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 2

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 2

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G. T. Ralls, wife of the county attorney of Coal County who prior to her marriage was a teacher of music in the Kidd-Key Conservatory at Sherman, Texas; Captain Homer, of the United States Army, at this time sta. tioned at Culebra, Panama; Ira R., who is an importer of tea and coffee in New York City; Jacob T., who is engaged in the automobile business at Fort Wayne, Indiana; Carl K., who is a teacher at Decatur, Indiana; Mrs. Florence Hensley, of Yorktown, Indiana; Miss Grace, who for a number of years has been practically iu control of the affairs of the Decatur Filler and Package Company, which concern was founded by her father; and Miss Elizabeth, who is a teacher of Decatur.

James F. Battenberg's early education was acquired in the public school at Decatur, and later for two years he was a student in the University of Indiana, paying his own way with money earned by playing in bands and orchestras and in other ways. He chose the pro- fession of teacher and came to Oklahoma in 1909, when he was elected graded school principal at Coalgate, and remained there two years, at which time he was elected superintendent of schools at Atoka. After four years in that capacity the board of education contracted with him for a term of three years at an increased salary. That year he was tendered the superintendency of public schools at Durant; prior to that time he had been offered the presidency of the Murray School of Agricul- ture at Tishomingo. That he declined these attractive offers and remained at Atoka was due to the remarkable progress made in education at this place and the enthu- siastic praise of his friends here. He is a member of the Masonic lodge, of the Kappa Sigma college frater- nity, of the county, district and state teachers' associa- tions, and of the Young Men's Christian Association and the Atoka Charities Association. He represented the school men of Southwest Oklahoma before the State Board of Education when their activities resulted in the election of W. G. Canterburry as president of the South- eastern State Normal School. He acts as coach of the basketball teams of his schools and as director of the Atoka Band.

Mr. Battenberg was married at Yorktown, Indiana, June 17, 1913, to Miss Jean Crawford, a graduate of the Muncie Conservatory of Music. They have one child: James Crawford, aged two years. Mr. Batten- berg is a democrat and has been useful to the dominant party in Oklahoma since statehood in developing the standard of efficiency in public education.

DORSET CARTER. Though he is a member of the bar and has made an excellent record in the legal profession, the energy and initiative ability of Mr. Carter have caused him to wield large and important influence in connection with material progress and industrial activi- ties, and he has become prominent in constructive enter- prise, as one of the most vigorous and progressive cap- tains of industry in Oklahoma, within the borders of which vital young commonwealth he has maintained his residence for the past score of years. At Oklahoma City he now gives the major part of his time and attention to the administration of the business of the Fulsom-Mor- ris Coal Mining Company, of which he is the president. Before he was thirty years of age Mr. Carter was the promoter and builder of a railroad line somewhat more than 100 miles in length and became president of the company that built and controlled the property, his record in this connection having not been paralleled by that of any other man in Oklahoma and by few in the entire United States. This enterprise and that of successfully building, at a cost of $120,000, the admirable toll bridge that spans the Canadian River

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HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

1347

between the towns of Purcell and Lexington, represent iis most noteworthy achievements in the state of his adoption, although in later years his energies have been lirected to the development of new coal mining fields, in which line of industrial activity he has become a leading representative in Oklahoma. A man of stead- fast purpose, indomitable energy and unswerving integ- rity, he has proved his worth as a citizen and has the confidence and good will of those with whom he has come in contact in the various relations of life.

At Bonham, the judicial center of Fannin County, Texas, Dorset Carter was born in the year 1875, and he is a son of Samuel T. and Sallie (Brazelton) Carter, whose other surviving children are Hugh B., a success- ful cotton merchant in Oklahoma City; Mrs. John C. Sparger, of Blanchard, Oklahoma; Mrs. Robert E. Davenport, whose husband is a representative lawyer at Chickasha, this state; Mrs. Oscar B. Phillips, whose husband is station agent for the Texas & Pacific Rail- road at Paris, Texas; and Mrs. Edward J. Peters, wife of a successful architect residing at Shawnee, Oklahoma. Samuel T. Carter, father of him whose name initiates this review, was born in the State of Georgia and became one of the sterling pioneers of Fannin County, Texas, where he became prominently identified with the cotton industry and was for many years one of the leading cotton factors in that section of the Lone Star State. In the Civil war he served as a commissary officer in the Confederate regiment commanded by Gen. Frank Arm- strong, of Indian Territory, who later served as a mem- ber of the original Dawes Commission in that territory.

In the public schools of his native county Dorset Carter received excellent educational advantages and there he gave careful attention to the study of law, with the result that he became eligible for and engaged in the practice of his profession when but eighteen years of age. In 1895, at the age of twenty, he established his residence at Purcell, Indian Territory, a town that is now the county seat of McClain County, Oklahoma, and within a short time he became actively and prominently identified with the civic and material development and upbuilding of the town. At that time the territorial laws made no provision through which bonds could be issued for municipal improvements, yet largely through the influence and well directed efforts of Mr. Carter the ambitious Village of Purcell was provided with a modern system of waterworks, an effective electric-lighting plant, and a well equipped ice and cold storage plant. Between 1896 and 1899, in the midst of other multi- farious activities, Mr. Carter made an admirable codi- fication of the laws of Indian Territory, a task that no lawyers had previously attempted, and this code, which he compiled entirely through his own initiative, con- tinued as the accepted vehicle of the statutes of the territory until the laws were superseded by the statutes of the new State of Oklahoma.

In 1895 Mr. Carter conceived the idea of building a railroad from the Lehigh coal fields to Chickasha, for the purpose of giving a new and needed outlet to the West for the products of the coal mines. With charac- teristic energy he effected the organization of the Oklahoma Central Railway Company, of which he became president, and for the financial promotion of the important enterprise he then made a trip to Europe, where he succeeded in enlisting the co-operation of substantial capitalists. The road constructed through the medium of the capital thus obtained and through the sale of town property along the route. Before the road was completed, however, the financial panic of 1907 caused a suspension of construction work and threw the affairs of the company into the hands of a receiver, on the 2d of June, 1908. Mr. Carter was

placed in charge of the property and continued the operation of the line until it was purchased by the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad Company, on the 1st of August, 1914, the Oklahoma constitution having originally contained a section that prohibited within the borders of the state the purchase and con- solidation of interstate railroad properties. In 1908 Mr. Carter became the leader of a movement to bring about the repeal of this inconsistent section of the con- stitution, and during the ensuing five years he gave much of his time, energy and resources to the achieve- ment of the desired end. Four elections were held and it was not until the last, that of August, 1913, that the proposed repeal received a constitutional majority, the result being that Mr. Carter was able to make a prof- itable disposition of the railroad property of which he had control and incidentally to stimulate in a general way the work of railroad building in the state.

In 1912 Mr. Carter purchased for the Santa Fe Rail- way Company all of the coal mines in the Lehigh dis- trict of Oklahoma, and for. the operation of the prop- erties he then organized the Fulsom-Morris Coal Mining Company, of which he has continued president, his ener- getic administration as chief executive having been potent in giving impetus and success to the productive operations of the company. In 1911 he promoted and constructed a bridge over the Canadian River at Purcell, an undertaking that was unique in the history of the state and one that required exceptional business ability, for the river mentioned is one of the most treacherous in the country, each successive spring season having shown its destruction of many railroad and wagon bridges. The Purcell-Lexington bridge was successfully completed, great engineering ability having been brought to bear for the preservation of the structure against the utmost ravages of the river, the bridge being insured and having contributed much to the commercial activities of the two towns which it connects, as well as to the general prosperity of the entire section of country which it serves.

In politics Mr. Carter is a democrat, and he holds membership in the Oklahoma State Bar Association and the Oklahoma County Bar Association.

In 1899 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Carter to Miss Murphy Anna Johnston, of Purcell, and they have two children,-Dorset, Jr., and Harry Keefe.

JOSEPH J. MILLER. Every man who has lived in the Choctaw country for ten to fifteen years prior to the date of the publication of this history may be accounted a pioneer, for the development of that section of the state has been as rapid during that period of time as has the development of most other states in a period two or three times as great. Every man has contributed some- thing to the history of the section. Mr. Miller, as a district school teacher, has had much to do with the development of education, and his mark is found upon a good many localities. In that connection it is interesting to note that he has been an intimate associate of Governor Locke of the Choctaw Nation, and has been teacher of the children and grandchildren of Colonel Buffington, principal chief of the Cherokee Nation, and of the grand- children of Colonel Budinet, one of the foremost men of his generation in the Cherokee tribe.

Mr. Miller was born in 1888 at Eggar, Arkansas, and is a son of J. T. and Jean (Cotton) Miller. His father, now living at Oden, Arkansas, was a Methodist minister in the early days of his life, and later was a merchant. He served two terms in the Arkansas Legislature, and he is a veteran of the Confederate army and a native of Georgia. The maternal grandfather of Mr. Miller was a colonel in the Confederate army.

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HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

Mr. Miller had his early education in the common schools of Arkansas, and later he completed a course of study in a private normal academy. Still later he was graduated from the Ouachita College at Arkadelphia, Arkansas, with the degree of A. B. He took a post- graduate course in the University of Oklahoma in 1914, and has in other manners added to his training for his profession.

Mr. Miller taught his first school when he was fifteen years old. The scene of his endeavors was in a log cabin school in Arkansas, and his wage was $25 a month. Later he was principal of the public school at Roe, Arkansas, his service there covering a two-year period, and following that he taught in the public schools of Hugo, Oklahoma, going from there to Vinita, where he was high school principal for one term. In 1914 he was an instructor in the summer school of the Northeastern State Normal at Tahlequah, and in 1915 took up his work as head of the mathematics department in the Southeastern State Normal School. Mr. Miller has done special work in the University of Chicago, and has also conducted a number of summer normal institutes in Eastern Oklahoma.

In 1912 Mr. Miller was married at Hugo to Miss Ger- aldine Busby, and they have one son-Donald Busby Miller, now one year old. Mr. Miller is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and of the Masonic lodge. He is also a member of the County and State Teachers associations. While a student at Ouachita Col- lege he received military training in the cadet battalion, and on graduation received a certificate entitling him to the rank of first sergeant in the state militia.

HON. ROBERT R. FITZGERALD. A prominent farmer- stockman of Kiowa County, with residence at Hobart, Robert R. Fitzgerald made himself a useful member of the Fifth Legislature, representing the primary indus- trial interests of his constituency, and championing measures intended to promote agriculture, live stock, con- solidated rural schools, good roads and other measures directly benefiting the rural population. He has had a wide and capable experience as a farmer and live stock breeder and has been identified with Southwestern Okla- homa since its opening to settlement.

Robert R. Fitzgerald was born at Berlin, Missouri, in 1879, a son of David F. and Mary (Patton) Fitzgerald. His father, who was a veteran of the Confederate army and served two terms in the Missouri Legislature, moved to Oklahoma in 1900, and for a number of years was en- gaged in the cattle business. Representative Fitzgerald 's mother was a native of Missouri, and her father was a California Forty-niner, and one of the five survivors of a cholera epidemic on a ship returning from California that was held quarantined in New York harbor during the course of the disease. Mr. Fitzgerald has four brothers and three sisters: J. K. is a contractor and builder at Hobart; Frank is a cattle man at Wamego, Kansas; Pat lives in Oklahoma City; R. C. is with his mother on a farm near Hobart; Mrs. J. D. Perry is the wife of a salesman at Oakland, California; Mrs. Frank Jones is the wife of a Hobart grocer; and Miss Bonnie lives with her mother and is attending high school at Hobart.

The early education of Mr. Fitzgerald came from the public schools of his home town in Missouri and also the high school at Albany, Missouri. As a young man he worked as a hardware salesman in Missouri and Okla- homa, and gave up this business at the opening of the Kiowa and Comanche Indian Reservation in 1901. He drew No. 244 in the homestead lottery held at El Reno as a feature of this opening, and his homestead was

located four miles northwest of Hobart. This place he subsequently sold, moved into Hobart to engage in the livery business, and then for two years indulged his fancy in the raising of fine horses. Since then his farm has kept him active, and he bought and has lived on a place four miles west of Hobart. Three misfortunes have overtaken him and his family since he turned his attention permanently to farming. May 23, 1905, his house and barn were blown away in a tornado, and the house and barn that replaced them were destroyed in another tornado that swept through that section April 27, 1912. The house that replaced the second one was burned with its contents October 28, 1914. But Mr. Fitzgerald is not the type of a man to be daunted by any adversities, however great, and has survived all catastrophies and is making good as a farmer and stock raiser. His specialty is the raising of Duroc hogs and fine grades of horses. In field crops he specializes in kaffir and alfalfa, and has all the 160 acres of his farm in cultivation, and feeds his cattle, horses and hogs from modern silos.

Since carly manhood he has been an active democrat, and for several years served as a member of the Demo- cratic Central Committee of Kiowa County. He was elected to the Fifth Legislature in 1914, and was made a member of committees on general agriculture, public roads and highways, oil and gas, and state and school lands. His interest was especially directed toward meas- ures relating to agriculture, and he was a member of a sub-committee on agriculture with Representatives Peebly and Ramsey, who reported a bill providing for the creation of county agricultural fairs. He has also aligned himself with the supporters of good roads legis- lation.

Mr. Fitzgerald was married at Hobart April 11, 1906, to Miss Florence G. Siple, then a teacher in the public schools of Kiowa County. Her father, a native of Mis- souri, was killed in the 1905 tornado in Southwestern Oklahoma. Mrs. Fitzgerald takes an active part in the educational features of farm progress, and is president of the Ladies' Auxiliary, affiliated with the demonstra- tion department of the state agricultural colleges. They are the parents of three children: Frances, aged seven ; Robert S., aged five; and Lloyd D., aged two.

Mr. Fitzgerald is affiliated with the Modern Woodmen of America and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks at Hobart, and is especially interested in the Farm- ers' Institute of Kiowa County and the National Farmers' Co-operative and Educational Association. He has twice been a delegate to the State Farmers' Institute at Stillwater. For one year he was a director in his county of the farm demonstration work of the Agricul- tural and Mechanical College. He is a member of the Hobart Gun Club and secretary of the local chapter of the Anti-Horse Thief Association.

ALBERT HENRY TYLER. For the past thirty-five years Albert Henry Tyler has been practicing his profession as a lawyer in the new and developing country of Southern Kansas and Oklahoma. A successful lawyer is always in close touch with public affairs, even though he restricts himself rigidly to private practice, and in the several localities which he has called home Mr. Tyler has been an important factor, although his career has been marked by few acceptances of the duties and responsibilities of public office. He has shown forceful ability in the every-day work of his profession, and out of the richness of his experience and his broad knowledge has become one of the really successful members of the' Oklahoma bar.

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York, September 14, 1856, and has some interesting and prominent family relationships. His father, Edmund P. Tyler, a native of New York State, was a printer and publisher, and for a number of years held the chair of editor of the Forum and was also with the Buffalo Com- mercial Advertiser, two popular and influential publica- tions of their time. In the paternal line a great-grand- father of the Oklahoma lawyer was Robert Livingston, and his birth occurred on the old Livingston homestead on the banks of the St. Lawrence River, seven miles east of the City of Ogdensburg. Judge Livingston was the father of Robert G. Ingersoll's mother, who was a sister of the grandmother of Mr. Tyler, Mary Livingston hav- ing married the Rev. John Ingersoll, while another daughter of the Livingston family married Dr. Albert Tyler, after whom the subject of this sketch was named. On the mother's side a grandfather was John Talbot, a Scotchman, who was reared at Ayr in Scotland, near the home of Robert Burns. Mr. Tyler's mother was Isabella (Talbot) Tyler, who was born in New York State.

Albert Henry Tyler received his education in the New York Normal School, and read law with Theo H. Swift at Pottsdam. He came West and in 1878 was admitted to the bar in Parsons, Kansas. Parsons was his home from 1878 to 1898. In that time he enjoyed a lucrative practice, and also rendered some faithful service to the city as an official. He was elected city attorney in 1881 and reelected in 1883. He also served as city clerk four years, as clerk of the school board seven years, and as a member of the school board three years. In 1880 he was elected probate judge in LaBette County, but owing, to some irregularity in the vote cast declined to qualify and take the office, although a certificate of election was issued to him, which certificate he retains as a souvenir,

In 1898 Mr. Tyler removed to Wichita, Kansas, prac- ticed law there five years, and his advent to Oklahoma City was in the year 1903. His law offices are at 1081/2 West Grand Avenue. Mr. Tyler has been an active republican all his life, and has frequently been honored by his party for his effective work. He was a justice of the peace in Oklahoma City for three years just before the commission form of government was established, and declined to serve longer in that capacity, since his active preference has always been for the private prac- tice.

Mr. Tyler and family reside at 1220 West Twenty- ninth Street. At Parsons, Kansas, February 27, 1884, six years after beginning practice as a lawyer, he mar- ried Miss Mary Diggs, a daughter of Addison W. and Mary (Bowen) Diggs, who were among the pioneers of Kansas. Mrs. Tyler's grandfather Bowen was a promi- nent free soiler in Kansas Territory, and a candidate for Congress nominated by that party in 1856. Mr. and Mrs. Tyler are the parents of four children, two sons and two daughters: Edmund D., born December 25, 1884; Marion and Marie, twins, born August 28, 1886; and Marguerite, born October 25, 1888.

J. L. BURKE. When the Kiowa and Comanche Reserva- tion was opened in 1901 among the host of business and professional men, farmers and all other class of citizens who sought homes in Kiowa County, there were five who took up the business of undertaking in the county. One by one these men retired from the field until the only one now left is Mr. J. L. Burke, who is not only the pioneer undertaker at Hobart, but for a number of years has been one of the leaders in democratic circles in his part of the state and his citizenship has been in many ways valuable to the community.

This branch of the Burke family has been identified with America since the times of the Revolution, when

Mr. Burke's great-great-grandfather, a Scotchman, emi- grated from Ireland and settled in Virginia. The family were also pioneers of the State of Tennessee. Jenie L. Burke was born at Smith's Grove, Kentucky, April 6, 1879, a son of Benjamin F. and Josie (Talley) Burke. Josie Talley's mother, Sarah Lee, was a second cousin to Gen. Robert E. Lee of the Confederate army.

His father, Benjamin Franklin Burke, who is now a resident at Sentinel, Oklahoma, was born in Jackson County, Tennessee, March 11, 1856. His father, J. W. Burke, was born in the same County of Tennessee, in 1820, and died in Warren County, Kentucky, August 30, 1876. From Jackson County, Tennessee, he removed to Warren County, Kentucky, in 1861, and followed his trade as a mechanic for many years. He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church and in politics a demo- crat. J. W. Burke married Miss Matilda Richmon, who was born in Jackson County, Tennessee, in 1821, and died in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1912. A brief record of their children is as follows: Elizabeth, whose first hus- band, James Parker, was killed while a soldier in the Confederate army, is now the widow of Jacob Molder, who was a farmer at Smith's Grove, Kentucky, where she has her home; John is a merchant at Glasgow, Ken- tucky; Tom is a farmer at Norwood, Missouri; J. M. is a farmer in Colorado; and Benjamin F. is the youngest. The latter obtained his early education in the public schools at Smith's Grove in Warren County, Kentucky, graduating from high school in 1875. He later entered the University of Tennessee at Nashville, was graduated . from the dental department with the degree D. D. S. in 1887. From that time until 1901 he practiced den- tistry in Kentucky and in August, 1901, joined the pioneers at Hobart, Oklahoma. He was one of the lead- ing representatives of his profession in that city until October, 1913, when he removed to Sentinel, Oklahoma, and there combines dentistry with the undertaking busi- ness. He had learned the latter vocation while in Ken- tucky, and now has the principal establishment at Senti- nel. During his residence at Hobart he served as a

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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