"Letter" to His Descendants from Charles Wesley Cannady

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NOTE: This "letter" from C. W. Cannady, actually written by Colleen and Jean for the occasion, was read to the assembled family group in Fairlawn Cemetery at his gravesite. A new marker stone had been ordered and placed by Jean and Colleen.

The SAGA of C. W. Cannady . . . . . June 25, 1994

Dear grandchildren - great, great-great, great-great-great

It's so surprising that you are here today to get acquainted. The span of time since 1906 has been very long with no family contact.

Have you wondered about your ancestors? Let me introduce myself. I am Charles Wesley Cannady, born in St. Clair County (just across the Mississippi SE of St. Louis) on
March 29, 1835, in the little community of Belleville, IL. Bethene, I'm honored to have had a great-granddaughter born on my birthday.

Our family lived in that area for a number of years. Have you found my parents and siblings? I wonder if someone put flowers on their graves this year. I'm so happy that you've searched for me. I understand that you have wonderful magic ways of finding relatives that have been lost. I really don't understand how this works, but maybe--just maybe--you can find them, too.

Fate lead me to meet a young lady, Rose Ella Ragin, one of three sisters who crossed the Atlantic when they were small- girls in the mid-1840s. Family legend is that their mother died at sea and the girls were adopted by different families. Their names were Elizabeth (adopted by a Catholic family), Maria Alphratta (rumor has it that she was with a Baptist family - in Illinois), and my Rose Ella who was adopted by a Quaker family.

Rose Ella (also known as Rosella and Rosalie in the records) and I were married in St. Clair County in 1860. The name of one of our daughters, Alfretta Mariah (Allie), should be familiar to you. She was born in Mascoutah, IL (St. Clair County) on June 15, 1865, our second daughter. Later, when we lived in Missouri, she met and married Isom Martin Dawson in the Sarcoxie, MO area.

Our children were.the oldest, Elizabeth (Lizzie), Wesley Wyatt, your grandmother Allie (Alfretta Mariah) (all born in Illinois); then Alex Dell, Frank Charles (some of you will remember him as the one with the "free spirit" - perhaps he inherited a bit of that from me for how many "over 70" would "wander" to a new state?), Ella May (later known as Daisy), Jesse Cleveland (father of Myrtle Cannady Church whom some of you may know) and his twin who died at birth, then Lester Virgil who was only 17 when I expired.

Lizzie was named after Elizabeth, one of Rose Ella's sisters, and Alfretta named for another while Daisy was named for her mother.

Our family migrated from IL to Missouri in the late 1860s. Our younger children were born there where we spent most of the 1870s,.80s and 90s in the Sarcoxie area living in Jasper, Lawrence, and Newton counties. In the 70s, we purchased land southeast of Sarcoxie. It adjoined property which eventually was owned by Charlie Dawson (Isom’s youngest brother). Wayne Dawson, youngest son of Charlie Dawson, now owns and lives on the property and his son, Mike, lives nearby.

Late in the 90s we moved to Barton County, Kansas (South Bend township). At that time, Lizzie's children (Leslie Fullerton and Ella Johnson) were living with us. I think Leslie is buried at Wellington, KS and Ella (named for her grandmother) died in the Northwest and was buried at Tacoma, WA. Lizzie's infant son, Charles Fullerton, is buried here in the plot with me though his grave hasn't been marked either. He was my namesake. The whereabouts of Lizzie's youngest son, Felix Parker, is still unknown.

In 1899, after we were able to locate land for them, Allie and Isom came to a farm in Stafford county, KS. Allie was expecting (Homer) so she came by train while Isom brought the older children and their possessions with him in a covered wagon. These were difficult years for the family as the farms kept selling and they had to move three times in five years to other properties.

After 1900, we moved on west in Kansas to the Spearville community. In 1904, Isom worked with a land agent who located three quarters of land north of Ford on the Spearville Road. He bought the land and had a four-room house built before bringing the family. They came by covered wagon from the Macksville area driving the cattle ahead of them. On Dec. 2, 1904 they arrived in a snowstorm to find a nice warm home where neighbors D. O. Rinehart and Frank Cook had built a fire to welcome the new family. Here they lived on the farm for five years before moving into Ford, KS. The older boys took over the home place and engaged in farming.

Before statehood in Oklahoma, the "land of opportunity" was being highly promoted and since Lizzie and her husband lived in Oklahoma City, I came down after the fall work was done and located property on Santa Fe just south of 164th in the Chisholm Creek area. I found 80 acres with a small house on it and purchased it from the Ed Lukens family for $1,700. We closed on the deal in December, 1905, and I planned to "batch" there for the winter.

Early in January, I wasn't feeling well so on January 11, I engaged J. R. Jones to feed my horse and keep an eye on the property until I felt better. I went to Lizzie's house in OKC and during the night had heart failure.

With the limited transportation/communication facilities, responsibility for the funeral and necessary business fell on Lizzie and her husband - John G. Parker. Rose Ella did come, however, as there was more legal work than you might imagine especially since Lester was under 18. In Oklahoma Territory (and I had no will -- take heed and handle this even when you think you won't need it soon), all property went to the children - none to the spouse. So, all the children decided to give their mother life estate of the property or value Therefore, releases had to be signed by each child and a guardian appointed for Lester. Lots of work!

At the time of my death, the children were scattered: Lizzie, of course, was here; Wesley Wyatt was in Idaho Springs, CO; Allie was in Ford City, KS; Frank was in Spearville; Alex near El Paso, TX; Ella (Daisy) at Macksville, KS and Cleve and Lester in Spearville.

A total of 68 pages of records (Case 625) are in the "dungeon" of the Oklahoma County Court House to clear the estate which was finalized in late July. Mr. Jones stayed and looked after the property until then for $15.00 for the entire time.

For an adventurer over 70, I had BIG plans for these wide-open prairies of OK with its opportunities and was making arrangements to bring the family in the spring. As you can see, I had barely moved enough things to batch. An inventory of my estate read like this:
1 Tract of Land containing 80 acres $1,700.00
10 bushel kaffia corn 2.00
10 bushel Indian corn 2.00
1 ton wild hay 1.50
1 Bay Mare 65.00
1 set wagon harness 5.00
1 two-horse wagon 25.00
1 horse collar 0.50
8 chickens 2.00
1 wash board 0.10
1 box old trinkets 0.25
1 Commode 0.50
1 ax 1 hammer 1 saw 0.25
Water pail, half bus coal hod 0.15
2 brooms 0.15
1 mail box 0.15
1 lamp 0.15
Cook stove, kettle, coffe pot
sketel, dish pan, tin cup 1.25
Dishes, water pail, stew pan 1.00
Bedstead and bedding 2.00
Couch 0.75
Saddle and bridle 2.00
Rocking and dining chair 0.75
Total $ 112.45

Street and Draper Furniture and Carpet Company had charge of the funeral . . . invoice dated 1-15-06
Casket and Box 65.00
Embalming 25.00
Burial Robe 12.50
Hearse 10.00
Underwear and Hose 1.75
Cemetery Lot &
Sexton Fees 22.00
Buggy for Minister 1.50
Total $137.75

At the time of my death, I had $499.00 in First National Bank of Edmond. After bills werepaid (including lawyers, burial, and doctor bill of $4.00), Rose Ella was given $130.94 and Lester (the minor) $34.76.

Later that year, Rose Ella and Lester, accompanied by Cleve and Fannie Sprott (who married in June) came down and lived on the property for a time. Final papers were signed on the sale of the land late in 1908. Cleve and Fannie's oldest sons (Leslie and Dell) were born here before they returned to Kansas (Meade) where Myrtle was born in 1912.

Rose Ella spent her remaining years with Cleve's family and died when they were in Bucklin in 1914. She's buried there with our son, Frank. Their graves were decorated for Memorial Day this year by a mystery person. Was it you?

None of our children would be living now, but am sure we must have grandchildren and their families. But where?

Your dreams and lives must be so different from ours! I'll just enjoy listening, for I don't understand much of what has happened since 1906 - radio, cars, phones, WWI, the 30s dust storms, the depression, planes, WWII, TVs, the Korean and Vietnam wars, VCRs, computers. What changes!

Thanks for coming today!

Charles Wesley Cannady

 

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This letter was mailed to several family members who could not attend the breakfast

June 26, 1994

Hi--

The enclosed is a copy of the information that was given to those who were able to attend our family gathering yesterday morning.

We met at the Village Inn for breakfast together at 8:00, then went as a group to a nearby cemetery, which, until that time was still an "unknown" to the family. We wanted to SHOW the grave site and TELL the story of the grandfather, Charles Wesley Cannady, whose grave has been "lost" as far we can determine for almost 85 years.

Twenty-seven people joined together in the group.

ALLIE and ISOM DAWSON families:

From the Cliff Dawson Family:
Clyde Dawson and wife, Anna Faye
Daughter Judy Rayburn
Pearl Dawson Cramm Rush
Dorothy Dawson and husband, L. N. Close
Son Kenneth and wife, Edna
Their son Kevin Close & Kevin's daughter, Kristi (the youngest present--7th Generation.)
Son Bob and wife, Barbara
Berniece Dawson Lemmons
Paul Dawson and wife, Velda
Eileen Dawson Rollins
Son Jim Rollins and wife, Susan

From the Edith Dawson Karns Family:
Bethene Karns

From the Elmer Dawson Family:
Leah Latta, great granddaughter of Elmer Dawson, and friend John Boyd (both of Tulsa)

From the Verna Dawson Karns Family:
Colleen Karns Cornwell and husband, Don Cornwell
Jean Karns Ladd and husband, Forrest Ladd
Daughter Gwen Ladd Hackler and husband Don Hackler.

A stone was set at the cemetery and a wreath placed on the gravesite. The story of the grandfather [the 7th generation back from Kristi Close, the youngest in attendance] was told in the form of a letter from Charles W. Cannady himself.

The setting was in Fairlawn Cemetery, 25th and Shartel, Oklahoma City. On a quiet Oklahoma morning in the nicely groomed cemetery near the center of Oklahoma City, the story was told. None of the living generations had known where he was buried--nor why in Oklahoma City, since his wife was laid to rest in the Bucklin cemetery. From the legal papers recently found in the "Dungeon" of the Oklahoma County Courthouse the story was reconstructed. The family paid tribute to him and his pioneer spirit and the heritage which we had been given.