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 74

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 74

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

At the close of his legislative dnties, Doctor Day went to Chicago, Illinois, where he spent the following sum- mer in special study of skin and genito-uninary diseases, a field in which he has subsequently become one of the leading specialists and authorities in the state. In the fall of 1908 he returned to Oklahoma and removed his field of practice to Oklahoma City, where he has con- tinued to the present time with a constantly-increasing practice, his offices now being located at No. 319 State National Bank Building.

Doctor Day has not only been known as one of his state's leading practitioners, but an educator whose

labors have been appreciated by the very highest honors that may come to a member of his profession. For sev- eral years he was a member of the faculty of the medical school of Epworth University, as professor of genito- urinary diseases, and when that institution merged with the University of Oklahoma and became the medical de- partment of the state university, he became head of the department of skin and genito-urinary diseases, holding this position until February 1, 1913, when he was ap- pointed dean of the medical department of the University of Oklahoma, with the title of professor of pathology, serology and clinical microscopy. Various other honors have been conferred upon Doctor Day, and at this time he is attending pathologist on the staff of St. Anthony's Hospital and consultant dermatologist of the State In- saue Asylum at Norman, Oklahoma. He retains member- ship in the various organizations of his profession, in- cluding the Oklahoma Connty Medical Society, the Okla- homa State Medical Society, the American Medical Asso- ciation, the Central District Medical Society and the Oklahoma City Academy of Medicine. Fraternally, he is connected with the Knights of Pythias, Oklahoma City, the Modern Woodmen of America, and the Phi Beta Phi fraternity. He is also a member of the Oklahoma City Men's Dinner Club, and of the Presbyterian Church, to the movements of which he has been a liberal con- tributor. In spite of his heavy and multitudinous labors, he has found time always to assist other public-spirited citizens in their efforts to seenre a betterment of civic conditions and no movement for the advancement of morality and education fails to receive his support.

Doctor Day was married in 1895 to Miss Agnes L. Bradley, daughter of Dr. and Mrs. D. H. Bradley of May- view, Missouri. Doctor Bradley was one of the pioneer physicians of Western Missouri. To Doctor and Mrs. Day there have come two sons: Curtis Bradley, born in 1903; and Maurice Joseph, born in 1909. The pleasant family home is situated at No. 1625 West Twenty-second Street, Oklahoma City.

J. TRUMAN NIXON. Among the business men and cap- italists who have been most effectively identified with the npbuilding of the City of Tulsa in the past fourteen years, J. Truman Nixon is one of the leaders, having been a factor in the oil and gas development and also in connection with the banking and general local upbuild- ing. He is one of the men of wide and successful expe- rience who was attracted to this part of Oklahoma at the beginning of the great development work in the oil and gas fields.

J. Trnman Nixon was born near Boothsville, West Virginia, November 6, 1868, a son of S. C. and Virginia L. (Harr) Nixon. His father, S. C. Nixon, was born near the same place, October 19, 1842. His mother, Virginia L. Nixon, deceased (daughter of Richard Harr of Pruntytown, West Virginia), was born July 25, 1849, and died April 25, 1876. His father and mother were married November 8, 1866, and to them were born two children, J. Truman Nixon, born November 6, 1868, and Lovelia May (Nixon) Norman, of New York, born May 24, 1873.

There was a second marriage to Mollie A. Wolcott in February 1878. She died in 1885, without issue. By a third marriage to Barbara MeMorran was born Cleon Robert Nixon, on May 22, 1887, now one of Tulsa's promising young attorneys.

The recorded history of the Nixon family is almost as old as the county records of England, beginning in the County of Oxford in the year of 1273 and at snndry succeeding dates, and in the delightful old book "The History of the Ancient Parish of Leek" this family

S.Truman Nixon

1597

HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

comes iu for very prominent mention. The progenitor of the following line of the Nixon family was Wm. Nixon, who became a Freeman of York in 1416. Then we find a party of them emigrating to Ireland and in that way come in for mention in "O'Hart's Irish Landed Gentry." Members of families remaining in England and those in Ireland emigrated to America and we find them recording grants of land as early as May, 1688.

In England and Ireland many of this family served their rulers with distinction as evidenced by many records and bestowal by kings of Coat of Arms and Crests. In America they served with credit and distinction in the War of the Revolution and also 1812 and the Civil war, always for the Union. To the noted American Col. John Nixon, who commanded the Third Battalion of Philadelphia (known as the Silk Stocking Brigade) in General Washington's army, was assigned the very im- portant post of defense of "Dunks Ferry." A man of means, he assisted in financing the Revolution, was one of the organizers of the Bank of North America (the young Nation's first bank) and was its second president and a trustee of the University of Pennsylvania. He was chosen by the President to proclaim the Declaration of Inde- peudence July 8, 1778, to the people of Philadelphia.

Later as pioneers we find them settling in Virginia, then going westward into all the West. This family line is unbroken all of these years. The Crest of Nixon family of Ireland is given with this sketch and is as follows :

Crest on the point of a sword iu pile, a cross pattee ppr, Arms.

J. Truman Nixon spent part of his early youth in the State of Ohio, where he attended country schools and May 23, 1887, graduated from the St. Paris High School, the following year was spent at Dennison University at Granville, Ohio. His practical preparation for life con- sisted in discipline in farm work and as clerk in his father's store and others at St. Paris, Ohio. In July 1887 he returned to the old homestead in Taylor County, West Virginia, where he built his career to prosperity operating a large stock farm, making a specialty of raising registered Shorthorn cattle and Berkshire hogs, continuing that business until April 15, 1905. He still owns his farm and coal lands in that state and others in Oklahoma.

In the meantime he had become actively associated with the coal, oil and gas business. In 1891 and 1892 he was connected with the Camden coal interests at Monon- gah, West Virginia. In 1899 he was employed with the South Penn Oil Company's land department in West Virginia and continued with that firm and other affiliated Standard interests until 1906. From March, 1903, until the beginning of 1905 he had charge of the land depart- meut in Indian Territory for Prairie Oil & Gas Com- pany.

During 1905 he was employed by the Virginias Rail- way Company (Standard Interest) in West Virginia and Virginia in buying lands for that corporation, and bought what is known as "Oney Gap" (Tunnel) for this company. In November, 1905, he and associates sold a large coal area in Barbour County, West Virginia, after which he has confined his efforts to Illinois and Okla- homa oil and gas fields, spending the entire year of 1906 in the Illinois field. He became manager of the land department for the Oklahoma Natural Gas Company at Tulsa, in January, 1907, and now has several prominent associations with local industrial and financial corpora- tions.

Mr. Nixon organized the Tulsa Engineering and Supply Company. He is one of the vice presidents of the Merchants and Planters Bank of Tulsa, a stockholder

in the National Bank of Commerce, a stockholder in the Guarantee Abstract & Title Company, sole owner of the Indian records, an abstract business dealing exclusively with work and records of the Department of the Interior which is the only successful office of the kind conducted within the range of our kuowledge, furnishing abstracts of all departmental leases and enrollment and allotment records, his business dealing particularly with oil and gas.

Mr. Nixon has studied and has a comprehensive knowl- edge of the law but never cared for practice before the bar, choosing to act in the capacity of councilor, which coupled with his experience and knowledge of men and affairs makes him a very strong man.

Mr. Nixon is affiliated with the Tulsa Lodge No. 71, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons; with Tulsa Chapter No. 52, Royal Arch Masous; with Tulsa Commandery No. 22, Knights Templars; with Trinity Council No. 20, Royal and Select Masters; Akdar Temple of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine; and Tulsa Chapter No. 133 Eastern Star. He is also a Knight of Pythias and became a charter member of Black Diamond Lodge No. 72 at Monongah, West Virginia, when it was organized in 1892.

Politically his party affiliations are republican but in- dependent of the party whip and he is a man who has many staunch friends iu every walk of life.

Mr. Nixon was married August 18, 1892, to Florence B. Jolliffe. Mrs. Nixon was born near Uniontown, Wet- zel County, West Virginia. A daughter of Amos and Mary Jolliffe, another very old English family that can boast of an unbroken line for nearly 500 years. Her forefathers coming to America about 1645. Later we find the male descendants serving in General Washing- ton's army where they acquitted themselves with credit and distinction. In old England they served their kings well and were remembered by their rulers with favor. Some evidence is Jolliffe Coat of Arms, Argent on a pile Azure, three Dexter Gauntlets of the field; Jolliffe Crest, a cubit arm erect vested and cuffed, the sleeve charged with a pile Argent, the hand grasping a sword (P. P. D.) Motto: Tout que je puis.

IRVING W. HART. In touching upon the history of Woodward County, special attention may well be directed to Mr. Hart, who is one of the pioneer citizens and rep- resentative business men of the vigorous little City of Woodward, the county seat, where he has built up and controls a substantial and prosperous enterprise as a dealer iu agricultural implements.

In the family home at No. 60 Twelfth Street, New York City, Irving W. Hart was born on the 23d of Sep- tember, 1851, and while he is appreciative of metropoli- tan facilities and attractions, he is gratified that his life has been cast in with the free and untrammeled West and that he can claim as his home the vital young Commouwealth of Oklahoma, where he has found that "every prospect pleases"' and that excellent opportuni- ties are afforded for the achieving of definite and worthy success along normal lines of enterprise. Mr. Hart is a son of Capt. Robert Hope Hart and Margaret A. (Irving) Hart. The father passed the closing years of his life in New York City, where he died on the 20th of June, 1865. Captain Hart was born in Scotland, in 1789, and was the son of a clergyman of the Presbyterian Church. He received an academic and military education at Stirling Castle and became a captain in the gallant command known as the Forty-second Highlanders, with which he served a number of years in India. In 1840 he resigned his commission and came to the United States. Here he hecame associated with others in importing goods from

Vol. IV-17

1598

HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

India, the firm or company operating their own vessels. At the time of the Civil war these vessels were confis- cated by the United States Government, and this, with other adverse conditions, brought such financial reverses to Captain Hart that he became virtually bankrupt. He had in the meantime maintained his residence iu New York City for a time, and during the major part of his career after coming to America he resided in that city. In 1863, after his financial reverses, he engaged in the coal business in the national metropolis, where he con- tinued to be identified with this line of enterprise until his death, which occurred June 20, 1865, as previously noted.

In 1840 was solemnized, in the City of Philadelphia, the marriage of Captain Hart to Miss Margaret A .. Irving, who was born at Savannah, Georgia, on the 10th of December, 1822, a daughter of Rev. David Irving, who was a clergyman of the Episcopal Church. Mrs. Hart survived her husband by nearly a quarter of a cen- tury and passed the closing period of her life at Eureka, Kansas, where she died on the 9th of February, 1889. She was a communicant of the Episcopal Church from youth to the time of her death. Captain and Mrs. Hart became the parents of six sons and two daughters, con- cerning whom brief data are consistently entered at this juncture: Susan, the first born, died in infancy, as did also James, second of the children; Marian, who was born in the year 1845, became the wife of Thomas Miller and her death occurred in 1905, her four surviving chil- dren being Stewart, George, Marian and Helen; George Durey, who was born in 1847, was a resident of Arizona at the time of his death, in 1906, he having been for six years a member of the Third United States Infantry, in which he rose to the office of captain, and his service having included the entire period of the Civil war; Robert Hope, who was born in 1849, is a prominent breeder of blooded live stock in Greenwood County,, Kan- sas; Irving W., subject of this review, was the next in order of birth; Charles L., who was born in 1853, is now a resident of the City of Chicago, Illinois; and David Wallace, who was born iu 1856, resides at Bynes Lake, British Columbia. All of the children were born in the family home at No. 60 Twelfth Street, New York City.

After having duly availed himself of the advantages of the public schools of New York City, Irving W. Hart, who was a lad of fourteen years at the time of his father's death, pursued a higher course of study in a college at Lanesborough, Berkshire County, Massachu- setts. Shortly after his father's death he found employ- ment as a messenger boy, and as a youth he came to the West and became a resident of Wisconsin, where he worked on a farm for a few years, besides having served for a time as messenger at the Milwaukee Board of Trade. In 1870, in company with his brothers Robert and Charles, he removed to Kausas, and they brought with them to the Sunflower State twelve head of thoroughbred cattle, being the first to introduce this grade of live stock in Greenwood County. In 1875 Mr. Hart removed to Pekin, Illinois, and for the ensuing three years he was employed as a commercial traveler. In 1878 he went to Denver, Colorado, where he was employed two years as a salesman, and in 1884 he became one of the first settlers in Clark County, Kansas, where he entered claim to a tract of Government land and insti- tuted the reclamation and improvement of a farm. Later he was engaged in business for a number of years at Lexington, that county. He was an active worker in behalf of the cause of the democratic party in that sec- tion of the Sunflower State, and he served ten years in the office of justice of the peace, in Liberty .Township.

In 1893 Mr. Hart "made the run" at the historic opening of the Cherokee Strip of Oklahoma to settle-

ment, and he located a homestead claim nineteen miles southeast of the present City of Woodward. He at once became active in public affairs in the new community. He was first elected justice of the peace of Webster and was at the same time a member of the board of town- ship trustees, an office of which he continued the incum- bent two years. In 1897 Mr. Hart was elected the first county assessor of Woodward County, a position in which he served two years, and later he served three terms as city assessor of Woodward. In 1907, the year that marked the admission of Oklahoma to the Union, he had the distinction of being elected the first repre- sentative of Woodward County in the State Legislature. In the House of Representatives he was assigned to a number of important committees. He introduced in the house a number of important bills, ably championed them on the floor and through personal influence brought them to enactment as laws of the state. He served one term in the Legislature and his record therein has become an integral part of Oklahoma history.

Mr. Hart improved his original farm in Woodward County and is still the owner of valuable real estate, including farm land aud city property. Since 1911 he has been successfully engaged in the implement busi- uess at Woodward, where he has a large and well cquipped establishment and controls a substantial and representative business. He is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and the Modern Woodmen of America, and holds membership in the Presbyterian Church in his home city, his wife, uow deceased, having likewise been a zealous and devoted member.

At Lexington, Kansas, on the 14th of December, 1889, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Hart to Miss Mary Schell, daughter of Frederick H. and Amanda (Martin) Schell. Mrs. Hart was born at Fairfield, Illinois, on the 14th of December, 1869, and was summoned to the life eternal on the 12th of October, 1906, being survived by two children: Helen Irving, who was born December 6, 1899, died on the 25th of January, 1915; Hazel M., who was born November 19, 1894, is the wife of Professor Henry E. Garringer, superintendent of schools at Krem- lin, Garfield County, Oklahoma.

HERBERT M. PECK. A representative member of the younger generation of the Oklahoma bar, Mr. Peck is assistant United States attorney for the Western Dis- trict of Oklahoma with his official residence at Oklahoma City.

Mr. Peck claims the historic Old Dominion State as the place of his nativity. His maternal ancestors were of the staunch Scotch-Irish element that settled in Rock- bridge County, Virginia, in the pioneer days. His paternal ancestors were English, who likewise settled in the Valley of Virginia at an early period. Mr. Peck's kinsmen were found enrolled in the Confederate ranks during the war between the states.

Herbert M. Peck was born on a farm in Rockbridge County, Virginia, on the 5th of November, 1879, and is a son of Hugh A. and Annie D. (McCormick) Peck, both likewise natives of Virginia. The maternal grandfather of Mr. Peck was a cousin of Leander McCormick, who at- tained to world-wide fame as an inventor and manu- facturer of agricultural implements and machinery. The maternal grandmother of Mr. Peck was a member of the well known Mcclintock family of Virginia, and in this distaff line the subject of this review is likewise a descendant of Gen. Caesar Rodney, of Maryland, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, as well as a gallant soldier and officer of the Continental forces in the War of the Revolution. Mr. Peck is a member of

1599

HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

that noteworthy patriotic body, the Society of the Sons of the American Revolution.

In his native state Herbert M. Peck gained his rudi- mentary education and as a youth he went to Wisconsin, where he continued his educational application in the public schools and where he was finally graduated in the high school in the City of Beaver Dam. Thereafter he devoted one year to teaching school in that state, and he then entered Lawrence University, in which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1904 and from which he received the degree of Bachelor of Arts. In the fall of 1904 Mr. Peck became an instructor in the Wentworth Military Academy, at Lexington, Missouri, where he remained two years and by virtue of his asso- ciation received commission as captain in the Missouri National Guard.

In preparation for his chosen profession Mr. Peck returned to his native state and entered the law depart- ment of the historic old University of Virginia, at Char- lottesville, and in this institution he was graduated in 1908, with the degree of Bachelor of Laws and with virtually simultaneous admission to the bar. In the same year Mr. Peck came to Oklahoma and established his residence in Oklahoma City, where he has since con- tinued in the general practice of law.

Mr. Peck is identified ·with the American Bar Associa- tion, is a member of the executive council of the Okla- homa State Bar Association, in the affairs of which he is specially active, and is secretary of the Oklahoma County Bar Association. From 1911 to 1913, inclusive, he was assistant county attorney of Oklahoma County and from 1912 to 1914 he served as attorney to the Board of Education of Oklahoma City. In 1914 he re- ceived the democratic nomination for the office of county attorney of Oklahoma County, but was defeated in the election of November of that year by sixty-two votes out of a total of 11,000 votes cast, after a very hard fought campaign. He is well fortified in his political opinions and has been an active and effective exponent of the principles and policies of the democratic party. Mr. Peck is a member of the Men's Dinner Club of his home city, and is affiliated with three college fraternities-the honorary fraternity, Delta Sigma Rho, the Phi Delta Theta and the legal fraternity of Phi Delta Phi, of that national organization which he was an officer for two years, 1911-12.

On the 26th of October, 1910, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Peck to Miss Frances McCoy Sawyer, daughter of Thomas C. and Rena (Page) Sawyer, of Lexington, Missouri. Mrs. Peck's paternal grandfather, Judge Samuel L. Sawyer, not only served with marked distinction on the bench of the Circuit Court of Missouri, but also represented his district, that of Lexington, Mis- souri, as a member of the United States Congress. Mr. and Mrs. Peck have two daughters, Page and Frances, and the family home is an attractive residence at 612 West Thirty-second Street.

JOSEPH M. STEPHENS, M. D. The first physician and surgeon to locate permanently at the new Town of Hastings was Dr. Stephens, whose relations with that community as a capable doctor and an enterprising citi- zen and business man has been almost continuous for fifteen years, having been absent only a year or two while he conducted a hospital at Waurika. Dr. Stephens has contributed to the resources of this community for the care and treatment of disease and afflictions, and now maintains a well equipped and well patronized sani- tarium, which he looks after in addition to his large pri- vate practice.

His work as a physician began more than twenty years ago in his native State of Texas. Joseph M. Stephens

was born in Dentou County, Texas, February 1, 1872, a son of A. J. Stephens. The Stephenses came to Virginia from England in colonial days. A. J. Stephens was born in Missouri in 1827 and died at Aurora, Texas, in 1901. He came to Texas and located in Denton County in the pioneer times before the war, and enlisted from that state for service in the Confederate Army. He was in the war four years, and one time was wounded and taken prisoner, but was later exchanged and rejoined his com- mand. He removed from Denton County to Aurora, iu Wise County, in 1874, and lived there until his death. Most of his active career was spent as a cattle buyer. He was a democrat, and a.member of the Masonic fra- ternity. His wife was Miss Alla Holford, who was born in Arkansas and now resides at Rome, Texas. A record of their children is: George, a stockman at Hardiville, Arkansas; Lulu, wife of John Smith, who is a stockman at Amarillo, Texas; Dr. Joseph M .; Walter, who was a young attorney and at the age of twenty-five was killed in a railroad accident at Fort Worth; Thomas, a fruit grower at Woodward, California; and Hattie, wife of Pink Boyd, a stockman at Boyd, Texas.

Dr. Stephens acquired his early education in the public schools of Wise County, Texas, where he lived from the age of two years. Graduating from the Aurora High High School in 1887, he then became a student in old Trinity University, at that time located at Tehuacana, but now at Waxahachie, Texas. He was graduated from Trinity with the degree Bachelor of Science in 1890, and followed this with a course in the College of Physicians and Surgeons of St. Louis, where he was graduated M. D. in 1893. Few physicians have been more indus- trious in the study of their chosen calling and in pursuing their studies since leaving college than Dr. Stephens. In 1897 he took post-graduate work at the New Orleaus Polyclinic, another at the Chicago Polyclinic in 1905 and 1910, and by these studies and by his own practice is regarded as a specialist in surgery and gynecology. His first practice was done at Denison, Texas, in 1893, where he remained nine months, and he was afterwards located at Decatur and Alvord until 1901. In the latter year he came to Hastings as the pioneer physician and surgeon, practically with the founding of that town, and has built up a large medical and surgical practice. In 1903 he established at Hastings the Stephens Sanitarium, which he successfully conducted until it was burned in 1910. He thereupon built a modern hospital at Waurika and conducted it for two years in person, but in 1912 returned to Hastings and has since re-established his sanitarium on the second floor of the Hastings National Bank Build- ing, where his offices are also located. His sanitarium has accommodations for eight patients and is equipped with many superior facilities in addition to the skillful direction of its proprietor. Dr. Stephens also owns the hospital at Waurika, but it is operated under lease. He is a member of the County and State Medical societies and the American Medical Association. Dr. Stephens has served as health officer at Hastings. In politics he is a democrat, is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, and is affiliated with Oak Camp No. 163, Woodmen of the World, with Hastings Camp of the Mod- ern Woodmen of America, with the Woodmen Circle at Hastings and with the Royal Neighbors at the same place.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

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