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 87
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On first coming to Pawnee, Okla., in the spring of 1804, Professor Harnden engaged in business as a contract painter until the fall of 1895, and painted the court-house and many of the best residences and business houses in the city. In the fall of 1895 he made application for the principalship of the Pawnee public school, but, failing to secure the position, he resolved to start a private school by charging $2 a month. He canvassed the town and that first week had sixteen pupils; the second, thirty-two; the fourth, forty-nine; and the fifth, sixty-one. So rapidly did his school grow that he was soon forced to hire an assistant. His enrollment reached sixty-nine. One day a director of the board of education met him and remarked that if he continued to take the pupils from the pub- lic school they would soon have to change build-
ings with him. He successfully conducted the school for eight months, and in 1896 organized a private summer normal school in connection with Prof. O. G. Palmer, later one of the Rough Riders in the Spanish-American war, and now filling the chair of history and civics in the Alva normal. Before the close of the three months' term Professor Harnden received the nomina- tion for county superintendent, and in the fall of 1896 was elected on the Populist and fusion ticket. So acceptably did he fill the office that he was re-elected in 1898, his present term expiring in July, 1901. He has continued to conduct liis private normal school for three months dur- ing the summer, and so beneficial has it proved, especially to the teachers of the county, that it has been made a part of the county work, being given a substantial support by the county com- missioners. Besides an academic course, in- struction is also given in music by Professor Harnden, who is also master of that art. Ap- preciating his efforts in their behalf, at the end of his first term as county superintendent, the teachers of the county petitioned the Populist party to renominate him, pledging their support. He has labored untiringly for the betterment of both the graded and district schools of the county, and under his superintendency the county has obtained two prizes in the territorial contest for teachers' reading circle work.
Prof. Harnden was married in Sherburne. Minn., to Miss Sarah Leigh, a native of New York, and to them have been born six children: . George, Rosetta, Edward, Lemuel, Elsie and Minnie. The parents hold membership in the Christian Church, of which the professor is a trustee and ex-superintendent of the Sunday school. He also.belongs to the Ancient Order of United Workmen, and is an active and prom- inent member of the County Teachers' Associa- tion and the Territorial Teachers' Association. He was a charter member and one of the organ- izers 'of the Territorial County Superintendents' Association, of which he was the first president, and filled that office for two terms. He owns a well improved and valuable farm one mile south- west of Pawnee, and upon that place he makes his home.
T. M. GRANT. As a contractor and builder this gentleman has been prominently identified with the development and prog- ress of Pawnee since October, 1803. but is now discharging the duties of sheriff, having been appointed to that position to fill a vacancy in November, 1800. He is sheriff not only of Paw- nee county, but also of the Osage nation, his territory being seventy-five miles square, and he
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is proving a most competent and trustworthy officer.
A native of Kentucky, Mr. Grant was born in Pendleton county, April 1, 1853, and is a son of Peter Grant, a native of Boone county, that state, and a third cousin of General Grant's father. The grandfather, John Grant, was born in Virginia of Scotch descent, and was a rela- tive of Daniel Boone. He was a farmer by occupation and an early settler of Boone county, Ky., in which state he spent his last days. Our subject's father was an agriculturist of Pendleton county, Ky., where he died at the age of forty- seven years. He married Miss Susan Lamb, a native of Baltimore, Md., and a daughter of Milton Lamb, who was born in the same state and was one of the first settlers of Covington, Kenton county, Ky., serving as a member of its first council. For a time he engaged in the packing house business, but later followed farm- ing near Covington, where his death occurred. He was of German descent. Our subject is the third in order of birth in a family of seven chil- dren, all of whom are living and are residents of Kentucky with exception of himself. The mother still resides on the old homestead in Pendleton county.
T. M. Grant was only eleven years of age at the time of his father's death. On the farm, consisting of 160 acres, there was an indebted- ness of $1,600, and he remained at home, assist- ing in its operation until this was paid off. He received a good common school education, and was reared to habits of industry and thrift. At the age of twenty he began working at the car- penter's trade, but remained at home until he attained his majority, when he commenced con- tracting and building with a partner. On leaving Kentucky, in 1875, he went to Hiawatha, Kans .. where he followed the same occupation for eighteen months, and then returned to his native state, where he and a brother together engaged in contracting and farming for a time. Later Mr. Grant was interested in the leaf tobacco business, but was unsuccessful in that venture. In 1884 he removed to southwestern Kansas, where he followed contracting and building for three years; was subsequently engaged in the same pursuit at Denver, Colo., until 1890; and at Aspen, Colo., until 1893. On the 16th of September, that year, he located in Perry, Okla .. but two weeks later came to Pawnee, where he has erected over one-half of the buildings, includ- ing the best residences and business blocks of the city. . He formed a partnership with H. U. Bartlett, under the firm name of Grant & Bart- lett, which connection still continues. They had charge of the woodwork in building the court- house, and erected the Arkansas Valley Bank and the residences of Messrs, Rambo, Freidman,
Charles Vandervort, Wrightsman, McGuire and Hunter, and the new school building, which is the finest structure in the territory, besides many other buildings. They always conscientiously fulfill their part of every contract and are num- bered among the most reliable business men of the city.
In Pendleton county, Ky., Mr. Grant married Miss Florence Griffing, a native of Kenton county, that state, and to them has been born a son, William G., who is a graduate of the Paw- nee high school, and is now attending the Uni- versity of Oklahoma at Norman. The wife and mother is an earnest member of the Christian Church. Mr. Grant was made a Mason in his native county, and became a charter member of Pawnee Lodge No. 17, A. F. & A. M., and also belongs to Tyrian Chapter No. 20, R. A. M., of Pawnee; also Pawnee Commandery No. 7, K. T .; and the Ancient Order of United Workmen. In his political views he is a Republican.
R EV. HARVEY J. BROWN, in his faithful work as presiding elder of the Methodist Episcopal Church South for Oklahoma district, has indeed been a public benefactor. Under his direction new churches have been , built, and the enrollment of old ones multiplied. and his general efforts to promote the cause of Christianity have resulted in elevating the moral standard of citizenship in the territory under his jurisdiction. He is a man of good educational attainments, enthusiastic in his work, and of forcible character, possessing the confidence and good will of his fellowmen to a marked degree.
Mr. Brown was born at Jennings Gap. Augusta county, Va., May 21, 1856. This is the birthplace of numerous ministers and also of Ex-Governor Fifer, of Illinois. He is a son of John Joseph Decateur and Juliet Amanda (Hill) Brown, and a grandson of Joseph Brown. The family are of old Pennsylvania stock, and Joseph was born in Washington county, Pa .. but later removed to Jennings Gap, Augusta county, Va., where he followed his trade as a mechanic. His wife, who was Mary Richey, was a daughter of Dr. Richey, whose wife was Mary O'Friel.
John Joseph Decateur Brown, the father of our subject, was born at Jennings Gap, Va., in 1804. and early in life learned the trade of a carpenter and cabinet maker. He subsequently engaged in contracting and was an exact work- man until 1863, when he died at the age of fifty- nine years. He was united in marriage with Juliet Amanda Hill, who was born near Lynch- burg. Amherst county, Va., Feb. 16, 1821. and was a daughter of William and Nancy (Wil liams) Hill. Her father was born in 'Virginia
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and was a man of superior education, and was a relative of President James Madison. He mar- ried Nancy Williams, whose father was a Welsh- man, serving in the British navy, but deserted and came to America, being obliged to swim for miles in making his escape. He joined the American army and fought valiantly for the cause of Independence. Mr. and Mrs. Hill were parents of the following children: Juliet Amanda; Reuben D., an attorney of Staunton, Va .; Rich- ard, who was murdered in Illinois; William, who while serving in the United States Army was supposed to be killed by the Indians in Arizona before the war; Ajax, who died at Leb- anon, Mo .; Elvira, wife of Dr. J. T. Schuck, of Leon, Kans .; Mrs. Eliza Creasy of Illinois; and Edmond, who still lives near the old family homestead near Lynchburg, Va., at an age of almost one hundred years. Our subject's mother is a well-educated woman and a devout Chris- tian, being converted early in life. She taught school many years in Augusta county, Va., mak- ing several trips to and from her brother's house to her father's home in Amherst county, on horseback, a distance of over one hundred miles. She now resides in Leon, Kans., and although nearly eighty years of age is most active in her church work, being a steward in the Meth- odist Episcopal Church, a class leader and Sun- day school teacher. She and her husband were parents of the following offspring: Francis Hen- dra Taylor, now of Carterville, Mo .; Nannie and Mary, who died in infancy of scarlet fever, their deaths occurring but five minutes apart; Joseph William, merchant and postmaster of Haverhill, Butler county, Kans .; Harvey Josiah; and Luther M., who died young.
Harvey J. Brown was brought up in the small village of Jennings Gap, and attended the sub- scription schools in a church, which was also used for a school house. The environments of his early life were ideal and the events of his boyhood days made a lasting impression. There was the farm of one hundred and eighty-seven acres, with its familiar old-styled Virginia coun- try home, surrounded by willows and an orchard, where neighbors and friends were wont to gather and make merry; and the Highland county travelers' camp, and the many good times enjoyed there will never be forgotten by him. From the farm an excellent view was to be had and in the distance could be seen Craw- ford Mountain, towering over all the other mountains in sight, except Elliott's Knob. He and his brothers were but small boys, but vividly he remembers the horrors of the Civil war. They were, of course, southern sympa- thizers, and his mother kept a Confederate States post office. His father, after being an invalid for several years, died in 1863, and next to this,
the surrender of General Lee, April 9, 1865, was the saddest event of his life, to that date. After the war, he continued in school in Virginia and later in Kansas, also taking a course of study under the careful direction of his mother, who was an excellent scholar. In 1871, with his mother and the rest of the family, he located in Butler county, Kans., eight miles east of Augusta, on the Osage Indian Trust lands. In 1876 he began teaching school, and having been licensed to preach in the Traveling ministry in 1877, he prepared to enter the Annual Con- ference on trial. He was admitted on trial to the Western Conference also in 1877, his first appointment being the Cedar Point Circuit, con- sisting of classes in Butler, Chase and Marion counties. He had traveled over that part of the country the year previous in attending competi- tive examination for appointment to West Point, and among other candidates was H. C. Cross, who subsequently met with a tragic death. After traveling that circuit for one year, he was ap- pointed to Fort Scott Circuit in Bourbon county, and during his third year was on the Barnard Cir- cuit. This is near the seat of the Captain Hamil- ton Massacre, and he received a lady into his church whose father had been murdered there. Owing to the prevalence of Spiritualism and In- gersollism, his congregations were at first very small and he experienced considerable difficulty in bringing the churches up to the standard, but setting about his work with characteristic energy his efforts were attended with some success. He subsequently preached on the following circuits : 1880 and 1881, Winfield; 1882 and 1883, How- ard; 1883 and 1884, Walnut Valley; 1885. 1886 and 1887, Council Grove; 1887 and 1888, at Eureka Springs, Arkansas Conference; 1888 and 1889, Bentonville, continuing for two years. In 1890 he was transferred to Indian Mission Con- ference, and was sent to Oklahoma in charge of Kingfisher and El Reno. He first lived in King- fisher, but in March, 1891, went to El Reno, where he built the present church and parson- age. In 1892 he was given charges of El Reno and Minco, and built a church at Minco. He located a claim in Canadian county, nine miles southwest of El Reno, in 1892, and in that year was given charge of the Okarche Mission, resid- ing on his farm; after remaining in charge until 1893, he was appointed to the Fort Reno Cir- cuit. He proved up his claim to one hundred and sixty acres in 1894, and giving two and one- half acres of his property for a site, built a church known as Buena Vista Church, from which can be seen Fort Reno, Darlington. Union City, El Reno, and the Cherokee and Arapahoe school. He has a well-improved place and it is known as Wolf Hill. In 1894 he was stationed at Norman Station, and in 1895 at
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Duncan Station on the Chicago, Rock Isiand & Pacific railway, where he secured the seating of the church and improvement of the parsonage.
In 1896 he was appointed presiding elder of Oklahoma District by Bishop Duncan at the Conference held in El Reno. Where he had been preaching on the picket line, with no other minister of the same denomination within twenty-five miles of him and no other Methodist Episcopal Church South in Indian or Oklahoma Territory on that line of railroad, there left that Conference a train load of ministers of that de- nomination. A wonderful transition had taken place in less than seven years' time, and the El Reno charge is now self-supporting and pays its pastor $800 per year. Rev. Mr. Brown located his headquarters at Oklahoma City and rented seven different houses up till March, 1899, when he moved into the present district parsonage, a five room house on East Sixth street, Maywood, which has been secured for use of the presiding elders. He has been appointed to that office every year since and is serving his fourth year. He was secretary of the Conference Board of Education, and has been on the board about nine years, at the present time serving as its president. In connection with the same, they have secured pledges for $9,500 for Twentieth Century Thanks Offering for the Indian Mission Conference. Several years since his connection with the board, they have raised $600 annually for the education of ministers' sons and daugh- ters.
Oklahoma District is composed of the follow- ing charges: Oklahoma City, El Reno, Still- water Circuit, Tecumseh Circuit, Shawnee, Enid, Hennessey, Council Grove, Yukon, Union, Earlsboro, Perry, Chandler, Luther, Billings, Moore, Choctaw, McLeod and Byron. The annual conference reports for the district in 1899 gave the following interesting statistics: 1,865 members; admission by profession of faith, 159; certificate and otherwise, 538; dismissal, 225; giving a net gain of 463. There are 53 congregations in the district; 14 churches, val- ued at $24,950; 13 parsonages, valued at $5,210; district parsonage, valued at $1,800. The dis- trict raised for church purposes as follows: Pre- siding elder, $476: support of pastors, $3.317; Bishop, $48.67; Conference claimants, widows and orphans, $83.25; Foreign Missions, $190; Domestic Missions, $173; church extension, $44.60; educational assessments, $52.60; for all purposes, $7,456.21. In addition to the resi- dence of the presiding elder, they have built parsonages at Pawnee, Stillwater, Billings, Hennessey, Council Grove, Moore, MeLeod, Tecumseh and Shawnee during the last four years, in addition to improving nearly all of the others.
November 22, 1888, Mr. Brown was united in marriage with Prenettie Alice Maxey, who is of French descent. Her ancestors fled from France during the St. Bartholomew Massacre. Her father was Rev. William Bon Durant Maxey, and her grandfather was Nathaniel Maxey, a native of Virginia. He married Miss Baber, who comes of the same family as Col. Hiram Baber, of Jefferson City, Mo., and early in life settled at Maxey's Landing, Ky., on the Ohio river, being a pioneer in Kentucky. William Bon Durant Maxey was born in Danville, Ky., and was twenty years of age when he entered the ministry. He was originally of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and upon its division went with the Methodist Episcopal Church South. He preached in Kentucky, then went to Kansas in 1871. He finally located on a farm near Coun- cil Grove, where he was pastor for one year. His health gave out and he served as Local Elder until his death, about fourteen years ago. He married Martha S. Wilson, a native of Ken- tucky, and a daughter of Joseph Wilson. The latter was born in England and came with his parents to this country when a boy, locating in Kentucky, where he died. To his daughter, Martha S. Maxey, the following children were born: Mrs. Mary E. Roberts of El Dorado Springs, Mo .; Mrs. Kitty Steele of El Dorado Springs, Mo .; Mrs. Susan E. Martin of Duncan; I. T .; Mrs. Adeline V. Maxey of Canadian county, Okla .; Mrs. Eliza L. Buford of Lincoln, Neb .; Leonidas, who is engaged in the insurance business at Topeka, Kans .; Nathaniel, who died in Kentucky; J. Flavel, who died in Kansas; Mrs. Martha Morehouse of Council Grove, Kans .; Prenettie Alice; and Julia, who died at the age of three years. Our subject's wife was born at Maxey's Landing, Ky., and received a good education, having graduated from high school at Salina, Kans. As a result of her union with Mr. Brown, three children were born, namely: Madge, born in Bentonville, Ark .; Por- ter Walker, born at Buena Vista, Okla .; and Ruth, born at Duncan, I. T. Mr. Brown is a member of the Masonic fraternity. He is a Democrat in politics, and a strong temperance advocate.
J AMES R. MURIE, assistant bookkeeper and interpreter for the First National Bank at Pawnee, is the only child of James and Annie Murie, and is a native of Genoa, Nance county, Neb. His paternal grandfather was Peter Murie, a native of Scotland and a pioneer of Nebraska. When a young man the father engaged in clerking in the store of an Indian trader at Genoa, where he learned the Pawnee language, and later married a Pawnee woman,
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a daughter of the prophet of the tribe, Sah-ko- ru-tah, which means the coming sun. They were married according to the rites of the Protestant church, although by her people it was not looked upon with as much favor as if it had been performed according to their own customs, being accompanied by a certain number of ponies. Her father had three brothers who were chiefs of the Ske-de band of Pawnees. This tribe drifted north from the Wichita mountain and became known as Pawnees, while those that remained in the south were known as Wichitas. When the Union Pacific railroad was being built, the father of our subject organized and was commissioned captain of a company of Paw- nee scouts, which aided the soldiers in keeping the hostile Indians from interfering with the progress of the road, and were engaged in a number of fights with the Cheyennes, Arapa- hoes and Sioux. In one of these engagements Mr. Murie was seriously wounded in the head, which has since incapacitated him, and he is now at the Soldiers' Home at Grand Island, Neb.
Our subject began his education at an Indian school in Genoa, Neb., taught by a Pawnee woman, and about 1875 came to the Pawnee agency in this territory, where the government soon afterward built a school, Miss Mary Anna Burgess and Miss Julia Nichols being among its first teachers, the former now at Carlisle. Mr. Murie was finally taken from this school to become interpreter for the agency physician, being allowed to attend schoolwhen not busy. In the fall of 1877 the agency school was completed and he pursued his studies there for-a short time, but was later sent to the boarding school. In the summer of 1878 the Indians became dis- satisfied; 2,200 having come to this territory and about half the number having died during their residence here, they determined to return to Nebraska, but the government urged them to stay, giving them money and rations. Colonel Meacham was sent as paymaster and with him a lady physician, Dr. Cora Bland, who urged the Indians to educate their children. Mr. Murie acted as her interpreter, and through her in- fluence eastern people became interested in him and money was raised to send him to the Normal and Agricultural Institute at Hampton, Va., where he was a student for four years, and after teaching school for two years he received a diploma from that college in 1885. On the 20th of October, 1870. he became a member of a volunteer battalion of cadets at Hampton; was made corporal of Company D, March 31. 1880; sergeant of the same company, November I. 1880; sergeant-major, October 3, 1881 ; and first lieutenant and adjutant, June 16, 1882, holding the last named position during the remainder of his stay at school. The company was com-
manded by George Le Roy Brown, first lieu- tenant in the United States Infantry.
In June, 1883, Mr. Murie returned to Pawnee, Okla., where he was employed as clerk in the agency store of Mr. Bishop for a time, and was then offered the position of teacher in the Indian school at this place. Though the wages were smaller than he was receiving as clerk, he accepted the position, feeling very grateful for his own education and wishing to aid his people as much as possible. He entered upon his duties in the fall of 1883, and teaching one year, re- signed and entered the Haskell Institute, then being started through the influence of Dr. Mar- vin. He persuaded twenty-one boys to accom- pany him, but on their arrival they found that the school was not yet in running order and at once set to work to clear the place of rocks and other debris. Our subject was made disciplin- arian and drill master. He also had charge of the dining room and was made commissary clerk, working for nothing the first three months. He cut the hair and gave clothes to the boys who entered school wearing blankets, and took a very active part in getting things in shape. Later he was made a teacher and organ- ized the boys into a military company. He started the drill and established the court-mar- tial, which are still kept up at that institution. Being commended to the government as a teacher by Dr. Marvin, he was finally hired, but was only given fifteen dollars per month for all his work. In 1886 he resigned and went to Washington to make arrangements for attend- ing the Alexandria Theological Seminary. In 1883 the cattle men had bribed some three or four of the Indian leaders to get the Pawnees to lease their lands to them for one cent per acre, but Mr. Murie frustrated their plans, and secured for them nearly three cents an acre. Accusing the guilty parties of bood- ling, he came very nearly being assassinated by one of them. In 1886 the commissioner of Indian affairs appointed him teacher in the Paw- nee school, but he was prevented from securing the position by enemies among his own people.
Having nothing else to do he then engaged in freighting, and on the way to Red Rock met Governor Robinson, who told him he had lots of friends in Lawrence, and appointed him to a position there, telling him he would have to work his way upward again. He went to work in the kitchen, but on Saturday night was elected president of the literary society, and at Sunday school was given a class of forty-five girls to teach. On Monday he accepted a posi- tion as clerk in the store at the agency, where he remained for two years. He next broke and fenced a tract of land on the Arkansas river. where he was engaged in general farming an'l
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