USA > Oklahoma > A history of the state of Oklahoma, Volume II > Part 24
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HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA.
sons and four daughters, Alvarado being the eldest.
At the age of twelve years, Alvarado Tansel accompanied the family to Atchison county, Missouri, and in 1858 they became early settlers at Rockport, taking up a farm in that vicinity. The son was reared on the farm and obtained his education at the pio- neer schools with what study he could gain at home. During the Civil war period he enlisted as a member of the First Nebraska Cavalry, being in Company D, First Battal- ion. The date of his enlistment was June 15, 1864, and his service was chiefly on the plains of Nebraska, Wyoming and Colora- do. His colonel was Colonel Thayer, and his lieutenant colonel's name was Boumer. Mr. Tansel was discharged March 12, 1866, at Fort Omaha, Nebraska. After leaving the service he located at Rockport, Missouri, and afterwards moved to Washington coun- ty, Kansas, where he became the pioneer editor at Haddam for a Republican paper and was also a member of the real estate firm of Vincent & Tansel. He was appoint . ed as postmaster at Haddam, Kansas, in 1880, under President Harrison's adminis- tration, and served with much credit to himself and to the entire satisfaction of the patrons of the office. Appointed postmaster at Sparks, Oklahoma, August 30, 1902, Mr. Tansel has been very active in the prelim- inary work of establishing this office, from which now runs two rural free delivery routes.
In 1875 he was married to Amanda Clark, a native of Indiana, by whom four children were born : Louie Fox, E. Jov, Alvarado, Jr .. and R. B. The wife and mother died March 25, 1882, and in 1884, Mr. Tansel married Sophia Kunz, a native of New York City, who has been his faithful help- mate for almost a quarter of a century. By this union nine children were born: Isla, who is her father's assistant postmistress ; Carrie Davis, who was a popular school teacher prior to her marriage; Ben H .: Hazel. rural mail carrier No. 1 from Sparks postoffice : Calvin O .; Leatha ; William Mc- Kinley : Mamie and Ora May. Politically. Mr. Tansel is a firm defender of the general principles of the Republican party and has been a delegate to different conventions of this political organization, including those held at Guthrie and Tulsa.
The military history of Mr. Tansel's fam . ily shows that his mother's grandfather, John Campbell, served seven years as a soldier in the Revolutionary war, his own grandfather, Elias Campbell, served in the war of 1812 and the paternal grandfather, Francis Tansel, was also in the war of 1812, while an uncle of Mr. Tansel's, W. P. Camp- bell, was in the Mexican war. It will be seen by this brief reference to the military record of the families herewith connected, that patriotism has run through the family for many generations, and the military serv- ice only terminated with Mr Tansel's army life on the western plains in 1866.
J. L. McKAMY, a representative of the legal profession, at the sprightly town of Sparks, Oklahoma, is well known through- out Lincoln county for his legal ability. He is counted among the early vanguard who founded the new state of Oklahoma, com- ing to the wilds of this now goodly country in 1898. He has been connected with the law for almost a third of a century, having re- ceived his diploma in 1876. He is a native of McDonough county, Illinois, born in 1848, and is the son of one of the best pio- neer families of that county. His father, William C. McKamy, settled there in 1834. He was the son of Captain John McKamy, a soldier in the war of 1812, who made a most excellent military record. The origi- nal ancestor in this country was Rev. Mc- Kamie, (the name was then spelled McKam ie) the first Presbyterian minister of the United States. A. monument marks his grave in Briar Creek, Virginia, where he built the first Presbyterian church. William C. McKamy was a well-to-do and progressive farmer and died in Illinois in 1887, and his wife still survives, being eighty-six years of age. Her maiden name was Octavia Rob- ertson. This venerable couple were the parents of seven children, four sons and three daughters.
J. L. McKamy was reared on the old homestead in Illinois, where he was early taught the need and usefulness of hard work which usually develops boys into excellent men of character with sound bodies. He re- ceived an appointment in the Interior De- partment, as clerk at Fort Union, Colorado, which place he filled ably for two years. The next twelve years he spent at Auburn, Ne- braska, in the practice of law. He was one of the pioneer teachers in Oklahoma. He
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HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA.
is well versed in the law and is a peace- maker in his profession. He is a notary pub- lic and handles real estate and insurance with his legal business.
Politically, Mr. McKamy of this memoir is a stanch supporter of the true principles upon which rests the Republican party, and he has served as delegate to numerous party conventions. He is a member of the Anti- horsethief Association. No man stands high- er in the estimation of the citizens of Lin- coln county than does Mr. McKamy. Pos- sessing public spirit, he aids every worthy enterprise in and near Sparks, and in his sense of right and wrong he has the deep- est of convictions. He is unmarried.
H. S. EMMERSON, one of the reliable and one of the best known business men of Lin- coln county is H. S. Emmerson, at the head of the Farmers and Merchants Bank of Sparks, one of the solid financial institutions of the county. He has been identified with the in- terests of Oklahoma since the opening of the Sac and Fox Indian lands for settlement in 1891, and as a banker, business man and citizen he is well known for his sterling characteristics.
Mr. Emmerson was born in Campbell county near Lynchburg in the Old Domin- ion state, Virginia, in 1852, and is a son of one of the old-time physicians there, but both his parents, Dr. B. S. and Virginia (Simmons) Emmerson, are deceased. When he had reached his seventeenth year young Emmerson became identified with mercan- tile pursuits, and from Virginia he went to Marshall, Saline countv, Missouri, and from there came to Oklahoma in 1891. In 1893 he was appointed by Governor Renfrow, treasurer of Woodward county, this state. During his two years as treasurer of Wood- ward county, he was assistant cashier of the Exchange Bank at Woodward, the county seat. After two years in this place he went to Alva, county seat of Woods county, where he and Captain J. A. Stine purchased the two banks, consolidating them under the name of Exchange Bank, Mr. Emmer- son becoming its cashier, and remaining there two years. In April, 1908, H. S. Emmer- son and his son, E. H Emmerson, organized the Bank of Stroud at Stroud, Lincoln coun- ty, Oklahoma, and the father became its president with F. H. Emmerson cashier. In June, 1902, the Emmersons converted the Bank of Stroud into the First National Bank
of Stroud. Leaving his son in charge at Stroud, H. S. Emmerson organized the Farmers and Merchants Bank at Sparks, be- coming again president, which position he now holds. The Farmers and Merchants Bank was organized with a capital stock of $5,000 but during the period of its exist- ence it has greatly enlarged its scope and is now one of the important financial in- stitutions of the county.
When he had attained the age of twenty- five years, Mr. Emmerson was married to Mollie Godman of Marshall, Saline county, Missouri, who died two years after- wards. To this union was born one son, E. H., a banker in Lincoln county, Oklaho- ma. At the age of twenty-nine, Mr. Emmer- son married Miss Minnie Ament, a member of a prominent family from Bourbon coun- ty, Kentucky. Mr. Emmerson gives his political support to the Democratic party, and was a delegate to the Democratic Na- tional Convention in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1900, that nominated the great Common- er, W. J. Bryan. Mr. Emmerson has fra- ternal relations with the Masonic order, the I. O. O. F. and K. of P., his wife being a member of the Eastern Star and the Royal Neighbors. H. S. Emmerson is also an earn- est member and an officer in the Presby- terian church at Sparks.
R. B. WELLS is numbered among the Ok- lahoma pioneers of 1891, the year made memorable in the history of this state by the opening of its lands to settlement, and throughout all the years which have since come and gone he has been activelv identi- fied with the business life of his adopted commonwealth. He is perhaps best known to the residents of Lincoln county as the manager of the Farmers Union Gin of Sparks, which is a large and well equipped mill of the latest improved patterns, op- erated by a sixty horse power engine and boiler, and during the busy seasons of the year eight men are given employment. The output of this mill is thirty-five bales a day. and during the present season of 1908 the output will reach two thousand bales of cotton. Mr. Wells took charge of this mil! on the 8th of September. 1908, and honor-' able and straightforward in all his dealings, persevering and progressive. he is well fitted for the position he holds, and he is numbered among Oklahoma's pioneers and business men.
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HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA.
He came to this state from Richwood, Union county, Ohio, spending the first sev- enteen years here on a farm two miles west of Sparks, but the state of his nativity is Ohio, where he was born in Delaware county, July 10, 1857. His paternal grand- father had located in that state during an early period in its history, and his father, John Wells, was also born there, and he died at the age of seventy-seven years, aft- er a long and useful life devoted to agricul- tural pursuits. He voted with the Demo- cratic party. The mother yet survives her husband, and is living with her son, R. B., she having attained the age of seventy-nine years. The latter is one of his parents' ten children, seven sons and three daughters, and was reared to mature years on the old homestead farm in Ohio. On attaining the age of thirty-eight years he was married to Linie Winkleman, of Kansas, and she died at the age of thirty-seven years on the 31st of July, 1901, leaving two sons, John and Jay. Mr. Wells has membership relations with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and its auxiliary, the Rebekahs, the Mod- ern Woodmen of America and the A. T. H., and he upholds the principles of the Dem- ocratic party.
DR. W. G. NASH, whose varied and long experience within the domain now known as the state of Oklahoma, justly entitles him to more than a passing notice in a history of his adopted state, was born in the Lone Star state, at Dallas, in 1866, of an excellent family. His father was George W. Nash, a native of Kentucky, who came west in 1848. He was a soldier in the Civil war, having served in the Confederate service three years, making an excellent record as a military man who fought as his training and convictions dictated. By trade he was a wagon and carriage maker and an excellent mechanic. The doctor's mother was Car- rie (Fortner) Nash, also born in Kentucky. The children by this union were five sons and five daughters.
The doctor was reared in Texas and had the advantage of a good education at Aus- tin College, Sherman, Texas. For a time he was engaged in teaching in Cameron and Collin counties, Texas. When eighteen years of age he was a cow-boy on the range for cattle men in Indian Territory, in the Kiowa country. He had a contract to sup- ply beef to the government for the soldiers
at the forts and was in the Pan-handle country in the cattle business. Later he taught school again and concluding to take up the profession of a physician and sur- geon, began the study of the medical science under Dr. Nesbit, of Sherman, Texas, who was a well known physician of that city. Subsequently, Dr. Nash entered the Univer- sity of Denver Medical College, in which excellent medical institution he was thor- oughly trained and from which he was grad- uated with high class honors in 1893. He located in Kokomo, Colorado, in 1895. He later spent two years at Sherman, Texas, and came from there to Oklahoma. He re- mained in Pauls Valley for a time, then went to Pawnee county, Oklahoma, in 1900, where he remained five years, and in January, 1906, came to Sparks, Lincoln county, where he now has an extensive and lucrative medical practice.
He was married in Denver, Colorado, June 22, 1890, to Hattie Bane, a woman of education and refinement. Mrs. Nash was born in Missouri where she was well edu- cated. She is the daughter of W. H. Bane, now deceased. By the doctor's marriage four children were born, two of whom are deceased. The living are: Eula May and Helen Grace.
Politically, Dr. Nash is a supporter of the principles of the Democratic party. He is a personal friend of William J. Bryan, and has accompanied him on hunting trips in Colorado. The doctor is a member of the Masonic and Knights of Pythias orders. Both he and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal church.
S. J. THOMPSON, the present capable and obliging postmaster at Wellston, Lincoln county, is the first official to assume its du- ties under the government of the new state of Oklahoma, being honored with appoint- ment May 8, 1908, in the Roosevelt admin- istration. S. J. Thompson is a native of Missouri, born in the year 1869, being a son of William and Nancy J. Thompson. The father, a son of Tennessee, passed his last years in Missouri while the widow still resides at Wellston. The elder Mr. Thomp- son was a farmer, a stanch Republican, an active member of the Christian church, and an honorable, useful citizen. He and his good wife became the parents of six sons and three daughters.
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HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA.
Mr. Thompson, of this sketch, was reared and educated in his native state of Missouri, and his training consisted not only of mental but of moral discipline. He was taught both to think intelligently and to work honest- ly and efficiently, his agricultural labors making him thoroughly familiar with the dispositions and needs of rural communities. When twenty-four years of age he was wed- ded, in Missouri, to Miss Margaret Skaggs, who had formerly been a successful school teacher. Mrs. Thompson is a daughter of Elisha Skaggs, now a resident of Oklaho- ma, and an honored veteran of the Civil war. Mr. and Mrs. Thompson are the par- ents of Capitola, Gladys and Shirley Thomp- son.
When Postmaster Thompson first came to Oklahoma, in 1898, he located at Guthrie, where he became known as an able and stalwart Republican, and during the eleven years of his residence in the territory and state he has attended most of the county congressional or state conventions of his party, being a member of the last territorial convention of Oklahoma, and the first state convention in the new state. He has always been a thorough believer in the fraternal work of the standard orders and has also been deeply interested in the lodge proceed- ings. In Odd Fellowship he has reached the Encampment degree, and is active botlı in the work of the Masonic fraternity and the Ancient Order of United Workmen. In his religious faith, he is a faithful adherent to the Christian denomination, and alto- gether is a representative citizen of the com- munity-a moral and Christian gentleman, an efficient government official, and a do- mestic and social factor of an elevating in- fluence. Mrs. Thompson is a member of the Baptist church.
DR. H. M. WILLIAMS, physician and sur- geon, practicing at the town of Wellston, Oklahoma, is a successful medical man who is well known in Lincoln county, having located here in 1900. He was born in Douglas county, Kansas, in 1870, a son of Rev. W. W. Williams, a pioneer minister of the Baptist denomination, who preached the genuine old-time religion, not for money but for the good of the cause. He came from Kentucky to Missouri and from that state to Kansas, but now resides in Mayes county, Oklahoma, aged seventy-eight years. He married Rebecca Burton, a native of Ken-
tucky. She is now deceased, having died at the age of fifty-eight years. She was al- so a devout Baptist and lived a pure, con- sistent Christian life and was beloved by thousands of admirers for her beautiful character. This worthy couple were the parents of seven children.
Developing his muscle on the farm in his younger days, Dr. H. M. Williams was taught that the true highway to success was found in the line of labor at honorable call- ings. He was given an excellent education- al training, attending Baker University, Baldwin, Kansas, and later being graduat- ed from the medical department of Univer- sity Medical College, Kansas City, Missouri. In 1908 the doctor took a course in the Post Graduate School of Chicago.
Dr. Williams has a good class of patients who may well call him "family doctor" and in him confide their every secret about the ,sick bed.
He now owns a fine residence surrounded by beautiful grounds and an office in keep- ing with his extensive practice, consisting of five rooms, well furnished. He has much faith in the future of his town and county. He believes in a higher education and is a member of the school board of Wellston. He is also a member of a number of fraternal societies. He and his estimable wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal church.
At Seneca, Kansas, in 1900, Dr. Williams was married to Pearl Magill, a lady of re- fined and cultivated ideas, coming from a most excellent family. She was reared and educated at Seneca and there attended the high school. She is the daughter of Sam- uel Magill and wife, her parents being early settlers in Kansas, having located there in 1856. The children born to the doctor and his wife are: Ruth and Kathryne.
Dr. Williams is a worthy and active member of the County and Oklahoma State Medical societies and of current medical lit- erature and recent publications, he is ever a close reader, believing that the medical science is as susceptible to changes and to making new discoveries, as is any other science.
REV. H. L. CLOUD, pastor of the Methodist Episcopal church at Wellston, Lincoln county, Oklahoma, was ordained to the min- istry of the Methodist Episcopal church at Shawnee, Oklahoma, in 1903. He has since that date been an active worker in the cause
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HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA.
of his Master, within the church of his choice. He was ordained by Bishop John W. Hamilton. Rev. H. L. Cloud was born in Indian Territory in 1874. His parents were of the Cherokee tribe. His father, Samuel Cloud, a native of North Carolina, died about 1898 and the mother was Lucy Tadpole Brewer, who passed from the scenes of earth in 1886, a most devout Christian lady and an affectionate mother. She left three sons and three daughters to mourn her death.
Rev. H. L. Cloud was educated at the Cherokee Orphan Asylum and at the Wil- lie Halsell College, Vinita, Oklahoma. He became a successful school teacher and was a popular instructor. He embraced the Christian religion at the age of seventeen years and commenced to study for the min- istry. His first charge was at Pryor Creek, Indian Territory, where he was successful in building a church and organizing a class for the Methodist Episcopal Church. He also held charges at Lehigh, Holdenville, Howe and Tahlequah, Oklahoma. He was the financial agent for the Whitaker Or- phan Home, at Pryor Creek, Oklahoma, for a short time and was sent to the annual con- ference at Wellston in 1903, where he served five years.
In politics, he is a radical Republican and good party worker. He was the choice of his party for state senator in 1907. He was elected delegate to the constitutional convention at Guthrie from twenty-third district, Lincoln county, in 1906. Rev. Mr. Cloud has been considered as one of the lead- ers for Prohibition. He was sent to Washing- ton, D. C. and helped secure Prohibition for his people, and was one of the leaders in the fight on the Republican side of the house for a separate Submission Clause, in constitutional convention, state of Oklaho- ma. As a minister he has been very suc- cessful in his chosen field, having made about one thousand conversions up to the present time. He is an orator and forceful speaker. He belongs to the Masonic and Odd Fellows orders. In general manners he is kind and obliging and was popular in the different charges he has held.
Of his domestic relations, it may be stat- ed that Mr. Cloud was united in marriage, shortly after coming to Wellston, at Tah- lequal, Oklahoma, to Mattie Wade. a wo- man of a good family, who makes her hus-
band a most excellent helpmate in his min- isterial work. She is a native of Texas, a daughter of John Wade and wife. This was Mr. Cloud's second marriage, his for- mer wife having died in 1902. Two child- ren blessed the home circle, but one is de- ceased and the surviving one is Riley H. The name of the deceased child was Lu- cile.
S. A. KEY, mayor of Chandler, to which office he was elected, April 7, 1908, on the Democratic ticket, came to Chandler in 1901, during the month of January. He re- moved there from a farm a half mile out of the little hamlet, having been on that farm some years. In 1906 he purchased the hardware business belonging to John Mc- Farland. The partner in the hardware busi- ness is J. Mclaughlin of whom mention is made elsewhere in this work. This firm does a large and always honorable business, drawing their trade from a large scope of country around Chandler.
Mr. Key was born in Crawford county, Missouri, near Steelville, August 13, 1850. His paternal grandfather went to Crawford county, from Kentucky in 1825. The father of Mr. Key was J. A. Key, born in Craw- ford county, in 1826. He was a farmer by occupation and also worked as a blacksmith. His wife, Jane Craig, was of Irish descent. Both of the parents were of the Protestant faith. The father of Mrs. Key was born in Alabama, in 1829. She passed from earthly scenes in 1902, leaving three sons-S. A .. of this notice: J. T., and D. M. Key.
S. A. Key was reared to the work of a farmer's boy and was given the advantage of the common schools of Steelville, Mis- souri and the Steelville Seminary. Being a progressive man, in time, he found his way into that most excellent order, the Ma- sonic fraternity, and has step by step, ad- vanced, until he is now identified with the Knights Templar degree, being a member of Chandler Commandery, No. 17. He is a member of the Presbyterian church of which he is an elder, taking much interest in religious work, education and the cause of temperance.
In 1873 Mr. Key was united in marriage at Steelville, Missouri, to Belle Dunlap, daughter of Samuel Dunlap and wife. By this union the following children were born : Angie, deceased : A. F .: Edna ; J. D., a res- ident of Beaver county, Oklahoma: J. A.
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HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA.
and S. D. Mrs. Belle (Dunlap) Key died in 1889. In 1892 Mr. Key married Leutitia Scantlan of Cuba, Missouri, and they have three children : Thomas C., Clen Lee, and Ruby L.
In his political views, Mr. Key is a staunch defender of the Democratic party. He is a public spirited man, working for the advancement of Chandler and his coun- ty. In manners, he is frank, genial and al- ways obliging. In his official capacity, as the head of his municipality, he is proving the proper man for mayor.
L. C. ELLIOTT, county treasurer of Lin- coln county, Oklahoma, is numbered among the county officials of the new state. He was elected to office in the autumn of 1904, held over and was re-elected at the state- hood election in November, 1907. He is one of the pioneers of the county and was present at the opening and made a run for a homestead, when the Sac and Fox reser- vation was opened up for settlement in 1891. He secured a homestead situated five miles to the southeast of Chandler.
Mr. Elliott came to Oklahoma from Tex- as but he was born in Polk county, Missou- ri, December 19, 1854, a son of Daniel El- liott, a soldier of the Union army at the time of the Civil war and who died in Mis- souri. The mother was Mary Morgan, con- nected by family ties with the well-known southern family of Morgans. She died at Ardmore, Oklahoma, in May, 1900, aged seventy-eight years. She was the mother of eight sons and five daughters. The fath- er served in the Civil war in the Union army. Four of the sons also served in the same war-Robert (deceased), Nathan, George (deceased) and J. C., who resides in Ardmore. This is indeed a record for military service in defense of one's country worth being recorded.
L. C. Elliott, of this memoir, was reared on his father's farm and early taught to work. He was given a good common school education in the schools of Missouri and Kansas. When aged fifteen years he re- moved from Cherokee county, Kansas, to Bell county, Texas, and in 1891 took his homestead in Oklahoma, as above men- tioned and on the same constructed a log house.
He was married in Joplin, Missouri, in 1877, to Miss Minnie Black, who was from a most excellent family; she was born in
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