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 11

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 11

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The site of Aylesworth is a spot of much historical interest, since here was formerly maintained the home of Governor Ben Burney of the Chickasaw Nation. The land was purchased by the A. & C. Railroad Company, and later passed into possession of the Washita Com- pany, of Denison, Texas, from which corporation Mr. Brown purchased its interest in the townsite. Possibili- ties of successful development in the oil and gas field in the vicinity of Aylesworth are in evidence, and some important gas-producing wells have here been sunk in recent years. Mr. Brown keeps a steady hand on the helm of Aylesworth's development and progress and is a recognized leader in popular thought and action in this section of the state.

Samuel A. Brown was born in Collin County, Texas, in the year 1862, and is a son of Azariah R. and Jennie (Alderman) Brown. His father was born in the State of Tennessee, and is today one of the venerable pioneers of Texas, where he established his home in 1846, the year following that of the admission of the state to the Union. His was a broad and varied experience in con- nection with life on the frontier and he represented the Lone Star State as a valiant soldier of the Confederacy in the Civil war. Before the building of railroads in Texas he carried the first mail from Mckinney to Dallas, that state. In 1874 he removed to Gainesville, Texas,

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and six miles north of that place he established what has been known for nearly half a century as Brown's Ferry. Where he thus operated a ferry across the Red River was later selected as the crossing place of the line of the Santa Fe Railroad. He laid out the first road, by way of Brown's Ferry, from Gainesville to Beef Creek, in the Chickasaw Nation of Indian Territory. He con- tinued the operation of his ferry until 1889, when he established his residence at Davis, Indian Territory, this now thriving little city of Murray County, Oklahoma, being still his home. This sterling Texas pioneer cele- brated in 1915 his eighty-first birthday anniversary. It is of historic interest to note that Azariah Brown was pilot for the surveyors who selected the route of the Santa Fe Railroad across the Chickasaw Nation. In the colony that the Browns established in Collin County, Texas, was Garland Martin, maternal great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch, and that worthy pioneer of Texas attained to the patriarchal age of 100 years.

Mr. Brown acquired his early education in the public schools of Gainesville, Texas, and one of his teachers was Rev. J. F. Alderson, D. D., who is now one of the most distinguished leaders of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Mr. Brown is a democrat in politics, and is affiliated with the lodge of the Benevolent & Pro- tective Order of Elks at Durant, and with that of the Knights of Pythias at Madill.

In 1889 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Brown to Miss Mattie C. Jones, daughter of Woody Jones, a well known pioneer of Cooke County, Texas. Mrs. Brown is a niece of T. B. Jones, a prominent and influential citizen of San Antonio, Texas, who died on the 15th. of December, 1914. He was a former partner of the late Jot Gunter, whom every old-time Texan knew either personally or by reputation. Mr. and Mrs. Brown have three children, Harry A., Andrew C. and Doris, the elder son being associated with his father in the real- estate and insurance business.

VICTOR M. LOCKE, JR. In his position as principal chief of the Choctaw tribe of Indians, Victor M. Locke, Jr., has made a nominal honor and dignity a source of inspiration and power to the people who have invested him with all the delegated responsibility which remains as a vestige of what the office of principal chief once meant and signified. Many of the most important facts concerning the Choctaw people, considered from the standpoint of their former national unity, can be under- stood most clearly through Chief Locke's work and his messages.

In October, 1915, he delivered a message to the council of the legislative branch of the Choctaw tribe of Indians, and from that message are quoted the following sentences :

"William Penn was the first notable dealer in Indian lands. That was back in 1641. He bought the State of Pennsylvania from a band of Indians and paid for it in soft words and a few bushels of beads. William's figure in bronze stands today on the tower of the city hall of Philadelphia-the city of Brotherly Love. He looks over the tops of its great buildings with quiet composure and something of his spirit seems to have followed the ages."

Through this significant illustration Mr. Locke empha- sized his criticism of the manner in which affairs of the Choctaws is being handled by the United States Govern- ment today. His words concerning William Penn were especially applied during his discussion of the subject of the removal of restrictions on the alienation of lands belonging to individual members of the Choctaw tribe. The entire message, the recommendations in which were approved by the council, is the outline of a campaign

that is to be made before Congress by Chief Locke and his lieutenants.

One feature of the procedure of the Indian office which comes in for Chief Locke's particular criticism is its method of transacting personal business matters for individual Indians, through Indian agents, and con- ditionally. As an illustration he calls attention to the procedure wherein an Indian's restricted land is sold and the proceeds invested in a house and other conveniences on his homestead, and in livestock and farm implements, the remainder to be paid to the Indian in monthly installments. However, if a team of mules is purchased cach is branded "U. S. I. . D."- United States Indian Department.

"I do not question the good intentions of those who put these regulations in practice, " says Chief Locke. "I question their judgment as to the best manner in which to teach grown up men self respect and self reliance. If restrictions must be removed, and the law directs that they shall, I insist that it should be done unconditionally and the money paid over to the owner thereof to be used as his best judgment directs. I can not look back thirty years and feel that the old fellows I knew at that period would observe with any degree of pride the spectacle of their sous driving a pair of mules up and down the road branded 'U. S. I. D.' Our people lived in houses and wore breeches a full hundred years before the Dawes Commission came among us to tell us that the Choctaw people were fully competent to take their place in the white man's business world and succeed; and the incon- sistency of their practices at present compared with their preachments of a former date should be met with busi- ness like protestations by a spirited people.

"The removal of restrictions on the alienation of lands allotted to our people, " he said, "entails a procedure by which everything is going out and nothing coming in. It opens up an avenue by which the individual Choctaw is being separated from his land, and this avenue steadily leads onward-it's a story as old as the history of this country; " whereupon he makes an illustration of the case of William Penn.

The spiritual, educational and industrial future of the Choctaw Indian lies in the tribal school, declared Chief Locke. He recommended to the council a petition to Congress asking for a continuation of the schools that are conducted at the expense of the Choctaw tribe of Indians. "Do our children attend the publie school established under the State government?" he asks. "We all agree that they should attend these schools, but as a matter of fact do they attend and what percentage take advantage of school facilities provided under the State government? To my mind the question of education for our Choctaw children should take precedence over all other matters submitted here for your consideration. In reaching your conclusion let me urge you to keep in mind the undeniable fact that in being possessed of this vast estate we owe the race a debt that cannot be paid off by this generation. "

The United States Government now has approximately $7,000,000 to the credit of the Choctaw tribe of Indians. In his message Chief Locke urged, and the council con- curred, that this be distributed pro rata among the Indians. There are approximately 21,000 Indians on the Choctaw rolls and if this money were distributed each would get about $330. "I feel certain," says Chief Locke, "that the sentiment of Congress is favorable to a payment for our people. They have demonstrated it time and again by their votes. There is no doubt in my mind but that the approaching session will give us this long sought relief. "

The council also agreed with Chief Locke in his un-

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qualified opposition to the reopening of the Choctaw rolls in order that Mississippi claimants to citizenship might have an opportunity to share in the estate of the tribe. "I am happy to say that the seutiment of Congress appears to be largely opposed to the reopening of our rolls, and I do not anticipate that those who seek to induco Congress to violate its solemn obligations will succeed; but in my judgment just as long as the Choctaw people have an undivided interest at stake, just that long will people of every hue and color be ambitious to become Choctaws. "

No recommendation is made by the Choctaw chief regarding distribution of the segregated coal and asphalt lands. "I am led to believe, " he says, "that it was the intention of Congress to set aside all minerals belonging to the Choctaw people as a permanent source of school fund for the education of Choctaw children. I readily admit that I have no recommendations to make. I simply await an expression from our people as to their wishes with regard to these valuable properties." The Atoka Agreement of 1898 provided that these lands, aggregating more than 750,000 acres, should be held in common by tho Choctaw and Chickasaw tribes. A supplemental agreement made in 1902 provided that they might be appraised and sold. An act of Congress of 1906 pro- vided that the lands should be reserved from sale pending the expiration of existing leases.

Principal Chief Locke was appointed by President Taft to tho highest position in the Choctaw tribe February 15, 1911, succeediug Green McCurtain, under whom he had served as secretary. An Act of Congress of 1906 con- tiuued the existence of the tribal government but took from it all functions of government save the power of petition and recommendation. . The duties of the prin- cipal chief relate principally to matters of which Chief Locke spoke in his October message. There are fifteen members of the council and twenty members of the House of Representatives, and Gilbert W. Dukes, a former principal chief, is president of this council. In 1911 a session of this legislature was held, and was the only session thus far uuder the administration of Chief Locke.

Principal Chief Locke was a member of the council in 1903, and at the same time was United States Govern- ment Interpreter for paying parties. On July 1, 1908, he was appointed by Secretary of the Interior Garfield as District Indian Agent for the entire Choctaw tribe. He was chosen secretary to Principal Chief Green Mc- Curtain, February 1, 1910, and remained in that position until the death of MeCurtain. His appointment as prin- cipal chief was ratified by the Choctaw people. The cabinet of Chief Locke consists of Pat J. Hurley of Tulsa, national attorney; William R. McIntosh of Me- Alester, miniug trustee; Henry F. Cooper of Stigler, tribal school representative. In carrying out his negotia- tions at Washiugtou, Chief Locke and the national attorney for the Choctaw Nation were assisted by two delegates, Peter J. Hudson, a full blood Choctaw of Tuskahoma, and Dr. J. H. Miller an intermarried citizen of Antlers.

Victor M. Locke, Jr., was born at the old Indian village of Doaksville, near Fort Towson, in 1876. His parents are Victor M. and Susan Priscilla (Mckinney) Locke. His father, who is now seventy-five years old and a resident of Antlers, is a white man and a native of Tennessee, but came to Indian Territory in March, 1866, after serving through the Civil war as a Confederate soldier, and on his return to his old home in Tennessee finding it in ruins and his relatives gone, he entered the Indian country from Texas, and lived for a time with the MeKinney family, near Wheelock Academy. He moved with the family to Lukfata, and there was married to a daughter of Mr. Mckinney, who was of Choctaw

blood. He became a trader in cattle and merchant at Doaksville. In September, 1886, Victory M. Locke, Sr., cut the first tree on the present town site of Antlers and later built the first business house and established the first business there. Under the administration of Prin- cipal Chief Jefferson Gardner he was superintendent of public instruction of the Choctaw tribe in 1894-96. The father of Mrs. Locke, Sr., was Thompson Mckinney, who once was superintendent of public instruction of the Choctaw tribe and who represented his people in Wash- ington for a number of years.

The first school attended by Victor M. Locke, Jr., was taught at White Church, six miles east of Antlers, by Nolan Hensou, a white man, who afterwards married an Indian girl. Lumber for this school building was hauled overland from Fort Towson and the bell was bought for it by the senior Locke. Later Mr. Locke attended school in Antlers and still later was a student in Jones Institute at Paris, Texas. In 1893 he entered Austin College at Sherman, Texas, where he remained two years. Meantime his father had been appointed superintendent of public instruction and he was selected to accompany a party of Indian boys to Drury College at Springfield, Missouri, where he remained one year.

In 1913 at Caddo, Oklahoma, Principal Chief Locke married Mrs. Vivia Nail Robertson, daughter of J. H. Nail, a prominent Indian citizen, who was related to the well known Choctaw family of Folsoms. Her father's grandfather once was a chief in the Choctaw tribe. She was born and partially reared near the site of Fort Mccullough, on Blue River, uear Caddo. Fort Mccullough was erected during the Civil war. Mr. and Mrs. Locke have a daughter, Rose Ba-nat-ima, the later being a Choctaw word meaning charity. This daughter was born December 7, 1914. Mr. Locke has a sister and several brothers. His sister is Mrs. Charles E. Archer, wife of a banker in Antlers. Mrs. Archer organized the Antlers Camp of the Daughters of the Confederacy and in 1915 was elected historian by the state organization of the Daughters of the Confederacy. She was educated in the North Texas Female College at Sherman. Chief Locke's brother, Ben Davis Locke, was educated in Christian Brothers' College, in St. Louis; Edwin S. Locke, another brother, was educated at Sacred Heart College, in Okla- homa and in the City of Rome, and now lives in Kansas City.

Chief Locke is a veterau of the Spanish-American war, though he never got into active service. In 1908 he organized Company L of the Oklahoma National Guard, and Governor C. N. Haskell appointed him captain of the company. On December 20, 1915, he was promoted by Governor Lee Cruce to the rank of major in the National Guard, and was succeeded as captain of the company by his brother Ben Davis Locke, who is his private secretary. He is a member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, the Spanish War Veterans, the Sons of the American Revolu- tion, and the Army League of America. He also belongs to the National Security League, is a member of the Catholic Church, is a republican in politics, and was a delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1904 which nominated Theodore Roosevelt for President.

Principal Chief Locke, while possessed of more than half American blood, is Choctaw to the core. The interests of the Choctaw people are his interests, and they are vital interests in view of the vast estate of these people and the efforts of the chief among them to make good American citizens of the lowliest among them. Mr. Locke spends in Washington all the time that Congress is in session and appears before congressional committees and before the various departments of the Government as the official spokesman of his people. His ambition is to have the Choctaws educated that they may be careful and

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saving of the money that one day must be theirs, and that they may make useful citizens of the state. The career of Mr. Locke presents many interesting and romantic features. . He was born in the backwood hills of an Indian nation. Facilities and opportunities were very meager. However, he has much of the culture and mental discipline of the ablest in the white race. In fact, he has kept pace with the white man, and is a courageous, high minded and high spirited leader of one of the most distinctive branches of the Indian races in America.

EDWIN S. ROBERTS. The prominence and influence of Mr. Roberts, as well as his personal popularity, are indi- cated adequately when it is stated that he was mayor in 1915 of the thriving little City of Avard, Woods County, and that he is cashier of the Avard State Bank.

Mr. Roberts claims the fine old Bluegrass State as the place of his nativity, but he is entitled to designation as one of the pioneer citizens of Oklahoma, within the bor- ders of which young commonwealth he has maintained his residence since 1893. In a staunch but primitive log house on the old homestead farm of his father in Hardin County, Kentucky, Edwin S. Roberts was born on the 24th of October, 1866, the place of his birth being situ- ated only twelve miles distant from that of Abraham Lincoln. He is a son of David R. and Sarah C. (Far- rand) Roberts, both of whom were likewise natives of Hardin County, where they were reared to maturity and where their marriage was solemnized in 1861, Mrs. Rob- erts having been a daughter of James Farrand, who was a native of Maryland and early settler in Hardin County, Kentucky.

David R. Roberts was born in the year 1832 and was one of the honored pioneer citizens of Woodward County, Oklahoma, at the time of his death, which occurred April 12, 1905. His entire active career was devoted to the great basic industry of agriculture. He continued his residence in Kentucky until 1881, when he removed with his family to Macoupin County, Illinois, where he was engaged in farming until 1887, when he removed to Sedgwick County, Kansas, where he purchased a tract of land and continued his operations as a farmer and stock- grower until 1893, when he became one of those who participated in the settling of the Cherokee Strip in Oklahoma Territory, when the same was thrown open to settlement. He obtained a tract of Government land in what is now Woodward County, and there he reclaimed and developed a good farm, this homestead continuing to be his place of residence until the close of his life. He was a staunch supporter of the cause of the demo- cratie party, was a man of sterling character and he ever commanded secure place in the confidence and good will of his fellow men. Both he and his wife were lifelong and earnest Christian workers, he having been a member of the Baptist and she of the Methodist Church South. Mrs. Roberts survived her husband by about eight years and continued her residence in Woodward County until she, too, was summoned to eternal rest, on the 27th of February, 1912. They became the parents of five sons and five daughters, concerning whom brief record is here entered: James B. is a prosperous farmer in Woodward County, as is also John W .; Edwin S. of this review was the next in order of birth; Thomas H. is a representa- tive agriculturist in Woodward County; David C. is identified with the zinc and lead mining industry at Miami, Ottawa County; Laura is the wife of William D. Howell, a farmer of Sedgwick County, Kansas; Sallie B. is the wife of Benjamin F. Stevens, who is a prosperous farmer of Woodward County, Oklahoma, where he also is a successful and popular teacher in the rural schools; Frances M. is the wife of Oscar C. Wybrant, who is a'

leading lawyer at Woodward, the judicial center of the county of that name; Catherine is the wife of Harry Morrison, a farmer of that county; and the fourth child, a daughter, died in infancy.

Edwin S. Roberts was reared to the age of fifteen years in his native Kentucky county, where he acquired his early education in the common schools. He was about fifteen years old at the time of the family removal to Macoupin County, Illinois, where he continued his studies in the public schools, and in 1887, shortly prior to attaining to his legal majority, he accompanied his parents on their removal to Sedgwick County, Kansas. He there assisted in the work and management of the home farm and when but twenty-one years of age was elected clerk of Afton Township.

On coming with the other members of the family to Oklahoma, in 1893, he entered claim to a tract of land in the newly opened Cherokee Strip, this property, in Woodward County, having been improved by him and developed into one of the excellent farms of the county. Mr. Roberts is a man of alert and vigorous mentality, of well fortified opinions and marked progressiveness, so that he has naturally been influential in public affairs of a local order. In 1903 he was the democratic nominee for representative of Woodward County in the Terri- torial Legislature, but his defeat was compassed by normal political exigencies. In 1902 Mr. Roberts was associated with other representative citizens of Wood- ward County in the organization of the Farmers' Bank of Persimmon, which iustitution later became the Farm- ers' Bank of Mutual, the Town of Mutual having been developed at the expense of the old Village of Persim- mon, which is now little more than a name.

In 1904, in Woods County, Mr. Roberts became asso- ciated with John J. and George Gerlach in the organiza- tion of the Avard State Bank, and of this institution he has since been cashier, its development and upbuilding as one of the substantial banks of this part of the state having been largely due to his energy, good judgment and progressive policies. Mr. Roberts has been one of the foremost in promoting the civic and material advance- ment of the thriving and attractive little City of Avard and has served continuously as its mayor since the admis- sion of Oklahoma as a state, in 1907. He has been also a member of the local board of education since 1904, and his loyalty and public spirit are of the most insistent and benignant type. He does not deviate from the line of close allegiance to the democratic party and is influ- ential in its councils in Woods County. He is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias, and both he and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

Mr. Roberts has been twice married. On the 20th of June, 1903, he wedded Miss Alta Grunewald, who was born in the City of Van Wert, Ohio, and whose death occurred at Avard, Oklahoma, on the 7th of December, 1904. She is survived by twin daughters, Corene and Lorene, who were born November 22, 1904. On the 18th of June, 1906, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Roberts to Miss Eloise M. Taylor, who was born in Car- roll County, Missouri.

In conclusion it may well be stated that Mr. Roberts has given a most progressive and popular administration during his period of service as mayor of Avard. Within his regime and largely through his influence have been installed the excellent municipal water, electric-light and telephone systems, streets have been carefully maintained in good order, and cement sidewalks installed through- ont the town, these modern improvements being the more

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noteworthy in view of the fact that this vigorous little western city has in 1915 a population of less than 300.

DAVID D. BRUNSON. There is much of interest in the career of David D. Brunson in Oklahoma relating to the intricate problems surrounding land titles in that part of the state formerly the Choctaw and Chickasaw nations, for since he has been practicing law in the state his firm has made a specialty of land matters. A delicate and important distinction existed between the terms "new acquisition" and "ancestral estate," as applied to lands belonging to Indians, and the issue was drawn in a case which this firm carried to the United States Supreme Court which resulted in an opinion that land given to an Indian by his father or purchased by him with money given by the father should be classified as an ancestral estate. The issue was fundamental in the transfer of lands, and the case was the first carrying the question to the highest tribunal.

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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