USA > Oklahoma > A history of the state of Oklahoma, Volume II > Part 58
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The father, Martin Reilly, was born in Ire- land, came first to Canada. and soon after the conclusion of the Civil war located at Sedalia, Missouri. There he remained until he trans-
ferred his family to Denison, Texas, which is still his home. He has become the father of William H., of this notice; John M., identi- fied with the theatre business ( headquarters in Chicago) ; and Mrs. R. E. Nail, a resident of Wolfe City, Texas. In January, 1895, Wil- liam H. Reilly married in Denison, Texas, Salmon Hoerr, daughter of Louis Hoerr, of German birth and ancestry. The issue of this union is Louis and William H. Reilly, Jr.
SAMUEL W. STONE, of Durant, is senior member of the firm of druggists, Stone and Kimbriel, state agency inspector of the fourth dispensary district, and is among the leaders of his business and profession in southeastern Oklahoma. He was born in Montgomery county, Virginia, on the 14th of September, 1874, his father having been a prominent physician and public citizen of that locality for forty-seven years. Both maternal and pa- ternal families were of the rich and cultured planter stock of old Virginia, holding a high place in the southern aristocracy founded both on wealth and brains. Although both estates were much dissipated as a result of the Civil war Dr. Stone's father largely recovered his losses and left a valuable property. His last years were spent in Roanoke, where the son received his early education.
Samuel W. Stone pursued his higher literary studies at Allegheny Institute, and at the age of eighteen became a drug clerk in Roanoke. After thoroughly mastering the details of the business he became a proprietor himself, and in 1899, the year of his father's death, he left the little' Virginia city where the family had become so well known and migrated to the more stirring and progressive southwest. Opening a drug store at Durant, he has since established a large trade and a fine name, be- ing now the senior druggist of the city in point of continuous business. In February, 1908, he formed a partnership with Mr. Kimbriel, their place of business being at the corner of Main and Third streets. Like Mr. Stone, Mr. Kimbriel established himself among the early druggists of Durant, found- ing the Corner Drug Store on his advent to the city from Nevada, Texas. Mr. Stone has prominently identified himself with Democracy in both Durant and Bryan county, having served as a member of the executive commit- tee of the city organization and as a delegate to the first state convention of the party. On March 27, 1908, he was appointed state agency inspector, his duties being to inspect state
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agencies under the dispensary law and see that their business is legally conducted. In Masonry he is past master of the blue lodge, past high priest of the chapter and has taken the council degree. He is also a member of the fraternal order of Elks. He is an earnest worker in the Baptist church and has official relations with the local congregation.
Dr. James L. Stone, the father, was born in Mecklenburg county, a representative of one of the old colonial families of Virginia. His forefathers, of English-Scotch stock, had established themselves in the region of Meck- lenburg before the famous Declaration of that name had affirmed that "we are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states," thus forestalling the historic Philadelphia in- strument which finally divorced the colonists from the mother country. Dr. Stone was edu- cated as became the son of a rich Virginia planter, preparing himself for his medical career at the Cincinnati Medical College. He had established a large practice in his na- tive county and had so added to his profes- sional income by profitable agricultural opera- tions that at the outbreak of the Civil war he was a wealthy man. But he promptly joined the Confederate Army of Virginia as a surgeon and at the close of hostilities found himself stripped of his personal property and his formerly productive estate abandoned. Accepting the new conditions he energetically proceeded to rebuild his fortunes, and through his lands and his professional ability he suc- ceeded most admirably, leaving a valuable es- tate at his death October 19, 1899. At the time of his decease he was sixty-nine years of age, and for a period of forty-seven years had practiced his profession in Mecklenburg and Montgomery counties and in the city of Roanoke. In 1881 he had become a resident of the last named place and became one of its first citizens. He served four years as sup- erintendent of public instruction of the coun- ty and was actively identified with all move- ments tending to promote the general wel- fare. Moreover, he was a thorough believ- er in the efficacy of Christianity, was a Bap- tist and a teacher in the Sabbath school for forty years. Dr. Stone married Martha, daughter of Frank T. Wooten, a major in the Confederate service and a large plant- er and slave owner of Virginia ancestry. Mrs. Stone was born in 1840, still resides in Roanoke and is the mother of the follow- ing: Rev. E. W., now pastor of the First Vol. II-20.
Baptist church of Elizabeth City, North Car- olina; Dr. E. B., of Roanoke; Ila J., wife of A. S. Johnson, of Radford, Virginia ; Ear- nest L., in the government service at Roan- oke; Frank T., a druggist at Washington, District of Columbia: Samuel W., of this notice ; Agnes P., who died as the wife of George Bennett; William B., a professor in the University of Virginia; and James L., Jr., an electrical engineer at Schenectady, New York. On November 26, 1896, Samuel W. Stone married, at Sherman, Texas, Lela G. Sadler, daughter of Mrs. A. S. Freeman, whose family were Alabamans. They have one child, Nelsine B. Stone.
WILLIAM ELLIS, of Antlers, sheriff of Pushmataha county, was born in Sebastian county, Arkansas, April 4, 1860. His fath- er was Isaac Ellis and his mother Sarah Starr. Soon after the Civil war the par- ents came into the Indian Territory country and located in old San Bois county, in the vicinity of the early home of Governor Mc- Curtain. Isaac Ellis was engaged as a car- penter and built a residence for Governor McCurtain.
A native of Missouri, Isaac Ellis learned the carpenter's trade there and before the Civil war, settled in Arkansas and was there married. He was enrolled as a soldier in the Confederate service and died near Mc- Alester, while yet a young man. His chil- dren were: Annie, widow of James Town- send; William, of this memoir; John, a tie contractor, of Ft. Smith, Arkansas; Jo, de- ceased, wife of Jo Drake. The mother of these sons and daughters divides her time between her children.
William Ellis was reared in the territory, east of McAlester, Oklahoma, surrounded by rural scenes and semi-wild life. He spent his youthful days in the pursuit of indus- try, instead of seeking an education, this con- dition being caused mainly from lack of op- portunity, so that when he almost reached manhood, he had to go through the task of learning to read and write. He left the pa- ternal home when nineteen years of age and wended his way to Leadville, Colorado, in search of work. He drove a team, hauled ore, and drove a stage for the few months he lingered around the noted ore camp and then finally settled down to real true ranch life, east of Denver, his first employer being the "three ring" ranch people, for whom he worked three years and then went to the "D
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D" ranch, near Old Kit Carson and was there for a like period. From this point, Mr. Ellis went to San Antonio, Texas, where he engaged to drive horses to Wyoming. He made the trip across and ranged stock north of Ft. Laramie for about three years. Leav- ing Wyoming, he retraced his steps to Mc- Alester, having been absent ten years, re- turning without capital, other than the ex- perience gained on the trail and in the Wild West of those pioneer days.
At his old haunts in McAlester, the first po- sition that presented itself to him was an ap- pointment as deputy U. S. marshall. He served as such under Marshals Yoes and Crump, covering the field adjacent to McAl- ester for eight years when he came to Ant- lers and worked a year under Marshal Grady. Having served the government in such capa- city and having acquitted himself with credit during a period of nine years, he turned his attention to a business in which he hoped to make his first real money. He accordingly leased a small ranch on Little Cedar Creek, in the Choctaw Nation, near Antlers, and be- gan raising cattle and horses. This he prose- cuted industriously and well for ten years and while doing so, and when concluding his work as a marshal, he made the acquaintance which prompted him to make the race for the first peace officer of Pushmataha county. Political- ly, Mr. Ellis is a Democrat and while matters were shaping themselves for a Statehood, he announced himself as a candidate for the office of sheriff of his county, against two other competitors. He won the choice at the primaries and was elected over the Republi- can opposition, having a majority of three hundred and sixty votes. In a business sense, he has demonstrated his ability. He owns several hundred head of cattle under the "XT bar" brand and he is progressive in all his movements and thoughts. Fraternally. Mr. Ellis is identified with the Masonic order. be- longing to the chapter, commandery and Scot- tish Rite consistory. He also belongs to the Knights of Pythias and Odd Fellows orders. Mr. Ellis was married near Antlers, in Au- gust, 1898, to Aubie Camp. There are no children by this union. .
CHARLES E. WALKER, for many years an en- terprising merchant and farmer, as well as proprietor of a stock and lumber business, was born near Dover, Tennessee, in Stewart coun- ty. April 4, 1863, a son of William G. H. Wal- ker, who still follows the independent occupa-
tion of an agriculturist in that county. Wil- liam G. H. Walker was born at Beenbolo Pond, Tennessee, in 1830 and was reared near Corinth, Mississippi, where he was mar- ried and where he resided until forty years old, when he returned to Tennessee estab- lishing himself near Dover. He was true to his convictions and served as a brave sol- dier in the Confederate army during the great Civil war. He has been a successful farmer and accumulated a valuable farm on Saline Creek, where he lives in the enjoyment of an independent life.
This Walker family has descended from William Walker, a New York man who drifted into Tennessee and reared his family there and also lived in Mississippi. He final- ly died in East Tennessee. His vocation was that of a miner and cotton factory man. His children were: William G. H., Allen, Jake, Millie, wife of Daniel Reagan, and Clarinda, who married J. S. Vick. All passed their lives in Tennessee. The family were relig- ious and all church members, William G. H. being a member of the Primitive Baptist church. He married to Nancy Mckinney, a daughter of Samuel Mckinney who married a Miss Leggett. Mrs. Walker died in 1881, the mother of Reuben Madison, of Dover, Tennessee: Charles E., of this memoir : Dr. William S., of Texas; Guy, of Stewart coun- ty, Tennessee ; James H., of the same county ; Mary, who died single: Elizabeth, who mar- ried Sylvester Roulett and died at Antlers, Oklahoma, and Dr. I. B., of Jones county, Texas.
At the public schools. Charles E. Walker obtained his education as far as youthful training was concerned, but when twenty- eight years of age he entered the prepar- atory department of the Edgewood Normal School in Tennessee and took a mixed course, studying whatever pleased him best, and after several terms there, he enrolled in the Dixon (Tennessee) Normal. After satisfying him- self there, he went to Texas, spending some time in Add-Ran University, at Thorpe Springs. He had visited Texas first in 1882 and remained a while, but in 1889, while he was applying himself to the task of getting an education, he entered the educational field as an instructor, and subsequent to a term as a student in Add-Ran, taught three years in the Lone Star state. Returning to his home state he took up the profession of teacher, following this for four years. Upon coming
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to the Choctaw Nation he taught one session at Casoma and on retiring from the school room entered the practice of law.
Mr. Walker studied law while yet a teacher and was admitted to the bar at Dover, Tennes- see, and there did considerable practice in the lower courts. He commenced practice in the Indian Territory at the time the government was establishing courts there, having cases numbers one and three of the civil docket and he secured the first divorce granted by the new court. After practicing two years he engaged in the drug and general merchandise business, in which he still continues. In the spring of 1898 he became identified with farming, by purchasing some land near Antlers, and his accessions along this line have given him land amounting to more than a half section which he has stocked, as well as having it cultivated. In 1907 he erected a saw mill and is actively engaged in getting out wagon timber and cross-ties, which product finds a ready sale and timber for which is easily accessible to his mill.
Politically. Mr. Walker is a firm supporter of Democratic party principles, but he is not a member of any fraternal society or order. May 10, 1896, he as happily married, at Ant- lers, to Mrs. Ida Lychliter, a daughter of William Peerson. Mrs. Walker has two chil- dren by her first husband: Leona and Guy. To her union with Mr. Walker have been born, Maggie May, Lena Ruth, Charles Wil- liam and Ralph Peerson.
JAMES S. LATIMER, of Patterson, is a mem- ber of the body which framed the constitution of the new state of Oklahoma, and has also been honored in the naming of the county which bears his name, the suggestion coming from a well known member of the Constitu- tional convention itself. Mr. Latimer is a native of Linn county, Kansas, and was born December 10, 1855, some twenty-five miles north of Ft. Scott. The family was of Eng- lish ancestry and was established in the south- west by Samuel Latimer, the grandfather of James S. This pioneer settled in southwest- ern Missouri and married a French woman and became the father of Dr. George W .. the father of James S. Dr. George W. prepared himself for his profession and practiced med- icine in Kansas, Missouri and Arkansas. He was a resident of Kansas during the troublous times of the border warfare while that state was in its formative period. He left Kansas before the outbreak of the Civil war, returned
to Missouri and was for a time a surgeon in General Price's Army. A few years after the war he moved to Benton county, Arkansas, where he lived until the early seventies when he located at Boonville, but some time prior to his death took up his residence at Spring- dale, Arkansas. Dr. Latimer married Miss Nancy B. Cowan and the children born to them were as follows: Mrs. Mary E. Castle- berry, of Boonville, Arkansas; Mrs. Rilla Williams, who died in St. Louis, Missouri, and left two children; James S., of this re- view ; Mrs. Della Griffey, of Boonville; Mrs. Ida Fulton, of Fayetteville, Arkansas; and Marvin G. Latimer, of Patterson, Oklahoma.
James S. Latimer, of this sketch, began his school career near Marshfield, Missouri, and finished his education at the Ft. Smith high school. Soon afterward he became a drug clerk at Boonville, Arkansas, for several years followed railroad work in that state, and in 1892 became a permanent settler of the Indian country. For a time he served as operator in the office of the superintendent of the Choc- taw, Oklahoma & Gulf Railroad, at McAles- ter, and within the succeeding seven or eight years held the position of station agent and operator at Red Oak, Fanshawe and Wilburton. In the meantime, by marriage he had acquired the rights of a Choctaw citizen and at the conclusion of his railroad work located on a tract of land near the present site of the vil- lage of Patterson. As his means would allow he cultivated this tract of land and engaged in the buying and raising of live stock, sub- sequently taking his personal allotment of land. His wise management of these inter- ests as the years passed gave him a consider- able standing in the community and marked him for public preferment. His wide busi- ness experience, his substantial foundation of general information and his positive traits, united with his agreeable social qualities, com- mended him to his Democratic supporters as a suitable man to represent their district in the Constitutional convention. He was there- fore made a candidate of his party and elected as a delegate from the Ninety-ninth district. When the convention assembled he was made a member of the committee on primary elec- tion, on public roads and highways, private corporations, mines and mining and oil and gas and he supported Mr. Hanraty for chair- man of the convention, worked for the initia- tive and referendum and other important measures which were subsequently incorpor- ated into the constitution. When the naming
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of the counties came before the convention, Representative A. H. Ellis, of Garfield coun- ty, suggested the christening of Latimer coun- ty as it is now known and his wish was car- ried into effect.
While station agent at Fanshawe, Mr. Lati- mer married, September 6, 1893, Miss Allie Brashears, daughter of Judge Turner Brash- ears, who was of Choctaw blood. Mrs. Lati- mer was born near Brazil, Indian Territory, August 5, 1875. Their children are Winifred, Alvin Leo and Marie Kathleen Latimer. Fraternally, Mr. Latimer is a member of Wil- burton Lodge No. 108, F. and A. M.
WILLIAM G. BAIRD, of Wilburton, Latimer county, is another of those rare veterans of the Civil war, whose blood-stirring experien- ces in the great fraternal strife have only tended to elevate and solidify their patriot- ism and spur them to unceasing efforts to as- sist in the development of the country which was finally re-united under better and more stable conditions. Born at Fort Smith, Ar- kansas, March 20, 1842, Mr. Baird is the son of John and Margaret ( Hoffman) Baird. The father was a native of Scotland and set- tled in the vicinity of Fort Smith, Arkansas, as early as 1837. At that time the place was a mere boat landing called Belle Point, but a year later the government erected a fort there and christened it by its well-known name. In 1849 the elder Mr. Baird joined one of the overland caravans of gold seekers. California- bound, and as no news was ever afterward ob- tained from him it is believed that he perished on the plains. His wife, whom he married in Stark county, Ohio, died at Fort Smith in 1898, at the age of eighty-three years, their two children being Mrs. R. M. Johnson, wife of one of the Fort Smith pioneers, and Wil- liam G., of this sketch.
William G. Baird was educated in the schools of Fort Smith and in his early youth mastered the trade of a tinner, but that occur- pation proving a menace to his health, in 1860 he joined an expedition dispatched by the gov- ernment to a point at the head waters of the Washita river, where a fort was to be erected for the protection of settlers and emigrants against hostile Indians. Fort Cobb was there- for established in the vicinity of the present Anadarko, Oklahoma, but as it was aban- cloned the following year and Mr. Baird with three or four companions went to Fort Ar- buckle, situated in what is now Garvin coun- tv, he remained here but a short time and then returned to his home in Fort Smith.
Thus before the opening of the Civil war, and during the excitement of its initial per- iod, Mr. Baird enjoyed his first view of the wild plain country which is now a produc- tive and progressive section of the state. At his return to Fort Smith he enlisted in Cap- tain Johnson's company, Clarkson's battalion of General Stan-Watie's brigade of Arkan- sas troops, being soon appointed orderly to Colonel Clarkson and left in camp by the commanding general. General Stan-\Vatie went in search of a force of combined Fed- erals and Pin Indians ( who remained loyal to the Union), which, however, surprised the camp under Colonel Clarkson. At his escape Mr. Baird joined Colonel King's reg- iment of General Fagan's brigade, and for about two years followed the fortunes of that command in its harassing movements through Arkansas and Louisiana, being thus engaged until the close of 1864. In Janu- ary. 1865, he came into the Choctaw Na- tion and joined Colonel Jack McCurtain's Confederate squadron of Indian cavalry, hav- ing shortly before resigned a lieutenant's con- mission in Colonel King's command. In the spring of that year, while Colonel Mc- Curtain's band was encamped in the moun- tains near what is now Tushkahomma, Mr. Baird had been on a visit to his home at Shaw- neetown and on his return met Colonel Pytchlynn, then governor of the Choctaws, who gave him a letter to his superior officer conveying the information of Lee's surrender, and commanding Colonel McCurtain to dis- band his troops and go home. On the 15th of June the Indian cavalry broke ranks and dispersed, and Mr. Baird sought the ways of civil peace and profit.
Although the Indian country was almost as much disorganized for several years after the war as the territory which had been ac- tually devastated, Mr. Baird brought his per- sistence and wits to play on the situation to such good purpose that he floated his house- hold and himself along until the establish- ment of permanent and substantial mercantile houses. He gained his first experience in sell- ing goods as a clerk at old Lukfata, afterward locating at Shawneetown, where he remained until December 24, 1862, when he settled in Sugar Loaf county. There he formed a part- nership with his old Indian Colonel. Jack McCurtain, and established a general store near Red Oak, but, after a short time, re- moved to "Pusleys." on Gaines Creek, remain- ing at that point for four years. The part-
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nership was then dissolved, Mr. Baird re- turning to Sugar Loaf county and resuming business alone. In the early seventies he abandoned this store and, coming into the present limits of Latimer county, engaged in teaching school and trading until 1889. In that year he accepted a clerkship with the Grady Trading company of Hartshorne, his special duties being to manage and develop the Choctaw trade. His years of residence among those Indians had made him quite fa- miliar with their character and language, and his honorable conduct had fully gained their confidence ; so that he proved not only of great value as an agent in the development of the Indian trade, but as a promoter of the Choctaw. Oklahoma & Gulf Railroad in the special matter of obtaining leases on the valu- able coal lands within the bounds of the Choc- taw Nation. He remained with the trading company at Hartshorne until it sent him to the Wilburton coal camp, there to open a company store. After managing this busi- ness for several years, he established a store of his own, which he maintained in a prosper- ous condition for some four years, when. with the entire stock, it was destroyed by fire. This was at first a staggering blow. but Mr. Baird was made of the right mater- ial and has since employed his business abili- ties and experience in the service of others. For the past five years he has been associated with Ratterree and Company.
On January 18, 1865, Mr. Baird married Miss Mary DeHart, a daughter of John De- Hart, an Englishman who married a Chero- kee woman of half blood. Mrs. Baird was born in Arkansas. December 10, 1842, and is the mother of the late Charles Baird, who left a family at Wilburton : Ola M .. who has been twice married-to John R. James and John G. Shaw-and now resides with the latter on her ranch near Wilburton: Shingo, wife of Marvin W. Petty, of Cleburne. Tex- as, and Frank D. Baird, also a resident of Wilburton. Both by blood and long exper- ience, Mr. Baird is in close sympathy with the Indian, especially the Choctaw character. and has just ground for his admiration of their higher traits of honesty and statesman- ship. He himself was an associate with such noble leaders of the Choctaw Nation as Col- onel Peter P. Pytchlynn, who accomplished so much after the Civil war in securing len- ient treatment from the government for those of his people who bore arms for the Con- federacy. This long contact with the best minds
and the most elevated characters of the Choc- taw Nation has given Mr. Baird unusual opportunities of forming a valuable optimis- tic opinion as to those whom he can almost call "his people." Fraternally Mr. Baird is a member Wilburton Lodge No. 108. A. F. & A. M. He and wife are members of the First Presbyterian church of Wilburton. Mr. Baird was elected city treasurer of Wilbur- ton in May, 1902, and still retains the of- fice.
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