I'm Mae (Smith) Parsons and will contribute my "bit" of Barber
County History. My grandparents were
John
Garten and
Malinda
Rogers on Mother's side, and Samuel E. Smith, Sr., and Mary Ann
Bibb, on Father's side. Both grandfathers served in the Civil War.
John Garten was Confederate, and Samuel E. Smith, a Union Corporal.
Both families migrated to Missouri. John Garten came from Kentucky.
After the close of the war, he settled at
Sun
City, Kansas, (a trading post) in 1872. In 1873 it became part
of Barber County. He was a scout, buffalo hunter, and drove freight
wagons from Wichita and Hutchinson. The family of William Fisher
Rogers came from Independence, Missouri, in 1873 and staked a claim
on Bitter Creek (12 miles from
Medicine
Lodge). He was a widower with four children. The Rogers
daughter, Malinda, one of six children, married in 1873.
Samuel
E. Smith, Sr., came to Barber County from Lees Summit, Missouri, as
a wagon captain, of a 17-wagon caravan. He was a widower with four
children. He traded a wagon, team of mules, and equipment for 160
acres near
Lake City. Close
friends, the Rogers, lived about eight miles away.
My father,
Samuel Smith, Jr., was seven years old and was the oldest. His
father died three years later. Father married Fannie Garten, a
daughter of
John, in
1893. They made the "Run" in the opening of the Cherokee Strip,
staking a claim near what is now Alva, Oklahoma. After a year, they
sold their interest and moved back to Barber County, near Forest
City.
When I was four, we moved to Belvedere, where Father was a
foreman of a large ranch. Mother passed away in 1904. We returned to
Forest City where I attended school, completed common school, then
attended and graduated at
Barber
County High in 1918. The children in our family were Fred Smith,
Ruby (Barrows-Lahey), Mae (Parsons), Jennie (Conner-Roth), and Jewel
(Funk).
I met John Marvin Parsons in 1915. He came to Kansas to
work in wheat harvest and do farm work. He later did carpentry and
farm work. He later did carpentry for Roy Hoovler, who built and
remodeled many houses in Medicine Lodge. He was inducted in the army
in 1918 and served 13 months in France. He returned to Medicine
Lodge after his discharge in 1919. We married in 1920, established
our home on a 10 acre tract southeast of Elm Creek bridge, and lived
there four years. Our son, LaClede, was born in 1921.
Marvin was
hired as first clerk at
Medicine Lodge Post Office March 17, 1924. He worked there
thirty years, retiring in June, 1954. He enjoyed retirement in
traveling, fishing, 'rock hounding,' and making Bolo ties. He was a
member of American Legion, past Lions Club member, and both of us
are Methodist.
Our son graduated from
Medicine
Lodge High School, attended Kansas University two years, and
received his college degree in California. He married Mercedes
Howard of
Hazelton. He
enlisted in the Air Corps and was stationed in Greenland. Following
WWII, they moved to California.
During World War II, I renewed my
teaching certificate and taught rural schools 1942-1959. I'm now a
housewife, belong to Legion Auxiliary, WW Mothers, and Church
Circles.
Marvin passed away March 8, 1979, at the age of 92.
DEATH RECORD - Fannie Garten Smith - Died, at her home on the
Fullerton place near Belvidere, Kiowa county, on the morning of
November 30 of typhoid malaria, Fannie Garten Smith, wife of Sam E.
Smith and daughter of
Mr.
and Mrs. John Garten of
Mingona
township, in the 29th year of her age. Interment in
Lake
City Cemetery Thursday, December 1, where brief funeral services
were conducted by
Rev.
Owens of Belvidere in the presence of a large congregation of
relatives and friends." excerpt from an obituary published in a
Medicine Lodge, Kansas, newspaper on Friday, December 9, 1904.
Also see:
A List of the
Graduates of Medicine Lodge High School (1890 - 1937) This was
the "Barber County High School" mentioned in the above article.
