USA > Oklahoma > A history of the state of Oklahoma, Volume II > Part 71
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In December, 1869, he was married to Miss Sue Harris, daughter of Charles Har- ris, of Georgia, a Cherokee Indian. To his faithful wife and her careful discriminating business judgment, is due much of Mr. Gott's success. No children have been born of this union, but their home has been given over to the fostering care and influence of two children, whom they have reared as their own-they are Lucile Harris, now Mrs. Dr. D. D. Howell of the city of No- wata and Harry Sisson, a farmer in the Ver- digris Valley, in Wagoner county. He has come to be a successful farmer and is in good circumstances. Mr. Gott is a very
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stanch supporter of the Democratic party. He is a member of the Knights of Pythias, belonging to Welcome Lodge, of Nowata.
RUFUS RANDOLPH RILEY, sheriff of Nowata county, is a native of the Cherokee Na- tion of the Indian Territory, born near Coodys Bluff, in the Verdigris valley, Au- gust 11, 1873, a son of Rufus R. and Eliza- beth (Rissner) Riley. Rufus R., Sr., was a resident of the Cherokee Nation, where he was born and reared, and is of Cherokee Indian blood. Three generations back the Riley family lived in Ireland, the great- grandfather Riley being the first of the family to settle in the United States. The mother of Rufus R., Jr., was from Tennes- see, but when a young girl came with her parents to the Choctaw country, near old Bennington, on the Texas State line.
Rufus R. Riley, Jr., for whom this memoir is written, was educated in the public schools of his home neighborhood and later at the Cherokee Male Seminary, at Tahle- quah, and at the Worcester Academy, Vin- ita, Indian Territory. He assisted on his father's farm until the latter's death, which occurred when the son was but fourteen years of age. After that event, he managed the place and at the same time attended school until 1902, when he began improving his own allotment, remaining on his farm four years. He gradually became interested in public affairs and was an ardent support- er of the Democratic party, which organ- ization elected him as sheriff of his county, thus proving his worth and popularity. He commenced to perform the duties of such office on November 16, 1906, Statehood day. Hence he is the first sheriff of the county, under statehood. He still continues to con- duct his farming operations. On his lands are to be seen fourteen oil-producing wells. He is developing his oil field and carrying on his agricultural pursuits, besides per- forming his many duties as first peace offi- cer of his county. There are only two sher- iffs in the state who are younger that Sheriff Riley.
Mr. Riley was united in marriage to Miss Sarah Wood, of Kentucky, and by this union a daughter was born November 16, 1907-Statehood day-and for this reason she was named Oklahoma. Mr. Riley is affiliated with several fraternal organiza- tions, being a member of the Knights of
Pythias, Welcome Lodge, No. 131; the Woodmen of the World, and Nowata Lodge, No. 1524, of the Eagles.
M. W. HINCH. Among the ablest and real- ly progressive members of the legal profes- sion in Oklahoma is M. W. Hinch, county attorney of Kingfisher county, who is also among the younger representatives of the southwestern bar. He is a native of St. Louis, Missouri, born in 1876, a son of W. A. and Martha (Windle) Hinch. His fa- ther was born in Kentucky, but has been a prosperous farmer of Missouri for many years, his mother being a native of the lat- ter state. The son matured into a sturdy and alert youth on the old Missouri home- stead, assisted his father in his farming la- bors, obtained a high school education and eventually commenced the study of law in the office of E. G. Stillman, assistant state's attorney, at St. Louis. Admitted to the bar in 1900, Mr. Hinch located soon after at Kingfisher, where he has since established a high-grade practice and a professional reputation in both his private and official ca- pacities. His wide popularity and the gen- eral confidence reposed in him were evi- dence in 1907 by his election to his present position. Fraternally, he is a Mason and a Knight of Pythias.
In 1903, Mr. Hinch married Miss Edna Wilson, of a leading Oklahoma family, her deceased father, Henry Wilson, being one of the early newspaper men of Kingfisher- a capable journalist and a citizen of wide and good influence.
GEORGE H. LAING. Among the character- istic Scottish traits possessed by George H. Laing, clerk of the district court of King- fisher county, Oklahoma, is that of con- stancy, especially close attachment to lo- calities associated with long and pleasant residence. By racial nature the Scotch are "stayers" and home-lovers, and much dis- inclined to rove in search of uncertain bene- fits. Thus, Mr. Laing was one of the rushing band of eighty-niners, who so fiercely took advantage of the opening of Oklahoma Ter- ritory to white settlement, but, having once located near Kingfisher, he has virtually been a constructive personal factor in the county's affairs ever since. His blood and training have made him one of the most per- sistent and sturdy champions of educational progress in the special development of the public schools, and his legal training has
Foglio R. Riley
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HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA.
enabled him to promote all the measures in this field, as in all others of public concern, in such practical and effective ways that they have redounded to the best possible good to the community interests.
As a side light upon Mr. Laing's character and career, it should be stated that his fam- ily is an ancient one, closely associated with Presbyterianism and the locality of Ver- ness, Scotland. Alexander Laing, the grand- father, was a native of the Isle of Skye, one of Hebrides attached politically to Inver- nessshire, whence he removed to a large stock farm three miles from Edinburgh, known as Comeley Bank. The father, Col- onel George A. Laing, served throughout the Crimean war as a captain in the famous Forty-second Highlanders, participating in the battles of Inkerman and Chinam, and, for his gallantry in the latter engagement, being decorated with the Victorian Cross.
George H. Laing, of this sketch, is a na- tive of Edinburgh, born December 11. 1862; graduated from the city academy at the age of seventeen and the same year attended the Paris exposition, subsequently traveling for six months on the continent. A youth of thorough education and bright and practical mind, he then came to the United States and spent about two years as shipping clerk for the wholesale dry goods firm of Arnold & Constable, New York. But as he was by instinct a free, hearty, sturdy western man, in 1883, when about of age, he left the east and located in Wyoming, some fifty miles north of Sidney, Nebraska. There he re- sided until the spring of 1889, when he "made the run" to the Oklahoma lands and located a claim one mile south of the present city of Kingfisher, where he erected a com- fortable residence. In June of that year lie was appointed first contest clerk in the United States land office, at this point. At that time the receiver was J. V. Admire, the register, J. C. Roberts, and Mr. Laing had as fellow clerks, J. M. Speice and T. B. Crossthwaite. Upon his appointment to the district clerkship, in 1890, he removed to Oklahoma City, and there served under Judge Clark until the fall of 1892, when he returned to Kingfisher, being identified with the land office as special clerk during the opening of the Cheyenne lands. From that time until 1906, Mr. Laing practiced law with substantial results at Enid, being a member of the firm of Whiting and Laing. but in the year mentioned he gladly returned
to Kingfisher to accept the position of clerk of the district court under Judge McAtee. The presiding judge is now Hon. A. H. Hus- ton. Aside from the fine reputation which he has earned by the prompt, courteous and able discharge of his duties in this office, Mr. Laing's most noticeable public services have been performed in the operation and promotion of the city system of education. He is now the oldest member of the muni- cipal board of education in continuous ser- vice ; has never missed a meeting during his membership; was vice-president of that body in 1900 ; has served as its president for four consecutive years and is now filling the office of clerk. Socially and fraternally, he is identified with the Caledonian Club and the St. Andrews Society of New York City, and with the Masons, United Workmen, Elks and Red Men. In 1894 he married, at Kingfisher, Miss Minnie Menzier, daughter of Thomas and Christena Menzier, and the children of this union are: Ronald B., Chris- tena O., and Hubert.
GROSS LONGENDYKE, the mayor of King- fisher, has throughout his residence here been conspicuously identified with the in- terests which have served the prosperity of the city, and has gained distinction in his present high office. And further than all this he is a scion of one of the stanch old Holland families who crossed the ocean to America from the mother country of Hol- land in 1616. The founder of the family here was Peter Longendyke, who had re- ceived a grant of land here from George II, King of England, and his descendants served the country faithfully in all of its wars, beginning with the Revolutionary war and continuing on through the French and Indian war, the Mexican war, the Civil war and the Spanish-American war. Peter and Elizabeth (Sparling) Longendyke, the par- ents of the Kingfisher mayor, were born in New York, and her ancestors were French Huguenots who were obliged to flee from France to the United States on account of the religious persecution of the seventeenth century. Leaving New York, Peter and Elizabeth Longendyke journeyed to central Iowa, and both are now deceased, leaving three sons and three daughters.
Gross Longendyke, one of the six children, was born in Kingston, Ulster county, New York, in 1842, and at the early age of seven- teen he booked on a whaling vessel for a
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voyage of two and a half years on the Arctic ocean, but he continued on as a sailor for fourteen years, encountering during that long period many severe storms on the high seas of three oceans. Abandoning a sea- faring life he became a business man in Davenport, Iowa, but in 1873 he went from there to Pawnee county, Kansas, where he was among the pioneers. From there in 1885 he went to South America and for two years was in business in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. In 1900, he came from there to King- fisher, Oklahoma, where seventeen years afterward he was elected to the office of may- or. He was elected on the Democratic ticket against two other candidates, a Republican and a Socialist, both highly endorsed for the office. At Davenport, Iowa, Mr. Long- endyke married Caroline Hickson, a native daughter of that state, but her parents were from New Jersey.
The HON. HARVEY UTTERBACK, the Repub- lican representative to the state legislature from Kingfisher county, is found in the fore- most ranks of citizens who are devoted to their communities' interests and to the wel- fare of their fellow men. For ten years he has lived and labored for public good in Ok- lahoma, as a farmer, school teacher, county treasurer and as a legislator, but whether in private life, in official position or in legis- lative halls, he has labored for others and has thus gained a place among the honored residents of Oklahoma.
Mr. Utterback came to this state from Medicine Lodge in Barber county, Kansas, a little village of fifteen hundred inhabitants, but which has produced more prominent citizens than any town of its size in the Sun Flower state, among them may be men- tioned Dennis Flynn, Chester I. Long, Jerry Simpson, Thomas McNeal and Carry Na- tion.
Although Barber county was his home for many years, Mr. Utterback is a native son of Richland county, Illinois, born near the town of Olney on the eighth of December, 1866. His parents, Willis and Mary (Laws) Utterback were farming people of that state. He was bereaved of his mother in November, 1869. His father is still living, residing near Sallisaw, Oklahoma. Harvey was the youngest of their eight children, five sons and three daughters. He spent the ear- ly years of his life on an Illinois farm and received there a public school and academic
education. He was a lad of fifteen when he went to Barber county, Kansas, and when twenty-three he was teaching school and was successful in the profession. From Barber county he came to Kingfisher coun- ty, Oklahoma, and made the race into the Cheyenne and Arapahoe county, securing a homestead on which he lived until 1900, when he was elected to the office of county treasurer, which office he held for four years. In the fall of 1907 the Republicans of King- fisher county, nominated and elected him as their representative to the first state legis- lature. He was re-elected in 1908 to the second state legislature, receiving the larg- est majority of any man ever elected to any office from Kingfisher county.
In 1898 he married Miss Emma Cooper Smith, a daughter of George and Elizabeth Eleanor (Welch) Smith, born in Kentucky of Kentucky parents. Nine children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Smith, three sons and six daughters, Mrs. Utterback being their youngest child. Mrs. Utterback's sister, Mrs. J. A. Wood, lives in Stillwater, Okla- homa, and has a son who graduated with honors from the Stillwater A. & M. College. Mrs. Utterback takes an active interest in the political work of her husband and keeps well informed of the doings of the legisla- ture, attending most of its sessions.
Mr. Utterback is a member of the frater- nal order of Odd Fellows, and his wife af- filiates with its auxiliary, the Rebekahs. Mr. Utterback is a prominent and highly esteem- ed citizen in Kingfisher City, where he re- sides.
W. R. KELLEY, the postmaster of King- fisher, arrived in Kingfisher county, Okla- homa, on the 19th day of April, 1892, and from that time to the present he has been prominent in the political life of his com- munity. After his arrival here he secured a claim on section 18, township 15, range 6, which he still owns and it is a valuable, well improved country home. In 1896 he was nominated on the Republican ticket for the office of county sheriff, but on ac- count of a fusion ticket failed of election by only one hundred and eighty-four votes. When better known, however, throughout this region, he was elected to the office by a majority of three hundred and forty-eight votes, and at a time when a fusion ticket was also in the field. In January of 1889 he purchased property in and moved to
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HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA.
Kingfisher, and in the November election of 1900 he was re-elected to the office of sheriff, and thus served two terms in that office, with honor and credit. Since taking charge of the postoffice in Kingfisher, to which he was appointed by President Roosevelt in 1906, he has made many improvements in the service and in the interior appearance of the office. He gives almost his entire personal attention to its detail work, and under his excellent management it is ex- pected that a free mail delivery will soon be inaugurated.
Before coming to Oklahoma, Mr. Kelley lived in Wilson county, Kansas, and being elected in 1883, he served two terms as the sheriff of that county, so that his exper- ience in the office has been wide and varied. For more than three years he saw service in the Civil war, participating in a number of skirmishes and battles, including those of Kane Hill, Prairie Grove and Maysville, Ar- kansas, and on two occasions he was struck with spent balls, though not seriously in- jured. On the 24th of November, 1864, he was mustered out of the service as a ser- geant, for he had risen from the ranks by bravery and general reliability.
Retiring then to a farm in Linn county, Kansas, Mr. Kelley lived there until mov- ing to Wilson county of the same state in 1869 and locating on a farm eight miles from Fredonia. This place, then practically un- improved, became wonderfully productive under his able management, for the greater part of his life has been spent on a farm and he is efficient in its work. In his youth he attended the old-fashioned subscription schools of Missouri, which were held in primitive log cabins of the early days, and they were in session only a few months during the winter season. He is a member of Kingfisher Post, G. A. R., and also of the fraternal order of Odd Fellows.
In Linn county, Kansas, when twenty- four years of age, Mr. Kelley wedded Nancy E. Anderson, from Macoupin county, Illi- nois, a daughter of J. W. and Sarah Ander- son, both deceased. The six children of this union, two sons and four daughters, are: Charles M., whose home is in Omega, Ok- lahoma; Walter B., of Kansas City, Mis- souri ; Ellen Ewing; Emma, a clerk in the local post office ; Laura Hill, in Twin Falls, Idaho, and Carrie, also a clerk in the post- office.
JUDGE JOHN M. GRAHAM. One of the most prominent characters whose worth and merit have graced the history of Oklahoma is found in the personnel of John M. Gra- ham, at this date the county judge of King- fisher county. He is also one of the Okla- homa pioneers and a bright and keen law- yer, genial and entertaining in mannerism, and he is leaving his forceful individuality upon the history of his county.
Judge Graham was born in Warren coun- ty, Ohio, near Lebanon, February 24, 1846, and his father, of Scotch-Irish descent, was prominent in the early history of this coun- try. His mother was before marriage Anna Kirby, from Ohio, and with her husband she pioneered to Clinton, Dewitt county, Illinois, in the early days of 1849, and Mr. Graham was a stock-raiser and farmer there, a man respected by all who knew him for his upright dealings and true worth, while his wife was honored for her hospitality and goodness of heart and mind. In this pion- eer Christian home young Graham grew to manhood's estate, and he remained in Illi- nois until going to Sumner county, Kansas, in 1879, and from there he came to Okla- homa on the 22nd of April, 1889, at the opening of the country to settlement. But while in Kansas he was admitted to the bar at Wellington in 1880, and since com- ing to this state he has been prominent in its political and public life and has been active in the formation of its history. He is in politics a Republican, and has served as city attorney and justice of the peace in Wellington, Kansas; as a member of the school board, and a member of the city coun- cil in Kingfisher, Oklahoma, and he is now serving his fourth consecutive term as the judge of Kingfisher county, having been first elected to that office in 1902. On first coming to this state he secured a claim, which he yet owns, and he also owns anoth- er farm, making him one of the large land- owners of the community.
In Illinois, at the age of twenty-five, Judge Graham was married to Anna E. Har- vey, who was born and educated in Ohio, and their three children are: Mrs. Josie Collins, Arthur M. and S. R., the daughter residing in Los Angeles, California. Judge Graham has fraternal relations with the In- dependent Order of Odd Fellows and with the Knights of Pythias, and Mrs. Graham is a member of the Christian church.
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HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA.
A. E. STALNAKER, the county surveyor of Kingfisher county, has the distinction of serving in a county office longer than any other county official in the entire state of Oklahoma. Elected as the county surveyor in 1891, he has remained in the office con- tinuously to the present time, and is fur- ther honored as one of the Oklahoma pion- eers of 1889, when he made the run and se- cured the claim which he yet owns a mile and a half south of the town of Kingfisher. It is a matter of local history that he brought to town and sold the first load of corn in Kingfisher, this being in September of 1889, and he received sixty-six cents a bushel for his corn, but later this same corn was sold to land agents as samples for five cents an ear and sent to all parts of the United States to prove the fertility of Okla- homa land.
Mr. Stalnaker came to this state from Texas, where he had lived for some years, but his native state was Indiana, as he was born at Logansport, in Cass county, Feb- ruary 24, 1853, a member of a family which had established their home there as early as 1835, when the country was wild and new and but a short time after the leaving of the Indians. The Stalnakers were of Holland descent, and moved to Indiana from West Virginia, where they were large planters and slave owners. Two of his uncles served as soldiers in the Mexican war. His mother was before marriage Mildred Hamilton, born near Salem in Washington county, In- diana, but both she and her husband died in Indiana, faithful and worthy members of the Methodist Episcopal church. A. E. Stal- naker was one of their family of six children, four sons and two daughters, and he spent his early life on an Indiana farm and re- ceived a common school and academic edu- cation. Choosing civil engineering as a life work, he studied to that end and in time was filling responsible positions in Texas, Mexico and Central America. Later he secured work as a civil engineer with the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad Com- pany in Oklahoma, working with that com- pany during the construction of its road from Junction City, Kansas, through the ter- ritory of Oklahoma to Sherman, Texas, in 1869-70. He came to Kingfisher county on the 22nd of April, 1889, and has since been prominently identified with its political and business life.
MIr. Stalnaker married in Beaver county,
Oklahoma, in 1887, Ida Beeman, born in Cawley county, Kansas, where she was also reared and educated, and she is a daughter of Isaac Beeman, of Ripley, Oklahoma. They have four sons and three daughters, namely: Flossie, who was the first white child born in this part of the county, that graduated in the Kingfisher high school, and she is now a popular teacher ; Fay, attend- ing the city high school; Floyd, Lornist P., Ralph, Thelma and Marion. Mr. Stalnaker is one of the leaders in Republicanism in Kingfisher county, a politician of worth and merit, and an earnest advocate of all needed improvements.
REUBEN MARSHALL identified his interests with those of Oklahoma in an early epoch in its history, coming here at the opening of the territory to settlers on the 22nd of April, 1889, and since then he has been closely al- lied with the interests and upbuilding of his adopted home. He is also an honored veter- an of the Civil war, enlisting in a Kentucky regiment, the Fourteenth Infantry, Com- pany E, on the 24th of February, 1862, and he served until the 11th of April, 1865, hav- ing been transferred in the meantime to Company I, and among others of the hard- fought battles of the conflict he took part in the battle of Atlanta.
Mr. Marshall was born in Floyd county, Kentucky, a son of Johnson and Barbara (Adams) Marshall. In 1870 he left his Ken- tucky home for Douglas county, Kansas, and from there he went to Barber county, near Medicine Lodge, where he enlisted with the state troops. But while on duty on the plains he froze his feet so badly that they were amputated by Dr. Mckinney, and by a special act of Congress due to the ef- forts of Colonel Plum, United States Sena- tor, Mr. Marshall was awarded a pension by the government.
Mr. Marshall was first married in Ken- tucky to Louise Fletcher, and they had five children, one son, Haskel Marshall, and four daughters. He married his present wife, Mary Dugan, in Oklahoma in 1892. She was born in Randolph county, Ohio, a daughter of J. W. and Delia Dugan, the former of whom died in Kansas, but the mother is living in Oklahoma, being over eighty years of age. Mrs. Marshall came with her first husband, Frank Hale, from Kansas to Oklahoma in 1889. He was born in Michigan, and they were married in
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Wichita, Kansas, in 1875, becoming the par- ents of four children, George, Frank, Martin and Nevada Cheney. Mr. Marshall is a stanch Republican politically, and he is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic. He owns a good home in Kingfisher and also business lots in the town.
HON. BIRD SEGLE MCGUIRE, of Pawnee is the Republican Congressman from the Frst District of Oklahoma. The First District embraces the counties of Kay, Kingfisher, Garfield, Grant, Lincoln, Logan, Osage, No- ble, Pawnee and Payne. He is one of the ablest lawyers in the state, and the fine record which he made as assistant United States attorney for Oklahoma territory was the means of first bringing him prominently before his party and the public. Mr. Mc- Guire is an Illinois man, born at Belleville, in the year 1864, and is a son of Joel and Rachael McGuire. When he was two years of age, the family moved to central Mis- souri, and there resided on a farm until the spring of 1881, when a removal was made to Chautauqua county, Kansas. After re- maining there for a few months, Mr. Mc- Guire, then a youth in his eighteenth year, left home and for three years resided in different sections of Indian Territory. Dur- ing the greater portion of this period he was engaged in the cattle business, and, with a small capital realized from it, returned to Kansas and entered the State Normal School at Emporia. Finishing the two years' course therein, he entered the educational field for a time, but after teaching several terms be- came a student in the law department of the State University, located at Lawrence.
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