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 23

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 23

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Not only by residence but by family relationships and early experiences he has been in many ways identi- fied with old Indian Territory as well as with modern Oklahoma. He was born November 26, 1850. His father was James G. Thompson, who was born in 1802 in North Carolina, moved to Tennessee and then to Alabama, and in the latter state became acquainted with and married Miss Mary McNary, member of a prominent Cherokee Indian family, and herself a quarterblood. In 1831 they accompanied the first emigration of that people to the Cherokee Nation in Indian Territory, locating at Web- ber's Falls, where James G. Thompson established a general mercantile store which he conducted for about twelve years. At the death of his wife, in 1843, having sold his business in Indian Territory, he moved to the south side of Red River in Grayson County, Texas. There he spent the rest of his life until his death in 1879. He was a member of the Legislature of Texas, when that state seceded from the Union and in the early '50s was county judge of Grayson County. He always had the high esteem and unqualified confidence of the Indians, to whom he was a good and faithful friend, and the people of the Cherokee Nation often solicited him to return and live among them. After his removal to Texas he married Miss Martha J. Caruthers, who was born in Georgia in 1820 and who was of white family, the Caruthers having been among the pioneers of Grayson County, Texas. At one time she owned the townsite of Denison. Her death occurred in 1894. By the second marriage there were eight children, namely: Elizabeth, who married Capt. Tom Randolph, a merchant and very prominent citizen of Sherman, Texas; James P .; Vir- ginia, who married James Potts, a stockman; Arizona, who became the wife of Judge David E. Bryant, formerly a United States district judge, and one of the distin- guished citizens of Sherman; Frank P., who is a retired merchant and farmer; Josephine who was drowned when a little girl; Breckenridge, who died in infancy; and Alice, who married Joe Meadows, a farmer and stockman of Grayson County.

Reared on the old farm in Grayson County, Col. James P. Thompson from early boyhood felt the fascina- tion of the wild and free life of the frontier. He at- tended the common schools of Preston Bend, also Sher- man High School, and for a time was a student in Burle- son College. It was with difficulty he kept his mind on his studies, since he was by nature too closely akin to the free untrammeled life of the country and scenes among which he had been reared. As a boy be- fore the war he had helped his father haul and sell corn to the United States military post at Fort Washita, Arbuckle, and Cobb. This corn sold at a price as

bol. Jim Thompson

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high as $2.25 per bushel. In the years following the war he became an expert in all branches of ranch life. His father had a large horse ranch at Pottsboro, and his cattle ranch, on which frequently ranged 3,500, head, was five miles west of Sherman. Before coming to Indian Territory Colonel Thompson be- came well known as a stock man all over Northern Texas and after the building of the railroad across Indian Ter- ritory he used Denison, Texas, as a shipping point for his stock to the markets at St. Louis and Chicago.

In 1877 Mr. Thompson married Miss Maggie E. Massey, a member of an old Kentucky family that emi- grated to Texas in 1848. Mrs. Thompson died in 1883, being survived by two children: Myrtle Lillian and Henry M. The daughter Myrtle is now the wife of Claude R. Howard. His son Henry M. married Miss C. F. Taylor, and their two children are named Ollie Lee and Maggie May.

After the death of his first wife Colonel Thompson married Lucy Juzan, who was a resident of Indian Territory and a descendant of the Chickasaw lineage, being a fourth blood Chickasaw. Her parents were Jackson and Mississippi Juzan. Jackson Juzan belonged to the Choctaw tribe and was born in Tennessee but came to Indian Territory during the '40s, and for many years followed farming in the vicinity of Atoka. He was one of the Choctaw volunteers in the Confederate army during the Civil war, and afterwards was active in the affairs of his nation until his death in 1866. Jack- son Juzan married Mississippi Allan, who was of Chick- asaw blood. She was born in Mississippi, and came to Indian Territory in 1835. She died in December, 1865. After their marriage Colonel and Mrs. Thompson took up their residence at the present beautiful homestead adjoining the Town of Woodville in July, 1886. No children were born to their union, and Mrs. Thompson died there in April, 1898. It is noteworthy that she was a cousin of Charles Le Flore, who was the father- in-law of former Governor Lee Cruce of the State of Oklahoma.

After locating in Pickens County, Colonel Thompson soon had extensive holdings. His cattle covered many hills and his brand became well and widely known. In one he

marked 1,200 calves.

In Wood- ville he provided for his family the finest house in the town, with all the comforts and furnishings that wealth and culture can suggest. He has now reached the age of sixty-five, but still retains his interest in all that affects his community, and is a partner with his son Henry M. in the cattle business. In many ways his business judgment has been almost infallible, and his prosperity is only an adequate return for his abilities and energy. Colonel Thompson possesses many fine per- sonal qualities, is whole souled and genial and as he knows everybody in his section of the country so every- body knows and honors "Uncle Jim." His loyalty to friends and neighbors has often been tested, and one case in point will illustrate the quality of his friendship. He spent much of his valuable time and $16,- 000 of his money a few years ago to prove the inno- cence of Steve Bussell. He belongs to no secret organ- izations or fraternal societies and finds his greatest en- joyment in the management of his farm and in associa- tion with his old and tried friends.

JOHN J. GAYMAN. High personal character and solid attainments as a business man and citizen have given John J. Gayman an important place in Lincoln County, where for the past five years he has held the responsible office of county treasurer. He was first elected to that position in 1910, and his present term expires in June, 1915. Mr. Gayman has been identified

with Oklahoma citizenship for many years, and he has exerted his influence in many ways for the benefit of his home and community. In 1905 he served in the Oklahoma Territorial Legislature.

John J. Gayman was born August 27, 1875, on a farm in Indiana, a son of Isaiah Gayman, a native of Ohio. His father was reared in Indiana, became an early settler in Indiana, and enlisted and served for three years in the Union army as a member of the Eighth Indiana Volun- teer Infantry. He married Sarah Wilson, who was descended from an Irish family of County Antrim, Ireland. They were the parents of nine children, eight of whom are living, as follows: Mrs. M. Drumm of Columbia, Missouri; Dr. S. E., a successful physician at Agra, Oklahoma; Mrs. L. Johnson, of Monett, Mis- souri; W. K. of Edmond, Oklahoma; John J .; Mrs. W. A. Moore of Lincoln County; Mark, a student in the University of Oklahoma; and Arthur, in business in Little Rock, Arkansas, Isaiah Gayman brought his family to Lincoln County, Oklahoma, many years ago and died there in 1901. He was a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, and belonged to the Christian Church. His widow is now living at Oklahoma City.

John J. Gayman grew up on a farm, and there de- veloped his physique and gained his first lessons in honest toil. He received a public school education, and from an early age took much interest in republican politics attending as a delegate a number of county and district conventions. His constituents had special reason to be proud of his services as a member of the Legisla- ture. He was connected with the passage of some of the best bills in that term of the Territorial Legislature.

In 1901, in Lincoln County, Mr. Gayman married Miss Grace Newell, who was born in Iowa and was reared and educated in that state and in Kansas, a daughter of J. A. Newell. To this union have been born four children, Ruth, Marion, John H. and Richard N. Mr. Gayman has given much attention to Masonic activities, is a member of the lodge, chapter and Knight Templar Commandery. He and his wife are members of the Presbyterian Church. Mr. Gayman is a man of splendid stature and physical proportions, has a pleasing address, and no one connected with official affairs around the courthouse has more stanch friends.

E. LEE ADAMS has been a resident of Oklahoma for fifteen years or more. In that time his life has been one of service as a teacher, farmer, news- paper man, and as an active and energetic worker in local affairs and local and state polities. He is now editor and owner of The Harrer County Democrat at Buffalo. and owns considerable valuable real estate both in Buffalo and in the county.

His birth occurred in Linn County, Missouri, June 21. 1880. He was the only child of Mr. and Mrs. A. A. Diek. his present name being an adopted one. His father went to the Black Hills of Dakota in 1882 and was never heard from afterward. When but five years of age. with his mother, E. Lee Adams left Missouri, and he attended his first school at Harper, Kansas. His early life was one of abiect poverty, but his one determination was to secure an education. At the age of fourteen he finished his high school work at Hamilton, North Dakota, but after- wards took a special normal course in the John B. Stetson University at DeLand, Florida. In Florida and also in Oklahoma Mr. Adams followed the profession of teacher in the public schools.

It was during his career as a teacher that in 1898, soon after the outbreak of the Spanish-American war, he enlisted in Company F of the First Florida Volunteer Infantry. He was with that command for a year and after his honorable discharge resumed his place in the

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schoolroom. In 1901 he moved to Oklahoma, and in 1902. gave up school work to become one of the editors of the Augusta Sun then published at Old Augusta, Oklahoma. After two years, in 1904, he founded the Sun at Dacoma, and a year later moved to his homestead in northwest Harper County, on which he had filed a claim in 1903. He spent two or three years in developing and improving a first class farm, but then answered the old call to newspaper work, and on April 19, 1907, founded The Harper County Democrat at Buffalo, being the first busi- ness institution started in the new county seat. He has since owned and edited this very live and enterprising journal and has given it much influence and a very satis- factory circulation through his home and adjoining coun- ties. From absolute poverty he has, in fifteen years, risen to success and influence, all of which he attributes to his own determination and the encouragement and as- sistance of a good mother.

While an active democrat, Mr. Adams has never sought office, though he has filled the place of chairman and secretary of the County Central Committee and has held a place on the State Committee. Fraternally he is a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason, being affiliated with the Consistory No. 1 at Guthrie, and a Shriner. He is also an Odd Fellow.

On January 1, 1908, in Harper County, Mr. Adams married Miss Minnie E. Torrance, who was born in Kansas December 17, 1888, a daughter of S. A. Tor- rance, who is now one of the leading farmers in Harper County. Mr. and Mrs. Adams have four children, three daughters and one son: Marion, Maxine, Wilmer and Evelyn.

CHARLES G. NESBITT. In his capacity as editor and proprietor of the Hinton Record Charles G. Nesbitt has a splendid opportunity of voicing the public opinion in regard to general improvements. He has been a resi- dent of Hinton since the fall of 1909 and his citizenship here has ever been characterized by a loyal interest in all matters tending to advance the good of the com- munity.

A native of Nelson, Nebraska, Charles George Nesbitt was born May 9, 1879, and he is a son of J. B. and Eva- line (Lee) Nesbitt, both of whom are living, their home being at Watonga, Oklahoma. The father was born in the State of Ohio, in 1840, and as a young man he journeyed west to Iowa. In the latter state was solem- nized his marriage and there he continued to reside until 1873, when the family home was established on a claim near Nelson, Nebraska. In 1889 removal was made to Fairfield, Nebraska, but 1891 finds the family again in the old community near Nelson. From 1894 until 1905 the Nesbitts resided at Eldorado Springs, Missouri, and in the latter year came to Oklahoma, settling at Norman and removing thence to Watonga in 1908. Mr. J. B. Nesbitt has devoted much of his active career to work as a contractor and builder. He gave evidence of his loyalty to the cause of the union during the Civil war by enlisting for service in Company B, Twelfth Illinois Vol- unteer Infantry. He served as a soldier for four years and five months and participated in many important battles marking the progress of the war. He and his wife are devout members of the Baptist Church and to them were born seven children, as follows: E. F. resides at Altus, Oklahoma, where he is manager of the wholesale grocery firm of Williamson-Halsell-Frazier; Walter died at the age of nine years; Paul, whose home is at Mc- Alester, Oklahoma, was a member of the State Legisla- ture in 1915; Lura Rose is the wife of C. E. Harritt, a farmer near Watonga; Maud married Louis Shaw, who is engaged in farming at Fairfield, Nebraska; Charles G.

is he whose name forms the caption for this review; and Howard is a newspaper man at Mounds, Oklahoma.

Charles G. Nesbitt was educated in the public schools of Nebraska and lived at home on his father's farm until he had reached his sixteenth year. At that time he went to Eldorado Springs, Missouri, where he was engaged in truck farming until September, 1899, at which time he removed to Watonga, Oklahoma. In February, 1900, in partnership with his brother, Paul, he established the Oklahoma Senator, which they edited for about a year. In the fall of 1900 Mr. Nesbitt was matriculated as a student in the University of Oklahoma and he attended that institution for eighteen months. From January, 1902, until the fall of 1904 he was engaged in news- paper work in Watonga and on the latter date he and his brother Paul took over the Watonga Herald which they owned and edited until 1907. For nine months there- after Mr. Nesbitt worked in a newspaper office in Okla- homa City and during that time he made up the first sixty editions of the Oklahoma News. In May, 1908, he began to work for Tom Ferguson on the Watonga Republican and in the fall of 1909 he bought the Hinton Record from Henry A. White. This publication was established in 1902; it is independent in politics and has a large circulation in Caddo and neighboring coun- ties. The offices of the Record are on Main Street and the printing machinery and presses are up-to-date in every particular.

Mr. Nesbitt is a democrat in his political allegiance and he is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In October, 1903, at Watonga, Oklahoma, was celebrated his marriage to Miss Lillian Woolverton, a daughter of W. C. Woolverton, a farmer in the vicinity of Abilene, Kansas. Mr. and Mrs. Nesbitt have four children, as follows : J. Wellington, C. Hubert, Norma May and Wil- liam N., the three former of whom are attending school at Hinton.

M. H. MILLS. In 1909 M. H. Mills was admitted to the bar of the State of Oklahoma, since which time he has been engaged in a general civil and criminal prac- tice in Mangum. In 1912 he formed a partnership with Judge J. L. Carpenter, under whom he had studied while in training for his profession, and together they enjoy a nice practice in the city and county.

Mr. Mills was born at Burleson, Johnson County, Texas, on January 24, 1878. He is a son of W. F. and Cora (Hix) Mills, and is one of their large family of ten children. W. F. Hills was born in Illinois in 1841 and died in Greer County, Oklahoma, in 1898. When he was yet a boy his parents moved from Illinois to Mississippi, and in 1851 they came to Texas, settling at Burleson, Johnson County, and there he continued to live for many years. He married there and his children were all born at Burleson, where he carried on a farming and stock-raising business. Mr. Mills served three years in the Confederacy as a member of a Texas regiment of volunteer infantry, and he was a life-long democrat and a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. In 1890 he moved to Grier County, Texas, now Grier County, Oklahoma, and there homesteaded 160 acres of Government land, which he later increased to 320 acres, and which his wife sold after his death. The land was situated sixteen miles south of Mangum.

In 1869 Mr. Mills married Cora Hix. She was the maternal granddaughter of the Lee family. Her great grandfather was of English birth and ancestry. She was born in Kentucky in 1851 and is now living in Mangum. Their children are here briefly mentioned as follows: Rosa, the first born, died at the age of eighteen years. Mollie married J. B. Roberson and lives in Martin

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County, Texas, where Mr. Roberson is engaged in farm- ing. Price lives in Springfield, Colorado, and is a stock raiser. Annie married J. B. Hacker and resides in Hollis, Oklahoma, where Mr. Hacker owns and operates the telephone exchange. The fifth child was M. H. of this review. William lives in Springfield, Colorado, and is a farmer. Alice married J. F. Eddleman, and they have their home at Cleburne, Texas. Walter is a machinist and lives at Marshall, Texas. Mattie married H. E. Galbraith, and lives at Hollis, Oklahoma, where her husband is a manufacturer of soft drinks. Queen married Charles Brock, a machinist of the oil mill at Mangum.

M. H. Mills was raised on his father's farm and at- tended the schools of Greer County. He was twenty years old when he left home in 1898 for the first time. He went to Montana and worked on cattle ranches and in the mines for four years, and in 1902 returned to Greer County, Oklahoma, and spent a year in work on a farm there. He then entered the Tyler Commercial Col- lege in Tyler, Texas, and finished a thorough business course, after which he entered the office of Judge J. L. Carpenter in Mangum and began the study of law. He also read law in the office of G. A. Browu, now a judge of the Supreme Bench, and in several other offices did he get some training. He spent something like five years in study and in 1909 was admitted to practice. For three years he conducted an independent practice, and then, in 1912, joined forces with Judge Carpenter, and they have since worked together under the firm name of Car- penter & Mills. They have their offices in the Mangum National Bank Building.

Mr. Mills is a democrat, a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and of Lodge No. 1169, Benevo- lent and Protective Order of Elks.

In 1908 Mr. Mills was married to Miss Edna Der- rick, daughter of W. A. Derrick, for many years a minister of the gospel of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Reverend Derrick is now an old man and resides in Wheeler County, Texas. Mr. Mills and wife have one child, Frances Byron, born October 10, 1914.

It may be said here that the Mills family is one of the old ones that came to this country from England in early Colonial days, settling in Pennsylvania, where many of the name are to be found today. Jonathan Mills, grandsire of the subject, was born in Illinois, whither a branch of the family had migrated, and he later lived in Mississippi and still later in Texas, where he died in advanced years. He was a farmer and a successful merchant, and like all the family, of the Methodist faith. His wife was a Miss Bond, born in Illinois, and she died in Burleson, Texas.

CHARLES M. COPE. An attorney of wide experience in practice both in this state and in Kentucky, Charles M. Cope formerly served as county attorney of Osage County, has figured prominently in democratic politics in the state, and enjoys a secure and substantial position in his profession at Pawhuska.

A native of Kentucky, he was born in Menifec County February 20, 1872, a son of Thomas T. and Ruth Ellen (Tyre) Cope. His parents were also natives of Ken- tucky, and are now living at Jackson in that state. His father has for more than forty years been a practicing lawyer, and for sixteen years served as county attorney.

The second in a family of seven children, Charles M. Cope spent all his younger career in Kentucky, and from that state came to Pawhuska in 1907. He received most of his literary education in the S. P. Lee Collegiate and Military Institute, from which he was graduated in 1898. His law studies were pursued under the direction Vol. V-6

of his father, and in March, 1906, he was admitted to the Kentucky bar and practiced for about a year in his native State, serving during that time as attorney for a large coal company.

Since coming to Oklahoma Mr. Cope has found abundant employment for his time and energies in a general practice. For two years he served as county attorney of Osage County, and Governor Cruce appointed him county assessor for one year. In 1914 he was a candidate before the democratic primaries for the office of attorney general of the state, and his candidacy, while unsuccessful, has served to familiarize his name among many remote sections of Oklahoma. Mr. Cope has attained thirty-two degrees in Scottish Rite Masonry, being affiliated with the Consistory at Guthrie, belongs to the Blue Lodge at Hominy, and is also a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. On November 4, 1908, he married Miss Edna May Venus, who was born in Texas.

CHARLES O. BLAKE, of El Reno, for the past nine years has been the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad attorney for Oklahoma. He is one of the pioneer lawyers of the old Oklahoma, having located in El Reno in 1890, after five years of practice in Southern Kansas. His work and reputation as a lawyer have been fully pro- portionate to his long experience as a resident in this state.

Born at Blake's Landing, Ohio, October 29, 1860, he is a son of C. B. and Gratia (Fuller) Blake, both natives of Ohio. His father was born on the farm where his father before him was born, and has spent his entire active career as a farmer and stock raiser, and is still living on the old homestead in Ohio. He finished his education in the college at Marietta, Ohio, and at the outbreak of the Civil war organized a company and entered the Federal service, where he continued until mustered out in 1863 for disability. In 1857 he married Miss Fuller, who died May 22, 1915, after nearly sixty years of married companionship. They were the parents of six sons: A. F., an oil operator at Louisville, Ken- tucky; C. O .; Edward, a farmer in Canadian County, Oklahoma; Clarence, who died at the age of six years; Ernest E., a lawyer at Oklahoma City; and C. B., an oil operator at Louisville, Kentucky.

Charles O. Blake studied law in the Cincinnati Law School, and in 1883 was admitted to practice at Indian- apolis, Indiana. He soon afterwards came west and in 1885 located at Coldwater, Kansas, where besides his private practice he was elected on the republican ticket as county attorney of Comanche County.

It was in 1890 that Mr. Blake came to El Reno, and with his brother, Ernest E., established a law office under the firm name of Blake & Blake. In 1900 Mr. Blake became local attorney for the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway, and in 1907 was appointed attorney for Oklahoma and Indian Territory to represent the interests of the Rock Island Line. He still holds the same office, though his official designation has been changed to correspond to the admission of the two terri- tories as a single state.

During the last quarter century, covering almost the entire political history of old and new Oklahoma, Mr. Blake has been active in republican politics, though he never sought an office for himself. He served as a member of the board of regents of the State Agricultural and Mechanical College and of the Oklahoma State Uni- versity at different times. Fraternally he is affiliated with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

On February 18, 1885, he married Miss Cora Bryan, daughter of William H. and Julia Bryan of Gallipolis,

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Ohio, but natives of Virginia. Mr. and Mrs. Blake have four children: Bryan T., Marion, Bordwell and Ansel.

HORACE A. SMITH. Since his arrival at Perry, in 1893, Horace A. Smith has been continuously engaged in practice, and during a large portion of this time has served in positions of trust and public responsibility, of a county, civic and judicial nature. As a lawyer he bears a reputation for legal information and acumen, and in the capacity of county attorney of Noble County is serving faithfully the interests of the people who placed their confidence in his integrity and fidelity.

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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