USA > Oklahoma > A history of the state of Oklahoma, Volume II > Part 64
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93
Mr. Ford is an active member of the Ma- sonic fraternity and of the Town and Coun- try Club of Muskogee. Like other progres- sive business men he turns to golf as a nec- essary means of recreation and exercise. He is also a hunter of small game and in this connection is a well known fancier of blooded dogs. Mr. Ford's wife was formerly Miss Mary Boren, daughter of Absalom Boren, a business man of New Harmony, Indiana, and their two children are Francis B. and Phyllis Ford.
MARSHALL LEIGHTON BRAGDON. Having enjoyed a various experience in business and government work before he became a mem- ber of the great ont-door world of the south- west. Marshall Leighton Bragdon, of Mus- kogee. is now thoroughly familiar with the
land and commercial interests of this section of Oklahoma, and is a substantial factor in their up-building. He is a large dealer in lands, insurance and bonds, and his depart- ment of farm loans is conducted with the fullest knowledge of the value of lands of all grades. The result is that his real estate security is always as unshaken as the Okla- homa hills, and altogether his position is that of a man who walks upon the most substantial business and financial ground.
Mr. Bragdon was born in New Albany, Indiana, on the 29th of September 1868, and is a son of Joshua and Mary L. (Fitch) Bragdon, his father being a native of Ban- gor, Maine, and descended from an old New England family whose European ancestors originated in England and Scotland. After graduating from the New Albany High School, Marshall L. secured employment in the local office of the Pennsylvania Rail- road, and later, for about a year, filled a clerical position with W. B. B. Belknap, the wholesale hardware merchant of Louisville, Kentucky. At the age of twenty-one, while prospecting through the Indian country, he reached Muskogee, and was so pleased with its location and general prospects that he de- cided to locate there, soon obtaining a posi- tion in the postoffice as Robert M. Gilmore's assistant. For a short time he was also lo- cated at Lehigh, as clerk of the federal court of the Indian Territory. under Judge James M. Shakelford.
In 1892, however, Mr. Bragdon returned to Muskogee and was identified with the Palace Drug Company, but was finally obliged to re- linquish all confining work on account of fail- ing health, and seek an open-air life. With this end in view, he leased several large tracts of land southwest of Muskogee and engaged in the cattle business. Having become tho- roughly posted on all the property conditions of the locality, he established an office at Mus- kogee in the real estate, farm loans and in- surance lines, forming the Bragdon, Ford and Rulison Company. His fine business and man- agerial abilities, as evidenced in his own af- fairs, inevitably brought him public respon- sibilities, and he was honored with several municipal offices, among others that of city assessor in 1907. Socially and fraternally, he is a member of the Town and Country Club. the B. P. O. E. and the Knights of Pythias. His wife was formerly Miss Margaret Shakel- ford, daughter of Judge James M. Shakel-
337
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA.
ford, so prominent in the judicial affairs of the territory.
JOHN HARLEY LANE, who for fifteen years has held various responsible positions in the railway service, is at the present time local agent for the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Rail- road at Oktaha. Muskogee county. He is a native of Kenney, Illinois, born September 23, 1873, son of John T. and Rose ( Pollock) Lane, his father being a farmer of long stand- ing residing in the grand prairie region of central Illinois. The paternal ancestry of the family is English and the maternal, Irish.
After obtaining a partial common school education in his native town at the age of eleven he took the first step in his railroad career by learning telegraphy. He first en- tered the office of Charles Flood and for a period of ten years thereafter devoted all his spare time to practicing on a private telegraph line which he maintained in association with four other young men. During this period he was, of course, engaged in other practical pursuits, assisting his father in his hotel busi- ness and being identified with the general store of J. I. Everson. In 1894, after becom- ing an expert in telegraphy, he secured a po- sition with the Illinois Central Railroad but the wide-spread railroad strike of that year seriously interfered with his work and prog- ess and he finally resigned his position to await more profitable times. In 1900 he re- turned to railroad work with the Illinois Central Company, securing a position as local agent at Lodge, Illinois. After seven months in that position he was transferred to Lane, same state, and still later to Deland and Bea- son.
In June, 1903, he accepted a more respon- sible position as telegraph operator at Mat- toon, Illinois, at this time leaving the employ of the Illinois Central for service with the Big Four Railroad. In the latter portion of that year he received an offer from the Frisco Rail- road and served successively for that company at Sapulpa and Henryetta, Indian Territory, remaining at the latter place for a year and a half. He then entered the employ of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad as agent at Dutzow, Missouri, and after continuing in that position during 1905-6-7 was stationed at Kiowa, Oklahoma, for a short period and then transferred to his present position at Ok- taha. Mr. Lane married Miss Myrtle Cor- bell, of Murfreesboro, Arkansas, and their two childen are Frank Scott and Corbell Lane. Vol. II-22.
IVAN LESLIE TILDEN, interested in oil leas- es, and real estate, etc., is a native of Renrock, Ohio, born on February 3, 1881. He is a son of Jayson C. and Mellissa (Dye) Tilden, his father being an Ohio farmer of an old English family, and his mother, of Scotch origin. The boy's early education was ob- tained in the schools at Ganville, near his na- tive place, and at Doan Academy, while his first business experience was in the field in which he is an active and prominent figure.
Mr. Tilden first assumed a minor position at Sistersville, West Virginia, in the employ of the Oil Well Supply Company, of Pitts- burg, and afterward became bookkeeper and general utility man in various oil fields of West Virginia and Ohio. For a large portion of this period he resided at Lancaster, Ohio, and in 1903 came into the southwestern ter- ritory as a representative of that company at Beaumont, Texas. Resigning that position, he engaged in the broad business of oil brok- erage and contracting, and buying and sell- ing leases to oil lands. As a prospector he came to Tulsa and Muskogee, Indian Terri- tory, and celebrated his second day in the lat- ter field by locating a permanent office there. He is secretary and vice-president of the Bear Drilling Company and president of the Swas- tika Petroleum Company of Oklahoma. His fraternal connection is confined to the orders of Masonry and Elks, and he stands high in social, as well as in business circles.
WILLIAM OSGOOD CARR, a young and lead- ing lawyer of Muskogee, Oklahoma, is a na- tive of Louisville, Kentucky, born July 29, 1869. being a son of Charles W. and Sarah MI. ( Osgood) Carr. The Osgood family is of old English and Colonial stock, several of its members being identified with the historic annals of New England. One branch of the family early was established in Wisconsin and the father of William O. was a native of that state, serving during the Civil war as a mem- ber of the Thirty-first Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry and later removed to Chicago where he was long engaged in business.
William O. Carr. of this sketch received his early education in the public schools of that city afterward entering the old Kent Col- lege of Law and graduating therefrom in 1896 with the degree of LL. B. While pur- suing his law studies from 1892 until 1896, Mr. Carr was employed in the carrier service of the Englewood postoffice, his father at that time being postmaster at that place.
338
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA.
During this period he also secured employ- ment in the office of the recorder of deeds for Cook county and these employments en- abled him to be quite self supporting. The commencement of Mr. Carr's practice in Chi- cago was in connection with the offices of George T. Webster with whom he was asso- ciated as a partner for one year, the style of the firm being Webster and Carr. On com- ing to the southwest he located at Stigler, then in the Indian Territory and now located in what is Haskell county, and five years later, after completing his law studies, he again re- turned to Oklahoma, this time locating at Muskogee, where he has since been continu- ously engaged in a successful practice. Fra- ternally, Mr. Carr is both a member of the Royal Arcanum and the Royal League. His wife was formerly Miss Mae Cleveland, daughter of a business man of Frankfort, Will county, Illinois, and one child has been born to them-Margaret Lucile Carr.
JOHN G. LAND. After enjoying a long and thorough training as a railroad dispatcher of the southwestern lines, John G. Land is now manager of the Western Union Telegraph office and the American District Telegraph Company at Muskogee. He is a Missourian, born at Springfield, May 26, 1877, being a son of John G., Sr., and Anna M. (Berry) Land. His father's family was of Scotch- Irish descent and his mother was of pure Scotch ancestry. For several vears before coming to America his father resided in Ire- land.
The early education of John G. Land was obtained in the public schools of Springfield. Missouri, at Kansas City, Missouri, and St. John's, Kansas. Later he attended Marma- duke Academy, at Sweet Springs, Missouri, and also pursued business courses at the col- leges of Hutchison and Wichita, Kansas. His first business experience was obtained at the age of nineteen when he entered the employ of the Santa Fe Railway, at Maxwell, Kan- sas. After remaining with that road for two years he was appointed manager of the Wes- tern Union Telegraph Company at Hutchison, Kansas. After three years of profitable serv- ice in that position he removed to South Mc- Alester, Indian Territory, to enter the employ of the Choctaw, Oklahoma & Gulf Railroad. He first was employed in the office of the train (lespatcher, then as train despatcher and as- sistant train master and remained in the lat- ter office until the road was absorbed by the
Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad System. In 1892, then in the employ of the consolidat- ed roads, he was transferred to Denison, Tex- as, as train despatcher and was thus engaged about eleven years, coming to Muskogee in 1903 as manager of the Western Union Tele- graph Company. Subsequently he was also appointed manager of the American District Telegraph Company at the same place and no one could be better qualified to perform the duties of both these companies than MIr. Land.
He is widely prominent as a fraternalist, having attained especial high rank as a Ma- son. He has received the thirty-second de- gree of that order, being an active member of the chapter and commandery. He also be- longs to the B. P. O. E., Knights of Pythias, Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Royal Arcanum. He is married to Miss Addie McDuff, formerly of Canadian, Indian Terri- tory, and one child has been born to them- John G. Land, III.
MARVIN CASWALL HURT, of Muskogee, manager of the Pioneer Telephone Exchange, was born in Glasgow, Missouri, October 1, 1819. He is a son of Congrave Jackson and Martha (Philphott) Hurt, his father being a substantial Kentucky farmer of an old fam- ily which traces its origin to England. On his mother's side he is of pure Scotch ances- try.
Mr. Hurt obtained his early education in the public schools of Missouri and pursued his higher courses at Pritchet College, of Glasgow, Missouri, graduating from that in- stitution with the class of 1897 with the de- gree of B. S. In the course of his scientific studies he had become deeply interested in electricity and as he naturally was of a me- chanical turn when he left college he engaged in the construction of the local telephone plant at Glasgow. In 1898, having completed that work, he engaged as a traveling salesman for the Pittsburg Coal Company, his commer- cial territory being Kansas and Nebraska. He was thus employed until 1907 when he was sent to Oklahoma by the Pioneer Telephone Company, being first connected with their of- fice at Oklahoma City. In November, 1908, he was promoted to be local manager of the exchange opened by that company at Musko- gee which position he still retains.
HIRAM STEPHENS, sheriff of Rogers coun- ty, now a resident of Claremore, was born in Whitley county, Kentucky, on the 8th of September, 1869, being a son of James and
339
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA.
Martha (Jones) Stephens. His father was a farmer and both parents were natives of the Blue Grass state. Mr. Stephens was ed- ucated in the public schools of his native lo- cality, and raised on a cotton plantation, di- versifying his farm work with the splitting of rails. At the age of eleven years he went to Missouri for a short time with his parents, thus obtaining his first experience of the coun- try to the southwest. Quite early in his youth he became a resident of Indian Territory, en- gaging for years in farming and ranching pursuits. He spent seven years in the culti- vation and improvement of his estate at Chel- sea before his election to the shrievalty of Rogers county.
Sheriff Stephens has had a long and valu- able experience as a peace officer both of the county and the general government, and was elected to his present office primarily on the ground of his strong qualifications. His ca- reer commenced by his service as deputy sher- iff of the Illinois district of the Cherokee Na- tion, under District Sheriff John L. Brown,. and after continuing nine months in this ca- pacity he was appointed deputy United States marshal under Mr. Crump. of Fort Smith, Arkansas. During the succeeding six years Mr. Stephens served under United States Marshal S. M. Rutherford. of Muskogee, after which he devoted himself for a period of seven years to the development of his ag- ricultural property at Chelsea. He was chosen sheriff of the county at the first state election, assuming his office in November, 1907. He is a strong Democrat, a most efficient sheriff and a good citizen. His wife was Miss Bet- sey Ross, whose home was at Bragg's Station, near Muskogee, Oklahoma, and who is the daughter of George Ross. The children of their household are George D., Lee M., Eu- gene and Homer Stephens. Sheriff Stephens is à member of Chelsea Lodge No. 34. I. O. O. F., the Woodmen of the World and the Redmen, and also belongs to the Anti-Horse- thief Association.
WILLIAM ROSS HARPER, who is a lawyer and a resident of Fovil, is also one of the most thorough scholars in the history and language of the Cherokee Indian in the southwest. He has seen both municipal and government serv- ice, has had a creditable career in the south- west as a newspaper man and is now publish- ing and editing the Rogers County Democrat. The paper is ably conducted and is a useful promoter of home institutions. Mr. Harper
was born in that portion of the Indian Terri- tory now known as Delaware county, Okla- homa, on the 9th of March, 1874, and is a son of Garland P. and Cynthia (Janway) Harper. On his father's side of the family he is of Scotch and Irish extraction, while his maternal grandfather, Hiram Janway, was a Frenchman who married Sallie Williams, a Cherokee woman.
William R. Harper received his early edu- cation in the schools of his home neighbor- hood, but is mainly self-taught, especially in the law. He has been of a literary turn since he was a youth, which prompted him to ac- cept a position in the office of the Southwest City Leader, published in the Missouri city of that name. Afterward he secured a more advantageous position in the office of the In- dian Arrow, at Tahlequah, and still later of the Muskogee Phoenix, both publications in what was then Indian Territory. In the mean- time he had continued his law studies and in 1895 was admitted to the bar of the Cherokee Nation and has since been engaged in active practice. He has also served as postmaster of Foyil, and during 1908 and 1909 was a mem- ber of its school board. As a fraternalist Mr. Harper is identified with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Ancient Or- der of United Workmen. As stated he is a connoisseur in the history of the Cherokee Indian Nation and speaks the language. The Cherokee is the only aboriginal language which has a recognized alphabet.
The Rogers County Democrat, already re- ferred to, is an eight-page newspaper, whose progress has attracted much attention. As Mr. Harper's law practice, especially as a counselor, is growing into substantial volume, he is one of the busy and honored men of the community. In 1902 he married Miss Elsie Surratt, an accomplished half-blood Cherokee, daughter of Joseph Surratt, and one child, Ruth, has been born to them. Mrs. Harper is a grand niece of former Chief Lowrey, of the Cherokees, and a relative of Sequoyah, the Cherokee Cadmus. She is a modest. home-loving woman and a talented musician. and their home is a mecca for the cultured people of Rogers county.
EDWARD BYRD. The pioneer promoter of the great Cherokee oil fields is Edward Byrd, of Chelsea. Rogers county, and he is still one of the largest operators in northeastern Okla- homa. besides being a farmer and land dealer of prominence. He is a native of Black
340
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA.
county, Missouri, born May 6, 1843, son of Rev. William and Betsy (Crow) Byrd, his father being a Methodist clergyman and a native of Tennessee. The Byrd family is of English ancestry, its American establishment being in Virginia. On the maternal side the progenitors were of Scotch and German ex- traction.
Edward Byrd was educated in eastern Tex- as, but at the outbreak of the Civil war en- listed in the Fortieth Regiment, Missouri Volunteer Infantry. As a member of this command he participated in the siege of Fort Blakeley, Alabama, the siege of Mobile, and in other active service, and was with the regi- ment at the time of its surrender and march to Montgomery, Alabama, when peace was declared. He was an expert marksman and was detailed as a sharpshooter at Fort Blake- ley. Mr. Byrd's entrance into the Indian country dates from 1868, when he came to the Cherokee Nation as a pioneer in the exploita- tion of its oil fields. He drilled the first oil well and was the organizer and promoter of the Byrd Oil Company, a corporation backed by English capital, of London, England, and which still bears his name. At one time Mr. Byrd had leased from the citizens of the Cher- okee Nation fully 100,000 acres of land, but failing to get his contracts approved by the Interior department his plans, in their full scope, failed to mature. At present, however, he has twenty oil wells in operation and con- trols large tracts of land which will undoubt- edly be productive in the near future. He also deals considerably in general real estate and has a proprietary interest in the Chelsea Drug Company.
Mr. Byrd was first married to Miss Eliza Ann Nicholson, daughter of Bright Nichol- son, the ceremony occurring in 1869. He took as his second wife, in 1875, Miss Jennie Nelmns, daughter of a Cherokee citizen, by whom he has had two children, Henry and Daisy Dean Byrd. The improvement of his allotments has also made him a farmer, as well as an oil producer and business man, and his forty years of energetic and useful labors in this part of the country have brought him a substantial competency as well as high hon- or. Mr. Byrd is a stanch Republican, and served as mayor of Chelsea for two terms. He is a member of Chelsea Lodge No. 130, K. of P. and the A. F. & A. M .. Chelsea Lodge No. 72, of Chelsea.
CHARLES WALTON POOLE, of Chelsea, Rog- ers county, is a merchant, farmer and active promoter of all local interests which stand for progress and development. He is a native of what was formerly Indian Territory, born October 25, 1860, and is a son of John and Sarah (Harlan) Poole. His father, who was a farmer, was killed by a band of renegade Indians during the Civil war, in 1862. Charles W. Poole received his early education in the schools of his home locality, and com- pleted his schooling at the Tahlequah Semin- ary. In 1882, then twenty-two years of age, he became a clerk in a store at Vinita, now Craig county, continuing in the employ of W. C. Patten, a pioneer merchant of that place, from that year until 1885. Later he became a ranchman and a merchant himself, his building at one time housing most of the mun- icipal machinery, the postoffice and the trade of the place. When the settlement advanced to the station of a larger town, Mr. Poole re- lates an instance of the exodus of most of the male inhabitants of Chelsea as witnesses in a murder trial at Fort Smith. Upon this critical occasion the station agent was placed in charge of all the business and municipal affairs of the place. Armed with his bunch of keys he handed out the necessary supplies from the different stores, and transacted any pressing official business. In slang phrase, he "was the whole thing."
In many ways has Mr. Poole been identified with the development of Chelsea and the neighboring country. He has served as post- master of the town ; was president of the First National Bank of Chelsea and assisted in the organization of the Bank of Chelsea; was a director in the Chelsea Elevator Company. and has been a large factor in the advance- ment of the agricultural and mercantile inter- ests of the locality. As a recreation from these and other pressing activities Mr. Poole is a hunter of small game and a fisherman, and his guns and tackle are a joy to the im- partial judge of such.
Mr. Poole's wife was Miss Emma J. Mus- ick, at the time of her marriage a teacher in Wooster Academy, at Vinita. She is a daugh- ter of William Musick, a well known public official of St. Louis county, Missouri, and is the mother of the following: Walton, con- nected with the United States naval service as a gunner on the battleship "Tennessee :" Carl. Scott Overton. and Gladys C. Poole. Mr. Poole is a Republican and a member of the following: F. & A. M., Mystic Shrine.
341
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA.
32d degree; Knights of Pythias; Eagles and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
JOHN S. CRABTREE, M. D., of Collinsville, Rogers county, is a physician of broad expe- rience and extensive practice, who has a spec- ial claim to distinction in this history as being the professional attendant at the birth of the first white child after the Oklahoma country was thrown open to settlement in 1889. He is a native of Jacksonville, Illinois, born on the 15th of May, 1858, son of John Crittenden and Martha Ann (Six) Crabtree. His father was a farmer, whose homestead of 160 acres near that city came to him through a govern- ment patent, and the title remained in his name to the day of his death.
As preparatory to his professional courses, Dr. Crabtree received an education in the pub- lic schools of Jacksonville and at the Jackson- ville Business College. He then entered the American Medical College at St. Louis, from which he graduated in 1880 with the degree of M. D. He spent the years from 1884 to 1889 in practice at Witchita, Kansas, in pri- vate practice and in connection with the Mun- sell-Crabtree Hospital. He then sold his inter- ests in that institution to his partners, Mun- sell Brothers, and removed to the Indian Ter- ritory country, locating at Kingfisher in time to participate in the famous opening rush into Oklahoma, April 22, 1889. He was the first physician on the ground, and on the third day after the opening he was called to attend Mrs. Thomas Lewis, of Kingfisher, who gave birth to a boy christened Admire Lewis, the first white child born in Oklahoma Territory.
The Doctor afterward attended the Medico- Chirurgical College of Kansas City and also the University Medical College of that city, in 1893 receiving a second M. D. from the latter institution. While in Kansas City he not only pursued advanced studies, but continued his private practice and served as house surgeon at King's Hospital (now the Passavant), the Bethany Hospital and the Hospital of Kansas City. Dr. Crabtree located at Collinsville on November 6. 1907. Of late years he has spec- ialized in diseases of the eye, ear, nose and throat, and his services are in wide demand both as an operator and consulting physician. His wife was formerly Miss Viola G. Smith, of Jacksonville, Illinois, and their daughter, Beulah L., is now Mrs. A. H. Lyon.
WILLIAM ELIJAH MOODY, favorably known to the bar of northeastern Oklahoma for the past ten years, and now a resident of Clare-
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.