Melissa Cook Ponder and daughter Zella Ponder Chance
November 2, 1978
Granny Chance Real Pioneer at 93 by HELEN HEDGEPATH of the Healdton Herald
(part of the article)
It was my privilege last week to visit MRS. ZELAH BERNICE CHANCE, who is 93
years of age and a resident of the Healdton Nursing Home. She lived her
entire life at Graham and is better known as GRANNY CHANCE. She is our Old
Timer of the week.

ZELAH CHANCE was born October 20, 1885 in East Texas. Her parents were JIM
(JAMES ELZIE PONDER born in Newton Co., MS) and MELISSA COOK PONDER. They
lived near Bomar in present day Love County. When Melissa died 1898, she was
buried at what Granny Chance called the MAHOTA Chapel Cemetery which later
had to be moved when they built Lake Murray.

ZELAH had brothers ANDY PONDER who lived at Carnegie, VIRGIL who lived at
County Line, JAKE of Pauls Valley, and FRED PONDER of Graham. She is the
only one of nine children still living. She has three half sisters still
living, MRS. WALTER PIERCE (WINNIE PONDER PIERCE) at Graham, MRS. QUINCE
ALLEN (TINA PONDER ALLEN), and MRS. JIMMY GARRETT (DOROTHY PONDER GARRETT)
who lives west of Fox.

She does not have a clear recollection of her early years. She told that
after her mother died and left five children, Zelah, the oldest, and four
boys; the children made their home with their mothers brother, JOHN COOK,
in St. Jo, Montague County, Texas. Zelahs father, JIM PONDER, came to
Graham, Indian Territory to farm and soon married his second wife, PARILEE
PRUITT (born 1877 in Montague Co., daughter of BENJAMIN FRANKLIN PRUITT and
MARY JANE CATLEDGE). Zelah told that her father came to St. Jo to bring the
children back to Graham to live with him and his new bride. She said the
boys returned with him, but she could not reconcile herself to a stepmother.

So she stayed another year at St. Jo. She laughed as she told that she came
to Graham to visit her father and brothers and immediately liked her
stepmother and stayed here to make her home with them. She said that Parilee
was such a good mother to her. This was in 1901 that Zelah came to Graham.
She soon met JOHN, who died 1957. Her husband had built the old JIM PONDER
home which is still standing southwest of Graham.

As we talked, she remarked that she had worked hard all her life. She had 12
children, two died in infancy and she had reared two of her grandchildren.
She remembers that for many years, she washed on a rub board and heated
water in a big black kettle outside. She took in washing to pay for her
first washing machine, which she thought was about 1926. She also told she
had always been pretty good at sewing and she sewed for people years ago.

There was no oilfield at Graham when she first came there. Her father had a
caf at one time in Graham. Her father also owned 160 acres at Graham and
was once partners in land with SCOTT SPARKS, which is now part of the huge
SPARKS ranch. She said Clemscott was named after CLEM BROOKS and SCOTT
SPARKS.

In the early days, Clemscott was bigger than Graham, but Graham had the
school. Clemscott at one time had a bank and a bakery owned by Mr. and Mrs.
FRANK LUTZ, sister of LORETHA VICKREY.

JOHN WALTON CHANCE and ZELAH PONDER CHANCE were parents of: EUNICE, Mrs.
ELAM BAILEY, now deceased; INEZ, Mrs. JOHN SMITH of Whitesoboro, Texas; ROY
CHANCE of Oklahoma City; MRS. CHARLES BRAUCHER deceased; NITA, Mrs. RAYMOND
KILCREASE of Maysville; MARIE LINDSAY of Dallas; RUTH BAILEY of Dallas;
HERMAN CHANCE of Sans Monks Corner, South Carolina; BILLIE DEAN, Mrs. MORRIS
BAXTER of Fox; HERBERT CHANCE of Santos, Texas.

The Chances lived for years in a house just behind AKERS Store at Graham,
later they moved to a house just south of the store and were living here
when her husband passed away. She is a member of the Church of Christ since
age 11. She said she had spent many happy hours in the church at Graham and
her husband once served as secretary and treasurer, and had charge of the
Communion Table.

Zelah lived alone for 10 years after her husband passed away, then one day,
without consulting her children, she had her half sister and a friend to
bring her to Healdton and she checked into the Healdton Nursing Home herself
where she has lived for the past ten years. She said that VERDA SMITH and
ADA RATLIFF came by and took her to church when she was able to go.

She said that although she and her husband had to work hard to feed and
clothe their ten children, they were blessed in many ways and had a good
life. She told how she had all of her 12 children at home and she wasnt in
the hospital until she was 78 years old and had to have an appendectomy.

March 6, 1980
NORDMAN Worked on First Dillard Well by HELEN HEDGEPATH of the Healdton
Herald
(part of the article)
Our Old Timer this week boasts of working on the first well that was drilled
in the Dillard Field. He was born July 17, 1891 on the old WEST farm (now
called the JIM ORME place) near the old Vickrey Addition. This week we honor
WILLIAM HENRY BILL NORDMAN as our Old Timer of the week. His parents were
GEORGE S. and REBECCA JANE WADKINS NORDMAN, early day settlers here. His
father was originally from Cincinnati, Ohio and his mother from Missouri
(born 1871 Blair Creek, Shannon County, Missouri to JESSE WOODS WADKINS and
SUSAN MCGEHEE WADKINS).

Bill told that his grandfather (WILLIAM HENRY NORDMAN born about 1815 in
Hanover) was from Germany. He remembers hearing his grandfather getting his
education in a Catholic school in the old Country.

Bill was from a large family. He had brothers, FRED NORDMAN who diedin
Arkansas; ALEC NORDMAN (died in California); DEBS NORDMAN (EUGENE DEBBS
NORDMAN was killed in New Mexico), and LEO who lives at Healdton. His
sisters were MAY TURNER of Fox (LAURA MAY NORDMAN married 1904 and died
within a few months); NELLIE ROBINSON of Duncan (NELLIE married TOM SHUROY /
SHUWROY, divorced, married CHARLES MORROW, divorced, then married JAMES
ROBISON at Duncan where she died); VIOLA STEUDEMAN of Ardmore (VIOLA died in
Ardmore, leaving two young sons whose father placed them in an orphanage and
the sons were gone when their grandmother Becky Wadkins Nordman Fowler
searched for them to bring them to her home). All of them have passed away
except one brother LEO NORDMAN, living at Healdton.

Bill told how his father was crippled, one of his legs shorter than the
other, and he was a peddler. He had an enclosed buggy and he went all over
this area peddling his wares (LILLIE WRIGHT told the story how GEORGE
NORDMAN had a Victrola that played music to attract attention as he
approached potential customers home). His mother was a midwife. It wasnt
unusual for someone to come after her and she would be gone, sometimes a day
or so at a time.

In the early years, the children attended school at the one room Greenville
school. This was a subscription school where the Jones Butane Co. is
located, north of Healdton. He also described the school as being across the
road west of the old GREENWOOD place. At one time the children also attended
school at the old Iron Top School east of town.

He told of living close to the JACK SHRADER family. He also talked of ALBERT
JONES, father of GEORGE JONES, also the JOE TRAMMELL family, JIM ROZZELL and
COCKRELL families at Graham. He talked of his aunt, EMMA WEST, wife of DAVE
WEST. (EMMA AGNES NORDMAN married DAVID WEST 1881 in Montague County, Texas;
the West family moved from Montague County to near Healdton late 1885).)
Emma was Bill Nordmans fathers sister. (WILLIAM HENRY NORDMAN and MARY
CAROLINE CAMPBELL were married 1838 in Hamilton Co., Ohio; among their
children were JOHN NORDMAN who also lived in the area in 1890, EMMA and her
husband DAVID WEST, and GEORGE SYRENIUS NORDMAN who married REBECCA JANE
WADKINS 1885 Cooke County, Texas where they lived for awhile then, these
Nordmans moved to old Healdton by 1889. George died 1915 and Becky 1968.)

The Nordman family moved to a farm 2 miles east of Graham about 1905. (The
family moved around, sometimes living at Healdton, sometimes at Dixie, one
rented house burned in 1904, taking all family possessions, including the
old German Catholic Bible.) This was about the same time the JOHN B. CHANCE
family moved to Graham from Tennessee.

He later met and married ANNIE MAE CHANCE (daughter of JOHN BEAUREGARD
CHANCE and MARY PRUITT Chance, who was a half-sister to Parilee Pruitt,
stepmother to Zelah Ponder who married Annies brother JOHN WALTON CHANCE).
They married Christmas Day, 1910. He said they went together two or three
years before they married. Annie was a quiet and very shy person. He laughed
as he told that he had to teach her to talk. She was a beautiful girl with
dark hair that she wore in pigtails.

I asked him where he and Annie went when they were going together. He said
they went to Literary (usually a debating club), church and spelling
matches. Most all the activities in those days were held at the school. They
had dances and play parties in the homes. He and Annie lived with his
parents after their marriage. He told of building two log houses on land his
father had leased.

He worked for awhile for early day Graham physician, Dr. IRBY. The doctor
also owned a drug store and a grocery store. Bill told that Dr. Irby
furnished them a house to live in and he drove a buggy for the doctor as he
made housecalls to families in that area.

Bill and Annie had eight children: SYLVIA, who married HOWARD BAILEY and
lives at Maysville; CARL NORDMAN who lives in Wink, Texas; LONA, who married
ROBERT FLOYD EMBELIN and lives north of Healdton; SYBLE who married MORRIS
PIERCE, died in Kingsville, Texas then died in Healdton 1975; JACK who died
as a young boy; BILLIE (ELVIA WILLIA) who married ZACK FORE and lives north
of Healdton; BETTY who married DONALD HENDERSON and lives at Pruitt City;
and BARBARA who married JERRY SMITH and lives at Wichita, Kansas.

His grandchildren: Sylvia has two stepsons, W. H. BAILEY of Ada and THEO RAY
BOW BAILEY of Arkansas, a daughter LAWANA of Maysville and a son MIKE
BAILEY of Oklahoma City. CARL has a daughter CARLA of Wink, son MARK of
Houston, and a deceased son GARY JIM. LONA has three daughters ANITA of Fort
Worth, LINDA of Houston, and ROBBIE of Healdton. Syble had a daughter KARON
KAY of Colorado and a son JAMES MORRIS PIERCE Jr. of New York. BILLIE has
five children, SUE of Burkburnett, BILLY ZACK of Healdton, REGINIA of
Pooleville, VALI of Healdton and REBECCA of Pruitt City. Betty has two
children, DONNA of Elk City and DAVID of Pruitt City; Barbara has two
children, SHERRY and TERRY, both of Wichita, Kansas. There are several
great-grandchildren.

ANNIE CHANCE NORDMAN died in May 1944. He later married BEULAH PONDER
BRISCOE (Beulah and Annie were half-cousins) and they moved to Healdton
where they ran the Bulldog Caf and then the Corner Caf. Beulah died August
1964, then he later married ROSIE STEUDEMAN in 1965 (Rose had been a
sister-in-law of Viola Nordman Steudeman; Rose divorced Bill in 1979.)

In the early years, he told of running a grocery store at Hewitt (the John
B. Chance family moved to Hewitt in 1915 from Graham, operating a store and
post office, then Bill and Annie Nordman moved there, purchasing land from
the Chances, building a two room house with a side room. John Chance bought
out Bills store stock and added it to the Chance general store and grist
mill.). He also told of working in the oilfields around old Hewitt, farming,
and roughnecking. At one time he worked for WESTHEIMER & DAUBE Co., the
Texas Oil Co., and SCHERMERHORN Oil Co. During the Depression years, he
lived on his stepfathers place (JAMES HENRY FOWLER) at Graham (the family
moved there and farmed on Henrys land, getting a government setup to farm
where they lived until early 1946). He told that his girls could put out as
much work as any man.

It was during this time, the family attended the Freewill Baptist Church at
Clemscot. He told that he, his wife and older four daughters were saved and
baptized at the same time. He was active in the church for a time. At one
time, he served as Sunday School Superintendent.

BILL NORDMAN says he has worked hard all his life and he made sure his
children learned how to work. (He took his son Carl and daughter LONA out of
school, at ages of 12, and put them to work in the fields on the old COLBERT
farm near Wilson where the family sharecropped and they did not return to
school. The other daughters attended school with two graduating from high
school, SYBLE and BETTY, both at Graham High School. He took his older
children to pick cotton in the western part of the state where they lived in
a converted chicken house, tents, etc. during a few cotton picking seasons.)

He has had fairly good health over the years. He has been in the Healdton
Nursing home for the past six months. He has an unusually good memory at age
88 and enjoys having company. He invites his friends to come by for a visit
or a game of dominoes.