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 81

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 81

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James Curtis Matheney attended the public schools of Cookeville, and in 1901 entered the sophomore class of Branham and Hughes Training School, at Springhill, Tennessee, from which institution he was graduated in 1903. During the following term he taught school at Cedar Hill, Tennessee, and in July, 1904 entered the University of Kentucky, where he spent two years in the medical department. This course of study was followed by two years at Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, from which he was graduated in 1908 with the degree of Doctor of Medicine, and since that time has returned to Vanderbilt for post-graduate work. He first began practice in 1908, at Erin Springs, Oklahoma, but after six months came to Lindsay, which has since continued as his field of endeavor. He has a general medical and surgical practice with offices in the Masonic

Temple Building, and is enjoying a large and constantly growing professional business, his fine abilities and talents having attracted to him a clientele of the most desirable kind.

The esteem in which Doctor Matheney is held by his fellow-practitioners is evidenced by his presidency of the Garvin County Medical Society. He belongs also to the Oklahoma State Medical Society and the American Medi- cal Association. His political belief makes him a demo- crat, and at this time he is acting as treasurer of the school board of Lindsay. With his family, he belongs to the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. He is also widely and favorably known in fraternal and social circles, belonging to Lindsay Lodge No. 248, Ancient, Free and Accepted Masons, of which he was worshipful master in 1913; the Woodmen of the World; the Brother- hood of American Yeomen; the Modern Woodmen of America; the Beta Theta Pi, a Greek letter college fraternity; and the Phi Chi, a Greek letter medical fraternity; and is a demitted member of the defunct Lindsay Chapter No. 62, Royal Arch Masons.

Doctor Mathency was married June 5, 1912, at Cedar Hill, Tennessee, to Miss Maud Long, daughter of J. C. Long, a tobacco warehouse owner of Cedar Hill. To this union there have been born two children: Betty Long, born October 11, 1913; and Sally Jo, born October 25, 1915.

JEFFERSON M. DENBY, M. D. In the expanding hori- zons in medical science of modern times, in the era of marvelous discoveries and undreamed of surgical skill, it would seem that the profession had almost reached a point where its achievements are little less than miracles. The physician and surgeon of today, accepting every opportunity for the attainment of kuowledge, must often feel, with professional elation, his great power over disease and disability and be thus encouraged for further effort in conquering the forces of illness that have not yet been overcome. Oklahoma has its full quota of skilled and conscientious professional men, and its physi- cians compare favorably with those to be found else- where in the Uuion, men who possess the steady nerve, the patience that never tires, the trained understanding gained through a long period of special study, and the courage that never quails, together with finished technical manual skill. A representative of this class is found at Carter, Beckham County, in the person of Dr. Jefferson M. Denby, a man of broad and thorough professional training, knowledge and experience, who is esteemed as a devotee of the best ethics of his calling and as a practitioner of the modern school.

Doctor Denby is a Tennesseean by nativity, born March 15, 1877, in Warren County, and a son of J. S. and Josie (Wood) Denby. The family was founded in this country in the seventeenth century by Samuel Denby, an emi- grant from England to Virginia, who passed his life as a planter and died in the Old Dominion. J. S. Denby was born in Warren County, Tennessee, in 1847, and there has been engaged as a farmer throughout a long and active career, his present postoffice address being Smith- ville. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, a stalwart democrat and public-spirited citizen, and a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, being an influential man of his community where a life of industry has enabled him to accumulate a substantial property. Mrs. Denby was born in 1855, also in Warren County, Tennessee, and has been the mother of the fol- lowing children: Callie, who is the wife of Joe Newby, a farmer of Warren County, Tennessee; Johnan, who is the wife of Aleck Marler, a merchant of Warren County, Tennessee; James, who died young; Dr. Jefferson M .; Nan, who is the wife of Burn Freeman, a farmer of

W.a.Stammis

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HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

Cannon County, Tennessee; Florence, who is the wife of Tom Clark, a farmer of that county; Edna, who is the wife of John Preston, also an agriculturist there; Myrtle, who married O. C. Jennings, of McMinnville, Tennessee; Joe, a farmer, who died in Tennessee, at the age of twenty-three years; Bessie, who is married and lives in Warren County, Tennessee; Bob, a farmer of Cannon County, Tennessee; his twin, Bertie, who re- cently married and now resides at DeKalb County, Tennessee; Lizzie, who is a teacher in the public schools and makes her home with her parents; and Pauline, who is attending the high school at Dibrell, Tennessee.

Jefferson M. Denby was reared on his father's farm, where he worked until he was sixteen years of age, when, having secured a high school education at Dibrell, Tennessee, he obtained a teacher's certificate and for four terms was engaged as an educator in the schools of Warren County. With the money thus earned in 1897 he entered a preparatory school, and in 1901 became a student in the medical department of the University of Nashville, Tennessee, and was duly graduated therefrom in 1905, with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. At the university, the doctor was one of the most popular men of his class, of which he was president during his senior year, and was actively interested in athletics, being one of the varsity football stars. Doctor Denby entered upon his professional career at Smithville, Tennessee, but in July, 1910, came to Oklahoma, feeling that a broader field was open to him here, and since that time has car- ried on a general medical and surgical practice at Carter, where he has offices in the Van Vactor Building on Main Street. He has been successful in building up a practice of generous proportions and general in- portance and in gaining and holding the confidence of the profession and the public. He is a member of the Beckham County Medical Society and the Oklahoma State Medical Society, and his fraternal connections are numerous, including membership in Carter Lodge and Sayre Chapter of the Masonic Order, Lodge No. 143, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, of Lafayette, Indiana, and Carter Lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Brotherhood of American Yeomen, the Modern Woodmen of America and the Woodmen of the World. He is a man of genial and confidence-inspiring personality, a rationalist in his sane and practical pur- pose, and a philosopher in his attitude toward the world. Politically he is a democrat without aspirations of a public nature, but has served efficiently as a member of the school board of Carter.

In 1910, at Hillsboro, Texas, Doctor Denby was united in marriage with Miss Jim Byford, daughter of the late Jim Byford, who was a farmer of DeKalb County, Ten- nessee. One daughter has been born to Doctor and Mrs. Denby : Helen Jo, born April 17, 1911.

WILLIAM P. HAWKINS. A resident of Oklahoma since the beginning of the second decade of its exist- ence as a territory, Esquire Hawkins has been closely and influentially identified with varied avenues of activ- ity along which the development and progress of the territory and the state surely advanced, and he has proved signally steadfast and true in all of the rela- tions of life, has been called upon to serve in numer- ous positions of public trust, has been concerned with progressive industrial and civic enterprises, has been a prominent force in connection with the cause of or- ganized labor in this new commonwealth, and from the time of the admission of the state to the Union until the present he has been the valued incumbent of the position of city magistrate or justice of the peace in Oklahoma City. He commands the unqualified respect and confidence of the community and as a loyal

and popular citizen whose earnest co-operation has been accorded in the furtherance of the development and upbuilding of Oklahoma, he is specially entitled to rec- ognition in this publication.

William Preston Hawkins was born in the City of Galena, Jo Daviess County, Illinois, on the 13th of June, 1859, and is a son of John C. and Elizabeth (Conlee) Hawkins, the former of whom was born in Kentucky and the latter of whom was a native of Illinois, in which state her parents were pioneer set- tlers. Mr. Hawkins was a mere lad at the time of the family removal to the State of Nebraska, where his father was a pioneer farmer, and to the public schools of that state he himself is indebted for his early educa- tional discipline. As a youth he was for a time inde- pendently identified with agricultural pursuits in Ne- braska, and finally he established his residence at Platte Center, that state, where he was engaged in the real-estate and collection business for thirteen years, besides which he served three years as city clerk and also held the office of justice of the peace. From 1874 to 1898 he was there engaged in the printing business.

In the year last mentioned Mr. Hawkins came to Okla- homa Territory and after having passed one year on a farm in the southeast part of Oklahoma County he es- tablished his residence in Oklahoma City, which was then an ambitious little city but one of minor popula- tion. Here he devoted his attention to the business of sidewalk construction about two years, and within the ensuing four years he gave effective service as a cleri- cal and executive assistant in various county offices, in- cluding those of county clerk, treasurer and register of deeds. In 1903-4 he was city assessor.

During the years 1901-2 Mr. Hawkins was secretary of the Carpenters' Union in Oklahoma City and simul- taneously secretary of the Central Trade Council, be- sides being editor of the influential labor paper knowu as the Signal. Within the period of his connection with this paper there occurred a general labor strike in Okla- homa City, all of the trades unions having been in- volved, and during the continuance of this strike, which lasted about eight months, the service of Mr. Hawkins as the advocate of the cause of the union and as their official spokesman through the Signal, marked a distinct epoch in the history of organized labor in Oklahoma.

After severing the associations last noted, Mr. Hawkins entered the employ of the Oklahoma Railway Company, and was made timekeeper and assistant su- perintendent of its system in the City of Guthrie. There also he had supervision of the first work in con- nection with the development of the public-park system of Guthrie, which was then the capital of Oklahoma, and within this period also he had charge of the con- struction of the large dam in Highland Park, now one of the most attractive portions of the park system of the city.

After his return to Oklahoma City Mr. Hawkins ac- cepted an executive position with the Cleveland-Trini- dad Paving Company, for which corporation he had the supervision of its contract paving work in various parts of the city, and later he engaged individually once more in the construction of concrete sidewalks.

In 1907, the year which marked the admission of Oklahoma as one of the sovereign states of the Union, Mr. Hawkins was appointed to fill a vacancy in the office of justice of the peace in Oklahoma Township, and after the establishing of the state government he became the representative of this office in the munici- pality of Oklahoma City. Through re-election in 1910, 1912 and 1914, he has since continued in tenure of this judicial position, and in every sense he has made the office justify its name. An idea of the high esteem in

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which he is held for his fairness and impartiality in conserving the ends of equity and justice may be gained by the following brief statement concerning the support accorded to him in each of the three elec- tions noted above. In 1910 he received 1,700 votes; in 1912, the ballots cast in his favor numbered 2,287; and in 1914 he received 3,748 votes. The volume of business in Justice Hawkins' court exceeds in scope and importance that of some district judges in many counties of the state, and many causes are voluntarily brought to him for adjustment, owing to his high repu- tation for mature judgment and for fairness in arbitra- ment.

Prominently affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, in which he is past noble grand, Mr. Hawkins has served more than six years as secretary of his lodge, which he has three times represented in the Oklahoma Grand Lodge, during one of his terms of service in which supreme body of the order in this state he was a member of its most important commit- tee, that of appeals and grievances. Mr. Hawkins is past dictator in the Loyal Order of Moose and is serv- ing at the present time as secretary of its local organi- zation in Oklahoma City, the lodge being now one of the strongest and most prosperous in the state, owing largely to his earnest efforts in restoring harmony at a time when its affairs were in chaotic condition. Both he and his wife are earnest members of the First Meth- odist Episcopal Church in their home city.

At Tecumseh, Nebraska, on the 4th of February, 1882, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Hawkins to Miss Cora Kline, daughter of Jacob and Margaret (Wyland) Kline, both of whom were born in the State of Pennsylvania, whence they removed to Nebraska in the pioneer epoch of the history of that common- wealth. Concerning the children of Mr. and Mrs. Haw- kins brief record is given in conclusion of this review: Lena, born May 18, 1883, is the wife of Charles Shidler, of Oklahoma City; Maude, born July 25, 1884, is the wife of David H. Price, of Tulare, California; and Norman E., who was born October 29, 1885, is an en- gineer by vocation and now maintains his residence in the City of Billings, Montana. Mr. and Mrs. Hawkins have five grandsons, and they take justifiable pride in their children and their children's children. In Okla- homa City they reside at No. 35 East Sixth Street.

JOSEPH A. INNIS. The present efficient ineumbent of the office of county surveyor of Woodward County has served consecutively in this position since 1900, and is one of the sterling pioneers and honored and influen- tial citizens of the county, where he established his residence at the time when this section was thrown open to white settlement, as a part of the historie Cherokee Strip, or Outlet. Mr. Innis is the owner of valuable farm property in the county and has been one of the valiant and resouceful men who have been foremost in the development of Woodward County along both eivic and industrial lines.

On the homestead farm of his parents, in Ripley County, Indiana, Joseph A. Innis was born on the 8th of May, 1861, and he thus came into the world about the time when his native land was plunged into the vortex of fratereidal war. He is a son of James and Sarah (Runner) Innis, both natives of the Hoosier state, and representatives of sterling pioneer families of that com- monwealth. James Innis was born in Ripley County, Indi- ana, in 1832, and at the time of his death, in 1901, he was a resident of the Village of May, Woodward County, Oklahoma, his entire active eareer having been one of elose and successful identification with the basic industries of agriculture and stock growing, though in his youth

he served for a time as a teacher and a civil engineer. He first eame to what is now the State of Oklahoma in 1887, but after remaining for a time in the section long designated as No Man's Land, which ineluded the present County of Beaver. He thus became a resident of Okla- homa even before the territory of this name had been created from the original Indian Territory. His son, Joseph A., subject of this review, had preceded him to this frontier region by about a year. The marriage of James Innis to Miss Sarah Runner was solemnized in 1853, and Mrs. Innis died in what is now Beaver County, Oklahoma, in 1889, the year that the new terri- tory was thrown open to settlement. She was born in

1833 and was a daughter of David Runner, who immi- grated from Germany and became a pioneer settler in Indiana. Of the children of James and Sarah (Run- ner) Innis the eldest is Milford Taylor, who was born in 1859; Joseph A., of this sketch, was the second in order of birth; John Newton was born in 1863; Eward was born in 1867 and died in 1869; James D. was born in 1870; William Isaac in 1873; Robert E. in 1878; and Archibald D. in 1882. All save one of the children are living.

Joseph A. Innis was reared and educated in his native state, where he was reared to the sturdy discipline of the home farm and made good use of the advantages afforded in the publie schools of the locality and period. In 1884, as a young man of twenty-three years, he eame to the West and established his residenee in Barber County, Kansas, as a pioneer of that section of the Sunflower state. In 1886 he came to the No Man's Land of the present State of Oklahoma, and in that sec- tion of the Indian Territory he became a pioneer agri- culturist and stock grower. He there continued operations until the Cherokee Strip was thrown open to settlement in 1893, when he participated in the rush into the new country, and entered claim to a homestead in what is now Woodward County. He vigorously insti- tuted the reclamation and improvement of this property and on his land was eventually established the now thriving Village of May, of which he was virtually the founder, and which was named in honor of the only daughter of his first marriage.

Mr. Innis developed his land into one of the well improved and valuable farms of Woodward County and ! there he continued to maintain his home until 1900, when he was elected county surveyor and removed to the City of Woodward, judicial center and metropolis of the county. He had gained broad and practical experi- ence as a civil engineer in the days of his youth, and his technical facility has been reinforced by careful study, so that he is eminently qualified for the important office which he has held consecutively sinee the year noted, the popular estimate placed upon his official services being indicated by his re-election at successive intervals of two years. He has done a large volume of important surveying work in the county and has had supervision also of much other eivil engineering, of even more technical order. He still retains ownership of his farm, is significantly vital and progressive in his civie attitude, is always ready to give his eo-operation in the furtherance of measures and enterprises advanced for the general good of the community, and is a citizen who is not only one of the well known pioneers of this section of the state, but also one whose eircle of friends is limited only by that of his acquaintances. He is a stalwart advocate of the cause of the republican party, is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and both he and his wife hold membership in the Metho- dist Episcopal Church, South.

At Butler, Missouri, on the 2nd of August, 1881, Mr. Innis wedded Miss Mary Maple, who was born in Bates

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County, that state, in 1864, a daughter of Jehu and Harriet (Fuller) Maple,. and she died on the 23rd of April, 1888, soon after the family home had been estab- lished in what is now Beaver County, Oklahoma, and about one month after the birth of her only daughter, the three children who survive her being: Harry B., born in 1883; Asa J., born in 1885; and Mary Prudence, born March 11, 1888.

On the 23rd of June, 1904, was solemnized the mar- riage of Mr. Iunis to Miss Etta C. Strong, who was born in Parke County, Indiana, on the 21st day of August, 1877, and who is a daughter of John and Mary (Jones) Strong, likewise natives of that county. Mr. and Mrs. Innis have five children, whose names and respective dates of birth are here noted: Joseph T., March 9, 1905; Eva May, December 13, 1907; Charles T. Bruce, Novem- ber 29, 1909; Lester Gail, February 6, 1913; and Crystal Elnora, February 14, 1915.

JOHN LINDLEY AVEY. Among the inen who are contributing materially to the advancement of the com- mercial, civic and educational interests of Garvin County, one who is deserving of the esteem and regard of his fellow-citizens is John Lindley Avey, of Lindsay, who since 1905 has beeu proprietor and editor of the Lindsay News, and who is now energetically and capably per- forming the duties of the office of postmaster. Mr. Avey's residence at Lindsay covers the period of the community 's greatest progress, and each importaut enterprise has found his name eurolled upon its list of supporters.

John L. Avey was boru at Arcola, Douglas County, Illinois, September 25, 1866, a son of Richard and Celia (Oakland) Avey, and a grandson of an innkeeper of County Suffolk, England. Richard Avey was born in County Suffolk, in 1837, and was about eighteen years of age when he came to the United States to seek his fortune, several years later locating in Coles County, Illinois, where he followed the vocations of farming and stockraising. In 1892 he came to Oklahoma and located at Oklahoma City as a pioneer implement dealer, but after about one year in that business disposed of his interests and retired. He continued as a director and stockholder of the American National Bank of Okla- homa City until his death, which occurred October 1, 1915. He was a democrat in his political views, and while residing in Illinois was elected to the offices of tax collector, member of the school board and commis- sioner of Coles County. He was an active member of the Episcopal Church, as well as a member of its official board. Richard Avey married Celia Oakland, who was born in 1838, in Norway, and who still survives him and resides at Oklahoma City. They became the parents of seven children, as follows: Mary, unmarried, who has · for many years been engaged in educational work and is now one of the most popular and efficient public school teachers of Oklahoma City; William T., who is presi- dent of the Mattoon Trust and Savings Bank, at Mat- toon, Illinois; John Lindley; Maud, who is the wife of James . Widmeyer, connected with the United States Weather Bureau at Wytheville, Virginia; Newton, who is engaged in the real estate and insurance business at Oklahoma City; Martha, unmarried, who for a number of years has had charge of the drawing work in the Oklahoma City Public Schools; and Oscar, a banker of Seattle, Washington.

John Lindley Avey received his primary education in the public schools of Arcola, Illinois, where he was graduated from the high school with the class of 1885. He next attended Valparaiso University, at Valparaiso, Indiana, and then returned to the home farm, where he remained until reaching his majority. His first indepen-

dent enterprise was as a school teacher, but after teach- ing for several terms in the public schools of Coles and Douglas Counties, Illinois, was drawn into the field of journalism, and in the fall of 1892 entered the office of the Arcola Herald, with which organ he served his apprenticeship and with which he continued to be connected in various capacities until 1905. In July of that year he came to Oklahoma, locating at Lindsay, where he purchased from Editor Trillingham the Lind- say News, a newspaper which had been established in 1901 by A. A. Veach. Under Mr. Avey's capable and energetic management this democratic organ has grown and developed to large proportions and now circulates in Garvin, Stephens, McClain, Grady and the sur- rounding counties, in addition to having a respectable foreign list. Mr. Avey is the owner of the building and plaut, on Murray street, an establishment which would do credit to a city many times larger than Lindsay, . being equipped to handle all kinds of first class printing work. From the time of his arrival here Mr. Avey has been a stalwart and enthusiastic booster of every enter- prise calculated to advance the general welfare, and has been generous in giving of his time, abilities and means in the forwarding of such projects. He is the owner of a tract of ten acres adjoining the city park, where he owns also his own modern and commodious residence.

In politics a democrat, Mr. Avey has taken some interest in public affairs, and October 19, 1913, received from President Wilson the appointment as postmaster of Lindsay, a position in which he has conscientiously endeavored to advance and elevate the efficiency of the service. He has also served as president of the school board and is a stanch friend of education. His religious faith is that of the Christian Church, in which he is an elder, while fraternally he is affiliated with Lind- say Lodge No. 248, Ancient, Free and Accepted Masons, the Modern Woodmen of America, the Knights of Pythias and the Court of Honor, in all of which orders he has numerous friends.

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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