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 2

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 2

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The political allegiance of Mr. Mckeown is given to the democratic party; he is affiliated with Guthrie Lodge No. 426, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, in the City of Guthrie and also with the Modern Woodmen of America. In addition to his interests in the oil and gas industry he is a stockholder of the Employes Building & Loan Association of Guthrie.

In 1906 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Mckeown to Miss Effie Lovell, of Guthrie, this state; they have no

children. Mr. Mckeown has two brothers and two sis- ters: James is a farmer near Eldorado Springs, Mis- souri; William T. is engaged in the practice of law in the City of Kalispell, Montana, and is one of the representative members of the bar of that section of the Treasure State; Mrs. A. J. Clark resides in Portland, Oregon, where her husband is foreman of the repair shops of the Oregon Railroad & Navigation Company ; and Miss Kate Mckeown is a resident of Kansas City, Missouri.

WALTER WALLACE HOUSEWRIGHT. Since his arrival at Devol, Oklahoma, September 28, 1908, at which time he opened the Farmers State Bank, Walter Wallace House- wright has been intimately identified with the interests, business and financial, of this thriving and energetic little city of Cotton County. In the capacity of cashier of the institution mentioned, he has become well and widely known in banking circles, as a citizen he has been a factor in fostering and bringing to a successful con- clusion several movements which have meant much to his community, and in social affairs he has taken an active part.

Mr. Housewright was born at Wylie, Collin County, Texas, October 22, 1888, and is a son of William and Henrietta (Wallace) Housewright. The family orig- inated in Germany and was founded in this country in Mississippi, where, in 1835, was born William House- wright. He was a pioneer of Collin County, whence he went from Mississippi thirty years before the founding of the Town of Wylie, and was engaged practically all of his life as a farmer and stock raiser. During the war between the North and the South, he joined a Texas regiment, and throughout the conflict served ably and bravely under the flag of the Confederacy. He was a member of the Masonic fraternity. Mr. Housewright died at Wylie, Texas, October 20, 1889, aged fifty-four years. Mrs. Housewright, also a native of Mississippi, survives her husband and lives at Wylie. There were eight childreu in the family, as follows: Panola, who married Charles Anderhub, a farmer, and lives at Wylie; Ponta, deceased, who was the wife of H. R. Riffe, also a farmer at Wylie; Estella, who is the wife of W. W. Combs, engaged in farming in the vicinity of Wylie; W. R., who is engaged in horse dealing and lives at Hot Springs, Arkansas; Ernest, a resident of Wylie, where he is engaged in painting and decorating; Hester, who is unmarried and resides with her mother; Jick, a rural free delivery mail carrier, residing at Wylie; and Walter Wallace, of this review.

Walter Wallace Housewright was given good educa- tional advantages in his youth, attending first the public schools at Wylie, where he was graduated from the high school in 1904, and next going to the Commercial Col- lege, at Tyler, Texas, where he completed his course in 1905. When only sixteen years of age, he entered the Bank of Temple, Oklahoma, as bookkeeper and stenogra- pher, and rapidly won promotion through the display of unusual ability and fidelity to duty, so that he rose to teller and subsequently to the position of assistant cashier. Mr. Housewright remained at Temple until March, 1908, when he removed to Hot Springs, Arkansas, and for a short time was employed in the Arkansas National Bank. On September 28, 1908, he came to Devol, Oklahoma, opened the bank here, and became cashier of the Farmers State Bank, a position which he has since retained. He has shown marked ability in the discharge of his duties, has risen steadily in favor with the depositors, and has established himself firmly in the confidence of his associates. The Farmers State Bank occupies the first building completed at Devol, at the

LOUIS M. MILLER AND FAMILY ON TIGER CREEK FARM

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corner of Wichita Avenue and Mulberry Street, and bears an excellent reputation among the financial institutions of Cotton County. It is capitalized at $10,000, with a surplus of $2,000, and its present officers are: A. J. Emery, president; W. T. Huff, vice president, and W. W. Housewright, cashier.

Mr. Housewright is a democrat, but practically con- fines his political activities to supporting men and meas- ures which he believes will be beneficial to the interests of his community. His fraternal connections include membership in Devol Lodge No. 420, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, of which he is past master by service; Devol Chapter, Order of the Eastern Star; Devol Lodge No. 548, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and the local lodges of the Woodmen of the World and the Modern Woodmen of America. He takes a keen interest in fra- ternal affairs, and is decidedly popular with his fellow lodge members.

On April 15, 1909, at Temple, Oklahoma, Mr. House- wright was united in marriage with Miss Erma Tipton, daughter of I. W. Tipton, a merchant and rancher of El Paso, Texas. Mr. and Mrs. Housewright have had no children.

REV. LOUIS M. MILLER. One of the most influential representatives of the old Creek Nation, Louis M. Miller has spent his active lifetime in Hughes and Seminole counties and is now a resident of near Holdenville. For many years he has been a prosperous farmer in that community, but in addition to the management of his private affairs has also mingled closely with his own people and has been a leader in public and religious life. He is now pastor of the Indian church in his local- ity. He was born at Coweta, December 22, 1862, his parents, Daniel and Sophia (Jacobs) Miller, having had their home two and a half miles west of that place. His father was a fullblood Creek and was born in Alabama. His mother was a halfblood Creek, her father, Eli Jacobs, having been a white man. The mother was born in 1823, and came to Indian Territory when ten years of age, and died in 1873. The father passed away about 1872, at the age of sixty-five. They spent their married lives along the Arkansas River near the eastern border of the state, in the Creek Nation. Daniel Miller was a farmer and stock raiser, and also made a good living. During the war he served with the Con- federate army in the First Creek Regiment, under Col. D. N. McIntosh. Though a man without education, he had a practical training in those arts which were most useful to a people living in a frontier community, and he was greatly aided by his wife, who was a woman of excellent education. They were members of the Mis- sionary Baptist Church. Mrs. Daniel Miller had three children by a former marriage, and three by her second · union, named Louis M., Sam of Sasakwa, and Dora McGirt, the last being now deceased.

Louis M. Miller grew up near Muskogee and Checota, and after the death of his mother came to what is now Hughes County at the age of eleven, and completed his education in boarding schools and in the Asbury Manual Labor School at Eufaula, under Rev. Theodore F. Brewer, who was on the advisory board. He had the regular English course and enjoyed the advantages of the com- mercial school at Quincy, Illinois. At the age of nine- teen he entered the employ of Gov. John F. Brown and the latter's brother, A. J. Brown, at Wewoka, in their store. He was one of their trusted clerks for twelve years, and then spent three years on their ranch, thus giving fifteen years of service to these prominent leaders of the Seminole Nation. Since 1893 Mr. Miller has been an independent farmer.

On March 5, 1893, he married Lily Thomas, who was

born a mile and a half north of Wewoka, in Seminole County, in April, 1874. She is a three-quarter-blood Creek, and was educated in the common schools. Since his marriage Mr. Miller has been farming on his present place, situated a mile north and half a mile east of Holdenville, and containing 240 acres, most of it well im- proved and under cultivation. His enterprise has brought him considerable note as a stock raiser and he raises registered Hampshire hogs.

One of the features of his farm is that a portion of the land is occupied by the Tiger Creek Baptist Church. Mr. Miller was one of the principal builders of this church in 1910 and his brother Sam H. Miller was the first pastor, but for the last two years Louis M. Miller has been its spiritual leader and director. This is one of the important centers of Indian religious life. The services are held every fourth Sunday, and according to the cus- tom that has long prevailed in Indian Territory, the meeting begins on Saturday and holds over until Sun- day night, the time being spent in preaching, singing and prayer service, and on each quarter a community service is held. On this occasion the worshipers begin to assemble on Friday and the services continue until Monday morn- ing. These quarterly services are somewhat in the nature of a "camp meeting." Every family brings its supply of provisions and all the features of camp life pre- vail. At such times preachers come from all over the Seminole and Creek Nation, and while there are easily upwards of two hundred camps some of the meetings frequently bring out as many as a thousand. The whites also come and attend these meetings with their Indian brethren.

Another distinction that belongs to Mr. Miller is that he was the last district judge of the Wewoka District at the time the tribal government was discontinued. At the coming of statehood he was elected a county com- missioner of Seminole County, but he did not qualify. His family were all reared as democrats, but he main- tains a rather independent attitude and votes for the best man. Mr. and Mrs. Miller have five children: Lizzie, wife of Jackson Hill; Thomas O., Sam H., Jr., James A. and Josie J.

HARRY EMERSON AUSTIN. Among the city officials of Clinton who are contributing to the general welfare by capable and faithful performance of duty, one who is winning the community 's gratitude and commendation is Harry Emerson Austin, the young and energetic city clerk. During the short period of his incumbency he has shown an earnest desire to maintain a high standard in his department, one of the most important in the city service.

Mr. Austin was born at Knoxville, Tennessee, Septem- ber 14, 1890, and is a son of William B. and Corda (Burkhart) Austin, and a member of an old family of Virginia, which was founded in the Old Dominion in Colonial days. His father was born in Knox County, Tennessee, in 1861, and as a young man adopted the vocation of educator, which he pursued for several years at Dandridge, Tennessee. Later, however, he turned his attention to pharmacy, and for more than twenty years was the proprietor of a drug store at Knoxville, where he died in August, 1904. He was a democrat in his political views, a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and belonged to the Knights of Pythias. Mrs. Austin, who survives him, makes her home at Knox- ville. There were three children in the family, namely : Ethel Louise, who married Earl Sterchi, who is engaged in the furniture business at Knoxville, Tennessee; Harry Emerson; and William, who is engaged in the automo- bile garage business at Newkirk, Oklahoma.

Harry Emerson Austin received his early education in

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HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

the public schools of Knoxville, following which he took a business course at Hill's Business College, Oklahoma City, from which he was graduated in 1912. From February until June of that year he was identified with the Bray Drug Company, of Clinton, and then returned to Knoxville, Tennessee, where he was for thirteen months associated with the Knoxville Outfitting Company. In July, 1913, he returned to Clinton and again entered the employ of the Bray Drug Company, with which concern he continued to be identified until April 15, 1915. In the meantime, on April 6, 1915, he had been elected city clerk of Clinton on the democratic ticket, and since that time he has occupied offices in the City Hall. Mr. Austin is generally popular with his associates and has proved himself a young man whose ambitions and abilities combine to make him one to whom much higher honors will probably come. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and is fraternally affiliated with Lodge No. 83, Knights of Pythias, at Clinton.

Mr. Austin was married at Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, to Miss Nora Le Febvre, in June, 1912. Mrs. Austin is a daughter of E. I. Le Febvre, who is a retired agri- culturist and resides at Eldorado Springs, Missouri. Mr. and Mrs. Austin have no children.

E. D. MCLAUGHLIN.' A young attorney, already well established in practice at Blanchard, E. D. McLauchlin was for nearly ten years before entering the law engaged in the mercantile business at Denver, Oklahoma.

He was born December 27, 1885, at Love Station, De Soto County, Mississippi. His father was R. B. McLauchlin, who was born in Mississippi, in 1847, and was left an orphan by the death of his mother when he was seven years of age. His father, who died five years earlier, had emigrated from Scotland to North Carolina. R. B. McLauchlin was reared in Mississippi, and became dependent upon his own resources at an early age. He was married in De Soto County, Mississippi, to Miss S. E. Perry, who is now living with her son, Dr. J. R. McLauchlin, ten miles east of Norman, Oklahoma. In 1889 R. B. McLauchlin moved with his family to Claren- don, Arkansas, and he died there in 1896. For many years he was an active school man, later a farmer, and at the time of his death was serving as county surveyor of Monroe County, Arkansas. He was a democrat, and very active in the Baptist Church, and fraternally was associated with the Knights of Honor. His wife was born in De Soto County, Mississippi, in 1843. Their children were: Emma, deceased, whose husband, Robert Haines, is a music teacher at Clarendon, Arkansas; D. D., who was actively associated with his brother, E. D. McLauchlin, in merchandising until his death; Mattie married Henry Harris and both are now deceased; R. J. lives as a farmer near Paragould, Arkansas; Fannie is the wife of John Hatcher, a farmer near Chickasha, Oklahoma; Sallie, who died at the age of eighteen; Alice, wife of Sam Cooper, a farmer at Paragould, Arkansas; Essie, who died at the age of twenty-four, was the wife of Tom Vaughn, a teacher in the public schools at Cordell, Oklahoma; J. R., a physician and surgeon at Denver, Oklahoma, ten miles east of Norman, who is a graduate M. D. from the Oklahoma State University; and E. D. McLauchlin, the youngest of the ten children.

The last named attended the public schools in Claren- don, Arkansas, and continued his education in Para- gould in Greene County, when his mother removed to that town in 1898. When twenty-eight years old he left school and at once engaged in the mercantile business at Denver, Oklahoma, with his brother, D. D., under the firm name of McLauchlin Brothers. His older brother, D. D. McLauchlin, died February 7, 1914. At

that time the junior member of the firm sold the business and during 1914-15 was a student of law in the Cumber- land University at Lebanon, Tennessee, where he gradu- ated LL. B. in 1915. After four months at Norman, Oklahoma, he took the bar examination and was admitted to practice in June, and on the first day of July opened his office at Blanchard. He has his offices in the court house and his ability has already attracted a profitable practice, especially in civil cases. He has been called upon to act as special county judge and is now city attorney for Blanchard.

In politics he is a democrat and is affiliated with Camp No. 10835 of the Modern Woodmen of America at Frank- lin, Oklahoma. On January 24, 1910, at Norman, he married Miss Ethel Cohce, whose father, J. K. Cohee, is a retired farmer at Capitol Hill, Oklahoma.

JAMES H. ADAMS, of Dewey, Oklahoma, is one of the prominent young business men of the state, and is naturally proud of his prominent Indian ancestry.

He was born at Fort Gibson, Oklahoma, December 4, 1895, a son of Richard C. and Carrie F. (Meigs) Adams. His father was descended from the famous Captain White Eyes, who was chief of the Delaware Indians in Revolutionary times. His mother is a descendant of the noted John Ross, and also of Colonel Meigs of Revolu- tionary fame, and another maternal connection was the Bigelow family.

James H. Adams attended school in Washington, D. C., but left school at the age of seven. In 1910 he was employed in the folding room of the national capital, and from 1914 to 1916 was a member of the national guard at Washington, District of Columbia. At his home in Dewey he busies himself largely with oil lands.

A. A. BALDWIN. One of the most progressive and enterprising of the newspapers of Southwest Oklahoma is the Hollis Tribune, which is published at Hollis, the county seat of Harmon County, by A. A. Baldwin, a man of broad and varied business experience and of much journalistic ability. Since taking charge of the editing . of this newspaper, in 1914, Mr. Baldwin has built up an excellent circulation, and is now giving his readers a newsy, interesting and well-printed sheet which supports local interests and industries.

Mr. Baldwin is a native of the Hoosier State, and was born at Albion, the county seat of Noble County, Indi- ana, May 13, 1863, a son of Howard and Lorena (Douglas) Baldwin, and a member of a family of Scotch- Irish extraction which settled in Ohio in the days of the Western Reserve. Howard Baldwin was born in Ohio, in . 1837, and as a young man moved to Albion, Indiana, where he completed his preparation for the legal profes- sion and settled down to practice. He had but started on a successful career, and had served as county attorney of Noble County, when he was called by death, in 1870, when only thirty-three years of age. He was one of the influential young democrats of his community and a man universally admired and respected, and was a member of the Masonic fraternity. He was married in Noble County, Indiana, to Miss Lorena Douglas, who was born in 1839, in Illinois, and who still survives him, her home being at Wichita Falls, Texas. There were three children in the family, as follows: Helen, who died at the age of fifteen years; A. A., of this review; and Lucy Edith, who married L. E. Miller, of Alexandria, Texas, where he is the proprietor of a cotton gin and she is serving as postmistress.

A. A. Baldwin was a lad of seven years when his father died, and was fourteen when he accompanied his mother and sisters to Hood County, Texas. His educa-

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tion was limited to the training he could secure in the public schools, for it was necessary that he assist in the support of the family, and when he was only fifteen years old he began his struggle with life by becoming an apprentice to the painter 's trade. After mastering that vocation he became a journeyman, and continued to follow painting as an occupation until 1883, at which time he entered a printing office at Granbury, Texas, and there served another apprenticeship, this one of three years. His next location was Alexandria, Texas, where he leased the Alexandria News for one year, and then, in partnership with E. A. Anderson, founded the Blanket Herald, at Blanket, Texas, which they conducted for twelve months. Disposing of his interests in that ven- ture, Mr. Baldwin next went to Erath County, Texas, and for three years was engaged in farming, then enter- ing upon a career in mercantile lines which extended over a long period. For five years Mr. Baldwin was the pro- prietor of a country grocery store in Galveston County, Texas, and at the end of that time first came to Okla- homa, taking up his residence, in 1903, at Cordell, where for three years he conducted a grocery establishment. He next spent a like period at Gunter, Texas, and in 1909 moved to Higgins, Texas, where he remained for three years. Mr. Baldwin returned to Oklahoma in 1911, and, establishing his home at Hollis, was engaged in car- pentering and other work until 1914, when he leased the Hollis Tribune, which he has continued to edit to the present time. This paper, founded in 1910, is a demo- cratic organ of some influence, and circulates in Harmon and the surrounding counties. Its office and plant are located on Main Street, near Broadway, in the business section of the village, and are well equipped not only for the printing of the newspaper, but for all kinds of first- class job work. As a molder of public opinion, the Tribune has contributed its full share in advancing the interests of Hollis, and both in the columns of the paper and personally Mr. Baldwin has warmly supported all movements promising progress and civic welfare. Mr. Baldwin is a stanch democrat, and with his family be- longs to the Christian Church. His fraternal connec- tions are with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias. A man of much experience, he has lived his life amid the scenes that have gone to make up the history of the Southwest, and has learned to view human nature with a broad understanding.

Mr. Baldwin was married December 24, 1889, in Erath County, Texas, to Miss Mamie A. Bass, daughter of B. F. Bass, a farmer of Ranger Lake, New Mexico. Five children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Baldwin, as follows: Benjamin Ulice, educated at Arlington Heights Training School, Forth Worth, Texas, and now a member of the ministry of the Christian Church, stationed at Shreveport, Louisiana; Edith Amelia, who was deputy register of deeds of Harmon County, at Hollis, until 1915, and is now attending the Oklahoma City Business College; Marguerite, who is a member of the senior class at Hollis High School; Charles Anson, who is a student in the public schools of Hollis; and Fred Allen. -

HENRY MEAD HARRIS. Antlers at one time was the seat of a United States Court with jurisdiction over the greater part of the Choctaw Nation. Here such men as Judge Clayton and Judge Thomas C. Humphries presided, and during court sessions many tribes and many nationalities assembled at the seat of justice. During those sessions Antlers was probably the most populated and busiest town of the Choctaw Nation. Here were enacted many historic and many tragic events, growing out of the conflicting interests and the mul- tiplicity of charges against men brought here for trial.

At that time, in 1904, Joseph R. Foltz was clerk of the United States Court, and Henry M. Harris, a young man recently come over from Red River County, Texas, was a deputy. The events of that period are among the most cherished memories of Mr. Harris, who has for a number of years lived in this section of the old Choctaw Nation, and is now deputy county treasurer at Antlers. Other experiences in succeeding years brought him nearer to the scenes of actual and vital history, for he was secretary to Thomas Latham, a United States commissioner stationed at Antlers, during a period when in a few months the number of probate cases filed in his court increased from 200 to 2,100. This increase was due to an Act of Congress providing for the allotment of lands in preparation for statehood. It was a period of great activity for the grafter who sought wrongful possession of Indian property, and his kind was in evi- dence in all shades of color, nationality and profession. Indian wills were stolen from the records. Indians were robbed boldly on the highway. Every device that scheming minds could conceive for separating the In- dian from his property or money was attempted. Such activities as these, however, had a wholesome effect on the welfare of the Indians, since it taught Congress that more stringent laws were necessary for his protection.

Henry Mead Harris was born in Red River County, Texas, in 1886 and was a son of Frank M. and Nannie B. (Parks) Harris. His father, who died in 1898, came from Virginia to Texas in the '80s. He was a civil en- gineer and did considerable map and plat work all over North Texas, some of it under the direction of the state. Before establishing in Clarksville, Texas, he was engaged for a while in the cattle business in the southern part of the Choctaw Nation. The mother of Mr. Harris now lives in Antlers. In the family are also a daughter and two other sons, Mrs. W. N. John, wife of a physi- cian in Hugo; Max Harris, a dry goods salesman in El Paso; and Roy C. Harris, employed by the railway com- pany at Hugo.

After attending public school in Red River County, Henry M. Harris was a student for one year in the Southwestern University at Georgetown, Texas, and he also attended school for a time in Antlers. His first employment was as clerk in the drug store of J. T. Hackett & Company in Antlers. He then became a dep- uty clerk of the United States Court, and on retiring from the service of the Government he became timber appraiser for the Guy & Ralph Gray Lumber Company of Cleveland, Ohio, a concern that contemplated estab- lishing lumber mills and railroads in the commercial timber section of the Choctaw Nation. For several months he traveled over the Kiamichi and other moun- tains in this work. At one time his camp was pitched at Waterhall, an old settlement of the Choctaw Nation which sat beside the military highway. Another time his camp was at the Mullins place, situated on an old Indian camping ground near Daniel spring and beside Jack trail, a rough and narrow highway used by Indians and other early settlers in their journeys to and from Tuskahoma, capital of the Nation. Settlements were few and game plentiful. The guns of the party brought its members plenty of venison and turkey. The scheme of the Gray Company, had it been carried out, would have been a big factor in the development of the north- ern part of the Choctaw Nation. Antlers would have been the western terminus of the company's railroad lines. One of these lines, headed northeast, would have crossed Little River seven times, had the engineers' pre- liminary surveys been followed.

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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