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 78
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In the winter of 1863 Mr. Myers was ordered. with his regiment, to Kansas City, where they guarded prisoners, among whom were the wife. child and sister of Bill Anderson. While he was located at Troy, Kans., March 10, 1862, he married Maria C. Turner, and his family went to Kansas City while he was stationed there. In the winter of 1863 he was ordered to St. Louis, and marched to Dresden, completing the trip by railroad. With his company, he went to Benton Barracks, where he remained until spring, then going to Camp Jackson for a short time. In the fall of 1862 he took part in the bat- tles of Newtonia, Mo .; Fort Wayne. Cain Hill. Ark: and Prairie Grove. In the winter of 1863- 1864. he spent three months at St. Louis, and in the spring of 1864 went to Alton, Ill., to guard the prisoners at the old penitentiary building. remaining until April of that year. During that time Harry Truman was court-martialed. The; received word to go after John Morgan. but Were checked by his burning a bridge. After a
few weeks in Indianapolis, they marched to Cairo, Ill. They were ordered to Paducah, Ky., but the colonel refused to go farther, and took charge, by force, of a steamer to go to St. Louis. At Cape Girardeau they stopped to get wood, but, the rebels appearing, they went on to St. Louis and did duty there. The colonel was court-martialed and dismissed from the service. While they were on duty there were four hun- dred Confederate officers in prison, and some who were let out to exercise made a dash for freedom, several escaping.
Mr. Myers continued at St. Louis until his time was out and was there during the Great Mississippi Fair, when a flag was voted to the most popular regiment, and was won by the Tenth Kansas, and received by Mr. Myers as color-bearer. He was presented with ivory- handled pistols by Harry Truman, but when he produced the order at the hotel they put in a bill for $47, which he paid, and then they gave him different pistols from the ones he was to receive. He was mustered out in Leavenworth. Kans., in August, 1864, having served over three years. While in St. Louis he received a recruiting commission and enlisted a company, of which he was elected captain, but resigned, as he did not care to take command.
In the fall of 1864 Mr. Myers went to Polk county, Iowa, where he farmed for a time, then went to Boone, Boone county, Iowa, and bought lots, but in the following February sold out. After spending the winter in Topeka, Kans., he went to Geneva, in southern Kansas, and later to Cowley county, where he entered a claim. However, after a few months, he went to Texas and began to farm, but his health failed. From Ellis county he moved to Wise county, and lived there for nine years, next going to Tucker, I. T .. where he remained for four years. He made the run for a homestead April 22, 1889, and located the claim which constitutes his present well- improved farm.
Mr. and Mrs. Myers became the parents of six children, two of whom grew to maturity: Rachel Curtis died at the age of twenty-seven years, leaving two children, of whom one, Rich- ard, is still living: Ida Emma married Robert L. Jennings, by whom she has five children, and lives near her father. Mr. and Mrs. Myers have adopted a daughter. Lola I .. who is living at home. Our subject is a Republican in politics. but not an office-seeker. He was reared in the Dunkard faith, but became a Presbyterian and served as deacon in Texas. His wife is a mem- ber of the Christian Church. He was a member of the Farmers' Alliance in Texas, and belongs now to El Reno Post, G. A. R., of which he was elected vice-commander. He has been com- mander, but resigned the office.
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PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
J. M. ROSS, a member of the large business frin of Newell & Ross, of Enid, is a pio- neer in his line, having devoted nearly three and a half decades to the sale of agricultural implements. No one is better posted than he in the ."quirements of the farmers, and on ac- count of his proverbial square dealing and fair- ness to his customers, he is held in high esteem by the general public. As one of the prominent citizens and business men of Garfield county, a sketch of his life will prove of interest.
Born in that portion of the Old Dominion now known as West Virginia, J. M. Ross comes of a pioneer family in that region, he being of the fourth generation whose birthplace was in Tyler county. His great-grandfather, Capt. James Ross, whose ancestors dwelt in the north- ern part of Ireland, won his title by gallant serv- ice in the war of the Revolution, being connected with a Virginia regiment. His son, Henry, grandfather of our subject, was a miller by trade, and also carried on a farm in his native state. There occurred the birth of James, father of J. M. Ross. He possessed natural mechanical talent, and for some years subsequent to his set- tlement at Senecaville, Ohio, he was engaged in the manufacture of saddle-trees. After residing in that place for twelve years, in 1857 he re- moved to Flora, Clay county, Ill., where he man- aged a farm for years. He attained the ripe age of seventy-six years, dying at his home in El- dorado, Kans., where he had dwelt for several years. His wife also departed this life in that town, and three of their nine children have passed to the silent land. The mother, Mar- garet (Meredith) Ross, was a native of Mary- land, and her parents were born in Wales. The father, Thomas Meredith, was a farmer and mer- chant in Maryland for a period. and later re- moved to West Virginia, where his death oc- curred.
J. M. Ross was born at Middle Island. Tyler county, W. Va., August 18, 1840, and is the only surviving son in the parental family. From 1845 to 1857 lie attended the public schools of Senecaville, Ohio, and later pursued his studies in Clay county, Ill. In the spring of 1861 he went to Atchison, Kans., where he fitted out an ox team, and started across the plains to Pike's Peak, following the Platte river route. His experiences on the way were much the same as those of other adventurous spirits who thus took their lives in their hands, and on one occasion he and his party were surrounded by the formidable band of Indians, whose leader was the famous Red Cloud. Mr. Ross, however, was so fortunate as to reach his destination in safety, and during that summer he mined and pros- pected in the vicinity of Nevadaville and Rus- sell's Gulch, in the mountains. In the autumn
of the same year he returned to Illinois, driving a mule team overland to Omaha.
In July, 1862. Mr. Ross enlisted in Company A, Ninety-eighth Illinois Infantry, and was mus- tered into the army at Central City, Ill. He was assigned to Wilder's Mounted Brigade, in the Army of the Cumberland, and took part in some of the severest campaigns of the war. The mere mention of some of the famous battles in which he was actively engaged will bear out this statement: Chickamauga, Stone River, Missionary Ridge, Orchard Gap, Resaca, Dal- ton, Snake Creek, Peach Tree Creek, Ebenezer Church, Buzzard's Roost, Kenesaw Mountain, siege of Atlanta, Lovejoy Station, Jonesboro, Nashville, Gravelly Spring, Tuscaloosa, Selma, Montgomery, Columbus and Macon, Ga. At Selma he was in Wilson's Cavalry, and it is said that this is the only recorded instance of a strictly cavalry force attacking a fortified city. At Ma- con, Ga., he was encamped at the time that Jeff Davis was brought into the lines by his captors. In June, 1865, Mr. Ross returned to Illinois, and was honorably discharged in Springfield on the 7th of July.
For a year or more he lived on the old home- stead, assisting in the management of the place. and in February, 1867, became a traveling sales- man for a Geneseo (Ill.) agricultural implement company. In 1870 he established himself in the same line of business at Menlo, Iowa, and six years later removed to Grinnell, same state. where he dealt extensively in farm implements until the spring of 1880. At that time he entered into the employ of the Randolph-Hedder Com- pany, and traveled in its interests to all parts of the United States, save on the Pacific coast. He proved himself so valuable to the firm that, in 1881, he was sent to Russia, and in the vicinity of Odessa. the great center of the wheat-ship- ping district of that great empire, he succeeded in introducing the first farm machinery manu- factured by his house. In 1887 he became a resi- dent of Lyons, Kans., and from 1892 to 1898 traveled for the Plano Manufacturing Company. in the meantime frequently coming to various parts of Oklahoma. Impressed with the flour- ishing agricultural region, of which Enid is the natural center, he bought out the firm of Cun- ningham & Cropper, in 1900, and now is con- ducting one of the most extensive business houses in the territory. He continues to repre- sent many of the products of the Plano Manu- facturing Company, the Rock Island, Canton and Syracuse plows, and the Nichols & Shep- herd, and the Rumely threshing machines. He also carries a fine line of Racine (Wis.) carriages. and the Studebaker, the Mitchell and Charter Oak wagons. He is a member of the Implement Dealers' Association, of Kansas City.
JAMES P. MARSHALL, Enid.
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PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
Himself the owner of a Garfield county farm, and a firm believer in the future of the territory, Mr. Ross loyally supports local enterprises. He is an honored member of the Grand Army of the Republic, is a past officer of the Odd Fellows order, and belongs to the Encampment, and at Grinnell, Iowa, was initiated into Masonry.
In Can bridge, Ill., in 1868, the marriage of Mr. Ross and Miss Mary C. Audas, who was born in New York city, was solemnized. Their elder daughter, Mrs. G. B. Potwin, resides in Lyons, Kans., and the younger, Effie, is at home. F. M., the only son, whose home is in Wichita, Kans., is the general agent for Oklahoma and Southern Kansas of the Plano Manufacturing Company.
J AMES P. MARSHALL, a prosperous and thoroughly enterprising young merchant of Enid, is one of the native sons of Leaven- worth, Kans., where his father was an honored early citizen. His paternal grandfather, S. A., and his great-grandfather, Philetus, were natives of Massachusetts. The former, who was a suc- cessful dentist, practiced his profession in Pitts- burg, Pa., for several years, and in 1856 removed with his family to Leavenworth, Kans., making the long journey on the Ohio, Mississippi and Missouri rivers, as that was before the age of railroads in the west. The first dentist in the city mentioned, and for a long time the only one, he had something of a monopoly, and became in- fluential in the development of the place. He departed this life eleven years ago, and was sur- vived by his wife only four years. In her girl- hood she bore the name of Mary A. Reeder, and her father, a native of England, was a wealthy iron foundryman of Pittsburg, her birthplace. Dr. S. A. and Mary Marshall were the parents of ten children, two of whom are deceased. George W. is a merchant in Concordia, Kans .: Charles H. is a business man of Glasgow, Kans., and S. R., ex-mayor of Enid, is one of her most esteemed citizens (see his sketch, which appears elsewhere in this work). William F., who was a member of Company F, First Colorado Infantry, was killed in an engagement at Pigeon Ranch, N. M., his opponents being known as the Texas Rangers.
James P. Marshall, Sr., son of Dr. S. A. Mar- shall, was born in Kittanning, Pa., and grew to manhood in Leavenworth. During the Civil war he served in the state militia, at the time that Price was making his famous raids. For a wife he chose Ruth Houston, whose father, Dr. Levi llouston, served in the Federal army in the ca- pacity of a surgeon. He was one of the early settlers of Leavenworth, dating his residence
there from 1857, and until his death he continued in the practice of liis profession. For some time J. P. Marshall conducted a photograph gallery in Leavenworth, and later embarked in the grocery business. From 1887 to 1889 he was engaged in the real estate business at Wichita, Kans., and then removing to the vicinity of Winfield, Cow- ley county, Kans., he purchased eight hundred acres of land, situated in one body. This prop- erty is yet in the possession of the family. He was a member of the Masonic fraternity. He died in 1894 and is survived by his widow, who makes her home, as formerly, in Kansas. She was born near Bellefontaine, Ohio, and was young when she went to Leavenworth. Her son, Samuel Taylor, is engaged in farming in Kansas, and another son, Levi H., is in San Diego, Cal., where he is representing W. G. Fuller & Co.
James P. Marshall was born in Leavenworth, Kans., March 4, 1867, and spent his youth in that city. He obtained a liberal education in the gram- mar and high schools, and after completing his studies entered the employ of Garrigues & Co., a prominent lumber firm of the city. Remain- ing with that concern for seven years, the young man then accepted a position as traveling audi- tor of the Alexander Lumber Company, and, for the most part, his employment kept him in Okla- homa. In February, 1894, he took charge of the lumber yards owned by the firm at Enid, and continued as manager of the same until January, Igoo, when, in partnership with C. S. McClellan, he purchased the plant. The new business was duly incorporated under the present style, The Enid Lumber Company, with Mr. Marshall as president and treasurer and Mr. McClellan as secretary. The yard has a street frontage of one hundred and twenty-five feet, while it is one hun- dred and fifty feet deep. All kinds of lumber and building material are kept in stock, and owing to the integrity and enterprise of the firm the business is constantly increasing in volume. Mr. Marshall belongs to the Missouri and Kansas Lumber Dealers' Association, and year by year is rising in the esteem of the public. It is his in- tention to embark in the manufacture of brick also in the near future, and for some time he has been financially interested in the south side addi- tion to Enid.
The schools of Enid are conducted on modern lines and our citizens are justly proud of them. Mr. Marshall has contributed his due share to- ward their upbuilding, serving as a member of the school board as a representative of the fourth ward, and in his second term was secretary of the body. He is a charter member of the Commer- cial Club of Enid. is connected with the Wood- men of the World and the Hoo! Hoo! Club. In his political creed lie is a true-blue Republican.
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PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
The marriage of Mr. Marshall and Miss Eliz- abeth Noll took place in Leavenworth in 1889. She is a native of that city, and by her union is the mother of two daughters, Ruth and Octavia.
J. A. RYAN, M. D., possesses wide experi- ence as a practitioner and is accounted one of the most successful physicians of Okla- homa City, where he has engaged in practice since 1890. He is one of the enterprising spirits of the city, and by his connection with many public enterprises has done much to promote its general welfare.
Dr. Ryan was born near Decatur, Morgan county, Ala., December 28, 1856, and is a son of W. S. and Julia (Oden) Ryan. He comes of an old southern family, and his grandfather, who served in the Revolutionary war, was a promi- nent planter of Morgan county, Ala. W. S. Ryan was also a planter of that state until 1867, when he located in Paris, Tex., and became a farmer and stock-raiser. He followed that line of business until 1890, and then removed to Montague, Tex., where he was a merchant until his death in January, 1897. In religious attach- ment he was a member of the Baptist Church. His wife was born in Morgan county, Ala., and was a daughter of a planter of that place. They became the parents of twelve children, of whom eight survive, all but our subject making their homes in the Indian Territory or Texas. Wil- liam J., the oldest, served in an Alabama regi- ment during the Civil war, and now resides at Montague, Tex .; J. N., who received the degree of M. D. from the Kentucky School of Medi- cine, is engaged in practice at Sulphur Springs. I. T .; and G. L., who also received the degree of M. D. from the Kentucky School of Medicine, is practicing in Indian Territory.
J. A. Ryan was reared in Alabama until 1867, when he was taken by his parents to Paris, Tex., where he attended the public schools. From his earliest recollection it was his ambition to be- come a physician, and when he was eighteen years of age he entered upon the study of medi- cine under a cousin, Dr. Ryan, of Paris. He was the first of his family to take up that profession. but he was soon followed by two brothers. For one year he attended Missouri Medical College in St. Louis, and then entered the Kentucky School of Medicine in Louisville, Ky. After one term in that institution he became a student in the Hospital College of Medicine, and was grad- uated in 1887 with the degree of M. D. In the meantime, in 1877, he located at Leon, I. T .. where he was engaged in "saddle-bag" practice for a period of thirteen years, when not in at- tendance at school. In January, 1800, he settled in Oklahoma City and built a handsome resi-
dence on the corner of Fifth street and Harrison avenue.
Commencing in professional work, he soon had a leading practice, and now has well- equipped apartments in the McGlinchy building. He has been a continuous student. keeping thor- oughly informed in the rapid advancement be- ing made in medical science. In 1893 he took a course of study in the Chicago Polyclinic; in 1895 and 1897 studied in the Post-Graduate Col- lege of Chicago; and in 1900 took a course in the Post-Graduate Hospital, New York city. He has been exceedingly successful in surgery, and is surgeon for the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad, and for the St. Louis & San Francisco Railroad. Governor Renfrow appointed him a member of the Territorial Board of Health, and he was elected vice-president of the board, sery- ing one term. He is a member of the Oklahoma Territorial Medical Association; the Santa Fe Medical & Surgical Society, of which he was vice-president in 1898; and the North Texas and Indian Territory Medical Association, of which he was at one time president. Besides his other interests, he was one of the organizers and is a director of the Western National Bank. He owned a farm of one hundred and twenty acres adjoining the city, and gave ten acres of it to- ward the building of the St. Louis & Oklahoma City Railroad. Afterward he sold the balance of the farm, but still owns valuable property in Oklahoma City.
Dr. Ryan was married in Leon, I. T., to Alice Clark, a native of Missouri. They became the parents of four children: Lula, who attends Hardin College. in Missouri; Minnie and Ger- trude; and Alvin J., who was killed in 1889 by falling off the grand stand at Oklahoma City during the Fourth of July celebration of that year. Politically our subject is a Democrat. Fraternally he was made a Mason at Leon, and is now a member of Oklahoma City Lodge, A. F. & A. M.
J. B. ROLATER, M. D. : Prominent in the circles of the medical profession- in Okla- homa City since the time of the opening in 1889, Dr. Rolater has since enjoyed a successful practice, and ranks among the leading physi- cians of his portion of the territory.
Dr. Rolater is of German descent, but the family name has been Americanized. His father. John Rolater, was born in Deuford, Germany, sixty miles south of Frankfort, and was six- teen years of age when he came to this country. in 1829, with his father, who became a planter of South Carolina. In 1859 he removed to Cherokee county, Ala., where he was a planter until his retirement from active cares. He is
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PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
now eighty-seven years old, and resides at the home of our subject. His wife was Melissa Mc- Creary, of Scotch-Irish descent, and a native of South Carolina, being a planter's daughter. She died while on a visit in Texas in 1895. Eleven children blessed this home, of whom nine sur- vive. Nicholas served in the Civil war with the Nineteenth Alabama Regiment, and was killed in the siege of Atlanta. Edmund, who resides in Texas, served in the same regiment, and was wounded at Chickamauga. John, Jr., also lives in Texas.
J. B. Rolater was born January 10, 1861, in Cherokee county, Ala., and was reared in that county, where he attended the public schools. Ile was also a pupil in the IIearn Institute, of Cave Springs, Ga. In 1881 he took up the study of medicine under Dr. D. T. McCall, of Cave Springs, and in the following year entered the medieal department of Vanderbilt University, at Nashville, Tenn., from which he received the degree of M. D. in 1884. Opening an office at Rock Run, Ala., he continued there until 1886, when he removed to Rockwall, Tex. He prac- ticed in the latter town for three years, and in July, 1889, eame to Oklahoma City. Success at- tended his efforts from the start, and he now enjoys a very extensive general practice, in ad- dition to a large practice in surgery, of which he has made a specialty. Ever a student of his profession, in order to be perfectly familiar with the methods of modern practice, he took a course of study in the New York Polytechnic College during the years 1885, 1886 and 1887. That his efforts to perfect his knowledge of med- ical science have met with the appreciation of the citizens of Oklahoma City is evidenced by the extent of his practice. He is surgeon for the Choctaw Railroad, and is deeply interested in the building up of the city. He has his office in the Kuhlman Building, at the corner of Main and Robinson streets.
At Greenville, Fla., Dr. Rolater was united in marriage with Ida David, who was born at Cave Springs, Ga., and was graduated from the Fe- male Seminary. Dr. Rolater is a member of the American Medical Association. the Interna- tional Association of Railway Surgeons, the Oklahoma Medical Association and the Indian Territory Medical Association.
J. G. UNGER. Now practically retired from the active business cares and responsibili- ties which have occupied his time until quite recently, J. G. Unger, an esteemed citizen of Enid, is resting on his laurels, which are not few. and enjoying the fruits of his years of toil. One of the first to enlist in the defense of his
country, in her hour of peril, he devoted nearly five years of his prime to the Union cause, and throughout his life has been a true patriot, loy- ally standing by her institutions.
As his name implies, Mr. Unger comes of an old German family, his father, George Unger, having been a native of the great empire across the Atlantic. He came to the United States in early manhood, and thenceforth made his home in Philadelphia, where he plied his trade of shoe- making. Both he and his wife departed this life in the "Quaker" city, and three of their six chil- dren are deceased. George and John and J. G. were valiant soldiers in the Civil war and John was killed on a southern battle-field. George and a sister, Kate, also have passed to their re- ward.
J. G. Unger was born in Philadelphia April 16, 1837, and was reared in that city, attending the public schools in his youth. At the age of fourteen years he was apprenticed to the trade of a brass moulder, and mastered the business, after which, in 1856, he obtained employment at Burlington and Rock Island, on the Mississippi river. For three years he was in the service of the Northern Line and other companies owning steamers which plied the "Father of Waters," and made many a trip between Keokuk, Iowa, and St. Paul, Minn., and to New Orleans.
In May, 1861, Mr. Unger volunteered in Com- pany C, First Iowa Cavalry, being mustered into the Federal army at Burlington. His ser- vice was in the west, and among the battles in which he participated were Springfield, Mo., Prairie Grove, Van Buren, Ball Bluffs, Little Rock and Camden, Ark., Independence, Mo., and others. He veteranized and remained in the ranks, aiding in the work of reconstruction in the southwest after the close of the war, and being mustered out at Austin, Tex., March I. 1866, after four years and nine months of army life.
Returning to Burlington, Iowa, Mr. Unger devoted several years to the business of bridge building, erecting both county and railroad bridges at different points in the west. For a period he lived at Hannibal, Mo .. and in 1870 located in St. Joseph, Mo., returning to Burling- ton four years later. In 1879 he took up his residence in Newton, Kans., and six years later engaged in a mercantile business at Garden City. same state. He officiated as a member of the city council of that place for five years and be- came prominent in local affairs. In November. 1893. he removed his stock of goods to Enid. and embarked in the grocery business, which he continued to supervise until June. 1898, when he sold out and retired. For some time he has been interested in the buying and selling of grain and various other local enterprises. He built a com-
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