"LPC"
(Lindsey Powell Carpenter) Montgomery
(1863-1933) & his family


Photo scanned from page 405 of the book Prairie Fire
published by the Western Oklahoma Historical Society of Elk City, OK


We believe LPC was the third child of Willis Green Montgomery & Elizabeth M. (Carpenter) Montgomery.
He was born in Smith County, Tennesse in 1853.

LPC was married twice, to Sarah Lynn and to Susie Ida Elizabeth Key.


sarah_lynn_headstone.jpg
Photo courtesy of Lori Deuerling, Bedford, TX
Photo taken by [Unknown] at [Unknown] in May of 1962		 WIFE #1 = Sarah Lynn (1859-1888)
MARRIED: April 27, 1876 in Cooke County, Texas

Children =
1 - Ione Elizabeth (1877-1966)
2 - Mary Francis (1879-1966)
3 - Tom (?-?)
4 - Lindsey Allen (1886-1964)

We believe the markings on her tombstone read:

SARAH MONTGOMERY
Born April 17, 1859
Died December 14, 1888

"WEEP NOT MY FRIENDS
AND KINDRED DEAR
I'M NOT DEAD BUT
SLEEPING HERE
REPENT AT ONCE MAKE
NO DELAY OUR SAVIOR
CALLS WE MUST OBEY"



lpc_and_suzie_young.jpg WIFE #2 = Suzanne Ida Elizabeth Key
MARRIED: October 9, 1890 in Little River County, Arkansas

Children =
1 - Fannie C. (1891-1906)
2 - Samuel Albert (1894-1975)
3 - Lucy Jane (1897-1982)
4 - Susie Alice (1900-1989)
5 - Joseph Franklin (1904-1984) ~ my grandfather


lpc_wedding_cert_joined.jpg

We have found two historical publications which chronicle portions of LPC's life and the life of his family:

1) [From an unidentified biographical book, page 404, presumably about Oklahoma families):

"In late 1894, Lindsey Powell Carpenter (L.P.C.) and Susie Elizabeth Montgomery, with five children: Tom, Allen, Ione, Fannie, and Sam, started from Greenville, Texas for Indian Territory. They loaded their few belongings in a covered wagon and made a trail by fording all the streams, including the Red River, to a claim northwest of Foss [Oklahoma], near Foss Lake, where L.P.C.'s mother had made the run a few years earlier, and staked a claim. The family, along with grandma, her son, Willie, and daughter, Margaret, lived in a half-dugout in the Edwardsville community.

The youngest child, Samuel Albert, was four months of age when the family arrived at Christmas time, to make Oklahoma their home. A few years later, they built a frame house, when the lumber was available. Three additional children were born to the Montgomerys: Lucy, Mrs. Parven Hickey of Cheyenne, Oklahoma; Alice, Mrs. John Marcum of Sayre, Oklahoma; and Joe Montgomery of Visalia, California.

The Montgomery children attended school at Pumpkin Ridge, a small schoolhouse, northwest of Foss, in the early days of Oklahoma, where L.P.C. was president of the School Board.

In 1912, the Montgomerys and their four children, who were living at home, moved to Sayre, Oklahoma."

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2) [From a biography written by Alice Montgomery, from "Prairie Fire", published by the Western Oklahoma Historical Society of Elk City, OK, page 405]

"Lindsay was first married to a Lynn girl, who died in child birth. To this union were born: Ione, Mary, Tom and Allen. He was married to Susie Key in 1890, and to this union were born: Fannie, Sam, Lucy, Alice, and Joe.

Our family lived in a half dugout until 1899, when my father went to Weatherford, which is a long journey, since the only transportation was by wagon, and brought back lumber and built a two-room house. It seemed large to them after having lived in the dugout. I remember the dugout well, as that was where my father took us children when we needed discipline.

We raised cattle on the open range and sometimes my father gathered cattle as far west as Busch, which is now Elk City.

Some of our early day neighbors were: the Kilmartins, Armstrongs, Whites, McLaughlins, Fulwiders, Kennys, Davises, Duncans, and the Bowmans. I don't know how we could have survived without our neighbors, as doctors were scarce and they were always there when sickness struck.

John Kenny owned a steam-powered threshing machine and all the neighbors helped to get the crops in. " They had a beef club, as there was no place or money to buy meat, and each family took a quarter of beef and butchered hogs and hung them in the smoke house, which would last through the winter.
The first death in our family after coming to Oklahoma was Fannie, who died in 1906 at the age of 15 with typhoid fever."


ava_key_to_suzie_1910_front.jpg
ava_key_to_suzie_1910.jpg
This postcard was sent to Susie Montgomery
in 1910 by her sister Ava Key.
"My grandmother died in 1911, and after her death, my father became dissatisfied and traded the 160 acres at Foss to Whit Northerin for some land in West Fork, Arkansas, which had a 35 acre apple orchard. Father shipped a car load of apples to Canute that year. In 1912 father traded his land in Arkansas for 160 acres about five miles northwest of Sayre, and raised cattle and broom corn. He later ran the KY Wagon Yard in Sayre. He traded the wagon yard for 320 acres northwest of Rankin, which was south of where Reydon is now located.

Mother canned fruit and vegetables and we raised almost all our food. We considered it a treat to get a lump of brown sugar, as we didn't have candy, except at Christmas, and then it was very little, but we were happy to get as much as we did.

Times were hard but we enjoyed our growing up and our love for each other, and our trust in God led us through those hard times.

Lindsay (L.P.C.) Montgomery died in Elk City in 1933 at the age of 79. Susie Montgomery died in 1949 at the age of 87. Sam Montgomery, my oldest brother, died in September 1975. Lucy Montgomery Hickey, my sister, lives in Cheyenne; Joe Montgomery, my youngest brother, lives in California; and I, Alice Montgomery Marcum, live in Sayre. Lucy, Joe and I are the only living children of L.P.C. Montgomery."

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susie_ida_key_and_lpc_montgomery.jpg
Photo contributed by Lori Deuerling, Bedford, TX		 The photo to the left is of LPC and three unidentified women.

We believe the small woman on the far left may be LPC's daughter Mary Francis Montgomery.....

The woman in the middle may be another of LPC's daughters, Ione Elizabeth Montgomery.....

The woman next to LPC may be his second wife Suzie Key.

Suzanne Ida Elizabeth (Key) Montgomery was born on Christmas Eve in 1861. It is thought she was born in Macon County, Tennesse. Census records confirm she was born in Tennessee, but we have not been able to confirm the county or city. She was the daughter of Thomas & Sarah J. (Mitchell) Key.

tintype_suzie_and_baby.jpg Photo scanned from original tin-type
photo courtesy of Mrs. Hester Hickey
of Reydon, OK		 These wonderful tin-type photos of Susie shows her with a baby (left), possibly William Pottinger, her first and only child with her first husband, Charles A. Pottinger.

The tin-type on the right shows Susie in 1877, when she was 15 years of age, the year she married Charles Pottinger. She went on to marry LPC Montgomery in 1890.		 sus_key.bmp Photo scanned from original tin-type
photo courtesy of Mrs. Hester Hickey
of Reydon, OK
suzies_last_will_and_testament.jpg The note at left was found in one of Suzie Montgomery's old purses long after her death. She apparently wrote it in 1940, and tucked it in her purse in case something should happen to her. In the note, which is in effect, her Last Will & Testament, she indicates that all her money is in the purse and it should be used for she and LPC's headstone. Any money left over was to be used to pay her debts, and any money left over after that should be divided among her children.

The wonderful photo at right (contributed by Lucille English of Williams, CA) is of Susie in 1943, just six years before her death. 		susie_key_montgomery_1943.jpg

Census records show that LPC and Susie were living with their daughter Lucy and her husband J.L. Hickey in Elk City, Oklahoma in 1930.

Three years later, LPC passed away at the age of 79.
Susie followed 16 years later, in 1949, at the age of 87.

They were buried side-by-side in Edwardsville, Oklahoma, and when the Foss Dam was constructed, the Edwardsville cemetery was relocated to the cemetery in Canute, Oklahoma.


lpc_group.jpg
Photo taken by Marilyn Montgomery in 1998		 lpc_head.jpg
Photo taken by Marilyn Montgomery in 1998

The photos above show the family group of (l to r) Elizabeth (Carpenter) Montgomery's headstone, Susie & LPC's headstone, and Fannie Montgomery's headstone, all located in the Edwardsville section of the Canute, Oklahoma Cemetery.



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