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 67

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 67

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).

Albert S. Dickson passed the period of his childhood and early youth on the old homestead farm and is indebted to the public schools of Andrew County, Mis- souri, for his preliminary education, which was effectively supplemented by a course of higher study in Avalon College, at Avalon, that state. In the meanwhile he had given much attention to the reading of law, with the intention of eventually entering the legal profession.

In August, 1886, Mr. Dickson came to the Indian Ter- ritory and, as previously stated, established his residence at Neutral City, in "No Man's Land," where he remained until 1890, when he removed to Beaver. In the following year he was admitted to the bar of Oklahoma Territory and since that time he has continued in the practice of his profession at Beaver, as one of the repre- sentative pioneer lawyers and a valued citizen of Beaver County. Though he takes a deep and loyal interest in public affairs and is a staunch advocate of the principles of the republican party, he has never sought or held political office, as he considers his profession worthy of his undivided allegiance. He is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias and both he and his wife hold membership in the Christian Church at Beaver.

At Liberal, Kansas, on the 29th of January, 1910, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Dickson to Miss Edna Humphrey, who was born near Trenton, Missouri, on the 27th of September, 1884, and who is a daughter

ty, the of Clark and Emma Humphrey, likewise natives of Mis- souri. Mr. and Mrs. Dickson have one child, Albert De Witt, born September 24, 1913.

FRANK I. LEASURE. While not one of the largest papers and not published in one of the largest towns in the state, the Roosevelt Record at Roosevelt has a hat virility and vigor all of its own. Its editor and proprie- heir He tor is Frank I. Leasure, well known in Oklahoma press circles, and whose experience as a practical printer and Mis- newspaper man cannot be measured entirely by the s a number of years since he reached his legal majority.

His birth occurred at Mount Auburn, Iowa, September six4, 1882. The Leasures are of French origin, and his He great-grandfather, John Leasure, came to this country

with two of his brothers, all of them settling in Penn- sylvania. Mr. Leasure's father is H. E. Leasure, who was born in Ohio in 1852, and when a small boy was taken out to a farm in Iowa County, Iowa, where he grew up, but substituted railroading for agriculture as his regular career. He was a station agent at different places in Iowa and Kansas, but in 1899 left that business to become a jeweler at La Crosse, Kansas. He was afterwards in the same line at Independence, Kansas, spent several years in Missouri, and in 1904 located in Arkansas City, Kansas, where he is still in business as a jeweler. Politically H. E. Leasure is a socialist in belief, and has affiliations with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias, the Woodmen of the World and the Modern Woodmen of America. He mar- ried Arminta Dormer, who was born in North Missouri, in 1857. Their four children are: Carl C., who is a traveling salesman with home at Arkansas City, Kansas; Frank I .; Maude M., wife of P. T. Boyd, a telegraph operator residing at Texarkana, Texas; and Ernestine L., a teacher living with her parents.

Frank I. Leasure received his early education in the public schools of Iowa and Kansas and also attended a high school at Independence in the latter state, subse- quently taking a business course at Rolla, Missouri. His independent work for himself began at the age of nine- teen at Harrisonville, Missouri, as an apprentice in a drug store. Eighteen months later he left that employ- ment for one which he liked better in a printing office at South Haven, Kansas. He spent two years at South Haven, and after that was employed as a journeyman on various newspapers in Kansas and Colorado until 1903, in which year he located in Kaw City, Kay County, Oklahoma, and spent one year with the Star at that place. After that he took a trip through Old Mexico, and then returned to Arkansas City, Kansas, and settled down to the daily routine of city editor of the daily paper there. He held that position from January, 1905, to January, 1912. In the month mentioned of the latter year he came to Roosevelt, Oklahoma, and bought the Roosevelt Record from E. F. Tennant, and has since been its capable proprietor and editor. The plant and offices are situated on Main Street in the Village of Roosevelt, and he has done much to build up its circulation and influence in Kiowa and surrounding counties since he took charge. It is a democratic paper, and was estab- lished in March, 1902, by G. H. Parker and E. M. Timber. In addition to its local circulation it now has a foreign list of more than a 150.

Mr. Leasure is himself a democrat in politics, and is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias at Hobart. He is well known in the Oklahoma Press Association, of which he is a member. In June, 1910, at Newkirk, Oklahoma, he married Miss Frances Cline, a daughter of Joseph Cline of Arkansas City. They have one son, Harold E., born February 4, 1913.

A. C. SMITH is editor of the Ponca City Democrat, of Ponca City, Oklahoma, a newspaper with an interesting history. The Democrat was born on the prairie in North- ern Oklahoma at the opening of the Cherokee Strip in September, 1893. Mr. Smith is a veteran of the news- paper and printing business, and for a number of years conducted a paper in Southern Kansas, until he suddenly transferred his enterprise to the Cherokee Strip about twenty-three years ago and has guided the destiny of the democrats through all these years. The first issue of the Democrat was on Thursday, September 21, 1893, and with a magnificent development which has occurred in Oklahoma since that date the paper has likewise prospered, and now has a daily issne. Mr. Smith is also at the present time postmaster of Ponca City, having

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been appointed to that office in November, 1913, by President Wilson.

A. C. Smith was born at Bloomfield, Davis County, Iowa, October 25, 1865. His parents were neighbors and friends of Gen. James Weaver, who for many years was one of the notable figures in American politics and a great leader of the greenback party. His father was Berryman Smith, a native of Kentucky. From Kentucky he moved to Davis County, Iowa. Berryman Smith died at Bloomfield, Iowa, at the age of fifty-five, while his wife passed away in 1875. They were both active in the church and in politics he was a democrat. They were the parents of nine children, three sons and six daughters.

A. C. Smith grew up at Bloomfield, Iowa, attended the common and high schools, and when still a boy had his first practical experience and training as a newspaper man in the office of the Legal Tender, a greenback paper, the official organ of the greenback party. It was issued as a general newspaper, but particularly in support of General Weaver's position on money and other economic questions. Its editor was a man of no little ability as a writer and thinker, Crawford Davis, now deceased, who for a number of years was a zealous worker in the green- back cause. Mr. Smith had four years experience with the Legal Tender, and rose from the position of devil to that of city editor. He later moved to Arkansas City, Kansas, during the boom days of that locality, and was engaged in the newspaper business there until he made the run into Cherokee Strip on the opening day in Sep- tember, 1893. His enterprise gave to the Cherokee Strip one of its first newspapers, and he has kept the paper up to a high standard of excellence through all these years.

Mr. Smith has been quite active in democratic politics, has served as delegate to various conventions both in territorial and statehood days, and through his paper and otherwise has effectually advocated good government and the general cause of morality, education and religion. He and his wife are active members of the Pentecostal Church of the Nazarene; he is a trustee and steward of the board and superintendent of the Sunday-school, hav- ing a school of about 200 scholars.

On December 25, 1889, Mr. Smith married Miss Nora Burrell of Arkansas City, Kansas. She was reared and educated there, a daughter of Capt. A. J. Burrell, now deceased, who came out of Indiana to Kansas. Mr. and Mrs. Smith have four children: Nadine, Juliet, Kath- erine and Allen. One daughter, Beatrice, died at the age of seven years. One daughter is now in charge of the Conservatory of Music at Bethany College, Oklahoma.

C. A. CONSTANTINE. In every corner of the wide world is found the Greek, everywhere plodding, patient, de- termined, steadfast, reliable, prosperous. The descend- ants of that sturdy race that once comprised the flower of civilization and culture in the ancient world are still active and indomitable, and though Greece is a small country, a little nation, yet the doings of the Greeks fill a large part in history and one of which they need not be ashamed when placed in comparison with any other people. Considering how widely dispersed are the mem- bers of this race, it is not strange that one of the important citizens of Oklahoma is from that race.

Pawhuska is the home town of Mr. C. A. Constantine, and there he is regarded as a benefactor. He was one of the first citizens to locate after the opening of the sale of the townsite and one of the most conspicuous semi- public buildings and institutions there is a monument to his public spirit and enterprise.

Mr. Constantine is truly a cosmopolitan. He has lived in nearly all quarters of the habitable globe and has had a fund of personal experiences and adventures

such as many pages could hardly adequately describe. He is one of the most interesting as well as one of the most valuable citizens of the state which is notable for the cosmopolitan character of its citizenship.

He was born in the suburbs of Constantinople in March, 1866. His family is of Greek origin and his ancestry can be traced directly back to a Greek family that flourished in the Eastern Empire when Constanti- nople was the capital city for all the eastern half of Christendom prior to its conquest by the invading Turks in the middle of the fifteenth century. Mr. Constantine's father was a man of considerable prominence, serving in an office which would correspond with that of mayor or commissioner in one of the districts around Constantinople.

He was educated in the local schools up to the age of sixteen. His mother had died when lic was twelve years of age. Three of his elder brothers were already employed, one of them taking charge of a city office, one of them in a maritime commercial exchange and the next older being also employed in a city office. After about a year Mr. Constantine became dissatisfied with his position as a subordinate, and at the age of seven- teen ran away from home. He had no money, and after borrowing forty dollars from a friend took a young Greek companion with him and they shipped on a sailing vessel from Constantinople bound for Tripoli. After three months on the North African coast they returned to Constantinople, where the police acting under instruc- tion from his father arrested young Constantine and returned him to the parental care. However, hc soon secured his father's consent to leaving home, and next went to Athens, where he joined a cousin and for three years was employed in a store or in other lines of work. He left Athens suddenly, with only eighteen francs as capital, going to Alexandria, Egypt. At the end of three days he had only three francs left, and being with- out friends had to accept the first employment that offered. After a month he became better acquainted and secured a position as shipping clerk in a wholesale house, and spent one year in Alexandria. Greek was his native language and as a boy he had learned to speak the Turk- ish tongue, and while in Alexandria he also picked up some fluency in the Egyptian and Italian languages. This proficiency made him available for a position at Jedda, the seaport of Makha in Arabia, where he was given charge of a retail grocery concern and was paid wages double what he had received in Alexandria. How- ever, after three months he found the climate did not agree with him, and he returned to Alexandria and was employed for a time in a money exchange. Soon after- wards he took charge of a grocery store at another place in Egypt, but while there contracted the smallpox and was shipped back to Alexandria consigned to the Greek Hospital. There was no room in the hospital, and he accordingly took his blankets and went to the woods resolved to die a quiet death. He was picked up by some Arabs, who reported his case to the Greek com- munity, and he was cared for until he had recovered. While in Alexandria he and another Greek boy wandered out into the desert and were lost, and for fifteen days mingled with the Arabs. They told their captors many strange tales in order to preserve their lives, passing themselves off as dignitaries of the Sultan, and finally had themselves carried back into Alexandria. Three days later the historic massacre of whites in Alexandria, in 1881, began, and it was only after many desperate chances that Mr. Constantine escaped the general ven- geance which fell upon thousands of the aliens living in that city. He left the country with many other refugees three days later, and was given free transportation by the Greek government to Piraeus, the seaport of Athens. His father learned of his condition and secured his return

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to Constantinople. A few months later Mr. Constantine ran away again, taking passage on a sailing ship to the Black Sea and visiting several of the Russian ports. He next went to Marseilles, France, and after traveling in French vessels around the Mediterranean went on a French boat to Martinique in the French West Indies, returning on the same vessel. He again made the same trip, but on arriving at Martinique broke his contract and was put in jail for fifteen days and was released only on promise to leave the island at once. He shipped on an American vessel loaded with a cargo of sugar for New York. He worked his passage to New York, and thence took an English boat to Liverpool, where he was discharged. At Dublin he shipped on an American vessel bound on a cruise around Cape Horn to San Pedro, California, a voyage of six months and eighteen days without touching land. He landed from the boat ill and spent some time in a hospital at Los Angeles, and remained in Southern California altogether for two years. He found employment with the fruit packers and in that time picked up a good knowledge of the English language.

Up to that time most of his experiences had been in tropical or semi-tropical countries, but in 1889 he went north to Juneau, Alaska, but had little success in that quarter and returned as far as Seattle, afterwards through San Francisco, and was in the vicinity of Salt Lake until 1892. During the World's Columbian Exposi- tion he was in the City of Chicago, and there his enter- prises prospered so that he found himself with abundance of money and with this good fortune returned to Athens, Greece, where he was married in 1893 to a Greek girl named Alexandra Pakiadi, who was also born in Con- stantinople, the only child of her parents. After visiting his father Mr. Constantine sailed for the United States with his bride, landed in New York City, and for a time lived at Scranton, Pennsylvania. At Scranton was born his first child, a daughter, to whom was given the name Sappho. From there he removed to Atlanta, Georgia, and engaged in business as a grocer and proprietor of a refreshment parlor. In that city the second daughter was born into the household, and upon her was bestowed the name Antigone.

Mr. Constantine's experience in the northern latitude was renewed following the Klondike excitement. In August, 1896, he left his wife in charge of his busi- ness in Georgia and set out for Dawson City in North- west Alaska, it requiring from August to the 3rd of November to make the trip. At San Francisco in obe- dience to the regulations it was necessary to lay in sup- plies of all kinds sufficient to last an entire year. On reaching the Yukon region it was necessary to make the trip down the river to Dawson City before the waters froze over, and he had to go into the woods and cut the timber to make a boat. Mr. Constantine was the first white man to shoot the White Horse Rapids with a loaded boat, and about four hundred people lined the banks to see him accomplish that notable feat. Never in all his life of varied experience had he received such a demonstration of popular applause as was given him by his fellow men as they stood on the banks and shores of the canyon and yelled their acclaim and fired off their pistols as he successfully navigated the rapids. It was not altogether a feat of reckless daring, since Mr. Con- stantine had been a teacher of swimming in California and had gained an expert skill in the handling of boats propelled by oars and paddles. Before reaching Dawson City on the 3rd of November the waters were frozen over and he had to chop through the ice for a con- siderable distance in order to land his boat. On the previous trip to Alaska in 1889 his partner had acci- dently struck Mr. Constantine with an axe, causing a

severe injury to his leg. Again in 1896 he was injured and out of active employment for about three months. Starting another prospecting tour, at eleven o'clock at night when the thermometer was forty degrees below zero and he was twelve miles from Dawson City, he acci- dentally shot himself through the leg, and only after a struggle of two hours was finally rescued by a man with a sled. He spent two years in Klondike, with experiences of which those mentioned are only a sample, and made one trip back to San Francisco during the time. After that two years he returned to Atlanta, Georgia. Owing to the poor health of his wife he sent her back to Athens with their two children, and she died in Greece in 1903.

During 1904, at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis, Mr. Constantine again operated with consider- able success, but after the close of the fair returned to Atlanta, and then started into the Southwest to look for a location, in 1906 establishing himself in Tulsa, Okla- homa. The Pawhuska townsite was opened in 1906, and he was present during the auction sale of lots, and has been identified with that thriving community of North- eastern Oklahoma ever since. He bought a few cheap lots during the sale and rented a bake shop, to which he added a confectionery. After one year in that location the business outgrew its quarters, and he then rented the store where his present conspicuous center of activities is located, and subsequently bought the ground and building. His location is now in the heart of the city, and he operates a confectionery and bakery, a candy and ice cream manufacturing establishment, and also con- ducts a hotel in connection.

In December, 1914, Mr. Constantine completed the theater that bears his name in Pawhuska. The Con- stantine Theater is regarded as the finest building of its kind in Oklahoma, and has the second largest stage of any theatrical house in the state. It represents the last word in every facility and equipment for comfort and enjoyment. It has a perfect system of heating, the fan system of ventilation, and the lighting and fire pro- tection are of the latest design. No expense has been spared in making this theater the equal of any play- house in the Southwest, and it stands as a splendid monument to the enterprise and public spirit of its builder. It also represents his own ideas, which were only expressed in solid material through his architect. One of the notable features of the playhouse is the con- venience of its seating arrangement, the chairs being six inches wider than in all ordinary theaters. Mr. Con- stantine is the manager of the theater and has devoted the house to high class motion picture plays and the best obtainable legitimate drama. Adjoining the theater is his cafe, and both establishments are on the main street of the city.

It was not with an idea solely to profit that Mr. Con- stantine invested so heavily in this enterprise, but rather from the impulse of civic pride. It is the expression of his desire to give an entire community the benefit of his prosperity, and he has frequently turned over the theater free for school commencement exercises and religious assemblages.

Mr. Constantine stands high in Masonry having taken thirty-two degrees in the Scottish Rite, and having also completed the York Rite degrees. He is also affiliated with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Knights of Pythias, and is a member of various insur- ance orders. His two daughters attended school in the Loretto Academy in one of the suburbs of Denver, Colorado and graduated from Pawhuska High School. The daughter Sappho is eighteen and Antigone is seven- teen. Two more cultured and brilliant young womeu it would be difficult to find. Only recently Sappho was

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awarded a prize for work in domestic science, while Antigone received a state award as au appreciation of her musical talent, being an accomplished contralto singer. Both of these medals were awarded by the Oklahoma University at the interscholastic meet.

In connection with his theater and cafe and other business at Pawhuska, Mr. Constautine employs eighteen persons or more, some of whom are Greeks and some Americans, and he is everywhere known as a liberal en .- ployer, paying the highest standard of wages. His eutive career in Pawhuska has been in consonance with the finest letter and spirit of American citizenship and he is one of the men of foreign birth who do "credit to their adopted country.

PINKNEY R. AMOS. One of the real pioneers of the original Oklahoma now resides at Frederick, where he is engaged extensively in the real estate business, not only as a broker but also handling large quantities of land and other property of his own.Mr. Amos was one of the first men to sell goods at the present Oklahoma City in 1889, was likewise identified with the Cherokee Strip, and moved to Frederick about the time Tillman County was opened for settlement. 1

The Amos family has been identified with West Vir- ginia for nearly a century, and both Mr. Amos and his father were born there when the country was only West- ern Virginia prior to the formation of a separate state. Pinkney R. Amos was born in Marion County at Fairview in what is now West Virginia March 12, 1852, a son of Peter Amos, who was born in the same state in 1813, and died at Fairview in 1892. Peter Amos was a man of prominence in his section, owned a number of farms, did business as a stock man, and was also a merchant. During the war between the states he sold supplies to the Confederate government and for that offence was arrested and was kept a prisoner in the Federal prison at Wheeling, West Virginia, for a number of months. His church was the Methodist Episcopal and in politics he was a democrat. Peter Amos married Mary Basnett, who was born in West Virginia in 1812, and died at Lampasas, Texas, in 1891. Their children, eight in num- ber, were as follows; Elizabeth, who now resides at Clarksburg, West Virginia, is the widow of Dr. J. B. Conaway, who for a number of years was a practicing physician near Clarksburg; Catherine, who lives at Fair- view, West Virginia, is the widow of George Brown, a farmer and trader; Philip B. lives at Fairview, where he has been a merchant for forty years and is now pres- ident of the First National Bank; Nannie C. lives at Fairview, the widow of Dave Ammons, who was a trader and cattle dealer; Charilla, who died in 1914, was the wife of. A. E. Morgan, a farmer at Fairview; Luther J. is a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church South in California; Pinkney R. is the seventh in age, and the youngest, Willie died at the age of five years.

Pinkney R. Amos received his education in the com- mou schools of Marion County, West Virginia, up to the age of twenty, having in the meantime assisted his father and gained a practical acquaintance with business affairs. For a number of years he was associated with the elder Amos in the store, and also was an extensive stock shipper to Philadelphia, and owned a mill. He confined his atten- tion to stock business from 1881 to 1889, and owned a large sheep and cattle ranch at Lampasas, Texas.

On April 22, 1889, Mr. Amos arrived at Oklahoma City, then only a tank station on the Santa Fe Railroad. In the city which sprang up there within a few days' time he established the first exclusive shoe store, which was the first establishment of its kind, not only in that city but in the entire territory. The store was located ou Main Street. In 1893 Mr. Amos left Oklahoma City

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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