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 48

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 48

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In politics he is a democrat. He is a deacon in the Baptist Church and a superintendent of the Sunday School, and fraternally has affiliations with Duncan Lodge No. 61, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons; Dun- can Chapter No. 21, Royal Arch Masons; Border Queen Lodge No. 60, Knights of Pythias at Comanche, of which he is past chancellor; Duncan Camp No. 515, Woodmen of the World; Duncan Chapter of the Order of Eastern Star, of which he is worthy patron. He is a member of the Duncan Chamber of Commerce.

On September 13, 1904, at Mountain Home, Arkansas, Mr. Morton married Miss Nell Love, daughter of W. A. Love, a farmer of Mountain Home. To their marriage were born five children: William Allen, who died at the age of fifteen months; Louis A., Jr., who was born April 29, 1909; Nell, who died at the age of four years; James R., who died at the age of three weeks; and Joy Louise, born September 4, 1915.

THOMAS W. CHAMPION. Since 1909 Judge Champion has been a representative and honored member of the bar of Carter County, for in that year he here associated himself in practice with his twin brother, Joseph B., who had preceded him to Oklahoma by about six months. The firm of Champion & Champion forthwith assumed a position of priority at the bar of the county and the active alliance of the twin brothers continued until the election of Thomas W. to the bench of the County Court, in the autumn of 1914, since which time Joseph B. Cham- pion has continued in active charge of the substantial and important law business built up by the firm at Ard- more, the judicial center of the county. He is made the subject of individual mention on other pages of this publication.

Judge Thomas W. Champion was born on the home- stead farm of his parents in Livingston County, Ken- tucky, and the date of his nativity was July 21, 1879. His father, Joseph B. Champion, Sr., was born in that same county, in 1849, and there passed his entire life, his active career having been marked by close and suc- cessful identification with the fundamental industries of agriculture and stockgrowing, of which he was a prominent representative in his section of the old Blue- grass State. He was a man of strong mentality, well fortified convictions and impregnable integrity of char- acter. His political allegiance was given without reser- vation to the democratic party, he was affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and both he and his wife were zealous and consistent members of the Baptist Church, on the official board of which he served many years. He died at the old home in Livingston County, Kentucky, in May, 1912, and his widow passed the closing years of her life with her sons, at Ardmore, Oklahoma, where she was summoned to eternal rest in 1909. Her maiden name was Ella Nelson, and she likewise was born and reared in Kentucky, the year of her nativity having been 1859. Of the three children the first born were the twin brothers, Thomas W. and Joseph B., and the younger brother, Robert, is a successful and popular teacher, being established in the work of his profession at Wagon Mound, New Mexico, at the time of this writing, in 1915.

The excellent schools of his native county afforded to Judge Champion his preliminary educational advantages, and in 1896 he was graduated in Hampton Academy, at Hampton, Kentucky. He devoted the ensuing two years to teaching in the schools of Livingston County, and there- after pursued a course of study in the Kentucky Southern. Normal School, at Bowling Green, where he was a student in this institution two years. In preparation for the pro- fession of his choice he entered the law department of Bowling Green University, in which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1902 and from which he received his degree of Bachelor of Laws. He was an active member of the Justian Society, maintained by students in the law department of the institution, and was active and popular in connection withi athletic affairs at the university.

After his admission to the bar of his native state Judge Champion was signally favored in that he was able to serve his professional novitiate in the office of Hon. Ollie M. James, at Marion, Crittenden County, Kentucky, Mr. James having at that time been a representative of his district in the House of Representatives of the National Legislature, and is now a United States senator, and the twin brother of Judge Champion likewise was associated in this initial stage of their law practice. In 1904 the two brothers opened an independent law office at Marion, where they continued to be associated in practice until 1908. In September of that year Joseph B. came to the new State of Oklahoma and established his residence at Ardmore, Carter County, where he was joined by his twin coadjutor in the following February. The firm soon built up a successful law business, extending into both the civil and criminal departments of practice, and the effective alliance.continued unimpaired until Thomas W. Champion was elected judge of the County Court, in November, 1914. On this bench Judge Champion is giv- ing a most able and satisfactory administration, and he holds high vantage-ground as one of the representative lawyers and jurists of Southern Oklahoma, He is aligned as a staunch supporter of the cause of the demo- cratie party and is essentially progressive and public- spirited in his civic attitude, At the primary election in which he was nominated for the office of county judge he had four opponents, and the popular estimate placed upon

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him was distinctively manifested at this time, for he received more votes than did the four other aspirants combined, and carried every precinct in the county except oue.

Judge Champion is vice president of the Carter County Bar Association, and is identified also with the Oklahoma State Bar Association and the American Bar Association. He is affiliated with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and the Woodmen of the World. Judge Cham- pion is the owner of 500 acres of valuable farm land, in Carter and Jefferson counties, and also owns improved residence property in Ardmore, including his own attractive home, on G Street Southwest.

It may be noted that Joseph Benjamin Champion, the grandfather of Judge Champion, was born in Livingston County, Kentucky, in 1811, and there passed his entire life as a farmer and stockgrower, his death having occurred in 1903, after he had attained to the venerable age of ninety-two years. His father was a Kentucky pioneer from North Carolina, and the original American progenitors of the Champion family came from France, in the colonial era of our national history.

In November, 1904, was solemnized the marriage of Judge Champion to Miss Daisy Towery, daughter of Judge Aaron Towery, who formerly served on the bench of the County Court of Crittenden County, Kentucky. Judge and Mrs. Champion have one child, Charles, who was born on the 4th of October, 1905, and who is attend- ing the public schools of Ardmore.

JAMES B. CHAMPION. This able and representative member of the bar of Carter County is engaged in the successful practice of his profession at Ardmore, the county seat, and as a practitioner he has been closely associated, here and elsewhere, with his twin brother, Judge Thomas W. Champion, who is now presiding on the bench of the County Court of Carter County. On other pages of this work appears a brief review of the career of Judge Champion, with due incidental data con- cerning the family history, and so close has been the fraternal and professional alliance of the twin brothers that the two articles presented in this volume effectually supplement each other and may well be read consecu- tively.

Joseph B. Champion was born near Salem, Livingston County, Kentucky, on the 21st of July, 1879, and after duly profiting by the advantages afforded in the public schools of his native county he entered Hampton Acad- emy, at Hampton, Kentucky, in which he was graduated in 1900, with the degree of Bachelor of Science. There- after he passed a scholastic year as a student in the University of Kentucky, at Lexington, and in 1902 he was graduated in the law department of Vanderbilt University, in the City of Nashville, Tennessee. After thus receiving his degree of Bachelor of Laws he engaged in the practice of his profession at Marion, Kentucky, where he was associated with the law firm of James & Eames until 1904, and thereafter he and his twin brother there maintained a professional alliance and substantial law business until 1908, in February of which year he established his residence at Ardmore, Oklahoma Terri- tory, where he formed a law partnership with Hon. Stillwell H. Russell, who was a member of the Supreme Court of Oklahoma at the time of his death. In 1909 Mr. Champion was here joined by his twin brother, Judge Champion, and they resumed their professional associa- tion under the firm name of Champion & Champion, which still obtains, though Judge Champion now finds the major part of his time and attention demanded by his service on the bench of the County Court, the subject of this sketch continuing in control of the large and representative law practice of the firm and maintaining

his office headquarters in the State National Bank Building.

Mr. Champion is an effective and unswerving advocate of the principles and policies of the democratic party, and represented Carter County in the Oklahoma Legisla- ture in 1910-11. He was a member of the democratic central committee from 1907, the year when Oklahoma was admitted to statehood, until 1915, and for several years past he has been president of the Ardmore Demo- cratic Club. He is affiliated with Ardmore Lodge No. 648, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.

In 1915 Mr. Champion wedded Miss Ethel Lawson, daughter of the late William W. Lawson, a representa- tive cattleman of Carter County at the time of his death.

ALBERT Z. ENGLISH. It has been given to this well known citizen and substantial capitalist of the City of Muskogee to achieve prominence and influence not only as a representative member of the Oklahoma bar and as an efficient public official but also in the domain of large and important business and capitalistic enterprises, the while his success and prestige are the more gratifying to contemplate by reason of the fact that his advancement represents the results of his own ability and worthy efforts.

A seion of the staunch old family in whose honor his native town was named, Albert Z. English was born at Englishtown, Monmouth County, New Jersey, on the 24th of November, 1868, and is a son of James E. and Mary E. (Ely) English, both of sterling Scotch-Irish lineage, the English and Ely families having been founded in New Jersey several generations ago and in the colonial period of our national history. James E. English, father of the subject of this review, was a farmer by vocation and his death occurred when Albert Z. was but thirteen years of age, his wife having survived him by a number of years.

He whose name initiates this review passed the days of his childhood and early youth in his native town and there received his rudimentary education. At the age of thirteen years, soon after the death of his father, he be- came a student in the public schools at Montclair, Essex County, New Jersey, and after his graduation in the high school at that place he attended Princeton Uni- versity.

In 1890, shortly after attaining to his legal majority, Mr. English came to the West and during the ensuing period of about twelve months he held the position of stenographer and bookkeeper for the Ash Grove White Lime Company, in Kansas City, Missouri. In 1891 he came to Indian Territory and established his residence at Muskogee, where he assumed the position of stenog- rapher in the law office of William T. Hutchings, a pioneer member of the territorial bar. Under the effect- ive preceptorship of Mr. Hutchings he pursued also the study of law, and in 1892 he was admitted to the bar of the territory. Thereafter he was associated in practice with his honored preceptor until 1897, when the partner- shin alliance was dissolved.

In 1898 Mr. English manifested his initiative ability and progressiveness by effecting the organization of the Muskogee National Telephone Company, and as principal owner and general manager of the business he continued his effective administration of the affairs of this com- pany until 1904, when the business and equipment were sold to the Pioneer Telephone Company. Mr. English gave other distinctive evidence of his civie loyalty and enterprising spirit when, in 1899, he completed the erec- tion of the substantial office building which bears his name and which he still owns. From July, 1902, until November of the following year he served as chief deputy clerk of the United States District Court for the Eastern

Frederick. B. Seven

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District of Oklahoma Territory, on the bench of which tribunal Judge Charles W. Raymond was then serving. From January 1, 1904, until January 1, 1907, Mr. Eng- lish was general manager of the Muskogee Title & Trust Company, and thereatter, owing to impaired health, he spent about two years in travel and in a recuperative sojourn in the State of California.

Returning to Muskogee in May, 1909, greatly improved in health, Mr. English did not resume active association with business affairs until the following year, when he became associated with his father-in-law, the late Fred- erick B. Severs, in the erection of the Severs Hotel, which was not completed. until September, 1912, Mr. Severs having died on the 23d of the preceding April. This essentially modern and attractive building, of ten stories, is one of the best hotels in the state, and since the death of Mr. Severs his two sons-in-law, Mr. English and Wil- liam J. Cook, have served as joint administrators of the large estate of Mr. Severs, Mr. English now devoting the major part of his time to the executive and other detail duties thus devolving upon him and having virtually re- tired completely from the practice of his profession.

Mr. English accords staunch allegiance to the republi- can party, has received the thirty-second degree of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite in the Masonic fraternity, besides being affiliated with the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.

In 1894 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. English to Miss Bessie E. Severs, concerning whose father men- tion is made in the following sketch, and the one child of this union is Fred Severs English. The family is one of marked prominence and popularity in connection with the representative social activities of the City of Muskogee.

CAPT. FREDERICK BALLARD SEVERS. On April 23, 1912, death closed a life of great and useful activities and one whose record should be an inspiration to the living. Captain Severs was one of the men of Oklahoma who built on solid foundations, and what he built still stands as a testimonial to his life. For almost sixty years he had been closely identified with the old Creek Nation of Indian Territory and Oklahoma.

The scope and influence of his life are well illustrated in a series of resolutions which were drawn up by the city council of Muskogee, and made a permanent part of the city records and requesting the suspension of busi- ness during his funeral, which was attended by thousands of his fellow citizens and friends, including many of the men most prominent in Oklahoma affairs. From these resolutions some sentences deserve to be quoted :

"Captain Frederick B. Severs for sixty years has pursued an active, progressive and honorable business career in this immediate vicinity; his integrity of char- acter, breadth of view, and patriotic devotion to public duty, as well as his blameless private life, constituted one of the chief cornerstones upon which our present prosperous and beautiful city is builded. He was not only intimately associated with the social and business life of this community from the very planting of Musko- gee to the day of his death, but also had an intimate part in laying the foundations of its civic structure, having been a member of the first board of aldermen, elected without opposition and by the practically unani- mous consensus of the people of the incorporated town of Muskogee. We feel, in common with every citizen of this city and vicinity who had the privilege and honor of personal acquaintance with Captain Severs, a deep, personal bereavement and recognize also, in full measure, the loss to any community of a man at once so generous, so brave, so upright, so far reaching in his activities, and,

withal so kindly and helpful to his fellow man, and know that it is impossible to fully set forth in this brief memorial any adequate expression of the loss we have sustained, yet we do desire by this public action to honor his memory both as a citizen and as a man. Muskogee has lost one of its most valuable citizens and one not only beloved by all who knew him, but entitled to the sincerest respect and profoundest admiration of every citizen.''

Born in Washington County, Arkansas, August 13, 1035, Frederick Ballard Severs was a son of Charles J. and Besima T. (Ballard) Severs, early settlers in Wash- ington County, where they established their home on a plantation near the line of the Cherokee Nation. The father was born in Tennessee and his wife in South Carolina, and they were both members of well known Southern families. He was a kind and generous father and gave to his children excellent educational ad- vantages, and his home before the war was famous as a place for good living and hospitality.

Frederick B. Severs spent his boyhood days on this old Southern homestead, receiving his education at Cane Hill College. In 1852 he came to the Creek Nation to teach school. From that time until his death he was connected with members of the Creek tribe. After leaving school work he went into the pecan business and at one time shipped from the pecan groves of the Creek Nation more than 60,000 pounds of pecans. In return he received their value in merchandise and this was sold to the Indians.

Later when the war broke out he enlisted under the stars and the bars and iu command of a troop of full blood Indians did much work for the lost cause. At the outbreak of the war Capt. Samuel Checote, a Creek In- dian, organized a company of his own people for service in the Confederate army and young Severs was made second lieutenant of the command, which rendezvoused at Blue Creek. Later, these troops were organized into a regiment, known as the First Creek Regiment, of which Captain Checote was made lieutenant colonel and Mr. Severs was advanced to the rank of a first lieutenant. Jack Burgess was made captain of the company, but his death occurred late in 1861 and Mr. Severs succeeded him to the captaincy and commanded the company through- out the remainder of the war. His services were in Indian Territory and portions of Arkansas and Missouri.

After peace was declared Captain Severs went to Fannin County, Texas, where he lived with his uncle Tom Ballard near Bonham for a few months, working for his uncle and also teaching in the schools of that county. About this time, however, his old home in Arkansas, which had been sorely devastated by both armies, re- quired his assistance, and he returned to Washington County. The only fortunate feature of that year for the old home place was a generous crop of apples, and procuring a large wagon and four mules Mr. Severs started for Texas with as large a load of this fruit as he could haul, disposing of it there at from $5.00 to $6.00 a bushel. He worked his way on to Navasota, and even as far as San Antonio, on a trading business, and in this way earning money enough to render substantial aid to his folks at home, particularly in supplying them with bacon, which was very scarce and high priced just after the war.

After making further trips to Sedalia, Missouri, and to Fort Gibson, Indian Territory, Mr. Severs in 1868 returned to the Creek Nation and established a store three miles west of Okmulgee. Soon afterward he moved the business into the town and was one of the first to erect a building there. Okmulgee has since honored Captain Severs as foremost among its founders, and he has frequently been called the "father of the city." He started in business on a small scale, buying hides, pecans,

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etc., and selling goods, but from year to year his trade gradually grew and prospered, and it was not long until he had become a merchant of ample financial resources and with a large general trade, extending for many miles in all directions. He was a friend of the poor Indian whose land was governed by Federal officials from Wash- ington, and in countless instances he proved his true friendship for the Indian by giving them supplies which he needed for himself. In 1878 Captain Severs erected the first two-story building in Okmulgee, a large stone structure on the corner of Sixth Street and Grand Avenue, the west and south walls of which subsequently became part of the Severs Block, which was the finest in the city when constructed in 1907. To Captain Severs belongs the distinction of being the pioneer and the larg- est individual merchant in Okmulgee and the surround- ing country, and his residence there was continuous from the beginning of the town.

In 1911 Captain Severs began the building of a $500,000 hotel at Muskogee. It was finished and opened in September, 1912, and it must remain a matter of deep regret that Captain Severs did not live a few months longer in order to realize the ambition of his life when the Severs Hotel should be completed. This is now one of the finest hotels in the State of Oklahoma.

For many years Captain Severs was also one of the leading cattle men of Indian Territory. His work in this field was equally successful. It is said that his cattle were the first to fatten and they always seemed to de- mand the highest market prices. His fortune, which had been started with a bushel of pecans, grew and flourished, and at the time of his death his estate was valued at more than $1,000,000.

His relations with the Indians of the Creek tribe were peculiarly intimate. He was one of the only three white men ever adopted into the Creek Nation, and in the land allotment he drew all the rights, privileges and rewards which any full blooded Indian enjoyed. He served at one time as secretary to the noted Chief Samuel Checote.

When thirty-five years of age Captain Severs married at Concharty in the Creek Nation, Miss Annie Anderson. Two years before his marriage Captain Severs had been adopted as a member of the Creek tribe. Captain Severs was survived by his wife and three daughters: Mrs. Bessie E. English, Mrs. Mary S. Owen and Mrs. Annie S. Cook, all of whom live in Muskogee. Captain Severs was also survived by four sisters: Mrs. A. W. Robb, Mrs. W. C. Trent, Mrs. Shields and Mrs. Stark, the first three being residents of Oklahoma. In 1856 Cap- tain Severs joined Lodge No. 1, A. F. & A. M. of Indian Territory. In politics he was a democrat.

JAMES T. HIGHLEY. Under its effective commission system of municipal government, which was adopted in 1911, Oklahoma City has had no more efficient and valu- able an official than the present incumbent of the posi- tion of commissioner of public safety, and the prefer- ment thus granted to Judge Highley well denotes his unassailable place in the confidence and respect of this ambitious and progressive community, in which he has been a prominent and influential figure from the year that marked the admission of Oklahoma as one of the sovereign commonwealths of the United States. He has long been a leader in connection with the activities of the democratic party and as the invincible advocate of the cause of organized labor, and both in Kansas and Oklahoma he became widely known as a newspaper pub- lisher and editor. He is one of the strong, steadfast and honored citizens of the Oklahoma metropolis and capital city and as such is entitled to special recognition in this history of the state.

James Thomas Highley was born in Bates County,

Missouri, on the 4th of March, 1855, and is a son of Robert B. and Mary E. (Hays) Highley, both natives of Virginia, whence they came to the West and numbered themselves among the pioneers of Kausas. Judge High- ley was afforded the advantages of the common schools, but in his broader and especially comprehensive educa- tion he well exemplifies the consistency of the statement to the effect that the discipline of the newspaper office is to the alert and ambitious young man the equivalent of a liberal education. At the age of sixteen years he entered a newspaper and general printing office at Paola, Kansas, where he served a full and thorough apprentice- ship to the "art preservative of all arts"' and became skillful in all details of the printing business as exempli- fied in an office of the scope of that in which he com - pleted his service. For three years thereafter he was employed in job-printing and morning newspaper offices in Kansas City, Missouri, and thus amplified his experi- ence under metropolitan influences and conditions.

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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