USA > Oklahoma > A history of the state of Oklahoma, Volume II > Part 60
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EBBER LEE MALONE, the register of deeds, of Latimer county, has been identified with the
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interests of its county seat of Wilburton only since assuming the duties of his office No- vember 16, 1907. His life history starts in a humble home where the virtues of industry and honesty were paramount and where the face of good fortune seldom seemed to smile. Born in Mississippi, January 1, 1879, he is a son of Joseph and Jane E. (Lambert) Ma- lone.
Joseph Malone was born in the state of Alabama, near Birmingham, in 1844, a son of a native Irishman and a farmer. Joseph was married in Mississippi to a Mrs. Greenwood, a daughter of Samuel Lambert, and in time they went to Arkansas and located in the western part of the state. While farming and struggling along to obtain a safe foothold on the things of life he passed away, in the year 1898, leaving his widow to provide for a young family and well did she discharge her duties. She reared and established well in life the children of her first marriage, and then came those of her second to be cared for and educated. In 1871 she moved to the Choctaw Nation and has since made her home in Red Oak. The children of her first mar- riage are: William M. Greenwood, who is editor of two Democrat newspapers at Paris and Charleston, Arkansas, and Mattie, wife of Thomas Compton, a farmer of California. The Malone children are: Laura B .. wife of R. A. Nunnellee, a lumber dealer of Polk county, Arkansas ; Ebber L., mentioned below ; Sophia, who married a Mr. Kiser, a farmer of Kansas ; and Minnie and Bert, of Red Oak, Oklahoma.
Until eighteen years of age Ebber L. Ma- lone knew little work save that of the farm, and his education was most meager owing to the fact that his labors had to be converted into the maintenance of the family. He en- tered the employ of a mining company in the Choctaw Nation in 1901. He readily absorbed the principles of the business of the Turkey Creek Coal Company, and the firm of Den- man and Batch were his employers as long as he remained in the business. Mr. Malone finally left the pit to make the race for the nomination for register of deeds against three competitors, returning to his work after suc- cessfully winning the race and leaving it only to take the oath of office and become the first county recorder of Latimer county. He defeated his Republican opponent by three hundred and sixty-seven votes.
Mr. Malone is unmarried. He owns prop- erty in Red Oak, and is a Democrat. He is
a charter member of Oak Lodge No. 84, Knights of Pythias and a member of Jeff Davis Council No. 35, Junior Order of United Amer- ican Mechanics. He is also a member of the United Mine Workers and a stanch union man.
LOUIS ROCKETT. For twenty-one years a progressive merchant of Wilburton, Latimer county, Louis Rockett commenced his busi- ness career at Fort Smith, Kansas. He was a resident of that place for about six years, first as a merchant's clerk and then as proprietor of a small business ; and to that point he had migrated from Aberdeen, Mississippi, while still a youth. Mr. Rockett is a native of Chickasaw county, that state, born in Febru- ary, 1856, and as his education was obtained during the unsettled period of reconstruc- tion, his mental training in the public schools was anything but thorough. He completed his education by courses at the Goodman Business College, Nashville, Ten- nessee, and at sixteen years of age he lo- cated at Aberdeen, Mississippi.
The Rockett family was identified for many generations with the James river dis- trict in North Carolina, and one of its most picturesque localities is known as "The Rocketts." The family home was at that point during the Revolutionary war and a brother of Mr. Rockett's grandfather took a prominent part in that conflict. The pater- nal grandfather was Richard Rockett, who was reared on the Yadkin river, North Car- olina, and early in the nineteenth century made his way into the state of Alabama where he married and reared a family of eleven children. This ancestor was born in 1983 and died about 1845. One of his sons was Dr. John B. Rockett who migrat- ed from Alabama to Chickasaw county, Mis- sissippi, in 1841, and subsequently pursued his professional practice in many sections of that state. Before he commenced his pro- fessional career he served under the famous Confederate cavalry leader, General Forrest. and before the conclusion of the war had been promoted to a lieutenancy. He grad- uated in medicine from a Louisville institu- tion and remained in active practice until his death in 1885 at the age of sixty-four. His wife was Mary A. Moore, daughter of Lewis Moore, she died in 1848 the mother of the following: Lillie and Mollie, both de- ceased, the latter having married A. L. East- ley, also a lieutenant with General Forrest ;
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Fannie R., wife of Charles Rockett, of Fort Worth, Texas; Louis, of this notice; and Harry H., of Colorado Springs, Colora- do.
Louis Rockett was first married in Wil- burton, in October, 1889, to the widow of Governor Thompson Mckinney of the Choc- taw Nation and formerly Miss Lizzie Han- cock, daughter of Israel Hancock. Mrs. Liz- zie Rockett died in October, 1893, and in September, 1895, Mr. Rockett married Miss Ida B. Moore, daughter of Henry Moore, also a Choctaw citizen. Four children were born to this union : Louis H., Ross Lee, Fran- ces M. and Julia C. Rockett. It should be added of the father of this family that be- sides being a prominent merchant he is a leader in the fraternal affairs of the Inde- pendent Order of (dd Fellows, being past grand of the Wilburton lodge. In politics he is a Democrat.
GENERAL PLEASANT PORTER. The history of the Porter family in connection with the founding, preservation and development of the Creek Nation is a remarkable illustra- tion of a faithful assumption of the "white man's burden" by an able and noble-mind- ed representative of the race. The life duty came to General Pleasant Porter through his grandfather. Captain John S. Porter, of the regular army, who proved himself so dis- interested a friend to the Creek Indians of Alabama that he was adopted by the tribe and for years thereafter lived among his dusky people, engaged in agricultural and live stock pursuits. In connection with the history of the whiteman, the Porter family was identified for generations with the an- nals of the Keystone state, its members dis- tinguishing themselves as statesmen, sol- diers and sailors. The great-grandfather of Pleasant Porter was Andrew, a resident of Norristown, Pennsylvania, where was also born the Captain Porter mentioned above. The father, Benjamin Edward Porter, was born in the old Creek Nation, near Fort Mitchell, not far from the Georgia line, now in Russell county ; he was also a farmer and stock-raiser, and married Phebe, daughter of Tah-lo-pee Tust-e-nuk-kee. As a citizen of the Creck Nation beyond the Mississip- pi, he superintended the cultivation of his large plantation on the Arkansas river. near the present site of Clarksville, about a dozen miles from Muskogee, where he not only
raised the standard crops of the country but livestock as well.
It was in the locality, as before destribed, that Pleasant Porter was born on the 26th of September, 1840, chiefly obtaining his ed- ucation at the Pesbyterian mission school, Tullahassee. His youthful experiences were calculated to create in him a prompt spirit of self reliance, which remained with him in the midst of the military and civic crises which he so bravely met in behalf of his adopted nation. In 1861 he entered the Con- federate army as a private of Company A. First Creek Regiment, and for bravery and ability as a leader he was promoted to a lieutenancy. At the conclusion of the war he returned to Muskogee Nation, and served as a guard to the Creek chiefs on their journey to Fort Smith to form a treaty of peace with the United States Commis- sioners. The liberation of his slaves, the confiscation of his livestock and the other disorganizing and paralyzing results of the war, left him virtually penniless; and, to add to the darkness of his affairs, he had been reared in the ways of a luxurious southern planter. But the young man, who had the rugged spirit of his Pennsylvania forefathers in him, erected a log cabin in the forest, split the rails with which to fence a tract of virgin land and proceeded to till the soil with his own hands. In the years which followed he raised cattle, embarked in business, prospered in both, and was placed by his people in those public positions which enabled him to play so large a part in their educational and govenmental affairs, and which finally earned him the undisputed leadership in their councils. Un- til 1889 he resided successively at Hillubbe, Okmulgee and Wealaka and from that year until the time of his death. September 3. 1907, at Muskogee. White men and red men then united in doing him honor, and, although he was justly called "the fore- most Indian of his time," it should be ad- ded that he was one of the most beloved and noble builders of the great southwest.
General Porter's public services began soon after the conclusion of the Civil war. when he was appointed superintendent of schools of the Creek Nation, and in that capacity devised the plan under which the Indian and Negro schools were organized. He held the superintendency until 1821, and in the following year was placed in charge
4. Porter
Charles Alston Look .
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of the troops which subdued the Kachoo- chee insurrection ; was selected as a life del- egate to Washington ; served four years as a member of the Creek House of Warriors, during which period he also quelled the Locha Harjo insurrection and was voted the military title of "general": and about eight years afterward was placed by Governor Checote at the head of the militia which subdued the Sparhecher insurrection. Sub- sequently General Porter served for eight years in the House of Kings of the Creek Nation, acting for four years as its presi- dent. He was prominently identified with every land adjustment which agitated the nation, negotiated the final sale with the government, and assisted Chief Brown of the Seminoles in disposing of their five mil- lion acres. After one million dollars was set aside by the Creek Nation for the main- tenance of schools, it was General Porter who drafted the school laws, which were virtually in effect until Oklahoma became a state. In September, 1899, General Porter was elected chief of the Creek Nation, hold- ing that office and retaining the complete confidence of his people until his death at Vinita, on the 3rd of November, 1907. His remains were taken to Muskogee for burial, the funeral services being conducted at the First Presbyterian Church under the aus- pices of the Masonic fraternity and the Ben- evolent Protective Order of Elks. As a sig- nal mark of the profound respect in which General Porter was held in his home city Mayor Martin of Muskogee issued a proc- lamation, under which there was a general suspension of business from 12 M. to 3 P. M. on the afternoon of the funeral serv- ices and burial.
General Porter had been twice married- first. in St. Louis, Missouri, to Miss Mary Ellen Keys, daughter of Judge Riley Keys, who served as chief justice of the Cherokee Nation for a period of twenty-five years. The children born to this union were: William Adair ; Pleasant S., deceased; and Anneta May, now Mrs. Jay Farnsworth, a resident of Muskogee. For his second wife, Gen- eral Porter married Mattie Leonora Bert- holf, a cousin of the first Mrs. Porter. who died in 1893 leaving a daughter. Leonora, who now resides in Muskogee.
HON. CHARLES ALSTON COOK, now the sen- jor member of the law firm of Cook & de- Graffenried of Muskogee, ()kla., removed
from Warrenton, North Carolina, his native town, on the 4th day of July, 1903, and ar- rived in Muskogee on the 8th day of July, accompanied by his wife and five children and is still living in Muskogee. He was born en Warrenton, North Carolina. October ?. 1848, the only surviving son of Rev. Charles Marshall Cook and Havana Lenoir (Alston) Cook. There were only two children; and Alfred Lenoir Cook died when about three or four years old, leaving Charles Alston the only child. Each and every one of his ancestors on this side of the Atlantic Ocean is buried in Southeastern Virginia or in the northeastern part of North Carolina within one hundred miles of Warrenton, his birth- place. Among his ancestors, who began to settle on this continent during the latter part of 1600 and early in 1700, are the Alstons, Macons. Joneses, Marshalls, Hawkins, Nor- woods, Lenoirs, Branches, Athertons, Su- gans. Edwards and Dawsons. He followed the example of his ancestors by adhering close to the place of his and their nativity until he reached the age of fifty-four years when he moved west of the Mississippi to the Indian Territory where he now resides. He and his father were born in the same room in the town of Warrenton. Judge Cook is the only one of the Cook name of his fam- ily. upon this side of the Atlantic to perpetn- ate the name of his Cook ancestors. His grandfather, Benjamin E. Cook was born upon the Appomatox River near Petersburg. Virginia, and attended school in the old Blanford church. He was the only son of his father. Benjamin, who was also an only son, and who settled upon the Appomatox riv- er in Virginia early in 1200. He was an Englishman and so far as is known was ac- companied by no other member of his fam- ily of that name to this country.
Judge Cook of this sketch was prepared for college in Warren, his native county, by Prof. John Graham and entered the Univer- sity of North Carolina in July, 1866. There he remained two years passing through the freshman and sophomore classes. In Sep- tember. 1868, he went to Princeton Univer- sity and there entered the junior class and remained two years, graduating in the class of 1820 with the degree of A. B. : and after- wards the degree of A. M. was conferred upon him by his alma mater and also by the University of North Carolina. After return- ing home he studied law in his native town
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under his kinsman, Hon. William Eaton. On October 11, 1871, Judge Cook married Miss Marina Williams Jones of the same county in which he was born and raised. On January 2, 1872, he was licensed to prac- tice law by the supreme court of North Car- olina and in 1878, was elected solicitor of the county court and served in that capacity two years. In 1884 he was nominated to the office of attorney-general of North Car- olina by the Republican party, but was de- feated with his party. He was elected state senator from the counties of Warren and Vance in 1886 and served in that capacity for two years and in 1889 was appointed United States district attorney for the Eastern Dis- trict of North Carolina by President Har- rison and served his term of four years going out with Mr. Harrison's administration. In 1894 being again elected to the state senate from the counties of Warren and Vance, Judge Cook served in that capacity for two years and in 1896 was elected to the House of Representatives and there served two years. During his term of service as mem- ber of the Senate and House of Representa- tives he was the chairman of the judiciary committee in the Senate and afterwards the chairman of the judiciary committee in the House of Representatives, chairman of the committee on privilege and elections, chair- man of the committee on railroad leases, etc. He was, in 1889, elected trustee of the Uni- versity of North Carolina and was continu- ously re-elected by the legislature until 1901. at which time he resigned, having been ap- pointed justice of the supreme court.
Besides the positions above referred to he was also appointed by Governor Russell, special counsel for the state to argue cases in the United States supreme court : was a di- rector on behalf of the state of the North Carolina Railroad Co., and at one time attor- ney for said North Carolina Railroad Co. On the 4th day of January, 1901, he was appoint- ed associate justice of the supreme court of North Carolina bv Governor Daniel L. Russell and served until the expiration of his term, the first day of January, 1903. His rec- ord as a jurist is found in the 128th, 129th, 130th and 131st volumes of the North Caro- lina Supreme Court Reports and of which he is justly proud. Judge Cook took con- siderable interest in military affairs and as- sisted, while in the senate in 1889 in organiz- ing the State Guard of North Carolina. Soon
after its organization he joined the same as a private and served as such four years. While in camp on dress parade in the front fours of his company and at "attention to or- ders" he heard read by the regimental officer, Order No. - "Charles Alston Cook, Private, Company F, First Regiment is appointed inspector of Small Arms Practice with the rank of captain of the First Regiment." As such he served a year or two and was afterward appointed by Governor Russell inspector of Small Arms Practice of the en- tire State Guard with the rank of colonel. Upon his promotion to the supreme court bench, at his request, he was placed upon the list of retired officers, with the rank of colon- el. and afterwards his rank was raised by the legislature of North Carolina to that of brig- adier general.
He has, ever since he moved to Musko- gee in July, 1903, devoted his attention ex- clusively to his profession. But during the summer of 1908, he consented to accept the nomination of his, the Republican party, for the office of electoral representative in the House of Representatives of Oklahoma from the counties of Muskogee and Haskell upon the representation that the Democratic majority against him was seven hundred and fiftv, and that it would be impossible for him to be elected. With this assurance he un- dertook the candidacy and entered the race and canvassed every precinct in the largely Democratic county of Haskell and many of the precincts in his own county of Musko- gee. However, the result was that he was elected over his Democratic opponent by a majority of more than eight hundred, run- ning ahead of all the Republican candidates He is now serving his first session in the Legislature of Oklahoma with entire sat- isfaction to his constituents. Among the most important and artistically prepared bills introduced and passed by that Legisla- ture was House Bill No. 19, drawn by and introduced by him in the House on January 11. 1909, to create a Code Commission to codify the laws of the state. However, as he was a Republican and in the minority party, it was not permitted by the Democratic majority to be passed under his name. But, a Democratic Senator by the name of Gra- ham, without the knowledge or consent of Judge Cook copied and introduced it as "Senate Bill No. 261, bv Graham" on the 5th day of February. Thus it was passed in
RB Ramsey
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the Senate and afterwards in the House un- der the name of "Graham" who neither composed it nor asked the consent of the author for its use. Judge Cook is now being pretty generally urged by his party friends to allow his name to be used as a candidate for governor of the state at the next general election. But he is adverse to re-entering politics and to holding offices and therefore refuses his consent.
By his marriage there were born eleven children in the order named, as follows : Gideon Branch Alston Cook (who died with pneumonia when about five months old) ; Lenoir Alston Cook, who married George E. McLaurine ; and they have two children and live in Muskogee; Bignall Speed Cook, who married Pearl Stewart and has four chil- dren and resides in Glen Hazel, Pennsylvania ; Josephine Henry Cook, who resides with her parents; Barker Pettway Cook (who died when about seventeen years old in 1896) ; Charles Alston Cook, Jr., a pharmacist re- siding in Muskogee, who completed his ser- vice of three years in United States Army and returned from the Philippines last No- vember; Marshall Edwards Cook, now the assistant postmaster of Muskogee; William Jones Cook, who resigned as book-keeper of the First National Bank of Muskogee last summer and returned to the University of North Carolina where he is now a student ; Marina Williams Cook (who died when about three years old in 1891) ; Benjamin Edwards Cook who is now a student at the University of North Carolina ; Mary Speed Mercer Cook, the baby, who is now attend- ing the public schools in the city of Musko- gee. The wife of Judge Cook, Marina Wil- liams Jones Cook, is the daughter of Joseph Speed Jones and Lucy Barker Pettway of Warren county, North Carolina. She is relat- ed to her husband through the Joneses and Alstons, and is a descendant of the Speeds, Pettways, Barkers, Williams, Bignalls, Dukes, etc. She and he have lived happily to- gether since the day of their marriage and are now hale, hearty and healthy. They are both members of the Methodist Episco- pal Church South. He is a Master Mason, a past high priest of the Royal Arch Masons and is a member of the Order of the High Priesthood.
The parents of Judge and Mrs. Cook were large slave owners who resided upon their respective plantations in Warren county,
North Carolina. Judge and Mrs. Cook were raised upon the plantations and well re- member the habits, customs and mode of life of the plantation negroes, and express wonder and surprise at the misconception of the Negro race and character by the non- slave owners and the rising generation. They enjoy talking about the "good old times of peace, happiness and plenty" in slavery times upon the plantations in the Old North state.
REMUS BARNETT RAMSEY, sheriff of Mus- kogee county, has had the experience neces- sary to make him of the utmost value in that position-an experience which has brought him a thorough knowledge of the southwestern character and a thorough and varied business training. Born in Haber- sham county, Georgia, June 18, 1863, the sheriff is a son of Gustavus Adolphus and Eliza (Oliver) Ramsey. The family is of ancient and honorable Scotch origin, both paternally and maternally, and the father represents a family long connected with the history of Georgia.
Remus B. Ramsey received his education in the public schools of Georgia and Denton county, Texas. The father, who was a far- mer and stock man, had moved to the lat- ter section with his family and the boy nat- urally assisted him in his labors. His en- ergetic and adventurous disposition pre- vented him from remaining on the home place for many years and when quite a youth he went to San Antonio, Texas, where he became connected with a company of cowboys about to conduct a herd of steers into the Indian Territory. This was in the wild and stirring days of the open range in 1884 and having arrived at Muskogee young Ramsey entered the emplov of T. F. Meagher, a well known ranchman of that place. His employer vouches for the state- ment that Mr. Ramsey was the most expert cowboy, not only in his emplov. but in that part of the territory and that his courage, whether in the mastery of steers, bronchos. or "bad men," was equal to his skill with the lariat.
After a number of years of this exciting and profitable life he obtained a position with the Patterson Mercantile Company and in 1903 became credit man of the Mad- den Hardware Company. While Mr. Ram- sey was enrolled in the ranks of the cowboy fraternity he was detailed by the local
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authorities to act as peace officer in the cap- ture of noted criminals and in the general suppression of outlaws. This experience, combined with his business training and his activity as a Democrat, marked him as a strong candidate for any municipal or county office. The first public position to which he was elected in 1895 was street commissioner of the city of Muskogee and he was the only successful candidate on the Democratic ticket. In 1907 he was elected to his present position as sheriff of Musko- gee county and was inducted into office with the other pioneer officers of the county and state.
Sheriff Ramsey has been twice married, first to Miss Emma Tolleson, deceased, by whom he had the following six children : William, Minnie, Adolphus, deceased ; Eva; Edna, deceased, and Leona Ramsey. His sec- ond wife was formerly Miss Abbie Ramsey, a native of Springfield, Missouri, and the four children of this marriage are: Barnett : John W .; Arnold; and Eliza Ramsey. Mr. Ram- sev's popularity as a business man and a public official is enhanced by his active con- nection with such standard fraternities as the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias and the Modern Wood- men of America.
JUDGE HENRY GEORGE BAKER, a leading law- yer of Muskogee, formerly county judge in Ohio, and since he became a resident of what is now Oklahoma, a prominent figure in the founding and development of its oil inter- ests, is altogether a man of note in the prog- ress of the new state. With his associates, he was the first to discover oil in paying quantities in the Creek Nation of the Indian territory, and is now a director of the Mus- kogee Oil Refining Company and president of two large railroads now in course of construction-the Muskogee and Texas and the St. Louis and Oklahoma Southern. He is an officer and director in many other de- veloping enterprises of the city and the state, and, in connection with his railroad interests, is also the founder and promoter of not a few towns. In short, his legal knowledge has been combined with his business and executive ability in a variety of large enter- prises whose development are forming a part of the progress of eastern Oklahoma.
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