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 115

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 115

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HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

located on Kiowa Creek at a point now in Beaver County. Her birth occurred nearly three years before the opening of the Cherokee Strip to settlement. Mrs. Edmisson spent most of her early life in Kansas, and graduated from the Englewood High School. They have one child, Francis Albert, born May 15, 1911, at Red Cliff, Colorado.

CAPT. GEORGE W. SUTTON, veteran of the Civil war, long a practicing physician in Cleveland, Oklahoma, for several terms a member of the Kansas and Oklahoma State legislatures and a banker of prominence in Cleve- land and Bartlesville, has had a varied and interesting career, amply deserving of mention in this work.

Captain Sutton was born in Rising Sun, Indiana, August 5, 1843, and is a son of Joshua and Sarah (Wells) Sutton, natives of Pennsylvania and Ohio, re- spectively.

Joshua Sutton, be it said, was a young man when he left Pittsburg and sailed down the Ohio River seeking adventure and a new home. He was still young when he met and married Sarah Wells at Rising Sun, and they lived there until 1868. In that year they moved to Kansas, settling near Emporia, and there they passed their remaining years. He was a farmer all his life, and enjoyed a fair measure of success in that field. They were the parents of seven children, four sons and three daughters, three of whom are now living. Calvin, the eldest, a farmer all his days, is deceased. Mary Ann married first W. McIntyre, and second, B. Bodine and is deceased. Lucy is deceased. Candice also died young. The fifth child was George W., of this review. Rachel married Mr. Ridland and lives in Gardner, Kansas. Louis W. is a resident of Americus, Kansas. He served in the Civil war, a member of Company H, One Hundred and Forty-sixth Regiment Indiana Volunteer Infantry.

George W. Sutton lived with his parents on the home farm until he enlisted in 1862 in Company E., Fiftieth Indiana Volunteer Infantry. He served two years in that regiment, and later was a member of Company I, One Hundred and Thirty-ninth Indiana Volunteer In- fantry, going out as a captain and serving until the close of the war. He was in action at the battles of Mills Springs, Kentucky, Shiloh, Three Days, and many other important engagements, acquitting himself creditably on all occasions.

Returning to pursuits of peace, the young captain turned his attention to the study of medicine. He studied first at Rising Sun and later at Cincinnati Col- lege of Medicine and Surgery, receiving his M. D. de- gree in 1867.

Captain Sutton, or Doctor Sutton, as he was then called, began medical practice in Americus, Kansas, and was there two years. He then went to Hartford, in the same county and continued in practice there until the year 1889. In 1881 he was elected to the state legislature of Kansas and served from 1881 to 1884, four successive terms in all. Iu the year 1889 he was appointed Govern- ment physiciau and served the Comanche, Wichita and Osage tribes in that capacity from 1889 to 1893.

Following that period of public service, Doctor Sutton resumed the practice of his profession; and he was thus engaged in Cleveland until a few years ago, when he withdrew from that field of labor and siuce has devoted himself to banking activities.

In 1900 he organized the First National Bank in Cleveland and the First National Bank in Bartlesville. He has been president of each bank since organization, and is now a member of their respective directorates. The First National Bank of Cleveland has a capital stock of $50,000, with deposits of more than $522,000,

and a surplus and undivided profits aggregating $40,- 449.50. The officers and directors of the bank are men of high local standing, and the Bartlesville institution is run according to the same high standard that is one of the essentials of the Cleveland bank. Both banks have fine homes, the Bartlesville concern bearing the repu- tation of being the best housed bank in the state.

Doctor Sutton has been a lifelong republican, and has doue excellent party work wherever he has been found. Since coming to Oklahoma he served one term in the Territorial Legislature in the years 1893-4 and he has served four terms as mayor of Cleveland. He was one of those who layed out the townsite of Cleveland in 1893, and from then until now has been a leading spirit in the affairs of the community city. He was regent of the State University and president of the Board of Regents for seven years, and has ever been the friend of the schools and colleges of the state. He has been financially interested in the Caney. Valley Oil Company, and assisted in its organization. He is president of the Coronado Oil Company of Cleveland, capitalized at $50,000.

Doctor Sutton is a Mason since 1870, and has all degrees known to Masonry. He organized and was Master for six years of Hebrou Lodge, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons of Cleveland. He also is a member of Grand Army of the Republic Post McPherson.

Doctor Sutton was married in Kansas in 1871 to Kate King, and they have three children. Birdie is the wife of Frank Boucher, cashier of the First National Bank of Bartlesville. Dr. F. R. Suttou is a practicing physi- cian in Bartlesville. Leila is the wife of W. H. Boles, assistant cashier of the First National Bank of Cleve- land.

The family have membership in the Methodist Epis- copal Church. Mrs. Sutton is a prominent club woman, and is now president of the Mistletoe Club, and has been its president for ten years. She is also active in Eastern Star work.

RICHARD T. HOPE. Born in Wisconsin and reared and educated in Kansas, Mr. Hope has been a resident of Oklahoma since 1892 and is now one of the successful and highly esteemed representatives of the agricultural interests of Pawnee County, where he owns a well im- proved landed estate of 160 acres, in section 24, town- ship 20, range 16, east, he being the only white man who has occupied the place and having purchased the property from the man who had filed claim to the same when this section was thrown open to settlement.

Richard Thomas Hope was born in Racine County, Wisconsin, on a farm near the City of Racine, which was then a mere village, and the date of his nativity was March 6, 1856. He is a son of Thomas and Mary Anu (Turner) Hope, both of whom were born and reared in Gloucestershire, England, where their marriage was solemnized and whence they immigrated to the United States in 1849. They remained in the State .of New York about two years and in 1851 they numbered them- selves among the pioneers of Racine County, Wisconsin, where the father was engaged in farming for several years. He then removed with his family to Missouri, where he remained one year, and in November, 1858, he set forth for Linn County, Kansas, the devoted wife and mother dying while enroute and being laid to rest in the cemetery at Rose Hill, St. Louis County, Missouri. Proceeding to his destination, Thomas Hope became a pioneer settler in Linn County, Kansas, where he took up Government land and instituted the reclamation of a farm, this homestead continuing to be his place of resi- dence until his death; he died at the age of eighty-four.

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HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

In his native land he had succeeded his father in the local public office of road builder, and there he also followed for some time the trade of stone mason, his activities in this trade having continued also after he came to the United States. He and his wife were reared in the faith of the Church of England, but about 1860 he became identified with the Spiritualist organization, to the tenets of which he held zealously during the remainder of his life. Prior to his marriage, in 1843, he had made a trip to America and passed two years in the Dominion of Canada, where he taught in the common schools and also in Sunday school. He was a man of strong conviction, alert mentality and impregnable in- tegrity in all of the relations of life. He was earnest in the support of the cause of temperance and his gentle and appreciative ideals were shown in his surpassing love of Nature and especially of flowers. Of his children the eldest is John, who still resides in Linn County, Kansas; Edwin is a resident of Colorado, and these two children were born in England. Sarah, the first to be born after the immigration to the United States, died in infancy, as did also the next child, a son; Elizabeth is the wife of Martin Van Buren Donley, of Pendleton, Oregon; Richard T., of this sketch, was the next in order of birth; and George died at the age of four years.

Richard T. Hope was about two years of age at the time of the family removal to Linn County, Kansas, where he was reared to manhood on the old homestead farm, in the work and management of which he con- tinued to be associated with his father until he had attained to the age of thirty-two years, when he en- gaged in independent operations as a farmer in the same vicinity. There he became a prosperous farmer and there he continued his residence until the autumn of 1892, when he came to Oklahoma Territory and established himself as a farmer in Lincoln County. In 1893 he "made the run" at the opening of the Cherokee Strip, but failed to obtain a claim, and in the spring of 1894 he purchased the claim which constitutes his present home- stead farm, all of the improvements on which have been made by him. He gives his attentiou to diversified agri- culture and stock raising, and has extended oil leases on his land. He takes loyal interest in all that touches the welfare of the community, though never a seeker of public office, and in politics he is an ardent socialist.

In 1888 Mr. Hope wedded Miss Kate Witchey, who was born at Lanark, Carroll County, Illinois, on the 26th of June, 1867, and whose parents removed to Kansas in the autumn of the following year. She is a daughter of Jacob and Mary (Fox) Witchey, both natives of Ger- many. Mr. Witchey died in Kansas in 1880 at the age of seventy, and his widow still resides in Linn County, that state, he having beeu one of the pioneer farmers of that county. Mr. and Mrs. Hope became the parents of six children, of whom two are deceased: Byron, who died at the age of sixteen mouths, and Elston, who passed away at the age of three years. The surviving children are: Viola, Stanley, Harvey and Edna. Miss Viola has been a successful and popular teacher in the public schools of Pawnee County since 1911, and the family is one of special prominence and popularity in connection with the social activities of the community.

ELBERT I. HAWORTH, now editor and owner of the Gate Valley Star at Gate, has been closely identified with this section of Western Oklahoma for a number of years and before taking up the newspaper business was a successful teacher. He is succeeding in making his newspaper an organ of influential journalism in Beaver County, and has all the qualifications for the successful journalist.

Mr. Haworth was born February 12, 1889, on a farm in Republic County, Kansas, a son of John H. and Harriet (Baker) Haworth, both of whom were natives of Iowa and were married in 1881. John Haworth was born October 15, 1855, on a farm in Warren County, Iowa, and has spent his life as a farmer and as a minister of the Society of Friends. He is still active as a farmer and minister and lives in Beaver County, Oklahoma. His wife, who was born in Iowa, March 27, 1858, a daughter of John S. and Sarah (George) Baker, was a teacher for a number of years prior to her mar- riage, and she is also a devout Quaker in religion. They became the parents of four children, three sons and one daughter, namely: Ralph C., born December 27, 1882, now engaged in farming in Lipscomb County in the Texas Panhandle; Floyd C., born June 5, 1887, is now a mem- ber of the regular United States army and is employed in recruiting service; Elbert. I .; and Cora E., born April 1, 1893, and married April 13, 1910, M. J. Keck, a farmer in Wood County, Oklahoma, and they have a child Zola born February 11, 1911.

Reared in the wholesome atmosphere of a Quaker family, Elbert I. Haworth finished his education in the Friends Academy at Ingersoll, Oklahoma. Prior to 1916 he taught seven terms in Beaver County, and during 1912-13 was a member of the County Examining Board for Teachers. In 1913 he bought the Gate Valley Star and is now giving all his time to its management both in the editorial and business department. Mr. Haworth is a member of the Society of Friends. On April 3, 1910, in Beaver County he married Miss Zela DeGroodt, daugh- ter of John W. and Ella (Sharp) DeGroodt, natives of Iowa. Mrs. Haworth was born August 1, 1893, in Lynn County, Kansas. To their union have been born two children : Elver H., born February 5, 1911; and Pauline De, boru December 13, 1914.

THOMPSON B. FERGUSON. It has been given to Hon. Thompson B. Ferguson to play a large and benignant part in the annals of Oklahoma history, and his loyal services found their apotheosis during the period of his admirable administration as governor of the territory, within the borders of which he established his residence in 1890, the year that marked the organization of Okla- homa Territory, so that, aside from his activities in public affairs, his is the honor of being a pioneer of this vigorous young commonwealth. His being called to the office of governor constitutes in itself ample voucher for his ability, his civic loyalty and public spirit and his strong hold upon popular confidence and esteem. In 1892, at the judicial center and now thriving metropolis of Blaine County, he founded the Watonga Republican, of which he has siuce continued the editor and publisher and which he has made one of the representative news- papers of the state, with wide influence in political and general public affairs and with the best of service in the exploiting of local interests and in formulating and directing popular sentiment and action.

On a pioneer farm in Polk County, Iowa, Mr. Ferguson was born on the 17th of March, 1857, and in the agnatic line he is a scion of fine old Scottish ancestry, being a descendant of James Ferguson, who in company with two of his brothers, immigrated from Scotland to America in the colonial period of our national history, representatives of the name iu later generations having been conspicuous in connection with the development and civic and material progress of various of the younger states of the Uniou.

Mr. Ferguson is a son of Abner and Hannah (Atkin- son) Ferguson, the former of whom was born in Mahoning County, Ohio, in 1823, a member of a sterling

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pioneer family of that section of the Buckeye State, and the latter of whom was a representative of a family early founded in Indiana, in which state she was born in 1831, her death having occurred in Kansas, in 1861, and her husband, who contracted a second marriage ulti- mately, having survived her by nearly forty years, his death having occurred at Emporia, Kansas, in 1900.

Abner Ferguson, a man possessed of the strong men- tality and sterling character typical of the sturdy race from which he was sprung, was reared and educated in his native state, under the conditions and influences of the pioneer epoch in Ohio history, and as a young man he went to Henry County, Indiana, where his marriage was solemnized. He continued his residence in the Hoosier State until his removal to Iowa. He became one of the pioneer settlers in Polk County, where he obtained goverment land and engaged in farming and stock growing. In 1860 he removed with his family to Emporia, Kansas, and shortly afterward he engaged in agricultural pursuits and stock raising in that vicinity. He was later identified with the same basic industries in other parts of the Sunflower State, but he passed the closing period of his life in the City of Emporia, as previously noted in this context. In 1889, when Okla- homa was first thrown open to settlement, he came to the new territory, where he remained only a short time. He came again to the territory in 1891, but in 1893 he re- turned to Kansas, where he passed the residne of his long and worthy life. He was a resident of Kansas at the inception of the Civil war, and he represented that state as one of the loyal and gallant soldiers of the Union, his service, as a member of the Sixteenth Kansas Volunteer Infantry, having covered a period of nearly three years, within which he took part in numerous engagements marking the progress of the great conflict through which the integrity of the nation was preserved. After the close of the war, in 1866, he took part in an engagement with hostile Indians, on Powder River, Kan- sas, and his fortune it was to be wounded at this time, though he had escaped severe wounds during his prior and prolonged military service in the Civil war. Abner Ferguson was aligned as an uncompromising advocate of the principles of the republican party, was affiliated with the Grand Army of the' Republic, the Masonic fraternity, and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, his religious faith having been that of the Methodist Episcopal Church, of which he was a member for many years, the wife of his yonth and younger manhood having likewise been a devout member of this church. They became the parents of five children: Emeline is the wife of Harry Butler, of Cleveland, Pawnee County, Oklahoma, and her husband is a prosperous farmer and dairyman of that locality; Isaac, who became one of the substantial agriculturists of Oklahoma, died at Skiatook, Tulsa Connty, at the age of fifty-five years; Rnth is the wife of Enoch Childers, a retired farmer, and they maintain their home in the City of Emporia, Kansas, where Mr. Childers continues his activities in the handling of blooded live- stock; the former governor of Oklahoma, Thompson B., of this review, was the next in order of birth; and Mary, who became the wife of Charles Herron, died at Sherman, Cherokee County, Kansas, Mr. Herron being now a resident of Crawford County, that state, where he is a substantial farmer.

Thompson B. Ferguson gained the major part of his early educational discipline in the public schools of Emporia, Kansas, where he received the virtual equivalent of a high school course, and thereafter he completed his academic education in the Kansas State Normal School at Emporia, in which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1884. He put his scholastic acquirements to

practical test and use by turning his attention to the pedagogie profession, of which he became a successful and popular representative as a teacher in the public schools of Wauneta and other places in Chautauqua County, Kansas. He also did effective service as an instructor at the teachers' institute held at Sedan, the judicial center of that county. He continued his pedagogie activities in the Sunflower State until 1890, when he identified himself fully and loyally with the newly organized Territory of Oklahoma, with no thought that here he would eventually be called upon to serve as chief executive of a great and prosperous commonwealth of the Union. In the preceding year, which had marked the opening of the territory to settlement, he had come here and obtained a claim of 160 acres, on Deep Fork, abont eight miles distant from Oklahoma City. This claim he gave to his father, and in the spring of 1892 he established his permanent home at Watonga, the judicial center of Blaine Connty. He has been essentially and emphatically one of the founders and builders of this now prosperous and progressive little city, and here, on the 18th of October, 1892, he established the Watonga Republican, of which he has since continued editor and publisher. He has today one of the well equipped news- paper and job printing plants of Oklahoma, and the Republican has prestige and influence as one of the strong pioneer papers of Western Oklahoma, its circula- tion being of representative order throughout Blaine and surrounding counties, besides which its general 'ex- cellence and its strong editorial utterances have given it also a very appreciable state circulation of general order and its friends and supporters have caused its list of subscribers outside of Oklahoma to reach proportions by 110 means insignificant. It is needless to say, by reason of its name and the marked prominence of its proprietor in the domain of Oklahoma politics, that the policy of the Republican is fundamentally that of furthering the canse of the republican party, of which Mr. Ferguson has been and continues one of the most prominent and influential representatives in the state.

During the entire period of his residence in Okla- homa Mr. Ferguson has shown a vital interest in all that has touched or tended to further the civic and industrial development and progress of the state-both under the territorial regime and since its admission to the Union. He has been personally and through the columns of his paper a leader in popular thought and action in this vigorous young commonwealth, and his influence has always been guided by the highest loyalty, by broad and well fortified convictions concerning governmental af- fairs and general public polity, and by an insistent desire to bring the state up to the highest possible standard in all things that make for a splendid and prosperous com- monwealth. From 1895 to 1897 Mr. Ferguson was an active and prominent member of the Oklahoma Terri- torial Historical Society. In 1900 he was elected gov- ernor of the territory, his inauguration as chief executive taking place in the spring of 1901, and his retirement from office occurring on the 15th of January, 1906, so that he was the last of the territorial governors of Okla- homa, liis admirable administration having become an integral part of the history of the state, with due record concerning the same, so that it is unnecessary in this connection to enter into details concerning his regime as governor. For nearly three years, under the administra- tion of Governor Cruce, Mr. Ferguson was the republican member of the state election board. While a resident of Chautauqua County, Kansas, he served four years as a member of the board of teachers' examiners for the county, and in 1899 he held a similar position in Blaine County, Oklahoma. He attends and gives liberal

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support to the Methodist Episcopal Church at Watonga, of which his wife is a zealous member.

At Wauneta, Chautauqua County, Kansas, in June, 1885, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Ferguson to Miss Elva Shartel, a daughter of the late David E. Shartel, who was a representative farmer of that county and who also served as county superintendent of schools. In conclusion is entered brief record concerning the children of Mr. and Mrs. Ferguson: Walter Scott, who was graduated in the military academy at Wentworth, Missouri, and who afterward completed a three years' course in the University of Oklahoma, is now editor and publisher of the Cherokee Republican, at the county seat of Alfalfa County, and is well upholding the journalistic prestige of the family name; Rowena died at the age of fifteen months, the family home at the time having been at Wauneta, Kansas; Tom Shartel, who was graduated in the Watonga High School and thereafter continued his studies for one year in the Methodist University at Guthrie, is now his father's valued assistant in the office of the Watonga Republican; Norna died at Sedan, Kan- sas, when two years of age; and Effie was 31% years old at the time of her death, which occurred at Watonga, in 1899.

JOHN SCRUGHAN. An educator like every other pro- fessional man must be judged by the results of his work. For a city of its size Tonkawa has about as complete a school system and as perfect an organization for the efficient training of young citizens as can be found in the State of Oklahoma. This high standard of scholastic organization has frequently been attributed to the work of John Scrughan, who has been superintendent of the public schools of that city since 1910. The home of the schools and the center of his activities is a handsome $25,000 building, containing ten rooms, and with a teaching staff of ten instructors, presided over by Mr. Scrughan. The total enrollment of pupils is 425, and there is a well organized high school and in 1914 there were thirty-six graduates, Superintendent Scrughan having watched over this class from its entrance into high school until its graduation. Mr. Serughan has vitalized the work of the school and has gathered about him a splendid corps of teachers. Mr. Scrughan suc- ceeded as superintendent of the Tonkawa schools R. L. Johnson.

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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