The Oscar Lemuel Blount Family, KS & OK
From the Black Family Book Narrative- written by Martha Fidler, ca 1975
Oscar Lemuel Blount, b 1851 in Hillsdale Co. MI, was the son of Amasa BLOUNT and Cyrena BLACK. Prior to his marriage to Emma Bullard (1857-1949) in 1872 he was farming with his father and moved to Stafford Co., Kansas in 1879. In 1893 they traveled by covered wagon and settled on a farm northwest of Seiling, Oklahoma. They had twelve children [scroll down the page].
It appears that Oscar Lemuel’s family, his father Amasa’s family, his sister Cyrena with her new husband Arthur SKINNER, and a couple, Sherman and Esther FITCH, may have all homesteaded in Kansas at the same time. Anyone with info on this, please .
People gave interesting, though differing, accounts of Oscar Lemeul, so we'll just say he was a self-made man; smart, controversial, a hard worker and a great storyteller. The family lived across the road from Carrie Nation and he told of her exploits in the taverns with her axe- when the bartender saw her coming he would grab a bottle of his best whiskey and hurry out the back door.
Photo provided by . (I need help to ID individuals, the email was sucked up by CIs- computer imps.)
Neva Helloise b 7 Jul 1873 in Hillsdale Co. MI, was the first child of Oscar and Emma. She married H. H. (John Alonzo) HAMMON in 1895, and had two children, John Osborne and Olive. They owned the principle store in Seiling, OK. In 1912 it burned, Neva and daughter Olive died in the fire. (15 Sep)
Josephine, b Jan 1876 in MI, married Charles GILCHRIST and had five children. In 1936, they went to the World’s Fair in Chicago and onto Wisconsin to visit her sister Clara. It was the first time she had seen her since Clara left Oklahoma in 1899. She said she wondered why she had waited so long to visit. She died 18 Dec 1973 at age 97.
Altha, b 14 Mar 1878, died 15 Mar 1893 of rheumatic fever just before the family moved from Kansas to Oklahoma.
Ezra, b 15 Jun 1881 in KS, lived only 11 months.
Maude, b 11 May 1883 in KS, married Dwight GATES, they had three children: Genelia, George and Josephine.
Genelia lives on a five acre ranch near Dinube, California.
George is a retired geologist from the US Government. My husband and I had the privilege of meeting George and his wife, Andrea, this summer. They are very gracious and interesting people. Easy to talk with. They took us to dinner and showed us all through Chinatown while we were in San Francisco. They live on the coast highway.
Josephine, the other daughter of Maude and Dwight, married and had two children. She died at the age of 48.
Clara, b 28 May 1885, married at a very early age and somehow her father got some wrong ideas about her. He disowned her and forbid Emma, and Clara’s brothers and sisters, to see her. David (Joe) BLACK, (the son of Harvey P and first cousin to Oscar) used to take Emma to visit Clara on the sly. Even after her first child was born her father went to court to try and get the marriage annulled. When the child was about seven, Clara and her husband John MOUNT, moved to Indiana and later to Wisconsin. They had six more children. In her later life, after John Mount had died, she married George SKINNER, her third cousin (Rae note- my grandfather). In 1940, Clara went to Oklahoma with her son Jess and his wife, visiting relatives she hadn’t seen since she was a child. She had such a wonderful time she went back every year after 1947 for two or three months for the 3 Bs Reunions (Blounts, Blacks and Browns) held at Medicine Lodge, Kansas. (Rae note- Our family attended this reunion about 1960 or 61, I think my KS/OK cousins referred to us as "talking funny" ;-).
Olive L. b 2 Mar 1887 married Theodore BREMER and had two sons. Woodson and Robert. One lives in Wisconsin, and the other in Florida.
Streeter b. 13 Jan 1889, married Ilvarena BURNS. After their first son was born they moved from Oklahoma to homestead in southeast Baca County, CO, in 1914. They settled near the little village of Campo and started farming. It was quite rough country at that time, the courthouse was burned five times. They had four more children after moving there.
Earl, b. 13 Jul 1891, married Amanda JOHNSTON and lived in Seiling, OK. They had two daughters, Alberta Josephine and Charlene who married Thermon EDWARDS and has helped immensely on this part of the family. (Somewhere I have information that Amanda survived the store fire that killed Earl's sister Neva but I can't find it right now. Rae)
James (Charles Jefferson), b. 26 Dec 1893, the tenth child, was married three times, having two children by each of his first two wives.
Mattie, b. 31 Mar 1896, was a missionary, she became a member of the Seiling Church when she was very young. She graduated from Union Bible Seminary, Westfield, Indiana, on April 4, 1919. She and another young woman, named Emma Morrow, sailed from New Orleans, April 23, 1919 and arrived in La Paz, Bolivia on May 14, 1919. It took them some time to master the Spanish language as they only got a few lessons enroute. They were among the first missionaries in that area. On November 28, 1929, she married a national named Raimundo MARCA. They soon went to Guaqui, Bolivia, and established a new station. They had three daughters and a son. The son only live a few hours. On October 23, 1939, she came to the US to visit with her three daughters. On December 20, 1940, they sailed back to Bolivia doing her best to further the Gospel- her life’s commitment.
Jennie, b. 25 Dec 1897, the last child of Oscar and Emma, married William WEBER and they have three children, two sons and a daughter. They are both living at Parkside Home in Hillsboro, Kansas, having both broken their hips; they are now in wheelchairs.
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