Edwin Clay “Ed” Moore
Edwin Clay Moore was born in 1886 in the community of Monk, Oklahoma in that part of the Indian Territory known as the Chickasaw Nation. His mother was part Chickasaw and part Choctaw. Texas Census records show that he was living in Kaufman County, Texas, in 1900. His mother had remarried to John Henry Youngblood – he had two half-sisters and two half-brothers.
He married Etta Frances Williams in Tussy, Carter County, Oklahoma in March of 1906. There were ten children born to them – their first son, Gerald, was born in 1907 at Fox Indian Territory. Etta was part Indian Cherokee, a tiny little woman, just four feet nine inches tall and wore a two and one-half shoe. According to family when she got old her butt spread out and she wore a three and one-half shoe, but she never ever weighed 100 pounds dripping wet. She never had her hair cut till they cut in the hospital in later years – she usually wore it in a long black braid that came to her waist.
Ed and Etta came to Campbell County with her stepfather and mother, Mr. and Mrs. Newt Hamill, her stepsister Mae (Mrs. Dick Talley) and her brother Billie Williams and his wife, Irene. Newt Hamill was a water well driller and his son-in-law and his step-son helped bring the first drilling rig to Campbell County. They had all been drilling wells in Oklahoma and northern Texas before coming up here. Newt filed on a homestead south of Rozet around 1916. Billie and Irene settled on a piece of land just to the north of Newt’s homestead and Ed and Etta homesteaded about 15 miles southwest of Moorcroft in 1912 on Coyote Creek. Ed and Billie continued to drill water wells all over Campbell County with Newt until they were both able to purchase their own rigs.
Ed was a janitor at the Moorcroft school the first winter he lived in Moorcroft, and in later years he held a contract mail route that served the Dillinger area after the Dillinger Post Office was closed. Some of the people on his route were Hugh and Margaret Bowden, John & May Fox, Mr. & Mrs. Jacob Dillinger, I.A. Pickrel family. In the early days he also mustanged horses which were sold to the army and worked in the oil fields around Osage. He was always interested in oil and god. He had a gold claim somewhere on the Dillinger place, which he and Milo Briggs filed back about 1920.
Ed always wore bib overalls, and he had a squint in one eye. His favorite expression was “by crackie” and he had an abiding love for fishing – he was good at it, too. He had quite a sense of humor. One time his wife, Etta, walked after the milk cow, and as usual her little dog went with her. Along the way the dog found a big skunk and proceeded to make it very mad, and the skunk amply dosed both Etta and the dog with skunk odor. Ed told his friends that he had the sweetest smelling woman in town, because he could really smell her.
Another time he stopped by Jake and Della Dillinger’s home. Della had tried very hard to have her home looking nice, and had put a beautiful hand-made candlewick bedspread on the bed. It was snow-white and very hard to keep that way under the conditions. Someone opened the door and Jake’s hounds rushed in and jumped up in the middle of the bed with their huge muddy paws. Della was not one bit happy about that and not a bit happier when Ed burst into laughter at the sight of the bedspread and her anger.
He also though it great fun to salt someone’s gold or uranium claim with just enough material to make them think they had something. He never did it for gain, just to see the fun when someone had worked long and hard on their claim and were about to decide there was no longer any use. They soon would find out the truth, and were not very long misled, but he and any one else in on the joke got many a laugh out of it.
Earl Dillinger, in his book “The Way It Was,” remembers a time when he was about 7 years old – said he started learning about stationary engines and tractors when Ed Moore was timing a magneto on an old Titan Tractor. Ed told Walter Bower “this whim-a-diddle is supposed to kerflopperate on that do-dad that rotates.”
Edwin Clay Moore was born in 1886 in the community of Monk, Oklahoma in that part of the Indian Territory known as the Chickasaw Nation. His mother was part Chickasaw and part Choctaw. Texas Census records show that he was living in Kaufman County, Texas, in 1900. His mother had remarried to John Henry Youngblood – he had two half-sisters and two half-brothers.
He married Etta Frances Williams in Tussy, Carter County, Oklahoma in March of 1906. There were ten children born to them – their first son, Gerald, was born in 1907 at Fox Indian Territory. Etta was part Indian Cherokee, a tiny little woman, just four feet nine inches tall and wore a two and one-half shoe. According to family when she got old her butt spread out and she wore a three and one-half shoe, but she never ever weighed 100 pounds dripping wet. She never had her hair cut till they cut in the hospital in later years – she usually wore it in a long black braid that came to her waist.
Ed and Etta came to Campbell County with her stepfather and mother, Mr. and Mrs. Newt Hamill, her stepsister Mae (Mrs. Dick Talley) and her brother Billie Williams and his wife, Irene. Newt Hamill was a water well driller and his son-in-law and his step-son helped bring the first drilling rig to Campbell County. They had all been drilling wells in Oklahoma and northern Texas before coming up here. Newt filed on a homestead south of Rozet around 1916. Billie and Irene settled on a piece of land just to the north of Newt’s homestead and Ed and Etta homesteaded about 15 miles southwest of Moorcroft in 1912 on Coyote Creek. Ed and Billie continued to drill water wells all over Campbell County with Newt until they were both able to purchase their own rigs.
Ed was a janitor at the Moorcroft school the first winter he lived in Moorcroft, and in later years he held a contract mail route that served the Dillinger area after the Dillinger Post Office was closed. Some of the people on his route were Hugh and Margaret Bowden, John & May Fox, Mr. & Mrs. Jacob Dillinger, I.A. Pickrel family. In the early days he also mustanged horses which were sold to the army and worked in the oil fields around Osage. He was always interested in oil and god. He had a gold claim somewhere on the Dillinger place, which he and Milo Briggs filed back about 1920.
Ed always wore bib overalls, and he had a squint in one eye. His favorite expression was “by crackie” and he had an abiding love for fishing – he was good at it, too. He had quite a sense of humor. One time his wife, Etta, walked after the milk cow, and as usual her little dog went with her. Along the way the dog found a big skunk and proceeded to make it very mad, and the skunk amply dosed both Etta and the dog with skunk odor. Ed told his friends that he had the sweetest smelling woman in town, because he could really smell her.
Another time he stopped by Jake and Della Dillinger’s home. Della had tried very hard to have her home looking nice, and had put a beautiful hand-made candlewick bedspread on the bed. It was snow-white and very hard to keep that way under the conditions. Someone opened the door and Jake’s hounds rushed in and jumped up in the middle of the bed with their huge muddy paws. Della was not one bit happy about that and not a bit happier when Ed burst into laughter at the sight of the bedspread and her anger.
He also though it great fun to salt someone’s gold or uranium claim with just enough material to make them think they had something. He never did it for gain, just to see the fun when someone had worked long and hard on their claim and were about to decide there was no longer any use. They soon would find out the truth, and were not very long misled, but he and any one else in on the joke got many a laugh out of it.
Earl Dillinger, in his book “The Way It Was,” remembers a time when he was about 7 years old – said he started learning about stationary engines and tractors when Ed Moore was timing a magneto on an old Titan Tractor. Ed told Walter Bower “this whim-a-diddle is supposed to kerflopperate on that do-dad that rotates.”