Walter H. McCanliss

I'm looking for information on Walter H. McCanliss and his parents.

My grandfather on my mothers side was Walter H. McCanliss (with this unique spelling and we're not 100% sure on the middle initial). He was born in Texas (location ?) on 17 November 1881 and died in Ft. Worth, Texas on 20 May 1948. He went by the nickname of "Tex". My Grandmother, Opal Walker was his second wife while Walter was her first husband. Walter was 24 years older than Opal. Walter's first wife was Ava Collins Box. I believe they were married in the Wichita Falls, Texas area about 1911. They had three boys, Roy Lee, Horace Kay and Lonny Box. I have accurate information on all the kids on this line.

My mother's living family members only vaguely remember Walter. He and my Grandmother were married for about 13 years and then separated. Grandmother remarried, Walter didn't and the family kind of lost track of him.

Walter was a devout Seventh Day Adventist, did a little preaching, and wrote poetry and songs. Mother says that none of the family seemed to really know much about his past. The family thinks he may have been orphaned during the 1900 Galveston hurricane. He would have been 19 years old then. The only thing that ties Walter to Galveston during the hurricane was a poem that he had written about the event that he recited all the time.

Walter was poor and uneducated, apparently working his way through Texas and Oklahoma starting at a very young age. He clamed to have no family and mainly worked as farm laborer to survive. His past was either concealed or more likely just ignored. Somewhere along his way he learned to read and write quite well.

With the help on the Canadian County Oklahoma Genealogical Society I've only recently located his unmarked grave site in El Reno, Oklahoma and confirmed is birth and death dates.

Walter's parents were probably born between 1844 and 1864.

Any information on Walter and his parents would be greatly appreciated.

Mike Wilson
Tulsa, Oklahoma