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 105

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 105

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The times that I worried thee, disobeyed thee, For when I was truant thou tried to save me When I was ungrateful and cruel and bad And mean and deceitful, it makes my heart sad To think for thy goodness,. I rendered thee woe. For when I went places thou begged me not go, I lied to thee sometimes regarding my ways. Forgive me sweet Mother, accept of my praise.

For all thy instruction, thy good moral laws Thy discipline sweet, and thy life without flaws, Thy love and compassion, thy pity in shame, Sometimes thou approved me when I was to blame. I cannot undo what's been done to my shame I always shall love thee and honor thy name.

Thy life and thy love, like a book, has been read, And shall be remembered long after thou'rt dead I know of thy purity, piety, truth,

Thou art my sweet angel, my guardian in youth, My ideal in manhood, my idol in age, My most sober worship, my best thoughts engage. And when thou art glorified, raised upon high, I know I shall see thee, for souls cannot die, The Christ that thou lovest will also love me Forgive all my failings and take me to thee.

GEORGE BRENTNALL. Among the men who have as- sisted in the agricultural and commercial development of Pawnee County during the past two decades, one who is well and widely known is George Brentnall, of Cleve- land, the owner of a seventy-eight-acre farm in the county, who during the past seven years has also car- ried on a hardware and furniture business in the city. He was born at Pomeroy, Meigs County, Ohio, December 12, 1861, and is a son of George and Elizabeth (Ed- wards) Brentnall, the former a native of England and the latter of Wales.

In his native land the father of Mr. Brentnall was employed as a laborer in the coal mines, and on emi- grating to the United States, in his youth, found em- ployment in the coal fields of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He was married in England and after the birth of one child they came to America. In 1848 he removed to Kittanning, Pennsylvania, where he spent one year. He next moved to Meigs County, Ohio, locating at Pomeroy, and while there, during the Civil war, was one of the men who turned the Southern raider Morgan, although Mr. Brentnall was at that time too old for active service at the front. In April, 1866, he moved with his family to Macon County, Missouri, where he invested his life's savings in a farm, and continued to pass the remaining years of his life there, dying December 25, 1880. Mrs. Brentnall passed away in March, 1894, the mother of seven children, namely: Samuel, of Topeka, Kansas; Robert, of Ness City, Kansas; Margaret Ellen Daven- port, who died in Missouri, in 1898; Susan, the wife of William Appal, of Hannibal, Missouri; Mary, who is the wife of Wesley Cherington and resides near the old home, in Jackson County, Ohio; George; and Elizabeth, who is the wife of Al Robinette, of Mountain Grove, Missouri.

George Brentnall was reared on the home farm and received his education in the public schools. He re- mained under the parental roof until reaching the age of twenty-seven years, or until the time of his marriage, having taken care of his aged mother after his father's death. On December 2, 1887, he was married to Miss Zora Bodenhammer, a native of Iowa, and in 1888 they took a trip to Australia to join Mr. Brentnall's uncle, Samuel Brentnall, a cattleman there. Mrs. Brentnall died in that country in 1890, leaving one child, Grace, who is now the wife of Lucius Peck, of Vinita, Oklahoma. Mr. Brentnall was in Australia at the time of his uncle's death in 1893, when he returned to Missouri, but in the following year came to Pawnee County, Oklahoma, taking up a homestead nine miles southeast of Cleveland. This he improved and cultivated until his children grew old enough to need better educational advantages than the country afforded, when he changed his residence to Cleveland. He still owns seventy-eight acres of good land, improved with large and substantial buildings, ad- joining Cleveland, and there carries on operations on an extensive scale, being engaged in both general farming and in the raising of stock and meeting with success in both departments. On his homestead nine miles southeast of Cleveland are located nine producing oil wells, which contribute materially to his income. Mr. Brentnall bears an excellent reputation in commercial circles, and as a citizen has gained and maintained a position of standing. He is a republican, but while he takes an interest in the success of his party is not what is gen- erally known as a politician. With his family, he be- longs to the Christian Church.

Mr. Brentnall was married the second time, October 18, 1896, to Miss Ida Sharp, of Kansas, born September 21, 1874, and they are the parents of five chidren, all residing at home: Mabel, Blanche, Opal, Robert and Gerald.

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HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

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O. B. KIZER. The life of O. B. Kizer, a well known resident of Jennings, is an illustration of the possible control over early limitations and of the wise utilization of ordinary opportunities. His career has been identified with Oklahoma since the opening of the Cherokee Strip, in 1893, and the substantial property which allows him to live in comfortable retirement at Jennings has been accumulated through wise investment in farming land and other real estate and careful management of his large interests.

Born November 28, 1858, in Edgar County, Illinois, Mr. Kizer is a son of Sebastian and Mary Elizabeth (Aye) Kizer. His father, a native of Pennsylvania, ventured into Illinois as a young man and was there married and engaged in agricultural pursuits for some years, but in 1864 again turned his face to the West and journeyed to Kansas, where he also followed farm- ing and stock raising. In his later life, after spending a few years in Colorado, he came to Jennings, Oklahoma, and here died at the home of his son, O. B., in 1906, when eighty-four years of age. He was a hard and industrious worker and was content to pass his life in the peaceful pursuits of the soil, not caring for public office or the doubtful honors of political life. By his first wife he had two children, and after her death he was married to Mary Elizabeth Aye, who was born in Illinois and whose death occurred in Kansas in 1874. They were the parents of seven children, while by a third marriage Mr. Kizer became the father of three children.

O. B. Kizer was first sent to the district schools of Edgar County, Illinois, but when eight years of age accompanied his parents to Kansas and there his edu- cation was completed. He remained at home until twenty-four years of age, dividing his time between assisting his father and working out among the neigh- boring farmers, but at the time of his marriage, in 1883, decided to embark upon a career of his own. For two years he resided at Chautauqua Springs, Kansas, where he was variously employed, and at the end of that time came to the Osage Nation. He had resided here for five years when the announcement was made of the proposed opening of the Cherokee Strip, and Mr. Kizer went to Arkansas City, Kansas, from whence he made the run, September 16, 1893. He was unsuccessful, however, in obtaining a homestead and settled instead at Jennings, where for twelve years he was commercially occupied. Business conditions there at the end of that time caused him to leave the city and move to a leased property in Creek County, on which he was engaged in farming for a period of eight years, and then rented his land and moved to Jennings, where he has continued to live in retirement to the present time. He has 160 acres in the tract mentioned, as well as another tract of like size one-half mile south and one-half mile west of Jennings. Both places are oil leased and are yielding Mr. Kizer a substantial income. In addition to these properties, Mr. Kizer is the owner of some valuable and desirable Jennings realty and is engaged in the real estate busi- ness as an occupation to keep his energetic mind satis- fied. Politically he is a democrat, but political life has never appealed to him. He may always be counted upon to support those movements which make for the welfare of his community.

Mr. Kizer was married in 1883, while a resident of Kansas, to Miss Mary Potter, who was born in Ken- tucky, September 15, 1861. As a small child she was taken to Illinois, and in 1871, when ten years old was removed with her parents to Kansas, where she was reared and educated and where she met and married Mr. Kizer. Eight children have been born to Mr. and

Mrs. Kizer, namely: Claude, who is a resident and farmer of Pawnee County, Oklahoma; Fay, who lives in Kansas; Pearl, who is the wife of E. D. Fudge, of Creek County, Oklahoma; Bruce, who lives with his parents; O. B., Jr., also at home; Glenn, who met an accidental death at the age of twelve years when killed by a horse; and Irene and Hazel, who reside at home and are attending school.

GEORGE H. SCHROEDER. As history is reckoned in Oklahoma thirty years includes the extremes of frontier life and twentieth century existence. The lure of land to be obtained for a mnere pittance brought men from all over the country in search of homes where they might make themselves independent, but it was only the courageous who came, and to know a pioneer of the '80s is to know a man possessed of virile and purposeful traits of character. Such a man is George H. Schroeder, who came to Indian Territory in 1885, and who is now living in comfortable retirement at Jennings. He is not only the possessor of a large property, gained through his own efforts and industry, but has also the confidence of his fellow-citizens, as witnessed by the fact that he is now serving his second term in the office of county commissioner of Pawnee County.

Mr. Schroeder was born on a farm in Jersey County, Illinois, February 16, 1855, and is a son of Joseph B. and Priscilla C. (Patterson) Schroeder. His father, a direct descendant of Jane Brown, who came to America on the Mayflower, was born at Portsmouth, New Hamp- shire, and was reared in the City of Philadelphia, Penn- sylvania, where he learned the trade of wagon maker and carriage trimmer. In 1844 he migrated to the prairies of Illinois, settling on a farm in Jersey County, where he passed the remaining years of his life in agri- cultural pursuits and died in 1892. He married a Jer- sey County girl, Priscilla C. Patterson, who passed her life there and died in 1875. They were the parents of four children: Nellie S., who married L. L. Hereford, and is now deceased; Gersham F., a resident of Ponca City, Oklahoma; George H .; and Mary Kate, who is the wife of George Miller, of Vinita, Oklahoma.

George H. Schroeder was reared in Jersey County, where he received the advantages of a district school education. On attaining his majority he moved to a farm of his own in the same county and resided there until July, 1881, when he moved to Vernon, Missouri, and established himself in the grocery business. This enterprise occupied his attention and activities until 1885, when he moved to Bartlesville, Indian Territory, and in April, 1893, went to Guthrie, where he awaited the opening of the Cherokee Strip, September 16th, At that time he succeeded in securing a homestead west of Ponca City, Kay County, and there carried on opera- tions until May, 1902, when he came to Pawnee County. In 1812, when his wife died, Mr. Schroeder moved to Jennings, and here he has just completed a handsome modern home. Mr. Schroeder is still the owner of two farms, each comprising a quarter of a section, one located 11% miles south of Jennings, and the other five miles northwest of this place, on Ranch Creek, and all of this land, with the exception of forty acres, is under oil lease. He carried on general farming during his residence in Oklahoma, and also was interested extensively in the raising of thoroughbred horses, cattle and hogs, and in all of his ventures gained a full measure of success by his strict adherence to honorable business methods and his close application to his work. His entire life has been passed in agricultural and stock raising pursuits, with the exception of three years in the grocery business at Vernon, Missouri, and nine years in the monument

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and tombstone business at Bartlesville. He has always been a supporter of public-spirited movements for the public welfare and bears an excellent reputation as a citizen. A democrat in politics, Mr. Schroeder has sup- ported his party faithfully, but never held public office until 1912, when he was elected a county commissioner of Pawnee County, a position in which he served so capably and faithfully that he was reelected in 1914. Since his twenty-first year he has been a member of the A. H. T. A.

Ou March 30, 1880, Mr. Schroeder was united in marriage with Miss Ida J. Brown, who was born in Jersey County, Illinois, within a mile of her husband's birthplace, July 24, 1862. Mr. and Mrs. Schroeder grew up together, and during the long years of their married life she proved him a willing, devoted and faithful help- meet. Her death, which occurred October 2, 1912, was not only a shock to her immediate family and friends, but to a wide circle of acquaintances who had come to know and appreciate her many lovable traits of mind and heart. She was also a descendant of one of the passengers of the little ship Mayflower. Five children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Schroeder, namely: Neddie, who died at the age of five years at Bartlesville; Nellie Fay, who is the wife of Hurley McDaniel of Jennings, and the mother of one child, Wanda Rose; Ethel C., who is the wife of L. C. Harper, of Tulsa; Fern, a son, who died in infancy; and Joseph Brown, named for his grandfather and great-grandfather, who resides with his father.

CHARLEY MELCHOR FOIL .. The postmaster of the thriving and prosperous little City of Jennings, Charley Melchor Foil, has been a resident of this place for fifteen years, during which period he has been connected with several commercial houses and has won the con- fidence of his fellow-citizens by a strict adherence to high ideals of citizenship. In his official capacity he is proving one of the most efficient and popular post- masters Jennings has known, and through his earnest and conscientious efforts is doing much to improve the service.

Mr. Foil comes of Holland Dutch ancestry, and was horn at Mount Pleasant, Cabarrus County, North Caro- lina, Julv 17. 1871, a son of Alexander and Amelia Louise (Melcher) Foil, natives of that state where the father was born in 1834 and the mother in 1835. Alex- ander Foil was a merchant at Concord, North Carolina, where the family moved after the birth of Charley M., and was also a well known and influential factor in public and political life, serving as county commissioner and sheriff of Cabarrus County and being sent to the State Legislature. He was a democrat and stood high in the councils of his party. During the Civil war he saw service as a soldier, being stationed at Fort Fisher. Mr. Foil died at Concord in 1890, the mother surviving him two years. They were the parents of three children: Lizzie, who is the wife of W. S. Bingham, of Concord, North Carolina: Thomas Alexander, a resident of Salis- bury, North Carolina; and Charley Melchor.

Charley M. Foil was reared at Concord, where he at- tended the public schools, but felt that there was a better future awaiting him in the West, and at the age of nineteen years, in 1890, migrated to Kansas, where he spent six months. He then came to Indian Territory and secured work as a farm hand, and in February, 1893, moved to a farm south of Jennings, which he worked on a lease. On first coming to Jen- nings, in 1900, he became bookkeeper for the firm of Todd & Bishon, general merchants, and continued to be connected with that concern for a period of ten years, then entering the employ of the Treese Cotton Company

in the same capacity. Subsequently he was placed in charge of their cotton gin here, which he has continued to manage. In August, 1914, after a civil service ex- amination, Mr. Foil was appointed postmaster at Jen- nings, which is a first class office. He is alert, ener- getic and capable in the discharge of his duties, and his courtesy and geniality have made him decidedly pop- ular with the public. Mr. Foil is a democrat in politics and a dependable party worker. He is prominent fra- ternally, being a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Modern Woodmen of America, the Knights of the Maccabees and the Masons, and in the last-named order has reached the thirty-second degree, belonging to the Blue Lodge at Jennings, the Chapter at Pawnee, and the Consistory at Guthrie. He belongs like- wise to the Encampment of Odd Fellows at Yale.

Mr. Foil was married August 8, 1893, to Miss Emma Pearl Whitehead, a native of Kansas, and daughter of Edmund and Malinda J. Whitehead. Her father is de- ceased, while her mother still survives and is a resident of Jenuings. Mr. and Mrs. Foil have no children.

CLYDE H. MORRIS. During a period of five years Clyde H. Morris has become well and favorably known to the people of Mooreland, Oklahoma, through his con- nection with the postoffice. Formerly postmaster and now assistant, his capable and energetic handling of the mails and the courteous manner in which he transacts business with those with whom he comes into contact have made him one of the most popular public officials of this part of Woodward . County. Mr. Morris is a type of the class of which the West is proud, the type . that came here without means and here worked out a success. He is an Indianan by nativity, having been born at Mace, Montgomery County, April 18, 1874, a son of John A. and Mary S. (Hale) Morris, both Hoosiers by birth.

John A. Morris was born at Mace, Indiana, in 1830, and has never left the state. In his early life he was engaged in mercantile pursuits for some years, but sub- sequently turned his attention to farming, and through a life of industry and well-directed effort has won a competence, so that he is now living in comfortable retire- ment. In 1873 he was united in marriage with Miss Mary S. Hale, who was born in 1852, in Indiana, a daughter of Nathan and Mary (Noftzger) Hale. She was a woman of many virtues and Christian character, who lived her Christianity every day. She died in 1882, at the early age of thirty years, having been the mother of only one child, Clyde H., of this review.

Clyde H. Morris was born in a village, but when his mother died he was sent to live with an uncle, Tillman Hale, who was the owner of a large Indiana farm. There the lad worked from his eighth to his sixteenth year, receiving his education in the district school as well as the schools of hard work and experience, and when he reached the latter age he left Indiaua for the West. On his arrival at his destination, in Franklin County, Kansas, he began working on a farm, and his subsequent labors carried him to various parts of that state. In 1898 he came to Oklahoma and settled on government land, two miles east of the present side of Mooreland, where he proved up after five years and continued to carry on operations uutil coming to the town. From the time of attaining his majority, he had been an active and enthusiastic republican, and, after taking some active part in the success of his party in Wood- ward County, he was, in 1910, appointed postmaster of Mooreland by President Taft. He discharged the duties of this office in a creditable and satisfactory manner, but with the change of the national administration came

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HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

2117

a change in postmasters. When Mr. Morris was suc- ceeded as postmaster by Omer Schnoebelen, a democrat, in 1914, he was retained as assistant postmaster, and as such is in practical charge of the postoffice affairs. He is a member of the Knights of Pythias, in which, as in other avenues of activity, he has numerous friends. He is one of the men who may be accredited with the growth and development of Mooreland, for its industries and institutions have ever received his unqualified and unswerving support.

Mr. Morris was married November 3, 1905, in Wood- ward County, Oklahoma, to Miss Nellye C. Renfrow, who was born in 1883 in Comanche County, Kansas, daughter of Edward and Amy (Ray) Renfrow, natives of Kansas and pioneer settlers of Woodward County. Mr. Ren- frow, who throughout his life was engaged in agricul- tural pursuits, died in 1899, while his widow still sur- vives and makes her home in this county. Mr. and Mrs. Morris are the parents of two sons and one daughter: Arthur Newell, born May 20, 1907; Hilma Inez, born in May, 1909: and Homer Lewis, born May 20, 1911. Mr. and Mrs. Morris are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church and have been active in its work.

ROBERT T. WRAY has had a life of varied experience and accomplishment. He has been a merchant, a manu- facturer, inventor and founder and builder of towns, and his career has been closely identified with Oklahoma since he came at the opening of the Cherokee Strip twenty- three years ago. His name is closely associated with the history of several thriving towns, and he is now in the real estate business and as a loan and insurance broker at Tyrone, in Texas County.

His birth occurred in a log house on a farm in Arm- strong County, Pennsylvania, May 4, 1853. His parents were John M. and Anna Margaret (Townsend) Wray, his father being a native Pennsylvania of Scotch-Irish stock. He was a farmer and merchant all his life and died in Pennsylvania in 1902. His wife was also a native of the same state and of German and English stock. She died in 1905. Their eight children, two sons and six daughters, were: Harriet M., deceased; Clara E .; Abi- gail, deceased; Hiram H .; Anna Margaret; Robert T .; Emma, deceased; and Mary A.

Reared in Armstrong County, with the advantages of the public schools, Robert T. Wray also attended the academy at Eldridge Ridge. He spent the first twenty- five years of his life on the old home farm. Then came business experience in mercantile lines at Parker City, Pennsylvania. For several years he was in the coal and coke business at Dunbar, Pennsylvania.

In 1884 Mr. Wray came West and located at Kansas City, Missouri. There he began the manufacture of composition roofing, a material which was then just being introduced to popular use. Mr. Wray was himself the patentee of a machine for making this new style of roof- ing and his original genius has been exercised in a num- ber of other important devices which he has patented. For cleven years he lived in Kansas City engaged in manufacturing and other lines.

Then in 1893 came the opening of the Cherokee Strip. He was a participant, and locating at Ponca City he dug the first well on the townsite, erected a hotel, and was also proprietor of one of the first stores. He was active in the early life of the town, serving as a member of the first town board.

In 1898 he became one of the founders of the town of Bliss, where he opened the first store and was the first postmaster, an office he filled for three years. In 1904 came another change of scene and activity. In that year he homesteaded a claim in Texas County five miles from

Tyrone, and remained on the same five years in order to prove up. In 1915 Mr. Wray erected the first brick mer- cantile building in Tyrone, and since then has been very closely identified with both the public and commercial life of the little town. He is serving as a justice of the peace. Mr. Wray belongs to the Presbyterian Church.

On April 20, 1898, Mr. Wray married Miss Ida Reg- nier who was born at Coffeyville, Kansas. They are the parents of four children, two sons and two daughters: Emma E., born January 1, 1900; John M., born May 20, 1902; George E., born May 20, 1904; and Adaline, born May 20, 1906.

ORAN J. LOGAN. One of the pioneers in the south- western quarter of Oklahoma, a resident of Hobart since 1901, Oran J. Logan is a lawyer by profession and acquired his first political experience and did his first legal practice in the State of Texas. He has been a factor in local affairs in Kiowa County since its organ- ization, and is now a member of the State Senate from the Sixth Senatorial District.

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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