USA > Oklahoma > A history of the state of Oklahoma, Volume II > Part 69
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HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA.
delegate to the Southern. Conference on Child Labor Laws, which met at New Orleans, Lou- isiana. In all his dealings with his colleagues, Senator Franklin's influence has been inspir- ing and far-reaching. During the two ses- sions of the legislature he did not have a sin- gle bill killed by the body of which he was a member. His sincere purpose has always been evident, and his grasp of the practical needs of the new state has established an en- during confidence in him. He is a Democrat to the full stature-in theory, sympathy and action.
Senator Franklin has also been a leader in the work of the Woodmen of the World, having represented the local organization at the head camp of the state and being sent to the sovereign head camp at Norfolk, Virginia, where he was an active participant in the de- liberations of the body. He is a brigadier general of the Chickasaw division of the Sons of Veterans, in which position, as in all oth- ers which he has been called upon to fill, his affability and ability have won him both ad- miration and warm friendship.
But perhaps the most interesting event in the life of Senator Franklin, and certainly one which has increased the warmth of the public's attitude toward him, was his marriage on December 20, 1908, to Miss Mattie Louise Young, whose eighteenth birthday occurred on the following 31st of March. His young, at- tractive, educated and cultured wife is a daughter of G. W. Young, the well known ranchman, capitalist and citizen of public af- fairs who is particularly identified with the city of Berwyn. The wedding occurred at that place, Mr. Young being enthusiastically described as follows: "No braver, brainier man has ever held a seat in the legislature of the Chickasaw Nation than G. W. (Bud) Young, and the Indians never had a truer ex- ponent and intermediary." On her mother's side the bride is related to Governor Johnston, of the Chickasaw Nation and to other promi- nent Indian families, and, while she does not in any way bear any of the characteristics of her maternal ancestry, she is one-sixteenth Indian blood. She attended Bloomfield Sem- inary, an Indian school for young ladies, afterward graduating from Hargrove College, Ardmore. She had taken a number of med- als for her violin playing and her skill on other musical instruments, and in every way possessed the charm, poise and elasticity of manner which made her a social favorite at the state capital and ensures her numerous
warm friends, whatever her station or habita- tion. In his marriage, Senator Franklin truly secured a charming and influential helpmate.
JOHN E. REID, M. D., of Madill, Marshall county, a man of broad education and varied experiences, has been a resident of Oklahoma since 1893, when he established himself at Enville, Love county. He was then a medical student, well versed in the theory of the science and competent to practice, and, under license, for several years engaged in professional work. Dr. Reid was born in Sebastian county, Ar- kansas, August 16, 1864, son of John T. Reid, who settled there in 1856, and in 1893 brought his family to Enville, then located in the Chickasaw Nation. After a few years he crossed over to Texas and resides at Guymon today. The Doctor acquired a common school education in his native state, and, after several years of experience as a farmer and a school teacher, he commenced to read medicine in the office of Dr. Brandon, of Dayton, Arkan- sas. He took his first lectures in the medical school of the Arkansas Industrial University, at Little Rock, Arkansas, pursued his studies further in the medical department of the Fort Worth (Texas) University, and finally grad- uated, in 1898, from the Kentucky School of
Medicine at Louisville, after many years had been spent in actual practice, as stated above. Soon after his graduation from the Kentucky institution he temporarily abandoned his pro- fession in order to devote himself to his press- ing business interests. He then removed from Enville to Lebanon, now Marshall county, and engaged profitably in lease-farming, as well as in merchandising. He also became one of the trustees of Lebanon College, was master of the local lodge of Masons for several years, and became an active and a broad participant in other worthy activities. He is still active in Masonry, and is also identified with the Odd Fellows and Woodmen of the World. The success of his Lebanon enterprises placed the Doctor in a position of substantial inde- pendence, and in 1908 he brought his family to the county seat, in order to be nearer su- perior advantages and conveniences. He still retains the proprietorship of the store in Leb- anon, and owns farm land near that place and his comfortable home in Madill.
The Reids are of Irish origin, and the great-grandfather of the Doctor was an officer of the Revolutionary war and afterward a pioneer of Tennessee. The grandfather, Zaccheus Reid, was a native of middle Ten-
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HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA.
nessee, a lifelong farmer and very prominent in Masonry. He was an early emigrant to Arkansas, and Reid Lodge at Mansfield was named in his honor. He died in Arkansas in 1864. John T. Reid, his son, married Luty Welch, daughter of Thomas Welch, a black- smith and gunner of Lebanon, Missouri, where they were married. The children born to them were Thomas Z., of Lebanon, Oklahoma; Dr. John E., of this notice; Sarah F., of Beaver county, Oklahoma; Clementine, now Mrs. Oliver Ferguson, of Texas county, Oklahoma ; Felix G., of the same county; Joseph F., a resident of Marshall county, Oklahoma, and Frederick J., of Texas county, also that state. John T. Reid served with credit in the Con- federate army, is a man of fair education, a member of the Presbyterian church and an industrious and honorable citizen of Guymon, Texas.
September 10, 1886, Dr. Reid married in Dayton, Arkansas, Mary A. Holley, a daugh- ter of James and Martha (Barnett) Holley. The children in the Doctor's family are: Lora E., who was educated in Lebanon and in Har- grove College, Ardmore; Edgar; Paul; and a daughter, Willie. Dr. Reid was one of the trustees of the Lebanon school while residing there. He was also master of the Lebanon Lodge of Masons for several years ; is an Odd Fellow and belongs to both orders of Wood- men. Politically, he is a Democrat.
JUDGE ISAAC O. LEWIS For many years one of the conspicuous representatives of the Chickasaw Nation, a leader in its politics, a popular official, able lawyer and wise judge, and now one of the strongest characters in the founding and development of the new state, Judge Isaac Overton Lewis, of Madill, Marshall county, is recognized throughout southern Oklahoma as one of the most prom- inent representatives of that sturdy band asso- ciated with the work and influence of the famous Love family. He himself was born in the Chickasaw Nation on the 14th of Nov- ember, 1856, his father, William L. Lewis, coming to the nation in 1845 from the vicinity of Holly Springs, Mississippi, where many of the Chickasaw people were located and where he was born in 1828. He accompanied the Loves and many other prominent Chick- asaws who migrated to Pickens county, In- dian Territory, and there and in various por- tions of Texas he lived until his death. In early life the elder Mr. Lewis was a mechanic. assisting in the construction of Fort Washita
and afterward plying his avocation along the Washita valley. He served in the Mexican war, and before the outbreak of the Civil war had settled in Collin county, Texas, where he engaged chiefly in farming until his death in 1896. His first wife was Eliza, daughter of Isaac Love, whose father was the head of the family which has been so conspicuously connected with the varied affairs of the Chickasaw Nation. She died in 1857, leaving the following children: Mary, who first mar- ried James McCarty and then Joseph Tren- tham, dying near Tishomingo; Beatrice, who died single; Jennie, now the wife of M. W. Coffey, of Lone Grove, Oklahoma; and Isaac O., of this biography. By his second wife Mr. Lewis had no surviving issue, and by his third, Mary E. Lucas, he had a son, James F. Lewis, now living in Seymour, Texas.
After his mother's death, Isaac O. Lewis was reared in the home of his maternal grand- father until he was twelve years of age, when he returned to his father in Texas, but after living for two years at Colbert Station became dissatisfied, ran away and found a home with a Mr. Ingham in Collin county. Remaining there for two years he next went to Coleman county, Texas, and worked for a like period on the ranch owned by Grounds and Taylor. Returning to Collin county, he became a mem- ber of the family of George W. Coffman, a school teacher and a good man who took a deep interest in the youth and was the means of stimulating his mental capacities toward the large fruition of the after years. Through his earnest friend and his own earnest appli- cation he became well grounded in the common branches, and when he returned to the Chick- asaw Nation and entered the employ of Judge Overton Love, then a ranchman at Love's Bend, he was a fine example of the young man of this region, strong and alert both men- tally and physically, and capable of taking ad- vantage of the varied opportunities which may only be seized by such virile personalities. After remaining four years with "Sobe" Love, Mr. Lewis engaged with the "Three I" Cattle Company as its superintendent at Cornish, where the business was really operated in his name. Later he took charge of the Jerry Washington ranch, eight miles west of Fort Arbuckle, and remained thus employed for four years. Then becoming an independent stockman he located just west of Ardmore, Carter county, and was in that locality until the Santa Fe road was built, when he erected the first three residences in the new town,
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HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA.
which he made his home until 1900, when he organized the Madill Townsite Company and became a prime figure in its development.
Soon after settling in Ardmore Judge Lew- is entered the employ of R. Hardy, a mer- chant, but soon became interested in the politi- cal situation, and as an active Democrat was appointed county clerk under the Indian juris- diction. This position tended to soon famil- iarize him with the statutes and legal and ju- dicial procedures and he also pursued a tho- rough course of reading in the office of Hardy and Potter. In 1888 he was admitted to the bar by the court of the Indian Territory, and in 1892 by the Federal court, before Judge James Shackelford. After holding the county clerkship a year he was elected to the bench of the county court, and the two years in that position was succeeded by a term as attorney general of the Chickasaw Nation. He held the latter office for four years, and in 1895 was elected district judge, resigning in the following year to accept the place of delegate to Washington to protest, for the Chickasaw Nation, against the Choctaw agreement. In September, 1896, the report of the commission of which he was' a member was made to the legislature, and he was afterward elected by that body to formulate what is known as the Atoka agreement, which was signed April 23, 189%. At the conclusion of this work, Mr. Lewis' official services for the nation ended, and he located in Oakland for the practice of the law. When the Frisco Railroad was built into the country he organized the Madill Townsite Company, and, with others, laid off the town in 1900. With W. N. Taliaferro he purchased a half interest in the site, and commenced to plat and sell lots. Soon after- ward he formed a partnership with George E. Rider, with whom he resumed his law prac- tice. The firm is the local representative of the Frisco road, and has a substantial busi- ness of high grade. Judge Lewis has con- siderable property interests in and near Ma- dill, and his family allotments, which are val- uable and productive, are in the vicinity of Oakland or adjoin it. In the formative period of the state and ever since, the Judge was an active figure and a valued counselor, and is now a most enthusiastic believer in the splen- did future of Oklahoma. He is a very prom- inent Mason, having served as master of Oak- land lodge for six years and represented the grand lodge upon several accasions. He is also an Odd Fellow and identified with the Woodmen of the World.
VIRGINIUS GAYLE, treasurer of Marshall county, and as such, a resident of Madill, has struggled through a varied life to a substan- tial position of honor and comparative inde- pendence. The eight years preceding his elec- tion, as first treasurer of the county was spent as a farmer near Madill, his mature life hav- ing been divided between the cultivation of young ideas, farm labors and public service. In whatever field he has labored he has evinced earnest and ably directed application, based upon honorable and broad principles. He is a southern gentleman, born in Matthews county, Virginia, on the 21st of February, 1848, and his people were colonial pioneers, including the Gayles, the Beasleys, the Buck- ners and other patriots of the American Rev- olution. His grandfather, Dr. Bartlett Gayle, was educated in William and Mary College at Williamsburg, Virginia, practiced medicine, operated a large plantation with slave labor and was a gentleman distinguished alike for his intelligence and wealth. He married Miss Buckner, daughter of a Revolutionary soldier, and the following children were born to theni: Alexander T., a veteran of the war of Texas independence, who died in 1858 at Texanna ; Hon. W. B. Gayle, who served on the bench in the administration of Governor Davis of Texas and now resides at Cuero, that state ; Joshua, who died in Virginia ; Dr. Charles M., of Whitewright, Texas, who was a Confed- erate soldier, and Matthew, the father of Vir- ginius Gayle.
Himself a planter of independence, the fath- er suffered the customary losses of those in his class incident to the progress of the Civil war, in which he naturally participated. At its conclusion he bravely assumed the con- duct of his shattered property under the en- tire change of labor conditions. His wife was Miss Jane B. Beasley, whose mother was a Buckner and family of Irish ancestry. The issue of this union was as follows: Lucy H., who married Sidney Miller and resides in the old home county of Virginia : Martha S., who also lives in that locality; Virginius, of this review ; and Charles and William S., who died single.
Virginius was yet a schoolboy during the Civil war period. He was a member of a company of cadets at Hillsboro, Virginia, when toward the end of the conflict he joined the Confederate army of Virginia. For a time he was a prisoner of war at City Point, that state, but was released at Newport News in June, 1865, and returned to his boyhood
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HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA.
home to begin the serious duties of a new life. The five years of rather discouraging agricultural labors which followed made it evident that the old south would be an unin- viting field for this class of work, at least for some years to come. In August, 1870, he started for the newer southwest, reached Gal- veston by boat, and by January, 1872, had worked his way to Greenville. There and at other points in Hunt county he engaged in teaching for three years, removing then to Wise county, where he was similarly employed until 1887. In that year he abandoned the school-room and located on a farm at Bridge- port, continuing there until 1894, when he re- moved to Savoy, Fannin county, where he followed stock raising until 1900. Mr. Gayle then came to the Chickasaw Nation, settling near the site of Madill, and continuing his agricultural operations until he was elected treasurer of Marshall county in the fall of 1907. On July 27, 1876, he married at Bridge- port, Texas, Lucy Proctor, daughter of James A. Proctor, one of the pioneer farmers of that locality.
WILLIAM L. TULL. President of the W. L. Tull Loan and Investment Company, the City Investment Company and the Kentucky Realty Company-William L. Tull, of Muskogee, has been rightly classed as one of the really "live wires" of the enterprising city. Born in Har- rison county, Missouri, on the 10th of August, 1873, he is a son of Francis M. and Lucy (Fowler) Tull, his father being one of the leading business men of Oklahoma City. The family is of substantial German stock, long established in Tennessee, one of the towns of that state, Tullhoma, having adopted its name in their honor.
Mr. Tull's early education was obtained at Hopkins Academy, Oakland, California, and his mental training was completed at Bishop Scott's Academy, Portland, Oregon, from whose commercial course he graduated in 1889, and the Latah (Washington) Military Academy. His first business experiences were in connection with his father's ventures. The elder Mr. Tull was then an official of the widely known Grand Rapids Furniture and Carpet Company, in charge of its store at Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and it was at that point that the son entered the business field as a clerk in his father's store, retaining his con- nection with the establishments, in various capacities, at Portland, Oregon ; Kingsman, Kansas; and Oklahoma City. At the last
named city he developed into a leading busi- ness man, but upon locating at Muskogee en- tered a field which he rightly judged would afford him broader opportunities for the de- velopment of enterprises tending to an expan- sion of both fortune and character. Immedi- ately upon his location there he entered the real estate business, organized the William L. Tull Loan and Investment Company, and purchased from Dr. John T. M. Johnston the twenty-acre tract known as Tuxedo Park. This he platted and sold within two months, when he bought the additions adjoining the city limits known as Garrett Heights, West View Park, Crabtree Heights, Lincoln Place and Melrose Place, which Mr. Tull has since developed into first-class residence districts. Although his business is centered at Musko- gee where he has a large and well organized office, his agents are located at other cities in Oklahoma and the southwest and spreads abroad his fine reputation for business energy and ability.
Mr. Tull is an enthusiastic member of the Ozark Club, his main recreation from his heavy business responsibilities being the hunt- ing of small game, with the related pleasure of maintaining a pack of fine dogs. He is a married man, his wife being formerly Miss Rosebud Marjorie Hippel, a daughter of Frederick Hippel, a well known citizen of Paducah, Kentucky.
BERT VAN LEUVEN, a promising and able lawyer of Nowata, is now serving as the first judge of Nowata county under the new state government and acquitting himself with credit and dignity. He is a native of the Hawkeye state, born at Lime Springs on the 20th of August, 1876, being a son of Albert M. and Georgiana (Morsl) Van Leuven. Judge Van Leuven is of Holland Dutch descent on both sides of the family, the paternal genealogy dating back in the annals of New York to the year 1682. His education and experience, however, have been entirely of the west, the public and high schools of Lime Springs fur- nishing him with the foundation of his mental equipment. After graduating from the Lime Springs High School in 1893, he spent two years at the Upper Iowa University, Fayette, Iowa, and finished his legal studies at the \Ves- leyan Institution, Helena, Montana.
Judge Van Leuven was admitted to practice before the Montana state supreme court, In- dian Territory court of appeals (at McAles- ter), and the supreme court of Oklahoma.
Busvandannen
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HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA.
He located at Tahlequah, Cherokee county, in 1902, and forming a partnership with W. W. Hastings continued under the firm name of Hastings and Van Leuven until 1903. He was then appointed by Major C. R. Breckenridge chief clerk of the contest division of the Dawes Commission, and in the performance of his duties, as well as in the practice of the law, resided at Muskogee, Oklahoma, until 1907. He then returned to his professional work alone, but within a month the Democrats nominated him to the county judgeship, and he was inducted into office on statehood day, November 16, 1907.
His wife was formerly Miss Kathryn Nedry, of Fort Smith, Arkansas, daughter of John B. Nedry, a business man of that place. They have one son, Kermit Van Leuven. Judge Van Leuven is an advocate and practical ex- ponent of out-door sports, his special recrea- tion being an annual fishing trip to the moun- tain streams of Montana. He is affiliated with the Nowata lodge of the A. F. & A. M. and Muskogee Lodge No. 517, B. P. O. E.
EDWARD A. MCALPIN. Although only in his twenty-fifth year, Edward A. McAlpin of Muskogee, who is especially engaged in the business of pavement contracting, has become established as a progressive citizen of the place. Born at Denison, Crawford county, Iowa, March 3, 1884, he is a son of Matthew M. and Bridget (Quigley) McAlpin. His pa- rents are both of Irish parentage, his father being a native of Iowa and his mother of Pennsylvania.
Edward A. McAlpin received his early edu- cation at the parochial school of St. Rose of Lima, Denison, Iowa, and as his father was a business man of that city he naturally en- tered a like field. His first commercial exper- ience was in connection with the offices of Faus Brothers, pavement contractors, at Deni- son, remaining thus employed for two years. While thus engaged he not only mastered the practical details of the business but obtained a valuable training in office methods in con- nection with it. He therefore established a similar business of his own which he conduct- ed with fair success until he came to Musko- gee in 1904. Here the development of his business has been much more rapid and sub- stantial. At Muskogee he has also become prominent in social and fraternal circles, es- pecially in the order of the Knights of Colum- bus. At the present time he holds the office of grand knight of Muskogee Council, No.
962 and in 190? was secretary of the state or- ganization.
JAMES CLARENCE DENTON is the mayor of Nowata in the county by that name; is a law- yer of ability and a local Republican leader. He is a Tennessean, born at Newport, Ten- nessee, March 18, 1882, the son of James J. and Elizabeth (Lloyd) Denton. For several generations the Denton family have been es- tablished in Tennessee, the grandfather of James C. Denton being a well known captain in the Union army. Mr. Denton commenced his education in the public schools of his na- tive state and spent one year at Emory and Henry College, located at Emory, Virginia. He then entered the University of Tennessee, at Knoxville, from which he was graduated in 1903, with the degree of B. S., and in 1904 with the degree of LL. B.
He at once removed to Indian Territory, was admitted to the bar in 1904 before the United States District Court for the Northern District, at Nowata. He was first associated in practice with Mr. W. J. Campbell, but after a partnership of about one year retired from the firm and has since been alone. In 1908 he served as a member of the committee on Judicial Administration and Remedial Reform of the Oklahoma State Bar Association, and in 1909 was appointed a member of the com- mittee on Investigation of Misconduct for his judicial district. Mr. Denton was elected mayor of the city, July 11, 1908, and besides holding that office, is chairman of the Repub- lican county central committee, of which he was formerly the secretary. The mayor is also interested in various corporations and is becoming prominent as an oil well operator. In order to maintain his mental and physical stamina, the moyor still indulges in various forms of athletic sports, and is especially en- thusiastic about base-ball.
THOMAS W. HERRELSON. One of the old- time hustlers of Kansas and Indian Territory, whether considered as a live cowboy or a suc- cessful cattleman, Thomas W. Herrelson is now the proprietor of the leading transfer business at Nowata, Oklahoma. He is one of the most energetic, hearty, able and honorable business men of the locality and, from a tho- rough consideration of his character and gen- eral personality, it would be impossible to take him for anything but a westerner-the breadth of the prairies and the invigorating breezes of the highlands have been bred into his bone. brain and soul. Mr. Herrelson is a native
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of Montgomery county, Illinois, born on the 23d of April, 1864, and is a son of Alexander and Caroline (Varner) Herrelson. Both sides of the family were long established in Ten- nessee, of which state his paternal grand- father (Thomas) and his maternal grand- father (Samuel Varner) were natives. His mother was born in Macoupin county, Illinois, in March, 1844. His father, who was born in Quincy, Illinois, in August, 1841, was reared in that state and went to Sumner coun- ty, Kansas, in 1874, and for many years con- ducted extensive operations in the raising of cattle and mules in the southern part of that state, as well as in Indian Territory. But in the conduct of his business he could not se- cure immunity against the ravages of the mange, which made such inroads among his large herds that he was forced to dispose of them at a great loss. He then purchased a tract of four hundred acres near Joplin, Mis- souri, where he now resides with his wife, en- gaged in farming. It may be added that the elder Mr. Herrelson is a stanch Democrat, and that he served for a short time in the Union army: also that his wife is an active member of the Methodist church, and that they both have taken a position among the substantial and honored residents of their home locality.
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