June 12, 2006 from Sammie Dennison-Harmon (sharmon@WebcoIndustries.com)
Hi David,
 
Thanks you for replying to my e-mail.  I will be happy to gather the branch information and e-mail it to you. As a preview, I will briefly tell you that my grandmother’s nickname was Minnie; however, her birth name was Eliza Ursula Revard. She was born February 1, 1868 and died February 7, 1961 at the age of 93.  She held the title of oldest living Osage woman in 1960.  She was married three times and had nine children and 22 grandchildren.  She traveled from Oregon to Oklahoma in a covered wagon when she (was) 8 years old.

How can I tell you about my book and be brief?  It is a fact-based, fictionalized Biography of my maternal grandmother’s life.  She lived quite an interesting life and I am compelled to tell her side of the story.  She was born and raised on the Osage reservation.  She was declared an unfit mother by the court and her children from her first (arranged) marriage were taken away and the father received full custody.  Something you may find interesting is in her Hollywood years during the 20’s, she purchased a movie studio and produced pictures with Cecil D. DeMille and Will Rogers. I have (somewhere) the original contract when she purchased it. My mother was in one of the movies, titled The Prisoner.  My uncles raised horses for the movies and when they delivered them from Pawhuska to California, they were trick riders in the movies.  My grandmother’s eldest son, Barton Carton won the title of Championship Roper of the World at Madison Square Gardens in the 1920’s and is inducted in the Cowboy Hall of Fame. I did not fully realize what a brave woman my grandmother was until I began tracing the footsteps of her life.  She dared to exhibit independence in a time when women were at the mercy of men.

I write and publish the newsletter for the Friends of the Oklahoma State Historical Archives and serve as a director on the board. I have a line of Osage Indian greeting cards that were on display in Paris, France.  I am a speaker (when I can’t get out of it) and a writer. Up to this point, except for the work on my unfinished book, I have written articles regarding the Bio on the Osage Indian History.  St Paul, KS historical Society published a book for the Osage Mission Sesquicentennial celebration. I was honored to write the opening chapter on Osage Indian history.
 
It was great to hear from you and watch for the info. I am also going to forward you a picture of Joseph Revard Sr. taken with one of the Pappin men.