Printed in The Davis News on Jan. 19, 1939; Reprinted with permission

Mrs. Lou Brittenburg Dies at Age of 89 Yrs.

In the death of Mrs. Lou Brittenburg, aged 89 years, known by friends as "Aunt Lou," another of the true pioneers to this country has been taken. She died at 10 p.m. Saturday after an illness of only a few hours.

About noon she was stricken with something like acute indigestion, which later affected her heart and caused death, the physician reported.

Funeral services were held at 4 p.m. Sunday at the Presbyterian church, the pastor Rev. J. A. Phipps being assisted in the service by Rev. E. L. Lloyd of the Methodist church. Burial was in Green Hill cemetery.

Mrs. Martha Lourinda Brittenburg was born March 20, 1849, in Gwinnett county, Georgia. At the age of 33 she was united in marriage to J. W. Minor, unto which union three children were born, two of whom survive.

The family moved to Ardmore, Ind. Ter., in 1888, Mr. Minor passing away in 1903. Two years later Mrs. Minor was married to Don A. Brittenburg, and they moved to the Woodland community, west of Davis, where they lived about 10 years, then moved to Davis and spent the remainder of their lives. Mr. Brittenburg's death occurred Nov. 20, 1923.

Mrs. Brittenburg is survived by two daughters, Mrs. E. M. Coleman of Ardmore and Mrs. Frank Morrison of Norman; five stepchildren, Mrs. Jim Holland, Jennings, Okla.; Mrs. Gatsie Caulley, Lawrenceville, Ga.; Mrs. Susan Gibbs, Mrs. Sally Arnold and J. N. Brittenburg, all of Oklahoma City; nine grand children and two great grandchildren.
________________________________________________________

Hutchins & Sons Funeral Home Record
Lou Brittenburgh of Davis Okla
Housekeeper
Father: Martin
________________________________________________________

The following transcription from the Indian Pioneer History Project was emailed to me by great-great-granddaughter Alice Davis:

Indian Pioneer History Project for Oklahoma
Date: July 21, 1937
Name: Lou Brittenburg (Mrs.)
Post Office: Davis, Oklahoma.
Residence Address:
Date of Birth: March 20, 1849
Place of Birth: Georgia
Father: Byrd Martin
Information on Father:
Mother: Lorena Martin
Information on Mother:
Field Worker: John Dougherty
Interview 358
4928
An interview with Mrs. Lou Brittenburg,
A pioneer woman of Davis, Oklahoma.
"My parents were Byrd and Lorena MARTIN. The places and dates of their birth are unknown.

I was born in Georgia March 20, 1849. My first husband and I came to Ardmore January 25, 1887, from Atlanta, Georgia. It was sleeting and snowing the night we came to Ardmore. When we got off the train we had no place to go. There was only one hotel. This was operated by an old man by the name of BUCKLES. The building was built of cottonwood lumber, and this cottonwood had warped and shrunk until there were large cracks in the wall. We had to stay somewhere until daylight, so we walked over to this hotel. There was only a cook stove to warm by downstairs, and it gave very little warmth in such an open building.

We were sent upstairs to sleep. There was no heat in the room at all, and there were six beds in the one and only sleeping room they had. These had only two sheets and a "spider web" quilt. I said, "I'll not stay in such a place, we'll all freeze to death before morning". Two men sleeping in a bed back in the corner said, "Lady, you're right. We are almost frozen". We went back downstairs and out into the cold to the depot. The agent gave us some old quilts and plenty of coal to keep the fire going. We made a bed down on the floor of the depot, and I never slept better in my life.

When daylight came my husband went in search of a place to eat breakfast. He found a tent-hotel called "Dad's Place" and we ate there. While we were eating some officers came in and looked around for whiskey. They found two gallons and carried it away with them. After breakfast my husband went in search of a place to live. He happened to meet Alva ROFF and asked him about a farm. Alva said, "You can move on to my ranch if you care to".

Arrangements were made, and we started for the ranch, eight miles from Ardmore. We were driving a ranch team and it was so cold that ice hung all over my husband s whiskers. We had to walk part of the distance to keep from freezing. When we arrived at the ranch, there were twenty-eight of us to live in three dug-outs. We stayed there for six weeks. We slept late every morning, and had a late breakfast. About four o'clock dinner was served, and about ten o'clock we ate a snack for supper and went to bed. Each dug-out had a chimney.. We cooked with a skillet and lid on these fireplaces. We later moved to a log cabin on the ranch.

There were some boys by the name of LEE, who were cattle thieves. They had killed a brother of Mr. Roff, and were stealing his cattle. He told Heck THOMAS and Jim TAYLOR if they would kill these boys he would give each of them a thousand head of cattle. The Lee boys had lived in a small log hut without any doors. They crawled in through a window, and had post holes through which they shot at anybody approaching their cabin. They finally moved out of this log hut and stayed in a ravine.

One morning Heck and Jim, who was a deputy under Heck, rode up to our house for breakfast. Heck and I had been sweethearts in Georgia twenty years prior to this. We hadn't seen each other during this time, and neither of us knew the other was here.

Heck had been gone from Georgia, and we didn t know where he was until he rode up and asked for breakfast. He told us he was expecting to find the Lee boys soon. That day Heck and Jim were hiding near the ravine where the Lee boys were concealing themselves and they saw a man cautiously making his way toward the ravine, and as the Lee boys were eating their lunch, Heck shot one and Jim shot the other. The lunch carrier disappeared in the shrubbery and they didn t find him. Mr. Roff drove up two thousand head of cattle and gave these cattle to these two officers.

My husband died during our stay on the ranch, and I moved on to a farm owned by Sam BROWN. I later married Mr. BRITTENBURG and we moved near Fort Arbuckle. We lived there for thirteen years. My husband furnished beef for the soldiers stationed at this fort, and ran a store, a mill and a blacksmith shop. We moved to Davis thirteen years ago, where Mr. Brittenburg later died. I have lived in Murray County for twenty-six years."
END OF INTERVIEW

[SUBMITTER'S COMMENTS: Transcribed from the original document and submitted to OKGENWEB on Aug. 28, 2000 by Alice Lourinda Davis, GGGrandaughter of Lourinda Hudson Martin Minor Brittenburg, daughter of Rance Byrd Martin b. 18 Feb 1816 d. 18 Jul 1864 and Millie Ford Martin b. 20 May 1821 d. 16 June 1884 of Gwinnett County, GA. Rance and Millie were married 16 NOV 1837. Lou married her first husband, J. W. Minor (b. 11 Oct 1836) on 13 JAN 1881 and after his death, which she mentions in her narrative, she married Don A. Brittenburg on 28 Sept 1905. Lou died at 89 years old and is buried in Greenhill Cemetery in Davis, Murray County, OK.]