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 29

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 29

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Mr. Evans acquired his early education in the public schools of Missouri and when still a youth he there insti- tuted his independent career as a farmer. In 1891 he went to Western Texas and there, as previously stated, he was employed several years as a cowboy on large cattle ranches. After establishing himself in business at Henrietta, that state, he there continued his resi- dence until 1904, when he came to Oklahoma Territory and established his residence at Ada. Here he engaged in the saddle and harness business, with which he con- tinued to be actively and successfully identified until he was elected to his present municipal office, when he disposed of his business to devote himself fully to the public service. He was elected commissioner of public works and property in 1912, at the time of the adoption of the commission form of government, and the estimate placed upon his services was shown by his re-election in 1914 for a second term of two years. Mr. Evans is one of the alert and progressive citizens of Ada, is an influential member of the Ada Commercial Club, is a staunch democrat in his political proclivities, and is affiliated with the local organizations of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Loyal Order of Moose.

In the State of Missouri the year 1901 recorded the marriage of Mr. Evans to Miss Saloma Rohr, and they have four children, whose names and respective ages, in

Com

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HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

1915, are here indicated: Donovan, twelve years; Mau- rine, ten years; Harry, seven years; and Katherine, two years.

MICHAEL CONLAN. There are few men whose careers connect them more closely and intimately with both the old and the new conditions of Oklahoma than Michael Conlan, who is now living retired and looking after his extensive property interests in Oklahoma City. His home is at 23012 West Ninth Street. For thirty years Mr. Conlan has had his home and business interests in Indian Territory and new Oklahoma, and prior to that as a boy he had many exciting experiences as a river- man, miner, and as a venturesome youth in many dis- tricts of the Far West. Equal interest attaches to Mrs. Conlan, who is one of the prominent society leaders of Oklahoma City. She is a member of the noted Colbert and Folsom families, whose names are so significant in Indian Territory history.

Born at Black River Falls, Jackson County, Wiscon- sin, September 9, 1860, Michael Conlan had as funda- mental traits a love of adventure and a tendency to independent enterprise, largely inherited from his father, who had been a pioneer in the woods and along the rivers of the northern states and particularly in Wis- consin. He finished his education in the public schools of Black River Falls in 1874, and soon afterward found employment with the Eau Claire Lumber Company at Eau Claire, Wisconsin, with whom he remained three years, most of the time being spent on steamboats on the Mississippi River. In the fall of 1878, at the age of eighteen, he made a trip out to Leadville, Colorado, and was there during the height of the gold mining excitement and in that region until the fall of 1881. The year of 1881-82 he spent in the Coeur D'Alene region of Idaho and also in some of the newly opened mining districts of Arizona and New Mexico.

Returning to Wisconsin in the fall of 1882, he visited his parents, and in the spring of the next year was again following the river as a Mississippi boatman. In the spring of 1885 Mr. Conlan arrived at Fort Smith, Arkan- sas, which was then the metropolis and chief business center for all the Indian Territory country. His experi- ence as a steamboat man proved valuable and he began operating boats on the Arkansas River engaged in hauling logs and lumber from the forests of Indian Territory. He was one of the most extensive operators in the lumber districts of Eastern Oklahoma until 1893. In the meantime he had acquired a farm on the Washita River.

From 1893 to 1905 Mr. Conlan's home was at Atoka, Indian Territory. For ten years of that time he was chief deputy United States marshal, and his experiences in that official capacity and also in his private business affairs if written out in detail would fill a book. In 1905 he removed to his farm on the Washita River, having his home at Lindsay, and remained in that vicinity until he sold his property in 1909. In that year he came to Oklahoma City, and has since em- ployed his energies in looking after his local real estate and also his lands in Atoka and Carter counties.

He is a man of broad interests, a genial companion, and has a wealth of incidents which he relates in enter- taining style. He has traveled extensively, and during 1910 he and his wife and daughter Lottie, spent a number of months in Europe, visiting Italy, Germany, Switzerland, France, England, Ireland and Spain. Mr. and Mrs. Conlan had previously visited Europe in 1904. In politics he had allied himself with the republican party and in 1892 he helped organize that party in Indian Territory, and for twelve years served as secre- tary of the Territorial Committee. For two terms he

filled the office of mayor at Atoka, and while in that city was a director, stockholder and vice president of the Atoka National Bank and at one time was vice president of the Lindsay National Bank. He is a mem- ber of the Presbyterian Church, is past master of Okla- homa Lodge No. 4, A. F. & A. M., at Atoka, is past high priest of Atoka Chapter No. 2, R. A. M., and is a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason, affiliated with MeAlester Consistory No. 2. He also belongs to Atoka Camp of the Woodmen of the World.

Michael Conlan is a son of Michael and Ann (Wil- liamson) Conlan. His grandfather, Thomas Conlan, emigrated in the early days from Kildare, Ireland, to Prescott, Canada, was a riverman and also a farmer. The maternal grandfather, Robert Williamson, came from Cork, Ireland, and also settled at Prescott, Canada, where he died. In his younger years he was a sailor, and later a farmer. Michael Conlan, Sr., was born in 1815 in Kildare, Ireland, and was brought to Canada in 1826. He early became identified with the steam- boat traffic on the St. Lawrence River and the Great Lakes, and in 1846 moved to one of the pioneer dis- triets of Wisconsin Territory, where he was for a time engaged in the lumber business and later followed farm- ing near Black River Falls until his death in 1888. In politics he was a democrat and was a member of the Catholic Church. His wife, Ann Williamson, was born in Cork, Ireland, in 1825 and died at Black River Falls, Wisconsin, in 1904. Their children were: Ellen, who died in 1895 at Eau Claire, Wisconsin, married John Bishop, also deceased, who was a riverman and later was engaged in the packing business; Mary, who died unmarried at Eau Claire in .1895; and Michael, Jr.

In 1894 Mr. Conlan was married at Atoka to Miss Czarina Colbert. She was born near Colbert Station in Indian Territory and as a member of a prominent fam- ily was given a liberal education. She attended private schools, a convent at Denison, Texas, was a student in the Baird College for Girls at Clinton, Missouri, and finished her education in 1889 in the Mary Baldwin Seminary at Staunton, Virginia. Mrs. Conlan is one of the prominent women of Oklahoma. She is active in the First Presbyterian Church of Oklahoma City, and is president of the Presbyterian Society of the District of Oklahoma. She is a past matron of Lodge No. 1 of the Order of Eastern Star at Atoka. By reason of her father's service she is vice president of the United Daughters of the Confederacy of Oklahoma and is presi- dent of the local chapter of that order in Oklahoma City. She is secretary and treasurer of the Drama Study Circle of Oklahoma City, and is a member of the New Century Club, one of the largest woman's or- ganizations of the city, and is parliamentarian of the Oklahoma Eighty-Niners Association. Mr. and Mrs. Conlan have one daughter, Lottie, who is now a sopho- more in the State University at Norman.

Mrs. Conlan's father was James Allen Colbert, who was born in Mississippi in 1830 and who died near Col- bert, Indian Territory, in 1874. When eighteen years of age in 1848 he accompanied his mother and other members of the family to Indian Territory. James A. Colbert was a quarter-blood Chickasaw and a man of much prominence in the Chickasaw Nation. He was at one time national secretary of the Nation when the capital was at Tishomingo and during the Civil war he was a first lieutenant under Gen. Douglas A. Cooper and served four years in the Confederate army. He afterwards became owner of extensive ranch and farm lands and was one of the leading stock raisers of his section of Indian Territory. He was also affiliated with the Masonic fraternity.

Mrs. Conlan's grandfather, Martin Colbert, was born

LE Eman

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HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

in Mississippi in 1782 and died in that state in 1832. He had a very prominent part among the Chickasaws of Mississippi and was member of a committee sent from that state to ascertain if the proposed country west of the Mississippi was suitable as a reservation for the Chickasaws and Choctaws. One of his parents was a fullblood Chickasaw. Martin Colbert owned an ex- tensive plantation and had many slaves in Mississippi, and also conducted a store.

James A. Colbert, father of Mrs. Conlan, married Athenius Folsom. She was born in 1835 near old Doaksville, Indian Territory, and was a quarter-blood Choctaw. The Folsoms were of English descent, and the ancestors settled in Massachusetts during the seven- teenth century, one branch subsequently removing to South Carolina where they intermarried with the Choc- taws, and from there became pioneers in Mississippi. Mrs. Conlan 's maternal grandfather was Israel Folsom, who was born in Mississippi in 1803 and died near Caddo, Oklahoma, in 1871. His mother was a full- blood Choctaw Indian. Israel Folsom distinguished himself in many ways among the Choctaw people. He was a regularly ordained minister of the Presbyterian church, and also owned extensive ranches and farm lands in old Indian Territory. For eighteen years he represented the Choctaw Nation as a delegate at Wash- ington. He also performed an important service in translating the Lord's Prayer and a number of hymns and several books of the Bible into the Choctaw language.

Mrs. Conlan's mother is still living at Ardmore, Oklahoma, with her son Walter. Her children were: Dave, who was a stockman and large land owner, and died at Colbert; Henrietta, who died in 1910 at Wynne- wood, married Ray Jennings, who is a farmer at Wynnewood; Albert Pike, who died in young manhood; Charles, who is a ranchman and farmer at old Fort Washita; Walter, a farmer and cattleman at Ardmore; Lovica, wife of Hiram McBride, a farmer at Artesia, New Mexico; Mrs. Conlan; and Ben, who is a farmer and raises blooded stock on his ranch near Tishomingo.

FREDERICK CLAYTON MAXWELL. The student of human nature is always deeply interested in tracing the career of one who has fought his way up to a position of prominence and financial success by dint of pluck, push and energy, and who has, notwithstanding the struggles of his youth, maintained a well earned reputation for uprightness and consideration for the rights of others. Such has been the career of Frederick Clayton Maxwell, proprietor of the Cotton County Democrat, of Walters, Oklahoma, and one of his town's most enterprising and progressive citizens. He has been the architect of his own fortunes in the fullest sense, and the success that has come to him has been won with honor and without animosity.

Mr. Maxwell was born August 31, 1878, at Fairfield, Iowa, and is a son of H. C. and Christina (Kauffman) Maxwell, natives of Ohio. The family originated in Scotland and were pioneers of Ohio, where H. C. Max- well was born in 1837. As a young man he went to Fairfield, Iowa, in the vicinity of which city he engaged in farming and stockraising. When the Civil war came on, he enlisted in the Thirtieth Regiment, Iowa Volunteer Infantry, and served three years and six months in the Union army, during which time he was wounded in battle. He proved himself a valiant and faithful soldier, and when he received his honorable discharge returned to the duties of peace, resuming the pursuits of the soil, in which he has continued to be engaged to the present time. He is a republican and a member of the Presby-

terian Church. Seven children have been born to H. C. and Christina Maxwell, namely: Robert Sherman, who died in infancy; Arthur Walter, state representative for the Culvert Manufacturing Company, at Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Hugh Raymond, who is a merchant at Fair- field, Iowa; Nellie B., who married Frank Loving, engaged in the real estate business at Huber Springs, Arkansas; Frederick Clayton, of this notice; Harley, a resident of What Cheer, Iowa; and Earl.

Frederick C. Maxwell received his education in the public schools of Iowa, which he attended until reaching the age of fourteen years. In the meantime, when but twelve years of age he had started to work in a con- fectionery store, learning the candymakers' trade. He thus continued at Fairfield, Iowa, until he was seventeen, when he went to Seymour, Iowa, to become an apprentice to the printer's trade for four years. In 1899 Mr. Max- well returned to the candymakers trade at Davenport, and later at Moline, Illinois, until 1905, when he came to Oklahoma, located at Enid, and secured a position in an ice cream factory. After a short time spent there, Mr. Maxwell became connected with the Enid Events, under Everett Purcell, and subsequently took charge of the Hunter Enterprise, a newspaper with which he was connected until 1907, when he came to Walters, Okla- homa. On August 25th of that year he became editor of the Cotton County Democrat, which was established at that time by the Lawton Publishing Company, as a republican sheet. Mr. Maxwell purchased the paper in 1909 and in 1912 made its policy independent, but in the following year made it a democratic paper. This paper circulates in Cotton and the surrounding counties and has a large foreign list. The plant and offices are located on Broadway Avenue, and are equipped with the latest improved printing machinery, with facilities for handling first-class job work of all kinds. The paper is clean, bright and newsy, and the people of Cotton County may be congratulated that it is in such clean and capable hands. Its columns have always been open to matter pertaining to the securing of advantages and improve- ments for the community and its owner has ever been one of the first to promote and support progressive enter- prises. He is a democrat, but his only public office has been as a member of the school board, on which he served one term. His religious connection is with the Christian Church. Fraternally he is well known and popular, being a member of Lodge No. 266, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Walters; secretary of the Knights of Pythias Lodge No. 74, at Walters; president of the American Horse Thief Association No. 920, at Walters; council commander of the Modern Woodmen of America; and a member of the Royal Neighbors and the Brother- hood of American Yeomen, both at Walters.

Mr. Maxwell was married August 31, 1899, to Miss Margaret Baines Wilson, who was born in England, daughter of George L. Wilson, now a mining engineer of Albia, Iowa. She died December 23, 1911, the mother of four children, all of whom are attending school: Frederick Clayton, Jr., born July 12, 1901; Leo Harvey, born December 29, 1903; Phyllis, born March 17, 1905: and Margaret, born October 22, 1907. Mr. Maxwell was again married September 5, 1913, when united with Mrs. Nannie B. (Gray) Ellison, daughter of Harvey Gray, a farmer of Stephens County, Oklahoma. They have had no children, but Mrs. Maxwell had one child by her former husband: Mahota, who is attending the public school at Walters.

LEWIS EDGAR EMANUEL, M. D. While during the nine years that he has been a resident of Chickasha the people of this city have ranked him principally as among

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tho ablest and most successful practitioners of Grady County, Dr. Lewis Edgar Emanuel is probably as equally well known as an invaluable community builder. As city physician, as county physician and as county health officer, he has been successful in maintaining a high standard of public health and sanitation, but he has also been an enthusiastic champion of parks, play-grounds and outdoor sports, and was one of the three members of the Chickasha Country Club who established a golf course which ranks as one of the best in the Southwest.

Doctor Emanuel was born at Mineral Wells, Palo Pinto County, Texas, February 18, 1873, and is a son of Thomas and Emma (King) Emanuel. His father was a native of Georgia, from which state he enlisted in the Con- federate army during the war between the North and the South, and three of his uncles met soldiers' deaths on the battlefields of the South while serving under the "Stars and Bars." The paternal grandfather of Doctor Emanuel was a native of Georgia, also, and Emanuel County, in the Cracker State, was named in his honor. The fundamental principles of Doctor Emanuel's educa- tion were secured in the public graded and high schools of Weatherford, Texas, and later he enrolled as a student at Weatherford College. He was graduated in 1906 from P. M. Medical College, at Dallas, Texas, but his educa- tion was not acquired without many hardships and disap- pointments. While pursuing his literary course he did yard work to pay for his board, and between sessions sawed wood for other necessary expenses of the school year. Easier work, but as unremunerative a salary was his portion later when he clerked in a drug store for Edward Lenear, at Weatherford, Texas, receiving the princely sum of $1.25 per week for his labors, a position in which he remained two years, then entering the employ of Charles Turner, another druggist of the same place, who paid him $8.00 per week. In November, 1901, following the opening of the Kiowa and Comanche Indian country, Doctor Emanuel located at Duncan, Indian Ter- ritory, and began farming, and later, for about a year he was engaged in the same way in Tillman County, Okla- homa. In 1902 he entered the medical college, where he remained two years, after which he began the practice of medicine at Arthur, near Duncan, and after six months of practice returned to college, but was unable, for financial reasons, to remain long enough to complete the course. During all his trials and difficulties, Doctor Emanuel had not allowed himself to become discouraged, and at this time he resolutely returned to Arthur and resumed his practice long enough to gather together the means for his tuition, when he returned to college and in 1906 received the degree of Doctor of Medicine.

When he received his degree, Doctor Emanuel located at Chickasha, which has since been his place of resi- dence, his field of practice and the scene of his well-won success. He stands high in the respect and confidence of a large and lucrative practice, as well as in the esteem of his fellow-practitioners, and is a valued member of the American Medical Association, the Oklahoma State Medical Society and the Grady County Medical Society. Doctor Emanuel was a member of the Oklahoma State Board of Medical Examiners during the administration of Governor Haskell, the state's first governor, and at present is commissioner of health of Grady County, county physician, a member of the Grady County Insanity Commission, and for three years secretary of the Board of Federal Pension Examiners. In 1912 and 1913 he was city physician of Chickasha.

Doctor Emanuel was married May 9, 1906, at Dallas, Texas, to Miss Emma G. Gillespie, and they have two children: Jenelizabeth, aged eight years; and Lewis Tucker, aged five years. Doctor Emanuel has five brothers and one sister: J. R., who is engaged in farm-

ing at Camp, Oklahoma; B. J. and W. E., who are farming in Frederick, Oklahoma; F. C., a farmer at San Angelo, Texas; M. T., carrying on farming operations at Frederick, Oklahoma, and Miss Eula Florence, who is a teacher iu the public schools of Ninnekah, Oklahoma.

Doctor Emanuel is a member of the Presbyterian Church. His fraternal connections include membership in Chickasha Lodge No. 93, A. F. & A. M .; Chickasha Lodge No. 44, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and Washita Valley Lodge No. 143, Knights of Pythias. He also belongs to the Praetorians and the Woodmen of the World. Interested always in the affairs which affect the welfare of Chickasha and the surrounding country, he has allied himself with several bodies of a local nature, including the Grady County Farm Bureau and the Chickasha Chamber of Commerce. He is popular in social circles of the city, as is also Mrs. Emanuel, and is a member of the Chickasha Country Club. The family resi- dence is one of the pleasant modern homes here.

JOHN H. SHIRK. The excellent professional average of the legal fraternity in Oklahoma City, as exemplified in the prominence attained by a large proportion of its numbers, their marked ability in the various branches of the calling, exhaustive knowledge of the fundamental prin- ciples of law, and the energy, vigor and shrewdness with which they present and try their cases, has made this bar famous throughout the state, and in comparison with that of many larger and older cities of the country, one to be envied. A member of the Oklahoma City bar for more than a decade, John H. Shirk owes his success to the possession of most, if not all of those qualifications referred to and which are requisite to the conduct of a large and varied law practice, and his prominence at the bar is merely evidence of his ability to properly apply them in his chosen profession.

John H. Shirk comes of sturdy old Pennsylvania Dutch stock, and was born in Ogle County, Illinois, De- cember 14, 1879. His father, Michael M. Shirk, was a native of Pennsylvania, born in one of the Pennsylvania Dutch colonies, was engaged in farming, and was also a minister of what was then known as the River Brethren, a religious sect of the order of the Dunkards. In 1866 he moved to Ogle County, Illinois, where he was mar- ried in 1876 to Frances Hoover, a native of Indiana, and in 1880 the family removed to Indiana, where the father died in 1912 at the age of eighty years, while the mother still resides there and is sixty years of age.

John H. Shirk grew up amid agricultural surround- ings on his father's farm, but was granted better oppor- tunities for an education than most Indiana farmers' . lads, first attending the public schools, later taking his literary and law courses at the University of Indiana, from which he was graduated in 1901 with the degree of Bachelor of Science, and finally taking a post-grad- uate course in liberal arts and law at Notre Dame Uni- versity, Indiana, where he was graduated in 1903 with the degree of Bachelor of Laws. Mr. Shirk almost im- mediately came to Oklahoma, in 1904 taking up his resi- dence at Oklahoma City, where he has continued to be engaged in a constantly-increasing practice. He was alone in his profession until 1912, when he formed a partnership with Harris L. Danner, under the firm style of Shirk & Danner, considered one of the strong legal combinations of the city. Their large practice has now reached that state where it extends to the whole varied field of general litigation, both in the state and federal jurisdictions.

Mr. Shirk has never been a seeker for personal pre- ferment in public affairs, preferring to devote his whole attention to his profession and his business interests. He has large holdings in a number of Oklahoma's com-

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nercial enterprises, and is vice president and a director of the Capital Ice & Storage Company of Oklahoma City, $210,000 concern. Fraternally, Mr. Shirk is identified with the Knights of Pythias. He is a member of the English Lutheran Church of Oklahoma City, and a mem- ber of the council thereof. He maintains offices at Nos. 604-610 Security Building.

In October, 1909, Mr. Shirk was united in marriage with Miss Carrie Hinderer, daughter of George H. Hind- erer, of Goshen, Indiana. Mrs. Shirk's paternal grand- father came to the United States from Germany, in 1849, being one of the political refugees from that country at the time of the revolution. One son has come to Mr. and Mrs. Shirk: George H., born May 1, 1913. The family home is at No. 210 East Park Place, Okla- homa City.

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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