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 49

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 49

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In 1878 Judge Highley returned to Paola, Kansas, where he purchased the plant and business of an uncom- promising republican paper known as the Paola Spirit. He promptly transmogrified the paper into an equally ardent exponent of the cause of the democratic party, and he developed the Spirit into one of the leading dem- ocratic papers of the Sunflower State, having been asso- ciated with Bernard Sheridan in the editing and publish- ing of this paper from 1878 to 1888, and having in the meanwhile served two years as a member of the city council of Paola. In July, 1888, Judge Highley dis- posed of his newspaper and other interests at Paola and purchased the Garnett Journal, at Garnett, Kansas. This paper likewise was transformed by him from the stand- ard of the republican to that of the democratic party, and as its editor he vigorously pushed the paper forward to a place of distinctive influence in Kansas politics and as an effective exponent of local interests in its normal field of circulation. In 1892, within a short time after the election of Cleveland to the presidency of the United States, Judge Highley was appointed postmaster at Garnett, and of this office he continued the efficient and popular incumbent until the election of Mckinley to the presidency, when he promptly resigned, thus showing his independence and his consistency, since he had no desire to cling to the office under a republican adminis- tration.

In 1901 Judge Highley sold his newspaper property at Garnett and came to Oklahoma Territory, where his vigorous policies and unfaltering civic loyalty have made his influence even more benignant and pervasive. He established his home in Oklahoma City and here insti- tuted the publication of the Labor Signal, which he avowedly pushed to the front as an organ and mouth- piece of organized labor. Under his courageous and undaunted administration and able editorial policies the paper soon became a power in connection with the inter- ests of labor unions of all kinds throughout the territory, and to his efforts in this and other connections was largely due the establishing of a number of trades unions that are now numbered among the strongest and most influential in the state. He filled all the principal offices in his local union in Oklahoma City and was also elected president of the Central Trades Assembly of Oklahoma. Well, indeed, may be reproduced in this sketch the fol- lowing pertinent estimate which was written by one thoroughly familiar with the character and achievements of him to whom the article is dedicated:

"Concerning such sturdy Westerners as Judge Highley an entire volume could be written, so aggressive and humane has been his entire life, not only in connection with general civic affairs but also as a public official. He has prided himself on never having made a compro-

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mise for personal expediency, and he has insistently lived up to his honest convictions, no matter what ad- verse pressure was brought to bear or how earnestly his friends have urged a compromise. Though he has often encountered bitter opposition and even unjustified per- sonal enmity, he has the satisfaction of knowing that he has been sustained by those who stand for the right and are not afraid to do their duty. As police judge he was often referred to as the 'Golden Rule Judge,' and as a citizen no one has ever had to question his position or doubt his courage in the maintaining of his convictions. Every stage of his education has had the illumination only of experience and hard work, and thus pomp and power can not intimidate him or any policy of self- interest deflect him from the course which he believes to be right. Just a frank, honest, sincere, courageous man of the West, ready and quick to think and act- this designates Judge Highley as he is and as he is known of men."'

In 1907, the year which marked the admission of Oklahoma to statehood, Judge Highley was elected to the bench of the Police Court of Oklahoma City, and in this judicial office he served four years, with signal circum- spection and ability and with a dignity and humane consideration too often absent in the administration of the affairs of such tribunals. In this connection it may well be noted that Judge Highley made radical depar- tures from the policies of the average police judge, and especially in making it assured to all that an arrest was not equivalent to a conviction when a case was pre- sented in his court. Insistently just, he tempered justice with mercy, and the unfortunate man who was not crim- inal by instinct or desire, the youth who had made a mis- take at the outset of his career, were given sympathetic consideration when they appeared before Judge Highley, were admonished to do better and were given an opportu- nity for starting anew on the path of rectitude. This hnmane magistrate was never able to accept as conclusive evidence of guilt the mere fact that some policeman chanced to arrest a person, and when at times con- fronted by the city attorney with the statement that on some point of law the Supreme Court of the United States had made a decision at variance with that main- tained by Judge Highley, the latter, with humorous dig- nity, was prone to reply that he often found it necessary to reverse the findings of the Supreme Court.

In May, 1911, when Oklahoma City adopted the com- mission form of government, Judge Highley was made the democratic nominee for the office of commissioner of public safety. In the primary election he received 270 more votes than the next highest nominee on the entire ticket, and in the ensuing general election a most flat- tering majority was rolled up in his favor, as the citizens in general realized his special fitness for this exacting office. His first term was for only two years, but in May, 1913, he was re-elected for a term of four years. It is but consistent to say that the various municipal affairs that come within the jurisdiction of the depart- ment of which Judge, Highley is the executive head have never had so effective and careful supervision as under his earnest and faithful administration. Under his fostering care the health department and the fire department have been developed to a high standard of efficiency and have won the highest commendation in the community.

On the 19th of May, 1892, at Garnett, Kansas, was solemnized the marriage of Judge Highley to Miss Olive H. Hiatt, who was born and reared in that place and who is a daughter of John G. and Mary E. (Pattie) Hiatt, both of whom were born in Virginia, where the . respective families were founded in an early day. Rep- resentatives of the Pattie family were prominent partici-

pants in the American wars with the Indians during the period from 1821 to 1833, and an uncle of Mrs. Hiatt was the author of that valuable historical work known as Pattie's Narrative, a publication that was issued by Henry Flint, a leading publisher in Cincinnati immedi- ately after the close of this conflict and that is accepted as the most authoritative history of the Indian wars of that troublous epoch in our national annals. Judge and Mrs. Highley have two children: Thomas Hiatt High- ley, who was born May 10, 1893, is a member of the class of 1913 in the University of Oklahoma; and Mary Tem- ple Highley, who was born February 4, 1898, remains at the parental home, which is at 2206 West Nineteenth Street and which is known for its gracious and unos- tentatious hospitality.

GEORGE W. CROWELL. Among those men of dynamic force and fine constructive powers who have been fore- most in the furtherance of the civic and industrial development and progress of Woods County, Oklahoma, a place of exceptional prominence and distinction must be accorded to the sterling citizen and representative man of affairs whose name initiates this paragraph. Mr. Crowell is vice president of the First National Bank of Alva, the county seat of Woods County, was the founder of the firm of Crowell Brothers, engaged in dealing in lumber and grain; and his extraneous capi- talistic interests are likewise of broad scope and impor- tance, as shown by his being president of the Panhandle Grain Company of Amarillo, Texas, and president and treasurer of the Centennial Coal Company of Denver, Colorado.

A scion of staunch southern ancestry, George Wash- ington Crowell was born in Stanly County, North Caro- lina, on the 2d of February, 1861, his advent into the world having thus occurred about the time when the Civil war was precipitated,-a conflict that was destined to bring his native state into prominence as a stage of military activities and ultimately to bear to it much of desolation and material loss. He is a son of James and Catherine (Russell) Crowell, both likewise natives of North Carolina and members of old and honored fami- lies of that commonwealth. James Crowell was born in Stanly County, on the 29th of April, 1827, and in the same county were born and reared his parents, who there passed their entire lives. James Crowell was a pros- perous agriculturist in his native county at the outbreak of the Civil war and he promptly subordinated all per- sonal interests to tender his aid in defense of the Con- federate cause. He enlisted as a private in a North Carolina regiment and with the same gave faithful and valiant service in the commands of Gen. Stonewall Jack- son and the distinguished Gen. Robert E. Lee. He took part in many important engagements, including the battles of Bull Run and Gettysburg, and in after years perpetuated the memories of his military career through his affiliation with the United Confederate Veterans, though he left the South within a short period after the close of the war. In 1849 was solemnized his mar- riage to Miss Catherine Russell, who was born September 9, 1829, and whose parents likewise were natives of North Carolina. James Crowell devoted his entire active carcer to agricultural pursuits and the closing years of his life were passed at Pittsburg, Kansas, where he died on the 25th of January, 1906, and his devoted wife was sum- moned to cternal rest on the 17th of March, 1904. They became the parents of five sons and six daughters, concerning whom the following brief record is given :

Margaret was born September 9, 1851; James Robert was born July 27, 1853, and died July 22, 1884; Jose- phine was born February 25, 1854, and her death

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occurred March 9, 1914; Estella was born February 7, 1858; David Henry Baxter was born December 10, 1856, and is now associated with his brother, George W., in the lumber and grain business, under the firm name of Crowell Brothers, his place of residence being Attica, Harper County, Kansas; Franklin, who was born May 18, 1859, is a physician by profession; George W., of this review, was the next in order of birth; and the names and respective dates of birth of the other children are as here noted,-Thomas Jefferson, May 20, 1863; Samantha, January 27, 1866; Sarah Catherine, June 14, 1868; and Mary, April 27, 1871.

The birthplace of George W. Crowell was the old homestead farm or plantation of his father in Stanly County, North Carolina, and he was about eight years of age at the time of the family removal to McLean County, Illinois, in 1868. There his father became a substantial farmer and there he himself was reared to adult age. He continued to attend the public schools of McLean County until he was eighteen years old, in the meanwhile having contributed his quota to the work and management of the home farm. In 1879, at the age noted above, he removed to Crawford County, Kansas, and later he rounded out his educational discipline by completing a course in the Kansas State Normal School at Fort Scott, in which institution he was graduated as a member of the class of 1884. In the same year he entered the employ of the Long-Bell Lumber Company, with the definite purpose of learning the lumber business in all of its details. Within the same year he was promoted to the management of one of the yards of this company, and in 1886 he engaged in the lumber business in an independent way, by purchasing the yard and business of the company at Attica, Kansas, where he effected the organization of the present firm of Crowell Brothers, in which his associate is his elder brother, David H. B. Crowell. The firm now maintains a series of well equipped lumber yards, at different points in Kansas and Oklahoma and the business has expanded to large and substantial proportions under the careful, pro- gressive and honorable management of the enterprising proprietors.

In 1893 Mr. Crowell became one of the large concourse of prospective settlers who participated in the run into the famous Cherokee Strip, or Outlet, of Oklahoma, at the time it was thrown open to settlement. He estab- lished his residence at Alva, the present thriving little metropolis and judicial center of Woods County, and the governor of Oklahoma Territory appointed him chairman of the first board of county commissioners of the new county. Mr. Crowell thus played an important part in formulating the system of government for the county and also was influential in the progressive movements made by the board for the furtherance of the best interests of the ambitious county and its people. Mr. Crowell has otherwise given effective service in behalf of the public, and especially through his several years incumbency of the office of member of the city council of Alva. He is unswerving in his allegiance to the democratic party and has been an active worker in its ranks during the years of his residence in Oklahoma, as he has served as chairman of its county committee in Woods County and also as a member of the democratic committee for the congressional district of which Woods County is a part. In 1896 Mr. Crowell represented Oklahoma as a delegate to the Democratic National Con- vention, in Chicago, and in all things he is to be desig- nated as a loyal, progressive and public-spirited citizen as well as a straightforward, alert and substantial busi- ness man. In the time-honored Masonic fraternity he has received the chivalric degrees and besides being

actively affiliated with the various York Rite bodies, including the commandery of Knights Templars, he is identified also with the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine.

At Girard, Kansas, on the 16th of September, 1885, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Crowell to Miss Etta C. Friend, who was born on a farm in Macoupin County, Illinois, on the 7th of April, 1862, and who was a daughter of Daniel M. and Charlotte (Lewis) Friend. Mrs. Crowell, a woman of gentle and gracious per- sonality and a lifelong member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, was summoned to the life eternal on the 9th of June, 1911, and she is survived by six children, concerning whom specific mention is made in the follow- ing paragraph

Frank Dee, who was born at Attica, Kansas, on the 24th of December, 1886, completed his education in the Northwestern State Normal School at Alva, Oklahoma, and he still retains his residence in Woods County. He has received the thirty-third degree in the Masonic fraternity, besides being affiliated with the Mystic Shrine. On the 4th of October, 1911, at Alva, he wedded Miss Ethel Noble, who was born at Medicine Lodge, Kansas, November 21, 1887, and they have one child, Robert Dee, Jr., who was born March 30, 1914. Ralph Baxter Crowell, the second son, was born at Attica, Kansas, on the 15th of July, 1888, and his educational advantages included those of both the University of Kansas and Vanderbilt University, at Nashville, Ten- nessee. August 27, 1912, he married Miss Isis Stone, who was born in Bourbon County, Kentucky, on the 15th of December, 1893. Hazel May, who was born at Attica, Kansas, December 14, 1889, and Helen Lewis, born at the same place, May 29, 1893, remain at the parental home, both having taken courses of study in the North- western State Normal School at Alva, Oklahoma. James Monroe and George Washington, Jr., are both natives of Alva, where the former was born July 10, 1900, and the latter October 2, 1903.

On the 1st of October, 1913, Mr. Crowell contracted a second marriage, by his union with Mae Wilcox, who was born at Neosho, Missouri, on the 6th of April, 1884, and who is the popular chatelaine of their pleasant and hospitable home in Alva.

JOHN F. MURPHY. Among the sterling citizens who have become prominently concerned with the great oil- producing industry of Oklahoma after broad and varied experience in the older oil fields of the Union, a place of special prominence must be accorded to Mr. Murphy, who is one of the well known and honored citizens of Sapulpa, Creek County, where he stands forth as one of the lead- ing representatives of the oil producing industry in this section of the state and as one of the prominent and successful contractors in connection with this important line of enterprise, which has contributed much to the material wealth and progress of Oklahoma. He became identified with oil producing activities in Pennsylvania when a mere youth and his experience has covered a period of many years, within which he has been active in the fields of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and West Virginia, prior to establishing his residence in Oklahoma. It must thus be readily understood that he is a man of authoritative judgment in the various details of the oil business, and it may further be said that he repre- sents the best ideals of loyal and public-spirited citizen- ship.

Mr. Murphy reverts with a due mead of satisfaction to the fact that he can claim the old Empire State as the place of his nativity. He was born at Ellicottville, Cat- taraugus County, New York, on the 28th of September,

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1865, and is a son of John and Margaret (Cassidy) Murphy, both natives of the fair old Emerald Isle, the father having been born in County Kilkenny and the mother in County Westmeath, Ireland, where the former was reared to adult age, the latter having been a girl of eight years when she accompanied her parents ou their immigration to America and the family home having been established in the State of New York.

John Murphy was reared and educated in his native land and at the age of twenty-one years he severed the home ties and set forth to seek his fortunes in the United States. He found employment in the State of New York, and at Ellicottville, Cattaraugus County, he met and mar- ried his young countrywoman, Margaret Cassidy, who proved to him a devoted companion and helpmeet dur- ing the long years of their gracious association on the pathway of life. After his marriage Mr. Murphy con- tinued his residence at Ellicottville until 1876, when he removed with his family to Bradford, Pennsylvania, a city then a center of oil operations in that section of the Keystone State. Of that city he and his wife con- tinued as honored residents during the remainder of their long and useful lives, and, after the lapse of nearly forty years their loving companionship was broken by the death of the devoted husband and father, who died in 1913, at the age of eighty-two years. In death they were not long divided, however, for in August of the following year Mrs. Murphy passed to the life eternal, at the venerable age of eighty-seven years. During the last twenty years of his life Mr. Murphy was associated with a leading plumbing firm in Bradford, and he was known and honored as an upright, sincere and worthy citizen who was well entitled to the unqualified confidence and esteem in which he was held in the community that had so long represented his home. Of the six children the last two were twins, and of the number all are living except one of the twins.

John F. Murphy, the immediate subject of this re- view, gained his early education in the parochial and public schools of his native place and of Bradford, Pennsylvania, to which latter city the family removed when he was about eleven years of age. At the age of eighteen years he initiated his association with the oil industry, and his first service was as a dresser of tools used in drilling wells and in connection with other oil operations. He continued his connection with oil activi- ties in Pennsylvania until 1886, when he became one of the pioneers in the oil field about Findlay, Hancock County, Ohio. Thereafter he was at intervals associated with the oil-development industry in Indiana, and in that state, in 1895, was solemnized his marriage to Miss Har- riet Unis Martin, who was born and reared in Indiana and who is a daughter of Albert and Mary E. Martin, both of whom continued their residence in that state until their death. It may consistently be stated at this juncture that Mr. and Mrs. Murphy have four children, -Helen, Mary, Julia, and Katherine.

After his marriage Mr. Murphy returned to New York, where for two years he and his wife maintained their residence in Seneca County, in the beautiful lake district of that state. They then returned to Indiana and established their home at Montpelier, Blackford County, where Mr. Murphy developed a successful business as a contractor in the oil field of that locality. In 1904 he transferred his residence to the City of Cleveland, Ohio, in which state he acquired control of a large acreage of oil land and initiated development work, besides still doing a substantial contracting business. His leases proved to be just outside the oil pools, but later the land became a successful producing tract, the judgment of Mr. Murphy having been thus proved good in one sense,

and his only trouble having been that he did not drive his wells sufficiently deep, though but by a narrow margin.

In 1906 Mr. Murphy came to Oklahoma and established his residence at Sapulpa, the now thriving metropolis and judicial center of Creek County, where he has since main- tained his home and where he has become a prominent and successful representative of the oil industry in this section of the state. He is a stockholder in the cor- poration known as the Limestone Oil & Gas Company, and is interested with the Shelby Oil & Gas Company, at Tulsa. He has minor interests in other companies and holds development leases on hundreds of acres in Creek and adjoining counties. He has found also a profitable field of operation as a contractor in the oil fields, and as an authority in the business his counsel and expert advice are frequently sought.

Mr. Murphy has been specially progressive and public- spirited and has shown himself fully in line with the vital energy of the state of his adoption. He takes a lively interest in all that touches the civic and material welfare of his home city and was elected the first commissioner of public safety in Sapulpa after the city adopted the commission system of municipal government. This office, however, he resigned after serving one year, owing to the demands placed upon his time and attention by his important business interests. In national politics he is aligned with the democratic party, but in local affairs he maintains an independent attitude and gives his sup- port to the men and measures meeting the approval of his judgment, without regard to strict partisan lines. In the time-honored Masonic fraternity he has received the thirty-second degree of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite and is affiliated also with the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine.

ROMULUS Z. LINNEY, M. D. When Dr. Romulus Z. Linney took up his residence at Hopeton, in 1904, there was added to the citizenship of that thriving Okla- homa village an individual whose professional skill and willingness to cooperate in public-spirited movements were to prove of inestimable value to the community. Since his arrival here, he has not only attained promi- neuce in the line of his calling, but has become one of the large landholders of his county, and while his per- sonal interests have been extensive and important, demanding much of his attention, he has never been too busy to contribute of his best abilities in the interest of progress and civic development.

Doctor Linney is a man of good birth, excellent breed- ing and fine mental endowment. He was born July 1, 1877, at Taylorsville, North Carolina, a son of Romulus Z. and Dorcas A. (Stephenson) Linney, and a grandson of Dr. J. C. and Martha Linney, natives of Tennessee. The father was born in 1844, at Guilford, North Caro- lina, the fourth of his parents' children, and during the Civil war enlisted in a North Carolina infantry regiment in the Confederate army, subsequently participating in a number of engagements and being seriously wounded at the battle of Chancellorsville. At the age of twenty- two years he began the study of law in the office of Judge Nathaniel Folk, an eminent jurist of North Caro- lina, and after graduating from York Institute, North Carolina, and being admitted to practice, he began to follow his profession. He soon attracted to himself a large and important practice, and as the years passed began to become a prominent figure in public life. In 1884 he was elected to the legislature of North Caro- lina, from Alexander County, serving four years in that body and making a distinguished record as a legislator. Ho was the author of a number of important measures, including the enactment of the law establishing the

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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