The Tragedy Memorialized by a Chinese Elm Tree

Once again I am indebted to my grandmother, Gladys Rainey Smith, for being the family archivist. I began this account last year to explain the story behind the large Chinese elm tree that stands in my mother's yard, but, because of gaps in information, abandoned it. I decided to utilize the microfilm archives of The Fairfax Chief. Sure enough, with help from Howardean Rhoads and Marcy Sterling at the Fairfax Library, I discovered a wealth of information from Grandma's column. Much thanks to Howardean and Marcy!

The Farming Fatality in the Big Bend in 1939

                When my mother began the 8^th grade at the Belford Grade School on the east side of the Big Bend community, she and her parents lived in the house on Lora Betts’ place where Wayne Mitchell now lives (Lora Betts was Wayne’s mother-in-law.). In 1938, the nation, as well as the Big Bend community, was rebounding finally from the Great Depression that had begun ten years earlier with the crash of the stock market in October of 1929. People were finding jobs. Families had more money to spend. Things were at last starting to look up.

                Neighbors were important to the Big Benders since people depended on each other for help and support. In January, as the new year of 1939 commenced, my grandparents, Calvin and Gladys Smith, with my mother, Bernyce, moved to the house on Louise Butler Jefferson’s original Osage land allotment. Mother and her parents had new neighbors to the north who was the Farnsworth family. They lived on the farm now owned by my mother.

                The Farnsworth family consisted of Mr. and Mrs. Farnsworth and their 29-year-old son, Harlow. They had lived in the Bend for about one year before that fateful day in February of 1939. 

Portrait of Asher Judson Farnsworth
from findagrave.com

                 According to the “Belford” column written by my maternal grandmother, Gladys Rainey Smith in the February 16, 1939 issue of The Fairfax Chief, near 4 p.m. on Tuesday, February 7, Asher Judson Farnsworth died as the result of being kicked by a horse. He and his son, Harlow, were training the young horse to work when it kicked him in the lower part of his chest. Harlow and his father were training the horse near their small barn that was located where the lots are now, west of Mother's house.(My mother indicates that people were still using horses for farm work in the late 1930s.)

                Mr. Farnsworth was rushed to Ralston, but Dr. H. B. Spaulding, the local physician, pronounced him dead upon arrival. News of his death reverberated throughout the shocked community because he had been among the first to donate time to help his new community and had made many friends in the Bend.

                He was 66 years old having been born on June 2, 1874, in Kansas. Mr. Farnsworth married Linnie Alice Barnum in 1909, establishing their first home in Ponca City, Oklahoma. Beside his wife and  their son, Harlow, he was survived by two daughters, Roberta Hawkins and Eleanor Farnsworth.

The memorial Chinese elm tree is on the left.

                My grandmother wrote that his funeral was held at the Gill Funeral Home in Ponca City on Friday, February 8, at 2 p.m. conducted by Rev. R. R. Ellis of Fairfax. A quartet from the Big Bend sang during the funeral service. The quartet was composed of Mrs. Will Kelty, soprano, Mrs. Jim Clark*, alto, Perry Woods, bass, and Walter Schubert, tenor. My grandmother accompanied them on the piano.

                The Farnsworth family planted, in his memory, the Chinese elm tree that still stands just west of my mother’s home. Many times my father recalled the poignant story behind the tree’s origin. When I was young, even before I learned about Mr. Farnsworth's tragic death, I remember Harlow and his wife visiting our family - how illustrative of the strong ties of friendship that span the years in rural areas, especially in the Big Bend.

*Mrs. Jim Clark (Mary) moved to Ralston in her later years. Mary retained her strong alto voice even into her 90s. She was the grandmother of Gilbert Morris aka Junior. Mary Clark was a great-grandmother of Gil Morris, Patricia Morris Chaffin, and Pam Morris Felix. To read more about Junior Morris see: http://bernadeanjgates.blogspot.com/2015/11/when-cotton-was-king.html