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 42

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 42

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Alexander Gullett acquired his early education in the public schools of Indiana. During the Civil war, being then a young man under age, he obeyed the call of patri- otism, joined the Sixty-ninth Indiana Regiment and was wounded at Vicksburg. His public school education was supplemented by a scientific course at Holbrook University, Lebanon, Ohio, and still later by a special course in the Northwestern Christian University at

Indianapolis, after which he was engaged in teaching for three years. In 1870 he was appointed clerk of the Committee on Indian Affairs of the National House of Representatives, under Chairman John C. P. Shanks, of Indiana, and served for three years, during which time he studied law in a night school connected with George- town University. In 1872 he began the practice of his profession at Union City, Indiana, and shortly afterward was elected district attorney, a position he filled one term, returning then to the regular practice of law. While in Washington he had made the acquaintance of James A. Garfield, who afterwards became President, and the two became fast friends, young Gullett being a member of Garfield's Sunday school class. In 1880 Judge Gullett, having formed an intimate friendship with Senator Teller, moved to Colorado, locating at Gunnison, where he lived for eighteen years. Here his abilities attracted attention and he began to come into public notice. For six years he was a member of the State Penitentiary Commission. He was a friend of Moffatt, the railroad builder, and sought to have Moffatt build the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad over a more direct route into the West, a route that would have re- quired the digging of a tunnel through the backbone of the Continent, with an exit into fertile valleys and lucra- tive mining districts beyond. His activities while a resident of Colorado for eighteen years were a not in- considerable factor in that state's development. He was a prominent figure in political circles and a close friend of many of the leading men in the state. In 1896 Judge Gullett refused to head a delegation to the National Republican Convention when he saw the probability of his old friend Senator Teller and the senator's friends walking out of the convention because of their stand on the silver question. In 1900 Judge Hosea Townsend, who had been Judge Gullett's friend in Indiana, was appointed judge of the United States Court of the Southern District of Indian Territory. There was a vacancy in the office of United States commissioner in the district and Judge Gullett was asked to accept the appointment, which he did. During the next few years he tried many interesting cases at Ardmore, Duncan and other points. Later he was transferred to Tishomingo and in 1905 was appointed assistant United States attor- ney. He was one of the first men of Indian Territory to advocate single statehood for the two territories, and at a time when such advocacy was very unpopular. Judge Gullett took a lively interest in the election of delegates to the Constitutional convention and for a time was chairman of the Republican Central Committee of the county. He organized the Tishomingo State Bank here, but for a number of years his activities have been con- fined chiefly to the practice of law, making a specialty of real estate and title practice. For half a century Judge Gullett's associations have been with men of public affairs, many of them of national reputation. In the National Republican Convention of 1884, to which he was a delegate from Colorado, Judge Gullett's friends laid the groundwork by which, had Chester A. Arthur been the nominee rather than James G. Blaine, he would have been governor of Colorado. On a previous occa- sion, four years earlier, when he first settled in Colorado, had political fortune taken the turn in his favor, he would have been judge in that state of the United States District Court. These disappointments, however, he took in a philosophical spirit, playing the game of politics largely for the sport of it, and devoting himself studiously to his profession, to the forming of friend- ships and to the material and moral advancement of the communities in which he has lived.

Judge Gullett was married August 6, 1864, at Union

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City, Indiana, to Miss Susanna Turner. He is a member of the Christian Church, the Masonic order, the Johnston County Bar Association and the local post of the Grand Army of the Republic.

HON. THOMAS F. MEMMINGER. With a long and varied experience as banker, farmer, stockman and in the political life of Nebraska, Thomas F. Memminger came to Indian Territory in 1905. In the past ten years his interests have grown to become an important factor in the eastern section of the state, particularly at Atoka. The first year in Indian Territory he spent at Durant, but since that time his home has been in Atoka.

In 1908 he bought an interest in the Atoka State Bank, of which he is president, with John Ray vice president and Charles Memminger, his son, assistant cashier. Other directors are A. S. Burrows, president of the First State Bank of Denison, Texas; and O. L. Dulaney, of Wayne, Oklahoma. This bank, which is capitalized at $20,000, has the unique distinction of never having a law suit or mortgage foreclosure. Since coming to Eastern Okla- homa Mr. Memminger has acquired extensive land hold- ings around Atoka, and has proved a vital factor in the agricultural development of that region.

In fact, it is as a practical business executive that Mr. Memminger's greatest influence has been exerted. He has done more than merely share in the routine accomplishment of the world, and has usually been a leader in formulating and developing material affairs wherever he has lived.

Those in close touch with and students of Oklahoma political affairs since statehood gave Mr. Memminger great credit for his influence as a legislator during seven years' membership in the State Senate. However, he is himself inclined to disparage his political activities, is averse to being termed a politician, and asserts that he takes no interest in politics, only for the good of the state and county in which he lives. Senator Memminger has drawn an interesting and praiseworthy distinction which is deserving of much consideration. In reading history he has been impressed by the fact that the greater part of the narrative is devoted to war and battles. Hence the student frequently becomes imbued with the idea that to become prominent one must be a soldier. A similar error, in his opinion, is made in writing the annals of men in the modern times of peace and industry. As a result so much prominence is given to politics as to lead to the belief that the only way to be successful is to hold office. A great many people will be found to agree with Senator Memminger that in the American democracy political activity is only one manifestation of good citizenship, and that there are many other fields equally worthy as objects of attain- ment and aspiration.

Mr. Memminger was first elected to the Upper House of the Oklahoma State Legislature in 1907, as a col- league of Senator Jesse Hatchett of Durant, from the district comprising Atoka, Bryan and Coal counties. During the first session of the Legislature he was chair- man of the committee on public indebtedness and con- tingent expenses. The work assigned to the committee was most important because of the indebtedness incurred in framing the constitution, and as a widely experienced banker and business man he was able to render service in sifting claims and in properly conserving the financial resources of the new state. During the next session he was chairman of the committee on printing, and here, too, he was able to be useful, since there was a strong influence at work to limit the public printing account, particularly in view of the fact that one of the gravest charges made against the territorial government was

that of printing extravagance. During the third session Senator Memminger was chairman of the committee on appropriations. Thus throughout his seven years in the Senate he was one of those called upon to safeguard the public treasury. During the last session of which he was a member he was chairman of the committee on insurance and chairman of the committee on mines and manufacturing. His second term as senator ended in 1914. He was consistently an opponent of excessive appropriations, but just as consistently an advocate of justly necessary appropriations. He was in the Legisla- ture that created and established practically all state institutions not provided in the constitution, and was author of the bill creating the State School for the Deaf, subsequently located at Sulphur.

Thomas F. Memminger was born at Wheeling, West Virginia, in 1869. Five of his sisters still live at Wheel- ing, where his mother also resides. Another sister is Mrs. C. B. Burrows of Tishomingo, Oklahoma.

Reared and educated in that section of the East, he came West at the age of twenty-one and at Clinton, Iowa, entered the meat packing business in partnership with a Mr. Zeckear, a German who had been a close friend of his father in West Virginia. With varying degrees of success he remained in Clinton for two years, and then became associated with Mr. Luikhart in the purchase of a bank in Madison County, Nebraska. There during the next twenty years his activities related to banking, agriculture, live stock and politics. His bank- ing associations became extended and at one time he was an officer in three financial concerns. He assisted in tho organization of the Elkhorn Valley Life and Acci- dent Association, of which he is still vice president and director. Associated with him during a part of the time spent in Nebraska was John Robinson, whom he had known in West Virginia, and who served two terms in Congress from Nebraska.

While in Madison County, Nebraska, Mr. Memminger was twice clected county treasurer, being the youngest man in the state to hold that post. He took a leading part in the campaign that resulted in the election of Judge W. V. Allen of Madison County to the United States Senate. Mr. Memminger's business associate, Mr. Luikhart, had become a member of the Legislature which doubled the support Madison County offered her candidate. J. Sterling Morton, who had been secretary of agriculture under President Cleveland, held a handful of democrats under control after the populists had nomi- nated Judge Allen, and it was only after five days of a deadlock in the Legislature that he released his followers and thereby insured the election of Mr. Allen. In rec- ognition of the services rendered by Mr. Memminger, Senator Allen chose him as his secretary and the latter remained in Washington three years. After returning to Nebraska he was elected a member of the Legislature from Madison County, and served two terms, beginning in 1899. In that section of the state the democrats up to that time had nearly always been unsuccessful. Dur- ing his campaign for reelection he was employed in the Madison State Bank at Tilden and took little part in the canvass. While in the Legislature he secured an appro- priation of $100,000 for the rebuilding of a state insane asylum at Norfolk, Madison County, which had been burned, and the rebuilding of which was stoutly opposed by interests at Lincoln, where another similar institution was located. Mr. Memminger is affiliated with the Masonic Order and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.

In 1890, while in Nebraska, he married Miss Maggie Burrows, whose father was for many years a prominent man of Clark County, Iowa. They have two children:

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Charles and Martha. The daughter has spent a year in the Oklahoma State University. Charles Memminger, the son, was a page in the first Legislature and in 1914 graduated from the University of Oklahoma. He assisted in the organization of the Young Men's Chris- tian Association at Atoka, the first organization of the kind in Indian Territory. He is now assistant cashier of the Atoka State Bank.

THOMAS A. BUCHANAN, M. D. Prominent in his pro- fession at Oklahoma City, Doctor Buchanan located there in 1903, and has enjoyed the success of a rapidly growing practice, with increasing prestige as a skilful surgeon. Aside from his profession he is interested in educational matters, was himself a teacher before entering his chosen field of work, and has been a very useful member of the Oklahoma City Board of Education.

Of Scotch-Irish stock, Thomas A. Buchanan was born on a farm in Leavenworth County, Kansas, in 1876. His parents, who are now living in Kansas City, are Thomas and Margaret (Cogan) Buchanan, his father a native of Ireland and his mother of Cincinnati, Ohio. When a small boy his father came to America with his parents, lived in New York City some years, and in 1857 became a pioneer of Kansas, where he had a very successful career as a farmer, and though now in his seventy-ninth year looks after his extensive agricultural interests with all the vigor of younger years.

Doctor Buchanan counts it his good fortune to have been reared on a farm, and the experiences and associa- tions of country life are closely interwoven in his char- acter. His first schooling was in the country districts of Leavenworth County, and his home was on the farm until twenty-one. In the intervals of farm work he secured a good education in the State Normal at Emporia, and for three years taught in his home county. Entering the med- ical department of the University of Illinois at Chicago, he was graduated M. D. in the class of 1903, and soon afterward came to Oklahoma City and began practice. A keen student, he keeps himself abreast of the times by his professional associations, and in 1909 attended the Post-Graduate School of Medicine in Chicago and in 1914 was in the Post-Graduate School of New York City. While engaged in general practice, he has been very successful in surgery, and is the local surgeon for the Santa Fe Railroad Company, and the medical examiner for several life insurance companies. He has member- ship in the county and state medical societies, and the Southwestern and American Medical associations.

Doctor Buchanan was elected a member of the board of education in his home city in 1909 and was re-elected each succeeding term until the pressure of his profession obliged him to decline the honor in 1915. He is a char- ter member of Oklahoma City Council No. 1038, Knights of Columbus, and belongs to the Phi Beta Pi college fraternity. He is a trustee of the St. Joseph's Cathedral of the Catholic Church at Oklahoma City. In 1905 Doc- tor Buchanan married Miss Winifred Brown, daughter of a prominent Illinois lawyer, Quit Brown, formerly of Pittsfield, and now of Denver, Colorado. Doctor Buch- anan's residence is at 426 West Tenth Street, and his offices in the Lee Building.

CHARLES B. AMES. A member of the law firm of Ames, Chambers, Lowe & Richardson, of Oklahoma City, with offices at 512-529 American National Bank Build- ing, Hon. Charles Bismark Ames was born in the City of Macon, Mississippi, on the 1st of August, 1870, and is a son of Charles Bingle Ames and Sarah Jane (Long- street) Ames. His father, who was a native of Ohio, became a resident of the State of Mississippi in 1831 and there continued to maintain his residence until his death,

in 1888; he was a lawyer by profession, was an extensive planter prior to the Civil war, during which conflict be- tween the North and the South he served in the Con- federate Army, and for a number of years he held the office of probate judge in Mississippi.

In .1890 Charles Bismark Ames was graduated in Emory & Henry College, at Emory, Virginia, with the degree of Bachelor of Science, and he then entered the law department of the University of Mississippi, in which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1892 and with the degree of Bachelor of Laws. He at once engaged in the practice of his profession in his native city, Macon, and there he remained until 1899, when he came to Oklahoma Territory and established his residence in Oklahoma City, where he formed a profes- sional partnership with H. H. Howard, the firm of Howard & Ames here continuing its practice until 1903, when Mr. Howard retired and was succeeded by Dennis T. Flynn, the substantial law business of the firm of Flynn & Ames having been controlled under this title until the 1st of September, 1911, when Mr. Ames was appointed by the Superme Court of Oklahoma, for the state at large, presiding justice of the Supreme Court Commission, Division No. 1:

In 1900 Mr. Ames wrote the platform of the territorial democratic convention, committing the party to joint statehood on the part of Oklahoma and Indian terri- tories, and subsequently he wrote the platform of the Claremore and Oklahoma joint statehood convention, composed of delegates from the two territories, besides which he otherwise took an active part in the movement that resulted in the creation of the one State of Okla- homa from the two territories.

In 1904 Mr. Ames was a delegate from the Oklahoma State Bar Association to the Universal Congress of Law- yers and Jurists in the City of St. Louis, Missouri. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and in 1911 was a delegate to the Ecumenical Methodist Conference in the City of Toronto, Canada.

On the 1st of March, 1913, Mr. Ames resigned from the Supreme Court Commission and resumed the practice of his profession, the present law firm of Ames, Cham bers, Lowe & Richardson having been formed at that time, with offices in the American National Bank Building.

On the 6th of February, 1894, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Ames to Miss Elizabeth P. Allen, daugh- ter of Benjamin Allen, of Macon, Mississippi, and they have five children-Ben A., Elizabeth, Charles B., Jr .. Fisher, and Longstreet. The family residence in Okla- homa City is at 401 West Fourteenth Street.

ROBERT. P. CARSON. Ideas backed with indefatigable energy-the desire and power to accomplish big things -these qualities make of success not an accident, but a logical result. The man of initiative is he who com- bines with a capacity for hard work an indomitable will. Such a man never recognizes failure and his final success is on a parity with his well-directed efforts. Althoughi his business experience has covered a very short period of time, Robert P. Carson has shown definitely that con- centration of energy and mind on a desired object results in success. During his incumbency as vice president of the First National Bank of Coalgate he has given evi- dence of marked business ability and he is known as one of the vigorous young boosters of this section of the state.

Robert P. Carson, grandfather of the subject of this review and in whose honor he was named, is a resident of Abington, Virginia. He was in the Confederate army during the Civil war and served as colonel in a Virginia regiment. He is descended from Sir Edward Carson, of

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Ireland, and his father assisted George Washington in surveying the present County of Washington in the Old Dominion Commonwealth. A number of Colonel Car- son's ancestors served in the war for independence and were influential citizens in the early days of Virginia. Dr. Joseph Henry Carson, son of Colonel Carson and father of our subject, was born in Washington County, Virginia. He was gradnated in the University of Vir- ginia, in the Virginia Military Institute and in the Belle- vue Hospital Medical College, of New York, in which latter well-known institution he received the degree of Doctor of Medicine. The year 1886 marks his advent in Coalgate and at that date this city was merely a mining camp. For many years he was one of the com- munity 's leading financiers and property owners and he accumulated a large fortune during his lifetime. He was president of the First National Bank of Coalgate and took a prominent part in all matters affecting the general welfare of Coal County. His demise, iu 1913, was a distinct loss to this section of the state and his memory will long remain green in the hearts of his many friends and acquaintances. He married Mary Catherine Cobb, whose father was a captain in the Confederate army during the Civil war and whose ancestors were likewise of Revolutionary stock. She is related to the Bensons, Beards and to the family that produced John C. Cal- houn. Mrs. Carson survives her husband and resides in Coalgate with her two sons: Robert Preston, of this notice; and Charles W., who was for two years at the A. N. College at Washington, D. C.

A native of Coalgate, Indian Territory, now Oklahoma, Robert Preston Carson was born in the year 1891. As a hoy he attended the public schools of his birthplace and subsequently was a student for two years in the University Preparatory School at Stanton, Virginia. In 1912 he was graduated, with the degree of Bachelor of Science, in the Virginia Military Institute, in which well- known college his father was graduated in 1878 and his grandfather in 1854. After completing his education he returned to Coalgate and in 1913 was elected vice presi- dent of the First National Bank, one of the strongest financial institutions in Eastern Oklahoma. Since the death of Doctor Carson, Michael Mayer has been presi- dent of this bank, and his son, Walter J. Mayer, is cash- ier. This is the second oldest bank in Coal County and it is incorporated with a capital stock of $30,000. F. C. Garner, now of Tulsa, was its first cashier, and with but one exception all the original stockholders are still with the bank and reside in Coal County. The bank is enrolled in the Federal Reserve Association of the Elev- enth District and its officers are members of the Coal County, the Oklahoma State and the American Bankers' associations.

In addition to his position as vice president of the First National Bank, Mr. Carson is president of the Coalgate Motor Company and secretary of the Mayer Oil & Gas Company, of Coalgate. He is a young bnsi- ness man of splendid financial discernment and one who is bound to win a high place for himself on the ladder of achievement in the years to come. Fraternally, he is affiliated with the Benevolent & Protective Order of Elks and he is eligible for membership in the Society of Oklahoma Sons of the Revolution. His religious connec- tions are with the Presbyterian Church. He is unmar- ried.

PATRICK A. GAVIN. While the Oklahoma bar now has some members who are natives of the state, to a large degree the profession has been recruited from other states. It is well known that Ohio has sent some of her ablest sons into the life of this southwestern common- wealth, and one of the lawyers of recognized ability and

high standing now practicing at Muskogee was reared and gained his first successes as a lawyer in the old Buckeye State.

Born at Stenbenville, Ohio, November 24, 1872, Pat- rick A. Gavin has many of the best qualities of the Irish race. His father, William Gavin, was a native of Ire- land, while his mother, whose maiden name was Catherine McKeown, was born in Pennsylvania but of Irish parent- age. In the old Town of Steubenville in Eastern Ohio, along the Ohio River, Patrick A. Gavin spent his youth. His early education came from the parochial and public schools, and at an early age he became self-supporting and was employed for a time in the local potteries. His literary education was rounded ont by a course in the Holy Ghost College of Pennsylvania, and for several years he pursued his law studies in the State University of Ohio. In 1895, after having passed an examination before the Supreme Court, Mr. Gavin was admitted to practice law in Ohio. After three years as a young lawyer at Steubenville, he moved toward the close of 1898 to Birmingham, Alabama, and remained in that city for a little more than a year. He then returned to Steubenville, and in ten years had established himself in a profitable practice. In 1908, attracted by the oppor- tunities and resources of the wonderful new state of the Southwest, Mr. Gavin located at Muskogee where he already has an enviable reputation as a lawyer and has made himself a considerable factor in local affairs. Mr. Gavin's offices are in the Phoenix Building.

A stanch and active democrat, aside from serving as assistant county attorney he has held no political office, and has found ample rewards for his ambition within the strict limits of his profession. He has taken a com- mendable and active part in all worthy measures and movements tending toward the public welfare since establishing his home in Muskogee. He is a member of the Commercial Club, of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and the Knights of Columbus. He was reared and is a faithful member of the Catholic Church. While living in Ohio Mr. Gavin was married in 1903 to Miss Nellie C. Cannon. Their two children are named William A. and Thomas J.

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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