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 114

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 114

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Outside of banking Mr. Maher is also interested in farming and stock raising and owns a well improved ranch on Dago Creek with about three hundred head of cattle. He is a breeder of thoroughbred Herefords. He is also secretary and one of the directors of the Big Hill Trading Company, Incorporated.

Politically his actions have always been in harmony with republican policies and principles. He is a thirty- second degree Scottish Rite Mason, a member of the Mystic Shrine, and is also affiliated with the Benevolen and Protective Order of Elks, August 10, 1904, Mr. Maher married Miss Genevieve Elwell. She was born in Leonardville, Kansas, December 24, 1885, a daughter of Samuel Elwell. At their happy home in Fairfax they have four children : Madalene, Dyke C., Jr., Don Elwel and John P.

CHARLES D. WEBBER, now sheriff of Pawnee County has had a career of many experiences, pleasant and otherwise, but all of an interesting character, both in th line of his official duties and as a traveling salesman fo large business houses. He first came to Oklahoma i 1898, and with the exception of about three years ha continued to make his home in this territory and state with headquarters in the larger cities, but since 190 has lived at Pawnee.

Born on a farm near Warsaw, Gallatin County, Ker tucky, February 14, 1870, Sheriff Webber is a son Virginius and Sally (Ellis) Webber. The family is c Scotch origin and for many years has been prominentl represented in Gallatin County, Kentucky. His gran father Phillip Webber was an early settler there, owne extensive tracts of land and many slaves, was prom nent in public affairs, and was the first county clerk the county and held other offices besides. Phillip Webb was a man of unusual education for the times, partic larly in the line of mathematics, and completed an arit metic which was widely used as a text book during h day in the public schools. Otherwise he was a quie unassuming man with no desire for publicity, and ma

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HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

it a rule never to accept remuneration for his official services. He and his wife had six children.

Virginius Webber was born on the homestead farm in Gallatin County, Kentucky, and spent his entire active career as a farmer. He is now living in quiet retirement in his native county. His wife died in 1909. She was active in the Baptist Church, of which her husband is also a member. During the Civil war Virginius Webber spent two years in the Union army. He is a republican in politics, and a man of substantial reputation in his community, where his sterling integrity and probity of character has won him the regard of his fellow citizens. He and his wife were the parents of eight daughters and five sons.

One of this large family of children, Charles D. Webber found his early life one of mingled duty and pleasure, and his first twenty-one years were spent on the old Kentucky homestead. In the meantime he attended the public schools and on starting out independently went to Illinois where he began work as a traveling salesman. From Illinois he came to Oklahoma in 1898, locating at El Reno. At that time he was district manager for the Singer Sewing Machine Company and had a number of men under him. With this force he covered the north half of Oklahoma and part of Indian Territory, selling machines and making collections, and he or his men visited practically every Indian tribe in this section of the country. It was a difficult as well as interesting experience. In many localities railroads had not yet been built, and there Mr. Webber made his journeys in a wagon. He slept under the wagonbed at night, and was more than once exposed to danger as well as hard- ship. At the same time he gained an intimate knowl- edge of the country, which has since been useful to him, and also became familiar with the habits and customs of the Indians, among whom he made many friends. While pursuing that business Mr. Webber had his home at various places, including El Reno, South McAlester and Guthrie. Later he moved to Salina, Kansas, from there to St. Joseph, Missouri, and in 1909 took up his perma- nent residence in Pawnee. Here he became traveling representative for a wholesale grocery concern. A man of great popularity on the road and among business men, he also gained the confidence and friendship of the people of his home city, and in December, 1914 was elected to the office of sheriff of Pawnee County. After his election he at once gave up his work on the road and began the duties of his office January 4, 1915. As sheriff he has shown himself an efficient and fearless officer, and has come through several desperate struggles with despera- does and bad men with great personal credit. In one of these fights a deputy, Robert Moore, was shot through the heart.

A republican, Mr. Webber is one of the stalwart wheel horses of his party in Pawnee County. He is an elder in the Christian Church, of which his wife is also a member, and she is very active in its work. Fraternally he is a member of the Masonic Order, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and the United Commercial Travelers. A number of years ago while traveling over the wild district of the southwest, Sheriff Webber ac- quired a fondness for hunting, and he still takes great delight in getting into the country with his gun and hounds, rarely returning without some fine specimens to show for his skill and prowess as a marksman.

Sheriff Webber was married February 15, 1891, in Gallatin County, Kentucky, to Miss Florence A. Rob- erts, who was born in that county October 8, 1862, a during h daughter of John Samuel and Mary E. (Taylor) Rob- erts. Both her parents died in Illinois, where they had s a quie and ma spent the last few years of their lives. Mr. and Mrs.

Webber had five children. Maude, who graduated from the St. Joseph High School in Missouri, spent one year in a college at Hopkinsville, Kentucky, and then taught school four years, two years at Pawnee, was married June 1, 1915, to Forest Ryan, and they now reside near Glencoe in Payne County, Oklahoma. Ira Earl, the sec- ond child, is a graduate of the Pawnee High School and is now a student in Phillips University at Enid, Okla- homa, preparing for the ministry of the Christian Church. Florence Fern, is a graduate of the Pawnee High School and is now teaching at Terlton, Oklahoma. Margaret Esther is also a graduate of the Pawnee High School and is a student in the Phillips University. Harry E., the youngest, is still pursuing his studies in the Pawnee High School.

HON. MILTON M. RYAN. It was with a long experience as an educator and civil engineer that Milton M. Ryan was so highly qualified for the honor he received from the Twenty-first Senatorial District in election to the Okla- homa Senate in 1914. In contributing to the material growth of his town, in championing and defending measures of interest or organized labor, and in partici- pating in the passage of laws affecting farmers and other land owners, Senator Ryan proved himself both a useful and patriotic Oklahoman.

A brief sketch of his career will indicate how well he has utilized his opportunities. He was born in Whitley County, Kentucky, June 6, 1860, a son of Joel and Jennie (Creekmore) Ryan. The Ryan ancestry goes back beyond the days of the American Revolution, is of Irish stock, and members of the family were among the colonists who traveled with Daniel Boone into Kentucky. Joel Ryan was a native of Virginia, an early settler in Southeastern Kentucky, a farmer and stock man, and widely known as an advocate of free schools in a section of Kentucky where education was backward for many years. He died at the age of seventy-seven. The mother of Senator Ryan was a native of Kentucky, descended from a sturdy stock of farmers and stockmen, and died at the age of eighty-four in Missouri, her body being returned to the family burying grounds in Kentucky. Senator Ryan has a sister and three brothers: Mrs. Louisa Beard, the wife of a farmer in Crawford County, Arkansas; James, a former police judge and real estate dealer of Claremore, Oklahoma; J. C., superintendent of schools at Portland, Oregon; and S. S., a farmer and teacher in Benton County, Arkansas.

Senator Ryan was educated in the Kentucky public schools, in 1879 entered the London Academy of that state, was there one year, and for two years in the Cumberland Academy at Williamsburg, Kentucky. Then followed several years of teaching, and among his stu- dents at that period was Charles Findlay, afterwards secretary of state of Kentucky. While teaching in the Cumberland Academy he also continued his academic courses, and finished the work in mathematics, German and French and lacked six months of completing the course in Latin. After leaving school he took up the profession of civil engineering, but after a year aban- doned it in favor of educational work, and was teacher for twenty-five years, four of which were in Kentucky, thirteen in Arkansas and eight in Oklahoma. Mr. Ryan located in Le Flore County, Oklahoma, in 1893, and his last school work was as principal of the public schools at Spiro. Senator Ryan is also a lawyer, having studied law at home between the ages of twenty-one and twenty- eight, and for a short time was in practice at Alma, Arkansas. After giving up school work definitely at Spiro, Mr. Ryan resumed his profession as engineer and was the first elected county surveyor of Le Flore County.

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HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

Later for three years he was couuty assessor, refusing the nomination for continued service at the end of his last term. For a number of years lic has beeu a munici- pal and county leader in affairs, served as a member of the board of trustees at Spiro, and in 1910 led a cam- paign that resulted in the town voting $50,000 in bonds to establish a municipal water and light system. Spiro has a population of about 1,000, and the fight for the bonds was won against the opposition of some of its most influential citizeus.

As a defeuder of labor issues, Seuator Ryan made an aggressive campaign for the national democratic ticket in 1912, and gained a reputation over this part of the state as a forcible and effective speaker. In 1914 he was elected to the senate by a plurality of 771 over his republican and socialist opponent, and was gratified by receiving a larger vote than was cast for the state ticket. In the senate he was made chairman of the Com- mittee of Fees and Salaries, and a member of committees on Code Revision, Roads and Highways, Education, Public Buildings, Oil and Gas, Drugs and Pure Foods, Fish and Game and State and County affairs. In several of these committees his own work and experience has made him an invaluable member. He joined with Senator Camp- bell Russell in preparing and securing the passage of the gradnated land tax measure and was author of a bill pensioning Confederate soldiers, and, jointly with Rep- reseutative Council, prepared a bill rearranging a system of taxation and providing that tax assessors should meet tax payers at stated times for the returning of their as- sessable property. He was a supporter of the rural credits bill, and of other measures of interest to the farming and laboring class.

Senator Ryan is now a resident of Poteau. He was married June 24, 1883, in Crawford County, Arkansas, to Miss Laura E. Ford. They have nine children living : Wendell M., a printer in Poteau; Mrs. Hazel G. Adams, wife of a bookkeeper and salesman of Pittsburg, Kansas; Leonard G., in Alaska; Flora A., a teacher in Poteau; and Robert W., Louis M., Reba J., Berkley B., and Lucy A., all at home with their parents. Senator Ryan is a member of the Baptist Church and of the Woodmeu of the World, and belongs to the Oklahoma Association of County Tax Assessors. His career as a teacher has been especially gratifying in that a large number of his pupils profited by his example and instruction and are filliug honorable and lucrative financial and professional positions.

GEORGE H. MONTGOMERY. There is much of romance and considerable of tragedy contained in the history of a large region of the Chickasaw Nation of which the Washington ranch at Marietta was the center. Here for nearly forty years Bill and Jerry Washington had their activities among the leading live stock men of the South- west. Near their ranches grew the little Town of Marietta that prospered and reached the proportions of a city of the first class between the years of the building of the Santa Fe Railroad and the entrance of the terri- tories into statehood. The history of the Washingtons and of Marietta is another story, but a fragment of that history is contained iu the activities of George H. Mont- gomery, of Valliant.

Mr. Montgomery was the first lawyer at Marietta, whence he went in April, 1904, the year in which a federal court was established there, and his practice in federal courts for a few years was before Judge Hosea Townsend and Judge J. T. Dickerson, who were assigned consecutively to the Southern District of Indian Terri- tory. After statehood, in 1907, Mr. Montgomery was elected the first county judge of Love County, of which

Marietta had become the couuty seat, and which obtained its name from Sobe Love, an Indian of parts and much wealth, and a picturesque character into whose family Jerry Washington married. Before he became county judge Mr. Montgomery was asked to write the will of Jerry Washington, which he declined because he feared that later the will would come before him as county judge, in which belief he was correct. J. R. McCalla, of Marietta, who was a member of the First State Legislature, wrote the will, which, during the terni of office of Mr. Montgomery as county judge, was con- tested by certain of the children of Jerry Washington, unsuccessfully, however, and the estate of nearly $200,000 was divided as Jerry Washington had willed it.

Mr. Montgomery was born near Bells, Grayson County, Texas, in 1873, and is a son of George H. and Martha (Pritchett) Montgomery. His father, who was a native of Tennessee, settled in Grayson County, Texas, near the close of the Mexican war, in which two brothers who preceded him to the Lone Star State, Purris and Atwood Montgomery enlisted as soldiers and with General Scott went to the City of Mexico. Prior to the Civil war, George H. Montgomery, Sr., was a United States ranger in Texas and later received a pension as reward for his service in that capacity. His health did not permit him to fight for the Confederacy and during the war his time was largely given to the care of the wives and children of those who were at the front. He lived in Grayson County thirty-two years, and died in Hall County in 1906. The mother of George H. Montgomery, Jr., was descended from a Virginia family from which several educators of note came, among them Dr. Henry Pritchett, and Professor Pritchett, former state superintendent of education in Texas and president of the Sam Houston State Normal School.

Most of the education received by George H. Mont- gomery was as a student of a private college conducted by Prof. R. R. Halsell, now of Durant, Oklahoma, located at Savoy, Texas. When he completed his education there he became a teacher and taught for a uumber of years in Texas and Oklahoma, and for two years was in charge of the school at Supply, Oklahoma, near the historic old post of Fort Supply. He taught also at Texline, Texas, for two years, and while thus engaged applied himself so steadfastly to the study of law that he was admitted to the bar, and later . was elected prosecuting attorney of Dallam County. Mr. Montgomery recalls that when he located at Dalhart there were but thirty-five voters in the county, whereas two years later the vote exceeded 1,200. He moved to Marietta, Indian Territory, in 1904 and after completing his term as couuty judge there, ir Jauuary, 1911, moved to Valliant, where he has since lived. Here he has served as city attorney, and is ir the enjoyment of a large, important and lucrative pro fessional business.

Mr. Montgomery was married December 25, 1897, a Memphis, Texas, to Miss Pearl Pritchett, and they ar the parents of five children: Maude, who is seventeen years of age; Joel, born in 1900; George H., Jr., bor in 1903; William, aged ten years; and Rebecca Elizabet! who is one year old. Mr. and Mrs. Montgomery an their children are members of the Presbyterian Church He belongs to the MeCurtain County Bar Associatio and the Oklahoma State Bar Association, and his fra ternal affiliation is with the local lodge of the Knight of Pythias.

J. P. MARTIN. In 1893 J. P. Martin came to Cleve land, Oklahoma, and here started the first store that wa operated in the city. It was a grocery in the beginning and later, in response to the incessant demand for a dr

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HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

goods establishment of some sort, he added that end of the business. Five years after the business was first established Mr. Martin built his present store, adding many facilities for the successful handling of his con- tinually growing trade, and today six clerks are required to handle the business, with his supervision. The build- ing is a one-story affair, with a floor space of 25x125 feet, and is adequate to the proper display of the stocks they handle. Mr. Martin has been successful, and has made a name and a position for himself in the town to which he came in its early days, and his prosperity is the just reward of his business integrity and energy.

Mr. Martin was born in St. James, Maries County, Missouri, on February 28, 1863, and he is a son of J. T. and Clementine (Underwood) Martin. The father was born in St. Louis County, Missouri, on December 25, 1814, and died in Cleveland at the home of his son in 1906, when he was ninety-two years old. He came of a family noted for its longevity, many of the men of his name having reached that fine old age. His wife, the mother of the subject, died when J. P. Martin was one month old, so that he was forever deprived of the love and care that should have been his in childhood. J. T. Martin was a farmer all his active life, carrying on his business in Missouri, his native state. Horse and mule buying and trading formed an important part of his lifework. He bought and sold in Missouri and Texas, driving his purchases from one point to another, for his greatest activity in that line was carried on prior to the days when railroads made transportation a simple problem. Before the war this thrifty Missourian sold goods on his farm, conducting a primitive sort of general store at his farm, and so adding much to the material comforts of the farming people in his section, as well as adding some- thing to his legitimate profits and prosperity. When the war came on he disposed of that end of the business, but still carried on his buying and trading.

This native Missourian had two wives. There were nine children born of the first union, and three of the second. J. P. Martin of this review was the last of the nine.

Until he was eighteen years J. P. Martin lived at home with his father, getting what education he might in the primitive schools of that period, and helping on the home farm. When he was eighteen he went to Fort Smith, Arkansas, in company with his father and a brother, and they farmed there until 1888, when the sub- ject went to Arizona and was there for two years, being engaged in operating the Arizona Ore Works at Prescott. In 1893 he was induced to come to the opening of the Cherokee Strip, and located in Cleveland, Oklahoma, and he was so impressed with the possibilities for the future that he established himself in business, as has already been set forth in the opening paragraph.

Other activities than merchandising have had a share in Mr. Martin's attention, and he is president of the Fidelity State Bank of Cleveland since its organization in 1912 .. In fact, he organized the bank and has since served as a member of its directorate, as well as being president of the concern. Mr. Martin has given a good deal of attention to gas and oil interests in this section of the state, and has located several paying properties, which he has disposed of from time to time after getting them in shape.

Politically Mr. Martin is a democrat and he is a mem- ber of the Cleveland Presbyterian Church. His fraternal affiliations are confined to the Knights of Pythias.

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In 1897 Mr. Martin was married to Miss Gertrude Diem, who was born in Pennsylvania in 1874, and came to Kansas with her parents when a child of about five

years. Two children have been born to the Martins. They are James Parvin, Jr., and Gertrude Maxime.

Mr. Martin is conducting the oldest mercantile estab- lishment in Pawnee County, having started to carry on business in a tent on September 16, 1893, when the Cherokee Strip was first opened.

Among a number of family relics which Mr. Martin has in his possession is the old Bible used by Thomas R. Musick, a brother of his maternal grandmother. This pioneer Missourian was a well known circuit rider in the early days of Missouri and he organized and built the Fee Fee Church in 1801, which was the first church built in the Louisiana purchase, and is still standing on the old rock road near St. Louis, Missouri. He is a devout Christian and he spent his life in a labor of love that was productive of such results as no man can estimate in these later days.

ROBERT E. EDMISSON has had a long and favorable business experience in Western Oklahoma, particularly in Beaver County, was in the grain and elevator industry for some years, but now has an office at Gate, for the handling of real estate and farm loans.

He was born November 11, 1883, at Conway, Missouri, a son of George T. and Amanda M. (Stafford) Edmisson, and a grandson of John George Edmisson, a native of Kentucky. George T. Edmisson was born October 11, 1834, in a log house on a farm in Dallas County, Mis- souri. Early in life he was a teacher, gained admission to the bar at the age of twenty-four and at thirty-two was representing as attorney in Missouri the St. Louis and San Francisco Railway Company. He became one of the leading lawyers of the state. He also served two terms as county attorney of Dallas County, and was the founder of the Town of Conway. He rose to the distinc- tion of the 33rd and Supreme Degree in Scottish Rite Masonry. He took that degree at a time when candidates for the honor were required to go to Scotland to receive the work. He was also a factor in democratic state poli- ties in Missouri. His death occurred at Buffalo in that state August 3, 1900. In 1872 George T. Edmisson mar- ried Miss Stafford, whose father was Nathaniel Stafford, a native of Kentucky. She was born in Dallas County, Missouri, April 28, 1856. To their union were born ten children, nine sons and one daughter. Those now living are: Felix C., born October 28, 1876, and a merchant at Centralia, Washington; George I., born April 14, 1880, and a farmer and stockman in Harper County, Oklahoma; Robert E .; Albert P., born November 8, 1886, engaged in merchandising at Larned, Kansas; and Clarence R., born April 2, 1889, and a merchant at Gate, Oklahoma.

Robert E. Edmisson spent his early youth at Buffalo, Missouri. He attended public school there but at the age of twelve went out to live with a brother in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where he was graduated from the high school in 1907. He then removed to Englewood, Kansas, where for two years he was in mercantile pur- suits and then with four brothers he engaged in the grain business under the name Edmisson Brothers. This firm had an elevator at Englewood, Kansas, and other elevators and shipping points at Knowles, Gate, Rosston and LaVerne, Oklahoma.

Mr. Edmisson sold out his business in the grain busi- ness in 1912, and since then has devoted his time suc- cessfully to the real estate and loan business. Frater- nally he is a Mason. On October 2, 1907, at Englewood, Kansas, he married Miss Minnie Edith Walden, daugh- ter of William and Emma Walden. Mrs. Edmisson claims Oklahoma as her native state. She was born January 1, 1891, in a sod ranch house owned by her father and

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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