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 90

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 90

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).

In 1898 was solemnized the marriage of Judge Rob- ertson to Miss Olive Stubblefield, who completed her education at the University of Kansas and who was a woman of most gracious personality as well as dis- tinctive culture. Mrs. Robertson was summoned to the life eternal on the 1st of June, 1914, and her memory is revered by all who came within the sphere of her gentle and gracious influence. She is survived by two children, Olive Frances and James B. A., Jr., who is of the fourth generation of the family to hear the personal names of James Brooks Ayers in this sequence.

DAVID A. RICHARDSON. Broad and accurate knowledge of the law and marked judicial acumen have given to Judge Richardson high place at the bar of his adopted state and he is engaged in the successful practice of his profession in Oklahoma City, and his precedence has been enhanced through his able services as judge of the Dis- triet Court and on the Fench of the Oklahoma Criminal Court of Appeals, of which he was one of the first mem- bers after the legislative act establishing this tribunal. Since his retirement from the bench he has given his

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HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

attention to the exacting demands placed upon him in the general practice of law, and since the 1st of January, 1912, he has been a member of the representative law firm of Ames, Chambers, Lowe & Richardson, which is one of the foremost at the bar of the capital city and metropolis of the state and in connection with the large and important business of which he has appeared in many noteworthy cases presented in the various courts of the state.

Judge Richardson was born at Charleston, Franklin County, Arkansas, on the 4th of July, 1875, and is a son of David S. and Sallie (Eggleston) Richardson, who now maintain their home at Fort Smith, Arkansas, and whose other surviving children are: Albert O., who is superintendent of a sash and door factory in the City of Los Angeles, California; Edgar L., who is employed ju the American National Bank of Fort Smith, Arkansas; Charles E., who is a resident of Los Angeles; Mrs. Henry L. Leipold, of Dallas, Texas; and Miss Florence, who remains at the parental home.

David S. Richardson is a native of Georgia and be- came a pioneer merchant and farmer in Franklin County, Arkansas, where he erected, a number of years prior to the Civil war, the first house in the now thriving Town of Charleston, the judicial center of the county. His father was a commissioned officer in the Confederate army in the war between the North and the South and was killed in one of the battles of that great conflict. The mother of Judge Richardson was born on her father's plantation, on the Tennessee River in Alabama, and her father, M. L. Eggleston, was a lieutenant of an Alabama regiment in the Confederate service in the Civil war, after the close of which he removed with his family to Arkansas, where he passed the residue of his life. It will thus be seen that in both the agnatic and distaff lines Judge Richardson is a scion of sterling old Southern stock, and he has ever manifested deep appre- ciation of the gracious regime that marked Southern life in the days prior to the Civil war.

The early education of Judge Richardson was obtained in the public schools of Arkansas, and he was afforded also the advantages of the University of Arkansas, in which he was a student in the year 1895, as was he again in 1897-8. Leaving the university in his junior year, he became a teacher in the public schools of Van Buren, Arkansas, and such was his success in the pedagogic pro- fession that he was made superintendent of the public schools in the City of Russellville, Pope County, that state. After thus serving three years he resigned his position, in May, 1902, in order to turn his attention to the practice of law, for which he had fortified himself by careful private study and by obtaining proper preceptor- ship. He had been admitted to the Arkansas bar in August, 1901, and in May of the following year he en- gaged in the practice of his profession at Alma, Craw- ford County, that state, where he remained until 1903, in which year he came to Oklahoma Territory and estab- lished his residence at McAlester, Pittsburg County. There he became assistant attorney for the Choctaw and Chickasaw Indian nations, under the law firm of Mans- field, McMurray & Cornish, but in May of the same year he formed a law partnership with A. H. Ferguson, of Durant, Bryan County, who later became judge of the District Court of that judicial district. This firm built up a substantial and important law business. At the expiration of his term of service as attorney for the Indian nations mentioned, in November, 1904, Judge Richardson removed from McAlester to Durant, and his partnership alliance with Judge Ferguson there con- tinued until the admission of the state to the Union, in 1907, when he was elected to the bench of the District Court of the Sixth Judicial District as originally con-

stituted. His service in this capacity continued until the 1st of April, 1910, when he resigned to accept from Governor Haskell appointment as a member of the newly established Criminal Court of Appeals. In this important judicial office he again made an excellent record, and upon his retirement from the bench, in January, 1911, he resumed his law practice at Durant. On the 1st of January of the following year, however, he established his permanent residence in Oklahoma City, where he has since been engaged in active practice of general order, the firm of which he is a member controlling a specially substantial and representative law business. Judge Richardson is a stalwart and effective advocate of the principles of the democratic party, but has had no de- sire for public office save along the direct line of his pro- fession. He is liberal and public-spirited in his civic attitude, holds membership in the Oklahoma State Bar Association and the Oklahoma County Bar Association, is a member of the Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce and also of the Men's Dinner Club of Oklahoma City.

At Russellville, Arkansas, on the 10th of November, 1904, was solemnized the marriage of Judge Richardson to Miss Bessie L. Brown, and their only child, David Brown Richardson, was born in the year 1909.

CHARLES A. MCCALL. One of the most progressive states in the Union, Oklahoma owes its enterprise and prosperity chiefly to immigrants from other states, men who have come here to work and take an active part in the development of this young commonwealth. Some, however, have come while still of tender years, and, growing up with the community, have absorbed in fullest measure that western spirit which laughs at obstacles and, ignoring precedent, if need be, presses onward to the accomplishment of great things, looking forward, not backward, and undismayed by initial failure. To this state that of Pennsylvania has sent many of her hardy sons, among whom is the present treasurer of Johnston County, Charles A. McCall. Mr. McCall was born at Duke Center, Pennsylvania, September 26, 1879, the son of John and Nora (Roberts) McCall. The father, who was of Irish ancestry, was engaged in the oil busi- ness of Pennsylvania for many years. Mr. McCall's mother is still living in Oklahoma. The subject of this sketch was educated in the schools of Indian Territory and at Sacred Heart Mission, near Shawnee, Oklahoma, where he spent three years and received the degree of Master of Accounts. For two years thereafter he was assistant postmaster at Tishomingo. The next two years of his life were spent in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, where he was timekeeper for the Ferguson Construction Com- pany on the Wabash Railroad. Returning to Oklahoma, he became manager of the Ardmore Milling Company's cotton gin at Tishomingo, in which position he served for five years. Afterwards for three years he was en- gaged in the mercantile business at Fillmore, Oklahoma. Coming from old-time Democratic stock, Mr. McCall has for some years past taken an active part in the local councils of his party. He served as chairman of the board of town trustees and was once a member of the Tishomingo City Council. In 1912 he was elected county treasurer and his record during his term of office was so satisfactory that in 1914 he was re-elected, and still holds that office. His career shows him to be a man of energy and force of character, while his honesty has never been questioned by those who know him. His success has been self-attained, as he lost his father when a child and it became his boyish duty to aid in supporting a widowed mother while laying the foundation for his own career. As a pioneer of this section of the state he has witnessed and taken part in many scenes of interest while the sec- tion was in transition from the days of Indian rule and

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custom to those of statehood and the rule of the white man. He resides in Tishomingo, his office being in a building that was formerly the capitol of the Chickasaw Nation, and which, after statehood, was purchased by the county and converted into a courthouse.

Mr. McCall was married in 1903, at Tishomingo, to Miss Pearl Wade. They have one son, C. A., Jr., who is now six years old. Mr. McCall has one brother, Henry Roberts McCall, who is engaged in the furniture business in 'Tishomingo. His social affiliations are with the W. O. W. Lodge and the Tishomingo Commercial Club.

FOSTER K. CAMP, M. D. The pioneer in any line of endeavor who has the courage and initiative to disregard old-established customs and usages almost invariably meets with strong opposition and many discouragements, and frequently with failure. The ultra-conservative ele- ment would seem to be largely in the majority, so many are the obstacles placed in the way of any movement that diverges from the ordinary, and he who would overcome this opposition must needs be possessed of uncommon self-reliance and perseverance. In the case of Dr. Foster K. Camp, however, there was but little chance for the opposition movements to get under way, so rapid was the success which attended his early labors in Oklahoma City. True, when on January 1, 1910, he did the unprecedented thing of opening a hospital in a downtown office building, there were many who placed themselves on record as sternly against the movement, but as the hospital grew and succeeded and its place in the community was recog- nized, opposition faded, and the institution was allowed to continue smoothly upon a career that has made it the leading institution of its kind in Oklahoma City.

Foster K. Camp, M. D., owner and superintendent of the Wesley Hospital, at No. 300 West Twelfth Street, and of the Wesley Post-Graduate Hospital, at Second and Stiles streets, Oklahoma City, was born at Greenville, Alabama, March 13, 1874, and is a son of Foster P. and Julia (Riley) Camp. Old and incomplete family records tell of two children who wandered into the camp of a troop of soldiers, in Holland, and were given the name of the "Camp" children, and later emigrated to America, one settling in New York and the other in Virginia, it being from the latter that Doctor Camp is descended. The ancestor located in America prior to the Revolution- ary war, in which several of his descendants fought, and Doctor Camp is today a member of the Sons of the American Revolution.

Foster K. Camp was only five months of age at the time of his father's death, and he was largely thrown upon his own resources at an early age. After attending the public schools of Greenville, Alabama, he went to the Southern University, Greensboro, Alabama, and after spending several years in a commercial business in Chi- cago, entered upon a study of medicine. In 1907 he was graduated from the Illinois School of Therapeutics, and in 1908 from the College of Physicians and Surgeons, of the University of Illinois, and in that year came to Okla- homa City, where he entered upon the general practice of his profession. In 1909 Doctor Camp conceived the idea of the Wesley Hospital, and this developed into the establishment, January 1, 1910, of the first hospital to be located in a downtown office building. Doctor Camp rented an entire floor of the Campbell Building, at No. 10 North Broadway, at a rate of $225 per month, and installed eight beds, these later being increased by three. After eleven months, in which he saw that his venture would prove a success, in December, 1910, Doctor Camp moved to the Herskowitz Building, at the corner of Broadway and Grand Avenue, where he occupied the eleventh and twelfth floors, at a rental of $400 per month,

having twenty-four beds. He remained in that building until December, 1911, when, having bought the property at Twelfth and Harvey streets, he moved the hospital there, and had thirty beds. This was still found inade- quate, and in 1914 an addition was built, at a cost of $10,000, the capacity of the hospital being thus increased to fifty-five beds.

The Wesley Hospital is complete in every respect, as to conveniences, apparatus, equipment and service. The operating room is the most sanitary in the state and is complete with dressing room and lockers for the doctors and toilet and bath for their use; the hospital has an X-ray machine of the latest design; its own waterworks furnishes water from a driven well; there are rooms with sleeping porches; a beautiful roof garden is easily ac- cessible; a telephone is in every room, and the entire hospital is equipped with the silent signal system. This is the official hospital of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and the most eminent physicians and surgeons of Oklahoma City are found on its staff.

In June, 1912, Doctor Camp leased from the City of Oklahoma City the City Hospital which had been main- tained at a loss. Doctor Camp paid a consideration of $250 per month, changed the name to the Wesley Post- Graduate Hospital, and placed the institution upon a self-sustaining basis, saving to Oklahoma City more than $10,000 annually by reason of the change. Here sixty beds are maintained, and about 1,800 patients yearly are treated free at the dispensary, being given not only free treatment but free medicine. No patient is refused at this institution on account of lack of money, and no surgeons' fees are paid, the only charge being that of the hospital fee by those who can afford to pay it. Here, also, is maintained the largest training school for nurses in the state. As owner and superintendent of these in- stitutions, Doctor Camp has under his charge the largest activity of its kind in Oklahoma, and there is no way of estimating the great amount of good done by the institu- tions under his care. He has shown himself not only a physician of rare ability, an executive of power and an efficient business man, but a great humanitarian, whose labors in his chosen field will strengthen not only this, but the coming generations.

Fraternally, Doctor Camp is a York Rite Mason and belongs to the Blue Lodge, the Chapter, the Knights Templar and the Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, and also holds membership in the Phi Delta Theta literary fraternity and the Phi Delta med- ical fraternity. He has been prominently identified with the movements of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, being a member of the board of stewards of the church at Oklahoma City, general secretary of the Oklahoma City Gospel Team, and first vice president of the Oklahoma City Christian Men's Union, an organization which num- bers some 800 members.

Doctor Camp was married in 1901 to Miss Jenet Edward, daughter of James and Jenet Edward, of Chi- cago, natives of Canada, of Scotch descent, and to this union there has been born one daughter: Gladys Lucille. The family home is at No. 300 West Twelfth Street.

CHARLES C. PRUITT, M. D. The medical fraternity of Stephens County contains the names of a number of men who claim the State of Arkansas as their native home. In this class stands Dr. Charles C. Pruitt, of Comanche, a pioneer physician and surgeon who came here in 1900, prior to statehood, and who has since built up an excellent practice, attracted to him by his skill and learning, combined with a sympathetic nature that is one of his greatest assets in the sick-room.

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HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

29, 1872, and is a son of Dr. J. W. and Mary (William- son) (Gordon) Pruitt. The family originally came from England and settled in North Carolina, from whence they removed as pioneers to Kentucky, and in that state was born the grandfather of Doctor Pruitt, Charles Clement Pruitt, who removed with his family from Ken- tucky to Indianapolis, Indiana, and there continued to be engaged in merchandising until his death. Dr. J. W. Pruitt was born at Indianapolis, Indiana, January 21, 1830, and on attaining manhood chose the medical pro-

fession as his life work. After some preparation, he entered the Eclectic Medical Institute (now the Eclectic Medical College), at Cincinnati, Ohio, from which he was graduated in 1860, with the degree of Doctor of Medicine, shortly after he removed to Russellville, Arkansas, where he practiced during the greater part of his life, dying June 21, 1908. Throughout the period of the Civil war he served as regimental surgeon of an Arkansas regiment in the Confederate army. Doctor Pruitt was a democrat and a member of the Masonic fraternity, and was active in the work of the Christian Church, in which he served as an elder. His first mar- riage was with Miss Shinn, who died at Russellville, leav- ing two children: John, who is deceased; and Jennie, who is married and lives at Texarkana, Arkansas. He was married the second time to Miss Russell, now deceased, by whom he had one daughter: Florence, who is married and resides at Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Doctor Pruitt married for his third wife Mrs. Mary (Williamson) Gordon, daughter of the late Scott Wil- liam on, who was a farmer near Russellville, and widow of the late Doctor Gordon of Russellville. She died at Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1887, having been the mother of four children: William E., a baker, who died at Okla- homa City, Oklahoma, in January, 1910; Fred J., who is a traveling salesman for the pipe works at Texarkana, Arkansas; Edwin E., who is an architect of Columbus, Ohio; and Dr. Charles C., of this notice. Dr. J. W. Pruitt was married a fourth time, being united with Mary M. Bosworth, who died without issue, at Russell- ville, in June, 1911.

Charles C. Pruitt attended the public schools of Rus- sellville, following which he enrolled as a student at the Eclectic Medical College, Cincinnati, Ohio, having inher- ited his father's predilection for the profession of medi- cine. He was duly graduated with the degree of Doctor of Medicine, May 9, 1899, and first began practice at Russellville, Arkansas, where he remained until February 1, 1900, the date of his advent at Comanche, then in Indian Territory. A pioneer physician of this locality, le soon displayed his skill and thorough knowledge of his calling in a manner that brought him a satisfying practice, and this has since grown to large and im- portant proportions. His practice is broad and general in character, in both medicine and surgery, and his attainments have been recognized by his fellow- practitioners, among whom he bears a high reputation. Doctor Pruitt maintains well-appointed offices in the Rexall Drug Store, on Oak Street, the main thoroughfare of Comanche, where he has all appliances and con- veniences for the handling of even the most delicate and complicated cases. He was formerly a member of the Oklahoma State Eclectic Medical Association. A demo- crat in politics, he has taken a lively and helpful interest in civic affairs, and has served as a member of the board of city aldermen. His fraternal affiliation is with Comanche Lodge No. 41, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons.

At Hobart, Oklahoma. in 1902, Doctor Pruitt was mar- ried to Miss Wilma Atkins, who was born at Trenton, Missouri, daughter of LeRoy Atkins, a farmer of the

vicinity of Roosevelt, Oklahoma. Five children have come to Doctor and Mrs. Pruitt, born as follows: Charles Clement, Jr., July 16, 1903; Philip LeRoy, January 21, 1906; Dorothy Florence, June 4, 1909; Pauline Virginia, June 2, 1911; and Mary Julia, December 14, 1912.

JUDGE GEORGE F. JOHNSON. Now serving as county judge of McClain County, George F. Johnson is a for- mer Chicago attorney who for the past twelve years has been an active member of his profession and a factor in public affairs in Southern Oklahoma.

From Chicago he came to Lindsay, Indian Territory, in May, 1904, resided there until January 1, 1908, then moved to Blanchard, and on January 1, 1915, took up his residence at Purcell, having been elected on November 6, 1914, for the regular term of two years in the office of county judge. He now has his offices in the court- house in Purcell. He is not only a sound lawyer but a competent business man, and those qualities have enabled him to give his county a valuable service in his present office. While living at Lindsay he served as town attor- ney and held a similar office at Blanchard, and while a member of the Blanchard School Board helped secure the new schoolhouse in that town.

Judge Johnson comes of an old American family, and on both sides his ancestors were identified with Indiana from territorial days. His grandfather, George John- son, was born in Indiana in 1800, about the time Indiana Territory was set off from the old Northwest Territory, and he died in Boone County of that state in 1877. He was related as a cousin to Andrew Johnson, the famous Tennessean who succeeded President Lincoln as chief executive of the nation. George Johnson was a farmer all his life. Judge Johnson's maternal grandfather was Joel H. Kemper, who was a cousin of Governor Kemper of Virginia, this branch of the Kemper family was also pioneers in the Indiana country, where Joel H. Kemper was born in 1801. Besides farming he was a minister of the Baptist Church, and carried on that work for more than sixty years. He died in Boone County, Indiana, in 1883. Originally the Johnsons came from England and settled in Baltimore as followers of Lord Baltimore. Some of the family intermarried with the Elliotts, and the noted Senator Voorhees of Indiana was descended from this Elliott connection.

Judge George F. Johnson was born in Boone County, Indiana, February 20, 1859. His father, J. S. Johnson, was born in the same Indiana county September 16, 1830. In 1864 he removed to Vermilion County, Illinois, transferred his residence in 1881 to Ashmore, Coles County, Illinois, and in 1883 went to Clinton, Vermillion County, Indiana. In 1885 he went to Chicago and fol- lowed the business of contractor and builder, and for a time was in the employ of the state grain inspector's office, and also connected with the health department of Chicago. In 1902 he moved to Northwestern Indiana, locating at North Judson, where he bought a farm of 110 acres, on which he still resides. While at Ashmore, Illinois, and Clinton, Indiana, he was in the mercantile business, associated with his son, Judge Johnson, and before that had devoted all his time to farming and stock raising. He has been a man of more than ordinary prominence in the different communities where he has lived, and as a democrat served as justice of the peace, as assessor and collector, and while a resident of Ver- milion County, Illinois, he was the only democrat elected to any office in that county. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. J. S. Johnson married Marilda M. Kemper, who was born in Boone County, Indiana, August 9, 1837. Their children were: Jennie, now deceased; Rebecca I.,

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wife of J. W. Slack, a physician and surgeon at North Judson, Indiana; Judge George F .; Phronie R., wife of J. F. Jenkins, a farmer in Vermilion County, Illinois; Paralee E., wife of Charles Campbell, who recently removed from Vermilion County, Illinois, to North Jud- son, Indiana, where he is now engaged in farming; C. Porter is a graduate of Lee Academy at Loxa, Illinois, early turned his talents as a scholar and fluent speaker to the law, was in practice in Chicago for several years, and while there though only twenty-four years of age, was elected to the Illinois State Senate by a majority of 957 in a district normally 3,700 republican, and later practiced law in Oklahoma City, where he is well known, but is now established in his profession at St. Louis, Missouri; D. W., deceased; Margaret M., wife of J. M. Euff, a postman at Chicago; and R. A., known as Bird, wife of Patrick Walker, who is connected with the Wood Brothers' live stock commission firm of Chicago and lives in North Judson, Indiana.

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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