More Denbo Genealogy
Oce and ODora Denbo
Several Cherokee families combined to make up what is now known as
the “Denbo family” of Rogers County.
Jacob Denbo married Mary Grant of Crawford County, IND and had eight
children: Betsy, Mary, George, Robert, John, Joseph Asbury, and two
girls, names unknown. By a second wife, name unknown, Jacob had two
daughters, Martha and Maria Denbo.
A generation earlier, Isaac (or Isiac) Keys came from Ireland,
married Elizabeth Riley and had 15 children: Ryal, Nance, Dick,
Tishey, Electra, George, Jeff, Sallie, Sam, Maraha, Betty, Tom,
Rachel, Isiac and Leroy Keys.
Edward “Ned” Gunter (born ALA, died 1843 near Tahlequah), son John
Gunter for whom Guntersville ALA is named and his full-blood
Cherokee wife, Catherine or Katie, daughter of Ghi-Go-Ne-Li and
grand daughter of Oo-Loo-Tsa, married as his second wife, Alice
McCoy and had Jane Gunter, who was one half Cherokee.
Leroy Keys (son of Isaac, above) who came to Indian Territory from
Alabama in the 1830’s married Jane Gunter as his second wife. (He
had a son, Louis Keys by his first wife whose name is not known.)
Leroy and Jane had two sons and one daughter: Jeff Keys, Riley Keys
who married Nan Harlan, and Letitia Victory Keys, born 3 Jan. 1834,
d 16 Apr. 1906 (Cherokee Roll #11,888), married in 1871 Joseph
Asbury Denbo, son of Jacob and Mary (above), Letitia had been
married first to a Mr. Harlan by whom she had a son, Eli Harlan,
before her husband died: she married her third husband, Jack Riley,
by whom she had Martie Riley who died. Joseph Denbo (Indian Roll,
White, #98, b. Aug. 1844 in Deboise County near French Lick IND) had
also been married previously and had a son, Charlie Denbo, as well
as an infant son who died.
Joseph and Letitia Denbo had nine children, all one-eighth Cherokee:
Mary E. (b. 20 Nov, 1872) married Melton Thompson; John L. (b. 21
June 1874) married Laura Fields; Minnie M. (b. 20 Mar. 1876) married
John McKeehan; Ida M. (b. 17 Apr. 1878) died age 6; Robert L. (b. 17
Apr, 1878) died age 6; Robert L. (b. 17 Apr, 1880) married Madge
Brown; Oce (b. 5 March, 1882) married Dora Patrick (see later) and
Belle Cleveland Denbo (b. 18 Dec, 1885) married Thomas Jefferson
Daughtery.
Joseph A. Denbo enlisted in the 3rd Regiment Volunteers of Indiana
22 June 1861, at Newton Steward under General Hallack. He went to
St. Louis, then encamped at Paducah, KY, and fought at Ft.
Donnellson and Shiloh, TN under General Grant. Discharged 1 Apr,
1862 for illness, he re-enlisted later that year in the 66th Indiana
Infantry Division Commander was General Logan under General Sherman
who was in charge of Western Union armies, and fought at Peach Tree
Creek in the battle of Atlanta. After Sherman’s Army marched to
Savannah, they were taken aboard a boat and on to Washington, D.C.,
where they were received by President Lincoln shortly before the
President was shot.
In 1872, after several years in Indian Territory, Letitia and Joseph
Denbo with their daughter Mary went to Guntersville, ALA, to settle
the estate of the Gunter family. Edward Gunter, Letitia’s
grandfather, had inherited the plantation and ferry from his father,
John Gunter, and there was still property to be settled. But they
discovered Harlan Keys—son of Letitia’s older brother, Riley Keys--
had drawn out most of the estate money. About $3,000 after lawyer’s
fees paid Letitia only about $1,000—money that was due her mother,
Jane Gunter Keys.
Oce Denbo, son of Joseph and Letitia, married 20 June 1901 Dora
Patrick, daughter of Andrew Patrick and his wife, Mary (Bradburn)
Patrick. Oce had a store in Catoosa and later a furniture store in
Claremore. He lost the store in Catoosa because the man he went into
partnership with left town with all of the capital. He then worked
as a jailer in Claremore for a while in order to make ends meet.
They were active in the Methodist Church. Their children include:
Ocie Bertha Denbo, born Catoosa 22 Oct. 1903, married 15 Nov, 1928
John Ovid Mayberry; Oma Belle Denbo, born 6 June 1910; Orman Joseph
Denbo, born 1912, married 3 July 1936 Delia Moon; Erma O’Dora Denbo,
born Catoosa 4 Nov, 1917, married Giles T. Robinson; and
John Olen Denbo, born 20 Dec, 1924 in Claremore.
Oma Belle Denbo attended Claremore schools. She married June 20,
1934, Lon Williams of Bartlesville who died in 1941. She married in
1961, George E. Harbaugh, president of the First National Bank of
Wellington KS. He was killed in 1972. Oma worked for her brother
John at Denbo’s Jewelers for 25 years and lived in Claremore until
her death.
Copyright 2003-2009 by BJM
