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. V, Part 10

Author: Thoburn, Joseph B. (Joseph Bradfield), 1866-1941
Publication date: 1916
Publisher: Chicago, New York, The American Historical Society
Number of Pages: 644

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. V > Part 10

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

1792

HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

staunch supporter of measures furthering the good-roads movement and those of importance to rural communities and the conserving of the agricultural. industry, the while the cause of education likewise received his earnest support in the Legislature.

In politics Mr. Pullen is arrayed as a stalwart advo- cate of the principles of the democratic party, and in a fraternal way he is identified with the Woodmen of the World, the Ancient Order of United Workmen and the A. H. T. A., in each of which he has held important offices. He has been specially active and influential in the last named organization, in which he has on three occasions represented his lodge in the state organization of the order and once at the national convention of the same.

In Tennessee the year 1885 recorded the marriage of Mr. Pullen to Miss Amanda A. Kelly, who was there born and reared. They have six children: Cecil Bayard is a progressive young farmer of Murray County; Jesse remains at the parental home and is still attending school; Minnie is the wife of John Springer, a pros- perous farmer of Murray County; Miss Pearl is a popu- lar teacher in the public schools at Elmore, Garvin County; and Carrie is attending the public schools.

MISS STELLA C. BAYLESS. What a sphere of activity aud usefulness a woman may fill in this twentieth cen- tury age finds probably one of its most interesting illustrations in the career of Miss Bayless, one of the present county superintendents of schools in the county. Miss Bayless is as much a pioneer in the new educa- tional movement as her father was a pioneer during the developing years of early Kansas and Oklahoma. She has great physical vitality, all the qualities of courage and fortitude that distinguish the other sex, and has brought a vigor and enthusiasm to her work which makes her easily one of the foremost educators in the state.

She was born in Adams County, Ohio, October 14, 1885, but early in her infancy her parents, H. T. aud Flora (Clinger) Bayless, moved to Winfield, Kansas. Her parents were also natives of Adams County, Ohio, where her father was born, September 20, 1845, and her mother, November, 1858. The family lived in that section of Southern Ohio until they moved out to Kansas. How- ever, her father was a Kansas pioneer, having gone to that state in 1866. He hunted buffalo on the plains, and proved up a claim near Winfield. After working his farm for several years he returned to Ohio, but about 1886 he moved his family back to Kansas. On Septem- ber 16, 1893, he participated in the race into the Chero- kee Strip and secured a claim two miles south of Tonkawa. He was one of the five men who organized and laid out the Village of Tonkawa, and suggested that its name be the same as the Indian tribe which occupied some of the land in that locality. Mr. Bayless is now the only sur- vivor of that quintet of town founders. After living at Tonkawa eight years he moved to Noble County, locating near Otoe, five years later went to Bliss, lived there for five years, and then moved to Edmond. His life has been a very active one and on the whole unusually suc- cessful. He has some land interests near Phoenix, Ari- zona, and spends much of his time there. Both he and his wife in their younger years taught school, and there have been several teachers in the different generations of the family. The father is an independent republican, a member of the Baptist Church, and is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. There are four children : Maude, wife of Will Beasley of Charleston, Oklahoma; L. R. and W. P., who lives in Kansas; and Miss Stella.

Miss Bayless lived at home with her parents until she

was seventeen years of age. For three years she was a student in the University Preparatory School at Tonkawa, and she also taught school at Bliss. From early girlhood she has indulged her enthusiasm for out- door life and for many of those activities which are usually considered strictly limited to men. In the sum- mer vacations while she was attending school at Ton- kawa she was on a ranch, and almost constantly on horse- back. There is nothing which she could not do in the routine of ranch duties except roping a steer. She could ride anything that walked on four feet, and frequently broke the colts and mules. While at Edmond she attended the Central State Normal School for two terms and there secured a state certificate as a teacher.

Her first school was a sod schoolhouse near Tonkawa. She taught for seventeen months at Bliss, for one year at White Eagle and then for a year was traveling repre- sentative for the Bufton Book Company and Supply House, of Kansas City. Her territory included the states of Texas, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and Iowa. While with that company she visited over three thousand schools, and the notes which she made of her observations in the different schools have proved valuable to her in her later work as an educator.

Coming to Creek County on June 1, 1911, she taught in this county for three terms prior to her election as county superintendent on November 4, 1914. Miss Bay- less gives her restricted suffrage to the support of the republican party. She is a member of the Baptist Church at Edmond, and is affiliated with the Brotherhood of American Yeomen and with the Fraternal Aid and Wom- an's Relief Corps.

Many pages might be written of her varied and inter- esting experiences in Oklahoma and elsewhere. While she was teaching at White Eagle she met a herd of buffaloes on a stampede and in the scrimmage her buggy was torn to pieces, and it was with difficulty that she was rescued by some cowboys. While she was traveling for the book house she was driving a team across a ford over the Red River and the horses were swept by the waters and drowned. She has come to know much of Indian life and customs, and has always closely studied tribal institutions. While she was living at Otoe, near the Ponca reservation, she took part in some of the tribal dances, also attended the weddings and funerals of the Otoe and Ponca Indians, and has many interesting relics given her by those tribes.

The element of progressiveness stands out prominently in Miss Bayless' work as an educator. One of the ideals toward which she is working is the consolidation of the rural schools of Creek County, so as to promote greater efficiency and eliminate those schools which under the present system cannot possibly maintain the average standard. She has also done much to develop social centers, has brought about in a number of schools a system for the awarding of credit to the pupils for home work, and has been able to secure much more co-operation between school and home than was ever considered possible. She established the Creek County School News, through whose columns many progressive ideas have been spread into the homes of the people, and this is the first publication of its kind ever attempted in the state. She has not neglected any of those modern agencies for education and enlightenment. She has some interesting experiences to record showing the possi- bilities of the "Victrola" and the use of lantern slides as a part of her educational program. Since she became superintendent ten men have been engaged as specia. lecturers in the schools, besides the employment of home talent whenever possible for the same purpose. Miss Bayless has organized the "moonlight" schools in the county, for the purpose of affording instruction anc

HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

1793

extending the facilities of the schools to people of adult age whose education had previously been neglected. The State of Oklahoma should be proud of this splendid young woman, who has done so much to vitalize school work in Creek County.

GUY W. STACK. Still at an age when most men are just beginning to realize the possibilities of life, Guy W. Stack is the possessor of a substantial business, an enterprise that stands a monument to his energy, capacity and business judgment. When he came to Ken- ton, Oklahoma, in 1908, his capital was chiefly repre- sented by his ambition and determination; within the short space of seven years he has developed the largest business of its kind in Cimarron County, and is justly considered one of the leading influences in the move- ments which of recent years have contributed so sub- stantially to this thriving community 's growth.

Mr. Stack was born July 10, 1886, on a farm in Barber County, Kansas, and is a son of Charles W. and Sarah Elizabeth (Rose) Stack. His father was born in Iowa, August 25, 1859, a son of Samuel and Sarah Stack, natives of Canada, of English extraction, and was reared on a farm and has been an agriculturist all of his life. When he first removed to Kansas, in 1870, Charles W. Stack settled on Government land in Reno County, where he lived among the pioneer farmers for eight years and carried on farming and stock raising. In 1898 he removed to Barber County, where he resided until 1894, and at that time came to Oklahoma, settling in Lincoln County, where he is now a prosperous farmer and stock- man. Mr. Stack is a republican in his political views and a member of the Presbyterian Church, in the work of which he takes an active interest. He was married in 1879, in Reno County, Kansas, to Miss Sarah Eliza- beth Rose, who was born December 3, 1860, near Sheri- dan, Poweshiek County, Iowa, daughter of William and Jane (Ogden) Rose, natives of Ohio. Prior to her marriage Mrs. Stack was engaged in teaching school for ten years in various parts of Iowa and Kansas, and became well and favorably known as an educator. Mr. and Mrs. Stack were the parents of four daughters and two sons, namely: Jessie L., born June 15, 1882; Jennie L., born April 2, 1884; Guy W .; Rose H., born September 13, 1888; Belle M., born January 31, 1889; and Benjamin H., born September 15, 1892.

Guy W. Stack was eight years of age when brought to Oklahoma, and his education was secured in the public schools of Chandler, where he was graduated in the class of 1903 from the high school. Subsequently he attended the Oklahoma Central Normal School, at

the ter the Edmond, and then for four years was engaged in teach- . age cial ing in the schools of Lincoln County. In 1907 Mr. Stack settled on a homestead in Union County, New Mexico, twelve miles west of Kenton, Oklahoma, and in 1908 for ore was made assistant postmaster at Kenton, and moved to this place where he accepted a position as bookkeeper inty SÍŤ ple otec in a mercantile establishment. In June, 1910, having thoroughly assimilated business methods and conditions, he embarked in the general merchandise business on his own account, and now has a trade which covers the entire community, with a branch house at Texline, Texas. lern His store at Kenton is the largest in Cimarron County, has with a $75,000 stock of general merchandise, lumber and ide am ecial agricultural implements, his annual business approximat- ing $200,000. This enterprise has been built up entirely through his own efforts, and in addition he has extensive and valuable real estate holdings in Cimarron and Lincoln counties, Oklahoma, and in Union County New Mis Mexico. Mr. Stack is one of the leading members of the

the Kenton Commercial Club. . He has the confidence and

and esteem of his associates in the business world, and is a general favorite in social circles, although his important business interests have practically occupied his time to the exclusion of other affairs.

Mr. Stack was married September 2, 1909, at Chandler, Oklahoma, to Miss Ida M. Bickford, who was born June 5, 1886, in McDonald County, Missouri, daughter of Dennis C. and Mary Jane (Moore) Bickford, natives of Maine. She is a graduate of the Chandler (Oklahoma) High School, class of 1905, and for four years prior to her marriage was a teacher in the public schools of Lincoln County. Mr. and Mrs. Stack are consistent members of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

SOL D. BARNETT. Among the men who made the run for land at the opening of the Cherokee Strip, in 1893, was a young Texan, Sol D. Barnett, who, mounted on a race horse trained by himself, led the run for four miles and staked out a desirable property. However, he was induced to relinquish his property owing to his ignorance of the methods used by unscrupulous persons, and it was not until 1899 that he came to permanently reside in Oklahoma. Since that time Mr. Barnett has been engaged in a number of successful business ventures, and at the present time is the proprietor of a large real estate and loan business at Hollis, and tax assessor of Harmon County, a position which he has held since 1912.

Mr. Barnett was born in Union County, Kentucky, August 18, 1872, and is a son of Dr. J. J. and Mary V. (Roley) Barnett, and a member of a family which came to Virginia in colonial times from Ireland. J. J. Barnett was born in Virginia in 1829 and as a lad removed with his parents to Union County, Kentucky, where he was educated for the medical profession. He was there mar- ried to Mary V. Roley, who was born in that county, in 1838, and continued to follow the practice of his calling there until 1880, in which year he moved to Wise County, Texas. In 1893 he went to Ford County, in the same state, and in 1899 located at Mangum, Oklahoma, from whence he finally moved to Blake, Oklahoma, where he passed the last few years of his life in retirement, and died in 1908, Mrs. Barnett surviving him until 1911 and passiug away at Hollis. In addition to being a learned and skillful medical practitioner, Doctor Barnett was a minister of the Baptist Church, and followed both call- ings together for fifty years. He was a highly esteemed citizen in whatever community happened to be his home and won the esteem and regard of his fellow-men by his strict integrity and probity of character. He was a Mason for many years and rose to the thirty-second degree. During the Civil war he enlisted in a Kentucky infantry regiment, in the Confederate army, and served for three years with the rank of captain. Being finally taken a prisoner, he was sent to Johnson Island, and there con- fined for a year before being exchanged. Dr. J. J. and Mary V. Barnett were the parents of eight children, as follows: Major, who is engaged in farming in Wise County, Texas; J. D., who is deceased; J. J., who is engaged in agricultural operations at Acme, Texas; S. P., a farmer of Wayne County, Tennessee; Clarence L., who followed farming and stockraising and died at Mangum, Oklahoma; H. B., who is engaged in the same pursuits and resides near Mangum; Sol D .; and Molly, who is the wife of W. H. Stewart, of Amarillo, Texas.

Sol D. Barnett was eight years of age when the family removed to Wise County, Texas, and there he enjoyed the advantages of a high school education. In 1892 and 1893 he attended the Fort Worth Business College, and was thus excellently equipped for a business career. Being determined to secure land, he had carefully trained a favorite horse for the run to be made at the opening

ile

ie ear th als ing

tly

Ich

of m

1794

HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

of the Cherokee Strip, and iu September, 1893, as before noted, led the race for four miles and staked out a claim of 160 acres, on Turkey Creek, two miles west and 41/2 miles north of Hennessey. Although he had fairly se- cured his land and had made the run through burning prairie grass, the youth allowed others to convince him that his claims were not substantial, and returned to his Texas home. From 1893 until 1899 he was engaged in the cattle business in Ford County, Texas, and with capital thus gained returned to Oklahoma and settled as a pioneer near Mangum, where he continued his opera- tions in cattle. Subsequently he was elected county assessor of what was then Greer County, Oklahoma, an office in which he acted from 1900 until 1902, when the office was abolished. In the meantime he became inter- ested in the real estate and loan business, which he fol- lowed at Mangum until 1903, when he came to Hollis, his present field of activity, and established his business here, his offices being located in the Cross National Bank Building. His business has grown to large proportions and he is justly accounted one of the leading men of his locality in his line.

Always an active democrat, Mr. Barnett has attended the state and county conventions of his party as a dele- gate, and during the campaign of Gov. Lee Cruce was successful in gaining almost the solid support of Harmon County and Southwestern Oklahoma for the Governor, as campaign manager. In 1912 he was appointed by Gov- ernor Cruce as tax assessor of Harmon County, and this appointment was approved by the people as shown when they elected him to that office in 1914. His incumbency has been characterized by straightforward dealings, expe- ditious handling of the affairs of the assessor's office, and conscientious and capable performance of duty. Mr. Barnett is a supporting member of the Methodist Episco- pal Church.

In 1894, in Ford County, Texas, Mr. Barnett was mar- ried to Miss Mary C. Adams, daughter of Dr. W. H. Adams, a pioneer of Ford County, Texas, where he is still engaged in the practice of medicine. Five children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Barnett: Claude, born Octo- ber 13, 1895, who has finished his junior year at the Hollis High School and is now assisting his father in his business and official duties; Homer, who is a member of the freshman class at the Hollis High School; and Thurston, Louis and Murray Haskell, who are attending the public graded schools.

JUDSON CUNNINGHAM. A native of the Southwest and an effective exemplar of its vital spirit, Mr. Cunningham, the efficient and popular young county clerk of Roger Mills County, is a scion of the fourth generation of the family in America, his paternal great-grandfather, Alexander Cunningham, having immigrated to the United States from Ireland and having established his resi- dence in the State of Tennessee, where Robert Cunning- ham, father of James Cunningham, was born. He after- wards moved to Alabama, where he became a pros- perous agriculturist and where he passed the remainder of his life.

Judson Cunningham was born in Hill County, Texas, on the 20th of March, 1889, and is a son of James F. Cuuningham, who was born in Alabama, in 1851, and who as a young man immigrated to Texas, where he became a farmer and stock man and where was solemnized his marriage to Mrs. Mary (Cason) Couble, widow of Paul Couble, who had been engaged in the cattie business in Hood County, that state. In 1892 James F. Cunning- ham came with his family to the newly organized Okla- homa Territory and became one of the pioneer settlers of Roger Mills County, where he entered claim to a home-

stead of 160 acres, one aud one-half miles northwest of Cheyenne, the present thriving couuty seat, where he has reclaimed a productive and valuable farm and where he and his wife still maintain their home. He is a staunch advocate of the cause of the democratic party and both he and his wife are zealous members of the Baptist Church, in which he has for a number of years past given devoted and efficient service as a minister. He is one of the well known and highly honored pioneers of this section of the state, is a loyal and progressive citizen and is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity. Of the children the eldest is Pearl, who resides at Cheyenne, the judicial center of Roger Mills County, she being the widow of Orlando R. Bellamy, who was a successful school teacher at the time of his death. Dean, the second child, was a prosperous young farmer of Roger Mills County at the time of his death. He was burned to death when his farm house was destroyed by fire, and was only twenty-two years of age at the time. Grace died at the age of fifteen years. May is the wife of Henry C. Kisar, who is engaged in the hardware busi- ness in the State of Colorado. Kenneth is a farmer and stock-raiser in the State of New Mexico. Jesse remains at the parental home and is associated with his father in the work and management of the farm. Judson, of this review, was the next in order of birth. Bertha is the wife of Charles W. Mckinney, who is engaged in the furniture business at Butler, Custer County, Okla- homa; and Ray remains at the parental home.

The present county clerk of Roger Mills County was a child of about three years at the time when the family home was here established, and his boyhood and early youth were compassed by the conditions and influences of the pioneer farm, the while he made good use of the advantages afforded in the local schools. In 1911 Mr. Cunningham was graduated in the high school at Chey- enne, and in the following year he had the distinction of being elected county clerk, when twenty-three years of age. The most effective voucher for his personal popularity and his able administration is that afforded in the fact that in 1914 he was re-elected for a second term of two years. He has shown marked fidelity and circumspection in handling the multifarious affairs of his office, the work of which he has thoroughly system- atized, and he is one of the valued executive officers of the county that has represented his home from early child- hood and to which he is intrinsically loyal, even as he is appreciative of its many natural and acquired advan- tages. Mr. Cunningham is found arrayed as a stalwart supporter of the principles of the democratic party and is one of its influential representatives in his home county. He is a member of the Baptist Church. In his home city he is affiliated with Cheyenne Lodge No. 237, Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows, and with the local organi- zations of the Daughters of Rebekah, the Modern Wood- men of America and the Fraternal Order of Eagles, and in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows he is further identified with Encampment No. 63 at Elk City, Beckham County. His name is still enrolled on the list of eligible young bachelors in Roger Mills County.

WILLIAM T. LEAHY. No name is better known in the Osage Nation district of Oklahoma than that of Leahy. The family was established there more than forty years ago, and William T. Leahy of Pawhuska has lived there since childhood. As a farmer, stock man, capitalist and banker his resources and influence are among the strongest factors in the business affairs of that section. Before statehood he was one of the leading representatives of the Osage people in the handling of their interests both in Indian Territory and at Washington, and since statehood he has been an active figure in political life.

W.J. Leaky.

nga efo tin bres sin

1795

HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

By inheritance Mr. Leahy has an unusual combination of racial stocks. His father was a native Irishman, while his mother was part French and part Osage Indian. William T. Leahy was born at the Old Osage Mission, now the village of St. Paul, in Neosho County, Kansas, July 9, 1869, a son of Thomas and Mary L. (Champaigne) Leahy. His father was born in County Tipperary, Ire- land, while his mother was born near the present site of Kansas City, Missouri, a daughter of William and Genevieve (Rivard) Champaigne. Her father was a Frenchman and her mother of the Osage Indian tribe. When Mary Champaigne was an infant she lost her father and her mother subsequently took her out to Sacramento, California, during the excitement following the discovery of gold. They made the trip across the country with four team and wagons, spent six or seven years in the West, and then returned to the Osage Mission in South- eastern Kansas. She lived there until her marriage, in 1868, to Thomas Leahy. After the Indians had given up their lands in Kansas and had removed to the Osage Nation in Indian Territory, Thomas Leahy was located for a time at Fort Riley as a trader and as a dealer in buffalo hides. As a boy in the late '70s during the high tide of the buffalo hide industry, William T. Leahy has seen as many as fifteen hundred buffalo carcasses, the animals having been killed entirely for the sake of their hides. He has also seen around his father's trading post stacks of hides piled as high as it was possible to pile them, and covering an area two or three hundred yards square. In 1875 Thomas Leahy moved his home per- manently to Osage County, Indian Territory, and spent the rest of his life in that section. He became prom- inent as a cattle man, and his death occurred at Los Angeles, California, while visiting in the West, May 10, 1913, at the age of seventy. He had come to America in 1855 in company with his brother Edward, he being then twelve years of age. In Illinois he was bound out to a man named Nugent, who subsequently located near Fort Scott, Kansas, and remained in the employ of that man until nineteen years of age. For some time he was engaged in driving government teams between Fort Scott and Fort Smith, but during the war one of the trains was captured. Thomas Leahy frequently stopped at the old Osage Mission on these trips, and while there became acquainted with Miss Champaigne, and they were subsequently married. Mrs. Thomas Leahy is still living at Pawhuska at the age of sixty-five. They were the parents of three children: Viva, who is the wife of W. S. Conners, now living at San Antonio, Texas; Cora, widow of George Saxton, living at Los Angeles, California; and William T., the only son and the oldest of the family.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

Author: Thoburn, Joseph B. (Joseph Bradfield), 1866-1941 Publication date: 1916 Publisher: Chicago, New York, The American Historical Society Number of Pages: 644

Author: Thoburn, Joseph B. (Joseph Bradfield), 1866-1941
Publication date: 1916
Publisher: Chicago, New York, The American Historical Society
Number of Pages: 644