Reminiscences of Pioneer Days
by Mrs. J. F. Messenbaugh (J.R.'s sister)

My father, W. L. Whisler, made the run into Oklahoma April 22, 1899.  He came from Cumberland, Iowa, on the Santa Fe Train to Arkansas City and waited there until the opening.  He boarded the over-crowded train and entered the Promised Land after the signal gun was fired at noon on that eventful day.  He was accompanied by J. Q. Adamson of Cumberland.  They left the train at Waterloo, north of Edmond.  Mr. Adamson locating near there, and my father heading on foot toward the southwest.  He was carrying a sack containing food and an ax with which to mark his claim.  He had a stake with his name on it to drive down when he found an unoccupied farm.  He found claims with log cabins and a garden, and not wishing to face a contest with a sooner, he walked on about eighteen miles and located a claim northwest of Edmond.  Here he drove his stake, near a rock placed there by surveyors marking section, range, etc.

Father and a man on an adjoining claim, took turns watching land while the other went to file.  They did what little improving they could, and father returned to Iowa to make preparations to bring a camping outfit, farm implements, food, clothing, stock, etc., and with my second oldest brother, drove through in a heavily loaded covered wagon.  It required thirty days to make the trip which can now be made by automobile in a day and a half.

Wild game was plentiful, but they didn't take the time to hunt as they had plenty of cured meat with them.  I enjoyed hearing them tell about their journey.

The plowed furrows around the claim for a fire guard, dug a well, and walled it up with rock, built a sod house, plowed land for garden and feed crops, helped neighbors fight prairie fires, and did hundreds of other things required to be done in settling a new country.  Oklahoma seemed a long way from our home, and we looked forward eagerly for letters from them.

In the meantime, mother, my oldest brother, and we younger children were busy making preparations to move in the spring.  We attended school regularly during the school year and helped mother and brother as much as possible.  When the great day cam to leave it was very cold and some friends took us to the train.  We left amid forebodings that we would be scalped or some other dire calamity would befall us.

We had sold some of our furniture, stock, implements, etc., and shipped the rest.  I don't remember much about the trip, but we didn't have a Pullman, as we think we must have now.  We arrived at Edmond where father and brother met us on March 3.  I well remember the drive out to the claim.  We forded the creeks, as there were no bridges, but we knew father would not drive in unless he thought it was safe.  The prairies were green where the old grass was not too high and blue and white anemones nodded in the breeze.  It was an unusually early spring as we do not find many wild flowers here that early.

When we arrived at the claim about sundown and saw the sod house, we didn't know how we could all live in it.  However, they pitched a tent near and made a shelter of a wagon sheet, and we got along nicely until our house was built.  Mother hung quilts and carpets around the walls and spread a rug on the floor, and we were very comfortable.  We had brought flower and garden seed and plants from Iowa, and they grew surprisingly well in the sod.  Watermelons, cucumber, cantaloupes, and turnips did very well.

We moved into our new house in early summer before it was lathed and plastered.  A Sunday school was organized in our home.  The men would carry in boards and place them on boxes or chairs to seat the congregation.  We had church there, too, until a school house could be built.  The Rev. L. J. Dyke of Rainy Mountain Mission preached.  People came for many miles for the Sunday services.

The men of the neighborhood cut or sawed trees and hauled them to a sawmill and had them made into lumber of which the first school-house was built.  Our first school was a subscription school, and our parents paid $1.00 a month each tuition for us.  After the districts were organized and school-houses built, we had from three to six months' district school.  We had literary societies, debates, box suppers, pie suppers, Christmas programs, parties, and other entertainment.

After graduating from the Edmond Normal school, I went to the Northern Indiana University where I completed a course.  I taught school for a number of years in rural and town schools.  My last two years of teaching were in Oklahoma City, after which I was county superintendent of Oklahoma county.  I married Dr. Joseph F. Messenbaugh in 1907.  He was a successful physician and eye, ear, nose, and throat specialist.  He passed away in 1928.  We have a daughter, Mrs. J. C Elliott, Oklahoma City, and a son, Dr. J. F. Messenbaugh, a surgeon, Oklahoma City and Britton.  For the past twelve years I have been Curator of Newspapers in the State Historical Building.  I have served as president of the City Federation, vice-president and secretary of The '89ers, president, secretary, etc., of Oklahoma Study Club, and I am a member of the First Baptist church and Progressive Class.  I have a degree from Oklahoma City University.  My daughter has two children and my son has three who will sometime belong to The'89ers, I hope, in honor of their great-grandparents.