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Martha Marries Fred LeBoucMartha Mandana "Manda" Smart married Alphonse "Fred" LeBouc (sounds like "la buck") in 1898 in Oklahoma. Martha was 29 and Fred was 32. |
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When Alphonse "Fred" LeBouc was about 8-10 years old (and still living in France) his family was poor and lived in the country. One time the rich relatives came from Paris for a visit. Fred's family didn't want them to think they were so poor so they barbecued a goat which impressed their rich relatives Being kids, they went out and got the goat skin, put it on a pole and show the relatives. The relatives never return for another visit.
Fred had emigrated from France around 1882, at the age of sixteen. He sailed to America, paying his passage by taking care of some Englishman's horses. He couldn't speak English and he had quite a time until he met a man on the ship--the famous Mark Twain, who helped him learn more English.
From New York, he took the horses to a ranch in the Black Hills of South Dakota. He lived and worked there until the land rush of Oklahoma.
When Mr. LeBouc came to Clinton, he was a tired, hungry boy. Pete Kenney and Lou Covin took him in and helped him learn English. They spent the first winter among the Indians on the Washita River.
Martha M. Smart (also LeBoue) received a patent on 160 acres on March 1, 1904 a via a State Volume Patent OK1290__.097 Doc. No. 689 Misc. Doc. No. 12733. BLM Record This is the quarter-section just east of Margaret's original homestead on the Washita River west of Clinton, OK. Map
December 8, 1905 : Sold Sect. 14 NW in range 18 to her brother, George.
1912 Cyclone/TornadoMartha and Fred homesteaded one-half mile north and six miles west of Clinton. In 1912 they moved to another farm that was two miles north and one mile east of Elk City. On the 100-acre farm, they raised cotton, feed for the milk cows, and horses. They also had a big orchard and a lot of grape vines. That year, a cyclone turned their house on its side (see picture). |
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They had storage houses equipped with shelves and stoves for the cold weather. In early spring, 250 bushels of small potatoes were planted in three beds to produce slips for the planting of the thirty acres. They sold some 300,000 slips to neighbors, stores in Elk City, and nearby towns.
As soon as the potatoes were large enough, they were put on the market. Paul LeBouc, the son, made daily trips with his truck, supplying the grocery stores in Elk City, Clinton, Hammon, Sayre, Texoma, Sweetwater, and other places.
A lister was used to throw the potatoes out of the ground and required from twelve to fifteen men to keep up with it, fill the baskets, and put them in the trucks to be taken to the storage rooms where they were placed on shelves where they sat until marketed during the winter and into summer. During the coldest days a fire was kept in the stoves to regulate the temperature. The potatoes were cured in fine shape.
Last Known TrailsFred LeBouc died in 1936. Martha died in 1956 and is buried in Port Cemetery. According to Paulett Burnett, 2008, Fred and Martha had one boy and one girl--twelve years apart--Paul A. LeBouc and Jessie P. LeBouc. They rode a horse to school at Harris. |
Jessie never married and died in Elk City, OK.
Paul married Eula Mills in 1932 in Erick, OK and built their home on the land close to Fred and Martha and helped with the farming.
They had one daughter Janice LeBouc born in 1937 in Elk City, OK. Janice married Pled Burnett in 1960 and set up home in the Elk City, OK area. Janice had two boys Paul and Buford and one daughter Paulett.
Paul Burnett died in 2004 in Oklahoma City, OK. Buford Burnett has two twin daughters Cynthia & Shelbi Burnett born in 1993 he still lives in the Elk City, OK area. Paulett Burnett lives in Yukon, OK.
