Notes:

Birth:

William married Alma May PINKIE SITTON on 11 Jan 1925 in Snyder, Scurry Co., Texas. Alma (daughter of Ransom Lynch RANCE SITTON and Martha Elizabeth PINK SQUIRES) was born on 7 Oct 1905 in Afton, Dickens Co., Texas; died on 5 Jan 1990 in Pyote, Ward County, State of Texas; was buried in Pyote Cemetery. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Birth:
Alt DOB 1907 Ref: Census 1910, age 3y.

Notes:

Ward Co., Texas, Birth 1917-1918 from Draft Registration Cards
Ransom Lynch Sitton, 19 Aug 1874, White, Res. Ward Co. Texas.

. 1920 Feb 17 Pyote Justice Precinct, Ward Co., Texas
Ransom S Sitton, Age 45 B. Missouri, Labour Steam Railroad.
Alma L Sitton, 38y, B Texas
Pinces, 14y, b. Texas
Cicero S Sitton, 11y b. Texas
Frank L, 6Y, b. Texas
Tommy B, Age 4y 11 months, b. Texas.

. 1942 Feb 11 - Monahans, Rance Liston, about 68, was instantly killed Wednesday when his car was struck by an eastbound freight train at Pyote, 14 miles west of there. witnesses said Sitton apparently saw the train approaching but this car skidded onto the tracks when he applied the brakes. stilton had been a resident of Pyote for nearly 40 years.
Ref: Austin American Newspaper, Texas; Abilene Reporter News, El Paso Herald Post.

. 1942 Sep 9,House for Sale at Pyote. Four 3room modern furnished houses. electric boxes, Also trailer park. Located South Sitton Gorcer. Write C E Pitts, Carne Texas.
Ref: Odessa American Newspaper.
- - -

Birth:
"Rance" Sitton

Died:
Killed at train crossing just within sight of his home.

Ransom married Martha Elizabeth PINK SQUIRES in 1903 in Afton, Dickens Co., Texas. Martha was born on 19 Aug 1881 in Enon, Texas; died on 15 Dec 1969 in Pyote, Ward County, State of Texas; was buried in Pyote Cemetery. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Obituary
. 1970 Jan 18 - Services for Mrs Martha Elizabeth Sitton, 88, of Pyote, were held in the Pyote United Methodist church. burial was in Pyote cemetery. She died about 10:25 pm. in Monahans Convalescent Home falling an illness extend 5 years.
Born in Enon, Aug 19, 1881 she had lived in Ward County for 63 years.
Survivors include a daughter, Mrs W L Beardon, Pyote, son Frank L Sitton of Littlefield, brother FrankSquires of Dalhart, a sister Mrs Tom Rogers of Fort Worth, 12 grandchildren & 15 great grandchildren.
Ref: Odessa American Newspaper, Texas.

. Pyote school teacher:
The first classes were held in a hay barn where Mrs. Betty Martin recalled Southern Comfort whisky cases were stored. She knew because she attended school in Pyote that year. Mrs. Martin, who was Ward County treasurer for many years, also recalled Mrs. C.G. Hallmark of Barstow was the first Pyote teacher. Mrs. Ransom Sitton, Pyote housewife, gave Mrs. Hallmark room & board in the Sitton home, a 3 room house Whether she actually was paid anything is lost in memory.
Ref: The Monahans News 22 Oct. 1998. - - -

Birth:
ALT Name: Pink Squires

Died:
Aged 88y 3m.

Notes:

Parents supporter of Abraham Lincoln & driven out of Alabama because of their antislavery stance. Moved to Illinois then Missouri until after the Civil War & then to Arkansas.

Twenty-five years in Pyote, Texas:
. 1870 Texas Co., MO., Upton Twp., page 486B. (SITTEN)

. 1850 Nov 15 Census, Walker Co., Alabama, Twp. 12, p308:
James Sutton, 22, 1850 Alabama, Farmer
Sarah R Sutton, 22, 1828 Georgia
George W Sutton, 2, 1848 Alabama
CiceroS Sutton, 2 months, Alabama.

Census 1860 - Winston Co., AL. Twp. 12, Range 9, page 1223B.
Census 1870 - Plum Valley, Texas Co., Upton Missouri: Sitten

. 1880 Census Arkansas, Searcy District 175 St. Joe
G W Sitton, 32y. / b 1848 Alabama, father b. Alabama, Mother Geo. Rozene Sitton 34, wife, Sarah Sitton 13, Willis M Sitton 10, N B R Sitton 8, M M J Sitton 5, C H Sitton 2.
Census 1910 - Ward, Texas, 2 J-PCT, Cicero F Sitton1850 Alabama White Male

Census 1920, Pyote, Texas
Cicero S Sitton, 68y, Alabama, father b Georgia, mother b Georgia, labour, on steam railroad;
Caroline Sitton, 65y b. Canada, parents b England;
Noah G Sitton, 39y, b Arkansas Blacksmith, Own shop.
Fitzhugh L Sitton, 21y, b , Oklahoma Chauffeur, United Mail Service.

Cicero S Sitton was a member of the Mason. (Blacksmith)

. 1899 Jun 29 - A postoffice has been established at Crowe, Roger Mills County, OK. with Cicero S Sitton as postmaster.
Ref: Minor Capital News, Dallas Texas.

. 1902 Jan 18 - Coriscana, Texas - the building occupied by Sitton 's grocery store, on North Beaton Street caught fire early Friday morning & Mark Lane was suffocated by the smoke which filled the second floor. The fire was caused by the explosion of a lamp.
Ref: Waxahachie Daily Light Newspaper, Texas.

. 1907 Cicero S. Sitton & his sons opened a store, a 3 day barbecue was held, & most of the town lots were sold. A school petition was circulated at the barbecue, & later a one-room school building was constructed.

The Sitton Mercantile safe may be found in the Pyote Museum. (2006).
Pyote began as a siding & telegraph station constructed when the Texas & Pacific Railway Co. laid rails from Fort Worth westward toward El Paso in 1881. Even with access to a steam railway, the site initially known as Pyote Tank did not develop economically for a quarter century.
Then in 1906 local ranch owners sold 200 Acres alongside the railroad to Pyote Town Development Co. The next year, Cicero Silas Sitton, came to the proposed new town & opened its first store. In the meantime the town site Co. hosted a 3 day barbecue, during which time it began selling town lots to prospective residents & businessmen. In time Pyote grew into a local ranch supply center with a hotel, restaurant, lumber yard, barbershop, school, & post office...In 2000 town possessed only one building still standing amid the ruins & foundations of dozens of others.
Ref: More Ghost Towns of Texas, By T. Lindsay Baker.

. 1910 Nov 21 - Kermit, Taxas will soon have telephone connection with the T & P Railroad at Pyote; the line now owned by Sitton Mercantile company, of that place & some citizens of Duval, is to be extended to Kermit. It is said that the Sitton Mercantile company of Pyote, will soon begin the erection of a large business house at Kermit.
Ref: El Pasco Herald Newspaper, Texas.

Census 1930 Pyote Texas.
- Cicero Sitton, Head aged 79, /b 1851, married age 20, Blacksmith.
Caroline P Sitton, 76y, B. Canada, married age 17, Landed 1860 [correct date: 1856]
G Noah Sitton, 50y, single, b Arkansa. - - -

Birth:
TX Death Cert. Born Wukuorin?, ALA.

Died:
b. Winston, AL. COD: Asthma, cardiac compensation.

Buried:

Cicero married Caroline PATTERSON on 6 Aug 1871 in Upton Twp., Texas Co., Missouri. Caroline (daughter of Richard PATTERSON and Mary Ann CATCHPOLE) was born on 10 Mar 1854 in Belwood, Garafraxa West Twp., Wellington Co., Ontario; died on 25 Aug 1939 in Pyote, Ward County, State of Texas; was buried in Pyote Cemetery. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

. Richard Patterson was farming in Belwood, GARAFRAXA TWP., as originally Henry Catchpole had been. By 1839 Henry Catchpole & family were one of the early pioneers to relocate to the new growing City of Guelph, in Wellington County. It is possible that Mary Ann could have gone to be near her mother for the birth of her children, but her place of living & growing up would have been Belwood. Also Douglas, as Belwood was then named, remains a small farming place, so people would give the name of the nearby thriving City of Guelph as their living location. - PJA 2011.

. Misses Caroline & sister Sarah Patterson both married in 1871, 6 months after the death of her father. Sister Elizabeth Patterson had married in 1869.

. Texas Death Cerficate: Caroline Sitton, Pyote, Texas
Born March 10 1854, Aged 85y 5m 15d, wife of C S Sitton. Born Guelph, Ontario, d/o Richard Paterson of King Lin, England, & Miss Ketch Poal, b London, England,
Cause of Death: Carcinoma of stomach, onset about Oct 1937, & senility.
Original homesteader of Pyote, Texas.

. After his marriage, Cicero followed the blacksmith's trade until 1876, when he moved to San Antonio, Texas, where he followed his trade for about a year. Moving then to Searcy County, Arkansas, he worked at his forge until 1885. While in Arkansas, he shod the horse of Jesse James. Then he returned to Texas & embarked in agriculture, locating first in Wilbarger County & later in Baylor County. Going in 1897 to what was then Roger Mills County, Oklahoma, he crossed the Red River 13 times.

When he first arrived in Oklahoma Territory, he & his family lived in a dugout. This was where his son Fitzhugh was born. One time when he needed food for his family, he ran into Judge Roy Bean (the law west of the Pecos). The Judge offered him a half a beef if he would butcher it. Later he found out the beef didn't belong to the Judge & he could have been hanged.
He took a prominent part in the development of Elk City, & served as its first postmaster, living a mile & a half away. Returning to Texas in 1901, Cicero Silas, associated with his son Ransom, entered into the mercantile business at Afton, Dickens County, under the firm name of R. L. Sitton & Co. Selling out his interest in the firm in 1907, he moved to Pyote, Texas. His wife said she was not moving again, so he erected the first house in the new town.

. Census 1870 Jul 17 Missouri, Caroline Patterson 16 y /b 1854, home, Born Canada, Parents foreign.

. State of Missouri, County of Texas. This is to certify that I solemnized the rite of matrimony between Circero S Sitton & Miss Caroline Patters, the 6 day of August AD 1871. Signed Joseph Motdeau.

. 1880 Census, Saint Joe, Searcy, Arkansas
C S Sitton, Age 2, born 1851 Alabama, Blacksmith, Married, Father b. Alabama, Mother b. Georgia.
. Caroline, age 25, b 1855 Canada, wife, Parents both b England
James R Sitton, age 8 / b 1872 Missouri, son
R L Sitton, Age 5 / 1875, Missouri, son
G N Sitton, Age 10 /b 1879, Arkansas, son.

Alternate Spelling: Carolyne. Her father Richard Patterson spelled her name as Caroline. - PJA

. 1910 Apr 25 Census, Pyote Justice Precinct, Ward Co., Texas
Sitton Caroline, Age 56, married 39y =1871, 6 of 14 children still living, both parents b. England.
also present, Cicero S Sitton, George N, Monroe, May, & Fitzhugh L Sitton.
Andrew J Sitton & wife Adelia; Ranson L Sitton & wife Pink, dau. alma & son Cicero. & brother-in-law, Frank Squares Age 11,

. 1930 Apr 3 Census Pyote City, Ward Co. Texas
Carolyn P Sitton, wife, 72/b1854 at 17 years old /1871 in Canada English, parents both English, *Landed 1860 Missouri.
Note: Her father Richard Patterson signed papers indicating he was already in Houston, Texas County, Missouri by *June 1856. Caroline would have been only seven at that time. - PJ Ahlberg.

. 1936 - The 82 widowed Caroline is called upon to deliver a neighbor's baby because the baby won't wait for the doctor.
Ref: Granddaughter, Jewell Moreland Scot, 1995.

. 1995 GRANDMA SITTON DOES IT ONE LAST TIME
The view from the second & top floor of the square, red brick school was a panorama of my world, the town of Pyote - the town where I was born & lived until I was t13 years old, the town my grandparents helped found in 1907. Behind the school was the lonesome black highway, running off to Wink, through the mesquite, red sand & greasewood. The same common black highway led into “town”- the sparse business section at the intersection with the Bankhead Highway. It did not touch me that this colorful highway ran from the Atlantic to California; my world was in view.
In 1936, I knew every struggling family left adrift in Pyote & could locate their simple houses from my perch. Only a few houses were located on the broad, graded, dirt streets, laid out in perfect squares by some long ago ambitious politician.  Most houses were at the end of trailing ruts of roads. I could see my house & the well-worn trail leading to it from the school. Across the way from my house was Aunt Pink & Uncle Rance’s house with its tangle of barbed wire fences & wooden gates. Beyond it, & through their pasture, was the neat home of my friend, Almira Lewis.
At another angle from my house, down a rutted road, there is Aunt Aurie & Uncle Fitz’s large square house built on two-foot posts, with a neat crawl space hide-away underneath. Grandma’s new house is beside them, built so she could be close to Uncle Fitz, now that she is alone & 82 years old. My friend Betty Elsner & her family live in grandma’s old home, one of the first built in the town & located just off the highway, on one of the wide, graded bare streets.
The sky is clear, blue & clean; the air is fresh & scented with greasewood. Immediately across the wide, graded bare street from the school is a row of 2 room houses, built sparsely, close, & painted green in a town of unpainted wood. The oil field workers line up to squash their growing families into these 2 room houses.
My classmate, Nell Lakey, lives in one of these refuges with her brother, father & pregnant mother. He is a driller; consequently, he drives a large shiny, new car.
As is the practice at noon, we students wait for class to recommence standing, staring out the open windows in the study hall. We see Nell’s father get in his shiny, new car, throwing rocks as he tears off. We watch the car sling toward town, but then it makes a sharp left turn going toward my house, then a right that leads nowhere but to Uncle Fitz’s & Grandma’s houses. He abandons the car at an odd angle, climbs through the barbed wire fence & runs to Grandma’s house. In just a few minutes, he hurries Grandma out, in her bonnet, but still tying on her clean, white apron. He opens the gate, puts her in the car, & retraces his route to his two-room home in our close view. Grandma climbs out of the car & scurries into Nell’s house. 
The reason for the unfurling drama dawns on us. Nell gets excited. “Mother is having her baby! Mother is having her baby."
The bell interrupts our drama & we drag off to class. At the end of the school day, we wait at the one-rail school boundary fence while Nell runs across the wide, graded dirt road & comes back immediately to tell us she has a new sister & Grandma Sitton delivered her because she could’t wait for the doctor from Pecos.    
 - by Jewell Scott, Memories of Pyote, USgenwebsites, org. - - -

Birth:
- 1870 Census, Upton Twp., DOB 1854

Died:
COD: Carcinoma of stomach since 10.1937. Aged 85y 5m 15d.

Buried:
Short thick grey tombstone reads: 1854 - 1939