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Ora Elmer Clark was born in Sante Fe, KS
June 22, 1886. Sante Fe had just been founded and was the county seat of Haskell county.
He was born in a sod dugout, as this was the homestead that John Clark had claimed just 6
months earlier during his blizzard trek from Lincoln county. (See accompanying story for
John Clark) Sante Fe never did grow very large and by 1910 the population was only 150.
The town does not exist now, with a cattle feed lot standing where it used to be, just
south of Sublette on highway 83. was born in Sante Fe, KS
June 22, 1886.
Ora was the first of 4 children of John & Ada Clark. Very little is
know of his early years. Pictures of him at the Drury school show him as an early
teeen-ager. He told stories of him and his sister Mabel ice skating to the Drury School on
the frozen Chikaskia River. As a young man, probably in his teens, Ora went to live with
Allen & Ada Baggett in Braman, OK. Evidently Ora and his Dad did not get along very
well, and Allen raised him through this period.
Maggie Loudiska Struble was born in
Caldwell, KS, March 6, 1891 to Jacob and Nancy Struble. She was the 11th and youngest.
Four of the Struble children died at early ages and none were able to attend school past
grade school as they were needed to help out with the work.
Maggie was a beautiful young woman with thick, long black hair, usually
worn up in some manner. Early pictures of her and Ora during dating times, make for quite
handsome images.
Before they were married, Ora followed the wheat harvest north and west,
going as far as Walla Walla, Washington. He faithfully sent many postcards to Maggie
during this time. However, Ora was not much for words. Most of the postcards were
addressed to her and only his name signed.
Ora & Maggie were married in Caldwell, KS, then moved to Wichita for
a short period of time before returning to Caldwell. Their first house was a small place
at what is now West St. and McCarthur where he farmed 80 acres. This was not far from
where his father John lived.
He would also do "day work", working on the Kress building,
Broadview hotel and others. He would hire out himself and his wagon and team of horses as
a dump truck when the foundations and basements of these buildings were being dug. The
wagon was loaded by hand with shovels.
While Maggie had little education, she kept extensive diaries of not
only major events, but everyday happenings on the farm. Before she kept actual diary
books, she would write on the calendar each day what happened, even such items as when a
calf was born and the particulars of it. Other interesting entries included noting the day
some men came to the farm to "witch" for water and the notation on January 21,
1949 that electricity was finally installed and turned on in their house. She was a devout
collector also. Virtually every letter, postcard, newspaper article, announcement or other
items that she received, she saved. Approximately 100 early postcards, some from the turn
of the century are preserved.
Ora and Maggie had eight children, with Gladys being their first born
and only daughter. All the children were born at home. In 1923, twin boys were born, Merle
& Berle. In the fall of 1929, Berle came down with diphtheria. The family was
essentially quarantined, with neighbors bringing essential food to the edge of the farm,
where family members would then pick it up. Berle died on October 6. There was no other
occurrence of diphtheria in the community. The doctor said he was probably born with it,
and it finally developed into the fatal disease.
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