William (Willy) Joseph SCHONES
Buried: Holy Family in Canute, Oklahoma
Married: November 26, 1912 at St. Francis in Canute, Oklahoma
Doratha Henrietta KAMPHAUS
Buried: Holy Family in Canute, Oklahoma
Stories told by Grandpa Schones and Grandma to Sister Ursala Schones in 1978:
Grandpa moved to Indian Territory (before it was Oklahoma) in December 1897. They came by train from Iowa to Fort El Reno (El Reno Oklahoma) and then his dad picked him up and they traveled by wagon to south of what is now Canute, Oklahoma. They lived in an earth dugout until they could build the one room house that they eventually lived in. This was about 2 miles south and 2 miles east of Canute. His dad cut wood and sold as fence post and such to make money. He also worked in Okarche, Oklahoma for a while. Grandpa said he was barefoot mostly year round and had one pair of pants and one shirt. He washed his pants and shirt in the creek when they got dirty. The whole family lived in the one room house. They had tree stumps for chairs and one small window. Meals were mostly cornmeal and coffee. They ground their own corn to make the cornmeal and eventually got a cow and had milk. They had to take the wagon to El Reno, about 80 miles with no bridges, for groceries. This took 4 days one way. Grandpa was around 18 before he went to school at Page and Novice. He got embarrassed when there was a younger girl there in the same grade he was in and did not attend much. Grandma tells of the musicians at the wedding getting drunk and the fiddle players had a little much and the bow of the fiddle went under the strings. Grandpa also played the fiddle and guitar at dances after they were married.
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