A history of the state of Oklahoma, Volume II, Part 19

Author: Hill, L. B. (Luther B.)
Publication date: 1909
Publisher: Chicago, New York, The Lewis publishing company
Number of Pages: 810

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At the opening of Oklahoma on the ?? d of April, 1889, Mr. Renfro made the run from the ?- C ranch in Pottawatomie county to Oklahoma City and filed on a quarter sec- tion east of the city and near the present site of the state fair grounds. He later relin- quished his rights to this homestead and up- on the opening of the Pottawatomie reserva- tion removed to Pottawatomie county, lo- cating on property now a part of Tecumseh. In 1892 Mr. Renfro removed to Sulphur, es- tablishing his home in the old town which later was abandoned to make room for the Platt Park reservation, while the town was located on its present site. In 1904 he took up his abode in his residence in the north- west section of the city, where he is pleas- antly situated.

Here Mr. Renfro has his famous twenty- acre horticultural experiment station, which has achieved national renown. For his suc- cess in horticulture and his contributions to horticultural science, Mr. Wilson, present secretary of agriculture in the Roosevelt cabinet, paid him tribute by speaking of him as the "Wizard of Oklahoma," in recogni- tion of the wonderful and seemingly impos- sible things which he had performed in fruit

HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA.

culture. The subject has long been one of the deepest interest to him. In fact he has been a student and experimenter in horti- culture since his boyhood days and has read and studied all of the known authorities up- on the subject. His work is most notable because of his independent investigations and experiments in which he has put his theories to the practical test. His ideas have proven to be excellent in many connections and his labors have contributed much to the science of horticulture. He is now mak- ing a study of the cultivation of grapes and in connection with this he maintains a fine apiary, it being one of his theories that honey bees are necessary for the proper pollenizing and consequent productiveness of a vineyard. He has worked along this line for years and has given practical demonstration of the truth of his ideas in this connection. The bee carries the pollen from flower to flower and therefore makes the crosses naturally. In his experimental farm, Mr. Renfro has produced practically seven hundred varieties of grapes, unnamed, except one which is named the "S. L. Ren- fro." Some of these have been unsurpassed in size, quality, color and flavor and he is justly celebrated for what he has accom- plished as a vineyardist.

Mr. Renfro is a frequent lecturer on horti- culture and at his farm in Sulphur has en- tertained and given lectures and demonstra- tions to many delegations of school teachers from the Oklahoma schools. A pleasing and notable feature of each season at Sulphur is "grape day" in July each year, when Mr. Renfro extends the hospitality of his farm to the public, attracting to the resort great numbers of visitors who are given liberty to help themselves to all the grapes they want and besides he gives instruction and advice on grape culture to all who desire information on the subject.

In addition to his property in Sulphur, Mr. Renfro owns three fine farms in Oklahoma, which are income paying property and like- wise has valuable realty interests in Sulphur. It is he who bored the well known test well for oil near the town. He is untiring in his efforts to promote the city's advancement and improvement and while he is entirely without ambition for office, his co-operation can always be counted upon to further pro- gressive, public measures.

Mr. Renfro was married to Miss Sarah L. Rupert, a native of lowa and they have two

children, Ruby and Manila. Oklahoma was fortunate in having in the days of its early development and its formative period a man of such broad scientific attainments as Mr. Renfro to demonstrate through his practical work the possibilities for fruit culture here and many are following his lead and giving much attention to horticulture pursuits. He knows that joy of life which one gains who loves nature and witnesses what she can accomplish when given proper aids and en- couragement by man. Moreover, he has achieved that success which means not only the accumulation of money but the produc- tion of something that is of benefit to his fellowmen.

VERNON C. WALL, a prominent and in- fluential resident of Sulphur, is well known in the city as president of the Commercial Club. He was born in Ray county, Missouri, in 1859, and there spent the days of his boy- hood and youth, also continuing his resi- dence in that locality until 1900. In that year he settled at Shawnee, Oklahoma, where he engaged in business for about three years and in 1903 he removed to Sul- phur, which has since been his home. He has acquired valuable real estate and busi- ness interests in this city, principally on the east side and has been closely, actively and helpfully identified with the rapid growth and development which has taken place in the town since 1903. He is in fact one of the most prominent figures in its business. and civic affairs and his labors have been of the utmost benefit in promoting its up- building along modern lines of progress and improvement.

Mr. Wall was married in Ray county, Missouri, to Miss Margaret B. Yates, also of that county. His political allegiance is given to the Democracy and without desire for office he has labored effectively for his party's success. That he is prominent in Sulphur is indicated by the fact that he was honored with the presidency of the Sulphur Commercial Club.

GEORGE H. PIERCE is one of the young and prosperous farmers and useful citizens of Oklahoma, having centered his activities on his fine estate of 1,400 acres located a mile north of Davis, Murray county. To attain his present standing he has relied upon his own industry, determination and practical ability, and his training has fortunately been such that he has not only mastered the secrets of successful agriculture and horti-

HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA.

culture but in all his methods have been planted the sound principles of business. This union of substantial qualities has brought him an early and a solid advance- ment. Mr. Pierce is a native of Montague county, Texas, born on the 3rd of November, 1881, his ancestors for several generations having been established in Hickory county, Missouri, whither his father migrated to the Lone Star state about 18:1. The family afterward removed to Pickens, now Carter county, and George H. received most of his schooling at Mintersville. There, also, at the age of sixteen he made his first business efforts as a salesman in the store of B. Wolf.

After three years of useful mercantile ex- perience in this connection, Mr. Pierce mar- ried and established his homestead just north of Davis. His first residence was a mere cabin in the edge of the timber along Sandy creek. He took his family allotments in the valley and highlands adjoining, and these added to his purchases since, have given him a fine body of 1,400 acres of land. His chief crops have been corn, cotton and alfalfa, and the last named has demonstrated its reliability and profitableness by yielding $25 per acre annually. He has also twenty acres devoted to various fruits, and the flourishing condition of both his agricultural and horticultural ventures is evinced by the substantial and modern appearance of his buildings and other improvements.

The Pierce family of Oklahoma has, as its American ancestor in the southwest, George Pierce, paternal grandfather, who was a sturdy miller of Hickory county, Missouri, where he spent the last years of his life. He was the father of Ambrose, who was killed in the Civil war; Matilda, wife of Samuel McCorkle, of Madison county, Ar- kansas; Mary, wife of Thomas Mannburn, of Elmore, Oklahoma, and John, a resident of Graham, that state. The youngest of the children became the father of George H., and was born in Hickory county in the year 1841. Although that county was almost monopolized by secession sentiment and ac- tion during the war of the Rebellion, John Pierce joined the Union army and served the cause with unflinching faithfulness until the close of the conflict. While he has no record of advancement in politics or public office, he has ever made it plain that he is a Republican. At the conclusion of the war he returned to Hickory county, but in 1871 removed to Montague county, Texas, a fron-

tier region even in those days. In the later eighties the family removed to Carter coun- ty, Oklahoma, locating on Mud creek, where the younger children reached years of ma- turity. In 1901 the homestead was transfer- red to Graham, Oklahoma, where the father still pursues his chosen vocation of farming. His wife (formerly Melissa Martin) died at that place in 1907, the mother of the follow- ing: Samuel H., of Quitaque, Texas ; Mar- garet, wife of Sidney Robertson, a resident of Fort Worth, that state; John H. and Wil- liam, of Graham ; George H., of this review ; Emma, wife of Early Smith, living in Pike, Oklahoma, and James, of Hewitt, also in Oklahoma.

On May 20, 1900, George H. Pierce mar- ried Eliza Chigley, daughter of Nelson Chig- ley, the well known Chickasaw of Davis. Mr. Chigley located along the Washita river when a boy of six years, having been brought thither by his parents from the state of Mississippi. He is the father of three chil- dren, besides Mrs. Pierce. For years he was a senator in the Chickasaw legislature, and in various ways served in an official capacity almost until the coming of statehood. He then retired to his comfortable home in Davis. Mr. and Mrs. George H. Pierce have two children, Wyatt Nelson and Froney \' Pierce. The father is an Odd Fellow and a W. O. W., and is as popular as he is highly respected.

CHARLES B. RAMSEY. Among the best known, most highly esteemed, and most popular citizens of Davis is Charles B. Ram- sey, who for the past five years has rendered his fellow-townsmen most excellent and effi- cient service as postmaster. Coming from substantial Scotch ancestry, he was born, January 18, 1868, in Williamson county, Texas, near Georgetown, where his father, the late John Ramsey, was a pioneer settler. His grandfather, William Ramsey, emi- grated from his native country, Scotland, to the United States, and was subsequently en- gaged in horticultural pursuits in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, until his death. He reared a number of children, among them being the wife of Mr. Yeagle, the noted gun maker of Pittsburg; the sister of Mr. Sina Elliott, of Liberty Hill, Texas; Murray Ramsey, who died at Burnet, Texas, and John.

Born in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, in 1828, John Ramsey became a railroad engineer in the early days of railroading in Pennsyl- vania, and continued in service on the Balti-

HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA.

more & Ohio Railroad until 1855. Starting southward in that year, he took a boat load of sheep from Pittsburg to Jacksonville, Mississippi, and then drove them across the country to Williamson county, Texas, and was there engaged in the wool business un- til the breaking out of the Civil war. En- listing then in the Confederate service with the first volunteers of Texas, he was made first lieutenant in the company commanded by Captain Taylor, went to the front, and was in action most of the time until his sur- render, with his command of the Trans-Mis- sissippi department. Returning to William- son county, he was subsequently in business at Gabriel Mills, operating a mill and cotton gin in that place until his death in January, 1905. He married in Texas, Prudence, daughter of John McKenzie, a noted edu- cator of northern Texas, and the founder of Mckenzie School, in Red River county, and they reared seven children, as follows: Mary E., wife of W. H. White, of Temple, Texas ; Charles B., of this sketch; James H., de- ceased: John D., of Davis: Una, wife of Joseph Holabaugh, of Temple, Texas; Mrs. Minnie Glass, also of Temple, and Samuel H., of Enid, Oklahoma. The mother, now living in Temple, Texas, married for her first husband a Mr. Riggs.

Inheriting a love for knowledge, Charles B. Ramsey, as a young man, earned the money to defray his expenses at the McIl- heney School, in Lampasas, Texas, where he took a special course of study. Beginning life for himself, he was for three years en- gaged with his father in the mill and gin business, remaining in his native state until after his marriage. In 1893 Mr. Ramsey came to Oklahoma, hoping in this growing country to improve his financial circum- stances. For five years he was engaged in carpentering in Davis, and the next six years was emploved by Erdwurm Brothers as a clerk. While thus engaged, on March 7, 1903, he was appointed postmaster of Davis, and has since filled the position most satisfactorily, having been reappointed to the same office in 1902.

On December 21, 1892, in Williamson county, Texas, Mr. Ramsey married Leona B. Root, a daughter of Thomas T. Root, who removed from Mississippi to Texas when Mrs. Ramsey was a child. To Mr. and Mrs. Ramsey six children have been born, name- ly: Edna, Bessie, Ruth, Malcolm, Irene and Charles B., Jr. Since arriving at years of

discretion, Mr. Ramsey has been identified with the Republican party. When the Wil- son bill was passed he was in the sheep and wool business, and the practical operation of the measure dropped the price of wool to a point almost ruinous to his business in- terests, and he, accepting it as an object les- son in politics, has since continued to sup- port the party that fosters these American industries. Fraternally he belongs to the Knights of Pythias, being past chancellor of Davis Lodge, and to Cedar Camp No. 42, Woodmen of the World. Mr. Ramsey is a member of the Ramsey Family Association of Texas, and also of the United States. Annual meetings of the state association are held at Dallas, Texas.

THOMAS L. PALMER. The counties former- ly included within the limits of the Chicka- saw Nation are particularly fortunate in hav- ing been settled up by intelligent and enter- prising men who, from the first, evidently "came to stay," and at once began to identify themselves with the interests and progress of this section of Oklahoma. For more than a quarter of a century, Thomas L. Palmer, of Davis, familiarly known throughout a wide circle of friends and acquaintances as "Bud" Palmer, has been an active, although mayhap a somewhat modest, factor in pro- moting the cattle and farming industries of this locality, and to him and other well known farmers is the agricultural prosperity of the community in which he resides large- lv due. He was born, December 4, 1859, on Missouri soil, in Newton county, coming from Kentucky stock. His grandfather, Abraham Palmer, was born in Kentucky, lived in Tennessee and Missouri, finally re- moving to Texas, where he spent his declin- ing years, dying in Hunt county, in 1868.

Joseph Palmer, father of Thomas L., was born in Tennessee, but was reared in New- ton county, Missouri. There, upon attain- ing his majority, he married Jennie Price, a native of that county. During a portion of the Civil war he served in the Confederate army and while home on a furlough was killed rather than submit to capture. He left his young widow with three children, namely: Elizabeth, wife of Robert Baker, of Davis, Oklahoma; Thomas L., of this brief sketch; and Josephine, widow of the late Robert Herald, who died near Emet, Oklahoma. The widowed mother came with her son Thomas to Oklahoma, and was a

HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA.

member of his family at the time of her death, in May, 1890.

Becoming the active head of the family household, and his mother's main support as soon as old enough to work, Thomas L. Palmer had but meagre opportunities for acquiring an education. Leaving Missouri in 1865, he lived in Cooke county, Texas, for a few years, coming, in 1880, from there to the Chickasaw Nation, establishing himself on"Blue," now in Pontotoc county, locating at a place fifteen miles from a postoffice, and twenty miles from a railroad or a gin. With the few horses and cows which he had brought with him, Mr. Palmer settled on the Jacob Herald farm, near Emet, and re- mained there twelve years. He moved from there to Palmer, Murray county, a town named in his honor, situated a few miles north of Sulphur, and there he improved a farm, having previously married, and ac- quired a right to take up land at will, and appropriate its proceeds. In that locality, and in Sulphur, he lived and labored fifteen years, but since that time has lived in the vicinity of Davis, having taken as his own and his family allotment one thousand acres of land lying just north and west of the town of Davis. In the care and manage- ment of his large body of land, he is meeting with well deserved success, carrying on gen- eral farming and stock-raising to a good ad- vantage.

On October 11, 1888, in the Chickasaw Nation, Mr. Palmer married Rhoda, daugh- ter of Amos and Lottie (Newbury) McGee, and into the household thus established three children have been born, namely: Joseph, now attending the State University at Nor- man; Lafayette, and Elizabeth. The two younger are attending school at Davis. Re- ligiously the family of Mr. Palmer is identi- fied with the Christian church. He is a member of the Knights of Pythias of Davis and of Lodge No. 67, I. O. O. F., of Sulphur. Politically a Democrat, he is at present treasurer of the township in which he re- sides.

MAZEPPA THOMAS TURNER, of Davis, member of the legislature from Murray county to the first state legislature of Ok- lahoma, and a farmer widely known and honored in this section, has passed nearly forty years within the limits of his adopt- ed commonwealth since January 2d, 1870. He came hither from Mississippi having been reared to manhood in that state and Vol. II-7.

married Jan. 3, 1860, to Laura J. John- SO11. Having acquired Indian rights, he established himself in a country where he eventually obtained from the govern- ment the allotments of land and all other privileges to which his marriage le- gally entitled him. Mazeppa T. Turner is a native of Virginia, but his father re- moved with the family to Mississippi in 1845, when the son was yet a young boy. The children were reared on the paternal farm, and were provided with good edu- cations. At the commencement of the Civil war, Mazeppa joined the famous Forrest cavalry, and served therein as a good soldier of the Confederacy for nearly four years. He afterward married and engaged in farming in Mississippi, but in 1870, as stated, removed to Indian Territory, settling first at String- town, Choctaw Nation, Jack Fork county, on the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad. There he remained for some eight years, after which he located among the Chickasaws on the east side of the Arbuckle mountains, where he opened a farm and also commenced to raise and handle cattle. A few years later he changed the family homestead to the vicinity of Dougherty, where he established a second farm, about 1879, with an allied cattle industry, and remained in that locality until his final settlement at Davis, about 1901. In selecting his family allotments he chose lands in this vicinity, and when not occupied with his legislative or other special duties, he answers to the roll call of a farm- er.

With the approach of statehood in 190%, Mr. Turner was induced to become a can- didate for representative to the lower house of the new legislature, and he secured the nomination against two Democratic com- petitors. He defeated his Republican op- ponent, J. L. Campbell, of Sulphur, by a majority of 1,048 votes, and is now serving in the house as chairman of the committee on charities and corrections ; also as mem- ber of the committees on prohibition en- forcement, levies, drains and ditches and on irrigation, emergency legislation, county government, house expenses and accounts and primary elections. As a member of these various committees he is appreciated as a working representative of honesty and rare common sense. He has especially de- voted himself to measures providing for the extension of the boundaries of Murray coun- ty, the legislature having already passed

HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA.

legislation (bill No. 493) providing for proved. He has been somewhat active in the enlargement of any or all of the the politics of the Chickasaw Nation, hav- ing served as county clerk of old Tishom- ingo county for four years, and for a term in the lower branch of the Chickasaw legisla- ture. The year of his service was 1904. He was a member of the committee on finance, but the chief business then before the legis- lature was the memorializing of Congress to hasten the day of final settlement with the five civilized tribes. various counties of the state, where the people are dissatisfied with existing boundaries. The canvass of returns of the primary election held on Tuesday, August 4, 1908, Mr. Turner received the highest number of votes for the office of representa- tive from Murray county. This fact obtains, although over his protest. Mr. Turner felt, however, that where the will of the people was so manifestly evident, his duty as a citizen demanded his acceptance of this re- nomination.

Mr. Turner's first wife was Laura J. John- son, whom he married in Mississippi. She died in 1891, the mother of the following: Lizzie B., wife of I. S. Wright and who died in Sulphur, Oklahoma, in 1901; Edward B., of Davis, prominent in connection with the public affairs of the Chickasaw Nation; Jackson, who died in 1892; Polly; who mar- ried Eli Frost, of Drake, Oklahoma. For his second wife, Mr. Turner married Alice M. Akin, and by this union has become the father of Angelus, Homer T., John B., Reg- inald and Ruth Turner.

EDWARD B. TURNER, residing in an at- tractive residence at the south limits of Davis, has large farming . interests near Dougherty, and both himself and as the son of Mazeppa T. Turner, has been a strong factor in the develop- ment of Oklahoma. His father is a pioneer farmer and raiser of live stock, a member of the first state legislature, and a citizen of wide and wholesome influence. His mother was Laura J. Johnson, who died in 1891. Edward B. Turner was born near Stringtown, Oklahoma, on the 20th of Feb- ruary, 1872, but quite early in his boyhood his father moved into the Chickasaw Nation and settled near Davis and the Arbuckle mountains and afterward in the vicinity of Dougherty. He therefore received his train- ing and education on his father's stock farms and in the schools of the Chickasaw Nation. When nearly twenty-one years of age he entered an independent career as a farmer and a stock raiser, remaining in the vicinity of Dougherty until 1902, when he removed to Davis. The elder Mr. Turner had married for his second wife Miss Alice M. Akin. E. B. Turner received his share of the family allotments near Dougherty, the government having issued title to 1,080 acres which is being profitably farmed and im-

On January 8, 1893, Mr. Turner was united in marriage with Miss Ada B. Stew- art, daughter of John W. and Louisa (Akin) Stewart, the father a native of Alabama, and the mother, of Louisiana. Mrs. Stewart died in 1902, and the surviving children of her family of ten are as follows: J. W. and Richard L., residents of Sherman, Texas; Mrs. Maggie Kirby, of Gilsonite, Oklahoma ; Mrs. Edward B. Turner, born in Texas on the 17th of July, 1878, and Mary, wife of J. B. Harrison, of Salt Lake, Utah. Three children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Turner :- Clifford and Laura E., living, and Ethel, deceased.

THOMAS H. SLOVER. A man of keen fore- sight, sagacious and enterprising, Thomas H. Slover, of Davis, is one of the most success- ful business men of Murray county, and one of its most valued and trustworthy citizens. Of poor and hard-working antecedents, with but limited opportunities for fitting himself for an active career, he has made the best of confronting conditions, and now, ere reaching manhood's prime, has attained the goal for which all men are aspirants, that of financial independence, and of master of affairs in his especial domain. A son of Rev. Thomas H. Slover, he was born, Novem- ber 30, 1874, in Buchanan county, Missouri, and in his native state spent his very earliest days.

A native of Tennessee, Rev. Thomas H. Slover left there when seventeen years old, going to Jasper county, Missouri, where, a few years later, he enlisted in the Confeder- ate army and received his commission of colonel. His regiment being assigned to General Price's division, he went south, and remained in active service until the close of the war. Subsequently entering the min- istry, he labored with untiring industry in the Master's work, being located at different places in Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma, passing away at the age of seventy-two years, his death occurring in Cleveland coun-

DAN. J. KENDALL

HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA.

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A history of the state of Oklahoma, Volume II, Part 19

Author: Hill, L. B. (Luther B.) Publication date: 1909 Publisher: Chicago, New York, The Lewis publishing company Number of Pages: 810

Author: Hill, L. B. (Luther B.)
Publication date: 1909
Publisher: Chicago, New York, The Lewis publishing company
Number of Pages: 810