A history of the state of Oklahoma, Volume II, Part 50

Author: Hill, L. B. (Luther B.)
Publication date: 1909
Publisher: Chicago, New York, The Lewis publishing company
Number of Pages: 810

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HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA.

tion, the American Association of Railway Surgeons, and the Rock Island System As- sociation of Surgeons. Also in his business affairs, Dr. Allen has shown marked ability, and is regarded as a conservative man. He was one of the organizers of the City Nat- ional Bank of McAlester, of which he is now a director and of which he served as its first president ; also he is vice president of the Jefferson Trust Company. Politic- ally, the Doctor is a Democrat and frater- nally, a thirty-second degree Mason and a member of the Shrine. He is identified with the First Presbyterian Church of McAles- ter.

June 10, 1884, Dr. Allen married, in Kan- sas City, Missouri, Miss Myra S. Austin, daughter of William L. Austin and Susan (Kellar) Austin, his wife. Mr. Austin, a traveling salesman, died in 1899. The Doc- tor and Mrs. Allen have three children, two daughters, Theresa and Barbara, who are graduates of Miss Barstow's College at Kan- sas City, and who have attended Wellesley College; and Warren P., a student in the Roswell (New Mexico) Military Institute.

FRANK CRAIG, cashier of the City National Bank of McAlester, Oklahoma, has been identified with this city since 1896. During the first five years of his residence here he was engaged in the practice of law. In 1901 he accepted the position of cashier of the State National Bank, and was connected with that institution until it was merged into the American National, after which he organized the City National Bank. This bank began business on September 21, 1902, with a capital stock of $50,000, and with the following named officers who have been re- tained to the present time: E. N. Allen, president : D. M. Daily, vice president ; J. S. Arnote, vice president, and Frank Craig, cashier.

For many generations the Craigs have been residents of America. Their first home here was in Virginia. The great-grandfath- er of Frank Craig moved from the Old Dominion to Kentucky when his son, Wal- ton, Frank's grandfather, was a child. Wal- ton Craig became a cook on a keel boat on the Ohio river, when a boy, and some years later he commanded one of the first steam- boats that ran from Pittsburgh, Pennsyl- vania, down the Ohio and Mississippi riv- ers to New Orleans. When he left the river he engaged in farmng near Ghent, Kentucky,

where he died in 1893, at the ripe age of ninety-four years. He and his wife, who before her marriage was a Miss Peak, reared a large family.

An interesting incident is related of Ghent by an early resident of that town. On the opposite side of the river, in Indiana, a town was being laid out. One of the old settlers on the Kentucky side also proceeded to stake off lots. While he was doing the work, along came Henry Clay who in- quired what the man was doing. The reply was: "We are not going to let them Hoos- iers get ahead of us, we are going to have a town too. What shall I name it, Henry ?"' Mr. Clay had just returned from the Peace Conference at Ghent, which closed the war of 1812, and he said: "Name this Ghent and the other Vevay."

Dr. Albert G. Craig, father of Frank, received his education in Ohio, and began the practice of medicine in Ghent. afterward moving over to Vevay. Subsequently he re- tired from professional life and gave his attention to banking. He died in Vevay, in 1908, at the age of sixty-four years. While living in Ghent, he married Miss Laura Houston, daughter of Frank W. Houston and granddaughter of a son of Peter Hous- ton who went from Virginia to Kentucky, in company with Daniel Boone. Both the Houstons and Craigs were represented in the Revolution and other wars of this coun- try. Dr. Albert G. Craig and his wife had two children, Frank and Evelyn M., the latter now a resident of Vevay, with her mother.

Frank Craig received his early educa- tion in the common schools of Ghent and Vevay. Then he came west and entered the University of Kansas, from which, in 1891, he received the degree of Bachelor of Arts. He began the study of law in Wichi- ta, in the office of his uncle, J. D. Houston, and was admitted to the bar before Judge Reed. For six years he practiced law in Wichita previous to his removal to Okla- homa, and continued his practice here five years before he retired from his profession to enter banking. Having come from a Democratic family, he acted with his party in Kansas politics, and was a delegate to several state conventions, and a member of the Sedgwick county central committee. When the Statehood movement in Oklaho- ma was inaugurated he identified himself

James E. Jones

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with it, and had the honor to be one of the secretaries of the very first meeting called for that purpose.

Mr. Craig married in Wichita, Kansas, September 5, 1895, Miss Florence Wash- burn, daughter of Joseph N. Washburn, a carriage manufacturer of that city. Her mother was before marriage Miss Lydia Martin. Mr. and Mrs. Craig have one son, Albert Pike. For years Mr. Craig has been identified with various fraternal orders. He is a thirty-third degree Mason, and has filled every office in the blue lodge, F. & A. M., and at this writing is a trustee of the Orphans Home Fund of the grand lodge. Also he is a Knight of Pythias and an Elk.

HARRY C. CLARK, postmaster of McAles- ter, Pittsburg county, has been a resident of the city since 1903. He is a native of Coles county, Illinois, born October 20, 1874. He was appointed postmaster July 1, 1907.

JAMES E. JONES, proprietor of the Jones Manufacturing Company of McAlester, Ok- lahoma, has for nearly a score of years been a resident of Pittsburg county, and identi- fied with its growth and prosperity. MIr. Jones is a native of New York. He was born in Wyoming county, October 21, 1854, son of Hiram I. Jones, also a native of that county, and a descendant of Welsh ances- tors who settled in America during the colonial period. The founder of the family in New York was Christopher Jones, who moved to the Empire state from Vermont. Christopher Jones married Miss Mercy Derby, and they reared two children, Hiram I., and Jane, who became the wife of Ty- ler Smith. Hiram I., in early life, learned the carpenter's trade, which he made his life work. In 1860 he moved with his fam- ily to Iowa, and at different times lived in Delaware, Dallas and Madison counties, re- maining in that state until 1871 when he returned to New York, where his death oc- curred in December, 1877. His wife, who before marriage was Miss Sarah Scott, was descended from Scotch ancestry. She sur- vived her husband until 1897, when she died in Kansas. They were the parents of two sons, Christopher and James E., the former a resident of Shawnee. Oklahoma.

James E. Jones was a lad of six years when his father moved to Iowa, where he was reared and where, until he was four- teen, he attended the public schools. For

a short time he clerked in a store, after- ward he worked as a section hand on the railroad, and at the age of fifteen was giv- en charge of two crews of men on the Rock Island road west of Des Moines. Leaving the section, he became a baggage man, then he was transferred to the round house, and at seventeen we find him employed as fire- man. About this time his family returned to New York and he accompanied them. After spending a year in farming, he re- turned to railroad work, as a bridge carpen- ter on the Genesee Valley road. He worked at his trade next in Castile, New York, for a year, and while there he married, after which he returned to Iowa and settled in DeSoto, where he engaged in the furniture business. His next move was to Winter- set, where he worked in a planing mill, and while there he conceived a desire to go to the Black Hills. In 1875 he loaded up his effects and in company with John Gordon he set out on the overland journey to what soon afterward became known as the gold country of the north. Out on the plains of Nebraska he was intercepted by the United States soldiers who confiscated his outfit. The place where he met the soldiers was only a few miles southeast of where Custer and his troops were massacred by the In- dians one year later. This incident and the attending results caused congress to inquire into the facts regarding this section of the country and a short time later a bill was passed which opened the Black Hills to white men for gold mining purposes. Re- turning to Winterset, his accumulations ex- hausted, Mr. Jones brought suit against the government for this outrage; and on the Federal court docket, under date of 1876, will be found a judgment in his favor, and unpaid.

In 1876 Mr. Jones again returned to New York and resumed farming. Two years later he bought a planing mill in Castile, which he ran, and in connection with which he conducted a retail lumber business, for eleven years, or until 1890, when he brought his family to the Indian Territory and set- tled at South McAlester, which then con- sisted of five buildings, one of which was a log building where the main street, Choc- taw Ave., now is, was then a corn field. Mr. Jones' connection with McAlester be- gan in 1890. as a hotel man, the manager of the old "Mountain House," where he

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remained one and one-half years. He was then employed in finishing the Kali-Inla building, from there going to the planing mill business, and for three and one-half years he was foreman of Coopers Planing mill, following which he was foreman of the wood-working machinery in the car de- partment of the shops of the Choctaw Rail- way Company, and later was for a year in charge of the coach building department, after which he went to Wilburton and bought a planing mill and conducted a wholesale lumber business in connection. He remained in business there about one and one-half years when he sold to the T. M. Richardson Lumber Company. In 1898 he returned to McAlester and built the main buildings of the Choctaw Ice Company's plant, and also the planing mill which he now operates. He has added a wholesale and retail lumber yard and also sash, doors, and all kinds of finished mill work. In 1907 he bought a saw mill in Latimer county with a capacity of from 15,000 to 20,000 per day. He also owns the largest available tract of timber in the state, having over 6,000 acres in one body.

Few men have taken a greater or a more sincere interest in the growth and pros- perity of McAlester, in proportion to their means, than has James E. Jones. He has had a prominent part in all matters per- taining to the Junior Order of United Amer- ican Mechanics, and was a delegate from the Indian Territory to the national con- claves at Milwaukee, San Francisco, St. Louis, and Nashville. He affiliates with the Republican party, and for years has been a member of the Christian church. June 18, 1873, Mr. Jones married Miss Ella Craw- ford, daughter of Joseph Crawford, of Wy- oming county, New York. Of their children we record that Lillie is the wife of Thomas D. Jones, of McAlester ; Blanche is the wife of Ollie Howell, of Hartshorne, Oklahoma ; Chester was accidentally killed in 1898, at Wilburton, at the age of sixteen years ; Cecil is with his father, and Gladys died in New York. Mrs. Jones died June 27. 1907.

WILLIAM B. RILEY, clerk of the district court of Pittsburg county, and recognized as one of the leaders among the miners of this locality, was born at Colchester, Illi- nois, June 5, 1869. In his infancy his par- ents moved to Rich Hill, Missouri, and there he passed the greater portion of his youth.

His education was obtained in the Catholic schools of Osage Mission, Kansas, in which he remained until he was twenty years of age. William Riley, the father, and a res- ident of Pittsburg, Kansas, is a native of old Tipperary, Ireland, where he was born in 1829. At the age of nineteen he emi- grated to the United States, passing his early life in Ohio, Illinois and in states fur- ther west. In 1857 he crossed the plains, driving his ox team in company with a Pikes Peak expedition, but turned back be- cause of discouraging reports of that coun- try. He continued to engage in mining for many years, his operations being chiefly confined to the states of Kansas and Mis- souri, until 1823 when he migrated to the Choctaw Nation as one of the pioneer min- ers in the old north McAlester district. From this field the elder Mr. Riley drifted back into Missouri, and became identified with the productive coal mines of the Rich Hill district in Bates county. For sev- eral years he engaged in the farming and cattle business in western Kansas but this vocation did not suit his active tempera- ment and he abandoned it in favor of min- ing. About 1856, William Rilev married at Cincinnati, Ohio, Miss Anna Stapleton, who died at Pittsburg, Kansas, in 1899. Their children were Mary, wife of George Holvey, of McAlester ; Joanna, who married Thom- as Harries, of that place; Maggie, who be- came Mrs. John Koll, of Salina. Kansas; Katie, now Mrs. Thomas Leaden, of Gal- lup, New Mexico; Annie and William B .. (twins), the former now Mrs. William Mor- gan, of Midway, Kansas.

Having completed his education in his twentieth year, William B. Riley left the scenes of his school life at Osage Mission, Kansas, and in 1890 came to Indian Ter- ritory where for a year he was employed in the mines at Krebs but afterward re- turned to the coal fields near Pittsburg, Kansas. After several more years of em- ployment in that locality, he again entered the mines in the McAlester district and un- til 1899 was employed in nearly every camp in that region. He then went to Colorado and was placed in charge of a force of men by the Colorado Fuel and Iron Com- pany, then prospecting for minerals in the district from Walsenburg to Gallup, New Mexico, and later Mr. Riley continued the same service near Carthage. also in that

W.B. Riley

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territory. After spending two years in this employment he was next connected with the Algodones Oil Company of New Mex- ico, which was prospecting for oil in asso- ciation with the Pennsylvania Development Company, extending the limits of the lat- ter's coal property from Santa Fe to Tor- rence, New Mexico. After spending five years of hard and successful work in the pioneer mineral development of this Rocky- mountain country, in the fall of 1904, Mr. Riley entered the mines as a miner at Dow. Indian Territory. It was not long. how- ever, before he was made foreman of mine No. 1, in which capacity he was serving when elected by the Democrats to the of- fice of district clerk of Pittsburg county. The successful race which he made in the primaries for the nomination to this office was his first experience in politics and in the general election he defeated his Re- publican opponent by the large majority of over eleven hundred votes, assuming office with the other state officials. A thoroughly educated man, practically experienced, and naturally industrious, Mr. Riley has con- ducted the affairs of his office with sound judgment and is personally very popular. In his fraternal relations he is identified with the order of Elks and is in sympathy with the useful work done by that order among the indigent poor and in other wor- thy and commendable directions.

GEORGE L. MILLER, proprietor of the Mc- Alester Pressed Stone Company, McAlester, Oklahoma, has been a resident of this place for nearly two decades, and was for many years connected with the federal service in the Choctaw Nation.

He is a representative of one of the staunch families of the Buckeye state. He was born near Oxford, Ohio, August 24, 1861, son of Joseph A. Miller, and grand- son of Henry Miller, the former a native of Warren county, Ohio, born November 10, 1822, and the latter of Green Briar coun- ty, West Virginia, born in 1784. Henry Miller emigrated to Ohio, and lived in War- ren and Butler counties when they were on the frontier. Later he went still further west to Indiana, where the close of his life was spent and where he died. He was a sol- dier in the war of 1812, and his name ap- pears with the names of other frontiers- men, on the monument erected to the mem- ory of Butler county pioneers. His fam-

ily comprised the following named children : Eleazer, Nimrod, Jonathan, William, Joseph. James, and Mary, wife of James Carmack.

Joseph A. Miller married Elizabeth, daughter of Micajah L. Anthony, who was born in Butler county, Ohio, in 1806, where his father, William Lewis Anthony, a native of North Carolina, settled when Ohio was a territory. Three generations were born upon this farm-Micajah L., Mrs. Joseph A. Miller and George L. Miller. Mrs. Mil- ler was born April 10, 1831, in Butler coun- ty, Ohio, where she still lives. Joseph A. and Elizabeth Miller became the ' parents of five children: George L .: Anna, wife of Joseph Hayden, died in Butler county, leav- ing two children; Rosa, widow of Emanuel Laughlan, of Oxford. Ohio: Maude, whose home is with her mother, and Charles H., of Shreveport, Louisiana. The father of this family passed the greater part of his life as a teacher. He lived on a farm, how- ever, and conducted farming operations. He was one of the organizers of the Republican party and reared his sons in the Republican faith. During the Civil war he enlisted in the Union army, and served in Virginia, under General Thomas. The Millers for generations have held to the tenets of the Methodist church, of which Joseph A. was a worthy member. His death occurred in Butler county, Ohio, in October, 188 ?.

George L. Miller passed his youth on his father's farm, and received a liberal edu- cation at Miami University. For two years he was a teacher in the public schools of Butler county. In February, 1883, he left the old home in Ohio and started west to make his way in the world. Moberly, Mis- souri, was his first stop. There he passed nearly four years as bookkeeper for the mercantile firm of Feldenheimer and Ap- gar. Then he spent a year in Chicago, and from that city went to Fort Smith, Arkan- sas, where for three years he was employed as clerk in the office of the Adams Express Company, and as bookkeeper in a whole- sale house and finally engaged in business for himself, opening a feed and grain store.

September 30, 1890, he landed in McAles- ter, Oklahoma, and he has since been identi- fied with this locality. For a few months he was employed as accountant for a firm at Hartshorne, then he became associated with others in contracting and building. erecting buildings on the Choctaw Railway

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line, from McAlester to Wister. He next engaged with the Choctaw Lumber Com- pany in McAlester, and while so employed was also identified with some of the sub- stantial contracts for buildings in the city. Leaving this work, he became a solicitor for the New York Life Insurance Com- pany, with which he was connected two years. The next year he passed as clerk in the office of the general manager of the Choctaw Railway, at McAlester, and while so employed his entry into the federal serv- ice was effected. In April, 1897, we find him assuming a deputyship in the office of Marshal Grady, and he filled the same po- sition under U. S. Marshal Benjamin F. Hackett from 1901 to 1904, being then ap- pointed U. S. Marshal ad interim. Mr. Mil- ler resumed his old place under George K. Pritchard, when the latter was made U. S. marshal, and after Oklahoma was admitted to the Union, Mr. Miller was made deputy mar- shal for the M'cAlester office, which place he filled until Marshal Porter was succeeded by Marshal Victor. Then, after eleven consecu- tive years in government service Mr. Miller took a vacation, which he spent in the Rockies, in Idaho and other states, and upon his return to McAlester he engaged in general concrete construction, including concrete block manufacturing, under the style indicated at the beginning of this article. Mr. Miller is a director of the City National Bank, and the owner of valuable real estate in McAlester, including his home.

June 28, 1894, he married Miss Ada Blades, who was born August 24, 1872, daughter of N. O. Blades, formerly of Balti- more, Maryland, now of Gainesville, Texas. Mr. and Mrs. Miller have three daughters: Helen Gould, born December 26, 1895; Nina, October 9, 1897 ; and Lucile, August 24, 1899.

CHARLES E. HEAD, of McAlester, Oklaho- ma, is a member of the firm of the great wholesale dry goods house of Smith-McCord- Townsend Dry Goods Company, of Kansas City, and has been identified with it for several years as a salesman. He has charge of the sales department of Eastern Okla- homa and, besides, has extensive property and banking interests in the state. Back in the eighteenth century, Mr. Head's an- cestors were residents of Vermont. Simeon C. Head, his grandfather, left the "Green Mountain" state when a young man and sought a home in Kentucky; a removal to

Indiana quickly followed, and in that state he founded the family, dying in Boone coun- ty near where he first settled. Truxton Head, his son and father of Charles E. Head, is now a retired merchant of La- Fayette, Indiana. He was born in Rush county, Indiana, June 2, 1833, and lived at Battle Ground City, adjacent to the his- torical 'Tippecanoe battle field, for a num- ber of years before his removal to LaFayette. Mr. Head had both mercantile and farming interests. He married Miss Kate Warner, of Chillicothe, Ohio, and of this union eleven children were born, five sons and six daugh- ters. Those surviving are Charles E. Head, of McAlester, Oklahoma; Orin S., of Ma- comb, Illinois; Olla, wife of S. T. Barnes, of Indianapolis, Indiana ; Cora, wife of J. W. Morgan of LaFayette, Indiana ; Jessie, wife of F. E. Hoover of Chicago, Illinois ; Adda, wife of George R. Dobbins of Pueblo, Colorado; and Pearl, wife of John A. Beck, of Port- land, Oregon.

Charles E. Head was born in Homer, Champaign county, Illinois, June 4, 1856, and, as his father was both a farmer and merchant, the son grew up with a knowl- edge of both occupations. He attended the common schools of Battle Ground, and made his home under the parental roof un- til he reached the age of nineteen years. He traded watches at the time he left home and the cash difference he received consti- tuted his capital with which to begin life. Going to Fowler, Indiana, he obtained em- ployment as clerk in a store, and remained there until he was able to embark in busi- ness for himself, which he did in the same town, and continued there several years, meeting with financial success. Leaving In- diana, he went to Texas and entered the em- ploy of the B. C. Evans & Co., as a traveling salesman, with headquarters at Fort Worth. After several years of service with this firm, he came to McAlester, Oklahoma, in 1899, to live. He formed a connection with Smith- McCord-Townsend Dry Goods Company of Kansas City, and represented them as sales- man until he purchased an interest in the business, since which time he has been sales-manager.

When the City National Bank of McAles- ter was organized, Mr. Head was one of its stockholders and his entry into the busi- ness of banking dates from that time. He is a director of this institution ; a stockholder

Chas, Head, 8

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HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA.

and director in the McAlester Trust Com- pany ; a director in the Bank of North McAl- ester ; a director in the Bank of Krebs; vice- president of the First National Bank of Cal- vin, Oklahoma ; director of the Konawa Nat- ional Bank; of the Ada National Bank; of the First National Bank of Stonewall, and of the First National Bank of Tupelo, Oklaho- ma. Also he is vice-president of the Clarks- ville Trading Company, of Porter, Oklaho- ma, and one of the largest stockholders of the New State Iron and Supply Company, a $100,000 wholesale corporation of McAles- ter, Oklahoma. Mr. Head's home in McAl- ester is one of the finest modern residences of the city.

In January, 1883, at Fowler, Indiana, Mr. .Head married Miss Margaret E. Finegan, daughter of Lawrence Finegan, a native of the "Emerald Isle." Mrs. Head was born in Tippecanoe county, Indiana. They have four children, a son, C. Depew Head, who is city editor of the Winfield, Kansas, Free Press, and three daughters : Misses Pearl. Thyrza and Elizabeth.

Politically, Mr. Head has followed in the footsteps of his father, supporting the Re- publican ticket through all the national cam- paigns. He, however, cannot be called a politician, as his time and attention have been taken up almost completely by his varied commercial interests.

JOHN REDPATH, general manager of the Union Iron Works of McAlester, Oklahoma, is one of the early residents of what is now Pittsburg county. He was born on the bor- der of scotland, in the town of Berwick-on- Tweed, May 19, 1849, son of John and Mary (Southern) Redpath, the former a native of county Kent and the latter of Ayr. The Redpaths were farmers, in comfortable cir- cumstances. Mrs. Redpath was the daugh- ter of a contractor and builder, who had bus- iness association with many of the nobility of his day. John and Mary Redpath were the parents of six children: John, William, Mary, Elizabeth, Jane and Thomas. The eldest son, John, not being needed continu- ously at home, earned a stipend by work- ing on the Northeastern Railroad as a guard between Darlington, Sunderland and New- castle, saving his earnings. When im- portuned to seek a home in the New World, where possibilities were greater and fortunes easier to grasp, he yielded, sailing from Liv- erpool, in 1867, in the "Wyoming." After a

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A history of the state of Oklahoma, Volume II, Part 50

Author: Hill, L. B. (Luther B.) Publication date: 1909 Publisher: Chicago, New York, The Lewis publishing company Number of Pages: 810

Author: Hill, L. B. (Luther B.)
Publication date: 1909
Publisher: Chicago, New York, The Lewis publishing company
Number of Pages: 810