Shake Those Branches

 Young W. Umphres was born just after the Civil War on October 20, 1869 to Gaston and Arminda Umphres in North Fork, Arkansas.  He was the fifth child out of nine born to this farming couple.  Sometime during the 1890's Young moved with his family from Arkansas to Barry County Missouri.  It was here that he met Eva Wall and they were married on October 21, 1894.  Eva was the sister to Lewis M. Wall.   While in Missouri the couple had four children:  Lewis Gaston, Jewell Otto, Callie Florence and Amy May.  Sometime between the years of 1903 and 1909 they moved their family to Lexington, Oklahoma where they had two more children, Armon Roy and Anna Marie.      I was recently sent this digital picture and on the back it had the name of Young printed, so I am going to assume that this is Young and Eva with their two first born sons, Lewis and Jewell Otto.  Jewell was born in 1897 and appears to be around the age of one in this pict...

                                                                Ethel Wall about the time she started school at Spring Hill Lewis Wall Jr.     In the 1890's, the Oklahoma territorial legislature began to set up a public school system in both the towns and rural areas.  The schools in the rural areas were placed about every three miles, so the children wouldn't have to walk to far each day.  The school at Spring Hill was first set up as a subscription school in 1890.   Later that year, the Abbott family donated some land for a school building to be placed near their homestead.  William Abbott and others in the community built the new school tha...

 While doing some newspaper research, I came across this school notice that Ralph Parsons dismissed school for a couple of days since he was needed as a witness in the trial of the State vs. Joe Myers.  This piqued my interest of what the trial was even about.  Of course after some quick research I found out what had happened.   Murder! The article below explains what happened when Joe Myers murdered his fellow farmer and friend Buck Story.  I have a couple of questions.  Was Ralph Parsons a witness to the murder or was he called as a character witness in the trial?  Now I have to see if I can find the court records and see why Ralph Parsons was needed at the trial.  The murder occurred near Lindsay, Oklahoma  on December 23, 1913 and the trial was held in February of 1914.  At this time Ralph was a teacher at Lindsay School.    So, did Joe Myers get sent prison or was he acquitted of Buck Story's murder?  See below to fin...

What motivated Anders Olson  and Christ Miller to up and move their families to Oklahoma?  They were well established in Jewell, Iowa with homes, a farm with good friends and family.  Anders had only recently purchased farm land from his FIL Christ Miller in September 1895.   Anders would have to leave his two sisters and their families and start anew in Oklahoma.  His children wouldn't have the opportunity to grow up with their cousins.  I am sure it was a hard decision to make.    Document showing Anders' purchase of Christ Miller's farm near Jewell   Christ and Dora moved into Jewell and set up a home there.   As I have written before, Christ had become quite active in the city life of Jewell.  He seemed to be dealing in real estate and taking an active role in city affairs, even running for city council.  He was well respected in his community.     Newspaper articles started appearing in the local papers aro...