A recent acquaintance brought to my attention a photo of Bud Ballew taken between 1895-1900. Bud Ballew was the infamous deputy sheriff in Carter County (1912-1922)who worked under the evern more infamous Buck Garrett.

The photo in question is of Bud Ballew standing behind two seated Indian Maidens in Indian dress. Bud appears to be dressed in an army uniforma (no hat) or perhaps the clothing of a scout for the US Army. It has been determined the photo was taken in a studio in Duncan, OK.

My question is this, if Ballew were a scout or in the Army or Calvary probably stationed at the old Fort Sill, where would those records be kept (if there are any); what kind of records am I looking for? Does Fort Sill have records going back to 1895-1900? Or am I off on another wild goose chase?

I would have to see the photo to give my opinion of service, but many of the scouts wore civilian clothes. I haven't dug through the records to see how the majority of scouts would have been listed, but the National Archives should contain a service record for him. The museum at Ft. Sill may have records dating to his time of service. There is also a possiblity that they also have a copy of this photo with more information with it (or less as is often the case). Don't worry about chasing wild geese, they are still in season. Besides the challenge they provide in obtaining information gives a greater sense of acomplishment than the tame geese that lay all of the information before you.

I've seen that photo of Ballew and it is not a military uniform. It is a dark colored shirt that has the appearance of a military shirt, but those items were available at posts such as Fort Sill to the civilian market through the post sutlers. I have done a thorough search of the Fort Sill military records at their archives and there is no mention of Ballew being employed as a scout. I have been researching government scouts for the past 5 years and have never seen any serving at Sill during the 1890s. Ben Clark continued at Fort Supply and Amos Chapman at Fort Reno, but their duties were greatly reduced by the 1890s.

I first saw that photo at the Meers Restaurant in Meers, OK located northwest of Lawton a few years ago and was shocked as it shows a very young Ballew identified as "Curly" Ballew. It is also in a recent book containing photographs of Comanche Indians.

You are correct, it is a very young looking Bud "Curly" Ballew in the photo. I have the book checked out from ODL as I speak - it was printed in 1999 by the U of Texas.

I was in Ardmore today serching thru courthouse records, etc., etc. Of the people who are into this sort of stuff that I looked up at Ardmore, none had seen the photo. However, I did find a photo taken in 1890 by the same photographer of an Indian Policeman (and it is also in the book) in the same studio with the same backdrop as the one in the Ballew photo. I have also learned that the U of Texas owns the glass negative from which the photo was made and that the Fort Sill Museum has the photo in their records.

Of the 31 historic photographics in the book, 15 of them have the same backdrop as in the Ballew photo but from various angles.

From some other bits of information that I picked up on today, it appears that he was working on a cattle ranch before he settled down in 1901. Stephens County (Duncan) is adjacent to Carter County, it is perceivable that he was working for someone in the Stephens County area when the photo was made or simply went to Duncan to "whoop it up".

Would love to know more about the life of Ballew between 1891 and 1901.

This is what I have on Ballew:

David M. “Bud/Curly” Ballew was born in September 1877. In 1900, he was living in the Chickasaw Nation as a boarder and was listed as unemployed. He was Undersheriff to Sheriff Buck Garrett in Oklahoma. He might have been a deputy U.S. marshal for the Southern District of Indian Territory in 1904. In 1910, he was living with his family in Lone Grove Township, Carter County where he was engaged in farming. He shot and killed former deputy U.S. marshal Dow Braziel in Ardmore, Oklahoma on January 31, 1919. Braziel started firing first and Ballew returned fire. In 1920, Ballew was liviing with his wife and son at Wilson, Oklahoma where he was employed as a deputy sheriff for Carter County. Ballew was killed in a saloon in Wichita Falls, Texas by Chief of Police J.W. McCormack in a shootout on May 12, 1922 and is buried in the Lone Grove Cemetery north of Lone Grove, Oklahoma.

Thanks for posting a response, but I have all that (plus a ton more). I'm specifically looking for information between 1891-1901 before his marriage date. It seems as if everything written about him is only after he started working for Garrett. But my friends tell me I'm tenacious as a bulldog so hopefully I'll find it eventually.