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 64

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 64

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Miss Mitchell is the author of some history outlines and syllabi now being used in many schools. Into her department at Edmond she has introduced a part of the history course of the University of Chicago curriculum, and is featuring industrial history. Her teaching stresses current history, which much emphasis upon economical and sociological phases. Her department has been made an important aid to debating work among the students, and has given fundamental instruction in civics through the holding of organized trials and legislative assemblies. Miss Mitchell has two assistants regularly in the depart- ment, and sometimes more than that number are required.

She is a member of the Congregational Church, belongs to the P. E. O. Chapter in Iowa, and the Cambridge Club of Edmond. She is a member of various profes- sional and learned societies, including the Oklahoma Educational Association, the National Educational Asso- ciation, the American Historical Association, and the Mississippi Valley Historical Association. In all of these she has read papers. She has done three years of research work among the Indians of the State of Wash- ington and considerable special work in Chicago. Miss Mitchell has supplemented her other opportunities by extensive travel and study in several countries of Europe, in Canada, Alaska and Mexico, and in many parts of the United States.

CLARK BARTON JOHNSON. The owner, publisher and editor of the Sequoyah County Democrat, president of the town board of trustees of Sallisaw, and owner of

extensive agricultural interests, Clark Barton Johnson has taken an active part in business, political and civic affairs at Sallisaw since his arrival in 1904, and although failing health has curtailed his activities to some extent in recent years, continues to be a stirring and helpful factor in those enterprises and movements which are advancing the welfare of this flourishing Sequoyah County community.

Mr. Johnson is a son of the late distinguished Con- federate leader, Gen. William A. Johnson, who served with gallantry under the intrepid Forrest. General Johnson was born in Colbert County, Alabama, in 1832, and prior to the war between the states was a steamboat captain on the Tennessee River, between Florence, Alabama, and Paducah, Kentucky. He was one of eight brothers to enter the Confederate army and was the only one to come out of the Civil war alive, and his service was one of continued bravery and achieve- ment, he entering the service as a scout and leaving it as a brigadier-general. When the war closed he resumed liis operations as a steamboat captain, became president of the Paducah Packet Company, and was subsequently a cotton planter and dealer, his fine abilities enabling him to become very wealthy. At his death, which oc- curred at Tuscumbia, Alabama, in 1895, he left an estate valued at $2,000,000. General Johnson was prominent in civic affairs and in politics was a leader in the councils of the democratic party, but did not seek political preferment. He married Miss Kate M. Barton, and they became the parents of six sons and five daughters.

Clark Barton Johnson was born at Tuscumbia, Ala- bama, April 9, 1878, and was reared and received his early education in his native place. In 1896 he was graduated from Washington and Lee University, at Lexington, Virginia, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts, and for four years was engaged in merchandising in Alabama. He came to Sallisaw, Oklahoma, in 1904, and at once entered actively into business life, becom- ing the proprietor of a mercantile establishment which is still in operation under his direction. As a financier he has served as vice presilent of the Sallisaw Bank and Trust Company, and has also been manager of the Sallisaw Electric Light and Water plant, but recently has retired from many of his active business cares be- cause of poor health. Not long ago he became owner, publisher and editor of the Sequoyah County Democrat, which under his able management has become one of the successful and influential newspapers of this part of the state. As a democrat Mr. Johnson has been active in politics since coming to Oklahoma, having been chairman of the democratic central committee for nearly five years. He has always been ready to contribute of his abilities to the welfare of the community and is ably discharging the duties of citizenship in the capacity of president of the Sallisaw town board of trustees. His agricultural holdings include broad acres in several Oklahoma counties. Mr. Johnson is a member of the Knights of Pythias and prominent in Masonry, having attained to the thirty-second degree, Scottish Rite, and is the 1915 president of the Lincoln Memorial Class. With Mrs. Johnson, he belongs to the Presbyterian Church.

In 1905 Mr. Johnson was married to Miss Jessie M. Turner, of Sallisaw, and they have two sons: William A. and Clark Barton, Jr.

COL. ORVEL J. JOHNSON. Whether as soldier, public- spirited citizen, lawyer, man of affairs or thorough American, it is difficult to know which to speak of first in connection with Col. Orvel J. Johnson, of Oklahoma

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City, for in each case he has gained the same enviable reputation. He is a man born to lead, the possessor of a forceful individuality that absolutely commands respect; with positive ideas and a power of enforcing on others that must always assure him a strong place in any community, a man of most dignified appearance and never-failing courtesy.

Colonel Johnson was born in Oaksville, on Oak Creek, Otsego County, New York, in 1876, and is a descendant of Sir William Johnston, one of the earliest settlers of the Mohawk Valley in New York State and the founder of Johnstown, New York, in Fulton County. The parents of Mr. Johnson, George W. and Emma (Slater) John- son, natives of the Empire state, still survive and make their home there. Col. Orvel J. Johnson received his early education in the public schools of his native locality, following which he attended the high school at Oneonta, Otsego County, and later the New York State Normal School, located at the same place. After his graduation from the latter, in 1893, he decided upon a career in medicine, and for five years was a student under Dr. George F. Entler, of Oneonta, being still with this preceptor when the Spanish-American war came on. For some years he had been a member of the New York National Guards, and when this organization was called upon for service he went to the front as lieutenant of Company G, First Regiment, New York Volunteer In- fantry, but was subsequently transferred to the Medical Corps and spent one year in foreign service, being stationed in the Hawaiian Islands.

On his return to Oneonta in 1899, he became superin- tendent of transportation of 105 miles of electric lines in New York, from Oneonta to Utica, and continued with this line until 1908, when he came to Oklahoma. He had taken up the study of law in connection with his railway duties, and in October, 1908, entered Epworth University, Oklahoma City, from which he was graduated in 1910, with the degree of Bachelor of Laws, being at once admitted to the bar. Colonel Johnson at once began practice and his ability and ready resource soon made for him considerable mark in his profession. Every case of which he has taken charge has been conducted conscientiously and most carefully, and while he has a natural courage, sufficient to provide him with resource in any emergency, yet ample preparation is bestowed whenever the opportunity is accorded. He is a fine speaker, has a most excellent manner, and that peculiarly effective power which is the result of a com- plete understanding of the principles involved and an earnest conviction of the justice of the case.

While a resident of Oneonta, New York, he became interested in athletics, and for fonrteen years was presi- dent of Company G Athletic Association. Later, during his law course, he was physical director of the Epworth University athletes. Colonel Johnson has long been active in politics. Originally a republican, he was the organizer of the Roosevelt (progressive) movement in Oklahoma and the secretary of the state committee, spending practically an entire year of his time in this work. He has now, however, returned to the republican fold, and is active in campaign work as a speaker and a member of the Republican County Committee.

In 1911 at the National Encampment of the Spanish- American War Veterans, Colonel Johnson placed in nomination Morris B. Simons for commander-in-chief, and after seeing him elected was honored by being appointed to the commander's staff, with the rank of Colonel. In 1914 he was likewise honored by Governor Lee Cruse, of Oklahoma, who appointed him on his staff with the rank of colonel, this being a particular honor because of their difference in politics. Various other positions have been entrusted to Colonel John-

son. Since 1911 he has been president of the Oklahoma State Automobile Association, and since 1912 president of the New York State Society of Oklahoma. He is prominently identified with Masonry, having reached the thirty-second degree, passing through all the Scottish Rite bodies including Oklahoma Consistory of the Valley of Guthrie.

Ever since coming to Oklahoma Colonel Johnson has been a steady and enthusiastic booster for the state. A member of the Chamber of Commerce and of its Boosters' Club, he has given considerable time and work to furthering the interests of the state and has been the means of bringing in a large amount of outside capital for the development of its various enterprises and in- dustries. At this time he is one of the directors of the Capital Building Company, and is personally interested largely in substantial realty in Oklahoma City, and was the promoter of the Wichita Falls Motor Truck Com- pany, of Wichita Falls, Texas, the largest industry of its kind west of the Mississippi River. He maintains offices at No. 215 Oklahoma Building, Oklahoma City.

On July 31, 1911, Colonel Johnson was united in marriage with Mrs. Flora W. (Steele) Penney, daughter of Judge Steele, of Herkimer, New York. The beautiful Johnson home is located at No. 130 East Park Place, Oklahoma City.

ALFRED B. BEARD. One of the sterling pioneer citi- zens of Oklahoma, Mr. Beard is a well known and highly esteemed citizen of Sapulpa, Creek County, and his is the distinction of being one of the gallant patriots who served as soldiers of the Union in the Civil war and did well their part in preserving the integrity of the nation.

Mr. Beard was born in White County, Illinois, on the 13th of August, 1840, and, as the date indicates, he is a representative of a pioneer family of that section of the state. He is a son of Thomas and Jane (Ogburn) Beard, the former of whom was born in Maury County, Tennes- see, and the latter of whom was a native of North Carolina. Their marriage was solemnized in Marion County, Illinois, where Mr. Beard established his resi- dence as a young man of twenty-two years and where his wife had accompanied her parents on their removal from North Carolina to number themselves among the pioneer settlers of Illinois. Thomas Beard was a resident of Bartlesville, Oklahoma, at the time of his death, in May, 1884, and attained to the age of sixty-seven years. His wife passed the closing period of her life at Fredonia, Kansas, where she died in 1875, at the age of fifty-four years, the greater part of their lives having been passed in Illinois and Kansas. After the close of the Civil war Thomas Beard removed with his family to Pleasant Hill, Missouri, the trip from Illinois having been made with team and wagon, and from that locality they later removed to Wilson County, Kansas, where occurred the death of the devoted wife and mother, the active career of Thomas Beard having been one of close and effective association with the fundamental industries of agricul- ture and stock-growing. Of the family of five sons and three daughters Alfred B., of this review, is the eldest ; Harriet became the wife of Pliny Chapman, of Siloam Springs, Arkansas, and later they became pioneer set- tlers in Oklahoma; William Henry, of Neosho, Newton County, Missouri, served three years as a soldier in the Civil war, he having been a member of the One Hundred and Eleventh Illinois Volunteer Infantry and having been held as a prisoner for some time prior to the close of the war, his capture having been effected in conuection with one of the engagements in which he had taken part; John W. died in 1866, as a young man; Sarah became the wife of Albert Troxel and both are now deceased ; Philip is a resident of Coffeyville, Kansas; and Lee, who

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is the widow of David H. Cowls, resides at Fayetteville, Arkansas.

Alfred B. Beard remained with his parents and con- tinued his association with the work and management of the home farm until there came to him the call of higher dnty, with the outbreak of the Civil war, his educational advantages in the meanwhile having been those afforded in the common schools of his native state. In response to President Lincoln's first call for volunteers, he en- listed, in July, 1861, as a private in Company I, Fortieth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and with this valiant com- mand he continued in active service until 1863, when he was honorably discharged, on account of physical disa- bility. He took part in numerous engagements, including the memorable battles of Shiloh and Corinth, and after his discharge he returned to his home in Illinois. In the autumn of 1865 he accompanied his wife and her parents to Kansas and established his residence on a pioneer farm two miles distant from Fredonia, the county seat, which now thriving little city then had only five houses to denote its being. He continued as one of the repre- sentative agriculturists and stock-growers of that section of the Sunflower State until after his sons had mimbered themselves among the pioneers of Oklahoma City, soon after the opening of Oklahoma Territory to settlement, in 1889, when he joined them in the new territory and became associated with the two sons, Henry and John, in their industrial operations. Later he removed to Shaw- nee, prior to the opening of that section to settlement, and there he continued his identification with agricul- tural pursuits until the line of the Frisco Railroad was extended through that section, when he became associated with the location and development of town sites along the railroad. He was virtually the founder of the Town of Woodville, Marshall County, and became its first settler. He was associated in the organization of the First National Bank of Woodville, was one of its original board of directors and erected the building in which it initiated business. In 1911 Mr. Beard established his residence at Sapulpa, where he has since lived prac- tically retired, as one of the sterling pioneers of the vigorous young state of his adoption. He did the first drilling for oil in Marshall County and developed there the first two productive oil wells of importance. He has been worthily concerned with the civic and industrial progress of Oklahoma and is a citizen to whom is ac- corded the fullest measure of popular esteem.

In politics Mr. Beard accords unfaltering allegiance to the republican party, and he cast his first presidential vote for President Lincoln, he having been at the time a soldier in the field. He is affiliated with the Grand Army of the Republic, and both he and his wife are active members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, of which they have been connected during the period of their residence in Oklahoma.

On the 12th of March, 1865, was solemnized the mar- riage of Mr. Beard to Miss Catherine C. Gee, who was born in Marion County, Illinois, on the 27th of May, 1842, and who there continued to reside until the time of her marriage. She is a daughter of John W. and Lucy (Roby) Gee. Mr. Gee was born in Kentucky, where his parents established their home upon their removal from Virginia, but he was reared and educated in Indiana, where his father was a pioneer farmer. His wife was born in Massachusetts and they were pioneer settlers in Washington County, Indiana, whence they later removed to Marion County, Illinois, where they passed the remain- der of their lives. Mr. Gee was a first cousin of the maternal grandfather of Hon. William Jennings Bryan, whose mother was a Jennings. John and James Jennings, maternal uncles of Mr. Gee, were patriot soldiers in the

War of the Revolution, and William Ogburn, maternal grandfather of Mr. Gee, likewise was a valiant soldier of the Continental line in the great conflict for national independence. John W. Gec, a brother of Mrs. Bcard, is now a resident of Jefferson, Oklahoma, and in the Civil war he served as a member of Company C, One Hundred and Eleventh Illinois Volunteer Infantry, from 1862 until the close of the war, it having been his privilege to participate in the grand review, in the City of Wash- ington, after victory had thus crowned the Union arms. Mr. Beard perpetuates his vital interest in his old com- rades of the Civil war through his association with the Grand Army of the Republic, and his unequivocal popu- larity in its ranks is indicated by the fact that at the time of this writing, in 1915, he is serving as commander of John A. Logan Post, No. 49, at Sapulpa. In the concluding paragraph of this article is entered a brief record concerning the children of Mr. and Mrs. Bcard.

Henry G., the eldest of the number, is individually mentioned on other pages of this work. John W. is a representative citizen of Ada, the judicial center of Pontotoc County, Oklahoma, and he served as a soldier in the Spanish-American war, in which he was a member of a volunteer regiment from Oklahoma Territory. Lola is the wife of Samuel R. Wilson, of Watsonville, Colo- rado. Lyman F., who served with the celebrated Roose- velt Rough Riders in the Spanishi-American war, is now a resident of Siloam Springs, Arkansas. Laura B. is the wife of David A. Spears and they maintain their home at Billings, Montana. Claude R. died in July, 1907, at the age of twenty-seven years. Oliver is cashier of the First National Bank of Lehigh, Oklahoma. Herschel, the youngest of the children, died in infancy.

HON. JAMES YARBROUGH. Forty-five fleeting years have wrought wondrous changes in the conditions prevail- ing in Oklahoma, for in that time the primitive pioneer becomes the modern citizen and the warring natives be- come peaceful and law-abiding. When the present pop- ular mayor of Durant went out to work in the fields in the morning as a boy, in company with his father and brothers in old Pinola County, in the Chickasaw Nation, it was no uncommon sight to find a lifeless form lying beside the road, the victim of a drunken enemy. The Yarbrough Farm lay on the road to Preston Bend, Texas, headquarters for cheap whiskey, and a rendezvous for gamblers and bad men in general, so that trouble was the order of the day, even among those who loved peace and quiet. Today all is changed. The mayor steps out into a peaceful city, and walks in unbroken security to his office in the city hall. And where in his boyhood he followed the oxen behind the plow in the cultivation of the unbroken soil, today the giant tractor turns multiple furrows with untiring precision. James Yarbrough has lived through the greatest period of growth the district will probably know. He is a native of Texas by birth, but by marriage and adoption is claimed by Oklahoma. He was born in Panola County, Texas, on July 29, 1861, and he was ten years old when he came with his parents to Panola County in the Chickasaw Nation. Since that time he has been a loyal Oklahoman, and the staunch friend of the Indian, as was his father before him. Indeed, Mr. Yarbrough says that his father's house was a favorite haunt of the Indians of the Chickasaw Nation, and that a great friendship existed between the elder Yarbrough and many of the Indians. Mr. Yarbrough bears an especial regard for them and is quoted as say- ing: "When I see an old Indian woman wandering aim- lessly through the streets with a following of youngsters, or seated somewhere with a look of dejection upon her face, my heart goes out to her with sympathy."

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James Yarbrough was the first white child born in Sumpter County, Alabama. His birth occurred on Feb -. ruary 28, 1818. He married Elizabeth Smalley, who was born in Tennessee in 1824, and who came of a family that furnished a great number of ministers to the cause of religion. The Yarbroughs moved to Panola County, Texas, after they married, and later moved to Johnston County, Texas. The children born to them were: Harvey; James, who died in infancy; George, who lives in Oregon; John, who married Belle Colbert, a 'sister of Clarence Colbert; Mollie Elizabeth, and James of this review.

The Yarbrough family is English in its origin, and the American founder came from England to America in young manhood and settled in the Choctaw District in Alabama, in about 1812. He was the grandsire of the subject. His family was reared on the shores of the Tombigbee River, and James died in what was known as Coffey Bend on the Red River in the Chickasaw Nation in 1875. His widow survived him until 1896.

James Yarbrough had his early education in the com- mon schools of Johnson County, Texas, in the schools of the old Chickasaw Nation, and in the schools of Sherman, Texas. He was early trained to the business of farming and has followed successfully in the steps of his father in that respect. He came into some property from his father, and to that he has added a considerable, so that he is a man of independent fortune today. He has lived in Durant for twenty-two years, and gives much of his time to the superintending of his various farms. He is well known for his skill in the breeding of blooded livestock, and his accomplishments along the lines of thoroughbred poultry are indeed varied. At one time Mr. Yarbrough ran a sales stable in Durant, where he disposed of much of the products of his lands, but he discontinued that phase of his business some years ago. He was for some years vice president of the old Choctaw-Chickasaw National Bank.

In the days of the Choctaw Nation Mr. Yarbrough was never a candidate for office, but since statehood he has been quite active in a political way. He was chairman of the board of county commissioners during one term, and in 1914 he ran for the office of sheriff of Bryan County, but was defeated. In 1915 he was nominated on the democratic ticket for the office of mayor and was elected for a term of two years., He entered upon his official duties on March 21, 1915, and his service thus far has reflected only credit upon him. He has always been a staunch and loyal democrat. He is a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Knights of Pythias and the Woodmen of the World.

In 1893 Mr. Yarbrough was married to Miss Annie Bouton, of Caddo. She is a daughter of Mrs. Mat Bouton, now the wife of Christine Bates of Durant. Mrs. Yar- brough is the granddaughter of Rev. Israel Folsom, who was a son of Nathaniel Folsom and a brother of the grandfather of Mrs. Grover Cleveland. Nathaniel Folsom was a white man, born in North Carolina, and his father came from Massachusetts.

To Mr. and Mrs. Yarbrough six children have been born. La Vere, aged eighteen, is a student in the South- eastern Normal in Durant; Julian, aged sixteen; Nowita, twelve, and Ingram, aged nine, are attending the public schools of Durant; Madeline is five years old and Edmund is now thirteen months old.

J. HARVEY DODSON. The present superintendent of schools for Sequoyah County has a very small propor- tion of Cherokee Indian blood in his veins. Mr. Dod- son's great-grandfather, George W. Dodson, was, a cen- tury or more ago, a minister of the Primitive Baptist

Church who carried on his work partly as an itinerant preacher and as a missionary among the white and the Indian inhabitants of South Carolina and Georgia .. He married Elizabeth Fagan, a half blood Cherokee. Since that generation there has been no important admixture of Indian blood and it is necessary for Mr. Dodson to go back fully four generations to find a full blooded Cherokee among his ancestors.

It was not so much his Indian relationship as his profession as an educator which brought Mr. Dodson into the old Indian Territory. For the past ten years he has been actively identified with the life and affairs of Sequoyah County, either in his capacity as a teacher or as a county official. He was born in Cooke County, Texas, March 11, 1878. His grandfather, John M. Dodson, was born in Habersham County, Georgia, Marclı 10, 1814, and was educated for the profession of medi- cine. About 1849 he moved to Arkansas, where he carried on his professional duties a number of years and died near Mountain View that state in November, 1889. Prior to the war he owned slaves, and was always affiliated with the democratic party. He married Eliza beth Warden, who was born on the ocean while her parents were on their way to the United States from Ireland. She died in Franklin County, Alabama, in 1846, and a brief record of her children is: William, who was a Confederate soldier and died while in the military prison at Alton, Illinois; Robert, who lives in Stone County, Arkansas; John; and Elizabeth, who died single.

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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