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. 2 > Part 15
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Presbyterian Church, and both are held in high regard by all who know them.
H ARVEY SETH BONNELL. No man in Logan county has been more closely iden- tified with its growth along certain lines than has Harvey S. Bonnell. From his intro- duction into the territory of the first stcam thresher used here to facilitate the work of the farmers, to his persistent stand as to the erec- tion of a schoolhouse for the instruction of the rising generation, he has shown an enthusiasm and enterprise in harmony with the constantly increasing demands of a growing territory.
The early days of Mr. Bonnell were spent in. Franklin, Lee county, Iowa, where, he wa's born October 22, 1859. His parents were James H. .. and Rachel (Buffington) Bonnell. He acquired a fair education in the district schools of his county, as well as an accurate knowledge of the best way to conduct a farm. When twenty years of age he started out for himself and rented land of his father for the first year, and engaged in general farming. In 1881 the confines of an agricultural life seemed to him circumscribed. and he found vent for his ambition in the gold- fields of New Mexico. After a year of this ex- periment he returned to Lee county, where he married Minnie Vornkahl, a native of that county.
Mr. Bonnell's next venture was in Lincoln, Neb., where he combined his agricultural inter- ests with the selling of pumps and wind-mills, which, however, did not come up to expecta- tions from a financial standpoint, and was dis- continued after a seven years' trial. He subse- quently made the famous run on the territory of Oklahoma in April of 1889, and was keenly dis- appointed at not getting the title to a claim. Of short duration was this streak of ill fortune, for in May of the same year he bought the property on which he now resides for the small sum of $20. Almost from the beginning of the settling of the lands he introduced his steam thresher. which took its labor-saving, expeditious way from claim to claim, attended by such results as come from an opportunity recognized and made the most of. The labor incident to escorting the thresher around the country took him from home often; in fact, he was away most of the time during seven years, and his brave wife slept alone on their claim, unprotected, for the nearest neighbors were necessarily remote and impossible of ready communication.
The necessity of erecting a schoolhouse in the vicinity appears to have been the bugle call for the opening of hostilities on a broad and comprehensive scale, and, pending the solution of the various problems involved as to location.
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cost and other incidentals, taxes, politics, religion or crops were of secondary consideration. So cy- clonic did the controversy become that for a time the territorial mind was threatened with intellectual non-expansion. The matter was finally adjusted to the satisfaction of all con- cerned, Mr. Bonnell in the meantime having, with others, fought an injunction, and subscribed more money than any one else. In return he was permitted to name the new seat of learning, which he appropriately designated Victory, to commemorate the return of the combatants to a peaceful, agricultural existence.
Mr. Bonnell was further interested in a saw- mill, and conducted his enterprise in various parts of the country. A cotton gin was also placed in operation at Clarkson in 1896, and re- moved to Mulhall after a year, where it was alone as far as other institutions of the kind were con- cerned. Mr. Bonnell's claim is located on the southeast quarter of section 4, township 17, range I, Logan county. In 1900 he purchased and placed in operation the largest threshing engine in the county, having twenty horse- power.
The political affiliations of Mr. Bonnell are with the Republican party all the time, but he has no aspirations as to official positions. He is a charter member of Mistletoe Lodge No. 21, K. of P., at Mulhall.
A. NICODEMUS, the junior member of the well-known law firm of Fisher & Nicode- mus, of Norman, is the present efficient prosecuting attorney of Cleveland county. His life has been devoted to labors wherein wealth and influence avail little. the measure of success depending upon the mentality, intelligence and broad culture of the individual, and through his own well-directed efforts he has arisen to a posi- tion of prominence in the legal fraternity.
Mr. Nicodemus was born June 1, 1857, on a farm near Colfax, Jasper county, Iowa, not far from Des Moines, and is a son of Jacob and Nancy (Wiggins) Nicodemus, the former a na- tive of Pennsylvania, of German descent, the latter born in Ohio, of English extraction. His paternal grandfather was born in Maryland, and from that state removed to Pennsylvania at an early day. In 1851 the father migrated to Iowa, and entered a tract of government land near Colfax, which he has since converted into a good farm, it being his home at the present time. There the wife and mother died. She was twice married, and by the first union had three chil- dren, none of whom is now living. Nine children blessed the second marriage, and seven of the number are still living. our subject being the fifth in order of birth.
On the home farm Mr. Nicodemus grew to manhood, and the education he acquired in the public schools of the neighborhood was sup- plemented by a course at Mitchellville Seminary. On attaining his majority he engaged in teaching school for three years, and later was graduated from Pierce Commercial College at Keokuk. Iowa. He then entered the law department of the University of Iowa, where he was graduated with the degree of LL. B., in 1884, and was licensed to practice before the state and supreme courts. Soon after his admission to the bar in 1884 he opened"an office in Plainville, Rooks county, Kans., where he engaged in practice two years. The following year was passed in Larned, Kans., and from there he went to Ben- tonville, Ark., and in 1891 to Purcell, I. T., re- moving to Lexington, Okla., in. 1893. During all these years he devoted his attention to the practice of law. In 1896 he was elected prose- cuting attorney of Cleveland county on the Democratic ticket, receiving a plurality of one hundred and eighty-one, and so acceptably did he fill the office that he was re-elected in 1898. his present term expiring on the Ist of January, 1901. He has had charge of many important cases, including the prosecution of Sloat, who was convicted of manslaughter, having killed two Indians; and also the prosecution of Frank Smith (for the murder of Ed. L. Cotney), who was convicted and sent to the penitentiary for life. In January, 1900, he formed a partnership with A. W. Fisher, and the firm is now enjoying a large and lucrative practice. They are lawyers of recognized ability and are energetic and reli- able business men, whose success in life has been worthily achieved. In politics Mr. Nicode- mus is a stanch Democrat, and in his social rela- tions is a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen, and Grand Master Workman of Ok- lahoma and Indian Territory.
In Plainville, Kans., he married Miss Iva Weeks, a native of Marion, Iowa, and they have become the parents of five children, namely: Earl W., Carlisle, Winona, Laura May and Lot- tie.
G EORGE D. HAWORTH, a progressive farmer of Canadian county, who takes an active interest in the development of the community, lives upon his farm, occupying the southwest quarter of section 25, township 13. range 7 west, his postoffice being at El Reno.
Mr. Haworth was born in Marion county, Iowa, December 19, 1853, and is a son of S. A. and Lavina (Newman) Haworth, natives, re- spectively, of Tennessee and Ohio. His parents went to Indiana when young, where they were married and lived for one year afterward. They
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C. H. CRADDOCK, M. D .. McLoud.
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went from there to Marion county, Iowa, and lived there until 1872, when they moved to Wayne county, Iowa, their present home. The father, now a retired farmer, lives in Promise City.
The boyhood days of Mr. Haworth were spent upon the home farm, and he received fair advan- tages in the public schools and in Garden Grove College, in Decatur county, Iowa. On start- ing out for himself he made a lease of eighty acres of raw land for a term of years, and after .. improving and living upon the place for five years he purchased the tract, but later sold it. The next purchase that he made consisted of eighty acres, which he improved and lived upon for a number of years. March 3, 1889, he was united in marriage with Clara Steiner, of Har- vard, Wayne county, Iowa, who is a daughter of P. W. and M. W. (Switzer) Steiner. Her par- ents were born in Wayne county, Ohio, and went to Iowa in 1856. In 1890 Mr. Haworth sold his farm and in 1891 came to Oklahoma, buying the claim where he now lives. He has made good improvements, including substantial buildings and a good orchard.
Mr. and Mrs. Haworth have one child, Holly Glen, who was born on the home farm, Febru- ary 24, 1893. Reared a Democrat, Mr. Haworth cast his first presidential vote for Samuel Tilden in 1876. During his residence in Iowa he was assessor and collector of his township, but re- signed both positions when he moved to Okla- homa. He has served as a delegate to conven- tions almost every year, both in Iowa and Oklahoma. In 1897 he served as secretary of the territorial central committee. In Corydon. Towa, he became a member of Lodge No. 103, I. O. O. F.
C HARLES H. CRADDOCK. M. D. Few of the residents of McLoud have been so closely identified with the mercantile and professional growth of their adopted town as has Dr. Craddock. In the broadest sense of the word he is a self-made man, and the prominent position now occupied by him is the result of untiring application to the profession of which he is an able exponent. and the exercising of the characteristics which go to make up ad- mirable citizenship. To the majority, the suc- cessful building of a large and lucrative practice would be sufficient outlet for their energies, but Dr. Craddock has extended his abilities to va- rious enterprises, which include the drug. furni- ture and mercantile business, all of which have been gratifyingly successful. As proof of this assertion, the doctor owns a large portion of the town site and several business buildings. Mong the lines of his profession he has met with
a large degree of appreciation, entirely merited by his conscientious and painstaking methods, and his devotion to the best tenets of a great calling.
On his father's farm near Henderson, Ky., Dr. Craddock was born, October 9, 1851, and is a son of J. H. and Ann (Slaton) Craddock. The early educational facilities were rather lim- ited, and it may be said that the greater part of his education was the acquirement of later years, and of a maturely concentrated mind. After leaving the home surroundings he engaged in in- dependent farming for a time, and for some years served as deputy sheriff. In search of a perma- nent and satisfactory location, he removed to the west in 1882, and located in the Choctaw Nation, Indian Territory .. There he conducter1 a mercantile business and also had stock inter- ests.
When eighteen years of age, Mr. Craddock had decided to devote his ability to a mastery of the science of medicine, but in the intervening years had departed from that intention. An in- terest was revived in 1888, possibly because he had in the meantime accumulated some money, which enabled him to enter college. For a year he attended the Kentucky School of Medicine, and then began to practice in the Indian Terri- tory, with a certificate from the national board. In 1899 he returned to the school, from which he was graduated in June of the same year. He then continued his former practice in the Indian Territory, and in 1896 took up his permanent residence in McLoud.
A Democrat in national politics. Dr. Craddock is interested in all of the undertakings of his party, but has no time to devote to local office. Fraternally, he is associated with the Independ- ent Order of Odd Fellows. the Masons and the Knights of Pythias. He was united in marriage October 4, 1899, with Margaret Stone, of Hen- derson, Ky.
W ILLIAM F. COMBS, who has been a citizen of Oklahoma since the opening, is located on a farm in the southwest quar- ter of section 22, township 13. range 7 west. Canadian county.
Mr. Combs was born in Bureau county. Ill .. December 27, 1846, and is a son of Jefferson L. and Jane G. (Swan) Combs. He was eight years old when his father moved to Nemaha county, Neb., of which he was one of the pioneer settlers. The latter pre-empted a farm in 1855. and died there in 1864. His wife survived him fifteen years, dying in Peru, Neb., in 1879. There our subject grew to man's estate and attended the district schools. He entered the Normal School at Peru when that institution was first
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opened, but as his services were required on the farm he attended but one term at that time, although a couple of years later he attended for three or four terms in succession, and later studied in McGee College, of Macon, Mo .. for one year. He began teaching country school in Atchison county, Mo., and continued for three years.
During this time he was married, June 8, 1875, to Miss Marinda Seymour, who was born in Atchison county, and is a daughter of John and Jane (Young) Seymour. She was a pupil in the school taught by Mr. Combs. In 1876 he moved to Craig, Mo., where he was employed in a lumber yard for three years, two years of the time serving in the capacity of manager. He then became manager of a lumber yard at Fairfax, Mo., and after a period of seven months he, in company with Mr. Koons, bought the business. They conducted it in a successful manner for three years, when our subject sold out to his partner and moved to Barber county. Kans., where he pre-empted a claim. For three years he farmed there, but during that time met his Waterloo, financially, losing all he had but a couple of hundred dollars, eighteen head of cattle and heifers, and two teams. Thinking he could retrieve his fortunes, he drove through to Texas, and lived in the Panhandle country a few years, after which, leaving his farm in the care of his wife and sons, he went to Higgins and engaged in the lumber business, with fair success.
At the opening of Oklahoma, April 22, 1889, he made the run and secured a claim. Five weeks later his wife and children joined him, and our subject and his wife's father built a room fourteen feet square, in which the family lived a few months, and then built an addition. Having five children in the family, they were pressed for room, and the children were obliged to sleep in the garret. The household goods were late in arriving and they had to drive to Oklahoma City for them, a distance of thirty- three miles. He had two milch cows when he arrived, but both died soon afterward. His lum- ber was shipped from Higgins, Tex., hauling it from Oklahoma City to Reno City, where he carried on the lumber business for five years. In the meantime his wife and sons kept up the farm. He now has a finely improved property and has met with good results in his farming.
Mr. and Mrs. Combs have six children. Marion L., who was born at Craig, Mo., and is engaged in teaching, married Nannie Palmer and. lives near Weatherford. Okla .; Orta [ .. born at Craig, Mo., married Josie Brown, and lives near his father; Raymond, born in Fairfax. Atchison county, Mo., died at home, March 20. Igco; Alice, born in Barber county, Kans,, lives
at home; Edith was born in Higgins, Tex .; and William was born on the home farm. Mr. Combs was reared a Republican and voted first for Grant in 1868, but has been a Populist since coming to Oklahoma. In 1896 he was the candidate on the Populist ticket for register of deeds, but was defeated. He was reared in the Methodist Church, of which he was a member for many years, but he and his wife now hold membership in the Congregational Church at Darlington, of which he is a deacon.
T HOMAS F. BLAIR, agriculturist, is loca- ted on the southeast quarter of section 11, township 17, range 2 west, Logan county. He was born in Center township, Guernsey county, Ohio, January 30, 1848, and is a son of James and Martha (Disellums) Blair. His father was a native of County Antrim, Ireland, and when a youth received a fine education, which he turned to good account as a teacher. When twenty-one years old he came to the United States, settled in Guernsey county, and com- bined the occupations of teaching and agricul- ture.
When Thomas Foy Blair was four years old his father died. His mother married again, and the boy was given a home by one of her step- sons. In a short time they moved to Kansas, where the little fellow was put to work at herd- ing cattle and also given an opportunity to ac- quire a fair education in the district schools. The foster father seems to have been a good student of human nature and to have known how to make the boy's somewhat lonely condition as desirable'as possible. From the first the lad re- ceived compensation for services rendered, and at the age of twenty-one years had accumulated a little fortune of between five and six hundred dollars. Thus equipped he decided to start out on his own resources, and, as a preliminary, was married in Bourbon county, Kans., to Adeline Cissna, who had been a school teacher previous to her marriage. She was born in LaPorte county, Ind., near New Carlisle, and is a daugh -. ter of Joseph and Phoebe (Miller) Cissna, na- tives, respectively, of Michigan and Indiana. John, father of Joseph Cissna, came from France about the close of the eighteenth century.
In 1882 Mr. Blair moved to Cowley county. Kans., and purchased two hundred acres of land. upon which he lived until 1889, when, having sold his land, he took up his residence in Okla- homa. He was fortunate in securing a good claim, which he has since industriously im- proved, until it is at the present time one of the best in the vicinity. He has excellent barns. house, and outbuildings, two wells, and a spring. In addition to general farming he has realized
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considerable profit from the sale of Shorthorn cattle.
Mr. Blair's political affiliations are with the . Republican party. Although not an office- seeker, he has, nevertheless, held severai im- portant official positions, including that of school director and justice of the peace, to which last office he was elected in 1898. He is a member of Burden Lodge No. 88, A. O. U. W., of Cow- ley, and was a charter member in Bourbon county, and has filled all of the chairs of the order.
There have been ten children born to Mr. and Mrs. Blair, of whom seven are living: Ralph, who is a farmer, is married to Lammie Blanch- ard, and has one child. The other living children are: Joseph, Pearl, Elsie, Alta, Jessie and Ira. The second, Luana, and the third, Gertrude M., died in infancy and at eight years old, respect- ively. Raymond, the fifth, died at the age of six months.
J. H. MYERS, who is proprietor of one of the largest manufacturing plants in Okla- homa, is engaged in the manufacture of sash, doors, window frames, etc., in Oklahoma City, taking rank among the leading business men of that place. Mr. Myers was born in Pe- oria, Ill., July 4, 1860, and comes of an old Penn- sylvania family of German extraction. His grandfather, Capt. John Myers, was born in Pennsylvania, and was a blacksmith in Philadel- phia, where he died at the age of eighty-six years. He served as captain in the war of 1812, and his anvil and the sword that he carried in the war are now in the possession of our subject.
C. K. Myers, the father of our subject, was born in Philadelphia, and at an early day settled in Peoria, Ill., where he was manager of Hodges Harvester Company for over fifteen years. Pos- sessing inventive skill, he made some improve- ments to harvesters and headers, which are now in universal use. He has a patent on a header which not only cuts and reaps, but threshes as well, and from this he receives a royalty. He now lives, retired from active labors, on a fruit farm in Stockton, Cal. He married Lucy Mon- roe, who was born in Fairfax county, Va., and was a cousin of President James Monroe. She died March 13, 1900, in Indianapolis, where she had gone with the hope of benefiting her health. Six children were born to their union, five of whom survive. One of these. Richard. is an en- gineer on the Santa Fe extension from Guthrie to Stillwater, Okla.
J. H. Myers was reared in Peoria, Ill., where he received a public and high school education. During his vacations he was employed in the harvesting works from the time he was eight
years old, and when eighteen he was employed there steadily. He learned to turn when he was so small he had to stand on a box to reach the machine. He continued with that company un- til 1882, when he became foreman of the Wichita planing mill at Wichita, Kans. After seven years there he went to Denver and accepted a position as foreman of the John Mount Lumber Com- pany, with which he was identified until August. 1892, when he came to Oklahoma City. He started the first planing mill and sash and door factory in the city, erecting a building on Hud- son, between Main and Grant streets, and con- tinuing at that location until 1899, when he built his present mill, 50x100 feet, on Second and Hudson streets. This mill he equipped with new planes, molders and saws, and arranged throughout in a manner which greatly facilitates the work, an important feature being the shaft- ing, which runs under the first floor. He manu- factures sash, doors, window frames, screens, church seats, brackets and moldings, and all kinds of turned work. The machinery is run by a steam engine of twenty-five horse power. He has been very successful in his work and has the largest factory of its kind in the territory.
Mr. Myers was married at Yukon, Okla., to Miss Katie Shulta, who was born in Chicago, Ill. They have one daughter, Helen Myers, and reside at Third and Hudson streets. Mr. Mvers is a member of the Hoo Hoo's. In politics he is an unswerving supporter of the Republican party.
S AMUEL CORN. In the history of Okla- homa Samuel Corn, deceased, is justly en- titled to an honored place, as he was one of the energetic pioneers of this locality, and was held in high esteem by all who knew him, here and elsewhere. His life was exemplary in every respect, and to his children he has left what is far better than wealth, an unblemished name and record.
The father of Samuel Corn was Ashford Corn. a native of Virginia, who, in childhood, removed with his family to Pickaway county, Ohio. There he made the acquaintance of, and married, Elmina Wheat, whose birth had taken place in France, and who had come to the United States when she was young, and, with her parents, had settled in Pickaway county.
Samuel Corn, born on the parental farm in the county just mentioned. April 23, 1833. was trained in the duties of a farmer, and when he reached his majority he left home and went to Macon county, Ill. There he bought land, which he continued to cultivate and improve until 1870. when he sold the property to good advantage. Hle then located near Oskaloosa, Jefferson
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county, Kans., and at the end of a decade he disposed of the farm which he had been engaged in managing there, and returned to Illinois. UI- timately he went back to Jefferson county, Kans., and during the next few years he bought and sold several homesteads, always making a snug little sum by the transactions. In this particular he was the most fortunate in the sale of a farm in Woodson county, as he ob- tained $7,coo for the place, which had cost him but $2,200. In 1891 he removed from his Jeffer- son county home to Oklahoma, and, buying the southeastern quarter of section 2, township 15, range 3, Logan county, he at once commenced making improvements upon the place, which then only had a one-room shanty. . In the course of time the results of his well-applied energy became apparent, as everything about the place showed the constant care which he bestowed upon each detail.
Mr. Corn was a noble exponent of the high principles of Masonry, and from the time that he was in his twenty-third year until his death he was an enthusiastic member of the fraternity. He was initiated into the lodge at Monticello, Ill., becoming a charter member of the same, and when he removed to Oskaloosa, Kans., he became a charter member of the Royal Arch chapter, and later he was one of the charter members of the lodge at Neosho Falls, Kans. In Oskaloosa he served his lodge as master and was a representative of the home lodge in the grand lodge of the state. At one time he was identified with the Illinois home militia, and, politically, he was an adherent of the Demo- cratic party. His long and useful life came to a close February 3, 1898, and his earthly remains were interred in the cemetery at Seward.
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