James "Perry " Isham Lefors was one of 21 kids born to James Jefferson LeFors (from KY). His mother was James' 2nd wife Martha Mahala West (from TN).

This family moved from MO to AR to TX back to AR then to OK. In OK is where Martha died & was buried.

Some sons were off in TX & liked the place they were visiting so much they talked most of the family into moving back to TX. JJ, age 70, & a few sons headed off that way. They barely reached their destination & secured a place when they learned another son was killed by Indians in KS.

In 1881 JJ took some children to visit their older sib so they could be educated & died while visiting therefore was buried there.

Perry was a cattle rancher & while working as a foreman on the Diamond F Ranch acquired enough land to build a stage stop between Tascosa & Mobeetie TX. This eventually became Lefors, Gray County, TX.

That stage shop is where his future bride, Emma Lang, would eventually pull in. 3 years after they met they married. At their first house 2 children were born. At their ranch 5 daughters were born.

Things were going fairly good for them. Perry influenced the creation of both Lefors & also Gray County TX. But then typhoid fever visited the area & claimed the life of Perry & 4 of his 6 daughters. With the oldest daughter & only son grown & gone Emma was left with one toddler to fend for. After her baby graduated HS she moved back to TX & died there 1/25/1958.

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I have just recently discovered that Perry was the father to one and possibly two children with Wesley Ann Page (1850-1882), daughter of Major Page. As mentioned in "The Autobiography of Rufe LeFors", Major Page, Choctaw, was known to the J.J. LeFors family, and leased land in the Choctaw Nation, near Skullyville, to James J Lefors, in 1869. It was in 1869 that a P. Lefors was born, and buried five years later in the Page cemetery in Pocola, Choctaw Nation, now LeFlore County, OK. In 1873, Monte LaForce/Lefors was born in the same place, to Wesley Ann, and on his Choctaw Dawes Roll, he claims his father's name was Perry LeForce/Lefors. It is not known if Perry and Wesley Ann married, as no record has yet been located, but it is assumed they did sine records in this time and place are not very easy to locate. Their marriage would have been 1868-1869. Wesley Ann was married previous to Perry LeFors and also went on to marry after, in 1877, and died several years later, in 1882.

Contributor: carri maioriello (47108144) •