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 15

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 15

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the supervision of the work of distributing arms among the settlers along the border.

From South Dakota Mr. Hassler eventually came to Oklahoma, and for three years thereafter he was an executive in this state of the United States Land Depart- ment, as a representative of which he was stationed for some time at each Enid and Perry. Upon severing this connection he removed to Oswego, Kansas, and after having there been associated with an investment com- pany about six years he broadened his experience by removing to New Mexico, in which territory he entered a homestead claim. After perfecting his title to this tract of Government land he finally returned to Oklahoma and established his permanent residence at Tulsa, where he has since developed a large and prosperous insurance and loan business, his home being at 21 South Utica Street. He is one of the loyal and public-spirited citizens and representative business men of Tulsa County, is a republican in his political allegiance, and is actively affiliated with the Masonic fraternity. In the City of Washington, District of Columbia, he was raised to the sublime degree of Master Mason in National Lodge, No. 12, Ancient Free & Accepted Masons, from which he received a dimit, his present affiliation being with Tulsa Lodge, No. 71. He also holds membership in the lodge of the Benevolent & Protective Order of Elks at Coffey- ville, Kansas.

On the 15th of July, 1914, was solemnized the mar- riage of Mr. Hassler to Miss Nellie Frances Curd, who was born at Pueblo, Colorado, and who is a daughter of John H. and Ida Curd, the former a native of Ken- tucky and the latter of Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Hassler have two children,-Ferdinand and John W.

JOHN B. POPE. The efficient and energetic postmaster at Heavener, Oklahoma, John B. Pope, has been a resi- dent of this city since 1907, and during this time has established a record. for commercial integrity, public- spirited citizenship and straightforward, conscientious service in official life. His career has been one in which he has triumphed over difficulties, and the not incon- siderable measure of success which he has won has been fairly and honestly achieved.

Mr. Pope is a Texan by nativity, having been born on the family ranch in Red River County, May 15, 1866, the second in order of birth of the fifteen children of John B. and Sarah Elizabeth (Terry) Pope. The father, a native of Tennessee, was but a lad when he accom- panied his parents to Texas, the long and tedious journey being made with pack-horses. There he grew to man- hood and met and married the mother, who had, like himself, come to Texas as a child and in a like manner, although the state of her birth was Indiana. The father was a farmer by vocation and was thus engaged when the war between the states came on. He at once enlisted in a Texas regiment which joined the forces of Gen. Joseph Shelby, and with which he served with gallantry during the entire period of the conflict. On his return to the pursuits of peace he resumed his operations as farmer, ranchman and stock raiser and continued to be engaged in those vocations during the remainder of a long, active and fairly successful life.

John B, Pope

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known as an efficient and popular educator. At that time he was given his first elective office by his fellow-citizens, who chose him as county clerk of Red River County, and in that capacity served two years, then returning to his labors as a school teacher for four more years. On leaving the school room Mr. Pope turned his attention to mercantile pursuits, having been the proprietor of establishments at Clarksville, Texas, Mena, Arkansas, and Heavener, Oklahoma. He is naturally a good busi- ness man, with ability as a trader, and no doubt his success as a merchant would have been much greater were it not for ill health. Mr. Pope came to Heavener in 1907, and when the new waterworks were established he was chosen as superintendent of the system, a position which he filled with credit for one and one-half years. He entered upon his duties as postmaster of Heavener, in April, 1915, having been appointed to that office by President Wilson. His services therein have been entirely satisfactory and have gone a long way toward improving the service of the office. Mr. Pope is a stanch democrat in politics, in fraternal relations is a Master Mason, and in religious faith a devout member of the Methodist . Episcopal Church, South, of which for twenty years he ha's been a member of the board of stewards.

Mr. Pope was married in 1903 to Miss ' Valeria A. Bachman, and to this union there have been born two children : Katy and Maxey, the latter being deceased.

JOEL THOMAS MAGRUDER. Few men have come more directly in contact with the monetary institutions of Eastern Oklahoma, and none have commanded more completely the respect and confidence of their associates, than has Joel Thomas Magruder, vice president and cashier of the First National Bank of Stilwell. He was born in Grayson County, Texas, September 3, 1881, and is a son of Thomas Edgar and Annie (Woolverton) Ma- gruder.

The Magruder family is of Scotch origin, and the name was originally spelled Magregor, the family be- longing to the extensive association known as the Amer- ican Clan Gregor Society. Three Scotch brothers founded the name in this country coming prior to the Revolution- ary war and locating in New England from whence members removed to various parts of the country, the immediate ancestor of Joel T. Magruder locating in Maryland. In that state was born Thomas Magruder, the grandfather of Joel T. He removed to Missouri, settling on a farm in Shelby County, and there his son, Thomas Edgar, was born, reared and educated, and married Annie Woolverton, who was born in Virginia and taken when a child by her parents to Missouri. In 1876 Thomas E. and Annie Magruder removed by wagon to Texas, settling in Grayson County, where Mr. Ma- gruder became an employe of the Santa Fe Railroad, with which he was connected at the time of his death when forty-two years of age. There were three children in the family; Elwood S .; Laura V., who is the wife of F. N. Puckett; and Joel Thomas. The mother, who survives, is a resident of Denison, Texas.

After securing a common school education, Joel T. Magruder completed a commercial course in a business college at Denison, Texas, in which city he entered upon his career as bookkeeper for a dry goods firm. Not long thereafter he accepted a more advantageous position in the accounting department of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad, and in 1901 was given his first banking experience when he became assistant cashier of the First National Bank at Checotah, Oklahoma. In 1902 he be- came one of the organizers of the First National Bank at Quinton, Oklahoma, where he also served as assistant cashier, and of which he still retains an interest as vice president. Mr. Magruder remained at Quinton until

1907, in which year he was one of the organizers of the First National Bank of Stilwell, an institution which succeeded the Adair County State Bank, which had been established in 1907, and of which he had been an organizer and the cashier. With the organization of the new concern he was chosen as vice president and cashier, capacities in which he continues to act and in which he is the directing head of the institution. This banking house has enjoyed a steady and consistent growth and is numbered among the leading institutions in Adair County, attracting its depositors from all over this section.

Mr. Magruder is an excellent example of the self- made man and even from this brief sketch it is evident that he possesses a high order of executive and general mental ability, but, in addition, energy and persever- ance, qualities which have enabled him in the past to overcome obstacles achieving the best results in what- ever position he has filled and have also unquestionably assured for him an honorable and successful future career.

In 1902 Mr. Magruder was married to Miss Gladys Burch, of Montgomery County, Missouri, and two chil- dren, Maryel and Natile, have been born to this union. Mr. Magruder is a Master Mason.

CICERO A. SKEEN. Few men not of Indian blood can boast of having been in Oklahoma forty-two years. Cicero A. Skeen, a resident of Wapanucka and who has recently taken up his duties as superintendent of the State Train- ing School at Pauls Valley, is therefore a member of a very small society of men in this state so far as length . of residence is concerned. His activities have covered a period of progress in the history of the Indian race that is without parallel from the standpoint of civilization development in the history of the United States. He has been one of the most prominent individual factors in that development. He was the picturesque schoolmaster of the frontier, lured from the sober, set East into a raw land of marvelous opportunities; was the lover and later the husband of an Indian maiden whose teacher was in a school forty miles inland from a region that boasted of . a railroad, became superintendent of one of the leading tribal schools of the Chickasaw Nation; was the maker of laws in the first legislative body assembled after the two territories became a state; a merchant in the pretty vil- lage of Wapanucka; and now the head of a state institu- tion designed to inspire the principles of moral restraint in the minds of wayward boys. Such is the substance of the career in Oklahoma of Mr. Skeen.

His birth occurred in 1853 in Randolph County, North Carolina. His parents were James C. and Emily (Thorn- burgh) Skeen. His father, a native of North Carolina, was a farmer and served as a soldier in the Confederate army. The paternal grandfather, Allen Skeen, was a large slave owner in North Carolina prior to the war, and a man of great talent and ability, characteristics that were well displayed while he was a member of the legis- lature of his state. Allen Skeen 's son, R. H. Skeen, gained prominence as a pioneer educator in North Caro- lina, where he was the founder of a school at Mount Gilead. Mr. Skeen's uncle, Capt. William Thornburgh, was a gallant soldier in the Confederate army, and at the time of his death was serving as secretary-treasurer of a southern railroad company. Mr. Skeen has one brother, Dr. M. P. Skeen, now a successful practicing physician at Artesia, New Mexico.

For a man who has accomplished so much in life Mr. Skeen deserves the greater credit because of the limited and meager opportunities of his youth. In early child- hood he attended some of the common schools in North Carolina, but after the outbreak of the Civil war condi-

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HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

tions were such that schools could no longer be maintained and he started his practical life without even the full equipment of a common school education. Starting out to make his own way in the world, in his self-supporting activities he interspersed an assiduous attention to read- ing and studies, and by systematic work equipped himself for the profession of teacher. He began work as a teacher soon after coming to Indian Territory in 1873. In the heart of the untamed Chickasaw Nation, twelve miles from the present site of Wapanucka, he made set- tlement. White men in that region were known only in the capacity of traders and soldiers. The red men had made little progress toward the attainment of those con- ditions which are the essential elements of civilization. The country was almost desolate in appearance. In a crude schoolhouse he gathered together the first band of young Indians to become his pupils, and so impressed was he with the opportunities for doing a great work in the line of education in the new country that he resolved to continue in the profession. In due course of time he gained the love of Matilda Fulsom, a pretty daughter of one of the great men of the Choctaw Nation. Her father was Col. Sampson Fulsom, who had served as an officer in the Confederate army during the war, had repre- sented his uation before the departments at Washington, aud was one of the leaders of his tribe in matters of educational advancement. Mr. Skeen and the Indian maiden were married, traveling twenty miles to the home of a friend where the ceremony was performed. They are the parents of two children: Walter Skeen, now en- gaged in the mercantile business at Wapanucka; and Mrs. J. O. Surrell.

He had been teaching only a few years when he be- came interested in the politics and policies of the Chick- asaw government. As an intermarried citizen Mr. Skeen was elected a member of the Chickasaw Legislature, and lis usefulness in that body was so apparent that his dis- triet subsequently sent him to the Senate. He resigned his place in the latter body before the end of his term in order to take the superintendency of the Wapanucka Institute, a Chickasaw institution. He remained in charge of that school for nine years, and these nine years Mr. Skeen considers the most important period of his life, since they were filled with the zeal of educational-mission- ary work that was the most essential element necessary to the raising of the Indian people to a higher standard of civilization. If an educator may be known by the fruits of his work, certainly Mr. Skeen is entitled to a high degree of honor. Among his students at Wapanucka in that time was Ben F. Harrison of Calvin, who during his five years in the Wapanucka Institute gained the groundwork for a successful career, the record of which includes membership in the Oklahoma Constitutional Con- vention and the Oklahoma Legislature, and four years of service in the office of secretary of state. J. S. Maytubby who afterwards was superintendent of education in the Chickasaw Nation, was a student under Mr. Skeen for five years, and other pupils at Wapanucka were Dr. S. C. Davis, now of Blanchard, Oklahoma, and Mike LeFlore, a wealthy Indian at Bennington.

An important distinction that belongs to Mr. Skeen comes from his work as one of the founders of the demo- cratic party in Indian Territory. Until he and a few other white men began to agitate the principles of that party practically all the Indians had been republicans, though only nominally so, since they were unable to vote and had no privileges as Americau citizens. Many of them deserted that party when the speeches of the new settlers began to make the woods ring. It is a note- worthy fact that deserves to be recalled that the Chick- asaws were the only one of the Five Civilized Tribes that prohibited the negro from participating in their elec-

tions. Mr. Skeen was among those who first convinced the Department of the Interior that the white children of this section were sadly neglected in the matter of educa- tional facilities, and so ably did he impress his argu- meuts upon Congress that in a short time an appropria- tion was secured to the amount of $30,000 to be expended for local school purposes in the Chickasaw country. For his labors in Congress in behalf of the Indian people Mr. Skeen expresses special appreciation of former United States Senator J. W. Bailey of Texas.

The flowering of Mr. Skeen's activities in political affairs came at statehood. Through his efforts in travel- ing over a large section of the former Chickasaw and Choctaw nations a large portion of the funds necessary for the first campaign of his party were raised. He him- self aspired to membership in the Constitutional Conven- tion, but was defeated for that post by William H. Mur- ray of Tishomingo. Soon afterwards, however, he was elected a member of the first State Legislature from Johnston County, and in the first Oklahoma Legislature had the distinction of being author of the first bill intro- duced in the House of Representatives. This was the bill that provided for separate coaches, waiting rooms, etc., for whites and blacks, and it was one of the first pieces of legislation that went into practical effect in Oklahoma. While iu the Legislature Mr. Skeen was chairman of the committee on Federal Relations, but his chief iuterest. was in securing measures affecting the educational affairs of the new state.

After returning to Wapanucka from his legislative term Mr. Skeen engaged in the merchandising business, and continued there until September, 1915, when he took charge of the State Training School at Pauls Valley. To this position he was elected by the State Board of Edu- cation under the administration of Governor R. L. Wil- liams. Before beginning his duties he visited different boys' training schools in Missouri, Colorado and other states, and as a result of his study of improved methods his administration begins under most favorable auspices.

Mr. Skeen is a member of the Methodist Church and is affiliated with the orders of Odd Fellows, Masonry, Knights of Pythias and the Woodmen of the World. He has been grand master of Oklahoma in the Odd Fellows Lodge, and was a charter member of the second lodge of that order instituted in Oklahoma, Tishomingo Lodge No. 2, I. O. O. F., founded in 1876. He has also taken thirty-two degrees in Scottish Rite Masonry. While his career has been one of notable breadth and an important individual contribution to the development of the older portions of Oklahoma, in his home town of Wapanucka he is recognized as one of its organizers, and was the first mau to be distinguished with the office of mayor. While serving as mayor he collected enough fines in that time of numerous law violations of all kinds, with which to establish and conduct the first school maintained in the little settlement.

PATRICK E. WILHELM. The career of Patrick E. Wil- helm is a splendid example of what may be accomplished by young manhood that is consecrated to ambition and high purposes. He is a lawyer by professiou and a self- made one at that. At the present time he is judge of Coal County and he is recognized throughout this com- munity for his high order of ability and his conscientious dealings with his clients. His start in getting his educa- tion was particularly difficult and under similar circum- stances many young men would have become discouraged and left the field, but the obstacles, instead of discourag- ing Judge Wilhelm, spurred him onward, giving him a momentum and force which have resulted since the period of his first struggles in steady progress and success and

JA Dillon:

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have brought him the esteem of both the judiciary and associate attorneys.

Judge Wilhelm was born in Tom Green County, Texas, in the year 1877, and he is a son of George and Ida (Murray) Wilhelm, the former of whom was born and reared to young manhood in Ohio. George Wilhelm, son of a Germau immigrant, was for twenty years captain of a whaling vessel on the Atlantic ocean. He was one of the vigorous '49ers who rushed to California during the gold excitement and subsequently he became a pioneer settler in the great state of Texas. Concerning his chil- dren, the following brief data are here inserted: Tru- man is associated with the Shelby-Downard Asphalt Com- pany, at Ardmore, Oklahoma; Mrs. Thomas Norman, is the wife of a prominent lawyer at Ardmore; Ruth mar- ried a Mr. West, a retired real-estate dealer at Houston, Texas; Mrs. Frank Lantz, is the wife of a farmer in the vicinity of Walters, Oklahoma; Mrs. Clarence Johnson is the wife of a hardware merchant at Houston, Texas, Naoma is the wife of a Mr. Downard, an asphalt dealer at Ardmore; "Rockie"' is a sheep ranchman at El Paso, Texas; Misses Phoebe and Barbara are both teachers in the public schools at Coalgate; and Patrick E. is the subject of this discourse.

As an interesting character who served his apprentice- ship in life as a cow-puncher on the plains of Texas and who, by dint of determination, hard work and courage, overcame the obstacles of pioneer days in the Southwest and accomplished much worth while, the career of Judge Patrick E. Wilhelm is one of vivid fascination for the student of human nature. His case is truly exceptional inasmuch as his actual attendance in school amounted to less than six months. As a "hand"' on various large ranches in Western Texas he decided on a more profitable career and during his leisure moments began to study spelling and arithmetic on his own account. He read extensively during a period of seven years and at the age of twenty-two years had obtained a legal education that gained him admission to the Texas state bar. For a time he lived in Indian Territory and served as an assistant in the law office of Colonel Barry, formerly a member of Congress from Mississippi. Judge Wilhelm initiated his legal practice at Ardmore, Oklahoma, in 1899, and shortly thereafter became a law partner of the late Justice Stilwell H. Russell, of the Oklahoma Supreme Court. In 1901 he removed to Roff, Oklahoma, and there resided until 1903, which year represents his advent in Coalgate, where he controlled a large and lucrative law practice until 1912, when he was elected county judge. In his first race for this office he led the democratic ticket, receiving more votes than were cast for candidates for state, district and county offices. He was re-elected to this judgeship, without opposition in 1914. While in office he has been a consistent advocate of some of the important policies put in force by Cato Sells, commis- sioner of Indian affairs under President Wilson, the same relating to guardianships and estates of Indians among the Five Civilized Tribes. In keeping with this advocacy his office records have been open and his assist- ance given to Federal probate attorneys appointed by Commissioner Sells.

In addition to his legal work Judge Wilhelm is greatly interested in literary work and has in contemplation a number of articles that may comprise one or more books. He was founder of the Oklahoma Law Journal, which he edited at Coalgate for several years and which is now owned by Mr. Jersey, of Michigan. The Judge is a communicant of the Protestant Episcopal Church and, fraternally, is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias, and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He is likewise a member of the Coal County and the Oklahoma State Bar Asso-

ciations. In every respect his life has been exemplary and he is one of the most .valued residents of this section of the state, where he is esteemed by all who know him. Judge Wilhelm married Miss Dora Sneall, at Roff, in 1903.

JAMES F. DILLON. But for the initiative and courage displayed by the Federal officers of former Indian Ter- ritory, that region of Oklahoma would undoubtedly have developed into a hotbed of crime, for the most desperate of men have made it their field of operation as violators of the law against the importation and sale of liquor. With a reputation already established as an enforcer of law in the capacity of deputy sheriff of Grady County, and patrolman on the police force of Chickasha, James F. Dillon entered the service of the United States Gov- ernment well equipped for the duties of marshal. During the first few months of his administration, which began in 1913, he assisted in the breaking up of one of the boldest gangs of counterfeiters that has operated in Oklahoma in many years and in the confiscation of their plant and the arrest of the offenders. He assisted also in the capture of violators of the prohibition law and in the confiscation of the property of "bootleggers, "' and on a raid incident to this work assisted the sheriff of Grady County in unearthing a liquor plant buried under- ground in a smokehouse, where six 63-gallon barrels of whisky were found, and in arresting the men accused of the crime of "bootlegging."

Mr. Dillon was born in Tazewell County, Virginia, in 1875, and is a son of W. A. and Matilda (Hash) Dillon. His father, who died in 1902, was one of the first settlers of the mountainous district of McDowell County, West Virginia, while his mother's people were early settlers of the State of North Carolina. The families of the parents were related to the Wittens, Peerys and Whit- mans, who were among the earliest families of Virginia and among the very best people of the Old Dominion State. Mr. Dillon has nine brothers and four sisters living in McDowell County, West Virginia, the brothers being George, Samuel, Lazarus, William, John, Frank, Thomas, Charles and Robert, and the sisters, Mrs. Nannie Pressley, Mrs. Margaret Hash, Mrs. Louise Brewster and Mrs. Rissie Brewster.

After attending the public schools of Virginia, James F. Dillon, at the age of twenty years was married the first time, and began his career as a coal miner in West Virginia, remaining there until 1900, when he located at Lehigh, Indian Territory, and continued to be engaged in the same vocation. A few years later, tiring of the life of a miner, he purchased a farm near Alex, Grady County, Oklahoma, an unsettled country largely occupied by ranchmen. While Mr. Dillon was building his house 5,000 cattle grazed in the open on the wide range, and he soon followed the example of his neighbors and began stockraising, in which he was engaged successfully as farmer and stockman until the range was broken up as the country became more settled. Mr. Dillon then moved to Chickasha, which place has since been his home, He had served as special deputy sheriff of Grady County under Mort Louthen, now chief of the capitol police at Washington, D. C., and at Chickasha soon became a member of the police force, on which he acted for three years in the capacity of patrolman. Following the change in the national administration, in 1912, Mr. Dillon was appointed deputy under United States Mar- shal B. A. Euloe, Jr., of the Eastern District of Okla- homa, and assigned to territory covered from the Chick- asha office. Active from the start in this new work, he proceeded to play havoc with the operations of the vio- lators of Federal laws, and from that time to this his

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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