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. IV, Part 101

Author: Thoburn, Joseph B. (Joseph Bradfield), 1866-1941
Publication date: 1916
Publisher: Chicago, New York, The American Historical Society
Number of Pages: 656

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. IV > Part 101

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THOMAS P. SHADDOCK. From his activities and re- sponsibilities as one of the progressive farmers of Kiowa County, Thomas P. Shaddock was called by vote of his fellow citizens to the office of county assessor in 1912, and is now in his second term of service in that im- portant office, and one of the most efficient, genial and capable members of the little coterie of men who handle the business of the county at the Hobart Courthouse.

The Shaddock family to which he belongs originated in Ireland, but his first ancestors emigrated and settled in New York State before the colonies were welded into one nation by the War of the Revolution. Thomas P. Shaddock was born at Camden, in Ouachita County, Arkansas, April 14, 1868. His father, James Shaddock, born in Alabama in 1832, removed from that state to Camden before the Civil war, was a farmer and stock man and died in Arkansas in 1882. In 1861 he had en- listed in the Confederate army and was in many of the campaigns under General Pricc in the Mississippi Valley, and continued in service until mustered out at Marshall, Texas, in 1865. He was once taken a prisoner of war, but was subsequently exchanged. His church was the Primitive Baptist. James Shaddock married Emeline

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Seal, who was born in Alabama in 1840 and died at Camden, Arkansas, in 1880. Thomas P. was the oldest of their five children; James R. is now living with his brother at Hobart; Augusta died near Hobart as the wife of J. W. Porter, whose home is a farm northwest of Hobart; Lucy is the wife of C. Y. Gorman, a farmer seven miles southeast of Hobart; and Benjamin is a car- penter and builder at Longview, Texas.

The death of both his parents when he was but four- teen years of age threw Thomas P. Shaddock, the oldest of the children, upon his own responsibilities, and he soon afterward went to live with his uncle, Richard Ira Shaddock, in Harrison County of Eastern Texas, and remained with him until reaching his majority. In the meantime he attended the local schools of Harrison County, and at the age of twenty-one started out as an independent farmer in that section of the Lone Star State. He continued his activities as a farmer therc until October, 1904, when he removed to Hobart, Okla- homa, and was among the early settlers, having lived in Kiowa County since three years before statehood. He soon came to be known as a farmer of excellent judgment and growing prosperity, and was also very popular among all classes of citizens. His farm was near Hobart, but since his first election to the office of county assessor in 1912 he has given practically all his attention to his duties at the courthouse. On November 6, 1914, he was re-elected for another term of two years, and at that election received every vote in his home precinct.

Mr. Shaddock is a member of the Primitive Baptist Church and one of its deacons. In politics he is a demo- crat. On December 20, 1890, in Harrison County, Texas, Mr. Shaddock married Miss Martha C. Koon, daughter of J. J. Koon, who was a farmer there and is now deceased. Six children were born to their union: Pru- dence V., wife of N. D. Thurman, a dairyman and farmer at Oklahoma City; John Perry, who is attending busi- ness college at Oklahoma City; Mary J., a student in the Hobart High School; James I., in the grammar school; William Benjamin also in school; and one, a son, that died in infancy.

TOM CHATBURN. Fifty years ago Richard Chatburn left his home in England and came to America, here to establish a branch of the family. He located in Harrison County, Illinois, and there passed the remainder of his life as a farmer in that district. Among his children was a boy, Jonas, who was born in England in 1848, and who was sixteen years old when the family migrated to American shores. Jonas Chatburn is the father of Tom Chatburn of this review.

Jonas Chatburn was a young man when he left the Harrison County home and settled in Albin, Idaho. He left that place in 1892 and located in Jasper County, Missouri, where he was occupied in the milling business. In 1901 he made another move, locating in Independence, Oklahoma, where he remained for five years, and in 1906 he returned to Missouri, settling in Corder. From that place he went to Mapleton, Kansas, settled on a farm, and is there living today. He has devoted much of his active life to the milling business, in which he has been successful. He is republican in his politics, a member of the Odd Fellows, and his churchly relations are with the Latter Day Saints.

In 1876 Mr. Chatburn was married to Helen South, who was born in Illinois in 1855, and who died in Buck- ner, Missouri, in 1911. Eight children were born to them. Richard is a miller and lives in Buckner. Anna married George Troutman, a farmer of Reeds, Missouri. Tom, of this review, was the third child. Bessie married Bert Weeks and they live in Mapleton, Kansas, on a

farm. Harry is connected in a business way with an oil company, and lives in Lemoor, California. LeRoy is a jeweler and lives in Buckner, Missouri. Jonas is located in Kansas City, where he conducts an automobile livery. Mary is a school teacher and makes her home with her brother, Richard, in Buckner.

Tom Chatburn was born in Albin, Idaho, on January 2, 1882, and there he had his elementary schooling. When the family returned to Missouri he was still a mere boy and he attended school there, finishing his studies in the schools of Corder, when he was sixteen years old. He entered the flour mill operated by his father and was engaged in that work henceforth. In 1902 he came to Independence with his father and con- tinued in the milling business until 1904. On October 16, in that year, he came to Custer City, and here estab- lished himself in a grain elevator business, with which he was connected for two years. In 1906 he entered the Peoples State Bank as a bookkeeper. His promotion to the post of assistant cashier soon followed and in 1914 he became cashier of the bank, which position he holds at this writing.

Mr. Chatburn is a republican and has served as a member of the city council in Custer City for two years, rendering a creditable service to the community in that office. He is a member of the Christian Church, and his fraternal relations are confined to membership in the Modern Woodmen of America and the Brotherhood of American Yeomen.

In 1907 Mr. Chatburn was married in Custer City to Miss Edna Struble, daughter of P. S. Struble, a retired farmer of means, now living in Custer City. Two chil- dren have been born to the Chatburns-Thomas Struble, born October 5, 1908, and Helen Ruth, born March 11, 1911.

LOUIS A. LEDBETTER. Probably no Government official in Oklahoma comes in closer contact with the Indian people and their affairs than the United States Probate Indian attorney at Idabel. This is a prominent young lawyer, Louis A. Ledbetter, a young man who was reared in Indian Territory and is a graduate of the University of Oklahoma. The real Indian problems of America, as has been well said, are exemplified in all their phases in McCurtain County, over which Mr. Ledbetter's juris- diction extends. These problems in all their details and complexities are presented to the probate attorneys that Indian Commissioner Cato Sells has established at con- venient points in the Choctaw Nation and other nations of the original Five Tribes. In fact the office of Mr. Ledbetter at Idabel might well be called the clearing house for Choctaw joys and sorrows and all manner of business transactions. .

The commission issued to Mr. Ledbetter, bearing the signature of Franklin K. Lane, secretary of the interior, did not state what are the duties of a probate attorney. However he had been in office but a short time before he learned of duties and responsibilities almost beyond the power of a single mind, however penetrating and comprehensive, to grasp. Many incidents might be told to illustrate Mr .. Ledbetter's complex duties. As these cases are of more than temporary interest and serve to give a better insight into Indian problems and many cases of descriptive history, it is proper to mention a few that have come before the official observation of Mr. Ledbetter.

A Choctaw woman had been credited in the office of the Union Agency at Muskogee with $2,080, which repre- sented her share of the sale of certain tribal property. Before she had been advised of this credit some Mc- Curtain County men entered into a contract with her

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whereby they were to receive half the amount for col- lecting for her the entire amount. They drew a check for a few hundred dollars in part payment of the com- mission. This check the woman innocently brought to the tribal attorney for approval. There she was advised of the absolute needlessness of employing counsel in this or in any other matter relating to her business affairs. Accompanying her was her daughter of sixteen, a full blood Indian, but able to speak good English. Under her arm she carried a stack of cheap books purchased of a news agent on a railroad train, and the attorney was not in doubt that she paid three or four times as much for the books as the average white person would pay.

Another case is as follows: A few years ago a white man purchased a valuable tract of agricultural land in MeCurtain County, believing he obtained a perfect title. Recently he discovered that the land had been allotted to a woman bearing indeed the same name as the woman from whom she had bought, although the former never knew she had received an allotment while the latter was a full blood. In other words, the woman who made the same never had title to the land she sold. The difficulty of unraveling the complexities of this transaction lies in the fact that the woman to whom the title was issued under allotment can not be found, and unless she can be found the man may not be able to get complete title to the land.

Many wrongs were done the Choctaws before attorneys were sent near the scenes of operations, and only a small fraction of these wrongs can ever be corrected. During 1910-11-12 some attorneys representing lumber interests in this county got themselves appointed guard- ians of minor Indian estates, practically all of which contained valuable timber. This timber, worth millions of dollars, was sold to the lumber companies, and the records show that the estates did not receive an average of one-third the actual value of the timber. The plan was so perfect that in each case the purchaser was represented by counsel of the lumber companies, and thus there was no competition in the buying. Where it was necessary these sales were made through the Probate Court and the Probate Court, through indifference, rush of business or other cause, neglected to ascertain whether the Indians were receiving fair values for their property.

Under lax court procedure over $300,000 in notes and mortgages exist in McCurtain County against Indian property. Attorney Ledbetter has discovered that a large majority of these instruments are not worth 50 per cent of their face value. But the Indian has no redress. In fact the Indian of half blood or less is at liberty to make any sort of business transaction he chooses without con- sulting the attorney, and the attorney has no way of undoing many of these transactions. Hence one of the chief duties which Mr. Ledbetter has found imposed upon him has been to educate the Indians under his jurisdiction and to request that he be made their legal and financial agent in all important matters relating to Indian property.

In many places guardians have played fast and loose with the property under their charge. There is the case of an Indian boy who at the age of five was left in Atoka County with a valuable allotment and $5,000 in cash. A guardian was appointed by the United States District Court of Indian Territory and the case was transferred to the Probate Court of the state at state- hood. The guardian's activities were not properly reviewed or checked up by the court and when the Indian boy was twenty-one he was without a dollar of money and had no education. In another case, a guard- ian, who was the father of the minor children involved, spent $1,250 improving a part of a tract of allotted land and then sold the improved part for a total of $1,225.

He advertised the remainder of the land for sale. Mean- time the matter had been reported to the interior depart- ment and the land was saved for the children.

These and many other cases that have occurred under Mr. Ledbetter's observation indicate the intolerable con- ditions to which the Choctaw Indians have been sub- jected. It is no wonder therefore that these Indians have little faith in a white man's government and that in spite of the earnest efforts of many devoted and unselfish missionaries they are little responsive to relig- ious influences. Mr. Ledbetter testifies that a majority of grown fullbloods do not read or write the English language. A fullblood Indian, who by sad experience learned that it was best even in small matters to consult the probate attorney, needed $200. She asked Mr. Led- better through her interpreter for a check for that amount. The check was prepared aud to make it valid at the bank the woman's thumb print made with indel- ible ink from a stamp pad was placed on the corner of the instruunent.

Louis A. Ledbetter is twenty-five years old. He was born in Gainesville, Texas, a son of W. A. Ledbetter of Oklahoma City, who represented the district now embracing Carter County in the constitutional conven- tion. Mr. Ledbetter attended the grammar and high schools at Ardmore, and in 1912 graduated LL. B. from the University of Oklahoma. He was admitted to the bar in June of the same year, and has since been in active practice. He is a member of the County and State Bar Associations, of the Kappa Sigma College fraternity, and is a member of the Young Men's Demo- cratic League of Oklahoma and was one of the organizers of the Democratic Club of the university. He is prom- inently identified with the Masonic fraternity at Me- Alester, Oklahoma. He was married October 10, 1915, to Miss Margortie Garland, who belongs to one of the oldest and best known families in this county.

Shortly after he began the practice of law in 1912 at Idabel, in which town he has since had his home, he was assigned by Attorney General Charles West to represent the state in a case wherein the Choctaw Lumber Com- pany was charged with dealing in real estate in violation of the constitution. This company, it was discovered, owned 100,000 acres of land in Southeastern Oklahoma. It was charged with advertising much of this land for sale to settlers. The petition prepared by Mr. Ledbetter contained 1,300 separate causes of action against the company. The case was compromised to the state's advantage, the company paying in fines and costs $17,150.

CHARLES S. MACDONALD. During an active law prac- tice in Oklahoma for more than ten years, most of which time has been spent at Pawhuska, Mr. Macdonald has enjoyed the rewards and distinctions which come to a lawyer of his solid ability and thorough training. Much credit is given him at Pawhuska for his construc- tive work as city attorney during the period while Pawhuska was transforming itself from a village into a city.

For a young man Mr. Macdonald has seen much of the world and has lived up to his opportunities. He was born at Atchison, Kansas, September 14, 1877, a son of Alexander and Mary (Cleland) Macdonald. His father was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, and was mar- ried in Belfast, Ireland, to a native of that city, though also of Scotch parentage. Soon after their marriage they emigrated to the United States, locating in New York City, where for a time he was superintendent of an iron and wire works. From there he removed to Kansas, and has lived in various sections of the Middle West, part of the time in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and

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is now a resident of Kansas City, Missouri. For the greater part of his active life he was a merchant, but for the past fifteen or twenty years he has been a practicing member of the bar. In the family were six sons, among whom Charles S. was the third in order of age. The others are: R. D., of Lima, Ohio; A. B., of Chillicothe, Missouri; W. S. of Joplin, Missouri; George S., who is a traveling man with residence at Chillicothe, Missouri; and William, a jeweler and engraver.

From the city of his birth, Charles S. Macdonald went to Wichita, Kansas, and was with his father in Western Kansas during the boom days. He also spent part of his early career in Texas and Old Mexico, and for a time was with the Kansas City, Mexico & Orient Railroad, during its construction. He was also a rancher in Texas for a time. Mr. Macdonald took his higher education in the Valparaiso University, in Indiana, where he spent two years, and in 1899 was graduated LL.B. from the law department of the University of Kansas, being admitted by the Supreme Court of that state the same year. Since then he has been in the practice of law, located up to 1904 in Galena, Kansas. On moving to Oklahoma he became associated with C. J. Wrightsman, at Pawnee. The firm of Wrightsman & Fulton had offices both at Pawnee and Pawhuska, and Mr. Macdonald had charge of the Pawhuska office, under the firm name of Wrightsman, Palmer & Macdonald, at Pawhuska, Oklahoma, and has lived in that city since 1905. Later Mr. Macdonald and R. B. Boone bought out the firm's law business at Pawhuska in 1907, and the firm was Boone & Macdonald for a time, later Boone, Leahy & Macdonald, and since December, 1911, has been Leahy & Macdonald. This is one of the leading law firms in Osage County.

In politics Mr. Macdonald has always been identified with the democratic cause. His four years of service as city attorney of Pawhuska was during the constructive era, and he drew up all the important ordinances and bond issues, and in other ways furnished valuable legal advice to the municipal government. While he was in office bonds were issued for city waterworks, light plant, sewers, schools, and for other purposes. During the campaign of Mr. Williams for governor of Oklahoma. Mr. Mac- donald was his special committeeman in Osage County, and did much campaigning in other sections of the state. He is a member of the Oklahoma State Bar Association and fraternally is identified with both the York and Scottish rites of Masonry, including the thirty-second degree; the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Ancient Order of United Workmen and the Knights of Pythias. He belongs to Nu Chapter, Sigma Nu Fra- ternity, and to Green Chapter, Phi Delta Phi, of the University of Kansas.

In April, 1906, Mr. Macdonald married Anna Hubner of Lawrence, Kansas. Mrs. Macdonald is of German parentage. /

WILLIAM JOSHUA EWING. One of the propelling factors in the business and civic life of the Town of Shattuck during the past twelve years has been William J. Ewing. Mr. Ewing helped in the pioneer develop- ment of old Woodward County and was one of the men who installed the first steam propelled plant, a cotton gin, in that entire county. He comes of a fine old family of Northwest Missouri, and was born on a farm in Buchanan County, not far from the City of St. Joseph, July 17, 1862. His parents were Joshua Porter and Elizabeth (Armstrong) Ewing. The paternal grandparents were William Smith and Sallie Ann (Fulkerson) Ewing, both of whom were natives of Lee County, Virginia. Joshua P. Ewing was born in Lee

County, Virginia, March 12, 1832, and from that locality he removed in 1854 to Buchanan County, Missouri. There were no railroads at that time in that section of Northwest Missouri, and the Missouri River furnished the great avenue of transportation for all products. He arrived in Buchanan County in pioneer times and he himself was without capital. At first he rented land. By dint of industry, thrift and energy he became in time one of the most successful and influential citi- zens of that large and populous county. At the time of his death, on June 28, 1885, his estate comprised 750 acres of valuable land. He was an active member of the Presbyterian Church all his life and held the post of elder when he died. He was also a Mason. He was married September-30, 1861, to Miss Elizabeth Armstrong, who was born December 24, 1837, at States- ville, North Carolina, a daughter of Francis Kinkannon and Jerusha (Belt) Armstrong, both natives of North Carolina. Mrs. Ewing was educated at Salem, North Carolina, in the college there, one of the most noted female seminaries of the South at that time. She took a very active part in religious affairs, and her memory is greatly revered by her children and descendants. Her death occurred December 25, 1871. She was the mother of six, four sons and two daughters, namely: William J .; Francis Armstrong, who was born January 21, 1864; David Craig, born March 18, 1866; Thomas Graham, born May 1, 1868, and died November 20, 1871; Anna Belt, born August 5, 1870; and Lucy Elizabeth, born December 17, 1871.

Reared on his father's farm in Buchanan County, William J. Ewing had all the advantages given to the son of a successful father, and completed his education in Westminster College, a fine Presbyterian institution at Fulton, Missouri. He then took an active part in the management of the estate, being associated with his father until the latter's death in 1885. He then con- tinued on the old homestead, and was one of the leading breeders and raisers of Shorthorn cattle in that section of Northwest Missouri until 1902. In that year he established himself in the grain and coal business at St. Joseph, remained there a couple of years, and then "transferred his capital and enterprise to the new State of Oklahoma. Since 1904 he has been the chief grain merchant with headquarters at Shattuck. He and his brother, David C., as already stated, erected the first steam plant of any kind in old Woodward County. That was in 1904, and it was a sample of the enterprise which Mr. Ewing has manifested in all his activities as a citizen and business man in this locality. In 1909-10 he was a member of the city council, was also mayor by virtue of his position as chairman of the board. He is an elder in the Presbyterian Church.

On October 14, 1903, Mr. Ewing married Miss Nannie Sidener. She was born September 6, 1869, in Monroe County, Missouri, a daughter of Lloyd A. and Mary Boone (Dry) Sidener of Monroe County, Missouri. Mrs. Ewing is a graduate of National Normal University at Lebanon, Ohio. To their marriage have been born two children : William Joshua, Jr., born November 23, 1904; and Bettie Boone, born April 28, 1909.

DAN DIEHL. The solid citizenship of many states and countries has been transplanted to Oklahoma and has continued to flourish in the new and wholesome environ- ment of this state. For many years one of the finest agricultural families in the vicinity of Mattoon, Illinois, has been that of Dielil, a name which originated in Ger- many and was brought across the ocean to the Province of Pennsylvania during Colonial days. From the East George Diehl carried the thrifty character of the family

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to one of the early farms of Illinois, and was a pros- perous agriculturist there until his death.

One of the best known farmers, stock raisers and citizens in Mattoon at the present time is T. J. Diehl, who was born on the farm which he still occupies as his home on January 17, 1847. He has spent his life as a farmer and stock raiser and has had unusual relations with public affairs. At the age of twenty-one he was made a school director, and though he did not hold the office the following year was again elected at the age of twenty-three, and for forty-three consecutive years gave his attention to the management of his home school dis- trict, being re-elected every three years without a contest, and finally retiring from the office on account of ad- vanced years. He is a democrat, and has also served as a justice of the peace. Mr. T. J. Diehl is a member of the Masonic fraternity. He was married to Kitty B. Hackley, was born in Kentucky in 1849. Several of their children are now performing useful parts in the citizenship of the State of Oklahoma. Anna L., the oldest, is demonstrator for a canning club at Okemah, Oklahoma, under the auspices of the United States Government; Charles R. is a farmer at Okemah, and has served as deputy county clerk four years; Mary still lives with her parents at Mattoon; George is a farmer residing seven miles southeast of Hobart; Wil- liam is a farmer at Mattoon, Illinois; Erma married J. W. Korte, a nurseryman at New Haven, Missouri; the next in age and seventh in the family is Dan Dielil; Floy is still at home with her parents.

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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: 656

Author: Thoburn, Joseph B. (Joseph Bradfield), 1866-1941
Publication date: 1916
Publisher: Chicago, New York, The American Historical Society
Number of Pages: 656