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Vincent Family of Vici |
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| Clarissa L. (Brown) Vincent (ll), Kittie (Ballard) Vincent (lr), Fannie Cross (ul), Blanche (Vincent) Castor (ur); taken in Fresno, CA, 1907 |
Click on pictures to enlarge. |
Duke William Vincent, Hiram Joshua Vincent, Nicholas Biddle Vincent, about 1905 |
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| Kittie Ballard & John Brown Vincent and musicians, Dewey County, OK 1901 |
Vincent Homestead |
Vincent sod houses and musicians 1901 |
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| Fredrick D. Vincent (1869-1944) and Clarissa L. (Brown) Vincent |
Clarissa L. (Brown) Vincent in 1928 (87 yrs old) |
Clarissa L. (Brown) Vincent on her 85th birthday |
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| Blanch (Vincent) and Henry Mack Castor |
Hiram Joshua Vincent, Duke William Vincent, Eugene Vincent (son of John B. Vincent, raised in Vici by Blanche and Mack Castor) |
Hiram Joshua Vincent and Blanche (Vincent) Castor, ca.1940 |
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| Elma Iris Vincent, Kittie (Ballard) Vincent, John F. Vincent, Nicholas Brown Vincent (infant), taken in 1913 in Calif. Kittie died a year later after childbirth. |
John Brown Vincent (son of Nicholas and Clarissa), Leola Vincent, John Fredrick Vincent, Kittie (Ballard) Vincent; taken 1904. Leola and John F. were born in a sod dugout at Beement. |
Elma Iris Vincent, John F. Vincent (born Vici), Leola Vincent (born Vici), Nicholas B. Vincent, John Brown Vincent (son of Nicholas and Clarissa); ca. 1920 in Calif. |
Nicholas Biddle Vincent and Clarissa Louise (Brown) Vincent and their oldest son, Hiram Joshua Vincent, and his wife, Nellie (Conley) Vincent homesteaded in 1892 at Bent Creek, part of the later Schramling Ranch. They established the post office "Vici" at Bent Creek, about two miles east of the later town. Their son, Albert, was the first postmaster.
Nicholas was born in 1837 in Alfred, Allegany Co., New York, to Joshua Vincent and Elanor (Spencer) Vincent. He was the oldest of 15 children. In 1846, the parents, Nicholas, older brothers Henry K. and Francis Marion, and (probably) sister Harriet Melissa moved to the frontier in Rock County, Wisconsin.
Clarissa was born in 1841 in Rock County to Hiram Brown and Sarah (Inman) Brown, two of the first settlers in Rock County. She was raised in neighboring Green County.
Nicholas and Clarissa wed in 1861 in Green County, Wisconsin. They wandered a lot; the places I know about before Dewey County are Indianapolis; Farina, Illinois; Orleans, Harlan County, Nebraska; and Callaway, Custer Co., Nebraska. They and Hiram and Nellie came from Callaway when they homesteaded in Dewey County, leaving behind the oldest daughter, Clara, and her husband, Horace Lang. Their trip is chronicled in letters from Hiram and Nellie that are held by the museum in Woodward.
In about 1905, Nicholas, Clarissa, their daughter Blanche and her husband Mack Castor, their son John Brown Vincent and his wife Kittie (Ballard) Vincent (my grandparents), and their son Fredrick D. Vincent all left Bent Creek to come to California, to Fresno. After having a child who lived only a few days, the Castors returned to Dewey County, where they are buried in Sunnyside Cemetery. For some reason, Nicholas and Clarissa moved 400 miles north to the hamlet of Pittville, where Nicholas died in 1919. Clarissa stayed at least until 1920, then returned to Vici, where she died in 1930 and was buried in Sunnyside.
My grandmother, Kitty Ballard, was the daughter of "Doc" Isaac A. Ballard and Dica Ann (Bement) Ballard. The family came from Kansas and homesteaded at "Beement", near Sunnyside. The property was owned by Kitty's sister, Sallie M. Ballard, who married Oliver B. Dryden.
Isaac Ballard family about 1900
Sally Ballard was first postmaster at Beement, June 19, 1898.Hiram and Nellie Vincent are probably well known to historians in Woodward. Hiram owned the Persimmon Shoe Company in Vici from 1912 (when he moved it there from Mutual) until 1940. Their son, Duke William, was the only physician in the Vici/Woodward area in the 1920's and 30's. Duke's daughter, Carolyn Vincent Turner of Woodward, may be remembered in Vici, the last Vincent descendant in western Oklahoma. Vincents tend to wander.
Clarissa L. (Brown) Vincent (ll), Kittie (Ballard) Vincent (lr), Fannie Cross (ul), Blanche (Vincent) Castor (ur); taken in Fresno, CA, 1907
Pictures and family history submitted by Richard Vincent
