USA > Oklahoma > A history of the state of Oklahoma, Volume II > Part 25
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Champaign county, Illinois, and became a popular teacher before her union with Mr. Elliott. The fruit of this union was ninc children : Lena (deceased), Georgia, Carrie, Osie, Benjamin H., Bonnie, Gem, Lois and Hernian.
Politically, Mr. Elliott is a Republican and in his society affairs is connected with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias, and Woodmen. In his religious faith, he is connected with the Methodist Episcopal church. He is a pains- taking county treasurer and is popular with the tax-payers.
HON. S. A. CORDELL, an attorney and state senator, of Chandler, Lincoln county, Oklahoma, came to Oklahoma territory first, in 1891, two months after the opening of the Sac and Fox reservation. He came from Bentonville, Arkansas, having been admit- ted to the bar there in 1879, by Judge Berry, who was a well known attorney of that place, and was also governor of Ar- kansas and a United States senator from Arkansas.
Senator Cordell is a native of Iowa, born near Tipton, Cedar county, November 3, 1854, his father, Jacob Cordell, being a pi- oneer of the Hawkeye state, who went there in 1853. He was born in Pennsylvania, of Pennsylvania German ancestry, noted for their industry and strict uprightness. The first of this family to find their way to American soil, was one who emigrated in 1740. Members of this family served in both the Revolutionary war and war of 1812. Jacob Cordell was reared in Pennsyl- vania and was married in Ohio, to Miss M. Singrey, a native of Ohio. Her grand- father who served in the Revolutionary war, and lived in Baltimore is said to have been a descendant of William Tell. The first ancestor of this family to come to our shores arrived in 1:43.
Jacob Cordell and his wife, removed from Ohio to Iowa and later to Indiana. They taught their son the excellent habits of in- dustry and integrity. S. A. Cordell served as county probate judge in Benton county, Arkansas, from 1886 to 1890; was also judge of Lincoln county, Oklahoma. from 1896 to 1904, with the exception of two years from January, 1899. until January, 1901. He was elected to the first state senate in Okla- homa in the autumn of 190% on the Dem- ocratic ticket and has ablv conducted the
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duties of such office. He was among the first settlers in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, where he served as city attorney in 1880.
Mr. Cordell was united in marriage in Arkansas to Alice Sikes King, whose fath- er was active in the Confederate army dur- ing the Civil war and one of her cousins ranked as a major-general, in that army.
They have a son, John W. Cordell. aged thirteen years, who was a page in the state senate during the first session of the legis- lature.
In fraternal affairs, it may be added that Mr. Cordell belongs to the Knights of Pyth- ias and the Royal Arch Masons. In church relation, he is identified with the Presbyter- ian church in which he is an elder.
SAMUEL D. DECKER. The following nar- rative relates to the well known law firm of Decker & Decker, practicing lawvers at Chandler, Oklahoma. The senior member of this firm is Samuel D. Decker, one of the pioneer attorneys of the county in which he now resides, he having immigrated to this section of the southwest country in 1890. He was born at Cambridge, Henry county, Illinois, in 1848. His father was James Decker, who settled there in 1838 among the pioneer settlers. He entered government land in Henry county to the amount three hundred and twenty acres for which he paid one dollar and a quarter an acre. He had to draw wheat and pork to Chicago (old Fort Dearborn) making these long and tiresome trips by means of ox teams. He was an ardent Abolitionist and supported General John C. Fremont for the presidency, as the standard bearer of the Republican party in 1856. He died at the age of eighty-seven years at Cambridge, Il1- inois. In his religious faith he was a de- vout Baptist. His devoted and faithful wife was a Methodist and she passed to her re- ward in 1866, leaving eight children. Three of the sons were brave soldiers in the Union army during the Civil war. George and William were in the One Hundred and Twelfth Illinois Infantry Regiment and Samuel D. also served in the Union cause. After the war William became chief of po- lice at Cambridge, Illinois, and at one time was on the force in Kansas City, Missouri. George lives at Burr Oak, Kansas.
Samuel D. Decker was reared in Illinois and obtained a good education. He enlist- ed at Cincinnati, Ohio, as a member of the
Eighteenth Ohio Infantry, in 1864, serving ten months, and doing his duty in a brave and gallant manner. After his return from the service of his country he entered college, graduating from the Iowa State University, Iowa City, Iowa, being a student of the law department of that most excellent institu- tion. He was graduated with the class of 1876-7, and was admitted to the bar.
Mr. Decker held the office of prosecuting attorney two terms and one term as the judge of the district court in Kansas. Af- ter coming to Oklahoma he first located at Guthrie and remained there until 1896 when believing he could do better by changing removed to Chandler. He was united in marriage to Maggie Sturges, a native of Indi- ana, where she was reared and obtained her education and at the time of her marriage she was living in Indianapolis. She is now deceased and left three children: Emma; Arthur, a railroad conductor employed in Colorado, who served as a soldier three years in the Philippines, being with the Kansas Light Artillery; Victor S., city at- torney of Chandler 'and a partner with his father in the law firm of Decker & Decker. He was admitted to the bar in 1906. He mar- ried a Miss Liggett and they have one son, Donald. Samuel D. Decker married for his second wife, Addie Morrow, of Decatur county, Kansas, in 1885, they being united at Oberlin, Kansas. To this union two sons were born : Earl, of the United States Navy at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, having served four years prior to this in the Philippine Is- lands at Olongapo; he is now married to Miss Emma Harvey of Philadelphia. The second son, March, is on the railroad out from Kansas City.
W. H. DAVIS, M. D., physician and surgeon, practicing at Chandler, Oklahoma, is one of the well known pioneers and highly success- ful physicians of Lincoln county, who has been a resident there since 1896. He first settled at Parkland before railroad days in that sec- tion of the great and growing southwest country. He is a graduate of the Bennett Medical College of Chicago, with the class of 1886 and also of the Marion Sims Medi- cal College of St. Louis, Missouri, with the class of 1893. He practiced his chosen pro- fession at Mountain View, Missouri, for six years he then took special work including microscopy before going west.
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sincere in his decision that the church is su- perior and above them all.
R. H. GALYEN, an attorney-at-law, practic- ing at Chandler, Oklahoma, has been an honored resident of Oklahoma since the ter- ritorial days of 1889. He is a native of Kirksville, Adair county, Missouri, born January 19, 1856, and was of a good family who were numbered among the pioneer band of that now finely developed portion of Missouri. His father was John W. Galyen who was born and reared in Tennessee. He was a soldier in the Black Hawk war in 1832. The family originally came from
France. The mother's maiden name was Sarah Hilt. Seven children were born of this union. The parents are now both deceased, having passed from earthly scenes in Adair county, Missouri. The father was an exem- plary member of the Christian church.
The son, R. H. Galyen, of this biography, was reared in Adair county and edu- cated in Missouri, and followed school teach- ing successfully for a time. He later studied medicine at the American Medical College of St. Louis and began to practice that profes- sion in 1883. He located in Harrison county, Missouri, where he practiced three years, after which he went to Barton county of the same state, but in 1889 went to Okla- homa, locating at Guthrie and from there re- moved to Chandler, after the opening of Sac and Fox reservation.
Mr. Galyen decided in 1896 that while medicine was a good profession and honor- able as well as very useful to the human family, law would best suit his tastes and con- sequently he read law under A. J. Rittenhouse and was admitted to the bar in 1900, so he now is doubly equipped in both medicine and law. Politically, he is a firm believer in the general principles of the Democratic party. He was a member of the State Pharmacists Society and received the first certificate as a pharmacist within Oklahoma territory, his papers for the same being numbered, "No 1".
He was happily united in marriage in Adair county, Missouri, in 1880, to Phebe Stage, who died in that state, leaving one son, C. R. Galyen. In all his dealings with the clients of his legal profession, as well as with his patients, while yet a physician and sur- geon, he has ever proven himself a manly man.
COL. J. ELLSWORTH REA, county clerk of Lincoln county, Oklahoma, who was elected
to that office in the autumn of 1904, as the candidate of the Republican party, filled the office with ability and honor and was re- elected in the fall of 1907. He is a pioneer of the county and was among the number who made the race for a homestead in 1891. at the opening of the Sac and Fox reservation and succeeded in getting a fine tract of land on homestead terms, the same being located twelve miles from the town of Chandler. Here he built a house and otherwise improved his premises and there resided for ten years. He came to Oklahoma from Kansas.
The Colonel is a native of Ohio, born in Madison county in 1862, a son of Benoni Rea, also a native of Ohio, who was a soldier in the Civil war and died in Chandler, Sep- tember, 1901, aged fifty-nine years. He fol- lowed farming for a livelihood and in politics was a Republican. He was a worthy mem- ber of the Grand Army of the Republic and was connected with the Odd Fellows order. He left his widow and two sons: Col. J. E., of this sketch, and Oscar Rea of Shawnee, Oklahoma. Col, Rea's mother was Miss Isa- belle Haggard, a native of Ohio. The parents came west to Kansas, where the son, Col. J. E. grew to manhood on a farm. He obtained his education in the public schools. He finally moved from the farm home to Peabody, where he was about a year clerking in a store. then moved back on the farm until 1891, when he came to Oklahoma.
Colonel Rea was united in marriage in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1888, to Miss Laura Wight, who has been a faithful companion and wife to him. She was born in Madison county, Ohio, and was a successful teacher in the public schools of both her native state and in Kansas. She obtained her, education at London, Ohio. Her father was S. Wight. The children by Mr. Rea's marriage were. Glenn E., Io S. and Zo I. Rea, the last two being twins.
In political matters, Colonel Rea has been active in the Republican party ; he was a dele- gate to various conventions and always able to give a good and convincing reason for the support of his party. He has passed all the chairs in the Odd Fellows lodge and has been a Grand Lodge representative from the sub- ordinate lodge to which he is affiliated. He also belongs to the Knights of Pythias. His estimable wife is a consistent member of the Methodist Episcopal church. Colonel Rea is a
J. 8. Per
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hospitable and candid man in whom his com- munity have ever had the utmost confidence.
J. A. MCLAUGHLIN, an ex-county treas- urer of Lincoln county, Oklahoma, and a member of the firm of Key & Mclaughlin, hardware dealers of Chandler, has been a resi- dent of the county since 1892 and was at the opening of the Sac and Fox reservation, se- lecting land in Creek township, in the eastern portion of the county, now near Arlington. He was among the first persons to locate in that section of the county.
Mr. Mclaughlin is a native of Fort Wayne, Indiana, born in 1854, of a family noted for their size, industry and honor. The father was born in Belfast, Ireland, but his ancestors were from the Highlands of Scotland. The earlier members of this family were noted men among the clans of Scotland in the great Scottish wars. John Mclaughlin was
reared and educated in Ireland and when a young man, came to the United States He married Isabelle Orr, also from the North of Ireland, of Scotch-Irish descent. They left Fort Wayne, Indiana, in 1856 for Richland county, Wisconsin, where they became very early settlers, but in 1861 removed to Aledo, Mercer county, Illinois. After offering his services in the Civil war, the father was re- jected and went from Wisconsin to Illinois, and was there again rejected. He was an ardent Lincoln man and a warm friend of the great president. In 1867 the family moved to Kansas, settling in Cherokee county, and here the father died in 1875, leaving four sons and one daughter. The family were all of great size, the five children, when grown to maturity, weighed twelve hundred and sixty pounds. The names of these children were: J. O., W. R., W. P., Mrs. W. J. Hud- son, and J. A. Mclaughlin.
J. A. Mclaughlin was reared in Wisconsin and Illinois and in Kansas. He grew to man- hood upon a farm, where his large frame was developed in a fine and healthful condition. He had the advantages of the public school systems of both Illinois and Kansas. He built the first saw mill in his part of the western country ; also built the first cotton gin in Creek township, in which township he im- proved a good farm, and came to be looked upon with general favor by the good citizens of Lincoln county. He followed the business just named, until the voters called him to be- come treasurer of the county He served four years with credit and honor to himself and Vol. II-9.
the tax-payers. He was elected by a majori- ty of two hundred and eighty votes, once, and by about one hundred votes less at an- other election.
Mr. Mclaughlin was united in marriage when twenty-two years of age, in Kansas, to Mary P. Hamblin, a native of Illinois, who was born in Bureau county and died in 1884, leaving one child: Everet, now with the Waters-Pierce Oil Company, of Guymon, Ok- lahoma. Three years later, Mr. McLaugh- lin married Ida E. Hamblin, the first wife's sister, by whom one son was born: Frank, who is a member of the National Guards, a bugler of Company B.
The father belongs to the Masonic frater- nity and has advanced to the thirty-second degree in the mysteries of that most worthy and ancient order. He is a Democrat in politics. He now weighs two hundred and seventy-five pounds, with a heart as large in proportion. Both he and his estimable wife, are members of the Presbyterian church.
E. W. CARR, proprietor of one of the larg- est vehicle and implement establishments in Lincoln county and that part of the state, is a man of a fine and substantial Hoosier family, as well as of broad education, who can do nothing except in a large way. His three extensive store rooms on the main street of Chandler are filled to overflowing with a dozen varieties of carriages and buggies, as many styles of standard wagons (including the famous Studebaker and Velie makes), and a contplete stock of farm implements. His present standing and extensive business have been attained not only by the exercise of the highest grade of business ability, but by strict integrity and honorable dealings.
A native of Posey county, Indiana, born in 1876, Mr. Carr comes of substantial Penn- sylvania forefathers, whose descendants were early pioneers of Indiana and of Posey county. His father, E. W. Carr, who still re- sides in the Hoosier state at the age of eighty years, was a member of the Home Guard at the time of the Civil war, and subject to the call of the governor. The mother (nee America Montgomery) was born in Robb township. Posey county, her family being not only of the pioneer element but among the wealthy class. E. W. Carr, of this sketch, is one of four children born to the before-men- tioned couple, and he was reared and edu- cated in Indiana. His higher studies were pursued both at De Pauw University, Green-
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castle, Indiana, and the State University, Bloomington, Indiana, and he also took a legal course at Indianapolis.
In 1893 Mr. Carr was united in marriage, at New Harmony, Indiana. to Miss Grace Thomas, a lady of refined character and cul- ture, of a leading family, who was educated at St. Mary's Seminarv, Ohio. She is the mother of Marguerite, Cyril C. and Edmina Carr and, outside of her domestic and house- hold matters, devotes much of her time to the religious and charitable work of the Episcopal church. The oldest daughter, Marguerite, is now being educated at Bethany College, Topeka, Kansas.
DR. W. G. BISBEE, physician and surgeon, practicing at Chandler, Oklahoma, stands high in his profession in Lincoln county, where he located in 1902. He was born in Dexter, Dal- las county, Iowa, August 1, 1876. His par- ents were early settlers in that part of Iowa, going there from Vermont, in 1868, when the Rock Island Railway was being constructed to that part of the Hawkeye state. The father was Franklin A. Bisbee, a native of Vermont, who is now in old Mexico. The date of his birth was 1843, the same year in which President William Mckinley was born. He comes of an English ancestry and is related to Edward Everett, also to Gover- nor Clinton, of New York. Franklin A. Bis- bee is a Democrat and belongs to the Odd Fellows order. The doctor's mother, before marriage, was Eliza Griswold, born in Ver- mont, of an old and honorable family of the Green Mountain state, whose history dates back to the Colonial days of New England.
Dr. Bisbee was reared in Iowa and re- ceived his elimentary education at the public schools and attended Dartmouth College. He took a course in hospital work and a post- graduate course in 1906. With his partner, Dr. Wallace, he established the present Sani- tarium at Chandler in 1903 and made a suc- cess of it. Dr. Wallace retired and a new firm was organized which was known as Drs. Davis and Bisbee. This was continued until July, 1908, when it was dissolved by mutual consent. The sanitarium is now meeting with much success and the practice of the doctor is constantly increasing, and honest treatment is given to all patients. The doctor gradu- ated with the class of 1901 with a good class record and located in Oklahoma in 1902.
He is a Mason of advanced degree, having attained to the thirty-second degree and be-
longs to the India Temple of the Mystic Shrine of Oklahoma. He is a close student and in the prime of his young manhood, with everything of promise for his future success. He was reared and is now an Episcopalian.
Dr. Bisbee was united in marriage, at Knoxsville, Tennessee, in December, 1902, to Eleanor Carpenter, the daughter Maj. D. A. Carpenter, a woman of excellence, from an honored family. She was educated at Byers- ville, Tennessee, and at Cincinnati, Ohio.
J. B. A. ROBERTSON is one of the enterpris- ing firm of Hoffman and Robertson, attor- neys-at-law, practicing at Chandler, Lincoln county, Oklahoma, who are well known as representatives of the legal profession in this part of the new state, having been connected with some of the most important cases at the Oklahoma bar. Mr. Robertson came to Lin- coln county in 1892, becoming a partner of Mr. Hoffman in 1906.
Mr. Robertson was born in Keokuk county, Iowa, March 15, 1871. His parents went to Iowa in the fifties and his father, J. B. A. Robertson, Sr., who came from Pennsylvania is still residing in Keokuk county, Iowa. . He was a soldier in the Civil war, a member of the Twenty-fourth Iowa Infantry. He mar- ried Clara Wright, a native of Ohio, who bore him six sons and five daughters.
The son, J. B. A., Jr., of this narrative was reared in the Hawkeye state, and there re- ceived a good education at the public schools. When sixteen years of age, he began his career as a school teacher. Later he took up law and was admitted to the bar before he became a resident of Oklahoma. He has served as county attorney for Lincoln county and is now engaged in the general practice of law with his partner, Mr. Hoffman.
In politics, Mr. Robertson is an ardent sup- porter of the Democratic party. He has been a hearty worker in the cause of Democracy and served as a delegate to county conven- tions and was delegate for his party at the Denver National convention which body placed in nomination for the presidential can- didate, William Jennings Bryan. In Masonic circles, Mr. Robertson stands eminent, hav- ing been advanced to a thirty-second degree Mason, and he belongs to Chandler Com- mandery Knights Templar and India Temple A. A. O. N. M. S. of Oklahoma City. He is Past Grand Master of the I. O. O. F. and has represented his Grand Lodge in the Sov- ereign Grand Lodge of the I O. O. F. for
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three terms. He is well versed in the law and is an excellent public speaker.
In 1898 he was happily. united in marriage to Olive Stubblefield, a woman of intelligence and refinement, who received her education at Winfield, Kansas, and the State University at Lawrence, Kansas. The children of this union are: Olive, aged nine years ; and J. B. A., Jr., who is the fourth in the family line bearing this name.
DR. WILLIAM W. LIGHTFOOT, physician and surgeon practicing at Chandler, Okla- homa, located at that place in the month of November, 1907. He has been successful and has built up around him a large and satisfac- tory practice which is increasing in its extent, both within and outside of his home town. The doctor was born in 1879, in Mississippi, of an old Southern family, a son of Madison Lightfoot, a native of Virginia, from among the first families of the Old Dominion state. The grandfather was William A. Lightfoot, who bore arms for this country during the war with Mexico and later in the Civil war.
Madison Lightfoot was married at Durant, Miss., to Anna Weems, of an old family of the South, a native of Mississippi, who was there reared and educated, the niece of W'es- ley Weems. The name Weems is Scotch in its origin. Madison Lightfoot died in 1906, aged fifty-seven years. In politics, he voted the Democratic ticket. In church faith, he was Methodist Episcopal. The widowed mother still resides in Mississippi. The issue of this worthy couple was two sons and three daugh- ters. They are: William W., Nona Barham, Weems Madison, Jr., and Evva Steel.
Dr. Lightfoot was reared in Mississippi and taught the virtues of the industrious and up- right. He received his education, beginning in the public schools and going later to Bards- town University. He chose medicine for his profession and began its study under Dr. R. E. Howard of Durant, Mississippi, a well known and skilful physician and surgeon. He then attended the Tulane University, of New Orleans, Louisiana, graduating with the class of 1904, with a high class record.
Politically, the doctor affiliates with the Democratic party and in fraternal affairs is a member of the Woodmen of the World, and holds his membership in his college societies. In the prime of his young manhood, it would seem that he has a long and useful profes- sional career before him.
E. E. LUMM, M. D. It was in 1889 that Dr. E. E. Lumm enrolled his name among the physicians and surgeons of Oklahoma, and he has since become well and prominently known for the success he has achieved in his chosen life work. He has also during all these years been prominently identified with the growth and upbuilding of his adopted city of Stroud, and his name stands at the head of its pioneers and leading professional and business men.
The Doctor is a native son of Ohio, born in Perry county, near Lexington, January 27, 1861, and is a member of a prominent old southern family who moved from Virginia to that state. His father, Mortimer Lumm, was born in the Old Dominion state, and was twice married, having by the first union four sons, all of whom were soldiers in the Civil war, namely: Jolin W., Jesse Albert, Cornelius and Charles Wesley. They all served their country nobly and bravely and all returned home from the conflict, but the second, Jesse Albert, afterward died in Iowa. By his second marriage to Angeline Glenn, the mother of the doctor, Mortimer Lumm had five children. He passed away in death in St. Joseph, Mis- souri, at the good old age of ninety-two years. In early life he was a steam boat man running from Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, to New Or- leans for fifteen years, then lived on a farm in Perry county, Ohio. A Republican in his political affiliations, he had the privilege of voting for its first presidential candidate, General Fremont, in 1856. He was a member of the Presbyterian church. His second wife died in July, 1907, when she had attained the age of seventy-eight years, loved by all who knew her for her kindness and noble char- acteristics.
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