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 50

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 50

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

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HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

famous "June Bug" Railroad in that state, and the bill giving the state amended livestock laws. He served on the committees on judiciary and other important ques- tions and was always known as an active, working mem- ber. In 1888 Mr. Linney was elected to the Senate of the state, where he also made a brilliant record which brought him favorably before the people as a candidate for Congress, to which body he was elected in 1896, from the Eighth Congressional District of North Carolina. He served in the United States House of Representatives for three successive terms, and during that time was a mem- ber of numerous important committees and secured the passage of much important legislation. Mr. Linney retired of his own volition in 1902 and returned to his home town of Taylorsville, where he reengaged in prac- tice and again made a statewide reputation as a criminal lawyer. He died April 20, 1910, when his community lost one of its most able professional men. Mr. Linney was married in 1863 to Miss Dorcas A. Stephenson, who was born June 29, 1840, at Taylorsville, North Carolina, was graduated at Davenport College, at Lenoir, North Carolina, and was long known as an active religious and charitable worker. She was the third daughter of James F. and Martha (Allen) Stephenson, and died at Taylors- ville, North Carolina, March 20, 1904, aged sixty-four years. Romulus Z. and Dorcas A. Linney were the

parents of four daughters and two sons, namely; Isadore and Ola, twins, born in 1869; Hester C., born in 1871; Blanche, born in 1873; Frank A., born in 1875, now a resident of Boone, North Carolina, where he is one of the leading lawyers of his part of the state, has served three terms as state's attorney, and at present is chairman of the State Republican Central Committee; and Romu- lus Z., of this review.

Romulus Z. Linney early evidenced the studious habits which have so aided him in the attainment of a position of prominence in his profession. After completing his preliminary schooling at his native place, he entered Trinity College, Durham, North Carolina, and in 1897 matriculated at the University of Maryland, at Balti- more, where he was graduated from the medical depart- ment in the class of 1900. He subsequently furthered his training by attendance at the Georgetown Univer- sity, D. C., graduating in 1901, and later took, in 1915, a post-graduate course at a New York medical college. From 1900 until 1902

Doctor Linney served private secretary to his father, in Congress, and in 1904 came to Oklahoma, locating at Hopeton, where he almost immediately attracted to himself an extensive practice, which has grown in volume and importance as the years have passed. He is at present local surgeon for the St. Louis and San Francisco Railroad, has been for two years county physician of Woods County, served three years as president of the Woods County Medical Association, and for ten years has been president of the United States Board of Pension Examiners at Alva, Oklahoma. His fraternal connections are with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. Doctor Linney has a firm and abiding belief in the future of Woods County and has invested his capital in Woods County property, being at the present time the owner of 640 acres of valuable wheat land, adjoining Hopeton, all under cultivation and yielding him excellent returns. All of this property has been accumulated from the earnings of his practice. To his professional equipment, the doctor adds a delight- ful manner and many ingratiating qualities, and his friends, once won, are retained indefinitely.

On June 17, 1901, at Washington, D. C., Doctor Linney was married to Miss Texie N. Townsend, who was born May 7, 1878, at Hickory, North Carolina, daugh-

ter of Rev. Noah and Anna (Linthicum) Townsend, natives of Virginia. Mrs. Linney is a lady of many accomplishments and a graduate of Woods College of Washington, D. C., in which city she was reared. Doctor and Mrs. Linney have one son: Zack, who was born April 26, 1902, at Lenoir, North Carolina. He was educated at Missouri Military Academy, of Mexico, Mis- souri.

JAMES W. GRAVES. One of the honored old residents of Wagoner is James W. Graves, whose long career has been spent in various states, chiefly in Indiana, and who has resided at Wagoner for the past seven years.

It was near the battlefield of the famous battle of Tippecanoe in Tippecanoe County, Indiana, that James W. Graves was born November 17, 1839, a son of Benja- min and Mary E. (Pierce) Graves. His father was born in Virginia and became a pioneer settler in Indiana. The Graves family is of English origin, and the Ameri- can progenitor was named Benjamin and came from England to America about 1650, subsequently settling in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. The Pierce family is of Scotch-Irish lineage, and also located in Virginia at a very early date. The Graves family has paid tribute to the nation by furnishing soldiers in all its wars from the Revolution to the Spanish-American, and of very few other American families can that be said.

James W. Graves grew to manhood in Indiana, and gained a fair common school education. On the out- break of the Civil war he enlisted as a Union soldier, entering the ranks as a private, and continuing through- out the entire war, for four years, at the end of which time he was honorably discharged as first lieutenant of his company. He was in the infantry branch of the Union army, and for the greater part of the time was under the command of General Sherman. At the close of the war he marched with the victorious troops of that leader in the Grand Review at Washington, and soon afterward resumed the life of a civilian. He has long been a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, and from the age of twenty-one a member of the Masonic fraternity. Politically his support has been stanchly given to the republican party, though he never held office but once, and that was during his residence in Minnesota, where he served as sheriff of Nicollet County during the turbulent times following the Civil war.

Shortly after his marriage Mr. Graves removed to Minnesota and lived in that state until 1876. He then returned to Indiana, settling in Newton County, and became identified with merchandising at the Town of Morocco. His reputation for fair dealing and his un- swerving honesty brought him a large trade, and when he sold out possessed a competence sufficient for his needs. He then removed to a farm in Newton County, and finally after selling his property in Indiana in 1908 moved to Wagoner, Oklahoma. He has since been a resi- dent of that city, and while he has investments there and in that vicinity has no business cares that require his constant attention.

Mr. Graves married Miss Jemima B. Brennisholtz, who was a native of Montgomery County, Indiana. Her father, John Brennisholtz, was born in the Susquehanna Valley of Pennsylvania, being of Swiss lineage on the paternal side and maternally of French and Irish blood. To James W. Graves and wife were born four children: Orlando M., who is a detective by profession ; John C., a well known lawyer at Wagoner; Cora, wife of R. W. Sutcliff of Wagoner; and Sherburne, a real estate man of Wagoner.

JOSEPH F. RUMSEY. The American Ice and Oil Company of Oklahoma City is one of a number of im-

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portant industries that have been established in the capital during the past five years and have furnished the nucleus for the development of a great industrial center there. The most noteworthy feature of the busi- ness of this company is the manufacture of cottonseed products. Its' plant, located at 301 South Compress Street, was originally a brewery and ice plant. In the summer of 1911 two young men of great enterprise, with a shrewd foresight as to future development, brought their capital to Oklahoma City, bought the old brewery, organized the American Ice & Oil Company, and at once started to remodel the building and introduce the com- plicated machinery necessary for their particular needs. The president of the company since its organization has been Joseph F. Rumsey, while his brother, Richard D. Rumsey, is secretary and treasurer. The plant occupies ground 140 by 150 feet, and of its original facilities they have retained only the ice plant, which is operated chiefly during the summer months. The main business is the manufacture of cottonseed oil and cold-pressed cotton- seed cake. This has the distinction of being the third cold-pressed mill built in the state, and has been in oper- ation since 1911, and though a new business, has been developed to a point of successful permanence and flour- ishing prosperity. The business is now an important institution considered as an asset to Oklahoma City 's in- dustrial prosperity. From twenty-five to thirty people are employed, including several traveling salesmen and seed buyers. The cottonseed products have their chief markets in the states of Kansas, Nebraska and Missouri, while the "linters" are sold for the manufacturing of guncotton, at the present time a desideratum to the warring nations abroad.

The president of this company, Joseph F. Rumsey, is a young man not yet thirty years of age. He was born in Chicago in 1888, a son of J. Frank and Martha (Downing) Rumsey. His father, who was born in New York State and died in 1908, was for forty years a mem- ber of the Chicago Board of Trade. The mother died in 1893. The Rumsey family originated in Wales, but was established in the United States before the Revolu- tionary war. The Downing family was among the early Quaker peoples of Pennsylvania, located at Dowington in Westchester County of that state. Mr. Rumsey's mater- nal grandfather Downing was a prominent factor in the iron industry of Pennsylvania during the early days, and before the iron resources of the United States had been developed to a point where it was possible to supply the American demand he was in business as an importer of iron. For years he served as a director of the Bank of North America at Philadelphia, an institution founded by the eminent revolutionary financier, John Morris.

Joseph F. Rumsey is a young man of broad and lib- eral education, of thorough business ability as the suc- cess of his company demonstrates, and has contributed not a little to the welfare of Oklahoma City by establish- ing the business above described. He was educated at the Lake Forest Academy in Chicago, in the Hotchkiss School at Lakeville, Connecticut, and after this prepara- tory training entered Yale University, where he was graduated B. A. in 1911. Within a few weeks after his graduation he was in Oklahoma City arranging the details for the organization and establishment of the American Ice & Oil Company.

Mr. Rumsey married, November 4, 1915, Mary Baker, of Weatherford, Texas, a daughter of Alice Blake and John Daniel Baker.

WILLIAM F. HATFIELD, Holding distinction for being former editor and publisher, as well as founder, of the first newspaper established in Woods County, Mr. Hat- field developed the same into one of the excellent daily

papers of the state and with all consistency retained to the same the title of the Alva Pioneer. He has proved himself one of the most progressive citizens of Alva, the judicial center and metropolis of the county, and both through the agency of his paper and by personal influence he has contributed much to the civic and material advancement of the city and county, the while his course has been so ordered that he has inviolable place in popular confidence and good will.

A scion of a sterling pioneer family of Missouri, William Franklin Hatfield was born on a farm in Macon County, that state, and the date of his nativity was October 20, 1858. He is a son of Mahlon and Sarah E. (Cook) Hatfield, and his father was likewise a native of Macon County, where he was born September 6, 1834, the parents having immigrated from Kentucky to Missouri in 1831 and having been representatives of fine old Southern families. Mahlon Hatfield was one of a family of six sons and three daughters, namely: Thomas, John and William, who are deceased; Mahlon, who was the fourth son, and who was a resident of Alva, Okla- homa, at the time of his death, which occurred January 14, 1914; Abraham is a prosperous agriculturist in San Diego County, California; Charles and Arena are deceased; Elizabeth is the widow of Thomas Shane and still resides in Macon County, Missouri; and Jane is deceased.

Mahlon Hatfield was reared and educated in Missouri and there became a successful manufacturer of wagons and farm machinery, to which line of industrial enter- prise he gave his attention during virtually his entire active business career. In 1909 he retired and came to Alva, Oklahoma, where he passed the residue of his long, honorable and useful life. He was a lifelong member of the Baptist Church and was affiliated with the Independ- ent Order of Odd Fellows. In 1853 was solemnized his marriage to Miss Sarah E. Cook, who was born in Macon County, Missouri, in 1834, her parents having been natives of Grayson County, Kentucky, and having become pioneer settlers in Macon County, Missouri. Mrs. Hat- field was summoned to the life eternal on the 24th of June, 1872, at Cambridge, Missouri, and was a woman of devout Christian faith and of gentle kindliness. Of this union were born four sons and four daughters, con- cerning whom the following brief record is entered: James G., who was born December 3, 1854, is now living retired in Warrensburg, Missouri; Luella is deceased; William F., of this review, was the third in order of birth; Robert E., who was born March 10, 1865, is a resident of Warrensburg, Missouri; Clara E. (Mrs. Parr) was born January 7, 1865, and maintains her home at Camden, Missouri; Lessie, died 1878, age seven years; and the other children died in infancy.

In 1872 Mahlon Hatfield contracted a second marriage, when Sarah L. Epperson became his wife. The three children of this union are Jesse M., Charles W., and Nannie L.

On the old homestead farm of his father in Macon County, Missouri, William F. Hatfield passed the period of his boyhood and early youth, and in addition to receiving the advantages of the local schools he attended also a well ordered academy at Cambridge, Saline County, that state. As a youth he served an apprentice- ship to the trade of machinist, but in 1878 he abandoned this trade to learn that of printer, his apprenticeship in the "Art preservative of all arts" having been served in a newspaper office at Slater, Missouri. Later he was employed in the first newspaper office established at Attica, Kansas, and thereafter he held positions in news- paper and job offices at Harper and Wichita, Kansas. In 1890 Mr. Hatfield purchased the plant and business

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of the Express, a weekly paper published at Hazleton, Kansas, and of the same he continued the editor and publisher until 1893, when he became a participant in the "run" into the famous Cherokee strip or outlet of Oklahoma, which was thrown open to settlement in that year. He was one of the early settlers in the embryonic little City of Alva, the present county seat of Woods County, and here founded the Pioneer, the first news- paper in the county. Issuing the paper weekly he made it an effective exponent of community interests and progressive movements, its first issue having come from the press on the 22d of September, 1893, and the paper was continued as a weekly until June 24, 1901, when a daily edition was issued in addition to the weekly. He has thus shown his confidence and his enterprising spirit and made both editions well worthy of the excellent supporting patronage accorded to them by the repre- sentative citizens who appreciate his earnest efforts in behalf of the community. The Pioneer has ably exploited the principles and policies of the democratic party and both through its columns and his personal activities the editor and publisher has wielded large and benignant influence in political affairs in this section of the state. Mr. Hatfield has served as chairman of the Democratic Central Committee of Woods County since 1900 and during virtually this entire period has been a member also of the Democratic State Central Committee, as one of the leaders in the maneuvering of the party forces in the vigorous young commonwealth of his adoption. He was secretary of the first commercial club organized at Alva and retained this position three years.

After sixteen years of continuous and effective identi- fication with the paper of which he was the founder, Mr. Hatfield retired from active newspaper work on the 1st of September, 1909, when he sold the plant and business of the Pioneer, and in the year 1906 he had purchased 160 acres of land adjoining Alva on the west, a portion of this tract being now an integral part of the city. With characteristic liberality he donated to the city fifty-seven acres of this tract for park and lake purposes, and the property has been well improved, the while to the same has consistently been given the title of Hatfield Park, the lake also bearing his name. In manifold directions have the civic loyalty and liberality of Mr. Hatfield found exemplification and he has been a leader in movements and enterprises tending to advance the social, educational and material interests of his home city and county. He was the founder of the college library of the Northwestern State Normal School, at Alva and made the first contribution of books for the same. Further than this he was primarily instrumental in securing this excellent institution to Alva, by assisting in obtaining the passage of the legislative act creating the school.

On the 27th of May, 1883, was solemnized the mar- riage of Mr. Hatfield to Miss Fannie L. Whilhite, who is a popular factor in the social and religious activities of the community. They have no children.

SOLOMON A. LAYTON. The architects who drew the plans and have supervised the construction of the two- million-dollar state capitol of Oklahoma are Layton & Wemyss-Smith, whose offices are in the Majestic Building in Oklahoma City. That is the culminating achievement in the career of one of the ablest architects in the West, a man who began life as office boy in an architect's office back in his native State of Iowa, and whose work has since been done in some half a dozen states and who probably has more distinctive buildings to his credit than any man in the profession in the Southwest.

Solomon A. Layton was born in Lucas County, Iowa,

in 1864, a son of Andrew and Jennette (Miller) Layton. His father, a native of Ohio, was a carpenter and builder, and spent most of his life .in Iowa. Inheriting from his father the constructive talent, Solomon A. Layton allowed no time to be lost after leaving the public schools of his native state before entering upon a course of training that would fit him for his profession. In the office of an architect at Red Oak, Iowa, he made himself generally useful and picked up much practical knowledge, and at the age of nineteen, in 1883, found larger oppor- tunities while employed in an architect's office in Omaha, where he remained three years.

In 1886 Mr. Layton began business for himself at Denver, and practiced there with growing reputation until 1893. At the opening of the Cherokee Strip he came to Oklahoma, and has been identified with this section of the country most of the past twenty years. He spent two years at Perry, and another year at Temple, Texas, and from 1896 to 1900 again had his headquarters in Colorado. Since then his home has been in Okla- homa. While El Reno has been his place of residence, he moved his business to Oklahoma City in 1905, and in 1907 formed a partnership with S. Wemyss-Smith under the firm name above mentioned.

While practicing as an individual, Mr. Layton's record of professional service includes, besides many residences, a large number of business and public structures in Okla- homa and Texas, not to mention his work in Colorado and elsewhere. He was architect of several buildings of the Southwestern University at Georgetown, Texas, and of the following in Oklahoma: El Reno courthouse, Mangun courthouse, Norman courthouse, Mangum school- house, four schools at El Reno, Science Building of the Alva Normal School, the Normal School Building at Ed- mond, Wilkins Hall at the preparatory school at Ton- kawa, and Morrell Hall of the Agricultural and Mechan- ical College at Stillwater.

The firm of Layton & Wemyss-Smith, in the seven years of its existence, have been architects for the fol- lowing conspicuous business blocks in Oklahoma City: Oklahoman Building, Insurance Building, Skirvan Hotel, Patterson Building, Mercantile Building, Baum Building, Owen & Welch Building and the Clarence Bennett Building. Also the following public structures: Okla- homa City High School; numerous ward schools in the same city; two schools at Mangum; the high school buildings at Weatherford, Erick, Fairfax, Tonkawa, Norman, and a ward school in the same place; Stillwater; Houston, Texas, and El Reno; two buildings for the Tonkawa Preparatory School; Normal School at Durant ; courthouses at Sayre, Cordell, Ardmore and Sapulpa ; the Law School Building of the State University at Norman; the State Penitentiary Building at McAlester; the State Reformatory at Granite; the State Deaf and Dumb School at Sapulpa; the State Asylum Building at Fort Supply; and the girls' dormitory of the Girls' In- dustrial School at Chikasha. With such an imposing record, which puts them in a class by themselves as architects, it was on the basis of unmistakable fitness that Layton & Wemyss-Smith should be selected as archi- tects for the magnificent capitol, the erection of which will cost the state about $2,000,000, and will give Okla- homa the finest statehouse in the West.

Mr. Layton is known professionally and socially throughout the Southwest. His fraternal connections are with El Reno Lodge No. 1, A. F. & A. M .; the Royal Arch Chapter and Knight Templar Commandery and Indian Temple of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine; with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows in Oklahoma City, and the Ancient Order of United Workmen. He is a member of the Oklahoma City Golf and Country Club. In 1884 he married Miss Alice J. Wood, daughter of

S.a. Layton.

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HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

W. M. and Anna Wood, of Ringgold, Iowa. Of their two daughters, Fern is deceased, while Agnes is the wile of Thomas Esco of El Reno.

THEODORE FRELINGHUYSEN BREWER. From the time he was transferred to the Indian Mission Conference in 1878 until the year 1908, Doctor Brewer was one of the most active, influential missionaries among the Indians of old Indian Territory and the new Oklahoma. Doctor Brewer is now pastor of the Methodist Episcopal Church, at South Wagoner. His has been a long life, filled with service to the church and to humanity.

Born in Gibson County, Tennessee, January 20, 1845, he is a son of Dr. James Moody and Rebekah Green (Richardson) Brewer. His father was reared and edu- cated in Nashville, Tennessee, and his inother in Gibson County. The paternal grandfather was Sterling Brewer and the maternal grandfather Samuel Richardson.

Theodore Frelinghuysen Brewer was educated in the Yorkville Academy and in 1866 graduated with the de- gree Master of Arts from Andrew College. In the mean- time he had been through the varied experiences and hazards of a soldier's life. He was a member of the Twenty-first Tennessee Cavalry under Gen. N. B. Forrest in the Confederate army, and was in twenty-nine en- gagements, beginning with Shiloh and concluding with Franklin, though he was also in a skirmish near Selma, Alabama, just before the surrender at Gainesville, Ala- bama, to General Canby. After the surrender he was paroled by General Canby at Gainesville, and soon after- wards resumed his studies.

From early youth a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, he was licensed to preach at Humboldt, Tennessee, in October, 1866, by W. H. Leigh, presiding elder. He was admitted on trial into the Memphis Annual Conference at Jackson, Tennessee, November 10, 1866, with Bishop Robert Paine presiding. Since then, during a period of nearly half a century, he has filled the following appointments, for the first twelve years among the regular churches and circuits of the church, and since 1878 in the missionary and pastorate field of Indian Territory and Oklahoma: Dyersburg Circuit, Brownsville Circuit, Vinton Circuit, Corinth Station, Lewisburg Station, Arkansas Conference, Boonsborough Circuit, Eufaula and Muskogee Station, Indian Mission Conference, Muskogee Station, MeAlester District, Me- Alester Station, Guthrie Station and Wagoner Station.

Hand in hand with his work as a misisonary and pastor he has performed important educational services, and has not infrequently filled two positions at the same time. Doctor Brewer edited "Our Brother in Red,"' the con- ference organ for eleven years. He was principal in the Asbury Manual Labor School two years; president of the Willie Halsell College two years; president of the Spaulding Female College twenty years; and was high school visitor in Oklahoma University three years. For four years he was a member of the Oklahoma State Text Book Commission. During the period from 1886 to 1910, Doctor Brewer was elected to seven general con- ferences of the church.

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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