So I’ve spent the week looking for a grave in Arkansas when I’m currently stuck in TX.  At least I learned a lot.

Some people claim Whitfield Collins LeFors was a capt. but everything I’m coming across says he was a 1st or maybe 2nd Lieut.  But he was at least Benton County’s sheriff.  His son E. O. married James Berry’s daughter.  And James Berry’s sister married Sam Peel.

All 3 of these important people were buried in the IOOF/Odd Fellows.  But now that cemetery’s been merged with Bentonville.  There is no map.  I could’ve sworn I saw what looks like a base in a picture.  If it is a base & the base matches they’re going to put Richard LeFors’ stone there.  Otherwise they’re going to leave it near his family…his granny, his parents & at least one sib.

I’d like to know what happens.  And map or no map I’d still like to find some kind of proof he’s there & I’d also like to find some of his other sibs.  We’ll see.  And I’ll report.

This growing family moved from Missouri to Arkansas in 1851, to Paris, Texas, 1863, back to Arkansas in 1868 and in 1869 to Indian Territory about 10 miles east of now Vinita, Oklahoma.

On August 21, 1875, Mahala died and was buried on the north bank of Cabin Creek on the Berry Johnson farm leased by James J. LeFors.

Perry and brothers, Bill and Sam, were on a cattle drive in 1876 from south Texas through the Panhandle to Dodge City and had sent back such glowing description that they urged the family to move here after they had sent the youngest girl Ida, age seven, to a boarding school in Waco, Texas.

Father James J. age 70 and six sons from 11 to 25 years old, started out in three wagons for the Panhandle by way of Ft. Sill to avoid the Indians. After leaving Pt. Sill, they were seized by Indians and held two days without food until soldiers came to their rescue. With more supplies, a week later they started again and arrived at Mobeetie without incident.

Within a short time, they found Wells, a settler on East Cantonment Creek who wanted to move on and was willing to exchange his squatters rights for two horses. Shortly after settling in the dugout and picket house, they received word from Perry that Sam had been killed by Indians near Dodge City.

Perry and his brother, Rufe, continued to drive cattle while the other members of the family found jobs near their home. In 1881 James J. and young sons — Joe, 16, and Bob, 14 — left for Caddo Grove near Cleburne, Texas to take boys to school. Bill and family were living there. Soon after they arrived, James J. died September 19, 1881, and was buried in the Caddo Grove Cemetery. (Berton Doucette says he visited this site two miles west of Joshua in 1954 and found the headstone in good condition.)

While working as foreman of the Diamond F Ranch, Perry had acquired several more sections of land and had built a camp on the old Travis Leach place for a stage stop between Tascosa and Mobeetie. This camp was later to be called Lefors.

In May 1884 Henry and Anna Thut, two children and Anna’s sister, Emma Lang, came to the stage stop. Their third sister, Lena, had married Alex Schneider and would arrive later.

As the Thuts and Emma left the train at Dodge City and approached the Panhandle by hack, they made overnight stops at ranches and line camps. One of the most memorable stops was at the Diamond F Headquarters where Perry LeFors was ranch foreman. He was a handsome cowboy, and as fate would have it, fell in love with the lovely Swiss girl, Emma Lang.

Perry LeFors was a frequent visitor while Emma was in the Thut’s home and later at Mobeetie where Emma stayed with Mrs. O’Loughlin. Emma met many of the prominent citizens there, lawyers and officers from the nearby Ft. Elliott, but Perry was always uppermost in her mind.

Three years after Perry met Emma they were married January 15, 1887. The wedding was in Mobeetie at the Huselby Hotel. Everyone in the Panhandle was invited and all envied Perry and his bride. Champagne was served at the wedding feast. All drank to the health and happiness of the couple, then danced the night away.

Perry bought a a house in Mobeetie where they lived for three years. They took part in the town social activities, the most popular being the theatrical club. Their first two children born in Mobeetie were Vera, December 14, 1887 and Emmett September 27, 1889. The family then moved to their home on East Cantonment Creek, where his father and brothers had originally started and improved the home site. Later they moved to West Cantonment Creek, where Henry Weckesser built a house on a section of land Perry had bought from Gus Hartman in 1882. This was to be the home place and farm, section 18, Block A6 while the original site, section 20 and others adjoining were to be the expanding ranch.

The new home was a fertile valley among the cottonwood trees near a natural spring with cool good water. Jess Wynne helped Perry plant a large apple and peach orchard. The fruit and an abundance of vegetables kept the family well supplied with only one trip a month to Mobeetie, 10 miles east, for needs such as flour sugar, coffee and other necessities.

Five girls, Mava, Ersa, Eva, Freda and Molita — were born on the ranch, and for each birth a man was sent on horseback to Mobeetie to bring the kind, family Doctor Brice, who always arrived in time.

Perry and Emma were very eager to educate their children. While all were still very young, governesses were employed (whose accomplishments included music and elocution.) Seven governesses were employed through the years. During these busy, happy years, neighbors from far and near came to the LeFors home for picnics, wading parties, horseback riding, croquet and baseball, which was always a part of Sunday entertainment. Emma never failed to have more than enough pies and cakes for all.

Perry applied for a post office for the stage stop on the North Fork of the Red River, and it was granted October 12, 1892. However, the Postal Department in Washington decided the capital letter “F” must be changed to a small letter, and so the post office and later town became Lefors, Texas. The land had been donated by Perry.

By 1902 there seemed to be enough people in the area, and so with Perry’s influence and promotion, over 150 voters out of 175 petitioned for an election to organize Gray County and separate it from the jurisdiction of Wheeler County. The election was held, and on May 27, 1902, Gray County was formed and Lefors was named as county seat.

Times were good, and people were happy and prosperous when suddenly the LeFors family was stricken with the dreaded typhoid fever that was sweeping through the country. Perry died from the fever on September 6, 1909 and within six weeks four of the girls also died by October 26, 1909.

With an undying faith and courage of a real pioneer, Emma with her little girl Molita, two and a half years of age, closed the old home and went back to Frankfort, Kentucky to her sister, Lena, and family. A year later she returned to McLean and entered into social and church work. In 1918 Emma bought a house in Pampa, but she went to Los Angeles where Molita finished high school. Returning to Pampa in 1928, Emma organized the Christian Science Church, which met in her home at 311 N. Frost for over a year. Her philosophy for a long life was, “Keep your hands and mind filled with labor and love, your heart with charity,and faith in God.” She was honored many times over the years for her social and church work, also as ‘Good Neighbor’ and in 1952, by the naming of the local airport, the Perry LeFors Field, in memory of her late husband.

Emma passed away January 25, 1958, just before her 90th birthday. She is buried beside Perry and their daughters in Miami.

Emma was born March 4, 1868, Rhinefelden, Switzerland, to Anton and Babette (Speise) Lang. Anton was born in Vienna, Austria, and had lived in France before coming to Switzerland. The Langs were one of Rhinefelden’s most prominent families and were engaged in the furniture upholstering business, which had been an occupation of the family for over 100 years.

Vera, the eldest daughter of Perry and Emma, married a young surveyor, A.H. Doucette, and they lived a long and fruitful life in the evergrowing town of Pampa. Mr. Doucette died October 26, 1964, and Vera passed away 20 years later March 6, 1984, at the age of 96 years and 3 months.

Berton Doucette
reprinted from Gray County Heritage ©1985

These windows are pretty, but that isn’t the half of it.

They’ve been part of area history for more than a century—starting with the man called “the father of the Texas Panhandle,” Charles Goodnight.
The United Methodist Church in McLean is undergoing its first major renovation since the 1950s. It just so happens that the United Methodist Church in Lefors, 24 miles away, closed in the past few months, its members now attending St. Paul UMC in Pampa.
One disappointment for the Lefors Methodists was that they would have to sell two dozen beautiful stained-glass windows that were part of the church’s heritage.
Here’s the lineage of the lead-and-glass creations, according to the McLean church newsletter: They were made in England around 1900, commissioned by the Panhandle’s first rancher, Col. Charles Goodnight, for First Baptist Church in the town of Goodnight, which lies between Claude and Clarendon.
The story is that when that church closed, Goodnight gave them to a friend who was a member of the Lefors family for which the town is named. They were donated later to the Methodist Church in Lefors.
The windows were installed in 1947, and the first service conducted with light streaming through the colorful designs was the wedding on Oct. 25, 1947, of Edward Vincent and Juanita Upham. That was a Saturday and the Rev. Newton Daniel led a dedication service for the windows and other construction the next day.
Carole Nan Watson was 8 years old when the windows were installed and joined the church around that time. Soon, she’ll see them in their third home.
Her current pastor in Pampa is the Rev. Steve Cox, who preached at both St. Paul and Lefors before the Lefors church closed. Cox mentioned to the Rev. Thacker Haynes of McLean that the historic windows were available.
Haynes (who is this writer’s cousin) and the McLean congregation jumped at the chance to buy all the windows for $30,000, a bargain-basement price for 110-year-old stained glass connected to the legendary Goodnight. Despite the good deal given to the sister church in McLean, the cost doubles when moving and installing the windows is included.
The Lefors Methodist are just glad their heirlooms will stay so close. “We’re all very excited that McLean is going to get the windows, ” Watson said. “That’s going to be marvelous.
At least they’re getting a wonderful home. We were so concerned that they would be separated or they would just sit there for a long time, and we didn’t want that at all.”
The McLean Methodists aren’t swimming in cash, though, and they are taking donations to fund the project. Windows can be financed in memory or honor of loved ones by calling the church at 806-779-2337. These museum-worthy artworks are so iconic that contributions help not only the church but give new life to a piece of Panhandle history.
The Lefors people want to see them in their new setting. Watson said Cox indicated his St. Paul members probably will visit McLean when its renovations are complete.
“He plans on closing the service in Pampa, and we’ll all go to McLean so that we can go see it too,” she said.
And it would be fitting if someone from Goodnight also could follow the windows to their new church.

James “Perry ” Isham Lefors was one of 21 kids born to James Jefferson LeFors (from KY). His mother was James’ 2nd wife Martha Mahala West (from TN).

This family moved from MO to AR to TX back to AR then to OK. In OK is where Martha died & was buried.

Some sons were off in TX & liked the place they were visiting so much they talked most of the family into moving back to TX. JJ, age 70, & a few sons headed off that way. They barely reached their destination & secured a place when they learned another son was killed by Indians in KS.

In 1881 JJ took some children to visit their older sib so they could be educated & died while visiting therefore was buried there.

Perry was a cattle rancher & while working as a foreman on the Diamond F Ranch acquired enough land to build a stage stop between Tascosa & Mobeetie TX. This eventually became Lefors, Gray County, TX.

That stage shop is where his future bride, Emma Lang, would eventually pull in. 3 years after they met they married. At their first house 2 children were born. At their ranch 5 daughters were born.

Things were going fairly good for them. Perry influenced the creation of both Lefors & also Gray County TX. But then typhoid fever visited the area & claimed the life of Perry & 4 of his 6 daughters. With the oldest daughter & only son grown & gone Emma was left with one toddler to fend for. After her baby graduated HS she moved back to TX & died there 1/25/1958.

http://www.cityofpampa.org/index.aspx?NID=141

Well I’ll be John Brown.  Somebody did a Wikipedia Entry on him.  Check it out here.

Of course whoever it is sure has him under a microscope & he’s not coming out of it very well.  He/she makes it seem like Joe never did anything right except frame an innocent man.  Of course he/she’s got 4 notes/further reading/sources all linked to the same website…TomHorn.com.  Maybe Tom’s still got relatives out to prove his innocence even after all these years?  It would be a much better article if people would stick to the facts & leave their assumptions/opinions out of it.

The facts are Joe was one of around 21 some-odd kids (holy cow!).  Even if they’d been wealthy & all those kids survived to adulthood & had to pay for their own burials…21 kids would’ve put a strain on things.  But no…21 kids did not see adulthood.   I believe at least one that did see adulthood was then killed by Indians.

Then on top of this they tended to move around a bit.  Back in the day when you moved you went on a several weeks or months long camping trip.  Plus evidently along the way I think dad dropped some kids off to be educated…then had to go back & get ‘em.  Little chunks of education here & there is not much of an education.

He was a farmer/ranch hand turned lawman.  And he lived & worked in places that weren’t exactly populated & civilized.  To volunteer was to beg to be shot & killed.  In fact his brother Thomas “Newton” LeFors, another lawman, was shot & killed.  So to say he was incompetent…well like I said it would be a much better article if people would stick to the facts & leave their assumptions/opinions out of it.

First they were rounded up & shoved into something like concentration camps.  Many died therefore before they ever started the march.  They weren’t allowed to take much with them.  Then they got started about winter time so if diseases didn’t get them freezing to death did.  They were forced to leave their dead…& naturally their cemeteries were neglected by the people who stole their lands.  They lost some on the way & were forced to bury them here & there along the trail.  So that if they actually survived the journey & reached their destination they died of heartbreak after they got there.  And that’s why it’s called the Trail of Tears.

It was kind of like the modern day East Coast – West Coast thing.  With every treaty Cherokees lost more land.  So they said no more.  And they said if anybody signed one they’d be killed.  Of course people signed one.  But I think even before then we had people going off by themselves.

With one treaty they were supposed to all move to Arkansas.  Next thing ya know it’s OK.  Anyway I believe Sequoyah went to Ark & was chief over there whereas for a while my very great grandpa stayed in TN & was chief there.  Then after the Trail of Tears he lived in Tahlequah OK.

Once the east coast hooked back up with the west coast a few treaty signers were killed.  So several of especially their kin took off for TX.  Sequoyah thought the only way to fix things was to forgive the past & move on so he went after them.

While in TX he died & the party that was with him evidently wasn’t enough to take him back home at the time so they temporarily stuffed him in a cave & went after more people.  But when they got back they forgot which cave they stuffed him in.  They’ve never found him or anything that would identify any bones found as his bones.

Can anybody tell us what the kitchen looks like?  How many beds/baths?  Could you come out of the 2nd floor onto any kind of sun-deck?  Also does that chimney run through a bedroom on the way up to the roof?  It looks like it could supply the living room & a master bed with heat.  Finally…is there a 3rd floor or is that just an attic with some really nice windows?

Thanks, cousin Kathleen, for sharing the pic with us.