John W. Platt came to Barber County from New York in 1884. He returned
      to Kansas City to marry Lizzie Tennison in Lenexa, Kansas, on June 7,
      1884. Mrs. Platt came by wagon from Attica in October, 1844, to live in
      their dugout, just over the line in Comanche County, although the ranch
      he operated wtih an uncle, M.R. Platt, lay partly in Barber County. The
      house they built still stands. They soon moved their home a few miles
      south, which is still the home place.
        Their herd of Galloway cattle, imported by Uncle M.R., soon gave way
      to Hereford cattle. Mr. Platt died in1920, and Mrs. Platt in 1949. Their
      four children, Robert, Lucy, Beverly, and Roy, grew up on the ranch,
      attending Aetna grade school, as did Roy's three children, John, Joyce, 
      and Mike.
        The latch-string was always out at the Platts', as a neighbor, Eva Mills
      said at the time of Roy's death on November 29, 1978. A Sunday dinner group
      of twnety five was not unusual.
        A carnival was held on the ranch and the defunct company left behind a
      merry-go-round whose horses later graced the front yard at both John W.'s
      and Roy's house.
        The big old house grew like Topsey by adding the one and two room houses
      of homesteaders who sold out. These rooms always seemed to be filled with
      relatives, friends, and hired hands, until a devastating tornado struck
      in 1927, destroying four houses and all out buildings. They rebuilt a 
      short distance north of the old home, and Mrs. Platt and Beverly moved to
      Wichita to be near Lucy and Charles Stants.
        Robert graduated from Kansas State and practived veterinary medicine in
      Kim, Colorado, Coldwater, and Protection. He married Thelma Hodge; they
      are both deceased. Their children were Robert and Elzeen.
        Robert who died in 1977, had three children: Regina Carroll, John and
      Mike. His wife, Rose, still lives near Kim, Colorado. Elzeen Wook, Robert's
      daughter and five children live in California.
        Lucy, a Kansas State graduated, taught Home Economics at Medicine Lodge
      before her marriage to Charles Stants of Abilene, Kansas. Charles enjoyed
      many years of duck and quail hunting at the ranch with shells he filled,
      and gun barrels he had bored. Both are deceased.
        Beverly resides in Wichita and, as her 90th birthday nears, declares,
      "They may yet make an old woman out of me."
        Roy married Ellen Moffett, deceased in 1974, of the Feltner pioneer
      family, in Medicine Lodge in 1913. They lived on the ranch until moving
      to Medicine Lodge in 1959. Roy continued to operate the ranch with his 
      sons, John and Mike, until John's death in 1960. Mike now operates the
      family ranch.
        John's son, John W., and family reside in Lenexa, Kansas, where Lizzie
      gre up. Joyce married William Reed and lives in Topeka, Kansas. Their
      sons, William Roy and Steven Mike, and families live in Colorado.
        Mike and Betty Platt live in Medicine Lodge with their children: Michael,
      Cynthia, and John, so three great-grandchildren still live in Barber County.
        The Platt ranch will soon see 100 years of one family ownership. Many of
      the old neighbors of the 90's and early 1900's are gone. The Estill's log
      cabin, where Lizzie spent her first night in Barber County, still stands
      on the Howard Brass ranch. The Hodges, Johnsons, Eckerts are only memories.
      The Wells family left the adjoining ranch this year. The Mitchell and Mills
      in Barber County and the Greggs, Yorks, and Lenertzs of Comanch County are
      a few who remain. The isoloated Mule Creek, Aetna, and Deerhead communities
      made friends and neighbors in a way no longer possible. With the recent
      passing of Roy Platt, an era is ending.
        The Mule Creek ranch always welcomed people, from as far away as Greensburg
      and Alva, to pick sandhill plums and in the fall, to cut wood. This all
      seemed to end after World War II.
                
     Source:Chosen Land - Barber County, Kansas, pg. 368 
     Submitted by: Mike Platt and Joyce Reed