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 87

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 87

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Mr. Bingham was born in Howell County, Missouri, August 13, 1878, and is a son of J. S. and Louise (Caldwell) Bingham. The family is of English-Irish origin and the American founder came to this country and located in North Carolina about the beginning of the War of 1812. J. S. Bingham was born in Adair County, Kentucky, in 1842, and during the Civil war served in the Thirteenth United States Cavalry, receiv- ing several wounds. At the close of the conflict he returned to Kentucky, where he was married to Louise Caldwell, who was born at Greensburg, that state, in 1844, and not long thereafter they removed to Howell County, Missouri, where the father was engaged in farm- ing and stockraising operations until the time of liis retirement. For the past forty years he has been a leader and officer in the Methodist Episcopal Church. Eight children were born to J. S. and Louise Bingham, as follows: Capitola, who is the wife of L. M. Barley, a farmer and stockman of Colorado; Dr. J. W., a prac- ticing physician and surgeon of Pottersville, Missouri; Ollie, who is the wife of J. A. Raney, a merchant of West Plains, Missouri, William T .; Annie, who is the wife of George Farrell, a farmer and stockman of Fulton County, Arkansas; Luther, a fruit grower at El Centro, in the Imperial Valley of California; Marvin, who is manager of the Aiken Lumber Company, at Willows,

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Saskatchewan, Canada; and Fred, a merchant at Moody, Missouri.

William T. Bingham was reared on his father's farm in Howell County, Missouri, where in a limited way he attended the district schools. At that time, however, school attendance did not appeal to the lad, who had a desire to see the world and whose youthful mind did not appreciate the value of an education. When he was fourteen years old he left home and began to travel, his journeyings subsequently taking him through the states of Illinois, Indiana, Virginia, West Virginia, Arkansas, Mississippi, Tennessee, Louisiana, Texas, New Mexico, Wyoming, Colorado, Arizona, North Dakota and South Dakota and into Canada. He independently made his own way, relying entirely upon his own abilities, and accepted whatever honorable employment would bring remunera- tion, from acting to foreman of a ranch to bricklaying and horse wrangling. He came in 1901 to Beckham County, Oklahoma, with little more than a wealth of experience gained through association with all kinds and conditions of men, and secured a position as fore- man of a ranch near Erick, a position which he held for 31/2 years. He also took up a claim of 160 acres, which he proved up and, sold. In the meantime he had begun to realize his need of further education, and, securing a position as a teacher in a country school, began to devote himself whole-heartedly to preparing himself for the higher things of life. For four years, while teaching, he studied assiduously, and then took up the study of law, finally taking a correspondence school course in that profession. Admitted to the barn June 29, 1913, in something more than two years he has come into prominence in his profession, and is now carrying on a large practice in civil and criminal law, having had more than the average amount of business in the latter branch. In the fall of 1914 he was elected city attorney of Erick, a position which he retains. That his abilities are appreciated by his fellow-members in the Oklahoma Bar Association is evidenced by the fact that lie is a member of the important committee on Legal Ethics. Mr. Bingham has offices in Rooms 3 and 4, Erick State Bank Building. Mr. Bingham is a democrat in his political affiliation, and aside from his duties as city attorney has discharged those of member of the school board. His fraternal connections include membership in Erick Lodge No. 237, Ancient Free & Accepted Masons, of which he is past master, and Erick Lodge of Oddfellowship. With Mrs. Bingham, he belongs to the Methodist Episcopal Church. He has been successful in a material way, and has shown his faith in the future of this part of the state by his investments, being the owner of his own residence on West Broadway and two business buildings on Main Street.

Mr. Bingham was married December 22, 1913, at Erick, to Miss Bessie Swisher, daughter of P. E. Swisher, a stock farmer of Shelbyville, Missouri.

JUDGE ERNEST B. HUGHES. Now serving as judge of the Twenty-second Judicial District, including Creek and Okmulgee counties, Judge Hughes has been as popular on 1 the bench as he was as a practicing lawyer in this dis- trict. He is the oldest lawyer by residence and practice in the entire district, and has been identified with the bar of Eastern Indian Territory in Oklahoma for almost twenty years. Possessed of scrupulous honesty and a fine sense of justice, his hosts of friends unite in declaring him one of the most competent men who ever sat on the district bench in the state.

Judge Hughes is a native of West Virginia, born in Summers County, July 23, 1874, a son of Gordon C. and Alice (ITanchins) Hughes. His father was born in Giles

County, Virginia, March 24, 1853, and his mother in Summers County, West Virginia, April 17, 1853. They were married in West Virginia in 1872, and lived in that state until May 1, 1893, and removed to Arkansas, after- wards to Missouri, and in 1897 located in Indian Terri- tory, first at Tahlequah and since 1898 has had their home in Sapulpa. Gordon C. Hughes has spent his active career as a farmer and as a man of affairs. While he lives in town, he has some extensive interests to require his attention in farming and in other matters. Creek County has had no more influential leader in all the up- lift movements for the improvement of agriculture and rural life than Mr. Hughes. He has been identified with all the good roads undertakings in this county, and has been a loyal supporter of corn clubs and other organiza- tions. He is a democrat, and while living in West Vir- ginia served as sheriff of his home county. He is also a member of the Masonic Order, and both parents are devout in performing their duties as members of the Methodist Episcopal Church South.

Judge Hughes, who was the oldest of seven children, six of whom are still living, lived at home with his parents until his marriage in 1898. In the meantime he had gained a liberal education. He attended the col- lege at Pea Ridge, Arkansas, from which he graduated in 1897, and in 1900 took his degree in law from the Southern Normal University at Huntington, Tennessee. At an earlier date he had for two years been a student in the State Normal School of West Virginia. Before state- hood Judge Hughes served as city recorder of Sapulpa, and enjoyed a widely extended practice in the courts of this district until his election as district judge in Novem- ber, 1914.

Judge Hughes is a loyal democrat, is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, and is affiliated with the Masonic Order, the Independent Order of Odd Fel- lows, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and the Knights of Pythias. He was the first president of the Creek County Bar Association, and is well known in the State Bar Association.

In 1898 he married Miss Olga Temperance Lindsey, a native of Arkansas, and a daughter of Dr. F. J. Lindsey of Benton County, Arkansas. To their union have been born six children: Bernard, Nellie Carmen, Birdie, Joseph G., Thomas Wilson (deceased), and Billie Mirth.

REV. JAMES SAPULPA. Of what may be accomplished by courageous enterprise there is no better example than that furnished in the history of Oklahoma. Here the spirit of American progress has been shown in un- rivaled glory, and a trackless wilderness, the travois of the Indian, has given place to the wagon of the farmer, the network of railroads, the electric lines and the auto- mobile. Social and commercial growth have kept pace with this advance, and everywhere can be seen and heard evidences of progress, voicing the energy of an aspiring commonwealth. Here nature has been lavish in her benefices, here the willing soil yields forth its generous stores; here the mineral resources, great though the de- velopment has already been, offer boundless opportuni- ties for future exploitation; and here are the homes of a loyal, appreciative and progressive people, who honor and receive honor from the whole noble sisterhood of states. No other commonwealth of the Union has a history that so closely touches the life records of those whose first was the American dominion, for the Okla- homa was the final domain of our country that was left to the Indians and that constituted the former Indian Territory. There is thus much of romance touching the development of an enlightened commonwealth in this great domain, and all who are in the least appreciative

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must view with great satisfaction the large and worthy part the Indians themselves have played and continue to play in furtherance of the industrial and general civic progress of Oklahoma, in which last stronghold they have as a whole responded nobly to the voice of destiny and to the limit of their powers are proving valuable to the state. In this connection there is surpassing interest attaching to the virile and noble man whose name initi- ates this review and who is proving a true and worthy apostle of righteousness and enlightenment among his own people, the Indians of the former Creek Nation, and who is laboring with all of consecrated zeal and devo- tion as a clergyman of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and that with headquarters in the City of Sapulpa, which was named in honor of the Indian family of which he is an honored and really distinguished member. He preaches to the Creek Indians in their own language and is not, in fact, conversant in any appreciable degree with the English tongue, though he has learned well the great gospel which he preaches and is a man of fine mental and moral powers.

Rev. James Sapulpa, whose Indian name, given him in childhood, is Wah-lakeyahola, signifying "sweet pota- toes," was born not far distant from his present place of residence in Sapulpa, in the winter of 1847, and is a son of the well known old Creek Indian, Sapulpa, who was a leader in the Creek Nation and who eventually embraced the Christian religion, though he never re- ceived a personal name other than the one cognomen, Sapulpa, which is perpetuated in the fiue little city that has been reared near his former home. He came with other members of his tribe to the section now compassed by Creek County at the time when the Seminole Indians were on the war path, and after the conflict had ceased he here established his permanent home, the Creek tribe having been trausferred to this region by the Govern- ment. Here Sapulpa married a woman of his tribe who bore the name of Tenafe, and she was an aunt of the wife of the subject of this sketch, Rev. James Sapulpa. For his second wife he married Nekette, who later was given the Christian name of Eliza. No children were born of the first marriage, and of the seven children of the second union the second was' James, to whom this article is specifically dedicated; Hannah became the wife of Ahulak-haco; Sarah is the wife of Timmie Fife, of Sapulpa, and the other children died young. Sapulpa, in accordance with Indian custom, parted from his first wife, who bore him no children, and thereafter he mar- ried not only the mother of the subject of this review but also her sister, Japakese, this having likewise been in accord with the tribal customs. He thus had two wives at one time, and his total number of children by the two wives, the sisters, was twenty-four. The greater number of the children by Japakese died young, only one of the number now surviving, William A. Sapulpa, who is a well known and highly esteemed citizen of Creek County and who resides near his half-brother, Rev. James Sapulpa, of this sketch. The father died in Creek County, before the same was thus constituted, on the 17th of March, 1887, at which time he was seventy-five years of age. His wife Eliza, mother of Rev. James Sapulpa, died January 12, 1889, both having become con- verted to Christianity, and Eliza having been retained as the only wife, her sister having been put aside, in furtherance of the Christian ideals, but ample provision having been made for her.

Sapulpa was a fine type of the Creek tribe, and became an earnest exemplar of its progressive element, though ever loyal to tribal laws. He had one time brought home a small buffalo from the hunt and the same was raised by his son James, who retained the animal until it

became unruly and attacked him, when he showed dis- crimination by selling it.

Rev. James Sapulpa has passed his entire life in the section of Oklahoma about the present City of Sapulpa, and his progressiveness was carly shown through his extensive and successful activities as an agriculturist and stock-grower. Prior to the Civil war he was sent to one of the Indian schools for a period of six months, and this is all the specific education he ever received in the school room. From a hymnbook published in the Creek language he learned to write his native language, this hymnbook having been given to him by a Methodist missionary, and from that time forward he has taken a deep interest in church work. He and his wife, who has beeu his devoted companion and helpmeet, erected at their own expense the Sapulpa Methodist Chapel, which is situated on their homestead farm. At his home he began holding religious services for fellow members of his tribe even before the church building was erected, the meetings having been held on the grounds of his present residence, and an arbor having been built to afford to the congregation protections from the weather. In the winter season the meetings were held in his log house, which is still standing and in excellent preserva- tion. After continuing his services as a preacher to his people under these conditions for a period of about ten years Mr. Sapulpa erected the present church edi- fice, a frame structure. Here members of the neighbor- ing Ute Indian tribe attended religious services until they erected a church of their own, and a number of them were converted under the guidance of Mr. Sapulpa, the Ute Church, about five miles distaut, being still in prosperous condition. Mr. Sapulpa and his nephew, Marchie Hayes, who is a class leader of the Methodist Church, are now the only two remaining members of the original church organization over which Mr. Sapulpa presided. On the 12th of March, 1871, Mr. Sapulpa was baptized by Reverend Joshua, who likewise was a full- blood Creek Indian, and in 1897 he received license from the Methodist Church as an exhorter and in 1900 he received from the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, his license as a local preacher. He has been an earnest, faithful and successful worker in the vineyard of the Divine Master, and the title of good and faithful servant well applies to him.

The early life of Mr. Sapulpa was marked by active identification with the live stock industry on the great open range, and his present residence stands near the site of the old home of his father who had large herds of cattle and at one time controlled a large area of land, including the present site of the City of Sapulpa, which was named in his honor, at the instance of Gen. Pleasant Porter, who was made an Indian chief.

Mr. Sapulpa is the owner of a quarter section of well improved land, 11% miles southwest of Sapulpa, and on a fine elevation that affords an excellent view of the city and the surrounding country he erected, in 1908, his present pretentious and imposing frame resi- dence, which is three stories in height and has thirteen rooms. It is not only one of the finest dwellings in Creek County but its sightly location makes it an imposing landmark that is visible for a great distance in each direction.

On the 6th of November, 1893, was solemnized the mar- riage of Mr. Sapulpa to Miss Elizabeth Barnett, who was born at Walnuttown, twelve miles south of Okmulgee, Creek Nation, on the 17th of August, 1876, and who, like himself, is a full-blood Creek Indian. She was seven years old at the time of her father's death, and her widowed mother sent her to the Wealaka Mission. While she was at the mission her mother was killed, and so her

GO Hawley.

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schooling was limited, but her alert mentality has en- abled her to make definite progress in knowledge in later years, and she reads and writes well in both the Creek and English languages, the latter of which she speaks fluently also, so that she is able to assist her husband greatly in both his business affairs and church work, as he speaks only the Creek tongue. She is most earnest and zealous in her religious activities and is a devout member of the church of which her husband is in pastoral charge. Mr. and Mrs. Sapulpa have no children of their own, but their kindliness and true Christian devotion have been shown in their rearing in their home eight orphan children. Joseph McCombs was adopted by them when fourteen, but they had reared him from the age of six years. He was educated at Eletsie Mission here and Weleetka Boarding School at Weleetka, Lawrence, Kansas, and Conway, Arkansas, Methodist College. Susanna Sapulpa, now four years of age (1915), was taken by them when she was but four months old and was legally adopted by them. She is the life and light of their home, and though she is a full-blood Creek Indian, she as yet speaks only the English language.

In the various operations of his well improved farm Mr. Sapulpa avails himself of scientific methods and the best modern machinery, and he is one of the enterpris- ing and specially successful agriculturists and stock grow- ers of the county, within whose limits he has lived from the time of his birth and in which he commands the high regard of his own people and also of the white popula- tion. Among the Indians of the county he is a recog- nized leader and his influence has been large in the pro- . motion of their social, material and spiritual welfare.

GEORGE A. HAWLEY. Bennington is one of those com- munities of Indian Territory that were incorporated under the statutes of Arkansas, which Congress put in effect over the Indian country, as well as a community whose methods of municipal government required a complete revolution after the territory was admitted to statehood and the statutes of Oklahoma Territory made to prevail over the new commonwealth. The Arkansas and Okla- homa statutes were so widely different that immediate new municipal laws were necessary in what had been Indian Territory, and while no great legal ability was required to make the necessary changes in municipal ordinances, it required more than ordinary knowledge of the legal customs of the two commonwealths to perform the task with dispatch and thus to save the municipalities from vexing complications. It is of interest, therefore, that a new code for Bennington was expertly and expeditiously made by George A. Hawley, then one of the rising young lawyers of the old Choctaw Nation. And it is of interest also that this code was made by a near relative of former Governor James Hawley of Idaho; of Jesse Hawley, once editor of the News, at Reading, Pennsylvania; of John Hawley, one of the first trustees of the Town of Hawesville, Kentucky, which was of consequence during the Civil war because of its controlling a heavy coal supply for the South during that conflict; and of Capt. J. C. Martin, one of the leading merchants of Kentucky a generation ago.

As the Hawleys and Martins ( from the latter of whom Mr. Hawley's mother descended) were pioneer town builders of their day, so their Oklahoma grandson became a pioneer town builder here. Besides his legal activities at Bennington, Mr. Hawley has contributed con- siderable of his talent and means toward the educational, religious and commercial growth of the town. A brief narative of the facts in one of his important legal cases will give the reader an idea of the practices of unscrupu- lous white men to gain possession of valuable Indian

lands. A Choctaw Indian of the Snake tribe had been induced to dispose of his 300 acres of land for a mere pittance under pretense of receiving something like its actual value. He reported the deception to Mr. Hawley, who discovered that the Indian had, in return for signing the deed, received less than $100, whereas he had been promised $5,000. Mr. Hawley uncovered the mystery of the transaction and secured for the red man the full amount of money promised him. .

Mr. Hawley was born at Hawesville, Hancock County, Kentucky, October 1, 1877, and is a son of Stephen A. and Susan (Victoria) Hawley. His father was a native of Kentucky and a tobacco buyer by vocation, while his grandfather, Charles S. Hawley came West from Con- necticut to Kentucky during pioneer days and settled at Hawesville. Mr. Hawley's only brother, Charles Hawley, lives at Birmingham, Alabama, where he is in the employ of the state government. Mr. Hawley was educated in the public schools of Kentucky, Howard College at Birmingham, Alabama, and the University of Virginia, from which last-named institution he was graduated with the degre of Bachelor of Laws, in 1901. He began the practice of law that year at Hawesville, and in the fall was elected city attorney, a position which he held for part of two terms, resigning during the second to accept an appointment as deputy state auditor during the administration of Governor Beckham. Mr. Hawley came to Oklahoma in 1907 and took the bar examination before a commission at Durant appointed by the United States District Court. Among the members of that commission were D. A. Richardson of Durant, who after- wards was a member of the State Criminal Court of Appeals, and a Mr. Ferguson, who afterwards was a district judge. W. F. Semple, who afterwards became a member of the Oklahoma Legislature, also passed the examination at that time.

Mr. Hawley was married in 1909, at Bennington, to Miss Cordelia Frazier, who is of Indian extraction. Mr. Hawley is a member of the Baptist Church, and belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias and the Ancient Order of United Workmen, while professionally he is connected with the County and State Bar Associations. He is also an enthusiastic and active member of the Commercial Club. Mr. Hawley is interested in the development of the Healdton oil field, adjoining which his wife owns land, four miles west of Ardmore, and in the development of a promised oil and gas field near Bennington.

JOHN A. HANSEN. The Bank of Commerce of Perry, Oklahoma, is an institution which grew out of the needs of its community, and which with the growth and development of the city has itself expanded and pros- pered. It has had the benefit of the strong and careful guiding hand of John A. Hansen, who was one of its founders and who in the capacity of president is now directing its policies in a manner that makes it one of the substantial and reliable monetary institutions of Noble County.

Mr. Hansen, who has been a resident of Perry for twenty-two years, was born at Chicago, Illinois, January 29, 1869, and as a child was taken by his parents to Chautauqua County, Kansas, whence his father was sent in the capacity of Sunday school missionary and repre- sentative of the American Sunday School Union. O. Hansen labored in that field of endeavor in Kansas for a period of fifteen years, and at the time of his retire- ment therefrom came to Oklahoma and took up his resi- dence at Hobart, where he died November 13, 1907. When he was twelve years of age John A. Hansen was taken to Centralia, Nemaha County, Kansas, where he

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completed a common school education, and when he was a lad of thirteen years began his career as an employe of the Centralia State Bank of Centralia, a concern with which he was identified for five years. Subsequently he went to Kansas City and was employed by the Lombard Investment Company, and for six years did office work for that firm, at Kansas City, Omaha and Dallas, and then decided to take part in the opening of the Cherokce Strip. On September 16, 1893, he came from Kansas City to Perry, where he engaged in the lumber business under the firm style of Hansen & Nims, a partnership which existed for 11% years. In November, 1894, Mr. Hansen was elected the first sheriff of Noble County, a capacity in which he served capably and courageously for a term of two years, and when he left that office established himself in the insurance and loan business. This he conducted with a satisfying degree of success until March 1, 1905, when he became one of the founders of the Bank of Commerce of Perry, which was estab- lished with a capital of $15,000, Mr. Hansen at that time becoming cashier and Charles E. Dennis, president. Mr. Hansen succeeded to the presidency of this institu- tion in 1908, and has continued to retain that office to the present time. The bank has steadily grown in public favor and in the confidence of the people, and at present has deposits of $210,000, exchange of $85,000, and loans of $140,000. Mr. Hansen owns 800 acres of well- improved farming land in Noble County, which he rents, and also has several city residences at Perry and a busi- ness block. He is interested in three oil companies in the Sapulpa field, which give promise of producing satis- factorily. In political matters a republican, he has not been active save as a good citizen, and his only public office was that of sheriff. In local affairs he is known as a man who has ever been ready to assist in the advancement and development of his adopted community. Mr. Hansen is prominent fraternally, belonging to Perry Lodge No. 78, Ancient Free & Accepted Masons, and has passed the chairs in the chapter and commandery, being present eminent commander of the latter, and a delegate to the grand bodies of the state.

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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