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 20

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 20

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At Cherryvale, Kansas, December 31, 1901, Mr. John- son was married to Miss Mary Elizabeth Fair, daughter of Elijah W. and Mary (Shunk) Fair, natives of Ohio. Mrs. Johnson is a member of the Congregational Church, and is well known in social circles of Oklahoma City, as well as at El Reno, where the pleasant family home is maintained.

CLAUDE NOWLIN. The great western metropolis of Oklahoma City contains mauy able men who have made the law the vocation of their lives. That all should be equally successful in such a career would be an impos- sibility; the profession's prizes are few and far be- tween, and the fortunate must needs be gifted with qualifications of a diversified character, exceptional legal ability, ready perception and power of intellect capable of dominating and controlling their fellow men. Among the representative legists of Oklahoma there are but few who possess these necessary characteristics in a higher degree than Claude Nowlin, of Oklahoma City, whose rapid and steady advancement has brought him to a foremost place in the ranks of his calling.

Mr. Nowlin has the distinction of being a Texan by nativity, his birth having occurred April 11, 1881, in Kerr County, and his parents being Dr. James Crispin and Elizabeth (Gathing) Nowlin. The father, a native of Kentucky, came west to Texas in 1855, and for many

years followed the profession of physician and surgeon, being identified in this capacity for a long period with the famous Texas Rangers. He attained distinction both in his profession and as a citizen, and died in 1898. Mrs. Nowlin, who still survives, makes her home in Texas.

After attending the common schools of Kerr County, Texas, Claude Nowlin took his academic course in a normal school, and then, following some preparation, entered upon his legal studies in the law department of the University of Texas, from which institution he was graduated in 1902, with the degree of Bachelor of Laws. He was at once admitted to the bar and began his practice in Center, Shelby county, Texas, where he secured valuable experience, and in 1903 came to Okla- homa City, where he has since built up a large and representative legal business. His success, though. steady, has been gradual, and the legal mind, the per- suasive manner, the sagacity, the deep learning and the ready wit have all combined to place him in his pres- ent high position. Mr. Nowlin practiced alone until 1908, when he became associated with the firm of Harris & Wilson, and when that combination was dis- solved, in 1910, formed a connection with Mr. S. H. Harris, the firm becoming as at present, Harris & Nowlin, with offices at No. 214 Pioneer Building. During the time of his residence in Oklahoma City, Mr. Nowlin has represented some very important interests. From 1904 until 1908, he was the special representative of the Reeves Threshing Machine Company, for the State of Oklahoma, and since January 1, 1914, he has been general attorney of the Pioneer Telegraph & Teleplione Company. He holds membership in the Oklahoma State Bar Association, the Oklahoma County Bar Association, and the American Bar Association, and enjoys a high standing among his fellow-practitioners. Fraternally, he is connected with Lodge No. 417, Benevolent and Pro- tective Order of Elks, of Oklahoma City, of which he was exalted ruler in 1914; with Oklahoma City Lodge No. 36, A. F. & A. M., and with Oklahoma Lodge No. 8, Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

On November 12, 1903, Mr. Nowlin was united in marriage with Miss Margaret Hooper, daughter of Rob- ert Bolen and Eliza Hooper, of Timpson, Texas, Mr. Hooper being one of the early pioneers of the Lone Star State. Two sons have been born to this union: Henry, September 1, 1904; and Robert, March 23, 1910. The pleasant family residence is located at No. 1115 West Thirty-third Street.

WILLIAM E. ROBERTS. A resident of Indian Territory and Oklahoma since 1881, and since 1895 engaged in business at Nowata, William E. Roberts has been closely identified with the movements and activities which have combined to bring prosperity to this part of the state. When he first came here, in 1881, as a young man of twenty years, he engaged in farming, but subsequently his attention was attracted to the opportunities offered in business life in the rapidly growing commonwealth, and during the twenty years that he has been so engaged he has been connected with several successful ventures, his latest achievement having been the development of the Roberts Realty Company, of which he is president.

Mr. Roberts was born on his father's farm in Mont- gomery County, Indiana, September 24, 1861, and is a son of James T. and Lydia A. (James) Roberts. His father, born in Kentucky, in 1833, moved to Indiana in young manhood, and there after his marriage followed farming in Montgomery County, as well as the merchan- dise business until 1870, when he removed to Liberty, Kansas. There he continued his activities in both agri- cultural and mercantile lines until 1881, in that year

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HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

taking up his residence in Indian Territory, six miles southeast of the present site of Nowata. The remainder of his life was passed there in farming and stock raising operations, and when he died, in 1903, he was one of his community's prosperous and highly esteemed citi- zens. He was a democrat but not an office seeker. Mrs. Roberts, who was born in Kentucky in 1838, died in 1904. There were seven children in the family, of whom five are living, William E. having been the first born.

William E. Roberts was reared on his father's farms in Indiana and Kansas, and received his education in the public schools of those states. Coming to Indian Terri- tory in 1881, with the family, he was associated with his father in his agricultural and stock enterprises until 1895, when he came to Nowata to engage in the general merchandise business with his brother, E. T. Roberts, un- der the firm style of William E. Roberts Company. In 1907 the business was mutually dissolved, and Mr. Roberts turned his attention to the real estate, loan and insurance business, which was incorporated under the name of the Roberts Realty Company, of which he is president, his son J. T., is vice president, and his son William E., Jr., is secretary and treasurer. The firm handles lands, loans, oil and gas leases, royalties and production, and has an excellent standing in realty circles of the state. William E. Roberts has always been ready to contribute his talents to the welfare of the community, and for thirteen or four- teen years has been a member of the Nowata City Coun- cil. His political support is given to the democratic party. Fraternally, he is affiliated with Sunset Lodge No. 57, A. F. & A. M .; Nowata Lodge No. 1151, B. P. O. E .; the Modern Woodmen of America and the Federal Aid Society.

Mr. Roberts was married in July, 1885, to Miss Mary E. Riley, who was born in the Cherokee Nation, and four sons have been born to this union: James T., William E., Jr., Charles H. and Floyd B. James T. Roberts was educated in the public schools and at Drury College, Springfield, Missouri, following which he studied law by correspondence school course, and was admitted to the bar in June, 1912. He is now engaged in active and successful practice at Nowata, and among others is at- torney for the Roberts Realty Company, of which he is also vice president. He belongs to the Nowata County Bar Association, the Oklahoma Bar Association and the American Bar Association, and is fraternally affiliated with Sunset Lodge No. 57, A. F. & A. M .; Albert Pike Consistory, McAlester, Oklahoma, thirty-second degree, and Akdar Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., Tulsa, Oklahoma; and is a life member of Lodge No. 1151, B. P. O. E., at Nowata. His political belief makes him a democrat. Mr. Roberts was married July 23, 1906, to Miss Mabel N. Howard, who was born in Kentucky, and they have one son, James T., Jr. William E. Roberts, Jr., received good educational advantages, and is one of Nowata's lead- ing young citizens and business men, being the incumbent of the office of justice of the peace, and secretary and treasurer of the Roberts Realty Company. He was mar- ried in January, 1907, to Miss Roxanna Sides.

JAMES R. KNIGHT. A former member of the Okla- homa Legislature, a farmer and real estate dealer at Ida, James R. Knight is a man whose experiences in detail would make almost a complete picture of the historical development in Southeastern Oklahoma during the last two or three decades. Mr. Knight has been a merchant, farmer, stockman, clerk, newspaper editor and office- holder. As much as any other individual he has been responsible for ridding the district in Southeastern Okla- lomna, in which the Kiamichi Mountains are situated, from the lawless element that formerly infested it.

It has been pointed out that the Kiamichi Mountains

for a number of years were too isolated to afford a favorite rendezvous for many of the noted outlaws who operated through the territory and adjacent states. The mountains furnished for decades a famous hunting ground for Indians, professional wanderers, trappers and others of nomadic habits. But the criminal element was confined to those minor offenders against the majesty of law and order.

Statehood in 1907 brought a rapid transformation of this region. On the northern, western and southern bor- ders of the mountains grew somewhat magically several towns, including Smithville. The Village of Ida and Broken Bow, the last becoming the seat of one of the largest sawmills in the Southwest. This development was in the nature of an invitation to the major class of outlaws. Horse and cattle thieving became rampant and thoroughly systematized. Large herds were gathered in the night and precipitately transported over the Arkansas line and shipped to market. Horses were stolen by the wholesale. The establishment of county government resulted in the election of constables and town marshals and the appointment of deputy sheriffs, but these officials seemed only to encourage a bolder and more flagrant violation of law.

James R. Knight, later a newspaper editor in Idabel, established himself on a little farm and ranch in the mountains near Ida, and was given a commission as dep- uty sheriff. The very night that he received his com- mission the postoffice and store owned by that true and tried pioneer, Dan J. Griffin, was robbed and wrecked and Knight immediately organized a posse and started pursuit. He was soon threatened with death by the outlaw gang. More than once he barely was without the range of an assassin's bullet. He proceeded to do some detective work and learned many facts about the organi- zation of thieves. They not only stole cattle and horses but committed burglary of stores and residences and highway robbery. It was unsafe for strangers to traverse the mountains. The region was overrun with bad men.

This condition was reported to the sheriff of McCur- tain County and the sheriffs of adjoining counties, both in Oklahoma and Arkansas. Posses organized by the sheriffs of four counties hurried into the mountains and mobilized. The little army consisted of about fifty men. It searched the recesses of the mountains and the country surrounding the principal ranches and towns. It was an arduous, exciting and dangerous campaign. Every day a few suspects were arrested until about thirty were held. One pitched battle occurred in which a robber was killed, and another battle was fought in a storm on the mountain in which a posseman was killed by mistake. Two posses, blinded by the storm, mistook each other for outlaws. At another time the officers ran upon the robbers in a rock fort in a canyon and the robbers shot and killed four horses belonging to the officers. The robbers were intrenched in an impregnable position, but the officers captured six horses in the encounter. The expedition lasted four weeks, and it brought to a sum- mary end the burglarizing of stores and postoffices, though not until a store in Smithville had been four times robbed of money and goods. There was not suf- ficient evidence to convict any of the suspects arrested, but their detention served a good purpose.

While lawlessness has not entirely decreased in the Kiamichi country, it is no longer conducted on a sys- tematic and organized basis. The leading cattlemen have become members of the Texas Cattle Raisers Associa- tion, and this association has furnished those of the Kiamichi region a brand of detectives whose activities have brought about many arrests and several convictions.

With the preceding facts in mind there must be con-

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HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

siderable interest in the career of James R. Knight. He was born in Rienzi, Mississippi, in 1868, a son of R. K. and Violetta (Aughey) Knight. His father gave forty-seven years to the vocation of teacher, and the last few years of his career were spent in the schools at Caddo, Oklahoma. Among his pupils there was Boone Williams, later a member of the Oklahoma Constitu- tional Convention, and Felix Phillips, a big merchant of Lehigh, Oklahoma. R. K. Knight came to Indian Territory in 1885, and died ten years later at Caddo, where his body was buried, and his mother was buried beside him in the winter of 1915. She came to Memphis, Tennessee, and taught school, and she and every member of her father's family married in the South and were southerners at heart. Mr. Knight's mother was descended from the family of Lord Hillsborough of Ireland. The story goes that a daughter of Lord Hills- borough eloped with John Aughey, her father 's gardener. They came to America, settling at Utica, New York. Another member of the Aughey family was the Rev. John H. Aughey, a Presbyterian minister, whose min- istry embraced a part of Oklahoma Territory during the three years following 1890. Rev. Mr. Aughey was erro- neously supposed to be a northern sympathizer during the Civil war and wrote several books in favor of the Union and against secession, among these being "The Iron Furnace," but some of these books were revised after the war in pursuance of the author's change of belief on subjects relating to the war. Reverend Aughey is a relative of Attorney William S. Paden of Broken Bow, Oklahoma.

Mr. James R. Knight attended the public schools of Mississippi and the Male Classical Institute of Corinth in that state. He came to Indian Territory at the age of sixteen and began his career as clerk in a general store in Atoka. This store was one of only three brick business houses in existence in Indian Territory. Asso- ciated with him as clerk was J. D. Lankford, who has for several years been bank commissioner of Oklahoma. At that time the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad was the only line through the territory. Twelve years ago Mr. Knight located at Valliant, now one of the leading towns of McCurtain County, and a little later he bought the Beacon-Times at Idabel, one of the oldest papers of the Kiamichi region.

His varied associations with the Kiamichi country and his full knowledge of conditions there made him a valuable member of the Third State Legislature. 'While in this Legislature he sought unsuccessfully to procure the enactment of a law that would raise the state reward for the arrest of horse thieves from $50 to $500. His idea was that the reward would be sufficient to warrant an officer camping on the trails of thieves until they

were exterminated. Mr. Knight's experiences also inspired him to attempt the project of a measure to provide for the building of iron bridges on all railroads, but he failed in this. His wide knowledge of conditions in the Kiamichi region caused him to be made chairman of the House Committee on the Protection of Birds, Fish and Game, and here again he attempted to use his good offices, though without result, to obtain the passage of a bill placing the enforcement of game laws in the hands of the sheriffs and thus abolishing the office of deputy state game wardens. He also sought the passage of a law providing for the gauging of mountain streams and the location of county roads across the streams.

In 1905 at Wheelock Academy, Mr. Knight married Miss Agnes Beatrice Battiest, an Indian girl of French extraction, whose father was for a number of years judge of Nashoba County in the Choctaw Nation. Mrs. Knight died January 5, 1911, leaving one child, Mary Violetta,

five years old, who now lives at Ada with her father's sister.

Mr. Knight has served as clerk of one of the moun- tain townships of McCurtain County and alderman in the towns of Valliant and Idabel. He was a member of the Democratic Central Committee of Idabel two terms, and once by acclamation was elected president of the Democratic Club of Idabel.

He has four sisters and one brother: Miss Kate K. Knight, who formerly was a teacher in Wheelock Acad- emy, and now a member of the faculty of the East Central State Normal at Ada; Miss Elizabeth S. Knight, who for twenty years has been principal of a school in Wichita, Kansas. D. T. Knight, a general merchant and truck farmer in Florida; Mrs. Emma Knight Mims, of Memphis, Tennessee; and Mrs. Mamie Shafer, who was married in Caddo, Oklahoma, and died a few years later in Waco, Texas. Mr. Knight is affiliated with the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows, the Modern Woodmen of America and was the organizer in Idabel of the local chapter of the A. H. T. A. He is always wide awake and active in the development and uplift of the country and through the great love for his wife and little girl is a true friend, heart and soul, for the Indians, and is also broad minded and liberal for all races and all people, an advocate of the brotherhood of man and the disseminator of the milk of human kindness.

It is the heart's desire of Mr. Knight that the old mountain farm in the bend of the West Fork of the Glover River at Ida will be the most picturesque, remu- nerative and independent place in the world. It is the home of four generations of his wife's family- first, Rev. Gaines Battiest, Choctaw, preacher, farmer, black- smith and bear hunter; next, his son, Judge Byington Battiest; then of Mrs. Agnes Battiest Knight; and last, little Mary Violetta Knight. This place is an ideal quarter section of land, with some hill land but mostly creek bottom, threaded by the silvery Glover Creek, skirted by high pine-fringed bluffs on one side and fringed by oak, holly, walnut and cedar on the other, and tall forest parks and a half dozen cabins, with the necessary barns, stables and gardens in connection, many wells and springs and spring branches on the place. A forty-year-old Indian seedling peach orchard, a twen- ty-year-old improved variety and a three-year-old peach orchard on the place, and many native bearing black walnut trees, a few English and Japanese walnut trees, with rich gardens, fringed with mint, sage, asparagus and rhubarb, give the place an air of beauty, comfort and independence beyond comparison. In addition to this a high wire suspension foot-bridge and a smooth sandy ford, through clear running water, add to the beauty of the scene.

While all of this is at the present writing forty miles from the railroad, it has a daily mail, a long-distance and local telephone on the place and the hum of the cotton gin and the grist mill, the saw mill and the planer is near at hand and gives the impression that they are in nature's own wonderland in the heart of the mountains. It is the wish of James R. Knight that his little daughter, Mary Violetta Knight, now ten years of age, in whose veins flows the best blood of the noble Choctaw Indians as well as the Irish, Scotch, English, French and Dutch, shall keep and continue to improve this place and hand it down from generation to gen- eration, as it has already passed through four genera- tions, and may God in His infinite wisdom help him to make this spot an oasis in the desert of human tribula- tion, so that the wayfaring man may find cheer and com- fort on his way, and depart again, with a greater faitli in all that is good.

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HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

WILLIAM HENRY COGSHALL. While a dozen years measure the residence and business activity of William H. Cogshall in Oklahoma City, his active business life really covers nearly half a century, and has identified him at different times with his native State of Michigan, with Kansas, where he was a banker and lumberman, and finally with the new State of Oklahoma. Mr. Cogshall in Oklahoma City is secretary and treasurer of the Westeru Brick & Tile Company, and has a well estab- lished business in real estate and investments. His offices are in the Baum Building.

William Henry Cogshall was born at LaPere, Michigan, May 6, 1845. His parents were Henry Cogshall, a native of New York State, and Minerva (Hoyt) Cogshall, also of New York. His early education was acquired in the common schools of Oakland County, Michigan, where he lived until his marriage. He then became a farmer and stock raiser in the vicinity of Sparta, Michigan, remained there six years, and was next a livery stable proprietor and in the stage business for another six years at Fremont, Michigan. From Michigan Mr. Cogs- hall removed to Southeastern Kansas, and engaged in the banking business at Cherokee, for eight years being cashier of the Bank of Cherokee. He then accepted the general management of a bank at McCune, Kansas, for two years, giving np that place to again take charge of the old Bank of Cherokee. Four years later he retired from banking, and turned his attention to the lumber business at Cherokee, Weir City and in Southwestern Missouri, where the mills of the company operated. After disposing of his lumber interests, Mr. Cogshall spent three years in Fort Scott, Kansas, engaged in the coal and transfer business.

About that time a visit to Oklahoma City convinced him of the splendid opportunities and the great future of the city and state, and in 1903 he located here per- manently. He turned his attention to the buying and selling of real estate, and has also conducted a general investment business. While modest of his own achieve- ments, Mr. Cogshall is really one of the successful busi- ness men of Oklahoma City.

He was married at Detroit, Michigan, December 20, 1867, to' Miss Agnes Hendry, daughter of Alexander Hendry, who was a native of Scotland. They have be- come the parents of two children: Anna Bell, was born in 1870 and died in 1880; Etta E., born in 1872, is now Mrs. A. B. Young of Oklahoma City, and her two children are Cogshall Clark Young, aged nineteen, and Gladys, aged seventeen. Mr. Cogshall is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and Mrs. Cogshall is a member of the Episcopal Church. Their home is at 1515 West Twenty-sixth Street.

JAMES M. NICHOLS. One of the live, energetic and enterprising weekly newspapers of Southern Oklahoma is The American, which is edited at Comanche by James M. Nichols. During a long and active career Mr. Nichols has been engaged in various lines of endeavor, in all of which he has won a fair measure of success, but since 1903 has devoted himself almost exclusively to journalism, which it would seem is the field for which his attainments are best adapted.

Mr. Nichols belongs to a family which originated in France and came to America prior to the War of the Revolution, settling in North Carolina, and he is a native of Arkansas, having been born in Polk County, February 6, 1867, a son of James Fletcher and Charlotte (Stin- nett) Nichols. His father was born in DeKalb County, Alabama, in 1840, and as a young man weut to Arkan- sas, where he resided in Polk County until 1879, in which year he was a pioneer to Indian Territory. He settled

on a farm near the present site of Waurika, Oklahoma, and commenced agricultural operations, in which he had been engaged throughout his life, but did not live long after coming to the new community, as his death occurred December 1, 1879. He was a devoted member of the Methodist Protestant Church, in the faith of which he and his wife reared their childreu. In political matters he was a democrat, and during the Civil war his sym- pathies were with the South and he served for a short time as a soldier in the Confederate army, under Gen- erals Price and Mccullough. Mrs. Nichols was born in Polk County, Arkansas, in 1843, and there her death occurred in 1873. She was the mother of four children: James M., of this notice; Sarah, deceased, who was the wife of R. R. Henington, who is now a farmer of Jef- ferson County, Oklahoma; Ardelia, who died at the age of four years; and Charlotte, who is the widow of the late M. C. Runyan, a barber, and resides at Maysville, Oklahoma.

James M. Nichols was six years of age when his mother died and was but twelve when his father passed away. He received his early education in the public schools of Polk County, Arkansas, and when his father died went to Montague County, Texas, where he attended school for two months, in the meantime earning his own living by accepting such honorable employment as came his way. In 1881 he left school and apprenticed him- self to the trade of machinist in cotton gins, and in 1882 moved to Indian Territory, locating in what is now Love County, where he was engaged in farming until 1884. Subsequently, for three years Mr. Nichols farmed in Crawford County, Arkansas, and then spent one year in Polk County, Arkansas, this being followed by two years of work at his trade in the pineries of the Choctaw Nation. In 1889 Mr. Nichols returned to Texas, locating in Lamar County, where he farmed for one year, and in 1890 came to what is McClain County, Oklahoma, where he first worked at his trade and subsequently engaged in the mercantile business until 1903. In that year he be- came identified with journalism, taking charge of the Johnson Jourual. Subsequently, the town of Johnson was renamed Byars, and Mr. Nichols founded Byars Banner, of which he continued as proprietor until 1912. He then came to Comanche, where he has leased The American since March 1, 1913, and of which he is also the editor. This newspaper was originally a republican organ and was established May 5, 1908, by E. A. Bourne, and March 1, 1910, was acquired by its present owner, P. W. Tucker, who changed its policy to correspond with the principles of the democratic party. It has an excel- lent circulation in Stephens and adjoining counties, as well as a good outside list and is considered a valuable advertising medium. Its modern offices and plant, located in the Wade Building, are well equipped in every way and include up-to-date presses and type for the best kind of job work. The newspaper circulates weekly, and as edited by Mr. Nichols furnishes the peo- ple with clean and reliable news, interesting accounts of local happenings and timely and well-written editorials. Mr. Nichols is a.democrat. He is an ex-member of the Woodmen of the World, the Modern Woodmen of America and the Brotherhood of American Ycomen.

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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