My father, George Campbell "Cam" Smith, came to Barber County in the mid
  1870's and homesteaded Northwest of Kiowa on Mule Creek. He was married to
  Ada Showalter about 1885. They first lived in Medicine Lodge where he served
  as register of deeds; then moved back to his claim. Three children were born
  to this union; Alice servives. She is married to Charles Rooney, an attorney
  and lives in Topeka. The mother died shortly after Alice's birth in 1901.
     My mother, Perminda "Minnie" Cook, came from Shoals, Indiana, to Oklahoma
  Territory and homesteaded what is now Kingfisher County. Her brother, George
  Cook, had moved to Barber County and lived on a farm joining the "Cam" Smith
  place. She met and married my father in 1906. They lived in a dugout a few
  years and it was there my sister, Caroline, was born. They sold the farm
  and moved to Hardtner whre I was born in 1910. The "Cam" Smiths were active
  in community affairs and helped organize a community church.
     I moved with my parents to a farm north of Hardtner on my ninth birthday.
  Caroline and I usually walked to and from school in Hardtner, while attending
  first grade through high school. Caroline has lived in Denver, Colorado, since
  1939.
     Fern Wiebener and I were married March 26, 1937. We moved to the farm after
  my father's death and that became our home for 19 years.
     Fern's mother's family was one of the pioneer families of Kiowa. Her grand-
  parents, Wiley and Amanda Cowan, lived on the corner of Hopkins and Eighth
  Streets in Kiowa where, in January of 1885, her mother, Hazel, was born; the
  first white baby born in new Kiowa. Wiley Cowan, a cattleman, was foreman of
  the Commanche Pool Ranch, with headquarters west of Hardtner at Evansville, 
  Kansas. The Cowans made the race into Oklahoma when the Cherokee strip was
  opened, settling east of Alva. It was there Hazel grew up and married
  Frederick Wiebener from Heidi, Germany. Fern was the youngest of their three
  children.
     Susie Day, the first school teacher in Kiowa, was Fern's great aunt. That
  first school was financed by subsriptions and lasted only a few months. Susie
  married the local doctor, Robert McElrath, and they moved to Enid, Oklahom
  three children, Cassie, Evan and Eric - ages 12, 7 and 5. They reside in the
  mountains on Corral de Tierra, 8 miles northwest of Salinas, California. Jon,
  a medical doctor, is a specialist in internal medicine. His office is in 
  Salinas, California.  Kent Paul, born in 1941, has lived in Atlanta, Georgia,
  11 years. He is an attorney, specializing in government contracts. His offices
  are located in Peach Tree Center. Roger Wiley, born in 1945, wife, Mary, sons
  Michael and Patrick, ages 9 and 5 live in Madison, Wisconsin. He is field
  coordinator for the National Association of Retarded Citizens; offices located
  in Middleton, Wisconsin.
     Our three sons are proud of their heritage and often talk of their happy
  childhood while attending the small twon school and growing up on that farm,
  one mile north of Hardtner.
 
                
     Source:Chosen Land - Barber County, Kansas,  pg. 424 
     Submitted by: Azor C. Smith