Family History: GENERATION #9 - GEORGE W. WHEELER MY GREAT GRANDPA

George Washington Wheeler Jr. born Jan 20 1871 Webster, Pope County Ill

Died Nov 6 1949 Reydon, Roger Mills Okla.

Children of George and Ursula Wheeler:

William Washington Wheeler 1894-1970

Roy Ray Wheeler 1896-1977

Nellie Jane Wheeler 1899-1905

Harry Oland Wheeler 1901-1984

Ruby Fern Wheeler 1902-1992

James Everett "Red" Wheeler 1904-1988

Robert Winfield "Doc" Wheeler 1905-1982

Ralph Edward Wheeler 1908-1992

Infant boy Wheeler 1913-1913

Elmo Murray Wheeler 1914-1999

George Wheeler's biological father (George Washington Wheeler Sr. born 1821) dies in 1874 when George Jr. is only 3 years old. He never knew his father. The man that he knew as his dad was Robert Scott who married his mother Sarah in 1880. George was only 6 years old at the time, so though Robert Scott is his step-dad, he must refer to him as "dad". It is unknown what their relationship was like.

We know that George and his brother Robert both were born with a Wheeler genetic trait of webbed fingers. George's thumb and forefinger were webbed on his left hand. Rober's two middle fingers were webbed on his left hand. In later years my niece and nephew are both born with this genetic anomaly. My neice was born with 3 fingers on one hand, and issues with her other hand which she had suger for when she was 5. And my nephew born with 4 fingers on one hand and what appears to be an extra toe on his foot which is attached to his big toe. I'll post later about this anomaly and who I have found it in our ancestry.

At the time George Jr. is born the family is living in Pope County Ill as farmers. It is here that George meets (and grows up with a neighbor girl) Ursula Pyland. Ursula was also born in Pope County Ill. 1874-1959. Her parents are William Jacob Pyland and Mariah Jane Farmer.

Photo above is Ursula Pyland age 18.

George and Ursula married in the home of William Jacob Pyland and Mariah Jane Farmer (Ursula's Parents) on December 20, 1893, Dixon Springs (Pope County) Ill.

George and Ursula make their home for a while in Pope County Ill. We find them on the 1900 census still living here. At this time they have three children. William Washington age 4, Roy Ray age 2 and Nellie Jane age 1.

Although the most prime land in Oklahoma was homesteaded during the "Land Run" of 1889, lands in the most Western part of Oklahoma still remained for the taking. Another "Run" of sorts occurred in 1892 at which time the Cheyenne, Arapaho Lands were opened for Settlement. Though it was not considered a favorable area for farming the settlers came anyway. By 1910 the parcels of land had finally been divied up. It was the idea of owning your own land that surely brought George and Ursula Wheeler across country to the Free Land in Oklahoma. George was a Farmer passed down in his family from generation to generation. And I'm sure the idea of Free Land was irresistible to him as it was to many other Farm laborers across the country at the time.

http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/C/CH031.html

George and Ursula Wheeler began their journey from Reevesville Illinois in June 1902 with 4 children (3 boys and 1 girl) and 1 on the way. More than likely they traveled by train. Railroads were pretty much across the West by this time and it would have been the most effecient way to travel.

Photo above is of the Kingfisher Okla rail road station turn of the century.

We know they had some family living here at the time. The "Ditterlines" which were related thru Ursula.

While in Kingfisher Ursula delivered Ruby Fern Wheeler at an old Creamery Station on August 1, 1902. It is unclear why Meamie was born there, but sure enough she was, as she told the story many times to many grand children. She always said,"I was the first "Okie" and the 5th child".

Photo above is of the old creamery station in Kingfisher where Meamie was born.(photo taken 1908). Sadly the Station is no longer there.

In April 1903 the Wheeler family made their way by covered wagon to Rankin (now Reydon) Oklahoma in Roger Mills county (part of the Cheyenne Arapaho Lands). Where they farmed the land. George was no stranger to farming. He would have farmed mostly cotton and feed hay. Later in the 20's he worked some as a Deputy Sheriff in Wheeler County Tx (adjacent to Roger Mills county Oklahoma) and was also a County Deputy in Roger Mills County.

Earlier in the year of 1903, or even later in the summer of 1902 George went out to his claim in Roger Mills County and built a 2 room house so that the family would have shelter when they arrived in the Spring of 1903. However, when the family arrived in April that year they found the house had been burned to the ground. Cowboys were still running cattle up there on the Cheyenne and Arapaho lands. They didn't want the settler's there, so they'd burn them out and cut down the fences every chance they got, as it was interferring with the free range grazing they were used to having.

Meamie told us that they had to make a "dugout" in a hill and used part of the wagon for the front of it to live in. They stayed in that dugout for several years until they could save enough money to buy lumber to build a new home.

Nellie Jane was Meamie's older sister but she died in the summer of 1905 after they went out picking sand plums one day. She became very ill and they suspected that she was stung by a bee and died due to an allergic reaction. Meamie told me this story when I was a little girl. Nellie had her hand clasped tightly around a plumb. She held it until she died. They had to pry it from her little hand. Her mother Ursula kept that sand plum and strung the buttons from her dress. My cousin Pam Shirley Jefferson remembers seeing a little tin box that my Meamie kept in her cellar. Inside it were the buttons from Nellie's dress that she had on the day she died, and what was left of the sand plum, a tiny seed. Isn't that something. So sentinmental. Meamie kept that even after her mother had long been gone.

In 1908, 5 years after homesteading, George "Proved" that his land belonged to him. He received the above Land Patent signed by president Theodore Roosevelt himself. How proud he must have been that day.

My Aunt Joyce tells me that it was something to see Grandpa Wheeler "Witchin' for Water". He would use a forked stick and hold it out in front of him, and by gollie he'd find water every time!