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 22

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 22

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Mr. Purcell was married in Cass County, Texas, in 1877, to Miss Margaret Ragsdale, a native of Alabama, and to this union there have been born six children: Sarah, who is the wife of A. C. Jacobs, of Marlow, part- ner of Mr. Purcell; Frank, who is the proprietor of a pharmacy at Marlow; Chester, postmaster of Burnet, Texas; George, cashier of the Rock Island Railroad, at El Reno, Oklahoma; and Elijah and Bryan, who reside with their parents at Marlow.

PATRICK J. HODGINS. A representative younger mem- ber of the bar of Oklahoma, Mr. Hodgins is engaged in the practice of his profession in Oklahoma City, and is also secretary and general manager of the Credit Reference Company, with offices at 301-305 Empire Building.

A native son of the West, Mr. Hodgins fully exempli- fies its progressive spirit, not only along professional and business lines but also as a loyal and public-spirited citizen. He was born at Ponca, the judicial center of

Dixon County, Nebraska, on the 20th of September, 1883, and is a son of William and Mary (Cryan) Hodg- ins, who now maintain their home in Oklahoma City. William Hodgins was born and reared in the Province of Ontario, Canada, and in the late '70s he established his residence in Dixon County, Nebraska, where he be- came a successful representative of the live-stock indus- try, in connection with which he gave special attention to the raising of high-grade Hereford cattle and fine horses. He there continued his residence many years, achieved distinctive success through his well ordered endeavors and is now living virtually retired in the capital city of Oklahoma.

The childhood and early youth of Patrick J. Hodgins were compassed by the conditions and influences of the home farm in Nebraska and there he continued his studies in the public schools until he had completed the curriculum of the high school. While attending high school he also devoted as much time as was possible to the study of law, under the preceptorship of a local member of the bar, and when seventeen years of age he severed his association with the operations of the home farm to become a representative of the pedagogic pro- fession. For three years he was a successful and pop- ular teacher in the rural schools of his native state, thereafter he was in the United States mail service one year, was for a time engaged in the insurance business, and then became a traveling commercial salesman.

In 1909 Mr. Hodgins established his residence in Oklahoma City, where he engaged in the real-estate busi- ness. In the meanwhile he had continued the study of law and he prosecuted his studies further in Oklahoma City, where he was admitted to the bar on the 9th of June, 1911, since which time he has been engaged in the general practice of his profession. In the year that marked his arrival in Oklahoma City Mr. Hodgins here organized the Credit Reference Company, and he con- tinued in sole control of the business until 1912, when the company was incorporated under the laws of Ari- zona and with a capital stock of $5,000,000, John W. Burns, his former law partner being the first president of the corporation and Mr. Hodgins secretary and gen- eral manager. Mr. Hodgins has shown much initiative and executive ability as a business man and in addition to having developed in an admirable way the business of the Credit Reference Company, which exercises im- portant and valuable functions, he is vice president of the National Provident Publicity Company, of Arizona, engaged in the advertising or trading stamp business, and secretary of the Oklahoma City, Steel & Wire Works, a corporation engaged in the wholesale and retail dealing in building materials. He is secretary also of the Edmundson Investment Company of Oklahoma City, dealers in mortgages and other high-grade securities; is a large stockholder in and president of the Schrimpsher Oil & Gas Company, which has valuable holdings and is doing productive development work in the Oklahoma oil and gas fields, and he is financially interested in a num- ber of other important industrial and commercial enter- prises. In 1914 Mr. Hodgins initiated, under the title of the Inquisitor Publishing Company, the publication of a monthly magazine designated as The Inquisitor and defined as "a magazine of protest for the sake of human kind."'

Mr. Hodgins was reared in the faith of the Catholic Church, of which he is a communicant, is a democrat in his political proclivities, is, in 1915, Grand Knight of Oklahoma City Council, No. 1038, Knights of Columbus, and State Advocate for the order in Oklahoma, is affili- ated with Oklahoma City Lodge, No. 417, Benevolent & Protective Order of Elks; is Senior Councilor of the local organization of the United Commercial Travelers;

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and holds membership in the Brotherhood of American Yeomen, Lodge No. 192, Loyal Order of Moose, the Okla- homa Travelers Association, and the Fraternal Aid Union at Denver, Colorado. Mr. Hodgins is essentially vital and vigorous as a citizen, lawyer and business man, has achieved success worthy of the name and his circle of friends is limited only by that of his acquaintances. It may be noted that his paternal grandparents were natives of fine old County Tipperary, Ireland, whence they immigrated to Ontario, Canada, and became the founders of the family in America.

On the 17th of June, 1904, was solemnized the mar- riage of Mr. Hodgins to Miss Sylvia Belle McDermott, daughter of Alfred J. McDermott, a prominent banker at Lohrville, Iowa, and an influential figure in the politi- cal affairs of the Hawkeye State. Mr. and and Mrs. Hodgins have two children, Bernice and Desmond, and the attractive family home, known for its generous hos- pitality, is at 1228 West First.

HON. THOMAS M. BUFFINGTON. The substantial posi- tion occupied by Hon. Thomas M. Buffington in the con- fidence of his fellow-citizens at Vinita is justified by the accomplishment of success in its broadest sense, by many years of devotion to the interests of his community, and by strict fidelity to private and public trusts. Almost continuously since 1891 he has been the incumbent of one or another office of public responsibility, and at no time during this long period has he failed to discharge faith- fully and conscientiously every duty devolving upon him. At the present time he is serving his fifth term in the office of mayor, and the history of his incumbency of this office is the history of the growth and development of the city itself.

Mayor Buffington was born in the Cherokee Nation, Indian Territory, October 19, 1855, and is a son of Ezekiel and Louisa (Newman) Buffington. The family originated in Germany, from whence they migrated to the new world prior to the Revolutionary war, in which at least one of the family participated as a soldier, al- though the present style of spelling the name is a deriva- tion from the original one. The grandfather of Mayor Buffington, Jonathan Newman, came to the West with the Cherokees from Tennessee and settled in the territory of Arkansas, being a teacher in the Cherokee schools. He was the first judge elected in Washington County, Arkansas, and succeeded himself for many terms, holding this office for twenty-four continuous years. Ezekiel Buf- fington, the father of Mayor Buffington, was born in Georgia in 1807, and in 1835 came to the Indian Terri- tory and took up his residence in the Cherokee Nation, where he passed the remainder of his life in agricultural pursuits and died in 1864. He married Louisa Newman, who was born in 1817 in Tennessee and died February 15, 1898, the day of the blowing up of the U. S. S. Maine in Havana harbor. There were four sons and four daughters in the family, all of whom are deceased except Thomas M., the youngest child.

Thomas M. Buffington received his education in the Cherokee Nations schools, and until 1891 was engaged in agricultural pursuits. In that year he was elected dis- trict judge of the Delaware District in the Cherokee Na- tion, an office in which he served for two years, and was then elected a member of the Cherokee Nation Senate, of which distinguished body he was president for two years. His next public honor was his appointment as represen- tative of the Nation at Washington, D. C., where he held several conferences with President Benjamin Harrison during his one-year term, and on his return was elected circuit judge, taking the Northern Circuit of the Chero- kee Nation for four years. This was followed by his

election as principal chief of the Nation, an office which he held for four years, he being the last active chief of that great country, and all abstracts of title to lands since statehood bear his name. He was a delegate to the National Democratic Convention that convened at Den- ver, Colorado, from the Third Congressional District, and which nominated William Jennings Bryan for the presi- dency. Under the law of the Cherokee Nation he served twice as mayor of Vinita, held that office twice also under the Arkansas law, and has been elected twice since the attainment of statehood, now serving his fifth term. It is improbable that any man has labored more faithfully and energetically for the best interests of the city and its people. His terms of office have always been charac- terized by civic improvement and general advancement, and the following is a typical mayoralty proclamation, depicting the enthusiasm, confidence and devotion which have made him one of the most capable and popular officials Craig County has known :

"To the people of Vinita: It is desirable that an electrically lighted fountain worthy of Vinita be erected on Parker plaza where all who pass through Vinita by train or automobile may see it by day or night. We have $150 on deposit but it will take $500 more to get the fountain we want. To the end that this money may be raised surely and quickly and that the fountain may be purchased and erected in time for use this summer, I, T. M. Buffington, mayor of the City of Vinita, do proclaim and ordain that Tuesday, May 18, 1915, from the hour 2 p. m. to 3 p. mn. be set aside as a time when all patriotic citizens of Vinita shall bestir themselves to raise this money for this purpose. Let's sell $500 worth of tickets to the entertainment to be given that night at the Grand theatre to complete the Vinita fountain fund, and let's do this within one hour to prove to any doubter that Vinita can and will get this fountain. It is my wish that all places of business in the city close for one hour between two and three o'clock on the day named and make this a gala time. Let this be known ever after as 'Vinita Fountain Day.' The Public Serv- ice Company will furnish free electric current for the fountain and the city has water for it. Surely we can install a fountain of which all may be proud, one which will be a monument to our civic pride, a pleasure to those who are here to enjoy it now, and a delight to our posterity. Drawn at the Mayor's office, City Hall, Vinita, Oklahoma, this 12th day of May, 1915. T. M. Buffing- ton, Mayor of the City of Vinita. Attest: R. D. Cock- rell, City Clerk. "'

Mayor Buffington has always been a staunch democrat in his political views. He has taken an active interest in fraternal affairs, being a thirty-second degree Mason, a member of Vinita Lodge No. 5, A. F. & A. M .; Indian Consistory, McAlester, and Akdar Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., at Tulsa; and holding membership also in Vinita Lodge No. 1162, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.

On May 10, 1878, Mayor Buffington was married to Miss Susan Woodall, who was born at the Baptist Mis- sion, in the Cherokee Nation, and died November 11, 1891. Mayor Buffington was again married, December 28, 1895, being united with Miss Emma Gray, who was born in North Carolina and brought to Indian Territory by her parents when still a child. Five daughters have been born to Mayor and Mrs. Buffington, namely Lucille, Sue Nell, Maxine, Marie and Marguerite.

GEORGE C. RORIE. In no one direction has Oklahoma shown more clearly and consistently its vital spirit of civic progressiveness than in the furtherance of its edu- cational interests through the enlistment of the co-orera- tion of educators and executives of superior ability.

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Few are the communities that do not give evidence of scrupulous care to the bringing of its public schools to the highest possible standard uuder existing conditions of revenue and support, and cach year marks definite advancement along normal lines. In the neighborhood of Caddo, Bryan County, which is in one of the most historie sectious of the old Choctaw Nation of Indian Territory, many of the leading men of that nation received their education of rudimentary order at the hands of missionaries who were also teachers by pro- fession and who came with all of zeal and self-abnegation to labor among the Five Civilized Tribes of Indians. The early activities of Dr. J. S. Murrow, dean of the living missionaries in Oklahoma, were in the vicinity of Caddo. Into this section extended also the educational influence of Dr. J. J. Read, of the Wapanucka country. Here lived the Harrisons, who were among the Indian pioneers in educational advancement. In this com- munity Dr. Allen Wright, another of the pioneer mis- sionaries who was among the really great men of the Choctaw Nation, taught to his people the value of educa- tion. In this community settled a colony of Choctaws immediately after the migration of the tribe from the State of Mississippi, in 1832, and here were established some of the first schools. It is a matter of special inter- est, therefore, that Prof. George C. Rorie, who is super- intendent of the public schools of Caddo, a graduate of the University of Arkansas and a man of fourteen years' experience in educational work that involves all of the modern ideas and methods of pedagogy, should on this historic spot develop the community 's educational system to the status of affiliation with the University of Okla- homa and to equip the schools with departments, appara- tus and general facilities that give to the Caddo schools standing among the best in the state. This period of educational development is of further interest by reason of the fact that this section of country was for many years a rendezvous and a stage of activities on the part of border outlaws and desperadoes-misguided men whose character and malefactions could not but tend to give to the young man of the locality an erroneous idea of life and its responsibilities.

Caddo is situated on the historic military highway that extended from Fort Smith, Arkansas, to Fort Sill, Indian Territorv, and over this road United States marshals and United States soldiers traveled to and fro in the effort to maintain peace and order and to hunt for illusive frontier desperadoes. At one time Caddo figured as a very outpost of civilization. Between it and the Rock Mountains white men were few, and the wild Indian tribes were marauding every section in which a white man dared or presumed to settle. The present status of the town, as well of its school system in particular, presents a model of the character of development that has been going on for the past quarter of a century.

The able and popular superintendent of the Caddo public schools was born in Stone County, Arkansas, in 1879, and is a son of James and Rebecca Caroline (Cypert) Rorie, his father likewise having been a native of Arkansas, where he became a progressive and sub- stantial agriculturist and stockgrower. The discipline which Mr. Rorie obtained in the public schools of his native state made him eligible for service as a teacher in the common schools, and through his early pedagogic lahors he laid the firm foundation of the higher educa- tion that now denotes the man. For one year he received a salary of $22.50 a month, and before his temporary withdrawal from the pedagogic profession his salary had been advanced to $40 a month-a tangible recognition of his ability and successful work. This income, however, was too meager to enable him to save

an amount sufficient to pay the expenses incidental to the completion of his higher academic or literary educa- tion, and thus he supplemented his income by the money earned by other work of various kinds-a reinforcement that enabled him to attend the preparatory department of the University of Arkansas for a period of two years and that four years later brought fruition in his recep- tion of the degree of Bachelor of Arts, as well as the pedagogie degree of Licentiate of Instruction. He was graduated in the University of Arkansas as a member of the class of 1911, and relative to his earlier achieve- ment in the field of personal education it may be noted that in the neighborhood in which he was reared the educational facilities were so meager and the incentive for a young man to acquire higher education was so lacking by very reason of existing conditions, that he was twenty-one years of age before he began the study of grammar, physiology and higher arithmetic. Thus it will be seen that Mr. Rorie had the ambition of action and was able to triumph over adverse forces.

After the completion of his university course Mr. Rorie came to Oklahoma and was elected principal of the high school at Checotah, judicial center of the county of the same name, where he succeeded Prof. George W. Gable, who in that year was chosen president of the Northeastern State Normal School, at Talequah. Mr. Rorie continued his effective services at Checotah until 1914, in the autunm of which year he was elected to his present position, that of superintendent of the public schools of Caddo. The Caddo schools have an enrollment of 500 pupils and a corps of thirteen teachers is retained. During two summers since he established his home in Oklahoma, Mr. Rorie has been an instructor in the sum- mer normal institute of McIntosh County, and one year, by appointment on the part of the county superintend- ent of schools, he was an instructor in connection with the teachers' reading-circle work of that county. He has taken credit work in the great University of Chicago and expects in due time to receive from that institution the degree of Master of Arts. Mr. Rorie has proved strong and circumspect as an executive as well as a teacher, and is constantly studying plans and measures through the medium of which he may bring advancement in educational standards and efficiency in the work of the schools over which he is placed in charge. He is a member of the board of teachers' examiners for Bryan County, and is actively identified with the Bryan County Teachers' Association and the Oklahoma Educational Association. In addition to his literary discipline in the University of Arkansas, Mr. Rorie received also at that institution excellent military training, in which connec- tion he won advancement through the grades of corporal and sergeant to that of lieutenant of the cadet body of the university. He holds membership in the Baptist Church, and is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Woodmen of the World.

GUARANTEE STATE BANK. One of the substantial financial institutions of Stephens County, which has grown out of the needs of its community and has been backed and developed by . men of standing and sub- stance, is the Guarantee State Bank of Marlow. Since the time of its founding, in 1901, it has occupied a sub- stantial place in the business affairs of the county, and its reputation in banking circles of the state is high. Of more recent years its rapid growth and develop- ment may be attributed to the energetic efforts and fine abilities of two of its officials, John Joseph Adkins, its president, and Penn V. Rabb, its cashier, a brief review of whose careers follows.

John Joseph Adkins, or Joe Adkins, as he is more

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familiarly known, perhaps, was born at Decatur, Wise County, Texas, January 8, 1861, a son of J. M. and Bettie (Craghead) Adkins. He belongs to a family which originally came to America from Scotland prior to the Revolutionary war, settling in Virginia, in which state J. M. Adkins was born in September, 1830. From the Old Dominion he removed to Missouri, and thence to Wise County, Texas, and in 1861 to Denton County, in the Lone Star state. He enlisted in a Texas regiment in the Confederate army at the outbreak of the war be- twcen North and South, being with General Wheeler's forces throughout that conflict, and at the close of the war returned with an honorable military record and located again in Missouri. He later went to Collin County, Texas, subsequently resided in Denton, Cook and Montague Counties, in that state, and in 1890 came to Indian territory, where he was engaged in extensive farming and stockraising operations until his retire- ment. He is now living quietly at his home at Mar- low, Oklahoma. He has been a lifelong democrat and member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mr. Ad- kins married Miss Bettie Craghead, who was born in Missouri in 1834, and died at Rush Springs, Oklahoma, in 1896, and they became the parents of twelve children, as follows: Susan, who was married first to the late Enoch Boatman, a farmer and stockman, now deceased, and is now the wife of Zach Warren, an agriculturist of Apache, Oklahoma; Minnie, who was first married to the late J. M. Carpenter, a farmer and stockman now deceased, and is now the wife of John Gardnershire, a farmer in the vicinity of Hobart, Oklahoma; John Joseph, of this review; Minerva, who is the wife of Charles Tilleson, a farmer near Duncan; Elizabeth, who is the wife of Albert Dennis, a farmer of Cook County, Texas; James, a farmer residing near Bradley, Okla- homa; William, a cattleman of Texas; Charles, who is deceased; Sallie, who is the wife of Joe Plemmons, a farmer of Duncan, Oklahoma; Kate, who is the wife of Fuller Game, a farmer of near Doyle, Oklahoma; Oscar, who is engaged in agricultural pursuits near Duncan; and Walter, who is carrying on farming near Marlow.

John J. Adkins was educated in the Denton County, Texas, public schools and was reared on his father's farm, on which he lived until twenty years of age. He then became a cow-puncher in Western Texas, and in that capacity came to Indian Territory, locating in what is now Mud Creek, Jefferson County, in 1872. After a short time he returned to Western Texas, but in 1881 came back to Jefferson County, where he followed the vocation of cow-boy until 1887. During this time he had carefully saved his resources, and in the year mentioned located on the present site of Bailey, Okla- homa, where he engaged in farming and handling cattle. The year after the Cheyenne country was opened he settled in that locality and resided for five years, and in 1896 came to Marlow, where, until 1910, he was success- fully engaged in the handling of cattle. Since that time he has devoted the greater part of his attention, aside from his banking interests, to farming.

In 1901 Mr. Adkins assisted in the establishing of the Guarantee State Bank, becoming its vice president, and held that office until 1910, when he became president of the institution, which has developed, under his capable management, into one of the strongest banking concerns of Stephens County. A life-long democrat, he has been active in political and civic affairs, was deputy sheriff in 1907 and 1908, the first two years of statehood, and has been a delegate to numerous county and state conven- tions, being recognized as an influential member of the democratic party here. Fraternally, Mr. Adkins is affiliated with Marlow Lodge No. 103, American Free

and Accepted Masons; Marlow Chapter, Order of the Eastern Star, and Camp No. 93, Woodmen of the World, at Marlow.

Mr. Adkins was married at Bailey, Oklahoma, to Miss Addie Clemons, daughter of W. A. Clemons, a well known banker of Elk City, Oklahoma. Eight children have been born to this union: Roxie, who is the wife of Earl Bledsoe, proprietor of a cotton gin at Marlow; Ora, a clerk in a dry goods store at Marlow, who is liv- ing with her parents; Sadie, who died at the age of one year; J. Fred, who is engaged in farming at Marlow; Rosie, a graduate of Marlow High School, class of 1915; and Dave, Jessie and Ada May, who are attending the public schools.

Penn V. Rabb, cashier of the Guarantee State Bank of Marlow, is a member of a family which originated in Scotland and settled at an early date in North Caro- lina, where was born his grandfather, Rev. J. B. Rabb, a Methodist Episcopal preacher, who for many years had a charge at Lone Oak, Texas, where he died. W. J. Rabb, father of Penn V., was born in Alabama, in 1850, and as a young man removed with his parents to Lone Oak, Texas, where he resided until 1890, then removing to Wynnewood, Indian Territory. In 1909 he located at Waurika, Oklahoma, where he is now engaged success- fully in merchandising. He has been a lifelong demo- crat and faithful member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. W. J. Rabb married Mattie Ulmer, who was born in 1855 in Arkansas, and died at Lone Oak, Texas, in 1884, and Penn V. was the only child of the union.

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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