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 127

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 127

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structive work of improvement among the Osages. In three years time he had converted them from a wild roving tribe into peaceful and permanent settlers, interested in the upbuilding of homes and in the arts and pursuits of agriculture and civilization. He induced his wards to split many thousands of rails, to erect permanent homes, and to till the soil. When he first came among them the Osages had a bad reputa- tion, and he had the satisfaction of seeing that yield to a reputation for honesty and quiet law abiding industry. Among these people he won close friends, and all of them admired him for his thorough honesty. While he had opportunities to make a fortune he actually left the agency poorer in dollars and cents than when he had come. This is certainly a record which makes his experience notable in the Indian country. After the Osages moved to Indian territory Mr. Gibson laid out a white man's road and announced publicly to the Indians that for those who wished to take the white man's way he would secure allotments of land and get it recorded and thus established them severally in independent homes of their own. He helped them in clearing up the land, in securing appro- priate implements for them to carry on their simple agriculture, and also induced several Indian mis- sionaries to come and assist the women in learning the fundamentals of housekeeping. During the first year he induced more than fifty families to remain and con- tinue the work of splitting rails and effecting other permanent improvements, and during that winter these families got out over 80,000 rails instead of going on the annual hunt. In the next season a still larger number remained behind and kept up their fence building and other farm improvements. In the year 1875 those who had not accepted his plan of permanent settlement went away to the plains for hunting, but in the meantime the buffalo had been practically exter- minated, and the hunters soon returned disheartened and quite willing to accept the circumstances of civil- ized life.

Some other points in the work of this Oklahoma missionary are brought out in the following quotation from a letter written by his son:

"It might be of interest to add that Father Gibson was one of fourteen 'Quaker' Indian agents appointed under President Grant's so-called 'church policy' with the wild tribes of Indians. The writer has in his possession a group photograph of eleven of them including Lawrie Tatum, agent for the Kiowas and Comanches; Brinton Darlington for the Cheyennes and Arapahoes; Mahlon Stubbs for the Kaws; Jolm D. Miles, Dr. Richards, and others, all of whom have doubtless had honorable mention in your historical work, since these men were among the first authorized white settlers of the Indian Territory, as they were the first Indian Agents to live with the tribes under their charge. This fact was appreciated by the Indians themselves who stated in speeches in Council -'Heretofore our govenment agents have visited us about once a year bringing us a few presents, but you have shown enough interest in our welfare to bring your families and live with us, showing us the white man's road and his religion.'

"An examination of their reports and letters to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs at Washington, D. C., will indicate how largely instrumental these devoted men were in reconciling these wild, roving, thieving, murderous bands of Indians to their reservations in the Indian Territory, and the changed conditions of living so at variance with their previous customs, habits and traditions. Verily their works do live after them."

In 1876 Mr. Gibson returned to Iowa and was engaged in farming in that state until the death of his wife. He then lived with his sons in Kansas and Oklahoma. His older son is Allen H. of Coffeyville. Kansas, and the other is Thomas Embree, of Big Heart, Oklahoma. Mr. and Mrs. Gibson had seven children, but four of them died in infancy, and the daughter, Mary Elma, died at the age of twenty-eight.

REV. JOSEPH S. MURROW. It is impossible to charac- terize fitly the life and service of this venerable and dignified minister of the Gospel whose name is known and revered by many thousands of Oklahoma people. No measure of gold or mundane success could be applied to his career. Yet on the life of two genera- tions of people, especially the old Indian tribes of Oklahoma, he has exercised an influence beyond all estimates and reckonings. And it is noteworthy that even now, when others can perceive the widespread fruits of his ministry and when he is rounding out a lifetime in his eighties, Reverend Mr. Murrow is inclined to depreciate and undervalue the effective- ness of his life work. Such is the essential modesty, simplicity of the man, who has no disposition to crave the fame of men and leaves to a higher power any judgment of his achievements.

As to those facts which are usually considered in a biography, Joseph Samuel Murrow was born in Jeffer- son County, Georgia, June 7, 1835. His grandfather, William Murrow, was one of the followers of General Francis Marion in the War of the Revolution. His father, John Murrow, married Mary Amelia Badger, and this couple had six children.

He received a meager education in the public schools of his native community, and a better training in the Springfield Academy in Effingham County. Later he was a student in Mercer University, one of the leading Baptist schools in Georgia. From early child- hood he was possessed of an earnest desire to become a minister, and this desire, augmented by the teach- ings of a noble father already in the work, was a great help to the ambitious youth.

At the age of nineteen in 1854 he united with the Green Fork Baptist Church and the following year was licensed to preach. It was after that time, in 1856, that lie matriculated as a student in Mercer University.

Ordained to the ministry in September, 1857, at Macon, Georgia, he was appointed by the Domestic and Indian Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention and supported by the Rehoboth Associa- tion as a missionary to the Indians in the West. On November 13, 1857, he arrived at old North Fork town, now Eufaula. At that time there were no rail- roads west of the Mississippi River. He spent five weeks making the trip.

Some years ago Reverend Mr. Murrow furnished an interview to a correspondent who wrote up the substance of the interview under the title "Rem- iniscences of a Missionary Among South-West Wild Indians. " In that article Mr. Murrow was quoted as saying: "I was one of the earliest of the Bap- tist missionaries to come among the Indians of the Indian Territory in the Southwest. Preceding me were Rev. Evan Jones who came out with the Chero- kees in 1832 and remained with them until after the war, when he died, still in the service. Later his work was taken up by his son John B. Jones. Their work was exclusively among the Cherokees. Another was Rev. H. F. Buckner, who came out from Kentucky in 1849 and for thirty-one years did noble work among the Creeks. He too died in the service. I knew them

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both well and was quite intimately associated with Rev. Mr. Buckner. Rev. Ramsay Potts came among the Choctaws in 1832 and Rev. Joseph Smedley came in 1835. They had both retired from the work before I came. All of these men were noble ambassadors of God and no words of praise are too strong in com- mendation of their good work among these people.

"My work has been among all of the Five Civilized Tribes and among the blanket or wild Indians as well. Of all the missionaries representing several church organizations in the early days of this work I alone remain to tell in person anything of the trials, hard- ships, joys and successes and failures of those pioneer days. ''

On coming to Indian Territory Reverend Mr. Mur- row and his wife settled in a little log cabin in old North Fork town in the Creek Nation. His wife died there ten months later. He aided Mr. Buckner in his work, travel- ing on his pony all over the Creek, Seminole and Choctaw Nations. In 1859 he married Miss Clara Burns, daughter of Rev. Willis Burns, who came to the ter -. ritory as a missionary in 1858. Of this union four chil- dren were born; one only is still living, a daughter, Mrs. W. A. McBride, of Atoka. After his marriage Mr. Mur- row immediately moved to the Seminole Nation and established the mission work in that tribe.

As to the conditions among the Indians in 1861 Reverend Mr. Murrow is quoted as saying: "At the breaking out of the Civil war the Five Tribes were in a desperately agitated state Great pressure, per- suasion, cajoling, bribing, coaxing, threatening and every conceivable influence was brought to bear upon them from both the Union and the Confederacy in attempts to persuade them to cast their lot with either side. The chiefs and old men of the tribes and, for the most part the women, were against taking sides at all, preferring to remain absolutely neutral. This was undoubtedly the wise policy, but continued per- suasion and pressure so wrought upon the young men that in the end all of the tribes took up arms for one side or the other, being used mostly as scouts or else were organized into bands of raiders, the Indian char- acter not being adaptable to the rigorous restrictions of regular army life. The Creeks, the Cherokees and the Seminoles divided in their allegiance, about one half of each tribe going to either side. The Choc- taws and Chickasaws, these tribes being allied and located in the southern part of the territory, went solidly with the Confederacy. During the war the country was devastated by raiders and skirmishes, and immediately following the close of hostilities it became a rendezvous for a horde of outlaws of the worst kind. Had the tribes all remained neutral much of this suffering and privation would have been avoided and the Indian people would have advanced far more rapidly in Christianity and education.

"In 1862 at the request of the Seminole Council, I was appointed Confederate States Indian Agent for that tribe. The following year I received additional powers, including the purchase and distribution of supplies and provisions to the women, children and old men of several tribes, including Creeks, Osages, Comanches, Wichitas and others, whose able bodied men had enlisted with the Confederate army. These Comanches mostly belonged to To-sho-way's band and the Osages to Black Dog's band. They were all very wild and savage. They had never heard of the Christian religion. So I continued to be a missionary for Christ as well as a representative of the Confed- erate Government, and endcavored as best I could

to feed their souls with spiritual food as well as to care for their temporal wants. Like all agents sim- ilarly placed I was often called upon to withstand temptation in the shape of bribes offered by con- tractors for supplies, such as accepting poor and dis- eased beef for good and dividing the profit with the contractor, but I thank God that I was able, through His spirit, to conquer and keep my hands clean and free. of the contamination of bribery in any form. My reports were always made out to the last cent. Sometimes I paid out great sums of money. Once I received over forty thousand dollars as a single pay- ment of 'head money' to members of the tribes. These sums were not always all Confederate money but sometimes included sums of gold.

"After the war I returned to my missionary work among the Five Tribes and was busy most of the time in reorganizing the demoralized churches in the Choc- taw and Creek tribes. My wife died in 1868. In 1870 I suffered from a severe disease of the eyes brought on by excessive labor and neglect, and was compelled to return to my home in Georgia, where friends placed me in a hospital for the blind in the City of Atlanta. I was absent from my mission work for six months. During this time I had ample time to look over the Indian field of work and I became impressed with the thought that something should be done for the wild Indians of the western part of the Indian Territory."

As a result of the plans thus formulated and his exertions a mission was commenced among these wild or blanket Indians in 1874, and it has continued to the present time.

After four years of work among the Creeks and four years with the Seminoles, Doctor Murrow came to the Choctaw Nation and in 1867 located at what is now the City of Atoka, a place to which he gave the name and of which he will always be regarded as the founder. When he located there only two white fami- lies were living anywhere in that locality. As the location was on the direct trail and mail route of the Government, Mr. Murrow determined to have a post- office established there and after writing the petition and the necessary correspondence was successful and the postoffice was named Atoka.

In July, 1872, Reverend Mr. Murrow issued a call to the churches of the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations to meet in Atoka for the purpose of organizing the Choctaw and Chickasaw Baptist Association. Sixteen churches responded. The organization thus established did much for the two nations and sent from its ranks many of the present strong Baptist bodies of the old territory and the new state. In 1876 he introduced a preamble and resolution in the annual meeting of the Choctaw and Chickasaw Association, looking to the immediate organization of all the Baptist associations of the territory into a general convention. This was done for the purpose of breaking up tribal walls in religious work, bringing about a more fraternal feel- ing and a broader acquaintance between the workers in the field and to secure a more active co-operation and interest in the support and maintenance of mission work among the blanket Indians and other needy fields. This was not effected until 1881, when the Baptist Missionary and Educational Convention was organized and rapidly grew into a great power for good. Mr. Murrow was for seventeen years president of this convention, giving much of his time, means and prayers to its work.

In 1879 in the same association he introduced a resolution recommending the establishment of a Bible School for the instruction of native preachers in Bible

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doctrine and Baptist faith and practice. Further con- ferences with Rev. A. C. Bacone and Rev. Daniel Rogers led to the establishment of Indian University at Bacone, Indian Territory, which has also been a potent factor for good in Oklahoma.

For many years Reverend Mr. Murrow's missionary work was done under the auspices of the mission board of the Southern Baptist Church. In 1889 he changed his relationship to the Baptist Home Mission Society of New York, and for fourteen years had general supervision of all Indian missionary work for the Baptist Church in Oklahoma and Indian Territory. His work during these years of trying circumstances and self sacrifices was arduous and difficult, but was none the less effective. He organized more than sev- enty-five Baptist churches in the Indian Territory, and assisted with his own hands and money in the build- ing of nearly that many houses of worship. He assisted in, the ordination of more than seventy preachers, mostly Indians, and baptized not less than 2,000 people, most of whom were also Indians.

In 1887, largely due to Reverend Mr. Murrow's leadership, the Atoka Baptist Church successfully inaugurated the Atoka Baptist Academy. This splen- did school was conducted under the auspices of the American Baptist Home Mission Society for eighteen years, and was then merged into or absorbed by the Murrow Indian Orphans Home. The founding of this home has been considered by Mr. Murrow as his last and best effort for the assistance of the people to whom he has given nearly sixty years of service.

His work in connection with the Orphans Home has been practically continuous since January 1, 1903. He secured as a permanent site a large farm located in the Choctaw Nation. He has been indefatigable in the practical work of the school and in securing support for it from over the country. He enlisted the sympathy of President Roosevelt and many fore- most Americans, and in the years before Oklahoma statehood had secured contributions of about $20,000 for the buying of property and making improvements suitable to the work and the purposes of the home.

On June 20, 1888, at Bacone College at Muskogee, Reverend Mr. Murrow married Kathrina Lois Ellett, who was born near Cleveland, Ohio. She was a zealous Christian worker in behalf of the Indians before her marriage, and since then has loyally aided and abetted Reverend Mr. Murrow in his continued efforts in behalf of the uplift and betterment of the Indian people in Oklahoma.

Reverend Mr. Murrow is one of the oldest and most distinguished Masons of Oklahoma. He organized the first Masonic Lodge in the territory after the war, locat- ing it at Boggy Depot. For more than thirty years he was grand secretary of the Blue Lodge of the territory, and he assisted in organizing and at one time was secre- tary of the Grand Lodge and the Grand Chapter and grand recorder of the Grand Commandery of the Grand Council. He also organized the first council of Royal and Select Masters in Oklahoma, and served as grand master of the Grand Council until April, 1912. In the Scottish Rite he attained the very great distinction of the thirty-third degree.

W. A. SMITH, of Bartlesville, who has been exten- sively indentified with the oil development of Okla- homa for more than ten years, has a well earned repu- tation of a man who does things in a large way, and whose activities are a matter of public interest because they are so closely connected with the public welfare.

His success and prosperity are the result of hard experience and practical work in the oil regions of many diverse sections. He has used his means lib- erally and elsewhere and he is well known both in Oklahoma and in other states.

His birth occurred at Buffalo, New York, October 31, 1869. His parents, Herbert G. and Rosalie (Clark) Smith, were natives of Erie County, New York, and his father for the past eight years has been a citizen of Bartlesville. Herbert G. Smith was born in Erie County, New York, on a farm, February 2, 1850, and lived there until twenty-two years of age. His par- ents, William and Rachel (Healy) Smith, also natives of New York State, were early residents and farmers of Erie County, and William Smith died in 1870 and his wife in 1885. Their seven children were: Chester, who was killed in the battle of Gettysburg; Myra, deceased; Albert, deceased; Herbert G .; Chloe, deceased; Annie, deceased; and William, who died in infancy. Herbert G. Smith at the age of twenty-two located on a farm in the State of Michigan, after- wards returned to New York and lived on the home farm three years, and next engaged in the oil business at Bradford, Pennsylvania, following which his opera- tions took him into Ohio, Indiana, West Virginia, out to Kansas, and since 1907 his home and headquarters have been in Bartlesville. He is a republican voter but has never been active in politics, and is a member of the Order of the Maccabees, while his wife is a Presbyterian. His wife, whose maiden name was Rosalie Clark, was born in Erie County, New York, February 2, 1851, a daughter of Amos and Louisa (Fuller) Clark, also a native of New York State. Her mother died in 1859 and her father in 1902, and their four children were: Ellen, deceased; Etta, wife of Alonzo Wilkinson of Montgomery County, Missouri; Adelbert, who died in infancy; and Mrs. H. G. Smith.

The only child of his parents, W. A. Smith grew up in Western New York and also in Western Pennsyl- vania. At the age of sixteen he left school and became associated with his father in the oil business in Pennsylvania and Indiana. Thus for more than thirty years his activities have been concentrated along the line of oil development, and there is no man in Oklahoma of broader and more active experience in this industry. More than ordinary responsibilities came to him at an early age. While in Indiana he took the position of general superintendent for the West Indian Oil Syndicate, operating in the Barba- does and on the coast of Venezuela. He remained in South America about three years and was also identi- fied to some extent with placer mining. Returning to the United States he was for about three years in the oil fields of West Virginia, and then went out to Kansas. He is a man of cosmopolitan experience and training, has known all sorts and conditions of men, and he has the bearing and address of the man who has traveled widely and has seen much of the world and of life.

Since 1905 he has operated with Bartlesville as his headquarters. In the subsequent decade he has been among the foremost in several lines of development and Washington County in particular owes much to his enterprise. He was one of the promoters in build- ing the street railway and the interurban line at Bartlesville, and was treasurer of the company and a director until the plant was sold to a syndicate of New York capitalists. The directors of the company had raised among themselves the money necessary to

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build these lines, and the business was always a pay- ing proposition.

Mr. Smith and John Irwin built at Bartlesville the fine Smith-Irwin Block, but Mr. Smith has since sold his interest and it is now known as the Brin-Irwin Building. His interests as au oil man are widely extended, not only in the region surrounding Bartles- ville but also in Okmulgee County, Oklahoma, in Texas and even in California. He has the distinction of having opened the Copan Oil & Gas Company, drilled the first well and brought in one of the best oil pools in the country. He is the owner also of a large orange grove in the San Joaquin Valley of California.

Mr. Smith is a republican, a member of the Masonic Order and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and also of the Bartlesville Country Club.

His first wife was Eva Miller of Claysville, Penn- sylvania. The only child of that union, Herbert Leman, was born at Pennville, Indiana, July 6, 1894, and was reared by his grandparents, Herbert G. Smith and wife. Mrs. Smith died July 15, 1894, a few days after the birth of her son.

On November 28, 1903, Mr. Smith married Mrs. Sarah Rebecca (Cole) Cook. Both as a home maker and in social affairs Mrs. Smith has been well known in Bartlesville for the past ten years. She represents an old and quite prominent American family. She was born January 14, 1871, a daughter of Alfred H. and Dorcas M. (Reynolds) Cole, natives of Ohio and West Virginia, respectively. Her father was born at Powhattan Point, Ohio, October 9, 1842, and is now living retired at Parkerville, West Virginia. His wife was born March 6, 1846, at St. Mary's, West Virginia. The old Cole homestead is still owned by a member of the family and a piece of rock blasted from the famous Plymouth Rock in Massachusetts is lying at the foot of what is known as Cole's Hill. The nine children of the Cole family were: Charles, Cora, Mrs. Smith, Lillian, Walter, Sylvia, Martha, Chester, and one that died in infancy. Mrs. Smith was first married September 29, 1887, to James H. Cook, and her children by that union are Louis Alfred and Calvin Cole Cook. Louis Alfred was born February 14, 1889, in Findlay, Ohio, now lives in Okmulgee County, Oklahoma, and married Ethel Saunders of Lexington, Missouri. Calvin C. Cook, born January 10, 1891, in Parkersburg, West Virginia; now lives in the San Joaquin Valley of California and married Lula Brooks.

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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