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 79

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 79

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).

The only son in a family of seven children, Mr. Pitt- man was born on a farm in Clark County, Missouri, and the date of his nativity was December 8, 1874. That the conditions that surrounded him when he was thus ushered into the world were of somewhat primitive order may be inferred when it is stated that the home in which he was born was a log house of the type more Vol. IV-18

commonly found in an early pioneer period. He is a sou of Frederick and Sarah Jane (Stone) Pittman, and of their seven children the subject of this review was the fourth in order of birth.

Frederick Pittman was born in the Principality of Waldeck, Germany, on the 15th of October, 1838, and thus was a lad of about fourteen years when, in 1852, he accompanied his parents on their immigration to the United States, the family home being established in Adams County, Illinois, where his father obtained land and engaged in farming, both of his parents passing the remainder of their lives in that state. Iu Illinois Frederick Pittman was reared to adult years, and there he supplemented the rudimentary education received in his uative land, by attending the district schools for some time, this discipline enabling him to acquire more effective knowledge of the English language. In 1865 he removed from Illinois to Clark County, Missouri, where he con- tinued his successful activities as a farmer and stock raiser until about forty years later he came to Oklahoma, in 1905, the remainder of his life having been passed in Woodward County, where he died on the 19th of February, 1908. He was an active member of the Methodist Protestant Church for thirty years prior to . his death.

On the 15th of August, 1866, was solemnized the mar- riage of Frederick Pittman to Miss Sarah Jane Stone, who was born near Warsaw, Hancock County, Illinois, where her parents, William and Elizabeth (Gilham) Stone, established their residence in the pioneer days, upon their removal from their native state, Kentucky. Mrs. Pittman survived her husband and still maintains her home in Woodward County, all of their children having been born on the old homestead farm in Clark County, Missouri. Mrs. Pittman, like her honored hus- band, has long been a devoted adherent of the Methodist Protestant Church.

Reared to the sturdy discipline of the home farm, Wil- liam L. Pittman early became inured to strenuous physi- cal labor and effectually learned the lessons of practical industry. In the meanwhile his ambition was spurred by the somewhat limited educational advantages which he received in the rural schools of his native county, and the training thus gained he supplemented by special courses in high schools at various places, after he had become dependent upon his own resources. Through well ordered private study he rounded out a really liberal education, for the "leading out," which the very term education implies, may thus be effected in the intellectual field if the aspirant has the requisite determination and ambition. Through existent and self-induced advantages that thus came to him, Mr. Pittman, at the age of twenty years, proved himself eligible for pedagogic honors and was granted a teacher's certificate-in the year 1894. For the ensuing five years he was a successful and popular teacher in Clark County, Missouri, and as that represents his "native heath,"' he thus set at naught the application of the scriptural aphorismn that "a prophet is not without honor save in his own country." In 1900 Mr. Pittman held for a few months, under the civil service system, a position in connection with the city postal service in Chicago, but impaired health soon compelled him to resign his position,-a contingency that he has had no cause to regret, since he was inci- dentally led to establish a home soon afterward in Okla- homa, which territory was then looking forward with high hopes to being admitted to statehood.

In December, 1901, Mr. Pittman came to Oklahoma Territory and purchased a tract of land in Detroit Township, Woodward County, and in connection with the improving and developing of this homestead he found ready demand for his services as a teacher in

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the schools of the county, so that he peudulated betweeu agricultural and pedagogie activities until 1909, when he left the farm and assumed the position of superin- tendent of the village schools of Mooreland, this county, an office of which he continued the incumbent two years.

In 1910 Mr. Pittman was elected county superintendent of schools for Woodward County, and the one most effective evidence of the efficiency of his administratiou and the high popular estimate placed upon the same is that afforded in his continuous retention of this important office, to which lic was re-elected in 1912, and again in 1914. In every sense Mr. Pittman is to be considered one of the progressive educators in the State of Okla- homa, and he bends his energies specially to thoroughness of work in all departments of the schools under his supervision, the while he insistently urges the prompt and regular attendance of pupils. His success in his present office has been unqualified and noteworthy, and the citizens of Woodward County owe to him a debt of perpetual gratitude and honor for the admirable work he has accomplished for the schools. He has made the school system of Woodward County a veritable model and further than this he has made a valuable contribu- tion to educational annals in the state by preparing a most interesting and valuable history of the schools of the county. As author of this work he effected its publi- cation in attractive form. Superintendent Pittman is alert and vigorous in adopting methods and systems of educational work that meet the approval of his judgment, and his ambition and loyalty are such that he does not fear to stray outside the beaten path when he considers such deflection beneficial for the cause. Thus it may be noted that among his innovations is the custom of personally conducting each year the teachers' institute for Woodward County, and other county superintendents have not only warmly commended the plan, justified by definite results achieved, but also have in a number of instances adopted the same. He was the first also to introduce spelling and cyphering contests in the schools of his county, and students from this county have, within his regime as superintendent, won one first and one second prize in the state spelling contests now held annu- ally in Oklahoma in connection with the general work of the public schools.

Mr. Pittmau takes a lively interest in all that concerns the civic and material welfare and advancement of his home county and state and is a leader in popular senti- ment and action in Woodward County. He is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and he and his wife hold membership in the Baptist Church.

On the 4th of March, 1900, was solemnized the mar- riage of Mr. Pittman to Miss Florence L. Black, who was born in Clark County, Missouri, on the 26th day of October, 1872, a daughter of William and Jennie (Butts) Black. Mr. and Mrs. Pittman became the parents of three children, whose names and respective dates of birth are here noted: Roland L., October 15, 1904 (died March 11, 1905) ; William H. E., October 15, 1908; and Frederick E., April 24, 1912.

MIKE DONNELLY. The efficient and popular chief clerk of the water department of the municipal service of Oklahoma City, Mr. Donnelly is known as a young man of sterling character and as one who takes loyal interest in all that touches the welfare and advance- ment of his home city, where his circle of friends is limited only by that of his acquaintances. He gives careful and effective attention to the duties of his posi- tion and is one of the valued members of the official corps at the city hall.

Mr. Donnelly was born at Bucklin, Linn County,

Missouri, on the 14th of October, 1880, and is a son of Owen and Mary (Selman) Donnelly, the former of whom was born in Ireland and the latter in the State of Texas. After completing the curriculum of the public schools of his native town Mike Donnelly en- tered the Presbyterian College at Brookfield, Missouri, in which he completed literary and business courses and was graduated as a member of the class of 1898. After his graduation Mr. Donnelly devoted two years to teaching in the schools of his native state and then went to Kansas City, where he assumed a clerical position in the general offices of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad, and where he remained thus em- ployed three years. He thereafter was associated with Swift & Company, the great Chicago meat packers, in their plant at Fort Worth, Texas,. until 1904, when he established his residence in Oklahoma City and entered the employ of the large furniture house of Bass & Harbor. He maintained his home at Capitol Hill and was mayor of that city at the time when it was made an integral part of Oklahoma City. When annexation was made, in 1911, he was elected a representative of the Capitol Hill district in the city council of Okla- homa City, and in this capacity he continued to serve with marked efficiency until the commission system of municipal government was adopted by the city. Immediately afterward he was elected by the city com- missioners to his present important post, that of chief clerk of the modern and extensive water department of the city service,-a position in which he has shown exceptional executive ability and great capacity for the handling of manifold details. Mr. Donnelly ac- cords unwavering allegiance to the democratic party and is one of its influential representatives in Okla- homa City. Both he and his wife are communicants of the Catholic Church and he is actively affiliated with the Knights of Columbus and the Woodmen of the World.

At Norman, this state, on the 31st of December, 1904, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Donnelly to Miss Minnie Renner, daughter of Louis and Fannie E. (Gray) Renner, the former of German and the lat- ter of English lineage. The two children of this union are: Leon Louis, who was born October 19, 1905; and Frances Marie, who was born July 31, 1907.

WALTER FERGUSON. In the domain of newspaper enterprise in Oklahoma the name of no one family can claim to have more distinctive precedence than that of which Walter Ferguson is a representative, and as a vital force in the field of journalism in this commonwealth his influence has been specially noteworthy, the while he has shown the utmost loyalty to and abiding interest in the vigorous young commonwealth within whose borders . he has been a resident since his early childhood, his father having been a distinguished figure in Oklahoma history and he himself having well upheld the prestige of the family name. Mr. Ferguson is editor and publisher of the Cherokee Republican, at Cherokee, the judicial center of Alfalfa County, and of this thriving little city he served as postmaster from August 1, 1911, until August 1, 1915.

Walter Ferguson was born in . Chautauqua County, Kansas, on the 20th of October, 1886, and is a son of Thompson B. and Elva U. (Shartel) Ferguson, his father having been the last of the Territorial governors of Okla- homa and having been a specially prominent and influen- tial figure in this history of this state. In a preliminary way quotation may consistently be made from an interest- ing article which recently appeared in one of the lead- ing daily papers of Oklahoma:

"The first number of the Shattuck (Oklahoma) Repub-

Mike Decen

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HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

lican appeared recently with Tom Ferguson, Jr., as the editor. The accession of young Tom Ferguson to the ranks of Oklahoma publishers is a very welcome one and puts the third paper in the hands of this interesting newspaper family. That it will be a success is fully expected, as the only kind of papers the Ferguson family ever run are successful ones.

"Thompson B. Ferguson, Sr., originally an Iowa man, was territorial governor of Oklahoma from 1901 to 1906, and established the Watonga Republican in 1892. He has seen his state grow from an Indian wilderness to one of the most advanced and up-to-date of our common- wealths, and he has seen the Republican grow from nothing to one of the most profitable papers in the state. He was married in 1885 to Miss Elva U. Shartel, a connection of several of the prominent families of Kansas and Oklahoma and a distant relative of Senator Robert M. LaFollette, of Wisconsin. Mrs. Ferguson has been her husband's partner in the publication of the Republican for some years and is a very able writer and business woman. She says, however, that her best claim to newspaper recognition is the fact that she is the mother of Walter Ferguson, who is the publisher of the Cherokee Republican, and generally considered the best young newspaper man of the new state, and of Tom, Jr., who she fully expects to duplicate Walter's success.

"Walter Ferguson established the Cherokee Republi- can several years back and has made it the most often quoted paper in Oklahoma. He has a remarkable fine sense of humor, and every week runs a full-page depart- ment of satirical criticism of public events. He has recently achieved local fame by running a department of his paper devoted to events in Bugscuffle, Bolivia. The last Indian uprising, five years ago, was led by Chito Harjo (Crazy Snake), who, after days of 'warfare,' disappeared entirely, and only recently was reported to have turned up in Bolivia. Mr. Ferguson seized upon the report to begin getting long letters each week from Crazy Snake, who recounted the doings of the politicians in Bugscuffle. By thus adopting Dean Swift's method to his own use, Mr. Ferguson has been running a depart- ment of political satire cach week that has seldom been equaled in state newspaper work,-by starting the 'Bug- scuffle News' as one page of his paper. Being a republi- can in a hidebound democratic state, he naturally finds plenty of material upon which to exercise his wit. Mrs. Ferguson conducts the women's department of the Cherokee Republican and is herself a very able writer and quite prominent in the Oklahoma Federation of Women's Clubs. She was elected second vice president of the Oklahoma Editorial Association at the recent meet- ing of that organization.

"Tom, Jr., who has only voted one time, has learned his trade thoroughly in his father's office and now starts out for himself in a new field, at Shattuck."

The foregoing extracts show that the Ferguson family is one of much prominence in the field of newspaper work in Oklahoma and further pertinent data will be found on other pages, in the sketch of the career of Hon. Thomp- son B. Ferguson, who came with his family to Oklahoma in 1889, the year that marked the opening of the terri- tory to settlement.

Walter Ferguson was about four years of age at the time when he came with his parents to the virtually untrammeled wilds of the newly organized Territory of Oklahoma and here he has found ample opportunity for "trammeling" to his heart's content, for the making of name and fame for himself, for being a factor in the march of development and progress and for agitating with the sharp darts of satire the minds of those who have followed the red men on to the stage where the latter long held dominion. Mr. Ferguson has snipped all

the dignified prongs off the head of Benjamin Franklin 's "art preservative of all arts, " and can tell you all about the practical details of a "print shop" and the news- paper business as exemplified in Oklahoma. He learned the printing and newspaper business in the office of his father and, finally shaking off the shackles of paternal supervision, he has shown to his sire and the general public that he is able to sit up and do a few things in the newspaper work in an independent way, all of which has been demonstrated in his upbuilding of the substan- tial business and wide circulation of the Cherokee Republican,-a paper that is individual, that is an admirable exponent of local interests, and that speaks freely and unreservedly concerning political affairs, from the standpoint of the republican party principles. Mr. Ferguson edited and published the first Blue Book of Oklahoma, and he is alert, vigorous and progressive in his civic attitude, a young man of thought and action and one who has secure vantage-ground in popular con- fidence and good will. His service as postmaster of Cherokee was marked by a careful and effective adminis- tration and his retirement came because he did not wish further to harrass by his preferment in office the governmental administration that is at variance with the political prineples and policies of which he is an advocate. Mr. Ferguson is affiliated with the Masonic Fraternity, is one of the most active in the support of measures and enterprises tending to advance the welfare of his home city, county and state, and shares with the other members of the Ferguson family in generous popu- lar esteem,

In the year 1908 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Ferguson to Miss Lucia Loomis, daughter of Dr. Edward O. Loomis, a prominent physician and influential citizen of Wapanucka, Johnson County, this state, and the one child of this union is Loomis Benton, was was born in 1909.

LEWIS A. MCCOLLISTER was born in Leavenworth, Crawford County, Indiana, on June 18, 1870. Concern- ing his parentage, full details will be found in the bio- graphical sketch of his brother, J. O. McCollister, repre- sentative in the Fiftieth Oklahoma Legislature.

In 1874 the McCollister family moved to Ida County, where the subject attended the public schools and was graduated from the Battle Creek High School in the class of 1886. He then entered the printing office of the Battle Creek Times and served four years as an apprentice. In 1890 he went to Collingsworth County, Texas, where he worked on a ranch for six months and then went iuto a printing office at Gordon, Texas. He spent six months at work on the Gordon Weekly Courier, after which he bought out the paper and ran it for fifteen years. In 1906 Mr. McCollister came to Mangum and engaged in the insurance and loan business, in which he has been successful, and which business he is now conducting at his offices in the First National Bank Building.

Mr. McCollister is a stockholder in the Guarantee State Bank of Mangum and in the Oklahoma Home Lumber Company, also of Mangum, He is a member of the Oklahoma Fire Association of Local Agents aud was a member of the Texas Press Association for fifteen years. While resident in Gordon he took the local census for the year 1900, and he still has in his possession the check for 15 cents which the Government sent him as the balance of payment for his services. Mr. McCol- lister is a democrat and a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, He is a member of Mangum Lodgo No, 38 Knights of Pythias and is past chancellor of the lodge. He has twice served as delegate to the Grand Lodge of the order from Texas, and three times in the

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HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

same capacity for Oklahoma. He is present district deputy grand chancellor under S. E. Gidney, and has jurisdiction over Mangum, Gotebo, Snyder, Hobart and Davidson, Oklahoma. He is a member of Mangum Camp No. 110, Woodmen of the World, and is clerk of his lodge and a member of Lodge No. 1169, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, of Mangum.

On June 5, 1895, Mr. McCollister was married in Gordon, Texas, to Miss Muncy Carlock, daughter of I. D. Carlock, now living retired in Mangum. To Mr. and Mrs. McCollister have been born two children: Gladys, a senior in the Mangum High School, and Landon, also attending the public schools.

THE FREDERICK LEADER. The public press of Okla- homa has no more conspicuous example of what a news- paper should be, both as to its contents and business management, than the Frederick Leader, published at Frederick, and owned and edited by the firm of Martin & Newland, composed of Walter D. Martin and John L. Newland. The Leader is distinctively individual, is clean and absolutely fearless in the publication of news and the advancement of the policies for which it stands, and in no town of the state of similar size do the business men and public generally give a local paper such generous support. The Leader has a large circula- tion both in Tillman and surrounding counties, and it has gained the one thing above all others a newspaper should possess-influence, based on confidence in the integrity of the newspaper's management.

Perhaps only those familiar by experience in the management of a country newspaper understand the significance of some of the figures and statements which from time to time have been made concerning the Frederick Leader. The publishers do not claim that the Leader is a metropolitan newspaper, and though it is read and generously quoted in all parts of the state, it has been developed with one particular purpose in view, to serve the people and interests of its home county and district. To those acquainted with the average circulation and influence of such a paper, the sworn circulation statement for 1915, which shows that the weekly issues of the Leader sent to paid subscribers averages 3,111, is particularly impressive.

Not long ago the Inland Printer, a journal devoted to the printing art and the most authoritative maga- zine of the kind in America, reproduced an entire page from the Leader, and had this editorial comment to . make: "Some publishers may question whether it pays to devote space to the little personal items from every township in a county-whether it pays to devote the time and energy necessary to keep up an interested corps of correspondents. The circulation statement of the Frederick Leader indicates that it does, as it is now printing and circulating 3,100 copies every week, main- taining and gradually increasing its circulation all through the year. The Leader has over a hundred cor- respondents, nearly every one inside the home county, and sometimes publishes as high as seventy letters in a single issue. "

One of the best known publishers in Oklahoma, and editor of the Cherokee Republican, Walter Ferguson, recently voiced an opinion which also deserves quota- tion: "Perhaps it would be well to make some mention of the Frederick Leader and what it is. For its field, it is perhaps the most successful newspaper in the United States. Located in an average sized county, with the cotton drawback and a considerable tenant system, the Leader has a net circulation of 3,100. It carries about forty columns of country correspondence and as a country newspaper, covering its field with minute accuracy, it is perhaps the most successful example of country news-

paper publishing in the United States. Last year the class in journalism of Oklahoma University made a half year's. study of the Oklahoma weekly newspapers with a view of awarding the distinction to the one" they considered the best in Oklahoma. It does not matter what paper was given second place in the competition, the decision of the class was a correct one, and the decision was reached that the Frederick Leader was the best weekly paper in Oklahoma."

A few sentences that appeared in an editorial in the Sunday Oklahoman are also pertinent: "A local paper! like the Leader helps to put on the map the town where it is published. Other weekly newspapers throughoutt the state should try printing more local news to dis- cover whether such a policy will not attract more adver- tising patronage. Publication of news causes a paper to be read and the paper that is read has little trouble in securing a good advertising patronage, unless it is published in a cemetery. There are some of these ceme- teries in Oklahoma, and they are recognizable from the class of newspapers published in them."

Now that something has been said, based on expert outside testimony, concerning the Frederick Leader, some reference should be made to the life and work of its enterprising publishers.

Det

Walter D. Martin was born at Martinsburg, Keokuk County, Iowa, August 24, 1871, a son of R. S. and Martha (Hampton) Martin. The Martins have been long established in America, are of Scotch-Irish origin, and they first settled on the Atlantic coast and subse- quently moved to Ohio. R. S. Martin was born in Licking County, Ohio, in 1836, went as a pioneer to Martinsburg, Iowa, where he became a farmer, and in 1887 engaged in the printing business, purchasing a half interest in the Martinsburg Journal and later succeed- ing to the sole ownership. This paper he later consoli- dated with the Hedrick Enterprise, changing the name to the Hedrick Journal, and he continues his active interest in that paper and resides at Hedrick. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and has been an active worker in its various movements. Edu- cational affairs also make a strong appeal to his public spirit, and for a long period of years he was a member of the Hedrick Board of Education. In 1861 he enlisted in the Thirteenth Regiment, Iowa Volunteer Infantry, and was with that regiment during four years, the greater part of the time under the command of General Grant. With a record of participation in many hard-fought engagements, he was wounded both at Shiloh and Vicks- burg. He is now a member of J. M. Hedrick Post, Grand Army of the Republic. His wife, who was born : in Kentucky in 1839, died at Hedrick, Iowa, in 1912. Their three children are: Walter D .; Charles J., who is with the Hedrick Journal, and a resident of that town; and Anna, wife of A. A. Buck, a plumber of Hedrick.

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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