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 36

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 36

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friends is virtually coincident with that of her acquaint- ances.

J. M. HANNA, M. D. In the picturesque and fertile Valley of the Washita in the eastern part of Grady County blossomed the attractive Town of Alex. The community abounds in evidences of prosperity, and one of the chief of these is a public school building that cost $20,000. Matching the rich natural resources has been the character of the men who have been chiefly instru- mental in creating these evidences of prosperity, and one who is accounted a leader among them all is Dr. J. M. Hanna, who as a member of the board of education helped to direct the destinies of the community's public education. Doctor Hanna has also been mayor of Alex and president of its live Commercial Club, the activities of which have been instrumental in building excellent highways and attracting men of means to develop the agricultural and industrial resources around the town. It has been well said that there has never been an enter- prise in behalf of the community's welfare which Doctor Hanna has not done his best to help along, and partic- ular credit is given him above all other local citizens for the successful basis upon which the public schools of the village now rest. Doctor Hanna has been with the Town of Alex since its beginning, and has given largely of his time, energy and money to make it a wholesome place for good people to live and prosper.

Doctor Hanna was a poor but ambitious lad during the '70s. He completed a common school and academy education at Saltillo, Tennessee, and then worked for the modest salary of $10 a month, out of which he saved enough for a start in medical education. By going to college a while and practicing for a while he completed his medical course, graduating with the degree M. D. from the Memphis Hospital Medical College at Memphis, Tennessee. His first regular schooling in medicine was acquired at the Fort Worth Texas Medical College. After graduating he completed a post-graduate course in the New Orleans Polyclinic. His practice as a regular physician began at Lebanon, Indian Territory, in 1895, and that was his home for twelve years. He moved to Alex in 1907, and there has been a pioneer not only in his profession but in many broad civic activities. His reputation is of the best of a physician, and his practice is among the best of a thrifty class of town and country people.

Dr. J. M. Hanna was born in Tennessee in 1866, a son of Madison C. and Elizabeth (Hawkins) Hanna. His father was a pioneer in the profession of dentistry in that state, but also for many years was well known as a local Methodist preacher and a skilled mechanic. Evi- dences of his talent in the latter line are indicated in the fact that he perfected some of the types of thresh- ing machines then in use. Doctor Hanna's grandfather was Capt. James Hanna, also a native of Tennessee and a well known figure in his time and generation. Two brothers of Doctor Hanna, Thomas W. and William A., are car builders in the employ of the Iron Mountain Railway Company at Little Rock, Arkansas. Two brothers are deceased: Dr. J. B., who was a practicing physician at Coalgate, Oklahoma, and C. N., who was a merchant at Dallas, Texas. A deceased sister was Miss Leora Beatrice, who died while attending school.

Doctor Hanna was married at Beebe, Arkansas, to Miss Isabel Virginia Scrape. Her grandfather was serving in the English navy at the time of the War of 1812 and being then temporarily a resident of United States, went into hiding in Mexico and changed his name to avoid fighting against the people of this country. Doctor and Mrs. Hanna have five children: Ralph M., who is now

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twenty-one years of age and is employed by the Ford Motor Car Company at Chickasha; Orin Virginia, Mary Lewis, James O'Neill and Carthell Mott, all at home and attending school.

Doctor Hanna is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and fraternally has affiliations with the Masons, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Woodmen of the World. He is a member of the Alex Commercial Club and the Alex Board of Education, is chairman of the Grady County Election Board and is city physician of Alex.

REV. L. W. MARKS. In the little City of Edmond L. W. Marks is distinguished for his work as minister, and also for his successful administration of the municipality in the office of mayor up to April, 1915. Perhaps the most important work by which Mr. Marks will deserve the gratitude of ' future generations has been that of historical secretary of the State Baptist Convention. The religious activities of the old Indian Territory cannot be passed over without robbing the history of that country of much of the romance that has made it inviting. The minister, of many denom- inations, was closely identified with the annals of the Five Civilized Tribes. Probably no man of recent years has done more toward revealing the lives of minister- missionaries in that region than Mr. Marks. In his position already named he has for the past eleven years delved into the lives of many early missionaries of the Baptist Church in Oklahoma. From what he brought out he has produced "L. L. Smith of Oklahoma, a Man of God on the Frontier," a little book that has been gen- erally circulated over the state. He has also written, down to 1880, the most complete account of the Baptist Church in Oklahoma. His source of inspiration for the data of this manuscript was Dr. J. S. Murrow of Atoka, one of the editors of the "Standard History of Okla- homa," who is the dean of living missionaries in Okla- homa. Doctor Murrow furnished the "key" to many an Indian home and many an Indian story and legend in the land of the Five Tribes. Mr. Marks has written of the remarkable careers of Doctor Murrow, Dr. H. F. Bucker and Jesse Bushyhead, a Cherokee leader and preacher, and of John Brown, for thirty years governor of the Sem- inole Nation. He learned that Bushyhead made settle- ment at a place called Baptist, near Tahlequah, and that there W. P. Upham of Boston, early in the '40s, published the first newspaper in Indian Territory.

L. W. Marks was born at Canton, Missouri, February 1, 1862, a son of George Edward and Mary J. (Henton) Marks. He has one sister, Mrs. John L. Highbee, wife of a farmer in Lewis County, Missouri. The mother, now at the venerable age of eighty-one years, lives with this daughter. The father of Mr. Marks was a captain in the Confederate army under General Price. A great- uncle, General Martin E. Green, was killed at Vicksburg. The maternal grandparents were among the first settlers on Upper Sugar Creek in Northeast Missouri during the early '30s.

Rev. Mr. Marks was educated in the public schools at Lewis County, Missouri, the LaGrange College at LaGrange, Missouri, the William Jewell College at Liberty, Missouri, and the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary at Louisville, Kentucky, from which he was graduated with the degree Master of Theology. He had entered the Baptist ministry in 1888, and finished his collegiate education after taking up active work as a pastor. For 21/2 years he served as pastor of the Bap- tist Church at Lamar, Missouri, two years at Shelby- ville, Missouri, two years at Meadville, Missouri, and for five years had charge of the church at Edmond,

Oklahoma. For eleven years he was on the editorial staff of Word and Way of Kansas City, one of the leading Baptist publications in the country, and for ten years has represented that publication in Oklahoma. Besides being historical secretary of the Baptist State Con- vention, he has held the office of recording secretary and has been president of the board of trustees of the Baptist College at Blackwell, Oklahoma.

In whatever he undertakes Mr. Marks is known as a man of accomplishment, of great energy, and one who worked steadily and vigorously for the upholding of moral principles. Those characteristics followed him during his administration as mayor of Edmond, to which office he was elected on the democratic ticket in 1913. Fraternally he is affiliated with Edmond Lodge No. 37, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons. Mr. Marks was married at Memphis, Missouri, February 19, 1895, to Miss Sadie Freeman. Their ten children are: Zula, Paul Eaton, L. W., Jr., Frances, Nona, Walter, Joy, Marcus Marion, Ferrell and Bertie Lee.

TIERNAY & WALKER. One of the thoroughly reliable, enterprising, progressive and energetic newspapers of Kingfisher County, and one that is wielding a distinct and forceful influence in assisting the wheels of progress and in securing for the people a greater degree of prosperity, is the Hennessey Clipper, which is pub- lished at Hennessey by the firm of Tiernay & Walker. This concern, founded in 1913 by Frank G. Tiernay and Miss Mabel Walker, has met with a satisfying degree of success from the start, and in 1914 removed all oppo- sition by purchasing the only other newspaper published at that place.

Frank G. Tiernay, the senior member of the concern, has passed his entire life, with the exception of three years, in connection with printing and journalistic work from the time when, as a lad, he received his introduction to stick and case. He was born April 26, 1874, at Fredonia, Louisa County, Iowa, and is a son of Patrick J. and Julia (Fahey) Tiernay. Patrick J. Tiernay was a native of New York, born in 1824, and was a farmer and mechanic all his life. He lived at various points during the course of a somewhat diversified career, and died in 1898, at Quincy, Illinois. Mr. Tiernay was married in 1859 to Miss Julia Fahey, also a native of New York, born in 1830, who died in 1884. They were the parents of four sons and three daughters: John J., Helen, Mary, William, Anna, Frank G. and Henry, all of whom are still living.

Frank G. Tiernay received his early education in the public schools of Burlington, Iowa, to which city his parents removed when he was a small lad. When he was fifteen years of age he expressed a desire to enter the printing business, and accordingly was taught the trade. From that time forward he worked as a journey- man at various places and with numerous newspapers until 1900, in which year he became editor and part owner of the Herald, at Belle Plaine, Iowa. In 1908 he came to Oklahoma, where he purchased the Press-Demo- crat, at Hennessey, of which he continued as editor and owner until 1910, that year marking his entrance upon the real estate field. However, the constant call of the craft was not to be denied, and after an experience of three years in realty affairs he returned to journal- ism in 1913 when he purchased a half-interest in the Hennessey Clipper, in partnership with Miss Mabel Walker, under the firm style of Tiernay & Walker. Mr. Tiernay is personally a democrat, but the paper main- tains independent policies, and seeks to give to its readers a fair and unbiased presentation of all matters of interest and importance. Under wise management both subscription and advertising departments ar-

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flourishing, and the Clipper is rapidly assuming the proportions of a necessary adjunct. Mr. Tiernay is unmarried.

Like her partner, Miss Mabel Walker, junior member of the firm, learned the printing business when but a child and has been its active devotee throughout the course of her active career. She is also an Iowan by nativity, having been born on a farm in Grundy County, February 14, 1876, a daughter of Rigdon B. and Rachel (Dew) Walker. Rigdon B. Walker was born December 5, 1842, at Rock Island, Illinois, a son of Amos and Mary (Abbott) Walker, natives of Kentucky. Mr. Walker went in young manhood from Illinois to Iowa, where he engaged in farming in Grundy County, later went to Reno County, Kansas, in 1882, and in 1895 came to Oklahoma and bought land seven miles north of Enid, where he continued to farm and raise stock until his death in 1901. When the Civil war came on Mr. Walker was a resident of Illinois, and enlisted in Company C, One Hundred and Second Regiment, Illinois Volunteer Infantry, with which he served two years. He was seriously wounded at the battle of Resaca. After the close of the war, in 1865, he was married at Monmouth, Illinois, to Miss Rachel Dew, who was born in 1840, at Zanesville, Ohio, daughter of Hiram and Bettie (Weston) Dew, natives of the Buckeye State. Six children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Walker: Ransom, Robert, Maude, Mabel, Oliver and Julia, of whom Robert is deceased.

Miss Mabel Walker received the foundation for her education in the public schools of Reno County, Kansas, and was but fourteen years of age when she entered the office of the Sylvia Banner, at Sylvia, Kansas, to learn the printing trade. In 1895 she removed with her parents to Enid, Oklahoma, where she worked as a printer, as she did also later at Chickasha, on news- papers. In 1911 she became editor and manager of the Hennessey Clipper, in 1913 purchasing it with Mr. Tiernay. In the year following all opposition was removed when the Clipper absorbed the Press-Democrat. Miss Walker is a newspaper woman of marked talent, and, while pre-eminently a business woman, has her full share of the feminine graces, attractions and accomplislı- ments.

JAMES W. NEWTON, M. D. Among the successful pro- fessional men of Stephens County, Oklahoma, there is probably no one more perfectly in sympathy with that public spirit which has contributed to the progress of the various communities than Dr. James W. Newton, of Loco. Persevering and energetic in whatever direction his efforts have been turned, material success is not the greatest of his achievements, for he has fairly gained and steadfastly maintained the unqualified esteem and confidence of the people. He was born at Holly Springs, Marshall County, Minnesota, April 10, 1866, and is a son of Dr. James A. and Phoebe (Riggs) Newton.

The Newton family was founded in the United States by the grandfather of Doctor Newton, who brought his wife and children from London, England, to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1823, and spent the remaining years of his life in that city. James A. Newton was born in the City of London, in 1817, and was six years of age when brought to the United States, his boyhood and youth being passed in Philadelphia. He enjoyed good educational advantages, and when ready to enter upon a career of his own chose medicine as his field of effort and was duly graduated from the Philadelphia Medical College, with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. In the early '60s, Doctor Newton removed with his family to Marshall County, Mississippi, where he practiced for several years at Holly Springs, and in 1863 went to Phelps County, Missouri. For a short time during the

Civil war he served in the Confederate army as a regi- mental surgeon, but was discharged because of dis- ability, and it is probably that his army experiences were the cause of his early death, in 1865. Doctor Newton married Miss Phoebe Riggs, who was born in Tennessee, in 1823, and died in Missouri, in 1907, and of their children, four are still living: A. C., who is a farmer and resides in Northern Arkansas; Dr. James W .; Mary, who married John Clark, a merchant of Missouri; and Ulysses, a farmer, residing in Arkansas.

After attending the graded public school of Phelps County, Missouri, James W. Newton was sent to the academy at Vienna, Missouri, and there pursued a course of study which fitted him for labors in the field of edu- cation. Accordingly, he took a teacher's license and during six years was principal of schools in Missouri, Arkansas and Kansas. During this time he had decided to engage in the practice of medicine. In 1900 he came to Oklahoma and located at Duncan, where he passed two months, then coming the first time to Loco, where he remained three and one-half years. During his resi- dence here he pursued a course of study at Barnes Medical College, St. Louis, Missouri, and was graduated in 1903, with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. His first field of practice was the State of Missouri, where he passed two years, and in 1905 went to Fort Smith, Arkansas, and later to Benton County in that state. He took up his permanent residence at Loco, Oklahoma, in 1906, and this city has continued to be his home and field of practice. During the years of his practice, Doctor Newton has made his profession remunerative financially and has won a warm place in the esteem of his patients. He belongs to the Stephens County Medical Society and other organizations of his calling, and is fraternally affiliated with the Royal Arch Chapter of the Masonic Order in Benton County, Arkansas, and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Ozark, Missouri. He is a socialist in his political views.

Doctor Newton was married in Benton County, Ark- ansas; to Miss Mary Johnson, who died in 1888, the mother of one child, William A., who is cashier of the Bank of Rush Springs, Oklahoma. In 1891 Doctor Newton was married a second time, in Benton County, Arkansas, to Miss Loui V. Stanley, daughter of the late George P. Stanley, who was a farmer in the Cherokee Nation, now Oklahoma. Six children have been born to this union: Maude, who is the wife of Jesse Rader, who is engaged in the automobile business at Loco; Percy, who is cashier of the Bank of Loco; Opal, who is a teacher in the public schools of Stephens County and resides with her parents; Nell, who is the wife of Ivan Heath, an oil man of Stephens County; and Lucille and Stanley, who are attending the public schools of Loco.

BEN F. WILLIAMS. Among the present generation of Oklahoma lawyers it is perhaps needless to say that Ben F. Williams of Norman has a record that places him among the leading criminal attorneys of the state. He has served as attorney for the defense in some of the most noted criminal trials held since the admission of Oklahoma to the Union. It was on the strength of his well known qualifications as a lawyer that he was appointed by the Supreme Court as a member of the Bar Commission of Oklahoma. There are eleven mem- bers of this commission, two from each Supreme Court District, and one member at large. It is this commis- sion which examines all applicants for admission to the bar, and it sits twice a year in June and December.

Ben F. Williams, who is a son of the late Judge B. F. Williams, who was a prominent lawyer and well known both in Texas and Oklahoma, was born at Gran- bury, Hood County, Texas, March 21, 1877. His an-

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cestors were of Welsh stock and were colonial pioneers in South Carolina. Judge B. F. Williams was born in Giles County, Tennessee, in 1826, and died at Clinton, Oklahoma, in March, 1912. Reared in Tennessee he went to Mississippi, where he married Miss H. E. Rucker, who was born in that state in 1837 and is still living in venerable years at Clinton, Oklahoma. Not long after his marriage Judge Williams moved to Falls County, Texas, and from there to Hood County. In 1878 he located at Graham City in Young County, which was then on the northwestern frontier of Texas. In 1886 he removed to Henrietta, Texas, and in 1890 identified himself with the early bar of Oklahoma City, and from 1896 until his death was a resident of Norman. He died while on a visit at Clinton, Oklahoma. In the various localities mentioned he enjoyed a large civil practice as a lawyer, and at one time was judge of the District Court of Wichita Falls and Henrictta, Texas. In politics he was a democrat, and his only secret order was the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. In the Methodist Episcopal Church he found opportunities for much service, and held every lay office in the church. He and his wife had the following children: Annie, wife of W. I. Brannon, a merchant at Clinton, Okla- homa; Clara, wife of Rev. Mr. Cameron, a Baptist min- ister at Clarence, Oklahoma; Mattie, wife of W. M. Newell, an attorney at Norman; Jean, wife of W. E. Forgy, an attorney at Archer City, Texas; Ben F .; Etta, wife of W. R. Barksdale, a merchant at Memphis, Tennessee; Johnnie, wife of H. L. Quiet, who is cashier of the First State Bank of Clinton, Oklahoma; Charlie, twin sister of Johnnie, and wife of William Milter- berger, a miller and grain buyer at Clinton, Oklahoma; Lee, who married Doctor Baugaus, a physician and surgeon at Temple, Texas; Kate, twin sister of Lee, who is unmarried and is a teacher now living at Archer City, Texas. Judge Williams by his first marriage had two children: Mrs. Mary Carnahan, wife of a retired farmer at Rogers, Arkansas; and Robert L. H., who was an attorney at Goldthwaite, Texas, but died' in a hospital at Temple, Texas.

Ben F. Williams had a public school education in Texas, finishing in a high school at Henrietta, and for three years was a student in the Polytechnic College at Fort Worth. His home has been at Norman since 1897, and in the meantime he had studied law in his father's office and was admitted to the bar in 1899. His offices are in the Hullum Building on East Main Street, and for fifteen years he has given all his time to his large civil and criminal practice.

His services as a criminal lawyer have taken him to all parts of the state. Only a few of the more note- worthy cases in which he has been engaged can be mentioned. He assisted in the defense of James Stev- enson, who was charged with the murder of City Mar- shal Cathey of Pauls Valley; this case was tried in 1908 and resulted in an acquittal of the defendant. He assisted in the defense of Loreno Mathews, who was charged with the murder of her husband, and she was acquitted when tried at Guthrie in 1913. He was chief counsel for John D. Lindsay, former treasurer of Mur- ray County, Oklahoma, who was charged with the mur- der of Editor Schenk at Sulphur; this case, tried at Norman under a change of venue in 1914, resulted in acquittal. He was chief counsel in the case of State v. Dr. J. H. Colby and Wade Stovall, who were charged with the murder of two school directors in McClain County in 1911. The case was tried at Norman in No- vember, 1913, resulted in acquittal.

Mr. Williams has been a democrat ever since casting his first ballot. He is an active member of the County

and State Bar associations, and fraternally is affiliated with Norman Lodge No. 7, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Norman Camp No. 154, Woodmen of the World, with the Ancient Order of United Workmen at Norman, and with Purcell Lodge No. 1260, Benevolent Pro- tective Order of Elks. He is a stockholder in the Nor- man State Bank. In September, 1900, at Norman, Mr. Williams married Miss Ninis O. Hullum. Her father is a retired capitalist and banker of Oklahoma City. To their union have been born two daughters: Mildred Lee, born August 28, 1904; and Margaret Lucile, born June 2, 1908.

THOMAS I. TRUSCOTT. The roll of men who have taken an active and helpful part in the development of the various communities of Jackson County would be in- complete did it not contain the name of Thomas I. Truscott, who since his arrival in 1898 has played an important part in the business, financial and civic life of Olustee. When he first came to this community it was as the proprietor of a cotton gin, but soon he entered the grocery business in which he has continued to be engaged, and subsequently became vice president of the First National Bank. In 1913 his worth as a citizen and his capacity for public service were recognized when he was appointed postmaster, an office iu which he has efficiently served to the present.

Mr. Truscott is an Illinoisan by nativity, born at the Village of Kane, in the southern part of Greene County, August 12, 1853, a son of J. J. and Eliza (Kirkland) Truscott. His grandfather, Thomas Truscott, came to the United States from England in 1821 and soon settled as an early pioneer in Greene County, Illinois, where he was engaged in farming until the discovery of gold in California, in 1849, when he made the long and dan- gerous trip across the plains to the gold-fields. He was one of the fortunate miners who secured valuable claims and subsequently passed his life in the West, where he . became a prominent capitalist. J. J. Truscott was born in Greene County, Illinois, in 1832, and some years after his marriage there went to Arkansas, continuing to make his home in that state until 1879, when he went to Thorpe, Springs, Hood County, Texas, as a pioneer. An attorney by profession, he was engaged in practice at various places in Texas and held a high position in his vocation, being elected county judge of Knox County, Texas, an office in which he served for nine years. After retiring, in 1900, Mr. Truscott came to Olustee, Oklahoma, and in 1911 went to Maud, Oklahoma, where he is now living quietly in his comfortable home. He has been a demo- erat all his life and has always taken an active part in political and civic affairs, while his fraternal connection is with the Masons. Mrs. Truscott, who was born in Greene County, Illinois, in 1835, died at Thorpe Springs, Texas, in 1874. They were the parents of five children, as follows: Thomas I .; George E., who is engaged in merchandising at Maud, Oklahoma: Addie. of Frederick, Oklahoma, who is the widow of W. W. Rogers, a me- chanic; Estella, who is the wife of Hon. D. F. Gaus, an attorney at Seymour, Texas, and a member of the Texas State Senate; and Lucien K., M. D., who is a practicing physician and surgeon of Oklahoma.

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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