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 101

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 101

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THE ELK CITY LIBRARY. The definite need for a Carnegie library in Elk City, the metropolis of Beckham County, had for many years been a matter of discussion on the part of individual citizens and civic organizations, but to achieve the desired end no distinctive movement

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was made uutil the 24th of February, 1912, when a committee of six ladies from the Presbyterian Church called a meeting of the ladies of Elk City to consider the possibility of establishing a public library. As a matter of historic record it should be noted that the six women comprising this original and public-spirited com- mittee from the Presbyterian Church of Elk City were Mesdames S. L. Neely, George Dramer, Samuel Orr, W. E. Allen, O. H. Young and Mrs. Florence Brown.

By the 1st of March, 1912, permanent organization had been made, and constitution and by-laws were adopted by which all executive power was vested in a board of twelve members. The ladies elected to the board at that time-with the exception of those who have removed from Elk City-have since served faith- fully and effectively, the personnel of the sterling corps who have thus labored so earnestly for the achievement of a noble public service being as here noted: Mesdames S. L. Neely, Fried Mayer, A. G. Low, George F. Sisson, D. A. Mayer, E. C. Willison, O. H. Cafky, W. E. Allen, Jodie Burnett, Charles Durie and John G. Scott. Those who have been added to fill vacancies are Mesdames Guy McClung, H. C. Powell, John Forsythe, John Maupin and W. A. Wright.

The library was started with 250 volumes, which were donated by townspeople, and from this nucleus has been evolved a collection that at the close of the year 1915 includes 850 volumes. The business men of the town were solicited for monthly subscription to defray run- ning expenses, such as rent for the room occupied and the paying of the salary of the librarian. Many other methods were used to obtain funds with which to pur- chase books.

On the 22d of February, 1914, at a "Colonial Ban- quet, "' the Elk City Library Association asked the Com- mercial Club to assist in securing for the library a Carnegie building. It was through the co-operation thus effected that lots were purchased and final arrange- ments made for the building, which was completed in the autumn of 1915, its dedication having been made, with most consistent ceremony and other observances, in October of that year.

The board appointed by the city council to direct the affairs of the Carnegie Library of Elk City has the following personnel: Judge R. E. Echols, W. C. Thomas, O. F. Tesmar, John G. Scott, Mrs. O. H. Cafky, Mrs. W. E. Allen and Mrs. John G. Scott.

R. B. BUTLER. The Tribune Press, publishing the Evening and Weekly Tribune, at Blackwell, of which R. B. Butler is editor and proprietor, is one of the most enterprising younger journals of Northern Oklahoma. Established three years ago, it has already forged to the front among the county papers and has fulfilled the essential purposes of a new organ in publishing the news in an attractive manner, in furnishing an excellent medium for business and advertising, and in advocating through its columns every movement for righteousness, clean-mindedness, wholesome civic standards, temperance, education and religion. It practices the precepts of home first and world afterwards. The Tribune has a large support both in the city and county and goes regularly to subscribers living in every state in the Union. It is published from a strictly modern plant, equipped with a Mergenthaler linotype and with all the facilities for high class printing and press work. The office also makes a specialty of high grade job and book printing. The paper was established in Blackwell in the fall of 1912 and Mr. Butler has shown a rare degree of enterprise and success in bringing it so quickly to favor and influence.

R. B. Butler was born at Huntingdon, Tennessee, Nov- ember 26, 1882, and for a young man still under thirty- five has accomplished a great deal of excellent work in the world, both as a newspaper man and as a minister of the gospel. He comes of an old Tennessee family, whose ancestors were hardy pioneers and noted for the courage of their convictions. Mr. Butler's father, Gar- vin B. Butler, is a native Tennesseean and is one of the leading stock breeders of the west half of the state. The mother's maiden name was Mary E. 'Chambers. Both parents are members of the Baptist Church and the father is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. There are five children and both the sons, R. B. and A. C., are connected with the Tribune Press at Blackwell.

Mr. Butler grew up on a farm in Tennessee where he learned the meaning of honest toil. His early education was received in the public schools, after which he at- teuded Union University at Jackson, Tennessee, and finally graduated from Hall-Moody Baptist College at Martin, Tennessee. He was ordained to the ministry in 1906, the year after graduation, since which time he has been actively engaged in that work. He held several pastorates in Oklahoma prior to entering into the news- paper business and is still active in church work, preach- ing regularly. He is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and served two years as a member of the Tennessee State Militia.

On July 14, 1906, Mr. Butler was married to Miss Maude White, daughter of A. B. White of Enid, Okla- homa. To their union have been born two daughters: Mary Virginia and Marguritte. He is a republican in politics and with his wife holds membership in the Baptist Church.

CLARENCE B. LEEDY. The first county attorney of Ellis County after its organization and statehood was Clarence B. Leedy. His father some year before had been the first postmaster of one of the new towns in Dewey County, and the town was named in his honor, Leedey, with only a slight modification of the name. These two facts indicate that members of the Leedy family have been exceptionally active in that section of Oklahoma, and they have been a fine type of those worthy characters who in future years will be credited as empire builders. Clarence B. Leedy is one of the most successful lawyers of Ellis County, lives at Arnett, and has been quite a man of affairs for a number of years.

Though he is still on the lee side of middle age, he came into close touch with pioneer conditions at his birth, since his birthplace was a log house on a farm in Fulton County, Indiana. There he first saw the light of day September 9, 1875. His parents were Amos and Sarah C. (Hunter) Leedy. Amos Leedy was born June 6, 1850, near Akron, Ohio, a son of Abraham A. and Elizabeth E. (Leedy) Leedy, both of whom were natives of Pennsylvania. Abraham was born in 1819 and died in 1901, and his wife was born March 25, 1826, and is now living at Tiosa, Indiana.

In 1859 Amos Leedy moved to Fulton County, Indiana, and in 1882 took his family to Illinois, and from there came on to Oklahoma in 1898. While not one of the earliest pioneers of the original Oklahoma, he was one of the most active of the early settlers in Dewey County, where he established his home on Government land. A part of that land has since been covered by the thriving Town of Leedey and his name was fitly accepted as the name of the incipient village. As already stated, he was the first postmaster when the office was established in 1899 and held that position until 1902. He is now

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living quietly retired at Leedey and the major part of his activities as a business man have been performed as a farmer. In 1873 Amos Leedy married Miss Sarah C. Hunter, daughter of Jacob Hunter, who was a native of New York. She was born March 20, 1854, iu Marshall County, Indiana, and died in Piatt County, Illinois, Octo- ber 20, 1895. She was a very religious woman, an active member of the German Baptist Church, and divided her time and interests between her home and family aud her church dnties. She became the mother of ten children, five sons and five daughters, namely : Clarence B .; Tempy Ann; Ira, deceased; Harley G .; Aaron A .; Charles A .; Dora; Hassie; Elizabeth E .; and a daughter, the fifth in age, who died in infancy. On January 20, 1905, at Independence, Kansas, Amos Leedy married his present wife. She was born in Kansas. In 1883 Mr. Amos Leedy was regularly ordained a minister of the German Baptist Church, and for a great many years has per- formed the part of a leader in church work.

Clarence B. Leedy was abont seven years old when the family moved to Illinois, and he acquired his early education in Piatt County of that state. He attended college at the Central Normal College in Danville, Indi- ana, where he took a course in law and graduated in 1898. On May 12, 1898, Mr. Leedy enlisted in Company A of the Sixteenth United States Infantry for service in the Spanish-American war, which had broken out only a few weeks previous. He was sent to Cuba and took part in the noted battle of San Juan Hill on July 1, 1898. In that historic engagement he was wonuded though not seriously. He was discharged with a record of "excellent" in character and conduct.

During the years 1899-1900 Mr. Leedy was a traveling representative for the Chicago Journal and Herald. In June, 1900, he joined his family in Oklahoma, and his first venture here was to locate a claim near Leedey in old Day County. He served as deputy county attorney of Day County one term. In 1904 he was appointed assistant connty attorney of old Day County, and located for private practice at Grand.

In September, 1907, Mr. Leedy was elected connty attorney of Ellis County on the republican ticket. The county had been created by the constitutional convention, and he was the first to fill that important office in the local civil government. He filled it for 31/2 years and since his term of office as connty attorney has expired he has refused to accept any office, and has enjoyed the largest law practice of any attorney in Western Okla- homa. Mr. Leedy is said to have the largest law library in Ellis County, and is a thoroughly informed and skillful attorney. He is active as a republican, and has been a member of the central and state committees since 1901. Fraternally he is identified with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and has passed all the chairs in his home lodge.

On February 2, 1902, at Leedey, he married Miss Mabel Ann Foster, dangliter of Alexander W. and Clara (Sharp) Foster. Her parents were both born in Cass County, Missouri, and that was also her birthplace on July 4, 1882. Mr. and Mrs. Leedy have a fine family of eight children, five sons and three daughters, namely : Mabel Ethel, born March 16, 1903, aud died January 4, 1905; Charles B., born November 24, 1904; Eva, born July 16, 1906; Raymond, born February 18, 1908; Dar- win, born February 16, 1910; Clara, born September 30, 1912; Frank, born June 12, 1914; and Eldon Leedy, born February 26, 1916.

WILLIAM DAVID ATKINS. While he is one of the more recent reernits to the field of commercial endeavor, the success which has already attended the efforts of William

David Atkins gives promise of his becoming one of the leading merchants of Garfield County, as he is now the proprietor of the principal store at Kremlin. Mr. Atkins is pre-eminently an excellent example of the self-made man, having worked his own way through college, and prior to entering mercantile lines taught school, lis capi- tal for his business having been saved from his earnings as an educator.

Mr. Atkins is a product of the agricultural community of Lyon County, Kansas, where he was born on his father's farm, July 27, 1883, a son of Albert W. and Margaret Janc (Wyrick) Atkins. The family is of English origin, and was founded in the United States by the grandparents of William D. Atkins, William and Anna Atkins, natives of the mother conntry, who emi- grated here in 1831 and passed the remaining years of their lives in Will County, Illinois. Albert W. Atkins was born at Jolict, Illinois, February 10, 1852, was reared amid agricultural surroundings, adopted the voca- tion of a farmer when he reached years of maturity, and has passed the entire period of his active life in pastoral pursuits. He was educated in the public schools of Illinois, but when eighteen years of age went to Kansas and purchased land in Lyon County, continuing to carry on his operations there until 1899. At this time there came the only break in his agricultural career, when lie became the proprietor of a meat market at Drummond, but after one year's experience in this line he disposed of his interests therein and in 1900 located on a claim in Woods County. In 1913 he removed to Kremlin, and is now retired from active pursuits. He has a successful career in a material way, and in the evening of life is able to enjoy the fruits of his years of labor. Mr. At- kins was married at Emporia, Kansas, March 15, 1879, to Miss Margaret Jane Wyrick, a daughter of David and Jemima (Brown) Wyrick, who were natives of Indiana. She was born December 14, 1862, in Marion County, Indiana, and became the mother of three daugh- ters and seven sons, as follows: Anna Elizabeth, born December 15, 1881, who is now a teacher in the public schools of Oklahoma; William David, of this review; Albert Pearl, born December 6, 1884; Nellie and Nettie, twins, born December 24, 1886; Lawrence LeRoy, born December 29, 1888; James Oliver, born April 22, 1890; Walter, who died in infancy; Orlando, born July 9, 1899; and Ivan Guy, born May 20, 1904, who died May 20, 1906.

William David Atkins was sixteen years of age when he accompanied his parents to Oklahoma. He had se- enred a common school education in Lyon County, Kan- sas, but was ambitions for a better and more advanced training, and accordingly resolved to work his own way through school. Enrolling as a student at the Oklahoma Northwestern Normal School, he solicited snch honorable employment as might be found about the insti- tntion, to which he devoted himself during the hours he was not engaged in study, and thus, through industry and the strictest economy, he was enabled to work his way through and to graduate with the class that left the Alva institution in 1907. In 1909, 1910, 1911 and 1912, with this equipment, Mr. Atkins was superintendent of city schools of Cleo, Oklahoma, and in 1912 came to Kremlin in the same capacity. During the two years that he acted as superintendent of schools he became widely and favorably known among the people of this locality, and when the opportunity presented itself he decided to enter business affairs, and accordingly em- barked in mercantile lines. It is illustrative of his ability to state that he doffed the cap and gown of the educator and donned the apron of the merchant without trouble, and that in his new field of endeavor he is making

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prodigious strides toward success. He carries a general stock, selected after a careful study of the needs and wants of the community, well arranged, moderately priced and attractively displayed. His establishment has taken its place as the leading store at Kremlin.

Mr. Atkins was married at Alva, Oklahoma, June 2, 1909, to Miss Mary Elizabeth Else, who was born at Weeping Water, Nebraska, November 22, 1886, a daugh- ter of John and Mary (Evans) Else, the former a native of England and the latter of Illinois. Mrs. Atkins is a graduate of Oklahoma Northwestern Normal School, class of 1907, having been president of her class during her senior year. After her graduation she began to teach school, was married to Mr. Atkins two years later, and continued to teach for two years more. She now devotes herself to the duties of her household, and to her chil- dren, of whom there are four: Leah May, born March 11, 1910; George William, born October 1, 1911; Bessie, born November 23, 1913; and John Ivan, born August 20, 1915. Mr. Atkins is a member of the Masonic fra- ternity, in which, as elsewhere, he has numerous friends. With his family he belongs to the Baptist Church.

ROBERT DRAKELEY ROOD, M. D., D. S. One must occupy a very high elevation to observe and follow with any degree of sanity the intricate meshes of state, national and international life. Especially is this true in these days when strong men move with difficulty through subtle threatening entanglements induced by the great labor problems and the European war.

Perhaps the newer states in our Union offer the most pronounced example of these intricate conditions with their admixture of material from the oldest fam- ilies, financiers, adventurers, foreign and native ele- ment. To trace a pathway through such, requires deliberate judgment, persistent individualism, tact to live against and to respect multitudinous views of so-called right standards. Such a course is an inter- pretation of character, strong to meet mutation, adjust- ment and emergency with alertness and a demonstra- tion of the best scholarship in life, which knows and searches for the heart of man, finds and holds it whilst hewing definitely to a finale of results. Some men appear to be especially gifted in these qualities which make for the successes in life. As a representative of this class, he whose name heads this sketch is most worthy of honorable mention.

The subject of this biography, Robert Drakeley Rood, was born October 20, 1863, at Stevens Point, Wisconsin. He is the second son of Galen Gear Rood, M. D., and Nancy Jane Sylvester.

The early ancestors were of the Puritans of New England and belonged to the oldest families in the United States. Charles Sumner, the great statesman; Caroline Hazard, former president of Wellesley Col- lege; Senator Gear of Iowa, Ogden N. Rood, one of the founders of Columbia, are familiar names in the family record.

His father, a much loved man, is still living at the age of eighty-seven year's. He was graduated from the Ohio Medical College at Cincinnati, Ohio, in the spring of 1856. The same season he opened an office at Stevens Point, Wisconsin, which has never been closed. His mother, who shared equally the love of the com- munity in which they lived, was an extraction of the French through the Gerard family of Paris. She passed away in 1906 at the age of seventy-two, much mourned by her family and all who knew her. She was a most consistent Christian and worker in the Presbyterian Church. All phases of her energy seemed tireless in direct effort for all that was uplifting. The other members of Dr. Robert Rood's family were two

brothers, Myron Galen Rood, M. D .; Price Walton Rood, D. S., and a sister, Katharine Abagail Rood, who after graduation from the University of Wisconsin chose music as a profession.

Dr. Robert Rood's boyhood was not unusual in its educational advantages of city graded and high school courses. The summer times of camping, fishing and athletic sports with some business ventures and adven- tures introduced at times, were arrow points showing the trend of the man. Few have found and enjoyed more varied and adventurous experiments. His fail- ures were not met with the best good nature, and his successes, always shared with his friends, were many times due not to luck but to the vim that comes of well weathered experience. Later he was given every opportunity to find his own bearings through the higher educational institutions of Lake Forest and the Northwestern universities, and to choose either the professional or business career, both of which were elements in his mental inheritance. After an elective course of two years, he decided to matriculate at the Ohio College of Dental Surgery, from which he was graduated with the class of 1887. The following year he entered Rush Medical College, Chicago. He success- fully practiced his profession in his home town for some years, during which time he was married, Decem- ber 11, 1895, to Ethel Kirwan, also a native of Stevens Point, Wisconsin.

At this time he was appointed by Governor LaFol- lette of Wisconsin secretary of the World's Fair Com- mission for the State of Wisconsin. Though a profes- sional man he was keenly alive to the trend of business thought, and was quick to sense a possible advantage in the opening of the mid-continent oil fields. In the fall of 1903 he moved with his family to Bartlesville, Oklahoma, and in a phenomenally short time proved himself one of the energetic factors which made, what was then the old Indian Territory, the national center of oil activity.

Doctor Rood brought in the first large well in Indian Territory. In his business he has been asso- ciated with the Indian Territory Illuminating Oil Company, the Stevens Point Oil Company, Waukesha Oil Company, Plover Drilling Company, etc. He is orthodox in his religion, a member of the Masonic order, being a Thirty-second Degree Mason, a generous citizen interested in all civic betterment, and in close sympathy always with a progressive city and state.

Three children-Esther, a graduate from the Emma Willard School at Troy, New York; Katharine Abagail, and Robert Drakeley, Jr .- make a very happy home. Mrs. Rood is the eldest daughter of Frank Grahame Kirwan and Elizabeth Wadleigh Kirwan, representa- tive Maryland and New England families whose ancestors include the Fletchers, Pooles, Evans, Har- veys, Pierces, Travers and Smallwoods. Mrs. Rood has been identified with the early growth and develop- ment of her adopted home city and state in all that pertains to the highest welfare of its citizens. A graduate of the best schools and instructors, Mrs. Rood has won professionally, both in her native state, Wis- consin and Oklahoma, innumerable laurels in vocal art, and has done a great deal to stimulate and promote music and art by organizing the Musical Research Society. Mrs. Rood has been secretary of the library board since its inception; officer and member of Musical and Women's State and National Federated clubs, and of other organizations both state and national, and has effectively co-operated with the State Dental Board in promoting oral hygiene in the public schools. Throughout this pioneer period of Oklahoma, Mrs. Rood has kept abreast of the times

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and her interests by frequent studies in Chicago, Balti- more and Kansas City. Mrs. Rood holds a court of the choicest social life around a hearth second to none in its delightful hospitality.

Written September 6, 1916.

CHARLES ROBINSON HUME, M. D. During his twenty- five years of residence in Oklahoma Doctor Hume has acquired many interesting associations and useful rela- tions with the state. His home throughout that period has been on practically the same section of land. For eleven years he served as physician to the United States Indian Agency of Anadarko, and for the past fourteen years has been engaged in general practice as a physi- cian and surgeon in the City of Anadarko. Both the old Indian agency and the present city are identical so far as location is concerned, and the modern city is the outgrowth of the old agency headquarters.

The oldest child of his parents, Charles Robinson Hume was born October 21, 1847, at Riga, Monroe County, New York. Both he and his father were born on the same farm. His parents were Roderick R. and Ruth Aun (Payne) Hume. The farm in New York on which his father was born was settled by Moses Hume, who emigrated from Massachusetts in 1811.

Doctor Hume's ancestors have all been in America for more than two hundred years, and were identified with the colonies of Massachusetts and Connecticut. He is fifth in descent from Nicholas Hume, who was mar- ried in Boston in 1714 and probably was from the Wedderburn Humes of Scotland. All four of Doctor Hume's great-grandfathers had a record of service in the Revolutionary war, and another distant ancestor whose record is of special interest was Capt. John Gallup, who fought in the first naval battle of the American colonies during the Pequot Indian war of 1636. By virtue of these several ancestors who were patriots dur- ing the war for independence, Doctor Hume is a mem- ber of the Sons of the American Revolution. His inother, Ruth Ann Payne, was born and reared in the same locality of New York state as her husband, and her parents had come from Berkshire County, Massa- chusetts.

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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: 644

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