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 58
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SAM HILL WILLIAMSON, M. D. Since 1904, Dr. Sam Hill Williamson has occupied a respected position among the medical men of Stephens County, where he is now serving in the capacity of physician of the board of commissioners of the insane. In the early years of his manhood he applied himself to various occupations not connected with professional work, but only' with the object in view of entering the field of medicine and surgery, which, from the outset of his career, he had chosen as the vocation to occupy his mature energies. His success has vindicated his youthful judgment and in the community in which his labors have been prosecuted he is unreservedly accounted a conscientious and learned practitioner and skilled surgeon.
Doctor Williamson was born at Russellville, Pope County, Arkansas, December 25. 1879, and is a son of W. W. and Sallie (Brigham) Williamson. The family originated in England and came to America prior to the Revolutionary war, being early pioneers of Kentucky. Later the name was taken to Tennessee, where was born Col. Jack Williamson, the grandfather of Doctor Wil- liamson. The grandfather removed to Russellville, Arkansas, as a young man and subsequently became a leading citizen of his community, engaging in agricul- tural pursuits and taking an active and important part in civic and political affairs. When the Civil war came on he accepted a colonel's commission in the Confederate army, and after two years of service was taken sick, after the battle of Corinth, and died in an army hospital.
W. W. Williamson, father of Doctor Williamson, was horn in Pope County, near Russellville, Arkansas, in 1855, and there adopted his father's vocation of farm- ing, in which he was engaged until 1900. In that year
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he established himself in the lumber business, and has continued to be identified with this line at Russellville to the present time. He is a democrat in his political views, belongs to the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, and holds membership in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights of the Maccabees and other fra- ternal orders. Mr. Williamson was married the first time to Miss Sallie Brigham, who was born at Morrill- town, Conway County, Arkansas, in 1863, and died at Russellville, Arkansas, in 1890. They were the parents of four children: Dr. Sam Hill, of this review; Bessie, who is the widow of James Love, who was a farmer, and resides at Russellville; Josephine, who is the wife of William J. Bowden, a rural mail carrier of Atkins, Arkansas; and Jack Lawrence, who is engaged in the feed business at Russellville. Mr. Williamson's second union was with Thula Hamilton, who was born at Rns- sellville, Arkansas, and died there in 1896, the mother of one danghter: Thula Kate, who is the wife of James Parker, of Russellville. Mr. Williamson was married the third time to Lizzie Bryan, of Russellville, who died at that place in 1911, and they had two children: Buena Vista and Wood, both of whom reside with their father.
Sam Hill Williamson received his early education in the public schools of Russellville, graduating from the high school there with the class of 1897. For three years thereafter he was employed as a clerk in a general store at Russellville, and in 1901 came to Oklahoma, locating at Duncan, where for six months he worked on a cattle ranch. During this period he had not put aside his ambitions for a professional eareer, and after some preparation entered Memphis (Tennessee) Hospital Medical College, where he was dnly graduated in April, 1904, with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. Returning then to his native town, he practiced for six months, then coming to Duncan, where he has continned to enjoy an increasingly important and Incrative practice in both medicine and surgery. His abilities were recognized sev- eral years ago by the board of commissioners of Stephens Connty, which appointed him to the office of physician of the board of insane. Doctor Williamson holds mem- bership in the Stephens Connty Medical Society, the Oklahoma State Medical Society and the American Medi- cal Association. He is a democrat in his political views, and he and the members of his family belong to the Methodist Episcopal Church. Doctor Williamson is devoted to his professionional labors to the exclusion of participation in ontside affairs, but has never been too busily occupied to give his support to measures which promise to benefit the locality of his adoption.
On October 9, 1907, at Duncan, Doetor Williamson was married to Miss Frankie Jones, daughter of Frank Jones, a leading banker, farmer and merchant of Dun- can. Mr. Jones was born near Gainesville, Texas, in 1865, and married Miss Carrie Colvert, a one-quarter Chickasaw Indian, born in 1875, in Indian Territory. To Doctor and Mrs. Williamson there have been born three ehildren : William Franklin, Lynn Colvert and Velma Doris, the eldest of whom is attending the public schools of Duncan.
THOMAS J. FARRAR. Many of the original Oklahoma pioneers will at once recognize this name, since Mr. Farrar was in old Oklahoma Territory in the Government service soon after the opening in 1889. For more than twenty years he has been a practicing lawyer, though a number of years were subtracted from his profession by his Government service in different capacities, partly in old Oklahoma Territory and partly on the Indian Terri- tory side. Jndge Farrar now has a large private prac- tice as a lawyer at Okmnlgee. He is a man of wide
information, of interesting personality and has a great fund of story and history which he has acquired by per- sonal contact and experience with the white pioneers of this country as well as with the Indian tribes.
It was in Franklin County, Missonri, sixty-five miles west of St. Lonis, where Thomas J. Farrar was born August 15, 1861. His parents were Richard and Mary Jane ( Thurmond) Farrar, both of whom were natives of Franklin County, Missouri, and never in all their lives went ontside the state. The Farrars are of Englishi descent and were Colonial settlers in Virginia. Great- grandfather Farrar served as a soldier during the Revo- lutionary war and was in the army commanded by Gen. Nathanael Greene in the Sonthern campaign. Mr. Farrar's paternal grandmother was Lydia Harrison, and she was born in Virginia and was a first cousin to Wil- liam Henry Harrison, afterwards President of the United States. Grandfather Richard Farrar came out of Ken- tucky to Missouri about 1797. That was more than twenty years before Missonri was admitted to the Union and it was still under Spanish rule, shortly afterwards being transferred to the French under Napoleon and still later to the American Government as a part of the Louisiana Purchase. Richard Farrar was one of the first pioneers to penetrate the wilderness of what is now Franklin County, Missonri, and he also lived in St. Louis County of this state. Like many of the early settlers he was a skilled woodsman and linnter and made his living that way as well as by farming. His death oc- enrred in Franklin County in 1879 when past eighty years of age. Richard Farrar, father of Thomas J., died in Missouri January 5, 1908, at the age of seventy-five, and his widow is now living at Chadwiek, Missouri. The father was a farmer by occupation, and during the Civil war he was a member of the Missonri Home Guard.
The oldest in a family of eight children, five of whom are still living, Thomas J. Farrar grew up on the old homestead in Franklin County, and lived there until 1890, His early experiences were those of a farm boy, his education came from the country sehools, and with three years of college life and besides farming he gained considerable experience in public affairs as an employe in county offices.
His first visit to Oklahoma was made in 1890. He served as clerk of the United States District Court of old Oklahoma Territory for two years until Judge Seay was appointed governor of the territory. Governor Seay appointed him county attorney of Blaine County, and he held that office one year. In the meantime he had been pursuing the study of law as earnestly and rapidly as his other duties permitted, and in 1893 he completed a course in the St. Louis Law School and was granted his de- gree LL. B.
After finishing his law stndies he returned to Okla- homa and took up the practice of law at Kingfisher. That was his home until 1897, in which year he went to Shawnee and was there a year. Eventually he became identified with the Government service as an employe of the Dawes Commission whose headquarters were at Muskogee. For a time he was clerk and head of the contest division at the Cherokee Land Office in Tahle- quah. In 1905 he was appointed United States commis- sioner for the northern district of Indian Territory, and continued in that office until statehood. On leaving office he at once resumed private practice, but on July 1, 1908, was again called into publie life by his appointment as district Indian agent at Okmulgee. Somewhat later that position was abolished by law, and he was then ap- pointed field elerk with dnties similar to those he had performed as district agent. He continued as field clerk until April 4, 1915.
Thomas & Farrar
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Thus Mr. Farrar has spent a number of years in the Indian and Government service, where his ability as a lawyer and his broad experience in Oklahoma affairs stood him in good stead.
In politics he is a republican, and is a member of the Episcopal Church. At Shawnee in 1898 he married Miss Elva Allen. Mrs. Farrar was born in Harrison County, Missouri.
HERBERT ELLIS THOMSON. The incumbent of the office of postmaster of Wagoner since his appointment, April 1, 1915, Herbert Ellis Thomson has proved during the comparatively short period of his official service a thoroughly capable, energetic and faithful public servant. His long and active career has embraced a number of activities, in which he has displayed the possession of versatile talents, and the benefit of his experience is being given unreservedly to his office and to the good of the service.
. Mr. Thomson was born in Navarro County, Texas, May 14, 1860, and is a son of James R. and Lucebra (Edwards) Thomson. His parents, Kentuckians by birth, removed to Texas about the year 1858 and James R. Thomson was engaged in merchandising at Brenham for several years. He then disposed of his mercantile interests to adopt the vocation of traveling salesman, but gave up that occupation to establish himself in busi- ness again, this time as the proprietor of a hotel at Brenham. At the recommendation of his son-in-law, Thomas C. Harrill, Mr. Thomson brought his family from Texas to Oklahoma in 1894, and took up his residence at Wagoner, where he passed the remaining years of his active life. Mr. Thomson entered a company of Texas volunteers at the outbreak of the war between the states, for service in the Confederate army, and through conspicuous gallantry was successively pro- moted from private to the rank of captain. Both in Texas and Oklahoma he was held in high esteem as a man of integrity and a citizen of much public spirit.
Herbert Ellis Thomson was reared at Brenham, where he received a public school education, and at the age of nineteen years engaged in railroading, a vocation which attracts many young men, but in which few remain as long as did Mr. Thomson. For a quarter of a cen- tury he continued to be identified with this business at various points in Texas, rising from shipping clerk to the position of station agent, a capacity in which he acted for many years. In 1905 he gave up railroad- ing, and in 1898 came to Oklahoma and established his home at Wagoner, where he has since continued to re- side. On his arrival he became the proprietor of a hay and grain business, and later associated himself with others in the feeding of cattle, and continued to be occupied in this way until receiving the appointment as postmaster of Wagoner, the duties of which position he assumed April 1, 1915. Mr. Thomson has always been a stanch democrat in his political views and an active and influential worker during campaigns. In his present capacity he is courteons and affable in his dealings with the people, an able administrator of the affairs of the postoffice, and a helpful factor in ad- vancing the efficiency of the mail service.
Mr. Thomson was married in 1887, to Miss Nena I. Chaplin, of Brenham. Texas, and to this union there have been born two daughters and four sons.
JOHN B. DOOLIN. A resident of Oklahoma since 1899, Mr. Doolin has been one of the vigorons, progressive and public-spirited citizens who have brought to hear dynamic and well directed energy in furthering the civic and material development of this favored commonwealth.
He has been one of the influential figures in the councils and activities of the democratic party contingent in Oklahoma, served as state fish and game warden from 1911 until the 1st of January, 1915, achieved a splendid work in bringing efficiency to this department of the state government, and as a business man he has been specially successful in his operations. He maintains his home at Alva, the judicial center of Woods County, where he is one of the interested principals in the Schaefer-Doolin Mortgage Company, one of the leading concerns of the kind in the state. Since 1906 he has been prominently identified with the affairs of the demo- cratic party in Oklahoma, as a loyal and public-spirited citizen, and his influence in connection with the industrial progress of the vital young commonwealth has of recent years been specially directed in the development of oil and gas producing enterprises, in which line he is classed among the representative independent operators in the state.
Mr. Doolin was born in Caldwell County, Missouri, in 1879, and is a son of John and Alice (Tobin) Doolin, who were early settlers of that section of the state, where the father was a prosperous farmer and merchant at the time of his death, which occurred when he was only thirty-two years of age. His father was a native of Caldwell County, Missouri. The parents of Mrs. Alice (Tobin) Doolin came from Ireland to America in 1830 and first made settlement in the Dominion of Canada, whence they removed to Missouri in 1874.
John B. Doolin acquired his early education in the public schools of his native county and his discipline included a course in the high school at Cameron, Mis- souri. Thereafter he was engaged in farming and in the mercantile business in Missouri until 1899, when, at the age of twenty years, he numbered himself among the pioneers of Woods County, Oklahoma. He engaged in the general merchandise business at Alva, and two years later, at the age of twenty-two, he was elected register of deeds of the county, a position of which he remained the incumbent one term. Upon his retirement from public office he engaged in the farm loan business, and his enterprise, fairness and well formulated policies made the business successful from its initiation. In 1906 he amplified the scope of his operations by entering into a partnership association with John H. Schaefer, and this effective alliance has since continued under the title of the Schaefer-Doolin Mortgage Company. The com- pany has extended its operations over twelve or more counties in Western Oklahoma and its business in the extending of loans on approved real estate securities is now more extensive than that of any other independent firm or company conducting business in the state west of Oklahoma City.
Well fortified in his opinions concerning governmental and political matters, Mr. Doolin has been an active and effective worker in the ranks of the democratic party during the entire period of statehood in Oklahoma. In 1906 Judge Jesse Dunn, chairman of the Oklahoma Democratic Central Committee, appointed Mr. Doolin a member of the committee assigned to the drafting of rules for the primary election of that year in which were to be nominated delegates to the State Constitutional Convention, and the rules formulated by this committee were observed in lieu of a definite primary law. In the first state campaign, that of 1907, Mr. Doolin was selected manager of the campaign of Hon. Lee Cruce, the democratic candidate for governor, and he distinguished himself for his finesse in the maneuvering of the political forces at his command.
In 1908 Mr. Doolin was chosen assistant treasurer of the National Democratic Campaign Committee, and
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under Governor Haskell, treasurer of the committee, he served in this important capacity at the national head- quarters of the party, in the City of Chicago, his work having there been continued after Hon. Herman Ritter, of New York, had succeeded Governor Haskell as treasurer of the committec. In 1910 it again became the privilege and pleasure of Mr. Doolin to render gallant aid to his valued friend, Hon. Lee Cruce, in the latter's secoud and victorious campaign for Governor of Okla- homa, and as assistant campaign manager he was associated closely with Hon. John R. Williams, of Hobart, in effecting the nomination and election of Governor Cruce. In 1911 Mr. Doolin was appointed state fish and game warden, and of this office he continued the able and valued incumbeut until the close of the administration of Governor Cruce. Hc devoted much thought and time to systematizing and making effective the work of his department and one of the noteworthy achievements of his administration was the establishing of the bird day in Oklahoma-a day set apart for instructing children in the public schools in knowledge and appreciation of the wild birds, and their proper treatment, protection and perpetuation. Two official reports issued by Mr. Doolin are interesting records of outdoor and wild life in Oklahoma, and the same have received special commendation in the representative pub- lications devoted to game and sportsmauship in various parts of the Union, the while similar tributes have been paid by the newspaper press. Under the regime of Mr. Doolin the department of the fish and game warden adopted a policy based on the consistent assumption that fish and game were to be held for the benefit of all citizens of the state rather than for the select coteries of anglers and sportsmen, and every interest of the people in this connection was carefully considered in regulations regarding the propagation, conservation and killing of fish and wild game. Special provisions were made for the study of fish, bird and general wild animals by proper instructions to the pupils of the public schools, and the enthusiastic efforts of Mr. Doolin brought to his department the earnest co-operation of teachers, clergymen and loyal devotees of sports afield and afloat. At the beginning of Warden Doolin's administration his department was one of slight influence and importance, and upon his retirement from office it was one of the most widely known and definitely valued departments of the auxiliary branches of the state government.
In addition to his extensive operations in the mortgage loan business Mr. Doolin has been prominently concerned with the oil industry in Oklahoma since 1912, when he and his associates became actively identified with development work in the Schulter field of Okmulgee County, where they now control some of the best pro- ducing properties in the district. Mr. Doolin is a member of the board of directors of the Aetna Building and Loan Association of Topeka, Kansas, this being recog- nized as one of the largest organizations of the kind in the United States. He is affiliated with Alva Lodge, No. 1184, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, having been one of the five men who applied for and obtained the charter for this lodge.
On the 3d of July, 1913, Mr. Doolin wedded Miss Lee Museller, daughter of Judge A, R. Museller, who is one of the advisory editors of this history and concerning whom individual mention is made on other pages of the publication.
WILLIAM W. WATERMAN. At this juneturo in a volume devoted to the careers of representative citizens of Oklahoma, it is a pleasure to insert a brief history of William W. Waterman, who has ever been on the alert
to forward all incasures and enterprises projected for the general welfare and who has served his community in various official positions of trust and responsibility. In the fall of 1912 he was elected treasurer of Caddo County and he was re-elected to that office in the fall of 1914. Most of his active career has been devoted to the bank- ing business, in which connection he has been cashier of a number of prominent banks in Caddo County.
A native of the Badger State, William W. Waterman was born at Waupaca, Wisconsin, January 21, 1869. He is a son of James M. and Emma L. (West) Waterman, the former of whom was born in the State of New York, in 1841, and the latter in Wisconsin, in 1846. The father removed from the Empire State to Wisconsin as a young man and for a time lived in Waupaca, whence he removed, in 1870, to Hamburg, Iowa. Later he located in Kansas and in 1900 he became one of the pioneer settlers in Geary, Oklahoma. He gave indication of his patriotism to the cause of the Union by serving for three years in the Civil war, enlisting as a private in the First Wisconsin Cavalry. Subsequently he was trans- ferred to another regiment and he was mustered out of service as adjutant at the close of the war. He was a republican in politics, belonged to the Masons and to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and until death called him, at Geary, this state, in 1903, he was a valued and appreciative member of the Grand Army of the Republic. Mrs. Waterman survives her honored husband and is now a resident of St. Cloud, Florida. She and her husband had four children, as follows: George M. maintains his home at Sidney, Iowa, where he is a news- paper editor and postmaster; William W. is the subject of this review; Nellie A. married W. C. Shippee, of Colo- rado Springs; and Arthur B. is a linotype operator at Santa Barbara, California.
William W. Waterman was educated in the public schools of Hamburg, Iowa, to which place his parents removed when he was but one year of age. At the age of eighteen years he began to work in a printing office at Delphos, Kansas, remaining in that place until 1899, when he settled as a pioneer in Geary, Oklahoma. In the latter place he was editor of the Geary Bulletin until 1901, when he left the newspaper field and turned his attention to the banking business. He purchased stock in the Citizens State Bank at Geary and served as assistant cashier of that institution until 1905, when he sold out and went to Bridgeport, there serving as cashier of the Bridgeport State Bank for the ensuing five years. In 1910 he located in Cyril and purchased an interest in the Bank of Cyril, taking over the cashiership. In 1912 he was honored by his fellow citizens with election to the office of treasurer of Caddo County and on assum- ing the responsibilities connected with that official trust he established his home at Anadarko. the county seat. Here he has since resided and on November 6, 1914, he was re-elected county treasurer for another two years. He is particularly fitted for the office of treasurer by reason of his long connection with the bank- ing business and in discharging the duties connected with that trust he is acquitting himself with honor and fidel- ity. He has served on two different school boards in Caddo County and in his political affiliations he is a stalwart republican. In the time-honored Masonic order he is a member of Anadarko Lodge, No. 21, Ancient, Free and Accented Masons; Guthrie Valley Consistory, No. 1; and the Order of the Eastern Star. He is also a valued member of the Independent Order of Odd Fel- lows, the Modern Woodmen of American and the Knights and Ladies of Security.
At Delphos, Kansas, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Waterman to Miss Bertha E. Richards, a daughter of the late B. Richards, a retired merchant at Delphos.
.
William S. Matthews
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Mr. and Mrs. Waterman have two charmiug daughters: Wanda W. aud Nellie L., both of whom were graduated in the Andarko high school in the class of 1915. The Waterman family are popular in the social life of their home community and their attractive residence is the scene of many pleasant gatherings.
ARTHUR O. WILKONSON. Much dynamic energy has been brought to bear in the development and upbuilding of the fine City of Sapulpa, the thriving and important judicial center of Creek County, and among the popular the laudable work of advancemeut a place of promi- citizeus and progressive business men who have aided in nence must consistently be accorded to Mr. Wilkonson, who is here established successfully in the furniture and hardware business, at 309 East Dewey Avenue, and whose civic loyalty and public spirit are indicated by the fact that at the time of this writing, in 1916, he is serving as president of the Sapulpa Commercial Club.
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