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 118

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 118

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order and is one of the successful agriculturists and stock raisers of Pawnee County, even as he is a citizen who has secure place in popular confidence and esteem.

Mr. Long was aligned as a supporter of the cause of the democratic party until the national election of 1876, since which time he has been a staunch advocate of the principles and policies for which the republican party stands sponsor, though he has in later years manifested a distinctive appreciation of certain of the tenets of the socialist party. When Mr. Long established his home on his present farm his tangible assets in initiating operations were represented in two cows, and in the carly period of his residence in the new country he encountered a full share of pioneer hardships, his suc- cess eventually having been specially advanced through the negotiating of oil leases on his land.

In the year 1867, in Madison County, Illinois, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Long to Miss Catherine Judson, who was born in that county, on the 9th of May, 1846, the great loss and bereavement of the life of Mr. Long having come when his devoted wife and helpmeet was summoned to the life eternal, her death having occurred on his present homestead farm, on the 2d of November, 1905. Of the children the oldest is Charles M., who has the active management of his father's farm, the maiden name of his wife having been Bertha Marple, and their one child being a son, Myrle Wilson. Mary Jeannette is the wife of William W. Sims, of Mannford, Creek County, Oklahoma, and they have three children: Creta May, Emma and Gil- ford. Albert is a successful representative of agricul- tural industry in Pawnee County. He wedded Miss Emma Bell and they have four children : Clifford, Philip, Robert and Otis. John, the fourth child of the subject of this sketch, died on the 25th of December, 1908, at the age of twenty-six years, and James died at the age of seven years, in Missouri.

RAYMOND A. GRADDY. The year 1915 finds the thriv- ing little City of Watonga, judicial center of Blaine county, signally favored in having as the superintendent of its public schools so able an instructor as the popular young citizen whose name introduces this paragraph and who was elected to his present position in the autumn of 1914, his effective administration assuring his continuation in service so long, practically, as he will consent to retain the incumbency.

Mr. Graddy was born in Franklin County, Illinois, on the 31st of December, 1889, and is a son of George W. and Emma (Whiffen) Graddy, the former of whom was born in the State of Indiana, in 1851, and the latter of whom was born in White County, Illinois, in 1852. The parents passed the closing years of their lives in Frank- lin County, Illinois, and in death their devoted com- panionship was not long severed, the father having passed away in 1891, and the mother having been sum- moned to the life eternal in the preceding year. George W. Graddy was reared and educated in the old Hoosier State and as a young man he established his residence in Franklin County, Illinois, where he became a pros- perous farmer and stock grower, where his marriage was solemnized and where he and his wife passed the residue of their lives, both having been earnest members of the Baptist Church, and he having been a republican in his political proclivities, the while he was affiliated with the Masonic fraternity and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Of the children the eldest is Nora E., who resides at Canyon City, Colo., the widow of Virgil Hayes, who was a farmer by vocation; Lolle is the wife of William J. Thorpe, and they reside in the City of Des Moines, Iowa, where Mr. Thorpe is local manager for the Rumeley Company, the extensive manufacturers

of farm machinery; Thomas is a prosperous farmer in Posey County, Ind .; Susie died at New Haven, that state, when nineteen years of age; Clinton is engaged in the lumber business at Dudiey, Missouri; and Kay- mond A., of this review, is the youngest of the number.

The original American progeuitors of the Graddy family immigrated to the uew world, from Ireland, in the colonial cra of our national history, and became pioneers of Kentucky, from which historic old common- wealth went the early representatives of the name in Indiana.

Raymond A. Graddy found the period of liis child- hood and early youth compassed by the beuignant con- ditions and influences of the home farm, and after avail- ing himself of the advantages of the local schools of his native county he entered the high school at Marion, Williamson County, Illinois, in which he was graduated in 1905. Thereafter he completed a two years' course in the Illinois State Normal School at Normal, Ill.,. and his ambitiou for higher academic training was not satisfied until he had continued his studies two years in Valparaiso University, Indiana, and one year in the Southern Illinois College, at Carmi, Ill., in which institution he was graduated as a member of the class of 1912 and from which he received the degree of Bachelor of Arts. Since that time he has taken effective post graduate work in the great University of Chicago.

During the school year of 1911-12 Mr. Graddy was principal of the high school at Marlow, Stephens County, Oklahoma, to which state he had come prior to his graduation in the college mentioned above. During the autumn of 1912 and the ensuing spring he served as principal of the high school at Cleveland, Pawnee County ; and the school year of 1913-14 found him the successful and popular principal of the high school at Norman, Cleveland County. Since the autumn of 1914 he has retained the superintendency of the public schools at Watonga, Blaine County, and it may con- sistently be said that his career as a teacher in the Oklahoma schools has been marked by consecutive ad- vancement and by such scholastic and executive ability as to give him prestige as one of the representative figures in the educational circles of the state, the while his personal popularity in each of the fields in which he has labored has been of unequivocal order. At Watonga he has under his supervision three school houses and a corps of eighteen teachers, the enrollment of pupils show- ing an aggregate of 800.

Mr. Graddy is found aligned as a staunch supporter of the cause of the republican party, and he is essen- tially progressive and public-spirited in his civic attitude, with specially deep interest in all that pertains to the educational affairs of the state of his adoption. Both he and his wife hold membership in the Christian Church, in which he holds the office of deacon, and he is affiliated with the Watonga lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, as well as with the Delta Sigma Phi college fraternity. He has identified himself fully with Okla- homa, with the intention of here maintaining his perma- nent home, and he was formerly treasurer of a company identified with the oil industry in this state.

At Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, in 1914, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Graddy to Miss Ina Rose Hastings, daughter of Albert W. Hastings, a well known citizen of Oklahoma City. Mr. and Mrs. Graddy are popular factors in the leading social life of Watonga, and both are zealous in connection with the affairs of the local Christian Church.

EDWARD SWENGEL, superintendent of the Mekusukey Academy located near Seminole, Oklahoma, was born at Neoga, Cumberland County, Illinois, March 4, 1873. His

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parents, George and Sarah Swengel, came from Indiana to Neoga, Illinois, about 1866. His father was a pro- gressive and prosperous farmer and both parents were very nınch interested in churches and schools and the upbuilding of the community in which they lived. They were members of the United Brethren Church and were very careful to see that their five sous had educational advantages and Christian influences. George Swengel died when his son Edward was thirteen years of age.

The latter had his early training in the public schools of Illinois, aud also had the advantage of courses in the United Brethren College at Westfield, Illinois, and Austin College at Effingham, Illinois. His early years were divided between teaching in the rural schools of Illinois and working a farm. He was elected principal of the. schools at Dieterich in his native state, and as editor and owner of the Dieterich Gazette got a taste of news- paper work which was repeated after he came to Okla- homa.

When he arrived in Tulsa iu the spring of 1902 he found the town just beginning to grow, and with a population of not more than 2,000 people. In the fol- lowing September he was appointed principal teacher in the Wealaka Indian Boarding School near Tulsa, and was soon afterwards made superintendent of that school. After two years at Wealaka he was promoted to the superintendency of the National Boarding School at Wetumka, a capacity in which he served three years.

While superintendent at Wetumka Mr. Swengel bought the land adjoining the site of the school and several years later when the school was discontinued he bought the school land and buildings. This land now com- prises one of the fine farms in the Canadian River bot- tom, and in point of fertility and improvement it is one of the best farms in Eastern Oklahoma. Mr. Swengel also bought a half interest in the Wetumka Gazette and filled the chair of editor for some time. His interest in the raising of Poland China hogs and Hereford cattle on his farm required so much time and attention that he sold his interest in the paper. After five years of practical farming he accepted the principalship of the Capitol Heights School at Holdenville, Oklahoma, and later was promoted to the principalship of the Central School in the same city. In September, 1914, he was tendered the principalship of Armstrong Male Academy at Academy, Oklahoma, and from that place was pro- moted to superintendent of the Mekusukey Academy December 16, 1915.

Both Mr. and Mrs. Swengel are deeply interested in the education of Indian children. He is now beginning his eighth year in the Indian service. Mekusukey Academy, of which he is superintendent, has a capacity of 100 Indian children with fifteen employees. This school is conducted like a big home for children, and they remain there nine months of the year. All the pupils are required to take the literary course, while the girls are instructed in domestic science and art and the boys in agriculture and manual training. Every effort is made to make these students useful men and women. The school is situated on a farm of 320 acres on one of the most beautiful and picturesque spots in Eastern Oklahoma. No other one factor has done so much for the uplift and welfare of the Seminole Indians as the Mekusukey Academy.

For several years prior to his entering the Indian services in 1914, Mr. Swengel was secretary of the Hughes County Farmers Institute, and in that capacity and as a practical farmer and far-seeing educator has devoted much time and money to the encouragement of a better system of farming, better livestock and better seeds for this section of Oklahoma. Upon the advent of statehood he was elected representative of Hughes Vol. V-26

County in the first State Legislature. In that session he gave particular attention to laws concerning agriculture, public schools and taxation. Mr. Swengel is a lifelong democrat and though a man of positive ideas on political questions is tolerant and liberal with people who hold different views. His influence has been worthily directed to maintain the purity and integrity of official adminis- tration, and he has ever declined to support any man for office he thought incompetent or unworthy. It is a part of his creed that the future success of the party depends upon the uprightness of its leaders.

Mr. Swengel is a Master Mason, aud was trustee of Wetumka Lodge when its hall was built, and he assisted in the supervisiou of that work. For many years he has been affiliated with the Modern Woodmen of America and was clerk of his camp several years at Dieterich, Illinois. Mr. and Mrs. Swengel are active members of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

In ancestry Mr. Swengel is of German stock on his father's side, while from his mother he received the qualities of Scotch-Irish. On September 10, 1893, at Paradise, Illinois, he married Lula B. Morrison, daugh- ter of G. C. and P. A. Morrison. Her father was a successful stock buyer and farmer near Neoga, Illinois. Mrs. Swengel has been not only the guardian of the destinies of the home but also a factor of constant en- couragement and inspiration to Mr. Swengel in his career. She is a woman of fine education, and in addi- tion to the public schools of Illinois which she attended she was a student in the United Brethren College at Westfield and Austin College at Effingham, the same in- stitutions which Mr. Swengel attended. They have one bright and attractive daughter, Ruth Louise, now six years of age.

OSCAR K. PETTY, vice president and active manager of the Farmers State Bank of Hominy, Mr. Petty has for .several years been closely identified with the general commercial enterprise of Hominy. The successful posi- tion of the bank is in a considerable degree due to his personality and ability as financial manager, and he has furthermore shown a ready interest and public spirit in promoting every enterprise for the upbuilding and de- velopment of his section. The Farmers State Bank of Hominy was chartered and opened for business March 18, 1912, and on May 10, 1913, occurred a reorganization by the present owners. W. S. Crowe is president, Mr. Petty is vice president, O. L. Barlow, cashier, and the other directors are Percy Dixou and Mrs. Addie Drummond. The capital stock is $25,000, surplus and profits $4,000, and its aggregate resources now place it among the leading institutions of the kind in Northeastern Okla- homa.

The vice president of this bauk comes of a fine old Tennessee family, and was born at Hamburg in that state March 6, 1884, a son of William G. and Margaret A. (Perkins) Petty, both of whom were natives of McNairy County, Tennessee, his father born September 6, 1841, aud his mother in 1866. They are still living at Ham- burg. His father has been a farmer, physician, merchant and banker, is now president of the Planters and Mer- chants Bank of Hamburg, and gives most of his time to the handling of his extensive financial interests. He was graduated from the Kentucky School of Medicine and took post-graduate work in the New York schools, but for several years has been retired from his pro- fession.

One of a family of thirteen children and the oldest of the nine still living, Oscar K. Petty grew up in Tennessee, graduated from a local collegiate institution in 1901, and then became associated with his father in merchandising up to 1904. After attending a college in St. Louis for a

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time, he first came to Hominy iu 1905, where he served as an expert accountant for M. F. Fraley.

In 1907 Mr. Petty married Miss Blanche Henrietta Drummond, daughter of the late Fred Drummond, one of the pioneer traders of the Osage country and an active factor in the Farmers State Bauk at the time of his death. The life of Fred Drummoud, who was one of Hominy 's leading citizens, is sketched on other pages. After his marriage Mr. Petty returned with his bride to Tennessee, and spent two years with the Hamburg Mer- cantile Company. Returning to Hominy in 1909, he became actively identified with the Hominy Trading Company, and was with that concern until 1913, when he took part in the reorganization of the Farmers State Bank and has since been its vice president and active manager.

Mr. Petty is a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason, has been a member of the Mystic Shrine since 1906, and is also affiliated with the Eastern Star, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and the Knights of Pythias and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He is active in the Christian Church and is now superin- tendent of its Sunday school. His politics are democratic. He served three years on the local school board and was a member of the city council two years. Mr. and Mrs. Petty have four children: Drummond, Helen Claire, Blanche and Margaret. The oldest was born in Tenues- see, while the three other children claim Hominy as the place of their nativity.

· I. O. DIGGS, Stillwater, Oklahoma, has been editor aud publisher of The Advance-Democrat since 1900, and post- master at Stillwater since February, 1914. As postmaster of this important office of the second class, Mr. Diggs has been eminently effective and universally satisfactory. But it is as editor of The Advance-Democrat that Mr. Diggs has made his impression on the people of Oklahoma and especially of Payne County.

The location of the A. & M. College at Stillwater. makes that city the center of considerable interest in Oklahoma, and in the intellectual life of that college community a very significant part has always been played by The Advance-Democrat and its editor, Mr. Diggs. In fact he has made The Advance-Democrat known and respected as a fine, strong, clean exponent of all that is best in community welfare.

Mr. Diggs is a recognized leader in the councils of the democratic party in Payne County and in Oklahoma. He has served as chairman of the county organization and been repeatedly elected as state committeeman. His paper has always been a virile exponent of the principles of the democratic party.

Irvin Owings Diggs was born at Arrow Rock, Saline County, Missouri, June 5, 1873, aud is a son of William Bailey Diggs and Cynthia Emeline (Morris) Diggs.

William Bailey Diggs was born at Yorktown, Virginia, June 9, 1827, and Cynthia E. Morris was born at Dan- ville, Missouri, August 11, 1836. William Bailey Diggs came to Missouri as a yound man established his resi- dence in St. Louis and there attended school. He was married to Cynthia E. Morris in Montgomery County, Missouri, where she had been born and reared. There- after they lived for many years in Saline County where he was a very successful farmer.

William Bailey Diggs died at Arrow Rock, Saline County, Missouri, November 2, 1912, at the hale old age of eighty-five years. He was ever public spirited. He was a member of the Southern Methodist Church, lived a hearty and a noble life and spent time and money for the upbuilding of the church and the betterment of humanity. He was a staunch democrat, influential in local affairs, and commanded the respect and esteem of

his fellow men. His wife Cynthia Emeline still survives him (in 1916) and is hale and hearty at the age of eighty years. Of their nine children all but one attained to years of maturity and seven of them are now living (1916). The names of the children of William Bailey Diggs are: Wirtley Marvin, Nora Jane, Esther Catherine, Laura, William Thomas, Bascom, Watson, Irvin Owings, Seth Morris.

I. O. Diggs is descended from a fine old Virginia fam- ily which can trace its ancestry back to good blood in England. The name now spelled Diggs was spelled Degge (Digges). William Bailey Diggs, the father of I. O. Diggs, was a son of Jesse Diggs who served in the War of 1812. Jesse Diggs was the son of Augustine Degge, the son of Simon Degge, the son of Capt. John Degge, who according to the William and Mary Quarterly is directly descended from Sir Simon Degge of England, who was justice for Staffordshire of the inner temple at London, one of His Majesty's council.

The Virginia family which began with Capt. John Degge still holds a very ancient coat of arms described in Burke's General Armory. The names of important persons called "Headrights" are given at the foot of land patents, and the name of Capt. John Degge is found in the land office records at Richmond as one who got a patent in 1678 for 1,800 acres for importing thirty-six persons.

I. O. Diggs got his early traiuing on the home farm and in the public schools of his native county. After finishing the public school he pursued higher academic studies in The McMahan Institute at Arrow Rock, Mis- souri, and in the state normal at Warrensburg, Missouri. At twenty-four years of age he began his career as a newspaper man, by purchasing, in partnership with his brother, Bascom Diggs, the Arrow Rock Statesman, of which his brother is still the editor and publisher. In 1898 I. O. Diggs sold his interest in this paper and for the two following years he was engaged in publishing a weekly paper at Hartville, Missouri. He then went to Arizona for some months, and from Arizona he returned for a time to his old home in Missouri.

In 1900 Mr. Diggs came to Stillwater, Oklahoma Terri- tory and engaged in the newspaper business, to which he has given his talent until he added the duties of postmaster in February, 1914.

Mr. Diggs was married to Miss Maliuda Blanche Wisc June 24, 1903. Mrs. Diggs had been reared and educated in Oklahoma where her parents had established their home when she was a child and where they spent the rest of their lives meriting enduring appreciation and respect for their honored part among the pioneers of the state.

Mrs. Diggs' father, Levi Wise, was born August 2, 1833, near Louisville, Kentucky, and died February 27, 1908. Mrs. Diggs' mother, Alice (Wheeler) Wise, was born January 3, 1853, at Liberty, Missouri, and died June 14, 1908, at Stillwater, Oklahoma.

Mrs. Diggs graduated from the Oklahoma A. & M. College in the third graduating class of that institution, in 1898. She was a successful and popular teacher in the public schools of Oklahoma until the time of her marriage.

Mrs. Diggs. has unusual talent and typical southern culture. She is gifted and trained in public speaking and won the entire series of Demorest medal contests, silver medal, gold medal, grand gold medal, and diamond medal, which entitled her to a diploma for proficiency in oratory. Mr. and Mrs. Diggs have one daughter, Cyn- thalice Io, born April 20, 1910. Both Mr. and Mrs. Diggs are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, of which he has always been an official member and a most helpful supporter, and in which she has been

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always a spiritual helper. Mrs. Diggs is also strong and active in the social organizations and public spirited agencies of the community.

Mr. Diggs' most important social service has been through the high moral tone and excellent quality of his paper and through the things that he has stood for in the life of the community and the state. His paper has always been an able exponent of the principles of the democratic party. He has also used his pen always for the ideals which promise the largest measure of human welfare. Whatever is evil he has opposed fearlessly. Whatever is good he has advocated at whatever cost. His courage and his devotion to human welfare was nobly and heroically manifested when before the state had a law prohibiting the liquor traffic he through his own efforts and self sacrifice and great material loss gave to his own county effective prohibition. For that sacri- ficial service and for an ideal life of absolute integrity many will praise and appreciate him always as a fine, strong, noble, manly man.

WILLIAM JOURDAN WHITEMAN. A conspicuous figure in business and civic affairs in the old Choctaw Nation and in later years around Goodwater and Idabel has been William Jourdan Whiteman, a resident of Oklahoma since 1893.

He was born in Red River County, Texas, three and a half miles northeast of Clarksville on November 3, 1869, a son of David C. and Mary E. Whiteman, who now have their home at Haworth, Oklahoma, aged respectively seventy-nine and seventy-five years.

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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