A history of the state of Oklahoma, Volume II, Part 23

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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Mr. Barber has ever been a radical Re- publican in his politics-a genuine wheel- horse of his party and has been a delegate to numerous conventions in both Illinois and Kansas, as well as Oklahoma. He is firm in his convictions of right and wrong and highly public spirited. In both Prague and the county in general, he is highly re- spected for his many manly traits of char- acter, which have, from time to time, been shown in the development of the new town in which he resides and where he does an extensive business.

He was married first to Nannie Henry, in Morgan county, Illinois, in 1872. She was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Jesse Henry and she is long since deceased, leav- ing two children, Grace, wife of Fred Shoe- maker, Hazen, Arkansas, and Edward, who died at nineteen years. Mr. Barber

married for his second wife Carrie Slater, a native of Ohio, but who was reared and educated in Champaign county, Illinois, a daughter of John F. Slater and wife. The children born by this union are as follows: Ensley, assistant postmaster here and Avis, at home.

DR. WILLIAM B. DAVIS, physician and surgeon, practicing at Prague, Lincoln county, Oklahoma, is one of the pioneer physicians of the county, coming as he did to this section of the great and growing southwest some years ago. In 1905 he came from the inland village of Arlington, six miles north of Prague, where he had located in 1899. The doctor is a graduate of the Memphis (Tennessee) Medical Col- lege, leaving that most excellent institu tion with the class of 1892. He was born in Winston county, near Webber, Missis- sippi, in 1868, of an old and highly respect- ed family of that state. His grandparents on both maternal and paternal sides, came from South Carolina. The father was R. M. Davis, a farmer who now resides in Lincoln county, Oklahoma. He is a prom- inent Democrat and active in the support of his party. In his religious faith he is of the Lutheran denomination. The mother of the doctor was, before her marriage to Mr. Davis, Miss Samantha Baker. Six children blessed this marriage union-three of each sex.

Dr. William B. Davis was reared and edu- cated on the old homestead of his father, and early taught that to work was an hon- orable thing. He attended school at Ack- erman, Mississippi; later he taught in the

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public schools. He chose the medical pro- fession for his life work and began the study of that science with Dr. J. P. Bevell, of Pugh, Mississippi, and commenced to practice in Austin, Mississippi, where he practiced two years. He has been very successful in his practice and keeps in close touch with the current medical develop- ments and reads those medical publications which bring out the latest discoveries in the science of medicine, which is gradually changing, and for the better.

Politically, the doctor affiliates with the Democratic party. In society affairs, he is a member of the state and county medical societies and is counted a worthy member of the Masonic fraternity, belonging to the blue lodge at Arlington; he is also a mem- ber of the Odd Fellows order at Arlington, and is connected with the Modern Wood- men. In church relations, he is a member of the Lutheran denomination, while his good wife belongs to the Baptist church.

The doctor was married at Ackerman, Mississippi, in 1896, to Miss Grace Powell. He is public spirited, and very popular among his fellow professional men, as well as in the community in general, thus build- ing up about him a legion of friends and well-wishers. Doctor Davis has an inter- est in the drug firm of T. C. Hatcher & Co., at Prague, one of the best drug stores with- in the county.

J. D. FERGUSON, cashier of the First State Bank of Prague, Oklahoma, who is a worthy and popular banker of the south- western country, came to the territory in 1901. He was born at Mountain Home, Arkansas, October 17, 1877, of good and industrious parents, a son of John C. Fer- guson and wife who were farmers. The former was a native of Arkansas and the mother, whose maiden name was Mary Farner, was born in the same common- wealth. Both now reside at Prague, Okla- homa. They have four children-three sons and one daughter. J. D. developed in- to a strong manhood in his native state where he was taught to labor and be hon- est and upright. A good common school education was given him, including the high schools at Berryville, Arkansas. He taught school for a time and was very suc- cessful in this profession. He went to Texas where he remained one year and from there came to Oklahoma and took a

position in the First National Bank at Prague, and later worked as bookkeeper in the Lincoln County Bank. He next entered the First State Bank at Prague, as cashier, where he is counted a successful banker.

Mr. Ferguson was united in marriage May 21, 1906, to Miss Cora Jenkins, a woman of refinement and good taste. She came from Good Hope, Missouri. Mr. Ferguson is politically a supporter of the Democratic party. In fraternal affairs he is a worthy member of the Masonic order. He is a young man of promise and just in life's prime. He is kind and considerate and firm in his convictions of right and wrong.

EDWARD GILROY, manager of the Prague Elevator and Mill Company has been a fac- tor of Prague since his coming in 1905. The grain elevator has a capacity of sixteen thousand bushels, while the flour mill does an excellent business. Both pieces of prop- erty are of much financial value to Prague. Mr. Gilroy is one of the old-time cattle men and pioneer characters of Indian Territory, going to that section of the country when but few white men inhabited it. He went as a cow-boy on the ranges and was a cat- tle driver to the gulf. It was long ago, in 1874, when he first went to Indian Terri- tory. When but a very young man he passed through many thrilling experiences as cattle-man and cow-boy. His eyes have beheld the great droves of noble buffalo up- on the wild plains and all that accompanied them in their march to outdo and get away from civilized life, in which they were final- ly to be defeated. In 1882 Mr. Gilroy lo- cated on Deer Creek and engaged in the cattle business and later at Cottonwood River. After doing a profitable business at those points, he went to Darlington, in what is now Canadian county, and at the opening of the Cherokee strip, he located near Enid, Oklahoma, and was well ac- quainted with most of the old pioneers and stock men and earlier immigrants, as well as early territorial officials. Indeed but few other men have seen more of genuine rough- ing it in the country once known as Indian Territory than has Mr. Gilroy.

Born in Clarke county, Ohio, in 1857, Ed- ward Gilroy is a son of George Gilroy, whose ancestors were of that most excel- lent and sturdy race of people known as Scotch-Irish, noted for their sterling qual-

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ities, their fidelity and manliness of char- acter. The paternal grandfather was a brave soldier in the war of 1812, with old General Harrison. The mother of Mr. Gilroy is living here with her son and enjoying all of her womanly faculties at the age of eighty-five years, her husband having died at the age of seventy-three years. This truly worthy couple had three children : Edward. Henry and George, the three be- ing associated in the elevator and milling business.

Mr. Gilroy married Irene Pratt, who passed from earthly scenes January 25. 1905, having been a faithful companion and lov- ing mother. She possessed all the noble traits resulting from a true and noble Christian spirit. In his political views, Mr. Gilroy is a loval and ever uncompromising Republican. He has been elected delegate to numerous conventions and served on the city council. He belongs to the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows and is pro- gressive in all that he understands to be for the good of his fellow men. His per- sonal appearance being six feet in height, and weighing two hundred and twenty-five pounds, reminds one of the true type of a Scotch frontiersman.

WILLIAM ABRAHAM L. COSSEY, M. D., one of the successful medical practitioners of Prague, Oklahoma, ranks high as a doctor in Lincoln county. He located at Prague in 1906 and has since then built up an almost enviable reputation in his profession as a skilful physician and surgeon. He went to this place from Keokuk Falls, In- dian Territory and was for a time located at Newbury, Indian Territory, where he prac- ticed medicine and was also postmaster, having come to the Territory in 1896. He is a graduate of the Memphis (Tenn.) Hos- pital Medical College, having received his medical diploma with the class of 1900. He was born in Van Buren county, Arkansas, July 25, 1867, of an excellent southern fam- ilv, which has been prominent in the history of Tennessee. The father. Tohn Cossey, was crippled for life by a gunshot wound re- ceived by being accidentally shot by his brother, while they were turkey hunting. Tohn Cossev was a native of Tennessee and descended from a family of considerable note in that state. His wife. Maissie Car- ter, was from a family noted for their brav- ery and manly courage. She was well ed-

ucated and became a successful teacher in one of the universities at Louisville, Ken- tucky, before her marriage. She died in Arkansas, as did also her husband. He en- listed as a Volunteer in the Union army, (Infantry) in 1863 and served until the close of the war, being discharged at Fort Smith, Arkansas. He was a Republican in political views, and belonged to the Chris- tian church. He left two sons, one of whom, Geo. Aaron, died of mountain fever in Colorado at twenty-two vears of age. By the second marriage of his father, Dr. Cos- sey has a half-sister, Mrs. M. E. McAfee.

Dr. Cossey, of this notice, was reared in Arkansas and there educated in the common schools and attended college. After being graduated, he taught school several years and studied medicine under Dr. Burris, a well-known and eminent physician of Van Buren county, Arkansas, with whom he was, for a time, associated and afterwards with Doctor Lucas. Subsequently Dr. Cossey removed to Newbury, Indian Ter- ritory, as already mentioned. Having at- tended post-graduate courses, he is in pos- session of two diplomas for such studies at the Chicago Medical Hospital, and also post-graduate courses t the Polyclinic school at New Orleans. He is well quali- fied and reads the medical journals which keeps him thoroughly posted as to the lat- est developments in the science of medicine. He is surgeon for the Fort Smith & West- ern Railroad. He is an honored member of the American Medical Association, and the county and state medical associations. He is a thirty-second degree Mason, and a Shriner, and stands for all that is uplifting in his county and state.

The doctor was united in marriage in the Cherokee Nation, when twenty-three years of age, to Narcissa Johnson, a woman of in- telligence and most excellent qualities of mind and heart. She was reared and ob- tained her education in Missouri. She is the daughter of W. P. Johnson, of Keokuk Falls. By this union three children have come to bless the doctor's home circle : Clyde, Angus and Mabel. Dr. Cossey is six feet one-half inch tall and weighs two hun- dred and ten pounds. He has been quite successful, has a strong personality and is a big-hearted, whole-souled man.

P. C. GRIMM. At the head of the bank- ing institutions of Lincoln county stands the

Y.a. Conseg. M.O

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solid financial institution of the Sac and Fox Bank, of which the president is P. C. Grimm, for a number of years identified with the business life of this community. The year of 1891 witnessed his arrival here, and for a time thereafter he was employed as a clerk in a mercantile store in the agency. While thus employed he saved his earnings, and in time was able to engage in business for himself. To Mr. Grimm also belongs the honor of forming the town of Phillipsburg. Indian Territory, which continued as his business headquarters for some time, and this was before the advent of the railroad to this part of the country. He was as successful as a merchant as he had been as a banker.

Although so thoroughly identified with the life and interests of Oklahoma, Mr. Grimm is a native son of Wisconsin, born in Cassville, Grant county, on the 2d of March, 1874. His father, Aloys Grimm, was a prominent resident of Cassville for many years. His mother, Agnes Thormeyer, died in 1906, after becoming the mother of seven children. P. C. Grimm, one of her four sons, was reared to mature years in his native

city of Cassville, and from there he came to Oklahoma in 1891. In Joliet, Illinois, he married Lulu Wyman, a daughter of F. W. Wyman of that place, and they have three children, Helen. Lena and Phillip. The pol- itics of Mr. Grimm are Democratic, and he is a Thirty-Second degree Mason, belong- ing to Lodge No. 10 of Chandler, and also is an Elk. He is now a stock-holder and man- ager of the Royal Brewing Company at Weston, Missouri.

FRANK H. NORWOOD, M. D., who prac- tices medicine and surgery at the enter- prising town of Prague, in Lincoln county. Oklahoma, is known for his skillful treat- ment of diseases prevalent in the south- western climate. He located at Parkland, Oklahoma, when he first went to the terri- tory country, and in August, 1902, came to Prague where he has since been in success- ful and lucrative medical practice. The doc- tor is a graduate of the medical department of the State University of Missouri, at Co- lumbia, receiving his degree with the class of 1898, and making an enviable class record. In 1906 he took a post-graduate course in the New York Post-graduate Medical School of the University of New York.

The doctor was born in Columbia, Mis- souri, in 1872, and is descended from a well- known and highly respected family of that city, but formerly of New York state. The father was F. E. Norwood, a merchant, who married Kate E. Henderson, who was born in St. Louis, Missouri. Here F. E. Nor- wood settled after his marriage. Two sons and one daughter were born to him: Electa, wife of W. C. Markham; F. H. of this memoir, and Elisha E. who died at the age of twenty-four years. Politically, the father is a Democrat and in church relations is of the Methodist Episcopal denomination.

Dr. Norwood is of the Democratic polit- ical belief and is Superintendent of the Board of Health of Lincoln county, Okla- homa. He is a member and active in the deliberations of the various medical societies and associations of the Southwest. Though yet a young man-just in life's prime-he is well posted and constantly reads up the lat- est discoveries in the profession which makes him doubly strong as a practitioner, in these days of wonderful changes in the treatment of the various diseases. He already counts his friends by the legion.

He was united in marriage in Lincoln county, Oklahoma, in 1901, to Miss Madge B. McDowell, a woman of education and refinement who was born in Nodaway county, Missouri, near the pretty city of Marysville. Two children bless this home circle : Ervin, aged six years, and Margue- rite.

REV. MARION J. SIMPSON. Among the band of homeseekers who came to Oklahoma dur- ing its formative period and assisted to lay the foundation for future progress and pros- perity is enrolled the name of Rev. Marion J. Simpson, a firm believer in the doctrines of Christianity and one of the honored pio- neer ministers of the commonwealth. He is a self-made man in the truest sense of the word, an earnest Christian worker and an able and progressive farmer. When the Sac and Fox Indian lands were opened for settlement he made the race for a homestead in 1891 and secured a farm of one hundred and sixty acres of heavily timbered land. He is now the owner of one hundred and sixty acres of well improved land in Dent town- ship. Pottawatomie county, located five and a half miles southeast of Prague, where he has a pleasant five-room residence, barns and other outbuildings and an orchard of

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four acres. His first home on this farm was a little log shack, but the crude facilities of the pioneer days have given place to the present splendid improvements, and his farm is one of the best in the township.

Rev. Simpson was born in Alabama, February 26, 1850, a member of a family noted for its piety, courage and industry. Payne Simpson, his father, was an able farmer and a Confederate soldier of the Civil war, and he was killed at the battle of Pea Ridge, leaving a widow and three children : Marion, Nancy who resides in Texas and John M. Melown, a half brother, who re- sides in Alabama. The widow, nee Martha Bezley, died in Alabama at the age of sixty- seven years, a Baptist in religious belief. Up to the time of his marriage at the age of twenty the son, Marion, had had scarce- ly any educational advantages, and in 1869 he left Alabama for Mississippi and married in that state, August 22, 1869, and from there went to Arkansas, from whence he later came to the Cherokee Nation and was for seven years engaged in farming there. From there he came to his farm in Pottawa- tomie county.

Mrs. Simpson bore the maiden name of Mattie Bodiford, a native daughter of Ala- bama and a successful and popular teacher before her marriage, and it was through her able instructions mostly that Rev. Simpson obtained his education. She is a daughter of J. and Martha J. (Bert) Bodiford, of North Carolina. The seven children of this union are Ira and Ida, twins, James, Ada, John and Eunice, twins, and Pearl, but the youngest is the only one at the homestead now. The family are highly esteemed in the community, and Rev. Simpson is hon- ored for his many noble characteristics and for his piety and true worth.

LEE WATTS, proprietor of the City Liv- ery Barns at Prague, Lincoln county, Okla- homa, as well as at the Star Livery Barn, the two leading barns of the town, is also an extensive horse dealer, keeping from fifteen to twenty driving horses, besides some fast roadsters. He came to the bust- ling town of Prague in 1902, having been one of the pioneer homesteaders of Lincoln county who effected a settlement in 1891, when the country was opened up for actual settlers. He was successful in securing a choice claim, which he finally proved up and secured good title to. After making

his improvements he sold this for five thous- and dollars and then moved to the new town of Prague.

A native of Georgia, Levi Watts was born at Atlanta in 1870. His father, David Watts, died in 1874. The mother, Eliza- beth Watts lives at Lambdin. The children by this issue are John Wesley, James Hugh and Levi A. Mr. Watts, of this mem- oir, married Maretta Johnson, a native of Illinois, and they have become the parents of four children: Lela, born in 1896, Edith, in 1898, Lizzie in 1900 and Alpha in 1901. Mr. Watts owns some valuable property here and elsewhere and is possessed of a true public spirit. As a good horseman he is widely known.

C. D. HICKS, the manager of the Farnes Union Cotton Gin Company of Kenrick, Oklahoma, has been a resident of Lincoln county during the past ten years, coming from Montgomery county, Missouri, but he is an Indianian by birth, born in Carroll county, near Delphi, forty-nine years ago. His father, Hugh Hicks, claimed Kentucky as the state of his nativity, but although born and bred in the southland he became a gallant soldier of the north in her efforts for supremacy and served in an Indiana regiment. He also had two brothers in the war. The maternal family of Mr. Hicks was also represented in this conflict, for his mother had four brothers who donned the blue in defense of the north. She was a Miss Rogers before marriage, and was a daughter of a Virginian. Mr. Hicks, the father, was three times married and had six children.

C. D. Hicks was but a lad of nine when he went to Macon county, Illinois, where he was reared as a farmer bov and was early taught the value of industry and lion- esty as the true means of success. During three years of his earlier life he was in the U. S. revenue service in Missouri, and for a time also served as postmaster there.

Mr. Hicks married Louisa Boyd, who was born in Brown county, Ohio, a daughter of Nathan and Matilda (Williams) Boyd, the father now deceased, and they had six chil- dren : George A., Vivian, Edith, Boyd, Ray- mond and Otis. Mr. and Mrs. Hicks are members of the Christian church, and he also has membership relations with the fraternal order of Odd Fellows, Modern Woodmen and Farmers Union. He has

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much valuable property interests in Lincoln county, being lessee of one hundred and twenty acres, but he is perhaps best known as the manager of the Farnes Union Cot- ton Gin Company, owners of one of the largest gins in the county. It is well im- proved with the best and latest improved machinery, and annually transacts a large and lucrative business. The secretary of the company is C. W. Foglesang, and the manager is C. D. Hicks, one of the oldest and most prominent residents of Lincoln county.

DR. J. W. McINTOSH, well known in the vicinity of Sparks, Lincoln county, Okla- homa, as a physician and surgeon of skill and good training, as well as successful in his practice, has been a resident of this state since August 6, 1908, he first locating at Shawnee. He is a graduate of that most excellent university at Aberdeen, Scotland. having received his diploma from that in- stitution with the large class which grad- uated in 1867. This entitled him to prac- t'te any place in the world, this school of medicine being what is known as the "Reg- ular" school of medicine. He is also a grad- uate of the college at Kansas City, Missouri, with the class of 1893.

The ancestry of Dr. McIntosh is Scotch. He was born at Morayshire, Lhanbryde, Scotland, six miles from Elgin, March 6, 1847, of an excellent Scotch family, the members of which were long noted for their honor and uprightness of character. His father, William McIntosh, was a gal- lant soldier in the British army. The good mother was Margaret (Scott) McIntosh.

Dr. McIntosh was reared mid the picturesque scenes of rugged old Scotland, receiving a good education at Elgin Acad- emy, Scotland. Subsequently, he came, in July, 1867, to Pittsburg, Pennsylvania aft- er which he went to Benton county, Iowa, locating at Vinton, the county seat, and there he practiced some time, but in 1871 he went to Red Cloud, Nebraska, and there in Webster county, took a homestead and became one of the pioneer settlers He re- mained there ten years, and then moved to Republic county, Kansas, settling at Re- public Citv, where he was in medical prac- tice for twenty years. He held a chair in the Kansas City Homeopathic Medical College, as professor of Physiology for two years, after which engagement he went to

Burr Oak, Jewell county, Kansas, and in 1900 came to Oklahoma territorv, residing at Shawnee. From that point, 1904, he came to Sparks, Lincoln county, where for the last four years he has been engaged in the successful practice of medicine. The doctor is an exceptionally well informed man on various subjects, aside from that of his profession, and is a great reader and keen observer of people and events. Po- litically he is a stanch defender of Repub- lican party principals.

Dr. McIntosh was married in Webster county, Nebraska, in June, 1873, to Martha Van Horn, who by reason of her womanly graces, has made him an excellent wife and helpmate for more than a third of a cen- tury. Mrs. McIntosh is a native of Vir- ginia, and is from a family of intelligence and honor. Her father was Abram Van Horn, of Holland descent, but of an old family of Virginia. Her mother was Martha Stout, who died in Fulton county, Illinois. Both of Mrs. McIntosh's parents were physicians. The father died in Shellsburg, Benton county, Iowa, where he followed farming for his livelihood. In his religion he was a Seventh Day Baptist. Of their nine chil- dren. two sons served in the Union army in Civil war days. These were Arthur and Jas- per Van Horn. Dr. McIntosh and wife are the parents of four children, as follows : Wil- liam A., of Courtland, Kansas; Ira Irvin, of Okley, Logan county, Kansas, a druggist; Silas A., a printer, of Kansas City, Missouri ; Violet C., wife of H. C. Murrill, a loco- motive engineer, of Eureka Springs, Arkan- sas. The doctor is a member of the State Medical Society, the Lincoln County Med- ical Society and the American Medical As- sociation.

ALVARADO TANSEL, postmaster at Sparks, Lincoln county, Oklahoma, was born in Hendricks county, Indiana, not far from Indianapolis, April 26, 1846, a son of Tim- othy Tansel, who was born in Kentucky in 1810, and came to Indiana in 1830. The mother of Alvarado was Martha Campbell, who was born in Seneca county, New York and reared in Ohio. The maternal grandfather was born in the Highlands of Scotland. The father of Alvarado was a member of the Christian church and died at the age of fortv-six years, in 1856. There were seven children in his family, three

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A history of the state of Oklahoma, Volume II, Part 23

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