Week 3 - Out of Place

I had a really hard time deciding who and what to write about this week. “Out of Place” to me would mean that one or more of my ancestors were not where they should have been. I think we are all where we are supposed to be at any given time.

I decided to write about my great-great grandmother. I chose her because although during her life, I believe she was where she should have been, but she is out of place in the cemetery where she is buried. Here is her story…

Barbara Ann Tetherow Pennington was born 7 March 1845 in Missouri. She married Pryor Pennington on Christmas Eve in 1860 in DeKalb County. Their union would produce seventeen children, twelve of whom would live to adulthood and have children.

When land became available in Oklahoma Territory, Pryor and Barbara packed up their younger children and along with a few of their adult children headed toward free land. The year was 1891, shortly after the Land Run of 1889. By 1892, they had built a dugout in what is today, Blaine County near Cedar Valley, with 80 acres of cultivated farmland in the red loam. We know this through Homestead records, which also tells us that Pryor died in August of 1897, and that Barbara carried on without him, because on April 3, 1902, she received the deed to their land free and clear.

Barbara Ann remained on her land until sometime before 1910. Most of her children were now in Oklahoma, but at some point, she went to live with her son, Charles Leonard, near Avard in Woods County. None of her other children lived in the same area, and Charles didn’t reside there for very long. During his time there, however, his mother died on 4 June 1910. Barbara Ann Tetherow Pennington was buried in Memorial Hill Cemetery near Waynoka, Woods County, Oklahoma. I’ve been to visit her.

Barbara Ann Tetherow Pennington’s headstone stands a distance from any other stones. No other family is buried here. It makes me sad to think of her all alone. With such a large family, her number of living descendants likely reaches into the hundreds. I hope if any of them are out for a drive and find themselves in western Oklahoma, that they’ll make a turn that leads them to great-great-grandmother Pennington. She may be out of place but she’ll never be out of our hearts.