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cont.

GEORGE W. GRAHAM. The First National Bank of Walter, of which George W. Graham is president, had its inception soon after the founding of the town itself. The Bank of Walter, which was opened by Mr. Graham in April, 15 ,19O2, was a private institution owned by Mr. Graham, George D. Latham and W. D. Bredehoft, who were, respectively, president, vice president and cashier. Mr. Bredehoft later sold his interest to B. S. Coleman, and on March 16, 1903, the First National Bank was organized, with a capital of $25,000. Mr. Graham has been president from the first, with Joe W. Harley vice president and B. S. Coleman cashier. The statement for the first quarter of 1908 showed surplus and undivided profits of $10,000, and deposits of $112,000. This is a record that, in a time of financial contraction, indicates both the prosperity of this section of southwestern 0klahoma and the ability with which the First National is conducted. Among the first directors of the bank were N. I. McLeod and G. S. and A. B. Gordon of Topeka, Kansas. The present directorate, besides the executive officials, contains W. H. Dyer, W. E. Oaks and B. E. Stephens.
    The president of this bank has been one of the most active and aggressive citizens of Walter since the town was started soon after the opening of the country. In the establishment of the town upon a basis of permanent growth his money and energy were devoted without stint, and he was a leader of the progressives against the faction that threatened to stunt the growth of the town. When it was seen that the government townsite was not a tenable one, he took the lead in acquiring title to the hill site of the town. He was concerned in the negotiations which resulted in the construction of the branch of the Rock Island road through this point. In the other movements which have formed the chief events in the history of the town his co-operation has been that of a public-spirited and thoroughly enterprising citizen. In the establishment of temporary water works, in providing the park area for the town as demanded by the government, in the long and stubborn defense of the pioneer rights against the rival townsites that threatened the welfare of Walter, his influence and work were among the chief factors that decided the contests in favor of the town. Mr. Graham built the First National Bank build

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which was the first brick structure in Walter, and was also connected with the organization f the Walter Mill and Elevator Company. He has likewise contributed to the building of churches and to the promotion educational and other enterprises that depend on civic loyalty and co-operation.
    Mr. Graham came to Walter as a citizen who h ad already been tried and tested by the life of the territory. He had joined the throng that entered the Cherokee Strip at its opening and was one of the early bankers and business men of Enid. He organized the Enid State Bank (since the Enid National), on leaving that institution was engaged in the loan business there. He was also identified with the politics of the city and county, serving as city treasurer of Enid. In politics he has always identified himself with the Republican party. At the first election after he became of age he deposited a Republican ballot on top of his father's Democratic ballot, and has never seen fit to alter the allegiance which he so early determined. He was a delegate to the state Republican convention in March, 1908, which instructed for Taft's nomination.
    George W. Graham was born in White county, Illinois, July 15, 1864. His grandfather, George Graham, an Irishman and cooper by occupation, married a native of Vermont and reared six children, spending his last years in White county. George Graham was also the name of the father of the Walter banker. He was born in White county, Illinois, lived for a number of years in Gallatin, Missouri, where he was widely known as a miller; and in 1879 moved to McPherson, Kansas where he engaged in the retail marble business and where he died in 1891, aged fifty-eight. During the Civil war he had three years in the Eighty-seventh Il1inois Infantry. He was a member of the Baptist church, and politically, as already stated, a Democrat. He married Mary J. Hickison, whose mother was a sister of the famous "Kit" Carson, and whose father, John Hickison, was an Illinois farmer. The children of George and Mary Graham were A. R., of Missouri; George W., the banker of Walter; Hattie, the wife of A. Courtney, of Walter.
    George W. Graham was educated in the schools at Gallatin, Missouri, and in the high school at McPherson, Kansas, and began life as the successor of his father in the marble business, having learned the marble cutter's trade in the shop. A year or so later, the opening of the Strip in Oklahoma diverted his attention to this new country, and he has since been closely identified with its business affairs. He was married in McPherson, Kansas, in October, 1886, to Miss Etta N. Wise, daughter of Peter Wise, who was of German stock and who moved to Kansas from Kokomo, Indiana. Their children are: George, Roy, James and Joe. Fraternally Mr. Graham is a Mason.

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cont.

GEORGE D. LATHAM. If anyone man can lay claim to the honor, George D. Latham is the founder of Walter, Comanche county, and is still, among the foremost in the promotion of movements and institutions which tend to its best growth. He is a native of Panola county, Texas, where he was born April 22, 1858 and lived fourteen years. He was married in Hunt county, Texas, and comes of a well known Alabama family which originated in the Old Dominion. In fact, the Judge is a descendant, on his mother's side of a governor of Virginia and a signer of the Declaration of Independence. This notable American ancestor, Thomas Nelson, was one of the prominent figures of the Revolutionary period. Archibald Latham, the father of George D., was a rugged Texas pioneer, and the son himself was reared amid primitive conditions, in which the log school house was an important feature. While still a youth, however, be identified himself with the life of the western range. One of his first independent ventures was as a sewing machine agent, and he clung to this vocation for three years. He afterward engaged in farming in Hunt county, and still later identified himself with the agricultural operations of the Indian Territory, locating near Pauls Valley.
    Judge Latham came to old Oklahoma, as one of the two million home-seekers who poured into its domain at the memorable opening of its lands, April 22, 1889. In the language of the day he "made the run," secured his farm, and lived upon his new homestead for five years. He then located at Lexington, where he purchased the Leader, a Democratic paper, and also engaged in the real estate and loan business. Thus he was busily occupied until the opening of the Comanche country in 1901, when he was also one of the first on the ground. In compliance with a petition filed with the United States land office, the government had established the

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townsite of Walter and had superintended some improvements on it, when they were flooded by the overflow from the Cache creek, showing plainly that higher ground must be elected. For this purpose, Judge Latham formed a company, raised the money and bought the reginquishment on another quarter situated on the hill south of the original site. It was proved up according to law, and improvements rapidly progressed. But opposition developed, another tract nearer the railroad station was platted, buildings were moved back and forth and for some months the affairs of the rival towns were in great confusion. Again Judge Latham came to the rescue by organizing another company, building a large concrete business block, and commencing the development of Walter into a substantial and harmonious city. To meet the proposition of the railroad company, the townsmen formed a committee, of which Mr. Latham was chairman, which provided the required 450 lots, three thousand dollars in cash and seven and a half miles of right-of-way. The road was promptly built and Walter was in the commercial world to stay. Mr. Latham was also at the head of the movement which deeded sixty-four lots to the government for park purposes. He built the first two houses on the town site; established the first newspaper, the Walter Leader (which he afterwards sold in order to devote his entire time to real estate and other matters), and continued to promote every movement which promised progress to the young town. He was one of the temporary water works committee of the place and one of the founders of the Walter State Bank; but although he has shared in the advancing prosperity of the town, its first fire burned three of his uninsured buildings—going to show that even here he has had his trials and reverses to surmount. Aside from his business and financial prominence, Judge Latham has also become widely known as a justice of the peace of both Lexington and Walter as well as a notary public, in which latter office he is now serving under his third commission. Undoubtedly he has done more both to promote and sustain the interests of Walter and Comanche county than any other citizen and during the entire session of the constitutional convention at Guthrie he was acknowledged to be the strongest guardian of the substantial future of his home locality. His business motto has also been his watchword as a progressive citizen: "We are here to stay. Honest dealing is our motto." The Judge was originally a Democrat, but of late years has been a convert to Republicanism, believing that its policies promise greater prosperity to the masses than the promulgation of Democratic principles.
    Archibald Latham, the father, was born in Blunt county, Alabama, in the year 1818, coming to Texas about 1840. He spent his life as a farmer, and his first wife was a Miss Ritter, who at her death left three children, only one of whom survived to rear a family Sarah J. who married Daniel Manley and died in Texas. His second wife was Sarah V. Manley, who has survived her husband and lives at Quinlan, Texas. The elder Latham served as a soldier of the Confederacy, being on guard duty in the southwest. He was descended from English stock, the first American settlers being Georgians. Archibald Latham died at Quinlan in the year 1895, the children of his family being George D., of this notice; Thomas D., of Quinlan; and Archibald and Benjamin F., both county officials of Paducah, Texas. George D. Latham was married in Hunt county, Texas, November 30, 1879, to Elizabeth A., daughter of Magnus Mason, and the issue of their union is as follows: William P., who resides in Texas; Alfleeta, who died at the age of eleven years; James A., who for the past five years has held the position of superintendent of the pork packing department of the Swift Packing Company at Fort Worth, Texas; Martha M., wife of Floyd Kimball, a banker of Geronimo. Oklahoma; Arthur B., Ralph B, Jesse and George D. Latham, Jr.

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cont.

DR. GREENE M. BECKHAM, of Walter, Comanche county, established himself at this point in March, 1902, six months after the opening of the town. He came hither from Wayne county, Tennessee, where he was born and reared. The Doctor has substantially established himself, from a professional standpoint, and has also evinced the practical interest of a typical citizen of the west in the material development of the town. He has himself erected two brick business houses and as many residences, and is in every way a stable factor in the most creditable growth of the community. In his professional capacity, he is a member of the Oklahoma State Medical Association, and is examiner for numerous old-line insurance companies.
    William H. Beckham, father of the Doctor, was a North Carolina farmer, born in 1829.

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He was successful at his calling, was known as Squire Beckham, was a stanch supporter of Christian work and churches, served in the Union army during the war of the Rebellion, and died in 1900. The paternal grandfather was Greene Beckham, a native Briton of Scotch parents, who, upon coming to America, settled in North Carolina, afterward migrated to Wayne county, Tennessee, where he passed his last years. He became the father of the following: Roddy C., who left a family at his death in west Texas; John, who still lives at the old home in Wayne county, Tennessee; William H., the father of our subject; Joshua, who died in Izard county, Arkansas, leaving a family, and Rena, who became Mrs. John Hinkle and reared a family in Izard county, Arkansas. William H. Beckham married Rebecca, daughter of John Martin, who died in early womanhood, the mother of four children, three of whom lived to rear families, as follows: Dr. Greene M.; John H. of Arapaho, Oklahoma; and Martha, wife of Dr. Frank Beckham, of Roosevelt, Oklahoma. For his second wife Mr. Beckham married Elizabeth Downing, who became the mother of the following: Rena, married, who resides at Sapulpa, Oklahoma; Nannie, of Rooseve1t, Oklahoma; Rebecca, of Wayne county; Tennessee, and Rodd C., of Colorado.
    Dr. G. M. Beckham reached youth on the paternal farm in Wayne county, Tennessee, receiving his prelimina'ry education in the common schools of that region and at the school of Mountain View, Arkansas, passing through the latter institution he was studying medicine, and at his graduation matriculated in the American Medical College at St. Louis, from which he graduated in 1891. He then located at Mountain View, where he had occasionally practiced while passing through college, and after residing there three years returned to Waynesboro, Tennessee. He remained at the latter place (with the exception of 1894-95, which he passed at Hillsboro, Texas) until his removal to Oklahoma in March, 1902, a short time after the opening of Walter, as stated. On April 27, 1899, Dr. Beckham was married in Wayne county, Tennessee, to Lizzie, daughter; of John H. and Nipsey (Gillis) Sinclair, whose antecedents were Scotch-Irish. The children of the Sinclair family are: Mrs. Dr. Beckham, born in Wayne county, Tennessee; Ada, wife of Pink Wallace, who is a resident of Mississippi; Callie, who is living with her parents in McNairy county, Tennessee, and Camilla, who is a teacher there. The children of Doctor and Mrs. Beckham are: Lena, Ivan S. and Lloyd. Dr. Beckham is an Odd Fellow and a Woodman of the World, but maintains only a local interest in the orders.

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cont.

SAMUEL W. CHILDERS. The surveyor who laid out the. original town site of Walter was Samuel W. Childers, an attorney and well known citizen who has since continued one of the active spirits in promoting the interests of the town, He joined the throng of town founders on July 5, 1901, the day before the opening, and on the same evening located two corners of the town. After completing the survey of the original town site he became engaged in the real estate and law business, one of the first in the town, and until the first regular election held the office of justice of the peace through appointment by the government. In this capacity he had to deal with the minor legislation arising on the town site and with offenses; against the law. When the original site became untenable, he was one of the dozen men who purchased the relinquishment of another quarter section, surveyed its boundaries and ran the division lines for town lots. He has improved some town property, and also a farm in the East Cache valley near town, a claim entered by his wife prior to their marriage, and which has come to be one of the desirable farmsteads of the community.
    Mr. Childers has been identified with Oklahoma more or less since the original opening. A resident of Purcell from 1888 to 1897, he joined in the rush of 1889 and surveyed some lands in Noble county. Again in 1893, on the opening of the Strip, he was employed with his transit. While in Purcell he read law with the firm of Abernathy and Cherryhomes and was admitted to the bar in 1893 before Judge Bryant, U, S. district judge. He eventually became a resident of Cleveland county, where he remained three years until coming to Walter.
    Mr. Childers was born in Cherokee county, Texas, January 12, 1857, growing up near the town of Troupe. His father, James Childers, went to Texas from Knoxvi11e, Tennessee, during the forties, spent his life in farming, was a soldier in the Confederate army, and died in 1866, at the age of forty. While en route to Texas he married at Fulton, Arkansas, Julia Williams, who died in 1871 in Cherokee county, Texas. Their children were: Charles

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E., who died in Cherokee county; John Lee, who died unmarried; Robert L., of Smith county, Texas; Julia F., who died in Cherokee county, the wife of Samuel A. Norman; Samuel W.; Flave E., who was assassinated in Troupe; Hugh T., and Ernest P., who both died unmarried.
    Samuel W. Childers depended on his own resources from the time he was fourteen. By his own efforts he was able to obtain a good education, and while studying mathematics also perfected himself in surveying, a pursuit by which he has been able to take a prominent part in the initial history of several localities in Oklahoma. He was a teacher in the public schools of Texas for several years. In May, 1904, Mr. Childers married Mrs. Susie Staley, daughter of the late Daniel Garberson, a settler here from Allegan, Michigan. Ralph Worden is the son of Mrs. Childers by her first marriage, and Clair Childers was born in September, 1905. Mrs. Childers died February 15, 1907. Mr. Childers has recently moved into town from the farm and is now attending to the practice of law.

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cont.

GEORGE H. KEIM. The firm of George H. Keim & Company is one of the most enterprising real estate and insurance firms of southwest Oklahoma. It is said that not a smaI1 share of the credit is due this company for the steady increasing demand for farm lands in Comanche and adjacent counties. They have advertised and personally directed their business so convincingly that their long property lists have received considerably more attention from outside investors than those held by most real estate firms. As a result some of their deals for 1908 show a consideration of $10,000 for a single quarter section of land. As colonizers they have been equally successful, founding communities of settlers from other states, and introducing a class of people of superior worth to the old "nesters" who held much of the land. George H. Keim, the head of the firm, came to Walter in the third year of its existence, and, while attending to his private business. became influential in harmonizing the various factions that then existed in the town and in concentrating the business and civic enterprise to united endeavor for the permanent welfare and advancement of the town. Mr. Keim is a dentist by profession, established himself as such in Walter, but within a year his interests in real estate had been so productively managed that he abandoned his practice, selling it to Dr. Kennedy, and established the firm of Keim& Company, consisting of himself and Thomas L. Broach. Later Mr. Esser bought the Broach interest, and the firm took its present form. They represent twenty-one of the old line fire insurance companies. In promoting their real estate business they have constructed what might be called a national bureau of communication, so readily do they put their lists before prospective investors in every part of the country. Mr. Keirn was one of the company that built the Walter Hardware block, and is secretary of the Walter Oil and Gas Company, a corporation financed for the purpose of prospecting for mineral deposits in Comanche county. He merits a place among the old guard that defended and strengthened the position of Walter when rival town site companies were endeavoring to build towns in this vicinity.
    George H. Keim was born in Somerset county, Pennsylvania, April 5th, 1870. He comes of German forefathers, and his grandfather, Jonas Keim, was long a prominent citizen of Pennsylvania, a member of the legislature and held the office of judge. Samuel C. Keim, the father of George R., was born in Pennsylvania in 1852, and after receiving a liberal education followed teaching for a time. During the eighties he located at Falls City, Nebraska, where he was engaged in the drug business and also farmed for a year. For sixteen years he resided at Kansas City, Kansas, where his family were reared and educated. He is now superintendent of the Old Folks Home at Darlow, Kansas. His first wife was Fannie E. Suhrie, who died soon after the birth of George H. Keim. For his second wife he married Fannie H. Hershberger, whose children are: Lyda, wife of J. J. Burgar, poor commissioner of Wyandote county, Kansas; Silas, of Kansas City, Missouri; Laura S., wife of Roy S. Leonard of Kansas City, Missouri; Esther, wife of Lawrence Kammerer, of the same city; Clara B. of Kansas City, Kansas; and Mary, wife of Fred Harpst of the Commerce Trust Company, Kansas City.
    George H. Keim received good educational advantages in the Kansas City high school, and when eighteen years old became a circulator for the Kansas City Gazette. finally having charge of that department of the business. From this he entered the train service, for nine years being passenger brakeman on the Santa Fe Railroad. After a course of study in the

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Kansas City Dental College he began active practice, and was thus employed until business affairs directed his attention elsewhere. He is a Master Mason, and secretary of the lodge at Walter, is also a member of the Eastern Star and of the Modern Woodmen of America, being consul for two years of the latter lodge and is also a member of the Royal Neighbors of America.

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cont.

JOSEPH A. FUDGE, of Temple, has been prominently identified with the town as a contractor and builder and has also been a useful promoter of the civic affairs of the place. He was born in Giles county, Tennessee, on the 4th of October, 1872, and at the age of sixteen years began his trade as a carpenter with his father. In this field the elder
.and junior were working associates until the son had passed his majority. The latter then left the old home and removed to Florence, Alabama, where he worked at his trade for a time, going thence to Waxahachie, Texas, in 1892. For ten years' he was identified with the building interests of that city. When the Comanche country was about to be opened, he registered a claim at Lawton, drew No. 4880, and filed on the northwest quarter of section 21, township 4, range 10, proved up on it and finally sold it. The farm lies four miles south of Temple, on whose site Mr. Fudge erected the first three buildings. His fine work as a builder includes the entire business front from the corner of the First National Bank, north, to the corner beyond; the McCarty and Williams business houses, Adair Mill and Elevator Company, Temple Hardware Company, Vernon-Marshall and South Texas Lumber Company buildings, and the notable residences of A. Drake, J. C. Tandy, W. F. and E. E. Evans, H. P. Bales, Mr. Caruthers, E. C. Etzel, W. Dustman, C. A. Warner, I. W. Tipton, G. P. Melton, T. J. Hurst, J. W. Bogy, Lee Pulliam and E. Klecker, as well as his own residence which is considered perhaps the most modern in Temple. Mr. Fudge has not only been thus active, but has participated in the promotion of various business and public works. He is a stockholder in the Temple Hardware Company and the Water Works, being- also secretary of the latter. He is chief of the city fire department and represents the Common Council from the First ward. In politics, he is a Democrat. His term as notary public extends to September 10, 1910, and in his fraternal relations he is a Master Mason.
    James W. Fudge, the father, is a native of Alabama, born of Irish parents, served bravely in the Confederate army, and for many years made his home near Pulaski, Tennessee, where he is still an active builder, and, as ever, an esteemed citizen. He owned a farm some distance from the county seat, and in the improvement of homesteads and the modernizing of country residences plied his trade all over that community. He married Mrs. Julia Jarrett, daughter of William Owens,. of Athens, Alabama. By her first marriage Mrs. Fudge had become the mother of William and Curren Jarrett, of Waxahachie, Texas. The children of her union with Mr. Fudge were: Albert of West Texas; Wesley of Mennerford, Tennessee; David S., of Midlothian, Texas; Joseph A., of this notice, and Ezra S., of Fort Worth, Texas. In 1897, Joseph A. Fudge was married at Waxahachie, Texas, to Alice Kemble, daughter of J. H. Kemble, who, in the pioneer times, came from Kentucky and located in Ellis county, Texas, and there as a surveyor and merchant assisted in the building of the community. Mrs. Fudge died August 21, 1907, leaving the following children: Elmer, Wallace, Dorsey and Lorene.

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cont.

WILLIAM F. EVANS, of Temple a successful real estate dealer and promoter, and a man of general business success in Comanche county, came to this county when there was only one house on the town site and as a member of the real estate firm of Evans Brothers entered most successfully into the business. They have sold and re-sold most of the country around the town, having handled large tracts of farming land and other property and established themselves as among the most substantial and prosperous of the citizens of Temple. Individually, William F. Evans has been identified with every prominent enterprise of the city requiring a combination of capital and business ability, including the Temple Oil Mill and the Temple Opera House. He has also built several residences of the town, and, in company with his brother owns four farms in the county, three of which are among its most valuable pieces of agricultural property. He is also a director in the First National Bank and of the Farmers' National Bank, the Evans family awning a large share of its stock. In politics, he is a Democrat, and, as fraternalist, is identified with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Primarily, his high standing in the community is based upon his

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honorable and successful career as a business man and his integrity as a private citizen.
    Prior to his advent to Temple, Mr. Evans had been somewhat of a rambler. This propensity has been characteristic of the family, and, as its members have a specially strong attachment for each other, for many years they kept in close touch. William E. was born in Howard county, Missouri, on the 10th of January, 1864, and, while he had some acquaintance with the country schools, the chief education of his life is founded upon experience. He came to Temple from Aurora, Missouri, where he had spent a few years in timber operations, zinc mining and trading. He had also spent a few years in Kay county, Oklahoma, where he homesteaded a place and was a trader as well as a farmer; but his history here and at other points is a counterpart of the record of his father and brothers. For two years prior to this time the family lived in Arkansas City, where he had commenced the real business of life as a machinist in the employ of the Santa Fe Railway, although he had some previous experience as a timber inspector at Chadwick, Missouri, in which field his father was engaged. Thomas B. Evans, the father, is a Kentuckian, born in 1839. He served in the Confederate army under General Price, and until 1885 the business occupation of his life was mainly in various timber transactions. Since that year he has been engaged in farming, but is at present a retired citizen of Temple. a stockholder and director in the Farmers' National Bank. The paternal grandfather, Richard Evans, located his family in Howard county, Missouri, where he died. He was of Scotch stock, and reared a family of twelve children who scattered widely throughout the west.
    Thomas B. Evans married Susan J., daughter of Enoch Ridgeway, a Kentucky farmer. Mrs. Evans died February 19, 1908, and hers was the first death in the family. The children of this union are as follows: William F., of this review, Lela, wife of J. W. Bogy, of Temple; Mattie, now Mrs. Edward Fuqua, of DaHas, Texas; Elmer E., president of the Farmers' National Bank of Temple and one of the foremost business men of the town; Deffie, who married A. B. Clevenger, of Bartlesville, Oklahoma; Claud and Roy of Temple. On the 10th of August, 1890, at Springfield, Missouri, William F. Evans was united in marriage with Lizzie M. Cavett, daughter of James M. Cavett, a resident of Tennessee, where Mrs. Evans was born in 1870. The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Evans are: Edith, now the wife of Lee J. Curtis, who is officially connected with the National Bank of Byers, Texas; Otho, Rolly and Carl.

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cont.

COLONEL OBADIAH C. FRENCH, of Temple, Comanche county, a farmer and one of the founders of the town, has led an eventful life in several states, having been an active leader in whatever community he has located as a citizen. He is a representative of an old Quaker family of New Jersey, the head of which came to the United States toward the close of the Revolutionary war and established his home near Mt. Holly, that state. Various members of the family afterward mage their homes in Columbiana county, Ohio. In the subscription schools of that locality Colonel French obtained his early education, as well as in a boarding school at Mt. Pleasant. He began life in the lumber business and continued it until August, 1862, when he enlisted in the 1O4th Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and was elected sergeant of Company G. The first engagement of the regiment was at Covington, Kentucky, and was the only battle in which he was engaged.. After eighteen months he was transferred to Battery E, First Tennessee Light Artillery, and served as first lieutenant at Nashville. He was afterward detailed for service in the office of Andrew Johnson, military governor of the state, and was detailed as acting assistant quartermaster of a brigade of the Governor's Guards. He thus served under Governors Johnson and Brownlow until the end of the war. In this capacity he also served under General Gilliam, and after the war, during the days of re-construction, when the General was military governor of Mississippi, Colonel French was placed in charge of the colored orphan asylum and refugee camp at Lauderdale, that state. Thence he Was sent to Natchez as disbursing officer, and there terminated his service with the government. While in the state he entered actively into politics, representing Adams county in the legislature for three terms. For four years he served as chairman of the Republican State Committee, and while a member of the legislature assisted in the election of United States Senators Alcorn, Ames, Pease, Bruce and Revels, and was a delegate to the National Convention at Philadelphia that nominated General Grant; also to the National Convention at Chicago that nominated Garfield. He also represented the state

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of Mississippi as its commissioner at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. On retiring from Mississippi, he returned to Ohio, and after farming in that state for two years, removed to Colorado, spending a short time at Denver and then farming in Weld county later, he went to Route county and engaged in the cattle business on Bear river, and there, in 1899, met with the loss of his wife. While a citizen of Colorado he was sent as alternate commissioner to the World's Columbian Exposition at Chicago, serving as secretary of the state board and having charge of the Colorado exhibits. He was also enrolling clerk of the state senate for one term, and as an additional honor conferred upon him by the state. of Colorado was sent to Liege, Belgium, in the interest of the mining men, for the purpose of ascertaining the most feasible way of saving zinc metal from the refuse heaps of the great mines. While superintending these tests, at what was one of the finest metallurgical laboratories in the world, he was appointed a member of the jury of awards to the Mines and Mining Exposition, then in progress at. Antwerp. On leaving Colorado, permanently, Colonel French came to Oklahoma, on a visit to a brother, and was so pleased with the country that he decided to remain. Governor Jenkins, an old-time friend, soon appointed him secretary of the Live Stock Sanitary Commission and he was re-appointed by Governor Ferguson, but resigned to give his entire time to the founding and development of Temple. He erected the brick hotel and several residences and promoted other early improvements, which gave a substantial aspect to the young town, besides improving a valuable farm near town which he still occupies. His continued interest in Republicanism has induced him to attend every state convention as a delegate since the admission of Oklahoma into the Union, and he is still an active and. influential force. in the commonwealth of his most recent adoption.
    Both the grandfather and father of Obadiah C.; French were natives of New Jersey. The latter, William F., was born near Mt. Holly, that state, in 1799, and during the first quarter of the nineteenth cel1tury established his home in Columbiana county, Ohio. An industrious unpretentious farmer; he died there in 1868. His wife was Judith Crew, daughter of Obadiah Crew, and both parents were Quakers. At the close of the Revolutionary war Mr. Crew was a young man living in Virginia, and afterward came to Columbiana county, Ohio, where he died. His daughter, Judith (mother of Obadiah C. French), was also born in Virginia and passed away in Columbiana county, the mother of the following: Unity, who died in Butlerville, Indiana, in 1906, as the wife of Samuel Woolman; Mary, who married Andrew Jobes, and, in 1908, died while residing in Wichita, Kansas, her sons being C. S. and A. C. Jobes, two well known financiers of Kansas City; Esther, who became the wife of Joseph Crew, and passed her life in Columbiana county, Ohio; Charles, who served in the Nineteenth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and died at Appleton City, Missouri; John, who served in an Indiana regiment in the Civil war, dying in the Hoosier state during 1904; Obadiah C., of this sketch; Elizabeth, who married Josiah Ratoliff, and resides at Stratton, Nebraska; Ann, of Dalton, Massachusetts, whose husband, Robert L. Taggart, is government inspector of paper used by the treasury department; Judith, who became the wife of Joshua Woodward and died in Wichita, Kansas, in 1908; and William J., who served in the Sixth Ohio Cavalry during the war of the Rebellion and resides at Alva, Oklahoma. In May, 1856, Colonel French wedded Mary C. Fowler, the ceremony occurring in Portage county, Ohio. Daniel Fowler, her father, was a farmer of Portage county, Ohio, and of Quaker ancestors and beliefs. The children of the marriage were as follows: Isadore, wife of Samuel A. Jones, of Ahpeatone, Oklahoma; Frank D., of Temple, this state; Annie, who died young, and Alvin G. French, of Oklahoma City.

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cont.

JASPER N. PERKINS, postmaster of Temple, Comanche county, is an old Union soldier and one of the original settlers of this section. He came hither from the registration at Law.. ton and participated in the great drawing which the government conducted in disposing of the lands of the Kiowa and Comanche reservations. He drew No. 1280 and selected the southwest quarter of section 25, township 3, range 10 west, fulfilled all the legal requirements and received his patent. Having been appointed postmaster in April, 1905, he became a resident of Temple to be near the scene of his official duties, succeeding Richard Rudisill in the office named. His fine fruit farm lies two and a half miles west of town, and he is justly proud of its development, for

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which he gives due credit to his faithful wife, who also assists him in. his official duties. The Postmaster has always been a Republican, and therefore failed of an election as commissioner, since the county is overwhelmingly Democratic. At the same time he carried his township by a flattering vote.
    Jasper N. Perkins was born in Williams county, Ohio, April 25, 1844, and is descended from ancestors who settled in Pennsylvania at an early day and during the first years of the century various members of the family migrated to Ohio. John Perkins, millwright, was the first Ohio ancestor, being the grandfather of our subject. He was also known as Judge Perkins, and was identified with much of the early mill building of the locality. Garrett, the father, was one of his three sons, all of whom died in Williams county. He passed a rather uneventful life in his native county, married Elizabeth Tittle and was an unambitious, faithful farmer, who was a good husband and father. His family of five children consisted of the following: John, who died as a Williams county farmer; Delila, wife of Nathan Richard, who also died near the old home; Nancy, who became the wife of Joseph Willey, and passed away at Everts, Michigan; James, still a resident of Williams county, Ohio, and Jasper N. Perkins. The last named acquired only a district school education, and when seventeen years old joined Company E, Thirty-Eighth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, for service in the Union army. He was mustered in at Defiance, his command was with Thomas' corps, and his active service began in Kentucky. He was first under fire at Wildcat, participated in the engagement at Mill Spring, was wounded in the battle of Jonesboro, and was there discharged on the expiration of his term of enlistment. He, therefore, failed to be in the ranks at the conclusion of Sherman) famous campaign from Chickamauga to Atlanta. Returning to his Ohio home, and after engaging for a time in farming, established a wagon shop in Bryan, but in 1882 again located on a farm near Caney, Kansas. Here he passed the twenty years of his life preceding his coming to Oklahoma. Mr. Perkins was first married in Williams county, Ohio, in 1872, his wife being formerly Hattie Harding. She died near Caney, Kansas, leaving a daughter, Georgia, who married Jake Hamon, a lawyer of Lawton, by whom she had a son, Jake Hamon, Jr. Mr. Perkins' second marriage occurred near Caney to Belle Shobe, his present wife, being also a native of Ohio. One child has been born to them, Chester, now eleven years of age.

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cont.

THOMAS J. HURST, manager of the Temple Hardware Company, its founder and one of its owners, established the business in October, 1902, at the time of the founding of the town. He has since managed the institution, ably and profitably, the development of the enterprise being illustrated by the facts that the original stock of shelf hardware, located in a temporary building only twenty by thirty feet, has increased so that the goods of the company, embracing general hardware, supplies and implements, cover a ground space of 18,664 feet, represent an annual investment of $25,000 and are housed in a substantial structure. Mr. Hurst gained his experience in the hardware house of the Baker Hardware Company, at Granbury, Texas. In 1890 he entered it as a clerk, and for nine years and a half performed his duties with credit and such faithfulness that he never lost a day from work. When the company decided to establish a business at Temple, he was selected for the task, then entering the firm as a partner. The result showed the wisdom of the selection. The personnel of the firm is now as follows: J. C. Tandy, A. D. Warren and T. J. Hurst, of Temple, and D. O. and Jesse Baker, of Granbury, Texas. The new home of the business, erected in 1904, comprises a main building 50 by 182 feet and a warehouse 62 by 182 feet. In addition to ably managing the mercantile interests entrusted to him, Mr. Hurst is a vice-president and director of the First National Bank of Temple, and is president and treasurer of the Temple Water Works Company. Both as a merchant and a man of affairs he is rightly classed as one of the builders of the town; and this, although he began life at about eighteen years of age with no other educational equipment that could be obtained by an attendance of about six months in country schools. His first work was as a common laborer in a saw mill. He then learned to run the engine and was making other progress, but finally engaged in farming operations in Hood and Parker counties, Texas. His next move was to allv himself with the Baker Hardware Company, and from that time his affairs have been steadily upward.
    Thomas J. Hurst was born pear Cedar Hill, Dallas county, Texas., on the 6th of September, 1855. His father, Bradford Hurst, had set-

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tled in this locality during the previous year, and, although an Indiana farmer, when the Civil war broke out joined the Confederate army. He was killed in action, being about forty-eight years of age. His wife was Emily Ming, daughter of Thomas Ming, who also brought his family from Indiana about the time of Mr. Hunt's migration, and finally died in Lampasas county as, a Texas farmer. Mrs. Hurst passed away in Hood county, that state, July 24, 1905, the mother of the following: Thomas J., of this sketch; Mollie, wife William Rader, of Temple, Oklahoma; Frank P., a resident of Parker county, Texas; Lizzie, who married James Belland died near Daugherty, Indian Territory, leaving a family of four children, and Bradford L., formerly of Titus county, Texas, who went to the Klondike region about fifteen years ago, leaving a family at home, and has not since been located. In October, 1876, Thomas J. Hurst married, in Road county, Texas, Rhoda A. Martin, daughter of William Martin; an Indiana farmer, and the children of their union are: Minnie, wife of James Yaunt, of Temple and Sallie and Edgar, still single and living at home. The Hurst family is stanchly Democratic in politics, although its members have never been politicians. Thomas J. is a Master Mason, having passed all the chairs in the Temple lodge and served as a delegate to the grand lodge of the state (in 1907 and 1908). He has served with like prominence in the local and grand lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

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cont.

JOHN J. BROWN, manager of The Leader Hardware Company of Temple, Comanche county, and active in municipal affairs, became a fixture in the community in which he now resides on Christmas Day of 1902. At this time he opened a hardware store in the old town of Botsford, three-quarters of a mile south of Temple, as a member of The Thompson Hardware Company. In August, 1903, when the Rock Island Railroad Company and the residents of Botsford compromised their differences and the latter moved over to the railroad and the new town, Mr. Brown transferred himself and the business of the Thompsom. Hardware Company to Temple, where it has since remained and prospered. The business has so far outgrown the small frame building in which it was originally located that it now occupies a substantial brick structure, 75 by 145 feet, especially erected to accommodate its expansion. In the building, with its handsome plate glass front, is also a. stock of modern goods ten times greater than that carried by the company only six years ago. The profits from his well directed labors and his investments in this locality have also enabled Mr. Brown to widen his sphere of operations. He now owns a half interest in the Brown-Hadey Hardware Company at Eschiti, Oklahoma, besides a quarter section of land adjoining the town, which he has substantially improved (in preparation for "proving up") . He also owns two improved leases near by, which he satisfactorily operates, with the help of tenants. For several years he was identified with the civic affairs of Temple as a councilman, and has been of valuable assistance in the accomplishment of necessary public improvements and municipal work.
    Mr. Brown came to Oklahoma as a citizen from Hood county, Texas, where he had been reared from a lad of six: years, his father having migrated from Attala county, Mississippi, in the year 1876. It was here that John J. Brown was born on the 27th of February, 1870, a son of Robert F. Brown. The father was born in Alabama, removed to Mississippi, and there enlisted in the Confederate army. He saw much hard service in the Civil war, including the great Vicksburg campaign, and for four years was in military life. He and his brother, William, were the mainstays of a widowed mother and a family of younger children. Robert F. Brown married Mary Q. Sewal, daughter of John Sewal, of Alabama, and his wife died in Temple, Oklahoma, in 1904. Their union was unusually harmonious, and the loss of the good wife and mother so preyed upon the husband that within a few months he followed her. The children of this union were: Sallie J., who married Walter R Brown, of Eschiti, Oklahoma; John J., of this sketch; Bethany, wife of Homer Andruss, also of Eschiti ; Robert A., who died from an accidental gunshot wound at Temple in 1906, leaving a widow (Sudie Harvey) and family ; and William A. Brown, of Eschiti. John J. Brown left school at the age of sixteen years, and after working on the home farm for three years went to the plains of Texas, securing a clerkship in a general store at Plainview. He first located in Hale City, then the county seat, invested therein his surplus cash, and finally left at a financial sacrifice, as the headquarters of the county government were finally removed. He then removed to Grand Junction, Colorado, where he

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worked upon the range for two years, being then driven from the country by the effects of the panic of 1893. For three years following he had charge of the great ranch of L. T. Lester, on the New Mexico-Texas line, finally returning home after an absence of nine years. Taking charge of his father's store at Acton, Texas, he profitably conducted it for three years, but in 1902 sought a new location in the town of Botsford, as above narrated. On March 15, 1898, Mr. Brown was married in Hood county, Texas, to Lillian Barnes, daughter of Hister Barnes, formerly of Iowa, in which state Mrs. Brown was born in 1878. The children of this marriage are: Jay L., Flossie J., Ida C. and Byron F. The family is identified with the Methodist church. Mr. Brown is a Master Mason, a Knight of Pythias, and a member of the Woodmen of the World.

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cont.

BENJAMIN G. BAKER. At the opening of the reservation in August, 1901, Benjamin G. Baker secured a section of land, described as section No. 33, township 1 south, range 14 west, lying on the extreme southern edge of the reservation and in Comanche county as originally bounded. The new county division effected by the state constitution places his land in Tillman county. Only half a dozen years have passed since he located here, but a few facts will indicate the wonderful development that has practically transformed this country within that time. At the time of the opening the railroad had not yet been completed to Lawton, although it was being rapidly extended to that point as the chief center of this reservation. Mr. Baker's place lay twenty-five miles from Lawton, and it was hardly expected that a railroad would be built in this direction for many years. To the south was the Big Pasture, a domain that was not opened to settlement until 1906. But in the year 1903 the Rock Island extended a branch road south from Lawton to the edge of the Big Pasture, the road ending almost on the Baker ranch. At the terminus was laid out the townsite of Chattanooga, which, beginning as a bare prairie, has since grown into a town of considerable importance, with banks, large stores, first-class schools and churches, and, especially since the opening of the Big Pasture, is the trade center for a large territory. These developments have been very advantageous to Mr. Baker, since his farm, once on the very outskirts of settlement, is now at the center of a prosperous region and a very valuable property. Mr. Baker engages in general farming and live-stock business, and is one of the most successful and influential citizens of this section of the state. He was recently appointed postmaster of Chattanooga.
    Mr. Baker was born in Morrison, Whiteside county, Illinois, in 1869, his parents being early settlers of that county, where his father was a prominent citizen. Various commercial pursuits formed the principal occupation of Mr. Baker until the last few years. In 1890 he established a furniture and undertaking business at Elk City, Montgomery county, Kansas, and conducted it until he came to southwest Oklahoma in 1901. At the opening of the Cherokee Strip in 1893 he secured some valuable land in Woods county, so that he has been more or less closely identified with Oklahoma affairs for the past fifteen years. In politics he is a Republican. He was married in Woods county, Oklahoma, to Miss Grace Darling Green, who was born and reared at Grinnell, Iowa. Their children are: Frankie, Ralph, Mildred and Clinton.