USA > Oklahoma > A history of the state of Oklahoma, Volume II > Part 80
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Mr. Wrightsman was happily married to Edna Wrightsman, a sixth cousin, a native of Missouri. Her father, William Wrights- man, was reared in Illinois and subsequently engaged in the merchandise business in Mis- souri. The only child of this union is Charles Bierer Wrightsman. Mrs. Wrights- man is an accomplished vocalist and is prominent in social and church circles. Mr. Wrightsman is deeply concerned in meas- ures affecting public welfare, believing that the greatest good of individual life is best comprehended in ideal citizenship.
REV. HILDEBRAND ZOELLER, O. S. B. U'n- der the pastorate of the Rev. Hildebrand Zoeller, O. S. B., the Catholic church at Shawnee has made notable progress and im- provement, both in membership and ma- terial betterment and also in the widening of its sphere to useful and uplifting unflu- ences. Father Zoeller took charge of the church at Shawnee in 1905, and since that year has had the satisfaction of seeing a new church edifice built for his congrega- tion. A scholarly and broad-minded man, he is popular with all classes of citizens in Shawnee, and his work has met with the kindly co-operation of many outside the membership of his church.
The first Catholic church of Pottawatomie county was the Sacred Heart congregation, established and built in 1893. With the founding of the town of Shawnee at the ad- vent of the railroad in 1895, and the subse- quent growth of the town, Rev. Father Felix DeGrasse of Sacred Heart displaved won- derful energy in building up a Catholic con- gregation in Shawnee. In August, 1895, several lots were purchased for a Catholic church and school. Within a few months, the few Catholics of Shawnee built a sub- stantial frame church which was to be used for school and divine service for years to come. Right Rev. Bishop Meerschaert dedi- cated it under the patronage of St. Benedict. In the meantime a convent was built and the Sisters of Mercy from Sacred Heart were called to teach a parochial school. Soon the formation of a good sized Catho-
lic population demanded the undivided at- tention and care of Father Felix and he was given an assistant to visit monthly the va- rions missions in Lincoln and Pawnee coun- ties. Rev. Father Felix continued his zeal- ous work in Shawnee until the beginning of 1898, when he was called upon by the Benedictine Fathers of Sacred Heart to suc- ceed the deceased Right Rev. Thomas Du- perou as Abbot and Superior of that Mon- astery.
For a few months Father Placidus, of Sa- cred Heart, attended to the congregation of Shawnee. In November, 1898, Rev. Father Germanus, of El Reno, assumed charge of St. Benedict's congregation and continued the good work of his predecessor until De- cember, 1901, when Rev. Father Zenon Ste- ber was appointed by Right Rev. Bishop to be the pastor of Shawnee. This zealous priest remained in this parish until the end of July, 1902. During the spring of 1902 a decision of the Sacred Congregation of the Propaganda declared the Catholic church and parish of Shawnee to be a Benedictine Mission and to be attended forever by the Benedictine fathers of Sacred Heart. From August, 1902, to April, 1903, Rev. Father Hilary Cassal acted as pastor of St. Bene- dict's church. In the spring 1903, with the mutual consent of the Right Rev. Bishop and Right Rev. Abbot of Sacred Heart, Rev. Father Blaise was appointed pastor of St. Benedict's Church and took charge of his work in April, 1903. Rev. Father Maurus, O. S. B., was given him as assist- ant to attend to the spiritual needs of the German speaking people of this parish and also to attend for the time being the Mis- sions belonging to El Reno.
The ever increasing Catholic congrega- tion demanded a new church. In March, 1904, a new site was selected and purchased in the Hoffman's addition to the City of Shawnee. This tract of land lies in the northeast corner of this addition and being six hundred sixty-six feet long by one hun- dred ninety feet wide, gives ample room for church, school and other improvements.
A new parish house was built on the new grounds called St. Benedict's place, and the old church was moved to its present location in the fall of 1904. The foundations of the new church were also laid out and started in the same year. But the want of resources and the poverty of the people did not allow the work to go any further. On December,
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HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA.
1905, Rev. Father Hildebrand Zoeller, O. S. B., was sent by the Right Rev. Abbot of Sacred Heart to replace Rev. Father Mau- rus, and took special charge of assuring funds and in other ways speed the building of the new church. The united efforts of both the pastor and his assistant with the help and encouragement of the following committee, M. C. Fleming, Jake Mohrback- er, J. J. Stinson, J. J. Bradley and R. H. Hager, succeeded in securing resources, subscriptions from the people, and the ac- tual building of St. Benedict's new church was started in the last week of June, 1906. The corner stone was blessed on July 29.
Father Zoeller was born in Germany, in 18:5, a son of Martin and Mary Zoeller, who emigrated from the fatherland to the United States in 1888, and after living a few years in Missouri moved to Oklahoma Ter- ritory in 1892, so that the family have been identified with this new state almost from its first years. Hildebrand was educated in the public schools and the Sacred Heart College of Oklahoma. At the University of St. John's, in Minnesota, he graduated with the degree of B. S., and was ordained to the ministry in that state in 1902. Before engaged in parish work he taught for a time in St. John's University, and was then in charge of several parishes in Minnesota before he removed to Oklahoma and began the work in Shawnee which has been blessed so abundantly. He is in complete sympathy with the movements undertaken for the civic welfare of this growing city, and is a public-spirited citizen as well as a priest devoted to furthering the interests of his own1 sect.
WILLIAM QUERRY. One of the pioneers of the Creek Nation, now a resident of Tulsa, is William Querry, who was identi- fied with the early lumber industry of this section of old Indian Territory. He first came to Tulsa in 1881 as the representative of the Indianapolis Walnut Lumber Com- pany, and for a number of years had charge of the company's operations in getting out walnut lumber from the Creek Nation. Mr. Querry during a successful business career of over a quarter of a century in this coun- try has also been connected with Oklahoma Territory, having moved to Stillwater, Payne county, in the early nineties, and while there served as county treasurer and collector from January 3, 1893, until Jan-
uary 8, 1895. He returned to Tulsa in 1898 and has since been a resident here, in the meantime having witnessed and taken part in the most substantial development of that city. He has been interested to some extent in the real estate business, and is also a notary and collector. Much of his time is taken up in conducting the affairs of the estate of his son, the late A. R. Querry.
Mr. Querry began his active career with the opening of the Civil war. Born at Rich- mond, Ray county, Missouri, March 17, 1841, and reared there, he enlisted in 1862 in Company K, Twenty-third Missouri In- fantry, Union army. He was afterward lieutenant of the company, and during the first months of service participated in the battle of Shiloh. Most of his subsequent service was in Missouri, in the campaigns by which Price and Van Dorn were driven from that state. Some of the most terri- ble phases of the war were exemplified in Missouri, especially in the guerilla war- fare, and as a scout he was subjected to con- stant danger in this line of service. From Cape Girardeau to the Kansas line he was almost continually in the zone of lurking danger, and was wounded several times, twice receiving severe gunshot wounds. Returning to Richmond at the close of the war, he left his birthplace in the following September and until October, 1879, was a resident of Lawrence county, Missouri, and from that time until his removal to Indian Territory lived in St. Clair county, that state. In Lawrence county he was married to Miss Sarah H. Lollar, and they became the parents of the following five children : John H., Samuel R., Sarah J., who died at the age of twenty-three; Mary S., who died at the age of twenty-eight; and Archibald R., also deceased. The mother died in 1881, when the children were all quite small, and Mr. Querry kept them together and reared them. In 1892, Mr. Querry was married for the second time to Miss Sarah E. Wheel- er.
Mr. William Querry is a stanch Republi- can and a member and one of the organizers of the Fairchilds G. A. R. Post No. 16, of Tulsa. Under the territorial department he was patriarch instructor of the Indian Territory and was one of the committee to unfold the new flag at Philadelphia, Penn- sylvania, being appointed under the special recommendation of Governor Haskell. Mrs.
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HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA.
Querry was selected by the Daughters of the G. A. R. as one of the members to sew the star on the flag, being the president of the Woman's Relief Corps of Tulsa. For forty- five years, Mr. Querry has been a member of the Missionary Baptist Church and is now chairman of the board of trustees and a deacon of the First Baptist church of Tulsa.
The late Archibald Robert Querry, who died at Tulsa in 1906, was a son of William Querry. One of the ablest lawyers of In- dian Territory, though his career was shortened by an untimely death, he achieved worthy distinction as a member of the bar, and was also one of the leading and influential men of the Republican party. He received a first-class education, gradu- ating from the law department of the Uni- versity of Kansas with the degree of Bache- lor of Laws. In 1904 he was assistant ser- geant-at-arms at the national Republican convention in Chicago. During his law practice he wrote the first oil and gas leases in the Creek Nation. At the time of his death he was a partner of Judge L. M. Poe, now district judge of Tulsa county.
W. H. COYLE & COMPANY are proprietors of one of the largest cotton gins in central Oklahoma, and it is one of the most prom- inent business enterprises of Kingfisher, an institution that has done much toward the building up of the town and enlarging its interests. The gin was erected in the year of 1906, and it is a large and well built edi- fice, thoroughly equipped with all the mod- ern appliances known to the business, and has a capacity of twenty-two bales a day. In 1906, the year of its organization, it baled fourteen hundred bales of cotton and in the following year it turned out one thousand bales, the two seasons totaling an average of one hundred and thirty-two thousand dol- lars.
The efficient manager of the W. H. Coyle & Company's cotton gin is J. I. Throck- morton, a man well fitted for the position he occupies, for he is an excellent judge of cotton and is fair and honorable in all his dealings. He was born in Athens county, Ohio, in 1874, a son of William and Lydia (Booder) Throckmorton, of this city, and he was reared and educated in Republic and Washington counties, Kansas. His father was a farmer, and he was early inured to
the work of the fields and followed agricul- tural pursuits in Kansas for a number of years. In 1899 he married Artie E. Vinson, formerly a successful and popular teacher in the Kansas schools, and their three children are: Bernie, Lena and Opal. Mr. Throck- morton stanchly supports the principles of the Republican party, and he is a member of the fraternal order of Woodmen.
HON. JAMES ALBERT TILLOTSON, attorney- at-law, practicing at Nowata, Oklahoma, was born in Davis county, Iowa, April 17, 1867, a son of Nelson and Caroline (Brunk) Tillotson. The grandfather was George N. Tillotson. The father's family were na- tives of New York state, but moved to In- diana and from there followed the star of empire westward to Iowa. Mr. Tillotson's mother's people came from Kentucky.
James A. Tillotson was educated in the public schools of Oskaloosa and at Oska- loosa College. After studying law in Dallas, Texas, in the office of William T. Strange, he was admitted to the bar of that state, in the month of February, 1891. He then established himself in law practice at Le- Roy, Kansas, where remained two years, from there coming to the Cherokee Nation, in Indian Territory, in 1895. Mr. Tillotson located at Nowata, where he took up an independent law practice. After a short time he went into partnership with E. B. Lawson, under the firm name of Tillotson & Lawson. This partnership continued for three years, after which Mr. Tillotson practiced alone again until 1907, when the law firm of Til- lotson & Elliott was formed, Mr. Thomas E. Elliott being the junior member of the new firm. Politically, Mr. Tillotson is a Democrat and a man of affairs in councils of his party. He has had to do with every state committee organized since 1896. He is a member of the lower house of repre- sentatives.
He was united in marriage to Miss Mand Miller, daughter of Dales Miller, of LeRoy, Kansas, a business man of that place. Mrs. Tillotson is the president of the Nowata Civic Association, and was one of the nine- ty-two ladies of Oklahoma who made the initial flag for the new "State of Oklahoma" which was displayed in Independence Hall, Philadelphia, July 4, 1908. Mr. and Mrs. Tillotson are the parents of two children, Delos Nelson and James Albert, Jr.
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HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA.
STEPHEN R. LEWIS, a landowner and president of the Cherokee Company, is a representative of a prominent family of the Cherokee Nation. He was born in Hill county, Texas, in 1873, and is a son of Alex- ander S. and Elizabeth (Dawson) Lewis, both of whom are living in the town of Dawson, about five miles east of Tulsa. The father is an old-time Texan and a veteran of the Civil war, who served with the Con- federate army, having enlisted in Texas in the Twenty-sixth Texas Cavalry, of which he became lieutenant, holding that rank un- der General Magruder. Mr. Lewis, although he was in the Indian Territory for some time during the years following the war, did not settle permanently here until 1885, when he located at Dawson in the Cherokee Nation. This place was so named in honor of his wife's people, the Dawsons, who are one of the most prominent Cherokee Indian fam- ilies. There Mr. Lewis operates coal mines, and is also one of the prominent stockmen of the section. The extent and importance of his business affairs make him a valued resident of the community and he is widely recognized as a gentleman of marked en- terprise, ability and keen business discern- mment.
Stephen R. Lewis pursued his education in the Friends mission at Skiatook, of the Cherokee Nation. He early engaged in busi- ness at Tulsa, where he makes his home, and has become one of the most substan- tial and representative business men of the city. He is now the president of the Chero- kee Company, which deals extensively in lands, oil and mineral leases, together with other realty holdings, the operations of the company being of a most important char- acter. They own the Cherokee Heights, a beautiful residence subdivision on the eleva- tion east of Tulsa and there Mr. Lewis has erected a most commodious and costly home.
He was married twice, his first union be- ing with Miss Minnie Carter, of a Cherokee Indian family, a niece of Henry Chambers, who was assistant chief, under Ex-Chief Joel B. Mayes, and a cousin of the present Congressman Charles D. Carter, of the Fourth Congressional district of Oklahoma. The death of Mrs. Lewis occurred in 1898, and on the 12th of June, 1907, Mr. Lewis was married to Miss Elizabeth Schrimsher, a daughter of Judge John G. Schrimsher, a prominent citizen of Claremore. Their
beautiful home is attractive by reason of its gracious hospitality and is the center of a cultured society circle in Tulsa. Mr. Lewis is prominent in Masonry, having at- tained the thirty-second degree of the Scot- tish Rite in the Indian consistory of South McAlester, and belongs also to India Tem- ple of the Mystic Shrine at Oklahoma City. His political allegiance is given to the Democracy and he is now serving as a member of the county executive committee, of which he is now chairman. The greater part of his life has been passed in this sec- tion of the state and with its commercial, industrial, political and social interests he has been closely identified, to the benefit of the community along these varied lines.
DR. S. W. BUERCKLIN, a practicing physi- cian of high standing in Arlington, Lin- coln county, is a graduate of the Barns Med- ical College of St. Louis, Missouri, with the class of 1902, and has won success in the profession which he has chosen for his life work. He was born in Izard county, Arkansas, April 24, 1871, a son of Henry and Agnes (Stare) Buercklin. The mother, a member of an old southern family and a native of Tennessee, died at the age of sixty- six years, but the father is still living, hav- ing reached the age of eighty-seven years. In his early life he learned the blacksmith's trade, and during the Mexican war he served his country under the commands of Gen- erals Scott and Taylor. He is a Jackson Democrat politically and a member of the Christian church. There were nine children in this family, five sons and four daughters, and three of the sons have embraced the medical profession. One is married, and is a practicing physician at Viola, Arkansas, while another, Dr. F. W. Buercklin, is lo- cated at Portia, that state.
Dr. S. W. Buercklin spent the early years of his life in his native state of Arkansas, where for three years he was a successful educator. He first began the study of med- icine under the preceptorship of Dr. Frank Peck, for many years a well known physi- cian of Wild Cherry, Arkansas, and then en- tering the Barns Medical College, of St. Louis, he graduated with its class of 1902, and began practice in Baxter county. From there he went to Fulton county, in the same state, and in 1907 he came to Oklahoma and enrolled his name among the practicing physicians of Arlington. And although but a comparatively short time has elapsed since
S.R. Lewis
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HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA.
he located here, he has demonstrated his ability to cope with disease and has won the confidence and support of the communi- ty.
While residing in Fulton county, Arkan- sas, Dr. Buercklin was married to Miss LaFerne, on the 9th of September, 1896. She was born and reared in that county, a daughter of F. L. LaFerne, originally from North Carolina. In this family are three children, Agnes, Ira and a baby boy. Dr. Buercklin supports the principles of the Democratic party, and he is a Royal Arch and Chapter Mason and a member of the fraternal order of Odd Fellows.
D. W. COLLIER, vice-president of the bank at Sparks, Lincoln county, Oklahoma, and the proprietor of the Collier cotton-gin plant at that point, is a pioneer of Lincoln county and justly worthy of note in a work like this, which treats of the activities and de- velopments of the country.
Mr. Collier was born on the Ohio river, in southwestern Ohio, in Adams county, in 1872, of a family of more than ordinary superiority in many particulars. The father was Daniel Collier, a gallant soldier who died in Lincoln county, Oklahoma, to which territory he came in 1890. He was promi- nent in Grand Army of the Republic circles, and was an ardent Republican in his politi- cal views. The mother of our subject was Jane (Martin) Collier, by whom nine chil- dren were born-five sons and four daugh- ters.
D. W. Collier was reared on a farm, where his muscles were fully developed and the habits of industry early formed. After at- tending the public schools, and in about 1890, he went to Payne county, Oklahoma, when it was in what was termed "the wild and woolly" section of the great southwest, civilized life being but little in evidence there at that time. After coming to Sparks he erected the Collier cotton-gin plant and engaged in cleaning, seeding and pressing the cotton grown in the surrounding coun- try, an enterprise which greatly benefited the town and country, as the cotton crop has come to be one of much importance in Oklahoma. The first year's output of this gin was ten hundred and eighty bales, the next season about the same, in 1906 it amounted to nineteen hundred bales, and in 1908 to twenty-five hundred bales.
Mr. Collier was married, in Payne county, Oklahoma, to Dora Murlin, a woman of in- telligence and refinement. She was born in Ohio, but reared and educated in Kansas, near Wellington, in Sumner county, a daughter of D. E. Murlin and Sarah, his wife. The issue by this union was: Grace, Clarence and Estell.
Mr. Collier was one of the founders of the Sparks Bank, and in 1905 was elected its vice president. Politically he affiliates with the Republican party. He is a public- spirited citizen and has done his full share in the development of the country. His own home is one of comfort and beauty.
EDWIN T. BRADLEY, vice-president of the First National Bank of McAlester, Oklaho- ma, began his career as a banker in Decatur, Texas, where for a period of six years he was actively associated with the Wise County National Bank. He has been a res- ident of Oklahoma since 1896. In Decem- ber of that year he assisted in the organ- ization of the institution with which he has since been identified, dating from the open- ing of the bank until January, 1908, as cash- ier, and since then as active vice president.
The First National Bank of McAlester began business with a capital of $50,000, which was increased in 1903 to $100,000; its surplus and profits amount to more than half of its capital stock, and its deposits reach the sum of $300,000. Its present offi- cers are: J. E. Fannin, president ; W. S. Ambrose, vice president; Edwin T. Brad- ley, active vice president, and Benjamin Mills, cashier.
Mr. Bradley was born in Howard county, Missouri, in October, 1861, son of George WV. and Dorothy (Wisdom) Bradley, and was reared on his father's farm, working on the farm in summer and in winter attending the public schools. As a young man the subject of pharmacy attracted his attention, and he went to Baltimore, Maryland, where he took a course in a school of pharmacy. Soon after this he went to Texas, and at Taylor was for a short time employed as a drug clerk. From Taylor he went to De- catur and, as above stated, became interest- ed in banking.
In August, 1895, Mr. Bradley married Miss Anna L. Dawson, of Green county, Missouri, and they have three children, Ed- wina, George D. and Lloyd.
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HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA.
DR. A. H. COLLINS, the present county surveyor of Tulsa county, Oklahoma, is a man of considerable scientific attainments, a graduate of medicine and a civil engineer ; also, a pioneer in the Indian Territory, wide- ly and favorably known to all the old-timers. He was born in Connersville, Indiana, may 19, 1859, his ancestors on both sides of the family being Old School Presbyterians. Dr. Eli Collins, the father, was born in the town of Ripley (located on the Ohio river, above Cincinnati), on the 21st of May, 1827, and during the Civil war period resided in the Ohio metropolis. In 1869, when A. H. was ten years of age, the family moved from Bloomington, Illinois, to Little Rock, Ar- kansas, and of the latter city his father re- mained an honored resident until his death, thirty-three years thereafter.
The Dr. Collins, of this biography, obtained his early education at St. John's Military College and pursued special and final courses of study in Cincinnati, Ohio, and Chicago, Illinois. Coming of forefathers who were among the first settlers of Ohio and Indiana, and hav- ing spent his life in the south and west, the doctor is a pioneer by inherited instinct and a typical westerner by virtue of all the experiences of his mature years. During the stormy days of reconstruction in the state of Arkansas, he was an officer in the artillery service, and rendered valuable ser- vice in bringing about law and order in his home city during the "Brooks-Baxter war." The negroes and their allies having taken possession of the state capitol, Dr. Collins was one of the men who planted a large siege cannon on the Arkansas river bank and served "notice of possession" upon the colored inmates. This cannon was after- ward christened the "Lady Baxter," and oc- cupies a place of honor in the state house grounds.
Coming to the Indian Territory twenty years ago, as an agent of the government pension service, Dr. Collins spent four years in that capacity, the scenes of his labors being in various parts of the country; but his most prominent connection with the de- velopment of this special section of the United States is as a surveyor and town- builder. He surveyed and promoted the town of Fairland, situated on the St. Louis & San Francisco Railroad, twenty miles east of Vinitia and Collinsville, one of the best known towns in the western portion of the
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