I have always said that my grandpa was from Oklahoma, but when I looked more closely at my information, I realized that in fact Harry was born in Kansas. He was born at Caldwell, KS about as close to Oklahoma as one can get without actually being there. He grew up in Oklahoma, and probably didn't even remember Kansas. I have evidence that he tried to get a birth certificate from Kansas and one was not available.
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My Great great uncles and aunts had a ranch at Caldwell, KS, I had been led to believe. (Turns out, it may not have actually been true, they were in Kansas, but not in Caldwell according to the information I can find. My great grandparents buried 3 of their children there so they lived there in one way or another. So after the Duncan debacle, I suggested to my sister that we swing by Caldwell and see where Harry was born. It was on the way, sort of. It was a driving kind of day.
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The main drag is impressive for a town of a thousand souls.
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Today Caldwell is a town of a little over a thousand people and it is off the main interstate.
But once it was full of drunk cowboys and saloons and gunfights. It was the first stop after Indian Country (which was dry) coming up from Texas on the Chisholm Trail.
The Opera House would have been built when my grandfather was born here in this town.
The main drag is impressive for a town of a thousand souls.
Someday I want to return and go to the library and find out about this historical soceity.
This building was built of native stone and my great grandfather was a stone mason. I wondered if he worked on it. Or learned to be a stone mason while helping with it or some other building in town.
The native stone is carved like bricks.
This building was interesting with figures of the old west in the upper windows. It is a stone building too. The third floor was taken off to become the building in the photo up above.
But, I filled up with gasoline and the sun was going down in Caldwell, KS, so we headed out for our home for the night.
Wichita, KS was where we laid our heads for the night. We planned to see a museum in the morning and then head for Missouri and home.
More to come!