Robert G. Lamkins', (Bob, as everyone knew him) first experience in
     Kansas was in the late 1880's. He came to Kansas as a hostler for a man
     taking a large herd of horses from Iowa and Missouri to sell in Oklahoma.
     Arriving there, the owner found he must have a license to sell in Oklahoma
     Territory. They brought the horses to winter in a large pasture on the 
     west side of the confluence of the Little and Big Arkansas Rivers, north
     west of the present Broadview Hotel, Wichita, Kansas. Bob stayed with the
     horses while the owner returned to Iowa or Missouri to obtain a license
     to sell. In the spring he returned and they sold the horses in Oklahoma;
     they returned to Missouri or Iowa.
        Nick and Maggie Nelson came to a German settlement near Red Oak, Iowa,
     from Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. Their daughter, Martha L., was born,
     grew up, met and married Bob Lamkins in Red Oak.
        Lamkins' oldest son, Charles, was born near Red Oak.
        In 1907 they came to Kansas, buying a farm eight miles southeast of
     Medicine Lodge; their home was one-half mile west of College Hill School.
     While living here, their first daughter, Mabel, was born. She is a registered
     nurse and followed her profession 45 years.
        The early teachers at College Hill School were Lloyd Davis and Cora
     Springer Warren.
        In 1910 Lamkins traded out and moved to Victoria, Texas, where they had
     400 acres of land; but raising cotton and rice wasn't for Bob! There were
     no fences, no roads, no telephones, no RFD. The closest school was five
     miles away across open range.
        In 1913 they moved to Medicine Lodge, living in Bob Fuller's house on 
     the northwest corner of South Walnut and Highway 160. Bob bought a team
     (Red and Eagle), each weighing about a ton, and became a teamster. He
     worked much of the time for the city of Medicine Lodge on a water ditch
     that brought water into Medicine Lodge from Elm Creek, three miles north-
     east of town.
        The family moved to the Dobbs Ranch eight miles south and a little east
     of Medicine Lodge; the Medicine River ran through the ranch.
        Charles attended North Star School. Early teachers were: Gladys Tyner
     and Florence Balding. When Bob rented the south half of the ranch, this
     put Charles into College Hill School district, but the board of North Star
     gave permission for Charles to continue there. It was a six mile walk each
     day - a school bus was unheard of then. Lawrence Turner, a North Star
     student, later with his brother Roy was one of the Isabel Bank robbers in
     1927.
        Another Lamkins' sons, Forrest (Jake) was born in this home.
        About Christmas 1914, they bought a farm eight miles north of Medicine
     Lodge, in the Amber School district. Early teachers were: Frank Shell,
     Fern Campbell, Edna McCain and Fern Shell. On this farm, now owned by Jack
     Hernodon, Bob and Martha built the present house and barn. Here Richard
     (Dick) and June were born. Neighbors were Warrens, Lunsfords, Hogans,
     Manleys, Jacksons, Axtells, Kinkaids, Phillips, Motts, Barrows and others.
        In 1919, Charles was ready for high school in Medicine Lodge; that first
     year he boarded and roomed with Mrs. Fred Nurse on North Main. The next
     year he rode a pony eight miles, back and forth each day. He was never
     absent or tardy that school year.
        The next year the Isabel School District was consolidated, the second
     consolidated school in Kansas - a forerunner of the present unified school
     system. The Lamkins and many others were happy for those first school buses.
        Bob and Martha took part in every Indian Peace Treaty Pageant from 1927
     until Bob's death in 1941. Bob always had a covered wagon and was part of
     the Wagon Train Episode.
        Martha died at her home in Medicine Lodge in 1957, after fifty years in
     Barber County. Bob and Martha are buried in Highland Cemetery, Medicine 
     Lodge. All the children are still living: Charles in Wichita, Kansas; Mable
     Hutsell in Tulare, California; Forrest (Jake) in Versailles, Missouri;
     Richard in Visalia, California; June Mott in Gilbert, Arizona. Of the six
     grandchildren and 13 great grandchildren, two grandsons carry the name
     Robert G. and one great granddaughter is Martha.
                      
     Source:Chosen Land - Barber County, Kansas,  pg. 270 
     Submitted by: Charles M. Lamkins