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 125

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 125

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THOMAS H. DOYLE. Judge Doyle, who presides over the Oklahoma Court of Appeals, is a man of active middle age, born in Worcester County, Massachusetts, December 21, 1863. He obtained the bulk of his education in the public schools, and was admitted to practice at the Kansas bar in 1887. Judge Doyle served in the House of Representatives of Oklahoma Territory in 1897-1901, and during the former year was speaker of that body. From the Fifty-seventh to the Fifty-ninth congresses, inclusive (1901-07), he was a non-partisan delegate at Washington in the cause of joint statehood; in 1908 served as delegate-at-large and chairman of the Oklahoma delegation to the democratic national convention held at Denver, Colorado, and in 1912 was honorary vice chair- man of the delegation which represented Oklahoma in the democratic national convention which assembled at Baltimore in 1912. In January, 1908, he had been chosen associate justice of the Oklahoma Court of Appeals and has been presiding judge since January, 1915. His term expires in January, 1917.

CHARLES HODGE MILLER. One of the fine old pio- neers of Eastern Oklahoma was the late Charles Hodge Miller, who died at Yale, Oklahoma, February 12, 1910, aged sixty-six years. His had been a varied and eventful career, one of many experiences and vicissitudes, but through it all he carried the char- acter of an upright and generous hearted gentleman, and left a large circle of friends to cherish his man- hood and the honorable part he played during a lifetime.

He was born in the Cherokee Nation of Georgia, a son of Jacob and Sarah (Fields) Miller. After the discovery of gold on the Pacific coast the father set out for California, and was never heard of again by members of his family. Thus Charles H. Miller grew up with scanty advantages of school but with the practical training that comes to every pioneer youth, and with a discipline in the manliness and honor that

count most in the world. He attended school at Coweta Mission and Greenfield, Missouri.

When a mere boy he left school to enlist in the Northern Army in Company H of the Fourteenth Mis- souri Volunteer Cavalry. He served throughout the war, and after leaving the Missouri regiment he enlisted in Company G of the Fifth Regiment, United States Artillery. At the close of his period of enlist- ment he was honorably discharged from the service at Little Rock, Arkansas, November 4, 1868, being recommended as a good soldier in both the volunteers and the regulars.

After his army career he went East and for a time ran a steamboat on the St. Lawrence River. From there he removed to Pennsylvania, and was connected with the powder mills at Wapwallopen in that state. He held various positions of trust in Pennyslvania, and from there he came to Eastern Oklahoma thirty- two years ago. He arrived at Muskogee in October of that year and thence came to Red Fork near Tulsa, where for a number of years he was proprietor of a hotel. Eventually he acquired considerable interest as a ranch owner and stockman in the old Creek Nation, and it was with those interests he was chiefly busy during his later years. When not looking after his stock and land he made his home for the last two years of his life with his daughter, Mrs. O. C. Dale, in Yale, Oklahoma.

Because of his long and honorable service in the army, four years in the volunteers and three years in the regulars, Mr. Miller always enjoyed a special place of honor among the Grand Army Veterans, and his old comrades as well as hundreds of friends and fellow citizens attended his funeral and paid the proper tribute of respect when he was buried at Yale.

In politics he was a republican, though most of his people were democrats. At Wapwallopen, Pennsyl- vania, Charles H. Miller married Civilla Mowery, daughter of Philip and Lydia Mowery. There were three children: Izora Miller, now the wife of Oliver C. Dale, president of the Yale Oil and Gas Company at Tulsa; Ambrose Miller, who is treasurer of the Yale Oil and Gas Company, and married Miss Alice Tage; and Chester Arthur Miller, who died in Pennsylvania, when about four years of age. Mr. Miller was also survived by his sister, Mrs. Lizzie Montgall, of Okmulgee. The late Mr. Miller was on the ground during the original opening of Oklahoma Territory, being one of the first men in Guthrie, though he did not homestead any land.

THOMAS P. GORE. United States Senator Gore is a Mississippian, born in Webster County, December 10, 1870. Although he lost the sight of both eyes, by acci- dents, before he was twelve years of age, he made rapid progress in his studies, and in 1890 graduated from the Normal School at Walthall, his native state. In 1892 Cumberland University, Tennessee, conferred the degree of B. L. upon him, and in the same year he was admitted to the bar. While pursuing his law studies he also taught school for about a year.

In 1895 Mr. Gore moved to Texas and at once became prominent in independent political movements. He served as delegate to the populist national convention of 1896, which met in St. Louis. and in 1898 became the con- gressional nominee of the people's party for the sixth district, but was defeated in the election. Joining the democracy in 1899, during the following year he was an active campaigner in South Dakota, and also served his party in that capacity in Illinois, Ohio, New York and Indiana, during the year 1904.

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Mr. Gore had moved to Oklahoma in 1901, and in the following year was elected to the Territorial Council, serving in that body until 1905. He commenced his senatorial career in November, 1907, and in 1909 was elected for the full six years' term. He was re-elected in 1915 for the term ending 1921. In 1912 Senator Gore served as a member of the executive committee of the democratic national committee, and is an acknowledged leader in the upper house of Congress.

CHARLES WEST. A leading member of the bar and for eight years attorney general of the state, Charles West is a native of Savannah, Georgia, born March 16, 1872. He graduated from Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, in 1891, with the degree A. B., and in 1892-4 pursued post-graduate work at the University of Leipzig and his alma mater. Mr. West was admitted to the bar of Oklahoma Territory in 1895 and practiced for a number of years at Pound Creek and Enid. In 1907 he was elected attorney general of the state, and at the con- clusion of his term, in 1915, located for the resumption of private practice at Oklahoma City. At present he is the senior member of the firm of West, Hull & Hagan.

Mr. West has served as president of the Attorney Generals' Association (1911-12) ; is a lecturer on law at the State University; is a member of the National Tax Association, and in 1898-1910 was especially active in national guard matters. In the latter year he retired with the rank of lieutenant colonel.

JOSEPH A. GILL, ex-United States district judge of Indian Territory, has been an active factor in the bench and bar of the West for over thirty years. He was born in Wheeling, West Virginia, February 17, 1854, and received his scholastic education in the public schools of Springfield, Illinois, and the Illinois Industrial Uni- versity at Champaign. After teaching school and study- ing law for several years, in 1880 he was admitted to the bar at Springfield, and practiced in that city until 1883. Since the latter year he has been a resident of the West. From 1883-7 he practiced his profession at Astoria, Oregon, and from 1887-99 at Colby, Kansas. He was appointed United States district judge for the Northern district of Indian Territory in 1899, and occu- pied that bench until 1908. Judge Gill also served as one of the three commissioners charged with the organiza- tion of Indian Territory as part of the State of Okla- homa. Since his retirement from the bench, in 1908, he has been engaged in practice at Vinita. The judge is a member of the Missionary Baptist Church and a leading Mason (thirty-second degree Shriner).

ROBERT L. WILLIAMS. The present incumbent of the gubernatorial chair, Robert L. Williams, was born at Brundige, Alabama, December 20, 1868. He received his higher education at the Southern University of Alabama, which conferred upon him the degree of M. A. in 1894. He was admitted to the bar in 1891, and first practiced at Troy, Alabama. In 1896 he became a resident of Atoka, Indian Territory, and six months later moved to Durant. He served as city attorney of that place in 1899; was a member of the Indian Territory Democratic Committee in 1902-4 and of the democratic national com- mittee in 1904-8. In 1906 he had been sent as a delegate to the Oklahoma Constitutional Convention, and in the following year became chief justice of the state Supreme Court. He served, by re-election, until his resignation from the bench in March, 1915. In the latter year he was elected governor of Oklahoma for the term ending 1919. Although his official residence is at Oklahoma City, his home is still at Durant.

COL. SIDNEY SUGGS. Since early territorial days the name of Sidney Suggs has figured prominently in many varied business activities and in the civic life of Southern Oklahoma, particularly the country around Ardmore. His ability to handle large affairs has always meant more than a private fortune. In many ways his pros- perity has been reflected in the growth and improvement. of every community which he has touched. Particularly in recent years has Colonel Suggs given his advocacy and influence to the improvement of Oklahoma highways, and the good roads movement has no stronger and more effectual friend than this Ardmore citizen. To him belongs the distinction of having originated the idea of the "Educational Mile of Road" and of having demon- strated its feasibility by having actually constructed a mile of highway in Seminole County, October 12, 1914. The idea has been adopted by several counties in Okla- homa and in one county seventy-five miles of road were built in one year. Under this plan school boys construct the road while the girls of the school set out trees and shrubbery along the highway to shade and beautify it.

A native of Mississippi, Sidney Suggs was born in 1853 and is of old and prominent American stock. His parents were Dr. Isaac T. and Jane (Fullwood) Suggs. The name was originally spelled Sugg, but his great- grandfather sometime before the Revolutionary war added an s, and that method of spelling has been fol- lowed by all his descendants. George Suggs was an officer in the American army during the Revolution, and after- wards established a home on the boundary line between North and South Carolina. He married Miss Catherine Sanders. One of their sons was Laban Suggs, grad- father of Colonel Suggs. When eighteen years of age Laban Suggs married Ione Hood, who was then sixteen. Her father, Capt. John Hood, a native of Ireland, came to America about the time the Revolution started, joined a cavalry company of which he became captain, and in the course of one of his campaigns he stopped with his men for a meal at the house of a family named Wallace. The meal was cooked by little Mary Wallace, then twelve years of age, and on leaving the house Captain Hood told her he would return after the war, and he did so and she became his wife. She was Irish or Scotch and of a noble family. She was one of the heroines of the Revolution. One time about fifteen Tories came to her father's house and demanded dinner, and finding some apple brandy they became very drunk. The daughter ran away while they were engaged in eating and drinking and informed a band of Whigs of their presence. The patriots made a rush on the place and captured the entire number of Tories, two of whom they hanged for murder. Captain Hood was a zealous patriot. After the war, hearing a man express his loyalty to King George, the captain seized the Tory by the hair, jerked him down and with a handsaw commenced to saw off his head. The fellow begged and pleaded for mercy, and finally took the oath never to mention the name of King George again. His neck was badly injured, but the patriotic assailant nursed him well again and the man became a good neighbor. Captain Hood built the first cotton gin in the York district of South Carolina.

Dr. Isaac T. Suggs, who was one of the family of fourteen children born to Laban and Ione Suggs, spent his early life in South Carolina and near Yorkville married Miss Jane Fullwood. Her ancestors came from Holland, and her father, Robert Fullwood, was a man of considerable prominence in South Carolina. Doctor Suggs took his family to Mississippi soon after his marriage in 1838, and in 1866 moved to Texas, locating at Mount Pleasant, where he lived until his death in September, 1887, at the age of seventy-four. His wife

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died at the age of seventy-one in January, 1891. During the war Doctor Suggs served as post surgeon in charge of the hospital at Tupelo, Mississippi.

Col. Sidney Suggs was fourteen years of age when le came with his parents to Texas, and he continued his education in the common schools in the eastern part of that state. For fifteen years of his early career he represented the Tompkins Machinery & Implement Com- pany of Dallas. When the firm failed he was appointed sole adjuster, and in the course of five years he cleared up and collected a large share of the accounts left by the firm, amounting to upwards of four hundred thousand dollars. In 1877 Col. Sidney Suggs formed a copartenership with his brother Hugh, and for many years they were closely associated in all their varied business undertakings and on terms of such mutual con- fidence as seldom exist even among brothers. Neither party ever thought it necessary to ask for an accounting of the other, each was interested in every venture, and the profits from every enterprise whether individual or partnership was turned into a common fund for the equal benefit of both. These brothers established and conducted cotton gins, corn and flour mills, sawmills, lumber yard, and were also extensively connected with the cattle industry. Two towns in particular benefited from their enterprise, Ardmore and Berwyn.

Colonel Suggs has long been a notable figure in business circles at Ardmore, and in 1897 he became proprietor of the Ardmorite, and soon made it the lead- ing newspaper in that section of Indian Territory.

At the age of twelve years Colonel Suggs became a member of the old school Presbyterian Church, and has always been true to the Christian teachings of his youth and active in membership as well as in support of the church and benevolent activities. He is a Mason, having affiliation with the Blue Lodge, Chapter, Com- mandery and Mystic Shrine, and is affiliated with the various branches of the Independent Order of Odd Fel- lows, the Woodmen of the World, and other organizations.

In 1876 Colonel Suggs married Miss Dixie Barnhart, who died June 6, 1891, the mother of six children named Edna, Ella, Stella, Sidney, Velie Charles and Kate. On September 20, 1892, Colonel Suggs married Miss Minnie Murray, of North Carolina. She survived only two months and seven days after her marriage. On June 26,. 1895, Colonel Suggs married the widow of Judge Olive, an attorney of Texas, and who was the mother of three children : Zoe, Vera and John.

Os M. STEVENS. Education and financial assistance are very important factors in achieving success in the business world of today, where every faculty must be brought into play, but they are not the main elements. Persistency and determination figure much more promi- nently and a man possessed of these qualities is bound to win a fair amount of success. Os M. Stevens, whose name forms the caption for this article, practically earned his own education and he enjoys the unique experience of stepping from a cattle-ranch saddle into the ink-stained interior of a printshop. The success he has accomplished; culminating in his present office as editor and manager of one of the leading weekly news- papers of Oklahoma, is proof that hard and consistent work in the printshop is more profitable and gives better compensation for education and character than does the cattle range.

A native of the Old Dominion. State, Mr. Stevens was born in Virginia in 1877. His parents were both honored descendants of families that sent warriors to the front.' in the days of the Revolution. Through his ancestors Mr. Stevens is related to Henry Ward Beecher and to

the noted Hitt and Brace families of Virginia. The Stevens family consists of six children, concerning whom the following brief data are here inserted: E. P. is a viaduct builder and inventor in Chicago; Mattie Griffith is a widow and makes her home in Chicago; Laura is. the wife of Mr. Hantz, of Scott Center, Kansas; Mrs. C. M. Worter, of Chicago; Mrs. E. C. Dowd, of Guthrie, Oklahoma; and Os M. is the subject of this sketch.

After a common-school education in the public schools of Kansas, Mr. Stevens was for a number of years employed on a cattle ranch. He then decided to learn the art of printing and after an apprenticeship in a newspaper office in Kansas, he located at Lexington, Oklahoma, where he became one of the well known editors and publishers of the equally well known weekly Youall's Doin's, a publication that attracted unusual attention throughout the entire state by reason of its bizarre name and unusual contents. In 1901 he located at Coalgate and became associated with Michael B. Hick- man in the publication of -the Courier. When Mr. Hick- man became owner of the Record-Register, Mr. Stevens became editor of that paper. His editorial attitude has always been toward high morals and one of his prin- cipal achievements in Coal County has been that of conducting his paper as a leader in a campaign for prohibition and law enforcement. In addition to being editor of the Record-Register Mr. Stevens is manager of the Coalgate Publishing Company, a corporation of which M. B. Hickman is president; Arthur Jones, of Lehigh, vice president; A. T. West, of Coalgate, secretary; and J. I. Murray, of Coalgate, treasurer. Mr. Stevens is doing efficient work as county probation officer of Coal County and in politics he is a stalwart democrat.

June 22, 1900, at Lexington, Oklahoma, Mr. Stevens married Miss Willia B. Hickman and to them have been born three children, whose names and dates of birth are here incorporated: Laur, 1901; Edna, 1903; and Ruth, 1906. Mr. and Mrs. Stevens are devout members of the Methodist Episcopal Church and he is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias, in which he holds the rank of past chancellor and past district deputy grand chan- cellor of the state.

MORRIS HANDVERKER. Among the men of Lawton, Oklahoma, who have attained business success and prominence through the medium of hard work, business sagacity and indomitable perseverance, Harris and Morris Handverker, father and son, stand in a foremost position. In their careers, and particularly in that of the father, are to be found lessons which prove the value of persistence in the face of difficulties and dis- couragements which cannot fail to be of value to the rising generation, while the incidents of their lives must prove of interest to all who admire the characteristic? which make up self-made manhood.

Harris Handverker was born in Poland, Russia, July 8, 1861, a son of Philip and Helen (Jaxobowitz) Hand- verker, the former born in 1819 and died in 1892. He was a well-to-do tanner, a man of some influence in his community, and well versed in the Jewish Ritual. There were seven children in the family: Cirvis, who was married and died in Russia; Augusta, who married David Bernstein, now retired, of Poland; Celia, who is the wife of Jacob Hoffman, a butcher of Poland; Harris; Leah, who was married and died in Poland; Irle, who is the wife of Jacob Cincinnati, a tailor of Poland; and Wilhelm, a newspaper publisher of Poland, and as such one of the most prominent men of his locality.

Harris Handverker was educated in his native land, and as a young man of twenty-one years decided to try his fortunes in the United States. Arriving in New

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York City, he found employment at his trade, that of lathe turner, at which he worked for two years, and in 1884 went back to his native place where he remained for two years. In 1886 he returned to New York City and began to work at the cloakmaker's trade, but after one year went back to Russia and remained one year. Again he came to New York City, and again, in 1890, he went back to Poland, but in 1891 he came again to the United States, this time to remain. After ten months here, he sent for his wife and children, and continued to work in New York City for one year, accumulating enough money through hard and faithful work to take his family to Colton, California, where he began his career as a peddler in a modest way. He spent one year at Colton, two years at San Bernardino and three years at Los Angeles, and then went to San Diego, California, where he continued peddling for one year and then established himself in the hide business. Having accumulated some small means, Mr. Handverker came to Oklahoma and located in Oklahoma City, one year before the opening of that place. He worked as a retail clothing salesman for one year, and at the open- ing of the reservation became a pioneer of Lawton, August 4, 1901, and purchased a business and residence lot, all that was allowed by law. For about three years he continued to work for wages in the clothing business, and then established an enterprise of his own in the same line. He was capable, thoroughly informed, ener- getic and courteous, and his business soon began to prosper and to grow to large proportions, but the panic of 1907 came on, and, with other able business men, he failed and lost the fortune that he had so laboriously accumulated. This misfortune would have entirely dis- couraged and beaten the great majority of men, but Mr. Handverker was made of sterner stuff. He failed to acknowledge defeat, and although the blow had been a heavy one he at once set to work to recuperate his lost prosperity. He was content to follow general work for two years and to accept whatever honorable employ- ment fell to his lot. Mrs. Handverker owned three building properties and in the fall of 1909 these were sold and. Mr. Handverker again engaged in business on his own account, opening a small store on C Avenue. Again his enterprise, business judgment and tireless energy brought him success, and in 1911 he was com- pelled to open larger quarters. These sufficed until 1915, when his business had grown to such large pro- portions that he was again compelled to seek more extensive space, and on April 1st of that year he moved into his present establishment, at 327-329 D Avenue, where lie occupies the ground floor and a floor space of 50 by 120 feet, one of the largest stores of Lawton. Here he has a model modern department store, stocked with the finest of goods of every variety. His business attracts its trade from Comanche, Cotton, Jefferson, Tillman, Kiowa, Caddo and even more distant counties, and no better testimonial of Mr. Handverker's honor- able dealings can be found than the fact that the cus- tomers who deal with him once remain as his patrons afterward. In business circles, Mr. Handverker bears the highest reputation, for he has been found faithful in his engagements and a man in whom his associates may place the utmost confidence. In addition to his store on D Avenue, he owns a business property on C Avenue, his residence in Lawton and other valuable realty. He has not been found wanting in public spirit when civic movements are started, and is one of the active and working members of the Lawton Chamber of Commerce. Fraternally, he is connected with the Wood- men of the World, the Modern Woodmen of America No. 10,256 and the Woodmen's Circle, and his political support is given to the republican party. Mr. Hand-

verker is a member of the Jewish Church, and is widely known for his proficiency in the Jewish Ritual.

Harris Handverker was married in Poland, in 1880, to Miss Minnie Eckstein, who was born in Poland in 1861, daughter of the late David Eckstein, who was a tailor. Seven children have been born to this union, namely: Herman, who died in Russia at the age of three years; Leah, who also died there when three years old; Samuel, who died at Kingfisher, Oklahoma, at the age of eight years; Morris; Frank, who died while the family was moving from Oklahoma City to Lawton, aged fourteen years; Helen, who is attending the Lawton High School; and Everett, born November 11, 1900, who entered high school in September, 1915.

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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