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 108
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"One of the biggest tasks Mr. Shepard set out to perform during the two years he will be superintendent was the absolute elimination of illiteracy in Grady County by working through the moonlight school move- ment. The census shows that there were 614 illiterates in the county in 1910. Moonlight schools were organized in 39 districts, in which the total enrollment was 685 men and women, ranging in age from young- sters to a grandmother seventy-six years of age. The county is declared to be the 'champion moonlight school district in Oklahoma.' A complete cheek has not yet been made, but Superintendent Shepard says he will hold his teachers responsible for reaching every one of the original 614 illiterates by the end of next year.
"A seventy thousand school bond issue carried in Chickasha a few weeks ago. The reason it carried with many already complaining of high taxes was that every one knew in the first place that school money always
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HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA
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reaches the place it is intended for, and in the second place that money invested in schools is well invested. The bonds carried by a big majority.
"Education Month meant a lot to Grady County last November. The superintendent himself made fifty-one addresses. The county demonstration agents each made seventeen educational talks in three days. An educa- tional sermon was preached from every pulpit and the superintendent got lawyers, real estate men, merchants, doctors, whomsoever he could, to go out to rural school houses and speak to farmers on the importance of build- ing, up the rural school system.
"While Superintendent Shepard is progressive and quick to take hold of any movement that promises better conditions for the farmer, his experience of the past ten years has taught him that one impractical movement can do more harm to the cause of education than two successful movements can remedy. He is a strong be- liever in the principle of consolidated schools, but he doesn't believe the plan is practicable until the county has better roads. 'A child will not do very efficient school work,' he declares, 'if he is compelled to be jounced about over rough roads for two hours each morn- ing and night.' But he also thinks that the road prob- lem is a part of the school problem, and that it is a part of the teacher's work to get up enthusiasm for good roads and scientific agriculture in his or her district. 'These are all necessary to the thrift of a rural com- munity' Mr. Shepard declares, 'and the school will not have filled its mission until it has taught Oklahoma farmers how to make a better living and make it easier and more pleasantly than they make it now, at the same time that the school is educating the farmer's children.' "'
It was on the basis of his accomplishments for six years as superintendent of the public schools of Verden that the people of Grady County acquired such a favor- able impression of Mr. Shepard's work and showed their confidence by electing him superintendent of schools. At Verden he broadened the course of study and raised the general efficiency of the schools. By adopting for the public schools of Verden a lecture and demonstra- tion course on physiology, conducted by Dr. Frederick W. Jones, Mr. Shepard initiated a movement in school work that is spreading over the state and promises to become an established feature of public school work. During the school year that closes in May, 1915, Doctor Jones made regular visits to the school and delivered lectures on personal and school hygiene, sanitation, first- aid treatment in accidents, prevention of contagion, treatment of contagious diseases, etc. He donated a skeleton to the school laboratory and illustrated subjects with his microscope that was loaned to the school. This feature of public school work has given the Verden school an enviable reputation over the state.
Superintendent Shepard, however, was not content with that. During his administration he established a regular four-year high school course, which was unique for a town of the population of Verden; emphasized athletics so that the school became a leader in the county in that line; established and equipped a school library; and in other ways made this small town school nearly the equal in equipment and efficiency of city schools in Oklahoma.
An interesting feature of his work in Verden is the fact that all pupils who were in the seventh grade when he began teaching there remained in school to' the eleventh grade in high school. This record is remarkable in view of the fact that a large per cent of pupils were from the country and that only a small per cent of the seventh grade pupils in Oklahoma complete the high school course. Athletics was partially responsible for
this. The Opera House was leased for athletic exhibi- tions and training, and supervised athletics met with high popular favor. In two years the school has been awarded three cups in county scholastic contests, one in track and field athletics, another in basket ball and another in intellectual work. The last was won in 1915 with a score of sixty-two points against twenty-seven for the next highest school. These features of the work almost eliminated tardiness, and during the school year of 1914-15 with a total enrollment of 283 only twenty cases of tardiness were reported. The average attend- ance during the year was 230, and out of that number forty-five were in high school. This is a larger per- centage for the high school than is shown in many city schools. There were five other teachers in the Verden School, all of whom were selected by Superintendent Shepard for their educational and efficiency qualifica- tions. The school building, a brick structure, was erected at a cost of $15,000 during his administration. It con- tions a modern heating plant and is excellently venti- lated. Scientific agriculture is successfully taught in the school and is growing in importance. During the last year the school conducted one of the best lyceum courses held in that section of the state.
Moman H. Shepard was born in Narrows, Virginia, August 10, 1866, a son of Charles L. and Dora G. (Brown) Shepard. His father was also engaged in merchandising in Virginia and for a number of years shipped tobacco down the James River to Richmond, bringing back shiploads of merchandise. Some years ago he removed to the western part of the state, where he is now living engaged in farming. Superintendent Shepard has one sister, Mrs. Ruth Asbury, wife of an engineer at Roanoke, Virginia.
After gaining a primary education in the public schools of his native county, Mr. Shepard entered the Collegiate Institute, of which his uncle, the Rev. Charles A. Brown, was president. He spent four years there and did janitor service to pay for his board and tuition. Later he had a year in Emory and Henry College and took summer courses in agriculture at the University of Vir- ginia. His first school was taught in his home county, a district school. His salary was $28 a month. The following year he was elected assistant principal of the high school at Narrows, his native town, and he held that office three years. Commenting on this stage of his career, and showing the progressive ideas which have always dominated his work, the Oklahoma School Journal said: "He was assistant superintendent and high school principal all in one at a salary of sixty dollars a month. He taught all four grades in high school, classes in Latin, Algebra, English, German, Physics and History. They were holding school in an old wooden building. There wasn't a brick school build- ing in the county, but the young schoolmaster told the school directors that they had to have a better build- ing. It couldn't be built from taxes, because most of the people who paid taxes wouldn't stand for any extra burden, but ten days of canvassing among the people of the district brought donations of twenty thou- sand dollars in work and money, and Narrows erected the first rock school house in the county."'
On coming to Oklahoma he taught for half a school year in the high school at Enid and at the end of the term was elected superintendent of schools at Verden, a position he held six years. He resigned in 1915 to take up his duties as superintendent of schools of Grady County, a position to which he was elected on the demo- cratic ticket in 1914. There were four teachers in the race for the democratic nomination for superintendent in 1914, and Mr. Shepard won by a plurality of 614
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HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA
votes. Mr. Shepard has derived constant encouragement and much practical assistance in his career from his capable wife. He was married in Graham, Virginia, to Miss Zelma May Burton, who is a graduate of the Graham High School and of the Virginia Institute at Bristol, Virginia, receiving degrees in literary, music and elocution courses. She has beeu principal of the high school at Verden. Her maternal grandfather established a colony at the present site of Peterstowu, Virginia, and afterwards laid out the town, which was named in his honor. Mr. and Mrs. Shepard have a son Kenneth, aged six years. Mr. Shepard is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, of the Masonic Lodge, the Verden Commercial Club and the Grady County and Oklahoma State Teachers' Association.
A. D. DAILEY. A newspaper editor and publisher and postmaster of Edmond, A. D. Dailey has for ten years been one of the men of action aud leadership in that thriving university and business center of the state.
A. D. Dailey was born 'October 20, 1870, in Rock Island County, Illinois, a son of L. M. and Mary Eliza- beth (David) Dailey. His father was born in Illinois and served as a soldier in the Civil war. The maternal grandmother of Mr. Dailey was a cousin to Robert Ful- ton, one of the first of America's eminent inventors. On both sides of the family the ancestry runs back to the days of the Revolution, in which members of the family participated.
A. D. Dailey received his early education in the public schools, and graduated from the high school at Port Byron, Illinois. He had already gained some acquaint- ance with the printing business, working as a school boy around printing shops, and gained his first regular posi- tion on the Port Byron Globe. After leaving school he continued newspaper work as a career. He was con- uected with a number of journals, but before coming to Oklahoma his principal position was as city editor and later as editor-in-chief of the Clinton Daily Herald at Clinton, Iowa. He resigned his position with that paper to come to Oklahoma in 1905. Locating in Edmond, he bought the plant of the Edmond Sun, and has since been its editor and publisher. In August, 1912, Mr. Dailey was appointed postmaster at Edmond, under a republi- can administration, and still has more than a year to serve. Before statehood he served as a member of the board of regents of the Territorial Normal School, and has been republican member of the Oklahoma County Election Board and secretary of the Oklahoma County Republican Central Committee.
Mr. Dailey was married May 29, 1895, to Miss Maude E. De Munbrun of Rock Island County, Illinois. They have two children: Miss Hazel, a student in the Ellis- Day School of Dramatic Art in Chicago, preparing for a professional career; and Lawrence, aged sixteen, a stu- dent in the Central State Normal School at Edmond. Mr. Dailey is a member and past master of Edmond Lodge No. 37, Ancient, Free and Accepted Masons; a member of Edmond Chapter of the Royal Arch Masons No. 36; and of the Scottish Rite Consistory at Guthrie. He belongs to the Methodist Church. For several years he has ranked among the progressive citizens of the town, taking an active interest in public uplift and civic work. Edmond is the seat of the Central State Normal School, the largest of the six state schools of that character, and Mr. Dailey has been among those who have sought to make the town conform to the best ideals of that novel combination of a good school and good business community.
ANDREW L. WAGONER, M. D. Since locating at Hobart in 1908, the year following statehood, Doctor Wagoner has gained a prestige as one of the leading physicians
and surgeons of Kiowa County. He enjoys an excellent practice among the best families of the county and largely in the line of his profession has performed con- siderable public service and is a citizen whose presence in the community is greatly appreciated.
The Wagoner family to which he belongs located in Virginia during Colonial times, and subsequently crossed the mountains and were numbered among the early settlers of Kentucky. Doctor Wagoner was born at Scottsville in Allen County, Kentucky, April 2, 1868. His father, W. P. Wagoner, was born in the same place in 1827 and died there after a long and active career as a farmer and stock raiser in 1905. He was a veteran of the war between the states, and spent four years with a Kentucky regiment in the Confederate army. He was under the command of General Beauregard at the Battle of Shiloh and fought in a number of other historic engagements of the war, being twice wounded. He was a democrat in politics, and always was an interested member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and served as a steward in his home society. W. P. Wagoner mar- ried Harriet Foster, who was born near Scottsville, Ken- tucky, in 1832, and is still living in that community, now a venerable woman of eighty-three. Their children were: Molly, who died unmarried at the age of thirty- seven; Doctor Andrew L .; Leslie, who is a farmer at Alexander, Kentucky; Roy, a minister of the Metho- dist Episcopal Church now stationed at Campbellsville, Kentucky; and T. W. Wagoner, who manages the old homestead farm and lives with his mother.
Doctor Wagoner had to surmount difficulties in his youth in order to realize his anibition for professional life. The first twenty-one years of his life were spent on his father's farm and he had much of the experience and hard labor that goes with country life. In the meantime he had attended the public schools of Allen County, and in 1887 began teaching school, a vocation he followed four years. In 1891, largely with the earn- ings he had gained by his own labors, he entered the Vanderbilt University at Nashville, and remained until graduating M. D. with the class of 1894. Ten years later, in 1904, he took further work in the New York Post Graduate School of New York City.
His practice began in 1894 at Pondsville, Tennessee, where he remained two years, and from 1896 to 1908 was in practice at Scottsville, his native village. Doctor Wagoner came to Hobart in 1908, and his offices are now in the First National Bank Building of that city. For three years he served on the Hobart School Board, and for the past four years has been county physician of Kiowa County. He stands high in professional circles and is a member of the County and State Medical socie- ties and the American Medical Association and is on the board of censors for Kiowa County. In politics Doctor Wagoner is a democrat, is serving as a steward in the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, at Hobart, and is affiliated with Hobart Lodge No. 198, Ancient Force and Accepted Masons, with Hobart Camp No. 84, Woodmen of the World, and with the Fraternal Aid at Hobart.
In the fall of 1894, soon after beginning practice of medicine, Doctor Wagoner was married at Scottsville, Kentucky, to Miss Lillian A. Read, a daughter of Emory H. Read, who is now a retired farmer at Scottsville. They have one daughter, Lula Mae, who was graduated as valedictorian of her class from the Hobart High School iu 1915.
ROBERT GALBREATH. Aside from the opening of the lands of old Indian Territory to white settlement and to the unlimited possibilities of progress which have followed that event, the most significant phase of Okla- homa's industrial history has come from the uncovering and exploitation of its vast and seemingly limitless
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ONE OF THE MANGANESE AND IRON MINES OF THE GALBREATH IRON & MIN- ING COMPANY, BROMIDE, OKLA.
Robert Galbreath
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HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA
mineral resources. First in point of time among these were oil and gas, and more recently, and probably with a longer promise of productiveness, come the basic minerals and metals found in different sections of the state.
One of the most conspicuous figures in this latter day development of Oklahoma is Robert Galbreath of Tulsa, who was one of the Oklahoma pioneers of 1889, and was identified with nearly all the successive land open- ings in the old territory. Perhaps his most important claim to distinction rests upon his successful efforts in bringing to the attention of the world the untold wealth of the famous Glenn Pool oil district near Tulsa. For the past ten years he has been one of the foremost oil operators in the Southwest, and his interests as a capi- talist and promoter have also extended into other fields, and his name is also well known over the state and in the national councils of the democratic party as the present Oklahoma national committeeman.
Robert Galbreath was born in Pickaway County, Ohio, a son of Robert and Sarah A. (Hill) Galbreath. The ancestry is Scotch and Scotch Irish, the Galbreaths having lived in America about 300 years, their first place of settlement having been in Pennsylvania. Mr. Galbreath's father located in, Pickaway County, Ohio, in 1804, less than two years after the admission of Ohio to the Union. It was on a farm in that county that Robert Galbreath grew up, with a training in country schools and the discipline of farm labor, and since reaching his majority he has been almost con- tinuously on the frontier of men's civilized activities.
In 188S he made a trip to Southern California, and returned in the fall of that year by way of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway through old Indian Territory. At that time he became convinced of the fertility as well as the beauty of Eastern Oklahoma, and was par- ticularly taken with the district about Eufaula and South McAlester and Muskogee. This gave him the incentive which caused him to take his station along the outer line when the day was set for the opening of the original Oklahoma region. He made the rush with other pioneers on April 22nd, and after a few days at Kingfisher, located at Edmond in Oklahoma County. He was postmaster at Edmond in 1893. He was engaged in the real estate and town site business, and in that capacity was connected with the various successive open- ings-the Sac and Fox, the Iowa and Pottawatomie reservations in 1891, the Cheyenne and Arapahoe in 1892, the Cherokee Strip in 1893, and the Kickapoo Reservation in 1895. For several years his home was at Shawnee.
His enterprise was first drawn into the operations of oil production following the great strike at Spindletop near Beaumont, Texas, and later he was one of the first prospectors in the Creek Nation of Indian Territory, drilling some wells at Red Fork. His preeminent suc- cess has been well ascribed to the persistency with which he has followed up his prospects, and when once convinced as a matter of faith he has never let up until his faith was rewarded by practical results. Thus when he came to the vicinity of Tulsa he brought with him broad experience and some capital, though insufficient to accomplish what he set out to do. His prospecting at Glenn Pool was more expensive than his resources could bear, and he finally secured additional backing from Frank Chesley, a merchant at Keystone. A study of the country had caused him to select this spot for his prospecting operations four miles from where Kiefer, the renowned tent city, was later established. As soon as permission was gained from the Government's repre- sentatives, drilling was begun on the allotment of Ida E. Glenn, a one-eighth Creek Indian. Having selected
his location Mr. Galbreath went ahead with the per- sistency characteristic of the man, and was quite as ready to risk his own judgment and borrowed capital as his own money. Early in the morning of November 22, 1905, the drill sank into the oil sands, and the first well in that vicinity began producing at the rate of about 100 barrels a day. The name Glenn Pool, which was almost at once given the field, is in honor of the Glenn family on whose land the discovery was made. This strike at Glenn Pool produced commotion among oil operators all over the country. Purchase of land was impossible because of its native ownership, and restrictions in the transfer of titles. But in two years time a forest of derricks covered that section for miles around, some fifty or sixty flowing wells were in opera- tion, the Prairie Oil & Gas Company had established an immense tank farm, pipe lines had been constructed, and yet with the daily production of about 100,000 barrels, as the figures stood in the fall of 1907, it was impossible to market more than a fourth of the oil owing to inadequate shipping facilities.
Mr. Galbreath and associates, among whom was C. F. Colcord, the well known Oklahoma City capitalist, secured leases on several hundred acres at Glenn Pool, and now for a number of years he has been one of the largest individual producers of oil and one of the wealthy men of the Southwest. It was his fixed policy during those years never to sell an oil property developed by him, and for that reason he was essentially a pro- ducer rather than a speculator. After his fortunate exploits at Glenn Pool, Mr. Galbreath took up the development of what is known as the Bald Hill district in Okmulgee County, about ten miles southwest from Haskell. He and his associates had the distinction of striking the first wild-cat well in the new State of Oklahoma at Bald Hill on Severs Ranch November 21, 1907, five days after the admission of the state.
In recent years the capital and enterprise of Mr. Gal- breath have been directed in part to the development of the splendid mineral resources in that attractive and picturesque section of Oklahoma of which the Town of Bromide is now the center. The varied resources of that district are well described on other pages of this work, but among them it is said that probably the richest manganese ore beds in the entire country are found in that locality. Mr. Galbreath is doing a great deal to build up that section both as a health resort and as a center for mineral production.
For a quarter of a century Mr. Galbreath has been identified with democratic party politics in Oklahoma and was particularly prominent in that way before state- hood. For some time he was county chairman of his party in Pottawatomie County, and in 1896 was chair- man of the Territorial Democratic Central Committee. In that capacity he planned the campaign by which J. Y. Callahan was elected to Congress, defeating Dennis T. Flynn for the first time. As already stated Mr. Gal- breath is now national committeeman of the democratic party from Oklahoma and is undoubtedly one of the strongest leaders of that party in the entire Southwest. Mr. Galbreath was married at Edmond, Oklahoma, to Miss Mary E. Kivlehen. To this union were born four children : Robert Jr., Leona, George Francis and Glenn Pool. Mrs. Galbreath was born at Elmira, New York, and was a member of the first graduating class in the Territorial Normal College at Edmond.
Here is illustrated an opening into the body of man- ganese and hematite iron ore uncovered by Robert Galbreath of Tulsa, who is seen in the foreground of
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HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA
the picture. This mine is located near Bromide, at the corners of Johnston and Coal counties, in Southern Oklahoma-a wonderful mineral section. Mr. Galbreath, who has been operating an oolitic stone quarry there for several years, in his investigations for minerals dis- covered evidences of manganese and hematite iron ore, and began working into it until he satisfied himself that the deposits were very extensive. An analysis by the Oklahoma School of Mines at Wilburton demou- strated that the ore carried 60 per cent of manganese and hematite, and samples have been examined-a car- load-by representatives of the big steel interests at South Chicago. The Galbreath Iron and Mining Com- pany of Tulsa has been organized to handle and operate the mines.
The United States steel mills use 365,000 tons annually of manganese, all but about 1,000 tons of which is imported, most of it from Germany and Belgium. War having demoralized this source of supply, the necessity for the home production becomes apparent. This ore . is used exclusively, with other iron ores, to increase their strength and to harden steel used in the manufacture of armor plate, safes, cylinders, spark-plugs and many other finished iron and steel products. Just at this time the European war, calling for increased consump- tion of steel, is shutting off the dependable supply of manganese; hence the importance of the discovery of extensive deposits of the ore in Oklahoma.
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