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 91
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The wife of our subject bore the maiden name of Lucy F. Smith, and their marriage was sol- eminized in Fulton county, Ind. Three daughters bless their union, Ruth and Kate being members of their household; while the first-born, Daisy, is now the wife of Isaac W. Alexander, who is the owner of a farmi in this neighborhood. He came to Oklahoma about the same time as did Mr. McCarter, but, after a period, went to the Cheyenne Nation. He returned, however, and now is numbered among the permanent and en- terprising young agriculturists of this county.
Mr. McCarter takes great interest in local af- fairs, and has served as a director and clerk of the board of education here. He is held in high regard by those who know him, and his word is considered as good as his bond. He has always voted the Democratic ticket, but sustains the present progressive administration of national af- fairs. He has been a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church more than a quarter of a cen- tury.
G I EORGE A. GARRISON. The traveler passing along the southeast quarter of sec- tion 22, township 18, range 3 west. Logan county, cannot fail to note the well-appointed homestead of George A. Garrison, which is con- spicuous for its pleasant location and the air of thrift and industry which surrounds it. Mr. Gar- rison landed in Oklahoma in the spring of 1889, with just $1.65 in his pocket-no stock, no farm- ing implements, and very few acquaintances to give him a helping hand. All that he sees about him is the result of his own industry and perse- verance, assisted by the industry and good judg- ment of his excellent wife. They are still in the prime of life and the midst of their usefulness. and their example should be an inspiration to all who are faint-hearted and backward about seeking to overcome obstacles.
A native of the Hoosier state, Mr. Garrison was born in South Bend. March 29. 1843, at the time when Indiana was first giving evidences of the importance to which it was destined to attain. He is the son of Lewis and Catherine (Mead) Garrison, who were natives, respectively. of New York and Ohio. The elder Garrison went to California in 1849 and never returned. The mother died in Indiana February 24. 1848. aged twenty-two years.
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Young Garrison remained with his grand- mother. Mrs. Hannah Mead, during his younger years. Having a talent for work with edged tools, he learned the carpenter's trade, which he followed, operating as a contractor in Misha- waka and Warsaw until the outbreak of the Civil war. Putting aside all worldly considerations. he decided to enlist in support of the Union.
He enlisted at South Bend in October, 1861, in Company F, Forty-eighth Indiana Infantry, and served as a private for four years and three months, until the close of the war. He was at Huntsville and Shiloh, marched with General Sherman to Vicksburg, in the Fifteenth Army Corps, which later became known as General Logan's corps; then, returning to Memphis, marched with Sherman to the sea. He had vet- eranized December 31, 1863, at Huntsville. Ala. At the close he was honorably discharged at Louisville, Ky., July 15, 1865.
Upon leaving the army Mr. Garrison returned to his home in Indiana and followed his trade. Meantime he had another very important matter in hand, which culminated in a wedding, his mar- riage taking place at Warsaw, Ind., January 4, 1870. The parents of Mrs. Garrison were Hon. Thomas and Jane (Nichols) Boydston, the for- mer a farmer and miller at Boydston's Mills, Ind., and a man of prominence, serving in nu- merous local offices of trust and filling the posi- tion of representative in the Indiana legislature for two terms.
Until the spring of 1887 Mr. Garrison contin- ued to make his home in Indiana. Removing from there to southwestern Kansas. he worked at his trade. On the opening of Oklahoma he was one of those who made the run to secure a claim. While he failed to secure a claim him- self, he induced another man to leave his land, and thus gained possession of what has proved to be a valuable estate. He was the original filer of the claim. Living frugally and working tirelessly. he effected one improvement after an- other. until we find him to-day well-to-do and a prominent citizen of his township. It is said that his farm is without doubt one of the best in Lo- gan county, and the taxes on his quarter are higher than those on any other quarter in the entire township. The first domicile of the family in Oklahoma was a very modest dwelling. 12x18 feet, and in this they made their home for six years. Afterward a neat house was erected. There are gradually being added all the appur- tenances of a modern country homestead. Good live stock are to be found on the farm. with suitable buildings for their accommodation.
In politics Mr. Garrison affiliates with the Re- publican party, the principles of which he has upheld ever since he cast his first presidential vote for General Grant. While he is not identi- fied with any church, he is in sympathy with re- ligious and philanthropic work, and his wife is connected with the Episcopal denomination. In his family there are two sons. Albert C. and Wil- liam Lloyd. The former, who is twenty-six years of age, enlisted in the Spanish-American war as a member of Company I. First Territorial Regi- ment of Oklahoma, and re-enlisted as a veteran
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at Fort Reno, in Company E, Thirty-third Regi- ment United States Volunteer Infantry. At this writing he is in the Philippine Islands and holds the rank of first duty sergeant. The younger son, who is eighteen years of age, is with his parents on the home farm.
C HARLES E. LANGE. Among the repre- sentative and popular agriculturists of Kingfisher county is Mr. Lange, who has had many years of experience in the tilling of the soil, and keeps abreast of all the latest im- provements in agricultural implements. He is a native of Prussia, Germany, born December 18, 1863, and is a son of William and Antonie (Frank) Lange, also natives of Prussia. Wil- liam Lange spent his life in Germany, and was a manufacturer of garden tools, turning out a large amount every year. He served one year in the army, and in 1848 was an officer in the war of the Revolution. He died at the age of fifty-four years. His wife, whose maiden name was Antonie Frank, bore him six children, as follows: William, who lives in Germany; Ed- ward, a miller and manufacturer of Denmark; Charles E., the subject of this biography: Louise, wife of Bernard Farwick. of Berlin; Mary, widow of Carl Burbach; and Dr. Hugo Lange, a physi- cian of Brooklyn, N. Y., and a graduate of Co- lumbia College.
Charles E. Lange received his education in Germany, and took a scientific course of farm- ing at the Agricultural college. In 1881 he left school and set sail for this country, settling in Milwaukee, Wis., where he worked at farm- ing and in nurseries for four years. In 1885 he went back to Germany to visit relatives, and re- mained there seven months. Returning to this country, he traveled in many states, looking for a suitable place in which to settle. He at last bought a farm in Ottawa county, Kans., and fol- lowed farming and cattle-raising for four years. In 1888 he made another trip to his native land, returning to this country in the spring of 1880.
In the fall of 1880 Mr. Lange came to his pres- ent claim in Kingfisher county, comprising the southwest quarter of section 15, Harrison town- ship. He returned to Kansas for the winter and in the following spring settled on his claim in Oklahoma, where he kept bachelor's hall for three years. During this time he made many improvements on the place, putting most of the land under the plow, setting out a vineyard and a good orchard of five hundred trees. In 1891 Mr. Lange built a house, 16x24 feet, which was then the best and largest in the county. Since then he has added greatly to his possessions. In 1896 he bought the northwest quarter of sec- tion 6, Lynn township; and eiglity acres adjoin-
ing his claim on section 15, and in the fall of 1899 bought the northwest quarter of section 27, Harrison township. At present he is owner of five hundred and sixty acres of land in Okla- homa, and one hundred and sixty acres in Ot- tawa county, Kans. He has made a specialty of wheat-raising, having from two hundred to three hundred acres. He also keeps from fifty to sixty head of cattle.
Mr. Lange returned to Germany in 1892, and was there united in marriage with Mary Mueller, whose father was August Mueller, a granite cutter and manufacturer of granite stones. Au- gust Mueller married Louise Zirzow, a descend- ant of the nobility of Germany, and whose grandfather, Count Zirzow, owned large estates in Germany. Our subject and his wife are the parents of two children, namely: Emil and Hugo. Mr. Lange is a Republican in politics, and takes an active interest in town affairs, hav- ing served one term as township treasurer. He was one of the organizers of the German Farm- ers' Mutual Fire and Tornado Insurance Com- pany, and is president of the same.
- JAMES HENRY McLEAN, an honored vet- eran of the Civil war, and a loyal, patriotic citizen of this great republic, is one of the practical farmers of Logan county. He is a na- tive of Waverly, Morgan county, Ill., his birth having occurred October 11, 1841, and eight years of his boyhood having been passed in the Prairie state. In 1849. when thousands of cager home-seekers and gold prospectors poured into the great west, the McLean family removed to Marion county, Iowa, and for twenty years gave their attention to the cultivation and develop- ment of a tract of government land which they homesteaded. The father, George W. McLean, was a native of Kentucky, while the mother, Elizabeth (Loudon) McLean, was born in Mis- souri, and their marriage took place in Morgan county, Ill.
As the eldest child. many burdens fell upon the shoulders of our subject at an early age, and he had but limited educational advantages. In 1862 he enlisted for three years in Company F. Fortieth Iowa Volunteer Infantry, and served chiefly in the Arkansas, Missouri and Kentucky campaigns. Though he took part in numerous skirmishes, he never was wounded nor cap- tured and never was in the hospital nor absent from his post of duty. In August, 1865, he was honorably discharged. having been mustered out at Fort Gibson. Cherokee Reservation, I. T.
Returning to Iowa. Mr. McLean resumed ag- riculture, and in 1867 went to Nemaha county, Neb., where he bought eighty acres of land. For twelve years he carried on that farm, and in
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18So sold his property, which he had greatly increased in value in the meantime. Then going to Jackson county, Kans., he purchased a quar- ter-section of land and for ten years made his home there. In December, 1890, he came to Oklahoma, which he liked so well that he bought his fine homestead, the southeast quarter of sec- tion 18, township 17, range I west. After mak- ing due provision for the needs of his family, he sent for them, and they have prospered and greatly enjoyed their sojourn here. The farm, which now embodies three-fourths of a section, is a model one, having a running creek and a good pond, four acres planted as an. orchard, substantial and comfortable house and barns, and an immense cistern, with a capacity of one hundred and forty barrels.
On the 16th of December, 1869, Mr. McLean married Mary J. Curry, of Richardson county, Neb. She was born in St. Clair county, Mo., and her father, William Curry, died during the Civil war, after which she accompanied her mother, Mrs. Martha (Renfro) Curry, to Ne- braska, in 1867. The elder son of Mr. and Mrs. McLean, John M., married Anna Lee, and has one child. Homer, the younger son, is unmar- ried, and aids his father in the management of the home farm.
Mr. McLean never has been an aspirant to political honors, and when, in Nebraska, he was elected to the office of justice of the peace, he re- fused to qualify. He was reared in the political faith of the Democratic party, but of late years has preferred to be wholly free from party lines, and votes independently. Fraternally he be- longs to Hartranft Post, G. A. R., at Guthrie.
D EXTER MEACHAM. The greater part of the youth of Mr. Meacham was spent as a cattle boy on the wide plains of the west, and there were probably engendered the broad and practical ideas which have been of such use to him in later years.
Born in Ossian, Wells county, Ind., in 1857. Mr. Meacham is a son of Thaddeus A. Meacham, who was born in Virginia December 16, 1815, and when quite a young man crossed the country to Ohio and married Lucinda Davis. of Jackson county, Ohio. After a few years of residence there he went to Ossian, Ind., but in 1860 moved his family to Logan county, Ill., and two years later to Sangamon county, Ill. For three years, during the war, he served from Logan county in the Union army in Company D, Illinois Vol- unteer Infantry. Subsequently he resided in Illi- nois until 1868, when he took his family to Saunders county. Neb., and homesteaded a claim on government land, which was the scene of his agricultural activity for fifteen years. Now, at
the age of eighty-five years, Mr. Meacham is quietly living in Saunders county, having re- cently spent the winter with his son Dexter in Oklahoma. Mrs. Davis died in Illinois in 1867 and left seven children, six of whom are living: Maude is the wife of William Howard, of Chi- cago, Ill .; Joseph is living in Nebraska; John is a druggist at Waukomis, Okla .; Dexter is living in Oklahoma; Elemuel is living in Nodaway county, Mo .; and Jeannette is the wife of Lewis Waldridge, of Chicago. Thaddeus A. Meacham was married a second time, his wife being Mrs. Philipina Rash, but of this union there are no children.
Until his eleventh year Dexter Meacham lived at Ossian,- Ind., and in Illinois, where he . dili- gently studied at the public schools and availed himself of all the business and agricultural op- portunities that came his way. When he started in to drive cattle on the trails through Kansas and the Cherokee strip (now Oklahoma), and the Panhandle region in Texas, he continued still further, going to Dakota, Colorado, Wyo- ming and the greater part of the wild west, his cattle-driving experience covering a period of seven years. At last, weary of his roving and unsettled existence, he located in Lyons county; Kans., on a rented farm, but finally purchased a farm in Kansas, which he later rented out, and engaged in a mercantile business in Topeka. Not content with the prospects opened before him in Kansas, he disposed of all of his interests there and went to Saunders county, Neb., where he bought eighty acres of land and farmed until I 888.
At this time Mr. Meacham took his family to the Panhandle region, Texas, where they lived until the opening of Oklahoma. Upon arriving in the newly opened territory. April 22, 1889, he succeeded the following day in locating a claim, which was filed May 13, after which he returned to the Panhandle country for his household goods and stock. In his absence the family lived in a little log house on the claim, 20x14 feet in dimensions, which they continued to oc- cupy until 1892. The first crops put in the broken ground consisted of corn and pumpkins. which were followed for several years by excel- lent corn crops. One hundred acres were put under the plow, a good orchard of four acres planted with trees, and in 1892 a house erected, 30x34 feet in dimensions.
In 1800 Mr. Meacham added to his posses- sions by the purchase of the northeast quarter of the same section on which he resided, and now owns three hundred and twenty acres of land, of which two hundred are under wheat cultiva- tion. He was married in 1880, at Topeka. Kans .. to Lydia Freeland, a daughter of John S. Free- land, of Topeka, who settled there in 1854. Mr.
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Freeland saw a great deal of wild western life, and participated in the border warfare to a large extent, and was captured during Price's raid. In the excitement a gun was handed to Mr. Freeland, with the request that he guard the pris- oners (his own comrades), while the rest of the Confederates went after another bunch of men. He had evidently been mistaken for a Confed- erate in the flurry, and it is needless to say Mr. Freeland and friends lost no time in beating a hasty retreat. To Mr. and Mrs. Meacham have been born four children: Claude, Raymond, May J. and Earl. Mr. Meacham is a Republican in politics, and has been active in local politics. In 1891 he was candidate for registrar of deeds, and he has been identified from the beginning of his residence in the territory with the work of the schools. In 1890 he collected a meeting of citi- zens at his home to arrange for the erection of a schoolhouse, which, when built, was the first of its kind in this part of the county. Since that time he has been a director on the school board. He is an enterprising and successful man, and commands the confidence and respect of all who are privileged to know him.
A UGUST MORAWETZ. Upon the claim in Kingfisher township, Kingfisher county, which was formerly the pride of August Morawetz, lives his widow, profiting by the re- sult of his long years of industry and improving her financial condition by making wine from the grapes that grow in luxuriance in the vineyard.
Of German and Bohemian parentage, his par- ents came to America in the early part of the century and settled in Illinois, when the father was a young man. In Bohemia he had studied for the priesthood, with the idea of devoting his life to the cause, but after coming to America he changed his views, and cast his fortunes with the German Methodist Church at Hannibal, Mo., where he died at the age of forty years. In St. Louis he married Elizabeth Carr, a native of Germany. To this couple were born five chil- dren, three of whom are living. The mother is still living on the old homestead at Hannibal, Mo. . There August Morawetz was reared and educated in the public schools. When opportu- nity offered he learned the butcher's trade, at the age of fifteen, and for several successive years operated in that line on quite a large scale, buying and selling stock and shipping to St. Louis.
On the famous April 22nd. 1889, he made the run, with others, in search of undeveloped land, and located on the northwest quarter of section 27 the same day, and the following day filed his claim. Owing to exposure incident to making the run from Buffalo Springs he contracted ma-
larial fever, and was obliged to return to his home in order to recuperate. The following May he returned and located on his claim, and spent the remainder of his busy life in improving and developing it. The farm has an orchard covering eight acres, on which the owner set out one thousand and six hundred fruit trees, besides which he had two hundred shade trees, and there are two thousand grape vines. To add to the convenience of irrigating, there is a two-acre lake. Mr. Morawetz carried on general farming and stock-raising, and, to utilize the beef slaugh- tered on the farm, ran a meat market in King- fisher. Of the grapes that grew in the vineyard he made wine, which he sold, and which became quite a source of revenue. In 1891 he further improved his property by erecting a very com- fortable and commodious house, fitted with all modern improvements. As the herds of cattle increased he was obliged to lease land for pas- ture.
Mr. Morawetz was unusually successful in all of his enterprises, and was one of the hardest working men in the township. He always at- tributed his good fortune to the able assistance of his wife, who proved herself a good manager and a worthy helpmate. Mrs. Morawetz was formerly Annie L. Richardson, of Hannibal, Mo., a daughter of Samuel Richardson, who is living in Kingfisher township, and who is a mil- ler by trade, having practiced his trade in Cham- bersburg, Pa., and Missouri. The home life of Mr. and Mrs. Morawetz was extremely happy. and he was devoted to his fireside and spent all of his leisure time within his home circle.
S WAN MARTIN. No foreign element has become a more important part in our Amer- ican citizenship than that furnished by Swe- den. The emigrants from that land have brought with them to the new world the stability, enter- prise and perseverance characteristic of their people, and have fused these qualities with the progressiveness and indomitable spirit of the west. In Mr. Martin, of Oklahoma City, we find a worthy representative of this class.
He was born near Christianstad. in Skaane, Sweden, June 9, 1862, a son of Aake and Ellen (Olson) Martinson, also natives of the same place, where the mother still resides. There the father owned and operated a farm until his death. Our subject's paternal grandfather followed blacksmithing as a life work, and the maternal grandfather, Ole Grip, served for many years as a soldier in the Swedish army. Our subject is the third in order of birth in a family of four children, the others being Aake, who resides on the old home farm; Hannah, also a resident of Sweden; and Peter, a farmer of Washington.
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GEORGE H. LAING, Kingfisher.
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PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
Swan Martin passed his boyhood and youth upon the home farm, and was educated in the national schools of Sweden. At the age of eight- een years he was apprenticed to a carriage maker in Christianstad, where he remained three years, and, after serving for a time in the Swedish army as an artilleryman, he went to Stockholm, and later to Helsingfors, working at his trade in both places. In 1887 he went to Copenhagen, Den- maik, where he was similarly employed until his emigration to America in August, 1889. Land- ing in Quebec, Canada, he proceeded at once to Fargo, N. Dak., where he remained five months, and then removed to Salina. Kans., where he worked at carriage making until the spring of 1893. He next found employment at his trade in Kansas City, Mo., where he remained until coming to Oklahoma City in December, 1893. After working for others for two years, Mr. Mar- tin formed a partnership with Mr. Buechser, and under the firm name of Oklahoma Carriage Works they have since engaged in business, manufacturing all kinds of carriages and wagons and doing general repair work. They occupy their entire building, which is 50x140 feet, and two stories in height, the first floor being used for wood-work and blacksmithing. and as a re- pository in front, and the second floor for trim- ming, painting, etc. In the past two years their trade has more than doubled, and they now do the most extensive business of any company in their line in the territory. As a business man Mr. Martin is energetic, enterprising and reli- able, and in his undertakings he has met with well-deserved success. Besides his city property he now owns eighty acres of farming land in Oklahoma township, four and a half miles north- east of the city, which is well improved. On taking out his naturalization papers he changed his name from Martinson to Martin, for con- venience. He is independent both in politics and religion, and is an honored member of the City Club.
G I EORGE H. LAING, a distinguished mem- ber of the Kingfisher bar, has frequently been honored with official positions of responsibility and trust. He has taken an in- portant part in public affairs wherever he has dwelt, and is recognized as a leading factor in the Republican party. Standing for progress in every direction, he has been a strong champion of free homes and statehood for Oklahoma, has supported schools and local enterprises and, to the best of his ability, meets every obligation of citizenship.
To those who know him it is not a matter of surprise to learn from what patriotic stock Mr. Laing is descended. The Laing family is an old
one in Inverness, Scotland, of the stanch old Presbyterian denomination. His grandfather, Alexander Andrew Laing, was born in the Isle of Skye, whence he removed to Edinburgh. He owned a large stock farm, known as Comely Bank, situated three miles from the capital. For years he was noted in that locality as a breeder of fine Galloway and Polled-Angus cattle.
Col. George Alexander Laing, a native of Edinburgh, was a member of the celebrated Forty-second Highlanders in the Crimean war, and served throughout that campaign as captain of a company. He participated in the hard- fought battles of Inkerman and Alma, and for his distinguished gallantry at the last-named engagement was subsequently awarded the Vic- toria cross. After retiring from the army he be- came the proprietor of Comely Bank, where he departed this life in 1873. His wife, Georgiana Isabel, was born in Edinburgh, and died in 1871. Her father, Peter Brash, an architect and super- intendent of construction, also came of an old Edinburgh family.
Born in Edinburgh, December 11, 1862, George H. Laing was orphaned at a tender age. His brother, John A., is first-lieutenant of the Seventeenth Punjav Light Infantry in the In- dian service of the British army. Mary Louise. their only sister, died in Edinburgh eight years ago.
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