USA > Oklahoma > A history of the state of Oklahoma, Volume II > Part 70
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Mr. Herrelson, of this sketch, was about ten years of age when his father commenced his career as one of the leading livestock deal- ers in southern Kansas, and for many years the son assisted him in his capacity as a cow- boy. As the grazing operations extended down into Indian Territory, the youth became acquainted with that country, and in 1887, when twenty-three years of age, engaged in the cattle business for himself. At one time he owned about three thousand head, and con- tinued in the business until 1899, or until the passing of the days of the "free range," when he sold his herds and engaged in general farming. Between 1891 and 1899 Mr. Herrel- son had convicted and sent to the penitentiary for stealing his stock seven cattle thieves and one horse thief, among them a prominent butcher of Coffeyville, Kansas. The thieves received from two to five years each and were prosecuted at Vinita and Wagoner a distance of forty and sixty miles from home, the prose- cuting attorney being Pliny L. Soper of the U. S. court.
In time Mr. Herrelson became the proprie- tor of some four hundred acres, which he de- voted to general farming ; for some four years
he leased various tracts of agricultural lands, but in 1903 sold his stock and located at No- wata to engage in the transfer business. This has so prospered that he now operates five teams ; and the end is not yet-by no means. Although in years a man of early middle life, and still young in the qualities of energy and capacity for accomplishment, Mr. Herrelson is one of the pioneers of the Indian country, and has a most vivid remembrance of the times when the sixty miles between Coffeyville, Kan- sas, and Claremore, Oklahoma, was a wilder- ness, and when he recklessly ran his cattle over the present sites of Nowata, Talala and Oologah. In politics, he has always been a Republican, but, with all his popularity and steadfast personal following has never aspired to office, or held it. His fraternal relations are confined to the Eagles.
On December 16, 1904, Mr. Herrelson mar- ried Mrs. Lida H. Davis, daughter of Lewis Songer, a prominent stock man, who went to southern Kansas on the Verdigris river, near where Coffeyville now is, in March, 1869, at which time white neighbors were very scarce. Mr. and Mrs. Songer were both na- tives of Vermilion county, Illinois. He died in July, 1893, and Mrs. Songer still lives at the age of seventy-eight.
Mr. and Mrs. Herrelson occupy a fine large eight-room house on Cherokee avenue. Mrs. Herrelson has always been a hard working woman and not until within the last few years has she had any hired help. No children were born to the union of Mr. and Mrs. Herrelson but Mrs. Herrelson has two daughters by her first marriage, both being married and in com- fortable circumstances.
WILSON ALEXANDER CHASE, who is one of the leading members of the bar of northeast- ern Oklahoma, is a resident of Nowata, in the county by that name, and is also quite exten- sively interested in the development of the oil fields of that part of the state. He is a Georgian by birth, his native county being Cass, now known as Gordon. He is a son of William D. and Adeline (Spruel) Chase, the former of whom is a machinist and a miller.
Early in his boyhood Wilson A. Chase ac- companied his parents to Arkansas, the family first locating at what is now known as Eliza- beth in 1874. Later, a home was established at Newburg, that state, where the boy attend- ed the public schools, graduating in his youth from the high school of Salem, Arkansas, Mr. Chase commenced his law studies in the
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offices of Captain M. N. Dyer, of Mountain Home, Arkansas, and was admitted to the bar March 16, 1893. He spent the first five years of his practice at Hardy, Arkansas, during which period he served as prosecuting attor- ney of the county and special judge of the dis- trict court of the sixteenth judicial circuit of Arkansas. In 1898 he came to the Indian Territory, locating at Nowata, where he has practiced independently and as a member of the firms of Walkerson & Chase and Tillotson & Chase, the senior partner in the latter being Hon. James A. Tillotson. Mr. Chase has also served as city attorney for one term, but is now practicing alone.
In addition to prosecuting a growing prac- tice he has become a strong factor in the oil development of the fields in his part of the state, being president of the Legal Oil and Gas Company and vice president of the Chata- hoochee Oil Company. In 1897 Mr. Chase was married to Miss Iola Price, of Evening Shade, Arkansas, and the children of their union are Mary D., Paul, Hamp Price, Ruth and Wilson A. Chase, Jr.
JOHN EMERSON BENNETT. an attorney-at- law practicing his profession at Nowata, Okla- homa, is a native of Washington county, Iowa, born July 19, 1874, a son of Alexander D. and Mary (Melick) Bennett. The father is a native of Illinois, born near Knoxville where he was reared and educated and whence he enlisted in the Union army and served throughout the war. The family is of mixed English and German origin, the paternal side claiming descent from the stock of John Alden, that Lovable Pilgrim Father of Plymouth Col- ony. On his mother's side of the family tree, Mr. Bennett traces his ancestry to German and Genoese forefathers. The great-grand- father was of the well known Apgar family of New Jersey, a lawyer of prominence in his profession in his state, and a prominent Ma- son, and one of the '49ers of the California gold fields.
John Emerson Bennett received his educa- tion chiefly in the public schools of his native county, graduating from the Keota High School with the class of 1893 and commenced the real work of life by assisting his father on the home farm. While discharging these duties he commenced the study of law and pursued it at such times as he could seize from his regular employment. In brief, he mastered much of the law without a tutor; afterward he pursued a course with the Vol. II-24.
Sprague Correspondence School; read law in the office of Hon. Allen Glenn, of Harrison- ville, Missouri, and was there admitted to the bar in 1900. In 1901 Mr. Bennett opened a law office at Watonga, Oklahoma, where he enjoyed a successful practice, remained there three years and then moved to Kansas City, Kansas. In 1906 he located at Nowata, Okla- homa, where he has since been engaged in a substantial practice.
He is also a thoroughgoing business man and stands high in the community in which he has located with a view of permanent resi- dence. An active Republican, he attained considerable local prominence in the cam- paign of 1908, and is well known as a mem- ber of the A. F. & A. M. and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Mr. Bennett was united in marriage in 1900 to Miss Lessie Baker, of Odessa, Missouri, a daughter of Rev. W. F. Baker, a Methodist divine, and two children have blessed their union-Mary Catherine and Stephen Apgar Bennett.
ADDRAN TIMOTHY RAGON. grain and hay dealer, of Lenapah, Nowata county, Okla- homa, who is also one of the proprietors of the Lenapah Grain and Hay Company, was born in Upper Sandusky, Ohio, Feb- ruary 8, 1870, a son of George W. and Maria (Moody) Ragon. The father was a native of Ohio in which state he was a business man. His family history is traced to the Scotch and Irish people. A. T. Rag- on received his education at the public schools of his native place and his first occupation was in the services of the Rock Island Railway System, as station agent and telegraph operator, at Jasper, Kansas, at which place he learned telegraphy, and after the manner of most railroad men, was transferred to other and better stations, go- ing to Gladys, Kansas, and ultimately work- ing in the telegraph service of that road at Caldwell, Kansas. From there he was sent to Claremore, Indian Territory, in the em- ploy of the Iron Mountain Railway Com- pany, as its agent at Lenapah. In February, 1907, he resigned, after having purchased an interest in the Lenapah Grain and Hay Company. This is his business today, and in it he is more independent than as a rail- road man, and is doing well financially.
Taking an interest in education and in all that tends to build up his home town and county, Mr. Ragon became a member of the local school board, which position he .
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ably fills. He was united in marriage in 1894, to Miss Corda E. Garrison, of Mt. Vernon, Missouri. There are no children by this union.
EDMOND FRANCIS ELLIOTT, Nowata, clerk of the county of that name, was born in the Cherokee Nation, November 7, 1880, son of James H. and Emily (Chouteau) Elliott. His father was a native of Ohio, who came to the Indian Territory as a pioneer ranchman and cattleman. He afterward developed into a successful lawyer, as such serving for three years as prosecuting attorney of the Cowee- scoowee district under the territorial form of government. In the later years of his life he returned to agricultural pursuits, but con- ducted his operations along modern lines-an occupation which calls for executive ability and scientific methods of a high order. The mother was a daughter of Frederick Chou- teau and a member of the old and noted Cher- okee family.
Mr. Elliott was educated in the public schools of the Cherokee Nation, assisting his father on the farm in his early years and in his more mature age as a grain buyer at Len- apah, now a town of Nowata county. Mr. Elliott was a pronounced advocate of state- hood and became locally well known as an earnest Democrat prior to his election as the first clerk of the county under the government of the commonwealth. He assumed office with the other county officials of the new state on the 16th of November, 1907. Mr. Elliott is unmarried and a member of the Odd Fellows' lodge of Lenapah, the B. P. O. E., Lodge No. 1060, of Bartlesville, and the Eagles, Nowata Lodge No. 1524, of Nowata.
EUGENE B. LAWSON, a well known lawyer of Nowata, is a native of Shelbyville, Ken- tucky, born on the 20th of May, 1871, being a son of William H. and Polly (Middleton) Lawson. His father is a farmer, and the Lawson family is well known in the progress of that state from its pioneer times to the present. Eugene ob- tained his first education in the public schools of Shelbyville, and completed his schooling at Scearces Academy, of the same place, from which he graduated in the class of 1890.
Mr. Lawson commenced his professional studies in Archer City, Texas. After two years of faithful application to the work in hand, in 1896 he was admitted to the courts of Texas, and at once commenced the
practice of his profession at Nowata. After a time he abandoned individual practice for a partnership with Hon. J. A. Tillotson, but soon after returned to an independent work, in which he has made a substantial reputa- tion. He is now interested only in oil liti- gation. He is a member of the A. F. & A. M., I. O. O. F. and B. P. O. E. Politically, he is a Republican.
In 1901 he was united in marriage with Miss Roberta E. Campbell, of Nowata, Ok- lahoma, daughter of J. E. Campbell, a bank- er and business man of that city. They have one child, Edward C. Lawson. Mrs. Lawson is closely allied to the highest type of Indian citizenship, being a granddaughter of Chief Journey Cake, of the Delawares, who was for years their principal chief and well known in the affairs of the Indian Ter- ritory.
WILLIAM R. DAWSON, of Nowata, the seat of government of Nowata county, is en- gaged there as a successful dealer in farms and live stock and town property-the two Dawson additions to Nowata. He was born in the city of Fort Worth, Texas, on the 16th of August, 1866, and is a son of Francis M. and Julia (Howarden) Dawson. His father was of Cherokee extraction and iden- tified with his nation as a farmer and raiser of live stock.
William R. obtained his education in the public schools of Berryville, Arkansas, and at Professor Clark's Academy of that place, also assisting his father in the work of the farm and ranch. He commenced business life as a merchant at old Going Snake Court House, near Westville, attending to the postmastership in connection therewith, as the government office and his store were one. His commission as postmaster was for Going Snake Postoffice, Indian Territory. Subsequently he established a ranch in the vicinity of Talala (now in Rogers county), herding his cattle each fall and marketing them at Kansas City and St. Louis. He conducted this enterprise for a number of years, when he located at Nowata, the town having been but recently platted. Mr. Daw- son at once became connected with town- site operations and the real estate business generally, platting and placing on the mar- ket, Dawson's addition to the city of No- wata. He also participated in the affairs of the local government, being chairman of the first election board and he tried the first
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case in court as a juror, serving as a juror in the first court under statehood. He is a member of Nowata Lodge, No. 63, I. O. O. F.
Mr. Dawson's wife was Miss Annie Fore- man, of Westville, Adair county, Okla- homa, daughter of Ellis and Margaret (Richardson) Foreman. Both of Mr. Daw- son's parents were born and reared in the Going Snake district, and both were of Cherokee Indian extraction. The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Dawson are: John Hubert, Jewell P., and Eldon Dawson.
DR. DUMONT D. HOWELL, engaged in the practice of medicine at Nowata, was born in Murphy, North Carolina, January 14, 1874. His parents were D. M. Howell and Margaret (Sudderth) Howell, and the pater- nal family has long been identified with the history of North Carolina and Georgia. The Sudderths are also North Carolinans. Dr. Howell received his early education in the schools of his native locality and afterward pursued his studies at Young Harris Col- lege, Georgia. He was matriculated at the University of Nashville and graduated from its Medical College in 1903 with the degree of M. D., afterward taking a course at the Chicago Post Graduate Medical School.
He at once engaged in practice at Nowata and has not only established a splendid pro- fessional business, but for the past three years has been a member of the local board of health. In addition to his professional and official activities, the Doctor is becom- ing quite extensively identified with the de- velopment of oil lands in the vicinity of Nowata. In 1905 he was married to Miss Lucile G. Harris, of Nowata, and their chil- dren are: Sue Christian and Alfred Du- mont Howell. The Doctor is a member of the American Medical Association, the No- wata County Medical Association and the State Medical Association. He also belongs to the A. F. & A. M. and the B. P. O. E. Politically, he is a Republican.
CHARLES IRVING WEAVER, of Nowata, pros- ecuting attorney of the county by that name, is a Virginian, born near Harrisonburg, on the first of January, 1871, being a son of James M. and Martha (Carpenter) Weaver. On both sides of the family, the American ancestry is of good Virginian stock, the maternal forefathers coming from England at an early period of Old Dominion history. The father of Charles I. Weaver was also
a native of Virginia, a merchant and a farm- er in comfortable circumstances, who gave his children thorough and liberal educations.
Mr. Weaver's education commenced in the public schools of Rockingham county, Virginia, was continued for one year at William and Mary College, and was com- pleted by a four years' course in Washing- ton and Lee University, Virginia. He grad- uated from the latter institution in 1902, with the degree LL. B., and, upon exam- ination before the supreme court of Virginia, was admitted to practice in that state, as well as in West Virginia. In 1903 he came to Indian Territory and first settled at No- wata, and opened an office in partnership with J. Wood Glass, under the firm name of Glass & Weaver. At the first state elec- tion Mr. Weaver was elected prosecuting attorney of Nowata county, assuming its duties November 16, 1907. He is a thor- ough lawyer and a successful prosecuting attorney. He has been financially successful. owning considerable town and farm proper- ty in Nowata county.
HEMAN G. CHENEY, oil producer at Nowa- ta, Nowata county, Oklahoma. was born in Franklinyille, Cattaraugus county, New York, a son of Monroe G. and Annie M. (Button) Cheney. The father was one of the men of affairs in his community, though a plain, modest citizen. The pater- nal ancestors were of Scotch descent, of the old Mayflower stock, and the mother was also of good old Scotch lineage, tracing it direct to Edinburgh, Scotland. Monroe G. Cheney was an educator and a professor in Ten Broeck Academy, at Franklinville. It was there that the son, Heman G., re- ceived his elementary education, under the careful tutorship of his parents. The father was an author and publisher of school text- books, especially those on geography.
Heman G. attended Westminster College, at New Wilmington, Pennsylvania, after which he decided to study law and entered the University of Buffalo, attending the law department of that institution, from which he was graduated with the class of 1896, with the degree of LL. B. He was admitted to the New York bar in June of the same year, at Rochester, New York, and began the practice of law at Franklinville, contin- uing there six years, in an independent prac- tice. In February, 1902, he became inter- ested in the production of coal oil, being
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identified with the Elcho Oil Co., of Penn- sylvania and New York, and in 1904 he moved with them to Independence, Kan- sas. At the opening of the Shallow Sand Pool, Cherokee Nation, in Oklahoma, he se- cured some leases in the oil fields of Nowata county and moved to Nowata, Oklahoma, in 1905, to develop his property holdings which are now extended over the Mid-Continent oil field. He has been instrumental in effecting the organization of the Erie Oil and Gas Company, of Nowata, and is its treasurer and general manager. He also organized and is the president of the Josephine Oil Company; is president of the Prudential Oil Company; the Noble Oil Company; the Winchester Oil Company and the Mc- Kean Oil Company.
Mr. Cheney was united in marriage in 1900 to Miss Ella J. Kingsley, of Franklin- ville, New York, a daughter of Avery W. Kingsley, a business man and banker of that city. Mr. and Mrs. Cheney have no issue. In politics, Mr. Cheney is a Demo- crat and fraternally he is a member of the Masonic order, belonging to the 32d degree.
FREDERICK D. LAMB, an active and able newspaper man of Oklahoma, is proprietor of the Nowata Star, a strong Democrat organ and the official paper of the city and county. A native of Bloomingdale, Indiana, born November 17, 1875, he is a son of John A. and Amelia (Pickard) Lamb-the former being born in North Carolina and the latter, in the Hoosier state. The fam- ily is of old English stock, and its American branch was first established in North Caro- lina, where the grandfather of Frederick D. was also born, and where he spent his life as a prosperous, slave-owning planter. Within its limits the father was reared and educated, but during the Civil war went to Indiana and there engaged in merchandise. Subsequently he became a collector for a publishing house and has been engaged in the same line ever since. At the age of sixty years, he is still active in the busi- ness. The mother spent her life in her na- tive state of Indiana and died at the age of about sixty years. She was the daughter of William Pickard, a preacher of the Friends' church and was herself a Quaker- ess.
Mr. Lamb's boyhood was spent at his Bloomingdale home, in whose public schools he obtained his education, afterward com-
mencing the printer's trade in a Blooming- dale office. A year later he removed to Terre Haute, Indiana, where he remained for a year and a half, and for the succeeding three years and a half traveled as a journey- man. He was then employed at his trade in Hume, Illinois, and at different points in Indiana, and finally became identified with the Mattoon (Illinois) Star for a period of nine years, during the last four as its man- ager. In February, 1904, Mr. Lamb located at Nowata, setting up a small printing press and establishing the Star, on the 20th of that month. His thorough knowledge of the printing business and his natural and trained abilities as a journalist have enabled him to build up an influential newspaper and a flourishing plant. He now employs eight or nine men ; is, as stated, the official printer of both city and county, and has made the Star one of the most influential organs of the Democracy in his part of the state. In his fraternal relations, Mr. Lamb is a member of the I. O. O. F. and the Modern Woodmen of the World. He was married at Nokomis, Illinois, to Miss Ethel Sides, a native of that place, and their union has resulted in one child, Donald Quincey Lamb.
WILLIAM LENHEART MOORE, an enterprising real estate dealer, of Nowata, Oklahoma, was born in Swedesboro, New Jersey, June 19, 1869, a son of John and Mary (Plum- mer) Moore. The father was a business man, dealing in merchandise and coal, to- gether with other business enterprises.
William L. Moore, early showed a dis- position to rank first in the affairs with which he was connected. He attended the schools in a small town in Gloucester coun- ty, New Jersey. He was a leader in his studies and was the youngest member of his graduating class in 1885, from the high school. After having passed scholarship in twenty-one studies he was only sixteen years of age. His father became manager of a glass manufactory in which plant the son was given a minor position in the factory. A year later he was advanced to the first place in the office department, being pro- moted on his merits as related to good work- manship. Subsequently, he attended Dick- inson College, at Carlisle, Pennsylvania, again carrying off the honors, and he finished a three-year course in two years' time. A position in a banking house was open and
FREDERICK D. LAMB
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to be awarded to such as would compete in an examination. Out of forty applicants, he was the successful winner. He then dis- covered that the position only paid the sum of thirty dollars a month, but he went be- fore the board of directors and succeeded in convincing them that his services were worth thirty-six dollars a month. He filled this position with entire satisfaction. He came to Claremore, Oklahoma, in 1889, ac- cepting a position with F. A. Neilson, in a general merchandise house where it was his duty to sell everything from drugs to imple- ments, and also to handle furniture, which was included in the general store in which he was employed. He saw a small business grow and expand till it reached a sale of forty thousand dollars a year. He continued here for eleven years. He then returned to the East and took over his father's busi- ness, that the father might retire. Here he again showed superiority in business meth- ods. Upon the death of his father, he re- turned to Claremore, Indian Territory, where he was identified with James J. Barn- dollar, who was the senior partner of the firm which acquired the business which he had developed for F. A. Neilson. Later, Mr. Moore became a director, then secretary and treasurer of the Nowata Hardware and Sup- ply Company. Later, he retired from this business and founded the Townsite Com- pany, associating himself with John A. Wet- tack, under the name of New State Town- site Company, and in connection therewith, as an operator and leaser of oil and gas prop- erty. His business ability has been directed to the promotion and development of many enterprises which have materially benefited the entire community.
In his church affiliations, Mr. Moore is a member of the First Presbyterian church, in which he is a willing and effective work- er, as well as doing his full share in the Sunday school cause. His home circle is an ideal one. He was united in marriage to Miss Margaret Russell, daughter of James Russell, a Scotchman, of Krebs, Oklahoma. Mr. Russell is an expert machinist in coal mining machinery. He has held the office of municipal judge. The children born to bless the home circle of Mr. and Mrs. Moore are : Mary Margaret, Bonnie Jean, Annie Laurie and Emma Elwell.
ALFRED MASON GOTT, a farmer and stock raiser, of Nowata county, Oklahoma, was
born in Logan county, Ill., Sept. 28, 1844, a son of Robert L. and Sarah (Seward) Gott. The grandfather was Jonathan Gott, a native of Kentucky, in which common- wealth he was reared. The mother was a native of Ohio. When but a mere infant, Alfred M. Gott left Illinois with his parents, emigrating from Illinois to Falls county, Texas. He was given the advantages of the subscription school system in Texas. At the opening of the Rebellion he enlisted under Captain Harrison in a regiment known as the Terry Texas Rangers. Mr. Gott saw much hardship in the service, and was un- der the famous commander, Old Joe Wheel- er. Though but slightly wounded in battle, Mr. Gott had seven horses shot from under him. On one occasion he was captured and made a prisoner of war, when McCook made his famous raid around Atlanta, but was re- leased a short time afterwards and managed to get through the ordeal without parole and immediately returned to active cam- paigning. At the close of the war, Alfred M. Gott came to Indian Territory and en- gaged in stock-raising, taking on the role of a ranchman, in which work he was very successful. His herds and ranches increased and broadened until his operations came to a termination on account of the advance of civilization in that section, including the fencing up of the public domain. He, how- ever, early saw the possibilities of the new order of things and in 1898 became identi- fied with affairs in the Cherokee Nation, where he engaged in the development of townsites, in which he has been engaged for eight years. Fortunately, his lands contain a good paying quantity of oil. Much of this land is leased to oil and gas companies, who pay him large returns in royalty.
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