George married Back, Betty Lou on 16 Jul 1948 in Ponca City, Kay, Oklahoma, USA. Betty (daughter of Back, Emil Philip and Jones, Mabelle Alliance) was born on 2 Sep 1929 in Billings, Noble, Oklahoma, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Occupation: Farmer

Emil married Jones, Mabelle Alliance on 22 May 1912 in Perry, Noble, Oklahoma, USA. Mabelle was born on 29 Jan 1890; died on 5 Jan 1977 in Ponca City, Kay, Oklahoma, USA; was buried in Jan 1977 in IOOF Cemetery, Ponca City, Kay, Oklahoma, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Occupation: Teacher

Other Events and Attributes:

• Occupation: Farmer/Merchant
• Departure: 1853, Rettert, Rhein-Lahn-Kreis, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany
• Baptism: 31 Jan 1858, Boonville German Evangelical Church, Boonville, Cooper, Missouri, USA

Notes:

Naturalized 17 Jul 1865.

Married by Rev. John A. Hoffman, pastor of S.S. Peter and Paul Church. The first year of their marriage, he served on the police force. At different times he made application and received license to operate a Dram Shop. He owned and sold barges on the Missouri River and several different pieces of property. He went into the fuel business. He had a wood and coal yard and added a fuel wagon (Red Tank Line Co.) drawn by horses. He delivered "Perfection Oil" and "Crown Gasoline" over town. This he sold to his brother-in-law, John Potter in August of 1893 and he decided to claim land in the Cherokee Strip Land Run. The Fuel Company remained in the Potter family for many years.

The following story was found in the belongings of Anna Helen Back Stone after her death in 1955. It probably tells the story of the early days in Oklahoma for Philip and his family best:

"Mr. Back, with his brother-in-laws, Frank Meisburger and Dominicus Barnert made the race together in a heavy cart made out of the back wheels of a wagon. They drove two grey horses, named Dutch and Tony after two of his brothers. They had them shipped from the west and wasn't halter broke when they were unloaded at the railroad station at Guthrie, Oklahoma in August of that year and they spent many hours breaking them to the cart. It took seven men to hitch them the day of the race.

They made the start from Orlando. Mr. Back took a place two miles east of Billings, now owned by his son, Emil. Mr. Meisburger took the farm joining it on the east and Mr. Barnert, the one now owned by Mr. Pitts, south of Billings. They both turned their claims back as they did not like the country and wanted to go back to Missouri. Mr. Back dug a well on the bank of a bijou on the west side of his place that same afternoon. He soon built a two room house, 16 feet by 32 feet, the first winter and hauled the material from Perry. The family moved out in February of 1894. He had a small store on Red Rock Creek the first winter and a post office, called Arnold. (Arnold was established November 27, 1893 and changed to Whiterock September 31, 1915). While trying to make a living in the store and post office, he had a man contest the claim. He bought the contestant off and he moved two miles north and bought a place so everyone was happy. Mr. Charles French was the contestant. The sod was broke by Ad and Joe Brown with a team of Oxen. Watermelons grew well on the sod, also Kaffir corn. There were very few lights to be seen at night as so many neighbors lived in dugouts. Fuel was very scarce. Wood was hauled from Red Rock, about 6 or 7 miles. You would buy a tree and then have to cut it up in stove lengths. Our chicken house was made of sod. The coyotes were plentiful and at night made a doleful sound.

The first school was moved from Perry and Mary Brown was the first teacher. Her father was a homesteader. The term was three months and the salary was twenty dollars. Two dollars was the price a teacher paid a week for board. Silk undies were a thing not known then, Underwear was made of flour sacks and you could sometimes still tell the brand of flour when they were on the clothesline.

Later Sunday School was started in the school house and also used for social activities. Literary and "what debates". Some of phrases still stand out in my mind, such as "Procrastination is the thief of time'. I recall so many times of seeing my father dressed as an old darky and singing 'Old Black Joe'. We also drove the cart and Old Dutch and went to Freemom and Lone Star to Literary. Our home school was Summit.

The first time we took eggs to market in the cart, the seat fell off and broke our first delivery of eggs. How well I remember stripping cane and hauling it to the sorghum mill about two miles away. And what good sorghum. Castor beans and broom corn were two more crops in the early days. Bins were made on hard ground and beans put out to dray and when they opened they could well be called 'jumping beans.' We also raised peanuts and on cold winter nights we would all set around the fire and pick off peanuts, shell popcorn and sing songs. We always looked forward to Christmas for the relatives in Boonville would send us hard maple sugar, cheese and many more treats. Sometimes neighbors would gather and we would have
taffy pulls, if we had extra sugar."
The farm was SW1/4-Section 22-Twsp 24-Range 2W-Noble County-Claim #22-Bunch Creek Twsp.

About 1909 they built a new house in Billings, Oklahoma. He had a grocery and Merchantile store most of the time until his death. At one time his store was called "Wonder Mercantile" and later "P. G. Back Mercantile Co." Just before his death he had started the first "Help Yourself Grocery Store" in Billings, Oklahoma.

He died in Enid, Oklahoma on 16 Nov 1922 and is buried along side his wife in the Billings Cemetery.

Phillip married Meisburger, Louise Magdalena on 29 Apr 1884 in Boonville, Cooper, Missouri, USA. Louise (daughter of Meisburger, Johann Baptiste and Diringer, Marie Magdalene) was born on 25 Dec 1857 in Florence, Morgan, Missouri, USA; died on 24 Dec 1938 in Billings, Noble, Oklahoma, USA; was buried in Dec 1938 in Billings Union Cemetery, Billings, Noble, Oklahoma, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Obituary - from notes of Helen Woodruff

Louise Magdalene, daughter of John and Magdalene Meisberger, was born December 25, 1857 at Florence, Missouri and departed this life December 24, 1938 at the home of her daughter in Tonkawa. She was united in marriage to Philip Godfrey Back on April 29, 1884 in Boonville, Missouri. To this union was born four children, Anna, Nadine, Emil and Maybell. They moved from Missouri to their homestead two miles east of Billings in 1894, and lived there until the spring of 1909 when they moved to Billings, where she has since resided. Due to declining health, she made her home with her daughter, Mrs. Anna Stone. She was christened in the Roman Catholic Church, and remained a faithful member throughout her life.

Her loving thoughtfulness and kind deeds will be remembered by many. Those who are left to mourn her loss are her daughter, Mrs. Anna Stone of Tonkawa, and one son, Emil Back of Billings; four brothers, John Meisburger of Tulsa, Frank, Ed, and Joe Meisburger of Kansas City, Mo.; one sister, Mrs. Waldron of Los Angeles, California; eight grandchildren and one great grandchild; besides many other relatives and friends. The loved ones who preceded her in death were her husband, Philip; two daughters, Nadine and Maybell; and one grandchild. Funeral services were held at 10 o'clock Monday morning in the