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 117

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 117

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organization and is in no sense under the auspices of the Federal Indian Department. Some idea 'of the aims of this society can be obtained from one of the booklets of information issued by the organization :

"The Society of American Indians seeks to bring about better conditions so that the Indian may develop normally as an American people in America. The Society has asserted that it believes that the full re- sponse to the duties of life is more important than only constant demands for rights; for with the performance of duties, rights will come as a matter of course. The Society thus seeks to urge the Indian to avail himself of every opportunity to learn the ways of 'civilized' life, in order that he may become able to compete and co-operate successfully with other men. The Society urges the Indian, by using his mind and muscle, to become more and more a worker, a producer and a builder, instead of merely a consumer. Whatever the natural rights of the Indians are, they can not maintain them unless they can meet enlightened people upon the same footing. This fact is constantly proved when uneducated Indiaus live in the neighborhood of keen minded eitizens. The Society therefore states that it believes that Iudian progress depends upon awakening the abilities of every individual Indian to the realization of personal respon- sibility, for self, for race and for country, and the coun- try to the call to activity. When the nation remedies the laws now hindering Indian progress, work, thrift, education and elean morals will then secure for the Indian all the rights that may be given a man and a citizen. ''

An even more vital expression of the objects of this society is found in the following words: "The time has come for the Indian to look forward; the time of looking backward and mourning has ceased. Men may not live ou thoughts of the past or by nursing memories of wrongs; they must plan for the future. There must be hope, not despair. There is no hope in the past, it is dead. Life lies ahead; look ahead; plan ahead. The Society calls upou the Indian to think more what he owes to his country, his race, and what he owes to him- self as a man, rather than to think overmuch what the government owes him. The government must pay, wc shall see to that, but the Indian must also pay his own debt to himself by useful service to mankind. The Indian who does not will die like a decaying branch on a tree. ''

In 1912, at Shawnee, Miss Johnson was united in marriage with Mr. Jefferson Davis Goulette. Mr. Goulette was born near Falls City, Nebraska, November 20, 1861. He received his education in Illinois, and about 1897 he came to Shawnee and was a homesteader farmer for about one year. By profession he is an architect and builder and cabinetmaker, and in the early days he did nearly all the finishing and upholstering of the new ears sent out from the Rock Island shops at Shawnee. At present he is inspector for the engineering and construction work on all Oklahoma State institu- tions, his offices being in Oklahoma City with the State Board of Public Affairs. He also served two years as superintendent of the Shawuee Waterworks. He is a democrat, a member of the Episcopal Church, and is affiliated with Shawnee Lodge No. 107, Ancient Frce and Accepted Masons; Oklahoma Consistory No. 1, Valley of Guthrie, in the thirty-second degree of Scottish Rite. Mr. Goulette is himself a part Indian, having onc-eighth Sioux blood. Mr. and Mrs. Goulette have one child, Cheshawgan Henry Goulette, who was born October 14. 1913.

WILLIAM A. STUART. A substantial business man whose position is best indicated by his office as vieo president and manager of the Fullerton-Stuart Lumber

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HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

Company, with headquarters at Okmulgee and with yards all over that section of Oklahoma, W. A. Stuart started life under the spur of his own ambition, and thirty years ago was getting acquainted with the lumber business in the humble capacity of a worker engaged in piling lum- ber in a local yard.

His early life was one comparatively lacking in advan- tages and opportunities. His father was somewhat of a wanderer, and Mr. Stuart as a boy came to regard a prairie schooner or mover's wagon in the light of a home. He was born at Hillsboro, Highland County, Ohio, April 23, 1867, a son of H. H. and Jane A. (Walters) Stuart, the former a native of Ohio and the latter of Virginia. The mother died in 1875 when W. A. Stuart was cight years old. His father passed away in Missouri in 1910. The father was a farmer, but apparently could not con- tent himself with a permanent abode. W. A. Stuart was one of seven children, four of whom are still living. When he was four years old his father moved out to Kansas and later to Missouri, living successively at Camden, Mexico, Louisiana, Hannibal, Warrensburg and other points. When the boy was ten years of age his father established a home at Effingham, Illinois, where the son secured most of his education in the local schools.

When he was eighteen years of age, with only a few dollars in his pocket, he found his way to Kansas by riding in a box car, and at Delphos in that state gained his first experience as a lumberman by employment in a local yard. He was steady and persistent and desired to get ahead, and continued working in that locality for about nine years. Many years ago he entered the employ of the Chicago Lumber & Coal Company, of which E. H. Fullerton was president, and Mr. Stuart has been associ- ated with Mr. Fullerton as an employee or business asso- ciate ever since. For oue year he was located at Horton, Kansas, and then became traveling auditor for three years, and for another three years had charge of the yards at Beloit, Kansas.

Having been taken into partnership with Mr. Fullerton, they bought the lumber yard at Fall City, Nebraska, of which Mr. Stuart became general manager. When that business was sold he came to Okmulgee, Oklahoma, in 1901, and has since been identified with that growing and thriving city in the eastern part of the state. The Fullerton-Stuart Lumber Company is a corporation, of which Mr. Stuart is vice president and general man- ager.

Fifteen years ago, when lie first came to Oklahoma, the town had a population of about 600, chiefly Indians and negroes. His own lumber yards have since fur- nished more than half the lumber which has gone into the buildings comprising a flourishing city of 10,000 people. The company now has nine yards altogether, located at Okmulgee, Sapulpa, Kiefer, Mounds, Beggs, Henryetta, Wetumpka, Morris, Boynton. About thirty- five men are employed in the different branches of the establishment. Mr. Stuart as general manager has the supervision of all the yards, and keeps his head offices at Okmulgee. The volume of annual business is esti- mated to be worth about $750,000.

Mr. Stuart has some interests in the oil industry of Oklahoma, but considers that a side issue. He is a repub- lican in politics as regards national affairs, is a Presby- terian, and has been a member of the board of trustees since the church was founded in Okmulgee. He is a Knight Templar Mason and Shriner. In 1914 Mr. Stuart completed at 304 North Grand Avenue a hand- some residence regarded as the finest home in the city. He takes a great deal of delight in his home and family. In 1901 at Fall City, Nebraska, he married Miss Eva Maude Jussen, who was born at Fall City, a daughter of P. H. Jussen. To their union have been born six chil-

dren : Catherine, Robert, Virginia, William, John and Louis.

HARRY CLARENCE WATTON. The acknowledged leader ship among Oklahoma photographers belongs to H. C Watton of Oklahoma City. Mr. Watton is not in the class of the ordinary maker of pictures, but has a mechanical and artistic genius in that field which sets him above the majority of men of that vocation. The work that comes from his studio in the Terminal Arcade Building represents the highest standards, and to say that it is a Watton photograph is to speak the last word of praise in respect to the artistic finish.

For ten years Mr. Watton has been established in his profession at Oklahoma City. He is a native of Illinois, born at Shelbyville in Shelby County, April 15, 1872. His father, Granville D. Watton, was born in Ohio, and was of English ancestry, the grandfather, Fielden Watton, having spent most of his life as an Ohio farmer. Granville D. Watton was reared and educated and mar- ried in Ohio and by occupation was a contractor and also a teacher in schools. He is still living, being now retired at the age of seventy-five, with his home in Shelbyville, Illinois. He moved from Ohio to Illinois, about 1863. His wife's maiden name was Emeline Wineland, who was born in Ohio, and is now seventy- five years of age. Her father was a native of Ohio and of German stock. Mr. H. C. Watton is the fourth son and fifth child in a family of nine living children.

His early boyhood was spent in his native county, and he acquired an education in the common schools. At the age of seventeen, about 1888, he started to learn the photographic art at Shelbyville, Illinois. After serving an apprenticeship of one year, he had as much skill and knowledge of the trade as his preceptor, and after that for four years he was a regular journeyman photographer, working at his trade in many different localities. For a time he was under Fritz Guerin, the uoted photographer of St. Louis. For twelve years Mr. Watton was in business at Lancaster, Wisconsin.

From there he came to Oklahoma City and established his studio in 1905. While there were other photog- raphers in the city at the time, and there had been many before him, he is now the oldest photographer in point of continuous business in Oklahoma City.

It is only necessary to speak of some of the honors won by Mr. Watton in the profession of photography to indicate his attainments and standing. He was the winner of the following trophies: 1909, Angelo Trophy; 1909, Silver Loving Cup; 1910, Angelo Trophy; 1912, Silver Loving Cup; 1914, Angelo Trophy; 1914, Wol- lensack Loving Cup; and of the following medals: 1907, Genre Medal F; 1909, Genre Medal F; 1910, Genre Medal S; 1912, Genre Medal F; 1914, Genre Medal F; 1914, Best Baby, Diploma. All these trophies and medals were won by exhibitions of his art in com- petition with that of the best photographers in the country. During his professional career Mr. Watton has photographed many notable men. Among them might be mentioned the late Elbert Hubbard, who was a victim on the ill fated Lusitania; C. T. Daly, the noted playwright; Augusta Cottlow, the noted pianist; and many others.

In 1895 Mr. Watton married Miss May Helen Nathan. They are the parents of two charming daughters: Frances is now attending Knox College at Galesburg, Illinois; and Helen Maria is still at home.

Mr. Watton is well known in Oklahoma City affairs. He is a member of the Masonic Order, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Modern Woodmen of America, the American Yeomen, and is a member of the Oklahoma City Golf and Country clubs and of the

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HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

Men's Dinner Club. In politics he is a democrat. Dur- ing his residence at Lancaster, Wisconsin, he was a member of the city council and did much in a local political way. Through his profession he has acquired a well deserved success and prosperity and for twenty- six years has been a competent photographer. He has witnessed a great many changes in his art during that time. His studio is now acknowledged as the largest and best equipped in the State of Oklahoma, and his patronage is not confined to people in and in the imme- diate vicinity of Oklahoma City, but comes from all over the state and from many parts of Northwest Texas.

DR. IRVING S. FREEMAN. One of the pioneer families of Tennessee sent its representatives into Texas back in the '80s when Dr. W. H. Freeman settled in Denton County. He was born in Macon County, Tennessee, in 1855, and went to Denton County in 1884, the follow- ing year moving on to Cook County, Texas. There he engaged in the practice of his profession and also con- ducted a drug store in the Town of Era, where he settled. In 1901 the doctor withdrew from professional activities, moved to Floyd County, Texas, and there engaged in the real estate and loan business. Four years later he came to Cordell, Oklahoma. He is now retired from business, though he owns several alfalfa farms in Floyd County, Texas, and near Rocky, Oklahoma. He is a democrat, and served two terms in the Texas State Legislature in the years 1895-6 and 1897-8. He was county health officer of Floyd County for four years. He is a member of the Masons and the Knights of Pythias, and of the Christian Church.

Doctor Freeman married Laura Seagraves, who was born in Macon County, Tennessee, in 1868. Five children were born to them. Eva died at the age of two years. Dr. Irving S. was their second child. Mary died when three years old. Katy, born in 1897, was graduated in the Cordell High School class of 1915. She is now attend- ing the State University at Norman, Oklahoma. Eunice, born in 1899, is a student in the Cordell High School.

Irving S. Freeman was born in Era, Cook County, Texas, on February 5, 1885. He attended the schools of that county and the Lockney Christian College at Lockney, Tennessee, completing his academic work there in 1904. For two years thereafter he devoted himself to farm life in Floyd County, Texas. He then took a year's course in pharmaceutics in Texas Christian Uni- versity at Fort Worth, and in 1906 passed his examina- tions before the Texas State Board of Pharmacy, receiv- ing his certificate. For a year thereafter he was employed as a pharmacist in Lockney.

In April, 1907, Doctor Freeman came to Oklahoma and was examined before the state board of pharmacy, after which he opened a drug store at Braman, Oklahoma, and was engaged in business there for two years. In 1909 he returned to Fort Worth and entered the medical department of the Texas Christian University once more, and on May 14, 1913, he was graduated with the degree M. D. He was an interne at St. Anthony 's Sanitarium, Amarillo, Texas, for a period of six months, then came to Oklahoma, settling at Texola, and in May, 1914, the Oklahoma Examining Board gave him permission to engage in medical practice in Oklahoma. He remained in Texola a very short time and on February 1, 1914, opened an office in Rocky, where he has since continued in a general medical and surgical practice.

Doctor Freeman is a member of the county, state and medical societies. His politics are democratie and he is a member of the Christian Church. His fraternal affiliations are with the Masons, the Odd Fellows, the Modern Woodmen and the Woodmen of the World. His

Masonic ties are with Rocky Lodge No. 373, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and Rocky Chapter 262, Order of the Eastern Star. His college fraternity is the Phi Chi, Chỉ Iota Chapter.

Doctor Freeman was married on April 27, 1906, in Tonkawa, Oklahoma, to Miss Eva Cook, daughter of C. M. Cook, a locomotive engineer with the Santa Fe for the past thirty years, now residing at Florence, Kansas. One child has been born to Doctor and Mrs. Freeman,- Wilmat, born August 29, 1911.

RALPH F. KOONS, M. D. The personnel of the medi- cal profession at El Reno- contains several men of the highest rank as physicians and surgeons, and one of them is Dr. Ralph F. Koons, who has practiced in that city for a dozen years or more and is prominent both in his chosen calling and as a citizen.

Ralph F. Koons is a native of Pennsylvania, born at New Columbus January 6, 1876, and is of the typical Pennsylvania Dutch lineage. His parents were John R. and Cecelia Clarissa (Courtright) Koons. His father was born in Pennsylvania and his mother in New York, and they reared three sons. The father was for many years a paper maker, and the home of the family was at Huntington Mills, Pennsylvania.

In that village Doctor Koons was reared, and gradu- ated from Bucknell University with the degrees M. A. and Ph. D. He is a graduate in medicine from the University of Michigan, obtaining his degree Doctor of Medicine in 1901, after which for one year he was an interne in the Marine Hospital at Cleveland, Ohio. Doctor Koons in 1902 located at El Reno, and almost from the first has enjoyed particular prestige as a phy- sician. He is an able physician and is also a scholarly gentleman.

Doctor Koons is a member of the Canadian County Medical Society, in which he has been honored by all the offices, and he is also a member of the State Medical Society and the American Medical Association. His fraternal affiliations are with the Benevolent and Pro- tective Order of Elks, the Fraternal Order of Eagles, and his church is the Baptist. In 1904 Doctor Koons married Miss Maude A. Conklin.

FRED E. ROMBERG. One of the busiest and most capa- ble public officials in Pottawatomie County is the present sheriff, Fred E. Romberg. Mr. Romberg is an Oklahoma pioneer. His home has been in this state nearly a quar- ter of a century. There are few people in the entire county who do not know him personally or of his work and standing. Whatever he does demands respect. Mr. Romberg has a number of important business interests, and is by no means entirely dependent upon his official position as a source of livelihood. It is an interesting fact from January 1, 1915, to May 1, 1916, he handled over 500 prisoners, who have been under his jurisdiction for varying lengths of time. Out of this number seventy- eight have been tried and have received penitentiary sentences, the remainder serving jail sentences.

The sheriff is still a young man, only about thirty- five. He was born in Miami County, Ohio, September 22, 1880. His ancestors were substantial German people. His paternal grandfather, Albert Ausbrook, married outside of his social class. He was born in Hanover, Germany, and when he married Fannie Romberg, who was a relative of the royal family of Hanover, it was necessary that in deference of her titled position he should change his name instead of his wife change hers, and thus the family name became Romberg instead of Ausbrook. The grandfather brought his family to Amer-

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ica in 1859, and settled near Shenandoah, Iowa, where he died. After his death his widow went to the vicinity of Fremont, Nebraska, and homesteaded a claim. Albert Romberg was a farmer in Germany as well as in the United States, and in the old country had given three years of service in the German army.

Gerhard Romberg, who was until a few years ago a well known pioneer and substantial citizen of Pottawa- tomie County, was born in Hanover, Germany, in 1834. He came to the United States in 1851, sailing from Hanover, and going first to New York State and then to Ohio. He was a skilled marble cutter, and also an architect. In 1888 he moved out to Scribner, Nebraska, and established himself as a farmer and stock raiser. In 1891 he went to Oklahoma soon after the opening of the Pottawatomie Reservation, and acquired a home- stead of 160 acres three miles east of Shawnec. That was the home to which he gave his supervision and on which he spent the remaining years of his life. His death occurred January 9, 1910. Gerhard Romberg was an active democrat, and while living in Miami County, Ohio, was elected to the office of county assessor, being the only democrat ever elected to the office up to that time. However, so strong were his partisan feelings that he refused the office as he could not conscientiously be associated with republicans in the performance of public work. He was a member of the Presbyterian Church, and belonged to the Knights of Pythias Lodge. As a young man he was claimed for an official position in the German army, and was very liberafly educated, being well versed in history and astronomy as well as other subjects. He married Elizabeth Coppock, who was born in Miami County, Ohio, in 1839, near Ludlow Falls, aud who died in that county in 1884. Their children were: Fannie, who married Frank Coppock, a farmer, and now resides in Wyoming; Lida, wife of Dan Coppock, living on a farm in Troy, Ohio; A. E., a farmer at Shawnce and also an inspector for the State Board of Agriculture of Oklahoma; and Fred E.

Fred E. Romberg attended the public schools at Scrib- ner, Nebraska, graduated from high school in 1892, and soou afterwards came to live with his father on the homestead near Shawnee. In 1898 he was appointed a special officer of the United States Government for the treasury department. In 1901 he became deputy sheriff of Pottawatomie County, and on November 6, 1914, was elected sheriff beginning his official duties on January 1, 1915.

. For a period of four years, 1911-14, Mr. Romberg served as county commissioner. He is prosperous, and his prosperity is measured by the ownership of 445 acres of land three miles east of Shawnee. One hundred and twenty acres of this are a part of his father's old homestead. Mr. Romberg in the performance of his official duties resides in Tecumseh, having offices in the courthouse, and he also has official headquarters in the city hall of Shawnee. He has served as a member of the school board of District No. 32 and is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Shawnee, with the Modern Woodmen of America, Camp No. 7781, at Shawnee, and with the American Horse Thief Asso- ciation,

At Shawnee, in 1904, Mr. Romberg married Miss Althea Blain, daughter of John Blain, a farmer near Tecumseh. To their marriage have been born five chil- dren: Mabel, Fred, Jr., and Vaughn, all three of whom are now in the public schools of Tecumseh; and Vernon and Irene, both young children at home.

CHARLES B. CAMPBELL. This prominent resident of Minco, an extensive farmer and landholder in that sec- tion and president of the First National Bank at

Chickasha, is one of the old timers in the Chickasaw Nation and has Chickasaw Indian blood in his veins. Throughout his career Mr. Campbell has been closely associated with E. B. Johnson & Brothers, and it can be said to the credit of both of them that they always obeyed and respected the laws of the Indian Nation, however inequitable their provisions may have seemed.

Mr. Campbell and the Messrs. Johnson have the unique relationship of double cousins. Charles B. Campbell was born at Fort Arbuckle in Indian Territory in 1861, the only son of Michael and Adelaide (Johnson) Campbell. Adelaide Johnson was a sister of the father of the Johnson brothers, while Michael Campbell was a brother of the mother of Mr. Johnson. Adelaide Jo n- son's father was Charles Johnson, a native of England, who came to America and was living in Mississippi when the Indians were transferred from that state to Indian Territory. Charles Johnson married a Chickasaw woman, who was born in Mississippi, and both came with the members of the tribe west of the Mississippi. Charles Johnson occupied a government position among the Indi- ans, was for many years a merchant, but spent his last years in New York City. Michael Campbell was a native of Ireland, and on coming to America first located at Corpus Christi, Texas, and from there moved into the Indian Territory, where he married Miss Johnson. Dur- ing the war between the states he held the rank of major in the Confederate army, and towards the end of the war in 1865 lost his life by drowning. His widow is still living at the age of seventy-three. Her only daugh- ter married William Renniey of Tishomingo.

Charles B. Campbell was sent to Nebraska to attend school, though his actual home has been the Indian Ter- ritory and Oklahoma all his life. At the age of seventeen he was placed in charge of a ranch at Council Grove, Indian Territory, and lived there until his removal to Minco a few years later. From almost the outset he was

regarded as a man of tried and trusted capacity in the industry of stock raising and farming, and it has been chiefly through his operations in that field in the old Chickasaw country that he laid the basis of his success.

For the past quarter of a century Mr. Campbell's name has been identified with banking affairs. In 1890 he was one of the organizers of the Bank of Minco, which in 1897 became the First National Bank of Minco, and he has served continuously on its board of directors since its inception. In 1900 he became one of the organ- izers of the First National Bank of Chickasha, and since that date has been president of the institution. This is one of the largest and best managed banks in Western Oklahoma. It was organized with a capital stock of $25,000, and in 1915 a report to the government shows capital and surplus combined of $260,000, with deposits of $875,000.

Mr. Campbell for many years has taken a prominent part and interest in Masonic work. His first degrees were received in Lodge No. 7 at Elm Springs, Indian Territory, and he subsequently became a charter member of Anadarko Lodge No. 21, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and a charter member of Minco Lodge No. 112, and served as master of the latter lodge for seven years. He is also a member of the Royal Arch Chapter and the Knights Templar Commandery, of India Temple of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, and has taken the Scottish Rite degrees up to and including the thirty-second.

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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