"A History of Beaver County Pioneer Families," published in 1970 by the Beaver County (Oklahoma) Historical Society, contains the following article about Oklahoma pioneer Aaron Martin Pritchard written by his daughter, Mary Lee Husted.

Aaron Martin Pritchard (whose direct ancestors were John Anderson, James Logan, Joshua, Obediah Jr, Prichard, Samuel, and Obediah) was born 22 Nov 1876 in Pursley, TX, and died 7 May 1968 in Tulare, CA. He married Emma Christine Atkins, daughter of Zachariah Taylor Atkins and Savannah T Pearce, on 16 Nov 1898 in Belton, TX.

AARON MARTIN PRITCHARD

Aaron Martin Pritchard and wife, Emma Atkins, left their home in Texas and settled in Beaver County. Daddy wanted land he could claim for his very own. The family originally came from Georgia with ancestry well spiced. My grandmother's side was French and Scottish; my daddy's side consisted of Jewish, Swedish, Indian, English, and Irish. I've been told some of my people came over on the Mayflower. Daddy filed in November 1905 and brought our family out in December 1905. We started to Beaver County in a covered wagon, driving two horses and leading one. A rest stop was made at Mobeetie, Texas, where the horses were given their first real feed of oats. Too much was given to one horse. The family was given an old mule to replace the horse that died. The mule had to be pushed up the hill, he was so poor. Not being able to see timber on the prairies, Mama asked, "What do we burn? There is no fire wood to cook with." Daddy pointed out the white piles on the ground and said those would do fine. Mama was ready to turn back. She said, "I'll take my part, and you take yours," but they both came on.

We lived in the covered wagon until a cellar was dug. Daddy said the only way one could tell that anyone else lived around was to see the white smoke rising out of the ground. The cow chips made a white smoke.

My brothers and sisters were Betty Cordelia, Ella Mae, Thomas Alfred, Aaron Omega, George Franklin, and Lloyd Raymond. Betty Cordelia was born in Beaver County and married Cyril Hickey; George Franklin was born in Beaver County and married Eula McClanahan; Aaron Omega married Willa Mae Scrivner Bean; Lloyd married Louisa Evans. I married Elmer Husted, son of Arthur Husted, at Three Forks, Bell, Texas, in 1919. Elmer bought a relinquishment from Mrs. Langfort.

My daddy loved to play the violin, and my mother played the organ. They furnished music at parties, along with the Couch boys, Harry Kirton, and Oscar Learlie.

My daddy was a farmer and dug wells to make a living. During this time I worked for Rod and Melissa Hinney, when their second baby was born, and also for C. J. Borden, Charley Holt, Mr. and Mrs. McKim, Walter Blask, and for the Carsons in the hotel at Liberal.

During the dirty thirties people fed chopped soap weed (Yucca) roots to their cattle, but they soon learned not to feed the soap weed alone. It had to be mixed with cottonseed meal or the cattle would get weak and go down. The Indians had boiled the soap weed leaves and drank the bitter juice for rheumatism.

Women in the neighborhood formed clubs. Each woman would take a covered dish and gather in different homes for quilting. There were not very many sewing machines, so some would cut out material while others would use a sewing machine, if available, or sew by hand.

Mrs. Dawson, Mrs. Pritchard, and Mrs. Bill Blaylosk made wild plum butter and put it and rhubarb in crock jars and covered with sealing wax. They, like everyone else, made their own soap. We also made hominy by putting the corn in a crock jar with lye and soaked it overnight. It was washed several times, then cooked in a black iron kettle. Then it was sealed with melted lard (grease), then covered with newspaper and stored for the winter months.

During the wintertime the women tried to dress warmer by quilting pieces of cotton onto their petticoats.