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 107

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 107

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In 1882 at Lawrence, Kansas, Hugh R. French married Miss Mary Elizabeth Davidson, who was born June 30, 1857, at Tazewell, Virginia, a daughter of Samuel P. and Millie (Taylor) Davidson, who were also natives of Virginia. To their marriage were born seven children, four sons and three daughters, namely: Edward Patton Hugh, born in Johnson County, Kansas, April 23, 1883, is now a farmer in Baca Connty, Colorado, and is a Vol. IV-24

veteran of the Spanish-American war, having served for three years with the American troops in the Philippines; Ressa L., born December 4, 1885, in Coffey County, Kan- sas, was married in 1906, to E. Alpha Leggitt, who died in 1913; Lawrence Charles, born Jannary 29, 1887, in Leavenworth County, Kansas, is now a farmer and live- stock man in Cimarron County, Oklahoma; Joseph Oscar, born in Leavenworth County, Kansas, April 3, 1890, is a cattle man in Las Animas County, Colorado; Robert J., who was the fifth in the family; Hazel Dell, born in Lin- coln County, Oklahoma, April 14, 1896, is now deputy county treasurer of Cimarron County; Louis Billy, born in Lincoln County, Oklahoma, August 13, 1900.

Robert James French like the other children received most of his education in the public schools of Cimarron County, and in 1909 graduated from the Boise City High School. He taught school one year, and since then has followed the business of abstracting. He is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, is active in church and social affairs, and in politics is a demo- crat.

JOSEPH TAYLOR BROWN. One of the largest and most ideally situated ranches in Oklahoma is that owned by Joseph Taylor Brown, a property in the extreme north- west part of the state, twelve miles south of the Colorado . line and six miles east of the eastern boundary of New Mexico. Here Mr. Brown has 10,000 acres, one-half of which he owns, while the other half is leased from the . United States Government. While it is primarily a stock ranch, Mr. Brown has also carried on extensive opera- tions in the line of alfalfa and feed growing, and has met with well-merited success in both lines of activity.

Mr. Brown was born September 17, 1868, in a log house on a farm in Morgan County, Missouri, and is a son of Moses P. and Cynthia J. (Bills) Brown. His father, the youngest and only one living of a family of nine children, was born in the same county in 1846, and in 1885 removed to Kansas, where he took a leading part in the organization of Wichita County and continued to be engaged in agricultural pursuits until the original opening of Oklahoma, April 22, 1889. At that time he located among the earliest settlers at Oklahoma City, homesteading 160 acres of land adjoining that city on the northwest, and west of the present site of Belle Isle. He took a leading part also in the upbuilding and development of Oklahoma City, where he still makes his home, being one of the substantial citizens of the community. Mr. Brown is a Mason and a consistent member of the Christian Church. In 1865 Mr. Brown was married to Miss Cynthia J. Bills, who was born in Morgan County, Missouri, in 1848, the eldest daughter of Dr. J. T. Bills, who migrated from Kentucky at an early day and became a well known physician and sur- geon of Morgan County, Missouri. Mr. and Mrs. Brown became the parents of three sons and two daughters, namely : Mollie F., who is the wife of George G. Hunt, of Oklahoma City; Joseph Taylor, of this review; Alfred T., president of the Arkansas River Beds Oil Company, of Tulsa, Oklahoma; Claytie Bills, deceased, who was killed in the cyclone that swept Cimarron County, Oklahoma, October 18, 1908; and Lorena, who is the wife of DeWitt Allen, a traveling salesman of Oklahoma City.

The early education of Joseph T. Brown was secured in the public schools of Morgau County, Missouri, and when he was seventeen years of age he accompanied the family to Kansas. He joined his father in coming to Oklahoma, April 22, 1889, and when he had attained his majority settled on land in Pottawatomie County, where he resided for three years. Later he bought land adjoining Oklahoma City, but this he sold to the Classen

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HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

Company, this being the land on which Belle Isle is now situated. He has always devoted his attention to farm- ing and stock raising. In 1907 Mr. Brown came to Cimarron County and purchased 500 acres, his present property, located in the vicinity of the town of Wheeless, an ideal spot for a large ranch, on which the site of old Fort Nichols is located. His 10,000-acre property is all enclosed in fence, and is also cross-fenced, the land being divided into summer and winter pastures. The land abounds in native building stone, of which his ranch house and other buildings are constructed and every modern appliance and convenience has been installed to assist him in his work. Few men have become better known in stock circles during recent years than has Mr. Brown, whose name is an honored one on commercial paper, and whose reputation has extended far beyond the limits of his immediate community. Each year he raises large crops of alfalfa and feed, and he has always found a ready market for his product.

Mr. Brown was married in 1892 to Miss Grace R. Daily, who died without issue in 1901. In 1903 he was again married, being united with Miss Theodosia L. Landon, who was born in Vernon County, Missouri, a daughter of Elisha Landon, a native of Illinois. They have three children: Alfred Clay, Ruth and Cynthia J. Mrs. Brown is a college graduate and a woman of culture and refinement, who has assisted her husband signally in his activities. Mr. Brown is a valued and popular member of the local lodges of the Masons and the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows. A democrat in politics, he has taken some interest in public affairs, and in No- vember, 1914, was elected a member of the Cimarron County Board of Commissioners. His public spirit has led him to support actively every good and beneficial movement launched in his community.

ALBERT FRANKLIN PADBERG, M. D. In the little City of Canton in Blaine County the physician longest estab- lished in his profession is Dr. A. F. Padberg, who has practiced there consecutively for the past six years. Doctor Padberg is a thoroughly trained and well quali- fied physician and surgeon, and is also a man who thoroughly understands by personal experience the strug- gles which many young men pass through in order to equip themselves properly for professional service.

An Illinois man by birth, he was born at Dallas City in that state October 1, 1875. His father, August Pad- berg, who was born in Germany in 1836 and died at Dallas, Illinois, in 1892, lost his father in the old coun- try, and when still a child came with his mother to America, locating first at St. Louis, afterwards at Warsaw, Illinois, and from there August Padberg moved to Tioga, Illinois, where he married, and his mature career was spent in Dallas City. He was a cooper by trade, a man of good business ability, and established and owned for a number of years a larger cooper shop. While prominent in a business way, he also exercised a large influence in democratic politics, and served as mayor of Dallas City for two years. He was a member of the Masonic fraternity. His wife's maiden name was Rebecca Allen. She was born at Quincy, Illinois, in 1842, and died at Canton, Oklahoma, in 1912. They had a large family of children, a brief record of them being as follows: Elizabeth, who lives at Dallas City, Illinois, married first Frank Frice, formerly a brick manufacturer, and afterward was married to J. C. Balsley of Dallas City in 1900; May, of Dallas City, married first Arley Gittings, a farmer, and in 1894 married A. C. Gittings of Dallas City; Ellen, who lives at Wichita, Kansas, married William Giddings, who was a farmer, and in 1916 she was married to T. Martain in Wichita; Edward died in infancy; John is a graduate of the

College of Physicians and Surgeons at Dallas, Texas, and is now a practicing physician at Carnegie, Okla- homa; Charles is a decorator still living at the old home in Illinois; the next in order of age is Dr. Albert F .; Leah married Charles Hinckley, a plasterer, and they lived at Dallas City, Illinois; Golden, the youngest, died at the age of seventeen.

As a boy Doctor Padberg attended public schools in Dallas City, but early found need to support himself and paid all his expenses while gaining a medical education. For nearly four years he clerked and worked for the B. F. Black Lumber Co. in Dallas City. He learned carriage painting and worked at that trade for three years off and on in a local carriage factory, and for 21% years worked in a button factory. The first three years of his medical education were passed in the Physicians and Surgeons College at Keokuk, Iowa, but he took His senior year of work in the College of Physicians and Surgeons at St. Louis, where he was graduated M. D. with the class of 1909. A few weeks after graduation in July, 1909, he came to Oklahoma and located at Canton. While some other physicians had preceded him and were in practice at that time, Doctor Padberg is now the oldest in point of continuous service among the representatives of the medical profession at that town. He enjoys a very profitable general practice both in medicine and surgery, is a member of the County and State Medical socioties and the American Medical Association, and his offices are in the Bank of Canton Building.

In politics he is a republican. Doctor Padberg is affiliated with Hancock Lodge No. 56 of the Knights of Pythias at Dallas City, Illinois, and with Canton Lodge No. 418, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons. In July, 1911, at Wichita, Kansas, he married Miss Mayme Thomas, whose former home was in Vermilion, Kansas. They have one daughter, Louise.

SMITH H. BABCOCK. In financial circles and among investors generally the name Central Investment Com- pany, Incorporated, is known pretty well all over the country. It has been highly successful in bringing the stable securities of Oklahoma, based on the rapidly rising farm values, to the attention of investors both in and out of the state, and it is now the largest company of its kind in the farm loan business in the state west of Chickasha. Its home offices are on Main Street at the corner of Third Street in Hobart and the present com- pany is the outgrowth of the first business of the kind established at Hobart upwards of fifteen years ago by Smith H. Babcock, who is now president of the Central Investment Company.

Mr. Babcock is an Oklahoma pioneer. Born at Clyde, Wayne County, New York, January 23, 1853, his first twenty years were spent on his father's farm, and the year 1871 marked his graduation from the Clyde High School. His first independent venture was the purchase of a farm of ninety acres in Wayne County, New York, and he made that the basis of his livelihood and busi- ness career until 1883. In 1884, selling his property in New York and coming to the West, he bought a farm of 160 acres in McPherson County, Kansas, and was one of the men who persisted through the many difficulties which beset Kansas agriculture during the '80s, and eventually profited by his experience. In 1893 he sold his Kansas farm and on September 16, 1893, made the race at the opening of the Cherokee Strip. On that day he rode a hardy cow pony, thoroughly acclimated and accustomed to the plains, and led the run for twelve miles before he decided to stake his claim. His home- stead of 160 acres was located a mile and a half north- east of Medford, now the county seat of Grant County. Mr. Babcock pursued his vocation as a fariner on the

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HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

old homestead claim until 1902, then sold out and re- moved to Hobart in Kiowa County, where he followed shortly after the pioneer rush into that district. He opened his office as a dealer in farm lands, and was the first in Hobart to take up that line of business. Since then he has organized the Central Investment Company, now incorporated under the state law, and is directing its operations as president.

The Babcock family for several generations lived at Sag Harbor on Long Island, a port which in the flourish- ing days of the American merchant marine was one of the most important points of outfitting for ships engaged in the whaling industry. Three Babcock brothers named Hedges, Jonathan and Benjamin, had emigrated from England and settled in Sag Harbor just prior to the War of 1812, and all of them subsequently eugaged iu that war on the side of the United States. The ancestor from whom the Hobart business man is descended was Hedges Babcock. Mr. Babcock's father was Job Babcock, who was born at Sag Harbor, Long Island, in 1809, and died at Clyde, New York, in 1887. He moved out to Wayne County, New York, in 1851 and lived there quietly as a farmer the rest of his life. Previous to 1851, however, for twenty-two years he had been captain of a whaling vessel that hailed from Sag Harbor. He was not the only member of his family engaged in that industry. He had six brothers, named Benjamin, Hoyl, Henry, Lyman, Jonathan and Hedges, all of whom were cap- tains of whaling vessels that called Sag Harbor their home port. All these veterans of the seas are now de- ceased. Job Babcock was a republican in politics, a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church and was affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He married Mary Ann Hull, who was born at Hartford, Connecticut, in 1817, and died at Clyde, New York, in 1897. She also had seven brothers and all of them were seafaring men. Smith H. was the older of two sons, and his brother George is now a farmer at Clyde, New York.

Since casting his first vote Mr. Babcock has been steadily a republican in politics, and while living in New York and in Kansas served on school boards. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and in Hobart Lodge No. 176 of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows is past noble grand and was a member of the encampment and canton of that order in Kansas.

At Clyde, New York, in 1872, Mr. Babcock married Miss Cora Gibson, who is a native of Fort Edward, New York, a daughter of D. G. Gibson, who is now living retired at Clyde, New York. Mr. and Mrs. Bab- cock can take a reasonable degree of pride in their fine family of children, numbering nine in all. Charles, the oldest, was cashier in the bank at Medford, Okla- homa, at the time of his death in 1892; Benjamin, the second son, is a graduate of the Kansas City Veterinary College and is now a veterinary surgeon at Kirksberg, Idaho; Alice is the wife of Mr. Birdsteen of Los Angeles, California; May, also a resident of Los Angeles, married George Sharp, who is cashier for the Southern Pacific Railroad; Ford is vice president of the Central Investment Company of Hobart; Mattie is the wife of Park Siple, cashier for the United States Express Com- pany at Little Rock, Arkansas; Edith is the wife of Temple Kirkpatrick, who is secretary of the Central Investment Company; George lives in Hobart and is in the vulcanizing business; Harold, the youngest, is now a freshman in the Hobart High School.

G. R. MCKINLEY. In point of enterprise, energy and determination, G. R. Mckinley is looked upon as one of the leading men of Bartlesville, to which place he came in 1905 as agent for the Santa Fe Railroad.

He may be termed what is known as a "hustler," for he has made his own way in the world since boyhood, and has now attained a position of independence and prominence in his community, being cashier of the Bartlesville State Bank, and one of his community's most public-spirited and useful men.

Mr. Mckinley was born at Lawrence, Kansas, Feb)- ruary 24, 1869, and is a son of James B. and Julia A. (Porter) McKinley. His grandfather, George McKin- ley, for whom he was uamed, was a native of Scotland and was brought to the United States as a child by his parents, the family settling in Pennsylvania, where the grandfather passed the remaining years of his life, dying when his son, James B., was a lad of eight years. The latter, a second cousin to the father of the late President William McKinley, was born in Venango County, Pennsylvania, and there grew to manhood on a farm, receiving his education in the common schools. He was but seventeen years of age when he entered unon his career as a teacher in the country schools, then becoming a bookkeeper for a Pittsburgh concern, with which he was connected until the outbreak of the Civil war. On two occasions he attempted to enlist in his native state, but both times was rejected because of his small stature, and he finally, in 1861, removed to Kansas, where he succeeded in enlisting in Company I, Fourteenth Regiment, Kansas Volunteer Cavalry. He served with this organization until the close of the war and was promoted to orderly sergeant, and during his service participated in numerous engagements, but never suffered a wound or was captured by the enemy. When he had received his honorable discharge he established a lumber yard at Lawrence, Kansas, and also engaged in farming in the vicinity of Burlington, Kansas, but was finally compelled to retire on account of ill health, at that time taking up his residence at Burlington, where he died in 1900, aged sixty-three years. He was reared in the faith of the Presbyterian Church, and in politics was always a stanch republican from the time he cast his first presidential vote for Abraham Lincoln. Mrs. McKinley, who was born at Findlay, Hancock County, Ohio, still survives her husband and resides at Burlington, Kansas, the mother of four sons and three daughters, all living.

George R. Mckinley was reared on the home farm, but an agricultural life did not appeal to him, and while he was securing his education in the district schools he applied himself assiduously to a study of telegraphy, with the result that when still in his 'teens he secured employment as a telegrapher with a rail- road company. He was later made station agent and then rose to be chief clerk in the trainmaster's office of the Southern Kansas Division of the Santa Fe. In 1905 he came to Bartlesville, Oklahoma, as station agent, a capacity in which he continued until 1907, when he entered the Bartlesville National Bank as assistaut

cashier. Seven months later he was elected cashier of this institution, and after the bank was sold to Phillips Brothers he remained with the new owners until 1909, when he accented his present position, that of cashier of the Bartlesville State Bank. Under his careful super- vision, the affairs of the bank, which already occupies an important position in the monetary circles of this part of the state, are in a flourishing condition, and a steady and constantly increasing business denotes the high favor in which it is held by the people. Mr. Me- Kinley is a stanch and uncompromising republican. His fraternal connections include membership in the Scottish and Shrine Masons, the Benevolent and Pro- tective Order of Elks and the Modern Woodmen of America.

In September, 1892, Mr. Mckinley was married to

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HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

Miss Nannie A. Chesnut, a native of Indiana, whose mother was a cousin of Stephen A. Douglas. Two sons have been born to this union: George J., born May 28, 1893, assistant general superintendent Wichita Gas & Oil Company; and William, born January 29, 1898, the birthdate of President William McKinley, after whom he was named and from whom he received three letters during the administration of that martyred president. He is now a high school student, and on April 23, 1915, as the representative of his school, lectured at Coffeyville, Kansas, on "The Cost of the War," in an oratorical contest between the high schools of Wash- ington County, Oklahoma, and Montgomery County, Kansas, and on April 21, 1916, lectured at Dewey, Oklahoma.

ZILPHA A. MCCLAIN. In the new country of Oklahoma opportunities for work in business and the professions have been freely extended to women. There are a num- ber of Oklahoma women whose work outside the domain of the liome has attracted wide attention, and one of these is Miss McClain, now county superintendent of schools in Cimarron County. Miss McClain is an edu- cator who has been connected more or less closely with Oklahoma schools for the past ten years. She also has the distinction' of having taken up and improved a claim in Western Oklahoma.

Several members of her family are well known in this section of Western Oklahoma. Her father is William McClain, now a retired farmer living at Davenport, Nebraska. William McClain was born March 6, 1846, on a farm in Ohio, a son of John MeClain, and at the age of three years the family removed to Indiana. Wil- liam MeClain was reared in Adams County of the latter state, attended the public schools, and has made farming his lifelong career. In 1873 he moved out to Kansas, and the same year went to Nebraska, taking up his homestead in Fillmore County. In 1904 he gave up the major responsibilities of farming and has since lived retired at Davenport. In 1869 he married Miss Deborah Jane Plummer, who was born in Ohio February 26, 1852, a daughter of William and Martha (Jones) Plummer, who were also natives of Ohio. Mrs. McClain died Jan- uary 20, 1898. Their six children, five daughters and one son, are all living: Lodema Jane, born December 10, 1871, was married in 1888 to Thomas S. Wade, and they live at Nelson, Nebraska, and their uine children are named Earl E., Vernon C., Eva E., George W., Vessie, Lela, Helen, Mercedes and Geraldine. Arthur Plummer, the only son, was born January 9, 1873, and is now a farmer in Cimarron County, Oklahoma. Emily Alice, born November 22, 1875, married in 1903, Theron F. Child, and their three children are Paul, Anna and Cecil. Mabel Josephine, born September 29, 1881, was married August 18, 1909, to David Jurgensen, and they have a child Ruth, born November 29, 1910. Ada Ellen, born March 21, 1883, was married May 5, 1911, to W. H. Shepherd, and her two children are Mareda, born Feb- ruary 29, 1912, and William MeClain, born February 5, 1915.

Zilpha Arrilla McClain was born April 2, 1886, at Oak, Nebraska. She attended the public schools in that state and also York College at York, Nebraska. It was in 1904 that she began teaching and she has made her work count as a strong force for enlightenment in several different communities. In 1905 she came to Oklahoma, taught one year in Garfield County, and in 1906 moved to Cimarron County. In 1907 she took up her homestead claim in this section of the state. She. was active in the schoolroom until 1915. On November 4, 1914, Miss MeClain was elected county superintendent of Cimarron

County and entered upon the duties of her office July 5, 1915. She has already transformed that office by her vigorous personality and her high ideals in educational affairs.

MOMAN H. SHEPARD. During the winter of 1916 the Oklahoma Journal of Education devoted several of its pages to a leading article concerning the work which Moman H. Shepard is doing in Grady County as super. intendent of schools. He entered upon his duties as superintendent in the summer of 1915. Mr. Shepard has always demonstrated that he is thoroughly practical in his profession, but like all practical men who make a real success he has ideals, and some of his ideals when he entered his present office were in increasing the length of the school term, in securing better equipped school rooms, and better trained and better paid school teach- ers. One of his first steps in carrying out this ambitious program was in calling a general meeting of the school boards of the County of Chickasha. That meeting was a source of inspiration and encouragement to everyone who attended it. State Superintendent Wilson was the principal speaker, but many others, including school board members themselves, participated in the discussion of local school problems. Superintendent Shepard him- self gave a very intelligent exposition of his own ideas and plans for the improvement and betterment of the local school system, insisting particularly that it was a good investment to pay larger salaries for teachers whose services were worth the money, since a few dollars increase in monthly wages would mean an increased efficiency of from 50 to 200 per cent.

Concerning his work after taking the office of super- intendent, the Journal of Education published some instructive paragraphs, and a few of these should be quoted : "Three months ago Superintendent Shepard informed his teachers that school rooms must look like they were meant to live in if they were to 'get by' inspection. There are curtains on every rural school window in Grady County today, and every district in the county but eleven has already had a visit from the superintendent. These visits are another hobby of Superintendent Shepard. He bought a Ford car just for the purpose of being able to make the rounds quicker, and he starts out each week on a schedule he knows he can make. He writes to the district school board to be at the school house at a certain hour of a . certain day, and together with the teacher they inspect the work being done and discuss improvements. The superintendent insists upon seeing the board members. 'If I have to miss seeing either the school or the board members,' Mr. Shepard says, 'I miss the school. I want to get the point of view of the patron.'

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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