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 51

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 51

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HON. WILLIAM JAMES LADD. A long and useful life, William J. Ladd has lived not without some of the more substantial honors paid to an upright and public spirited citizen. He is at the present time representing Creek County, his home locality, in the Oklahoma Legislature. He was a veteran of the Union army during the Civil war. He was a pioneer in Oklahoma at the original opening, and some twenty years ago came into the Creek Nation of Indian Territory, and has been very closely identified with the upbuilding and advancement of the little Town of Bristow, where he resides.

An Indiana man by birth, Mr. Ladd was born at Terre Haute June 29, 1843, a son of William D. and Sarah (Price) Ladd. His father was born near Cin- cinnati, Ohio, and his mother near Vincennes, Indiana. They were married in Vigo County, Indiana, spent many years of their lives there, but after the war moved to Vermilion County. Both parents died there, the mother aged eighty-four and the father at sixty-eight, his death having resulted from an accident. He was a farmer by occupation, and tilled the soil in the fertile valley of the Wabash River. In politics he was a republican and filled several county offices in the early days. He and his wife were active members of the Christian Church. There were four children in the family: Elizabeth, widow of William J. Morgan and living at Luther, Okla- homa; Amanda, who married M. D. Graves, died in Kansas as did also her husband; Leonard, now de- ceased; and William J.

William James Ladd grew up in his native county of Indiana, had the usual influences and circumstances of a rural Indiana boy, acquired a fair education, and was just coming into manhood when the war broke out. In 1862 he volunteered his services and enlisted in Company I of the Eighty-fifth Indiana Volunteer Infantry. From that time forward until the close of hostilities he was with his command in the various engagements and cam- paigns, and held the rank of non-commissioned officer. On July 20, 1864, he was wounded by a shell at Peach Tree Creek, Georgia, the site of that battlefield now being included in the City of Atlanta. After recovering from his wounds in the hospital he rejoined his regiment and continued until the Union arms were triumphant.

Following the war Mr. Ladd engaged in the milling business in Indiana, but in 1878 he transferred his activities to a newer country, locating in Montgomery

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County aloug the southern line of Kansas. There he en- gaged in the shipping and dealing in live stock, and also conducted a ranch.

Mr. Ladd is one of the men who has many keen and interesting recollections of the opening of the original Oklahoma Territory in 1889. He secured a claim west of Edmond, lived upon it and proved it up, and one of the fine farms in that section of the state is the result of his enterprise and industry. In 1896 Mr. Ladd moved to the Creek Nation, locating in what is now Creek County, and was diligently engaged in look- ing after his ranching interests until the Town of Bristow was started. He was one of the men who pro- moted that village, and has had his home there ever since, and whenever possible has done what he could to advance its interests in the way of larger commercial outlook, better schools, churches, aud all things that go to make up a good town. Until the last two years he engaged in buying cotton, but is now retired from active business.

Mr. Ladd is one of the oldest republicans in Okla- homa. He helped to organize the republican party in Indiana, and in the first Lincoln campaign in 1860 he was a member of one of those historic organizations known as "The Lincoln Wide-Awakes." He was also a delegate to the first territorial convention at Guthrie, Oklahoma, July 20, 1889. In the general election of 1914 he was a candidate on the republican ticket for the Lower House of the Oklahoma State Legislature, and was elected by a safe majority. He is now looking after the interests of his constituents and giving a studious attention to general legislation affecting the entire commonwealth. Outside of this position in the Legislature Mr. Ladd has never cared for official honors and never accepted any except some township offices. He is a member of the Christian Church, and is com- mander of Lawton Post No. 31 Grand Army of the Re- public at Bristow.

At Paris, Illinois, September 27, 1866, not long after he had returned from the war Mr. Ladd married Miss Julia A. Cox. She was born in Edgar County, Illinois, September 15, 1845. For nearly half a century they traveled life's highway together, sharing in its joys and burdens. Mrs. Ladd died while on a visit to her old home on May 19, 1915. A large family of children were left to mourn her loss. There were ten born into their household altogether, but three boys died in infancy. A brief record of the remaining seven is as follows: Jane, who married William H. Mitchell and lives in Kansas City, Missouri; Alice, who married Harvey Glea- son, is now living at home with her father; David lives in Creek County, where he is a prominent rancher; Thomas has been for the past thirteen years connected with the postoffice at Muskogee; Edgar lives in Colo- rado; Isaac E. lives in Creek County; Kate is the wife of Ernest Narjot of Los Angeles, California.

DANIEL PIERCE SPARKS. A veteran Confederate soldier, a man whose life has seen many of the vicissitudes and experiences of the past half century, Daniel P. Sparks is one of the old and honored citizens of Shawnee, where for several years he has filled with credit the office of justice of the peace. He came to Oklahoma in the carly days from Texas, and for several years was engaged in business at Shawnee and elsewhere.

His birth occurred in the Parish of St. Mary's, near Franklin, Louisiana, April 3, 1845. The lives of him- self and his father, who also bore the name of Daniel Pierce, cover practically the entire period of American national existence. The elder Sparks was boru in 1787, the year the Federal Constitution was formulated. He was a native of South Carolina, and a son of Daniel

Sparks. There were four brothers who came from Eng- land to Virginia about the outbreak of the American Revolution. Their names were Samuel, Charles, Harry and Daniel, the last being the grandfather of the Shawnee citizen. They were all soldiers in the American Revolution, and Harry, the youngest, was killed in battle. After the war the other brothers removed to South Carolina. Daniel P. Sparks, Sr., was reared in South Carolina, and when a young man went to St. Mary's Parish, Louisiana, where he married and where he became a sugar planter. He also maintained a residence iu Greenville, South Carolina. His death occurred in New Orleans in 1867. Members of the Sparks family have been participants in practically every great war of the nation. While grandfather Daniel was a Revolution- ary soldier, his son Daniel Pierce took part in the War of 1812, and Daniel Pierce, Jr., as already noted, was a Confederate soldier. Daniel Pierce Sparks, Sr., was an active member of the Baptist Church. He married Eliza Vinson, who was born in Tennessee and died at Houston, Texas.

The early education of Daniel Pierce Sparks was acquired chiefly in South Carolina, and he was pursuing his higher education in Furman University at Greenville when the war broke out. He was at that time just sixteen years of age. He left school at once and enlisted in Hampton's Legion of South Carolina Troops. His service covered a period of four years and three months, practically the entire duration of the war. He was promoted to second lieutenant in the cavalry attached to the Twenty-first South Carolina Regiment of Infantry, and when that organization was disbanded he returned to Hampton's Regiment and was one of its scouts. He was taken prisoner near Brentsville, Virginia, and was sent to the old Capital Prison in Washington, D. C., being exchanged after ninety days. While his own record as a soldier was most creditable, his brother, John Calhoun Sparks, came in for unusual distinction in the Con- federate ranks. This brother was born in 1841, entered the army at the same time as Daniel P., and was made commander of Lee's Scouts in Virginia, having thirty picked and trusted men under his command. He was killed in 1863. Nearly fifty years after the war the Baptist Courier of Greenville, South Carolina, wrote of him as a daring soldier and scout, and speaks of him as "the fearless Sparks, who once was personally compli- mented by General Lee for his bravery." This article was ordered to be read in every camp of the United Con- federate Veterans.

After the war Daniel Pierce Sparks returned to New Orleans, and in 1866 went to Houston, Texas. His first employment there was in Baldwin's book store, and for a little more than a year he was a messenger on the road in the employ of the old Texas Express Company. He then went to Hearne, Texas, as bookkeeper for the firm of Ledick & Reeves, and after nearly two years opened a mercantile establishment of his own at Hearne, and contiuned in business there two years.

For a number of years Mr. Sparks' home was at Bellville, in Austin County, Texas. He bought and con- dneted a farm in that locality for three years, and then moved into Bellville, the county seat, and was engaged in the lumber business nutil 1880. While there he was again in the employ of the Texas Express Com- pany as local agent. In 1880 Mr. Sparks moved to Greenville, Texas, where he conducted a restaurant and book store for more than fifteen years. Finally selling ont, he came to Shawnee in 1897, and established a restaurant which had a large patronage and bore a splendid reputation among its customers for a number of years. In 1899 he also opened a similar business at

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Oklahoma City, and conducted both establishments for two years, at the end of which time he sold the busi- ness at Oklahoma City.

As a result of an injury caused by his walking into an open gas ditch, Mr. Sparks was unable to prosecute his business affairs actively for some time, and one year of this he spent in New Mexico. Finally returning to Shawnee he entered politics and made an unsuccessful campaign for the office of register of deeds of Potta- watomie County. In 1912 he was elected justice of the peace, and that is his position of service at the present time.

Mr. Sparks is a democrat, a member of the Episcopal Church, and is affiliated with the Masonic Order, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and the Fraternal Order of Eagles. In the last named fraternity he has served as secretary for the past twenty years. He has been especially active in the United Confederate Veterans, and has served as commander of Camp No. 976, and as commander general of the Second Division.

In 1866, soon after the war, Mr. Sparks married Miss Lizzie Duncan of Greenville, South Carolina. She died in 1867, leaving one daughter, Lizzie Duncan, who is now the wife of W. T. Boyd, an employee of the Santa Fe Railroad Company, located at Albuquerque, New Mexico. In 1872, at Bellville, Texas, Mr. Sparks married Miss Josephine Haggerty. They are the parents of three children: John Calhoun is bookkeeper and head clerk for the firm of Phillips & Norris, cotton oil manufacturers, at Ada, Oklahoma; D. P. Sparks, Jr., is a foreman in the machine shops of the Rock Island Rail- road Company, at Shawnee; Josephine is the wife of P. A. Norris, a cotton oil manufacturer at Ada, Okla- home.

WALTER R. WILSON. The list of the leading citizens of Henryetta includes the name of Walter R. Wilson, cashier and vice president of the First National Bank. While one of the younger representatives of financial interests, it would seem that his youth has been no bar to his progress, for his career has been one of steady advancement to a position which many older men might envy. Since his arrival at Henryetta he has been con- sidered a factor in the development and progress of the city, and in his particular line is a man of recognized ability who carries to a successful completion the under- takings with which he identifies himself.

Mr. Wilson was born at Cissna Park, Iroquois County, Illinois. April 18, 1888, and is a son of Dr. Calvin C. and Anna H. (Brock) Wilson, the former a native of Indiana and the latter of Illinois. Dr. Calvin C. Wilson was a child when taken by his parents from Indiana to Illinois, and in the latter state received good educational advan- tages, for some years following the vocation of educator and being a teacher in high schols. Later he adopted the calling of medicine, and after graduation from the Ohio Medical College practiced for a number of years at various points in Illinois, but trouble with his hearing caused him to abandon his profession and in 1902 he brought his family to Henryetta. Here he became con- nected with the White Mercantile Company, and con- tinued in the employ of this concern until the great fire of 1907, which practically wiped out Henryetta's business district and which destroyed the establishment with which Doctor Wilson was identified. Later he joined the First National Bank's clerical force, and still continues to be associated with this institution. He is one of the well known and highly esteemed citizens of the community, interested actively in its welfare, and for the past seven or eight years has acted in the capacity of city treasurer. He is a republican in politics. Doctor and Mrs. Wilson

have two sons: Walter R .; and Charles L., a mechanical engineer and now professor of mechanical engineering at the Texas Agricultural and Mechanical College, at Bryan, or College Station, Texas.

Walter R. Wilson received a high school education at Chicago, Illinois, and Greencastle, Indiana, and was fourteen years of age when he accompanied his parents to Oklahoma. Here his first employment was as clerk in the postoffice at Henryetta, and later he received his introduction to banking with the Citizens Bank of Henryetta. In 1909 he became cashier of the First National Bank of Henryetta, and since then has also sneceeded to the vice presidency of this institution, of which the other officials are: James M. Wise, president; Joe Hillman, vice president ; and V. V. Kingsbury and O. D. Norred, assistant cashiers. The First National Bank has a capital and surplus of $60,000, and is ac- counted one of the strong and reliable banking houses of Okmulgee County. Mr. Wilson has an established place in the confidence of its patrons and depositors and has done much to make the institution a success. A young man, he possesses good business sagacity, keen discrimina- tion and laudable ambition, and these are elements which have always had great force in the battle of life and the ultimate winning of success. In his political views he is a republican, believing that the principles of that party contain the best elements of good government. Frater- nally he is a Knight Templar and Shriner Mason, and his religious affiliation is with the Presbyterian Church.

Mr. Wilson was married at Henryetta, in 1909, to Miss Mary M. Wise, a native of Missouri, and daughter of James Monroe Wise, president of the First National Bank and one of the pioneer coal operators of Henry- etta. They have two children : Walter R., Jr., and Gene- vieve.

James Monroe Wise was born at Eugene, Vermilion County, Indiana, May 25, 1849, and is a son of Jacob and Mary (Taylor) Wise, the former born in Pennsyl- vania and the latter near Eugene. He came to Indiana at an early date, married near Eugene, and there he and the mother passed the greater part of their lives. After the close of the Civil war they moved to Paola, Kansas, where both passed away, the mother when about sixty years old and the father at the age of sixty-six years. He was a farmer and proprietor of a hotel and a stanch republican in his political views. There were five chil- dren in the family : H. G., of Dallas, Texas; James Mon- roe; Mary Margaret McCarthy, deceased; John F., of Joplin, Missouri; and Mrs. Margaret Johnson, a widow residing at Kirkwood, Missouri.

James M. Wise received his education in the public schools of Indiana, and soon after going to Kansas with his parents embarked upon his independent career. For two or three years he worked in a commission house at Paola, and through his energy, initiative and fidelity won a partnership in the firm of R. C. Crowell & Company, but after several years disposed of his inter- ests . in this concern and went to Colorado. For five or six years he followed the adventurous life of the freighter, and also established a grocery business at Lead- ville, in that state, but finally left Colorado, went to Rich Hill, Missouri, and became interested in coal operations, which have interested his attention to the present time. Mr. Wise came to Henryetta in 1902 and here started the first real coal mine, although there had been a small operator who had preceded him. He became the founder in that year of the Henryetta Coal and Mining Company, of which he has since been president, and which has been developed from a modest undertaking into a 700-ton mine. While the greater part of his attention and abil- ities have been given to the development of this industry,

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he is also largely interested in oil companies, and since its organization has been the directing head of the First National Bank. As a citizen he has been foremost in the promotion of movements for the public welfare, and few men have in greater degree the respect and con- fidence of their fellow-citizens and business associates.

Mr. Wise was married in 1882 to Miss Hattie Scott, a native of Denver, Colorado, and to this union there have been born four daughters: Georgia, who is the wife of Frank Tutt, of St. Louis, Missouri; Mrs. Mildred Bur- ress, who resides with her father; Mary Margaret, who is the wife of Walter R. Wilson, cashier and vice pres- ident of the First National Bank of Henryetta; and Miss Alice, who resides at home.

WILLIAM C. GROVE, who recently began his first term of service as one of the county commissioners of Osage County, is one of the oldest white residents of the Osage country, and as a rancher and cattleman is known among the prominent men of that industry throughout Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas, and it is doubtful if any one individual has handled more live stock in Osage County than Mr. Grove. He has had a varied career, beginning as a cowboy, later developed an independent business, and has come to occupy a place of such influence in his vicinity that it is proper to say that where he leads others follow.

His birth occurred at the little Village of Mirabile in Caldwell County, Missouri, June 8, 1872. His parents were John Harvey and Mary Ann (Frederick) Grove. His father and mother were both born near Canton, Ohio, were taken when children to Missouri, grew up in the same neighborhood, and after their marriage and when William C. Grove was six years of age they moved to Franklin County, Kansas, where the mother died in the following year. John H. Grove died in Kansas March 30, 1912, and would have been seventy- three years of age on the following 19th of June. Most of his active career was spent as a rancher and he was well known among horse men, and made a specialty of handling fast horses, particularly trotting stock. He was well adapted for that business, and made it a life study. At one time he owned one of the noted trotters in the country, "Red Cloud." He owned a number of other fast horses and some fine stallions. Early in his career he served about three years with a Missouri regiment in the Civil war, and in the early days had experience as a freighter from St. Joseph, Missouri, over the old Santa Fe trail to Santa Fe, New Mexico. He made several of these trips, at first with ox teams and later with teams of mules, and through these varied activities gained a large acquaintance among frontiers- men. He was a republican, a Mason, and a member of the Christian Church. William C. Grove has one brother, Harvey Elmer, who is now in the oil busi- ness in Oklahoma.

After the death of his mother William C. Grove was sent back to live in the family of an uncle in Missouri for a year and a half, and then went to Kansas with another uncle, and practically grew up in the midst of the activities of the ranch and range. For five years he was employed on the Diamond X Ranch with his uncle, and his first acquaintance with Oklahoma began in 1886, when he accompanied a cattle outfit into the Cherokee Strip country. Later he was in Texas with the well known Gamble cattle organization, and from there came into the Osage Nation in 1892. With the exception of a season spent in New Mexico, another in Colorado, and one in Dakota, he has been continuously identified with the Osage country ever since. At an earlier time he had taken a large bunch of cattle over Vol. V-12

one of the trails leading out from Texas through the intervening country to the northern pastures in Mon- tana. He was still in the employ of the Gamble organiza- tion when he came to the Osage Nation, and was with that and other ranch outfits for a number of years.

After his marriage Mr. Grove located on a ranch 21% miles west of Hominy. This comprises 1,700 acres under one fence, and is one of the largest and most valuable cattle ranches in Osage County. He combines farming with the live stock industry, and each season runs from 100 to 500 head of cattle. He has handled as high as 2,000 or 3,000 head of cattle in a single year. Mr. Grove is also an extensive hog raiser, of the Hampshire stock, and is a member of the National Hampshire Hog Association.

His success as a business man has naturally brought him into contact with local affairs, where his judgment and action are held in high esteem. In politics he is a lifelong democrat, has filled local offices as school director and road supervisor, as councilman at Hominy, and is now in his first term as county commissioner. Though a white man himself, he has taken a very active interest in the solution of the questions affecting the tribal affairs of the Osage people, and was a strong advocate of the present methods of handling the oil situation.

On October 12, 1900, Mr. Grove married at Inde- pendence, Kansas, Miss Agnes Herridge. She was born in South Dakota, April 27, 1883, and came with her parents to the Indian Territory about 1890. Her parents are Edward and Julia (Lessart) Herridge, her father a native of the State of New York, and now living near Gray Horse in Osage County, while the mother died at Pawhuska in 1906. Mrs. Grove's mother was the inheritor of Sioux blood on her mother's side and Osage blood through her father. Mrs. Grove's grandfather, Benjamin Lessart, who was part French and part Osage, founded a trading post at Denver, Colorado, in the early days, and was also a rancher and cattle man, operating in Dakota and over the Sioux Reservation.

Mr. and Mrs. Grove have four children : Muriel Wyoma, Mary Lutisha, Harry Leslie and Frederick Herridge. Mr. Grove in Masonry has taken thirty-two degrees in the Scottish Rite, is affiliated with the Lodge at Harmony and with the Consistory at Guthrie, and is also a member of the Knights of Pythias and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks at Pawhuska.

JOHN W. RICKETTS. Near the Cimarron River in the southern part of Payne County is situated the vigorous and attractive Village of Perkins, and that Mr. Ricketts is one of its popular and loyal citizens needs no further voucher than the statement that he is here serving in the office of postmaster.

Mr. Ricketts claims the old Blue Grass State as the place of his nativity and is a scion of stanch old Southern stock on the paternal side, his maternal ancestors having been pioneer settlers in the State of Ohio. Mr. Ricketts was born at Catlettsburg, Boyd County, Kentucky, on the 14th of February, 1854, and is a son of John W. and Jane (Johnston) Ricketts, the former of whom was born in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia and the latter of whom was born in Ohio, where their marriage was solemnized. The parents of Mr. Ricketts passed most of their lives near the Ohio River, having resided for a time in Kentucky and having later located on the river in Southern Ohio, where the father died in 1900, when about seventy years of age, he having served as a pilot on the Ohio River in his young manhood and having later become a prosperous farmer. His widow still maintains her home in Ohio and celebrated in 1915 her

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ninety-fourth birthday anniversary, so that she is one of the most venerable women of her native state, even as she is a representative of a sterling pioneer family of the historic old Buckeye commonwealth. Of the children the eldest is Thomas C., who is now a resident of Texas; Mrs. Caroline Shattuck, the uext in order of birth, is deceased; John W., of this review, is the third child; Mary died at the age of four years; Mrs. Nancy Baxter maintains her home in Ohio; and Mrs. Dora Johnston was a resident of Ohio at the time of her death, her husband having represented that state in the United States Congress.

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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