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 121

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 121

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In 1881 Mr. Houston married Mary Elizabeth Parks. They are the parents of one son and one daughter, and the son, following the traditions of the family as pioneers, has gone to the Far West. Mr. Houston is one of the ruling elders of the First Presbyterian Church at Henryetta. In politics he is a republican practically since childhood.

WILLIAM R. REDDER of El Reno was three years in advance of the great rush of white settlers into the original Oklahoma Territory. He became identified with what is now Oklahoma in the capacity of a teacher in the Indian service, and resigned from that service about the time of the first opening and thenceforward was closely identified with politics and business in and about El Reno.

Born on a farm in Dutchess County, New York, in April, 1862, he inherits good stock from both his father and mother, John and Mary (Brannam) Redder, the former a native of New York and of German ancestry, and the latter of Irish lineage. John Redder was born in 1836 and died in 1892, and spent all his active career as a fruit grower in Dutchess County, New York. His wife was born in 1843 and died in 1891. To their mar- riage were born twelve children, four daughters and eight sons, namely: Elizabeth, John, Cornelia, Henry, George, Maria, Howard, Mary, Edward, William R., Charles and Robert.

Mr. Redder grew up on his father's farm in Dutchess County, New York, and acquired a good education in the local public schools. When eighteen he began learn- ing the trade of butcher and for a time was also a barber. Then in 1886 came his appointment as teacher in the United States Indian service, with appointment to the Arapahoe School at Darlington, Indian Territory. Mr. Redder has a great many interesting recollections of the old Darlington agency and knew all that part of the country as it was before the invasion of the white settlers. In 1889 he was transferred to the sub-Indian agency at Old Cantonment in the capacity of issue clerk to the Indians.

When Oklahoma was opened to settlement in 1889 he Vol. IV-27

resigned from the Indian service and located at old Reno City, subsequently identifying himself with El Reno.

For a great many years Mr. Redder has been an active factor in democratic politics in this section of the state. For four years he was secretary of the central committee of Canadian County, and was frequently a delegate to state conventions. He served as postmaster at El Reno for three years from September 1, 1893, and in 1897 was a messenger in the Territorial Council, in 1908 a messenger in the State Senate. Fraterually he is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

On December 17, 1890, at El Reno, he married Miss Alice Gray, daughter of Edward Gray. Mrs. Redder was born in Iowa, January 22, 1862, and before her marriage was also for a number of years connected with the United States Indian school service as a teacher.

ALBERT COLUMBUS COUCH. No other name has more intimate associations with the history of the original Oklahoma than that of Couch. It will be sufficient to say that Albert C. Couch, who has recently filled with credit and efficiency the office of Commissioner of Okla- homa County, and is a prominent business man and citi- zen of Luther, is a son of Captain William L. Couch in order to give a relationship which will at once identify the son with one of the most aggressive pioneers of early Oklahoma.

William L. Couch was born in the State of North Carolina in 1850, and moved to Johnson County, Kansas, in 1865, and four years later settled in Butler County of the same state. In Kansas he became recognized as a man of affairs, a sturdy citizen, and one of the foremost factors in the early history and development of Western Kansas. The impress of his individuality and influence was left on early Kansas statutes, and he was regarded as a specially active character and guardian of the western half of the Sunflower State. In 1880 he became fully identified with Payne's Oklahoma Colony, and after the death of Captain Payne in 1884 was elected president, and thereafter was the natural leader of that aggressive organization for the opening of the Indian country to civilization. It was a cardinal part of his belief that Oklahoma had been in every' proper sense a part of the public domain since the treaties of 1866. "Bill" Couch, as he was familiarly known, familiarized himself with all the country now embracing the State of Oklahoma, and during the '80s spent much time in Washington and was one of the most prominent in conducting the lobby before Congress which eventually resulted in the bill for the opening of the original Oklahoma Territory. Again in April, 1889, he was among those who participated in and assisted thousands of others in locating homes at the opening of Oklahoma. He came to Oklahoma and located his claim on the quarter section where the present court house of Oklahoma County stands, and put up one of the first rude homes there. His claim was contested by J. C. Adams, and as a result of this contest on April, 22, 1890, just one year after the original opening, Captain Couch was shot and killed by Adamıs. In the organization of a provisional government for the new City of Oklahoma he took an active part, and was elected the first mayor. As a pioneer his name must always take a place before those representing the men who came into Oklahoma on that eventful day of April 22, 1889, since for years before he had dreamed the dreams of Oklahoma and had done certainly as mneh as any other one man for the realization of his ideals. Captain Couch married Cyntha E. Gordon, also a native of North Carolina, and she and her family remained in Oklahoma City after the death of Captain Couch, and she is still a resident of Oklahoma County. 1

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HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

Albert Columbus Couch was born in Wiehita, Kansas, December 19, 1875, and was a boy of thirteen when his father was killed. He remained at home with his mother, received his education in the public schools, and for the past twenty years has been located at Luther in the northwest part of Oklahoma County, and actively identified with its principal business interests. His own activities contributed mueh to the development of the little city, and he held the office of vice president and director of the First National Bank. In 1912 Mr. Couch was elected a member of the board of county commis- sioners of Oklahoma County, and for two years gave his undivided time to a careful and businesslike attention to the vast business necessary in a county with a 100,000 people, upon whom about one-tenth of the tax burden of the States of Oklahoma is levied. Mr. Couel was elected to this position on the republican tieket at a time when his party was anything but harmonious, his personal popularity and especial fitness for the positions having far more to do with his selection than his politics. In 1914 he was the republican nominee for sheriff, but was unable to overcome the immense democratic ma> jority. It is not a difficult predietion to state that he will be heard from in the future, as he is aggressive and capable, qualities which he no doubt in part inherited from his father, has his father's marked leadership, and is a type of the young, rugged westerner who knows no such thing as fail when he feels that he is in the right. His whole life has been devoted to the upbuilding of the splendid county of which his distinguished father had so much to do in opening and where he sacrifieed his life.

Mr. A. C. Couch was a page in the first territorial legislative assembly at Guthrie in 1890. Fraternally he is identified with Luther Lodge No. 262, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and with Oklahoma City Lodge No. 1, Knights of Pythias. October 14, 1901, in Okla- homa City, he married Miss Inez Fall, daughter of M. M. and Sarah (Beamer) Fall, both natives of Iowa. They are the parents of two sons and one daughter: William Albert, born Angust 21, 1902; Howard Francis, born March 20, 1904; and Olive Inez, born November 27, 1910.

CHARLES R. COOK. Soldier, teacher, pioneer Kansas farmer and lawyer-these words indicate the successive phases in the career of Charles R. Cook before he came to Oklahoma, where he was again a pioneer in the open- ing of the southwestern portion of the state to settle- ment, and since 1902 has had his home at Snyder. Mr. Cook is especially well known all over Western Oklahoma as a Masonie lecturer, and is regarded as an authority on the ritual of the several branches of that ancient order.

His birth occurred near the historic City of Trenton, New Jersey, February 19, 1845. The Cook family has lived in America since the time of the Mayflower, when his aneestor Clarenee Cook came over from England to Massachusetts. His father, Azariah R. Cook, was born near Trenton, New Jersey, in 1810, and died in that city in 1907. He spent all his life in the vicinity of Trenton with the exception of three years in Michigan, was a blacksmith up to about middle age and afterwards a carpenter and builder. He was a member of the Pres- byterian churel, and in politics a republican. Azariah R. Cook married Elizabeth Chidester, who was also born near Trenton in 1811 and died there in 1900. Their oldest ehild, Mary M., is now deceased, and Wesley lives in Trenton. The two youngest, Charles R. and Noah, are both residents of Oklahoma, the latter being a resi- dent of Oklahoma City.

Charles R. Cook after attending the public schools near Trenton entered the Lawrenceville Classical and Commereial College and remained a student in its halls until a short time before graduation. In 1862 he left college to enlist in the Twenty-first Regiment of New Jersey Volunteer Infantry, and was in active service for nine months, when discharged on account of disability. He lost his voice while in the army, and that affliction troubled him for a number of years afterwards. Fol- lowing his return from the war he taught school for three terms in New Jersey, and then moved out to Bushnell, Illinois, and finally in 1873 went to Kansas and took up a elaim south of Kingman, becoming one of the pioneer settlers in that region. Not long afterward he sold his claim and moved into Kingman, where he studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1883. For a number of years he served as justice of the peace at Kingman, and enjoyed a substantial practice as a lawyer.

Judge Cook eame to Oklahoma in 1901, spending the first year at Hobart, and sinee 1902 has lived in Snyder, where he owns a furniture store. Sinee moving to Snyder he has also performed regularly his duties as a Masonic lecturer and has officiated in that capacity among the various Masonic bodies throughout Western Oklahoma.

His local Masonie affiliations are as a member of Snyder Lodge No. 216, Aneient Free and Accepted Masons, in which he is past master; as member of Snyder Chapter No. 76, Royal Arch Masons, of which he is now high priest; and he is also an eighteenth degree Scottish Rite Mason in the Guthrie Consistory, and was formerly a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Judge Cook in politics is a republican and is a member of the United Brethren Church.

He was married in Hutchinson, Kansas, in 1882, to Miss Emma Laey. Her father was Robert Lacy, a ear- penter and builder. Mrs. Cook died in Colorado in June, 1907, leaving two children: Edward W., who is manager of a store at Rapid City, South Dakota; and Robert A., a bookkeeper at Ray, Arizona.

OLIVER A. KRAEER during the past eight or nine years has been one of the prominent factors in the development of the oil and gas territory about Bartlesville. He is an out and out oil man, having almost inherited his taste for the business, grew up in the great oil district of Western Pennsylvania, and has all the resourcefulness and quiek, sure judgment that have been such valuable qualities to the men engaged in this business.

When Mr. Kraeer eamne to Oklahoma he was practically without money and had a considerable indebtedness in his name. But whatever his environment or circumstances, he has shown the grit and cheerfulness of the typical oil man, and has sueeeeded in reaching a position where he could be named with prominent oil men in this sec- tion of the state. Mr. Kraeer is now manager of the Tahlequah Gas Company, is president of the oil and drilling company of O. A. Kraeer & Company, and also has aetive charge of the extensive oil interests in Okla- homa owned by John A. Bell, Jr., of Pittsburgh. 1

It was in Butler County, Pennsylvania, that Oliver A. Kraeer was born, August 11, 1876, a son of Lewis and Hepsibah (Baker) Kraeer. His parents were natives of Washington County, Pennsylvania, and his father now lives at Sheffield, Warren County, in that state, and has spent much of his active career as a producer and contractor in the oil fields. The mother died in August, 1887, at the age of forty-four. Of the ten children six grew to maturity and four are still living. By his second marriage Lewis Kraeer has two children. It was under the direction of his father that Oliver

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HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

A. Kraeer gained his first knowledge of the oil busi- tess. He is thoroughly acquainted with all the tech- ical details of the industry and has utilized his ex- perience and his originating ability in effecting important improvements in the tools used by oil and gas men, and also in some better methods of handling the field busi- hess. Even when a schoolboy he came to know a great leal about oil operation. He was associated with his father until about 1900, and has since been in business for himself, having operated extensively in the fields both in Ohio and Indiana before moving to Bartlesville n 1906. For several years, until December, 1909, he was associated with George Priestly, one of the prom- nent early oil men of Bartlesville. At the latter date Mr. John A. Bell, Jr., came from Pennsylvania and bought a large part of the Priestly oil interests, and Mr. Kraeer has since been associated with Mr. Bell in ooking after his Oklahoma investments. These interests were very extensive until 1912, but since that time many of them have been sold.

Mr. Kraeer has also handled some big properties for other people, and is one of the men whose names are most prominently mentioned in connection with the oil and gas era of Oklahoma. He is a member of the Bartles- ville Chamber of Commerce and is affiliated with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and is also a member of the Presbyterian Church. In September, 1908, he married Miss Martha Gregg of Toledo, Ohio. Their one child is Oliver A., Jr.

H. H. HOLMAN. When a childhood ambition is realized in later life, it is a mark of strong character and persistent resolution. Among many other things that make the career of H. H. Holman of Wetumka important it is noteworthy that when he was twelve years of age, and still living in the wilderness and on the frontier in Indian Territory, he resolved that some day he would become a banker. That was nearly forty years ago. In spite of discouragement and with many demands upon his immediate time and energy he never lost sight of that resolution. About fifteen years ago, after having been the founder of the little city of Wetumka, he organized the second bank in what is now Hughes County, and for a number of years has been president of the First National Bank of Wetumka, one of the strongest institutions of the kind in the eastern part of the state.

The First National Bank of Wetumka at the beginning of the year 1916 showed total resources of nearly a quarter of a million dollars. It has capital stock of $30,000, surplus and profits of $6,000, has stock in the Federal Reserve Bank, and an index of its standing in the community is represented by deposits of about two hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars. H. H. Holman is president, H. T. Douglas is first vice president, Rosa S. Galloway is second vice president, and W. A. Geren is cashier.

All his career since early childhood Mr. Holman has spent in Indian Territory and the State of Oklahoma. He was born in Ouachita Parish, Louisiana, November 19, 1866, a son of Wesley and Elizabeth (Parker) Holman. His father was born in Texas in 1844 and his mother in Georgia in 1845. They were married in Louisiana, moved from that state to Texas in 1868, two years after H. H. Holman was born, and after living in Red River County for a number of years they moved to Cooke County, and from there to Indian Territory in 1878. In 1887 the family located in what is now Hughes County, where the mother passed away in 1909 and the father in 1911. Wesley Holman was a farmer and stockman and later in life became very successful and influential.

He was one of the organizers in 1901 of the First National Bank of Wetumka, and served as a member of the board of directors until his death. During the war between the states he was with a Texas regiment throughout the period of hostilities. He was an active democrat and a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He and his wife had five children: H. H .; Joseph C., of Stuart, Oklahoma; Elmina, who died in 1897; William H .; and Mattie, wife of W. J. Acock.

H. H. Holman was twelve years of age when his family moved to Oklahoma. He had to educate him- self, since there was little opportunity to attend school in the frontier district in which he was reared. He has lived at Wetumka since 1893, having located there when it was a wild district without any sign of a town. Mr. Holman acquired his education principally in Texas and at Fort Smith, Arkansas, and for six years he was a teacher within the limits of the present Hughes County. All his teaching was done among the fullblood Indians and he has many interesting recollections of that period of his career. He has grown up with the people in this section of Oklahoma, knows their peculiari- ties and their tastes, and has been able to serve them in many important capacities.

Mr. Holman lived with his father until he was twenty- two years of age, and then started out for himself. For five years he operated one of the pioneer business establishments, a general merchandise store, at Wetumka, and then, in 1901, organized the second bank in Hughes County, and has been president of the First National since that time. Mr. Holman also has extensive real estate and stock interests.

He enjoys special distinction for his part in found- ing the little city of Wetumka, and he was chiefly instrumental in getting the town surveyed and laid out. He was the second mayor, served in that office two terms, and has served on the school board during the greater portion of the time since the organization of the town. He has also served on the council, was elected a member of the first State Senate of Oklahoma, and is a very influential leader in the democratic party in his part of the state. For twenty-six years he has been active in the Methodist Episcopal Church. He has witnessed the development and changing conditions of the old Creek Nation for forty years. He lived here when with the exception of the tribal courts the only seat of justice was at Fort Smith, Arkansas. In the early days he necessarily came in contact, almost daily, with the varied classes who inhabited the country, includ- ing horse thieves and whiskey peddlers.

In 1900 Mr. Holman married Theresa Galloway, who was also born in Louisiana, but was reared chiefly in Texas. Her father was the late Rev. T. G. Galloway, a Methodist minister. Mr. and Mrs. Holman have three children: Rosa Lee, Catherine Elizabeth, and Theresa Jannette.

WALTER JOHN CLARKE was one of the men who helped to make pioneer history in the early days of Oklahoma in the region around El Reno. Still fresh in his mind are the recollections of the memorable day, April 22, 1889, when with thousands of other he participated in the rush into the coveted lands of the new territory. From his homestead claim, which he steadily worked and developed for a number of years, he was also called into the public life of his community, and his activities have brought him a wide recognition in that section of the state. In 1909 Mr. Clarke sold his original homestead and bought another tract of land six miles west of El Reno. In 1910 he engaged in the mercantile business at . El Reno and has since been one of the prosperous mer-

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HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

chants of the city in addition to the management of his farm enterprise.

He is a Canadian by birth, though nearly all his life has been spent in the United States. He was born Jan- ary 29, 1861, at Lindsay, Canada, a son of Hugh Gilbert and Ellen (Burke) Clarke. His father, Hugh Gilbert Clarke was born in Ireland, in 1816, and was twenty-two years of age when he emigrated to Canada, and from that Dominion brought his family to the United States in 1868, buying land in Calhoun County, Iowa, where he followed farming until his death, in 1884. He was mar- ried in 1846, in Canada, to Miss Burke, who was born in Ireland, in 1830. She died at Manson, Iowa, in 1906. To their union were born thirteen children, nine sons and four daughters, namely: Frederick G .; Margaret; Alfred, deceased; Walter J .; Hiram J .; Edward B., deceased ; Hugh G .; Minnie; and Matilda, Nellie, George, and William, the last four also being deceased.

Walter John Clarke was seven years of age when his parents removed to Iowa and he grew up in Webster and Calhoun counties of that state. He is a man of more than average education, having attended the public schools and also the Iowa State Agricultural College at Ames. At the age of twenty he utilized this education to advantage as a teacher, and followed that profession actively for five years, both in Iowa and Nebraska. In 1887 he was appointed clerk in the United States railway

mail service, with headquarters at Lincoln, Nebraska. He resigned this position in 1888 to prepare for par- ticipation in the first Oklahoma opening in 1889.

With the thousands of others who participated in that picturesque episode of American history, he made the race for land and succeeded in driving his stakes on; John's Creek, in Canadian County, fourteen miles north of El Reno.

For a number of years Mr. Clarke has been an active member of the Oklahoma Eighty-niners Association and has filled the office of secretary. As a democrat he was elected first county superintendent of Canadian County, an office he held for two years, and in that time did much to establish the early schools in that section. In 1892 he was elected county clerk of Canadian County, an office he also filled two years.

On August 27, 1893, at Fort Dodge, Iowa, Mr. Clarke married Miss Margaret Agnes Fitzpatrick, daughter of Daniel E. Fitzpatrick. Mr. Clarke has a fine family of children, the older ones having already taken up their independent positions in life. Into the household were born seven, three sons and four daughters: Austin Wil- liam, born July 2, 1894; Walter Harold, born May 28, 1896; Mary Teresa, born November 4, 1898; Elizabeth, born April 1, 1901; Margaret, born June 16, 1903; George, born August 5, 1905; and Helen, born July 26, 1909.

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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