John Edward Oyler and Anna Elizabeth Morgan

by

Carolyn Whittaker

October 16, 2003

Yes, you can go to my website. There is a photograph there of my grandparents Charles Samuel Oyler and Ruby Ethel Coltharp. My photograph is at http://hometown.aol.com/atsissie/pubpage.htm

Go into the site by clicking on my photograph. My dad's picture is at the top of the first page in the site. Then scroll down to the WHITAKER section and I think that picture of grandpa and grandma Oyler is on the story about my Dad's adoption.

Dwayne Oyler and I are currently in the process of trying to get some old photograph albums of my grandparents from another cousin. Hoping there will be some in there of some of John Edward Oyler and Anna Morgan's children. The one's I remember as a child was Uncle (Alfred) Fred Oyler and Aunt Gertrude Emma Oyler Polson. Aunt Emma's husband Greenbury "Bud" Polson was a US Marshall in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. Uncle Fred and Aunt Emma used to come visit my grandparents in Havana, Ks (big metropolis!!) when I was growing up and we used to go to Aunt Emma's on occasion in Copan, Oklahoma as well.

Here's another story about John Edward Oyler and Anna Elizabeth Morgan.

John Edward Oyler was born 1839 in London, England. With his parents John Oyler, Sr and Ann Sayer, and his siblings immigrated to the US around 1856 from London, England. They first settled in Tippecanoe Co. Indiana where the rest of the family had already settled.

John served in the 26th Regiment Indiana Infantry Company G Union Army as a private during the Civil War. He was mustered into service 30 Aug 1861 and mustered out 21 Sept 1864. At the time of his enlistment his residence was Clark's Hall. His unit was at Vicksburg, Mississippi during the surrender of the Confederate troops. He drew an invalid pension from his Civil War service and Dwayne Oyler is in the process of obtaining that record.

After the close of the war, John's parents, 5 brothers and 1 sister all packed up and moved to Southwest City, McDonald Co. Missouri and are listed on the 1870 census of McDonald Co. Missouri.

John Edward Oyler married Anna Elizabeth Morgan, daughter of Aaron Iredell Morgan and Lucretia Webb,  3 Nov 1870 McDonald Co. Missouri. John and Anna had 6 children:

1) Lena Elizabeth Oyler and known to my father as Aunt Lennie b 1871 McDonald Co Mo d 1935. She married John Frank Kincannon b 1873 Mo d 1951. They had one daughter, Maurine Kincannon b abt 1901 McDonald Co Mo. John and Lena Oyler Kincannon ran the post office in Anderson, McDonald Co. Oklahoma. He was the postmaster and she the assistant postmistress. They are both buried in the Grand Army of the Republic Cemetery, Miami, Ottawa Co. Oklahoma

2)  Tennessee A. Oyler known to my father as Aunt Tennie b Feb 1872 McDonald Co Missouri d Jul 1952 Miami, Ottawa Co. Oklahoma. She married Charles S. Boyer b Sept 1867 Iowa d 1936 Miami, Ottawa Co. Oklahoma. They are both buried in the Grand Army of the Republic Cemetery, Miami, Oklahoma.  Tennie and Charles had two daughters, Cora E & Pearl L. Boyer. Pearl was b Dec 1894 and I don't have any other information on her.
Cora E. Boyer b 13 Aug 1893 d 8 July 1976 Miami, Okla married William N. Bennett b 27 Feb 1885 Mo d 25 Mar 1967 Miami, Ottawa Co Okla. Had one son that I know of William C. Bennett b 22 June 1918 d Jan 1984 Miami, Ok. Cora and William are both buried in the Grand Army of the Republic Cemetery, Miami, Okla.

The funeral of John Edward Oyler was held at the home of Charles & Tennessee Oyler Boyer at 320 A Street, Miami Oklahoma 24 April 1929.

3) Mary Oyler b 1874. I don't have any further information on Mary. But believe she was dead by the time her father died as she is not mentioned in his obituary.

4)  Gertrude Emma Oyler May 1875 d about 1959/60 Washington Co. Oklahoma buried Collinsville, Oklahoma. She married 1894 Muskogee Co Oklahoma to Greenbury "Bud" Polson b 3 Dec 1862 ILL d 1957 Bartlesville, Washington Co. Oklahoma. They had no children. Bud was a U S Marshall in Bartlesville. I don't ever remember seeing Bud Polson as Aunt Emma lived in Copan when I visited her as a child. My sister, who is oldest in our family doesn't ever remember seeing him either. We suspect they may have either separated or divorced. Aunt Emma had a dark complexion and black hair. As I recall she was a fairly tall woman.

5)  Alfred Oyler 1878 McDonald Co Missouri d 30 May 1958 Bartlesville, Washington Co. Oklahoma. He married Nola A. Monroe b abt 1888 OK in abt 1918 in Oklahoma. Uncle Fred had no children. He is buried in an unmarked grave Havana, Montgomery Co. Kansas next to his brother Charles Samuel Oyler. Uncle Fred was in his later years a hunch backed ole gent. He used to visit my grandparents and sit around and smoke cigars with my grandfather.

6) Charles Samuel Oyler b 5 April 1881 Southwest City, McDonald Co. Missouri d 30 Dec 1961 Havana, Montgomery Co. Kansas at his home of a heart attack. He married 1 Oct 1906 Ruby Ethel Coltharp b 31 July 1889 Leonardville, Riley Co Kansas d 2 Feb 1967 Caney Nursing Home, Caney, Montgomery Co. Kansas. Both buried Havana Cemetery, Havana, Montgomery Co. Kansas.
Their children
a) Emma Beatrice Oyler b 26 April 1908 d 30 Aug 1994 Havana, Ks married Paul Russell b 25 Oct 1916 d Jul 1985 Havana, Ks. Both buried Havana Cemetery, Havana, Ks They had two children Nylan Hugh Russell b 23 Feb 1927 d May 1972 Havana, Ks. Nylan had no biological children but was married; and Judith Ann Russell married Robert Stephens and they had 3 children. Judy still resides Montgomery Co Kansas
b) Edith Faye Oyler b 8 June 1911 d 7 Oct 1913 of typhoid fever and is buried in Sunnyvale Cemetery, Caney, Ks
c) Charles Eugene Oyler b 19 Sept 1919 Iola, Allen Co Kansas d 5 April 2000 Palatka, Putnam Co. Florida. Charles was adopted
d) Donald Davis Oyler b 21 Nov 1923 Montgomery Co Kansas d 13 June 1983 Montgomery Co Kansas buried Havana Cemetery, Havana, Ks. He and Helen Littlefield had 4 children: Lana Jo, Johnny Lynn, Mary Donna, and Ronald Oyler. Children and grandchildren still reside in Montgomery Co Kansas

According to my father, he knew very little about the Oyler family from Southwest City, Missouri. He can remember his grandfather, John Edward Oyler, was blind in his later years and was only about 10 years old when John died. He doesn't remember attending the funeral, but that his father, Charles Samuel Oyler went to Miami, Oklahoma to attend in 1929. He never knew Annie Morgan Oyler as she had died prior to Daddy's birth, but knew the story about her death.

My father's family was residing in the Caney, Montgomery County, Kansas area at the time as dairy farmers. After my father and mother married in 1940, they resided with Charles Samuel and Ruby Oyler on their dairy farm. Everyone participated in the running of the farm and Daddy remembered well when they got electricity and electric milking machines for the cattle in the 1940's. They delivered milk to area residents and businesses of Caney, Kansas. Charles Samuel and Ruby Oyler had never owned the property they resided on in Chautauqua County, Kansas, west of Caney,  known as the Waller Place. They also rented other farms and  lived on what was known as the Leatherman Place, and the Pendleton Place in the area of Havana, Montgomery County, Kansas. Daddy said in the winter they would heat bricks to put under their mattresses to keep warm. And in the summer they'd move their mattresses outside to a hay wagon at night to sleep to get relief from the heat. After getting a glimpse of the house they resided in, it's hard to believe that10 people resided their with their families to run the farm. Their bedrooms consisted of "screened in" porches on the side of the house. The women participated as well in the milking and farm chores, along with their other household duties and raising of the children. Daddy said he started plowing fields when he was 8 years old with a team of horses. Life was hard on the farm, but they managed to produce a decent living.

After a long day in the field, Daddy would make himself a "make shift" shower with a hose and funnel for a shower head. He would heat the water all day in a large metal "cow trough" for his evening shower.

They lived on a dirt road and consequently when it rained they'd get the truck stuck in the mud in front of the house while trying to make their milk deliveries. They'd go back to the house and get a team of horses to pull them out.

In 1949 they bought a home on the south edge of Havana, Montgomery Co., Kansas where Charles died in 1961 at the age of 80 years. I remember well the night grandpa died and the next few days as I was about 12 yrs old. I remember them telling of how they tried to get grandpa out of the house and into the truck to take him to the hospital in Caney, but he had already died. It was such a loss for our family. Many fond memories of our family were spent here as a child with my cousins and other family members. As my family talks about our childhood we laugh at the crazy things that went on there.

My grandfather, Charles was a tall slender man with black hair, and dark eyes. I spent my Summer vacations with my adopted grandparents as a child and can only remember them living on the South edge of Havana. Grandpa was a gentle sole and still maintained a large garden, hay field, milk cows, chickens, and pigs when I was a child. I used to love to ride in his ole pickup anywhere he'd take me, and we'd walk to the post office daily to get the mail and then for a chat with all the "Ole gents!!" of Havana at my other grandfather, Athal Thompson's garage. This was the local hang out for the ole guys where they'd sit around and chew the fat and chew tobacco and smoke cigarettes and catch up on all the local gossip. Then cousin Johnny Oyler would arrive on the scene and we were off to riding bicycles and climbing through the ole abandon buildings next to grandpa's garage. There wasn't much to do in Havana, so we'd entertain ourselves down by Johnny's house on the creek with fishing and swimming and pulling shanigans.

We had many a family dinner around that large table at my grandparents house with other family members when I was growing up. Grandpa and Grandma did not have running water in their home and had an old crank type telephone with a party line. Grandma was quite a nosy ole gal, and she'd listen in on the party line from time to time to see if she could get the lo down on the local gossip and then report her findings to everybody she could think of at the time. I can remember her telling Christine Beeler, the operator, to get off the line when SHE was talking though! Grandma was the best of cooks and lavished us with all her homemade cooking from scratch. She was the best cobbler pie maker by far. I can remember her chasing chickens around the yard and choppin their heads off with an axe, ending up in the best pot of chicken and noodles ya ever ate. When they lived on the other old farms grandma cooked on a wood stove.

Grandpa loved to smoke a pipe and cigars, which grandma protested greatly. He'd sit around the old wood heat stove with his son's and brother, which really aggravated grandma, especially when all of them would fire up the "old stogies" as she called them.

Grandma was a short, stout woman. She came to Kansas in 1904 by covered wagon with her parents and siblings, Louis Nelson Coltharp and Alice Scott who had been living in Missouri prior to coming to Kansas. Grandma was the oldest child in her family. She'd get all gussied up when she got ready to go someplace. She had her brooches and jewelry, along with her make up and rouge, hats, gloves, and hosiery as her attire. I used to stand by her dresser and watch her get ready to go to church or wherever else we were venturing off to for the day. She was quite the ole gal. I spent many a night sleeping with her under those heavy quilts when I visited, as she and grandpa had separate bedrooms ever since I could remember.

With my cousins, who lived down the road and over by Wayside, I grew up. Grandma was constantly hauling us to one of her W.S.C.S. church meetings and all over the county to shop. It was a big trip to go shopping in Coffeyville. She'd load the whole lot of us up in that old 54 Ford and drive to Coffeyville or Caney for our spending of 10 to 15 cents we had been stashing. A cherry coke at the local drug store was one of the highlights of our trips. Of course, before she would take us shopping we had to take a bath. With not having running water in the house, she had a large tin bathtub that she'd drag out into the yard, boil the water, and run us all through. As I look back, it must have been a sight for travelers driving by Grandma's house, because they lived on the main highway. Can you imagine driving by someone's house and seeing 4 or 5 kids in the yard taking a bath, and running around naked as a jaybird? The outhouse was another matter. You've heard the old saying about using the 'Sears & Roebuck'? Well, that's what grandma used or Montgomery Wards catalogue. You could read and rest at the same time. She always used to warn me of snakes when I'd set out to the outhouse. Needless to say, I tarried none to long there.

A story told by various members of our family regards the issue of grandpa's mother, Anna Elizabeth (Morgan) Oyler. Grandpa was about 23 years old and I believe must have been living in Southwest City, Missouri or Miami, Oklahoma at the time. The location is uncertain to me. Grandpa's mother had made a request for him to burn the garden spot off to prepare for cultivating. Evidently Grandpa had other plans, as he postponed doing what his mother had requested. While he was gone his mother proceeded to do his work and her dress caught on fire and she burned to death. I'm sure that created problems within the family and grandpa was most likely blamed for the death of his mother. Grandpa left Southwest City, MO and moved to the Caney, Montgomery County, Kansas area shortly thereafter. Caney was booming with oil and natural gas at the time, and grandpa went to work building large oil tanks on the many tank farms located in that area. About 2 years later he married grandma in 1906, Independence, Montgomery County, Kansas.

They started their family in 1908 with a daughter, Beatrice. In 1911, they had another daughter, Edith Faye. When Edith was a tiny baby the entire family contracted typhoid fever. Edith at that time did not get it, but the doctor told grandma she most likely would later, due to her tender age. And surely enough she did get it and subsequently died in 1913. My grandparents had tried to have more children, to no avail. They were dairy farmers by this time and grandma wanted another child. So they decided to adopt about a two year old, because grandma didn't have time she thought for a smaller child. They then received my father from his natural grandmother, as the story is told in the family, in Iola, Allen County, Kansas. Grandma went to Iola on the train to get my father. Grandma was always partial to babies anyway, so when she saw my dad she had to bring him home. He was only about 3 months old. Then 4 years later, grandma was blessed with a natural son. My father grew up never knowing he was adopted. He had been told by his brother, Donald Davis Oyler, when grandma died that he was adopted and Daddy didn't believe it. So he went practically his entire life not knowing for certain. When he was 71 years old, I found the adoption papers and our natural family.

John Edward Oyler and Anna Elizabeth Morgan are both buried in the Grand Army of the Republic Cemetery, Miami, Ottawa Co. Oklahoma, along with several of their children and grandchildren.

Carolyn Whittaker