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 116

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 116

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

A little before the war was declared it was necessary that the Indian girls be brought back to their own people. They were taken first to Washington, D. C. It was during the administration of President Buchanan, and while in the capital they witnessed the funeral of Gen- eral Jessups, and visited Congress and some other departments of Government. On their return they came by way of Richmond, Memphis and Little Rock, driving overland by stage from there to the Choctaw country.

Aunt Jane had then had eleven years of English schools and she determined to become a teacher among the Choc- taws. She taught for two years in what were known as neighborhood schools. After the close of the first term of nine months the local trustees presented her with $420 in gold as payment for her services. "I offered a hundred dollars of this to my father," she says. "He was poor and he needed the money, but he shook his head. 'I am proud to know that a child of mine so gratefully remembers her father,' he said, 'but I cannot take the money. You have earned it and it is for you to spend it.' I then offered fifty dollars to my mother and the little woman danced over the floor in glee. 'Just what I needed to buy me some new cotton cards,' she said. And there's the difference between the man and the woman on the money question."

In 1865 Miss Austin was married to Jackson F. MeCurtain, who had become a successful farmer and stock raiser. He was for a number of years a member of the Choctaw Senate and was president of the Senate when Principal Chief Garvin died, and he succeeded Garvin as principal chief. He was then elected by the people for principal chief and again re-elected, and he thus served five years as chief. McCurtain was a strong- willed, determined man, and it is said that no other chief ever has had his people so thoroughly in accord with him. He died November 14, 1885, three days after the Choctaw Legislature had convened in the new council house, which he had planned and the construction of which probably was his greatest ambition.

Chief McCurtain had entered into a contract with the builders of the Frisco Railroad whereby the road was to build through Tuskahoma, which was the name of the

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HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

1339

'illage that grew up around the first council house. After his death, however, speculators influenced the com- bany and the road missed the old capital two miles. A lew town of Tuskahoma was built on the bank of the Kiamichi River two miles to the South.

The Choctaws established their first capitol near the present site. The building was of large pine logs, cut 'rom a nearby forest, and those logs, yet in a good state f preservation, constitute the foundation and part of he walls of a warehouse in the new Town of Tuskahoma. The first capital the Choctaws named Nanih Waya, mean- ng stooping mountain. Later the capital was moved o Skullaville and after that to Doaksville. During the Civil war the government was conducted at Armstrong Academy, and after the war the authorities moved back to the old site.

Aunt Jane McCurtain for thirty-two years in suc- ession has lived in Tuskahoma. In 1884 Chief McCur- tain built a handsome large home a stone's throw from he capitol. It remains standing today, but most of it has been abandoned. Mrs. McCurtain for a number of wears has lived in the council house, and the Government ays her a moderate sum to remain its mistress. She has een there during the administration of several principal chiefs and has met more men of prominence from the North and East than probably any other living Indian woman. With her lives her daughter, Miss Eliza, and near her are her other children: Mrs. C. A. Hurd, wife of the Pushmataha County Court clerk at Antlers; Mrs. Lyman Moore, wife of a banker at Spiro; Mrs. Lizzie McCoy, a widow, who lives at Idabel; and Allen C., her only son, who occupies a farm near the capitol.

Mrs. McCurtain came into possession of a fortune of $20,000 shortly after the death of her husband as a result of his activities on behalf of the nation in devel- oping the coal industry of the segregated land district. This she invested profitably after paying off her hus- band's numerous debts.

The coffin in which Jackson McCurtain was buried reached his home from Denison, Texas, nine days before his death. He had been ill for some days when he announced that he was going to die and asked that the coffin be brought. He selected the site of his grave and gave detailed instructions as to how the grave should be dug. His body lies in a private burying ground in which also are buried two white men, one of whom was an adventurer that died near Tuskahoma in the '70s.

ALLEN WRIGHT. To write the history of Oklahoma from the standpoint of personality, with particular refer- ence to those characters of creative energy and influence in its life and growth, would fail of its essential purpose without extended reference to members of the Wright family, conspicuous among whom was the late Rev. Allen Wright, chief of the Choctaw Nation, Dr. E. N. Wright and others, whose eminent part in the affairs of the Choctaw Nation have given the name many worthy distinctions.

The Allen Wright named above is a son of the late Rev. Allen Wright, and has for twenty years had a suc- cessful career in the law in old Indian Territory and Oklahoma. He is one of the best known members of the bar of McAlester, and through his own career has added further distinctions to an honored family name.

Born at Boggy Depot in Choctaw Nation, in what is now Atoka County, Oklahoma, he grew up practically on the frontier, but through the influence of his father and his own endowment of ability he acquired a liberal edu- cation and returned to his birthplace to assume a prom- inent role in the affairs of the old Indian Nation.

He prepared for college in the Kemper Military School Vol. III-26

at Boonville, Missouri, and was graduated from Union College at Schenectady, New York, with the class of 1893. After a thorough course in the law he was ad- initted to the bar of Indian Territory by examination in May, 1895.

In 1897 he was made United States commissioner under Judge W. H. H. Clayton at McAlester, and served seven years in that position, resigning in October, 1904. He then formed a partnership for general practice with R. E. Campbell, now United States district judge at Muskogee. They handled a large corporation practice and were local attorneys for the Rock Island Railway and counsel for several coal mining companies. Mr. Wright often appeared before the departments in Washington, especially in matters relative to the interests of coal corporations having coal leases in the Choctaw Nation.

He is one of the finest types of the educated repre- sentatives of the old five civilized tribes of Oklahoma. He is a republican, has attended various conventions and fraternally is affiliated with the Masonic Order and Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.

At Minneapolis, Minnesota, January 22, 1902, he mar- ried Miss Helen W. Skiles. Mrs. Wright died at her home in McAlester, December 20, 1912.

GRIF GRAHAM. The opening of the year 1915 marked the initiation of Mr. Graham's administration in the office of sheriff of Washington County, and his eligibility for this position had been clearly demonstrated through four years of prior service as deputy sheriff of the county. He has been a resident of the present State of Oklahoma since he was a lad of thirteen years, his par- ents having established their home in what is now Wash- ington County in the year 1892, when this section of Oklahoma was still an integral part of Indian Territory. He has kept pace with the march of development and progress, has been a loyal and efficient conservator of law and order, and is a popular citizen and valued county executive who is well entitled to representation in this work.

Mr. Graham was born at Nevada, Vernon County, Missouri, on the 2d of February, 1879, and is a son of Jonathan and Nannie E. (Stultz) Graham, both of whom were born and reared in Missouri, to which state the Grahams removed from Tennessee and the Stultz family from North Carolina, the lineage of the former tracing back to English and that of the latter to German origin. The parents of Sheriff Graham continued their residence in Missouri until 1892, when they came to Indian Ter- ritory and became pioneer settlers in what is now Wash- ington County. Here the father became a successful farmer and here he continued to reside until his death, in 1906, at which time he was about seventy years of age. His widow passed away in 1912, at the age of seventy-one years, and all of their six children are now living. William L. is serving in 1915 as mayor of the little City of Wann, Nowata County, Oklahoma; Jennie M. is the wife of George B. Adams, of Buffalo, Mis- souri; Annie E. is the wife of Benjamin F. Potter, of Sprague, that state; Lena is the wife of Frank Squires, of Bartlesville, Oklahoma; the subject of this sketch was the next in order of birth; and Arthur R. likewise resides in Bartlesville.

The parents of the present sheriff of Washington County were residents of Jackson County, Missouri, dur- ing the period of the Civil war, when that section was the stage of the residence and activities of many of the border desperadoes. The uncle of Sheriff Graham shod the horse of the well known Quantrell the day before that notorious character was shot and killed. Cole Younger, whose name was in the history of depredations

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during and after the war, was in the Graham home the day of the battle of Lone Jack, August 4, 1863. The family home was utilized for a time by Uniou military forces as a refuge for their wounded officers, and when the Federal retreat ensued and it was found impossible to remove the wounded comrades an attempt was made by a Confederate soldier to kill one of the wounded Federal officers in the home of Jonathau Graham, but Cole Younger at this critical moment showed his human- ity by preventing this atrocity, stating that he would not consent to see a wounded enemy murdered. Sheriff Graham himself attended school in Missouri with Robert James, a son of Frank James, whose name has gone down in history as that of one of the most daring of bandits, but who was well known and liked by many who came in personal contact with him, the subject of this sketch having been well acquainted when he was a lad with this one of the celebrated James brothers. He was acquainted also with Mabel Stone, a daughter of Senator Stone of Missouri, at one time governor of that state.

Sheriff Graham gained his early education in the' schools of his native state, and, as previously stated, was thirteen years of age at the time of the family removal to Indian Territory. He continued to be associated with agricultural pursuits in Washington County uutil 1905, when he established his residence at Bartlesville. Here he continued in the employ of the Cherokee Hardware and Lumber Company until 1909, and thereafter he served continuously as deputy sheriff of the county until 1913. His excelleut record in this position made him a logical condidate for sheriff and he was elected to this important office in November, 1914, as candidate on the democratic ticket. His administration since assuming office has been characteristically vigorous, circumspect and fearless, and his work is fully justifying the popu- lar confidence signalized by his election. The sheriff is a stalwart advocate of the principles of the democratic party and he is affiliated with the local organizations of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Knights of Pythias, the Loyal Order of Moose, and the Fraternal Order of Eagles.

In the autumn of 1909 Mr. Graham wedded Miss Orpha E. Lewis, who was born in Kansas and who accompanied her parents on their removal to Indian Territory, when she was a girl.

DR. H. M. WHEELER belongs to an interesting group of men in Oklahoma whose early training was on the cattle rauches of the prairie country and whose ambi- tions led them from the free life of the plains to the stores and offices of successful business and professional men. The ranch experiences of Doctor Wheeler were confined to that beautiful region of the state once known as the Cherokee Strip, the home ranch being established by his father in Woods County shortly after the open- ing of the Strip in 1893, when there were wide grazing ranges and few settlers.

As a youth Doctor Wheeler engaged in all the activi- ties of the typical cowboy, such as roping and branding cattle, breaking bronchos and participation in roundups and long drives. While he was thus engaged he became a member of a party of specially deputized citizens that sought to rid that region of the notorious outlaws, Yeager and Black, who had committed many crimes and depredations both in Kansas and Oklahoma. The chase that he participated in resulted in Black being killed near Geary, Oklahoma, while Yeager received a wound from which he died at Enid, a few days later.

Doctor Wheeler was born at Wichita, Kansas, in 1887, and is a son of Otha and Frances (Cline) Wheeler. His

father, who was a native of Missouri, became an early settler of Kansas and a pioneer of the Cherokee Strip iu Oklahoma, as formerly related. For a number of years he was successfully engaged in ranching in Woods County, but has now retired from active labors aud he and Mrs. Wheeler are now living iu their comfortable home at Ames, Oklahoma. There were three children in the family of Otha and Frances Wheeler: Dan, who is a successtul business man of Salt Lake City, Utah; Mrs. Pearl Mitchell, who lives in Kansas; and H. M., of this review.

The early education of Doctor Wheeler was secured iu the public schools of Wichita, following which he completed his primary education in the public institu- tions of Oklahoma. He furthered his literary training by attendance at Phillips University. Enid, Oklahoma, and subsequently enrolled as a student at the Carver School of Chiropractics, at Oklahoma City, where he was graduated with the degree of Doctor of Chiropractics, in 1911. At that time he immediately entered the practice of his chosen calling at Oklahoma City, where he remained until 1913, then locating at Atoka, from which city he subsequently came to Coalgate, where he has since been in the enjoyment of a gratifyingly successful business, attracted to him through his deep and thorough knowl- edge of his profession and the snecess which he has encountered in a number of complicated cases.

Doctor Wheeler is a member of the State Chiroprac- tors' Association and his fraternal connections include membership in the local lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He is a progressive, public-spirited young man and takes an interest in matters affecting the welfare of the town. He is interested also in the devel- opment of the oil and gas resources of this section of the state. Doctor Wheeler is unmarried.

GEORGE M. GREEN. Retained as assistant attorney of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad Company for the State of Oklahoma, Mr. Green is numbered among the sterling citizens whose ability and services have con- tributed to the upholding of the high standard of the bar of Oklahoma. He maintains his residence and pro- fessional headquarters in Oklahoma City, with offices at 810 Coleord Building.

Mr. Green may claim as his birthright the progressive and vital spirit of the West, for he was born at Man- hattan, the judicial center and metropolis of Riley County, Kansas, the date of his nativity having been July 13, 1876, and his father was one of the pioneer representa- tives of the legal profession in that county of the Sun- flower State. Mr. Green is a son of George S. and Nannie (McClung) Green, both of whom are deceased, the mother having been summoned to eternal rest in 1894 and the father having passed away on the 19th of May, 1905. George S. Green was born and reared in Ohio, where he effectively prepared himself for the profession in which he was destined to achieve marked success and precedence. In the '70s he established his home at Man- hattan, Kansas, which was then a mere village, and he there engaged in the practice of law. He not only be- came one of the prominent lawyers of that section of the state but also an influential figure in public affairs, as is indicated by the fact that he was called upon to serve as a member of the House of Representatives of the Kansas Legislature and later as a member of the State Senate, besides which he retained from 1890 to 1893 the office of associate justice of the Supreme-Court commis- sion of Kansas. In the latter year he removed with his family to Oklahoma Territory and established his home at Guthrie, the territorial capital. There he continued in the practice of law, as one of the leading representa-

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tives of his profession in the territory, and he was a vigorous worker in the campaign for statehood, though his death occurred about two years prior to the admis- sion of Oklahoma to the Union.

George M. Green duly availed himself of the advan- tages of the public schools of Manhattan, Kansas, and there supplemented this discipline by a course of study in the Kansas State Agricultural College. In 1896 he went to Horton, Brown County, that state, and entered upon an apprenticeship to the machinist's trade, in the shops of the Chicago & Rock Island Railroad. One year later, however, in December, 1897, he rejoined his father, at Guthrie, Oklahoma, and here turned his attention to the study of law, under the able preceptorship of his father. He made rapid progress in the absorption and assimilation of the science of jurisprudence and was admitted to the bar of the territory in June, 1900. He forthwith became associated with his father in practice, and this alliance continued until March, 1904, when there came noteworthy recognition of his ability, in his ap- pointment to the position of assistant attorney for Okla- homa of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad Company. While retaining this incumbency he contin- ued his residence at Guthrie until 1911, when he removed to Oklahoma City, where he has since served most effec- tively as representative of the legal department of this great railroad system, for which he has handled a large amount of important business.

While a resident of Guthrie, Mr. Green served as a member of the city council, of which municipal body he had the distinction of being president in 1902-3, besides which he held for some time the office of United States commissioner at Guthrie. In the time-honored Masonic fraternity Mr. Green is past master of Guthrie Lodge, No. 35, Ancient Free & Accepted Masons, with which he is still affiliated, and he has received also the thirty- second degree of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite, in Oklahoma Consistory, No. 1, of the Valley of Guthrie. He is also an appreciative member of India Temple of the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine.

On the 8th of June, 1900, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Green to Miss Ellen Lemart, daughter of Edward Lemart, of Crossville, Tennessee, and the one child of this union is Mary Louise, who was born October 9, 1911, the family home in Oklahoma City being at 1911 North Francis Street and being a center of representative social activity, with Mrs. Green as a gracious and popular chatelaine.

RAY M. COLLINS. A young man of vigorous purpose and well developed executive ability, Mr. Collins has become prominently identified with the oil industry and other business interests in Oklahoma, where he estab- lished his residence in 1904, about three years prior to the admission of the state to the Union and where he had maintained his residence in the City of Tulsa since 1906, when he here became general manager of the Bull Dog Oil Company, a position of which he is still the incumbent, his father having been one of the organizers of the company and being still its vice president. Mr. Collins is a scion of sterling New England stock and is a representative of a family whose name has been identi- fied with American annals since the colonial era in our national history.

Ray M. Collins was born at Indian Creek, Mckean County, Pennsylvania, and is a son of Charles P. and Ida M. (Merrill) Collins, whose marriage was solemnized at Petersburg, Lancaster County, that state, on the 31st of October, 1876. The parents of Mr. Collins were both born in the State of Maine. Charles P. Collins was born

in Aroostook County, Maine, on the 12th of December, 1847, and his wife was born at Turner's Corners, that state, on the 19th of February, 1851. They became the parents of six sons and one daughter and of the number five sons are now living-Burt H., Ray M., Charles L., Samuel W. and Wallace H. The paternal grandparents of him whose name introduces this article were Samuel W. and Dorcas (Hardison) Collins, the former of whom was born at Calais, Maine, in 1811, and the latter of whom was born at China Springs, that state, in 1826. The grandfather was identified with the lumber industry in the old Pine Tree State during virtually his entire active career and was eighty-seven years of age at the time of his death. His venerable widow, now nearly ninety years of age, still resides in her native state. Of their twelve children Charles L. was the first born and four others of the number are still living.

Charles L. Collins was educated in the common schools and academy in his native county, and in 1868, shortly before attaining to his legal majority, he severed the ties that bound him to the parental home and the state of his nativity, and went to the lumber woods of Wis- consin. He passed the winter of that year in lumbering operations on the Snake River, and in the spring of 1869 went with the log drive down the Snake and St. Croix rivers into the Mississippi River and on to Burling- ton, Iowa. He thence made his way to Pennsylvania, and in June, 1869, arrived at Shawnee, this state, where he engaged in the oil business and acquired his initial experience in connection with this line of industry. He has been prominently and extensively identified with oil operations in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Wyoming and California, as well as Oklahoma. He was one of the organizers of the Union Oil and Gas Company and the Devonian Oil Company, of Pennsylvania and Oklahoma, and was vice president of the latter corporation, besides having become an interested principal in many other companies engaged in oil and gas production. He came to Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1907, having been one of the organizers of the Bull Dog Oil Company, of which he is vice president, as previously noted. He has traveled extensively and has many capitalistic interests in South America and Alaska, to which latter section he made a visit in 1900. He has received the thirty-second degree of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite of the Masonic fraternity and is a man of large financial interests, his success representing the result of his own ability and well directed endeavors.

Ray M. Collins acquired his preliminary education in the public schools of the City of Bradford, Pennsylvania, continued his studies in Manzanita Hall, a preparatory institution at Palo Alto, California, and completed his higher academic studies in the celebrated Leland Stan- ford, Jr., University, at Palo Alto. After leaving the university he was identified with gold mining in Cali- fornia about one and one-half years, and in 1904 he came to Indian Territory and located at Osage, where he engaged in contracting for the putting down of oil wells. In 1906 he established his permanent residence in the City of Tulsa, where he became general manager of the Bull Dog Oil Company, to the affairs of which important corporation he has since given much of his time and atten- tion. He is one of the stockholders of this and other corporations in Oklahoma and in California is interested in the growing of lemons. In 1900 he traveled extensively in company with his father, with whom he visited different South American countries and also Alaska.

In politics Mr. Collins is independent, but he is dis- tinctively progressive and public-spirited as a citizen and is loyal to the city and state of his adoption. At Brad- ford, Pennsylvania, he is affiliated with the following named Masonic organizations: Union Lodge No. 334,

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HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

Ancient Free and Accepted Masons; Bradford Chapter No. 260, Royal Arch Masons; Bradford Council, Royal and Select Masters; and Bradford Commandery No. 58, Knights Templar. In Oklahoma he has extended his Masonic affiliations by becoming a member of Akdar Temple, Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, at Tulsa.

On the 26th of November, 1912, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Collins to Miss June C. Hubbard, who was born and reared at Bradford, Pennsylvania. They have no children.

CLAUDE B. NORRIS is now county superintendent of schools of LeFlore County. Though he has been engaged in other vocations, most of his time has been spent in educational work, and among those who are bringing the school system of Eastern Oklahoma to a high standard of efficiency his name deserves prominent mention.

A native of Arkansas, he was born at Mansfield in that state April 21, 1888, a son of Asbury and Amanda (Yancey) Norris. When Asbury Norris was four years of age he came with his father, Samuel Norris, from Scotland, their native country, to America in 1841 and located in North Carolina, where Samuel Norris spent the rest of his days. Asbury Norris was reared in North Carolina, but prior to the Civil war moved to Tennessee and later to the State of Arkansas. During the war he enlisted in a regiment of volunteers, known as the Second Arkansas Infantry, for the Union service and proved a faithful and courageous soldier. The most of his army service was in Arkansas, where he continued his residence after the war, and was a farmer and min- ister of the gospel in that state until his death in 1906. He was three times married. His first wife was the mother of two sons and four daughters. After her death he married Amanda Yancey, who was of Indian blood in the sixteenth degree, and was a descendant of the noted Indian leader and chieftain Sequoyah. She died when Professor Norris and his twin sister were but infants. The father married for his third wife Mrs. Sarah (Matthews) Shannon, and her stepchildren have always given her the tributes of their affection and loy- alty because of her devoted and loving care when they were children.

Claude B. Norris was reared on a farm until the age

of sixteen and during this time, except for the first two years of his life, his parents resided at Cauthron, Arkan- sas, and he gained most of his early education in the public schools of that town. He had qualified and begun his work as a teacher at the age of fifteen and for two terms was employed by the same school. It was by teaching and attending school alternately that he man- aged to secure the equivalent of a liberal education. When eighteen he entered the employ of the Kansas City Southern Railroad, and was with that corporation about three years as station agent and for a little more than one year was with the Wells Fargo & Company Express, and on leaving the employ of the company was serving as cashier in its office at Colorado Springs, Colorado.

On returning to his vocation as a teacher he located at Rowell, Arkansas, and subsequently took a literary course in the University of Arkansas. With this prepa- ration he took charge of the schools at Hodgens, Okla- homa, where he was located altogether for about four years. He was next made principal of schools at Spiro, Oklahoma, but before beginning his duties was appointed, July 8, 1913, county superintendent of schools of LeFlore County to fill a vacancy occasioned by the resig- nation of the former incumbent. In 1914 was elected to succeed himself in this office, in which he has rendered a service that has won him an enviable reputation. In politics he is a democrat, is a York Rite Mason and a Shriner, a member of the Knights of Pythias, of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Woodmen of the World, and his church is the Baptist.

Whatever of success in life Mr. Norris has won or may hereafter win he attributes to the fine personality, the judgment, and the cooperation of his wife. He was nineteen years of age when he secured as his companion and helper in life's struggles Miss Docia May Tedrick. Mrs. Norris was born in Arkansas, a daughter of J. Douglas and Ella (Harrell) Tedrick. Her father was a native of Illinois and her mother of Arkansas. Mr. Norris struggled against many adversities to win his present place in the educational field, and as he is still in his twenties there is much to be expected of him in the future. He is ardent, thoroughly public spirited, never slack in energy and enthusiasm, and to some degree these qualities may be ascribed to his heritage from his sturdy Scotch ancestry.

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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