|
|
 |
Frances's ChildhoodAt the age of 14 or so, Frances Folsom "Frankie" Smart had tuberculosis and was in the hospital in the Oklahoma City area for a while. One of the people in charge or who worked there was Elmer Darnall, a relative of Mary Ann's.
|
 |
Roscoe "RR" Pafford of Del Rio, TexasFrances Smart married Roscoe (Ross or RR) Pafford in 1911. They settled in the Range area of the Oklahoma Panhandle and had three children, Marion, Clinton, and Leona. Roscoe's father, James Marion Pafford, had come from Tennessee in covered wagons pulled by oxen. His mother was from Zaragoza, Mexico. Roscoe first came to southwestern Oklahoma in 1882 as a young cowboy on a cattle drive with Will Rogers and others. They drove the heard from near San Antonio to Big Pasture country Northwest of Wichita Falls, Texas. Will could tell tall tales and spin a rope as a young cowboy even then. He worked on railroads, in mines, and other construction projects in southwest Texas, New Mexico & Arizona. He first went to the Panhandle with the Rock Island Railroad about 1900, working on the Guymon to Liberal line.
|
In 1920, Francis and Grover sold the original homestead in Clinton, inherited from their mother. The Paffords bought the old Ballard and part of the Mitchell homesteaded from Harley Grimm east of Range. Frances and the children went on the Katy Railroad. Roscoe and Frances's brother, CC, picked them up at Forgan in an old Model T. Other men drove the cattle and hauled the machinery and furniture to the farm in Range while Frances and the children rode in the Ford.
They moved into an old white rock house on the south side of the road. It was built of white soft stones quarried about three miles north of Range. The earth was removed and the soft rock was sawed with a crosscut saw into building stones. There are several of these house still standing.
 |
Range Valley GardensIn 1921, the old Range Dam was rebuilt by RR, Ed Smith, Price Grubbs and Sam Snyder. The dam was first constructed by the Mitchell brothers and ran an old mill for years as well as being the first irrigation in the Panhandle. RR, Frances, Grover and Bill began irrigating crops in what became the Range Valley Garden. They raised all kinds of garden vegetables, They hauled them to all the surrounding towns in the old model cars, trucks and pick-ups. People from miles around would drive there and load their cars, trucks and wagons with melons, cantaloupes , tomatoes, pumpkins, sweet potatoes, cabbage and most everything you could think of. |
The Paffords Go To SchoolMarion and Clinton were quite a bit older than Leona. The two boys went to school first at Woodman Hall. This school was inconveniently located across the Palo Duro east of the Range store. When the rivers were up, kids were unable to get to school, even on horseback. A new school called Hominy (later Range) School was built near the Range Dam which provided ice skating in winter. Later the building became a church. |
| Roscoe passed away on April 27th, 1969 in Guymon, Oklahoma. Frankie died in Guymon also on July 11th, 1975. Roscoe, Frances and now Marion are buried in Hartville, Cemetery in Hardesty. |
 |
 |
 |
TrailsThe Paffords had three children:
Sources
|
 |
||
