Welcome to Pawhuska Oklahoma
Pawhuska is the county seat of Osage county and the capital of the Osage Nation. Osage county is next door to Tulsa county, touching it from the nothwest. Pawhuska has a population of about 3,629 ( 2000 census) with 1/4 of the population being Native American.
Climate
The temperature ranges between 25 to 95 degrees F with highest precipitation occuring in the months of May and September.
My family history here
Hello, my name is William St. John. My old friends call me Willie. Here is a family story I would like to share with you that is related to Osage County.
My great-great grandfather named Shopnazshi of the buffalo clan was one of the first generation Osage to be rooted here to what is now the Osage Indian Reservation or Osage county. The Osages moved here from Kansas in 1870. This is only how far I can go back with the tribe on my father's side. I am 1/2 Osage myself. My great-great grandfather had no english name but his son was given the first name of Pierce. When he was an adult, him and some of his friends which they all had surplus money from oil headrights, decided to build a Catholic church. They had an architect to design one and got permission from the Osage Agency to get their surplus money to finance it. It was built and completed by 1915. A bishop in New York, I think his name was bishop Hayes was contacted that a new Catholic church was built and was ready to be given and occupied. This basicaly floored the bishop and he came to Pawhuska soon after. For my great gandfather's part in establishing this building he was given the last name of St. John. Later in the 1920's president Calvin Coolidge visited the church and meet my great grandfather and his friends. Their is a picture at the Osage County Historical Museum of my great grandfather, the bishop and the president of U.S. Pierce's son was named William St. John and I was named after him which he was my grandfather. The name of the church is Immaculate Conception Catholic Church and it located at 1314 Lynn Ave in Pawhuska Oklahoma.
Pierce St. John built a house on the same land where I live on today. He also established a family cemetary and family, friends and also any Native American veterian that wants to be buried their. The cemetary was started around the end of World War 1 and he has a statue of an American Doe Boy created in Europe. Their is a disagreement of county of origin. Some say France and others say Italy. The Catholic church believes it is from Italy. Every Memorial Day, two American Legion posts comes out in the morning and does a 21 gun salute. Sometimes a state representative comes to the cerimony to honor the vets buried in the cemetary.
My great-great grandfather's old house is now in disrepair on the same land not too far from where the cemetary is located. I had an engineer to look at the old house and he said that it would have to be taken down to the frame and start over again. I have a large doublewide on highway 11 thier as well. I moved there back in June of 2002. Me and my younger brother "Stephen" leases the land to ranchers. We always have a waiting list going on toward the end of the current lease.
I have a horse roaming around on this 152 acre spread but it seams that I have started a housing boom out here and thier is a business a quarter mile from me starting to construct a building thier. It is fairly quiet out here if you don't mind the Jake breaking semi trucks stopping at the corner once in a while. On a clear night you can see our milky way. And if you watch it through out the year, you see it rotate across the night sky. Meteors are very common around here too.
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Scott McDaniel from Littleton Colorado emailed me on March 26, 2009 with a picture of my Great Grand-father, Pierce St. John I. Scott said, "I have recently been researching my family’s genealogy and going through pictures of my great grandfather, Joseph Thomas Anderson. Joseph and his wife Nancy Ann lived in Pawhuska where he owned a blacksmith shop. They later moved to Ponca City where they made their final resting place. While going through their pictures, I found a very beautiful picture of a native American gentleman and on the back of the picture was written “Pierce St. John – Pawhuska Oklahoma”. I browsed all of our family stories and records and could not find any relation to this gentleman so I am assuming he was a good friend of my great grandfather. I was so excited when I found your website and the story of Pierce St. John. I am including a scanned copy of the photo and would love to mail you the original. It is obviously something that you would probably enjoy and I can keep a scanned copy of it for my records."
Scott, I really appreciate this picture. I'm placing it here for everyone to see. Thanks again!!! I think this is cool.
Osage Roll Book information:
Pierce St. John I,
Roll number: 658, allotment number: 623, Full blood
Date of birth: 1875, Date of death: 8/18/1927
His wife was Opal St. John (Ke-ah-som-pah)
Roll number: 659, allotment number: 624, Full blood
Date of birth: 1874, Date of death: 6/8/1943
They had two sons:
Herbert St. John, 4/5/1904 to 1/24/1950
William St. John I, 2/3/1906 to ?/?/1960 (my grandfather)
My father was Pierce St. John II
Mineral rights of Osage county are owned by the Osage shareholders.
These irises were planted by my great-great grandmother, Opa St. John, about 93 years ago. The cement walkway is older. This was taken in early June of 2008.
Immaculate Conception Catholic Church, Pawhuska Oklahoma
Family pictures
A composite of my father at different ages. Pierce St. John (II), 1925-1987
