Thomas Cunningham came to Barber County from Cloud County, Kansas, in the
  1880's, trading a team and wagon for a 160 acre farm with a house and well on
  it. It was located eight miles south of Sharon and four miles northwest of 
  Hazelton.
     He farmed and raised some milk cows and hogs. He lived alone and batched 
  until 1898, when he married Addie Gass of Driftwood, Oklahoma. The Gass family
  were also early Barber county residents, coming from Tennessee in the early
  1880's. They lived in Danville for a period of time where Addie's father J.W.
  Gass was a blacksmith, later moving to Hazelton, where they bought a farm near
  Hazelton and J.W. ran a blacksmith shop in Hazelton. They made the run into
  Oklahoma at the opening of the Cherokee Strip. Addie, her father, and two
  brothers staked claims near where Driftwood was built. Addie's claim was 
  contested, and she lost it in a cout decision.
     Thomas and Addie, after marrying in 1898, lived on the Cunningham farm,
  farming, raising livestock, chichkens, etc. They had two children, Eugene,
  born in 1901, and Frances, born in 1905. Eugene and Frances grew up on the
  farm and attended grade school at the Cedar Valley rural school. Among their
  teachers were Myrtle Rodgers of Sharon, who was an early Barber County resident.
  Myrtle Rodgers roomed and boarded with the Cunningham family. Another early
  resident who taught at Cedar Valley was Otis Neal of Sharon who rode a horse
  nine miles each way every day.
     Eugene and Frances attended Hazelton High School, graduating there. Frances
  went to Kansas State at Manhattan, where she received a Bachelors degree in
  nursing. She later got a Master;s degree from Columbia University in New York.
  She spent her life in the nursing profession, much of it in Cleveland, Ohio, and
  Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Frances passed away in 1970. 
     Eugene attended Southwestern College at Winfield. He married Leta Callison in
  1925. The Callison family were also early Barber County residents. Leta's father
  Austin, and mother, Alice, moved from Missouri in the 1890's living for a period
  of time on a farm near Gerlane, later moving to a farm near Old Kiowa. Leta was
  the oldest girl in a family of ten. Alice passed away in 1918. Leta attended and
  graduated from the 8th grade at the Old Kiowa rural school; she graduated from the 
  Kiowa High school and attended Kansas teachers College at Emporia. She later taught
  the Old Kiowa rural school. Of the ten Callison children five are still living. 
  Leta and Mary in California, Edward in Kansas, William in New York, and Margaret
  in Arkansas. Eugene and Leta moved from Wichita, Kansas, to California in 1937
  where they now live.
     Thomas and Addie continued to live on the Cunningham farm. They bought a farm
  across the road from the Ayers family about 1913-14. They retired in 1942 and moved
  to Hazelton. Thomas died in 1954 at age 95. Addie died in 1963 at age 94. The farms
  are now owned by Mr. and Mrs. George Spicer of Hazelton.
                
     Source:Chosen Land - Barber County, Kansas,  pg. 147 
     Submitted by: Eugene T. Cunningham