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 68

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 68

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Mr. Vaughn was married May 5, 1900, in Garvin County, Oklahoma, to Miss Martha Cypert, daughter of W. M. Cypert, a farmer of Purcell, Oklahoma, and to this union there have been born three children: Thomas, born February 17, 1903, now attending school; Blanche, boru March 25, 1905, also a student in the Pauls Valley Public Schools; and Louise, born August 25, 1912.

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HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

JOSEPH O. DENTON. One of the broad-gauged and progressive citizens who have played an important part in civic and material advancement in the thriving City of Sapulpa, Creek County, is Mr. Denton, and his hold upon popular confidence and good will is shown by his having served, and that with marked ability, as mayor of the city in which his interests have been varied and his influence potent and benignant.

Mr. Deuton was born at Granby, Newton County, Mis- souri, on the 27th of January, 1877, and is a son of Alexander and Frances ( Northcott) Denton, the former of whom was born in Ireland and the latter at Columbia, Missouri. Alexander Denton was a lad of thirteen years when he accompanied his father and stepmother on their emigration from the Emerald Isle to the United States, and as a young man it became his privilege to mani- fest his loyalty by serving as a soldier of the Union throughout the Civil war, in which he participated in many engagements, in one of which he received a severe wound in one of his arms, though the injury did not long incapacitate him. For many years he was engaged in the livery business and identified with agricultural pursuits in Missouri, where he achieved independence and prosperity and gained secure place in the esteem of his fellowmen. He died at Washburne, Barry County, Mis- souri, in January, 1903, at which time he was seventy- three years of age, and his widow passed to the life eternal in April, 1905, at the age of fifty-three years, the subject of this review having been the fourth of their five children.

Joseph O. Denton is indebted to the public schools of Missouri for his early educational discipline and remained at the parental home until 1895, when, as a youth of eighteen years, he came to Indian Territory, his settle- ment at Sapulpa having occurred in 1897, so that he became one of the youthful pioneers of what is now one of the most vital cities of the State of Oklahoma. In the little town, which at that time claimed a population of about 150 persons, he engaged in the grocery business, in which line of enterprise he continued successful opera- tions six years, when he sold the business. In later years he has conducted extensive and profitable operations in the handling of real estate and has been prominently identified with the development of the oil industry in this section of the state. Through his energy and circum- spection in availing himself of the advantages offered in the new and vigorous commonwealth of Oklahoma he has become a substantial capitalist, and his attention is now given principally to the supervision of his various properties and financial interests.

From the inception of the development of Sapulpa Mr. Denton has taken a deep and helpful interest in all that concerns civic and material progress and stability, and he served two terms as mayor of Sapulpa, 1907-1911, his ad- ministration having been distinctively liberal and efficient and having been prolific in advancing the best interests of the community, as well as in careful direction of all de- partments of the municipal government. In politics he accords staunch allegiance to the republican party. He is the owner of the Denton Building, a substantial store and office building which he erected in 1903, at the corner of Dewey and Water streets. He has extensive real estate interests in Sapulpa and in other parts of Creek County, and he is one of the well known and distinctively popular citizens of this favored section of the state .. Prior to his election to the office of mayor he had served as a member of the city council and also as city assessor. In a fraternal way he is an appreciative and valued mem- ber of Sapulpa Lodge, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.

In 1905 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Denton to Miss Alice MeCray, who was born at Kingston, Caldwell

County, Missouri, in 1881, and who was there reared and educated. She is a daughter of Andrew F. and Hor- tense J. (Rhodes) McCray, who still maintain their home in Caldwell County. William McCray, grandfather of Mrs. Denton, was born in 1818 and was a pioneer settler in Caldwell County, Missouri, to which state he removed fron Illinois. His wife, whose maiden name was Nancy Carroll, was born in Maryland, but was reared in Ken- tucky, and their marriage was solemnized in Missouri, where both passed the remainder of their lives. The Rhodes family was early founded in New England, and representatives of both the Carroll and McCray families were found arrayed as patriot soldiers of the continental line in the War of the Revolution. Mrs. Denton is thus eligible for and is affiliated with the society of the Daughters of the American Revolution, her great-great- grandfather, John Carroll, having won special distinction in the great struggle for national independence. Mr. and Mrs. Denton became the parents of five children, of whom four are living,-Joseph O., Jr., Frank McCray, Harry Will, and Jane Eleanor. The third child, Lyman J., was born in August, 1909, and died in November of the following year.

JOHN A. JACOBS. A native of the old Creek Nation, John A. Jacobs for the past quarter of a century has played an important part in local business life and tribal affairs, and is one of the most prosperous and influential citizens of Holdenville, Hughes County. He is known as a banker, has oil interests, and directs the management of a large acreage of farming land.

His birth occurred at the home of his parents eight miles southwest of Holdenville, Oklahoma, August 12, 1871, a son of Frank and Rebecca (Broadax) Jacobs. His mother who was born in the Creek nation, was a quarter blood Cherokee and a quarter blood Creek, and also of French ancestry. She died at the old home south of Holdenville when John A. Jacobs was four years of age. His father was born on Honeycreek four miles from Che- cota, and one side he was of Creek and on the other side of German ancestry. Frank Jacobs spent the most of his life in a store until about fifty years of age, when he took up farming and stock raising, and was one of the most successful men of the Creek country. He died at his home three miles west of Holdenville July 7, 1909, at the age of seventy. John A. Jacobs was one of three children. The oldest is Leah, now the wife of Bunny McIntosh at Eufaula. John A. has a twin sister Lizzie, wife of Freeland Alex of Wewoka. Frank Jacobs was three times married. His first wife was Lucinda, a full blood Creek Indian, and their one child Lou is the wife of A. J. Brown of Seminole County. His third wife was Jennie Coker also a Creek Indian. Their six children were: Mattie, wife of Tra Foster of Holdenville; New- man, who lives near Holdenville; Sarah, wife of George Perryman, Jr., of Tulsa; Josie, wife of George Harkey of Tulsa; Willie, who lives with her mother three miles west of Holdenville; and Louis.

John A. Jacobs has spent practically all his life in Hughes County. He gained his education by attending the common schools, the boarding schools of the Creek Nation and Austin College at Sherman, Texas. Besides his literary training he had a course in a business col- lege. He began his career in the hardware business at Holdenville, and conducted one of the prosperous trading establishments in that village for three years. He has since been concerned in the management of his extensive interests as a banker and oil man and farmer. He is a director in the First National Bank of Holdenville and at different times has been a director in three others banks which have been sold or consolidated. A consider- able part of his prosperity has come from his holdings in

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HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

the productive oil fields of Oklahoma, and he is the owner of half a dozen farms.

He is a democrat, and for years was one of the leaders in tribal affairs. For a time he was member of the Committee on Registering Warrants. He was also prose- cuting attorney of the old Wewoka district of the Creek Nation, most of the territory under his jurisdiction being now included in Hughes County. For four years he was a member of the House of Kings or the Senate, and for a similar period was a member of the Lower House of the Creek Council. At the last eleetion ever held for Creek tribal officials he made the race for second chief. He was defeated by the present ehief Maty Tiger. He is a thirty- second degree Scottish Rite Mason with membership in the Consistory at MeAlester, and with the blue lodge at Holdenville, and also belongs to India Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Oklahoma City.

In 1893 Mr. Jacobs married Mary Shawneego, who was born on Deep Fork in Indian Territory in 1877. Her father was a Shawnee Indian and her mother was half Shawnee and half Creek. Mrs. Jacobs died November 2, 1915, after a marriage companionship of twenty-two years, being survived by three children named Frank, Lizzie and Elsie.

HENRY S. LA CROIX. The task that missionaries and educators among the Five Civilized Tribes of Oklahoma have failed to aceomplish, the field agent of today is at- tempting to accomplish, i. e., the education of the Indian in the conduct of the ordinary business affairs of his everyday life. Neither the missionaries nor the educators neglected wholly the vital essentials of citizenship as contained in business transactions; but it always has been of seemingly secondary importance in their schemes of mental, religious, social and industrial development. With comparatively few exceptions, the Indian today of more than half blood is not competent to dispose of his land advantageously; nor is he competent to properly handle the funds received in return. This accounts for Congress having passed strict laws relating to the re- moval of restrictions from these Indians and their lands. The government realized that in protecting the Indians against the desecration or loss of their substance, it must provide also that they be taught the lessons of trade, commerce, conservation and thrift. Hence it created In- dian agencies and placed under their direction and super- vision field agents whose duty it is to act as guardians for the Indians, assist them in conserving their resources, and direct the expenditure and investment of the major por- tion of the moneys that come into their hands.

The ageney at Madill, which is in charge of Henry S. La Croix, himself a five-eighth Indian of the tribe of Sioux, is one of the most important in the state, for the reason that its territory embraces that section of the former Chickasaw Nation wherein live a majority of full- bloods and other Indians of more than half blood of this nation. Marshall, Johnston and Bryan counties are in this territory, and in each of these counties probably three-fourths of the land yet remains in the hands of Indians.

The secret of the good offices of the field agent lies in the fact that he saves the average Indian from profligacy. If the red man desires to sell his land, he must make application to the field agent for the removal of restric- tions. This application is forwarded to the Union Agency, at Muskogee, and if passed upon favorably is sent to the Interior Department at Washington, District of Columbia, where the proper credentials giving title to the purehaser are issued. The field agent advertises for thirty days the fact that the land is to be sold, at auction and to the highest bidder. The money received for it is paid into the treasury of the Government and expended

for the benefit of the Indian, the latter getting in cash at the time only a small per cent of the amount. If a tract is sold for $1,200, the field agent will invest for the Indian about $600 of the amount in a house on his homestead, if a house is needed, and probably $500 in horses or mules and farming implements. In other words, the money is spent to the best advantage of the Indian in buying what he most needs. and every investment is a practical lesson in economy to the Indian. The field agents make all purchases and enter into all contracts for their wards, even to the preparing of plans for his house and the selection of carpenters to build it. Agent La Croix recalls a case in which an Indian who was having a house built under his own contract agreed to pay a carpenter $250 for the labor. The agent was ad- vised of the agreement in time to save the Indian nearly $200 on the labor. There are many ways in which the agent conserves the resources of the Indian, and the necessity for it is patent in view of the susceptibility of the Indian to the wiles of unscrupulous white men.

It is the duty of the field agent to supervise the exeeu- tion of all leases on Indian lands. These consist of oil and gas, mineral, grazing and agricultural leases, and regarding them the agent has more complaints than arise in the other departments of his work. There is a class of Indians who may lease their lands without the approval of the agent, but the department is seeking to have the agency oversee every sort of lease contraet. Lands for some purposes have a lease value of about $3 per acre, although cases are on record where owners have leased eighty acres for $50 a year.

The Madill office, under Mr. La Croix, receives from 75 to 150 applications a year for the removal of restric- tions from Indian lands in order that they may be sold, but not all applications are approved, and here is a case of the field agent intervening in behalf of the welfare of the Indian, for many times a disposition of the land would be sheer unwisdom. The services of three men are required at the Madill office, but five probably will soon constitute the force. Wherever possible, competent In- dians are favored for appointment in the offices, and it was this custom that brought Mr. La Croix into the serv- ice, a work for which he has shown remarkable aptitude.

Mr. La Croix was born at the Santee Indian Agency, in Nebraska, in 1889, a son of Oliver S. La Croix, who was for seventeen years a carpenter at that agency, the son of a Frenchman who came down from Canada, and a full-blood Sioux woman. There were nine children in the family: Henry S., of this notice; Oliver S., who is a farmer and resides on the allotment of his deceased father in Nebraska; Mrs. Noble Lunderman, who lives at Herrick, South Dakota; Mrs. Paul Downs, who lives at Burke, South Dakota; Raymond, who is a farmer in Nebraska ; and Agnes, Clarence, May and Lillian, who are living with their mother in Nebraska.

Henry S. La Croix was educated in the district school at the Santee Agency, the Riggs Institute in South Dakota, and at Haskell Institute, at Lawrence, Kansas, receiving his degree from the latter institution in 1910. Later in the year he became stenographer in the office of the superintendent of Haskell Institute, and subsequently filled a clerical position in the office of the Union Indian Agency at Muskogee. Later he was promoted to the position of assistant district agent and still later inade assistant field agent, being promoted, July 1, 1915, to the position of field agent, which he has since retained.

The nice feature of appropriateness through Indian relationship that attaches to the work of Mr. La Croix is enhanced by a bit of romance in connection with his marriage. Many years ago a man named Pennel, of North Carolina, moved to South Dakota, and in course of time married a full-blood Sioux woman. After a child

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HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

In 1906 Mr. Wright left Boonville and spent one year in old Mexico, and in 1907 took up his residence in Okla- homa, at Tulsa. Soon, however, he changed his scene of activity to Sapulpa, where, in 1910, he formed a partner- ship with William H. Odell, uuder the firm style of Odell & Wright, which has since grown to be a formidable combination in legal affairs. The firm maintains offices in the First National Bank Building and carries on a general law practice, having on its books the names of many of the leading firms of the city. Mr. Wright is a inan of strong, clear intellect and uses intelligibility and good sense in presenting his cases, and his tenacity of purpose and power of application have aided him signally in his work before the courts. While he has devoted himself whole-heartedly to his profession, he has found time to take an interest in political aud public affairs, in connection with which he has been a member of the democratic county committee since his arrival in Creek County, was its chairman for several years, and in 1914 became the candidate of the democratic party for a seat in the Legislature, but failed of election because of the large republican majority in Creek County.

Mr. Wright was married in 1897 to Miss Elizabeth Surkey, a native of Marshall, Missouri, and they have two children: Catherine Elizabeth and Lucien B., Jr.

J. C. HOLMAN. Merchant, banker, stock rancher aud general business man, J. C. Holmau has been a conspicu- ous figure in .Hughes County for many years. Though a white man, his life since early boyhood has been spent in the old Indiau Territory and the new state. Mr. Holman possesses executive and business ability far above the average and his judgment and experience have been used freely in public office, to which he has been called by his fellow citizens. His home is at Stuart, but his name is known all over Hughes County and in that sec- tion of Eastern Oklahoma.

He was next to the oldest in the family of five chil- dren. The parents Wesley and Elizabeth (Parker) Hol- man were Texas people, but were living temporarily in Claiborne Parish, Louisiana, when J. C. Holman was born November 27, 1868. Six weeks after his birth they returned to Texas and located in Limestone County. When Mr. Holman was niue years of age his parents moved into Indian Territory, locating in the Chickasaw Nation, there remaining for eleven years, and then moved to the Choctaw Nation. For the past twenty-seven years J. C. Holman has been a resident of Hughes County, and there the big work of his career has been accomplished.

As a boy he attended one of the old time subscription schools, maintained by contribution from the parents of those children who attended, the tuition fee being usually a dollar a month for each scholar. This school which Mr. Holman attended was kept in a log cabin. He grew up on a farm, and farmiug has been the backbone of his business prosperity and success.' He kept his home on a farm until 1902 and for the past fifteen years has been also active in business as a general merchant, his location for eleven years being at Gerty, and since then at Stuart. During the first four years he was asso- ciated with his brother, W. H. Holman, under the name Holman & Brothers, but since then has been alone.

Mr. Holman is president of the Stuart State Bank and has held that position since it was organized, in 1912. He also has a fine ranch of 3,000 acres twelve miles southwest of Stuart, and 2,100 acres of that land are his own property, and he has 700 acres under cultivation. This is the center for his extensive efforts in stock raising, and he has both cattle and horses, but a few years ago he introduced into Hughes County the first herd of registered Hereford cattle and has given much attention to the raising of thoroughbred cattle of that strain and his own

example has proved of broad benefit to the entire county.

After Oklahoma became a state Mr. Holman was chosen one of the first county commissioners of Hughes County and filled that office five years. He is a democrat and an official member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. While a man of striking initiative and ability, Mr. Hol- man freely gives credit to his capable wife for much of his financial success. In 1892 he married Miss Mollie Hobbs of Gainesville, Texas. They have been married now upwards of a quarter of a century, and they enjoy the comforts of one of the best homes in the county. Their two children are named Rene and Lynn.

TOM PAYNE. Through various mediums has this well known citizen and representative capitalist of the City of Okmulgee given evidence of his civic pride and lib- erality, and along varied avenues of enterprise has his potent influence been felt. He has been closely and prominently concerned with the development of the oil industry in Oklahoma and has been an effective exponent of that progressive spirit that has been a dominating force in the development and advancement of the vigor- ous young commonwealth in which he has found ample scope for his constructive and productive enterprise.

Mr. Payne takes pride in adverting to the fine old Bluegrass State as the place of his nativity, and he is a scion of one of its well known pioneer families. He was born in Hardin County, Kentucky, on the 2d of May, 1871, and is a son of Alexander and Sarah Agnes (Stewart) Payne, both of whom were born and reared in Kentucky, where they continued to maintain their home until 1881, when they removed to Missouri. From the latter state they came to the old Indian Territory in 1889, and they established their home at Tulsa, the pres- ent thriving and important city that is the judicial center of the county of the same name. They were pioneers of the place, which had but two mercantile establishments when they there established their home.

Mrs. Payne died while on a visit in Missouri, and her husband now resides on a fine ranch owned by his son Tom, of this review, in the northeastern part of Okmul- gee County, his entire active career having been one of close identification with the fundamental industries of agriculture and stock-growing. He is one of the honored pioneer citizens of Oklahoma and has contributed his quota to the civic and industrial development of this commonwealth. Of his children the eldest is James .M., who resides at Sapulpa; Tom, of this sketch, was the next in order of birth; Abner is a resident of the State of Montana; Minnie is the wife of John Seibert of Sterling, Colorado; Mrs. Ella Hague is a resident of Nebraska; Malvina met her death by drowning, in Pole- cat Creek, Oklahoma, when eighteen years of age; and Lulu is the wife of William Howell, a progressive rancher in the vicinity of Cody, Wyoming.

Tom Payne acquired his early education in the schools of Kentucky and Missouri and was eighteen years of age at the time of the family removal to Indian Territory, where he gained varied experience in connection with pioneer life among the Indians. He has been concerned with the oil business in Oklahoma from the time the first oil well was drilled at Red Fork, Tulsa County, by Hydrick and Wicks. He was on the ground when the first oil was brought forth from this pioneer well, and in the interveuing years he has been most active and influential in counection with the exploitation and devel- opment of the great oil fields of Oklahoma, his effective association with this important line of industrial enter- prise having enabled him to accumulate a substantial fortune. As an oil producer he has extensive holdings in Tulsa and Okmulgee counties, and he is one of the essentially representative oil men of the state which has

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HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

represented his home from his youth. In the early years of his residence in Indian Territory he was actively con- cerned with the cattle industry and with the same he continued his association in a successful way until he found a more promising field of endeavor in the develop- ment work in the oil fields that have brought fame and fortune to many Oklahoma citizens. He is still the owner of one of the well improved ranches of Okmulgee County, the same comprising 1,500 acres and being well stocked with high grades of cattle. He has important real estate investments in the City of Okmulgee, includ- ing the fine office building that was erected by Frank Gillespie, and that is one of the largest and most modern in the state. Of metropolitan type and the best of facili- ties aud equipment, this is a structure of five stories, situated at the corner of Sixth Street and Morton Avenue, and it is recognized as the best office building in the city, as well as a distinct contribution to the met- ropolitan attractions of Okmulgee. Mr. Payne is inter- ested in lead and zinc mining enterprises in the cele- brated Joplin district of Missouri, and he has a commo- dious and beautiful summer home at Neosho, Newton County, that state, in addition to his attractive residence properties in the cities of Tulsa and Okmulgee, Okla- homa. He was one of the organizers of the American National Bank of Sapulpa, and was a director of the same until he disposed of his stock in the institution. He has been one of the hustlers of a hustling common- wealth, has been fair and honorable in all of his activi- ties and dealings and has won success that is worthy of the name, the while he has a host of friends in the state that has been the stage of his well ordered enterprise. In the early days he knew and was the friend of many of the leading Indians of the Creek Nation, as he was covering the range with cattle operations first in the employ of others and then in an independent way. He has had no ambition to enter the arena of practical poli- tics but is loyal and progressive as a citizen and gives his allegiance to the republican party.

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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