USA > Oklahoma > A history of the state of Oklahoma, Volume II > Part 35
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tled near the home of George Washington and who built Byrd's Castle on the Potomac and known in Virginia history. Jane Byrd associated with General Washington in his- tory, was his daughter and Michael the grandfather of Governor Byrd was his son.
Governor Byrd passed his early youth with his father in farming near Doaksville and was attending the Chickasaw Academy at Tishomingo when the Civil war broke out. He enlisted in Colonel Sampson Fol- som's regiment and was made adjutant of it while yet a boy. Under the terms of the treaty between the Confederacy and the Indians only one regiment of troops was to be raised and it was to serve with- in the limits of the Territory, but instead, the Choctaws raised two regiments and the Chickasaws one, and while Colonel Fol- som's regiment held itself chiefly in the west portion of the Territory, its enthusiasm and patriotic valor led it to violate its com- pact with the South and in the battles of Newtonia and Poison Springs it was pres- ent and in them Governor Byrd had a good taste of real warfare. When the war had ended, Mr. Byrd returned to Doaksville and engaged in merchandising for the first five years. In 1823 be moved to Stonewall, Pontotoc county, where his com- mercial interests were important for a per- iod of thirty years and where the chief finan- cial and political events of his life were achieved. The building of the Frisco Rail- road and the founding of Ada caused him to change his location to the future metrop- olis of the county and in 1902 he established his home here. He has varied interests in the county, farming and stock-raising, and interests in banking and in much property in Ada. He was one of the promoters of the Farmers' State Bank in February, 1908, with a capital of $15,000 and is its president and a director.
In politics, Governor Byrd started early in the Chickasaw Nation and filled many positions of responsibility which demon- strated a capacity for large affairs and won the confidence of his people. He was a delegate to Washington many times car- ing for the interests of his own people be- fore the Department of the Interior. He was made financial agent of the Chickasaw government and served also as superintend- ent of the schools of the Nation. He was delegated to serve with the Dawes Commis-
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sion as a member of the Citizenship Com- mission and in various positions prepared himself for still greater honor at the hands of his people. He was first elected gov- ernor in 1888 and re-elected in 1890 and again in 1892, but his title to the office was disputed by Governor Mosley and the Fed- eral authorities finally seated the latter. In Odd Fellowship, the position of noble grand and district grand has been filled by Gover- nor Byrd, and he was one of the seven charter members of the grand lodge of Masons at Caddo, in October, 1873, he be- ing grand senior warden of the meeting.
Of the governor's domestic affairs it may be stated that he was married January 1. 1863, in Doaksville, to Susan, a daughter of Colonel David Folsom, first chief of the Choctaws after the establishment of their Republican form of government. He was a half Scotchman and half Choctaw In- dian and came from Mississippi. There is no issue by the governor's marriage.
FRANK HUDDLESTON, a young farmer who has attained prominence as a citizen of Ada and whose character, standing and ability have won him the confidence of Pontotoc county, is a native of the state of Oklahoma, and is a product of her Indian citizenship and of her public schools. He was born in old Pickins county (now Garvin county), Oklahoma, January 31, 1879. The Huddle- ston family was founded in Oklahoma by James Huddleston, father of Frank, and who was born in the vicinity of Pittsburg, Penn- sylvania, in 1820 and identified himself with the frontier in early life. He sought the gold fields of California in 1851, crossed the "Great American Desert" and crossed back again, after passing many months in search- ing for and digging the precious metal. He returned during the fifties and lived in the states of Ohio, Indiana and Illinois and finally reached Kansas in his gradual migra- tion toward the setting sun. He was a cit- izen of the Sunflower state when the Civil war came on, and he enlisted in the Sixtlı Kansas Regiment under Colonel Tom Moonlight, whose regiment was attached to the Federal army serving west of the Mis- sissippi river.
The war over, Mr. Huddleston drifted down into the Chickasaw Nation and here married Sina, daughter of William Small- wood, a half-blood Choctaw, whose people came from Mississippi originally along with
the first emigration of the tribe to this Ter- ritory. The first few years of his married life he spent near the Washita river, but subsequently, moved to Pontotoc county, near Allen, where his family grew to ma- turity and where he finished his career as a farmer and stockman and died in 1898. His widow survived until 1902 and was the mother of : Frank, of this sketch ; Eliza, wife of Charles W. Floyd, of Ada; Lucy, who married J. B. Roberson, of Allen, Oklahoma ; and Miss May, of Ada.
Frank Huddleston made his home with his parents until he had passed his major- ity and in acquiring his education, spent three years in Haskel Institute, at Law- rence, Kansas. Being reared a farmer, he has himself engaged in this all his life, save for two years when he was a merchant at Allen. Losing his stock by fire, he resumed the vocation of a farmer and has continued it ever since. In 1905 he moved his family to his allotment, adjoining the townsite of Ada, and has made himself a splendid and valuable estate.
Mr. Huddleston adopted the Democratic policies for his own when he drew party lines for himself, and was nominated at the pri- mary election of 190 for representative to the legislature. He was elected in Septem- ber and while a member of the first legisla- ture was on the committees on revenue and taxation, prohibition enforcements, canal and drainage and was chairman of the com- mittee on relation of the Five Civilized and other Oklahoma Indian tribes. While he maintained an alertness commendable for a new and young legislator, he was mainly concerned with the subject considered by the committee on revenue and taxation and its work in the body so commended itself to his party as to win him a re-nomination and re-election in 1908. During this term of the legislature he was instrumental in se- curing a State Normal School for Ada. He is a consistent member of the Christian church and belongs to the Independent Or- der of Odd Fellows.
September 24, 1902, he was married to May, a daughter of W. V. Smith, a lady of white parentage and a native of Franklin county, Alabama, her birth occurring in 1884. The issue of this union is: Frank. Jr. : Nora ; Gladys and Bryan.
JAMES C. CATES, treasurer of Pontotoc county, Oklahoma, for twenty years a cit-
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izen of the county, was born near Decatur, Meigs county, Tennessee, October ?, 1840. His father, Daniel Cates, settled on the farm adjoining Decatur in 1815, a settler from southwestern Virginia, where his birth occurred in 1790. Daniel Cates married Emma Elder, a daughter of Robert Elder, of Irish parents. Daniel died on his farm near Decatur in 1858, and six years later his widow passed away. Their children were: Joseph H., Alfred, and Noah, who passed their lives in Meigs county; Samuel H., who died in Chattanooga where he was a minister ; James C., of this narrative ; New- ton J., who died in Goshen, Arkansas ; Sarah married David Womack and died in Meigs county, Tennessee ; Mary J., married James Cox and resides at Decatur, Tennessee ; and Lou, who became the wife of William Lock- miller and lives in Sewee, Tennessee.
The schools of his home community, free and public, gave James C. Cates his knowl- edge of books and he was at the point of trying the examination for a teacher's cer- tificate when the Civil war cloud first made its appearance on the national horizon and this interfered with his calculations. Able bodied men were needed for the army and he joined Company D, Fifth Tennessee Cavalry, Col. Mckenzie's regiment, and served first with the command of General Kirby Smith and finally his regiment was attached to Jo. Wheeler's command. Mr. Cates was in the engagements at Shiloh, Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge and the campaign to and around Atlanta. After the fall of Atlanta he became sick and was not able for duty again until the Federals had secured control of the South, when he re- turned home and prepared to resume civil pursuits. Having spent almost four years in the service of the Confederate army, Mr. Cates welcomed the close of the war, if he did regret the results of it.
When he looked about him for an open- ing wherein he could support the new wife he had just taken to himself, everything seemed desolation and destruction about him. He yielded naturally to the seductive influences of the farm and proceeded to plant a crop with what might be termed an improvised team, and as the seasons rolled by he added to his resources grad- ually and became more and more substan- tially equipped for real farming. In 1875 he left the state to join the great throng
then pouring into Texas. He located on the line between Wise and Denton coun- ties, where he prosecuted his vocation for thirteen years. In 1888 he came into the Chickasaw Nation and located at Overbrook and carried on farming and stock-raising taking up merchandising too, after two years, and he carried on both industries for about eight years. He finally sold out and moved to Conway, Pontotoc county, where he followed farming on a leased tract taken from one Blue, an Indian, and here he passed about eight years, when he sold out his property holdings and located at Stone- wall.
L'pon going to Stonewall and identifying himself with its affairs, Mr. Cates became a promoter, director and stock-holder in the First National Bank of that town. As an active citizen of the town he traded and dealt in real estate and bought cotton until the approach of Statehood, when he launched his candidacy for county treasurer, defeat- ed his two opponents in the primary and also in the election in September. He was finally sworn into office November 17th, and took up his residence in North Ada, (just before assuming the duties of his office) where he has a convenient and commodious house. In his political affiliations, Mr. Cates has ever espoused the principles of the Democratic party and when Statehood was being agitated, he took an active part for single Statehood and in the campaign which followed ultimate Statehood, he was a delegate to and assisted to name the first corps of State officers for the new-inade state of Oklahoma. He is a Master Mason and has served as both secretary and treas- urer of his lodge.
August 11th, 1865, Mr. Cates was united in marriage to Mary, daughter of Lindsay Triplett, of McMinn county, Tennessee. The children resulting from this marriage union were: Alice, wife of L. J. Green, of Paul's Valley, Oklahoma; Tullie, who first married Dr. Crume, and is now the wife of M. F. Burton, of Purcell, Oklahoma; Har- lan P., of Ada; Ida, wife of J. W. West- brook, who is deputy treasurer of Pontotoc county.
THOMAS J. SMITH, sheriff of Pontotoc county, now a resident of Ada, but known as the builder of the town of Roff, is a Kentuckian by birth. His native place is Bowling Green and the date of his birth,
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April 22, 1863. He is a son of James Smith, a resident of Ardmore, Oklahoma, who was also born in the same county as his son. The father was born in 1833 and was fairly edu- cated for one of his period and surroundings. He was reared on his father's farm in War- ren county and passed his entire life as all agriculturist. both in his native state and in various localities of Texas and ()klahoma. After leaving Kentucky he located in Cooke county, Texas, in 1871, and in 1879 located on a farm northeast of Ardmore, Carter county, Oklahoma, where he still resides. James Smith was united in marriage to Miss Jane Perrin a daughter of Thomas J. Perrin, who was of an old and well known Kentucky family. The children of their marriage are as follows: Fannie, who mar- ried D. D. Flow, of Ardmore, both being now deceased; William S. and Perrin, of the same city; Thomas J., of this sketch ; Euphemia, now Mrs. H. Harvey, of Lamar county, Texas; and Carrie, who married B. J. Thompson and is deceased.
Thomas J. Smith remained in his native state until 1877 when his parents removed to a farm in Cooke county, Texas. He therefore received his education in Ken- tucky, Texas and Oklahoma, as the family removed to the Chickasaw Nation in 1879. On a leased tract of land twelve miles north- east of Ardmore, was established the fam- ily homestead and a few years thereafter. Thomas J. abandoned the farm to be- come a clerk for Flow and Pettyjohn. Aft- er a year and a half with that firm, he as- sociated himself with a builder of Ardmore, of whom he learned the carpenter's trade. In July, 1892, he removed to Yukon, Oklahoma, and resided there until 1894 when he located at Claremore, where he remained for three years, then spent two years in Ardmore and finally settled at Roff, working at his trade in all these places and becoming well known as a skilled and honest builder. In fact, the business so developed at the latter place that he has been called the builder of the town of Roff.
When he seemed to have accomplished all that was best in this line he decided to enter politics and as both he and his fa- ther had been active workers for the De- mocracy, he secured the nomination and election to the office of sheriff of Pontotoc county in November, 1907, and organized the first working force of the county in that
office. Although inexperienced as to the actual duties of his office, he has not been without public experience, for he had served as mayor of Roff, had been a member of its council and had also been for four years on its school board. He had in every way co-operated with the best citizens of the little metropolis who advanced its educa- tional and governmental interests. He has therefore been a builder of Roff in many ways besides that of actual construction. He owns considerable property, both at Roff and Ada, in the latter place having one of the most attractive homes.
September 2, 1884, Mr. Smith married Cynthia E. Mitchell, who was born in Trigg county, Kentucky, March 22, 1869, a daugh- ter of Thomas Mitchell, a native of Ken- tucky. Mr. and Mrs. Smith have five chil- dren : Carrie L., Mrs. Evart Deakins, of Roff ; Clara, Mrs. Homer Leeper, of Roff ; Thomas F., Carl F., and T. J., the last three being at home. Fraternally Mr. Smith is a Royal Arch Mason and in the I. O. O. F., has passed all the degrees and has been a mem- ber of the grand lodge for ten years. He is also a member of the K. of P., the W. O. W. and the M. W. A.
WILLIAM E. LITTLE, of Stonewall, and since a very early age a resident of the Chickasaw country, is widely known throughout the Red river country for his bravery and success in connection with his duties as a deputy United States marshal. He is a native of Sevier county, Tennessee, born June 24, 1857, his father, Dr. H. Thom- as Little being a Georgian by birth. The latter married Miss Jane Floyd and just prior to the Civil war moved from Tennes- see to Arkansas where Mrs. Little died in 1860. Two of the children of their mar- riage reached maturity-James S., of Ama- rillo, Texas, and William E. of this sketch. Following his wife's death, Dr. Little lo- cated in Webster county, Missouri, and en- listed in the Confederate army as a surgeon and at the conclusion of the Civil war again located in that county and resumed his pri- vate practice. In 1869 he removed with his family to Indian Territory, living for a time in the vicinity of Prior Creek, then the Cher- okee Nation. There he married for a second wife, Sarah Pickel, and afterwards returned to Webster county, Missouri, where he died in 1892. His children by his second mar- riage were: Serena, who afterward married
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a Mr. Shoemaker of Duncan, Missouri; Ida, who married George Garner, and now re- sides in the same county ; Thomas, now a resident of Oklahoma; and Pearl, also mar- ried and still resides near the old home- stead.
William E. Little was educated near Prior Creek and in the country near Ardmore where he also lived as a youth. He left home at the age of sixteen and thereafter became entirely self-supporting. Naturally he engaged in ranching, spending several years of youth as an employe and finally became a ranchman himself. Among the old time ranchmen with whom he was as- sociated were Williams and Murray, well known among the Chickasaw Nation. Aft- er he had become familiar with the duties of the business, Mr. Little collected a few cattle with his brother and held them near the Red river and around Leon and Elk. In 1887 he discontinued this business being offered a position in connection with the police department of the federal govern- ment.
It was during the year mentioned that Mr. Little was appointed a posseman by Heck Thomas, then United States marshal of the district. His duties were performed with such energy, bravery and good judg- ment that after two years he was promoted to be first deputy marshal of the forces un- der Marshal R. S. Reagan, the district in which he served embracing all of eastern Texas. He continued in this service for fourteen years during which period his su- periors were, J. J. Dickerson, J. S. Williams and Leo Bennett, the conclusion of his sery- ice in the marshal's office being at Musko- gee. The position which he thus held and honored was by no means a sinecure for during all those vears he was literally on the "man-hunt" and such an experience re- quires in the highest degree the qualities of courage, bravery and thorough judg- ment of a criminal nature. For a time after his retirement from the government serv- ice, Mr. Little represented a clothing house as its traveling salesman and after being thus employed for a few months was ap- pointed on the police force of Coalgate. While the Missouri, Kansas & Texas, and the Oklahoma Central railroads were push- ing their lines through Pontotoc county he secured the contract for furnishing fence posts along their right-of-way. In 1904 at
the completion of his work he located at Stonewall with whose interest he has since been identified. He is now chiefly engaged as a dealer in live stock, real estate, and in wholesale and retail flour and feed, being also a notary public, in which capacity he executes conveyances and other legal pa- pers, and realizes a considerable outside in- come. In politics Mr. Little is a Republican and although popular has never been chosen to any elective office.
May 16, 1905, Mr. William E. Little mar- ried at Stonewall, Mrs. Frances Bourland, widow of Hampton Bourland and a daugh- ter of William Harrison, a well known mem- ber of the Chickasaw Nation. In view of her nativity, Mrs. Little secured an allot- ment of land which embraced the now town- site of Stonewall, and she disposed of this property very advantageously to the town- site company and realized a handsome prof- it. She reserved the home residence which occupies a sightly location overlooking the town from the west. Mrs. Little herself is a native of the Chickasaw Nation and was born in 1864, having passed her life amid the scenes of her childhood. By her first mar- riage she is the mother of four children : Ellen, who died at Stonewall, as the wife of Jack Hatcher; Lillie, wife of Robert Hatcher, of Beebe, Oklahoma; Stella and Norman, (twins), the former the wife of James Vincent, and both residing near Stonewall. Mr. Little is a member of Ard- more Lodge No. 9, I. O. O. F., and Myrtle Lodge No. 107, K. of P., of Ardmore.
CROCKETT C. HARGIS, register of deeds of Pontotoc county, a citizen of what is now Oklahoma since 1889 and of the county since 1900, was born in Cooke county, Tex- as, October 30, 1872. The Hargis family moved to Texas in 1868, headed by Samuel H. Hargis, father of Crockett C. He was from the state of Arkansas, where he settled in Benton county before the Civil war. Mr. Hargis, Sr., was born in Alabama, in 1845, and his days in the country schools of Ar- kansas were scarcely over when he enlisted in the Confederate army and served four years and fifteen days, or until the final dis- solution of the Confederate government. He was under Albert Sidney Johnston at Shi- loh and after the death of General Johnston, he was in the army of General Hood. Hav- ing grown up a farmer's son, Mr. Hargis de- voted his life to toil on the farm. He was
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not ambitious beyond the proper rearing of his family on a modest farm and thus his ideals were realized. His mind was active as well as his body and in an humble way he espoused the cause of any movement looking toward the improvement of the farmer. He encouraged the Farmers' Alli ance Movement of twenty years ago, and took some active part in the work of organ- izing its forces n Texas.
Mr. Hargis showed himself to be a man of conviction and purpose in the farming community in which he resided and became a leader of the Democratic thought and ac- tion. He was named for a member of the legislature and elected. His one term cov- ered the years 1886-7. He left Texas in 1889 and is now a resident of Ada. Okla- homa.
This Hargis family was founded in Ar- kansas by Joseph Hargis, who died there in Benton county, when rather young. He married a Miss Mary Post and was the fa- ther of nine children, of whom Samuel H. was among the older children.
Samuel H. married Nancy Price, daughter of a Kentucky settler in Arkansas. She died in 1891, the mother of Jo, who died when a young man, in Ardmore, Oklahoma ; Hen- ry, of Lindsay, Oklahoma ; Adeline, wife of Jolin Stewart, of Cooke county, Texas ; Crockett C., of this notice; Catherine, died in Cooke county, Texas, was the wife of Ben Burns; Samuel of Cornish, Oklahoma ; Robert Lee, of Katy, Oklahoma; Lou, of Cornish, Oklahoma, wife of Lute Jackson : Jennie, who married Claude Wilkinson, of Corsicana, Texas; and Willie, wife of Ed. Thompson, of Chickasha, Oklahoma. The parents of this family are Methodists and the father is a Free Mason. During the Rebellion the officers of his command ob- tained a dispensation to confer the work of the order upon a few and he was the only private soldier who had the honor of being made a Mason in the field in this manner.
Crockett C. Hargis learned his "three r's" in the country schools of Cooke county, Texas, and at the age of about fourteen years began the work of a cowboy on a ranch. He was with Stewart & Stone, in the Indian Territory, whose ranch occupied a large slice of the territory in what is now Jeffer- son county. Upon leaving the ranch, he married and engaged in real farming pur- suits. He located ten miles west of Wynne-
wood, Oklahoma, remained there two years and then spent a similar period as weigher of cotton in Wynnewood. At this juncture he arranged to clerk for a firm of Hargis & Goff at Center. in Pontotoc county, and remained in that employment until the building of the Frisco Railway through the country and the establishment of the town of Ada, when he came here and took a po- sition with E. L. Steed, in 1901. He re- mained in the employ of Mr. Steed for five years and then went to T. J. Chanbless and remained with him until the coming of the campaign for county officers, on the ap- approach of Statehood, when he resigned and entered the race for his present office. He won the nomination in the primaries against three opponents and won the elec- tion against a Republican and the Social- ist candidates with a splendid majority. He assumed the duties of his important office, that of register of deeds, November 16, 1907. Mr. Hargis is a Mason and has taken all of the York Rite work. His interesting family are members of the Baptist church and he holds a membership in the Wood- men of the World. He has built two homes in Ada, his new home being in the South Side addition to the town, a commodious cottage with all modern conveniences.
Mr. Hargis was united in marriage, Octo- ber 6, 1895, to Cornelia Soward, daughter of H. C. Soward, a settler from Marion county, Arkansas. Mrs. Hargis was born in Hunt county, Texas, August 25, 1875. The issue of their marriage is: Reuben. born, July, 18, 1896; Raymond, June 21, 1898 ; Furman, May 11, 1902; and Joseph, April 19, 1904. This last name is common to this family and has followed down through the genera- tions. There is also one daughter, Una Gladys, born October 18, 1908.
JOE L. THOMAS, a native son of Oklahoma, now residing at the town of Roff, was born in Love's Valley, now within Love county, September 18, 1865. His father was Thomas Thomas, a white man who was reared in the Indian Territory and was born in Ar- kansas, while his mother was a Chickasaw Indian, Susan Love, a daughter of Judge Overton Love, widely known throughout the Chickasaw country as an Indian states- man and financier, and whom the citizen- ship everywhere delighted to revere with the sobriquet of "Uncle Sobe." Mrs. Thomas, a child of Judge Love by his first
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