Oklahoma Family Tree Stories
This beautiful sculpture of three redbud trees is located just outside the Eleanor and John Kirkpatrick Research Center in the Oklahoma History Center. Each leaf of the Oklahoma Family Tree memorializes an Oklahoma family with the family surname, first name(s), and the town or county where they lived. In addition, a short family history is preserved in the digital family history book at the base of the tree. Sponsoring a leaf is a special way to recognize your family history and benefit future generations at the same time. To find out how to honor your own family with a leaf visit the Oklahoma Family Tree Project page.
Calhoun Family
Family Tree Leaf
Calhoun, Ann (Smith) & Howard
Ninnekah, Grady County
Howard Earnest and Ann (Smith) Calhoun came to Ninnekah, Grady County, Oklahoma, in the 1920s as children. They were married in 1940 and, except for a brief stay in Chickasha, spent their lives on a farm east of town.
Howard was born to Emory Etheal “E. E.” and Sarah Catherine “Kate” (Scott) Calhoun on February 17, 1909, in Smyth County, Virginia, home to their families for generations. His parents brought him by train to Caddo County, Oklahoma, where they joined Kate’s two brothers, Frank and Jim Scott, in the Alfalfa area. Sarah’s widowed mother, Mary Virginia (Nelson) Scott, and her two younger brothers, John and Wiley, sold the ancestral home in Virginia and joined the family in 1910. E. E. and Kate bought a farm in the area southeast of Ninnekah in 1920. By the age of nine, Howard was doing his part on the farm by driving a horse-drawn plow.
Ann was born to James Allen and Della Mattie (Hendrix) Smith on July 14, 1917, north of Gracemont in Caddo County. Her father was born at Ennis, Texas. His father, James Lycurgus D. “Babe” Smith, claimed a homestead in Pottawatomie County in 1896. After his death in 1901, his widow Rachel Grace Milraney Smith Maveety claimed her own homestead. She was married for a second time in 1902 to William Bobo Maveety in Oklahoma City.
Della’s parents, Samuel R. G. and Mary Caroline (Rushing) Hendrix, also came from Texas. They settled in 1900 in the Dutton-Naples area east of Chickasha in the Chickasaw Nation. The four-year-old Della became an Oklahoman against her will. She had never seen a train until the smoking, noisy monster roared into the train station in DeLeon, Texas. She turned and ran as fast as her little legs would go. Her older siblings had to chase her down to board the train to Indian Territory.
They later moved north of Gracemont in Caddo County where her father, who did not have the use of one leg and had an arm amputated following a cotton gin accident, farmed until he went into the small-town telephone business in Gracemont. Other family members followed him into the telephone business in Gracemont, Lenepah, and Ninnekah.
After they acquired the Ninnekah Telephone Office in the 1920s, J. A. and Della Smith moved to Ninnekah with their four living children. Della and the girls Ann and “Babe,” operated the switchboard in their home. J. A. and his sons Raymond and Gerome took care of the lines and installed wall phones.
Following in the footsteps of their mother in Virginia, Howard and his sister, Ruth, attended colleges and became teachers. Howard began his higher education at Cameron University and continued his studies at other institutions, including Southwestern, University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma State University, and Central State Teachers College (later, Central Oklahoma State University). He also took night classes at Oklahoma College for Women and was a member of Central State’s baseball team.
Howard began teaching in Caddo County in small, country schools. He and his sister attended summer classes at Central State, where they both received Bachelor’s degrees. Some of his first students were older than he was. He taught four grades, served as principal, coached, and built playground equipment. He taught at most of Grady County’s schools, including Bradley, Amber-Pocasset, Ninnekah, Union Hill, Alex, and Pioneer. His classes included grade school, agriculture, social studies, and science, and he did double duty as an enthusiastic basketball and baseball coach.
Ann also graduated from Ninnekah High School and, following her love of home economics, studied at Oklahoma College for Women. Her father’s health compelled her to return home to help with the telephone office. She was an enthusiastic member of the Home Demonstration Club for more than sixty years, volunteered for the 4-H Club as a judge and fair superintendent, and helped members with their exhibits. She helped area youth receive college scholarships as the Farmers Union youth leader.
Howard and Ann were married on August 10, 1940, in the church parsonage across the street from the Ninnekah Methodist Church. Their church remained central to them for the rest of their lives. They embraced farm life in the Ninnekah area and raised Herefords, alfalfa, wheat, and other small grains. Early in their marriage, they raised broomcorn and cotton. In addition to raising field crops, Howard always took pride in his large garden. Ann canned and froze their vegetables.
Howard’s brother, James Wiley “J. W.,” also farmed in the Ninnekah area with their father, E. E. Another brother, Wade Louis, went to Texas, where he died in 1965. His sister, Ruth, was a math teacher for many years at Chickasha Junior High School.
The couple was active in the United Methodist Church, the school, the Farmers Union, the Red Cross, and other causes. Howard died on May 6, 1996, in Chickasha. Ann died at Ninnekah on June 27, 2004. They are buried in the Ninnekah Cemetery. Their family included two children and four grandchildren.
