Samuel Gann of Winchester Va Family

Listed on 1910 Delaware Co, OK census.

Newspaper clipping-no date, but assume to be 1987--Bud Gann was 81-years old on June 2 of this year. Seventy nine of those years have been spent in Salina and Gann has probably forgotten more about Mayes County community than most people ever knew. But Gann hasn't forgotten everything. "I remember when the orphanage used to store their milk in the old Lewis Ross Spring House (built in 1844 in what is now the southwest corner of the Salina park) and the spring provided water for everybody that lived in Salina," Gan remarked. "No one had a well and people used to drive a team and wagon to the spring and get all the water they needed. It furnished water for everyone that lived here, including the orphanage." Born June 2, 1905, Bud Gann was seven years old when the early 1900's orphanage located in Salina burned to the ground. "I stood right down here (at the base of the hill near the spring house) with Sig and Sam Blossom and watched it burn," he said. Bud said the children living at the orphanage were taken to Pryor after the structure was destroyed and the building was never replaced. Gann also has memories of crossing the river between Salina and Pryor on the ferry boat with his father, the only way across for anyone wanting to go from one town to the other. "My dad would take a team of horses and a wagon across and we would go to Pryor, I can't remember exactly how long it took to make the trip, but it seems like about an hour. "They finally built a bridge across the river and that was the end of the ferry. There have actually been three bridges here. The first one was a wooden bridge. I don't remember what happened to ti, but the second bridge was torn down when they put the lake in and the third bridge is the one that's still there." Bud Gann was born at Rose Prairie and moved to Salina as an infant. Only two years of the 81 he has been alive have been spent away from his hometown. Gann attended school in Salina and can still direct any interested person to the structure that was the first school house in the community and is now used as a private residence. Like most residents in the early part of the 20th century, Gann said he took any kind of work he could get, but spent a good portion of his life doing farm work to earn his living. "There used to be cotton fields all over the country. Thwer was so much grown that there were three cotton gins here. I learned to be a cotton picker. I picked cotton, chopped cotton, whatever needed doing, I did it. I used to go to the cotton fields off somewhere and stay a couple of weeks at a time when the work was all done here. I got to where I could pick 400 pounds a day." In addition to picking cotton and other types of farming, Budd Gann used to cut the hair of his friends and neighbors to support himself, his wife and children. "There weren't any barber shops back then. You would just go to someone's house and they would cut your hair. I learned to be pretty good at it." As a young man, Bud was married to Effie Roberts, the sister of one of his friends. He met Effie when he went to visit her brother and the two were later married. The couple were parents of seven children. When Effie died 10 years ago, and with his children grown and gone, Bud found himself alone. He later met Susan Anderson and the two were married six years ago. Bud Gann has seen a lot of changes in Salina in his 81 years, but says the biggest change came as a result of the lake being built. "I would rather have the country back like it used to be before they put the lake in," he said. "That all used to be some of the best farmland in the state. It was owned by W. A. Graham. Graham would furnish a wagon, a team of horses, harness, a house and so much of the crops to people to farm the land for him. It wasn't a bad way to make a living." In spite of the changes he has seen and the fact he would rather things be "like they used to be," Bud Gann admits he is proud of his home town and remarks, "Salina is still the best place in Oklahoma to live and raise your family."