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 44

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 44

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Doctor Woodson was married in 1895 to Miss Lillie McClure, a native of Arkansas, and to this union there have been born five children.

ALMER SIDNEY NORVELL. About six years ago there came to Eastern Oklahoma a young attorney, who already had had considerable experience in handling cases before the courts of Arkansas and Tennessee, and in a year or so he had settled down to the enjoyment of a good practice at Wewoka. Then came official honors in the shape of the county judgeship, and he is now filling it for a second term and with such efficiency as to assure him of further promotions and public honors should he so desire.

A Tennessee man, Judge Norvell was born near Trenton in Gibson County, August 5, 1874, a son of Joseph S. and Margaret (Taylor) Norvell. Both parents were natives of Tennessee, where they spent their lives. The father, who was born August 21, 1841, died December 31, 1896, at the age of fifty-five and the mother, who was born October 13, 1850, died October 29, 1909, aged fifty-nine. Joseph S. Norvell was a farmer, and during the Civil war he served four years in a regiment of Tennessee Infantry, and was four times wounded. He was captured at the battle of Franklin and for several months was held a prisoner. He owned a good farm, gave it the best of attention and in that way and by its management provided well for his family. He also served for a number of years as justice of the peace, and was a lifelong democrat. He was deeply religious, was a deacon in the Baptist Church, and his wife also took an interest in church affairs. To their marriage were born six sons and four daughters, and four of the sons and three daughters are still living: Melville died at the age of nineteen; Walter died aged four; Dora lives at Trenton, Tennessee, widow of E. E. Strain; the fourth in age is Almer S. Norvell; John resides at Trenton, Tennessee; Hassie, deceased wife of J. M. McCord; Vannie married C. C. Sublet of Trenton; Zula married C. L. Ball of Rutherford, Tennessee; Spencer lives at Hoxey, Arkansas; and Vaughn is a resident of Mckenzie, Tennessee.

Judge Norvell grew up in Gibson County, Tennessee, and lived there until 1898. In 1901 he graduated from the Normal School at Dickson, Tennessee. Three years of his young career were spent in teaching school. He studied law in the Cumberland University Law School at Lebanon, Tennessee, and on graduating LL. B. in 1904 began practice at Kenton, Tennessee. After three years there he moved to Arkansas City, Arkansas, in 1907, and thus with six years of practical experience he came in 1910 to Wewoka, Oklahoma. Here he practiced law actively until his first election in June, 1913, to the

a. S. Norvill

1909

HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

office of county judge of Seminole County. He was re-elected and began his second term in 1915.

Judge Norvell is an active democrat and has exercised considerable influence in politics since he reached man- hood. While in Arkansas he served by appointment as county examiner or superintendent of schools. Since coming to Oklahoma he has acquired some real estate and oil interests. He is a member of the Missionary Baptist Church and fraternally is a Mason.

In 1907 Judge Norvell married Ruby Patterson, who was born in Gibson County, Tennessee, in 1886, a daugh- ter of Captain Patterson. To their marriage have been born two children: Albert Sidney and Grace Caroline.

C. M. MORGAN, M. D. Successfully identified with the medical profession at Chandler since 1909, Doctor Mor- gan represents the high class ability of the modern physician and surgeon, and furnishes a service of particu- lar value to his home city in the Morgan Hospital, an institution which under his management has maintained the best standards of hospital equipment and operation. The hospital has its home in a substantial building, five private rooms, has all the modern facilities for comfort and for the appropriate care and treatment of its patients, and has skilled nurses in attendance.

Doctor Morgan was born in Vinton County, Ohio, February 4, 1873. His father was a farmer, H. M. Morgan, a native of Pennsylvania, and the Morgan family in Pennsylvania dates back as far as 1662. The maiden name of the mother was Margaret Hughes, a native of Ohio. She died in Ohio, leaving three children. The father is a democrat, and now lives at Oklahoma City.

Doctor Morgan was liberally educated, and was gradu- ated M. D. in 1906 from the University Medical College at Kansas City, Missouri. He first located for practice at Davenport, Oklahoma, and about three years later moved to Chandler, where he now enjoys a large share of the better practice in the locality.

Doctor Morgan was married in 1913 to Harriet Mc- Laury of this state. They have a daughter, Harriet Louella, now two years old. Doctor Morgan is a Knight Templar and thirty-second degree Mason, and the social qualities which have made him popular in that order have also made him a genial public spirited worker in his home community, where he is esteemed both for his professional standing and for his true work as a gentleman.

RICHARD WILKERSON. One of the successful and pros- perous farmers of Washington County, whose entire life has been passed in agricultural pursuits, is Richard Wilkerson, a full-blooded Cherokee. He was born August 26, 1866, in the Choctaw Nation, and is a son of Thomas and Lizzie (Tenewey or Foster, the former the Indian name) Wilkerson.

The parents of Mr. Wilkerson, both full-blooded Chero- kees, were born in Georgia and were children when brought to the Indian Territory by the United States Government. They resided there until the period of the Civil war, when Thomas Wilkerson, who was a minister of the Baptist Church, went to the South, leav- ing his family in the Choctaw Nation, whence he returned at the close of the war. He died when his son Richard, his only child by his last marriage, was about six months old. Mrs. Wilkerson survived until 1885, and died four miles west of Porum. By a previous marriage, Mrs. Wilkerson was the mother of two children: Eli and Ella, who are both deceased. The father had a son by a former marriage.

Richard Wilkerson was reared in the Canadian District

of the Cherokee Nation, and as a youth entered the Male Seminary, at Tahlequah, which was conducted by the Cherokee Nation as a national school. He could not speak English when he entered that institution, but when he left, three years later, was well versed in the Eng- lish tongue. He was brought up as a farmer, and re- mained in the Canadian District until he was twenty- four years of age, at which time he moved to the Cherokee Strip, and was living there at the time of the opening, in 1893, being at that time the owner of eighty acres. He was one of seventy families living there, and received his share from the sale of the land, amounting to $1.25 per acre. In 1895 Mr. Wilkerson came to his present location, three miles north of Dewey, where he and his children have an allotment, owning 450 acres here and ninety acres of cheap land. Mr. Wilkerson now has five oil wells on his property, while his son, Oliver C., who owns his own place of eighty acres, as well as twenty acres near Bartlesville, has seventeen producing oil wells. Mr. Wilkerson has been engaged in general farming all of his life and has made a suc- cess of his operations, being considered one of the well- to-do men of his locality. He is a democrat in political matters, is a faithful member of the Baptist Church at Sugar Mound, and is fraternally affiliated with Bartles- ville Lodge, A. H. T. A., and is a Master Mason.

Mr. Wilkerson was married in March, 1891, to Anna Hendricks, a native of Tahlequah, Oklahoma, born Octo- ber 10, 1870, a daughter of David and Martha (Manning) Hendricks, both full-blooded Cherokees. To this union there have been born eleven children: David, who died at the age of eight years; Lizzie, who died aged two years; Ella, who is the wife of Hope Teeke, of Wash- ington County; Katie, who lives with her parents; Oliver C., a successful farmer and oil producer of Wash- ington County; one child which died in infancy; William, who lives at home; Jessie, who died in infancy; Ernest and Earl, twins, the former of whom died aged four years; and Owen, who lives at home. Mr. Wilkerson also had an adopted child, Woodrow, who died February 19, 1915.

HARRY JAMES DRAY. The postmaster of Weatherford, Oklahoma, is Harry James Dray, a man of English birth and parentage, but a resident of America since he was five years old. He was born in Swansbrook, England, on January 12, 1868, and is the son of A. H. and Susan (Smith) Dray.

A. H. Dray was born in the vicinity of Swansbrook, where he was reared and married, and where his children were born. His birth occurred .in 1844, and he died at Lincoln, Nebraska, in 1898. He came to America in 1873, and his family followed him ten months later. He was a blacksmith by trade, and when he came to America he made his way at once to Nebraska City, Nebraska, where he found work in the factory of the Breaking Plow Company. A little later, in 1874, he went to Essex, Iowa, the family having joined him in 1874, and in Essex the family settled down to the making of a home in a new land. The father worked at his trade there until 1887 when he moved to WaKeeney, in Western Kansas. His next move took the family to Plattsmouth, Nebraska, where he was employed in the Burlington Machine Shops, and he was by that company transferred to Lincoln, where he worked for the Burlington until his death in 1908.

Mr. Dray was democratic in his politics, and a mem- ber of the Episcopal Church. His wife, Susan Smith, was born in the same village that was his native place, in 1843, and she is now living in Black Lake, Idaho. They were the parents of a large family of fifteen chil- dren. A. H., Jr., lives in Stockton, California, where

1910

HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

he is a blacksmith. Susan married Allen Voorhees, a farmer of Mullen, Idaho, where they have their home. J. P. is a barber of Ely, Nevada. Harry James was the fourth child. W. S. lives in Savannah, Missouri, where he is postmaster and the editor of a newspaper. Jennie married C. N. Cooley, pastor of the Congrega- tional Church at Black Lake, Idaho. Nellie married Harry Cox, a merchant of Muskogee, Oklahoma. Richard died young, as did also Minnie, George, Edward and Irving. Frank is a resident of Black Lake, Idaho, where he is employed as a railroad machinist. He and his mother have a home there. Margaret married Morris Griffith, and they live in Livingston, Montana. The fifteenth child died in infancy.

Harry James Dray attended the public schools in Essex, Iowa, until 1887, when the family moved to WaKeeney, Kansas, and he entered a printing office there, following an apprenticeship in the printing business he had served in Essex, while still attending school. He spent three years in the office of The Tribune in WaKeeney, and iu 1890 he went to Plattsmouth, Nebraska, as foreman of the Cass County Herald. He held that position until 1894, when he went to Auburn, Nebraska, and was fore- man of the Herald there until 1903. In April, 1903, he came to Weatherford, Oklahoma, and entered the office of the Weatherford Republican as foreman, which posi- tion he filled for a year. He then bought the Weather- ford Democrat, an opposition paper, and published it until April 1, 1915, when N. S. DeMotte bought an in- terest in the paper, and since then has been the editor of the paper. This is one of the foremost sheets in the county, and is an influence for good wherever it circulates. It is well managed and has a wide circulation in the county and state.

Mr. Dray is democratic iu his convictions, and has served as clerk of the Weatherford School Board for seven years. In August, 1913, he was appointed post- master of Weatherford by President Wilson, and is satis- factorily filling that office at the present time. He is a member of the Episcopal Church, and is a Mason with Ancient Free and Accepted Masonic affiliations. He is also a member of the Knights of Pythias No. 11, Auburn, Nebraska, and is past chancellor commander of that lodge. He is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America, the Royal Highlanders and the Court of Honor, and in all of them is popular and prominent, with an instinct for fraternalism and sociability that makes him welcome in whatever circles he frequents.

Mr. Dray was married in 1903 in Peru, Nebraska, to Miss Emma E. Randol, daughter of J. P. Randol, a retired farmer now living in Weatherford. They have four children: The first born, Rhea Ruth, died here at the age of nine years. Edith and Isabelle attend the public schools, while the youngest child, Margaret, is not yet of school age.

C. M. CADE. It is hardly necessary to make any point of introduction for this well known Oklahoma citizen, banker, pioneer, man of affairs and leader in the republican party. There are few men in the state better known for substantial activities and broad influence exerted continuously since the original opening of Oklahoma Territory to settlement.

Born in Noble County, Ohio, August 4, 1856, C. M. Cade represents an old American family. A short time after the Revolutionary war was concluded three brothers, William, Samuel and Moses Cade, emigrated from France to Virginia. Of these three brothers William was the grandfather of C. M. Cade. He was a planter in Virginia, and afterwards transferred his residence to a farm on Blennerhassett Island in the Ohio River,

famous in history as the home of that unfortunate gentleman who became involved in the plots of Aaron Burr. William Cade spent the rest of his life in Ohio and died at Marietta, in that state.

Samuel Cade, father of C. M. Cade, was born at Natural Bridge, Virginia, in 1826, and died at Shawnee, Oklahoma, March 16, 1909. He was reared in Virginia but as a young man located at Marietta, Ohio. He was married in Monroe County, Ohio, a county from which Noble County was subsequently formed. In 1865 he established his home in Lawrence County, Ohio. From 1898 to 1900 he lived in Anthony, Kansas, and in 1900 moved to Kingfisher County, Oklahoma, where he was an early settler, and a farmer and stock raiser. He was a democrat in politics, and very active in the Baptist Church, in which he served as a deacon many years. Samuel Cade married Emeline Rowe, who was born in Guernsey County, Ohio, in 1822, and died at Anthony, Kansas, in 1900. Their children were: W. S. Cade, an attorney at Oklahoma City and for a number of years a United States marshal; B. M. Cade, who died in Lawrence County, Ohio, in 1881, also an attorney by profession and engaged in practice at Pomeroy, Ohio; Ceola Virginia, wife of Henry Shaw, a farmer and stock raiser at Burton, Nebraska; C. M. Cade; and Mary, wife of George E. Clark, who is in the railroad shops at Shawnee.

C. M. Cade grew up on his father's farm back in Ohio, spending the first sixteen years of his life in the wholesome atmosphere of the country and with such education as the local schools could supply. Afterwards he taught school in Lawrence County, Ohio, but in 1876 went West with the early pioneers of Nebraska, and became a farmer at Plum Creek in that state. In 1877 he went out to the Black Hills and spent a year in that famous mining region. From 1879 to 1884 he was a school teacher in Anthony, Kansas, and then took part as one of the founders of the flourishing little City of Coldwater, Kansas, and was secretary and treasurer of the Town Site Company from 1884 to 1889.

April 22, 1889, the opening day of the original Okla- homa Territory, he participated in the rush and landed in Kingfisher County. He was soon one of the leaders among the early settlers, and was elected and served as the first county clerk of Kingfisher county, holding that office a year and a half. Since 1895 Mr. Cade's home and activities have been largely centered at Shawnee. He was town site agent for the town, and until 1899 was in the employ of the old Choctaw, Oklahoma and Gulf Railroad, now part of the Rock Island System. On leaving the railway service he entered the First National Bank of Shawnee, and for one year was its vice presi- dent. He then resigned to become commercial agent for the Rock Island Railroad, and was also in the right of way department until 1902, in which year he helped to found the State National Bank of Shawnee, becoming its cashier, a position he still holds.

The State National Bank of Shawnee was established in 1902 by Willard Johnston, George E. McKinnis, Julius Greenlee, J. W. McLoud and Mr. Cade. It still keeps its original capitalization at $100,000. The bank is one of the commercial landmarks in Shawnee, situated at the corner of Main and Broadway. It now has a surplus of $20,000 and undivided profits of $8,000. The officers of the bank at this time are: Willard Johnston, president; George E. McKinnis and Frank Reed, vice presidents; C. M. Cade, cashier; Willard Barnett and N. S. Barnett, assistant cashiers. The bank is repre- sented in the State and National Bankers Associations by its officers.

As a banker Mr. Cade's interests are somewhat widely extended. He is president of the Cimarron Valley

1911

HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

Bank, at Coyle; vice president of the Bank of Earls- boro; vice president of the Bank of Meeker; director in the First National Bank of Geary and in the First National Bank of Mounds, all of them Oklahoma insti- tutions.

In republican politics Mr. Cade's name has long been familiar to the people of Oklahoma. From 1902 to 1904 he was state chairman of the State Central Committee, and from 1904 to 1912 was a National Committeeman from Oklahoma. He is an active member of the Shawnee Commercial Club, and fraternally is identified with Shawnee Lodge No. 657, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks; Shawnee Lodge No. 107, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons; Shawnee Lodge of the Fraternal Order of Eagles, and of the Knights of Pythias.

On March 27, 1883, in Wellington, Kansas, he married Miss Helen Kitchen, daughter of F. H. Kitchen, who during his active lifetime was a farmer. Mrs. Cade died in Coldwater, Kansas, in 1884. The only child by her union is C. M. Cade, Jr., whose home is at Dale, Okla- homa, where he conducts a farm and raises stock, and he was also postmaster at Shawnee until April 1, 1915.

On November 27, 1889, at Enid, Oklahoma, Mr. Cade married Miss Lizzie Hartz, daughter of Frank Hartz, who was a farmer. There is one child by this union, Leo Samuel, now a sophomore in the Shawnee High School.

DR. JAMES H. MILLER, whose appointment as repre- sentative of the Choctaw Nation in Washington, recently was made by Principal Chief Victor M. Locke, Jr., and confirmed by the Choctaw Senate, has for many years stood as one of the foremost intermarried citizens in the old Choctaw Nation, and has many interests as banker, merchant and stockman at Antlers and vicinity.

History is best translated and interpreted through the human actors engaged in making or witnessing it. Every human life helps to make or reflect the progress and experience of the age. It is the fundamental principle in the writing of history that "the life of a nation is at bottom only the life of a man."

The editor of this article believes there is no more illuminating chapter on the life, manners and customs of old Indian Territory, especially the old Choctaw Nation, than is found in the record of what Doctor Mil- ler has witnessed and experienced. Hence this article is not so much a personal biography as a scroll of history as it has been unrolled and lived before the eyes of Doctor Miller.

In recalling happenings of nearly forty years ago in the Choctaw Nation, Doctor Miller remembers having attended a trial at Caddo in which several prominent men of the Indian Nation were tried for treason. Among these men were Col. James J. McAlester, a member of the first corporation commission of the state and more recently lieutenant governor. The late Tandy Walker, a half brother of Governor Douglas H. Johnston, of the Chickasaw Nation; James Thompson, then treasurer of the Choctaw Nation; and James Davis, an intermarried citizen. The first trial was held before District Judge Lorin Folsom, and had the jury found them guilty they would have been shot as the Indian law provided.

This trial occurred during the administration of Cole- man Cole, principal chief of the Choctaw Nation. Cole was a character who deserves more than passing mention. He was a full-blood of the old Indian type and wore a blanket about his shoulders. Although he had a high regard for the white men of the nation who became his friends, his ambition was to hold the Choctaw estate intact as long as possible. Hence he had the Legislature enact a law providing that any person who should sell or

attempt to sell any land of the Choctaw Nation should be guilty of treason.

About 1875 the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad was projected south of Vinita toward the coal fields of McAlester and Lehigh, and the defendants in this notable case above referred to executed leases for coal mine purposes to certain Choctaw lands. Thereupon Cole had warrants issued for their arrest, charging them with treason, and they were indicted by a grand jury. Some of them fled into Arkansas, but later all surrendered. A special term of court in the Third Judicial District was convened at Caddo, and the men were tried and acquitted. Chief Cole attended the trial, as did also Doctor Miller, who meantime had become an intermarried citizen. The verdict incensed the chief and he arose in court and publicly rebuked Judge Folsom.

"Lorin Folsom," spoke the principal chief, "you are as much a traitor to our beloved nation as are these men you have acquitted, and you are not entitled to a seat on the Choctaw Bench. It was possible for you to have given the jury a charge that would have convicted these men." He then turned to the McAlester group and said : "Don't flatter yourselves that you are free." Then to Sheriff Joe Bryant he turned and commanded that they be rearrested and a new jury summoned. The chief then threw off his blanket and took the bench. Another trial proceeded and it too resulted in an acquittal.

To the jury the principal chief then addressed himself : "Gentlemen, " he said, "by your act today you have driven the wedge to the hilt that will burst our country asunder. This is the beginning of the end. Who is to mine this coal? Not the Indian. Who lifts this coal? Not the Indian. You have opened the gates that will admit to our country white men like the leaves of the trees, without number. They will build houses and re- main here and talk, as they did in Mississippi of old, of vested rights. The strong will rise and the weak will go down. There is nothing in common between the white man and the Indian. Like oil and water, they will not mix. Thank God, the sin is yours, not mine. I have done my full duty. Experience taught me much in Mississippi, and I don't want to live over again the days of the past. Your act probably won't seriously affect me or you, but your posterity will pay the penalty of your crime."

This event was near the close of the administration of Chief Cole and he was defeated for re-election. No governor of the Choctaws ever was such a czar, yet his acts on the whole were of benefit to his people. Neither was he averse to white men entering the nation if he were convinced that they were patriotic and would make the right sort of citizens.

When Doctor Miller, after attending lectures at Tulane University of New Orleans, established himself for the practice of medicine at Goodland in the Choctaw Nation, he found that a permit from the Choctaw Government was necessary. He boarded at the home of former Prin- cipal Chief B. L. LeFlore. When Governor LeFlore came home on a vacation from attending the Choctaw Council, he asked him to obtain a permit to practice medicine. So, when Governor LeFlore returned to Armstrong Academy, then the capitol of the Choctaw Nation, seek- ing out Chief Cole he said he had a young doctor at his home and that he wished to obtain a permit for him. Chief Cole said, "do you think he is qualified and all right?" LeFlore replied yes. Cole then turned to Joe Lawrence, who was permit collector, and said, "Joe, issue him a permit, " which was done. Lawrence handed the permit to Cole, and the latter to LeFlore, saying: "Give him this with my compliments and tell him to make a good citizen, and if a Choctaw gets sick to go

1912

HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

to see him whether he has money or not and that he will be rewarded."

As a slight token of this friendly act, Doctor Miller is now endeavoring to locate Cole's grave with the view of erecting a suitable monument to his memory. After entering Choctaw politics, Doctor Miller frequently op- posed Chief Cole iu policies vitally affecting the nation, but in later years he concluded that he was in error and that Cole was always right.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

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