More notes from Uncle Tom

The Farm

notes from Tom McGaughy

Words in brackets were hard to read and may be inaccurate.

Great Grandpa McGaughy and his brother-in-law both came to the valley in 1859 according to Beall and Roxie - went back to Mississippi for the War and returned in 1869 and bought the land. Apparently wealthy, a picture of Great Grandpa, his wife, 9 kids, and 198 slaves is apparently lost. Steamer trunk had confederate uniform, bundle of confederate money, etc. Jud put it out in the chicken house, rain headed in and ruined everything. 

Brother-in-law Bob traded his land - think it was part of the Barden (?) farm, to Great Grandpa for 80 acres back in Mississippi. Can verify in count records - I ran across it there.

Indians were bad and family lived in Whitesboro and Dallas before moving to Spanish Fort in 1872. Built General Store on East side of standing store building - foundation still there. Let people have credit and no pay - went broke.

Moved up to the farm 1873-1874. From Book - University Press - in Library in Wichita Falls - wish I had kept the name. 1873 cattle drive from south Texas by old rancher. Had 1200 head on drive to Kansas - got to Red River, it was out of bank. 20,000 head of steer being held there by river - most drives 1500-2000. This guy was afraid of more rain and took his 1200 down the draw next to The Cunninghams - across the river and up mud creek just above rock bluff. 4 head did not follow closely and were swept down the river, lost, he gave a perfect description. That night came a big storm, the 20,000 left in the valley stampeded and it took two weeks to get separated. He got top price - the panic of 1873 knocked value others in half. I wish I had the book, would like to read it again.

That is what happened to the 4 foot tall blue stem grass in the valley. Great Grandpa said that looking into the valley from the church, you could see a man but not his horse. 

Red River out of banks on the following times. No one else has record of this to my knowledge. Keep record for future.

1873 - out several weeks
1908 - very high - lots of silt - got spring house at spring and possibly a still
1935 - cut off 35 acres on back of farm and made Willow Island.
1941 - Deck and Tince swam out and got bridge timbers, I played in it age 8
1951 - out 2 times. Not bad.
1983 - Horrible - idiot civil corps general let Altus dam water stag up, ruined river
1987 - not bad. Many fish followed bank (The Bluff) up stream - large and small fish, all kinds

I think that it got out in 1993, but don't know. [you, Bob, find out and get questioned record]

Great Grandpa McGaughy led the family, [illegible - bringing his slaves or Birmingham Hou] to Spanish Fort then died in 1876 and Great Grandma also. Left Grandpa the farm at age 28. Know very little of early years. Raised a lot of hogs - killed 65 at a time, made bacon and hauled it to railhead at Sherman, 5 cents per pound.I have a hunch that under the bacon was jugs. I know of at least 2 stills operated at the spring. We dug out a lot of broken pottery in 1973. Remains of foundation of spring house is still there. Rock ledge extends out 6-7 feet from spring, drops off three feet ([cooling harvel (or hovel) was there we found it]). This filled in in 1908 at bottom of spring house. Found a crowbar, small gold latch for a box and a still working 1892 Winchester 2h action.

Aunt Roxie born in 1884 said along about 1900 they were eating noon meal and mountain lion got up on the shoulder of the fireplace and started to squal. Grandpa got his gun and went out and shot him so they could finish lunch in peace. 1902 Grandpa killed a buck and doe with one shot at the spring. 1907 killed 110 black birds with one shot. 1908 double charged it and splintered stock into 13 pieces. I put it back together, this is the old muzzle loader Bob M. has. Again when Dad (born 1894) was 9 or 10 years old, they were at noon meal and a bad storm came over - door to porch was open and ball lightning came in, drifted the length of the dining table, which was about 15 feet long, the ball hit grandma Minnie - and knocked her out when it exploded. She was out only a minute and was OK. Dad went away to college - East Texas Baptist C. but only stayed part of a year. Ran off and joined a circus. Learned how to make salt water taffy - good stuff. Main duty was taking care of bulls. They took around nine cattle with them. Stayed with them 8-9 months and went back home and started farming.

Farming was very profitable during (WW1) the war years. Dad got rid of his buggy and bought a 1917 Model T. They had to be cranked so Ike Gill (Judd's older brother) invented an acetylene starter for it - Dad said it worked real good.

Grandma and Grandpa Gill were from Kentucky - she must have been from back in the hills - spoke Elizabethan English - "Thee and Thou". They came to Oklahoma by covered wagon in 1907. Their house is located 3/8 mile NW of the bridge on Cache Creek, west of Lawton. Commanche Indians were downstream 1/2 mile. Mom saw Quanah Parker there. They went back to Kentucky about 1909, Grandpa Gill farmed there and did real well. Came back to Oklahoma by train, 1 car for HHG and 1 car for big draft horses, Farmed near Ragtown, oil boom town, quit and bought hotel at Wilson, located in NW side, foundation was still there in late 1960's.

Had a poker game in upstairs room and 2 whores. Good influence on the kids. Ike and Dick started drinking then. Mom moved to a school about 15 miles east and started teaching. GP went broke again and started the kids to working in the fields and picking cotton. That is how they ended up in the valley at home.

The start of the depression must not have been too bad for them - Dad, Henry, and Jud all bought new deer rifles - Henry and Dad .30 Remingtons, Jud the 30-30 Winchester now owned by Bob F. Dad and Jud went to Mason County to deer hunt in 1929. Don't know about Henry. Dad went back several years in a row. He and Port Howard, his best friend. Walt [Zunaseralt] borrowed Dad's .30 rifle several years and went south 3-4 days and brough back the rifle, 18 shells from a new box of 20, and deer steaks.

Walt drowned in 1941, crossing the Red River at the [footbridge] - washed out and their boat turned over. He hung in brush and came up 3 days later. Turtles ate his nose, ears, and fingers. Dick Gill came to see us soon after, fishing caught several large turtles. Had Mom make him turtle soup. No one else would eat any - finally told Dick about Walt - Dick's old friend. Dick went outside and puked up his turtle soup. I was 8 - Dick took me squirrel hunting and let me do the shooting. I killed 3 - first time I can remember shooting or hunting. All were in the Oak Tree on the ridge in the woods at the Brown's fence.

The Last Wolf Hunt

My wife and I went to Oklahoma City again last weekend, to visit a specialist concerning our unborn child. After receiving a clean bill of health for the baby, we decided to take a trip down to Wylie, TX, and visit my Great Uncle Tom, whose health is beginning to fail him.

Tom recalled a few stories about his family that he could remember. He had a few pages of notes which I copied and will eventually post to this blog, but he also had a great story about the Last Wolf Hunt which I OCR'd and cleaned up. Enjoy!

The Last Wolf Hunt

by Tom McGaughy

ln 1947 many of the farmers in the Red River Valley, north of Nocona, Texas, were being troubled by wolves catching their chickens. Chickens were generally allowed to free range and were easy for a wolf to catch, to the extent that a neighbor, Pee Wee Tucker, killed a big pup as he chased a chicken between his legs. My mother hit one with a broom in the yard.

 My uncle Henry McGaughy, along with myself and Basil Edwards, located a den with pups one April. We dug out eleven in all and put them in a cage that Uncle Henry had brought along. The pups had their eyes open and were nippy little rascals. The den was located in a plum thicket with a big green briar patch about 3 feet tall on the south and east side.

We took the pups home and upon returning Henry called several wolf hunters he knew, hound dog men, they were called and they in turn called people they knew. 

That first night 8 to 10 men came bringing with them 45 dogs. We set up camp on our picnic grounds, a clearing in the woods. The men took most of the dogs out to the den and the two wolves met them there. The dog wolf took off and led the dogs away by the Spanish Fort, five miles east, then lost them under the old school house at Illinois Bend 7-8 miles further east. This ended the first night.

The second night we had about 150 dogs and 25-30 men. This was a confused night with 45-50 dogs turned loose and short runs. There was some fighting, the wolves whipping the dogs. No good runs that night  except about 2pm when the dog wolf whipped several dogs on Ed Russell's back porch. Ed's son said "lt was the scariest racket" he ever heard.

On the third day, I fed the wolf pups, they learned to drink milk very quickly. Loads of hunters and dogs came in. One as far as Clovis, New Mexico, with his 6 dogs. He did a lot of bragging about how his dogs would "catch those coyotes quickly."No one told him what was out there. About 75-80 cars and pickup trucks were there and an estimated 450 dogs, probably 110-115 men and two 14yr old boys, Basil and me.

About 8pm they started leading 50-60 dogs towards the pups about 500 yards away. When they got out about 75 yards the dogs almost went crazy, the wolves had been there to see what was going on. They turned the dogs loose and the chase was on. The wolves went as far as the briar patch and then turned to fight. Lots of growling, and dogs yelping in pain. The wolves used the narrow paths through the briars so that only 1-2 dogs could get to them at a time. The dogs were no match for the much  larger and faster wolves. Around this same time, howling commenced from the East, South, and West. Easily counted were six wolves. The main bunch of dogs at the camp were tied up, and were excited and agitated as they looked in all three directions. Some of the hunters wanted to turn loose small groups of dogs at a time, but one hunter said, "Boys, we came to catch wolves, turn them all loose!” After about a two minute discussion on the subject, 350 dogs were running in every direction giving the wolves a hard time.

Mom and Dad had been to Nocona and a group crossed the highway in front of them, seven miles south. They picked up and brought two young dogs that were "pooped out." Their hunt lasted only 30 minutes.

The guy from Clovis did not turn his dogs loose, he said that they needed rest after the long trip.

There were dogs scattered over a ten mile radius. After that night people were bringing them in and calling Mom and Dad and giving locations of where they were holding them. None were lost in the hunt.

So far, lots of chases, no dogs badly hurt, no wolves caught.

On the fourth day, the guy from Clovis wanted to run his dogs early in the morning, so Henry, Basil, and I took him and his six dogs to the briar patch in Henry's pickup. We stood in the backend and watched. The dogs found the wolves immediately, and we could see both dogs and wolves in the network of paths through the briar, about 30 inches high. Soon there was the sound of fighting and dogs were jumping over the briars to get away from the wolves.

One dog came in and was badly cut up. Our guy from Clovis started calling his dogs off and four more came back. We walked out in the briar patch and found his prize bitch dog, cut to pieces, dead. That is when the guy finally realized what his dogs had been fighting. he said, ”I thought you were calling coyotes, "wolves", but these are Timber Wolves."

Henry was a dog lover and rode the guy pretty hard about being a fool for not listening to everyone who told him they were wolves. 

I was walking dead that day, with about 2 hours of naps, going on four days, so I went home and ate and slept for 18 hours.

Some of the hunters left that day, while others stayed and ran the wolves again that fourth night. Then early on the fifth morning, they caught the bitch wolf. She was probably worn out and hungry, with no time to hunt. They weighed her in at 92 pounds.

The dog wolf was never caught. I saw him on a number of occasions prior to the hunt, as well as the two together. He was six inches taller at the shoulders, heavier set, and I am sure he would have easily beat 125 pounds.

This was the last big wolf hunt. It is highly unlikely to happen again. There is a lack of wolves and there are very few people who have dogs that will stay with a wolf.

Regardless of what Texas Parks and Wildlife says, there are still a few wolves in the Red River valley. Also, there are a few Lobo wolves, the old buffalo wolves on the Canadian River in the Panhandle. To see them, camp out and watch under the bridge over the Canadian River by Boys Ranch, Tascosa.

This was quite an experience for a 14 year old boy, and made an impression that has lasted a lifetime. Now at 70 years old, much of it is still very clear.

I miss the thrill of the sight of wolves. From the sight of a dog wolf crossing the road in front of me to the bitch teaching her pups how to catch grasshoppers. How many 14 year olds can say that they taught wolves to catch chickens by shooting free ranging chickens at the edge of the woods, and started a killing spree?

All this because I hated chickens! A chicken a day won't keep the doctor away, but it sure will bring in the wolves.

A map that Tom drew at the end of his story.

Ellett Family Weirdness!

Originally, all I knew of this family photo was that it was my Great Great Grandparents' family. I only knew that my great grandmother Kerney was one of the children.

I have been trying to I.D. the rest of the people in this photograph. The parents were easy enough. The children have been difficult.

Initially, I thought that the last of their children, Leslie C. Ellett, was born around 1902, and I think that would date this photo sometime around 1898 or 1899 since there are only 8 children in it. The children of Charles Henry and Mattie Hammond (Sanford) Ellett are listed in the 1900 and 1910 census records:

 So, I originally thought the list went like so:

TOP L-R: Luther S Ellett b 1883, Marvin S Ellett b 1889, Stella W Ellett b 1893, Kerney Leo Ellett b 1886

Bottom L-R: Charles Henry Ellet b 1859, holding Maggie G Ellett b 1896, Henry W Ellett b 1890, Otis M Ellett b 1894, Mattie Hammond (Sanford) Ellett b 1859 holding Vera V Ellett b 1898

I was sure that Kerney was the girl in the top right. Later photos of her show that she still parts her hair in a similar fashion. The other girl doesn't appear to have a hairline that would allow for that. The girl in the top right also seems to share the pouty expression that Kerney seemed to always have later.

Kerney is on the left

Kerney is on the left

Kerney is labeled "me" on bottom right

Kerney is the older woman, rear center

The problem I have run across is that Stella is actually Stell, and a boy. I originally overlooked that Stella was listed as a son in both censuses. The weird thing is that Marvin appears to be a gender bender. In 1900, Marvin is a girl and in 1910, Marvin is a boy. I have been unable to locate any other records regarding Marvin. It just seems very odd that anyone would name their daughter Marvin! I wondered if the census guys wrote the name down wrong, but it was done by two different people and they both wrote down Marvin.

So, now I am starting to think that the list actually goes:

Top L-R: Henry, Luther, Marvin, Kerney

Bottom L-R: Maggie, Charles, Stell, Otis, Mattie, Vera

It is so weird to me... Marvin is a girl's name?

More photo restoration

I've been trying my hand at more photo restoration. I posted some of the work I did on ancestry.com's facebook page, and then someone asked if I could restore a photo for them. I'm not sure I'm the best at it, but here is a before/after shot:

It took about an hour and a half altogether. I am reasonably pleased with the result, although I couldn't help but feel there was something wrong with the eyes. So, I tried a second time:

The face is much more true to the original in this one, I think.

It's a photo restoration EXTRAVAGANZA

I've been spending some time fixing the color on some old photos and am very pleased with the results so far. Here are a few before/after examples:

More Photo Restoration

It has been quite a while since I last wrote. On September 24, I broke my back when I fell from a ladder while running some ethernet cable at work. I am doing much better now, but apparently will not be able to return to work for another 6 weeks.

I recently went through my Grandma Barrett's Plastic tub full of Family Photos and other things. Among the things I found was the following image of my Great Great Grandfather, William Sergeant Dixon, and his wife, Emma Duncan (Thomas) Dixon:

As you can see, the image is extremely faded, to the point where you can just barely even make out the faces. Fortunately, computers are pretty good at fixing things like this. I loaded this image up in the gimp (a free program similar to photoshop) and turned the brightness down and the contrast up. This resulted in the following image:

It is still pretty difficult to make out some of the features on William Sergeant Dixon's face and shirt. The rest of the image shows a marked improvement, however. I then used the bezier selection tool to select just WSD's face and shirt, so I could darken it up without darkening the rest of the image. There was still the problem of his face having uneven lighting, so I then had to select a portion of his face and lighten it up. This resulted in an ugly line going across his face, so I then used the heal tool, which comes in handy for removing lines and creases from old photos. The resulting image is this:

 

As far as I can tell, that looks much better. His face is maybe a little dark, but you can actually see it, which is much better than what I started out with. There was another photo I found of my Great Great Great Grandfather, John Turk Beecher and his wife, Maria H. Sprague. This photo was in very bad shape and I didn't have much hope for it at all:

It is on some kind of strange blue print which has faded substantially over the past 100+ years. My first attempt at restoring this image was not really what I was going for:

 

 

So, I tried again. This time, yielding different results:

 

I still wasn't satisfied with the results. So, I tried again, this time converting to grayscale:

That's about as good as this image is going to get, I'm afraid. I'm still pretty amateur at this, but I think I am getting reasonably good results from my limited image editing skills.

Photo Restoration

It has been over a week since my last writing. It has been a bit of a hectic week. Melissa and I had to go to Oklahoma City to see a Perinatologist to make sure that the baby didn't have any problems on account of Melissa's gestational diabetes. Everything came back fine, but then Melissa convinced me to check my blood sugar. It came back 276. At the Doctor's Office on Friday it was 459, so they put me on Metformin and I haven't been feeling so well. Anyway, I'll be writing more frequently for a while, hopefully.

Everyone who does some work on the family history will eventually run across some old photos that are either damaged, faded, dirty, or all of the above. Fortunately, we live in "the future" where we can sometimes restore these old photos a bit. I have an old 4 generation photo on the Barrett side that is not in very good shape. Here is my original:

Using the Gimp and a few plugins, I was able to remove the horizontal and vertical crease in the photo, as well as the spots on Edward Exum's knee and James Bennett's Suit. I was also able to slightly sharpen the image. Here is the result:

I don't think I can improve much more on this one. The photo is too old and my original is a copy of a copy of a copy of the actual photo to begin with, so this is probably the best I can do unless I can get my hands on the actual photograph itself. Problem is, the original photo may or may not still exist. Fortunately, this restoration only took about 20 minutes. I'm a complete novice when it comes to this, and plan to improve my photo restoration skills in the future. Perhaps I will write a tutorial when I have more experience.