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 41

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 41

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That part of the ranch which he called his meadow land up to fifteen years ago is now the site of the thriving little City of Henryetta. The name was given to honor him as the oldest settler, and seldom has a name been better bestowed as a token of honor and respect.

Hugh Henry is one of the picturesque characters still surviving from the early days of old Indian Territory. He grew up on the frontier, and early learned some of the pioneer virtues, to speak the truth, zealously to guard his honor, and to do justice to his fellow men, and to treat all under his roof with due hospitality. In the early days his home was noted for its generous hos- pitality, and though he lived in the midst of outlawry and violence he was always safe because he treated others as he expected to be treated. His home again and again served as a place of entertainment for United States marshals, outlaws, train robbers, horse thieves, and bootleggers. In fact he has had officers of the law and outlaws in his home at the same time, and many a beef was slaughtered from his herd to provide them food. He made it a rule and it was one thoroughly respected to protect all persons who were his guests, despite their character or vocation, and it was probably due to this custom that he never lost a horse or any property by theft.

Hugh Henry was born in the "old stone fort" at Nacogdoches, Texas, that historic building which had been the bulwark of the early Spanish against the Indians and French along the Texas frontier and which was the scene of a bloody battle during one of the early revolutionary uprisings in Eastern Texas. In that his- toric place he first saw the light of day January 13, 1848. His parents were Woodson D. and Lovisa (Hut-

ton) Henry. His father was a white man and his mother a half-blood Creek Indian. Both were born in Alabama, where they married, and they came to Texas in 1832. Woodson Henry and his wife's father, James Hutton, took thirty families of Indians into Texas in that year, corresponding with the general migration of Indians from the east to the west side of the Mississippi River. Soon after the birth of Hugh Henry his parents moved to the Brazos River in Hill County, Texas, and there the mother died when Hugh was four years of age, leaving a still younger child, Patrick, then only two years old. The six children were: James, Caroline, Parelee, Ezekiah, Hugh and Patrick. Of these Mr. Hugh Henry is the only one still living. After the death of the mother the father carried Hugh and Patrick back to the home of Nancy Hutton, their grandmother, in Smith County, Texas. There Hugh Henry lived until he was nine years of age. His father having in the meantime married again took his two boys home in Cherokee County. Hugh Henry did not like his stepmother, and after two months he ran away and returned to his grandmother. His father followed and carried him back home, where he received a sound thrashing for his disobedience. A few days later his father went to court, and the self reliant youth again made his escape from conditions which he thought intolerable, but this time took an unfamiliar route. He traveled west into Fannin County, Texas, sleeping by the roadside at night. In Fannin County he met a Mr. Cannon, boss of a cattle ranch, and the boy remained on that ranch and had a good home with the Cannons for seven years, receiving only board and clothes for such work as he could do. While there he became an expert in all the arts and practices of the old time range.

He was only thirteen years of age when the war broke out, and in 1863 he joined John Terry's regiment under Captain Glasscock. He was with his command until the close of the war, and to use his own words, "had his last fun at the Mansfield fight in Louisiana."

After the war he started for San Antonio, Texas, and at Lampasas Springs met his old friend and protector, Cannon, for whom he took a herd of cattle north to Dodge City, Kansas, being paid $65.00 a month. This was in 1866. In 1867 he was again in the Rio Grande country, and in the fall of that year started north. On this trip he stopped on the Canadian River and joined his uncle, Watt Grayson. Mr. Henry had many inter- esting experiences in the early days, and during the two seasons of 1867-68 he was out on the range hunting buffalo. That was just about the beginning of the buffalo hide industry, and Mr. Henry relates that the hunters classified the buffaloes into three divisions. The pelt of the buffalo cows were unfit for commercial pur- poses, and the leather and fur came chiefly from the bulls. He remained with his uncle, Watt Grayson, as an employe on the cattle ranch until the latter's death in 1875.

That was the year when Mr. Henry located on Coal Creek, near the present site of the City of Henryetta. Here for fourteen years and four months he was asso- ciated with Sam and Wash Grayson in the stock industry. When he first started with the Grayson broth- ers he had only sixty-two head of cattle, but at the end of the fourteen year period had turned off the ranch and sent to market about 36,000 head. He did his first work at wages of $15.00 per month, but was drawing $2,400 a year when he gave up ranching. It was the coming of the railroad and the founding of Henryetta which caused him to abandon ranching.

When Mr. Henry first located in this neighborhood in 1875 his nearest neighbor was six miles away, and

anno

1899

HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

consequently he readily deserves the distinction of being the oldest settler. He still owns 160 acres adjoining the little City of Henryetta, while his children have their allotments nearby. He has a fine home on the hill already mentioned, and for the past fifteen years has devoted his land to farming and general stock raising. The approach of civilization has been viewed not alto- gether with satisfaction by Mr. Henry, although he recognizes its benefits. It is largely due to his incon- sistency with the restricted pursuits and customs of the populous community, and even now he is planning to take his wife and children further west into New Mexico and hunt up an unrestricted cattle range. He is just as vigorous apparently as he was thirty years ago, and he can use a Winchester with all the deadly accuracy which made him noted as a sure shot in days gone by.

The first postoffice established after the railroad was built was called Henry City, and when Henry Beard became prominent in promoting the town caused the change of the name to Henryetta, the latter part, etta, being in honor of Mr. Beard's wife.

Mr. Henry was first married in Texas to Malinda Ann Dickerson, who was born in that state. She died at the old home in Indian Territory in 1883. Of her six chil- dren two are now living: James of Payton; and Luella, wife of John Key of Henryetta.

In 1885 Mr. Henry married Arminta Exon, who was born in Warsaw County, Illinois, in March, 1868. When she was four years of age her parents came to Indian Territory, and she grew up in the Creek Nation. To this marriage were born twelve children, nine of whom are still living: Patrick, who lives at Ponca City; Mack; Sam, who died at the age of eight months; Anna May, wife of Stephen Gillam of Henryetta; Woodson, who died at the age of twelve years; Hettie, wife of Ed Burgen, a full-blood Creek Indian of Okmulgee; Hugh, Jr .; Hilibymicko; Muskogee, who died at the age of three weeks; Tsininina, who lives at home; Wynema; and Yahola.

It is noteworthy that Hugh Henry never had a day in school in all his life, though he learned to write his name while riding in the saddle. He appreciates the value of an education, especially in modern times, and is giving his children the best possible advantages. There is a photograph extant showing Hugh Henry in the picturesque garb by which he was familiarly known to all the old timers in this part of Oklahoma. He then wore his hair long, as was the custom, and his locks fell to his waist, some of them being two feet four inches long.

COURTLAND M. FEUQUAY. One of the young men who have made a promising record as a lawyer in the Lincoln County bar is Courtland M. Feuquay, who was admitted to practice three years ago and has already shown some striking ability in the handling of cases . entrusted to his charge.

Courtland M. Feuquay was born in Kansas April 15, 1890, and is a son of the late John W. Feuquay, for many years a leading and successful business man of Chandler. He built and owned the Feuquay Block, one of the well known buildings in the central business dis- trict. He was born in Parke County, Indiana, and during the Civil war served with an excellent record in the Union army. He had many narrow escapes from danger, was wounded and at one time left on a battle- field as dead. He married Jence C. Holland, who was born in Goldsboro, North Carolina, of a prominent family of that state, a daughter of West Holland. John W. Feuquay died at Chandler at the age of sixty-nine. For many years he was engaged in business as a coal operator. He was also in the government service. His

political affiliations were with the democratic party, and he was a member of Chandler Post of the Grand Army of the Republic. Mrs. Feuquay, his mother, is one of the prominent women of Oklahoma, active in club affairs, and a member of the Woman's Relief Corps in Oklahoma and also one of the leaders in the Women's Suffrage movement of the state.

Courtland M. Feuquay, the only child of these parents, received his education in the Chandler High School, received the degrees of B. O. from Epworth University, B. A. from University of Oklahoma and LL. B. from Yale. He is also an alumnus of the University of Virginia. For a man of his years he has seen much of the world and was orator of the day, American Boy Day, at the St. Louis World's Fair in 1904 and at the Jamestown Exposition in 1907. He was associated for two years in the practice of law with Colonel Hoffman at Chandler, and since that time has been in practice for himself. He has shown the results of a studious mind and a fine individual fitness for the profession. Mr. Feuquay is a Scottish Rite Mason of thirty-two degrees, and also affiliates with the Knights of Pythias and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and while at college was a member of a Greek letter fraternity.

MILAS LASATER was born in Palo Pinto County, Texas, in the year 1872, and is the eldest of four sons of George M. and Mary S. (Johnston) Lasater.

George M. Lasater, the father, was a pioneer cattle- man of Palo Pinto County, his father having been the first county judge after the organization of that county, to which unorganized territory he had removed from Fan- nin County in the early '50s.

Milas Lasater spent his boyhood on his father's ranch, and attended the public schools of that section of the state. He was for a time in the city schools of Murfrees- boro, Tennessee, and lastly continued his studies at De- Pauw University, Greencastle, Indiana. While prosecut- ing his own studies, and afterwards, he engaged in teach- ing school in Indian Territory and Texas. In the year 1898 he withdrew from this work and settled on a ranch near Pauls Valley, the present county seat of Garvin County, Oklahoma. In that locality he conducted trading operations in the live stock business, and engaged in the breeding of pure bred Herefords. He became a stock- holder in the First National Bank of Pauls Valley, later cashier and active vice president of that institution, of which he still remains a director and one of its vice presidents. While engaged in the banking business at Pauls Valley he became owner and publisher of the Pauls Valley Democrat.

It was at Pauls Valley that Mr. Lasater had met and wedded Miss Sarah Waite, whose father, Thomas Waite, was a pioneer settler of that section of Indian Territory and whose mother was a member of the Chickasaw tribe of Indians, one of the Five Civilized Tribes. Mrs. La- sater's early education was in the Chickasaw tribal schools, but she spent nine years in the schools at Ober- lin, Ohio, graduating from Oberlin College with an A. B. degree. Mrs. Lasater takes an active interest in the pub- lic school work of Oklahoma City, and devotes much of her time to the education of their daughters, Corinne and Carol.

Mr. Lasater's material interests in Oklahoma are varied and important, consisting of banking connec- tions and ranching interests that he has maintained for many years, but the major part of his time and atten- tion is given to his executive work as agency supervisor in Oklahoma and Kansas for the Equitable Life Assur- ance Society of New York.

The following statements were written by one familiar

1900

HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

"with the character and services of Mr. Lasater: A

citizen by marriage of the Chickasaw Nation of Okla- homa, Mr. Lasater has for many years been a represen- tative leader in the growth and development of that sec- tion of the state. In recent years his activities have far transcended local limitations, and his philanthropic spirit has been manifested in divers ways. He is a man of high intellectual attainments, broad views, and distinctive liberality. His public career has covered several years, beginning with membership in the Sequoyah convention that assembled at Muskogee and adopted a constitution for a state proposed for Indian Territory alone. In 1906 he was elected a member of the Constitutional Convention that prepared and adopted the organic constitution on which is based the government of the present State of Oklahoma, combining the two territories, then Indian Territory and Oklahoma Ter- ritory.

As a member of the Constitutional Convention of the State of Oklahoma, Mr. Lasater was chairman of the Committee on Revision, Compilation, Style and Arrange- ment, and as such he edited and prepared for permanent record every paragraph of the constitution. He was a member also of the Committee on County Boundaries, the report of which he prepared, also a member of the Bank- ing Committee, the Committee on Public Institutions, and other special committees created from time to time.

In 1908 Mr. Lasater was appointed by Governor Has- kell a member of the first Text-book Commission of the new commonwealth, a position of which he continued the incumbent until a decision held the work of the commis- sion to be not legally effective. Later, when the defect of law was remedied he asked that he be not reappointed a member of this commission. In 1908 also Mr. Lasater received from Governor Haskell appointment to member- ship on the board of control of the State Training School at Pauls Valley. In this position he aided in the found- ing of this institution. In 1909 Governor Haskell ap- pointed Mr. Lasater, state insurance commissioner, a posi- tion particularly important at that time for it was during this administration that Oklahoma's Insurance Code became operative. Mr. Lasater made a good record in the administration of the affairs of that office.

Wherever he has lived Milas Lasater has been active in the social and club life of the community. At Pauls Valley he served as president of the Commercial Club of that city. He is a life member of the Pauls Valley Lodge of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons. In the Consistory of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Masonry at McAlester he has received the thirty- second degree. He is a Noble of the Mystic Shrine. In college he affiliated with the Delta Kappa Epsilon Greek Letter Fraternity. He is an active and influential mem- ber of the Oklahoma Life Underwriters' Association, and in the capital city he is identified with the Oklahoma City Golf and Country Club, the Men's Dinner Club, and the Chamber of Commerce.

Mr. Lasater is a staunch and effective exponent of the principles of the democratic party. He is liberal in his religious views with a deep reverence for the spiritual verities as expressed in the following beautiful words by William Henry Channing, words that he has stated most perfectly represent his creed: "To live content with small means; to seek elegance rather than luxury, and re- finement rather than fashion; to be worthy, not respect- able, and wealthy, not rich; to study hard, think quietly, talk gently, act frankly; to listen to stars and birds, to babes and sages, with open heart; to bear all cheer- fully, do all bravely, await occasions, hurry never; in a word, to let the spiritual, unbidden and unconscious, grow up through the common,-this is my symphony."

HON. TOOMBS H. DAVIDSON. A prominent Muskogee lawyer, and now a member of the state senate from the twenty-seventh senatorial district, Toombs H. Davidson, having lost his father at the age of seven, made his own way in the world, doing farm aud railroad work in vaca- tions to earn money sufficient to complete his educatiou. He was elected to the senate at the age of thirty, and was to an extent the political product of a strong or- ganization of young democrats iu Oklahoma. For the nomination he defeated two of the strongest and most popular men of Muskogee County. His residence in Oklahoma is coextensive with statehood, and he has gained a gratifying success both in law and politics.

Senator Davidson was born June 4, 1884, at Chepulta- pec, Blount County, Alabama, a son of William H. and Martha (Hartley) Davidson. His paternal grandfather, a native of South Carolina, served under General Wheeler in the Confederate army, while iu private life he was a newspaper editor. Senator Davidson's maternal grandparents were prominent citizens of Alabama, and the Hartleys came to America about the time of the Oglethorpe colony.

Senator Davidson attended public school in Alabama, graduating in 1902 from the high school at Haleyville. His law studies were pursued in the office of an attorney. at Haleyville until admission to the bar in 1906. His first experience as a lawyer was in Haleyville, and from there he removed to Stigler, Oklahoma, in 1907. Mr. Davidson was admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of Oklahoma shortly after statehood. In July, 1913, he located in Muskogee, where he now has a promis- ing private practice.

His political record begins in Haskell County, in which he was a delegate to every democratic state conventiou while living at Stigler, and in 1912 was treasurer of the Haskell County Democratic Campaign Committee. He also filled the offices of city attorney and justice of the peace in Stigler. When Senator Davidson was elected to the senate in 1914 he carried Haskell County by more than 1,000 majority, without making a campaign in that county. While in Haskell County he was a leader in the organization of the Young Men's Democratic Club and president of the local club at Stigler.

His legislative record is highly creditable. He was chairman of the Committee on Private Corporations and a member of committees on Judiciary No. 2, Commerce and Labor, Banks and Banking, Insurance, Public Build- ings, Oil and Gas, and Legislative and Judicial Appor- tionment. He was one of the authors of the popular home ownership bill and assisted in the passage of the rural credits bill. Coming from a city that has made re- peated efforts to be officially designated as the seat of a state fair, he was interested in the passage of a state fair bill. Having made his own way in the world by hard manual labor, Senator Davidson has shown sym- pathy with important measures bearing the approval of the State Federation of Labor, and assisted in the passing of a bill requiring railroad companies to build hospitals for employees in the state, and also a bill establishing working hours for women.

Senator Davidson is unmarried. He is affiliated with the Odd Fellows Lodge at Muskogee and with Lodge No. 179, Knights of Pythias, at Stigler, being a past chancellor. He is the past master of the Masonic Lodge No. 121 at Stigler, and while master was the youngest man in the state in years and Masonic expe- rience to fill that position. His lodge re-elected him master after his removal to Muskogee. In a higher degree with the Scottish Rite he belongs to McAlester Consistory No. 2 at McAlester, and also to Bedouin Temple of the Mystic Shrine of Muskogee. He also

1901

HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

belongs to the D. O. K. K. at Muskogee, an order affiliated with the Knights of Pythias. Senator Davidson is a member of the Haskell County Bar Association. He is a lieutenant in the Pickett-Wheeler Camp of Con- federate Veterans at Stigler. He and County Judge Crittenden organized the camp and compromised a lively though friendly contest over the name, Crittenden holding out for the name Pickett and Davidson for Wheeler.

HON. J. W. MARSHALL. Among the members of the Oklahoma judiciary there are many whose early training has been secured as teachers, their first introduction to the mysteries and perplexities of the law having been gained in the evening hours after long and exhausting labors in the schoolroom. In this category is found Hon. John Walter Marshall, judge of the County Court of Stephens County, whose first term in this office proved so satisfactory to the people of the county that he was reelected in 1914 without opposition. Judge Marshall also has the distinction of having a township created for and named after him, i. e., Marshall Township, which includes the City of Duncan, the Judge's place of resi- dence since 1906.

John Walter Marshall was born at Graham, Young County, Texas, November 7, 1874, and is a son of W. H. and Elizabeth (Blocker) (Walker) Marshall. His pater- nal grandfather, a farmer and minister of the Baptist faith, was born in Virginia and died in Tennessee, while his maternal grandfather, John Blocker, went from Mis- souri in pioneer days to Parker County, Texas, and there died, after a number of years spent in agricultural pur- suits. W. H. Marshall, father of the Judge, was born in 1832, in Tennessee, and from his native state removed to Mississippi, from whence he removed in 1873 to Grahanı, Young County, Texas, and in 1884 to Nacog- doches County, in the same state. Four years later he went with his family to New Birmingham, Cherokee County, Texas, and in 1894 came to Oklahoma and located at Duncan. Here he resided until 1900, when he made removal to Denton County, Texas, and there lives in quiet retirement. During the period of his active career, Mr. Marshall carried on operations in farming and stock- raising, and in the various communities in which he resided took an active and helpful part in civic and public affairs. He was one of the organizers of Young County, Texas, and also served as the first county assessor there. He is a member of the Methodist Episco- pal Church. During the Civil war he enlisted in the Confederate army, with which he served for four years, participating in a number of battles and having numerous thrilling experiences. At the sanguine battle of Shiloh he was wounded; at Paducah, Kentucky, had his horse shot under him, and at one time was taken prisoner by the northern troops, but succeeded in making his escape. Mr. Marshall married Mrs. Elizabeth (Blocker) Walker, a widow, daughter of John Blocker. She was born in Arkansas, in 1837, and died at Marlow, Oklahoma, in 1900. There were three children in the family: John Walter, of this notice; Lee, who resides at Duncan and is engaged in farming and stockraising; and Sydney, who died at the age of fourteen years.

John Walter Marshall acquired his preliminary educa- tion in the public schools of Young and Nacogdoches counties, Texas, and as a youth learned the trade of printer, which, however, he followed only a short time. He had remained on the home farm assisting his father until he was fourteen years of age, and in 1894 accom- panied his parents to Duncan, Oklahoma, where for three years he helped his father cultivate a farm. Securing a teacher's certificate, in 1897 he started teaching in the public schools of Stephens County, and continued for

two years, when he turned his knowledge of printing and the newspaper business to account by editing the Marlow Review, a journal with which he was connected one year. He then resumed school teaching as a vocation, and con- tinued to be thus engaged until 1906, in which year he occupied the position of assistant principal of the Duncan High School. In the meanwhile, he had devoted himself to the study of law in his leisure hours, and in 1907 was admitted to practice after successfully passing the state examination. He soon attracted to himself an important and lucrative practice, and has gradually advanced to a leading position at the Stephens County bar. A democrat in his political views, for a number of years he has been active in local affairs, and at the time of statehood cam- paigned this district in the interests of Hon. J. R. Allen, who was sent to the Oklahoma Legislature. About the same time Marshall Township was created for him and named in his honor, and he became the first justice of the peace, serving as such for two terms. In November, 1912, he was elected county judge of Stephens County, and November 6, 1914, was elected to this office for a second term, without opposition. He has proven an able, impartial and dignified judge, conferring honor upon the locality over which he has. jurisdiction and being gen- erally popular with the members of the bench and bar. His offices are in the courthouse. Judge Marshall is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He holds membership in the Duncan Chamber of Commerce and the various organizations of his profession, and is fra- ternally identified with Mistletoe Lodge No. 17, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, of which he is past chan- cellor; Duncan Camp No. 515, Woodmen of the World, of which he is past consul commander; and Camp No. 9680, Modern Woodmen of America, of Duncan.

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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