Ernest Ogden

Birth: He was born around 1922 in Arkansas.  

Family Information: Son of Archibald Yell "A.Y." and Elsie Ogden.

Brother of Raymond, Archie, William, and Opal Ogden. Half-brother of Winnie (Ogden) Dougherty (plus others who never lived in the colony.)  

Description:  

Pre-Colony History: In 1930 he was living with his parents and siblings in Oklahoma.  

Home in Colony:  

Job in Colony: In July 1931 the "Busy Beavers" consisting of Vivian Busick, Irene Hewitt, Jeannette Wooley, Jane Lentz, Wanda Self, Iris Busick, Norman Bays, Phillip Lentz, Kenneth Dean, Archie Ogden, Ernest Ogden, Byron Busick, Jimmie Dix, George Maki and Lyle Layer, under the leadership of Mrs. Killian, gathered Himalayan berries at the orchard in the morning and in the afternoon picked blackberries out of the woods.

In October 1931 he, along with Billy and Byron Busick joined Bennie Hewitt when he took a team out to haul firewood for his mother.  

Other Info: In May 1931 Miss Daisy Brown trained some dozen children to take parts in a little playlet called "The Census Taker" including Joe Blackshire as the father and Rachel Valleau as the mother; Blen Still played the census taker and the children were played by Jeannette Wooley, Ellen Jernberg, Iris Busick, Ernest Ogden, Bill Ogden, Andrew Parson, Liljean Corbett, Warren Roe, Leola Bays, Rozella and Quentin Quipp.

In September 1931 the first number on the program at the theater was a playlet entitled "The Royal Tailor Shop." The characters were Joe as the royal tailor; the king played by Bill Busick; and the servant played by Ernest. The boys were all third grade students and each did his part very well.

In 1932, he became a Nature Guardian of Louisiana when he agreed to protect the birds, flowers, trees and other natural resources of the state against wanton destruction.

In June 1933, Oscar Needham loaned his big Buick coupe so the fourth grade could have their spring outing on the banks of the Sabine river. They enjoyed swimming, fishing, ice cream, mud baths and a perfect day. The group included: Hulda Mahler, Frances Roe, Genevieve Quipp, Billy Busick, Eugene Hewett, Ernest, Raymond Campbell, Joe Lentz and their teacher. When they left the colony, four children were hanging on the outside, while five rode on the inside with plenty of eats and an ice cream freezer filled with vanilla ice cream and fresh strawberries. Their picnic included biscuits with egg, honey and peanut butter filling and raw carrots for relish. While the teacher read to some, others threw stones far out into the stream, with Ernest and Raymond claiming to have thrown into Texas. The 'colored' ferryman, having come down, went into convulsions of laughter after spotting Eugene, who had covered every square inch of his body, except his eyes and mouth, with mud.

In December 1934 Amos and Andy lived again for twenty minutes in the Open Air Taxi Cab company garage with Walter Robison as Andy and Archie Ogden as Amos, Ernest as "Lightnin" and Jack Barnett as "Kingfish." Mrs. Ogden took the part of Madame Queen and the fun was quite agreeable to all.

Later that month he, Archie and Walt repeated their roles -- this time the skit was that Amos and Andy had a dry oil well in New Jersey; Andy planted some oil in the hole and then tried to sell stock in it, however, a government agent, in the person of Roy McClean stopped the deal and placed Andy under arrest.

Post-Colony History:  

Death:  

Sources: US Census: 1930;"Llano Colonist": May 30, 1931, July 11, 1931, September 12, 1931, September 19, 1931, October 3, 1931, January 2, 1932, April 15, 1933, June 17, 1933, December 8, 1934, December 22, 1934