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 110

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 110

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Mr. Lovett during his nine years as superintendent has brought these schools up to modern standards, and his reputation as a school man and organizer has ex- tended over the entire state. He was born in Kentucky. His father, Rev. Martin V. Lovett, was a well known Methodist minister. His mother, Rosanah Vaught, was of Scotch ancestry. They were the parents of five chil- dren, two sons and three daugliters. Professor Lovett has a brother, William G., who has been one of the leading members of the Board of Education of Neodesha, Kansas, for several years. The mother died at the age of forty-one, but the father is still living at the age of eighty-one. From Kentucky the family removed to Oakland City, Indiana, where Professor Lovett received his common school aud high school education. After graduating from college he came to Kansas in 1884. Since then he has been identified with the teaching pro- fession continuously. He spent fourteen years as super- intendent of schools in Kansas and in 1908 accepted the superintendency of the schools at Blackwell. Mr. Lovett has been a member of the National Education Associa-

tion for many years, and attends the annual meetings of the Department of Superintendence.

On December 26, 1886, he was married to Miss Estella Brundidge, of Fredonia, Kansas. Mr. and Mrs. Lovett are the parents of four children, three of whom are still at home. In politics, Mr. Lovett has always been a republican, aud he and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and he has been teacher of the men's Bible class in that church for several years. Fraternally his connections are with the Masonic Order in the Blue Lodge, Chapter and Commandery and with India Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Oklahoma City. He is also a member of the Knights of Pythias and the Modern Woodmen of America.

JAMES J. QUARLES. Cashier of the Osage Bank at Fairfax, James J. Quarles has been identified with that community since its founding, having moved to the towu with L. A. Wismeyer, who is honored with the distinction of being the father of Fairfax. Mr. Quarles is a Mis- sissippi man, gained his early experience as a merchant and farmer in his native state, but has been identified with the Osage country of Indian Territory and Okla- homa for more than twenty years. Outside of his con- nection with business affairs he is also well known over the state through his efforts and influence in a public capacity, and was a member of the Oklahoma Constitu- tional Convention and has served on several of the im- portant commissions in the state.

Born in Lafayette County, Mississippi, May 5, 1862, he is a son of James J. and Sarah E. (Buford) Quarles. The first American settler of this name was Francis Quarles, who came from England, and it is claimed that the Quarles ancestry can be traced back as far in Eng- lish history as that of any other family. On the maternal side the Bufords were also English people, and the name was originally spelled Beaufort. One of the family in England was Margaret Beaufort, who was a granddaughter of King Edward III. The members of the family that came to America subsequently changed their name to the spelling Buford. Mr. Quarles' father was born in South Carolina iu 1828, and in early youth moved to Lafayette County, Mississippi. The seat of the State University of Mississippi is located at Oxford in Lafayette County, and the elder James J. Quarles was one of the honored graduates in the first class in that institution in 1849. He was married in 1850 to Miss Buford, who was born in Tennessee in 1833, and had been brought as a child to Lafayette County. James J. Quarles, Sr., was a school teacher for a number of years, and also owned a plantation iu Lafayette County. Early in the war he enlisted in' the Confederate army, and died in a Confederate Hospital at Atlanta in 1863. He was survived many years by his widow, who died at Oxford, Mississippi, in 1911. There were five chil- dren: Robert W., who is a dentist at Van Buren, Arkau- sas; Lillie, widow of Mr. Hurt, living in Lafayette County; Olivia, who died in infancy; Fraucis, who died at the age of twenty-eight; and James J. Jr., who was only about a year old when his father died. His home was in Mississippi until 1892, and while there he received the advantages of the common schools, and grew up and was trained to farming. He also had several years of merchandising experience, and since moving to the Osage Nation in 1892 has been principally identified with merchandising and banking. Since 1905, two years after the founding of Fairfax, he has been cashier of the Osage Bank. The other officers of this bank are W. T. Carroll, president ; and E. B. Glover, vice president. Mr. Quarles also has farming and live stock interests in Osage County, and also founded the Quarles Hardware

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HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

Company, the management of which is now entrusted to his sons who are partners in the company.

As a Mississippian and a son of a Confederate veteran Mr. Quarles has naturally been identified with the democratic party all his active career. He and T. J. Leahy were the only two delegates from the Fifty-sixth District in the Constitutional Convention of Oklahoma. Since statehood he has been quite active in Oklahoma affairs. During 1910 he was a member of the State Board of Public Affairs, and was president of the Board of Regents of the University Preparatory School dur- ing 1908-09. He was also a member of the commission for the advancement of the constitutional amendment for election of United States seuators by direct vote of the people. These various commission offices were all received under appointment from Governor Haskell. While a member of these bodies he came into close relations with a number of the prominent men of the state, and in addition to the opportunity these places gave him for rendering public spirited service he naturally prizes the association by which he was brought into close touch with the state government and with men prominent in Oklahoma affairs. He has been a member of the school board in Osage County a number of years, and was identified with the management of the schools before statehood, when all the white schools were supported by subscription, there being no free public schools. He is active in the prohibition movement and in the equal suffrage cause, and is a member of the Presbyterian Church and the Knights of Pythias Order.

In 1884 Mr. Quarles married Miss Jimmie Orr. She was born in his native state, and died in 1902. The four children born to their marriage are: Frank O. and James J., Jr., both now associated with their father in the hardware business; Laura Gray, who died at the age of four years; and Mary Alleen. The son Frank married Anna Chapman. In 1905 Mr. Quarles married Ella Todd Gravett, who was born in Iowa. By her former marriage she has two daughters, Gertrude and Jean.

J. A. LOPEMAN. A business institution of Enid which . is notable both for its importance iu the material devel- opment of that part of Oklahoma, and for the personal and business character of the man behind it is the Enid . Nursery, which is probably the highest grade establish- inent of its kind in the entire state. This business repre- sents years of practical experience, the overcoming of difficulties, and the persistent testing and working out of plans which would adapt fruit bearing trees to soil, climate and other local conditions.

J. A. Lopeman was born in Crawford County near Oil City, Pennsylvania, about sixty years ago. The farm which his father owned there was sold when Mr. Lopeman was five years of age, and later oil was dis- covered upon it which made its subsequent owners mil- lionaires. From Pennsylvania the family moved to the vicinity of Bradford, Iowa, and in 1859, to Pleasant Hill in Cass County, Missouri. The father of Mr. Lopeman was a pronounced Union man, and soon found the climate too warm in Missouri during early war times, and accord- ingly removed to Kansas. Mr. Lopeman arrived at man- hood at Leavenworth in that state. His father enlisted in the Union army from Kansas, and a year later died while still a soldier.

Such education as Mr. Lopeman had from schools was acquired while assisting in the support of his mother and family. He qualified as a teacher, and for six years was engaged in that work. For four years he had experience in a store at Milo, Iowa, and in 1884 found the field for which his talents were best adapted. At

that time he became a grower of nursery stock at Red Cloud, Nebraska, and his experience in that line has thus been continuous for thirty-one years.

At the opening of the Cherokee Strip on September 16, 1893, Mr. Lopeman was one of the homeseekers, and secured a claim of 160 acres six miles north of Enid. That land he still owns, and it is famous over that part of the country for its splendid orchard of forty acres. This has been profitable, particularly that portion devoted to the growing of berries and cherries. His cherry erchard of 2,000 trees has yielded handsome returns. Mr. Lopeman came to Oklahoma with the idea that a business might be developed for the supplying of new settlers with young trees. He knew that every Amer- ican settler would as soon as possible set out a variety of fruit, shade and ornamental trees around his home, and therefore in the spring of 1894 he leased three or four acres at the north edge of Enid, and started what promised to be a lucrative business. Enemies, of which his experience at Fillmore, Nebraska, had given him no intimation, came and he found it an uphill, slow and hazardous enterprise. The new country abounded with rabbits, which were probably the most serious plague he had to contend with. These pests were accustomed' to the bark of the tenacious native plum, hackberry, elm and boisd'arc, and consequently the tender rind of the young fruit trees offered an especially attractive morsel for these animals. Several times his stock was almost annihilated. He fought with this and other obstacles for eight years, and then secured a tract of land in South Enid, where his present residence, office and packing house are located.

There he took a fresh hold. Studying the needs in Oklahoma, considering climate, moisture, winds and live pests, he studied to supply what would prove profitable. Many promising varieties of fruits after a test covering a few years would be abandoned, but he continued his trials and experiments and succeeded in the end in selecting and acclimating the stock most suitable to soil and climate. Since then his business has had a con- tinued and constant expansion.

Mr. Lopeman soon bought 160 acres at a mile and a half distant, of which 140 acres are now devoted tu the growing of fruit and shade trees, also shrubs, roses and other miscellaneous plants. He sells both wholesale and retail, and the latter feature is handled by about fifty salesmen. Orchards from the Lopeman nursery are now found in every section of Oklahoma, also in the Panhandle and other parts of Texas, in Southern Kansas, and New Mexico. From ten to forty men are kept em- ployed uuder the immediate supervision of Mr. Lope- man's son, J. A., Jr., and about $6,000 are paid out annually for the matter of labor alone. Annual sales of his nursery stock approximate $75,000. This business gives its proprietor a solid satisfaction since it is the proof of his patient and indefatigable working out of fundamental plans. His thorough knowledge comes from actual experience, failure as well as success, and the fruits of his work have extended to practically every fruit bearing district in the Southwest. He is prom- inent and well known in all nurserymen's associations, both district and national, and his success is to be meas- ured not only by its material profits but also by the splendid principles which he has kept fundamental fron the beginning to the end. It has been his desire and determination to deal squarely with every customer. Knowing the hazards of producing a good orchard wheu climatic conditions are so strenuous, he has made spe- cially liberal terms to replace stock that does not attain fruit bearing age, no matter what the cause of loss may be. He has of course suffered bitter experience as

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a result of malicious misrepresentation or failure on the part of someone to act in accord with instructions, and this has caused him temporary financial losses. Nevertheless, he has adhered strictly to the rule to deal openly and above board with every man, and in the end has gained a continued and extending business. With a disposition to be frank and outspoken, and with personal relations characterized by a hearty greeting and wel- come clasp of the hand, few men in Enid or in Oklahoma have now a more extended or loyal circle of personal friends. A less outspoken manner and more diplomatic ways might have carried him to the same financial heights in less time, but no one who learns the honesty of heart and elements of good will back of his brusque nature has not also learned to respect and honor this man, whose qualities as a man and citizen are unsur- passed.

In 1893 Mr. Lopeman married Miss Catherine McClel- lan, who died in July, 1909. She was a splendid com- pauion to him, devoted to her home, took a great interest in the development of his interests, and had a large circle of warm friends. She left two children : J. A., Jr., who is closely associated with his father in business; and Laura E., wife of Charles Musser of Bristow, Okla- homa.

HOMER HUFFAKER. One of the pioneer white men in the Osage country, identified with the thriving Town of Fairfax since its beginning, now the head of one of the largest mercantile concerns there, and also one of the present county commissioners of Osage County, Homer Huffaker is one of the men who have made their influence count for improvement and development in this section of the state.

He belongs to one of the oldest and most prominent pioneer families of the State of Kansas. Homer Huf- faker was born at Council Grove, Kausas, March 1, 1875, a sou of the late Thomas S. and Eliza A. (Baker) Huffaker. In addition to the many honarable distinc- tions associated with his father's name in Kansas, Judge Huffaker's activities also extend into what is now Oklahoma. About 1870 he established a trading store at Pond Creek, Oklahoma, and conducted it a number of years. It was an important supply point for the Iudians of that vicinity, and also for both the white men and the Indians during th high tide of the industry of buffalo hunting on the plains.

When Judge Thomas Sears Huffaker died at his old home in Council Grove, July 10, 1910, that event closed the career of one of the most remarkable of early Kan- sans. He was born in Clay County, Missouri, March 30, 1825, of a pioneer family in Northwest Missouri, aud moving to Kansas in 1849, five years before the organi- zation of the territory, his subsequent career was such that he was called "the grand old man of Kansas" first in Indian affairs and then in politics and public matters. He went to Kansas as a missionary teacher at the Manual Training School in Johnson County, but about two years later, in 1850, moved to Council Grove, where he was given charge of the Kaw Indians, who

soon became a man of importance in the community. He was one of the three incorporators of the City of Council Grove in 1858, was appointed the first post- master, and soon afterward Territorial Governor Reeder appointed him president of the county commissioners. He was next elected probate judge of Wise County, his jurisdiction extending over portions of several adjacent counties of the present time. He later served two terms in the Kansas Legislature. Judge Huffaker was a Mis- souri slaveholder, and took his slaves with him to Kansas, but after the Kansas troubles had eventuated in the Civil war he took the side of the Union, and during the last forty years of his life was a stanch republican. He had come into Kansas as a missionary under the auspices of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, and the old Kaw Mission School was founded jointly by that church and the United States Government. He was also a mem- ber of the Masonic Order. At the time of his death Judge Morehouse of Topeka described his personality in these words: "He was stately of bearing-like a judge. The Indians regarded him as 'father,' accepting his decrees without murmur. Called to settle the many difficulties of the early days, he always was careful to learn both sides, and so advised as to make no enemies. He was rewarded by the love of all."

The widow of Judge Huffaker and the mother of the Fairfax merchant is still living at her old home in Council Grove. She was born at Salem, Illinois, in 1836, and is one of the splendid pioneer women of Kansas. A year or so before the death of Judge Huffaker her career was chosen as the subject for a beautiful article by a Kansas writer, who wove her story into a collection of articles describing notable Kansas women. A few sentences are taken from that interesting sketch before introducing the career of the Fairfax business man, who has so many reasons to honor the memory and character of his noble mother: "On May 6, 1852, there was a wedding in the stone schoolhouse at Council Grove. The bride was a girl of sixteen. By her picture of the day she must have been a pretty girl, for her face is handsome at seventy. Her maiden name was Eliza A. Baker, and one of her brothers, Jesse Baker, was one of the victims of the border ruffian days in Morris County, Kansas. She was born in Illinois in 1836. She had lived in Towa, where her father was blacksmith for the Sac and Fox Indians, and now at the age when our girls are beginning to talk of sophomore class parties, she became the wife of a frontiersman in the trackless Indian country. A missionary on his way to Mexico, a Rev. Mr. Nicholson, performed the ceremony. The duties of a home keeper, always strenuous on the frontier, were multiplied for Mrs. Huffaker. In the old stone house her children were born, and there a school for white children was soon opened. Council Grove, at first a mere trading point on the Santa Fe trail, had grown to be the trading point, then a village and later a city and county seat in the center of a rich productive valley. The old stone house began to serve other purposes. Travelers, explorers, mis- sionaries and state officials slept under its roof when they came hither. The Civil war came and passed and The old schoolhouse became by turns council house, school building, church and fort. It was a refuge for the de- fenceless, where women and children fled to the strong- hold for protection. Lost in the duties of wife and mother, housekeeper and teacher, friend and neighbor, Mrs. Huffaker's years ran by. In all the stirring days of border strife and Civil war and the Indian peril, she bore her part. In the old stone house where she became a bride one May day, she lived through the scenes of territorial and state making. Children grew up in that

had recently been transferred to their reservation in the " then came fifteen years of fear of the plains Indians. Neosho Valley. At Council Grove he founded a mission school, and the building is still one of the picturesque landmarks on the banks of the Neosho. It was built under the supervision of Mr. Huffaker in 1850, and was large enough to furnish quarters not only for school but also for the residence of the teacher and his family. The school was opened in 1851, but the enterprise was not successful, since few of the Indians would allow their children to attend, and after a few years the school was abandoned. However, Judge Huffaker remained and

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home and went out to make homes for themselves. There are no great deeds to be set in bold faced type against Mrs. IIuffaker's name. Her's was the silent story that is written in good deeds and measureless influenee, and yet her name was one of the very first to suggest itself to me when I conceived the idea of gathering together the names of the women of the State whose stories appealed to me."

At the death of Judge Huffaker six children survived him: Mrs. J. H. Simcock of St. Louis; Mrs. Louis Wismeyer of Fairfax, Oklahoma; Mrs. Fred B. Car- penter of Topeka; Homer Huffaker; and George and Carl Huffaker.

In Council Grove Homer Huffaker spent his youthful days until 1892, then a boy of seventeen, he came to the Osage Reservation with his brother-in-law, L. A. Wis- meyer. He had attended the local schools and had grown up in a home which inspired in him the best qualities of manhood. He beeame an assistant at Gray Horse in the Osage Nation to L. A. Wismeyer in the trading store, and remained in that locality until 1903, when he joined in the business exodus from Gray Horse to the new railroad town founded by Mr. Wismeyer and named Fairfax. For two years Mr. Huffaker was assistant cashier in the Osage Bauk of Fairfax. When the Wis- meyer Mercantile Company was formed and incorporated he became its secretary and treasurer, and was identified with the concern in that capacity for ten years. In 1913 he organized the Big Hill Trading Company of Fairfax, and is now its president. This firm earries a large stock of general merchandise, and has extensive trade relations both with the white and Indian population around Fair- fax. In many ways Mr. Huffaker has been identified with the business and civic upbuilding of Fairfax since it was founded. In 1907 he added to the improvement of the town by the ercction of the fine home in which he and his family now reside. He has also acquired farm- ing and stock raising interests in that locality.

Iu politics he has been a republican voter for twenty years. In 1912 he was elected county commissioner of Osage county, served as chairman of the board during his first term, and was re-elected in 1914. He was also chairman of the first delegation which chose a representa- tive for Congress from the Osage country, and assisted in nominating former Congressman Bird S. McGuire. Mr. Huffaker is a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Masou, belongs to the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, and is also a member of the Elks Lodge of Pawhuska.

In 1905 he married Miss Erma Robins Bates. She was born in Tupelo, Mississippi, September 29, 1879, was partly reared in Cairo, Illinois, and at the age of six years went with her parents to Council Grove, Kansas. Later her parents removed to Kansas City, Missouri, where she lived until her marriage. Her parents are W. T. and Mary (Hall) Bates, who are still residents of Kansas City. Her father is a railroad man. Mr. and Mrs. Huffaker are the parents of three sons: Thomas Bates, born June 23, 1906; Homer Hall, born Oetober 22, 1908; and Darwin S., born August 10, 1912. Mr. Huffaker is a master of the Osage language, and readily acquired fluency in that tongue within a short time after coming to the Osage eountry.

GEORGE M. BERRY. The citizens of Pawnee County know George M. Berry as a suecessful farmer and banker. He has lived in this part of the old Cherokee Strip for thirty-six years. Some of the old-timers know of his early struggles and the perseverance and industry which put him on the road to success.

The keynote of his character and success is perhaps to be found in a little incident of his earlier career.

When he was nineteen years of age, being out of employ- ment, he took work on a ranch. He remained with his employer there nine years. All that time he was getting his board and keep but was never drawing a cent of wages. As a matter of fact he did not know for what wages he was working, or what he was to receive at the end of his term. When the nine years were up the old Oklahoma was opened for settlers, and the ranch was accordingly elosed out. Iu settling up the accounts Mr. Berry was paid $5,400 as a reward for the nine years of patient work he had put in there. It was possibly no more than he was. worth, but the point of the story is his willingness to work for work's sake and to go diligently about his business without any particular concern about the financial rewards.

Mr. Berry is a Kentuckian. He was born in the southeastern part of the state December 1, 1858, a son of T. N. and Sophia J. (King) Berry. His father was born in Whitley County, Kentucky, and died there Janu- ary 31, 1868, when his son George was ten years of age. The widowed mother subsequently brought her family to Arkansas City, Kansas, in the fall of 1877, and she died at Ashland, Kansas, April 19, 1886. Her nine ehildren were: W. E. of Stillwater, Oklahoma; I. K., formerly a raneher in Oklahoma and now living in Mexico; Nan, a resident of Cushing, Oklahoma, and widow of Lycurgus Laughlin; T. E., formerly an Indian trader, who died at Norman, Oklahoma; A. A., who was a lieensed Indian trader and conducted a ranch for nine years before the opening of Pawnee County, and is now a resident of Norman; Eliza Earley, who died in Texas; George M .; Susie, who married J. W. Arthur of Oklahoma City; and R. C., a merehant at Norman.

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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