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 109

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 109

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His life has certainly had more than the usual event- fulness, and throughout it has been characterized by high purpose and absolute integrity. George B. Keeler was born at Hennepin, Putnam County, Illinois, Feb- ruary 7, 1850, a son of Alson and Ann (McNamara) Keeler. His father was a merchant at the interesting old Town of Hennepin on the Illinois River, but in 1856 when George was six years old he moved to Wisconsin, spent about ten years in that state, three or four of which were devoted to farming, and then moved to Belvidere, Illinois. The mother died at Belvidere when George B. Keeler was eighteen years old. After that his father moved out to Iowa, and later to Los Angeles, California, where he died about thirty years ago. With the exception of the brief period spent as a farmer in Wisconsin he was a merchant practically all his life.

George B. Keeler was the second in a family of three sons and three daughters. His first twenty years were spent at home, and his education came from both country and town schools. In 1871 he arrived at the Osage agency in Indian Territory as clerk for L. P. Chouteau, an Indian trader. When it is recalled that in 1871 the first railroad was being constructed across the eastern half of what is now the State of Oklahoma, it will be seen that Mr. Keeler made his entrance at a time which really constitutes him a pioneer. In October, 1871, he began working for trader Lewis P. Chouteau, and the Vol. III-24

latter was killed in the following December. Mr. Keeler then settled up the traders' estate, and was next employed by Dunlap & Flora, Indian traders. For parts of two years he was on the Western plains engaged in buying buffalo hides and robes, and was also employed on the reservation at Osage Agency.

In 1872 Mr. Keeler married Josie Gilstrap, a member of the Cherokee Nation. During a portion of the year 1874 he was clerk and collector for Jacob H. Bartles whose name is now honored in the City of Bartlesville. During the spring of 1875 he was employed on a farm, and then began handling cattle on the open range and continued as a farmer and cattle man for himself until 1884. Next came a partnership with William H. John- stone under the name Johnstone & Keeler. He supplied many of the qualities which enabled this firm to make its surprising and remarkable success. It built the first store on the present site of the City of Bartlesville. This was a general merchandise establishment, and not only sold goods of all classes but did an extensive business in handling cattle. The partnership was one of twelve years' duration, at the end of which time Mr. Keeler bought out his associate's interest and continued as an individual merchant until 1905.

For the past fifteen years or so Mr. Keeler's enter- prise has been reflected in a number of the larger and more conspicuous institutions of Bartlesville and sur- rounding territory. In 1900 the First National Bank of Bartlesville was organized with Mr. Keeler as a director and vice president, positions which he has held con- tinuously for fifteen years. His activities have been directed to the oil industry since 1903, and he has developed many paying wells and has also handled large leases and other business transactions in connection with the industry. At different times he has been an interested principal in several of the well known com- panies operating in this district, and is now a director in the New York Oklahoma Oil Company. He is a director in the Union Machine Company, having been with that concern since its organization, and owns a large amount of local real estate.

A notable monument to his enterprise is the Sutton- Keeler Building, a six-story re-enforced concrete struc- ture completed in the spring of 1915. It was built and is owned by Mr. Keeler, A. D. Morton, Dr. G. W. Sutton, of Cleveland, Oklahoma, and Dr. F. R. Sutton, of Bartles- ville. This is one of the handsomest buildings in Northern Oklahoma and on the main floor the finest banking room in the state is occupied by the First National Bank. Mr. Keeler is also a director in the Bartlesville Water Works. He was vice president of the Bartlesville Interurban Railroad when it was built and held that position until the property was sold to New York capitalists. These interests and connections need no further explanations to indicate the many ways in which Mr. Keeler has come in close touch with the life and upbuilding of his home locality.

In politics he has been a lifelong republican, is a thirty-second degree Mason and also affiliates with the Woodmen of the World and the Benevolent and Pro- tective Order of Elks. By his first marriage his children are: William, of Bartlesville; Fred, of Bartlesville; Lillie A., wife of Vilas Hinkle, of Bartlesville; Maude, of Paola, Kansas; Frank, of Osage County. The mother of these children died in 1893, after a marriage com- panionship of over twenty years.

Early in 1895 Mr. Keeler married Josie Catherine Cass. Mrs. Keeler, whose death at her home in Bartles- ville in December, 1915, was an occasion for widespread sorrow, had made her position and her character count for good in every relation. She was fifty-eight years of

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HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

age when she died and was a native of Missouri, but has spent most of her life in the Indian country. Her ancestors were among the first settlers in the old Cherokee Nation, and her maternal grandfather owned the first library and built the first house in the "neutral land" of Southern Kansas. By her first marriage Mrs. Keeler had two children, Mrs. A. D. Morton, of Bartlesville; and Bruce A. Cass, of Los Angeles, California. Mrs. Keeler was a woman of strong personality, much business ability, and her sympathy and helpfulness were unbounded, and it was those elements of her character which made her so much beloved and her death so widely regretted. She was a charter member of the First Presbyterian Church, of Bartlesville, was a member of the Woodman Circle, the Rebekahs and the Eastern Star, and the Needlecraft and Tuesday social clubs at Bartles- ville. Only a few weeks before her death she was elected first vice president of the Old Settlers Reunion at Dewey.

Mr. Keeler has lived in Washington County practically all the time since 1871. Every movement in its progress and upbuilding he has either witnessed or has partici- pated in. The only whites who lived here when he came were those who had permits from the Cherokee Nation to reside in the territory. As one of the men who married into the tribe previous to 1874 he was adopted as a Cherokee citizen and received his allotment of land from the United States and the chief of the Cherokee Nation. From his own allotment he has platted three additions to the City of Bartlesville, and about thirty acres of this flourishing locality are located on land which was once owned by him.

JOSEPH W. SCROGGS, A. M. Professor. Scroggs is one of the honored and influential figures in educational circles in Oklahoma, where he is now director of the university extension work in connection with the Uni- versity of Oklahoma, at Norman, Cleveland County. Special interest attaches to his long and really eminent pedagogic career by reason of the fact that he is con- sistently to he designated as one of the pioneer edu- cators of Oklahoma, where he initiated his work as a teacher in 1879, when he established his residence in the old Indian Territory. He has ever been a close and

appreciative student and is a man of fine scholarship, broad views, mature judgment and high ideals, so that his influence has been benignant and valuable in all of the relations of life. The lineage of the Scroggs family traces back to staunch Scotch origin and the original American progenitors came from Scotland and estab- lished residence in Pennsylvania about the year 1771, Gen. J. E. Scroggs, a great-great-uncle of Professor Scroggs of this review, having gone forth as a patriot soldier from Pennsylvania in the Revolutionary war, in which he rose to the rank of brigadier general.

Prof. Joseph Whitefield Scroggs was born near Green- field, Dade County, Missouri, on the 26th of October, 1852. His father, William Lee Scroggs, was born at Lenoir, Caldwell County, North Carolina, in 1816, and died at Greenfield, Missouri, in 1896. William L. Scroggs acquired a good education, as gauged by the standards of the locality and period in which he was reared, completing his sophomore year in Dickenson College, North Carolina. As a young man he removed from his native commonwealth to Mississippi, where he engaged in teaching school. Later he resided in Arkansas for some time, and there his marriage to Miss Jane Erwin was solemnized. She died when still a young woman and the one surviving child of this union is John E., who is a retired farmer residing at Green- field, Missouri. For his second wife William L. Scroggs wedded Miss Sarah Caroline Mitchell, who was born

at Holly Springs, Mississippi, on the 24th of August, 1832, and who died at Greenfield, Missouri, in 1884. Of the children of this marriage the first, William L., is deceased, and Professor Scroggs of this sketch was the next in order of birth; Mary Frances is the wife of John A. Orr, a retired farmer and banker residing at Mount Vernon, Missouri; Ellen Winifred is the widow of Henry Brumback, who was a lawyer by profession, and she maintains her residence in the City of Minne- apolis, Minnesota; Laura is the wife of Alexander Mc- Connell and they reside in Kansas City, Missouri; Rev. Luther M. is a clergyman of the Presbyterian Church and now resides at Hillsdale, Kansas; Dr. Walter Reece Seroggs, an able physician and surgeon, is engaged in the practice of his profession in the City of San Fran- cisco, California; Minnie is the wife of Thomas Shriver, a representative merchant at Mount Vernon, Missouri; Lillie Caroline is the wife of Horace Weir, a prosperous farmer near Greenfield, Missouri; Alfred M. is in busi- ness at Tola, Kansas; Belle is the wife of George A. Pol- lard, a teacher in the high school at Minneapolis, Minne- sota; and the other four children died young.

After his first marriage William Lee Scroggs con- tinued his residence in Arkansas for a short time, and then removed to Dade County, Missouri, where he en- gaged in farming, but for many years he there served in the office of public administrator, of which fiduciary post he continued the incumbent for nearly a quarter of a century. In politics he was originally a whig and later a republican, and during the Civil war he did all in his power to support the cause of the Union. He was a most earnest and zealous member of the Pres- byterian Church, in which he held the position of ruling elder for forty-six years.

Prof. Joseph W. Scroggs acquired his early educa- tion in the public schools of Greenfield, Missouri, where he completed a three years' course in the high school. In pursuance of his ambitious plans for the obtaining of a higher education, he entered Lafayette College, at Easton, Pennsylvania, and in this institution he was graduated as a member of the class of 1875 and with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. From this celebrated old institution he received in 1910 the degree of Mas- ter of Arts, after the presentation of an admirable thesis entitled "Religion and Reality." This thesis is to be embodied in a book which the professor will bring to publication in 1916, the carefully prepared and cogent argument brought forth being an attempt to identify the spiritual world with the Noumenon of Kant, the great German philosopher. In 1902 he received the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity from Wash- burn College in recognition of his work in philosophy and theology.

After his graduation in Lafayette College Professor Scroggs taught one year in the public schools of his home city of Greenfield, Missouri, after which he was engaged in the music business, at Carthage and Spring- field, that state, until the autumn of 1878, when he became principal of the schools of Peirce City, Missouri. He retained this position one year and then, in 1879, came to Indian Territory and established his residence at Vinita, the present judicial center of Craig County, Oklahoma. There he founded Worcester Academy, which he brought to a high standard and of which he con- tinued to be principal for five years. In 1884 he as- sumed the office of principal of Rogers Academy, at Rogers, Arkansas, where he continued his efficient service in this capacity for the ensuing fourteen years. In 1898 he accepted the position of principal of the Southern Kansas Academy, at Eureka, where he remained thus engaged for six years. In 1904 Professor Scroggs

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returned to Oklahoma and established his residence at Kingfisher, where he served as professor of the depart- ments of philosophy and education in Kingfisher Col- lege until 1913, since which year he has served as director of university extension in connection with the Univer- sity of Oklahoma, at Norman,-a position to which he has brought his fine scholastic attainments, his broad pedagogic experience and his well proved executive and administrative ability, so that he is one of the prominent and influential factors in connection with educational interests in the state which he is honoring by his char- acter and achievement.

In politics Professor Scroggs pronounces himself an independent democrat, and he is well fortified in his opinions concerning economic and governmental polity. He is a valued member of the Oklahoma State Teachers' Association and of the Norman Chamber of Commerce, and both he and his wife hold membership in the Con- gregational Church.

In the year 1879, at Peirce City, Missouri, Professor Scroggs wedded Miss Flora Hawley Beckwith, who was born and reared in that state and whose father, the late Milan S. Beckwith, was for many years connected with the stockyards in the City of St. Louis. Mrs. Scroggs was summoned to eternal rest on the 12th of June, 1901, at Eureka, Kansas, and she is survived by four children, concerning whom the following brief record is consistently entered at this juncture: Maurice Dwight was graduated in the University of Washing- ton, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts, and is now in the service of the Government, as superintendent of an irrigation plant at Hermiston, Oregon. Wendell, who was graduated at Washburn College, Topeka, Kan- sas, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts, now holds a responsible position with a leading dry-goods house in the City of Hutchinsou, that state. Gladys Flora is the wife of Thomas Hawthorne and they reside in the City of Portland, Oregon, Mr. Hawthorne being government engineer of the irrigation plant at Irrigon, that state. Mrs. Hawthorne was graduated at Kingfisher College, Oklahoma, from which institution she received the degree of Bachelor of Arts. Schiller, the youngest of the children, completed the work of the junior year in Kingfisher College and is now a member of the United States Army, being stationed in the Philippine Islands.

In the City of Topeka, Kansas, on the 29th of Novem- ber, 1906, was solemnized the marriage of Professor Scroggs to Miss Idora Rose, daughter of the late Joseph Rose, of Van Wert, Ohio, and no children have been born of this union.

WILLIAM WALLACE NOFFSINGER. Of the compara- tively few Oklahoma lawyers whose names and abilities are generally recognized not only in the city and county where they practice locally but over the state at large one is William Wallace Noffsinger, now of Muskogee but formerly identified from the beginning of settlement and first organization of the territory with Western Okla- homa. In the course of a quarter of a century Mr. Noffsinger's reputation has been steadily rising and on the basis of solid professional achievements rather than from prominence in politics, although in that field he has likewise participated to some extent.

Born in Albia, Iowa, November 25, 1860, William Wallace Noffsinger is a son of James and Elizabeth Ann (Miller) Noffsinger. In the paternal line the fam- ily is of Holland Dutch origin while the Millers were Scotch-Trish. James Noffsinger after the birth of his son entered the Union army as a soldier in the Civil war, and in the course of that struggle died at Vicks- burg, Mississippi. At the close of the war in 1865 the

widowed mother removed to Carroll County, Missouri, and it was with that locality that William W. Noffsinger first became consciously familiar. He grew to manhood there, and in 1879 was graduated with honor from the Columbia State College. Following this he became a student of law in a local law office at Carrollton, and in 1885 was admitted to the Missouri bar. A year later he removed to Pratt, Kansas, and in 1889, the year of the original opening of Oklahoma Territory, established himself among the first attorneys of Kingfisher. His home remained at Kingfisher until July 1, 1908, at which date he located his office and residence in Muskogee.

Mr. Noffsinger is a republican in politics, and while living at Kingfisher served as county attorney six years. He then served with distinction in the last session of the Legislature of Oklahoma Territory. In 1894 he was married at Kingfisher to Miss Frances Bort, who was born in Michigan. While best known as a lawyer, Mr. Noffsinger is a cultivated gentleman, a man of broad scholarship, is a genial companion, and has a large fol- lowing of loyal friends all over the state.

JOSEPH M. POSTELLE, M. D. With offices in the Security Building, Doctor Postelle is engaged in the general practice of his profession in Oklahoma City and has secure place as one of the representative physicians and surgeons of the city and state within whose borders he has maintained his home since 1900. Further than this he has been in a significant degree one of the promi- nent and influential figures in the development and up- building of Oklahoma City and in the furtherance of the best civic and material interests of the state at large, with a spirit of loyalty that is on a parity with his recognized ability and his invincible integrity of purpose in all of the relations of life.

Doctor Postelle claims the Hoosier State as the place of his nativity but is a scion of a family early founded in the Southern states, the American progenitors of the Postelle family having been three brothers of the name who emigrated from France and established their resi- dence in North Carolina, where one of the number re- mained, another of the three having removed within a short period to Louisiana, and the third of the number having been a pioneer of the State of Georgia and the ancestor of Doctor Postelle of this review, the latter's grandfather having been born in that state and having there passed his entire life, a man of substance and of sterling character. The Reynolds family, of which the doctor is a representative in the maternal line, became one of prominence and influence in North Carolina sev- eral generations ago and representatives of the name have attained to distinction in public life, in the pro- motion of industrial and business interests and in those things which conserve the higher ideals of human thought and action, distinctive culture and substantial wealth having significantly marked the family history. Mem- bers of the family were numbered among the most ex- tensive tobacco-growers in North Carolina and one of the family is at the present time a representative of the state in the United States Congress.

Dr. Joseph M. Postelle was born in the City of Lafayette, the county seat of Tippecanoe County, In- diana, on the 31st of March, 1865, and is a son of Jacob and Cathryn (Reynolds) Postelle, the former of whom was born in the State of Georgia, and the latter at Ashe- ville, North Carolina.

At the Ducktown Academy, Ducktown, Tennessee, Doctor Postelle was afforded excellent educational ad- vantages of a preliminary order and after completing a thorough academic course of study he eventually deter- mined to prepare himself for the medical profession.

1318

HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

With this laudable ambition he was matriculated in the Baltimore Medical College, now University of Maryland, in the City of Baltimore, and in this institution he was graduated as a member of the class of 1894 and with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. For the ensuing six years he was engaged in the practice of his profession in his home Village of Ducktown, Tennessee, and he then decided to cast in his lot with the progressive citizens of Oklahoma Territory, which was at that time beginning to put forth vigorous efforts toward the attainment of statehood. He established his residence in the ambi- tious young municipality of Oklahoma City, which offered exceptional opportunities to a man of his vigor, ability and progressiveness. Here he has constantly maintained his home since the year 1900 and it may consistently be said that few men have been more closely, worthily and effectively concerned with the civic and material development and upbuilding of the Okla- homa metropolis and capital.

At the time of coming to Oklahoma Dr. Postelle had so great confidence in the ultimate importance of the ambitious little city which he had chosen as his perma- nent home that he promptly and vigorously entered into co-operation in its development and upbuilding, both by potent influence and by the investment of his financial means. It would be difficult indeed to designate in detail the manifold and benignant activities of Dr. Postelle throughout the aggressive period in which Oklahoma City was being transformed from little more than a crude western village to a modern city of the most attractive and metropolitan order. Educational, religious and governmental progress felt the impetus applied by him, both prior to and after the admission of Oklahoma to the Union, and it may consistently be said that he was an important and valued factor in the promotion and development of practically all measures and enterprises that tended to conserve the social and material progress and prosperity of Oklahoma City and the state as well, and is a valued member of the Okla- homa State Medical Society.

Dr. Postelle is affiliated with every Masonic body in Oklahoma City, having completed the circle of the York Rite, in which his maximum affiliation is with the local commandery of Knights Templar, and having re- ceived the thirty-second degree of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite, besides being also identified with the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. Both he and his wife are zealous members of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, and in their home city are active in the various departments of the work of St. Luke's Church, of this denomination.

At Ducktown, Tennessee, on the 22d of June, 1887, was solemnized the marriage of Doctor Postelle to Miss Emma Bray, who was born and reared in that state and whose parents, Joseph and Ann (Burroughs) Bray, were born in England. Concerning the children of this union the following brief data are given: Fred, who was born March 28, 1893, and who was graduated at the age of nineteen years in the Wentworth Military Academy, at Lexington, Missouri, is now superintendent of the Petrolera Martima Oil Company, at Tampico, Mexico; Guy Reynolds, who was born August 20, 1896, is a member of the class of 1913 in the Oklahoma Agricultural College, at Stillwater; Ruth, born July 3, 1898, and Cathryn, born October 27, 1902, remain at the parental home and are students in the public schools of Oklahoma City, the younger daughter being the only one of the children born after the family re- moval to Oklahoma.

JAMES C. M. KRUMTUM. In the present day and gen- eration, as of marked contradistinction to conditions that

obtained and action that was taken at an earlier perioduight e in American history, it is exceptionally rare to find youth who has depended entirely upon his own exertion: and resources in baffling adverse conditions and has lit erally paid by his own labor the entire financial cost o: a higher collegiate education and of his general main tenance while making his way forward from the plan of the public schools to that on which is made possible his reception of a university degree. In the grea southwestern portion of our national domain there have been many young men of ambition and high aspiration who have overcome many obstacles at intervals in their progress toward the goal of liberal education, but he whose name initiates this paragraph has wrought his own path from beginning to end and that he is a mar of high intellectual attainments and the incumbent of an important position in the field of pedagogics must consistently be designated as the result of his own abil ity and efforts, as even the brief narrative here offered will clearly indicate. Professor Krumtum is head of the department of foreign languages in the Southeastern State Normal School of Oklahoma, at Durant, and has secure prestige and vantage-place as one of the repre sentative figures in the educational field of the vigorous young commonwealth within whose borders he has main tained his home since his childhood.

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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