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cont.

GILKEY-JARBOE HARDWARE Co. In 1892 Albert S. Gilkey and William Howard Gilkey came from Burlington, Kansas, to El Reno, Oklahoma Territory, to join in the run into the Cheyenne and Arapahoe country. Loading a wagon in advance with about seventy-five dollars worth of hardware and a tent, they set out for county H, now Washita county, with an old has-been livery team of speckled grays and a spring wagon with some camp supplies. They reached the site of Cloud Chief after the lots were staked, paid one dollar rent to a man who had staked, for a week's rent on a 1ot, and. set up a 14 by 16 tent on the prairie, April 19, 1892. About 5,000 people were on the ground the day of the opening and in four days the population had dwindled to about fifty. Part of the stock was sold at a profit but at the end of a week the heavy goods were unloaded at about half cost and the lighter loaded in a spring wagon and returned to E1 Reno, and the first effort of the farmer boys to achieve success in a mercantile career, 75 miles from civilization and 300 miles from home ended ingloriously. The goods sold at a sacrifice were paid for with a note on a stranger whose only recommendation was that he was a saloon keeper. He was accidentally met the day the note was due and paid it on demand. Had he defaulted the would-be merchants would have been unable to settle their board bill. A stock of hardware had been ordered to Minco, which could not now be taken to Cloud Chief and was piled high in the depot, drawing demurrage. There was delay in getting money on a farm loan, and the merchants could not pay the freight. Finally the money came and the goods were re-billed to Chickasha, hauled overland to Marlow, and opened up in a tent in the woods. Soon, enough business developed to pay board and the year with its dismal beginning showed about $700 profit.
    In, 1896, the great drought year, the farmer merchants were able to buy the oldest hardware business in Chickasha from Tenison and Camuse, and Albert S. Gilkey took charge of the Chickasha business. In 1898 the hardware business of Ben R. Melton at Duncan was purchased and Richard A. Edwards became manager of the Duncan branch. During these years the firm name was Gilkey Brothers, and in 1893 the Bank of Marlow had been organized with H. L. Jarboe Jr. of Burlington, Kansas, as cashier, and Gilkey Brothers among the founders and A. S. Gilkey one of the directors. In 1901 the Gilkey Brothers and Mr. Jarboe sold their holdings in the Bank of Marlow and incorporated the hardware business under the name of Gilkey-Jarboe Hardware Company with an authorized capital of $100,000 and $60,000 paid up. The business was enlarged at all places and a jobbing depart-

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ment added. In 1903 the Marlow business was sold and in 1906 a branch was established at Lindsay, with M. A. Wylie, manager. The business for 1907 amounted to a little more than a quarter mil1ion.
    In 1902, the Chickasaw Trust Company was organized with Harry L. Jarboe as secretary, A. S. Gilkey and W. H. Gilkey being among the stockholders and founders. In February, 1908, the Chickasaw Trust Company was re-organized under the laws of the new state of Oklahoma, and named "Oklahoma State Bank" with W. H. Gilkey, president, H. L. Jarboe, Jr., cashier and A. S. Gilkey a member of the board of directors. Capital and surplus $75,000, deposits $300,000. A. S. Gilkey shows confidence in the future of Chickasaw by owning ten eligibly located, improved business lots on Kansas avenue and a choice block of eight residence lots at Eighth street and Missouri avenue. W. H. Gilkey and H. L. Jarboe also have a choice adjoining block and capacious residences.
    A. S. Gilkey and W. H. Gilkey are the only sons of Charles Gilkey, a farmer, Republican, Presbyterian and Mason, of Montgomery county, Indiana, who died in 1872. Chas. Gilkey, born in Montgomery county, Indiana, in 1836, was one of ten children of William Gilkey, who was born in Butler county, Ohio, in 1803 and was a pioneer of Indiana, clearing a farm in the forests of Montgomery county in 1823. Here "He lived in his house by the side of the road, friend to every man," for more than half a century. A Whig and an antislavery man, he was, and tradition has it, that the hospitality of his haymow was never refused the escaping slaves in the troublous ante bellum days.
    A. S. Gilkey, president of Gilkey-Jarboe Hardware Company, graduated from the Central Indiana Normal School at Ladoga, with the degree of B. S. in 1883. He taught one term of school in Indiana and eight in Kansas where he also farmed, served one year as assistant teacher's examiner, and was elected one year as county surveyor. In 1896 he withdrew from active management in the hardware business to devote some time to study and travel, and joining a cruise to the Mediterranean, made a tour of Spain, Italy, Greece, Turkey, and the Holy Land, and Egypt, returning via Paris, London and Liverpool. In 1907 he toured the Pacific states from Los Angeles to Seattle and in 1908 spent two months in southern Mexico among coffee, rubber and henequen plantations. W. H. Gilkey was a farmer and stock raiser in Kansas before commencing a mercantile career in the forests and prairies of Indian Territory.
    H. L. Jarboe, Jr. is the son of H.. L. Jarboe of Burlngton, Kansas, who was for a quarter of a century president of the Burlington National Bank. Mr. Jarboe is therefore a born banker, and at the time of the organization of the Bank of Marlow, was the youngest bank cashier in the United States.
    The Gilkey-Jarboe Hardware Company is one of the large and prosperous concerns in the southwest part of the great new state. It is a product of the soil of Oklahoma, aided by western push, courage, caution and discriminating judgment, and the Old fashioned virtues, temperance industry, honesty and economy.

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cont.

JOHN R. ABERCROMBIE, a retired merchant of Chickasha who is now one of its leading property owners and developers, comes of the Scotch fafi1i1y which is famous in the scientific and military annals of Great Britain and the United States. One of his ancestors was the General James Abercrombie, the British General who commanded the expedition against Canada in 1758. The American forefather of the family first established themselves on the soil of Virginia. Perry Abercrombie, the father, was born in Orange county, Indiana, in 1844, of Virginia parentage, and during the Civil war served in General Grant's army of the southwest. He married Emily Wells, who died at Windsor, Illinois, in 1883, the mother of Edward, a resident of Neoga, Illinois; John R., of this sketch; and Bessie, now Mrs. Fonderburk, of East St. Louis, Illinois.
    On account of the precarious health of his mother, and the consequent changes of family location in search of conditions favorable to it, John R. Abercrombie passed his earlier years and obtained his schooling in the states of Indiana, Illinois, Texas and California. At the age of fourteen he became his father's assistant in the meat business, and thus remained until 1900. As he was born in Shelby county, Illinois, February 8, 1871, he was twenty-nine years of age when he decided to improve his condition by moving to Oklahoma. As he had spent sixteen years in business at Neoga, Illinois,

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he was fully qualified to make his way in a brisk western community. After considering various locations in Oklahoma he decided in favor of Chickasha, although he spent about nine months in Oklahoma City engaged in the meat business. In April, 1901, he became a citizen of Chickasha, and invested about $350 in his new enterprise in the grocery line. On the 11th of October, 1898, he had married Miss Flora DeVore, daughter of P. L. and Sallie (Parks) DeVore, and she had proved his partner in every sense of the word while he was a resident of Neoga. To her he also attributes much of the success which has come to him while living in Chickasha. It may be said that the two ate and slept with their business, and their persistent attention to its every detail brought such decisive results that in April, 1907, they sold their stock housed in their handsome two story brick building and retired from such labors to superintend their investments. These consist largely of improved real estate in Chickasha, both of residence and business property. The estate also comprises vacant property, in process of improvement and extensive interests in various business ventures. Mr. Abercrombie is an active member of the Commercial Club, but is not concerned either in politics or general society.

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cont.

BURREL B. BRIDGES. A man of strong individuality and vigorous mental gifts, Burrel B. Bridges, Mayor of Chickasha, and one of its extensive landholders, occupies a place of distinction among the more enthusiastic and progressive citizens of his com unity, being a man who thinks things, not words, and is influential in having his thoughts transformed to deeds. A son of J. Dillon Bridges, Sr., he was born, August 8, 1870, in Mason county, Texas, and there received his early education. He comes from a long line of patriotic ancestry, his great grandfather on the paternal side, for many years a resident of Indiana, having served in the War of 1812, while his grandfather, Capt. J. D. Bridges, a successful farmer and well known lawyer in Indiana, commanded a company of Indiana Volunteer Cavalry during the, Civil war.
    J. Dillon Bridges, Sr., was born in Jeffersonville, Indiana, in 1845, and there grew to manhood. On the breaking out of the Civil war he enlisted in the company of cavalry which was commanded by his father, and served as quartermaster sergeant until the expiration of his term of enlistment. Preparing himself for the legal profession, he located, in 1869, in Mason county, Texas, where, in addition to his practice as a lawyer he was prosecuting attorney for the county and during the period of reconstruction he was district clerk of the district of which Mason county was a part. Leaving that
state early in the nineties, he came to Oklahoma, locating in Chickasha, where he has since resided, devoting his time and attention to the care of his property interests and to his business as pension agent. He takes much interest in political affairs, and is a leader among the active Republicans. He married Susan R. Lea, a daughter of Burrel and Louise Lea, and they are the parents of the following named children: J. Ed, of Enid, Oklahoma; Burrel B., J. Dillon, Jr., of Alva; May, wife of Dr. R. J. Baze, of Chickasha; Ida, wife of Will Baird, of Santa Ana, California; William, of Oklahoma City; and Sue, wife of Ray Temple, of Chickasha.
    At the age of sixteen years, Burrel B. Bridges began his active career as a cowboy, being for a while in the employ of John W. Gamel. He wisely invested his earnings in cattle, and on leaving Texas pooled his interests with his brother's, and took their stock to Beaver county, Oklahoma, where the brother maintained them successfully until 1892, when the ranch was closed out. Mr. Bridges then went to Wyoming and embarked in the cattle business. He remained in either Southwestern Wyoming or Utah until 1898, when he converted his property into cash, banked his funds, and enlisted for the Spanish-American war, at Fort Russell, Wyoming, becoming a member of Troop F, Second Cavalry, commanded by Co1. Torrey and Capt. Hoadley. After being equipped and drilled, the command was ordered to Camp Panama, Florida, to be near when the general advance should be ordered to Havana. Assigned to the .Seventh Army Corps, under command of Gen. Fitzhugh Lee, the troop, awaited the coming of the advance at Jacksonville. Col. Bryan's regiment was, also, encamped there, and the members of Troop "F" were brought into daily contact with the famous statesman from the Platte. The sudden collapse of the war, August 12, dashed to pieces the hopes of the strenuous cowboy regiment

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from Wyoming, who were eager for an encounter with the historic "Dons," and the command was dismissed in October without having fired even one shot at the enemy.
Returning to the west, Mr. Bridges engaged in ranching in the Kiowa country, Oklahoma, where he obtained a lease, and during the ensuing three years he gained his final experience as a ranch man. Locating in Chickasha in 1901, he invested in real estate, and at once began to make his efforts in the direction of a town builder felt. He erected the Chickasha Opera House, at the corner of Chickasha and Fourth streets, and has acquired valuable property in both the residential and the business part of the town. Mr. Bridges identified himself with the Commercial Club upon its organization, and is now serving his third year as its vice-president. A prominent Republican in polities, he was a delegate to the last Statehood Convention, held in Oklahoma City, and was nominated for representative of the first legislature of the new state, in 1907, but was defeated. He was, likewise, a delegate to the recent Congressional Convention to send two delegates to the National Convention to nominate the Republican candidate for the presidency. He is a member of the Municipal Committee to recommend Municipal Legislation, a committee which was appointed by the Mayor's Convention at Muskogee. In 1907, Mr. Bridges was nominated by the Republicans for mayor of Chickasha, and, although the city is normally Democratic by a surplus of three hundred, he was elected by a majority of one hundred and eighty-nine, a compliment not only to himself, but to the character of Chickasha's citizenship, showing that the people are not held in the grasp of partisanship regardless of the welfare of the city.
    Mayor Bridges, with an abiding faith in the permanency and beneficence of Chickasha's institutions, has ever had an eye open to its glory and greatness. He never winks at a subscription paper, and has taken the lead in crystallizing sentiment in favor of those public improvements which give to the town a distinctive metropolitan air. When it became necessary to raise money for the paving of Chickasha avenue, the first street to be paved in the city, a margin of ten thousand dollars in cash above the taxes was required and accordingly he circulated a petition in its favor, and every property owner on the avenue signed it. He has contributed liberally toward the erection of church and school buildings, and in the improvement of roads, and the building of bridges has heartily co-operated with his fellow-townsmen. His administration is promoting public improvements as rapidly as the situation will warrant, the city having asked, among other things, to vote bonds for sewer extensions, and for the erection of a fire station, both of which are much needed.
    Mr. Bridges married, February 19, 1902, at Mountain View, Oklahoma, Mrs. Serena (Grogan) Burrus, a daughter of R. W. Grogan, of Byers, Texas, and of their union one child has been born, a daughter, named May Ruth Bridges. By her first marriage, Mrs. Bridges has two sons, Hugh D. and Burrel B.

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cont.

JAMES P. SHARP, of Chickasha, has for many years been identified with the cattle interests of Texas and Oklahoma, and, within late years, has acquired valuable property interests in the city named. He became a resident of Chickasha only about six years ago, and now owns the block of ground between 10th and 11th and Missouri and Arkansas avenues, which he has substantially improved and planted to a variety of fruit. He owns the business house at No. 31 Chickasha avenue and other desirable property, and is a director of the Citizens' National Bank. His live-stock interests (cattle and mules) are now in Castro county, Texas, where he is the proprietor of a 3,4oo-acre ranch.
    Mr. Sharp is a native of Campbell county, Tennessee, born on the 22nd of March, 1860, the family having been established in that region by Laben Sharp, his grandfather. In the first half of the nineteenth century this ancestor settled in the mineral section of that county, and, although a farmer, he proved to be also a man of remarkable business foresight and thrift. He was the first to establish a forge in the mountains, and opened several iron and coal mines on his own land. Further, he had a remarkable faculty of gathering titles to valuable lands in the county, and. at his death in 1878 he left a valuable estate for his time, as well as a high reputation as one of the pioneer developers of that part of the state. Much of his real estate was located around Big- Creek Gap. Laban Sharp married Annie Meyers, and of their union were the following family: Henry, who died in the home county; Polly, who

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married Jordan Longmire; Bettie, who became the wife of Rev. F. Richardson, presiding elder of the M. E. church of that locality; Isaac, who died unmarried; Milton, father of James P.; Emily, who married Robert Mullins, of eastern Tennessee; Silas, who died in that section of the state, and Louisa, who married D. P. Condry, of Campbell county, Tennessee. Milton Sharp, the father of James P., was born in the county last mentioned, and died in 1862, when only twenty-five years of age. He married Minerva, daughter of Alvis Kincaid, a pioneer farmer of the state and once a representative to the Tennessee legislature. By this marriage there were two children, viz.: Mary, now Mrs. C. A. Moore, of Durant, Oklahoma, and James P., of this sketch. Mrs. Milton Sharp married for her second husband O. P. Slack, in Fannin county, Texas. In 1904, they removed with their family to Randall county, in the Panhandle of Texas, where they still reside. By her second marriage Mrs. Slack became the mother of two sons, Milton and Thomas.
    James P. Sharp passed his youth in Fannin county, Texas, obtaining his education in the country schools and at the Fincastle High School, Tennessee. At the age of nineteen he commenced life as a farmer and stock man and during the succeeding three years acquired about eighty cattle, which he drove over into the Chickasaw Nation and ranged on Island Bayou. There he also entered the employ of Jo Perry, a ranchman. Eventually his own interests absorbed his entire time, and he remained in that locality as a progressive ranchman until 1895. He then established himself east of Chickasha, and pooled his interests with those of Z. W. Rains. At the expiration of their contract he associated himself with W. H. and J. F. Driggers, leased 67,000 acres of pasturage in the Comanche country, and prospered exceedingly until the opening of the lands to actual settlers. They prepared their beeves at Chickasha where feed was plentiful, and became large shippers to the Kansas City market. They finally removed their interests to the Texas Panhandle, where the partnership was dissolved. Mr. Sharp then purchased his fine cattle and mule ranch in Castro county, Texas, which he still retains and in 1902 acquired his important property interests in Chickasha, where he has since resided. Mr. Sharp married Mary E. Clark at Naples, Oklahoma, his wife being a daughter of Isham Clark and Martha (Smith) Clark, formerly residents of Mississippi. Mr. and Mrs. Sharp have become the parents of four sons: Alvis, Edward, Howard and Laben.

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cont.

JAMES R. CALLAHAM. A man of much force of character and ability, possessing the courage of his convictions in all matters pertaining to the public welfare, James R. Callaham, of Chickasha, clerk of the District Court of Grady county, has been identified with the interests of Oklahoma for the past twelve years, and in the development and promotion of its varied resources has lent his influence. A son of John L. Callaham, he was born, May 2, 1852, in Abbeville county, South Carolina.
    John L. Callaham, a farmer by occupation, died in early manhood, his death occurring in 1855. His wife, whose maiden name was Edna Tribble, survived him but a few days, at her death leaving a little family of three children, namely: Celeste, who married Benjamin H. Holland, died in Anderson county, South Carolina; James R., with whom this sketch is chiefly concerned; and Sarah E., wife of Samuel Harbin, of Atlanta, Georgia.
    Left an orphan when scarce three years old, James R. Callaham was brought up by his Grandfather Tribble, receiving a limited education in the country schools. Reared to agricultural pursuits, he began the battle of life on his own account as a farmer, and as long as he lived in South Carolina was employed as a tiller of the soil. In 1880, desirous of changing his occupation, he migrated to Texas, locating in Cass county, where he was clerk in a general store for a number of years. From there, in 1896, Mr. Callaham came to Oklahoma, and as a cotton buyer for the firm of Birge & Forbes was at first located at Wynnewood, but later in 1905, becoming a resident of Chickasha. He was subsequently for a time a buyer for the, firm of Wootten & Potts, cotton brokers, resigning his position with that company to begin the preliminaries that should make him the first district clerk of Grady countv. Mr. Callaham became the candidate for this office in the face of strong competition, and secured the nomination in the primaries by thirty-nine votes. As the county proved to be a Democratic stronghold, he was easily elected, receiving a majority of seventeen hundred votes. Upon the admission of Oklahoma to statehood Mr. Callaham assumed the office, and has since given his undivided attention to the

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proper and systematic conduct of its multiplicity of details.
    On November 22, 1874, in Anderson county, South Carolina, Mr. Callaham married Martha E. Simmons, daughter of John P. Simmons, a farmer, who was descended from one of the old families of the Palmetto state. Mr. Simmons married Margaret Barton, by whom he had three children, as follows: Martha E., wife of Mr. Callaham; David, deceased; and Anna. Mr. and Mrs. Callaham are the parents of three children, namely: Edna T., wife of W. B. Watkins, of Chickasha; Maggie O., who died in childhood; and James W., a telegraph operator in the employ of the Rock Island Railroad Company.

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cont.

REFORD BOND, the able young lawyer of Chickasha, Grady county, and a strong Democratic leader who is in the public eye throughout Oklahoma, is a native son of the state and worthy representative of one of its pioneer families, being born at Johnsonville, McLain county, Oklahoma, on the 10th of August, 1876. James H. Bond, his father, is one of the large farmers residing near Minco, Grady county, where he opened a ranch many years ago, became extensively interested in cattle, and where he is now devoting his time and abilities to the cultivation and care of his large estate. It is in this locality, also, that Reford Bond passed his youth, in healthful out-door occupations developing a strong body for the preservation of a strong mind. After exhausting the educational advantages of his home neighborhood he went to Boonville, Missouri, spending some years in the military academy located at that place, and subsequently completing a collegiate course in Roanoke College, at Salem, Virginia. Having laid this broad general groundwork, he entered the University of Missouri for the purpose of studying law, graduating therefrom with his professional degree in 1897. Upon examination before Judge Townsend, at Ardmore, Carter county, he was admitted to the bar of Oklahoma, and at once located in Chickasha for practice. Having an intimate understanding of the people of the locality and their institutions, with a broad and educated outlook upon public affairs, Reford Bond has from the first been marked as an object of local favor and political advancement. He first formed a partnership with Messrs. Herbert and Holding, under the firm name of Herbert, Holding and Bond, which continued until 1900, when Mr. Bond became the senior partner of Bond and Melton, now regarded as one of the leading legal firms of Grady county. For a number of years he served as a member of the Territorial Executive Democratic Committee, and at the Single Statehood convention he was chosen committeeman-at-large for the two territories, both of which honors he resigned when he entered the race for the congressional nomination of the Fifth district in 1907. There were five aspirants in the contest, and, although Mr. Bond made. a fine showing, the nomination went to Scott Ferris. Mr. Bond is an earnest member of the Commercial Club of Chickasha, is identified with the Knights of Pythias, and has an especially high standing with the Masonic fraternity. In the latter he has taken both the Scottish and York rites, being a thirty-second degree Mason. He is also a member of the Odd Fellows, and has attended the national grand lodge of Elks as a delegate from Oklahoma. Thus it is that in many ways he is impressing his strong personality upon the people and institutions of the state.
    James H. Bond, the father, is a native of Somersetshire, England, born in 1843, and the youth was brought with other members of the family to Chicago, Illinois. In that city he lived until the outbreak of the Civil war, when he went south, finally drifting into the Chickasaw Nation, where he engaged in the stock business. At Johnsonville he married Mrs. Adelaide Campbell, a daughter of a London Englishman, named "Boggy" Johnson. Mr. Johnson had spent a few years in New York, after coming to this country; then located in Mississippi, where he married a Chickasaw woman, and eventually concentrated his interests in the Indian Territory. Here he was profitably engaged in the stock business for many years, but finally gathered his resources, returned to New York and died there as a wholesale merchant. By her marriage with Mr. Campbell, Mrs. Bond has a son, C. B. Campbell, one of the prominent business men of Grady county, and conspicuously identified with the banking interests of both Mineo and Chickasha. The children of Mr. and Mrs. James H. Bond are Reford, of this sketch, and Edward B., of Minco. In the early seventies James H. Bond established himself in the ranching business on Boggy creek, and it is in the development of his large interests in that locality that all of the intervening years have been spent.

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JOSEPH D. LINDSAY. Distinguished not only as one of the very earliest permanent settlers of Grady county, but as one of its pioneer merchants, Joseph D. Lindsay, of Chickasha, county clerk of Grady county, has for more than a score of years been intimately associated with many of its leading industries. Locatit1g here in 1885, he, in partnership with Edward Johnson, opened a store of general merchandise at Silver City, at the crossing of the old Chisholm trail and the South Canadian river, which was then an important trading point for the trail drivers, the ranchmen, and the few straggling white settlers of the county. But with the coming of the Rock Island Railroad, and the establishment of the town of Minco, Silver City disappeared, and Mr. Lindsay transferred his interests to the newer settlement, Minco, where he remained in business until 1898. The following two years, which were years of if fortune and disaster, he spent as a cattle and stockman in Dewey county, Oklahoma. Coming from there to Chickasha, he has since been identified with many lines of industry, chief among them being the building of concrete houses, farming and butchering. On the approach of statehood, Mr. Lindsay became an active candidate for the office of county clerk of Grady county, won the nomination, and was elected, in 1907, to this position, which he is ably filling at the present time.
    A native of Kentucky, Joseph D. Lindsay was born, January 16, 1857, in Hancock county, a son of Alexander C. Lindsay. He comes of substantial Scotch stock, the emigrant ancestor from whom he is descended having emigrated from Scotland to this country, settling in Maryland. From there some of his descendants migrated to Virginia, where the great grandfather, on the paternal side, of Mr. Lindsay was born. Alexander C. Lindsay was born in Virginia in 1805, and died, in 1878, in Hawesville, Kentucky. Leaving Virginia as a young man, he established himself in business at Hawesville, Kentucky, where he was for many years successfully employed as a tobacco manufacturer. He was active in religious and political circles, belonging to the Methodist church, and earnestly supporting the principles of the Democratic party. He married Mary Cannon, a sister of John W, Cannon, who built the steamer, Robert E. Lee. She died in Hancock county, Kentucky. Seven children were born of their union, as follows: Charles B., for many years a pilot on the Mississippi river, died in Kentucky, leaving a family; Nettie, wife of Capt. J. W. Carlton, of Monroe county, Louisiana; John, who served during the Civil war with General John Morgan, is now a resident of Chickasha, Oklahoma; Thomas J., died while in the Confederate service; Nannie, wife of J. W. Porter, of Owensboro, Kentucky; Alexander C., died, unmarried, in New Orleans; and Joseph D.
    Taking up the study of telegraphy after leaving the common schools, Joseph D. Lindsay was subsequently for ten years a commercial telegrapher along the Ohio river, being located at different points. Abandoning that pursuit, he came to the Indian Territory, and at Atoka, found employment in the mercantile establishment of J. J Phillips, and eventually secured a financial interest in the business. Subsequently, in company with his brothers-in-law, H. Y. and W. A. McBride, he opened a general store at Atoka, and was there engaged in business until making his advent in Silver City, in 1885, as above mentioned. In entering the race for county clerk, Mr. Lindsay was opposed by three men, but, notwithstanding the strength of his opponents, he secured the nomination, and was elected by a majority of twenty-two hundred votes, and has the honor of being Grady county's first clerk.
    At Atoka, Indian Territory, Mr. Lindsay married Mary McBride, daughter of John and Harriet A. (Hall) McBride, who moved from Arkansas to Atoka. Mr. McBride is a carpenter by trade, and to him and his wife two sons and two daughters have been born. Mr. and Mrs. Lindsay are the parents of six children, namely: Hiram M., Joseph D., William A., Frank E., Felix R. and Alexander C. Mr. Lindsay has very pleasant home where he owns one and one-half blocks of land, a part of which he has improved. In fraternal matters he is a Master Mason.

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cont.

THOMAS BURKE, of Chickasha, United States Deputy Marshal for the eastern district of Oklahoma, is one of the historic figures; of the new state. He has the remarkable distinction (of being a native-born citizen, the youngest soldier to serve in the Civil war, and of having been longer actively identified with the government in its dealings with the various Indian tribes than any other resident of Oklahoma now in the government service. A son of William Thomas Burke, he was born,

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March 25, 1854, at Fort Arbuckle, Chickasaw Nation, which is now within the limits of Grady county.
    A native of Ireland, William Thomas Burke came to America when young, and while living in New York state met and married a bright, quick-witted Irish girl, who was also born in Ireland, very near his own birthplace. Very soon after their marriage, they removed to Fort Smith, Arkansas, where he enlisted in the Seventh United States Infantry, which he joined at Fort Arbuckle, Chickasaw Nation. Continuing in the government service, he remained with his regiment until his death, at Fort Arbuckle, in 1858, at the age of fifty years. To him and his wife six children were born, namely; Kate, wife of Clifford Huntley, of Rush Springs. Oklahoma; Lydia, residing with her sister Kate; Thomas, of this sketch; James, of Elk City, Oklahoma; Flora, wife of Frank Bolinger, of Fort Smith, Arkansas, and Jane, wife of Stephen Greer, also of Fort Smith.
    As a boy and youth, Thomas Burke had none of the advantages of civilized communities, but being ambitious to acquire an education he learned to read and write through his own efforts. Subsequently by observation, reading, and contact with men in various positions of life, he has acquired knowledge and experience, and keeps himself well informed in regard to current events. When he should have entered school the outlook for his widowed mother and her little family appeared so gloomy that Captain Obenshine, of the army post, advised her to enlist Thomas as a musician in his company, and thus give him some training, even if it were military, and at least equip him for a good soldier. Accordingly, on July 9, 1864, Thomas Burke, a sturdy lad of ten years, signed the roll of Company G, Fifth United States Infantry under Col. Burbank, becoming by the act the youngest soldier enlisted during the Civil war. A few have disputed Mr. Burke's claim to this title, but on comparing records all of these people have been easily vanquished, and to him this honor will ever remain. During his three years of service in the army he was stationed with his regiment at Albuquerque and Santa Fe, New Mexico, and at Fort Union, Fort Franklin, Fort Summerville, and Fort Meeker, in southern Kansas, receiving his discharge at the latter fort, August 26, 1867.
    Being discharged from the army, Mr. Burke returned to Fort Smith, Arkansas, where he joined his mother, who had married for her second husband Walter Marley, and for a time assisted his stepfather on the farm. Finding employment then with the grading gang of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad Company, at Fort Gibson, Indian Territory, he worked on the road until 1870. In that year, forming a partnership with his brother-in-law, Mr. Huntley, he engaged in freighting from the new railroad on which he had been employed to Fort Sill, for months thereafter crossing and recrossing the wild waste of frontier country, and, fortunately, without a single hostile demonstration from any of the various bands of red men that infested the plains. Subsequently, however, while he was in the employ of one Mr. Garvey, a dairy farmer at Fort Sill, he and his fellow-haymakers were charged by some hostile braves, who drove them to cover, and gave them a good scare, but nothing worse. Afterwards entering the employ of the government as an ambulance driver at Fort Sill, Mr. Burke accompanied General Davidson's expedition against the Kiowas and Comanches, and later General McKenzie's expedition to force the return of the tribes from the Staked Plains to their reservation. On these two excursions, Mr. Burke saw more buffalo inhabiting the broad expanse of prairie than he ever saw cattle during the palmiest days of the cattle barons of Texas and the Indian Territory.
    On leaving the government service, Mr. Burke embarked in the Cattle business on Rush creek, five miles east of Rush Springs, remaining thus employed until his marriage, when he dissolved his partnership with Mr. Huntley. Mr. Burke then leased what is now the site of Rush Springs, and the following five years was there engaged in farming and stock-raising on his own account. When the Rock Island Railroad was extended to Rush Springs, he established himself in the livery business, and secured the government contract for carrying the mail, and transporting the soldiers and the express matter to Fort Sill, but subsequently sold out his interests in that line, and contracted with the Government to supply the fort with beef. While filling this contract, the Apaches, under Geronimo, were brought in as prisoners-of-war, and this tribe he provided with its first fresh meat furnished by the government.
    When the Kiowa and Comanche country was ready for opening, Mr. Burke was again

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in the livery business at Rush Springs, and he put up, at Fort Sill, the first booth in which the oath was administered to those registering for claims, having associated with him Hadden and Bruce, the trio coming away at the end of ten days with $900. Following this excitement, Mr. Burke entered the employ of the Acme Cement Company, and was engaged in locating cement beds in the new country until 1903. He was then appointed Deputy United States Marshal by H. B. Colbert, was afterwards reappointed by Marshal Porter, and is now serving his sixth year in this office, a length of time that bespeaks his ability and trustworthiness in this position.
    As an officer Mr. Burke has made an enviable reputation for energy, industry and integrity. His friends declare him fearless, saying that "bad men" look to him just like other people. He has had a few hazardous encounters, one notable one having been with a bootlegger, who sent a bullet at a vital part of his body, knocked him down, but did not kill him as a check book caught the force of the ball. On another occasion, Enoch Logan, a negro horsethief, took two shots at him, and still later Mr. Burke came upon a negro named Johnson, a "bad man," in the act of putting a guard whom he had disarmed out of the world, but Marshal Burke's gun saved the guard's life, at the same time saving the government the expense of a prosecution.
    Mr. Burke married November 7, 1884, Joanna Mahan, who was born and reared in St. Louis, Missouri, a daughter of Michael Mahan, a native of the Emerald Isle. Of the union of Mr. and Mrs. Burke six children have been born, namely: Anna, wife of Eugene Reville, of Chickasha; James and Will, clerks in the Rock Island shops, at Chickasha; and Mabel, Kate and Helen, at home. Mr. Burke is a Republican in his political affiliations, and, in 1907, was the nominee of his party for sheriff of Grady county, and led Governor Franz by forty-three votes. He is one of Uncle Sam's pensioners, and owns property in Chickasha, where he holds an assured position among the trustworthy and respected citizens.

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cont.

DUVALL BURK, the well known property owner and citizen of Chickasha, Grady county, comes of an old southern family originally planted in Virginia and afterward transposed to Kentucky. He is a native of Anderson county, that state, born on the 29th of April. 1839. The paternal grandfather, Samuel Burk, was a native of Ireland, who settled in Virginia, and afterward migrated to Shelby county, Kentucky, where he purchased a farm and passed the remainder of his life. His wife was Polly Hurley, whom he had married near Washington, District of Columbia, and who inherited from her father two farms. The issue of their marriage were: Duvall, the father; James and Mary, who both died unmarried; Lucy, who married a Mr. Richardson and died at St. Joseph, Missouri; Sallie who died single; and Ann, who married John Burnham and spent her last years in Missouri.
    The senior Duvall Burk was a native of Jessamine county, Kentucky, who was born in 1797, was a prosperous farmer, moved to Anderson county during the first quarter of the nineteenth century, and died in 1883. He bore himself as a peaceable and loyal citizen; one who furnished sons to fight the battles of the Union cause and who was a firm believer in the efficiency of the Gospel. His religious faith was stanchly Baptist. Sallie Sedars, his wife, was born in his native county, her father, Bennett Sedars, being a farmer of worthy character. The children of this union were as follows: Ann, who married Jacob Jameson and died in Kentucky; Mary J., wife of Berry Peters, who passed away in Anderson county, Kentucky; Lucinda, who married Jesse Simpson and died in her native county; Samuel, unmarried, who died during the Civil war while serving in the Ninth Kentucky Infantry; James, of Anderson county; Duvall, of this sketch; John, who died in Spencer county, Kentucky; Sarah, who died unmarried: Eliza, wife of Jesse Simpson, residing in Anderson county; and Nancy, who died in Franklin county, Kentucky, as the wife of James Watts.
    Primitive schooling, primitive farming and simple living with rugged strength of body and mind, were the chief features of the early life of Duvall Burk spent on the family homestead in Anderson county, Kentucky. Shortly before he became of age he married and commenced to farm as an independent factor of the community. Buying a small tract of land, "on time," he commenced housekeeping with two feather beds and a few chairs and dishes. and putting his own horse with the one which his wife brought him as dower he began to plough up his little domain, preparatory to the seedtime and harvest. With the faithful help of his good wife and the

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assistance of their children, as they reached mature years, the harvests of the coming years enabled the father to promptly meet his payments and develop the property into a comfortable home. In the early eighties the family removed to Shelby county, Kentucky, and there flourished until 1890 when Mr. Burk became interested in a Louisville creamery, which he operated for the ensuing decade. He also maintained large dairy interests personally, and became prominent in the development of both the city and country enterprises. In 1900 he made a prospecting tour to Chickasha, and was so pleased with the country that he sold his Kentucky interests, locating in that city in July, 1901, and investing his money in real estate. His first purchases were in block 63, and he continued to buy property in that section and improve it, until he now owns nearly half of the block, improved with seven houses. He has also dealt profitably in Oklahoma City real estate, and is recognized as one of the thrifty, keen and substantial business men of this section. Upon the organization of the Bank of Commerce of Chickasha he became a stockholder and director, and remained thus until the institution was absorbed by the Chickasha National Bank.
    Mr. Burk has reached his substantial and honorable station in life only by persistent industry and careful and able management, about his only "vacation" from work being his year's service during the last of the Civil war. He enlisted in 1864, as a member of Company D, Twenty-sixth Kentucky Infantry, but an attack of the measles prevented him from accompanying that command to the front. Upon his recovery he was assigned to duty at General Buckly's headquarters in Louisville, and did other service as body guard until the close of the war, when he was ordered to Washington for his honorable discharge August 2, 1865. He was married March 10, 1860, to Susan J. Cinnamon, a daughter of John Cinnamon, a farmer and a pioneer Kentuckian. The issue of this union are as follows: John, of Chickasha, manager of a wholesale produce house: Jesse, a farmer of Shelby county, Kentucky; Thomas T., of Chickasha; Edward L., of Louisville, Kentucky; Mary, wife of W. A. Proctor, of Chickasha; Emma, who married John Parker and died in Shelby county, in 1906; Susan, wife of Rufus Rice, of Chickasha, and Cleo, who married William Bly and resides at Mountain Park, Oklahoma: Mr. and Mrs. Burk are both members of the Baptist church. In politics, Mr. Burk is a Republican, but has never aspired to be more than a conscientious voter.