ROAD TRIP TO STRONG CITY WITH SALLY

Posted on May 31, 2017 by Empty Nest Notes

Chapter 34

                               ROAD TRIP TO STRONG CITY WITH SALLY

 For my 85th birthday, Sally Anderson gave me an evergreen shrub.  It was to be planted next to her grandparents, Orren and Alida Anderson’s grave, in Strong City, Oklahoma.

 So, on Memorial Day we made the three hour drive to Strong City where my parents and her grandparents grew up.  The town population is now 30, however, one resident stretched to 40.  In the picture below, the foreground shows the ranch land where Grandfather Elmer James Guernsey raised Hereford cattle.

                                            Strong City with Sally 1

      Sally and her evergreen,  on the rightside is a evergreen I planted 67 years ago.

                                    Strong City Cemetery                   Sally’s grandparents grave stone.  Each year Nelda Davis from Strong City places an American flag on each veterans gravestone. Orren was a World  War I veteran. She placed 48 flags out this year, the oldest going back to the Civil War veteran.  Nelda is 88 years old and watches over the cemetery.

Strong City with Sally 2

  A short distance from Sally’s grandparents grave, is her “great” grandparents Wm. “Black Bill” and Tommie’s Andersons grave stone. Bill was an outlaw until he married Tommie Lee Boles.  She converted him to the Baptist religion and he soon became a law abiding citizen and eventually the Deputy Sheriff of Roger Mills County.  Strong City did not have a doctor in the early days, so  Tommie became  their “able nurse” when anyone got sick.

Strong City Cemetery_0003

 Left of our grandparents grave stone is Uncle Virgil Andersons grave.  He died during World War I at the young age of 18.

       Strong City with Sally 3                  Sally planted a mum on her great Grandparents Guernsey’s grave.  Grandmother Lena passed away at a young age.  Granddad had two sons and four daughters to raise along with the task of taking care of a large ranch.  He was determined that his children got a good education.  Not sure how he managed it,  living in their farm house with no electricity or running water and raising six children.  But he managed to send his sons to college, both getting engineering degrees and four daughters obtaining their teaching certificates.  Daughter Debra said he must of had a “strong constitution”.

Strong City Cemetery_0002

 Next to Grandfather Guernsey’s stone is their daughter Pauline’s stone, she taught in the Strong City school for many years.  On far right is their sons stone, Mike Guernsey, who fought in World War II. 

Strong City with Sally 4_0001

 I am standing in front of my parents, Orren and Alida Anderson’s grave stone. It is shaded by two large evergreens.  The one on the left was planted by my mother, 75 years ago and the evergreen on the right I planted 67 years ago.  Evergreens must love red clay with not much moisture!

After decorating the graves, we journeyed  over to the Community House for a Memorial Day feast put on by the Strong City residents.  Wonderful fellowship and food.

 It was a great day and having Sally with me made it extra special. 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                   

 

    

 

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ANDERSON’s MOVE TO CADDO GAP, ARK.

Posted on May 26, 2017 by Empty Nest Notes

Chapter 2

                    ANDERSON’s MOVE TO CADDO GAP, ARKANSAS

 In 1828, not long after Henry M. and Sarah Lowry Anderson were married, they moved from Amite County, Louisiana Territory, to Caddo Cap, Arkansas Territory.  Amite County was in Louisiana Territory and later became part of Mississippi.

 Henry and Sarah followed the Indian trails west, moving from Choctaw Indian Territory in Mississippi to Caddo Indian Nation Territory in Arkansas.  The Caddo Nation was a confederacy of several southeast Native American Tribes.  An internet story stated that Sarah Lowry was half blood Native American Indian (have not found her name on the Indian Rolls).

 After Henry and Sarah’s move to Arkansas Territory, the state achieved statehood in 1836.  This would be when Congress began the removal of the Five Civilized Tribes (Choctaw, Creek, Cherokee, Chickasaw and Seminole’s) from Arkansas to Oklahoma Territory.  Today, the Caddo Nation resides in Binger, Oklahoma.  The removal of the eastern Native American Indians from their home land, to Oklahoma Territory, was one of many broken promises by Congress to the Indians that they could remain in their native eastern home.

 In 1812, Kentuckians Martin and Mary Collier were the first recorded white settlers in Arkansas.  Their daughter Sarah “Sally”Collier has been posted on the internet as the wife of Henry M. Anderson.  However, no records of this marriage in Arkansas have been found?  In Amite County, Mississippi, where Henry lived, there are court house records of a marriage certificate between, Henry Anderson and Sarah Lowry, dated September 18, 1827.  Today, there are divided family camps on which “Sarah”,  he married Collier or Lowry.   When tracing ancestry,  a written copy of marriage certificates usually wins the battle.  Until further research proves otherwise, I am in the Lowry camp.

 We do not know much about the life of Henry and Sarah during their 21 years living in Caddo Gap.  Arkansas was a slave state and the 9th to secede from the union and join the Confederate States of America.  It is possible that Henry had slave(s) while living in Arkansas.  Many years later when he lived in Hemphill Co. Texas, there was a former slave still living in his house.

 Henry Anderson was a rancher, the same occupation as his father, James Anderson. The Caddo River would have been a valuable source of water for Henry’s livestock.

Henry Anderson, Caddo Gap. Ark.jpg                         Caddo Gap Community is located along the Caddo River.

What we do know is Sarah was kept very busy raising “11” children.  Ten were born in Arkansas and the last, Phillip Jefferson Anderson, was born in Texas.     

  • James Anderson, born 1829.
  • Mary Collier Anderson, born 1831, twin.
  • Prudence Anderson, born 1831, twin.
  • Elizabeth Anderson, born 1832.
  • Lucinda Anderson, born 1834.
  • Albert Jackson Anderson, born 1836.
  • Mitchell Harrison Anderson, born 1837.
  • John Henry Anderson, born 1839.
  • Delaney Anderson, born 1841.
  • William Walter Anderson, born 1844.
  • Phillip Jefferson Anderson, born 1852.

 We are not sure of Henry and Sarah’s political affiliation, but do find it interesting the middle names given their children…… Albert Jackson Anderson, Mitchell Harrison Anderson and Phillip Jefferson Anderson.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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