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 85

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 85

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Doctor Willis as a boy attended the publie schools in Willow Grove and the academy at Salina, Tennessee. He was about seventeen years old when he finished his public school work, and for the next five years he was em- ployed as a clerk in stores in Salina and Willow Grove. In 1904 he entered the medical department of the Uni- versity of Tennessee at Nashville and was graduated on April 30, 1909. with the degree M. D. He first was en- gaged in practice in Willow Grove, remaining there until 1910, coming in the antumin of that year to Granite, Oklahoma, and conducting a general practice there until July, 1914, when he came to Lone Wolf and here estab- lished himself in his profession. Doctor Willis enjoys a liberal following in and about Lone Wolf and has made considerable progress in his profession considering the time of his practice here. One of his first moves was the establishing of a small private hospital. It was begun on a very small scale, indeed, in a few rooms above a local bank, but it soon outgrew its quarters and is now located in a commodious house on Main Street, with every facility for its proper operation. Eight patients can be cared for in this modest, but wholly practical and up-to-date health establishment, and it is well patronized.

Doctor Willis is a republican and a member of the Christian Church. He is also a member of the County and State Medical societies, and his fraternal relations are with the Odd Fellows, the Modern Woodmen and the Brotherhood of American Yeomen.

In 1900 Doctor Willis was married in Willow Grove, Tennessee, to Miss Cora Johnson, daughter of L. F. John- son, a retired merchant who now makes his home with the Hulls at Woodward, Texas. They have four chil- dren: John Feldman and Ruth Ailene are students in the Lone Wolf public schools, while the two youngest children, Bradley and Sarah Katherine, are at home.

ERNEST EDWARD BROWN. Among Oklahoma's edu- cators, one who has come rapidly to the forefront within recent years, is Ernest Edward Brown, city superin- tendent of schools of Erick. Still a young man, he has had broad and varied experience as a teacher, having entered the profession when he was eighteen years of age and devoted his subsequent career to it. Mr. Brown is an Illinoisan by nativity, having been born in Fulton County, April 8, 1892, and is a son of W. H. Brown and a member of an old and honored American family. Originating in England, there is record of the family in New Jersey as early as 1775, and it is probable that it was founded here even before that date.

W. H. Brown was born in Fulton County, Illinois, in 1863, and has passed his life as a farmer and stock- raiser. ffe was the owner of a good property in Illinois, which he developed through industry and good manage- ment into one of the valuable farms of his community, one of the right agricultural counties of the middle western part of the Prairie State. Mr. Brown disposed of his Illinois interests in 1907, when he became a pioneer farmer of Olustee, Oklahoma, and settled on a farm in Greer County. There he continued to be engaged in agricultural operations until the time of his death, in 1912. Mr. Brown was a republican in politics but took only a good citizen's interest in affairs of a political

character. His fraternal affiliation was with the Court of Honor. As a business man he bore a high reputation and his many sterling qualities of character attracted many friends to him. Mr. Brown was married in Illi- nois to Miss Martha Chenoweth, a native of Fulton County and a member of an old and well known family of that locality, and they became the parents of seven children, as follows: Ernest Edward, of this review; E. B., who is engaged in teaching and resides at Hollis, Oklahoma; Leafa, who is a senior in the Central State Normal School, at Edmond, Oklahoma; Lela, who is a sophomore in the same institution; Emil, who is engaged in farming on the home property at Olustee; and Lila and Chela, who reside at Erick and are attending the public school. The mother of these children still sur- vives and is a resident of Olustee.

Ernest Edward Brown received his early education in the district schools of Fulton County, Illinois, and in that locality his boyhood and youth were passed on his father's farm. He showed himself an assiduous and receptive scholar and decided upon a career as an edu- cator. After attending the State Normal Shcool at Macomb, Illinois, for one year, in 1907 he came to Olustee, Oklahoma, with his parents, and in 1911 was graduated from the Olustee High School. Prior to this, in 1910, he had commenced the following of his vocation as an educator, in the public school at Olustee, and in 1911 went to Jackson County, Oklahoma, where he secured further experience. In 1913 and 1914 he was principal of the grammar school at Hollis, Oklahoma, and then, to further preparc himself, entered the Edmond Central Normal School, where he was graduated with his diploma and a teacher's life certificate. In Sep- tember of the year 1915 he located at Erick, as city superintendent of schools, the position which he now occupies. His career as a teacher has not been merely negatively worthy, while his services as superintendent have been such as to win the commendation of the people of the community in which his labors are being prose- cuted. He has not been in favor of radical innovations, but has ever been alert, quick to see the value of modern developments and ready to apply them conservatively and in a business-like way. While he has been faithful to the educational interests of Erick he has also been a supporter of the interests of his teachers, comprising a force of eight, under whom there are 450 scholars. Mr. Brown is a democrat, but only in so far as they affect his community has he taken an interest in the activities of the various political parties.

Mr. Brown was married at Duke, Oklahoma, in 1913, to Miss Etta Beck, daughter of S. J. Beck, an agricul- turist of Jackson County, Oklahoma.

JOHN E. BRUIN. Of the men who have done most to develop Eastern Oklahoma there is none whose career has been more creditable and who occupies a more honored position in Creek County than John E. Bruiu, present county treasurer. Mr. Bruin first became identified with old Indian Territory more than thirty years ago, and has lived here continuously for the past quarter of a cen- tury. While his business success has been based largely on his operations as a farmer he has spent many years in the public service, and everyone in Creck County appre- ciates him as a competent, faithful and energetic worker in whatever position of trust to which he is called.

In spite of the circumstances of his childhood and early youth Mr. Bruin has accomplished most of those things for which ambitious men strive. He grew up in the hills of Southern Missouri, and had only three or four months' schooling altogether, and the instruction was not of the highest grade at that. When he was five months

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old his mother died, and his father was in poor circum- stances as a result of the Civil war.

He was born in Camden County, Missouri, August 17, 1865, a son of Alfred and Sarah (Keys) Bruin. His father was born in London, England, in December, 1825, and died in July, 1901, in Camden County, Missouri. The mother was born in Camden County and died in 1865 at the age of twenty-seven. When Alfred Bruin came to America he first located in St. Louis and afterwards at Lynn Creek in Camden County. In early life he had supported himself by his work as a bookkeeper, but sub- sequently took up farming near Lynn Creek. While liv- ing there he enlisted in the First Missouri Volunteers in 1861 and went through the entire war until mustered out in July, 1865. For the last two years of his service he was captain of his company. He was always ready to take the lead when there was difficult and dangerous work to do, aud these qualities also distinguished him in his civil career, and he was a man of leadership in Camden Couuty. He married for his second wife Martha Ander- son. The only children of the first marriage were John E. and Eliza. The latter is the wife of Rev. J. C. Thomp- son, still living in Missouri. The second wife had one son aud two daughters by a former marriage, and by Mr. Bruin she was the mother of one son, James H., who still lives at Lynn Creek, Missouri.

John E. Bruin lived in Camden County, Missouri, until he was nineteen years of age. He had worked on a farm and had attended school as opportunity presented, thoughi not regularly and with none of the incentive and en- couragement to study which modern school systems pre- sent. In 1884 he came to Indian Territory alone. For four years he worked as a cowboy in the vicinity of Vinita. Then returning to Missouri, he was married May 14, 1889, to Lizzie Berry, who was also born in Camden County, a daughter of Alexander Berry, who was a Ken- tuckian by birth and had served in the Union army from Missouri.

After his marriage Mr. Bruin lived in Missouri for a year, then returned to Indian Territory. He spent about five years in the Cherokee Nation, and was present at the opening of the Sac and Fox Reservation, acquiring a homestead. However, he subsequently relinquished his claim and in 1893 came into the Creek Nation, which has been his home now for more than twenty years. Here he diligently pursued his vocation as farmer until about fourteen years ago, at which time he moved to Bristow at the beginning of that town. He first had a blacksmith shop there, but was appointed postmaster, the second in the town, under President Mckinley, and held that posi- tion seven years. He resigned to go back to his farm, and looked after his interests in that line until his ap- pointment as under-sheriff of Creek County caused his removal to Sapulpa in 1909. Since then he has been one of the best known officials at the county courthouse. He first became a candidate for the office of county treasurer in 1910, but was defeated in the primaries by fifty-six votes. Two years later he was elected treasurer by 121 votes, and in 1914 his re-election was by the safe majority of 600. votes. In politics he is a republican. Mr. Bruin served as special agent for the Frisco Railroad for a year and a half before his election to the office of county treasurer. Altogether, he has worked for and served the public fifteen years. He has prospered in a business way, owns his home in Sapulpa and has a good farm in Creek County.

Mr. Bruin is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and he and his wife are members of the Christian Church. Their seven children are named Anna; Ethel, Alma, Alfred, Margaret, Lucile and Elizabeth. The daughter Anna is the wife of R. Steinhorst, cashier

of the First National Bauk of Sapulpa and their child is named Richard Bruin. The daughter Alma is the wife of Ray Dingman, of Lynn Creek, Missouri; their child is named Fannie Elizabeth.

JAMES E. BENTLEY. Since he entered the Indian service six years ago James E. Bentley has been one of the most devoted and loyal friends of the Indians and their interests. He is known as a hard worker and does well whatever he undertakes, and at the same time is a man of quiet manner, very pleasant in his relationship with both the white men and Indians, and is perform- ing a very useful service as field clerk in the Indian service in Okmulgee and Okfuskee counties.

He was born near New Douglas in Bond County, Illi- nois, December 28, 1880, a son of Lafayette and Mar- garet E. (Jett) Bentley. In March, 1881, when he was about three months old his parents moved to Barton County in Southwest Missouri, and they lived on a farm there for about fourteen years, and in 1895 returned to their present home near Reno, Illinois, in the same local- ity where they were born. In the family were three sons and two daughters.

It was on farms in Missouri and Illinois that James E. Bentley spent the first twenty-one years of his life. His education came from the local schools in those two states, with the advantages of two years in the high school at Reno, Illinois, and a business college course at Valparaiso, Indiana. Mr. Bentley has had a very thorough business training and spent seven years in an abstract and real estate office in Chicago before he came to the Choctaw Nation of Indian Territory in August, 1909. Locating at Talahina, for a year he was in a law office there, and in 1910 entered the Indian service, re- ceiving a regular Civil service appointment in March, 1911. He has been located at Okmulgee since July, 1915, and is giving a careful and very successful administra- tion of his duties as field clerk.

In the meantime Mr. Bentley carried on law studies by himself and was admitted to the bar in June, 1913 He is a well qualified lawyer. He is a member of the Presbyterian Church. In 1906 he married Josephine Packer, who was born in Michigan, but was reared in Indiana. Her father is James L. Packer. To their mar- riage have been born two children, Robert and Eunice.

JOHN H. SEGER. For a white man to have lived in the Indian country of Oklahoma for forty-two years is a fact of importance considered from the individual standpoint. But when those years have been spent in such service as John H. Seger has rendered, as an exemplar, teacher and leader among a half civilized people, the individual importance is extended into a large fact of history. With- out doubt one of the most interesting men in the State of Oklahoma is Mr. Seger who lives at Colony in Washita County. Mr. Seger came to Oklahoma in the year 1872, arriving at the Darlington Agency, then called the Chey- enne and Arapahoe Indian Agency, about sundown on December 24th. His career furnishes material for an important chapter in the development of one of the Indian tribes of the state, and the account which follows of Mr. Seger's life and experiences cannot but prove interesting and instructive to every reader of these pages.

Andrew Seger, his father, was born August 3, 1812, in Onondaga County, New York, grew up there, and at the age of twenty went to Geauga County, Ohio. In 1833 Andrew Seger married Louisa Knox, who was born June 4, 1817. After their marriage they loaded their possessions on a two-wheeled cart, drawn by one horse, and moved out into the wilderness five miles from any other habitation. There Andrew Seger built a one-room

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HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

log house, in which they lived until the country settled up around them. After rearing a family of seven chil- dren, four boys and three girls (having lost one boy, Frank Seger), Andrew Seger sold his farm in Ohio and went west to Illinois, settling at Dover in Bureau County.

It was chiefly in that rich and fertile agricultural section of North Central Illinois that John H. Seger grew up and attended school. He was living there when the Civil war broke out. After two of his older brothers had enlisted, a war meeting was held in the Methodist Church at Dover for the purpose of raising a company of soldiers to go to the front. After several speeches had been made urging young men to enlist, but without getting response from a single person, Andrew Seger rose and said if the young meu would not enlist the old men would have to. He went forward and signed the enlistment roll, after which Jones Gearing, a man not quite so old as Seger, said: "If Seger can go I can,"' and he put his name on the roll. After that the young men in the audience got up almost in a body and crowded forward and put their names down until the company of 100 was made up. The Methodist preacher also enlisted and was made captain. Andrew Seger served until after the battles of Corinth and Fort Donel- son, when his health became so poor that he was given an honorable discharge. He was then forty-eight years of age.

In 1864, when Lincoln called for 300,000 more soldiers, John Seger, who was then attending the Dover Academy, enlisted and joined Sherman's army on the Atlantic campaign. He marched with Sherman through Georgia, thence through the Carolinas and Virginia, and at the time of his muster out had participated in thirteen battles and skirmishes and had carried his knapsack and gun over 1,500 miles.

It was in 1867 that John H. Seger went to Kansas and settled on the Kickapoo Reservation on the part that had been sold and opened to settlement. He became acquainted with John D. Miles, who was then agent of the Kickapoos, but after the death of Brinton Darling- ton, the agent of the Cheyennes and Arapahoes, Miles was transferred to the Darlington Agency among the latter Indians. The Government had adopted what they called the peace policy, and was trying to get the Plains or Buffalo-hunting Indians to settle down and lead more civilized lives. To do this they were establishing agencies whose white employes afford a practical example of how the Government wanted the Indians to live. When the agency for the Cheyennes and Arapahoes was first started, it was about 200 miles to a railroad and build- ing material was hard to get. For that reason the first houses were very rudely constructed, some of them being what was called picket-houses with dirt roofs.

When John D. Miles took charge as agent of the Cheyenne-Arapahoes, there was a saw mill to saw cotton wood lumber, the only kind of timber near the agency fit for milling. This lumber warped very badly, and the planks used for siding would warp and curl up leav- ing large cracks. Miles saw it was necessary to con- struct better buildings than could be built with this cotton wood lumber, else it would be impossible to get employes who would bring their families from the East to live there. The appropriation was small, building ma- terial was far away and hard to get, and it was a question how the agency could be provided with neces- sary buildings. Agent Miles was discussing the matter with Joshua Trueblood, who was in charge of the Indian School, and said: "If we had some employe who could plaster a house and lay a stone foundation and build a chimney, we might build a respectable and comfortable house. What we need is a Jack of all Trades,"' was his

conclusion. Mr. Trueblood said: "There is a man up on the Kickapoo Reservation who is a Jack of all Trades, his name is Seger. If you could get him he could do any kind of work you would need to have done."

Acting on this information Agent Miles soon after- ward went to the Kickapoo Reservation in Kansas and arranged with Mr. Seger to join the Cheyenne-Arapahoe Agency as an employe. One influence that caused Seger to accept the position was his desire to see the wild Indians and learn something about them. On removing to the Darlington Agency, he found that the nearest rail- road was at Wichita, 160 miles from the agency. This distance had to be covered with teams, requiring several days, with camping along the road. Caldwell, sixty miles from Wichita, was the first place where there was any habitation on the route, and there was a ranch at Pond Creek, twenty-five miles from Caldwell. Three teams came up to Wichita from the agency to get building materials and supplies to enable the agency to have a Christmas tree on Christmas Eve and Seger went back with these teams. When the teams reached the agency it was too late for the Christmas tree, and that celebra- tion was accordingly put off to the following night. There were fifteen Indian children at the school. Big Caw, Lodgepole and his two wives were the only grown Indians at the agency, the rest having all gone to the western plains hunting buffalo. When the Christmas tree was arranged the employes and all the Indians at the agency were assembled in the room of the school build- ing. The agent, J. D. Miles, was to act as Santa Claus, and when he came in the room dressed up to represent that character, the Indian children and Lodgepole's two wives became scared and broke for the door and went out on the run. Big Caw and Lodgepole went out after them, but it was some time before they could be in- fluenced to return to the house. This was the first Christmas tree the Indians had seen.

During the winter the employes were busy tearing down the cotton-wood buildings and constructing new ones, culling the best lumber from the old material and discarding the warped and worthless stock. About the first of March, towards evening, there arrived a large band of Arapahoes at the agency, returning from the buffalo hunt. Many of their ponies were loaded with buffalo hides, lodges, and all the food, clothes and camp- ing equipage were packed on these animals, while the teepee poles dragged behind. Necessarily in a company of 500 or 600 people some were sick and some old and decrepit. It was very interesting, says Mr. Seger, to see how they managed to carry all the property and equipage they possessed on the ponies, besides men, women, children, sick or well. As these were the only real wild Indians Mr. Seger had ever seen he was very much interested. The other employes had been there at the agency before the departure for the winter hunt and were not so interested as the newcomer. Tom. George, the agency carpenter, said: "These Indians are going to put up their camp near here and they will carry off all this good building material we have sorted out, and will use it for fuel. I can't bear to see them do this so let us put our tools in the shop, lock them up and go home." This was done, and while the other employes went home, Seger remained an interested spectator. The Indians unpacked their ponies and put up their teepecs. After the teepees were set up, a band of squaws, each one carrying an ax or hatchet, with a rawhide rope wrapped in their hand, came to the place where the build- ing material was piled up. There were two piles, one vof good material, aud the other of the bad. The squaws looked at the two piles, then went over to the good lumber, laid their ropes on the ground, and began split-

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HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

ting the boards to lay upon the ropes in order to make a pack for carrying the fuel to camp. When Seger saw this he was unable to remain a disinterested spectator while the good lumber was being carried away for fuel, since the damaged lumber would do as well, though being harder to cut up into fuel. Seger could not talk the Indian language, neither could the squaws understand English, so he jumped among them and screamed and threw up his hands. The squaws turned and faced him as much as to say, "What do you mean." Seger then pointed toward the good lumber and scowled, shaking his head and then pointed toward the poor lumber and nodded his head. The squaws understood this, and moved their ropes over near the poor lumber, and were soon cutting and piling that up on their ropes. As they did this they looked toward Seger to see if he approved what they were doing. He gave a nod of approval. Some would get a very tough board to split, and seeing this Seger would take the ax and split the board for the squaw. As it was quite cold the squaws were eager to get as much wood for the night as they could, and some got so large a bundle they could not get it on their backs. When Seger saw this he would help lift the load to the carrying position. He did this in several cases, and when the squaws were all loaded and started for camp they talked very earnestly and occasionally looked back at the white man, who could see they were talking about him.

The next morning the emploves were back at work and the agency was alive with Indians, the squaws carrying water, getting wood, and taking care of the green buf- falo hides. They had brought many hides with them to tan. Some of the young men were taking care of their ponies, but most of them were walking about the agency observing the white men's ways of living. When an Indian would come past the group of white men, as soon as he saw Seger he would go smilingly to the latter, grasp his hand and shake it heartily, though giv- ing no sign of recognition to the other employes. Tom George said: "Why is this, every Indian that passes shakes hands with you though they have never seen you before?" Finally Jack Fitzpatrick, a half-blood Arap- ahoe, came along. He could talk English and as soon as he saw Seger he began to grin, went and grasped his hand and shaking it heartily said: "I know now who those squaws were talking about last night. They went from camp to camp talking about him and kept it up until almost morning. They thought there was a big Washington chief at agency, because when they went to get some good wood he would not let them have it, but made them take the poorest wood. They thought he must be a big chief because he talked so loud. But they thought he must have a kind heart because he helped them split the hard boards and helped them get the heavy loads on their backs. They described him as 'a small man with a big red nose,' and as soon as I saw this man I knew who he was." This was Seger's first experience with the wild Indians.

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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