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 62
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In 1870 Mr. Deardorff was married to Miss Calista Allard, a native of Henry county, Ill., but at that time a resident of Jackson county, Kans. They have nine children: Maude, Amzy, Pearl, William, Ruth E., Calista, Charles, Lyman George, and Oscar LeRoy. He belongs to the Farmers' Insurance Company, for several years has served on the school board, and was a mem- ber of the first board of district No. 42. Though a Republican, he is not active in politics.
W ILLIAM H. CAMPBELL, whose home is on the northeast quarter of section 14, township 19, range 2, Logan county, was born in Marion county, Ind., November 4. 1840. and is the son of Hugh and Cynthia (Kimberly) Campbell the former of whom was a native of Rockbridge county, Va., born near Lexington. He was of Scotch ancestry, his father having emi- grated to America directly from the land of Rob- ert Burns, of which all his ancestors were natives. The family came to America in company with a colony from Scotland at an early day. On his father's maternal side our subject is descended from the Hamiltons, who settled in Virginia. Grandfather Zenas Kimberly was of English de- scent. He married Elizabeth Drum, who was of Holland descent.
The father of our subject went to Indiana when a young man, unmarried. While living in Ten- nessee, where he learned the blacksmith trade
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with his brother, Henry, he one day heard a great commotion, and looking out saw a lot of negroes plodding along the road. tied together in couples, and a long string of them fastened to a rope, which was tied to a buggy in front of them. Not having been accustomed to such sights, and not being able to view them with toleration, he left the place and migrated to In- diana, where he was subsequently married. When William H. was a lad of twelve years, the family moved to Guthrie county. Iowa, locating on a farm three hundred miles from any railroad. The father only lived a short time. dying in 1854. at the age of fifty-two years, and leaving a widow and eleven children. The land was unfenced and unbroken, but the mother was a woman of rare energy and good judgment, and kept her family together, improving the farm and making for them a home, where she spent the remainder of her days. Of the original two hundred acres. eighty acres were sold, but one hundred and twenty acres are owned and occupied by George Campbell, a brother.
Mr. Campbell of our sketch received a fair common-school education, and upon the out- break of the war, enlisted, in June, 1861, in Com- pany C, Fourth Iowa Volunteer Infantry. He was soon promoted to corporal, then to sergeant, then to orderly sergeant, and took part in twenty-seven battles, besides many skirmishes. being at Pea Ridge, March 6, 7, and 8, 1862; Chickasaw Bayou, December 29, 1862; Arkan- sas Post, January 11, 1863; Jackson. Miss., May 14, 1863; the battle and siege of Vicksburg, May 17 to July 4, 1863; Jackson, Miss., July 15; Brandon, Miss., July 20; Lookout Mountain, November 24; Missionary Ridge, Novem- ber 25: Ringgold, Ga., November 27, 1863. after which he was promoted to the first lieu- tenancy. Then he was at Resaca. Ga .. April 13- 15, 1864. and at Dallas, May 27-29, 1864. Having been shot, the bone of his right forearm being broken, he was absent from his regiment for six months, being in the hospital from May to Sep- tember. and then going on a visit to Pennsyl- vania. Afterward, at Dalton. Ga., he was pro- moted to the rank of captain. went with Sher- man to the sea, was at the siege of Savannah, went on a transport to Beaufort. S. C .. and thence to the battle of Pocotalgo. S. C. He was at Columbia. S. C., February 17, 1865, and at Bentonville, N. C., March 21, 1865, his last en- gagement. He was mustered out July 24, 1865. and was present at the grand review in Washing. ton. He had marched on foot over 5,000 miles and had gone over 4.000 miles by boat and other means of transportation.
After leaving the army, Captain Campbell re- turned to Towa, and soon afterward entered Mount Pleasant (Iowa) Wesleyan University,
from which he was graduated in the class of 1870. He was elected to the Thirteenth Gen- eral Assembly of Iowa in 1869, which kept him out of college the last year. In the legislature lie was chairman of the committee on engrossed bills, and also was a member of the committee on claims and apportionment, drawing the bill for redistricting the state. Meantime he read law considerably, and was admitted to the bar to practice in every court in the state, liav- ing been examined before the supreme court. He practiced for ten years at St. Joseph, Mo .. and for the next five years in Mount Pleasant, Iowa.
Captain Campbell was married at Mount Pleasant, Iowa, March 21, 1878, to Miss Nellie Ambler, daughter of Henry Ambler, a wealthy and well-known attorney. On account of his wife's failing health, he took her to Colorado in 1885, giving her his whole attention until her death, which occurred in September, 1889. Of this union two children were born, Henry Am- bler, and Faith, who is in the senior class at Mount Pleasant, Iowa, from which both her par- ents graduated, and where her mother was a teacher for nine years.
Captain Campbell came to Oklahoma in De- cember, 1889, locating where he now lives, hav- ing filed a soldier's declaratory in July by attor- ney. He was again married, June 8, 1892, to Miss Bertha M., daughter of John and Caroline M. (Blake) Hastings, who was born in Portage county, Ohio, and went to Colorado with her parents when a child. She was graduated at the high school in Kent, Ohio, and attended and graduated at the Woman's Medical College in Philadelphia, afterwards beginning the practice of medicine in Oklahoma in 1891, and still pursuing her chosen profession. She is the mother of one child, Willard H. Campbell.
The captain cast his first presidential ballot for Lincoln, in 1864, while in the army. In 1890 he was elected to the first territorial legislature by the Republican party, being one of the six rep- resentatives in the house from Logan county before there were any districts laid out. He was on the judiciary committee, and was the only attorney in the house.
Captain Campbell has made good improve- ments on his farm and is surrounded by all of the comforts of life. He and his estimable wife are members of the Congregational Church, and he is territorial corresponding secretary of the church building society. Twice he has been moderator of the territorial association of the church and for several years was moderator of tlie local association. He became identified with the Masonic order at Panora, Iowa, in 1866, and served as junior warden in Panora Lodge No. 122, A. F. & A. M. In 1891 he was appointed by
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Governor Steele as one of three commissioners to locate the agricultural college, Stillwater be- ing selected as the most suitable point. He was appointed by Governor Seay as regent and served as such for a short time. Also one of the committee appointed to locate a Congregational college, Kingfisher was given the honor, and he . has been a trustee of the college ever since.
J JOHN EDWARD BOCOX, a successful agriculturist of Logan county, whose well-
managed claim is located on the northeast quarter of section 10, township 19, range 3 west, was born in Gallia county, Ohio, April 6, 1863. His parents, John C. and Mary (Foster) Bocox, natives, respectively, of Virginia and Pennsylva- nia, were industrious agriculturists, who trained their children according to their best lights, and contributed largely to the success of the com- munity in which they lived. Grandfather John Bocox, a prosperous, representative citizen, was of German descent. He was a farmer and slave- holder in the Shenandoah valley. Grandfather Foster was a native of Scotland, and eventually settled in Pennsylvania. He was not only a farmer, but a teacher as well. Of good educa- tion and ability, he even taught school at the age of seventy-seven years. His hair was white from birth, and had a beautiful gloss, and thus he al- ways was a conspicuous figure. He was an old line Whig and later a Republican. John C. Bocox was a soldier in the Civil war, and while fighting for his country, received wounds which resulted in mental derangement, on account of which he is now confined in a sanitarium. His wife lived with her son John during the last years of her life, dying in 1896. Of the eleven children of this couple Albert is engaged in the manufacture of brick in Illinois: Corinda is deceased; Charles is a farmer in Oklahoma: Samuel is a brick and tile manufacturer in Galesburg: James is a far- mer in Oklahoma; Ernest is a well-driller in the territory; and Amanda, now Mrs. Spangler, is a neighbor.
John Edward Bocox received a common school education, but at the age of seventeen discontinued his studies, owing to the necessity for earning his own living in some other field. the farm being unable to support such a large family. He left home with a sufficient amount of money to take him to Illinois, and a balance of five dollars, which he later returned to his father. In Vermilion county, Ill., he worked for four months and received sixty-five dollars, and was paid off at about that rate for several months more. In March of 1883 he came to Wapello county, Iowa, where he continued to work by the day and month, subsequently going
with his brother Willian and two other men to Concordia, Kans. There they arranged a cov- ered wagon and traveling outfit, and drove to Norton, Decatur and Thomas county, then back to Marshall county, Kans. After working by the day for some time, he went to Blue Rapids, Kans., and entered upon a decided change of occupation, that of drilling wells. April 17, 1884. they bouglit a drill of their own and worked in- dependently of the concern that had employed them, and since that time Mr. Bocox has at times been occupied in the same business. This, however, is only incidental to his general work of carrying on hiis well-managed and well- equipped farm. He owns altogether three hun- dred and twenty acres of land in one body.
February 9, 1887, Mr. Bocox was married to Alvira M. Johnson, of Marshall county, Kans., and a daughter of William M. and Susan John- son, formerly of Ohio. Of this union there are six children: Minnie M. and Orie, born in Mar- shall county, Kans .; Earl, Ivan, Stella, and Or- val, born in Oklahoma. In politics Mr. Bocox is a believer in Democratic principles. Five years ago he was elected justice of the peace. Him- self and wife are members of the Evangelical Church.
P RED ANDERSON. From a comparatively poor condition, and with nothing to depend on save his own perseverance and untiring efforts, Mr. Anderson has utilized the opportu- nities at hand, and has made the most of his residence in Grant township, Kingfisher county, Okla. He arrived in the territory the day after the opening in 1889, and settled on his present claim in May of the same year. It is located on the southeastern quarter of section 9, and under his vigilance and care has become a well-im- proved and remunerative investment. Ten acres are under cultivation, and the owner has planted eight hundred trees and many small fruits, also possessing a fine vineyard. In addition to gen. eral farming, Mr. Anderson buys and sells con- siderable stock. The original claim was the fore -. runner of additional land, for in 1897 he bought a claim on the northwestern quarter of section 13, township 16, range 6, which, after improving. he traded with Henry Purcell for a quarter of section 10, range 6, township 16. Of this new purchase, about fifty acres had been improved, but it was otherwise in a wild state, and required patient application before it became a paying claim. Our subject has used this land for the cultivation of wheat, usually planting from two hundred to two hundred and fifty acres each year. and the crops have been uniformly satisfactory.
Mr. Anderson is but one of the many enter- prising and successful sons of Sweden who have
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recognized the larger prospects of life in Amer- wea. He was born in the central part of Swe- len. where he was reared on a farm and educated in the district schools. In IS&; he came to the l'nited States and settled in Omaha, Neb., where he became connected with the railroads in one capacity or another, and from there moved to Kansas City, going thence to Lexington. Mo., where he worked in the coal mines. While there he led an uneventful life until the opening of the Oklahoma territory, when he moved to the vicinity of Kingfisher.
In 1899 Mr. Anderson carried on for a time a iced store in Kingfisher, where J. W. Walton had for so long conducted a like business. He has been interested in many ways in the life and undertakings of his adopted town. In politics he is associated with the Populist party and was elected road overseer for one year, but resigned owing to pressure of more important personal business. Coming to the territory with his worldly possessions embodied in a pair of three- year-old steers, which served as a nucleus for his present prosperity, Mr. Anderson has won the esteem of all who know him and is accounted one of the township's reliable, and substantial ag- riculturists.
R UDOLPH ROSENBERG has had a re- markable business career both before and since coming to this country. It has been a long struggle for an honest competency. char- acterized by unfortunate circumstances, but re- sulting ultimately in success. He is engaged in farming and dairying in Logan county, and owns the southwest quarter of section 27, township 16, range 2 west, and one hundred acres in the northwest quarter of the same section, besides another farm of one hundred and sixty acres one- hali mile south of the homestead.
Mr. Rosenberg was born in Germany October 16, 1846, and is a son of Jacob and Johanna So- phia. (Friedlander) Rosenberg. His father was a man of great business ability. self-made in every respect, and was a large general merchant in the province of Brandenburg. Germany.
Rudolph Rosenberg lived in a farming village and received a high-school education at the county-seat, graduating at the age of fifteen years. He had started out to become an attor- ney-at-law, but as he was of the Mosaic confes- sion he was debarred from practice in the supreme court unless he gave up his form of re- ligion, to which his mother objected; so he re- linquished all thought of a higher course. He went into his father's bake-shop and learned the bakery business, and after one year with him received a journeyman's certificate. Later he joined a cousin in the province of Silesia and
learned to compound liquor, at which he worked until he received a diploma as a rectifier and compounder of all fancy drinks. Afterward he followed the business until he was twenty years of age. He then left Europe for America, land- ing in New York after sixteen days on the water, encountering one storm during the voyage. In 1866 he located in Chicago, and the very first night was robbed of all he had but two cents. He tried to get labor, but as he could not speak English it was a very difficult task. . Another objection was the fact that his hands did not evidence ever having labored. He finally got work in a bake-shop at ȘI per week, working twenty and twenty-one hours per day. He stood that for three weeks and saved the $3 which he carned.
Next he hired to help in the fishing business at $20 per month, at which he worked for two months, then was taken with the neuralgia be- cause his scanty apparel did not furnish him suffi- cient protection from the elements. He spent all of his money before he was able to go to work. His next employment was as foreman in raising houses to the grade of the streets in Chicago. He then accepted a position thirty-five miles northwest of Chicago with a family who spoke nothing but English, in order that he might be- come familiar with the language. After remain- ing with them for two winters and one summer he became a salesman in a store in Elgin, Ill., where he continued until 1871. Meantime he traveled some and became a silent partner in a cigar factory, but lost all he had. He was again taken sick, and, when he had sufficiently recov- ered to work, he went into a bakery at Elgin.
Subsequently he went to Chicago and secured work in a bake-shop, later assuming the manage- ment of a confectionery store. The business was burned out by the great fire and he lost his posi- tion, after which he became a salesman in a dry- goods store. March 26, 1872, he married Mercy Hennigen, a nurse-maid, whom he had met in Elgin. He continued as a salesman for over a vear, while she was employed in a laundry, being forewoman, and for a time earning more money than her husband. They started a laundry busi- ness of their own and kept at it until 1880. mak- ing considerable money, but in the panic of that vear lost all. In 1876 he was worth $30,000, but in 1880 he had nothing. He paid all his debts and started new in the world, moving to a farm which his wife's father had owned and on which our subject had paid off a $2,000 mort- gage. The father deeded the property to Mrs. Rosenberg, and there they lived until 1884. when they moved to Sedgwick county, Kans .. on ac- count of his poor health. They rented a farm and conducted it for one year, when he went to Arkansas City and became a dealer in game,
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general merchandise, farm produce and bakery goods. He also invested in real estate, and with many others went under in the great depression of 188S and 1889, but, while others made assign- ments, he paid off his liabilities dollar for dollar. Leaving Arkansas City on the fifth train for Oklahoma at the opening, Mr. Rosenberg loca- ted in Guthrie, where he started in business in a tent, 18x24 feet, being the first merchant to do business there. His wife remained in Arkansas City and shipped bakery goods by express from that point and Kansas City. He was in business one month and made a great deal of money, but after paying off his debts lie had but $100 left with which to begin anew. Soon after coming he settled upon his farm, and his family lived in a tent until January 1, 1890, when he put up his present home of one and a half stories, the di- mensions being 16x28 feet. He put out seven or eight acres of small fruit and orchard, and has a very fine property. For some years he has en- gaged in the dairy business, and now makes and sells some of the finest butter in Oklahoma. He follows diversified farming and raises consider- able stock for the market.
Mrs. Rosenberg's maiden name was Mercy Hennigen. She was born six miles west of El- gin, Ill., and is a daughter of Alpheus and Sarah Ann (Patterson) Hennigen. Her father was a soldier in the Civil war, and took part in the bat- tles of Pittsburg Landing, Fort Donelson and many other important engagements. She first married Harrison Graves, who was a soldier in the Civil war, and by him had two children: Nellie, who was married and died at the age of twenty-one years, but left no children: Lillian Belle, wife of W. H. Barker, of Kansas City.
In politics Mr. Rosenberg was a Republican for twenty years, but is now affiliated with the Democratic party. At the opening he was the only man who was thoughtful enough to provide the town with provisions, and fed about ten thou- sand people during the first day. The carly scenes of the settlement of Guthrie will never be forgotten by him. His tent was the only one up the first night in Guthrie, and in it his friends from Arkansas City slept and had their baggage. As many as seventy barrels of bread alone was shipped to him by his faithful, energetic wife. He sold the bread at one cent an ounce, but much of it was resold for twenty-five cents a loaf. His was the only store for three weeks and he made a great deal of money. Being armed, he forced law-breakers to cease their depredations. He is well known all over the region adjoining Guthrie, and he and his good wife have friends among the best people of Gutli- rie. Their record for honesty was thoroughly established long before coming to Guthrie and has always been maintained here.
C APT. JOHN TWAMLEY. After years of enforced suffering and secrecy in the pro- mulgation of their simple religious faith, and strife engendered by the wrangling of kings and the fanaticism of subjects, and with the death-wails of kindred in the massacre of St. Bartholomew ringing in their cars, the ances- tors of Mr. Twamley, those heroes of Protest- antism, the French Huguenots, fled from fren- zied Catholic France, and found an asylum in a sister country, Ireland. Here, swung from their moorings, and remote from their sunlit vineyards, and the garish, fantastic history of their erratic mother country, they kindled anew the fires of faith upon an unmolested altar. After years of usefulness in their adopted country, and with hearts tuned to the knell of suffering. whether on sea or land, and impregnated with the nameless touch of nature that makes the whole world kin, one of their descendants, John F. Twamley, scanned with unfettered eyes the horizon of future endeavor, and set sail upon the ocean for the limitless possibilities of Amer- ica.
John F. Twamley was a cabinet-maker and up- holsterer, and his wife, Matilda (Langstiff) Twamley, was a worthy helpmate. When they emigrated to New York, their son, John, was two years old, having been born in Dublin, Ire- land, December 10, 18444. When he was twelve years of age the family moved to Troy, N. Y., and soon after their arrival their little home was saddened by the death of the mother. Having other mouths to feed besides his son John, the father placed his children in an orphan asylum, and paid for their maintenance. Within the shel- tering walls of this institution the children were taught to be useful men and women, and their education advanced to the extent that they were able to read, write and cipher. At the expiration of three years, young John Twamley was per- mitted to go forth to earn his own living, being employed by G. V. S. Quackenbush in a dry- goods house for three years.
In 1861, when he was seventeen years of age. war was declared, and he enlisted in Company HI. Second New York Volunteer Infantry, for two years. He fought with courageous zeal for his country, and participated in all of the battles of his regiment, including the seven days' fight at Seven Oaks, during which he received a sun- stroke. His experiences throughout the cam- paign were thrilling and ofttimes dangerous, as on one occasion, when he was sent with an im- portant dispatch to Colonel Olmsted, he was surprised by the enemy, who sent the bullets whistling around him. One bullet, which hit hin in the heel. knocked him down so suddenly that he fractured his skull also. He recovered, how- ever, and was duly discharged at the expiration
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of his two years of service. Enlisting again in Battery H of the New York artillery, he served as a private, having refused a proffered commis- sion. One of his vivid memories of war life is the witnessing of the battle between the Monitor and the Merrimac. During the service, Mr. Twamiley was recommended for a captaincy, but there were too many aliead of him. The title of captain was earned by Mr. Twamley dur- ing his residence at Troy, N. Y., when he served as captain of the Burdette Veteran Corps. In recognition of his services the company pre- sented their captain with a sword, upon the blade of which was engraved an inscription. signifying by whom, and to whom, the trophy was pre- sented. After re-enlisting in the war, Mr. Twam- ley was stationed during the thirteen months of liis service on the James river. When peace was declared he returned to his former home in Troy, and entered the employ of John Warr, the head of the leading grocery firm of the city.
In 1864 Mr. Twamley was united in marriage with Jane Logan, of Troy, N. Y. She was of Scotch ancestry, born in Montreal, Canada, and was about a year old when her parents, Andrew and Elizabeth (Monroe) Logan, first came to America. In Troy Mr. Twamley became a spe- cial officer of the police force, and while per- forming his arduous and ofttimes disagreeable duties, found time to rescue stray waifs from their deplorable surroundings and to place them in positions remote from the crime-laden at- mosphere. In his work of mercy this large- hearted humanitarian was ably seconded by his wife, who cared for the homeless wanderers as if they had been her own offspring. After three years as special officer, he was promoted to the position of keeper of the central police station of Troy.
As one of the expectant throng who gathered at the line of Oklahoma on the famous 22nd of April, 1889, Mr. Twamley was second to none in securing a satisfactory claim. It was located seven miles southeast of Guthrie, and here his family made their home for four years. Their residence in the new country was saddened by the loss of two daughters, Jessie and Jennie. aged, respectively, nine and seven years. Their two remaining children are Clarence, who lives in Brooklyn, N. Y., and has one son; and daughter, Mrs. Ruby Laverty, who lives with her father, and has a son, named Birney. In 1898 the original claim was sold, and after liv- ing for a time in Guthrie, Mr. Twamley settled in section 32, township 18, range I west, which was his home until he sold it in 1900, when he removed to Guthrie.
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