USA > Oklahoma > Portrait and biographical record of Oklahoma; commemorating the achievements of citizens who have contributed to the progress of Oklahoma and the development of its resources, V. 1 > Part 20
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W. H. NELSON. This gentleman is an . energetic and industrious eitizen of El Reno, where he is pursuing his trade as a blacksmith and carriagemaker, and being a master of his ealling. lias established a good patronage. He was born March 27, 1860, in Kansas City, Mo., and thus is in the prime of life.
The Nelson family is of English origin, de- scendant of Lord Nelson, who at one time was
an admiral of the English navy. Our subject's great-grandfather, Obed Cook, was one of the patriots that shouldered a gun in the War of Independence, and his grandfather Price was in the war of 1812. The family emigrant was our subject's father, who was born near London, England, and upon coming to this country hie at first settled in Pennsylvania. From there lie moved to Iowa, thence went to Kansas City, Mo., and at the time of his death, in 1861, he was living in Atchison county, Mo. He married Miss Amanda Price, a native of Missouri. Her parents, natives of North Carolina, moved to Iowa, but only remained there a short time, when they went to Missouri, and while en route to Iowa from North Carolina our subjeet's mother was born. Her grandfather, Obed Cook, was a farmer residing in North Carolina, and upon his death his wife moved the family to Iowa. Our subject's mother now lives in Colo- rado Springs, Colo.
Our subjeet was a year old when his father died, and he is liis parents' only child. Reared in Atehison county, Mo., where he received his elementary training, in 1878 he went to Washı- ington county, Ark., thence to Leavenworth county, Kans., where he learned his trade as a blacksmith, which he has sueeessfully followed ever sinee. He then took up his residenee in Washington county, Ark., where he remained nine months, when he went to Burlington, Kans., and there continued to work at his trade in the shops operated by J. J. Weigand. In 1885 he went to the Chickasaw Nation, I. T .. and on the Chisholm trail at Silver City started a shop, his customers often eoming seventy-five miles to have him do their horse- shoeing and other work. In the spring of 1886 he started a shop five miles south of Prairie Grove, Ark., but was there only a short time, when he went to Burlington, Kans. In 1889 he engaged in business at Watson, Mo., and in the latter part of the year returned to Silver City, I. T., where he purchased his old shop, and there continued in the blacksmithing and wagon-making business until 1890. Then build- ing a shop at Minco, I. T., he managed the same until November, 1896, when he took up his head- quarters in El Reno. His patronage had inereased so rapidly that in the following year-1897-he was obliged to erect a larger shop, so he aeeord- ingly built his present one, 25x60 ft., and put in three fires. One bloek distant from his building he has a paint shop, as lie makes a specialty of car- riage making and repairing. As a horse-shoer he cannot be beaten, and since being in this section of the country has made many breaking plows. Our subjeet is a practical blacksmithi and merits his good patronage.
Mr. Nelson was married in Jasper eounty,
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Mo., to Miss Jennie Schoffner, a native of Ala- bama, and they have five children, as follows: Minnie Belle; Ollie May; Charles Henry; Frank and Mabel. He is a member of the Knights of Pythias, of which he served three times as chancellor; Modern Woodmen of America, and Ancient Order of United Work- men. He is a solid Republican in politics. Mrs. Nelson is a member of the Methodist Church.
W. SAIN, numbered among the public- J. spirited citizens who have been associated
with the founding of Kingfisher county, resides on the northeastern quarter of section 35, Cimarron township. In him are combined the many sterling qualities of his English and Ger- man ancestors, with strong Scotch traits of in- tegrity and perseverance added thereto.
His parents, Peter and Elizabeth (Wright) Sain, were natives of Ohio, and were, respect- ively, of German and Scotch-English descent. The father of Peter Sain, Henry Sain by name, likewise was a native of the Buckeye state, where his parents were very early settlers. He was a farmer by occupation and spent his entire life in Ohio. Peter Sain, who was a fine mechanic, pursued business along that line during the greater part of his mature life, and made his home in Perry county, Ohio When the Civil war was in progress he volunteered his services to his country, and soon after the close of the war his life came to a close also, largely owing to his arduous army experiences. He was the father of five children, one of whom. Thomas, is deceased, and the others are J. W., Lulu, Emma and William.
The birth of J. W. Sain took place in Perry county, Ohio, in 1848, and his early years were spent in that locality. He completed his educa- tion in Somerset Academy, and then embarked on his long and successful career as a teacher. His first experience in that line was when he was only seventeen years of age, and for fifteen terms he continued to teach in the schools of Perry and Fairfield counties. For three years prior to his coming to the west he was engaged in a mer- cantile business at Junction City. Ohio.
In 1877 Mr. Sain went to Ringgold, Iowa. and purchased a tract of wild prairie land, which he improved, making a model homestead of the place. During the eight years of his residence there he was quite successful as a farmer and stock-raiser, and added to his income by teach- ing school in the winter. In 1885 he located in Harper county, Kans., buying a farm near the town of Harper, in which place he constructed a business block, which he leased to a merchant. He was the third man to reach Kingfisher on the 22d of April, 1889, and secured some desir-
able city lots. At the end of two months lie found that the northeastern quarter of section 35, township 17, range 7, had been overlooked, and he immediately filed a claim to the property. From the raw prairie land he has developed a model country home, and each year raises a large crop of wheat and corn. A large orchard which he planted yields good returns now, and well-kept shade trees, judiciously placed, add much to the beauty of the homestead. Soon after settling here he erected a commodious house, by far the best in this region at that time, and few in the farming districts of the county to-day are better. The barn and other farm build- ings are substantial and neat, and an atmosphere of thrift is everywhere about the place. As he plants two hundred acres with wheat, our sub- ject leases a quarter section of section 36, and thus -operates three hundred and twenty acres altogether.
The active part which Mr. Sain has always taken in educational matters led to his being chosen to carry on the publie's interests in that direction while a resident of Iowa. He acted as treasurer, clerk and president of the local school board, and since coming to this locality has been an influential factor in the establishment of our educational system. He was principal of the first school in the city of Kingfisher, and, before a school building had been put up in district No. 63, he taught pupils in his own house, and took an active part in the work of obtaining proper accommodations. He still acts as a member of the district board of directors. Religiously iden- tified with the Methodist Episcopal Church, he has acted as superintendent of the Sunday- school and for years taught a class, being a popular instructor, whether in secular or re- ligious schools. Politically he favors the Re- publican party, and always has been a firm believer in the policy pursued by that organiza- tion. Fraternally he is a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen, and in his native county was secretary of the Odd Fellows lodge.
May 27, 1877, Mr. Sain married Mary Hitch- cock, daughter of Col. N. F. Hitchcock, of Ohio. He was a hero of the Civil war and commanded the Ninetieth Ohio Infantry. His last years were spent in Sterling. Neb .. where he was honored and greatly esteemed. Mrs. Mary (Hitchcock) Sain died December 30th, 1893, at their home in this county. October 27th, 1895, Mr. Sain was married to Mrs. Cora (Parmlee) Nye, widow of R. E. Nve, by whom she had three children- Charles, Caroline and Ella. By the second mar- riage of our subject are two sons: Jay Wright, born October 6th, 1896, and Dewey Parmilee. born June 20. 1898. Mrs. Cora Sain was born October 21st, 1858, in Minnesota. Her parents. Oliver and Mary ( Fisher) Parmlee, were natives
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" New Hampshire and New York, respectively, and settled in Michigan, where they met and were married. They had three children- harles. John and Cora Isabel.
R EV. D. CONSTANTINE POURCIN, O. S. B. One of the poets gave utterance to a sentiment which undoubtedly finds an echo in the hearts of millions of the human family :
"I care not what his name nor what his creed. For he who helps me in my hour of need Ilath done a work for God. and placed his name Beyond the reach of what the world calls fame."
When reviewing the grand work which Father Constantine Pourcin is doing among his people. and when looking backward along the pathway he has pursued, even an enemy to him, should there be one, must acknowledge that he has been animated by genuine love for his fellow- nten and that he has earnestly striven to help .ud uplift them in every possible way. He pos- -esses great talents and a wide, sympathetic nature, and thus he enters into the sorrows and joys of every one of his flock, and in return, is beloved by the high and the lowly.
The family whence Father Pourein sprang has long been numbered among the mercantile class of Marseilles, France. His father, Stephen Pour- cin, was a native of that flourishing city and for many years he was occupied in business at Aix, Provence Bouches-du-rhône, near Marseilles. He attained the age of fifty-six, his death taking place in 1882. His widow, who is still a resident oi the city mentioned, bore the maiden name of Mary Clotilda Guven, and her father was a mer- chant of Aix, her birthplace. Her elder son, Jean Baptiste, is a successful commission mer- bant in Marseilles, and her only daughter, Mrs. Louise Quintran, is the wife of a captain at Romans, France.
The birth of Rev. D. C. Pourcin, O. S. B., venrred June 4, 1857, in Aix. France, and in the excellent schools and academy of that town he received his education. He also pursued special Eines of study under the instruction of private. 'tors, and when twenty-one years of age was "Acoptionally well informed in all of the classics. the sciences and mathematics and kindred sub- sets. In IS-8 he became a member of the Bene- Setine Order, and two years later, when the french government passed a law whereby all bonks were to be expelled from the land he went 'o England. There he continued his theological tmlies in Buckfast Abbey, near Plymouth, and u the 24th of July, 1884. was ordained to the . firsthood by the Rt .- Rev. Vaughan, bishop of ' month, and uncle of Cardinal Vaughan, the . rehbishop of Westminster.
Beginning the more responsible and serious duties of his chosen career, Father C. Pourcin remained at Buckfast Abbey for eleven years, acting in the capacity of assistant priest of that parish. In 1895 he came to the United States, and for about three years was connected with the Sacred Heart Abbey in Pottawatomic county, Okla., being appointed pastor of Sacred Heart parish. While laboring in that field he succeeded in organizing a thriving congregation and built a substantial house of worship.
Since Easter, 1898, Father C. Pourcin has been established as pastor of Sacred Heart Cath- olic Church in El Reno, in addition to which he is in charge of churches at Fort Reno, Calumet and Geary. In the early history of El Reno, when but two Catholic families dwelt here, the church was organized and from that day the congregation has steadily grown, until to-day there is a membership of about six hundred souls. The immediate· predecessor of our sub- ject was Father Germanus, also a member of the Benedictine Order, and now pastor of the Shawnee parish. The prosperous school, which was founded here in 1899, by the indefatigable efforts of Father Pourcin, is conducted by the Sisters of Mercy, who now have over one hun- dred pupils in their charge. In 1900 he had the great pleasure of beholding the completion of the new Catholic Church at Geary, and Calumet also boasts a new place of worship. The El Reno congregation is in possession of a beautiful building site, about half a block of land, and here, if all goes well, an imposing and commo- dious church will be erected in the near future.
J. A. NORTHUP, M. D., is one of the pio- . neer physicians and surgeons of Oklahoma, and, having been closely connected with the upbuilding of this garden spot of the west, he eminently deserves a place in its annals. He has officiated also as postmaster of Dover, Kingfisher county, for the past two years, and for some time has been a justice of the peace here.
The birth of this esteemed eitizen occurred in 1840, at Orange, Schuyler county, N. Y. His father. Solomon Northup, was engaged in the business of growing hops for the markets, and was well known throughout that section of the Empire state. Dr. Northup received a liberal public school education, and had matriculated in college and was making good progress in his literary studies when the Civil war broke out and his patriotic blood was fired, so that all other considerations were cast aside. In 1861 he en- tered upon a three years' service in the Federal army, belonging to Company I, Eighty-sixth New York Infantry. He served as a private and later as a sergeant in his company, and for the
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greater part of his term of enlistment his regi- ment was assigned to the Third Division, Sec- ond Army Corps, under the leadership of General Hancock. He participated in numerous dreadful battles, including those of the Wilder- ness, the second battle of Bull Run, and Gettys- burg. July 2, 1863, he was seriously wounded at Gettysburg, and for three months was con- fined to the wards of the Annapolis Navy Hos- pital. While still crippled and dependent upon crutches, he returned to his regiment and completed his term of enlistment, being honor- ably discharged as hospital steward at Pittsburg, Pa., November 11, 1864.
When he had to some extent recovered his health, Dr. Northup went to Ann Arbor, Mich., where he pursued the first year's medical course. He completed his medical studies at Hobart University, in Geneva, N. Y., being graduated in 1866. Locating at Port Huron, Mich., he practiced his profession for a year, after which he conducted a practice in his native county for eight years. Subsequently he resided in Ithaca. N. Y., for fourteen years, in the meantime be- coming very proficient in his chosen life work.
Hoping that members of his family might be benefited in health by a change of climate, Dr. Northup camento Kingfisher county on the day that it was opened, and for three years he was occupied in medical practice at the county seat. In 1892, when the town of Dover was organized, he established an office here, and since that time has enjoyed a liberal share of the local patron- age. He is called to administer to patients far and near, and, in connection with his practice, he owns a drug store, which is well equipped and managed.
. In 1867 Dr. Northup married Mary E. Cran- dall, and for over a quarter of a century they pursued the journey of life together. She was called to the home . beyond in 1894, and left a large circle of friends to mourn her loss. The elder daughter of the doctor and wife, Myrtle A., married Herbert Gadsby, principal of the high school of North Adams, Mass. Lillian. the younger. is living with her father, and Don A., the only son, is pursuing a pharmaceutical course of study in the University of Oklahoma, at Norman.
Dr. Northup always has taken a patriotic in- terest in the public schools of our country, and everything which advances progress. He is loyal to the principles of the Republican party, in whose policy he thoroughly believes. In the Odd Fellows order he has been much interested, and now is past noble grand of Lodge No. 8 of Dover. He also was actively associated with the Masons in New York state, and now is a demitted member. Strongly in favor of tem- perance, he has been identified with the Good
Templars for several years. When the Metho- dist Episcopal church was organized here, he was one of its most zealous workers, and since has served in the capacity of chairman of the board of trustees.
T THEODORIC BLAND RICE, a prosperous farmer and highly respected citizen of Purcell precinct, Canadian county, resid- ing on section 8, was born in Bath county, Ky., a son of Marshall C. and Katie (Roe) Rice, also natives of Kentucky. His ancestors were of English origin, and among the early colonists of Virginia. His grandfather, Holman C. Rice, a native of the Old Dominion, served as a captain in the Revolutionary war under General Wash- ington, and in the carly part of the nineteenth century settled in Kentucky, where he followed farming for many years. He lived to the age of ninety-four. The father of our subject spent most of his life in Kentucky as a cabinet maker and died at the age of seventy-two years. Of his eleven children, five are still living, our sub- ject being the eldest of the family, while the others are as follows: Belford Donop, a resident of Oklahoma City; Kosciusko, of El Reno; Elmer, of the Chickasaw Nation; and Mrs. John Myers. The mother is still living at the age of seventy-eight years, and now makes her home in El Reno, Okla.
The first eleven years of his life Theodoric B. Rice spent in his native state, and then lived in Missouri and Arkansas until eighteen years of age, when he went to Champaign county, Ill. While there the Civil war broke out, and he en- listed in Company K, Sixty-eighth Illinois Vol- unteer Infantry, for three months, at the end of which time he re-enlisted in Company I, One Hundred and Fifty-fifth Illinois Volunteer In- fantry. With the armies of the Potomac and Cumberland he participated in many engage- ments, and when the war ended was finally mustered out at Murfreesboro. Tenn., and dis- charged at Springfield, Ill.
Mr. Rice later went with his parents to Se- .dalia. Mo., where he learned the printer's trade and followed the same for several years, making his home there for twenty years. In 1887 he went to Kingman county, Kans., where he spent nearly a year and on leaving there went to the state of Washington. In 1889, at the opening up of Oklahoma, he came to Canadian county. and contested his present claim on section 8, Purcell township. He now has seventy acres under a high state of cultivation and is success- fully engaged in general farming and stock rais- ing, making a specialty of Short-horn cattle and Poland-China hogs. He has about one hun- dred and twenty of the latter upon his farm,
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and thirty-five milch cows for dairy purposes. Besides his home place, he owns a farm of one hundred and sixty acres, six miles northeast. Success has attended his well-directed efforts and he is now quite well-to-do.
In Sedalia, Mo., Mr. Rice was married, in 1870. to Miss Elizabeth Ridenour, a native of Indiana, and to them have been born ten chil- dren, namely: Lorena, wife of S. D. Morgan; William, a resident of Oklahoma City: John 1 ... Rehoboam, George B., Maude, Carl, May, Alina and Lenore.
In politics Mr. Rice is independent and was a candidate for the senatorial council in 1891, but was defeated by thirty-eight votes. He was also a candidate for the Kansas state legislature in 1874. and has been an efficient member of the school board since coming to Oklahoma. Being a strong temperance man, he has been an active member of the Good Templars, and for several years was a member of the Grand Ariny post and the Ancient Order of United Workmen at Greenridge, Mo.
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S. F. ROBERTS, M. D., a very successful physician and surgeon of El Reno, was born in Corydon, Wayne county, Iowa, May 3, 1869. He is of Scotch descent, and his grandfather, Dr. John Roberts, a native of Scot- land, was graduated in the medical department of the University of Edinburg. Upon coming to this country, he settled in Portland, Me., but later removed to Marietta, Ohio, and thence to lowa, where he had a saddlebag practice among the Indians. He was pioneer of his profession there and died soon after locating there. John Roberts, the father of our subject, was born in Marietta, Ohio, and was reared on farms in Ohio and Iowa. In 1850 he crossed the plains by means of ox teams to California, and engaged in mining there for four years, with good results, then returning home by the way vi the Isthmus of Panama. He stayed in Iowa until 1859, when the Pike's Peak excitement mastered him, and again he made his way over the plains with ox teams to Denver, but re- turned shortly afterwards. He was all through the Civil war, serving in the Thirty-fourth Iowa Infantry at the battles of Pea Ridge, Pittsburg Landing. Shiloh, Banks' expedition, and the siege of Mobile. He was mustered out at New Orleans at the close of the war, but he never ally recovered from the effects of the hardships endured. He died in 1885, at the age of fifty-six wars, at his home in Wayne county, Iowa. He Mas a member of the Grand Army of the Repub- Ile was united in marriage with Susan A. ' rook, who was born near Frankfort, Ky., and a daughter of Jonathan Crook, who was born
in that state and was a planter. He served as warden of the state penitentiary for some time.
The Crook family is of Welsh extraction, and is related to the family of General Crook. Mrs. Roberts now resides at the home of her son in El Reno. Eleven children were born of this union, seven of whom grew up, namely: Mrs. Mary Morris, of California; James Washington. a stock dealer; John, a stock dealer near El Reno; Willis, a farmer near El Reno; S. F., whose name heads this sketch; Sally, who died at the age of twenty-one years; and Ray, who died at sixteen.
Dr. S. F. Roberts was reared on the farm un- til he was sixteen years old, when his father died. At that time he was attending Corydon High School, and in 1885 went to Rising City, Neb., where he remained for one year. Then returning to Iowa, he attended school there for six months, after which he went to Arkansas with his brother Willis to look after timberland at Wiener. During the next winter he taught school in Iowa, in order to obtain the means for his higher education. In the fall of 1838 he en- tered Humiston Normal School, and was soon appointed a teacher, serving as such for two vears. In 1890 he entered the normal school at Valparaiso, Ind., in the fall of that year receiving the degree of Bachelor of Sciences. He then taught school in York, Iowa, until 1892. Mean- while he had studied medicine under preceptors at Valparaiso, Ind., and in January, 1892, he re- signed his position as a teacher to enter the Ken- tucky School of Medicine, at Louisville, Ky. At the end of the first term, in 1892, he located in Oklahoma, and practiced for three months at Okarche, Canadian county, a new town. He then lived in Rush Springs, I. T., until 1893. when he returned to Louisville, Ky., and was graduated from the Kentucky Medical School with the degree of Doctor of Medicine, in June, 1893. He then located in Somersville, W. Va .. and practiced there until 1898, when he located in El Reno. In the meantime, in 1895, lie had returned to Louisville and had taken up post- graduate work in the City Hospital and Hospi- tal Medical College. He lias a large practice in medicine and surgery in El Reno and vicinity, and has met with wonderful success in handling every class of cases. In 1898 he was appointed to the board of pension examining surgeons, and now is secretary of that body. He also serves on the county board of insanity, and is examin- ing physician for seven different insurance com- panies.
Dr. Roberts was united in marriage at Som- ersville, W. Va., with Vina Bell, who was born there and comes of an old Virginia family. They have one child, Ray, Religiously he is a Bap- tist. Fraternally he is a member of the Modern
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Woodmen of America; the Woodmen of the World; the Royal Tribe of Joseph; the National Aid; the Independent Order of Redmen; the Odd Fellows, and was made a Mason in Iowa. He is a member of the Oklahoma Medical So- ciety.
E. J. SIMPSON. As a prominent attorney and editor of the El Reno Daily Bee, Mr. Simpson has acquired an enviable degree of popularity. The newspaper business is an open door to him, for he has been connected with several leading periodicals and is familiar with every department of the work, from writing editorials to the condition of the printers' towel. In other respects his life has been varied and full of activity in several directions. He first came to Oklahoma in 1887, as superintendent of the Indian schools, at Darlington agency, which po- sition was creditably filled until 1889.
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