USA > Oklahoma > A history of the state of Oklahoma, Volume II > Part 81
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Cherokee Nation, upon the Santa Fe line, was named in his honor. In the matter of surveys in the Indian Territory he accom- plished considerable work for the Cherokee Townsite Commission, in the old Indian days. He was also among the first survey- ors appointed by the Dawes Commission, continuing in the service of that body, in various capacities, for several years, his la- bors including surveys, drafting and other engineering work for townsite and railroad companies having interests in the territory of the Five Tribes. Neither would the his- tory of the founding of Tulsa be complete without a mention of his important con- nection with it; as he was the first surveyor to bring order and system to the place when it was in its infancy, and its striking growth since has been in conformity with the "lines" he then laid down.
Married February 4, 1890, to Miss Annie Hickcox, of Fairland, the doctor is united to a lady who represents the widely known Scotch Duncan family of the Cherokee Na- tion, whose honorable history stretches back into the early days of the American colonies. The seven living children of their union are. Albert, Mary, Ely, Augusta, Thomas, Bessie and Annie, all of whom have valuable allot- ments six miles north of Tulsa, Oklahoma, in proven oil fields. The doctor is a mem- ber of the I. O. O. F., and treasurer of the Encampment of that order in Tulsa.
J. S. B. APOLLOS, of Ardmore, has through more than a score of years been intimately connected with the city and its business in- terests, and during that time he has con- tributed much toward its standing as a thrifty metropolis. He was born in Monroe county, Kentucky, December 16, 1848, and is a member of a family which traces its his- tory to the commonwealth of Virginia, where his paternal grandfather was born, lived and died. Among his children was John H. Apollos, who left the place of his birth about 1830 and followed the trend of the emigrants toward the new state of Ken- tucky, locating in its county of Monroe. There he wooed and won for his wife, El- eanor, daughter of John H. Curtis, one of the first settlers of that community, moving there from South Carolina.
John H. Apollos was a carpenter, and in that vocation and as a Christian minister his county learned to know him well. When the country was in need of troops for the defense of the old flag hie offered his services
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and joined the Fifth Kentucky Cavalry, tak- ing part in the operations of that regiment in the state and elsewhere, and at the close of his military service he resumed and fol- lowed the pursuits of his earlier days until death claimed him, at the age of sixty-five years. Subsequent to the death of her hus- band Eleanor Apollos followed her children into the west and died in Ardmore, in 1894. The issue of this union was as follows: J. S. Benjamin, mentioned below ; William T., who died unmarried, in Grayson county, Texas; Virginia E., who married Daniel Davis and resides in that state; George H., of Collin county, Texas; Rosaline, who be- came the wife of a Mr. Fulks and died in Collin county ; and Wolford, who married and was burned to death, together with her husband and family.
In his educational training in his youth, J. S. B. Apollos suffered in comparison with the excellent advantages of the present time, but what he learned as a student in the proverbial log schoolhouse, with its punch- eon floor and benches of round logs, pre- sided over by a teacher who knew little in arithmetic beyond common fractions, served him as well as the same knowledge gleaned now in the modern and well equipped class room. When the time came for him to start the battle of life for himself he was given a young horse, and its sale a little later on enabled him to reinforce his country school training with several months as a pupil in Concord College, in Clay county, Kentucky. But prior to reaching matured youth he fol- lowed his father's example and joined the Union army. The rebellion was then in the third year of its progress, and the First Tennessee Mounted Infantry, which he joined at Carthage, was commanded by Colonel A. E. Garrett, and later by Colonel William Stokes, and it ranged in and out of the mountains and did some skirmishing and scouting and much guard duty, being mustered out, May 17, 1865. It was after returning from the army that he completed his educational training.
Starting out in life for himself as a farm- er, he remained in his native state until 1814, coming then to Grayson county, Tex- as, and locating in Farmington. He made the journey by team and spent forty-one days on the road. He had a small family at that time, and after a trial at farming in that state, he discovered he could not make it
pay and at once sold his team on credit, but the new owner straightway left the country and likewise, his note unpaid. Mr. Apollos was then obliged to begin working for wages, a grist mill near at hand furnishing him living wages, and he also made some- thing of a "hit" for those early days by buy- ing a half interest in the mill and selling again at a good profit. Following this he spent two years as a clerk in a store at Farmington, and then going to Salina, Tex- as, was engaged in the cattle business for a brief period. Selling his interests there he took his family back to his old home for a few months' visit, and on returning to the Lone Star state located in Weston, Collin county, where he opened and conducted a store under the firm name of Harris & Apol- los. After two years the firm name was changed to Apollos & Halsell, and at the close of the next seven years Mr. Apollos bought his partner's interest and completed his eleven years in business there alone. Closing out his interests there he came into the Chickasaw Nation in 1887 and laid the foundation for his future success in the com- ing commonwealth.
Ardmore was then in its incipiency, and the store which he soon erected here was the fourth of its kind in the place. It was located in the block nearest to the Santa Fe station, and in it was sub- sequently opened the first bank of Ard- more. His stock of goods at the be- ginning comprised a car of furniture and a few coffins, and among his fellows in business then were Fensley Brothers and the proprietor of a hotel who was carrying on business in a tent pitched on the east side of the railroad. Mr. Apollos sold the first factory made coffin in the county, as well as the first real bedstead, and so un- settled was the country then that many prophesied he would never sell his stock, but prosperity rapidly followed and in three years' time he achieved the feat of selling a half a carload of chairs in a single day. The box house which served as a business place was originally twenty-five by forty feet, and as it was located on a lot which ran back almost to the city limits he ran it back as the exigencies of business demand- ed until it was one hundred and sixty feet long. But in the zenith of his prosperity and with a future bright with promise a conflagration swept away his uninsured
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house and stock of goods, entailing a finan- cial loss of thirteen hundred dollars. This fire occurred in 1891, and he at once re- sumed business and had reached some de- gree of independence when a second fire, in 1895, swept his block and set him back be- yond his financial condition when he first came to the town, only a few years before.
With the proceeds of the sale of a small building, four hundred dollars, he embarked in the undertaking business, and in this he likewise prospered, and continued as an un- dertaker in Ardmore until his final retire- ment from commercial pursuits. Having in the meantime invested in real estate as his means justified, he then turned his attention more especially to its improvement, and the residence and business property which he has erected has added much to the perma- nency and substantiality of Ardmore. In the construction of roads, the building of bridges, the erection of schoolhouses and churches and the encouragement of railroad facilities the merchants and other business men of Ardmore were called upon to bear a large share of the burden, and to all these various enterprises Mr. Apollos lent a lib- eral hand. In the building of the first courthouse and jail he joined others in fur- nishing the sinews with which these insti- tutions were provided, and the government was thereby induced to locate the court of the southern district of the Indian Territory in Ardmore. During many years he main- tained his residence on Caddo street, but the somewhat cramped condition there in- cident to the growth of the city caused him to seek another site for a home and he built on West Main street, where his present home is situated.
In 1869 he married, in Kentucky, Mary M. Weekly, who died in Ardmore in 1892, leaving the following children : William T., of Lawton, Oklahoma, who married Celia Foster and has children ; Lola M., who mar- ried Dr. Hathaway and died in Ardmore; and Bessie, died in the prime of young womanhood, in 1903. In Tompkinsville, Kentucky, in 1895, Mr. Apollos married Lizzie, a daughter of James Harlan and Sarah Ray, who located in that county dur- ing the early days of its history. In poli- tics Mr. Apollos is descended from Repub- lic antecedents, and he himself is a staunch advocate of that party's principles.
ALEXANDER NICHOLS. The late Alexander Nichols, who died in Ardmore, Carter coun- ty, Oklahoma, on the 8th of October, 1908, at the family residence which he had estab- lished there in 1892, was one of the pioneer merchants and hotel men of the Indian Ter- ritory. His widow, with four of her chil- dren, still resides in the old home on Burch street, that city, and at the time of her hus- band's death had but just entered the fifty- first year of her marital career. The de- ceased was born in Blunt Springs, Alabama, on the 9th of May, 1826. As his father died when he was a small child, Alexander re- mained at home with his mother until he was about eighteen years of age, when he went to Tahlequah, Indian Territory. For six years he worked in various stores in that locality and as he thus came in contact with a class of intelligent clerks and business men, he was soon able to gather quite a thorough business education. In 1850 he lo- cated as an independent merchant at Fort Smith, Arkansas, remaining there until 1863, when his cattle and most of his goods were confiscated by the Federal troops. Mr. Nich- ols then removed to Armstrong's Academy, near the present site of Caddo, where he built a house for the especial accommoda- tion of the council members of the Choc- taw Nation. In 1866 he located at Boggy Depot, where he erected again a home, which became a stopping place on the over- land stage route. In 1873 he built a resi- dence in Atoka, on the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad, and as there was no hotel facilities in the place he at first received travelers in his home, later enlarging his house and operating the first regular hotel in the place. He was also the first post- master of Atoka, receiving his appointment from President Arthur; he also held the agency for Wells-Fargo Express Company.
Mr. Nichols remained in Atoka for seven- teen years, or until 1892, when he disposed of all his interests there and located at Ard- more, where he invested largely in town property and erected a comfortable resi- dence on Burch street. Several of his fam- ily are active members of the Broadway Baptist church, of which the deceased had served for some time as clerk.
On September 16, 1857. Alexander Nich- ols wedded Miss Susan M. Boyd, who was born near Holly Springs, Mississippi, No- vember 16, 1838, daughter of James M. and Nancy (Love) Boyd. Her father, who was
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a native of Scotland, was brought to Ameri- ca when a child, and his parents settled at Natchez, Mississippi, where they died whilst he was still young. The boy made his home among the Chickasaw Indians of that lo- cality and, upon reaching manhood, became the first white to marry into the Chicka- saw Nation when he wedded Nancy Love, daughter of Thomas Love. Their union re- . sulted in twelve children, eight of whom reached maturity, the entire family being as follows: Rachael, who died without issue ; Jane, who married John Hardwick; Thomas C .; John D .; Susan, who became Mrs. Alexander Nichols; Sophia; George W .; Robert; Marshall; Benjamin; Mar- garet, who married William Corbett; and William. Mr. and Mrs. James M. Boyd came with their family to the Choctaw Na- tion in 1856, where the father died, Febru- ary 27, 1864, and the mother, August 20, 1869. Alexander Nichols and wife were the parents of twelve children (six of whom reached mature years), as follows: Orian, Cora and William, all deceased; Minnie G., who married Charles W. Thomas; W. S., a resident of Ardmore; Fannie and Carrie, de- ceased; and Robert H., Walter S., Daisy, Boyd, deceased, and Clyde C., all of Ard- more.
THOMAS J. BERRYHILL, a prominent oil operator in one of the richest oil producing districts in the world, was born in the Creek Nation on the North Canadian river, near Eufaula, in 1876, a son of Harris and Hulda (Gossett) Berryhill. Harris Berryhill was born in Alabama and was a member of the prominent Creek Indian family of that name. One of the most conspicuous members of this family was John Dallas Berryhill, who came to Indian Territory in the early years of the Creek Indian settlement here, and later located in Buchanan county, Missouri. His son, Harris, did not accompany him to that state, but instead remained in the Creek Nation until his death in 1881. His wife was a well remembered teacher in the schools of the Creek Nation, and from her Thomas J. received his educational training through home tutoring. He was reared to farming and stock-raising pursuits, and sev- eral years ago located in that part of the Creek Nation, about ten miles from Sapulpa, which has since 1905 been famous the world over as the Glenn Pool, the richest oil pro- ducing district in the world. The allot-
ments of Mr. Berryhill and his family are in the midst of the Pool, and their numerous producing wells have brought to them great wealth. They have lived in Sapulpa since early in the year of 1907. their residence be- ing a pleasant home in the eastern part of the city.
Mr. Berryhill married in the Creek Nation Miss Nellie Endsley, who was born in the Indian Territory, and they have four chil- dren :. Gracie I., Flora Edna, Maybelle and Rosa Leona.
HUGH HARDY, of Millcreek, Oklahoma, a pioneer merchant of the town, proprietor of the "King Hotel" and one of the town's first citizens, is a native of Mississippi, born, March 28, 1859, and a son of the well known Andrew Hardy, mention of whom is made elsewhere. When he was ten years of age the family removed to Arkansas, and near Clinton he obtained a limited common school education. At the age of fourteen years he was left an orphan and was thrown completely upon his own resources. He re- calls of earning his first money as a farm hand, following a yoke of steers behind the plow, at twelve dollars and a half a month, and continued at similar labor until he was twenty-eight years of age. Having accumu- lated a small capital, he joined his brother, John, in a mercantile venture at Clinton. It was later that he went to the Chickasaw Nation and engaged in business at Daugh- erty, as a member of the firm of Hardy & Frost, and for eight years the enterprise was there conducted. Dissolving and sell- ing his interest. Mr. Hardy then went to Millcreek, a new town on the Frisco line of railway, and the Hardy-Underwood Com- pany, general merchants, was organized, the members of the partnership being Mr. Un- derwood and himself.
While his attention has been directed in a most strenuous manner to business pursuits, his identity with the welfare of Millcreek has ever been apparent, and he has shared with his fellow-citizens in the duties and responsibilities of municipal management and control. He served as mayor one term, and is at present a trustee of Gibbs town- ship. Politically he is a stanch Democrat, who is ever able to give a reason for the faith within him. In the matter of fraternal societies he is affiliated with the Masonic order, belonging to the Blue Lodge and Chapter, has filled all the local chairs, and
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represented his lodge many times in the Grand Lodge of Indian Territory. He is a past chancellor of the Knights of Pythias and belongs to both Woodmen orders. Aside from his mercantile interests in the thriving town in which he lives Mr. Hardy holds valuable property, including a fine residence, and he is also a stockholder in the Merchants and Planters National Bank. Of his domestic relations it can be stated that he was married in January, 1884, to Miss Julia Morgan, a daughter of Mrs. M. E. Morgan, who came to Arkansas from Tennessee. Mrs. Hardy was born in Van Buren county, Arkansas, and is the mother of six children: Lillie, wife of Jo. Sewell, of Millcreek; Myrtle May; Dora, who died young ; Walter ; Vera, and Hazel.
JAMES B. RUTHERFORD, Claremore, an ac- tive practicing lawyer of Claremore, Rog- ers county, is a native of Fayettsville, Arkansas, born on the 3d of November, 1859, son of Douglas E. and Mary (Curtiss) Rutherford. His father was a Tennessee farmer who came to Arkansas in 1830, or six years before it became a state. The wife and mother was also a Tennessee woman, the daughter of a plantation owner, and ten sons and five daughters were reared as the family of this union.
James B. Rutherford, the fifth in this numerous household, received his early ed- ucation in the public schools of Arkansas and assisting his father on the home farm until he had attained his majority. He then attended the county and graded schools, prepared himself for teaching and was en- gaged in that field from 1883 to 1890, in Crawford and Washington counties, Arkan- sas. In the meantime he had taken up the study of the law and prosecuted it to such advantage, even in the midst of his duties as a teacher, that in October, 1890, he was admitted to the bar before the federal courts at Fort Smith. That bench was then occu- pied by Hon. Isaac C. Parker, who set aside, in Mr. Rutherford's favor, his general rule of refusing to admit to practice those appli- cants who had not been licensed in the state and county courts.
In March, 1897, Mr. Rutherford was awarded the contract for supplying the ra- tions to the federal prisoners at South McAl- ester, Oklahoma, and at the end of the year, when it expired, he resumed the practice of the law at Fort Smith. At first including all
branches, his practice has gradually cen- tered upon criminal law, in which he has become well known. In 1902 he removed to Claremore, becoming associated with Judge T. L. Brown in the firm of Ruther- ford & Brown, which was dissolved in 1904. He practiced alone the following three years, and in 1907 formed a partnership with E. S. Bessey, under the name of Ruth- erford & Bessey. Of this he is still senior member, as well as partner in the firm of Stanfield & Rutherford. The headquarters of the latter are at Sapulpa, Moman coun- ty, its senior and resident partner being Wade S. Stanfield. Besides engaging in this flourishing legal practice, Mr. Ruther- ford is to some extent a farmer and a stock- raiser, but that avocation is largely a mat- ter of diversion and recreation.
In 1888, Mr. Rutherford was married at Van Buren, Arkansas, to Miss Mary E. King, a Mississippian by birth and educa- tion, and a daughter of James P. King, of Corinth, that state. They have become the parents of Minnie B., Lona, Rubie, James A., Alden B., and Marcus G. Rutherford.
JOHN EDWARD MILLAR, mayor of Norman, Cleveland county, is a native of Illinois, be- ing born at Grayville, White county, on the 27th of February, 1868. He is a son of George H. and Margaret (Kershaw) Millar, and comes of good Scotch-English stock. Among his first ancestors to come to this country were those who settled in White county in 1818, the year in which Illinois became a state. John E. Millar received his early education in the public schools of that state, and after studying law under private tutors entered the law department of the College of Indiana, at Valparaiso, and grad- uating therefrom in the class of 1889 with the customary degree. He entered into practice at Graysville, Indiana, where he continued until 1897, when he removed to Galveston, Texas, and engaged in the real estate business making a specialty of in- vestments. His next move was to Norman, .of which he was elected mayor in April, 1907, by a larger majority than the entire vote of his opponent. In politics he is an unwavering Democrat.
Mayor Millar has continued his successes in the real estate field, is president of the Commercial Club of Norman and is an able, popular and substantial citizen, a repre- sentative of the best advancement of Ok- lahoma. In 1890 he was united in marriage
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with Miss Florence M. Rowland, of New- ton, Kansas, and their four children are: Maud H., Merl E., Grace F. and John E., Jr., the first two mentioned being students at the University of Oklahoma.
PHILIP W. SOUTH. The name of Philip WV. South is prominently known as a pio- neer of the Chickasaw Nation and as a large cattle dealer, and further than this there are few men who can more justly claim the proud American title of a self-made man. He was but a boy of fourteen when his ·mother died, and he had obtained only the merest smattering of an education when he was thus left to battle for himself, being able to read and write, but entirely igno- rant of the world and its ways. He with a half-brother, William A. Springer, and a small company of emigrants left Ten- nessee for the west, and on their overland journey their first stop was at Thackerville, now in Love county, Oklahoma. With la- bor as his only capital, Mr. South worked on a farm for wages, and later as a partner leased land and thus secured the chief prof- its of his labor to himself. The brothers remained in that community for five years, and then identified themselves with that por- tion of Carter county west of Berwyn called the Springer neighborhood, it having re- ceived its name from the elder of the young men. There Mr. Springer married Nannie Mays, a daughter of C. H. Mays, of Red River county, Texas, and there he also died, without issue.
During their residence in Carter county the brothers were engaged in farming and stock-raising, and when Mr. South left there ten years later he brought with him a bunch of cattle to the Oil Creek country, and se- curing a lease, his chief interests in stock have since been maintained there. He has about two thousand acres of land under fence and leased in small allotments, and from there about five hundred head of cattle are marketed annually. Within a few years he has established his family in Mill Creek, where his children have access to good edu- cational institutions.
Philip W. South came to the state in 1879 from McNairy county, Tennessee, but he was born in Hardin county, of that state, on the 30th of March, 1865, a son of Andrew M. and Sallie (Rushing) South. The father was also a Tennesseean by nativity, and the mother was a daughter of Richard Rush- Vol. II-28.
ing and had been previously married to a Mr. Springer. He died after becoming the father of two children, William A., after whom the town of Springer, in Carter coun- ty, was named, and Lina, the wife of John Emmerson, of Tennessee. The father had also been previously married, and by the first union had five children: Samuel, who came to Texas in an early day, and nothing has since been known of his history; Levi, whose death occurred in Tennessee; Wash- ington, whose home is in Texas; John, of Arkansas; and Wilse, who resides in west- ern Oklahoma. The children born to An- drew M. and Sallie South were: Jennie, the wife of a Mr. Donahue and a resident of Arkansas; Philip W., of this review; and Minnie, who married Oscar Villiard and re- sides in Arkansas. Mrs. South died in Ten- nessee in 1871.
In the year of 1893 Philip W. South wed- ded Mrs. Nannie Springer, his brother's widow, and their children are: Walter, Ray, Ernest, Otho, Lloyd and Grady. As a citizen Mr. South is ambitious beyond the success of his efforts and beyond the proper education of his children. He is both a Ma- son and a Democrat, and in a business way is a stockholder in the Merchants and Planters National Bank.
WALTER B. REEVES, M. D., of Wapanucka, a representative of the regular school of medicine and a practitioner in thorough ac- cord with the ethics and practice of the profession, was born near Lone Oak, Texas, July 27, 1876. His father, William A. Reeves, a retired farmer and stock grower of Lone Oak, a successful business man withal and a representative citizen, was reared in Smith county, where his father, Wiley Reeves, founded the family in the Lone Star State. Wiley Reeves passed his life on a farm and lived in both Smith and Hunt counties, dying at Campbell in 1881, aged sixty-seven years. He was a native of Alabama. Politically he was an ardent Democrat, but without political ambition for selfish interests. Eight sons and one daughter completed his household circle, William A. being numbered among the younger children.
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