General Notes

William Dean Moore was born in Wayne County, Iowa in 1868. His father, Samuel Houston Moore died of pneumonia when Will was only four years old. When his mother remarried, Will and his brother Frank went to live with relatives. He lived with an uncle, Mr.. Hill, in Cherokee County, Kansas. He worked two years for Mr. Smith in McPherson County, Kansas, when he was about sixteen. Then Will and Frank went to Washington and Oregon and worked in the lumber and at farm work.

They returned to Kansas for the opening of the Cherokee Strip. They registered at Caldwell, Kansas. On September 16, 1893, Will was waiting at the Kansas State line south of Caldwell for the signal so he could make the run into the Cherokee Strip so he might have his own home. He was not alone; his brother, Frank, and brothers-in-law, Andrew Wilson and Nick Hobson, were also making the race.

The four men had a chuck wagon, but Will chose to ride his horse in the race. His horse stepped in a hole and fell and Will's leg was hurt. He staked a claim that evening about three miles east and ten miles south of Caldwell. Deer Creek ran through his quarter. When he awoke the next morning, there was another man on this quarter. Will said, "The land didn't look too good and the man was a rough looking character, so I decided to go back to Caldwell and see if I could locate the chuck wagon."

Will didn't know at the time but Frank had staked a claim five and a half miles east of Renfrow, Oklahoma; and the brothers-in-law staked the farm across the road from Frank for Will's mother, Margaret Moore McCart. This was about three miles north of where Will spent the night.

Will stayed at Caldwell for about two weeks, until his leg got so he could ride again, and then he went to Enid to the land office. He found a claim south of Billings in Noble County that had not been filed on. He built a sod house. The first two years after the, opening were dry and they did not raise a crop. In the fall, Will took his three horses and wagon and went to Cherokee County, Kansas where his uncle lived to shuck corn. Will said if he didn't raise a crop the next year, he was going to leave Oklahoma; but he raised a crop the next year.

In 1898, Will built a two room frame house. In 1899, he married Lola G. Cramer who lived about eight miles west of his homestead. Lola was born in Wayne County, Iowa in 1879. Lola's parents came to Oklahoma two or three years after the strip opened.

In the spring of 1901, Will sold his farm and bought a farm five and one half miles east of Renfrow and across the road west from Frank's farm. William and Lola and their children, Samuel Houston, Charley, Allie and Harry continued to live on this farm until 1920. Then they bought a house in Caldwell so their children could go to high school. Houston, Charley and Allie continued their education and graduated from Oklahoma State University. Harry married and decided to farm. He lived on a farm just two miles from the home place until 1937 when he moved to Kay County to continue farming. Harry retired and now lives in Blackwell. His son Max is principal at Pond Creek High School.

Lola died at Caldwell in 1937. Will died at Winfield, Kansas in 1948. About five years previous to his death he went to Winfield to live with his daughter, Allie, who was a teacher in the high school at Winfield.

Charley died in 1972 at his home in San Antonio where he had lived many years.

by: Allie Moore, Winfield, Kansas