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 44
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A native of Kansas City, Mo., Mr. Soldani came to the Osage country, I. T., in 1871, ac- companied by his mother, who was an Osage Indian. They had large property interests there, and the son grew to maturity in Pawhuska, being educated in the Osage schools and at the Osage mission in Kansas. Possessed of keen intellectual powers, and a great observer, he had no difficulty in fitting himself for the profession of law, and was prosecuting attorney for the Osage country for nearly two terms. As a com- piler of the laws which govern the Osage Na- tion, he rendered conspicuous service, and has otherwise assisted in benefiting the conditions of his people.
As one of the largest land-owners in the Osage Nation, Mr. Soldani is the possessor of three thousand acres of land, and raises about thirty-six thousand bushels of fine corn. Two thousand acres of the land are under cultivation, and the remainder used for pasturage. As a rule, he has about three hundred graded cattle. Shipments are made to Kansas City, this year's output being three hundred head, and the num- ber wintered on the ranch will be three thousand. The ranch is fitted with all modern and up-to- date improvements, and upon it is erected a commodious residence. Mr. Soldani also has a fine residence in Ponca, and, besides, has large real-estate interests there, improved and other- wise.
For his active and intelligent views on polit- ical questions, Mr. Soldani has been signally honored by his constituents. He was appointed delegate to the Trans-Mississippi Congress, in April of 1900, through the courtesy of Gov- ernor Barnes, and in the same year was also a delegate to the Territorial Democratic conven- tion at El Reno, which nominated delegates to the national convention at Kansas City. He rep- resented the Osage Nation at the statehood con- vention, held at Guthrie, and was one of the committee sent to meet the United States com- mission to propose allotments for the Osage Indians. He has recently been appointed to represent the Indian Territory in the National Stock convention of the United States, which met in Chicago, and is also a member of the committee of the American Cattle Growers' As- sociation, met in Denver March 5, 1901.
The marriage of Mr. Soldani and Josephine Frankier occurred in 1884. To this couple have been born six children, viz .: Agnes, Ida, Pearl, Myrtle, Louis and Emerett. Fraternally Mr. Sol- dani is associated with the Knights of Pythias at Ponca City.
H. B. HUESTON, now the proprietor of the Pacific Hotel and of the Hueston House, of Stillwater; is best known throughout the west on account of the part which he played. with other officers, in the desperate fight with the Dalton gang. This terrible affair, of which further mention will be made later, may be justly called one of the last protests of the frontier ele- ment against the advancing civilization which now reigns supreme in Oklahoma, the pride of its pioneers, one of whom is the gentleman whose name heads this sketch.
The paternal grandfather of H. B. Hueston was born in the northern part of Ireland, whence he came to America at an early day, settling in Delaware. Samuel Houston (as he spelled his name) subsequently was numbered among the
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farmers of Knox and Richland counties, Ohio, and his death took place in Sandusky county, same state. His son, Alexander, father of H. B. Hueston, was born in Delaware, and in his turn he, too, was one of the prosperous agriculturists of Knox, Richland and Sandusky counties, Ohio. His wife bore the maiden name of Nancy Phelps, and her entire life was passed in her native state, Ohio, where her father, Nevin Phelps, was a well-to-do farmer. Of the thirteen children born to Alexander Hueston and wife ten grew to ma- turity, and eight yet survive. Albert died in this county; V. A. lives in Paulding, Ohio; F. O. operates a farm near Stillwater; C. A. is an attor- ney of this city, and Dr. Elmer C. is in Califor- nia. Thomas J., who was serving as a deputy United States marshal at the time of the fight at Ingalls, Okla., between the officers of the law and the outlaws, the Daltons, was killed. His brother, H. B. Hueston, also was actively en- gaged in the conflict as a deputy. Three of the marshals were killed and four citizens were wounded, while one of the Daltons was killed and two crippled, one of whom was captured.
The birth of H. B. Hueston took place in Knox county, Ohio, March 27, 1850, and his youth was passed quietly upon a farm. When he was in his fifteenth year his father died, and. soon the battle of life commenced in earnest for him. In the fall of 1866 he became an employe in a saw-mill in Warsaw, Ind., where he remained for about two years. Then, returning to San- dusky county, Ohio, he carried on a farm for a period, and then operated a saw-mill, manufac- turing lumber for a year or more. Then he fol- lowed agricultural pursuits, and was a merchant at Rising Sun, Ohio, until the spring of 1881, when he pre-empted eighty acres of land in the neighborhood of Grenola, Kans. Four years later he sold out and went to the Chickasaw Nation, where he leased land on the South Cana- dian, near Silver City. At the end of two years he returned to Grenola, and, building a mill, em- barked in the manufacturing of lumber, in com- pany with his brother, T. J. Hueston.
Thus occupied until April 22, ISS9, Mr. Hues- ton then located a claim three miles southwest of Stillwater, and for about six years devoted his at- tention to the cultivation and improvement of. the property. In the spring of 1896 he located in Stillwater, and since 1898 has been the owner of the Pacific Hotel. He served as under-sheriff from May, 1895, until 1899. by appointment of Atherton and Annis, and now is deputy to the sheriff and in charge of the jail. He has made a fine record for fidelity to his duties, and in the fall of 1900 was prominently mentioned for the office, of sheriff. For about two years Mr. Hues- ton has been the owner and manager of the Pa- cific Hotel, and succeeded so well in the enter-
prise that in 1900 he built a new hotel known as the Hueston House. It is a modern hotel in all its appointments, the building being three stories in height, having a street frontage of forty-seven feet, while it is seventy-five feet long. He still owns his farm, and by degrees is accumulating valuable property in this region, with which all of his interests have been connected for the past eleven years.
Thirty-one years ago Mr. Hueston married, in Indiana, one of the native daughters of the state, Miss Irene J. Webb. Their eldest child, Merton, is living in Stillwater, and their two eldest daugh- ters, Mrs. Irene Nichols and Mrs. Daisy Bassel, reside near Stillwater. The younger children, Bruce, Forrest, Fred and Clifford, are at home.
In the Odd Fellows order Mr. Hueston is a past officer. He also belongs to the Encamp- ment and the Daughters of Rebekah, the An- cient Order of United Workmen and the Fra- ternal Aid Society. In national politics he uses his franchise in favor of the nominees of the Democratic party.
J OHN WILLIAM JENNINGS, a leading resident of Oklahoma City and former pro- prietor of the Oklahoma Undertaking and Livery establishment, is at present deputy sheriff of Oklahoma county. He was born near Tay- lorville, Christian county, Ill., April 8, 1873, a son of Joseph R. and Jane (King) Jennings, na- tives of Pennsylvania and Illinois, respectively. The Kings were an eastern family. During pio- neer days the paternal grandfather of our subject moved to Illinois, and later to Plattsburg, Mo., where his death occurred. He was always en- gaged in business as a contractor and builder. The father has followed the same occupation. About 1880 he went to Plattsburg, Mo., and in 1888 took up his residence in Manhattan, Kans., where he now follows cabinet-making and con- tracting. He and his wife have four children living and one deceased.
Of this family John W. Jennings is the young- est. He was seven years of age at the time of the removal of the family to Missouri, where he attended the public and high schools, and was fifteen years old when they took up their resi- dence in Manhattan, Kans. Immediately after- ward he entered the State Agricultural College of Kansas, but left that institution when in his junior year to accept the position of mailing clerk in the postoffice at Manhattan, where he remained four years. In 1896 he went to Col- orado Springs, Colo., where he was in the drug business with a Mr. Baker one year, and then went to New Mexico to engage in mining and prospecting. With three old prospectors he lo- cated several claims on the Red river, and in his
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mining operations met with fair success. He served as postmaster at Red River City, N. M., until leaving that place in 1898, and was a dele- gate from his district to the "gold" convention at Denver.
In the spring of 1898 Mr. Jennings was mar- ried at Colorado Springs, Colo., to Miss Olive Holden, a daughter of D. M. Holden, the late president of the Exchange National Bank at that place. After his marriage he returned to Manhattan, Kans., where he was engaged in mercantile business until coming to Oklahoma City on the 21st of March, 1899. Here he en- gaged in the livery business, to which he added undertaking in January, 1900, when a partner- ship was formed with Messrs. Winslow and Rackley, and the name of the Oklahoma Un- dertaking & Livery Company was assumed. They had the largest and most complete livery stable in the territory, covering five lots, all under one roof, with accommodations for one hundred and fifty horses. Mr. Winslow sold out to Mr. Jennings in a short time, and the latter was at the head of the undertaking department, being a practical undertaker and embalmer. The stable was located at the corner of Robinson and First streets, and they also had an office with the Oklahoma Furniture Company.
Mr. Jennings is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, being now recording secretary of Oklahoma Lodge No. 2. He is a third cousin of W. J. Bryan, and is identified with the Demo- cratic party. He is still interested in mining in New Mexico, and in business affairs is ener- getic, prompt and notably reliable. Although still a young man, he has already attained to a measure of prosperity that many a one who started out on life's journey before him might well envy. He is quite popular both in business and social circles, and is held in high regard by all who know him. In his work as deputy sheriff he has proven himself a very efficient officer. He has also received an appointment under one of the allotters in the Kiowa, Comanche and Apache country, which will soon be opened.
G EORGE W. LEWIS. Probably never in the history of the new world, and certainly not in the history of the United States, was there ever seen such an army of home- seekers as the morning of April 22, 1889. wit- nessed scouring the fertile prairies of this long- promised land, in the often vain effort to find an unoccupied claim. One of the fortunate ones was George W. Lewis, who located in the north- eastern part of section 22, township 19, range 2 cast, Payne county, where he has since dwelt.
Both of the grandfathers of our subject were
residents of Virginia at the time of the Declara- tion of Independence, and both enlisted and fought valiantly for the liberty of their native land. The maternal grandfather, Captain Pen- nix, was the captain of a company of brave patriots, and was present at the surrender of Lord Cornwallis. Both grandfathers later re- moved to North Carolina, and there spent the rest of their lives. The parents of G. W. Lewis were William and Catherine (Pennix) Lewis, the former a native of Virginia, and the latter of North Carolina. He was a miller by trade, and followed that calling in North Carolina until his death, which event occurred when G. W. was a child. The mother lived to an advanced age, dying in Douglas county, Kans., September 2, 1886.
The birth of G. W. Lewis took place in Yad- kins county, N. C., April 16, 1846, and it was not until 1858 that he and his widowed mother re- moved to the west. For a year or more they made their home in Jackson county, Mo., and then lived in Allen county, Kans., until the be- ginning of the Civil war. It seemed advisable to them then to locate in Douglas county, same state, and soon afterward the young man en- listed in Company K, Sixteenth Kansas Cavalry, at Fort Leavenworth. He was mainly employed in border warfare in Missouri and Arkansas, and saw some serious campaigning against Price and Quantrell. He arrived at Lawrence, Kans., the" day after the skirmish there, and assisted in the burial of some of the unfortunate victims of the strife. It was not until December, 1865, that he received his honorable discharge from the ser- vice, at Leavenworth.
Resuming his interrupted labors, Mr. Lewis carried on agricultural enterprises until 1888, when he embarked in a mercantile business at Iola, Kans. Though he met with success he gladly disposed of his interests there when he had made the race and secured property in Okla- homa. Here he has developed a valuable farm, making a specialty of raising wheat and corn. The land is productive, and every year has yielded good returns to the industrious owner. He occupies a comfortable house, which he built, and his excellent orchard supplies him with all of the fine fruit which is desired.
In his joys and sorrows Mr. Lewis has found a true helpmate in the lady whom he married at Ottawa, Kans., in 1873, Vessa, daughter of Silas and Anna Moore. The eldest son of our subject and wife, Ervin, who was one of the first students graduated from the Agricultural and Mechanical College, is the present cashier of the People's Bank at Billings, Okla. Mrs. Anna Fields, the eldest daughter, lives upon a farm north of Still- water, this county. The younger children are at home, namely: George Hoy, Albert E., Flos-
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sie B., William H., Myrtle I., Earl O. and Velma P.
Mr. Lewis is at present one of the trustees of Stillwater township. In national affairs he uses his franchise in favor of the nominees of the Democratic party. Fraternally he is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, and is a charter member of Stillwater Lodge, A. O. U. W. Assisted by his wife he was instrumental in the organization of the first Baptist Church in Stillwater.
A RTHUR MORRISON is entitled to distinc- tion as one of the most progressive and en- terprising men of Oklahoma City, with whose business interests he has been identified since the opening up of the territory. Upon the commercial activity of a community depends its prosperity, and the men who are recognized as leading citizens are those who are at the head of successful business enterprises. Mr. Morrison is a man of broad capabilities, who carries for- ward to successful completion whatever he un- dertakes.
He is a native of Hancock county, Ill., born near Warsaw, May 4, 1856, and is a son of Wil- liam Morrison, a native of Maryland. The pa- ternal grandfather, William Morrison, Sr., was born on the Isle of Man, of Scotch parentage, and on his emigration to America first located in Maryland. He was a ship carpenter by trade, and built a boat of his own. Going to New Or- leans, he came from there up the Mississippi river as far as Hancock county, Ill., where he bought land and improved a farm, making his home there until called to his final rest when over sixty years of age. Our subject's father also learned the ship carpenter's trade, which he followed in St. Louis and New Orleans, and was also one of the early officers on the Mississippi boats, being one of the first to go up the river as far as St. Paul, and up the Wisconsin river. In 1849 he went to California as carpenter for the first expedition that crossed the plains, and for several years successfully engaged in mining. He then returned to Hancock county, Ill., and later moved to St. Louis, where he lived retired until his death, which occurred when he was over eighty years of age. During the Civil war he was in the employ of the government as a ship builder at St. Louis and New Orleans. He mar- ried Miss Hannah Smith, a native of England, who died when our subject was only four years old. Of their seven children, two sons and five daughters, both sons and three daughters are now living. The brother of our subject is Charles A. Morrison, a banker and merchant of Ellen- dale, N. D. Our subject's maternal grandfather was the first man in this country to roast coffee
and put it up in packages, having been engaged in that business previously in England. He car- ried it on very successfully in Baltimore for some time. He died of fever while on a trip to New Orleans.
After the death of his mother, in 1860, our subject went to live with an uncle and aunt, Mr. and Mrs. Glenn, in Wyalusing, Grant county, Wis., where he was reared upon a farm and pur- sued his studies in the district schools. At the age of nineteen he returned to Hancock county, Ill., and operated his father's farm for several years. Subsequently he was station agent for the Wabasli Railroad at Clark City, Clark county, Mo., for eight years, and in the meantime be- came interested in buying and shipping grain and cattle, carrying on the business there and at Rutledge, Scotland county, Mo., on the Santa Fe Railroad. He also shipped produce of all kinds.
On the 22d of April, 1889, he arrived in Okla- homa, expecting to return in a couple of weeks, but his carload of produce, eggs, apples and po- tatoes did not reach here until a week later. He had also shipped enough lumber to erect a small store. which he built on the Santa Fé right-of-way, but later rented property on East Grand avenue. From the start he met with ex- cellent success, and is now doing a large whole- sale fruit and produce commission business. In 1891 he admitted Mr. Dawson to a partnership in the business, which was carried on under the firm name of A. Morrison & Co. for four years, when the name was changed to Morrison, Stew- art & Dawson, Mr. Stewart having become a member of the firm. In 1895 Mr. Morrison sold out to his partners and started in business at No. 113 Broadway, where he is still located. He makes a specialty of fruits of all kinds, buying his oranges and lemons in California, his ba- nanas in New Orleans. He carries dried fruits. a few canned goods and confectionery, and han- dles the largest assortment of coffees in the territory, representing E. Levering & Co., of Baltimore, Md., throughout Oklahoma and In- dian Territory. He now employs three travel- ing salesmen. He ships watermelons and peaches quite extensively. Besides his other in- . terests he owns a farm of one hundred and sixty acres in Benton county, Ark., eighty acres of which is an orchard.
In Clark county, Mo., Mr. Morrison was united in marriage with Miss Mary Spangler, a native of that county, and a daughter of Samuel Spang- ler, who was born in Ohio, and became one of the carly settlers of Missouri, where he still re- sides. He was captain of a company in a Mis- souri regiment during the Civil war. Mrs. Mor- rison is a member of the Presbyterian Church, and is a most estimable lady. Our subject owns
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JOHN ANDERSON. Pottawatomie County.
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a pleasant home at No. 219 Choctaw street. By his ballot he supports the men and measures of the Republican party. As a business man and citizen he stands high in the esteem of his fellow- men. He has won success by his well-directed, energetic efforts, and the prosperity that has come to him is certainly well deserved.
J OHN ANDERSON has a very interesting history, and by his life has proved what has been hopefully believed, that the descendants of the red race may be honored and respected citizens, adhering to the best characteristics of the white race. Indeed, in.many respects he is in advance of his neighbors of the Anglo-Saxon type, and to-day this gentleman, in whose veins flows some Indian blood, is a member of the Society of Friends.
The finely cultivated homestead owned by John Anderson comprises three hundred and sixty. acres, and is situated on section 27, town- ship 10, range 3 east, four miles southwest of Shawnee, Pottawatomie county. Hale and hearty, though now approaching the evening of life, John Anderson was born December 24, 1837, in Peoria county, Ill. His father, John An- derson, Sr., was born in New Orleans, and his mother, Mary (Trombly) Anderson, was a native of Peoria county, a member of the tribe of Pot- tawatomie Indians. Her parents were Tousan and Archangel (Wilmot) Trombly, the former of French descent and the latter part Indian. Mr. Trombly was born in Montreal, Canada, and at an early period settled in Peoria county. John Anderson, Sr., also was a pioneer there in the '30s, and died in 1847. His widow, with their two sons and daughter, returned to her tribe, then living at Council Bluffs, Iowa, and there the mother died within a year.
The first educational opportunities which our subject ever had fell to his share while he was at Council Bluffs, for he attended a district school in the neighborhood of the reservation. He was about thirteen when the tribe removed to Pottawatomie county, Kans., and he accompa- nied his relatives, among them his grandmother, Archangel (Wilmot) Trombly. Soon after this he was sent away to school, to a place about three miles from Westport, Mo. There he re- mained for nearly five years, but, becoming tired of the quiet life, at last he ran away, and com- menced learning the blacksmith's trade at West- port. There he proved his determination and good, industrious nature, working for two and a half years for his board and few new clothes. His employer was so well satisfied with the work of the faithful youth that he finally gave him a strong recommendation as a blacksmith, and thus he became a very useful member of his old
tribe, for he returned to them in Kansas. With them he went to St. Mary's Mission, Kans., and in 1872 came to Oklahoma. At first he lived at a point about twenty miles south of his pres- ent home, but when the allotments of land were made, came to this place. For twenty years in this county he continued to act as blacksmith to the members of his tribe and others, but for the past eight years has been retired from that line of business, and merely attends to the man- agement of his valuable farm.
February 10, 1862, Mr. Anderson was married, in Pottawatomie county, Kans., to Elizabeth Hardin, whose birth occurred at Council Bluffs, Iowa. She is a daughter of John and Margaret (LaFromboise) Hardin, the former a native of Missouri, and the latter the daughter of a Frenchman and a woman of the Pottawatomie tribe. For about three years in her girlhood, Mrs. Anderson attended school at St. Mary's, Kans., and was instructed in the Catholic faith, but, like her husband, she has since become a member of the Society of Friends.
Their children are: Louis, who died in his fourth year, in Kansas; Charles, who married Mary Mueller, and lives in this locality; Henri- etta, whose death resulted from burns received in a prairie fire in Kansas; Julia, who married William McEverest, of this township, and has four children; Mary, wife of Joseph W. Daniels, living near Choctaw; John, who lives near his father, and who married Sophia Mueller and has. three children; Thomas, who chose Ellen Henry for a wife, and lives on an allotment tract near his father's home; Eliza, who first married George Christy, and had two children, and later became the wife of William Fuller, her brother- in-law; Margaret, Mrs. Octavius C. Smith, of this vicinity, and the mother of one child; Irene, who married William Fuller, and died, leaving one child; Minnie, who is the wife of James Birch, and lives near her father; Ozetta and Elizabeth, who are at home.
For twenty years Mr. Anderson has been called upon to carry on numerous business deal- ings between the government and the Potta- watomie tribe, and at the time of its settlement here he attended to the making out of deeds to .property, for its members. Since becoming a voter he has been identified with the Republican party, and is a man of influence in his com- munity.
R OBERT J. McBRIDE. Upon coming from his native country of Ireland Mr. McBride located in Philadelphia, Pa., where he lived until twenty-two years of age. Desiring to learn the trade of brush-maker, he removed to Cam- den, N. J., and, after perfecting himself in the
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work, went to Ottawa, Ill., where he remained for two years. His next venture was near To- peka, Kans., where he engaged in farming for five years, and where he was married March 20, 1886, to Ella Weltner. She is a daughter of Eugene and Martha Weltner, who are living at Maple Hill, Kans.
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