Augustus Theodore Orcutt
Augustus
Theodore Orcutt was born October 20, 1875 in Sycamore Township, Montgomery
County, Kansas, the third son of Seymour Woodford and Martha Ann Yocham Orcutt.
To family and friends he would be known as Dode, but to his children, their
families, and many neighbors, he was known as Dad Orcutt. Although over thirty
years have passed since his death he is still remembered as having been a good
man, and for his beautiful flower garden in the Terlton, Pawnee County,
Oklahoma community. A man of the highest moral character, superior farming
ability, and fairness in all his dealings with his fellow man, he was and is
still held in respect by those who knew him.
Mr. A.T. Orcutt and Miss Eiffel May Stevenson were united in marriage on Dec.
21, 1904. On their marriage license it states A.T. was 29 yrs. old and Eiffel
was 16 yrs. old. They both list their town of residence as Catoosa, Indian
Territory. Their marriage license was obtained at Claremore, Indian Territory,
and they were married that same day by James M. Jackson, a Minister of the
Gospel. Eiffel was the granddaughter of Joe and Delilah Russell, the daughter
of Benjamin A. and Martha (Maggie) Russell Stevenson, all early day settlers
Edgar, Pawnee County, I.T.
A.T. was always a farmer. On the 1900 Census for Coweta, I.T., he is listed as
living with his brother Dolph and his occupation is farm labor. His father,
Seymour Woodford, died June 17, 1901 at Oakland, AR. After his father’s death,
his mother, Martha, and the rest of the family moved to Indian Territory. A.T.
probably helped them move and stayed with them until he married. The following
story has been told of how A.T. and Eiffel met.
A.T. was farming and hired Eiffel’s father, B.A. Stevenson, to work for him.
A.T. met and fell in love with Eiffel, and asked her to marry him, but there
was already another man in her life. The man was an Italian, and had black
curly hair, and Eiffel wanted to marry him. Eiffel’s mother, Martha, wanted her
to marry A.T. because he was such a good worker and she felt that he would be
the best provider for her. So her mother told her that the Italian had some
Negro blood in him and if Eiffel married him they would have spotted children.
She convinced her to marry A.T., but on her wedding night she cried to go home
to her mother. It wasn’t long before Eiffel changed her mind about married life
and she and her husband Dode were raising both crops and kids in the Old Indian
Territory that was soon to become the State of Oklahoma. Eiffel died in 1934 and
Dode lived to be 89, having died in 1964, at Cleveland, Pawnee County, Okla.
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