William Alexander Bottoms was the son of Alexander Bottoms and Mary Clementine Florence. His Father and an uncle were killed in a shoot-out at the circus in Van Zandt Co., Tx by Bomar Moore seven months before William Alexander's birth. His mother then married Samuel Shepherd May 28, 1871 in Kaufman County, Tx.
At the age of 14 he went to his mother and said, I hate to tell you this but I am leaving home and explained to her he could no longer stand the beatings his step-father had been giving him. His mother, asked where he would go? He told her he was going to live with her brother Vic Florence. He worked for his uncle Vic in the fields and with cattle for $.25 a day plus room and board until he was 18 years of age. It was a good life. Lots of work and good treatment from the county preacher his uncle Vic. Will or Billie as he was known, traveled around on horse-back meeting lots of people, working on various ranches. He eventually made the "BIG RUN" for home-stead of Oklahoma when it became a state. He, and all the other people involved in the run all started on the Kansas line at the firing of the gun. Will was on horse-back as well as many others, wagons, buckboards, buggies and people walking. All scrambled for their hopefully good spot to home-stead on.
Upon racing fast ahead of the slower wagons and other slower moving participants, he arrived at a suitable area he thought would be a good farm. Staked his claim on 160 acres of land. However, because he was a young man of 21, he decided he did not want to settle down and left it.
In this travels he met up with Cyrena Ethel McKelvy. She lived 40 to 60 miles from him. They corresponded most of 3 years. He visited her 3 times in that three years, and they were married on December 16, 1894 in the little town of Ardmore, Oklahoma.
William Alexander and Cyrena Etta were married twice: once at Ardmore in the Chickasaw Nation on 16 Dec 1894 and again on 4 July 1898 in Pickens Co., Ok by L L Thurston, License issued 3 July 1898 by J D McLaughlin County Judge.
(Note: The person who was such an influence in his life - Vic Florence is also buried Florence Cemetery)
Additional children: Thomas Virgil Bottoms -14 Feb 1904 Roff, Pontotoc Co., Ok - 16 Nov 1959 Fresno, Ca
and
Frankie Bottoms - 1898 IT - abut 1900 IT
On February 18, 1870, a circus was booked for a show at Canton. They pitched the tent between where the Palace Drug and the First National Bank stood in later years.
Folks came from all around to see the circus and the tent was full.
An argument began between the Bottoms family and the Moore family over politics and the slavery issue. The argument got louder, and tempers rose.
They stepped outside the tent, with a large crowd following. The argument continued, and someone slapped someones face and the gunfight erupted.
It was over "in less time than it takes to tell it."
When the smoke cleared, Alexander Bottoms was dead and William Bottoms and John Moore were wounded.
Bome Moore walked over to Alex Bottoms, whom he had killed outright, put his right foot on Alex's chest, flapped his elbows up and down, and crowed like a rooster.
William Bottoms and John Moore later died.
At the age of 14 he went to his mother and said, I hate to tell you this but I am leaving home and explained to her he could no longer stand the beatings his step-father had been giving him. His mother, asked where he would go? He told her he was going to live with her brother Vic Florence. He worked for his uncle Vic in the fields and with cattle for $.25 a day plus room and board until he was 18 years of age. It was a good life. Lots of work and good treatment from the county preacher his uncle Vic. Will or Billie as he was known, traveled around on horse-back meeting lots of people, working on various ranches. He eventually made the "BIG RUN" for home-stead of Oklahoma when it became a state. He, and all the other people involved in the run all started on the Kansas line at the firing of the gun. Will was on horse-back as well as many others, wagons, buckboards, buggies and people walking. All scrambled for their hopefully good spot to home-stead on.
Upon racing fast ahead of the slower wagons and other slower moving participants, he arrived at a suitable area he thought would be a good farm. Staked his claim on 160 acres of land. However, because he was a young man of 21, he decided he did not want to settle down and left it.
In this travels he met up with Cyrena Ethel McKelvy. She lived 40 to 60 miles from him. They corresponded most of 3 years. He visited her 3 times in that three years, and they were married on December 16, 1894 in the little town of Ardmore, Oklahoma.
William Alexander and Cyrena Etta were married twice: once at Ardmore in the Chickasaw Nation on 16 Dec 1894 and again on 4 July 1898 in Pickens Co., Ok by L L Thurston, License issued 3 July 1898 by J D McLaughlin County Judge.
(Note: The person who was such an influence in his life - Vic Florence is also buried Florence Cemetery)
Additional children: Thomas Virgil Bottoms -14 Feb 1904 Roff, Pontotoc Co., Ok - 16 Nov 1959 Fresno, Ca
and
Frankie Bottoms - 1898 IT - abut 1900 IT
On February 18, 1870, a circus was booked for a show at Canton. They pitched the tent between where the Palace Drug and the First National Bank stood in later years.
Folks came from all around to see the circus and the tent was full.
An argument began between the Bottoms family and the Moore family over politics and the slavery issue. The argument got louder, and tempers rose.
They stepped outside the tent, with a large crowd following. The argument continued, and someone slapped someones face and the gunfight erupted.
It was over "in less time than it takes to tell it."
When the smoke cleared, Alexander Bottoms was dead and William Bottoms and John Moore were wounded.
Bome Moore walked over to Alex Bottoms, whom he had killed outright, put his right foot on Alex's chest, flapped his elbows up and down, and crowed like a rooster.
William Bottoms and John Moore later died.
William Alexander Bottoms was the son of Alexander Bottoms and Mary Clementine Florence. His Father and an uncle were killed in a shoot-out at the circus in Van Zandt Co., Tx by Bomar Moore seven months before William Alexander's birth. His mother then married Samuel Shepherd May 28, 1871 in Kaufman County, Tx.
At the age of 14 he went to his mother and said, I hate to tell you this but I am leaving home and explained to her he could no longer stand the beatings his step-father had been giving him. His mother, asked where he would go? He told her he was going to live with her brother Vic Florence. He worked for his uncle Vic in the fields and with cattle for $.25 a day plus room and board until he was 18 years of age. It was a good life. Lots of work and good treatment from the county preacher his uncle Vic. Will or Billie as he was known, traveled around on horse-back meeting lots of people, working on various ranches. He eventually made the "BIG RUN" for home-stead of Oklahoma when it became a state. He, and all the other people involved in the run all started on the Kansas line at the firing of the gun. Will was on horse-back as well as many others, wagons, buckboards, buggies and people walking. All scrambled for their hopefully good spot to home-stead on.
Upon racing fast ahead of the slower wagons and other slower moving participants, he arrived at a suitable area he thought would be a good farm. Staked his claim on 160 acres of land. However, because he was a young man of 21, he decided he did not want to settle down and left it.
In this travels he met up with Cyrena Ethel McKelvy. She lived 40 to 60 miles from him. They corresponded most of 3 years. He visited her 3 times in that three years, and they were married on December 16, 1894 in the little town of Ardmore, Oklahoma.
William Alexander and Cyrena Etta were married twice: once at Ardmore in the Chickasaw Nation on 16 Dec 1894 and again on 4 July 1898 in Pickens Co., Ok by L L Thurston, License issued 3 July 1898 by J D McLaughlin County Judge.
(Note: The person who was such an influence in his life - Vic Florence is also buried Florence Cemetery)
Additional children: Thomas Virgil Bottoms -14 Feb 1904 Roff, Pontotoc Co., Ok - 16 Nov 1959 Fresno, Ca
and
Frankie Bottoms - 1898 IT - abut 1900 IT
On February 18, 1870, a circus was booked for a show at Canton. They pitched the tent between where the Palace Drug and the First National Bank stood in later years.
Folks came from all around to see the circus and the tent was full.
An argument began between the Bottoms family and the Moore family over politics and the slavery issue. The argument got louder, and tempers rose.
They stepped outside the tent, with a large crowd following. The argument continued, and someone slapped someones face and the gunfight erupted.
It was over "in less time than it takes to tell it."
When the smoke cleared, Alexander Bottoms was dead and William Bottoms and John Moore were wounded.
Bome Moore walked over to Alex Bottoms, whom he had killed outright, put his right foot on Alex's chest, flapped his elbows up and down, and crowed like a rooster.
William Bottoms and John Moore later died.
At the age of 14 he went to his mother and said, I hate to tell you this but I am leaving home and explained to her he could no longer stand the beatings his step-father had been giving him. His mother, asked where he would go? He told her he was going to live with her brother Vic Florence. He worked for his uncle Vic in the fields and with cattle for $.25 a day plus room and board until he was 18 years of age. It was a good life. Lots of work and good treatment from the county preacher his uncle Vic. Will or Billie as he was known, traveled around on horse-back meeting lots of people, working on various ranches. He eventually made the "BIG RUN" for home-stead of Oklahoma when it became a state. He, and all the other people involved in the run all started on the Kansas line at the firing of the gun. Will was on horse-back as well as many others, wagons, buckboards, buggies and people walking. All scrambled for their hopefully good spot to home-stead on.
Upon racing fast ahead of the slower wagons and other slower moving participants, he arrived at a suitable area he thought would be a good farm. Staked his claim on 160 acres of land. However, because he was a young man of 21, he decided he did not want to settle down and left it.
In this travels he met up with Cyrena Ethel McKelvy. She lived 40 to 60 miles from him. They corresponded most of 3 years. He visited her 3 times in that three years, and they were married on December 16, 1894 in the little town of Ardmore, Oklahoma.
William Alexander and Cyrena Etta were married twice: once at Ardmore in the Chickasaw Nation on 16 Dec 1894 and again on 4 July 1898 in Pickens Co., Ok by L L Thurston, License issued 3 July 1898 by J D McLaughlin County Judge.
(Note: The person who was such an influence in his life - Vic Florence is also buried Florence Cemetery)
Additional children: Thomas Virgil Bottoms -14 Feb 1904 Roff, Pontotoc Co., Ok - 16 Nov 1959 Fresno, Ca
and
Frankie Bottoms - 1898 IT - abut 1900 IT
On February 18, 1870, a circus was booked for a show at Canton. They pitched the tent between where the Palace Drug and the First National Bank stood in later years.
Folks came from all around to see the circus and the tent was full.
An argument began between the Bottoms family and the Moore family over politics and the slavery issue. The argument got louder, and tempers rose.
They stepped outside the tent, with a large crowd following. The argument continued, and someone slapped someones face and the gunfight erupted.
It was over "in less time than it takes to tell it."
When the smoke cleared, Alexander Bottoms was dead and William Bottoms and John Moore were wounded.
Bome Moore walked over to Alex Bottoms, whom he had killed outright, put his right foot on Alex's chest, flapped his elbows up and down, and crowed like a rooster.
William Bottoms and John Moore later died.
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