USA > Oklahoma > A history of the state of Oklahoma, Volume II > Part 3
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Coming of a family of Irish extraction with an admixture of French and German blood, R. H. Hagar was born in Ralls coun- ty, Missouri, April 16, 1852, a son of Ignatius and Susan Hagar, both natives of Kentucky, whence they moved to Ralls county, Mis- souri, in 1852, and were there engaged in farming. Both parents reside in Shawnee, aged, respectively, eighty-four and seventy- eight years, both still hale and hearty. R. H. Hagar, after receiving his education in the schools of Missouri and at St. Mary's, Kansas, began farming in Missouri, and was then engaged in that occupation for thirteen years in Crawford county, Kansas, whence he came to Oklahoma. Mr. Hagar's politi- cal affiliations are with the Democratic party. By his first wife, Jennie B. Abel, a native of Missouri, who died in 1903, he is the father of three children: Minnie is the wife of Nicholas Quinett, and Mattie the wife of Henry Quinett; the son, Montell M., married Miss Nellie Gowan, whose father is one of the pioneers of Pottawatomie county. In 1905 Mr. Hagar married Maggie Ragan, a native of Kentucky. Mr. Hagar is a mem- ber of the Eagles, the Catholic Knights and the Knights of Columbus.
SIDNEY CLARKE, JR., of Shawnee, of the firm of Clarke & Keller, seedmen (the oldest seed house in Oklahoma), was born at Law- rence, Kansas, January 15, 1860, a son of Hon. Sidney Clarke, of Oklahoma City, a pioneer of Kansas (whose sketch appears elsewhere in this work). The son was reared in Kansas, educated at Lawrence University and engaged in the milling business at Atchison, Nebraska. He drifted from that point to Ida Grove,
Ida county, Iowa, and subsequently went to Holt county, Nebraska, locating for some time at O'Neill, the county seat. He went to Oklahoma in 1889, at the first opening of the reservation to actual set- tlers. He spent one season there and then went back to Iowa. In 190? he established the seed house with which he is now con- nected. Here may be found the largest variety of garden and field seeds within the new state of Oklahoma. By fair dealing, the firm merited and gained a large and lu- crative trade, covering a wide circle of ter- ritory. They occupy a large three-story business house.
Mr. Clarke is a progressive man, who fav- ors all reasonable public improvement. He always favors the cause of religion and tem- perance, as well as education. Politically,
Lander J. Pitman,
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HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA.
he is a Republican and is associated with the members of the Masonic fraternity.
He was happily united in marriage, in 1883, to Lou E. Iron, a woman of much intelligence and from a most ex- cellent family in Iowa. She is the daugh- ter of Thomas WV. Iron and his wife, who was a Miss Butler, and who is now deceased. Two children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Clarke: Ross and Louise. Both he and his faithful wife are members of the Presbyterian church.
JUDGE LEANDER G. PITMAN. For a num- ber of years Leander G. Pitman has been prominent in local and state affairs giving his best talents and powers to his country and his fellow men. He was born in Wabash county, Illinois, August 17, 1853, a son of William and Sarah (Crosson) Pitman, both of whom were born in Ohio. The father was numbered among the early pioneers of Illi- nois, where he located in 1830, and he died many years afterward in 1875. The mother passed away in death in 1876.
Leander G. Pitman received his education in the public schools of Lawrence county and the University of Lebanon in Ohio, and after leaving school served as the clerk of the circuit court of Lawrence county, Illi- nois, for four years. He then began the study of law and was admitted to the bar in 1889, after which he practiced in Lawrence county until the 22d of April, 1889, the date of his arrival in Oklahoma City. He prac- ticed law there for a time and also took up a claim of one hundred and sixty acres four miles northwest of the city, but sold the land in 1891. In 1890 he had been elected to the upper house in the Oklahoma legislature, to which he was returned in 1892, and during his term he was selected as one of a committee of three to compile the first statutes of Oklahoma. He was also appointed a member and the secretary of the board of regents of Oklahoma University at Norman. He was the only Democrat on the board at that time, and was appointed by a Republican governor. About this time the university was without adequate build- ings and without funds, but the vigorous action of the board of regents brought it to its present high state of excellence. In 1893 he was elected by members of the upper house of the legislature to preside over the session as president pro tem. It was in 1895 that Mr. Pitman came to Shawnee, and has since been engaged in the general practice of
law. During this time he has been con- nected with some very important murder cases, and was the prosecuting attorney when Jester was arrested in Shawnee for the murder of Gates. It was through the efforts of Mr. Pitman that he was sent out of the county without requisition. In 1898 he was elected the prosecuting attorney of Pottawatomie county and was returned to the office in 1900.
In 1874 Mr. Pitman was married to Oceana Peachee, a native of Davis county, Indiana, and a daughter of Rev. James Peachee, a minister of the United Brethren church, and now living in Richland county, Illinois, aged eighty-eight years. The six children of Mr. and Mrs. Pitman are : James H., Charles O., Lillian, Clyde, Samuel Ran- dall and Leander Horace. Clyde G. Pitman is now practicing law in Tecumseh. Mr. Pitman, Sr., is a chapter and commandery Mason and a member of Allendale Lodge, No. 753, A. F. & A. M., of Wabash county, Illinois ; of Tecumseh Lodge, No. 24, I. O. O. F., and of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
EDWARD J. PETERS. One of the prominent architects of the state, and a member of the Oklahoma Association of Architects, is Ed- ward J. Peters, of Shawnee. The proof of an architect's success usually lies close at hand, and it does not require an expert to know that his professional results have awakened appreciation and demand. A list of repre- sentative buildings in Oklahoma would suf- fice to indicate the prominent activity of Mr. Peters as an architect in the new state of Oklahoma. Coming to the territory and lo- cating at Shawnee in 1903, he has since de- signed and built many business, religious and private edifices both in his own city and in other towns of the state. In Shawnee he acted as associate architect for the beautiful Carnegie Library, and was designer and builder of the Pottawatomie building. the Brown building, and the elegant residence of A. E. Nelson ; also was architect of the new Christian church building. Probably it is in the line of bank architecture that he has done his most extensive and important work. The banks at Konawa, Wanette, Prague, Tecumseh, Lehigh and McComb are repre- sentative of his work, and also the bank at Mena, Arkansas, and numerous school build- ings throughout Oklahoma.
Until 1906, Mr. Peters was associated in his profession with William A. Nethercott,
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HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA.
but since then has practiced alone. He is a native of Selma, Alabama, born February 23, 1878. His father, Thomas Peters, a na- tive of Baltimore, moved to Selma after the war and was engaged in the insurance business there until 1879, when he moved to Atlanta, Georgia, where he now resides. Mr. Peters received his higher literary training at the University of the South at Sewanee, and prepared for his profession in the Georgia School of Technology, also studying practically in Atlanta. Nearly all of his practice has been done in Oklahoma, where his ability and business leadership have brought him rapidly into successful prom- inence. In Shawnee he is a member of the Episcopal church. In June, 1907, he married Miss Carter, daughter of Mr. Sam Carter, a well known citizen of Bonham, Texas.
JOHN A. HEBBLE is one of the prominent and well-to-do citizens, as well as a pioneer homesteader of Oklahoma City and of Pot- tawatomie county, Oklahoma, and also holds a large place in the general history of the new-made state. Mr. Hebble, unlike most of the early settlers who come into new countries but to remain a short time, and then move on to pastures greener, came to stay, and to accomplish something worthy a name in the young commonwealth, which he had a hand in developing from a wild, almost wilderness-land, into a fertile and busy commercial as well as a great agricul- tural kingdom, excelled by few, if any, in the great and ever-changing west.
He is a native of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, born in February, 1853, of a good and in- dustrious family, within a community which has sent forth into the world so many illus- trious men and women to make for them- selves, and the world around them, a type of civilization of which America alone can boast. He was reared on a Pennsylvania farm, which was situated in one of the gar- den spots of the Keystone state. He had the advantages of the public schools of his native county and made the most of his early schooling. He is the son of David and Mary (Huxley) Hebble. The father was a farmer and was in his religious faith a believer in the creed of the Christian church. Twelve children were born to these parents, includ- ing John A. and his brother, Monroe, who lives in Bales township, Pottawatomie coun- ty.
John A. Hebble, of this memoir, came to Oklahoma in 1884, when all was yet un-
tamed and almost uninhabited. He occu- pied the great cattle range there before any of the openings were recorded. He re- mained at the government post a while, and then removed on the range, at the grand "opening," April 22, 1889. He made the race, but "sooners" were on his claim. He gave it up and located where Oklahoma City now stands, and was the first person to engage in business in that pioneer town. It was he who started the first brickyard and burnt the first building brick of the place. He had four teams and fourteen men in his employ at that date. He also erected the first brick house in the city, and built two brick houses for his own people to live in. Hence, he may truly be called a pioneer in Oklahoma City, now so well known throughout the world. Again, at the open- ing of the Cheyenne and Arapahoe Indian reservation, he made the race for land, but failed to get a homestead. Again, at the Kickapoo county opening, May 19, 1895, he tried and secured a fine homestead, six miles north of Shawnee, which he converted into a fine home farm, of rare beauty and much value. He resided on that place five years and moved to Shawnee, where he erected a large business block, three stories in height and is interested in other property and real estate. Mr. Hebble has been quite an ex- tensive traveler, both in the West and in the South, including .Texas, Colorado, and Old Mexico, living for a time in California.
He was happily married in 1879, in Wayne county, Indiana, to Alice Cornthwait, who has been of much service to her hus- band in his new-country hardships, and has with him enjoyed the measure of suc- cess which has attended his efforts. Mrs. Hebble was born in Ohio and there reared and educated. She is the daughter of Rob- ert and Mary (Good) Cornthwait, and was one of four children in her parents' family. Mr. and Mrs. Hebble have had one child, a daughter-Dolly, who died when aged three and one-half months.
WV. J. RIGGS. On October 10, 1899, just four years after the beginning of Shawnee's development from a hamlet toward metro- politan proportions, and while it yet counted its population by two or three thousand, there was added to its list of business men Mr. W. J. Riggs. He began the farm loan business, and soon after added a real estate department and abstracts. His success has been steadily increasing from that first
yours Truly
Riga
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HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA.
year, and as a public-spirited citizen he has been identified with all the movements which have made Shawnee one of the most thriv- ing cities of the new state. His activity in forwarding the interests of Shawnee have generally been directed through that excel- lent organization, the Shawnee Chamber of Commerce. It is a matter of interest as showing the rapid growth of this city that he built the first house on North Broadway, right in the midst of the woods, although the site is now regarded as the best and most attractive residence section of the city. Mr. Riggs owns personally a considerable amount of city real estate.
Mr. Riggs has been an active resident of Oklahoma since 1893. He was born on a farm in Missouri, January 20, 1867. His father, B. H. Riggs, was a native of Iowa, and during the Civil war served with the Third and Seventh Missouri Regiments. His father moving to Kansas, W. J. Riggs was brought up on a farm in that state from childhood. Though a well educated man, he gained his education from limited advan- tages. He attended school awhile at Ottawa, Kansas, working hard by day and studying at night, and as a result of this self-denial and arduous application was licensed to teach school, an occupation whch engaged his time for four years. On coming to Oklahoma in 1893 he settled on a claim in Lincoln coun- ty, and after improving it and selling it for an advanced figure, moved to Chandler, where he was engaged in the real estate bus- iness up to the time of his locating in Shaw- nee. Mr. Riggs affiliates with the Benevo- lent and Protective Order of Elks and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows; he is a Republican but never would accept office.
CASSIUS MI. CADE, who is serving as cashier of the State National Bank of Shawnee, was born in Harriettsville, Ohio, August 4, 1856, and comes of French descent. His grand- father, William Cade, who was born in Al- sace, France, emigrated with two brothers to America and settled in Virginia, where he became a wealthy planter and died at the advanced age of ninety-three years. His son, Samuel Cade, the father of Cassius M., was born on the old homestead in Virginia and there learned the trades of cabinet making and building. In early manhood he went to Marietta, Ohio, where he worked at his trade for a time and later went to Noble county, that state. Subsequently he re- moved to Ironton, Ohio and was married
to Emeline Rowe, a daughter of David Rowe, and a native of Maryland.
Cassius M. Cade was reared in his native place to the age of nine years, when he ac- companied the family on their removal to Lawrence county, Ohio, where he completed his education in the common schools and later attended Lebanon Normal School. At the age of sixteen he engaged in teaching, in which he was engaged un- til he was twenty-three years of age. At that 1 time he went to the Black Hills, traveling with teams from Fort Lar- amie. After a time spent in the west he re- turned home and in 1879 went to Anthony, Kansas, where for four years he was en- gaged in the real estate business. He bought a large amount of land in Harper county, paying for this ten dollars per acre, which later increased in value and brought him a large financial return. In 1881 he went to Silverton, Colorado, where he prospected and mined in the Navajo mountains, this district at that time being invaded with Indians, so that the prospectors always traveled in part- ies and carried weapons of defense. While there he discovered oil and copper mines, which he later disposed of at excellent ad- vantage. After three years spent in the min- ing regions of Colorado he returned to An- thony, Kansas, and once more engaged in the real estate business, until 1885, when he made a second trip to Colorado and later returned to Kansas. He acted as secretary and treasurer of the Southern Kansas Town Company and in this connection laid out the town of Coldwater. In 1886 he returned once more to Anthony, that state, where he remained until the opening of Oklahoma on the 22d of April, 1889, when he came here and located in Kingfisher. In the following year he became the first county clerk and register of deeds of Kingfisher county, through appointment of Governor Steele. He was then elected city clerk of Kingfisher, continuing in that position until the building of the Choctaw Railroad when he became corporation town site manager of that com- pany at Shawnee. He also had charge of Earlsboro and Choctaw City Railroad until the railroad company made him commercial agent, which position he filled for a year, when he resigned and became connected with the First National Bank of Shawnee upon its organization, October 27, 1898. For the first year he acted as assistant cashier and as a director, but in 1899 was promoted
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HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA.
to the office of vice president of the bank, which position he filled until the State Na- tional Bank was started. He is also inter- ested in several other banks in Oklahoma. He has been identified with Shawnee Oil Mills since its organization and assisted in founding the Compress Ice Company and is active in many other enterprises.
In 1884 occurred the marriage of Mr. Cade and Miss M. E. Kitchen, who died in 1885, leaving one son, Cassius Marcellus, Jr., who was the first white child born in Coldwater, Kansas. He was educated in the schools of Oklahoma and in a private naval academy at Annapolis. In February, 1900, he received appointment of cadet of United States Mil- itary Academy at West Point. For his sec- ond wife Mr. Cade chose Miss Lizzie Hartz, a native of Wisconsin, their marriage being celebrated in Enid, Oklahoma.
Mr. Cade is prominent in the ranks of the Republican party, being chairman of the Republican national committee, and is identified with the Masons, belonging to the Knights of Pythias society. He is a prominent business man and well deserves mention in this volume.
GEORGE W. MORGAN has been freight and ticket agent for the Rock Island Railroad at this point since 1904. A competent offi- cial and an active citizen, he has gained a place of esteem among the citizens, and in many ways has been able to promote the business interests of his city. He was born in Maysville, Kentucky, May 5, 1854, a son of Garrard and Eliza (Hamilton) Morgan, both natives of Kentucky, where the Mor- gans are one of the oldest families of the state. When George W. was a boy the fam- ily moved to Illinois, and he was educated in the normal school at Bloomington. He took up railroading as a career from the beginning of his business experience, and was an oper- ator for the Chicago and Alton many years ago. Later he was with the Fort Scott and Memphis under B. L. Winchell, who is again his superior as president of the Rock Island System. From the Fort Scott and Memphis he transferred his employment to the Gould roads, being located at Austin, Texas, as ticket agent for ten years. In 1902 he en- tered the employ of the Rock Island and two years later was assigned to Shawnee. Fra- ternally he is a Knight of Pythias. He mar- ried in 1883 Miss Emma Magher, now de- ceased. In 1887 he married Mrs. Fanny Hall,
His one son, W. W. Morgan, is ticket agent at the union depot in New Orleans.
WILLIAM N. MABEN, judge of the tenth judicial district of Oklahoma, is a citizen of Shawnee, but as a successful member of the bench and bar, a Democratic leader of broad and good influence, and an American gentle- man of fine and virile character, his personali- ty has been brightly and warmly reflected throughout the new and developing state. He is the very type of man which Oklahoma needs and must have, in order to continue the rapid and substantial growth which has marked her career-especially since she be- came a commonwealth.
The Judge's first identification with the practice of the law was in association with \V. R. Parker at Fort Worth. Later, he formed a partnership with F. E. Albright, and in July, 1901, became a practicing attor- ney at Shawnee. The leaders of the bar at once received him as an equal and a friend, and in 1904 he had made such advances in professional reputation and popular favor that he was elected to the probate judgeship of Pottawatomie county, and in 1907 was elevated to the bench of the tenth district of the state. As an occupant of the bench Judge Maben has shown both a thorough knowledge of the law and a manly inde- pendence in sustaining his well-considered decisions which have won him profound re- spect and warm admiration. Whether at the bar or on the bench, he has always been a fair-minded man, firm in the faith that the law, when honestly construed, will sustain the right founded on the common sense of mankind. A fine illustration of his ap- preciation of the judicial office in the defense of inherent rights is found in his protection of the Kickapoo Indians. In 1905 Congress passed an act allowing the Indians of the ter- ritory to depart for old Mexico, and their going was much encouraged by land specu- lators who would defraud them of the pro- ceeds from the sale of their properties. An- ticipating this state of affairs, Judge Maben adjudged them incompetent, appointing a guardian for them, and when it was at- tempted by the alleged defrauders to nego- tiate with the Indians for the purpose of tak- ing them out of the jurisdiction of the court, he issued an injunction prohibiting such ac- tion. Only the Kickapoos were under his special jurisdiction, and by his ready action he fully maintained the property rights of two-thirds of the tribal landowners. Those
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HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA.
who migrated without realizing anything from the sale of their lands have since insti- tuted suit against the present holders. Judge Maben's humane position has been sustained, his firm stand having been highly compli- mented by the Commissioner of Indian Af- fairs in a personal and much-valued letter.
Judge Maben is a native of Marshall coun- ty, Tennessee, born on the 29th of January, 1873. His father, Thomas Maben, was also born in that state, the representative of a prominent old English family which estab- lished itself in Virginia. In 1878 he removed to Texas, where the son was reared and in whose public schools he was educated. \Vil- liam N. Maben also pursued his professional studies in the Lone Star state, and also en- joyed a season of ranging as a cattle man. In 1894 he was admitted to the Texas bar, and there are few men of the southwest who can show a career of more rapid and substan- tial advancement along the entire line than Judge Maben. He was married October 13, 1901, to Miss Mary Gonzales Fanning, a native of Mississippi, where she was reared and educated. The Judge is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He is a Bryan Democrat, and one of the latest evi- dences of his high standing and general pop- ularity was his selection as a delegate-at- large to the National Democratic convention held at Denver, Colorado, in July, 1908.
MILTON BRYAN, of Shawnee, is one of the leading lawyers and public men of central Oklahoma, having practiced at the bar of that city since 1901. He served as a member of the last legislative assembly of Oklahoma territory and was elected a representative of the first state legislature, being therefore one of the founders of the present common- wealth. The session of the first legislature under statehood covered a period of 160 days and was noted for the quality, as well as the quantity of the measures which passed into laws. Of these Mr. Bryan had the honor of being the author of the city enabling act and the funding bill, which involved $1,500,000, and joint author of the primary election and the pure food laws. He also initiated the amendment to the constitution providing for the immediate location of a permanent state capital. Mr. Bryan is a member of the legis- lative committee which has in hand the cod- ification of the laws passed at the first ses- sion. It is estimated that the volume will contain about 2,000 pages, and its prepara- tion and publication involve much labor, ac-
curacy and legal acumen. At the conclu- sion of his present term Mr. Bryan expects to retire from politics and devote his entire time to his practice.
Mr. Bryan was born in Columbia county, Florida, October 23, 1859, son of David Stew- art and Nancy Bryan, both of whom were also natives of that state. His paternal great-grandfather was the fifth white settler in Florida and both the Bryan and Stewart families were early pioneers of Oklahoma. Milton received an excellent education in his early life, first attending the public schools, later the West Florida Seminary and finally Emery College, at Oxford, Georgia. For several years after leaving college he was engaged in a mercantile capacity, but his tendency was toward a professional career and, after a faithful study of the law, he was admitted to the bar in 1896. He entered practice at DeLand, Florida, and remained at that location until his removal to Shaw- nee in 1901. While a resident of Florida he filled the offices of postmaster, treasurer and mayor of New Smyrna, and was also judge of Volusia county for some four years. Since coming to Shawnee he has established a large general practice and also demonstrated his faithful, broad and able citizenship.
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