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 36

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 36

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While the equipment of the East Central Normal School has not as yet, owing to the comparative youth of the institution and the state that supports it, been brought up to the ultimate standard demanded by mod- ern ideals, yet the facilities and appointments are of most excellent order and are constantly being advanced under the able and progressive administration of Pres- ident Briles. In the year in which the institution initiated its work, in 1909, its enrolment of students numbered only 364 persons, and the growth of the school is indicated by the fact that in 1915 the enrolment is 1,276 persons. Twenty-one teachers are employed, and in 1915 the graduating class numbered fifty-six students, the first class, that of 1910, having had but five members. The work of the institution has been thoroughly systematized under the direction of President Briles, whose earnestness and enthusiasm have been in- fectious and brought forth the best work on the part of both instructors and students.

Professor Briles is loyal and public-spirited as a citizen, is actively identified with the Ada Commercial Club, is an influential and popular member of the Okla- homa Educational Association, besides holding member-

ship in the National Educational Association, and his vital interest in the progress of agricultural industry . in Oklahoma being indicated by his ownership of a well improved farm in Pontotoc County, the same being de- voted principally to the growing of grain and altalfa. Both he and his wife are zealous members of the Meth- odist Episcopal Church South and are leaders in the representative social activities of their home con- munity.

In the year 1901 was solemnized the marriage of Pro- fessor Briles to Miss Maggie Cox, of Gainesville, Texas, of which state she is a native, her father having been a pioneer farmer in Cooke County, Texas, and she being related by kinship to the late John H. Reagan, a prominent and influential citizen of the Lone Star State.

EWING NATHAN COLLETTE.

"What constitutes a school?

Not ancient halls and ivy-mantled towers Where dull traditions rule

With heavy liand youth's lightly springing powers;

But teachers strong and wise,

Who teach because they love the teacher's task And find their richest prize

In eyes that open and in minds that ask; And boys, with heart aglow,

To try their youthful vigor on their work, Eager to learn and grow, And quick to hate a coward or a shirk: These constitute a school,

A vital forge of weapons keen and bright, Where living sword and tool

Are tempered for true toil and noble fight." -Van Dyke.

The above-quoted lines might have been penned by Professor Collette, so truly do they express something of the modern point of view of the prominent Oklahoma educator, whom Muskogee County now claims as superin- tendent of public instruction. Few counties in the United States can boast of having superintendents who have been not only college professors, but also college presi- dents. In various ways have Muskogee and Muskogee County gained benefit and prestige from the scholarly presence and activity of Superintendent Collette.

The native home of Ewing Nathan Collette was War- ren County, Ohio, the date of his birth being February 23, 1879. His parents, Hugh S. Collette and Mary Malt- bie Collette, removed in 1886 to Sedgwick County, Kan- sas. There the future educator was reared among the wholesome interests of farm life, mingled with regular attendance at the public schools. As time passed, he found himself ready to enter at an early age one of the excellent institutions for higher learning in the above- mentioned state and selected for his alma mater the University at Ottawa, Kansas. There he was graduated in 1903, with the degree of Bachelor of Philosophy. Such had been Mr. Collette's standing in the university that he was placed upon its faculty even while an under- graduate. Having established such a reputation for re- liable scholarship, it was natural that he should be of- fered higher positions in other schools of a similar class .. He accepted a professorship at Bacone College near Muskogee, Oklahoma, where he became head of the De- partment of Science. That position he held from 1903 until 1907, when he was honored by appointment to the highest office in the gift of the institution-that of president.

President Collette gave a careful and thorough super- vision to the affairs of Bacone College until he was asked to consider a wider field of educational activity. This.

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was the superintendency of all the public schools of the county, a position for which Mr. Collette was exception- ally well fitted, from his thorough education, his expe- rience in teaching and his superior training as an execu- tive, as well as because of his deep and broad interest in all phases of psychology and the philosophy of educa- tion.

For three successive terms has Superintendent Collette filled this important office, his last election having oc- curred in 1914. He first entered upon the duties of the position early in 1911 and his present term will expire in 1917. Under his able supervision the public schools of Muskogee have made rapid progress in many lines. Prom- inent among the superintendent's admirable policies is that of securing boards of education composed of perma- nent residents. Another and related achievement is that of securing teachers from whom more than one year's service in a given school may be expected. This is not only a most beneficial practice to the school curricula and the individual development of the students, but is also of value to the community in helping to establish a poise and unity possible only in a locality that is static and substantial in population.

Superintendent Collette ranks among the state's au- thorities on both biology and psychology, having carried on research in both subjects in graduate courses at the University of Chicago and other leading institutions. Unlike many scholarly men, Professor Collette is gifted with a social nature that delights in daily association with his fellowmen. Fraternally he is a Knight of Pythias. Politically he is of democratic theories in na- tional economic questions, but is not a partisan in local or state politics, being ever concerned with the honor of the men and the practical worth of the measures at stake in their relation to the greatest good of the greatest number. His religious affiliation is with the Baptist Church.

A true companion to her distinguished husband is Mrs. Collette. She was formerly Miss Myrtle B. Hall, B. S., and is an alumnus of Ottawa University of the class of 1904. The college acquaintanceship between Miss Hall and Mr. Collette ripened into a romance which culminated in 1908, the year following Professor Col- lette's acceptance of the president's chair in Bacone University. Mrs. Collette became a member of the fac- ulty of which her husband was the head, continuing until his own withdrawal to accept his present position. She too is a member of the First Baptist Church of Musko- gee, where her talents and her culture are highly valued, as indeed they are in Muskogee's social life. Mr. and Mrs. Collette have one child, Helen Frances Collette.

ROBERT B. LEMON. When Bloomfield Academy was es- tablished near Red River, in the southern part of the Indian Territory, which was not a great many years after the settlement of the Choctaw and Chickasaw tribes in this section of the country, the nearest trading points were in North Texas. To reach them it was necessary to cross Red River, and in that early day there were no bridges along the boundary of the Indian nations. The trade was not sufficient to warrant the Texas merchants in building bridges, so they chose the alternative of a ferry. Hence was established what has been known dur- ing a half century of history in that region as the ferry of Carpenter's Bluff. On this site rests the fanciful rem- nants of many a forgotten tale and romance without end. Thousands of persons, representing probably twenty tribes of Indians and practically all other nation- alities of the globe have been passengers in the little ferryboat that rode over the slightly billowy waves of Red River. There was a Carpenter's Bluff ferry before

there were railroads connecting the Indian country with Texas, and travelers came there from a dozen states of the Union. The ferry was the junction point of a score of trails that history has lately begun to mark. One of the most interesting of the ferrymen of the early days was Allen Lattie, a full-blood Cherokee Indian, whose post claimed him for many years, day and night, but whose career is another story. He was succeeded by Wil- liam P. Lemon, Robert B. Lemon's father, then (1886) eighteen years of age, who had stopped there on his way to fortune in the Indian country. They had also operated this ferry together.

At that time a railroad had robbed the ferry of much of its business, but Bloomfield Academy still stood close by and to and from it went many teachers, pupils, parents, officials of the school, missionaries and others, and for a few years this institution was the source of life for the ferry business. Mr. Lemon came into pos- session of a small tract of land near the ferry, a property which is now a part of his extensive real estate posses- sions in the southern part of Bryan County, and farmed when he was not engaged in operating the boat. This was his first venture in the world alone and he stayed with the ferry and the farm for five years, moving then to Island Bayou, a stream that forms a part of the boun- dary between the Choctaw and Chickasaw nations. There he remained for twenty-two years. There was a large number of white men there. He was progressive and thrifty and much of the development of that part of the county is due to his industry. Later he began to pur- chase more land, as his property grew in value and he continued his agricultural operations and stock raising, and he assisted in the opening of new fields for the founding of new communities. Today his holdings entitle him to be placed among the wealthy men of the state. On one of his tracts the Town of Achille stands, the town being named after Adam Achille, a rich Frenchman whose capital assisted in the building of the Missouri, Oklahoma and Gulf Railroad through Oklahoma. Mr. Lemon's acquaintance was coextensive with the areas of the Choctaw and Chickasaw tribes in these nations.

Robert P. Lemon was born in 1868, in Virginia, but moved with his parents to Grayson County, Texas, when he was eight years of age. His father, William P. Lemon, was one of the earliest farmers of Grayson County, and his maternal grandfather, William Pullen, was for many years a prominent lawyer of Virginia. Mr. Lemon's education was acquired in the public schools of Grayson County, but the fertile and beautiful Indian country was too near his father's doorstep for him to stave off his ambition to acquire fortune over the river long enough for him to get a higher education. Mr. Lemon was married March 10, 1889, at the old Mead homestead, near the present Town of Calera, to Miss Marie Roark, a stepdaughter of S. M. Mead, an early set- tler of that region. She died June 10, 1910, after becom- ing the mother of nine children, seven of whom are living: Benjamin P., who is engaged in the cattle business in Arizona; Mrs. M. I. Holland, the wife of a cattle dealer at Achille; and William, Maggie, Robert, Mary and Har- lin, who live at home. Mr. Lemon was again married in 1911, when united with Miss Carrie Ferguson.

Mr. Lemon is a member of the Masons and of the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows, and has numerous friends in fraternal circles of Southern Oklahoma. He is presi- dent and one of the leading stockholders of the Farmers and Merchants National Bank of Achille and has ac- cepted his share of the responsibilities of citizenship. having served as a member of the board of education for his school district since before the attainment of statehood.

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NAVARRE H. EDWARDS. One of the youngest school superintendents in the state is Navarre H. Edwards, superintendent of schools at Norman. He began the duties of his present office in the fall of 1913, soon after graduating from the classical course of the State University. He had previously been connected with the ward school of the city, and has had an active experience as an educator for several years, his father before him having been a prominent school man.

His grandfather Edwards emigrated from Wales to Pennsylvania, and in that state became a farmer. Lincoln Edwards, father of the Norman superintendent, was born in Pennsylvania in 1861, was reared there, and when a young man moved out to Russell, Kansas, where he married Miss Maud Hutchinson, who was born in 1859 in Illinois. While living at Russell, Kansas, Navarre H. Edwards was born as their second child September 1, 1891. The oldest child, Ethel Winona, wife of F. J. Robins, a teacher in the high school at Cherokee, Kansas. Lincoln Edwards, ever since his marriage, has been engaged in school work. He re- ceived the degree Bachelor of Pedagogy from the Missouri State Normal School at Cape Girardeau, the A. B. degree from Milliken and Gale College in Texas, and the Master of Arts degree from Denver University at Denver, Colorado. He has filled positions in schools in various states and localities. From Kansas he went to Illinois, and in 1912 came to Oklahoma, spending the following year at Lenapah, the year 1913 at Kiowa, and in 1914 went to Breckenridge, Colorado, and in 1915 to Yuma in that state, where he is now superin- tendent of schools. He is a democrat and an active member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

Navarre H. Edwards acquired his early education in the public schools of Russell, Kansas, graduating from high school in the class of 1906. For three years he was a student in the Kansas State Agricultural College at Manhattan, and in 1910 was awarded the degree Bachelor of Pedagogy by the Springfield Normal School in Missouri. In August, 1911, he became athletic in- structor in the high school at Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, then for one year was superintendeut of the schools at Noble, and for three years was superintendent of the Lexington schools. In 1914 he became principal of the high school at Norman, but six months later was elected superintendent of city schools. In the meantime he had carried on his studies and was awarded the degree A. B. by the Oklahoma State University. While attend- ing school and college and also as a school administrator he has been prominent in athletics and has played on both football and baseball teams.

He is a democrat, a member of the Christian Church, has served as junior deacon in Norman Lodge No. 38, Ancient, Free and Accepted Masons; is senior warden in Norman Chapter No. 24, Royal Arch Masons; is a member of Norman Commandery No. 38, Knights Templar, and is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Order of the Eastern Star at Lexington, Oklahoma. He also belongs to the County and State Teachers' Association, and is an educator of broad ideals and one of the most competent young men now engaged in the work in this new state.

In 1910, at Bloomfield, Missouri, Mr. Edwards married Miss Harriet Alexander, daughter of W. E. Alexander, who is land purchasing agent for the Himmelberger- Harrison Lumber Company at Bloomfield.

ELMER E. FISHBAUGH. Of the agriculturists of Okla- homa who have turned their attention to specializing in the breeding of cattle, Elmer E. Fishbaugh is a most progressive representative. His well cultivated property,

situated eight miles southwest of Dacoma, is equipped with all modern appliances, improvements and build- ings which are to be found ou the up-to-date stock farm, and during recent years he has made his name widely known in this part of the state as a successful breeder of Galloway cattle. Mr. Fishbaugh was born on a farm in Auglaize County, Ohio, October 2, 1863, and is a son of Andrew W. and Mary (Galbreath) Fishbaugh.

Andrew W. Fishbaugh was born in Ohio, in 1833, and was reared and educated there and when ready to em- bark upon his own career chose farming for his life work. He was married in 1862 to Mary Galbreath, who was born in 1840 in Knox County, Ohio, daughter of Robert and Mary (Beeman) Galbreath, the former a native of Ireland and the latter of Maryland. In 1878 Mr. and Mrs. Fishbaugh and their children removed to Harper County, Kansas, where the father settled on a farm, but subsequently moved to Kingman County, in the same state, where Andrew W. Fishbaugh died Febru- ary 3, 1890. He was an honest, industrious farmer, making the most of his opportunities and advantages, and with the able assistance of his devoted wife was able to accumulate a modest competence to make com- fortable their declining years. They were the parents of two sons and three daughters, namely: Elmer E., of this review; Ezra A., born December 9, 1864, and now an agriculturist of Woodward County, Oklahoma; Elsie E., born August 1, 1866, and now the wife of James Casey, of Kingman, Kansas; Emma, born September 16, 1867, who is the wife of A. C. Shoemaker, of Goltry, Oklahoma; and Rosa, born September 19, 1870, who is the wife of W. N. Cross, of Kingman, Kansas.

Elmer E. Fishbaugh received his early education in the public schools in the vicinity of his father's farm in Ohio, where he was reared until reaching the age of fifteen years, the family at that time emigrating to the West and locating in Harper Couuty, Kansas. His education was completed at Southwestern Methodist Episcopal College, at Winfield, Kansas, and having shown some ability in the line of mechanical work was thus employed for several years. In 1893 he came to Oklahoma, and in the following years homesteaded land in. Woods County, a locality which has since continued to be his home. For some years Mr. Fishbaugh applied himself strictly to general farming operations, but eventually became interested in cattle raising, and after some experimenting decided that the best breed for his use was the Galloway, a medium-sized, hornless, usually black beef cattle, native of Southwestern Scotland and closely resembling the Angus breed. His choice of breed has seemed to indicate his excellent judgment as a stock- man, for he has attained an enviable success in his opera- tions and has made a name and reputation for himself as a grower. His present property, consisting of 480 acres, is admirably suited for the purpose for which it is used, and under Mr. Fishhaugh's direction has been developed into a most valuable and handsome farm. He has always been ready to do his part in assisting in the elevation of agricultural standards, and has always ac- corded to his adopted community the same staunch support which its people have given him as an honorable and successful agriculturist and an eminently useful citi- zen. Mr. Fishhaugh and the members of his family be- long to the Methodist Episcopal Church.

On December 23, 1900, Mr. Fishhaugh was married to Miss Hilda Cell. who was born May 1, 1882, in Colo- rado, daughter of Herbert and Jane Cell. The following children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Fishibaugh: Mary, born November 7, 1902; Elsie, born July 27, 1904; Edna, born February 25, 1907; Enid, born April 9,

AH. Or Cobb.

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1909; Elmer, born February 20, 1912; and Carl, born November 25, 1914, who died February 14, 1915.

HON. E. O. MCCANCE. Oklahoma lost one of its capable legislators and editors in the death of E. O. MeCance May 12, 1915. During the Fifth Legislature he was democratic representative from Woodward County. Though he attended the session of the Legisla- ture at Oklahoma City he was a sufferer all the time, and at the close of the session in the spring of 1915 he went home, and at the end of two weeks on the advice of his physician went to Silver City, New Mexico, but lived only three weeks. He was buried at Mutual, where for a number of years he had been in the newspaper busi- ness as editor of the Mutual Enterprise.

The late Mr. McCance knew his section of the state as perhaps no other citizen. He was a pioneer in the then partially developed Northwestern section of Oklahoma and he brought to the Legislature a knowledge of the needs of the people of home and a general stock of ideas calculated to make the state more prosperous. It was as a member of the Oklahoma Constitutional Convention that he laid the foundation for his later usefulness in the making of laws in conformity with the principles of the organic constitution.

E. O. MeCance was born near Athens, Tennessee, Sep- tember 16, 1874, a son of J. E. and Martha (Prophet) McCance. His father, a native of Alabama, was a soldier in the Confederate army under General Pember- ton, was wounded in the battle of Champion Hill and surrendered with the rest of his command at Vicks- burg. After the war he was a prominent merchant and died in January, 1913. Mr. McCance's mother was a native of Tennessee, some of her male relatives were in the Confederate army, and her father was a pioneer settler near Springfield, Missouri. The Woodward County representative had four brothers and four sis- ters: Rev. J. B. McCance, pastor of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, at Lone Wolf, Oklahoma; Mrs. H. Burleson, who is the wife of a lawyer and farmer at Hobart, Oklahoma, her husband being a nephew to the noted Texan, now postmaster general of the United States; M. L. McCance is a teacher at Lockport, Illi- nois; H. B. is in charge of the York-Kee Lumber Com- pany's plant at Mutual; J. C. is in his brother's printing office at Mutual; Mrs. Lou Bouquot is the wife of a banker and grain dealer at Moreland, Oklahoma; Mrs. Amos Johnson is the wife of a barber at Vici, Okla- homa; and Miss Ella McCance is a druggist at Mutual.

Mr. McCance acquired his primary education in the public schools of Missouri up to the age of fifteen. In 1890 his father removed from the Texas Panhandle and settled near Amarillo. In 1894 they moved across the line into the newly opened country of Woodward County, Oklahoma. For three years Mr. McCance worked with his father on the farm and in the blacksmith shop. After passing his twenty-first birthday he realized his deficiency in educational equipment and spurred on by ambition resolved to make himself a useful factor in the world's activities. Being past the scholastic age, he had to obtain special permission from the Board of Educa- tion in his district in order to attend the common schools. He was a pupil for four months with boys and girls years his junior. Later he attended high school at Woodward, taking a ten weeks' course in the summer Normal, and at the conclusion was granted a third grade teacher's certificate. Then followed three years of teaching, and after that a course in the Agricultural and Mechanical College in Stillwater. Although six months behind his class when he entered the Agricul- tural College he made rapid progress, though un-

fortunately ill health prevented him completing his sophomore year. In 1901 Mr. McCance began his career as a newspaper man, buying half of the interest of Frank Smith in the Enterprise at Mutual, and a few months later becoming sole proprietor. He continued to edit and publish this paper for nearly fifteen years, and has the largest and best equipped newspaper plant of any inland town in the state not county seats.

In 1906 the citizens of the Fifth District sent Mr. MeCance down to Guthrie as a delegate to the Constitu- tional Convention. He had been elected by a safe mar- gin on the democratic ticket, overcoming a normally substantial republican majority. In the Constitutional Convention he was chairman of the Committee on Public Printing, and a member of committees on Education, Prohibition and Legislative Apportionment. A distinc- tion of special note is that he was the youngest member of that historic body. He was author of the provision in the Constitution that prohibits a member of the Legisla- ture voting on a bill in which he has some pecuniary or other interest. He was author also of the provision for the teaching of agriculture and horticulture in the pub- lie schools. While opposed to the general plan for the division of the counties, Mr. McCance succeeded in getting as good a county for his own constituents as could have possibly been created for them.

In 1914 Mr. MeCance was elected a member of the Fifth Legislature by a plurality of thirty-six in a county with a normal republican majority of five hundred. He came to the Legislature as the first democrat elected from his district since statehood. He was made chair- man of the Committee on Enrolled and Engrossed Bills, and a member of the Committees on Appropriations, Judiciary and Senatorial Re-districting, Prohibition Enforcement, Constitutional Amendments, Public Print- ing and Labor and Arbitration, He introduced a bill creating a special property tax for the building of public roads. This was held unconstitutional by a committee, and he then introduced a resolution providing for a constitutional amendment covering such. Another bill introduced by him provided that by a municipal or town- ship vote the public records of cities, towns, school dis- tricts and townships might be audited by the state.

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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