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 38

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 38

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Doctor Sharp's mother's parents were from Louisi- ana and settled in Texas at an early day. His maternal grandfather, while building a fence at the age of eighty- six, was thrown from a wagon and killed.

Dr. John G. Sharp acquired his elementary education in the public schools of Texas. After being fairly well advanced in his studies he applied himself to learn the profession of medicine and in due time successfully passed an examination before the State Medical Board of Texas. Before this, however, in 1897, he had already begun to practice, his first practical experience being in Dolberg, Indian Territory, where he remained three years. He then took a course of lectures at Fort Worth University, where he was graduated in 1905. Returning to Indian Territory, he located at Iona, in what is now Murray County. There he resided for eleven years, at the end of which time he came to Mill Creek, his pres-

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ent location, of which place he has now been a resident for four years.

Doctor Sharp came into professional contact with the Indians from the time he began practice in Dolberg. Once a full blood Indian near the place fell out with his doctor, who was a halfblood, discharged him and sent for Doctor Sharp. The fullblood's wife had given him a dose of calomel and sent him into the field on a rainy afternoon to gather corn, the result being that the In- dian was salivated, and that very malignautly. Doctor Sharp's examination showed the need of a mouth wash. This the Indian used intelligently, but it proved ineffect- ive as a cure. The third day the Doctor saw that some- thing heroic must be done. He mixed turpentine and carbolic acid in a mouth wash and gave it to the Indian. The latter was driven nearly mad with pain and rolled in agony on the floor. Before the attack was over he announced to the Doctor that if this didn't relieve him he would kill the Doctor, and called to his wife to hand him his shotgun that he might make good his threat. Doctor Sharp knew his business, however, and the Indian did not find it necessary to shoot. On another occasion an Indian had congestion of the stomach. Doctor Sharp prescribed but the Indian wouldn't take the medicine. Three times a day for two days the Doctor visited him without results because of the Indian's contrariness. At length Doctor Sharp administered a hypodermic injec- tion and later another one. This frightened the Indian and he called for his gun. He feared that the Doctor was picking for him an easy way to the happy hunt- ing grounds. When a third injection was threatened the Indian resolved to try the taking of medicine.

Doctor Sharp is city physician of Mill Creek. He belongs to the county and state medical associations, also to the Masonic order, the Woodmen of the World and Woodmen Circle Lodges and to the Baptist Church. In 1890, at Whitman, Texas, Doctor Sharp was married to Miss Nancy Kitchens, who died three years later. He was again married in 1894, at Iona, Indian Territory, to Miss Emma Dismukes. They have five children, the eldest, Arthur, aged seventeen, being a son of the deceased Mrs. Sharp. The others are: Alma, aged thirteen, Lona, aged nine, Cordie, aged five and Rudy, aged one year. Doctor Sharp has a sister, Mrs. Lettic McIntosh, who is the wife of a lumberman at Whitman, Texas. The Doctor and his family have a pleasant and comfortable resi- dence in Mill Creek, of which place he is one of the best known and most highly respected citizens.

MARK J. COURTNEY. For a number of years one of the leading business men of Copan, Washington County, and a pubic character as well, identified with important business enterprises and having a hand in civic legisla- tion, Mark J. Courtney was appointed to the office of postmaster in November, 1913, and has continued to capably serve in that capacity to the present time. Dur- ing a long and active career he has been variously employed, as farmer and stockraiser, as oil and gas producer, as newspaper man and as the incumbent of various official positions, and in each direction has impressed himself upon his community as a man of force of character and general worth.

Mr. Courtney was born in Jackson County, Michigan, October 26, 1866, and is a son of J. W. and Elizabeth (Silsby) Courtney. His father, a native of Barnstable, England, was brought to the United States as an infant by his parents, who located in Jackson County, Michigan, where the lad grew up amid agricultural surroundings. He was engaged in farming at the time of the outbreak of the war between the North and South and enlisted in Company H, Michigan Civil Engineers, with which

organization he served three years, always having the reputation of a brave and efficient soldier. In 1879, secking the broader opportunities offered in the West, he moved with his family to Harper County, Kansas, and there remained as a farmer and raiser of stock until the opening of the Cherokec Strip, in 1893. At that time he came to Oklahoma, and at this time is living in quiet retirement at his home at Lamont, being now more than eighty years of age. His career has been an active and successful one, and in whatever community he has elected to cast his fortunes he has always merited and held the esteem and respect of his fellow-citizens. Mrs. Court- ney, who is a native of Michigan, also survives, being sixty-seven years of age. She is the mother of three children: Mark J., of this notice; Anna, who is the wife of J. A. Bates, of Lamout, Okahoma; and Fred, a resident of this state.

Mark J. Courtney was brought up on his father's farm in Jackson County, where he resided until reaching the age of fourteen years, in the meantime receiving his education in the district schools. He accompanied the family in its trip to Harper County, Kansas, where he resided for about thirteen years, farming with his father, and when the Cherokee Strip was opened, in 1893, he took up a claim and settled down to farming aud stock- raising on his own account. Thus he continued until 1906, in which year he came to Copan and became inter- ested in oil and gas development, and at this time he is president of the Courtney Oil and Gas Company, one of the leading concerns of its kind in Washington County. In 1908 he became the founder of the Copan Leader, a newspaper which he conducted as editor and publisher for five years with much success, winning a wide circula- tion and establishing a position for the organ in jour- nalistic circles of this part of the state. In 1913, how- ever, official duties demanded his attention to the exclu- sion of other matters, and he leased his newspaper to other parties.

Since the time of his majority Mr. Courtney has been a stalwart democrat and an earnest party worker. On coming to Copan, his exccutive ability and business acumen were recognized by his election to the office of mayor, this town being the only one in the county where the chief executive's term ran for a period of four years. He gave Copan an excellent administration, but later the form of government was changed so that the charge of civic affairs was placed in the hands of a board of village trustees. Mr. Courtney also served capably and impartially in the capacity of justice of the peace for three years, and as a member of the board of education, in which latter position he was able to accom- plish something for the schools, of which he has always been a warm friend. In November, 1913, he was appointed postmaster of Copan, then a fourth-class office, and at that time gave up the editorship of his paper. On February 1, 1914, when the Copan office was changed to third class, he was again appointed, and has con- tinued to discharge his duties in a thoroughly efficient and courteous manner. He has been able to introduce several innovations which have contributed to the wel- fare of the service. aud Copan has probably had no more popular official. Mr. Courtney is also well known in fraternal circles, a charter member and first chancellor commander of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows Lodge No. 507, a charter member of the Knights of Pythias here, a master of the Blue Lodge, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and a member of the Rebekahs and the Modern Woodmen of America.

Mr. Courtney was married December 22, 1897, to Miss Ida Conway, who was born in Illinois, and was brought as a child to Kansas by her parents, J. W. and Nancy

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HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

Conway. Mrs. Courtney is well known in club and fra- ternal circles of Washington County, and has been presi- dent and secretary of the Rebekah Assembly of Okla- homa. Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Courtney : Howard, who was born in 1899; and Leslie, born in 1901.

W. EUGENE DIXON, M. D., F. A. C. S. Among the biog- raphies appearing in this work, there are found not a few sketching the careers of men who have overcome early environments and obstacles and risen to honored and distinguished positions among the world's workers. However, few there are which can compare in interest with the career of W. Eugene Dixon, M. D., F. A. C. S., of Oklahoma City, who but a few short years ago was a struggling student, working at humble occupations in order that he might pursue his cherished medical studies, and who is today one of the leading specialists in dis- eases of the eye, ear, nose and throat in the state. Not only as a practitioner has Doctor Dixon become promi- uent, but as a demonstrator, a teacher and author.

Born at Woodstock, Illinois, in 1872, Doctor Dixon is a son of Samuel B. and Mary Jane (Dyer) Dixon. He was but three years of age at the time of his mother's death, and he was accordingly thrown more or less on his own resources, but this fact may have strengthened him in a way and added to his self-reliance. He was given educational advantages in the graded and high schools of Chicago, and was then desirous of entering upon the study of medicine, for which he had a predilec- tion from early youth. His finances, however, were decidedly limited, and it was necessary for him to find employment that he might work his way through college. In 1894 he was graduated from the Louisville Medical College, with the degree of Doctor of Medicine, and at once entered upon the practice of his profession at Sidell, Illinois, where he remained until 1899. Seeking a wider field at that time, he moved to Chicago, and car- ried on practice there until 1901, at that time coming to Oklahoma City.

Even the medical practitioner is apt to overestimate his strength, and it was so with Doctor Dixon. Long hours of the hardest kind of labor at his calling had gradually undermined his health, and he was forced for a time to give up his practice and to again gain resist- ing power for the exacting demands of his vocation .. In 1908, when he was ready to again take up his duties, he decided to specialize in diseases of the eye, ear, nose and throat, and accordingly, during that year, took post- graduate work at the New York Post-Graduate College, the Manhattan Eye, Ear, Nose and Throat Hospital, New York City, St. Bartholomew's Eye, Ear, Nose and Throat Hospital, New York City, and the New Orleans Poly- clinic, at New Orleans. Subsequently, in 1910, Doctor Dixon took post-graduate work at the Chicago Eye, Ear, Nose and Throat College, and while in that city studied under the preceptorship of the celebrated Dr. A. L. Andrews.

Since his return to Oklahoma City, Doctor Dixon has gained something more than a state-wide reputation in his specialty. He is a member of the State and County Medical societies, of the American Medical Association and the Southwestern Medical Association, is a fellow of the American College of Surgeons, a member of the staffs of the Wesley and University hospitals at Okla- homa City, and assistant professor of the eye, ear, nose and throat in the medical college of the University of Oklahoma. In 1914 he did original work at two different hospitals in Philadelphia, removing tonsils without hemor- rhage, and original work in catarrhal deafness and nasal reflexes. He has been a frequent and valued contributor to the literature of his profession, and has prepared and Vol. III-9

read numerous papers before the various associations of the calling, which have since been widely circulated. Among these may be mentioned: "The Tonsil-with Special Reference to the Sluder-Ballenger Operation" (1913) ; "Pharyngeal Diagnosis from the General Prac- titioner's Standpoint" (1914) ; "Recent Progress of Oto-Laryngology" (1914) ; "The Nose Anatomically Considered with Special Reference to the Reflexes and Constitutional Diseases'' (1914). Doctor Dixon 's papers have been received with great favor and have enjoyed widespread popularity. Selecting some subject which has attracted his study, he has treated it in such a com- plete and exhaustive manner, lighting up its obscure points by flashes of genius and clothing a familiar sub- ject with novelty and freshness, from the new lights which his observations have been able to cast upon it, that he has invariably induced not only acquiescence in his view, but enthusiasm as well.

Doctor Dixon has not only secured a high reputation in his calling, but has been rewarded with the emolu- inents which go with such a position, and is not unknown in financial circles, being a director of the Tradesmen's State Bank of Oklahoma City, vice president of the First National Bank of Weleetka, Oklahoma, and president of the First Guarantee Bank, of Wewoka, Oklahoma. His religious connection is with the Christian Church. Doctor Dixon is a thirty-second degree Mason, being a member of Siloam Lodge No. 276, A. F. & A. M., all the Scottish Rite bodies, Oklahoma Consistory, Valley of Guthrie, and India Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S. He also holds membership in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias and the Modern Wood- men of America.

Doctor Dixon was married in 1906 to Miss Nell C. Canterbury, daughter of O. P. Canterbury, of Spring- field, Illinois. The pleasant family home is situated at No. 436 West Eleventh Street, Oklahoma City.

HARRY F. SINCLAIR. While it may be true that the destinies of some men are controlled by "a lucky star," the majority of those who achieve something worthy of the name are undoubtedly under the leading of some stronger and more substantial influence. While fortune may come to those who wait, it is more likely to result from an active pursuit. Even in a land of such opulent resources and opportunities as America, the qualities which finally win are usually a strong element of per- sistence, industry, intelligent handling of resources and a rugged integrity.

For several years Tulsa has been the headquarters for many of the most prominent oil operators in the country. Many fortunes have been made and lost in that district, and the city has perhaps as many men of large wealth as any other locality in the Southwest. In this group of the unusually successful and enterprising is Harry F. Sinclair. Mr. Sinclair was one of the earliest oil operators in Southern Kansas and in the Northern Oklahoma fields. Those who have followed his activities most closely could never be persuaded that his success, even in this uncertain and precarious industry, has been a matter of luck. Mr. Sinclair has shown faith as well as enterprise, has exhibited courage as well as persistence, and the lessons of experience have not daunted him in looking far ahead, and in exercising a judicious optimism in all his ventures. It is an interesting fact of his career that some years ago he gave up the humdrum rou- tine of a store to venture his capital and foresight and courage in competition with the fascinating possibilities of oil development. Among business men in Tulsa and Northeastern Oklahoma Mr. Sinclair's name is closely associated with another well known figure at Tulsa, Pat- rick J. White, since together they have effected some of

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HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

the greatest productive developments in the oil and gas district of Oklahoma. Mr. Sinclair's interests are not entirely confined to oil and gas, and banking as he is one of the meu of varied affairs in the business and civic life of Tulsa.

A native of Wheeling, West Virginia, where he was born July 6, 1876, Harry F. Sinclair is a son of John and Phoebe (Simmons) Sinclair. His father was born across the Ohio River from Wheeling at Woodsfield, Ohio, and died in 1899 at the age of fifty-one. The mother was born in Wheeling and is still living. There are two children, and Mr. Sinclair's older brother is Earl W., now first vice president of the Exchange National Bank of Tulsa. These brothers have reason to be proud of their father's record as a Union soldier during the Civil war. He enlisted and went to the front when still in his teens, and by gallantry and merit was ad- vanced to the rank of lieutenant, and was one of the youngest commissioned lieutenants in the Union army. After the war he engaged in the wholesale drug business at Wheeling, subsequently removing to Independence, Kansas, and was a retail druggist in that city until his death. He and his wife were members of the Presby- terian Church and in politics he was a republican.

It was in Southern Kansas that Harry F. Sinclair spent his early life. His education came from the public schools at Independence and he was also a student of the University of Kansas. On the death of his father he assumed the responsibilities of managing the drug store at Independence. This seemed to him a slow way to fortune, and his energies and talents required a more expansive field. At the age of twenty-six he sold out in order to give his entire attention to the oil de- velopments which were then attracting the notice of the' world in the southern part of the Kansas. With only limited capital and with practically no experience, he staked both his faith and credit in sinking one of the pioneer wells in the district about Independence. He struck oil sand and one success quickly led to another.

It was a natural transition for him to transfer his en- terprise to Oklahoma, just across the line from Kansas. Here he was among the first to operate successfully in the oil fields. His first well in this state was put down near the Kansas line. Unlike many operators his "strikes" have been much more numerous than his fail- ures, and there are now few men who would not readily follow the judgment of Harry F. Sinclair in anything connected with oil and gas. Old timers in the business about Tulsa give him credit of being one of the shrewdest operators in the country, and if anyone could be pro- nounced an infallible authority in productive oil opera- tions, probably Mr. Sinclair would have as valid a claim to such title as any man in Oklahoma. In making up his successful record as a business man the two qualities of ability and reliability have gone hand in hand, and men who deal with him have as much confidence in his integrity as they have in his judgment. At the present time he is a member of the firm of White & Sinclair, which is one of the largest if not the largest operating company in the State of Oklahoma. He also entered into the national game, baseball, for recreation and pastime and, seeing the possibilities for a successful busi- ness on a big scale, will devote his time to proving his efforts in this line as successful as his oil interests and banking institutions. In one of the recent publica- tions it was said of him that: "By his recent action in reducing the price of admission to big league baseball, Harry F. Sinclair, millionaire owner of the Newark Fed- eral league team, has thrilled the baseball world and has made Newark, New Jersey, the center of a storm which will only cease after the novel experiment has been given adequate time to show its worth. "'

Mr. Sinclair is also a vice president and director of the Exchange National Bank of Tulsa and is a director of the First National Bank of Independence, Kansas. He is affiliated with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and with a number of social clubs. Politically his actions are independent of party. On June 20, 1904, he married Elizabeth M. Farrell, who was born in Kansas. While his career has brought him wealth and abundance, Mr. Sinclair has not been spoiled by good fortune, is plain spoken and modest, pleasant in all his personal and business relations, and one of the most public spirited citizens of whom Tulsa as a community is proud.

BENJAMIN H. FRICK. The unusual experience of a man spending twenty-five years in the railroad business, during which time he was promoted from brakeman to the position of general superintendent, and leaving that vocation to enter manufacturing on a small scale in a small town, is found in the career of Benjamin H. Frick, secretary, treasurer and manager of the Ada Ice and Cold Storage Company, of Ada. He was a conductor at nineteen years of age and so youthful looking that frequently passengers hesitated before handing him their tickets. A few years later he was familiar with inany of the important details of railroad engineering and building and possessed a general knowledge of the superintendency of a railroad system. Another unusual experience relates to his birthi. It took place on a steamboat on the Missouri River, while his mother was visiting his father, who was ill on the boat, and it has not been determined whether he was born in Missouri or in Kansas. His inother, however, took him fifteen days later to the Frick Home, at Savannah, Missouri, and he is content with saying that he was born in that state.

Mr. Frick was born in 1868 and is a son of Hezall and Frances (Whitaker) Frick. His father, who was a native of Pennsylvania, and who died April 20, 1914, at the age of ninety-three years, was for many years owner and operator of flour and lumber mills at Atchi- son, Kansas, and during the Civil war these plants served supplies to the armies of both the North and the South. The Fricks are of German ancestry, but the first of the family that came to America settled in Pennsylvania early in 1600. There were three brothers, and from one branch of the family sprang the Fricks who are large manufacturers in Waynesboro, Pennsyl- vania, and Henry Clay Frick, who is associated with Andrew Carnegie in the steel business and is owner of the Fort Smith & Western Railroad that partly crosses Oklahoma. The mother of Mr. Frick is descended from the family that produced Capt. John Smith, of Colonial days, and she was related to Mrs. William McKinley and many other Americans who are said to share in a large estate left by Captain Smith, the control of which for generations has been in the Bank of England. Charles Whitaker, a brother of Mrs. Frick, was a pioneer editor of Missouri and during the Civil war conducted at Savannah, Missouri, a paper that sympathized with the Confederacy. His sons are now editors of the Daily Democrat, at Clinton, Missouri. Charles Whitaker was influential in politics, and Senator William Stone of Missouri as a young man was a protege of Whitaker's. The Whitaker family is of Irish extraction and Mr. Frick's maternal grandfather was a Methodist preacher of Ireland who became an early settler of Wheeling, West Virginia.

Mr. Frick's primary education was obtained in the public schools, and at the age of seventeen years he entered railroad work as a brakeman. In line of promo- „tion and in service for several companies, he filled the

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HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

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positions of baggage and express agent, conductor, rainmaster, superintendent, general freight and pas- enger agent and traveling auditor for a railroad pool. During this service he was general freight and passenger gent of the DeQueen & Eastern Railroad in Arkansas, nd later was appointed, by the United States Court, eceiver of the Kansas & Southern. At DeQueen, Arkan- as, he became interested in the ice manufacturing busi- ess and was secretary and treasurer of an ice com- any operating there. He was also for a time a mem- er of the board of directors of an ice plant at Kansas City. He came to Ada in 1908 and bought an ice plant hat then had a capacity of ten tons. During the last ew years the capacity has been increased to fifty tons nd the plant is one of the largest and most modern n Eastern Oklahoma. It supplies all the trade of the ounty save that of one town and two railroad com- anies. The plant has a large storage capacity, excel- ent railroad facilities, and the ice is made from Byrds Mill spring water, a liquid of such superior quality that t has made the town of Ada noted throughout the tate. C. W. Dawley, of McAlester, Oklahoma, one of he wealthiest manufacturers of the Southwest, who wns an interest in eighteen ice plants in Oklahoma, l'exas, Louisiana and Arkansas, is president of the Ada ce and Cold Storage Company. Other stockholders and hirectors are: T. G. McCrosky, of Kansas City, who vas for a number of years president of the Livestock Exchange at Kansas City, and Dr. H. D. Hamilton, a rominent physician of Kansas 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