Notes

Part I. Formation

1. Searching and Planning

1. George E. Blalock, 1925 Affidavit, Records of the Special Mexican Claims Commission, RG 76, 136, Miscellaneous Correspondence of the Agency of the United States 1924-36, McConnell File, National Archives at College Park, MD.

2. Blalock had five children with his wife. Their first son, Elmo, was born in 1879, their next son, Claude, was born in 1880, another son, Roy, in 1888, and then their first daughter Ruby was born in 1890. Their fourth son, George, was born 1897. Sadly in 1899, their eldest son, Elmo contracted meningitis and died three days later.

3. Greer County was named for Texas Lieutenant Governor, John Greer, a veteran of the Texas War of Independence.

4. Greer County, Texas became part of Oklahoma Territory in 1896, when the United States Supreme Court settled the long dispute of ownership between Texas and the United States government. Those who had lived in Greer County, Texas, became citizens of Greer County, Oklahoma Territory, without ever moving.

5. Previously, the million and one half acres of land in Greer County had been Indian Territory where Indian fighters had displaced the Indian populations to allow white settlers to occupy the land. Buffalo hunters had tracked grazing buffalo there and then cattlemen followed along the various trails that traversed the county allowing the grazing and driving of cattle to markets.

6. Some of these cattlemen laid claim to large sections of land and fenced it to create cattle ranches. Later settlers with Texas land grant certificates, sometimes issued to them, but often acquired from someone else, came to Greer to claim title over additional tracts of the county.

7. Election Results," Plain Dealer, November 17, 1898.

8. Mangum was established as a town in 1884, when Henry C. Sweet, a surveyor commissioned by Captain A. S. Mangum, surveyed the town site and surrounding land. Captain Mangum had acquired 320 acres in a veteran’s certificate for his service during the Battle of San Jacinto in Texas. He agreed to compensate Mr. Sweet for the survey of his property with lots in the town site (now Mangum). Mr. Sweet established the first store there.