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 9
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As he cast his first presidential vote for Fre- mont in 1856, he has been connected with the
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Republican party forty-four years. Religiously he and his family are Presbyterians, and when he lived in Kansas he acted as an elder in his home church. While a resident of Oxford he became a charter member of the local post of the Grand Army of the Republic and served in the office of quartermaster. In order to eke out his means, in the early days of his residence here, he carried the mail, and in many ways has been intimately associated with the upbuilding of this thriving community.
J AMES J. RHOADES, whose life has been spent in fertile western farming sections, is thoroughly practical and well posted in modern agricultural methods. His record, both in peace and war, is that of a true, loyal patriot and high-principled citizen, and, as one of the pioneers of Oklahoma, he is deserving of a place in its history.
Mr. Rhoades comes of representative south- ern families, his father, Randolph Rhoades, hav- ing been a native of Virginia, while his mother. whose maiden name was Elizabeth Short, was born in Kentucky. They were married in the Blue Grass state, and resided there for several years subsequently. They were numbered among the pioneers of Illinois, as they spent the early part of the '3os in Sangamon county, re- moving to Dade county, Mo., in 1838 or 1839, and there making their home until 1844. when they returned to Sangamon county. Later the father went to Macoupin county, Ill., where he entered land and cultivated the place until shortly before his death, in 1851, when he was fifty-one years of age.
The birth of James J. Rhoades occurred in Sangamon county, Ill., April 27. 1837, and when he first made a visit to the neighboring town of Springfield, three miles south of the homestead, it was a mere village. The chief recollections of his boyhood and youth are associated with Illi- nois, and as his father died when our subject was fourteen years old, he was early obliged to as- sume the responsibilities of a man. He had butt a limited education, and for several years worked by the month for farmers in different sections of his native state.
On the 22d of September, 1861, Mr. Rhoades enlisted in Company A, Tenth Illinois Cavalry, and played an important part in the civil con- flict. He was actively engaged in some of the western campaigns, and at the siege of Vicks- burg, and the battles of Little Rock, Bayou Me- tre and Arkansas Post, among others, his cavalry force did heroic service for the Union. In a skirmish with the Confederates at Bull's Bayon, Ark., he was hit on the left thigh with a spent bullet, a black and blue spot being the only
effect, and this lucky accident, as it may be styled, was the nearest to a wound which he ever sustained. The severe hardships and exposure to inclement weather laid him low with sickness on one occasion, and for nearly a month he was an inmate of an army hospital at Duvall's Bluff. Veteranizing in 1864, and re-enlisting in the ser- vice, he was at his post of duty until January 6, 1866, when he was mustered out in San Antonio, Tex., his assignment subsequent to the close of the war being Texas.
While he was at home on a furlough, Mr. Rhoades and Mary Tibbs were married March 3, 1864. She is a native of Sangamon county, and a daughter of James and Dorinda (Short) Tibbs, both of whom were born in Illinois. Of the seven children born to Mr. and Mrs. Rhoades only one son survives. This son, Ulysses A., who was born in Sangamon county, Ill., married Clara Welsh in Oklahoma, and they have two children, Erma Fredonia and Chester Lec. Ulysses A. Rhoades, an enterprising young far- mer of this locality, owns two hundred and forty acres of land, situated near the homestead of our subject. Ida May Rhoades, a lovable young lady, died when in her seventeenth year, subse- quent to the arrival of the family in this terri- tory.
After carrying on a Sangamon county farm from the beginning of the year 1866 until Sep- tember, 1871, Mr. Rhoades went with his family to Kansas. Buying a claim in Neosho county, he remained there just two years. Homesickness and other considerations then led them to return to their native county, where they dwelt eleven years more. In 1884 they went to Crawford county, whence they removed to Seward county, Kans., in 1886. Having proved up a claim there and increased its value by judicious expenditure of energy and capital, our subject came to his present farm in January, 1890, and has made desirable. improvements here. The property is located on section 24, township 15, range 4, Lo- gan county.
As his father had been. a Jacksonian Demo- crat, Mr. Rhoades was biased in his carly man- hood and voted for Douglas in 1860, but in 1864 he loyally supported Lincoln, and since . that time has been a stanch Republican, often attending party conventions as a delegate. He was well acquainted with Abraham Lincoln and with Duff Armstrong, who was tried for killing a man in Mason county, Ill., and was cleared by Lincoln's skillful efforts. Both Mr. Rhoades and his wife are members of the Christian Church, and were baptized and received into the church at the same time, in their native county. He is a charter member of William Watts Post. G. A. R., at Seward, and at present is its vice- commander. In July, 1898, he commenced car-
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rying mail from West P. O. to Ball P. O., and thence to Omar, Okla., and has filled the posi- tion creditably and to the satisfaction of his su- perior in the United States Postal Department.
D R. JOHN LONG. To Dr. Long belongs the distinction of never having lost a pa- tient during quite an extended medical practice. He is remembered as a man who crowded much of kindness and usefulness and a variety of occupation into the years of his activity, and who ever had the interest of friends and the community at heart.
About the time of the Revolutionary war, Grandfather Long crossed the seas from Ger- many to America, and took up the burden of life amid new and crude surroundings in Penn- sylvania. Dr. John Long was born in New Pittsburg, Ohio, August 10, 1836, and was a son of Samuel Long, who was born near Harris- burg, Pa. In the very early days of the century Samuel Long left his father's home in Pennsyl- vania and settled on a farm in Ohio, where he carried on general farming and blacksmithing, and where he died at the age of eighty years. Upon removing to Ohio he was accompanied by his ten brothers, who later engaged in different occupations in Ohio, Illinois, Indiana and Mis- souri. The mother of this large family of boys was formerly Catherine Goodman, who was born in Pennsylvania. At the present time four of the ten children are living. The mother died in Ohio at the age of eighty-two.
Dr. Long was educated in the law school and at Oberlin College, and afterwards turned his educational advantages to good account by teaching school for a number of terms. He then began to study medicine under Dr. Elder, at Huntington, Ohio, and conscientiousiy read medicine for several years before attempting a practical application of his knowledge. In 1866 he removed to a farm in Adams county, Iowa. where he lived for ten years, and engaged in gen- eral farming and the real-estate business, and also acted in the capacity of insurance agent for several companies. In 1880 the scene of his ef- forts was changed to Ellsworth county, Kans., where he continued to farm, buy and sell real- estate, and sell life insurance. In addition, he dili- gently continued his medical researches, and, in fact, kept up a continual broadening in many directions, so that at the time of his death. Feb- ruary 16, 1898, he was an unusually well- informed man.
With the opening of the territory, in 1880. Dr. Long, who had previously moved to Buffalo Springs, in close proximity to the scene of activ- ity, started from Big Camp the opening day, and succeeded in obtaining a claim on the northeast
quarter of section 14, township 17, range 6. Kingfisher county. The same fall he erected the house in which his family now reside. They joined him in the new country in March of 1800. and were of valuable assistance in instituting the new state of affairs. Seventy-five acres of the land are under cultivation, and there is a good orchard, in which are grown numerous kinds of fruits.
After settling down to life as represented under the new conditions, Dr. Long began the practice of medicine and was successful beyond his expectations. August 9, 1862, he married Rachel J. Robinson, a daughter of Joseph C. Robinson, of Huron county, Ohio. To Dr. and Mrs. Long were born eight children: Frank, de- ceased; Samuel L., at home, who married Mattie Shively, of Ellsworth county, Kans .; Willian C., who lives on a farm in Grant county; Joseph C., in Ellsworth county, Kans .; John W., who resides in Grant county; David Burton, in Ells- worth county; Charles, on the old home place; and Hattie.
Among Dr. Long's many services to his town- ship may be mentioned his organization of the Kingfisher County Old Settlers' Association, which held annual meetings at Garrett Grove and Brown Grove. He was first president of the association and took active part in all its undertakings. He was superintendent of the Box Springs Sunday-school, and with his family was active in church work. Politically, he was associated with the Populist party, and was quite prominent in his locality in that capacity. For a number of years he served as justice of the peace, and at the first election in the township his name was mentioned for state senator, but he declined to accept. He was always vitally inter- ested in school matters, and was president of the school board for some time. He was a worthy addition to the colony of easterners who have added so much to the development of Okla- homa, and he won, during his life, the respect and confidence of his fellow townsmen.
G I
FORGE W. DURHAM. As a purveyor of general merchandise in Dale, Potta- watomie county, Mr. Durham has been reasonably successful and has won the esteem and confidence of the community. He was born in Hamilton county, Ohio, May 20. 1850, and is a son of W. S. and Narissa ( Wilmington) Durham, who were industrious and enterprising farmers. In their country home the children were trained to habits of thrift and economy and were educated in the public schools. George W. also attended the academy at Mount Washington and a private college in Cincinnati. He lived at home on the farm until after his thirtieth year, when
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he removed to Lawrence, Kans., and continued his former occupation of farming.
After seven years of industrious tilling of the soil in Kansas, Mr. Durham sought to better his condition by removal to Oklahoma, and located in Oklahoma City in February of 1890. He soon after went to Choctaw City and engaged in a different line of occupation, and for two years was fairly successful in the grocery business. In 1892 he came to the neighborhood where he now resides and started a grocery business. This was three years before the railroad came into this part of the country, and, when it was built, the store was removed to its present loca- tion.
Mr. Durham was united in marriage, in Kansas City, January 1, 1898, with Bertha Southwood, a native of Missouri. Of this union there is one child, James S., who was born at Dale. Mr. Dur- ham is a Democrat in national politics, but has no political aspirations. With the development of the town he has been ever interested, and by his strict attention to business and desire to please he has made many friends.
F RANCIS M. JORDAN, M. D .. a prosperous farmer and stock-raiser of Oklahoma town- ship, and one of the carly settlers of Okla- homa county, is a native of Springfield, Ill., being a son of Henry Jordan and grandson of James Jordan, and of German and Scotch de- scent. James Jordan was a native of Maryland. but removed to Ohio during his early life, and from there moved to Illinois. On the Sangamon river, near Athens, he built a grist and saw mill. As he was a man of considerable mechan- ical ability, he did all the mechanical work in his community, and was also engaged in farm- ing to some extent. He died there at an ad- vanced age.
Born in Ohio, Henry Jordan was the first member of his family who settled in Illinois. Hc walked from Pickaway county, Ohio, to Spring- field, Ill., arriving in that city before the capital was located there. Afterward his family joined him. In that vicinity he owned over a thousand acres of land. His occupation was that of a farmer and cattle-raiser. In 1852 he sold out and located near Elkhart, Logan county, Ill., and from there went to Macon county. Ill., where he died near Decatur, at the age of fifty-six years. In politics he took an active part, and for one term held the office of sheriff of Menard county. He was also an active church worker and a dea- con in the Methodist Church near his home. While residing near Elkhart he donated to the Methodist Conference the land upon which a new church was erected. Ile was a very promi-
nent man in the various communities where he resided. He was united in marriage with Miss Kezialı Hall, whose grandfather, a soldier in the Revolutionary war, was taken a prisoner and for a long time was supposed to have been lost, but finally returned home. Mr. and Mrs. Jordan were the parents of eight sons and eight daughters, of whom nine are still living. She died in Kansas in 1899, at the age of eighty- five years.
Francis M. Jordan was reared to manhood at Springfield, Ill., and there he also obtained his early- schooling, but at nineteen embarked in the cattle business, which he successfully car- ried on until he was twenty-seven. He then en- tered the State Normal School, from which institution he was graduated in 1863, and after that he became principal of the Elkhart grade schools, a position he ably filled for three years. In 1870 he entered Rush Medical College, from which he graduated in 1879, and during his stay in Chicago he took a post-graduate course. also engaged in practice in the city. For three years he had an office on the corner of Loomis and Twelfth streets, but at the end of that time he returned to his native county, and for years practiced at Berlin, Ill. Next he practiced in Kingman county, Kans., but in 1887 he went to Fort Smith, Ark., where he practiced his profes- sion. He was a member of the Sebastian County Medical Society and was appointed attending physician to St. Luke's Hospital. In the spring following he removed to Purcell, I. T. There he established a large practice and was examiner for the New York Life and New York Equitable Insurance Companies, and surgeon for the Atch- ison, Topeka & Santa Fe and the Gulf & Santa Fe Railway Companies. Along the latter two roads he had regular patients. He also took care of the government employes at Oklahoma Sta- tion, as it was then called.
April 22, 1889, he entered the race for homes and succeeded in locating his present farm, which is about one mile east of Oklahoma City, on section 35. His claim was contested for seven years, but he eventually won and has been granted a patent for the same by the govern- ment. The first year he put four acres under cultivation, but he now has the entire place in use. He makes a specialty of cattle-raising and operates a dairy, getting the milk from fifteen to twenty-five good cows. His farm is well supplied with water, his reservoir being filled from a well which has a depth of one hundred and forty feet. and the water is conveyed through the orchard, garden and stock pens by means of pipes and ditches. The orchard consists of mostly ap- ples and peach trees. He has a good house, with a large basement, and the outbuildings are also first-class. An enterprising farmer, he is
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well worthy of a place among the representative men of this territory.
Dr. Jordan has always been a Republican, and held offices of trust previous to coming west. In Kingman county, Kans., he was at one, time his party's candidate for county commissioner. Since coming to his present community, he has served on the county central committee. He was a member and secretary of the Medical As- sociation of Kingman county, Kans. The Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows and the Ancient Order of United Workmen also have numbered him among their members. He married Miss Rachel M. Michner, and they have two children, Aura D. and Frank T. The family attend the Presbyterian Church.
J. . P. TAYLOR, a veteran of the Civil war, and manager of the Shawnee nurseries, has de- voted more than three decades to his pres- ent line of business and is well known throughout the central west, for his business has extended into different states of this region. Within the comparatively short period of his residence in Oklahoma he has built up a wonderfully large trade, and undoubtedly stands among the lead- ing horticulturists in the territory. By his pa- tient and persevering labors he has developed many remarkable varieties of fruit and orna- mental shade trees, for which a ready market is found.
In reviewing the career of our subject, it may be said first that he comes of a patriotic family. His grandfather Taylor, a hero of the Revolu- tion, was of Scotch descent, and his father came to this country from the northern part of Ire- land. Our subject's father, Joseph Taylor, was born on the pioneer farm owned by his parents near Zanesville, Ohio. In his turn. he became a pioneer, settling in DeWitt county, Ill., at an carly day. In 1849 he crossed the western plains with a mule team, led to the Pacific coast by the hope of acquiring a fortune. After a year or more passed in the mining region, he died and was buried near the scene of his labors. His widow, Mrs. Alethe Taylor, also born near Zanesville, Ohio, died at her Illinois home in her fifty-fourth year. Her father, George Gard- ner, departed this life on his old homestead in the Buckeye state.
J. P. Taylor had nine brothers and sisters, namely: A. J., who was a lieutenant in the Twenty-sixth Illinois Infantry, and died in Bates county, Mo., in 1800: Mary and Margaret, who reside in McLean county. Ill .; John, now a resi- dent of Comanche county, Kans., and formerly a private in the One Hundred and Seventh Illinois Infantry: Thomas, who resides in DeWitt county, III,; George, now of McLean county,
Ill., and formerly in an Illinois cavalry regiment; Elizabeth, formerly a resident of Comanche county, Kans., and who died in. September, 1900; William, of the same locality; and Cath- erine, who died at the age of eighteen years in Illinois.
Born October 25, 1840, J. P. Taylor was reared near Waynesville, Ill., his birthplace. He had been occupied in independent enterprises, farming and stock-raising, but a short time after attaining his majority, when he enlisted in the One Hundred and Seventh Illinois Infantry. Mustered into Company B, at Camp Chase, Sep- tember 4, 1862, he served until September 17, 1863, when he was mustered out of the service on account of physical disability, and resumed his former occupations.
In the spring of 1869 Mr. Taylor located near Marshall, Mo., and carried on a nursery business for four years, with good success. Then, for more than a score of years, he conducted a simi- lar enterprise at Olathe, Kans., having what was reputed to be the finest nursery in the state. Meantime, in 1894, he commenced selling stock from his nursery in Oklahoma, where the de- mand has constantly increased. In 1897, in com- pany with his two sons, he established the Shaw- nee nurseries, whose business has grown to great proportions, as the eight or ten salesmen em- ployed not only travel in this territory, but also in Kansas, Arkansas, Texas and in the Indian Territory, and apricot stock, for instance, has even been shipped to California. Buying a whole block in the northern part of Shawnee, Mr. Tay- lor improved it with packing-houses and other buildings needed in his business, while his large nurseries are about a quarter of a mile away. His long experience has enabled him to work many wonders, among them peach trees that have ripened fruit two years after budding, and an ornamental peach tree, with graceful branches and beautiful blood-red foliage. He also propa- gates the Golden Acme and the Oklahoma peach trees, and many other specially fine varie- ties. Nor does he confine his attention to fruit and shade trees, for roses and other flowers re- ceive a due share of his time and labor. Special attention has been given to the climatic and other conditions of this immediate latitude, this being one of the paramount secrets of his suc- cess. He was one of the organizers of the Okla- homa Nurserymen's Association. In political faith he is a Democrat.
In Atlanta, Logan county. Ill :. Mr. Taylor married Ellen, daughter of Frederick Heckard. and sister of three heroes of the Civil war. She was born in Ohio, and with the family lived in McLean and Logan counties, IM. She is a member of the Presbyterian Church, and has many sincere friends in this city, which is equally
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truc of her husband. Their only daughter, Lillie May, Mrs. Graham, lives in Kansas City, and their two sons, Charles R. and L. H., both grad- uates of a commercial college, are in partnership with their father, and are recognized as leading young business men of this place.
JOHN B. WILLIAMS, the well-known and popular postmaster of Norman, which office he has filled since the IIth of February, 1898, was born about twelve miles northwest of Russellville, Logan county, Ky., January II, 1845. His father, C. T. Williams, was a native of Todd county, the same state, and a son of Rev. Gray Williams, who was born in North Carolina and was one of the early settlers of Todd county. He was a pioneer Methodist minister of that region and died there about 1856. His ancestors were of Welsh extraction. The father of our subject followed farming and also engaged in merchandising and conducted a tannery at Gor- donsville, Ky., where he served as postmaster and filled the office of justice of the peace for twelve years. In religious belief he was a Meth- odist, in politics a Whig, and in his frater- nal relations a Roval Arch Mason. He was born in 1818, and died in 1891. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Elizabeth P. Cleavin- ger, was a native of Virginia and a daughter of Asa Cleavinger, a hero of the Revolutionary war, who was also born in the Old Dominion. and died in Logan county, Ky. Mrs. Williams' death occurred in 1876. She was the mother of six children who reached years of maturity, while five are still living, John B. being the eld- est. Mrs. Rachel Carter and Hannah are also residents of Norman, Okla .: Mrs. Jennie Link of Lamar county, Tex .: and Mrs. Hattie Smith of Norman, Okla. The other son, W. W. Wil- liams, died in Johnson county, Tex.
The boyhood and youth of our subject were spent on the home farm in Kentucky, and he acquired a fair knowledge of the common Eng- lish branches of learning in the schools of that locality. When the country became involved in civil war, he enlisted, in the fall of 1861, in Com- pany D. Third Kentucky Cavalry, and was mus- tered into the United States service at Calhoun, Ky. He participated in the battles of Sacra- mento, Ky., Shiloh, Corinth and Perryville, and skirmishes in and about Nashville. During the vear 1863 he was on duty in Kentucky, and the following year took part in the Atlanta campaign under Kilpatrick. He was in the battles of Love- joy Station and Jonesboro; was with Sherman on the march to the sea, and was in the engage- ments at Macon, Waynesboro and Savannah. He participated in all of the engagements of the Carolina campaign until the surrender of Johns-
ton at Durham Station, N. C. He veteranized in the spring of 1864, and toward the close of the war served as sergeant. He had three horses killed under him, and once, when hit by a shell. was left for dead on the battle-field. The war having ended, he was mustered out at Lexing- ton, N. C., in July, 1865, and returned to his home in Kentucky on the 2nd of August.
In that state Mr. Williams followed farming until 1878, when he removed to Cleburne, Tex .. where he engaged in farming and the cattle busi- · ness. until coming to Norman, Okla., in June, 1889. For over a year he lived on a farm five miles northwest of the city, and then located in Norman, and was engaged in the grocery busi- ness on West Main street, as a member of the firm of Williams & Son until 1895, when he sold out. He built a residence here in 1889. On the IIth of February, 1898, he was appointed post- master, and has since filled that office to the en- tire satisfaction of its many patrons.
At Gordonsville, Ky., Mr. Williams married Mrs. Annie E. (Campbell) Lofland, a daughter of Thomas J. Campbell, a farmer and merchant of that place. By this union were born two chil- dren: Clarice C., a graduate of Hill's Commer- cial College, of Waco, Tex., and now assistant postmaster at Norman; and Florena, who is at- tending the University of Oklahoma.
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