USA > Oklahoma > A history of the state of Oklahoma, Volume II > Part 34
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Martin V. Wyrick (3d) was born Septem- ber 20, 1840, and was left an orphan in his babyhood days, both parents dying. He was reared amid scenes of true rural life and acquired little more than the rudiments of
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an education, until reinforced by a long life in business. In 1863 he joined the Union army, becoming a member of Company M. Tenth Ohio Cavalry, and was sent to the front at once and continued until the close of the war. His regiment was a part of Kilpatrick's famous cavalry division and his first fight was at La Vergne, Tennessee. He participated in the series of engage- ments aroung Chattanooga, and on to At- lanta, and in its reduction and capture. He witnessed the famous "March to the Sea" by Sherman, the return of the victorious army, and the surrender of General John- ston, at Goldsboro, North Carolina. He was honorably discharged at Cleveland, Ohio, in the summer of 1865, and returned to Tennessee. For several years he followed farm life, but subsequently, engaged in merchandising, at Jasper. He went west in 1893, and located in Wilbarger county, Texas, from which state he came to Okla- homa in 1904, and became associated with the Ball Company, at Wapanucka. He mar- ried Dorcas Doss, daughter of George Doss, and their children were: James B., a busi- ness man of Wilburton, Oklahoma; W. Sherman, of this sketch; Pauline E., wife of Bunyan Hatchett, of Vernon, Texas; Minnie, wife of Willott Castlebury, of Mc- Kinney, Texas. Martin V. and wife still reside in Wapanucka, Oklahoma.
W. Sherman Wyrick, one of the proprie- tors of the Ball Company, acquired his edu- cation in the public schools and in Sunny- side Academy. His marriage followed closely upon the conclusion of his education and in 1893 he left Tennessee and settled in Texas, where for two years he was engaged in farming, near Vernon. He had learned how to till the soil under the direction of his father, but the seasons in that portion of Texas in the early nineties were not the most successful and he joined his brother in the cotton gin business, at Housley, in Dallas county. His capital was in itself in- significant, but in conjunction with that of his near relatives, two gins were built and successfully operated for a time. The firm of Wyrick Bros. disposed of their Housley interests and established a saw mill near Mesquite, made a success of it and sold it and opened a larger business in the lumber line near Mckinney, Texas. Later this busi- ness was disposed of, the firm dissolved, and in 1903 Mr. Wyrick came to Wapanucka, Oklahoma, where he joined E. J. Ball and
others in the organization of the Ball Com- pany with a capital of forty thousand dol- lars, he having secured control of nearly one-half of the stock. In addition to his mercantile interests, Mr. Wyrick owns and operates near Wapanucka, a hardwood lum- ber mill for the manufacture of lumber and insulator pins for telephone and telegraph use.
The Wyricks are Republicans, and W. Sherman is treasurer of the Wapanucka school board. He is connected with the Masonic and Elks fraternities, and is a Master Mason, being a member of Wapan- ucka Lodge, No. 125. Mr. Wyrick was united in marriage in Tennessee, January 15, 1889, to Ida L. Cox, a daughter of George W. and Tabitha (Pearson) Cox. Mrs. Wy- rick is one of thirteen children. Mr. and Mrs. Wyrick are the parents of the follow- ing children : Jennie E., Ralph, Alva B., Martin Edwin, and William Layton.
WILEY Y. CHITWOOD, a leading druggist of Millcreek, Oklahoma, who is one of the active business factors of his town, is a native of Allen county, Kentucky, born August 12, 1859. His ancestors were among the early settlers of that state and his fa- ther, Robert Chitwood, was born in Barron county, in 1826. The family was founded by Matthew Chitwood, an Irishman, who died in Barron county before the Civil war. He was a farmer and an extensive stock raiser. Among his several children,, was Robert, the father of Wiley Y., of this bio- graphy.
Robert Chitwood moved from Barron county over into Allen county, Kentucky, and died there the first year of the war of the Rebellion. He was a breeder and grow- er of fine horses-drivers and roadsters- in which business he proved his good man- agement and business sagacity and capa- bilities. He married Elizabeth, daughter of Rev. Young Logan, for fifty years a primi- tive Baptist preacher and a representative of one of the worthy families of the Blue Grass state. Mrs. Chitwood died in 1883, leaving these children: Wiley Y., of this memoir; Stephen D., who died at Chico, Texas, and left a family ; and R. G., who married E. L. Crowder, of Denton, Texas. By her second husband, Richmond Payne, there were the following children: Joseph G., of Elk City, Oklahoma ; John R., of Proc- tor, Texas ; and Edna, wife of James Eaves, of Ardmore, Oklahoma.
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Wiley Y. Chitwood was reared in the country and there obtained the first rudi- ments of his education. The high school furnished his mental equipment and his work was completed on the farm, where such manual labor well developed his constitu- tion, making him a man strong and robust. It was in the month of October, 18:5, that he left his native state and sought Texas, where, in Denton county, he first located. There he resumed farming, remaining there six years, spending some time in Wise coun- ty, but finally removed to Comanche county and followed his favorite calling. He de- cided to study medicine and did read with Dr. Eargle at Proctor enough to discover the immensity of the science which had hitherto interested him, to the extent that he abandoned it. He then engaged at well drilling for two years, after which he took up the grocery business at Chico, Texas, after having first worked at the gin business a couple of years in Comanche county.
A recurring desire to engage in some one of the commercial pursuits, caused him to study pharmacy, at his spare hours and dur- ing evenings, in the office of Dr. Lanton and Dr. Yeakle, in Chico, Texas. After fit- ting himself for a druggist, he engaged in that line of trade at Chico. In 1887, he went to the Chickasaw Nation, first locating at Ardmore, where he opened a drug store. One year later, he disposed of this business and identified himself with Daugherty, Ok- lahoma, where he embarked in the same business calling. After three years of suc- cessful business at that point, he sold out and returned to Texas and established him- self in the same business at Jacksboro, but neither the surfeit of business, nor the rich history and romance of that town were a sufficient inducement to hold him there long and consequently he retraced his steps to Oklahoma. After a year and a half, he be- came clerk in a drug house owned by W. Frame, located at Davis, from which point he came to Millcreek in 1904, and purchased the J. F. Sturdevant stock of drugs, since which time. he has steadily advanced, until he now occupies a high standing among the more prosperous business men of the enter- prising town. He now owns an excellent business house, a residence and other valu- able property within the place. That he is recognized as a man of stability and public value to the community is shown by his election to a seat in the city council. Po-
litically, Mr. Chitwood is a Democrat of no uncertain type, and as such has been sent as a delegate to county conventions, etc. He is inspector of precinct elections, and he comes from a long line of Democratic forefathers. In his religious faith, he is a Protestant, and a member of the Christian church. He carries certificates in both the Ancient Order of United Workmen and Woodmen of the World.
He was married in November, 1885, in Comanche county, Texas, to Martha J., daughter of James E. Groome from Graves county, Kentucky, who married Edna Day, their issue being: Mrs. Chitwood and John T. Groome of Millcreek. Mrs. Chitwood was born in 1865, and is the mother of three children : Ethel E., wife of Samuel E. Kel- ley, of Millcreek, who has a son, Bruce ; Myrtle M. and Robert E.
DR. S. EDGAR CUMMINGS, of Ravia, who is the oldest active practitioner of medicine in the village, came to Oklahoma in 189.4. at first locating at Durwood, Carter county. where he established a graded school. He had passed a brief period as a teacher in Palo Pinto county, Texas; had found the profession agreeable and went to the Chick- asaw Nation, that point offering a better field for educational effort than the old state. He also had a mind filled with thoughts concerning a different profession for a life's calling, and when he finished his first year's work at Durwood, he entered the Fort Worth Medical College and took lec- tures preparatory to becoming a physician and surgeon. When he finished his course he opened an office at Ravia, in 1896, and has been continuously identified with the place ever since, save for the time spent in Hospital Medical College at Memphis, Ten- nessee, and in the College of Physicians and Surgeons, at St. Louis. He completed his work in the last named institution in 1906.
Of his parentage and early life, it may be said that Dr. Cummings was born in Ben- ton county, Arkansas, November 30, 1869. His father, Theophilus Cummings, a farmer near Lipan, Texas, left Arkansas in 1873. He spent a few years in Denton county and then settled in Hood county, his present home, and it was in these counties that the doctor received his early training in the public schools. Theophilus Cummings mar- ried Ellen Gordon, a daughter of Seth Gor- don, of Hamilton county, Ohio. Mrs. Cum- mings went west to Arkansas, while yet a
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young woman and there married Mr. Cum- mings, their children being: Henry and Theophilus, twin brothers, the former of Lipan and the latter a resident of Erath county, Texas : Ella, wife of S. D. Windsor, and John, both of Lipan, Texas, together with Dr. S. E. Cummings. The paternal grandfather, Joseph Cummings, was from Louisiana. He settled in Sevier county, Arkansas, before the great Civil war, and there he died. He married Sabie Hickman and their children were: Dock and Henry, who died in Arkansas; Theophilus and Rosa.
Dr. Cummings is an Odd Fellow ; is past grand of his lodge and has served as dis- trict deputy grand master. He is a worthy member of the Oklahoma State Medical So- ciety, the Johnson County Medical Society and is a partner in the drug firm of Pitman Drug Co., of Ravia. Besides his farming interests, he has for several years been somewhat known as a dealer in Oklahoma lands.
The doctor was married in Ravia, Okla- homa, February 14. 1900, to Ella, daughter of D. H. and Nannie (Crabb) Courtney. Mr. Courtney died in Ford county, Texas, and by his wife, Nannie Crabb, was the father of Mrs. Cummings, born in Tarrant county, Texas, February 17, 1879, and Idel- la Courtney, of Ravia, Oklahoma. Dr. Cum- mings and wife are the parents of two chil- dren : Idella, born December 27, 1903, and Ruby, born February 27, 1907.
JOHN G. RILEY, of the firm of Riley Bros., of W'apanucka, has been identified with Ok- lahoma since 1901, when the general mer- chants, Riley Bros., opened their store. The commercial interests of the town are worth- ily represented by this firm and they pro- vide a market for cotton and the products of the forest and thus add to the importance of the place, making it a trading center of much value to Johnston county.
Of Mr. Riley's birth and earlier career it may be stated that he was born Decem- ber 31, 1869, a son of William Riley, who is a farmer near Coleman, Texas, and who was a native of Virginia, born August 18, 1844. He was taken from his parents when but seven years of age, by an older brother and received only a limited education, reaching man's estate in Tennessee, where he married Mary A. Morris, daughter of John Morris, a farmer. During the rebel- lion, Mr. Riley served as wagon-master in Vol. II-12.
the Confederate army and at the close of the war resumed civil pursuits and accepted the results of the war as a final settlement of the question at issue. The children born to William and Mary A. (Morris) Riley were: John G .; Jo W., of Riley Bros .; William A., of Taylor county, Texas; An- drew J., of Coleman county, Texas; Nancy A., wife of J. C. Holder, of Ellis county, Texas: David L. and James T., of Cole- man county, Texas: Emma, now Mrs. H. A. Dees, of that county; Robert L, and Granville, who also reside in the same coun- tv: Berene, wife of David McNeely, and Miss Virginia, residing with her parents, in Western Texas.
In 1882, he brought his family out to the Lone Star state and settled on a farm in Ellis county, Texas. Subsequently, he en- gaged in mercantile pursuits with his son, the firm being William Riley & Son. This firm was dissolved, when the son decided to establish himself in, business in Oklaho- ma, and the father soon afterwards moved to Coleman county. Texas, where he still resides.
John G. Riley was educated at the coun- try schools and his brother, Jo W., of the above mentioned business firm, and him- self were especially prepared for a com- mercial career, by a business college course. However farming claimed their time and attention during their earlier years, while the mercantile adventure of William Riley & Son, in Ellis county, Texas, gave him his first experience behind the counter. The present immense business of himself and brother, is the outgrowth of a very humble beginning. Their two-story brick, fifty feet foot front building, is completely filled with goods, but only represents a portion of their resources and indicates in a substantial man- ner the progress of this enterprising firm since 1901. Mr. Riley was reared a Demo- crat in politics, but has come to believe in Socialism, while his brother, Jo W., sup- ports the Republican party. John G. Riley is an Odd Fellow, a Knight of Pythias, and belongs to the Modern Woodmen of Amer- ica and Woodmen of the World. In church faith, he is of the Christian denomination.
He was happily united in marriage in Mi- lam county, Texas, December 7, 1895, to Alice Dees, daughter of Mrs. Jennie Dees, old Texas people and formerly from Fort Bend county. Mark A. Dees was Mrs. Ri- ley's father and her mother was a daughter
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of John Hibbard. Mr. and Mrs. Riley, of this memoir, are the parents of: Ruby. Pauline, Roy and Jewell.
JOHN PAUL OWENS, of Millcreek, well known as a business factor and able Repub- lican politician, was born in Hart county, Georgia, May 2, 1862. His father, William A. Owens, a farmer, was born in Spartan- burg, South Carolina, in 1827, a son of Thornton Owens, a native of the same coun- ty, who removed to Georgia in 1851. They were modest farmers and during the con- flict of the dark years from 1860 to 1865- known as the Civil war period-they re- mained loyal to the Union in sentiment and in consequence, William A. Owens was os- tracized by his neighbors, the Confederates, for a number of years after the war. He be- came a Republican in politics and lived a plain unassuming life, within his means, never having contracted a dollar's worth of credit during his long lifetime. He died in 1908. His mother was Rebecca Massey, and he was one of fourteen children. For his wife, he chose Mary McLeard, a daughter of William McLeard. Mrs. Owens died Feb- ruary 16, 1904, the mother of Albert J., of Canon, Georgia ; Elva, wife of J. R. Brown, of Hart county, Georgia; Alfred, of Mill- creek, Oklahoma, and John P. of this memoir.
John Paul Owens passed his boyhood days on his father's farm and obtained his edu- cation in the rural schools. When he was able to teach, he obtained money in this way to sustain himself, while gaining a higher education and preparing himself better for citizenship in after years. He followed teaching and farming, alternately, until 1895, when he took an interest in a cabinet shop and was connected with it for five years. During this period he was elected justice of the peace and in 1901 resigned his office and went to Oklahoma, settling first in Caddo county. He was a contractor and builder there, remaining until 1903, when he came to Millcreek, then in the Chickasaw Nation, where he again became an agriculturist.
Politically. Mr. Owens is a firm defender of the general principles of the platform of the Republican party, and is known as one of the party workers of Johnston coun- ty. . He was appointed postmaster of Mill- creek, August 14, 1908, to succeed John F. Sturdevant. In the campaign of 1902. for statehood, Mr. Owens opposed it on the ground of lack of preparation for it, but
favored single-statehood when it should come. He was a delegate to the congres- sional convention at Coalgate in 1908, and in his contest for postmaster, he won out against the combined opposition of the "big fellows" in his party in the county. Mr. Owens is a Master Mason and in church connection, is of the Universalist denomina- tion.
He was married January 14, 1904, to Hat- tie, a daughter of Josiah Lewis, whose wife's maiden nante was Matilda Harris, both members of the Chickasaw tribe of Indians. Mrs. Owens was born in the nation April 25, 1884, and was educated in Bloomfield Acad- emy, one of the efficient Indian schools of the nation, and under supervision of the well-known Indian instructor, Professor E. B. Hinshaw, of Durant. She taught a term of school after graduation and was soon aft- erward married. She is the mother of Helen Pauline and Juanita. The family allotments were taken adjacent to and near Millcreek, where Mr. Owens carries on his work of farming.
HULINA A. MARTIN, of Ravia, who has been identified with Oklahoma, since 1888, located on the Washita river in Johnston county near Mannsville, and was a farmer there for ten years. Having accumulated a small capital, he established a ranch near Ravia and operated the same for two years, when he engaged in merchandising in the new town of Hickory, finally bringing his stock to Ravia, and after two years sold it and resumed farming nearby. Seeing an opportunity to engage in the cotton gin business, with a prospect of good profits, Mr. Martin erected a three-stand seventy- saw Munger plant, which he operated a while and then sold out. Later, he operated a four-stand of the same pattern, the only gin now in operation at Ravia and which he is managing for the Birge-Forbes Co., of Sherman, Texas.
Since uniting his fortunes with the sprightly town of Ravia, Mr. Martin has erected the largest residence in the village, in which home he has ample room for the accommodations of his family and guests. This spacious house stands upon a full block of ground which he owns. Mr. Martin came to Oklahoma from Gainsville, Texas, in 1888. He was born in New Salem, Rusk county, Texas, October 15, 1858, his father being William H. Martin, a farmer, born in Lewisburg, Tennessee, and who went to
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Texas in 1856, settling in Rusk county. He entered the Confederate army and died while in service, of measles, at the close of the war. He was born in 1828, the son of Henry Mar- tin, who died at Caney Springs, Tennessee. Henry Martin, was an extensive farmer on Duck river, where he possessed many slaves. He was the father of twenty-three children by his three marriage unions. The descend- ants of some of these reside in Tarrant coun- ty, Texas, at this time.
William H. Martin, (father of Hulina A.) married Martha J. Barron, a native of Mississippi, the daughter of William Bar- ron ; she was one of seven children born to her parents. After the death of Mr. Mar- tin, his widow moved her family to Cooke county. Texas, and married E. H. Quade, but finally returned to Rusk county and died. The Martin children of whom she was the mother are: William H. E., of Boies, Okla- homa: Hulina A. of this sketch ; and James C. O., of Denver, Colorado, a farmer. None of the Quade children survive.
Concerning the personal history of Mr. Hulina A. Martin, it should be narrated in this connection that he was reared and edu- cated in the county of his nativity, attend- ing the country schools. At the age of six- teen years he commenced to work for wages, as a common farm hand, but it is related of him that he never realized the value of a dollar until several years after he had taken to himself a wife. He was married in Cooke county, Texas, October 14, 1880, to Alice Miller, daughter of Joseph Miller and wife, Louisa (Braziel) Miller. Mrs. Martin was born in Texas, December 23, 1863, and is one of two surviving children of Mr. and Mrs. Miller, Mrs. Jane Sharp, of Ravia, be- ing the other.
Mr. and Mrs. Martin have the following children : Mattie, J., Lula B .; William E. ; Ada, wife of R. E. Neal, of Oklahoma City : Willis, Houghton, Byron and Frances S. Politically, Mr. Martin is a Democrat and favored single statehood. He is a member of the Masonic and Woodmen of the World orders.
DR. FRANK J. BAUM, of Walters, was born near Holly Springs, Marshall county. Mississippi, August 3, 1870. His boyhood was passed in his native state and his youth and early manhood in Lonoke, Arkansas. His parents moved from Mississippi to Whitesboro, Texas, in 1882, and he remained a year with them before going to Lonoke.
Arkansas. He graduated from Lonoke high school at the age of nineteen years, at which date he entered the medical department of the Arkansas Industrial University and com- pleted his course with the class of 1891. He was then made second assistant physician of the Arkansas Lunatic Asylum, at Little Rock, serving there twenty-eight months. Desiring further and more extensive train- ing and special equipment, he went to New York City and entered the Polyclinic of the New York Medical College, finished his course and spent two years in hospital work, in the various hospitals of that city.
Having finally fitted himself for his pro- fession, he set out for a location in Oklaho- ma, and made brief stays in Ardmore, Le- high and finally located in Reagan, and remained there in the drug business and in active medical practice for five years. When Ravia sprang into existence, on the line of the railroad, he removed his stock of drugs and building to the new town and afterward built the first drug store in Ravia, remaining there until he came to Walters.
Concerning the parents of Dr. Baum, it should be stated that he is the son of Hugh Baum, of German ancestry, who resides in Leonard, Texas, and is a farmer. He was born near Holly Springs, Mississippi, about 1840. He was a farmer's son and entered the Confederate army, at the commencement of the Civil war, and was wounded at the battle of Chickamauga and carries the min- nie ball in his right shoulder still. Hugh is the son of Moses Baum, who migrated to Mississippi from Alabama and whose chil- dren by his wife, nee Mary Farr, were: Hiram, John, Moses, Mary, who married William Flowers and Hugh. all of whom save John, made their final homes in Texas. The last named died in Mississippi. Hugh Baum, father of the doctor, married Mary J. Puckett, daughter of Woodson Puckett, whose wife was Margarette Farr. The chil- dren of this marriage were. Dr. Frank J. Baum, of this memoir and Henry D., who died in Fannin county, Texas, and left a family.
Dr. Baum was united in marriage at Rea- gan, Oklahoma, December 16, 1898, to Luc- etta Lowry, daughter of Green Lowry, a farmer formerly from Missouri. One son was born to Dr. Baum and wife, Garland, born November 2. 1899. Politically. Dr. Baum is a Republican. He was a delegate to the Statehood convention at Oklahoma City.
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He is a member of the Odd Fellows order and has passed all the chairs of the local lodge and represented it in the grand lodge, at Checota. He is also a Royal Arch Ma- son and a member of the Woodmen of the World, of which camp he is the physician.
Gov. WILLIAM L. BYRD, of Ada, is tru- ly a unique character and one of the pi- oneers of the Chickasaw Nation. All but three months of his eventful life have been spent within its boundaries. What he has achieved, and his accomplished results coming without the aid of influential friends, save from among his own people, are events to be spread on the pages of the annals of his state and well worth preserving. Gov- ernor Byrd was born in Marshall county, Mississippi, August 1, 1844, and the same year his father brought his family out to the Indian Territory and established for him- self a home at Doaksville, in the Choctaw Nation. The Chickasaws had not yet es- tablished themselves as a nation, nor did they for some years, when they bought an equal interest of the Chocktaw country and shared with them the same government until 1855 when they established a govern- ment of their own.
John Byrd, the father of the governor, was a white man and married Mary Moore, a daughter of John B. and Deliah (Love) Moore. Mrs. Moore was a sister of Hon. Robert Love. Her father, John B. Moore, died in Marshall county, Mississippi, and her mother died near Fort Washita in the Chick- asaw Nation, Oklahoma. They were Chick- asaws and came formerly from about Holly Springs, Mississippi, and were among the original settlers of the Indian Territory. John Byrd was born in Alabama and reared and fairly well educated in Mississippi. His wife was educated at Tuscumbia, Alabama, and died at Stonewall, Oklahoma, in 1883, while her husband passed away during the Civil war. Their children are: Hattie, wid- ow of Judge Overton Love, of Marietta, Oklahoma; William L., of this narrative ; Jennie, wife of Simon James, of Jesse, Ok- lahoma, and Ben Franklin, of Franks, in Pontotoc county. The history of the Byrds reveals its ancestors to have occupied an- cient and honorable places among the col- onists of Virginia and gave patriots to the army which won the cause of our national independence. This family was founded by an Englishman, Commodore Byrd, who set-
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