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After having decided to seek our fortune in what was at that time called Greer County, Texas, my husband and I loaded our belongings into two covered wagons and on November 11, 1891, with mother and my son, Claude, who at that time was nearly three years of age, left Wise County, Texas, where I had lived the greater part of my life. It was a very sad experience, leaving relatives and friends who I had known since childhood to go to what was considered a semi-civilized western country. But, we did not find it as bad as some people supposed it to be. The people were neighborly, friendly and would go any distance to help a neighbor. Of course, we went through many hardships. We shared each others sorrows and in sickness or trouble, there were those who were ready at all times to lend a helping hand, but those things have always gone with pioneer life.
We were ten days making the trip from our old home in Texas to where the town of Willow is now located. My husband drove two horses in the other wagon. On April 19th, 1892, the Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians' land was thrown open to white settlers. My husband made the "run" and secured a claim three miles east of where Sayre is now located. I was present and witnessed the "run" from a point on the North Fork of Red River immediately south of the Beeson farm. It was a thrilling experience for me, for I had read and heard so much about the "run" of 1889, when Eastern Oklahoma was thrown open to white settlers, that naturally, I had a curiosity to see a "run". The North Fork of Red River was the boundary line on the south, and those desiring to try their luck at securing a claim in most instances gathered near where the creeks emptied into the river for they were desirous of getting a claim with timber and water on it, for at that time fire-wood was quite a problem. I cannot recall all those whom I knew who were present at the "run" but among them were: Uncle Jack and Mrs. Freeman, Uncle Johnnie Richerson, also Jim, Schuyler and Walter Richerson, Fount and Fayette Sutton, Wm. Burchett and George Dietrich. Later many cattlemen came in, among them were: Sam Doxey, Kellum, Waters and, the Keens. There were soldiers stationed at intervals along the north side of the River and at 12 o'clock noon the guns were fired as a signal for the Run to take place.
Mangum was our post office until arrangements could be made to establish one at Cheyenne. Vernon, Quannah and Canadian City, Texas, were our nearest railroad towns. Of course, the people got busy at once building homes, most of them the dugout type. The men of our community hauled the lumber in wagons from Canadian City, Texas to build the first little one-room schoolhouse in the Doxey district, and it was in that little schoolhouse that we organized the first Sunday school, which was a union Sunday school.
My husband was the first tax assessor elected by the people of Roger Mills county. It was, indeed, good news to us when we learned that we were to have a railroad, for it hardly seemed possible that a railroad would ever be built over those red hills, but the coming of the railroad brought us Sayre, and better means of transportation and different people. Men with money to invest in banks and other business ventures, professional men who were ready to help develop the country into a better civilization.
It was on September 25th, 1901 that the first passenger train reached Sayre, and that was the day of the town lot sale. We drove on town to see the first train come to Sayre. Many amusing things happened, there being no depot at that time. When the train was due to return east it pulled up to the street crossing and whistled for the passengers to get on board. We rented the farm out and came to Sayre in the fall of 1908, in order to send our little son, Dewey, to school. My husband was a member of the city council when the water sewage and light system was made effective.
In 1906 the women of the Doxey community organized a club for the betterment of the women of the rural district. We named it the Women's Farm Club. Mrs. H. A. Russell was the first president of this club.
It has been a pleasure for me to watch Sayre grow. It was in the Sayre school that my sons received their primary and high school education. And it was in the Sayre Methodist church and Women's Missionary Society that I have enjoyed membership for more than thirty years. Can you wonder that I love Sayre? It was on the farm two miles east of Sayre that two of our little boys were born. Orville, who passed away at the age of three years, and Dewey who is married and living in Hobart. He is the father of two children, Jack, thirteen, and Mary Nell, seven. Dewey is serving his tenth year as county superintendent of schools of Kiowa County. It was on this same farm that my mother Mary Joe Barker, passed away, on March 29, 1919, at the age of eighty-seven, and it was there on July 13, 1921, that my husband, Mack Beeson, at the age of fifty-eight, was drowned in the horrible flood on that date. Claude, our oldest son, is married and living on the state game farm at Darlington, Oklahoma. He has been with the State Game and Fish department for several years. And I, who have tasted sorrow in its bitterest form, and have passed over the line "Where the West Begins" and am going down the slope on the other side, can look back through the years and see many bright spots with sweet memories which assure me after all, it was worthwhile.
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David McDuffle "Mack" BEESON was born on December 25, 1862 in Arkansas and was the son of: Josephus and Lucinda (Wright) Beeson.
Mack died: 13 Jun 1921 residing on Timber Creek about
nine miles northwest of Carter, Beckham County, Oklahoma
buried: Carter Cemetery, near Carter, Beckham County, Oklahoma
25 Dec 1862
13 Jun 1921
Carter Cemetery near Carter, Beckham County, Oklahoma
Husband of Rebecca (Barker) Beeson
The many friends of Mr. Mack Beeson, residing on Timber Creek about
nine miles northwest of Carter were shocked to hear Monday night that
he had drowned that evening. A very heavy rain had fallen in that part
of the country and the creek was raging high and Mr. Beeson, fearing
that some of his cattle would be lost, he in company with his son
Dewey, and a young man, Sam Williams, decided to cross the creek and
look after the cattle on the east side of the stream. This was about
six o'clock in the afternoon, and the water was over the bridge, in
fact it was up to the porch of Mr. Beeson's residence. All three of
the men succeeded in crossing the bridge but after crossing they got
into deep water on the east side and Mr. Beeson was swept from his
feet and carried down the stream about forty yards where he was
drowned. His body was not found till about daylight the next morning.
His son and Williams made a heroic attempt to rescue him from the
raging waters but the current was so swift and deep that they could
not save him.
Mr. Beeson was one of Beckham county's oldest settlers and was well
known and had many friends throughout the county. The remains were
laid to rest in the Carter cemetery Wednesday afternoon, A large crowd
of people being present.
Carter Express
17 June 1921
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Rebecca J. (Barker) Beeson
born: 25 Dec 1868 (not for sure but more than likely Texas) daughter of: I do not have Rebecca's father's name but her mother's name was Mary Joe Barker. Mary Joe was born 1832 and died 1918 and buried in Carter Cemetery, near Carter, Beckham County, Oklahoma.
died: 28 Apr 1963 Beckham County, Oklahoma
buried: Carter Cemetery, near Carter, Beckham County, Oklahoma
Children:
Claude
born: 22 Dec 1888 Wise County, Texas ( at this time I do not have any more information on him)
Orville
born: 15 Sep 1895 now called Beckham County, Oklahoma
died: 21 Mar 1899 now called Beckham County, Oklahoma
buried: Carter Cemetery, near Carter, Beckham County, Oklahoma
Dewey
born: 1898 now called Beckham County, Oklahoma
died: 15 Apr 1943 Timber Creek about nine miles northwest of Carter, Beckham County, Oklahoma.
buried: Carter Cemetery, near Carter, Beckham County, Oklahoma
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The CARTER CEMETERY is located one mile North and 1/2 mile West of the town of
Carter in Beckham County, Oklahoma. The Cemetery was originally called
WASH CEMETERY for the nearby Post Office and General Store of the same name.
The first recorded burials were in 1901. The Wash Post Office existed
from 1898 to 1908. By that time, the town of Carter was the area's thriving
community and the cemetery gradually was referred to as the Carter Cemetery.
The name was officially changed about 1922. The cemetery is currently
maintained through donations to:
Carter Cemetery Association, PO Box 41, Carter, OK 73627.
http://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/ok/beckham/cemeteries/carter.txt
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