A history of the state of Oklahoma, Volume II, Part 68

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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director of the City National Bank of Ard- more, erected and owns one of the most prom- inent business blocks of the city, and also owns the old Carter ranch at Millcreek. He is a Methodist in religion.

HON. LEE CRUCE, president of the Ard- more National Bank and a gentleman of statewide distinction and prominence in busi- ness and political spheres in Oklahoma, is a citizen of Ardmore and one whom the city delights to honor and claim as her own. He joined his fortunes with those of the fu- ture commonwealth in January of 1891, com- ing from Marion, Kentucky, and establish- ing himself at Ardmore he entered upon a career of usefulness which the people public- ly acknowledged by an effort to make him the chief executive of the state.

The Cruce ancestry is traced to Virginia and Kentucky, and is one of the oldest fam- ilies of the American nation. It was found- ed in Kentucky by Isaac Cruce, who had sons, James W., Columbus, Marshall and LaFayette. James W. Cruce was a plain, "honest farmer throughout life, born in Crit- tenden county, Kentucky, in 1813, and he died there in 1870. His wife was before married to Miss Jane Hill and they reared a family of six children, one of whom, the fifth born, was the Hon. Lee Cruce of Ardmore. He too was born in Crittenden county, Kentucky, July 8, 1863, and he reach- ed manhood's estate there on his father's farm, while the rural schools, the Marion Academy and a year in Vanderbilt Universi- ty furnished him a liberal educational train- ing. After reading law at Marion for a time he was admitted to the bar before Judge Givens of that place, but before he had es- tablished himself well in the practice of law Mr. Cruce decided to locate in Indian Ter- ritory and look to the future of this new country for whatever advancement or pre- ferment might be in store for him. Joining his brother, A. C. Cruce, and W. B. John- son, the law firm of Johnson, Cruce and Cruce was formed and carried on business until succeeded after a time by that of Cruce. Cruce and Cruce, Mr. Johnson having retired from the firm and another brother being ad- mitted to the partnership. Lee Cruce con- tinued a member of that firm and practiced law until September of 1901, when he aid- ed in the organization of the Ardmore Na- tional Bank and was chosen its cashier.

In the financial world his ability has shown brighter and been more pronounced perhaps

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than in the profession of the law, and after two years as cashier he was elected the pres- ident of the institution and has continued at the head of its large and varied affairs since that time. The field of finance seems to have furnished him just the proper field in which to display his powers, and the wis- dom with which he has handled the trusts imposed in him has won him the confidence of investors and men of means and opened the way for his connection with other finan- cial, and commercial enterprises of import- ance in his county and state. He is a di- rector of the Pennington Wholesale Grocery Company of Ardmore, and also served three years as president of the Ardmore Commer- cial Club and two years as president of the Federated Commercial Clubs of Oklahoma and Indian Territory. But further than all this he has brought his wonderful power to bear upon the educational life of his state, and his interest in the work, especially that of higher education, and the advanced po- sition he holds with reference to the best and most practical development of the modern youth has brought him into official connec- tion with college work in Oklahoma. He is a member of the board of trustees of Har- grove College in Ardmore, and in December of 1907 he was appointed by the governor a member of the board of regents of the state University of Oklahoma.

In the political world while he has ever been a Democrat, firm and steadfast in the sup- port of its principles, Mr. Cruce entered pub- lic life only when the territory was prepar- ing for entry into the sisterhood of common- wealths. He urged statehood and advocated the election of delegates of his party faith to the constitutional convention, and in the en- suing contest for state officers he entered the contest to become he first governor of the state, and although making a clean, fair and open campaign in the triangular contest which followed, meeting the people of the state in a manner which has always characterized his actions he was defeated by only 2,860 votes in a primary vote of more than 120.000. He performed his part loyally in contribut- ing to the election of his successful compet- itor. In the summer of 1908, when the Democratic clans of Oklahoma gathered for the great national contest for the presidency, the first of its kind in which she was to par- ticipate, Mr. Cruce was chosen one of the delegates to the national Democratic conven- tion at Denver and took part in nominating

the "Great Commoner" for the third time to represent his party on the national ticket, while in the ensuing campaign Mr. Cruce was called into active work by the speakers' bu- reau of Oklahoma and made many speeches in behalf of the party of his choice.

In 1893, in Ardmore, he married Miss Chickie LaFlore, a daughter of Captain Charles LaFlore of Limestone Gap, Oklaho- ma, a Choctaw, and his wife was of Chick- asaw blood. Mrs. Cruce died May 6, 1903, leaving a daughter, Lorena Jane, now thirteen years of age. In spiritual matters the Hon. Lee Cruce is a firm believer in the doctrines of the Presbyterian church, and is a deacon in his church.

JEREMIAH C. WASHINGTON, of Marietta, was a leader in the stock business of Okla- homa for more than thirty years; and was one of the most noted breeders of blooded cattle in the southwest and president of the Short Horn Breeders' Association of Texas, and erected and owned nearly half of the good business buildings in the town of his residence. He was a massive man, both physically and mentally, and the southwest takes an honest pride in being the molder and habitat of such fine specimens of man-

hood as he. He was born in Cooke county, Texas, on the 3rd of July, 1857, and there and in the Chickasaw Nation he acquired that training which led to his broad and un- usual achievements in the southwestern world of affairs. His father was Russell Washing- ton, whose birth occurred in the Old Domin- ion, the land of the greatest of the Washing- tons. Darling Washington, the paternal grandfather, brought his family to Texas, soon after the state had achieved its indepen- dence from Mexico, and he removed succes- sively to Cooke county and Parker county, dying in the latter. He was a sturdy fron- tier stock raiser, and left four sons and a daughter to perpetuate the family name :- John, James, George, Russell and Nancy- the last named marrying George Barton and dying in southern Texas. Russell, the fath- er, was also a stanch product of the Texas frontier, and made Cooke county his home and the center of his large stock operations from 1843 until his death in 1902.

The son Jeremiah C., after a spasmodic training in the country schools, began his business career when entering his teens un- der the tutelage of his worthy father. He began his activity in what is now Oklahoma

JAG washing Thon

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HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA.

as early as 1868, when his father's ranch had reached the Indian domain, and he main- tained his personal interests there during the remainder of his life. At his majority he as- sumed his station among independent oper- ators, and his brand, the "rafter O bar," be- came even more famous than that of his father, "I. S." His also became a familiar and respected figure in the markets of Kan- sas City and St. Louis. Not content to al- ways handle the common range cattle, on one of his trips to the St. Louis market Mr. Washington stopped at Sedalia, Missouri, and in 1829 brought home with him thirty- two Short Horn bulls from the Gentry herd, the owner of which was noted in the Mis- sissippi valley as a breeder of the popular Durham stock. He finally concluded to adopt that specialty himself, and in 1892 virtually abandoned the range stock business and pur- chased the nucleus of his herd of Short Horns which since gave him a high standing among the breeders of blooded cattle throughout the entire southwest. He bought both males and females from nearly all the noted breeders of this stock in the United States, and the herd is now headed by Baron Banff No. 234,- 073, out of Avalanche 2, an imported cow sired by Lord Banff, brought to the United States by W. E. Jones of Williamsville, Illi- nois. Mr. Washington exhibited his cattle in all the state fairs of Oklahoma, Texas and Arkansas, since he has been in the business, and carried off ribbons of every prize for the largest cattle of any age, cattle that out- weighed those of any other breeder at a cor- responding age, etc., etc. Upon different oc- casions he showed a male that weighed 2,- 400 pounds, a female that weighed 2,035, a two-year old heifer of 1,860 pounds, a year- ling of 1,370 and a yearling male of 1,520 pounds. His facilities comprised stall-room for 200 head of cattle, 1,500 acres of land for growing feed, 4,500 acres of pasture land, deep wells, water tanks and other conven- iences for the care, breeding and transpor- tation of blooded and fancy stock. Mr. Washington was also one of the largest real estate owners of Love county, and, as stated, owned nearly half the good business prop- erty in Marietta. He organized the Marietta National Bank, and was its president from its founding until 1908, a period of seven years.

Russell Washington, the father, began his livestock career in Cooke county, Texas, when a very young man. In that section he bought

a large tract of land along Red River, some of it for less than a dollar an acre, and upon this his herds ranged and multiplied. Af- ter the war he crossed the river into the Chickasaw Nation, and his was one of the first ranches to be established within the In- dian country. His home, however, contin- ued in Cooke county from 1843 until his death in 1902. As stated, he adopted "I. S." as his ranch brand and 10,000 to 12,000 head of cattle often bore his mark of ownership. A few years before his death he sold his brand to Sugg Brothers, and for the few cattle he raised afterward he used "O. L." But during the latest years of his life he gave himself virtually to the improvement of his vast estate, and at the time of his death had several hundred acres under production. He was an intense lover of the frontier and the south, and served in the Confedrate army during the Civil war. In religion he was a member of the Christian church. He mar- ried, first, Sallie Jones, daughter of Jeremi- ah Jones, of Rusk county, Texas, who died in 1863, the mother of the following: Mary E., who married Edward Albright and died leaving a daughter-Mary, who became the wife of a Mr. Holmes, a resident of New Mexico; Jeremiah C., of this review; Wil- liam E., of Hagerman, New Mexico, and John Washington. For his second wife Rus- sell Washington married Emma Spence, who bore him Rosa, wife of Richard McClish, the founder of Ardmore, and now a resident of Wapanucka, Oklahoma; Sallie, who married Clay Long, of Roswell, New Mexico; Fan- nie, wife of Lindon Murrell, a resident of Texas; Mattie, who married Prentiss Mc- Cain, of Dexter, that state, and Lillie, now the wife of Emmett Marshall, of Gainesville, Texas.

On March 25, 1878, Jeremiah C. Washing- ton married Miss Josie Addington, who died in 1883, the mother of the following chil- dren : Claud, who passed away in 1908, leav- ing Maud, Jerry and Inez ; and Louise, wife of John W. Scanlon, of Marietta, one of the leading young merchants of the place. In December, 1886, Mr. Washington married Mamie. daughter of Hon. Robert Love, of Marietta, who died in 1889, having borne him two sons-Calvin and Love, both cattle- men of Love county. On December 5. 1892, Mr. Washington married as his third wife Mrs. Lou C. Wall, who was born in Wash- ington Franklin county, Missouri, Septem- ber 29, 1856, a daughter of M. C. King, and

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the children of this union are Rosella, born November 13, 1888, and George, born No- vember 8, 1893. Mrs. Washington's first hus- band was E. J. Wall, who was born in Rich- mond, Ray county. Missouri, March 21, 1841. They were married February 2, 1844, and two children were born to them: Edna M. born January 26, 1880, married Claude Wash- ington in June 1898. They were the parents of three children, Maud, Jerry and Inez. Claude Washington died January 23, 1908. Inez Wall, was born August 15, 1882, and was married December 4, 1908, to C. C. Buck of Shawnee, Oklahoma, and has one child, Ed- ward C.

M. C. King, father of Mrs. Washington, was born in Missouri, January 3, 1819. May 3, 1849, he married Susan H. Barron, who was born in Bladensburg, Maryland, December 12, 1831. They were the parents of three children : Lee O. King, M. C. King, Jr., and Lou C., now Mrs. J. C. Washington. Both Lee O. and M. C. Jr., are deceased. Lee O. King left four children, Robert O., Lou May (Mrs. Earnest Mckinney), Geraldine, and Ralph all living in Oklahoma. Mrs. Washing- ton's father's people were originally from Kentucky and before settling there came from Scotland, while her mother's people came from France.

SAMUEL BLACK, vice president of the Mari- etta National Bank and for many years a representative business man and farmer of Love county, was born at Waco, Texas, Feb- ruary 4, 1868. His father Captain Samuel Black, settled in McLennan county, that state, before the Civil war, at its outbreak being engaged there in the practice of law. Af- terward he entered the ministry, in which he died as a resident of the Chickasaw Nation. He was a brave, an intellectual, a spiritual and in many ways a remarkable man, but the financial sacrifices which he made in abandoning the law for the ministry so re- acted upon the prospects of his children that they were obliged to grow up with few edu- cational advantages. That, at least, was the case with his namesake, the son being early made familiar with the hard work of the farm and the ranch. In 1893, having ac- cumulated a small capital, the younger man engaged in business at Marietta, under the firm name of Black Brothers. For seven years the store as conducted with fair re- turns, after which Mr. Black commenced to deal in cotton and handle stock. For

some years he was the largest feeder and shipper of cattle from Marietta, but aban- doned the business when he became inter- ested in banking. He was one of the pro- moters of the Marietta National Bank and was its manager two years, being still a di-" rector and its vice president. On the 13th of October, 1893, Mr. Black married Miss Ida M. Morris, a granddaughter of Judge Overton Love, one of the first men of the Chickasaw Nation, the children of the union being Overton, John D., Sophia Ellen, Cor- nelia, Henrietta, Ida M., Mamie Elizabeth and Alfred Edward Black. When the In- dian lands were being divided in severalty among the citizens of the Chickasaw Na- tion, Mr. Black selected his family allot- ments in Love's valley, upon which tracts he now conducts his stock and farming in- terests. His residence is at the county seat, where he has established and improved a splendid homestead, having also other prop- erty interests at Marietta. As a Democrat he has served in the city council, and is a citizen of substance, enterprise and high per- sonal character. Fraternally, he belongs to the Woodmen of the World and the Knights of Pythias.

Captain Samuel Black, to which brief ref- erence has been made, was a father of whom any son would be proud. He was born at McMinnville, Tennessee, in the year 1824, and received his collegiate education at Lebanon, that state. His ancestors were Scotch-Irish and were identified with American affairs in the primitive days of the republic. William Black, the paternal grandfather, was also born in McMinnville, and was an active merchant there for many years, afterward bringing his family to Fayetteville, Arkansas, where he died. There his son, Samuel Black, married Sophia A. Decherd, daughter of Peter S. Dec- herd, mentioned elsewhere in these pages. Their children were: Henrietta, wife of W. J. Duggan, who died in Love county: W. S. who passed his life near Marietta; Howard. a business man of that place: Cora, wife of IV. W. Smith, of Marietta ; Elizabeth, also of that place; Mrs. Alice Brown, of Gainesville, Texas, and Samuel, of this sketch. Before his marriage Captain Black had been admitted to the bar, and afterward removed to Waco. Texas, where he became associated in prac- tice with Governor Coke, afterward United States senator from the Lone Star state. Then came the Civil war, and he was made captain of the Confederate company which

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he raised in Waco. His service covered the period of the Civil war and embraced vari- ous operations in the territory beyond the Mississippi. The result of the war was to completely change the current of his life, as he had vowed, should his life be spared, that he would consecrate his remaining years to religion. He accordingly joined the Presby- tery of the Cumberland church in Arkansas, engaging both in circuit preaching and in teaching in the rural schools. Being of slight physique, with a strong tendency toward tu- berculosis, the damp, chill climate of Arkansas proved weakening to him, and after many years of contact with it he removed, in 1883, to the Chickasaw Nation, with its dry and even climatic conditions. But the change was made too late, and in January, 1888, after five years of irregular ministerial work in the new south- west, he passed to his reward. Captain and Rev. Black was a man of broad education and experience, and a ready, entertaining and forceful speaker. He thought and lived upon a high plane of life, as was most evident by the very fact that he determinedly cast aside the prospects of a career in the law which might have brought him both fame and for- tune, in favor of ministerial work to which he believed he was called by the higher con- siderations of duty and conscience.

ALBERT J. DAVIS, sheriff of Love county, was born in Clayton county, Iowa, on the 30th of June, 1874, son of Freeman H. and Eliza- beth (VanPatter) Davis. The grandfather, Harvey Davis, brought his family to the Hawkeye state, as a pioneer farmer, and died at Fayetteville. The father remained in Iowa until 1874, when he located at Kansas City, Missouri, in the coal business, coming on to the Chickasaw Nation in 1891, taking up a farm on an Indian lease and dying there in 1893, at the age of forty-six. He was married in Iowa, and his wife died in that state in 1883. The surviving issue of this union are: Al J .. of this notice ; Clark F .. of Eastman, Oklahoma, and Oscar of Burneyville, Love county.

Al J. Davis, as he is popularly known, ob- tained his education in the public schools of Kansas City, and as a youth was employed in a mattress factory there. Accompanying his parents to Oklahoma he joined interests with them on a farm, and was actively con- nected with that work and its accessories until his installation as sheriff of Love county. His campaign for the shrievalty nomination

was made against seven competitors, and he received 396 votes, a plurality of those cast. He was elected on the Democratic ticket by a vote of 1,200, against 490 for his opponent, and assumed office as the first sheriff of Love county on the 16th of November. On De- cember 19, 1897, Mr. Davis married Millie, daughter of T. J. Scott, a Missouri farmer. The children of the marriage are Viola, Min- nie, Eunice and "Bill," the last being named in honor of his friend and strong official sup- porter, William A. Culwell, of Marietta. Mr. Davis is especially prominent in the fraterni- ties, being identified with Masonry (ex-master of Burneyville lodge), Knights of Pythias, I. O. O. F. and the Modern Woodmen of America.

HON. WILLIAM M. FRANKLIN, of Madill, is a leading lawyer of southern Oklahoma and, as a representative from the twenty- sixth senatorial district in the first legislature of the state, as well as an incumbent of the long term (1908-12), has initiated and pro- moted measures of organization and reform which have attracted the enthusiastic notice of the governor and the national press. He was born in Cooke county, Texas, on the 9th of December, 18:6, his parents being M. M. and Melissa J. (Williams) Franklin. The family homestead was on the boundary of Cooke and Montague counties, and there the mother died in 1884 and the father, twelve years later. "Mel" Franklin, as the latter was popularly known, was a Mississippian born in 1852-a man of fine intelligence, good busi- ness ability and an unusual capacity for mak- ing friends, his real usefulness being as broad as his popularity. For his second wife he married Miss Annie Browning, rearing the four children of this union, which completed his family of nine. He was an earnest Mason, and left his family in comfortable circumstan- ces.

It was on his father's farm in Texas that William M. Franklin developed into a strong youth of fifteen, with an active mind and a good elementary education. He had already evinced an unusual aptitude for extemporan- eous speaking, and when he became a student at the Mineral Wells College the talent brought him both considerable reputation and not a few prizes. Before he had attained his ma- jority he began teaching and farming in the Chickasaw Nation, and in the same year (1896) went to New England, where he was identified with the Bryan campaign both as

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journalist and speaker. While east he exten- ded his travels to Europe, visiting both Ire- land and Scotland, and upon his return to Texas re-engaged in farming for two years.

Having decided to study law, Mr. Franklin located at Ardmore, pursued his studies in the office of Potter and Bowman, and creditably passed his examination for admission to the bar in Judge Townsend's court. Upon the establishment of a commissioners' court at Madill, he came to that place as a member of the firm of Hardy, Franklin and Slough, which later assumed its present style, Hardy and Franklin, both members of whom are stirring, able young lawyers. Mr. Franklin's practice has been general, many of the civil cases in which he has been prominent relating to com- plications involving citizenship and land titles. These have been tried before the government departments at Washington. An especially noted case to come before the department of justice was styled Archard versus McGahey, being known on the docket as Chickasaw Con- test No. 1 and consolidated with twenty other similar cases. The contest involved about five thousand acres of land near Madill, the tract becoming known as the "government farm" from the fact that the litigation was so long in the courts. The battle was fought for four years in the United States courts and three years before the Commission to the Five Civ- ilized Tribes and courts of ultimate jurisdic- tion at Washington. The plaintiff was repre- sented by the firm of Hardy and Franklin, and the defense by Ledbetter and Bledsoe of Ard- more, United States Senator Blair and other able lawyers, the decision being a signal vic- tory for the young attorneys of Madill. Judged both from the number of cases and the importance of the litigation handled, the firm has now its full share of the legal busi- ness transacted in the county. To Mr. Frank- lin's professional work are added his duties as a legislator, and the demands made upon him as a general public speaker and a lec- turer in the interests of the fraternities; so that he has come to be one of the busiest and most popular men in his section of the state.

Senator Franklin was an early and stanch advocate of statehood for Oklahoma and in December, 1905, accompanied the delegation to Washington which so influenced the fav- orable action of Congress in the matter. In September. 1907. he was elected to the state senate by the highest percentage of ma- jority with which any member of that body was honored. He was strongly supported by

the farmers, who had petitioned him to make the race, and it was noted with favor that he was present at all roll calls, and that he close- ly and faithfully watched the legislation in behalf of his constituents. He was not only a watcher, but a worker, and soon secured the passage of eleven bills and two resolu- tions-eight of which measures vitalize sec- tions of the state constitution and four of which were especially noticed by the gover- nor in his message to the legislature. He was the author, or assisted in the preparation, of the following: anti-bucket shop bill; all act defining the duties of labor commission- ers, creating the board of arbitration and con- ciliation, and providing laws in relation to labor employed in the mining transportation, mechanical and manufacturing industries of the state; an act relating to the teaching of agriculture and allied subjects, for the pur- pose of giving practical educational values, and providing for schools of secondary grade with course of study leading to the Agricultural and Mechanical College; and an act relating to the election of United States senators by the people and the calling of a convention to amend the federal constitution toward that end, which the governor declared, in a mes- sage, to be the most practical plan ever sub- mitted on the subject. Senator Franklin also prepared at this session most of the health and medical practice acts which were consid- ered by the legislature, and the Associated Press declared his inheritance tax bill to be "more unique and equitable than any law of the kind in the United States." He is cred- ited with having secured the passage of more bills vitalizing various provisions of the con- stitution than any other member of the legis- lature. Senator Franklin's first election was for the short term, but his record so recom- mended him to his constituents that in 1908 they unanimously returned him for the full four years. In the primaries he had a strong opponent, and the contest was watched with interest throughout the state ; but Mr. Frank- lin succeeded in carrying both counties in his district by a large majority. During the short session of 1908-9 he secured the passage of seven bills and four resolutions, among them . being the child labor bill, which had the en- dorsement of the Federation of Union Labor in the State and the National Child Labor Committee, and the resulting law is recog- nized as being a model among all similar measures. At the close of the 1908-9 session he was appointed by Governor Haskell as a

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A history of the state of Oklahoma, Volume II, Part 68

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