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 22

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 22

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H. M. Freas resided in Montgomery County, Kansas, for the first twenty-two years of his life, from early boy- hood being engaged in agricultural pursuits. In 1886 he came to Oklahoma, settling in Osage County and buy- ing a farm about three miles east of Pawhuska, on which he still resides, and which he is operating successfully. A democrat in politics, he has long taken an active in- terest in public affairs, and in 1910 was elected sheriff of Osage County, being re-elected to the same office in 1912 and 1914, so that he is now serving in his third term. Fearless in the discharge of his duty, he has proved his efficiency by sending over seventy men to the penitentiary, many of whom were among the worst erim- inals in the state. In thus safe-guarding life and prop- erty he has made himself a terror to evil doers and has rendered a great service to the county, which his fellow citizens appreciate.

Sheriff Freas was married in 1885 to Miss Pauline Palzin, who was born in Berlin, Germany, in 1862, and emigrated with her parents to Illinois, where he first met her. They have had seven children born to them, namely : Bertha, who is the wife of J. M. Gordon, of Osage County, Oklahoma; Florence, wife of Joe Bowers, of Osage County; Amy, who married Sam Kennedy and resides with her husband in Pawhuska; Bessie; Pauline and H. M. Freas, Jr.

LELAND H. D. COOK. When the City of Okmulgee adopted a new municipal charter of the commission form, the people chose as their first commissioner of finance L. H. D. Cook and during his one term in that office he made a very creditable record and completely reor- ganized the financial system of the city.

He was able to bring to that office a thorough ex- perience in commercial affairs, acquired largely through the insurance business. Mr. Cook has lived in Okmulgee since 1908, and since then has been in the real estate and insurance business with the exception of the term he served the city government. Among other interests which he represents he is general agent for the United States Fidelity & Guaranty Company of Baltimore. He has also acquired oil interests in the new state and is secretary and treasurer of the John Owen Oil Company of Okmulgee.

L. H. D. Cook was born in Newfield, New York, in Tompkins County, June 27, 1884. His parents, S. Dudley and Anna (McDaniels) Cook were also born at Newfield, New York, but for the last three years have made their

home at Rochester in that state. The father is a retired merchant. He was one of the organizers of the Tomp- kins County Co-operative Fire Insurance Company, said to be the most successful company of its kind in the United States. Mr. Cook's grandfather was Dr. C. C. Cook, a successful physician who was engaged in recruit- ing and other service during the Civil war. It will be of interest to state that Doctor Cook was a schoolmate and friend of Grover Cleveland, and Mr. Cook of Ok- mulgee has in his possession some letters written by the former president to his grandfather.

The only child of his parents L. H. D. Cook lived at home until he was fifteen, and his early experiences out- side of home were connected with the public schools of Newfield and with his father's store. At the age of fifteen he eutered Cornell University, where he became a member of the class of 1904, and remained in college two years. After that for a year he was clerk in a drug store at Corning, New York, and then took up the busi- ness which has been his real vocation. He represented the Prudential Life at Gorning until 1907, and then went to Syracuse as manager of the Syracuse office for the Security Mutual Life Insurance Company of Bingham- ton, New York. From there he removed to Okmulgee in 1908.

In politics Mr. Cook is a republican, is a member of the Episcopal Church, and has been especially interested in Masonry. His Blue Lodge affiliations are with King Hiram Lodge No. 784, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, at Newfield, New York. His grandfather was a charter member of this lodge, and both his father and uncles were members. Mr. Cook is a member of the Royal Arch Chapter and of Commandery No. 25, Knights Templars, at Okmulgee.

In April, 1909, he married Linnie Parker, who was born October 13, 1884, at Clarksburg in Carroll County, Tennessee. She came to Muskogee, Oklahoma, in 1907. They are the parents of two children: Anna Lynn and Dudley Parker.

HARPER WRIGHT, M. D. Many of the new towns in Western Oklahoma are attracting professional men of decidedly superior attainments and training, and the gen- eral average of proficiency and ability to be found among the professional men of these new communities is de- cidedly higher than that which prevailed iu the older part of the state in earlier years. An example of these younger leaders in the professional life of Western Okla- homa is Dr. Harper Wright, a physician and surgeon who has recently taken up practice at Grandfield.

Born at Farill, Alabama, November 23, 1887, Harper Wright attended the public schools there, graduated from the Gaylesville High School in Alabama with the class of 1904, in 1907 finished the course of the noted old Webb Preparatory School at Bellbuckle, Tennessee, and in the same year took a business course in Eastman's Busi- ness College at Poughkeepsie, New York. In 1913 Doctor Wright was graduated from the Atlanta College of Physicians and Surgeons at Atlanta, Georgia. His thor- ough training in preparation for the profession also in- cluded one year spent as interne at the Erlanger Hospi- tal in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and for six months he was associated with an eminent surgeon, Dr. Raymond Wal- lace, F. A. C. S., of Chattanooga.

The Wright family came from England to Georgia prior to the Revolution, and was related to the family of General Oglethorpe, the founder and leader of the Georgia colony. Doctor Wright's father was A. R. Wright, who was born at Cave Springs, Georgia, in 1859, and for the past thirty years has been prominently identi- fied with the business community of Farill, Alabama,

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where he has been a merchant, a farmer and stock raiser, sawmill owner, manufacturer of charcoal, and with practically every enterprise of any importance in that town. He is a democrat and a member of the Baptist Church. He died March 1, 1916. His wife was Effie Stewart, who was born at Atlanta, Georgia, in 1867, and died at Farill, Alabama, in July, 1911. Doctor Wright was the oldest of their children, and the others were: Annie, wife of J. F. McGee, who is assistant to the secre- tary and treasurer of the Anchor Duck Mills at Rome, Georgia; Gus, who is a farmer at Farill, Alabama; Mar- garet, wife of Lewis Lilley, of Parrot, Georgia; and Mose, attending the preparatory school at Rome, Georgia.

Doctor Wright was married in September, 1914, at Indianapolis, Indiana, to Ellen C. Gallagher, whose home was formerly in Winona, Minnesota. She is a member of the Catholic Church. Doctor Wright belongs to the Phi Chi Greek letter medical fraternity, is a member of the Baptist Church, and has fraternal affiliations with Lodge No. 91, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, at Chattanooga, Tennessee, with Grandfield Lodge No. 378, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons; with Gaylesville Lodge No. 256, Independent Order of Odd Fellows in Alabama; and with Banyan Camp No. 573, Woodmen of the World at Grandfield. He located for practice at Grandfield, Oklahoma, September 23, 1914, and already enjoys a substantial practice and reputation as a physi- cian and surgeon. His offices are in the Tillman County Bank Building.

J. C. FERGUSON, who was one of the early business men to add his enterprise to the City of Pawhuska, has during the last ten years not only developed a successful local industry, but has also exercised much influence on local affairs. Mr. Ferguson is an Ohio man who enjoyed a substantial position as a business man in that state before coming to Oklahoma, and his record has been a continuation and amplification of the work with which he was identified back in his native state.

His birth occurred in Highland County, Ohio, March 19, 1862, a son of Joseph C. and Mary Elizabeth (Gwinett) Ferguson. His father was born in Ohio while his mother was a native of Germany, and came to .America with two brothers. She died in 1867 at the age of thirty-two, leaving four children. The father married again, having five children by his second mar- riage, and died in 1880 at the age of sixty-two. Prac- tically all his life was spent in the vicinity of Cincinnati, and he developed a large business there as blacksmith, and also had a carriage shop, employing a force of from eighteen to thirty men.

It was with this industry that J. C. Ferguson, after gaining his advantages in the public schools, became identified at the age of sixteen. He learned blacksmith- ing in all its details under his father's direction, and was one of his valuable helpers until twenty-one. At that time he leased from his father the blacksmith department of the business, and conducted it until the death of his father. He then bought the entire business, and continued it successfully until November, 1899, when he sold out.

It was fifteen years ago that Mr. Ferguson came to Oklahoma. His first location was in Garfield County, near Waukomis, where he bought a farm and set up a blacksmithing shop. Later he moved into the town, bought a blacksmithing business, but sold out in 1904 and moved to Pawhuska, which was then a somewhat inconspicuous village. He bought a shop, and soon began to develop a business which is now the chief iron working and repair business of the city, and its facilities have recently been extended to include a

general automobile repair and garage. His two sons, Joe W. and Fred L., are now his active partners under the firm name of J. C. Ferguson & Sons. This firm handles the local agency for the Ford and Hudson auto- mobiles, and automobile repairing is now an important part of their business. While all three of the partners are engaged in the business, they also require the services of three blacksmiths and four other men in the garage. They have recently erected a new garage 50 by 100 feet on East Sixth Street. Mr. Ferguson also owns a fruit farm of forty-five acres adjoining the city, though this is operated through a tenant. A republican voter, Mr. Ferguson has never been a politician, but at dif- ferent times has been honored with positions of respon- sibility and in such places has always worked with an eye single to the good of the community. While living in Ohio he served eight years as township and school director, and in 1908 was honored with election to the office of mayor of Pawhuska for a term of two years. The citizens desired an efficient business administration, and he gave them one which was marked by a big forward movement in the matter of municipal improve- ment. His administration witnessed the beginning of effective street paving, an issue of bonds for electric light and waterworks system, and the beginning of con- struction on these important local utilities, and he also thoroughly cleaned up the city, paying no attention whatever to local politics while engaged in this work. He is a member of the Presbyterian Church and one of its trustees, is affiliated with the various bodies of Masonry, including the thirty-second degree of Scottish Rite, and also with the Knights of Pythias and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.

In 1885 Mr. Ferguson married Miss Mary L. Waddell, who was born in Ohio June 2, 1866, a daughter of Waverly and Naomi Waddell. They have a fine family of eight children: Jessie, wife of J. L. Darby of Pawhuska; Joseph W. and Fred L., both already men- tioned as partners of their father; Nell, who is married; Margine, Clifford, Delos and Leone, all at home and several of them in school.

W. LUSK. One of the pioneers of the Town of Morris, Okmulgee County, W. Lusk has been a very energetic factor in local business affairs and has supplied much of the capital and enterprise for the upbuilding of that section.

He was born in Springfield, Missouri, February 5, 1866, a son of Alfred T. and Elizabeth (Bond) Lusk, both of whom were born in Tennessee and came to Missouri in 1835, in childhood, with their respective parents. They married in Missouri and lived in that state on a farm the rest of their days. The father passed away in 1901 at the age of eighty-three and the mother in 1908 at the age of seventy-three. Their four children were: C. D. Lusk of Fort Scott, Kansas; W. Lusk; Isabella, wife of Robert Kimmnons at Missouri; and Benjamin, of Missouri.

W. Lusk lived on the Missouri farm with his parents until he was eighteen years of age. Since then he has been in active business, working for himself and others, and was principally identified with the drug business until 1914, when he sold out. He acquired his knowledge of pharmacy in the St. Louis School of Pharmacy, from which he received a diploma in 1886. For a number of years he worked as a drug clerk in Kansas City, Missouri.

It was in 1907 that he came to Morris, Oklahoma, and invested his small capital and started the Morris Drug Company, a business which is still conducted under the same name. Since then his interests have taken on a

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much wider scope, and for the past two years he has been in the oil business, having four wells in the district around Boynton. He has been associated with a num- ber of other men in developing this section of the coun- try, and owns himself about 320 acres of farm land in Okmulgee County. It was his money and enterprise that constructed the garage on Main Street, one of the largest buildings in the town, which he sold in 1915. He is now having built an opera house, which will be used for moving picture shows.

Since statehood Mr. Lusk has served as township com- mitteeman of the democratic party and has also been a member of the school board and of the town board the greater part of the time since Oklahoma entered the union. One example of his public spirit was the donation of a portion of the site for the Morris Library. He is affiliated with the Masonic Order, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Fraternal Order of Eagles.

On June 30, 1908, Mr. Lusk married Myrtle M. Gris- som of Okmulgee. She was born in Okmulgee, a daughter of J. E. Grissom of that town. They have one daughter, Wynema, who is now four years old.

LEWIS DALE SOUTER. Prominent among the county officials of Osage County is Lewis Dale Souter, of Paw- huska, who is now serving with acceptance as county assessor. A son of George W. Souter, he was born, January 11, 1874, in Pontotoc County, Mississippi, and was there reared to man's estate.

Born in South Carolina in 1837, George W. Souter was brought up in Mississippi, where his parents located when he was a child. He engaged in agricultural pur- suits as a young man, in 1890 moving with his family to the northwestern part of Texas, from there coming, in 1896, to Oklahoma. Locating in Cleveland, he was there engaged in agricultural pursuits until his death, which occurred February 22, 1905. He was a demo- crat in politics, and during the Civil war served for four years in the Confederate army. Both he and his wife were active members of the Bantist Church, and he was one of the founders of the church of that denomination in Cleveland. His wife, whose maiden name was Saleta Rodgers, was born in Georgia, and died, August 8, 1898, in Cleveland, Oklahoma. Four of their six children are now living, as follows: B. V., of Osage County; Lewis Dale; F. M., of Cleveland; and Jettie E., wife of Dr. Ira Mullins, of Hominy, Oklahoma.

Brought up on the home farm, Lewis Dale Souter was educated in the public schools, and as a boy and youth was trained to habits of industry, becoming skilful in the various branches of agriculture. Coming with the family to Oklahoma, he began life for himself at the age of twenty-four years, engaging in the peaceful and profitable occupation of a farmer, buying land in the vicinity of Cleveland, where he still has title to 160 acres. In 1912 he was elected county assessor of Osage County on the democratic ticket, and displayed such energy and ability in responding to the demands of the office that he was re-elected in 1914.

On December 19, 1907, Mr. Souter was united in mar- riage with Unie Tocy, who was born in Texas, a daugh- ter of I. S. Tocy. The union of Mr. and Mrs. Souter has been blessed by the birth of six children of whom two have passed to the bright life byond, Dale having died at the age of five years, and Bert when but seven months old. Four are living, namely: Prentiss, Dyke, Iris, and Mullins. Politically Mr. Souter is a steadfast democrat and active in narty affairs. Fraternally he belongs to the Ancient Free and Accepted Order of Masons, at Cleveland, Oklahoma. Religiously he is a member of the Baptist Church, with which he united while living in Mississippi.

CALVIN JONES. The State of Tennessee has contrib- uted a considerable amount of brain and muscle necessary to the building of the new State of Oklahoma. In every county and in nearly every community it is represented. It has sent some of the brightest lawyers and most skilled physicians. The elements of Tennessee progress are con- tained in the fundamental elements of social and religious life wherever white men have formed communities here. It has been said that many of them crossed the Arkansas line seeking office, and this humorous reference was based on the fact that in many counties in earlier years Ten- nesseeans were in the majority in office-holding circles. Two generations ago Tennessee sent some of its leading ministers here as missionaries, and in recent years many of the state's leading educators have come from the col- leges of Tennessee. It has furnished more ministers to Oklahoma Methodism than any other state, birth and parentage considered. Many of the ablest and most prominent club women in the recent years in Oklahoma came from Tennessee.

A Tennesseean at Hugo is Calvin Jones, one of the city's brightest and most successful young lawyers. He was born at Summerville, Fayette County, in 1883, a son of J. M. and Anna (Moody) Jones. His father, a native of Fayette County, has spent most of his life on the farm, and served through the Civil war as a soldier in the Cavalry Brigade of General Forrest. The paternal grand- father was also named Calvin. He was a native of North Carolina and gained distinction in two fields. As an educator he was once professor in the University of Ala- bama, and later as a lawyer he became the first chancellor in the district in which he lived in West Tennessee.

After completing his public and high school education, Calvin Jones entered the University of the South at Sewanee, Tennessee, and later the law department of the Cumberland University, from which he received his degree LL. B. in 1903. Beginning practice at Summer- ville, he remained there until 1906, when he located at Grant, a small town near Hugo, and from there moved to Hugo. For two years Mr. Jones was deputy county attorney under Robert K. Warren. In June, 1915, he became junior member of the firm of McDonald & Jones. He is a democrat, a member of the Benevolent and Pro- tective Order of Elks and the Woodmen of the World, and also of the County and State Bar associations.

BART M. WOOLDRIDGE. The kind of western energy, resource and large-mindedness required of the young man who would succeed in the field of finance in these days of strenuous effort and severe competition, seem to be an integral part of the equipment of Bart M. Wooldridge, who since February 1, 1914, has been cashier of the Citizens Bank of Headrick. Notwithstanding his well known caution and respect for conservative measures in banking, he has the progressiveness and courage of the present, and while carefully conserving the interests of the depositors has contributed materially to the growth and development of the institution, the prominence of which adds to the prestige of the community.

Mr. Wooldridge was born in Russell County, Ken- tucky, September 22, 1877, and is a son of Jesse and Nancy A. (Blankenship) Wooldridge, and a member of a family which came from Ireland to America during colonial times and settled in Virginia. Jesse Wooldridge was born at Jamestown, Russell County, Kentucky, November 3, 1844, and there grew up, was educated, and married, his wife having been born in the Blue Grass State in 1847. In 1869 he went to Northwestern Mis- souri, where he spent two years, but soon returned to his native state, and remained there engaged in farming and stockraising until 1894, when he again went to Missouri.

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After two years he removed to Eddy, McLennan County, Texas, where he continued actively engaged in agricul- tural pursuits until 1906, and then came to Hollis, where he now makes his home, practically retired. Mr. Wooldridge has been industrious and energetic all his life, and although now over seventy years of age, still takes a keen interest in affairs of an agricultural nature. In political matters he is a democrat, but has not been an office seeker, while his fraternal connection is with the Masons. He has been a lifelong member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Mrs. Wooldridge died in Missouri, in 1896, aged forty-nine years, the mother of six children: Ada, who is the wife of G. D. Mabery, a farmer of Eddy, Texas; Bart M., of this notice; May, who married Bell Sasser and resides on his farm at Memphis, Texas; Mervin H., who is engaged in the hardware business at Hollis, Oklahoma; Everett R., who is engaged in farming in the vicinity of Hollis; and Walter R., who is a banker and resides at the home of his parents. Mr. Wooldridge was married a second time in 1899, when united in marriage at Eddy, Texas, with Mrs. Martha (Shelton) Hix, a native of Tennessee, but a resident of Bruceville, Texas. One child, Thelma, has been born to this union, she being a student in the public schools.

Bart M. Wooldridge was reared on the home farm and secured his education in the public schools of Russell County, Kentucky, being graduated from the high school there in 1894. Until 1898 he remained on the home- stead, engaged in assisting his father in its operation, and then turned his attention to educational work and for five years taught in the country schools of MeLennan County, Texas. Mr. Wooldridge's advent in Oklahoma took place in 1903, when he located at Martha, and was principal of the school there for two years. While he had gained a reputation as an efficient and popular educator, he was not satisfied with his progress, and in 1907 entered the Altus State Bank, in the capacity of bookkeeper, giving up his teaching work entirely. Through faithful and competent performance of duty he was promoted to the position of assistant cashier and remained with that institution until 1909, when he or- ganized the Martha State Bank, of which he was cashier until January 1, 1914. On February 1, 1914, he came to Headrick to accept the position of cashier of the Citizens Bank, and this he has retained to the present time. This institution was established in 1904, the founder being J. E. Ernst, and in 1912 the present handsome banking house was erected on the corner of Main and Fourth streets. The capital of the bank is $10,000, its officials are W. E. Sanderson, president; J. R. McMahan, vice president, both of Altus; and B. M. Wooldridge, cashier, and it is known as one of the substantial finan- cial concerns of Jackson County. Mr. Wooldridge has thoroughly established himself in the confidence of the people of this community, and his own well-known in- tegrity has done much to attract business to the bank's coffers. He is a director in the Wichita Southern Life Insurance Company of Wichita Falls, Texas.

In political matters Mr. Wooldridge is a democrat, but he has selected his career and has followed it closely, and in it public service has played no part. With his wife he attends the Methodist Episcopal Church, of which both are active members, Mr. Wooldridge being a mem- ber of the board of stewards. His fraternal connections are numerous, including membership in Altus Lodge No. 62, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons; Altus Chapter No. 60, Royal Arch Masons; Altus Council; Eldorado Commandery, Knights Templars; Altus Chapter, Order of the Eastern Star; and Altus Lodge of Odd Fellows,

and he is also a member of the Oklahoma State Bankers Association.

In September, 1909, at Altus, Oklahoma, Mr. Wool- dridge was married to Miss Crowell Ham, daughter of J. R. Ham, of Artesia, New Mexico. They have no children.

JAMES P. THOMPSON. The wild, untamed, uncivilized, romantic West of the old pioneer Indian Territory meets and merges into the modern Oklahoma with its progress- ive and bettered civilization in the life of Col. James P. Thompson of Woodville. Colonel Thompson has lived in that section of the present state, in what was old Pickens County of Indian Territory, for the past thirty years. Born in the strenuous days before the Civil war, at historie Preston Bend, just south of Red River in Grayson County, Texas, and reared amid the thrill- ing scenes enacted on a frontier unfettered by the re- strictions of law, his life has contained enough incidents to make material for an intensely interesting romance.

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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