Lida Murry Smith

By Bobby Everett Smith

My grandparents moved from Missouri to Texas in 1905 in covered wagons. Lida and Andrew J Smith, two boys and eight girls, the youngest, 6 and the oldest, 22. They sold their farm in Missouri and moved by three covered wagons with the kids, three dogs, two pigs, two cows and six horses. The trip took 7 weeks, and they were attacked by Indians in Oklahoma. The twin 14-year-old girls were kidnapped and raped, and the family ran through a tornado. Lida, nonetheless, spent her time taking care of the family and advocating for women’s suffrage which did not pass until 1920 with the 19th Constitutional Amendment.

They were all Baptists and deeply religious, and the teenage girls were all looking for boys much of the time. My dad, one of the brothers, worked in a store called Doan’s Crossing just over the border in Northern Texas, about 10 miles from Vernon. Doan’s was on the Chisolm Trail and served over two million cattle and the cowboys who herded them from Texas to market in Missouri. Lida is the hero of the book, working on the farms and raising a family of ten kids while advocating for women’s rights. It’s a good story-- fiction, but based on real characters, my family and a real trip from Missouri to Texas. Full of drama, romance, and suspense, once you start reading, you won’t put it down.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bobby Everett Smith
• Release date: Feb 13, 2020
• ISBN: 9780463208717

Bobby Everett Smith

Bobby Everett Smith www.bobsmithsblog.comBobby Everett Smith is an American author of fiction and non-fiction essays, short stories and novels, and the publisher of the blog bobsmithsblog.com.Born and raised in Wichita Falls, Texas, Smith earned a degree in Economics from Rice University and an MBA from the University of Washington. Primarily during the Cold War, he served as an aviator in the U.S. Navy. His tours in East and Southeast Asia are inspiration for many of his works, taking the reader vicariously along for his adventurous rides, launched from aircraft carriers in the 7th Fleet.Fueled by his own leadership experiences in the U.S. Navy and the private sector, Smith has become passionate and knowledgeable about our nation’s leaders. In nearly a dozen summaries of great presidential biographies, he examines the lives, achievements and legacies of these important political figures.Smith’s most recent novel, Lida Murry Smith, was inspired by his own family history. Set in the backdrop of the women’s suffrage movement, it traces the arduous and courageous 1905 fictional journey of the Smith family from their farm in Missouri, through the Indian Territories and Oklahoma to a new farm in Texas.For access to these and other works of Bobby Everett Smith, visit:https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/744702

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Lida Murry Smith

A Novel

By Bobby Everett Smith

Fiction

February 15, 2020

Copyright © 2020 Bobby Everett Smith

All rights reserved.

Distributed by Smashwords

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Table of Contents

Chapter 1 The Wedding

Chapter 2 Working on the Farm in 1900

Chapter 3 Women’s Suffrage

Chapter 4 Thanksgiving 1900

Chapter 5 Everett Working on the Railroad

Chapter 6 First Letter Home

Chapter 7 The Decision to Move

Chapter 8 Packing for the Trip

Chapter 9 Rolla to Joplin

Chapter 10 Joplin to Tulsa

Chapter 11 Tulsa to Oklahoma City

Chapter 12 Hale’s General Store

Chapter 13 The Kidnapping

Chapter 14 Search and Rescue

Chapter 15 Oklahoma City to Lawton

Chapter 16 Arrival in Texas

Chapter 17 Vernon, Texas

About the Author

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Chapter 1—The Wedding

Lida Murry stood in the Baptist Church of High Gate, Missouri, to marry the love of her 16-year life, Andrew Jackson Smith, six years her elder. Little did she realize that within a few short years, she would be the mother of eight politically active girls, helping her drive the women’s right to vote in the United States.

Marriage at 16 was not uncommon in 1880, on the western frontier of America. Hormones were raging and the Baptist church did not allow romantic activities before marriage. Andy and Lida were ready for a romantic relationship. And besides, Lida’s mother Permelia Murry had married Lafayette at the age of 14, so she had no complaints.

Lida was cute and feisty; she did not take any bull from anyone, including Andy, her new husband. At 5 feet, 3 inches, she was short but had a good figure and all the eligible boys in Maries County had their eyes on her. Andy was the winner of that race. She was smart and kept herself well informed, especially, about Women’s Suffrage.

Lafayette Murry, Lida’s father, was one of the more affluent men in Maries County, Missouri. He owned a 160-acre farm, which had been granted to him a few years earlier, by President Buchanan. He also owned the only steam-driven sawmill in the vicinity. He was a deacon in the Baptist church and a leader in the local community. He had a strong belief in women’s right to vote and he passed that belief easily enough, along to Lida.

Until the marriage, Andy lived with his parents. He was tall, almost six feet, and weighed about 180 pounds. He was strong and good looking, too. He worked on his father’s farm and was one of the main resources that did all the work on the farm. Andy liked to party. Although he was a Baptist all his life, he still liked to drink whiskey when he could get it and moonshine from local bootleggers when he could not. Andy was a horse trader on the side, supplementing his farming income by buying and selling horses around the neighborhood. Andy and Lida disagreed about prohibition and this would be a lifetime dispute. Lida was a prohibitionist but this was not her main passion; she wanted women (which she was now becoming) to have equal rights with men and that included voting, especially.

The Baptist church was the center of life in the High Gate community—culturally and spiritually. Every Sunday morning, most of the people in the area gathered for Sunday School at 10 a.m. and for the church service at 11. Reverend Jim Landon officiated at the church and all the social events around town, like weddings and funerals. Less than half the people attended night services on Sunday and Wednesday. The church laid out the law—no drinking, no dancing and no pre-marital sex. Andy didn’t really care about those rules, but Lida did and what Lida said, went.

Andy and Lida did not really like living at her parent’s house. They wanted some privacy and a place of their own.

Like Lafayette had done with Buchanan, Andy applied for a land grant from President Chester Arthur. It took some work to get an application in and some influence from the local politicians to get it approved. President Arthur had the authority to grant up to 160 acres of land to deserving individuals. The President knew Laff Murry, and based on that influence, he approved a grant for the youngest family in the area. On February 28, 1881, the grant was signed by the president and the deed for the land turned over to Andrew Jackson Smith. It irked Lida that she was not mentioned on the grant or on the deed, but that was going to change when the country started treating women as well as they treated men.

Andy decided to build a log cabin on his newly acquired land. His father-in-law provided the timber from his sawmill and residents came over to help with the construction. Within a week, a two-room cabin with a dirt floor, a kitchen, fireplace, and separate bedroom was complete. They built a cistern outside to collect rainwater and a two-hole outhouse for the typical bathroom. By mid-March, Lida and Andy moved into their new quarters, about two miles from Laff and Pamelia’s place. It was very comfortable and just in time for the new baby, which Lida was expecting in November. Electricity was not yet available, so candles and kerosene lanterns, and light from the fireplace provided all the light that was available. Most everyone went to bed shortly after dark and got up at daylight, to start the next hard day of farm work.

Lida’s first baby, a boy whom they named Claude, was born on November 12, 1880. No women ever went to a hospital, to give birth, in those days. Usually, there was not even a doctor, although generally, a midwife, like a nurse experienced in the delivery of babies, assisted in the labor and delivery.

Jane McClure was the midwife that most of the women around High Gate used, if she was not previously booked. She was experienced and skillful and able to keep the mothers calm and in as low a level of pain as possible. Jane knew how to manage problems when they arose, and she knew when to call in the doctor, if serious problems developed.

Lida had plenty of pain and was in labor for a good eight hours in the long run delivering the new baby boy –healthy and perfect. Andy was there to hold the baby, right after momma got her turn. Andy opened a bottle of Kentucky Bourbon and offered drinks around, but he was the only one who took a shot. Andy was happy to have a boy and looked forward to many more. He needed help around the farm.

Lida got her passion to support equal rights for women from her father, Laff Murry. Laff had a keen sense of fairness, he respected women, and he raised his children to do the right thing. That included proactively working to gain the right of women to vote and to participate in government and to get equal pay and equal voice in the government, at work, and at home. Lida loved Andy but she was determined not to let him abuse her during times when he was sober or times when he was drunk. She also committed to herself that she would pass that sense of righteousness on to her own kids.

Another issue that occurred to Lida as she matured and as she had babies, was the woman’s right to have a legal abortion if she chose, at least during the early stages of pregnancy. In 1881, if a woman wanted an abortion, she had to buy the services of a doctor or someone less qualified, to perform the procedure. It was expensive and dangerous. Even though the Baptist church and most other churches were opposed to abortion, Lida took an independent stand on that issue.

Lida also took a stand with Andy about domestic abuse, which was common in the 1880’s.

You get mean when you get drunk, but don’t think that gives you the right to hit me or hurt me, just because you’re drunk. You ever try to do that, and I will take a club or a knife to you. And if I must, I will load up the shot gun and put a wad of pellets in you. Do you understand that?

Yea, I understand. I won’t ever abuse you, Andy replied.

In 1883, fourteen months later, Ida was born, their first girl. She, too, came out healthy and without too much trouble, a natural birth on the frontier of America. With the help of Jane McClure, the midwife, and the attendance of Andy, who was not much actual help, even though it was clear to Lida that he wanted her to get through the labor as soon as possible. Lida and Andy made good parents, but it was pretty clear that Lida ran the show, in the house, most of the time.

With no birth control, the babies continued to come. Well, that’s not a real problem; we need help around the farm. Hopefully, we will have a boy the next time, thought Andy and supported by Lida.

Sure enough, May 12, 1884, Everett Lorenzo Smith was born, healthy and with no serious trouble during the delivery.

Thank God, it’s a boy, thought Andy, as he congratulated Lida and poured himself a stiff shot of Kentucky Bourbon.

Chapter 2-- Working on the Farm in the Missouri Ozarks

Recipients of the Homestead Act land grants were required to live on the land for 5 years and improve it by growing crops and building a dwelling of at least 12 by 14 (the legislation didn’t specify feet or inches, which presented some problems). After five years, recipients could apply for the deed of title to own the land permanently.

That gave Andy the land he needed, but he still required a cabin, an outhouse, a water supply, and a barn. The