Mr. and Mrs. Fred Humphrey were married July 29, 1878, in Denison, Texas.
  After living in Anadarko, Oklahoma, and Caldwell, Kansas, they came to Barber
  County in 1885, proving up claim near Sexton. They later moved to Moore
  township, then to Kiowa, where Fred opened up a blacksmith shop. After selling
  that business, he farmed and ran a feed store. Some of my happiest memories
  were playing on those dusty sacks of feed and listening to grandad tell about
  his father who was chief carpenter on the famous steamer "Maid of the Mist."
     One of their ten children was John Percy, my father, who, when just a
  youngster, sold water at the opening of the Cherokee Strip. He and his brother,
  Willie, with their maiden aunt's rifle, guarded her claim while she drove to
  Medicine Lodge to file her claim.
     Dad married Bertha Demott in 1908 and they established their home on the
  farm across the road from granddad's. I was the fourth of five children; my
  brother Fred (who married Helen Snead of Kiowa), Ella (Mrs. Paul Holmstrom),
  John Percy (who died at birth), myself, and Gladys (Mrs. J.L. Lynxwiler).
     We walked a mile to Hawkins school and had great fun playing in our tree
  grove, except when the gypsies camped ther. Then, mother kept us inside until
  they left. Our cousins, Bernie, Mike, Ethel, Bob, and Tom Smith from Medicine
  Lodge came to visit sometimes on weekends and we made ice cream.
     My family moved to Kiowa, and we attended Franklin grade and Kiowa high
  school. I remember the board walks, seeing the brick pavements being laid,
  and attending many of the famous National Rodeos held in Kiowa.
     Having an interest in Boy Scouts, I worked to become one of the first
  Eagle Scouts in Barber County. After attending one and one half years at
  Northwestern State Teachers College in Alva, Oklahoma, I opened Bud's Sweet
  Shop in Kiowa. Later I worked at Stearman Aircraft company in Wichita.
     In 1940 I married Patsy Hyter, a Kiowa girl, whos parents owned the Kansas
  Theatre there. Stearman became Boeing just before World War II, and everyone
  had a victory garden, saved scrap metal and soap, and rented out the spare
  room. After the war, we returned to Kiowa where I went into the implement
  business with my dad and later, when he retired bought it.
     I worked again with the Boy Scouts, Chamber of Commerce, and helped 
  establish the Kiowa Airport. Today, with my four sons, Jim, Sam, Kem and
  Tad, I'm still in business, selling combines here and in four foreign
  countries - trying to make Kiowa "Combine City USA."
                
     Source:Chosen Land - Barber County, Kansas,  pg. 247 
     Submitted by: James P. (Bud) Humphrey