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 103

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 103

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).

EDWARD KARL ALLIS, M. D. Oklahoma has bene- fited by the coming to this state of many young and highly trained professional men. One of these is Dr. Edward K. Allis, who after acquiring all the advantages of northern and eastern schools and a general prelimi- nary experience as a physician and surgeon, came to Wanette about six years ago, and has sinee made his service of great value to that community. That it has been appreciated is shown in the fact that he now enjoys a large practice, and is the owner of consider- able property and has varied interests in the community. -

A native of Indiana, Edward Karl Allis was born at Arcadia in that state May 1, 1881. The Allis family came originally from England, and Doctor Allis' great-grandfather after crossing the ocean established a home in Illinois, became a manufacturer there, and died in that state. The grandfather, W. B. Allis, was born in Switzerland County, Indiana, in 1817, and died at Sheridan, Indiana, in 1887. He too was a physician and surgeon.

W. D. Allis, father of Doctor Allis, was born in Switzerland County, Indiana, in 1850, and is still living at Arcadia in that state. His home has been in Indiana practically all his life, and his business has been that of contractor and builder. He also owns a fruit farm near Hanford, California. He is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and is a member and deacon in the Christian Church. W. D. Allis mar- ried Julia Teal, a native of Indiana. Dr. Allis is the older of their two sons, and the younger is Harlan Isaac, who now has charge of his father's fruit farm near Hanford, California.

As a boy Doctor Allis attended the public schools in Arcadia, graduated from high school in 1900, and he soon afterward entered the Hahnemann Medical Col- lege in Chicago, where he was graduated M. D. with the class of 1905. In choosing a location for practice he began at Hanford, West Virginia, where he remained during two years, 1905-07. During 1908 he took post- graduate courses in medicine at the University of Indiana Medical Department.

Thus with a liberal equipment for the duties of his profession he arrived in Wanette, Oklahoma, in March, 1909. . His offices are in the First National Bank Building. Doctor Allis owns a farm of sixty acres just west of Wanette and owus his residence in the northern part of the village. He is also a director in the Lone Tree Oil Company. His professional relations are with the County and State Medical societies and the Amer- ican Medical Association. Fraternally he is identified with Wanette Lodge No. 171, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and with Shawnee Lodge No. 657, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He is a member of the Christian Church and in politics is a democrat.

2108

HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

At Wanette iu 1911 Doctor Allis married Miss Stella Kidd. Her father was the later N. A. Kidd, a farmer and stockman. To their marriage have been born two children: Wilber Karl, born July 18, 1913; and Rita Lorine, born September 30, 1914.

GEORGE WILSON. Due largely to the individual efforts and enthusiasm of George Wilson, head of the Depart- ment of Agriculture for Schools in the State Agricultural and Mechanical College at Stillwater, agriculture as a subject of instruction has advanced during the last two years to much higher standing in school and college curriculums in Oklahoma. The state schools of agricul- ture have been creditably efficient but prior to 1914 there was little serious effort to have agriculture taught in the high schools. Indeed, until that time the state normal school curriculum provided for the teaching of agriculture during only one term, or part of a year, as a prescribed portion of the course leading to graduation. It was discovered that the graduate teachers turned out of the state normals took home with them the notion that the state did not consider the teaching of agriculture very important. It was to overcome this condition and build up agricultural education in the public schools that the department of agriculture for schools was created in the Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical College. Mr. Wilson had taught in district and city schools, state normal schools and the Agricul- tural and Mechanical College and the board of agricul- ture found him especially qualified for the work. His duties required that he visit high schools and normal schools and establish departments of agriculture, deliver addresses on the work of the department, and assist in making the practical and scientific study of agriculture an important feature of the school curriculum.

Born in Grayson County, Kentucky, in 1870, George Wilson is a son of James F. and Ellen (Craig) Wilson, who are now living a retired life at Hennessey, Okla- homa. John Craig, his mother's father, was for forty years one of the best known public school teachers of Kentucky. Mr. Wilson has three brothers and two sisters: Cord Wilson, a farmer at Cashion, Oklahoma; Clyde Wilson, a teacher in Oregon; Roy Wilson, living with his parents at Hennessey; Mrs. Nannie Cross, wife of a farmer at Glencoe, Oklahoma; Mrs. Donna Campbell, whose husband is a farmer at LeGrande, Oregon.

Work in the tobacco fields and illness interfered with the early education of Mr. Wilson in Kentucky, and it was not until after he reached manhood that he was able to satisfy his ambition for a thorough, prac- tical, well rounded schooling, and he still retained the fire of youth when, after a few years of well directed study, he completed the highest course in the Central State Normal School of Oklahoma, which is recognized as one of the leading normal schools of the country. When he was still a boy his father had removed to Western Kansas in 1884. The country was new and sparsely settled, and educational advantages were meager. It was three years before the son was able to continue his primary training. Then in two years, with a few months of school each year and home study, he prepared himself for teaching in the common schools, and there- after for two years taught in Kansas. In 1891, at the age of twenty-one, he came into the original Oklahoma Territory and in Kingfisher County continued his pro- fessional work and from every possible source sought a more complete education for himself. During 1903-04 he was a teacher in Comanche County, and from there entered the Central State Normal School, where after three years he completed a course and received his diploma in 1907. The following year he was elected su-

perintendent of schools at Guymon, one of the leading towns of the Oklahoma Panhandle. In 1908 he was elected assistant teacher in the history department of the Northwestern State Normal School at Alva, and re- mained in that position until the history department was discontinued because of lack of appropriation. The year of 1908-09 he spent as a teacher in the Agricultural and Mechanical College at Stillwater, and the following year he returned to the Northwestern State Normal as head of the history department. The next year he was superintendent of city schools at Okemah, and the fol- lowing year was elected by the state board of agriculture as head of the extension department of the Agricultural and Mechanical College. In 1914 he was promoted by the board to the head of the department of agriculture for schools.

This department under Mr. Wilson's managemeut has become vastly more important than formerly. He raised the standards to such an extent that the Legis- lature of 1915, on advice and counsel of himself and Robert H. Wilson, state superintendent of public instruc- tion, enacted a law providing that there shall be one year of agricultural work in every high school curricu- lum of the state. Mr. Wilson is emphasizing the prac- tical side of agriculture, and he believes that in many instances the subject should take precedence over classical studies in the high schools and normal schools. His the- ory is that the high school is a community-serviug insti- tution and should develop the minds of pupils in the channels toward which they are bent.

In 1898 at Kingfisher Mr. Wilson married Miss Ella Brown, who died March 2, 1900. In 1908 Miss Mary Reece became his wife. Mrs. Wilson is a graduate of the fine old college of Tehuacana, Texas. They are the parents of two children: Wilbur, aged five, and Eugenia, now one year of age. Mr. Wilson is a prominent mem- ber of the Oklahoma Educational Association, and for years has been a participant in county and district teachers' associations. Throughout the state he is rec- ognized as a practical and thorough educator, ranking high in the profession. He claims both Oklahoma City and Stillwater as his home, though his regular office and headquarters for mail are at Stillwater.

CARL E. MOHRBACHER. One of the rising young at- torneys of Shawnee, Carl E. Mohrbacher who is a graduate of the law department of the state university is already established in a successful practice and has shown such ability that his future high rank in legal circles is practically assured. His office is in the Elks Building at Shawnee.

Born at Scott City, Kansas, March 24, 1888, he is a son of Fred W. and Louisa (Rouse) Mohrbacher. His father was born in Wisconsin, a son of German pareuts who were farmers in that state and died there during the '80s. Fred W. Mohrbacher moved out to Kansas in 1883 and in 1890 went to Nebraska, where he was suc- cessfully engaged in the grocery and real estate and loar business up to 1904. Since then for more than ter years he has lived at Shawnee, and from 1906 to 1914 was city treasurer, serving three times in that office He is now substantially identified with the banking inter ests of the city.

Carl E. Mohrbacher acquired his early schooling ir Nebraska, and in 1909 graduated from the Shawner High School. In September, 1909, he entered the law department of the University of Oklahoma, being the first to enroll in the law school for the three year course He was graduated LL. B. in June, 1912. There occurred an incident of his college career which should be men tioned. In the early part of 1912 he was formally ac

Kansas, with the K Bar Associ

T. W. mas boy was ho represen England W. W. States, City, wh tages. dep and as a one of t and there anti] 187 de hecam of the Su practice nekurred tina as a

powers,

the fa et. dire He

activ as a ulari Ja Kans ster li

in 18 wife young where lies f of Ka 1890,

with hi

2109

HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

cused of connection with an auonymous letter sent to members of the Legislature with reference to the state university building. He was tried before the State bar commission, his attorney being Moman Pruitt, and was completely exonerated of the charge and thus relieved of what might have been a serious handicap to his career at the outset.

Immediately after graduation and admission to the bar he began practice with Hou. William N. Maben in Shawnee, and has been associated with that attorney ever since. While engaged in a general practice he makes a specialty of personal injury cases, and has shown some- what remarkable ability in handling this class of liti- gation. Mr. Mohrbacher is unmarried and resides at 644 North Louisa Street in Shawnee. He is a member of the county and state bar associations, belongs to the Alpha Psi Omega fraternity, is affiliated with the Fra- ternal Order of Eagles and belongs to the Presbyterian Church.

JAMES B. SCOTT. One of the staunch and ably con- ducted financial institutions of Blaine County is the First State Bank of Hitchcock, and as the chief prac- tical executive of this bank Mr. Scott has served from the time of its organization, its inception having, in fact, been due to his efforts, and he having efficiently directed its affairs, in the capacity of cashier, since 1901. He established his residence at Hitchcock in that year and has been prominent and influential in business activities and also in the civic affairs of the community, as a progressive and public-spirited citizen whose pop- ularity is of unequivocal order.

James Bryant Scott was born in the City of Emporia, Kansas, on the 12th of August, 1875, and is a scion of sterling Scotch ancestry, his grandfather, James Scott, having been born near the City of Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1802, and having come to the United States with his wife and children when he was still comparatively a young man. He established his home in New York City, where he continued to be identified with business activi- ties for many years, and he was a resident of the State of Kansas at the time of his death, which occurred in 1890, so that he had attained to the patriarchal age of nearly ninety years. He achieved success in connection with his business activities after coming to America and was a man of steadfast rectitude and strong mental powers.

He whose name introduces this article is a son of W. W. and Anuie (Bryant) Scott, the foriner of whom was born in Scotland, in 1842, and the latter of whom was born at Bridgewater, Massachusetts, in 1849, a representative of a prominent colonial family of New England. In 1843, the year succeeding that of his birth, W. W. Scott was brought by his parents to the United States, and he was reared to adult age in New York City, where he received the best of educational advan- tages. He was finally graduated in what is now the law department of historic old Columbia University, and as a young man he removed to Minnesota, becoming one of the pioneer members of the bar of that state and there continuing in the practice of his profession until 1873, when he removed to Emporia, Kansas, where he became one of the leading lawyers of that section of the Sunflower State and where he continued in active practice until virtually the time of his death, which occurred in 1890. He achieved specially high reputa- tion as a versatile trial lawyer and was identified with many important litigations in the various courts of Kansas, besides which he was prominently identified with the Kansas State Bar Association and the American Bar Association. He was a republican in his political

proclivities and was affiliated with the Masonic fra- ternity. His venerable widow still survives him and now maintains her home in the City of Topeka, Kansas. Of the children the first-born is Helen, who is the wife of Prof. William H. Johnson, a member of the faculty of the University of Kansas, at Lawrence; Mabel is the wife of William L. Gardner, of Topeka, Kansas, where Mr. Johnson is state agent for the National Fire Iu- surance Company; James B., of this review, was the next in order of birth and is the youngest of the chil- dren.

In the public schools of his native city of Emporia, Kansas, James B. Scott acquired his early educational discipline, and he was about fifteen years of age at the time of the death of his honored father. During the years 1893 and 1894 his widowed mother maintained the family home at Lawrence, Kansas, and there James con- tinued his studies in the high school. He soon after- ward returned to Emporia, where he completed a two years' course in the Kansas State Normal School. Upon leaving this institution, in 1895, Mr. Scott assumed the position of collector for the First National Bank of Emporia, and shortly afterward won promotion to the post of bookkeeper. He continued his association with this institution until 1898, and thereafter served as bookkeeper for the Citizens National Bank of Emporia until 1900.

In the year last mentioned Mr. Scott came to Okla- homa Territory and became identified with the Bank of Kiel, at Kiel, Kingfisher County. He served as cashier of this new institution for one year, and in August, 1901, he removed to the newly founded town of Hitchcock, in the adjoining County of Blaine, where he effected the organization of the First Bank of Hitchcock, of which he has since served as cashier and the affairs of which he has directed with the utmost circumspection and efficiency. The bank has been an important factor in facilitating general business activities in the town and surrounding country and has also aided in the further- ance of the civic and material development and progress of Hitchcock, the while its cashier has become one of the representative business man and loyal and valued citizens of the community. The bank building is eligibly located at the corner of Main Street and Broadway, and the officers of the institution are as here noted: B. Cronkhite, president; J. A. Overstreet, vice president; James B. Scott, cashier; and Van Bee Higby, assistant cashier. The bank bases its operations on a capital stock of $10,000 and has a surplus fund of $5,000.

Mr. Scott accords staunch allegiance to the republican party, is a member of the Oklahoma State Bankers' Association, is a valued member of the board of educa- tion of Hitchcock, and both he and his wife hold mem- bership in the Christian Church in their home village, where also they take leading part in the representative social activities of the community. At the county seat Mr. Scott is affiliated with Watonga Lodge, No. 176, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and he has received the thirty-second degree in the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite of Masonry, in which connection he is affiliated with Consistory No. 1, Valley of Guthrie, besides which he holds membership in India Temple, Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, in Oklahoma City. In his home village he holds membership in the lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the camp of the Modern Woodmen of America.

At Emporia, Kansas, in the year 1902, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Scott to Miss Mary I. Wiley, who,

ing the

Thị rural wring

fol- Altura tural ed by Altura

ement . Ha Legis f and strus e ong arricu prace many assięa Lis the g insti- in the

s Mar e of th are th ugeni at mem and fo distri is rec rankin ma Cit fice an

oung af ho is mirersi and h in leg the E

3, he is her. n paren re duri Kansas · was s e and lo than ! 6 to 191 that off king inter

Fooling e Shawn ed the la heing rear Cours re occurr ld be m ormally a

2110

IIISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

like himself, was born and reared in the Sunflower State. They have two children, Helen and James Bryant, Jr.

JAMES WIDENER, retired farmer and Civil war veteran, has been a resident of Cleveland aud its neighborhood since the autumn of 1893, when he' came into possession of 160 acres of land on the opening of the strip. In 1910 he withdrew from ranch life and settled in the City of Cleveland, where he is now living, in the seventy- second year of his life. Mr. Widener has had a varied career. The pioneer instinct was ever strong within him, aud many a new and virgin territory has he entered, subdued to civilization and wholly conquered.

Born in Saudusky, Ohio, on March 10, 1843, James Widener is the son of Samuel and Jane (McGown) Widener, both natives of Ohio. Jane McGown's father was of Irish birth and ancestry and her mother was of a German family. Michael Widener, grandsire of the subject, was a native of the State of Virginia, aud a pioneer to Ohio in young manhood. He spent many years among the native Indians of the state, aud was well known to them as their faithful friend through many years. After Samuel Widener's marriage to Jane MeGown, and when their son, James, of this review, was about two years old, they, in company with Michael Widener, James' grandsire, moved from Ohio to Indi- ana and located in Noble County. The white settlers were widely scattered, and the Indians were friendly for the most part, though they gave some trouble to the straggling white families. James Widener tells today with pride of the time when a famous Indian chief came to visit them and spent a week as their guest. There ever existed between them and the Indians a warm and true friendship, and they learned from their red broth- ers of the forest many of their secrets, such as the treatment of snake bite, etc. The grandfather died in Indiana, and after his second marriage, the son, Samuel, moved to Genesee County, Michigan, in the autumn of Buchanan's election to the presidency. Later they moved into Illinois, and still later to Missouri, James being a boy of sixteen at that time. While there, the father and sons worked for the railroad company, and young Widener helped to haul material for a bridge across the Sheridan River on the Hannibal and St. Joe Railroad. He spent three years in the construction department of this road in Indiana, Illinois and Mis- souri.

The next location of the family was at Brunswick, Missouri, where they spent a short time and moved on to Iowa and settling near Millersburg. The father died in Illinois about the year 1899. He had been three times married, and there were children of each union. James Widener was the eldest of the three children born to his mother, and she died when he was seven years old. The others were Michael and John. The former enlisted in Company C, Twenty-eighth Iowa Infantry, in 1862, and served until the close of the war. John also served as a member of the Thirty-seventh Illinois Regi- inent, enlisting in 1862 for the remainder of the war. He died in Granola, Kansas, in 1894.

Like his brothers, James Widener gave service to the Union during the war. He enlisted in 1861 at the first call. He was for three years a member of Company F, Tenth Iowa Infantry, and served three years and twenty- one days. He participated in many of the hottest en- gagements of the war in that time, including Farming ton, Corinth, the siege of Vicksburg, being in both famous charges on the 22d day of May, as well as Missionary Ridge, and many minor engagements. He was never off duty except for a few weeks' illness as a victim of pneumonia.

After the war Mr. Widener returned to Iowa and worked at the carpenter's trade, in which he had been trained while in service with the constructiou crew of the Hannibal and St. Joe. He kept at that work for a while, then turned his attention to farm life. He re- mained in Iowa County, Iowa, then went to Kansas and settled in Shawnee County, and from there to Sumner County, Kansas. He came to Oklahoma before the opening of the Cherokee Strip in the fall of 1893, and in the race for land secured a quarter section located five miles south of the present Town of Cleveland. He farmed there until 1910, when he gave up active life and moved into town, where he has since lived.

On September 10, 1866, Mr. Widener was first mar- ried to Miss Wealtly. Ann Kime, born in Seneca County, Ohio, in 1848, became his wife, and she bore him seven children. She died in Cleveland on April 10, 1909. Rosanna, the first born, is the widow of P. J. Gallagher, of this city. John is a resident of Cleveland. Amanda is the wife of C. B. Lewis, a farmer in the community. Lettie married Paul Wheeler, of Pawhuska. James B. lives in Oilton, Oklahoma. Ethel is the wife of W. S. Estep of Cleveland. Clarence also lives in Cleveland.

On February 2, 1914, Mr. Widener married Mrs. Minnie B. Green. They have no children.

Mr. Widener may be regarded as one of the independ- ently wealthy men of the town, for he has on his farm fourteen producing oil wells, with much unexplored terri- tory. At one time he ran a harness shop in town, but has no interests of that nature to look after now. He owns two business buildings in the city.

Mr. Widener is a republican, a member of the Presby- terian Church, a thirty-second degree Mason and a mem- her of the Grand Army of the Republic. His wife was born in Pennsylvania, though she was reared for the most part in Illinois and Missouri. She was married first in Missouri to James A. Green, a Civil war veteran, who died in 1900, near Springfield, Missouri. She came to Cleveland in 1902. She had four children by her first marriage. Roy; Mabel, the wife of Clarence Barnes of Pawnee; Okie Enid and Una Waive. All have had excel- lent educations. Mrs. Widener is a member of the Wo- men's Relief Corps, and active in its worthy work. She was a Methodist for thirty-two years, and since her mar- riage to Mr. Widener has become a member of the Presbyterian Church.

HAYS HAMILTON is one of the pioneer citizens who has doue much to further the civic and material develop- ment and upbuilding of Payne County and its judicial center, the thriving little City of Stillwater, where he is vice president of the Sater Abstract Company, which has assembled and has control of the only complete record of real estate titles in this county.

Mr. Hamilton was born at San Jose, California, on the 30th of September, 1863, and is a son of James G. and Cornelia (Bernard) Hamilton, both natives of Augusta County, Virginia, of which Staunton is the county seat, the father having been born about the year 1816 and the mother about 1820. Both were young at the time of the removal of the respective families to Callaway County, Missouri, in 1833, where they were reared to maturity under the conditions of the pioneer days and where their marriage was solemnized in 1844. Soon afterward they removed to Westport, Missouri, the village that was the nucleus of the present metropolis of Kansas City. and there James G. Hamilton engaged in the merchandise and shipping business, with which lines of enterprise lie continued to be identified during the remainder of his active career, though in the meanwhile the family home was maintained for a short time in the State of Cali

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