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 39

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 39

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Mr. Frick has a sister, Miss Anna Frick, who for a humber of years has been assistant treasurer of Swift Company, packers, of Chicago, and is in charge of he Kansas City offices of that concern. Mr. Frick is member of the Elks Lodge and a director in the Ada Commercial Club. He is a member of the Oklahoma ce Manufacturers' Association and the Southwestern ce Manufacturers' Association and has served as a mem- er of the executive committee of the former. He is nterested in the development of the gas and oil industry in the vicinity of Ada and also has other property inter- ests in Oklahoma and Texas. He is a man of practical commercial ideas and a never-tiring worker for the up- building of the town.

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DR. F. B. STOBAUGH. In the days of the early settle- ment of that large area which included the southern part of the Chickasaw nation, the region was much less health- ful than at present, owing to the great prevalence of malaria, which manifested itself in the form of ague, es r "chills and fever." Many white settlers were forced to leave the region on this account and give up the pros- al pect of wealth and growing fortune in order to save the health of themselves and their families. It was not until about fifteen years ago that the leading doctors Ch of the Chickasaw country attempted to grapple with the er problem in a systematic and scientific manner, but since then wonders have been accomplished. Among the fore- most workers in this line has been Dr. F. B. Stobaugh, who settled at Mannsville in 1901. So successful has he been that it has been several years since he has treated a case of malaria that originated in his terri- f S.

tory, and during the year 1914 he treated but one case of typhoid fever. An account of the ridding of this country of malaria would make one of the important chapters in the history of its development.

Doctor Stobaugh was born at Choctaw, Arkansas, January 9, 1866, a son of William and Mintie (Trai- wick) Stobaugh. His father and paternal grandfather were Confederate soldiers. The latter, who was captain and chaplain in the Sixteenth Arkansas Volunteer Regi-

ment, was fatally wounded at the Battle of Shiloh thirty minutes after General Albert Sidney Johnston fell. Wil- liam Stobaugh, the Doctor's father, was a pioneer set- tler in Arkansas. He was a member of the Nineteenth Arkansas Volunteer Infantry of the Confederate States army and during the war was wounded and left for dead on the field at Covington, Kentucky. He was found by Union soldiers, who were scouring the field after the battle, one of them being attracted to the wounded Con- federate by the Masonic button on his coat. They picked him up, treated him tenderly and nursed him back to health. He accompanied them to Indiana, where he re- mained a few years before returning to Arkansas. On his return home he assisted in rebuilding his part of the country and did a good deal to help the poor. In 1876 he entered into the mill business at Choctaw and has continued in it up to the present time. Doctor Sto- baugh's paternal ancestry were of German origin. His mother's people were of Scotch ancestry and his genealog- ical line has been traced back many generations, show- ing a close connection with the royal house of Scot- land.

F. B. Stobaugh acquired but a meager education in the common schools of Arkansas and was advanced only to the third grade when at the age of seventeen he en- tered the Clinton Male and Female Academy at Clinton, Arkansas. He finished the course there in three and a half years, receiving the degree of Bachelor of Arts. Afterwards he taught school for four years, during which time he studied medicine. He took his first course of lectures in 1888-89 and a second course in 1889-90, and thereafter for six years was engaged in practice, com- pleting his medical degree work in 1898. For eleven years he practiced at Holland, Arkansas, moving from there in 1901 to Mannsville, of which place he has since been a resident. He is a member of the Johnston County, Oklahoma State and American Medical associations, and has for four years been president of the county organi- zation. In 1906 he completed a post-graduate course in the New Orleans Polyclinic, and another post-gradu- ate course in 1908 at Tulane University, New Orleans. In Freemasonry Doctor Stobaugh is well advanced, be- ing a member of the Blue Lodge at Mannsville, of which he was senior deacon eighteen years and has been mas- ter two years; also of Chapter No. 40, R. A. M., the Council of Tishomingo and the Commandery at Ardmore. He also belongs to the Woodmen's and Odd Fellows' lodges. His medical ability is recognized throughout this section and he is now serving as city health officer of Mannsville, being also a member of the board of educa- tion. Aside from his profession he takes an active inter- est in agriculture, owning a valuable farm near Manns- ville that his son is cultivating.

Doctor Stobaugh was first married, May 15, 1892, at Holland, Arkansas, to Miss Agnes Garrett. He was mar- ried again at Holland, October 30, 1901, to Miss Kath- erine Mabry. His children are: J. Guy, now twenty- two years old, who spent two years in the University of Oklahoma and is engaged in farming near Mannsville, as above mentioned, and Margaret Helen, aged thirteen. Doctor Stobaugh has two brothers and two sisters, namely : John T. Stobaugh, an attorney at Tishomingo; William Riley Stobaugh, a farmer at Big Branch, Arkansas; Mrs. Lizzie C. Jennings, who is the widow of a lumber dealer and resides at Durant, Oklahoma, and Mrs. Nettie G. Hamilton, the wife of a farmer and druggist at Alex, Oklahoma.

JOSEPH A. BARTLES. The many interests and activities so firmly established and long sustained by the late Col. J. H. Bartles, the founder of the two flourishing cities

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of Bartlesville and Dewey, are now being capably con- tinued through his son, Joseph A. Bartles, of Dewey.

Joseph A. Bartles was born on Turkey Creek in Chero- kee Nation December 15, 1874, a son of Col. J. H. and Nannie M. Bartles, and a grandson of Chief Journey- eake, prominent as one of the leaders of the Delaware Tribe and a Baptist preacher and missionary. This is sufficient reference to Mr. Bartles' family, since space is given to his father on other pages.

Joseph A. Bartles now lives within about four miles of his birthplace, and his home has been in Washington County practically all his life. He gained his first les- lons at the knees of his mother, and then attended a private school. At the age of twelve he was sent to a school at Bacone, near the City of Muskogee, and after three or four years there entered the Kirkwood Military Academy in Missouri. His ambition at that time was to enter the West Point Military Academy, and it was in preparation for this that he attended the Kirkwood institution. However, after three years he left school and abandoned his intention of becoming a military officer. Returning home, he found employment in look- ing after his father's interests and in business for him- self. He first took charge of a cattle outfit for his father, and retained his relations with the eattle business until about six years ago. From 1900 to 1908, he was in the general merchandise business at Dewey. For a number of years, however, he has been an active factor in the development of the oil and gas resources of Northern Oklahoma. He is president of the Delaware- Cherokee Oil Company, is treasurer of the Bartles Oil Company and president of the Dewey Gas Company. Most of his time is now given to the oil and gas industry, and also to farming and the handling of real estate, both city and farm property. He is a stockholder in the First National Bank of Dewey, and was one of the original stockholders of the Interurban Railroad built between Bartlesville and Dewey.

As a substantial business man and public spirited citi- zen, Mr. Bartles has come into useful relations with many prominent enterprises in his section of the state. Throughout his active career he has voted and worked with the republican party, and was defeated by seventy- seven votes as republican candidate for delegate to the State Constitutional Convention. In Masonry he has attained thirty-two degrees in Scottish Rite, is a mem- ber of the Mystic Shrine, and also affiliates with the Knights of Pythias and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He was a subscriber to the bonds issued for the building of the Elks' Home at Bartlesville. In religious matters he was reared in the Baptist Church, of which his grandfather was a prominent member and preacher. On June 18, 1913, Mr. Bartles married Miss Edith Ross of Oklahoma City. They lost their two children, Nancy Jane and Mary Jean.

FINIS E. RIDDLE. The State of Oklahoma has been signally fortunate in enlisting on the bench of its Supreme Court the services of lawyers and jurists of high personal and professional standing, and as an associate justice of this tribunal, as well as a representative mem- ber of the bar of this vigorous young commonwealth, Judge Riddle merits definite recognition in this history, as does he also by reason of his prominence as a loyal and progressive citizen of the state.

Judge Riddle was born in Moore County, Tennessee, in July, 1870, and is a son of Martin V. and Theresa (Tucker) Riddle, both likewise natives of Tennessee, where the father still maintains his home, having cele- brated in 1914 his seventy-seventh birthday anniversary, his wife, who was a daughter of a prominent and hon- ored physician of Tennessee, having passed to the life

eternal in January, 1911. Martin V. Riddle is a man of strong character and symmetrical intellectuality, many years of his active life having been devoted to effective service as a teacher in the schools of his native state, where he commands the unqualified esteem of all who know him.

Ile whose name introduces this review acquired his early education under the able direction of his father, supplemented this by attending for two years Maple College, iu Teunessee, after which he entered the Hol- brook Normal College, at Lebanon, Ohio, where he com- pleted a higher academic course and in a preliminary way fortified himself for the technical study which was soon to engross his attention. In the office of Samuel A. Billings, a representative member of the bar of Lyuch- burg, Tennessee, he carefully prosecuted the reading of law under most auspicious conditions, and in January, 1894, he was admitted to the bar of his native state. Convinced that in the progressive West were offered splendid opportunities for advancement and success in the profession of his choice, Judge Riddle came forthwith to Oklahoma as now constituted, and made settlement at Chickasha, Indian Territory, this thriving city being now the capital or judicial center of Grady County. There he engaged in the active general practice of his pro- fession, in which his ability and earnest application soon gained to him precedence and high reputation as a ver- satile trial lawyer and well equipped counselor. He became one of the leading members of the bar of that section of the territory and was retained in nearly all of the important and intricate cases presented in the various territorial courts, his practice having become one of extensive and important order long before the organiza- tion of the State of Oklahoma. At Chickasha he con- tinued his successful professional endeavors until April, 1914, when he was appointed associate justice of the Supreme Court of Oklahoma, to fill out the unexpired term of Chief Justice Hayes, this term ending in Jan- uary, 1915. While thus serving, and that with marked ability, on the bench of the Supreme Court, Judge Riddle has continued his residence at Chickasha, and it may consistently be said that he is one of the progressive and public-spirited citizens who have been specially influential in the civic and material development and upbuilding of that city. Siuce 1904 Judge Riddle has been eligible for practice in the Supreme Court of the United States, before which tribunal he has presented a number of important causes. He is an appreciative member of the American Bar Association and an influential member of the Oklahoma State Bar Association and the Grady County Bar Association, of which latter he was presi- dent in 1912.

In politics Judge Riddle is a staunch and effective exponent of the principles of the democratic party, and both he and his wife hold membership in the Cumber- land Presbyterian Church. At Chickasha he is affiliated with Washita Valley Lodge, No. 143, Knights of Pythias, of which he is past chancellor, and with the lodges of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Benevo- lent and Protective Order of Elks.

In the year 1896 was solemnized the marriage of Judge Riddle to Miss Letitia Cloud, daughter of Isaac and Lockie Cloud, of Gainesville, Texas. Mr. Cloud was one of the prominent representatives of the great cattle industry under the old regime of the open range and his operations, of large ramifications, extended also into Indian Territory. He still maintains his residence in the Lone Star State, his wife being deceased. Judge and Mrs. Riddle have one daughter, Frances Alee Riddle, who was born in 1900 and who has shown herself to be a truc daughter of the great West, especially in her skill

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HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

as an equestrienne. Her fine horsemanship gained for her the blue ribbon at the Oklahoma State Fair in 1914.

JACK T. JONES. Among the men who have been active in the development of Oklahoma City's interests in the line of real estate, there is undoubtedly no better known figure than Jack T. Jones. Coming to this city in 1903 as a traveling salesman, he soon realized the opportuni- ties opening up in the growth and development of this magic municipality, and during the last six years his activities in the realty field have probably accomplished as much for the advancement of his adopted community as those of any other individual. At the present time Mr. Jones is a member of the Higgins-Jones Realty Company, recognized as one of the leading concerns in the state.

Jack T. Jones was born at Thomastown, Summit County, Ohio, September 15, 1868, and is a son of Enoch H. and Margaret (Gardner) Jones, natives of Wales. His early advantages were not unusual in character, but he attended the public schools of Thomastown, and being a studious youth, with a retentive mind, made the most of his opportunities and secured a good public school education. On completing his studies, he served an ap- prenticeship with the Morgan Engineering Company, at Alliance, Ohio, following which he became a traveling salesman for New York and Cincinnati houses and in this capacity came to Oklahoma City, in 1903. Being favorably impressed by the new city, he made his head- quarters here, and while engaged in traveling over a wide territory for several firms, invested his earnings in real estate here, with such success that in 1909 he gave up all other interests to devote his time to the real estate business. He early became interested in buying large tracts of land, which he' platted and sold off in town lots, among these being such well known subdivisions as Higgins Heights and Jones Grove. He continues to be a holder of much valuable property in Oklahoma City and a live wire in the handling of such property, and lives in a handsome home of his own, at No. 2807 Classen Boulevard.

Mr. Jones is a thirty-second degree Mason, a Knight Templar and a Shriner, and has brought distinction to his order and his state by being recognized by the Imperial Council of the Ancient Arabic Order, Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, and being elected as imperial captain of the guard of that body. This position places him in position, if the regular order is followed, to reach the topmost official round of the ladder in a very few years. He is also past illustrious potentate of the India Temple, and holds membership in the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.

Mr. Jones is in many ways one of the best known men in the country residing in Oklahoma. One of his chief assets in gaining success in life has been his marvelous memory of men, their names and their faces, it being said that he can call more men by their names through- out the country than almost any man living. Jack Jones, as he is everywhere known, is also as well known to the people of Oklahoma City as any other man, and his cheerful countenance never fails to brighten the faces of those he meets. He carries a sunny smile that never darkens or rubs off, and in his contact with people of all classes he is ever an inspiration and a helpful spirit. To use a colloquialism, he is a "booster of the blood loyal," always liberal in his support of everything of- fered that promises for the betterment of the city and state, and his friends and admirers are only restricted in number by those who know him well. There is never any limit to his energy or his willingness to keep up his end of any load, any more than there is to his congenial con- duct toward those whom he meets.

Mr. Jones was married at Oklahoma City, January 16, 1907, to Miss Estelle Higgins, daughter of Dr. R. W. Higgins, a native of Kentucky, and Susan A. (Erwin) Higgins, a native of Missouri. Mrs. Jones is a member of the Christian Science Church.

BAXTER TAYLOR. Shortly before the admission of Oklahoma as one of the sovereign states of the Union and after Gov. Robert Taylor, of Tennessee, had re- turned home from a lecture in which Oklahoma had been included, that executive said to his nephew, Baxter Taylor, that Oklahoma was in need of ambitious, indus- trious young men. "Go out to that country, Baxter," he said. "Go to Atoka. I've been there recently and the town wants a newspaper man. Get yourself a plant and go into business. Statehood is coming soon, and when it comes you can enter the practice of law and make a success."

Baxter Taylor heeded his uncle's advice and came to the West. He established his residence at. Atoka in 1906. the year before the admission of the state to the Union, and here he became editor of the Atoka Democrat. Prior to that time he had held an editorial position on the Courier, at Bristol, Tennessee.

The removal of Baxter Taylor to Oklahoma was his- torically significant to himself, and that significance is the basis of some interesting events bearing upon the history of Oklahoma. When Andrew Johnson, of Ten- nessee, became President of the United States, one of his early acts was the appointment of Nathaniel G. Tay- lor, of Tennessee, as commissioner of Indian affairs. Johnson and Taylor had been opponents in Tennessee politics, but both had represented that State in Congress, where their superficial political enmity was absorbed by their comradeship. Commissioner Taylor made a visit to what is now the State of Oklahoma and found the need of more military protection for the frontier settlers. Upon his recommendation Fort Sill was founded, in the late '60s. Taylor visited a number of the tribes in the Indian Territory and here familiarized himself with points that are now of great historic interest, the while he formed a friendship with John Ross, chief of the Cher- okees. He was accompanied on the trip by his son Alfred, who later served with distinction as congressman from Tennessee, and by Henry M. Stanley, a journalist, connected with a Cincinnati commercial paper, and who later achieved worldwide reputation through the medium of his great explorations in Africa. The building, there- fore, in Oklahoma as now constituted, of one of the most important military posts in the United States had its inspiration and inception in the recommendation made by the paternal grandfather of Baxter Taylor.

The other specially interesting and somewhat coinci- dental thing is that Mr. Taylor now lives in a community that was visited during the Civil war by John T. Thomas, a soldier in the Confederate command of General Price. Thomas traversed the Indian Territory on his way to Texas, in which state he became a pioneer settler of Kauffman County, where his marriage was solemnized. In later years the family removed to Tennessee, and it was at Bristol, that state, in 1907, that Baxter Taylor was united in marriage to Miss Love Thomas. As the forebears of each had been granted definite pioneer experience in the West, so Mr. and Mrs. Taylor set out for the same great section of our national domain, here to initiate, under conditions far different than those to which they had been accustomed, their wedded life.

Baxter Taylor was born at Happy Valley, or Watanga Point, as the place is likewise known, in Carter County, Tennessee, on the 20th of January, 1877. He is a son of James P. Taylor, who is the eldest brother of Robert and Alfred Taylor, two of the most distinguished public

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men that Tennessee has produced. James P. Taylor is a man of much learning and culture, but of a nature to whom publicity and notoriety are abhorrent. He has, therefore, spent his life quietly with his family and his books. Whatever ambitions he may have cherished in his youth as tending to statesmanship he transmitted to his younger brothers, Robert and Alfred, who were in- debted to him for their excellent training in their young manhood and each of whom has served as governor of Tennessee. In recent years James P. Taylor has to somo extent devoted his attention to literary work. One of his recent productions, a monologue that was inspired by the great European war and that is written in classi- cal blank verse, represents the war demon as speaking, and it has been by high authorities pronounced one of the literary masterpieces called forth by the terrible con- flict of military forces iu Europe.

The maiden name of the mother of Baxter Taylor was Mary Susan George, and she is a daughter of James D. George, who was a native of Tennessee and who became a pioneer settler of Grayson County, Texas, he being well remembered by hundreds of former Texans who are now living in Southern Oklahoma. The wife of Mr. George died shortly after the birth of her daugh- ter Mary Susan, who was reared in the home of kinsfolk in Tennessee, her father never having seen her from the time of her infancy until she had become a woman.

The early education of Baxter Taylor was acquired in the public schools of Tennessee, and after a course in the high school at Johnson City he eventually entered Washington College, that state, where he pursued higher academic studies. In preparation for his chosen pro- fession he entered the law department of Cumberland University, at Lebanon, Tennessee, in which he was grad- uated as a member of the class of 1901 and from which he received his degree of Bachelor of Laws. Shortly afterward he became identified with newspaper work, and prior to coming to Oklahoma he had been associate editor of a paper at Bristol, Tennessee, as previously noted in this context.

In early manhood Mr. Taylor was a close companion and a veritable protege of his distinguished uncle, Hon. Robert Taylor, former governor of Tennessee, and this honored kinsman made it possible to complete his edu- cation under auspicious circumstances.

Mr. Taylor began the practice of law at Atoka in 1907, and a little later he was elected to the bench of the County Court of Atoka County, being the second incumbent of this office after Oklahoma had been ad- mitted to statehood. He holds unequivocal prestige as one of the leading members of the bar of this section of the state and controls a large and representative prac- tice. He holds membership in the Atoka County Bar Association and the Atoka Commercial Club, is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity and the Modern Woodmen of America, and both he and his wife hold membership in the Presbyterian Church.

Mr. and Mrs. Taylor have three children: James P. is a scion of the forth generation of the family to bear this personal or Christian name; Baxter, Jr., is named in honor of his father; and Robert Love Taylor will in his generation perpetuate the name of one of Tennessee's greatest men.

JAMES H. JOHNSTON. It is specially gratifying to accord in this volume specific recognition to so large a number of the representative factors in the educational circles of Oklahoma, and among the able and highly es- teemed members of the pedagogic profession who are holding responsible and important educational office in the state is Professor James Harvey Johnston, who is the efficient and popular superintendent of the public

schools of the City of Marietta, judicial center of Love County.

Professor Johnston claims the Lone Star State as the place of his nativity, is a scion of sterling pioneer fami- lies of that commonwealth and his paternal ancestors came from Scotland and settled in the Carolinas in tho Colonial period of our national history, representatives of the name thence removing to Tennessee and becoming pioneers of that state. Robert Martin Johnston, grand- father of the subject of this review, passed his entire life in Tennessee, where he was killed by a horse, when comparatively a young man. His widow later became the wife of Henry King, and in 1850 the family removed to Texas, where Mr. and Mrs. King passed the remainder of their lives and where he became a pioneer farmer and cattle man. At the King homestead in Texas was entertained General Zachariah Taylor, when that gallant officer of the Mexican war was passing through Texas along the old military road, on his way to Mexico. Mr. Johnston 's maternal grandfather, Benjamin C. King, was born and reared in South Carolina and in 1845 became a pioneer settler near Omaha, Morris County, Texas, where he engaged in farming and stock-growing, and where he and his wife continued to reside until their death.

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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