09 January 2008

More of our families 100 years of history

In my last post I wrote about mine and my husband's families 100 years ago. Where they were, who they were and what they may have been up to. I choose our four main lines, but of course they are not the only family we had 100 years ago. There are many more lines that were around and carving out a place in history and in our heritage. So I will continue to write about our families based on where each surname I have found in our lineage was 100 years ago.

Today I will choose four more surnames. Two of my husband's, Ward and Cooke, and two of mine, Jenkins and Hayes.

Ward

James Rubin Ward was born 9 Mar 1887 in TX. He was the son of John S Ward and Melinda H Reed. I believe that he married Stella Cooke some time in 1908. Their daughter, Ruth Ann Ward (my husband's grandmother) was born 19 April 1909. The three of them are in the following picture. They would go on to have four more girls, Alta, Cleo, Oletta and Vierra. They were living in Oklahoma in 1908 and for several years after. James died in 1965 in Oklahoma. Stella went on to CA with her daughter. She was a resident of Stanislaus County, CA when she died in 1978, but she passed away while in Port Angeles, WA visiting family. Their daughter Ruth went on to marry Earl Porter Crooks and became the mother of my father-in-law.

John S Ward was born about 1864 in McNairy Co., TN. He was the son of James "Jim" B Ward and Mary Jane Rankins. He married Melinda H Reed of AR. They had three children, James, William and Maude all born in the 1880's. It is believed that John died before 1900, so I'm sure Melinda was a widow on her own or living with one of her children at this time in her life. Though it's also possible she was still living with John's brother, Luke whom she was living with in 1900. She would die a short time later in Byers, OK in 1910.

James "Jim" B Ward was born 23 Feb 1838 in TN. He married Mary Jane Rankins in 1860 in McNairy Co., TN. She would give him fifteen children; John, James, William, Margaret, Major, Mollie, Lucy, G.R., Hugh, Richard, Nancy, Oma, Florence, Mattie and Luke. By 1900 the family was living in the area of Ardmore, then known as the Chickasaw Nation. By 1910 they are living in Maxwell, Pontotoc Co., OK. So in 1908 they were probably in one of these two areas. Mary and Jim were both of McNairy Co., TN. In 1887 they left TN for Hot Springs, AR. After Oma was born they moved to Wise Co., TX. From there they moved on to the Ardmore area of OK. They were a family that moved often. Why? I don't yet know and may never know. He and his sons were farmers. I'm sure they moved from one farming community to another, wherever there was work.

Cooke

Stella L Cooke
was born 12 Mar 1888. She was the daughter of William Vaughn Cooke and Mary A Chisholm. She was also the great granddaughter of Jesse Chisholm, the famous trader and peace keeper of the Native American. In 1908 her life changed. She married James Rubin Ward. Later that year she would be pregnant with their first child Ruth Ann Ward who was born 19 Apr 1909. The three of them are in the picture above.

William Vaughn Cooke was the father of Stella Cooke and husband of Mary A Chisholm. At this point I still know very little about him. I do know that he was born in about 1859 and died sometime around 1945. He married Mary A Chisholm 19 Nov 1885. It is likely that they lived on or near the Chisholm homestead in OK. One theory is that the homestead was near Shawnee, Pottawatomie Co., OK, but I don't know that for sure.

Jenkins

John Hugh Jenkins was born 6 Nov 1899 in Durwood, OK. He would have been a young boy of about 9 in 1908. He comes from a long line of farmers. He most likely would have been living on a farm in OK. He was the son of John Stephens Jenkins and Olive Swofford. He would later go on to marry Leota Morton and they would become my fathers grandparents, the parents of my father's mother, Olive Joyce Jenkins.
John Stephens Jenkins was born 22 Nov 1853 in Greene Co., TN. He would have been about 55 in 1908. He was a farmer and living in OK at the time, I believe some where around Maysville, OK. He would die eight years later in 1916 in Maysville. The family remained in and around Maysville for another couple generations before some of them moved to CA. Today there are still Jenkins and Woolsey's in the area of Maysville, OK. John married the preachers daughter, Olive Swofford of TX and they had thirteen children, Vergie, Ida, Ernest, Michael, Mary, Edith, Chester, John, Ira, Paul, Lula, Clarence, and Olive. Clarence would have been the baby of the family in 1908 and Olive wouldn't be born until 1909. Let's just say they probably didn't have to hire much help to run the farm.

Hayes

General Martin Hayes was just a baby in 1908. He was born 4 Apr 1907 in Harmony, OK. The son of James Martin Hayes and Mary Jane Vest (Veft?). He would grow up and marry Lillie Lutitia Hoard and they would become the parents of my mother's mother, Mary Ellen Hayes.

James Martin Hayes was born 3 May 1874 in Cooke Co., TX. He married Mary Jane Vest, a German woman. They were raising their baby boy General Martin Hayes in Harmony, OK in 1908. They also had a daughter named Pearl. Mary is the woman sitting in the photo to the left and Pearl is standing on the far left we believe. The photo of the two women behind the car is of Pearl and Mary. I know so little about the life of James Martin Hayes. He was the son of Thomas Hugh Hayes and Cariline Beavers. At some point they moved to CA. I don't believe he was much of a farmer. From what I know of the family I believe they worked in Industrial jobs.

Thomas Hugh Hayes was born 27 Oct 1842. He married Cariline Beavers and they had twelve children, James, Mary, Rozaney, Flmida, William, Charlie, General, John, Samuel, Dollie, Burt and Newt. This is about all I know of this family. I don't even know where they were in 1908. I can't even seem to find them in the census. The information I have comes from a family member. The only thing I really have of him is this photo of his grave, which I'm not even sure where it is.



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