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 47

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 47

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ALEX WILL CRAIN. The present tribal secretary of the Seminoles, and the oldest white resident of Seminole County, Alex Will Crain has an interesting career and personality not only for his prominent participation in Indian affairs but also because of the fact that he is descended from some of the oldest and most prominent American Colonial and Revolutionary stock. Among his forefathers were gallant soldiers and men of affairs who left their impress on different states and colonies of the

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HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

East. Mr. Crain is one of the two white men who received formal adoption into the Seminole tribe, and has been on the rolls of citizenship since 1883.

He was born in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, March 10, 1847, a son of Dr. Joseph and Rebecca Gibson (Wills) Crain. His great-grandfather was Ambrose Crain, who as captain led a company to battle in the Revolutionary war, being part of a New Jersey regi- ment. Grandfather Richard M. Crain also had a prominent career. He was surveyor general or deputy surveyor general of Pennsylvania for about thirty years. He was also a member of one of the early Pennsylvania Legislatures when that body met at Lancaster. He served as a colonel of artillery during the War of 1812 and was at Fort Henry during the defense of Wash- ington. Col. Richard M. Crain married Eleanor White- hill. Her father, Robert Whitehill, was a member of the convention that drafted the Constitution of the United States and afterwards sat in Congress representing a Pennsylvania district for more than twenty years. Mr. Crain's father, Dr. Joseph Crain, was born at Lan- caster, Pennsylvania, in 1803, spent his active career as a physician in Cumberland County and died there in 1876. His wife was born in Cumberland County and died when Alex W. Crain was three years of age. Two of their children died in infancy, and those who reached maturity were two daughters and three sons. Doctor Crain also had children by a second marriage, but all of them are now deceased. Mr. Crain's brother, Richard M., fought during a part of the Civil war as member of a New Jersey regiment, afterwards took up medicine, and he died while in the employ of the Government at the Sac and Fox Agency in Oklahoma.

The early life of Alex Will Crain was spent in Penn- sylvania, attending the public schools, and he was also a student in the State College of Pennsylvania. In June, 1863, he left college to enlist from Center County as a member of Company D in Lutzinger's Battalion for three months' duty. In June, 1914, Mr. Crain visited Pennsylvania College, and at that time received a certifi- cate of recognition for membership in the class of 1864, and of that class only fourteen were known to be living in 1914. Mr. Crain was promised by the college authorities in recognition of his services in leaving school to fight for his country a diploma, and this dip- loma was awarded at the commencement in June, 1916, at which time Mr. Crain returned to Pennsylvania to accept the honor. .

For two years during his early youth he also worked on a Pennsylvania farm, and he spent two years on the plains of Nebraska, driving ox and mule teams and get- ting a taste of frontier existence which finally caused him to become a permanent resident of the Southwest. Returning East he spent another two years at home, and then went to Texas, where he was a cowboy for a year, and about 1872 he came into the Creek Nation. His services here for about twelve years were as teacher in the tribal schools, and he also clerked in a store about four years.

In 1883 he was adopted into the Seminole Nation and has ever since been a member of that tribe. He and the late E. J. Brown were the only white men ever formally adopted by this tribe, Mr. Crain served as assistant district Indian agent under the Department of Interior, but for the past eight years has been tribal secretary. From 1884 to 1909 he resided on his farm and applied himself successfully to the raising of cattle, horses and hogs, and in the early days the range for his livestock was unrestricted and his herds could wander for pasture where they would. Mr. Crain still has a Vol. V-11

farm in the northwestern part of Seminole County along the North Canadian River.

In politics he is a republican, though he was reared a democrat. He has a life membership in the Masonic order, having attained thirty-two degrees in the Scottish Rite, is a Royal Arch Mason and a member of the Mystic Shrine.

In 1880 at Sasakwa he married Lucy Brown, a half- blood Seminole and a sister of Governor John F. Brown, reference to whose career will be found on other pages. Mr. and Mrs. Crain have three children: Anna, wife of T. H. Oliver of Wewoka; Allen, of Sasakwa; and Ambrose, who lives on his allotment along the North Canadian River. Mr. Crain has one of the most interest- ing and attractive homes in Seminole County. All his life he has been a diligent reader, though his career on the whole has kept him in close touch with practical events. Some time ago during a general discussion of the question of state legal holidays for Oklahoma, Mr. Crain suggested that they make a ground-hog day of general observance, but he ceased to advocate this when the people apparently began to take his proposition seriously.

HON. JEREMIAH C. STRANG. Prior to coming to Guthrie, in 1893, Hon. Jeremiah C. Strang had estab- lished an enviable record in legal and judicial affairs in Kansas. There his distinguished talents had been early recognized by appointment and election to offices of grave responsibility, and when he came to Oklahoma he brought with him a reputation as one of the strong and forceful men of law of his day. In his new locality he soon took his merited place among the men directing legal and judicial machinery, and his subsequent activities have but served to add to and embellish his reputation gained in the Sunflower State.

Judge Strang was born December 31, 1854, in the Village of Trumbull Corners, Tompkins County, New York, and is a son of Daniel and Elizabeth (Case) Strang, natives and agricultural people of the Empire State. The public schools of his native locality fur- nished Judge Strang with his early education, following which he attended an academy at Ithaca, New York, and took a full course in the institution at Watkins, in that state. He was reared on his father's farm, it having been his intention to become an agriculturist, but one day, while operating a threshing machine, he mnet with an accident which cost him his right hand, and when he had recovered he realized the necessity of adopt- ing a professional career. For two years Mr. Strang was engaged in teaching school in the country districts adjacent to his home, and during this time to apply himself to the study of law, to which he began to give- his entire attention in 1869. In 1870 he removed from Ithaca, New York, to Westfield, Pennsylvania, and there completed his legal training under the preceptorship of Hon. Butler B. Strang, his cousin, and at that time a noted jurist. Judge Strang was admitted to practice in 1873, when but nineteen years of age, and for four years continued in the enjoyment of a large and repre- sentative legal patronage at Westfield, and during three years of that time served efficiently as district attorney.

In 1877 Judge Strang went to Kansas and entered upon a carcer that was destined to make his name known among the foremost men of his profession. Locating at Larned, in the same year he was elected county attorney of Pawnee County, and served in that capacity for two years. Up to this time he had been a stanch republican, and on going to Kansas had plunged energetically into political affairs. In 1880 he stumped the state in behalf of the successful prohibition constitutional amendment.

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In that same year, without his solicitation, his party nominated him for state senator of his seuatorial dis- triet, and he was subsequently elected by a large majority. He became the author of the bill putting into force the prohibition constitutional amendment, introduced and drafted many other important and successful measures, and was au active member of a number of important committees. He resigned after the first session of his four-year term iu order to accept the appointment by Governor John P. St. Johu to the office of district judge of the Sixteenth Judicial District of Kansas. He served one year by appointment and two terms of four years by election in that importaut office, but decliued a third nominatiou. In 1890 Goveruor Lyman U. Humphrey appointed Judge Strang a member of the Kansas State Supreme Court Commission, and in that connection he rendered a faithful and highly commendable service of three years.

In 1893 Judge Strang resigned and came to Okla- homa. Here he opened a law office at Guthrie aud embarked upon an active practice, but he was not loug allowed to act merely as a private citizen, for in 1895 he was petitioned by leading men of his community to make the race for the office of couuty attorney of Logan County on a law enforcement platform. To this he con- sented, was elected to the office, and fulfilled every pledge made to the voters, his record during his two years' of office being one that streugtheued materially his place in the esteem and confidence of the people. In 1897 Governor Barnes, at the suggestion of the late President McKinley, one of Judge Strang's old and personal friends, appointed the judge to the office of attorney general of Oklahoma, a position which he held for two years and only resigned because of an attack of ill health. In 1905 he was nominated by acclamation and was elected probate judge of Logan County, an office which he retained for ten years and from which he then retired to give his entire attention to his private practice. Judge Strang seems to have assimilated the principles of jurisprudence and to be able to supply from his iutel- lectual reservoir a correct solution to any new combina- tion of details that will withstand the severest criticism. Before the court his mastery of legal principles, famili- arity with precedeuts and power of logical and forcible argument make him well nigh invincible. As counsel his services have been in great demand, and he has been extensively retained in important and complicated litiga- tion not alone in Oklahoma, but in various other states, before the highest tribunals.

Judge Strang has one daughter, Lulu, who is the wife of M. E. Trapp, lieutenant-governor of Oklahoma.

TEMPLE HOUSTON. In the history of the legal fra- ternity of Western Oklahoma there has appeared no more distinguished name than that of the late Temple Hous- ton, who practiced at the Woodward bar from the time of the opening of the Cherokee Strip, in 1893, until his death, August 15, 1905. A son of the great Texas patriot, Gen. Sam Houston, his early career was marked by experiences of the most interesting character in the Lone Star State, and from early youth his achievements were notable in Texas jurisprudence.

Temple Houston was born August 12, 1860, in the Texas gubernatorial mansion at Austin, a son of Gen. Sam and Margaret (Lea) Houston. Samuel Houston was born in Rockbridge County, Virginia, March 2, 1793, and was of Scotch-Irish descent. In 1818 he began the study of law and in 1823 and 1825 was elected a member of Congress, and in 1827 governor of Tennessee. On his removal to Texas, in 1832, he was made a general of Texas troops, and in 1836 defeated the Mexicans at San Jacinto, which resulted in the independence of Texas,

General Houston being elected president of the new re- public. In 1845 Texas entered the Union and General Houston was chosen United States senator. He was elected governor of Texas in 1859, but iu 1861 was deposed for adherence to the Union, and died at Hunts- ville, Texas, July 25, 1863. By his second wife, Mar- garet Lea, he was the father of four sons and four daughters: Samuel, deceased; Nancy, who is the wife of James Morrow, of Georgetown, Texas; Margaret, de- ceased; Mary, who is the widow of John Morrow, of Abilene, Texas; Nettie, the wife of Prof. James Bring- hurst, of San Antonio, Texas; Andrew J., of Beaumont, Texas; William R., of Kemp, Texas; and Temple.

Left an orphan at the age of seven years, at the age of thirteen Temple Houston became a cowboy on the plains of his native state. With his first cattle outfit he went with a herd of stock to Bismark, North Dakota, where he engaged as a clerk on a steamer and went down the Mississippi River. He was then appointed to a position as page iu the United States Senate and re- mained in that capacity at Washington, D. C., for three years, and while there began the study of the profes- sion in which he was later to reach such a high position. On his return to Texas, at the age of seventeen years, he eutered Bailey University, from which he was duly graduated, and when only nineteen years of age was admitted to the Texas bar. He soon attracted attention and a large practice in criminal law, and when but nine- teen years old was elected county attorney of Brazoria County. He was district attorney of the Texas Pan- handle District when he had just attained his majority, and at a time when to enter the courtroom unarmed was to take one's life iu his hands, the young attorney made an exceptionally creditable record. Further honors awaited him. He was only twenty-four years old when elected to the Texas State Seuate, a body in which he served with ability and distinction for eight years, but that service ended his life in Texas, for with the opening of the Cherokee Strip in 1893 he came to Oklahoma and opened an office at Woodward, this city continuing to be his home and the scene of his repeated successes until the time of his death.

Mr. Houston was married February 14, 1883, to Miss Laura Cross, who was born April 7, 1865, in Louisiana, and to this union there were born seven children: Temple; Louise and Laura, who are deceased; Sam; Richard; Lucile, who is deceased; and Mary. Mrs. Houston, who survives her husband and is a lady of many attainments, was appointed postmistress of Wood- ward, March 10, 1914. She has managed the affairs of this office in a highly creditable manner and in numerous ways has been able to improve the service.

DR. TIMOTHY JOSEPH BUTLER. The Butler family, represented in Weatherford by Dr. Timothy Joseph Butler, is distinctly southern in its habitat, and is of Scotch-Irish origin. Timothy Butler, grandshire of the subject, was the Irish emigrant ancestor. He came first to Canada, but his stay there was brief, and he died in Vicksburg, Mississippi, where he was a prosperous planter for years. Doctor Butler's maternal grandfather, Rob- ert Marshall, came from Scotland to Cincinnati, Ohio, when he was a boy of three years, and he, too, died in the vicinity of Vicksburg, a well known planter of that place.

Dr. Timothy Joseph Butler was born in Vicksburg, Mississippi, on January 11, 1886, and is a son of T. J. Butler, also born in Vicksburg, the latter in the year 1854. He died on the family plantation, St. Elmo, Warren County, in 1889. He was Roman Catholic in his faith. His wife was Miss Emma Marshall, born in

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Memphis, Tennessee, and she now makes her home with Doctor Butler, their only child.

Dr. Butler was graduated from the S. A. C., in Vicks- burg, Mississippi, in 1902, with the equivalent of a high school education. In 1904 he was graduated from the C. H. A., in Port Gibson, Mississippi, his preparation for his professional studies being made there. He spent the years 1905 and 1906 in the medical department of the University of Virginia, and the next two years in Tulane University, in New Orleans. He was graduated from the University of the South, in Sewanee, Tennessee, with the class of 1909, when he received his M. D. degree.

In October, 1909, Doctor Butler began medical prac- tice at Calvin, Oklahoma, and in 1911 he came to Weatherford, where he has since conducted a practice along general lines of medicine and surgery.

Dr. Butler is a democrat and a member of the Epis- copal Church. His college fraternity is the Alpha Kappa Kappa, and in Masonry he is affiliated with the Weather- ford Lodge No. 138, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, Weatherford Chapter No. 31, Royal Arch Masons, and Weatherford Commandery No. 17, Knights Templar. He is a member of the County, State and American Medical societies, and the association of military surgeons, and holds a connnission as first lieutenant in the Medical Re- serve Corps, United States army.

In Vicksburg, Mississippi, 1910, was recorded the mar- riage of Doctor Butler to Miss Letitia Templeman Geiger, daughter of S. E. Geiger, of Charlottesville, Virginia, now deceased. Four children have been born to Doctor and Mrs. Butler: Emma M., Lily, Mildred and Marshall, all at home.

LOGAN AUTRAN WILHITE. A practical and experienced newspaper man and an expert follower of the old and honored trade of printing, Logan Autran Wilhite, fore- man of the printing plaut of the Daily Pioneer, at Alva, Oklahoma, has passed his entire life in this calling. He has followed his occupation in various places, and on several occasions has been the proprietor of newspapers, but since 1898 has made his home at Alva and is well known among newspaper men of Woods County.

Mr. Wilhite is a Missourian by nativity, born at Slater, Saline County, Missouri, September 30, 1875, a son of Daniel C. and Mary F. (Maupin) Wilhite. His father was born in that county, November 20, 1844, and was a mere lad when the Civil war came on, but enlisted od- of Ous in the Seventh Missouri Cavalry, and served therewith for 31/2 years. He took part in numerous battles and had many escapes from death, on one occasion having his horse shot from under him, while later he was seriously wounded in the right leg. His military career ily eph $ of the frst d in nter Rob- Ohio, ed in that burg, T. J. year Elmo, finished, he returned to Saline County, Missouri, where he gradually drifted into building and contracting, vocations which he continued to follow throughout the remainder of his life. Mr. Wilhite prosecuted his activities at Slater until 1886, in which year he removed with his family to Wichita, Kansas, which city was then experiencing an extensive boom, and where he had his full share of the many building contracts that were being left. A number of the structures erected by him still stand as monuments to his skill and honest work- manship. In 1900, Mr. Wilhite removed to Alva, Okla- homa, where he purchased city property, and here con- tinued to make his home until his death, which occurred July 6, 1906. Soon after coming to Alva, Mr. Wilhite became recognized as a progressive citizen, who stood for the strict enforcement of the law and took a keen Interest in the town's advancement, and in 1903 and 1904 lie in was elected police judge, a position in which he fully om in indicated the trust and confidence reposed in him. He

was a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, as well as of the Grand Army of the Republic, and never lost interest in the welfare of his old army comrades. Throughout his life he remained true to the teachings of the Christian Church. Mr. Wilhite was married in 1864 to Mary F. Maupin, who was born October 20, 1843, in Virginia, and died at Alva, Oklahoma, Decem- ber 25, 1908. She was an active worker in the move- ments of the Christian Church, was a woman of many excellencies of mind and heart, and her memory is still revered by those who knew her. Four daughters and three sons were born to Mr. and Mrs. Wilhite, namely : Fannie L., Paschal E., Ollie B., Hubert R., Logan A., Lilla M. and Bertha C.

Logan A. Wilhite was eight years of age when the family moved to Wichita, Kansas, and there, in the public schools, he completed his education. He was fifteen years of age at the time he began to learn the trade of printer, starting in the lowly position of "devil" in the office of the Hazelton Express, at Hazelton, Kansas, his brother-in-law, W. F. Hatfield, being the publisher of that newspaper. Since that time Mr. Wilhite has con- tinued to devote his attention unreservedly to the same line of business, although in various localities. In 1895 he came to Oklahoma, locating at Taloga, Dewey County, where he became editor and owner of the Advocate, but after one year disposed of his interests therein and went to Higgins, Texas, where he became editor and owner of the Higgins News, which he pub- lished for two years. During one year of this time he also served in the capacity of postmaster of Higgins. Returning to Oklahoma in 1898, Mr. Wilhite located at Alva, where he agaiu associated himself with his brother- in-law, Mr. Hatfield, who was publishing the Pioneer, Mr. Wilhite being made foreman of the plant and re- maining as such until March 16, 1911, when he began the publication of the Morning Times, the first morning newspaper to be published at Alva. This was conducted by the firm of Eubank & Wilhite until 1914, when Mr. Wilhite disposed of his interests in it and returned to the Daily Pioneer, as foreman of the plant, this publi- cation now being owned and edited by W. D. Wilkinson. Mr. Wilhite has had broad and varied experience in his work, and is considered a thorough master of the art of printing. He is a republican in his political views, but has never sought public office, with the exception of his year as postmaster in Texas, under the administration of the late President Mckinley.

Mr. Wilhite was married April 22, 1897, to Miss Edna M. Elder, who was born June 16, 1878, at Slater, Mis- souri, daughter of A. J. and Elizabeth (McMahan) Elder, of that city. Mr. and Mrs. Wilhite have three children: Logan Errol, born July 6, 1898; Gerald A., born June 24, 1903; aud Daniel Calvin, born June 4, 1908.

Mr. Wilhite is an active member of the Christian Church and graduated with a class of nine in Standard Bible work in 1916.

HON. JESSE ALBERT BAKER. While most of the early settlers of Oklahoma were young men, some left behind them the record of a successful experience in order to join their fortunes with the new frontier country. Among these was Jesse Albert Baker, who after fifteen years of influential membership in the Georgia bar identified himself with Oklahoma in 1893. As was to be expected he soon took a prominent part in the new territory, and has maintained a position of leadership down to the present time.

For a number of years Mr. Baker has been a resident of Wewoka, enjoys a large practice as a lawyer and

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has many business interests, and has been prominent in politics. He was a member of the Constitutional Con- vention from his section of old Indian Territory.

Representing an old and honored name in Georgia, he was born in Bartow County May 9, 1853, a son of Jesse and Parthenia (Moss) Baker. His grandfather, Charles Baker, a native of Virginia, served with gal- lantry in the war of the Revolution and was under the command of Thomas Marshall. He fought both at Cowpens and Kings Mountain in the southern campaign and was wounded at the Kings Mountain fight. He died in Cass, now Bartow County, Georgia, and was the 'only Revolutionary soldier buried in that county, and a few years ago the Daughters of the American Revolution marked his grave with a suitable memorial. He lived in South Carolina for some years, and in that state his son, Jesse, was born in 1800, but when quite young went to Georgia, where both Charles and Jesse Baker became prominent planters and slave owners. Jesse Baker died in Bartow County in 1871. His wife, Miss Moss, was born in Habersham County, Georgia, in 1809, and died in 1887. In their family were fourteen chil- dren, twelve of whom reached maturity, and three are now living: Fannie C., wife of James W. Rich of McCurtain, Oklahoma; Dr. Thomas H., of Cartersville, Bartow County, Georgia; and Jesse A., who was next to the youngest of the children.

Jesse A. Baker lived in his native County of Bartow, Georgia, 'until September, 1893, when he arrived at Guthrie, Oklahoma. He speut his early boyhood on a Georgia plantation, and in 1875 graduated A. B. from the University of Georgia, and then became a student in the law department of Cumberland University at Lebanon, Tennessee, where he finished his course in 1877. He was admitted to the bar in September, 1877, and the Supreme Court of Georgia admitted him to practice in all the state courts on November 27, 1878. During the next sixteen years he succeeded in building up a large practice in his home state and on moving to Guthrie in 1893 he practiced law with Dick T. Morgan and Judge J. L. Pancoast. He also acquired extensive farming interests in Pottawatomie County, and in 1901 he took part as a new settler in the southwestern dis- triet of Oklahoma, locating at Lawton, in Comanche County. There he practiced law for several years and on April 1, 1905, moved to Wewoka, which has since been his home.

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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