A standard history of Oklahoma; an authentic narrative of its development from the date of the first European exploration down to the present time, including accounts of the Indian tribes, both civilized and wild, of the cattle range, of the land openings and the achievements of the most recent period, Vol. III, Part 102

Author: Thoburn, Joseph B. (Joseph Bradfield), 1866-1941
Publication date: 1916
Publisher: Chicago, New York, The American Historical Society
Number of Pages: 660

USA > Oklahoma > A standard history of Oklahoma; an authentic narrative of its development from the date of the first European exploration down to the present time, including accounts of the Indian tribes, both civilized and wild, of the cattle range, of the land openings and the achievements of the most recent period, Vol. III > Part 102

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S. G. Trout, president of the First State Bank of Terral, Oklahoma, was born in October, 1845, near Williamstown, West Virginia, and is a member of a family which came to America from Germany prior to the Revolutionary war and settled in Virginia. He was given public school advantages in his youth, and in 1882

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came to the West, locating on the present site of Pitts- burg, Oklahoma. In 1893 he removed to Terral, Okla- homa, where he continued to engage in farming and stockraising, ocenpations to which he has devoted the greater part of his life and in which he has attained an eminent degree of success. He has various other interests, owning extensive properties in Jefferson and Carter connties, and city realty at Fort Worth, and is a stockholder in the Rural Credit Association. The founder of the First State Bank of Terral, his fortunes have been interested in its development, and to his ability and shrewd judgment must be given the major share of the credit for the present success and standing of this institution. Mr. Tront is a veteran of the Civil war, is independent in his political views, and while a resident of Pittsburg served as a member of the school board. He married Miss Annie Stanton, who is of one- thirty-second Choctaw Indian blood, and they have been the parents of five children, namely: John R .; Viola, who is the wife of William C. Malone, a farmer residing four miles from Terral; Maudie, who is the wife of H. G. Marshall, cashier of the First State Bank of Terral; Beatrice, who married Walter Hazelett and is now residing with her parents; and Ambrose, a graduate in pharmacy, who is now residing at Dallas, Texas.

John R. Trout, vice president of the First State Bank of Terral, was born Jnne 11, 1885, on the present site of Pittsburg, Oklahoma, a son of S. G. and Annie (Stanton) Trout. He attended the district schools of that locality and the public schools of Ryan, Oklahoma, until he reached the age of fifteen years, and has always been associated with his father in his various interests. When he was only fifteen years of age he began handling cattle on his own account, and in this industry he has continned to be engaged to the present time, his trans- actions having assnmed large proportions. Mr. Trout came to Terral in 1899 and in 1909 entered the banking business as vice president of the First State Bank of Terral. He owns a great deal of property in Carter and Jefferson counties, as well as at Fort Worth, and is known as one of the substantial yonng business men of his locality, who has won well-deserved success through his determined efforts. He is independent in his political views, and is fraternally associated with the local lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, in which he is very popular. Mr. Trout is not married.

Hngh G. Marshall, cashier of the First State Bank of Terral, was born in Clay County, Tennessee, April 28, 1882, and is a son of J. A. and Kittie (Silvey) Marshall. The Marshall family originated in England and prior to the Revolutionary war emigrated to Virginia, since which time the family roster has included many notable names, inelnding that of John Marshall, the first chief justice. The great-grandfather of Hugh G. Marshall, Noah Marshall, removed from Virginia to Clay County, Tennessee, and there passed his remaining years, becom- ing the owner of a broad plantation and many. slaves. His son, J. A. Marshall, Sr., was born in Clay County, Tennessee, and now lives in Monroe County, Kentucky. He has been an agriculturist all of his life and prior to the Civil war was an owner of slaves.

J. A. Marshall, Jr., father of Hugh G. Marshall, was born in Clay County, Tennessee, in 1862, and at this time is a resident of Red Boiling Springs, Tennessee. As a young man he was engaged in farming and stock- raising in his native county, from whence he moved to Macon County, Tennessee, in 1897, and since then has followed agricultural work in its various departments with continued success. He is a democrat in his political views and a member of the Christian Church. Mr. Marshall married Miss Kittie Silvey, who was born in

Monroe County, Kentucky, and to this union there have been born nine children, as follows: Hugh G., of this review; P. H., who is a paint contractor of El Paso, Texas; Otia, who married C. C. Russell, a resident of Monroe County, Kentucky, where Mr. Russell is a merchant; Witt, who is a merchant of Gamaliel, Ken- tucky; Luther, who is engaged in farming with his father at Red Boiling Springs; Iva, who is a teacher and lives with her parents; Fred, who graduated from the Red Boiling Springs High School in the class of 1915; and Bliss and Daisy, who are attending the public school at Red Boiling Springs.

Hugh G. Marshall attended the public schools of Clay and Macon counties, Tennessee, and was graduated from the Red Boiling Springs High School in the class of 1900. Following this, he took two years of college work at Lafayette College, Tennessee, and in 1902 entered upon his career as a school teacher in Macon County, being for three years principal of various schools. In 1905 he removed to Itasca, Hill County, Texas, and later in the same year came to Hastings, Oklahoma, teaching school there and in Eastern Jefferson County until 1910. From 1910 until November 13, 1913, he was in the Government Railway Mail Service, and on the latter date resigned to accept his present position as cashier of the First State Bank of Terral. The success which Mr. Marshall has attained is solely. the result of his own unceasing applica- tion and tireless industry, combined with natural busi- ness talent and the ability of directing his efforts along well-defined channels. A democrat in his political views, he is at present serving Terral in the capacity of city treasurer, an office in which he has given the greatest satisfaction to his fellow-citizens. With his wife, he is a member of the Christian Church. Mr. Marshall's fra- ternal connections include membership in the Knights of Pythias, at Hastings, Oklahoma, in which he is past chan- cellor, and Terral Lodge of the Ancient Order of United Workmen, in which he is master workman.

Mr. Marshall was married June 22, 1911, at Sonth Mc Alester, Oklahoma, to Miss Mande Trout, daughter of S. G. Trout, president of the First State Bank of Terral, and prominent farmer and stockman. They have no children.

WILLIAM JOHNSTONE. The career of William John- stone was for many years a vital part of the life and progress of Washington County, and particularly of the City of Bartlesville. The history of the early develop- ment of that locality must always give memorial to his name and career, since he was one of the very first merchants and traders in the locality, and found and utilized many opportunities to promote the welfare and progress of the city. Successful in business, he was equally notable for the public spirit which caused him to lend the influence of his character and his name to the upbuilding of his home town and to the general advancement of Oklahoma. Bartlesville has in many ways been advanced to prosperity through the presence in its citizenship of William Johnstone, whose death on July 14, 1915, brought to the community a sense of loss which always attends the passing of a great and good citizen.

Many men live most worthy and honorable lives, but with restricted influence, and only a limited circle mourn their passing. But the late William Johnstone was one whose life touched and influenced thousands of others. While all business was suspended, flags floated at half mast, there was a conconrse of people not only from Bartlesville but from all Washington Connty, and even from distant portions of the state and adjoining states who gathered to pay honor to his memory at his funeral.

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HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

Besides the funeral address delivered by the pastor of the Baptist Church, the organizations of Masons, Wood- men of the World, and the Grand Army of the Republic, of which William Jolinstone was an honorary member, participated in the service, and many thousands of indi- viduals, numbering some of the prominent men of Okla- homa and other states, were present.

Of the many individual tributes paid to this pioneer of Bartlesville, one from a particularly prominent source was that written to a local newspaper by Senator Robert L. Owen, who said: "I was extremely sorry to see the passing into the spirit world of my long time friend, William Johnstone. I had known him for about thirty years and have always valued his splendid citizenship. No man in Washington County has lived a more useful life. He was modest, always cheerful, always kind, made friends and made no enemies and was a good son, a good citizen and a good man."

A native of Canada, William Johnstone was born at Montreal, Province of Quebec, in 1859, a son of Samuel and Maria (Higgins) Johnstone. His father was a native of Dumfries, Scotland, while the mother was born at Montreal, her father being an Irishman and her mother an English woman. After the close of the war between the states Samuel Johnstone took his family in 1866 to the new northwest country, to Minnesota, where he con- ducted a general store at Glenwood in Pope County. Owing to the mother's ill health Samuel Johnstone, fol- lowing the advice of physicians, brought his family to the Indian Territory. The journey was made most of the way in a prairie schooner and from Yankton, Dakota Territory, they came direct to Coody's Bluff in the old Cherokee Nation, arriving there in the year 1876. Samuel Johnstone was a farmer and stock raiser there for two years, and his wife having regained her strength, he then returned north and located in Montana, where he lived until his death in 1887. The mother is still living and spends her time in the homes of her children, part of the time at Bartlesville and in the summer living in Montana. William, who was the oldest of their large family of children, chose to remain in Indian Territory after his parents returned north. Another son who has resided for a number of years at Bartlesville is John Johnstone. Other brothers and sisters who survived William Johnstone are: Mrs. J. M. Powers, Mrs. Richard Stanton, Mrs. G. R. McLeish, Samuel Johnstone and Adam Johnstone, all of whom live in Montana or in Canada.

The late William Johnstone had only meager advan- tages in the way of schools, since about the time he was ready for schooling his parents moved to the Minnesota frontier, and most of his training came from experience in his father's store rather than from books. He was a youth of seventeen when the family came to Coody 's Bluff in 1876, and his home had been in old Indian Ter- ritory and Oklahoma almost forty years. For about four years he was employed at Coody's Bluff by Henry . Armstrong in the latter's store. While thus employed he met Miss Lillie Armstrong, niece of his employer and daughter of E. H. Armstrong, a member of the prominent Journeycake family of Indian Territory. The two married January 12, 1882.

Later as an employe of J. H. Bartles, William John- stone had charge of the latter's temporary store at the mouth of Bird Creek. During the construction of the Frisco Railway he was connected with the commissary department. In 1882, acting for Mr. Bartles, he estab- lished a general store and trading place near the Little Caney River and on the old Post road between Paw- huska and Coffeyville. In 1884 with George B. Keeler he started a general store on the west side of the Caney

River, the first mercantile establishment in that section of the present City of Bartlesville, at the north end of the present Delaware Avenue. Outside of these trading posts Bartlesville had little to distinguish it for a num- ber of years, until the discovery of oil and gas inau- gurated the great era of prosperity. Mr. Johnstone and Mr. Kecler were associated as merchants until about 1896, when Mr. Johnstone sold out to his partner. In the meantime they had also conducted a sawmill for the manufacture of walnut lumber. This lumber they hauled to Chelsea, a distance of about thirty miles, and then shipped it by railway to St. Louis. The firm of Johnstone & Keeler also operated extensively in the cattle business, and after selling out his mercantile inter- ests Mr. Johnstone devoted most of his time for several years to the cattle industry.

Some of the features of his business success were revealed by a writer in the Bartlesville Enterprise, in the following words: "Hard work soon started the young man on the road to success and his hustling, energetic disposition stamped him as a man who would 'do to tie to.' Warm hearted, pleasant and always sociable, he drew men to him as a magnet and his range of friends was co-extensive with his range of acquaintances. Nor did this quality leave him after he began to pile up the for- tune in this world's goods-he was always the same kind, considerate, good-natured friend of humanity. "

About 1903 Mr. Johnstone retired largely from the cattle business and interested himself in the oil fields, and became responsible for many important develop- ments, and in that as in other things was a pioneer. Using the same good judgment that had characterized his mercantile and cattle career, it was not long before he became independently wealthy. He never retired altogether from the cattle industry, and up to the last kept an excellent farm a short distance below Bartles- ville on the Caney River and had one of the finest herds of blooded cattle in the state.

With R. L. Beattic and other people from Winfield, Kansas, Mr. Johnstone established the Bartlesville National Bank, and was its president until May, 1908, when he resigned on account of ill health and about the same time closed out many other interests which required active supervision on his part. He was associated with W. A. Letson and others in establishing the First National Bank at Dewey in 1906, and was president of that institution until he sold his interests. In 1898 with J. E. Campbell he founded the Bank of Nowata, and was its president until he sold his interests to Mr. Campbell. He thus had a part in establishing and was president of three different banks in Northern Oklahoma. In 1910 he built the splendid office building that now bears his name at the corner of Third and Johnstone Avenue. John- stone Avenue is one of the principal thoroughfares of Bartlesville, and by its name is another permanent memo- rial to the career and activities of Mr. Johnstone. He also built a number of other structures in Bartlesville and any account of the city's development must fre- quently mention his name. He and George B. Keeler and J. H. Bartles installed the first telephone lines in all Northern Oklahoma. They put in the plant to con- nect their stores with Caney, Kansas, twenty miles to the north. Bartlesville at that time had no railroads and no telegraphic communication with the outside world, and the telephone line was a private plant primarily for the service of the Bartlesville merchants. Mr. Johnstone was one of the original stockholders in the Maire Hotel at Bartlesville, and was one of a number of liberal public spirited local citizens who invested in that enter- prise without expectation of complete remuneration but with the object of giving Bartlesville a hotel that would

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properly represent the dignity of the city to the travel- ing public.

For many years he was one of the most active in pro- moting Bartlesville's educational progress He was president of the school board from its organization until he resigned in 1908, and the fine school system of the city is largely a monument to his energy and liberality. He was an active member of the local chamber of com- merce. In politics he was a republican, was a member of the Baptist Church, but as much as any man in Bartlesville gave liberally to all churches for their build- ing and maintenance. At different times he interested himself in the larger movements of public life in Okla- homa. He was a member of the state committee of the republican party for a number of years, and it was largely due to his efforts that a Federal court was estab- lished at Bartlesville during the territorial days, and that institution was the primary reason for making Bartles- ville the county seat of Washington County. He also gave both time and means to the success of the state- hood movement, and spent portions of two winters in Washington working for the admission of Oklahoma. In political affairs, however, he worked with an eye single to good government and improvement, and never showed any desire for the honors of politics apart from the ren- dering of real service to the community. He was a Knight Templar and a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason, a member of the Mystic Shrine, and also affiliated with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and the Woodmen of the World.

A large part of the present City of Bartlesville is located on land that was originally contained in the Johnstone allotment or farm, comprising some three or four hundred acres. This land was secured by the Gov- ernment as a townsite, but in the early days was used by Mr. Johnstone for farming purposes. His home was an attractive residence built in 1884. He also owned an entire block of land bounded by Eighth and Ninth streets and Delaware and Cherokee avenues. His own home was at 800 Cherokee Avenue. During the course of his active career in and about Bartlesville Mr. John- stone witnessed every important improvement and development, and never stood back and allowed others to engage in public spirited undertakings without his individual cooperation. Until he retired from business in 1908 he was one of the leading men of influence in Bartlesville's history.

His first wife, who as already noted was of prominent Indian stock, died in 1892. Her three children are: Rilla, wife of H. W. Pemberton of Bartlesville, and the mother of three children; Nellie, wife of Howard D. Cannon, cashier of the First National Bank of Dewey, and they have one child; and Leo H., who was educated at the Culver Military Academy in Indiana and was asso- ciated with his father in the management of the latter's business affairs.

In 1902 Mr. Johnstone married Miss Stella Bixler, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. W. W. Bixler of Bartlesville. Mrs. Johnstone, who was born in Illinois, is of white parentage and of good American stock. She now spends her time near her farm at Ochelata. She is the mother of one daughter, Virginia, who bears a striking re- semblance to her honored father.

What the activities and character of the late Mr. Johnstone meant to the. community of Bartlesville was well expressed editorially in the Bartlesville Enterprise, and it is appropriate to preserve some of these tributes therein expressed as a part of this permanent record. "So closely was the life of this man woven into that of this state and especially of this community, that in the years to come his good deeds will be recalled, his ever

readiness to respond to the needs of the country and his fellow men will be called to mind and though dead he will still live in the memory of his fellow men. Few of the 'old settlers' here are yet old men. Among the oldest residents few have reached the three score and ten milestone along life's highway. Although but little more than half a century old when the summons came, William Johnstone was a pioneer in Oklahoma, a pioneer in all that term means. He came to Oklahoma while yet a young man, without riches, as riches are wont to be estimated, in dollars and cents, yet immensely wealthy in fact, wealthy in push, in honesty, in consideration of his fellows, in energy; rich in all that makes a man, for money does not make the man, and at once he became a factor in building this great commonwealth. Few indeed were the unmoistened eyelids among these 'old settlers' in Bartlesville this morning as men passed on the streets and in subdued tones said 'Bill Johnstone is dead'; few indeed were the voices in which there was not a suspicion of that choking sensation, and men hur- ried away to hide the tears that would come. Certain it is that some men so live that the memory of them, their many good deeds, their exemplary lives, their splendid characteristics, is so closely woven into the warp and woof of humanity that though their bodies lie in the bosom of mother earth, though the years come and go, the memory of the man remains green in the hearts of his fellow men.''

JOHN T. KRAMER. A scion of a sterling German pioneer family of the Hoosier State, Mr. Kramer was there born and reared and in his native county he had achieved distinctive success as an independent agricul- turist and stock-grower prior to coming to the Territory of Oklahoma, in 1903. Here his success has been of unequivocal order and such as to fully justify his con- fidence, circumspection and good judgment when he cast in his lot with the now vital and progressive young state. He early made judicious investment in lands adjoining and now an integral part of the City of Tulsa, and through the rapid appreciation in the value of this prop- erty, much of which has been platted into city lots, he has realized large financial advancement. He is the owner also of a large and admirably improved landed estate aside from this, and is looked upon as one of the most enterprising and successful farmers and stock- holders of Tulsa County. Mr. Kramer is a man of solid worth of character and of much ability, so that he has been influential in civic affairs as well as those of in- dustrial order, the while his personal popularity has brought to him noteworthy official preferment. His second consecutive term in the office of treasurer of Tulsa County expired on the 1st of July, 1915, and his ad- ministration of the fiscal affairs of this important county has been characteristically careful, conservative and steadfast, his avowed ambition having been to safe- guard and advance the interests of the county to the full extent of his power as an official and as a loyal and public-spirited citizen, and his course having met with unqualified popular approval.

Mr. Kramer was born in Spencer County, Indiana, on the 9th of August, 1870, and was the tenth in order of birth of the five sons and six daughters born to John H. and Johnnette (Becker) Kramer: four of the children accompanied their parents on the immigration from Germany and all of the others were born in Indiana. Of the children three sons and three daughters are now living. Both parents were born in the Rhine Province of Prussia, Germany, and in their native land they were reared and educated. After their marriage they con- tinued their residence in their Fatherland until 1854,

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when, accompanied by their four young children, they immigrated to the United States. The voyage was made on a sailing vessel of the type common to trans-Atlantic transit at that period, and proved so tempestuous that thirty days elapsed ere the vessel dropped anchor in the port of New York City, the officers and passengers of the boat having virtually lost hope of ever reaching their destination, and shipwreck having been avoided by a very narrow margin. From the national metropolis the family forthwith proceeded to Indiana, where Mr. Kramer obtained a tract of heavily timbered land, in Spencer County, and essayed the herculean task of de- veloping a farm. Almost entirely through his individual labors he cleared and reclaimed this original homestead of eighty acres, and through his unremitting application and judicious management of affairs as an agriculturist and stock-grower he became one of the most substantial farmers of that section of the state. He was born in 1818 and was nearly sixty-six years of age at the time of his death, on the 26th of February, 1884. His landed estate at the close of his life comprised 680 acres of fine farm property, all in Spencer County, and the excellent improvements, including substantial buildings, gave tangible evidence of his thrift and good management. John H. Kramer became a staunch supporter of the cause of the democratic party and was influential in local affairs. Though he had no desire for personal preferment of official order, it was almost entirely through his efforts that his nephew, William Jacobs, was elected the first democratic treasurer of Spencer County, notwithstanding the fact that the county was a recog- nized republican stronghold. His eldest son, Henry, succeeded Mr. Jacobs in the office of county treasurer, and the influence which he himself wielded in the com- munity was due to his recognized integrity and his high civic ideals. His wife survived him by a decade and was seventy-four years of age when she passed to the life eternal, in 1895, both having been devout communicants of the Lutheran Church, in the faith of which they were reared.

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Author: Thoburn, Joseph B. (Joseph Bradfield), 1866-1941 Publication date: 1916 Publisher: Chicago, New York, The American Historical Society Number of Pages: 660

Author: Thoburn, Joseph B. (Joseph Bradfield), 1866-1941
Publication date: 1916
Publisher: Chicago, New York, The American Historical Society
Number of Pages: 660