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In 1901 John Ira Balkcom, his wife Ida Lucinda Baldwin, and 3 year old daughter Mae moved from their families in Dale and Henry Counties, Alabama to Van Zandt County, Texas. Within a few years they moved on to southwestern Oklahoma, probably a couple of years before Oklahoma statehood. They made their permanent home there, raising children Mae (1897-1989), Euel (1903-1981), Thelma (1905-1971), and Jake Balkcom (1909-1961).
Their ancestors are traced to Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama. They are for the most part of English, Irish, and Scottish descent. Migration evidence has so far been found only for the Preston family, who migrated to America in 1832 from England. The other families came to America earlier, and members of the Balkcom family came to America in the early to mid 1600s.
In the early 1800s almost all were farmers, or in a few cases "planters", the term used in a few states (notably Virginia, the Carolinas, and Georgia) for those who were a little more wealthy or aspired to the wealth and status associated with plantation ownership. Most though were small farmers, probably engaged in a mix of subsistence farming along with sales of farm products locally where possible. Some are likely to have had income from some of the American products that were in demand in Europe - pine tar, tobacco, cotton, and indigo for example. Most owned land, livestock, and farm implements. They were among the early settlers of land opened by the government in the expansions south and west of European America.
In their personal lives, there are indications that many were religious, shown by church records, obituaries, and wills, but some left few traces of religious activity. They had for the most part large families (seven or more children) and lived near others in the family. When they married it was almost always to someone who lived close by. Some are known to have served in the Revolutionary War, a few in the War of 1812, and many in the Civil War, where one direct ancestor family lost three sons within two years. Evidence is that they were all affected by the stark economic conditions after the war.
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