From Louise Dukes’ family history book; posted in the Facebook group Parnell Remembered.
Charles H. Dukes carried on the family tradition of building houses and barns, remodeling, repairing, and “building on.” He worked with his brothers until his son Vollie became old enough to go along, first as a helper, later as a fellow-carpenter. Ora, being younger, was left at home to do the farming. Ora did almost no carpentering until after he was grown and married. Charlie often stayed the whole week on the job, boarding with the family for whom he was working. Ora can remember his father walking the three miles to and from Sheridan morning and evening when his carpenter job was in down. His charge was $1.50 a day.
Vollie carpentered in the Sheridan area for several years before moving to Kansas City, where he worked as a carpenter until his retirement. He helped build a building in downtown Kansas City which was at the time the tallest building in the city.
One of the most unusual carpentry requests came in the early thirties, when a couple of neighbors came to Ora and Charles and asked them to build a coffin. A young man who lived not far away had shot himself. The family didn’t have enough money to buy a casket, so the neighbors had taken up a collection to buy the lumber and asked Dukes to build a suitable box. Ora remembers building it on the front porch of the Lamar house. Chloe and Olive Wilson lined it with Muslin, gathered and tacked on the upper sides of the box. In the bottom, they put quantities of crumpled newspaper which they covered with cloth. The Dukes family had a part in giving the young man a “respectable burial.”
Ora’s statement that his dad, his brother, or he had helped build a majority of the barns in the Sheridan area is borne out by the list of barns they build. He lists 28 barns built by his dad, Charlie, and 8 for which Ora was the head carpenter. Charlie built at least 14 houses, Ora 5, Vollie and Ora 11 barns, and Ora “worked over” 15 houses. To that list could be added numerous corn cribs, garages, cattle sheds, etc. No doubt, nearly every farmer in the area could point to at least one of his buildings and say, “There is the one that the Dukeses built.”
Charles Dukes built barns for the following people: C.H. Dukes, Joseph Dukes, Lewis Nigh, Arthur Shades, John Fisher, Port Rickabaugh, Isaac Rickabaugh (3 barns), E.P. Nesbitt, George Hague, Grant Smith, Jim Dye, Albert Wilson, Charles Wilson, Manford Wilson (2 barns), Willie Wilson (2 barns), Jessie Bartles, Charles Bartles, C.P. Dowis, W.F. Dowis, L.E. Dowis (2 barns), Mr. Fairman, Allen Carroll, C.A. Lamar.
Houses built by Charles H. Dukes for the following people: C.H. Dukes, Bert Clark, John Garrard, Walter Garrard, Lon Long, Lloyd Reddick, Arthur Shades, Nathan Kaufman, Sanford Wilson, Manford Wilson, Star of the West School, Otis Rowe, Mord Wilson, Jesse Shambarger.
Tom Dukes built a brick school house and hotel in Parnell.
Barns built by Vollie and Ora Dukes: Ellis Rowe (house and barn), Oakley Rowe, Guy Cooper, C.A. Lamar, Albert Wilson, Willie Wilson, Earl Timmerman.
Barns built by Vollie Dukes:
L. Rowe, Walter Garrard, Reddick, Allen Lamar.
Buildings constructed by Ora Dukes for the following people. Barns – Ora Dukes, Elmer Fluke, Ellis Rowe, Otis Rowe, Rollie Cooper (2 barns), Ernest Garrard, Arch Musick. Houses: Oakley Rowe, Glennon Wilson, Kenneth Hoover, Dale Sanders, Oakley Gartside.
Houses worked over by Ora Dukes: Glennon Wilson (twice), Victor Parman, June Parman, Dale Lasley, Norvel Huff, Edwin Mitchell, Mrs. Charles Dowis, Opal Shellman, Wilma Caldwell, Howard Meredith, Ernest Saylor, Cecil Boyden, Fred Hunter, Dale Huff.
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