Westville Cemetery
Adair County, Oklahoma

Grover Buffington

© Westville Reporter
January 23, 1959
Submitted by: Wanda Elliott

Funeral service for Grover BUFFINGTON, 74, life long resident of Westville and community, will be held this afternoon at Roberts Funeral Chapel, with the Rev. Howard KITCHEN, pastor of the Methodist church, of which he was a member, officiating. Burial will be in Westville Cemetery.

Mr. BUFFINGTON, who had been ill for some time, and had been a patient in Sparks Memorial hospital at Fort Smith, Ark., returned home the day before Christmas. He was admitted again, a patient in the hospital, Sunday, January 18, and died Tuesday morning at 9:45 o'clock.

He was born August 1884, the son of John D. and Fannie MORRIS BUFFINGTON, 1 1/2 miles east of Westville on the same place and same house where his father was born. He attended school at the old Cherokee Seminary near Tahlequah. Northeastern College, Tahlequah, is an outgrowth of the old Cherokee Male and Female Seminaries.

In February 1909, he and Miss Kate ALBERTY, daughter of Judge and Mrs. Blue ALBERTY of Westville, I.T., were married near Grove, In Delaware County, where she was teaching school at that time. They established their home on Mr. BUFFINGTON's allotment, adjoining his parents. They later moved to the Christie community and lived there until 1943 when they came to Westville and have since resided.

Mr. BUFFINGTON, enjoyed visiting with his friends and in later years reminiscing, recalling early Territorial day experiences in Westville and community, revealing much valuable historic information. His great grandfather, Ellis BUFFINGTON, came from North Carolina to Arkansas Territory in 1827 and settled on land which is now a part of Oklahoma. His grandfather, Ezekiel BUFFINGTON, was born in North Carolina.

Mr. BUFFINGTON's mother, with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Isaac MORRIS, moved from North Carolina to Tennessee at the time. Later his mother's people, knowing they were still on the government rolls as Cherokees and having an interest in the Cherokee Nation, Indian Territory, came and settled near the BUFFINGTONs. According to Mr. BUFFINGTON, all they had to do was to stake off the land and improve it and this is what his mother's people did. By this time the BUFFINGTON and ALBERTY families owned practically all the land in this area.

Among his early day experiences, one very vivid one, was his coming to Westville to see the first store, which was operated and owned by Charlie FOREMAN, and located on the northeast corner across the tracks from where the K.C.S. depot now is.

Driving across the prairie with Henry and Bill CRITTENDEN they met Dick NEWMAN (who had visited the BUFFINGTONs all winter) returning from the store. He turning to Mr. BUFFINGTON, said, "Son, see that building away over there. It is just chucked full of groceries." Sure enough he said, whey they reached their destination, they found the building well stocked with groceries, with the post office in the rear of the building.

Another early memory was after the railroad track was down and Westville was a stopping point, with no depot, but a large stick in the ground and a sign, "Westville, I.T." The town, he related received his name from Jim West, who lived one mile south of Cincinnati, Ark. He had a son, Jim WEST, who later became a lawyer and represented the Kansas City, Pittsburg and Gulf, later the K.C.S.

Each year, Mr. BUFFINGTON looked forward to the "Homecoming" observed by the students of Old Cherokee Seminaries at Tahlequah. One of his hobbies was painting, a great lover of fine horses, a number were of horses. One of his paintings is hanging in the Art Museum at Northeastern College.

His survivors are his wife, Mrs. Kate BUFFINGTON of the home; a daughter, Miss Frances BUFFINGTON, also of the home; a son, Glen BUFFINGTON of Oakland, Calif.; a sister, Mrs. Jim PHILIPS of Chelsea.