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 93

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 93

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In boyhood, James E. Foster attended the public schools at Wild Cherry, Arkansas, and later the Moun- tain Grove Academy, at Mountain Grove, Missouri, from which institution he was graduated in the class of 1894, although, previously he had taught one year of school at Antlers, in Wright County, Missouri, and one year at Chapin, Missouri. His inclination led in the direction of educational effort and ever since, more or less con- tinuously, he has devoted his time and talents to this work. From 1894-5 he taught at Lowassie, in Shannon County, Missouri; from 1895 to 1898, at Maple, Texas; and from 1898 to 1904, at Linn Creek, Missouri.

In August, 1904, Mr. Foster came to Oklahoma and taught near Elk City for one year, and for two years was principal of the Elk City High School. Professor Foster then came to Sayre, where, for four years he was superintendent of schools and afterward, for one year, was principal of the Carter schools. During the follow- ing year he lived with his family on his farm (his father's old homestead), and during the school year taught at Merritt. During the following year he found relaxation from mental work by operating a cotton gin at Elk City, but in 1915 was back in harness again, becoming superintendent of the schools of the City of Sayre, where he has under his supervision, thirteen teach- ers and 700 pupils.

Professor Foster was married in 1898, at Linn Creek, Missouri, to Miss Anna Shelby Foster, a daughter of the late Thos. Foster, a former well known farmer of that section. As far as known no relationship existed between the Foster families although no doubt, they may claim the same remote ancestry. To the above marriage the following children have been born: James Nelson, who was born October 21, 1899, is a student in the second year of high school; Eula, who was born October 11, 1902; Arthur M., who was born December 31, 1905; Anna, who was born January 23, 1911; and Lucile, who was born September 30, 1913.

Professor Foster and family belong to the Methodist Episcopal Church, in which he is a steward. As an educator he is held in the highest regard and is identi- ficd with numerous educational bodies, including the Beckham County Teachers' Association, and the South- Vol. IV-21

west and the Oklahoma State Teachers' Associations. He has always maintained high standards and has ·had the satisfaction of seeing many of the progressive movements that he has conscientiously favored, accepted and adopted by boards of education. For many years he has been a Mason and is identified also with the Odd Fellows at Sayre. He is one of the substantial citizens of Beckham County, owning a fine farm of 120 acres, lying one-half mile south and three miles west of Elk City, and also a handsome residence at Elk City. In politics he has always been a republican but has not been as active along political as educational lines, at all times, however, lending his influence in support of move- ments designed to be practically and permanently bene- ficial to this section. In manner he is agreeable, with simple, unaffected dignity, and he enjoys not only the respect of the scholarly but the warm esteem of all who become well acquainted with him.

CLAUDE P. SPRIGGS. Many of the interesting annals of old Indian Territory center about the region of Fort Towson. It is interesting to recall that in 1905, two years before statehood, the Town of Fort Towson, which is built near the site of the old military post of that name, was incorporated and entered upon an era of municipal prosperity equal to that of other towns animated by the spirit of development which was pro- moted by approaching statehood.

It was upon the application of Claude P. Spriggs, then a young lawyer of Fort Towson, that the incorporation charter for Fort Towson was granted by United States District Judge William H. Clayborn. When the first municipal election was over Mr. Spriggs became the town's first municipal attorney. Among the other interesting activities of Mr. Spriggs in Fort Towson during its early years was his association with W. E. B. Leonard in the organization of the Fort Towson Bank. A little later this bank was consolidated with another and the First National Bank of Fort Towson was estab- lished. Associated with Mr. Spriggs and Mr. Leonard in this latter transaction was W. W. Wilson, former treasurer of the Choctaw Nation. Mr. Spriggs and Mr. Wilson with R. D. Cheatham also promoted and pushed to completion the first telephone line in Southern Oklahoma east of Hugo. They organized the Fort Tow- son Telephone Company, of which Mr. Wilson became the first president, and the line was built between Hugo and the Arkansas line. In 1907 Mr. Spriggs moved to Hugo to continue the practice of law on a broader scale. His residence there was the first to be built on the Frisco Addition to Hugo. The same year he and his brother, E. L. Spriggs, under the firm name of Spriggs & Spriggs, established an office at Idabel, with E. L. Spriggs in charge. The Hugo and Idabel offices were consolidated in 1915, at which time Claude P. Spriggs moved to Idabel, where he now resides.

Mr. Spriggs was first secretary of the Choctaw Demo- cratic County Central Committee after statehood and was secretary of the county campaign committee in the campaign that followed. Later he served as a member of the Democratic State Central Committee. In 1910 he and J. P. Ward had charge of Choctaw, MeCurtain and Pushmataha counties in the campaign that nominated and elected Lee Cruce of Ardmore to the office of gov- ernor.

Born in Magnolia, Columbia County, Arkansas, Decen- ber 28, 1875, Claude P. Spriggs is a son of Edward G. and Luie (Laughlin) Spriggs. His father, who died in 1900, was born in Georgia, settled in Arkansas during pioneer times and engaged in the lumber and mercantile business. His sawmill was the first established in Hemp-

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stead County, and in it was sawed the lumber used in the first building erected at Hope.

Claude P. Spriggs attended the Arkansas public schools and was graduated in 1899. Soon afterwards he took up the study of law and in 1900 was admitted to the Arkansas bar beginning practice at Horatio, he was appointed local attorney for the Kansas City, Pittsburg & Gulf Railway Company, now the Kansas City Southern. Three years later he gave up this position and his private practice in order to identify himself with the new Town of Fort Towson.

On September 6, 1902, Mr. Spriggs married Miss Mattie E. Hicks. Mr. Spriggs has four sisters: Mrs. O. G. Graddy, wife of a jeweler at Ashdown, Arkansas; Mrs. William Harvell, wife of a contractor at Ashdown; Mrs. Alex Stedman, whose husband is a farmer stock- man at Ashdown; and Mrs. John Stedman, wife of a Frisco railroad construction foreman. While his home has been in Southeastern Oklahoma only a few years Mr. Spriggs is one of the best known men in that section of the state. He is a member of the County and State Bar Associations and has affiliations with the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows and the Woodmen of the World.

JAMES HENRY HAYES. The many capable and able members of such professions as medicine and the law in Oklahoma are performing a valuable service to the pres- ent generation, but it remains for the educator to train and develop the characters and resources of those young men and women who in the course of a few years will assume the chief responsibilities in the life and progress of the state. While bestowing special recognition upon the many prominent educators in Oklahoma, some space should be granted to James Henry Hayes, now superin- tendent of the public schools at Fletcher.

Professor Hayes was born at Wisner, Cuming County, Nebraska, January 9, 1888. His father, Henry B. Hayes, was born in Iowa in 1853, removed from his native state to Wisner, Nebraska, in 1902, settled at Tekamah, Nebraska, and in 1906 came to Oklahoma and has since been a farmer and stockman at Guymon. He is affiliated with the Ancient Order of United Workmen and also has insurance protection with the Bankers Life. Henry B. Hayes married Lena Hutt, who was born in Germany in 1863, and at the age of seventeen came to America with her parents, who settled in Stanton County, Nebraska. She died at Wisner, Nebraska, in 1896. Her father was a farmer in Stanton County and died there. The Hayes family came to America from Scotland about the time Lord Baltimore established his colony in Mary- land. James H. Hayes is the oldest of his parents' chil- dren. His brother Harney is a ranchman in Colorado; Roy is a farmer in Texas County, Oklahoma; Emma is the wife of Ralph Bangs, a farmer at Liberal, Kansas; and Lloyd lives at Guymon, Oklahoma.

James H. Hayes was educated in the public schools of Cuning County Nebraska, and in 1904 graduated from the high school at Tekamah in that state. For one year he was a student in Grand Island College. A resi- dent of Oklahoma since 1906, he has been almost con- tinuously identified with school work since coming to the territory. For a time he was principal of schools at Granite, Oklahoma, and was superintendent at Olustee in 1909-10-11, and in the meantime attended normal school during the summer months. In 1911-12-13 he was superintendent of schools at Ryan, where he had under his supervision fifteen teachers and six hundred scholars. In 1913 Mr. Hayes was graduated from the Central State Normal School at Edmond. His work at Fletcher began in the fall of 1914, and he has done

much to build up and extend the course of study and improve the general facilities of the local schools. Mr. Hayes is a member of the Baptist Church, and affiliates with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Fletcher.

In 1909 at Edmond, Oklahoma, he married Miss Mattie Adkison, who is also an Oklahoma educator of consider- able experience. The Adkison family came from England to Virginia during colonial times. Mrs. Hayes was born in Montgomery County, Kansas, but has spent most of her life in Oklahoma. Her father moved to Edmond in 1891, among the pioneers, and the family followed him in 1893. She attended normal school at Edmond, aud for five years before her marriage was a teacher in the Oklahoma County schools. Her father, Andrew Adkison, was born in Pocahontas County, West Virginia, and dur- ing the Civil war served throughout the struggle on the Union side with a West Virginia regiment, and was once wounded. He was born in 1836, has been a farmer all his active career, and since 1906 has lived retired at Marlington, in Pocahontas County, West Virginia. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity. Andrew Adkison married Martha Auldridge, who was born in Pocahontas County, West Virginia, in 1841, and died at Edmond, Oklahoma, in 1905. Their children were: Susan, who died at Sycamore, Kansas, the wife of R. W. Ogle, who is still living in Sycamore; Rebecca, who lives at Fletcher, the widow of E. O. Cole, who was a stockman and prominent in the democratic party, having served as chairman of the Democratic County Central Committee; Olive, wife of L. Elson, a banker and capitalist at Luther, Oklahoma; Lillian, who lives in Oklahoma City; Beatrice, wife of A. Lynch, a blacksmith at Edmond; and Mrs. Hayes. Mr. and Mrs. Hayes have special reason to be proud of their only child, Dorothy Gail, who was born February 9, 1913, and who was awarded the first prize at the baby show at the State Fair in Oklahoma. City in 1914.

BENJAMIN F. ARMSTRONG. A man of high scholar- ship, Mr. Armstrong was for many years an able and popular representative of the pedagogic profession, and his initial service after coming to Indian Territory, in 1894, was as a teacher in the school at Valley View, Washington County. His gracious and popular wife is proud to claim a strain of Delaware Indian blood, and through her lineage became eligible for and received an allotment of land in Indian Territory, the same having proved specially valuable through the development of an oil well on the property, and the substantial financial status of Mr. and Mrs. Armstrong being largely based on the wouderful returns from this source. They own and occupy a most modern and attractive residence, eligibly situated on a tract of five acres adjacent to the city limits of Bartlesville on the south, and this fine residence, recently completed, is one of the most beauti- ful in Washington County, even as it is one of the most hospitable, with Mrs. Armstrong as its popular chate- laine. Mr. Armstrong was doubly orphaned when a mere child and became dependent upon his own resources before he had attained to the age of fifteen years. Ambition and high aspirations had their way, however, and that he has made good use of opportunities is shown by his high intellectual attainments and his mature judg- ment in practical affairs.

Benjamin Franklin Armstrong was born in Lee County, Arkansas, on the 26th of October, 1868, and is a son of James and Nancy (Davis) Armstrong, the former of whom was born in Ohio and the latter in Mississippi. Mr. Armstrong was but eighteen months old at the time of his mother's death, and when he had attained to the age of four years his father likewise

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HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

passed to the life eternal. Thereafter he was reared to the age of fourteen years in the home of a widow, Mrs. Wood, and in the meanwhile he acquired his rudimentary education in the public schools of his native state. At the age of fourteen years he went to Pea Ridge, Benton County, Arkansas, where he worked at various occupa- tions, turning his attention to any employment that was within his powers and that he could obtain. He was fortunate on forming the acquaintance of Pro- fessor Robertson who was then teaching in an academy and who became a loyal and helpful friend to the aspir- ing youth. Mr. Armstrong remained with Professor Robertson seven years and in the meantime was able to advance his education into higher academic branches. He became specially proficient in mathematics and lan- guages. For six months he was a student in Kane Hill College, Washington County, Arkansas, and Major Earl, who had been in charge of the institution for a quarter of a century, gave to Mr. Armstrong the credit of being the best mathematician of all students who had attended the college.

For six years Mr. Armstrong devoted his attention to teaching in his native state, principally in Benton and Johnson counties. In the latter county he was for two years a teacher in a fine German colony, in which he gave instruction in both German and English, as well as mathematics.

In 1894 Mr. Armstrong left his home state and re- moved into Indian Territory, where he devoted one year to teaching in the Valley View School, near Afton, in what is now Craig County. There he met and married the wife who has proved his devoted companion and helpmeet. Thereafter he was engaged in farming on Grand River for one year prior to Mrs. Armstrong's reception of her allotment of land. At Bartlesville this allotment of 260 acres was made, and Mr. and Mrs. Armstrong still retain the ownership of this property, which is leased for oil development and operation and which is all cleared and eligible for cultivation, much of the tract being at the present time devoted to agri- culture. The oil development on the land has brought substantial wealth to Mr. Armstrong and his wife, and on the tract there are eighteen oil wells in operation in 1915. Mr. Armstrong has himself done a certain amount of development work, in the leasing of land and the drilling of oil wells. He formerly had in operation three drilling outfits, and he derived due profits from his enter- prise in this field of industry. He is a liberal and pro- gressive citizen, taking a loyal interest in community affairs and having well fortified opinions concerning governmental and political policies, his support being given to the principles of the democratic party. He is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity.

The marriage of Mr. Armstrong to Miss Flora D. Lunday occurred on the 23d of March, 1895. Mrs. Armstrong was born in the Cherokee Nation of Indian Territory, on the 11th of August, 1878, and she was educated in Willie Hansel College, at Vinita, Oklahoma. She is a daughter of Robert J. and Louisa (Ketchum) Lunday, the former of whom was born at Atlanta, Georgia, and the latter at Leavenworth, Kansas. The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Lunday was solemnized in Kansas City, Missouri, which was then a mere village, and Mr. Lunday was at the time the owner of one of the largest of the few mercantile establishments of the embryonic city. He was of pure Caucasian lineage and his wife was one-fourth Delaware Indian blood. Mr. Lunday was formally adopted into the Delaware Tribe after his marriage, with the understanding that he would receive an allotment of land under the same conditions as would a full-blood Indian. He and his wife each received an allotment of 160 acres about ten miles west

of the present City of Vinita, the judicial center of Craig County, Oklahoma, and they accompanied other representatives of the Delaware Tribe at the time of its removal to Indian Territory. Mr. Lunday originally had in his possession fully 1,500 acres of land, but when Oklahoma was admitted to statehood his allotment was made according to the system adopted by the Govern- ment for a just distribution of the land among the various tribes. Mr. and Mrs. Lunday continued to reside on their old homestead during the residue of their lives, she having passed away March 23, 1894, and his death having occurred July 14, 1907. They became the parents of three sons and six daughters, and the death of the mother was the first break in the immediate family circle. All of the children are living except the eldest daughter. Mr. and Mrs. Armstrong have two sons: Carral MeT., who was born November 22, 1898, and William L., who was born May 30, 1902.

The beautiful home of Mr. and Mrs. Armstrong was completed in 1914, and is situated on an extension of Delaware Avenue just outside of the corporate limits of the City of Bartlesville. They made a special visit to Kansas City, Missouri, to consult able architects and contractors before beginning the erection of their new residence, and by following advice and suggestion given at the time, Mr. Armstrong was able to build a commno- dious and attractive dwelling that has the best of modern improvements and accessories and that is of specially effective architectural design. At this pleasant suburban home Mrs. Armstrong finds pleasure in giving personal attention to her fine Jersey cows and to the raising of White Leghorn poultry. Two of her Jersey cows have captured blue ribbons at county fairs. The utilitarian element is not so clearly represented in the prized "live stock" of Mr. Armstrong, for he keeps a good pack of hounds, the same being brought into service in connec- tion with the hunting excursions which he grants himself at frequent intervals.

WILLIAM MCCOMBS. One of the oldest native sons of Indian Territory is William McCombs of Eufaula, McIn- tosh County. Mr. McCombs has had a long life and many varied experiences, which have brought him into intimate contact with the life and affairs of the Creek Nation beginning with the epoch of the Civil war and coutinuing down to the present. In many ways he has impressed his influence for good upon tribal politics, religion and education. His individual history reflects much of the important experience of his people during the past half century or more.

He was born six miles east of Fort Gibson in Okla- homa, July 22, 1844, a son of Samuel and Susan (Stin- son) McCombs. His father was a white man, a native of Tennessee, and he came to Indian Territory about 1830 in the service of the United States Government, being a dragoon and afterwards was a general overseer of government work in Indian Territory for a quarter of a century. In 1856 he moved to the Creek Nation, locating thirty-five miles north of Muskogee, and died there about 1857 when still under fifty years of age. He was married after coming to Indian Territory to a half-blood Creek, who was born in Alabama, and who preceded four years the colony of Creeks who settled in Indian Territory in 1828 under the leadership of General Chilly McIntosh. She died in 1866 when aged about sixty-five. Her children were: William, the oldest ; David, who spent two years in the Confederate army, was a farmer the rest of his life, his death occurring in 1913; Thomas, who was killed in Muskogee in 1877; Joseph, who lives at Eufaula; Anna, who died at the age of fourteen.

William McCombs has spent all his life among his home

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people in the Creek country. His education came from the Indian Government schools, and when he was about seventeen years of age at the outbreak of the war he enlisted in the First Creek Regiment in Company C, and for practically four years exerted all his energies in behalf of the Confederate cause and the protection of Indian Territory from invasion. During much of the time he was an aide-de-camp. From early youth he had the spirit of adventure instilled in him, was keenly observant, was skilled in all the arts of woodcraft, and came to know almost every square mile of the country in Indian Territory. Having been educated in the English language, he was a master of both the Indian and the whito tongue, and this made him valuable as an inter- preter, a service which he rendered between the white and Indian officers during the war. In one skirmish he was slightly wounded in the right ankle.

After the war Mr. McCombs located on a farm nine miles west of Eufaula in November, 1865, and he has kept that place ever since and has always been more or less closely identified with farming pursuits.

While the simple life of the farmer has satisfied him as a vocation, he has none the less been active in all tribal affairs. Reared a Methodist, he was converted under the influence of a Baptist missionary in 1867, and since 1868 has been identified with the Baptist Church in an official capacity. He has preached to the Indians, and for a great many years was interpreter for white missionaries until about 1912. His many qualifications naturally brought him into prominence in tribal affairs. Soon after the war he was elected a member of the Creek Council and sat in that body altogether for six terms, of four years each, and was a member of the Council when the tribal affairs were wound up prepara- tory to statehood. For four years he was also superin- tendent of public instruction and for three years a superintendent of the Eufaula High School. For an- other period of four years he sat on the Supreme bench of the Creek Nation. Another service he rendered, and that the last official rank he held in the Creek Nation was as interpreter for General Pleasant Porter, a gover- nor of the Creek Nation. He filled that office for six years. He has been called upon to settle many difficult questions involving political, educational and religious affairs of his people. In recent years Mr. McCombs has spent much of his time in religious work, delivering sermons and talks at the various missions. His home membership is in the Tuskegee Church.

For a man now past the age of three score and ten there is hardly a better preserved gentleman in the old Creek Nation, and Mr. McCombs has always enjoyed splendid health and a rugged constitution that has made him equal to any responsibilities and burdens placed upon him. From the close of the Civil war until 1904 he never missed a single fall in taking his hunting trip, and if all the deer he has killed could be turned loose at once they would make a drove larger in number than could probably be found in any one state at the present time.

While he was still a member of the Confederate army Mr. McCombs was married, November 7, 1864, to Sally Jacob who was a Creek woman and who died March 23, 1901. Their children were: Lizzie, the widow of James Colbert, and she died in July, 1906, leaving five children. Sudie is the wife of William Bumgarner, living west of Eufaula. Susie is the wife of P. R. Ewing, whose home is three miles north of Eufaula. W. P. McCombs lives at Eufaula. Tooker . is the wife of A. E. Raiford of Eufaula, with whom Mr. McCombs now resides. Bettie is the wife of C. H. Drew. George Washington resides nine miles west of Eufaula. On October 5, 1902, Mr. McCombs married for his second wife Sarah Philips,

a fullblood Creek Indian. Mr. McCombs' daughter Mrs. Ewing served for about eighteen years as president of the Woman's Society at Muskogee and has always been active in Baptist missionary affairs. His daughter Mrs. Drew is now treasurer of the Baptist Missionariy So- ciety and has been president of its executive committee. His son George W. McCombs, for the past five years has served as clerk of association at Eufaula.

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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