USA > Oklahoma > A history of the state of Oklahoma, Volume II > Part 87
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section of Oklahoma. Thus in a double sense he may be called the advance agent of the new Oklahoma.
JOHN JONES is a son of a leading citizen of the former Creek Nation and is himself an expert accountant connected with the Cit- izens' State Bank of Okemah, Okfuskee coun- ty. Mr. Jones was born near Old Arbeka November 8, 1883, son of Napoleon and Lu- cinda (Cox) Jones. His father was a pros- perous merchant, farmer and stock-man, a full-blood Creek Indian and very prominent in the councils of the tribe. He was a man of remarkable intelligence and force of char- acter, and was not only a leader in govern- ment affairs of his people but of invaluable assistance to the early mission workers and ministers of the gospel who were obliged to carry their faith to the Creek and other Indians through the medium of interpreters. In this office he became not only widely known but thoroughly beloved. Mr. Jones' mother was a half-blood Creek, daughter of C. Cox, a saddler and merchant long sta- tioned at Fort Gibson. The Cox family is of good Scotch-Irish ancestry.
Mr. Jones received a very thorough edu- cation, having mastered the fundamental stud- ies at the Nuyaka mission school which he attended for six years. He then entered the Henry Kendall College at Muskogee, from which he graduated in the academic depart- ment with the class of 1903 and with a de- gree of B. S. After leaving school he en- gaged in the business of buying, shipping, and raising live stock, his operations cover- ing most of the ranch land which is now with- in the confines of Okfuskee county. For two years he conducted this business and later became connected with the mercantile establishment of the Creek Trading Company, of Okemah, assuming the position of both salesman and interpreter. Later he was in- duced to accept a similar position with the Cash Buyers Trading Company, and shortly afterward became identified with the banking business as bookkeeper for the Citizens' Bank and Trust Company of Okemah. He is both an expert accountant of that institution and one of its leading stockholders. On account of his citizenship in the former Creek nation he is the owner of valuable allotments in Okfuskee county, and continues both to en- gage in the cattle business and to lease var- ious tracts of his land for grazing purposes. On June 24, 1908, Mr. Jones married Miss
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Lillie Laughlin, daughter of Jeremiah Laugh- lin, a veterinary surgeon and pioneer of the county.
JAMES C. WRIGHT, ex-county attorney of Ellis county, and for some time an active member of the bar at Okemah, Okfuskee county, Oklahoma, is one of the progressive professional figures in this section of the new state. He is a man both of varied and thorough education, as well as of practical abilities, this combination being heartily ap- proved by the intelligent and common-sense people of the commonwealth. Mr. Wright is a native of Garden City, Missouri, born August 23, 1874, and is a son of John D. and Elizabeth (Suitor) Wright. Both par- ents were natives of Scotland the father be- ing a farmer who lived many years in the vicinity of Garden City. After obtaining a common-school education in his home com- munity, the son completed a course at the State Normal School at Warrensburg, Mis- souri, and also received a thorough commer- cial training at Brown's Business College in Kansas City, Missouri. While pursuing his normal course at Warrensburg he had com- menced the study of law in the office of James A. Kemper, and was admitted to the Missouri bar in June, 1901, by the Hon. W. L. Jar- rot, district judge. During this busy period he also taught school, but soon after his ad- mission to the bar commenced regular prac- tice at Grand, Day county (now Ellis coun- ty), Oklahoma. He established himself at that point alone, and in 1902 had so far de- veloped a substantial professional and civic reputation that he was elected county attor- ney, continuing to acceptably fill that office for the term of two years. He then returned to private practice in partnership with Samuel A. Miller, under the firm style of Wright and Miller. This association continued un- til 1906, when the senior member dissolved it for the purpose of taking a trip to the gulf coast in the interest of his health, re- turning to his professional work in the latter part of the year with restored strength and old-time acumen. Mr. Wright's wife, whom he married at Grand, Oklahoma, was former- ly Miss Rosa Travis, and they have one child, Ada Elizabeth Wright.
JUDGE THOMAS J. BARNES, of Idabel, whose rrlings in the courts over which he has pre- sided in the southwestern country have earn- ed him a wide and favorable reputation with both the legal fraternity and the public, and
firmly established him as an able, just and wise representative of the bench, was born in Sevier county, Arkansas, on the 16th of May, 1874, his father, Thomas Hose Barnes, being a native of Logan county, that state, with year of birth, 1851. Judged from the educational standard of today, he was rear- ed with a very imperfect education, contin- uing to reside on the farm near his birth- place and reaching his twentieth year with an untrained mind, but a robust body. The paternal grandfather was Thomas Barnes, the son of an Englishman who settled in Ala- bama on the farm where Thomas was born and reared. He came to Arkansas when the state was yet in its infancy, opened a farm, served in the Confederate army, reared a family of sons and died in 1883, aged sixty- two years. The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Thomas H. Barnes were: Thomas J., of this review; Joseph, Laura, Estelle, Etty, Anna; and Dora, who became the wife of WV. A. Laster, of Sevier county, Arkansas. Laura married W. L. Axton, of Idabel, Ok- lahoma; Joseph married Emma, daughter of Dr. Hadley, of Sevier county, Arkansas ; Es- telle became the wife of James Crinshaw ; Etty is now Mrs. Richard Graves; and Anna is now connected with the Idabel School. The mother of this family (nee Loris Flanagan) was born in Sevier County Arkansas, in the year 1857.
As before mentioned, Judge Barnes reach- ed manhood virtually uneducated, and at twenty years of age was penniless. But keenly realizing the need and the advantages of an education, he now resolutely set to work to gain one,-cutting cord wood, cook- ing his own meals to economize and doing everything possible to earn money in order to gain knowledge. As soon as he was suf- ficiently advanced in his studies he began to teach school, thus eventually providing himself with funds by which he acquired a college training. He first became a regu- lar student at the Lockesburg (Arkansas) High School, and then pursued a special course in the classics at Wilton High School, that state, as well as in other col- legiate branches, and later commenced to teach advanced pupils in the country and graded schools. His last work in the educa- tional field was at the Ozark school, in Polk county, Arkansas. At the commencement of his teaching career he received a salary of twenty-two and a half dollars a month, but
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HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA.
was soon advanced. But progress in finan- ces by no means satisfied his ambition, and his mind was soon bent on the mastery of the law. In 1902, with his young wife, he moved to Goodwater, Indian Territory, pitch- ed his domestic tent in that locality and gave his undivided attention to his professional studies. In the autumn of that year he be- gan the practice of law in the United States commissioner's court at Garvin, and was ad- mitted to the bar by Judge Clayton, at Ant- lers, Indian Territory. As "the lawyer in the tent," and the only member of the pro- fession in the town, his first case, which came to him soon after he had been made a duly qualified attorney, attracted considerable at- tention, and he not only won the verdict, but so much popularity that his "office" soon be- came a favorite resort. In his practice dur- ing the succeeding six years the young law- yer defended numerous cases of murder, lar- ceny and every sort of felony, and he has a clear record of success as a jury lawyer. He maintained his residence at Garvin until he was elected county judge by the Demo- cratic party, receiving the largest majority of any candidate on the ticket. This per- sonal honor was largely the result of the energetic and leading part which he took in the campaign for statehood. As a county judge he determined to suppress the com- mission of crime, and before the passage of a law giving the jury the right to fix the punishment he had nearly put a stop to the illicit traffic of liquor and other misdemean- ors by the severity of the sentence which he had administered under existing statutes. As a business man and a financier Judge Barnes is also a community leader. When he lo- cated at Garvin he had a pony and a buggy -with his determination, ability and sound common sense; five years later his practice had netted him property in town worth sev- eral thousand dollars. He has also improv- ed real estate in Idabel, has for some time been the largest stockholder in the First Bank of that place and was elected president of that institution in 1908.
In reviewing Judge Barnes' career one is more than ever impressed with the fact that wealth, early training and seemingly favor- able environments weigh little in the balance with sturdy industry, integrity of purpose, bravery and the practical ability to meet un- flinchingly the difficulties of life and fight them with manliness and confidence in ulti-
mate victory. Besides having attained high standing as a lawyer, judge and man of busi- ness he has become authority on Masonic history, having advanced to the thirty-sec- ond degree of that order. On June 24, 1898. six months after his initiation into the mys- teries of the fraternity, he was called upon to deliver an address for a Masonic celebration at Silver Hill, Arkansas. With his charac- teristic thoroughness he delved deep into the literature of the order, with the result that his paper was pronounced, even by old mem- bers of the order, as a remarkable production, and is still retained with pride in the ar- chives of Silver Hill Lodge No. 485, A. F. and A. M. He is also connected with the Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias, before whom he frequently makes notewor- thy addresses. In his religious belief he is a Baptist, and a faithful worker in the local Sunday school. On August 12, 1900, the Judge was married in Sevier county, Arkan- sas, to Miss Myrtle Luttrell, daughter of William Luttrell, of Gillham, Arkansas, but formerly of Missouri, and their three child- ren are Dorsey L., Kathleen and Myrtle Barnes.
JUDGE GEORGE A. SPAULDING, an attorney- at-law practicing at Garvin and for nine years United States Commissioner of the Choctaw Nation, but since 1896 a resident of Oklahoma. was born near Saratoga Springs, New York, March 14, 1855, and was educated in the country schools, and in Mechanicsville and Troy. His youth was spent about his father's lumber mills at Green- field, New York.
The Spauldings were of the early Colon- ial families of Massachusetts. Edward Spaulding, the first, founded the family, near Braintree, between 1630 and 1633. He was from Lincolnshire, England, and the line of direct descent from him down to the subject of this memoir's grandfather includes An- drew the first and second, James the first and second, Jonathan, and then Alva, who was the father of George W. Spaulding, whose son is the subject, George A. Spauld- ing.
Alva Spaulding was born in Vermont June 11, 1998, and settled at Luzerne, New York, where he acquired a large lumbering inter- est as a manufacturer. His factory turned out, among other things, pails and staves.
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HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA.
He was found dead near Glens Falls April 9, 1856. He married Lydia Taylor and they became the parents of nine children.
George W. Spaulding was born near Bur- lington, Vermont, September 12, 1825, and was reared among the lumbering interests of his father and followed the same line him- self at Greenfield, New York. He attained much prominence as a citizen and excellent business man, and his interests were varied and very extensive during the zenith of his career. He took little interest in politics. He was a member of the Methodist church and an exemplary Christian. He died at the age of fifty-four years in 1879. His first wife was Sarah Barnes, whom he married May 11, 1854, widow of Joel O. Barnes, and whose son, Joel S., now resides at Timpson, Texas. Mrs. Spaulding was born January 14, 1830, and died November 5, 1858, leav- ing George A. Spaulding, the subject of the sketch, as her only surviving issue. For his second wife Mr. Spaulding married, Novem- ber 6, 1859, Mary E. Wood, of Broom, New York, who bore him five children, two of whom survive, Hattie, wife of L. F. Lam- mers, of Heron Lake, Minnesota, and El- mer N., of the same place.
When George A. Spaulding left his native State-New York-he had no definite plans for his immediate future and his course was governed solely by conditions where he should locate. He had gained much experience in merchandising, as his father had a store in Greenfield Center, and it happened that this first attracted him when he reached the far
west. He left home in the month of Janu- ary, 1878, and established himself in business in Phillipsburg, Kansas, where he operated a store. While thus engaged he was elected clerk of the district court, holding the office from 1881 to 1885. During his incumbency he studied law and was admitted to the bar, engaging actively in the practice of law and continued until 1896 when he went to the Indian Territory and located at Poteau. While a resident there he was appointed post- master, but after a few months resigned and was succeeded by his wife, who filled the office for four years. After he left the post- office he was appointed United States Com- missioner and maintained an office at l'o- tean until 1898, when he was transferred to Goodwater and took charge of the office there, remaining until the office was removed to Garvin, when he made his final move in
1902 and continued to hold the office until the establishment of the Statehood. During the nine years he was commissioner, no ad- verse criticism of his work ever came be- fore the department at Washington nor from the judge who appointed him. His district was the dumping ground for all Oklahoma for its fugitives and "bad men" generally, and he with a force of deputy marshals who favored law and order cleaned up the coun- try so that it was fit for civilized inhabitants to dwell in with peace and safety.
Judge Spaulding has been a leading spirit in the growth of Garvin, and was instrumen . tal in securing the location of the extensive interests of the Choctaw Lumber and Veneer Company and its allied interests, one of the largest concerns within the state, and for which he is the attorney and a stockholder. He was one of the organizers of the Bank of Garvin and a director of the First State Bank of Idabel. He owns much property in Garvin and erected the first fine residence within that town. He was brought under the direct influence of the Republican party, born as he was on the eve of the party's birth, and when he reached his majority es- poused its cause and has ever been found its faithful supporter. He was a delegate to every Republican state convention from 1880 to 1896, and in 1892 was a delegate to the National convention at Minneapolis. He was nominated for judge of the seven- teenth Kansas district in 1893, and was de- feated because the district was Democratic at that time.
The Judge was united in marriage, Au- gust 19, 1879, in Phillipsburg, Kansas, to Lottie A., daughter of A. L. McLeod, a far- mer from Illinois. Mrs. Spaulding was born May 12, 1859. The children born of her union with Judge Spaulding are: Maud G., born August 14, 1880, wife of Mark Kirk- patrick of Ardmore, Oklahoma; George A., born July 28, 1882, of Garvin, married Cath- erine Hibbard; Alyce L., born May 12, 1885, wife of Francis Taaffe, of Garvin, whose issue is-Clair and George Spaulding; Har- rison C., born October 1, 1888 ; Mildred, born September 11, 1897, who died at Poteau, Dec. 30, 1897; Dwight V., born July 8, 1900; and Margaret, born May 12, 1906.
ROBERT E. STEEL, of Idabel, county attor- ney of McCurtain county, Oklahoma, was born at Lockesburg, Arkansas, December 11, 1873. His father is Judge James S. Steel,
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HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA.
circuit judge of the Ninth judicial district, of Arkansas, and a native of the same state and county as his son. The father was educated at Paraclifta, and studied law and began practice before the courts of Sevier county, where he rose to prominence as an attorney. He was elected to represent his county in the state legislature, where he acquitted him- self with credit, and was later elected pros- ecuting attorney of the Ninth district and after four years, in 1902, was elected by the Democratic party as judge.
Of the Steel family it may be stated that it was founded in Arkansas by Judge Thomas Tucker Steel, who came from Mississippi in the early fifties. He was born in Ireland in 1806, was educated in the United States, was in the Confederate army as a captain from Arkansas, was later a prominent at- torney of Sevier county, and was circuit judge, his district being now the Ninth, over which his able son presides. He married Phebe Turntime and reared a family as fol- lows : William, Edward, James, Custer, Alice and Frankie. Judge James S. Steel married Roberta B. Williamson, daughter of Thom- as Williamson, who came from Mississippi and located in Arkansas. Mrs. Steel died in September, 1906, the mother of Robert E., our subject; Lydia, wife of E. E. White: Maggie, wife of J. W. Everett; A. P., of Sevier county ; J. K .; Minnie Belle, wife of John W. Gray, of Lockesburg; and Thomas T. and George T., of Sevier county.
Coming to the part of this narrative which speaks more especially of County Attorney Robert E. Steel, it may be said that he was educated largely at home in Lockesburg and when eighteen years of age went to the Choc- taw Nation and was employed with Wilson Brothers on their cow ranch. He was a man of the ranch and rope for five years, after which he returned home and took up the study of law under his able father and his uncle, A. C. Steel. In due time he was admitted to the bar and to the Federal courts at Texarkana. He then located at Durant, where he practiced a short time, and came to Idabel in 1903. Here he soon convinced the good citizens that he understood his profession and they placed him in nomination on the Democratic ticket and elected him over the Republican candidate, by a majority of four hundred and thirty-six votes, for the office of county attor- ney, which position he ably fills at this writ- ing. He is identified with the business world Vol. II-30.
in the vicinity of Idabel, being a stockholder in the First State Bank and a property owner in the county seat. He is identified with the Masonic order as a member of Idabel Lodge No. 152, and as a Royal Arch Mason with No. 300, Dequeen of Arkansas. He is also an Elk and a member of Camp No. 270 of the Woodmen of the World. He holds cer- tificate No. 19,790 in the Modern Order of Praetorians. In manner and appearance Mr. Steel is a bundle of nerves, tall and wiry and a forcible, entertaining speaker. His suc- cess at the bar has won him a high and lucra- tive practice and among his fellow attorneys he is among the leaders in fraternal and pro- fessional affairs at the McCurtain county bar.
Mr. Steel was first united in marriage at Clarksville, Texas, February 20, 1893, to Lula Clark, daughter of James Clark. She passed from the scenes of earth, July 8, 1905, the mother of Bonnie, Eugene, Gordon, Tuck, Hal and Jeanette. For his second wife Mr. Steel married Adele Igo, daughter of Garrett Igo, a prominent citizen of Idabel and one who has been identified with Indian Territory for fifty years and who is widely known throughout the Choctaw Nation. Mr. and Mrs. Steel were married July 22, 1906, and have one child, Earl R. Steel.
W. THOMAS GRAHAM, of Idabel, sheriff of McCurtain county, Oklahoma, and for four- tcen years identified with the agricultural in- terests of the county, settled here in 1894 and took up a residence near Doakesville, in what was then Towson county, Choctaw Nation. He was from the Red River country in Texas, where his youthful years were spent, but he was born in Tippah county, Mississippi, March 6, 1856. His environments were rural, and the labors of the farm held him close there until his election to public office, when his resi- dence was demanded at the county seat- hence his removal.
With no records preserved by his ancestry, Mr. Graham has no knowledge of his early family history. Had such records been made in the long-ago past, it would be an easy mat- ter today to trace and connect with them in genealogical order. In consequence of this neglect on the part of preceding generations, the father of the subject of our narrative must be the commencement. His name was William A. Graham, born in the state of Mississippi and migrated from Tippah county, that state, to Texas, in 1836, settling in Red River coun- ty, where he died in 1885, aged fifty-six years.
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He was a soldier from Texas in the Confed- erate army in Civil war days. He was united in marriage in Mississippi to Harriet Mill- stead, who died in Red River county, Texas, in 1876.
William Thomas Graham, the only child in his parents' family who reached the years of maturity, came up with no opportunities, other than those provided by the country schools and rural environments. He began farming and followed it without change in Texas and Oklahoma. He secured a lease near Doakesville and finally purchased a small tract of land, where his substantial country interests remain. He was one of eight men who wanted the office of sheriff in his county, and he was successful by a majority of four hun- dred and fifty-six votes at the general election. which testifies as to his popularity as a citizen. He is the chief peace officer of the largest county in the commonwealth of Oklahoma, which has its full share of criminals. The mountains of the north and the swamps of the south, with the timber districts, generally offer a convenient and apparently safe retreat for offenders of the peace and dignity of the new-made state. Mr. Graham holds the views of the Democratic party, and is a member of the Knights of Pythias and Woodmen of the World fraternities.
He was married in Red River county, Texas, July 28, 1877, to Sarah Margaret, daughter of Samuel Graham, formerly from Mississippi, and a representative of the same family, as the sheriff. Samuel Graham married a Miss Dix- on, and Mrs. W. T. Graham is the only issue of the marriage union. The children born to the sheriff and his wife are: Minnie, Mrs. Charles Johnson, of Maud, Oklahoma ; Hattie, now Mrs. Fletcher Cooper, of McCurtain county ; Samuel and Deta.
HON. HOSEA L. FOWLER. Judge Hosea L. Fowler, of Valliant, Oklahoma, the present mayor of the town and a man-of-affairs and also.one of the pioneers of this section of the country, was born at Mt. Ida, Arkansas, Sep- tember 18, 1859. He grew to manhood there, and when twenty years of age accompanied his father, the late Rev. Nathaniel M. Fowler, widely known as a pioneer preacher and teach- er in old Towson county, in the vicinity of Wheelock, and the latter established the post- office at Fowlersville. He was also a merchant and postmaster. He died October 9, 1897. Rev. Fowler was born in Cummings, Georgia, January 27, 1835, acquired a good education
and was converted to the Christian religion in early life, becoming a minister in the Baptist denomination. He married in Georgia, Mar- garet Vandavier and before the Civil war moved to Mt. Ida, Arkansas, where the good wife died in 1874. The issue of this union was: Hosea L. of this biography; George W., who died near Valliant, leaving a family ; David and William W., of Valliant ; Nathaniel M., of Stewart, Oklahoma; and Margaret C., deceased.
When Rev. Fowler went into the Choctaw Nation it was to engage in teaching among the Indians. He was employed at Lucksolo, and for many years was devoted to the cause of education. When he abandoned it he con- tinued to preach and also did carpenter work, later engaging in merchandising, establishing a store at Fowlersville, and he ended his useful as well as eventful career there. The educa- tion of his own family was a care which fell largely to himself, and he saw them all reach years of responsibility and assume their sta- tions in active life.
Judge Hosea Fowler became a stock man when first undertaking business on his own account, but was later attracted to merchan- dising. In 1891 he was appointed Deputy U. S. Marshal, and served under J. J. McAllister and his successor, and was in such service for six years. At that date his father died and he was made postmaster at Fowlerville and also succeeded him in the store. He was first married September 17, 1883 to a daugh- ter of Cornelius Garland, and the grand- daughter of Governor Thomas Le Flore. Hav- ing acquired citizenship by marriage he was chosen county judge of Towson county, and filled that office four years. When the railroad was built through the country and a station established at Valliant he opened up in busi- ness there, for the towns of Wheelock and Fowlersville were not on the railroad line.
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