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cont.

ROYAL J. ALLEN, a merchant of Duncan, a financier of the city and closely identified with the founding of the state of Oklahoma, is justly proud of the blood of a grandfather and a father who were among the creators of the republic and the state of Texas. So that three, generations of the family are most worthy subjects of the history of the southwest. Mr. Allen was born in Collin county, Texas, on the 4th of October, 1864, and not only obtained his education in his home schools but by his substantial contributions to the family coffer aided his brothers and sisters to a good schooling. He attended the Agricultural and Mechanical College at Bryan, Texas, for one term, doing farm work to pay for his tuition, and soon after his return entered the service of J. B. Wilson, a leading cattle man of Dallas. In his employ he came to Indian Territory, and did his work so well that he was finally made manager of Mr. Wilson's large interests there. He was employed in this responsible capacity for about five years, relinquishing his position in 1893 and coming to Duncan to locate and commence anew. Here he associated himself with J. M.

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Armstrong in a grocery which the latter was about to establish, and the two purchased the business of William Duncan, the pioneer merchant of the town. Since then his progress as a business man and a useful and able citizen has been uninterrupted. When the first bank of Duncan was organized he joined his father-in-law, Captain Jeanes, who was its founder, and assisted him in its organization, being still one of the directors. His earnest and useful citizenship so commended itself to the community that he was elected mayor of Duncan, but he resigned this office to enter into a broader public field as a delegate to the Constitutional Convention. Although nominated against one of the strongest and cleanest men in the county, his home town honored him with 615 of the 619 votes cast, and he was sent to the convention by a flattering majority. He proved to be one of the leading actors in its proceedings. He served as chairman of the committee of counties and county boundaries, conceded to be of primary importance, and he was also active and influential as a member of the committees on revenue and taxation, education, legislative apportionment and judicial apportionment. It was as chairman of the first named committee: that Mr. Allen became the central figure of scheming cliques and factions, each with its special ends, yet he followed the way which his best judgment dictated in the light of the presented facts and the report which he finally presented to the convention was almost unanimously adopted. The seventy-five counties of Oklahoma, as now organized, stands as monuments to the work of his committee and the convention at large. There is also another province in which Mr. Allen has reached high rank that of Masonry—being a thirty-second degree Mason and past master of the grand lodge of the Indian Territory. On June 10, 1894, he married Nora Jeanes, daughter of Captain J. T. Jeanes, a native of Tennessee and long a prominent citizen of Duncan. The children of the union are Virgie and Richard.
    Malachi W. Allen, father of Royal J., was born in Washington county, Arkansas, about the year 1821, came into Texas before he attained his majority and was chosen a member of the state legislature before the period of the Civil war. When it applied for admission to the Union, as a member of its constitutional convention, he became one of the fathers of the fundamental law of the state, and while in the legislature was the prime mover in the passage of the act to protect the public lands against fraudulent appropriation, thus saving to the state much of its public domain. Ever active in politics, he afterward aided materially in nominating Governor Throckmorton and was the manager of the campaign which resulted in his election. Later he was appointed agent of the state lands, and in this office he was able to establish such rules of procedure as to further protect the public domain and conserve the interests of actual settlers as against the operations of speculators. Malachi W. Allen married Virginia Royal, daughter of Richard B. Royal, one of the foremost citizens of Texas in her struggle for independence and in her establishment as a constitutional republic. Mr. Allen's home was at McKinney, Texas, where farming and stock raising occupied him until his death in 1874. He was a successful agriculturist and a leader in the Grange movement, being state master of the order at the time of his decease.
    Richard R. Royal, maternal grandfather of Royal J. Allen, was a native of Halifax county, Virginia, born in 1797, son of William Royal, a cavalry officer in the Revolutionary war. Educated in his native state, early in life he inherited a large plantation with many slaves, near Tuscumbia, Alabama, and there he resided until his departure for Texas in 1831. He married Ann Alexander Underwood, of Nashville, Tennessee, a lady of remarkable beauty and culture, and eight children were born to them, the youngest being a native of Texas. Mr. Royal settled in Matagorda, was successful as a merchant there, and also operated the well known plantation of Old Coney. During the struggle for Texas independence his children were made motherless by the loss of his beautiful wife. Her death was not only a sad bereavement to him, but greatly embarrassed him in the work of statecraft in which he was then a leader at San Felipe, the provisional capital of the republic. As chairman of the advisory committee, he reported the acts for the information and approval of the people through their duly constituted delegates, "and from that day," says an authority. "we trace the only governmental powers recognized by the people of Texas." While thus engaged, a month after the death of his wife, Mr. Royal was forced to become a participant in the historical Runaway. The Mexicans had crossed the border and were committing such depredations that the families of the Austin colony were forced

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to move to the Sabine river. To such straits was he put in the removal of his own family to safety that he was forced to tie one of his children behind his saddle and place an infant on a pillow before him, and thus delivered them to friends, returning then to his work of providing the republic with a constitution. One historian says: "Richard R. Royal spent a fortune in helping to establish the republic of Texas. Of his lofty character, his executive ability, his integrity as a public servant, his kindly, genial nature at home and in the counsels of his country, history and the family records bear ample testimony." The social position gained for his family by his sterling worth was well sustained by the merits of its individual members. After the return of the sons and daughters who had been sent away before their mother's death to be educated in Alabama, the Royal home was noted for its lavish hospitality. In the summer of 1840, Mr. Royal passed away, and in 1857 a wind storm destroyed the family residence, with all its precious possessions in documents, pictures and ancestral heirlooms. No photograph, or other likeness, of the famous patriot therefore exists.

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cont.

CHARLES S. ALBRIGHT. For the first clerk of the district court of Stephens county, the electors chose, in September, 1907, one of their citizen farmers whose special fitness for the new office was guaranteed by previous service in the same capacity in a county in Kansas. Charles S. Albright was nominated in the Democratic primaries against two competitors, and at the subsequent election defeated his Republican opponent by a majority of 1,700. Thus the organization of the work of the office has been placed in the hands of a competent man, with the assurance that the court records will be properly kept from the beginning. Mr. Albright has lived within the limits of the present Stephens county for the past seven years, having located within five miles of Duncan in 1901 and obtained a lease to a fertile farm, to which he has succeeded by purchase under the federal arrangement allowing lessees to buy land.
M r. Albright has spent most of his active years in Kansas and Oklahoma. Born in Fayette county, Pennsylvania. March 5, 1859, he accompanied his parents to a farm in Atchison county, Kansas, in 1870, and after obtaining a public school education began farming on shares with his father. He had also worked as a farm hand two years, but after his marriage continued as a tenant on his father's farm, and in the meantime became identified with local politics. He was elected township trustee and later justice of the peace, being, from the first, a Democrat in politics. He was then appointed district clerk of Atchison county to fill out an unexpired term, and was twice elected to the office. It was a remarkable tribute to his personal popularity in that countv that his election was effected in the face of a normal Republican majority of from 800 to 1,200. Retiring from office he purchased a small farm and was employed with its cultivation until 1898 when he disposed of it to take his family into a country where land was cheaper and where opportunities were greater. He settled, first, in Kay county, near Blackwell, but two years later, having disposed of his land at an increase, he became a lessee in the vicinity of Duncan.
    Though his own career has been so closely identified with the west, Mr. Albright's family history connects him with the Keystone state and with the Pennsylvania German stock. His father, Charles Albright, was born in Pennsylvania in 1824, was a glass worker by trade, but followed farming after his removal to Atchison county, Kansas. His politics was Republican. He married Martha Chess, who is a resident of Atchison county at the age of eighty-three. They had the following children: Mary, deceased, wife of John Goslin; John, who died in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania; Henry, of Monongahela City, Pennsylvania; Viola, widow of E. R. Bonnell, of Atchison, Kansas; Charles S.; Elmer, of Kansas City; Daisy, deceased, wife of John Keeley.
    Charles S. Albright, though always a busy man, has not neglected the opportunities of social fellowship. He is a member of Friendship Lodge of the Odd Fellows at Atchison, and since 1890 has been a member of Hesperian Encampment, No. 6. He is also affiliated with the Ancient Order of United Workmen and the Modern Woodmen. In October, 1819, he married, in Atchison county, Kate Keeley, who was born in Daretown, New Jersey, in 1861, whence her father, Jacob Keeley, moved to Kansas. Mr. and Mrs. Albright have a family of eight children: Roy and Carl G., farmers of Stephens county; Elsie; May, a deputy in her father's office; Donald; Luella; Okla; and Juanita. Some years ago the son Carl G. was a regular driver over the trail from Duncan to Fort Sill, and in remembrance

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of those times reduced his experiences to verses, entitled:

The Trail to Fort Sill.
How dear to my heart are my trips to Ft. Sill,
When at night in my dreams they come in
plain view,
The Fort, the mountains and the hotel, Bill,
And even the hills where the cactus grew.
The Big Beaver Bottom, the creek that ran
through it,
The cattle, and coyotes, that ran over the hill,
The camp of the Indians, the hotel near it,
And even the old trail that led to Ft. Sill.
The old crooked trail, the deep, rough trail,
The grass covered trail that leads to Ft. Sill.
That old crooked trail I'll never forget,
For often at midnight when returning alone,
There'd come up a shower, and I'd get soaking wet,
As I drove along thinking of mother and home.
Sometimes I'd whistled or hum an old tune.
As the team trotted slowly o'er valley and hill.
With nothing to watch but the rising moon,
And to keep in the trail that leads from Ft. Sill.
The old crooked trail, the lonesome old trail,
The moonlit trail that leads from Ft. Sill.
The passengers were always afraid of being held
up,
But I got used to it and didn't mind it at all,
For many a night my hair has rose up.
Seeing something ahead that looked mighty tall.
But those days are over and some have forgot
The way they once travel'd across valley and hill,
Perhaps some are dead and some have been shot
And are buried by the trail that leads to Ft. Sill.
The old crooked trail, the gravel covered trail;
The blood stained trail that leads to Ft. Sill.
The old crooked trail is a thing of the past,
Drat least it has lost most of its charms.
For they've opened up that country at last,
And it has been converted into beautiful farms.
But such is life as it's lived in the West,
As we travel across prairie and hilt,
It's bad enough when it's at its best.
On the old crooked trail that leads to Ft. Sill.
The old crooked trail, the once famous trail.
The nearly forgotten trail that leads to Ft. Sill.

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cont.

FRANK WILEY JONES is vice president of the First National Bank of Duncan. He has been connected with this influential institution, since 1901, being one of the group of well known business men who bought it and took out a charter for the bank, his associates in the enterprise being G. H. Connell, John O'Neill, J. M. Armstrong, W. A. Williams, Walter Payne and J. T. Doak. Mr. Jones is also a stockholder in the Duncan Cotton Oil Mill and in the Union and Farmers' gin at Duncan. Besides these business interests he has for a number of years been noted as one of the most enterprising stockmen and fanners in the Chickasaw country. His career as cattleman, in fact, comprises the most active Part of his life. Born in North Carolina, October 8, 1859, he had come to north Texas with the family during boyhood and had only about six months schooling at Gainesville. At the age of eighteen he began practical life on the back of a pony, and during the following seven years was in the saddle, riding the range, most of the time in the employ of Frank Houston, chief of the old Red River Cattle Company. With R. W. Bourland as manager. He rode their extensive range north of Red River year in and year out, exposed to all the hardships known to the cowboy. After marrying Miss Carrie Colbert he determined to leave range riding, and selecting a place on Mud Creek began handling a few cattle of his own and also farming to some extent. He then lived at Velma where, in partnership with J. R. Frensley, he sold goods three years. For about fourteen years he was a resident on Bluff Greek, where he had his ranch and farm, and in that locality the family homestead was selected when the allotments were made. The surplus having been taken near the town of Duncan, the family moved to that point and have since resided in their comfortable home.
    Mr. Jones married, December 1, 1886, Carrie Colbert, daughter of the late Christopher C. Colbert, who represented one of the oldest and most prominent Indian families of the Chickasaw country (see sketch of B. A. Barnes). Mrs., Jones had the following brothers and sisters: James B., of the Choctaw Nation; Samuel, of Stephens county; Ode, of Durant; Mrs. B. A. Batries, of Duncan; and Lillie, deceased, wife of N. C. Williams. Mr. and Mrs. Jones have five children; Frankie Velma, Mattie, Naomi, Ruth and Vera. Politically Mr. Jones belongs to the Democracy, following the example of the family for many years.
    Mr. Jones represents an old North Carolina family transplanted in the southwest. His grandfather was Wiley Jones, who came to Texas in the period between statehood and the civil war, and grazed cattle over the present Cooke county when land was hardly worth the taxes. His son, Manson, father of Frank W., came to Texas just before the secession movement, and at the outbreak of the war enlisted in the Confederate army and was soon afterward killed. He had married, in North Carolina, Sarah Nelson. She lives in Gainesville, being the widow of Colonel A. B. Manion.

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By Manson Jones her children were: Charles, of Gainesville; Frank W., of Duncan; and Sallie, deceased, wife of Judge T. H. Connor. By her second marriage she was the mother of Anna, wife of Walter Brown of Gainesville.

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cont.

JOHN ADAMS FOWLER. One of the first business men to become connected with the southwest corner of Chickasaw Nation was John Adams Fowler. Since the infancy of the town of Duncan he has been identified with its commercial growth, and some of its largest business enterprises have received his support and co-operation in insuring their success. He crossed the Red River into Indian Territory, from Delta county, Texas, on November 22, 1878, bringing a span of ponies and a wagon as his chief resources. He expected to engage in farming, but he saw a business outlook of some promise in another direction, and aside from his farming earned his first money in the territory as a blacksmith. He was without previous experience in that trade, but having exchanged his wagon for a kit of tools, he set up shop in a rude hut at the mouth of Mud Creek and was soon known to the settlers of that vicinity as a first-rate workman. He acquired a surplus by his work at the anvil, and then changed his location, establishing a store at the Ettie settlement since .known as Courtney. This was the first store, and soon afterward he induced the government to locate a postoffice, with himself as postmaster. He also built a gin, and with this combination of industry and commercial enterprise, he was one of the leading men of that vicinity for a period of fourteen years.
    In 1892, when he moved to Duncan, this town was at the beginning of its growth. He resumed merchandising and farming, and paid one thousand dollars for a lease that is now chiefly occupied by the Duncan townsite. He was in business with his son-in-law, J. W. Whisenant, another well known name in Duncan business circles, for a period of seven years, after which the company disposed of its stock and prepared to enter the cattle business on a large scale. They bought six sections in Collingsworth and Wheeler counties, of the Texas Panhandle, stocked the land, and for eight years continued to carryon a large business. They were eventually well paid for their effort, since, on disposing of the ranch in 1907, they received a splendid increase over the amount of the original investment. On returning to Duncan they engaged in the vehicle and implement business, and also organized the Farmers' Bank and Trust Company, of which Mr. Fowler became president. April 1, 1906, this institution was merged with the City National Bank, with a capital of $35,000. The officers are: J. W. Whisenant, president; W. S. Speers, of Velma, vice president; and William P. Fowler, cashier. Mr. Fowler has interested himself as a good citizen in all the matters concerning the welfare of his town, in addition to his large business activities. He is a Democrat, is a member of the town school board, if, a Mason and Knight of Pythias, and his family are all members of the Baptist church.
    John A. Fowler was born in Randolph county, Alabama, May 27, 1853. The name is of Scotch origin, and it is believed that the family was first established in America during the colonial period. Miles Fowler, his father, was born in South Carolina, April 3. 1806, and after his marriage to a Miss Arnold he left his native state and resided near Atlanta, Georgia, and then moved to Randolph county, Alabama, and finally to Pontotoc county, Mississippi, where he passed away in 1893. He was a primitive Baptist, a Mason and a Democrat. His first children were: Martin and Isaac P., who both died in Mississippi, leaving children; Van Buren, who was killed at the last charge at the battle of Chickamauga; Louisa, of Cleburne county, Alabama, whose husband, James Shamblee, was captured by Union troops during the war and froze to death while in prison at Nashville; Wealthy, deceased, married H. D. Landers, a Confederate soldier; Elander, deceased, married Joseph Wilson, who was last seen on Missionary Ridge during the battle: Arminda, who died in Alabama. For his second wife Miles Fowler married Mary Long, who died in Mississippi in 1886, being the mother of: Miles W., of Stephens county, Oklahoma; Daniel W., of Bessemer, Alabama, both of these sons being Confederate soldiers; John A., of Duncan; Elizabeth, who died in Indian Territory, wife of Sterling Lawson; Savanna, wife of Elvee Faulkner, of Bessemer, Alabama; and Virginia C., wife of Perry Goodwin, of Mississippi.
    John A. Fowler had only a meager knowledge of books in boyhood, and began life as a small farmer. He made a trip to Texas in 1876, and supported himself and family in Delta county for two years by farming, car-

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penter work and making baskets. Thence with the small outfit above mentioned, he crossed the river into the Chickasaw Nation. While living in Pontotoc county, Mississippi, January 18, 1874, he married Henrietta C., youngest daughter of Andrew J. Moore, a prominent farmer and county commissioner for years. Mr. Moore, who was a native of North Carolina, married Patsy Stigall. The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Fowler were: Sarah Alice, wife of J. W. Whisenant; David A., assistant cashier of the City National Bank, who married Lena Whisenant; Miles W., of Duncan; Susie, a teacher in the Duncan high school; and Nola, at home.
    J. Warren Whisenant, who married Mr. Fowler's oldest child, and who is president of the City National Bank of Duncan, was born in Allen, Collin county, Texas, November 3, 1870. His parents were J. W. and Kansada (Belew) Whisenant, the former a Missourian and the latter a Kentuckian. His father came to Collin county with his parents before the war, and became a farmer and stockman and Confederate soldier. J. Warren Whisenant was liberally educated, took a medical course in the Hospital Medical College of St. Louis, and graduated from the Kentucky School of Medicine when twenty-one years of age. He practiced for a time after coming to Oklahoma in 1891, part of the time at Duncan, but on entering merchandising with his father-in-law abandoned the profession for a business career. He married in 1894 and has two sons, Barney and Gilbert.

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cont.

WILLIAM M. CATES. The first sheriff of Stephens county is William M. Cates, who became acquainted with the southern part of Oklahoma over twenty years ago and as a range cattleman and cowboy has known the history of this country through all the subsequent period. He was engaged in mercantile business at Duncan when statehood was accomplished, and during the summer of 1907 entered the race for Democratic nomination for sheriff of the new county which would be organized in case the constitution were adopted. He had four competitors at the primaries, but his standing and popularity in the county were such that when the votes were counted it was found that he lacked only 107 votes of having a majority over all. In the general election he defeated his two opponents by a plurality of 1,387, and on November 19, 1907, became the first incumbent of the office.
    Sheriff Cates was born in Wise county, Texas, November 21, 1865. His father, Robert G. Cates, was one of the earliest settlers of that county, and he also occupied official position, having been sheriff of Wise county for twelve years. He is now living practically retired in that county after an active career of farming and stock raising since 1857. He was born in Tennessee, and after moving to Texas married Elizabeth Taylor, a daughter of Judge Taylor, a Texas settler from Kentucky. The eight children of their marriage were: Frank, of Stephens county; Clabe, who died in Wise county, Texas; William M., the present sheriff; Perry, of Duncan: Ella, wife of Charles Davis, of Wise county; and Richard, Edward and Robert, all of the home county in Texas.
    William M. Cates, after getting a fair amount of education in the country schools of his native county, finishing at the town schools of Decatur, began life on the range as a cowboy. He began riding over West Texas in 1882, and for a long time was identified with one or another of the big cattle outfits that kept their herds grazing over these ranges until the wire fence and the modern farm forced them, to discontinue. While in the employ of Belcher and Babb of Henrietta, Texas, he first came into Oklahoma country, in 1885, and has been identified more or less continuously with the country ever since. Part of the time he was a regular employe of the large cattlemen, and part of the time carried on some independent ventures in cattle raising. In 1905 he discontinued this occupation and went into business at Duncan. Mr. Cates is a Royal Arch Mason and a Knight of Pythias. On May 12, 1892, he married, in Wise county, Texas, Miss Florence Davis, daughter of Lafayette Davis. Mr. and Mrs. Cates have the following children: Robert, Jo (a daughter), Myrtle, Ella May, William M. Jr. and Frensley.

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cont.

ANDREW J. PECK. Still in the early, forties, Andrew J. Peck is one of the leading promoters of the cotton market of Stephens county, was for many years an honored resident of the Indian country, and with what ever community he has cast his lot has been classed among the stanch personal forces which have aided in the general advancement of the new and virile civilization of the southwest. He is a native of Lumkin county, Georgia, born on the 15th of January, 1866, and is the son of James H. and Mary E. (Dodd) Peck, also

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natives of that state. When the boy was twelve years of age the family removed into Arkansas, and in Pope county of that state he obtained a public school education, being for some time a pupil at Caglesville. This constituted his chief mental equipment, but in his conflict in the agricultural and commercial fields of the southwest untiring industry and ruggedness of determination, resting upon a practical, keen mentality, were what were to prove of value, rather than the learning of the school room. For the first seven years after his marriage in 1888, Mr. Peck was engaged in farming, two years in Arkansas and five in the Chickasaw Nation. He then opened a store in Comanche, as a member of the firm of Brown and Peck, and was thus engaged for the succeeding five years. During this period he also mastered the cotton business, and soon after the sale of his store commenced buying on commission. Later, he entered the field as a principal, and his operations have reached such proportions that he employs agents at various points and has a modest force at the home office in Duncan. His residence at this place dates from 1899, and he has yearly become a more important factor in the development of its cotton market. In the, season of 1905-6 he bought 11,000 bales of cotton, and. during the following season 22,500 were handled. Although not actively engaged in farming, Mr. Peck engages in agriculture to some extent on leased land near the county seat, where he is also the owner of some property. The county records show him to be possessed of considerable real estate in Duncan, some of which is improved. His home is one of the most convenient, hospitable and spacious in the city. In the matter of politics, he is independent, putting-partisanship entirely aside in favor of honesty and personal fitness. In 1904 he was chosen to membership in the city council of Duncan, but his pressing and rapidly expanding private interests have prevented him from further participation in public affairs. In his religious faith, he is a Methodist.
    Adam Peck, the paternal grandfather of Andrew J., was county surveyor of Lumkin county, Georgia, for a period of twenty years; coming originally from Tennessee. This country was the center of the gold mining district of the state, and in it was located the oldest mint in the United States. Mr. Peck himself was long engaged in gold mining, in addition to following his profession as a surveyor. He was a soldier in the war of 1812; was born in 1791, and died .at the age of seventy-four years. Adam Peck married Eliza Sharkey, and James. H. was the youngest of their family of seven children. James H. Peck, father of our subject, married Mary E. Dodd, was a farmer and at the outbreak of the Civil war entered the Confederate service and continued faithfully in the ranks for three years. In 1878 he brought his family from Georgia to Arkansas, first locating in Pope county, and subsequently settling at Comanche, Chickasaw Nation, where he died March 22, 1899. His wife passed away in July, 1901, the children of their union being; Eliza, who married Henderson Reed, died in North Carolina and left a family; Martha C., who became the wife of John Clonths, and lives in that state; Adam S., a resident of Comanche, Oklahoma; Andrew J., of this notice.; Benjamin F., of Center, Oklahoma; Patrick H., of Comanche.; and Albert R., living in California. Andrew J. Peck married Polly A. Brown, daughter of William B. and Rebecca (Cooper) Brown, December 15,1888, Her parents were of farming stock, and migrated from Missouri to Arkansas. The father served in the Confederate army, and reared a family of seven children. The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Andrew J. Peck are: Minnie Florence, Oscar Sherman, Benjamin Grant, Andrew, Otis Dewey, Vergie, Preble and Ruth Peck.

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cont.

RICHARD W. KING was elected register of deeds in Stephens county, in September, 1907, by a majority of 1,650 and took the oath of office November 19th following. A resident of this part of the territory since 1901, he had gained a substantial reputation as a thorough businessman and his popularity as a citizen is attested by the votes cast for him. He was one of several Democratic aspirants for the office, one of them being an ex-Confederate soldier, but he won the primary by 172 votes and was easily elected as the first incumbent of this county office. His office and those of the county clerk and treasurer are temporarily established in the rear of the City National Bank, while awaiting the construction of quarters in the rear of the present court room.
    Mr. King has had a busy career. Born in Cleburne, Texas, August 25, 1872, the family circumstances were such that he had to begin earning something when a boy, and attended school little or none after his tenth year. Beginning as a messenger boy in the Santa Fe depot at Cleburne, he worked his way through

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station work to the operating department and into the train service, becoming a freight conductor when twenty-three years old. On January 10, 1901, while attempting to open a knuckle, his foot slipped between the ties, he fell and the train passed over him, breaking every rib on his left side and cutting off his right hand. He was strong and gritty, however, and not only lived through the injuries but was soon ready to begin active life, but in another occupation necessarily. Coming to the Chickasaw Nation he was engaged in the grocery business at Comanche for two years, and for two years was mayor of the town. At the time he began his campaign for the office of register of deeds he was in the coal business. He has brought all the needed experience to the conduct of his office, and is popular as an official and citizen. Fraternally he is a Mason, an Odd Fellow, an Eagle, and a member of the Order of Railway Conductors.
    The King family originated in North Carolina, where his grandfather was born, and whence he came to Tennessee. He was a farmer by occupation and had also seen military service as a soldier of the Mexican war. Richard W. King, Sr., the father of the Stephens county official, was born in Bedford county, Tennessee, in 1837, and moved into Texas in 1854. As a stockman and farmer, he showed a decided preference for the frontier, and its varied and exciting life kept him close to the edge of advancing civilization. During the Civil war he was a Confederate soldier in the ranks of the Western Department. After the war, when north and west Texas was harassed by Indians, he was a member of a military company that co-operated with the rangers in protecting the settlements. He died July 4, 1872, before the birth of his son, Richard W. He married Mary Marshall, daughter of Newton Marshall, who was also of North Carolina family. Besides Richard W. there was one other child, Charles W., of Comanche, Oklahoma. Mrs. King, who afterward married a Mr. Tims (now deceased), is now living in Comanche near her two sons.
    Richard W. King, Jr., married, December 16, 1897, at Weatherford, Texas, Lougene Crowder, daughter of W. M. Crowder, her family being farmers and early settlers of Parker county, Texas. Four children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. King: Richard W., Fred C., Grace and Nell.

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cont.

WILLIAM L. BUCKHOLTS, proprietor of the Palace Hotel, came to Duncan in 1892. His consistent public spirit and business activity have been factors in the town's advancement since that date. He owns three residences in the town, and also one of the best two-story stone business houses on Main street, erected in 1905. He is owner of the drug stock of the Duncan Drug Company, which has quarters in this building. Most of his career has been taken up with farming and stock raising. Possessing Indian citizenship, he selected his homestead in what is now Garvin county, sixteen miles southwest of Pauls Valley. The homestead and surplus lands amount to four hundred acres, comprising one of the substantial farms of that vicinity.
    Mr. Buckholts was born in Winston county, Mississippi, March 8, 1847. He is a member of one of the old southern families that allied itself at an early day with the Indian inhabitants. H. Buckholts, grandfather of the Duncan citizen, married a quarter-blood Choctaw woman, and they spent their lives in South Carolina, being parents of eight children. William Buckholts, one of the children, was born in South Carolina in 1818, became a planter and slave owner, and in early manhood moved to Mississippi, and in 1849 located in Smith county, Texas, as a stock farmer. In 1872 he accepted the privileges of his Indian blood and moved to the Choctaw Nation, where he was engaged in farming operations until his death in 1903. He was a Democrat and a deacon in the Baptist church. By his marriage to Matilda, a daughter of Henry Null, who died in 1898, when she was sixty-six years old, there were born the following children: Elizabeth, wife of R. T. Jones, of Wakanacca, Oklahoma; James M., of Wayne, Oklahoma; William L.; George, of Ardmore; Matilda, wife of W. D. Bailey, of Chickasha: John, of Medill; Oliver, who died at Boggy Depot, Oklahoma; and Parisada, wife of Frank Plato, of Chickasha.
    William L. Buckholts, after acquiring a limited education in Texas, began life in the army at eighteen, as a member of Troop K, Colonel Terrell's regiment of Texas Cavalry. He fought in the battles of Mansfield, Pleasant Hill, Yellow Bayou and Marksville. While home on a furlough, after fifteen months' service, Lee surrendered, and he resumed civil pursuits as a farmer in Upshur county, Texas, where he lived for nineteen years. In 1889 he moved to Gregg county, and three years later to Duncan. Mr. Buckholts married, in Upshur county, March 3, 1870, Miss Annie J.,

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daughter of J. R. Watkins. The latter, who was a Georgian, married Mary J. Turner, and had eight children. Mr. Watkins died in Navarro county, and his wife in Dallas county, Texas. Mr. and Mrs. Buckholts have had the following children: Lena J., who married John Cooksey, and died in 1897, leaving a son, William Ernest, who manages the Palace Hotel, Duncan; William E. Buckholts, of Elmore, Oklahoma; and Adelbert L., also of Elmore. Mr. Buckholts has given his children the best possible advantages and the influence of a Christian home. The family are Baptists.

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cont.

BENJAMIN F. MELTON. The mayor of the town of Duncan for 1907-8 was Benjamin F. Melton, a business man who has been associated with the welfare of Duncan since 1895. A member of the dominant political party of Stephens county, he was urged to become a candidate for mayor, and after a short but exciting campaign defeated his two opponents. The practical program to which he has committed himself to carry out favors the immediate construction of such public improvements as are necessary to make Duncan a greater city, primarily being the building of sidewalks, the establishment of a grade and the extension of the water service. As a private citizen, Mr. Melton was also an active factor in the advancement of the town. In securing the United States court, in locating the county seat, in promoting the building and maintenance of churches, schools and bridges, and in many other enterprises, he united his support with the progressive element that made Duncan the metropolis of this vicinity. He is owner of business lots on Main street, and also erected the business building adjoining the First National Bank building.
    Mr. Melton was born in Cooke county, Texas, August 26, 1870. His father was born in South Carolina in 1833, moved to Alabama, from which state he entered the war as a Confederate soldier, and shortly after the war joined the Texas ranger service along the frontier. He was a settler in Bosque county, Texas, but later moved to Cooke county, and engaged in the harness and saddlery business at Gainesville until his death in 1898. His wife was Altheria Haggard, a native of Alabama, who died in 1886, at the age of thirty-five. Her mother still lives in Texas, at the extreme age bf ninety-six. Mr. and Mrs. Melton (the parents) had four children: Benjamin F., of Duncan; Lucy Tyler, of Gainesville; Robert Lee, of Garden City, Kansas; and Anna, wife of George Yeager, of Duncan.
    Benjamin F. Melton received his schooling in Gainesville, and after attending a commercial college started out in life with a good equipment of education. He learned the harness-makers' trade in his father's store, and while a journeyman at the trade, from the age of sixteen until settling down for himself, he found employment at various towns and cities in the southwest, among others at Fort Worth, Dallas and San Antonio. He came to Duncan in 1895 with several hundred dollars' capital, and established the harness, saddlery and hardware business of Melton and Fowler, this partnership continuing for five years. For the past three years C. E. Dewey has been associated with him in conducting the chief harness store in Duncan. Mr. Melton was married in Duncan in May, 1896, to Miss Alice Bledsoe, who was born in 1872 at the foot of Lookout Mountain in Tennessee, where her parents were farmers and where they died when Mrs. Melton was a child. Mr. and Mrs. Melton have two children, Audry and Louise.

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cont.

EDWARD H. BOND in 1900 joined the formerly well known law firm of Gilbert and Gilbert at Duncan as their stenographer and law clerk, he having been admitted to the bar in 1898 by the judge of the United States Court, Southern District Indian Territory. A capable, energetic and amitious [ambitious] young man, with aspirations for success in law, he became a valued member of the firm and on the death of Harry Gilbert in 1904 was invited to become junior member of the firm, which is now Gilbert and Bond, one of the leading law firms of southern Oklahoma. The first case that Mr. Bond ever tried was the defense of a negro charged with larceny before a United States court. Since that occasion he has gained a large acquaintance with the profession and has devoted all his time and talents to the general practice that has been drawn to the offices of this well known firm. Mr. Bond is a close student of the law, and is thoroughly versed in its fundamentals.
    Edward H. Bond was born in Haywood county, Tennessee. His grandfather, William Bond, spent all his life as a farmer in North Carolina. The family is of Scotch origin, seven brothers Having come across the water and established themselves in various parts of the United States. The father of the Duncan attorney was William Pugh Bond, who

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was born in North Carolina in 1813, and died at Starkvi11e, Mississippi, in 1894. He had been reared among the primitive conditions of his native state during the first decades of the last century, but with only a meager education he studied law, was admitted to practice, and became a successful lawyer in Tennessee. At the outbreak of the Civil war he was appointed by the Confederate government to preside over the circuit court, and after the war resumed active practice. He later moved to Starkville, Mississippi, where he died. His wife was Jane (Wood) Bond, who died in Haywood county, Tennessee, in 1886. They had the following children: Lewis, who died during the yellow fever epidemic of 1878; William P., of Tennessee; Henry T., who died at Cincinnati ; Dr. Thomas W., who died during the yellow fever scourge at Memphis, Tennessee; James W., deceased; Spencer W., of Duncan; Edward H., of Duncan; Kate P. Jacobs, a widow, at Memphis; and Georgie, wife of H. A. Ingram, of Memphis.
    Edward H. Bond married, March 1, 1900, Miss Pearl Lamkin, daughter of Rev. Dr. Lamkin of Houston, Texas. They have two sons, Gilbert Bond and Edward L. Bond. Mr. Bond is a Democrat in politics. He affiliates with the Knights of Pythias, the Woodmen of the World, the Ancient Order of United Workmen and the Eagles.

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cont.

GEORGE A. WITT. In the preliminary arrangement incident to the establishment of public schools in the new counties of Oklahoma, it has been a matter of first importance that the work be done upon a plan that will supply present needs for efficient education and also that the needs of the future shall be provided for. In the accomplishment of this work of organization and systematization that county was fortunate that could depend upon the services of an educator who was equal to his task. Educated himself, with a wealth of experience as a successful teacher, with an unusual grasp of educational questions and with the enthusiasm for his work, George A. Witt, of Duncan, was a choice for the office of first county School superintendent justified both by fitness and merit. His long connection with the school work of the Indian country had rendered his services specially applicable to the work of the new office, and it needed only the suggestion of his name in connection with the county superintendency of schools to enlist the unanimous sentiment of the county in his behalf, so that he was spared the labor and lost time of a political campaign. He was elected in September, 1907, and soon after began actively the work of organizing the schools of Stephens county.
    Superintendent Witt was born in Dallas county, Texas, September 13, 1849, and though growing up amid rural surroundings, received a liberal education for that day. He finished his schooling in McKenzie College and Baylor University, but ill health compelled him to leave before graduation and to take up the open free life of the range. For ten years he continued in this wholesome occupation. He made seven drives across the country to the markets in Kansas, and became acquainted and experienced with all the conditions and features of the range cattle industry. For a time he engaged in farming and stock raising in Dallas county and later in Taylor county, until the drouth of 1885 caused disaster in the cattle industry as a result of which he withdrew from the business. Therewith he entered school work, beginning the career at Merkel, Texas, in 1886. In 1895 he came to the Indian country. In Comanche he performed valuable service by grading the schools, and in September of the next year turning his ability as an educator to the schools of Duncan. For several years he alternated between Comanche and Duncan, and also spent two years at Ryan, closing his work with the individual schools of this section of the state as principal of the Duncan high school in 1907. As one of the organizers of the profession he has been active for years. He helped organize and has been an instructor in many of the normal institutes, and in this way alone has worked great benefit to education. The Rock Island Teachers' Association was organized by him some eight years ago, and did a good work in preparing new teachers for the increased responsibilities that came with statehood. Mr. Witt's ambition is now directed toward the organization of every school district in Stephens county, and eventually, with the growth of population and development of resources, the consolidation of adjacent districts into the graded system that has already been made so effective in the older states, and which results both in higher efficiency and financial economy.
    Superintendent Witt belongs to a. family of interesting and energetic pioneers and work-

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ers in the development of American civilization. His grandfather was John Witt. Born in Tennessee in 1777, of one of the families that followed close upon Daniel Boone's emigration he was in early life a hunter and trapper and also a soldier in the Black Hawk war. He hunted on a partnership basis with the man who furnished his supplies, and they shipped their game to distant markets by the water ways of the middle west. A man of the strictest integrity, despising deception or theft. On one occasion, while in company with an emigrating family and while in camp, he observed the head of the party, his traveling companion, stealing an article from a neighbor's wagon. Without hesitation he picked up his own bundle and expressed his emphatic disapproval of the man's action by bidding him a curt "good day" and continued his journey with other and more honest companions. He was a son of a patriot of the Revolution, from Virginia. John Witt lived for a time in Illinois, and eventually reached Texas, where he died in Dallas county in 1859. Wade H. Witt, the father of the county superintendent, was born in Pope county, Illinois, July 4, 1822, and crossed the Red river into Texas December 25, 1845, only a few months after statehood. He was long identified with Dallas county, as a pioneer, a farmer and business man. He bought and improved farm after farm in that section, and also built a grist mill at Trinity Mills, which has since: become a station on the M. K. & T. Railroad. He kept a store until the outbreak of the Civil war, when, taking sides with the Confederacy, he became a captain in a company that fought with the Western Department. The war had a disastrous effect upon his business, but he eventually succeeded in clearing his indebtedness and in 1883 concentrated his remaining resources at El Paso (just then beginning its growth), where, in part retirement, he resides today, one of the oldest and best esteemed of the Texas pioneers. In politics he was a Democrat until after the war, when he became a Greenbacker, and has since become a Republican. Wade H. Witt married Lurany Green, an Illinois pioneer, who served in the legislature and was also a member of an early constitutional convention in that state. The children of this marriage were: Lucy, who died in Denton county, Texas, in 1885, the wife of Richard Murphy; John F., who died in 1903; George A.; Mary, wife of John Ensminger, of Taylor county, Texas; Roy, deceased. The mother of these children died in Dallas county in 1864, and by his subsequent marriage to Dicy Murphy, Mr. Witt had the following children: Blanche McGinn, of El Paso; Lotta, of El Paso; Bliss, Robinson, Nellie and Glen, of El Paso.
    Superintendent Witt married, in March, 1872,. in Dallas county, Miss Jane Buchanan, daughter of Archie and Elizabeth (Young) Buchanan, Virginia people. Their children are: Maud, wife of Frank B. Hoople, of Estacado, Texas; May, wife of James Duncan, of Stephens county; Lucy, wife of W. I. Gilbert, of Duncan; Bessie, wife of W. M. Bourland, of Collingsworth county, Texas; Bertie, wife of Samuel Colbert, of Stephens county, Texas; Walter, of Duncan; Milton, of Dallas; and Dotta, who died in October, 1895. Mr. Witt holds allegiance to the party of Jefferson and Jackson and was its candidate for election to his present office. He has had little experience in practical politics, however, and has more interest in civic welfare than aspiration for political prominence. For four years he served as treasurer of Taylor county, Texas. He worships in the Missionary Baptist church.