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 88

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 88

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He whose name introduces this review is indebted to the public schools of his native state for his early educa- tional discipline, and through long and active asso- ciation with men and affairs he has amplified most effectively this preliminary training, with the result that he is known as a man of strong mental grasp, well fortified opinions and mature judgment. In the City of Peoria, Illinois, he found employment in a drug store and there served a practical apprentice- ship in this line, with the result that he became a skilled pharmacist. Before he had attained to his legal majority Mr. Malone accompanied his parents on their removal from Illinois to the Town of Stella, Richardson County, Nebraska, and there he engaged in the retail drug business in an independent way, this enterprise having been successfully conducted by him from 1881 until 1893, when he sold his stock and business and came to the new Territory of Oklahoma. He established his residence in Oklahoma City and here formed a partnership with William J. Dunn, the firm of Malone, Dunn & Company here conducting a retail book and stationery business until the autumn of 1899, when they sold their business to Vosburg & Company and effected the organization of the Alex- ander Drug Company, of which adequate mention has been made in a preceding paragraph of this article. Mr. Malone has identified himself also with various other industrial enterprises in different parts of Okla- homa and he has long been looked upon as one of the distinctly representative business men and progressive citizens of the capital city of the state. In 1902-3 Mr. Malone served as a member of the board of county commissioners of Oklahoma County, and within the period of his incumbency of this position it devolved upon the board of commissioners to purchase the site for the present fine courthouse of the county. In 1908-9 Mr. Malone gave equally loyal and effective service as a member of the board of education of

Oklahoma City, and assisted in the selection and pur- chase of a portion of the site of the present high school building. He is ever at the front in lending his influences and co-operation in the support of meas- ures and enterprises tending to advance the civic, commercial and material progress and prosperity of the community and his loyalty to the state of his adop- tion is marked by definite appreciation of its mani- fold advantages and attractions.

In 1886 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Malone to Miss Flora Hull, daughter of Darwin Hull, of Stella, Nebraska, and the two children of this union are Miss Rae, who remains at the parental home, and Darwin, who is married and who is identified with the Alexander Drug Company. The attractive family residence of Mr. Malone is at 400 West Fourteenth Street.

OLIVER H. LEONARD. The vigorous and thriving City of Tulsa is favored in having gained the interposition of Mr. Leonard in connection with business and civic af- fairs, and he is prominent and influential in banking circles in the state, besides which he stands forth as a representative citizen also in his progressiveness and public spirit. He has been vice president of the Exchange National Bank of Tulsa since 1910, is president of the Tulsa Clearing House Association, and was the first president of the Carnegie Library Association of this city.

Mr. Leonard was born in Muscatine County, Iowa, on the 26th of July, 1863, and is a representative of a sterling pioneer family of the Hawkeye State. He is a son of Joshua and Ellen H. (Ady) Leonard, both natives of the State of Ohio, the father having passed away in 1899, at the age of sixty-five years, and the mother being still a resident of Iowa, at the venerable age of eighty years, in 1915. Of the seven children the subject of this review was the third in order of birth and all of them survive the honored father.

Joshua Leonard was born in Delaware County, Ohio, where he was reared and educated, and where he con- tinued to be identified with agricultural pursuits until 1854, when he removed to Springfield, the capital of Illinois. In 1856 he removed thence to Iowa and became one of the pioneer settlers of Muscatine County, where he reclaimed a productive farm from the virgin prairie and where he continued to reside until 1864, when he removed to Poweshiek County, that state. There he repeated his strenuous pioneer experiences by developing a valuable farm, and he became one of the prominent and influential citizens of that section of the state, his well directed efforts as a farmer and stock-grower having brought to him a large and substantial measure of pros- perity. He served nine consecutive years as a member of the board of county commissioners and he passed the closing period of his life in the attractive little City of Brooklyn, that county, where his widow still resides. In politics he was originally an old-line whig, but he gave his allegiance to the republican party from the time of its organization until his death, his religious faith hav- ing been that of the Methodist Episcopal Church, of which his widow also has long been a devoted member.

After negotiating with proper facility the curriculum of the public schools of his native state, Oliver H. Leonard pursued a higher course of academic study by attending the University of Iowa, from which he retired prior to the completing of a full course. At the age of twenty years, in 1883, he initiated liis active association with the banking business, by assuming the position of assistant cashier of the Poweshiek County Bank, at Brooklyn. In 1885 he was advanced to the office of cashier of this institution, and of this office ho continued

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the incumbent until 1898, when he resigned and disposed of his stock in the bank. Now an able executive of proved experience in this field of business enterprise, Mr. Leonard then removed to Pipestone, Minnesota, where he effected the organization of the Farmers & Merchants Bank. He later disposed of his interest in this institution and became a stockholder in the Citizens Savings Bank in the City of Cedar Falls, Iowa. He served with characteristic ability as cashier of this bank until 1910, when he sold his stock in the institution and came to Tulsa, Oklahoma, where he has since served as vice president of the Exchange National Bank, in which he is one of the principal stockholders and in the ad- ministration of the affairs of which his long experience and marked financial acumen have made him a resource- ful and influential factor in the expanding of the large and substantial business controlled by this representative financial institution. Mr. Leonard is giving also most effective service as president of the Tulsa Clearing House Association. He is a director of the Tulsa Commercial Club, of which he served one year as president, and he was one of the organizers of the Carnegie Library Asso- ciation of Tulsa, of which he was the first president. He is distinctively liberal and progressive in his civic relations and always ready to lend his aid in the further- ance of measures and enterprises tending to advance the best interests of his home city, county and state. Though never imbued with ambition for political office or other preferment, Mr. Leonard is aligned as a stalwart sup- porter of the cause of the republican party, which he be- lieves is destined to come again to its own in national affairs.

September 22, 1885, recorded the marriage of Mr. Leonard to Miss Nellie B. Bennett, who was born at Brooklyn, Poweshiek County, Iowa, and the three chil- dren of this union are Lucille A., Virginia C. and Howard B.

REV. CHARLES W. CLAY. Carter County elected Charles Westley Clay to the office of county surveyor, and his administration in this important post is fully justifying the choice of the voters of the county.

Mr. Clay was horn near Carlisle, Nicholas County, Ken- tucky, on the 15th of April, 1868, and is a son of Mat- thew Reed Clay and Mollie (Campbell) Clay, the former of whom was born at Carlisle, in 1838, and the latter of whom was born in Mason County, that state, in 1842, her death having occurred at the old homestead in Nicholas County, in 1875. Matthew R. Clay maintained his home in Kentucky from the time of his nativity until his death, which occurred on the 27th of July, 1888, his active career having been one of close and effective iden- tification with the fundamental industries of agriculture and stockgrowing. He was a man of strong individuality, leal and loyal in all the relations of life, and he has been for many years affiliated with the Masonic fraternity. Of the children of the first marriage the eldest is John W., who is a prosperous farmer in Nicholas County, Kentucky; Charles W., of this review, was the next in order of birth; Mattie is the wife of Franklin W. Shank- lin, a farmer of Nicholas County; Silas D. resides upon and operates the old homestead farm in that county ; Virgie is the wife of Rolert H. Ratliff, who is a sub- stantial farmer near Seward, Kansas; and Elizabeth is the wife of John M. Ratliff, a farmer near Waldron, In liana.

For his second wife Matthew R. Clay married Elizabeth Shrout, who was born and reared in Nicholas County, Kentucky, and whose death occurred in 1883. The only child of this union is Oliver Sidney, who is a farmer and auctioneer at Waldron, Indiana.

Adverting to the genealogical history of the Clay

family it may be stated that the subject of this review is a descendant of John Clay, a Welshman who was cap- tain in command of a British vessel on which he crossed the Atlantic and was in Virginia in 1676. He took part in the historic Bacon Rebellion and on this account was made an English outlaw, the English Government offering a price for his arrest. He never returned to England but dismantled his ship and took refuge in the mountains of Virginia. His property in England was confiscated and is still held by the government, as he was never brought to trial.

George Campbell, the maternal grandfather of Charles W. Clay, was the son of Robert Campbell, Jr., who was a brother of Rev. John P. Campbell, the first Presbyterian clergyman in Nicholas County, Kentucky. This pioneer minister was the grandfather of Hon. James E. Campbell, former governor of the State of Ohio. The paternal grandmother of Mr. Clay was a second cousin of Governor Morton, chief executive of the State of Indiana during the Civil war, and she was a kinswoman also of Hon. Levi P. Morton, former governor of the State of New York, and of former Governor Throckmorton of Texas.

Charles W. Clay acquired his early education in the common schools of his native county, and in 1885 lie entered the Kentucky Wesleyan College, at Millersburg, in which institution he continued his studies for three and one half years. For five years he was a successful teacher in the rural schools of his native state, and in 1895 he joined the Kentucky Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, as a minister of which he served two years as pastor of charges at Whitesburg and Hind- man; one year as pastor of the church at East Pulaski; one year in a pastoral charge at Preachersville; and two years as pastor of the church at Clay City.

In 1901 Bishop Key, of Sherman, Texas, assigned Mr. Clay to the Indian Mission Conference of Indian Terri- tory, this being the nucleus of the present East Oklahoma Conference. In this conference Mr. Clay was in minis- terial service one year on the Lebanon circuit, was pastor at Lone Grove two years, at Hartshorn, four years, and at Tahlequah one year. For one year he served as mis- sionary among the Kiowa, Comanche and Apache Indians, commonly designated as the wild tribes, and in the mean- while he found much requisition for his services as a surveyor, a profession for which he had fitted himself while attending college in Kentucky. In 1909 his alma mater, Kentucky Wesleyan College, conferred upon him the degree of Bachelor of Science, a well-merited though somewhat tardy recognition, as he had left the institu- tion only a few months prior to the graduation of the class of which he was a member.

In 1910 Mr. Clay established his permanent home at Ardmore, and he has since followed surveying as his vocation, though he is still frequently called upon to officiate in his capacity as a clergyman, his servire as a minister having leen zealous, self-abnegating and fruit- ful during the long period of his active labors in the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, in the faith of which he was reared. Mr. Clay has never deviated from the line of strict allegiance to the Democratic party, and has served as county surveyor of Carter County since July, 1913. He was re-elected to this office in November, 1914, for a term of two years, and his official headquar- ters are maintained in the county courthouse. While a resident of Kentucky he served eight years as deputy clerk of the courts of Nicholas County. He is still affiliated with the lodge of Knights of Pythias at Moore- field, Kentucky, and is past chancellor commander of the same.

On the 20th of October, 1897, in the City of St. Louis, Missouri, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Clay to Miss Mary E. Seago, daughter of John Seago, who was

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HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

a resident of that city at the time of his death and who was a descendant of a French Huguenot who fled his native land and came to America, to escape the persecu- tion incidental to the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. Mr. and Mrs. Clay have no children, but in their hos- pitable home the children of the community, as well as their elders, are ever assured of a genial welcome.

JAMES MONROE STOGNER. In the county elections of Noveniler, 1914, in Cleveland County, the democratic candidate who stood highest on his party ticket was James Monrce Stogner, nominee for clerk of court. His election to that office was only one evidence of his popu- larity as a citizen and member of the community, and it is significant that he has been promised no opposition in his party at the next election in November, 1916.

He was born near Paris in Lamar County, Texas, December 31, 1878, and comes of some of the best stock of Northern and Northwestern Texas. His ancestors came from Ireland to Mississippi in the early days, and his grandfather, John Stogner, was born in Mississippi, and took his family to Texas along with the pioneers. He was a farmer and stock raiser, and very active in the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. He was also a demo- crat. He lived to be over eighty years of age and died at Deport, Texas, when his grandson, James M., was a child.

William Stogner, father of the Cleveland County Court clerk, was born in Mississippi in 1843, and removed to Lamar Connty, Texas, in 1868. From there he went to Cooke County in 1894, and is now living retired at St. Jo in Montague County, Texas. During the war he served with a Mississippi regiment of volunteers and was twice wounded. He is a democrat and an active member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. The maiden name of his wife was Nannie Castle, and she was born in Mississippi in 1852 and died at St. Jo, Texas, in Novem- ber, 1914. Her children are: John R., who is in the real estate, insurance and loan business at Norman ; C. V., who married C. Denstil, a tailor at Canyon City, Texas; Nannie, wife of J. A. Foster, a nurseryman at Denison, Texas; Ada, wife of James L. Petray, in the street car servire at Corpus Christi, Texas; W. O. Stogner, in the confectionery business at St. Jo, Texas; James Monroe; Richard, a farmer at St. Jo; Fannie, deceased wife of Sam Hoffman, who is a farmer at Binger, Oklahoma; Elizal eth, wife of Oscar Atha, a farmer of St. Jo; Lucy, wife of Presley Lawler, a farmer at St. Jo, Texas; Thomas L., a schoolman at Gainesville, Texas; and George, a farmer at St. Jo.

James Monroe Stogner grew up in the Red River country of Northern Texas, attended the public schools in Mount Pleasant and the high school at Center Point in Conke County, and finished his education at the age of twenty-one. His years up to that time had been spent on his father's farm. In 1899 he came to Cleveland County, Oklahoma, and was a successful farmer in that community until 1905. After that he followed the bar- ber's trade at Noble until 1908 and then moved his business to Norman, where he plied his trade and also acquired a great host of warm and admiring friends, whose support was a factor in his election to the office of clerk of court in November, 1914. Mr. Stogner has also finished a correspondence course in the Chicago Cor- respondence School of Law.

He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church South and is affiliated with Norman Camn No. 154, Woodmen of the World, with Norman Lodge No. 7, Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows. Near St. Jo, Texas, in 1902, Mr. Stogner married Miss Cynthia Wilson, daugh- ter of John H. Wilson, who is now a farmer at Robinson

in Garvin County, Oklahoma. To their marriage have leen born four children: Charles Clark, who died in 1904, at St. Jo, Texas; and Edna May, Loretta and Ruby, the oldest being in the fifth grade and the youngest in the primary grade in the public schools at Norman.

ALBERT B. SMYTHE. The City of Marlow enumerates on the role of its departed benefactors none who left behind more numerous and substantial evidences of asso- ciation with the city 's affairs than the late Albert B. Smythe. As ranchman, agriculturist, general merchant, financier and public-spirited citizen, he went among the reople of this community from the time of his arrival, in 1889, when he erected the first house on the site of the present city, until his death, which occurred August 29, 1913, and there remains in his wake an impression of practical usefulness and genuine dependable character that is directly traceable to his untiring zeal and ready recognition of opportunity.

Mr. Smythe belonged to a family which originated in England and was founded in America long before the struggle for independence, its early members settling in Georgia. He was born near Jackson, Mississippi, May 12, 1850, and there received a public school education, following which, as a young man, he removed to Cor- sicana, Navarro County, Texas, where he combined the two occupations of farming and merchandising, spending a part of the year in the fields as a hand and the remainder in the store as a clerk. He subsequently removed to Bowie, Montague County, Texas, where he established himself in the mercantile business on his own account, then went to Graham, Young County, and later to Bellevue, Clay County, and during all this period con- tinued his operations in merchandising. Eventually, he purchased a farm, lying between the towns of Bellevue and Bowie, and cultivated this for several years, but in 1889 disposed of his interests there and came to what was then Indian Territory, where he built the first house on the reservation on the present site of Marlow. With excellent foresight he recognized that this community was destined to become a flourishing commercial center, and here he built the first business house, a small and modest enterprise which under his able management and direction grew to large proportions in the years that followed. As his holdings grew, he became interested in financial affairs, and in 1893 established The Bank of Marlow and became its vice president, a position which he held until his death. This institution, in 1912, became the National Bank of Marlow, and still con- tinues one of the strong and substantial institutions of this rart of the state, a monument to the enterprise and ability of its founder.

While Mr. Smythe continued actively interested in business affairs un to the time of his last illness, he had disposed of his farms and ranches several years before liis death, but his family still owns the large general stores and a large amount of city prorerty at Marlow, including the beautiful family home. He was a stalwart democrat in his political views, was very prominent in civic affairs, and gave his zealous and ardent assistance to every movement for the welfare of the community. While he never sought public preferment, he was pre- vailed upon on several occasions to accept public office and responsibility, being a member of the council of Marlow for several terms, as well as of the school board. Throughout his life be adhered to the teachings of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and for a number of years prior to his death had served as elder. His fraternal connection was with Marlow Lodge No. 103, Free and Accerted Masons. Mr. Smythe was a man of strong character, sound judgment, thorough practical informa-

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tion and unswerving integrity. In public affairs he took an earnest and unselfish interest, and whatever move- ments were likely to promote the general welfare received his unhesitating and hearty support. He was a useful member of the community, which suffered a great loss when he passed away.

At Oak Hill, Texas, in 1882, Mr. Smythe was married to Miss Mildred Williams, a member of a family which came from England long before the Revolution and settled in Georgia. A daughter of W. B. Williams, who died in Elk City, Oklahoma, in 1914, a retired farmer and capitalist, she received her education at Montague, Texas, and Whitesboro Normal School. Her mother, who was Miss Mary Thompson, of Shreveport, Louisi- ana, still survives and resides at Elk City, Oklahoma. There were five children in the family of Mr. and Mrs. Williams : Mildred, now Mrs. Smythe; Samuel, a cotton gin owner and mechanic of Elk City, Oklahoma; William, president of several mining companies at Silver City, Idaho; John, who is engaged in merchandising at Fort Stockton, Texas; and Amos, who is engaged in business with his brother, Samuel, at Elk City.

Albert B. and Mildred Smythe became the parents of thrce sons: Harry C., born at Bellevue, Texas, October 23, 1887; William Otho, born at Bowie, Texas, October 17, 1889; and Robert Wade, born at Marlow, Oklahoma, July 31, 1895, and now a freshman at Normau Uni- versity, Oklahoma.

Harry C. Smythe came to Marlow, Indian Territory, with his mother, in 1890, the father having preceded them the year before. He received a good public school edu- cation here, being graduated from Marlow High School in 1903, following which he entered his father's general merchandise store, where he soon became manager, a position which he holds at the present time. The stores are situated at the corner of Main Street and Broadway, and the business draws a large trade from Stephens, Grady and Comanche counties, being the pioneer store of Marlow and one of the leading business enterprises of Stephens County. This concern has the distinction of having been the only business house at Marlow when the Rock Island Railroad was built through this place. Mr. Smythe, aside from being an energetic and progres- sive business man, has taken an active part in civic affairs, and is now serving as a member of the city council, an office to which he was elceted on the demo- cratie ticket. He is widely and popularly known in fraternal circles, holding membership in Marlow Lodge No. 103, Free and Accepted Masons, of which he is past- master; Duncan Chapter No. 21, Royal Arch Masons; Indian Consistory No. 2, of the thirty-second degree; and India Temple, Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine .. He is also a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, belonging to Lodge No. 755, at Chickasha, Oklahoma. Mr. Smythe is unmarried.

William Otho Smythe came with his brother and mother to Marlow in 1890, and this city has continued to be his home to the present time. After graduating from the Marlow High School, in 1905, he entered San Antonio (Texas) Academy, which he attended in 1907 and 1908, and in the latter year returned to Marlow and assisted as manager of the hardware store. When this department of the business was sold, in December, 1914, he became assistant to his brother in the general manage- ment of the business. Hc is possessed of the family acumen, foresight and business ability, and is known as one of Marlow's energetic and enterprising young busi- ness men. He is a democrat, and has advanced to the thirty-second degree in Masonry, being past master of lis lodge and belonging to the same branches of Masonry of which his brother is a member. He also holds mem-

bership in the Elks at Chickasha. Mr. Smythe was married April 6, 1915, at Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, to Miss Jeanne Turner, daughter of M. L. Turner, presi- dent of the Western National Bank, of Oklahoma City.

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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