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 66

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 66

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Ilowever, as a result of his constant appeals to his people, who had every reason to repose utmost con- fidence in his judgment and integrity, he succeeded early in 1896 in organizing the Tushkahoma Party which fav- ored treating with the Dawes Commissiou. In June of the same year a convention of the Tushkahoma Party was held in Atoka and nominated Hon. Green MeCurtain

for principal chief. The campaign for this election in August developed a greater political activity and more bitter animosity than was ever known to exist among the Choctaw people. Doctor Wright had charge of this campaign, and was successful in electing his candidate for chief and for members of the council. At the con- vening of the council in October, 1896, Doctor Wright was appointed on a commission of five to treat with the Dawes Commission.

The significant part of this was that this Choctaw Commission was the first appointed by any of the Five Civilized Tribes for negotiations with the Dawes Commis- sion. Out of these negotiations developed the movement

his which finally brought about the creation of the State of of Oklahoma, as the result of the union between Indian be Territory and Oklahoma Territory. Thus as Doctor In he Wright's father had suggested the name Oklahoma, it was Doctor Wright's able leadership when the time came for breaking up tribal autonomy that proved a strong factor in extending the name Oklahoma over all he cil Indian Territory and in finally creating a state of that name.

In December, 1896, following the meeting of the coun- p- rs. on cil, there was drawn up the first agreement with the Dawes Commission. However, Doctor Wright, as a mem- ber of the Choctaw delegation, refused to sign this agreement since it did not carry out the policies in- tended by the council and filed a minority report against ne of it. He carried his opposition before the Interior De- partment and Congress, in January, 1897, and finally of succeeded in defeating its ratification. On account of his opposition in this instance, Doctor Wright did not co- operate in drawing up the Atoka Agreement. There was in no inconsistency in Doctor Wright's action. He heartily believed in the good results that would follow the co- re operation between the civilized tribes and the Dawes Commission for the purpose of effecting allotment of lands in severalty and the breaking up of the tribal relations. However, he was opposed to certain features m d of the agreement as finally reached, and he did not hesitate to carry his opposition to the limit. A strong following of the Choctaw people upheld his policies in this course, but about that time he withdrew from politics and gave his undivided time and attention to C. his profession and the devolopment of his own allotment of land.

In 1907 when the Choctaw Nation was facing grave dangers in the carrying out of their treaty provisions, Governor MeCurtain again called Doctor Wright to his assistance and appointed him as a regular standing dele- Vol. III-15

gate to Washingtou to represent the nation before Congress and the department. The death of Governor MeCurtain in 1910 ended all representation of the Choctaws in Washington.

In addition to these activities prior to statehood, Doctor Wright was so confident of the ultimate union of the two territories into one state, that in 1904 as president of the Indian Territory Medical Association, he bent all his influence into uniting the medical socie- ties of the two territories into one. Thus he succeeded in creating the Oklahoma State Medical Association.

Doctor Wright has also found time to take an in- terest in national politics. As a republican he was elected chairman of the Territorial Convention to elect delegates to the National Convention which nominated President Mckinley. Doctor Wright now lives quietly at Olney, and though somewhat retired from his former active participation in affairs, he is a stanch and true friend of the Choctaw people, and one of the most capable representatives of the old regime still living in the new State of Oklahoma.

CHARLES WALTER HOBBIE. Credit for opening the first grocery store at Alva must be given to the late Charles Walter Hobbie, who was a participant in the original opening of Oklahoma in 1889, and permanently iden- tified himself with the state when the Cherokee Strip was opened for settlement in 1893. He was not only a pioneer merchant, but in many useful ways was identi- fied with the early growth and development of the City of Alva. He possessed the solid virtue of integrity, was prospered by years of work and business judgment, and always kept himself in public spirited relations with the community of which he was a part.

Charles Walter Hobbie was born September 28, 1858, at Utica, New York, a son of Uriah and Anne Sophia (Wilcox) Hobbie. His father was born October 26, 1798, and died at Omaha, Nebraska, September 26, 1878, and gave all his active career to mercantile pursuits. The mother was born August 22, 1817, in New York State, and died at Alva, Oklahoma, November 11, 1897. The parents were married October 26, 1842, and they had six children, two daughters and four sons: George, who was born July 8, 1846; Elizabeth Cole, who was born September 23, 1847, and died November 13, 1891; Sarah Louisa, born August 8, 1848, and died February 28, 1884; Henry Clay, who was born August 25, 1849; Francis Wilcox, born March 19, 1854, and died October . 8, 1855; and Charles W., the youngest of the children.

His boyhood was spent at Utica, New York, where he obtained his education from the public schools. As a young man he went West and located at Omaha, Nebraska, and for a number of years was actively engaged in merchan- dising in the western country. He was one of the thousands. who were attracted to the first opening of Oklahoma Territory in 1889, and was for a brief time located at Guthrie. He then returned to Kansas and con- tinued merchandising at Kiowa until 1893. In Septem- ber of that year he secured a location at Alva when the town was established, and brought in the first stock of groceries from which he developed the first permanent grocery house of the city. He continued to sell this class of goods to the people of Alva and surrounding country for a number of years, but finally opened an exclusive shoe store and subsequently a drug store. Mr. Hobbie retired from active business in 1900 on account of ill health and his death occurred at Alva August 20, 1902.

Fraternally he was affiliated with the Knights of Pythias and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. In politics he was a republican. From the first he was rec- ognized as a man of broad and public spirit, interested

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HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

not only in building up his individual concerns, but in doing all he could for the general welfare of the com- munity. For two years he served as mayor of Alva, and was also a member of the first school board and secre- tary of the Commercial Club.

Mrs. Hobbie is still living in Alva and one of the social leaders of that city. As Miss Gertrude Allen she was married to Mr. Hobbie at Kiowa, Kansas, December 25, 1892. Her parents were Hiram and Harriet (Sweet) Allen. Mrs. Hobbie was born in Springport, Indiana, December 10, 1872. Her family in its different members has always manifested a strong literary and intellectual interest, and her niece, Mabel Potter Daggett, is a well known magazine writer in New York City. Mrs. Hobbie was a charter member of the first woman's club organ- ized at Alva, the Bay View Club, and she has also filled the different offices in the local chapter of the P. E. O. She takes much interest in the Presbyterian Church. There were two children, and the first, a daughter, died in infancy. Mabel Allen, born January 16, 1897, com- pleted her education in the Oklahoma Northwestern Nor- mal School at Alva.

RALPH INMAN RAWLINGS. Though one of the young- est members of the Oklahoma bar, Ralph I. Rawlings of Sulphur during his two years of practice has made a somewhat notable record, especially in the field of criminal law.

Ralph Inman Rawlings is himself a native of Ten- nessee, born at Sevier County October 4, 1892. His father, M. S. Rawlings was born in the same Tennessee County in 1870 and is now living at Sulphur, Oklahoma. He was reared and married in Sevier County, moved to Montague County, Texas, in 1897, but in the course of the same year located in Sulphur, then Indian Terri- tory. He has had a very active part in politics in this part of Oklahoma, and is now serving his third succes- sive term as sheriff of Murray County. He is an active democrat, a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, and is affiliated with Sulphur Lodge No. 353, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and with Sulphur Camp. Sheriff Rawlings married Miss Florence Fer- guson, who was born in Sevier County, Tennessee, in 1873. Ralph I. Rawlings is the oldest of their four children; Roy is a senior in the high school at Sulphur; Allie May is a junior in the high school; and B. Eugene is in the eighth grade of the public schools.

Ralph I. Rawlings graduated from the Sulphur High School with the class of 1908. During the following year he was associated with his father in the contract- ing business at Oklahoma City. The next year was spent as a student in the Agricultural and Mechanical College at Stillwater, Oklahoma, followed by three years in the University of Oklahoma at Norman, where he took the scientific course the first year and after that applied himself diligently to the study of law. He was admitted to the Oklahoma bar in- 1913, and has since been located at Sulphur. His offices are in the Weems Building.

He has done mnuch as a democratic worker, and is chairman of the Young Men's Democratic League of Murray County. He belongs to the college fraternities Kappa Alpha and the Theta Nu Epsilon, and is also a member of Pauls Valley Lodge of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and of Norman Camp of the Woodmen of the World. He is a member of the Legal Committee of the Commercial Club.

In June, 1915, at Sulphur he married Miss Louie Moore, whose father is Dr. ; H. A. Moore, a physician and surgeon at Clinton, Oklahoma.

FRANK BEAUMAN. Those familiar with the career of Senator Beauman realize that he has achieved distinctive success in business channels and that he has wielded much influence in the directing and controlling of political forces in the State of Oklahoma, in whose Legislature he is the present senator from the Seventeenth senatorial district; but few know to how great a degree this advancement in the world has been due to his own ability and well directed efforts, his course having always been guided by that integrity of purpose that begets popular approbation and esteem. In a business way he is engaged in the manufacturing of ice, with a large and well equipped plant that is one of the best in the southern part of the state, the same being estab- lished at Waurika, the thriving metropolis of Jefferson County, where the senator has maintained his residence during the entire period of his identification with civic and business affairs in Oklahoma.

Frank Beauman was born at Anna, Union County, Illinois, in the year 1872, and is a son of Dorick F. and Caroline (Corgan) Beauman, the former of whom was born in the State of Vermont, in 1827, and the latter of whom was a daughter of a pioneer merchant of Dongola, Union County, Illinois, and later a represen- tative of the same line of enterprise at Tunnell Hill, Johnson County, that state. Dorick F. Beauman was reared and educated in New England and as a young man he numbered himself among the pioneers of Illinois, in which state he assisted in the construction of the Illinois Central Railroad, with which he eventually was advanced to the position of superintendent. He attained to the venerable age of eighty-one years, his death having occurred in 1908 and his wife having passed to the life eternal in 1889. They are survived by ten children, the. subject of this review having been the third in order of birth. Loui is a resident engineer for the Southern Pacific Railway Company and resides at Stockton, Cali- fornia; Guy is a prosperous farmer near Vienna, John- son County, Illinois; Mrs. Birdie Dinwiddie resides at Stockton, California; Mrs. Maude B. Hale is a widow and resides at Bloomfield, Illinois, her husband having been a physician by profession; Mrs. H. O. Williams resides at Centralia, Illinois, and her husband is a specialist in the treatment of the diseases of the eye and ear, besides being physician in charge of the Hailey Infirmary at Centralia.

In the public schools of his native county Senator Beauman received a rudimentary education, and he has never found it possible to pursue high academic studies, though it may consistently be said that under the precep- torship of that wisest of all head-masters, Experience, he has acquired a liberal education, with concomitant broadness of mental ken and with marked maturity of judgment. At the age of sixteen years the senator went from Illinois to Texas, where he became identified with construction operations on the line of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad. Later he was similarly engaged in the Republic of Mexico, for a period of three years, and in 1902 he established his residence at Lampasas, Texas, where he was engaged in the manu- facturing of ice for the long period of eleven years, during six years of which time he served as police judge of the city. It will thus be noted that his very experiences from youth onward have vitally conserved his progress along both intellectual and practical lines.

In 1912 Senator Beauman disposed of his interests in the Lone Star State and established his home at Waurika, Oklahoma, where he erected and equipped 'a fine modern plant for the manufacturing of ice, the establishment which he now owns and operates being one of the largest in that section of the state and his enterprise and

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HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

progressiveness having enabled him to develop a large and substantial business, the while he is known and honored as one of the most progressive and public- spirited citizens of the city and county of his adoption.

In 1910, two years prior to his arrival in Oklahoma, Senator Beauman, without premeditation or desire, was brought into prominence in connection with political affairs in the State of Texas, where Hon. O. B. Colquitt chose him as the most eligible and resourceful person to manage the Colquitt first gubernatorial campaign. Through his marked eircumspection and ability in directing this campaign Senator Beauman gained a state- wide reputation in political circles and so definite was his influence that when Governor Colquitt became a candidate for re-election, in 1912, he ealled Senator Beauman back from Oklahoma to assist him in his cam- paign.

In 1914, after a residence of only two years in the state, Mr. Beauman was elected to represent the Seventeenth District in the Oklahoma Senate, and in his spirited and effective campaign in the district he attained to sueh popular favor that he carried the town and county in which his opponent lived. He was elected by a most gratifying majority, and in the Fifth Legis- lative Assembly he accounted admirably for himself, to his constituency and to the state. He was made chair- man of the Senate Committee on Municipal Corporations and was assigned also to membership on the following committees: Public Service Corporations, Fees and Salaries, Banks and Banking, Public Buildings, Public Health, and Commerce and Labor. These assignments in themselves indicate how distinctive was the influence he wielded in the Upper House of the Legislature and how strong his hold upon the confidence of his colleagues. Senator Beauman interested himself specially in measures pertaining to public highways and to those tending to bring about consistent economy in the administration of all departments of the state government. He was the author of a bill requiring all county officers either to personally discharge all the duties of their respective offices or to make requisition, under oath, to the county commissioners for the assistance needed. The well defined convictions of Senator Beauman concerning mat- ters of economie and governmental policy brought him into special prominence and favor in his constituent district, where his stanch friends have already launched for him a campaign for the office of lieutenant-governor of the state in 1918.

Senator Beauman and his wife are zealous members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and are popular factors in the representative social activities of their home city, as well as those of the capital city of the state. The ancient-craft Masonic affiliation of the senator is with Waurika Lodge, No. 315, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and in the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite he is affiliated with the Consistory, No. 1, at Guthrie, besides being identified with India Temple, Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, at Oklahoma City, and with the camp of the Woodmen of the World at Lampasas, Texas. He is an alert and loyal member of the Waurika Chamber of Commerce and is actively and influentially identified with the Oklahoma Ice Dealers' Association.

At Rexton, Texas, in 1901, was solemnized the marriage of Senator Beauman to Miss Theresa Maness, whose father drove through from Mississippi to Texas before the construction of railway lines and became one of the pioneer physicians and surgeons of Northern Texas. Senator and Mrs. Beauman have one child, Avis, a win- some little daughter who was born in 1906. Mrs. Beau- man takes a great interest in club work, having organized a ladies club in Waurika, and has been president of same

since its organization; she is also interested in eivic work, as well as library work; she also organized a public library the first year of her residence in Waurika, and has had personal charge of same since its organization; is a consistent worker in the Methodist Church and takes a great interest in politics, and in this way man- aged her husband's campaign for the State Senate.

LESLIE L. DOYLE. One of the well-known figures in the life insurance business in Oklahoma is Leslie L. Doyle, state manager for the Germania Life Insurance Company, with offices at Tulsa. His experience in this line of endeavor has covered a period of a quarter of a century, from the time when he entered upon his career, fresh from college halls, and during this time he. has been located in various parts of the country. His advent in Oklahoma occurred in the year 1910, and since then he has so impressed his abilities upon his associates that he is accounted one of the leading men in this field.

Mr. Doyle was born in Henry County, Kentucky, December 30, 1872, and is a son of George W. and Alice M. (Vories) Doyle, both natives of the Blue Grass State. The father, born in 1840, was a wealthy farmer and tobacco grower, and dealt extensively in that article, and at the time of his death, in 1907, was known as a well-to-do citizen. He was a member of the Christian Church, was past master of the Masonic lodge at Smith- field, Kentucky, and in political matters was a democrat. Mrs. Doyle, who was born in 1843, passed away many years before her husband, dying at the age of thirty- four. She was also a member of the Baptist Church, and they were the parents of three children: Leslie L .; one who died in infancy; and Edmond C.

Leslie L. Doyle grew up on his father's plantation in Henry County, Kentucky, and received his early educa- tion in the public schools of his native vicinity. He subsequently enrolled as a student at Smithfield College, Smithfield, Kentucky, and was duly graduated therefrom with the class of 1890. In that same year he removed to Wichita, Kansas, where he entered the employ of the New York Life Insurance Company, and received his introduction to the business which he was to make his life's work. After about four years spent at Wichita, Mr. Doyle was made traveling auditor for the same company and sent to Chicago, from which city he cov- ered a certain district which included the cities of Detroit, Michigan, St. Louis, Missouri, and Peoria, Illinois, and continued to be thus engaged until 1900, when he was sent as manager of the business in South Dakota. This position he retained for five years more, when he severed his connections with the New York Life Insurance Company to accept an offer with the Germania Life Insurance Company, at Little Rock, Arkansas, and remained there until 1910, when he came to Tulsa, Okla- homa, as state manager for that company, his offices being at No. 406 First National Bank Building.

Mr. Doyle is a democrat in politics, but has not been a seeker for political preferment, although he has been ready to lend his aid to enterprises which promise to contribute to the general civic welfare. He is well known in Masonry, belonging to Delta Lodge No. 425, A. F. & A. M .; Forest Home Chapter No. 16, at Claren- don, Arkansas; Trinity Commandery No. 20, K. T., and Akdar Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S. He has numerous friends in club life at Tulsa, and he and Mrs. Doyle are general favorites in social circles.

On December 6, 1899, Mr. Doyle was married to Miss Josephine Malcolm Vennard, who was born at Hot Springs, Arkansas, and to this union there have been born one son and two daughters: Walker Vennard, and Alice F. and Frances, who are twins.

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HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

THOMAS WHITE. One of the men most prominent in the oil producing district of Northeastern Oklahoma is Thomas White of Tulsa. Mr. White is a Pennsylvania man, as are a great many of the prominent oil men of the Middle West, and came to the Kansas and Oklahoma oil fields a number of years ago. He is officially iden- tified with several of the large companies with head- quarters at Tulsa, and his offices are in the Palace Build- ing.

Born in Cameron County, Pennsylvania, July 21, 1871, Thomas White is a son of Patrick and Sarah (Brennan) White. Both parents were natives of Ireland, his mother having died in 1875. His father was born in 1839 and is still living. Three of their seven children are living, and Thomas White was the fifth in order of birth. Pat- rick White came to this country when twenty years of age, making the journey on a sailing vessel and landing at New York City. He was a tanner by trade and found his first employment in that occupation at Poughkeepsie, New York, where he lived some four or five years. He next spent about three years in the tanning business at Kingston, New York, moved to Emporium in Cameron County, Pennsylvania, and in 1874 removed to Sheffield, Pennsylvania, continuing there in the same industry up to 1879. From that year to 1886 he was in the tanning business at Clarendon, Pennsylvania, and then removed to Warren in the same locality. He finally retired from active business affairs in 1891. In politics he is a demo- crat.

Thomas White grew up in Pennsylvania, attended the common schools of Clarendon County, and having a fair education began learning the tanning industry at the age of eighteen. Subsequently he became a contractor and builder at Warren, his work calling him into various adjoining counties, and he built up a profitable business and remained in Pennsylvania until 1903. In that year he came west to Chanute, Kansas, and took up the oil well supply business. He was later located at Inde- pendence, Kansas, and in 1906 removed to Tulsa where he has since been among the oil producers, and one of the oldest oil men in the city. He is secretary of the Oil Producing Company, is vice president of the Lucas Oil Company, and a director in the Exchange National Bank at Tulsa.

On November 6, 1906, Mr. White married Miss Anna E. McBride, who was born in Lockhaven, Pennsylvania. Their only son was named Edward Justin, and was born November 17, 1907, and died at the age of five years. Mr. White is affiliated with Tulsa Lodge No. 946 of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, is active in the Tulsa Commercial Club, and also a member of the Country Club. Politically he is a democrat.

JOHN L. HOLLAND, M. D. In the course of ten years experience as a physician at Madill, where he was one of the pioneers of his profession, Doctor Holland has been closely associated with both the Indians and white citizens of Marshall County.

Only a few years before he located at Madill the city had been founded in a region of the Chickasaw country that for a generation furnished rest, recrea- tion and rendezvous for many of the bold and bad men who openly violated the law. Soon afterward he was named county physician, an appointment which was remarked throughout the cattle country as an undeniable sign that encroaching civilization had become thoroughly established.

It was as county physician that Doctor Holland had one of his most thrilling experiences, and one which attracted wide attention at the time. Several men of desperate character, charged with the theft of horses and believed to belong to a noted band of thieves, had

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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