I was born at the old Caruthers stomping ground in Bosque County, moved to Thurber coal mines in 1900 and to Weatherford in 1905.  We rode from Mingus to Thurber in 1900 in an old yellow stage coach, drawn by four horses.  My father was a doctor.

One of my father's cousins, Alla Kuykendall of Jacksboro, married Tom Carter of Graford.  My wife was Mary Ruth Moran, daughter of Judge H. S. Moran and Betty Rider of Weatherford.  She is a niece of Uncle Dave Rider, who lives north of Graford.

After World War I, I worked with the WMW&NW Railway, checking the stations accounts every three months at Mineral Wells, Salesville and Graford.  Will Jones, Durwood Moore and Doc Iver were the agents.  (Bill Lewis and Pat Birmingham of Turkey Creek have been good friends of mine here in New Mexico).

I don't know just how early the Caruthers family moved into Palo Pinto County, but I have seen mention of them there as early as 1853.  Ben, John, Ewing and Allen Caruthers were there, and maybe others of the family.  Their father, John, was from Tennessee and was a cousin of Sam Houston's.  He named one of his boys John Houston and another one Sam.  He was in Houston's army.  One of his brothers Ewing, was killed in the massacre of Fannin's men at Fort Goliad.  Another brother, Allen, was in the battle of San Jacinto.  Another, William, was at the black bean drawing at Perate.  The next generation, with the same names, went to Palo Pinto County.

A sister of these men, Mrs. Dr. Barry of Weatherford, used to tell me that her brother, Ben, was killed by the Indians in Palo Pinto County and was buried on the bank of a creek.  Later, through the help of Grandma Taylor of Palo Pinto, I learned that Ben Caruthers was killed on the Keechi and buried on the Bevers place.  A family cemetery sprung up and the grave of Ben Caruthers is the middle grave on the north side of the Bevers plot.  In later years, the town of Graford placed its cemetery adjacent to the Bevers family burying ground.

I visited the grave of Ben Caruthers a few years ago, the first of his people to visit it in 70 years.

John Caruthers was at one time sheriff of Palo Pinto County.  If someone will write me what years he was sheriff, I will appreciate it.

He married Miss Mollie Conatser.

(Editors Note:  Here Rev. Kuykendall related the killing of a relative of his wife's by John Caruthers; but the facts were based on hearsay on the part of Rev. Kuykendall and The Star deleted his account of the shooting).

Uncle Billy Caruthers left Palo Pinto County in 1859 and went over the Butterfield Trail to California in an ox wagon, accompanied by his wife and baby girl, Sarah.  His wife had been the former Amy McElroy.  I visited her in Downey, California, in 1914 and she told me of the harrowing experiences encountered on the trip that took 11 months.

I have traveled over most of the old Butterfield Trail where it crosses New Mexico.  Whenever I come to it, I look at Massacre Mountain, Fort Cummings, Soldier's Farewell, or Old Shakespear town, and say with great interest, "Uncle Billy passed this way 87 years ago!"  Paso Par aqui!

Of the other Caruthers men, Ewing was a Methodist preacher.  I am the only other member of the family that became a preacher.  Aunt Betty (Caruthers) Porter also lived in Palo Pinto County.  The grave just south of Ben Caruthers is that of one of her babies.  She died in Dallas.  John Caruthers moved to Weatherford, entered business, and died there.