Davidson Woods | Book Details

Davidson Woods Family Website

The Davidson Family
MarkD submitted on October 4, 2025
I started this account (dictating to tape) on Oct.12, 1977. I was born on June, 8, 1901 on the east side of what is presently U.S. 75, 1 mile north of Yates Center, in Woodson County, KS. My father was Linus Meade Davidson and my mother was Dolly Ann Catherine Lankford. An unnamed son was born to them Feb.25 1900 and died Feb.26. I had 3 sisters, Mabel Katherine, Ruth Odesa and Esther Pauline. The latter is now deceased. We were members of the Presbyterian Church and I was baptized in the Presbyterian Church in Yates Center. My grandfather, John Lowry Davidson and my Grandmother Maretta Axtell Davidson lived...
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Our House and Farm
MarkD submitted on October 4, 2025
Papa farmed the land. I don't remember seeing much of Papa, so he must have been working in the field quite a lot. Corn is the only crop I remember. I am sure we had a garden but I remember nothing about it. We had horses, cows and I think, some pigs. Of course we had chickens. Our house was 1 story. In about 1949, which was the first (and only) time I ever went back there, the house had been raised and a story built underneath it. ...
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Early Days in Yates Center
MarkD submitted on October 4, 2025
I am reminded that in the early days of my life in Yates Center, the earliest type of cereal I can remember was a cereal called Vigor. There was also a corn cereal called Manna which was later changed to Post Toasties. Another thing that sticks in my mind is seeing National Geographic magazines with illustrations of automobiles. This was extremely interesting to me. I started to school early. I don't know how many years I stayed in the primary and first grade but it was enough to get some education before I started on into the higher grades. It was a country school. If I remember right, it...
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Mabel, etc.
MarkD submitted on October 4, 2025
Mabel was born in 1905. I don't remember anything about her birth, but I remember her appearing on the scene. One thing I distinctly remember because it marks a notable thing in my life. My Great Uncle Cyrus Riggs Davidson and his wife Carolyn came to see Mabel soon after she was born. Uncle Cyrus was the only one of my Grandfather's brothers or sisters I ever saw. When they got ready to go, Uncle Cyrus, (teasing me), said "Well, Carolyn wrap the baby up and we'll be getting on our way." I spoke up and said "Mama says she wants to keep her". I tell Mabel that she, owes...
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Riding the Train
MarkD submitted on October 4, 2025
Lets go back again to when I was about three years old, I remember Mama and I went to visit Uncle Otis and Aunt Flora (Flo) in Coffeeville Kansas (After looking at a map, I think it must have been further north than Coffeeville). To do that, we must have gone on a train to Iola, a town east of Yates Center Then there was an interurban car or cars which was just equal to the simplest of street cars to the best of my knowledge, in other words a trolley line from Iola towards Coffeeville. It seems to me like it was something like 20 miles. The cars were...
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Leaving for Oklahoma Territory
MarkD submitted on October 4, 2025
I can remember that Papa went down to Oklahoma to see about trading the farm and returned. One statement that I can remember that I can remember he made is "They have red dirt down there". I never had seen any red dirt. In Kansas the soil was all black. That's all of the things I can think of that happened in Kansas. In April 1907, we moved to Oklahoma Territory. (It became a state in November, 1907). When we moved, I can't remember seeing Papa leave. He left first. I don't remember how long before we moved. Anyway, he moved the household goods and animals in a box...
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Growing Cotton on the Farm
MarkD submitted on October 4, 2025
I thought we had a big house. But when we went there in 1949, it was not big at all. This shows how things shrink when you get older. AS I remember, the lane was long and lined with very tall trees. The north-south road was also lined by very tall trees. I think the house was three rooms. There was a place up stairs which could be used for sleeping. Down stairs I can remember that there was a bed room, living room and kitchen. It must have been in the bedroom which was on the south west corner of the house, there was a big wood-burning heating stove...
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Logan County
MarkD submitted on October 4, 2025
We were way out in the middle of the country in Logan County. I went to another one room school with one teacher for eight grades. It was about a two mile walk which I made with friends. There was no church in the area. I think they had services at the school house. The only thing I can remember about Holidays is we would have a Christmas Party at that school. The Smiths were the closest family to us. I am sorry that I did not discuss that with Ruby Smith, who lives at the same retirement Village as Mabel and Paul in Tahlequah. I talked to her about...
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Life on the Farm
MarkD submitted on October 4, 2025
One of the big things in my life was Harvest time when the thrashing machines came. We did not have any wheat. However, Papa would sometimes go help the neighbors at thrashing time. It was a very fascinating thing for me to see a thrashing machine go down the road, that big old engine that seemed to me to have very wide wheels with cleats on them. It was steam self powered and had a piston on the side and would go chug, chug, chug with the cylinder, piston rod and big wide fly wheel on the side. That was really something. It was quite an experience for me! The...
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Logan County (Continued)
MarkD submitted on October 4, 2025
In Logan County I attended a 1 room school with one teacher for all the grades. It went up to the 8th grade I think. It was about a 2 mile walk which I made with friends. I can remember they had box suppers at the school house. I think we used to go there for Christmas programs. It seems to me like it might have been Christmas when they had a box supper. Anyway I remember they had box suppers at the school house. At country schools, I don't think they paid much attention to an individual. I think I was in the first grade for about 3 years. ...
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Moving to Enid
MarkD submitted on October 4, 2025
In 1909, there was a big boom going on in Enid. A big expansion and the place was really booming. I don't know what the reason was, whether we were not doing well on the farm or whether the idea of going to a booming town was enticing or just what, but any way we moved to Enid. I have the old sale bills that show that we had a sale on March 16, 1909 & then we moved to Enid. We traded the farm in Logan County for one half block in north east Enid. I believe the one half block was on the east side 13th or 14th...
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Boom Years
MarkD submitted on October 4, 2025
When we first moved to Enid, I attended another one room school called Sawyer School which must have been located about eighteenth and Walnut. It was near a pond with a long slope going down to the pond. When there was snow and ice we used to sled down to the pond. If we didn't have a sled, we would slide on our bellies. Once when I slid down on the ice that I had an open pen in a pen holder that had ink in it in my right inside coat pocket. I fell & ran the pen into my side and the scar is still there. As...
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Hard Times
MarkD submitted on October 4, 2025
I guess we ran into hard times. We traded some lots for a used Buick. I think there were 7 lots to this place and we traded the 3 or 4 north ones for the car. The boom went bust in Enid. Everything went to pot. I guess we owed the carpenter money for the house. He had hard times too and he moved in with us. He had a daughter that died while we lived there. I believe that was from diphtheria or typhoid. I don't know anything about the financial end of it but December 1, 1911, we sold the place and moved to a rent house at...
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Jobs
MarkD submitted on October 4, 2025
I will go back a little bit here and say that Papa worked at various jobs. He was with the telephone company for a while and then he went to work for an ice plant in the south side of town near the Rock Island depot. I can't remember the name of it. During this time period the Eskimo Pie was invented. I saw them made at that plant. He then went to work at the Arctic Ice Plant. He sold ice at the dock & worked in the cold storage. Because of this, during vacations, I also was employed at the Arctic Ice Company. I believe it was in...
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Violin, Roller Skates and Motorcycle
MarkD submitted on October 4, 2025
Another thing, this area where we got our one half block was named the Davis Addition and was named after George Davis that lived out in that area having been his farm land I guess. I guess that it was in 1914 that I got my violin. I remember I organized what they called the Larkin Club, in other words, selling things to the neighbors and got a violin as a premium, I believe that was the way it was. Then also in 1914, I got a violin correspondence course from the Northwestern school of music in Milwaukee. I had forgotten all about this but I found it in some...
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Sports
MarkD submitted on October 4, 2025
In my early teen age days, the sports I was interested in were hiking and wrestling which I got mostly with the Boy Scouts. I really loved hiking and camping out. Hunting was another one. I got my 22 Winchester pretty early. Must have been about 1912. I used to hunt jack rabbets in the fields and meadows and so forth and I hunted squirrels out on the northwest part of town in the area where the Country Club is now. In was the most wooded area around there at that time. Monty Sturtevant & I went duck hunting at an island in the Cimarron River near Ames. To get...
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Courtship
MarkD submitted on October 4, 2025
When we moved to Enid, the closest church was the Evangelical Church down on Randolph, I believe. Later on, we attended a local Sunday School which was first on N. Fifth Street between Walnut and Chestnut. Probably pretty close to Chestnut. Later it moved around to 2 or 3 different places. It was during the years we went to that Sunday School that I got acquainted with Virgie. About 1912, 13 or 14, I had been going to First Methodist Church with Virgie and her folks and I joined the church there in that period of time. While we were attending this little neighborhood Sunday school, Virgie and I...
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Indoor Plumbing, Appliances and Radios
MarkD submitted on October 4, 2025
Reminiscing, the first indoor plumbing we ever had was after we were married and moved to Sapulpa. The place we rented at Sapulpa had indoor plumbing of sorts. I guess all of the fuel that we had after we moved to town was gas. To continue about firsts, the first appliance we had was an electric iron and next was an electric washer. We got those at Enid. That was really something. Somewhere we have the old contract on that so I could put a date on that but it was probably 1921. This was a Maytag with ringer. That was really something. Shortly after we were married, it...
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Electricity and OG&E
MarkD submitted on October 4, 2025
I was always interested in electricity from the time I first knew it existed, possibly 1913. The first electric service we had was at the brick house and I believe we moved into it in 1913. We lived there for sometime without electricity. The wiring had been roughed in when the house was built. I believe we moved into it new. I remember when we first got the service. It was our first time for electric service Prior to that I got a big 3 cell nickel plated brass flashlight that I really treasured. When we got electricity, we didn't have any appliances. We actually we had no appliances until...
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The Model T
MarkD submitted on October 4, 2025
The following are some of my earlier experiences with the OG&E. Beginning with the company before our marriage, I did about everything there was to do. I dug pole holes and cut poles and I worked as a lineman, I ran services, read meters, tested and trouble shot meters. Some of that I did with a side car motorcycle they used for services. That wasn't my regular job but I used the motorcycle part of the time when I was running services, or shooting trouble. They began to get Model T's. As a matter of fact, they got a model T one ton truck to replace the old electric truck...
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The Perils of Lightening at OG&E
MarkD submitted on October 4, 2025
When I started with OG&E, the only transmission line they had was from Enid South to Oklahoma City and our district went as far South as Kingfisher. The only load we took care of was, well I believe we took care of Okarche if there was any load there at that time. Later on I remember that we did. We had a small 66 KV substation at Bison, Waukomis and Hennessy. At least at that time. Later on at about 1921, we started to expand a little but first I believe I will say something about the old plant. At the plant there were 3 200 KW generators driven...
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Our Stay in Chicago
MarkD submitted on October 4, 2025
We lived in a little 2 room house at 606 E. Chestnut. I built a garage on it. I can't remember now why we built a garage because I don't think we kept a car in it. We did have a Model T Speedster. It was a kind of a frame with a sport body put on it. A home made sport body. We had it about 6 months or so and I couldn't do much about getting it to run very good and we finally got rid of it. We didn't have any indoor plumbing but we did get water which was something we had not had before in...
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Returning to Enid - Allan
MarkD submitted on October 4, 2025
So we came back home around the last of July. We spent quite a lot of money. We left with $100 and came back with about $25. I made pretty good wages but we went sightseeing so much. I think it was 1920 and broke the news to all the rest of the people. When I got back to Enid, I went right back to work at OG&E. I know the OG&E was growing but in 1921 if my memory serves me right, we had about 27,000 HP load. That was in the whole company, not just in the Enid Division as we called it at that time. Incidentally, prior...
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High Wire Act
MarkD submitted on October 4, 2025
The 2300 volt breakers on the Enid Power Plant had no disconnects on them and of course we couldn't interrupt the service so they had to be inspected hot. The generator breaker and sometimes the high line breakers, we didn't even dare to disconnect those so we very, very, very carefully lowered the oil tank down and looked at the contacts to see if they were hot or any signs of anything wrong with them. That was a very risky thing to do. One time when Lester Coleman were working on one of those, in some manner, I guess when we disconnected the potential lead, the phase that had...
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The Roads
MarkD submitted on October 4, 2025
I think it is about time I said something about the roads. During the period I have been talking about, there were not very many paved roads in Enid. Of course the 2 main roads that were paved were those going north and south and east and west through town. They supplied the highway route through town. I think I should say that during the period I have been talking about, the line extended to about 2 miles north of the square and about 3 miles south and about 3 miles west of the square. Going east, it extended 6 miles. During a large part of the rest of time...
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Moving to Sapulpa
MarkD submitted on October 4, 2025
We do have a little source of information. That's letters that were written to my folks by Virgie. That's after we moved to Sapulpa. So on May the first 1924, we were transferred to Sapulpa. About all I have now in that time is a note from these letters of Virgie's to my folks. On May the 8th, we went to Beggs and did some work down there setting meters and so forth. I was quite impressed with the scenery. Lots of hills and Blackjacks and no section line roads. Lots of oil wells. Allen refused to call the new place home. He didn't like leaving home and it wasn't...
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Riding and Radios
MarkD submitted on October 6, 2025
On September 21st 1924, Virgie wrote a nice long letter to my folks. She told about canning peaches and tomatoes. The peaches were $1.25/bushel and the tomatoes were $1. She told about us driving to Spavinaw Lake, that was quite a nice little trip for us and we were very impressed with Spavinaw Lake and enjoyed Spavinaw Lake very much. We ran thru a rain while on that trip and had to put up the side curtains. That was something that was ordinary in those days and the best was to keep out of the rain was to put up the side curtains. It took about 20 minutes or so...
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1927 - Gloria
MarkD submitted on October 6, 2025
On August 8th, Virgie wrote another letter and the return address was called 1245 East Cleveland. So I guess that other move was to East Cleveland. The letter said we have moved, well I guess we moved twice in a month. I don't know why I haven't got it in my Diary. There is one vacant day there. Maybe that is when we moved. Any way, moving twice in one month is work. We moved first to Thompson and then to 1245 East Cleveland. We got it for $30 per month and it was a real nice house. It was a 5 room bungalow with basement and a 2 car...
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1929 to 1930 - Robert
MarkD submitted on October 6, 2025
When Gloria was born, we lived in a house on 1224 East Cleveland. For some reason, we had to move out of that house. We temporarily moved into a house on East Thompson. It was not a very nice house and we lived there only a short while. We then bought the house that Robert was born in. It was located at 1408 East McKinley. This house was a three room house with a kitchen, living room and bedroom. There was also an unfinished bathroom with an antique toilet. This toilet was like the pull chain toilet that are seen in very old homes except the seat triggered a spring...
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