A Farm Tragedy 85 Years Ago in the Bend

         I am indebted to my grandmother, Gladys Rainey Smith, for being the family archivist. I began this account in 2015 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 and completed it in 2016.

            As I repost this account about the fatal farm accident of 85 years ago, I wondered how many flowers or trees have been planted to commemorate a family occasion or tragedy as with Mother's Chinese elm tree. Some structures have been crafted as a tribute and a therapeutic act to move forward on the journey of grief. How important that we share the important significance of those specific memorials with our younger generation!    

        When my mother began the 8th 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 Mike Mitchell now lives (Lora Betts was Mike’s grandmother.). 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’ new neighbors to the north 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 indicated 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. Besides his wife and their son, Harlow, he was survived by two daughters, Roberta Hawkins and Eleanor Farnsworth.
        My grandmother wrote that a quartet from the Big Bend sang during the funeral service held in Ponca City. The quartet was composed of Mrs. Will Kelty, soprano, Mrs. Jim Clark*, alto, Perry Wood, bass, and Walter Schubert, tenor. My grandmother accompanied them on the piano.

The memorial Chinese elm tree on the left planted by Mr.
Farnsworth's family to honor him at his untimely death.

        When I was young, even before I learned about Mr. Farnsworth's tragic death, I remember Harlow and his wife returning to visit our family in the Bend. How ironic a family tragedy made a bond with neighbors even greater! Their visits were also 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 Patricia Morris Chaffin, and Pam Morris Felix. To see a photo of Mary, go to: https://bernadeanjgates.blogspot.com/2019/03/armed-robbery-in-big-bend.html