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 87

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 87

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Mr. Kane has attained the thirty-second degree of Scottish Rite Masonry, and also belongs to the Temple of the Mystic Shrine and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He has exercised an influential part in the Oklahoma State Bar Association and is now treasurer of the association. In 1907 he married Miss Louise Miller, who was born at Olathe, Johnson County, Kansas. Their two children are John aud Robert.

BENJAMIN F. BUFFINGTON. A pioneer settler of Gar- field County, one of the thousands who entered the strip on the opening day of September 16, 1893, Benjamin F.

Buffington located upon a quarter section seven miles southwest of Enid. He moved to the City of Enid about twenty years ago, and has since been primarily identified with the abstract and conveyancing business. He is now one of the leading abstractors and conveyancers of Garfield County, has built up a valuable business, and has also connected himself in many ways with the public affairs of his city and county.

Benjamin F. Buffington was born in Clinton County, Ohio, near Martinsville, September 13, 1849. His father was a physician and dentist. The first twenty-five years of his life Mr. Buffington spent in Clintou and Highland counties of Ohio, and in the incautime had attended dis. trict schools and an academy at Salem, but for the greater part educated himself. For several years he taught country schools in Ohio, and in 1876 moved out to Van Meter, Iowa, taught there and at Dallas Center and Gowrie, and in the fall of 1878 moved ou to Nebraska. He was principal of the schools at Schuyler two years, in April, 1880, moved to Osceola in Polk County, and in 1881 was elected superintendent of the county schools. He resigned that position to enter the Osceola Bank with which he was connected for ten years, the last five years as cashier.

In the fall of 1892 Mr. Buffington removed to Okarche in the Cheyenne Indian Country of Oklahoma. At Okarche he organized and conducted a bank in company with Julius Loosen, whose sous are still the chief bankers of Okarche. Ou September 16, 1893, Mr. Buffington made the race from the South into the Cherokee strip, and secured 160 acres six miles southwest of Enid. He lived on this claim until 1895 and then moved into the City of Enid. During the winter of 1895 he began the prepa- ration of a set of abstracts for Garfield County and was the first to compile these records. Having been in the county from the beginning, he has continued in that line of work to this date, and through his office has offered a valuable service to all parties interested in lands of Gar- field County.

In the fall of 1912 Mr. Buffington was elected a mem- ber of the Board of County Commissioners of Garfield County. His associates in that body being L. G. Gossett and H. H. Semke, who at once elected him as chairman of the board. During the past three years he has given much of his time and attention to the management of the county's fiscal and general administrative affairs. Though a republican, Mr. Buffington has been little of a politician, though a valuable man in local affairs and one who is animated by the strongest faith in Oklahoma's future destiny. In early life he was a member of the Congregational Church, but is now a Presbyteriau, and is active in the Sunday school, teaching the young men 's class. For forty years he has been affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, aud has spent twenty years in Enid Lodge.

In Ohio in September, 1874, Mr. Buffington married Isabel Ellis, who also spent several years in work as a. teacher. She is active in church and woman 's club mat- ters at Enid. Their oue daughter, Ethel, is the wife of E. E. Cones, formerly of Enid and now connected with the City National Bank of Lawton, Oklahoma.

OKLAHOMA BAPTIST UNIVERSITY. In Sptember, 1915, came the formal opening of the Oklahoma Baptist Uni- versity at Shawuee. This is an institution of which that city is particularly proud. Though its work has only begun, its plans have been so carefully laid, such high ideals and standards have been raised, and the institution has such magnificent backing not only in the local co-operation of Shawnee citizens but in the church as

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HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

a whole, that its future prestige and nsefulness are practically assured.

The university originated in 1907 during the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma while in annual session at Ardmore. The committee on location was appointed at this session and after three years of work finally lo- cated at Shawnee. The citizens of Shawnee deserve the highest credit for securing this institution and for laying the material foundation so liberally. While a number of men deserve credit, it was, by general consent, George E. McKinnis, who was primarily responsible for securing the location of the institution at Shawnee, and who almost single handed raised the fund for a beautiful administration building, the first of the large group of college structures which will eventually adorn the mag- nificent campus of sixty acres on a high rolling prairie a mile and a half north of the business center. The university is located on the high ground commanding a panoramic view of the Canadian River Valley.

The administration building was started in 1910 and completed in 1913 at a cost of approximately. $100,000, all this money having been raised among the citizens of Shawnee. An attempt was made to start the scholastic work of the intsitution in 1911. Halls in the city were hired, and the work of the school begun under the presidency of J. M. Carroll of Texas with an enrollment of 200 pupils. However, in June, 1911, the school was closed until the administration building should be com- pleted, since the hiring of halls proved to be of too great expense. At the meeting of the Baptist General Con- vention at Shawnee in November, 1914, it was definitely determined that the time had come to open the institn- tion permanently. Rev. Frank M. Masters, then pastor of the Baptist Church at Ardmore was called to the president's chair. He took hold at once and under his vigorons management the administration building was completed and equipped and opened its doors for the first regular school year, which began September 14, 1915. There was an enrollment of 105 pupils at the start, and eight professors in the faculty.

The central building on the campns, known as the Administration Building, is one of the best structures of its kind in the country, considered from the standpoint of college administration and also architecturally. It is a modern adaptation of the classic school of architecture, and contains two stories and basement. The basement has been arranged for the science department of the institution, and also with gymnasinms and one or two class rooms. Besides the administration offices on the first floor there is a large anditorinm with seating capacity for about 750, and six class rooms. The second story provides studios, society rooms and library, and additional class rooms. Additional dormitory buildings are one of the first needs to be provided and at least one will be erected in 1916. On May 2d grond was broken for the foundation of a hall for women, and an effort will be made to have it ready by September, 1916. Other buildings to be provided in the near future are a Science Hall and Library Building. The college already has the nucleus of a good library, and the Carnegie Library of Shawnee, open to the students, is one of the best in the state. In the session just closed 145 students were enrolled, and the session proved a very successful one. The institution is becoming thoroughly established in the hearts of its constituency.

The curriculum of the Baptist University, both in the academic and collegiate departments, has been prepared to meet all the requirements of the state law on ac- credited institutions. The members of the first faculty are men and women of mature scholarship and experi- ence, and come from the leading university and colleges of the country.

The president, Rev. Frank M. Masters, was born in Franklin County, Texas, July 28, 1870, and comes of fine old American stock. His great-grandfather was a soldier in the Revolutionary war. The Masters family came originally from England and settled in Maryland near Washington, District of Columbia, in colonial times. His grandfather, Zachariah Masters, was a farmer and planter, and died in Cartersville, Georgia, at the age of ninety-two. President Masters' father was B. E. Masters, who was born in the Anderson District of South Carolina in 1842, but when quite young his parents removed to Georgia. He enlisted with a Georgia regi- ment in 1861 in the Civil war, and among other engage- ments was at the battle of Chickamanga, and was cap- tured at Missionary Ridge in 1863 and spent the rest of the period of hostilities in the federal prison at Rock Island, Illinois. In 1865 he moved to Texas, became an early prominent stock raiser in that state, and lived for thirty-five years in Hunt County, where he died in March, 1913. He was a democrat and a member of the Baptist faith. B. E. Masters married Mary Ellen Penn, who was born in Alabama, and now lives on the old home- stcad in Celeste, Texas.

When President Masters was eleven years of age his parents moved to Hunt Connty, Texas, and there he continued his education in the common schools and the high school at Celeste. In 1892 he graduated A. B. from Calhoun College at Kingston, Texas, and for a time he was teacher in the preparatory department of that institution. In 1892-94 he was a teacher in Texas public schools, and in June, 1894, he was licensed to preach in the Kingston Baptist Church, and was regu- larly ordained to the ministry the following September. In October, 1894, he entered the Southern Baptist Theo- logical Seminary at Lonisville, Kentucky, where he was gradnated Th. B. in 1896 and Th. M. in 1897. During 1897-98 he was a graduate student at the Southern Theological Seminary, and during 1896-98 was pastor of the Clifton Baptist Church of Louisville. Then followed an active pastoral career until he was called to the presi- dency of the Oklahoma Baptist University in December, 1914. In January, 1899, he became pastor of the First Baptist Church of San Angelo, Texas, and remained there until 1902. He was pastor of the First Baptist Church of Weatherford in 1902-05, of the College Avenue Baptist Church at Fort Worth from 1905 to 1910, and of the First Baptist Church of Ardmore, Oklahoma, from 1910 to 1915. In 1908 he was lecturer in the Mid- Winter Bible School at Howard Payne College in Texas; was lecturer in the Mid-Winter Bible School at Simmons College in 1909; a member of the State Mission Board, Baptist General Convention of Texas, in 1908-10; mem- ber of the State Mission Board, Baptist General Conven- tion, Oklahoma, 1910-15; vice president Foreign Mission Board, Sonthern Baptist Convention of Oklahoma, 1913- 14; president Baptist Pastors' Conference of Oklahoma, 1913-15. In politics Mr. Masters is a democrat.

On June 9, 1898, at Louisville, Kentucky, he married Miss Lillie R. Randolph, daughter of A. W. Randolph, who was a prominent citizen of Louisville, Kentucky, and for nineteen years before his death served as county surveyor of Jefferson County. Mr. and Mrs. Masters are the parents of five children: Catherine Chamberlin, now in the first year of the preparatory department of the Oklahoma Baptist University at Shawnee; E. Ran- dolph, who is also in the preparatory department of the same university; C. Kerfoot, in the sixth grade of the public schools; Frank M. and Julian Penn, twins, who are in the fourth grade of the public schools.

The dean of the Oklahoma Baptist University is F. Erdman Smith, who is a graduate of the University of Toronto, of the Oklahoma Baptist College and the Temple

2056

HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

University. He was vice president during 1907-08 of ing a part of 1908, and again vice president from 1909 to 1911. He was appointed dean of the Oklahoma Bap- the Oklahoma Baptist College, was acting president dur- tist University in 1911, was dean of Burleson College in 1912-13, dean and professor of education at Howard Payne College in Texas from 1913 to 1915, and then returned to the Oklahoma University in 1915, where, in addition to his duties as dean, he is professor of education.

J. W. Jent, the university registrar and professor of philosophy and social science, is a man of uuusual scholastic attainment. He pursued his studies succes- sively in Pierce City Baptist College, in William Jewell College, in Baylor University, and in 1907 graduated Th. B. at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, and in 1908 took his degree Th. M. at Baylor University. Later he entered Yale University, where he graduated A. B. with general honors in 1911; was a graduate student there during 1912-14, securing his A. M. degree in 1914, and in 1912 he graduated Th. D. "Magna Cum Laude" from the Southwestern Baptist Theological Sem- inary. He has been connected as a teacher and in an official capacity with several of the institutions where he was a student, and came to the Oklahoma Baptist University in 1915.

W. D. Moorer holds the chair of Religious Education. He is a graduate A. B. from Furman University in South Carolina in 1892 and was pastor of a number of churches in South Carolina up to 1900, during the fol- lowing five years was pastor of the First Baptist Church at Anadarko, Oklahoma, and from 1905 to 1915 was superintendent of Sunday-school work under the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma. He was president of the board of trustees of Oklahoma Baptist College from 1906 to 1913, and was elected to his present office in June, 1915.

J. Louis Guthrie, who holds the chair of Greek and Latin, graduated A. M. from William Jewell College at Liberty, Missouri, was a professor in the Southwestern University at Jackson, Tennessee, two years, and was president of the Lane View College of Tennessee for about the same period.

W. T. Short, mathematics and science, did his first work as a teacher in the public schools of Oklahoma dur- ing 1902-04, was an instructor in mathematics in Okla- homa Baptist College from 1907 to 1911, graduated A. B. at the Oklahoma Baptist College in 1911, held the chair of mathematics in several collegiate institutions, and came to the Oklahoma Baptist University in June, 1915.

W. P. Powell, who has charge of English and modern languages, graduated A. B. from Richmond College in 1903, was a graduate student in the University of Virginia from 1907 to 1912, and in 1910 received the degree M. A. from that university, and in 1912 completed his residence work for the Th. D. degree. He was an instructor in the Texas A. & M. College and in Baylor University prior to coming to Shawnee.

Prof. E. O. Kaserman was recently elected as the head of the department of science. His early education was received in the public schools of Tennessee. Mr. Kaser- man is an A. B. and A. M. graduate from the Winchester College, Winchester, Tennessee, and took his M. S. degree from Carson-Newman College, Jefferson City, Tennessee. He is also a Th. D. graduate from the Southern Baptist Seminary, though he is not a minister. For ten years Doctor Kaserman has been professor of science in the Carson-Newman College. He is one of the leading science teachers of the country.

Other members of the first faculty of the Oklahoma Baptist University are Joshua B. Lee, who has charge of public speaking, and Ola Gulledge, who is instructor

in piano and voice, aud is a product of the musical school of Baylor University and has also pursued her studies abroad in the Royal Conservatory of Music at Leipsic, Germany. Miss Inez Mazy Harris has recently been elected to the head of the voice department. Miss Harris has been trained under the best American talent, and has assisted in several of the most prominent choruses in the country. During the past two years she has taught voice in Howard Payue College.

GEORGE J. GENSMAN. One of the largest and most important mercantile enterprises in Oklahoma, with sev- eral unique features in the form of its organization and methods of doing business, is the Gensman Brothers & Company, wholesale and retail hardware, the central head- quarters of which are in Enid. George J. Gensman was one of the founders and developers of this splendid business, and is now president and treasurer of the cor- poration, and is also vice president of the Central State Bank of Enid. His business and civic career is one of the most important to be considered in the history of Enid.

George J. Gensman was born in Washington County, Wisconsin, March 1, 1864, a son of Conrad and Mar- garet (Kellerman) Gensman. The former was a native of Prussia and the latter of Bavaria, and they came to Wisconsin with their parents aged respectively seventeen and four years. They were married in Wisconsin, where the father developed a farm from a heavy tract of timber, and lived on that one place for thirty-five years. In the meantime he had acquired extensive land interests in Sedgwick County, Kansas, and removed to the state to take their active management about 1891. There he developed a large farm of 480 acres. His death oc- curred at Enid in 1904 at the age of seventy-one, his wife having preceded him a year and a half before. He was a member of the Evangelical Lutheran while his wife was a strict Lutheran in religious belief. Of their seven children five are living in Oklahoma in or near Enid. George, Fred C. and William R. comprise the personnel of the old firm of Gensman Brothers. The daughter Bertha is the wife of C. W. Hackett, also connected with the Gensman Brothers & Company. Susie is the wife of D. B. Barnes, a farmer in Garfield County. The other two children are: Carrie, wife of Albert Thiel, living near the old Wisconsin home at Schleisengerville, Washington County; and Annie, wife of J. E. Jones, a manufacturer and foundryman at Richmond, Indiana.

George J. Gensman has had an active and progressive career since his boyhood on a Wisconsin farm. He at- tended common schools, and at the age of seventeen qual- ified as a teacher. His first school was near the old home place. He worked on a farm, taught, and for five differ- ent terms attended the Valparaiso Normal School, now the Valparaiso University in Indiana. In 1889, at the age of twenty-five, he removed to Sedgwick County, Kan- sas, where his father had invested in land, and gave some attention to its management for a year or two. At the same time he continued his work as an educator. He was . principal of the Two-department School at Garden Plain, and while there acquired a farm of 160 acres near Wichita. This was unimproved land, and he developed it through renters. His work as principal at Garden Plaiu continued four years, after which he was principal at Andale in the same county two years, and then for three years was principal of the Four-department School at Mount Hope, one of the best towns in Sedgwick County.

In the meantime Mr. Gensman had married and there were children to be provided for. He and his brother Fred had taken counsel together and conceived the idea of opening in business in a new country. Fred had already

pl B $7 ten pra ear esta Ma one reac each man sixt the ila degr alwa ers, ticul to tm sents The are p dealer have Gensm every ing G part o to Eui 5 at the In two in amor homa. The Compa C., see brother death was en the bra mobile

2057

HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

acquired some land near Enid, Oklahoma, and that prob- ably was the chief influence that brought them to the town. In March, 1898, the two brothers bought an in- terest with the H. E. Diehl & Company, a general hard- ware and farm implement house. The business was con- tinued as H. E. Diehl & Company until January 1, 1901. At that date the three brothers, Fred, William and George, bought the Diehl interests, and established the firm of Gensman Brothers. In the meantime, under the impulse of the aggressive enterprise of the Gensmans, the business had grown to an annual volume of sales amounting to $50,000, about 31/2 times what it was in 1898. Then came the chief calamity which this thriving. business has known. In July, 1901, the entire plant was burned, causing a loss of $40,000 above insurance. There was not a moment of doubt or hesitation in the minds of the brothers about re-establishing the business. The plant was re-built, and the firm was accorded almost unlimited credit. They filled up their warehouses and shelves with a complete stock of goods on credit from the manufacturers, and in a short time had paid off every dollar of obligation, were discounting their bills regularly, and that record has since been maintained, only in in- creasing volume.

The greatest development and improvement in the busi- ness came about in 1914. At that time the house was sell- ing goods aggregating a quarter of a million dollars annually. On January 1, 1912, the copartnership was re- placed by an incorporation known as the Gensman Brothers & Company, and the capital was increased to $75,000. The business has since been modified and ex- tended so as to afford the advantages of organization to practically all the trade territory surrounding Enid. In carrying out this plan branch retail stores have been established, two of them at Enid, one at Billings, one at Marshall, one at Salt Fork, one at Hunter, one at Goltry, one at Nash, and one at Jefferson. All these stores have ready access by railroad with Enid, and the manager of each branch store is a stockholder in the firm of Gens- man Brothers & Company. At the present time about sixteen men are working stockholders and participants in the business. This original plan, though somewhat sim- ilar to the "chain of stores" idea, has reached a high degree of perfection in this particular case. A purpose always kept in mind is to give expert service to custom- ers, and that principle has been emphasized in every par- ticular. The two Enid retail stores employ from eighteen to twenty-five persons, and the entire business now repre- sents a large capital, with several hundred people engaged. The results have fully justified all expectations. Goods are purchased in large quantities, and as a result local dealers whether within the chain of branch stores or not, have the advantages of low prices and large stocks. Gensman Brothers & Company have dealings with almost every hardware firm within the large territory compris- ing Garfield, Noble, Logan, Major, Alfalfa, Grant and part of Kay counties, all of which territory is accessible to Enid by the eleven lines of railroads centering there.

On May 1, 1913, Mr. Gensman became vice president at the organization of the Central State Bank of Enid. In two years time this bank has become the second largest in amount of resources and business in the State of Okla- homa.

The executive personnel of the Gensman Brothers & Company comprises George, president and treasurer ; Fred C., secretary; and C. H. Hackett, vice president. The brother William was secretary of the company until his death by accident on January 20, 1913. At the time he was en route to the Santa Fe Station, intending to visit the branch store at Marshall. While driving his auto- mobile he came into collision with the city fire truck, and

after the accident never regained consciousness and died within a few hours.

George Gensman has also been an active factor in civic affairs at Enid. The city is now under an admirable plan of commission government. On April 27, 1902, a committee of twelve persons, two from each ward, was chosen to draw up a new charter. George Gensman was one of those representing the Fourth Ward. This charter was reported after six weeks of strenuous labor, was adopted at a popular election, received the approval of the courts, and is still in operation. Mr. Gensman is a member of the board of directors of the Chamber of Commerce and is usually found working in any move- ment for the general advancement.

On September 4, 1890, at Wichita, Kansas, he married Miss Dora Belle Osborn of Fort Scott, Kansas. They have three daughters. Mabel is the wife of G. P. Legg, who is connected with the Gensman Brothers & Com- pany. The two younger daughters are Fay and Dorothy.

PROF. HARVEY LEMUEL, ALLEN. The distinctions of good faithful work and successful accomplishment have come plentifully to Harvey L. Allen, not only in his regular vocation as a teacher and educator, but also in business and social and civic affairs. Professor Alleu is now superintendent of the entire public school system of Tecumseh. He has been well known in educational circles in different parts of the state for several years.

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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