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 34
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C. F. CLAY. This is pre-eminently the age of young men, and it is truly remarkable what is daily being accomplished by the rising generation, by many who have only re- cently cast their first presidential ballot, it may be. In many instances "the child is father to the man." and the son is already achieving more than did his forefathers, while in other cases the young man is exemplifying the business-like traits of his father, proving the truth of heredity and carly training.
C. F. Clay, of Noble county, is a distant rela-
tive of the renowned statesman, Henry Clay, and is a great-nephew of Cassius M. Clay, of Ken- tucky fame. His family is celebrated throughout the land for ability and patriotism, and it is quite within the limits of probability that he, too, will leave behind him "footprints on the sands of Time."
Born in Paris, Ky., July 21, 1879, our subject is a son of C. F. and Mary (Brooks) Clay, promi- nent members of important Kentucky families. The father long owned a large and valuable plantation in the Blue Grass state and gave his special attention to the breeding and training of fine thoroughbred race horses. He was consid- ered an authority on the subject of horses, and always had a number of specially fine animals in his possession. He was summoned to the better land about three years ago, and his loss is deeply felt in the community where he had dwelt so long.
C. F. Clay, of this sketch, was educated in ex- cellent private schools in Paris, Ky., where he prepared himself for a collegiate course, and sub- sequently matriculated in the University of Ken- tucky, at Lexington. The year that he left that institution was the one which witnessed the death of his father, and for eighteen months thereafter he pursued legal studies in the Charlottesville (Va.) Law School. Affairs on the old home- stead then demanding his attention, he returned and had charge of the place for one season. In February, 1899, he came to Oklahoma and leased a tract of land on section 13, township 21, range I west, Noble county, and since that time has been very successfully engaged in farming and stock-raising. He has won the esteem of his neighbors and all with whom he has dealings, and his future is full of promise. Politically he is affiliated with the Democratic party, as was his father before him.
N. B. EASTON, president of the Stillwater Pressed Brick Company, and since the day on which Oklahoma was opened to settlement a resident of this immediate locality. is a veteran of the Civil war, and is an honored member of the Grand Army of the Republic. having served as junior vice-commander and aide in the Department of Oklahoma, and as commander of the local post, now being its quar- termaster. His war history possesses many fea- tures of special interest, and his sterling fidelity to his country, in peace and in war, entitles him to a warm place in the hearts of the people of this great commonwealth.
N. B. Easton, born in Pulaski, Oswego county, N. Y., May 8, 1843, comes of an old fam- ily of the Empire state, his father, William, hav- ing been born in Onondaga county, and his
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grandfather Easton also having been a native of the state. The latter's brother was a soldier in the colonial war for independence, and died on a British prison-ship, in the harbor of New York City. Grandfather Easton was an early settler in Oswego county, N. Y., where he passed to his reward. William Easton remained in that section of the state until 1850, when he removed to La Porte county, Ind., purchased a farm, and continued to work at his trade as a builder and contractor until shortly before his death. His wife, Emily, a native of Oswego county, N. Y., came of a respected old family of New England, being of the eighth generation descended from the emigrant founder of the Jones line in the East, he being a native of Wales. The father of Mrs. Easton was Pliny Jones, a farmer of the Empire state, and proprietor of a country inn. The two sons of William Easton, who were old enough to enter the army when the Civil war broke out, obeyed their patriotic ideas of duty, and served in the glorious cause. William, Jr., who was a member of Company B, Seventy-third Indiana Infantry, died while fighting for his coun- try. The youngest son, Frederick F., is a farmer of Page county, Iowa. A sister, Mrs. Hester Martin, resides on the old parental homestead in Indiana; Marion is married and lives in Oak Park, Ill., and Mrs. Fannie L. Holt is a resident of Grand Rapids, Mich.
When in his seventh year, N. B. Easton went to Indiana, where he grew to maturity upon a farm, supplementing his district school educa- tion with a course in the Rolling Prairie Acad- emy. Three days after Fort Sumter was fired upon, the young man was ready to respond to the president's call for patriotic defenders of the Union, and April 16, 1861, witnessed his en- listment in the Twentieth Indiana Volunteer In- fantry. He was mustered into the army at In- dianapolis, and with his regiment was placed upon guard duty on the line of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, later being transferred to Fort Hatteras and Chicamico Island. His company, with six others, were attacked by a Confederate force, five thousand strong, and were captured. Young Easton, like his comrades, made a brave and desperate resistance, and he had the satis- faction of shooting down Colonel Wright's horse, but was taken to Libby Prison, at Rich- mond: and later sent to Tuscaloosa, Ala. He made his escape by digging a tunnel through a brick wall, but within a week was recaptured, and in February, 1862, was paroled, and to be exchanged, when the fight between the Monitor and Merrimac resulted in his being retained as a prisoner until the following May, at Salis- bury, S. C. Then, sent to the parole camps at Columbus, Ohio, he volunteered as a provost guard and acted as such until the Indians in
Minnesota went upon the warpath. He believed that there could be no violation of his parole if he engaged in warfare with the red men, and, was upheld in this matter by the war department at Washington, when he volunteered to go to the aid of the northwestern white settlers, but many of his comrades refused to accompany him, adhering to the letter, rather than to the spirit, of their non-resistance oath. Mr. Easton, therefore, did not have an opportunity to take part in the conflict before December, when he was, exchanged, and returned to his regiment, then in the Third Army Corps, on the Potomac. He soon participated in the great battle of Chancellorsville, aiding in the capture of the Twenty-third Georgia, and then occurred the famous battle of Gettysburg, in which his own regiment lost heavily, only nine out of twenty- eight being left. Mr. Easton was highly com- mended for his bravery and was promoted on the field to a sergeantcy. When the riots in New York City necessitated a military force on the scene, his regiment was sent and soon reduced things to order.
Then, returning to the Army of the Potomac, the gallant Twentieth Indiana was sent in ad- vance to Culpeper Court-house, and proceeded to take part in the important campaign which followed, the battle of Mine Run and the next spring the battles of the Wilderness and Spott- sylvania. Another great misfortune was in store for him and a host of his comrades, for, Mav 10, 1864, when about five hundred of the regi- ment were doing guard duty on the Little Po river, seven thousand of the enemy, by a flank movement, occasioned their retreat, and ulti- mately captured the force. At first, Danville Prison was the scene of their captivity, but infa- mous Andersonville soon received them, and, as the terrible weeks of suffering rolled away, and great multitudes of their poor comrades in blue were added to their ranks, a new section or prison-pen was added to meet the require- ments. It happened that Mr. Easton was placed in the newer portion, and, with two captains, he organized squads of men, and, wonderful to re- late, a tunnel sixty feet long was excavated, and daylight and liberty were almost within reach of these determined men, when, alas! they were discovered. When Sherman took Atlanta. the Confederates decided to move these prisoners, and in September, 1864, they were started to-' wards Florence Prison. On the way, the daring subject of this sketch decided to make a des- perate dash for freedom. Almost miraculously, he did succeed in getting away from the guards, and secreted himself in the woods for a week, but again was captured, and then taken to Co- lumbia, S. C., and from October to December 7th remained in the prison at Florence. An
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order for the exchange of ten thousand sick and convalescent prisoners came on that memorable date, and four days later Mr. Easton had the great joy of joining the Union army. He was in the hospital in Annapolis, Md., for a period, and thence was sent to Indianapolis, where he re- ceived an honorable discharge in February, 1865, having been in the service for seven months more than his term of enlistment. and for fourteen months, altogether, had been con- fined in Libby and Andersonville and other prison pens, which are beyond even a Dante's description.
For more than a year after his army life had been brought to a close, Mr. Easton was in very poor health, and, hoping to be benefited, trav- eled for some time, after which he engaged in farming in Indiana for a year or so. In the fall of 1867 he removed to McDonough county, Ill., and was prospering, when, in 1869, a great flood swept away the fruits of his toil. From 1871 to 1875 he conducted a farm near Shenan- doah, Iowa, and had a large amount of land under cultivation one year, when the grasshoppers destroyed the whole crop. The Fates, indeed, seemed to pursue him, but he resolutely resumed the battle of life, and, becoming a citizen of Council Bluffs, Iowa, embarked in the insur- ance business, also being secretary of the Iowa Live Stock Insurance Company. Later he re- turned to his farm in Page county, and carried it on for several years.
April 22, 1889, Mr. Easton located a claim six miles northwest of Stillwater, on Stillwater creek. It was contested, and it cost him about one thou- sand dollars to defend his rights in the property, but he won the case. He improved it, and cul- tivated the land until six years ago, when he leased it, and since has made his home in Stili- water, where he built a handsome residence for his family. In the spring of 1900 he organized the Stillwater Pressed Brick Company. Mr. Easton owns three hundred and twenty acres of land, and his family have a section of school lands.
In July, 1866, occurred the marriage of Mr. Easton and Miss Mary L. Wolford, a native of Pennsylvania. They have two sons and two daughters, namely: Walter E., who is interested in mining operations in Joplin, Mo .; Charles WV., who is engaged in farming in Noble county, Okla .; and Eva G. and Nettie L., who are at home.
In Indiana, Mr. Easton was initiated into Ma- sonry, and now belongs to Frontier Lodge No. 6, A. F. & A. M. For three or four years he was the commander of Stillwater Post No. 7, and now acts in the capacity of quartermaster, as previously stated. He also is identified with the Twentieth Indiana Veteran Association. In
politics he is a Republican of no uncertain stripe, and has served as a member of the county central committee. In the Methodist Episcopal Church he is an active member and a trustee.
R. H. EWING, superintendent of the schools of Stillwater, and principal of the high school, is a young man of fine executive ability and education, and, without question, is just the one for the important position which he now holds. He is justly numbered among the leading educators of the territory, and, judging by the material improvement which he has in- augurated in the local school system, he is des- tined to have a brilliant future. As a member of the executive committee of the Territorial Teachers' Association, also a member of the Territorial Board of Education, and as ex-presi- dent of the Payne County Teachers' Association, the general esteem in which he is held may be seen, and, as he is heart and soul in the work, he takes genuine pleasure in his chosen field of labor.
On the paternal side, Mr. Ewing is of English extraction. His great-grandfather, Robert Ew- ing, served in the Revolutionary war in this country with the rank of captain, and later was a pioneer farmer in Kentucky. His son, William Ewing, grandfather of our subject, was born in Adair county, Ky., whence he removed to Green county in its early history. His son, John H., father of R. H. Ewing, was a native of Green county, Ky., and was reared upon a farm in Logan county, Ill. In August, 1861, he yielded to his patriotic impulses and enlisted in the Twenty-eighth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, becoming first lieutenant of Company F. He participated in the almost innumerable cam- paigns and battles in which his regiment was engaged, and received wounds at the battles of Hatchie River, Tenn., and Jackson, Miss. He remained at his post of duty until the close of the war, at the last being commissioned captain of his company. Subsequently he carried on a farm in Illinois until the spring of 1886, when lie settled upon a homestead in Sumner county, near Arkansas City, Kans. At present he is the superintendent of the dairy department in the Kansas State Institute for the Feeble-Minded, at Ossawattomie, Kans. He is an honored mem- ber of the Grand Army of the Republic. To himself and wife, Mary A., five sons and three daughters were born, and two of the daughters are deceased. Mrs. Ewing is of Scotch descent, and her father, Stephen E. Clarno, was born in Tennessee. He settled in Illinois as early as ISIS, and there participated in the Black Hawk war. He carried on a farm in Menard county, Ill., where Mrs. Ewing was born, and later he
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operated farms in Logan and DeWitt counties, Ill. He was accidentally killed when in his sev- enty-third year, by a train on the Illinois Central Railroad.
The birth of R. H. Ewing took place June II, 1872, near Elkhart, Ill., and when in his fifteenth year he accompanied the family to the West. He pursued his studies in the Arkansas City high school, and at nineteen commenced his career as a teacher, having charge of schools in Sumner county for two years. In 1894 he ma- triculated in the University of Kansas, where he remained for one year, and then accepted a position as a teacher in the high school at Ar- kansas City. He was connected with the same for two and a half years, a portion of the time being assistant principal of the institution. In September, 1898, he became principal of the schools of Stillwater, and in August of the fol- lowing year was promoted to his present offices. He has graded the schools in a manner which permits the graduates' entrance into any acad- emy or college within this territory, and the seventeen teachers constituting his corps of as- sistants are earnestly endeavoring to carry out his judicious plans.
Mr. Ewing was married, in Arkansas City, to Miss Bertha J. Stafford, who is a graduate of the high school there, and whose birthplace is Tonganoxie, Kans. The young couple occupy a very pleasant residence, which was erected here by him since he became a citizen. He is a Presbyterian in religious faith. Fraternaily he is a Mason, belonging to Frontier Lodge No. 6, A. F. & A. M. He is past chanceilor of the Knights of Pythias, and is connected with the Modern Woodmen of America. In political af- fairs, he gives his ballot and support to the Re- publican party.
C. W. DUTTON. The Dutton family is of English extraction and the first members who showed an inclination to roam crossed the seas and settled in Massachusetts in 1620. They were Puritans and were people of deep religious conviction. Their descendants gradually drifted to Connecticut, and here the grandfather, Daniel, was born, reared, and died.
The son of Daniel, Chester by name, and the father of C. W., was born in Connecticut, in practically the dawn of the century. in 1814. He was a scholar of wide research, and a gradu- ate of Yale College in the class of 1838, with the degrees of A. B. and A. M. For years he was a teacher in a large Quaker school in Alex- andria, Va., and later removed to Wayne county, N. Y., where he engaged in farming, and in 1868 located in Concordia, Kans. The mother, Mary (Mellen) Dutton, was born in New York,
being a daughter of Caleb Mellen, who settled in Wayne county, and served with distinction during the war of 1812. Mrs. Dutton is still liv- ing. Of her ten children, six are now living. One son, A. W., served in a New York regi- ment during the Civil war, and is now living at Salem, Ore.
The youngest child in the family, C. W. Dut- ton, who was born June 13, 1862, was taken by his parents to a farm near Concordia, Kans., where he was reared and educated in the public schools. When eighteen years of age he began to teach school, continuing the same until 1881, after which he ran the home farm. He attained to considerable importance in the locality, and in the fall of 1891 was elected county clerk of Cloud county on the Populist ticket, and as- sumed control of the office during January of 1892. At the next election, in 1894, he was not a candidate for renomination. In 1894' he lo- cated on a farm in Payne county, which he im- proved, and upon which was conducted a general farming and stock-raising enterprise.
In 1896 began the residence of Mr. Dutton in Stillwater. From the first he evinced a vital interest in all that pertains to the general wel- fare, and in politics especially he exerted a wide influence upon the community. Under L. D. Teter, he was appointed deputy county treas- urer, and held the position until February of . 1899. He then retired from active politicai offi- cial life and engaged in the real-estate and loan business with the firm of Rodgers & Co. In 1900 he was prevailed upon by his friends to run for the office of county treasurer of Payne county, and was elected by a good majority.
In Belleville, Kans., Mr. Dutton married Ma- tilda A. Norris, born in Olive, Clinton county. Mich., and a daughter of Henry S. Norris, of Wayne county, Mich. Her paternal grandfather was born in New York, and settled in Wayne county, Mich., and afterwards in Clinton county. He served during the war of 1812. The great- grandfather, Job, came from New Jersey. Henry Norris removed in 1877 to Kansas, where he was a farmer, and where he died. The mother. Charlotte Jane (Ware) Norris, was born in Ashtabula county, Ohio, and was a daughter of B. F. Ware, born in Ohio, and settled in Clinton county. He was a carpenter, builder and farmer, and died at Bath, Mich. Mrs. Nor- ris died in Stillwater, March 12, 1899. She was' the mother of four children, of whom three arc living, Mrs. Dutton being the oldest. To Mr. and Mrs. Dutton has been born one child, Nor- ris S. In politics Mr. Dutton is affiliated with the Populist party, and has served as a member of the school board. He was a member of the county committee in Kansas, and was chairman of the board for one term. He is regarded by
J. H. SCOTT, M. D., Shawnee.
PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
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those who are privileged to know him as an enterprising and reliable citizen, and has made many friends during his residence in Stillwater.
J. H. SCOTT, M. D. The lives and occupa- tions of the Scott family, as represented in America, have been closely interwoven with the happenings which constitute landmarks in the history of this great land. In the peaceful occupation of farming, also, they have brought an intelligent administration and enterprise, and in the very early days were the first occupants of land hitherto untrod save by the monarch red men.
Dr. Scott was born in Elkhart, Logan county, Ill., December 18, 1863. His forefathers came from Scotland and Ireland, and settled in old Virginia. Here the grandfather, Andrew, was born, and in time removed to Berlin, Ill., where he was one of the first to take up land, his farm adjoining that of the father of ex-Gov. "Dick" Yates. Andrew Scott was a minister in the Christian Church, and without remuneration of any kind preached the gospel of good-will and kindness during the greater part of his useful and industrious life. He built his own church, and aided generously in all worthy enterprises for the improvement and elevation of human- kind. In these comparatively primitive sur- roundings this noble pioneer reared a large family, and one of his sons, John W., married Martha Yates, a sister of ex-Governor Yates.
The father of Dr. Scott, Caleb L., was born in Sangamon county, Ill., in 1821. He had be- fore him the example of his father's fine hu- manitarian life, and was reared to habits of in- dustry and thrift. On the home farm he learned all departments of the work. In 1850 he went in search of promising conditions in the west, and crossed the plains with ox teams, via the Platte, Salt Lake and the southern route, and for ten years engaged in mining in different parts of the other side of the country. In 1860 he re- turned home via Panama and purchased a farm near Elkhart, Ill., upon which he lived for six years. He then returned to the vicinity of his old home near Berlin, and bought another farm upon which he remained until 1875. Subse- quently he lived in Wayne county, Iowa, in Hodgeman county, Kans., and in Rice county, in which place he died. His wife, Charlotte K. Templeton, was born in Ohio, and is a daugh- ter of John Templeton, who was born in Penn- sylvania and early settled in Ohio, and in 1845 moved to Jefferson county, Iowa, where he car- ried on farming interests, and where he died. His wife was formerly Miss Tarr, of New York. The great-grandfather Tarr was a valiant sol- dier in the Revolutionary war. Mrs. Scott is still
living in Lyons, Kans. She is the mother of six children, five of whom attained maturity, and four of whom are now living. One son, Henry W., is an attorney in New York City. At Lar- ned, Kans., he was register of the United States land office during Cleveland's first administra- tion, and was an associate judge of Oklahoma Territory under Cleveland's second administra- tion, with headquarters in Oklahoma City. From this position he resigned to take up a law practice in New York City.
In 1875 J. H. Scott left the scene of his birth and went to Iowa, and in 1878 to Kansas, where he studied in the public schools. At the age of twenty he began to teach school in Rice county, and read law in Lyons for a short time. He then entered the law department of the University of Kansas, at Lawrence, and studied for one year. He was then examined under Judge J. C. Strang at Kingsley, and admitted to the bar of Kansas in 1889. Subsequently, for eighteen months, he practiced his profession in Garfield county, and then in Larned, Kans., for two years. Having thus tested all sides of the legal calling, he de- cided that it did not furnish the impetus for the life work which he desired, and, with the belief that congenial work means success, he followed an impulse of long standing, and undertook the study of medicine. Outside influences had pre- vailed when he took up law, but his own in- clination suggested the work for which he has since proved himself especially fitted. In the pursuit of his chosen calling he entered the Keokuk (Iowa) Medical College, and remained for a year, and went then to the Kentucky School of Medicine, at Louisville, from which he was graduated in 1894.
Dr. Scott began the practice of medicine at . Norman, Okla., and while residing there was surgeon for the Santa Fe Railroad Company and county superintendent of health. In 1897 he located in Shawnee, where he has since been engaged in a constantly increasing medical and surgical practice. He served as county physi- cian until the establishment of the poor farm, at which time the position was abolished.
In Norman, Okla., Dr. Scott was united in marriage with Tressa Meck, born in Booneville, Ark. . Her father, Thomas Meek, a large ranch- man near Chickasha, I. T., was born in Georgia, and served during the Civil war in a Georgia regi- ment, being twice wounded. After the war he be- came a contractor and buildler in Fort Smith. Ark., and later removed to the Indian Territory. where he has since lived. The paternal grand- father, Frank M. Meek, died in January, 1901, at Shawnee.
Added to the responsibilities incident to the carrying on of his professional duties, Dr. Scott has numerous other interests, and is medical
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examiner for a number of the prominent life insurance companies. In national politics he. is a Democrat. He is one of the organizers of the New Century Loan and Saving Association, and has been president of the same from the beginning. Mrs. Scott is a member of the Meth- odist Episcopal Church South.
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