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 4

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 4

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At Columbus, the judicial center of Cherokee County, Kansas, Laurence L. Cowley was born on the 18th of February, 1877, a date that denotes that his parents could claim pioneer honors in the Sunflower State. He is a son of William R. and Florence J. (Smith) Cowley, the former of whom was born in the Borough of Boston, Lincolnshire, England, in 1843, and the latter of whom was born at Oskaloosa, Iowa, in 1848, a member of one of the early pioneer families of that section of the Hawkeye State, where her marriage to Mr. Cowley was solemnized about the year 1868.

William R. Cowley was a lad of about eight years when he accompanied his parents on their immigration to the United States, in 1851, and the family home was established at Hudson, Ohio, in which state he was reared and educated. Prior to attaining to his legal majority he established his residence in Iowa, and in 1871, about three years after his marriage, he removed thence to Kansas and established his residence at Columbus, where soon afterward he entered the legal profession and en-

gaged in active practice, in which he there continued, as one of the leading lawyers and highly honored citizens of Cherokee County, until the time of his death, which occurred on the 13th of July, 1914. ' He served for thirty- two years as general attorney for the Log-Bell Lumber Company, a large and important corporation. Prior to engaging in the practice of law he had been ordained a clergyman in the Christian Church, and he continued one of its active and zealous members until the close of his long and useful life. His widow, who continued to reside at Columbus until her death, December 30, 1915, was likewise a devoted adherent of this church. Mr. Cowley was a gallant soldier of the Union in the Civil war, in which he first served as a member of the Sixty- fourth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and later as a member of the Fifteenth Iowa Volunteer Infantry. His service covered a period of about three years, he was promoted to the office of sergeant and he took part in numerous engagements marking the progress of the great conflict through which the integrity of the nation was preserved, a prominent part of his military career having been that in which his regiment accompanied General Sherman on the ever memorable march from Atlanta to the sea. He was an effective and stalwart advocate of the prin- ciples and policies of the republican party and was affiliated with the Grand Army of the Republic. Of the six children the eldest is William Frederick, who is en- gaged in farming and stock raising in Southeastern Kansas; Minnie is the wife of Charles S. Huffman, M. D., who is engaged in the practice of his profession at Columbus, Kansas; Clement Sidney died in childhood, as did also Anna B .; Laurence L., of this review, was the next in order of birth; and Clare J. holds a re- sponsible position in the general offices of the Long-Bell Lumber Company, at Kansas City, Missouri.

In the public schools of his native place Laurence L. Cowley acquired his early education, and from 1892 until . 1893 he attended the public schools of Akron, Ohio. He then entered the literary department of the University of Kansas, at Lawrence, in which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1899 and from which he re- ceived the degree of Bachelor of Arts. In the law de- partment of the same institution he was graduated in 1901, and soon after receiving his degree of Bachelor of Laws he came to Oklahoma and engaged in practice at Perry, the present judicial center of Noble County. There he continued his successful professional activities until 1913, when he removed to the City of Okmulgee, where he has found a broader field, in which his success has been unequivocal, as shown by his substantial and representative practice and his high reputation for effi- ciency and versatility as a trial lawyer and as a well fortified counselor. In 1910 he was elected county at- torney of Noble County, of which office he continued the incumbent one term, comprising two years. He also served as referee in bankruptcy in Noble County, prior to the admission of Oklahoma to statehood. He is un- wavering in his allegiance to the republican party and has given yeoman service in support of its cause. He is a member of the official board of the Christian Church at Okmulgee, in which Mrs. Cowley also is a zealous worker, and he is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity and the Knights of Pythias, besides which he is actively identified with the Okmulgee County Bar Association and the Oklahoma State Bar Association.

On the 10th of June, 1903, was solemnized the mar- riage of Mr. Cowley to Miss Gertrude M. Chapman, who likewise was born and reared in Kansas: they have no children.

1772

HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

SAM R. HAWKS, JR. Since his arrival at Clinton, in 1908, there have been few activities, commercial, civic or political, that have not been participated in by Sam R. Hawks, Jr. He has contributed to the upbuilding of the city by the erection of the Grace Hotel, has encour- aged its business interests as secretary of the Chamber of Commerce, and has been known in the journalistic field as part owner of the Clinton News and the Clinton Chronicle, and since 1913 has capably served in the capacity of postmaster, a position which he won fairly, both because of merit and his loyalty to and hard work in the interests of the democratic party in Custer County.

Mr. Hawks was born at Lebanon, Tennessee, March 8, 1882, a descendant of Scotch ancestors, who came to Virginia in Colonial days. His father, Sam R. Hawks, Sr., was born near Lebanon, Tennessee, in 1855, and for a number of years was general manager for the Cedar City Mills, an ice and light plant, but in 1911 came to Clinton, Oklahoma. After a short stay he removed to Amarillo, Texas, and is now manager for the State of New Mexico of the Red Star Milling Com- pany, a large and well known Kansas concern. Mr. Hawks is a democrat, belongs to the Knights of Pythias, and is a member of the Christian Church. He married a native of Lebanon, Tennessee, Miss Carrie Smith, and they are the parents of five children: H. C., who is engaged in the grain and milling business and in farm- ing at Lebanon; Sam R., Jr .; Miss Lou Kate, who lives with her parents; Virginia, who is the wife of K. C. Alexander, a cotton buyer of Clinton, Oklahoma; and Miss Christine, who lives with her parents.

Sam R. Hawks, Jr., attended the public and high schools of Lebanon, Tennessee, and after his graduation from the latter, in 1897, at once became identified with the milling and grain business, with which he was connected until 1908, in June of which year he came to Clinton. Here his first venture was the erection of the Grace Hotel, without a doubt one of the best hostelries in Western Oklahoma, of which he is still the owner, although he has never conducted it personally. In 1909 he became secretary of the Clinton Chamber of Commerce, this time bought a half interest in the Clinton News a position which he held for two years, and during and the Clinton Chronicle, in which newspapers he is still interested. In September, 1913, he received the appointment as postmaster of Clinton from President Wilson. Mr. Hawks was one of the original Wilson men of Oklahoma in 1912, being the manager of the cam- paign in his district, and also took an active interest in the campaign of Senator Owens, his ability as a political manager having been demonstrated by the large votes which his candidates received in his district. He has attended state and county conventions of his party since 1908, and has been a faithful and tireless worker in the cause of democracy, so that his appointment to the post- mastership came as a reward for service cheerfully given and capably rendered. That he is well fitted for the position has been shown by the entirely efficient man- ner in which he has conducted the affairs of the mail service during his incumbency. He belongs to Lotus Lodge No. 20, Knights of Pythias, of Lebanon, Tennes- see, of which he is past prelate, and to the Oklahoma State Press Association, and with his family holds membership in the Christian Church.

Mr. Hawks was married at Lebanon, in 1907, to Miss Frances Jones, daughter of J. L. Jones, engaged in the plumbing and tinning business at Lebanon. Three children have been born to this union: Catherine, Pres- ton and Jim Woodrow, the first-named of whom has started to attend the public schools.

PEARL A. LITTLE first became identified with Okla- homa as a member of a painting crew operating in various districts of Western Oklahoma, and for nearly fifteen years has had his home at Frederick. Largely by private study and practical experience Mr. Little has made himself an expert civil engineer, and for a number of years has served as county surveyor and city engineer of Frederick and has a substantial private practice in the profession. Born in Ralls County, Missouri, August 24, 1879, Pearl A. Little is a son of John W. and Mary (McAllister) Little. The Little and McAllister families moved to Missouri from Kentucky and John W. Little was also born in Ralls County, Missouri, in 1856, and died there in 1889. He was a farmer and stock raiser and was accidentally killed by a horse while running cattle. His church was the Catholic, and he took a prominent part in local affairs as a democrat, and belonged to the Grange, and also to a local organization known as the Wheel. His wife, Mary McAllister, was born in Mis- souri, and now resides at Quincy, Illinois. Pearl A. was the oldest of their six children. Roy, the next in age, is a street railway conductor at Quincy, Illinois; Alice is the wife of Chris Schrand, a cigar manufacturer at Quincy; Lambert, a farmer in Ralls County, Missouri ; Annie lives with her mother; and Mary died when nine months of age.

In 1889 Mr. Little's mother removed from Ralls County to Monroe County, Missouri, and in 1890 to Shelby County, and his education came from attendance at the schools of all those places. He received the equivalent of a high school education, and in June, 1897, was graduated from St. Francis College, at Quincy, Illinois, with a diploma as Master of Accounts. During the next year he kept books for John J. Rogers, proprietor of a department store at Monroe City, Missouri, and then engaged in different lines of occupation up to 1900. Going to Pratt, Kansas, he found work on a farm until the fall of the year and then joined a painting crew working in Kansas, and in December, 1900, came with that organization to Enid, Oklahoma. On March 15, 1901, he went to Kingfisher, Oklahoma, and on November 24, 1901, arrived at Frederick, which has been his home practically ever since. Up to July, 1906, Mr. Little continued his work as a painter, and then took a review course in engineering covering the freshman and sopho- more years in the Agricultural and Mechanical College at Stillwater. Returning to Frederick in 1908, he began practice as a surveyor and engineer and since that time has performed the duties of city engineer, though he was not regularly put under bond for the office until 1914. In 1911 he became county surveyor of Tillman County and has been regularly returned to that office without opposition. On September 17-18, 1915, he successfully passed a civil service examination given by the highway department of Oklahoma for engineers who wished to practice as county engineers in Oklahoma. Since then he has been appointed county engineer for Tillman, Harmon and Jackson Counties.

Mr. Little is a democrat, and a member of the Catholic Church. On November 25, 1903, at Lawton, Oklahoma, he married Miss Lillie Mcclellan, whose father, George R. Mcclellan, is a farmer at Del Norte, Colorado. Their home has been blessed with the birth of six children: Catherine, who attends a parochial school at Quincy, Illinois; Paul, Lawrence and Alice, in the public schools at Frederick; and Rita and Annie, who are not yet of school age.

FRED H. CLARK, M. D. For twelve years Doctor Clark has given his services as a widely experienced and capable physician and surgeon to the community of El Reno.

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HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

1773

Doctor Clark is one of the best known figures in medical circles of the Southwest, and is a man of broad range of experience and activities in the world.

Fred H. Clark was born on a farm near Vernon, Michi- gan, May 15, 1864, a son of Jesse and Eliza Jane (Pratt) Clark. Like many successful men in the profession he considers himself fortunate to have spent his early youth in the environment of the country. While living on a Michigan farm he attended the common schools, and in 1885 was graduated from the high school at Owosso, Michigan, where he afterwards held the position of teacher in the city schools two years and for a like period had a commercial position. The following ten years of his life were devoted to work as secretary of Young Men's Christian Associations, largely in Michigan, though his last service in this capacity was at Kansas City, Missouri.

In Kansas City Doctor Clark pursued his studies in medicine at the University Medical College, and was graduated M. D. in 1900. In order that his equipment might be brought up to the highest grade of efficiency and tested by association with men of eminence he has subsequently taken post-graduate work in Chicago three times and once in New York City. For about three years Doctor Clark was engaged in practice in Kansas City, then came to Oklahoma and spent about a year at Minco and since the fall of 1903 has been located at. El Reno.

The wide scope of his professional interests is indi- cated by his membership in the following organizations : The Canadian County and Oklahoma Medical societies, the American Medical Association, the Southwest Medi- cal Society of the Southwest, the Rock Island Railway Surgeons, the Central Oklahoma, the Western Oklahoma and Missouri River Medical associations, the Mississippi Valley Medical Association, and the Association of American Railway Surgeons. Doctor Clark is con- sulting surgeon for the Rock Island Railway. He is secretary of the Southwest Medical, Society of the Southwest, and the official organ of that society, known as the Southwest Journal of Medicine and Surgery, has been owned and published by Doctor Clark for the past three years.

Doctor Clark is a Knight Templar Mason and a member of the Temple of the Mystic Shrine, belongs to the Baptist Church and in politics is a republican. In 1887 he married for his first wife Miss Rose Johnson, who died in 1897, leaving one daughter. In 1899 Doctor Clark married Miss Elizabeth Phillips, who is the mother of one daughter. For the past eleven years Doctor Clark has been connected with the state military service in the medical department, with the rank of major and has charge of the field hospitals.

PETER W. HUDSON. One of the younger men in the official life of Eastern Oklahoma, Peter W. Hudson is now court clerk of Pushmataha County, with home at Antlers. He is a native of Indian Territory and his people have been closely identified with the educational and official and business life of that section for many years.

To erect a state government and keep it in operation during the period of its infancy is necessarily expensive. In Oklahoma the actual expenses of state government proper have not been exorbitant. However, every county and municipality paid the price for their individuality as entities of the larger state government. Hence, for a few years taxes were unusually high. Every campaign of every character conducted since 1907 has in one way or another involved the principle and issue of economy. The candidate who has convinced the people that he would maintain efficiency at the lowest possible cost has

won in a majority of campaigns. Usually these candi- dates have found it quite a difficult thing to make good a pledge of economy, so heavy and numerous have been demands for public improvement.

Among those who kept the faith was Peter W. Hud- son. It is probable that no other county court clerk in Oklahoma up to 1915 had conducted his office without any expense of assistance. It has required long hours of arduous work and much candle power of night. Dis- trict Court dockets have been heavy and the duties of the clerk onerous, but Mr. Hudson inaugurated and strictly followed a system whereby at the end of a ses- sion his records were written and ready for the approval of the District Court before the judge was ready to de- part for another court center. The saving to Pushma- taha County has been considerable, and this has been an important reason why Mr. Hudson has been in office ever since the year of statehood. After Frank Trigger, the first elected district clerk of Pushmataha County, had been in office about a month he died and the county commissioners appointed Peter W. Hudson to fill the vacancy. The following year he was elected to the office, on the democratic ticket, without opposition. He was re-elected in 1910 and again in 1912. The legislature then passed an act consolidating certain county offices and the duties of clerk of the County Court and those of the clerk of the District Court were imposed on an official designated as court clerk. In 1914 Mr. Hudson was elected to that office.

Even before statehood he had clerical experience as clerk in the Choctaw Legislature. He held the position five years under the administration of Principal Chief McCurtain. He was in that position during the MeCur- tain-Hunter contest at Tuskahoma, and kept the minutes of the meeting held under the shade of trees or in a hotel while the Hunter faction was in possession of the council house. Meantime he was also in the employ as clerk of W. H. Isherwood, a merchant at Tuskahoma, and did some work for his uncle Peter J. Hudson, who was at that time superintendent of the Choctaw Female Academy at Tuskahoma.

Peter W. Hudson was born August 29, 1877, and is a son of Washington and Frances (Bohannan) Hudson. His father, who was born at Eagletown in Indian Ter- ritory, was a farmer and merchant during most of his life, and died in 1897. Washington Hudson's brother Daniel was a Confederate soldier and for sixteen years served as sheriff of Eagle County in the Choctaw Nation. James Hudson, the maternal grandfather of Peter W. Hudson, was a Presbyterian minister, was educated in English, and his labors among the Indians were directed by the missionary board of the Presbyterian Church. Other children in the family of Washington and Frances Hudson were: Roy, a farmer at Eagletown; George, a student in Jones Academy; Mrs. Byington, Mrs. Jeffer- son and Mrs. Lewis, all of them wives of farmers at Haworth.

Peter W. Hudson was educated in the neighborhood schools near his birthplace at Eagletown, and spent five years in Spencer Academy. While in the academy he was a classmate of Gabe Parker, who later became com- missioner to the Five Civilized Tribes. In 1901 Mr. Hud- son married at Tuskahoma Miss Myrtle Campbell. Their three children are named Lillian Thelma, Dorothy and Peter W., Jr. Mr. Hudson is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church South. Fraternally his associations are with the Woodmen of the World, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Masonic Order, and he is senior warden of the Blue Lodge, a member of the Royal Arch Chapter at Hugo and the Knight Templar Com- mandery and the Mystic Shrine at Muskogee.

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1774

HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

JOHN SHERTZER. During the past ten years the firm Shertzer Bros. have been among the largest operators and producers in the Dewey oil district. Both these brothers are experienced oil men, having become identi- fied with the practical details of the business back in Ohio, where they served their apprenticeship during the high tide of oil production in that state.

John Shertzer, the older of the two brothers, was born in Bedford County, Pennsylvania, December 25, 1869, a son of William and Samantha (Studebaker) Shertzer, both natives of Pennsylvania and of old Penn- sylvania Dutch stock. The family lived in Pennsylvania uutil 1877, and then removed to Gibsonburg, Ohio, where the mother died in 1910 at the age of fifty-four. The father is now living at Bartlesville, having come to that city about three years ago. He was engaged in the business of lime manufacturing until 1885 and has since been an oil well contractor and producer. John Shertzer was the oldest of five children, the others being: C. P. Shertzer, the junior member of the firm of Shertzer Bros .; Effie, wife of Raymond Pryor of Lake View, Ohio; Elsie, wife of James Neely of Lima, Ohio; and Ollie, wife of A. C. White, who is general manager of the American Express Company at Cleveland, Ohio.

John Shertzer was about eight years of age when the family removed to Ohio, and grew up in Gibsonburg and gained a common school education. At the age of twenty he first became connected with the oil business as a contractor and producer. For five years he was engaged in the manufacturing and retailing of shoes at St. Louis. His experience as an oil mau extends to the California fields, where he spent one year, then returned to Ohio and was a contractor at Gibsonburg two years, spent two years at Chanute, Kansas, aud in 1905 located at Dewey. For the past ten years he has been recognized as one of the leading oil producers in Northern Okla- homa. As a contractor he put down the first well in the Weber pool, and altogether has sunk about 600 wells in this district, partly as an independent operator and partly on contract. For the past seven years he has been a member of the firm of Shertzer Bros., and their interests extend to about sixty wells in the Bartlesville District.

John Shertzer is a republican, while his brother and business associate is a democrat. He is a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks at Free- mont, Ohio. In 1907 Mr. John Shertzer married Pearl Damon of Dundee, Michigan. They have one child, Lillian Joyce.

C. P. Shertzer, the younger member of the firm of Shertzer Bros., was born in Bedford County, Pennsyl- vania, September 4, 1872, aud as a boy learned the lime business with his father. His first practical experience in the oil industry came at the age of seventeen, and for about two years he dressed tools with his father. He did his first contracting at Lima, Ohio, and for about four years was in the employ of other parties, but since then has mainly been independent. For a time he was in the Indiana oil fields, and in November, 1904, located at Chanute, Kansas, and eighteen months later at Dewey. Shertzer Bros. now produce about 3,000 barrels of oil a month, and have a number of small farms around Dewey. C. P. Shertzer served on the city council of Dewey three years, and has been a trustee in the Methodist Episcopal Church since locating in that town. He is also a member of the Masonic fraternity. In 1899 he married Miss Inez Brinkerhoff, who was born in Ohio, a daughter of Nelson Brinkerhoff. Their three children are Boyd, Frances and Charles.

CHARLES ELMER GRADY. The entire career of Charles Elmer Grady has been devoted to educational work, a

field for which he is singularly equipped and for which he has had a most thorough and comprehensive training. When he assumed the duties of his present office, that of superintendent of city schools of Clinton, he brought to their discharge an enthusiasm for his calling, ripe experience gained in several important and laborious positions, and energetic and progressive methods that have had a very beneficial effect upon the school system here. Superintendent Grady was born in Crittenden County, Kentucky, May 2, 1879, and is a son of R. N. and Margaret (Everle) Grady. The family, as the name would indicate, is of Irish origin, and the first paternal ancestor in America settled in Fauquier County, Virginia, during the days of the Colonies.

R. N. Grady was born near Lexington, Kentucky, in 1845, and when the Civil war came on gave his support to the Union cause, enlisting in the Fifteenth Ken- tucky Cavalry, with which organization he served for three years. At the close of the war he resumed his operations as a farmer, stock raiser and merchant in Crittenden County, and continued to be so engaged during the remainder of his life, with the exception of ten or twelve years passed in Clark County, Indiana. He died in the faith of the Methodist Episcopal Church, of which he was a steward, in 1907. Mrs. Grady, who was born near Louisville, Kentucky, in 1847, died in Crit- tenden County, Kentucky, in 1898. Their children were as follows: Mary, who is the wife of W. R. Sullivan, in the real estate and insurance business at Waco, Texas; Mattie, the wife of Ira Robinson, a farmer residing in Crittenden County, Kentucky; Anna, who married J. D. Crider, a farmer of Mississippi County, Missouri; Nellie, who married W. D. Cain, a merchant, and resides at Charleston, Missouri; Charles Elmer; Ruth, who mar- ried J. N. Swansey, engaged in the livery business at Sturgis, Kentucky; A. L., a liveryman, residing at Kansas City, Missouri; Clarence, a prosperous merchant at Weston, Crittenden County, Kentucky, the old home town; and Lester, a graduate of the University of Ken- tucky, class of 1915, degree of Bachelor of Arts.

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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