Lulu Abigail Baggett was born on a cold winter day, February 8, 1873 during those hectic years immediately following the Civil War in Cooke County, Texas. She was the first child of Silas and Betty Baggett. She grew up in Archer County, where her father, Silas, owned a ranch in Chitwood Pasture. Her earliest recollections are of standing on a box, learning to wash dishes and of learning to sew by hand, hemming shirt tails and dish cloths, also of learning to cook on an open fire place.    

     Lulu feels that her life as a child was bleak, because she lost her mother when she was only two years old. Lulu had two brothers. In 1875, Silas remarried Nancy Jane Collins, they had five sons. Their home was a spacious affair and they boarded cowboys.

       It was the year of 1881 that he father's family acquired their first cook stove, a modern invention of the early day of pioneer life. Pleasure and recreation for the young folks of her day was to be had in attending the old fashioned Spelling Bee at the community schoolhouse. Typically, all the people in the county would meet and bring in pies to be auctioneered to the highest bidder as well as boxes filled with a lunch for two with chicken sandwiches, Lady Baltimore cake and the best apples from the cellar. They had candy breakings and most of all the old "square dance" with the fiddler calling out over familiar songs "Turkey in the Straw", "Do Se Ladies", and "Do Se Do" were enjoyable memories for Lulu.

       The G. S. outfit always sent in cattle from the Double Mountain country for winter pasture. One day M. Schillings asked if they could keep a boy through the winter. The Baggetts, characteristic of true westerners, never turned a stranger away from their door.

     Lulu says, "Life began when I met and married Charlie." She met the cowboy, when he rode by her father's homestead and asked to water his herd.  Lulu looked out the window and said, "Ma, that boy is a full grown, long-nose man."

       "You shouldn't speak like that, he may be your future husband." was mama's prophetic reply. For a year Miss Lula refused to have anything to do with the man who was 16 years her senior. But he was the persistent type.

       LN, the Newcomb brand, has an odd background. Lula's father gave her a sorry-looking doggie in return for her promise not to dip snuff until she was 21. They were branding cattle a few days after Mr. Charlie first came to board. Her dad asked what kind of a brand she wanted on her calf. Lula told him an L, Mr. Charlie spoke up and said, "You just as well put N after it." So he did. Miss Lula was so plagued she rushed to the house. The LN brand carried by Hallie, the doggie, was the brand Charlie Newcomb used until he retired and sold his ranch in 1928.

       When he wasn't pasturing cattle in the Chitwood pasture he could think up the most reasonable excuses to come by there. When he was back in the Double Mountain country he sent Miss Lula ardent love letters full of honeyed words and loving verse. Lula kept these love letters until the children could read writing, regrettably she burned them. She recalls this verse:

This hand is free, this heart is pure,
It beats for Thee, and only Thee,
Until I saw Thy winning face,
I loved not and was fancy free.

       He stayed for dinner and an acquaintance started that blossomed into a courtship (and a marriage for over fifty years.) The couple felt it was divine providence that brought them together. Following an afternoon horseback ride, with the evening supper over and the couple left alone by the fire place, Charlie asked her to be his wife and she accepted the proposal. Charlie asked her, "What about your other beau?" "Well, I did have another beau, but when he saw how it was with Charlie and me, he just said, "If he could not be biscuit, he wasn't going to be cornbread. That was it!"

       "Courtship was a bit old fashioned in those days." She said, it was as romantic as it is today I think, and it had its drawbacks too!  There were some embarrassing moments. Horses could toss one off pretty easy at times and you never could tell just how one might land. It was in 1889, a bunch of young people were riding "to Meeting" on horseback. They were nearing a crossing on West Fork Creek. An old razor back hog ran out of the bushes woof-woofing and one girl's mount jumped sideways and pitched her on her head in a briar patch. Her voluminous skirt fell over her head fully exposing her lettered flour sank panties. On one hip red letters proclaimed "Roller Mill Process" and on the other "Jacksboro, Texas".

       "We were married on Christmas Eve, 1890 in the parlor of the home place. I left my father's home to go with Charlie to the Spur Ranch.  We lived in Kent County about 12 years. It was rugged ranch country with the nearest railroad a hundred miles away. I cooked for the cowboys and they were like children they were so happy to have a woman do their cooking for them. They were very kind and helpful to me. We worked hard, saved all we could for twelve years on that ranch, and then Charlie began to look for more land to graze a herd of our own. It was there that she gave birth to her first born son, Gus.

       One day, some Oklahoma boys came to the Newcomb ranch in Kent County looking for work. They were dirty and lousy and their horses were old, starved broom tails. We felt sorry for them so Charlie cleaned them up, bought clothes and put them on the pay roll.  For our kindness they stole three of his best horses. Charlie set out to look for his horses rather than the thieves. He found one horse near Tulia but it was so road-foundered he left it.

       While searching for the horses, Charlie carried a Dallas News ad in the sweatband of his hat about a small ranch in Ochilitree County. He was looking to buy his own place to raise his family. By the time he reached the ranch Whippo and Perry had sold the land, but they had a good place in Hansford County if he wanted to go see it. In 1902 he made a trip to Hansford County and purchased several sections of land from the Wright Brothers, Mel and Huff. The three sections of land lay along the lower Palo Duro Creek (toward Range, Oklahoma).

       In 1903, he moved his herd of two hundred cattle and a large herd of horses to his Panhandle ranch. Charlie prepared a dugout home like other pioneers. Shortly, after completing his business he returned to Kent County and by wagon the family left the Double Mountain country and headed for their ranch on the North Plains of the Panhandle of Texas. Mr. Newcomb and two brothers drove the wagons. Mrs. Newcomb says this trip with its destination is the most memorable event in her life. The new Elkhart buggy (her pride and joy) was hitched on behind the covered wagon. Her saddle horse, with sidesaddle on his back was tied along side. Where did she ride, "In the buggy of course!"  The big boy, 9 year old Gus, rode horseback all the way and drove the other horses.

       Lulu truly enjoyed the trip. She commented that she, "didn't realize it was slow, didn't know any greater speed than a good horse could give." She especially enjoyed the camp site at night fall, "cooking biscuits in the Dutch oven and preparing the meal over the fire. There was the grub box on the back of the wagon. A keg of water swung on the side and maybe a few times they would locate a cold spring of water to replenish it and drink from the fountain bubbling from the heart of the earth. If one has ever done so, it seems that there is nothing that will surpass it. The deep water wells of Hansford County are akin to them."

       There were three children at the time and the youngest a two month old babe in arms, "which got very spoiled on the trip", she says. "He cried all the time the wheels weren't rolling! At camp time I had Charlie get down a rocking chair and set by the fire. I rocked him as I tended the meal and after supper held him in my arms to rock him to sleep." A little tent came in handy many times when they had to camp and cook in the rain.

       When the travelers reached the Canadian River, recent rains had increased its volume of water. She said, "We deliberated for awhile before deciding on the crossing.  Yes, I rode in the buggy across the Canadian River! In the middle of the river, Charlie saw we had yet to cross the main channel. He drove upon a sandbar and unhooked the buggy and drove the heavy wagon out (with a team of six). Then he came back for the baby and me!" I asked her is she were afraid. "There was no fear," she answered, "I knew Charlie as a capable and trustworthy man. I didn't worry about anything. What was my first reaction when I first saw the plains of the Northern Panhandle?  It looked like heaven on earth when we pulled over the Cap rock!"

       Hungrily, her searching eyes scanned the vast panorama of beauty that stretched out and onward toward the distant skyline. The ocean of luxuriant green grass was studded by wild flowers. "The atmosphere seemed different, exhilarating, she says, "As if it were washed by snow capped mountain peaks and fraught with the fragrance of a million prairie flowers!" Verily, it was a cowman's paradise - and it was to be our home for the remainder of our lives." 

       They located on the lower Palo Duro. There they could have water from the creek for the stock for their ranch. They lived in a small dugout until they could have lumber from the railroad in Guymon. The tent used on the trip North came in handy when they arrived at the little dugout Charlie had prepared. He had made the dugout bachelor size. It accommodated only a single bed after necessities were spotted in.

       Water was plentiful in the Palo Duro for the herds and for personal use. Later when a small house was built a well was drilled near it. It was an ideal place. The railroad was only a whoop and a holler. Guymon was only 30 miles away. As the family increased, they added onto the house. Lulu said that the house was a great step from the dugout. They were not so much on the alert then for water dogs, rattle snakes, and maybe a pole cat as unwelcome guests calling in the night.

       There were hills in the distance.  She liked to sit at twilight (her favorite time of relaxation) and watch the evening shadows play upon the hills and count the first stars to stud the falling blanket of night.

       Mr. Newcomb had bought his bride a 38-40 Winchester to kill coyotes and rattlesnakes and for her personal protection if she needed it. She did not keep the gun loaded but she kept it handy at all times. She learned to load it and learned to hit her mark but she never did learn how to unload the weapon without making it fire. When she made her kill she kept firing till the gun was empty so she could be ready to grab, load and fire it if an emergency came up. She was alone all day and often many days. But that old 38-40 made her feel safe.

       One day three men drove up in a buggy. Bloody froth covered the horses' mouths and they were blanketed with a lather of sweat. She didn't know the men. They told her to cook their dinner. Two were drinking and they all looked dudish. She chanced to see the Steeple-5 brand and was suspicious. She loaded her gun. But the strangers made no trouble. After they drove off she had the problem of unloading the gun. She took it out on the gallery but before she could decide to unload it in space or try again to save her precious shells, she saw something glitter through a crack in the step. So she unloaded on that rattlesnake.

       Lulu tells of another incident as she walked to the creek to get water. An Indian lay on a rock watching her from a short distance. She returned to load the Winchester, but she had no cause to fire.

       Like the true pioneer woman of her day, her life was full of work. There were crocks and eggs; turkeys, geese and guineas; butchering and its correlates of head cheese, lard and soap making, drying of beef and tanning hides.  There were harvest and threshing crews to feed besides one's family to sew and care for; vegetable gardens and canning, and storing its produce; wild plums and grapes to gather, and to make into jams and jellies. She said, "Yes, we were busy. But we were a happy family.  To keep busy like the ant was a good adage to abide by."

       Neighbors on the Palo Duro solved her chicken problem. Grandma Maise, Mrs. Mel and Mrs. Huff Wright brought hens with little chickens and Mrs. Caldwell brought six brown Leghorn hens and a rooster. Mrs. Newcomb had to bring the little chickens into the tent at night to keep skunks and coyotes from catching them. She made an allover lath coop for the big birds and covered it with a wagon sheet. She did not lose one of her flock and before cold weather Mr. Newcomb built a good hen house.

       There wasn't too much time for entertainment but we did enjoy neighbors. The settlers built Huff Chapel on the Bertrand land so they could have a central place of worship. About once a year they all met on the old Curtis place for preaching and dinner on the ground. Bible reading has been a daily ritual with Mrs. Newcomb since 1890. 

       There was time though to read. She read to the children for their entertainment, and for herself, she kept up on current events.  She loved the writings of Margaret Sangster and Margaret Sangster Jr. Her yellowed and tattered scrap book holds numerous ballads, poems and articles with pictures of World War I.

 They had parties in their home for the young folk. They played games "but one could always expect a few pranks too", like a cockle burr under a saddle blanket for the young man smitten on the teacher. (Jealous cowboys)

       A schoolhouse was built, and she named it "New Hope".  Her children attended the one room school. Later those desiring further education attended P.A.M.C at Good well, Oklahoma.

       "We kept several New Hope teachers in our home." She said, "They were a pleasure and company for me. However, we had one who was a great disappointment to me. She was so dirty people called her "Greasy Bess."  Her indoor commode irked me no end, until one day one of our cowboys saw it outside and shot it full of holes.

       Mrs. Newcomb kept Post Office in her home several years. This was valuable to her family as it offered greater communication with the outside world, besides the local "grapevine" news.

       What did she do for medical aid? They used, "home remedies" but she went to Hansford to stay near a doctor when her babies were born.  She said, "I stayed in the home of a friend, Mrs. W. E. Caldwell, when my youngest child, Robert was born."

       Sorrow came their way, as it often does to all who dwell on earth, at sometime or other. Two small gravesites at New Hope claimed a small son, John and daughter, Irena. The little five year old girl, died in her arms as they went through the gate onto their ranch land from Guymon, Oklahoma. Mrs. Newcomb was returning from a visit to her father with the little girl. Irena who had never been strong fell ill on the return trip. They arrived home with her dead child held close in her arms. The sorrowing mother continues her journey.  "I was thankful to have her grave near us, and not in some distant spot by a roadside like Charlie's father," she said. The Newcomb gravesite can still be found if one takes time to reach the area.

 I left her then, still turning the leaves of her scrap book that held for her so many memories. I thought as I left her there, "May I, too, live as she has, and look forward unafraid and backward unashamed."