Brother Dave Hays

This winter has been a season of reflection for me. I find that, as I close in on my fortieth birthday, I am seeking wisdom, clarity, and perspective. A small decision I've made - in light of my family's schedule - is to make a small change to my weekly blogging schedule. I will now be posting new blogs on Thursdays and Sundays; Wednesdays are my busiest day and this is just one small change to help relieve a bit of pressure.

As I think about what to post on my blog, I have a few considerations. The first one is that I cannot post a lot of material because I've already written about those events in my book and I'm committed to keeping the two projects separate. The other question I ask myself is: "What can I add that is new and interesting?"

I was given a few books of informal historical records by some members of the Church of the First Born (COFB). The COFB and the FOC were once the same organization, but later separated due to leadership decisions and theological differences. I have found the members of the COFB to be open to my questions, kind to outsiders, and willing to help when asked.

Here is a short blurb from one of the COFB histories. I will post more if the response is positive.

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A Story Told to Brother Jack Robinson by Brother Hobart Hays

My father, Brother Dave Hays, with his family, was travelling from around Mehan going west to Homestead, Oklahoma, when late in the afternoon he stopped at a store in Langston to get a few groceries for he planned to camp down the trail a ways to eat and spend the night.

While he was in the store another wagon pulled up and the people in it was planning on about the same thing as my father. They met in the store and sort of got acquainted and they decided to camp together that night.

The next morning both families headed west. My father and the other man walked along beside the wagon and visited and my dad talked to him about religion. I was just a young lad then and this other man had a son about the same age as I was so we played together along the way. Later we came to the place where we were to go to Homestead so we told them all goodbye for they were going west to Leedy, Oklahoma.

Sometime later the Homestead Brethren received word that a Brother’s house burned down in Leedy. The Homestead Brethren  took up donations, bedding, and furniture, and my dad and I took it by wagon to Leedy. Other Brethren from Vici came and they all decided to stay and help rebuild the Brother’s house.

The man that we met at Langston lived just down the block from where the house had burned down and he came down to work on the house also. When the Brethren decided that they would like to have a meeting, he offered them his house to have the meeting in. Later he was baptized, his son that I played with was later baptized, also, his name was Brother Andrew Myers, who married Sister Mae Moore. They lived for years in Sapulpa, raised their family in the church there.

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Please let me know what you think of the story...