Zig and Loretta Smith were married August 1, 1891, in Kingman County.
     When the Cherokee Strip was opened in 1893, Dad made that race on horseback 
     and got a claim there. In 1900 they sold there and moved back to Kingman
     County.
       In 1912, with five children and part of them teenagers, they needed more
     land; so Dad sold again and bought 280 acres 12 miles north of Medicine
     Lodge at Elm Creek. I was just a baby when he moved there, but in later
     years I remember quite extensive farming operations there. Winters, we had
     cattle to feed, using a big sled to feed from when there was snow. We always
     did lots of gardening - melons, tomatoes, etc. At times we would have a
     wagon-load of melons in the barn lot and feed them to the hogs. We also 
     had a big peach orchard, as well as grain and feed crops; so everyone was
     busy. We used horses for the farming and always had horses to ride and
     drive to the buggy. My brother and I rode horses to school or drove one to
     a cart; but when we would be walking and the weather was bad, the older boys 
     would come after us in the wagon. They usually enjoyed chatting with the 
     school teacher, too.
       About 1924, the folks decided they needed a smaller place since the three
     older children were all away from home by then. Dad got his eye on a place
     three miles west of Medicine Lodge where Cedar Creek ran through the place;
     this meant good fishing most of the year -- so he traded for that. Dad
     always enjoyed hunting and fishing, and after moving there he always had 
     fresh fish in the tank to eat.
       Regarding the Smith children: about two years after moving to Barber
     County, Edna married Herbert Rose and moved to the Rose Ranch at Elm Mills,
     where she lived most of her life. She now resides in Medicine Lodge, the 
     only one to stay in Barber County. Ralph and Orville now live at Cherokee,
     Oklahoma. Ralph married a girl from eastern Kansas, and Orville married
     Elizabeth Dole, of Barber County. Charley married in Texas and now lives
     at La Marque, Texas. I (Neva) married Glenn Lukens, of Barber County; in 
     1946 we moved ot Wyoming; then in 1947 we moved on to Richland, Washington,
     where I have been the last thirty-two years. The folks stayed in Barber
     County until about 1948, when they moved to Wakita, Oklahoma, to be near
     two of Mother's brothers and Orville and Ralph, at Cherokee. Dad passed
     away in 1953 and Mother in 1968. Edna and I have both lost our husbands
     in the last few years.
                
     Source:Chosen Land - Barber County, Kansas, pg. 428 
     Submitted by: Neva Lukens