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Descendants of Henry C. DeCourtney

Generation No. 2


2. JOSEPHINA ELIZA2 COURTNEY (HENRY C.1 DECOURTNEY) was born February 11, 1854 in Central Arkansas, and died Abt. 1893. She married (1) ? PRUITT. She married (2) THOMAS PRUITT.

Notes for J
OSEPHINA ELIZA COURTNEY:
Many thanks to Robert Laura Stewart for information on Josephina COURTNEY and her descendants.
     
Children of J
OSEPHINA COURTNEY and ? PRUITT are:
  i.   ELINORE3 PRUITT, b. June 03, 1876, Whitehead Bead, Oklahoma or Fort Smith, Arkansas; d. October 03, 1933, Burntfork, Wyoming; m. (1) HARRY RUPERT; m. (2) HENRY CLYDE STEWART.
  Notes for ELINORE PRUITT:
From Robert Laurie STEWART email dated 3-27-2000

Uncle Jol (Courtney, I think) figured prominently in my father's boyhood. After a long and eventful life roaming the West, he came to Elinore's ranch to spend his last years there. I believe he died there & is buried in Burntfork, but that's my memory of things my Dad said, so treat it as highly unreliable on both counts. I do know he was a rascal outlaw hero to my father, and that his mother Elinore despaired of Jol's influence on her children. My father described him as a crack shot; he taught my father to shoot, as well as probably to cuss and spit.
One story, take it as.....was that once Jol and a partner in crime were in the Southwest somewhere and needed to get out of town in a hurry. They took on jobs as the engineer and fireman on a train going into Mexico, neither of them knowing the first thing about trains. They got the thing under way and across the border to relative safety from whatever trouble was behind them. Things were going fine until they came across a herd of sheep on the tracks in the middle of nowhere. Not being expert at the train business yet, they weren't able to stop in time, and dead sheep littered the landscape. When they'd managed to stop and walk back, they discovered they'd also killed the sheepherder. Pause for deep consternation, consideration, and discussion. They couldn't go back into the States, trouble there. They couldn't report the accident. They couldn't leave the shepherd there, or even bury him nearby, for fear of discovery and more trouble. Final decision: they threw the shepherd's body into the firebox of the locomotive, and continued on. Could even be true, who knows, or just a tall tale to delight a young lad....


  ii.   SUSIE PRUITT.
     
Children of JOSEPHINA COURTNEY and THOMAS PRUITT are:
  iii.   LAURA3 PRUITT, b. Abt. 1881; m. A. L. LOONEY, May 11, 1898, Hennepin, OK IT.
  Notes for LAURA PRUITT:
Information on marriage from Eula May Manning in a letter dated November 14, 1998. She also states that John W. Pickens, Minister. She states that this was found in Chickasaw Nation IT OK Marriage Book C.

Ward, Silas, 20 of Pauls Valley, Signed by Dan Ward, Rather Looney, Loera, 17 of Pauls Valley, Signed by H.I. Looney, Father Mar 23, 1913
Cagle Residence in Pauls Valey Wm Cagle, Missionary Baptist Minister at Pauls Valley Pg 306, J.W. Darnell and L.J. Darnell, both of Pauls Valley

  iv.   MARGARET PRUITT, b. Abt. 1882; m. ? FANSLER.
  v.   LUCIUS PRUITT, b. Abt. 1884; d. Abt. 1925.
  vi.   ELIZABETH JOSEPHINE PRUITT, b. Abt. 1888.
  vii.   JOSEPH PRUITT, b. Abt. 1886; d. Abt. 1902, Arbuckle, OK.
  Notes for JOSEPH PRUITT:
Information about Jim COURTNEY from a newspaper article form "The Davis News" dated March 26, 1942. The article "Thinking of Long Ago" was reporting news 40 years prior to the date of the newspaper, this being the year 1902.

"Joe Pruitt, 18, was accidently shot and killed by Jim Courtney, 19, son of Don Courtney, near Arbuckle."

  viii.   THOMAS PRUITT, b. Abt. 1890.
  ix.   SUSIE PRUITT, b. Abt. 1892.
  x.   BABY BYE, b. Abt. 1893; d. Abt. 1893.


3. EMORY ANN2 COURTNEY (HENRY C.1 DECOURTNEY) was born March 09, 1859 in Fort Cobb I.T., Arbuckle, and died July 12, 1925 in Davis, Indian Territory, Oklahoma. She married (1) LOUIS MARSHALL DENT. He was born in Ill, Sulfer Springs, Coal CO, OK IT or TX?, and died Bef. 1900 in Ok?. She married (2) MARTIN POOL PRATER, son of JOSIAH PRATER and SARAH HARPOOLE. He was born Abt. 1846 in near Sparta, White Co., TN, and died Abt. 1882 in OK. She married (3) ? YOUNGBLOOD.

Notes for E
MORY ANN COURTNEY:
Birthdate from a letter from John PRATER dated 2-2-1918.
*******

From the 1900 Chickasaw Nation census, Emory A. Dent is listed as a servant, widowed, had 7 children (5 living), born in Indian Territory, father born in Virginia, morther born in Arkansas, housekeeper, does not read or write English but speaks it, tribe-Chickasaw, father's tribe-blank, mother's tribe-Chickasaw, 3/4, blood, Citizenship/taxed.

On the 1900 Census, Chickasaw Nation, Indian Territory it shows:

215-253 includes Antioch, Elmore City, Katie, Hennepin, McCarty, Brady, Eola area.

215-1 Dent, Emory A., servant, Indian, female, born March l860 in Indian Territory, 40 years old, widow, father born in VA, mother in AR, 7-5 children (I am not sure whether it means there are 5 children
living out of 7 or what)

215-1 Dent, William H., servant, Indian, male, born June l885 in Indian Territory, l4 years old, father born in Texas, mother in Indian Territory

215-2 Brittenberg, Don, head, white, male, July l849, 50 years old, married l9 years, born in AR, father in OH, mother in AR, farmer

Brittenberg, Mariah, wife, Indian, female, born July l855 in Indian Territory, 44 years old, married l9 years, father and mother both born in MS (9-5 children)
************

From the 1910 census for Murray County, OK, Emory Dent is listed in the household of som William. She is shown as white female, widdowed, born in Oklahoma, father born in Kentucky, mother born in Ohio.

From the 1920census for Murray County, OK, Emory Ann is not listed.

********
From an interview with Zoe GREGORY 11-6-99 with Wallace and Rosemary Gregory
"The convalescent hospital Zoe is in is very nice. For a 90 year old lady she is very alert. She said that someone told her she was getting old, and she told them that no, she was not getting old, she was already there. The only Courtneys she recalled was a Pete and Carrie (sp) at Sorghum Flats that were "playmates" of hers and they were both about her age. They played all the time. Aunt Artie was married a lot of times. Her daughter, Wilma's name was Wilma Sharington (sp) McCan. She and Zoe were good friends. Emory Ann Dent: "A real grandmother. We really loved her. There was no better woman. She was a wonderful cook. When she came to visit she came down loaded with food. She called Zoe 'old sly' because she reminded her of her brother Sly Courtney. Zoe reminded her of him. She did not remember her being overly religious, but was a good woman. Uncle T - live in Texas and Okla. That's about it for family history...."


More About E
MORY ANN COURTNEY:
Burial: Greenhill Cemetery, Davis, OK

Notes for L
OUIS MARSHALL DENT:
Dear Candace:
Thank you for your nice email. I am sending cc's of this reply to you to two others who might be able to help you. I suspect that you come from the lines of either George or Thomas Marshall Dent, two brothers who moved to Augusta, Georgia from Maryland. However, it is possible that yet another of the Dent / Marshall sons about whom I know nothing may have moved to Georgia at the same time and you could descend from this third sibling. More on them in a moment.

Let me introduce you, please, to: Erick D. Montgomery, Executive Director of Historic Augusta, Inc., in, of course, Augusta, Georgia, the place to which George and Thomas Marshall Dent moved when they picked up stakes in Maryland; and, to John Longstreet Rhymes, a smashing fellow who is also a Dent / Marshall descendant who lives in New Orleans and owns / maintains / directs and nurses the web sites of the Dent, Longstreet and (Fitz) Randolph families that encompasses our mutual specific lines.

These are both wonderfully dedicated gentlemen that I respect and whose suggestions to you would probably be far more helpful than anything I could suggest. However, I will put down here a little info for you that might give you a little beginning place to look. Either Erick or John might know of places for you to then nose about which will be more productive or definitive.

Just by the name, it appears to me very clear that you are descended from one of the children of John Dent (1733-1809) of Maryland who married Sarah Marshall in 1753. Sarah was of the family of Chief Justice John Marshall. Thus the subsequent various combinations and permutations of the names Marshall and Dent, and ultimately, you.

Without dredging into old manuscript boxes and files in my basement (you do NOT want to get into that!!) I went to cousin John Longstreet Rhymes's Dent family website and check to make sure of my remembrance and he has listed five children of John and Sarah Marshall Dent: Elizabeth; John (1754-1816); George (1755-1813), Anne Herbert, and Thomas Marshall (1761-1823).

Go to cousin John's web site for all us Dent's to see this info. It is at: http://wymple.gs.net/~longstrt/dent.html. I am sending the cc of this to John's private email rather than the Longstreet email address because I am not sure which way John would like to handle this since it is not, strictly speaking, a Longstreet inquiry. I herewith ask his advice to you as to the best manner for you to have further email contact with him / his websites so as to get your inquiries out on the net in the best form, most expediently, without driving him crazy!

Now, the reason I bolded the names of George and Thomas Marshall Dent above is because those two brothers picked up and left Maryland to settle in Augusta, Georgia. Did others, including Dent cousins who could have named a child of theirs for their Marshall / Dent kin, also move to Augusta? I don't know. Ask ol' Erick!!! He is one of the best geneologists that I know, and is on the board of governors of the Georgia Historical Society, so if anyone could direct you in expanding that search it is blessed Erick. His email is: erickdm@aol.com.

OK: Back to George and Thomas Marshall Dent.

George Dent: John's Dent web site has George being born in 1755, my info has him born in 1758 (don't know which is correct), in Maryland. George's younger brother Thomas Marshall Dent was, we both agree, born in 1761. The brothers were from Charles County, Maryland. George Dent was a Maryland Representative for eight years. George and (Thomas) Marshall Dent liquidated their holdings in Maryland and moved to Augusta, Georgia, in 1802. As far as I know, they both died in Augusta, one of them meeting his maker after being thrown from a horse or some such thing: George in 1813 (somehow I think it was George who was the principal in the equine demise) and uncle Thomas Marshall D. ten years later in 1823.

George Dent married Anne Magruder Truman (the Magruders are very fine folk in Maryland, sort of like the Marshalls) and they had, John's site says, six (6) children: Joseph Herbert D. (more on this one in a minute) 1782-1823; Sarah Marshall D. (1784- ?); Elizabeth Truman D. (1786-1789); Maria D. (1788- ?); George Columbus D. (1793 - ?); and, Dennis D. (1796-1863). One little note of confusiion here involves the eldest child who cousin John's information has named Joseph Herbert Dent, while my info has him as John Herbert Dent, and I have no idea which is correct, or if both are -- sort of like my current little cousin Joseph Jenkins Shippen II, who is known as "Jay" and I cannot think of a soul who knows his real name, or, another friend, Joseph John Jova, known as John Jova. Perhaps Erick has something more definitive -- like a tombstone, Erick????. Anyway, Joseph or John Herbert Dent, who seems to George's oldest boy, was born 15 February 1782, became a famous naval officer, was the captain of the John Adams (which was built by some other grandparents of mine in Charleston, SC), which was the ship involved with the Barbery Pirates ("...From the Halls of Montezuma, to the Shores of Tripoli ...") and was probably the longest lived warship in the US navy even being used as a part of the Union blockade of Charleston (ironically) during the War of Northern Aggression. John (Joseph?) Herbert Dent became commander of the Charleston S.C. Naval Station in 1812 (just in time for the War of 1812) and married Elizabeth Ann Horry of Charleston, from one of the city's best and most famous families. So, unless there are other sons of George and Anne Dent, you are potentially descended from A) Joseph or John Herbert Dent; B) George Columbus Dent (if he lived to maturity, about which I do not know), or C) Dennis Dent who did live to maturity and moved to Georgia with his parents at about age 6. I have no info on Dennis. Sorry. Erick???

Thomas Marshall Dent (1761-1823) married Nancy Anne Magruder in 1781 (apparently) which means he was twenty (20) and heaven only knows about her. The more interesting part about that is, note her name -- not to be confused with her sister-in-law, George's wife, Anne Magruder Truman. Makes you wonder if Tom called his wife Nancy to differentiate her from brother George's Anne? Whatever. Cousin John's Dent web site shows Thomas Marshall and Nancy Anne Dent as haviing four children: John D. (1792 - ? did he live to maturity?, I don't know - Erick?); Mary Anne D. (1793-1855) who married James Longstreet of Augusta, Georgia, and among others they were the parents of James the General [cousin John Longstreet Rhymes to whom I am cc-ing this is descended from this union]; Sarah Marshall D. (1795- ?); and, Jane D. (1797- ?). So ... did Thomas and Nancy Anne's son John live to maturity, did he have chillun, did they breed in Jawjuh, are you descended from this John, is this where John Longstreet Rhymes' name comes from, stay tuned for the next installment as we turn the microphone over to ERICK!. You there, son?

Seriously Candace, as near as I can tell from my pitiful notes there were (are) four potential Dent / Marshall males from whom you can be descended: three from George D. [Joseph / John Herbert Dent (distinctly possible); George Columbus (iffy); Dennis (distinctly possible)] and one from Thomas Marshall D. [John Dent (iffy? live to maturity? hmmmm?].

And there I stop to leave you in the hands of these two fine gentlemen whom I hope will be able to assist you far more than I have been able to do. Let me know if there is anything else I can do to help. Cheers. Sincerely. Sibley Jennings. jma@mylink.net





     
Children of E
MORY COURTNEY and LOUIS DENT are:
  i.   WILLIAM HARDY3 DENT, b. June 28, 1885, Murray Co., Ok; d. November 05, 1951, Biggs, Ca; m. (1) JOSEPHINE E.; m. (2) ?; m. (3) LAURA ALICE ALLIE SMITH; b. January 26, 1873, Brownwood Co., Texas; d. October 16, 1946, Los Angeles, California.
  Notes for WILLIAM HARDY DENT:
From the 1900 Chickasaw Nation census, William H. Dent is listed as a servent, married, born in Indian Territory, father born in Texas, mother born in Indian TErritory, farm labor, doesn't read or write English but speaks it, tribe-Chickasaw, father's tribe-blank, mother's tribe-Chickasaw, 3/8 blood, Citizenship/taxed.

From the 1910 Murray County, OK census, WIlliam is listed as married twice, born in Oklahoma, father born in Illinois, mother born in Oklahoma. His wife is listed as Allie (this would be Allie Gregory), white female 36, married 2 years, 11 children/8 living, born in Texas, father born in MO, mother born in GA. Other listed in household:

-Guss Courtney, stepson, white male, 16, sl, born in OK, father born OK, mother born TX.
-Auther, 14, same as above
-William, 13, same as above
-Harvey, 10, same as above
-Francis, stepdaughter, white female, 9, same as above
-Clarence, stepson, white male, 3, same as above
-Carrie, stepdaughter, white female, 2 same as above

From the 1920 Murray County, OK census, William H. Dent is listed as head of house, renting, white male, married, born in OK, father born in TX, mother born in OK, farmer. Allie L. is listed as wife, white female, 46, married, born in TX, father born in MO, mother born in GA. Other listed in household:

-Clarence C., stepson, white male, 13 sl, born in OK, father born in OK, mother born in US.
-Carrie E., stepdaughter, 12, same as above
-Ester M. Dent, daughter, white female, 8 sl, born in OK, father born in US, mother born in US.

******
Hi Candace,
Well I finally was able to send you the Picture I had told you about. I
have had a rough time with my scanner but it is ok now. The People in the
Picture from Left to Right are
Francis, Aka, Aunt Frank Child # 6.
Hardey Dent,
Laura Allie Smith Courtney Dent,
Gus, Child #2
Harvey, Alfreds dad, Child # 5
Arthur,AKA, Uncle Dommer. Child #3
Bill, Lived in Clear Lake Ca. Child #4
Front Row , Pete Child # 8 and Carrie, Roberts Mother.Child # 9.
Laura was pregnant with Ester Child # 10 in the Picture. Carrie was 5
Months old when father Wade Hampton Courtney died. He had contacted
Measles, Carrie told us. There were 3 infants died and 2 or 3 miscarrages.
Hardy Dent was working as a hired hand for the Courtneys when Wade Died and
later married Laura.

Dora was missing in picture as she got married when she was 15 yrs. old.
Thelma died at age 4 she was between Pete and Frances.

Hope you will be able to see the picture. It went Jpeg. I think.

If you can't let me know & I will try and send it another way. I talked to
Alfred last week and he explained how we were all related. Well I better
go for now. Hope to hear from you soon. Emma robemmooney@email.msn.com


  More About WILLIAM HARDY DENT:
Fact 1: Buried at Gridley-Biggs Cemetary, CA. 11-4-1951
Fact 2: SS#547-09-3112
Medical Information: According to WE Gregory, he was playing mumbly-peg with a knife, flip it, and wn on his knee. He had a crroked leg, permanently stiff.

  More About JOSEPHINE E.:
Fact 1: Second wife of Hardy, was from Chowchilla, according to WE Gregory.

  More About LAURA ALICE ALLIE SMITH:
Burial: Rose Hills, California, Ivy Lawn

  ii.   ARTIE MAE DENT, b. April 04, 1887, Oklahoma Indian Territory; d. September 03, 1964, San Diego Co., California; m. (1) ? FRITZ; d. Bef. September 01, 1917; m. (2) ? WOLF.
  Notes for ARTIE MAE DENT:
Artie Mae was living in Phoeniz, AZ 12-19-1935 from a letter written from her to Willa DIAMOND in my posession.
*******

Artie Mae was living in Phoenix, AZ 6-16-1944 when she filled out her social security application, lisitng address of PO Box 3494. Her name at that time was WOLF.

In a letter from John PRATER dated 9-1-1917, he refers to the recent death of Artie Maes husband.

  More About ARTIE MAE DENT:
Burial: September 04, 1964, Mt. Hope Cemetery, San Diego
Death Certificate: 5564
Social Security Number: 527-30-3205

  iii.   THOMAS HENRY DENT, b. April 19, 1890, Murray Co., OK IT; d. September 10, 1964, Cado, Louisiana; m. LUNNIE BALLEW; b. Abt. 1905.
  Notes for THOMAS HENRY DENT:
Social Security application gives birthday as 4-20-1890. Address as of social security application 11-22-1938 is Box 175 C. G. Sta. Shreveport, LA.

In a letter from Headquarters US Marine Corps dated 2-9-1919 to his mother: States that Private Thomas H. DENT was admitted to Base Hospital #36, May 16, 1918. Cause of admission is a strain, right side of back, envurred while lifting a heavy bundle at his station Mary 10, 1918. He returned to duty 6-17-1918.

In a letter dated 3-21-1919 from John PRATER to his mother, he referrs to the injury that Thomas H. DENT had and refers to his as Henry, thus the middle name.

In a letter dated 3-12-1919 from John PRATER to his mother, he gives the news that Henry is now a Corporal and has been since last June "and he may be a Sargeant by now." WIthin the letter is an address for Corporal Thomas H. DENT

  More About THOMAS HENRY DENT:
Burial: Greenwood Cemetery, Shreveport, LA
Occupation: Mechanic
Social Security Number: 438-12-0107

     
Children of EMORY COURTNEY and MARTIN PRATER are:
  iv.   ROSE LINDBERG3 PRATER, b. November 10, 1879, Davis, Oklahoma Indian Territory; d. January 11, 1976, Gridley, California; m. (1) WILLIAM FRANKLIN GREGORY; b. August 17, 1877, Breckingridge, Stephens Co., Texas; d. April 22, 1962, Gridley, CA; m. (2) JOHN ALEXANDER BRAWLEY, October 22, 1897, probably Oklahoma; b. Abt. 1865, Jack Co., TX; d. Abt. 1899, probably Oklahoma.
  Notes for ROSE LINDBERG PRATER:
Rose PRATER GREGORY stated in an interview about 1965 that she was born 2 1/2 miles west of Fort Arbuckle.

*****
1900 Chickasaw OK IT Garvin census
B231©144 GREGORY, ROSA L WF W F JAN 1878 22 M©4 TX TX AL 1©CHILD

******

Rosemary Gregory, wrote in a short story, "Not One! Not Two! Not Three!" about her mother-in-law, Rose Gregory. "The trip to those kitchens of memories now goes to a kitchen on Block Rd. in Gridley, California. This room is scrubbed until it sparkled. Neat clean, and everything in its place is the rule followed daily. The gleaming, white refrigerator was always filled with many delicacies for a sumptous meal. In the summer there was always watermelon ready to serve in bite size pieces and completely seedless. There were always a variety of jams, jellies, canned vegetables and fruit, as well as a variety of baked goods. Those yeast rolls that were light, fluffy, golden brown and the size of your fist, fried pies made with dried apples, peaches, or apricots, and there was that delicious Boiled Cake that was a family favorite. One never left that kitchen without some very special treasure.

GRAMMY GREGORY'S BOILED SPICE CAKE

2 cups sugar
1 cup shortening
2 cups water
2 ts. cloves
2 cups raisins
2 ts. cinnamon
2 ts. salt

Put in a saucepan. Let boil. Then add 2 ts. soda and 3 cups flour. Bake in a slow oven."

  More About ROSE LINDBERG PRATER:
Census: 1900 Chickasaw Garvin
Fact 1: SS#558-8-0-8147
Fact 2: Buried at Memorial Park Cemetary in Oroville, Ca.
Medical Information: myocardial infarction
Social Security Number: March 26, 1966, 558-80-8047, Chico, CA

  Notes for WILLIAM FRANKLIN GREGORY:
William F. was blind in one eye, blinded by a wood chip that got in his eye while cutting wood. In a letter dated July 1, 1917 by John PRATER, he refers to the recent injury.
*****
Candace, I found a Wm F. Gregory family in Murray County ED 86 S4 L82 in 1920: Wm F, 41 b. TX wife Rosa 40 b. OK and these children all born in OK:Bonnie 16; Willie 14 (f); Mary 12; Zola 10; Lizzie 8; Ade L (m) 6 andBattelina 2.
*******

From Nomad's Notebook by Walt Wiley, a column in the Sacramento Bee June 14, 1975: It's fresh fruit time again, and Northern California seems to have it all.

This is the time of year to drive around the areas where everything looks rich and fertile, like near Lodi or along the roads in the Yuba City area.

Just browse around the produce stands, buy something to take home that can be put in jars and brought out in the middle of the winter to brighten things up.

Or buy something to just eat now, maybe to make ice cream with, or a pie.

And of course right now is the time for watermelons. I'll admit a watermelon is not the tastiest melon around, but there is something festive and symbolic of carefree summer days in a crisp, red, ice-cold, sweet, juicy watermelon.

And I'll also admit I do not know how to pick a watermelon. If it were up to me to choose the watermelons for the world, suddently the only kind growing would be green and sour. They would ripen and fall apart without ever getting sweet.

But the people at the produce stands take pride in finding a good melon for you if you ask, and oftentimes the vendor will be so confident of his melon sense he will even let you taste a plug from one he has selected as prime.

These pros are people who can tell just by looking at a melon how it will taste tomorrow afternoon after floating around in a tub of ice water all day.

HArvey Wearne of Grass Valley sells flowers for a living, but up into the 1950s he was a grocer working for the old Kilpatric chain that had 22 stores in such places as Gridley, Chico, Durham, Keddie, Westwood and Portola.

Wearne told me once that he learned during his tenure in the grocery business how to pick a good watermelon.

"I can tell by looking, but it was a lesson I learned the hard way," he said.

Wearne said he was working in Gridley after World War II when a man with a semi-truck loaded with melons rolled up in front of the store and sold the melons to the store manager.

"We must've unloaded two or three tons of melons when this local farmer - been raising melons all his life - walked up, took a look at the melons, then said to the boss, 'Leo, you really got snookered this time.'

"I guess Leo thought he was just sore because he hadn't bought the melons from him, but the farmer, his name being Gregory, told Leo, 'You start cutting the melons I tell you, and I'll buy everyone that's ripe.'

"We must've cut two dozen melons, and it was one bad one after another.

"Then he said he'd start picking good ones, and he did; every one he said was ripe was ripe.

"I looked at a lot of melons that day, and it gave me a real education. I started paying attention the."

Wearne said there are many ways to pick a good melon. Looking for "sugar bumps" under the skin is one way. "It's just like a rash you get under your skin. Run your hand over the melon and if you feel the bumps there it's a good sign it's ripe."

Another sign is thin, brown craks in the outer skin. "Not deep cracks into the melon-just the outer skin."

Still another test is to hold the melon between your two hands up next to your ear, then squeeze it.

"If you hear a popdown inside, it ought to be ripe. When you cut it open you'll see a crack running through the flesh where it cracked from your squeezing it. It won't happen if the melon isn't fully ripe."

He said the most reliable of the three ripeness signs seems to the thin brown crack.

Since I've never been able to pick a good melon, I eagerly wrote down everything Wearne told me.

Trouble is, at the end of all of it, he ruined everything by adding, "Of course, the best way is to just know your melons. Get around enough of them and pay attention and you can just tell by seeing them."

That last part wrecked my hopes.

Next time it falls upon me to pick a melon I'll apply Wearne's wisdom, but if experience is supposed to be the best tool in choosing watermelons, I'm doomed.

Because I have inspected, thumped, fondled, squeezed, plugged, cut and eaten enough watermelons in my life to make a pile the size of one of the Sutter Buttes.

And the only way I can tell a good melon after all that experience is with a good knife and my taste buds.

Maybe the answer is just to ask the melon man to pick a good one for me.

  More About WILLIAM FRANKLIN GREGORY:
Census: 1880, Stephens Co., TX
Death Certificate: 45660
Fact 1: Buried at Memorial Park Cemtary in Oroville, CA.
Medical Information: Was blinded in one eye while cutting wood and a chip went into his eye.

  v.   JOHN LESTER PRATER, b. January 08, 1882, Oklahoma; d. June 28, 1959, San Diego, CA; m. HANNA LOUISE PRISCILLA CATTELL, April 08, 1918, Uptown Presbyterian Church, Newark; b. October 15, 1895, New York City, New York; d. May 1977, San Diego, CA.
  Notes for JOHN LESTER PRATER:
Sergeant John L. Prater, was in the U.S. Marine Corps for 20 years. A Newark, NJ newspaper article, probably 1923, details some of his accomplishments.

MARINE GUARDED THREE PRESIDENTS

Serg. Prater, Retiring After 20
Years, Was All Over World.
____________________

MET THE KAISER AND MENELIK

____________________

Settles Down for Good as Guard of
Bank of Newark.
____________________

"Sergt. John L. Prater of 720 Franklin avenue, Nutley, N.J., vowed many times that if he ever doffed the uniform of the United States MArine Corps he never would get into another. He said he was "all shut" of uniforms. Then, just as if to play a huge joke on him, Fate stuffed his six feet of height and 187 pounds of brawn in a new bank in Newark.

Whatever may be his experience in life from now on, bank robbers and crusty patrons to the contrary notwithstanding. Sergt. Prater's life cannot be any more hazardous or more interesting than it has been the last twenty years. Twenty years means five hitches in the MArine Corps. In that twenty years he has done things many another man of twice his age -- he is only 42 -- has not even attempted.

He is the only one among 115,000,000 other Americans who has been personal guard of three United States Presidents, who has completed five trips around the world, who has put foot on nearly every naval ship of the United States, who has done guard duty over the body of Admiral John Paul Jones, who has visited every port of the world in which a naval ship could enter and who has stepped from the torrid zone to the temperate zone and from that to the frigid zone as easily as the average commuter boards a train for home.

Sergeant Prater has ridden a camel across the Sahara Desert and has sailed up the Congo River in a boat. He has been reviewed by two Kings of England and has saluted the former German Emperor.

Admiral of Ship Is a Girl

Now he has retired from service after twenty years, has built a California style bungalow on a wooded knoll in Nutley and is commander of his own ship. He is not the admiral, however. That position is left to Priscilla Louise Prater, who is 4 1/2 years old, and has her hands full attending to a large family of dolls. That is the occupation of the "admiral," while Sergeant and Mrs. Prater are reading poultry journals.

Twenty years is not long when one looks back on it, Sergeant Prater says. He has been out of the service only a few weeks, but he says it seems almost yesterday that he was a youngster in Davis, Okla., when that was the Indian Territory and old Fort Arbuckle had recently been replaced by the newer Fort Sill.

Out there in those days there was military atmosphere in abundance. Johnnie Prater's grandfather, Henry C. De Courtney, had been a major in the Mexican war and wounds prevented him from enlisting in the civil war, so he became a Government contractor. The De Courtneys were some of the first white settlers in the Territory. Johnnie's paternal grandfather was of a less warlike career. He was, until he died, Prof. Prater, teaching romance languages in the University of Heidelberg, Germany.

When Theodore Rossevelt recruited his Rough Riders for the Spanish war Johnnie was 16 years old. He made application for the regiment and was rejected as too young. He bided his time. Five years later, on September 5, 1903, he enlisted in Kansas City as the first marine coming from the Indian Territory.

He was fortunate in the nature of travel in those first six months. Almost immediately after his enlistment he was ordered to New York and went aboard the old Brooklyn, which set out for Mediterranean watters. Twenty years ago Christmas Sergeant Prater passed in the Holy Land. There was trouble in that section then, as there has been in other times and seasons. The Turks were killing the Syrians and the Brooklyn was sent to prevent bloodshed. For many weeks, Sergeant PRater stood guard over the Presbyterian School for Syrian Girls in Beirut.

Visits Menelik in Abyssinia.

Following that experience there came orders to proceed to Abyssinia to make a treaty with King Menelik. Sergeant Prater was selected to accompany the official party, which traveled by gunboat through the Suez Canal and Red Sea to Jibuti on the Gulf of Aden, thence by camel train to Menelik's capital.

"Menelik was a rattling big ebony fellow," said Sergeant Prater, "and his style was a silf hat and a breech clout. But he was a king all right. Not one in the thousands of his subjects disputed that fact. It would have been intensely unfortunate for them if they had. Menelik received us in royal style, took us hunting big game and was very courteous. I wonder if he would have done so had our business been less official."

It was the report that Col. Thorpe, then major, gave to President Roosevelt of the expedition that kindled the first desire for big game in Africa, Sergeant Prater said.

That same year, on the return trip, Sergeant Prater saw the then German Emperor. The Brooklyn visited the Kiel Canal and the Kaiser came aboard. Full honors were done him, with officers on deck saluting and the guard presenting arms. Sergeant Prater said the Kaiser himself a tall man, was of excellent military appearance and closely inspected every six footer he found.

But there was another mission to be done, this time the incident which gave rise to Roosevelt's remark: "Perdicaris alice or Raisuli dead." Raisuli, an African bandit, had captured Ian Perdicaris, a former resident of Trenton, and had held him for ransom. President Roosevelt sent out an expedition which included Sergt. Prater in its personnel. The expedition was unsuccessful in getting the bandit out of the wilds and the ransom was paid instead. But the sergeant remembers well the nights in the jungle, with wild animals howling near the water holes and the awe the strange noises inspired.

Joined Marines and Saw World

It seemed that Sergt. Prater was preordained to live up to the legend: "Join the Marines and see the world." He was constantly traveling. His next look at a king, after seeing Menelik was in England in 1905, when he saw King Edward driving in Hyde Park. It was that year the United States decided to bring back the body of John Paul Jones, which had lain buried in France for 115 years.

The Marine Corps was called on for a guard detail. Sergt. Prater his penchant for the unusual skill at work, was selected as one of six that had the honor and until the body was placed in the Naval Cemetery at Washington Sergt. Prater stayed beside the coffin. Afterward he was transferred to the Marine barracks in Washington. President Poosevelt needed an orderly. He remembered the youngster who had tried to enlist in the Rough Riders and had him detailed.

By that time Sergt. Prater already had been one of a party of 125 officers and men received by the Pope in Rome, had seen King Alfonso in Madrid and had been present when the Khedive of Egypt reviewed the Royal Irish Fusileers, the British troops stationed in Egypt. He also had met Richard Harding Davis at Cape Town in South Africa and Jack London in Sitka, Alaska.

Prater's duty with Roosevelt was continued to the Presidency of Taft. Three times he visited the Canal Zone with each of those Presidents, the first time viewing the ruins of the canal left by the French, and later seeing the new canal in full operation.

When marine officials were called upon to furnish a guard for President Wilson, PRater was recommended as competent and familiar with the duties. President WIlson sent for him and it was on the European trip that Prater became well acquainted with the President, for he was ordered never to leave the President's side. From Brest to Paris he went with the Presidential party. He remained with the party when President Wilson visited King George and Queen Mary in Buckingham Palace; when they visited King Albert in Brussels and Victor Emmanuel in Rome.

His services in Mexico permitted him to inspect a whole flock of Mexican Presidents -- Diaz, Huerta, Carranza and Obregon. Meanwhile his travels had taken him to Japan, where he had sailed on the Inland sea and had seen the Emperor and Empress of Japan in Tokio when he was an orderly to Admiral Sebree, in command of the Asiatic station.

Sergt. Prater said he was a warm admirer of Roosevelt and had great respect akin to love for Wilson. He said Wilson had been a visctim of much misunderstanding. He viewed President Taft as less democratic toward the enlisted man than either Roosevelt or Wilson.

He Found World is Small

Sergt. Prater will tell you the world is small. Not many years after he met Richard Harding Davis in Cape Town, he saw him again at Vera Cruz when that place was occupied by United States troops in 1914. Again he saw him in South Africa and finally met him in on July 4, 1917, in Paris, shortly before Davis died. After meeting Jack London in Sitka he saw him later at San Francisco, again at Honolulu, again at Vera Cruz and lastly in Mexico. He has met many newspapermen in his travels.

Sergeant Prater speaks Spanish fairly well and knows at least a phrase or two of a score or more of languages and dialects. He speaks a bit of Chinese he picked up at the legation in Pekin.

Just before the world war Sergeant Prater was appointed as military instructor at St. John's College. When the United States entered the war Sergeant Prater was transferred to active duty on the U.S.S. Seattle, heading the convoy for transport ships. He made serveral trips on the convoy before he was trasnferred to be guard for President Wilson. He was one of two men picked from among seventy on the Seattle to be the President's orderly.

On recommendation of President Wilson Sergeant Prater was sent to the officers' training school at Quantico, VA., where he remained four months, but he did nto accept the commission he was offered, explaining that he wanted to stay an enlisted man. It was not until the close of the war that he saw his half-brother, Thomas H. Dent of Phoenix, Ariz, who had enlisted in the Sixth Regiment of Marines. Sergeant Prater's own regiment was the Fifth.

After the war Sergt. Prater was detailed to go with the "Roving Marines," a recruit detachment that traveled about the country to advertise the service. He was listed as a singer and dancer. He admitted he was a bettter marine than a singer, although he has an excellent tenor voice. He traveled with Sergt. Dan Daley, "grand old man of the Marine Corps," who was twice decorated with the Congressional Medal. His last recruit duty was in Newark,, and it was there he was discharged at the end of twenty years, with a substantial pension coming to him from the Government and a new position -- in uniform -- open to him.

But there was one paper to which he attached his signature that had a far different meaning to him than the scores of military papers he had signed. One of military papers he had signed, One Students League exhibit in New York. That was 1917. He had seen hundreds of famous paintings in his Old World travels and he had an especial interest in art. A picture which was marked for the first prize attracted his attention. It was called "Antiques."

"Gosh, that's good!" said the sergeant. "I wonder who painted that!"

"I did," said a girl at his elbow, and the sergeant said she was far from being an antique herself.

"And who might you be?" he said.

Wins Bride at Art Show

Thenseforth the conversation is not recorded. Suffice it to say that on April 8, 1918, etween trips that Sergt. PRater made across the Atlantic he and Miss Priscilla Louise Cattell, the painter of "Antiques" and winner of the first prize, were married by the minister of an uptown Presbyterian church. She is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Albert Cattell of 212 West Eightieth street.

Sergeant Prater's new uniform isn't near so resplendent as his old one. So sometimes when on holidays he hangs out the American flag on the new pole over his bungalow he puts on his beloved uniform, with the gold and red chevron and teh gunnery sergeant chevron that goes with them. Across his breast are two rows of ribbons that include Mexican service, Haitian service in 1915-1916, Nicaraguan service in 1912, the Cuba pacification service in 1906, the world war service with Maltese cross for escort service in the submarine zone and the regimental decoration of the Fifth Marines. He says he has been in virtually all the engagements the marines have entered since the Spanish-American War.

He looked all over the world for a place to settle down and he has found it at last in New Jersey. He has chosen a high point, because of a military advantage, he says.

There is one other matter in which Sergt. Prater stands out as both a marine and a civilian. He has never smoked, drunk liquor or gambled. His discharge papers carry the word "Excellent" in every report for the entire twenty years.

"Probably you think I'm fit to be a parson," he grinned.

Sergt. Prater, with his body straight as an arrow and with muscles like steel that bulge under his uniform, is no namby-pamby. You will mark him at once as a regular fellow."
















  More About JOHN LESTER PRATER:
Social Security Number: 136-16-6893

  Notes for HANNA LOUISE PRISCILLA CATTELL:
Per social security application dated March 16, 1943, she gave her address as 720 Franklin Av., Natley, NJ (town somewhat unreadable). She gave her employer as L/ Bamberger & Co., Market St., Newerk, NJ.

  More About HANNA LOUISE PRISCILLA CATTELL:
Burial: Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery, San Diego
Death Certificate: 04107
Social Security Number: 139-20-0741



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