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 30

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 30

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A. W. PATTERSON is president of the Muskogee Na- tional Bank of Muskogee, Oklahoma. He has always been successful in a business way and regarded as safe and sane in his judgment on all matters of finance and investment. He was born in Ohio, July 22, 1845, and later went to Wisconsin, from which state he removed to Iowa while yet very young. He did not have many opportunities for extended education, but was able to gather enough in the common schools of his time to ena- ble him to teach others, but not enjoying the life of a school teacher he entered actively into business. He started out in the hardware and farm implement game at Gilman, Iowa, and was regarded as one of the best salesmen in that part of the country. He has always been extremely vigorous and energetic and with excellent health and wonderful vitality has been able to accom- plish a great deal in life. Thinking that the retail hard- ware business was too small a sphere for his activities, he branched out into the manufacture of barb wire at Marshalltown, Iowa, being one of the early manufac- turers of this useful commodity. He foresaw at that time the wonderful use and the great possibilities for wire fencing, but later on disposed of this business and went to Carroll County, Iowa, and began his banking career. Northwestern Iowa was then very new and the opportunities were splendid for making money in the banking business and buying land and through the com- bination of banking and operating in land he accumu- lated a great deal of money.

Thoroughly enjoying business life and appreciating the advantages and opportunities among the pioneers he was glad to come to Indian Territory before it became the State of Oklahoma and began early to watch the development of the new state.

He and A. C. Trumbo established the Bank of Mus- kogee in 1902 and built the Iowa Building. This build- ing is now owned by the successor of the Bank of Mus- kogee, the Muskogee National Bank, one of the most substantial financial institutions in Oklahoma. One of the leading bankers of Omaha, who has known Mr. Pat- terson all his life, recently said of him, "During my entire experience as a banker I have never known a more safe and conservative man than A. W. Patterson."

Mr. Patterson has always been distinguished as a man of integrity, diligence, determination and superior business judgment. Although a democrat, he has never been a strong partisan and has always been willing to size up candidates for office more from the standpoint of fitness than politics.

The Patterson home on West Okmulgee Avenue is a handsome stone structure and indicative of taste and prosperity.

ARTHUR C. TRUMBO. One of the best known bankers and financiers of the State of Oklahoma is Arthur C.

Trumbo, vice president and cashier of the Muskogee National Bank. He was born on a farm in Allen County, Ohio, August 6, 1866. He received his early education in the rural schools, and at the age of seventeen became a teacher and soon principal of the Columbus Grove High School in his native state. Thereafter continuing his education, he pursued studies in the normal school at Ada, Ohio; the Tri-State Normal at Angola, Indiana; Wooster University, at Wooster, Ohio; and Leland Stanford Uni- versity in California. From the last-named famous institution he took his bachelor's degree in literary and scientific subjects in the year 1894. He then entered the law school of Northwestern University, in Chicago, and in 1896 was made a Bachelor of Laws. In the Illinois metropolis he began his legal career, practicing there until 1901.

In the last-named year, Mr. Trumbo located at Mus- kogee, where, in connection with A. W. Patterson, he established the Bank of Muskogee, which in 1908 became the Muskogee National Bank. As vice president and cashier, he has been the active officer in building up this financial institution, which ranks among the leading banks in Oklahoma. Mr. Trumbo's legal education has contributed signally to his success as a safe and able financier, while his inherent business sagacity and execu- tive ability have insured the success of the bank which has grown so extensively and solidly during his identi; fication with it.

The general building up of Muskogee has been scarcely second to his interest in the bank with which he is con- nected. He was one of the organizers of the Muskogee Commercial Club and became the third president of that organization. He has also served as president of the Muskogee Clearing House Association and in many and various ways has contributed materially to the growth and development of his adopted city. In 1912, after serving in many other capacities and giving considerable attention to western affairs, he became president of the Trans-Mississippi Commercial Congress, an institution that has done a great deal of good in the development of the western states.

Mr. Trumbo is a republican in politics, but has never been an ardent partisan, and, in fact, has taken so very little interest in politics that many do not know to which party he belongs.

While in college he belonged to the Delta Tau Delta fraternity and has also enjoyed the social advantages of the Masonic fraternity and is a life member of the Elks.

The Trumbo home on West Broadway is one of the fine homes of the city and both financially and socially the Trumbo family occupies a very high place in the State of Oklahoma.

JOHN R. WILLIAMS. Efficient service in both con- structive and conservative lines has marked the admin- istration of Mr. Williams in the office of secretary of the Oklahoma department of state school lands, and he is one of the well known and highly honored pioneer citizens of Oklahoma, within whose borders he estab- lished his residence thirty years ago and with whose civic and industrial development and progress he has been closely and worthily identified. He has been long and prominently concerned with the cattle industry and has been one of its extensive and successful exponents in Oklahoma, under both the territorial and state regimes. He exploited the cattle business under the conditions of the pioneer days, and had broad experi- ence during the period when the great open ranges were still available, so he remains one of those sturdy sons of the great West who is able to give many interesting reminiscences of the early days. He is now one of the

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HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

loyal and public-spirited citizens of Oklahoma City, where he maintains his official headquarters in the Mercantile Building.

Mr. Williams was born in the State of Texas in the year 1866, and is a son of W. A. and Elizabeth (Murphy) Williams. W. A. Williams likewise was born and reared in the old Lone Star State, his parents hav- ing been early pioneer settlers in Texas and his father having been an active participant in the war which gained Texas freedom from Mexico and resulted in its organization as an independent republic, a number of years prior to the war which brought about its acquire- ment by the United States. For the long period of thirty-five years John R. Williams, Sr., was engaged in the banking business in Texas and he was an influential figure also in the social and industrial development of the state, within whose borders he passed virtually his entire life, his death having there occurred, at Green- ville, judicial center of Hunt County, in 1910, at which time he was widely known as one of the most venerable of the native sons of the Lone Star State, his wife having preceded him to the life eternal.

The scenes and incidents of the pioneed days in Texas are reverted to as the earliest recollections of John R. Williams, whose career is here taken briefly under re- view. The public schools of his native state afforded to him his early educational advantages, and as a youth he became identified with the great cattle industry which long made Texas the most famous of all states of the Union in this domain of enterprise. In 1885, at the age of nineteen years, Mr. Williams came to Okla- homa Territory and obtained employment on a large cattle ranch in old Greer County. With the exception of an interim of about three years he has here contin- ued to be identified with the cattle industry during the long intervening period, though it has been within his province also to give effective service in the furtherance of the march of development and progress in the terri- tory and the state, to which his loyalty has been ever insistent.

In 1897, by Judge Kilgore, he was appointed a United States commissioner, and he continued the efficient in- cumbent of this office until the close of the year 1899, his headquarters having been jointly at Ryan and Duncan. When the Kiowa and Comanche country was opened for settlement, in 1901, Mr. Williams removed to Kiowa County, and in the following year he was there appointed county treasurer, to fill an unexpired term ending in 1903. After his retirement from this office he engaged in the farm-loan and the abstract business in that county, and there he was a substantial and representative citizen of Hobart at the time of the admission of the state to the Union, in 1907.

When 'Hon. Lee Cruse was made the candidate for nomination for governor of the state in the primary election of 1910, Mr. Williams was selected as manager of his preliminary campaign for the nomination as candidate on the democratic ticket, and after Governor Cruse had been nominated Mr. Williams showed con- tinued fineness and ability in the maneuvering of political forces and in effecting the election of Governor Cruse, in the autumn of that year. At that time Mr. Williams was chairman of the state campaign committee of his party and from the time of attaining to his legal majority he has been an ardent and uncompromising supporter of the principles and policies of the demo- cratic party. In January, 1911, Governor Cruse ap- pointed Mr. Williams secretary of the state school- lands departments, and his term of office terminated in January, 1915. Upon assuming this position Mr. Williams established his residence in Oklahoma City and his administration proved in every respect care-

ful, circumspect and successful. In the Masonic fra- ternity his affiliations are with the lodge, chapter and commandery bodies of the York Rite and with India Temple of the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, in the City of Oklahoma. At Hobart, Kiowa County, he is an appreciative and popular member of the lodge of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.

In the year 1901 Mr. Williams wedded Miss Elizabeth De Lesdernier, daughter of William De Lesdernier, a pioneer of Oklahoma Territory, where he established his residence in 1872, as a representative of the United States Government in the Indian service. He continued in this service until 1897, became a successful trader also at Colony, Washita County, and was a resident of Oklahoma City at the time of his death, in 1912. Mr. and Mrs. Williams have three sons, John R., Jr., Allen and William.

WILLIAM A. VANDEVER. Among the admirable con- tingent of aggressive and enterprising men that the City of Tulsa has enlisted in the upholding of the commercial prestige of the city is the president of the Vandever Dry Goods Company, which is incorporated with a capital stock of $50,000, and the well-equipped establishment of which is situated at 109-11 South Main Street, this metropolitan mercantile house being one of the foremost in the retail trade in Oklahoma and its extensive and substantial business being based upon effective service and fair and honorable business policies. As president of this company William A. Vandever has shown much progressiveness and initiative ability, and he is con- sistently to be designated as one of the influential and representative business men and public-spirited citizens of the important and flourishing city in which he has established his home and with the civic and material interests of which he has identified himself in the closest way. Of the company Gary Y. Vandever is vice presi- dent and Charles S. Vandever is secretary and treasurer, and in addition to the three executive officers the direct- orate includes Voris V. and Verne N. Vandever, the entire stock of the corporation being held by members of the one family.

William A. Vandever was born at Irving, Montgomery County, Illinois, on the 24th of May, 1874, and is a son of William C. and Sarah E. (Grantham) Vandever, the former of whom was born at Vandalia, Fayette County, that state, in 1851, and the latter of whom was born at Irving, Montgomery County, in 1853, being the daughter of Isaiah and Margaret (Mann) Grantham, both families having been founded in Illinois in the pioneer period of its history. He whose name initiates this article was the second in order of birth in a family of five sons and five daughters, all of whom are living, and the five sons constitute the constituent principals in the leading dry goods establishment in the City of Tulsa. William C. Vandever is a son of Dr. Aaron S. Vandever, who was born in Kentucky and who became a pioneer physician at Vandalia, Illinois, when that place was capital of the state. Contemporaneously with the removal of the seat of government to Springfield, Doctor Vandever removed with his family to that city, which then had no metropolitan pretentions, and in the present capital city of the great State of Illinois he and his wife, Isabella, passed several years of their lives, later moving to Mont- gomery County, where they died. During the war Doctor Vandever enlisted in the Thirteenth Missouri Regiment and served until he received injuries from which he died.

William C. Vandever acquired his early education in the public schools of Illinois and was there reared to maturity. In his youth he learned the cooper's trade, and with the same he continued to be actively identified until his retirement from the control of a profitable

W.a. Vandaan.

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HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

cooperage business, in 1905. He and his wife maintain their home at Irving, Illinois, both being earnest mem- bers of the Christian Church and Mr. Vandever having been aligned as a supporter of the cause of the demo- cratic party during his entire career since attaining to his legal majority.

In his native town William A. Vandever of this review continued to attend the excellent public schools until he had virtually completed the curriculum of the high school. At the age of fifteen years he gained his initial business experience by taking a position as clerk in a dry goods store at Irving, where he remained thus engaged about four years. He finally set forth to seek an eligible loca- tion in which to establish himself in a broader field of mercantile business, and he had the good judgment to fortify himself more fully by serving some time as a salesman in dry goods firms in the larger cities. At the age of twenty years he removed to the City of St. Louis, where he became connected with the dry goods house of Grand Leader, engaged in the retail trade. Later he held a similar position with the establishment of D. Crawford & Co. of that city, and after a few years of service in the silk and dress goods department he was advanced to the position of buyer of linens, wash dress goods, linings and other lines of staple goods. Of this responsible position he continued the valued incum- bent until 1903, when he severed his association with that house and came to Indian Territory, where, on the 10th of February of that year, he established his residence at Tahlequah, the present judicial center of Cherokee County, Oklahoma. There he became associated with Benjamin C. Beane in founding and opening the retail dry goods store to which they gave the title of the Boston Store. In the following year (1904) the firm removed their business to the ambitious young City of Tulsa, which at that time had a population of 3,800. Here they effected the organization of the Beane-Van- dever Dry Goods Company. Business was here instituted upon a somewhat modest scale and within a few years Mr. Beane sold his interest to the Vandever Brothers, who have since remained in control of a most substantial and flourishing business that is the most important of the kind in Tulsa, the establishment of the Vandever Dry Goods Company being thoroughly modern in all appoint- ments, in the scope and variety of stock in the various departments and in the efficiency of its service to a discriminating and appreciative trade, there being but few dry goods stores in the state that in the least excel it, and these being in Oklahoma City, the capital and metropolis of the commonwealth.

With secure vantage-place as one of the leading busi- ness men of Tulsa, Mr. Vandever here has impregnable position in popular confidence and good will and is influ- ential in both business and social circles. He is actively identified with the Commercial Club, the Traffic Asso- ciation, the Retail Merchants' Association and the Rotary Club, and his influence and co-operation are earnestly given in support of measures and enterprises advanced for the general welfare of his home city and state. He is affiliated with Tulsa Lodge No. 71, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and Tulsa Chapter No. 52, Royal Arch Masons. He and his brothers adhere closely to the po- litical faith in which they were reared and all accord staunch allegiance to the cause of the democratic party.

On the 25th of July, 1900, was solemnized the mar- riage of Mr. Vandever to Miss Marie C. Delmore, who was born in Boone County, Missouri. and who is a popu- lar figure in the representative social activities of Tulsa. They have no children.

FLOYD J. BOLEND, M. D. Most men, in any vocation or profession, come sooner or later to enjoy some one

portion of their work more than all the rest. While their activities in other fields may not be neglected, while the full strength and power of their knowledge and skill may be brought to bear upon their responsibili- · ties in other lines, still they retain the predilection for a certain course of labor. In this connection it may be said that Dr. Floyd J. Bolend, one of Oklahoma's dis- tinguished medical men, is no exception to the general rule. As a practitioner Doctor Bolend has attracted to himself a large and representative professional business, and has established a name and a standing for himself in his calling; as an educator his labors have been wide- spread and beneficial; but it is probable that his chief treasure is the command of the Medical Corps, Field Hospital of the Oklahoma National Guard, of which the United States War Department has said: "It is the best unit of its kind in the United States."

Doctor Bolend was born at Hot Springs, Arkansas, August 1, 1877, and is a son of George C. and Ethel (McCormick ) Bolend. His father, a native of Tennes- see and an engineer by vocation, moved as a young man to Arkansas and for some years resided at Hot Springs, subsequently moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1881, and came to Oklahoma at the time of the opening, April 22, 1889, taking up his residence at Kingfisher, although he and Mrs. Bolend are now residents of Sulphur, Okla- homa. While residing at Milwaukee, Mr. Bolend was for about ten years engineer of the plant of the Pabst Brewing Company.

Floyd J. Bolend was a child of four years when he accompanied his parents to Milwaukee, and there he received his early education in the graded and high schools. He later completed the prescribed course at the Agricultural and Mechanical College, Stillwater, Oklahoma, and then entered the University of Oklahoma, where he was graduated in 1901 with the degree of Phar- maceutical Chemist. Doctor Bolend took his medical course at the St. Louis College of Physicians and Surgeons, at St. Louis, Missouri, where he was gradu- ated in 1906 with the degree of Doctor of Medicine, and at once entered upon the practice of medicine at Okla- homa City, where he has continued in the enjoyment of a steadily-increasing business and reputation. Doctor Bolend maintains membership in the state, county and American medical bodies, and has continued to be a close, careful and observing student, keeping himself thoroughly abreast of the discoveries and inventions of the times and spending much of his own time in re- search and investigation. He has been honored by ap- pointment to various important positions, at this time being assistant professor and lecturer on tropical medi- cine in the medical department of the University of Oklahoma, where he also has charge of a medical clinic; and is a member of the staff of Wesley Hospital.

In 1907 Doctor Bolend organized and became com- missioned captain of the Field Hospital Medical Corps of the Oklahoma National Guard, and, being in com- mand of this corps, is under the direction of the War. Department, and is a graduate of the Army Field Service School for Medical Officers of the United States Army. Doctor Bolend has given particular attention to the sub- jects of sanitation, diet, etc., and to this work he has given his best efforts, his accumulated knowledge and his bodily strength. Fraternally, Doctor Bolend is con- nected with the Masons, the Knights of Pythias and the Odd Fellows. He also holds membership in the Uni- versity Club of Oklahoma, and is identified with the United Commercial Travelers Association, of which he is one of the grand officials. In professional, business, military and social circles, he enjoys a wide acquaintance, and his popularity is eloquently evidenced by a wide circle of sincere and admiring friends.

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HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

In March, 1903, Doctor Bolend was married to Miss Mary Rickey, daughter of Dr. Joseph Rickey, of Boone City, Missouri, and to this union there has come one daughter : Ethel Bolend. The family home is situated at No. 1507 North Broadway.

J. HUTCHINGS WHITE, M. D. One of the leading physicians and surgeons engaged in practice in the City of Muskogee, Doctor White has the distinction of claim- ing the historic Old Dominion State as the place of his nativity, and within its gracious borders his paternal and maternal ancestors settled in the colonial era.

At Chatham, the judicial center of Pittsylvania County, Virginia, Doctor White was born on the 17th of April, 1873, but the major part of his childhood and early youth were passed at Danville, that county, in which city his father was a prominent merchant and influential citizen for many years. He is a son of Raleigh W. and Fannie P. (Nowlin) White, both of whom passed their entire lives in Virginia. Profiting duly by the advantages afforded in the public schools , at Danville, Doctor White thereafter attended what is now the Polytechnic Institute at Blacksburg, Virginia, and for a period of about four years after leaving this institution he was employed as a stenographer in a railroad office in the City of New York. His predilec- tion and ambition finally led him to enter upon the work of preparing himself for the profession in which he has achieved marked success and prestige, and with this laudable end in view he entered the medical department of the fine old University of Virginia, in which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1896, with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. He further qualified him- self by serving as an interne in the New York Polyclinic and later by becoming the incumbent of the position of superintendent of the old Marion Street Maternity Hos- pital in the national metropolis. After severing his as- sociation with this institution the doctor engaged in the private practice of his profession at Noroton, Fairfield County, Connecticut, where he remained until 1902, in which year he came to Muskogee, Oklahoma, where he has since continued in the successful practice of medicine and surgery and where he has built up a substantial and rep- resentative professional business that places him on strong vantage-ground as one of the leading physicians of Muskogee County, the while he has kept in close touch with the advances made in medical and surgical science and has completed effective post-graduate courses in leading professional institutions in the cities of New York, Chicago, Boston, Baltimore and other places. The doctor is a loyal and vigorous member of the Mus- kogee County Medical Society and the Oklahoma State Medical Society, besides being actively identified with the American Medical Association. From the time of the admission of the State of Oklahoma to the Union, in 1907, until his retirement in January, 1915, Doctor White served as a member of the lunacy board of Mus- kogee County. He has contributed valuable articles to the periodical literature of his profession, and some of his articles have been published also in pamphlet form. He was one of the organizers of the Oklahoma Baptist Hospital Association and has served continuously as a member of the directorate of this organization.

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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