A history of the state of Oklahoma, Volume II, Part 9

Author: Hill, L. B. (Luther B.)
Publication date: 1909
Publisher: Chicago, New York, The Lewis publishing company
Number of Pages: 810

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Mr. Peyton was married in 1881 to Mrs. Mary A. Clark, who was educated in the government school at St. Mary's, Kansas. and she has one son by her former marriage, George Clark. Mr. Peyton is a member of the fraternal order of Odd Fellows, Shawnee Lodge, No. 149.

WILLIAM D. ADAMS was one of the prom- inent agriculturists of Earlsboro township, and pioneer of Pottawatomie county of 1892. At that time he bought his farm, it contain- ing then nothing but a dugout and a few other small improvements, but as time passed he improved his land and replaced the first primitive dwelling by a pleasant and substantial home. This splendid home- stead of one hundred and sixty acres, known as the Pecan Valley Farm, is rich and valu- able land, constituting one of the valuable farm homes of Earlsboro township.

Mr. Adams was born in Lexington, Lafay- ette county, Missouri, in 1858 a member of an early pioneer family to that state. His paternal grandfather was Jacob Adams and his father, Eli Adams, was born in Clai- borne county, Tennessee. He resided in Missouri and Kansas during the period of the Civil war, when life and property on the then frontier border were in danger. The

family later went to Indiana. Mr. Eli Adam's wife, Jane Powell, was the first white child born in Washington township, Lafayette county, Missouri, her father, Rich- ard Powell, having been one of the town- ship's first settlers. She died at the age of eighty-seven long surviving her husband, who was seventy-five at the time of his death. He was a life-long farmer, a Dem- ocrat politically and a member of the Prim- itive Baptist church. Their family num- bered thirteen children, of whom the follow- ing are living: Amanda, Noah, Jacob, Lou- isa, Richard, Martha, Sterling, Price and Laura. The eldest son, Ben, was a Civil war soldier under General Pemberton, and during the battle of Vicksburg he was wounded by a shell and died at Alton prison in Illinois. The second son, Noah, was also a Civil war soldier, serving under General Shelby.

William D. Adams spent the early years of his life on a farm in Missouri, and at the age of twenty-two he married Sarah E. Leap, who was born in Boone county, Indiana, a daughter of John F. and Martha Jane (Kem- per) Leap, in whose family were five chil- dren, two sons and three daughters, namely : Sarah E. Adams, Lucy Malvin, William Jackson, Ada Farlee (deceased) and Til- mond Jackson. Mr. and Mrs. Leap came to Oklahoma in 1891 and secured a claim in Earlsboro township. The four children born to Mr. and Mrs. Adams are Florence, Roger Mills, Walter Cleveland, whose home is in Missouri, and Roy Fielding, who was born in Earlsboro township in 1898. Mr. Adams gave his political support to the Democratic party, and he was a member of the Primitive Baptist church as is his wife. Mr. Adams died June 1, 1908.

W. I. CONAWAY. No history of the agri- cultural development of Pottawatomie county would be complete without promi- nent reference to W. I. Conaway, who is one of the proprietors of the Oak Park Farm in Earlsboro township. He is classed with the most progressive and enterprising agri- culturists of this community and is doing a splendid work in improving and developing his property. He belongs to that class of representative men who in advancing indi- vidual interests also promote the general welfare, and throughout the community where he makes his home he is held in high- est respect. He represents one of the old families of the Buckeye state, his birth hav-

Seo. M. Sauchgoly

HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA.

ing occurred in Franklin, Ohio, near Colum- bus, on the 16th of September, 1866. His father, Basil Conaway, was a native of Perry county, Ohio, in which locality he was reared and educated. At the time of the Civil war he espoused the Union cause and served for three and a half years as a mem- ber of the Fourteenth Army Corps. He made an excellent record as a gallant and valorous soldier, going with Sherman on the march to the sea and participating in many hotly contested battles which led up to the final victories that crowned the Union arms. His political allegiance was ever given to the Republican party which was the defen- der of the Union cause in the dark days of the Civil war and has always been the party of reform and progress. His religious faith was that of the United Brethren church and his life was in harmony with his professions. In early manhood he wedded Miss Rebecca Claybaugh, who was born in Fairfield coun- ty, Ohio, and whose father was of Scottish birth. She had three brothers who were soldiers of the Civil war, Thomas, Nicholas and Birch Claybaugh, and one was killed in battle in Georgia.

W. I. Conaway, whose name introduces this record, belonged to a family of six sons and seven daughters. He was reared upon the old home farm in Ohio, where he was taught to work, while lessons concerning the value of integrity and industry were early impress- ed upon his mind. During the winter months he attended the public schools to the age of fourteen years, when he started out in life on his own account and has since been de- pendent upon his own resources, so that whatever success he has achieved has come to him as the reward of persistent, earnest effort.

When twenty-six years of age, Mr. Cona- way was married to Miss Nancy H. Gander, a native of Putnam county, Ohio, who has been to him a faithful companion and help- mate on life's journey. She was born in 1867 and is a daughter of Geeorge W. and Hattie (Clevenger) Gander. Her father died in Putnam county, Ohio, leaving four children, one son, G. W. Gander, and three daughters. The mother died June 18, 1908, aged seventy- five. She was the daughter of one of the earliest settlers of Putnam county, Ohio, her father establishing his home in the midst of the green woods when the native forest growth stood in its primeval strength. There

was much wild game in the district and In- dians were frequently seen.

Mr. and Mrs. Conaway are now pleasantly located on one of the excellent farms of Pot- tawatomie county. It comprises one hun- dred and fifty-two acres of rich and valuable land that has been brought under a high state of cultivation and annually returns golden harvests for the care and labor which is bestowed upon the fields. In the ownership of this property Mr. Con- away is associated with G. W. Gander. In the midst of the farm stands an attractive and beautiful residence and upon the lawn are found oak trees, making the place look like a park. The house was erected at a cost of twenty-five hundred dollars and is pleasantly and com- fortably furnished. In the rear stands a good barn twenty-two by forty feet with an addition fourteen by forty feet. There are also cribs and in fact all of the necessary outbuildings for the shelter of grain and stock. He raises both grain and cattle and has a model property, which indicates the careful supervision and progressive methods of the owner.

The home of Mr. and Mrs. Conaway has been blessed with three children : Alta, now thirteen years of age: Walter D., eleven years of age, and Verda L., an infant. In community affairs Mr. Conaway is deeply and helpfully interested and has been offi- cially connected with the school board, the cause of education finding in him a warm and stalwart friend. His political allegiance is given to the Democracy. Fraternally he is connected with the Knights of Pythias and with the Maccabees and is loyal to the teachings and purposes of these orders, while in the lodge rooms he is a welcome feature. In his business career he has displayed un- faltering diligence and determination and starting out in life at the age of fourteen years he justly deserves the success which is crowning his efforts, for it has been gained through honorable methods that neither seek nor require disguise.

GEO. M. SOUTHGATE. For more than sev- enteen years Geo. M. Southgate has been an honored resident of Pottawatomie coun- ty, actively interested in its advancement and upbuilding, and he has performed his full share in the work which has transformed this section of the country into a prosper- ous community. His name is inscribed on the pages of both its political and industrial

HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA.

history, for he has labored effectively in pub- lic office for the public good, and is now the incumbent of the highest office within the gift of the citizens of Wanette, that of mayor. He has served as a delegate to many of the county and state conventions, representing his district in the last state con- vention at Muskogee in 1908. He is also of the highest type of business man, and as the cashier of the First National Bank of Wa- nette he stands at the head of the business interests of Pottawatomie county. The bank was established February 6, 1903, with a capital of twenty-five thousand dollars, and its present officers are: W. S. Search of Shawnee, president ; E. C. Nichols of Tecum- seh, vice president ; Geo. M. Southgate, cashier ; and T. F. Southgate assistant cash- ier.

Geo. M. Southgate has been identified with the interests of Oklahoma since Octo- ber of 1891, but he is a Kentuckian by birth, born in Boone county in 1859, a son of Dr. B. E. Southgate, who was born in Virginia, and represented a prominent old southern family who came from Al Walton, England, to the United States before the Revolution- ary war. Mrs. Southgate who was Eleanor Fleming, was of a Scotch-Irish family, and of their six children, three sons and three daughters, all reside in their home state of Kentucky with the exception of the two Wanette bankers. The family were of the Presbyterian religious belief.

Arriving in Oklahoma Geo. M. Southgate located six miles east of Shawnee where he followed farming and stock raising, and finally, in 1896, was elected clerk of the county and served in that office for three terms, or six years, proving a popular official. His marriage to Berla A. Gilbert was cele- brated in Pottawotomie county in 1898, She was born in Rockwood, Illinois, but was rear- ed and educated in Summer county, Kansas, and was a teacher before her marriage. Their four children are Eleanor F., Margaret E., Virginia A., and Eloise. Mr. Southgate is a prominent and efficient worker in the ranks of the Democratic party, and fraternally he is a member of the Masonic order affiliating. order in 1868, and he was also a member of with the chapter, consistory, shrine and In- dia Temple of Oklahoma City.

HON. SIDNEY SCHRAM, who was one of the best known men of Pottawatomie county, was born in London, Ontario, February 20, 1838, and died August 29, 1908, in Shawnee. His paternal grandfather, William Schram,

came to the United States from London, England, before the Revolutionary war, and located in New York, where his son, Ben was born and reared. Ben Schram married Jane Tichner from London, Eng- land, and he died when his son Sidney was but nine years of age, leaving a widow and three children.

After the death of his father Sidney Schram found a home with his grandfather, William Schram, for several years, and when he was twenty-two he left Canada for Mis- souri, where he remained for one year and then went to Colorado, to Denver and Gol- den City, where he was employed in ranch- ing and in freighting to the mountains. From there he went to Iowa and became the owner of one hundred and twenty-five acres in the southwestern part of the state, but selling his land he went to Hamburg, that state. During the Civil war period he witnessed many skirmishes in southwestern Iowa, and served as the deputy sheriff for a time. Go- ing later to Taylor county, Iowa he was ex- tensively engaged in stock raising and farm- ing for some years, and in that time was elected to the office of clerk of the courts. In 1883 Mr. Schram left Iowa for Butler county, Nebraska, where he was elected to serve as the sheriff of the county in 1886 and during his residence in Nebraska he was made a member of the state senate. In 1894 he came to Oklahoma. This was during an early epoch in its history, when the work of development was yet in its infancy, and from those early days until his death the Hon. Sidney Schram was prominently iden- tified with the work of development, in both its business and public life. In 1900 he was elected the sheriff of Pottawatomie county, receiving at the election the large majority of five hundred and thirty votes, and he served in the office for two years. Woodland, the beautiful and valuable homestead is located three miles east of the town of Shawnee, and contains two hundred acres of rich and fer- tile land. To him also belonged the dis- tinction of having been one of the oldest Masons in the county, having joined the the Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias and the Eagles fraternities at Shawnee.

In Atchison county, Missouri, he married Clemtine Woodhull, who was born in Can- ada, a daughter of Josiah and Anna E. (Keyser) Woodhull. The father was born in the state of New York and was the son

HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA.

of a slave owner, George Woodhull. He died in Page county, Iowa, and his wife died in Missouri. The three children of Mr. and Mrs. Schram are Anna Eliza, the wife of C. T. Ward of Shawnee ; W. B., whose home is in Enid, Oklahoma ; and A. L., who conducts the homestead farm. A. L. Schram is mar- ried and has three children-Mabel E., Or- ville E. and Arta Maud.

JAMES W. TURNER, the proprietor of Oak Grove Farm in Earlsboro township, was born in Ray county, Missouri, February 15, 1872, a son of Jeremiah and Hannah F. (Conyers) Turner, born respectively in North Carolina and Kentucky. The father, who was a farmer, died in Ray county, Mis- souri, in 1885, aged forty-five years. He was a stanch Union man during the period of the Civil war, and afterward voted with the Democratic party. He was liberal in his religious views, and his wife, who still sur- vives him, aged seventy-one, and is living with her son, James, is a member of the Christian church. In their family were seven children, four sons and three daughters, namely: Edgar, whose home is in Gar- field county, Oklahoma: D. L., of Los An- geles, California ; Mollie Tucker, who died in Missouri; John W., of Pottawatomie county ; Lizzie Spinks of St. Charles, Mis- souri ; James W .; and Martha Cormony of Nebraska.

James W. Turner spent the early years of his life in his native state of Missouri, and coming from there to Oklahoma county in 1889 he located in Council Grove on a claim. From there in 1891 he came to Earlsboro township, where he has ever since made his home and has been one of the most promi- nent factors in its history. His farm of one hundred and eighty acres, in two separate tracts, lies in range 4, township 10, the north- west quarter of section 29, and is mostly bottom land, very rich and productive. When he first located here he was obliged to go to Oklahoma City for his supplies, a distance of forty-five miles, and in all the subsequent changes which have been wrought here, changes which have placed this community on a par with many older parts of the Union, he has been an important factor, active in both its public and business life. He is an active Democratic worker, has for seven years represented his party as a delegate to conventions, including the convention in Hobart in 1907, is the present central com-

mitteeman, and is also Earlsboro township's treasurer.

In 1897 Mr. Turner was married to Ella Dunagan, who was born in Platt county, Missouri, but was reared and educated in Kansas, a daughter of D. D. and a Miss (Melotte) Dunagan. The father was a pion- eer in both Kansas and Oklahoma, and is now living in Shawnee, but the mother is deceased. The five children, three sons and two daughters, born to Mr. and Mrs. Tur- ner are: Iva, Roy, Earl, Lois and Ralph. The family are members of the Christian church and Mr. Turner is serving his church as an elder.

A. E. PATRICK. The name of A. E. Patrick is inseparably connected with the financial interests of Pottawatomie county, for he is at the head of one of its leading banking institutions, the Asher State Bank. It was organized with a capital of $10,000 and a good surplus and bought the stock of the first state bank organized in the city. Its officers are : J. C. Milner, president, and A. E. Patrick, cashier, men of excellent finan- cial standing in the county, while its presi- dent is one of the oldest pioneers, coming here at the opening of the county to settle- ment.

A. E. Patrick became a resident of Okla- homa in 1893, first locating at Cushing, and he was born in Ogle county, Illinois, near Oregon, in 1872. His family were among the early residents of that community, his grandfather moving there from Massachu- setts as early as 1837. His father, Edward W. Patrick, was born in Ogle county, and was reared on a farm there, receiving an ex- cellent educational training in Wheaton Col- lege. He died in the county of his birth in 1898, when he had attained the age of fifty- six years, a prominent farmer and stock man and a Republican politically. He was also a member of the Masonic order and of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. His wife bore the maiden name of Ellen E. Gould, and was born in Massachusetts, and died at the age of fifty-nine years, in 1906. At her death she left two children, a son and daughter-the daughter is now living in Portland, Oregon.

A. E. Patrick was reared and received a good education in Ogle county, being a graduate of the Stillman Valley High School, and in 1893, coming to the new southwest, he served for a time as assistant postmaster in Cushing, Oklahoma, among

HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA.

the Indian tribes, but after two years he re- turned to Illinois and accepted a position in Chicago with the Cable Company. He was married in Pasadena, California, in 1904, to Daisy P. White, who was also born and reared in Ogle county, Illinois, and was edu- cated in the University of Wisconsin at Madison, and at Illinois State Normal at Normal, Illinois, being a member of the Kap- pa Alpha Theta fraternity. She is a daugh- ter of George W. and Emma (John) White, both now deceased. Mr. Patrick is a Repub- lican politically and a member of the time- honored order of Masons.

JAMES M. PENNY, one of the well known agriculturists of Brinton township, Potta- watomie county, was born in Lincoln county, North Carolina, March 15, 1839, a son of Jesse and Elizabeth (Hager) Penny, both of whom were also born in that state. The father died at the age of sixty-eight, after a long life devoted to the work of a mechanic, and he was both a Baptist and a Democrat. Of their six children, two sons and four daughters, James M. is the only one living in Oklahoma.

Although a North Carolinian by birth he was reared in Georgia, and in the early days before the war was a schoolmate of General John B. Gordan. At the beginning of the trouble between the north and the south he espoused the cause of the Confederacy and joined the Army of the Tennessee, serving under Generals Johnston, Bragg and Hood, and took part in many of the hard-fought battles of the war, including the siege of Vicksburg, where he served with General Pemberton, and the battles of Franklin and Nashville, Tennessee. He was at one time captured and confined as a prisoner of war at Salisbury, and during his military period he suffered all the hardships and privations

of a true soldier of the South. Returning to his home in Georgia after the close of the conflict, he farmed there until his removal further south, to Montague county, Texas, in 1886, and in 1895 he came from Texas to Pottawatomie county, Oklahoma. He is now the owner of a valuable estate of one hun- dred and sixty acres in Brinton township, ten acres of which is planted to an orchard. His land is rich and fertile, and is under an excellent state of cultivation.

Mr. Penny was married in Georgia, to Joanna Kent, a daughter of Levi and Eliza- beth (Anthony) Kent, who lived and died in Georgia, earnest and worthy members

of the Methodist Episcopal church. Of the twelve children born to Mr. and Mrs. Penny seven are living, namely: Lizzy Otis, Ur- sula Moser, Arthur, Gordan, Lela, Joe Brown and Jesse. Mr. Penny has never voted any but a straight Democratic ticket, and for four years he served as the trustee of his township. He is a mem- ber of the Baptist church, and is a typical old Georgia gentleman, hospitable and kind to all, and in return he receives the veneration and respect which are the fruits of an honorable and well-spent life. He is a member of both the Masonic and Odd Fellow orders. In 1908 he was ap- pointed trustee and assessor of Brinton township. Himself and wife are both mem- bers of the Baptist church.

H. A. BOLINGER. One of the most interest- ing of the prominent characters whose worth and merit have graced the history of Potta- watomie county is to be found in the person of H. A. Bolinger, at the present time the po- lice judge of Maud. In fact, his forceful individuality led in part to the establish- ment of the town, in 1905, and since 1900 he has served as secretary of the township of Moore. He arrived in Oklahoma on the 22d of April, 1889, and secured a homestead five miles south of Oklahoma City, and he has ever since been a resident of Oklahoma and of Pottawatomie county, since 1900 one of its honored early pioneers.

Mr. Bolinger was born in St. Paul, Ar- kansas, in 1861, and his father, J. H. Bol- inger, was a native of Tennessee and during the Civil war he was a member of Captain Bevin's Home Guards, and was killed in the service. His wife, Elizabeth Sumner, was born in Arkansas, and is now a resident of Springdale that state, an earnest Christian lady and a member of the Baptist church. Mr. Bolinger was a Presbyterian in his re- ligious views. Among their four children was H. A. Bolinger, who spent his early life in his native state of Arkansas, receiving a public school education, and when but a lad of sixteen he was teaching school. He also attended for a time Huntsville Acad- emy of Arkansas, and shortly after leaving that institution he went from Arkansas to Texas, this being in 1884, and five years afterward, in 1889, he came to Oklahoma and entered actively and earnestly into its public life. He was the first superintendent of schools elected in Oklahoma county, serv- ing with credit and honor in that position

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HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA.

for two years and for three years he was an attorney at law there. Later he accepted a traveling position in the sale of school fur- niture with Jasper Sipes. He has served many times as a delegate to the state and county conventions of his party, the Demo- cratic, and is a member of the Knights of Pythias fraternity (Oklahoma No. 1) and the Woodmen of the World.

In 1898 Mr. Bolinger was united in mar- riage to Laura Cheves, who was born in Texas and was reared and educated in that state and Oklahoma, a daughter of G. M. and Masella (Carr) Cheves, the father from Tennessee and now a resident of Oklahoma county. In their family were seven chil- dren, three sons and four daughters. The two children of Mr. and Mrs. Bolinger are Albert Lee and Bessie. Mrs. Bolinger is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church.

A. G. CALDWELL, M. D. The professional and the business record of Dr. A. G. Cald- well are alike commendable, for in both re- lations he has been true to the trusts reposed in him, and has proved himself worthy of public confidence. His business career was begun immediately after his graduation from the Valparaiso University, where he studied under Professor H. B. Brown, one of the noted educators of northern Indiana. Then connecting himself with a wholesale house in the capacity of a traveling sales- man, he made good on the road until he began the study of medicine under the able instructions of Dr. W. W. Hyatt, of Ken- tucky, while later he entered, and in time graduated with honor from, the Louisville Medical College class of 1893, and Kentucky University Medical Department, class of 1900. It was in 1902 that he came to Potta- watomie county, Oklahoma, where he soon afterward became the promoter and one of the organizers of the Farmers National Bank of Tecumseh, and Dale State Bank, Dale, Oklahoma, of which he served first as president and later as cashier, but after a time he sold his interest in the institution in order to give his entire attention to his large and constantly growing medical prac- tice. He owns a large amount of real estate in Pottawatomie county, and also a large and valuable ranch in Hemphill county, Texas, on which he raises high grade stock, including Durham and Hereford cattle and Duroc Jersey and Poland China hogs. The

Caldwell Ranch is one of the most valuable places in that part of the country.

Mr. Caldwell is a native son of the Blue Grass state of Kentucky, born in Anderson county, in 1866, a son of B. F. and Mary (Cardwell) Caldwell. The father, of Scotch- Irish descent, was also born in Kentucky, in 1842, and he served four years as a mem- ber of an infantry company, Fourth Ken- tucky Volunteers, U. S. A. Their family numbered eight children, five sons and three daughters.

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A history of the state of Oklahoma, Volume II, Part 9

Author: Hill, L. B. (Luther B.) Publication date: 1909 Publisher: Chicago, New York, The Lewis publishing company Number of Pages: 810

Author: Hill, L. B. (Luther B.)
Publication date: 1909
Publisher: Chicago, New York, The Lewis publishing company
Number of Pages: 810