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 99

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 99

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).

Iu the Fourth Legislature Senator Russell introduced a measure providing for congressional representation of Oklahoma upon the basis of the relative strength of the various political parties, but this bill failed enact- ment. He also succeeded in securing the passage of an act providing for a 2 per cent gross production tax on oil and gas. In this session he secured the passage of a provision recalling the state board of agriculture. This board was twice recalled inside of twelve months; first by initiative petition, and second by provision submitted by the Legislature. In the Fifth Legislature Senator Russell was author of a rural credits bill which was enacted without a dissenting vote, and also of a proposed constitutional amendment fixing a graduated land tax which was defeated in the house. In the First Legislature he had put through a similar measure, but five years later this was declared by the Supreme Court to be un- constitutional. He passed another bill for the same pur- pose in the Fourth Legislature, which was invalidated by the court on account of premature adjournment of the Legislature. He was the author of graduated tax upon net income, which is now being successfully applied in Oklahoma, also of the 3 per cent gross production tax upon oil and gas, which is still being contested in the court.

In 1910 Senator Russell was defeated for the demo- cratic nomination of representative of the third district in the United States Congress, by Hon. James Daven- port; and in the newly created second district he was again defeated for congressional nomination in 1914, his successful onnonent in the primaries having been Hon. William W. Hastings, of Tahlequah. Senator Russell is a member of the Christian Church, is affiliated

with the lodge of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons in his home Village of Warner and with the chapter of Royal Arch Masons at Muskogee; with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Warner, and with the local organization at Warner of the National Farmers' Educa- tional and Cooperative Union. He has one sister, Mrs. Nannie Windes, of Tempe, Arizona, and one brother, James E., who is a resident of Texas.

On the 25th of December, 1890, Senator Russell mar- ried Martha Shinn, who was of Cherokee Indian blood, and she died a few years later, leaving no children. In November, 1896, was solemnized the marriage of the Senator to Mamie Overstreet, who is of Choctaw des- cent. Concerning the children of these unions brief data is given in conclusion of this article: Connie is engaged in business at Warner; Carl is a teacher in the Oklahoma Secondary Agricultural School at Helena; Christopher is a student in the law department of the University of Oklahoma; Mary is a teacher; Margaret is a student in the Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical College at Stillwater; and Clayton and Martha remain at the pa- rental home.

FRANK D. NORTHUP. Incidental to the individual career and ancestral history of Mr. Northup there are many points of distinctive interest, and even this neces- sarily epitomized record can not fail measurably to denote the consistency of the above statement. Per- sonally he is to be designated as a pioneer in each of two counties in the present State of Oklahoma; he was one of the early aud valued members of the faculty of the Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical College at Still- water; he has been specially prominent and influential in connection with the development of the agricultural and live-stock industries in this state; and is at the present time one of the interested principals and efficient executives of the company publishing the Oklahoma Farm Journal, the leading agricultural periodical of the South- west, besides being secretary and business manager o.f the Times Publishing Company, which publishes the Oklahoma City Times, one of the most important daily papers of the state. Apropos of the genealogical his- tory of this well known and honored citizen it may be stated that the original progenitors of the Northup family in America immigrated from England in first decade of the seventeenth century, and settled at New Providence, Rhode Island. In 1735 an ancestor of the subject of this review became one of the pioneer set- tlers of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, and the family name has long stood representative of prominence and influence in the annals of that picturesque section of the old Bay State.

Frank D. Northup was born on a farm near the city of Pittsfield, Berkshire County, Massachusetts, on the 14th of July, 1870, and is a son of Langham D. and Addie M. (Baird) Northup, the former a native of Massachusetts and the latter of Ohio. In 1874 the family removed from Massachusetts to the West and the father became a pioneer farmer in Kansas; he developed a fine farm in that state, and continued a prominent and honored citizen of that section of Kansas until his death, in 1904, his widow being now a resident of Oklahoma City.

He whose name initiates this review was about four years old at the time of the family removal to Kansas, where he was reared to adult age under the invigorating discipline of the home farm and where he was afforded the advantages of the excellent public schools. In the Sunflower State he also gained practical experience in the printing and newspaper business, and in April, 1892, about three months prior to his twenty-second birthday

edi

the

Thing

sta agrie of t Oklab

Farm Thường

of the This co period

Jast co Spanish been sec & fact all that state of Vieno's past e Psthias, The Meth Decemb UL. Hutto. death 2000, was Pies Elsie Forue, this

Danke is a die busine. Noond Str

alegia

2095

HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

anniversary, he came to the newly organized Territory of Oklahoma and became one of the pioneer settlers of Taloga, Dewey County. There he continued as editor and publisher of the Taloga Occident, a weekly paper, until May of the following year, when he removed to Stillwater, and thus became likewise a pioneer of Payne County. In September, 1893, when the famous Cherokee strip, or outlet, was thrown open to settlement, Mr. Northup was among those who made the historic "ruu" to obtain land in the new district, and he secured a tract of 160 acres, eligibly situated nine miles from Stillwater. He reclaimed this land to cultivation and perfected his title to the property, of which he is still the owner. On the 1st of March, 1899, Mr. Northup became a member of the faculty of the Oklahoma Agri- cultural and Mechanical College at Stillwater, in which institution he became superintendent of the department of printing. Of this office he continued the incumbent until the 1st of May, 1901, when he resigned and assumed that of editor and publisher of the Stockman- Farmer, at Stillwater. While still identified with the affairs of the college he had served for a time as editor of the Stillwater Gazette, and after publishing the Stockman-Farmer one' year he became associated, in 1902, with John Fields in the purchase of the Okla- homa Farm Journal, the publication of which paper they continued at Stillwater until the 1st of October, 1906, when they removed the plant to Oklahoma City, which in the following year became the capital of the new State of Oklahoma. In this city the Oklahoma Farm Journal has since continued to be published, and with constantly expanding influence, its progressive business and editorial policies have made it the leading farm publication of the state and its circulation now extending into virtually all agricultural sections of the Southwest. In January, 1915, Mr. Northup and his associates purchased also the stock of the Times Publishing Company, publishers of the Oklahoma City Times, the issuing of which daily paper is continued in connection with the publishing of the Farm Journal. Mr. Northup is secretary and adver- tising manager of the Oklahoma Farm Journal Company and secretary and business manager of the Times Pub- lishing Company.

In politics Mr. Northup has ever given unwavering allegiance to the republican party. In 1898 he enlisted for service in the Spanish-American war, as a member of the First Territorial Volunteer Infantry, and with this command he held the rank of corporal during the period of active military operations in Cuba, though his regiment was not called to the front. Mr. Northup is bast commander of Oklahoma City Post of the United Spanish-American War Veterans, and since 1910 he has been secretary of the Oklahoma State Historical Society, fact that indicates his deep and abiding interest in ull that touches the history and advancement of the tate of which he is a pioneer and in which his circle of friends is coincident with that of his acquaintances. He s past chancellor of Stillwater Lodge No. 8, Knights of Pythias, and both he and his wife hold membership in he Methodist Episcopal Church.

December 25, 1895, Mr. Northup wedded Miss Myrtle I. Hutto, daughter of Isaac N. Hutto, of Stillwater, and er death occurred in June, 1897. On the 27th of June, ut four Kansas, torating In th 900, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Northup to Liss Elsie M. Parker, daughter of H. Parker, of Clai- orne, this state, and the two children of this union are aforded Dorothy Elizabeth and Carolyn Duane. The family resi- fence is at 424 East Park Street, Oklahoma City, and ience in he business offices of Mr. Northup are at 220 West econd Street.

WARREN ZIMMERMAN. Since 1907 Mr. Zimmerman has been the capable editor and owner of the Guymon Herald at Guymon. Since reaching manhood Mr. Zimmerman has always worked at the printer's trade or in news- paper business, and has been identified with Oklahoma journalism for ten years. He has more than succeeded in keeping the Guymon Herald at the high place it deserves by reason of a quarter century's existence in this district of Western Oklahoma.

The primitive conditions of western pioneer life sur- rounded Warren Zimmerman at his birth. He was born January 8, 1880, in a sod house on a farm in Osborue County, Kansas. His parents were Benjamin Franklin Grush and Phoebe (Smiley) Zimmerman. His father was born in Perry County, Pennsylvania, September 14, 1844, a son of William Zimmerman, also a native of Pennsylvania. The father spent all his active career as a farmer. During the Civil war he enlisted in the One Hundred and Forty-fourth Regiment of Pennsylvania Infantry, but was out only six months, being discharged on account of illness. A few years after the war, in 1871, he moved out to Kansas, locating on Government land in Osborne County. Like many of the early settlers there he was a man of limited means and he put up the kind of house which was typical of that district then and for many years afterwards. He and his family lived in the sod dugout, enduring hardships and priva- tions, and for several years practically all the meat that was consumed in the family came from buffaloes, which were still numerous on the Kansas prairies. In politics he was a republican, but had no aspirations to official position, although he was one of the organizers of . Osborne County. His death occurred at Porter, Kansas, January 15, 1910. He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and was active in Grand Army circles. In 1874, at Waterville, Kansas, Benjamin F. Zimmerman married Mrs. Phoebe (Smiley) Kistler. She was born in Pennsylvania, September 17, 1846, and in 1868 she married William Kistler. There was one child by this union, Lillian, now the wife of Bert Long of Liberal, Kansas. Mr. Kistler died in 1870. By her second union she became the mother of five children, two sons and three daughters, namely: Gertrude, who was the first born, was born June 6, 1875, and died in 1881; William Luther, born February 8, 1876; Warren; Mary Smiley, born November 17, 1882; and Winifred, born May 3, 1884, now the wife of John Hahn of Osborne, Kansas.

Warren Zimmerman came to manhood with the equiva- lent of a liberal education. He attended the public schools in Osborne and the Kansas Wesleyan College at Salina. In 1901, at the age of twenty-one, he entered the office of the Osborne County Farmer at Osborne, and there learned the printer's trade and many details of practical newspaper management. In 1903 he was made editor and manager of the Osborne News, directed that paper for two years, and then in 1905 came to Oklahoma and bought an interest in the Chandler News. He remained at Chandler two years, and then in 1907 bought the Guymon Herald at Guymon.

Since taking charge of the Herald Mr. Zimmerman has introduced many changes and improvements in the inter- ests of a modern newspaper plant. In towns of the size there are few newspaper plants in the state that equal the Herald office. The Herald is a republican paper, has a large and influential circulation, and is a credit to the large district it serves as the chief medium for news, opinion and advertising. It was established in 1890 and was the pioneer paper of Texas County.

Ou January 22, 1906, at Fort Worth, Texas, Mr. Zimmerman married Martha Edgemon. She was born

Vol. V-22

il, 1892, birthday

one the till- 1 in and sent ient arm uth- r of the daily his- y be thup first New f the r set- amily e audl of the e city on the ). and ire of 74 the and the reloped minent atil his lent of

= at a-

1 d

al re es- to er-

2096

HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

January 22, 1883, at Athens, Tennessee, where her par- ents were also born. To their union has been born one child, Richard Grush, born February 4, 1909, at Guymon. Mr. Zimmerman and wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and fraternally he is a Knight Templar Mason.

COL. S. A. MCGINNIS. One of the most prominent lawyers and citizens of Kay County is Colonel McGinnis of Newkirk. Colonel McGinnis has been identified with Oklahoma as a lawyer and man of affairs since 1893, and for twenty-two years has made his help and service count for value and progress in the Southwest.

S. A. McGinnis was born in Coffey County, Kansas, November 10, 1867. His father, Dr. J. A. McGinnis, was a native of West Virginia and an early settler in Kansas. He was a soldier in the Union Army during the Civil war, and was the son of a soldier in the Mexi- can war, while his great-grandfather has served in the War of 1812, and a great-grandfather was a soldier of the Revolution. Thus there has been a strong tend- ency to military life in every successive generation, and Colonel McGinnis of Newkirk has his title as a result of active participation in the National Guards of both Kansas and Oklahoma. Dr. J. A. McGinnis was a suc- cessful physician and well known factor in Coffey and Butler counties, Kansas. He had moved from the East to Indiana, later to Illinois, and finally to Kansas, being identified for varying lengths of time with all these states.

Col. S. A. McGinnis was married in 1890 to Laura Laughlin, a woman of culture and intelligence and be- longing to a family of noted educators. Her father, George H. Laughlin, was at one time president of Hiram College in Ohio, the insitution over which James A. Garfield at one time presided, and a strong and intimate friendship existed between Mr. Garfield and Professor Laughlin. The children born to Colonel and Mrs. Mc- Ginnis are: Harold, who has served four years in the United States navy as an electrician, and has visited every important part of the Globe; Eilene; Ward A .; Grant; and Arthur.

Colonel McGinnis rose to the rank of colonel in the Second Regiment of Kansas troops in the National Guards, and has also served as captain of Troop I, First United States Volunteer Cavalry, "Roosevelt Rough Riders," of Oklahoma. He was attorney to the Dawes Commission in Indian Territory for eighteen months, and has also served in many other legal capacities. He was attorney for Butler County, Kansas, and has also served as county attorney in Oklahoma. He is a man of most pleasing address and manner, is a splendid speaker and is a large man both physically and mentally.

LOUIS ROGERS, SR., is one of the men who have known Pawhuska in all its growth and development from an Indian agency to a thriving and flourishing city. Mr. Rogers has himself been a part of that development and growth. His is a name synonymous with integrity, good business ability, and all the sterling qualities of citi- zenship.

Though most of his life has been spent in Oklahoma, he was born in Georgia, March 15, 1843. His parents were Nelson and Rosa (West) Rogers, both of whom were natives of Georgia, where they married. They were the parents of two sons and two daughters. The oldest and the youngest of the family are still living. Nelson Rogers and his wife came to Indian Territory in the early days, and he was successfully identified with general farming and the cattle business.

For many years Louis Rogers was a successful farmer

near Avant, Oklahoma, and conducted ranching on a small scale. After the death of his first wife he sold his farm in that locality and has since had his home at Pawhuska. In his long and active career Mr. Rogers has also acquired military experience. He served three years in the war between the states and is one of the honored veterans of that great struggle. All his life he has been a democrat, and for twenty years has been affiliated with the Knights of Pythias. While he himself has no church affiliations, his wife is a Methodist.

About forty years ago Mr. Rogers married Miss Helen Ross, a daughter of Louis Ross, a prominent name among the early Indian families of Indian Territory. Louis Ross brought his family to Oklahoma from Georgia. Mr. Rogers by his first marriage had five children. Three are now deceased. His daughter is the wife of Ben Avant, reference to whom is found on other pages of this work. Mr. Rogers' son lives near Avant. For his second wife Mr. Rogers married Mrs. Hood, a white woman from Fort Smith, Arkansas.

ROBERT LEE FLYNN. Perhaps no one class of men more thoroughly appreciate the fact that Oklahoma is a new state than those upon whom are thrust the respon- sibilities of county offices. In the older states it is customary for each distinct set of duties to be performed by a special official. As a matter of economy and on account of the great expense involved in organizing and establishing county government all over the state, it is not unusual to find in Oklahoma one official filling what is in reality half a dozen offices at once.

This state of affairs is well illustrated in the person of Robert Lee Flynn of Shawnee, whose official designa- tion is court clerk. He has his offices both in the City Hall at Shawnee and in the County Courthouse at Tecum- seh. He is clerk of the District Court of Pottawatomie and Lincoln counties; is clerk of the Superior Court located at Shawnee, with jurisdiction over Pottawatomie County; and is also clerk of the Pottawatomie County Court at Tecumseh. Robert E. Flynn is a Missourian and was born in Howard County, April 4, 1885. His father, Stephen A. Flynn, was born in Ireland in 1839, came to America about 1855 when little more than a boy, and after living for a time in New York State and in Ohio came out to Missouri, where he married and soon afterward established his home in Howard County. He was one of the pioneer settlers in Oklahoma, having located in Lincoln County in 1892, not long after the original opening of lands in that district. In 1899 he removed to Keokuk Falls in Pottawatomie County, and homesteaded a claim. He was not only a farmer but also a school teacher. He also rendered service to his adopted country during the dark days of the Civil war as a Union soldier for three years. In one battle he was severely wounded, but recovered in time to join his com- rades and served the full term of three years. He was a member of the Masonic fraternity. The death of this old Oklahoma settler occurred at Keokuk Falls in June 1904. The maiden name of his wife was Sarah C. Low. den, who was born in Missouri and now lives at Seminole Oklahoma. Their family comprised nine children, notec briefly as follows: Mrs. Maggie Buck, who lives at Anadarko and whose husband is a farmer; Maud, who married L. Tribble, who is a harness maker and merchant at Seminole City, Oklahoma; William H., who is now filling the office of sheriff in Lubbock County, Texas Ivan L., who is a minister in the Nazarene Church in Seminole City; Thomas S., whose home is at Drumright Oklahoma; Robert Lee, who comes next in order of birth Joseph S., who is an employee in the United States Nav Yard at San Francisco; James W., a farmer at Ana

sist ef o this me the ment

stat stant intere

of the the Te hts b upbui center large

section that " who est where There co materia owner of farms i namher and resi Doctor Fiscongi Bioneer father se Ireland.

a indicat Greatwall Antbouy : Trish stoel uzfil the

HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA

2097

darko; and May, wife of James Embree, a carpenter and builder at Perry, Oklahoma.

As will be noted Robert L. Flynn was only about seven years of age when his parents came to Oklahoma. During their residence in Lincoln County he attended public school at Ardmore. Still later he was sent to school at Whitewater, Wisconsin, and was graduated from the high school of that city in 1904. During 1905 he attended the Indianola Business College at Tecumseh, where he took a course in bookkeeping, and in 1906 learned stenography in the New State Business College at Shawnee.

From 1907 to 1911 Mr. Flynn was a stenographer in the law offices of Standard, Wahl & Ennis at Shawnee, and left that work to accept the position of deputy in the district clerk's office of Pottawatomie County. He con- tinued as deputy until January 4, 1915, when he assumed his present onerous duties, having been elected to the office of court clerk in the preceding November. Mr. Flynn resides at 513 Louisa Street in Shawnee. He is a stockholder in the Fidelity Loan Company of that city, and is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias at Shawnee and Camp No. 7781 of the Modern Woodmen of America. In politics he is a democrat. In 1909 he became iden- tified with the Oklahoma National Guard at Shawnee and is now lieutenant of the company.

On December 24, 1912, he was married at Shawnee to Miss Winnie McColgan of Shawnee. They have one daughter, Glorya Louise, born January 20, 1914.

W. R. KELLY, M. D. A man to whom may be con- sistently ascribed much versatility of talent, but the genius of whose success has been well ordered personal effort, is the sterling pioneer citizen whose name initiates this paragraph and who was one of the host of ambitious men who came into Oklahoma Territory at the time when the historic Cherokee Strip was thrown open to settle- ment. He has had the prescience and judgment to make good use of the manifold opportunities afforded in the state of his adoption and has become one of the sub- stantial capitalists of Oklahoma, with large and varied interests. He still gives a considerable attention to the work of his profession, is the editor and publisher of the Watonga Herald, has been largely concerned with the real estate business and with banking interests, and has been one of the foremost in the development and upbuilding of the thriving Town of Watonga, the judicial center of Blaine County, where his property interests are large and valuable and where he maintains his residence, as one of the honored and influential citizens of that er budsection of the state. Of him it has been properly said to hi that "He is a type of the men of genius and courage war at who established civilized communities upon the prairies he wa where only Indians had previously held sway, and who is com have contributed greately to the civic advancement and Hem material wealth of the new state." The doctor is the of ti owner of one of the largest and most effectively improved n June farms in Blaine County, and is the owner of a large C. Low number of properties in Watonga, including business eminorand residence buildings to the number of thirty or more. n, note Lives a Doctor Kelly was born in the City of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, in 1864, and is a representative of a sterling ud, whopioneer family of the fine old Badger State, where his mercha father settled in 1848, soon after his immigration from ) is no , Texas Church [reland. The doctor was one of a family of six sons and six daughters, and the mental alertness of the family s indicated by the fact that all of the sons and daughters cumrigh eventually became successful teachers, the parents, Anthony and Abbie (Malley) Kelly, both of stanch old rish stock, having continued their residence in Wisconsin until the time of their death. The six sisters of Doctor

Kelly are still living, and concerning them the following brief record is consistently entered: Mrs. R. H. Murphy is a widow and resides in the City of Los Angeles, Cali- fornia, her husband having become known as the king of wheat farmers in North Dakota many years prior to his death; Mrs. B. A. Kindergan is the wife of a suc- cessful contractor in Sioux City, Iowa; Mrs. J. M. Rider resides in the same city and is a widow, her husband having been a prosperous farmer; Mrs. Frank Malley is the wife of a prominent real estate dealer in Sioux City; Miss Mary E. is a popular teacher in the high school in the City of Milwaukee, Wisconsin; and Mrs. T. J. Conley is the wife of a retired farmer, their home being now in Oklahoma City.

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