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 97

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 97

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One of the most important subjects to come before Congress in recent years has been that of Rural Credits. Recognizing how, deeply his own constituents were in- terested in better credit facilities and the many benefits that would accrue to the farmers generally of the United States through more abundant credit and lower interest Mr. Morgan as a representative in Congress immediately became a deep student of the subject and an enthusiastic supporter thereof. The question was conspicuously be- fore the Sixty-third Congress. In the discussion of the subject Mr. Morgan attracted attention by the force in which he presented his views as well as by the knowl- edge he displayed of the subject. But that Congress adjourned, March 4, 1915, without action on the sub- ject. Between the adjournment of the Sixty-third Con-

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gress, March 4, 1915, and the meeting of the first session of the Sixty-fourth Congress, December 7, 1915, about nine months had intervened. This was to be a vacation for members of Congress. Instead of taking a vacation, however, Mr. Morgan devoted his time to the writing of a book entitled "Land Credits: A Plea for the American Farmer." In the preface of this book Mr. Morgan says : "When the Sixty-third Congress adjourned, March 4, 1915, I was confronted with a situation entirely new to me. Apparently I had nine months' vacation in sight; for, barring an extra session, Congress would not meet again until December 6, following. Farm-credit legisla- tion had been conspicuous before the Sixty-third Congress. The whole subject was postponed for the action of the Sixty-fourth Congress.

"I was disappointed in the recommendations of the Commissions which went abroad to study Rural Credits and I had reached the conclusion that Congress should not enact into law the Commission Bill, the Sub-Com- mittee Bill, or the Senate Committee Bill. I, therefore, decided I could best serve my constituents, my State, and my country by devoting the greater part of my vaca- tion to the further study of the principles of land credit, and in preparing the result of my investigations for publication in book form."

Some idea of the character of Mr. Morgan's book may be gathered from comments thereof by his colleagues in Congress. Hon. Duncan U. Fletcher, United States sena- tor from the State of Florida, and chairman of the United States Commission sent abroad to study the subject of Rural Credits in a personal letter to the author referring to the book, says:

"You have given a most valuable contribution to the discussion of the problem. You show a thorough grasp of it-particularly as to its importance and the need of a proper solution of it. You express clearly and forcibly the reasons calling for a sound system of Rural Credits and your historical tracing of the movement and the work .on it is the most accurate and fairest yet given. I differ with you in some views and arguments but that does not lessen my appreciation of the industry and skill you have shown, manifesting your patriotic interest in a great national question, nor my respect of your opinions."

Hon. John W. Kern, United States senator from the State of Indiana, in a personal letter to Mr. Morgan, referring to his book on Land Credits, says:

"It is a most creditable piece of work and you are to be congratulated. You have collected and presented a mass of pertinent facts and statistics and set forth so fairly the arguments in favor of the several systems pro- posed, that all men in public or private life who desire to investigate the main question will find their labors greatly lessened by an examination of your work."

The press throughout the country has given most favor- able comment on this book. The Nation, of New York, one of the most discriminating magazines published in the United States, in its issue of February 17, 1916, prints a lengthy review of this work. Among other things it says:

"Mr. Morgan has produced a work of many excellencies and one which students of a pending political question will find exceedingly useful. He would have done well if he had eliminated certain expressions which seem to imply that the farmer is a ill-used person. * * ** With this allowance- the reader will find the present work one of the most helpful that has yet appeared in this country on the subject of rural credits. *

* De- * spite the unfortunate mannerism to which he alluded at the start, he has presented us with a work which will com- mand general respect if not universal approval."

The Globe-Democrat of St. Louis, Missouri, discussing Mr. Morgan's book on Land Credits, says :

" "Persons prone to look upon Oklahoma as a Nazareth out of which nothing of value in the discussion of great economic problems might be expected to come, may fail to read the book on Land Credits written by Representa- tive Dick T, Morgan. * *

* But such as persevere will find in it one of the fairest, most illuminating and convincing discussions of land credits to appear since President Taft began to press this neglected question upon the attention of Americans."

Hundreds of newspapers have published highly compli- mentary notices of this book. The work is in the hands of practically every member of Congress and its in- fluence will be a potent factor in the moulding of legis- lation by the National Congress on the subject of Rural Credits.

Mr. Morgan prepared a number of elaborate bills on the subject of rural credits and introduced them in Con- gress. At this writing, April, 1916, Congress has not taken any final action on the rural credit proposition. But whatever may be the final character of the legisla- tion enacted Mr. Morgan will always be given great credit for the service which he rendered in his effort to secure for the farmers of the United States a system of land credits that would furnish equal and adequate credit facilities for all of the farmers of the United States at uniform rates of interest to the farmers in every section of the country.

In addition to the foregoing book Mr. Morgan is the author of several other works. Among them are "Mor- gan's Manual of United States Homestead and Townsite Laws, "' (1890) ; " Morgan's Digest of Oklahoma Statutes and Supreme Court Decisions, "' (1898) ; and "Morgan 's School Land Manual," (1901).

In the territorial days of Oklahoma, Mr. Morgan was president of the Oklahoma Free Homes League, a society organized to aid in securing to the settlers of Okla- homa Territory the benefit of the free homestead law. The movement was successful, resulting in saving the settlers of Oklahoma about $12,000,000. From 1899 until 1908 Mr. Morgan was president of the Oklahoma Christian Missionary Society and he was one of the original com- mittee which founded and located at Enid, Oklahoma, Phillips University and has been from its organization one of its trustees.

On May 30, 1878, Mr. Morgan was married to Miss Ora Heath, daughter of Rev. A. R. and Mary (Maxwell) Heath, of Merom, Indiana. Rev. A. R. Heath was a minister of the Christian Church, was one of the founders and for many years the secretary and treasurer of the Union Christian College at Merom, Indiana, and died in November, 1914, at the age of eighty-nine years. One son has been born to Mr. and Mrs. Morgan: Porter H.

Porter H. Morgan, leading attorney of Oklahoma City, and a member of the firm of Morgan & Deupree, was born at Terre Haute, Indiana, October 12, 1880. He was nine years of age when he accompanied his parents to Oklahoma, and after some preparation entered the University of Oklahoma, which he attended from 1896 to 1900. In the latter year he entered Drake University, Des Moines, Iowa, where he was graduated in 1903 with the degree of Bachelor of Philosophy, and this was fol- lowed by a law course at the Chicago University Law School, where he graduated in 1906 with the degree of Doctor of Jurisprudence. On September 1st of that year, Mr. Morgan began the practice of his profession at Okla- homa City, and in 1910 formed a partnership with H. T. Deupree, the firm of Morgan & Deupree now being con- sidered one of the strong legal combinations of the city. Offices are maintained at Nos. 421-423 American National

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HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

Bank Building. Mr. Morgan maintains membership in the various organizations of his profession, and is also connected with the Masons and the Delta Phi Fraternity.

Mr. Morgan was married September 15, 1903, to Clem- mer Deupree, daughter of William T. and Martha (Wilson) Deupree, of Bloomfield, Iowa, and three chil- dren have been born to this union: Dick Deupree, Merle and William Maxwell. Mr. and Mrs. Morgan and their children reside at their pleasant home, at No. 2228 West Fourteentli Street.

MELVIN GEORGE MEISTER. As a strong and active member of the Oklahoma City bar during more than ten years, Melvin George Meister wields an influence that only men of unusual strength of character and ability can exercise in a community of nearly 100,000 people. Connected at various times as general or special counsel with large and important interests, his unfailing judg- ment has saved him from the pedantry of law, and having been a thorough and assiduous student under the impetus of his own determination, he has become prac- tically and fully equipped to meet any emergency within the scope of his legal duties.

Mr. Meister was born at Freeport, the county seat of Stephenson County, Illinois, January 4, 1873, and is a son of George Franklin and Louise (Margileth) Meister. His maternal grandfather was a minister of the United Brethren Church, known during the early days as a circuit rider in both Illinois and Ohio, where he preached the gospel zealously for over sixty years. He died at the age of eighty-five years, in the fall of 1914. When Melvin G. Meister was four years of age his parents removed from Illinois and located on a farm situated in Benton County, Iowa. There he grew to sturdy young inanhood, working when he was large enough and securing what education he could in the country schools during the winter months. Afterward he attended the Western College for one year, and after this, when only seventeen years of age, began teaching. He was the eldest of a family of six children. About the time that he entered upon his career as an educator, his father met an accidental death, and Melvin G. Meister was left as the sole support of the mother and five children younger than himself, four of whom were girls. The youth accepted the duties and responsibilities of bread-earner for the family cheerfully, taught schools in the winter terms and applied himself to farming during the summer months, and remained with his mother like the dutiful son that he had always been, and as his subsequent development of character has indicated he could only do. He has never separated from his mother, she still being a member of his family.

By the time he had reached the age of twenty-two years, in spite of his added responsibilities and calls upon his purse, he had worked so industriously and saved so thriftily that he had laid aside enough money to attend Tilford Academy, where he did double work, and graduated with the class of 1895. After his graduation Mr. Meister again taught school for a year and at the same time engaged in the reading of law in the office of M. J. Tobin, of Vinton, Iowa. Subsequently he took the law course at the University of Iowa, where he was duly graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Laws. In order to set aside a working capital, Mr. Meister deferred entering his beloved profession for another period, and instead accepted the position of assistant principal of the high school at Dysart, Iowa, but after one year in that capacity opened an office and began his activities in the law. During the six years that he remained in practice at Dysart, he served for four years as mayor of that city.

Mr. Meister moved to Oklahoma City in 1905 and engaged in the practice of law, and since that time has steadily advanced until today he is recognized as one of the very safest and mnost responsible members of the bar in the state. He enjoys a large practice and has among his clientele some of the most prominent individ- uals and concerns in Oklahoma. All his practice is of the highest class and most desirable kiud that can come to the lawyer, and those who secure his services know full well that their business will be thoroughly taken care of at all times and under all circumstances. His offices are located at No. 725-729 American National Bank Building.

At Laporte City, Iowa, November 1, 1899, Mr. Meister was united in marriage with Miss Helen Harriet Gay, daughter of John R. aud Addie (Gay) Gay, the former a native of Vermont and the latter of Illinois. Some time prior to the Civil war, Mr. Gay removed from New England to Illinois, and when that struggle came on he enlisted in the Union Army as a member of the Fourth Illinois Cavalry. Four children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Meister: Melvin Eugene, born March 23, 1902; Helen Harriet, bort. August 26, 1905; Ruth Adrienne, born October 21, 1909; and Mark Gaylord, born Sep- tember 11, 1914.

Mr. Meister joined the republican party when he attained his majority, but his great admiration for Theodore Roosevelt led him to transfer his support to the progressive party when the colonel led the revolt from the famous convention at Chicago, in 1912. Mr. Meister is a Master Mason, being a member of Oklahoma Lodge No. 16, and is prominent in the Knights of Pythias, having filled every station in the subordinate lodge of that order and represented his lodge in the Grand Lodge of Oklahoma. Mrs. Meister is a popular member of the Order of the Easter Star. She and Mr. Meister are members of the First Presbyterian Church of Oklahoma City, in which he is chairman of the board of deacons, and assistant superintendent of the Bible School.

WILLIAM D. TURNER. Recognition of the special fit- ness for the duties and honors of public office came with the election of William D. Turner as commissioner of finance in the municipal government of Lawton. Mr. Turner was elected to that office April, 1913, and was re-elected April 6, 1915. As commissioner of finance he has one of the most important departments in the com- mission government, having charge of the auditing and accounting for this large and prosperous city, handles all city money, and devotes himself actively to this branch of municipal government. His chief clerk in the office is Frank L. Meadows.

William D. Turner has had a long and active business career, and one that shows a steady progress from the average circumstances of youth to success and high standing in one of the best cities of Oklahoma. He was born in Clark County, Illinois, September 15, 1866. The Turner family is of Scotch ancestry originally resident of Edinburg, Scotland, and in colonial times one branch came to America, settling in Massachusetts, moving next to Pennsylvania, thence to Ohio, from that state to Indiana, and finally to Illinois. Mr. Turner has Revo- lutionary ancestors on both sides. His father was William B. Turner, who was born in Zanesville, Ohio, in 1843. The grandfather, William A. Turner, removed from Ohio to Clark County, Illinois, in 1846, and after following farming for many years died in that county. William B. Turner became likewise a farmer and stock man, was married in Clark County, reared his family" there, and after an honorable career passed away in

My Meister.

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HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

March, 1908. He was a staunch democrat. He married Melinda Robinson, who was born in Clark County, Illi- nois, in 1848, and died there in 1896. Their children were: Elizabeth Ann, who married Frank Sharp, and they reside on their farm in Clark County, Illinois; Abrilla, wife of Lafayette Perisho, living on their farm in Clark County; William D .; Ellen, the wife of Johu J. Grant, a rancher at Gillette, Wyoming; Serena, whose husband, William H. Baldwin, is a lumberman at Mul- berry Grove, Illinois; Patsy, wife of H. M. Grant, a hotel proprietor and merchant at Casey, Illinois; Eva, wife of Mr. Emrich, a farmer and stockman at Casey, Illinois; George R., a farmer and stockman in Clark County; and John A., in the insurance business at Martinville, Illinois.

William D. Turner grew up on his father's homestead in Clark County, and attended the public schools there. At the age of twenty-one his father gave him a horse and saddle. He sold this for $125 and used the proceeds to pay his way partly through the Central Normal Col- lege at Danville, Indiana, where he graduated in 1891. For a number of years after this he followed the profes- sion of teaching with no little success. He taught first in the country schools, and was principal of several village schools in Illinois until 1901.

On April 5, 1901, just before the opening of the Kiowa and Comanche Reservation, Mr. Turner arrived at Law- ton. As a pioneer settler there, he was first engaged in the lumber business, and followed that until the spring of 1902. Selling out his interests, he spent one year as bookkeeper with the Lawton Ice and Fuel Company, and for the next five years was associated with M. A. West & Company in the real estate, loan and insurance business. He continued in the same business as a partner with L. S. Eckles until 1913, since which year he has devoted more time to his official tasks than to his private busi- ness. His office as one of the city commissioners is in the City Hall.

Mr. Turner is a democrat, and a deacon in the Chris- tian Church. He is especially prominent in Masonry, and in that order is well known over the state. He is a member and past master of Lawton Lodge No. 183, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons; is king of Chapter No. 44, Royal Arch Masons; is junior warden in Lawton Commandery No. 18 of the Knights Templars; is a mem- ber of Lawton Council No. 21, Royal and Select Masters, and did his cryptic work in the Grand Council of Okla- homa. He is a member of the board of control of the Grand Lodge for the Masonic Home at Arlington, and in that capacity has supervision over about one-third of the state. Other affiliations are with Lawton Camp No. 10256 of the Modern Woodmen of America, with the Brotherhood of American Yeomen, and with the Lawton Chamber of Commerce.

Mr. Turner was married at Hagerstown, Illinois, to Miss Nora A. Sharp, daughter of the late Jacob Sharp, a well known farmer in Clark County, Illinois. To this union have been born the following children: Leland E., a senior in the Lawton High School; Richmond D., also a senior in the high school; Ruth Naomi, who died at the age of thirteen months in Lawton; and Lenora Ann, who was born July 13, 1914.

THADDEUS WINFIELD JONES, JR. The name of Jones is frequently found to indicate Welsh origin, and in the case of Thaddeus Winfield Jones, Jr., it is particularly true. The family came from Wales to America in the early days of our history, and settled in North Carolina. Men of the name were participants in the struggle for American independence, and they have been identified ' with the history making epochs of the land from theu down to the present time. Alexander Hamilton Jones, Vol. IV-22

the grandfather of the subject, was born and reared in North Carolina, and there spent many years of his life. He was a newspaper man of some prominence there, and was a veteran of the Civil war, serving throughout the conflict in the Union army. He was a merchant for some years in Norman, Oklahoma, where he went in 1890. Toward the end of his life he went to Long Beach, California, where he lived quietly to the time of his death.

One of the sons of Alexander Hamilton Jones was Thaddeus Winfield Jones, father of the subject. He was born in Hendersonville, North Carolina, in 1850. From that place he went to live in Asheville, North Carolina, and was graduated from the West Point Military Academy in the class of 1872. Mr. Jones made the first map of the staked plains of Texas for the United States Government, and he served through the Indian campaigns of Oklahoma and Arizona. His first post, after his graduation in 1872, was Fort Sill, Oklahoma, and he passed through the Geronimo campaign while located there. He was with the Tenth Cavalry at Sau Juan Hill, passing through the entire Cuban campaign and for his conspicuous bravery in that period he was made a Colonel of Volunteers. Since that time he has served on several occasions in the Phillippines, winning much distinction during his military career from first to last. He was retired in 1913, and is now living in Long Beach, California. He is a member of the Method- ist Episcopal Church, South.

Colonel Jones married Mary Lee, a native daughter of Michigan, and four children were born to them: Thad- deus Winfield, Jr., was the first born. Alexander Hamil- ton is a first lieutenant in the Thirteenth Cavalry, and is stationed at Brownsville, Texas. Margaret Lee is married and lives in Texas. Mazel Lee is at home with her parents.

Thaddeus Winfield Jones, Jr., was born at Fort Stock- ton, Texas, on January 6, 1880. He was graduated from the University of North Carolina with the class of 1900, a Bachelor of Science. He then entered the law depart- ment of that institution and spent the years 1901-2 in preparation for his profession. He was admitted to the bar in North Carolina in February, 1902, and in Sep- tember of the same year came to Weatherford, Oklahoma, here to establish a general law practice. He has been engaged in his profession here up to the present time. Mr. Jones has served in the office of city attorney, being elected to the position in 1908 and 1910, and is now acting city attorney. He was a candidate for the office of district judge in Oklahoma, but he is republican in politics, and the district is overwhelmingly democratic in political sentiment, consequently he suffered defeat in that campaign.

Mr. Jones is a member of the Episcopal Church. His college fraternities are the Sigma Chi, the Gorgon 's Head, the Pi Sigma and the Theta Nu Epsilon.

In 1903 Mr. Jones was married in Weatherford to Miss Ruby Butcher, daughter of Nathaniel Butcher, a farmer living in Lecoma, Mississippi. She died in 1913, leaving a son and a daughter: Ruby Winfield, born December 4, 1910, and Thaddeus Winfield 3d, born November 19, 1913. In October, 1914, Mr. Jones married Miss Ida Lee Garrison, daughter of C. E. Garrison, of Foss, Oklahoma.

JAMES A. BOYD. In James A. Boyd the City of Sapulpa has a citizen whose far-reaching enterprise, apti- tude for affairs and broad public spirit have been potent in extending the community's commerce and in advance- ing its welfare in various directions. In the course of a long and useful career, he has been engaged in a variety

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of business occupations, in each of which he has gained well-won success, and at the present time there are few men better known in Creek County in the field of real estate, insurance and abstracts.

Mr. Boyd was born in Ralls County, Missouri, May 27, 1866, and is a son of William H. and Isabella Frances (Eustace) Boyd. His father, a native of Kentucky, was taken to Missouri as a child and there reared in Ralls County, where he resided until 1875. In that year he went to Texas, where his subsequent life was passed in farming in various communities, and his death occurred in that state, at Sherman, in 1904, when he was eighty- four years of age. Mrs. Boyd was born at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the only child of Prof. Johu Eustace, a native of Ireland, mineralogist, geologist and artist, who was for a number of years connected with the University of Dublin, and on coming to the United States became the founder of Eustace Academy, at Philadelphia. When he retired he went to Van Alstyne, Texas, where he made his home with his daughter and son-in-law until his death, in 1878, at the age of eighty-two years. Mrs. Boyd died at Ardmore, Indian Territory, at the home of her son, James A., in 1894, when she was sixty-six years of age. There were four sons and three daughters in the family.

James A. Boyd was granted the advantages of an ex- cellent home training and a common school education and remained with his parents until 1888, at which time he moved to Marietta, Indian Territory, there being engaged in clerking and in handling cotton. In September, 1891, he changed his field of activity to the ambitious Town of , Ardmore, there being identified with a cotton and com- press business and with a wholesale grocery, and also took an important part in conducting the first election when the town was incorporated, being associated with Congressman C. D. Carter, C. P. Bruce and others. In 1898 he moved to Wynnewood, where he was assistant manager and salesman of a wholesale grocery business, but in August, 1899, resigned and moved to Oklahoma City, where he took charge of a cotton compress. In August, 1900, Mr. Boyd came to Sapulpa to build a eotton compress, which he conducted for some years, and during this time. became interested in the real estate and insurance business, an enterprise which grew so rapidly that finally he began to devote his entire atten- tion to its development. On February 1, 1910, he pur- chased a controlling interest in the Lafe-Sheer Abstract Company, which he has conducted in connection with his real estate and insurance business to the present time. Mr. Boyd is one of the leading democrats of Creek County. He has been president of the election board two terms, and at present is a member of the Democratie State Central Committee. When movements of a publie nature are launched, his is one of the first named to be suggested for important and arduous committee work, and he has never shirked his duty in this direction. Some of Sapulpa 's most beneficial enterprises may be in large part aecredited to Mr. Boyd's energy and publie spirit. For more than thirty years he has been a member of the Christian Church, and is a charter member of the church at Sapulpa, of which he has been a trustee since the purchase of the property. His fraternal eonnection is with the Modern Woodmen of America.

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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