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 87

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 87

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).

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HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

also introduced measures relating to the employment of convicts in the penal institutions of the state, and made the proposition that the state purchase an immense cement plant at MeAlester, for the purpose of employing convicts in the state penitentiary in the operation of the manufactory, the products of which should be used prin- cipally in the building of public highways.

Senator Buckner and his wife are members of the Baptist Church and at MeAlester he is affiliated not only with the camp of the Spanish-American War Veterans, but also with the Knights of Pythias.

At Enter rise, Indian Territory, in the year 1904, was solemnized the marriage of Senator Buckner to Miss Ida Ervin, who likewise had been a successful and popular teacher in the public schools of the territory. The three children of this union are Ruth Hallie, Ruby May, and Wilson Ervin.

MORTIMER A. HOUSER, M. D. With professional con- nections of the highest order Doctor Honser since 1907, the year of Oklahoma statehood, has been identified with his profession in this state, and since 1909 has been a resident of Tulsa. He is a surgeon more than a physi- cian, and has unusual qualifications for practice in what is coming to be recognized more and more as a dis- tinetive and co-ordinate profession instead of a depart- ment of medicine. With excellent ability and experience, Doctor Houser also possesses that prestige which goes with a solid ancestry.

His father has for many years heen one of the prom- inent newspaper men and public leaders in the State of Wisconsin. Doctor Houser himself was born at Mondovi in Buffalo County, Wisconsin, April 30, 1879. His father, Hon. Walter Livingston Houser, was born at Tidioute in Warren County, Pennsylvania, May 6, 1855, his ancestors having been German people who established their home in Pennsylvania several generations ago. Doctor Houser's mother was Susan Cora LeGore, who was born in Wisconsin, of remote French lineage. Doc- tor Houser was the first in a family of five children and the other two now living are Ethel, wife of Ralph W. Jackman of Madison, Wisconsin, and Hazel, wife of John Fryer of Toledo, Ohio. Walter L. Houser in 1865, at the age of ten, accompanied his widowed mother from Pennsylvania to Wisconsin, and while growing to man- hood in Pierce County was given the equivalent of an excellent academic education. At the age of twenty he established his home at Mondovi, and in 1876 became the founder of the Mondovi Herald, and is still one of the editors and publishers of this old and stanch newspaper which has had a successful existence and an influential part in the political and civic life of the Badger State for fully forty years. He was also concerned in the establishment of the Milwaukee Free Press, which has long been one of the leading daily papers in Wisconsin. A man of distinctive business ability and strong in- tellectuality, Walter L. Houser has achieved large and worthy success both in a material way and in public affairs. He is the owner of a large amount of real estate in Buffalo County, and is identified with the agri- cultural and stock growing industry. In 1895 he took a prominent part in organizing the Bank of Mondovi, in which he has since served as a director. He has filled various local offices of public trust, served as assistant chief clerk and later as chief clerk of the Senate, and in 1902 was elected secretary of state of Wisconsin, as candidate on the republican ticket, and was re-elected in 1904. In 1902 he received 193,631 votes against 134,755 votes given his democratic opponent, Louis A. Long. During his political career Mr. Houser has been a close associate and friend of Hon. Robert M. LaFollette, the distinguished senator and former governor of Wisconsin,

and was manager of Mr. LaFollette's campaign for the nomination for president during the national campaign of 1912. He went with Mr. LaFollette in the ranks of the progressive party in the same year. He is a mem- ber of the Masonic fraternity, the Knights of Pythias and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and he and his wife are members of the Congregational Church.

Dr. Mortimer A. Houser grew up in a home and among associations which could not fail to bring out the best in his character. He attended the public schools of his native village, and sul sequently was a student both in the University of Wisconsin and the University of Chi- cago, having been a member of the class of 1898 in the latter university. Professionally he is a product of one of the oldest and best known schools of the Middle West, having attended Rush Medical College of Chicago, but completed his medical course in the Milwaukee Medical College, where he was graduated M. D. in 1903. Before taking np active practice he gained valuable clinical ex- rerience in the Trinity and Milwaukee hospitals at Mil- waukee. Doctor Houser began private practice in 1905 at Arapahoe, Nebraska, remained there until 1907, and on coming to Oklahoma first established his home and office at Pawhuska in Osage County. Since 1909 he has lived in Tulsa, and in this broader field has built up a large and representative practive, now confined ex- clusively to surgery. His practice in this specialty is by no means confined to the City of Tulsa and he attends important cases all over the northeastern section of Oklahoma. He is an active member of the Tulsa County Medical Society, the Oklahoma State Medical Society and the American Medical Association.

In politics a democrat, Doctor Houser is a good citizen without being a politician, and usually favors the best man in local affairs. Fraternally he is a member of Tulsa Lodge No. 946, B. P. O. E., and his home is one of the popular social centers at Tulsa. February 12, 1907, Doctor Houser married Miss Florence J. Wehn. She was born in Beatrice, Nebraska, attended the Uni- versity of Nebraska, and among her friends and local club circles is recognized for her talent as a musician. Mrs. Houser completed her musical training in both vocal and instrumental in one of the leading conservatories of San Francisco, California.

LUTHER FOUNTAIN. But for his untimely death in 1915, Luther Fountain, long well known as a landowner and stockman in the Wapanneka community of Johnston County, would have been directing the destinies of agri- cultural education in Oklahoma to such an extent that the state's development has been materially enhanced. It was the purpose of Governor R. L. Williams that Mr. Fountain, one of the most successful and progressive farmers of the eastern section of the state, should become a member of the State Board of Agriculture. His appointment would have been a worthy tribute to one of the leaders of that class of progressive men who during the last fifteen years have succeeded the inefficient and improvident farmer and have successfully applied the modern ideas of diversification in agriculture.

Only forty-five years of age at the time of his death, Luther Fountain was born in Sturgeon, Missouri, in 1870, a son of Clay and Sallie Fountain. His father, a native of Missouri, was a large landowner and repre- sentative citizen. He was a cousin to Mrs. Mary E. Logan, widow of Gen. John A. Logan.

As a boy on his father's estate Mr. Fountain learned farming scientifically and thoroughly, and that early training proved a great factor in the success - he later won in Oklahoma. At the age of twenty he started to study the livestock commission business in St. Louis. At

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HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

1243

the age of eighteen he had left the farm and become a student in the University of Missouri and also completed a course in a business college at Quincy, Illinois. He began the study of the commission business as a book- keeper for the Western Sales Stables Company of St. Louis, remaining with that company until 1897, and then engaging in business for himself in Kansas City. Five years later, owing to poor health, he sold out and moved to Wananucka, Oklahoma, attracted by the opportunities abounding in the undeveloped land resources of that country. The site that he selected for his home was thirty miles inland from railroads, and his household goods were hauled over that distance from the Town of Troy. Later when his family joined him they drove from Atoka, which was about the same distance from railroad to the ranch as Troy.

Owing to restrictions placed by Congress on the sale of Indian lands it was not possible for Mr. Fountain to purchase a large acreage at that time. He had the fore- sight to enter into lease contract with the Indians whose lands he could purchase later when the restrictions were removed. As one after another of these tracts was brought into the market he purchased them, until at the time of his death he owned land in four counties of old Indian Territory. Some of these lands are among the most valuable in the state, and he improved them with the best methods of agriculture, and gained the name of being one of the most successful farmers of the Indian country as well as one of the state's most useful citizens. His land holdings hecame a' valuable heritage to his family. Mr. Fountain during his lifetime assisted in the estal lishment of schools and churches prior to statehood and in the organization of good society and the advance- ment of all cther uplift activities of this section. He participated as a democrat in pol tical activities, and served one term as a member of the county election board.

In 1898 at Mexico, Missouri, Mr. Fountain married Miss Mamie Gamble. She has many prominent family connections. One of her grandfathers was a leader among pioneer educators in the State of Ohio. She is a niece of Dr. M. M. Fisher, who at the time of his death was acting president of the University of Mis- souri and was for fourteen years a teacher of Latin in that institution. Her grandfather, Judge J. W. Gamble, was a pioneer settler and prominent citizen of Mexico, Missouri. Her father, C. R. Gamble, was born in Louis- ville, Kentucky. The Gamble ancestry runs back to include W. H. McCague, who was a hero of the Revolu- tionary war. Mrs. Fountain's mother was directly related to the family of Charles Dickens. Mrs. Foun- tain is a woman of culture and active leadership in woman's circles, is an active participant in church and literary club affairs of her town and county and is now serving as auditor of the Fourth District of the State Federation of Women's Clubs. In 1906 she was one of the organizers of the Wapanucka Literary Club. She is a member of the Presbyterian Church, as was also Mr. Fountain, and devotes much of her time to church service. She is a graduate of that fine old school at Mexico, Mis- souri, Hardin College. Mr. Fountain has a sister. Mrs. W. S. Rowland, wife of a farmer, and two half-brothers, F. M. Green of Centralia, Missouri, and J. H. Green of Sturgeon, Missouri, both of whom are stockmen. To the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Fountain were born two children: Gamble, now fifteen years of age, and a stu- dent in the Wapanucka High School; and Parker Boyne, aged ten.

A year or so before his death a Johnston County editor paid the late Luther Fountain a tribute to his personality and character which deserves quotation in this permanent record : "Mr. Fountain is plain and unassuming, easily approached, positive and frank. And no man-white or

black-ever went to him for help and met disappoint- ment. He has always been a progressive man in any line of work he has undertaken. As a farmer he has been very successful. As a financier it is hard to find his equal in this part of the country. He is a public spirited, conservative citizen, believing in the advancement of edu- cation and the uplifting of the morals and the general betterment of conditions in the community.'' _

JAMES H. GORDON. In the year that marked the or- ganization of Oklahoma Territory the historic Old Domin- ion contributed to the future commonwealth an ambitious young lawyer who was destined to achieve secure vantage place as one of the representative members of his profes- sion in Oklahoma, and this young disciple of Blackstone and Kent has been engaged in the practice of his profes- sion at MeAlester, the judicial center and thriving me- tropolis of Pittsburg County, since 1890. Mr. Gordon is thus entitled to recognition as a pioneer member of the bar of this important city and county and his character and professional status are fully denoted by his control of a law business which extends throughout the state.

James H. Gordon was born in Madison County, Vir- ginia, on the 3d of October, 1868, and is a son of Andrew J. and Lucy H. (Willis) Gordon, the former of Scotch and the latter of English lineage. Andrew J. Gordon was born and reared in Vermont and his wife was born and passed her entire life in Virginia, so that their son may be said to be a scion alike of the sturdy New England and the cavalier Virginian stock. Andrew J. Gordon received excellent educational advantages and, as a young man of high intellectual attainments, he re- moved from New England to Virginia, in which state he became the founder and owner of the Locust Dale Academy, which he brought up to high standard as one of the excellent educational institutions of the Old Dominion commonwealth, and as head of which, he een- tinued his effective pedagogic labors for thirty years until the time of his death, in 1880. He was a prominent and honored figure in connection with educational affairs in Virginia, where he continued in active charge of his academy until the close of his long and useful life. His devoted wife, a woman of gentle and gracious personality, died in 1875. One son and two daughters survived Mrs. Gordon, the son, subject of this sketch, being the youngest of the three.

James H. Gordon was about twelve years of age at the time of his father's death and was but seven years old when his mother passed away. He remained with his sisters at the old homestead until he had attained to the age of thirteen years, and in the meanwhile pursued his studies in the academy that had been founded and con- ducted by his father and that is still continuing its effective work. After leaving the Locust Dale Academy he attended for two years the Suffolk Military Academy in Virginia, and later he became a teacher in the academy which his father had founded. He finally matured his plans for a future career, and, in consonance therewith, he entered the law department of the celebrated old Uni- versity of Virginia, at Charlottesville, in which he com- pleted the prescribed curriculum and was graduated as a member of the class of 1890.

On the 20th of July, 1890, a few weeks after his recep- tion of the degree of Bachelor of Laws, Mr. Gordon estab- lished his permanent home in the little Village of Me Alester, the present vigorous county seat of Pittsburg County, Oklahoma, and here he has since continued in the active practice of his profession, in which his success has been the result of ability, close application and hard work. He has here been engaged in practice for a longer period than any other member of the present bar of Pitts- burg County, and his character and achievement have

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HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

given him secure place in the confidence and good will of his professional confreres and of the community in gen- eral, the while he has at all times stood exponeut of civic loyalty and progressiveness.

The political allegiance of Mr. Gordon is given to the' democratic party, he is a valued member of the Pitts- burg County Bar Association and the Oklahoma State Bar Association, and both he and his wife hold member- ship in the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. In the Masonic fraternity Mr. Gordon has received the thirty- second degree of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite, be- sides being affiliated with the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine and the McAlester Lodge of the Benevolent & Protective Order of Elks.

On the 4th of April, 1900, was solemnized the mar- riage of Mr. Gordon to Miss Bertha L. Frederick, of Litchfield, Illinois, and they have two children, Margaret and James.

CHARLES EGGERS. An educator who has won well- merited. recognition in his choseu professiou, Charles Eggers, principal of the Fort Sill Indian School, at Law- ton, Oklahoma, has been in the employ of the United States Government since January, 1904, with the excep- tion of one year spent in Florida. Few instructors have won more widespread popularity, and none have dis- played greater efficiency and executive ability in the careful handling of the Government charges. While reared on the farm, he realized in young manhood that teaching was his natural forte, and his success in this direction has proveu beyond a doubt that he made no mistake in his choice of a life vocation.

Professor Eggers was born on his father's farm in Bureau County, Illinois, November 7, 1868, and is a son of James and Rachel A. (Mecum) Eggers, being of German descent on his father's side of the family, and of a mixture of Irish and English stock on his mother's. James Eggers was boru in Mecklenburg, Germany, in 1833, and was twenty-eight years of age when he emi- grated to the United States. The Civil war had just com- menced, and he eulisted for service in the United States navy, continuing to fight under the flag of his adopted land for three years. At the close of the war Mr. Eggers located on a farm in Bureau County, Illinois, was there married, and settled down to farming pursuits in which he was successfully engaged uutil his death in 1887. He was reared in the faith of the Lutheran Church. Mrs. Eggers, a native of Ohio, still survives her husband and resides at Princeton, Illinois, near the old homestead place. Mr. and Mrs. Eggers were the parents of five children, as follows: Emma, who married Amos Krager and resides on a farm in Bureau County, Illinois; Charles, of this review; James, who is employed by the Mineral Point Zinc Company, at Depue, Bureau County, Illinois; George, who is a successful agriculturist and also lives in Bureau Couuty; and Elva, who is the wife of Ora Jontz, also a farmer of Bureau Couuty.

Charles Eggers received his primary education in the district schools of Bureau County and passed his boyhood and youth iu much the same manner as other Illinois farmers' sons, remaining on the homestead until he was twenty-two years of age. He attended the State Normal School, at Normal, Illinois, and then entered Steinman Institute, Dixon, Illinois, where he pursued a normal course and was graduated with the class of 1893. Mr. Eggers then began his experience as a school teacher in the country districts of Lee County, Illinois, aud after three years was a teacher in the schools of Bureau County, continuing in that capacity for seven years, his last charge being the Mineral High School. From June, 1903, until December of the same year, Mr. Eggers was a student in the University of Valparaiso, Indiana, and

during that time took a civil service examination and entered the service of the United States Government in January, 1904. For 11/2 years he had charge of the day school for the Government at White Earth Indian Reservation, in Minnesota, aud during the year 1906 was patron pastor of the Baptist Church, in the State of Florida. Returning to the White Earth Reservation he did day school work for three years more, being then transferred to the boarding school at the same place, where he had charge for nearly three years. He was next transferred to the Kiowa Agency, Oklahoma, as supervising principal of the Indian schools, until October, 1914, when he was made principal of the Rainy Mountain School, a capacity in which he acted for three months. In January, 1915, Professor Eggers was appointed prin- cipal of the Fort Sill Indian School, a position which carries with it much prestige and which really includes all the duties and responsibilities of superintendent. A man of broad learning aud practical experience, com- prehensive knowledge of human nature and a keen insight into the characteristics, needs and ambitions of his charges, Professor Eggers has labored faithfully and conscientiously, and his zealous, intelligent and well- directed work is accomplishing results which may not be over valued. In politics, he was originally a repub- lican, but since the Taft administration has been a supporter of democratic policies and candidates. He is a member of the Baptist Church and has been allied with a number of undertakings which have had for their object the advancement of morality, religion and good citizenship. Fraternally, he is connected with the Mystic Workers of the World.

While a resident of Whiteside County, Illinois, Pro- fessor Eggers was married, October 7, 1890, to Miss Eva McNitt, a daughter of the late Elijah MeNitt, who was a well-to-do farmer in Whiteside and Bureau counties, Illinois. Two children have been born to this union: Jessie, who is the wife of Alfred Peterson and resides on a farm at Doland, South Dakota; and Florence, who is attending the public schools of Lawton.

EDWARD S. MALONE. A great amount of dynamic en- ergy has been brought to bear in the development of the Oklahoma metropolis and capital city into one of the important commercial and industrial centers of the West, and the men who have compassed the results have been known for courage, ability, initiative power and for faith in the future prestige of the city. He whose name initiates this paragraph has been actively identified with the business interests of Oklahoma City since 1893, when it was but little more than an ambitious frontier town in a newly organized territory; his fealty and progressiveness have kept pace with the march of civic advancement, he has become a prominent and influential representative of important commercial inter- ests, and is a citizen whose loyalty, sterling character and public spirit have given him inviolable place in the confidence and high esteem of the community in which he has maintained his residence for nearly a quarter of a century and to the civic and material ad- vancement of which he has contributed his quota.

Mr. Malone was one of the organizers of the Alex- ander Drug Company, wholesale dealers in drugs and stationery, and of this important corporation, the busi- ness of which is substantial and far extended, he is now the president. The company was organized in 1900, with a capital stock of $50,000, and with the following corps of executive officers: Robert H. Alex- ander, president; Edward S. Malone, vice president; and William J. Dunn, treasurer. In 1902 Mr. Alexander retired from the business and since that time the officers of the corporation have been as here noted: Edward

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S. Malone, president; Elmer E. Westervelt, vice presi- dent; Earl N. Ainsworth, secretary; and Harry M. Ford, treasurer. The business of the company for the first year aggregated $175,000, and the splendid growth or the trade controlled by this reliable and important commercial house of Oklahoma City is shown by the statement that the business for the year 1914 had reached the noteworthy aggregate of $1,250,000, the capital stock of the corporation having in the mean- while been increased to $500,000. In 1907 the company erected its present substantial building of four stories and basement and of the best modern type of mill con- struction. The building, at 226-232 West First Street, covers a ground space 100x120 feet in dimensions, and the building is utilized for the offices and stockrooms of the company, while the adjacent Gault Building is utilized for the manufacturing departments, so that the company's establishment has an aggregate floor space of 90,000 square feet. In connection with the various departments of the business employment is given to an average of about 110 persons, including traveling repre- sentatives, and the trade extends throughout Oklahoma and the western part of the State of Texas.

Edward S. Malone was born at Peru, La Salle County, Illinois, in the year 1864, and is a son of John and Julia (Aiken) Malone. John Malone was born and reared in Ireland, where he learned the miller's trade in his youth, and in 1850 he immigrated to the United States, first settling at Oswego, New York, and later removing to Illinois and engaging in the milling business at Peru, where he became an honored and influential citizen and representative business man, virtually his entire active career having been one of close association with the milling business.

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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