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Essig Family Story
Lemuel Abraham and Tiffin Ohio Essig McKay came to Indian Territory with their eight children in 1905. This was two years before Indian territory became the State of Oklahoma. Other McKay families came to Northeast Oklahoma but none of the Essig families.
Grandma Tiffin would tell my Daddy (Glen) stories about Princeton, Missouri. He was a good listener and liked to share these stories with his children, Barbara, Jane and me.
Daddy was the next to the last of Tiffin’s children and I always imagined that she was lonely and this was a way to remember her family. I am surprised when I talk with other cousins that they do not know these stories. I do not know if Tiffin did not tell her other children stories or they did not pass them on to their own children. Keep in mind these stories were told to a little boy over ninety years ago and passed on to me, so they can be somewhat embellished.
Tiffin must have been a great story teller because Daddy said that when he and his Dad visited Princeton after Tiffin had died, he located all the places that she had described to him. One place in particular was the worn steps that led up to the door of the store where Grant Essig was taken after he was shot by his wife’s brother in law, Issac Van Vacter.
Other accounts tell the true story of Grant’s murder but the one I knew and always believed was this. Grant was protecting a brother in law from another brother in law. Grant stepped between them and was shot. We always considered Grant a hero because of it. We never knew the name of the murderer but thought he was the husband of one of Grant’s and Grandma Tiffin’s sisters.
I have always imagined that Grant was the apple of the family’s eyes, being the only surviving son of John and Mary Eliza. Tiffin described him to Daddy as being a trickster as well as a good mimic. I am sure he entertained them all.
This is one story about Grant that Daddy would find amusing when he would tell it. John Arley Essig was a soldier in the Union Army during the Civil War. While in the army he contracted measles which resulted in him becoming blind. There was a neighbor that lived nearby and John did not care too much for him. Grant knew this and for fun he would disguise his voice pretending to be the neighbor and come for a visit. After a while, Grant would start talking bad about the Union Army. This would infuriate John and he would become so angry that he would run the neighbor off.
Grant’s nickname was Manny and Grandma Essig was called Mute. I later learned that “Mute” is a German word for Mother or Momma. We always thought that Mary Eliza taught John how to speak English. I find that hard to believe since he was a fourth generation American.
Daddy always spoke of how welcomed he and Granddad McKay were when they visited Princeton after Tiffin had died. Her sisters and their families took them in and treated them like Kings.
Glenna McKay Maddux February 22, 2005 |
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Army of the United States, for John Arley Essig & The John Arley Essig Home Grant Essig Murdered
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