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 120

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 120

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Three children were born to these people: Julia, the eldest, died in 1901; Emma married T. C. Brown and lives ten miles southwest of Cordell on their farms; Wil- liam L. is the third child.

William L. Parker had his education in the common schools of Wise County, Texas, and remained at home on his father's farm until 1895. In that year he pioneered it to Washita County and here bought a relinquishment of 160 aeres in Section 26, 4 miles south and 41 miles west of the town of Cordell. He still owns the farm, though he does not live on it him- self. He operated the place until 1906, when he moved to Rocky, renting the farm, and for a time worked in a store in Rocky. Then he worked a threshing machine until 1910, when he returned to the farm. In August, 1911, he gave up the farm again to a tenant, and moved into Cordell, when he was appointed assessor of Washita County. In November, 1912, he was elected to sue- ceed himself, and on November 6, 1914, his re-election eame for another two year term. Mr. Parker is a eapable and efficient official, and while he lived on his farm in Rainy Township he was almost constantly a member of the school board.

Mr. Parker is a member of the Baptist Church, and his fraternal affiliations are with the Odd Fellows, in which he is serving as viec grand, and the Modern Woodmen of America.

In Wise County, Texas, in 1895, Mr. Parker was married to Miss Ellen Brite, daughter of T. B. Brite, a retired farmer, living in Alvord, Texas. Four children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Parker. Maude, a graduate of the Cordell High School, is now a student in the Cordell Business College. Gertha is a student in the high school, and the two younger ones, Maggie and Eunice, are in the grade schools.

WILLIAM E. FRYBERGER is the pioneer merchant of El Reno. He has been identified with that pioneer town sinee April 22, 1889, at the opening of the original Oklahoma Territory. For more than a quarter of a eentury his business activities have gone forward on a constantly enlarging basis, and he is now at the head

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of a wholesale and retail department store at El Reno and also a large establishment at Minco.

He was a young business man of about thirty-five when he came to Oklahoma, his earlier business experi- ence having been acquired in Iowa and the State of Kansas. William E. Fryberger was born in Wabash County, Indiana, November 30, 1854, and when eight years of age removed with his parents to Fairfield, Iowa. His father, John Fryberger, a native of Pennsylvania and of German stock, married Margaret Bonewitz, who was born in Ohio in 1830. They were married in 1845 and she died at Fairfield, Iowa, in 1875. John Frey- berger died in 1910 at Soldier, Kansas. There were nine ehildreu, eight sons and one daughter, as follows: John; George P .; Frank, deceased; William E .; Daniel, deceased; Adelbert; Charles, Orville; aud Mary, wife of James Perry, a raneher at Fruita, Colorado.

When William E. Fryberger was eighteen years of age and having in the meantime acquired a fair educa- tion in the public schools, he entered the office of The Commonwealth at Bloomfield, Iowa, and learned and followed the printer's trade for five years. He then gave that up, not being satisfied with its opportunities, aud for the next five years was in the hardware busi- ness. In 1885 he moved out to Soldier, Kansas, and followed the livestock industry in that locality until 1889, when he participated in the first great rush of white settlers into Oklahoma Territory. Soon after coming to El Reno he opened a wholesale grocery, after- wards added a retail department store, and a natural outgrowth of the business was the establishment of an- other store at Mineo.

The citizens of El Reno give Mr. Fryberger credit not only for his business activities but for his public spirit. He has served as a member of the city council and the school board and every important movement in El Reno during the last quarter of a century has had William E. Fryberger's name associated with it.

February 25, 1879, he married Miss Cora Belle For- tune. Her parents were Jesse and Luey (Martin) For- tune, who was born in Iudiana and spent most of their lives in Davis County, Iowa. Mr. Fryberger and wife have one daughter, Blanche, born June 11, 1881, who is the wife of Harry Lee Fogg, a prominent lawyer of El Reno, and they have two children, William Lee and Rupert.

MARION M. WEBSTER, M. D. During a period of five years the health and sanitation of Stratford have been safeguarded by the zeal, energy and ability of Dr. Marion M. Webster, who is steadily advancing to deserved reeog- nition as one of the leading members of the Garvin County medical profession. Doctor Webster was born in Lafayette County, Missippi, October 24, 1875, and is a son of W. S. and Emma (Powell) Webster, and a mem- ber of a family that emigrated to America from England during colonial times, settling first in Virginia and subsequently spreading to Georgia and Alabama.

William Webster, the grandfather of Doetor Webster, was born in Alabama, from whenee he removed to Lafayette County, Mississippi, his subsequent life being passed as a farmer and planter. There was born his son, W. S. Webster, in 1852, who removed to Collin County, Texas, in 1880, and to Silo, Oklahoma, in 1897. He was a successful practicing physician and surgeon until 1904, in which year he retired from professional activities and embarked in the hotel business at Ravia, Oklahoma. In November, 1913, he disposed of his hotel interests, and in the following January eame to Stratford, to live with his son, and there remained until his death, December 5, 1915. He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal

Church, a demoerat in politics, and fraternizes with the Masons. Dr. W. S. Webster married Emma Powell, who was born in Lafayette County, Mississippi, in 1858, and died at Stratford, Oklahoma, May 20, 1914. Their chil- dren were as follows: Dr. Marion M .; Susie, who is the wife of G. C. Helvey, engaged in the wholesale produce business at Abilene, Texas; Willie, who is the wife of Orbie Sharp, engaged in the hotel business at Ravia, Oklahoma; Charley W., a railway telegrapher of Henry- etta, Oklahoma; and Joe W., who, when last heard from, was an employe of the Frisco Railroad at Okmulgee, Oklahoma.

Marion M. Webster was sent to school at Decatur, Texas, and there, in 1895, was graduated from the high school. The next two years he engaged in the life in- surance business, and then, in 1897, embarked in mer- cantile lines at Durant, Indian Territory, an enterprise with which he was identified for two years. Selling out in 1899, he went to Fort Worth, Texas, where for one year he studied in the medical department of the uni- versity, and from that time until 1901 assisted his father in his practice at Silo, Oklahoma. In 1901 he entered the Physicians and Surgeons College at St. Louis, Missouri, from which institution he was graduated in 1905 with the degree of doctor of medicine, and took up his prac- tice at Troy, Oklahoma, which was his field of endeavor until January, 1911. Since the latter date he has carried on a general practice in medicine and surgery at Strat- ford, his elientele including the representative people of this thriving and progressive community. Doctor Webster has continued as a close and careful student and has twice returned to his alma mater for post-graduate work. He keeps abreast of the advancements made in the pro- fession by membership in the various organizations of his ealling, and now belongs to the Garvin County Medical Society, of which he has served as president; the Okla- homa State Medieal Society, the Medieal Society of the Southwest and the Southern Medical Society. In polities a demoerat, he has been a member of the school board here on several occasions. With his family he belongs to the Methodist Episcopal Church, and is a trustee thereof, while his fraternal connections inelude membership in Stratford Lodge No. 119, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons; the Woodmen of the World; the Modern Woodmen of America, and the Brotherhood of American Yeomen.

Doctor Webster was married in January, 1907, at Roff, Oklahoma, to Miss Jewell Braly, daughter of Joseph Braly, a farmer near Ada, Oklahoma. Two children have been born to this union : Lucille, born December 8, 1908, and now attending public school; and Harrell, born July 6, 1910.

WILLIAM B. PINE. Among those prominently connected with the great oil-prodneing industry in Oklahoma is Mr. Pine, whose interests in this field of enterprise are of broad seope and who maintains merited precedence as one of the progressive and representative citizens of the City of Okmulgee, besides which he is giving effective service in the important office of member of the Okla- homa State Advisory Board.

Mr. Pine was born at Bluffs, Seott County, Illinois, on the 30th of December, 1877, and is a son of William G. and Margaret (Green) Pine, both likewise natives of Illinois and both representatives of sterling pioneer fam- ilies of that state. William G. Pine was born in Pike County, on the 5th of May, 1847, and his wife in Scott County, on the 17th of August, 1855. They now main- tain their residence in the Village of Naples, Seott County, where Mr. Pine is living retired, after many years of earnest and successful association with industrial

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und business interests in that section of the state. Of he five children the eldest is Harry G., who resides at Bluffs, Scott County, Illinois; the subject of this review vas the next in order of birth; John M. likewise main- ains his home at Bluffs, Illinois; Roswell D. is associated vith William B., of this sketch, in the oil-producing business and he also resides in the City of Okmulgee; and Grant S. remains in the old home town of Bluffs, (llinois.

William B. Pine gained his early education iu the oublie schools of his uative town and continued his resi- dence in Illinois until 1904, when, as a young man of wenty-six years, he came to Oklahoma Territory and east in his lot with this now vigorous and progressive commonwealth. He was reared to the sturdy discipline of the farm and after his graduation in the high school at Naples, Illinois, in 1896, he devoted three years to successful work as a teacher in the schools of his native county, his pedagogic services being accorded during the winter terms and the intervening summers having found him actively identified with farm enterprise. He was finally sent into Kansas as an expert in harvesting machinery, and in that state he gained his initial expe- rience in connection with the oil industry, with which he was identified in the fields about the City of Wichita during one summer. He then entered the employ of the National Supply Company, of Ohio (oil well supplies, Toledo), and represented this corporation at the Cleve- land, Oklahoma, store for a time. Upon severing his connection with this company to engage in the oil-supply business it was but conjectural what emolument he would receive from the new venture, and at the end of two months he was given $110 for his salary.

Upon coming into active association with the oil busi- ness Mr. Pine became a representative in Kansas for T. N. Barnesdale, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, for whom he did effective work in the Wichita fields, and in 1904 he eame to Oklahoma as a representative of Mr. Barnes- dale, for whom he worked on salary until February, 1909, when he established his residence at Okmulgee and associated himself with F. M. Robinson in the securing and developing of oil leases. Under these relations he continued his identification with development work until 1912, when he and his associates sold their entire hold- ings to a European syndicate, these leased lands having comprised 40,000 acres, and the property having been sold for $725,000. In effecting the sale Mr. Robinson was the principal and Mr. Pine was his chief coadjutor. Since that time Mr. Pine has conducted extensive and successful activities as an independent oil producer, and his leased lands now comprise 20,000 acres, from which he has a production of 500 barrels of oil a day, besides which he has a number of gas wells that are giving excellent yield. Mr. Pine has become one of the leaders in the oil industry in the Okmulgee region and is serving as president of the Okmulgee Oil Producers' Association. As a member of the State Advisory Board which obtained the passage of the law governing and conserving the oil and gas resources of Oklahoma, Mr. Pine has rendered most effective and timely service, especially through his personal efforts in the furtherance of legislation for the benefit of the oil and gas industry in the state. In poli- tics he maintains an independent attitude and gives his support to the men and measures meeting the approval of his judgment, irrespective of strict partisan lines. He is vital, loyal and progressive as a citizen and takes a lively interest in all that touches the welfare and ad- vancement of his home city and the state of his adoption. Both he and his wife hold membership in the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.

On the 18th of June, 1912, Mr. Pine wedded Miss

Laura M. Hamilton, daughter of James Hamilton, of Naples, Illinois, and the one child of this union is William Hamilton Pine.

HON. LUDA P. DAVENPORT. In having filled the office of county judge at Antlers since statehood, Judge Daven- port probably has the distinction of having been in that office longer than any other man filling a county judge- ship in Oklahoma. He was elected first in 1907, then re-elected in 1908, 1910, 1912 and 1914, and each time in the general election he led the democratic ticket.

"Run it to suit yourself," was the laconic and char- acteristic remark of Col. J. J. McAlester to Luda P. Davenport, made twenty years ago when MeAlester, the United States Marshal of Indian Territory, appointed Davenport deputy in charge of the office at Antlers. And during the two and a half years which Davenport was in the office Colonel McAlester but twice visited it. That was at a time when the office of United States Mar- shal was conducted principally that white men without Indian affiliations by marriage might be made to obey the laws of the Federal Government within the Indian country or suffer the consequences. In the Antlers office no cases of wide importance developed, although its records contain memoranda of many interesting matters involving issues to determine whether causes came under jurisdiction of the Federal Court or the Choctaw Tribal Court.

Mr. Davenport had settled in Antlers five years pre- vious to his appointment as office deputy. That was in 1890. He was the second lawyer to hang out his shingle in this region of the Choctaw country. White settlers were far fewer than deer and turkey and on the high- way between Antlers and the old Village of Doaksville there were only two houses. It was at a time when there was strife between the Locke and Jones factions in poli- tics and killings were numerous. Mr. Davenport recalls standing on the railroad track one day and witnessing a fight between about ten Locke men, who were barri- caded in the Locke mansion on a hill, and over 100 Jones men, who made an attack running up the hill. This war was ended by the dispatching to Antlers of troops.

Mr. Davenport was admitted to practice in the Federal Court by Judge J. M. Shackelford, who presided over sessions of his court at Muskogee, McAlester and Ard- more, then the only Federal Court towns in Indian Ter- ritory. He practiced also before Judge John C. Gibbons, United States commissioner at Antlers, whose jurisdic- tion was over a territory now embraced in several coun- ties in Southeastern Oklahoma.

Before statehood Judge Davenport took an active part in democratic politics, having been a delegate to the now famous Ardmore convention in which the Wolver- ton and Markham factions contested for supremacy in a fight for the place of national committeeman. He was also a delegate to the Indian Territory Democratic Con- vention in Durant that elected Robert L. Williams na- tional committeeman. He was committeeman of the Twenty-Fourth Recording District of Indian Territory before statehood, and has been a delegate to every demo- cratic state convention save one. As county judge he has handled many cases involving Indian probate matters and has made it a rule to get for the Indian in case of a land sale all the property was worth. He has been especially careful in handling matters relating to dead Indian claims in protecting the interests of the heirs. As mayor of Antlers in: 1905-06 Mr. Davenport initiated the first movement for improving the streets. An ordi- nauce was passed on his motion creating a revenue out of which this could be done.

Thus in many important ways has Judge Davenport

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figured in the life of Southeastern Oklahoma during the last quarter of a century. He is a Louisiana man by birth, born in 1861, though six years later his parents moved to Scott County, Arkansas, where he spent most of his childhood and youth. His father was Dr. Thomas Davenport, a graduate of the Kentucky School of Medi- cine, who served as surgeon in a Confederate regiment during the Civil war. Judge Davenport's mother, whose maiden name was Miss Louise Fuller, was descended from the well known Pickens family which gave two gov- ernors to South Carolina and included also Gen. Andrew Pickens of Revolutionary war fame. Judge Davenport has two brothers and a sister: Dr. C. P. Davenport, a physician at Hartford, Arkansas; J. B. Davenport, who until recently was engaged in business in Shawnee; and Mrs. J. T. Davis, wife of a business man in Kansas City.

School facilities were poor when Judge Davenport was a boy and he attended a regular school but a few months. In the university of hard knocks he was well trained for practical affairs and acquired a liberal law education by reading and practice and observation. He began the practice of law in Sebastian County, Arkansas, in 1887, and from there in 1890 came to Indian Territory and located at Antlers. Judge Davenport was married in Arkansas in 1885 to Miss Rena McAlister. They have one daughter, Mrs. T. Boland, whose husband is agent for the Ingram Lumber Company at Antlers. Judge Davenport is a member of the Baptist Church, is 'affil- iated with the Masonic Order, the Woodmen of the World and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and is an honored member in the County and State Bar associations.

JAMES JOHNSTON HOUSTON. One of the most import- ant phases of early Oklahoma history was the subject of "free homes."' A great deal has been said and written on that subject, but perhaps no one states the matter with greater clearness, as a result of personal experience, than James Johnston Houston, former com- missioner of the school land office in old Oklahoma Terri- tory, and now a prominent business man of Henryetta.

In the fall of 1893 Mr. Houston came from Kansas and joined the grand rush that gathered fifteen thousand people at the Perry land office. During the next four years, besides being active in business, he was connected with the various political movements of his locality and the Oklahoma Territory. While refusing office for him- self he acted on committees of his party, both local and territorial.

"At this time," says Mr. Houston, "the settlers of Oklahoma were indebted to the United States for the benefit of the Indians to the sum of $16,000,000, amounting in some localities to an imposition of about five hundred dollars to each quarter section. That is, each settler had to assume this obligation in addition to the heavy investment of labor and hardship requisite to the development of the raw land. The delegate to Congress, Hon. Dennis T. Flynn, had introduced a bill in Congress relieving the settlers of this impossible load. The settlers of Oklahoma were universally poor people wanting homes, and with this load during the depressing times the task of improving the prairie and paying out such a debt seemed hopeless. The people were organ- ized into clubs in every school district of Oklahoma under the name of the Free Home League. During this time many congressmen were importuned by friends and relatives and all prominent men were besieged to such good effect that in the platforms of the national parties a plank was inserted guaranteeing to the people of Oklahoma free homes. It finally culminated in the "' Free Homes Bill, " which was one of the most important

governmental measures adopted during the early year, of Oklahoma Territory."

Mr. Houston afterwards became active in agitating this subject of free homes among the people, and fo: two terms served as president of the state organization known as the Free Home League. On the change of administration in 1897 Mr. Houston became assistan: to Hon. William Jenkins, then secretary of Oklahoma Territory, under William Mckinley. The secretary' office at that time was very important, comprising the department of oversight of corporations, insurance, and disbursing offices, and having custody of the legislative records. His connection with this office gave Mr. Houstor other opportunities for wide experience and acquaintance with the early political life of Oklahoma.

In 1901 Mr. Jenkins was made governor of Okla- homa Territory by appointment from President William McKinley. On account of the warm friendship which had grown up between them, Governor Jenkins tendered Mr. Houston the position of secretary of the board for leasing public lands, a position generally known as commissioner of school land office. This position was all the more important at that time because of the opening to settlement of the Kiowa and Comanche Indian reservations, as well as the leasing of all other publie lands in Oklahoma. In connection with the Kiowa and Comanche opening there was involved the selection of the indemnity lands at Washington City. An annual rental value was placed upon each quarter section of thel four sections in each congressional township to be opened to settlement. The lease on each piece was then offered to the highest bidder. Nearly a million dollars was deposited with the bids, and when the land was finally awarded $188,000 bonus money above the rentals was added to the treasury.

After the assassination of President Mckinley and the accession of Roosevelt to the presidency there followed the usual realignment and changes in political offices subject to partisan control. As a result Governor Jenkins lost his position and T. B. Ferguson was appointed governor. Governor Ferguson and Mr. Houston had both belonged to the same political faction, and Mr. Houston was retained in the land office. A year later Mr. Flynn dropped out of territorial politics and Mr. McGuire became the territorial delegate. This introduced a new influence with Governor Ferguson and among the numer- ous changes that followed one was the displacement of Mr. Houston from the land office.

The Houston family represented by this Henryetta citizen have always been pioneers. Mr. Houston him- self came to Oklahoma Territory in its early days and helped to build the modern state. His father, D. W. Houston, had gone to Kansas in the struggle over the free state and was an influential factor in its progress and development. Mr. Houston's great-grand- father had lived in Ohio when it was a part of the great Northwest Territory, while another great-grandfather took part in the erection of the State of Pennsylvania and the formation of the United States. Some of the first ancestors were settlers in the early provinces of the Atlantic colonies.

It was at Newcastle, Pennsylvania, October 18, 1857, that James Johnston Houston was born. He is of Scotch-Irish ancestry. His great-grandfather, John Houston, was a soldier in the Revolution. The other great-grandfather mentioned, on the maternal side, was a Rankin, and was a member of one of the first sessions of the Pennsylvania Legislature.

Shortly after James J. Houston was born his parents moved out to Kansas, where his father, D. W. Houston, took part in the struggle for freedom, riding miles

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over the prairies to attend the free state meetings and to attend the different territorial conventions preceding statehood. He joined the Union army at the first call, as a private in the Seventh Kansas Cavalry, and afterwards he was discharged as a lieutenant-colonel. In later years he served in the State Senate and House and as United States Marshal of Kausas.

In such a country and from a father whose associa- tions were so prominent, James J. Houston naturally acquired broad impressions, the habit of judging matters on principle and with positive conviction, and from childhood has been mostly familiar with the life and spirit of the great western country. He attended the common schools and the Leavenworth High School, was a student at the University of Kansas, and had begun the study of law before it became necessary for him to depend upon his own efforts for advancement. For a time he taught school, and after serving as register of deeds and county clerk in his home county of Kansas he was engaged in the real estate and insurance business and in other lines of mercantile and professional work. Between times he served two terms as mayor of Barnett, Kansas. From there he came to Oklahoma at the open- ing of the Cherokee Strip, twenty-two years ago. Since leaving the Oklahoma land office Mr. Houston has applied his time and energy entirely to business matters. In 1913 he removed from Guthrie to Henryetta, believing that a great industrial center would eventually grow up at the latter town.

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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