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 25
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T OM THORNTON, who has one of the best and most highly improved farms in Cleve- land county, has risen to his present place of prominence among the agriculturists of Okla- homa by sheer force of well-applied energy and an intelligent understanding of the best way to conduct a farm.
Mr. Thornton was born in Scott county, Miss., January 8, 1861, and is a son of George A. Thornton, who removed to Grayson county, Tex., in the fall of 1869, and who is at the pres- ent time one of the leading men of the commu- nity. He was born in 1821, and is still robust and capable, and takes his old-time interest in matters of progress and development. He is a moral and upright man, and for over forty years has been a deacon in the Baptist Church. Fra- ternally he has been active in all things pertain- ing to the Masonic order, having joined that organization when twenty-one years of age. During the Civil war he served his cause with courage and distinction as a member of the Confederate army. His ancestors came originally from Ireland, and associated themselves with the early history of Alabama. Mr. Thornton mar- ried Martha Mathews, a native of Carroll county, Miss., who became the mother of ten children.
Tom Thornton was reared in Grayson county, Tex., until his nineteenth year. A large part of
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his life has been spent on the plains and in the cattle business. In 1880 he went to the Comanche Indian country and was employed on a cattle ranch for eighteen months. He then removed to the Cheyenne and Arapahoe country, sixty-five miles northwest of Anadarko, and lived on a ranch until 1884. A later venture was at White Bead Hill, I. T., where he lived on Thompson's cattle ranch until 1897, meantime having large responsibilities and managing many cattle. He built the first hotel at Paoli, I. T. (which was quite a commodious affair of sixteen rooms), and conducted a successful business in connec- tion with the management of a large cattle farm. He had seven hundred and fifty acres of culti- vated land, four thousand acres of pasture and three thousand head of cattle.
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In 1897 Mr. Thornton bought from W. H. Blackwell the farm in Lexington township upon which he is now living, and which at the time had very few improvements. His family came the same winter, and he at once began the erec- tion of the residence now occupied by them, and which is one of the best in the county. The farming industry was commenced in 1898, and there is to-day one hundred and sixty acres un- der cultivation. He also raises a large herd of cattle . and does an extensive stock business. There is a good orchard connected with the farm, also a vineyard, and the buildings and improve- ments are modern and labor-saving. Although it has few equals and no superiors in the county, the farm is continually being brought under a higher degree of cultivation, for the watchword of the enterprising owner is progress. With this in view, his entire time is devoted to the farm, which is a fine and profitable investment.
The marriage of Mr. Thornton and Sallie B. Harris occurred in 1880. Of this union there are no children, but Mr. and Mrs. Thornton have given vent to their kindness of heart by adopting two orphan boys, one since his seventh year and the other when a babe. In national politics Mr. Thornton is affiliated with the Democratic party, and, though interested in its issues and under- takings, has never been an office-seeker. He is regarded as a valuable addition to the many who have sought better conditions in the territory and is esteemed for his liberality of thought and general tendency to progressiveness.
J. L. ROBERSON. In the estimation of those best qualified to judge of his ability and legal attainments, Mr. Roberson takes high rank as an exponent of the only exact and tin- changing science. Those who have profited by his skill and judgment assert that he will some day be among the foremost representatives of the law in Oklahoma.
A native of Jefferson county, Ill., Mr. Rober- son was born in 1855, and educated in the com- mon schools of his county. At the age of six- teen he had qualified as a teacher and received a certificate, but still continued his pursuit of knowledge at Enfield Academy, in White county, Ill. As a school teacher he attained success in McDonough county, and continued his efforts from 1875 until 1882. After this term of service in the same locality he removed to Wayne county, Iowa, and entered upon the study of law with W. F. Howell, a leading attorney there. To defray his expenses he taught school during the winters until 1884; and thus saved enough money to carry on his studies in the Iowa City Law School.
In the spring of 1884 Mr. Roberson located in Orleans, Neb., as a possible future field for the practice of his profession, and remained there until the opening of the Cherokee strip in 1893. While living in Orleans he attained to consid- erable prominence in the community and exerted a special influence in the political affairs of the locality. In 1886 he was a candidate for county attorney of Harlan county, Neb., and was de- feated by only seventeen votes, in a county where the opposing Republican party had a ma- jority of eight hundred votes. For one term he served as mayor of Orleans, and was town attor- ney for three years.
Mr. Roberson wisely foresaw the possibilities of the newly opened strip, and was one of the first to recognize the particular advantage of a residence in Newkirk. His immediate concern has been a general law practice, and outside in- terests have added largely to his responsibilities. For two years he served as city attor- ney and was for four years a member of the school board. As a candidate for probate judge of Kay county he participated actively in the rigors of the campaign of 1900, and stumped the county in an enthusiastic and convincing manner, and is contesting the elec- tion at this writing. With the various fraternal societies Mr. Roberson is prominently connected, and is a member of the Masonic order, having joined the organization in Iowa in 1882. He is also associated with Lodge No. 27. I. O. O. F .: the Ancient Order of United Workmen, at Or- leans, Neb .; the Woodmen of the World, the Fraternal Aid and the Modern Tontics.
In 1885 occurred the marriage of Mr. Rober- son and Edith M. Feninger, and of this union there have been two children, Frank A. and Au- gusta M. Mr. Roberson is the highest type of the self-made man. His parents were poor and unable to provide the education which his nature desired, and he was obliged to depend entirely upon the assistance which his own perseverance and ability brought within his reach. In his
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adopted town he has erected a commodious and comfortable residence, and owns a building on the north side of the public square. Such men constitute the bulwarks of the social, commer- cial and professional world, and richly deserve the patronage and recognition which is readily accorded them.
A DAM BROWN, a well-to-do farmer of Ca- nadian county, is located on the southwest quarter of section 26, township 13, range 6 west, his postoffice being Frisco. Mr. Brown was born in Clermont county, Ohio, August 23, 1849, and is a son of Adam and Elizabeth Brown. He was reared in Milford, where his father carried on the cooper's trade meantime. He received a common-school education, and also attended a seminary between the ages of nine and seven- teen. Beginning to work in his father's shop, he served an apprenticeship, without pay, until he learned the business, and then received wages until he was nineteen years old. At that time he went to California by ocean steamer from New York City, being twenty-five days on the voyage to San Francisco. He next went to British America on a sailing vessel, which con- sumed twenty-five days in the voyage. For three months he worked in a logging camp in Wash- ington Territory, and later spent a month in California, returning east via the ocean.
Soon after his return home, December 20, 1870, Mr. Brown married Catherine P. Garland, who was born in Clinton county, Ohio, and is a daughter of Benjamin F. and Maria (Reybolt) Garland. Shortly afterward Mr. Brown started a shop of his own in Clermont county, and car- ried on business there for seven years, with good results. He purchased a farm of seventy- four acres, which he cleared and lived upon for three years, then sold out and moved to Harper county, Kans. There he bought wild land to the extent of eighty acres, upon which he made his home from April to October. After this he moved to Ford county, in western Kansas, and purchased three hundred and fifteen acres of wild land, which he improved. However, not being able to raise any crops, he sold the property for $125, after he had expended a small fortune upon it.
At the opening of Oklahoma Mr. Brown made the run from the west line, locating his present claim on the morning of the 23d of April. He filed on the land and remained thirty days, when he went back to Kansas and was taken sick because of exposure. He was ill all summer and had not fully recovered when he moved here with his family in October. They camped in a wagon for ten days, after which he built a room 12x16 feet at a cost of $24. They lived in
that without a floor until spring, when he laid a floor, and the next fall put a shingle roof on the house. The year after he built an additional room and was favored with excellent crops. He now has a fine orchard of seven hundred trees and a good grove of black locust trees. He has prospered and purchased an additional one hun- dred and sixty acres on the southeast quarter of section II.
Mr. Brown and his wife are the parents of eight children: Garland, who was born in Cler- mont county, Ohio; A. Truman, who lives near his father, and was also born in Clermont county; Florence, Zenas, Walter O., Eunice, Mabeth and George, born in Gray county, Kans. Mr. Brown cast his first vote for Grant in 1872, and was a Republican until the silver issue arose. He and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, in the works of which they are deeply interested.
J. H. DECKER. Although the period of his connection with the commercial and polit- ical history of Oklahoma is comparatively brief, Mr. Decker has already won a wide ac- quaintanceship and has gained a reputation for keen judgment and uprightness of character. He is at the head of the mercantile house of J. H. Decker & Co., of Pond Creek, his partners in the business being his sons, J. F. and Otho F. In addition to maintaining a general oversight of this industry, he gives considerable attention to public affairs, and is now a member of the territorial legislature, representing the twenty- first district, to which position he was elected on the Republican ticket in the fall of 1900.
In New York City, in 1847, Mr. Decker was born to the union of John I. and Martha (Deck- lin) Decker, natives of New York. His early years were prolific of adventure. When fifteen years of age he ran away from home and went into the army, enlisting in Company A, Eighty- ninth Illinois Infantry, at Chicago, and partici- pating in many of the severe battles of the war. He was in the thick of the fight at Missionary Ridge, Lowden (Tenn.), Strawberry Plains, New Market, Mossy Creek, Dandridge, and in the · engagement at Sherman's Camp, which waged hot and furious for twenty days. On the night of May 27 he was captured in front of New Hope Church, after a battle which left one thou- sand of his division dead on the field. While lying unconscious on the ground from the effects of a bursting shell, he was captured by the enemy. Taken to Andersonville, he was held there from May 27, 1864, until April 12, 1865, when he was released. He was honorably dis- charged July 25 of that year.
Notwithstanding his dreadful experiences of
MR. AND MRS W. W. ROWLAND, Waukomis.
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prison life, Mr. Decker returned home in fair health. In 1865 he married Frances C., daugh- ter of William and Mary Flansburg, of Henry county, Ill. Up to the time of his marriage his opportunities for acquiring an education had been meager, but he was ambitious and deter- mined to gain knowledge, therefore devoted himself to general reading whenever his farm duties would permit him so to do. In 1871 he removed from his farm to Wilton, Iowa, where he took a course of four years in Wilton Col- lege, graduating in 1875. After appropriate study, he entered the ministry of the Christian Church, and gave his time to the same until 1881, when, owing to a serious throat trouble, he was forced to abandon his work as a preacher. During the greater part of eleven years he made his headquarters at Hillsboro, Iowa. Going to Milan, Mo., he built a wagon and carriage factory and became a member of the firm of Decker & Roe, which manufactured wagons and carriages for six years. Meantime he was active in public affairs, taking a prominent part in the Republican party. On that ticket, in 1884, he was elected from Sullivan county to the Missouri legislature, being the first Republican elected. to the legislature from that county after the war.
The next business venture of Mr. Decker was conducted in Washington county, Kans., where he was engaged in the lumber and hardware business for ten years. Returning to Missouri in 1895, he settled at Greenridge, Pettis county, where he was interested in a mercantile busi- ness. At the same time he had important inter- ests at Eldorado Springs and Malta Bend. Meantime, about 1893, the condition of his throat had improved to such an extent that he felt justified in resuming ministerial work, and for three years he was a member of the state board of the Christian Church of Kansas. An- other enterprise which called for some attention on his part about this time was a lumber and hardware business in Phillipsburg, Kans., which he retained for four years.
Of the sons of Mr. Decker, J. F. was born in Henry county, Ill., in 1866, and Otho F. in Cedar county, Iowa, in 1874. They came to Oklahoma in June, 1894. and bought claims in Grant county, one claim being two and one-half miles south of Pond Creek, and the other ten miles west. In the winter of 1890-91 they built a store room of brick, 30x100, in which they carry a mercantile stock valued at $20,000. This business they now conduct, having the active management of the same.
Although reared a Democrat, J. H. Decker has been a strong adherent of Republican prin- ciples since 1873. At various times his party has honored him with election to positions of
trust and honor, all of which he has filled with credit to himself. In religion he has for years been a prominent worker in the Christian Church, and of recent months he has been inter- ested in the building of the house of worship at Pond Creek. At the present time he is often called upon to occupy the various pulpits of his locality, and is an earnest advocate of the higher spiritual life, wielding through his example and his precepts an extended influence for good. Fraternally, he is connected with the Independ- ent Order of Odd Fellows in Pond Creek.
W ILLIAM W. ROWLAND became identi- fied with the interests of Waukomis in 1893, and has since been successfully en- gaged in the real-estate and cattle business. At the opening of the reservations he made the run from the south line, and later bought a claim on section 26, township 21, range 7, Garfield county, upon which he at once proceeded to make improvements, and which he sold in the fall of 1899. After a visit to his former home in Kentucky he settled in Waukomis, and pur- chased one hundred and twenty acres of land on section 24. Forty acres of this he sold off in town lots, which he called Rowland's addition, and which contained about seventy-nine lots.
In the spring of 1900 Mr. Rowland bought out the feed yards and business of Eastman Bros., and conducted large interests in the blooded stock line, dealing in French Percheron, Golden Almont and Spanish Jacks. He owns one-half interest in the business block in which his busi- ness is conducted.
Mr. Rowland was born in Barren county, Ky., and is a son of George W. Rowland. He re- ceived an excellent home training, and was taught how to successfully conduct a farm. He also studied diligently at the public schools, and had opportunity at different times to acquire considerable business experience. When twenty- one years of age he went to Richardson county, Neb., where he was engaged in agricultural pur- suits for several years. From there he went to Sumner county, Kans., and lived on a farm for four years. Again changing his place of resi- dence, he went to Colorado Springs and re- mained for a year on a ranch. Owing to the illness of his parents he was recalled to Ken- tucky, where he remained until their death, after which he settled up the estate and in 1888 re- turned for a year to his farm at Colorado Springs.
January 7, 1890, Mr. Rowland returned to Kentucky and was married to Mary P. Depp. Buying a farm in Barren county, on the old homestead, he farmed for four years, or, until the opening of the Cherokee strip. In political affiliations Mr. Rowland is with the Democratic
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party, and he is a member of the school board. To Mr. and Mrs. Rowland have been born three children: Tipton, Jessie and Nettie. The family are members of the Christian Church.
H ON. THOMAS H. DOYLE. In the zenith of life and usefulness, Mr. Doyle, of Perry, is a prominent factor in the affairs of his town and county. Early in his career, his name was brought forward by his political friends, and for the past four years he has ably represented the third legislative district of this territory in the general assembly. He is a thoroughly ac- tive, progressive statesman, alert to the good of the public, and not slow in championing the rights of the majority.
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Mr. Doyle comes of a respected Massachusetts family, his birth having occurred December 21, 1862, on his father's farm, near Uxbridge. The latter, John Doyle, removed to Osage county, Kans., in 1879, and later moved to a farm in Franklin county, same state, where he is yet living. His wife, Josephine (Henchion), de- parted this life in Massachusetts, and of their five children, Thomas H. is the eldest. John D., an attorney, is the editor of the Williamsburg (Kans.) Republican.
For seventeen years Thomas H. Doyle lived in Massachusetts, and in his youth enjoyed its excellent public schools. He was graduated in Whitin's Academy, at Northbridge, Mass., in 1879, and then went to Kansas, where, the fol- lowing year, he became a student in the Uni- versity of Kansas. In a short time he entered the employ of the Fort Scott & Gulf railroad, . and was a trainman for two years. He then began the study of law, under the guidance of Judge Benson, of Ottawa, Kans., and later was in the office of Kirk & Bowman, at Garnett. In 1883 he was admitted to the bar in Ottawa, and then went to Harris, Kans., where he started a banking institution, which was carried on under the name of Doyle & McDonald, for about three years. Then, disposing of his interest in the business, he established himself in practice at Garnett, where he remained until the fall of 1803. Ever since the day of Perry's official birth he has been engaged in the practice of law here, for three years as a member of the firm of Stone & Doyle, then for a period as senior partner of the firm of Doyle & Bowles, and now of Doyle & Barrett. He has become one of the chief real- estate owners of Perry, having both residence and business property, and, in addition to this, has property in Kansas and Kansas City. He is the president of the Noble County Bar Asso- ciation, and is ex-vice-president of the Oklahoma Territorial Bar Association.
Since becoming a voter, Mr. Doyle has been
active in the ranks of the Democratic party. In 1884 he was a candidate on that ticket from the thirty-seventh district of Kansas to the legisla- ture, but was defeated, owing to the fact that his party was in a minority in that locality. In 1896 he became the Democratic nominee of the third legislative district to the territorial assem- bly, and was elected by a majority of two hun- dred votes, two years later being re-elected by about the same majority. In the fourth general assembly he was speaker pro tem., and was the chairman of the judiciary committee. He was the author of the Free Range bill, under which act about $100,000 is added annually to the school funds, by making cattlemen pay for the use of the territorial lands. He also was the author of the bill providing for a non-partisan board to have in charge the leasing of school lands, but this bill was vetoed by the governor. An- other bill, introduced by him, incorporated the Sisters of Mercy at Sacred Heart, Pottawatomie county, Okla. In the fifth general assembly, Mr. Doyle was chairman of the committee on juris- prudence, and was the author of House Bill No. I, which provided the setting aside of an action board of equalization, but this was vetoed. He has been the president of the first free silver club ever organized in Oklahoma. . Fraternally, he is a member of the Perry Commercial Club, the Modern Woodmen of America, the Ancient Order of United Workmen, the Select Knights, and the Red Men.
In Kansas City, the marriage of Mr. Doyle and Miss Rose O'Neill was solemnized, in 1893. She is a native of New York state, was gradu- ated in the Emporia (Kans.) State Normal, and then engaged in educational work in Kansas City. This worthy couple have one daughter, namely: Marguerite.
G ENERAL P. FROST. Although practi- cally a newcomer to Blackwell, having ar- rived in January of 1900, Mr. Frost has already shown a commendable interest in the town of his adoption, and is inclined to aid its growth in every way in his power.
Born in Arkansas in 1864, he is a son of Sevier and Elizabeth Frost, natives, respectively, of Tennessee and Missouri. On his father's farmsin these two states he was reared to agricultural pursuits, and received a fair education in the public schools. At the age of seventeen his in- dependent spirit asserted itself, and he decided to start out in the world for himself. As a pre- liminary to a life of usefulness, he began to work by the month for the farmers throughout Kansas, Colorado and Wyoming, and finally set- tled on a farm in Idaho, where he engaged in general farming and stock-raising, and materi
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ally increased his fortunes. He was united in marriage with Rosie McEwen, and one child has been born to them, Cora, who is seven years of age.
In January of 1900 Mr. Frost decided to take advantage of the unimproved condition of af- fairs in the newly opened territory; and located in Blackwell, where he has since continued to reside. He bought the livery barn in which his affairs are conducted, and has a good line of stock purchased in Kansas. Quite a revenue is realized from the purchase and sale of horses and mules, of which he is an unusually good judge.
In political affiliation Mr. Frost is associated with the Democratic party, but has never been an office-seeker. Fraternally, he is connected with the Odd Fellows at Blackwell.
H ENRY GRISWOLD. Guthrie boasts of no more enterprising, energetic business man and sterling citizen than Mr. Gris- wold, a large share of whose mature life has been devoted to the management of hotels and livery stables. He possesses the progressive spirit of this period and is generally considered to be a man of broad, liberal views on all of the leading issues of the day.
He is a son of George G. and Alzina (Roberts) Griswold, both of whom came from sterling old American families. The father, a native of Che- mung county, N. Y., was a son of Reuben Gris- wold, a farmer, and likewise of New York state birth. The latter passed his entire life in his native state, where his ancestors had been pio- neers, but his wife, Sally, died in Michigan. The Griswolds, who were English people, were among the early settlers of Connecticut, and were actively engaged in the Indian wars and in the Revolution. George G. Griswold was born April 30, 1810, and departed this life in 1899. His devoted wife, likewise a native of Chemung county, N. Y., and three years his junior, sur- vived him but thirty days. She was of Welsh extraction, but her ancestors came to America prior to the great Indian wars and suffered greatly at the hands of the redskins, as their cabins and crops frequently were destroyed by fire. George G. Griswold crossed the plains to California in 1852, and after remaining on the Pacific coast for two years returned home by way of the Isthmus of Panama. The new dis- coveries of precious ore in Colorado led him to make the trip to Pike's Peak, and for two years he engaged in mining in that region. For many years he was actively occupied in agricultural labors in Livingston county, Mich., and in 1865 he located in Springfield, Mich. He was hon- vred and esteemed by every one, and to his pos-
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