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 110

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 110

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Born near Junction City, Kansas, Mrs. Eastou is a daughter of the late James B. Morris, who was for many years one of the most prominent and influential citizens of Junction City, Kansas. He died there in 1893, after a very successful career as a farmer and stock man. His estate comprised 930 acres of land near Junction City, several hundred head of cattle and other stock, and his name is one that is still spoken with respect and honor among the old settlers. He was a member of the Presby- terian Church. The children who survive him are: Charles W., now engaged in the real estate business in Colorado; Abraham Lincoln, a farmer at Wreford, Kan- sas; William, a contractor and builder at Oklahoma City, who is a member of India Temple of the Mystic Shrine in that city, and whose wife, Sarah, is now past worthy matron of Oklahoma City Chapter No. 10, of the Order of the Eastern Star; Mrs. Easton, who is a twin sister of William; Katie, wife of Austin Hazenbook, a con- tractor under the United States Government; Charles, a painter in Denver, Colorado; Nancy, wife of A. W. Conover, of Junction City, Kansas; and Benjamin Franklin, who owns a valuable farm on which oil has been discovered, near Rumford, South Dakota.

The early years of Mrs. Easton were spent in and about Junction City, Kansas, where she attended the country schools, the Morris schoolhouse, near Wreford, and the high school at Junction City. For seven years altogether she was a teacher, and her work in that pro- fession was then near Mankato, in Jewell County, Kansas, in the Morris school, at Dry Creek, and at the Olson school, and other places in Kansas.

In 1889, at Junction City, she married Mr. Frank B. Easton, who was born July 15, 1866, at Maysville, Ken- tucky, was reared and educated in that city, and in the schools of Rowan County, Kentucky. After their mar- riage Mr. and Mrs. Easton lived on a farm for two years near Junction City, then spent about three years at Geuda Springs, Kansas, and in 1893 participated in the rush for settlement in the Cherokee Strip. Mr. Easton secured a claim of 160 acres on Chilocco Creek, two miles east of the Indian Reservation, and situated in the Gray Moret School District. He improved that land and cultivated it until 1901, when he secured another quarter section near Geronimo, Oklahoma, and transferred his operations as a farmer upon the new location until 1908. In that year they removed to West Cache, Okla- homa, five miles north of Cache, and bought 160 acres on which they carry on diversified farming and stock raising. They own another farm of 160 acres at Post Oak, three miles west of the first mentioned farm. Both their places comprise a large amount of rich soil, located in bottom land.

Mr. Easton in politics is a republican, is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, is a past master by service of Chattanooga Lodge No. 349, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and is also affiliated with Faxon

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Lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Chat- tanooga Camp of the Woodmen of the World, the Brother- hood of American Yeomen at Faxon, and Chattanooga Chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star. Four children comprise the family of Mr. and Mrs. Easton: Ben. W. is now a sergeant at the United States military post at Fort Riley, Kansas, is employed in the government print- ing and bindery works, and is affiliated with Junction City Lodge of the Masonic Order; James Chrichton is a farmer near Junction City and a member of Tinney Lodge, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, in Oklahoma; Walter Blair lives at home with his parents; and Dorothy is now in the fifth grade of the public schools.

Mrs. Easton among other activities is prominent in fraternal affairs. She is past grand Electa of Grand Chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star, and for three years has served on the finance committee of the grand chapter, and is still on that committee. She has served as matron of Chattanooga Chapter of the Eastern Star, and in April, 1915, instituted a chapter of this order at Geronimo and one at Devol, Oklahoma. She is also a past grand of the Rebekahs, a member of the Brotherhood of American Yeomen and of the Royal Neighbors at Faxon.

HON. WILLIAM JASPER FARRISS. Among the old and honored members of the Garvin County bar, one who is held in high esteem is Hon. William Jasper Farriss, of Stratford, now retired, who as jurist and attorney has ever been a worthy representative of his learned calling. Judge Farriss was born in White County, Ten- nessee, December 9, 1829, and is a member of a family which originated in Ireland and early settled in Virginia, his great-grandfather being the emigrant. His grand- father was twelve years old when he came with the family to the United States.

Richard Farriss, the grandfather of Judge Farriss, was born in the Old Dominion, was a farmer and stockman, enlisted in the War. of 1812, fighting under General Jackson at New Orleans, and died in Hawkins County, Eastern Tennessec, at a ripe old age. L. B. Farriss, the father of Judge Farriss, was born in Virginia, in 1800, and as a young man accompanied his parents to Hawkins County, Tennessee, later going to White County, Tennessee, where he followed farming until his early death, November 27, 1839. He was a devout member of the Presbyterian Church and in politics a democrat. Mr. Farriss married Hannah Simms, who was born in 1808, in White County, Tennessee, and who died there in 1895.

The early education of William Jasper Farriss was secured in the district schools of White County, Tennes- see, following which he attended Burrett College, in Van Buren County, Tennessee, for nearly four years, com- pleting the major part of the senior year's course. He then studied law in White County under the preceptorship of Colonel Combs and was admitted to the Tennessee bar January 1, 1855. Beginning practice at Sparta, he followed his profession there until 1861, when he enlisted in the Sixteenth Regiment, Tennessee Volunteer Infantry, and spent three years in the Confederate army, was wounded in the hand at the battle of Corinth, and took part in the battle of Murfreesboro, other noted struggles and numerous skirmishes. After three years of service he was appointed to a lieutenancy in Col. Sidney Stan- ton's regiment, but while he was absent on duty at Mur- freesboro the regiments were consolidated, and Judge Farriss was given his honorable discharge, as had been promised in the case an officer's rank could not be given him.

After the close of the Civil war Judge Farriss resumed his law practice at Sparta until December, 1905, and

during that period rose to a place of acknowledged dis- tinction in his profession, serving for a time as judge of the courts of his circuit for Judge Smallman. On December 1, 1905, he came to Center, Indian Territory, where he remained for six months, and in 1906 located on the present site of Stratford, although this town had not yet come into existence at that time. Here he followed a general civil and criminal practice until his retirement in 1914. At the beginning of the town he acted as attorney for the board of trustees of Stratford, served as city judge for two years, and for a like period acted as clerk of the County Court. He has never lost his interest in his old army comrades, and at present is adjutant of Stratford Camp, United Confederate Vet- erans. Judge Farriss is a democrat. While at Sparta, Tennessee, he belonged to the greenback party, and in 1880 was chairman of the executive committee when that party nominated Weaver for the presidency, being him- self a candidate for Congress on that ticket. He has written many articles on the currency question which have been widely read, the judge favoring the abolishing of all banks and the Government's issue of full legal tender greenbacks.

Judge Farriss was married in 1872, in White County, Tennessee, to Miss Martha Southard, daughter of the late Rev. D. M. Southard, a Methodist Episcopal preacher. Mrs. Farriss, who was born in 1849, still survives. There were five children in the family, as follows: Dovie, who is the wife of W. W. Hyden, a justice of the peace at Stratford; Miss Simmie, who is postmistress at Strat- ford; Miss Mollie, who is unmarried and resides with her parents; Thomas; and Helen, who is the wife of a farmer and stock raiser near Kingston, Oklahoma.

Thomas Farriss, son of Judge Farriss, was born at Sparta, Tennessee, September 8, 1882, and there attended the public schools, being graduated from the high school in 1901. He subsequently attended Burrett College at Spencer, Tennessee, and taught school in White County for four years, and in 1904 came to Ada, Indian Ter- ritory, where for a short time he engaged in farming. In 1905 he resumed educational work when he became principal of schools at McGee, Oklahoma, and in 1906, at the beginning of the town, came to Stratford, where he soon became city marshal. He later was made deputy sheriff and still later city clerk, edited the Stratford Tribune for several years, and in 1909 attended the Oklahoma State University Law Department and was ad- mitted to the bar in 1910. Since that time he has fol- lowed a general law business, his offices being located in the State Bank Building. Mr. Farriss is a democrat, has served as chairman of the Democratic County Central Committee and is now chairman of the Garvin County Election Board. Fraternally he is affiliated with Strat- ford Lodge No. 119, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons; Stratford Lodge No. 311, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of which he is past noble grand; and Stratford Camp, Woodmen of the World. He is unmarried.

ROBERT NEWBERRY is a young business man of North- western Oklahoma, a homesteader in old Woodward County, and for the past six years cashier of the Speer- more State Bank.

The Speermore State Bank was established March 14, 1910, at Speermore in Harper County, but on October 7, 1912, was removed to Laverne, when the Wichita Falls and Northwestern Railroad was built. This is one of the flourishing financial institutions of Harper County, has a capital stock of $10,000 and deposits of about $90,000.

Robert Newberry was born November 3, 1877, on a farm in Montgomery County, Illinois, a son of Charles H. and Elizabeth (Rarer) Newberry. His father was born in the same county of Illinois June 24, 1852, and

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spent his active career as a farmer and breeder of blooded stock. In 1900 he removed to Oklahoma, locat- ing ou Government land in what is now Ellis but was then Woodward County, 312 miles south of May. His death occurred there June 2, 1904. Iu 1872 he married in Montgomery County, Illinois, Miss Elizabeth Rarer, a daughter of George Rarer, a native of Pennsylvania. Elizabeth Rarer was born in Ohio, January 7, 1855, and died September 27, 1904. She was a woman of educa- tiou and devout in attention to her religious duties. She became the mother of six children, three sons and three daughters, namely: Ella, deceased; Robert; Bertha B., now an expert stenographer at Oklahoma City; the fourth child, a daughter, died in infancy; Ray E. is now a book- keeper at Wichita, Kansas; and the sixth child, a son, died in infancy.

Robert Newberry received his early education in the public schools of Irving, Illinois, and spent his youth on a farm. Coming to Oklahoma with his parents in 1900 he located a claim in Ellis County, and while im- proving it and getting a start in an agricultural way he wrote insurance. In 1910 with L. L. Stine and others he organized the Speermore State Bank, of which he be- came cashier and has since been its chief executive officer. Thus the flourishing condition of the bank stands to the credit of his ability and financial judgment.

On August 14, 1910, in Harper County, Oklahoma, Mr. Newberry married Miss Mabel Hopingardner, a daughter of Charles A. and Ida May ( Woodmansee) Hopingardner, who were natives of Michigan. Mrs. Newberry was born August 17, 1889, in Harrison County, Missouri, and came to Oklahoma with her parents in 1901. For two years prior to her marriage she was a teacher in Ellis County. Mr. and Mrs. Newberry have three children, one son and two daughters: May Elizabeth, born August 25, 1911; Walter B., born July 2, 1913; and Roberta B., born November 3, 1915. All are natives of Harper County. Politically Mr. Newberry is a republican and several times has filled minor local offices in Ellis County. He is a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason, a mein- ber of Oklahoma Consistory No. 1 at Guthrie and also affiliates with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Modern Woodmen of America.

GILBERT G. MERRY. A section of the old Military Highway, which was the route of United States Govern- ment officials, explorers, adventurers, prospectors and others into Indian Territory as early as 1835, is to be restored by the county commissioners of McCurtain County in the building of a state highway fron east to west across the country. Practically all of the old highway will be traversed between Broken Bow and the Arkansas line, touching Eagletown, which was one of the first settlements made by the Choctaws when they entered Indian Territory in the early '30s. The road will also pass through Valliant, Bismark and Glover, the latter of which is the site of an early Indian settle- ment. Surveys have already been made of this high- way, under the direction of the county commissioners.

Pioneer explorers who selected the route for the mil- itary highway east of Eagletown were not possessed always of compass and chart, but when the sun shone they were able to travel in a general directiou toward a point of destination. Part of the advance crew carried a bugle and the blasts of this instrument were followed by men with axes who blazed the trees. Calvin Merry, who died about twenty years ago, at Goodland, Okla- homa, and who was reared in Arkansas near the old military highway, accompanied some of the pathfinders ou their early explorations, a fact which makes of especial interest the fact that his sou, Gilbert G. Merry, of Valliant, who is a member of the board of county

commissioners of MeCurtain County, is taking an active part in the work of restoring sections of this famous old road.

Gilbert G. Merry is himself somewhat of a pioneer, having been born at Chapel Hill, Arkansas, seven miles from the Indian Territory line, in 1879, and has been reared principally in the Indian country. His mother was Eliza McGregory, and her parents were among the early settlers of the border of Indian Terri- tory. Mr. Merry entered the Indian Territory as a permanent citizen at the age of thirteen years, locating at Eagletown. Later he lived at Lukfada, another of the pioneer settlements of the Choctaws, and while living there, in 1903, witnessed the first net proceeds payment to the Indians by the United States Govern- ment. This payment was accompanied and followed by an era of lawlessness the like of which had never before occurred in the history of the Choctaw Nation. Each Indian drew $103 and the men of the tribe proceeded to make investments in horses, saddles, guns and whisky. The drunken ones terrorized the country, many were killed or wounded, and a number of large trees were stripped of their bark in sections by bullets from revolvers. Near Tonika one night, shortly after Mr. Merry had left the place, drunken Indians engaged in a fight with axes that resulted in the death of six of their number. Mr. Merry lived also at Garvin where he was employed first by J. W. Kirk, pioneer merchant of that section, as manager of his general store, and later by Dr. Ben Denison, one of the town's pioneer citizens and druggists. In 1906 he located at Valliant, where he has since been engaged in business as a pharmacist. He was a member of the town board of trustees before statehood and is now a member of the board of school trustees. As an influential citizen of the town of his adoption, he has contributed much to its development.

The first democratic club in what is now McCurtain County was organized at Garvin, in 1904, by Gilbert G. Merry, Thomas Carr and Colonel Adair. This organ- ization was in preparation for the election of delegates to the territorial convention at Durant that year, which elected Robert L. Williams, now governor of Oklahoma, democratic national committeeman, the last before the granting of statehood. Mr. Merry took an active part in democratic politics in 1906 and 1907 when delegates were elected to the constitutional convention and the constitution was adopted and the first state officers elected. Until he was elected county commissioner, in 1914, he served continuously from the time of statehood in the capacity of state committeeman from McCurtain County. The board of commissioners now has under way plans for proposing a bond issue of approximately $60,000, out of the proceeds of which it intends to build modern bridges in various parts of the county.

The father of Mr. Merry was a poor man, and this discouragement to a lad with ambition was accentuated by the lack of educational facilities. At the age of seventeen years, when he went to school in the State of Arkansas, Mr. Merry read in the second reader. He was studious and industrious, however, made rapid progress in his studies, and later materially assisted in the education of his younger brother. There are four of these, namely: F. L., who is engaged in farming in Cherokee County, Oklahoma; B. F., who is a land owner and county commissioner of Hemphill County, Texas; J. L., who is a general merchant at Golden, Oklahoma; and Reverend Robert, who is a minister of the Baptist Church, at Garvin.

Mr. Merry was married April 4, 1906, to Miss. Annie Oaks, of Grant, Oklahoma, who was of one-fourth Choc- taw blood and whose ancestors were prominent in tribal affairs. She died in April, 1915, and was the mother

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of two children: Gilbert Roy, aged nine years; and Mildred, who is seven years of age. Mr. Merry is a member of the Baptist Church. His fraternal connec- tions are with the local lodges of the Masons, in which he has attained the Royal Arch degree, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias and the Woodmen of the World, and he holds membership also in the Oklahoma Pharmacentical Association. Mr. Merry is the owner of some valuable agricultural land along Red River, in McCurtain County, as well as town property at Valliant, having expressed his confidence in the future prosperity and development of this section of the state by wise investments in real estate.

JACKSON R. DUNZY. A lifelong resident of the Creek Nation, Jackson R. Dunzy had as much to do with the early activities of the little City of Wetumka as any other man. Through his mother he has eitizenship in the Creek tribe and has enjoyed a number of official honors and distinctions from his people.

It was Mr. Dunzy who gave the name to both the old and new Town of Wetumka. He seleeted the name as a Creek word meaning sounding water. He served as the last postmaster of old Wetumka and moved the post- office to the new town and was the first to hold offiee there. When the railroad was built the town was moved from its old location to a point a mile west in order to be located on the railroad, and Mr. Dunzy has been elosely identified with its growth and prosperity for a number of years.

He was born in the Creek Nation January 11, 1866, a son of Henry and Kogee (Barnett) Dunzy. His father was a white man and a native of Illinois, having eome to the Creek Nation about 1861 as an employe of the United States Government. He was an all around mechanic and not only did much work for the people of the Creek Nation but by practical example taught the Indians the skillful use of mechanical tools. Several years after coming to the Creek Nation he was married about 1864 and his wife was a Creek woman, though with some mixture of Scoteh blood. She died Deeember 24, 1887, while the father passed away about 1900. He was sixty-four years of age and his wife about fifty-five. Until the last five years of his life the father followed his profession actively. Of the two children, a daughter, Annie, died at the age of thirteen.

Jackson R. Dunzy acquired his early education in the neighborhood schools of the Creek Nation, and from his father acquired an expert knowledge and proficiency as a blacksmith, gunsmith and all around mechanic. It was his chief work for eighteen years, but sinee then he has been more or less active as a grocer merchant. Mr. Dunzy and family have about 700 acres by allot- ment, and he looks after the entire estate and has placed it under improvement and these farm and ranch lands themselves constitute almost a competency.

Mr. Dunzy early became prominent in tribal affairs. He was clerk of the Wewoka District Court until state- hood, and at the last tribal election was made town king and still holds that post. In politics he is a republican, and while a member of no church is a thorough Christian.

On July 24, 1884, he was married in the Creek Nation to Miss Lucinda Long, who is a full blood Creek, and a daughter of Capt. George Long. To their marriage were born six children : Louis, Nathan, Joseph, Dallas, Velma and Ada. Mr. Dunzey has also reared two girls besides his own children, and their names are Celia Robinson and Mattie Stidham.

WADE H. VANN, M. D. In the perspective of the history of the United States Oklahoma is one of the

youngest, even as it is one of the most vital, of onr national commonwealth, and notwithstanding its lack of maturity it has produced young men who have achieved distinctive success and prestige in what are commonly designated as the higher professions. The truth of this statement is verified in the case of Doctor Vann, who claims this state as the place of his nativity, though he was born in a seetion that was at that time still a part of Indian Territory, aud is thus a representative of one of the pioneer families of the state. He is now one of the prominent physicians and surgeons of Caddo County, where he is engaged in the successful practice of his profession in the vigorous little City of Cement.

Doctor Vann was born in what is now Muskogee County, Oklahoma, and the date of his nativity was December 1, 1877. He is a son of Herman Johnsou Vann and Elizabeth (Davis) Vann, the former of whom was born near Maysville, Benton County, Arkansas, in the year 1852, and the latter of whom was born in

Texas. Herman J. Vann received his early education in the public schools of Arkansas and as a youth he eame to the Red River country of Indian Territory, where he lived in the home of his uncle, Joseph Thompson, during the period of the Civil war. He was a man of strong mind and sterling character, and in the early days was a successful teacher in the school maintained in the little village of Briartown, Muskogee County, where he continued his pedagogic labors three years. After his marriage he settled in Muskogee County, where he became the owner of a large and well improved ranch and where he devoted the remainder of his life to suc- cessful operations as a farmer and stoek raiser. He was one of the well known and highly honored citizens of the county, was progressive and liberal as a citizen, was a stauneh supporter of the eause of the Democratic party, and was affiliated with the Masonic fraternity and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He died in the City of Muskogee, in 1912, and his widow still resides on the fine homestead farm in that county. Of the childreu Doctor Vann is the eldest; Clem resides upon his ranch in Muskogee County; Joseph is a resident of the City of Galveston, Texas; William is a prosperous farmer in Muskogee County; Sophia remains with her widowed mother: Lola is the wife of Robert F. Herbert, who is living retired at Cement, Comanche County; Nora remains with her mother; and Daisy resides on a farm in Muskogee County.

The aneestral history of Doetor Vann is one of spe- cially interesting order, and he takes just pride in elaim- ing descent from staunch Cherokee Indian stock on both the paternal and maternal sides, he himself having one- eighth Cherokee blood. The doctor's great-grandfather, Joseph Vann, was born in the State of Georgia, and not only became the owner of a large number of slaves and other property, but for a long period in the early days he owned and operated two steamboats ou the Mississippi and Arkansas rivers. He was familiarly known as "Rich Joe Vann," and he met his death in the explosion of the boilers of one of his steamboats, near Dardanelle, Yell County, Arkansas, prior to the early '50s. His father married among the Cherokee Indians, when they were still on their native quarters in the Southern States, and William Vann, grandfather of the doctor, was born in Georgia, in 1831, he having eome with the Cherokee Indians to their assigned place and allotment in Indian Territory when they removed from the South at the behest of the Government, and he became the owner of a large landed estate in Indian Territory. He was murdered at a point between the two present Oklahoma eities of Webbers Falls and Tahleqnah,

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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