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 45

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 45

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Before he lived in the Choctaw Nation two years Doc- tor Miller fell in love with an Indian girl, but was unable to marry her under Choctaw laws because he had not lived in the nation the required two years and could not get the required petition with ten signers testifying to his character. So he and Miss Ella J. Robuck crossed Red River and were married in the home of Captain Arthur, now on the site of the Village of Arthur City. Mrs. Miller is a daughter of Col. William Robuck, who filled the offices of auditor and attorney general in the Choc- taw Government and was a member of the Senate when he died. Colonel Robuck, with Col. Dave Harkins and McGee King, constituted a commission that settled a boundary dispute on the eastern side of the nation, each receiving 5 per cent of the value of the territory re- covered. Colonel Robuck died before the commission money was distributed and was succeeded by Campbell LeFlore, who paid to the Robuck estate its share of the fee. When Doctor Miller later was ambitious to enter Choctaw politics he complied with Choctaw laws and he and Mrs. Miller were married again under those laws. When the enrollment period came he was enrolled with- out question as a member of the Choctaw Tribe.

Doctor Miller's entrance into Choctaw politics made him an important factor in the campaign in which Prin- cipal Chief Wilson N. Jones was candidate for re-election, and so important were the doctor's activities that Gover- nor Jones appointed him tribal collector in a section traversed by the Frisco Railroad. He was a member of the executive campaign committee in the campaign wheu Green MeCurtain first ran for principal chief, and for twelve years was chairman of the campaign committee of his party, then known as the progressive party. In politics he has never lost a fight. He had for two terms the office of collector for the Third Judicial District, and he is the only white man ever confirmed by the Choctaw Council for a tribal office up to that time.

Doctor Miller speaks the Choctaw language and has been associated with the Indians in various capacities. He has known personally every principal chief since Cole- man Cole and has attended nearly every session of the tribal legislature since that time. As a member of the Treaty Rights Association, he and Dr. T. P. Howell of Davis, and Edward B. Johnson of Norman, in 1913-14 represented the association in Washington to oppose measures that provided for the re-opening of the Choc- taw rolls. This has been the greatest fight of recent years on the part of the Choctaws. Their tribal estate is worth many millions of dollars and about $7,000,000 in cash is now in the United States treasury to their credit. So long as this great estate remains in common and is held out as a bait, says Doctor Miller, all kinds of people will want to be Choctaws and get on the rolls, and money and influence almost without estimate will be used to break the seal put on the rolls years ago. Doctor Miller canvassed the Choctaw Nation in behalf of the Atoka Agreement and later in behalf of the Supple- mental Agreement. The greatest feature of the Supple- mental Agreement was its creation of a citizenship court which it made possible to review judgments that had been rendered by the Federal Court in the Indian Terri- tory. The Choctaw Government was surprised and over-

awed by the vast number of appeals that were taken to this court. They were unprepared to make a defense and many thousand judgments were rendered by default, placing the names of what were known as court citizens on the roll. Through the efforts of Mansfield, McMurray and Cornish, who were employed by the two tribes to review these cases, some 3,600 names were expunged from the roll. A time limit was fixed for further en- rollment of applicants and this limit is long expired. Doctor Miller is of the opinion that the citizenship ques- tion has long since been settled and that any effort to reopen the rolls is an invasion of the Choctaw-Chickasaw tribes' rights.

Doctor Miller witnessed at Goodland the execution of Wakum Evrin, charged with murdering his wife. John Wilson, deputy, under Sheriff Dave Gibson, fired the shot into the Indian's heart. Evrin had a voice of remarkable clearness and sweetness and was noted over the nation as one of the sweetest singers the tribe had produced. After the murder he fled the country where he committed the crime and located in Sansbois, Choctaw Nation. One night a few years later during church service the preacher Reverend Belinchey, a full blood Choctaw, recognized the voice of Evrin joining in the singing. He reported it to the sheriff and Evrin was arrested. Evrin sang beautifully and with a peculiar fervor while he was being prepared for the execution. He sang while a minister exhorted him about his soul's welfare and sang until the ball sped from the officer's gun. He ceased his song long enough, a half minute before the shot, to waive aside a medicine man who had come to paint a spot over his heart, and indicated with his own finger the target for the bullet.

Early one morning Doctor Miller was awakened by a call at the door. Sim Joe, a Choctaw, had come for him to visit Deupty Sheriff Wilson. The visit was made. The significance of the incident lies in the fact that Sim Joe was condemned to death at that time and yet had been selected by the sheriff as messenger to the doctor. There have been many Choctaws who exemplified similar reliability and in whom all faith and confidence could be placed.

James H. Miller was born in 1853 in Carroll County, Tennessee. His father died in 1858. In 1859 he and his mother started with his grandparents overland to Texas. His grandfather, however, located near what is now Prescott, Arkansas, and remained there until 1864. His mother died while living in Arkansas, and Doctor Miller came on to Paris, Texas, with his grandparents later. About 1866 the lad went back to Middle Tennessee and attended school in Giles County some three years. Returning to East Texas he was in the employ of his uncle in the lumber business for about a year, after- wards attended school three terms at Sulphur Springs in Hopkins County, Texas, and on finishing school entered the office of Dr. W. M. Clements, Paris, Texas, and began the study of medicine. He also attended lectures in New Orleans, and in October, 1875 came to Indian Territory and began the practice of medicine at Old Goodland, Kiamichi County, Choctaw Nation. About 1892 he moved his family to Paris, Texas, for educational and social purposes and remained there sixteen years, and from there moved to Antlers, Oklahoma, his present home.

Doctor Miller has valuable ranch interests on McGee Creek and Impson Valley. For twenty-five years he has dealt in cattle as his principal business. He was one of the organizers of the Hugo National Bank, is vice presi- dent of the Citizens National Bank of Antlers, owns stock in the American National Bank at Paris, Texas, has a general merchandise business at Grant and a general

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HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

store at Kent. Eight miles south of Antlers he has one of the most modern and best equipped stock farms in Okla- homa. Among other features are a water plant and an electric light plant, large silos, a cotton gin and grist mill. Here are raised some of the finest stock in South- eastern Oklahoma and only the best methods of agri- culture are employed.

It has recently become a matter of authentic knowl- edge that Mrs. Dr. Miller is a direct descendant of Pushmataha, the great war chief and governor of the Choctaws. Their relationship was outlined in a work published by S. J. Hotama, a witch killer and religious fanatic, who, having been convicted of murder because of his peculiar belief, was sentenced to life imprison- ment in the Federal prison at Atlanta, where he died. 'When the fact of this relationship was known to the Council of the Nation, Senator Frank Folsom drafted a resolution providing that a large portrait of Push- mataha that hangs in the Council House at Tuskahoma should be presented to Doctor Miller. "Let Dr. Miller have the resolution, " kindly remarked Principal Chief McCurtain to members of the Council, "but I am going to retain the portrait of Pushmataha." The resolution was not presented to the Council.

Doctor Miller has a fine family of five sons and two daughters. Edgar Poe Miller and S. G. Miller live in Antlers and are engaged principally in the livestock business. Mrs. W. T. Glenn, now deceased, was the wife of the present county judge of Choctaw County. W. W. Miller is in the livestock business and occupies the ranch his father established here many years ago. J. H. Miller Jr., who has lived for a number of years on old M Bar Ranch, is engaged in the livestock business in New Mexico. Mrs. Ruby C. McIntosh is the wife of W. R. McIntosh, mining trustee of the Choctaw Nation, and lives at McAlester. Miss Edith R. Miller is attend- ing school at Denison, Texas. Frank Wright Miller, the youngest son, lives with his parents in Antlers.

RUFUS P. ROOPE. One of the best known and most honored citizens of Lincoln County is Rufus P. Roope, who is now serving as county treasurer and who previ- ously has held the office of county clerk. He has been a resident of what is now the State of Oklahoma for nearly a quarter of a century, and may be termed with all consistency a pioneer, his original location having been in Lincoln County, which was then an integral part of Indian Territory. He has been closely and worthily identified with the development and upbuilding of Lincoln County and its attractive and thriving judicial center, the Village of Chandler, the while he has ever retained inviolable place in popular confidence and esteem, as indicated by his having been called to offices of signal public trust. Mr. Roope has shown much circumspection and executive ability as a public official, and his unfailing courtesy and consideration have gained to him the good will of all with whom he has come in contact in his official capacity as well as in the ordinary course of civic life. He was elected county treasurer in the autumn of 1914, as candidate on the republican ticket, and had served the preceding two years as county clerk. He is careful and methodical in his handling of all details of official work and Lincoln County has been favored in securing his services in connection with its governmental affairs.

Rufus P. Roope was born on a plantation in Frank- lin County, Tennessee, on the 13th of June, 1875, and is a son of Rev. Abner L. and Emarine (Protsman) Roope, both of whom were natives of Indiana and both of whom attained to the venerable age of eighty years be- fore they were summoned to the life eternal. The father

was a clergyman of the Methodist Episcopal Church and at the time of the Civil war he served as captain of the Eighty-second Indiana Volunteer Infantry, with which regiment he endured the full tension of the great conflict, having been with the commands of General Thomas and General Sherman in many sanguinary engagements on the battlefields of the South. In later years he perpetu- ated the memories of his military career through his membership in the Grand Army of the Republic, and he never faltered in his allegiance to the republican party. He labored with all of zeal and devotion for many years as a minister of the church of which both he and his wife were most devout members. Of their two children the subject of this review is the younger, the elder son, Charles, being deceased.

Passing the days of his boyhood and youth on the farm in Switzerland County, Indiana, Rufus P. Roope duly availed himself of the advantages of the public schools, this discipline having been supplemented by a course in a business college in Sedalia, Missouri.

Mr. Roope came to Indian Territory and established his residence in what is now Lincoln County in 1891. He was one of the early settlers in the Village of Meeker, where he engaged in farming and where he served five years as postmaster, besides which he was for a time a teacher in a school maintained for children of the Creek Indians. During the period of his effective service as a county official he has, as a matter of course, maintained his residence at Chandler, the judicial center of the county, and he has been progressive and public-spirited, a loyal supporter of the measures and enterprises that have furthered the social and industrial advancement and upbuilding of his home county and the Territory and State of Oklahoma. Mr. Roope gave careful attention to the study of law and is now a member of the Oklahoma bar; in the Masonic fraternity he has advanced to the thirty-second degree of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite; he is a stalwart republican in politics; and both he and his wife hold membership in the Presbyterian Church.

On the 4th of February, 1898, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Roope to Miss Elizabeth McGee, who was born at Mexico, Missouri, where she acquired her rudimentary education. She was a young girl at the time of the family removal to Kansas, and at Iola, that state, she completed her educational discipline, after which she became a successful and popular teacher in the public schools. Among her schoolmates were the children of the Funston family, of which Gen. Fred Funston is a distinguished member. Mrs. Roope is a daughter of the late Albert L. McGee, who was a native of Indiana, and who later became a prosperous agricul- turist and influential citizen in Audrain County, Mis- souri. Mr. and Mrs. Roope have two children-Frances Ruth and Marguerite Fern.

HARRY BROWN. There are turning points in every man's life called opportunity. Taken advantage of they mean ultimate success. The career of Harry Brown is a striking illustration of the latter statement. Diligent and ever alert for his chance of advancement, he has progressed steadily until he is recognized today as one of the foremost business men of Anadarko. Here he is held in high esteem by his fellow citizens, who honor him for his native ability and for his fair and straight- forward career. Mr. Brown is the owner of a large lumber yard at Anadarko and in connection with his business sends supplies to various sections throughout Caddo County.

A native of the Emerald Isle, Harry Brown was born at St. Johnston, Donegal County, Ireland, September 30,

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1861. His paternal grandfather was Henry Brown, who spent his entire life in Donegal County, Ireland, where he was keeper of a large landed estate. James Brown, father of Harry, was born at St. Johnstou, Ireland, in 1845, and he emigrated to America in 1862, landing in' Maryland, whence he journeyed west to Illinois and going thence to Carbondale, Kansas. He was a coal miner and followed his occupation in many states from the Atlantic to the Pacific. April 22, 1889, he settled permanently at Edmond, Oklahoma, and there he has since been most profitably engaged in the lumber and hardware business. Although seventy years of age he enjoys splendid health and his intellect is as keen as in the prime of life. In politics he is a loyal republican and he represented his district in the Oklahoma Legis- lature in 1893. He is a devout communicant of the Roman Catholic Church and is affiliated with the Knights of Columbus. He married Jane Britten, who was born in Paisley, Scotland, in 1845, and who died at Edmond, Oklahoma, in 1899. The following children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Brown: Harry is the subject of this sketch; Isabella married Dan Mooney, an oil man at Ponca City, this state; J. J. assists his father in the hardware business at Edmond, Oklahoma; Dennis T. has been lost track of; Catherine married Charles S. Pitman and they live at El Paso, Texas; she is a grad- uate of the Edmond Normal School; and Mayme, a graduate of the kindergarten department of the Edmond Normal School, is a stenographer aud teacher and re- sides at home with her parents.

Harry Brown came to America with his mother in 1866, his father having come to this country five years earlier. As a result of the family moving so often, he was educated in the public schools of several states. April 22, 1889, he settled in Edmond, Oklahoma, and there was engaged in the mercantile business until 1894. He then accepted a position as traveling salesman for the Buford & George Manufacturing Company, selling farm implements for that concern in South Kansas and Oklahoma for the ensuing ten years. In 1904 he came to Anadarko among the pioneers and here engaged in the lumber business, continuing in that line of enterprise with marked success to the present time. His well equipped lumber yard is situated on the corner of East Broadway and Seventh Street and he ships large supplies of lumber to distant points throughout Caddo and neighboring counties. He is a republican in politics and has served on the school board in Anadarko for a number of years. He is a shrewd business man but is possessed of a kindly and genial personality that makes friends for him wherever he goes.

In Edmond, Oklahoma, in 1890, Mr. Brown married Miss Sarah McFadyen, a daughter of John McFadyen, who was a farmer near Edmond prior to his demise. Mr. and Mrs. Brown have two sons: Harry J. was grad- uated in the University of Oklahoma, in 1914, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts, and he is now pursuing a post-graduate course in that institution, making a spe- cialty of mathematics and calisthenics, which subjects he expects to teach in the Durant Normal School next year; John D. is a junior in the University of Okla- homa. Both boys are fine examples of sturdy young American manhood and they have promising careers ahead of them.

The Brown family are communicants of the Roman Catholic Church, to whose good works they are liberal contributors of their time and means. Mrs. Brown is a woman of most gracious personality and she is popular with all who have had the pleasure of meeting her.

DR. J. MATT GORDON. Ten years ago Dr. J. Matt Gordon came to Weatherford and established himself in

medical practice here. Since that time he has been a continuous resident here, and has a wide practice in the community and surrounding towns. He is a native son of Missouri, born at Bolivar, on November 14, 1865, and is a son of B. F. and Rebecca A. (Brown) Gordon.

B. F. Gordon was born in Kentucky in 1818, and he died near Bolivar, Missouri, in 1900. He came to Mis- souri in young manhood and engaged in the farming and stock raising business, in which he experienced a pleasing degree of success. He was a Baptist all his life and a deacon in the church. His wife was born in Kentucky in 1827, and she died near Bolivar, in 1892. Their children were six in number, and are briefly mentioned here as fol- lows: Ruan married J. M. Mullis, and they live on a farm in Cameron, Missouri. Elizabeth married R. T. Ellis, and they live in Bolivar, Missouri. Thomas Beuton is deceased. R. D. lives in Waynoka, Oklahoma, where he is a druggist. Naomi married W. E. Johnson and is now deceased. Dr. J. Matt Gordon was the sixth child.

Doctor Gordon as a boy attended the public schools at Bolivar, continuing his studies there until he was eighteen years old, when he turned his attention to school teach- ing. He taught several years in Polk County, Missouri, and then entered the state normal school at Warrens- burg, Missouri, to further his training. He was grad- uated from that school in 1897, after which he was chosen to fill the position of superintendent of the War- rensburg Public Schools. He continued in that post front 1897 to 1902, when he entered the College of Physicians and Surgeons in Chicago, now the medical department of the University of Illinois, and he was graduated with the class of 1905, with the degree M. D. Since that time Doctor Gordon has taken the A. B. course in South-West Baptist College, Bolivar, Missouri, and post graduate courses in the Chicago Polyclinic in 1910 and 1912. Fol- lowing his graduation Doctor Gordon came to Weather- ford, and has been engaged in practice here ever since, with offices in the Weatherford Drug Store. He is at present serving as local health physician, and has in past years served as president of the school board, in which position he was especially well qualified to act, by reason of his previous wide experience in the educational fields. From 1909 to 1911 he was a member of the Board of Regents for the University of Oklahoma, at Norman. He has served as president of the Custer County Medical Society, and he also has membership in the State and American Medical Associations. At the present time he is president of the West Central Oklahoma Medical Society. He is local surgeon for the Rock Island Rail- road, and is a member of the United States Pension Board, as well as local examining physician on that board. Doctor Gordon owns a splendid farm about three miles from Weatherford, and has a nice home in town.

Doctor Gordon was married in Bolivar, Missouri, in 1890, to Miss Pinnie E. Milliken, daughter of H. R. Milli- ken, now deceased. They have no living children.

In a fraternal way Doctor Gordon is especially popular in Weatherford. He is a Mason of high degree and is affiliated with Weatherford Lodge No. 138 Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, Weatherford Chapter No. 31, Royal Arch Masons, Weatherford Commandery No. 17, Knights Templar, and Indian Temple, Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, at Oklahoma City. He is also a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Woodmen of the World, the Modern Woodmen of America.

ANDREW JACKSON BROWN, of Wewoka, has gained as much distinction in commercial affairs as his brother, John F. Brown, in the public life of the Seminole Nation. As a matter of fact, however, Andrew J. Brown and

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John F. Brown have for many years been closely asso- ciated in business affairs, and these two brothers, with Mr. C. L. Long, own and control the two largest busi- ness institutions at Wewoka-the Wewoka Trading Company and the Wewoka Realty & Trust Company, which is incorporated with a capital of $100,000.

On other pages will be found a record of John F. Brown, the principal chief of the Seminole Nation. Governor Brown is about thirteen years older than Andrew Jackson Brown, who was born at Tahlequah, Oklahoma, March 3, 1856. He was fifth in a family of four sons and three daughters, and their parents were Dr. John F. and Lucy (Graybeard) Brown. Doctor Brown was a distinguished character in old Indian Ter- ritory and some of the more important details of the family record will be found in the sketch of Governor Brown.

When Andrew J. Brown was an infant his parents moved to that section of Indian Territory between Mus- kogee and the old Creek Agency, and in 1866 when he was ten years of age they moved to the old Seminole Agency in Pottawatomie County. He acquired his edu- cation by attending the day schools operated by the Government, was also a student at Sasakwa, the town founded by his brother, Governor Brown, and in 1873 completed a course in the Jones Commercial College at St. Louis.

He then returned to Indian Territory and from 1874 to 1880 took an active part in the management of the store at Sasakwa, operated under the name of John F. Brown & Brother. Andrew J. Brown has been a leader in business affairs at Wewoka since 1880. At that time there was one store and a blacksmith shop comprising all the commercial activities of the little village. Soon afterward C. L. Long entered the partnership, and for a number of years the firm conducted two stores, one at Wewoka and the other at Sasakwa. Later they organ- ized the Wewoka Trading Company, and the store at Sasakwa was turned over to Governor Brown, who, how- ever, still continued an active member of the partner- ship at Wewoka. The Wewoka Trading Company, not incorporated, operates the largest general department store in Seminole County and they also built the largest business house in the town, a two-story brick 90 by 100 feet, in addition to the old store, which occupies ground 80 by 40 feet. In this store are employed from six to twelve persons, and the trade extends all over Seminole County. The management of the business is in the hands of Andrew J. Brown and Mr. Long.

These three parties also own all the stock in the Wewoka Realty & Trust Company, of which Andrew J. Brown is president, John F. Brown vice president, and Mr. Long secretary and treasurer. Mr. Brown and family also have allotments of land in Seminole County and they control extensive stock and farming interests.

Andrew J. Brown for the last twenty years has been treasurer of the Seminole Nation, though that office since statehood has been of nominal importance only. For two terms, eight years, he was also superintendent of tribal schools. Like his brother, Governor Brown, he is a minister of the Gospel, of the Baptist faith, and was active in preaching and disseminating the Gospel truths for about fifteen years. He is pastor of the Buckeye Baptist Church on Little River. He was also one of the organizers and a leader in the building of that church.

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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