Sunday Afternoon Drive

Arriving in Watonga, Blaine County, Oklahoma around noon on Sunday, we were ready to begin our journey in our research into the lives of the George C. Ortner family. Emma was number twelve in this family of seven boys and seven girls. Thirteen of these children grew to adulthood with Sarah dying at four years of age.

Because of the direction we are traveling on this journey, we are taking the Ortner family in reverse, for they first immigrated to America and settled in Marion County, Kansas before homesteading in Oklahoma. George’s father, Christian and one brother, C. Christian (Chriss) came to Oklahoma, April 19, 1892, the day of the land run into this part of the Oklahoma Territory. George brought his family in 1893. This is all documented in the Homestead papers we have received from the National Archives.

Our first stop during our Sunday afternoon drive was at the home of Mr. & Mrs. Donald Scheffler, great grandson of George C. and grandson of George G. Ortner (one of Emma’s brothers). Donnie and his wife live in the last home George G. owned, having lifted the roof off then building a house around the original two rooms. We were excited when they brought out some of the old family photos and were even more excited when they let us bring those photos back to the motel room to be scanned.

When we left the Scheffler home, we punched the coordinates into our GPS for the East Cooper Cemetery where many of the Ortners are buried and headed off over paved roads and dirt roads. The East Cooper Cemetery is one mile north and a half mile west of where the East Cooper Seventh-day Adventist Church once stood. Today, all you can see is what was once the entrance pillars.

We were pleased to see the grave markers for Christian and Katharina Ortner (George C.’s father and mother) and the graves of George and Maria Ortner. There are many other familiar surnames here, as well. This cemetery is well-maintained.

Leaving the cemetery, we first made our way to the location of the East Cooper church; then following the township maps we had brought, headed west to look for the quarter section of land George C. and Maria had homesteaded. Our hope was to see the ruins of the stone house the Ortners had built. We had no trouble finding the property, and being led by the gentleman who currently owns the land, we located a few stones which appeared to be a part of the foundation of a cellar. Apparently, all the stones had been hauled away many years ago.

Disappointed that there were no house ruins, we were still happy to stand where the Ortners had worked and lived until they moved into the town of Hitchcock sometime after 1900. Today, we will search for property records to determine when they left the farm and moved to Hitchcock.