Born: March 31, 1850, in Alsace - Lorraine, France
Died: March 20, 1944, in Newkirk, Kay County, Oklahoma
Buried: Newkirk Cemetery, Kay County, Oklahoma
Wife: Elizabeth Vits
Married: January 10, 1884, in Pana, Cristian County, Illinois
Father: Martin Eck
Mother: Teresia "Therese" Love Eckert
Page: 1 of 2
Provided by: Harold Victor Eck
I was born in France on March 31, 1850. In 1852 my parents (Martin Eck and Theresa Love Eck, both of France) came to America and settled in Illinois, and in 1887 they moved to western Kansas.
In 1889, I came to the Oklahoma county and settled about eleven miles west of Edmond on a quarter section of school land. Some of the land had been put in cultivation by Sooners in previous years, but I broke out some of it myself and about twenty acres were sown and it made good yield.
The part that had been cultivated previously by Sooners made an average of forty bushels of wheat per acre, and corn that was planted on this land made about seventy-five bushels per acre. Crops were good the second year, but the third was almost a failure.
I brought ninety head of cattle with me from western Kansas and twenty head of horses. I put in a blacksmith shop on the place and did smith some work for the local community. I didn't have much money to live on and good cows were only worth about $12 per head, and a common sold from $6 to $8 per head.
I had a neighbor who was a good butcher and we went to Oklahoma City and found a location for a market that we could get for $3 a week. So we put in a market and sold good beef for less than other markets were selling it. We did a good business and turned lots of cattle into money through the market.
We made competition so hard that one of our competitors offered us $300 to sell out to him and quit the business, and we sold out to him.
