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Maggie Belle Sanders
and
Sometime around the time of 1899 or 1900, during the land rush and lotteries, the Sanders became pioneers in the Stillwater area of Oklahoma terriotory, an area that eventually became Payne County. In this frontier setting, Maggie met Benton Jackson Wilson at a party, and they were married on February 2, 1902. Maggie and her brothers and sisters came to new territory in Oklahoma from their previous home in Prairie Grove, Arkansas. Benton was born on March 2, 1879 in Athens, McMinn County, Tennessee. He was the son of John Ellot Wilson. Benton came to Oklahoma on account of other family members first settling in the area. Benton's father had moved his family from Tennessee to southern Missouri, then to Oklahoma territory near Stillwater. While Benton and Maggie had a farm near the town of Yale, Benton increased his land holdings. In 1913, oil was discovered on their land, and newspapers and folks would refer to him as a oilman millionaire. The Wilson book claims that life didn't change much for the wealthy family. Althought their opportunities and resources were better, they carried on a simple life.
Benton and Maggie had four sons and one daughter: Lemuel Earl, Alma Jean, Carl Benton, John Everett, and an infant son who died at birth. All of the children were born in Oklahoma. In 1916, Benton decided to move the family to Greenfield, Missouri. Over the remaining years of their lives, Benton became President of a bank after purchasing controlling interest. He also started raising Herford cattle. Benton and Maggie had lived in Greenfield, Missouri, where brother Lemuel Harris Sanders and family had lived for eleven years. (Maggie’s granddaughter and her husband, George and June Davis, now live in Lemuel’s former house.) Granddaughter June Davis gives this account of her Granny and Granddad, Maggie and Benton: "Granny loved to cook and can. Her outside activity was fishing. And when in Florida (vacationing), she would go with the rest to the races. But you can bet she didn't. Granddad built a series of lakes for Granny for fishing. She loved to do hand-work of all kinds, from lace to quilts. She could make the tiniest stitches. A trip to Florida included more than just a vacation. They came to visit us grandkids and to visit a doctor who assisted Granny with her sinus problems. Granny, in her old age, had a series of strokes. She went to the hospital, and Granddad stayed with her each night. My Mother and Aunt Ann would split a shift. Next Day, Aunt Alma would go first and then Aunt Opal. At one time we discovered that she could hear us and we would tell her we loved her. Then for 2 or 3 days she rallied. Then back in a coma, never to come around, and she died after 3 months there. Benton was a thoughtful person and a family man. His granddaughter recalls: "Benton kept his mules near the house until they died. They started him in the farming. Benton was gentle as a lamb. with an even softer heart. They, in younger days, worked in the Methodist church. As for being a millionaire, Gee!, Never was Granddad and Granny a millionaire. They, he and Granny, helped so many people. Not only in his family, but in Granny's (Sanders). In fact the house I live in he bought for your Grandddad (Lemuel Harris Sanders) to live in as well as one for his brother John. I was the fee license agent here at the time of his death and people would come in and tell me how much he had helped them. Some of them I didn't know. Sure makes one proud.
They left Oklahoma because the area became so rough. Granny was afraid to go to town. When the neighbor returned home in his buggy and was dead. that was the final blow. Missouri, here we come. Uncle Arthur had already returned to Dade Co. Others soon came home to Missouri. One of their favorite things was giving candy to poor children, and Granddad would give them a quarter, and in the last years, 1/2 dollar. It sure made him happy. He did help his kids get started, as Ma'm wanted them to have an easier life to start with than they. We have a million funny stories about him, and Granny would smile. Would you believe if she was sad, angry or blue, out to the wood pile she would go to split wood. Her favorite thing!" Maggie's and Benton's children grew and became active in sports, social events, and education. A near tragedy occurred for daughter Alma when she was kidnapped from the home. Alma was released eventually. See this newspaper story. Maggie died on November 15, 1960 at Lockwood, Dade County, Missouri. Benton died on February 20, 1965 at Greenfield, Dade County, Missouri. --Sam Sanders
Benton Jackson Wilson: Pioneer During the
last past of the 1800’s and the beginning of the 1900’s , territory was
opened up in what is now Oklahoma. Once news about this hit communities in
Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee, and other states, families began looking for
ways to claim land in this new territory.
The government organized ways to open the area to settlers. The Sanders,
Wilsons, Barkers, Ramseys, Scribners, and other families were among the
first to settle the land within this 20-30 year period.
The Wilsons turned their team toward the Indian territory, where the
Shawnee, Pottawatomi, Iowa, Sac, and Fox had
settled. Benton halted his team and "wagon home" just eight
miles south of the present town of Yale near the Cimarron's horseshoe bend.
It was here his Uncle Willy had met another family coming from Kansas ten
years before. Benton remembered how Uncle Willy had described Bill Tilghman
and their four children, and how Bill had explained about a big blizzard
that had killed the grass around Dodge City and that had caused him to stake
a claim on Bell Cow Creek on South of the Cimarron. Tilghman told the
Wilsons about the prospects there on the Cimarron which had been a large
cattle ranch. Remembering
this, Benton made his homestead there in Creek County on the Old Turkey
Track Ranch. Benton had to mortgage his team to finance his first crop.
Benton stayed at his sister, Tid and Jim Barker's place for awhile which was
a few miles away. Later, he stayed with his brother, Arthur. Benton now a
pioneer, naturally went to parties where the girls were. One special
party must be noted at Ingalls, a few miles west of his homestead. Attending
this same party were the two daughters of the pioneering Isam Hurney Sanders
family from Prairie Grove, Arkansas. These sisters destined to marry Wilson
brothers, Maggie Belle Sanders was properly courted by Benton while he was
staying with his brother, Arthur. In due time, Benton and Maggie were
married on February 2, 1902. On the west
side of the Cimarron River where Creek County borders Payne County, Benton
cut trees for his first home. The logs were moved to the east side of the
river by sledding them over the frozen river. A one roomed log cabin was
furnished in "early Oklahoma" furniture for the fabulous price of
ten dollars. The home, however humble, was only the beginning. Breaking out
new ground for farming in this area meant cutting trees and blowing out the
stumps with explosives. The newly cleared ground was then seeded with
cotton. More land was cleared for planting corn, and then later, wheat was
also raised. Until the
advent of the automobile and its counter types, travel had not changed since
the first animal was used for that power. However, on a frontier where roads
and bridges were still in their infancy, what otherwise might be a simple
journey could be very hazardous. Roads and trails could be muddied by rain
from a sudden thunderstorm. The same rain could cause a small creek to raise
so that one had to wait or attempt a dangerous fording. Larger rivers and
streams could be impossible for days or weeks. In spite of such hazards, the
country doctor traveled and cared for his patients. A doctor might be called
out anytime of night and have to cross a river by lantern light if he had a
good horse. Doctor Everett McGinnis made just such a call on December the
fourth in 1902, because Benton and Maggie's first baby was due. Late at
night, the good doctor, arriving at the opposite shore of the Cimarron, made
the crossing on horseback while the anxious father to be and Ed Gerkins held
the lantern. In the darkness of that bleak night, a blue eyed toe-headed
little fellow brightened that little log cabin. The doctor was assisted by
Arthur's wife, Disie. John Everett Wilson was named after that courageous
country doctor.. While Wilber
and Orville Wright were struggling to get a plane into the air in 1903, the
Barkers, Wilsons, Pughs, Groendykes, Twentiers, and Sanders were struggling
to get a plow into the sod. This was also the year that baseball was
struggling to get its first World Series underway. On April the
first, 1904, Maggie presented Benton his second son. In Arthur's cedar
house, Lemuel Earl Wilson made his humble entry into the family. Of course,
for the life and times in this frontier, this was very pleasing because a
pioneer always hoped for such strong sons to help with the heavy hard work
that is necessary for successful farming. Benton's
homestead had improved and so had the original one room log cabin. A more
comfortable house had been built across the Cimarron which was placed on the
west bank in Payne County which Benton had purchased in 1908 from Fred
Kertley. Two years after statehood when Everett was seven, the family moved two miles across the river. Everett and Earl started school at Rosebud School, just two and a half miles away. Everett's favorite subject was "ciphering" and usually won the "ciphering matches°" The spelling bees were always won by the other Wilsons. Everett said, using his ciphering ability, that there were at least four or five of the students at Rosebud School who probably were not Wilsons. Earl's second day of school proved to be very eventful. Now Earl was the "scholar and conservative" one in his family; however, being typical of all the Wilson cousins, he did receive, on that second day, his first spanking at school. Because Earl was "conservative", he had not been as "Onery" as cousins Homer and Fred; he had only pushed a boy out the window at recess. Now that was conservative for these "Onery" boys. Earl began his "scholarly" learning that second day of school when he learned respect for his teacher, Miss Goldy Harris. Growing up together, produced meaningful work that bound this family together. as few modern families would realize. Benton's
family was complete when Carl Benton Wilson was born on April 30, 1909. On a Wilson
farm everyone worked even from an early age. Some little job or
"chore" was given to the youngsters as soon as they could handle
it. Everett who was pulling the cultivator with the mules was not large
enough to harness the span of mules, but he had it worked out so that he
could remove the harness. Young Carl growing in a hard working family
learned the value of work and its relative value in money. Knowing how to
work before school age was not unusual on the frontier farm. Everyone was
given "chores" so that everyone had their position and made their
contribution to the family economy. A boy was given the opportunity to
achieve the status of a man as soon as he could do "a days work". However,
life was not all work, in fact, these boys often played as hard as they
worked. Earl once hitched a large tub to a young calf, and offered to give
his little sister Alma a ride. This all went along well until Earl
"sicced" the dog on the calf. Alma got a wild exciting ride and
you can guess what Earl got. At Rosebud
in 1912, Homer started to school at the age of five. He carried his McGuffy
reader, his blue back speller, and his marbles to the Oakwood School. It was
a two-room school if the curtain was pulled shut. Finally that
exciting morning that another lunch pail was prepared and five year old Carl
joined the "caravan" of Wilson students as they trudged over two
miles to the Rosebud School. He got to go to the school that had become a
legend in its own time. Going to Rosebud was much more exciting than his
first adventure when he went with dad to haul a load of their peaches to the
oil camp at the new town of Drumright. Earl thought going to school was more
fun than fighting in the corn crib with Everett. One day at Rosebud School,
everyone got a "whuppen" except Ed Wilson. Earl kept laughing so
he got another "whuppen" and finally another. Earl could work as
hard as he played though, while he was in the fourth grade, he picked
ninty-six pounds of cotton in one day. Benton
taught his boys how to "noodle.'' They would make a large fish hook out
of a wagon rod and tie a long rope to it. Benton would dive into a deep part
of the river under the bank over-lap, where catfish like to hide, then hook
the fish in the gill. He would then tug on the rope line and get out of the
way while the boys pulled in their fish. These fish that did not get away
would weigh from fifty to eighty pounds. Once Benton had a close call when
he was nearly trapped, but he came up with an eighty-six pounder. Families in
the early 1900’s had two types of refrigerators.
One was a milk trough in the well house where they put the milk,
cream, butter in gallon crock jars, then set it in the trough. The windmill
would pump cool clear water through the trough and keep the milk almost ice
cold. Another one was made by setting four posts in the ground in a square
thirty inches apart with a screen in the top two feet. It was three feet off
the ground in a square so that one side could open as a door. They would
make a pan on top from tin and punch small holes along outside edge (also a
pan at bottom). Then they would hang burlap sacks all the way around and put
water in both pans. The water would drip down and soak up from the bottom,
and the wind would blow through keeping the produce cold. They had also good
cold cantaloupe and watermellon. The little
community of the Cimarron just south of Oliton was named on December 28,
1912, after the town site owner Aaron Drumright. Nearly every Saturday the
family went to town, which the children in the Cimarron Valley thought was
the whole purpose for the rest of the week. Ellot, Everett and Homer would
always take in the silent movie. Someone would play a piano along with the
action on the screen. At the exciting action scenes, it seemed that old
piano would fall apart. At intermission on the local theaters stage,
Vaudeville acts were presented by actors such as Eddie Foy. The town of
Cushing sponsored an airplane exibition the 4th of July celebration in 1913.
The pilot did the barrel roll and loop the loop with his classical bi-plane.
Someone said that Barbara, Homer, and Everett's tongues were sunburned
watching all that aerial action. For the students from Rosebud School, just
to see an airplane fly over the area was an event. Cushing,
Drumwright, Oilton, and Yale were located in a very large oil field. Homer,
Eva, Ellot and Everett watched the oil riggers driving their wagons to and
fro, and learned the names of some of the drivers. It was told that a
"driller" was receiving the enormous sum of seven dollars a day
while the "tool-dressers" were being paid six dollars in 1913.
Just twenty days after Benton Wilson paid off the mortgage on quarter section 18-18-7, oil was discovered on this land. Eventually, many wells were located on various places on his land. This discovery of oil made Benton a millionaire. With C. B. Shaffer Company extracting barreis of "black gold", farming continued and increased. As far as the work was concerned, the oil changed daily life very little.
For the
boys, Everett, Earl, and Carl, the day began before dawn because their
"chores" had to be done while breakfast was being prepared by
their mother, assisted by their sister, Alma. Benton
purchased a Reo, a touring automobile, and went to Dadeville, Missouri, for
a visit. The trip was made over trails and unmarked roads that were
sometimes rutted, and only a very little of it was paved. This trip took
only a few days to travel over the same distance that they were used to
taking about two weeks. In 1915, the
World Fair was in San Francisco. So
after the crops were harvested, in August, Benton and Maggie took Everett,
Earl, Alma, and Carl to the World Fair on the train. This must have been a
really exciting experience for the farm family from the Cimarron Valley.
Everett, being a typical country boy, took his shoes off on the train. Being
accustomed to going without shoes, he left his shoes on the train. Not much
was said to him except that he would have to pick cotton to buy a new pair.
As a school project, Everett also took care of a hundred acres of alfalfa,
which he would cut four times during the season. Nellie and Lucy were his
two little mares. Benton
decided to move his farming operations to Greenfield, Missouri, near where
he had grown up, so he moved to a house on Water Street. To get their
belongings to their new home, they loaded everything onto the train at Tulsi
Town, which is now known as Tulsa. The Reo was left until it could be picked
up on a return trip. They arrived in Greenfield on February 7, 1916.
Henderson agreed to take over the operation of Benton's farm of about
340 acres. Carl Wilson
had nearly finished the second grade there at Rosebud in 1916. However, Carl
finished the second grade at Greenfield, Everett finished the seventh grade
and Alma finished the fourth grade. School was much different in Greenfield
except the subjects and spanking. On Tuesdays and Fridays at the Wilson’s house, four to six loaves of "light" bread were baked. There was always excellent smoked hickory meat from the smoke house. The smokehouse had several kinds of prepared meat. Besides meat being smoked from the hickory chips, some was salted or dried, and some even canned in mason jars. The fruit cellar actually had around six hundred quarts of vegetables as well as the canned fruit. Just as
Mondays were set aside for wash days, Saturdays were shopping days.
Saturdays were the most exciting days for most of the family. They would
rise early and load into the double team hack (buggy) which had the bed
prepared “pick-up" style, and they would drive the five miles to
Drumright. It was an all day affair. The stores were even prepared with
benches where a great deal of local news was exchanged. The children would
attend the local theater which had both live shows and silent movies. The
silent films generally had accompanist who played the background music
"live." Several
hired hands were kept often times just to give them work. The Wilsons, being
one of the first in the area to have a telephone, many messages came through
the Wilson phone. Good news, bad news, deaths, and social invitations all
came through this message center in the Cimarron Valley. During the
spring of 1920, Benton decided to raise registered Whitefaced Herfords there
at Greenfield. Two train carloads of cows and a bull was purchased from O.
Harris and Sons. The herd grew until there were about 350 head on his
various farm-ranches. Now in the stock trade and having been a farmer, he
decided to raise all his own cattle feed. The family raised prairie and
alfalfa hay, and later they added grain to their crops. Benton being
an outdoor sportsman, became very active in baseball. He played on the
Greenfield town team, and was the manager for over twenty years. His
interests also included horseracing, golf, and raising flowers; such as
peonies and hollyhawks, which surrounded his house. Besides playing golf and
following these activities, closest to his heart was watching his children
as they participated in their school athletics. Brother Arthur's Barbara
Mary Wilson, now grown and graduated, taught at a rural Missouri school at
Sand Mountain. The next term, Barbara returned to the Cimarron Valley in
Payne County to teach in a two room school at Schlegel in the fall of 1920. Everett Wilson took Ellot on a blind date with his girl friend, Opal's cousin, Bernice. On June 20,
1920, Ellot Wilson married Bernice Holman of Dadeville. Bernice is a cousin
to Carl and Everett Wilson's wives. About 1922,
Charles Lindberg flew his old bi-plane into Benton Wilson's pasture near
Greenfield. The "Lone Eagle" took each of the Wilson's up into the
exciting wild blue of the Ozarks skies. During Everett's turn, they buzzed
the local school house. This was five years before Lindberg flew alone from
New York to Paris in 1927. In the
Greenfield High School, cousins Earl and Ed worked out with the basketball
team, Alma played on Greenfield's girl's basketball team that won the
championship of Southwest Missouri. Alma set a world's record in scoring.
Earl played football, baseball, and tennis while Carl quaterbacked the
school team to a conference championship in football. Ed Wilson was the team
captain and played fullback. Ed made the all star team in his third year.
Carl's baseball team won the Missouri State Conference with eight wins and
no losses. On some days,
Benton’s father, Squire, would "drop in" on Benton during winter
days, and there would always be a fire in the fireplace. Benton probably
burned more than ten cords a winter warming his toes--almost always with
only his socks on. Squire and
Benton always had nuts and pecans to crack and eat which they brought up
from the old home place on the Cimarron. Vacations were
a whole family affair. Most winters the family spent a month in Florida.
This was Benton's treat to his children and their "tots". What
wonderful times they had on the beaches, even with the sand fleas. Although
Benton's family had always worked as a unit, they continued to do so
somewhat even after each had received his own specific farm-ranch. As years
passed, each of Benton's children became more and more independent When Earl
graduated from Greenfield High School May 15, 1924, he and Thelma King were
married the very same day. The ceremony was performed by the Reverend Mrs.
Sarah M. Crank in the farm home of Everett and Opal Wilson. May 17, 1924,
Earl took his bride to his farm a few miles east of Greenfield where they
have lived for over a half century. In 1925 Barbara graduated from Tulsa
Business College and worked at the Hoover District office, Tulsa. Carl went to a party at nearby Knox, Missouri, where he met twin sisters who were cousins to Everett and Ellot's wives. Annalee Holman caught his attention. The twins went to Greenfield High School together where one kept a lot of Carl's attention. After Carl
graduated from high school in 1926, he enrolled at Kemper Military School at
Booneville, Missouri, where Will Rogers had attended some years before.
After one year there, he attended the University of Missouri. In Greenfield,
Squire and Benton, now himself a Grandad, would teach his grandchildren to
shell popcorn and then to place it in a wire popper so they could pop it
over the open fireplace. At Christmas under the huge tree that touched the
high ceiling, Benton would play Santa giving out presents. Benton enjoyed
automobiles very much, and always had a new blue Buick. He gave a new car to
each of his grandchildren when they graduated from high school. Benton became
active in the Mason's where he worked his way up through the three Masonic
bodies. Then he earned the
thirty-second degree in the Scottish Rite in Joplin, Missouri. Also, he was
a Shriner in Abou Ben Adhem Temple of Springfield. The next
spring Annalee won all of Carl's attention and they were also united in
marriage by the Reverand Sarah M. Crank in the farm home of Everett and Opal
Wilson on April 14, 1928 and made their home on a farm four miles East of
Greenfield on the Turnback River in February 1929. They raised livestock and
grain. Blue was
Benton's favorite color, and he soon had a lot of property painted Blue.
Benton continued buying land until he had acquired 7000 acres. He loaned
money to an individual who put up bank stock for security in 1929. The man
had to forfeit his bank stock so that Benton then owned controlling stock of
the R. S. Jacob's Bank in Greenfield. Later Benton purchased the Farmer's
State Bank at South Greenfield that was about to fail. He merged it with the
one in Greenfield. In 1933
after a short bank holiday, Benton reorganized the bank and renamed it the
Citizens Home Bank, and served as President.
W. L. Furgerson, the former president of the South Greenfield bank
became cashier of this new bank. Alma played
tennis, basketball, and participated in track during an era when girls were
quite active in many athletics. Alma
attended a Girls college at Lindenwood, Missouri from 1925 to 1927. She then
went to Missouri University where she earned her degree in education in
1929. Alma taught school at
Greenfield. She taught departmental sixth, seventh, and eighth. At mid-term
of first year she married William Harold McKinley of St. Charles, Missouri,
and were also united in marriage by the Reverand Sarah M. Crank in the farm
home of Everett and Opal Wilson on January 4, 1930, and made their home on a
farm one mile east of Greenfield. Benton gave Alma and Harold some
registered herfords for a wedding present. Alma was
active in the Presbyterian Church where she was treasurer for U.P.W. (Ladies
Aid). On Monday
evening October 13, 1930, Alma and her mother Maggie were working upstairs
while they were waiting for Benton and Harold to return from a business trip
to Kansas City. About 7:30 a man dressed in dark clothing and wearing a mask
broke into the house. Pointing a shotgun at the two women, he asked who
could drive a car. Alma said that she could. After tying Maggie’s hands
and feet, he forced Alma to drive her blue Buick coupe away. Maggie broke
loose, but the phone wires were cut, so she ran to a neighbors house. The
kidnapper left a ranson note with instructions. While the
authorities were conducting a state wide search, Alma, driving the car on a
dirt road, drove it into a mud puddle in such a manner that it was stuck.
Alma remained calm and while they were walking into some woods, she
convinced the desperate man to free her. Her calm assurance soon persuaded
him to let her walk one way and him another way. Alma soon got to safety.
Although the search continued, nothing definite was uncovered, except
that the kidnappers had researched the family well as to their habits and
whereabouts. Gradually life in
south eastern Missouri returned to somewhat normal. Benton
remained active with his farm and stock all of his long productive life.
Even in his seventies he "bucked" the hay bails into the barn, and
was never above doing any of the work, in fact, he enjoyed working. To him a
man's worth was partly his ability to put in his day's work. This rugged
individualism was just the appropriate disposition to make him the staunch
active Republican he was. He
could be rough in language, but his kindness was always expressed by deeds. Benton and his
family, in November 1957, drove five 1958 model Buicks out of Charles White
Motor Co. dealership at Aurora, Missouri, at one time making not only Buick
headlines, but General Motors as well. Maggie died on
November 15, 1960. The Wilson family did not retire from active work, but remained productive through out their lives. Even as Benton himself was confined to bed in 1965, with stomach trouble, he received information and gave daily instructions concerning his operations. Lying in bed confined, as he was, he still was concerned about each calf. Benton's sister came and helped take care of Benton in his home. This rugged pioneer refused to go to the hospital and there was no way to persuade him to leave his home. The family looked after him in his home until he finished his earthly work on February 20, 1965, at the age of eighty-six. He was laid to rest beside his wife Maggie. Most people liked this man and there were very few who did not respect him. The greatest tribute that history can write about this man is that he was in every respect a man. Benton Wilson was a descendant of James Wilson, signer of the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution. Links to related sites: The Political and Legal
Philosophy of James Wilson, 1742-1798 James Wilson USA James Wilson Benton Wilson (1921 - ) This
line includes our Benton's father. The Benton Wilson on this site is
probably named after our Benton Wilson.
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Sam Sanders. All Rights Reserved |
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Maggie Belle Sanders, born February 1, 1880,
is the sixth child of Isam Hurney Sanders and Mary Jane Mayberry. She, like her siblings, were
born at Prairie Grove, Arkansas.
