Family history:

William Alford Bennett was born December 28, 1879 in their farm home 4.4 miles north and 0.3 miles west of Seneca, Newton County, Missouri, the eighth and last child of Abraham and Isabell (Parker) Bennett. The family was active in the Bethel Baptist Church, about 0.3 miles east and 1.25 miles south of their home, where Abraham was an ordained deacon and William was baptized. William told that he and the other children attended Burkhart Prairie School (perhaps changed to Huber Center School) which he said was three miles east of their home, walking the six miles round trip. William completed the fifth grade, achieving a practical knowledge of history, geography, reading, writing, and arithmetic, all of which served him well throughout life. Young "Willie" apparently had a happy and complete childhood playing with a nephew, Steven Bennett, hunting and fishing, making their own toys, and pulling many pranks. The children learned to work at home, doing various farming chores, as was the tradition then. From the time he was 12 years old William also worked outside his family for fifty cents a day clearing land, haying, and farming, thus earning some spending money and helping the family. William was active in the Bethel Baptist Church and enjoyed community dances and social events.

Leona Mae Houk was born April 10, 1884, likely in the family farm home at Oakland, Missouri, the seventh of nine children of George Washington and Mary Jane (Marrs) Houk. Their first two children died in infancy, but Leona grew up with three sisters and three brothers at home. The family moved to a farm on Warren's Branch (a creek), north of Seneca, Newton Co., MO. Leona's father farmed, traded horses and mules, and was said to gamble professionally. Her mother was very strictly religious, disagreed with aspects of her husband's behavior, and often would not speak to him directly for weeks at a time, using the children as intermediaries for essential messages. The family attended the nearby Warren's Branch Baptist Church, where Mary Jane Houk taught Sunday School and the children were baptized. Leona attained her fifth grade education at Warren's Branch School a short distance north. Her childhood was spent playing with her siblings and working hard, learning to sew, garden, and do household chores.

The social life of communities then was usually centered around events held at local churches and schools. William Bennett first saw Leona Houk at a square dance held at Frog Pond School near Seneca. Later, he bought for perhaps 75 cents a "basket supper" she had made for a fund-raising party and thus earned the right to sit and talk with her and to take her home. They dated for about eight months and became engaged to be married, setting the date for Christmas, 1901. Then a homesteading opportunity caused them to suddenly advance the wedding date to early November.

Wichita and Caddo "surplus" lands in Oklahoma Territory were opened by lottery on a swelteringly hot August 6, 1901. Walter P. Bennett, Enoch DeWeese, Abendigo Gentry, and possibly some others from the Seneca, Missouri area registered and participated, although William A. Bennett did not join the group because he was not yet an eligible head of a family. DeWeese, Gentry, and Walter Bennett had agreed that, should two of them draw a lot and the other fail to, that the disappointed one would eventually be deeded 40 acres of each of the other's 160 acre homestead in exchange for helping to improve them. Walter Bennett drew a blank lot, but DeWeese and Gentry drew valid claims. A man was hired for $25 to help locate the DeWeese claim, but he mistakenly identified it as being one mile east of its actual site. The party then returned to Missouri to prepare to move to their new homesteads. Upon hearing about the opportunities in the new area, William Alford Bennett and Leona Mae Houk decided on short notice to advance their wedding date in order to return with the homesteaders to Oklahoma Territory to find work improving claims or to perhaps buy someone's relinquished claim.

William Alford Bennett, age 21, and Leona Mae Houk, age 17, were married at six p.m. Sunday evening, November 3, 1901 at the home of a country preacher named L. Bowers. Leona's wedding ring cost $3.00, money William earned by chopping firewood at night by lantern light for 50 cents per rick. After the wedding they attended a shivaree party at the home of one of William's sisters, probably Minnie Brady or Edna Durham. At seven o'clock the next morning they said their farewells to relatives and departed, stopping in Seneca to buy some supplies and to join with the others in the wagon train. Leona's mother said that she cried for weeks afterward because she feared that she would never see her daughter again.

The newlyweds took with them a team of horses and harness, a new farm wagon that William had bought earlier for $65 or $85, their bedding and clothes, a butchered and salted hog, lard, preserved fruit, some essential tools such as an axe, probably a shovel, and likely a rifle for hunting, camping gear such as a Dutch oven for baking bread and cooking, some feed corn for the horses, a dog, and $111 in cash. William left in the care of his father two cows worth about $30 each that he had been unable to sell. Most of their belongings were hauled in the three foot wide bed of the wagon, but they slept on a four foot wide platform called an "overjet" that was mounted above the sideboards. For protection from the elements a wagon sheet was stretched over "wagon bows" to cover the contents.

The party bound for Oklahoma Territory consisted of four couples: Mr. and Mrs. Enoch DeWeese, Mr. and Mrs. Bedford Mitchell, Mr. and Mrs. Walter P. Bennett, Mr. and Mrs. William A. Bennett, and Mr. Abendigo Gentry, whose wife joined him later after a house could be constructed. Each couple had a wagon drawn by a team of horses, plus one horse and buggy. The women rode in the more comfortable buggy, owned by the Mitchells, and the men drove the wagons.

The party left Seneca, Missouri at noon on Monday, November 4. Their plan was to travel about 20 miles per day and to let the teams rest on Sundays. Their route took them through the small, developing towns of Fairland, Vinita, Chelsea, Claremore, Tulsa, Sapulpa, Edmond, Oklahoma City, El Reno, and finally their destination northwest of present-day Alfalfa, arriving on a Wednesday, November 20, after a journey of 17 days. They traveled on generally satisfactory roads until El Reno, but only trails were available from there to their homesteads.

Perhaps the most hazardous part of the trip was the fording of the Arkansas River at Tulsa, and W.A. Bennett loved to tell the story. Although the water was less than three feet deep at the worst point, there were quicksand bogs, sand bars, and steep banks to negotiate, and the loss of a wagon or stock would have been a disaster. The safest crossing route had been staked out by others, and it meandered more than a mile from bank to bank. Although the horse and buggy crossed without help, the wagons had to be double-teamed to ensure that they did not become mired. William took his team across seven times in helping get all four wagons to the other side. Then he discovered that his dog had been too afraid to follow them, so he rode a horse back across to fetch the dog. Therefore he crossed the Arkansas River nine times on that very full day! Fortunately the river had been successfully forded by all without any losses.

After arriving in the area near the homestead claims, they first camped on the south side of Cobb Creek about three-quarters of a mile east of its confluence with Buck Creek until they could locate the DeWeese property. William removed the overjet from his wagon, setting it on the ground as a camping tent. Then he cut stakes to mark boundary lines, and they set off to look for the Enoch DeWeese claim. DeWeese was soon greatly disappointed to discover that the claim he had drawn and filed on was not on the level site he had been shown earlier but was actually one mile further west on hilly ground with rocky outcroppings. At age 54, he was reluctant to homestead this less-desirable property, yet he had spent about $65 for travel and filing expenses up to that time. William offered to trade his two cows in Seneca for the relinquished claim, and DeWeese agreed, although they had to travel to El Reno to make the legal arrangements for the transfer. Meanwhile, Bedford Mitchell looked over his site near Saddle Mountain, southeast of Mountain View, and decided that he would just leave it to others; thus he and Enoch DeWeese returned to Missouri almost immediately. Walter Bennett could have filed on the abandoned Mitchell claim, but felt that it was too far away. Thus, when he eventually acquired full title to his homestead, William fulfilled Walter's original agreement with DeWeese by deeding to his brother 40 acres of land, and he allowed Walter to choose its location, which turned out to be the best land on the quarter-section. Gentry also deeded 40 acres of his homestead to Walter, fulfilling their original agreement.

The Bennett homestead was situated near the highest ground in the region. Because the prairie was knee-high to head-high in native grasses, it was a challenge to locate the survey markers, which were stones with identifying numbers cut into them. After first finding the section cornerstone at the northeast corner, they measured the circumference of a wagon wheel, tied a wire around one point as a marker, and counted the turns while proceeding south until they had gone about one mile and then looked for the next stone. After thusly locating all four section monuments they found the half-mile stones and staked the boundaries of the quarter section. The virgin prairie sod was so thick with entangled grass roots that a special "sod plow" was required to "break out" the land, and a ripping sound was heard the first time the mat of roots was severed. Walter had brought an old Oliver sod plow, and they plowed a furrow to define their perimeter.

William and Leona selected a site for their first dwelling near the northwest corner of their property because it was near good "live" water from a spring at the headwaters of what is now know as Taylor Creek. He used his axe to chop a depression in the sandstone spring to collect about a bucket of water at a time. Later, he also dug a small "cave" under the sandstone ledge for cellar-storage of food. With lumber that he bought and hauled from Mountain View, he immediately constructed an 8 by 10 foot half-dugout, which was to be their home for almost eight months. The expenses during the trip amounted to $30, and from their remaining cash they bought, in addition to lumber for their house, a box heating stove ("Monkey stove"), three cane-bottomed chairs, and a three-quarter sized bed. They improvised a table from a box and some boards. The newlyweds moved into this first home on Thanksgiving Day, November 28, 1901, just eight days after arriving in the area.

The first winter was unusually harsh, with bitter cold and at least one blizzard so severe that they had to cover their horses with their own bedding to protect them from freezing to death. They bought some provisions, hunted the abundant game, and kept warm by burning a great deal of firewood. For some much-needed cash William hauled freight, earning $3 for each day and a half round trip, worked at other temporary jobs, and may have also cut and hauled timber.

In the spring of 1902 William bought a sod plow of his own and began breaking out some land for cultivation, improvising a planter from a syrup bucket with a hole punched in it to release kafir corn seeds in every third furrow. In July 1902 he mortgaged his team of horses to have a well drilled on the east side of his property. The well produced plentiful water, but it had a strong gypsum ("gyp" or calcium sulfate) taste due to the abundant shallow deposits of this mineral under his land. He moved his dwelling to a site just south of the new well, excavating another half-dugout and enlarging this home to 10 by 12 feet with a five foot entry over the steps. Although the first crop was successful, he needed to work for others in various jobs to earn enough money to survive. They lived in that half-dugout for a few years until they had prospered enough to build an above-ground 16 by 16 foot home visible in the 1906 photograph. The half-dugout then became their cellar, and it survived until about the year 2000.

A tragic setback occurred in the summer of 1903. After planting a kafir corn crop and breaking out more land for corn, William caught typhoid fever and was bedridden for three and one-half months, from July 13 until November 1. Typhoid is a very serious bacterial infection which afflicts only humans and is usually acquired by drinking water that has been polluted with excrement from a human typhoid carrier. No one will ever know how he acquired the infection, but he recalled that while hunting he drank the water from a creek near which some Indians were camped, and it is probable that someone there was a typhoid carrier or active patient. The typhoid pathogens spread from the intestines to other organs via the blood and lymph, often causing ulceration and perforation of the intestines and a resulting life-threatening peritonitis. Typhoid fever would have been fatal in at least 30% of cases at that time. At its worst stage during a period of several weeks, William would have been delirious or comatose much of the time and in great pain when conscious. His entire abdominal area would have been painfully inflamed, greatly distended, and covered with rose-red blotches. Although Leona and their first child, Troy, who had his first birthday during this time, were at great risk for exposure, neither of them became infected, presumably as the result of stringent hygiene. Dr. Hartford of Colony came to see William in their half-dugout home almost every day, but there was little to do but let the infection run its course and pray for survival. A neighbor woman brought him buttermilk, which he drank regularly. When he was finally able to be on his feet again, his weight had dropped to 90 pounds. Although the doctor was not pressing for immediate payment and strongly protested such a drastic measure, William insisted on giving him his team of horses to settle the doctor bill, and he "started afoot and started over," walking back from Colony carrying his halters. After salvaging what little crop he could and sowing wheat, he worked for a few days for a Mr. Seger, the Bureau of Indian Affairs representative at Colony, and then took his family by train back to Seneca, Missouri to earn money for a fresh start. After chopping and hauling wood all winter he had saved $35 by the time they returned to their homestead in May, 1904.

The conditions for starting over were bleak. He still had no team, and the winter had been so dry that the wheat had not germinated. No one wanted to rent the land he had plowed, so he used a neighbor's team on alternate days in exchange for working for the neighbor on the other days. He was thus able to farm eleven acres of corn and cotton that summer. To use his abundant pasture he bought a cow and calves from a neighbor for $30, tethering them to stakes because his land was not yet fenced. With only $5 remaining for living expenses, they had barely enough supplies to get by on during this lean time, and there were many such periods during those first few years. Eventually he borrowed money to buy a horse, mare, and two colts for about $150, thus getting a new team of horses and colts to raise and break to become a second team.

On one particularly memorable occasion practically all of their supplies and cash were exhausted. William and Walter set off with their wagons to find work, taking only some cold biscuits and Karo syrup to eat. They eventually found an opportunity to load coal at the rail head at Mountain View and haul it for 10 cents per hundred pounds to Cowden to the first cotton gin being built there, but they arrived just as the last of the coal was being loaded by others and had to wait two more days until the next coal car arrived. They were the first in line for the new shipment, and both loaded their wagons and hauled the coal the 14 miles to Mountain View. It took all day because they had to double-team every hill and all of the sandy places. After they unloaded and were paid $3.00 and $3.50, they each bought a pound of wieners and some crackers, and they considered it to be a "banquet" after subsisting those several days on only cold, hard biscuits and syrup!

William was always resourceful and eager to find work and keep busy, and they managed to survive those first few lean years, even though they were unable to get ahead. He cut wood for 75 cents per rick, hauled freight from Weatherford to Colony for 10 cents per hundred pounds, and for $1 per day cut and hauled "saw-logs" for a sawmill east of Alfalfa, loading them onto his wagon with skids and a ramp. Gradually, at a rate of 10-12 new acres per year, more sod was broken out for crops, and more cattle and horses were bought and sold.

By 1906, William and Leona had three children, and they had become sufficiently prosperous to begin adding permanent structures to their homestead. They first built their first above-ground frame house, buying some new lumber and salvaging the existing shell from the half-dugout to construct a 16 by 16 foot one-room house, and they moved into it from their half-dugout, which then became their cellar. This one-room house is shown in the fall, 1906 photograph. In 1910 a 40 by 40 foot barn and granary was built for $65 lumber cost, and a cistern was dug. The cistern stored rainwater from the house roof for use in washing, since the well-water was very "hard" from mineral content and had a strong gypsum taste that visitors disliked but to which the Bennetts were well-accustomed. A well house and stock tank were built later, as were two additional barns, and the house was enlarged in two additional stages as the family grew. The last ten of their children were born in one or another version of that first frame house. In 1927, after most of the children had married and left home, their frame home was moved eastward to make room for construction of a $4,200 stucco bungalow house that would be their last home. This "new house" was the one remembered by the many grandchildren and great-grandchildren who visited and surreptitiously tried to pry out a few souvenir brightly colored glass chips that decorated the stucco surface. Most of the food for the family was grown in a large (150 by 150 foot) vegetable garden and in some adjacent fields, and fruit trees, berries, currants, flower gardens, and shade trees were planted over the years.

Pregnancies and childbirth became a way of life for some twenty years, with children spaced about a year and a half apart. Leona did not really prefer to have that many children, but accepted her fertility as God's will, and did the best she could to be a loving mother to all of them. Leona and her sister-in-law Laura Bennett exchanged help with births, and a doctor was also summoned. At these mysterious times, the children were given the unexpected opportunity to visit at Walter Bennett's home, and when they returned home, they first learned that the stork had brought a new baby. With unusually good fortune for that era, twelve of the thirteen children survived childhood, with only Loyd succumbing to pneumonia at age six.

William and Leona were exemplary parents. All of their children learned to work at tasks suited to their age and abilities, and they graduated to more challenging chores as they matured. Each child thus participated at an appropriate age in washing and drying dishes, maintaining the garden and orchards, and working in the fields. The three daughters learned to cook, sew, keep house, and care for the younger children. The nine surviving sons learned to farm, milk cows, tend to the livestock, chop firewood, harness the teams, and maintain the equipment and outbuildings. As the oldest daughter, Gladys was often put in charge of cooking and caring for the younger children as their mother worked in the garden and in the fields, which Leona enjoyed doing. Discipline was effective when necessary to enforce strict standards of behavior, but the children were kept so busy with their many chores that they generally stayed out of trouble. If there was nothing else to do, the boys chopped wood for the woodpile, which was as large as 15 feet wide by 30 feet long and 12 feet high, and the largest in the area; it never ran out, and thus the wood was always well-seasoned. Older siblings sometimes supervised the chores and instruction of their younger sisters and brothers, and that included indirect discipline such as teasing and shaming and perhaps a dunking in the stock tank, but there was never any doubt that the parents were ultimately in charge, shared the same standards, and supported each other. Much love and comradery was fostered by working, playing, and eating together. Each person understood their place and role in the overall scheme of their family life, and each child had excellent role models for their future. It helped that William and most of the children had a benign good sense of humor, and the Bennett children recalled many amusing experiences that bonded people together. Although it was an era fraught with uncertainties about health and economy, it was also a simpler, happier time when authoritarian hierarchies and moral dictums were seldom seriously questioned.

Sundays were normally days of worship at the Bethel Baptist Church about a mile east of the home, of rest, of swimming and fishing, and of playing baseball and other group games. The many cousins from nearby Walter P. Bennett's family often joined in recreation, and many neighbor friends lived within a mile or so and also visited regularly. When the weather was unsuitable for outdoor recreation, a game of dominoes or checkers was frequently underway. The youngest children played with simple toys, often home-made. The family had an organ and piano, several played the harmonica, Eugene had an autoharp, and some could sing well, although none revealed exceptional musical talent. Except for hunting, which could happen any night, recreation was mainly limited to Sundays, and the rest of the week was essentially devoted to work on the farm.

Hunting and fishing remained William's favorite hobbies into his 80s, when he became physically unable to continue them. In the early days, fishing on Cobb Creek and other nearby streams provided both recreation and food for the table. After his children became old enough and transportation allowed it, he took some of his older sons, grandsons, and sometimes others to more distant lakes and rivers in Oklahoma and Texas. They seined minnows for bait, used poles and ran "throw lines" or trot lines, enhancing some bait with a spit of William's tobacco juice, and caught plenty of huge catfish, some weighing more than 30 pounds. They camped near the water, kept an old black teakettle on the fire for coffee, and sometimes fished throughout the night if the fish were biting, exchanging many stories and relishing the experience.

Hunting, at first, was mainly a source of food during the lean years, and the game animals and fowl were abundant. Later, William hunted mainly for recreation and for fur hides, which could be sold to buy Christmas presents and clothing for the family. His goal was to sell at least 100 hides each winter, receiving $0.25 to $2.50 for each. He trapped some in the earlier days, but most were hunted on foot, using his dogs to run down or tree the animals. A treed animal was brought down by a single-shot from a twenty-two rifle using the light of a long flashlight. Each fall, when the weather turned cold, and the quality of the fur was at its best, William would take his one or two hounds and anyone who would accompany him and trek off into the night with lanterns and a rifle for 4-8 hours in a six mile or so search for the possums, skunks, raccoons, or occasionally rarer animals that could produce marketable hides. Afterward, he skinned the animals, and stretched and cured the hides. In the fall, they hunted up to six nights per week when the weather was favorable. William had such zeal for hunting that he routinely exhausted his companions without seeming to tire, and they only very rarely returned from a hunt empty-handed.

Christmas was always a very special occasion at the Bennett home. Other holidays were normal workdays, except that harvesting was sometimes interrupted on July 4 for home-made ice cream. But William and Leona saw to it that Christmas was always a happy and memorable time for all of their family. William built up to it by saying at first that maybe they wouldn't have a Christmas that year, causing the younger children to begin thinking about it. But as the time approached, he "began to get the Christmas spirit" and saw to it that preparations were begun. A few days before Christmas, the side table was stacked to overflowing with candies, fruits such as oranges and apples, and various nuts such as pecans, walnuts, peanuts, etc., sufficient to provide for everyone during the entire holiday season. On Christmas Eve, his "Christmas spirit" required that a tree be cut, brought in, and decorated, and he always had many willing helpers for these tasks. After dinner, the children were taken into another room to sing songs and listen to the Christmas story. During this time, somehow, gifts miraculously appeared around the tree, and when the younger children were allowed back into the room, they believed that Santa Claus had brought them. Suddenly, loud noises were heard, and Santa Claus entered the room in his red suit and white beard, greeted everyone, and asked the children what they wanted for Christmas. He had some of the older children help him distribute the gifts. Each child perhaps received one small toy plus other more practical things such as a homemade shirt, purchased overalls, socks, and maybe an apple or orange on the tree labeled with the child's name. Of course, the family could not afford many toys, but the situation was the same in other neighboring families, so expectations were not too high. William continued to have a Christmas ceremony at his home for the rest of his life, and most of the nearby relatives celebrated it with him each Christmas Eve. He planned it meticulously, had others help him prepare, and had the entire house decorated. It meant much to him and to all who could attend, whether young or old. On December 28, many family members returned to hold a dinner in honor of his birthday and to discuss their own family Christmas gatherings. The Christmas seasons are warmly remembered as very happy times.

The Bennett family enjoyed generally good health, especially for that time. Glenn also had a bout of typhoid fever, but had a much milder case than William's had been years before. Everyone caught colds, and most of the children had the common childhood illnesses of that time: measles, rubella ("German measles"), mumps, chickenpox, strep throat, and perhaps scarlet fever, which could have led to Raymond's damaged heart valves diagnosed decades later. Tragically, Loyd died of pneumonia at age six, but fortunately, he was the only child to succumb before adulthood. As a child, Eugene repeatedly had pneumonia, and Floy remembered taking care of him. At least some of the family caught the notorious "Spanish flu" in 1918, but none was terribly ill with it. The doctor was only rarely called, and William and Leona often used home remedies explained in a well-worn medical book. They used castor oil and senna tea as a laxative, a mustard ointment poultice on the chest for pneumonia, a mixture of turpentine and kerosene rubbed on the outside of the throat for sore throat, and sometimes a string of asafetida worn around the neck to ward off germs. William personally believed in taking Raleigh's internal liniment for almost any ailment. Only Glenn had congenital birth defects, a weakened hand and a "clubbed foot" that required special shoes and which slightly impaired his mobility. Remarkably, despite all of the hazards of farming and the rough-playing in those days, only one person suffered a broken bone, and no one had other serious injuries despite some very close calls. Minor cuts, abrasions, and bruises were very common, though, because they worked and played so hard. William developed cataracts in middle age, about 1931, had the elaborate surgery of that era to remove the clouded lenses, and wore very thick eyeglass lenses for the rest of his life. Alfred, George, and some of the other Bennett children also required cataract surgery in their old age.

Leona had definite ideas about helping her children avoid temptations. She believed motion pictures to be potentially immoral and would not allow her children to go to movies, and she was proud that she never saw one in her lifetime. She also felt that dancing had become too intimate and discouraged her children from going to dances (although she and William kept from their children the fact that they had met at what is now called a "square dance"). She encouraged the children to attend church regularly, and the family generally followed the fundamentalist Southern Baptist beliefs. The language within the home was kept free from swearing and most slang. Alcohol was not allowed in the Bennett home except for the modest amount in some medicinal products. Only William used tobacco regularly, although Troy, Alfred, and Raymond all smoked at least for a brief time during adulthood. William sometimes smoked a pipe, and sometimes chewed tobacco. He said that he took up chewing tobacco at age 49 to help clear his mouth when he worked in dusty conditions. In the last years of his life, he enjoyed Beech-Nut Chewing Tobacco, and kept a spittoon by his chair.

William and Leona took good care of their parents when they needed them. In about 1904 William and his brother-in-law Jim Brady traveled to Honey Grove, Texas, in behalf of his mother, Isabell (Parker) Bennett, to determine if an offer to buy her property was a fair price. When Isabell died in 1913, Abraham Bennett sold his Missouri property, moved to Oklahoma, and lived in William's home until his death in 1922, walking the one-quarter mile through a field to be with Walter Bennett's family during each day, tending children and helping with small chores. When Leona's father, George Houk, was terminally ill in 1921, William and Leona traveled to Missouri to help care for him until he died. In 1942, when her widowed mother, Mary Jane (Marrs) Houk, could no longer live alone in Joplin, Missouri, she moved in with William and Leona and lived with them until Leona's death in 1948. Having grandparents in the home was a good experience for the Bennett children and grandchildren, and many warm memories of them have been recounted.

Providing adequate education for the children of the large pioneer families was a challenge. In that era of labor-intensive farming, each section of land typically contained four or more farms, with each occupied by a family with many children who were educated in a nearby one- or two-room school. A school was typically established within each three mile square area so that most pupils would live within about 1½ mile of the school. A one-room school normally had a single teacher and 40-50 students, and a two-room school had two teachers and 65-70 pupils. Several grades were combined in each room. As each grade was called to the front bench for short lessons and recitations, all of the other students could hear all of the lessons despite their working on other assignments and thus received a review of their past work and a preview of their future. Older children often helped teach the younger ones. Corporal punishment and expulsions were common disciplinary actions, and normally the parents supported the teacher's judgement. Teachers were required to either have a high school diploma or to have passed an exam. Those who survived very long in the job had to be strict disciplinarians as well as competent instructors, organizers, peacemakers, comforters of the very young, janitors, and to be politically savvy enough to keep the parents and school board satisfied. They opened the school early each morning, started a fire in the wood stove, conducted classes from nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, coached some sports, maintained peace during recesses and the lunch period, and cleaned the school before leaving at night, often with homework to do; it was not an easy life. Children usually brought their lunches, but sometimes they were asked to bring various ingredients for the teacher to cook a big stew on the stove for everyone to eat. The close-knit associations of children from big families going to school together, playing and eating together, and working together on their own and neighboring farms fostered social interactions, real and vicarious experiences, and moral and ethical values that served the students well throughout their lives.

William and Leona believed in the importance of a good education and encouraged their children to achieve at least a high school diploma. All of the Bennett children attended Eureka School, a two-room frame school building about 1¼ miles south of the home place. In 1907 William had helped establish and construct Eureka School, and he served on its School Board for many years. The children walked to and from school except in the most severe weather when William transported his children and others huddled together under a wagon sheet in the bed of his wagon. Eureka School was so crowded at one time that, in an apparent strategy to thin the ranks through early graduation, the Principal promoted several pupils, even though skipping two or three years was not actually merited by their performance. Gladys was advanced from 5th through 8th grade in one year, and she later felt that compressing four grades into one year had deprived her of skills essential to success in college. Eureka School had six grades initially and sometimes had eight, but later the number of grades was reduced as local families matured, and thus older children had to go to school elsewhere for upper grades and high school. Eventually, in about 1929, Eureka School was closed and consolidated with Alfalfa Schools, despite the strong opposition of William Bennett. In 1928 Alfred became the teacher at the one-room Cobb Creek School 1½ miles north of the Bennett home place, and he taught his younger siblings Leo, Ralph, and Floy there after Eureka closed. Various arrangements had to be made with Hydro, Carnegie, and Weatherford schools for the Bennett children to complete high school, but most did, and they appreciated the support and encouragement from their parents. Several of those Bennett children eventually completed college bachelor's and master's degrees, and they, in turn, encouraged their children to pursue whatever extent of education that was needed to support their career aspirations. Alfred, George, and Verna became career teachers, and Gladys taught for two years.

Most of the food for the family was home-grown. The garden and orchard produced vegetables and fruits, and the excess was canned in mason jars in a large pressure cooker that was kept very busy during much of the summer. Root crops were preserved in the cellar, and potatoes, turnips, etc., were available year around. Chickens provided fresh eggs and meat, and the 10-20 cows milked year around gave them butter, milk, and cream, with the extra cream sold and the skim milk being fed to livestock. Cream was separated from skim milk in a hand-cranked separator, and several children learned to operate and clean that important machine. Butter was churned by hand also. Butter and cream were kept cool by well-water pumped by the windmill and circulated through a trough in the well house. Pork was the main meat, and about one hog per person was butchered at home on a busy fall day with everyone involved in the work of scalding and scraping the skin, cutting, trimming, and salting the meat, rendering the lard, and wasting almost nothing. Some beef was also produced. Flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, and some other cooking ingredients were bought, but the yeast for baking bread was maintained as an "everlasting" culture by cultivating it in flour and potato water. The family enjoyed biscuits at breakfast, and they had a huge baking pan that held 100 or more extra large biscuits. Breakfast also served all the bacon and eggs one could eat. The coffeepot was simple, with the ground coffee added directly to the water that was then brought to a boil. A large pot of beans was normally simmering on the stove, and beans were served with most meals along with pork, bread, canned fruit, anything in season from the garden, and large "cobblers" (deep-dish fruit pies topped by a rich biscuit crust). The family did not prefer strongly-seasoned foods, but a small amount of onion was used to flavor some dishes. The family did not like tea, but coffee was regularly available.

Kitchen facilities improved slowly. In the first half-dugouts Leona had only a "Monkey stove" and a Dutch oven, but her first cookstove was bought about 1905. Some of the children remember later wood cookstoves of the "Majestic" and "Home Comfort" and brands that had ovens, warming compartments, and a reservoir at the back for heating water. There was a real art to stoking the stove to achieve the desired temperatures in the oven and on the cooking surfaces. Wood cookstoves were used until 1947, a year before Leona's death, when a propane stove was bought. Water was carried from the well into the kitchen in buckets until the "new house" was built in 1927, with its indoor plumbing. Family members and guests drank from the water bucket, using a cup shared by all, and they consequently had to share some contagious diseases, as well. Mechanical refrigeration did not arrive until most of the children were grown, and therefore fresh perishable foods such as milk were either consumed fresh or kept cool for a few hours in the well house. Leona and other women of that time knew and scrupulously followed some absolute rules about food preservation, and thus food poisoning was successfully avoided. Leona and her three daughters shared the indispensable responsibility for preparing the huge amount of food consumed by the large family and for providing three meals ready and on time. Until the 1927 house was built, the kitchen was small and undoubtedly hot and crowded. Family members ate together at a large table, and they normally had a choice of plain but nutritious dishes and always had plenty to eat. Cleaning up after meals was also quite an undertaking, and many of the smaller children assisted with that task. Although the lid of the pressure canner once blew off because it was not properly secured, spewing hot food onto Leona's face, there were no serious accidents in the kitchen. Leona's success as a homemaker and mother is all the more remarkable considering that she was pregnant during much of her married life, yet continued all of her activities virtually until each labor began. Several of her children stated that she devoted her whole life to her family.

Lighting was provided by kerosene ("coal oil") lamps and lanterns until the 1927 house was built, which initially used a Delco gasoline generator to produce electric power until "rural electrification" came to the farms in 1939. Winter heating was furnished to the earlier homes by a central wood stove and the kitchen cookstove. Everyone was taught to be careful with oil lamps, wood stoves, and hot ashes, and the Bennetts successfully avoided any accidental fires. The 1927 house had a central coal-burning furnace in the basement with gravity circulation of the air to the rooms. Late in his life, after the children were gone and it became too difficult for him to fire and stoke the coal furnace, William installed a propane stove in the living room. Until the "new house" was built, there was no indoor plumbing, and everyone used the outdoor toilet. Baths were taken in a galvanized metal tub in water hauled indoors by bucket and heated on the cookstove. Laundry was quite a chore for the big family, with clothes agitated by hand in hot soapy water using a plunger and a "rub-board", rinsed, and hung outdoors to dry on a clothesline. Because the well-water was so "hard" with gypsum and other minerals that precipitated with soap, rain water collected from the roof and stored in the cistern was used for laundry in the 1927 house. Although that home had an indoor bathroom with a toilet, wash basin, and tub, the water flow from the well tank reservoir was inefficient, and the septic system was slow, therefore the outdoor toilet continued to be used while children were still at home. Eventually, in the 1940s, a telephone line was brought to the area, and the first phone was mounted on the north wall, providing service for 10-15 customers on the same "party line" connected to a central, manual switchboard in Alfalfa, with an operator signalling the Bennett home with a long-short-long-short ring.

Transportation underwent many changes. In addition to horse-drawn buggies and wagons for local trips, a railroad was as near as Mountain View, some 20 miles away, and a passenger train pulled by a steam locomotive could be taken on more distant journeys. Most freight was brought to the area by rail, but then had to be hauled by wagon from the railheads. Roads were soon surveyed and constructed, and they gradually improved from primitive trails, to graded dirt, then to gravel, and eventually to pavement on highways and most city streets, although rural roads remained graveled. W.A. Bennett's first automobile was a 1917 Ford "touring car", and his last was a 1954 Ford sedan. He preferred Fords and changed cars every few years. Their first auto trip to Seneca took four days to travel the approximately 400 miles because the roads were so primitive and muddy in the rain. He visited relatives many times during his long life, and he appreciated people coming to visit him, and relatives often did.

Agricultural methods evolved rapidly, and William A. Bennett was known as a progressive farmer who adopted improvements readily. He had a well drilled in his first year, and he installed a windmill for pumping the water. He had several teams of horses and mules, and saw the horse-drawn equipment improve from small implements one had to walk behind to larger, more convenient plows, planters, cultivators, mowers, rakes, etc., that had a seat for the operator and were pulled by up to six horses. Tractors eventually replaced the teams in the 1920s. Their first tractor had a steam engine and was better-suited for stationary work via belt-driven equipment than for moving through the fields. Later tractors had kerosene or gasoline engines, were more mobile, and could pull comparatively enormous loads and larger equipment. The Bennett family bought the latest wheat harvesting and haying equipment and did custom work for other farms as well as their own.

At first, wheat was harvested by their 10-15 man crew by mowing and binding it into 2½ foot bundles which were piled into shocks. Then men and boys forked the bundles onto a wagon, hauled the load to the stationary separator or threshing machine, and forked the bundles into the separator that was powered by a 75 foot long belt from a stationary steam tractor. The wheat grains were separated from the chaff and straw, which were blown onto enormous straw stacks. Later the binders and separators were replaced by combines that moved through the fields, doing all of the operations simultaneously. The first combines were pulled by horses, but later models were self-propelled by an engine. Threshing crews labored very hard and long hours in some of the hottest weather, and they consumed huge meals prepared by the women, who toiled at their domestic tasks as long and hard as the men.

Haying followed the wheat harvest, and the Bennetts had their own baling crew and equipment. The hay was mowed, allowed to dry, raked by a sulky rake (dump rake), either transported by a buckrake or forked onto wagons and hauled to and forked into the stationary baler that compressed it into the bales tied by baling wire. The bales were then hauled to the barns and stacked into the lofts. The Bennett crew of 10-12 people could thus process 1,000 hay bales per week. Eventually, tractor-drawn balers and wagons became available and replaced the less-efficient horse-powered equipment.

Although W.A. Bennett did not plant much cotton, family members worked in cotton fields of their own and of others, chopping weeds during the summer, and picking cotton in the fall. Alfred recalled that before cotton gins were available, the pickers had to separate the lint from the boles by hand. Later, the boles were picked intact, and the cotton was separated at the gin and baled for shipping to textile mills. A person picking cotton dragged a large sack behind as a row was picked, emptying a filled sack into a wagon. Picking 200-250 pounds in a day was considered good. Harvesting cotton in the fall required much labor for several weeks, and some schools were dismissed during the cotton-picking season so that the children could work. Eventually, cotton-picking machines were invented, and no one was sorry to see the old methods replaced.

Improvements in agricultural equipment during this era changed farming in many ways. Tractors did not need the rest and feeding that teams of horses did, and with their electric lights, tractors could work through the night, allowing some tasks to be done continuously to take advantage of ideal weather or maturity of crops. Repair and maintenance of the new machinery required more advanced skills, training, and some new tools. The modern equipment was relatively more expensive to purchase and maintain, and there was always a danger of bankruptcy through defaulting on loans should the key crops fail. One of the most significant effects of the many labor-saving devices was that fewer farmers could cultivate more land, dooming the small family farm that was formerly worked by members of a large nuclear family. Many adult children seeking adequate farmland had to move far away, scattering families. Although W.A. Bennett tried to help his married sons get started farming in the local area, many of the families ultimately moved far away to seek other opportunities.

As the Bennett family grew, more farm land was needed. The original homestead was 160 acres, and he "proved up" and obtained title to it September 22, 1909 in a deed signed by President William Howard Taft. Additional fees cost $1.25 per acre. He deeded 40 acres from the original homestead to Walter P. Bennett. In about 1916 or 1917 he leased from the U.S. Government 570 acres of a section of land two miles north of the Bennett homestead. He farmed this "government land" for 21-23 years until about 1938 when the lease was not renewed because the land was deemed to be needed for Indian farms and dwellings. On it he usually planted 70 acres of corn on the good bottom land on Cobb Creek, 200 acres of wheat, and the rest in grass that was baled as hay. In stages, he also bought nearby property to expand his original farm. About 1916-1920, he first bought for $3,500 the 40 acres across the highway north of his property. Then in February, 1923 he bought for $8,000 the 160 acre "Bradley Place" on the southwest corner of the section east of the Bennett home place, and his married children Troy and Cora, Leo and Hazel, Orville and Della, and then Eugene and Evelyn lived there at various times. Then he bought back the 40 acres he had given to Walter Bennett. Then, about 1933, he bought 80 acres south of the Walter Bennett 40 acre property, and this was the property that George and Lavon Bennett later bought and lived on for many years. Soon after that, he bought the 160 acre "Shiveley Place" across the road south of the "Bradley Place" for Glenn and Letha to live on, and which later was bought by George and Lavon Bennett as their "south farm". William's memory differed on how much he owned and farmed at one time, varying from 520 to 720 acres. He believed in fair and equitable support of each of his children. He loaned some of them money, and when some of them could not repay, he forgave those debts, sold some of his land, and divided the money from the sale among the other children to equalize his financial support.

The family income came from a variety of sources. William hauled freight and worked for others in the earliest years and was eager and willing to do any available labor. Also in the early years he raised and broke horses and mules and had 25 mules at one time. After becoming better established, the main farm crops were wheat, feed corn, cotton, kafir corn, sorghum, and alfalfa and prairie hay. They raised 50-100 head of cattle and a few dozen hogs at a time, milked 10-24 cows and sold the cream, and had chickens and sold eggs, They contracted to clear land of timber, sold firewood and posts, and hauled and sold large logs to a sawmill near Alfalfa. They had a custom wheat harvesting crew and a haying crew and the requisite equipment for each. They also hunted and trapped game animals and sold the hides, averaging 100 hides each season.

William nearly was drafted to serve in World War I. The government was drafting men up to age 45. He took the physical examination, was classified IA, and expected to be called to service any day when the Armistice was signed, to everyone's great relief. Probably because farming was considered an occupation critical to defense, none of his children was called to serve during World War II or the Korean conflict.

William A. Bennett seemed to have possessed a very good business sense, making wise decisions. He kept up to date with modern farming and ranching practices, and stayed financially solvent even through the lean years of the Great Depression as well as in better times. The giant dust storms of the 1930s were worse farther north and west, and the Bennetts remembered them more as a major nuisance than as a disaster. Drought, however, was significant during that era, and most crops were affected. Although cash was scarce, the family weathered the Depression years without becoming bankrupt or going hungry, since most foods were grown on the farm. Throughout the years, William and his family took good care of their buildings, animals, and farm equipment, and his farming operation was a good example for his children and neighbors. A blacksmith shop was constructed, and many of his sons learned to make and repair equipment and machinery. In transactions his word was his bond, and he was respected for his honesty and work ethic. He kept financial records in a small black book which he carried in his shirt pocket, and he filled several such books in his lifetime.

During the mid-1930s Leona developed symptoms of what was then called "sugar diabetes" and known now as adult-onset or Type II diabetes. Little was known then about the disease, but it was thought then to be due to an insulin deficiency. Some of her children helped give her insulin injections, but the disease was not managed well in those days, and her symptoms continued and worsened. She developed infections on her feet, lost several toes, and had a large and deep ulcerative lesion on her heel that refused to heal, and which she cleansed and treated with a pink ointment. She complained very little about the discomforts and handicaps of her illness and persevered in her activities as best she could, using a chair under her knee as a crutch. She continued to take care of her family, cooking, cleaning, mending clothes, quilting, and also lovingly cared for her aged mother, reading the Bible to her every day. Unexpectedly, she developed chest pain which radiated into her arm, was taken to Carnegie hospital Saturday night still conscious and asking that her children be notified. She died there a day later at about midnight Sunday, on April 19, 1948, so suddenly that several of her children could not arrive in time to be at her side. Her physician, Dr. Sullivan, said that her heart arteries had hardened as the result of her diabetes. Today, her acute symptoms seem consistent with a heart attack from thrombosis, although the coronary artery disease leading to it likely was exacerbated by the years of diabetes. On April 21 her body laid in an open casket in the northeast room of the Bennett home, and then was taken to the Alfalfa Baptist Church for the funeral ceremony and was buried in the cemetery adjacent to the church under a red granite tombstone. Although the family knew that her health was precarious from the diabetes, the suddenness of her death was a tremendous shock, and everyone had a hard time coping with the loss.

William was very lonely, despite still having Eugene at home and many children and grandchildren living nearby. The Taylors, who owned the farm just west of the Bennett home place, told him about Josie Taylor's widowed sister, Fannie Willis of Olvey, Arkansas. William and Fannie corresponded, and Eugene drove him to meet her. They continued writing, and soon decided to marry. Thus, on July 18, 1949, about 15 months after Leona's death, he married Fannie in Harrison, AR, the county seat, and brought her home with him. He was 69 and she was 68, and that seemed quite old to the children, yet they would have almost 18 years together. The Bennett children called her "Aunt Fannie" and tried to accept her, although, naturally, no one could have replaced their beloved mother. Their first ten years were happy, but then Fannie became senile, suspicious, and unpredictable, and the last eight years or so were hard for them and their family. Fannie fell and broke her hip, became bedfast, and died exactly six months later, on May 2, 1967 at age 85. Her open casket was also taken to the Bennett home for a time, was moved to the church for her funeral, and then she was buried in the Alfalfa Baptist Church Cemetery. William was then 87, and he would live alone in his home for essentially the rest of his life, approximately five more years.

In his advancing years, William gradually reduced his activities. He sold his livestock and farming equipment in stages in farm auctions, renting out his farmland. Eventually he only had his dogs and cats and some chickens to feed and care for. Much of his time alone was spent sitting on his north porch, watching the chickens and other birds and the cars on the highway, and swatting flies (the only "hunting" he could manage anymore). He sat in a wooden chair, wearing the bib overalls with suspenders that crossed and hooked both in the back and front and the long-sleeve khaki-colored shirts he had preferred all of his life, with his well-worn hardwood cane beside him, chewing Beech-Nut Chewing Tobacco, and enjoying his surroundings and his thoughts and memories. His white hair had thinned but lacked significant balding, and he could still see well through his thick lenses, and could hear quite well for his age. He retained his great sense of humor and positive attitude, and his mind remained active and sharp. He kept up with news via television and the newspaper, retaining his strong, conservative political opinions about world events. He cherished the frequent visits by relatives, and never seemed more alive than when he was conversing with the adults or telling young children about the early days in Oklahoma Territory. He remained genuinely interested in people and had a good memory for the names and activities of his many descendants.

The extended family held annual family reunions for many years at nearby state parks. In the 1960s an elaborate "Bennett Park" was constructed on the north farm along Taylor Creek just a bit downstream and across the highway from the original dugout site. The park had playground equipment for the children, a bridge across the creek, a clearing for playing softball, and plenty of shade for picnic tables and chairs. Everyone brought food for a potluck feast. William was the honored patriarch at these events, trying to talk with each person, and perhaps eventually playing a game of "42" dominos. In addition to the reunions, he continued to plan and hold his Christmas celebration in his home, although the nearby relatives did most of the preparations under his instructions.

In his last few months William's health began to fail due to congestive heart disease symptoms and prostate problems. During the last several years, he had had Lavon buy for him Geritol, a vitamin and iron-rich supplement, and he felt that it had added several years to his life. For a time, a woman was hired to live in his home and assist him, but eventually she could no longer continue. Alfred and Rue bought a mobile home and moved nearby to better help take care of him along with George and Lavon and the other neighboring relatives. William was adamant about continuing to stay in his home, and, as his health deteriorated further, someone stayed there with him most of the time. One night George and Lavon played dominoes with him, then he got his own medicine without wanting their help, and went to bed, with George and Lavon staying the night to be there if needed. About sunrise the next morning, they heard him fall in the bathroom. He had suffered a stroke, was unconscious, and was taken by ambulance to Weatherford Hospital. He was treated there for eleven days, and was then transferred to a nursing home in nearby Corn, Oklahoma. He could speak but seemed confused, and it was not clear whether he recognized people or understood what had happened. He resented the intravenous drug lines and tried to pull them out. One day, he saw Lavon and said, "Geritol." She asked if he wanted her to get him some Geritol, and he said, "Yes." He lived another 2-3 weeks, and died there on October 22, 1972, at age 92 years, 9 months, and 24 days. Three days later, before the funeral and according to his specific instructions, his body was brought back to his home for 2-3 hours to lie in state in the home in which he had spent most of his long and happy life. Then his body, within a beautiful dark oak casket, was taken to the Alfalfa Baptist Church for his funeral ceremony, well-attended by his many friends and relatives, and he was buried in the adjacent cemetery beside Leona and Loyd under the red granite marker he had selected so many years before. He was preceded in death by his wives, Leona and Fannie, and by his children Loyd, Troy, and Gladys.

William's carefully-written will gave Alfred, as the oldest surviving child, the responsibility and instructions for disposing of the estate, and Alfred did as well as anyone could to equitably divide the money and property without causing hard feelings. Household items were distributed to the twelve families of the children by drawing lots, and people then could negotiate on their own further trades or purchases among themselves. The farms were sold in an auction. Brenda (Adams) Tate bought the original farm and buildings, and Kenneth Bennett bought the farm across the highway north, although neither of them had intended to buy anything, but at the last minute loathed to see the land sold outside of the family. These Bennett grandchildren still own the properties and have rented and/or farmed them. Most of the outbuildings on the homestead still existed although worse for wear and deterioration until early 2001 when they had to be razed by intentional burning because their dilapidated condition made them potentially hazardous as well as an eyesore. In 1986, George Bennett placed a concrete marker at the site of the original Bennett half-dugout, now just a slight depression in the surface after a century of weathering. Although hard to find due to considerable erosion and sloughing unless one knows where to look, the original spring still produces some live water.

The family reunions are no longer held on a regular annual schedule, and the Bennett Park is no longer maintained, but many descendants keep in touch. The members of the extended family have pursued many different careers and now reside in several states. It is certain that William and Leona would be very proud of all of them.

[The above is excerpted from my book, Family History of William Alford and Leona Houk Bennett, © 2005, by Lowell S. Adams. All rights reserved. LSA]
_______________
Service Held For Pioneer: Funeral services for William A. Bennett, 92-year-old long-time Carnegie area resident, who died late Sunday at the Corn Nursing Home, were held at 3 p.m. Wednesday at the Alfalfa Baptist church. Interment was at the Alfalfa cemetery. He had been ill about three weeks. He had lived on the same farm 71 years.

Bennett was born on December 28, 1879 at Seneca, Missouri, where he grew to manhood. He married Miss Leona Mae Houk on November 3, 1901 at Seneca, and the next day they came by wagon to the present homesite In eastern Washita county. Mrs. Bennett preceded him in death on April 19, 1948.

He continued to reside on the farm and was married to Miss Fannie Alice Willis on July 18, 1949. They retired from farming in 1966. She preceded him In death on May 2, 1967. He was also preceded in death by three children Lloyd in 1913, Troy in 1942 and Mrs. John D. Adams in 1970.

Survivors include eight sons, Alfred R. of Colony, Glenn R. of Lake Isabelle, Calif., George of Carnegie, Ralph 0. of Oklahoma City, Leo W. of Tucumcari, N.M., Raymond of Lake Isabelle, Calif., Eugene B. of Cyril, and Orville of Amarillo, Texas; two daughters, Mrs. Henry Pitt of Hydro, Mrs. George Tully of Carnegie, 33 grandchildren and 47 great-grandchildren. Two sons, Troy and Lloyd, and one daughter, Gladys Adams, preceded him in death.