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 19

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 19

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At that time the breaking up of the big ranches of the Chickasaw and Choctaw countries had already be- gun, and such rich cattlemen as Dick Nail of Bonham, Texas, and Frank W. Weaver, of Fort Worth, who were among the pioneer cattlemen of these countries set their eyes toward the great millions of acres of Kiowa and Comanche Indian lands. Mr. Gunter, who for sev- eral years had been engaged in buying cattle in the region around Durant, gathered together this herd of 1,500 and started to deliver them to the Nail and Weaver pastures in the Comanche country.

Another incident of this drive which shows both the characteristic of the early-day cattlemen of Indian Territory and a coincidence that has had a good many counterparts in this part of the country. Six weeks before the drive started a fine horse and saddle had been stolen from Mr. Gunter. Life on the range had taught him that sooner or later on some prairie or in some wooded valley the thief's booty would be returned to him. He was not greatly surprised therefore, when the day after his arrival at the Lazy S his horse and saddle were found by one of the cowboys and brought in. They may have been borrowed, they may have been stolen, the thief may have repented, or some practical joker may have thought it time to bring the joke to an end.

Mr. J. C. Gunter, who is a native of old Indian Ter- ritory, is now engaged in ranching on Cobb Prairie, near the Town of Mill Creek in Johnston County, and also owns lands and resides at the Village of Bromide. His ranch on Cobb Prairie is near the pretty Penning- ton Creek, which furnishes never failing water for his herds. A few years ago this was near the center of a wide range that would have supplied grass and water for 200,000 cattle. Today the range has been so re- duced that it would not take care of more than 10,000 cattle. The high grass is gone, and the farmers have plowed up the old trails that led to markets outside the Indian country.

A few miles north of the Cobb Ranch, W. W. Corbin has a grazing area that will pasture 3,500 cattle. Northeast is the Armstrong ranch, owned by Fort Worth interests, capable of pasturing 5,000 cattle. Westheimer & Daube, merchants of Ardmore, have a small ranch to the east, and Hood Brothers have hold- ings to the southeast that will accommodate 500 to 600

cattle. Frank Gatewood on the east has a range that will afford grass for a similar amount of cattle. All this country, which once was a great attractive unpeopled out of doors is watered by the spring-fed Little Blue and Big Blue rivers and the Pennington Creek.

Jot C. Gunter was born in the Chickasaw Nation, near Durant, Indian Territory, in 1880, a son of Joshua and Emma (Parks) Gunter. When he was still a child his father died. His father was a native of Texas and a pioneer cattleman of the Choctaw Nation. Mr. Gunter has two brothers and two sisters: Mrs. J. R. Houston, wife of a cotton and grain dealer and ranchman of Durant; D. B. Gunter, a farmer and stockman of Durant; Mrs. Minnie Goldsby, wife of a farmer-stockman at Purcell; and W. R. Gunter, a far- mer at Pauls Valley.

The education of Mr. Gunter was acquired in the common schools at Durant, but at the early age of fif- teen he was employed on the ranch of D. Morgan, a cattleman now living at Durant. He bought cattle for Morgan two years, and then engaged in the cattle busi- ness for himself, his headquarters being principally at the 7 J N Ranch, seven miles east of Durant. This was one of the pioneer ranches of the Choctaw Nation. Mr. Gunter is affiliated with the Masonic lodge. He was married Jannary 1, 1910, at Bromide to Miss Juanita Jackson, daughter of the well known Judge William H. Jackson, the founder of Bromide and a pioneer citizen of Indian Territory. Their two children are J. C., aged three years, and Benjamin, aged one year.

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN BLUE. In every community the farming class furnishes some of the most progressive and representative citizens. Always industrious and hard- working, the farmer of today needs also to be intelligent and to some extent educated, as the science of agricul- ture has made large strides during the last half century, and, while reducing the amount of manual labor neces- sary, has made greater demands upon the mental powers. A typical representative of this enterprising class may be found in the subject of this memoir, Benjamin Frank- lin Blue, now living retired in the Town of Ingersoll. Mr. Blue was born in a log house in Marion County, Indiana, October 14, 1850, a son of Benjamin and Han- nah (Hoagland) Blue. The paternal grandfather was William Blue, whose father was a native of Virginia. William Blue and his wife Rachel had a family of eleven children-seven sons and four daughters, all of whom are now deceased. They were respectively: Uriah, Joseph, Elizabeth, Benjamin, Gerard, Peter, Louise, Margaret, William, Rachel and George W.

Benjamin Blue, father of Benjamin F., was born in Ohio County, Indiana, October 31, 1813. He spent his life in farming in his native state and died September 25, 1882, near Indianapolis, Indiana. On January 31, 1837, he married Hannah Hoagland. She was born Sep- tember 6, 1818, and died March 12, 1892. Her father, Thomas Hoagland, boru December 27, 1795, made the first brick and erected the first brick house in Indian- apolis. He died in 1849. His wife, born June 15, 1798, died in 1840. Their family numbered ten children, six sons and four daughters, all now deceased, namely: Elizabeth. Hannah, Turalah, Henry, Sarah, Gerard, Thomas, Mary, Arthur and John. Mr. and Mrs. Benja- min Blue had seven children, five sons and two daughters, of whom the following is a brief record: Uriah, born March 24, 1837, died in 1915 at Zionsville, Indiana. Amanda Ellen, born September 25, 1840, is the wife of Houston McIlvain, of Indianapolis, Indiana. George William, born April 8, 1842, is engaged in fruit growing

Yes i monitor

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HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA 1

at Indianapolis. Mary Elizabeth, born April 30, 1844, died June 20, 1908. Peter F., born September 28, 1845, died September 29, 1870. Benjamin Franklin, born October 14, 1850, is the subject of this sketch. Perry Beard, born November 8, 1854, died November 19, 1881.

Benjamin Franklin Blue was reared on the farm and educated in the public schools. At the age of twenty-two years he found employment in an abstract office at Indianapolis and remained there three years. In 1878 he removed to Cowley County, Kansas, where he pre-empted land and was engaged in farming there until 1884. He then removed to Harper County in the same state and engaged in the dairy business, being thus occupied until 1887, at which time he was elected register of deeds for the county. After this he carried on a business in agricultural implements in Harper until 1893. The Cherokee Strip being opened up to white settlement in September of that year, he took part in the rush for land and secured a Government tract located one mile from the Town of Ingersoll. This he developed into a good farm, of which he is still the owner. It consists of 240 acres and is now valued at $100 per acre. Mr. Blue continued farming until 1911, at which time he retired and took up his residence in Ingersoll. Here he is now serving as town clerk and is secretary and part owner of the Union Telephone Company, a local mutual concern. Mr. Blue is a thirty-second degree Mason and for eleven years has been secretary of Tuscan Lodge, No. 193, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons. On June 5, 1878, he was married to Miss Sarah C. White, who was born February 9, 1856, a daughter of Alexander and Harriet B. (Shank) White, of Indianapolis, Indiana. They have been the parents of seven children, three sons and four daughters, namely: Myrtle, born March 5, 1879, who died February 25, 1880; Ezra Meech, born October 10, 1880; Eva H., born December 23, 1882; Mary Ellen, born May 27, 1885; Wilfred W., born April 24, 1887; Hannah, born November 9, 1889; and John W., born March 23, 1892. Mr. Blue and his family are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. They are well known and respected, being closely identified with the social life of Ingersoll and the vicinity.

GEORGE A. MORRISON, M. D. The medical fraternity of Eastern Oklahoma has no more skilled, learned or distinguished member than Dr. George A. Morrison, of Poteau, who has been engaged in practice in Le Flore County since 1899. He is a native of the Buckeye state, born in Guernsey County, May 12, 1853, and in the November following his birth his parents, Kellita P. and Rebecca (Law) Morrison, removed to Van Buren County, Iowa, where, at Birmingham, the father operated a furniture factory for about three years. The family then removed to a farm in Appanoose County, Iowa, where they were living when the Civil war came on, and Kellita P. Morrison offered his services to the Union, enlisting in Company C, Thirty-sixth Regiment, Iowa Volunteer Infantry. With that regiment he served gal- lantly until. the close of the war, and through bravery on the field of battle and faithful and cheerful discharge of his duties, won consecutive promotion to captain, a rank which he held at the time of securing his honorable dis- charge, on account of physical disability, in the latter part of the summer of 1865.

At the close of his military service, Kellita P. Mor- rison returned to his family, who were awaiting him at Unionville, Iowa, and when he had recovered his health he engaged in general merchandising at that place. His gallant services as a soldier had brought him into public favor, and not long after his return from the war he was elected county clerk of Appanoose County, and removed Vol. III-5

his family to the county seat, at Centerville, which was the home of his colonel, personal friend and immediate neighbor, who afterward wecame Governor Drake of Iowa. Captain Morrison served two terms in the capacity of county clerk, and when he left that office moved back to Unionville and again settled on his farm, where he resided until 1887. In that year he disposed of his agri- cultural interests and moved to Seymour, Wayne County, Iowa, where he again engaged in merchandising, and con- tinued to be so occupied until his death, which occurred in 1891, when he was sixty-four years of age. Mrs. Mor- rison lived to the advanced age of eighty-four years and died at the home of her son, Doctor Morrison, at Poteau, in 1914. These worthy people were the parents of two sons and two daughters who survive them.

Doctor Morrison was reared in Iowa, and after gradu- ating from the Centreville High School predilection led him to the study of medicine, a profession for which he is well adapted by nature by reason of a kind and gentle temperament, as well as his devotion to the calling. On March 5, 1885, he was graduated from the medical department of Drake University, at Des Moines, Iowa, and immediately thereafter began his active professional career at Seymour, Iowa, where he remained until 1887, then removing to Columbus, Kansas, which was his field of practice until 1899. In that year he came to Le Flore County, Oklahoma. While at Columbus, Doctor Mor- rison served as secretary of the Board of United States Pension Examiners, as local surgeon for the Frisco Rail- road and as secretary of the Southeastern Kansas Medical Society, and in 1896 was appointed by Governor Morrill as surgeon of the Kansas State Penitentiary, a position which he held for three years, retiring then because of a change in the political administration. For three years also he was professor of physiology in the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Kansas City, of which institution his son, Dr. Robert L. Morrison, who was associated with him in practice at Poteau for several years, was a graduate.

Doctor Morrison was married in 1876, at Unionville, Iowa, to Miss Henrietta Farley, and to this union there have been born six children: Dr. Robert L., before mentioned; Chester F .; Arthur B .; Ruth; Jo and Helen. Dr. Robert L. Morrison took post-graduate work at the Chicago Polyclinic and became a well known physician and surgeon. His death occurred November 17, 1915. Doctor Morrison of this review has not only won general recognition as a medical practitioner, but also as a sur- geon, being at the present time local surgeon for both the Frisco and Kansas City Southern Railroads at Poteau. He is a member of the Le Flore County Medical Society and the Oklahoma State Medical Society, and in addition to having thus kept abreast of his profession by being in touch with the medical fraternity, has taken post-graduate courses in the medical department of Tu- lane University, at New Orleans. In politics he is a stanch republican, in religious faith a Methodist, and fra- ternally a Knight Templar Mason, a Pythian Knight and an Odd Fellow. In his fraternal work he has been active, being now master of the Blue Lodge of Masonry, a past chancellor of the Knights of Pythias and a past grand in Odd Fellowship. In public affairs he takes a com- mendable interest. He is an active member of the Poteau Chamber of Commerce, of which he has been president, and is held in the highest esteem, not only as a leader of his profession, but as an influential and stirring factor in all that tends to advance the city's welfare.

LEE O. BROWN. Among the educational institutions of Oklahoma which are preparing workers for the strenu-

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ous struggles of competition in modern business life, one which has come rapidly into public favor by reason of results attained is Brown' Practical Business College, at Tulsa. The president, and general manager of this institution, Lee O. Brown was born at Eureka Springs, Arkansas, February 21, 1882, and is a son of Green W. and Martha C. (Poynor) Brown, both born in the same vicinity, the father March 27, 1856, and the mother May 9, 1856.

Green W. Brown received his education in the public schools of Arkansas, and as a youth learned the trade of cabinet making, which he followed for some years, gradually developing into a contractor and builder. He came to Oklahoma in 1902 and located at Tahlequah, where for two years he was engaged in coutracting and building, and in 1904 located at Tulsa, where he followed the same lines for four years more. In 1908 he engaged in the furniture business, and was successfully identined with that line until 1912, since which time he has been retired. He is a democrat in politics.

The only child of his parents, Lee O. Brown enjoyed excellent educational advantages in his youth, attending the public schools of Eureka Springs, Green Forest High School and Green Forest Commercial School, from which latter he was graduated with the class of 1902. In that year he came to Tahlequah and secured a position as teacher in the government school. In 1911 he was made principal of the Droughon Business College, at Tahle- quah, and in 1912 became proprietor of that college, the name of which he changed to the Brown Business Col- lege. On March 17, 1913, he changed his headquarters to Tulsa, and here founded Brown's Practical Business College, of which he has since been president and gen- eral manager. Mr. Brown is a member of Tulsa Lodge No. 71, A. F. & A. M .; Tulsa Chapter No. 52, R. A. M .; Aurora Lodge No. 36, I. O. O. F., and the Knights of Pythias. He is a democrat in politics. On August 20, 1912, Mr. Brown was married to Miss Jessie D. French, who was born at Harrison, Arkansas, a daughter of Jess and Lou French.

Brown's Practical Business College, as its name sug- gests, teaches everything that may be practical to those about to enter business life. The commercial course in- cludes instruction in bookkeeping, banking, business arithmetic, spelling, show card writing, salesmauship, commercial geography, rapid calculation, business Eng- lish, business letter writing, business penmanship, com- mercial law, parliamentary law, mimeographing, civil service, office filing and multigraphing; the shorthand and typewriting course includes instruction in short- hand, touch typewriting, punctuation, dictation, mani- folding, mimeographing, parliamentary law, penmanship, civil service, commercial geography, business English, business correspondence, office practice, multigraphing, commercial law, spelling, show card writing, court report- ing and rapid calculation. One of the features of this institution is what is known as the Home Study Course, a department which is under the direct supervision of expert and experienced instructors. Students are placed in positions as soon as competent and many former pupils are now holding responsible positions in Tulsa and other cities. The college is located at No. 510 South Main Street, where it occupies the entire second floor (7,200 feet of floor space) of a new building near the court- house, with all rooms well lighted and well ventilated, and with the latest equipment of every kind.

The credit for the success of this institution must be given to its energetic and capable directing head, who while still a young man is nevertheless possessed of broad and practical experience. It is his belief, as ex- pressed in one of his school's mottoes, that "A Business Education is a Cash Capital for Life." At any rate, .

Mr. Brown seems to have furnished himself with a cash capital of this kind, and it is evident also that he is in position to be able to furnish others with the same start in life.

FRED F. BRYDIA. It has been said that the lure of the newspaper and printing business never fails eventually to call back to the colors one who has once been a devotee, but there can be no measure of doubt that Mr. Brydia has had no occasion thus far to resume such allegiance during the period of his specially successful career in another field of business activity, that of extending loans on farm properties. In this line of enterprise he is substantially established at Ada, the judicial center of Pontotoc Couuty, and he is known and valued as one of the reliable and progressive business men and public-spirited citizens of this thriving Okla- homa city.

Mr. Brydia was born at Forrest, Livingston County, Illinois, on the 23d of May, 1880, and is a son of Charles S. and Harriet E. (Funk) Brydia, the other surviving children of whom are here mentioned: Tru- man W. is associated with his brother Fred F., of this review, in the farm loan business at Ada; Mrs. N. B. Haney, Jr., is the wife of one of the well-known capi- talists and influential citizens of this city; George S. is a merchant at Prophetstown, Illinois; Mrs. J. G. Alcorn is the wife of the manager of the American Creosote Company, at Shreveport, Louisiana; Miss Gustie is the representative of a book company at Springfield, Ohio; and Charles S. is engaged in the newspaper business at Pontiac, Illinois.

Fred F. Brydia designates the public schools of Illi- nois as the medium through which he received his early education, but he was afforded also advantages that lie extraneous to established curriculums of school work In su and that have consistently been pronounced as offering than The ca but a a definite equivalent of a liberal education, for when but five years of age he acquired in his father's newspaper office at Fairbury, Illinois, his initial knowledge of the helped printing business. He became in time a skilled com- better Pre positor and he continued to be identified with newspaper work, in various capacities, until 1908. For approxi- were leadin mately twenty years of this interval he was editor of newspapers in his native state-the Clinton Weekly of Ka Times, in De Witt County, Illinois, and of the Livingston County Democrat, at Pontiac, that state.

In 1908, the year following the admission of Oklahoma to statehood, Mr. Brydia came. to this vigorous young commonwealth, and for a few months he traveled from Oklahoma City as representative of an insurance com- Connt tueky the pany. Later he was for a short time identified with Jane newspaper work at Calvin, Hughes County, but since the winter of 1908 he has been established in the farm loan business at Ada, with his brother Truman W. as was early terna tled ir leads colonia For public at Bu M. D.

his able and valued coadjutor at the present time. He is a member of the Ada Commercial Club and takes a lively interest in its work, and is always on the alert to give his enthusiastic support to all measures and enter- prises tending to advance the social, educational, indus- trial and commercial interests of his home city, county and state. He is a member of the Ada Country Club, and is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fel- lows, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and with the blue lodge and chapter of the Masonic frater- nity, as well as with the adjunct organization, the Order town, Duran of the Eastern Star, of which his wife likewise is an wille a active member. to All

At Fairbury, Illinois, on the 17th of June, 1903, was came

solemnized the marriage of Mr. Brydia to Miss Jessie tablish F. Ramsey, her paternal grandfather having been one and h of the first settlers of Livingston County, in which Fair enable At

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· HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

bury is situated. Mr. and Mrs. Brydia have one child, Marvine, who was born in the year 1907.

CHARLES O. LIVELY, M. D. Three generations of the Lively family, the beginnings of which in America» are noted in the annals of Kentucky as early as the latter part of the eighteenth century, have produced more than fifty physicians, four of whom have been factors in the development of the new State of Okla- homa. The members of an earlier generation helped to found civilization, society and government in La- Rue County, Kentucky, so those that pushed into the Indian regions of the Southwest have stamped their influence and individuality on its early history.

In pursuit of the competence in the undeveloped re- sources of the Indian Territory, Dr. Charles O. Lively, who has recently brought his wide experience and abil- ity as a physician and surgeon to the attractive resort town of Bromide, came west in 1898, settling in the Town of Durant in the Choctow country. A little later he moved to Albany, a pretty village also in the Choctaw country, where for nearly seventeen years he passed through the varied experiences that were the lot of pioneer physicians. White settlers were few. It was the era of the cattle range and cattlemen. Tens of thousands of acres of fertile soil and virgin woodland were then under one fence. Native grasses grew waist high, and highways were only meandering threads over the face of the country. Church, educational and social advantages were extremely limited. Here was a region permitting the exercise of the best ability and best courage of a young physician. In that early day Doc- tor Lively exemplified many of the qualities of the ideal citizen such as the natives had been taught to emulate. In such a country no individual could do more good than the physician. In his visits to hundreds of homes he carried not only the skill of the medical practitioner but also the influence of a wholesome personality and helped to educate the people among whom he worked to better sanitary and moral standards.

Preceding Dr. Charles Lively in the Indian country were Dr. R. A. Lively, an uncle, who was one of the leading pioneer citizens of Durant; Dr. Mark M. Lively, of Kay County, a cousin, who was an early resident of Oklahoma Territory and who was at one time connected with the University of Oklahoma; and Dr. Samuel Lively of Grant County, also a cousin, who was one of the pioneers of old Oklahoma Territory.

Dr. Charles O. Lively was born at Magnolia, LaRue County, Kentucky, in 1869, a son of Dr. William T. and Jane (Stiles) Lively. His father, a native of Ken- tucky, was a graduate of the Louisville University, and the paternal grandfather, Dr. James Wesley Lively, was also born in the same state and became one of the early physicians there. Chilion Stiles, Dr. Lively 's ma- ternal grandfather, was born in New Jersey and set- tled in Kentucky in 1792. This branch of the ancestry leads back to families which were identified with the colonial period and with the Revolutionary war.

For his literary education Doctor Lively attended the public schools of Kentucky and the East Lynn College at Buffalo in that state. In 1892 he was graduated M. D. from the Kentucky School of Medicine at Louis- ville and began his practice in the same year at Willow- town, Kentucky. After six years there he came to Durant, Indian Territory, and soon afterwards removed to Albany. Being attracted to Bromide after it be- came important as a health and pleasure resort, he es- tablished his home and office in that village in 1913, and his experience and prestige as a physician has enabled him to acquire a very profitable practice.

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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