USA > Oklahoma > A history of the state of Oklahoma, Volume II > Part 47
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Both in his capacity as a private prac- titioner, in connection with the legal de- partments of his city and state, and as may- or of the city of McAlester, the deceased ac- quitted himself with an ability. a manly vigor and honesty which won him general admira- tion and honor. Although a believer in Democratic doctrines as applied to national issues, Mr. Lewis always sunk party con- siderations in local issues. In 1902 he was elected the second mayor of McAlester on the Citizens' ticket, the supporters of which opposed the "open door" policy as applied to saloons and gambling houses. During his vigorous and progressive administration the water works were completed, the street railway franchise granted and the road put in operation. To years after the expira-
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tion of his term as mayor, he was appointed city attorney, and gave the duties of that office the prompt and earnest attention which was ever characteristic of him. He actively and ably supported the Democratic ticket at the first state election and one of the first acts of Attorney General West was to appoint him as his first assistant. Al- though he materially added to his reputa- tion by his practice in this responsible po- sition, he planned to return to the greater freedom and independence of private work, resigned his position September 20, 1908, and resumed practice as a member of the firm of Stewart, Gordon and Lewis. Out- side of his legal activities, Mr. Lewis was a director in the McAlester Trust Company, president of the Choctaw Pressed Brick Company and quite extensively interested in property investments and improvements. He was also a leader in the fraternities, be- ing president of Council No. 775, Knights of Columbus, and past state deputy of the order, as well as a member of the Grand Lodge of Elks and past exalted ruler.
On June 16, 1896, Mr. Lewis was mar- ried to Miss Lidey Elliot, daughter of Colonel George H. Elliot, connected with the engineering corps of the United States army. Mrs. Lewis died in 1900, leaving a daughter, Ellen Richey Lewis, who was reared in Washington, D. C., by her Grand- mother Elliot. This only child, so loved and tenderly nurtured, was not destined, however, for long life and joined her father soon after his earthly departure, fading away after several weeks of sickness, Jan- uary 15, 1909. Fielding Lewis, the head of the family which thus ceased to have a mortal existence, showed his fine southern blood in both his mental and physical char- acteristics-in his well balanced and pol- ished diction, as well as in his tall and im- posing stature and his courtly and manly bearing. Mind and body seemed finely at- tuned, but his life cord also snapped and the earthly harmony ceased.
JOHN O. TOOLE, for twenty-five years a resident and long a leader in the tribal af- fairs of the Choctaw Nation, served as the first county clerk of the county of Pittsburg, named since Oklahoma became a state. He was born in Choctaw county, Alabama, Jan- mary 30, 1852, of Irish and Choctaw blood. His father was of Irish parentage and his mother was a quarter-blood Choctaw, the
family being founded in the old Alabama home of the tribe by David and - ( Evans) Toole. The pioneer grandparents afterward settled in Mississippi where both died. The children of this pioneer couple were: Col. George, who died at his home in Monti- cello, Arkansas; Alfred, father of John O .; Mrs. Lizzie Cowan, now a resident of Mis- sissippi, and Mrs. William Nicholson. The paternal grandfather was identified with large farming interests both in Alabama and Mississippi, owning many slaves and becom- ing influential in all the communities of his residences. Alfred Toole, the father, was born and reared in Wayne county, Missis- sippi, his birth occurring in 1818. At the outbreak of the Civil War he was a man of a family, but early in the conflict joined Company K, Second Alabama Infantry and served as first lieutenant of his company. His regiment was a part of General John- ston's army and after two years service he was so wounded that he was permanently discharged for disability. In 1870, Mr. Toole left Alabama for Arkansas, where he spent some six years and in 1876 con- tinued westward to the country of his wife's people, the Choctaws, where he established himself in his final home. He settled on the Canadian river, near where the town of that name was subsequently founded, and there he engaged in the cattle business, be- coming widely known as a man of means and good influence. Although he held no public office he was an ardent Democrat and a useful worker for the party and the affairs of the Choctaw Nation. He allied himself with the McCurtain party. He was a royal arch Mason and a faithful member of the Methodist church. The wife of Alfred Toole was Belinda Yates, a daughter of Allen Yates, a white man who married Millie Nail, a half-breed Choctaw woman. Mrs. Alfred Toole died two years after her husband and was the mother of the following children: Mrs. Dr. Smith, of Ft. Smith, Arkansas; John O., of this review ; Mrs. George F. Bolling, who died at Canadian in 1876; Mrs. L. B. Cochran, who passed away near Bailey, in the Chick- asaw Nation ; Joseph Y., of Crowder, Okla- homa; Orilla, who married Rev. J. N. Moore, of Ardmore, Oklahoma; and Inez, who married Dan N. Garland, and resides in Chickasha, Oklahoma.
John O. Toole received a common school education at his home in Alabama. After
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HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA.
remaining with his father's family in Ar- kansas two years, he returned to Alabama, where he entered business life as clerk and bookkeeper in the employ of his uncle, Will- iam Nicholson, remained in that position two years and returned to Arkansas and engaged in the mercantile business at Alma. In 1885 he removed to the Choc- taw Nation and engaged in the mer- cantile business at Canadian, near his father's home. Afterward he drifted into the stock business, and, although he gave much of his time to the conducting of the public affairs of the nation, he successfully maintained his interests at Canadian until about 1904. He then sold out his stock in- terests and spent the following three years in making collections and final settlements. Being a member of the tribe, Mr. Toole became interested in Choctaw politics when a young man and his honorable and useful work was repeatedly honored by public of- fice. He was first elected county clerk of Tobucksy county, Choctaw Nation ; was lat- er chosen to the lower house of the national council and subsequently appointed timber inspector, serving in the last named posi- tion for some years. With the advent of statehood his popularity was evident by his enthusiastic nomination and election to the office of county clerk. Mr. Toole's family allotments lie near his old home in Pitts- burg county and here he still maintains considerable farming interests. In Mason- rv he has received the degree of the Scottish Rite, is a Shriner, and is an active member of the Knights of Pythias.
On June 10, 1886, Mr. Toole was mar- ried at Alma, Arkansas, to Miss Etta Wynne, a daughter of Dr. W. L. Wynne, formerly of Mississippi. They have one child, Mary Ada, who was educated in Washita College, at Arkadelphia, Arkansas.
JOHN A. HARRISON, sheriff of Pittsburg county, Oklahoma, has resided in the ter- ritory and state for nearly fifteen years and for the past seven years of that period has been a builder of its commercial and real estate interests. He was elected to the office of sheriff of this county with the in- coming of the state and the affairs of his office have been administered with energy and good judgment. Sheriff Harrison came to Oklahoma in 1894, having migrated from Grant county, Arkansas. He first joined his brothers, M. E. and J. H. Harrison, in the leasing of lands from the Choctaw Nation
in the vicinity of Enterprise, where they es- tablished themselves in the cattle growing industry. They also founded a drug store in that town and for six years of the seven during which they resided there they con- ducted these two enterprises in combina- tion. Dissolving partnership in 1901, John A. located at McAlester and at once em- barked in the real estate business. His as- sociate in this business was M. F. Tread- well, the business being conducted under the firm name of Treadwell & Harrison. Later, Mr. Harrison engaged in the grocery business as the senior member of the firm of Harrison and Farmer, but after two years in this field he re-entered the real estate business. He was thus engaged as senior member of the firm of Harrison & Hardy when the political campaign for statehood was put into operation in the fall of 1907.
Although Mr. Harrison's ancestors had been Republicans, he marked out an inde- pendent career for himself in politics and has for many years been a consistent Dem- ocrat. In the preliminaries for the nom- ination he was chosen against an oppo- sition embracing eight candidates, and in the election of the following September he was chosen over his Republican competi- tor by a majority of 1,042 votes. He as- sumed office on Statehood day, November 16, 1907.
At McGregor, Texas, January 29, 1890, Mr. Harrison was united in marriage with Miss Lula Porterfield, a daughter of James Porterfield. As her parents died when she was quite young, Mrs. Harrison lived with a relative, Dr. Hardeman, until her mar- riage, her home until she was fourteen years of age being in the vicinity of Pine Bluff, Arkansas. As an adopted member of Dr. Hardeman's family she came to Texas, where, as stated, she became the wife of Mr. Harrison. The children of their marriage are : Rupert, Annie, and Marion. The Har- rison family has long been identified with Methodism and Mr. Harrison has for sev- eral years been a steward in that church. He is also a well known Mason, being a member of the Mcalester consistory.
Dr. John W. Harrison, the father of the sheriff, settled in Arkansas prior to the war, going there from Hardeman county, Ten- nessee, of which state he was a native. He was born near Bolivar, in 1825, and received his professional education at the Nashville School of Medicine. His father, a native of
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HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA.
Ireland, was also a practicing physician. both in Tennesssee and Arkansas, passing his last years in Hot Springs county, of the latter state. Among the children born to the elder Dr. Harrison were: J. W., the father of John A .; Dan and Levi. who died during the war, in the Confederate service ; Dr. Willis, of Troy, Texas; and Pleasant. who passed away at the old homestead in Arkansas. Dr. J. W. Harrison was a physi- cian both of wide practice and great per- sonal popularity, the latter fact being prov- en by his election to the state legislature, as one of the very few Republicans of the lower house. He was also the only Repub- lican in his father's family. He was prom- inent in Masonry and was a faithful worker in the Methodist church. In the seven years as superintendent of the Southern Meth- odist Sunday school he was only absent seven Sundays. Dr. Harrison was married, in Tennessee, to Miss Minerva Dial, and died in Grant county, Arkansas, in 1880. The Dial family settled in Tennessee during the early times and the parents of Mrs. Har- rison died when she was quite a young girl. Only three of the children of this fam- ily reached maturity, Mrs. Harrison and a brother and sister. On leaving Arkansas, Mrs. Harrison came to Oklahoma, passing her last years in Cameron, where she died in 1905. She became the mother of the fol- lowing children : Arminta, who became Mrs. John Burke, and died in Arkansas: Daniel, a resident of Leola, that state: J. Allen, of Portland, Oregon ; Dr. M. W., of Cameron, Oklahoma: John A., of this sketch; M. E., who resides at Portland. Oregon : J. Henry, of Pryor Creek, Oklaho- ma: Jennie, now Mrs. J. W. Fuller, of Princeton, Arkansas; and Mattie, unmar- ried, and lives at Princeton, Arkansas.
JAMES M. WHITE, of Quinton, postmaster of the town, justice of the peace and attor- ney, has contributed of his knowledge and ability toward the elements which operated in the Choctaw country in the preparation of its citizenship for statehood, in his capacity as a teacher, in his sphere as a merchant and in his position as an agent of the govern- ment. For the past nineteen years he has been a resident of Oklahoma, in 1890 com- ing to Brooken, now in Haskell county. with the intention of resuming his work in the school-room and identifying him- self with what was then not regarded as a profession and little more than an incident
in the serious life of the pioneer. The In- dian superintendent had charge of the sub- ject of education and his authority was all- powerful.
Mr. White came to his new field as one having experience, for he had been suc- cessfully identified with school work in his native state, and the four years he spent instructing the children and the future cit- izens of his district produced results which were apparent in the lives of his pupils after they left his charge. From teach- ing to the counter seemed an easy and de- sirable step for Mr. White, and he opened a store in Brooken, subsequently becoming postmaster of the little town. His identity continued with the place until March, 1902, when he became interested in the establish- ment of the town of Quinton, securing the location of the postoffice and being appoint- ed its first postmaster. He erected the first residence on the townsite and when the place was incorporated he was chosen its first mayor The act of incorporation also resulted in the creation of a graded school and in the improvement of the streets, the mayor being one of the potent factors in the furtherance of these public enterprises.
James M. White was born in Williamson county, Illinois, January 14, 1862, reaching his maturity near Marion and attending the public schools there. At eighteen years of age he was prepared for work as a teacher in the public schools, having previously taught in the country institutions. While thus engaged he also read law, which he practiced in the Choctaw courts, and after statehood he was admitted to the bar, being now listed as among the attorneys of the Pittsburg county bar.
Mr. White is a son of Hiram White, who was born and reared in North Carolina and moved to Illinois in 1840. He was a mer- chant and mill man in Sulphur Springs, his death occurring in 1873, at the age of sev- enty-eight. He married Mahala A. Owen, who survived her husband eight years and was the mother of fourteen children, eight of whom reached maturity, namely: Sam- uel T. and John W .. residents of Illinois and Colorado; Franklin P., of Carbondale, Illinois : George, of Marion, Illinois; James M., of this sketch : F. M., of Marion ; Aman- da, wife of H. C. Norman, of Horin, Illinois, and Nancy J., who married B. P. Pulley and resides in Anna, Illinois.
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HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA.
July 23, 1887, James M. White and Maud C. Caplinger were married at Marion, Illi- nois, she being a daughter of J. H. Capling- er, a farmer and ex-sheriff of Williamson county, that state, and of German ancestry. The children of Mr. and Mrs. White are: Nellie, wife of Clyde H. Boyd, of Albu- querque, New Mexico; Della, now Mrs. C. MI. Brown, of Quinton ; Guy, Lillie and Fred White. Mr. White is master of Quinton Lodge, No. 131, of Masons, and is past grand of Lodge No. 31 of Odd Fellows. Political- ly, he is a Republican. In church faith he is a member of the Christian church and superintendent of its Sabbath school in Quinton.
SAMUEL L. MORLEY. The name of Samuel L. Morley is inseparably interwoven with the history of the educational interests of Oklahoma for during the past thirteen years he has been efficiently and prominently identified with Indian school work in the Choctaw Nation, while during the past five vears he has been the superintendent of the Jones Military Academy, at Hartshorne. Educators among the Indians, like those of other people, spring from every point of the compass, but their selection now is de- pendent upon their intellectual qualifica- tions, instead of upon official influence, as was so potent in days past, and in conse- quence of this fact, the character of the schools has so improved in efficiency and the expense of its economic administra- tion lowered in comparison as to place the government schools of today on a plane far above those carried on by the several na- tions years ago. Men and women now at the head of the training of Indian youth are products of higher institutions of learn- ing, and the list of those who are chosen is a result of a gradual sifting until the best presides.
Samuel L. Morley had his origin in Fan- nin county, Texas, born at Honey Grove, September 14, 1872, but to Arkansas is given the credit of his mental training and physical development, for he grew to ma- turity on a farm ten miles east of Fort Smith. His father was a native son of England, born in the city of London, but came to the United States when a young man, and served in both the Mexican and Civil wars, being a lientenant of Texas troops in the last named conflict. In civil life he was a blacksmith, and subsequent to the rebellion lived in Fannin county,
Texas, but moving to Sebastian county. Arkansas, died there in 1828. He married Lydia Jones, a representative of an old family of Tennessee, and she bore him four children and died in 189%. at the family home, in Arkansas.
Samuel L. Morley, the third born of their four children, reached man's estate with a vigorous physique, developed at the work of the farm, and with a fair knowledge of books, gleaned from the country school nearby. Becoming a student in the Uni- versity of Arkansas, he completed its sci- entific course with graduation in 1895, with the degree of B. S. His experience as a teacher began in the public schools of Ar- kansas, and his last school in that state was at Central City, he having come from there to the Choctaw Nation as principal teacher in the Armstrong Academy, near Bokchito. After three years in that position he was chosen superintendent of the school, and five years later was placed in charge of the Jones Academy, this being in the year of 1903, and has been the means of directing the work which has placed the seal of ap- proval on this institution.
The Jones Military Academy came into existence in 1891, when the three-story brick building was erected three miles northeast of Hartshorne, in a quiet cove be- tween the hills. It was designed as a school for Indian boys of the Choctaw tribe, and it has accommodations for one hundred and twenty-five pupils. The literary work of the school comprises all grades and three years of high school work, including the study of agriculture, by actual work on small tracts of ground for the growing of garden products, and such work with stock as the care of the horses and cattle of the institution necessitates. U'niforms are pro- vided for the drilling of the pupils accord- ing to the military tactics of the United States, and thus some interest is created for the army and some definite requirements in case of war are stored away in the boys' minds. While only a modest percentage of the boys attending graduate, a good per cent of those who do, enter institutions for advanced work in college or seek employ- ment in various clerical capacities or other- wise in the sphere of American opportunity.
Mr. Morley's position as superintendent of the academy brings him into frequent contact with the teaching profession of the new state of Oklahoma. The teachers' in-
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stitute and the teachers' associations have attracted him, and an interchange of views and experiences for the good of the profes- sion is and has been the invariable result.
On November 12, 1904, he married, in Winona, Minnesota, Miss Jennie, a daugh- ter of George Clark, and they have one daughter, Margaret, born, November 30, 1908. Mr. Morley is one of the promoters of the First National Bank of Hartshorne, and has been its president since 1903. In matters of politics his views are in harmony with the dominant political party of the south.
WILLIAM CAMERON, who has been all his life identified either with the actual work- ing or the superintendency of coal mines, is now supervisor of mines for the Choc- taw and Chickasaw Nations. As his name indicates he is a Scotchman, being born near Watstown, in the Parish of New Monkland, Scotland, in 1843, but was a resi- dent of Bonnyrigg, near Edinburgh, when he emigrated to America. His father, James Cameron, was the first of the family to engage in mining, the other members of it, from time immemorial, having been ac- tive farmers. The original home of the family was Stewarton, county of Ayr, and for centuries, generations of the Camerons have originated in that locality and spread thence to the remotest part of the earth.
James Cameron, the father, married Mari- an Weir and both died in the county of Ayr. They became the parents of the following: Elizabeth, who married Abraham Shore, and died in Scotland; Rev. John Cameron, who spent many years of his life engaged in the work of the ministry in Australia, but who died at Prestwick, Scotland; Robert, who died in Australia and left a family at Killmars; Marian, who became Mrs. David Rae, of Ayr, Scotland; and Wil- liam, of this review.
Before he was eight years of age, William Cameron was put to work at the Scottish mines, and the education which he acquired was obtained chiefly in the night schools of the neighborhood. Mr. Cameron's first marriage occurred in the county of Ayr, to Miss Margaret Borland, a daughter of Arch- ibald Borland. She died in Scotland, leav- ing the following children: James, Archi- bald and William. Ten years after his first marriage, Mr. Cameron wedded Agnes, daughter of John Simpson. Their children are : John S., Robert, Alexander, Mabel and
Campbell, all of these, excepting the last two named, are actively engaged in the coal mining industry in the state of Okla- homa.
In the early eighties, Mr. Cameron brought his family to the United States, stopping temporarily at LaSalle, Illinois, where he mined for a few months and then continued on to Warrensburg, Missouri, where for some time he was employed about the mines in various capacities. In 1882 he left for the Indian Territory and became superintendent of the coal interests controlled by the Missouri Pacific Railway Company, located at Lehigh and Savanna, and which are now located in Coal and Pittsburg counties, respectively. At that time the coal property of the company was in an almost undeveloped stage, the cen- ters of work being at Lehigh and Savanna and its operations being conducted under the name of the Atoka Coal and Mining Company. For some reason best known to the coal company, the mines of the railway company were afterward transferred to the Western Coal and Mining Company, and are now operated under this title. Mr.
Cameron's connection with the Missouri Pacific Railway as superintendent of its mines continued, however, for nineteen years, and during that time he developed the property so that it became very profit- able to its owners and also gained him a high reputation as a coal expert and an able business man. His high position enabled him to obtain the appointment of United States Mine Inspector of the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations. His services in this federal office were so faithfully done that the Interior Department appointed him supervisor of mines for the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations, after the Indian Ter- ritory and Oklahoma were merged into a state.
Mr. Cameron lived for many years in Krebs, an old, historical town of Pittsburg county, but removed to McAlester when he commenced his long service in the employ of the federal and state governments. Mr. Cameron is a naturalized citizen of the United States and is well posted on all pub- lic questions, but cast his first vote for Mr. Taft, in 1908. He belongs to all the Ma- sonic bodies, including the Scottish Rite, and is also a member of the Presbyterian church, to which his forefathers have been attached for many generations. His early
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forefathers were identified with the Scot- tish religions sect known as the Covenant- ers.
MERREL L. THOMPSON, postmaster, bank- er and political leader, such is the summing up of the life of Merrel L. Thompson in Hartshorne, Oklahoma. He began his bank- ing career as a bookkeeper for the Bank of. Hartshorne, and a year later was made cashier of that institution, but he left that bank after three years of service, and after it was converted into the First State Bank, and was chosen cashier of the First Na- tional Bank of Hartshorne. This well known financial institution was organized in 1903, with a capital stock of twenty-five thousand dollars, and its roll of officers is as follows: S. L. Morley, president ; N. E. Tuell, vice president ; and M. L. Thompson, cashier ; while the board of directors is com- posed of J. W. Grady, T. M. Vaughn, A. Duca, N. E. Tuell and Philip Magdalena, of Hartshorne: S. L. Morley, of Dwight, and Carl Scholz, of Chicago.
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