Pioneer Genealogical Society - Ponca City, Oklahoma

Union soldiers who are buried elsewhere in the Ponca City IOOF Cemetery

Contributed by Loyd Bishop

Sidney W. Acton who died very suddenly last Monday morning was born in Richland County Ohio, February 2oth, 1847. His wife to whom he was married on June 17 1866 was Miss Kate Addell McGettigan.
Mr. Acton was a soldier in the Civil War and he enlisted on the 135h of April 1862 in Co. F., 4th Mo. Cavalry and was discharged April 12th 1865. He was member of the Post here in Ponca and known as one of his most active members. He had charge of the Decoration Day services but his sudden summons called him from this post of earthly duty. The burial was in the I. O. O. F. cemetery.
Wright H. Auchmoody was a Lieutenant with Company I, 56th Regiment of the New York Volunteers. He was born in Ulster County, New York on April 6, 1832 and died in Ponca City on February 26, 1905. On April 19, 1864, he was married to Miss May Hester York. To this union were born two children--Eli C. Auchmoody, now Mrs. Dr. Smith, of this city, at whose home he died. He was a soldier nearly four years, and for gallantry was promoted to a lieutenancy.
Clark G. Colvin was the last surviving Union Veteran living in Ponca City at the time of his death on August 5, 1943. Colvin died at the home of his son, D. O. Colvin, 631 South 12th Street. Born May 3, 1847 at Titusville, Pennsylvania, he enlisted with Company I, First Regiment of the Provisional Army Mounted Volunteers of Pennsylvania on February 1, 1865. He was discharged July 13, 1865 after serving most of his service in Virginia. He moved with his father to LaPorte, Iowa in late 1865. There he married Marguerite Land who died in 1928. Colvin and his wife moved to Ponca City in 1897, and was a carpenter by trade, and worked on many of the early landmark buildings in Ponca City. He was survived by three sons and four daughters, Byron Colvin, Wichita, D. O. Colvin and John Colvin, Ponca City, Mrs. Ida Johnson, Waterloo, Iowa, Mrs. Charlie Stewart, Gray, Oklahoma, Mrs. Hazel Stewart, Ponca City, and Mrs. Tom Mills, Idaho Falls, Idaho, eighteen grandchildren, and 17 great grandchildren.
James B. Dale was a native of Hancock County, Illinois, having been born there on January 17, 1840. He died at his home, five miles northeast of Ponca City on February 7, 1905. Dale was orphaned as a child and made his home with Eli Campbell until enlisting in 7th Missouri Cavalry. After a service of two years, he became. Seeing little chance for his recovery, officers discharged from his unit. Leaving the swamps of Arkansas, he went back to his home in Illinois where he regained his former strength and vigor. In 1864 he married Mary Philena Quint. He left seven children, a brother and four sisters to mourn his loss.
Charles Donkin was born in Michigan in June, 1840. He died at Pampa, Texas on January 23, 1929. His body was returned to Ponca City and buried at the Ponca City IOOF Cemetery. Donkin served with Company A, 11th Regiment Regular Michigan Volunteers. Donkin lived on a farm west of Ponca City, and had lived in Texas for the last two years. He was married to Selma Donkin, and also had a daughter, Mabel.
Fletcher Dunham was born October 17, 1842 at Canning, New York. He moved with his parents to Geneva, Illinois, when he was about ten years of age. He served with the 7th Kansas Cavalry. In 1869, he married Laura Foster at Guthrie, Iowa. They had four children, Lee H. and Van E., Mrs. O. W. Germain and a daughter that died in infancy. Dunham died of a stroke at St. Francis Hospital in Wichita, Kansas on April 4, 1912. Dunham entered the Cherokee Strip on the first train on opening day with his son Lee. Jumping from the moving train as it was passing the present townsite, they secured a claim one-mile west of Ponca City. Dunham was a staunch support of the new city, and owned much valuable property in the business district.
Andrew J. Dunlap was born on November 20, 1841, and served with the 77th Illinois Infantry. He died at the home of his daughter in Perkins, Oklahoma. The remains were brought to Ponca City and interred in the IOOF Cemetery beside his wife who had died two years earlier. Dunlap had formerly live in Bliss, Oklahoma (later Marland, Oklahoma). A daughter, Mrs. Russell, lived in Bliss, and another, Mrs. Stockdale lived in Ponca City.
Sylvester Flitch, who served with Company A, 10th Ohio Cavalry, was born in Switzerland. He enlisted when he was fifteen years old and was a prisoner of war held at three different prisons, including the notorious Andersonville prison. He was discharged from the military at 18, and a year later moved to Texas. He went to work with a company that drove cattle across the trails of Oklahoma. The cowboys would always spend a night at a place near Ponca City because of a perpetual spring here that furnished plenty of water. Flitch liked the area and when the strip was opened made the run and filed a disputed claim. The claim was still in litigation at the time of his death. Flitch was married to a teacher from Cedarvale, Kansas and had three daughters, Eva, Sylvia, and Audrey.
Aaron L. Gelvin served with Company G, 20th Illinois Infantry during the Civil War. Gelvin was born in June 1840 in Pennsylvania. He died on 6 October 1931. He owned a farm in the Longview area before 1900. He married Euphrenia Gelvin in 1867, she died in 1926. Ten children were born to the couple, five of whom were living in 1900. The family had lived in Iowa before coming to Oklahoma.
John H. Goodwin was born in 1847 in Pennsylvania, and served with Company A, 28th Iowa Infantry. At the time of his death on May 8, 1924, Goodwin was living with a son at Tenth and South Avenue in Ponca City.
Stephen Griebel was a New Yorker by birth, and spent his youth in New York City and in Atlantic City, New Jersey. He was born on October 26, 1843 and died at Cross, Oklahoma, February 10, 1926. The military unit with whom he served for four years is not known, but after the war he returned to his home where he was married in 1876 to Caroline Klamett of Tonganoxie, Kansas. They had twelve children. The Griebels took part in the land rush staking a claim in Cross where they had lived since. They are buried in the Catholic section at Ponca City IOOF Cemetery.
William M. Hallam is the only Confederate soldier buried in a Ponca City cemetery that research has found thus far. Born in April, 1837 in Ohio, he died in Ponca City on May 24, 1913. His wife Thirza A., to whom he was married for 45 years, preceded him in death on August 9, 1911. Mr. Hallam’s obituary says only “he fought for what he considered right from 1863 to 1865. He was wounded in the Battle of Gettysburg. Since he was born in Ohio, it was first believed he was a Union soldier. However, when a Hallam descendent recently contacted the Ponca City Library Genealogy Department for a copy of the obituary it was confirmed that Hallam’s beliefs were with the Southern Cause. Mr. Hallam’s grave is not marked with a military stone.
Joel Hatten had been a resident of Ponca City for twenty years when he passed away January 8, 1929. Born in Virginia in 1845, he served with a West Virginia regiment in the War between the States. He was married to Rebecca Hatten who died in 1927. They had 9 children. The family had lived in Nebraska and Kansas before coming to Oklahoma.
Charles E. Hill was born in Clark County, Ohio, on April 15, 1832. He died at his home six miles east of Ponca City on December 24, 1908. According to information in his obituary, this Civil war Veteran served with Company 47, 2nd Colorado Infantry. In 1877 he was married to Malinda Teague, and to them was born a son and two daughters. The widow and children, John L. Hill and Mrs. Sherman Hurst survive Mr. Hill.
William Samuel Kenyon, a member of Company K, 11th Volunteer Infantry from 9 august 1861 until 17 October 1864, was born in Hoosick, New York, on June 20, 1841. He died on his farm, claimed in the land rush of 1893, in the Longview area on December 12, 1909. On March 30, 1869 he married Louise Forth at Lyndon, Illinois. To them were born Sarah E., Archibald J., William C., George R., A. Edward, D. Pratt, Daisy V., Harry C., and Annie E.
William Kenser is buried in the Ponca City IOOF Cemetery, and his grave marked with a veteran’s stone bearing only the name of the military unit he served, Company A, 28th Iowa Infantry. This is all that is known about Kenser at this time. Additional information is being sought from the National Archives and Records administration in Washington, D. C.
Henry S. Lewis, a native of Alleganey County, New York, was born on March 10, 1830. He was the son of Charles and Catherine Knight Lewis. His grandfather was one of the Hessions captured at Trenton, New Jersey, during the revolutionary war, and he was later paroled and made his home in America. In 1838, Lewis moved with his parents to Pennsylvania, and from there the family moved to Van Buren County, Iowa. In 1840 the family moved to Missouri. In 1850, Lewis and his father followed the gold rush to California. After his father passed away in California, Lewis returned to Scotland County, Missouri, where in 1853 he married Mary Jane McClure. They had three children, Charles B., Jacob W., and March C. all born before the war broke out in 1861. Lewis served with Company K, 1st Missouri Cavalry. After the war, Lewis farmed in Missouri until coming to Kay County in 1893 where he claimed a farm seven miles west of Ponca. In 1901 he moved to Ponca City where he resided until his death on April 9, 1916.
Wm. R. McDonald, one of Ponca City’s respected citizens and a familiar figure of our city during the past twenty years, died very suddenly at his home on north Fourth street Tuesday night of heart failure.
Wm. R. McDonald was born in Ohio seventy-three years ago and when a very young man entered the army and served his country valiantly for four years during the civil war.
Funeral services will be conducted from the home tomorrow afternoon at 2:30 o’clock by Rev. Deggendorf of the Presbyterian church, and interment made in I. O. O. F. cemetery.
Davis Onstott was born in 1828, and died in Kay County, Oklahoma on 15 April 1922. He came to Ponca City in 1894 from Concordia, Kansas, and purchased three claims in the Round Grove community, which he gave to his three sons. It is not known whit which military unit Onstott served during the Civil War, but the gravestone at Ponca City IOOF Cemetery indicates he was a member of the Grand Army of the Republic.
James Reppeto was an early business leader in Ponca City having come here at the opening of the Cherokee Strip. He remained here until his death on July 31, 1924. Born in Ohio in 1846, he served as a captain during the War Between the States with Company D, 2nd Ohio Regiment. A sister and a daughter in Ohio survived him. Reppeto had wished to be buried beside his parents in Ohio, but the family decided to bury him in Ponca City, his home for 30 years.
Ponca Civil War Veteran Was a Friend of Lincoln and Resembled U. S. Grant

C. C. TWYFORD RECALLS DAYS WHEN RAIL SPLITTER LODGED AT HOTEL HIS FATHER KEPT AND RECEOVED TE ADMIRATION OF YOUNGSTERS WITH HIS WIT AND STORIES.

C. C. TWYFORD, who recently observed his 89th birthday, is one of the few grand old men living who remember intimate details of Civil War days and who speak of President Abraham Lincoln as a personal friend.

Twyford makes his home at 804 West Broadway with daughter, Mrs. A. J. Rembarger. He has been bedfast for some time, ever since he suffered a broken hip, but is very mentally alert. His hearing is bad but his twinkling blue eyes look at one undimmed and his voice is strong and hardy and seldom quavers.

The old veteran has the distinction of having served through the Civil war for four years without missing a day of duty. He was captured once by the Confederates but escaped. His hearing has been bad ever since the war when he spent three days and nights in the front lines under constant cannon fire.
Father turned abolitionist
Twyford has a history to tell which sounds like a novel of early days. His father, Charles Twyford, was a native of Maryland but left when quite young and went to Indiana. Before leaving Maryland he sold his property and freed all of his slaves, turning Abolitionist. Later he went to Danville, Illinois. where he owned a hotel and livery stable which formed the basis of an underground railroad on which slaves were taken across the Mason Dixon Line into Canada. Charles Twyford was one of the organizers of the Republican party and one of Abraham Lincoln’s personal friends.

His son, C. C, Twyford, as he says, was the spoke in the wheel of his father’s underground station. He drove wagons filled with slaves across the border when he was just a boy and by the time the Civil War came along was hardened to hardship and danger.
Followed Abe Lincoln
During the time Lincoln campaigned for president in 1858 the elder and younger Twyford were both active workers. They followed him over the country, where he was affectionately known as “old Abe,” spoke for him and held political rallies. The Ponca City resident cast a vote for Lincoln when he was 18 years old and was in the party which fired a salute which sent Lincoln to Washington. The salute at that time were fired with gunpowder on anvils.

Everyone in the country loved Abe Lincoln Twyford says. When Lincoln came around his father’s hotel he and his brothers were literally driven to bed by their father t keep them away from Lincoln. He was the funniest man Twyford says he has ever seen and always had a funny story on the tip of his tongue.

Twyford never saw Lincoln with whiskers. At the time he knew him he was clean shaven, tall, lean and the most awkward human that ever lived, according to the old veteran. He always wore boots, and generally had one pants leg in and one leg out. He rode an old brown mule with stirrups so long they almost reached the ground.

Knew Stephen Douglas
At the time Lincoln was assassinated Twyford was enroute to St. Louis, “I never,” he said, “have cried to hard in my life

The old veteran also knew Stephen A. Douglas, Lincoln’s political opponent in debate, personally. He was a small heavy set man, very clever and a good debater, he says. Twyford says he like Douglas very much personally, but did not agree with his politics.

During the war Twyford served with the 25th Illinois Infantry, Company F, and with the Missouri Cavalry. He knew personally General Grant whom it is said he greatly resembles, General Sherman, Freemont and others. His father also served in the Civil War and in the War of 1812. “There are many things,” Twyford says, “that I could have told you a few years ago but I have forgotten a lot. However, I still have 11 more years to live for I expect to see 100 years.”

Twyford and his wife came to Oklahoma at the time of the opening of the Cherokee Strip and have lived in this vicinity since that time.

[Note: Mr. Twyford was born on August 22, 1840 and died on March 14. 1931. His funeral was held on Wednesday, March 18, 1931. He is buried at the IOOF Cemetery, Ponca City, Oklahoma. His wife was Elizabeth E., born July 4, 1854, who preceeded him in death on March 21, 1910. There Children were Myrtle, William, Jennie, and Estella.

He was a member of the Methodist Church and the Grand Army of the Republic. He was survived by three daughters, Mrs. Charles Springer of Red Bluff, California, Mrs. Charles Pike of Newton, Kansas and Mrs. Stella Rembarger, 804 West Broadway.]Ponca City News September 15, 1929
John Adam Wittmer was born in Germany on 29 August 1841 and came to the United States with his family when he was ten years old. He grew up in Ohio where he married Mary Ann Sprow on November 28, 1867 in Paulding County. They were parents of nine children: four sons, George, Andrew, Ed, and John; and five daughters Lena, Emma, Josephine, Eva and Phoebe. The family moved from Ohio to Kansas in about 1878, and in about 1886 to a farm near Mountain Home, Arkansas. Son, Andrew, participated in the land rush of 1893, and later his parents traded the farm in Arkansas for 160 acres east of Ponca City. It is not known at this time with what military unit Wittmer served during the war, but his gravestone indicates he was a member of the Grand Army of the Republic. He died in Ponca City on February 7, 1927.