John and Hattie Huggins

John was the adopted son of Joseph V. Whitman and Martha Ellen (Ella) Rogers Whitman. John's natural parents had been French immigrants by the name of Obrion (actual spelling unknown); John's birth name was Jean Andre Obrion. When Jean (or John) was a small boy both parents died and he was subsequently adopted by the Whitman's. In the 1900 census for Davis, Pottawatomie, Oklahoma, John was living with the Whitman's but still using the last name of "Obrion". By 1902/3 when he and Hattie had married he was using the name of "Whitman".

Shortly after their marriage, John and Hattie moved to Enid, Oklahoma, where their four children were born. Elizabeth Trowbridge (Betty) in 1904; Marjorie Ellen in 1906; Jack Andre in 1908; and, my mother, Frances Jane (Billie) in 1910.

John worked for the Gum Brothers Land Inspection Company, first in Enid, later in Oklahoma City. As was typical for the time, Hattie stayed home to raise the children and look after their home. Financially, they were doing very well. They had a nice home in Enid (this photograph shows a home similar to the one they owned), certainly they had household help, and from photographs (1) and (2) we see an affluent family of the early 1900s.

By 1918, John's job had been relocated to Oklahoma City. The family was moving up. They bought a new home in a very nice section of Oklahoma City. It was more spacious and "fancier" than the one they had left in Enid. By now, all the children were in school; young Jack attending a military academy. Betty and Marge were in the local high school and Billie was in grade school.

Unfortunately, the additional money and the nicer home weren't able to fix whatever was wrong in their marriage. In 1922 the Whitman's were divorced. They sold the family home, Hattie purchased a more modest house near the neighborhood where she and John had lived. John was living in a rooming house. Sometime before 1925 John was remarried.

The four Whitman children remained with their mother.

The Children of John A. and Harriet B. (Hattie Huggins) Whitman