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 51

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 51

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In his political views he is a democrat, and has attained thirty-two degrees in Scottish Rite Masonry. At Corinth. Mississippi, on March 26, 1873, Doctor Brewer married Mary Elizabeth Webster, daughter of James M. Webster of Danville, Mississippi. To their marriage have been born two children : Robert P. Brewer, who married Lucile Barnett: and Bessie, who is the wife of Joseph J. McConnell, Jr., of Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

GREEN JACKSON. In view of the nomadic spirit which dominates the American public and causes its renresen- tatives to wander about restlessly from one place to

another, it is most gratifying to come in contact with a man who has passed practically his entire life in the place where he was born and reared. To be a native of Oklahoma and to have lived here for fifty-three years is the experience of but few men in this state, most of its citizens having come hither from the east and south in recent years. The career of Mr. Jackson, therefore, is of special interest for he is one of the few. He has been a factor in the state's development for half a century and is now known as one of its foremost landowners and ranchmen. His holdings aggregate 3,330 acres and this immense tract is located in Coal County, about six miles north of Centrahoma.

At Fort Arbuckle, Indian Territory, in the year 1862, occurred the birth of Green Jackson, who is a son of Wil- liam and Laura (Thompson) Jackson, the former of whom was born in St. Joseph, Missouri, whence he came to Indian Territory in 1861 and engaged in the freight- ing business, and the latter of whom was a quarter-blood Choctaw Indian. Jacob Thompson, grandfather of Mrs. Laura Jackson, was a leading man of the Choctaw tribe for many years and Green Thompson, her great unele, was at one time judge of Blue County, Choctaw Nation. "Doc" Thompson, another great uncle, was at one time sheriff of Tishomingo County, Chickasaw Nation.

Green Jackson obtained his primary educational train- ing in the neighborhood schools of the Chickasaw Nation and this discipline was supplemented by a three-years' course in Rock Academy, at Wapanucka, Indian Terri- tory. Subsequently he attended both Spencer and Arm- strong academies, pioneer tribal schools of the old Indian Nation. At Spencer Academy he was a schoolmate of Thomas W. Hunter, a member of the Oklahoma Legisla- ture and one of the leading men of the Choctaw Nation, and of William A. Durant, former speaker of the House of Representatives of both the Choctaw and State Legis- latures. At the age of twenty years Mr. Jackson went to Wise County, Texas, where for eight years he was employed on the Waggoner ranch. At the end of that time he returned to Indian Territory and entered the em- ploy of Frank Murray at Erin Springs, now Lindsay. Thence he went to Wynnewood and worked for several years for his uncle, James Gardner, and subsequently he was employed on the Bar V ranch in the Seminole Na- tion for three years. In 1892 he removed to the vicinity of what is now Byars and on the 26th of November, 1893, he purchased and established his home on the J. O. ranch, then in Atoka County but since statehood a part of Coal County.

When Mr. Jackson settled on the J. O. ranch his nearest neighbor was a fullblood Choctaw Indian three miles away and the next white settler in that vicinity was Marion Tyner, likewise three miles distant. The third white settler was John Selsor who later built one of the first houses in the Town of Centrahoma. In those pioneer days the nearest postoffice was twenty miles away -three being about the same distance, namely : Coalgate, Allen and Stonewall, now Frisco. The country was wild and frequented by outlaws, several of whom Mr. Jackson assisted in capturing. For a time he served as deputy sheriff under the Indian government to stop the activities of horse and cattle thieves. In 1897 the postoffice of Globe was established on Mr. Jackson's ranch and he conducted the same in connection with a thriving mer- cantile business until 1913, when a number of rural de- livery routes were established from the Town of Centra- homa, this causing the discontinuance of the postoffice at Globe. The first school in the neighborhood was a sub- scription school and for a time its teacher was Diek Bunch, present clerk of Coal County.

A splendidly improved ranch of 3,330 acres constitute the holdings of Mr. Jackson and the same is located six

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miles north of Centrahoma. Some 1,400 acres of this plot are under cultivation and in 1915 500 acres were planted with oats and 100 acres with wheat. Breeded cattle, horses and hogs are raised each year and the place is splendidly equipped with a fine residence and barn; nothing is spared in the way of late improvements in farm implements and other devices to lighten and facilitate work. Mr. Jackson is known as an able man- ager and his ranch is one of the best and largest show places in the county.

In 1892 was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Jackson to Miss Belle Z. Thompson, the ceremony being performed at the Sacred Heart Mission in the Pottawotamie Nation. Mrs. Jackson is a woman of kindly and attractive person- ality and she and her husband have eight children, as fol- lows: Leona is the wife of Morris Matthews, a mer- chant at Roff; Cora married David Hensley, a ranchman at Centrahoma; and Alfred, Ardelia, Simon, Green, Floyd and Onita are at home with their parents. Mr. Jackson has two half brothers and two half sisters: Rob- ert and Lena Turnbull, of San Francisco, California; James Bolin, of Centrahoma; and Mrs. R. S. Moore, of Bokchito, Oklahoma.

Mr. Jackson is a valued member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Globe and he always manifests a great interest in matters affecting the general welfare of his home community, giving his hearty support to im- provements of all kinds. He is a man of genial person- ality and his friends are legion.

JAMES A. UNDERWOOD. Though he is now a resident of Redbluff, Tehama County, California, Mr. Underwood still retains real estate interests in Woods County, Oklahoma, and as one of the pioneers who here settled at the time when the Cherokee Outlet was thrown open to settlement, in 1893, he is fully entitled to specific recognition in this history of the state in which he con- tributed his quota to civic and material development and upbuilding. He further has the distinction of having been likewise a pioneer of Kansas and his also is the honor of having been a valiant soldier of the Union in the Civil war.

Mr. Underwood was born in Knox County, Illinois, on the 18th of February, 1846, and is a son of James W. and Minerva (McDonald) Underwood, the former of whom was born in the City of Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1823, and the latter of whom was born in Kentucky, in 1824, their marriage having been solemnized in Ohio and they having become pioneer settlers in Illinois, where the devoted wife and mother died, at Peoria, in 1866. They became the parents of three sons and four daughters, of whom the subject of this sketch was the fourth in order of birth: Adaline and Mary Catherine are deceased; William J. is a sterling pioneer citizen of Dewey County, Oklahoma; Columbus and Clara are deceased; and Alice A., the widow of Henry C. Young, resides with her brother, James A., at Redbluff, California, in which locality the two are associated in the ownership of a fine cattle ranch of 512 acres. The father, James W. Under- wood, was a millwright and carpenter and became a suc- cessful contractor. He attained to the venerable age of eighty-two years and passed the gracious evening of his long and useful life in the home of his son, James A., at Alva, Oklahoma, where his death occurred in 1905.

In the schools of the present beautiful little City of Peoria, Illinois, James A. Underwood acquired his early education and in his youth he there learned the trade of carpenter, under the effective direction of his father. When the Civil war was precipitated upon a divided nation he promptly tendered his aid in defense of the Union, by enlisting in Company A, Second Independent Illinois Cavalry. With this gallant command he par-

ticipated in many engagements, including a number of important battles, but during the long period of his service he escaped injury save in the reception of two flesh wounds. He received his honorable discharge at the close of the war and he vitalizes his more gracious memories of the days of his military career by his identification with the Grand Army of the Republic, in which noble and patriotic organization he is still affiliated with Post No. 8 at Alva, Oklahoma.

After the close of the war Mr. Underwood continued in the work of his trade in Illinois until 1873, when he established his residence at Wichita, Kansas, where he became a pioneer contractor and builder and erected a number of the early houses of the now metropolitan city. He built up a profitable business and later con- tinued to be engaged in the same line of enterprise for a number of years at Leavenworth, that state, and in Kansas City, Missouri, besides which he was for a time a leading contractor at Medicine Lodge, Kansas.

In 1893, assured of the value of the opportunities presented at the opening to settlement of the Cherokee Strip in Oklahoma Territory, Mr. Underwood partici- pated in the historic "run" into the newly opened district and located a homestead claim six miles distant from the present thriving City of Alva, judicial center of Woods County. He remained on this claim ten years, made excellent improvements on the same and brought it into effective cultivation, in the meanwhile having duly perfected his title to the property. After leaving the farm, which he later sold, he engaged in the grocery business at Alva, where he still owns valuable property. He developed a substantial business, and became known as one of the representative citizens and honored pioneers of this section of the state. In 1913 he disposed of his business and removed to Redbluff, California, where he has since lived virtually retired, though he maintains a general supervision of the extensive and valuable cattle ranch in the ownership of which he and his sister are there associated. Mr. Underwood has distinctive invent- ive talent along mechanical lines and has patents on a farm gate and also a hay press, both of which were devised by him, and both of which have met with approval and practical demand. He has ever been known as a man of much business ability and civic loyalty, and his progressiveness and energy have been the dominating factors in his career of successful achievement.

At Medicine Lodge, Kansas, in 1888, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Underwood to Miss Vina Evens, and of their five children the first three died in infancy. The surviving children, Edward H. and Iris Alice, remain at the parental home, in one of the beautiful sections of Northern Cailfornia.

WILLIAM W. KERLEY, M. D. Doctor Kerley in his professional service has been prompted by a laudable ambition for advancement as well as by deep sympathy and humanitarian principles that urge him to put forth his best efforts in the alleviation of pain and suffering. He has gained recognition from the profession as one of its able representatives and the trust reposed in him by the public is indicated by the liberal patronage awarded him. Doctor Kerley has been a resident of Anadarko since the opening of this city, in 1901, and he served as county coroner and as city physician for a number of years.

At Blue Mountain, Stover County, Arkansas, June 4, 1871, occurred the birth of Dr. William W. Kerley, who is a son of James and Nancy (Meadows) Kerley, the former of whom was born in Hardin County, Tennessee, in 1848, and the latter in Wayne County, Tennessee, in 1846. As a young man the father removed from Ten-

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nessee to Blue Mountain, Arkansas, in which latter place he was married and where he continued to reside until the death of his wife in 1907. He is a farmer and stock- man by occupation and is now a resident of Cordell, Oklahoma. Seven children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Kerley, as follows: Dr. William W. is the subject of this review; James W., twin of the above, was graduated in the National University of Tennessee, with the degree of Doctor of Medicine, and he is engaged in the practice of his profession at Cordell, Oklahoma; Melissa A. is the wife of Joseph Smith, a druggist at Bessie, Okla- homa; P. A. is a farmer and stockman and maintains his home in Oil City, Oklahoma; Albert M. is a railroad man and lives in San Diego, California; Ollie is the widow of Joseph Dodson, who was a United States marshal in Arkansas and who was killed in service; she resides in Arizona; and Joseph E. is a railroad man in San Diego, California.

After completing the prescribed course in the common schools of Baxter County, Arkansas, Dr. William W. Kerley attended Searcy College for three years, at the end of which he was matriculated as a student in the University of Arkansas, in the medical department of which excellent institution he was graduated, in 1898, with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. He pursued a post-graduate course in the New York Polyclinic in 1904; attended the Chicago Polyclinic in 1907; and spent the year 1911 studying in the New York Post-graduate School. In his New York work he made a specialty of the diseases of women and children, and in this line he has met with marked success. He was engaged in the active practice of his profession in Thayer, Missouri, from 1898 to 1901 and on September 5th of the latter year came to Anadarko, being the pioneer physician in this city, where he has since resided. His offices are in the Whitlock Building and he controls a large and lucra- tive general practice. In connection with his life work he is a valued member of the Caddo County Medical Society, the Oklahoma State Medical Society and the American Medical Association. He is a republican in politics and at the present time he is a member of the County Board of Insanity. For several years he was coroner of Caddo County and he has likewise given effi- cient service as city physician. He is a stockholder in the National Bank of Anadarko and has always evinced great interest in all matters pertaining to the general improvement of his home community.

In a fraternal way Doctor Kerley is affiliated with the Woodmen of the World, the Modern Woodmen of America, the Ancient Order of United Workmen, and with the time-honored Masonic fraternity, in which latter organization he is a member of Anadarko Lodge, No. 21, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons; Valley of Guthrie Consistory, No. 1; and India Temple, Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, of Oklahoma City.

July 27, 1897, at Mountain View, Arkansas, was solemnized the marriage of Doctor Kerley to Miss Salena Alberta Winston, a daughter of the late Simpson Winston, formerly a merchant at Mountain View. Two children have been born to Dr. and Mrs. Kerley; Vir- ginia, a pupil in the public school of Anadarko; and William Roberts, who died at the age of thirteen months.

HENRY M. WATCHORN. A resident of Sapulpa, Creek County, Oklahoma, since 1901, Henry M. Watchorn is the type of successful business man who gives his energies and time freely to promote every movement connected with the best welfare of his home city. He was the third incumbent of the office of mayor at Sapulpa and has Vol. IV-12

been a most prominent and influential factor in its ma- terial and civic upbuilding.

Under the guiding of an ambitious mind and spirit he has for years been one of the world's productive workers, and wherever found has proved a loyal and useful citizen. There are many facts about his career which may be read with interest, and his individual his- tory has its proper place in the history of Oklahoma.

He was born in Queens County, Ireland, May 27, 1860, a son of Thomas and Mary (Diamond) Watchorn. His father was lodge keeper in Ireland for a wealthy widow and land owner, Mrs. Margaret Gibson. Having no chil- dren of her own, she legally adopted Henry M. Watchorn when he was about three years of age. She wanted to make him a Presbyterian minister, and personally to- gether with a governess assisted in instructing him. He received all his education while in Ireland, and although only about thirteen years of age when he came with his parents to the United States he did not attend school in this country. Mrs. Gibson furnished the money for his parents to emigrate to the United States in 1873, when Henry was thirteen years of age. She also gave her consent for her adopted son to accompany them, but with the understanding that he was to return to take up his studies and eventually inherit the large estate. Up to that time Henry Watchorn had enjoyed the companion- ship only of a governess, his adopted mother and other elderly ladies. He played no boys' games and had no boy companions. It was perhaps only natural therefore that when he arrived in the New World he soon decided that he would rather remain here and make his own way than to return and inherit eventually a fortune. Thus he had to disappoint the old Irish lady who had such cherished plans for his future.

He is in fact one of those vital and progressive sons of Ireland to whom success comes as a natural preroga- tive though his earnest and well directed personal efforts have also been a conspicuous part in his advancement. His parents on coming to America in 1873 first estab- lished their home near Detroit, Michigan, but later moved to Tuscola County in the same state, and made a home on a farm not far from Bay City. When about sixteen years of age Henry M. Watchorn went into the lumber camps in Northern Michigan, saved his money and helped his father pay for the Michigan farm. His mother died on the farm in 1884 at the age of forty-four, and his father spent the rest of his days there until his death in 1904 at the age of seventy-two. Henry was the second among three sons and three daughters.

In 1884, shortly after the death of his mother and as a young man of twenty-four, Mr. Watchorn left home and drifted into Missouri, and later his activities ex- tended into Louisiana and Texas and finally into Okla- homa. In 1886 he took up railroad work and continued in that line until after coming to Oklahoma. He was first in Oklahoma in 1901, and until 1905 served as road- master for the Frisco Railroad System. At the same time he also was interested in the lumber business. On first going to Missouri he constructed twenty-two miles of narrow gauge and fourteen miles of standard gauge rail- road, which he afterwards operated as general superin- tendent of construction for the Kansas City, Fort Scott & Memphis Railroad. Incidentally he assumed charge of the extensive timber interests of the company in South- west Missouri, and while maintaining his headquarters at Willow Springs in Howell County of that state, served two years as mayor. During his administration au elec- tric light plant and water system were installed.

When he gained information in 1905 that the Frisco Railroad was to make Sapulpa a prominent division terminal Mr. Watchorn took a long sight ahead, foresaw

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the splendid opportunities in store for the city, and soon afterwards resigned his position with the railroad and entered the real estate business. As rapidly as he could he purchased land and is credited with the platting and development of a number of excellent additions and sub- divisions to the city, including the Forest Park Addition, the principal street of which bears his name. His real estate operations have done more than make him in- dividually prosperous, and has contributed in large measure to the development and upbuilding of the city and its tributary territory.

In 1905 he was elected mayor of Sapulpa as the third mayor after the municipal government was established. His was a most efficient administration. That was not the only public service he has rendered. He was one of the men who led the campaign at statehood and brought success to the movement for making Sapulpa the county seat of Creek County, and whether as a business man or as a citizen he is liberal minded, keen, energetic and progressive.

In 1910 he erected the Watchorn apartment building 60 by 150 feet and two stories in height, the ground floor being used for business purposes and the upper floor fitted up as some of the most attractive and modern apartments in Sapulpa. He owns other valuable realty in Sapulpa.

Long prominent in politics, he is a democrat and assisted in the organization of the democratic forces in Oklahoma. He was treasurer of the Third Congressional District Campaign Committee when that body so effec- tually maneuvered the political forces for the election of Hon. James Davenport to his first term in the United States Congress. In Masonry he has attained the thirty- second degree of Scottish Rite and is a member of India Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Oklahoma City. He and his wife belong to the order of the Eastern Star, Mrs. Watchorn being worthy matron of the chapter in which she holds membership. She is also active in the Pres- byterian Church, and one of the very active members and an ex-president of the United Daughters of the Con- federacy.

In 1885 Mr. Watchorn married Mrs. Lou (West) Myers, a native of Tennessee. At the time of her mar- riage she was a widow with one son, Edson H. Myers. The latter is now a farmer in Creek County and his son Harry since infancy has lived in the home of Mr. and Mrs. Watchorn, who have reared him, and while never legally adopting him his home has been their home and he is known by the name Watchorn. In fact Mr. Watchorn plans to make him his legal heir. Young Harry Watchorn since early childhood has had a mania for fire- fighting apparatus, and worked with the local firemen without pay until given a regular position iu the depart- ment. He is now only eighteen years of age, and is regarded as one of the best drivers of fire engines in the state, and is absolutely devoted to his work.

GEORGE H. FOSTER may well be counted among those ' who fortunately have chosen that life vocation for which they best are fitted. The natural and temperamental en- dowments which in him contribute to a strongly marked character, easily lend themselves to the facile and suc- cessful accomplishment of the many responsibilities and labors inevitable to the life of a newspaper man. Suc- cessively educator, lawyer, banker and journalist, it has been in the last-named field that he has won distinction, not alone as editor and publisher of the Wagoner County Record, but as president of the Oklahoma Press Asso- ciation, which high honor he attained by election in 1915.

George H. Foster was born in Wapello County, South- east Iowa, December 16, 1867, and is a son of Caleb and

Matilda (Pickens) Foster. He was reared in his native state, but in 1884, when but seventeen years of age, and possessed only of an ordinary education, he determined to face the world alone, and accordingly made his way to Kansas, where during the next ten years he was en- gaged in teaching school, a capacity in which he won a reputation as an efficient and popular instructor. In the meanwhile, he had been devoting his leisure time to the study of law, securing such books as he could, and often applying himself to them until late into the night. This assiduous study soon brought its reward, for in 1895 he was admitted to the bar of Kansas and immediately took up his practice at Olathe, the county seat of Johnson County. Mr. Foster continued as a practitioner in the Sunflower State until 1901, in which year he removed to Guthrie and formed a law partnership with his brother, Judge J. C. Foster, who is now deceased. Later Mr. Foster and his wife engaged in the banking business with Judge Foster, at Ripley, Oklahoma, the Judge being a silent partner, and when this business was sold, George H. Foster entered upon his journalistic career as the publisher of a paper at Broken Arrow.

In 1908 Mr. Foster changed his headquarters to Wag- oner, where he and Mrs. Foster became equal owners, and editor and associate editor, respectively, of the Wagoner County Record, a weekly publication, and the very first newspaper established in Eastern Oklahoma. This they have continued to own and publish, and have developed it into one of the leading organs of this part of the state, with a large circulation and a reputation as an excellent advertising medium. Mrs. Foster, who bore the maiden name of Edith Barnett, was born in Illinois, was given good educational advantages, and for several years was a teacher in the schools of Johnson County, Kansas. From 1897 until 1901 she served as county superintendent of schools in that county, and in the lat- ter year was married to Mr. Foster. They are members of the Methodist Church, in the work of which they take an active interest, and are well known in literary and social circles of Wagoner. In 1915 Mr. Foster was honored by his fellow-members of the craft by election to the office of president of the Oklahoma Press Association. He is a republican in his political views and an influen- tial member of his party in Wagoner County, and is fra- ternally affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Mr. Foster has shown his faith in the future of Oklahoma by investments in realty here, and at the present time is the owner of a nice little ranch of 600 acres twelve miles east of Wagoner, which is well stocked with cattle and hogs and upon which he and his wife spend a considerable part of their time. His best efforts have always been given to the advancement of the in- terests and institutions of his adopted community, and in every respect he is accounted one of Wagoner's most progressive, stirring and helpful citizens.

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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