USA > Oklahoma > Tulsa County > Tulsa > The history of Tulsa, Oklahoma > Part 19
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In 1910 Mr. Witwer was united in marriage to Miss Florence Green, a na- tive of Iowa, and a daughter of Thomas R. Green, and they now have two chil- dren : Ellen, and Louis Heston Witwer, Jr. Mr. and Mrs. Witwer occupy an enviable position in those social circles where true worth and intelligence are accepted. as passport into good society. They belong to the Christian church, taking active and helpful interest in its work, and Mr. Witwer is serving as one of the deacons. Politically he is a republican and he never withholds his sup- port from activities and interests for the public good. He belongs to the Ma- sonic fraternity and to the Young Men's Christian Association, and his life has always been governed by principles which neither seek nor require disguise. He has ever maintained high standards and in his active career has won not only success, but also an honored name.
JOHN RAYMOND MANION.
John Raymond Manion, president of the Sinclair Pipe Line Company of Tulsa, is a man capable of handling big business propositions. He attacks everything with a contagious enthusiasm, but at all times his zeal and enterprise are tem- pered by sound judgment that is based upon clear insight into every situation. In the past few years he has greatly broadened the scope of the business of the Sinclair Pipe Line Company, adequately meeting the business conditions of the firm and laying a sound basis for future development and success. Mr. Manion brought to his connection with the oil interests of the southwest a broad experi- ence gained in Ohio and Pennsylvania. He is a native of the latter state, his birth having occurred in McClintockville, December 16, 1875, his parents being Michael and Mary (Fitzgerald) Manion. Spending his youthful days in his native town, he there attended the public and high schools, and his oil career began with the opening of the prolific pool at McDonald, Pennsylvania. In 1894, when a youth in his nineteenth year, Mr. Manion became engineer and telegraph oper- ator for the Southwest Pennsylvania Pipe Line Company at McDonald, occupy- ing the position for two years. In the succeeding period of two years he was engineer and ganger with the Buckeye Pipe Line Company in Wood county, Ohio, and then became connected with the National Transit Company of Bradford, Pennsylvania, acting as engineer and gauger in connection with pipe line construc- tion. He continued with that company for a period of five years, from 1898 until 1903, when he was transferred by them to the Venango, Clarion district, where
ga marion
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he remained until 1905. Through the following year he was foreman of a district with the Prairie Oil & Gas Company of Bartlesville, Oklahoma, thus transferring his activities to the southwest. In 1906 and 1907 he was at Cleveland, Ohio, and in 1907 and 1908 at Tulsa, Oklahoma. In the latter year the Prairie Oil & Gas Company made him division superintendent of Independence, Kansas, where he continued until 1914, when he was returned to Tulsa and became assistant general superintendent, so serving until 1916. In the latter year the Sinclair inter- ests purchased the properties of the Cudahy and Milliken Companies, at which time Mr. Manion left the employ of the Prairie Oil & Gas Company to accept the position of vice president and general manager of the Sinclair Pipe Line Company. He was later elected president and so continues. In the past four years this company has widely extended its operations, having now an eight-inch line from the Oklahoma-Kansas fields to Chicago and one of similar size between the Oklahoma and Texas fields. This work was accomplished directly under the supervision of Mr. Manion. Identified with the oil industry from the age of nineteen years, the steps in his orderly progression are easily discernible. As his powers have developed, increasing duties and responsibilities have come to him and today he occupies a position of leadership among the oil operators in the southwest.
On the 9th of November, 1914, Mr. Manion was married to Miss Sarah Freel, of Allegany, New York, and they have become parents of three sons : Raymond, Kenneth and Edward. Mr. Manion is a Catholic in religious faith and belongs to the Knights of Columbus, also to the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. His political support is given to the republican party, but the honors of office have had no attraction for him. He belongs to the Chamber of Commerce of Tulsa and cooperates heartily in its well defined plans for the upbuilding of the city. He is also a member of the Country Club, and for recreation he turns to fishing, golf, motoring and hunting. These, however, have never been allowed to inter- fere with the faithful performance of his business duties and, learning day by day valuable lessons in the school of experience, he has become a most forceful and resourceful factor in connection with the oil industry of Oklahoma.
HAL F. RAMBO.
The rapid development of Tulsa and the establishment of manifold business interests here have been the means of bringing to the city many prominent and capable young professional men. Active in the practice of law is Hal F. Rambo, who was born at Elk Falls, Kansas, June 12, 1891. He was one of two children -and is the only one now living-who were born to C. W. and Alice Jeannette (Fletcher) Rambo, the former a native of Shelby, Ohio, while the latter was born in Madison, Maine. With their removal to Oklahoma the family lived at Pawnee and later removed to Guthrie, where the father, C. W. Rambo, served as territorial treasurer and was prominent in shaping the early development and history of the state. He is a Civil war veteran and at all times has been a loyal supporter of every plan and measure which he has deemed of benefit and value to the community, the commonwealth and the country. His political allegiance has always been given to the republican party, and fraternally he is a Knights Templar and Consistory Mason and a member of the Mystic Shrine. Business cares no longer claim his attention and he is at this time a resident of Tulsa.
Hal F. Rambo pursued his early education in the public schools of Pawnee Vol. III-12
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and Guthrie, Oklahoma, and afterward completed his high school studies at Ottawa, Kansas. He next entered the University of Kansas, from which he was graduated with the class of 1913, having completed his law course with the degree of LL. B. On the Ist of July of the same year he was admitted to prac- tice at the Kansas bar and entered upon the active work of the profession in that state. For two years he practiced in Kansas and in Denver, Colorado, and came to Tulsa in December, 1915, recognizing the splendid field offered in this rapidly growing city. He was associated with the firm of Rice & Lyons until the Ist of September, 1919, and is now practicing as a member of the firm of Lashley & Rambo, with offices in the Kennedy building. He has done much im- portant work in the field of corporation law and his firm is well known as repre- senting the Roxana Petroleum Corporation, the Kawfield Oil Company and other interests of similar nature. He belongs to both the Tulsa County Bar Association and the State Bar Association, and is secretary of the former.
On the 4th of September, 1916, Mr. Rambo was married to Miss Alice Jose- phine Spencer, a daughter of W. S. Spencer, a former resident of Guthrie, Oklahoma, and now a well known oil man of Denver, Colorado.
Mr. Rambo is widely known through various membership connections, be- longing to the Sigma Alpha Epsilon college fraternity, the Phi Delta Phi legal fraternity and the Alumni Chapter of Sigma Alpha Epsilon of Tulsa, of which he is the president. He is a Mason, having membership in Delta Lodge, No. 425, A. F. & A. M., in Guthrie Consistory, A. & A. S. R., and in Akdar Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S. His church relationship is with the Presbyterian denomina- tion and his political belief is that of the republican party, which he has sup- ported since age conferred upon him the right of franchise. He does not seek nor desire office, but gives earnest allegiance to all political measures for the public good and no one questions the integrity of his opinion or has reason to regard his position upon any vital question as an equivocal one.
ELTON B. HUNT.
Elton B. Hunt, member of the law firm of Hunt & Eagleton, practicing at Tulsa, was born May 24, 1886, a son of Jacob and Emily Elizabeth (Broyles) Hunt, the former a farmer residing at Alex, Oklahoma. The family comes of English ancestry but has been represented in America for about two hundred years. Representatives of the family have resided in Virginia, Tennessee, Illinois and Missouri and now in Oklahoma.
Elton B. Hunt obtained his early education in the Kendall school when it was located in Muskogee, and afterward was graduated from the Academy at Park College, in Parkville, Missouri. He continued his more specifically liter- ary course in the Colorado College and won his Bachelor of Arts degree upon graduation with the class of 1910. He was graduated from the University of Oklahoma in 1913, with the degree of LL. B., and at once entered upon active practice, in which he has since engaged. Through the intervening period of eight years he has made steady professional progress and is now enjoying a large clientage as senior partner in the firm of Hunt & Eagleton, which was formed in June, 1919. He has been assistant county attorney, in charge of the civil law business of Tulsa county, for the years 1919 and 1920, serving for the full two years.
On the Ist of June, 1918, at Norman, Oklahoma, Mr. Hunt was married to
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Miss Olive Eagleton, daughter of Judge W. L. Eagleton, of that place, who is a prominent Mason and district judge in the state of Oklahoma, represented elsewhere in this work. They now have one child, Elizabeth Ann. Mr. Hunt is a democrat in his political views, having supported the party since attaining his majority. He belongs to the Sigma Chi Alumni Chapter of Tulsa and also to the Tulsa City Club. While in the university he was a very active member of the Sigma Chi and also became a member of the Phi Delta Phi, a legal fra- ternity, and the honorary debating fraternity of Delta Sigma Rho. He belongs to the Masons and the nature of his interests and the rules which govern his conduct are further indicated in his membership in the First Presbyterian church of Tulsa.
HOMER M. PRESTON.
Homer M. Preston, of Pennsylvania and of Tulsa, has become identified with important corporate interests in various sections of the country and has operated extensively in the oil fields of Oklahoma, where he now has large and profitable holdings. He was born in Farmington, Warren county, Pennsylvania, Decem- ber 1, 1860, a son of Lorenzo P. and Julia (Northrup) Preston. He comes from sturdy Scotch stock, the family being founded in America in 1830 by his grandfather, who settled in Warren county, Pennsylvania, and there purchased sixty acres of land, a tract that has never passed out of possession of the family since that time. The property is now owned by Homer M. Preston and he has at different times extended the boundaries of the farm until it is a stock farm of more than fifteen hundred acres and is considered one of the finest and most valuable places in Pennsylvania.
Homer M. Preston spent the greater part of thirty-five years on that farm and until his sixteenth year was a pupil in the district schools near his father's home. He was thirty years of age when in 1890 he began producing oil at Pleasantville, Pennsylvania, where he operated with reasonable success until 1896. He then disposed of his holdings in that state and went to Lewis county, West Virginia, where he became heavily interested in producing gas and in ac- quiring property in what at that time was an entirely new field. He became a well known figure in business circles in that section.
In the year 1906 Mr. Preston in a measure transferred his activities from the east to the west. In that year he made his way to Bartlesville, Oklahoma, where he began operations which have placed him in the front rank among the leading oil and gas men of the country. He became the vice president of the Oklahoma Producing & Refining Corporation and active in the management of the Oklahoma State Oil Company, the Monitor Oil & Gas Company and other producing companies. In 1917 these interests were taken over by the Oklahoma Producing and Refining Company. Along other lines Mr. Preston has con- tinued his activities and is now a director of the First National Bank of James- town, New York, a director of the Warren National Bank at Warren, Pennsyl- vania, also of the Exchange National Bank of Tulsa. His business interests have also included connection with the firm of Knapp, Hoskins & Preston, manufacturers of carbon black, at Warren, Pennsylvania, with factories in West Virginia and Oklahoma. He was likewise elected vice president and one of the directors of the Warren & Jamestown Street Railway and was connected with the Union Traction Company of Coffeyville and Independence, Kansas.
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He was associated with Southwestern Interurban Railroad at Winfield, Kansas, and became financially and officially interested in gas and engine plants, in furni- ture factories and other important business affairs which included several large farms in Pennsylvania and New York. After his removal to Bartlesville in 1906 he built the Onapaw gas lines from Bartlesville, Oklahoma, to Joplin, Mis- souri. In 1911 he largely concentrated upon Tulsa and became president, treas- urer and general manager of the Oklahoma State Oil Company, of the Tulsa Oil Company and of the Terrain Oil Company of Casey, Illinois.
It was on the Ioth of September, 1884, that Mr. Preston was united in mar- riage to Miss Stella A. Knapp of Farmington, Pennsylvania, and they have be- come parents of four children: Harold M., twenty-four years of age; Allen and Ailene, twins, who are thirteen years of age; and Elsie, three years old. Mr. Preston maintains an office in Tulsa but spends much of his time at his place in Pennsylvania. He is, however, a public-spirited citizen, cooperating heartily in many plans and projects for Tulsa's benefit and is identified with all of the leading clubs of the city. Mr. Preston gives his political endorsement to the democratic party and while never a politician in the sense of office seek- ing, he served as commissioner of Warren county, Pennsylvania, from January I, 1896, until the Ist of January, 1902. He is a thirty-second degree Mason and aside from his connections with the leading clubs and social organizations of Tulsa he is identified with the Conewango Club of Warren, Pennsylvania, and the Jamestown Club of Jamestown, New York. The story of his life is a record of notable progress, resulting from unfaltering industry intelligently directed.
RAYMOND A. BROOMFIELD.
Raymond A. Broomfield, a widely known operator in the oil fields of Okla- homa and now a resident of Tulsa, occupies the position of vice president of the Barnsdall Corporation. He came to this city in the summer of 1919, but his activities have taken him into various sections of the country. He was born in Altoona, Pennsylvania, October 20, 1871, a son of Theodore L. and Ellen (Apps) Broomfield, the former a native of New Jersey, while the latter was born in Kent, England. The family numbered six children, three of whom are living. The father is a millwright and is now actively engaged in business in Buffalo, New York. He belongs to the Masonic fraternity and is a loyal follower of the teachings of the Episcopal church. During the Civil war he joined the army and rendered active aid in defense of the Union.
Raymond 4. Broomfield was largely educated in the schools of Toronto, Canada, and in early life was identified with the coal business in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, for a short time. He went with the Guffy Petroleum Company in 1900 and was located at Beaumont, Texas. He became associated with T. N. Barnsdall in 1903. He has since been vice president and treasurer of a subsidiary company. He went to California in 1909 and was manager of the California properties of T. N. Barnsdall for ten years with offices in Los Angeles. He was then transferred to Tulsa, where he has since been operat- ing, and here he controls important interests. His business ability, his enter- prise and his thorough understanding of the oil industry is manifest in what he is steadily accomplishing for the corporation with which he is identified. Mr. Broomfield is vice president of the Barnsdall Corporation and a director of the Barnsdall Oil Company, the Barnsdall Refining Company, the Barnsdall
RAYMOND A. BROOMFIELD
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Foster Company, the Victor Oil Company, the Pittsburgh Oil and Gas Com- pany, the Potter Oil Company of California, the Potter Oil Company of Dela- ware, the Ashland Oil Company and the Imperial Osage Development Company.
On the 26th of October, 1902, Mr. Broomfield was united in marriage to Miss Carrie C. Snyder of Brantford, Ontario, Canada, a daughter of R. H. Snyder. They have become the parents of two sons and two daughters: Dandridge R., seventeen years of age; Helen M., fifteen years of age; Martha Ellen, seven years of age; and Bill, aged three.
Mr. Broomfield is a Scottish Rite Mason, having attained the thirty-second degree in the Consistory, and he also belongs to Al Malaikah Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S. He is connected with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and he belongs to the Los Angeles Athletic Club of Los Angeles, Cali- fornia, the Bakersfield (California) Club, the Kansas City Club and the Country Club of Tulsa, also the Tulsa Petroleum Club. He has worked his way steadily upward since starting out in the business world, winning his advancement and promotion through fidelity to the interests which he has represented, combined with indefatigable energy and diligence. He has thoroughly mastered every- thing he has undertaken, and his labors have been crowned by success that is the outcome of steady promotion, bringing him to a creditable position in con- nection with the oil industry of Oklahoma.
BENSON W. GRANT.
Men who know Benson W. Grant in his periods of relaxation and diversion find him an enthusiastic hunter and he greatly enjoys a trip into the open after game, but when seen in business connections, recognizing his painstaking care of details, his thoroughness and his progressiveness, one would hardly think that leisure had any part in his program of life. In his business activities he has met with well merited success and is today widely known in the oil circles of the state. Mr. Grant was born in Topeka, Kansas, September 21, 1882, and is a son of Charles Fremont, a mining man, who was born in Minnesota and passed away in 1917, at the age of fifty-six years. He operated from British Columbia to Mexico in silver mining and was also interested in lead and zinc mining in Kansas and Missouri. He belonged to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and his life principles were further indicated in his connection with the Chris- tian church. He married Anna A. Wagner, who was born in Pennsylvania and who passed away in 1896, leaving two sons: Benson W. and Charles F., both residents of Tulsa.
Spending his youthful days under the parental roof Benson W. Grant mas- tered the branches of learning taught in the public schools of Kansas and after- ward became interested in lead and zinc mining, his father's activity and exam- ple in this direction leading him to put forth effort in the same field. During 1900-I he followed the business at Galena, Kansas, and in 1902 he was with the Texas Company at Port Arthur, Texas. When a year had passed he turned his attention to the wholesale grain trade at Beaumont, Texas, and in 1904 he en- gaged in business as a member of an oil field supply company at Humble, Texas. The following year he entered mercantile circles at Galena, Kansas, there re- maining until 1907, and through the succeeding nine years he was associated with the Gulf Pipe Line Company and also with the Gypsy Oil Company, ad-
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vancing from an humble clerkship to the position of auditor and then to assist- ant treasurer of the latter corporation. From April, 1916, until June, 1919, he was connected with the Cosden Oil & Gas Company as assistant treasurer. His activities have thus been extensive and of an important character and his labors have been a forceful element in the development, production and marketing of the oil products of the southwest. He came to Tulsa on the 20th of May, 1907, and after long association with organized oil interests here he started in the oil business as an independent producer on the ist of June, 1919. Success is at- tending his efforts as a result of his knowledge of the game, his thoroughness, his aggressiveness and painstaking care of all details having to do with the business.
On the 24th of November, 1904, Mr. Grant was married at Galena, Kan- sas, to Miss Gertrude Fay Anderson, and their children are: Florence, Charles, Benson W., Frank, Earl and Paul, the eldest being now fifteen years of age. Mr. Grant is decidedly a home man, finding his greatest happiness at his own fireside and enjoying nothing better than promoting the welfare and comfort of his wife and children. Both Mr. and Mrs. Grant are members of the First Methodist Episcopal church and he is serving on its official board. He is also a teacher in the Sunday school and is a leader in the moves for better' citizen- ship. He has served for eight years as a member of the board of directors of the Young Men's Christian Association, has been its vice president and formerly served as secretary of its board and as treasurer of the association. Mr. Grant is a York and Scottish Rite Mason and member of the Mystic Shrine. He gives his political allegiance to the democratic party and in many ways manifests his devotion to the public welfare. He is a member of the Kiwanis Club, also the Oakhurst Country Club and the City Club, and recognizes the value of play as well as of work in the maintenance of an even balance in the affairs of life.
JACK A. PORTER.
Jack A. Porter, well known in insurance circles in Tulsa, is a member of the firm of Pearce, Porter & Martin, his associates in the business being J. Stewart Pearce and Hunter L. Martin. They handle both insurance and bonds, with offices in the Palace building in Tulsa. Mr. Porter is a western man by birth, training and preference and possesses the spirit of enterprise and progress that has been the dominant factor in the upbuilding of the western section of this great country. His birth occurred in Kearney, Nebraska, October 10, 1889, his parents being Hiram P. and Luella E. (Aitken) Porter, the former born in New York and the latter at Hopkinton, Iowa. The father became a farmer in the Empire state and followed the banking business after his removal to Nebraska but is now living in Tulsa, where he is manager of the LeBaron-Porter Drilling Company, with offices in the Central National Bank building. He is a man of affairs here, active in connection with many interests, and is a loyal follower of Masonry. To him and his wife have been born four children, two of whom are living, Jack A. and Hiram H., the latter connected with the Cosden Oil & Gas Company.
Jack A. Porter was educated in public and high schools of New York and also attended a commercial college. When his textbooks were put aside he went upon the road as a traveling saleesman for the J. O. Ballard Company of Malone, New York, manufacturers, whom he represented for a year. In
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August, 1909, he arrived in Tulsa and was associated for a short time with a paving contracting firm. He later engaged in business as an employe of electrical contractors and on the Ist of January, 1913, he became associated with J. S. Pearce in the insurance business and in time their firm connections were extended to include Mr. Martin under the present style of Pearce, Porter & Martin. They have the general agency for the Aetna Life Insurance Com- pany and the Aetna Casualty Insurance Company. They are also state agents for the Automobile Fire Insurance Company and are local agents for a dozen or more of the leading fire insurance companies of the country. They have built up a business of large and gratifying proportions and are familiar with every phase of insurance.
On the Ioth of July, 1920, Mr. Porter was married to Miss Ethel Crosbie, daughter of John E. Crosbie, the president of the Central National Bank of Tulsa and one of the pioneers and big oil men of this city. Mr. Porter be- longs to Delta Lodge, No. 425, A. F. & A. M., and has taken the degrees of York Rite Masonry. He likewise belongs to Akdar Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Tulsa and has membership with the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks. He is always a welcome visitor at the rooms of the Tulsa Petroleum Club, the Country Club and the Kiwanis Club, in all of which he holds mem- bership. The Episcopal church numbers him among its communicants and he is a loyal follower of all those forces and interests which he believes will con- tribute to the material, intellectual, social and moral progress of his adopted city
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