Note These Dates

Below is a timeline of helpful dates for a family historian to know. To find clues about our ancestor's lives, one must know where to place them in history. 

Beginning of mankind = Walking
Boats on rivers; Ships on the sea
3200 B.C. = wheels on chariots
1347-53 = Bubonic Plague in Europe
=========================
NEW WORLD!

1492 = Christopher Columbus

1582 =  The Gregorian Calendar was implemented by His Holiness, Pope Gregory XIII in October.
1585 = Roanoke Colony settled (N.C.)
1607 = Jamestown settled (VA.)
1620 = Mayflower ship landed (MA.)
1704 = First U.S. Newspaper
1749 = Calendar standardized; Conestoga wagon (PA). 

1751 = Law changed end of year to Dec 31. 
1752 = Sept. The United States finally switched from the old Julien calendar to Gregorian calendar with 11 days difference. Jan 1 began the year.
1755-1763 = French and Indian War
1775-1783 = War of Independence
1776 = July 4. USA Birthday!
1790 = First USA Census
1792 = Kentucky Statehood (15th)
1803 = Louisiana Purchase 
1812-1815 = War of 1812.

1817-1818 = 1^st Seminole War
1818 = Illinois Statehood (21st)

1820 = Missouri Compromise
1821 = Missouri Statehood (24th); Santa Fe Trail  
1830 = Oregon Trail
1831 =  McCormick's reaper
1832 = Black Hawk War  
1835 = Telegraph;

1835-1842 = 2^nd Seminole War

1837 = Osage River Steamboat; Miller County, MO.
1838 = Trail of Death
1839 = Daguerreotype photos
1843 = Typewriter
1845 = The New England Historic Genealogical Society
1846-1848 = Mexican War
1849 = California Gold Rush
1849 = Cholera Epidemic
1850 = Family Names in Census
1854 = Ambrotype photos
1856 = tintype or ferreotype photos
1858 = Colorado Gold Rush
1859 = Paper Photographs
1861 = Kansas Statehood (34th); Color Photography
1861-1865 = Civil War.
1862 = Homestead Act; Tax Act
1862-1870 = Missouri's Oath of Loyalty Law
1865 = Black marriages legalized in MO.
1869 = First Transcontinental Railroad
1879 = Edison's light bulb
1884 = Flash photography
1885 = Fingerprints
1886 = horse-less carriage
1888 = Eastman’s Kodak Camera
1889-1899 = Spanish-American War
1890 = American Frontier closed.
1892 = Ellis Island; Dalton's Raid on the Banks, Coffeyville, KS. 
1893 = First concrete paved street
1897 = Alaska Gold Rush
1899 = Philippine American War
1903 = Airplane  
1910 = Registry of Births and Deaths in Missouri.
1914-1918 = World War I.
1918-20: "Spanish" Flu 
1921 = Fire destroys most of 1890 Census
1929 - 1941 = American Depression
1933 = State Birth Certificates
 1935 = MO. Sales Tax
1939-1945 = WWII.
1950-1953 = Korean War
1950 = Atomic clock
1953 = DNA Structure Discovery
1954 = International Confederation of Genealogy and Heraldry.
1961 = First manned rocket
1961-1975 = Vietnam War 
1976 = Roots! By Alex Haley; United States of America Bicentennial; O'Neal's Golden Wedding Anniversary
1977 = Dad's 50th birthday 
1980s = Human Genome Mapping
1981 = Church of God (Anderson, IN) Centennial;  Ullom's Golden Wedding Anniversary
1983 = Ancestry.com;
1984 = Family Tree Maker software
1988 = Mom and Dad's last wedding anniversary. 
1991 = Persian Gulf War
1992 = Dalton Defender's Centennial 
1994 = GPS (Global Positioning System)
1996 = Memory Makers Magazine; Google Search Engine launched
2003 = My in-law's Golden Wedding Anniversary
2008 = Nazarene denomination Centennial
2019-2020 = Worldwide Coronavirus Pandemic
2020 = Eldon Church of the Nazarene Centennial, Eldon, MO. 

Timeline compiled by Dolores J. Rush, Updated: 2/5/2021

____ = First Church of God, Kansas City, KS 50th Anniversary
____ = Metropolitan Nazarene, Kansas City, KS. 50th Anniversary
____ = Grandview Nazarene, Grandview, MO 50th Anniversary 

I recommend this website to convert dates and times. Say you have a tombstone with a death date and age, but no birth date. Use this website's handy date calculator to figure an approximate birth date. Time and Date.com

Postle, OK—The Town That Was, But Ain’t No More.

Postle, Oklahoma was named for one of the first pioneers of Northwest Texas County -- George and Anna POSTLE. They moved to a claim of 160 acres in a prairie schooner, arriving in March, 1904. It was free land, 28 miles from Guymon and 30 miles from Hooker. The government first gave a patent to the land while the claimant lived on it and improved it. After five years, the official deed was given to the owner. Their closest neighbor, the MARKHAM'S, were six miles away east across the prairie.

Two years later, the WELSH family bought the quarter of land west of the Postle’s. Dan Welsh commenced to building a general store with a post office in the back. Win SCHNAUFER was an early day mail carrier, bringing mail to Postle three times a week. Later W.D.FRANKS built a blacksmith shop and a livery stable there. Postle was a stopping point between Hooker and Elkhart, KS. (f. 1913) on the Denver-Canadian-Dallas highway.

In 1915, when Alford and Tacy E. (BERRY) ULLOM, moved to Oklahoma from Streetor, Illinois, they purchased Postle (Section 1-4-12) from Dan Welch. In an area where building materials had to be trucked in, Dan physically moved his store building to the State Line between Kansas and Oklahoma the day lots in Elkhart, Kansas were sold. After settling his store, he was open for business the same day.

Postle became their homestead. Alford and Tacy’s son, John Henderson, brought his bride, Maurine Hester (LARUE) there in 1931. Their second child, Maynard and his wife, Ronda Faith (ARCHER) built their home between where the blacksmith shop and store once stood. They told of finding metal buried in the ground when they dug out the basement hole. The Postle School District No. 5 finally transferred to Elkhart, KS. in 1945.

More to Read:

1. "DOWN THE LONG ROAD TO POSTLE, OKLA." By Gloria Bayne. The Old Timers New Year Book  Lee Tucker, Editor. (First Printed in the Guymon Daily Herald, Friday, April 25, 1975; reprinted, Keyes, OK., 1978-1979).

2. “Northwest Flats” Heritage: A History of Five Townships in Northwest Texas County, Allie Mitchell. Oklahoma. Times Publishing, Texhoma.

3. The Old Timers As I Remember Them. By Chester C. Tucker c. 1963.

4. "Leave It To Miss Annie" By Georgia Tucker Smith. The Allen Press, Lawrence, KS; 1952.

5. Findagrave Links

Update: My mother filled in a few more neighbors that she remembers from the Postle area: " Willie and Bessie Haar lived 1/4 mile east of us.  Two miles west of us was Chester Lewis and his family. Two miles north and two miles west was L. Simmons.  Two miles more north of the Simmons was my Aunt Mable and Beryl Griffith.  Howard Kerns lived one mile North of the Griffith home.

Bessie was the daughter of Lemuel Simmons----------Chester Lewis' daughter taught school that  I attended in the Richland Center  School. 

After the Postle  school   was closed we were moved to the Richland Center School where I attended the 6th. 7th and 8th grade. Then we went to Elkhart School where I started as a freshman.  Mom took a bunch of kids in a sort of bus.  She drove us for a time and then Claude Bayer that had taken over the Haar place when they moved drove us.  We had 6 or 7 kids that rode with us to school. " 

Clara Mae Thrasher, beloved Teacher.

Cookbooks

Cookbooks can serve as another record for your ancestors, especially your female side. Churches, clubs and periodicals such as newspapers and magazines often compiled submissions from members or readers into book form as a fund-raising project. Most record the person who submitted the recipe and possible residential location when they submitted the recipe for possible inclusion into the book. In my small collection of cookbooks at home, I have a cookbook from The Wichita Beacon newspaper (1933); Capper’s Weekly newspaper (1980); the La Leche League International (1981); the Taste of Home magazine (1995); Tea: The Magazine (2006; I submitted a recipe, and it was published in the book to the left); Mary Engelbreit (2010); and several church cookbooks. Most of the church cookbooks I have were published by Cookbook Publishers, 2101 Kansas City Road, Olathe, Kansas. 

My paternal grandmother had several of her recipes published in her WOCG (Women of the Church of God) group cookbooks and I was gifted with one copy of each for Christmas. Not only that, scans of her published recipes serve as records for Grandma on Ancestry.com. And I have tangible link to rich memories of dining together when I recreate the recipes our relatives made. Mmm! 

"The stove is the shrine where I convene with my ancestors." ~ Adam Ragusea

More to Read: 

Glady's Recipes

Housewife Cookery

Her Relative's Recipes

His Relative's Recipes

Marie's Recipes

Poke and Grits

Tacy's Recipes

Written by Dolores J. Rush, Updated: 11/10/2022.

Recipes of Gladys Esther White O'Neal

Crescent Rolls

1 ½ cup boiling water
1/3 cup sugar
3 Tablespoon butter or oleo
1 2/3 cup spoon-size Shredded Wheat or 1 1/3 c. rolled
Put it all together. Let stand until warm.
2 pkg. Yeast
¼ cup warm water
1 teaspoon sugar
1 egg, beaten
2 cup flour
3 ¼ cup flour
Put yeast in warm water with sugar. After the yeast begins foaming, add to Shredded Wheat mixture with 1 beaten egg. Stir well and add 2 cups flour. Beat until smooth. Stir in remain 3 ¼ cups flour, a little at a time (or enough flour so it won’t be sticky). Put into a greased mixing bowl. Seal bowl tightly with lid. Refrigerate 2 hours but no longer than 2 days. Divide dough in half. Roll each half 13 inches in diameter and cut into pie wedge shapes. Butter roll, starting at the wide edge. Preheat oven 18 to 20 minutes. Bake until light brown. NOTE: Grandma used 1 cup whole wheat flour in place of 1 cup of white flour. 

~ Recipe published in Country Cookin’ Volume II. Pleasant Prairie Church of God Women of the Church Of God (Glady's church ladies), Satanta, KS. Cookbook Publishers, Olathe, KS; 1992, p. 100.

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Baked Zucchini Casserole

3 small or 2 medium zucchini, washed and sliced then
6 to 8 slices bacon, fried crisp and crumbled
1 (No. 2) can whole tomatoes
1 can V-8 tomato juice
Salt, pepper, and garlic powder (to taste)
1 large or 2 medium onions, diced

Sauté onions in skillet that bacon was cooked in. Take from fire and add crumbled bacon mix. Place one half in buttered casserole dish and add the other half to the zucchini. Salt and pepper and add garlic salt to taste. Add half tomatoes, cut up. Layer remaining onions and bacon. Layer zucchini, salt, pepper, garlic salt, and chopped tomatoes. Spread over mixture in dish. Pour V-8 juice over top. Bake 1 to 1 ½ hours or until zucchini is done. 

~ Recipe published in Country Cookin’. Pleasant Prairie Church of God WCOG, Satanta, KS. Cookbook Publishers, Olathe, KS; 1986, p. 28

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Main Dish Zucchini

1 pound ground beef
1 large can tomatoes
1 ½ cup sliced zucchini
1 tablespoon flour
1 teaspoon basil
½ teaspoon dill seed
1 teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper

Brown meat. Add all other ingredients. Simmer slowly for about 20 minutes, or can be put in crock pot for 2 hours on LOW. 

~ Recipe published in Country Cookin’. Pleasant Prairie Church of God WCOG, Satanta, KS. Cookbook Publishers, Olathe, KS; 1986, p. 34

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Vegetable Soup

Cook your oxtail or soup bone until it will come off bones. Remove all meat off of the bone. Strain liquid to get out any small particles of bone. Add the following vegetables (any or all): Onions, potatoes, carrots, celery, tomatoes, green peppers, peas, beans, or cabbage. Add according to taste: Seasoning salt, pepper, basil leaves, parsley, garlic powder, and dash of red pepper. Simmer until vegetables are tender.

~ Recipe published in Country Cookin’ Volume II. Pleasant Prairie Church of God WCOG, Satanta, KS. Cookbook Publishers, Olathe, KS
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Apple Goody

Photo by Cherie Compotaro. Used by permission.

Pare and dice 3 heaping cups of apples. Mix together ½ cup white sugar, 1 heaping tablespoon flour, and cinnamon to taste. Pour over apples and toss lightly. Pour mixture into a greased and floured 8 x 10 inch pan.

Topping mixture:

¾ cup quick cooking oatmeal
¾ cup flour
¾ cup brown sugar
½ teaspoon soda

½ teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

Work 1/3 cup butter into mixture till crumbly, then spread on top of apples. Bake at 350 degrees till apples are done and crumb topping is nicely browned. 

~ Recipe published in Country Cookin’., Pleasant Prairie Church of God WCOG, Satanta, KS. Cookbook Publishers, Olathe, KS; 1986, p. 128.

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Cranberry Salad

1 pkg. Cranberries
2 cup water
½ to ¾ cup sugar
2 cup boiling water
2 (3 oz.) pkg. Raspberry Jell-O
1 cup whipping cream, whipped, or 1 pkg. Dream Whip

Wash cranberries. Place in 4 quart kettle. Add 2 cups water. Bring to boil and cook slowly until done. Run through sieve to remove skins and seeds. There should be about 1 ¾ cups of juice and pulp. Rinse the cranberry kettle to remove any skins or seeds, then cook juice, pulp, and sugar in same kettle until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat. Add 2 cups boiling water and 2 packages of Jell-O; stir until Jell-O is dissolved. Pour into bowl and let thicken, then fold in whipped cream. Let is set until hard. 

~ Recipe published in Country Cookin’ Volume II. Pleasant Prairie Church of God WCOG, Satanta, KS. Cookbook Publishers, Olathe, KS; 1992, p. 23.

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Frozen Cranberry Salad

(NOTE: This was a standard recipe at her holiday dinner table).

1 quart cranberries, washed and drained
2 cups raw apples
1 pound marshmallows (miniature or diced)
1 cup sugar
½ cup nuts (more if desired)
2 cup whipping cream, whipped

Grind cranberries and apples. Add marshmallows and sugar. Cover and let stand overnight or several hours. Add whipped cream and nuts, mixing well. Turn into 13 x 9 x 2 inch pan (preferred-glass or plastic). Cover and place in freezer until ready to service. Remove from freezer 15 to 20 minutes before serving. Cut into squares and serve on lettuce cup if desired. 

~ Recipe published in Country Cookin’. Pleasant Prairie Church of God WCOG, Satanta, KS. Cookbook Publishers, Olathe, KS; 1986, p. 11.

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Date Pudding

(NOTE: A holiday tradition on the O'Neal's dinner table.)

1 pound graham crackers
1 (8 or 10 ounce.) pkg. Borden’s pitted dates
1 (8 ounce) pkg. Miniature marshmallows
1 cup chopped nuts (prefer pecans)
1 ½ to 2 cup half & half and whipping cream, mixed, or either (Pet evaporated milk can be substituted—not as good)

One pound of graham crackers makes 5 cups of rolled cracker crumbs. If you use an 8 ounce package of dates, just ude 4 cups of graham cracker crumbs; use 5 cups of crumbs if your use the 10 ounce package of dates. Pour boling water over the dates, then drain immediately. Roll cracker crumbs; add the chopped nuts and mix well, then cut the dates in small pieces into the cracker crumbs. Mix after you cut a few to get them coated with crumbs so they won’t stick together. Add the marshmallows and mix. Add the 1 ½ cups of liquid; stir well and gradually add more until the crumbs are sticky. Pour into a plastic or glass bowl and place in freezer until about 1 hour before you serve it. Better made up several days or a week before you want to serve it. Put in refrigerator if you plan to serve it in the next day or 2. 

~ Recipe published in Country Cookin’ Volume II. Pleasant Prairie Church of God WCOG, Satanta, KS. Cookbook Publishers, Olathe, KS; 1992, p. 121.

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Oatmeal Cake

1 cup quick oats
1 stick oleo
1 ¼ cup boiling water
Put oats and oleo in mixing bowl. Pour boiling water over them. Let stand 20 minutes.
Mix, then add.
1cup brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs (one at a time)
1 ½ cup flour
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
Mix well; pour into floured and greased 9 x 13 inch pan. Bake at 300 degrees for 50 to 60 minutes. Test with toothpick.
Icing:
½ cup nuts
1 stick melted oleo
¼ cup cream or Pet evaporated milk
1 cup coconut
1 cup brown sugar

Mix and spread over cake when taken from oven. Place under broiler and brown slightly. 

~ Recipe published in Country Cookin’ Pleasant Prairie Church of God WCOG, Satanta, KS. Cookbook Publishers, Olathe, KS; 1986, p. 103

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Orange Cottage Cheese Salad

2 cups cottage cheese
1 (3 oz.) pkg. Orange Jell-O (dry powder)
1 small can crushed pineapple, drained
1 (No. 2) can fruit cocktail, drained
1 cup cream, whipped

Sprinkled Jell-O powder over the cottage cheese. Mix well. Add fruit. Mix well. Fold in cream. Pour into serving bowl and refrigerate for 2 hours.

 

~ Recipe published in Country Cookin’ Volume II. Pleasant Prairie Church of God WCOG, Satanta, KS. Cookbook Publishers, Olathe, KS; 1992, p. 26.

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Peach Cobbler

3 cups fresh peaches, peeled and sliced
2 tablespoon flour
1/3 cup butter, melted
¾ cup sugar
1 box Jiffy yellow cake mix
1 cup pecans (broken, if desired)

Mix together the peaches, sugar, and flour. Pour in bottom of buttered pan, approximately 8 x 8 inches. Sprinkle cake mix over peach mixture. Pour butter over peach mixture. Bake at 350* for about 40 minutes. Pour pecans over after a little baking. They get too brown if baked for 40 minutes. 

~ Recipe published in Country Cookin’. Pleasant Prairie Church of God WCOG, Satanta, KS. Cookbook Publishers, Olathe, KS; 1986, p. 137.

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Pastry Shell

For two 8 or 9 inch pie crusts:
1 ¾ c. unsifted all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt

½ cup corn oil

3 tablespoon water or enough to make the dough hold together. 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. F. Measure flour exactly; place in mixing bowl and add salt. Blend in oil thoroughly with fork. Divide in half; press firmly into a ball. If too dry, add a little oil or water only a spoonful at a time. Roll dough between 2 pieces of wax paper. Dampen table until bottom of wax paper to keep it from moving. When rolled out, double dough in half over top paper and place in pie tin. 

~ Recipe published in Country Cookin’ Volume II. Pleasant Prairie Church of God WCOG, Satanta, KS. Cookbook Publishers, Olathe, KS; 1992, p. 160.

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Popcorn Balls

6 qt popped popcorn
1 ½ cup peanuts (cooked)
1 ½ cup sugar
1 ½ cup white syrup
1 ½ cup peanut butter
2 teaspoons vanilla

In large deep pan or kettle which has been buttered, pour popcorn and peanuts in. In another kettle, cook 1 ½ cups sugar and 1 ½ cups white syrup. Bring to full rolling boil that can be stirred down. Remove from fire; add peanut butter and vanilla. Pour over popcorn and peanuts. Mix well and make into small balls. Dip hands into cold water while making balls instead of using butter. 

~ Recipe published in Country Cookin’. Pleasant Prairie Church of God WCOG, Satanta, KS. Cookbook Publishers, Olathe, KS; 1986, p. 143.

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Pumpkin Pie

1 ½ cup cooked pumpkin, mashed
1 cup Pet milk or half & half
1 cup sugar
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1 tablespoon butter or oleo
1 tablespoon flour or cornstarch, mixed with sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon allspice
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ cup nuts (if desired)

Combine ingredients. Mix thoroughly. Pour into an unbaked pastry shell. Bake 1 hour at 350 degrees or until a toothpick or knife inserted comes out clean. Serve plain or with whipped cream. 

~ Recipe published in Country Cookin’ Volume II. Pleasant Prairie Church of God WCOG, Satanta, KS. Cookbook Publishers, Olathe, KS; 1992, p. 167.

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Sheath Chocklet Cake

Sift into Mixer bowl.
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
½ teaspoon salt.
Put in pan and bring these ingredients to a boil.
1 stick oleo
½ cup shortening
4 tablespoons cocoa
1 cup boiling water.
Start mixer, pour this mixture over flour and sugar. Add
½ cup buttermilk,
2 eggs (one at a time),
1 teaspoon soda,
½ teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla.
 

Bake one hour. Five minutes before cake is done, melt 1 stick oleo, then add 6 tablespoons cream or Pet evaporated milk and 4 tablespoons cocoa. Bring to a boil. Then add 1 pound powdered sugar (3 ¾ cups). Beat and add 1 teaspoon vanilla and 1 cup broken nuts. Stir. Pour over cake as soon as it is taken from oven

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Sweet and Sour Beans

8 slices bacon, fried crisp, drained, and crumbled
4 large onions, cut in rings
½ to 1 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon dry mustard
½ teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon salt
½ cup vinegar

Sauté onions in skillet that bacon was fried in, using some of the bacon grease. Add sugar, mustard, garlic, salt, and vinegar. Cook 20 minutes over medium heat. Stir occasionally. Drain.

Add the following:
1 pound (No. 2) can (baby) lima beans
1 pound (No. 2) can green lima beans
1 pound (No. 2) can red kidney beans
1 pound (No. 2) can garbanzos

2 (20 ounce) can homestyle pork and beans, undrained

Mix all the beans and sauce; pour into 3 ½ quart casserole dish. Top with crumbled bacon. Cook 1 hour. This may be frozen and used later. 

~ Recipe published in Country Cookin’. Pleasant Prairie Church of God WCOG, Satanta, KS. Cookbook Publishers, Olathe, KS; 1986, p. 21.

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Best Green Tomato Sweet Relish

½ peck (4 quart) green tomatoes
6 large onions
2 pound (4 ½ cup) sugar
1 pint vinegar
½ teaspoon tumeric
2 tablespoon mustard seed
2 tablespoon celery seed
2 tablespoon salt
2 whole cloves (may omit if desired)
6 green peppers

Grind tomatoes through the coarsest knife on the grinder, along with the peppers. Drain well. Grind onions; add all to the hot syrup made of sugar, vinegar, and spices. Heat to boiling point and simmer 3 minutes. Seal in hot jars. Water bath for 15 minutes to can. 

~ Recipe published in Country Cookin’. Pleasant Prairie Church of God WCOG (Gladys’ church ladies), Satanta, KS. Cookbook Publishers, Olathe, KS; 1986, p. 7

More to Read:
Cookbooks

Compiled by Dolores J. Rush, updated: 2/17/2020.