March is Women’s History Month.  As such, I plan to celebrate the lives of four women who played important roles in the life and history of the Ferguson Home Museum.  The first will, of course, be Elva Shartel Ferguson, wife and civic leader and honored mother.  Second, I plan to write about Edna Ferber, who visited Mrs. Ferguson and who used Mrs. Ferguson as a model for Sabra in her celebrated novel and move “Cimarron”.  I think the third should be Dr. Theresa Hunt Tyler, dentist, who lived in the upstairs of the Ferguson home during the time the Fergusons were serving in Guthrie as Oklahoma Territorial Governor and First Lady.  Finally, I plan to write about Mrs. Ellen Shaw who was a driving force in establishing the Ferguson Home Museum.

Mother of the Year

One of the great honors bestowed on Elva Ferguson was Mother of the Year in 1946 at age 75, before her death in 1947.  Elva Shartel Ferguson was born to David E. Shartel and Mary Jane Wiley on April 6, 1869, and raised in Sedan, KS. Her father was the local newspaper editor until his death in 1890. Elva Shartel Ferguson Wikipedia

Five Children: Three daughters died

As discussed in the March 24, 2024 Ferguson Feature Watonga Republican Mar 2024, T. B. and Elva Fergusons had five children.  Three daughters died young and little is known.  Son Walter Scott was born in Kansas 1886 and died in Washington, DC to 1936. Rowena was born 1888, Tom Junior “Trad” was born May 3, 1891 in Sedan, KS and died during the 1918-19 influenza outbreak in WW1 while in flight training in Ft. Sill, OK.  Norma was born 1893 and Elfa, 1896.  (This Old House in Watonga by Ellen Shaw).   It is sobering to know the heartbreak of Elva who outlived all her children and husband, who died in 1921. 

Grandparenting

But we know that Elva practiced grandparenting of the children of Walter Scott Ferguson and his wife Lucia Loomis Ferguson.  Together, they had three children.  Ruth Elva Ferguson was born in Cherokee, OK in 1916.  Benton Loomis Ferguson was born in 1919 in Watonga, OK, at the Ferguson home (He is pictured in This Old House in Watonga). Thomas Bruce Ferguson was born in Oklahoma City in 1923 and became a well-known cardiovascular surgeon and journal editor in Saint Louis , MO.  There is genealogical evidence that Mrs. Ferguson lived to see great grandchildren as well. 

American Mothers nomination

Therefore, it seems fitting that The American Mothers Committee, begun in 1935 with the support of Elanor Roosevelt (now known as American Mothers, Inc.) American Mothers would select this pioneering mother, grandmother and great-grandmother, newspaper editor, and Republican party activist as mother of the year in 1946.