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 116

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 116

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John Scrughan has had a long record as an educator beginning in country schools back in Illinois, where he was born on a farm in Richland County, January 4, 1864. His parents were George and Nancy Scrughan, sub- stantial farmers and stock raisers in the Prairie State. They occupied the same homestead in Richland County for fifty-three years, and in that old home reared their five children, four sons and one daughter, all of whom are living in Illinois except John.

His early life was divided between the farm and country school, and he learned the lessons of industry and honor at home in addition to the instruction of a formal nature given in the schools. He studied at home and completed his education in the Valparaiso Univer- sity in Indiana. His career as a teacher began in country schools, and later he was in the city schools in Clay County, Illinois, and in 1907 came to Oklahoma as one of the teachers at Coalgate. Three years later he came to Tonkawa to accept the superintendency and for the past five years has largely built up the school system to its present admirable condition.

In Clay County, Illinois, June 20, 1888, Mr. Scrughan married Olive L. Speers, a woman of education and cul- ture, who has been a capable assistant to him in his work and also an admirable home maker. Her parents

were B. R. and Emma Speers. Mr. and Mrs. Serughan have three children: Bertha May, who is now a teacher in the public schools at Newkirk, Oklahoma; Mabel Agnes, a senior in the University of Oklahoma at Nor- man; and Raymond, still in the public schools. Mr. Scrughan is a republican in politics, affiliates with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and is a member of the board of trustees of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

ISAAC S. DRUMMOND. The subject of this sketch was born in Jefferson County, Ohio, April 28, 1836. He is of Scotch-Irish stock, his father having been born in Ireland. His parents died when "Ike"' was very young, and he was left to "rustle" for himself, having neither home nor guardian. He lived among the farmer folk in Harrison County, Ohio, earning his "keep" by doing chores and any sort of work that a boy between eight and eleven years of age could do.

A month before he was eleven years old he apprenticed himself to Alexander Hall, of the Village of Great West- ern, in Belmont County, Ohio, to learn the .printing trade. Mr. Hall was a very prominent preacher in the Christian Church, a writer of distinction, and a noted debator of religious subjects. He was not yet thirty years old, but had written several books, and was the author of "Universalism Against Itself," a book that did inuch to curb the belief in universal salvation, regard- less of the kind of life a man had lived.

Young Drummond served his apprenticeship of five years with Hall, who was at that time (1848) publishing a monthly religious magazine named The Gospel Procla- mation. The printing office was well equipped for that age. There were but few of the modern conveniences, such as are found in almost all offices in these days, but a boy had to graduate in every branch of the art, from rolling the forms and making the rollers, to composition, proofreading, advertising and job work, stereotyping and wood letter cutting. Until he could show good grades in all departments he was not considered a printer. There were no power presses or rotary job presses in those days.

All the education young Drummond received until after the end of his apprenticeship he "dug"' out of Mr. Hall's library. Mr. Hall owned a fine, big library, and he kindly granted the boy the use of it, and some- times gave him some guidance in his reading. After his apprentice days were over he tried for further education at two or three advanced schools, or academies, paying good prices for all the instruction he received. There were no free schools in those days.

After he got his free papers he traveled to larger towns and worked in other offices to complete his trade, as was the rule in that age.

At the age of twenty-four years he married Miss Rebecca White, at Brighton, Iowa. From that time on, Drummond's life was very like that of the average American. He served in the Union army during the Civil war of '61 to '65. After the war he worked in various book and newspaper offices owned by other men; was editor, compositor, job and ad man; then bought and run newspapers and job offices in Iowa, Kansas, Texas and Oklahoma.

In his newspaper work Mr. Drummond has mostly been on the frontier, and did much to help settle the great Southwest. He has not done much writing during the past five years, except on special subjects for news- papers and magazines. However, his work is not yet done, even if he is more than four score years old.

His beloved wife died suddenly some ten years ago, but he has six children living, namely: Franz S. Drummond, editorial writer and printer, now located in the State of Washington; A. L. (Link) Drummond, ex-

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HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

newspaper man, Christian minister and lawyer, Norton, Kansas; W. I. Drummond, chairman of the Board of Governors of the International Farm Congress, Enid, Oklahoma; George L. Drummond, editor and proprietor of The Glendale News, Glendale, Oregon; Mrs. Clara Smith, teacher of music, Beaver, Oklahoma; Mrs. Mary L. Keith, music teacher, Protection, Kansas. All of the children learned the printers' trade, the girls being expert compositors.

FRANK M. WHEELER. In the wonderful oil country of Creek County, Oklahoma, now conceded to be the biggest producing field in the world, one of the pioneers was Frank M. Wheeler, on whose property, now a part of Drumright, the first well was drilled. Mr. Wheeler is a self-made man, having spent the early years of his life at the stonecutter's trade prior to taking up agriculture and securing the land upon which oil was discovered solely through his own efforts. While he still maintains his office at Drumright, he makes his home at Stillwater, where he is connected with a number of interests and takes an active part in civic affairs.

Mr. Wheeler was born in Ross County, Ohio, June 22, 1857, and is a son of A. J. and Elizabeth (Smith) Wheeler. His father was a native of Ohio, and was married in that state, the mother having been born in Virginia and taken by her parents to Ohio as a child. After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Wheeler moved to Pike County, Illinois, in 1865, and there Mrs. Wheeler died in 1870, when her son, Frank M., was thirteen years old. Subsequently the father went to Texas, where he engaged in farming, and died at Worth, in that state, when seventy-nine years of age. Of the seven children in the family, five were reared to maturity: John B., who is deceased; Frank M .; Everett, a resident of Kansas City, Missouri; Ollie White, who died at the age of twenty-two years, leaving one child; and Susie, who is the wife of Charles Wampler, of Kansas City, Missouri.

Frank M. Wheeler was educated in the public schools of Ohio and Illinois, and after the death of his mother learned the trade of stonecutter. In the winter of 1874-5 he went to Kansas, and following that worked all over Kansas, Colorado, Utah and Arkansas, following his trade. In 1891 he secured a claim in the Sac and Fox country, now in Lincoln County, Oklahoma, but continued to work at his vocation for several years more, in 1894 turning his attention to farming and stockraising. He continued to operate his Lincoln County property until the railroad was built through, when he disposed of his land at a profit, and this now comprises the present townsite of Agra. At that time he bought another prop- erty two miles north, on which he lived for eight years, and March 16, 1910, purchased a quarter section of land in Creek County, which now forms a part of Drumright. The lease on his farm was the first in the Cushing oil field, there was drilled the first well, and this was made payable to Mr. Wheeler when oil began running. The new sand taken from this well was named in his honor, and Wheeler sand has since become famous. Mr. Wheeler now has fourteen wells on this quarter section of land, and at times has produced as much as 3,500 barrels daily. In recent years he platted forty acres, known as Wheeler's First Addition to Drumright, a locality which is now almost entirely built up. He is the owner of a stock ranch of 1,200 acres, near Foraker, in Osage County, and owns also farm and residence prop- erties in five counties of Oklahoma. In August, 1912, Mr. Wheeler came to Stillwater to make his home, and his residence, at No. 232 Duncan Street, is the finest in the city. Politically a democrat, he has not been an office

seeker, but has at all times shown an interest in the welfare of his city and its institutions. He is a firm believer in the value of education, and his children have been given the best advantages available.

Mr. Wheeler was married in 1881 to Miss Hannah E. Fritch, a native of Indiana and a daughter of B. Fritch, and to this union there have been born nine children: Luella May, who is the wife of Arthur Pratt, of Pot- tawatomie County, Oklahoma; Carrie, the wife of Bert Evans, who is superintending the operations on Mr. Wheeler's ranch in Osage County; Josie, the wife of Robert Spartman, of Pottawatomie County; Maude, who is the wife of James Weaver, of Creek County, Okla- homa; Frank, who is employed on the Osage County ranch; Pearl, Blanche and Birdie, who are all attending the Agricultural and Mechanical College, at Stillwater; and Babe.

SHIRLEY CHAPMAN. A veteran . Oklahoma newspaper man, Shirley Chapman, now of Oklahoma City, is asso- ciated with the Oklahoma Publishing Company, pub- lishers of the Oklahoman, the Times and the Farmer- Stockman. He has been connected with a number of different newspapers in Western Oklahoma, and has the distinction of having helped publish and bring out the first paper ever issued in the Cherokee Strip.

He was born February 3, 1874, at Pleasant Hill, Missouri, the youngest of the four children of Benjamin Franklin and Alma W. (Welch) Chapman, His father was born September. 27, 1832, in Vermont, was a con- tractor and builder, and followed that business in a number of different localities until 1889, when he joined the first rush of settlers in Oklahoma. Going to El Reno, he secured a claim three miles south of the city and soon became prominent and well known in local affairs. During the early days there he served as a justice of the peace. His wife, Alma W. Welch, was born in Russell- town, Canada, November 25, 1836. Of their children the three besides Shirley were: Hermione L., who has for many years been a successful teacher in Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma, and is still living unmarried with his parents at El Reno; Alma is the wife of David T. Slatten, a farmer of Bethany, Missouri; and Leonora, who died in infancy.

Shirley Chapman obtained most of his education in the public schools of Sedalia, Missouri. When fourteen years of age he began learning the printing trade at Wichita, Kansas, and in the following year, when he came with his parents to El Reno, this experience opened for him an opportunity at employment on some of the first papers established in that city.

In 1893, with the opening of the Cherokee Strip, he and Frank L. Grove established and printed the first newspaper ever issued in the Cherokee Strip after the opening. It was the Daily Enterprise of Enid. The first copies of the Enterprise came from the press on Monday, September 18th, two days after the opening. After settlement there Mr. Chapman became editor and publisher of the Waukomis Wizard at Waukomis, but at the end of two years he sold that paper and re- turned to his old home at El Reno. Here he was editor of the Daily Star and Weekly Herald until 1902, and beginning in 1905 was for four years city editor of the El Reno Daily American. In 1915 he came to Oklahoma City, where he has since been associated with the Okla- homa Publishing Company. He is active in newspaper circles, has a wide acquaintance with newspaper men all over the state, and is one of the honored figures in Oklahoma journalism.

Mr. Chapman is also well known for his activities in a musical way. For a number of years he was instructor

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and leader of a band and orchestra at El Reno, and has done much to organize and promote musical enter- tainment in El Reno and several other cities of the state. He is unmarried, is a charter member of El Reno Lodge, No. 743, Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, and is a member of the Episcopal Church.

HENRY CLAY. One of the oldest residents of the vicinity of Bartlesville, where for many years he was engaged in a blacksmithing and general repair business, Henry Clay is now engaged in farming on a leased Osage allotment, located 21/2 miles northwest of the city. He came to this part of the country practically without means, and through industry and constant effort has advanced himself steadily to a position of financial inde- pendence and a place of esteem in the minds of his fellow citizens. His career is illustrative of the rewards to be gained through honest labor and fidelity to the engagements of life.

Mr. Clay is a native of the Empire State, born in Erie County, February 24, 1854, a son of John and Sarah (Crispin) Clay, natives of Lincolnshire, England. The father was born March 18, 1819, and the mother January 7, 1820, and not long after their marriage they emigrated to the United States, locating first at Buffalo, New York, in 1846. Seeking the better opportunities offered by the West, in 1854 John Clay, who was a farmer, took his family to the State of Iowa, where he lived for sixteen years. In 1870 he moved on to Kansas, locating in the vicinity of Coffeyville, where he settled on a farm and continued to be engaged in agricultural pursuits during the remaining years of his life, his death occurring in July, 1882. Mrs. Clay survived him until September, 1905, and died at Bartlesville, Oklahoma. They were the parents of four children, as follows: Elizabeth, deceased, who was the wife of Mr. Paxon and was born in England; Anna, born in New York, married Millett, and is now a resident of Kansas City, Missouri; Henry, of this notice, and William, a resident of Lenapah, Oklahoma.

Henry Clay was an infant when taken by his parents to Iowa, and there his education was secured in the public schools. He remained under the parental roof until about the year 1875, when he started learning the blacksmith trade, a vocation which he subsequently fol- lowed for upwards of thirty years, at Coffeyville, Kan- sas, and Bartlesville, Oklahoma. In partnership with A. I. Morgan, a sketch of whose career will be found on another page of this work, he founded the firm of Morgan & Clay, which was at the time of its founding and for inany years afterward the only blacksmith and general repair shop on the south side of the Carney River, there being only one store on that side of the river at that time. Mr. Morgan was skilled in woodworking, and accordingly took charge of the work that came to the firm in that direction, while to Mr. Clay fell the task of upholding the blacksmithing end of the firm's business. This enterprise, started in a modest way, gradually grew and developed, attracting trade from all over this part of the county because of the excellent manner in which work was done and the dependable manner in which the partners lived up to all contracts. The partnership continued successfully and congenially until 1913, when, by mutual consent, it was dissolved and the business, after its long and prosperous career, was sold. In January, 1915, Mr. Clay leased his present home, an Osage allotment on Bartles Creek, 21/2 miles north of the City of Bartlesville. Here he is operating 180 acres of land, on which he has good improvements, and carries on diversified farming and stock raising. He is using the most modern approved methods in his work, and is

making the same success in his agricultural ventures that he attained as a blacksmith. In addition to farm- ing, Mr. Clay continues to engage in selling farm imple- ments, an occupation which he has carried on as a side line for ten years. In political matters a republican, he has long taken a keen interest in civic affairs, and has an excellent record as a public official in the offices of councilman and mayor of Bartlesville. He is a charter member of the Woodmen of the World, the first lodge organized at Bartlesville, and also holds member- ship in the local lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of which he is a charter member, and the Rebekahs of Bartlesville. During his entire career at Coffeyville and Bartlesville he has enjoyed the esteem of his fellow-citizens, and at the present time he has a large number of friends who wish him success in his new venture.

On November 6, 1893, Mr. Clay was married to Miss Emma Foster, who was born in 1864, in Macon, Illinois, and was fourteen years of age when taken to Kansas by her parents, John and Jane (Gassaway) Foster, the former born in Kentucky, April 11, 1841, and the latter in Ohio, September 30, 1841. They were married at Springfield, Illinois, and in 1878 moved to Coffeyville, in the vicinity of which city Mr. Foster was engaged in farming. He later moved to Havensville, Kansas, where he died September 16, 1892. Mrs. Foster still survives and makes her home with her daughter, Mrs. Alice Skinner, at Caney, Kansas. They were the parents of three daughters and four sons who are now living, Mrs. Clay being the second child in order of birth. To Mr. and Mrs. Clay there have been born two children: Hattie, the wife of G. S. Hill, an attorney of Bartlesville, who has three children, Lillian, Ruth and George J .; and Sadie, the wife of Ross Spick, has one child, Emma.

HON. NEAL WILTBANK EVANS. While it is usual to speak of the pioneers of Oklahoma as the men who settled here about the time of the first opening in 1889, such a distinction is hardly adequate to describe the long residence and business, official and civic standing of such men as the late Judge Evans of El Reno. For nearly half a century he was identified with the west half of old Indian Territory and with the Territory and State of Oklahoma. He was one of the hardy and courageous men who chose the activities of the western frontier when a cordon of military forts and establish- ments were necessary to protect the advancing tide of civilization and settlement. He knew and was actively identified with the country around El Reno since the establishment of the military post of Fort Reno. From the year of statehood he gave a capable service as police judge of the City of El Reno.

Neal Wiltbank Evans was born at Lewis, Sussex County, Delaware, May 20, 1844, a son of William and Hettie (Cullen) Evans. His father was born at Balti- more Hundred, Delaware, and his mother at Berlin, Maryland. The Evans family, long established in Dela- ware, is of Welsh origin, while the Cullens were English. William Evans was a Methodist minister by profession, and lived and died in his native state. He was the father of four daughters and eight sons.

At the age of ten years Judge Evans, after a brief schooling, went to Philadelphia and had a thorough apprenticeship in the dry goods business. The persistency of his character is well illustrated in the fact that he was in the employ of one merchant in that city fourteen years. Eventually his fidelity was rewarded by promotion to a partnership.

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the firm name of Evans and Fisher his brother and partner became general merchants with stores known as post or Indian traders' stores at Forts Gibson, Arbuckle and Sill in the old Indian Territory. With this firm Judge Evans was identified until 1876, and in that year was appointed post or Indian trader at Fort Reno. Fort Reno, it should be explained, is distiuet from El Reno, the city. Fort Reno has been a military post since 1876, and is still in existence as a military reservation, being a remount station. It lies five miles west of the City of El Reno. The City of El Reno came into existence in 1889 after the opening of the original Oklahoma Territory.

As post or Indian trader at Fort Reno Judge Evans remained for about fourteen years. With the opening of Oklahoma to settlement and the establishment of El Reno, Mr. Evans as an old timer and mau of ability at once became a leading citizen of the new community, and thenceforward held a conspicuous place in the de- velopment of the city. For several years he was pro- prietor of a "racket store" at El Reno, and gave up this business when seriously injured in a runaway accident.

He was one of the original councilmen of El Reno and in 1907 became police judge of the city, a position in which his service was both prompt and efficient and in which he continued until stricken with paralysis, re- sulting in his death on November 11, 1915. In the early days of Canadian County he held for two terms of two years cach the position of county treasurer. Judge Evans was always a republican in politics.

Probably no man was held in higher esteem in El Reno and Canadian County. He had been identified with Oklahoma nearly fifty years, and in that time had come in contact with all the classes of its population and with many of its most prominent characters. Hc became intimately acquainted with many of the men who were commanding officers of the various frontier posts, such as Sheridan, Mckenzie and Lawton, whose confidence he always enjoyed, and he was likewise a friend of those old scouts Cody, Stillwell, Clark, Morrison and Horace P. Jones. He possessed a rare fund of information as to incidents and history of the territory and state and its people, and was one of the last survivors of the early pioneers. In church faith Judge Evans was a Presby- terian. He was one of the oldest Masons of Oklahoma, having taken the Master's degrees in early life, and being a life member of the lodge back in his native state. He was a Knight Templar and also a member of the Mystic Shrine.

In 1868 Judge Evans married Miss Sallie Hague, who was born in Philadelphia. She possessed many excellent qualities of heart and mind and as his helpmate gave him a courage sufficient to surmount the many obstacles in their pioneer life in Oklahoma. Mrs. Evans died in 1894, and her death was an irreparable loss to her husband and two surviving daughters. Two of the chil- dren died in childhood, and the daughters now living are: Hettie, wife of Judge W. A. Maurer of El Reno; and Mary, wife of Rev. Archibald Cardle, D. D., pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Burlington, Iowa.

HON. GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS RAMSEY. Representative in the fifth legislature from Bryan County, Gustavus Adolphus Ramsey is one of the older American citizens in Oklahoma, and has been prominent as a farmer and stockman in the old Choctaw country for many years. He became a factor in politics before the success of the statehood movement, and has represented both his party and the people in various commissions and offices. His home is at Colbert. Having come from Texas into

the Choctaw Nation in carly days, Mr. Ramsey brought many ideas on agriculture and stock raising that were of value to the natives, and during the twenty-eight years of his residence there has been one of the most conspicuous in the upbuilding of that region.

Gustavus Adolphus Ramsey was born in Pittsylvania County, Virginia, July 24, 1857, a son of John C. and Judie Ramsey. His father was descended from natives of Scotland who settled in Pennsylvania before the Revolution and later participated in that war as resi- dents of Virginia. John C. Ramsey brought his family out from Virginia to Northern Texas in 1866, making the journey with wagon and team, and from Fannin County, the place of his first settlement, subsequently removed to Grayson County. Gustavus A. Ramsey was nine years of age when he came to Texas, and on account of the disturbed conditions of society in the South during war times and the years immediately following had little opportunity to go to school, and acquired the most satis- factory part of his early training while in Grayson County. At the age of twenty-one he went to Fort Sill, Oklahoma, then a post on the frontier, and spent two years as a freighter. In 1886 he crossed the Red River and located in what is now Bryan County, Oklahoma, and thenceforth identified himself with farming and stock raising. In recent years Mr. Ramsey has special- ized in Duroe hogs, and has taken some premiums on his animals.

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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