USA > Oklahoma > A history of the state of Oklahoma, Volume II > Part 36
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wife, who was a Miss Guest, died in 1870, and Joe L. Thomas is the only surviving is- sue. Thomas Thomas then married Martha Jones, a white woman, and two children of this union still survive: Ed., a farmer of Pontotoc county, and Jennie, wife of J. W. Cook, of Texas. Mr. Thomas, the father, died in 1877, in Love's Valley, where he had passed the years of his domestic life, farming and raising stock.
Joe L. Thomas was bereft of parental protection at an early age and grew up in the household of Overton Love. He was sent to Tishomingo, the Chickasaw capital, for his education, and attended Carter's Academy, founded by the father of Con- gressman Carter, of Ardmore, who was a Cherokee Indian. After leaving school for good, Mr. Thomas devoted himself to ranch- ing in Love county until he reached his majority, when he came to Pontotoc coun- ty and selected, soon afterward, a fine body of land, east of Roff, where, subsequently, he was allotted seven hundred and seventy- seven acres, and which he improved and lived upon until 1906, when he moved his family to Roff and there engaged in the real estate business. He is a member of the firm of Thomas, Partain & Co., real estate and insurance business, who are now arranging to influence desirable immigration to this county to settle and improve the cheap and fertile lands for which the com- munity of Roff is so widely known.
Mr. Thomas has not only identified him- self with the country about Roff in a sub- stantial manner, but with the general growth and development of the town as well. He has erected business property on one of the prominent corners on the main street and splendid residences, also; thus indicat- ing his real interest and faith in the future of the place. Politically, he is a Democrat, and attended the Tulsa convention as a dele- gate in 1908. December 6, 1886, Mr. Thomas was happily united in marriage to Mattie Bassett, a daughter of J. A. Bassett, for- merly of Tennessee. Fraternally, Mr. Thomas is a chapter degree Mason, and is also a member of the Knights of Pythias.
WILLIAM E. MOONEY, president of the First National Bank of Stonewall, and for the past eleven years identified with the business and financial interests of Ponto- toc county, was born in Smith county, Tex- as, June 30, 1868. He enjoyed a thorough mental training at the Pontotoc Male Acad-
emy and at the Banner College and the State University of Mississippi. With this substantial foundation for any intellectual pursuit, he adopted the educational field as a profession and first taught in the schools of Mississippi. He afterward came to Oklahoma to continue this work and conducted his career as an educator in Ard- more, Oklahoma. In 1898, from the school- room he passed to the accounting depart- ment of a mercantile establishment in the town of Center, Oklahoma, which was then the chief center of trade in Pontotoc coun- ty. He first became bookkeeper for Duffy & Keel of that place, and when leaving there became connected with financial matters as bookkeeper in the Ada National Bank. Three years in that capacity earned him a substantial position in the banking com- munity and he was sent to Stonewall as cashier of the First National Bank, this in- stitution being organized by the interests which controlled the Ada National Bank. The first National Bank of Stonewall was chartered in 1903 (capital of $25,000), with Tom Hope as president, W. E. Mooney, cashier : and R. E. Chambers as vice presi- dent. On the first of January, 1908, Mr. Mooney was elected president ; I. H. Strick- land, vice president ; and J. W. Fuller cash- ier. In July, 1908, $10,000 was added to the capital of the bank and it has paid sixty- eight per cent in dividends in four years and has still a surplus of $8,750. In politics, Mr. Mooney is a Democrat, but has been without aspirations in this field, being con- tent with fulfilling his duty as a voter. He has served, however, as treasurer of Stone- wall and in everything which promotes the just interests of his locality has always been energetic and influential. He is a substan- tial property owner, both of residence and business houses.
The father of William E. Mooney was Golden Mooney, a son of Rev. Arthur M. Mooney, of South Carolina, and of Scotch and Irish ancestry. The paternal grandfather mentioned was a college grad- nate and a Presbyterian clergyman and a man of strong southern sentiments. He married a Miss Gaston and among his children were four sons who served in the Confederate army during the Civil war. From South Carolina he migrated to Georgia and still later to Pontotoc county, Mississippi, where he died at the age of seventy-six years. Golden Mooney reached
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manhood in that state and served in General Lee's army during the war of the rebellion, participating in all the hardships of the army of northern Virginia, and at the conclusion of the rebellion modestly resumed his avo- cation as a farmer. He made his home in Mississippi until 1862, when he removed to Tyler, Texas. There he remained for three years and then returned to his old home and died there, in 1901, at the age of sixty-five years. Golden Mooney married Miss Car- rie Foster and the children born to them were: Lizzie, wife of C. M. Patterson, of Pontotoc county, Mississippi; William E., of this review; Judie, who married S. B. Owens, of Pontotoc county; Mary, now Mrs. L. S. Walker, of LaFayette county, Mississippi; Minnie, who died unmarried, and Jennie, who married Rev. J. R. Taylor, and resides at New Roads, Louisiana.
On December 5, 1900, William E. Mooney, of this sketch, married, in Pontotoc county, Oklahoma, Miss Annie E. Sprouse, a daughter of J. L. Sprouse, formerly a resi- dent of California, Missouri. Their children are, Thelma, Florence, Grace and Golden.
JOHN D. RINARD, chairman of the first board of county commissioners of Pontotoc county, and one of the active and progres- sive business men of Ada, was born near Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, May 20, 1869, a son of Dr. John S. Rinard by his last wife, Mary Smith, of Meigs county, Ohio.
Dr. Rinard was born in France, in 1805, and when a small child was brought to the vicinity of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. He was educated liberally and prepared himself for the practice of medicine. He followed his profession there and in the states west to his final place of residence in Camden county, Missouri, where he died in 1874. isH first wife was an Irish lady, who bore him Adam and Frank, of Fairfield, Illinois ; a daughter, Margaret, who married Judge Watts, and died in Illinois: Mary, who became the wife of Mr. Maxwell, and died in Nashville, Illi- nois. By his second marriage, Dr. Rinard was the father of Ben Rinard, who is a bach- elor, residing in California. By his last mar- riage, Dr. Rinard had John D., of this ar- ticle ; and Charles A., of Ada, Oklahoma. Some time subsequent to the Doctor's death, Mrs. Rinard married Sanford Jeffries, and died in Miller county, Missouri, in 1886. The children by this union were : Albert H., and Cora E. Huddleston, of Miller coun- ty, Missouri.
Very little education was acquired by John D. Rinard, as about only a month in the year his presence graced the schoolroom, but at fifteen years of age he left home and his stepfather and began the battle of life for himself. He found his first work in Laclede county, Missouri, on a farm, at six dollars a month. The next season he raised a crop on shares in Miller county, and hav- ing an opportunity to go to Texas that au- tumn, in company with an emigrant from the neighborhood, he sold his crop pros- pects and followed the wagon on foot. His companion's outfit was so laden as to pre- vent even an extra person riding, and after several days' tramping young Rinard pro- posed to pay the freight to destination on as many pounds as he himself weighed, but as the man refused the offer, Mr. Rinard continued on and accomplished the journey to the Lone Star State, at a cost of two dol- lars and a half.
In Texas, Mr. Rinard stopped at Collins- ville and "picked cotton and chilled" that fall and winter. The next year he did some farm work and also herded sheep and, hav- ing another attack of the wanderer's fever, he went to Phillips county, Kansas, and spent two years there as a farm hand. Again, he roamed the prairies, this time to Denver, Colorado, and finally drifted back to Texas. Working in different places enough to keep himself well above want, he remained in that state until 1888, when he first entered what is now Oklahoma. He crossed the Red river to Ardmore that year and passed the remainder of it working a lease at wages. In 1889 "Old Oklahoma" opened with a horse race and he entered it, starting out from Choctaw City and tak- ing a course for the North Canadian bot- toms, but as he passed on to his destination, the "sooners" were so numerous and the desirable land so nearly all settled that he abandoned the chase and worked around Kingfisher until the Kickapoo country opened, when he got a claim six miles north- west of Shawnee and held it until he deeded it. He spent four years in a dug-out while fulfilling the government requirement for a patent and sold the land for a fair price and brought his money to Ada, where he began the investment which placed him among the substantial men of the city. He put up a stone storeroom, later built a wagon yard and en- gaged finally in the feed and grocery busi- ness. He has considerable tenant property.
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Mr. Rinard was nominated on the Dem- ocratic ticket for county commissioner in 1907, and was made chairman of the board on its first organization and also re-elected to the same position at its reorganization in January, 1908. The question of good roads and bridges has occupied the minds of the board and some substantial work has been accomplished along this line. Mr. Ri- nard is a member of the Masonic fraternity and has advanced to the Scottish Rite de- gree. He was married, January 3, 1906, to Ermine Keirsey, a daughter of L. D. and Mary Frances (Hinds) Keirsey, for- merly of Texas. Mr. and Mrs. Rinard have one daughter, Edith R., born Novem- ber 23, 1906.
JOHN C. ROFF, for the past sixteen years identified with the cattle interests of Ponto- toc county on a liberal scale, is a represent- ative of the worthy family whose name is attached to the brisk town which lies so picturesquely on the highest rise of land be- tween Galveston. Texas, and St. Louis, Mis- souri: He himself was born near Chilli- cothe. Missouri, on the 25th of December, 1851, and is a son of Major Charles and Bettie (Crawford) Roff. The father, who was a native of Virginia, removed to north Missouri prior to his marriage, the mother dying near Chillicothe in the late fifties. Later, the family removed to Grundy coun- ty, and thence, in 1860, commenced the long overland journey to the Texas plains, lo- cating first in Cooke county. Although ad- vanced in years, Major Roff enlisted in Colonel Bourland's regiment and saw Con- federate service in the Trans-Mississippi department, while his son, Alva, joined the famous Eleventh Texas and participated in much of the hard fighting of the war east of the Mississippi river. After the war the father purchased land on Hickory creek. where for many years he was known as an active farmer and stockman and where he died, in 1904, aged eighty-six years. The children born to Major Roff and his wife were as follows: Alva, died October 31, 1908: Andrew, who was killed, May 1, 1886, while a member of a posse en- gaged in the pursuit of outlaws: Joseph, of Tishomingo, Oklahoma, the founder of Roff, who married a Chocktaw woman and became the father of Andrew (a resident of Owl, Oklahoma) ; William (of Roff ) : Pearl (Mrs. Clay Jones) ; Bettie (Mrs. Thomas
M. Suddath), and Roy, who died in infancy ; James, who also lost his life, May 1, 1886, while fighting a band of desperadoes in Oklahoma; and John C., of this sketch. For his second wife, Major Roff wedded Eliza Evans, and by her became the father of Charley, a resident of Wayne, Okla- homa: Jennie, now Mrs. Lon Brawley, of Shamrock, Texas ; and Will, living in Loco, Oklahoma.
John C. Roff, of this sketch, necessarily received an imperfect education, but even as a youth became a sturdy and a thor- oughly-posted farmer and ranchman and quite familiar with a large expanse of the Red river country, both on the Texas and the Oklahoma sides. Several of the broth- ers became owners of an extensive ranch in Carter county (then old Pickens), but when John C. removed to the Chickasaw country he located near his brother, Joseph, who, several years before, had occupied the land which afterward became the site of Roff. In this locality the former leased a ranch of several thousand acres, not only raising stock, but buying and shipping it. Here he also erected a commodious residence, and in every way has been recognized as a sub- stantial and progressive citizen. In politics, he is a staunch Democrat, and in Masonry has reached the chapter degree. On De- cember 22, 1881, in Cooke county, Texas, he was united in marriage to Miss Annie Clary, daughter of John Clary, a native of Ire- land and an early settler of Missouri before he became an emigrant to the Lone Star state. Two children were born of this union -James and Chloe Roff, who still live at home.
ABEL HUGHES ROBERTS, superintendent of the Roff Oil and Cotton Company's plant. and since 1901, a resident of that little me- tropolis, was born in Denbighshire. Aber- geley, Wales, October 18, 1868. His parents were from along the line of Welsh ancestry and were farmers near the little town of Abergeley. In 1883, they decided to emi- grate from Wales to the United States, and sailed from Liverpool, England, aboard the steamship, "Arizona," of the Guion line, and after an uneven voyage landed at New York. They were bound for the Lone Star State and within a few days from their de- parture from New York they were set up in their new home in Grayson county, Tex- as, near the city of Sherman. There they resumed their vocation as farmers, and in
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1887 the father died, at the age of fifty-eight years. In after years the widow and mother removed to Sherman, where she is passing her declining years.
Thomas Roberts, the father of Abel H., of this sketch, married Elizabeth Hughes, born at Gover, in Denbighshire. The issue of this marriage union was Abel H .; Wil- liam K., of Sherman, Texas, a carpenter ; John and Thomas J., of Sherman, the latter in the electrical industry; Elizabeth, wife of Robert Ledbetter, of Shreveport, Lonisi- ana : Edward, of Ft. Worth, Texas; Mary K., now Mrs. Roy McElreath, of Chicka- sha, Oklahoma ; Ellen, wife of Lee Agnew. of Paul's Valley, Oklahoma; Margaret, who married Arthur Simpson, and Miss Martha, of Sherman, Texas.
In the Welsh schools and in Austin Col- lege, at Sherman, Texas, Mr. Roberts ac- quired his liberal knowledge of the com- mon branches and, after spending a few years on the farm, he secured a position with the Sherman Oil and Cotton Co., shov- eling seeds. He rose by successive steps to the lint room, cake room, where cake is sacked for export, and finally, to the elec- tric light plant, leaving them after a term of ten years and, being then an expert in the operating and equipping of an oil mill. About this time (1900) the plant at Roff was built and the company owning it sent him to Roff to install the machinery. This was so effectually accomplished that the next year he was himself installed as superintend- ent of the plant. This company has a plant at this place with a capacity of eighty tons of cotton seed daily, and operates a gin in connection. Its general manager is W. W. Birge, of Sherman, and its local manager, William McWhirt. Jr., of Roff. This is the chief industry of Roff and adds materially to the importance of the town, as a market center of activity during the autumn and winter seasons of the year.
While the time of Mr. Roberts is occupied with the affairs of his employers, yet he finds time in his hours outside such duties to display his mechanical genius, chiefly in the adorning and furnishing decorations of his own home. His bent for mechanics is strongly marked and, although without the experimental training of the apprentice. he possesses by intuition, as it were. the skill and experience of a rare mechanic, and the work that he does in wood cabinets surpasses anything seen at the average fac- tory. Anything from an ornamental center
table to a typewriter desk with drop top. to a folding bed furnishes him amusement in "playtime,' but his prize piece is a maple- mahogany stand and checkerboard top, the whole made up of nine hundred different pieces of wood. Mr. Roberts has served as an alderman of Roff and is well known as a Republican. He is the friend of labor and insists that labor have employment at reasonable wages.
Mr. Roberts was married at Sherman. Texas, August 16, 1903, to Miss Rosa Sticht, a daughter of John Sticht, a German who came from Alabama to Texas. Mrs. Rob- erts was born in Alabama and is the mother of Thelma Elizabeth the only child of this union. Mr. Roberts is a member of the Royal Arch Masons and the Maccabees.
DR. GEORGE ROBINETT. In an account of events which form the history of Seminole no name appears more frequently or figures more prominently in connection with its leading events than that of George Robinett. the founder of the town and its first post- master. He is also one of its most prom- inent physicians and surgeons, an important personage in its progress and advancement.
He is a native son of Missouri, born in Camden county, October 7, 1868, a son of Robert and Cynthia (Hayes) Robinett, the former a member of an old Missouri family and the latter from a prominent old family of Virginia. She died at the age of forty- nine years, a faithful and earnest member of the Baptist church. Robert H. Robinett was born in Virginia, and for four years he served as a valiant soldier under the stars and stripes of the Civil war, a member of the Eighth Missouri Regiment, and he now lives at Brumley, that state. George Rob- inett was one of their nine children, six sons and three daughters, and was reared on a Missouri farm and received a common school education. He later became a stu- dent and in time graduated from the St. Louis School of Medicine, and for seven years, from the age of twenty, he was suc- cessfully engaged in teaching. From Mis- souri he finally moved to Ada, Indian Ter- ritory, and later to Coalgate and Sapulpa, that territory. From Indian Territory he came to Oklahoma and first settling at Tid- more, the old county cross-roads town, two miles west of Seminole, where he was ap- pointed the postmaster in June, 1906, and the office now has two star routes, one to Mekusukey, four miles away, and the other
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to Thrace, eight miles south of Mekusukey, the home of the Indian boys' school. On the 6th of February, 1907, he was appointed the postmaster of Seminole.
On the 23d of December, 1892, Dr. Rob- inett was united in marriage to Ellen King- kendall, who was a teacher before her mar- riage. Her father. Jacob Kingkendall, was born in Kentucky and died at the age of sixty-three years, after serving valiantly as a soldier in the Union army during the Civil war. Her mother died at the age of forty- three, and in their family were nine chil- dren. Two children have been born to Dr. and Mrs. Robinett: Dalton Rizebeldt and Marjorie Lee. The Doctor staunchly up- holds the principles of the Republican par- ty, and is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Lodge No. 193, and of the Woodmen of the World, at Seminole. Mrs. Robinett is a member of the Church of God, and belongs to the Rebekah Lodge, No. 128. Maud, Oklahoma. July 12. 1908. Mr. Robinett became a believer in Chris- tianity, though he is not affiliated with any church organization. Previously, he had led an entirely opposite life.
CHARLES S. CROUCH is the highly efficient county treasurer of Seminole county, Okla- homa, and also a hardware and furniture dealer, doing an extensive business at We- woka. He was elected to his office at the Statehood election in November, 1907. is the first treasurer the county has had, and is filling the position with much credit to all concerned. He was born in East Ten- nessee. October 30, 1867, reared on a farm and attended the common schools of Texas, his adopted state. His education is of that practical type which tells in filling such positions as those to which he has been elected.
He is the son of Joseph and Margaret (King) Crouch, both of Tennessee, where they were united in marriage. Joseph Crouch was a son of a prominent slave owner. The children of his immediate family were: Eli- jah, Jesse, Joseph. James, Hester, Josephine. The parents were members of the Baptist church. Joseph Crouch. father of Charles S., was born in Tennessee, where he married and settled down on a farm. remaining until 1822, when he then moved to Texas. He en- listed in the Confederate army, from Ten- nessee, and went to the front and did his duty unflinchingly, remaining until the ter- mination of that bloody civil strife. He was
on many a weary march and participated in many a hard fought field of battle, and though he escaped wounds, he was taken prisoner and saw his share of army hard- ships. Returning home, he began farm life. Before the war he had owned a merchant flour mill. which the Federal army burned, leaving him financially crippled. When he removed to Texas, he located in Parker county, farmed there four years, then re- moved to Palo Pinto county, where he pur- chased land, improved the same and re- mained a successful agriculturist until his death, in September, 1895. He was an un- compromising Democrat, well posted in state and national affairs, but cared not for public office.
He was a worthy member of the Mis- sionary Baptist church. His faithful wife survived him one year, dying in 1896. She was a daughter of George King, born in Tennessee, of Irish ancestry. who remained all his life in Tennessee, where he was an extensive farmer and slave holder. His children were: John, killed while serving his native Southland: Jane, Margaret (Mrs. Joseph Crouch), Mattie, and George. The issue of Joseph and Margaret (King) Crouch was: Henry, a farmer, George, farm- ing in Old Mexico; John, a railroader ; Charles S., of this sketch: Cicero, a farmer ; Robert, a motorman : Florence, Mrs. Bar- nette ; Susie, Mrs. Stover ; Nora, Mrs. Mat- thews: Josie. Mrs. Speight.
Charles S. Crouch remained at home with his parents until he reached manhood, then engaged in railroading, which he followed six years, then went to coal mining and, in 1891, married. In 1896 he removed to In- dian Territory, locating in the famous Chick- asaw country, where he leased lands and im- proved a farm of his own. He followed agriculture for seven years, producing cot- ton and corn and raising some stock. In 1903 he moved to Wewoka, and there em- barked in the hardware and furniture busi- ness, in which he has been highly success- ful ever since. He purchased a business house and erected a good residence. He is able to superintend both the county treas- urer's business and that of his own per- sonal affairs, assisted by a corps of com- petent clerks. Politically, he is a Democrat who "can give a reason for the hope within him." As treasurer, he assisted in laying the foundation stones of the new county in which he takes no unjust pride. He is well
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known and it goes without saying that he is held in high esteem by his fellow country- men.
Mr. Crouch was united in marriage, in Texas, to Miss Beulah Carruth, born in Texas, March 12, 1846, a daughter of Lee and Lou (Coggins) Carruth, both natives of Georgia and early settlers in the Lone Star state. The father of Mrs. Crouch en- tered the Confederate army from Texas, serving through the Civil war. He now resides in Taylor county, Texas, where he conducts stock farming. He is a worthy member of the Christian church, as is also his good wife. Their children are: Beulah, now Mrs. Crouch; and Thomas, a cattle- man. The children born to bless the home of Charles S. Crouch and his estimable wife are as follows: Jesse, Ethel, Joe, Coleman, Robert, Lou, Gus, and Beulah May. This family of interesting children are all at home at this writing. The mother is a de- voted member of the Christian church. Fra- ternally, Mr. Crouch is a member of Sem- inole Lodge, No. 147, A. F. & A. M., and Wewoka Lodge, No. 193, I. O. O. F.
HON. THOMAS S. COBB, the first man to hold the office of county judge in Seminole county, Oklahoma, elected as the territory was admitted into the Union, in the autumn of 1907, was born in Limestone county, Texas, December 2, 1813, and was reared at Gainesville, Cooke county, of that state. He, in common with other boys of that town, attended the public schools and gained a good education in the elementary branches. He is a son of Joseph B. and Lizzie (Har- din) Cobb. The father was a native of Ten- nessee and the mother was born in Texas, where they were united in marriage. The grandfather was Thomas C. Cobb, an hon- ored pioneer in Texas, going there in 1852. from his native state, Tennessee. He first located in Fannin county, Texas, where he engaged in farming. He served as a soldier in the Mexican war, from Tennessee, and held the rank of major, and was ever after known by such title. He followed farming in Texas and died in that state.
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