USA > Oklahoma > A history of the state of Oklahoma, Volume II > Part 65
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more, Rogers county, was born in Collettsville, North Carolina, on the 25th of February, 1859. He is a son of Rev. R. H. and Bethsheba (Chambers) Moody, the father being a Baptist clergyman. After completing common and academic courses, William E. Moody became a student at William Jewell College, of Liberty, Missouri, from which he graduated with the class of 1883 and the degree of A. B. He then entered the law school of the University of Missouri, at Columbia, and completing the regular four years curriculum in two years he graduated therefrom with the degree of LL. B.
Mr. Moody commenced practice at Mead Center, Kansas, where he continued for two years. He also practiced for a time at Hunts- ville, Missouri, prior to coming to Oklahoma in 1898, and is licensed as a regular lawyer in Kansas, Missouri, Indiana, Texas and Okla- homa. In all of the states outside of Okla- homa he is what is known as an attorney of record. Since 1898 the residence cities of his practice have been Blackwell and Claremore, his coming to the latter dating from 190%. He is also an active worker in the social, charitable and religious circles of the Baptist church of Claremore. His wife was formerly Miss Mar- tha C. Carey, of Carrollton, Missouri, and the three children born to them as follows: Pearl. now Mrs. W. F. McLaury, of Oklahoma City, whose husband is a professor in Ep- worth University: George L., a resident of Los Angeles, California, and Lenora Moody, living in Claremore with her parents. Mr. Moody is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and the Woodmen of the World. He believes in the principles of the Democratic party, but is not a politician in the accepted sense of the term.
A. Ross MOORE, a dealer in real estate and loans, of Claremore, Rogers county, is a native of Greenville, Tennessee, noted as the birth- place of Andrew Johnson. Mr. Moore's par- ents were Joseph H. and Martha Jane ( Ross) Moore, both natives of Tennessee, in which state the father was long engaged in agricul- tural pursuits. A. Ross passed through the pub- lic school courses at Cane Hill. Arkansas. into the high school at that place, where he was prepared to enter the State University, located at Fayetteville. Graduating from that institu- tion in 1899, with the degree of B. S., he at once entered mercantile life at Cane Hill, Ark- ansas, in which he continued for two years. His intellectual and professional tendency then directed him toward and into the newspaper field, and he established the first journal in the
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA.
place, The Canchill News, of which he contin- ued editor for the succeeding three years. He sold his interests in the paper to "Coin" Har- vey, who removed the plant to Monte Ne.
Mr. Moore's advent to Oklahoma was as a real estate agent for A. F. Wolfe, inter- ested in the townsites of Bessie, Avard and Covington. January 1, 1905, he came to Claremore. His operations here in real estate were successful and, moreover, a distressing catarrhal affection with which he had long suffered received great benefit and was even- tually cured, by the use of the famous Radium mineral waters of Claremore. These two cir- cumstances induced him to make the city his permanent home. As an individual enterprise, he first became associated in the real estate business with Hugh Brewster under the style of the Claremore Realty Investment Company, of which Mr. Moore was the senior member and L. T. Mitchell the third partner.
Mr. Moore has seen both military and civil service-the former in behalf of his country, the latter in the interests of his city. He joined the Spanish-American war service as a member of Company F. Arkansas Volun- teers, and was on duty during the greater part of 1898. In 1906 he was elected city clerk of Claremore and served through the last muni- cipal year under territorial government. His residence in Claremore has therefore proven of benefit to the city, aside from his advance- ment of his property interests in his capacity as a business man and it is quite certain that his future will expand into even broader fields of endeavor and performance. Married to an Arkansas lady, who was formerly Miss Fan- nie J. Brewster, of Cane Hill, Mr. Moore is the father of Joseph Lafayette Moore. Among the fraternities. A. Ross Moore holds membership with the I. O. O. F. and the Woodmen of the World. His politics are Democratic.
CUSTIS LEE HARNAGE, a leading farmer and citizen of public affairs, is a resident of Talala. Rogers county, and very early in his manhood his herds were grazing over what are now the settled communities of the town and county. He is a native of Texas, born in Russell county, June 30, 1867. son of John G. and Emily W. ( Mayfield) Harnage. His father engaged in both agricultural and mercantile pursuits and both parents were of Cherokee extraction. Until he was of fifteen years of age Custis received his mental education in the state of Texas, but at that period of his life he
accompanied the 'family to Indian territory and entered the Tahlequah Seminary, where he completed his studies.
Alert and practical, Mr. Harnage was at once drawn to the stirring employment of the cattle business, and commenced his career as a cowboy on the Campbell and Skinner ranches. Quick to grasp the possibilities of the new country, he soon became a ranchman himself, his herds grazing over portions of what is now Rogers county and the town site of Talala. He has continued to conduct ag- ricultural and stock-raising operations to the present, his farm being a model of modern appliances and improvements. The family of Mr. Harnage own six hundred acres of land and he operates most of his own farm himself. He has now about two hundred white-face cattle, but in past years he handled as much as from six hundred to one thousand head of cattle. At the same time he has been active in - the business and public affairs of his commun- ity. He founded and developed a drug store which he sold to Dr. Edward Y. Bass. Po- litically, Mr. Harnage is a Democrat and is now serving on the board of education and as township clerk. He is affiliated with the I. O. O. F., the A. F. and A. M. and the W. O. W. The wife of Mr. Harnage was form- erly Miss Fannie Hunt, of Vinita, Oklahoma, a daughter of Joseph and Ruth ( Havlin) Hunt. The mother was a Cherokee Indian of that village, Mrs. Harnage has become the mother of Ruth, James Hall and Pauline Har- nage.
JAQUILLAIN MARTIN STEMMONS, M. D., an active and thoroughly qualified physician and surgeon of Oologah, Rogers county, was born at Carthage, Missouri, on the 14th of January, 1861. His father, who bore the same name, was a Kentucky physician who came to Jas- per county, Missouri, in 1844, and was one of the early settlers of that part of the state. The mother ( formerly Susan A. Payne) was a native of West Virginia.
Dr. Stemmons obtained his preliminary ed- ucation in the Avilla public schools, pursued a commercial course at the Bryant and Strat- ton Business College of St. Louis, and com- pleted his higher literary studies at the Mar- ionville ( Missouri) Collegiate Institute. He attended his first medical lectures at Barnes Medical College of St. Louis, taking five spe- cial courses-Pharyngology, laryngology, otol- ogy, railroad surgery and obstetrics (includ- ing diseases of women and children). He
Justis Lee Harnage
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commenced the practice of his profession in Indian Territory, in 1892, locating at Peoria in the lead district (now Ottawa county). He there continued for eight years, then removed to Golden City, Missouri, and in 1904 returned to St. Louis and finished his regular course in the College of Physicians and surgeons, from which he obtained his degree of M. D. He then located at Oologah, Oklahoma, which he has since made his home and the head- quarters of his growing practice.
Dr. Stemmons is a member of the American Medical Association, Rogers County Medical Society (a member of its censor committee), and the Oklahoma State Medical Society. The Doctor is a Democrat although never seeking office. He holds membership with the frater- nal order, Modern Woodmen of America. His wife was Miss Montie Gibson, of Sher- man, Texas, and there are two children by their union-Clare, a son, born January 1. 1894, and Wylma Stemmons, a daughter, born January 28, 1903.
WALTER WHITE SHAW, attorney at law at Claremore, Rogers county, is a native of Owego, New York, born November 21, 1880. He is a son of Charles E. and Ida M. ( White) Shaw, his father being a coal dealer now lo- cated at Salina, Kansas. His mother is the daughter of Rev. Charles White, of Owego. New York.
The family moved to the west in the boy- hood of Walter W., who received his prepar- atory education in the public schools of Lin- coln, Nebraska and the high schools of Den- ver. Colorado, and of Kansas City, Missouri. After graduating from the Kansas City High School in 1898 he entered the law school of the University of Michigan, which conferred the degree of LL. B. upon him at the com- pletion of his course in 1902. Mr. Shaw lo- cated for practice in Kansas City, the two years of his professional work there being conducted alone. In 1904 he located at Clare- more, then in the Cherokee Nation. where he at once became an active factor in the county and municipal government. In 1906 he was appointed city attorney and his success in that position was so assured that he was re-ap- pointed for a year. He is a good lawyer and a useful citizen. While a resident of this city he has been associated in practice with the offices of James B. Rutherford and has been in partnership with Joseph M. LaHay.
In 1906 Mr. Shaw was united in marriage with Miss Mary Arleene Bullette, of Clare-
more, daughter of John Bullette, a Delaware citizen of the former Indian Territory. Two children have been born to them-Walter White Shaw, Jr., and Martha Helen. In pol- itics, Mr. Shaw is a Republican. He is a thirty-second degree Mason belonging to Florence Lodge No. 53, A. F. & A. M., In- dian Consistory No. 2, of McAlester, and India Temple of the Mystic Shrine of Okla- homa City. He also belongs to Sunset Lodge of Claremore of the Knights of Pythias, the Woodmen of the World, and the Anti-horse- thief Association of Oklahoma.
JOHN K. CRUTCHFIELD, a far:ner and live- raiser of Inola, Rogers county, is a native of Wise county, Texas, born on the 5th of Oc- tober. 1866, being a son of John and Mary (Ladd) Crutchfield. He received only a limited education, his regular schooling con- sisting of two terms in the public schools of Henrietta, Clay county, Texas. In 1881, then only fifteen years of age, he became a cowboy in Oklahoma, and later engaged in farming. He then, for seven years, worked on a ranch which included what is now the site of the town of Catoosa, Rogers county, and in 1893 reached the vicinity of Inola, at once filing a claim of 1,000 acres as his allot- ment for himself and children.
Mr. Crutchfield has made many improve- ments on his- land which add to the value and attractiveness of the estate, and has also been a leader in the development of the live-stock interests of the county. He is a director in the Home Oil and Gas Company, and is also a man of influence in the public affairs of the locality, having served for some time as pres- ident of the board of trustees of Inola. In 1889 he married Miss Maud Flippin and their three children are Leroy C., Ewing H. and Willie M. Flippin-the last named a daugli- ter.
The city of Inola. in Rogers county, lies in a broad plain of the Verdigris river valley .. surrounded by a rich agricultural country. Strong evidences of a productive oil field have. been found in the vicinity, and many leases of land have been closed by prospectors. The grass of the valley is also famous for its stock-fattening properties, as early as June its cattle being ready for the market. The country about Inola is therefore rapidly fill- ing up with livestock men and the town is feeling the effects of this strong addition to permanent settlement. Inola is located on the Fort Smith and Coffeyville branch of the Iron
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Mountain Railroad, and has every prospect of becoming an important, as it is now a grow- ing commercial center.
WILLIAM H. ROGERS, the first treasurer of Rogers county, Oklahoma, is one of the most substantial and popular men in this section of the state, and his handling of the finances of the county shows him to be a citizen of in- tegrity, promptness and sound business judg- ment. A native of Milton county, Georgia, he was born on the 6th of December, 1861, and is the son of Henry C. and Louisa J. (Blackburn) Rogers, both natives of that state. The father was a member of General (afterward Governor) Joe Brown's staff, and a brother of Johnson K. Rogers, who was a signer of the United States treaty with the Cherokees, in 1835, and also enjoyed the dis- tinction of being the first Cherokee to be ad- mitted to the bar of the supreme court of the United States.
John Rogers, the grandfather of William H., was a native of Burke county, Georgia, born in 1729, and, according to the prevail- ing custom had his popular name-"Nolli- chucky Jack." He built and furnished the funds and material for the first church erected in Cherokee county, Georgia, and died, an enterprising and honored member of the com- munity, on the 30th of July, 1851.
The Rogers family is of English origin. having settled in the south at an early period of American history, and one branch of it was long established in Georgia, before it commenced to send offshoots into the south- western country beyond the Mississippi. Its members became pioneers in various sections and it is the family name which is now per- manently attached to the Oklahoma county, of which William H. is treasurer. His father. who was about one-quarter Cherokee, re- mained in Milton county, Georgia, until 1890, when he became a resident of the Cherokee Nation, taking up lands now in this county, which he utilized for farming and livestock purposes until his death in 1896, at the age of seventy-two years. His mother, who was a native of Forsythe county, Georgia, and also about a quarter-blood Cherokee, died in her native state in 1882, at the age of fifty- eight years.
The youthful years of the county treasurer were spent on the paternal farm in Georgia, and in obtaining a public-school education in that locality. At the age of twenty he be- came an express messenger on various runs in
the south and continued in that field of em- ployment for a period of twenty-three years. the last six years being spent on routes be- tween Chattanooga and Washington. In 1891, the year following his father's removal to In- dian Territory, William H. located the claim of two hundred acres which he still owns near Chelsea, Rogers county. Until 1905 he made annual trips thither, in order to hold his claim, and in the year named located upon it and resided there, engaged in farming and stock- raising. until his election to the county treas- ureship in 1907, when he removed to Clare- more, the county seat. He is thus the first treasurer of Rogers county to serve under statehood, and his old-time Democratic friends placed him in office hy a majority of 654.
In September, 1908, Mr. Rogers married, in Louisa county, Virginia, Mrs. M. E. Mc- Gee, who is a native of the Old Dominion and an active member of the Methodist church. Outside of his domestic and personal circles, Mr. Rogers' social and fraternal qualities find vent through the order of Masonry-his spe- cial connection being with Chelsea Lodge No. 72-and the Brotherhood of Railroad Train- men, Mrs. H. B. Jones Lodge No. 215, of Chattanooga, Tennessee.
ANDREW BELL WHISENHUNT, a well-to-do farmer of Oologah, Rogers county, is a na- tive of the Cherokee Nation, born December 27. 1843. He is a son of Noah and Nancy ( Phillips) Whisenhunt, the paternal side of the family originating in Germany and be- ing established in the United States through the grandfather, John, who emigrated from the fatherland. Both parents were born in Georgia, the mother having a large mix- ture of Cherokee blood. Her people migrat- ed from Georgia to the Nation with other members of the tribe, and intermarried with both English and French.
Mr. Whisenhunt received a good education -first. in the public schools of the Cherokee Nation and afterward at the Tahlequah Sem- inary, his working career having been from the first of an agricultural nature. Through his Cherokee citizenship he received his fam- ily allotments of land at Oologah, which he has improved with industry and good judge- ment. In 1895 Mr. Whisenhunt married Miss Cora Cooper, of the Cherokee nation, a daughter of John S. Cooper, of Texas and Indian territory, and their children are Jef-
M.N. Rgus
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HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA.
ferson B., Emma. Winnie, Cooper, Ruth, and and Claude.
Oologah, Rogers county, is a promising little town which occupies a prairie site in the valley of the Verdigris river. It also lies on the edge of the oil and gas producing regions of Oklahoma, having thus the ad- vantage of having cheap fuel near at hand, and is surrounded by a rich agricultural coun- try. Its natural advantages are therefore great. It is already a thriving community. having a well secured banking institution ; mercantile establishments to supply the needs of the townsmen and countrymen; and two church buildings which together accommo- date the different denominations. A few miles to the southeast and in view of the town is Claremore Mound, a rocky plateau upon which was fought the last battle be- tween the ()sage and Cherokee Indians. It was on this historic spot that the Osages met with such disastrous defeat, most of those who survived being drowned in the panic of retreat in the stream which flows at the foot of the hill. On the site of the battle field is the tomb of the Osage chief Claremore. who led the defeated forces and gave his name to the mound.
WILLIAM HENRY WARD, a substantial young merchant of Foyil, is a representative of the family which was prominently identified for so many years with the affairs of the Chero- kee Nation. His grandfather. Moses H. Ward, was the family pioneer, migrating from Georgia with the first influx of civil- ized people into Indian Territory. He was of strong Cherokee extraction himself, and the Ward family was originally one of the most numerous and influential in the Indian country.
William H. Ward was born in the Chero kee Nation, then Indian Territory, on the 5th of December, 1813, being a son of Thomas F. and Elizabeth (Ward) Ward. His earli- er years were spent in acquiring an education in the district schools of his home, and as a young man he was a farm hand and a farm- er in what is known as the Blue Creek neigh- borhood of the present Rogers county. In 1894 he obtained a clerical position with Al- fred Foyil, founder of the town and then a leading merchant. This gave Mr. Ward his first practical insight into merchandising, and soon afterward he launched a small busi- ness venture of his own. Although it was by no means a failure. he decided that he
was in need of both more capital and a broad- er experience, and to gain both he entered the employ of B. H. Thurman, proprietor of the New York Store, at Claremore. This brings the record to 1896.
His service with the New York Store gave him experience in the handling of dry goods, shoes and fancy goods, and later he added to it by a short period of employment at the store of A. L. McDaniel. Always interested in agricultural development, he again as- sumed that line of work as his vocation, continuing thus until 1904, when he purchas- ed a store and stock of general goods at Foyil and is again one of its successful mer- chants. He was elected a constable, but re- signed the office in order to devote his en- tire attention to the development of his busi- ness. Mr. Ward's wife was formerly Miss Minnie MI. Stockton, a daughter of James Stockton, of Foyil.
JOHN MILFORD GOLDSBERRY. A leading lawyer and Republican of Collinsville, Rog- ers county, John Milford Goldsberry is also the municipal judge and is in line for ad- vancement to higher judicial honors. He is a native of Osceola, St. Clair county, Mis- souri, born March 13, 1826, son of Joseph A. and Esther ( Cooley) Goldsberry. His parents were born in Indiana and moved from that state at an early day, locating in Missouri where the father was long engaged in farming. The paternal family was of French and Scotch ancestry.
John M. Goldsberry was educated. first. in the public and high schools of his native town, but received his professional training ( prior to practice ) at the University of Mis- souri, graduating from its law department with the class of '96 and receiving the de- gree of LL. B. He located for practice at Osceola, being associated with the offices of Eli W. Cooley until 1898, when he came to Bartlesville. then in the Indian Territory (now in Washington county, Oklahoma). and was connected with George S. Hill un- til January 1. 1902, when he formed a regu- lar partnership with him under the name of Hill and Goldsberry. The firm was dissolved in 1903, since which time Mr. Goldsberry has been engaged in individual practice at Col- linsville.
As stated, he is the present incumbent of the municipal judgeshin, and at the primary election in 1902 the Republicans nominated him for the office of county judge. but he
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failed of a final election by a small margin, the county being normally Democratic. For eight years he was selected as a delegate to all the Statehood conventions, had been a tireless worker to that end, and naturally was profoundly gratified at the final outcome of the movement. As one means of main- taining his physical and mental vigor, Judge Goldsberry is an enthusiastic fisherman and hunter, being the owner of a thorough-bred Llewellyn setter. On May 30, 1900, he was married to Miss Fannie N. Stevens, of Bar- tlesville, the ceremony occurring at Caney, Kansas. Their children are Oliver Burton and Jesse Milford Goldsberry. Mrs. Golds- berry is a native of Missouri, being born and reared at La Plata.
CLARENCE GRAVES, merchant of Talala, Rogers county, has been an honored resident of that place for the past fourteen years. Born in Wyandotte county, Kansas, on the 20th of September, 1873, he is a son of Charles and Ablora (Guthrie) Graves, the father be- ing a farmer and a coal miner and operator of that state. The mother, who is about one- quarter Shawnee extraction, is the daughter of Senator and Nancy Guthrie.
Mr. Graves received his education in the public and subscription schools of the Indian Territory and the common schools of Coffey- ville, Kansas, completing his preparation for practical work by a course at Spaulding's Business College, Kansas City, Missouri. He commenced his career in the southwest, how- ever, as a cowboy on the ranch of Ben Gar- land, in the Cherokee strip, afterward going to a ranch near Dickinson, North Dakota, for the same employer. In 1893 Mr. Graves re- turned to Coffeyville, when he took his busi- ness course as mentioned before, and thus practically prepared for the growing com- mrunities of the southwest, located at Talala. There he first entered the employ of W. C. Rogers, the merchant, and soon demonstrated his business ability. He was made manager of the store and has since advanced to an in- dependent station in the mercantile circles of northeastern Oklahoma. Both the experience and the training of Mr. Graves abundantly qualify him to make rapid and substantial progress as an Oklahoma merchant. A por- tion of his boyhood days was spent in the Rus- sell Creek neighborhood, three miles south of Chetopa, Kansas, his work being to assist upon the home farm. He there obtained a useful knowledge of agriculture, and his later exper-
ience among the cattlemen of Indian Terri- tory and Dakota added thereto, a familiarity with the great business of stock raising. In the mercantile life of Oklahoma to possess such knowledge as this is of vast advantage, as the business man comes into contact almost entirely with either farmers or stockmen. Besides these qualifications, Mr. Graves has enjoyed a thorough training both in the theo- ries and the practice of business, and his nat- ural aptitude is pronounced.
On April 6, 1898, he was married to Miss Effie Griffith, of Talala, daughter of W. A. Griffith, a farmer of Rogers county. The children born to them are Charles W., Fred- erick E., Clarence, Jr., and Florence Graves. Mr. Graves is a stanch Democrat. He is a member of the Modern Woodmen of Amer- ica, and the Independent Order of Odd Fel- lows.
JACKSON CALHOUN WHITE, of Oologah, Rogers county, is a farmer and grain deal- er by occupation, and, ex-mayor of the city. He was born in Calhoun county, Mississippi, on the 17th of February, 1862, being a son of Joseph F. and Harriet (Potts) White. His father was a native of Georgia and his mother of North Carolina. After complet- ing the public school courses, Jackson at- tended the university at Oxford, Mississippi, and subsequently taught in Mississippi, Ar- kansas, Tennessee and Indian territory.
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