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 14

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 14

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Jesse W. Bell is the type of citizen who makes the best of his opportunities wherever he finds them. His early life was spent on his father's farm in Franklin County, Missouri, and he had a public school education. In 1898 he came to Oklahoma with his parents, and in 1907 he located a tract of government land in Beaver County two miles cast of the preseut Town of LaKemp. He still owns that land and has increased it by consid- erable other valuable holdings in the country district of the county. In 1912 leaving the farm Mr. Bell engaged in the drug business at the new Town of LaKemp, and in the same year he bought the LaKemp Mirror, of which he was editor and publisher until February, 1915, when he removed the plant to Beaver, the county seat, and changed the name of the paper to the Democrat. It is now published under the incorporated title of the Enter- prise Publishing Company, of which Mr. Bell is secre- tary and treasurer. Mr. Bell was appointed postmaster of LaKemp August 23, 1914, and is giving a very effi- cient administration of that office. Fraternally he is affiliated with the Masons and with the Modern Woodmen of America, and politically his actions have always been in line with the democratic party. On February 14, 1904, at Tecumseh, Oklahoma, he married Miss Dora May Little, who was born on a farm in Hickory County, North Caro-

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lina, August 23, 1887, a daughter of F. P. and Elizabeth (Little) Little, both of whom were natives of North Caro- lina. The Little family came to Oklahoma in 1901, when Mrs. Bell was about fourteen years of age and located in Pottawatomie County. Mr. and Mrs. Bell have four children: Jesse Charles, born September 13, 1908; Edith Lee, born June 30, 1911; Irl. Clinton, born August 3, 1913; and Thelma Elizabeth, born October 27, 1915.

JOEL SPRING. When Joel Spring died at Hugo Febru- ary 21, 1908, it was said that no other contemporary had done so much to enrich his community in those elements which make for civic wholesomeness and material pros- perity. Such a citizen was an honor to Oklahoma history, and such an account of his character and activities as can be given in this article is but a meager memorial to one whose life left much that was practical in its accom- plishment and inspiring in its character.

Nearly twenty-five years before his death Joel Spring, having recently married, engaged in merchandising at Roebuck Lake in what is now Southeastern Oklahoma. From Roebuck Lake he removed to Clear Springs Court Ground, about two miles west of the present Hugo and then the seat of Kiamichi County. After the building of the Frisco Railway through that section of the country he removed his business and his household to Goodland, where for years he conducted one of the largest mercan- tile establishments in the Indian Territory.

Then in 1902 the new Town of Hugo was established. Mr. Spring, quickly seeing the great promise for the new town, located there as one of its first merchants, and from the first took the position of the most prominent business man and citizen. He at once acquired an interest on the townsite on the east side, erected a large attractive and beautifully furnished Residence on an emi- nence in that part of the city, built a number of the most substantial business houses of the place, and in every practical way showed his unbounded faith in Hugo and. its people. And this feeling was heartily reciprocated, for citizens and countrymen trusted in his judgment, in- tegrity and generosity with unbounded faith, placing in his keeping their property and their future with no secur- ity other than that of his long-tried character. He be- came the friend, adviser, banker and father of the entire community, but with all his later affluence and unique standing he cast an affectionate eye over the struggling days of his early life. On the walls of his residence in Hugo was a reproduction from a small photograph of the tiny log cabin in which he commenced married life on the banks of Roebuck Lake, showing the proud nine- teen year old husband standing in the yard and his fif- teen year old bride in the doorway.

Of his part as a town builder, the editorial expression of the entire community at Hugo found in the columns of a local paper, should be quoted: "As a town builder and developing force he was without a peer in Southern Oklahoma. He was a person of wealth and resource and owned much property in this city. During the past five years he erected seven large brick buildings all of the very best and constructed with a view to permanency, majestically beautiful and an ornament to a city of many thousand people. As are all great men, he was at times subjected to unjust criticism, but when a task was com- pleted no fault could be found with it. He was char- itable and liberal, giving freely to the construction and maintenance of the churches and other moral institutions. At one time, several years ago, the Methodist Church was advertised for sale to liquidate its indebtedness, and it was Joel Spring who came to the rescue. He made a large donation and placed the then struggling band upon their feet, and that with only an expression of regret

that they had not made him fully conversant with con- ditions before resorting to such extremities. By spend- ing his money so freely to develop the town he encouraged others to do so; and he was in deed and in truth 'the father of Hugo.' However great it may become in the future will be due to his efforts in its struggling pioneer days. One day, when Hugo shall have become a large city, we wish to stand on one of our principal streets with uncovered heads before an imperishable statue dedicated to the memory of this tireless man who was such a great factor wlien the town was in its infancy."

From the columns of this paper it is possible to learn some of the particulars regarding the business char- acter and activities of the late Joel Spring. From an examination of the records and from such comments as are still freely passed on his life and influence, the conspicuous attribute of Mr. Spring was undoubtedly character, that part of the human soul which dominates all else and which must stand imperishable while the earthly tabernacle falls. As the artice just referred to says: "In his case it was a steady, honest character that formed the foundation of his success. In the early days he was the only man in this country who owned a safe. In those days many of the settlers were prosperous and had a large amount of ready cash at their command. They were afraid of the banks in the state run by men of whom they knew but little, but they were acquainted with Joel Spring, and knew that every dollar would be conscientiously accounted for; and for years he was not only a merchant but a banker for a large section of country. Men came from Nashoba County, seventy miles away, for the sole purpose of entrusting their savings with him for safe keeping. Many times a large herd of cattle would be sold and the owner knowing but little of the business world would accept nothing but a check payable to Joel Spring. He was the chief adviser of his people on business matters. He had at all times many thousand dollars deposited with him and while he kept a safe reserve in cash, robbers were not unknown and a large amount was kept invested in good security. He was a banker subject to no regulation or inspection, yet no man lost a cent or had cause for uneasiness. Thus his success was to a large extent built upon confidence which the world entertains for only the highest order of manly character.

"In character Joel Spring was of the most manly and lofty type. He enjoyed the full confidence and respect of his fellow men, and we have yet to hear of the man who claimed that Joel Spring ever beat him out of a cent, or that in any instance did he violate that sacred honor which exists between man and man. He was systematic in his work and successful in every undertaking, and had he entered other fields of labor than that of business he would probably have reached the goal of his ambition with the same measure of success."

Born within three miles of where Hugo now stands on February 2, 1863, Joel Spring came of unusual lineage. His grandfather, Christian Spring, was born in Switzer- land, of German parentage, was educated in Germany and served a time in the army of that nation. Subse- quently he was a commissioned officer in the Army of Napoleon, and after Waterloo emigrated to America, landing at New Orleans, drifting into Mississippi, where he married Susan Bohannan, who was of mingled French and Indian extraction.

Samuel Spring, father of Joel, married Elizabeth Le- Flore. She was a representative of that family which for generations furnished the Choctaws with their hered- itary chief. One of them was Greenwood LeFlore, author of the celebrated Dancing Rabbit Treaty of 1830. Of Greenwood LeFlore President Jackson said: "There is no

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greater statesman among any people." Samuel Spring was a Confederate soldier, and died in service in the same year that his son Joel was born. The mother of this future merchant, banker and town builder also died when he was a child.

He grew up principally in the home of his uncle, proni- inently known in this section of Indian Territory as "Uncle Billie Spring." Uncle Billie sent his nephew at the age of twelve to old Spencer Academy. He soon grew tired of books and the confining discipline of school, ran away to Texas, and finally entered the household of M. E. Savage in the vicinity of Whitewright. He remained there two years, and then crossed the Red River and went back to his uncle's home. He gained his first practical experience in merchandising as clerk for Victor M. Locke, Sr., in the latter 's store near the present Town of Antlers. For a time Joel Spring was associated with Uncle Billie Spring in the proprietorship of a small store on Roebuck Lake, and then moved the store to old Rockwall Lake, a short distance south of the present site of Hugo. About that time, on September 28, 1883, Joel Spring married Miss Winnie Gooding, daughter of H. L. Gooding of old Goodland, and granddaughter of Gov. Basil LeFlore, also a prominent member of the LeFlore family just men- tioned. Miss Gooding brought to her husband as her marriage portion a small herd of cattle. These were soon sold and the proceeds used to purchase Uncle Billie's interest in the store. This was the commencement of Joel Spring's progressive career as a merchant and busi- ness man.

At his death Joel Spring was survived by his widow and seven children. The children are: Joel, born January 24, 1888; Lawrence E., born December 15, 1889; Jesse H., born August 4, 1891; Winnie, born November 20, 1894, and now Mrs. H. S. Griffiths of Hugo; Dewey L., born May 14, 1898; Robert M., born October 27, 1899; and Cicero O., born December 23, 1903.

SAMUEL LEE ARNOLD. The wearisomeness which fre- quently ensues from the continuous following of one line of endeavor has never been a feature of the career of Samuel Lee Arnold. Gifted with business ability of a diversified character, the present postmaster of Devol, Oklahoma, has at various times followed farming, mer- chandising and dealing in real estate, and in each counec- tion has made his operations a success. As postmaster, a position which he has held since October 11, 1914, he has discharged his duties capably . and faithfully, and there are few more popular officials in Cotton County.

Mr. Arnold is a native son of the Southwest, born at Omeu, Smith County, Texas, July 18, 1879, his parents being George M. and Susan (Darnell) Arnold. The Arnold family originated in England, from whence the progenitor of the family in this country emigrated prob- ably before the days of the Revolution, settling in Vir- ginia. From the Old Dominion the family moved to Tennessee, where, in 1826, was born George M. Arnold, who was born and reared on a farm there and engaged in agricultural pursuits. Some time after his first mar- riage, but prior to the outbreak of the Civil war, he migrated to Texas and bought a farm in Smith County, on which he made numerous improvements and erected buildings. When the trouble between the North and the South culminated in hostilities, he entered the ranks of the Confederacy, in which he served until the close of the struggle. He then returned to his farm and continued to carry on operations until his retirement, when he moved to Omen, and there passed away in August, 1912, aged eighty-six years. He was a member of the Baptist Church, and was affiliated with the Masons, in which he attained the Royal Arch degree. Mr. Arnold's third Vol. V-4

wife was Susau Darnell, a native of Texas, who died in Smith County, that state, in 1883, and they were the parents of five children, as follows: Beulah, who mar- ried Louis Horton, a carpenter and builder of Tyler, Texas; Samuel Lee, of this notice; Sallie, who resides with her half brother, Mitch, in Smith County, Texas, on the old homestead; Harvey, who died at the age of twelve years; and Homer, who died in infancy.

The early education of Samuel Lee Arnold was secured in the district schools of Smith County, Texas, and fol- lowing some further preparation he entered the Univer- sity of Oklahoma, in 1900, remaining until June, 1904. He drew a farm of 160 acres, two miles west of Bridge- port, Oklahoma, in Caddo County, while still a college student, and this he proved up in 1901. In the fall of 1904 he turned his attention to mercantile lines, estab- lishing himself in a hardware business at Bridgeport, but after two years disposed of his interests there and moved to the "Big Pasture," in 1907 engaging in real estate transactions at Randlett. That city continued to be his home and the scene of his business labors until 1913, when he came to Devol and became clerk in a hardware store, which position he held until October 11, 1914, when he was appointed postmaster of Devol by Post- master-General Burleson. The entirely capable and thor- oughly courteous manner in which he has discharged his official duties demonstrates his fitness for public service. In politics Mr. Arnold is a democrat, and while a resident of Randlett served in the capacity of justice of the peace. With his family, he attends the Baptist Church. Mr. Arnold is interested in fraternal matters, belonging to Devol Lodge No. 420, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons; Weatherford Chapter No. 31, Royal Arch Masons; Devol Chanter, Order of the Eastern Star; and the local Lodge of we Woodmen of the World.

On December 27, 1907, Mr. Arnold was married at Overton, Texas, to Miss Ida Bagwell, a daughter of B. J. Bagwell, a retired farmer now living at Overton. To this union there have come two children: Wayne, who was born April 19, 1908; and Odell, born December 9, 1911.

JOHN R. GUYER. The romantic and rugged home of the Welsh people, and the land of the ancient Cymri, who from their wild mountain fastnesses for centuries defied the hordes of the foreign invaders, has produced some of the best citizens of which this broad country can boast. Steady, industrious, plodding, in America they have helped to push forward into the new and undeveloped regions, laying substantially the foundation for a better citizenship. John R. Guyer, attorney, of Oklahoma City, while not himself a native of Wales, is a representative of an honored family whose members have been pioneers of Kentucky and Missouri. He was born in the latter state, in 1864, and is a son of Henry S. and Mary A. (Claunch) Guyer.

The Guyer family, while originating in Wales, has for many years been located in America. The grand- father of John R. Guyer, Williamson Guyer, was a pioneer settler of Kentucky, and as early as 1830 migrated to Missouri, at a time when the nearest neigh- bor of the family was twelve miles away. The grand- father was an agriculturist, and through years of steady industry became the proprietor of a satisfying fortune. Henry S. Guyer was born in Kentucky, and was still a child when taken by his parents to Missouri. There he grew up amid agricultural surroundings, adopted farming as his life work and throughout his active career was engaged in the pursuits of the soil. He was also well known as a public-spirited citizen, and at one time served as a special representative of the Missouri Legislature.

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John R. Guyer was educated in the public schools and at Clarksburg College, Clarksburg, Moniteau County, Missouri, and as a youth took up the study of telegraphy, which he mastered. After leaving college he engaged in teaching school for five years, and, following his mar- riage in 1888, took up telegraphy as a business, being engaged as an operator for the various telegraph com- panies and the Associated Press. During this period Mr. Guyer somehow found time from his duties to devote to the study of law, and so assiduously did he apply him- self thereto that in 1894 he was admitted to practice before the bar of Texas, in which state he was at that time located. For two years thereafter he practiced his profession with some success in Armstrong County, Texas, then moving to Clayton, New Mexico, where he remained until 1910. While a resident of that state Mr. Guyer became actively interested in politics, and in 1899-1900 was a member of the Thirty-third Legislative Assembly of New Mexico and was speaker pro tem of the House of Representatives. Mr. Guyer came to Oklahoma City in 1910, and here has continued to be engaged in a general practice, in which he has met with deserved success. Ever studious, industrious, conscientious and alive to the best interests of all of his clients, thorough in the preparation and complete in the presentation of his cases, fair-minded and honorable in his methods of trial, he is accounted in his professional life in this city as a most capable and successful practitioner, a safe counselor, and a lawyer thoroughly equipped in every department of his calling. Mr. Guyer is a valued mem- ber of the various organizations of his profession, and is popular with his fellow members in the lodge and encampment of the Odd Fellows. His religious belief is that of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. Mr. Guyer maintains offices at No. 518-524 Lee Building.

In 1888 Mr. Guyer was married to a college classmate, Miss Elizabeth Steele, daughter of Judge D. K. Steele, of Clarksburg, Missouri, who was a lieutenant in the Union army during the Civil war and subsequently rep- resented his county three different times in the State Legislature. He was also prominently identified with the Grange movement in its inception in that county. Mr. and Mrs. Guyer have three children: Wendell B., an electrical engineer; Harry L., and Juanita. The family home is at No. 1608 East Tenth Street. Mrs. Guyer's family descended from the Kirkpatricks of Ire- land. All were a music loving people, and in the present Guyer family this is well expressed, both Mr. and Mrs. Guyer, as well as their children, being accomplished vocalists and talented instrumentalists.

WILLIAM E. MCGUIRE. If "a good name is rather to be chosen than great riches,"' and if a purposeful life, conforming to high ideals, impresses one's personality upon the society in which he lives to its lasting better- ment, then one of Oklahoma's most useful citizens is Wil- liam E. McGuire of Pawhuska. Mr. McGuire is post- master at Pawhuska, and his seventeen years of con- tinuous service in that office makes him the oldest postmaster in the state from point of continuity. How- ever, his most important service has been as a teacher. He is not unjustly referred to as "the children's friend," since his greatest enthusiasm and interest have always been in behalf of the younger and growing gen- eration. He taught school for a great many years, was superintendent of schools, has served on school boards and helped to found educational facilities in different parts of Oklahoma, and has also been an almost constant worker in church and Sunday school. Mr. McGuire is one of the old timers in Oklahoma, having first become identified with this section as a teacher in the govern- ment Indian schools many years ago and later moving into the Cherokee Strip when it was opened.

A native of Missouri, he was born at Macon, Novem- ber 28, 1858. He is a brother of former Congressman B. S. McGuire, who for twelve years represented the First Oklahoma District in Congress and is now practicing law at Tulsa. Their parents were Joel and Rachel (Harri- man) McGuire. His father was born in St. Clair County, Illinois, in 1832, and his mother in Washington County, Illinois, in 1834. They grew up and were married in their native state, and in 1857 removed to Missouri. Dur- ing the war Joel McGuire enlisted in a Missouri regiment of the Union army, and served the last three years of the conflict. In 1881 he removed from Missouri to Chautauqua County, Kansas, and died there in 1894. The mother died at the home of her son William in Ponca City, Oklahoma, June 3, 1896. Joel McGuire was a successful farmer and stock raiser, and for a number of years bought, fed and shipped stock, mainly to the St. Louis market. He was active in Grand Army circles, was a member of the Baptist Church, and politi- cally was in the main a republican, though at one time he affiliated with the greenback party and was also active in the Granger movement in Kansas. In the family were ten children, three daughters and seven sons, two of the sons being now deceased.

William E. McGuire lived with his father until the latter removed to Kansas. While at home he at- tended common schools and also was a student for two years in the State Normal at Kirksville, Missouri. Steadily for fifteen years he gave practically all his time to his work as a teacher. His first two terms were in Missouri, and he also taught in Kansas. In 1884 he was appointed a teacher in the Government Indian school at Pawhuska, and lived in this city when hardly any permanent buildings marked the site, and when wild deer frequently ran across the prairie now intersected by numerous streets and built up with business blocks and homes. After one year Mr. McGuire resigned owing to the incoming Cleveland administration, since at that time the schools were not under the civil service rules. Return- ing to Kansas he continued teaching there until 1893, and then participated in the opening of the Cherokee Strip, locating at Ponca City. During his first two years there he served as city clerk, but was chiefly active in organizing the local school districts. He was chair- man of the board, and by his prompt and energetic work had the first permanent school house built and dedicated on the sixtieth day after the opening. Several years later Mr. McGuire resumed his work as a teacher and was superintendent of the schools at Ponca City, and also conducted teachers' normal during the summer seasons. In 1898 he was appointed postmaster at Paw- huska, and has held that office continuously since April 1st of that year, his present term expiring February 1, 1916. During all this seventeen years of service, which is unique in the records of the postoffice department as affecting Oklahoma, he has conducted the office with a regularity and efficiency like clockwork, has never been the object of any formal complaint from the authorities and has in fact made his administration one of model thoroughness. He has helped introduce all the many improvements in the postal service inaugurated since he became postmaster, including rural delivery, parcel post, and other changes. When he took charge at Paw- huska he found a fourth class office, and it is now an office of the second class, employing nine clerks, with up to date equipment, and with everything in perfect running order.

Ever since he attained his majority Mr. McGuire has been a republican in politics, though his chief concern has been service rather than political honors. He is active in the Methodist Episcopal Church, and since moving to Pawhuska has been continuously superintendent of the

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local Sunday school, and is also chairman of the board of trustees of the church. In masonry he is affiliated with the Lodge and with the Royal Arch Chapter, and also belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias. Mr. McGuire claims all children as his friends, and there are hundreds of young men and young women all over the Southwest who remember with gratefulness his kindly influence while he was their teacher. He assisted in organizing the schools of Paw- huska and was president two years and a member five years of the local board of education, and held that office until the constitution legislated him off the board on account of his relation as a federal official.

While he was superintendent of a school in Chautauqua, Kansas, Mr. McGuire married one of his teachers. July 23, 1888, he married Miss Jennie Slater. She was born at Quincy, Illinois, December 6, 1868. Four children comprise their happy home circle at Pawhuska. Naomi is a student in the music and fine arts department of the State University at Norman. Joseph, the second child, is now in high school. The two youngest are twin brothers, Robert and Rolland, both in high school. These twin boys are so much alike that their teachers have much difficulty in distinguishing them. Along with his many others talents as a useful worker Mr. McGuire com- bines a taste and training in music, and has identified himself with local choirs for twenty-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