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 67

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 67

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ERNEST L. KEYS. One of the oldest business men of Wynnewood is Ernest L. Keys, who is now filling with admirable ability the office of mayor of that city. Mr. Keys has for fifteen years been identified with local busi- ness affairs at Wynnewood, has been one of the chief cotton buyers in that section, and conducts a large hard- ware buiness.

He was born in Lawrence County, Alabama, September 3, 1872. His ancestors came from England to America and located in the State of Mississippi at a very early date. His grandfather, Jerry Keys, was born in Mis- sissippi in 1822, and died in Lawrence County, Alabama, in 1898, having gone to the latter state when a young man. He combined the occupations of farming, carpen- try and cabinetmaking, and was a very substantial citi- zen. He was a democrat and a member of the Baptist Church.

C. M. Keys, father of Mayor Keys, was born in Law- renee County, Alabama, in 1850, was reared there, and married Miss Mary McDaniel, who was born in Alabama in 1856. Her ancestor was Scotch-Irish, and the McDan- iels were early settlers in that section of Virginia now known as West Virginia. Mayor Keys' maternal great- grandmother was Mary Warren, who died at the age of ninety-six at the home of C. M. Keys. Her husband was Lee Warren, who was a farmer in West Virginia. In 1879 C. M. Keys brought his family to Johnsou County, Texas, and for a number of years was engaged in farming and raising stock. In June, 1908, he moved to Hollis, Oklahoma, where he now continues his farm- ing and stock raising interests. However, he is largely retired, and the management of his farm of 160 acres North of Hollis is with his tenants. He is an active member and has for a number of years been deacon of the Baptist Church, and is a democrat in politics. He and his wife became the parents of twelve children, namely : Crickett, wife of Rev. B. A. Copass, who is a Baptist minister and is now assistant secretary of the Baptist State Missionary Society, living at Dallas, Texas; Berta K., is the widow of H. N. Spooner, a former hardware merchant, and she now runs the business her- self at Hollis, Oklahoma; Ernest L .; F. M. and Wood W., both engaged in the hardware business at Hollis; .I. E., associated with Carl Cole in the drug business at Wynnewood; May, wife of Rev. W. A. Knight, pastor of the First Baptist Church at Frederick, Oklahoma; Yates, who is the wife of Jeff Pennington, assistant cashier of the First State Bank at Hollis; Johnnie, wife of Thomas Grissom, a druggist at Hollis; Rob, wife of Elmer Sheppard, a cotton buyer at Brady, Texas; Sam, who is in the automobile business at Hollis; and Mott, a freshman in the state university at Norman.

Ernest L. Keys was about seven years old when the family moved to Texas, and he acquired his early educa- tion in the public schools of Johnson and Ellis Counties, attending the high schools at Waxahachie and Alvarado. In 1895 he also took a business course in Sherman, Texas, under Professor J. W. Mayham. In September of that year he began buying cotton, and now for twenty years has never been entirely out of that line of busi- ness. The first year was spent at Midlothian, Texas, then three years at Venus, Texas, and in 1898 he identified himself with the new and growing town of Shawnee, Oklahoma. Since 1901 his home has been at Wynnewood, and here he has prospered and built up a large and flourishing enterprise as a hardware merchant and cotton buyer. He has been quite active in local affairs, served as a member of the city council four years, and in April, 1914, was elected mayor for a term of two years. He is a democrat in politics, is a steward in the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and is affiliated with Wynne-

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wood Lodge No. 40, Ancient, Free and Accepted Masons, the Valley of Guthrie Consistory No. 1 in the four- teenth degree of Scottish Rite, with Bethel Lodge No. 109, Knights of Pythias at Wynnewood, of which he is past chancellor commander.

At Lawton, Oklahoma, in 1903, Mr. Keys married Miss Junia F. Worley. Her father was the late A. J. Worley, a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, who was the first presiding elder appointed in the Okla- homa Conference. To their marriage have been born two children: Helen, born July 19, 1904, and Virginia, born May 9, 1909, both now in the public schools.

WILLIAM C. CARRICK. One of the successful and re- liable practitioners of the Sapulpa bar, William C. Car- rick has been the architect of his own personal fortune and professional reputation. He is a man of firm con- victions, practical in his aims, whether as attorney or man, and has been effective also in the realization of those projects which are advanced by good citizens of modern tendencies. Mr. Carrick was born at Minaville, Missouri, March 6, 1875, and is a son of Joseph and Sarah (Tevault) Carrick.

Joseph Carrick was born at Marietta, Ohio, December 24, 1839, and in 1874 came to Missouri, where he was married in the same year to Sarah Tevault, who was born in that state, in 1851. They have passed their lives in agricultural pursuits, and are now residing in the vicinity of Braymer, Missouri, on a farm. Ten of their thirteen children still survive, William C. having been the eldest. He was brought up on the home farm and it was the desire of his parents that he enter the ministry of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, with a view toward which end he studied for two years at Fayette- ville. His own inclinations, however, did not lie in that direction, and at the age of twenty-three years he left home and enlisted in the United States regular army as a private. His service of three years included two years as a scout, a capacity in which he acted with the rank of a commissioned officer, and following this he was employed for four years as a member of the Insular Civil Service, part of this time as postmaster and tele- graph operator and part as telegrapher and postoffice inspector, in the Philippine Islands. After touring the world for the second time, he returned to his Missouri home and entered the Kansas City Law School, in 1908, and when he completed the course in 1911 was vale- dictorian of his graduating class. Prior to his admission to the bar he secured some experience by practicing in justice courts, and after his admission practiced in Kansas City during 1912, following which he spent less than one year in Arkansas, and then came to Sapulpa, where he has since built up a large and representative business. While his practice is broad and general in character, he has specialized in insurance and contract law, and has gained a wide reputation for the able manner in which he presents his cases to juries. Mr. Carrick has been faithful in following the litigation en- trusted him into the higher courts, and remains true to the interests of his clients until the rendition of a final decision. He has formed a professional partnership with W. D. Cope, who maintains an office at Drumwright, and the association has proved a mutually beneficial, con- genial and profitable one. As a citizen, Mr. Carrick is particularly interested in the public school system, al- though he takes a helpful part in forwarding all institu- tions of the state and is an enthusiast in regard to its climate and opportunities. While he has supported republican candidates in the main he was inclined to be liberal in his political views and is now a socialist and a nominee for county attorney on that ticket. His religious faith is that of the Methodist Episcopal Church,

but he has leanings toward Christian Science. A careful and discriminating student of his profession, Mr. Carrick is also an investigator into other lines of advanced thought, and has made a particular study of sociology. Fraternally, he is well known and popular, and belongs to the Masons, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Improved Order of Red Men.

Mr. Carrick was married October 3, 1908, to Miss Katherine Miley, a native of Missouri, and a daughter of M. B. and Stella Miley. One son, Charles Miley, has been born to this union.

JOHN VINCENT BLACKARD, JR. One of the most popular officials of Sequoyah County, John Vincent Blackard, Jr., has wou the favorable opinion and regard of his fellow citizens by six years of faithful service in the office of county clerk, a position which he has held for two terms. His entire life has been passed in the county, where the family to which he belongs has always been known for its integrity and the good citizen- ship of its members, a reputation that is being fully maintained by the incumbent of the county clerk's office.

John Vincent Blackard, Jr., was born on his father's farm in the vicinity of Muldrow, Sequoyah County, Okla- homa, September 28, 1885, and is a son of John Vincent and Nellie (Babb) Blackard. His grandfather, paternally descended from sturdy Scotch ancestry, was born in North Carolina, and as a young man turned his face to the West, finally locating in the vicinity of Clarks- ville, Johnson County, Arkansas. There he was engaged In farming until the Civil war, when he enlisted for service in the army of the Confederacy, and subsequently met a soldier's death on the field of battle. His son, John Vincent Blackard, Sr., was born on the home farm in Johnson County, and grew up in the vicinity of Clarksville, adopted his father's vocation of farmer and stock raiser, and established a home of his own when he was united in marriage with Miss Nellie Babb, who had been born in Tennessee and brought as a child to Arkansas. Not long after their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Blackard removed to what is now Sequoyah County, Okla- homa, settling on a farm near Muldrow, where the father engaged in farming until 1898. In that year he moved to Muldrow and has since been engaged in the successful conduct of a general store. He is a democrat in his political views, a substantial and influential member of his community and a citizen who takes an active part in civic matters. He and the mother, who also survives, are members of the Methodist Church, and are the parents of eleven living children.

John Vincent Blackard, Jr., was reared on the home farm until he reached the age of fifteen years, receiving his early training in the district schools. In 1898 he accompanied the family to Muldrow, where he was duly graduated from the Muldrow High School, and at that time adopted the vocation of educator, teaching for one year in the public schools and for a like period in the high school at Muldrow. On June 7, 1909 he became deputy county clerk of Sequoyah County, a position which he held until January 4, 1913, when he entered upon the discharge of his duties as county clerk, having been elected to the office in the previous fall election. In the fall of 1914 Mr. Blackard was reelected to succeed him- self and is now serving his second term, which expires in January, 1917. As a public official he has rendered an acceptable service as well as a commendable one, meeting the most sanguine hopes of his numerous friends. Six years has he stood behind the desk in the county clerk 's office and his long experience has made him thoroughly familiar with all the details of its duties. Courteous in manner and accommodating in disposition, Mr. Blackard is deservingly a popular public official. In politics he is

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HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

a democrat, following the family allegiance and for- tunes; his fraternal connection is with the local lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, while his religious faith is that of the Methodist Church.

Clerk Blackard was married in 1910 to Miss Beatrice Boaz, who was born in Oklahoma, aud they have three living children, namely: Nellie Belle, and Willoughby and Wilson, twins.

REED DAVIS. Many of the citizens of Western Okla- homa have been in at the beginning of civilized things and institutions in that regiou. In the years to come they will be regarded as pioneers, the founders of towns and communities, and the men who laid in durable fashion the foundation of a prosperity which their de- scendants and later comers will enjoy. Among the men whose achievements in this direction will deserve future recognition at Grandfield is Mr. Reed Davis, who was with that town when it first began to take shape and form some eight years ago at the time of the opening of the Big Pasture country, and who has been actively identified with it both as a business man and citizen. Mr. Davis is now proprietor of the Davis Lumber Yard of Grandfield.

He was born in White County, Indiana, February 22, 1856, a son of Joseph Warren and Nancy (Jaynes) Davis. Both sides of the family were identified with America prior to the Revolution, the Davises having come from Ireland and settled in Southern Virginia, while the Jaynes family supplied one or more soldiers. to the war of the Revolution. Joseph Warren Davis, who was born in the southern part of Virginia in 1827, and died at Douglas, Butler County, Kansas, in July, 1879, made a distinguished record as a soldier and officer of the Union during the Civil war. When he was four years of age his parents removed to Ohio and about 1842 became early settlers in Western Indiana. He lived in that state until 1877, then went out to Douglas, Kansas, operated as a farmer and stock raiser, but lived in Kansas only about two years until his death. He saw four years of service on the Federal side during the war. He went in to the army as second lieutenant in the Sixteenth Indiana Volunteer Infantry. He again enlisted and became captain of Company K in the Sixty-third Indiana Infantry. When this time expired he organized a company and became acting colonel of the One Hun- dred and Sixteenth Indiana Infantry. He saw much active and arduous service both in the eastern and west- ern fields of the war. He participated in the first and second battles of Bull Run, being slightly wounded in the first engagement, was at Spottsylvania Court House and the bloody Battle of the Wilderness, and in the western campaigns participated in the Battle of Lookout Mountain and at the Battle of Nashville in the latter months of 1864. In the course of his service he was again wounded and lost an eye. His wife, Nancy Jaynes, was born in the same place as her husband, and they grew up as playmates. She was born in 1829 and died at Douglas, Kansas, in 1905. Reed Davis was one of ten children, a brief record of them being as follows: Mary, who lives in the State of Washington, is the widow of Van Pierce, who was a traveling salesman; Hannah and Mark, both deceased; Harriet, wife of George Stocks, a farmer at Clinton, Oklahoma; Reed; Cynthia, who married William Pitts, now a retired farmer at Lafay- ette, Indiana; Josie, wife of John Erickson, a stockman at Latham, Kansas; Phil Sheridan, deceased; John, who is a graduate of the Industrial College of Kansas and the Kansas State Normal School, has held a chair in the faculty of some college for the past twenty-seven years, and for five years has been professor of physics and

chemistry in the Central Normal School at Edmond, Oklahoma; and Arthur, who is agent for the Santa Fe Railroad Company at MePherson, Kansas.

Reed Davis was educated in the public schools of White County, Indiana, and completed his high school training at Douglas, Kansas, and for several summers attended the Normal School at Eldorado, Kansas. In the early part of his career he had charge of several country schools in Butler County, Kansas. The years from 1881 to 1887 were spent in farming and stock raising in Butler County, and during the next twenty years or more he was in the contracting and building business, and also had a lumber yard in Butler County four years. In 1906 he removed to Chattanooga, Okla- homa, established a lumber yard there, and in 1907 established a second yard at Grandfield, which he still owns, having sold his business interests at Chattanooga. Mr. Davis has a farm of 160 acres situated 31/2 miles north of Grandfield, another quarter section 31/2 miles north and one mile east of Grandfield, and is one of the most solid and substantial men in that section of the state.

Since coming to Oklahoma he has also done his share as a citizen. He served as mayor of Chattanooga two years while a resident there, and for the past two years has been the mayor of Grandfield. For a number of years he was a member of boards of education in Kan- sas. In politics he is a democrat, is an elder in the Presbyterian Church, is past master of Grandfield Lodge No. 378, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and also a member of the Modern Woodmen of America at Grand- field.

In 1878 Mr. Davis married Mary Lightfoot of Butler County, Kansas, and she died in Douglas in that county in 1880 without children. In 1882 at Douglas Mr. Davis married Emeline True, who died there in 1905. Surviv- ing her and honoring her memory are five children: Ralph A., born March 6, 1886, attended high school at Douglas, Kansas, and is now on one of his father's farms; Doris, born May 17, 1890, is the wife of A. D. Thompson, who is manager of the Southern Iron Manu- facturing Company at Dallas, Texas; Elsie, born April 3, 1892, is a stenographer at Dallas and makes her home with her sister Doris; Ruby Ree, born July 4, 1897, was married December 27, 1914, to Robert E. Lee Huff, now manager of the lumber yard at Grandfield; and John Bunyan, born April 3, 1905, is a student in the Grand- field schools.

BENJAMIN G. FLETCHER. In commercial circles of Adair County no name is better known or held in higher esteem than that of Benjamin G. Fletcher, senior mem- ber of the flourishing hardware and furniture firm of Fletcher & Son, at Stilwell. Mr. Fletcher's long resi- dence within the boundaries of Adair County and his association with agricultural and business affairs have given him a wide acquaintance throughout this part of the state, where his associates and fellow-citizens have learned to appreciate the sterling qualities which con- tribute to his success.

Mr. Fletcher was born within the borders of Adair County, Oklahoma, May 13, 1859, and is a son of Robert Harrison and Charlotte (Bigby) Fletcher. His father was born and reared in Central Tennessee, and came to what was then Flint District, Cherokee Nation (now in Adair County), in 1856. He married Charlotte Bigby, who was born in that district, the daughter of Thomas Bigby, who came from North Georgia with the first Cherokee emigrants to Indian Territory, his homestead now being owned by Benjamin G. Fletcher. Mr. Fletcher was reared on the homestead farm on which

REED DAVIS

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HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

he was born and his eutire career has been passed in what is now Adair County. During his early years he followed farming and stock raising as a vocation and received his education in the old log schoolhouse which was known as Oak Grove, taking its name from the community in which it was located. Subsequently, he turned his attention to mercantile lines and during a period of ten years conducted a general store at old Flint Courthouse in Adair County, but in 1906 dis- posed of his interests there and came to Stilwell, where he has since been identified with a successful hardware and furniture store, conducted in partnership with his son, under the firm style of Fletcher & Son. His suc- cess has indicated stable character and business quali- ties, and he has a moral nature in keeping with his sagacity, enterprise and thrift, a combination which would make for success in any field of endeavor. Politi- cally a democrat, he has taken an active part in civic and county affairs. In 1891 he was elected district clerk of the Cherokee Nation for Flint District, serving as such for two years, and in 1898 was made senator of the Cherokee Council, a capacity in which he acted four years. His public life was characterized by a conscien- tious discharge of the responsibilities vested in him. Mr. Fletcher is a Royal Arch Mason and has numer- ous friends in the local Blue Lodge and Chapter. On July 10, 1879, he was married to Mary Harriet Guthrie, daughter of Calvin P. and Sarah (Adair) Guthrie, the latter of whom is a member of the family for which Adair County was named. To this union there have been born eight children, as follows: Margaret C., Sarah, John, Calvin Lorenzo, Dora May, Jeannette, Eva and Ellis B., of whom John is deceased.

Calvin Lorenzo Fletcher, son of Benjamin G. and Mary Harriet (Guthrie) Fletcher, was born on his father's farm in Adair County, Oklahoma, January 25, 1885. He was educated at the Cherokee Male Seminary, at Tahlequah, following which he completed a course in a business college at Fort Smith, Arkansas, his first venture on his own account being as an educator. After two years of teaching iu the public schools of Eastern Oklahoma, Mr. Fletcher decided to turn his attention to business affairs and accordingly joined his father in the hardware and furniture firm of Fletcher & Sou, at Stilwell. He is accounted one of the enterprising and energetic young business men of this city and as a worthy representative in commercial circles of the. hon- orable name which he bears. He is, like his father, a democrat, and is fraternally a Royal Arch Mason and a member of the Woodmen of the World. Mr. Fletcher has been twice married, his first wife having been Miss Maggie M. Holland, who died leaving one child: Loren. His second union was with Miss Lillian Blake.

THOMAS H. VAUGHN. In real estate and loan circles of Pauls Valley a name that has come to be prominently known is that of Thomas H. Vaughn, whose operations have been centered here since 1913, but who for a num- ber of years previously had carried ou activities in this part of Oklahoma. He was born at Huntsville, Arkansas, May 31, 1874, and is a son of T. J. and Jora (Kenner) Vaughn, and a member of a family which originated in Germany. One of his early ancestors emigrated to Vir- ginia and later to Tennessee, the home of the great- grandfather of Mr. Vaughn, who spoke only the Ger- man language.

T. J. Vaughn was born at Nashville, Tennessee, in 1842, and was eight years of age when he accompanied his parents to Huntsville, Arkansas, where he was reared and educated. After his marriage he became a farmer and raiser of stock until 1905, when he came to Mays-

ville, Oklahoma, and established himself in business as a merchant, but did not have extensive experience in this direction, as his death occurred in 1907. During the Civil war Mr. Vaughn enlisted in an Arkansas regiment in the Confederate army and on one occasion was taken prisoner, but was exchanged shortly, the period of his service covering four years. He belonged to the Independ- ent Order of Odd Fellows and was a democrat politi- cally. Mr. Vaughn married Miss Jora Kenner, who was born in Madison County, Arkansas, in 1849, and who resides at Maysville. They became the parents of nine children, as follows: Myrtle, who married Ed Buren, a farmer of Howell County, Missouri; Ed, who resides at Maysville and is engaged in farming; Thomas H .; Eva, who died in October, 1915, was the wife of J. A. Ard, residing on his farm three miles northwest of Pauls Valley; Beu, who is a farmer and resides at Mays- ville; Joe, who is a contractor aud builder of Houston, Texas; Stella, who is the wife of B. L. Gooch, a sales- man in Maysville; Albert, who is a farmer and resides at Maysville; and Clarence, who is manager of the Minnetonk Lumber Compauy, of Maysville.

Thomas H. Vaughn attended the public schools of Huntsville, Arkansas, being graduated from the high school there in 1895, and his first employment was that of bookkeeper for the sawmills in Madison County, Arkansas, being thus eugaged for one year. At that time he entered Indian Territory, locating at Lexington, where he remained for eight months, and in the sum- mer of 1898 removed to Bradley, Indian Territory, where in the fall of that year and the spring of 1899 he was engaged in teaching school. In the summer of 1899 he removed to Ninnekah, where he taught school for two years, and then became principal of the school at Purdy, a position which he retained for one year. On January 1, 1903, Mr. Vaughn removed to the present site of Maysville, where he was put in charge of the town- site real estate proposition, continuing to make Mays- ville his home until March, 1913. In January, 1903, the Indian allotment of land began and Mr. Vaughn com- menced the leasing of these lands, his operations includ- ing about 5,000 acres for cattle ranches. As restric- tions were removed and the Indians began to disappear, Mr. Vaughn was compelled to devote all his time to looking after his landed interests, although in the mean- while, for five years, he had extensively engaged in the handling of cattle. In the spring of 1913 he came to Pauls Valley, to be more centrally located, and here has rapidly risen to a place among the leading and influen- tial men of business. He still owns 2,000 acres in Gar- vin County, other land in McClain County, and city property in Pauls Valley, Oklahoma City and Mays- ville, although he has disposed of great amounts of land in the last named place. He is treasurer of the Lucky Strike Oil Company and has numerous other business interests, and in every way is accounted a straight- forward, reliable man of business, acute, keen, capable and with a comprehensive knowledge of land values. Politically a democrat, while living at Maysville he was almost constantly a member either of the city council or the school board. His religious affiliation is with the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mr. Vaughn joined the Independent Order of Odd Fellows in Arkansas in 1896 and has continued as a member of that order to the .present time.

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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