Calamity in a Tent

First Dwelling of Edmund Gates, Sr. in the Bend

So many who came to the rolling hills and big bluestem grass of the Osage, found it beckoned them to stay. Such was the case of my great-grandparents, Bob and Nettie Black as well as my paternal grandfather, Edmund Gates, Sr. His permanent transplanting from the sunflower state of Kansas took place in the first decade of the 20^th century.

            Around 1910, Robert and Nettie Black were living on the Deal place with their two children, Tommy aged 3 and Ruby aged 1 along with Nettie’s daughters, Mamie Irene Tripp, my grandmother, who was 15 years old and Cora Belle aged 12. (For more about my great-grandmother's second marriage, see the blog post of October 6 entitled The Marriage of Robert and Nettie Black. To learn more about Cora and Grandma’s father, see the blog post of September 8 entitled One of the Hardest Things for a Little Girl to Do.) Nettie, my great-grandmother, was working for Mrs. Deal, the wife of an original allottee of Osage descent, Sherman Deal. The home on the Deal land was a spacious two-story structure.



Edna & Ruby Black with their brother Tommy standing behind them. Edna was not mentioned in the above paragraph since she was not born until 1912.

             Edmund, Sr. was living in a tent in Osage County, apparently working as a hired hand on the Deal place as well. The Deal place was located a mile north and west of where Edmund Gates, Jr. presently lives in the Big Bend community west of Ralston. 
           A blustery thunderstorm blew up one night, as they so often do in Oklahoma. My grandpa’s tent was blown down by the strong wind during the storm. Bob Black worried when he looked out and saw the collapsed tent. With concern filling his thoughts, he hurried out to check on Grandpa. How surprised he was to find my grandpa, Edmund Gates, Sr. dry, unharmed, and amazingly…still asleep!

1908 Plat Map of a portion of the Big Bend with Sherman Deal's
land highlighted in pink - courtesy of Osage Tribal Museum

        This plat map of the section of the Big Bend in reference in this blog post was provided courtesy of Lou W. Brock, senior researcher at the Osage Tribal Museum in Pawhuska, Oklahoma. According to Dad’s recollection, the upper left section of Sherman Deal’s portion of land in the Big Bend was the location of the land on which Edmund Gates, Sr.’s tent was pitched.

An interesting historical fact is connected with Osage land ownership. As with many Native American groups, the Osages held their land in common instead of having individual ownership. However, the Osage Allotment Act of 1906 divided the land equally among the 2,229 registered Osages, giving each allottee 657 acres as well as a headright, a share of the quarterly earnings of the mineral income of the Osages.* The allotment would have been how Mr. Deal acquired his place. Sherman Deal and his mother, Julia Ann Revard Dennison Deal were both original Osage allotees. Sadly, she died in 1912, and her son Sherman died in 1918. In fact, my father refers to the place as the Francis Deal place. Francis was only 8 years old when his father died. Francis Deal lived to the age of 36 years.

*Each quarter of 1910 a headright paid out $302.00 which would be valued at $7,586.61 in the economy of 2013.(taken from Osage Headright Payments (Annual) Inflation Ranking - 2013)

I am greatly indebted to Lou Brock of the Osage Tribal Museum for his expertise and willingness to assist me in validating Dad's recollection. The treasure trove of photographs of many of the original Osage allotees makes the Osage Tribal Museum at 819 Grandview Avenue in Pawhuska, Oklahoma, a must-stop tour destination for all history lovers. It was part of Dad's requested 85th birthday excursion in 2004. This valuable photographic collection is also accessible at the Osage Tribal Museum's web site.