Honoring our Heritage

7/3/2016

They raised a passel of ornery young'ns who passed on generations of hard working & spry individuals. The Hennigh family endured the Dust Bowl & Great Depression and descendants still farm the same land.

Darrouzett, Texas has been hosting the annual "Deutsches Fest" since the year I was born, 1972. As part of the festivities this year, my dad's family was honored as a "Heritage Family". I was thrilled to participate in the parade with a host of distant cousins and some great-aunts. I lost track of where everyone landed on the family tree with 6 or 7 generations of people buzzing around! We had a lot of fun though. We decorated our old flatbed trailer and two pickups and packed them full of newly acquainted family members. Most of my children escaped the throng by riding in a horse drawn wagon instead. (Little traitors...) We proudly flew the colors of our God Blessed United States of America through the tiny town.

Don't quote me on all this but... Once upon a time, after the Homestead Act finally hit Cimarron Territory and squatters were allowed to file claims on the land they were on... Two brothers, George & Charlie Hennigh came from Pennsylvania and bought homesteads. They sent for their families (or maybe bought mail-order brides). These two fellers were blessed to have picked land next to a creek with good water. They raised a passel of ornery young'ns who passed on generations of hard working & spry individuals. The Hennigh family endured the Dust Bowl & Great Depression and descendants still farm the same land.

I think they picked some of the most beautiful land in Cimarron Territory. It is also some of the most interesting. Stories of outlaws and ghost towns abound.

Some of the facts I find interesting:

Eva was 8 years younger than George. He was born 1/10/1871 & she was born 6/27/1879.
They had 5 children (that I know of) Roy in 1898, Ray in 1903, Clinton in 1906 (my great-grandfather), Emma & Fannie
My great-grandfather Clinton and his wife Bessie (Baxter) also had 5 children.

I think they picked some of the most beautiful land in Cimarron Territory. It is also some of the most interesting. Stories of outlaws and ghost towns abound. If you catch the farmers and ranchers out here in the right mood, they'll share tales passed down through the generations. After spending a little time with some of women this weekend, I'd really like to hear more of the women's perspective.

I hope you all are having a wonderful Independence Day weekend! To all veterans and soldiers in uniform, Thank You for your service to our country. For those of you outside of the USA, please pray for us. We are in bad trouble and need the LORD.

God bless you all!

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5 Comments

Phyllis Sather link

7/4/2016 10:25:07 am

Wow - quite a heritage.

Dawnita link

7/6/2016 03:49:29 pm

Yes. I'd love to go back and visit some of these ladies who have more information. I need to try and make time to do that this year...

Marilyn

7/6/2016 03:08:45 pm

The children were Fannie, Roy, Clinton, Emma, Ray, Max, and Erma and I think some that died as infants. The two brothers came to Oklahoma from Nebraska. They had both settled land in Nebraska so when they came to Oklahoma, George and Charlie switched middle names so they could homestead again. This story was told by Wayne's grandmother, Fannie, who was the oldest. George and Eva and Susan and Charles and some children are buried in the Kiowa Cemetery .

Dawnita link

7/6/2016 03:28:42 pm

Thank you Marilyn! I did find the Kiowa Cemetery online & was going off that too, but wasn't sure where everyone fit. It's so much fun to learn these things! When I'm done homeschooling, I really want to get into genealogy. It's so interesting...

Brenda Hennigh

4/15/2017 12:22:01 am

Hi Dawnita,
In a moment of boredom, I entered my maiden name into the search bar on Pinterest and found your page. My grandfather was Lloyd Hennigh (b. 1898 in Oklahoma). His twin sister was Lottie Hagan of Laverne, OK. My dad (Keith) was born in Las Vegas, NM and spent time in Darrouzette as a child during the Great Depression. Anyway, Hennigh (with that spelling) is kind of rare, so I just thought it was interesting to see your blog. We must be cousins of some sort!

Honoring our Heritage

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