The the quiet settlement of Aurora consisted of a few farms and a crossroads store in the late 19th century. Among its residents was Colonel D. W. Milton, a former Confederate lieutenant, who lived there with his family. His son Owen Milton, was born in Aurora around 1874. Of medium height with pleasant features, Owen graduated from an Arkansas college and spent three years teaching school in the state. In the spring of 1896, the 22-year-old teacher left the Ozarks for Florid

Rev. Christian Adolphus Vammen arrived in the Oklahoma Territory in the early 1920s as a Danish American minister called to continue the work at the old New Springplace mission site near what would become the town of Oaks. The site had been established in 1842 by the Moravian Brethren, who sought to replace their earlier mission in Georgia after the Cherokee removal. The Moravians operated there until the disruptions of the Civil War, then resumed limited work before transit