A history of the state of Oklahoma, Volume I, Part 83

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

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Mr. and Mrs. Brown have been promi- nently identified with the fruit-growing in- terests of Oklahoma since 1892, when, with a team of Arkansas steers and a covered wagon, he made the journey from Texas to this community and with the help of a few neighbors built a little log cabin six- teen by eighteen feet, the kitchen, parlor, bedroom and the postoffice being all in one

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room. Both Mr. and Mrs. Brown moved to Texas when he was sixteen years and she was seventeen, and it was there they were married. It was not long after his arrival in Pottawatomie county that he was made the postmaster of Brown, his wife performing most of the work of the office. In 1904 a good and substantial residence took the place of the first little home, around which clustered many pleasant memories of their early life in the new coun- try of Oklahoma.

Mr. Brown was born in Vernon county, Missouri, near Nevada, September 14, 1861, and is a son of Moses and Elvira (Lewis) Brown, natives respectively of Kentucky and Missouri. The wife and mother died many years ago, in 1887, but the father survived until July, 1907, dying at the advanced age of eighty-five. He was a lifelong farmer, a Democrat politically. One of their sons, J. M., resides six miles east of Shawnee. G. O. Brown was reared on a Missouri farm, where he was early taught the value of industry as the only means of success, and his subsequent suc- cess has proved the wisdom of his training. In 1881 he was united in marriage to Alice Allison, who was born in Crawford county, Illinois, October 31, 1858, near Robinson, a daughter of C. M. Allison and a grand- daughter of D. Y. Allison, both of whom were prominently identified with the educa- tional interests of Illinois, the former a minister of the Missionary Baptist church, the latter having taught in Illinois for years, and his name is enrolled among the state's pioneer educators. C. M. Allison was a Civil war soldier and died during war times when but thirty years of age, leaving a widow and three children, two sons and a daughter, but Mrs. Brown is now the only member of her family living. One of the sons died when but eight years of age. The mother was a second time married, having two daughters and two sons by the last marriage, and she died at the age of fortv-nine. One daughter has been born to Mr. and Mrs. Brown, Dessie Allison, who received an excellent training in the Shawnee high school and who was a teacher in one of the higher grades of the

Center Point school. April 22, 1908, she married W. C. Ogle, of this county. Mr. and Mrs. Brown have also given a good home to a half sister's three children, Effie V., P. Henry and Osa Ella. Mr. Brown has served as a member of the school board for a number of years and votes with the Democratic party. He is a member of the Masonic and Odd Fellows fraternities, and the family are earnest workers in the Bap- tist church.

OMER MCKOWN. Among the solid finan- cial institutions of Pottawatomie county is numbered the First National Bank of Maud, which is officered by keen business men and able financiers, including its well- known cashier, Omer Mckown, who has held this responsible position since the 17th of April, 1908. He was born in Clinton county, Missouri, in October, 1873, a great- great-grandson of a native Kentuckian who moved from there to Missouri, a grandson of a Civil war soldier, William McKown, and a son of Thomas Mckown, who was born in Plattsburg, Missouri. He was a farmer and stockman and a member of the Free Will Baptist church.

Omer Mckown spent the early years of his life on the home farm in Clinton county. Missouri, and it was in 1900 that he left that state for the southwest and located in Lincoln county, Oklahoma. He bought and improved farm lands in the vicinity of Stroud, that county, and was very success- ful in that line of business. During four years he also farmed in Keokuk township, Lincoln county, and at the close of that period accepted the position of deputy coun- ty treasurer under A. Mclaughlin. Mr. Mckown was bookkeeper of the First Na- tional Bank of Stroud, and later became the cashier of the First National Bank of Maud, both well-known and thoroughly re- liable banking institutions.

In Buchanan county, Missouri, in 1891, Mr. Mckown was married to Cora Ste- phens, a daughter of William T. Stephens, of Pottawatomie county, and the only liv- ing child of this union is Floyd R., twelve years of age. The second born, Leota, died at the age of ten years. Mr. Mckown is an active Democratic worker, and in

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Lincoln county in 1907 he was the candi- date for the office of county treasurer, and was defeated by only one hundred and fifty votes. He is a man of pleasing personality and makes and retains many friends.

STEPHEN D. HEAL is one of the promi- nent residents of Pottawatomie county, Oklahoma, where he has resided since 1893. He owns and cultivates a fine farm of two hundred acres, which he is bringing under a high state of cultivation, adding thereto all of the accessories and conveniences of a model farm of the twentieth century. A native of McLean county, Kentucky, he was born on the 23d of February, 1861. His father, Robert P. Heal, was a native of Maine and was a soldier in Florida at the time of the Seminole war. He was born in Waldo, Maine, in 1809, and died in 1881, at the age of nearly seventy-three years. Almost his entire life was devoted to gen- eral agricultural pursuits. In politics he was a Democrat and gave stalwart sup- port to Stephen A. Douglas. His wife, who was born in Davis county, Kentucky, in 1824, lived to the age of eighty-four years.

Stephen D. Heal was one of a family of ten sons and a daughter. Two of the sons were soldiers of the Civil war. Stephen D. pursued his education in the common schools and has learned many valuable les- sons in the school of experience. At thirty years of age he was married in Henderson, Kentucky, to Miss Emma Bohannon, who was born in McLean county, Kentucky, and was a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. W. Bo- hannon, both of whom are now deceased.

It was in the year 1893 that Mr. Heal ar- rived in Oklahoma and later purchased two hundred acres of land. His first house was a box dwelling of cottonwood, sixteen by sixteen feet, to which he afterward built an addition ten by sixteen feet. In 1901 he erected a modern residence with a slate stone roof. It is supplied with many equip- ments and accessories of the model home and is an attractive feature of the land- scape. He has also built a large barn sixty- four by one hundred feet, which furnishes ample shelter for the mules which he raises. He makes a specialty of stock-raising of that character and in the cultivation of his

fields is raising large crops of potatoes and alfalfa, having about one hundred and fifty acres planted to the latter crop. In fact, he is one of the largest alfalfa producers not only in this county but in the state. He has labored earnestly and persistently to bring his farm to its present state of de- velopment and improvement and has every reason to be proud of what he has accom- plished. He holds to advanced ideas in his agricultural interests and has made a close study of the soil and climate and the possi- bilities offered thereby. In all of his labor he is practical as well as enterprising and is accomplishing splendid results.

Unto Mr. and Mrs. Heal have been born two children, a son and daughter: Pearl Sarah, now sixteen years of age, and Earl Stephen, a lad of eleven years. Mr. Heal politically is a stalwart Republican and a warm admirer of President Roosevelt. Fra- ternally he is connected with the Ancient Order of United Workmen and with the Modern Woodmen, and is true to the teach- ings of both organizations, which are based upon mutual helpfulness and kindliness, at the same time having certain insurance fea- tures. In manner he is frank, jovial and of kindly, generous spirit and has made many friends. His home is a hospitable one, the latch string always hanging out and those who know him greatly enjoy his genial companionship and his many good qualities.

WILLIAM OSCAR TIMMS, deceased, was for many years prominent in the agricul- tural life of Earlsboro township, and from 1894, when he arrived in the county, until his death on the 26th of December, 1905, when he had reached the age of sixty-seven years, he was intimately connected with its varied interests. He was born near Lena, on Yellow creek, in Stephenson county, Illi- nois, July 6, 1839, his parents having been among the early pioneers of that commu- nity, moving to that state from New York. One of their sons served as a major in the Ninety-sixth Illinois Infantry during the Civil war, and he now lives in Portland, Oregon.

On the home farm in Stephenson county, Illinois, William O. Timms grew to man-

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hood's estate, and later in life he began dealing in horses and became very success- ful in the business. He sold his horses in New York and other large cities of the east, but finally his health began failing and he went to Butler county, Nebraska, a few years later, locating in Lincoln, that state, and after a time he came to Oklahoma. He first purchased a tract of eighty acres in Earlsboro township, but later, by pur- chasing Indian allotment land, he became the owner of an estate of four hundred and eighty acres, known as Sunny Slope Farm, and now the property of Mrs. Timms and her son, H. H. The estate contains a large and well-built residence and seven tenant houses, and is one of the beautiful home- steads of Pottawatomie county. His influ- ence for good was felt by all who knew him, his sympathies were broad, and his memory will long remain in the hearts of his friends and associates.

In Grant county, Wisconsin, January I, 1863, Mr. Timms married Miss Ellen Hu- gins, who was born in Iowa, March 5, 1843, before its admission to statehood, in Lee county, a daughter of Elliott and Mary Ann (Marchant) Hugins, natives respect- ively of Massachusetts and of Rochester, New York. The mother died in 1906, at the advanced age of ninety-five, and the father, who was one of the early pioneers of Iowa and a prominent and well-known lawyer there, died in Grant county, Wis- consin, at the age of fifty-four. The mother was a member of the Episcopal church. They left three children: Mary, Ellen and Laura. The six children born to Mr. and Mrs. Timms are: Louisa, whose home is in Atchison, Kansas; Mrs. Eva Belle Bean, died April, 1906, and left a family of three children ; Homer H., who is mentioned be- low ; Lewis W., a traveling salesman, whose home is in Wichita, Kansas; Josephine, wife of Dr. McGee, surgeon for the Chi- cago & Rock Island Railroad Company, and a resident of Shawnee, and one died in in- fancy. Mr. Timms was a Democrat po- litically and was a thirty-second degree Mason, also a member of the chapter and commandery. Mrs. Timms and her daugh- ter, Mrs. McGee, are members of the order

of Eastern Star, and, with two of her daughters, the mother is also a member of the Episcopal church.

Homer H. Timms, who, with his mother, carries on the work of Sunny Slope Farm, was born at Lena, Illinois, September 12, 1870, and was reared at his birthplace and in Butler county, Nebraska, receiving his higher educational training in the Lincoln University. He is married and has one daughter, Geneva Alice. Homer H. Timms upholds and supports the principles of the Democratic party.

CHRISTOPHER C. LEONARD is one of the prominent early residents of Earlsboro township, his identification with its agricul- tural interests covering a period of eighteen years, for it was in 1890 that he came to Pottawatomie county. At that time he bought the claim of a "sooner," and has made of this tract a fine farm, a part of the farm being rich bottom land on the Buzzard creek. The homestead farm con- tains one hundred and sixty acres, located six miles east of Shawnee and four miles from Earlsboro. Mr. Leonard is further honored by being a veteran of the Civil war, in which he served in the Union army as a member of Company E, Eighth Kan- sas Volunteers, under Captain Greeley, of Leavenworth, that state, and Colonel Mar- tin. During his military service of nine months he took part in many battles and skirmishes, including those with Colonel Quantrell's troops in Missouri, General Forrest's troops and Hart's Rangers in Missouri.

Mr. Leonard was born in October of 1832, in Alsace-Lorraine, France, a son of a weaver and a man of excellent education, well versed in the law. His wife, Susan LaPont before marriage, died in France, but he came to the United States on a sail- ing vessel and located in New Orleans, Louisiana, from whence he later moved to Ohio, near Columbus.

The first business experience of his son, Christopher C. Leonard, was as a steamboat clerk. One of his early experiences was the witnessing of the cholera epidemic of 1844 in New Orleans, and going from there to Kansas in 1855, he took part in the

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bloody border war with John and Jacob Brown, father and son, and Jim Lane, and he was in the battles of Lawrence, Kansas, in 1855. He also served as a guard at one time at the house of Jim Lane when the inmates were threatened with murder. Mr. Leonard continued his residence in Shawnee county, that state, for a time, but after the close of the Civil war he spent some time in Nodaway county, Missouri, near Filmore, but later returned to Shaw- nee county. From there he came to Okla- homa in 1890, and has since been identified with its agricultural and business interests.

He was married in Topeka, Kansas, in June, 1862, to Martha A. Marple, who was a native of Ohio and of Irish and German ancestry, and they became the parents of the following children: Susan Howard, Lafayette Porter, Frank, Adel Morland, Virgil (who died at the age of nineteen), Laura Howard (deceased), Eugene V., Mabel Hewit, Winnie Mosher and Zulmee Holt. Mr. Leonard is a stanch and true Republican, an earnest worker for the party and he cast his vote for its first presidential candidate, General Fremont, in 1856. The family suffered an irreparable loss on the 2d of October, 1904, when the wife and mother was taken from them by death. She was born in 1842, and was, therefore, six- ty-two at the time of her death. She was loved and honored by all who had the pleasure of her acquaintance, a loving and affectionate wife and mother and a true friend, and her death is truly mourned.

J. L. COTTEN. Honored and respected by all, J. L. Cotten has been for several years prominently identified with the pub- lic affairs of Pottawatomie county, and since 1907 he has served in its office of clerk. In his early life he secured an ex- cellent educational training, studying for a time at Pine Grove Academy, of Ala- bama, and finally he became a successful teacher. His educational work, however, was interrupted by the trouble between the north and the south, and for two years and eight months he served with valor as a member of the Eighth Alabama Cavalry, under the cavalry commander, General Joe Wheeler. He represented Holmes county,

Mississippi, for six years (three terms), from 1890 until 1897. He is a man of genial personality, frank and cordial in manner and a true southern gentleman. To know him is to admire him and to like him, and the latch string of his hospitable south- ern home is always out for those who come to see him.

Mr. Cotten is one of the eight children, four sons and four daughters, born to B. C. and Amanda (Sayers) Cotten, natives respectively of South and North Carolina. The birthplace of their son was in Monroe county, Alabama, in 1846, and when he had reached his twenty-second year he was united in marriage to Josephine Lindsay, their union being blessed with the follow- ing children: F. L., J. M., Mrs. Lee and Mittie C. The eldest son, F. L. Cotten, is his father's deputy clerk. The younger son, J. M. Cotten, is a resident of Mitchell county, Texas. Mr. J. L. Cotten, Sr., is a member of the Masonic order for over thirty years.

F. L. COTTEN. During the past eight years F. L. Cotten has been identified with the business and political interests of Pot- tawatomie county, and during three years of that time he served the county as its jailer, and during a similar period he has been the efficient deputy sheriff.

Mr. Cotten was born in Mississippi in 1867, was reared there, a son of the well- known county clerk, J. L. Cotten. When he had attained the age of twenty-four, F. L. Cotten wedded Beulah Pinkstone, who was born, reared and educated in Ten- nessee, and their six children are Glover, Sadie, Montie, Vivian, Guion and Grady. Mr. Cotten is an active worker in the local ranks of the Democratic party, and has served as a delegate to its territorial and state conventions, and is a member and past officer of Lodge No. 3, of the Masonic fraternity.

F. W. CREEL, superintendent of the Pot- tawatomie County farm, has been a promi- nent figure in the events which form the history of Pottawatomie county. His name is enrolled among its pioneer citizens and also. among the early residents of Okla- homa, where, during the first four years

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of his residence in the territory, he farmed a claim in Canadian county, but selling his land there came to Pottawatomie county. For some time he made his home in the town of Tecumseh, where he served his fel- low citizens as a street commissioner, and being made the superintendent of the coun- ty farm he is now operating one hundred and twenty acres of land, the farm being located just midway between Shawnee and Tecumseh. The house was built in 1905, a two-story structure of twenty-five rooms, and there is also a large barn fifty by sixty feet. Ninety acres of the farm are under cultivation, and Mr. Creel is quite exten- sively engaged in the raising of Poland China hogs. He is proving the right man in the right place, and is an efficient public officer. .

He was born in Adair county, Kentucky, in 1849, a son of Henry and Elizabeth (Hatcher) Creel, both of whom were born in Virginia, and they were farming people, but are now deceased. Both families were represented in the Civil war, fighting on both sides, the Creels in the Confederate army and the Hatchers in the Union army, and they were Baptists in their religious be- lief.

F. W. Creel was one of their four chil- dren, three sons and a daughter, and when twenty years of age he went from his home state of Kentucky to Carroll county, Mis- souri, where, in the following year, he was married to Bettie Allen, a native daughter of the Blue Grass state, and their three children are: John H., of Missouri; Will- iam, whose home is in California, and James C., of Fort Worth, Texas. Mrs. Creel died in Missouri, and Mr. Creel aft- erward married Mrs. Ida Sommers Ken- dall, from Virginia, their five children be- ing: Arthur, in business in Shawnee; Gol- den, Le Roy, Hunter and Burney. Mr. Creel is an active worker for the Demo- cratic party, has attended its conventions as delegate, and in 1904 was elected one of the commissioners of the county. He is a member of Tecumseh Lodge No. 24, I. O. O. F., and is a member of the Christian church, Mrs. Creel being a member of the Baptist church.

EDWARD C. NICHOLS is one of Tecum- seh's most active business men, prominently identified with its mercantile and banking interests. He was born in New York Sep- tember 3, 1839, a son of Roland and Betsy (Durand) Nichols, members of prominent old families of the Empire state. Roland Nichols was prominent as a farmer and stock raiser and died in 1865, when sixty- five years of age.

In the common schools and the Keys- ville Academy, of New York, Edward C. Nichols received his educational training, and during the early part of his business life was a farmer and stone cutter. In 1860 he journeyed to the golden state of California and engaged in the marble busi- ness in Red Bluffs and Santa Cruz, at the same time following mining to some extent in Trinity county. He remained on the Pacific slope for twenty-two years, and at the close of the period, in 1882, went to Cook county, Texas, and purchased twelve hundred and sixty acres of land. For ten years he was in the cattle business there, finally drifting into the hardware business, and in June, 1892 he came to Tecumseh and embarked in the same business, building the brick store in which S. P. Larsh now car- ries on his hardware trade. Mr. Nichols sold his business to Mr. Larsh in 1906, in- tending to retire from active labor, but at this time another building which he owned was vacant and he opened therein his present furniture, carpet and casket busi- ness, one of the leading mercantile inter- ests of the city. Since 1895 Mr. Nichols has been a stockholder and director in the First National Bank of Tecumseh, and since 1905 has been its vice president. He is also the vice president of the state bank at McComb, the vice president of the First National Bank of Wanette and is a stock- holder in the Tecumseh Oil Mill.

In Santa Cruz, California, in 1873, Mr. Nichols married Amelia Langenback, born in Boston of German parents, and their four children are: Emily, now Mrs. E. B. Monday, of Wanette : Herbert R., the cash- ier of the First National Bank of Tecum- seh; Edna A., and Edward, who died in 1900, when twenty-nine years of age. Mr.

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Nichols is a Thirty-second degree Mason and a member of the commandery and the shrine.

CLARENCE ROBISON is a member of one of the first families to establish their home within the territory of Oklahoma, and from an early period in its development to the present time he has been prominently iden- tified with its educational interests. He was born in Comanche county, Texas, De- cember II, 1875, a son of Martin Van Buren and Maria L. (Williams) Robison, natives respectively of Illinois and Ala- bama. Martin V. Robison served for three and a half years in the war in the Forty- seventh Illinois Infantry, under Grant and Sherman, and fought at Vicksburg, Corinth and in other of the hard-fought engage- ments of the conflict. In 1870 he moved to Texas, and in 1884 came to Tishomingo, of the Chickasha Nation, Indian Territory, where he farmed until his removal to Pot- tawatomie county in 1893.

In the schools of Texas and Oklahoma Clarence Robison received his educational training, graduating from the Central Street Normal School at Edmond. He has taught for eleven years in Pottawatomie county, five years in the country schools, three years as principal of Earlsboro, and for three years was principal of the Te- cumseh high school. At the election in September, 1907, he was made the county superintendent of schools of Pottawatomie county, and he is proving an able and com- petent official. He may be termed one of the pioneer educators of Oklahoma, for his name has been inseparably interwoven with the history of its educational interests since the days of its log schoolhouses to the present time. He is a member of the Masonic order at Tecumseh, and is noble grand in the fraternal order of Odd Fel- lows. He is a member of the Christian church.

GEORGE STONE, the registrar of deeds for Pottawatomie county, was born in Arkan- sas, July 25, 1867, a son of Job and Frances (Townsend) Stone, the father a native of Pennsylvania and the mother of South Carolina. When a young man Job Stone moved from the east to Arkansas, where

he was engaged in farming until his death in 1887, aged sixty-four years.

George Stone received his educational training in the schools of his native com- monwealth, and thereafter was identified with agricultural pursuits until his father's death, while for four years he was also the proprietor of a flouring mill. Going from there to Texas he was for four years in the cattle business and for three years the proprietor of a blacksmith shop, and it was in January of 1897 that he came from the Lone Star state to Cleveland county, Okla- homa, where, for four years, he conducted a blacksmith shop, and then moved to Asher, this county. In 1902 he volunteered to assist in the capture of desperadoes who had committed robberies in that city, and in the pursuit which followed received a shot wound which lamed him for life. He con- tinued to serve as a deputy sheriff until in 1904, when he was elected the registrar of deeds for Pottawatomie county. At the election he received a majority of eight hundred and forty-six votes, and was re- turned to the office for a second term by a majority of sixteen hundred and twelve votes. He was elected by the Democratic party.

On the 16th of March, 1891, Mr. Stone married Margaret Jones, a native of Ar- kansas, and among their eight living chil- dren are triplets. They also have one child deceased. Mr. Stone is a member of the Masonic order, Lodge No. 110 of Asher, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Asher Lodge No. 127, and of the Eagles, No. 198, at Shawnee.

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A history of the state of Oklahoma, Volume I, Part 83

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