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 24
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Mr. Billings was married September 22, 1889, to Miss Sarah Ann Abell, who is also a native of Linn county, Mo., and a daughter of Richard and Mary Ella (Kirby) Abell. They have five children, namely: Robert Lee. William Jewel, Charles Edward. James R. McKinley and Gladys Jane. Our subject is a Republican and cast his first vote in 1882, the day before he was twenty- one. He has served as one of the delegates to the first legislative convention and has been dele- gated to other county conventions. He is a Mason, and a member of Guthrie Lodge No. 2, A. F. & A. M.
BRAHAM L. BLESH. M. D. Prominent A among the physicians of Guthrie is Dr. Blesh, who has been pursuing his chosen profession in his present community since Feb- ruary, 1893. He is a native of Lockhaven, Clin- ton county, Pa., where his birth took place Jan- uary 6, 1866. ITis father, Rudolph Blesh, was
born in Berne, Switzerland, but came to this country with his parents, who settled on a farni in Clinton county, Pa. On attaining manhood, he bought the old homestead upon which he lived until 1871, and then homesteaded eight; acres near Abilene, Dickinson county, Kans. Afterward he purchased other lands until he was the owner of two hundred and forty acres of highly cultivated land, but he finally retired and is spending his latter days at Hope, Kans. He is past his sixtieth year in life. He married Miss Sarah Bartholemew, a native of Clinton county, Pa., and a daughter of an old settler there. She was of Holland Dutch descent. This union was blessed by a large number of children, of whom four sons and three daughters are still living. Miss Addie C. Blesh is a graduate of the medical department of Northwestern University of Evanston, Ill., and is practicing her profession in Pardeeville, Wis. Mr. and Mrs. Rudolph Blesh are members of the Methodist Church.
Abraham L. Blesh was reared on his father's farm in Kansas and his primary education was obtained in the district schools there. At seven- teen he commenced teaching, in order to secure funds to carry him through college. He then entered Salina Normal School and later studied in the Normal at Holton, Kans. Having re- solved to pursue the profession of a physician, at seventeen years of age he began to spend his spare moments in the office of Dr. J. N. Ketcher- sid, of Hope, Kans., and in 1886 he entered the medical department of Northwestern University (or the Chicago Medical College, as it was then known), and received his degree in medicine in 1889, taking the first honors of his class. He then chose Rio, Wis., as his field of operation, but after remaining there a year, he decided to make a change on account of the severity of the cli- mate. Accordingly, he removed to Lost Springs, Kans., where he practiced for two years. In February, 1893, he came to Guthrie, where he has a suite of rooms at No. 709 Noble street. He stands high among his fellow-citizens and brother physicians. His specialty is surgery. In- terested in everything pertaining to his profes- sion. he has contributed liberally to different medical journals in the United States. Possess- ing tliose characteristics of industry, persever- ance and honesty of purpose which lead to suc- cess, he has used well the powers given him, and enjoys the respect and confidence of the entire community in which he resides.
At Gaylord, Kans., Dr. Blesh married Miss Belle Pickett, a native of Marshall county, Kans .. and a daughter of William Pickett, who is the senior member of the firin of Wm. Pickett & Co., druggists of Guthrie, in which company Dr. Blesh is also interested. Wm. Pickett was a native of Olio and resided many years in Kan-
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sas. Dr. and Mrs. Blesh have two children: Theodora Belle and Rudolph Pickett Blesh. He is a member of the Maccabees, Modern Wood- men of America, Odd Fellows, and the Okla- homa Territory Medical Society.
W ILLIAM M. BRONSON, who has been engaged in the abstract business ever since first entering upon his business ca- reer, was the organizer of the Oklahoma Mort- gage and Trust Company of Guthrie, of which he is secretary and treasurer and manager. Mr. Bronson was born in Springfield, Ill., February 23, 1862, and is a son of Hon. D. M. and Martha E. (Cooper) Bronson. The family is of Scotch- Irish origin. D. M. Bronson was born in Lima, N. Y., and was reared in that state. He gradu- ated from the Albany Law School, but never fol- lowed the legal profession: instead, entering the railroad business, and was ticket agent at Toledo, Ohio, for five years, after which he served in a like capacity at Springfield, Ill., and later at Topeka, Kans., for two years. He then contin- ued with his brother-in-law, Lewis Hanback, who has since been a member of congress, for a period of two years.
In 1868 D.M. Bronson removed to El Dorado, Kans., and afterward held almost every public office in Butler county, including that of state representative one term. He made the first ab- stract books of Butler county, and also the second set, with the assistance of our subject. He was a master Mason in fraternal relations and a Republican in politics. His death occurred in El Dorado, in 1887. He married Martha E. Cooper, who was born in Chapin, Ill., where her father was a merchant and large land-owner for many years. She now resides in Shawnee county. Three children were born to bless their home: William M .; Lewis C., who was in the auditing department of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad for nine years and is now a bookkeeper in the Merchants National Bank of Topeka, Kans .; and Kate, whose husband. C. E. Thompson, is assistant cashier of a bank in El Dorado, Kans.
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WV. M. Bronson was reared principally in El Dorado, where he received a public and high school education. Early in life he gained a knowl- edge of the abstract and loan business, under his father, and compiled the second set of abstracts of Butler county, Kans. In 1884 he went to Medicine Lodge, Kans., and served as deputy register of deeds of Barber county for one year. He then started into the abstract business, writ- ing a set of Comanche county. and later a set of Barber county. In the fall of 1890 he sold out his business, and on October Ist located in Guth- rie. He prepared the first set of abstracts for
Logan county, and has since continued the busi- ness here. In November, 1898, he organized the Oklahoma Mortgage and Trust Company, which was incorporated with a capital stock of $100,000. He serves as secretary, treasurer and manager, while the president is Mr. Frazier, who is.also president of the Citizens Bank of El Do- rado. Mr. Bronson makes loans on farms with first mortgage security, and has done an immense business. In his nine years' experience he has not made a single poor loan and never once has had to foreclose. He also has the oldest and largest insurance agency in the city, representing cleven of the old line companies of the United States and England.
Mr. Bronson was united in marriage with Miss Nina Anderson, who was born in Knightstown, Ind., and is a daughter of James S. Anderson, a contractor of Winfield, Kans. Four children were born to them, as follows: Gaye, Louis, Ellen and Nina. In politics Mr. Bronson is a Republican and has served as school treasurer of Guthrie for three years. He is a member of Guthrie Lodge No. 2, A. F. & A. M .; Guthrie Chapter, R. A. M .; the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, and the Knights of Pythias.
J JAMES M. BROOKS. The wide-awake, prosperous city of Guthrie possesses nearly all of the things which contribute toward the modern metropolis, and to J. M. Brooks is due much credit, for he is thoroughly imbued with the spirit of this progressive age, and has ma- terially expressed his confidence in the future of Oklahoma's capital. Coming here on the first official day of its existence, he is one of the pio- neer merchants of the place, and few, if any, of our citizens have been more active in all of our leading enterprises.
Our subject is the only child born to his pa- rents. William H. and Nancy (Perriman) Brooks, who were natives of Kentucky and were pio- neers of Henry county, Iowa. The father was engaged in merchandising in Lowell, Iowa, until his untimely death, when in the prime of early . manhood. J. M. Brooks, whose birth had oc- curred April 19, 1850, was an infant of eleven months when death deprived him of his father. and his mother subsequently became the wife of Major Bideman, of Nauvoo, Ill., and had two daughters by that union. She now resides in Nauvoo, Ill., in the old Mansion House, formerly owned by Joseph Smith.
The first decade of Mr. Brooks' life was spent in his native town, Lowell, after which he re- moved with the family to Nauvoo, and attended the public schools of the place. In 1863. though he was only thirteen years old. he obtained a position on a steamboat of the old Diamond Joc
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line, running on the Mississippi river. At the end of two years he commenced clerking in a grocery at Hannibal, Mo., and later went to Brampton, Canada, where he completed his in- terrupted education. We next find him employed as a clerk in an Oshkosh ( Wis.) dry goods estab)- lishment, and afterward carrying on a similar business on his own account in the same city.
In the spring of 1879 Mr. Brooks removed his stock of dry goods to Topeka, Kans., and for the following decade lie was successfully engaged in business there, under the firm name of Brooks & Bigger. When Oklahoma was opened he came to Guthrie, and soon opened a dry goods and clothing house, and at once made invest- ments in real estate here. His business prosper- ing, he opened branch stores at Kingfisher, El Reno, Perry, Newkirk, Ponca, Chandler, and Ardmore, I. T., and it was not until November, 1899, that he disposed of his last stock in these extensive ventures. His energy and good busi- ness methods brought to him the success which he deserved, and his enterprising spirit has been an inspiration to many.
Feeling the needs of Guthrie and vicinity, Mr. ยท Brooks began making plans for an opera house, and in the summer of 1899 the great work was commenced. It was opened to the public No- vember 28, 1899-a red-letter day in this locality -and competent judges at once pronounced it the finest opera house in the great middle west. outside of Kansas City, and undoubtedly one of the handsomest and most complete theatre build- ings in the west. The audience room, 65x 140, has a seating capacity of one thousand, and the splendidly equipped stage, sixty feet high, and provided with necessary machinery and curtains, is 40x60 feet in dimensions. In addition to this highly appreciated enterprise, another one, of about equal importance, the building of the Hotel Royal, was projected by Mr. Brooks and carried to a triumphant completion. Unques- tionably the hotel is the largest and finest in the territory, and the citizens, as well as the travel- ing public, appreciate it highly. It was built in time for the accommodation of the members of the second legislature and is the headquarters of all leading conventions. The building is three stories in height and 125x140 feet in dimensions. The Western Gas, Oil and Mineral Company. of which he is now president, and was one of the organizers, is prospecting for oil, and, if neces- sary, drilling will be carried down two thousand feet.
One of the finest residences in Guthrie, built in colonial style, and situated on Vilas street, was erected by Mr. Brooks for his family. He was married February 26, 1870. to Miss Anna Patton, a native of Pennsylvania. the ceremony which united their destinies taking place in Oshkosh.
Wis. They have four promising, well-educated sons, namely: William Patton, James M., Jr., Ralph Patton and Philip Perriman.
Mr. Brooks served four years as a member of the Guthrie school board and was chairman of the financial committee. Fraternally he is iden- tified with the Knights of Pythias, the Order of Elks, the Ancient Order of United Workmen. the Woodmen of the World, and the Guthrie Commercial Club. In political- creed he is a Democrat. Religiously he is a Congregational- ist, and is the chairman of the board of trustees of the Guthrie church.
C HARLES BABCOCK, who for the past seven years has been a citizen of Guthrie, is well known in business and political circles here, and is popular wherever he is known. In 1899 he was elected on the Repub- lican ticket to serve as an alderman from the fourth ward, and since then he has served accept- ably upon several important municipal commit- tees. He has the welfare of his fellow-citizens deeply at heart, and takes a zealous interest in local improvements and progress.
The paternal grandfather of our subject re- moved from New York to Wisconsin at an early day and engaged in merchandising at Juneau. He died near the town of La Crosse. Ezra. father of Charles Babcock, was born in Troy, N. Y., and by occupation was a farmer. When the Civil war came on, he enlisted in the Eleventh Wisconsin Infantry and served for about three years. He died in St. Louis during the last year of the great conflict. His widow, formerly Annie Chalmers, survived him many years, her death occurring in Wisconsin in 1896. She was a daughter of Robert Chalmers, an early settler in the vicinity of Waterloo. Wis., and was born in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Charles Babcock, born July 11, 1863, is one of six children, two of whom are deceased. He was young when deprived of his father, but his mother was doubly kind and watchful of her children. He lived near Waterloo until he was twelve years of age, when he went to Milwaukee to live. and at fourteen he commenced serving an apprenticeship to the trade of horse-shoeing. Continuing to find employment in the Cream City until 1887, he then located in Kansas City. where he opened a shop. This he carried on until 1891. when he went to St. Louis for a short time. and finally concluded to permanently settle in Oklahoma. He had already made a fine reputa- tion for skill in his particular trade, and since es- tablishing a shop in Guthrie five years ago he has been kept busy in shoeing the high-grade horses which are so numerous in this locality. His shop is well equipped and is centrally situ-
B. S. McGUIRE, Guthrie.
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ated, on the corner of Vilas and Division streets. The owners of valuable horses give him their custom, for his work is thoroughly appreciated, as it deserves to be.
Since coming to Guthrie Mr. Babcock has established a home. He built an attractive resi- dence, in London style, with wide verandas, and the mistress of this hospitable home is the lady formerly known as Miss Ida West. She was born in Eureka. Kans., and by her marriage she has become the mother of a son, Dearsley Ray Babcock. Fraternally, Mr. Babcock is affiliated with the Ancient Order of United Workmen and the Improved Order of Red MIen.
B. . S. McGUIRE. Conspicuous among the younger men of influence and ability who are raising the educational, literary, busi- " ness and political standard of Oklahoma to a high plane, stands the gentleman whose name appears at the head of this sketch. A man of strong personality and much force of character, he has readily become a leader among his associ- ates, and though yet a young man has achieved success and distinction in his active career. Mr. McGuire was born October 13, 1864, in Belle- ville, St. Clair county, Ill., a son of Joel Mc- Guire. His paternal grandfather was a native of Tennessee, but early became a settler of Washington county, Ill., where he was engaged in farming pursuits during his active life.
Joel McGuire was born and reared on the paternal homestead, in Washington county, Ill., but when ready to begin life on his own account located on a farm in Belleville, Ill. He sub- sequently removed to Randolph county; Mo., where he enlisted in defense of his country, serving until the close of the war. In 1881 he removed to Jonesburg, Kans., not far from Se- dan, where he was extensively engaged in gen- eral farming and stock-raising until his death. at the age of sixty-seven years. He was a Re- publican in politics, and a member of the Grand Army of the Republic. He married Rachel Her- ryman, who was born in Washington county, Ill., and died in Panca City, Okla. Of the ten children born of their union, nine are now liv- ing, B. S. being the seventh child in succession of birth.
B. S. McGuire first attended schools in Mis- souri, where he lived for a time after leaving the district school, and at the age of sixteen years he attended a public school in Kansas. Desiring then to obtain money enough to war- rant him in continuing his studies at some higher institution of learning, he joined the cowboys, and from 1882 until 1884 drove cattle over the trails leading from the Texas ranges through Oklahoma to Kansas. Subsequently
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entering the State Normal 'School at Emporia, Kans., he worked his way through, teaching during his vacations in Chautauqua .county. Afterward he continued his professional studies in the law department of the university at Law- rence, Kans., but at the end of a year, having exhausted his financial resources, he resumed teaching in Chautauqua county. Pleased with his ambition and pluck, one of the older men in that county told Mr. McGuire that if he would obtain admission to the bar he would nominate him for county attorney. The young student put forth every effort, and in 1889 was admitted as a member of the Kansas bar, and in 1890 was nominated for county attorney, and elected by a good majority, running ahead of his ticket, notwithstanding that his opponent was an older man, and a well-known attorney. He was re- elected to the same high office in 1892, again leading his ticket, and during the four years that he served as county attorney had the distinction of being the youngest man in the state to hold so responsible a position. He also served as mayor of Sedan for two terms, being the youngest man that ever filled the chair, and when first elected was the only successful candidate on the ticket, a fact bearing strong evidence of his popularity in a community where he was fa- miliarly known.
In June, 1894, Mr. McGuire located in Paw- nee, Okla., establishing himself as a lawyer, and built up a large general practice, but this he relinquished in March, 1897. when President MeKinley appointed him assistant United States attorney in Oklahoma, with headquarters at Guthrie. Mr. McGuire stills owns the finest residential property in Sedan, Kans., and has done much to improve Pawnee, having erected a handsome residence there, besides which, in Too, he built the Century block, 80x80 feet, in which three of the leading stores of the place are located. Ile was one of the organizers of the Arkansas Valley Telephone Company, which has nine exchanges and more than one thou- sand miles of telephone line. Fraternally he is a member of Sedan Lodge No. 141. I. O. O. F .. of which he is past grand. He is also past warden of Pawnee Chapter No. 20, R. A. M .: and a member of the Guthrie Consistory. He also be- longs to the Pawnee Commercial Club, the Ter- ritorial Bar Association and the County Bar Association. Politically, he is a very active and influential worker in the ranks of the Republican party.
While in Sedan, Kans., November 24, 1894. Mr. McGuire married Miss Anna Marx, who was born in St. Clair county, Ill., but was reared and educated in Kansas. She is a woman of culture and refinement, and a valued member of the Shakespeare and other clubs of Guthrie.
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F FRANK C. BROWN. Prominent among the many who have contributed their enterprise and ability toward developing the resources and building the enterprises of Kingfisher may be mentioned, with the unanimous consent of all who know him, the name of F. C. Brown. While engaged in supplying the demands of a con- stantly increasing population, and in bringing his large and lucrative business to a high state of excellence, he has been remarkably successful in his chosen line of work -- that of manufactur- ing soda waters, ciders, syrups, extracts, and in the bottling of mineral waters. He has the finest trade in his section of the country, his plant is most complete in its construction and arrange- ment, and is fitted with the most modern and up-to-date appliances. He ships south to Okarche and north to Hennessey, also to the far east and west, and leaves no stone unturned to secure the best patronage consistent with ad- vanced methods and honest dealings.
The Brown fan ily is of English and Welsh descent, the paternal grandfather having spent the years of his activity in Maryland, where he was born, and where he engaged successfully in agricultural pursuits. During the war of 1812 he served his country with courage and distinction, and his habits of thrift, industry and progress have been handed down to his descendants, and are ably reproduced in his grandson, F. C. Brown, who was born in Knox county, Ohio, August 20, 1859. His son, Garrett Brown, was born in Maryland, and eventually became one of the pioneer settlers of Mount Vernon, Ohio, where he prosecuted a successful agricultural life, and where he died at the age of seventy years. Garrett Brown's wife, Mary (Holland) Brown, was born in West Virginia, and died in Ohio. She was the mother of nine children, five boys and four girls, all of whom attained their majority. James Ulysses was a soldier in the Civil war and died during the service; R. Holland was killed on the railroad at Mount Vernon; William Mansfield is a farmer in Iowa: Henry M., a market gardener of Perry, Iowa, and F. C. a successful and popular business man of Kingfisher. Ile is the youngest of the brothers, and was reared on his father's farm in Ohio, and attained his education at the public schools.
When sixteen years old the ambitions nature of the youth began to assert itself, and he began to look around for an outlet for liis latent abili- ties. Under the wise and judicious tutelage of Judge Dunbar he entered upon the study of law at Mount Vernon, his research being interrupted during his twentieth year by an expedition to California, whither he went to settle up an es- tate. After completing his allotted task, he availed himself of his presence in the land of flowers and sunshine to travel around the state,
thereby enlarging his information and reaping an all around benefit from the change of surround- ings and climate. Upon returning to Iowa he located in Monroe, Jasper county, where he bought a music store, and sold pianos, organs and music. While living in Monroe Mr. Brown was united in marriage with Clara M. Gray, a native of Iowa and a daughter of Duncan Mc- Arthur Gray, and a near relative of ex-Governor McArthur, of Ohio. To Mr. and Mrs. Brown have been born three children, of whom one only is living-Raymond.
Two years after his marriage Mr. Brown changed his location to Des Moines, Polk county, where for four years he engaged in the building business, and later went to Augusta, Kans., and was successful in conducting a bakery and restaurant. He continued in the same line of business after removing to Wichita, Kans., until the opening of Oklahoma in 1889, when he lo- cated in Guthrie, and opened a building enter- prise after erecting a home for himself. His next venture was in 1891, when he took up his abode in El Reno, and started the first bottling works there. After running this for eight months he sold out and returned to Guthrie and identi- fied himself with an ice plant company until . 1893, when he permanently located in King- fisher. For Linn & Cross he managed the first soda factory in the place until 1895, when lie entered into partnership with Mr. Cross. In 1898 Mr. Brown bought out Mr. Cross, thus becoming sole manager, proprietor and owner.
In addition to his regular business interests Mr. Brown is a large real estate owner, being the possessor of a fine residence, and a business block on the banks of Uncle John's creek. Like miany of the residents in the locality, he is exten- sively engaged in the raising of fine poultry, but has gone into it more heavily and studied it more scientifically than most. His barred Plymouth Rocks are said to be without a peer in the whole lengthi and breadth of the territory. He has taken more prizes for fine poultry than any other raiser in the territory, and has about two him- dred barred Plymouth Rocks. In connection with his poultry interests Mr. Brown has organ- ized the Central Oklahoma Poultry Association. which is the largest and best in the territory, and has met with all manner of good results; having paid all of its premiums and has money still in the bank. For four successive winters the association has held exhibitions in King- fisher, which have stimulated a widespread inter- est in the line and helped to raise the standard of poultry to the highest possible degree of culture. For the last two years Mr. Brown has been the president of the association, and he is likewise a member of the Territorial Poultry Association. Hle is a member of the Home Annuity Com-
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