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 106
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In 1900 Judge McNabb was married to Miss Barbara Acuff, who was born near the Tennessee State line, in Georgia, and to this union there have been born two daughters: Ruth and Barbara.
HARRY CAMPBELL. In no vocation is there a career more open to ability than in that of the law, and in no profession is there demanded a more careful preparation, a more thorough appreciation of the ethics of life, or of the fundamental principles which form the basis of all human privileges and rights. Harry Campbell, junior member of the firm of Biddison & Campbell, of Tulsa, has won position and recognition at the Oklahoma bar through the possession of inherent ability, through care- ful training, and through sound recognition of the prin- eiples referred to. He was born in Hamilton County, Illinois, August 20, 1868, and is a son of James Madison and Eliza (Mitchell) Campbell.
James Madison Campbell was born in Tennessee, in 1837, and was a child when taken by his parents to Hamilton County, Illinois, the family locating on a farm. There he was educated, grew to manhood as a farmer, and adopted that calling as his own, being successfully engaged in farming and stockraising throughout a long and active career. A democrat in his political views, in young manhood he began to take an interest in public affairs, and subsequently became one of the prominent men of his community, being frequently called upon to serve in public office, and occupying the office of town- ship supervisor for many years. He died in 1909, at the age of seventy-two years. Mrs. Campbell, who was born in Hamilton County, still survives her husband and is in her seventy-fifth year. They were the parents of seven children, of whom four are still living, and Harry was the third in order of birth.
The public schools of Hamilton County, Illinois, fur- nished Harry Campbell with his primary education,
following which he took a course in the Northern Indiana Normal School. Having decided upon a career in the law, he next entered the law department of Northwestern University, Chicago, from which he was graduated in 1893, with the degree of Bachelor of Laws. At that time Mr. Campbell went to Oklahoma, just before the opening of the Cherokee strip, and took up his residence as a lawyer at Pawnee, where he was engaged in practice for two years. His advent in Tulsa occurred in 1895, and after some years of individual practice he associated himself with Lewis M. Poe and A. J. Biddison, under the firm style of Poe, Biddison & Campbell. This part- nership enjoyed a marked degree of success and contin- ued until Mr. Poe was elected judge of the district court, when the combination was dissolved and a new partner- ship formed by Messrs. Biddison and Campbell, the firm now being known as Biddison & Campbell and occupying a suite of offices in the Daniels Building, Nos. 605 to 609. Mr. Campbell's comprehensive understanding of the principles of law, his careful preparation of cases and his fidelity to the interests of his clients have gained him an enviable position .. His standing among his pro- fessional brethren is high, and he is a valued member of the Tulsa Bar Association and the Oklahoma State Bar Association. He fraternizes with Delta Lodge, A. F. & A. M., and the Knights of Pythias. In politics he is a democrat.
On October 19, 1899, Mr. Campbell was married to Miss Jennie Estill, who was born at Montgomery, Mis- souri, and to this union there have been born three sons: Fred, Hewett and Harry, Jr., all of whom are attending the Tulsa public schools.
CORNELIUS Esco CASTLE. Of the leading lawyers of Wagoner, none is more generally admired and esteemed for personal character and professional ability than Cor- nelius E. Castle, who has been identified with the Okla- homa bar since 1897. He has exhibited a masterly con- duct of cases entrusted to him as a private practitioner, and his reputation is also due to his efficient and faithful discharge of duties as city and county attorney, and he has been county attorney for Wagoner County since 1912.
Born in Webster County, Mississippi, December 29, 1870, he comes from excellent American stock, and is a son of Rev. Thomas W. and Josephine (Corkern) Castle. Rev. Thomas W. Castle was born in North Carolina, a son of William Castle, a Virginian, and a member of an old family of Colonial Virginia. William Castle was the son of a Revolutionary soldier, in which struggle five Castle brothers were soldiers in the Continental line. The Castles are of English origin, with an intermingling of Scotch-Irish blood, and the name is now numerously represented in America, where its early founders estab- lished homes in New England and Virginia. Josephine (Corkern) Castle was born in St. Helena Parish of Louisiana and came of Scotch-Irish parentage.
When a boy of thirteen years Thomas W. Castle went to Mississippi. He early became a minister of the Meth- odist faith, and after serving four years as a local preacher joined the Mississippi Conference. His work was done in Mississippi and covered a long period of years, and he was still engaged in active ministerial labors when he met an accidental death at the age of seventy-four. Of his eight children two are deceased.
Cornelius Esco Castle grew up in Webster County, Mississippi, acquired a public school education, attended a local college at Walthall, Mississippi, and finished his literary training in the National Normal University at Lebanon, Ohio, where he was graduated Bachelor of Arts in 1893. Like many successful lawyers, his first work was done as a teacher, and it was as a teacher that he was first known to old Indian Territory. While teaching he
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was also studying law, and in 1895 he graduated from the law department of the University of Michigan with the degree LL. B. He was thereupon admitted to the bar of that state, but instead of beginning private prac- tice he came to Indian Territory, where he was made principal of the graded school at Hartshorne. In the summer of 1897 he became associated with other leading educators in conducting at South McAlester what became a noted normal institute for the preparation of teachers, the first of its kind in Indian Territory. While at McAlester, Mr. Castle was admitted to the bar of Indian Territory, and in 1897 established his residence at Wagoner and began practice. In the following year he was elected city recorder of Wagoner, which was the first incorporated town of Indian Territory. Later he served two terms as city attorney of Wagoner, and in 1912 was elected county attorney, an office to which he was re-elected in 1914 for another term of two years.
His work and leadership as a citizen have been on a par with his ability and standing as a lawyer. For years he has been one of the leaders in the local demo- cratic party. It is with special pride that he can always remember his work as a member of the joint or single statehood committee from the time of its organization until its ends were attained, and he continuously served as its secretary or chairman. The single statehood com- mittee, as may be explained for the benefit of future generations, was a non-political organization of citizens of both Oklahoma and Indian territories for the purpose of securing joint statehood for the two territories rather than two separate states. That organization stood from first to last for the "twin territories"' to come into state- hood together and with equal representation in the con- stitutional convention. This was accomplished after a vigorous, continuous struggle and campaign of education lasting nine years. During this campaign for statehood, and since that noble result has been accomplished, Mr. Castle has always stood firm for what he has believed to be the best good for his adopted state and its interests. He is a sterling citizen and both the county and state could profit by such leadership as he has always given.
Mr. Castle is a Master Mason, and is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, in which he has served as a member of the board of missions of the East Oklahoma Conference, and as lay leader for the Vinita District. He has an attractive home life, Mrs. Castle being a woman of refinement and culture, and before their marriage they were classmates in the local college at Walthall, Mississippi, and she was valedictorian of her class at graduation. ' Mrs. Castle before her mar- riage, which was celebrated in 1896, was Miss Elizabeth Arnold. They are the parents of two children: Ruth and Mary.
RUFUS EDWARD' CLEMENT. A thorough experience in banking and also as a deputy county treasurer qualified Mr. Clement for his present office as treasurer of Cleveland County, an office in which he is now serv- ing his second term. He has spent practically all his life in old Indian Territory and the State of Oklahoma, and began his active career in a local bank at Norman twelve years ago.
He was born in Cooke County in Northern Texas, October 24, 1884, but when about one year of age his parents moved to the old Chickasaw Nation of Indian Territory. His ancestors came out of France and located in America in colonial times, and were after- wards pioneers in Tennessee. His father, R. E. Clement, Sr., was born in Texas in 1847, was reared there and was married in that state to Miss Arah J. Burch, who was born in Georgia in 1845. In 1885 the family removed to the Chickasaw Nation of Indian Territory,
and in 1898 established a home near Yukon, Oklahoma, on a farm. In 1901 the father came to Norman, where he has lived ever since. He is a farmer and stockman, a democrat in politics and a member of the Baptist Church. He and his wife had five children: Thomas E., engaged in the farm loan business at Norman; Hiram, who died at Norman at the age of twenty-four; Alexan- der, in the farm loan business at Roff, Oklahoma; Rufus E .; and Kate, who lives with her parents.
Rufus Edward Clement attended some of the early public schools of the old Chickasaw Nation, and was also a student at Yukon and Norman, finishing his education in the Norman High School. In 1904 he en- tered the First National Bank of Norman as remittance clerk, and did that work for five years. During 1909- 11 he served as deputy county treasurer and that ex- perience made him so familiar with the details of the office management that he was no stranger to the duties when he was elected county treasurer in Novem- ber, 1912. In November, 1914, he was re-elected for a second two year term. In the meantime, during 1911- 13 he served as cashier of the Bank of Noble, Oklahoma.
Mr. Clement is a democrat, is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, is active in the Norman Chamber of Commerce, and is affiliated with Norman Lodge No. 38, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, Norman Chapter No. 24, Royal Arch Masons; Norman Commandery No. 38, Knights Templar; and Norman Camp No. 154, Woodmen of the World. In 1910 he was married in Norman to Miss Ollie Briggs, daughter of L. L. Briggs. Her father, now deceased, was a merchant and cotton buyer of Norman. They are the parents of two children: Belva, born January 13, 1913, and Louella, born September 24, 1915.
ARTHUR JEFFERSON BIDDISON. Among the lawyers of the present generation who have won honor and public recognition for themselves and at the same time have honored the state to which they belong, Arthur Jefferson Biddison is worthy of mention. He is a man of high intellectuality and imbued with clearly defined principles and for a number of years has sustained a very enviable reputation in legal circles of Oklahoma, at present being a member of the firm of Biddison & Campbell, at Tulsa.
Mr. Biddison was born at McConnelsville, Morgan County, Ohio, June 6, 1864, and is a son of the Rev. Jeremiah and Drusilla (Hull) Biddison, natives of the Buckeye State. The father was educated in the common schools and at Oberlin College, and as a young man en- tered the ministry of the Methodist Protestant Church, becoming president of the Southern Ohio Conference. In 1865 he removed to Kansas as a pioneer preacher, and located at Ottawa, where he became a minister of the Methodist Episcopal faith, and subsequently had charge of churches at Olathe, Troy, Centralia and other points. He died February 11, 1907. In his younger years Reverend Mr. Biddison was a republican, but in later life became a strong prohibitionist. Mrs. Biddison died in 1866, the mother of two children: Valeda H. and Arthur Jefferson.
Arthur J. Biddison attended the public schools of Kansas, Johnson County Commercial College at Olathe and Baker University, Baldwin, Kansas, where he was graduated in 1884, when twenty years of age, with the degree of Bachelor of Science. In the meantime, at the age of eighteen years, he had commenced teaching school and was thus engaged for three years. He was then elected to the chair of Mathematics and Mental Science at Farmington College, Missouri, for two years. He was admitted to the bar in 1885, and in 1886 was elected president of Whittier College, Salem, Iowa, a position
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HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA
which he held for two years, and in the fall of 1888 en- gaged in the practice of his profession at Coffeyville, Kansas, continuing there in the law until 1893. At the time of the opening of the Cherokee Strip, in 1893, Mr. Biddison removed to Pawnee, Oklahoma, and established himself as the first attorney of that city, and tried the first case in the courts there. He continued as a prac- titioner at Pawnee until February 1, 1907, when he came to Tulsa, and here formed a partnership with Lewis M. Poe and Harry Campbell, under the firm style of Poe, Biddison & Campbell, this association continuing until Mr. Poe was elected district judge, when the firm became as at present, Biddison & Campbell, having offices at 605-9 Daniels Building. The concern carries on a general civil and criminal practice and is known as one of the strong combinations of the city, having met with suc- cess in a number of important cases. Mr. Biddison is a republican, and while at Pawnee was United States com- missioner, and subsequently, in 1899, was elected to the state senate. He is a member of the various organiza- tions of his profession and of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
On May 20, 1907, Mr. Biddison was married to Mrs. Nina (Wroe) Redgrave, who died May 27, 1914.
JAMES RUSSELL HAM. An example of that thrift and energy which enable a man to retire from active pursuits at a comparatively early age is found in the career of James Russell Ham of Maysville who, previous to renouncing business cares in 1909, was one of this city 's well known merchants. While the greater part of his active operations has been set aside, Mr. Ham possesses an active and energetic spirit which will not allow him to remain idle and at present he has a number of interests which occupy his mind. As a citizen he has been progressive and public-spirited, and at the present time is acting in the capacity of justice of the peace.
Mr. Ham was born near Hernando, DeSoto County, Mississippi, October 18, 1858, and is a son of Stephen H. and Elizabeth (Williams) Ham, and a member of a family that, originating in Ireland, early settled in Alabama. Stephen H. Ham was born in Lauderdale County, Alabama, in 1831, and died in Northern Mis- sissippi in 1913. When he was ten years of age his parents removed to DeSoto County, Mississippi, and there he was reared, educated and married. He was a farmer and stockman by vocation, and his home was located in Tate County, which was formed from parts of DeSoto, Tunica, Lafayette and Panola counties. When the Civil war came on his sympathies were with the South and he enlisted in the Confederate army, in which he served four years, during which he sustained a wound in the shoulder. When peace was declared he resumed the duties and work of the civilian and through hard and industrious work accumulated a modest prop- erty. At his death, which occurred August 5, 1913, he was considered one of his community's good and reliable citizens. In politics, Mr. Ham was a democrat, while fraternally he was affiliated with the Masons and was treasurer of his lodge for twenty years prior to his death. Mr. Ham married Elizabeth Williams, who was born in Tennessee in 1834, and who still survives and makes her home at Strayhorn, Mississippi. There were eight children in the family, namely: James Russell; Eliza, deceased, who was the wife of Thomas H. Brewer, a farmer residing one-half mile from the old Ham home- stead in Tate County, Mississippi; Cleo, who died at the age of thirteen years; Lou Emma, who married Johu Jones, the owner of 4,000 acres of land at Jayton, Texas; Alice, who is the wife of William Lashley, a
farmer of Tate County, Mississippi; Perneacia, who is the wife of Madison Powell, a farmer of Strayhorn, Mis- sissippi; Clementine, who married Sidney Gray, a farmer of Marshall County, Mississippi; and A. L., who is a farmer at Jayton, Texas.
James Russell Ham was reared in Tate County, Mis- sissippi, near the Town of Senatobia, and there attended the public schools. He was brought up as a farmer and remained on the home place until twenty years of age, at which time he was married and removed to Scott County, Arkansas, but remained only eight years. In 1887 he changed his residence to Muskogee, Indian Ter- ritory, where he became a pioneer farmer and remained one year, and then returned to Arkansas, continuing for a short time as a farmer of Washington County. On October 18, 1888, he came to Whitebead, Indian Territory, where for seven years he was engaged in farming, but finally turned his attention to mercantile lines, in which he was successfully engaged at that point until 1903. In that year Mr. Ham came to Maysville, entered the general merchandise business and built up a large and profitable trade, in the handling of which he continued until his store was destroyed by fire in 1909, at that time retiring from merchandising. He has, however, been rather actively interested in trading and trafficking, and is a director, stockholder and treas- urer of the Farmers' Gin Company. Politically a demo- crat, Mr. Ham was county commissioner of Garvin County for five years, and at this time is acting as jus- tice of the peace, a position in which he has shown his executive ability and judicial capability. Fraternally, he belongs to Maysville Lodge No. 238, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, of which he has been treasurer since its inception in 1903, and has reached the thirty- second degree in Masonry, belonging to Valley of Guthrie Consistory No. 1, and to India Temple, Ancient Arabic Order Nobles Mystic Shrine, of Oklahoma City. He formerly held membership in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias.
On November 13, 1877, at Pleasant Hill, Mississippi, Mr. Ham was united in marriage with Miss Nancy McGuire, daughter of Zial McGuire, who lost his life in the Confederate service during the Civil war. Six childreu have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Ham: William Henry, who died at the age of six years; Cora D., whose death occurred when she was four years old; James Austin, who was but sixteeu months of age when he died; C. E., who is engaged in the real estate business at Maysville; Charles O., who is engaged in merchandising at Jayton, Texas; and Laura D., who is attending the public school at Maysville.
LEE W. FOLSOM. The Benjamin Franklin of the Choctaw race is represented in the person of Lee W. Folsom, of Atoka, a fullblood Choctaw Indian. His ancestry is traced across miles of sea to far-away England and back before the days when John Folsom came over on the historic Mayflower to found the American family of the name. Like unto Franklin, his people helped to develop the new and growing New England colonies.
Mr. Folsom's ancestry on the Indian side reaches back into the dim and distant centuries of the past when the sad story of a ruined race had not begun. When the Pilgrims anchored their small ship off Plymouth, there lived in the land bordering the gulf to the far South, a group of proud people known as the Choctaws. Eighty years before the adventurous Spaniard had penetrated the unexplored wilderness and attempted to enslave this progressive people. The few and faint resisted until their numbers were decimated, but their warriors were
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dead when the followers of DeSoto went their westward way. Tradition tells us that the Choctaws came from a land to the West. Nearly 250 years after their bloody introduction to the European, the Choctaws welcomed to their race some of the descendants of the Pilgrims who had come 160 years before. Among those thus made welcome was Nathaniel Folsom, and from that day to the present the Choctaw family of Folsom has been the most powerful in shaping the destiny of the disappearing Choctaw. Into all the various activities of life they have led the way and have done their share in the develop- ment of their native land.
Lee W. Folsom is one of the first, if not the first, Choctaw Indian to devote himself to the printing trade. From printer's "devil" to foreman is his record for eleven years. Mr. and Mrs. B. S. Smiser taught him the first principles while they published the Indian Citizen, the most widely-circulated weekly in the Choctaw Nation. Under them Mr. Folsom was employed as "devil" for one year, and then gradually rose to fore- man and Choctaw editor. At that time the paper had a circulation of about 3,000, and during the campaign years of the Choctaw Nation it sometimes reached 8,000. About half the paper was printed in the Choctaw language and in order to prepare this part for publica- tion, Mr. Folsom was called upon to edit. He is now employed on the Citizen-Democrat, the successor of the Indian Citizen.
Lee W. Folsom was born in Atoka County, Oklahoma, April 5, 1883, his father being Daniel Folsom and his grandfather, Alexander Folsom. His father was a cousin of the late Judge Julius C. Folsom, of Atoka, and a brother of Daniel Folsom was the late Rev. Alfred W. Folsom, a Baptist minister of near Atoka. It was this uncle who reared and schooled Lee when the father and mother of the lad passed away in his early youth. Robert Folsom, of Lane, Oklahoma, is a brother of Lee W. Lee W. Folsom was educated in the neighborhood schools, the Atoka Baptist Academy and Bacone College at Muskogee. The latter institution he attended for three years, being compelled to leave before graduation on account of ill health. It was then that Mr. Folsom entered the printing office of the Indian Citizen and started upon a career in which he has been eminently successful.
Along with the printing business, Mr. Folsom has been managing his farm located northeast of town, having been preparing it for his immedate occupancy as a farmer and stockman. He will stock it with the best pure-blood stock to be found and farm according to the latest developments in agriculture.
In November, 1908, Mr. Folsom was united in marriage with Miss Rhoda Walker, daughter of William Walker of Bryan County. Mrs. Folsom is a Choctaw Indian and was educated at old Wheelock Academy. After finish- ing school she accompanied her teacher to her home at Decatur, Illinois, where she remained until 1897, when she returned to the Choctaw Nation. She made her home with Mrs. D. N. Robb, now deceased, being adopted into the Robb family. Mr. and Mrs. Folsom have no children. Mr. Folsom is a member of the Baptist Church, while his wife is a Presbyterian. Nationally, he is a republican in politics, but locally, in state and community, he casts his ballot for the candidate whom he considers has the best qualifications for the office, irrespective of party lines.
JUDGE JULIUS C. FOLSOM. In the death of Judge Julius C. Folsom, which occurred in 1914, one of the oldest Choctaws passed away, having lived for eighty- four eventful years. Judge Folsom was the fourth child,
and second son, of the venerable Israel Folsom, who was the second son of Nathaniel Folsom, a white man who married Ai-chi-ho-yo, daughter of Minko Poos-Coos, brother of Mo-sho-la-tubbee, a descendant of a long line of chiefs, and a member of the Hayoh-pa-tuk-lo clan. The grandfather, Nathaniel Folsom, was a white man, born in Rowan County, North Carolina, May 11, 1756, and his father in one of the New England states. He came to the Choctaw Nation in 1775 and married two Choctaw women, who bore him twenty-four children. David Folsom, the newly-elected Choctaw chief, and Israel Folsom, father of Judge Folsom, were sons by his marriage to a Choctaw princess. Israel Folsom married Lovisa Nail and thirteen children were born to them: Lorinda, who died in youth; Orilla, who married Lewis Garland and afterwards Dolph Colbert; Ellis, who died in youth; Julius C .; Mrs. D. N. Robb; Athenia, who married Jim Colbert, the father of Mrs. Michael Conlan and Walter, Charles and Ben Colbert; Sophia, who mar- ried a Doctor Moore; Lawrence, who died in infancy; Theodore F .; Alfred E., of Caddo; Dr. I. Wellington; Mrs. Bates, of Durant, Oklahoma; and Finis E., of Caddo. Alfred E., Mrs. Bates and Finis E. are the only members of this family of children now living.
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