THE STEVENS FAMILY of OKLAHOMA
THE STEVENS FAMILY of OKLAHOMA
William Wallace Stevens
and Mary Elizabeth Cason Hartley Stevens were living in Jefferson, Texas, Marion
County,
when James Cully Stevens was born on February 1,
1891. Jefferson is an historical little town in Texas 38 miles
from Shreveport, Louisiana. In the 1800's it
resembled Louisiana, Arkansas and Missouri more than it did its Texas
neighbors to the West. Instead of ranchers and
cowboys, there were lumbermen, river boat captains and dockhands.
It has been described as a geographic
wonderland. There are bayous, swamps, alligators and eagles and it boasts
of being home to two of Texas’ most beautiful lakes.
Caddo Lake, the only natural lake in Texas and Lake O’
the
Pines with it’s tall loblolly pines and hardwood trees
which are especially loved by the eagles. The United State’s
census of 1900, shows them to be living in
Mansfield, Louisiana which is about 63 miles from Jefferson, Texas.
Mary’s children from a previous marriage, Joe B.,
Willie, & Alene Hartley were living with them as were William’s
children, Lawrence and Dannie Stevens, from a
previous marriage. Mansfield, Louisiana, De Soto Parish, is an historical
town about 31 miles from Shreveport. It was the
scene of some of the heaviest fighting of the Civil War. The town
is noted for it’s quiet southern charm and antebellum
mansions.
James Cully Stevens
obituary shows the family having moved north to the new state of Oklahoma in
1907. He was 16
years of age. Half-brothers, Joe B., and
Willie Hartley came with them. Half-brother Lawrence Stevens, Half Sister
Dannie Stevens, and Half-sister, Aline Hartley chose
not to come. The family came by train and brought their cattle
with them. They settled in McAlester, Oklahoma area
which is about 232 miles from Mansfield, Louisiana. The three
boys went to work in the coal mines. A mining
accident claimed the life of Joe B. Hartley in
1916.
James Cully Stevens
loved music. At the age of 9, he made a violin and taught himself to play. He
returned to the
Shreveport area on occasion and wrote
postcards telling of attending band concerts. On November 4, 1915, he wrote
the following card to his halfbrother, Willie. His
picture is on the front of the card sitting in a car with his
friends Palley and Frank Bickham. Frank was the husband
of his half-sister,
Aline.
“Well I will report
this morning. I am still around here. I’m having some time. The fair is fine.
How do you like
my car? I had a ride in the (unknown word)
lift last night. Believe me that was a stunt. Did you get my last report
card? We had our dance last night. This is a fine
town. I’m sure glad I came down.” CS
On the picture he
wrote, “Do you hear the band playing? Listen.”
James Cully Stevens & Aran Lee Arndt
Stevens
Cully, as
he was known, was well liked by the Italian immigrants that had come to Krebs,
Oklahoma to work in the
mines. He used his musical talents
calling and playing at squaredances. In those days, pie suppers and or
box-suppers
went along with square-dancing. They were
excuses for neighbors to get together and visit. The women would bake
pies or make dinners for the pie supper, and men would
bid on the boxes, trying to buy the one that a certain lady
made (this was especially fun for young men or women
who might be courting each other or thinking about it). Then
the man who bought the box had the privilege of
sitting and eating with the woman who made it. It was at one such
event that Cully met a beautiful little
German-American Indian girl by the name of Aran Lee Arndt born April 21,
1898. He bid the highest on her supper and they ate
together that night. She was the daughter of a prominent farming
family that lived in the Blue Community
approximately 6 miles west of McAlester. Her father, William M. Arndt and
her mother, Mary Ellen Jones Arndt shared two acres of
their land to build the Blue Community School House. It
was
used for all community affairs, church, fellowships, and of course school.
After that first
meeting, Aran’s brothers, Fred, Bill, Joe, and Gordon walked her home and
related the events of
the evening to their father. He was
not at all happy about Aran having dinner with such an older man. She was 17
and Cully was 24. The spark that was ignited that night
between this handsome couple was not to be put out
though,
and on July, 2, 1916, Cully and Aran became man and
wife. Cully built her a big white house. She described it as
the biggest and best in that part of the country. There,
they started their family. J. C., John, and Mary were
their
first children.
In 1921, they
had a life changing experience. Rev. George W. Brown of Fort Smith, Arkansas
came to the Blue Community
School and held a revival. They
gave their hearts and lives to The Lord and that was the beginning of a more
fulfilled
beautiful life for them. Cully was called into
the ministry of Jesus Christ. He became good friends with Brother
Scott, grandfather of U.S. Representative, Carl
Albert. Brother Scott invited him to speak at his revivals. Cully
began holding revivals all over that part of the
country. He walked or went by horseback in those early days. Many
of his revivals began churches. The Pentecostal
Holiness Church of Cromwell, Oklahoma is one that is still in progress.
Cully felt compelled to go into the ministry full
time. He was ordained a Minister of the Gospel, January 30, 1923.
J. C. And John, as little boys, helped run the farm
in his absence. As the family grew, Mary, Leon, Monroe, Willie,
Pearla, Woodrow, and Joe, worked and supported the
family while their father laid up treasures in heaven. During
The Great Depression, they always had plenty and
were able to assist less fortunate people.
The rest of
their life story is told in the following pages in pictures and articles.
I am so proud to be their granddaughter.
Charlotte Stevens
Schneider
James Cully Stevens
is interred in the Blue Cemetery, Pittsburg County, Oklahoma (approximately 7
miles west of
McAlester, Pittsburg, Oklahoma
This is the Record of the Christian Life of Rev.
James Cully Stevens
and his Wife Aran Lee Arndt Stevens
In the
year of 1921, we lived west of McAlester, Oklahoma in a little community called
“Blue.” We had three lovely
little children, J.C., John A.,
and Mary Lee. We had a nice home and everything we thought that would make us
happy.
The Lord sent a family into our community by the
name of Spurrier and we became real friends. Sister Effie Spurrier
was the first Pentecostal Holiness person that we
had ever met. She would come to our home and visit with us and
talk about the Lord. We had never been saved and I
would wonder why she was so faithful to come and visit with
us. My husband would play the violin and her son,
Edgar, would play the guitar. They would just play worldy music
but each time before they would leave to go home,
Sister Spurrier would ask them to play “In the Sweet By and By”
and “When the Roll is Called up Yonder” or some other
Christian song and she would sing. A few months later, Sister
Spurrier’s mother and father, Brother and Sister
Luna moved to our community, too. He was a Pentecostal Holiness
preacher. They held church services in the Blue
School House and prayer meetings in Sister Spurrier’s home. We
would go to the services. In February of 1921, a young
Preacher, Rev. George W. Brown from Fort Smith,
Arkansas,
came by and held a Revival in the Blue School
House. We were wonderfully saved. It was the greatest Experience
that had ever taken place in our lives. In fact,
it just seemed like we had just begun to live. Old things had
passed away and all things had become like new. We lost
all desire for the worldy things that we had once
enjoyed.
In July 1921, Husband was sanctified in a camp
meeting in Oklahoma City and The Lord called him to preach The Gospel.
He was baptized with the Holy Ghost one afternoon
at home in January 1922 while we were praying for a message to
preach in his first Revival. I was sanctified and filled
with the Holy Ghost in December 1921 in a little Pentecostal
Holiness Mission in McAlester, Oklahoma. We had
our home and about 600 acres of land with cattle and horses but
we began to sell them and go out in revivals for the
Lord. We saw many people saved and sanctified and filled with
The Holy Ghost. Many sick people were healed. The Lord
blessed us with a wonderful family. We had seven sons
and
two daughters. The Lord took one of our little sons
home to Heaven. Little Willie Abraham Stevens when he was only
sixteen months old. We were in a revival at the
Cabiness School House when the Lord called him home. We couldn’t
understand why we had to give him up but we knew
that The Lord does all things well. We went right on working for
The Lord and raised our children in service for The
Lord. Eight of our children are still living, J.C., John A.,
Mary Lee, Leon,
Monroe, Pearla Mae,
Woodrow, and Joe. They are all saved, sanctified and filled with the Holy Ghost
and working
for the Lord, helping to finish the work that
their father started in 1921 when he was busy preaching and talking
to everyone he met about The Lord and His saving
power. Husband had his first heart attack in 1948. We had moved
back to McAlester from California and he was sick the
next five years. He was unable to preach revivals but
he
never failed to attend services and witness for The
Lord. We moved back to California in 1953. Our children were
all married then and some of them live in California
and some lived in Oklahoma. The last Camp meeting he attended
was in Madera, California. Rev. George Byus was
the conference superintendent and Rev. Nash was the Camp meeting
speaker. We attended the Richmond Pentecostal
Holiness Church where Brother and Sister Slater were Pastors. They
both were so nice to us. I will always love them. We
went to prayer meeting on Thursday night and he was
really
sick when we got home. We began to pray and the
power of The Lord was so great and the Holy Ghost began to speak.
The scripture came to me where the leper came to
Jesus and said, “Lord if Thou wilt, Thou can make me clean.” Jesus
said, “I will be thou clean,” and immediately his
leprosy was cleansed. I was so sure that The Lord had healed
Cully. I said, “Honey, The Lord has given me a
witness that he has healed you tonight.” He arose from his knees
and said, “ I do feel a lot better,” so we went to
bed and he slept all night. The next morning he felt sick again
so in the afternoon I called the children. They came
and called the doctor. The doctor thought we should take him
to the hospital but he didn’t want to go then. That
night he got really sick so we took him to the hospital. In
the afternoon, August 8, 1953, The Lord took him Home to
Heaven from the Richmond hospital. We were all so
broken
hearted. The children all came and we took his body
back to McAlester, Oklahoma and laid him to rest in the Blue
Cemetery until the day of the resurrection when Jesus
returns for His Bride. I felt so alone and depressed. I couldn’t
understand why I felt so sure that The Lord had
healed him the night we prayed.
So one night as I
prayed, The Lord just seem to speak to me and say, “Don’t worry anymore, I
healed him for all
eternity. I had his reward ready. Would
you want someone else to get his reward? He has finished his work for Me
and now he is at rest with Me in Heaven. Would you want
to call him back into that world of trouble and sorrow?”
I waited a few minutes and said, “Oh, no Lord,
Oh, no, I wouldn’t want to call him back into this old world if
I could,” and from that night until now, I have never
felt bad and sorry for myself.
Oh yes, I get lonesome
at times and feel all alone but I just begin to pray and praise The Lord. He
always blesses
and encourages my heart to go right on and
work for Him, until He has my reward ready. As the song I am listening
to right now, “I want to stroll over Heaven with
you,” will be real then. We were married on July 2, 1916 and he
went home to be with Jesus on August 8, 1953. We had 37
wonderful years together but now I am looking forward
to
the life eternal where we will be together again with
The Lord. My children are all such a blessing to me.
They
have all shared their homes with me. My six
Daughters-in-law, Pauline, Joan, Cora Lee, Donna, Pat, and Georgia
are just like my own daughters and my two
Sons-in-law, Fred Griffith and Eugene Browne are just like my own sons.
I have 35 grandchildren. The Lord took one to heaven.
Little John Cully Stevens. He was born March 31, 1940
and
went to be with Jesus on October 12, 1944. Our other
grandchildren are all so precious to me, Charlotte,
David,
Paul, Michael, Samuel Jay, Danny, Brenda, Cully,
Freddie, Frankie, Linda, James, Mary Lee, Leon Dee, John, Priscilla,
Douglas, Carolyn Jo, Timothy, Joe David, Janice,
Gary, Kathy. Karen, Freddie, Steven Jay, Kenneth, Patti, Peggy,
Pamela, Padgett, Rita Jo, Connie and Mark. I have 13
great grandchildren, Shari Dee, Brent, Johnny, Aran Lee, Wayne,
Kandy, Shauna, Frankie Leon, Kimberly, Lori,
Michelle, Tricia, Heidi, Jeffery Todd and Jamie Beth. I have a full
time job visiting and helping my children and
grandchildren. Twelve of my grandchildren are married so I have twelve
grandchildren-in-laws, Gary Schneider, Don King,
Betty Griffith, Judy Griffith, Jolene Stevens, Sharon Stevens,
Ted Froese, Courtney Light, Harley Tinnin, Gary
Rhynes, Donna Stevens, and Lavonda Stevens. Each night as I pray,
I call them all by name and ask The Lord to let the
Guardian Angel protect, keep them, and work out every problem
in their lives. They all have been taught about The
Lord all of their lives so I have the wonderful promise
in
the Word of God that not one will be lost. Proverbs 22:6
says, “Train up a child in the way he should go and when
he
is old he will not depart from it.” St. John 15:7 says “If ye abide in Me and My
Word abides in you, ye shall
ask what ye will and it shall
be done unto you.” St. John 14:13 says, “And whatsoever ye shall ask in My Name,
that will I do that The Father may be glorified in
The Son.” St. John 14:14 says, “If ye shall ask anything in
My Name, I will do it.” So what more could we ask for
than the great promises in The Word of God? I am so
happy
for the wonderful life The Lord has blessed our
family with. I can never thank and praise Him enough. I have been
blessed with good health and the desire of my heart is
to be in service for The Lord. I would love to be in church
services every night to testify for The Lord and
listen to singing and preaching of the Gospel and help pray for
lost souls to be saved.
Aran Lee Stevens
Transcribed by: Charlotte Stevens Schneider,
Granddaughter
Aran Arndt Stevens is interred in the
Blue Cemetery, Pittsburg County, Oklahoma, approximated 7 miles west of
McAlester,
Oklahoma
Monroe Franklin Stevens
Monroe
Franklin Stevens was born August 15, 1924 in Krebs, Oklahoma, the fifth child to
devoted Christian parents,
James Cully and Aran Lee
Stevens. They lived in the McAlester, Oklahoma area until 1936 at which time
they moved
west to
California.
During World War
II in 1944, Monroe was inducted into the United States Navy. He was first
stationed in the state
of Idaho and later was sent to
Bremerton, Washington for training. It was a sad time for the close knit
Stevens’
family when he had to leave. It was especially
hard for his Mother so it was no surprise when he opened his luggage
after arriving at camp to find that she had slipped
The Gospel of St. John in his belongings. Each night before
retiring he began reading it. It had such a profound
effect on his life that he became convicted of the way
he
had been living and a change started taking place in his
life.
On his first liberty,
(naval military term for authorized leave), Monroe and a fellow sailor went to
Seattle, Washington.
As they were walking down the street
early on a Sunday morning, they met a little lady handing out Gospel tracts
and inviting servicemen to go to church. They
promised her that they would go. As they were walking around in the
heart of the city, they came upon a church with a sign
on the front that read, “Jesus Saves”, so they went inside.
It was there that Monroe found the peace that
passes all understanding. In the following days, he hungered for
a deeper experience with God. He was invited to a
prayer meeting in a private home. As he was seeking God, he fell
prostrate before the Lord and was sanctified and had a
vision of lost souls. Six months later, he was baptized
in
the Holy Spirit. From that time on, his greatest desire and ambition in life was
to win the lost to Jesus.
He
went overseas for two years. He was very faithful to hand out Gospel tracts and
witness to everyone about God’s
saving power. He conducted
Bible studies, worked in army hospitals, and did whatever he could to share the
Gospel.
Many men were saved through his witnessing. He has
a large book of testimonies from some of those who found the
Lord thanking him for telling them of so great a
salvation. In 1946, he was discharged from the
navy.
In 1947, he met and
married his lifelong mate, Donna Jean Whetstone of Riverbank, California. They
are the parents
of three children, Janice, Gary, and Kathy.
Together, they evangelized for the first five years of their marriage.
He then began pasturing churches; four years in
Richmond, California, two years in Fresno, California, two years
in Bakersfield, California, over fifteen years in
Antioch, California, and eight years in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
He also has served as Pentecostal Holiness board
member, and assistant superintendent of both northern and southern
California conferences. He has been the main
speaker for camp meetings in several states, held revivals in Australia
and Hawaii.
Monroe has always
loved people from every walk of life and loved ministering to those who were
considered undesirables.
He preached on street corners and
in rescue missions. He found great joy in supplying food and clothing for the
needy, even to the extent of inviting them into his own
home. He loves visiting rest homes and hospitals,
praying
and seeing God minister to them in body, soul, and
spirit. He was never too busy to go wherever he was needed,
day or night. I believe he has won as many or more
people to the Lord outside the Church as he has in it. It was
not uncommon for people to give their hearts to God in
homes where he went to visit. Many miracles of healing have
occurred through his Ministry.
I have been his wife for
fifty-seven years and have never known a more dedicated person to God. I’m aware
he is
human but I believe it could be said of him as it was
said of King David, “he is a man after God’s own heart.”
Donna Whetstone
Stevens
Transcribed by: Charlotte Stevens Schneider,
Niece of Rev. Monroe F. Stevens
Rev. Stevens passed
away 21 February 2005. Interred at the Resurrection Cemetery in Oklahoma City,
Oklahoma
Joe B. Hartley
Rope Rider is killed in mine at
Richville
Joe B. Hartley, American Miner, 30 years of age and
rope rider at the Osage mine in
Richville, was caught
between the side of a moving trip and the wall of the mine and instantly killed
late Saturday
afternoon.
There were no eyewitnesses
to the accident, the first intimation of anything wrong being when the engineer
on top
knew from the action of the engine that the trip
coming up the slope had been derailed.
After considerable
time had elapsed the rope rider did not appear, men went down and found his body
crushed between
the cars and the side of the mine slope.
The supposition is that when the trip derailed the light on his cap went
out, leaving him in darkness. Becoming confused, it is
thought he got off on the wrong side of the trip,
there
being plenty of room on the other side where the bell
wires were located. Another theory is that he might
have
lost his balance and fallen from the trip. The
deceased was unmarried and is survived by his mother, who lives
eight miles west of the city. He was a resident of
the north side.
Joe Hartley
was born at Mississippi, 18 August 1880, the son of Daniel H. Hartley and Mary
Elizabeth Hartley Stevens.
He died, 30 September 1916 at
Richville, Oklahoma coal mine. He was the step-son of William Wallace Stevens
Joe Hartley is buried in
Blue Cemetery (AKA) Arndt Cemetery, Pittsburg County, approximately 7 miles west
of McAlester,
Oklahoma.
Submitted by Charlotte
Stevens Schneider: Half-Grandniece of Joe B. Hartley
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