and various sheds; these are but a few of the many "moments to remember" that are a part of the rich ancestral heritage I shared with Grandma and Grandpa Masonhall.
---Albert Masonhall, he had no middle name, was born on February 11, 1892 on land homesteaded by George H. Van Hise and eventually owned by Alfred T. Popple in Township 7 (Blaine), Range 16W, Section 28, the NE 1/4 of Kearney County, Nebraska, just 7 miles south of the Platte River and the Oregon Trail. He was the youngest of 12 children born to George Henry Masonhall and Sarah Jane "Jennie" Peckham. The family had moved to the area in the Fall of 1884 settling on a farm 7 miles north of Axtell and stayed for 10 years before heading south to Kansas and eventually Oklahoma. In the 1888-89 school year, 8 of the 31 students in the local schoolhouse had the surname Masonhall. (In 1987, my daughter and I visited the area and one of the schoolhouses, over a hundred years old, was still standing).
---When Albert was old enough to attend school, the family was living in Hunnewell, Kansas, near the Oklahoma border, and the following year (1898) they moved to a place near Homestead, Oklahoma. They arrived via team and covered wagon. His childhood near the Blaine County-Major County line in Western Oklahoma was typical of most farm children. There were lots of chores around the place, taking care of the animals, planting and harvest times but with 10 older siblings (Emma had died in infancy in Nebraska), there was also plenty of help and encouragement.
---Addie Doan, she also had no middle name, was born on October 22, 1893 in what was to become Logan County, Oklahoma near the town of Mulhall. She was the third of eleven children born to Benjamin Grant Doan and Rebecca Jane Sample. Her parents had met and married in Jefferson County, Kansas but soon thereafter had traveled to Oklahoma Territory in a covered wagon. They later settled near Fairview in Major County, Oklahoma.
---According to her younger sister, Annie, Addie liked to sing and dance and would travel barefooted to the Plymouth stores over two miles away to trade eggs from the farm for different store goods. She later took music lessons and played for Sunday School and Church. (I still have sheet music she purchased from the teens and 1920's in the piano bench at my house). In her teens, she almost married another man but dumped him after finding out he didn't like her folks. She was later glad she did as the love of her life came a-courtin' in 1914.
---Albert and Addie were united in marriage on March 4, 1915 in Fairview, Oklahoma and they began a life together, one full of pleasure and hard work, that lasted over 50 years. The young couple started out with two cows, a team of ponies and a buggy with a top. They worked hard in carving a living as farmers on the John Winger place southeast of town but also took pleasure in their young lives together by attending Sunday School and Church and socializing with other families in the area. They later moved to the Fisher place near the tiny community of Plymouth and lived in what used to be the Post Office there.
---Tragedy struck the young couple on June 21, 1917 when Edna, their firstborn, died at birth. She was originally buried alongside Addie's parents in the Plymouth Pioneer Cemetery but later reinterred in Canton Cemetery, south of Canton, Oklahoma, next to her parents, Albert and Addie).
---On August 2, 1919, their second child, Ellis Leroy, was born in that same old post office building that served as their home. The following year, wanting land of their own, they bought a place near Eagle City where they lived out the remainder of their lives. Just two years later, on July 2,1922, their third child arrived and they named her Doris Pauline. The "baby" of the family, Glen Ray, was born on November 13, 1924. The doctor arrived after the birth, gave Albert a cigar and only charged him $2.50.
---The family farmed and raised chickens, turkeys, geese, hogs and cattle to make a living. Albert and the boys would hunt at night, walking a lot of miles in the process, but putting more food on the table. Many a catfish dinner was also on the evening table thanks to the nearby North Canadian River. Addie and Pauline would usually have a welcoming snack prepared when they returned. A rare, positive upbeat approach to life allowed them to weather both the good and the bad and to maintain a steady and stable existence throughout their lives. They could always seem to find the good and joyous parts of a situation.
Addie was also quite involved in community service as a charter member of the Merry Circle Club formed on February 10,1930 when the county Home Demonstration Agent, Ola Armstrong, met at Albert and Addie's home and helped organized one of the many Home Demonstration Clubs of Blaine County.
---Nearly 51 years of wedded bliss came to an end on January 24, 1966 when Grandma died in the Okeene Hospital following a stroke. Two years and eleven months later, on December 30, 1968 Grandpa passed away in the same hospital following a case of septicemia caused by a ruptured colon. They are buried side-by-side in a cemetery approximately three miles south of Canton, Oklahoma near the gravesite of their youngest son, Glen Ray, who passed away in 1989. Son Ellis and daughter Pauline still survive as do five grandchildren, seven great-grandchildren and five great-great granchildren. A sixth grandchild died in infancy in 1960.
---The old homeplace (aerial view) near Eagle City (aerial view) is still standing and one of the grandsons and his family recently built a new home on the same property. The red barn still stands with my Dad's initials carved on the front wall, farm implements from a bygone age are in evidence and the windmill, corral, water tank, pond and other reminders of my childhood still exist. In the winter's chill of Christmas, 1998, I revisited all of these childhood memories. This experience strengthened my belief in the oft-forgotten need of maintaining links to our pasts. We may not always know where our lives will lead us in the future but we always have the opportunity to know from whence we came.
---Grandpa and Grandma, I love you and still miss you both. Thank you for that quarter century of precious memories.
Page #3 --- Paternal Family History
Page #4 --- Paternal Family History (Continued)
Page #5 --- Paternal Family History Documents/Maps/Data
Page #6 --- Paternal Family History Documents/Maps/Data (Continued)
Page #8 --- "Genealogy" Reprint/1909 Cates Family Photo
To Albert & Addie's Story
|
Get your own Free Home Page
