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 43

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 43

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Doctor Border is official surgeon for the Rock Island Railroad and for the M. K. & T. Road. He is health officer for Mangum and has held that office for the past fifteen years.

A democrat, Doctor Border was elected to the office of mayor in 1912, and again in November, 1914, for a term of four years. At the last election he had no opposition. He has a good deal of civic pride, and it has been his ambition to make Mangum the cleanest town in the state. In 1914 the city won the state prize for cleanliness as a result of Doctor Border's efforts. Through his efforts, too, were sanitary drinking foun- tains placed in the public schools.

Doctor Border is a member of Mangum Lodge No. 61, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons; Mangum Chapter No. 35, Royal Arch Masons, Consistory No. 1, Valley of Guthrie; India Temple, Ancient Arabic Order of Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, Oklahoma City; Mangum Lodge No. 1169, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks; and he is a member of the County, State and American Medical societies. At one time he was a stockholder in a number of insurance companies. Doctor Border is unmarried.

JAMES L. AUSTIN. A representative member of the bar of Washita County, Senator Austin is engaged in the practice of his profession at Cordell, the attractive and thriving metropolis and judicial center of the county, and there came consistent recognition of his character and ability when, in the fall of 1912, he was elected a member of the State Senate, as representative of the Sixth senatorial district. In both the Fourth and Fifth sessions of the Legislature he proved himself a valuable working member of the Senate and his influence was potent in the furtherance of judicious legislation and in the furtherance of the best interests of the state and its people, the while he has shown himself specially mindful of and loyal to the interests of his specific constituency.

Senator Austin was born at Mount Airy, Sequatchie County, Tennessee, on the 24th of June, 1870, and he is a son of Thomas Jefferson Austin and Sarah Austin, both of whom still maintain their home in the fine Sequatchie Valley of Tennessee, where the paternal grandfather of the senator was a pioneer settler and where numerous representatives of the family still remain. Thomas J. Austin was born and reared in Sequatchie County, and is one of the substantial agriculturists of that section, be- sides being a grower of high-grade live stock. He is influential in public affairs of local order and is one of the honored citizens of the community that has been his home from the time of his birth. Of the children other than him whose name initiates this review it may be stated that Elijah F. is identified with the oil industry at Duffey, Texas; Mrs. Thomas J. Sutherland and Mrs. Alexander Standefer, reside at Mount Airy, Tennessee, the husband of the former being a farmer and Mr. Standefer being a merchant; Cleveland is a farmer in the vicinity of Mount Airy, and the younger sons, Melvin and Monroe, remain at the parental home.

James L. Austin attended the public schools of his native county a portion of each year until he had attained to the age of eighteen years, when he entered Terrill College, in Lincoln County, Tennessee, in which institu- tion he was graduated in 1896, with the degree of Bache- lor of Arts. In the same year he became a teacher in the public schools of Johnson County, Texas, where he remained thus engaged four years. He then came to Washita County, Oklahoma Territory, where he con- tinued his efficient services as a successful and popular teacher in the public schools until the admission of Oklahoma to statehood, in 1907, when he was elected the first district clerk of the county, a position which he retained five years, in the meanwhile having gained secure vantage-ground in popular confidence and esteem and having become well known in that section of the state. In 1912 he was elected from that district a member of the State Senate, for a term of four years, and this term will expire in 1916. While still teaching school Senator Austin had given close attention to the study of law and had admirably fortified himself in the science of juris- prudence, so that he was well equipped when, in 1913, he formed at Cordell a law partnership with Swan C. Bur- nette and Charles A. Holden, the firm establishing an office at Clinton, Custer County, also. This alliance con- tinued until 1914, and Messrs. Austin and Holden are still associated in the control of a large and important law business in Washita and Custer counties, the while Senator Austin is identified also with the newspaper busi- ness, as owner and publisher of the Clinton News.

In the Fourth Legislature Senator Austin was chair- man of the committee on fees and salaries and was assigned to other important Senate committees. At this session he was the author of a bill relating to the construction of public highways, and though the bill passed both houses of the Legislature its provisions met with the disapproval of the governor, but was enacted by the Legislature in 1915. Senator Austin was the au- thor also of a proposed constitutional amendment reor- ganizing the judicial system of the state, and this failed of enactment in 1913, but passed both branches of the Legislature in 1915. One of the distinctive ambitions of Senator Austin in the Fifth Legislature was to bring about the success of these two measures which he had valiantly championed at the preceding session and which he again introduced, but with the desired results. In the Fifth Legislature he was chairman of the committee on revenue and taxation, and held membership also on the committees on ways and means, private corporations, roads and highways, Federal relations, public printing,

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HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

and drugs and pure foods. He was a consistent sup- porter of measnres projected for the remedying of de- fects in labor conditions and for the reduction of the expense of government in the state. Senator Austin, as a stalwart and able champion of the principles and policies of the democratic party, had charge of the political campaign activities of four counties when Gover- nor Williams was candidate for the office of chief execu- tive, and he was in full accord with the principles of reform outlined in the democratic platform of and also the recommendations for legislation made by Governor Williams in the vigorous campaign. Senator Austin is a member of the Washita County Bar Association and the Oklahoma State Bar Association, is actively identified with the Commercial Club in his home city of Cordell, is affiliated with the Modern Woodmen of America and the Woodmen of the World, and holds membership in the Baptist Church, both his wife and daughter being mem- bers of the Christian Church.

At Mount Airy, Tennessee, in 1895, was solemnized the marriage of Senator Austin to Miss Florence A. Standefer, who was born and reared in that section of the state and whose grandfather, Hon. James Standefer, of English lineage, served as a member of the Tennessee Legislature. Senator Anstin and his wife had been schoolmates in Tennessee, and after their marriage both were popular teachers in the schools of Texas and Okla- homa, Mrs. Austin being now a valued member of the corps of teachers in the public schools at Cordell, with great enthusiasm in her work and with reputation for being one of the most efficient primary teachers in the state. Ruby Lee, the only child of Senator and Mrs. Austin, was born in Johnson County, Texas, in 1898, and is a young woman of exceptional talent and accomplish- ment in music and dramatic expression. She is a mem- ber of the class of 1916 in the Cordell Christian College, in her home city, and after her graduation in this institu- tion she will complete her education in music and expres- sion in the celebrated Boston Conservatory of Music. She is a leader and loved personality in her class at the Cordell Christian College, and an active worker in the Christian Church in her home city, she having been a member of the church since she was twelve years of age.

ANDREW B. OLESON. The present mayor of the City of Chandler is one of the pioneer white settlers of Oklahoma Territory, having been identified with this country more than twenty years. Mr. Oleson has been a resident of Chandler for the past twelve years, and as a business man conducts the office of mayor on business principles, with emphasis on efficiency and with an impartial administration for the benefit of all con- cerned. Mr. Olson came to Oklahoma in 1892 with the tide of home-seekers that made Oklahoma famous in those days. He was first located on the Sac and Fox Reservation.

A. B. Oleson was born in Norway, July 9, 1845, of a family noted for industry, thrift and physical and mental vigor. His parents were Bertel and Angie Oleson, his father dying at the age of seventy-five and his mother still living at ninety-two. His father was a farmer, and there were five sons and five daughters in the family.

Mayor Oleson grew up on a farm, received a wholesome training in body as well as mind, and leaving school at the age of fifteen became a sailor before the mast, and spent five years in sailing abont the world. In 1867, at the age of twenty-two, he came to America and located at Madison, Wisconsin, where he was employed in the carpenter's trade. He did some general railroad work and later was a builder and contractor. and in that business laid the foundation for his substantial

prosperity. He was in Western Kansas for a time, erected some courthouses and other important buildings, lived in Iowa, later in Princeton, Illinois, and for several years was a building contractor for the Chicago, Bur- lington & Quincy Railroad. Later he returned to Iowa, and in 1886 located in Kansas, where he did an extensive business as a building contractor. He afterwards took some large contracts from railroads, lived in Pueblo, Colorado, for a time, and in 1892 came to Oklahoma. Since moving to this state he has performed a number of important contracts in building, including courthouses, business blocks, private residences and other structures. He was superintendent of the courthouse here, which was built in 1907. He has been quite successful in his opera- tions and owns 160 acres of land in this county, also his home and three houses in Chandler which he rents, besides city and farm property in other parts of the state.

In 1872 Mr. Oleson married Elizabetlı Hildebrand, a native of New Jersey, and she died here in 1913 when sixty-two years of age. To their marriage were born six children, four sons and two daughters. Those still living are: Ben, a business man at Sapulpa, Oklahoma; Harry, of Chandler; Ann, who married Tom Jessem, of Dakota; Edward Charles of Sapulpa, Oklahoma; and Ella, at home. Mr. Oleson has always been a stanch supporter of the republican party. For the past forty years he has been connected with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and in whatever relation he has stood with business or with the community has exemplified a thorough integrity and a high degree of public spirit. He is a member of the Lutheran Church.

CHARLES SWINDALL. The bar of the State of Okla- homa claims as one of its leading representatives in Woodward County the well known attorney whose name initiates this paragraph and whose large and important law business extends not only into the various courts of Oklahoma but also into those of the Panhandle of Texas, is wide ramification affording ample voucher for his distinctive ability in his profession and the high esti- mate placed upon him as a lawyer and citizen.

Mr. Swindall was born at College Mound, Kaufman County, Texas, on the 13th of February, 1876, and is a son of Jonathan W. and Mary E. (Standley) Swindall. His father was born in the City of Macon, Georgia, on the 11th of April, 1831, a son of Andrew and Panina (Ward) Swindall, both natives of Virginia and repre- sentatives of families that immigrated to America from England in the Colonial days and that settled in the historic Old Dominion. In 1859, when about twenty- eight years of age, Jonathan W. Swindall removed from Georgia to Texas, but in 1861 he returned to his old home in Georgia, where he remained until the close of the Civil war. He had received excellent educational advantages and after the termination of the great con- flict between the states of the North and the South he engaged in teaching school in Louisiana. There he re- mained until 1872, when he returned to Texas, in which state he continued his labors as a successful and popular representative of the pedagogic profession for nearly a quarter of a century, his retirement from this vocation having occurred in 1895, when he established his home on a farm in Kaufman County, that state. In 1886 he became superintendent of the first high school estab- lished at Terrell, Texas, and the total period of his service as a teacher comprised forty-five years. He and his wife still reside on their fine homestead farm, their marriage having been solemnized November 5, 1857. Mrs. Swindall was born near the City of Rome, Georgia, on the 9th of November, 1836, and is a daughter of

HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

1907

Jouathan and Mary (Maddux) Standley, who likewise were natives of Georgia, where they passed their entire lives. Mrs. Swindall was graduated in Andrews Female College, at Cuthbert, Georgia, and her husband acquired his higher education in the famous old University of Virginia, at Charlottesville. They became the parents of four sons and four daughters: Lula F. was born Decem- ber 25, 1859; Edith A., February 23, 1862; Annie A., February 18, 1865; Standley M., December 12, 1868; Frederick Ward was born December 18, 1870, and died April 20, 1900; Mary Maddux was born June 26, 1873, and died October 18, 1891; William and Charles, twins, were born February 13, 1876, and the death of the former occurred July 20, 1877, the latter being the immediate subject of this review.

On the homestead farm of his father, in Kaufmau County, Texas, Charles Swindall was reared to manhood, and in 1895 he was graduated in the high school in the City of Terrell, that county. In the same year he entered Vanderbilt University, in the City of Nashville, Tennessee, and in the law department of this admirable institution he was graduated as a member of the class of 1897 and with the degree of Bachelor of Laws. Dur- ing his senior year he was vice president of the Philoma- thian Literary Society of the university.

In the year of his graduation Mr. Swindall came to Oklahoma Territory, and in August of that year he arrived at Woodward with the portentious cash capital of $6. He was forthwith admitted to the territorial bar and gallantly opened au office and prepared to serve his strenuous professional novitiate. During the first six months he supplemented the somewhat precarious income derived from his budding law practice by serving as bookkeeper in a newspaper office. On the 1st of April, 1898, he was appointed county attorney of the adjoin- ing County of Day, and at the ensuing popular election he was chosen the regular incumbent of this office, of which he continued in tenure three years and in which he not only gained valuable experience but also made a record that materially advanced his reputation as an able trial lawyer. Upon retiring from office he returned to Woodward, where he has since continued in active general practice and gained secure vantage-place as one of the representative lawyers of Western Oklahoma. He con- tinues a close and appreciative student and his law library is the largest and best private collection of its kind in this section of the state.

Mr. Swindall is a staunch and effective advocate of the principles and policies of the republican party and is a representative of Woodward County as a member of the Republican State Central Committee. He has com- pleted the circle of York Rite Masonry and has received also the thirty-second degree of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite, besides being affiliated with the adjunct organization, the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. He was the third to be elected wor- shipful master of Woodward Lodge, No. 189, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and in his home city he is identified also with the organizations of the Knights of Pythias, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and the Modern Woodmen of America. Mr. Swindall is a member of the Woodward County Bar Association and the Oklahoma State Bar Association, and in the district of Western Oklahoma he is retained as attorney for the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad Company. He was unanimously selected as a delegate in 1916 to the Republican National Convention at Chicago.

On the 31st of January, 1911, at Guthrie, this state, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Swindall to Miss Emma E. Endres, who was born at Macomb, McDonough County, Illinois, on the 19th of September, 1886, the marriage ceremony, at the former territorial capital City

of Oklahoma, having been performed by Judge Jesse J. Dunn, chief justice of the Supreme Court of the state. Mrs. Swindall is a daughter of Conrad and Martha Endres, who maintain their home in the City of Wichita, Kansas. Mr. and Mrs. Swindall have no children.

THOMAS D. PALMER, M. D. The professional activ- ities of Dr. Thomas D. Palmer have spanned fifteen years of Oklahoma history, during which time he has achieved distinction and material success in his calling. Since his arrival at Elk City, in 1911, he has won the confidence of a large practice, not through any of the methods of the charlatan, but by reason of large professional skill and a devotion to the best ethics and standards of his honored vocation.

Doctor Palmer was born at Plymouth, Illinois, May 31, 1877, and is a son of A. S. and Phoebe (Kennedy) Palmer. The family originated in England, from whence the first American ancestor emigrated during colonial days, and subsequently the family branched out from the original settlement, the direct ancestor of Doctor Palmer taking up his residence in Illinois. In that state, at Plymouth, Hancock County, A. S. Palmer was born in 1851. A farmer and stock raiser throughout his life, he continued to reside at Plymouth until 1900, then mov- ing to Topeka, Kansas, where his death occurred four years later. He was active in the affairs of the Chris- tian Church, being a member of the official board in his own town for many years, and in political and civic matters also took au active participation, holding various offices within the gift of his fellow-citizens, acting as county treasurer of Hancock County, Illinois, for several years, and generally acquitting himself in a commendable manner in all of life's affairs. He was a member of the Masonic fraternity. Mr. Palmer married Miss Phoebe Kennedy, who was born at Plymouth, Illinois, in 1853, and died at Kansas City, Missouri, in 1909, and they became the parents of six children, namely: Dr. Thomas D .; Ida May, who married George Grigson, purchasing agent for the Rock Island Railroad at Kansas City, Mis- souri; Fluta, who married Otto Ahrens, private secretary to Henry C. Frick, the American coke and steel mami- facturer of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Edward, coal weigher for the Rock Island Railroad at Kansas City, Missouri; his twin, Edwin, a linotype machine operator for the Kansas City Star, at Kansas City, Missouri; and Carl, also a linotype operator of Kansas City.

Thomas D. Palmer attended the public schools of Ply- mouth, Illinois, where he was duly graduated from the high school in the class of 1883. He was reared on his father's farm, where he continued to reside until attaining his majority, but it was uot his desire to follow an agricultural career, and in 1896 he entered the Kansas City Medical College and completed his studies there in 1901, being graduated with the degree of Doctor of Medi- cine. In 1906 he took a post-graduate course at the Chicago College of Physicians and Surgeons, in 1908 at the Chicago Polyclinic, and in 1910 at Fisher's School, Chicago, where he specialized in diseases of the eye, ear, nose and throat. At the time he received his degree, in 1901, Doctor Palmer came to Oklahoma, it being his belief that this state offered an excellent field for the young and ambitious professional man. His first loca- tion was at Cherokee, where he remained until 1907, then going to Ingersoll, where he remained until 1911, and where he served one term as city treasurer in addition to carrying on his practice, and then in 1911 came to Elk City, which has continued to be his home. Here he is connected with the firm of Tedrowe, Tisdal & Palmer, owner of the Frances Hospital, one of the modern insti- tutions in this part of the state. Doctor Palmer main-

1908

HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

tains offices on Main Street, and while his practice is general iu its character it is perhaps as a specialist in diseases of the eye, ear, nose and throat, that he has gained his best reputation. Possessed in general meas- ure of the qualities which make the persoually popular as well as financially successful physician and surgeon, he has made a name as a careful, conscientious and thor- oughly skilled devotee of his profession. He keeps in close touch with the professional brotherhood, belonging to the Beckham County Medical Society, the Oklahoma State Medical Society, the American Medical Association and the Southwestern Medical Society. His fraternal connections are with Elk City Lodge No. 182, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, with the Knights Templar, and with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, of Elk City. In politics he is a democrat.

Doctor Palmer was married in 1911, at Oklahoma City, to Miss Mary K. Spellman, of Hempstead, Long Island, New York. They have no children.

BENJAMIN D. WOODSON, M. D. Immediately after his graduation from Memphis Hospital College, Memphis, Tennessee, in 1890, Dr. Benjamin D. Woodson came to what was then Indian Territory and entered upon the practice of his profession at Monroe, and since that time has continued to follow his vocation in this section. Since 1912 he has been located at Poteau, where he is known as a skilled and successful practitioner, and in 1915 was appointed county superintendent of health for Le Flore County.

Doctor Woodson was born near Hartford, Sebastian County, Arkansas, March 6, 1868, and is a son of Wil- liam G. and Nettie (Taner) Woodson. His father was a native of Virginia and a member of an old and highly respected family of Irish origin whose residence was in the vicinity of the City of Richmond. William G. Woodson was reared to manhood in Virginia, and when the Civil war came on joined one of the volunteer regiments from his state in the service of the Confederacy and fought valiantly as a soldier for the cause he dcemed just. The war over, he moved to Arkansas, where he was married to Nettie Taner, a native of Texas, and they became the parents of five children, of whom Ben- jamin D. is the only survivor. A farmer by vocation, William G. Woodson's first location in Arkansas was in the vicinity of Greenwood, the county seat of Sebastian County, and later he moved to near Hartford, in the same county, that property continuing to be his home until 1882. At that time he came to a tract of land located near Monroe, in Indian Territory, where he died in 1883, aged about sixty years.

Benjamin D. Woodson was only about fifteen years of age when his father died, and he is accordingly greatly indebted to the late C. C. Matthews, of Wister, Okla- homa, for fatherly care and advice. He was reared as a farmer, but early determined upon a professional career, and after receiving his primary education in the public schools entered Buckner College, Witcherville, Arkansas, where he was graduated in 1884. For two years thereafter he was engaged in teaching school, thus earning the means wherewith to pursue his profes- sional studies, and entered Memphis Hospital College, Memphis, Tennessee, where he was graduated with the degree of Doctor of Medicine in 1890. Returning to Monroe, Indian Territory, he opened a small office and hung out his shingle, and in the course of the next few years experienced the trials and disappointments through which every young physician is forced to pass before he can gain a foothold. However, he was perse- vering, and instead of showing his patience, cheerfully and industriously sought to impress himself favorably

upon the community, so that practice was gradually attracted to him, and from that time forward his suc- cess was assured. In 1912, feeling that he had outgrown his community, he looked about for a broader scene for his activities and came to Poteau, where he has since built up an excellent general practice. On May 1, 1915, his abilities were recognized by his appointment to the office of county superintendent of health for Le Flore County. He keeps abreast of the progress made in his profession, and has taken two post-graduate courses, 1893 and 1900, at the Chicago Polyclinic, of Chicago, Illinois. He keeps likewise in touch with the medical brotherhood, and is a member of the Le Flore County Medical Society, the Oklahoma State Medical Society and the American Medical Association. Fraternally, he is a Royal Arch Mason, a Pythian and an Odd Fellow. His religious faith is that of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.

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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