Oklahoma became the 46th state on 16 November 1907. Theodore Roosevelt was President and the first Ford Model R was produced.

My husband’s paternal side of the family was in Oklahoma in the days before statehood. His grandmother, Pearl Lillian Brasher Stufflebean (1898-1989) attended school in Hobart for Grades 1-3:

Grade 1

Grade 2

Grade 3

Most first graders are six years old, so Pearl was living in Oklahoma by 1904 – three years before statehood. A lot of people had become Sooners by that time. Hobart was a small town of almost 4,000 by 1910.

Pearl’s family moved on to Noble, a little over 100 miles to the east of Hobart.

Hobart to Noble
Google Maps

Her father, Joseph Henry Brasher, worked in the local post offices and transferred a couple of times.

Noble Post Office, c1910

Pearl graduated from Noble High School in June 1916:

Pearl and her friends enjoyed taking pictures, although I don’t know who owned the camera!

Pearl on the left

Pearl on the right

Noble or Norman?

Less than two months after graduating from high school, Pearl married Earl Marcus Stufflebean and settled into married life in Norman, where they lived for the rest of their lives.

Earl and Pearl’s First Home in Norman, c1917

My father-in-law, Edward Earl Stufflebean, was born in this house in 1917.

Norman was the “big city,” and was the home to the University of Oklahoma. Neither Earl nor Pearl had the opportunity to go to college, but Pearl did work for a sorority as a cook during the Depression.

Pearl, in front of Evans Hall at OU

Earl & Pearl, out for a ride

My father-in-law told me this was the first oil rig in Oklahoma, which I doubt, but it might have been an early rig built in Norman:

John Henry Stufflebean also made a new home in Oklahoma, leaving Missouri with his family sometime between 1906 when daughter Bernice was born in Missouri and 1908 when daughter Gladys was born in Noble. John opened a general store there:

Stufflebean General Store, c1910

Pearl, downtown in Noble, c1918

Earl also attended Noble High School, graduating four years ahead of Pearl.

Noble High School
Public Domain


Earl Stufflebean, 2nd from right in the back, c1910

Earl in Science Lab at Noble High School

Earl’s Class Picture, probably the Senior Class of 1912

John Henry Stufflebean Family Home in Noble

I hope you’ve enjoyed these photos of the early years of Oklahoma statehood.

Happy 113th Birthday, Oklahoma!