DGS Newsletter, Volume 33, Number 5, June/July 2008 Page: 204
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GENERAL DGS NEWS
June 21 (Saturday): 11:30 Brown Bag Group
Article: McDonald, David. "Protestant Church Law and
Records in America: Some Denominations and
Archives." National Genealogical Society Quarterly 95:3
(September 2007): 211-228.
August 20 (Wednesday): 6:30 MAC Reunion Group
Meets in the MsDermott Room on 8.
THE LEGACY OF FRANK GRALL: A PIONEER
OF INDIAN TERRITORy
By Marie Navarro
My cousin Kathie and I never knew our Great
Grand Uncle Frank. We only knew, through letters
written by our 2nd great grandmother, that she had
a brother named Frank who was living in Oklahoma
and that he had "done quite well for himself'.
When Kathie and I started to trace our family tree
we read a story about Uncle Frank in a copy of a
family history compiled by Carol Ann VAIL and
Violet GRALL. It was a story of a courageous
pioneer lawman that performed his duties with a
firm, but fair, hand. A leader who worked along
side his fellow pioneers to bring law and order to
the untamed Indian Territory of Oklahoma. This
was of great interest to both of us, but especially to
Kathie, whose husband was in law enforcement.
We wanted to learn more about our uncle who was
a sheriff in the days of the wild, wild, West. We
were certain that we would find an abundance of
information on the Internet. We found instead that
Uncle Frank was not a Wyatt EARP or a Bat
MASTERSON. There was virtually nothing of the
escapades of a heroic sharp shooter sheriff that
tamed the virgin land of wilderness of the
Oklahoma plains. We couldn't help but think that
our uncle was an unsung hero whose story needed
to be told. So Kathie and I set out for Shawnee and
Seminole to see if we could find information about
the life of Frank GRALL.
Our first stop was to the police department in
Shawnee. Just before you enter the police
department there is a hall that is covered with
pictures of the men who had served as Chief of
Police in Shawnee. And to our delight there was a
picture of our Uncle Frank and his brother who had
also served as Marshall. The administrativeassistant was kind enough to make copies of the
pictures for us.
Then we went to the Oklahoma History Center in
Oklahoma City. It was there, searching through the
microfilm pages of newspapers printed in another
day and time, that we learned that Uncle Frank was
not an unsung hero. He was well known and loved
during his lifetime and for many years after his
death. He was, instead, a champion of justice,
whose trials and tribulations have faded with the
passage of time. We found many articles, but the
best one was found by accident. While searching
for an obituary for one of his sons, I stumbled onto
a newspaper article on the retirement of our great
uncle. It was published on Sunday, January 11,
1931 in The Daily Times Democrat, in Wewoka,
Oklahoma. The article covered his 38 years in law
enforcement. What follows is the story of Frank
GRALL.
Benjamin Franklin "Frank" GRALL was born on
September 09, 1869, 42 miles south of St. Louis in
Hillsboro, Missouri. His father, Christian Fredrick
GRALL was a German immigrant who arrived in
this country without knowing a word of English, and
with only the clothes on his back. His mother,
Sarah CORZART, met his father while working on
the same farm.' They evidently lived in Missouri for
a time, and then moved to Ellis County, deep in the
heart of Texas, where Frank grew into a strong and
handsome young man.
In 1891 Frank and his older brother Alfred left
Texas in a new wagon filled with tin ware and
homemade salve. They headed to Indian Territory,
Oklahoma to make their fortune. Traveling through
the land, they sold their goods to Comanche
Indians and settlers. They ended up in Shawnee in
1892 and decided to stay.2
Frank worked first as a territorial officer under E.D.
NIX of Guthrie. Then he worked for a time as a
1 Letter from Hannah (GRALL) Kelley (Mrs. H.C. Kelley; 1322 N.E.
23rd Street, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma) to Mrs. Velma (Heard)
Burns (1334 South Henderson Street, Dallas, Texas), 5 October 1929;
held in 2007 by Marie Navarro (6074 Ellis Lane, Kaufman, Texas
75142).
2 "An Interview with Mr. Frank GRALL, Wewoka, Oklahoma"
Biography For Works Progress Administration, Indian-Pioneer
History Project, Volume 6, pages 264 - 270. Repository: Oklahoma
History Center, 2401 N. Laird Avenue, Oklahoma City. Oklahoma
73 105.
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Dallas Genealogical Society. DGS Newsletter, Volume 33, Number 5, June/July 2008, periodical, June 2008; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1261640/m1/4/: accessed June 3, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Dallas Genealogical Society.