PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL
RECORD OF OKLAHOMA
HENDERSON FRAME

One of the veterans of the Civil war, was born in Montgomery count, Ill., in 1844, a son of Robert & Serena [McCaslin] Frame.  The father was a native of Ohio, and came to Illinois in an early day, accompanied by his father. He took up land in Montgomery county, and continued to devote his attention to its cultivation, through by trade he was a carpenter. Later in life, he removed to Crawford county, Kans., where his widow is yet living.  She was born in 1822, Kentucky and her father took up his abode in Montgomery county, Ill. At about the same time as did the Frame family.

At the age of eighteen years Henderson Frame responded to his county’s call for loyal defenders, and enlisted for one hundred days, in Company H, One Hundred and Forty-third Illinois Infantry.  When his time had expired, the young soldier again volunteered in the ranks, and until the close of the long, weary war served in Company G, Third Illinois Cavalry, much of the time being on detached duty.  Nor did this finish his army career, for the Indians on the western frontier were proving so troublesome that it became necessary for the government to quell their rebellion, and Mr. Frame was on  of the sturdy young men called into requisition. With his regiment he went to the Dakotas where the Sioux Indians were on the war-path, and for some time he served in that region, with his headquarters at Fort Snelling.

Resuming his interrupted business life, Mr. Frame continued to reside in Illinois until 1871, when he located to Crawford county, Kans., and at the end of eighteen months went to Sumner county, same state.  There he was actively occupied in agricultural labors until 1880, when he started from the northern line of this territory and made the race for a claim.  Securing one in the southeastern part of section 34, township 18, range 2, he proceeded to improve the property and planted a fine orchard, which was bearing excellent harvests at the time that he disposed of the farm, about two years ago.  Then, coming to Perkins, Payne county, he purchased a livery stable, of which he is yet the proprietor.  He has taken an interested part in the upbuilding of this town, and resides in an attractive modern house, which he built after coming here.

On the 1st of April, 1868, Mr. Frame married Mildred A., daughter of Stanford and Ann Robertson of Montgomery county, Ill.  They became the parents of nine children, all of whom are living, thought the devoted wife and mother was called to the silent land in 1890.  Five years later Mr. Frame, married Mrs. Mary Dickey of this territory, and one child, Blanche, blesses their union.

In national elections Mr. Frame has always voted for Republican nominees.  Fraternally he is an honored member of the Grand Army of the Republic.  He also is affiliated with the Odd Fellows, and was one of the first members of the order here to take steps toward a local organization.  With his brethren he was interested in the building of a substantial brick and stone structure, in which the lodge is to have quarters.

Portrait and Biographical Record of Oklahoma (Chicago: Chapman Publishing Co., 1901), 919.

Transcribed by Mary Charles Dodd Hull, February 1999.


 

Following submitted by Leona Latham-Simonini <leesim@psln.com>  Feb 1999
Lake Almanor Peninsula, California, Great Great Granddaughter of Henderson Frame 

Henderson Frame was born on November 4, 1844 in Montgomery Co., Illinois. He was the oldest child of Robert T. Frame and Cyrena Isabella McCaslin, who were the parents of  eight children.  His younger years were spent on a farm in Montgomery County, Illinois.

In 1864 at the age of 19, he responded to President Lincoln's call for Loyal Defenders and enlisted for 100 days in Company "H", 143rd Illinois Infantry Division. This division was organized at Mattoon, Coles County, Illinois. He enlisted as a Private on May 5, 1864 and was mustered in on June 11, 1864. The infantry then moved to Memphis, Tennessee, District of West Tennessee. Company H transferred tothe 3rd Brigade on July 12, 1864. Duty was at Memphis, Tennessee until July 27. They then moved to Helena, Arkansas, District of Eastern Arkansas, July 27-28 and duty there until September 10, 1864. He mustered out on September 26, 1864, and returned home.

Then on February 15, 1865 Henderson Frame, re-enlisted, as a Private at Cotton Hill in the 3rd (Consolidated) Cavalry, Company G. Service in February at Gravely Springs, Alabama, then in May to Eastport, Mississippi, then in May moved to St. Louis, then in June to St. Paul, Minnesota, then July 4 - October 1, operations against Indians in Minnesota and Dakota. The Sioux Indians were on the War-Path and they were sent to quell the rebellion. He was mustered out on October 10, 1865, at Camp Butler, Illinois.

He served his country well-- though small of stature. The last Division he was in was made up of volunteers from the states of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, and Wisconsin.

After his army service he resumed his life in Illinois, where Henderson met and married Mildred Robertson, in 1868. They later moved to Crawford Co., Kansas and finally settled near Wellington, Sumner County, Kansas in 1872. Henderson had cattle on the prairie land around there, and ran cattle in the Cherokee Strip from about 1880 to 1888, south of Kansas and around Ponca City, Oklahoma and the Ponca Agency. There was good grass land there and it was open range country.

Henderson and his wife were the parents of eight children. The children in order of birth were: Richard Bertrame, Sr., known as Bert, born in Montgomery County, Illinois; Ralph Frame, born in Crawford County, Kansas; Fred L. Frame, born in Sumner County, Kansas; Earl Frame born in Sumner Co., Kansas; Lena Frame born in Sumner County, Kansas; Evaline (Eva) Frame born in Sumner Co., Kansas; Hattie Frame born in Sumner Co., Kansas and Mae Frame also born in Sumner Co., Kansas.

When the U. S. Congress approved legislation opening the unassigned land of Indian Territory to settlers in 1889, Henderson was one of the 50,000 settlers, on April 22, 1889, to make, "The Run" for land. Henderson claimed land north of Perkins, Payne County, Oklahoma, and south of Stillwater, Oklahoma, where he and his family made their home. It was there that his wife Mildred died in 1890.

In 1895 Henderson met a widow named Mrs. Mary (Molly) Dickey. Molly as she was known had three children. Now there was a house filled with 11 children. Then on February 28, 1896, Henderson and Molly had a daughter, Mary Blanche Frame. This rounded the children off to an even dozen. Henderson's wife Molly had a dress shop in the town of Perkins and  ventually Henderson moved into town, where he purchased and remodeled.

In 1898,  the first and best known livery stable in Perkins. The livery stable was called "Frame's Livery and Feed Barn". Henderson's Livery and Feed Barn was a landmark of Perkins Main Street for many years. The livery barn also became a bus barn in 1900, when the first passenger train over the Eastern Oklahoma Railroad arrived in Perkins at 11:00 a.m., January 1, 1900. Henderson had his "Hack" with a seat on the outside that he rode on, driving a pair of white horses, he waited for passengers and mailbags to carry into town.

Henderson's granddaughter, Beatrice (Frame) Salek was in her 80's when she wrote a letter to her niece, Lucile (Frame) VanHorn about the following:

She remembered her Grandpa Frame's Livery Stable from the time she was a small child. She said it was a real delight to get to go there. He had two coach dogs, and a parrot that cursed like the men. Horses were always coming and going. She said that her Grandfather drove what he called a "Hack" that had two long seats, one on each side. He sat up on a seat outside the Hack, driving the horses. She said that was like a stretch limousine for them in those days. Then later, she couldn't remember the year, the livery burned up in a big fire, and soon afterwards, Henderson suffered a stroke. The stable was torn down in 1920 and was replaced by a brick building constructed for the Platt Brother's Ford Agency, located at 219 S. Main Street, Perkins, Oklahoma.
Henderson never recovered from the stroke and on November 13, 1920 he passed away in Perkins, Oklahoma at the age of 76 years. Henderson was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church of Perkins, a  member of the W.T. Sherman Post # 41, Grand Army of the Republic (GAR); the Order of Odd Fellows, Lodge No. 21 and was a loyal Republican.

Submitted by his great granddaughter Leona Latham-Simonini <leesim@psln.com> Feb 1999

Richard Bertrame Frame was born on April 9, 1869 in Hillsboro, Montgomery County, Illinois, and died January 7, 1948 in Perkins, Payne County, Oklahoma. Bert as he was known as, and rarely called anything else, relocated to Kansas about 1870 with his parents Henderson Frame and Mildred A. ROBERTSON.

Bert used to help his father as a youth with cattle and rode the range working with horses and cattle. In 1889 and 1890 he also worked for the Iowa Cattle Company. When the “Iowa Country” was opened, Bert make the Cherokee Strip Run (Oklahoma) on September 22, 1891 and claimed 160 acres on the south side of the Cimarron River in Payne County, Oklahoma.  My mother (Luralene M. MORRIS), his granddaughter, remembered him telling her that the Indians over by where Stroud, Oklahoma is now, used to visit the Ponca Indians in earlier days and they would put their canoe under the spring that was on his place (before he got it), so that they could cross the Cimarron River there. He also said that when he was around 13 (around 1882), he went down in Oklahoma Territory with his father, Henderson Frame, to herd cattle and sometimes they were there for a month and never saw anyone except the people working with the cattle.

After he had made the run for land and settled on his place, they used to have an Old Settler’s Reunion on his place in September and did this for several years. In the daytime they had various events, such as roping, and stunts with horses. His granddaughter (Luralene), saw him ride with three other men from the 101 ranch one time, riding four abreast while someone threw a rope over all four horses as they rode by.  She saw him dance with the Indians one evening. He always wore his Stetson hat and one night the back of his pants split and he held his big hat over the split and kept on dancing. He could really do the Indian dances, she said.

Bert married first, Lucy Matheson/Mathewson on March 4, 1892 in Perkins, Oklahoma. They were the parents of Myrtle Mae, Carl Henderson, Bessie Ellen, and Alice Manila.

According to a journal that was a household type journal, Lucy was pregnant again after Alice (1902), and she went outside to help a calf that some sort of shed had fallen on. And in trying to get the calf out from under the shed, she hemorrhaged and died soon after on March 18, 1902 on their farm.

Then on May 19, 1903, Bert married Stella May White in Perkins, and became the parents of: Beatrice (Bea), and Richard Bertrame (RB) Frame, Jr.

A number of years later, there was a newspaper article that appeared in “The Oklahoma Journal” on October 23, 1968 about Bert Frame and his run for land in 1891. The following is a copy of the article:

LIVING MONUMENT STANDS NEAR COYLE

Blackjack Trees don’t ordinarily get as big as the one pictured here; but is has the additional distinction of being a hitching post for the man to cross the Cimarron River in the “Run of 1891”.  I am beholden to Bud England, a writer of early history, folklore and outdoor subjects, for the story.
The way Bud tells it, he was privileged as a boy to know Bert Frame, the homesteader who is credited with being the first man across the Cimarron in the run that was celebrated again just recently.  Bud says that one day he and Mr. Frame were in a wagon passing the blackjack tree shown here. “ Mr. Frame reined in his team and we stopped. Pushing his Stetson back on his head, he looked right at me and said, Bud, you’ve asked me so many times about the run of 1891; there’s one thing I forgot to tell you....This is the tree I tied Old Bald to when I beat everybody across the river and staked this claim.” “How did you remember which tree it was?” Bud asked him.  “Because,” he said, “there never has been but two blackjack trees on this whole hundred and sixty....this one and that scrawny one there.” And he pointed to the east at the other one.
“How big was this one here when you first came? “ Bud asked him.  “Oh, about as big as my leg,” replied Mr. Frame as he encompassed his mid-thigh with both hands.

Today, Bud says, the tree measures seven feet and five inches in circumferences at fifty-four inches from the ground.  Estimating the age of the blackjack at thirty years when Mr. Frame used it for a hitching post in 1891, and adding seventy-seven years that have passed since that event took place, the age of the living historical monument is now one hundred and twelve.

The old Frame homestead is located one mile south and four west of Perkins, Oklahoma, or about six miles down the Cimarron from Coyle on the south side of the river. The west eighty of the original Frame homestead now belong to Mrs. Francis (Hazel) Scott who lives in the house nearby, Bud says.  Mr. and Mrs. Bert Frame are deceased; but one son, Carl, lives in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, a daughter, Beatrice (Mrs. John Salek) lives in Nichol Hills, and a younger son R. B. makes his home in Perkins.  Says Bud, “Mr. Frame’s foresight was clear. During our talk under the black tree in 1929, he remarked: “ “ This story about the tree may not mean anything to you now but someday you may want to remember.”  “He was so right!”

In the historical book titled “Queen City of The Cimarron”, written by David Sasser and Mahlon Erickson, the following was written about a man that was in the run of 1891 that sure sounds like they were describing Bert Frame.

“As the zero hour approached,” a big sorrel with three white legs and a bald face, pulled at the reins with head held high, his thin earls rolled forward and back; alert to catch the urge of the rider to go. The rider’s hand went to his hip to make certain that the Colt “Peacemaker” was secure in it’s holster.

At high noon there came the “Boom” of the starting gun. Hundreds of horses plunged into the water, beating it into a high, white spray with flying hoofs, causing little rainbows to play on the sand bars and leaving the river white with foam in their wake.  As they reached the south bank of the river, the big sorrel, “BALDY”, was a length in the lead. Up the bank jumping and climbing, down to his knees and up again and away, through the willows and over bunch grass, leaping drift logs and plumb thickets, reaching high ground and the creek, jumping across the recrossing at the bends of the creek, dodging rock ledges and leaping washouts; always holding a straight line toward Canoe Springs. The last mile was covered with long easy strides, bringing his rider to the spring a winner, far ahead of the nearest contestant. Dismounting and with six-shooter held high, the rider waved the oncoming horsemen by.

He sounds like quite a man, I wish I could remember more about him.