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 64
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Justin D. Hamilton, father of the doctor, was born on the old homestead, near Mendon, Ohio. Upon reaching maturity he married Eliza J. Snavely, a native of that locality, and a daugh- ter of one of the first settlers of the county men- tioned, as he took up his abode there about 1819. Ile was born in Germany and lived near Harris-
burg, Pa., for some years after his arrival in America, taking part in the War for Independ- ence. During the Civil war Justin D. Hamilton repeatedly volunteered his services to the Union, but was not accepted, the quota being full. Dur- ing his mature life he devoted himself to farm- ing, always living near Mendon. In November, 1898, he was summoned to the silent land, and his widow still lives at the old homestead.
Dr. B. F. Hamilton, the eldest of mine chil- dren, two of whom are deceased, was born Au- gust 31, 1857, in the same house and room which was his father's place of nativity. An apt stu- dent, he made excellent progress in the com- mon and high school of Mendon, and when about eighteen years of age taught in his home district. For five winters ire was thus employed, in the meantime pursuing scientific and classical studies in the Valparaiso (Ind.) Normal during the summer season. For three years, while teaching, he devoted his leisure to medical stud- ies, under the guidance of Dr. J. B. Haines, of Mendon, and in 1881 entered the Ohio Medical College at Cincinnati. There he received the degree of Doctor of Medicine in 1884, and for the following six months was engaged in the practice of his profession in Mendon. Prior to this, however, he had spent his summers in prac- ticing in the Good Samaritan Hospital, of Cin- cinnati, under able physicians, thus gaining valu- able experience.
In the autumn of 1884 Dr. Hamilton located in Millerton, Sumner county, Kans., and eight- een months later removed to Wellington, the county seat, where he remained until the spring of 1892. For four terms he served as county coroner, at length resigning that position, as he desired to come to Oklahoma. In February, 1892, he was appointed physician to the Mexi- can-Kickapoo Indians, and to the Absentee- Shawnee Indian school in old Shawnectown. He continued to serve in that office until 1897, when he became a citizen of Shawnee. From the beginning of his residence in this county he had had the privilege of practicing among the white settlers of the locality, and became weil known in Tecumseh, Shawnee and neighboring towns. Since 1896 he has kept an office in Shawnee, and for about four years has dwelt here. In 1898 tlie office of physician to the Indians before- mentioned was abolished, but he continues to minister to the needs of the students at the Ab- sentee-Shawnee school. Going to Chicago in 1898, he pursued a special course in medical work, and again, two years later, attended the Post-Graduate College in that metropolis.
Dr. Hamilton has identified himself with nu- merous local enterprises, and accordingly is the more esteemed as a citizen. One of the incor- porators of the Shawnee National Bank, he now
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is a director, and in 1899 was its vice-president until he resigned. His office is centrally situ- ated, being in the Shawnee National Bank Building. Besides owning a good farm in this county, and his own handsome residence, he has a third interest in the opera-house, a well- equipped modern assembly hall. In company with F. B. Reed and Professor Ware he bought the old opera-house and instituted substantial improvements. To-day, with a capacity of eight hundred or more persons, the auditorium is 50x130 feet in dimensions, and is thor- oughly safe and comfortable. The doctor is a member of the Shawnee Club, is a Mason and member of the Ancient Order of United Work- men. Politically he is a true-blue Republican.
In 1897 the doctor built what is considered one of the finest residences in Shawnee or this section of the county. This pleasant modern home, at No. 118 North Park street, is presided over by the doctor's cultured wife, formerly Miss Luella Mann, to whom he was wedded in Sum- ner county, Kans. She is a native of Shelby county, Ill., and was educated in St. Mary's Con- vent, at St. Marys, Kans. Burris Franklin, eld- est child of the doctor and wife, died when fifteen months old. John Forest, the second child, was accidentally killed when in his seventh year, by the premature discharging of a gun. Edna Agnes, the only daughter, died when about four and a half years old. Cletus A., the youngest of the family, is four years old.
E. F. MITCHELL. The growth and pros- perity of a new country or town depends at all times upon the enterprise and dar- ing courage of its earliest settlers, and El Reno has been blessed from its inception with citizens of fearless energy and great breadth of pur- pose, prominent among whom stands the gentle- man whose name appears at the head of this sketch.
Mr. Mitchell was born January 28, 1851, in Tiskilwa, Bureau county, Ill., a son of Samuel H. Mitchell, and a grandson of Samuel Mitchell, who was born in Virginia, but became an early settler of Wisconsin, where he was engaged in farming during his active life. Samuel Mitchell was born in Wisconsin, and was there reared to agricultural pursuits. Subsequently he lo- cated in Bureau county, Ill., where he became a prominent farmer and stockman, and was also engaged in the practice of medicine. In 1868 he became a resident of Fairfield, Jefferson county, Iowa, where he continued his profes- sional duties in connection with farming and stock-raising, remaining there until 1884, when he removed to Minneapolis, Minn., where he is still practicing medicine. He is an active
member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and one of the leading members of the fraternity of Odd Fellows, belonging to lodge and En- campment. He married Mrs. Elizabeth (Gil- bert) Robbins, who was born in Virginia, of Eng- lish parentage, but was reared and educated in Indiana. She died in Minneapolis. By her first marriage she was the mother of three children, and of her second union seven children were born, of whom four are now living, E. F. being the oldest, and one son, Lawrence, being a physician in Tracy, Minn.
E. F. Mitchell lived in Tiskilwa, Ill., until seventeen years old, receiving his education in the district schools, and on the home farm, a mile and a half from town, acquiring a thorough knowledge of the various branches of agricul- ture, more especially of the stock business, in which his father was extensively engaged, hav- ing bought and shipped stock to Chicago prior to the establishment of the Union stock yards, shipping to the small yards on the Lake Shore, and was in the business when the present stock yards were started. Mr. Sherman, the first pres- ident of the Union Stock Yards Company, still retains the position, and Mr. Mitchell continues the acquaintance with him that was begun so many years ago. In 1868 Mr. Mitchell removed to Fairfield, Iowa, where he engaged in stock dealing, shipping first to the old Union market, in St. Louis, then to the new stock yards in East St. Louis, and afterwards to the Kansas City yards. He subsequently turned his atten- tion to the trade in Nebraska, it being the time when the rush for homesteads was going on in that state, and for a while did an extensive business, buying horses and mules in St. Louis and sending them as far west as Grand Island. In 1881, during a great conflagration at Hast- ings, Neb., he was entirely burned out, losing seven thousand head of horses and mules.
Not discouraged by his losses, Mr. Mitchell commenced life anew in St. Joseph, Mo., where he dealt in cattle, making a specialty of horses and mules, for some time being in partnership with John Donovan, Jr., the present general manager of the Union stock yards at St. Jo- seph. Subsequently he embarked in a new busi- ness, organizing a company, capitalized at $20,000, and started the first herdic line in that city, but in that he was unsuccessful from the first, and again lost his property. Going then to St. Louis, he again started in the same stock business as before, being located at No. 1515 North Broadway, where for more than seven years he handled upwards of three thousand head of horses and mules annually, shipping to the markets of Harrisburg, Philadelphia, Pitts- burg, Boston and New York, dealing principally in horses. During that time he also supplied
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the Union Pacific Express Company and the St. Louis Express Company with horses, hav- ing been one of the most extensive dealers of that day.
In 1889 Mr. Mitchell came to Oklahoma, and on April 23d of that year located in Canadian county, in the old city of Reno, where he im- proved a large tract of land, and continued in the stock business. In 1892 he settled in El Reno, which became the city, and has here main- tained his residence, and done much towards advancing the city's prosperity. On the corner of Rock Island avenue and Wade street, he built the first court-house, which the county rented for three years and then bought. His operations in cattle are very heavy, while in Darlington having traded much with the In- dians. At one time he sold to the Cheyenne Indians $28,000 worth of goods, including wagons, groceries, horses, mules, dry goods, etc., and, as they could not write, he took their notes, agreeing to pay him when they got their money from the government, with just their marks for signatures, he making out the notes himself and signing their names. Al- though many considered it an injudicious act, he received almost the entire amount, losing not more than $600. He owns at least three hundred thousand acres of land, having one ranch of twelve hundred acres, east of Caddo Springs, stocked with a hundred head of full-blooded Herefords, and another ranch of eighty thousand acres, south of Anadarko, in Kiowa and Comanche counties, this being all fenced. He makes a specialty of raising graded Herefords, and ships full-bred bulis to every part of the Union.
A Democrat in politics, he assisted in organ- izing the Democratic party in Oklahoma, and was nominated as representative-at-large for the territory, but was defeated by two hundred and seventy-four votes. In 1893 he entered the race for United States marshal, having the endorse- ment of the entire political and judiciary force of the territory. He went to Washington, D. C., where he had the assurance of Grover Cleve- land that he would not recognize any but the home movement, but soon after his return home, when the fight had dwindled down to the two candidates, with himself ahead, influences were set at work which secured the appointment of his opponent. He was the only delegate to the Free-Silver League from Oklahoma, and was a delegate to the national Democratic convention in 1896, when W. J. Bryan was nominated for the presidency.
Mr. Mitchell has been a member of the El' Reno school board, having served as president of the first school board of the city. He belongs to the Commercial Club, of which he was one
of the organizers, and belongs to the Oklahoma Cattle Growers' Association, of which. he is chairman of its executive committee. He has attended every cattle convention in the past two years, and in their meetings has taken an active part. In January, 1899, at the National Cattle Growers' Association, held in Denver, Colo., he read a paper on grading and breeding cattle, and also spoke at the convention held in 1899 at Woodward, and at the Midland Ter- ritorial Convention, his remarks being listened to with interest. He attends the Congregational Church, of which he is a member.
In Jefferson county, Iowa, in 1872, Mr. Mitch- ell married Mattie E. Johnson, who was born in Somerset, Ohio, a daughter of William Johnson, and a granddaughter of James Johnson, who was born in Scotland, but emigrated with his family to Ohio. William Johnson was a life- long resident of Somerset, Ohio, where he was engaged in the jewelry business until his death, at the age of thirty-one years. He was a Cath- olic in religion. He married Susan Shaefer, who was born in Pennsylvania, a daughter of Charles Shaefer, and died at El Reno, in 1899, aged sev- enty-four years. The Shaefer family were Presby- terians. Mr.and Mrs. Mitchell have twochildren: Frederick Edward is now auditor for the Chi- cago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad, with head- quarters at Topeka, Kans .; and George Herbert, a graduate of the Fort Worth Military School, is now taking lessons in voice culture in Chi- cago.
J. F. MYERS. The ancestry of the Myers family is German, and the first members to leave the Fatherland and settle in America became identified with the early history of Penn- sylvania. There the paternal grandfather, John F. Myers, was born; in practically the dawn of the century he sought changed conditions in Indiana. His general farming interests were conducted upon government land, for which he paid $1.25 per acre, and upon which he re- mained until his death, at the advanced age of ninety-one years.
J. F. Myers was born in Newton county, Ind., in 1861. His parents, A. A. and Mary E. Myers, were natives of Indiana, and had a family of seven children, five of whom are living. A. A. Myers left his home in Indiana and moved to Kansas in 1873, locating in Hutchinson county, where he now lives, having retired from active participation in business affairs. He has always been prominent in the Republican party, and is a veteran of the Civil war, during the progress of which he had the misfortune to lose a leg, the catastrophe occurring at the battle of Nash- ville.
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On his father's farm in Indiana, J. F. Myers received an excellent home training, and was reared to agricultural pursuits. In Hutchinson, Kans., he obtained the greater part of his educa- tion, and grew to man's estate. As a means of livelihood he engaged in the stock business, buying horses and cattle in Texas and selling them in Kansas. In addition, he became inter- ested in the butchering business at Arlington.
September 10, 1893, Mr. Myers made the run into the Cherokee outlet, and secured consid- erable town property in Pond Creek. In the fall of the same year this property was sold, and the former owner came to Kingfisher county, and located upon the claim in Center township which has since been his home. Trees were immediately set out in the orchard to the num- ber of one thousand and two hundred, and a specialty was made of seedling roses. There is also a vineyard. Here Mr. Myers conducts general farming and raises some stock, and he has facilitated matters by digging two wells, which are practically exhaustless.
By his marriage, in 1886, Mr. Myers has one child, Mary Elizabeth. A nephew has also found a home since his childhood with these hospitable people.
In politics Mr. Myers is a member of the Re- publican party, and is connected with the school board of district 39, of which he has been a member for three years, Fraternally he is asso- ciated with the Modern Woodmen of America, at Dover, and the present banker of Camp No. 7057. During his residence in Oklahoma he has attained to considerable success, and is one of the respected citizens of the community.
J
JUDGE J.C. ROBBERTS. The honor of hav-
ing been the first mayor of Kingfisher be- longs to the subject of this article, who has been an influential factor in the upbuilding of this thriving city. He possesses the qualities which are most needed in a public official, and faithfully and fearlessly has performed every duty devolving upon him.
Judge Robberts is a native of Grinnell, Iowa, his birth having occurred there fifty years ago. His grandfather, Cornelius Robberts, was born near Richmond, Ky., in 1797, a worthy scion of a sterling old family of that state, and at an early day he became a pioneer of Bartholomew county, Ind. His son, Rev. James F. Robberts, father of the judge, was born in the county men- tioned in 1820, and, following the example of his enterprising ancestors, left home in early man- hood to found a new home on the frontier. In 1848 he took up his abode in Grinnell, and for a number of years devoted his attention to the improving of a homestead. Later, as the country
became more populous, he took up active work as a minister of the Congregational denonuna- tion, and labored in the Master's vineyard with gratifying results. After many years thus spent in Iowa, he came to Kingfisher seven years ago, and is now living retired, honored and beloved by all. His wife, Roxie Ann, a daughter of Jacob Denning, was born in Virginia, though the father was a native of Connecticut. At an early period he removed to Edinburg, Ind., where he was a pioneer farmer.
Of the five surviving children of Rev. J. F Robberts and wife, our subject is next to the youngest. He was reared in Grinnell, his na- tive town, and, after finishing his public-school education, entered Western College, where he remained one year. Later he became a student in Simpson College, at Indianola, Iowa, and was graduated from that institution with the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1870. He then com- menced his preparation for the law by- entering the office of Warner & Bullock, at Leon, Iowa, and was admitted to the bar in March, 1872. That year he was elected to the responsible office of superintendent of the schools of De- catur county, Iowa, and served in that capacity for four years, being re-elected at the close of his first term. He resigned in the Centennial year and moved to David City, Neb. There he en- joyed an excellent legal practice, and for one term was one of the county commissioners of Butler county. Further honors awaited him, and, elected to the legislature of Nebraska, he represented his district in the sixteenth, seven- teenth and eighteenth general assemblies of that state. At the close of his last term in the house, the governor appointed him prosecuting attor- ney of the fourth judicial district of Nebraska, and he loyally met the requirements of that dif- ficult position, winning the commendation of the public.
On the 29th of March, 1889, Judge Robberts received his appointment to the post of register of the United States land office at Kingfisher, then a hamlet on a stage line. He came into the territory on the 20th of April following, and on the next day proceeded from Guthrie to King- fisher, where he "held the fort" for a short time in a small, roofless building. Continuing under Harrison's administration and until September 15, 1893, he thus met, in his official capacity, a large proportion of the pioneers of this county, and by his uniform courtesy and fairness made hosts of lifelong friends. For the past seven years he has been actively engaged in the prac- tice of law, and is the legal adviser of numerous local firms and corporations, including the Kingfisher Bank, Rock Island Railroad and the Guthrie & Kingfisher Railroad. In the spring of 1893 he was elected mayor of this
G. L. FERREIRA, Kingfisher.
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city, as previously noted, and judiciously man- aged local affairs in that unsettled period. As a member of the Territorial Bar Association and of the Kingfisher County Bar Association he has increased his acquaintanceship and sphere of usefulness. In politics he has been an earnest worker for the principles and nominees of the Republican party, and in 1896 assisted in the nomination of Mckinley, as he was a delegate to the national convention at St. Louis, and gave his influence to the great statesman. For several years the judge has served as a member of the school board of Kingfisher and has exerted a powerfulinfluence in the cause of education here. He was one of the organizers of Kingfisher Academy and assisted in reorganizing Kingfisher College, in which institution he has been one of the trustees from its inception. He was initi- ated into Masonry while residing in David City, and now belongs to Kingfisher Lodge No. 8, A. F. & A. M.
In Leon, Iowa, the judge married Miss Sarah C. Martin, one of the native daughters of the place. Of their four living children, the eldest, George Burton, an admitted attorney-at-law, is engaged in the furniture business in this city. Bessie is a graduate of the high school here, and Margaret is a student in the Ladies' Col- lege at Liberty, Mo., while Max, the youngest of the family, is attending the city schools and is at home. Mrs. Robberts, who is a lady of varied intellectual and social attainments, is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
G. I. L. FERREIRA. The ancestry of the Ferreira family is Portuguese, the mater- nal family, Nunes, also coming from that country. The maternal grandfather, Major Nunes, was assigned to military duty in the Madeira islands, as a trusted officer of the Portu- guese army. Major Nunes with his family, prior to the Civil war, located on a farm north of Jack- sonville, Ill. He was accidentally killed by a hand car while crossing a railroad bridge. His wife, Clara Nunes, still makes her home on the farm near Jacksonville, Ill., and is now ninety years old. The paternal grandfather, Angelo Ferreira, was born in Funchal, the capital of the islands, and was a powder maker by occupation. He met an untimely death, being accidentally killed by an explosion of powder. During their residence in the Madeiras, the family fell under the displeasure of the more conservative element of the Catholic church, and were vigorously persecuted for their liberal and advanced views. Seeking an asylum where liberty of thought and speech were not only permitted but encouraged, the grandmother Ferreira brought her little family to the United States, and settled in
Springfield, Ill. Her son, Henry Angelo, the father of our subject, was then quite young, but he was an industrious lad, and worked his way to the front as a builder. Subsequently he lo- cated .on a farm purchased by himself north of Springfield, and engaged in agricultural pursuits until the breaking out of the Civil war. As a soldier in the Twenty-ninth Illinois Infantry, he served with courage and distinction until the cessation of hostilities. After the war he con- tinued cultivating the same farm until the spring of 1888, when he moved to Kingman county, Kans. He made the run April 22, 1889, and secured a claim on section 28, township 16, range 5, where the family still resides.
G. L. Ferreira was born January II, 1867, in Springfield, Ill., and was reared on his father's farm, and educated in the public schools. When fifteen years of age he began to be self-sup- porting, and earned a fair competence for him- self by working for the surrounding farmers. Desiring larger prospects than offered by his present occupation, he went, in 1888, to Nash- ville, Kingman county, Kans., to await the open- ing of the Oklahoma strip. With others of an equally aspiring nature, he made the run on the famous 22nd of April, 1889, and located on a claim ten miles east and two south of King- fisher. This he proceeded to improve until 1899, when he sold out to another party. In February - of the same year, he permanently located in Kingfisher, where he has since conducted a feed and sale stable, and extensively engaged in buy- ing and selling horses and mules.
In Downs, Kingfisher county, Okla., Mr. Fer- reira was united in marriage with Mary Rector, of Champaign county, Ill., and a daughter of Frank Rector, a native of Kentucky. Frank Rector came to Oklahoma in 1889 and is now living at Enid. He served during the Civil war in a Kentucky regiment. Mr. Ferreira has been prominently identified with the undertakings of the Republican party, and has for several years been a member of the central committee, in fact he was one of its organizers. In 1900 he was elected councilman from the third ward, and during the term of his service has given general satisfaction. During his residence in Kingfisher, he has substantially impressed his merit and personality upon the community, and is regarded as one of its most enterprising, broad-minded and helpful citizens.
N ATHAN D. YORK was, during his active and useful life, interested, among other things, in agriculture, in the prosecution of which he attained a marked degree of success. Ilis farm in Oklahoma, to which he devoted the last years of his life, was located on the southeast
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quarter of section 26, township 19, range 4 west, Logan county.
Nathan D. York was born in North Carolina in 1844, and was a son of James and Sarah (Grand) York, natives of New York state. . They were worthy and industrious people, who settled in Champaign county, Ill., in 1851. Surrounded with the usual home influences, Nathan York received an excellent training in work al,out the farm, as well as a good education in the dis- trict schools. At the age of twenty he married Sarah Lewis, a daughter of Nathan and Clarissa (Whitney) Lewis, the former deceased and the latter living in Iowa.
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