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 90

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 90

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In 1887 Mr. Swartout was married to Miss Edna M. Purdy, who was born in 1867, March 6, in Shiawassee County, Michigan, daughter of Nelson F. and Harriet N. (Smith) Purdy, the former of whom died in Michigan, while the latter still survives and resides at Kansas City, Missouri. Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Swartout: Bessie, who is the wife of Henry Onrsler, who is an attorney in Cushing, and has two children- Henry Charles and Dorothy Edna; and Annie, who is the wife of Earl K. Odom, of Cushing.

JAMES W. TYLER. The position of the educator was never so valnable nor so full of intimate significance in the life of the country as today. One of the men whose qualifications for the heavy responsibilities of directing the public system of education are unquestioned and who has to a large degree realized some of the best ideals for which the public school stands is the present county superintendent of schools in Garfield County, James W. Tyler. In noting the work which Mr. Tyler has accom- plished it is clear that he is impressed with the value of the principle that to educate the plain people for life is more important than to educate a cnltnred class, and some of the best results of his work in Garfield Connty have been in the better and greater diffusion of the advan- tages of the public schools among all the people.

This Oklahoma educator was born at Cairo in Ran- dolph Connty, Missouri, July 21, 1874, and spent his life on a farm np to the age of thirty. He attended the country schools and also a village high school, had two years of teaching experience when a young man, and fin- ished his education in the Northeastern Missouri Normal at Kirksville. Since coming to Enid he has received the degrees A. B. and A. M. at Phillips University of that city.

For two years following his attendance at Kirksville Normal he was principal of the public schools at Atlanta, Missouri. In 1901 Mr. Tyler came to Enid, and has since been identified with the schools in that section of the state. For two years he was in the village schools of

Fairmont, and for five years was superintendent of Waukomis, with seven teachers under his direction, and his work in that position was so satisfactory as to be com- mended with an appreciable increase of salary. For the following five years Mr. Tyler was principal of the Gar- field Ward School at Enid, and in the fall of 1912 was elected superintendent of the county school system, tak- ing up the duties of his office on July 1, 1913.

Outside of Euid there are in Garfield County 124 schools with 175 teachers, and the total scholastic eu- rolment is 9,326. In 1915 there are fourteen high schools in the county, four having been added since Mr. Tyler began his administration. In 1913 less than 48 per ceut of the county's teachers had high school or better training, and this percentage has now been increased to 63. Mr. Tyler has the rare gift of imparting his en- thusiasm to his subordinates and associates, and the large body of Garfield County teachers have enthusiastically endorsed and adopted his educational ideas and ideals.

He has been particularly interested in securing a larger school attendance. In 1914 900 pupils in the county re- ceived certificates of perfect attendance, while 1,500 had a perfect score from three to five months. He has also introduced a valuable feature in securing records for home work, and this has brought about a notable increase in the efficiency, attendance aud interest on the part of both pupils and pareuts. The home work which is made a matter of record is not merely study of books, but any task which is essentially useful and best adapted to the needs and ability of the individual pupil. Thus the records include such duties as housework, sewing, per- formance of chores, etc. One backward girl pupil, men- tioned iu particular by Mr. Tyler, had on her report card the record of milking eight cows twice daily. Mr. Tyler has organized the county schools for athletic and literary work, securing a beneficent rivalry by contests. The county has been divided into eight districts containing fifteen schools each, and there are at different times con- tests held between the various schools in' each district, and the winners of the district contests meet for an annual general exhibition, which attracts large crowds and great interest, and appropriate awards are given to the winners in athletics, debating and other features. At the begin- ning some of the teachers held aloof, saying that such contests were mere nonsense, but in time nearly all have become convinced of the value of such features of school work. Every possible effort has been made to induce the conntry pupils to advance to the high schools, with a natural increase iu high school attendance.

During 1913 124 teachers iu Garfield County attended the Normal Institute and eight took summer school in- struction. In 1914 the number who took the work of the Normal Institute rose to 148 while forty-one teachers took summer school instruction. It costs about $75 to attend the summer schools, and in order that those availing themselves of such instruction, probably at the cost of much self sacrifice, might be properly rewarded, Mr. Tyler has induced the school board to pay $5 a month above the averages wages to teachers who have secured this superior training. As a result, many of the boards now show a decided preference for the better trained and experienced teachers. On the whole, during the past two or three years, the general average of wages paid to the school teachers in Garfield County has increased between 20 and 50 per cent, and some schools are paying $25 a month more to their teachers than in 1913. Mr. Tyler is also directing his efforts toward raising the standard of school instruction by the process of consolidating small individual schools into one central district, and by estab- lishing central schools that can offer a thoroughly graded

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and organized course, including also the first year of the regular high school work.

Mr. Tyler since beginning his work as a teacher has been a student of educational methods and keeps himself thoroughly abreast of educational ideas. At the present time he is president of the State Association of County Superintendents. In 1907 Mr. Tyler married Beulah Ben- ton Goodding of Atlanta, Missouri. Mrs. Tyler was also educated in the Kirksville Normal and was a teacher before her marriage. Their two sons are Donald Jett and Gerald Goodding. Mr. Tyler is a member of the Christian Church, has been president of the church board twelve years, while Mrs. Tyler is a Presbyterian.

S. R. STATON. Among the men who came to Okla- homa at the time the Cheyenne and Arapaho lands, consisting of 3,000,000 acres, were thrown open to white settlement in April, 1892, is S. R. Staton, the present postmaster of Cushing. Like many others, he was at that time possessed of little save ambition aud determina- tion, qualities which he combined with youthful enthu- siasm and energy to such good effect that he was able to establish himself firmly and to lay the foundation for what has since become a satisfying success. His activi- ties in Oklahoma have invaded the fields of agriculture, business and public service, and in each he has acquitted himself commendably, so that he may lay claim to being one of the builders of the commonwealth.

Mr. Staton was born in Dade County, Illinois, Novem- ber 18, 1869, and is a son of John W. and Eliza (Eaton) Staton, natives of Illinois. In the Prairie State the parents were farming people, and on moving to Missouri followed the pursuits of the soil, first in Dade County and later in Worth County, in the northwestern part of the state, where the father died in 1879, at the age of forty-four years, the mother surviving until 1885 and passing away in Gentry County, Missouri, when aged sixty-three years. There were five children in the family : William, now a resident of Albany, Missouri; Lucy, who is the wife of Ed Hymer, of Belle Plaine, Kansas; Pierce, of Darlington, Missouri; Charles, ,of DeKalb, Missouri; and S. R.

S. R. Staton was five years of age when his father died and only sixteen when he was left au orphan by the death of his mother. He had received a public school education, and worked with his brother at Darlington, Missouri, in a lumber yard and as an employe of the postoffice during President Cleveland's first administra- tion. He continued to make his home with his brother, Charles, until his marriage, in 1889, to Miss Eva M. Garman, a native of Missouri and a daughter of Epaphras Garman, shortly after which he came with his bride to Oklahoma and secured a claim in Custer County. His land at that time was sixty-five miles from the nearest town, but the country soon began to build up, and, with the organization of the Town of Thomas, near his prop- erty, Mr. Staton was appointed assessor, serving in that capacity during the first two terms of the existence of that office. He continued to reside on his Custer County farm until 1907, in which year he moved to Cushing, Payne County, and here established himself in business at the postoffice as the proprietor of a news stand and soda water fountain, an enterprise which he continued with some success for two years. His next venture was in buying cream for the Continental people, and he was so engaged at the time of his appointment to the post- mastership, May 20, 1913. He entered upon his duties July 1st of that year and has since devoted his entire time and attention thereto. During his administration the office has advanced from a third to a second class office and through his intelligent and energetic manage- ment the service has been greatly improved. His un-

failing courtesy and expeditious handling of the mail has gained him both the friendship and the confidence of the people who have business at the postoffice, and his conscientious labors have been generally appreciated by business houses and individuals. Mr. Staton has been a lifelong democrat. During a quarter of a century he has been a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and his fraternal connections are with the local lodges of the Woodmen of the World and the Knights of Pythias. Mr. and Mrs. Staton are the parents of three daughters : Carrie, Epaphra and Levana.

PRESTON A. SHINN. For the past ten years Mr. Shinn has been one of the leading members of the bar at Pawhuska. After locating there his ability was soon recognized in his appointment as tribal attorney for the Osages, one of the best paid positions in the Indian service, and his handling of the many intricate ques- tions submitted to him in his official capacity won. many favorable comments from the Interior Department and from the leading members of the tribe, and this expe- rience served to advance him to his present high stand- ing in the Oklahoma bar. Mr. Shinn has worked to a place of high esteem in his profession, and at the same time has proved his usefulness and influence as a mem- ber of the community.

It is not without due pride that Mr. Shinn refers to that period of his early life which was marked by a combination of hard circumstances and manual toil. For a number of years he was a coal miner back in Illinois, and gained his education largely through the fruits of his labors underground. He was born at Mattoon, Illi- nois, September 13, 1875. His parents were William and Sarah (Cole) Shinn. His father, who died when Preston was nine years of age, was born in North Carolina, while the mother, who is now living at Odin, Illinois, was born near the famous battlefield of Lookout Mountain April 10, 1843. The parents moved to Illinois, where the father followed farming most of his career. There were three sons and one daughter: Frank, who is a miner at Odin, Illinois; William, who died at the age of sixteen; Ina, wife of J. J. Murphy of Odin, Illinois.

The second in age among these children, Preston A. Shinn grew up at Odin, Illinois, and not long after the death of his father realized that his future depended upon his own exertions. At the age of twelve he started working in the coal mines, and for several years spent most of the summer season in this vocation, while he attended school in the winter. His record as a miner really extends from the time he was twelve years of age until he was twenty-five. During 1899, in the last year of his mining work, he was recording secretary of the local union of the United Mine Workers of America at Odin. During the many months spent by Mr. Shinn in the hard toil of the coal mines, he was constantly in- spired by an ambition for higher and better things, and was utilizing all his savings to advance his education. From his wages as a miner he paid his way through the higher schools and law school. For one year he was a student in law offices, and spent two years in the Northern Illinois College of Law at Dixon. On examina- tion before the State Bar Association of Illinois he stood second in a class of 242 applicants, and was admitted to practice in that state in 1901. Besides his work as a miner Mr. Shinn .was for several years a practical rail- roader. For four months he was conductor on a street car in St. Louis. For two years he was train auditor on the Wabash, with a run between Detroit and Buffalo, and also worked for one year with the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad.

After being admitted to the bar Mr. Shinn was in

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practice at Centralia, Illinois, one year, and iu 1905 moved to Pawhuska. Here he at once identified himself with everything that would benefit the condition of the people and it was not long before his ability as a lawyer brought him favorable distinction and prefer- ment. For four years he served as assistant tribal attorney for the Osages and for three years was tribal attorney. He held this office under a contract with the tribe subject to approval from the Department of the Interior. His term expired iu April, 1914, and he has since devoted himself without interruption to his large general practice.

In 1907 Mr. Shinn was republican candidate for the office of connty attorney. Politically he is to be classified as an independent republican. He is also affiliated with the Masonic Lodge and with the Modern Woodmen of America, and is a member of the Episcopal Church.

In April, 1905, he married Miss Nellie Taplin of Oswego, New York. Mrs. Shinn was formerly a trained nurse and was engaged in that profession at Detroit when she met Mr. Shinn. Without children of their own, they are rearing in their home in Pawhuska two of Mrs. Shinn's brother's children.

M. M. CALLAWAY. As a business center Enid has many distinctions. The fact that it has become a great market for horses and mules is largely due to the vigorous enterprise of the firm of Callaway & Son, whose operations have not only directed to that point the attention of hundreds of stock raisers in Western Okla- homa, but have also noticeably improved the quality and general standard of horses and mules raised in that district.

M. M. Callaway, the head of the firm, is one of the original citizens of Enid, having come iu at the opening on September 16, 1893. He secured a homestead three miles west of Enid, but proved up on it as soon as pos. sible in order to concentrate his attention to the handling of stock, a line of industry which he has followed for forty years. For many years Mr. Callaway was a general stock buyer and shipper in Missouri, but transferred the headquarters of his business from there to Wichita, Kansas, and was active at that point for several years before the opening of the Cherokee Strip. For the past eighteen years Mr. Callaway has concen- trated on horses and mules. Few if any men in Okla- homa are better known as au expert judge of horses and a liberal dealer who recognizes that trade mnst have inntnal advantages to both parties concerned. In company with his son, Ben, he has done an extensive business, and not infrequently handled 1,500 animals each year, with aggregate valne of sales reaching more than $400,000. Since the outbreak of the European war all records have been broken in the horse and mule market, and this firm has been busily engaged in gathering, selecting and shipping hundreds of horses and mules to be used abroad.

The operations of the firm of Callaway & Son cover a wide area, though the bulk of the stock is purchased within a radius of fifty miles about Enid. As already mentioned, probably no other man has done so much to encourage the breeding aud growing of improved classes of stock in this district. It is now acknowledged that a superior class of both horses and mnles is produced in this section of Oklahoma. Several years ago Mr. Calla- way erected a large and specially equipped horse barn at an expense of $14,000. The barn at present is occupied by the Aaron Produce Company. In addition to his stock business Mr. Callaway has been a farmer to such an extent as to justify his prominence in that industry were it the only occupation which he followed.

He owns several hundred acres of land, and has made wheat growing his specialty. In 1914 he had 350 acres in the crop, with a yield of about thirty bushels per acre. Thus he had about 10,000 bushels ready for mar- ket at a time when wheat was soaring above $1 a bushel.

M. M. Callaway was born near Springfield, Missouri, in 1847. His parents had located in that section about 1840, his father coming from North Carolina and his mother from Tennessee. Mr. Callaway has been a democratic voter since early manhood, but has never sought public distinction. His ability as a business man and integrity as a citizen caused the people of Garfield County to choose him as one of the county commission- ers, in which office he served from 1904 to 1910. It was during that period that the courthouse was erected at a cost of $100,000. So skilfully were the county finances managed that within four years the entire obligation caused by this improvement was liquidated. At the same time the tax rate, instead of being increased, was actually lessened. While his associates on the board, H. C. Davis and C. P. Epley, were both republicans, in most matters the board worked in absolute harmony and efficiency. The only important exception was Mr. Callaway's decided preference for locating the court- house on the site of the old building at the north end of the public square.

Mr. Callaway was married at Marshfield, Missouri, where he lived during the severe cyclone which demol- ished that town, to Elizabeth Buford. To their union have been born a family of five children. Two daughters live at Springfield, Missouri. The son, Charles, is operat- ing one of the farms owned by his father, while Ben is associated in the horse and mnle business. The daughter, Lillie, is still at home.

ASA DONALDSON. It is with a comfortable sense of duty well performed and many responsibilities capably fulfilled that Asa Donaldson now enjoys the privileges of a retired life in Cnshing. When a very young man Mr. Donaldson served in one of the concluding campaigns of the Union armies during the Civil war. Preliminary to his introduction to Oklahoma he lived in Kansas and had his share of the early struggles that were the lot of the early farmers in that state. He became a pioneer of the Sac and Fox country at its opening, and has been identified with this section ever since.

In the early days of Cushing before railroads had |He is been constructed, Mr. Donaldson did a great deal of the Ma business as a freighter. For eight years he hanled goods

The back and forth across the country between Cushing and carried Sapulpa and Cushing aud Guthrie. Those larger cities the fat were the nearest railroad points, and it was forty-five at the miles to either place. The roads were little better than of third prairie trails, there were no bridges across the streams,

High, a and Mr. Donaldson usually spent from four to six days

Isons, W in making a round trip. He was paid 40 cents a hundred with the for hanling goods, but the limit of capacity for his own fat wagon was one ton.

Asa Donaldsou was born at Lexington, LaGrange fourteen. County, Indiana, April 21, 1846, a son of George and marriage Nancy (Norton) Donaldson. His father was born in Irwin; Scotland, while the mother was a native of Connecticut and one When a child George Donaldsou came to America with Donaldso his parents, who settled in West Virginia, but as a young County; man he went out to Northern Indiana and secured :are Bess homestead of eighty acres one mile east of the Town o Froldie. Lexington, where he lived as a farmer and blacksmith unti JOHN about 1859. He then removed to Crawford County, Illi nois, where he was engaged in the same occupation unti or more about 1862. Returning theu to Lexington, Indiana, h"Jack"

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HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

remained there until his death, when about seventy years of age. The mother died in Crawford County, Illinois, when ninety-two years of age.

There were ninc children altogether in the family and only three are now living. Asa's older brother, Charles, two years his senior, enlisted in the Ninth Michigan Cavalry early in the Civil war and was accidentally killed while returning home in June, 1865, after having passed safely through the various campaigns under General Sherman. Asa Donaldson was about fourteen years of age when the war broke out, and his early life was spent on a farm in Northern Indiana, with such advantages as the common schools of that district afforded. On August 9, 1864, he likewise enlisted for service in the Union army, and at Sturgis, Michigan, went out with the Ninth Michigan Infantry. He served until the close of the war, and was in the army commanded by General Thomas. On returning home to LaGrange County, Indi- ana, he was married a little later, on July 1, 1866, to Miss Lavina Culler. She was born near Canton in Stark County, Ohio, in April, 1847, lost her father when she was one year of age, and at the age of eleven came to Kosciusko County, Indiana, with her widowed mother.

After his marriage Mr. Donaldson lived on a farm in Ir. rt- of ari, 101- LaGrange County, Indiana, for a number of years, but finally moved west and identified himself with the pioneer district of Harvey County, Kansas. He was a farmer there for six years, and then at the opening of the Sac and Fox Reservation made his entry into Oklahoma. Up to that time he had not greatly prospered, and it adds ters rat to the interest of his present standing as a business man to note that he came into Oklahoma driving two teams and two cows, and without a pair of shoes to cover his own feet. He secured a claim three miles north of Cushing, ter, and that was the scene of his industrious endeavors for a number of years. He cleared up the land, developed a good homestead, and lived there until 1909, at which e of time he moved into the Town of Cushing and sold his ably farm. He then spent six months in touring the Pacific eges Coast, and returning to Oklahoma bought a tract of forty man acres half a mile south of Cushing, and has since intro- igns luced many improvements in that little farm. For six mary years he has been a resident of Cushing, and for two ; and rears was in the furniture business, but now has no inter- e lotests outside of his private affairs and the management of oneer is city property.

been Mr. Donaldson is a republican in politics, and for right years held the position of justice of the peace. s had He is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, he Masonic Order, and belongs to the Christian Church.

The active responsibilities and burdens of life are now gan married forward by his children. Mr. Donaldson became eitie ty-five reams undre he father of six. The oldest, Charles, died in Kansas at the age of twenty-one. Orsena, who died at the age r thamof thirty, married Frank Faulls. Maude married Leon High, and she died at the age of twenty-nine, leaving two x dayakons, William Ray and Lawrence, who are now living with their grandfather, Mr. Donaldson, and with their for his own father, who is proprietor of a grocery store at Cushing. George, the fourth child, died at the age of Grang ge au born in ourteen. Arbie is a farmer near Cushing, and by his marriage to Etta Cotterman has the following children: rwin; Floyd, deceased; Edna; Lloyd; Fern; Truman; ecticut Ind one that died in infancy. The youngest of Mr. ca wit Donaldson's children is William, a farmer in Payne a your County; he married Hattie Brooks, and their children eured re Bessie, Leland, Lavina, Henry (deceased), Ora and Town ofoldie.

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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