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 89

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 89

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Judge Norman was married in 1887, in Oregon County, Missouri, to Miss Ella Shaver, daughter of the late Dr. W. T. Shaver, who for some years was a well known practicing physician and surgeon of Oregon County. Six children have been born to Judge and Mrs. Norman : Roy, who is engaged in the tailoring business at Walters; Opal, who is the wife of Sim Seago, an owner of cotton gins at Frederick, Oklahoma; Ola, who is a senior at the Walters High School; Jesse, who is a junior in that institution; Inez, who belongs to the freshman class there; and Virda, a pupil in the sixth grade of the public schools.

FRANK C. RAUB. It is a hopeful tendency of sound finance when a bank emphasizes the principle of strength rather than size. Such is the motto of the Bartlesville State Bank, which is operating under the Oklahoma State Guaranty Law for Deposits, and which shows gratifying statements of resources and has a splendid personnel of officers and directors. The total resources of the bank in April, 1916, were over $550,000. The capital stock is $40,000, surplus and undivided profits over $4,000, and the deposits at that time aggregated over $500,000. Its cash resources were over $175,000. The bank has one of the most conspicnous building corners in Bartlesville. The president of this institu- tion is Frank C. Raub, a young banker who has had a progressive career and rise from minor responsibilities in a banking honse to a controlling influence in several institutions. The vice presidents are O. B. Cole, R. S. Bradley and Dr. O. S. Somerville. G. R. Mckinley is cashier.

Frank C. Raub was born in St. Louis, Missouri, April 7, 1883, son of Frank C. and Emma J. (Quick) Raub. His parents were natives of Pennsylvania and were married at Milford in that state, and in 1882 studied in St. Louis. The father died in that city in May, 1883,

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HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

when about twenty-five years of age, and his widow is now living at Coffeyville, Kansas, the wife of Judge George R. Snelling. Frank C. Raub was only a few weeks old when his father died, and his mother soon afterwards removed to Caldwell, Kansas, in which town he was reared and also in Anthony, Kansas. His first educational advantages came from the common schools, and he attended the Topeka High School. He also lived for two years as a boy in New York City with his grandparents.

His first practical experience came when about seven- teen years of age, in 1900, when he was made assistant postmaster at Caldwell, Kansas. He worked in that position a year and a half, and then entered the employ of the First National Bank at Coffeyville, with which he remained two years. His career as a banker has been confined to the two states of Oklahoma and Kansas. From Coffeyville he went to Nowata as assistant cashier of the Nowata National, with which he remained about three years. In the spring of 1908 he organized the Farmers and Merchants State Bank of Dexter, Kansas, and became its cashier. In the spring of 1909, with Harry F. Sinclair and James D. Canary, he organized the First State Bank of Caney, Kansas, and was its cashier from April 5, 1909, until 1910. He then became connected as one of the owners with the Bank of Copan, Oklahoma. In the spring of 1911 he bought the Bartlesville State Bank, and since that date has been in active charge. In 1906 he assisted in organizing the bank at Tulsa Springs, Arkansas, and now has stock in several banks in Oklahoma. For a short time he was traveling representative for the Gate City National Bank of Kansas City. Mr. Raub is interested in the oil busi- ness with several of the well known oil operators in Oklahoma.

Fraternally he is affiliated with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, of which he is Past Exalted Ruler, the Woodmen of the World, the Fraternal Aid Society, and is a past president of the Fraternal Order of Eagles. On September 11, 1906, he married Miss Nell M. Hathaway of Coffeyville, Kansas. They have one daughter, Annie Frances. Mr. Raub recalls the excite- inent attendant upon the opening of the Cherokee Strip in 1893. He was a boy of ten years then and living at Caldwell, Kansas, which was one of the principal ren- dezvous points where the crowd gathered anticipatory to the opening.

ROY T. WILDMAN. The assured status of Mr. Wildman as one of the representative members of the bar of East- ern Oklahoma is evidenced by the able administration which he is giving in the office of county attorney of Creek County, and he is one of the vital, progressive and popular citizens of Sapulpa, the judicial center and metropolis of the county mentioned.

Mr. Wildman was born at Fairfield, Jefferson County, Iowa, on the 18th of April, 1883, and is a son of Benjamin and Sarah (Taylor) Wildman, both of whom were born in Iowa. He was reared in Missouri, and she in Iowa. Benjamin Wildman became one of the repre- sentative citizens of Jefferson County, Iowa, in which state he continued his residence until 1900, since which time he and his wife have maintained their home at Neosho Falls, Kansas, and South Haven, Michigan, the major part of his active career having been one of close and effective association with the basic industries of agriculture and stock-growing, through the medium of which he has attained to definite independence and pros- perity. He now gives his attention principally to con- tracting, and is one of the substantial business men of the city and county in which he has established his home.

He is a republican in his political proclivitics and both he and his wife are earnest members of the Christian Church.

The eldest in a family of three sons and two daugh- ters, Roy T. Wildman found the period of his childhood and early youth compassed by the benignant influence of the home farm in Jefferson County, Iowa, and in the meanwhile he duly availed himself of the advantages of the public schools of his native county. He was about seventeen years of age at the time of the family removal to Woodson County, Kansas, in 1900, and he was grad- uated in the high school at Neosho Falls, that state, as a member of the class of 1903. In preparation for his chosen profession he then entered the law department of the University of Kansas, at Lawrence, and in this insti- tution he was graduated in 1907, with the degree of Bachelor of Laws. His professional novitiate was served in Kansas, but in 1909 he came to Oklahoma and estab- lished himself in, practice at Sapulpa, where his ability, energy and close application soon enabled him to develop a substantial law business. In 1911 he was chosen deputy county attorney, and the admirable record which he made in this subordinate position marked him as specially eligible for further advancement in the public service, with the result that in November, 1914, he was elected county attorney, an office in which he is giving a most effective administration and adding materially to his reputation as a resourceful trial lawyer. His political allegiance is given to the republican party, and he is one of its active and influential representatives' in Creek County. He is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Benevo- lent and Protective Order of Elks, and is an appreciative and popular member of the Creek County Bar Associa- tion.

In June, 1913, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Wildman to Miss Dora A. Jones, daughter of Oliver B. and Lucy Snow (Abbey) Jones, of Neosho Falls, Kansas, and the two children of this union are Evelyn Sarah and Roy T., Jr.

FRANCIS D. TAAFFE. When, in 1901, the news spread over the southern part of the Choctaw Nation that a railroad was about to be constructed into the beloved land of the full-bloods, these Indians and others of lesser Indian blood organized for the purpose of making a determined effort to forestall the accomplishment of this enterprise. They armed themselves and divided into squads that were scattered over the timber country that skirts Red River and extends north toward the Kiamichi Mountains. Surveyors for the Arkansas & Choctaw Rail- way Company already had entered the Indian Nation and their lines ran over the fields and pastures of the red man, penetrating what for two or three generations had been favorite and prolific hunting grounds.

Serious trouble was averted by the surveying party having as a member a young man of Choctaw descent, a descendant in fact of one of the most beloved chiefs of that race, who dissuaded the enraged Indians from their purpose of firing upon the party. This is an important fact in Choctaw history, for the man that finally made possible the building of the railroad also was responsible for the development of a rich timber and agricultural region which already was being rapidly settled by white people. The young surveyor was Francis D. Taaffe, the son of a New Yorker who long before the Civil war was a factor in the education of the Indian and in his full preparation for the forth coming duties of citizenship. An account of the activ: ities of George Taaffe is an interesting chapter of Choctaw Nation history, and although it is known but

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briefly at this time, additional data is being accumulated. When George Taaffe was but a child, his father settled at the historic old Village of Rocky Comfort, Arkansas, which is situated near the eastern boundary of the Choctaw Nation. When he grew to manhood he began the development of the country and so prospered in agriculture and in the cattle industry that at the time of his death, which occurred in 1887, it was said that he was the wealthiest man of that region. Mr. Taaffe fought in the ranks of the Confederacy throughout the period of the war between the states, and was orderly sergeant under Captain Lester, who now lives at Nash- ville, Arkansas, and who declares that Taaffe was a brave and dependable soldier. Mr. Taaffe married a daughter of Frank Harris, who was of Choctaw blood and who was a cousin of Justice Henry Harris of the Choctaw Supreme Court. This gave him a "right"' in the Choctaw country and he held several offices of importance under the tribal government in Red River

County. For several years Mr. Taaffe was superin- tendent of the large plantation operated by Col. R. M. Jones, who was one of the most picturesque characters of the Choctaw Nation. In 1887 Mr. Taaffe was mur- dered in the Red River bottom by a party of negroes, one of whom was subsequently executed under the order of Judge Parker, at Fort Smith, and during the admin- istration of Judge Clayton as district attorney for that part of Arkansas which embodied that part of the Indian Territory embracing the Choctaw Nation. One of them was wounded and died on his way to Fort Smith, and two others, who were implicated by confession in the tragedy, were killed while scouting in the Red River bottom.

George Taaffe was the father of the following chil- dren: Francis D .; Mrs. A. J. Arnote, who is the wife of an attorney at Antlers, Oklahoma; Mrs. B. F. Rainey, who is the wife of a farmer at Ardmore, Oklahoma; Mrs. May Sauls, who is the wife of a mechanical engineer at Broken Bow, Oklahoma; Mrs. Maude Knight, the wife of a contractor at Atoka, Oklahoma; Mrs. John William Kale, of Chicago; and J. W. Taaffe, who is engaged in farming in McCurtain County.

Francis D. Taaffe was born in what is now McCurtain County, Oklahoma, near the Village of Janis, in May, 1877. The first school he attended was a neighborhood institution on Pine Creek, the schoolhouse having been built by his father, while the first class there was taught by Mrs. Wilson, his father's sister. At that time the nearest postoffice was twelve miles distant and the nearest doctor's office an equal distance away. The first family physician was Doctor Sagar, a practitioner who in later years gained considerable professional reputation in the line of surgery. The next family physician was Dr. C. A. Denison, who is now president of the First National Bank of Idabel. Few white people lived here at that time. From 1892 to 1895 Mr. Taaffe was a student in Jones Academy, under the administrations of Simon Dwight, who was the first superintendent of the academy; William A. Durant, who is now a member of the Oklahoma State Legislature; and Samuel Adams. After leaving Jones Academy he entered the service of the United States Geological Survey and for one year assisted in running section lines over the Choctaw country. Thereafter he was in the Government service for several years as deputy United States marshal, serving first under Maj. B. F. Hackett, of McAlester. From field deputy he was removed to the post of special deputy and retained a commission in that capacity until statehood, in the meantime being also in the service of the Central Coal & Coke Company and the Arkansas & Choctaw Railway Company, as well as the Red River Timber Company, of St. Louis, Missouri. While with

the latter concern, in 1904, he was united in marriage with Miss Lulu Alice Spaulding, daughter of Judge G. A. Spaulding, who was United States commissioner in the Choctaw country for a number of years. Mr. and Mrs. Taaffe have three children living: Alyce Claire, aged nine years; George Spaulding, who is seven years of age; and Harry Irvin, aged two years. Another child, Mark DeSales, died at the age of two years. In 1912 Mr. Taaffe was appointed deputy county surveyor under A. W. Felker and in that same year was elected to the office of county surveyor. He was re-elected without opposition in 1914. The wife of Samuel Garland, one of the early chiefs of the Choctaws, was an aunt of the mother of Mr. Taaffe, and Mrs. Garland was a sister of Rhody Pytchlin and Peter Pytchlin, the latter another of the prominent early-day chiefs of the Choctaws.

Mr. Taaffe is a member of the Masons, the Knights of Pythias and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and in a professional way is identified with the Oklahoma Society of Engineers. He made the surveys and plans and specifications for the Idabel water system and for the McCurtain County Fair Association, the latter of which was permanently established in 1915. During the administration of Col. Sidney Snggs in the capacity of state highway commissioner, Mr. Taaffe was appointed assistant state highway engineer. With his family he resides in his comfortable and attractive home at Idabel.

ANDREW J. MORRIS, of Anadarko, whose name, occu- pies a conspicuous place on the roll of Oklahoma's law- yers, during twenty years' connection with the bar of the state has won and maintained a reputation for ability that has given him just pre-eminence among his profes- sional brethren. In the law, as in every other walk of life, success is largely the outcome of resolute purpose and unfaltering industry, qualities which are possessed in a large degree by Mr. Morris. He is one of the pio- neer lawyers in Anadarko, having come here in 1901, which year marks the opening of the town.

The founder of the Morris family in America was an Irishman, who settled in North Carolina in the early colonial days of our national history. J. E. Morris, father of A. J. Morris, was born in Tennessee in 1830 and he died at Big Flat, Baxter County, Arkansas, in 1902. With the exception of two years he spent the entire period of his active business career in Big Flat, where he was a prosperous farmer and stockman. He was a democrat in politics and for many years was jus- tice of the peace. In religious matters he was a devout member of the Christian Church and served on its official board for several years. He gave evidence of loyalty to the cause of the South during the Civil war by serving in the Confederate army for one year, during which time he participated in a number of battles, including that of Pea Ridge. He married Sarah Treat, who was born in Georgia, in 1833, and who died at Batesville, Arkansas, in 1878. Six children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Morris, as follows: J. S. is a farmer and stock raiser in the vicinity of Mountain View, Arkansas; Jesse was a farmer near El Paso, Texas, at the time of his demise, aged thirty-five years; Sarah Elizabeth married Jolin Avey, a farmer near Lone Rock, Arkansas; Andrew J. is he whose name forms the caption for this review; W. R. resides on the old homestead near Big Flat, Arkansas; and Belle married Emmett Merrill, a farmer near Rush Springs, Arkansas.

A. J. Morris was born at Big Flat, Baxter County, Arkansas, January 4, 1864. He grew to the age of fourteen years on his father's farm, at which time his mother died and he was thenceforth left to shift for himself. He received his first schooling at the age of twenty-seven years, but so eager was he for knowledge

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that at the end of a nine months' course of study he was awarded a second grade teacher's certificate. He then taught school for six months, at the end of which he again went to school himself. Six months later he received a first grade certificate and for the ensning seven months he taught school, at the same time begin- ning the study of law under S. W. Wood, at Yellville, Arkansas. He was admitted to the Arknasas state bar April 25, 1895, and entered npon the active practice of his profession at Lone Rock, Arkansas, remaining there until May, 1896. On the latter date he came to Okla- homa and for a while remained at the Sac & Fox Agency, near Chandler. In 1897 he located at Tecnmseh and there served as city attorney until March, 1898, when he settled at Chandler, remaining in the latter place until November 1, 1901. He then came to Anadarko, that year marking the opening of this place, and here estab)- lished himself as one of the pioneer lawyers of the town. During the long intervening years to the present time he has built up a large general, civil and criminal practice, his offices at the present time being in the postoffice block. He was local attorney for the Rock Islaud Rail- road for two years and is known to have the largest practice of any lawyer in this section of the state. He practices in all the federal courts and in all the depart- ments of the interior and has as large a practice in the supreme court as any lawyer in Oklahoma. He is known throughout his home community for his high order of ability and for his couscientious dealings with his clients. The more credit is dne him for his splendid achievements in the field of law inasmuch, as he is self educated and a self-made man in the strictest sense of the term.

In politics Mr. Morris is a staunch democrat and in a fraternal way he is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and with the Knights of Pythias. In connection with his law work he is a valued member of the County, State and National Law associations. His residence, located on thirty-eight acres of land near Anadarko, is one of the most beautiful in the state. He owns 320 acres of farming land two miles south and one mile east of this city, and the same is stocked with hogs and Red Polled cattle. Mr. Morris personally supervises this farm, sometimes directing his men by telephonic communication, and at such times as he can leave his law business he runs out to his farm in his automobile and personally directs his men what to do until they receive further instructions. Mr. Morris takes special pride in directing the care and management of his farm and stock, using this as a means of recreation as well as for profit.

CLARENCE WEBER, M. D. Though a physician of high standing and with an excellent practice at Bartlesville, which city has been his home for the past ten years, Doctor Weber is also a practical oil man, and is connected with a number of important companies in that field in Oklahoma.

Perhaps the environment of his early home had some- thing to do with his activities in the oil industry and with his location at Bartlesville, one of the chief centers of the oil and gas district of the Southwest. Doctor Clarence Weber was born at Oil City, Venango County, Pennsyl- vania, February 15, 1882. His father is also a practical oil man, and likewise a physician. The parents are Doctor Howard and Etta (Cortes) Weber, both natives of Venango County. Dr. Howard Weber was educated and graduated from the Long Island Hospital Medical Col- lege at Brooklyn, and was engaged in active practice in Western Pennsylvania nntil 1904, when he brought his family to Bartlesville, Oklahoma, and has since lived in that city. In Oklahoma he has not attempted practice, but has concerned himself entirely with the oil business.

Clarence Weber, who was one of a family of five chil- dren, graduated in 1905 from the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Baltimore, and almost at once returned to Bartlesville and opened an office as a physician and surgeon. For the past four years he has served as county health officer of Washington County and is a member in good standing in the county and state medical societies and the American Medical Association. He had practical experience in the oil industry beginning as a boy with his father, and is now an officer in a number of oil companies.

Doctor Weber is a democrat in politics and a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. In 1904 he married Miss Margaret Cunniff, who was born in New York City, and grew up aud lived there until her mar- riage.

OLIVER P. RAMSEY. Claiming at the close of the year 1915 a population of about 2,000, the Town of Kiefer, Creek Connty, is one of the vigorous and thriving little municipalities of this section of the state, and one of its most loyal, progressive and popular citizens is its effi- cient postmaster, Oliver Perry Ramsey, who was named in honor of the hero of Lake Erie's naval conflict in the war of 1.812.

Mr. Ramsey is a scion of a sterling pioneer family of Ohio, is a native of Indiana, and was reared in Illinois and Kansas, so that, being now a resident of still another state, there are a number of the sovereign commonwealths of the Union that have special significance to him. He was born at Cicero, Hamilton County, Indiana, on the 5th of February, 1850, aud is a son of Daniel and Eliza (Cooper) Ramsey, both of whom were born and reared in the fine old Buckeye State, within whose borders the respective families were founded in an early day. After their marriage the parents of Mr. Ramsey removed to Indiana and established their residence in Hamilton County, and when he was seven years of age removal was made to Vermilion County, Illinois, where he was reared to the age of sixteen years and where he made good use of the advantages afforded in the public schools of the period. In 1866 Daniel Ramsey removed with his family and became one of the pioneer settlers in Greenwood County, Kansas, where he entered claim to government land and where he reclaimed a farm from the virgin prairie. He was one of the influential men in the public and industrial affairs of the pioneer community and con- tinued his residence on his homestead until his death, in 1871, at which time he was fifty-six years of age. His widow survived him by more than thirty years and passed the closing period of her life in Cloud County, Kansas, where she died in 1905, at the venerable age of eighty-six years. Daniel Ramsey was a carpenter by trade and prior to his removal to Kansas had been a successful contractor and builder, besides which he found much demand for his services at his trade after he had estab- lished his home in the Sunflower State. He served many years as justice of the peace, having held this office both in Illinois and Kansas, and as a man of sterling char- acter and fine mentality he ever commanded the confi- deuce and high regard of his fellow men. He was unswerving in his allegiance to the democratic party and was an effective worker in its ranks. He served as a member of the Illinois Legislature and held minor official positions within the period of his residence in that state. Both he and his wife were zealous and consistent mem- bers of the Methodist Episcopal Church. They became the parents of four sons and two daughters, of whom the subject of this review was the third in order of birth. All of the children are living except one son and one daughter.

The present postmaster of Kiefer, Oklahoma, con-

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tributed his quota to the development and general work of the pioneer farm in Kansas and attained to his legal. majority in the year that marked the death of his hon- ored father. Thereafter he continued to be identified with agricultural pursuits a few years, and he then removed to a town in Kansas, thereafter continuing an urban citizen until the time of his removal to Oklahoma, having in the meanwhile been concerned with various lines of business enterprise, but his principal vocation having been that of contractor and builder, as he had learned the trade of carpenter under the effective direc- tion of his father and had become a skilled artisan.

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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