A history of the state of Oklahoma, Volume I, Part 80

Author: Hill, L. B. (Luther B.)
Publication date: 1908
Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Pubishing Company
Number of Pages: 645

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WILLIAM NICHOLS BARRY, manager and member of the New State Hardware Com- pany, of Paden, is also a leading Democrat and is now serving on the board of com- missioners of Okfuskee county. He is a native of La Fayette county, Mississippi, born on the 9th of September, 1878, and is the son of Jesse R. and Ellen Elizabeth (Nichols) Barry. His family, on both pa- ternal and maternal sides, is of Irish origin, but has been long established in the south, his father's ancestors having originally been Virginians and his mother's, Georgians.

The public schools of Mississippi fur- nished Mr. Barry with what education he was able to obtain, but his first business experience was as an employe in the store of J. D. Richards, at Okemah, Indian Ter- ritory, in the year 1902. Prior to that year he had spent some time in various sections of Mississippi and Texas. His business and general advancement was steady and sub- stantial and finally he associated himself with Messrs. Mertes and Heatley in the or-

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ganization of the New State Hardware Company, of which he was chosen active manager. For a number of years Mr. Barry had taken an active interest in county poli- tics and, with the birth of the new state, his Democratic associates elected him to its board of commissioners. Like other good Oklahoma citizens he is a married man, his wife being Miss Eunice I. Busby, daughter of J. D. Busby, of Okemah. One child has been born to their union, Ellen Elizabeth Barry.

CHARLES SNOOK belongs to the group of influential and enterprising merchants who during the past few years have made Asher one of the principal retail centers of Pot- tawatomie county. The Asher Mercantile Company was organized here in 1906, and from that time until the present its inter- ests have been constantly enlarging and advancing until it now occupies a creditable position among the business establishments in this part of the state. The president of the company is Charles Snook and the secretary and treasurer, N. W. Janes, both business men of well known reliability, and in their store room, located on the main street of Asher, they carry a full and com- plete line of everything to be found in a general mercantile establishment. During 1907, as an outside line, they shipped one hundred cars of posts and wood from Asher, and the president of the company has also served his city as a postmaster.

He was born in Kansas City, Missouri. in 1873, a son of G. W. and Lucy S. Snook. The mother died in 1898, but the father is still living and a resident of Fort Madison, Iowa. During the Civil war he served in the Federal army as a member of Company I, Thirtieth Iowa Infantry, and he now maintains pleasant relations with his old army comrades of the blue by his member- ship in the Grand Army of the Republic. His political affiliations are with the Re- publican party. At the mother's death she left three children, Charles, Ida Chapell, whose home is in Kansas City, Missouri, and E. R., a manufacturer of engines at Fort Madison, Iowa.

Charles Snook was reared on a pioneer farm in Western Iowa and in Ness county, Kansas, there laying the foundation for his subsequent successful business career, and during the first eight years of his business life he was a telegraph operator for rail- roads in different places. In 1904 he was united in marriage to Lillian Blanche Hull, who was born in Quincy, Illinois, a daugh- ter of James and Mary M. Hull, and she was a successful and popular teacher before her marriage. Mr. Snook is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and is a Republican politically, an active worker in local political ranks, and he has served his party as a delegate to conventions. He is frank and genial in his manner, and is one of Asher's prominent and popular citi- zens.

REV. WESLEY F. SWIFT, for many years an efficient laborer in the cause of Christian- ity in the southwest, is a local minister in the Methodist Episcopal church, South, and preaches once a month at Oak Grove church, which was built in 1904. This con- gregation has a membership now of one hundred and ten, with an enrollment of eighty in the Sunday-school. Rev. Swift is a pleasant and forcible speaker, earnest in the presentation of the truth and his ef- forts have been amply blessed.

He was born near Columbia in Boone county, Missouri, December 20, 1846, a son of Henry, who was born in Maryland, and a grandson of a Revolutionary and In- dian war soldier and who lived to the re- markable age of one hundred and one years. He was of English descent. Henry Swift died at the age of sixty-three, leav- ing a widow, Asenath (Selby) Swift, a native of Bourbon county, Kentucky, and five children, four sons and a daughter, and two of the sons, Wesley F. and Milton E., were Civil war soldiers. Milton served in the Eleventh Iowa Infantry, and was held as a prisoner at Andersonville, his death occurring there.

Rev. Swift spent the early years of his life in his native state of Missouri, and in August of 1862, at the call of Lincoln for

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three hundred thousand more men, he en- listed in Company E, Third Cavalry, and served for three years, principally in Gen- eral Sherman's army. He was first under the command of General Steele in the tak- ing of Little Rock, Arkansas, and later un- der the gallant cavalry leader, General Wil- son, fighting in Alabama, Mississippi and Georgia. At Gun Town, Mississippi, he was shot through the leg just above the knee, and was in a hospital at Memphis, Tennessee, for five months, and he was honorably discharged at Davenport, Iowa, in June, 1865, his record as a soldier being one of which he may well feel proud. He was the youngest as well as the smallest man in his regiment, familiarly known as the "baby of the regiment," and he served for a time as bugler in the regimental band.

In 1889 Rev. Swift left Texas for the Chickasha Nation in Indian Territory, and in 1900 he located on his present homestead in Moore township. He bought improved land at twelve dollars and a half an acre, and in the meantime he has placed the land under an excellent state of cultivation, has planted a good orchard and has made the farm one of the valuable ones of the town- ship. His land is well watered and very fertile. Rev. Swift is a member of the Ma- sonic order, being a charter member of Adel Lodge, from which he transferred his membership to Wanette Lodge, and he is a stanch supporter of Prohibition prin- ciples.

He was first married in Missouri to Liz- zie Dilton, who was born in Virginia and died in Missouri, leaving three daughters, Sarah T. Wilmuth, Amanda Belle and one deceased. In Cooke county, Texas, in 1867, Rev. Swift married Lucretia Gabriel, who was born in Arkansas, but reared and educated in Texas, a daughter of William and Emily (Hargrave) Gabriel. The mother was born in Alabama, and is a cousin of Bishop Hargrave, a prominent Methodist divine. She is now living in Texas at the advanced age of ninety-two years, but her husband is deceased. The four children of this union are Cora M., Theodore J., Agnes L. and Susan W.

JOSEPH ST. CLAIR, M. D. The distinc- tion of being amongst the first registered practicing physicians of Oklahoma belongs to Dr. Joseph St. Clair, of Romulus. He became a resident of Oklahoma in 1891, and of Romulus in 1907, but many years previous to this time, on the 26th of Au- gust, 1868, he had graduated from a med- ical college at Cincinnati, Ohio, and prac- ticed first in Carroll county, Missouri. Leaving that state in 1891 he moved to Montgomery county, Kansas, and a short time afterward came to Oklahoma, living first in Moral, and from there he came to Romulus in 1907, and has since been one of the leading physicians and surgeons of this place.

Dr. St. Clair was born in New Jersey May 21, 1845, a son of Isaac and Eveline (Brown) Countryman. When a small boy he was adopted by the St. Clair family, and has ever since retained their name. He is a member of an old American family who trace their ancestry to the French and to patriots of the Revolutionary war. When the Civil war came on Dr. St. Clair, then a lad of eighteen, responded to the call of his country and went to the front as a member of the One Hundred and Forty- fifth Pennsylvania Infantry, Company F. his military career covering three years of faithful and valiant service. After a time he was made a member of Chapin's Battery of New Jersey, and served with that com- mand until his final discharge. At the bat- tle of Hatcher's Run he was quite severely wounded.

In Carroll county, Missouri, in 1880, Dr. St. Clair married Minnie L. Neal, and their children are Florence, Jonas, Kate, Fanny, Alex. and Dewey. The Doctor is a mem- ber of a family of musicians, and is a nat- ural band leader. He has played in some of the leading bands of the United States, and the St. Clair Band, of which he is now the leader, is very popular and much sought after for public gatherings. He plays effi- ciently on many instruments, including the violin, bass viol and the mandolin. He maintains pleasant relations with his com- rades in arms by his membership in the

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Grand Army of the Republic. In political matters he votes with the Republican party, and he is a member of the fraternal order of Modern Woodmen of America.

W. J. CARSON is at the head of one of the leading industrial institutions of Te- cumseh, the Tecumseh Hardware Com- pany, and is also the proprietor of a large drug business. But perhaps he is best known as a Friend and Quaker. The so- ciety built a mission forty years ago near Shawnee and presented it to the govern- ment in return for a tract of land. Mr. Carson is an active and efficient worker for. his church, and has done much to further its interests in the community.

He was born in Buchanan county, Iowa, May 16, 1864, to J. M. and Jane (Hoover) Carson, both of whom were born in Ohio. They were married in that state in 1847, and in 1878 moved to Kansas, where J. M. Carson became prominently identified with farming and stock raising interests. His wife died there in 1886, when forty-nine years of age, and three years afterward the husband came on to Indian Territory and settled in South McAlester. After two years in the stock business there he came to Pottawatomie county, Oklahoma, his present home, but he is now living retired after many years of active business life. He upholds the principles of the Repub- lican party but is an independent voter, and has ever been an active factor for the good of the people, a man of high moral and religious character.

W. J. Carson also became a resident of Oklahoma in 1891, entering at once into the mercantile life of Tecumseh, and with the passing years his business has broad- ened and increased until at the present time he owns the most of the stock in the Te- cumseh Hardware Company and also gives his personal supervision to his large drug business. He is a member of the Masonic lodge in Tecumseh.

In 1900 Mr. Carson married Miss Alice I. Crist, born in Ohio, and their three chil- dren are: Ethel, born July 21, 1901 ; Lewis W., born February 15, 1905; and Edith Fay, born October 1, 1907. One daughter, Laura, died in infancy.

BROTHER JOHN LARACY, of the Sacred Heart Mission in Pottawatomie county, is one of the pioneer Christian workers of Oklahoma, and his life and achievements are worthy of a first place in the history of the state. It was on the 4th of Decem- ber. 1879, that he came into the wilds of an Indian country to spread the gospel among the Red Men and the half civilized whites, outlaws and desperadoes who were then so numerous in the southwest, and from that early day to the present he has labored faithfully and earnestly in the building up of the community.

Brother Laracy was born in Kilkenny, Ireland, fifty-seven years ago, and he was but a child when brought by his parents to the United States, they locating first at Newark, New Jersey, where the little lad received his education in the public and parochial schools. As above stated he came to Oklahoma in 1879 and joined the brotherhood of the Sacred Heart Mission, January 28, 1883, over twenty-five years ago, and for some time thereafter he taught school. Some time later a rude building was erected for the purpose of educating the freedmen or negroes, who had no other means of obtaining an education, and this was the first school of its kind in Indian Territory. He at first boarded around among the negro families, living as best he could, but later he fitted up a room and obtained a negro cook. The school was lo- cated seven miles south of the Mission, and he spent four years of his life there, and the seed sown in that time has borne fruit a hundred fold in many cases. The negroes were of the Creek and Chickasaw blood. After the close of his four years in the negro school Brother Laracy returned to the Sacred Heart Mission.

During his early life in the southwest he had many interesting experiences, though it was fraught with many dangers and hardships. One of his co-workers in those days was Father Robot, the first post- master of the Mission. He was a French- man and came to the Territory in 1876, and was a zealous and earnest worker among the people. His death occurred at McAl- ester when sixty years of age. Brother

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Laracy also served many years as the post- master of the Mission, first during Presi- dent Hayes' administration, and he is known far and wide as the Indian's friend and counselor.

The school for Indian girls connected with the Mission is under the charge of the Sisters and has done much good work. It now numbers seventy-five pupils, includ- ing many white girls, the daughters of the cattlemen and many who have found a safe refuge here are now the mothers of some of the leading families of the state. The school for boys has an attendance of eighty, and is also doing an excellent work. The labors of "Brother John," as he is lov- ingly known, cannot be told in detail, for the good he has accomplished cannot be summed up in mere words, but the seed which he has sown has brought forth rich fruit. His path has been ever upward, both in a spiritual and temporal sense, one of nature's noblemen. But all his achieve- ments are the result of patient effort and the outcome of an earnest Christian life.

DR. J. E. CULLUM, one of the most suc- cessful physicians and surgeons of Earls- boro, has practiced here since May of 1901. He is a graduate of the Gate City Medical College of Texas, and since then he has had many years of successful practice in Missouri, Indian Territory and Oklahoma.

He is a native son, however, of the Hoosier state, born near Lafayette, in Tip- pecanoe county, Indiana, in 1859, a mem- ber of one of its pioneer families, Jeremiah and Abigail (Sleeth) Cullum. The parents both died when their son was young, he having been but eight at the time of his father's death, and he was reared by an uncle, receiving the greater part of his edu- cation by studying at home. Leaving In- diana he went to Mercer county, Illinois, residing for three years near North Hen- derson. From there he went to Coin, Page county, Iowa, where he worked at the har- ness maker's trade for some time, he hav- ing learned the trade while living in Alexis, and from there he went to Clearmont, Nod- away county, Missouri. It was there that Dr. Cullum married Velma Freeman, a daughter of Dr. J. D. Freeman, a promi-

nent physician of Tecumseh. They have had the following children: Blanche, one of the successful teachers in Pottawatomie county ; Vera, who is sixteen years of age; Lora, who died at the age of six; Charlie, also deceased; and Clifford E., a little lad of five years. The Doctor is a Democrat politically, and the family are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, in which he is an earnest and active member and at the present time the superintendent of his Sunday-school.

MARY BOURBONNAIS. The history of the removal of the Pottawatomie tribe of In- dians to Oklahoma in 1872 involves the life history of one of the most interesting wom- en of the state. Of the Indians removed in that year there were four families, number- ing twenty-eight persons, who settled on the South Canadian river. There was not a Christian person among them but the idea of education was strong enough among them so that a house was erected from lum- ber hauled from Kansas and efforts made to begin a school for the children of the community. The first teacher, however, was a renegade white man and horse thief who left in the night, the second was a Catholic old maid and the third a Mormon preacher. The Quaker system of Indian control, which at that time had been made effective during the administration of Presi- dent Grant, resulted in a large number of Quaker men of thorough capacity, as a rule, and of sterling honesty, being located among the different Indian tribes of Okla- homa, and it was through one of this class that the first real teacher was obtained. Through the influence of the Quakers this little Indian community organized its first Sunday-school and for its first superinten- dent, the Indian agent selected Mary Bour- bonnais, who at first declined to serve be- cause she deemed herself unfit for the work but was later prevailed upon and from 1873 until 1900 continued as superintendent of this Sunday-school in what is now Pottawa- tomie county.

The introduction of Christianity among these Indians is one of the facts of the his- tory of the Pottawatomie tribe. It is re- lated that in 1877 a Friend missionary, by

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the name of Franklin Elliot, who was lo- cated at Shawneetown, visited the commun- ity twice a month, travelling twenty-five miles in order to preach to them and as a result of this influence, Mary Bourbonnais and her husband, Antoine Bourbonnais, were converted and the former has con- tinued from that time to this to be one of the strongest supporters of the Christian religion and its practice.

Mary Bourbonnais is now sixty-eight years of age and is a very intelligent wom- an, considering her early opportunities, and in every sense is a true Christian. Her father was a Frenchman and her mother a Pottawatomie. She, herself, was born at New Orleans, April 1, 1840, while her par- ents were on a visit in that city and some time later the family moved to Council Bluffs, Iowa, and when she was seven years of age the tribe of Indians, among whom they made their home, went from Iowa to Kansas, where she was reared to woman- hood. In the old St. Mary's school in Kan- sas, one of the best known of the Indian schools of the Southwest, she received her education, and at the age of sixteen was married. Her first husband was Lewis J. Harris, a Kentuckian, who died shortly af- ter a trip to Pike's Peak in 1859. In 1862 his widow married Antoine Bourbonnais, of French and Indian blood, and as already mentioned, was converted to Christianity at the same time that his wife was and until his death, at the age of sixty-seven, was one of the upright and influential residents of Pottawatomie county, his death occur- ring on the mission farm there. By occu- pation he was a cattle man and remained a member of the Quaker church in this vicinity for twelve years. Five children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Bourbonnais: Aaron F .. whose home is in Tecumseh ; John A., of Tecumseh ; Levi A., also of Te- cumseh ; Ozetta, the wife of W. F. Jenks, a teacher in the government school in Mex- ico, and Amelia Hudson, who is deceased.

Though she has been actively connected with Sunday-school affairs and church duties, and resigned her position as super- intendent in 1900, Mary Bourbonnais is still an active woman for one of her years

and is consistent with the practice of her church through the early teaching of the Quaker missionary under whose influence she was converted. The honor of having established the first Sunday-school in this part of the state is one that entitles her to more than average distinction for a wom- an. She has also extended her efforts in other directions in church and charitable work and is an active worker and member of the Women's Christian Temperance Union. She was one of the most enthusi- astic workers in promoting the state wide prohibition movement in 1907.

W. G. PRICE, who bears an honorable rec- ord for brave service in the cause of the southland during the Civil war, is at this date one of the three commissioners of Pot- tawatomie county. Mr. Price entered the Confederate army in 1860 and served dur- ing the war fought under Generals Early, Ewell and Wharton, and was a member of the Fifty-first Virginia Infantry. He was three times wounded during the struggle, at New Market, Fayetteville and Winches- ter, and was taken prisoner at Waynesboro by Gen. Phil Sheridan's army, made his es- cape at Strasburg, Virginia, later was re- captured by Stoneman and for a time held as a Confederate officer at Johnson's Island. From a private he had been promoted for meritorious service to sergeant major, later elected to first lieutenant, Company D, to captain, and was finally discharged as bre- vet lieutenant colonel of his regiment. After the war he taught school for several years in his native state of Virginia and then re- moved to Texas, where he engaged in farm- ing and teaching school. In 1873, Mr. Price moved to Grayson county, Texas, in 1890 to the Chickasaw Nation in Indian Territory, where he leased and farmed In- dian land until his removal to Oklahoma in 1898. He was elected county commis- sioner of Pottawatomie county in the fall of 1904 and re-elected in 1907. Since 1898 he has been prominently identified with the interests of the county.

He was born in the old Dominion state of Virginia, Patrick county, in 1843, a son of Bernard and Louisa (Ayres) Price, who were also natives of that commonwealth,

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and the father was of Scotch and German descent. He was a well educated man, and in his day was one of the successful edu- cators of Virginia, a man respected and hon- ored by all who knew him. The three sons of Mr. and Mrs. Price were W. G. and Dallas M., and one who died in infancy.

In March, 1867, when he had reached his twenty-fourth year, W. G. Price mar- ried Nancy Jane, a daughter of Don and Mary Weaver, all of whom were born in Pennsylvania, but moved to Virginia in early life. As a representative of the Dem- ocracy Mr. Price has served as a delegate to party conventions, and his party has further honored him by election to the office of county commissioner. He is a Royal Arch Mason and an Odd Fellow and a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. A man of pleasing personality and genial manner, he has won many friends in Te- cumseh and vicinity, and as a county offi- cial he is firm in his convictions of the right.

L. T. SAMMONS, cashier of the Maud State Bank, is at the head of one of the most reliable financial institutions of Pot- tawatomie county. The bank was organized in November, 1903, by C. W. Miller and E. Riddle, and in 1905 the capital stock was purchased by its present officers, R. R. Henden, president ; L. T. Sammons, cash- ier, and J. R. Smith, the assistant cashier.

The popular and well-known cashier of the Maud State Bank, L. T. Sammons, has been a resident of Pottawatomie county for six years, and was born in Hardeman coun- ty, Tennessee, October 5, 1865, a son of J. W. and Tennessee ( Wilkes) Sammons. both now deceased. The father also had his nativity in Tennessee, and there the son was reared and educated and entered upon his subsequent successful business career. His first occupation was at farming. while later he was a clerk in a dry goods store for six years at Whiteville, and for two years was in the general mercantile busi- ness for himself. In 1901 he came to Shawnee, Oklahoma, and engaged in the real estate business, and he was one of the promoters of that town. From there he came to Maud in 1905 and purchased an interest in the Maud State Bank, which, as

above stated, is one of Oklahoma's reliable banking institutions. He is also a prom- inent worker in local politics, affiliating with the Democracy. and he has served his party as a delegate to conventions, as the treasurer of its central committee for three years and in many other positions. He is a popular member of the Knights of Pythias fraternity and also of the Wood- men of the World.

At the age of twenty-one, and before leaving his home state of Tennessee, Mr. Sammons was united in marriage to Della Hillgard, and their two children are Elma Alline and Flossie E. The eldest daughter is at present a student in Kid Key College. Texas. The family are members of the Cumberland Presbyterian church.

S. M. RAMSEY, of Section 34, Brinton township, Pottawatomie county. secured his present homestead here September 22, 1801. With a team and wagon he left his old home in Missouri on August 4, 1891, where he had lived for forty-six years and started for Oklahoma, and on September 22, 1891. from Capshaw Field, nine miles distant from here, he made the race for the choice claims of Pottawatomie county and secured his present homestead, where he has re- sided most of the time since. He was five weeks in making the journey and was ac- companied by his daughter Florence and niece Laura Tarbox. His sister, Mrs. Mary H. Tarbox. and three of his children re- mained in Missouri until October 16, 1891. when his sister came to Oklahoma and filed on a claim adjoining that of Mr. Ramsey. after which she returned to Missouri and remained there until the spring of 1894, at intervals making trips to ()klahoma to com- ply with the law in holding her claim. Her daughter's farm joins Mr. Ramsey's on the north. Here Mr. Ramsey has since lived and labored with the exception of the time spent in Tecumseh to afford his chil- dren better educational advantages, and he conducted a meat market during his resi- dence there. Pottawatomie county is glad to claim him among her agriculturists and pioneer citizens.

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A history of the state of Oklahoma, Volume I, Part 80

Author: Hill, L. B. (Luther B.) Publication date: 1908 Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Pubishing Company Number of Pages: 645

Author: Hill, L. B. (Luther B.)
Publication date: 1908
Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Pubishing Company
Number of Pages: 645