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 94

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 94

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).

1265

HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

Georgia in 1838. At that time he acted as conductor of one of the detachments of Cherokees in their removal from Georgia to the country set aside for them west of the Mississippi. After reaching Indian Territory he labored as an evangelist at Honey Creek, Fairfield and Dwight Mission and in other places. From the beginning of 1834 until about the commencement of the war he was employed by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. During that time, besides preaching, he translated religious tracts and hymns with Mr. Wor- cester, and more especially was engaged in the transla- tion of the Holy Scripture. His translation of the New Testament and parts of the Old, was subsequently printed by the American board of New York.

Besides his valuable work as a preacher, missionary and translator, Rev. Mr. Foreman filled many important offices in the Cherokee Nation, discharging his duties with constant fidelity. He was intensely patriotic and loyal to his people and their welfare, their advancement, the defence of their rights and the preservation of their nationality were · special objects of his endeavors and zeal. With the exception of principal chief he filled almost every office in the gift of the Cherokee people. He was their delegate to Washington in 1846, and filled various offices in the councils of the nation for a number of years. He assisted in drawing up in 1839 and was one of the signers of the Cherokee Constitution, and afterwards translated it into the Cherokee language, together with most of the Cherokee laws. He was one of the first superintendents of public schools, and was identified from time to time in almost every capacity with the educational and other interests of the country. At the time of his death he was a member of the board of the Cherokee Insane Asylum. During the war he identified himself with that part of the Cherokee Nation who chose the Southern cause, and was then united with the Southern branch of the old school Presbyterian Church, serving as its missionary until about January, 1878. Then owing to lack of funds the mission among the Cherokees was discontinued, though Mr. Foreman was allowed an annual sum of $250 for his support. In his later years he built from his own means the church at Park Hill, and continued to preach the gospel there until the close of his eventful life.

The mother of John A. Foreman was Sally Walker Riley, who was born in the old Cherokee Nation in Alabama and was married there. She was with her husband in the removal of the tribe to Indian Territory and her third child was born during that migration on the banks of the Mississippi River. That birth delayed the progress of the detachment for three days. She died at the old home at Park Hill in 1861, and had become the mother of ten children, namely: Austin W .; Ermina Nash ; Jeremiah Evarts; Susan Elizabeth; John Anthony; Sarah, who died in infancy; Stephen Taylor; Jenny Lind; Archibald Alexander and A. W. Worcester. Rev. Stephen Foreman married for his second wife a cousin to his first wife, Ruth Riley Candy, widow of Reese Candy. By her first marriage she brought him one child, Thomas Candy, and by her marriage to Rev. Mr. Foreman had three children: Charles Hodge; Flora, wife of A. J. Rider of Talala; and Araminta Ross, who is a teacher in the Choctaw Nation.

John Anthony Foreman, a son of Rev. Stephen and Sally Walker (Riley) Foreman, was born at the old home of his father at Park Hill, five miles south of Tahlequah, June 10, 1844. He grew up in that pictur- esque section of the old Cherokee Nation, and lived at home until the outbreak of the war. In 1861 he was mustered in to the First Cherokee Regiment in Company E, and saw four years of active service in the Confederate

army until the close of hostilities. He served as a sergeant, and was with his regiment in all its campaigns and battles. After the war he resided in and about Tahlequah until 1870. In 1869 Mr. Foreman married Eliza Blythe, who was of part Cherokee blood. In 1870 he took his wife to California, but returned to the nation in 1872, locating first at Tahlequah and soon afterwards establishing his home on a farm near Clare- more on Blue Creek. He became the first superintendent of the Blind and Insane Asylum for the Cherokee Nation, located near Park Hill. The Cherokee National Council commissioned him to establish this institution, which was the first of its kind among the Cherokee people. Later Mr. Foreman was engaged for three years in the mercantile business at Vinita and was also a rancher near Claremore. Afterwards he moved to Talala and was in the employ of Chief Rogers for two years.

While living at Vinita in 1879 Mrs. Foreman died, and in 1883 he married Amanda Smith, who was born at Milan, Tennessee, in 1859. She was graduated at Cane Hill College in Arkansas in 1877 and was engaged in work as a teacher until her marriage, having spent three years in the schools of the Cherokee Nation. In 1899 for the benefit of his wife's health, Mr. Foreman removed to New Mexico and only in 1913 returned to Oklahoma, and has since lived at Ramona in Washing- ton County. While in New Mexico he conducted a hotel at Roswell and also looked after a garden business. Mr. Foreman and wife are members of the Presbyterian Church, in which he is an elder, and in politics he is a democrat. He served as district judge for four years in the Cooweescoowee District of the Cherokee Nation. He is a Master Mason.

Of the children born to his first wife four are now deceased, and the two living are: Ella, at home; and Mrs. Gertrude Bass, widow of W. R. Bass, living at Ramona. By his present wife Mr. Foreman has two children, John Fitz Lee, who died in 1901 at the age of sixteen; and L. Wallace, of Ramona.

Mrs. Foreman's father was Leonard Collin Smith, who was born in Fayetteville, North Carolina, July 23, 1811. He afterwards moved to Tennessee, and became tho owner of a large plantation, operated by many slaves, in the vicinity of Jackson. The Town of Thomas- ville is now located on a part of his old plantation. During the war he suffered the many misfortunes which attended the lot of Southern planters and afterwards took up merchandising at Milan, Tennessee, and was elected the first mayor of that town, filling the office for a number of years. In 1873 he removed to Arkansas, and died at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Foreman, in Oklahoma, December 23, 1885. Leonard C. Smith married Nancy Reed, who was born in Tennessee. She died during the Civil war on their plantation at Beech Bluff near Jackson, Tennessee. Mr. Smith had three wives, and each one brought him children, numbering eight in all, and three of his sons saw active service during the Civil war.

Leonard W. Foreman, son of John A. Foreman, and a grandson of the Rev. Stephen Foreman, was born in Rogers County, Oklahoma, July 16, 1888, and is now prominently identified with the community at Ramona as a merchant. For about eleven years he lived with his parents in Indian Territory, and then went with them to New Mexico, where he attended school. Mr. Foreman is the only child of his mother, Amanda (Smith) Fore- man, and has two half sisters. He also acquired part of his education in a preparatory school at Lebanon, Tennessee, and in 1907 returned to Oklahoma and for the past six years has been engaged in the drug business at Ramona as proprictor of the Bass Drug Company.

ard ate

isg

ly ve Is

he ad en h, e.

d te

at s

iş

5 t f

his

בל in

m. res an in

1266

HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

He has been prominent in the civil upbuilding of the community and several years ago built the electric light plant, but has since sold a half interest in that business. Ile also has his allotment as a citizen of the Cherokee tribe, comprising ninety acres in Rogers County. He is a democrat, is affiliated with the Benevolent and Pro- tective Order of Elks at Bartlesville, and is a member of the Presbyterian Church. In 1909 he married Miss Alice Gwynn, who was born at Nashville, Tennessee. Their three children are; Wallace Gwynn, Margaret Elizabeth and Alice Virginia.

EDWARD M. FRYE. Among those of Cherokee blood who have gained distinction and position in profes- sional fields, one of the most prominent in Sequoyah County is Edward M. Frye, a member of the legal con- fraternity. Since 1905 he has been engaged in practice at Sallislaw and during this time has built up an excel- lent professional business of the most desirable kind, while since 1908 he has been rendering his community admiral le service in the capacity of United States commissioner.

Mr. Frye has passed his entire career in the commun- ity in which he now resides, having been born in the Sequoyah District, Indian Territory, December 20, 1879, a son of Charles O. and Eliza (Thornton) Frye. Both his parents were born in the Sequoyah District aud passed their lives here in the pursuits of the soil. His paternal grandfather came from Georgia to Indian Territory with the Cherokee emigrants, at the time of their removal in 1835, while on the maternal side he belongs to the Thornton family which is one of the old- est of the Cherokee Nation.

Edward M. Frye was reared in what is now Sequoyah County, Oklahoma, and' enjoyed educational advantages of an excellent character, being a son of parents who realized the value of an education and gave their chil- dren the best of opportunities for preparing themselves for their struggle with the world. After attending and graduating from the Cherokee Male Seminary at Tah- lequah, he entered the legal department of the Uni- versity of Arkansas, where he was duly graduated in 1905 with the degree of Bachelor of Laws, and on De- cemler 5 of that year was admitted to practice in the courts of Indian Territory. When still a young man he secured his first introduction to pullic service as clerk of the Senate of the Cherokee Nation, but aside from this had no experience as a public official until he was appointed, in April, 1908, by United States District Court Judge Campbell, as United States commissioner, a position which he has continued to retain. At the time of his admission to the bar, Mr. Frye began the practice of his profession at Sallislaw, where he has always resided, and within a mile of which city he was born. He has rapidly forged to the front as a lawyer, now enjoying a remunerative practice, and is held in the highest esteem, not only as a professional man but as an earnest, stirring and public-spirited citi- zen. Always a stalwart supporter of the men and meas- ures of the republican party, he has become a man of influence in the ranks of this organization and is now a member of the Republican State Committee. His fra- ternal connections are with the Knights of Pythias and the Woodmen of the World.

In 1905 Mr. Frye was united in marriage with Miss Mattie Watts, of Sallislaw, Malel, Charles Edward and Eliza Juanita are their children.

ARTHUR Y. BOSWELL. Behind any successful business is a personality, and not infrequently a story of hard struggles to attain an ideal. One of the most conspicuous

mercantile establishments in Tulsa serves as an illustra- tion of this fact.

From Sulphur Springs, Arkansas, Arthur Y. Boswell in 1894 came to Fairland, then Indian Territory, and has since demonstrated what a live man can accomplish. He opened a small shop as a jeweler. He worked steadily and relied upon businesslike methods to gain the confi- dence and the patronage of the public. His business con- tinued to increase until in May, 1907, just at the time Tulsa commenced to grow, he was one of the largest enthusiasts, as well as contributors, for the benefit of Tulsa's growth, on several occasions giving literally to railroad bonuses before ever having any real estate. In 1903 he opened one of the finest stores of its kind to Le found in the Southwest. The building and lot cost him $25,000, and his fixtures cost $10,000, leing of solid mahogany and glass. The building is located in the best shopping section of the city, is three stories high, and in this ample estal lishment he carries a stock valued at between $40,000 to $70,000. It is conceded that his is the largest jewelry establishment, complete in all de- partments, to be found anywhere in Oklahoma. He also does the largest general jewelry repair business, and has a complete department for manufacturing jewelry goods and employs expert gold and silversmiths. Almost any order for custom made jewelry can be filled in the Bos- well establishment. The store has an equipment of the handsomest pictures and furnishings that money could buy or the skill of craftsmen could furnish. His show windows are the pride of local citizens, and his displays of merchandise are as attractive as those shown in the great metropolitan jewelry stores. On the opening day, May 3, 1907, more than 8,000 visitors were received by Mr. Boswell in his store, and to each one was given a handsome souvenir of the occasion. Mr. Boswell also operates another fine jewelry store at No. 3 Third Street, known as the American Jewelry Company.

Born in Dade County, Missouri, November 18, 1874, he is a son of John Henry and Mahala (Hudson) Bos- well. His father was born in Ohio in 1848 and his mother in Greene County, Missouri, in 1846. There were seven children, six of whom are living, Arthur being the second. In 1850 John H. Boswell was taken by his par- ents to Indiana, and in 1869 he removed to Missouri, where for a number of years he was engaged in stock raising and farming in Dade County. In 1880 he re- moved to Northwestern Arkansas, locating in Washing- ton County, where he turned his attention to fruit raising and the nursery business. For a great many years now he has been one of the prominent fruit men of the coun- try and was one of the pioneers of that industry in the famous fruit belt of Northwestern Arkansas. He finally removed to St. Cloud, Osceola County, Florida, where he continues business as a truck farmer, having done much to develop that industry in the Florida Peninsula. He is a democrat in politics.

Arthur Y. Boswell gained his early education in the district schools of Arkansas. As a boy he started to learn the jewelry trade at Springdale, Arkansas, under G. W. Kennan, and after making himself proficient in the trade as jeweler, engaged in business for himself with a very modest capital at Sulphur Springs, Arkansas, until January, 1893. He next moved to Fairland, Indian Territory, and there conducted a small shop until January 1, 1903. That was the date of his coming to Tulsa, the prospects of which town had already attracted his atten- tion, and there he found the opportunities which ten years of preparation had made him capable of utilizing.

Mr. Boswell is affiliated with Tulsa Lodge No. 71, A. F. & A. M .; Tulsa Chapter No. 52, R. A. M .; Trinity Com- mandery, K. T .; Oklahoma Consistory No. 1 of the

be to ler

eli aš an

the

tem

ng F-1

2. 4

ch i

tory ment

and th

beroie

native

of an

Texas

-the

Sam's

is still

of a s

its he

wbom,

delight

pionee

whose

itance,

peace

Jud

Texas,

tilda

Compa

the w

soldier

Mexic

gold

expedi Morris

who

during

of Tex

origin

Ameri

Lafay

Texas.

to be

pared

ân itir

South,

and 0

at the

Vol

thirty- Mystic Benevo Knight

mercial

stands line of

and se

ciation

the Ok

be is a

bas be

years.

is now

was a sides t

under

ously

enhane

heginn

countr

is one

get a Miss

state roman

1267

HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

thirty-second degree Scottish Rite; Akdar Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Tulsa; also Tulsa Lodge No. 946 of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and of the Knights of Pythias. He is an active member of the Com- mercial Club and of the Merchants Association, and stands especially high in the organizations of his special line of business in the Southwest. He helped to organize and served as the first president of the Optical Asso- ciation of Oklahoma, and for two years was president of the Oklahoma Retail Jewelers' Association. In politics he is a democrat.

On November 11, 1894, while he was still struggling to get a footing as a business man, Mr. Boswell married Miss Mattie J. Francis, who was born in Texas, and who has been his helpful companion for more than twenty years. They became the parents of two sons: Alvie Y. is now assistant manager of the store at Tulsa; Hoyt was accidentally killed at the age of eleven years. Be- sides the large mercantile concern which has grown up under his management, Mr. Boswell has invested judici- ously in many pieces of property in Tulsa County, and is one of the large taxpayers of that county.

J. W. MORRIS. The early history of every county and state is associated more or less with the element of romance, which in the case of the older countries is enhanced by the veil of mystery in which their early beginnings are shrouded. In the founding of newer countries the romance is just as real, through their his- tory lacks the perspective given by time. The settle- ment of New England, of Virginia, Kentucky, Louisiana and the great Northwest was made possible through the heroic deeds of pioneers worthy to rank in courage and native force of character with the most famous heroes of antiquity, and the same is true of California and Texas and our own young and vigorous State of Oklahoma -the old Indian Territory-which took its place in Uncle Sam's family of states but a few years ago, and which is still but an infant, though giving abundant promise of a splendid maturity in the future. It also has had its heroes, stout of heart and strong of hand, many of whom, or their sons, are with us today, and whom all delight to honor. One of the latter, the son of a Texas pioneer and a "Forty-niner" of early California days, whose strong, forceful character comes to him by inher- itance, is Judge J, W. Morris, lawyer and justice of the peace at Tishomingo, Johnston County.

Judge Morris was born at Montgomery, near Houston, Texas, in 1864, and is a son of Captain A. W. and Ma- tilda (Palmer) Morris. The father was captain of Company K, Eighth Regiment of Texas Rangers during the war between the states and he lost his life as a soldier. He took part in the important campaigns of the Mexican war and in 1849 went to California during the gold excitement. In the following year he joined an expeditionary party that went to South America. Judge Morris's mother was a daughter of ,Col. Martin Palmer, who was once a member of Congress from Missouri, and , who was a colonel in the army of Gen. Sam Houston during the Texas revolution, and was one of the signers of Texas independence. The Palmer family is of French origin and members of an earlier generation came to America during the Revolution and served under General Lafayette.

J. W. Morris as a boy attended the public schools of Texas. Left an orphan at an early age, he was obliged to become self-supporting, and through home study pre- pared himself both for the law and the ministry. While an itinerant minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, he filled a number of important stations in Texas and Oklahoma conferences. He was admitted to the bar at the age of twenty-two and began the practice of that Vol. III-21

profession in Texas. Entering politics shortly there- after, he was elected a member of the Texas Legisla- ture, in which he served one term. In 1901 he came to Indian Territory and located at Ardmore. From there he subsequently removed to Tishomingo, of which place he has since been a resident. The outbreak of the Span- ish-American war aroused his inherited military instincts and he enlisted in Texas for service, but his regiment was not dispatched to the front. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, of the Masonic, Odd Fellows and Woodmens lodges, of the Tishomingo Commercial Club and of the county and state bar asso- ciations. In church and educational work he has been a leader, and besides at present serving as justice of the peace, he has filled the position of mayor of Tishomingo. He has a brother, the Hon. A. W. Morris, of Galveston, who is a member of the State Senate of Texas. Another brother, W. B. Morris, is engaged in the hotel business in Houston, Texas, while a sister, Mrs. A. E. Nation, is the wife of a merchant at Navasota, Texas. He still retains the local preacher relation with the Methodist Church, and during his ministerial career he filled mis- sions, circuits and stations and built many churches.

Judge Morris was married in 1887, in Cameron, Texas, to Miss Mattie Nabours. They have three children: J. W., Jr., who is an accomplished musician and a band instructor in Iowa; Iline, a music teacher in West Texas, and Mrs. Mozelle White, wife of a real estate and loan dealer at Madill, Oklahoma.

COLUMBUS L. WOODS. Since assuming the duties de- volving upon the incumbent of the office of county clerk, Columbus L. Woods, of LeFlore County, has rendered a service that has been highly appreciated by the people who chose him for this responsible position. His former experience in the office of the county register of deeds had given him practical and valuable experience and if his qualifications had been doubted before his election, any such questions as to his fitness have been fully and satis- factorily answered.

Mr. Woods was born in Lawrence County, Missouri, May 31, 1873, and is a son of Gideon B. and Mary J. (Winchester) Woods. His parents were Tennesseans and after the close of the war between the states, in which his father fought as a soldier of the Confederacy, they removed to Missouri, locating on a farm in Lawrence County. When their son was six years of age they went to Arkansas and settled on a farm in Sebastian County, where the lad was reared and sent to the rural schools. Later he was a student in the preparatory department of the University of Arkansas, his vacations being spent in the work of the home farm, and when he left the class- room finally, he took up farming as a vocation. In 1901, Mr. Woods came to the Indian Territory, and for some time held a clerkship in a mercantile establishment at Poteau. When he had gained sufficient experience and accumulated enough capital, he went to Gilmore, Okla- homa, and engaged in business on his own account, but later returned to Poteau, where he has since maintained his residence. Mr. Woods entered business here in a modest way as proprietor of a general store, which he conducted with a fair measure of success and developed to considerable proportions, but in 1912 disposed of his mercantile interests and in January of that year began official activities as a deputy in the office of the county register of deeds. There he remained for three years, and in 1914 became the democratic candidate for the office of county clerk of LeFlore County, a position to which he was duly elected. His subsequent service, as before mentioned, has been energetic, faithful and con- scientious. Mr. Woods has been an active worker in his party and is considered one of the influential democrats

1268

HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

of his county. He is fraternally connected with the Masons, in which he has received the master's degree, and with the Knights of Pythias, in both of which lodges he has numerous friends. His religious connection is with the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.

Mr. Woods was married in 1898 to Miss Hattie Hawkins, a native of Mississippi, and to this union there has been born a son: James G. The family home is at Poteau.

PHILIP H. DALBY, M. D. For nearly thirty years Doctor Dalby has practiced medicine in the country of Southern Kansas and Northern Oklahoma, and for the past six years has been located at Ramona in Washing- tou County, where he is now serving as postmaster. Doctor Dalby has a very successful record as a physician, and his professional skill has been supplemented by a great deal of kindly service among his circle of practice. He has prospered in a business way, and has also been a leader in democratic circles both in Kansas and Okla- homa.

Born iu Edwards County, Illinois, May 15, 1853, Doctor' Dalby is a son of David and Louisiana (Brissen- don) Dalby. His father was born in England in 1820, and his mother was born in Edwards County, Illinois, in 1828, not long after her parents came from England. The Dalby family lived in Edwards and White counties of Illinois until 1870, and then became pioneer settlers in Montgomery County in Southern Kansas near the Village of Havana. The father improved a farm there and lived in that vicinity until his death in 1903, having survived his wife ten years. By trade he was a lithog- rapher and carpenter, but spent most of his active life as a farmer. He was known in his community as a man of unusual information, gained by generous reading both in history and general literature, and could quote freely many passages from the standard authors. He was a democrat, and was a member of the Episcopal Church. Doctor Dalby was the fifth in a family of eight children, the others mentioned briefly as follows: F. D., deceased; Zilpha Pingree of Collinsville; W. O., of Seattle, Wash- ington ; Fannie Lemmart, of Victoria, Texas; Sarah Coe, of California; G. P., who lives on the old farm in Kansas; and Minnie Wright, of Collinsville.

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

Author: Thoburn, Joseph B. (Joseph Bradfield), 1866-1941 Publication date: 1916 Publisher: Chicago, New York, The American Historical Society Number of Pages: 660

Author: Thoburn, Joseph B. (Joseph Bradfield), 1866-1941
Publication date: 1916
Publisher: Chicago, New York, The American Historical Society
Number of Pages: 660