Notes for Sarah Mack Stowers: Sarah and James are living with daughter, Viola and her husband, Herbert Crout in 1930.
Indian Pioneer Paper: Volume 24, page 160:
December 21, 1937
Name: Sara Felkner
Post Office Address: Sentinel, Oklahoma
Date of birth: May 7, 1861.
Place of birth: Arkansas
Name of Father: Will Stowers, b. Tennessee (farmer)
Name of Mother: Lou Holt b. Tennessee (housewife)
I was born in Huntsville, Arkansas, May 7, 1861. My father, Will Stovers, was a soldier in the Civil War. When my father went to war my mother was left alone to care for several small children and a very poor farm to look after. My father didn't have to serve very long as peace was soon declared. We moved to Texas where I was married and lived until 1897. In 1897 we decided to come to the Territory to make our home. We loaded up our bedding and what furniture we had and started up here. We had three wagons, twelve head of cattle, two span of mules and some chickens. We camped out at night. It was December and the weather was very cold; at night we had to spread a wagon sheet on the ground and put our bedding down on that. We had two tents for sleeping quarters. The boys always built a big fire in front of the tent. One night while camping in the woods, the boys had just finished building a big fire when five Indians rode up with guns. They did not say anything but they tried to put out the fire, but after awhile they rode away. We supposed that they didn't want us to burn the wood. The next night six head of our stock got loose and just as soon as it was daylight the men and boys started out to look for them and I was left there alone and after while two Indians rode up and asked me how long that we were going to stay there and I told them that our stock was lost, and that we would go just as soon as we could find them. These Indians stayed around there for a while and then left and didn't come back anymore. We located at Marietta near Ardmore. We rented one hundred acres. We had part of the land in cultivation and left part for pasture. We let our cows run loose but we had to pen our hogs in the fall. Our home was a double log house; this was very small and had a half window in one room. We burned wood and there was lots of timber around there, black jack, post oak, pecan and most every other kind. We lived there about eleven years. When the Kiowa country opened we decided to try our luck up here. My husband helped his brother move and while up here he filed on land. He came back to Marietta after us. We were on the road nine days. The ground was frozen and the stock could not make very good time. We lost several heads of cattle. We located at Retrop, five miles west of Sentinel. Our first home was a half dugout about 18 x 14. We had to go to the Kiowa country to get our wood and it took one day to make the trip. We had to bargain with the Indians to get this. We got our water from a gyp well about three miles from our place. We planted about the same crops as we did in the South. We had a good corn crop just on the sod land. We built a new house the second year that we lived here. We had to haul our lumber from Quanah, Texas, also got our groceries from there about once a year. We didn't have schools in the Territory for several years after we came here. In the South the school buildings were just log buildings but farther north the children went to school in dugouts in the early days. Church was always held in the school house, also any other social gathering. For entertainment we had what we called spelling bees and the smaller children learned to spell in this way. We also had pie suppers and some dances.
More About Sarah Mack Stowers: Burial: Unknown, Retrop Cemetary, Sentinel, Oklahoma. Census 2: June 30, 1900, Elk Township, Washita County, Oklahoma. Census 3: February 17, 1920, Elk Township, Washita County, Oklahoma. Census 4: April 08, 1930, Fullerton, Orange County, California.
More About Sarah Mack Stowers and James Henry Felkner: Marriage: December 12, 1878, Dallas County, Texas.
Children of Sarah Mack Stowers and James Henry Felkner are:
Sarah Mack Stowers (b. May 07, 1861, d. 1950)
Notes for Sarah Mack Stowers: