Great Grandparents Edwin “Ed” Sidney Thompson (Dec 15, 1877-1948) and Bessie Bonnie Haddix (Nov 27, 1884-1969) grew up in rural Clark County, Illinois where they married around 1901 and had two children: Fern born in 1903 and Bernice born in 1906. (pictured below)
The opening of the Indian lands in Oklahoma Territory was of great interest to people across the United States. In 1889, almost three million acres of the “Unassigned Lands” were laid out in 160-acre homesteads and opened to white settlement. The Thompsons joined this migration and the 1910 Census shows them in the Lexington Township, near the town of Noble, in Cleveland County, south of Oklahoma City. After having two daughters, the Thompsons were sure to have a son and had already decided to name him Dwight after a popular evangelist preacher. In 1910, a third daughter was born, but they named her Dwight anyway. The family is pictured below.
In 1916, Edwin auctioned off most of his livestock and farm equipment and moved just northwest of Tulsa. When Edwin registered for the military draft on Sept 12, 1918 he listed Sperry, Oklahoma as home and farmer as an occupation, but family tales are that he earned money hauling oil drums with a team of horses.
The 1920 census shows the family living on rented farmland off Sperry Road in the Black Dog Township, Osage County. Three children born in Oklahoma are listed on the next census page: Dwight Lavene (1910-1994), Dwayne (1912-1966), and Shelby (1916-2008). The Thompson children are pictured below in 1916.
In 1924, the oldest daughter Fern married Ernest Lee Browning (1896-1957) who lived with his family in Black Dog. The Brownings were also from Illinois and Ernest and his dad Cyrus worked as “pumpers” at oil wells. Fern had one daughter Daphana “Jean” in 1928, and the 1930 Census shows them living in Tulsa with Ernest employed as an automobile mechanic. Ernest joined the U.S. Army and while in Mexico he contracted an illness that eventually affected his brain. He was discharged and the 1940 Census shows him at a Veterans Hospital in Little Rock, Arkansas where he died in 1957.
In 1952, Jean Browning married college sweetheart William “Bill” Eagle, an Air Force officer raised in Oklahoma who later flew F-105 bombing missions over North Vietnam. They lived in a dozen places, including Panama and England where two children were born: William “Chip” and Denise, who had one daughter named Shelby Dakota Eagle. Chip died of hepatitis in his 30s and Denise died from addictions in her 50s. Jean and Bill retired to Universal City near San Antonio, Texas and raised Dakota until Bill passed away in 2016.
In 1928, Dwight Thompson graduated from Sperry High School and in 1931 she met and quickly married a bookkeeper from Tulsa; Howard J. Caldwell. They had three children: Angela “Angie” born in 1932, Carmen born in 1936, and Diana “Jill” born in 1941. The 1940 Census shows sister Bernice lived with them at 1347 N. Elwood in Tulsa and she worked as a secretary for Phillips Petroleum. Howard worked in sales for Armour Meatpacking in Tulsa for several years, transferred to Amarillo, Texas for two years, then to Houston where the family settled down. Bernice married William “Bill” Cline in 1948 and they bought a Phillips bulk plant that distributed petroleum products in Fort Smith, Arkansas. They married in middle age so had no children but maintained close ties with their nieces.
The 1930 Census shows Edwin, Bessie, teenage son Shelby, and their youngest son Hoyt living a few miles closer to Tulsa in Wekiwa with Edwin working in oil fields. By the 1940 Census, Edwin, Bessie and 15-year old Hoyt were in Rio Hondo, Texas with Edwin owning a retail gas station and Bessie a small adjacent café. It is unclear why they moved to the southern tip of Texas, but oil was a new booming business. Son Dwayne married Lorene Coates from Oklahoma and lived with them in Texas during World War II while Hoyt served stateside in the US Army.
After the war, Hoyt married Jo Ann Carter, adopted her son Ronnie, and they had one son Glen, who married and raised two children in Fort Smith, Arkansas. After Jo Ann died at a young age, Hoyt worked for his sister Bernice and Bill until they retired and sold their Phillips Bulk Plant. Hoyt then worked as a truck driver until he retired to live with Bernice in Fort Smith.
Shelby joined the US Army before World War II and was stationed in Hawaii when the war began. He was transferred to Europe and served with the 9th Infantry division during the famous battle for the Remagan Bridge over the Rhine River. A few weeks later, he was hit by a piece of shrapnel in the head and left for dead on the battlefield. A medic from a following unit discovered that he still had a pulse and Shelby was evacuated to England and placed on a ship back home.
His army unit had declared Shelby deceased and a Western Union telegram was sent to his parents. As Shelby recovered, he decided to surprise his family by showing up unannounced, not knowing he had been reported dead. A few days later, a Red Cross lady arrived to deliver his personal effects sent home by his unit and a burial flag for his mother, but was stunned to encounter Shelby. He never held a grudge against the Germans, but told everyone they were better soldiers.
Shelby soon met Ruth Brooks in Tulsa, who was a roommate of his sister Bernice. They married and lived on 12th Street in Tulsa where Shelby got involved in raising show dogs. They needed more space and eventually bought acreage just outside town on 151st in Bixby and built Shelbrook Kennels where they raised Weimariners, Italian Greyhounds, and German Short-haired Pointers. Ruth worked for Oklahoma Natural Gas for over 40 years. After Ruth retired, they moved to Keifer and lived on ten acres with a small kennel. Shelby passed away in late 2006 and Ruth in 2012. They are buried at the Fairview Cemetery in Pryor, Oklahoma.
Edwin, Bessie, and son Dwayne moved back to Oklahoma after the war as problems developed. Dwayne and his wife had become alcoholics and their health declined. They ran a dairy farm until they died in their 50s and are buried in Bixby. Edwin and Bessie divorced after he left her for another woman. Edwin remarried but had no more children as he worked various jobs around Tulsa until he died in 1948. Bessie lived with her daughter Dwight's family for several years. She eventually married William Armstrong and they lived in the Tulsa area until she died in 1969. Great grandparents Edwin and Bessie Thompson, and their daughter Fern Browning, are buried at the Memorial Park Cemetery in Tulsa. (Bessie's middle initial on her headstone is for Thompson)
