Note: while the headstone at left shows his name spelled "Steven", Henry Reed Stiles, his father, and various primary sources show his name as "Stephen".
Bio credit to Dr. George W. Stiles Jr. as written in his pamphlet "Early Days in the Sac and Fox Country", reprinted from The Chronicles of Oklahoma. Excerpts from the pamphlet follow.
In the Oklahoma Territorial days, scarcely anyone ever inquired as to your origin, or where you came from. Nevertheless, from a historical view point, or shall we say family pride, my parents were natives of New Jersey. Father George W. Stiles, Sr., was born near Morristown at Mendham, October 26, 1852; and Mother, Alice M. Merritt (before her marriage) was born April 22, 1857, near Newark. They were married March 15, 1876 and attended the Centennial Exposition at Philadelphia on their honeymoon. My advent into the world was June 14, 1877, while my parents were visiting relatives in New York State.
Father had a married sister, Mrs. Charley Tunis (Aunt Belle) living on a farm along the Solomon River near Minneapolis, Ottawa County, Kansas. The frequent optimistic letters from his sister caused him to migrate West; consequently, with the first-born babe in arms, the family took the train for Kansas. Mother returned East a few years later at the death of her Mother, and soon after Father joined her there. Three years afterwards the family returned to the Kansas prairies as tenant farmers. Through years of plenty and famine, hot winds, fire, drought and chinch bugs, we moved from one rented farm to another.
OPENING OF OKLAHOMA
The Oklahoma country was opened to settlement on my Mother's 32nd birthday, April 22, 1889. This event again stirred Father's desire to travel, hence he and his younger school teacher brother, Steven Dalton Stiles, made a scouting trip with team and spring wagon to Oklahoma Territory and Arkansas.
THE PRESIDENT'S PROCLAMATION
Several times during the summer someone would give a false alarm, shouting ''The Land is open." Away they would dash across the river only to be turned back by the United States Marshals. Finally, the day arrived when couriers from Guthrie officially announced that President Benjamin Harrison had issued a five-day proclamation declaring the Sac and Fox Indian Reservation and other lands were to be thrown open for white settlement at high noon on September 22, 1891. This presidential announcement came as a climax to many anxious souls who were eagerly anticipating the event, and for some families it was the end of waiting over many months to secure a possible claim in the ''Promised Land."
We will now follow Father and Uncle Steve on their quest for a home: Tuesday morning, September 22, 1891, the sun rose in a clear sky, with a tinge of frost in the air. At sunrise, Father and his brother saddled their horses, tied lunch and feed for their horses on the back of their saddles, and bade good-bye to their families. Because of poor crossing facilities, it was necessary to go up Stillwater Creek some distance, to ford the stream. They then took an easterly course, passed the Van Arsdale homestead where a big black bear was caged in the front yard. The two men had difficulty in locating the mouth of Cabin Creek. However, a teen-age boy with a large goiter accurately directed them to the proper place. This boy's father was later our northern neighbor.
As 12 o'clock approached, all the contestants were lined up at the water's edge. Father was riding "Topsy," a black mare with a white star on her forehead. She was very nervous and fretting with her front feet near the quick sand. Father turned to the man next to him, who appeared to have a watch, and asked the time. He replied, "Five minutes yet." Father turned his horse's tail to the river for a new start just as the United States Marshals fired their guns from the hill tops on the south side of the river. This little jockeying caused Father to lose a few seconds. The race was on. All horses headed through the shallow water toward a single objec¬tive; a narrow, single cow trail heading up a steep bank some 20 feet high on the south side of the Cimarron River, just below the mouth of Cabin Creek. A man named Lee was the head man. He staked the first claim. This man had waited a whole year to secure this choice bottom farm, and doubtless he had waded the river and surveyed the land with his eyes many times prior to the race. As fate would have it, these 160 acres proved to be the only Indian allotment in that area, so Lee lost possession.
The second winner was Jo Yount, father of the boy with the big goiter, who signaled taking claim No. 2. By this time Father was pressing the third rider, son of Jo Yount, so closely that their two horses jammed together going up the cow trail and Father's coat came loose and dropped on the bank and his lariat rope became untied. However, he gathered up the rope with his foot, "Gave the gad to Topsy" and caused Jodie Yount to turn east, staking claim No. 3, leaving Father head man of the group.
Estimating that he had travelled over a mile from the river boundary line, Father indicated he was staking claim No. 4 on the map. Since his coat was lost containing white rags for flags, he removed the flour sack containing grain for his horse and used it for a signal.
At that time of the year, the blue stem grass was higher than a man's head. Father looked around for a pole and saw a man without horse, with a hole dug in the ground, fresh chips lay nearby, but when asked to loan his ax (Sooner No. 1) said he had none. So, Father rode his horse up to a small blackjack and tied his flags on the tree. By this time other riders had passed on their way south, one man, however, returned, saluting Father saying, "I've staked the claim south of you, but there are two men and a woman camped on the creek, team unhitched, cooking their dinner and claiming the land, and I do not know if they are on my claim or on yours." (Sooners-No. 2). So, the two men rode down to interview the trespassers. Meanwhile, Father's brother, Uncle Steve was fifth in the race and staked the homestead adjoining Father's claim to the east.
A further note concerning Father's brother, Stephen D. Stiles, is of historical importance. The very first night Mother came to the claim she acted as midwife to Aunt Katie, Uncle Steve's wife, who gave birth to a girl, Jennie, the first new baby born in that neighborhood. Other children in Uncle Steve's family who still survived their parents and elder sister, are Howard, Etta, Edward and Ferd.
Edited September 30, 2023
Bio credit to Dr. George W. Stiles Jr. as written in his pamphlet "Early Days in the Sac and Fox Country", reprinted from The Chronicles of Oklahoma. Excerpts from the pamphlet follow.
In the Oklahoma Territorial days, scarcely anyone ever inquired as to your origin, or where you came from. Nevertheless, from a historical view point, or shall we say family pride, my parents were natives of New Jersey. Father George W. Stiles, Sr., was born near Morristown at Mendham, October 26, 1852; and Mother, Alice M. Merritt (before her marriage) was born April 22, 1857, near Newark. They were married March 15, 1876 and attended the Centennial Exposition at Philadelphia on their honeymoon. My advent into the world was June 14, 1877, while my parents were visiting relatives in New York State.
Father had a married sister, Mrs. Charley Tunis (Aunt Belle) living on a farm along the Solomon River near Minneapolis, Ottawa County, Kansas. The frequent optimistic letters from his sister caused him to migrate West; consequently, with the first-born babe in arms, the family took the train for Kansas. Mother returned East a few years later at the death of her Mother, and soon after Father joined her there. Three years afterwards the family returned to the Kansas prairies as tenant farmers. Through years of plenty and famine, hot winds, fire, drought and chinch bugs, we moved from one rented farm to another.
OPENING OF OKLAHOMA
The Oklahoma country was opened to settlement on my Mother's 32nd birthday, April 22, 1889. This event again stirred Father's desire to travel, hence he and his younger school teacher brother, Steven Dalton Stiles, made a scouting trip with team and spring wagon to Oklahoma Territory and Arkansas.
THE PRESIDENT'S PROCLAMATION
Several times during the summer someone would give a false alarm, shouting ''The Land is open." Away they would dash across the river only to be turned back by the United States Marshals. Finally, the day arrived when couriers from Guthrie officially announced that President Benjamin Harrison had issued a five-day proclamation declaring the Sac and Fox Indian Reservation and other lands were to be thrown open for white settlement at high noon on September 22, 1891. This presidential announcement came as a climax to many anxious souls who were eagerly anticipating the event, and for some families it was the end of waiting over many months to secure a possible claim in the ''Promised Land."
We will now follow Father and Uncle Steve on their quest for a home: Tuesday morning, September 22, 1891, the sun rose in a clear sky, with a tinge of frost in the air. At sunrise, Father and his brother saddled their horses, tied lunch and feed for their horses on the back of their saddles, and bade good-bye to their families. Because of poor crossing facilities, it was necessary to go up Stillwater Creek some distance, to ford the stream. They then took an easterly course, passed the Van Arsdale homestead where a big black bear was caged in the front yard. The two men had difficulty in locating the mouth of Cabin Creek. However, a teen-age boy with a large goiter accurately directed them to the proper place. This boy's father was later our northern neighbor.
As 12 o'clock approached, all the contestants were lined up at the water's edge. Father was riding "Topsy," a black mare with a white star on her forehead. She was very nervous and fretting with her front feet near the quick sand. Father turned to the man next to him, who appeared to have a watch, and asked the time. He replied, "Five minutes yet." Father turned his horse's tail to the river for a new start just as the United States Marshals fired their guns from the hill tops on the south side of the river. This little jockeying caused Father to lose a few seconds. The race was on. All horses headed through the shallow water toward a single objec¬tive; a narrow, single cow trail heading up a steep bank some 20 feet high on the south side of the Cimarron River, just below the mouth of Cabin Creek. A man named Lee was the head man. He staked the first claim. This man had waited a whole year to secure this choice bottom farm, and doubtless he had waded the river and surveyed the land with his eyes many times prior to the race. As fate would have it, these 160 acres proved to be the only Indian allotment in that area, so Lee lost possession.
The second winner was Jo Yount, father of the boy with the big goiter, who signaled taking claim No. 2. By this time Father was pressing the third rider, son of Jo Yount, so closely that their two horses jammed together going up the cow trail and Father's coat came loose and dropped on the bank and his lariat rope became untied. However, he gathered up the rope with his foot, "Gave the gad to Topsy" and caused Jodie Yount to turn east, staking claim No. 3, leaving Father head man of the group.
Estimating that he had travelled over a mile from the river boundary line, Father indicated he was staking claim No. 4 on the map. Since his coat was lost containing white rags for flags, he removed the flour sack containing grain for his horse and used it for a signal.
At that time of the year, the blue stem grass was higher than a man's head. Father looked around for a pole and saw a man without horse, with a hole dug in the ground, fresh chips lay nearby, but when asked to loan his ax (Sooner No. 1) said he had none. So, Father rode his horse up to a small blackjack and tied his flags on the tree. By this time other riders had passed on their way south, one man, however, returned, saluting Father saying, "I've staked the claim south of you, but there are two men and a woman camped on the creek, team unhitched, cooking their dinner and claiming the land, and I do not know if they are on my claim or on yours." (Sooners-No. 2). So, the two men rode down to interview the trespassers. Meanwhile, Father's brother, Uncle Steve was fifth in the race and staked the homestead adjoining Father's claim to the east.
A further note concerning Father's brother, Stephen D. Stiles, is of historical importance. The very first night Mother came to the claim she acted as midwife to Aunt Katie, Uncle Steve's wife, who gave birth to a girl, Jennie, the first new baby born in that neighborhood. Other children in Uncle Steve's family who still survived their parents and elder sister, are Howard, Etta, Edward and Ferd.
Edited September 30, 2023
Note: while the headstone at left shows his name spelled "Steven", Henry Reed Stiles, his father, and various primary sources show his name as "Stephen".
Bio credit to Dr. George W. Stiles Jr. as written in his pamphlet "Early Days in the Sac and Fox Country", reprinted from The Chronicles of Oklahoma. Excerpts from the pamphlet follow.
In the Oklahoma Territorial days, scarcely anyone ever inquired as to your origin, or where you came from. Nevertheless, from a historical view point, or shall we say family pride, my parents were natives of New Jersey. Father George W. Stiles, Sr., was born near Morristown at Mendham, October 26, 1852; and Mother, Alice M. Merritt (before her marriage) was born April 22, 1857, near Newark. They were married March 15, 1876 and attended the Centennial Exposition at Philadelphia on their honeymoon. My advent into the world was June 14, 1877, while my parents were visiting relatives in New York State.
Father had a married sister, Mrs. Charley Tunis (Aunt Belle) living on a farm along the Solomon River near Minneapolis, Ottawa County, Kansas. The frequent optimistic letters from his sister caused him to migrate West; consequently, with the first-born babe in arms, the family took the train for Kansas. Mother returned East a few years later at the death of her Mother, and soon after Father joined her there. Three years afterwards the family returned to the Kansas prairies as tenant farmers. Through years of plenty and famine, hot winds, fire, drought and chinch bugs, we moved from one rented farm to another.
OPENING OF OKLAHOMA
The Oklahoma country was opened to settlement on my Mother's 32nd birthday, April 22, 1889. This event again stirred Father's desire to travel, hence he and his younger school teacher brother, Steven Dalton Stiles, made a scouting trip with team and spring wagon to Oklahoma Territory and Arkansas.
THE PRESIDENT'S PROCLAMATION
Several times during the summer someone would give a false alarm, shouting ''The Land is open." Away they would dash across the river only to be turned back by the United States Marshals. Finally, the day arrived when couriers from Guthrie officially announced that President Benjamin Harrison had issued a five-day proclamation declaring the Sac and Fox Indian Reservation and other lands were to be thrown open for white settlement at high noon on September 22, 1891. This presidential announcement came as a climax to many anxious souls who were eagerly anticipating the event, and for some families it was the end of waiting over many months to secure a possible claim in the ''Promised Land."
We will now follow Father and Uncle Steve on their quest for a home: Tuesday morning, September 22, 1891, the sun rose in a clear sky, with a tinge of frost in the air. At sunrise, Father and his brother saddled their horses, tied lunch and feed for their horses on the back of their saddles, and bade good-bye to their families. Because of poor crossing facilities, it was necessary to go up Stillwater Creek some distance, to ford the stream. They then took an easterly course, passed the Van Arsdale homestead where a big black bear was caged in the front yard. The two men had difficulty in locating the mouth of Cabin Creek. However, a teen-age boy with a large goiter accurately directed them to the proper place. This boy's father was later our northern neighbor.
As 12 o'clock approached, all the contestants were lined up at the water's edge. Father was riding "Topsy," a black mare with a white star on her forehead. She was very nervous and fretting with her front feet near the quick sand. Father turned to the man next to him, who appeared to have a watch, and asked the time. He replied, "Five minutes yet." Father turned his horse's tail to the river for a new start just as the United States Marshals fired their guns from the hill tops on the south side of the river. This little jockeying caused Father to lose a few seconds. The race was on. All horses headed through the shallow water toward a single objec¬tive; a narrow, single cow trail heading up a steep bank some 20 feet high on the south side of the Cimarron River, just below the mouth of Cabin Creek. A man named Lee was the head man. He staked the first claim. This man had waited a whole year to secure this choice bottom farm, and doubtless he had waded the river and surveyed the land with his eyes many times prior to the race. As fate would have it, these 160 acres proved to be the only Indian allotment in that area, so Lee lost possession.
The second winner was Jo Yount, father of the boy with the big goiter, who signaled taking claim No. 2. By this time Father was pressing the third rider, son of Jo Yount, so closely that their two horses jammed together going up the cow trail and Father's coat came loose and dropped on the bank and his lariat rope became untied. However, he gathered up the rope with his foot, "Gave the gad to Topsy" and caused Jodie Yount to turn east, staking claim No. 3, leaving Father head man of the group.
Estimating that he had travelled over a mile from the river boundary line, Father indicated he was staking claim No. 4 on the map. Since his coat was lost containing white rags for flags, he removed the flour sack containing grain for his horse and used it for a signal.
At that time of the year, the blue stem grass was higher than a man's head. Father looked around for a pole and saw a man without horse, with a hole dug in the ground, fresh chips lay nearby, but when asked to loan his ax (Sooner No. 1) said he had none. So, Father rode his horse up to a small blackjack and tied his flags on the tree. By this time other riders had passed on their way south, one man, however, returned, saluting Father saying, "I've staked the claim south of you, but there are two men and a woman camped on the creek, team unhitched, cooking their dinner and claiming the land, and I do not know if they are on my claim or on yours." (Sooners-No. 2). So, the two men rode down to interview the trespassers. Meanwhile, Father's brother, Uncle Steve was fifth in the race and staked the homestead adjoining Father's claim to the east.
A further note concerning Father's brother, Stephen D. Stiles, is of historical importance. The very first night Mother came to the claim she acted as midwife to Aunt Katie, Uncle Steve's wife, who gave birth to a girl, Jennie, the first new baby born in that neighborhood. Other children in Uncle Steve's family who still survived their parents and elder sister, are Howard, Etta, Edward and Ferd.
Edited September 30, 2023
Bio credit to Dr. George W. Stiles Jr. as written in his pamphlet "Early Days in the Sac and Fox Country", reprinted from The Chronicles of Oklahoma. Excerpts from the pamphlet follow.
In the Oklahoma Territorial days, scarcely anyone ever inquired as to your origin, or where you came from. Nevertheless, from a historical view point, or shall we say family pride, my parents were natives of New Jersey. Father George W. Stiles, Sr., was born near Morristown at Mendham, October 26, 1852; and Mother, Alice M. Merritt (before her marriage) was born April 22, 1857, near Newark. They were married March 15, 1876 and attended the Centennial Exposition at Philadelphia on their honeymoon. My advent into the world was June 14, 1877, while my parents were visiting relatives in New York State.
Father had a married sister, Mrs. Charley Tunis (Aunt Belle) living on a farm along the Solomon River near Minneapolis, Ottawa County, Kansas. The frequent optimistic letters from his sister caused him to migrate West; consequently, with the first-born babe in arms, the family took the train for Kansas. Mother returned East a few years later at the death of her Mother, and soon after Father joined her there. Three years afterwards the family returned to the Kansas prairies as tenant farmers. Through years of plenty and famine, hot winds, fire, drought and chinch bugs, we moved from one rented farm to another.
OPENING OF OKLAHOMA
The Oklahoma country was opened to settlement on my Mother's 32nd birthday, April 22, 1889. This event again stirred Father's desire to travel, hence he and his younger school teacher brother, Steven Dalton Stiles, made a scouting trip with team and spring wagon to Oklahoma Territory and Arkansas.
THE PRESIDENT'S PROCLAMATION
Several times during the summer someone would give a false alarm, shouting ''The Land is open." Away they would dash across the river only to be turned back by the United States Marshals. Finally, the day arrived when couriers from Guthrie officially announced that President Benjamin Harrison had issued a five-day proclamation declaring the Sac and Fox Indian Reservation and other lands were to be thrown open for white settlement at high noon on September 22, 1891. This presidential announcement came as a climax to many anxious souls who were eagerly anticipating the event, and for some families it was the end of waiting over many months to secure a possible claim in the ''Promised Land."
We will now follow Father and Uncle Steve on their quest for a home: Tuesday morning, September 22, 1891, the sun rose in a clear sky, with a tinge of frost in the air. At sunrise, Father and his brother saddled their horses, tied lunch and feed for their horses on the back of their saddles, and bade good-bye to their families. Because of poor crossing facilities, it was necessary to go up Stillwater Creek some distance, to ford the stream. They then took an easterly course, passed the Van Arsdale homestead where a big black bear was caged in the front yard. The two men had difficulty in locating the mouth of Cabin Creek. However, a teen-age boy with a large goiter accurately directed them to the proper place. This boy's father was later our northern neighbor.
As 12 o'clock approached, all the contestants were lined up at the water's edge. Father was riding "Topsy," a black mare with a white star on her forehead. She was very nervous and fretting with her front feet near the quick sand. Father turned to the man next to him, who appeared to have a watch, and asked the time. He replied, "Five minutes yet." Father turned his horse's tail to the river for a new start just as the United States Marshals fired their guns from the hill tops on the south side of the river. This little jockeying caused Father to lose a few seconds. The race was on. All horses headed through the shallow water toward a single objec¬tive; a narrow, single cow trail heading up a steep bank some 20 feet high on the south side of the Cimarron River, just below the mouth of Cabin Creek. A man named Lee was the head man. He staked the first claim. This man had waited a whole year to secure this choice bottom farm, and doubtless he had waded the river and surveyed the land with his eyes many times prior to the race. As fate would have it, these 160 acres proved to be the only Indian allotment in that area, so Lee lost possession.
The second winner was Jo Yount, father of the boy with the big goiter, who signaled taking claim No. 2. By this time Father was pressing the third rider, son of Jo Yount, so closely that their two horses jammed together going up the cow trail and Father's coat came loose and dropped on the bank and his lariat rope became untied. However, he gathered up the rope with his foot, "Gave the gad to Topsy" and caused Jodie Yount to turn east, staking claim No. 3, leaving Father head man of the group.
Estimating that he had travelled over a mile from the river boundary line, Father indicated he was staking claim No. 4 on the map. Since his coat was lost containing white rags for flags, he removed the flour sack containing grain for his horse and used it for a signal.
At that time of the year, the blue stem grass was higher than a man's head. Father looked around for a pole and saw a man without horse, with a hole dug in the ground, fresh chips lay nearby, but when asked to loan his ax (Sooner No. 1) said he had none. So, Father rode his horse up to a small blackjack and tied his flags on the tree. By this time other riders had passed on their way south, one man, however, returned, saluting Father saying, "I've staked the claim south of you, but there are two men and a woman camped on the creek, team unhitched, cooking their dinner and claiming the land, and I do not know if they are on my claim or on yours." (Sooners-No. 2). So, the two men rode down to interview the trespassers. Meanwhile, Father's brother, Uncle Steve was fifth in the race and staked the homestead adjoining Father's claim to the east.
A further note concerning Father's brother, Stephen D. Stiles, is of historical importance. The very first night Mother came to the claim she acted as midwife to Aunt Katie, Uncle Steve's wife, who gave birth to a girl, Jennie, the first new baby born in that neighborhood. Other children in Uncle Steve's family who still survived their parents and elder sister, are Howard, Etta, Edward and Ferd.
Edited September 30, 2023
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