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 40

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 40

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agricultural pursuits in his native county, near the Vil- lage of Sumach; Grover C. is a successful teacher in the schools of Whitfield County, Georgia; James L. H. re- sides at Eton, Georgia, and is devoting his attention to farming and to teaching in the public schools; Leach H. is a member of the class of 1917 in the college at Rome, Georgia; and May is a teacher in the schools of Deep Springs, that state.

After making good use of the advantages afforded in the public schools of his native village Charles W. Rich- ards there entered Sumach Academy, in which he was graduated in 1898. In pursuance of his higher academic studies he thereafter continued a student in turn in the normal school maintained in the City of Nashville, Ten- nessee, under endowment from the Peabody fund, and in the University of Nashville, in which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1903 and from which he received his degree of Bachelor of Arts. In 1905 he completed an effective post-graduate course in historic old Harvard University, in which he specialized in ped- agogy, under the preceptorship of Doctor Hanus.

Prior to his graduation in the University at Nashville Mr. Richards had devoted himself to teaching in the rural schools of his native state, and his experience in this field covered a period of four years. In 1903 he assumed the position of principal of the high school at Springfield, Tennessee, and of this office he continued the incumbent until 1907. Thereafter he served as superintendent of schools at Princeton, Kentucky, until 1911, in the autumn of which year he came to Oklahoma and assumed his present position, that of superintendent of the city schools of Ardmore. Here his work has been marked by progressiveness, high executive and didactic efficiency, and his administration has been accorded unequivocal popular approval and support. Under his supervision are six schools, fifty-two teachers and 2,500 students, and his work has been fruitful in bringing the Ardmore school up to a specially high standard of efficiency.

Mr. Richards is essentially an enthusiast in his chosen profession, and has the happy faculty of infusing enthu- siasm in both teachers and pupils working under his direction. He is an appreciative and valued member of the Oklahoma State Teachers' Association and is actively identified also with the National Education Association, besides which he is vice president from Oklahoma of the National Federation of State Teachers' Associations, and is in active fellowship with the National Geograph- ical Society.

Mr. Richards swerves not in his allegiance to the democratic party, though he is too thoroughly en rapport with the work of his chosen profession to have any predilection for the activities of so-called practical poli- tics. Both he and his wife are zealous members of the Baptist Church at Ardmore, and in the same he is serving as superintendent of the Sunday school. He is affiliated with Ardmore Lodge No. 31, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and other bodies of the York Rite, and in the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite of Masonry he has re- ceived the thirty-second degree and is affiliated with Indian Consistory No. 2 in the City of McAlester. He holds membership in Ardmore Lodge No. 648, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and Ardmore Camp of the Woodmen of the World, besides which he formerly main- tained active affiliation with the Knights of Pythias and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

Reverting to the family history of Mr. Richards, it may be noted that he is a direct descendant from William Richards, who immigrated from Wales to America and settled at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he married Miss Mary Ball. He became a wine importer in Penn- sylvania and owned a fleet of ships, and was a resident of Philadelphia at the time of his death. In 1800 he

leased in that city a large portion of the land now repre- sented by Chestnut and Walnut streets, this lease having been made for a period of ninety-nine years. From the old Keystone State certain of his descendants eventually removed to the South, and the subject of this review is descended from one who established the Georgia branch of the family.

On Christmas day of the year 1905, at Springfield, Tennessee, was solemnized the marriage of Charles W. Richards to Miss Anna Corinne White, daughter of Dr. Alpheus G. White, who is now living retired at that place, he being' a dentist by profession. Mr. and Mrs. Richards have one child, Charles Walter, Jr., who was born on the 10th of October, 1912.

JOE MCCUSKER. The career of Joe McCusker, com- missioner of water, sewers and lights, at Muskogee, is typical of those which have been followed by many self- made men of this country who have risen to prominence. His life has contained all the chapters of a fascinating biography, including the loss of his father when he was but a child, his subsequent struggles to gain a foothold in the business world, his gradual rise among the world's workers, and his final attainment of business success and a position of prestige among his fellow citizens.

Mr. McCusker was born in the City of Vicksburg, Mississippi, June 22, 1869, and is a son of Patrick and Catherine (Cannavan) MeCusker, natives of Ireland. His father, a soldier in the army of the Confederacy, was one of those captured by the victorious forces of General Grant, at Jeff Davis Island, and after the war went to Vicksburg, where he was engaged in work as a levee and general contractor, as he had been before the war. His war services, however, had undoubtedly undermined his health, and he died in the early part of 1870, when his son, Joe, was but eight months old. His widow survived him until April 29, 1915, and died at her home in Vicks- burg, Mississippi. They were married in Vicksburg.

Joe McCusker was brought up in the city of his birth and there received his education in the public schools, although his training in this direction was curtailed by the necessity of his going to work and contributing to the family income. He was therefore a mere lad when he joined the world's workers, beginning his career by selling newspapers on the streets of Vicksburg, a rough- and-ready school of experience in which he gained his first knowledge of business affairs. During the several years that followed he was variously employed, being ambitious and determined, and any work which presented itself found him a faithful and energetic laborer. Finally he turned his attention to the trade of brick mason, at which he worked for a full year without pay, then becoming a journeyman mason and visiting all the large cities, including New York, Chicago, St. Louis and Denver. He developed later into a general contractor, in which vocation he met with a fair measure of success, and in all devoted sixteen years to the brick mason trade and business.

Mr. McCusker came to Muskogee in May, 1902, and here established himself in business as proprietor of what was known as the "Four Story Peanut Stand," at the corner of Second and Broadway Streets. His en- terprise, energy and originality of ideas made this ven- ture a success, and thus encouraged he entered the res- taurant business, in a new building on the same street corner. This business he operated successfully for seven years, or until he was burned out, and in the meantime also established and conducted three other like enter- prises, but of these he had disposed. When his place of business was' destroyed by fire Mr. McCusker did not re-enter the same line, but turned his attention and abili- ties to other directions. He was one of the organizers

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of the Muskogee Vitrified Brick Company, which was capitalized at $30,000, and of which he was one-fourth owner, but in 1911 disposed of his interest in that con- cern and started on an extended trip through Europe, in which he visited France, England, Scotland and Ire- land, and in the latter place made a trip to the birth- place of his parents. He has also traveled extensively in the United States.

For a number of years Mr. McCusker has taken an active participation in democratic politics, and at Mus- kogee has been one of his party's most helpful workers. In 1912 he was made the candidate of his party for the office of commissioner of water, sewers and lights for the City of Muskogee, and in the election which followed the citizens showed their faith in his ability by giving him a handsome majority at the polls. Their confidence has been vindicated, for in his official capacity he has rendered valuable and conspicuous service. Mr. McCusker is a Catholic in his religious belief, and is fraternally connected with the Knights of Columbus and the Wood- men of the World. He has a withdrawal card from the Bricklayers' Union of St. Louis. While he has ad- vanced far since the newsboy and peanut-stand days, Mr. McCusker has not allowed his holdings to spoil him, and he continues to be one of the most genial and com- panionable of men. In every sense of the word self- made, his example should be one to act as a spur to other poor youths beginning their battle with life, who have no financial assistance or other aiding influences.

Mr. McCusker was married in 1905, to Miss Rose Me- Stravick, who died in 1909, leaving one daughter, Mary Catherine.

TULLIE THOMAS. Many interesting incidents have characterized the development of the various communi- ties that make up the State of Oklahoma. There are a great many of these, for the state was opened to white settlement by piecemeal and each opening was a distinct challenge to the ingenuity of men with crystallized ideas of what a community transferred from paper to reality should be. Each community is born with an ambition to supersede in achievement its neighbors in one or more phases of municipal endeavor. , This ambition in Okla- homa is given voice to in that word "boost," that must always be the first word in the state's industrial vocabu- lary. Because of these important and highly significant facts attaching to the average Oklahoma community, the early history of each is above the commonplace.

Achille was five years old before it became an incor- porated town, but the five preliminary years were build- ing ones. It had become commercially and educationally important; in 1915 it attained municipal prestige. The town government was established July 27, 1915, and shortly thereafter the officials began their duties. At the first meeting of the board of trustees, Tullie Thomas, manager of the Achille Mercantile Company, was by his fellow trustees elected president of that body. His election was due to liis mature business experience and the governmental experience he had acquired in the capacities of town clerk and justice of the peace, the lat- ter position having been held by him at Achille to fill an unexpired term. Mr. Thomas began a more serious study of municipal matters than he had formerly given to the subject and the fundamental ordinances of the town were set forth in the suggestive stage by him and the other trustees. Then began a period of municipal de- velopment that promised to lead in due time to the in- stallation of water, sewer and electric light systems. The beginnings of the town government were auspicious in view of the character of men elected to office, the pro- gressive character of the people, and the rich undeveloped resources of the community.

Tullie Thomas was born at Haynesville, Claiborne, Parish, Louisiana, December 22, 1868, and is a son of W. J. and Martha Jane (Morgan) Thomas. His father, who was a native of Georgia, was for many years a suc- cessful planter of Louisiana and died in that state in 1914, at the age of seventy-two years. He was a veteran of the war between the states, having fought in the Confederate army as a member of the forces of Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston. There were four children in the family: Tullie; Mrs. J. J. Hawkins, the wife of a Baptist minister of Vienna, Louisiana; B. L., who is a farmer of Haynesville, that state; and Mrs. O. C. Stringer, the wife of a physician at Achille, Oklahoma.

Tullie Thomas was educated in the public schools of Louisiana, and when he finished his studies was engaged in teaching for four years in the public schools of that state. He then entered mercantile business, which he followed for a number of years in Louisiana, continuing in this business when he came to Achille, in 1912. Five years previous, however, he had come to Oklahoma. His store, of which J. H. Holland is the leading owner, is one of the largest in a town of the population of Achille in the state, carrying at times a $49,000 stock of general merchandise. Mr. Thomas was married December 30, 1899, to Miss Effie Hall, and they have one child: Ethel May, who was born January 24, 1901. Mr. Thomas is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, in which for eleven years he was a Sunday school superin- tendent while residing in Louisiana, and a member of the official board for fourteen years. He is fraternally con- nected with and popular with the members of the local lodges of the Woodmen of the World and the Independ- ent Order of Odd Fellows. He resides in his own at- tractive and comfortable home at Achille.

HON. T. G. WILKES. A Confederate veteran, with an experience in official life aggregating many years, and for more than twenty years a resident of the old Indian Territory section of Oklahoma, T. G. Wilkes has brought valuable counsel and mature wisdom to his service as a member of the Fifth Legislature from Pittsburg County. Mr. Wilkes is a farmer, with residence at Alderson.

Born in Georgia, March 4, 1839, he is a son of T. U. and Marie Louise (Graves) Wilkes. His father, a native of South Carolina, was a farmer and a minister of the Baptist Church. The maternal grandfather was Col. Tom Graves of Yanceyville, North Carolina, an uncom- promising democrat and a church and social leader in his day. The maternal ancestry extends back to the Huguenots of France, when several members of the Graves kin were burned at the stake. Both ancestries are known in America beyond the Revolutionary war, in which both Wilkeses and Graveses served with dis- tinction. A memorial of the family is found in Georgia geography in Wilkes County.

There were no common schools in this part of Georgia when Mr. Wilkes was a boy, and his only education was obtained in the Cherokee Baptist College in Cass County, which he attended until he had nearly completed the junior year. He was then called into the Confederate Army, going in as a lieutenant and being mustered out as captain. He served in Company B of the Georgia Cavalry, saw service under the noted J. E. B. Stuart and Wade Hampton, under the general command of Robert E. Lee. With the exception of the first battle of Manassas he participated in nearly all the great battles in Virginia and was at Gettysburg.

Mr. Wilkes served as deputy sheriff in, Cass County. A few years after the war saw his removal to the West, and after a year in Texas he was for twenty years a teacher in Arkansas, and at one time principal of Green- wood Normal School. In 1893 he located in Indian Ter-

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ritory, in what is now Pittsburg County. For a number of years he was a watchman for the Rock Island Coal Company at Alderson, and during part of that time held a commission as deputy under United States Marshal Pritchett. In his record is also five years of service as justice of the peace at Alderson, and he was chairman of the Democratic Central Committee of his township and a member of the Democratic County Central Com- mittee. In 1910 Mr. Wilkes was inspector of election when the well known "grandfather law" was adopted in Oklahoma, and was among the few inspectors in his county who were not arrested, under the federal law, charged with interference with the right of suffrage of negroes.

Mr. Wilkes was elected to the Legislature in 1914, and was chairman of the committee on cotton warehouses and grain elevators, and a member of committees on mines and mining and impeachment and removal from office. Ho introduced a bill regulating the fees of deputy sheriffs and was interested in legislation affecting the coal miners and other laborers and in those relating to economy in the conduct of office.

Mr. Wilkes is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church South and the Masonic lodge. He has a brother, L. J. Wilkes, who is a merchant at Helena, Arkansas. At Greenwood, Arkansas, Mr. Wilkes married Miss Belle Baker. They are the parents of seven children: Mrs. B. L. Norman lives at McAlester, Oklahoma; Shad is a deputy sheriff at MeAlester; John S. (Bass) is a farmer at Alderson; Mrs. Henry Brooklin lives at Blue Ridge, Texas; Mrs. Joseph Lawshe lives at Alderson; J. J. is a farmer at Heavener, Oklahoma; and Miss Ghaska lives with her parents at Alderson.

JOHN PAINE TORREY, M. D. One of the most recent additions to the medical profession of Oklahoma, Doctor Torrey has brought with him to the state the culture and standing of a New England gentleman and is a prod- uct of the best schools and advantages of the East, both in a liberal and in a technical direction. Doctor Torrey had nearly twenty years of active experience as a physician and surgeon in the New England states be- fore coming to Norman, where he has rapidly acquired an influential station and practice.

Born in Georgia, Vermont, May 13, 1870, he is a son of the late Rev. Charles Cutler Torrey and is descended from Capt. William Torrey, descendant of William Torrey of Combe Saint Nicholas, County of Somerset, England, who died June, 1557. Of his descendants in the fourth generation four sous, Captain William, James, Philip, and Joseph, emigrated to America in 1640 settling near Boston, from whom all the Torreys of America seem to be descended. Captain William settled in Weymouth and from this branch of the family Ex- President Taft is also descended, through his mother who was a Torrey. Along the line were several descend- ants who fought as soldiers in the Revolutionary war.

Charles Cutler Torrey was born at Salem, Massa- chusetts, in 1827, was graduated from the University of Vermont at Burlington where he lived in the family of his uncle, President Joseph Torrey of the university, and later graduated from the Andover Theological Seminary becoming a Congregational minister. At a meeting of the American Board in Rutland, Vermont, he was ordained to go as a missionary under the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions to the Indians of the Indian Territory, and he fulfilled the duties of that mission from 1855 until 1861. He was at first stationed at Yazoo Creek among the Choctaws, but was soon transferred to the Cherokee Nation at Park Hill and Fairfield where he assisted Dr. Samuel Wor-

cester in the translation of the New Testament into Cherokee and after Doctor Worcester's death completed the translation and was recalled in 1861 to New York to attend the publication of his copy by the American Bible Society. As the mission was closed because of the war Mr. Torrey did not return but from this time he held various parishes in Vermont, Massachusetts, New York, and New Hampshire. He afterwards lived retired at Andover, Massachusetts, until his death in August, 1913, at the age of eighty-six years. Rev. Mr. Torrey married in 1855 Adelaide Lucy Damon, who was born at Read- ing, Massachusetts, in 1831, also of Puritan stock, and died at Charlotte, Vermont, in 1878. Their children were: Mary Charline, who died in 1871; Rev. Daniel Temple, who is a graduate from the University of Ver- mont and the Andover Theological Seminary, being ordained to the Congregational ministry, but is now in the insurance business, living in Providence, Rhode Island; Sarah Serena, a graduate of the Boston Cou- servatory of Music and a teacher of music at Andover, Massachusetts; Emily Reddington, who graduated from the University of Vermont, and is now a teacher in Andover; and Doctor Torrey.

John Paine Torrey attended the public schools of Massachusetts and New York, and the high school at Chateaugay, New York, for one year, and in 1892 he graduated from the Phillips-Andover Academy, prepara- tory to entering Harvard University School of Medicine, from which he took his degree of M. D. in 1896. He was interne at McLean Hospital for the Insane, 1895 to 1896. Before beginning active practice he spent two years as an interne in the Rhode Island Hospital at Providence, and had a thorough experience in every ward of the hospital before beginning independent prac- tice at Andover, Massachusetts, where he remained until January, 1915. At that date he removed to Oklahoma and has since become well established in practice at Norman. Doctor Torrey is now instructor in physical diagnosis and is an assistant in the Department of Anatomy of Oklahoma State University. His offices are at 104 East Main Street, Norman.

He is a member of the Rhode Island State Medical Society, the Oklahoma State Medical Society, recently resigned from the Massachusetts Medical Society, and also belongs to the Cleveland County Society, and the American Medical Association. He is examining physi- cian for several insurance companies. In politics he maintains an independent attitude, and is a member of the Congregational Church at Andover, Massachusetts, where for three years lie served on the school com- mittee.

In 1900 at Clinton, Ontario, Canada, Doctor Torrey married Miss Bertha Armelia Scott, daughter of S. Lester Scott, who is now a retired property owner at Toronto. To their marriage have been born three chil- dren: Lester Lochead, who died in infancy; John Paul; and Mary Clara.

VICTOR S. DECKER. Creek County is fortunate in the character and ability of its public officials, and in none more so than the present county judge, Vietor S. Decker. Judge Decker has lived in this part of Oklahoma a numn- ber of years, has become known as an able lawyer, and his efficient record in every responsibility entrusted to him was the basis for the present honor which he enjoys.

The Decker family has been identified with Oklahoma since the original opening more than thirty-five years ago. Judge Decker was born in Mankato, Kansas, April 4, 1883, a son of Samuel D. and Maggie (Sturgis) Decker. His father was born in Henry County, Illinois, in 1848. His mother, who was also a native of Illinois, died when

Victor A. Decker

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her son Judge Decker was one year old. Two years later the father married Addie E. Morrow. In 1880 he had moved to Burr Oak, Kansas, and for four years served as county attorney of Jewell County. From there he moved to Oberlin, Kansas, and in 1889, located at Guthrie, the capital of Oklahoma Territory. His home was in Guthrie until 1896, in which year he removed to Chandler, resided there up to 1910, and was a resident of Sapulpa, where he has many friends, until 1913. Since then he has made his home in St. Cloud, Florida. He took up the practice of law in early manhood, and wherever he has lived he has been active in politics. His political activities have been chiefly in the interest of party suc- cess and his own friends. He was one of the influential men in the formative period of Oklahoma 's political life, and was well known both at Guthrie and in Lincoln County. Though he is not yet seventy years of age he has a record as a soldier in the Civil war. At the age of fifteen he ran away from home in order to enlist, and served two years with an Ohio regiment. He is a member of the Baptist Church, is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias, and is an esteemed member of the Grand Army of the Republic. Judge Decker was one of his father's five children: Emma, wife of Bomar Hamlin of Colorado; Arthur, who is in the railway service with the M. K. & T. Railroad at Coffeyville, Kansas; Judge Decker; Earl, who is associated with his father; and March, engaged in mining at Trinidad, Colorado.

The home of Judge Decker was with his father until the fall of 1909, and he first knew Oklahoma when he was some six or seven years of age. He attended the common schools, read law in his father's office, and was admitted to the Oklahoma bar in January, 1907. Since then he has been in active practice, and since the fall of 1909, has been identified with the Sapulpa bar. In 1910 he was elected county attorney of Creek County, was re- elected in 1912, and from that office graduated into the position of county judge, with which he was honored in 1914. His record as a sterling public official has been such that his friends predict for him an important place in the political affairs of this state. While living at Chandler he also held the office of city attorney, and has given service as a school board member and on the city council. Politically he is identified with the republican party. In a business way Judge Decker is a partner in the Davis Grocery Company of Sapulpa, his associate being H. H. Davis. He also has some oil interests. Fra- ternally he is a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.

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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