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 8

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 8

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Mr. Patterson is an active and popular member of the International Circulation Managers' Association, of which the president is A. Mckinnon, of the New York World. This association embraces a membership of more than 300 representatives of the leading daily news- papers of the United States.

At El Reno, Oklahoma, on the 20th of August, 1895, Mr. Patterson wedded Miss Hattie Raines, daughter of John B. and Jane Raines, and the two children of this

Free Clinton

.....

Jane Heard Clinton

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HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

union are: Harold, born October 20, 1902, and Isabella, born December 10, 1905. The family home in Okla- homa City is at 1714 East Ninth Street, and the busi- ness offices of Mr. Patterson are in the Baltimore Building.

CHARLES M. DELZELL. Though a participant in the opening of the Cherokee Strip in 1893, Charles M. Delzell was not yet qualified by age to secure a homestead. He was at that time a hard working youth, one of the main- stays and props of his widowed mother, and while carry- ing such responsibilities in advance of his years he had to provide for his own education and advancement in the world. Few of Oklahoma's pioneer settlers have gained a success that represents more real accomplishment and effort than Mr. Delzell, who for many years has been prominently identified with banking in Alfalfa County and was one of the organizers and has since been cashier of the Farmers National Bank of Cherokee.

Though most of his life has been spent either in Kan- sas or Oklahoma, he was born at Hersey, Michigan, January 13, 1877. His father, Thomas T. Delzell, was born October 24, 1840, in Columbiana County, Ohio, a son of Pennsylvania parents, and Congressman John Del- zell of Pennsylvania is of the same stock. Thomas T. Delzell was a farmer by occupation, was one of the early settlers in Osceola County, Michigan, and for ten years following the Civil war served as register of deeds in that county. He died at Hersey, Michigan, February 23, 1881. He was a lifelong member of the Baptist Church. He made a record of service as a soldier in the Civil war, having enlisted as a musician, but being detached from the regimental band and made a bugler in the Ninetieth Pennsylvania Infantry. He was with that regiment two years until discharged on account of disability. He par- ticipated in many engagements, including the great battle of the Wilderness, but was never wounded. In 1867 Thomas T. Delzell married Jennie E. Osborn. She was born June 29, 1845, a daughter of William Osborn of Warren, Ohio, which was her birthplace. For several years before her marriage she had been a teacher, and was principal of the high school at Lima, Ohio. She is now living at the age of seventy with a daughter in Los Angeles, California. Charles M. Delzell is the fourth in a family of five children, two sons and three daughters, the others being: Katie Estella, born June 10, 1868, was educated in a college at Newton, Ohio, and in 1888 married Rev. John A. Davis, a minister of the Metho- dist Episcopal Church, and they now live at Los Angeles, their three children being Merrill Delzell, Ralph Emer- son, and Mildred. William Abner, born October 29, 1871, is postmaster at Klamath Falls, Oregon, and by his marriage in 1897 to Edith May White has six chil- dren, whose names are Marjorie, Thomas W., Dorothy, Jennie E., William A. and John L. Alice Maude, born February 28, 1875, was married in 1898 to William A. Davis, and they live at Bellingham, Washington, and have two sons, Raymond D. and Russell. Florence Wini- fred, the youngest, born October 20, 1880, married in 1902 Albert L. Garrison, whose father, Col. William Gar- rison, was a pioneer in Grant County, Oklahoma, and at one time a member of the Territorial Council, and they now reside at Snyder, Oklahoma, and have four children, Helen, William Delzell, Marjorie and Albert Lynn.

In 1885, at the age of eight years, Charles M. Delzell came with his widowed mother and the other children to a farm in Harper County, Kansas, near Attica. He and his brother from that time contributed a large propor- tion of the means by which the family were supported, working as farm hands and cowboys in Kansas and in the Indian Territory. Such work and duties left him little opportunity to attend school, and though his edu-

cation was supplied mainly by self study he was qualified for teaching when twenty years of age. In 1893, at the age of sixteen, he participated in the opening of the Cherokee Strip, and later for three years taught school in Grant County. In 1902 Mr. Delzell became actively identified with banking as clerk in the First National Bank of Pond Creek, and in the following year was pro- mnoted to assistant cashier. In 1904 he and others organized the Bank of Goltry and he was cashier of that institution six years. In 1910 the national bank examiner in charge appointed him liquidating agent for the First National Bank of Cherokee. While winding up the affairs of that institution he and his associates at the same time reorganized the institution under the new name, The Farmers National Bank of Cherokee, and this bank soon opened its doors with Mr. Delzell as cashier, a post he has held ever since. This is now one of the solid and stable institutions among the banks of Northwestern Oklahoma, and has a surplus of $5,000 and carries deposits aggregating $200,000. Among other features of its business it is designated as one of the government holding banks for United States Indian tribal funds.

On February 26, 1903, at Pond Creek, Oklahoma, Mr. Delzell married Miss Ona C. Butts, a daughter of J. D. and Emma (Tallerday) Butts. Mrs. Delzell was born at Elkhart, Indiana, May 19, 1875. Her father was an early settler in Western Kansas, and came into Okla- homa at the opening of the Cherokee Strip. At one time he was sheriff of Grant County four years, and is now president of the Farmers National Bank of Chero- kee. Mr. and Mrs. Delzell have one child, Charles Homer, who was born February 25, 1906, and is now being edu- cated in the Cherokee public schools.

Mr. Delzell, in addition to his activities as a banker, has had considerable part in local affairs. He was a member of the Provisional Board of County Commis- sioners of Alfalfa County when that county was first instituted, his office being by virture of appointment from the constitutional convention. In 1907 he was nominated on the democratic ticket for representative from Alfalfa County, but withdrew from the race before clection. In 1916 he served, by election, as president of group two of the Oklahoma Bankers' Association. Fra- ternally he is a Knight Templar Mason and a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and with his family worships in the Methodist Episcopal Church.

FRED S. CLINTON, M. D. One of the native sons of Indian Territory and thus of the present State of Okla- homa, there are few citizens of the state to whom can be ascribed such large and worthy achievement along varied lines of endeavor as to this representative and influential citizen of Tulsa, in which vigorous and ambi- tious city he is engaged in the practice of his profession, as one of the leading physicians and surgeons of the state. The doctor has been a dynamic force in the fur- therance of civic and industrial progress and prosperity in Oklahoma, is a man of high academic and professional attainments, takes just pride in claiming for himself a strain of Indian blood, his mother having been a southern woman of fine Creek Indian lineage and his father having been a white man of education and sterling character. Doctor Clinton merits special praise for the deep research and study he has given to the history of what is now the State of Oklahoma, and few can be found who have broader and more exact knowledge concerning early Indian history and of the varied agencies that have worked to the development of the present fine common- wealth of which he is consistently to be designated a representative citizen.

Doctor Clinton was born near Okmulgee, Creek Na-

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HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

tion, Indian Territory, ou the 15th of April, 1874, and is a son of Charles and Louise (Atkins) Clinton, his father having been one of the pioneer white settlers of the Indian Territory, where he established himself in the early '70s and where was solemnized his marriage to Louise Atkins, a young woman of noble character and one who combined the best traits of her white and Indian ancestors. Charles Clinton was a man of great business acumen and marked progressiveness, and through his well ordered endeavors he became one of the influential cattlemen of Indian Ter- ritory, where his operations were of extensive order and where he commanded high place in popular confidence and esteem. He was not only foremost in the develop- ment of the cattle industry in the territory, but was also one of the first to suggest the vast mineral wealtlı of the Creek Nation. He died in 1888 and his wife sur- vives him.

The following succinet record concerning Doctor Clin- ton's early life and later activities is entirely free from fulsome eulogy, but indicates much to the one who can read between the lines, so that its reproduction without more than minor paraphrase may consistently be in- dulged, as its subject is a man who has manifested no desire to exploit his individuality or his achievement, large and benignant as the latter has been:

"Both for business and professional life Dr. Clinton received the best educational preparation the schools of the country could afford. From the well maintained schools of the Creek Nation he went forth to become a student in the St. Francis Institute at Osage, Kansas, after leaving which institution he attended in turn Drury College, at Springfield, Missouri; the Gem City Business College, at Quincy, Illinois; the Young Harris College, in the State of Georgia; and the Kansas City College of Pharmacy, in which he was graduated with honors, in 1896. He had simultaneously prosecuted his studies in the University Medical College in Kansas City, and in the same he was graduated as a member of the class of 1897 and with the well earned degree of Doctor of Med- icine. The Doctor first engaged in the practice of his profession at Red Fork, Oklahoma, and after this novi- tiate he established his residence in the city of Tulsa, where he has continued his earnest and effective endeav- ors, controls a large and representative practice and holds precedence as one of the leading physicians and surgeons of the State.

"Much credit in the medical profession is due to Dr. Clinton for his efforts in keeping alive the interests of the Indian Territory Medical Association, which is now merged with the Oklahoma State Medical Association, and further distinction is his for his effective work for the advancement of professional interests in Oklahoma and those of generic or national order as well. He served in turn as secretary, treasurer, vice-president and presi- dent of the Indian Territory Medical Association, and in 1906, the year prior to the admission of the State of Oklahoma to the Union, the Doctor represented this asso- ciation as delegate to the convention of the American Medical Association, in the city of Boston. In 1908 he was a delegate from Oklahoma to the International Con- gress on Tuberculosis, held in the city of Washington. He was one of the organizers and president for nine years of the Oklahoma Hospital Association, which owns and operates the Tulsa Hospital. He was active also in organizing the Oklahoma branch of the American Na- tional Red Cross Society. In addition to the exacting demands of his substantial and important private prac- tice, Dr. Clinton is retained as local surgeon at Tulsa for the St. Louis & San Francisco Railroad, the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad, the Midland Valley Railway, the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad, and chief surgeon of the Sand Springs Railroad, the Sapulpa

and Oil Field Railway, besides being chief surgeon of the Tulsa Street Railway Companies, of which he was one of tho organizers and of which he was the first sec- retary. He is surgeon for various accident-insurance companies and medical examiner for leading life-insur- ance companies. "

Special reference should be made to the admirable service given by Doctor Clinton in the development of the hospitals of Tulsa, in which he as a builder and lecturer on surgery, nursing and hospital technic, was a pioneer and has raised the standard of medicine and surgery by establishing the first hospital and training school for nurses in Tulsa. He was for nine years president of the Oklahoma Hospital Association, and as such he delivered in 1911 the commencement address before the graduates of the training school for nurses. He is known as an able public speaker and his exceptional literary ability has found fewer pub- lished evidences than could be wished. It is specially worthy of note that he prepared a most interesting and graphic, but brief, history of Tulsa, as chairman of the entertainment committee he prepared this article for the Oklahoma State Medical Association on the occasion of its convention in Tulsa, in 1910, and it was published in the May issue of the association's official periodical, the Journal, in that year.

On December 14, 1915, Doctor Clinton, together with Miss H. C. C. Ziegeler, for nine years superintendent of tho Tulsa Hospital, and H. J. Brickner, prominent con- tractor and builder, organized the Oklahoma Hospital, of which Doctor Clinton was elected president; and in February, 1916, was begun the erection of an entirely modern, fireproof, four story hospital to be known as the Oklahoma Hospital.

No citizen of Tulsa has shown a higher degree of civic loyalty, liberality and progressiveness than has Doctor Clinton, and his influence and practical co-operation are ever given in support of measures and enterprises tending to advance the best interests of his home city, county and state. His liberality found a most pleasing exem- plification when he added much to the physical and met- ropolitan attractiveness and prestige of Tulsa by the erection of the fine office building that bears his name. This is an eight-story structure of the most modern type of reinforced concrete and steel construction, and is one of the few fireproof buildings in the Southwest, none in Oklahoma excelling it in design, appointments and mod- ern facilities.

Though he is not at the present time actively identified with the oil and natural gas industry in Oklahoma, Doc- tor Clinton had the distinction of completing, in asso- ciation with his professional confrere, Dr. J. C. W. Bland, the first oil well in the now celebrated Tulsa district, this well having been at Red Fork. Concerning this promotive and practical undertaking on the part of the two enter- prising Oklahoma physicians the following pertinent statements have been made: "They successfully pro- moted the drilling of the first well in the Tulsa district, and this attracted to the field eventually some of the most experienced oil men from the older fields and resulted in the opening of what is probably the greatest oil-producing territory in the world. The remarkable development of these natural resources, including the operations of the Glenn Pool, may be said to have origi- nated with the work of these doctors. Dr. Clinton is one of the leaders among the men of enterprise and initiative and constructive ability who have made Tulsa one of the most important centers of the oil and gas industry in the United States."

Doctor Clinton is actively identified with numerous professional organizations, including the American Med- ical Association, the Oklahoma State Medical Associa-

"CLINTON INGLESIDE" Home of Doctor and Mrs. Fred S. Clinton

FRED S. CLINTON BUILDING

OKLAHOMA HOSPITAL, TULSA, OKLAHOMA

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HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

tiou, the American Association of Railway Sur- geons, and the Tulsa County Medical Society. He is a charter member of the Tulsa Commercial Club and has given effective service as a member of its board of directors. He is also a member of the Tulsa Press Club and other civie organizations in his home city. In the Masonic fraternity he is affiliated with the Scottish Rite bodies and also the Ancient Arabie Order of the Nobles of the Mystie Shriue. His political allegiance is given to the democratie party and both he and his wife are communicants of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, the while they are leaders in the representative social activities of Tulsa, where their beautiful home is a center of gracious hospitality. Mrs. Clinton is one of the talented musicians of the state and is specially influential in the development of musical art and interest in Okla- homa. As president of the Hyechka Club she took a prominent part in the splendid work instituted by the loyal women of Tulsa in raising the funds that provided for the city's fine convention hall. The magnificent pipe organ was installed and dedicated May 10, 1915, under the auspices of the Hyechka Club, the instrument having been installed at a cost of $11,500. This is the first municipal organ in the state, and a local paper referred to the enterprise, shortly before the same was realized in a practical way, in the following terms: "It is a splendid tribute to the culture and refinement of the city of Tulsa that this is the only community in the state which supports musical organizations like the Hyechka Club, the Apollo Club and the Piano Students Club. The organ will be a monument to the good and loyal women who proposed the plan and carried it out."

In 1897 was solemnized the marriage of Doctor Clinton to Miss Jane Carroll Heard, of Elberton, Georgia, and she is the gracious and popular chatelaine ot their attractive home, "Clinton Ingleside."

JOHN W. ROBERTSON, county judge of McIntosh County, and a resident of Eufaula, Oklahoma, since 1906, is a native son of the State of Missouri, born there on his father's farm in Hickory County on May 4, 1865. He is the son of James A. and Mary J. (Cundiff ) Robertson, both of them Missourians by birth.

James A. Robertson was born in Jefferson County, Missouri, in 1818, and he died in Hickory County, Mis- souri, in 1912. He was a farmer in his native state all his days. His tastes and inclinations led him in the direction of the ministry, and while he never gave up farm life, he was au ordained minister of the Protestant Methodist Church and was frequently heard in Missouri pulpits. His wife was born in Jefferson County in 1825. After his marriage, and in the year 1853, they moved to Hickory County and settled on a farm, where they spent the remainder of their useful aud highly exemplary life. To them were born nine children, all of them living at this writing (1915). The youngest born was John W. Robertson, of this review.

Mr. Robertson's young life was spent on the farm with his parents and he attended the public schools as a boy, later spending a year in Weanbleau (Mo.) Christian College. When he was nineteen years old young Robert- son went West, and he spent three years in Washington and Oregon, there employed in various lines, and gather- ing a goodly fund of experience in that time. He re- turned to his Missouri home then and took up the study of law in the office and under the instruction of his brother, who was then in practice in Springfield, Missouri. In 1894 Mr. Robertson had so well applied himself to his studies that he was admitted to the bar, following which he settled in his native connty and engaged in practice on his own responsibility. Mr. Robertson won recognition in the early days of his inder endent practice,

and he was elected to the office of county attorney of Hickory County, in which position he served two terms. In 1906 Mr. Robertson came to Oklahoma and estab- lished himself in business at Eufaula, where he has since been engaged, and where he has gained a position and standing commensurate with his abilities. He enjoys an enviable reputation among the members of his profession hereabouts and is prominent in eitizenship, as well as in the legal field. A republican, he has been an active mem- ber of the party, and in 1910 he was elected county at- torney for McIntosh County. In this office it is not more than just to say that he has rendered conspicuous and worthy service in the interests of the county. He de- clined a re-nomination, though it was generally conceded that he would have been re-elected had he cared to con- tinue in the service. In 1914, however, Mr. Robertsou was nominated on the republican ticket for the office of county judge, and was elected. He overcame a normal democratic majority in the county, receiving something like 400 votes more than did his democratic opponent. In his position as county judge Mr. Robertson has al- ready distinguished himself, and his reputation is steadily advancing in professional circles.

Mr. Robertson was married in 1896 to Miss Ida A. Agee, and to them six children have been born: Roscoe E., Neva Nell, Mary, Ruth, Mildred and John W., Jr.

Mr. Robertson is a Master Mason, but has no fraternal affiliations outside the various Masouie organizations in which he has membership.

GUY CLARK, M. D. Most of the site of the present prosperous town of Milburn was a cottonfield, and lux- uriant cotton stalks rose shoulder high to a man where the First National Bank now stands, when Doctor Clark arrived in the Indian country in 1902. It will be recalled that that year saw the high tide of railroad building, which was one of the state's most active industries, and along the projected route of steel young eities some- times were born in a single night. Many of the pioneers of that time laid the foundations of careers that have made them successful business and professional men of today.

As the first physician on the townsite of Milburn, Dr. Guy Clark has been one of the most prominent in the upbuilding of that community. In addition to his activities as a physician he did an important service in laying the foundation of the present school system. He was a member of the first board of education, and during his administration in that capacity the first schoolhouse was erected. It happened that a few years later he was a member of the board when the present permanent school building was constructed. He was also a member of the first city council, thus helping to establish the city government. He was a member of the first board of health and directed various public improvements along sanitary lines. He helped organize the local society of the First Presbyterian Church, and contributed toward the building of its first edifice.

Guy Clark was born in Harrison, Tennessee, in 1874. His family has long been one of prominence in that state, His parents were Robert Martin and Virginia Irene (Moore) Clark. The former, who is now living at Endears, Arkansas, was born in Tennessee, and that state was also the birthplace of the paternal grand- father, Dr. Benjamin F. Clark. He was one of the pioneer physiciaus, and in the early days there was not another practitioner between his home at Harrison and the City of Chattanooga. In the three generations of the Clark family many of its members have held posi- tious of responsibility and more than ordinary promi- nence in their respective communities, and L. N. Clark,

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HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

now an aged man of Chattanooga, was for twenty-four years consecutively clerk of the county court.

After completing his common school education in Arkansas, whither his father had moved when Doctor Clark was a child, the latter spent two years in Quit- man College at Quitman, Arkansas. Already he had taken up the study of medicine and was licensed to practice before completing his course leading to the degree Doctor of Medicine, which was given him by the medical department of the University of Arkansas in 1898. After that he practiced for five years in Arkansas, and in 1902 moved to Tulsa.

Doctor Clark is president of the Johnston County Med- ical Society, and a member of the Oklahoma and American Medical Associations. Many changes have come about affecting his own profession as well as the entire life of the community since he established his home here thirteen years ago. In early days his practice covered a territory of approximately a thousand square miles, a larger district than many counties in the older states. Frequently he was called fr n his home to attend patients living at a distance of twenty miles. Doctor Clark now has a partner in practice, Doctor Cottrell, and together they own the stock of the Blue River Tele- phone Company.

In November, 1898, at Enders, Arkansas, Doctor Clark married Miss Tennie A. Perry. They are the parents of three children : Gay Guy, who recently graduated from the local high school; Merlin Martin, aged fifteen; and Lyda Louise, aged five. Doctor Clark also has four brothersand one sister: . Ira Clark, a teacher at Quit- man, Arkansas; Ross Clark, a farmer .at Enders, Arkansas; Ralph Clark, a pharmacist at Milburn; Martin Clark, a rancher at Gallup, South Dakota; and Mrs. H. F. White, wife of a merchant at Boynton, Arkansas.

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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