Thursday January 27, 2000

Introduction

WILLIAM WALTER DRIGGS and ERIC CHARLES HINDORFF

-THEIR QUIVERS ARE FULL OF ARROWS-

"Children are an heritage - As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man, so are children of the youth. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them - they shall not be ashamed"...King David.

IOWA PIONEERS of the 1880s

DRIGGS / HINDORFF:

Information:

DRIGGS:

My father's DRIGGS family from Coon Rapids, Iowa, was among those who participated in one of the Historic and famous Oklahoma Land Runs. The first Run was in 1889, at Guthrie, OK., which became the first State Capitol. There were three more land runs in 1891, 1892 and 1893. My DRIGGS family made the Run of 1891, which commenced at Ingalls, Oklahoma along the northern boundaries of the Cimarron River. At the firing of the gun, participants on horses, in wagons or buggies, and even on foot ran to grab land and make their claim under the Provision of the Homestead Act. Particularly conspicuous, as recorded by newspaper journalists, was the number of women who participated in these Land Runs, who walked, rode a horse or drove a spring-board wagon without the help of a man. Many toted guns and rifles, aimed at keeping their claim, no matter the cost. Pressured by special interest groups & the problems of lawlessness in the Indian Territory, millions of acres of former Indian Reservation Lands were given away to white settlers as a means of quickly settling "the Government's affairs" with the Indian tribes in Oklahoma Indian Territory. It is seen as one of the greatest events in the 19th century, and was photographed & recorded by journalists from all over the globe. My Great-Great-Grandfather & mother, JOHN HAMILTON & LOUCINDA JOSEPHINE (GOULD) DRIGGS and two of their adult sons participated in Run. The claim had to be registered back in Ingalls after the Race. Some people camped out in secret along the Cimarron river or at the home of nearby Ripley residents, to get a jump on the gun. The gun was set to be fired at a specific time and when the time had arrived, these "Sooners" as they were called, took off to claim the piece of land that they had scouted out before the race. It was quite a surprise for those participants, who after leaving Ingalls & managing to get ahead of others, to come upon folks sitting in front of their tents, their camps set up and even a campfire going with food cooking, their rifles resting upon their laps, a warning for any who might challenge their claim to the land they had staked out.

My Great-Grandmother, MATILDA A. NIMROD) DRIGGS, wife of WILLIAM ALBERT DRIGGS, wrote a brief story about her experiences on the trip from Burden, Kansas south to their new homestead on the plains of Oklahoma Territory, as a newly wed couple. She wrote about their life those first years, chopping out a life in the Prairie sod, living in a "dug out" home and existing only on corn & sweet potatoes the first 3 years, to near starvation. The prairies had been set on fire before the 1992 Run to drive out any who attempted to sneak in before hand. There are many stories about these grass fires on the plains that filled the air with thick clouds of choking smoke and burned for weeks. She relates of her first experience with a "Cyclone" when they were camped out on the Cimarron Strip in their covered wagon enroute to Cushing.

Four children were born to them on that little homestead, one of which was my Grandfather, WILLIAM WALTER DRIGGS. Although brief, through her precious German & Pioneer dialect & her sincere attempt to reclaim the events of those earlier times, we can gain new appreciation & respect for them in all that they did accomplish in the face of tremendous hardship and deprivation of those early years in Oklahoma Territory.

NOTE: This web site is dedicated to my Driggs ancestry, but most especially to my father. It will include stories, journals & photos of the Early Settlement Years around Cushing, Oklahoma, and a History of OKLAHOMA, Land of the Red Earth. Pedigree charts & family group records of my Oklahoma Pioneer Families, as well as many other ancestors & relatives can be seen here.

SOURCES: Cemetery markers & records, Census, Military Records, Veteran Archives, Oklahoma Historical Records, Land records, Letters, Obituaries, DRIGGS Publications (a series of "Driggs in America" family books), LDS Family History Records, IGI, written family memoirs and from interviews with living relatives, including my Grandfather & Father, Aunts and Cousins. Special acknowledgements for individual contributions will be cited.

HINDORFF:

My mother's HINDORFF family was among the early pioneers who settled California in 1880s. PER GUSTAV & NANCY LEANORE (VAUGHN - HINDORFF lived in Lewis, Iowa where their first two children were born: one of these first two was my grandfather, ERIC CHARLES HINDORFF. Shortly after Eric was born, the family headed West for California, The jumping-off place was Council Bluffs. They traveled West by means of the Transcontinental RR, crossing the plains and mountains that were still wild and unspoiled. Both Gustav & Leanore kept a journal of the trip and recorded the scenes viewed from the train windows and events of the trip; of places they visited when the train stopped at remote depots along the way, to refuel, do repairs, drop & collect the mail, or load and unload passengers. This was not the leisure train ride of today - there were many natural disasters and hazards of the RR in those days, and no rescue teams or medical help between towns for hundreds of miles. The compartments were cramp spaces and food was what you brought along. It must have been quite an ordeal with two small babies in tow. Their diaries, vignettes of the trip, were quick notes, describing the scenery and places they saw and the events that took place as they traveled along. They are vestiges of my great-grandparents in that by-gone era of westward migration and a their perspective of the untamed America they knew in the 1880s.

They settled in the old Spanish village of Temecula, California, then mostly just a stage & railroad stop between the San Bernardino 35 miles north and San Diego, about 50 miles to the south. "Gus" secured work in a harness shop for a Mr. Hind and they became an important addition to the small community. Another child was born to the happy couple while they were in Temecula. An abandoned homestead of 120 acres in the beautiful little valley of Rainbow located 13 miles south became the Hindorff Ranch. Gus & Leanore applied for Homestead rights and began right away to "prove up" the land & secure their right of ownership. It must have seemed to them just then, to be a beautiful beginning to a bright future for the Hindorff family.

"Per Gustav Hindorff, (may his tribe increase), awoke one night from a deep dream of peace...but alas! It was only a dream..."

NOTE: This web site is also dedicated to my Hindorff ancestry and to my Mother and Grandmother. From the many stories I heard while growing up in a rural community of family, hearing the tales, anecdotes, and legends of my fore families.

SOURCES: Cemetery markers & records, Census, military, CALIFORNIA Historical Records, Land records, HINDORFF/VAUGHN & LAMB/GIRD Family Records, which includes a treasury of Family Stories & Anecdotes, Family Bibles, Letters, Land Records, Old Family Documents, Immigration records, Naturalization Papers, Military Archives, Church Archives, Veteran Records, Marriage Records, LDS Family History Records, IGI, written family memoirs and from interviews with living relatives, including my Great-Grandmother, Grandfather, Grandmother, Grand Aunts, my Mother and Aunts and Cousins. Special acknowledgements for individual contributions will be cited.

We are some of the descendants of these two Iowa Pioneer Families: a handful of arrows from the quivers of
William Walter DRIGGS & Eric Charles HINDORFF
- "We are not ashamed".

Teddie Anne : [email protected]