Mrs. Carrie A. Gordon and Her Oklahoma Homestead

In past columns, I have shared stories of many remarkable homesteaders. This column will share the history of a successful woman homesteader who escaped a bad marriage in the East but found a new and better life for herself and daughter in Oklahoma over a century ago.

Caroline “Carrie” Arabella Gordon (1858-c. 1932) was born in September 1858 in Wyoming County, Pennsylvania. Carrie was a daughter of Levi George McLaud (1828-1864) and his wife Arabella Ursula “Arcella” (Carrier) Gordon (1825-1891). Tragically, when Carrie was not quite 6 years old, her father, who had joined the Union Army during the Civil War, was killed in action at Fredericksburg, Virginia, on May 5, 1864. That left Carrie’s mother in very difficult circumstances with five young children to care for. The family moved to another farm in nearby Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania.

By 1880, Carrie had left home and was working as a “servant” in the home of a middle-aged couple, Riley and Louisa Robinson, who were farming with their son Fred back in Wyoming County, Pennsylvania. It is reasonable to think that Carrie might have sent some of her wages to her mother to help support the family.

The next documented event in Carrie’s life was her marriage in November of 1883 to Coran Ransler Gordon. Like Carrie, Coran had grown up on a farm in northeastern Pennsylvania. In April of 1885, their first and only child was born, a daughter Elnore Gordon, called “Nellie.” Unfortunately, all would not remain cordial between the young couple. In time, life became unbearable for Carrie.

After living apart for some time, Carrie (McLaud) Gordon obtained a divorce from her husband in August of 1893. Helping her with the legal proceedings was her younger brother Steven D. McLaud.

An article in the Wilkes-Barre Times on August 31, 1893 (p. 5) reported what had happened:
“A subpoena in divorce was awarded by Judge Rice today to Carrie Gordon... The libelant says that they were married in November 1883, and that the said Coran R. Gordon did in May 1890 make threats to do her bodily harm, and on other occasions threatened her life...”
Though stressful, obtaining the divorce was a liberating and life-changing event for Carrie. In February of 1894, less than six months after receiving her divorce, Carrie, age 35, and her daughter Nellie, age 8, were in the town of Medford, Oklahoma Territory.

What drew them there was a recent nationally publicized event that happened just shortly after Carrie was awarded her divorce - the opening to settlement and homesteading at noon on September 16, 1893, of 6,361,000 acres of land, setting off what is known today as the Fourth Land Run in Oklahoma Territory. The amount of land was more than the size of Vermont and was also called the “Cherokee Outlet,” having been purchased by the United States government from the Cherokee under pressure for $8,505,736, or about $1.40 per acre.

The Cherokee Outlet was a 60-mile-wide strip of land that ran to the Oklahoma-Kansas border. This land included all of Grant County, where Carrie and Nellie were in February of 1894. Their trip to Medford would have been mostly by train with the last part by stage.

The new local newspaper, The Medford Weekly Patriot, mentioned Carrie on February 22, 1894 (p.3) as visiting with her youngest sister Marion (McLaud) Finney (1862-1944) and her family. While Marion and her husband George Washington Finney (1855-1920) were there considering the possibility of homesteading, they ultimately decided against it and returned to northeastern Pennsylvania. Carrie, however, would make Oklahoma her home for the rest of her life, and by the summer of 1895 had filed a claim.

On August 22, 1895, the same Medford paper (p. 3) reported that Carrie had been in “Wichita” (Wakita), the small town nearest her homestead, but had traveled to Enid in neighboring Garfield County, Oklahoma Territory (also established in the same September 16, 1893 land opening). The reason was “to attend her contest hearing.” Exactly what caused the hearing was not explained but there are two possibilities. Either someone filed on Carrie’s homestead claim in Grant County during her occasional absence, or Carrie, herself, had filed a homestead claim on land someone else may have claimed first.

In any case, the Medford paper on June 11, 1896 (p. 3) reported that she had apparently won the contest. It stated: “Mrs. Carrie Gordon and daughter Miss Nellie, came down from Wichita [Wakita] last Saturday, remaining over Sunday with friends and on her claim.”

The Medford paper on July 28, 1898 (p. 3) reported more news about Carrie including a recent illness and her success at homesteading: “Mrs. Carrie Gordon and daughter Miss Nellie, came in from the claim a few days since, because of the illness of Mrs. Gordon. She is now able to be out again. If anyone in Grant county has justly earned a quarter section of land it is Mrs. Gordon, who has worked on and off the land to develop it.”

The 1900 census reported that Carrie and her daughter Nellie were living on the farm of Richard Wilson, a widower with four children, in Medford Township in Grant County. He was a 40-year brick maker, with Carrie employed as the family “housekeeper” and 15-year-old Nellie working as a “servant.” The location of Wilson’s farm was likely close to Carrie’s homestead.

While homesteading, Carrie was also working to help with expenses. It was money she likely needed to hire help to assist her in meeting some of the requirements to receive her homestead. Those included constructing a habitable house and performing agricultural work on the claim.

By the fall of 1902, Carrie had successfully fulfilled these requirements and had also met the residency requirement of living five years on her homestead claim. On September 19, 1902, The Wakita Herald (p. 8) carried a notice that Carrie had made a filing at the U.S. Land Office at Kingfisher, Oklahoma Territory. It stated that she would make final proof for her homestead “before Thomas J. Palmer, United States Court Commissioner at Medford, O.T. on November 14, 1902.” The process involved recording in her own words statements about meeting the requirements needed to receive her homestead, plus those of two witnesses affirming that she had indeed met all requirements to receive her homestead. Her “proof” was accepted and subsequently, Carrie’s 160-acre homestead was patented to her on December 4, 1903.

But prior to receiving her homestead certificate, written in the General Land Office in Washington, D.C. and mailed to Oklahoma, another Grant County newspaper, the Pond Creek Daily Vidette of Pond Creek, Oklahoma on March 12, 1903 (p. 4) carried more news relevant to Carrie’s land. It reported that she had mortgaged her homestead after proving up on it, which was legal and not uncommon - it might have been to obtain money to pay debts or to finance further improvements to her homestead. Also, it may have been to obtain money for other plans she was considering. While her homestead was important to her, and she would retain it the rest of her life, by the early 1900s she decided that she would not continue living on it as her principal residence.

Carrie moved off her homestead and established a permanent residence in Enid, Oklahoma Territory, about 40 miles to the south. Enid remained her permanent residence until she died in the early 1930s, though would continue visiting her homestead all during that time.

By 1906 she was firmly settled in Enid. The Enid City Directory of that year reported that “Caroline A. Gordon” (Carrie) and her daughter “Miss Elenor Gordon” (Nellie) lived at 427 Broadway in Enid, with Carrie employed as a nurse and Nellie as a clerk in “The Kaufman Store.” Carrie was further reported as the “widow of Coren [Coran] R. Gordon.” However, she was not a widow. Her former husband was still very much alive and living in Pennsylvania with a second wife and their family. At other times, Carrie similarly was identified as a “widow,” which was not an uncommon practice for many divorcees at that time.

On January 9, 1907, her only daughter Nellie married Edward S. Lyman (1873-1940), a barber in Enid. Carrie lived alone for several years in Enid, until Nellie’s marriage ended in divorce by the mid-1920s. Thereafter, Carrie and her daughter once again lived together in Enid in the later 1920s and early 1930s. Living with them at that time was Nellie’s son Gordon S. Lyman (born 1915), who was Carrie’s only grandchild.

By 1909, Carrie’s connection to her homestead was back in the news. The September 17, 1909 issue of The Wakita Herald (p. 5) reported: “Mrs. Carrie Gordon who owns a farm near here was up from Enid a few days last week. Mrs. Gordon still owns the homestead which she proved up several years ago and no doubt considers it a good enough investment to hold on to for some time yet.”

Later newspapers carried more stories of Carrie’s visits to her homestead farm. After moving to Enid, she rented out the land on her homestead but retained the house for her use during her visits. One crop reportedly grown there by a tenants was wheat.

In the fall of that same year, The Wakita Herald reported on October 16, 1912 (p. 5) that a farm accident involving a fire had occurred on Carrie’s homestead: “While attempting to burn off the grass around her house last Sunday morning, Mrs. Carrie Gordon lost control of the fire. It swept across her hay land, burning about 4 tons of baled hay belonging to Jay Biby; also a large straw stack.”

Carrie’s homestead was back in the news for an accident in the fall of 1921. The Medford Patriot-Star on October 6, 1921 (p. 5) told of another fire that may have started on Carrie’s homestead that destroyed a neighbor’s barn. The paper speculated that it may have originated with “sparks from a straw stack on Mrs. Carrie Gordon’s place which she had set on fire and was in direct line for the barn.”

Carrie was also occasionally mentioned in the paper for social activities and visits by her family. Once, around Christmas of 1920, Carrie’s nephew, William Levi Douglas, who was a railroad claim agent from the East, also came for a visit. Before that, on May 9, 1920, The Enid Daily News (p. 1) printed pictures of “A group of Enid’s prominent Mothers,” with Carrie’s photo included as one of the nine. By this time, she had become a well-respected member of Enid’s society but still with a tie to her homestead. The Blackwell Morning Tribune stated on July 21, 1932: “Mrs. Carrie Gordon and grandson, Gordon Spencer Lyman of Enid spent last week on the farm and looking after business interests.”

Carrie passed away on July 23rd, 1934 at the home of her daughter. Her obituary notes “Taking her young daughter, she went to Oklahoma in February, 1894 and homesteaded a farm near Wakita, Okla., undergoing all of the hardships attending the homesteading of land in the West when wolves and other wild animals were prevalent and much work had to be accomplished in a certain time in order to “prove up”.

In all, Carrie was a remarkable woman who left an unsuccessful marriage and built a new and better life for herself in Oklahoma Territory in the wake of one of the most famous land rushes to that part of the country. Her story is yet one more intriguing example of how homesteading really happened in this nation many years ago.