A history of the state of Oklahoma, Volume II, Part 67

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

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JAMES L. BEATTY. As a farmer, merchant, financier and able man of affairs no one in Rogers county is better known, or more tho- roughly appreciated, than James Lincoln Beatty. of Talala. He has been a worker and a developer in the "territory country" for a quarter of the century. Born in Franklin county, Kansas, February 10, 1865, he is a son of Adam and Margaret ( McCollester) Beatty, natives of the Buckeye state. His pa- rents moved into Kansas in 1864, and James L. received his early and final education in the public schools of Coffeyville.

When he was about eighteen years of age Mr. Beatty came to the Indian Territory with his father and the two spent several years in the development of farms in various sections of the country. They also engaged to advan- tage in the stock-raising business. The years of his residence at Talala have been devoted chiefly to mercantile and financial enterprises, in which field he has evinced marked ability as a promoter and an organizer. He was one of the incorporators of the First State Bank of Talala, and is now president of the Talala Supply Company and a member of the house of J. L. Beatty, general merchants. Mr. Beatty is a Democrat and a member of the A. F. & A. M.

In 1889 Mr. Beatty married Miss Emma Elliott. at Coffeyville, Kansas, and two chil- (Iren, Bessie and Maud, have been born to their union. Both daughters are attending the

Ladies' College at Liberty, Missouri, in which Miss Bessie has made a fine record as a stu- dent in music. She was graduated in 1908, and as the first prize for the best execution on the piano was awarded a beautiful Emer- son piano.

ALBERT SPARKS, M. D., who is known as a prominent member of the medical frater- nity of Avery and of Lincoln county, is a member of the firm of Galloway and Sparks, physicians, surgeons and druggists of that city. He has been identified with the profes- sional life of this community since 1907, and is one of its well known and prominent res- idents. He is a native son of Missouri, born at Westboro in Atchison county, in 1877, and he is a member of an English family from Bridgewater in Somersetshire, the birth- place of his father, Vaniah Sparks. He is now living in Westboro, Missouri, at the age of seventy-five years. His wife bore the maiden name of Mary Coombs, and was also born in Somersetshire county, England, and their union was blessed by the birth of seven children.

Dr. Sparks obtained his literary training in the schools of Rockford, Missouri, and in the well known Collegiate Institute at Col- lege Springs, Iowa. He then began the study of medicine with Dr. Lott in Westboro, one of the prominent and successful physicians of northwestern Missouri, and continued his medical research in Ensworth College at St. Joseph, Missouri, where he graduated with the class of 1906. His first year of practice was with Dr. Safford at Tarkio, Missouri, and since 1907 he has been one of the prom- inent and successful physicians and sur- geons of Avery.

He married in the year of 1905 Nora Cald- well, a daughter of one of the prominent residents of Westboro, Missouri. She is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and Dr. Sparks is a member of the frater- nal order of Odd Fellows.

DR. R. H. BROWN, a practicing physician in Bellemont, Pottawatomie county, was born in Mississippi, July 28, 1872, and has prac- ticed in Bellemont since 1902. He is a mem- ber of an old Virginian family, but his fa- ther, B. A. Brown, was born in Meridian. Mississippi, and was a soldier in the Con- federate army under General Longstreet dur- ing the Civil war. He was a Democrat in his political affiliations, a member of the Bap- tist church, and his death occurred at the

Id: Beatty

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HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA.

age of forty-nine years. The mother of the Doctor bore the maiden name of Nancy J. Mott and was born in Alabama. Her death occurred when she had reached the age of sixty years, leaving five children, and of their three sons two have become members of the medical profession, the older being Dr. J. D. Brown, of Grant, Oklahoma.

Dr. R. H. Brown was reared to manhood's estate in Texas, receiving his educational training in the public schools and the Mills Grove College of that state. He first began the study of medicine under the preceptor- ship of his brother, Dr. J. D. Brown, later entering the Fort Worth Medical College and Chattanooga (Tenn.) Medical College, and from there passed to the Baylor Uni- versity in Dallas, Texas. He is also, a grad- uate in pharmacy, receiving his diploma as a registered pharmacist in the state of Tex- as, and thus it will be seen that he has left no stone unturned in his search for knowl- edge in the profession which he has chosen as his life work. His success is thus the out- come of his thorough understanding of the science of medicine. During seven years after his graduation he was in practice in Indian Territory, and since 1902 Bellemont has been his home and the scene of his op- ,erations.

In this city, February 9, 1908, Dr. Brown was married to Miss Maud Burns, who was born, reared and educated in Iowa, a daugh- ter of W. H. Burns, of Bellemont, a Civil war veteran of the Union army. Dr. Brown is a member of the fraternal order of Odd Fellows.

JOHN W. MASSEY. The late John W. Mas- sey, one of the leading young business men of Carter county and at the time of his death, cashier of the First National Bank of Ber- wyn, was born in Conway county, Arkansas, on the 30th of July, 1872. He was a son of James L. and Rachel A. (Reid) Massey, their marriage occurring on the 9th of Octo- ber, 1870. The father, who is a native of North Carolina, resides on his farm near Berwyn, and is the father of John W., Alon- zo A., William, Thomas H .. Ira A., Etta and J. C. Massey. The paternal grandfather, J. J. Massey, was a Confederate soldier, the children of his family being James L., Jo- seph M., John A. and Calhoun, the last named dying at Little Rock, Arkansas.

John W. Massey obtained his education in the public schools and at the Morrillton High Vol. II-23.

School, Arkansas, teaching school one year after he became a resident of Berwyn. For the five suceeding years he was employed as a clerk in the store of F. W. Fisher of that place, and during the following year he managed a gin there. Mr. Massey then opened a drug store, in partnership with his brother Thomas H., under the firm name of John W. Massey and Brother. He remained an active partner in the business until Janu- ary, 1908, when he was elected cashier of the First National Bank, with which he had been connected as stockholder since its organiza- tion. Thus he advanced, solely as a result of independent exertions and talents, and was also honored with public preferment, having served both as village treasurer and council- man. In politics, Mr. Massey was a Demo- crat ; a Master, in Masonry, and a member of the subordinate lodge of I. O. O. F.

On January 1, 1899, Mr. Massey wedded Miss Juel Boyd, daughter of Benjamin F. and Josie (Corbett) Boyd. Mrs. Massey was born at Tishomingo, Indian territory, on the 9th of January, 1880, and received her education at Bloomfield Seminary and All Hallows Academy, Wichita, Kansas. Her father, who was a Mississippian, was born in Marshall county, December 27, 1850, and received his education at Cane Hill, Arkan- sas, his marriage to Miss Corbett occurring October 3, 1873. He acquired great influ- ence in the Chickasaw Nation, of which he was a citizen for many years. In 1876 he was elected county judge of Pickens coun- ty, and was also sheriff for a term of four years, being the only official against whom charges were never preferred. He was of a happy, even jovial disposition, but of ab- solute integrity and substantial ability. Ben- jamin F. Boyd was a son of James M. Boyd, who was of Scotch descent and married Nan- cy Love, of the family which has been so prominent in the establishment and develop- ment of the Chickasaw Nation. The grand- father is said to have been the first white man to intermarry with that nation. He and his family came from Mississippi to Fort Smith, Arkansas, in 1855, and thence to Pick- ens county, in 1860. Mr. and Mrs. John W. Massey became the parents of two chil- dren, as follows: Bennie W., born Septem- ber 9, 1899, and Rubey Massey, born Sep- tember 20, 1903.

JOHN BIBB SPRAGINS. A citizen of Okla- homa ever since it became "white men's coun-

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try," and for twenty years a resident of Ard- more, Carter county, John B. Spragins has been one of the prime developers of the many interests which have made the place such a representative town of the new state. From the first, he has been one of its leading mer- chants; has promoted its real estate inter- ests by becoming an extensive builder both of residences and stores, and is prominent in the finances, industries and public utilities of the place.

Mr. Spragins is a southern man by birth and wide family connections. His native county is Jackson, Alabama, where he was born April 20, 1851, being a son of Melci- jah E. and Louisa (Bibb) Spragins. His parents were both born in 1824-the father, in Virginia, and the mother, in Alabama. They were married in the latter state, about 1844, seven of their sons and three of their daughters reaching maturity and seven of them are still living, viz: Ophelia, who mar- ried Joseph W. Buchanan; James R., of Ar- kansas; John B., of this review; Rev. Charles A., of Dallas, Texas; Rev. Hallie S., of Ox- ford, Mississippi; Lula B., now Mrs. Wil- liam Johnson of Mississippi, and Katie L. Spragins, also a resident of that state. The deceased members of the family are William T., who married and left a family in Aber- deen, Mississippi; Rev. Edward L., who died leaving a family in Dallas, and E. C., who passed away at Lawton, Oklahoma, unmar- ried. The parents removed with their fam- ily to Mississippi in 1857, where the mother died in 1884 and the father in 1894.

Jolın B. Spragins obtained his primary edu- cation in the common schools of Mississippi and finished his training for business life by taking a course in a commercial college at Louisville, Kentucky. In order to accom- plish the latter step in his career he had engaged for a time in both agricultural and clerical labors, and after completing his busi- ness training within college walls he entered practice by opening a small store at Flor- ence, Alabama. After about a year he mov- ed his stock to Leighton, that state, and un- der the firm name of Spragins and Hop- kins conducted a growing mercantile busi- ness at that point until 1883. His next ven- ture was at Gainsville, Texas, where he en- tered the hardware business as Kenneily and Spragins, in 1886 the firm becoming Ste- vens, Kenneily and Spragins by the admis- sion of C. N. Stevens. In 1889 the busi-

ness had so expanded that a branch was es- tablished at Ardmore, which was placed in charge of Mr. Spragins, the result being his advent to this community as a permanent and leading citizen. As an actual builder of the city of Ardmore, his record includes the erection of ten residences and three stores, in the latter list being the brick block in which his own business is conducted. He is a director and vice president of the Bank- ers' National Bank and president of the Ard- more Brick and Tile Company, and is a stock- holder in two other banks and in the Ard- more Ice, Light and Power Company.

By family tradition and personal convic- tion, Mr. Spragins is a firm Democrat, and in the fraternities has attained the Shriner degree in Masonry, and is an active Knight of Pythias and Woodman of the World. On September 1, 1890, Mr. Spragins married Miss Lizzie B. Patton, a native of Tennessee born in 1866, and two of the three children born to them are deceased-John B. and Newcomb, the eldest and the youngest. The second, Hal B. Spragins, was born July 28, 1894.

HENRY TOM KIGHT, of Claremore, Rogers county, is an attorney in good standing en- gaged chiefly in the practice of criminal law. He is a Georgian, born in Johnson county, on the 11th of April, 1881, and is a son of Shadrick W. and Susan E. (Lawrence) Kight. Mr. Kight received a public school education in the institutions of his home neighborhood, and commenced the study of law in the office of old J. L. Kent, of Wrightsville, Georgia. It was in the latter place that he also commenced practice in as- sociation with his preceptor. After one year this partnership was dissolved and Mr. Kight opened an office at Swainsboro, that state, there taking up with success the specialty of criminal law. During the three and a half years of his residence at Swainsboro he was identified with the office of Augustus F. Lee.

Mr. Kight's practice in Oklahoma has all been conducted at Claremore, and he is now recognized as a progressive young criminal lawyer of substantial professional ability and honorable methods. He comes of an agri- cultural family, long established in eastern Georgia, and he himself was reared under rural influences, and he is therefore in sym- pathetic accord with the communities which now comprise his professional field. Mr. Kight's wife ( formerly Miss Blanche Snell)

It. Tom High

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is also a native of Georgia; more particular- ly, of Wrightsville, where he commenced both the study and the practice of his pro- fession.

HARRY G. STONG has been identified with the business interests of Ardmore during a number of years, and is now one of the city's best known and most influential citizens, as well as one of its most prominent fruit grow- ers. He was born on the 9th of March, 1861, in Indiana county, Pennsylvania, a son of Frederick and Elizabeth (Snyder) Stong, the father a native of Giessen, Germany, and the mother also a native of Germany. Af- ter learning the trades of a brick and stone mason in his native land Frederick Stong sought a home across the water in the United States, being then a young and unmarried man, and locating in Pennsylvania, he was known as a tradesman in Indiana county un- til in 1868 he was induced to move south in- to Tennessee. Establishing his home in Tul- lahoma, that state, he remained there until his death in 1875, passing away at the age of fifty-seven years. His widow, whom he had married in Pennsylvania, then took his place at the head of the family and reared their children to become industrious and use- ful citizens. Her death occurred in 1900. The children of Frederick and Elizabeth Stong were: John B., of Bedford county, Tennes- see; Christian R. and Albert A., of Chatta- nooga, that state; Harry G., mentioned be- low : Frans S., who died in 1898 in Chatta- nooga, without issue; Luther M., of Chatta- nooga ; Rebecca, who married Joseph Stewart and died in Tullahoma; and Mrs. Annie Huff, of Missouri.

Harry G. Stong received his educational training in the public schools of Tullahoma, Tennessee, which he attended only a few months of the year, for he aided his mother in the support of the family until he was twenty-one. He worked in the Tullahoma Woolen Mills four years and then went to the Nashville Woolen Mills and took charge of the dyeing and finishing department for three years until finally he became the fore- man of his department and held that office for seven years. On severing his connection with that establishment he went to the Rocky Mountain country and passed four years in the states of Montana, Washington and Ore- gon, working during that time in the cities of Butte, Spokane and Baker City and their vicinities, prospecting and mining with in-

different success. Returning at the close of that period to Tennessee he secured through political friends a position with the govern- ment on the U. S. marshal's force in that state, and was subsequently assigned to a general deputyship in the department of the collector of internal revenue, his territory covering portions of Kentucky, Tennessee and Alabama. His duties were to detect vio- lations of the revenue laws in the sale of tobacco or in the manufacture and sale of spirits, and his work brought him into dead- ly contact with desperate men, whose hatred of a revenue officer never abated and Mr. Stong relied upon his faithful gun and the steadiness of his nerve to protect his life and his property. He retired from this exciting and dangerous business in 1893 and came to the Chickasaw Nation, establishing himself at Ardmore. In this new location he also took up a new business, that of growing grapes and making wine, church wine and grape cider, wholesale and retail. He raised a vineyard of a few acres adjoining the town and also put in a stock of goods in a store on Sixth avenue, a place that will be recalled by many citizens as the Wine Press Store, but this property was swept away by confiscation for railroad purposes, but not until Mr. Stong had laid the foundation for his financial independence of later years. On the third day of his residence in Ardmore Mr. Stong became a real estate owner, and from that time on as his means would war- rant he has continued his investments un- til at the present time some of the city's best real estate is listed among his property for taxation. Among his property is a business house at No. 216 East Main street and his home and vacant property near by. He was one of the organizers of the Ardmore and the Bankers National banks, and served as a director of the latter.

On the 9th of September, 1896, in Ard- more, Mr. Stong was united in marriage to Miss Rettie Small, a daughter of John Small. who came to this state from Tennessee. The three children born of this union are Ethel, Minnie and Mabel Ruth. Mr. Stong is a past grand in Odd Fellowship and is a mem- ber of the Grand Lodge of Indian Terri- tory. He also belongs to both Woodmen orders, and in politics is a Republican.

HON. CHARLES D. CARTER, of Ardmore, who represents the Fourth Oklahoma Dis- trict in the national house of representatives,

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is one of the conspicuous characters in the nation which he represents. Fitted by na- tive courage and intellectual ability to direct affairs and to assume responsibility, he has steadily won his way to a position among the leaders in thought and action in the new state of Oklahoma and in the southwest.

It was in 1888 that Mr. Carter left the ranch home, around which cluster the chief events of the life of his youth, to identify himself with the city of Ardmore, and with vigor of mind and body and with ambi- tion to familiarize himself with commercial life, he obtained a clerkship, was later a bookkeeper for a time, then cotton weigh- er and finally cotton buyer until 1892, and in that year was appointed the auditor of the Chickasaw Nation, the opening wedge of his official career. His entry into public life demonstrated to his people that the Chickasaw governor had made no mistake in placing Charles D. Carter in charge of its · accounting department, and when he retired from that office he was called to other res- ponsible positions, and subsequently being elected to the council was thus officially iden- tified with the construction of the Chicka- saw capitol building. Mr. Carter was ap- pointed national superintendent of schools and later mining trustee of the Choctaw and Chickasaw people, and during his incumben- cy of that office his most important work was the leasing of the coal lands to opera- tors in the various coal fields since develop- ed and operated in Coal, Pittsburg and Lati- mer counties.

But after many years of service to his own people in a public capacity the Hon. Charles D. Carter retired from his office in McAl- ester and entered the life insurance business in Ardmore as a member of the firm of Bruce and Carter, thus continuing actively in busi- ness until June, 1906, when he was selected as secretary of the Democratic committee of the Indian Territory and was actively identi- fied with the movement preparatory to state- hood in promoting the interests of the candi- dates of his party for delegate to the Consti- tutional Convention. He was a member. of a committee of three sent to Washington to lobby for the passage of the Enabling Act. In the districting by the Constitutional Con- vention for representatives in Congress he was made a citizen of Carter county and became its candidate for the congressional nomination at the primary. Defeating his

two competitors for the honor, he won the election at the hands of the people in Sep- tember of 1907 and took his seat in Con- gress on November 16th of that year and was active in the advancement of such measures as virtually affected the people of Oklaho- ma. The legislation was embodied chiefly in the "Removal-of-Restrictions-Act" which en- abled the Indians to sell their lands, under certain conditions, after July 27, 1908, and which was the epitome of the important leg- islation proposed of local interest during the Sixtieth Congress. At the fall election of 190S he was re-elected by a large majority of votes.

In reverting more particularly to the events which form the personal life of Hon. Charles D. Carter it may be mentioned that he was born at Boggy Depot, in the Chickasaw Na- tion, August 16, 1869. His parents had es- tablished their home on a ranch at old Mill- creek in 1876, and in and around that vil- lage the little lad daily grew in strength and vigor. The alphabet was learned at his moth- er's knee, and it was her mind that directed his mental and moral training while the foun- dation of a useful life was being laid. The confinement incident to subsequent regular work in the school room tried his rather delicate constitution, and it was occasion- ally necessary to restore his normal vigor by periods of outdoor life and strenuous activi- ty as a "cow-puncher and bronco-buster" on the Millcreek ranch. From 1882 to 1887 he completed the work of the Chickasaw Man- ual Training Academy and became a devotee of the ranch in earnest for a year. The old Diamond "Z" on the present site of Sulphur, Oklahoma, witnessed many of his exploits on the back of a bronco, and it was about this period also that he familiarized him- self with the country of the hostile Arapa- hoes to the northwest while making a trip on horseback with a daring companion on his return from an expedition to guide a bunch of cattle across to the Chisholm trail. The remote ancestors of Mr. Carter were not Indians. It was during the Wyoming mas- sacre in Pennsylvania during the Revolu- tionary war that the Indians took as pris- oners Nathan Carter and his sister from the bosom of a white family, and while the sister was restored to her people Nathan grew up among the red men and finally mar- ried a full blood Cherokee woman. Their posterity flourished in Cherokee county, Geor-

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gia, where Judge B. W. Carter, the father of the Hon. Charles D., was born.

Judge Carter's birth occurred in 1836, and he was brought to Indian Territory when the Cherokees took possession of their new home here. He obtained a liberal education in the Cherokee Seminary at Tahlequah and began life for himself as a school teacher, follow- ing that line of work until the Civil war broke out. He then organized Company C, First Cherokee Regiment, under Colonel Adams, Stan Watie's brigade, and fought in the battles of Wilson Creek, Newtonia, Pea Ridge and Cowskin Prairie, and when Gen- eral Lee surrendered he was at home organ- izing the blanket Indians into commands for service in the Confederate army. He did not return to the schoolroom as a livelihood after the close of the war, but read law at home and prepared himself for a profession which he adorned while he followed it as an advo- cate and as a judge upon the bench.

His official life began with his election as county clerk of Tishomingo county, and he was later made the attorney general of the Chick- asaw Nation and a delegate to Washington, where he was an efficient officer in securing the best results in a legislative way from the Federal government. At the time of his death in 1894 he was revenue collector of Pickens county, Chickasaw Nation. As a lawyer he was at one time a member of the firm of Herbert and Ledbetter, of Ardmore, and when the latter was sent to the Con- stitutional Convention as a delegate from Ard- more he secured the naming of the coun- ty surrounding his town, and named it Car- ter in honor of his friend and late towns- man, Judge Carter.

At Boggy Depot in 1866 Judge Carter married Serena Guy, a daughter of Colonel W. W. Guy, a white man, a sister of Gov- ernor Guy and a near relative of Gover- nor Cy Hartis. This lady was his second wife, his first wife having borne him a son, John E. Carter, who died at Millcreek, Ok- lahoma, leaving a family. Charles D. Carter is the only child of the second union, and he was married at Gainesville, Texas, in 1891, to Miss Gertrude Wilson, a daugh- ter of Judge Wilson of that place. Mrs. Carter died in 1900, after becoming the mother of four children, Stella, Italy, Julia and Ben. The Hon. Charles D. Carter is a Scottish Rite Mason and a member of the Commandery, and also a past exalted ruler of the Ardmore Lodge of Elks. He is a

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A history of the state of Oklahoma, Volume II, Part 67

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

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