-160-
cont.

ALFRED H. DAVIDSON, proprietor of the Chickasha Steam Laundry, is one of the progressive young business men and citizens of the place, and has a fine example and impetus in the person of his father, Samuel Davidson, one of the most successful merchants, cattle men and Republican politicians of Texas. The family contains a substantial strain of German blood, which accounts for many of the best qualities of father and son. The younger man is a native of Clay county, Texas, born on the 5th of October, 1882, and the fearless use of a cow pony was among his earliest accomplishments. But his father's circumstances were such that they enabled him to carry out his desire to obtain a liberal education which he acquired at St. Edward's Col1ege, Austin, Texas, in the Agricultural and Mechanical College at Bryan, and in the University of Notre Dame, at South Bend. Indiana. At the conclusion of these' eclectic courses when he was twenty-two years of age, Mr. Davidson came to Chickasha, and joined a partner in the establishment of a steam laundry. The original plant comprised a washer and a few ironing boards, being located on Eighth street and Choctaw avenue during the first year of business. Then under the stimulus of the encouraging outlook, Mr. Davidson purchased his partner's interest and erected a brick structure, 60 x 100 feet, at the corner of First street and Iowa avenue. The equipment of the establishment, which was named the Chickasha Steam Laundry, now represents some $7,000 of outlay, and also speaks suggestively of the fine development of the enterprise and the business ability of the proprietor.
    Samuel Davidson, the father and widely known Texan, was born in the German fatherland, but came to the southwestern country when young and is American to the core. He was the first to establish a clothing house in Clay county, Texas, and his success in it carved the way for his greater career in the cattle business. So extensive did his interests become in the latter field that for some years his name was familiar throughout New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma and Montana, and his brand "DZ" took its place with the marks of the cattle kings of the southwest. Having passed the million dollar limit in his race for a fortune he turned his attention most actively to politics, and in 1906 was nominated for lieutenant governor of Texas on the Republican ticket. Notwithstanding his popularity and high standing such candidacy was obviously hopeless, but having identified himself with the city of Fort Worth he ran

-161-

for street commissioner on his party ticket and was placed in office over a large normal Democratic majority. His record in that capacity was admirable. Mr. Davidson married his wife, formerly Sallie Jones, in Cranbury, Texas, and she passed away in Fort Worth, Texas, in January, 1908, the mother of one son and three daughters. Alfred H.
Davidson, the son named, was married in Fort Worth, on the 5th of October, 1904, to Miss Grace Buckeridge, daughter of M. M. Buckeridge, a carriage manufacturer of Port Huron, Michigan. The two sons born to them are Samuel B. and Alfred H. Davidson, Jr.  Mr. Davidson is a member of the fraternity of Elks and is identified with the Commercial Club of Chickasha.

-161-
cont.

ISAAC. H. HARNESS, of Chickasha, is one of the veteran cattlemen of the Southwest, having been in the business for thirty-five years and identified with the interests of what is now the state of Oklahoma for nearly a quarter of a century. He is a native of Cooper county, Missouri, born on the 2nd of November, 1849, his father, Conrad Harness having migrated from Virginia in 1842. The latter lived in the state for about seventy years, became a prosperous farmer and stock-raiser and died in Cooper county at the age of ninety. He was such an uncompromising southerner in sentiment that during the Civil war he was made a prisoner by the Federal government and confined in the military prison at St. Louis, Missouri, but after a time was released on his own bond. The family is of Dutch stock but the first American ancestors settled in the United States during the colonial period. Conrad Harness married Elizabeth Tucker, a Virginian, and they became the parents of the following: Jacob, of Colorado City, Texas; John, of Grady county. Oklahoma; William, who died at Lexington, that state, leaving a family; Henry, Charles and George, of Cooper county, Missouri; Isaac H., of this notice; Sallie, Mrs. Thompson Hurst, of Tipton, Missouri; Frank of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Edward, deceased, and Laura, wife of Henry Crawford of Cooper county.
    As the most important period of Isaac H. Barnes development, mentally, was covered by the Civil war he obtained but a meager education, but had a strong body, a knowledge of how to work and a fair stock of practical information. In 1873, then twenty-four years of age, he joined issues with a companion, bought a team and wagon and drove from his home in Missouri to the Lone Star state. Soon after entering the limits of Texas they disposed of their outfit, and Mr. Harness was employed by Messrs. Boswell and Welston to accompany their cattle over the trail to Kansas. The summer was spent in the slow journey to the Cherokee Nation, where the stock was wintered, and in the following spring he was employed by the new owner, Mr. Douglas, to drive the cattle across Missouri to the Missouri Pacific Railroad in Johnson county, from which point he returned to Texas, after an absence of two years. He was afterward identified with the short trail, driving to railroad points in the territory, and finally located in Clay county, Texas, and engaged in the stock business himself. He traded horses in the summer and held cattle in the winter, until such time as he could accumulate a herd that required his entire attention. Mr. Harness remained in Clay county until July, 1885, when he drove his cattle to the territory and established himself near Muskogee in the Creek Nation. He remained there in the horse and cattle business for two years, when he moved to the town site of Purcell and engaged in farming, or rather added agricultural interests to his live-stock. At this point he met the disastrous assaults which hard times made upon all stock interests in the west, and emerged from the ordeal $15,000 in debt. But he pluckily "kept everlastingly at it," remaining around Purcell until 1896, when he removed to the Washita country and occupied the Fletcher farm for several years. His prospects gradually improved, and he is now ranching three miles south of Ninnekah, formerly in the Chickasaw Nation. In 1898 he became a resident of Chickasha, where he purchased half a block of ground between Texas and Washington avenues, on Eighth street, having handsomely and permanently improved his property. While in Purcell he also assisted in the erection of the Purcell Cotton Seed Oil Mill, but he is gradually concentrating all his interests in Grady county and if his affairs progress as steadily in the future as they have within the past few years, he will soon be in a position to retire to a comfortable old age. In February, 1898, Mr. Harness was united

-162-

in marriage with Emma St. Clair, at Shawnee, Oklahoma. Her parents were formerly Georgians, but now reside in Dewey county, Oklahoma. Mrs. Harness was born in Denton county, Texas, and has become the mother of three daughters—Mary Blanche, Catherine and Elizabeth.

-162-
cont.

JAMES H. GRIFFIN, of Chickasha, is one of the founders and builders of the city, and his continuous faith in it is but one illustration of his good judgment, backed by substantial works. He is a native of New York City, born on Fifth avenue on the 4th of September, 1852, and is of Irish parentage, his father having been a pioneer gold miner and western farmer. Mr. Griffin was well educated in the public schools of Manitowoc, Wisconsin, whither his father had removed when the boy was an infant of two years, settling on a farm near that city. The son naturally assumed agricultural pursuits, but as his instincts were of a business nature he became interested in the trading of horses, and finally drifted into Missouri. In the early eighties he left that state with a drove of the animals and established himself in Johnson county, Texas, where (at Alvarado) his business reached the proportions of a horse ranch. For nine years he there engaged in the breeding, dealing and shipping of horses, after which he sold his business and property and removed to El Reno, Oklahoma, It was at this point, in the fall of 1891, that he engaged in the hardware business, but in the following year he disposed of this establishment and came to Chickasha, at once generously investing in its real estate and other property, through all the uncertainties and discouragements of the town he, steadily continued his investments, his real estate dealings, and his erections of business houses and residences, and with the final arrival of Chickasha's period of substantial and permanent prosperity he was rewarded by the realization of handsome profits and a broad place in the confidence and admiration of his fellow townsmen. To enter more into details: In 1893 he erected the Grand Avenue Hotel, it being opened to the public on January 1st, of the following year. It is situated on Chickasha avenue, between Third and Fourth streets, and was, the first hotel of any account to be built in the city. In 1901, Mr. Griffin erected a substantial block on Third street, whose site was but a mud hole when he purchased the land a short time before. In 1903 he erected the three-story brick block at the corner of Third and Kansas streets, known as the Early Hotel and also named the Griffin block. He built his first permanent home in 1897, at Eleventh and Chickasha, sold it ten years later, and in 1908 finished his present twelve-room residence on Fourteenth and Kansas. It occupies an elevation commanding a fine view of the southwestern part of the city, and marks an achievement in home building in Chickasha.
    James Griffin, the father of James R., was a native of County Meath, Ireland, born in February, 1812. The paternal grandfather, John Griffin, served the English government as a water guard, or coast guard, and his brother, William, was in the employ of the custom house in Dublin. The former married Mattie McBride, and reared a family of six sons and as many daughters. Some of them became citizens of Australia; one became a wholesale merchant in New York City; John went early to California, and there reared a family and died; while James the father of James H. Griffin, is to be further mentioned. As a boy and a youth he served aboard a British man-of-war some years, and then learned the carpenter's trade in Liverpool, becoming a ship carpenter aboard an Atlantic steamer and making twenty-six trips across the ocean while in that service. In 1830 he became a resident of the United States, and followed his trade until 1854, spending many years in New York City. In 1854 he removed to Wisconsin, which was then a border state, and entering a tract of land near Manitowoc became a farmer. During the early years of the gold excitement Mr. Griffin had left his eastern home for the rude and stirring life of the Pacific coast. He went by the way of the Isthmus of Panama and returned via Cape Horn, bringing back with him enough of the precious metal to pay him for his time-going out in 1851 and returning in 1852. This experience also proved to him that the chances for advancement were far greater in the fertile prairies of the west than in the gold fields of the Pacific, and went far toward deciding him on his Wisconsin venture. He remained near Manitowoc, engaged in farming, from 1854 to 1870, when he made another move westward, settling on a farm in Atchison county,

-163-

Missouri, where he passed his remaining years, dying near Hamburg, Iowa, in 1904. His wife was Susan Elliott, daughter of Frank Elliott, whose family tradition tells the story of a descent from James I of England. The issue of this marriage was, Frank, of Seattle, Washington; Joseph E., who is believed to have been killed in the Custer massacre; John, a prosperous farmer of Atchison county, Missouri, and James H., of this sketch. The last named was married at Dallas, Texas, on the 7th of July, 1896, to Maynie, daughter of Captain and Anna H. (Campbell) Milliken, of Grandbury, Texas. Captain Milliken was a well known packet man on the Mississippi after the Civil war, having a line of twenty-two boats plying between Paducah and New Orleans. Five of his seven children survive, viz.: Elmona M., wife of R. J. Brown, of Dallas, Texas; Robert C., of Memphis, Tennessee; Nannie, wife of S. B. Lancaster, of Lawton, Oklahoma; Dr. Samuel E., of Dallas, and Mrs. James H. Griffin. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Griffin are: John Henry, William Milliken and Samuel Edwin Griffin.

-163-
cont.

JEFFERS0N D. CHASTAIN, of Chickasha, farmer and dealer in real estate and owner of the beautiful estate known as Hill Crest farm, lying just south of the city, has passed a quarter of a century within the boundaries of what is now Oklahoma, actively and most successfully engaged in its agricultural, grazing, mercantile and banking interests. He was born in Itawamba county, Mississippi, on the 10th of March, 1860, but was reared in Tishomingo county, where his parents were among the largest slave-owning planters of that section of the state, prior to the Civil war. The ravages and final outcome of that conflict reduced the family almost to want, but though the father served bravely on the Confederate side he accepted the results of the war without a murmur, and, as was typical of his stalwart countrymen, he heroically set to work to repair his shattered fortunes. This he eventually accomplished through a combination of agricultural and mercantile pursuits.
    Jefferson D. Chastain received his higher education in the Mississippi College at Clinton, and reached young manhood well trained both as a merchant and a farmer. From a clerkship in Corinith, Mississippi, he ventured into the Choctaw Nation, locating first at Atoka, where he was also employed as a clerk for four years. With a small capital he now engaged in business at Hartshorne, a new town in the coal fields near Atoka, and for some time remained the senior member of the firm of Chastain, Phillips and Company, which was successively changed to Ohastain, Bateman and Company and J. D. Chastain. Through its various changes the establishment was a leading business factor of the place, and Mr. Chastain gradually invested the profits of his mercantile enterprise in the stock business and ranoh properties. He also founded the First National Bank of Hartshorne and was its president for several years. This period of his life was remarkably active and useful, and he not omy gained the utmost confidence of his business and financial associates but was highly honored by the public at large for his splendid qualities of citizenship. As a member of the school board he was especially active in educational matters. In 1907, he established his beautiful agricultural estate south of Chickasha, to whose improvement, with the adornment of the city itself, he has mainly devoted himself. He has become the leader in the establishment of a system of parks an dbouldevards, which will mark Chickasha as one of the most modern and picturesque cities of the new state. From his own properties he has donated a strip of land nearly two miles in length and one hundred feet wide for a boulevard, and has platted Hill Crest Addition to Chickasha, a tract of one hundred acres on the south side of the city. His home occupies an eminence at the foot of First street, and his handsome residence and grounds are admirably planned and constructed, the house itself commanding almost a birdseye view of the town. In 1890 Mr. Chastain was married at Atoka, Oklahoma, to Miss Lena, daughter of Dr. W. M. Dunn, formerly a resident of Alabama, where Mrs. Chastain was born. The issue of this union are Garvin D., Rosa B. and Caldwell. In his politics, Mr. Chastain has alway adhered to the Democracy, and his fraternal associations have identified him with the Masons (Scottish rite) and the Woodmen.

-163-
cont.

MART B, LOUTHAN. A well-known and quite popular citizen of Chickasha, Mart B. Louthan is rendering excellent service

-164-

as sheriff of Grady county, and is a man of prominence among the county officials, possessing in an eminent degree the discretion, trustworthiness, and force of character requisite for the responsible position he is so ably filling. As a pioneer, he has the distinction of having opened the Rock Island station at this point, on the completion of the road thus far. In this and in other capacities as a citizen of Chickasha, he has witnessed its growth from a town of tents to a busy city, rivaling in importance and prospects the best of Oklahoma cities, and in the grand transformation has played no unimportant part. A son of John Louthan, he was born, February 14, 1863, in Hart county, Kentucky, of thrifty Scotch ancestry.
    The emigrant ancestor of the Louthan family came from Scotland to America in colonial days, locating in Virginia, where Moses Louthan, grandfather of Mart B., was born. A farmer and blacksmith, Moses Louthan removed from Virginia to Ohio, from there to Indiana, then to Mitchell county, Kansas, and was there actively employed in his chosen occupations for many years. On the farm that he improved he resided until his death, at the good old age of ninety years. His wife, whose maiden name was Hayes, died in that county, at the age of seventy-six years. She reared nine children, as follows: Sarah, wife of Dr. Kern, of Mitchell county, Kansas; Rachael, twin sister of Sarah, married Thomas Basham, and died in Chickasha, Oklahoma; Edmund, of Mitchell county, Kansas; John, father of Mart B.; Amanda, who died in Mitchell county; Phebe, wife of T. J. Crowell, of Barnard, Kansas; Catherine, deceased, married Charles Grecian, of Mitchell county; Martin died during the Civil war, while serving as a soldier in the Union Army; and Elza, of Mitchell county.
    John Louthan was born, in November, 1830, in Columbiana county, Ohio, and there grew to manhood. Becoming a contractor of construction work on railroads, he went to Tennessee in the interests of his vocation, and among other large contracts that he there filled was the building of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad. Prior to the Civil war he settled in Kentucky, where he continued as a contractor for a number of years, afterwards being engaged in agricultural pursuits. Sometime in the "eighties," he removed to Kansas, from there coming, in 1890, to Chickasha, where he is living retired from active business. He married Mary J., daughter of Peter J. Conley, who was born in Ireland, emigrated when young to the United States, married in this country, and settled in Ohio, where Mrs. Mary J. Louthan was born. Their marriage was blessed by the birth of nine children, namely: Ida, wife of George Stackhouse, of Lawton, Oklahoma; Harry, of Enid; Laura, deceased; Mart B., of this sketch; Conley; Charles; Mary J., deceased; Frank, living in Chicago, Illinois; and Maggie, deceased.
    Receiving but limited educational advantages in the rural community in which he was brought up, Mart B. Louthan began life on the farm when about sixteen years old, and worked as a laborer for four years. Ambitious then to fit himself for some more congenial employment, he took up the study of telegraphy, pursuing it with diligent perseverance, and in 1884, when he came westward, he was competent to take a position at any key. He spent the three subsequent years in Kansas, in the service of the Union Pacific Railroad Company, and then went to Colorado Midland, in Colorado, and for three years lived in and around Aspen and Glenwood. Accepting then a position with the Rock Island System, Mr. Louthan opened their station at Minco, Oklahoma, from there being transferred to Chickasha when the road was extended to this place. In 1895, after eleven years of service with the railroads, Mr. Louthan retired from that work, established himself in the livery business in Chickasha, and for a number of years ran a stage line to Anadarko. Giving that up, he took a Chickasha lease, and for about six years was engaged in the cattle business. Disposing finally of these interests, Mr. Louthan became more closely identified with Chickasha as a citizen, and as a modest town builder.
    Mr. Louthan's interest in politics has ever been alive and forceful, and from the first he chose to identify himself with the political home of his ancestors, Democracy. Prominent in party ranks, he served two terms in the Chickasha City Council, and was present at all of the important conventions of his party looking toward statehood. When the time arrived to name candidates for the county officers, six men appeared to want the office of sheriff, Mr. Louthan

-165-

won the nomination in the primary, and, in September, 1907, was elected by a majority of nearly eighteen hundred votes.
    In Kansas City, Missouri, May 23, 1888, Mr. Louthan married Sophia P. Dunn, and they have one son, Charles D. Louthan. Mrs. Louthan comes of substantial New England ancestry, her father, Charles P. Dunn, who died in Denver, Colorado, in 1908, aged seventy-eight years, having been born and bred in Massachusetts. Fraternally Mr. Louthan is a Mason, and was the first candidate to be initiated into Chickasha Lodge, No. 75, A. F. & A. M. He also belongs to the chapter, R. A. M.; and to the Knights of Pythias.

-165-
cont.

ROBERT J. BAZE, M. D. Cultured, talented, and an intelligent student, Robert J. Baze, M. D., of Chickasha, keeps well abreast of the times in regard to the more modern methods used in medicine and surgery. and is a leader in his profession, as an active physician meeting with good success. A son of Jefferson P. Baze, Jr., he was born, October 12, 1870, at Walden, Arkansas, of substantial colonial ancestry, the emigrant ancestor having come from France to the United States prior to the Revolution. His grandfather, Jefferson P. Baze, Sr., for many years a farmer in Tennessee, migrated from there to Missouri at an early day, and after continuing his agricultural labors for a time in that state removed to Burnett county, Texas, where he spent the remainder of his life. He was a soldier of the War of 1812, and took an active part in the Battle of New Orleans.
    Jefferson J. Baze, Jr., was born, in 1843, in McNairy county, Tennessee. As a young man he served in the Confederate Army as captain of a company, being under command of General Price. He learned the trade of a blacksmith, and subsequently followed that occupation in Fort Scott, Arkansas, for several years. In 1876 he moved with his family to McCulloch county, Texas, where he still resides; having as a farmer and stock-raiser met with fair success. He is a Democrat in politics, and has served as county commissioner. He married Elizabeth Whistenhunt, who was born at Walden, Arkansas, in 1855, a daughter of Peter Whistenhunt, formerly of Scott county, Arkansas, now deceased. Eleven children blessed their union, namely: Robert J., the subject of this sketch; Albert of Brady, Texas, secretary and treasurer of the wholesale and retail grocery firm of Scott & Company, of that place; Jesse, a teacher at Camp San Saba; Perry, a physician at Mason, Texas; Viola wife of Henry Lowrey, of Fredericksburg, Texas; Ollie, wife of John Kidd, of Katemcy, Texas; Garret of Brady, Texas; Walter, a physician at Civit, Oklahoma; Rose; Elmer; and Martin. The three younger children reside at the parental home in Camp San Saba.
    But six years old when the family moved to McCulloch county, Texas, Robert J. Baze there received his elementary education, and at the age of seventeen years began life for himself as a teacher in the country schools. Two years later he took up the study of medicine with Dr. J. B. Lockhart, of Brady, Texas, and subsequently entered the Hospital Medical College, at Memphis, Tennessee, where he completed the full course of study, being graduated with the degree of M. D. in 1892. While still a student in that institution, he was granted a certificate to practice medicine by the proper officials of his county home, and during his vacations gained valuable experience and training. After his graduation, Dr. Baze located at Fredonia, Texas, and there built up a large and lucrative practice, remaining there until November, 1892, when he moved to Mason, county seat of Mason county, Texas. There he remained in active practice until January, 1907, when he moved to Chickasha, where he is meeting with the same good professional success, his skill and ability winning him an excellent patronage. While living in Fredonia and Mason the Doctor .vas identified with all of the medical organizations to which the more talented and progressive physicians belong, and was county quarantine officer from 1895 until his removal to Oklahoma. Here he has served Chickasha in the capacity of City Physician, and is a member of the Commercial Club, and of the County, State; and American Medical Associations. Also, while in Texas, he was a member of the Board of Medical Examiners from 1895 until 1901.
    Dr. Baze married, in Mason county, Texas, February 21, 1893, Mary Bridges, who was born in Mason county, Texas, a daughter of J. Dillon Bridges, of Chickasha, and a sister of Burrel B. Bridges, in whose sketch, on another page of this volume, further history of her family may be found. Of the union of Doctor and Mrs. Baze two

-166-

children have been born, namely: Willie Alice, and Jennie Belle. Fraternally the Doctor is a Mason, belonging to lodge and chapter, and is past master of McCulloch Lodge, No. 273, A. F. & A. M., of Mason, Texas, which he represented in the Grand Lodge; and he is also a member of the Woodmen of the World, and examiner for the order in Chickasha.

-166-
cont.

JOSEPH T. DICKERSON, of Chickasha, ex-federal judge of the southern district of the Indian Territory, and present member of the widely known law firm of Welborne and Dickerson, is a native of Champaign county, Ohio, born on the 8th of January, 1864. His paternal grandfather, Joseph T. Dickerson, was born and passed his life at Cadiz, that state, where he founded the Dickerson Methodist church, reared a large family on the farm and furnished five sons for service in the Union Army. Captain Joseph Dickerson, one of the sons, is now a resident of Seattle, Washington. The wife of Joseph T. Dickerson was a Miss Jones, and husband and wife both lie in the old cemetery at Cadiz. Thomas Dickerson, another son, received the usual education and training provided for a farmer's child, and patiently and faithfully followed in the footsteps of his father. He married, and in 1871 brought his family to Kansas, entering a piece of government land near Marion. There, through the long years of self-denial and positive struggles for subsistence, this good couple have founded a home, raised a family to honorable independence, and still reside on the homestead of their first choice in the west. It is no longer planted on a lonely frontier, but now furnishes them the comforts and enjoyments of an advanced rural community. Mr. Dickerson has led a life of unbroken plainness, but has thought deeply and highly on the political, moral and religious questions of several generations, and both to him and his Christian wife the Judge acknowledges an indebtedness which can never be repaid. For his wife Thomas Dickerson chose Hannah, daughter of William Henry Harrison, a direct descendant of General Harrison, one of the first governors of Illinois, and ninth president of the United States. The children born to them were as follows: Mollie, wife of L. F. Keller, of Marion, Kansas; Louisa, who married Governor Edward W. Hoch, of Kansas, a resident of Marion; John, also living in that place; Joseph T., of this sketch; Jessie, wife of B. C. Hastings, of Seattle, Washington; Eva, who married E. N. Rider and resides at McPherson, Kansas; and Avery H., an attorney of Rush Springs, Oklahoma.
    Joseph T. Dickerson received his intermediate education in the schools of Marion, Kansas, and afterward entered the Kansas State Normal to prepare himself for the temporary career of a teacher. At this period of his life, as at all other times, he labored faithfully and manfully for all which he acquired. To meet his normal school expenses he cheerfully assumed the duties of hostler and driver to the team which conveyed pupils and others between the depot and the institution, boarding with the president and sleeping in the barn loft both for the sake of economy and convenience. Amid such environments he mastered his daily lessons, paid his bills promptly and even had some to spare for the Christmas holidays at home. The year following his graduation he spent as principal of the school at Hillsboro, Kansas, and then entered the law department of the Kansas State University. After spending 1886 and 1887 in the completion of his professional studies, he was admitted to the bar before Judge Benson (afterward United States senator) at Lawrence, and his credentials were issued by Joseph L. Bristow, clerk of the court, since prominent in the postoffice department of the United States government, and now a prominent candidate for the United States senatorship from Kansas.
    Judge Dickerson's initial practice was at Marion, and he was soon recognized as a strong accession to the bar of the city and county. After serving as city attorney of Marion he was elected attorney of the county, and in the latter capacity brought the first action under the anti-trust taw of the state, which resulted in effectually barring from the commonwealth the operations of the Kansas Wholesale Grocers' Association. He was afterward appointed by Governor Bailey judge of the eighth judicial district of Kansas, and while an occupant of that bench was elevated by President Roosevelt to the judgeship of the southern district of the Indian Territory. The nature of his record as district judge in Kansas is indicated by the fact that of all the cases appealed to the supreme court of the state

-167-

not one of his decisions was reversed. An unusual number of the appeals taken from his decisions while serving four years on the federal bench has also the honor of being sustained by the supreme court of the nation. Both facts are forcible testimonials to Judge Dickerson's thorough knowledge of the law, and his upright qualities as a judge. During his career as a lawyer he has been associated in two partnerships, first, in Kansas, as a member of the firm of Dickerson and Wiesse, which was concluded with the death of the latter, and, since his retirement from the district bench in Oklahoma, he has joined Robert D. Welborne, of Chickasha, in a strong professional combination.
    In politics, Judge Dickerson has been a Republican throughout the period of his civic life. As a Kansas lawyer his activity in this field was ever apparent, and since his retirement from the Oklahoma bench the Republican leaders of the state have welcomed him to their councils. While the constitutional convention was in session he presented to its banking committee the guarantee deposit law, filing a brief with that body clearly showing the effects of such a measure; and he was alone in the advocacy of the reform which was eventually considered with such favor and is now the organic law of Oklahoma. In other words, he is said to be the father of the only guarantee deposit law in force in the United States. In the field of literary effort Judge Dickerson has thoughtfully and eloquently addressed various gatherings of the Epworth League and various civic bodies, and his staunch support of all righteous movements has thereby been demonstrated, both forcibly and frequently. He has also been actively engaged in the work of the Young Men's Christian Association, and in the charities and denominational progress of the Methodist church, of which he is a member of the board of stewards. The Judge's harmonious domestic life commenced in Marion, Kansas, November 1, 1890, by his marriage to Miss Carrie Sackett, daughter of S. F. and Josephine (Barnett) Sackett, formerly from Clark county, Missouri. Mr. Sackett was a prominent merchant of Marion. The five children born to this union are Mildred, Josephine, Jessie and Joe (twins), and Dorothy. The last phase in the life of Judge Dickerson, he has always esteemed of supreme import, and in this again evinces the strength of a typical American. An active and progressive lawyer, with a rich background of fine judicial service; a trusted leader of the people, alert to their best interests and fully able to conserve them by the formulation and promulgation of practical legislation; a moral and Christian gentleman, and a thoughtful and affectionate head of a household, Judge Dickerson is certainly a goodly type of that superior American citizenship which is yet broadly democratic and therefore supremely useful.

-167-
cont.

JAMES D. CARMICHAEL, of Chickasha, assistant county attorney of Grady county, and a member of the firm of Barefoot and Carmichael, is an able lawyer, a good citizen and a Democratic leader of considerable prominence in this part of the state. He has been actively identified with Chickasha, as a citizen, since October, 1901, when he came hither from Nocona, Texas, where, with his father he had- spent eight years in the operation of a gin and mill, of which they were owners. Born in Cherokee county, Georgia, on the 27th of November, 1876, Mr. Carmichael is a son of Joseph L. Carmichael, a native of the same county. The elder Carmichael served throughout the Civil war as a member of the Twenty-eighth Georgia Infantry, Colquit's Brigade, and at the close of hostilities returned to the plantation. As his father had owned slaves, he found the conditions of labor entirely changed, but succeeded moderately in his ventures, educated his children, and filled such local offices as justice of the peace. He came of an old Scotch and Colonial family, William Carmichael, the paternal grandfather, dying in Georgia at the age of eighty-seven years. Joseph L. Carmichael married Mary R. Speers, daughter of Josiah Speers, of South Carolina, where Mrs. Carmichael was born. She now resides in Nocona, the mother of the following: Dr. Joseph B., of St. Jo, Texas; Tinnie, wife of B. W. Miller, of Portales, New Mexico; Elizabeth, who married W. J. Johnson, of Woodstock, Georgia; William D., of Nocona, Texas; Rhoda, wife of B. D. Hause, of Toonigh, Georgia; James D., of this sketch; Mary A., wife of Ford Frye, and Emma L., both of Nocona; Texas.
    After receiving a common school education, James D. Carmichael attended the Southwestern University at Georgetown, Texas, from which he graduated in 1899 with the degree of B. S. He then spent two

-168-

years in the University of Texas, from which he graduated with LL. B., and within a few months located in Chickasha to commence practice. He at once became a member of the firm of Potter, Barefoot and Carmichael, which, with the withdrawal of Mr. Potter, was changed to its present style. The firm of Barefoot and Carmichael are attorneys for the Oklahoma State Bank, the William Cameron Lumber Company, the Chickasha Building and Loan Association and the Gilkey-Jarboe Hardware Company, and is steadily gaining in reputation and substantial professional business. Mr. Carmichael has proved a strong element in this progress, and is also influential as a Democrat. He is now serving as secretary of the Fifth Congressional Central Committee of his party, is a member of the City Democratic Committee, and, as stated, is the assistant county attorney. In April, 1908, Mr. Carmichael was elected president of the board of education. He is identified with the Commercial Club, and also a fraternal leader. He is an active Knight of Pythias and is past exalted ruler of the Elks, being a delegate to the national convention of the latter order, held at Denver in 1906, and therefore a member of its grand lodge. Mr. Carmichael was married in Chickasha, November 27, 1907, to Lillian E., daughter of Henry M. and Gertrude (Flynn) Stroh, of Burlington, Iowa. Mr. Stroh, a native of Germany, died in that city. Mrs. Stroh, who was born in Kentucky, is still living, the mother of Harry F., Mrs. Carmichael and Irene.

-168-
cont.

CAUDE P. HOLLINGSWORTH, of Chickasha, Grady county, is one of the pioneer plumbers of the place, and in this field, as well as in the installation of heating apparatus, is one of the most skilled artisans and most extensive business men in. this section of the state. He is an Arkansas man, born in Washington county, on the 27th of November, 1876, but most of his earlier years were spent in Parker county, Texas. The paternal grandfather is believed to have been a Virginian. For many years he was known as a Texas farmer and died in Hill county, that state, in 1905, at the age of seventy-eight years, having become the father of the following: Robert, Andrew and Abel, residents of Alabama; D. B., of Hill county, Texas; W. C., of Grady county, Oklahoma, and James P., father of our subject. James P. Hollingsworth was a native of Calhoun county, Alabama, born in 1850, was an unassuming farmer and died in 1885. He married Hattie White, a lady of South Carolina, who passed away in Chickasha, in March, 1906, at the age of fifty-four years. Their children are: Claude P., of this sketch; Albert L, and Olin 0., who are in the employ of their elder brother, and Ava, wife of W. R. Kilgore, of Grady county.
    Claude P. Hollingsworth was not yet ten years of age at the death of his father, and in his thoughts and assumption of responsibilities he became a man ere he had passed his boyhood days. For a time his earnings and his sturdy assistance on the farm were largely depended upon for the maintenance of the family; notwithstanding which, he passed creditably through the public schools of Weatherford, Parker county, enjoyed a course at the Methodist college there, and when about eighteen years of age began to learn the tinner's trade with J. R. Lewis and Company. Having mastered the trade and business he established a little shop at Weatherford, but soon removed to Graham, Texas, and, after two years, came to the still better field in Chickasha. With a small capital and two assistants, he set out to make himself and his work appreciated in the little metropolis of the Washita valley, and succeeded in his aim from the very year of his advent, 1901. He now employs about a dozen workmen and his establishment in the basement of the postoffice building is one of the busiest places in town. As indicative of some of his handiwork, it may be stated that he had the contract for the heating and plumbing of the Whiteman building and the Midway Hotel, as well as of the Dr. Peters' residence; the heating of the splendid home of B. P. Smith; the metal and slate work on the courthouse and jail at Anadarko, Caddo county, for similar buildings at Lawton, Comanche county, and for the Elks' home at El Reno, Canadian county; and the plumbing and heating of the Fisher Hotel at Watonga, Blaine county. These examples serve to identify, his house with some of the best work of the state. Mr. Hollingsworth's marriage occurred at Chickasha on the 4th of March, 1906, to Dorothy Cooper, daughter of W. A. Cooper, formerly of Whitesboro, Texas. A son, Merle, has been born to the union. In politics, Mr. Hollingsworth usually votes with the Democracy. He is an Odd Fellow,

-169-

a Master Mason and a Modern Woodman; an industrious, intelligent and highly honorable member of the community—a type of the kind needed by every live, progressive town in Oklahoma.

-169-
cont.

ORLANDO COFFMAN is the pioneer builder of Chickasha, and is still a leader in that line, being also as prominent in the development of the civic structure of the city as in the field of its structural improvements. He is an energetic, practical, and widely useful member of the community, and he has been made such largely from force of circumstances. He was born in Page county, Iowa, on the 28th of January, 1866, the family afterward removing to a farm in Labette county, Kansas, near Parsons. There both his parents died within a year, the boy being only twelve at the time of his unspeakable loss. But the lad made the best of the hard situation, and thenceforth earned enough money not only for self-support but to obtain a fair education in the schools of Parsons, and those of Greenfield, Missouri. He eventually applied himself to the carpenter's trade with Mr. Buttonharger, at eight dollars a month, and although he did not master it at Parsons he became well grounded in it and soon became skilled. His rovings embraced the states of Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Colorado and Texas, and he finally settled down for his first stop at Ardmore, where he first engaged in carpentry and then in contracting. After some months of rather modest operations, Mr. Coffman fixed his home in Chickasha, his first contract being for the frame building of James Pettyjohn, the original Palace drug store. Among his other contracts in Chickasha may be instanced the Methodist church, Citizens' National Bank, the Dugan and Hardwick blocks, and, in. fact, about three quarters of the brick structures on Chickasha avenue; also residences by the score in various portions of the city. He also erected Dunlap's block at Mountain View and three brick blocks in Hobart. In short, his work covering a period of sixteen years has marked him as the leading contractor of Chickasha and vicinity. For the past eight years he has. also been identified with the municipal administration of Chickasha, being first elected to the city council as a representative of the Fourth ward, afterward serving the city at large, and now representing the Third ward. As a member of the committee on public buildings, finance, and streets and alleys, his special training and his straightforward business ways have brought him into special prominence. One of the most important public works of recent years is the proposed paving of the city streets, which may be realized before the dose of 1908 and in which Mr. Coffman has peen one of the strongest moving forces. Mr. Coffman is a builder not only for others, but for himself, one of his most attractive pieces of handiwork being his own residence at the corner of Third street and Pennsylvania avenue. He owns other property in the city, and is obviously a decided factor in its permanent life as a city.
    Reuben L. Coffman, the father, was of German stock and Pennsylvania birth, and gradually migrated westward, through Indiana, Illinois, and Iowa, to Kansas. He eventually settled on a farm near Parsons, and lived there with his wife and family until his death in 1878. His wife died within the same month. The husband was fifty-seven years of age at the time of his death, and had married Elizabeth Beaver whose people were also Pennsylvania Germans. The children of their family were: Nellie, who married a Mr. Pershaw and died in Ogden, Utah, leaving a son by a former marriage (Frank Kink); Amanda, Mrs. C. S. Beavers, of Kelley, Oklahoma; Sarah, wife of a Mr. Copper, of Maysville, Arkansas; Mary, who married James Beavers and died in Page county, Iowa; William who died single; Malinda, who became the wife of William Smith and died at Galesburg, Kansas, without issue; Elizabeth, who married John Woods and died in Neosho county, Kansas, leaving a daughter; Alonzo, of Chickasha; Orlando; and Maggie, wife of W. D. Williams, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Orlando Coffman married, in May, 1893, Miss Mattie Baum, of Brown county, Kansas, and a daughter, Ailene, is the surviving issue of this union.

-169-
cont.

JAMES B. SPARKS, of Chickasha, Grady county, has until quite recently been engaged in the cattle business in the Indian Territory and Oklahoma, his father also being a ranchman of note in Texas. With the profits of his life-long calling he finally located in Chickasha, and in 1908 platted an addition of 135 acres, located on the highest point southwest of the city. This is considered the most sightly residence district of Chickasha, and is rapidly being

-170-

placed on the market by the firm of Sparks and Crawley. The partnership is also devoted to the fire insurance and abstract business, owning a valuable set of books formerly the property of the Washita Valley Abstract Company. Mr. Sparks' residence is on Washita Heights, the crest of Sparks Addition to Chickasha and is an ideal spot for an urban home. Outside of his important real estate developments, he is well known for his prominent connection with the Masonic fraternity, being a charter member of the Chickasha blue lodge, of which he has served as master. He is a Knight Templar and has passed fourteen degrees of the Scottish rite.
    James B. Sparks was born in Titus county, Texas, on the 13th of October, 1856, son of William Sparks, a Louisianan who was one of the first to engage in the ranching business in Clay county, Texas, being a contemporary with Loving. For many years after his advent to that country, Indian raids upon stock and settlers were frequent and serious, and many lives were sacrificed in the efforts of the white men to hold their cattle and their homesteads. Mr. Sparks afterward removed into Titus and Cook counties, and died in Gainesville in 1865. William Sparks was married three times, his third wife being Hannah Weeks, by whom he had the following family: Paralee, who married Charles McLain and resides at Purcell, Oklahoma; James B., of this notice; Andrew, of Wayne, Oklahoma; Harvey B., of Quannah, Texas; Mittie, who married Bink Sherwood, of Texline, Texas. Among the children of William Sparks by former wives were: George and William, who became soldiers in the Confederate service, the latter being killed while in the service.
    The public schools of Gainesville, Texas, supplied James B. Sparks with his mental equipment, and he entered the business arena as an employe of Forsythe Brothers, being employed by this firm during the summer months in driving their cattle from southern Texas to Denton county Being identified with them for four years, he joined F. J. Hall, now of El Paso, Texas, and started a ranch in the Chickasaw Nation, near the present site of Waurika. After holding their stock there for about three years, headquarters were transferred to Hardeman county, Texas, and a year later the firm located on a ranch on Mud Creek, Indian Territory. Mr. Sparks removed his cattle operations to the Washita river in 1882, locating at Beef Creek, now Purcell, where he ranched until 1890. He was afterward associated with J. W. Light at Rainy Mountain, in the Kiowa and Comanche country, for about three years, and still later, until 1908, was interested in the cattle business with Thomas Peery on a ranch east of Chickasha. His home farm which he has recently platted to become a part of that place, was one of his last ranch sites, and it was only after a hard fight that he succeeded in having his titles confirmed by the Secretary of the Interior. In March, 1883, Mr. Sparks married, near Beef Creek, Nona Criner, a Chickasaw woman who bore him two children, now deceased. In May, 1893, he wedded as his second wife, Miss May Owens, a Texas lady and a daughter of J. W. Owens. The children of this union are as follows: Gladys L., James C. and Mary E.

-170-
cont.

LEWIS J. GRAY, of Chickasha, Grady county, now engaged in the real estate, loan.
and insurance business, was identified for ten years with the mercantile interests of this city, and was widely known as a skilled and artistic taxidermist. He is a native of Delaware county, Indiana, born on the 10th of February, 1859, son of William Gray, farmer who spent his boyhood in the wooded country of Randolph county, Indiana, where he was born. His education was meager, and he served in the cavalry service of the Union cause. After the death of his wife in 1864 he passed many years in different portions of the west, and in 1890 located at Bangor. Michigan, where he died four years thereafter. He had married Delilah, daughter of Samuel Brown and the mother of the following: Lewis J., of this sketch; Samuel, of Farmland, Indiana, and Alice, wife of Elias Everett, of Muncie, Indiana.
    Lewis J. Gray spent his years as a farm hand until he was past his majority. The death of his mother when he was five years of age had separated the children of the family, and he was bound to an uncle (John Weaver) until he should have attained the age of twenty-one. But his service was so distasteful that he left his foster father at sixteen years of age, and secured work on a farm near Hagerstown, Indiana. At the age of twenty-two he abandoned the farm and adopted the bakeer's trade, placing himself under the instruction of Edward Dubbs at

-171-