Most Wanted Pruitt

My mother, Velma Gladys Pruitt Kelly, was born 1908 Thackerville, OK. Her father was Melvin Henry Pruitt b 1882 KY and mother Floy Mabel Beebe b. 1887 Belton, MO. Mom's younger siblings were Cleo, Son (Cornelius) and Mollie Pruitt Lewis. All were born in Thackerville, Oklahoma.

SPECIAL PROJECT: Track the Pruitt migration state by state and county by county until they stopped in Arkansas.
 

Grandma Beebe Pruitt was born in Belton, Missouri and married in Gainesville, TX, and raised her family in OK.

Her mother was GGrandma Mary Elizabeth Williamson, Beebe b. ***Des Moines, Iowa. She married Cornelius Alvero Beebe in Shelby County where she gave birth to her first son Milton whom was named after his grandfather who died during the Civil War. The family removed to Belton, Missouri where three daughters and a second son, Leonard, were born.

NOTE: Grandma Pruitt said her mother Beebe was born in Des Moines, Iowa, but the family lived west of there in Shelby County, IA.

Around 1900 the Beebe family moved to Gainesville, Texas. Grandma Beebe married Melvin Henry Pruitt at Gainesville, TX in 1908. They moved north to Thackerville where in December 1908 my mother Gladys was born. In OK they raised a family of two boys and two girls.

Grandfather Melvin Henry Pruitt's origins are somewhat obscure, but mom's favorite book lists his birthplace as Lancaster, KY. His father was Methias and he had an uncle named Silas Pruitt.

We will add email addresses of cousins as we get them. We also have a Pruitt-L mailing list at [email protected] good for Pruitts/Prewitts, etc.of all spellings.

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Students of Habbitt (Hobbitt) School in Oklahoma

Photo dated 1923 provided by cousin Larry Pruitt

This picture of students at Habbitt School in Oklahoma, taken reportedly in 1923, includes the four Pruitt kids. These are the children of Floy Mabel Beebe from Missouri and Henry Pruitt from Kentucky who married in Gainesville, Texas in  early 1908.

About 1918 Henry was killed in a construction accident, so grandma raised her kids as a widow. She later married several times, but had no other children that we know of.

Does anyone know where this school was. My guess is Stillwater, OK, but could be in NW Arkansas, Madison or Benton Counties.

Identified Pruitt's top down and right to left:

Mother Velma Gladys Pruitt, second row down, first on right, about age 14.

Third row down in front of mom, Uncles Cleo Pruitt left and younger brother Son (Cornelius) on the right, about ages 12 and 10.

Aunt Mollie, nearly hidden third row center (fifth from right in a dark dress), about age 8 years old. 

About 1930 the family moved to NW Arkansas where they lived on the Old Bird Place. That farm was most likely located in either Madison or Benton County.

Mollie married Connie Lewis and they had four children and lived near Los Angeles.

Cleo married Eula and they had four boys and lived around Escondido, CA.

Son (Cornelius) married Betty and they had three girls around Buena Park, CA.

When we were kids we all lived close together and saw each other on week ends and holidays. Those were very fun times.

Other children in the school are unidentified, as is the town where the school was located. Stillwater, Oklahoma is a possible location for the school. Ten years later they were in Benton County, Arkansas.