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 110

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 110

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When Professor Krumtuni was four years of age al the time of his parents' removal from Iowa to what is now the State of Oklahoma, the family home being estab lished in Indian Territory shortly before Oklahoma Ter ritory had been segregated therefrom. The father Charles W. Krumtum, had previously been a resident of Holstein, Ida County, Iowa, and from that place he anc · his family came to what was the Cherokee Nation of Indian Territory and established their residence ai Sallisaw, a little village then having a definite prepon derance of Indian inhabitants and situated in a some what wild region of the nation mentioned, though it proved the nucleus of the present thriving little City of Sallisaw, which is the judicial center of Sequoyah County Oklahoma. As a lad in this locality Professor Krumtun witnessed such undignified performances as Indians mak ing their way to Fort Smith, Arkansas, twenty-five miles distant, there obtaining liquor, with which unlawfu. equipment they would return to Sallisaw for thei) drunken orgies and brawls, which were of not infrequent occurrence in those early days in the Cherokee Nation The rudimentary education of Professor Krumtum was acquired in the primitive schools of the Village of Sal lisaw, and it may well be understood that the facilities and the scholastic standards were of meager order.

In 1894 Charles W. Krumtum removed with his family to a farm near the present Town of Coalgate, Coa. County, in the former Choctaw Nation, and here the sub. ject of this review made good use of the very limited and ineffective advantages of the ill-ordered school sys- tem, the while he found ample demands upon his time and attention in assisting in the work of the farm, his father having in the meantime received appointment to the position of postmaster in the Village of Nixon. A1 the age of fourteen years Professor Krumtum began to make his own way. For two years he was a student in the Atoka Baptist Academy, at Atoka. While attending this school Professor Krumtum defrayed his expenses by doing any kind of honest work that came to hand. He did chores for local families of prominence, acted as servant in a boarding house, and otherwise applied him- self diligently to earn the money for his living expenses By the same policy he defrayed later the expenses inci. dental to the completion of a two years' course in Ottawa University, at Ottawa, Kansas, and while there a student he earned money by selling newspapers and by serving as

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HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

perinnight clerk in a hotel. Who thus feels the lash of neces- o find Bity is the most appreciative of the results, gains the sertion learer idea of the duties and responsibilities that canopy has lit ife, places true valuations upon men and things, and cost o gains the tolerance begotten of knowledge and of abid- il maining human sympathy. Professor Krumtum's early expe- e plan riences have but fortified him the better for his work in possibl the field of education, for his example is one worthy of greatemulation, offering both lesson and inspiration, and his re har own struggles, his own undaunted ambition, make it pos- piratio sible for him better to aid other aspiring young men in theirand women.

After providing by his own indefatigable labors the but he ght his means which made possible his completion of the pre- a man paratory course in the University of Oklahoma, he then ent of put his scholastic acquirements to practical test and s must utilization by teaching one term of school in District m abil- No. 84, Comanche County, where he received a salary of $37.50 a month. His success in this initial period of his of the pedagogic career augured well for his future and forti- fied him more firmly in his determination to follow the work of the profession in which he has achieved such admirable results and made so excellent a record. Two years previously to beginning his work as instructor in the school just mentioned Professor Krumtum, then seventeen years of age, had obtained a teacher's certifi- cate in Comanche County, but he failed to procure a position as a teacher at that time, owing to his youth and his even more youthful appearance. offered eastern nd has repre- gorous main- age at hat is estab- a Ter- In 1905 Professor Krumtum was matriculated in the literary or academic department of the University of Oklahoma, and again he faced the problem of adding by some means to his inadequate financial resources. With naught of false pride and with characteristic fertility in expedients, he supplemented his limited capital by work- ing as a waiter in a semi-public dining room and by serving as sexton of one of the churches in the university town. Zealously applying himself to his studies, he was graduated in 1909, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts and with grades that ranked among the highest in his class of fifty-four members. ather, nt of e and on of e at epon- some- gh it tv of unty, ntum mak- Within the course of his pedagogic career since his graduation Professor Krumtum has had diversified and valuable experience. He held for a time the position of teacher of German and Latin in the New Mexico Military Institute, at Roswell, and later was professor of Latin in the Southwestern Louisiana Industrial Institute, at Lafayette. In 1912 he was elected to the chair of which he is now the able and valued incumbent in the South- eastern State Normal School of Oklahoma. He has brought his department up to a specially high plane of efficiency and students from the same are much in demand as teachers of languages, the demand being, in fact, appreciably greater than the supply. miles their uent tion. Was Sal- ities nily Coal sub ted ime his to At to in

Professor Krumtum is a vital, buoyant, optimistic and popular member of the faculty of this excellent Okla- homa institution, and his enthusiasm extends outside the domain of mere academic work, as shown in his effective services in connection with the development and mainte- nance of athletics and other incidental student activities. He is a member of the classification committee of the faculty of the institution, makes his interest in the stu- dent one of individualized order and has the power of infusing enthusiasm in those who come before him in the class room or whom he meets in connection with the social affairs of the school. He is a member of the Classical Association of the Middle West and South and is prominent and influential in his affiliation with the Oklahoma Educational Association.

Professor Krumtum was born at Holstein, Ida County, Iowa, on the 12th of November, 1884, and his parents now maintain their home in Oklahoma City, where his

father, Charles W. Krumtum, is living virtually retired, after having been identified with agricultural and mer- cantile pursuits after coming to this state, about the time that the Territory of Oklahoma was created. Of the other children it may be recorded that O. M. is engaged in business in the City of Lincoln, Nebraska; Otto resides in Kansas City, Missouri, and is in the employ of the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad Company; Corbett is a broommaker by trade and voca- tion and maintains his residence at Lincoln, Nebraska; R. C. is in the employ of the Oklahoma City Railway Company; and Thomas is a student in the Southeastern State Normal School of Oklahoma, as a member of the class of 1918.

In June, 1913, was solemnized the marriage of Pro- fessor Krumtum to Miss Alma Carney, who had been his childhood schoolmate in the Atoka Baptist Academy and who had been a successful and popular teacher in the Oklahoma public schools prior to her marriage. She is a woman of culture and most gracious personality, holding acknowledged leadership in the social activities of her home community, where both she and her husband have a circle of friends that is limited only by that of their acquaintances.

JOHN J. BURKE. The thriving little City of Norman, judicial center of Cleveland County, occupies a place of more than usual prominence and importance by reason of its being the seat of the admirable University of Okla- homa as well as a vigorous and progressive municipality. Its prestige and interests are most effectively repre- sented and exploited by the Norman Transcript, of which Mr. Burke is editor and publisher and which he has brought up to high standard as one of the excellent newspapers of the state. He is one of the pioneer newspaper men of Oklahoma and has been earnest and appreciative in his efforts toward furthering the civic and material development and upbuilding of the com- monwealth in which he established his residence in 1889, the year which marked the original opening of Oklahoma Territory to settlement.

Mr. Burke was born in the City of Ayr, the capital of Ayrshire, Scotland, on the 23d of November, 1855, and within a few weeks thereafter his parents immi- grated to the United States, so that he is thoroughly American in spirit and appreciation, though honoring the sturdy land of his birth. He is a son of Rev. John and Jane (Jeffrey) Burke, the former of whom was born at Carlisle, Cumberlandshire, England, in 1814, and the latter of whom was born at Ayr, Scotland, in 1819. Rev. John Burke was reared and educated in England and after his marriage he continued his earnest and zealous services as a clergyman of the Baptist Church in Scotland until 1855, when he came with his family to the United States, where he served long and faith- fully in the ministry, his labors as a clergyman having been prosecuted in turn in the states of Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Ohio. When the Civil war was pre- cipitated he showed his loyalty to the Union by accepting the office of chaplain of the Eighty-second Ohio Volun- teer Infantry, with which he served in this capacity during practically the entire period of the great con- flict. His political allegiance was given to the republi- can party and he was affiliated with the Masonic fra- ternity and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. This venerable and honored clergyman died at Hubbard, Trumbull County, Ohio, in 1900, and his widow passed the closing period of her life at Altoona, Pennsylvania, where she was summoned to eternal rest in 1905. Of their children the eldest is Catherine, who is the wife of John W. Ebert, a representative' citizen of Altoona, Pennsylvania; John J., of this review, was the next in

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HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

order of birth; Jennie became the wife of Robert H. Duer and both died at Hubbard, Ohio; Florence is the wife of John M. Leach, who is a representative lawyer of Indiana, Pennsylvania; Mary is the wife of Robert M. Johnson, who is engaged in the lumber business at Kansas City, Missouri.

In the public schools of the old Keystone State John J. Burke continued his studies until he had completed the curriculum of the high school, and in 1873 he was there graduated in Logan Academy, near the City of Altoona. For five years thereafter he was a successful and popular teacher in the public schools of Pennsyl- vania, and in 1878 he came to the West and established his residence at Garnett, Kansas, where he gained inti- mate knowledge of the various details of the printing and newspaper business by means of his active associa- tion with the Garnett Journal, a weekly paper. Finally he established the Colony Free Press, at Colony, Ander- son County, Kansas, and of this paper he continued the editor and publisher eight years. He then, in 1889, participated in the opening of Oklahoma Territory to settlement and became one of the pioneer settlers in Oklahoma City, the present thriving capital city of the state. In June of that year he assumed the active management of the Oklahoma City Times-Journal, with which he was thus connected until 1895, after which he served as editor of the Oklahoman until 1897, having done much to bring this representative paper into promi- nence and influence as a representative of the varied interests of the territory.

In the fall of 1897 Mr. Burke removed to Norman, where he assumed charge of the Norman Transcript, of which he still continued to be editor and publisher. This stauneh and influential paper was founded May 1, 1889, but its first issue was published at Purcell, McClain County, on the 22d of the preceding month. The Transcript is a vital exponent of the interests of this section of the state and also of the principles and policies of the republican party, its circulation being exceptionally large and extending through Cleveland, McClain and neighboring counties. It is the only re- publican paper in Cleveland County and Mr. Burke has been its sole proprietor since the spring of 189S.

Mr. Burke has been one of the most prominent and influential representatives of the republican party in Cleveland County, and in addition to having served one year as clerk of the District Court he was for twelve years the incumbent of the office of postmaster of Nor- inan, his original appointment having been made by President Roosevelt and reappointment having been mnade under the administration of President Taft.

Mr. Burke is an appreciative and valued member of the Oklahoma State Press Association, and in a fraternal way he is affiliated . with Norman Lodge, No. 38, Ancient Free & Accepted Masons. He and his wife are active members of the local Christian Science Church and he is president of its board of trustees.

At Garnett, Kansas, in the year 1882, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Burke to Miss Clara J. Hiatt, whose father, John G. Hiatt, is now a retired merchant of that place. Mr. and Mrs. Burke have one son, Edmund H., who was gradnated in the Norman High School and · who is now serving as assistant postmaster of this city.

REID W. WAIDLEY. Included among the well known and successful financiers of Woods County is Reid W. Waidley, cashier of the First National Bank, of Way- noka, and a citizen who has taken an active and helpful participation in civic affairs of import. While still a young man as to years, he has had a long experience,

and his entire career has been devoted to activities in the line of banking.

Mr. Waidley is a product of the farm, having been born on his father's homestead in Chase County, Kansas, March 31, 1883, and is a son of Elam A. and Elsie (Washburn) Waidley. His father was born May 23, 1843, in Erie County, Pennsylvania, and in 1879 moved to Chase County, Kansas, where he purchased a tract of land. In his native Keystone State he had been engaged in agricultural pursuits, and continued to follow farming in Kansas, where he resided until 1894, in that year coming to Oklahoma and locating upon a tract of land in Woods County. Mr. Waidley was successfully engaged as a farmer and stockman until 1897, when he moved to the City of Alva and opened a grocery. There he eon- timed in business for several years, but retired some time before his death, which occurred July 14, 1906, when he was sixty-three years of age. He was an active member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. On Novem- ber 9, 1871, Mr. Waidley was married to Miss Elsie Washburn, who was born May 14, 1853, in Erie County, Pennsylvania, a daughter of Seamer and Lydia (Hop- kins) Washburn, natives of Rhode Island. Two children were born to Elam A. and Elsie Waidley, namely: Emna Florence, who was born September 20, 1874, in Erie County, Pennsylvania, was married in 1891 to William A. Talkington, and has one daughter, Ruth Pauline, who was born in 1897; and Reid W., of this. notice.

Reid W. Waidley received his early education in the public schools of Chase County, Kansas, following which he enrolled as a student at the Oklahoma Northwestern Normal School, at Alva, where he remained until 1898. In that year he entered upon his business career as a bookkeeper with the First National Bank of Alva, and held this position until August 18, 1902, when, with J. A. Stine and others, he organized the Waynoka State Bank, of Waynoka, Oklahoma. This was nationalized and made the First National Bank of Waynoka, March 30, 1910, with Mr. Waidley as cashier, a position which he has continued to fill to the present time. Mr. Waidley has an excellent reputation in business eircles of North- west Oklahoma, and is accounted a man of high ability in the line of his ehosen vocation. As a eitizen he has been foremost in the promotion of movements which his good judgment and acumen tell him are for the eom- munity's welfare and his ideals of citizenship entitle him to the esteem which is generally accorded him. In fraternal circles, he has numerous friends in the local lodges of the Masons and Odd Fellows, with which he has been connected as a member for several years.

Mr. Waidley was married June 6, 1906, at Waynoka, to Miss Mary P. Nickerson, daughter of George J. and Mary (Pickard) Nickerson. Her parents were born in Maine, the father in 1839 and the mother in 1843, and the latter died at Waynoka in 1900. They had four daughters and one son, as follows: Winnie, who is deceased; Frank; Aubrige; Florence, and Mary Pickard. Mrs. Waidley was born September 14, 1880, in Iowa, was educated in the public schools of that state and Kansas, and completed her education at the Oklahoma Northwestern University at Alva, following which she became a schoolteacher in the country districts of Woods County, also acting as assistant postmistress at Waynoka. Mr. and Mrs. Waidley have one son: Howard Windell, born March 12, 1908.

DOUGAN G. LANE. Among the official positions within the gift of the people of a county, one of the most impor- tant is that of the county treasurer. A man thus honored must needs have shown himself possessed of financial

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ability of a high order, executive power and organizing capacity, and the strictest integrity and probity in all the affairs of life. The man who receives and disburses all the revenues and other public moneys belonging to the county, and who personally countersigns county orders, must be one in whom the public can place abso- lute faith. It is in this connection that mention may be made of Dougan G. Lane, one of the most efficient and energetic treasurers Le Flore County has known, whose excellent services rendered are evidenced by the fact that he is serving his second term.

Mr. Lane was born October 16, 1863, at Dallas, Arkan- sas, and is a son of John R. and Nicy J. (Ward) Lane, the former a native of North Carolina and the latter of Mississippi. The parents were married in Arkansas, lived a good many years at Dallas, and later at Fort Sınith, Arkansas, at both of which places John R. Lane was successfully engaged in merchandising. He was also prominent in political and public life, being a staunch supporter of the men and measures of the democratic party both locally and nationally, and on various occa- sions held positions of honor and trust to which he was elected by his fellow citizens. During the Civil war his sympathies were with the South, and for several years he served gallantly under the banner of the Lost Cause.

In the public schools of Arkansas, Dougan G. Lane received his early educational training, following which he attended the University of Arkansas. Very early in life he entered the school of practical business experi- ence, when, at the age of thirteen years, he was employed by a druggist of his home town. Later he turned his attention to the cattle business, and in September, 1887, removed from Dallas to Fort Smith, Arkansas, in which latter city he was identified with the grocery business, first as a clerk and later on his own account, being for a time also associated with his father in this enterprise. In 1900, Mr. Lane accepted a position with the American Cotton Company and removed to Oklahoma City, but in the following year changed his residence to Spiro, Okla- homa, although he remained in the cotton business and was employed by the American Cotton Company, and later by its successors, until 1908. In that year Mr. Lane came to Poteau to enter upon the discharge of his duties as assistant or deputy county treasurer, a position to which he gave such general satisfaction that he was urged by his friends to make the campaign for county treasurer in November, 1912. He was duly elected to that office on the democratic ticket and took charge of its affairs in July, 1913, and in the fall of 1914 was re-elected to succeed himself. His record has been one of faithful and conscientious service in behalf of the best interests of the people of the county. Mr. Lane is a member of the Knights of Pythias and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and his religious faith is that of the Presbyterian Church. He has taken a commendable interest in all matters pertaining to the civic, educational, industrial, religious or social welfare of Poteau and Le Flore County, and is considered not only a capable public servant, but a helpful and public- spirited citizen.

Mr. Lane was married in 1882 to Miss Emma Garr, who was born and reared in Indiana, and to this union have been born six children: Ethel, who is the wife of D. M. Kent; R. Fletcher, who married Miss Hattie Self and lives at Eufaula, Oklahoma; Dougan C .; D. G., Jr .; and Harriette. Byron died at the age of sixteen months.

SMITH C. MATSON. In April, 1910, Smith C. Matson was appointed assistant attorney general of Oklahoma by Attorney General Charles West. At the beginning of the new administration in January, 1915, he was re-

appointed to the same duties by Attorney General S. P. Freeling. As assistant attorney general Mr. Matson has handled nearly all the criminal cases that have come within the jurisdiction of his office during the past five years.

Mr. Matson is on the basis of his performance one of the able members of the Oklahoma bar, and is a lawyer by inheritance as well as by inherent talent and training. Both his father and grandfather before him were eminent members of the bar in Indiana. Smith C. Matson was born at Greencastle, Indiana, in 1872, and is a son of Conrtland Cushing and Mary Nelson (Farrow) Matson. The Matson and Farrow families in the early days were Virginians. They moved from Virginia to Kentucky, thence to Ohio, and from there to Indiana. The parental grandparents of the Okla- homa lawyer were John Allen and Margaretta Melvina (Woelpper) Matson. His grandfather at one time lived on land now included in the City of Cincinnati, and from there moved to Indiana, where he was one of the prominent lawyers of ante-bellum days. In 1849 he was the candidate of the whig party for the office of governor of the state.

Courtland Cushing Matson, who died September 4, 1915, at Greencastle, Indiana, was born at Brookville, In- diana, April 25, 1841. He was pursuing his higher educa- tion in Asbury, now DePauw, University at Greencastle when the war came on, and he left at the close of his junior year and enlisted in the Union army April 14, 1861. In 1870 by a vote of the university trustees he was graduated A. B. as a member of the class of 1862. He served in Company K of the Sixteenth Indiana Vol- unteers, rising from the ranks to lieutenant, from April, 1861, to June, 1862. He was then appointed post adjutant of Camp Dick Thompson at Terre Haute, and helped to organize three regiments. In December, 1862, he was appointed lieutenant colonel of the 71st Indiana, later the 6th Indiana Cavalry, after all the field officers of the regiment had been killed at the battle of Rich- mond, Kentucky. He was lieutenant colonel until the close of the war, when he was promoted to colonel of the Fifth and Sixth Indiana Cavalry consolidated. After the war he took up the active practice of law, and for several years served as prosecuting attorney. From 1881 to 1889 he was a member of the 47th to the 50th congresses from Indiana, and in 1888 was democratic candidate for governor. From 1909 to 1913 he served as a member of the State Board of Tax Commissioners of Indiana. Colonel Matson was married December 12, 1871, to Mary Nelson Farrow, who died February 6, 1893.

It was with the eminent example of his father before him that Smith C. Matson grew up in his home state of Indiana, acquiring an education in the public schools and at DePauw University in Greencastle. In 1893 he was admitted to the Indiana bar, and was in active prac- tice at Greencastle for thirteen years, being in partner- ship with his father under the firm name of C. C. & Smith C. Matson. From 1900 to 1905 he was prosecut- ing attorney of the Thirteenth Judicial District of Indiana.

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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