Custer County: The Arapaho Bee

Arapaho, Oklahoma is offering a reprint of their beautiful 296 page book
TRAIL OF 100 YEARS ARAPAHO, OKLAHOMA 1892-1992

Contact
Pat Parkhurst, Box F, Arapaho, OK 73620 or Lee Gleason [email protected], Box 395, Arapaho, OK 73620
Let them know if you would like a copy of the book from the second print. Planned price for book is $45.00 plus
tax and shipping, about $53.60 total. It is a BEAUTIFUL book, 296 pages, with b/w pictures and stories of Arapaho, Custer County, Oklahoma pioneeering families, businesses, churches, schools, organizations, and current town information with a full index.
The first print was in 1992, full name index is now online as a pdf file at http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~swokla/custer/Arapaho.html
This page also contains a list of surnames in the index.

April 27, 1893

MCKEE Obituary - Died of paralysis at her home on Barnitz creek on Monday, April 24, 1893. Malvina, wife of John McKEE, ... [note: six children].
Submitted by Susan Cabaniss Bradford  [email protected]
Susan Marie Bradford http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~swokla/family/

May 23, 1893

Barnitz Creek - BIBB... Mr. Bibb'S baby is no better and recovery doubtful. ... We learn the little one died since the above was sent in. The stricken family have the sympathy of a host of friends.
Submitted by Susan Cabaniss Bradford  [email protected]
Susan Marie Bradford http://www.brightok.net/~smcb0824/

June 8, 1893
Independence Brickbats.
Died. Wednesday morning, at 11 o'clock, Jackson MOORE (colored). He was buried near this place Thursday. His bereaved family have the sympathy of all.

Died - Mrs. Jennie SHEARON, wife of Col. S. R. SHEARON, and sister in law to Maj. W. J. WARREN of El Reno, died at her home five miles east of Arapahoe, June 6th, 1893 of hyputrophy of the liver. Deceased was 39 years of age and died as she had lived - a Christian. Her remains were in the Arapahoe cemetery, withither they were folowed by a large concourse of friends and relatives to perform the sad last rites and pay their last respect on earth, to the loved one gone before. Appropriate and impressive ceremonies were conducted by Rev. D. H. UPCHURCH.
Submitted by Susan Cabaniss Bradford  [email protected]
Susan Marie Bradford http://www.brightok.net/~smcb0824/

July 6, 1893
COBB Obituary. Died. On Sunday, July 22, 1893 Rexie Elmo infant daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Rufus R. COBB, aged 1 year - months and 19 days. Little Rexie was born in Ardmore, Chickasaw Nation, March 13, 1892, ...
Submitted by Susan Cabaniss Bradford  [email protected]
Susan Marie Bradford http://www.brightok.net/~smcb0824/

July 13, 1893

Samsville Siftings
Last Sunday a young man passed through here with a few cow ponies. ... [Notes: Young man found dead in Quartermaster creek. Face entirely gone. May be foul play. May be Mr. JONES of Mobeetie, TX.]
Submitted by Susan Cabaniss Bradford  [email protected]
Susan Marie Bradford http://www.brightok.net/~smcb0824/

September 7, 1893

While P.M. HURD was in Arapahoe last Friday, his little eight year old girl was bitten by a rattlesnake. Her brother immediately mounted a horse and came to town for her father and doctor, but all efforts to save the little one proved futile and she died Saturday afternoon.
She was buried Sunday evening, Rev. ROBERT officiating. The sympathy of the entire community is with the bereaved family.
Submitted by Susan Cabaniss Bradford  [email protected]
Susan Marie Bradford http://www.brightok.net/~smcb0824/

October 26, 1893

W. R. SHELTON, aged 55 years, originally of Greer county, died on his claim on the head of Barnitz creek yesterday. He leaves a wife and three children to mourn his loss.
Submitted by Susan Cabaniss Bradford  [email protected]
Susan Marie Bradford http://www.brightok.net/~smcb0824/

November 16, 1893

Pearly May GOSSETT, the 13 year old daughter of Mr. and Mrs. R. H. GOSSETT, died of pneumonia, Nov 12, 1893, and was laid to rest in the Arapahoe cemetary.
She was a bright, promising girl and had enjoyed perfect health until seized with this dread malady.
Mr. GOSSETT had just come in from Missouri, and is living in Arapahoe while getting his claim ready for occupancy.
Submitted by Susan Cabaniss Bradford  [email protected]
Susan Marie Bradford http://www.brightok.net/~smcb0824/

March 20, 1925

Friday
J.W. LAWTON Passes On.
Editor of The Arapaho Bee and Veteran Newspaper Man of Oklahoma Summoned Last Monday Morning by the Ruler of the Great Beyond. Death Came While At Work.
Old Timers Pay Respects: Again the Great Maker has called another pioneer of Custer County to rest when J.W. LAWTON passed beyond Monday morning.
One by one the sturdy pioneers of the spring of 1892 are called and as each year rolls around Father Time is rapidly recording more names to his long list......
One of the real pioneers was J.W. LAWTON, who as editor of the Arapaho Bee never missed a publication of a newspaper for thirty-two years. the Arapaho Bee rounded out over 32 years of service to its subscribers, maintaining at all times what its editor thought to be right principles of honesty and fairness to all mankind.
To have edited one newspaper under one name in the same city for so many years stands as a record in Oklahoma for J.W. LAWTON, the editor, unequaled by another....

Card Of Thanks
Last Monday morning our dear husband and father was called by the Angel of Death from our midst after crossing that span of life lasting for sixty-two years. Kind and true he thought of us always and was a husband and father through and through--facing the hardships, encountering and overcoming obstacles he raised his family never at any time failing to keep a faithful watch over us.
We will miss him for he was a dear old Dad--none better could be had. He loved us and we loved him with a love that shall never end. He is gone. We miss him and in this lonesome hour of sadness the Great Comforter brings us the message that dear old Dad will be rewarded for his virtue, valor, and his never ending love for his family and dear ones.
In that hour when the Shadow of Death appeared and we could see nothing but darkness, there came the ray of light sending friends and flowers and it is to those, each and every one of you, that we convey our kindest thanks and appreciation for your services, your word of encouragement and your beautiful flowers that you so kindly gave.
Mrs. J.W. LAWTON and family.
{Written by J.W. about the 32nd anniversary of the Bee.}
My Desk by J.W. Lawton:
Silent as the grave, strong as pen and word, serviceable through thirty-two long hard years, there it stands ready to serve its master for as many more. Built upon four legs representing truth, honesty, charity and service, and across its top, daily carrying all the weight master minds may heap upon it, ever ready to dispense its firm and steadfast principles. Dark from its continued use, scorned by those not accustomed to its use, yet loved by its master because of habit and faithfulness. To every inquiry its master defended the four principles, declared it to be a serviceable and inseparable friend. Ah! without it he could not transcribe the thought of the mind nor could he rest on elbows to discuss the problems of the day with master minds and prominent figures. "I will use it as long as I run the Bee," he declared and so he did. But today that old worn table standing on its four legs of tried principles awaits the return of the master. Ready for more service to transcribe thoughts to pen and word. but the master will never return.

Page#3
LAWTON Is Dead by Walter S. MILLS.
LAWTON is dead.
The word flew from lip to lip last Monday and it was true.
An old timer has passed on. One who for more than thirty years sat at his old table at the Bee office, is gone. And with the passing of Jesse W. LAWTON, Arapaho loses its strongest character. He had his faults. He had his enemies. He knew it, and like a man did not try to deny either. Lawton's pen cut like a knife at times, and his blows were often sledge hammer blows that raised welts and sometimes left scars. But no lick he ever struck was without a purpose. When timid men scudded for cover, Lawton took up his pen and hit the bull's eye. He ridiculed the foibles and lambasted the idocies of the community. In a larger town or a more sophisticated community, they would have laughed-- because the thing did not sound so personal. But in a community that has only one or two fat men, and one or two extra lean ones, and only a handful of all kinds, generalities took the form of personalities and often one with an imaginary injury went gunning for the editor. Lawton had a keen sense of humor and a dauntless courage. He never advocated the side of wrong of lawlessness and he didn't know the meaning of the word policy. But long after lesser lights are forgotten, Lawton will be remembered. He was a man of brain and of character. In other environments, he would have been a great newspaper man.
Arapaho has lost its staunchest friend, its truest advocate. Custer County has lost its one outstanding editor. The Bee will go on--but the personality that created it is gone.
{Next article:}
The Lincoln Of Arapaho An old settler, a pioneer builder of Arapaho, a true worker for Custer County, Jesse W. LAWTON, has passed away.
With his going an epoch in the history of this community is marked. No better man ever fought the evils of his day with the greater optimism and courage than did J.W. Lawton.
A gifted orator, a fearless writer and a man whom all who knew him well both loved and respected. Jesse W. Lawton was a lover of virtue, not only of women, but of men. He was a lover of honor and truth. He championed the cause of right, and when all, even his closest friends doubted his wisdom, he always proved his faithfullness, his integrity and manliness.
With his going, Arapaho has lost its best friend, Custer County has lost its leading editor, and the state one good citizen, whom in all his public life was a worker for the good he might accpomplish.   His life work shall not have been in vain, but will live through the ages to come. He was, as he wrote of Abraham Lincoln, (Published in the Bee Feb. 13, 1925.) "He builded better than the ever dreamed of doing, and the end is not yet."
{Quoted in the above issue of the Bee:} By J. W. Lawton, The School of Journalism claims that they can't classify the Bee.
We can the Sooner State Press. It should be called the 'Japanese toad or bird'. The Japanese says this toad, when he sits, stands, almost. When he hops, flies, almost. The School of Journalism takes an annual vacation, almost. Then they get the appropriations, almost. When they edit the Sooner State Press, they think, almost. When they dance, it is dark, almost.
Items in { } are Submitter's Notes Jesse Wilbur Lawton, b. Sept. 11, 1863 Paris, Ilinois; d. Mar. 16, 1925
Submitted by: [email protected]