Sarah Frances Buckhanan, my husband’s great-grandmother on
his mother’s side, was born on January
1, 1864 in Bentonville, Benton County,
Arkansas. What a frightening world
surrounded her. The Civil War was waning but in northwestern Arkansas
the Confederates, bushwackers, and Native Americans fought off Union troops who
regularly ventured into Benton and Washington counties, engaging in bloody skirmishes,
leaving behind bodies of locals and burnt remains of their homes. Arkansas,
much like Missouri, was divided
in its allegiance to either the Union or Confederate
armies and fought the war internally for four long years, sacrificing thousands
of men, more than a few women and children, and many buildings that housed
county records, stores of food, and homes.
Sarah’s parents were John Littleton Trout Buckhanan and
Elender Jane Keeling Buckhanan. Sarah was the fourth of five children born to
Elender before her death at a young age, approximately thirty. Those records
that were lost in the Civil War have made tracing Elender’s life a bit
difficult but we believe she was born in Roane County,
Tennessee between 1837 and 1838 and died
between 1866 and 1870. Her burial place is unknown. She left behind five children,
Mary Jane born in 1857, Margaret in 1859, John Montgomery (named after his
paternal grandfather) in 1860, Sarah Frances in 1864, and George Thomas in 1866. It may
well have been the birth of her last son, George, in Missouri
that took the life of Elender, and perhaps her body rests there, but that is
only a guess.
John Littleton Trout Buckhanan’s beginnings are not easily
traced with at least one record showing him as having been born in Missouri,
another Sadler, Texas, and most
likely Madison County, Arkansas. His parents were John Montgomery Buckhanan and
Catherine Airhart Buckhanan, both of Tennessee.
Not long after his wife Elender died John L. T. married Margaret A. Copinger
McGowan in St. Paul, Madison
County, Arkansas. She became mother to his five children, brought to the family
five children of her own from a previous marriage, and birthed three more,
Harvey Henry in 1870, Hannah Tennessee in 1873, and Sherman in 1880.
In 1894, having lived in Texas
for years, John was back in Madison County, Arkansas where he married his third
wife, all Tennessee born. Her
name was Mary Elizabeth Ferrell. On August
22, 1907, John died in Whitesboro, Grayson
County, Texas at the age of
seventy-three. Mary lived until May 9,
1934, and died in Gibtown, Jack County, Texas.
Back to little Sarah, known to her family as both Frances
and Fannie, only a toddler when her mother died, life continued to be full
of turmoil and upheaval. At the time of
the 1870 Federal Census her father’s occupation is farmer in Madison Co., Arkansas,
with ten children in the household. Ten years later he is listed as a farmer in
Grayson Co., Texas, with five
children in the household. The Federal Census for 1890 was destroyed in a fire
so we don’t know where the family was then. In 1900, John and his wife of six
years, Mary Elizabeth, are living in Grayson Co, Texas
with only their eighteen-year-old grandson Selmer, son of Margaret Buckhanan.
Meanwhile, Fannie married William Franklin Smith on December 24, 1887 in Grayson
County, Texas when she was
twenty-three. The fact Fannie didn’t marry at fifteen, sixteen, or seventeen
like so many girls of the times was probably because she was needed at home to
help with the younger children. Fannie’s granddaughter Rosa Ellen Fairchild
Farrell wrote in her memoir this about her grandmother, “Frances Buchanan’s
mother was taken from her small family while Frances
was quite young. But, like the trooper she was, Frances
took her mother’s place the best she could. She was a tall, slender girl with
black hair, brown eyes, and high cheek bones like those of an Indian. Her mouth
was set in a firm line. Because she was a cousin of Frank Smith, her ancestors
were also Irish, English, and Indian. Her father was a soldier in the Civil
War, later he was a cattle owner and rancher in Texas.
As children, Frank and Frances were playmates; as older children, they were
pals; as adults they were sweethearts. When the Buchanan children were old
enough to get along without Frances,
she and Frank were married.”
As Rosa Ellen mentioned, Fannie and Frank were cousins, but not
quite first cousins. Frank Smith’s maternal grandmother, Elizabeth Jane Buckhanan,
was a sister to Fannie’s father, John Littleton Trout Buckhanan. I think that
makes Fannie and Frank first cousins once removed. We’ve all heard the
admonition “don’t marry your cousin.” In this case that advice should have been
heeded for it seems the Buckhanans carry a gene for hearing loss, an unusual
nerve deafness known as DFNA/DFNA1 hereditary hearing loss, which has continued
to manifest itself in at least six subsequent generations of descendants.
Married in Grayson County Texas on Christmas Eve, 1887,
Fannie and Frank moved on to Oklahoma
where in 1893 they staked a homestead claim near Noble. By 1908 they sold out
and followed the urging of a relative, R. E. Morris, to try their luck in the
rugged mountains and valleys of Moffat County, Colorado.
They packed up their meager belongings and with their family of five children
moved to Bear Valley,
north and west of Craig, Colorado
where the railroad ended and some of their lives ended too.
I wish I could say Fannie’s life got better after her
marriage and maybe for a little while it did. But when I look at the photos of
the family with beautiful children who died soon after the photo was taken I
see pain and hardship there.
The second born, William Lee, born in 1890 died within a
year.(He in not in the photo to the left as he had already passed away.)
James Wesley Smith, born in 1894, was murdered at the young
age of twenty-eight, the same day his father was also murdered, both over a
dispute with a neighbor about a potato crop. More about that tragedy later in
this story.
Their fourth son, Bennie H. was born in 1895 and died when
he was eight.
Their fifth child was a daughter, Lillian Vernatta, born in 1897,
lived to be seventy-four.
Ernest Franklin was born in 1902 and lived to be
seventy-eight.
Rosa Jeanetta was born in 1905 and lived to be seventy-seven.
Ola Mae was born in 1906 and died three years later.
Julia Ellen was born in 1908 and lived to be seventy-five.
Of the nine babies she birthed, Fannie lost four of them,
and she had a stroke at age forty-four, upon the birth of her last child, Julia.
No wonder that final horrific blow to her well-being that came on October 5,
1921 when both her husband, William Franklin “Frank” Smith, and her son James
Wesley “Jim” Smith were shot and killed not far from their home, sent Fannie
into a tailspin, brought on another stroke and took the zest for living right
out of her. She stayed in Bear Valley
two more years after their deaths before she had enough money saved to retreat
to the more civilized city of Oklahoma City
where she lived with her daughter Lillie until the end of her life in April of
1937.
There was another tragedy in Bear
Valley that affected Fannie and
that was the death of her daughter-in-law, Nora Olive Jones Smith, the wife of
Fannie and Frank’s oldest son, Tom.
As for Fannie’s health at the time of her husband’s and
son’s deaths, her granddaughter Rosa Ellen had this to say, “(Rosa Ellen has been describing the events of
the day when her grandfather Frank and his son, Jim, were shot to death, from
the perspective of her mother, Rosa Smith)……From her bed, Frank’s wife
jumped! For days she had lain there recovering from a stroke. Her daughters
tried to hold her back, but it was useless. The instinct of a wife and mother
told her that Death had struck. Half way to the pasture she collapsed, from
fatigue and another stroke. The girls ran to their mother and carried her to
the house and put her to bed once more. Neighbor women came to help in every
possible way, as soon as they heard of the tragedy. Hearts that are broken
never completely heal. Mrs. Smith lay in bed for weeks, unable to move. Her
thoughts were of the days she had known as Frank’s wife and Jim’s mother.”
Fannie and Frank’s older daughter Lillian Vernetta “Lillie”
Smith Williams traveled from Oklahoma
to Colorado to attend the funeral
of her father and brother, and stayed awhile longer to care for her mother
before returning to Oklahoma and
her husband Floyd Williams. Nearly two years later Fannie told her family she
could not spend another winter in Colorado
so her newly married daughter Rosa and husband, Art Fairchild, drove Fannie and
daughter Julie out of Bear Valley
and down to Oklahoma City to live
with Lillie. (One account says she took a train to Oklahoma.)
The following year Tom Smith left the valley for good, ending the era of the
Smith family in Moffat County
(see http://www.viewoftherockies.com/CraigtoPurcell1.html
for photos of that infamous trip across the Continental Divide)
Apparently
Fannie’s health improved in Oklahoma
for she traveled north in the summertime on several occasions to visit her
family in Colorado. Frances Smith
Russell wrote in her autobiography “From There to Here” about her grandmother “Grandma Smith would visit us during the
summer. She said she just couldn't take
the summer heat in Oklahoma. She divided her time between
our house, and Daddy's sister Rosie, and brother Earnest.
Her visits were truly the happiest times of my
life. She still had a soft spot for me
and could find a lot of little things to delight me. She insisted on helping me with the
dishes. That was a real treat. Since the older kids were kept busy in the
fields, the washing and drying dishes was my job. One summer while she was visiting, she and Ma
pieced me a quilt top out of Mother's clothing.”
And later in her book Frances wrote this about her Grandmother Smith, “We went
to Oklahoma to visit Grandma in August of 1936 (paraphrased). Grandma lived with Aunt
Lillie and Uncle Floyd (Lillie’s second
husband). She had made her home with
them ever since Grandpa and Uncle Jim were killed, and she moved back to Oklahoma. She had
two strokes and was partially paralyzed.
She was quite feeble and spent most of her time in her easy chair.”
And this, “In April 1937
Grandma Smith died. I was so glad I had
gone to see her the summer before. She
still lived with Aunt Lillie.”
Rosa Ellen wrote this of
her Grandma Smith’s passing, “Mother went to Oklahoma at Thanksgiving (1936) to visit her sisters and brother, and her mother, who was
ill. A few days after arriving at my aunt’s home in Oklahoma City, Jackie (Rosa
Ellen’s half brother) became ill with diphtheria. Only because of the fine
surgical care was he saved. When Mother returned to Pierce (Colorado) during the Christmas holidays, she was nearly sick
because of the continuous care she had giving Jackie. In the spring a telegram
came during dinnertime. Grandma had gone to join Grandpa and her three children
in Heaven. This news was extremely hard for Mother to bear.”
One more firsthand source of information about
Fannie’s later years comes from a letter written by Betty Jo Barton Gaston, the
daughter of Fannie’s youngest child, Julia. The letter was addressed to Rosa
Ellen Fairchild Farrell, Betty’s cousin…date of letter unknown. These are
excerpts from that letter: “But let's back up a bit. Frank and Fannie
had got land in Oklahoma, (the land run), up by Noble, OK. (April 2,
1889) While there they lost 3 children---they are buried there
and that's where both Granny and Aunty are buried. (Granny is Fannie. Aunty is Frank and Sarah's daughter, Lillian).
Those 3 children were Bennie, Lee, and an Ola. One of the boys was crippled
somehow and in Granny's trunk of keepsakes was little shoe with a brace on it
that he had worn.
“We
loved for Granny to look through her trunk and tell us the stories of each
thing in the trunk. She usually cried---and I could never figure out if seeing
the things made her cry or if she had just got the blues real bad and then got
out the stuff.
“One
thing was a rock---not too big---and she said one of those boys who had died
had been sitting in the yard crying, and when Pa came close he told Pa that he
was mad at Ma. Then Frank told him: "Well, if I was you, then, I'd just
kill her." So the little guy picked up this rock and went in and threw it
at Granny. When she would tell that she would laugh and blow snuff all over
us---if we didn't watch out!
I
guess Mother (Julia) was born at
Noble, and at that time, Aunty (Lillian)
would have been 10 or 11. That's when Mother told me that Granny had the stroke
(at the time of Julia’s birth). Aunty
said after Granny had the stroke she had to start doing all the cooking,
washing, and etc.
“Then
they told me the family moved on to the Weatherford area, and that is where
Aunty (Lillian) met and married Floyd
Williams. Then from there they went to a ranch on White River.
We visited the ranch site and the schoolhouse that was up then. From there they
moved on to Moffat County
where the guys were shot.
“Mother
(Julia) told me that Granny explained
to her that they couldn't stay another winter out there with no men---so they
each packed a trunk and they rode the train back to Butler,
Oklahoma, where Aunty and Uncle (Lillian & Floyd) lived. She never mentioned
who paid for the rail tickets. She didn't mention Rosa
coming with them. She did say that Granny told her that maybe they could go
back when it was spring.
“When
I was about 9 or 10 I had the mumps and Granny was at our house. She said
"I'll sleep with Betty and take care of her. I've nursed mumps all my life
and never had them, so guess I'm immune." But she sure WASN'T! In due time
she did have the mumps and from then on her health went down and down. The
strokes started coming back on her---
and
she died the same spring that Tilford was born in 1937.
“Granny
always lived with Aunty (Lillian)
from the time they came from Colorado.
She'd visit us once in a while, and I think she traveled to Colorado
to see her other children a few times---but not very many times.
Sarah Frances Buckhanan
Smith died in April 11, 1937 at the age of 73, and was buried in the Maguire-Fairview Cemetery near Noble, Oklahoma. She left many descendants, a proud family of Smiths who have thrived and multiplied - Fannie would be proud.
NOTES:
1) The name Buckhanan has been spelled various ways and today is usually spelled Buchanan.
