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 38

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 38

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It was of this family and of this ancestry that Ed- mond J. Gardner comes. He is a half-blood Choctaw. He was born November 27, 1877, on the old homestead near Wheelock. The first employment that claimed his attention was at the age of four when he was called to "carry the cat to eat the lizards" around the farm fenced by his two brothers who with neighbor boys killed them by bow and arrow. His parents then moved to Red River, near Bonton, where he lived to the age of thirteen in a wild country, feasting on wild meats, listening to the voices of wild animals, and to men too corrupt to live in any other place, with plenty of "fire water." There he absorbed and was saturated with the environments of the time and took up many of the prevalent bad habits.

The writer has seen a photograph of Mr. Gardner at the age of thirteen. It shows a boy with strong face and features, and with some of the wonder at the mystery of life impressed upon his countenance. It was at that time that this child of the back woods became cognizant in a strange and mysterious way of the things of the future, and that change in mental and

spiritual attitude subsequently affected his entire life. During the next five years he lived with relatives, friends and others, going to neighborhood schools part . of the time and advancing in his studies to the third reader and taking up the study of arithmetic. Though he had a great desire for knowledge and requested to be sent away to school, he was unfortunate in this respect and was never given the privileges he craved. At the age of eighteen, becoming tired of living with other people, he moved into an old house by himself and lived alone. His lonely life was happily interrupted when he met Miss Laura James, and they were married July 5, 1896.

Soon after, being stricken with a desire to see the West, in September of the same year he loaded his belongings, consisting of a little bedding and cooking utensils, in with those of another family, and started West. His first stop was about fifty miles distant .. There in a short time he came face to face with starva- tion. For ten days or more he and his wife ate mush made up only with water and cooked from meal that had been borrowed. At the same time the young wife did a neighbor's washing for a family of four to obtain enough soap to do her own washing one time. Edmond J. earnestly sought work, but the people who gave it to him had no money, and as a last resort he accepted two small steel animal traps for a small job of work, think- ing he would set the traps on the creek near his house and catch a coon and in that way get some meat to eat .. At the next house for some work he was given a small piece of meat and a gallon of meal. With this he hurried home, cooked it for supper, and that night the little household was one of feasting and joy, though little provision remained for breakfast.

In March, 1897, a friendly neighbor moved them further west and unloaded them in an old house on a river bank. There Edmond Gardner became a fisher- man. He took as a partner a boy named Henry James. While they caught fish in quantities they had no way to take them to market. It is an old saying that where there is a will there is a way. Gathering some scrap lumber and making a wheelbarrow, they loaded it with three hundred pounds of fish, and while one pulled the other pushed and thus they traversed eight miles through the black mud to the nearest town. Here the fish had a ready sale at five cents a pound and within two hours they were returning with a supply of provisions and, as Mr. Gardner says, happier than millionaires. This fishing was continued until June, and each week they made one or two trips with their wheelbarrow, both going barefooted during the rainy season of the year. In June Edmond loaded his belongings in with those of another family bound for the West, and after going 100 miles started out again to look for work. Crops were a total failure and no employment was to be had. It seemed that an unseen hand led him to face every- thing that brings disappointment, discouragements and hardships. Thus in January, 1898, he returned to his old home in Towson County, a wiser, better and a more experienced man. Before taking this trip he did not know the value of a dollar, neither did he understand the vision of his childhood. Now he began to think seriously of the future, and was ready and anxious to undertake some real vocation. At a loss to know what to do or how to start, again and again have the words "you must" flashed before his mind and he could not sit still.

Moving to Clear Creek, he began work in a black- E succe smith's shop, and in a few months later in a store. In January, 1899, he bought the store on "promises" and was appointed postmaster. This gave him time for nagic.

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HISTORY. OF OKLAHOMA

1889

study and thought. Recognizing the need of an edu- cation, he began collecting school textbooks, studied them assiduously, and his interest and application brought rapid advancement. That was the turning point in his career, and everything thenceforward seemed to change for the better. Out of that experience he evolved some precepts and resolutions. In January, 1900, he resolved "that the leisure hour was the most valuable part of the day," and that "he would never sleep in the daytime unless his health demanded it, for there is too much that need to be done," and that "knowledge and not money shall be my aim." These cardinal principles he has put to a worthy test in his subsequent career. In the same year he was appointed clerk and treasurer of Towson County and served two years. In the meantime merchandising occupied him until 1901, when he sold out and moved to Valliant, his present home, taking up business as a photographer. While his income. was small, he laid away 10 per cent to buy books, calling it "the self instruction fund." Thus he acquired books and magazines, but read very little fiction or story books because he thought it too expensive a luxury for a poor man, not in dollars and cents, but in hours and days. Further, the reading of stories caused him to lose interest in more substantial literature.

In 1905 he was elected city clerk and in the same year appointed county clerk. In 1906 he was elected mayor. In the meantime he had gained familiarity with

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the law and was practicing as senior partner of the law firm of Gardner & Cochran. He soon gave up the aw because it did not harmonize with his conscience. In 1909 Mr. Gardner organized the "Puritan Family," ৳ fraternal order. He wrote the ritual of the initiatory degree, which exemplified the struggles of life from beginning to success, pointing out idleness, intem- perance and self-importance as the chief stumbling stone; passing to old age with its joys and sorrows and closing with a scene of death and our hope in the esurrection. The purpose of this order was "mutual assistance,"' its motto, "do something," and the bene- its were providing medical aid for the sick. The order vas intended for the young people, boys and girls, but t was enjoyed by the old and young alike, the best people of the town becoming members.

In 1910 he was appointed assistant postmaster and erved 31/2 years. During his leisure hours he invented , complete system of shorthand writing for his own use, which was considered by many as being equal to if not etter in some respects than the standard systems. While studying shorthand he discovered and worked out complete phonetic alphabet for the English language, ery different from the common English alphabet in bad trops haracters used and names for them, consisting of sixty- even characters, each having only one sound, suitable every. or type form and a printer's press. In 1915 he invented small writing machine, small enough to be carried in ne pocket, having only five keys and operated entirely ith one hand and using his phonetic alphabet; the ounds of the words being made in the same manner as chord on a musical instrument-by a combination of eys.

While concerning himself with these higher aims and bjects, in order to support himself and family, Mr. ardner learned the trade of watchmaker and jeweler, nd is probably the only Indian of his tribe in that ocation. It is not to be understood that what measure f success he has had was accomplished with ease and agic. On the other hand it was accomplished, as this arrative should show, in the face of many discourage- ents and difficulties. At times the road seemed steep

and toilsome with no reward in sight, and he suffered times of despair. Again financial necessities would interrupt his real work, and, troubles seemed insur- mountable mountains in his path. Having passed the crisis and having taken up the fight anew, all these previous discouragements passed away like snow under a suminer sun.

Mr. Gardner is the father of eight children, of whom five are living: Mrs. Lela Shackelford, Bonnie, Susie, Alzara and Lois. The family live in the Town of Val- liant. He is a member of the Methodist Church and is fraternally connected with the Masons, Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Woodmen of the World.

CHARLES M. ROBERTS. Not all the Oklahoma pioneers were successful from a financial and business standpoint. Nearly all of them possessed daring and enterprise, with- out which qualities they would hardly have ventured into this country. There are a few conspicuous cases of substantial success, however, and one of these is illus- trated by Charles M. Roberts of Okmulgee. Mr. Roberts first became identified with what is now the State of Oklahoma in 1888, the year before the original opening. In 1893 he made the run into the Cherokee Strip, start- ing from the Mickasuckee Mission, where he was em- ployed at that time. He secured a claim but afterwards abandoned it.

His principal operations have been in old Indian Terri- tory, now Eastern Oklahoma. It was on May 30, 1900, that he arrived at Okmulgee. At that time not more than twenty white people were settled on the site of that old Indian town. The railroad had not quite reached here, and in fact he was just ahead of the railroad. For several years he conducted the Frisco Hotel of Okmulgee, but he soon saw larger opportunities in the oil and real estate business and that has been the source of his un- qualified success. As an investment and operator in the oil district he is one of the many men who have acquired a fortune. Some of his associates say that Mr. Roberts made $50,000 out of a single oil deal. His interests are chiefly confined to the largest and most productive oil fields in the country at this time, the Cushing field, and he also has some leases and oil property in Okmulgee County.

Charles M. Roberts was born in Berrien Couuty, Mich- igan, March 8, 1864. His parents were Lowell L. and Lydia C. (Liscomb) Roberts, who were also natives of Michigan. The family lived in that state until Charles was nine years of age and they then moved to South- western Missouri, locating in Lawrence County in 1872. In 1886 they went to Wichita, Kansas, and in the spring of 1888 the parents settled at Rogers, Arkansas, where the father died later in the same year at the age of sixty-three. The mother died at Seneca, Missouri, March 5, 1893, aged fifty-eight. Lowell L. Roberts was a car- penter and wagon maker by trade and a very industrious and proficient workman. While living in the North in Michigan he made a great number of sleighs and bob sleds as well as wagons. In the family were four chil- dren, Nellie E., wife of Frank Good of Seattle, Wash- ington; Jennie, wife of Lynn Wilks at Winfield, Kansas; Charles M .; Daisy E., wife of H. C. Davis of St. Joseph, Missouri.

Mr. Roberts lived with his parents and followed them in their various removals until about 1888, when he was twenty-four years of age. After he had finished his early education he went into his father's shop and prac- tically grew up in the wagon making trade. That trade furnished him his means of living for a number of years, practically until he came to Okmulgee in 1900. When he first came into what is now Oklahoma in November,

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HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

1888, he settled at Muskogee and found outlet for his energies in work at his trade there for 61/2 years. During the next 412 years he lived iu Texas, and then returned to Indian Territory and established himself at Okmulgee. Mr. Roberts has given his influence and means to the upbuilding of his home city, and is one of the leading members of the Chamber of Commerce.

In 1888 at Rogers, Arkansas, he married Miss Mary Johnson, who was born in Missouri, but was partly reared in Arkansas. Her father was J. J. Johnson. To their marriage were born three sons, two of whom died in infancy. The son Fred Roscoe, who lives at home, and who was married October 2, 1915, to Miss Sadie Miers of Muskogee has come into considerable prominence as an aviator. In the spring of 1915 he went to Ithaca, New York, and took a practical course in aviation. He has a fine aeroplane of his own, built in the Thomas Brothers factory at a cost of $8,000, and similar to those employed by the European allies for military purposes. The Okmulgee Chamber of Commerce has built for him an aviation field and haugar and he has proved a very skillful flyer and usually practices in his machine or takes it out for exhibition purposes about once a week, and may be seen soaring about in the clouds over Ok- mulgee every Saturday if the weather permits.

HARRY W. EBY, cashier of the Colony State Bank, Colouy, Oklahoma, has been a resident of this state since 1909, when he came to Colony with Messrs. Shaub and Millner, and secured control of the bank with which he has since been identified. The bank was organized in 1903, as a state institution, by W. Montgomery and Doctor Davis, both of Weatherford, and a Mr. Galloway of Colony. The present officers of the bank are P. E. Shaub, president; E. L. Millner, vice president; and Mr. Eby, cashier. The capital stock is $10,000, with a surplus of $2,900. Under the supervision of Mr. Eby the bank has paid a 20 per cent dividend for the past six years, and its surplus has been increased from $1,300 to $2,900. It was at no time a paying investment prior to Mr. Eby's connection with it, and since he came to be connected with it the present fine home of the bank was erected.

Mr. Eby was born in Hannibal, Missouri, on December 5, 1878, aud he is a son of Frank Eby, born in New York State, near Rochester, in 1827, and died in Hannibal in 1897.

Frank Eby left his native state in early manhood and weut to Rock Island, where he engaged in the mercantile business and was there located for many years. He finally went to Hannibal, where he spent the last years of his life. He was a member of the Methodist Episco- pal Church, and a deacon in it, and he helped to organ- ize the church in his home town. He was a Mason and a veteran of the Civil war, having served four years as quartermaster of an Iowa regiment of volunteer infantry. He married Sarah Jane Webb, who was born in Indiana in 1830, and who died in 1906 while on a visit in New Mexico. Harry W. is the only child born to them. Sarah Webb, however, was the second wife of Mr. Eby. His first wife was a Miss Gilman of Bangor, Maine. She died in Saverton, Missouri, leaving him six children. Charles is a railroad contractor and lives in Denver, Colorado, where he is interested officially in the Ameri- can National Bank. Louis died at St. Charles, Mis- souri, where he was a merchant for some years. Seth G. lives in Denver, and like his brother, is a railroad con- tractor. Mary is the wife of a Mr. Colburn, and lives in Mt. Rose, Colorado. Grace, now deceased, was the wife of J. Ross, a merchant of Mt. Rose, Colorado.

Hattie married Van Slingerland and lives iu St. Louis, Missouri.

Harry W. Eby attended the public schools in Hanni- bal, Missouri, and was graduated from the Hannibal Commercial College in 1897. He then engaged in rail- road contracting with his brothers, Seth and Charles, and was associated with them until 1906, carrying on their operations through Georgia and Alabama, and com- iug to Oklahoma in 1900 on a contract for the Frisco, between Sapulpa and Denison, Texas. They finished that contract in 1901 and then came to Weatherford on a contract for the old Choctaw Railroad, now the Rock Island. They built the road bed on this line from Weatherford to where the town of Clinton now stands, finishing the work in 1901, toward the close of the year. The brothers then took a similar contract in Texas for the Frisco, from Sherman to Fort Worth, and they were one year completing that piece of work. Returning to Oklahoma, they carried out a contract with the Choctaw Railroad from Tecumseh to Asher, finishing the work in 1903, and then took a contract with the Rock Island from Chandler to Guthrie, completing the work in February, 1904. Other contract work of a similar nature with the Midland Valley, from Fort Smith to Tulsa, they com- pleted in 1905, after which Harry W. Eby of this review withdrew from association with his brothers and started operations on his own initiative. His first contract was a levee job at the mouth of the Arkansas river, and he finished that work in 1906. In 1907 he was connected with the A. B. & A. R. R. at Atlanta, Georgia, and he then entered the Clovis National Bank at Clovis, New Mexico, as a book-keeper. He was employed there for two years and in August, 1909, he came to Colony, Okla- homa, since which time he has been associated in an offi- cial capacity with the Colony State Bank, as has already; been stated in detail.

Mr. Eby is a democrat and takes an active part in that local politics of that faction. He has served as treas- urer of the school board of Colony, and is a member and a deacon in the Presbyterian Church. He is a Mason

Saline and is a member of Weatherford Lodge No. 138 Ancient ber 2 Free and Accepted Masons, Weatherford Chapter No. 31 Seatt] Royal Arch Masons, and Weatherford Commandery, No. 17, Knights Templar.

Mr. Eby is well known in Oklahoma City, and is con. nected with the Oklahoma City Building and Loan Asso ciation there. While in that city he married, in 1901 1, 188 Miss Lillian Rice, whose father was then postmaster affin bus Weatherford, and who is now living retired in this city Five children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Eby :

Anada I was m | Conut Wesley, born in 1904, attends the public schools, as dd also Reginald and Carolina, born in 1906 and 1910, re spectively. The two younger children are Frank, borr in pra in 1912, and Virginia, in 1914.

FRANK A. DINKLER. An honorable place among the on bis citizens of Hennessey, Oklahoma, is occupied by Frank accom A. Dinkler, a leading pharmacist of this wide-awakehe was city. For nearly a quarter of a century has Mr. Dinkler He ha been a resident of this community, and by his business homere energy, integrity and public spirit, has ably contributed to its prosperity and growth. On a number of occasions

pharm arrived he has been before the people in positions of importance When and his service as a public servant has been alike grati employ fying to his numerous friends and a credit to his points capability and executive power.

Mr. Dinkler was born on a farm near Churchtown, ir cessful Washington County, Ohio, November 14, 1863, and is & now h son of Joseph and Susanna (Walter) Dinkler. Joseph up-to-d Dinkler was born in Germany in 1835 and was nineteer tasteful years of age and an orphan wheu he came to the United from b

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HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

1891

States. He had secured only an ordinary education in his native land, but was willing and ambitious and ready to accept any honorable employment that would start him on his way to his cherished goal, the winning of his fortune in his adopted country. Soon after his arrival, in 1854, Mr. Dinkler succeeded in securing a position in a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, glass factory. He spent some years in various establishments in the famous manufacturing city and finally secured the necessary means to invest in a small farm near Marietta, Ohio, in Washington County. To add to his income he also conducted a small store, and both his farm and his business were subsequently built up to very respectable proportions. In 1877, with his family, Mr. Dinkler removed to Saline County, Kansas, where he took up land from the United States Government. There he continued to be engaged in farming and stock raising until 1893, then changing his residence to Oklahoma, and died at Hennessey, May 30, 1913. Mr. Dinkler was a man of great and tireless industry, thrifty and far- sighted in money matters, and of the strictest integrity. While not a politician or an office seeker, he took an interest in the affairs of his community, and at all times conducted himself as a progressive and public-spirited citizen. He was married August 20, 1861, to Miss Susanna Walter, who was born in Germany in 1842. She was four years of age when brought to the United States by her parents, both of whom were natives of Baden, Germany. Mrs. Dinkler died at Brookville, Kansas, May 12, 1892, in the faith of the Roman Catholic Church, of which her husband was also a com- municant. They were the parents of six sons and four daughters, as follows: Mary R., born April 14, 1862, who made the run for land to the Cherokee Strip at the opening in 1893, securing a tract of Government land in Garfield County, Oklahoma, on which she proved up, has been a professional nurse, but has now retired from that vocation and is living quietly at her home at Okla- homa City; Frank A., of this notice; John, born October 15, 1865, who is engaged in agricultural operations in Saline County, Kansas; William Ignatius, born Decem- ber 23, 1867, who met his death in a mine accident at Seattle, Washington, in 1908; Louisa A., born December 3, 1869, who in 1895 married Fred Eishmann, a farmer of Caddo County, Oklahoma; George E., born January 21, 1872, who died unmarried November 6, 1893; Susanna Rosa, born February 14, 1874, who died as a child March 1, 1880; Joseph A., born March 30, 1876, who is engaged in business as manager of his brother's drug store at Anadarko, Oklahoma; Emma, born August 3, 1878, who was married in 1901 to O. E. Deane, a farmer of Caddo s de County, Oklahoma; and Frederick P., born February , re 3, 1881, who is a physician and surgeon now engaged bon in practice at Fort Cobb, Oklahoma.

Frank A. Dinkler received his public education in the schools of Washington County, Ohio, while growing up the on his father's farm, and when fourteen years of age rank accompanied his parents to Saline County, Kansas, where wak he was also surrounded by an agricultural atmosphere. nkle He had shown no desire for farming as a vocation, in however, his inclination running toward the calling of ute! pharmacist, and accordingly, in the same year as he arrived, he took up the study of his chosen profession. sion taue

When he had mastered its many details he secured grati employment and for a number of years lived at various points until 1892, when he came to Hennessey and pur- chased a drug stock. Since that time he has been suc- n, ilcessful in building up a large and paying business. He is now has an excellent trade and carries a large and up-to-date assortment of goods, selected wisely, arranged eteen tastefully and attractively and priced moderately. Aside from his business Mr. Dinkler has found time to serve

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his community in offices of public trust, having been mayor for two years and city treasurer for eight years. In both offices he has shown his executive ability and strict integrity. Mr. Dinkler is a director of the First National Bank of Hennessey, owns a well cultivated farm in Caddo County, and considerable property at Anadarko, including the drug store that is being con- ducted by his brother, Joseph A. Mr. Dinkler and the members of his family are communicants of the Roman Catholic Church.

Mr. Dinkler was married at Augusta, Kansas, May 23, 1906, to Miss Margaret Flanagan, who was born February 18, 1878, in Butler County, Kansas, daughter of Martin and Johanna (Hamilton) Flanagan, the former a native of Ireland and the later of Dubuque, Iowa. One son and one daughter have come to Mr. and Mrs. Dinkler : Clara Johanna, born March 30, 1908; and George Martin, born June 30, 1911, both at Hennessey.

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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