Burt Leroy Settle Story (My Grandpa in Byron, Oklahoma)

Leroy Burton “Burt” Settle was born July 2, 1887 in Liberty Center Iowa. He was married 46 years to Lizzie (Schwindt) Settle, a German-Russian immigrant. They had two children. Leroy Settle and his sister Lucille Naoma Settle (Stephenson-Merrick).

I best remember my Grandpa with his denim overalls, warm tobacco pipe and straw hat that were always with him. When he passed away in 1958, he was buried in the Cherokee cemetery. As far as I know, he never owned a suit, so he was buried in a brand new pair of denim overalls in a quiet ceremony in the Byron, Oklahoma First Christian church. Full of laughter and good stories, we all enjoyed sitting on his lap in the front day room of the farmhouse. We still miss him too!

My mother, Lucille, told the following story about her dad, Burt Settle: " To add to the farm supplement income, we sold garden, watermelons etc to people passing by the farm. But,Dad spent the night the watermelon patch all night with a shot gun a lot of times as people tended to steal them and tear up the vines. Even then things happened. One Sunday we saw a big truck loaded with melons just leaving the field and somebody standing holding a melon high for us to see. Dad would have given anybody some melons if they had not been able to pay, they didn't need to steal them. One Saturday, Dad took a load of apples to try to sell. He drove a team and wagon and stopped at a good place. An old man we knew climbed up to sit with him awhile. As they talked, the old man put apples in his coat pocket. He was wearing a big duck coat that had holes in the pockets which allowed the apples to go down into the lining of his coat. When the old man finally got his visit out, and the coat full of apples, so he climbed down. His coat was so heavy with apples that he had a hard time walking off.

Burt was a farmer all his life and moved to northern Oklahoma farm lands where he finally purchased his first farm in Byron, Oklahoma and raised cattle, wheat, chickens, and garden vegetables. On an early morning of October 1, 1958, Burt passed away sitting out in his pasture watching the cattle graze on his farmland. His son found him shortly afterwards, the pipe still warm in his hand.

This photo shows more of the beautiful, rich farmland and pasture in Cherokee County.

Burt Settle was the son of David Franklin Settle and Emma (Hoffnern) Settle. David Franklin Settle was the son of James Settle and Eliza (Middleton) Settle. Eliza was the daughter of John Middleton and Elizabeth Downing(Middleton) from Delaware. John Middleton was the son of James Middleton, born 1750, a soldier in the American Revolution from Sussex Co. Delaware. James Middleton died in 1798 and was on the muster roll of Captain Nathan Adams’ Company in the Delaware Regiment, American Revolutiony War.

James Middleton is registered as the Revolutionary Ancestor #A078713 with the Daughters of the American Revolution. James Middleton was seven generations before me (Carolyn)