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 93

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 93

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).

After returuing from the war he continued teaching and reading law in Indiana, and in the law department of the University of Michigan gained his degree LL. B. with the class of 1865. He remained in Indiana uutil 1868 and then identified himself with the trade of news- paper mau, which practically ever since has been his real career.

Going to New York City in 1872, he did reportorial work with practically all the great papers of the metropo- lis. He was under Horace Greeley on the Tribune, was also for a time in Orange County, New York, and re- ported for the New York Herald, the Times and the Sun, and was at one time a member of the staff working under the direction of the firm of Raymond & Bennett. After about eight years of metropolitan experience, he removed to Iowa in 1880, and in that state combined newspaper work and school teaching until 1890. From there he went to Nebraska, later to Kansas, and in Logan County of the latter state served as probate judge for four years, three months.

Mr. Chapman's identification with Oklahoma began in April, 1894, and in September of the same year he located at Okeene, where he was oue of the pioneers. He started the Okeene Eagle, the first issue of which was on September 26, 1894. He remained in active charge of this newspaper until 1902, when he removed to Muskogee County, and was connected with the Council Hill Times and also edited the Boynton Eagle. Return- ing to Okeene in 1910, he bought back the Okeene Eagle, and has since been its proprietor and editor. The Eagle reflects the essential principles of the republican party for which Mr. Chapman has always stood, and it has a large circulatiou over Blaine and surrounding counties.

Mr. Chapman is a member of the Oklahoma State Press Association, and is affiliated with Excelsior Lodge No. 191, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, back in his native district of Laporte, Indiana. On August 23, 1865, at West Brookville, New York, Mr. Chapman married Miss Augusta Collard. Her father, Henry Col- lard, was a farmer in Sullivan and Orange couuties, New York. Mr. Chapman's son, Lorau H., is a jeweler at Okeene. His daughter, Hattie J., is the wife of Dr. J. A. Norris, who established himself in 1896 as a pioneer physician at Okeene, but is now retired from active practice and assists Mr. Chapman in publishing the Okeene Eagle.

JAMES B. MURPHY, M. D. Stillwater, the judicial center of Payne County, is the place of residence of Doctor Murphy, who is consistently to be designated as one of the leading representatives of his profession in this part of the state, his high attainments, insistent loyalty and devotion to his exacting vocation, and his sterling attributes of character having not only proved potent in the furtherance of his professional success but having also given him inviolable place in popular confidence and esteem. He maintains his well appointed

offices in the First National Bank Building, and his definite prestige is indicated by his incumbency of the positions here noted: Local surgeon for the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad; county superintendent ot public health; city health officer; county physician; the vice president of the Atchisou, Topeka & Santa Fe Hos- pital Association; and secretary and treasurer of the Payne County Medical Society.

At New Albany, the judicial center of Floyd County, Indiana, a place situated on the Ohio River a few miles below the City of Louisville, Kentucky, Dr. James B. . Murphy was born on the 30th of November, 1856, and he is a sciou of one of the honored pioneer families of that section of the fine old Hoosier commouwealth. The doctor is a son of Johu aud Serrilda (Clipp) Murphy, and his father was born at Harper's Ferry, Virginia, in 1815; the mother of the doctor was born in Indiana in 1833.

John Murphy was reared and educated in his native place, which eventually became a town in the segregated State of West Virginia, and as a young man he came to Indiana, where he continued his residence in Floyd County until his death, at the age of sixty-nine years. For many years he followed the trade of carpeuter, but the closing period of his active life was passed on his farm, he having been one of the prosperous agriculturists of Floyd County at the time of his death. Six sons were born of his first marriage-Hiranı, who still resides in Indiana, and all the others died in that state. Hiram was a distinguished soldier of the Union during the entire period of the Civil war, in which he rose to the office of adjutant general of an Indiana regiment, his enlistment having occurred at the time of President Lincoln's first call for volunteers. Of the children of the second marriage-four sons and six daughters- Doctor Murphy is the only surviving son, and four of his sisters are living, one being a resident of Texas aud the other three still maintaining their residence in Indiana.

Doctor Murphy left the parental home when he was a lad of fourteen years and through his own exertions he provided the means for gaining his higher academic education as well as that of professional order. For eight years he was a successful aud popular teacher in the public schools of his native state, and in consouance with his ambitious purpose he was finally matriculated in the medical department of the University of Louisville, Kentucky, in which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1881 and from which he received his well earned degree of Doctor of Medicine. In the same year was solemnized his marriage to Miss Anna K. Smith, likewise a native of Indiana, her father, George W. Smith, having been a well known citizen of Floyd County. In 1882 Doctor Murphy came to the West and established his residence at Milan, Sumner County, Kausas, where he continued in the work of his professiou until 1885, when he went to the western part of that state, but in July of that year, 1889, he came to Oklahoma, about three months after the territory had been thrown open to set- tlement, and established his residence at Stillwater, where he is the pioneer physician and surgeon of Payne County, and where he has long controlled an extensive and representative general practice. His professional labors here were of most arduous order in the early years, when he was called upon to minister to families throughout a wide section of sparsely settled country, his zeal and unselfish devotion being such that he never hesitated to go forth on his work of succor, no matter what might be the adverse conditions of roads, weather, etc., or the dangers incidental to his lonely trips by night. Thu: it is but natural that he hold the affectionate esteem o: the many families to whom he has ministered with al

administr of this

chom by the ineum oficers of Mr. Ke rlsania, Hugh and

Was be se Jene mas

rogati Doe Elks, Tecden bertindla the Ok 031 Fe meno be and inf Doct Hildren Stillwat erine; filges, water; at the a WILLIS marked that led

man origi In

at ide an

2075

HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

of efficiency, kindliness and unselfishness during the years of a signally active professional career in the now vigor- ous young state of his adoption, and in the midst of the manifold cares and exactions of his large practice he has found time and opportunity to keep abreast of the ad- vances made in medical and surgical science, so that he well merits his high reputation as one of the able and representative physicians and surgeons of Oklahoma.

Doctor Murphy has been loyal and progressive as a citizen, has shown a lively interest in all things touching the welfare of his home town and county, and has not denied his service in public offices having direct relation to his profession. He served as coroner of Payne County for ten years, has been county health officer since 1907, the year that marked the admission of Oklahoma to statehood; and he has been city health officer of Still- water since 1911, besides which he has in a private way done all in his power to conserve sanitary improvements and to maintain the best possible conditions for the preserving of public health. The doctor was prominently concerned in the organization of the Payne County Medi- cal Society, has served as president of the same and is at the present time its secretary and treasurer. He is identified also with the Oklahoma State Medical Society and the American Medical Association.

Doctor Murphy and his wife were among those who "made the run" at the opening to settlement of the now historic Cherokee Strip, and through their lively action on this occasion they fortified themselves for per- manent residence in this section of the state, though their original run had Pawnee County as its objective point. In early days the doctor served as a member of the city council of Stillwater, and his loyal civic activities in- cluded also effective service as mayor and as city clerk. While the incumbent of the office of county coroner he was for a short time acting sheriff of the county, and he served as first assistant postmaster during the incum- bency of Postmaster Robert A. Lowry, with whom he was associated also in conducting the first drug store at Stillwater, the doctor having been the first registered pharmacist in Payne County and still retaining his pre- rogatives along this line.

Doctor Murphy is a Knights Templar Mason, holds membership in the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and has been actively affiliated with the Inide- pendent Order of Odd Fellows since his twenty-first birthday anniversary. He aided in the organization of the Oklahoma Grand Lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and later was honored by being made a life member of the same, he having been specially active and influential in the affairs of this fraternal order.

Doctor and Mrs. Murphy became the parents of three children-May, who is the wife of George B. Gulder, of Stillwater, has two children, George B., Jr., and Kath- erine; Edward Palmer Murphy, who married Miss Edna Gilges, is identified with business enterprises at Still- water; and Nellie Bly, the youngest of the children, died at the age of one year.

WILLIAM T. KEYS. Eligibility of definite order and marked personal popularity were the contributing causes that led to the election of Mr. Keys to the office of county clerk of Payne County, and he assumed the administration of the multifarious and responsible duties of this position on the 1st of January, 1915, his first rear of service having clearly demonstrated the wisdom shown by the voters of the county in selecting him as he incumbent of one of the most important executive officers of the local government.

Mr. Keys was born in the City of Pittsburgh, Penn- ylvania, on the 2d of October, 1873, and is a son of Tugh and Lida (West) Keys, both likewise natives of

the old Keystone State, where the mother died when the subject of this review was a child of three years. About the year 1880 Hugh Keys removed with his family to Edgar County, Illinois, where he continued in the prac- tice of his profession, that of dentist, until the time of his death, in 1889, William T., the youngest of his children, having been a lad of about sixteen years when thus doubly orphaned. All of the six children were sons and of the number the subject of this review, the young- est, is now the only survivor.

Upon the removal of his father to Illinois, William T. Keys, because of the death of his mother, was there received into the home of one of his uncles, with whom he remained two years. He was then sent to the home of another uncle, in Linn County, Missouri, where he lived under these conditions until he had attained to the age of thirteen years, when he became dependent upon his own resources. In the meanwhile he had duly availed himself of the advantages of the public schools of Illinois and Missouri, but his broader education has been that gained under the direction. of that wisest of all head- masters, experience.

Mr. Keys continued his residence in Missouri until the spring of 1890, when, at the age of seventeen years, he came to the new Territory of Oklahoma, which was organized in that year, and established his residence in Payne County. Here he was employed by the month at farm work until 1896, when he wedded Miss Ella Grindstaff, who was born in Missouri and whose parents, Alexander and Elizabeth (James) Grindstaff, came to Oklahoma in 1891 and became pioneer settlers of Payne County, where they passed the remainder of their lives and where both died in the early part of the present decade. After his marriage Mr. Keys engaged in farm- ing in an independent way, near the Town of Cushing. He rented land for a period of about six years and then purchased a tract of eighty acres, which he later traded for a farm of 160 acres four miles east of Stillwater. He made excellent improvements on this property and developed the same into one of the valuable farms of Payne County. He still owns this homestead, where he continued his residence until his election to the office of county clerk, when he removed with his family to Still- water, the county seat, where he now gives his entire time and attention to his official duties, of which he is giving a most efficient and acceptable administration. Mr. Keys is found aligned as one of Payne County's stanch and active supporters of the cause of the demo- cratie party, and he has been influential in its councils and activities in this county. He and his wife are held in high esteem in the community that has long repre- sented their home, and they have two children-Ona and Chester.

N. H. HIGH. The life of N. H. High, ex-deputy United States marshal, and now a farmer of Payne County, has been one in which he has passed through experiences of a thrilling character, from the days of the last great buffalo hunt ou the plains to the more recent excitement of the opening of the various Indian reservations. It has been his privilege to have participated personally in bringing civilization to Oklahoma, and his energetic, courageous and faithful service as a government official during the early days had its part in changing the old spirit of lawlessness into a condition in which the in- dustries and institutions of modern life have thrived and prospered.

Mr. High was born at Madison, Wisconsin, December 17, 1855, a son of James H. and Margaret Ann (Stuart) High, the former a native of Seneca Flats, Seneca County, New York, and the latter of Cork, Ireland. The mother was two years of age when brought by her parents to the .

em 0 ith

she her 883 t in thr set sbe anty an abo The out 1 an ted migh or th

nie Por uce ted lle, 0

2076

HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

United States, and was reared in New York, where she was married to George R. Ford, with whom she went to St. Louis, Missouri, and later to Illinois. In that state Mr. Ford died, leaving his widow with four sons. James H. High was a young man when he went to the West, settling in Illinois, where, as a contemporary of Abraham Lincoln, he was a riverman on the Mississippi. Later he engaged in railroading in that state, being en- gaged in construction work, and while thus employed met Mrs. Ford at Davenport, Iowa. They were married and subsequently went to Wisconsin, where Mr. High engaged in the lumber business, and in 1857 went to Michigan, where both parents died, the father at Ovid and the mother at Grass Lake. They were the parents of two sons : N. H. and Hiram, the latter of whom is deceased.

N. H. High resided in Michigan with his parents until he was eleven years of age, at which time he joined his grandfather, Nathan H. High, who had settled ou a farm in Montgomery County, Kansas, and who later died in Michigan. Mr. High remained with his grandfather for eight years, teaching school during the winter terms and working as a farmer during the summer months, but in 1881 went to Michigan, where he was married on October 17th of that year to Miss Alice Perkins, who was born at Ovid, Michigan, October 26, 1864, a daughter of Josiah and Eunice (Tower) Perkins. Mr. Perkins, a native of New York, died in Oklahoma, while Mrs. Perkins, a native of Michigan, passed away in New Mexico. After his marriage Mr. High went to New Mexico, where he entered upon a railroad career that covered a period of fourteen years, the greater part of this time having been passed in construction work. He had had previous experience in the West, when, in the winter of 1872-3, he joined a party of fourteen hunters and went to Western Kansas and Colorado, participating in the last great hunt that practically exterminated the great American bison. During this trip the men traveled and slept in covered wagons and grazed their horses, the accepted method of living on the plains. It was about this time also, that Mr. High saw the great Indian chief Geronimo, who was then on the warpath.

After about four years in New Mexico, during which time he had charge of the construction material for the work on the Santa Fe, Mr. High returned to Kan- sas and engaged in farming for a short time. He later went back to New Mexico, however, and remained there until the opening of the Sac and Fox Indian reser- vation, when he was appointed a United States deputy marshal and as such came to Oklahoma. At the same time, in company with Fred Curtley, he established a store on Euchre Creek, under the name of Curtley & Company, and engaged in this business for six years. Later he was for eight years a merchant at Cushing. During the time Mr. High was in the Government serv- ice, he was present at the opening of the Kickapoo, Cheyenne and Arapaho country, and at one time was the only deputy marshal allowed therein. At the open- ing here he had the north one-half of the reservation and his service was crowded with thrilling experiences in which his courage was tested to the utmost and not found wanting. When he came he had secured a claim and obtained a deed to a tract on Big Creek, six miles west of Cushing, but disposed of his interest therein. For one and one-half years Mr. High was also engaged in the transfer business with his son-in-law, but since selling his share therein has devoted his energies to the culti- vation of his forty-acre farm which adjoins the corpora- tion on the northwest. At the time he sold his claim on Big Creek, Mr. High went to Guthrie, where he spent six years, and during that time was a member of the police department and also contracted for excavation work. He is a republican in political matters and has

served as a delegate to numerous conventious. Fra- ternally he is connected with the Masons, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias, aud is the oldest member iu poiut of membership in Oklahoma of the Ancient Order of United Workmen.

Mr. aud Mrs. High have been the parents of eight chil- dren, as follows: James L., born in New Mexico, now a successful merchant of Cushing: LeRoy Marion, born in Kansas, a merchant at Stroud, Oklahoma; Alie Lew, born in New Mexico; Ena Belle, born in Kansas, who died at the age of nineteeu years; Jessie May, born in Oklahoma, who died at the age of nineteen months; Charles Leslie, born in Oklahoma, who resides with his parents at Cushing; Fred Lloyd, born in Oklahoma, who died in infancy; and Margaret Ann, born in Oklahoma, who lives at home.

WILLIAM J. BROCKMAN. A representative of the class of men who are maintaining the high standards of stock- raising in Payne County is found in the person of William J. Brockman, of Yale, who has been a progres- sive and energetic breeder of stock since his arrival here in 1890. During his quarter of a century of resi- dence here he has seen the marvelous development of the community and the replacing of pioneer conditions by civilization. Mr. Brockman is an Illinoisan by nativity, and was born at Hillsboro, Montgomery County, August 25, 1849, a sou of Samuel and Charlotta (Brown) Brockman.

The parents of Mr. Brockman were born in Adair County, Kentucky, and there married, aud migrated to Illinois in early days with the eldest of their children, a baby boy, John, who died in the winter of 1914 at the age of eighty-six years. The parents settled in Mont- gomery County and there passed the remainder of their lives on a farm, the mother dying in 1861 at the age of sixty-five years, and the father surviving until 1885, when he passed away at the age of eighty-five years. They were the parents of the following children: John, Walter, Boone, Hiram and Mrs. Betsy Armstrong, all of whom are deceased; Mrs. Artemesia Joice, who lives on the old homestead place in Montgomery County, Illinois; and William J. The parents of these children were honest, God-fearing people, who worked indus- triously to make a home and who reared their children to lives of integrity and useful endeavor.

William J. Brockman was brought up amid pioneer surroundings and practically his entire career has been passed in advance of the rush of civilization. His boy- hood was filled with the hard work of cultivating a prairie farm and reclaiming the land from the wilder- ness, but it was the type of existence that builds sturdy bodies and inures their owners to conditions which may be found anywhere on the frontier. He well remembers seeing deer in large numbers around his Illinois home, while the wild geese and ducks were so numerous that it was necessary to keep a constant lookout for them to prevent them from destroying the growing grain in the fields. Mr. Brockman 's education came from the district schools of his home vicinity, where he resided and en- gaged in farming until the death of his father, in 1885 in which year he went West to Lane County, Kansas, and took up a claim. While there he followed the pursuits of stock-raising and farming, and also found time for public service, acting as turnkey and deputy sheriff positions which he had held in Illinois, for eight years and finally being elected sheriff of Lane County for two terms, being the only democrat elected to county offic, there up to that time. In 1890 he disposed of hi Kansas holdings and came to Indian Territory, locatiu; first at Stillwater and subsequently buying a farm i: Payne County, where he has since continued to be inter

rie

Lit fo

rif

the

eq M

1,0

Sia

rac

Od do purring

men

2077

HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

ested extensively in the stock business, now leasing 1,000 acres of land. On September 16, 1893, when the Cherokee Strip was opened for white settlement he made the race for land and secured a valuable piece of prop- erty at Pawnee, which he still owns. He also made the run at the opening of the Cheyenne and Arapaho coun- try and the Sac and Fox reservation, but not with an equal measure of success. In the Indian Territory Mr. Brockman's former experience, gained in Illinois and Kansas, stood him in good stead and he was able to compete with conditions in a much more successful way than could many who had not had his advantages. He was a witness to much of the lawlessness which swept over this part of the country, was personally acquainted with several of the bad men of his district, and was an eye-witness to the shooting of three United States marshals at Ingalls. At one time he made the race for sheriff of Payne County, on the democratic ticket, but although he ran 285 votes ahead of his party, met with defeat. In 1902 Mr. Brockman came to Yale, which at that time was a hamlet with but one house. He has contributed to the upbuilding of this flourishing community by the erection of several struc- tures, including the two fine business places which he built in 1915 to replace the two, valued at $10,000, which he lost by fire in April of that year. In the same year he erected a handsome residence at Yale. He is a Master Mason and a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias and the Wood- men of the World. As a citizen he has discharged every obligation which has devolved upon hini, and in com- mercial circles his reputation is that of a man of the strictest integrity.

On February 25, 1873, Mr. Brockman was married to Miss Susan C. Blackburn, who was born in Montgomery County, Illinois, October 22, 1847, daughter of George Blackburn, and to this union there have been born three children: Arthur, of Raton, New Mexico; Oscar, who is employed on a ranch in Payne County, Oklahoma; and Versa, who is the wife of S. W. Binnie, a resident of Kiowa, Kansas.

JOHN R. SPURRIER. A special distinction that belongs to John R. Spurrier of Big Heart, Osage County, is that he is one of the native sons of the original Oklahoma Territory, being one of the few men now active in affairs who were born after the first land opening in 1889. Mr. Spurrier has had an active and successful business career in various localities and states and is now engaged in handling a large ranch at Big Heart. Mrs. Spurrier, his wife, is a daughter of the noted Chief Bigheart, of the Osage tribe.

The birth of John R. Spurrier occurred on a home- stead ten miles from Oklahoma City June 30, 1891. His parents were John and Louise (James) Spurrier. His father was born in Virginia July 27, 1857. His mother was born in Millville, Arkansas, in 1870, and spent the first nineteen years of her life in her native state. The father resided in Virginia until the age of fifteen, then moved to Missouri, and for a time was engaged in teaching school. After his marriage in Arkansas he went west to Wyoming, and for a number of years was foreman of a lumber company, and spent all his active life as a lumberman, cattle man and farmer. He was one of the original settlers in Oklahoma in 1889, and for about seven years conducted a large ranch as a stock farmer near Oklahoma City. He and his wife are still living in Oklahoma and are the parents of three children: John R .; Smead, who is proprietor of a garage and machine shop at Millville, Arkansas; and Guy, living at home.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

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