The group in this picture look for all the world like the denizens of an abusive orphanage. But they are the students of Kingfisher Academy, a small but accomplished school and college, that was founded in Kingfisher, Oklahoma to educate the children of homesteaders.
In 1889 Doc and Mollie Mahaffie had moved their family to Kingfisher County, Oklahoma, and settled on a farm there in a community that eventually came to be called Cashion.
The picture shows the school in 1896, with Charlie top row second from the left and Bart Mahaffie, his younger brother, bottom row on the right. It doesn’t seem that their big sister Rose, who was then about 14, is in the picture.
As early as the year of its founding, 1895, Mollie and Doc sent Charlie to Kingfisher. In its first years, it was set up in an old hotel, probably the backdrop we see in this photo. By 1897 it had its own building. Before long Kingfisher provided both secondary school and college educations.
Mollie and Doc saw that all of their children went there. The school was about 18 miles from the Mahaffie’s Kingfisher County, Oklahoma farm. When they relocated to Hobart, Oklahoma, in 1901, the boys (and possibly Rose) continued at the school, which was over 100 miles away, as boarding students.
Beginning in 1904, the Rhodes Scholarships, which paid for American students to attend Oxford University in England, were available for two men from each American state.
With the help of Kingfisher’s president, Charlie qualified in the first year that Oklahoman men took the examination (1905). With the scholarship, this prairie-born, homestead child would travel, learn, and become what could only be a rare dream for most from such origins.
This is one of a series of posts that explore the life of Charles D. Mahaffie, Sr. through family memories and items from a family archive. Charles was the author’s grandfather. He left a remarkable collection of papers, photos, and mementos which offer a lens through which to explore his life and legacies. For the full collection, click here.
