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 76

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 76

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Mrs. Crosby is a democrat, and a member of the Episcopal Church. At one time she was much interested in various societies and other organizations, but the demands upon her time by her office and her duties at home now practically preclude any such activities. Mrs. Crosby has a family of seven children: Clifford W., who is a graduate of the Lawton High School and is now in the mercantile business in Los Angeles, California; James Harold, employed in a mercantile establishment at Lawton; Genevieve, a senior in the Lawton High School; Doris, in the sophomore class of the high school; Alice Maud and Mildred and Margaret, twins, all of them attending the local public schools.

CHARLES E, STROUVELLE. In the year 1900 this well known and distinctively popular citizen and representa- tive business man of Tulsa came to the Indian Territory in the capacity of station agent and telegraph operator for the St. Louis & San Francisco Railroad, his assign- ment having been to the newly established station in the Village of Wetumka, in the present Oklahoma County of Hughes. He had the good judgment not only to appreciate but also to take advantages afforded in what is now the vigorous young commonwealth of Oklahoma, and he has become a prominent and successful represen- tative of the oil and gas producing industry in this state, his interests in this line being varied and impor- tant. He holds the office of general manager of the Savoy Oil Company, with office headquarters at 413 Drew Building, Tulsa. It may further be stated in a preliminary way that both he and his wife are specially prominent and popular factors in the representative social activities of their home city and that Mrs. Strouvelle, a woman of most gracious personality and of fine attainments, may well take pride in being a lineal representative of one of the staunch families of the Creek Indian Nation, one of the notable five civilized tribes.

On his father's farm in Livingston County, Missouri, Charles Edward Strouvelle was born on the 12th of November, 1872, and he is a member of a family of seven children, all of whom are living and the eldest two, a son and a daughter, having been born in Germany, prior to the immigration of the parents to the United States.

Mr. Strouvelle is a son of Christoph H. and Anna (Ruff) Strouvelle, both of whom were born and reared in the same section of the Empire of Germany, where their marriage was solemnized and where their first two children were born, as previously noted. In his native land Christoph H. Strouvelle broadened and gave incisive strength to his mental powers through availing himself

of the excellent educational advantages there afforded him, and was able also to develop most effectually his dominant talent along mechanical lines. He there served under most auspicious conditions a thorough apprentice- ship to the trade of machinist, and there have been in the United States few men of greater skill and technical knowledge in this line. In 1855 Mr. Strouvelle came with his wife and two children to America, the voyage having been made on a sailing vessel of the type common to that period and having been of seven weeks' duration. The family landed in the port of New York City, where Mr. Strouvelle readily found employment at his trade and where he remained thus engaged about two years. Thereafter he was employed as an expert artisan at his trade at various places in Ohio, including Cincinnati, Zanesville and Dayton, and it is specially worthy of note that while thus engaged in the Buckeye State he had the distinction of being the first man in the United States to achieve the work of securing a railway-car wheel to an axle by shrinkage instead of fastening the same by the old-time key method. From Ohio Mr. Strouvelle finally removed with his family to Parkersburg, West Virginia, where he became associated with his brother- in-law, Albert Ruff, in the conducting of a general machine shop and minor manufacturing business. There they continued successful operations until the close of the Civil war, and Mr. Strouvelle then removed with his family to Missouri, where he purchased and established his residence upon a farm, in Livingston County. He there turned his attention, with characteristic energy and circumspection, to diversified agriculture and the raising of high grade stock, but his exceptional mechan- ical ability was not long to permit him to remain in this comparative obscurity, for he was soon called upon by the prominent St. Louis firm of Neideringhouse & Company to go to the Missouri metropolis and assume supervision of the installing of a stamp mill to be utilized by this firm in the stamping of tin ware, this having been the first mill of this kind in the United States and the machinery for the same having been manufactured in Germany. It is needless to say that as an expert machinist of broad and varied experience Mr. Strouvelle successfully completed the installation of the machinery for the new mill, and thereafter he had for some time the active supervision of the plant, which he placed in effective operation. He remained about two years in St. Louis and then returned to his farm, which under his progressive management was developed into one of the finely improved and valuable landed estates of Livingston County, Missouri. He became specially prominent as a breeder of fine horses and high grade cattle and swine, and did much to advance the standard of the live stock industry in that section of the state. Though he has passed thepsalmist's span of three score years and ten, his birth having occurred in the year 1829, Mr. Strouvelle still resides upon and gives a general supervision to his fine farm, though he has lived virtually retired from active labors since 1905, his loved and devoted wife having been summoned to eternal rest in 1900, at the age of sixty-two years. He is a staunch advocate of the principles of the democratic party, has been prominent and influential in community affairs and served for many years as a member of the school board of his district, his personal disinclination alone having kept him from being called to other public offices.

The conditions and benignant influences of the old homestead farm on which he was born, compassed the childhood and youth of Charles Edward Strouvelle, and he was signally favored in being reared in a home of distinctive refinement and high ideals. He duly availed himself of the advantages of the public schools and upon

1206

HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

leaving the home farm he promptly entered upon a practical apprenticeship to learn the art and trade of telegraphy, this discipline having been obtained by him in the station and office of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad at Braymer, Caldwell County, Missouri. He soon mastered the intricacies of telegraphic operation and finally was promoted to the position of operator and station agent at Braymer, when twenty years of age. Later he became operator and ticket agent at the Joplin station of the St. Louis & San Francisco Railroad, and when the line of this road was extended through Indian Territory Mr. Strouvelle was sent by the company to assume charge of the station at Wetumka, now one of the thriving towns of Hughes County, Oklahoma. He took this position of station agent and telegraph operator in the year 1900, and he reverts with special pleasure and gratitude to this incumbency, since through the same he was fortunate in meeting the gracious young gentle- woman who is now his wife. In September, 1902, Mr. Strouvelle was transferred by the company to Tulsa, where he continued in service as its efficient and popular station agent until 1905, when he resigned the position. Since that time the major part of his time and attention has been given to the oil and gas industry, in which he has been prominent and successful in development and production enterprise and has acquired large and valu- able interests. As stated in the initial paragraph of this article, he is general manager of the Savoy Oil Com- pany, one of the important corporations in the Oklahoma oil and gas fields.

Mr. Strouvelle has not hedged himself in with the functions and confines of self-advancement but has been emphatically and significantly loyal and progressive as a citizen and takes a lively interest in all that touches the civic and material welfare and progress of his home city and state. His political allegiance is given to the democratic party and he is prominently identified with representative social and fraternal organizations. He is past exalted ruler of Tulsa Lodge, No. 926, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and is a member of the executive board of the association that had in charge the erection of the fine Elks' Home in Tulsa. He is affiliated with Tulsa Lodge, No. 71, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, has received, in Oklahoma Consistory, the thirty-second degree of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite of Masonry, besides holding membership in Akdar Temple, Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, at Tulsa.

On the 31st of December, 1900, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Strouvelle to Miss Susanne Barnett, who was born in the Indian Territory, near Okmulgee, and whose parents were blood members of the Creek Indian Nation, both having been born in one of the Southern States, whence they .came with others of the Creek nation in Indian Territory, where they passed the remainder of their lives. Mrs. Strouvelle was doubly . orphaned when she was a child of six years, and was adopted by Miss Alice M. Robertson, who was at that time a teacher in the Indian school at Muskogee. To this noble foster-mother Mrs. Strouvelle pays all honor and filial love, as she recognizes that through Miss Robertson's devotion and liberality she was enabled to gain a liberal education and to advance to her present prominent social position. Mr. Strouvelle has the dis- tinction of being the first person who as a representative of one of the five civilized tribes of Indians to register application for an authorized allotment of Government land, and his registration is recorded as No. 1 and as a member of the Creek Nation. The home life of Mr. and Mrs. Strouvelle is one of ideal order and they have four children,-Charles Edward, Jr., Alice, Anne Isabel, and Jane, concerning whom it has been stated that "All

four of these lovely young children have inherited their mother's natural gift for music."'

In conclusion is consistently entered the following appreciative quotation from the columns of a January, 1915, copy of the Tulsa Daily World: "Mrs. Charles Edward Strouvelle is not only one of musical Tulsa's most gifted pianists but also one of its most charming personalities. From a musical standpoint Mrs. Strou- velle is strictly an Oklahoma product, as she received her training entirely in this state. She is one of the first graduates of Kendall College, having been graduated with honors in that institution in 1900, before its removal from Muskogee to Tulsa. She is a protege of Miss Alice Robertson, of Muskogee, one of the most widely known and best loved women in Oklahoma. Mrs. Strouvelle is a charter member of the Hyechka Club and has been closely identified with the musical interests of the city ever since there has been anything of musical interest here."'

THOMAS J. HARTMAN. He whose name initiates this article was about seventeen years of age at the time of the family removal to what is now the State of Okla- homa, and his father became one of the pioneer agri- culturists and stock-growers of Payne County when that section of the state was still a part of Indian Territory. Mr. Hartman has proved himself one of the vital and progressive business men of Oklahoma, has been a prom- inent and influential figure in banking activities and in connection with development and production in the oil fields of the Tulsa district, and now maintains his resi- dence in the vigorous and thriving City of Tulsa, where he is identified with oil-producing business and where in the year 1915 he has effected the organization of a new bank.

Thomas J. Hartman was born at Roaring Spring, Blair County, Pennsylvania, on the 23d of November, 1874, and is the fourth in order of birth in a family of ten children, all of whom are living. He is a son of William A. and Mary A. (Kagarise) Hartman, the for- mer of whom was born at Hagerstown, Maryland, and the latter in Bedford County, Pennsylvania. In 1879 William A. Hartman came with his family from the old Keystone State to the West and located in Mitchell County, Kansas. In 1881 removal was made to Cass County, Missouri, but in the following year he estab- lished the family home in Linn County, Kansas, where he continued his operations as a farmer and stock- grower until 1892, when he engaged in the same line of enterprise in what is now Payne County, Oklahoma, hav- ing been one of the pioneer settlers in that county, where he has improved a fine landed estate and is a prominent and influential citizen. He has always been a stalwart in the camp of the democratic party and has served in various township offices, including that of justice of the peace. He and his wife have a home in which peace and prosperity are in distinctive evidence, and it is most pleasing to note that death has never yet entered the immediate family circle.

The earlier educational discipline of Thomas J. Hart- man was obtained principally in the public schools of Kansas, and after the removal of the family to Okla- homa he completed a course in the department of science of the Agricultural & Mechanical College at Stillwater, Payne County, this being now a state institution. He was graduated as a member of the class of 1898, with the B. S. degree, and in the following year he became cashier of the Grant County Bank, at Medford, Okla- homa, a position of which he continued the efficient in- cumbent until 1900, when he resigned and became the organizer of a bank at Deer Creek, in the same county. Of the latter institution he was cashier until 1906,

when Com time of h spec whi impr

City cern and bis efe Pr

sta In

Pr a is it

HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

1207

when he sold his interest and organized the Bank of Commerce at Sulphur, the judicial center of Murray County. He was president of this institution from the time of its incorporation until 1912, when he disposed of his stock, after having made the enterprise notably successful, as have been all other financial interests with which he has identified himself and which have felt the impress of his initiative and executive ability.

In 1912 Mr. Hartman established his home in the City of Tulsa, where he has since been prominently con- cerned in the oil-producing business in the Tulsa fields, and where the year 1915 has shown another evidence of his business vitality and civic enterprise through his effective efforts in promoting the organization of the Producers State Bank, with a capital of $75,000, of which he is active vice president and in active control.

Mr. Hartman is loyal and progressive as a citizen and man of affairs, has unbounded faith in and appreciation of the state which has represented his home from his young manhood, and while he has manifested no predi- lection for political office he has been found aligned as a staunch supporter of the cause of the republican party. In 1912 he served as president of the Oklahoma State Bankers' Association, a preferment which indicates his ability and popularity as a financier. From 1903 to 1907 he served as regent and treasurer of the Okla- homa Agricultural & Mechanical College, his retirement having thus occurred in the year that marked the admis- sion of Oklahoma as a state. At Sulphur Mr. Hartman still maintains his affiliation with the lodge of Ancient Free & Accepted Masons, and in the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite of Masonry he has received the thirty- second degree, in the consistory in the City of Guthrie. At Tulsa he is affiliated with Akdar Temple, Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine.

On the 14th of November, 1903, Mr. Hartman wedded Miss Mary Jarrell, who was born and reared in Butler County, Kansas, and they have one son, Thomas Marshall, who is the first alumni baby, as both father and mother are graduates of the Agricultural & Mechanical College.

DR. JOHN TIDMORE. Twelve years ago Dr. John Tid- more established himself in medical practice in Hewitt, near Wilson, and when New Wilson came into existence he continued in that place as before. He has made a name for himself in this part of the county, and his practice in medicine and surgery is not confined alone to the immediate town of New Wilson. He also operates a drug store, which he established in 1911, and which is one of the most successful business establishments of its kind hereabout.

Mr. Tidmore is of Alabama birth and ancestry. He was born in Blunt County on December 17, 1873, and is a son of John W. and Sallie (Coffey) Tidmore. The former was born in Blunt County, Alabama, in 1844, and he died in Denton County, Texas, in 1882. He was reared in his native county, and spent a good many years there as a farmer and stockman. He was just past his major- ity when the Civil war broke out, and he went as a sub- stitute for his father, serving all through the war in an Alabama Regiment of Volunteer Infantry. He was a lifelong member of the Baptist church, and a democrat. He married Sallie Coffey in Blunt County, Alabama, in 1846, and she died in Denton County, Texas, in 1883, one year after his passing. To them were born seven chil- dren. The first born children were twins, a boy and girl, both deceased. E. E. married J. M. Smith, a farmer, and they live in Denton, Texas. Mattie mar- ried W. F. Fulmer, a farmer, and they also live in Denton County. John was the fifth child. Eliza is the

wife of W. B. Smith, a prominent farming man of Denton County. Riley died at the age of nine years.

John Tidmore attended the public schools of Denton County and later entered the North Texas Normal School in that vicinity, after which he engaged in school teach- ing and for five years was occupied in that profession. He was employed during those years in Denton County, and he did some excellent work in the cause of educa- tion in that brief time. In 1900 he entered the medical school at Fort Worth and in two years' time began prac- tice, but did not receive his degree of M. D. until 1907. In 1903 he began practice in Hewitt, near Wilson, where he has since continued. His practice has grown with the passing years, and today New Wilson has no better known medical man, nor any more prominent and pop- ular, than Dr. Tidmore. In 1911 he established the City Drug Store on Main Street, and this has proved a successful venture, indeed. He gives his personal super- vision to the management of the place, and it has a reputation for careful and accurate service that is the best recommendation a drug store can have.

Doctor Tidmore is a member of the Church of Christ, and he is a staunch democrat. He has served as deputy county physician and has also given excellent service as a member of the Wilson School Board in earlier years. Fraternally Doctor Tidmore is associated with the Wood- men of the World, being affiliated with Pecan Camp No. 116, at Hewitt, Oklahoma.

In Denton, Texas, in the year 1895, Doctor Tidmore was married to Miss S. L. Bevill, daughter of A. H. Bevill, now a resident of Straun, Texas. He was long connected with a prominent coal company in a leading capacity, but is now retired from active duty. Mrs. Tid- more was born in Coryell County, Texas, and reared in Denton County, where she had her education. She is the mother of six children. Otis was born on November 13, 1898, and he died at the age of three weeks. Another child, the second born, died in infancy. Juanita was born on January 2, 1903, and is a student in the New Wilson High School. Valita is the twin sister of Juanita. Irene was born February 10, 1906, and John T. was born on March 27, 1912, and died on March 27, 1914.

GEORGE M. CLIFTON, M. D. Dr. Clifton has been engaged in the practice of his profession in Cleveland County, Oklahoma, since 1900, and has maintained his residence and professional headquarters at Norman, the county seat, since 1910. His ability and personal popu- larity have conserved his success and he has secure status as one of the representative physicians and surgeons of this section of the state, as well as a recognized position of influence in community affairs, for he is distinctively broad-minded and progressive in his civic attitude.

On the fine old homestead farm of his father, near the City of Rochester, Olmsted County, Minnesota, Dr. Clifton was born on the 29th of June, 1874, and he is a son of William W. and Alta (Wagoner) Clifton, the former of whom was born in the State of Indiana, in 1841, his lineage tracing back to English origin and representatives of the family having been pioneer settlers in Indiana; Mrs. Alta (Wagoner) Clifton was born near Rochester, Minnesota, in 1841, and her father, who was born and reared in England, became one of the prominent pioneer settlers of Olmsted County, Min- nesota, where he and his wife passed the closing years of their lives.

William W. Clifton was reared and educated in the Hoosier State and in 1863, shortly after attaining to his legal majority, he numbered himself among the pioneers of Olmsted County, Minnesota, where he re- claimed and improved a valuable farm and where he is

their owing mary, harles alsa 's ming Strou- d her first nated e its ze of most oma. chka sical hing this e of )kla- gri- that ory. and tom 1 in oil tesi here lere

ing, ber, of of or- and 79 el ass b- re k- of V·

120S

HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

now living retired in the City of Rochester. He is one of the venerable and honored citizens of that county, is a staunch supporter of the cause of the democratic party, is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and both he and his wife are zealous members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, in which he has served as deacon. Of the children the eldest is Nettie, whose husband is at the head of the science department of the University of the City of New York; Walter is engaged in the milling business in the State of South Dakota; Dr. George M., of this review, is the next in order of birth; Guy is engaged in farming in South Dakota; and Sadie likewise resides in that state, where her husband is engaged in the milling business.

Dr. Clifton continued to attend the public schools of Rochester, Minnesota, until he had completed the curriculum of the high school, in which he was grad- uated in 1892. He then entered hospital work at Rochester and through his earnings he provided the means which enabled him to fit himself for his chosen profession, the while his hospital experience proved of great incidental value to him through its clinical advan- tages. He finally entered the Chicago College of Physi- cians & Surgeons, in which he was graduated as a mem- ber of the class of 1900 and from which he received the degree of Doctor of Medicine. It may be noted also that in 1910 he completed an effective course in the Chicago Post-Graduate School of Medicine.

Within a short time after his graduation Dr. Clifton went to Texas, where he remained six months. He then came to Cleveland County, Oklahoma, and established himself in rural practice, in which he achieved unqualified success and built up a substantial and representative business. In 1910 he centralized his work by estab- lishing his home at Norman, the county seat, from which headquarters he has since continued to follow the work of his exacting vocation with unremitting earnest- ness and with unequivocal success. He keeps in touch with the advances in medical and surgical science and brings to bear in his large practice the most modern and approved methods and agencies for the alleviation of human suffering, his well appointed offices being in the Johnson Building, on East Main Street. The doctor is actively identified with the Cleveland County Medical Society, the Oklahoma State Medical Society and the American Medical Association. His political allegiance is given to the democratic party and he is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Woodmen of the World, the Knights and Ladies of Security, and the Brotherhood of Ameri- can Yeomen.

In 1899 was solemnized the marriage of Dr. Clifton to Miss Leona Hyatt, daughter of George Hyatt, who is a retired merchant residing at Onalaska, a suburb of the City of La Crosse, Wisconsin. Mr. and Mrs. Clifton have three children, Everett, William S. and Harold. The two older sons are attending, in 1915-16, the high school at Winona, Minnesota, and the youngest son is attend- ing the public schools of Norman, Oklahoma.

ALBERT CHAPMAN FARLEY. The president of the Cameron District Agricultural College at Lawton brings to his important work as a leader in practical education in Western Oklahoma a wide experience and exceptional attainments in the educational field. Professor Farley has been identified with school work for about thirty years. He has been through all the grades of service. His career began in a country district school and before taking his present position he had a long record as super- intendent in various city schools of Missouri and else- where.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

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