Old Kentucky Home

In 1902, when James E. Garnett homesteaded in Oklahoma, he named his property Old Kentucky Home Farm.

Why did he choose that name?

1910 Map of Harper County, Oklahoma¹Western Publishing Co. Plat book of Harper County, Oklahoma: containing maps of villages, cities and townships of the county, and of the state, United States and world: portraits of representative citizens and leading men of the county. Ashland, Kan.: Western Publishing Co, 1910. Map. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/2007633237/>. accessed 1 March 2025.

Stephen Foster’s Song

The sentimental ballad, My Old Kentucky Home, Good-Night! is frequently shortened to My Old Kentucky Home. Published in 1863, Foster may have been influenced by Harriet Beecher Stowe’s anti-slavery novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin (Foster’s sketchbook includes a title: “Poor Uncle Tom, Good-Night!”)²https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Old_Kentucky_Home. accessed 1 March 2025. See wikipedia discussion of the replacement of ‘darkies’ with ‘people’.

In the lyrics, Foster yearned for his home. J.E. Garnett must have longed for his boyhood home in Kentucky, also.

The sun shines bright in the old Kentucky home,
‘Tis summer, the people are gay,
The corn top’s ripe and the meadow’s in the bloom
While the birds make music all the day.
The young folks roll on the little cabin floor,
All merry, all happy and bright:
By’n by Hard Times comes a knocking at the door,
Then my old Kentucky Home, good night.

Chorus:

Weep no more, my lady, oh! weep no more today!
We will sing one song
For the old Kentucky Home,
For the old Kentucky Home, far away.

 

They hunt no more for the possum and the coon
On the meadow, the hill and the shore,
They sing no more by the glimmer of the moon,
On the bench by the old cabin door.
The day goes by like a shadow o’er the heart,
With sorrow where all was delight:
The time has come when the people have to part,
Then my old Kentucky Home, good-night!

Chorus.

The head must bow and the back will have to bend,
Wherever the people may go:
A few more days, and the trouble all will end
In the field where the sugar-canes grow.
A few more days for to tote the weary load,
No matter ’twill never be light,
A few more days till we totter on the road,
Then my old Kentucky Home, good-night!

Chorus.

Garnett Home near Columbia, Kentucky, about 1895³Photo of Garnett Home near Columbia KY, original owned by Mary Ann Garnett Dowling (1939-2021), digital copy made by Karrie Blees, 2013. Date based on the age of Martha Thomasine Garnett who was born 1 Feb 1895.

left to right: Sam Ike Garnett, Victoria (Willis) Garnett, Mary Allie Garnett, Mattie (Garnett) Hurt, Sarah “Ellie” Garnett, Mary Lee (Holladay) Garnett, Martha Thomasine Garnett, William A. Garnett

When J.E. Garnett left Kentucky, this is what the place looked like. This house was eventually replaced with a 2-story brick structure. Garnett family members owned the property until 2015.

What’s next?

Do you have other photos of the property?
Who was Sam Ike Garnett?

SOURCES

• 1
  Western Publishing Co. Plat book of Harper County, Oklahoma: containing maps of villages, cities and townships of the county, and of the state, United States and world: portraits of representative citizens and leading men of the county. Ashland, Kan.: Western Publishing Co, 1910. Map. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/2007633237/>. accessed 1 March 2025.
• 2
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Old_Kentucky_Home. accessed 1 March 2025. See wikipedia discussion of the replacement of ‘darkies’ with ‘people’.
• 3
  Photo of Garnett Home near Columbia KY, original owned by Mary Ann Garnett Dowling (1939-2021), digital copy made by Karrie Blees, 2013. Date based on the age of Martha Thomasine Garnett who was born 1 Feb 1895.