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 23
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W. Julius White, son of J. R. and Lena (Simpson) White, and a worthy representative of the family, was born at English, Texas, near the Indian Territory line, . August 9, 1892. After attending the public schools he became a student at the Wall School at Honey Grove, Texas, for a time, and subsequently completed a business course in a commercial college at Sulphur, Oklahoma, this being followed by a literary course at Henderson College, Arkadelphia, Arkansas. He received his real business training under the able preceptorship of his father, and at the time of the elder man's death assumed the management of his vast estate, of which he has since had charge. He is accounted one of the energetic, prosperous and capable young business men of the town, a stanch supporter of all worthy and beneficial move- ments, and a general favorite among those with whom he has come into contact.
Mr. White was married March 31, 1912, to Miss May Hines, of Fort Smith, Arkansas. Mr. White is a mem- ber of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Loyal Order of Moose and the Knights of the Maccabees and has many friends in fraternal circles, as well as in busi- ness life, in McCurtain County.
ROBERT O. PINSON. The proprietor of the Capron Hotel, the only hostelry at Capron, Oklahoma, Robert O. Pinson, has conducted this house since 1907 and under his administration of its affairs it has become one of the most popular hotels in Woods County. He is well known, not only at Capron, but throughout the county, for not only does his position bring him into contact with people from the surrounding country but he has resided here for more than twenty years, having made the run to the Cherokee Strip at its opening, in 1893. Mr. Pinson is genial and courteous, ever seeking to meet the wishes and provide for the comforts of the patrons of his house, and to his judicious supervision of every detail and department connected with the management of the establishment is due its popularity and high reputation.
Mr. Pinson was born May 19, 1850, in a log house on a farm in McNairy County, Tennessee, and is a son of Charles H. and Susan (Davenport) Pinson. His father was born April 14, 1814, in France, and in 1841 came to the United States, settling in Tennessee, where he con- tinued to be engaged in agricultural pursuits during the remaining years of his life. His death occurred October 16, 1874. Mrs. Pinson was born in Mississippi, March 16, 1817, and died at Union City, Tennessee, April 26, 1862. They were married in 1834, and were the parents of four sons and two daughters, namely: Dollie F., who is the widow of William Hancock, of Poplar Bluff, Missouri, who died as a Union prisoner in Andersonville Prison, in 1864, during the Civil war, leaving one son, Frank; Susan A., who is deceased; Franklin Davenport, who died unmarried as a Union solder in Andersonville
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HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA
Prison, in 1864; John Wesley, who was also unmarried and died in 1864 in Andersonville; Robert O., of this notice; and William MeAlester, who is now a farmer and merchant at Union City, Tennessee.
Robert O. Pinson was reared on his father's farm in Obion County, Tennessee, and attended the public schools in the neighborhood of the homestead, on which he resided until reaching the age of twenty years. At that time he took up steamboating on the Mississippi River, running between St. Louis and Memphis, and continued to be thus engaged for three years, holding the position of mate. He then returned to the farm in Obion County, Tennessee, where he continued to follow agricultural pursuits until 1878, then removing to Henry County, Iowa, where he followed farming for seven years. Mr. Pinson's next place of residence was Putnam County, Missouri, where he was a coal mine operator and farmer for six years, and in 1892 removed to Pratt County, Kansas, where he established a general store at the Town of Sawyer and conducted it for one year. In 1893 he took part in the opening of the Cherokee Strip in Oklahoma and was successful in securing a homestead, settling on land two miles from Capron. There he con- tinued farming for thirteen years, at the end of which time he retired from agricultural pursuits and came to Capron, where he opened the Capron Hotel in 1907, and since has been its proprietor, as before noted.
Mr. Pinson was married April 20, 1877, at Mount Pleasant, Iowa, to Miss A. L. McCullem, who was born January 28, 1860, at Fairfield, Iowa, daughter of John McCullem, a native of Indiana. Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Pinson: Arthur C., born July 1, 1880, who married in 1904, Pearl Sheddy, and has four children, Edna Rosa, Robert F., Harley and Kenneth; and Rosa May, born June 30, 1882, who married in 1907, John R. Hinton, and has five children, Alja V., Opal Irene, Hallie May, Charles Richards and Katie. .
Mr. Pinson has always taken an active part in civic movements promoted for the advancement of the com- munity and has done his full share in the line of public service, having served as marshal of Capron for seven years. He is interested in fraternal work, being a mem- ber of the local lodges of the Masons and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and he and the members of his family belong to the Methodist Episcopal Church, of the movements of which they are liberal supporters.
MRS. LILAH D. LINDSEY. One of the greatest living women in Oklahoma, great both for her character and personality and for the varied works she has accom- plished and in which she is interested, is Mrs. Lilah D. Lindsey of Tulsa. Mrs. Lindsey is an Indian woman. Her father was a Cherokee and her mother a Creek, and their names were John and Susan (McKellop) Denton, both of whom were born in Alabama of Scotch ancestry, and as children came during the early '30s to the Creek Nation of Indian Territory. The mother of Mrs. Lind- sey was of a missionary family, and becoming a physician, she practiced all over the Creek Nation in the early days. Mrs. Lindsey was the youngest in a family of six children, four of whom died in infancy and one at the age of twelve years.
It was in the old Tullahassee Mission School of the Creek Nation that Mrs. Lindsey acquired her first educa- tion. Her mother had been educated in the same school, and the daughter, who from childhood showed an eager- ness for learning and an ambition for accomplishment beyond the ordinary, sought every opportunity to train her mind. At that time Indian girls were not allowed to enter schools until the age of twelve, and one of her early disappointments was when she was taken at the age of eight to the mission school but was not allowed
to enter. Her first teacher at Tullahassee Mission was Miss Eliza J. Baldwin, who is still living, and who more than any other one person was instrumental in directing the education of Mrs. Lindsey and encouraging her interest in the broad field of philanthropy which she has since made her life work. At the age of sixteen Mrs. Lindsey's parents both died, and through the influence of friends she went to Hillsboro, Ohio, having previously attended a seminary at Fulton, Missouri. At Hillsboro, Ohio, she entered the Highland Institute, and was grad- uated with honors in the class of 1883. She was the first Creek Indian girl to graduate from that institution. While there she was urged to take a medical course in order that she might practice among her own people, since she possessed, partly as an inheritance from her mother, a natural ability for such work, and has always been an excellent nurse. In her childhood Mrs. Lindsey spoke only the Indian language, and while in school devoted herself assiduously to the learning of the English language, and has often been complimented for the per- fect fluency with which she speaks that tongue.
The spring before her graduation from Hillsboro she was appointed by the Home Mission Board of Schools at New York to teach at the Wealaka Mission in Okla- homa, to which point the old Tullahassee Mission had been transferred. Her natural ability and her love for teaching soon gave her a high standing as an able edu- cator in the old Indian Territory. She taught for a time at the Presbyterian Mission in Wealaka, also at the Coweta Mission, and for about three years at Tulsa. Thus altogether she spent about ten years in the mission schools. After her marriage and at the solicitation of her friends she was induced to accept the position of teacher in the national schools of Oklahoma, and the State Board of Education, having full confidence in her ability, did not require an examination, which was oth- erwise obligatory upon all teachers.
In 1884 at the Wealaka Mission Miss Denton was married to Col. Lee W. Lindsey. Colonel Lindsey was born in Ohio in 1845, served in an Ohio regiment of cav- alry during the Civil war, and after peace was restored went south and lived for several years in Alabama, and superintended the quarrying of stone for the building of the first machine shops at Birmingham. He became a building contractor, and during the '70s moved to the Creek Nation of Indian Territory. Colonel Lindsey completed the walls and enclosure of the old council house of the Creek Nation at Okmulgee. He moved to Tulsa, establishing his home in that then small village in 1886, and has for many years been one of the central figures and influential personalities in the growing metrop- olis of Northeastern Oklahoma. The Lindsey home in Tulsa has long been one of the most attractive residences of that city.
For years Mrs. Lindsey has been one of the active factors in the Women's Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions of the Southwest, and her work in this and other organizations has made her name known through- out the country. An interesting sketch of her activities was published in 1914 in the Wide West, and some of its paragraphs are introduced into this article. "In the twenty-eight years that Mrs. Lindsey has made her home in Tulsa her interests have been varied, but she has so systematized her work that she was able to effectually carry out every plan except the last work undertaken, which was the establishment and care of a Florence Crit- tenden Home for Fallen Girls at Tulsa. She secured the donation of a tract of land for this home, and it is still her greatest ambition to see such an institution pro- vided and maintained at Tulsa. Failing health prevented her from realizing her ambition immediately, though
Lilah I Lindsey
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HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA
those acquainted with her persistence and energy know that the work is only deferred and not abandoned.
"Mrs. Lindsey has been a leader in practically all woman's organizations of any note in Tulsa. She did individual charity work on a large scale for years. She visited the sick, personally secured donations for the needy, and practically did the work of a humane officer. Five years ago she organized the Humane Society, the work having grown until she could no longer care for it single handed. Her interest in charitable work attracted the attention of state officials. Governor Haskell ap- pointed her as the Oklahoma delegate to the Interna- tional Tuberculosis Conference held at Washington, and she has been sent to numerous state charity associations. Not the least of her work is the open hearted hospitality that for years made her home the home of every young man or woman who were strangers in the city.
"She is an ardent church worker and has the honor of being the oldest in membership in the First Presby- terian church in Tulsa. About thirteen years ago she added W. C. T. U. work to her other duties and organ- ized a union in her city. From that time until statehood she was president of the Indian Territory W. C. T. U. and has since been vice-president of the Oklahoma organ- ization, president of the Tulsa County and the local union, and for one year edited the official organ of the Indian Territory W. C. T. U. At the World's Conven- tion of the W. C. T. U. held in Boston a few years ago, Mrs. Lindsey was introduced to the assembly of women from all nations as a 'real native of America.' Mrs. Lindsey organized both the Maccabees and the Woman's Relief Corps at Tulsa. She is a member of the executive board of the latter organization and one year audited the books in Atlantic City. She has attended nine national G. A. R. assemblies.
"In her work for her city Mrs. Lindsey has been a searchlight, seeking out the needs of the city before it felt them. She has ever been in readiness to supply the need when it came. She gave to Tulsa its first woman's club, because she organized the Tulsa W. C. T. U., the National W. C. T. U. being the first woman 's club ever organized in America. She gave to Tulsa and Oklahoma their first police matron. Realizing what the office might be made to accomplish with girls taken into court, Mrs. Lindsey found a woman broad enough and womanly enough with ability to fill the position. When she met with the council to propose that such an office be created, she had the preliminaries so well planned that the office was created and the woman she desired appointed and commissioned to begin work the following morning. She has also been vice president of the Women's National Rivers and Harbors Congress.
"One of the things in which she is intimately inter- ested is the preservation of old Indian landmarks, espe- cially the Creek Capitol Building at Okmulgee, which she hopes to see made into a museum for the preservation of Creek relics. As already stated her husband built the stone wall about this building and set out the trees around it, and she taught a term of school in one of its rooms, these memories as well as tribal patriotism endear- ing the structure to her."'
If in the subsequent generations the work and influ- ence of womankind bear a proper fruit in molding human destiny in a noble form, as now seems probable, that achievement will be based upon and dependent on the pioneer labors of such devoted, sincere and effective woman leaders of the present time-not least among whom is Lilah D. Lindsey of Oklahoma.
GEORGE A. SMITH. The office of secretary to the com- missioners of the land office of the State of Oklahoma is one in which the duties are important and laborious.
Its incumbent must necessarily be a man of action and sound judgment, of broad experience and accuracy, thoroughgoing, and possessed of the capacity to han- dle the multitudinous and diversified business incidental to the position, which includes the leasing of school lands and the loaning of school funds. The commission, which consists of the governor, secretary of state, state auditor, state superintendent of instruction and state commissioner of agriculture, therefore made no mistake when they selected for this office, in January, 1915, George A. Smith, of Chandler. It was no accident which thrust this position upon Mr. Smith. He had long been an Oklahoman, and in his career as educator, business man, agriculturist and journalist, had shown powers of will, of intelligence and decision, and quick- ness and accuracy of judgment, which pointed him out as a suitable man to be associated with the commission.
Mr. Smith was born at Danville, Vermillion County, Illinois, February 25, 1868, and is a son of William H. and Mary A. (Beasley) Smith. His father, a native of Indiana, enlisted in an Indiana volunteer regiment during the Civil war, and later served in an Illinois regi- ment. He accompanied his son when he came to Okla- homa in 1891. George A. Smith was reared in Indiana and received his education in the country schools of that state. He was eighteen years of age when he began teaching school in the winter terms, while in the sum- mer months he devoted himself to the operation of a sawmill. Mr. Smith came to Oklahoma in 1891 and began teaching school in Lincoln County, and continued thus engaged until the fall of 1896, when he entered public life as county clerk of Lincoln County, an office in which he served one term, from January, 1897, until January, 1899. At the end of that time he turned his attention to farming, but in 1901 entered the field of journalism by his purchase of the Chandler Tribune, of which he has since continued to be editor and publisher. The Tribune has become a potent organ of opinion, and under Mr. Smith's able editorship has grown and devel- oped, now enjoying a large circulation. As before stated, Mr. Smith entered upon his duties as secretary of the State School Lands Commission in January, 1915, and is now devoting his entire time and attention to his position, with offices on the fifth floor of the Mercantile Building, although he still continues to maintain his home at Chandler. Fraternally Mr. Smith is affiliated with the Modern Woodmen of America, in which order he has numerous friends. His religious connection and that of the members of his family is with the Christian Church.
Mr. Smith was married in 1891 to Miss Emma Christy, a daughter of James and Martha Christy, of Iola, Kansas. James Christy was one of the pioneer settlers of Allen County, to which county he removed as a youth, and at the outbreak of the Civil war enlisted in a Kan- sas regiment of volunteers and fought throughout the struggle. Four children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Smith: Ruby, Pearl, Opal and Olin, the last two named being twins.
REV. PHILANDER C. BAIRD, D. D. In the critical atti- tude of mind which many modern thinking men assume toward almost every measure, movement or establish- ment that the masses believe to be civilizing and cul- tural, the Church has come under criticism with the rest. To the superficial observer there may seem to be, in some sections, a foundation for assertions that there aro symptoms of weakness and failure. How cheering then and inspiring is its refutation. Visit Oklahoma City and in the First Presbyterian Church, see the other side of the canvas, a picture of devoted zeal, of strengthening belief, of ever-widening scope of Christiau usefulness.
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Largely has this state been brought about through the vitalizing power of its present pastor, Rev. Philander C. Baird.
Doctor Baird was born at DeWitt, Clinton County, Iowa, May 7, 1863, and is a son of Andrew Henderson and Isabel W. (Castor) Baird. Of Scottish descent, Andrew H. Baird was educated for the ministry, but ill health prevented service in that direction and prudence dictated an outdoor life, which he found in farming combined with school teaching. In early manhood he located in Ohio and from there went to Iowa and sub- sequently to Missouri.
It was on the Missouri farm that Philander C. Baird spent boyhood and youth, attending the public schools more or less regularly until nineteen years of age, when he took a course in the Paola (Kansas) Normal school, following which he taught school for a sufficient length of time to enable him to secure means for a college edu- cation, it being, just then, the aim of his ambition. After a course at Amity College, at College Springs, Page County, Iowa, he was graduated in 1891 and then entered the theological seminary at Xenia, Ohio, where he was graduated in 1894. His next advance was a post-graduate course, in Semitic languages, at the Uni- versity of Chicago, from which institution he was grad- uated in 1898, with his Ph. B. degree. His A. B. degree was secured in 1891 from Amity College, which in 1895 conferred the A. M. degree and in 1901 the degree of D. D., while the Xenia college conferred the B. D. degree in 1894.
In 1898 Doctor Baird was ordained to the United Presbyterian ministry and served as pastor of the First United Presbyterian Church of Burlington, Iowa, from 1898 to 1900, when he accepted the pastorate of the First Presbyterian Church at Fort Dodge, Iowa, and continued there until 1907, when he received a call to the First Presbyterian Church of Oklahoma City, and entered upon his ministry here with a total church mem- bership of a little upward of 500 individuals. As indica- tive of the vitalizing power before referred to as belong- ing to Doctor Baird, his church membership now num- bers 1,300 and in 1911 the present magnificent church edifice was erected at a cost of $150,000. This splendid modern structure of modified Greek type deserves descrip- tion, for its construction is unusual and its equipments for an outreaching efficiency that has had a wonderful influence on the civic and social life of the city.
The building itself, in external appearance, is ex- tremely attractive and the inside fittings and furnish- ings are lavish and luxurious. The building is of steel construction and there is an effect of spaciousness in the auditorium, which nominally is supposed to seat an audience of 1,800 persons but often has accommodated a larger number. A great organ dominates the front of the auditorium, a modern instrument with chimes of bells. There are fifty-five rooms in the building, rang- ing from Bible study departments to kitchen, including ladies' parlors, a special room for men, a finely equipped nursery and accommodations for the social activities of old and young. The church has its own boiler house, its elaborate system of fire protection and its own vacuum cleaning plant. The church maintains six choirs, none singing on consecutive Sundays. Dominating everything, directing, vitalizing, sympathizing, uphold- ing by sermon and personal service is Doctor Baird, a genial presence and dependable succor in time of dis- tress, a man who holds the confidence and love of his congregation because it has faith in him and who is enabled to do the great work he is accomplishing because he has faith in himself.
Aside from his ministerial duties, Doctor Baird has long been busy and useful in other ways. In 1902
he was secured by the Redpath Lyceum Bureau and spent six years in the winter courses in the lecture field, and since then has done considerable lecturing during the summers, on the Chautauqua circuit. The subjects of some of Doctor Baird's lectures, which thousands have heard with profit and pleasure, were: "Gump- tion, " a philosophical discourse on the simpler life ele- ments of civilization, a plea for plain living; "Pegging Away, or Steps to the Hall of Fame," a question of the elements of success; and "Peerless America," a purely patriotic address. His popularity on the lecture field might have led a weaker man to have devoted every energy to that method of teaching, but it is as a religious teacher and leader that his greatest work has been done and in this direction have come the most valued compensations.
In 1892 Doctor Baird was united in marriage with Miss Ida May Pollock, who is a daughter of James Ross and Agnes Ellen (Harper) Pollock, of College Springs, Iowa. The parents of Mrs. Baird were of Scotch descent but natives of Canada, and they came early to Iowa. The Pollocks claim the noted knight, Sir William Pol- lock, of Glasgow, Scotland, as an ancestor. Joseph R. Pollock was a prominent citizen of College Springs and the leading merchant. Doctor and Mrs. Baird have one son, Phillip Pollock Baird, who was born in 1897, and now at work for a master's degree, from Harvard Uni- versity. Doctor Baird and family reside at No. 1011 North Robinson Street, Oklahoma City.
With the enlightened understanding that helps make him what he is, Doctor Baird is not unmindful of public affairs and political influences and performs every duty of good citizenship. He is affiliated with the republican party but is too broad minded a man not to be able to recognize merit in other organizations.
Close as has been his devotion to the higher things of life, Doctor Baird has the wide vision that makes him understand men and their motives, and he has never hesitated at any time to mingle with his fellow citizens on an equal plane. Through sharing in their daily life and in their recreations as well he has, perhaps, exerted an influence that may not be measured. He belongs to the Oklahoma Division of the Travelers National Pro- tective Association, which he is serving as chaplain, and occupies a like office with the Oklahoma State Under- writers Association. He is a charter member of the Oklahoma City Men's Dinner Club, and is a member of the Oklahoma City and Country Club. That Oklahoma City has been benefited by the life and activities of Doctor Baird is not a matter of question. His deeds and words, in public, in private or in the pulpit show forth a man of intellectual and moral integrity. His courage in facing the difficulties of early life may well be an inspiration to the hosts of young men in whom he is always interested and anxious to help, and his influence, practically and spiritually, to not only his congregation but to a still wider circle, has proved bene- ficial and lasting.
NEWTON W. GORE. One of the interesting and colorful incidents of the history of Indian Territory is found in the fact that Jont Gore, a young man of Kentucky, be- came associated with other intrepid and venturesome young men in the development of the Chickasaw Indian country something like fifty years ago. He married the daughter of an Indian named Overton, who afterward became governor of the Chickasaw Nation, and the blood of Jont Gore runs in the veins of a good many Indians today. Strangely enough, after a few years Jont Gore ceased communicating with his Kentucky relatives and nothing is known by them of his later life, his death or his progeny.
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