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cont.

HARRY S. BOCKES, the efficient postmaster and a representative business man of Duncan, was born in Onondaga county, New York, on the 23rd of May, 1870. His family is an old and representative one of the Empire state, and for generations has been identified with its educational and political life. Harry S. received his education in the common schools of his home neighborhood, at the Skaneateles Academy and the Eastman's Business College, and he was liberally equipped for any field of work which opened to him. After spending a season of recuperation on the borne farm,

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in 1892 he came west to Beloit, Kansas, and at once secured a position as bookkeeper with the Beloit Milling Company. In 1895 he came into the Chickasaw Nation, locating at Duncan. He became interested in the Duncan Milling Company, and as manager of its affairs was connected with the construction of the plant and its operation, until his appointment to the postmastership in July, 1907. He succeeded James E. Elliott, who had filled the office for ten years. When he assumed his official duties the postoffice was in the Barrett building, on Main Street, and toward the close of the year moved into the addition to the First National Bank building, where it has since been provided with convenient and modern facilities. Mr. Bockes was strongly influential in the work of inducing the government to place Pasture No. 3 upon the market, and one of the evidences of his firm faith in Duncan is his erection, in 1907, of his splendid home, one of the most striking residences in the city. In accord with family traditions he has always been a Republican, his first presidential vote being cast for General Harrison in 1892.
    Smith Bockes, the grandfather of Harry S., migrated at an early day from Saratoga to Onondaga county, New York, and spent the remainder of his life there as a substantial, self-contained farmer. He managed all his affairs with honesty and good judgment, educated his children (three of whom reached maturity), and maintained himself as a citizen of worth and dignity. One of his brothers was long a judge of the state supreme court. Dennis Bockes, the father, son of this worthy man, was also born in Onondaga county, the month of his nativity being October, 1839, and after acquiring the foundation of an education in the Homer Academy he earnestly continued the work of self-improvement until middle life. For many years he was a principal both in the schools of Marcellus and Auburn and when he retired from the educational field it was to devote himself to agriculture. He eventually entered the creamery business, with which he is now connected. The marriage of Dennis Bockes to Charlotte Haight resulted in the birth of four children, as follows: Edgar L., of Borodine, New York; Harry S., of this sketch; George, an attorney-at-law in New York, and John W., a professor now teaching in the Brooklyn city schools. On June 11, 1896, Postmaster Bockes wedded Grace Anderson, daughter of a prominent citizen of Beloit, Kansas, where Mrs. Bockes was born in 1872. She was educated in that city, and since coming to Duncan has identified herself with the literary and philanthropic work of the community; She has served as president of the Twentieth Century Club for many terms, The children of Mr. and Mrs. Backes are: Charlotte Maxine and Henry Stuart Bockes.

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cont.

JOHN W. JACKSON. One of the leading business firms of Duncan is that of Jackson and Wilson. "The Hub," as their enterprise is generally known throughout Stephens county, carries a stock valued at from fifteen to twenty thousand dollars, and as a general mercantile establishment has few rivals in southern Oklahoma. The history of the business is so closely a part of the life and career of its principal proprietor that a sketch of his life will be the best means of telling some interesting facts of the business history of Duncan.
    John W. Jackson was born in Crab Orchard, Kentucky, March 13, 1868, and up to his sixteenth year had acquired little or no knowledge of books, the circumstances of his boyhood allowing little or no attendance at school. At that age he entered what would be about the second grade of a country school, and for two months of the summer studied the fundamentals. The following year he continued his education by paying six dollars a month toward his board and "keep" and for the rest did chores for a farmer, which included milking, feeding stock, and cutting wood, and by following out this method he succeeded in obtaining a common school education. He was then a resident of Montague county, Texas, and on completing his schooling he made a crop as the first active employment of his serious career. Being appointed deputy sheriff of Montague county under Sheriff T. L. Garrison, he accepted it with the expectation that he would eventually succeed his superior. But a business career seemed to offer more attractive possibilities, and he soon resigned his office and began the connections which have continued so long and prosperously in Duncan. He came to Duncan in the fall of 1893, and for a few months was senior member of the grocery firm of Jackson and Matlock. For a year following he had a restaurant, and on closing it clerked for nine months with the firm of E. G. Givens and Company. He was in the employ of

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several well known mercantile concerns of the town, in J. F. Ward's Racket store, with Whisenant and Fowler, and then became clerk at forty dollars a month in J. P. McGee's Mississippi store. His salary was soon raised to sixty dollars a month and he was made manager, continuing as such under the successive proprietors, S. P. Hurley and T. A. Horn. In November, 1901, he engaged with Frensley Brothers, and on January 5, 1902, having accumulated a small capital and with R. B. Frensley as his backer, he began business on his own account with the culls of the stock of his recent employers. The stock was worth about six hundred dollars, and it was from this beginning that he has succeeded in building up the splendid enterprise with which his name is now connected. April 15, 1902, he formed a partnership with H. F. Duncan, as Duncan and Jackson, dry goods and clothing. March 9, 1905, Mr. Duncan died, and after his share of the business had been administered on, A. S. Wilson entered the firm, on October 20, 1905, and since then Jackson and Wilson have carried on an increasing business. In announcing the name of the new store the partners resorted to the "dodger" method, heading the circular -"The Baby is named." After expressing satisfaction with the past patronage of the store and promising increased trade facilities for the future, they concluded the announcement with the name, "The Hub." Under this style the firm has reaped a large success. February 11, 1908, they purchased the stock of Ira Loyd, one of the largest dry goods and clothing stocks of Duncan.
     Mr. Jackson's grandfather was Thomas Jackson, a farmer, who lived for varied intervals in Illinois, Tennessee and Kentucky, dying in the latter state. He had a large family, One of whom is Rev. James W. Jackson, father of the Duncan merchant, and himself now a merchant at Dixie, Oklahoma. He was born in Illinois, March 24, 1831, and has led an active and somewhat eventful life. Farming has been his basic occupation, but he has also been successful as preacher and merchant, thus proving his varied abilities. During the Civil war, when the family sentiment was divided, one brother going into the Union army, he was dissuaded by his father from enlisting in the Confederate service and, instead, hired to the Federal government as teamster in the commissary department, in this way avoiding the conscript law of the Confederacy. After the war he engaged regularly in the work of the ministry of the Missionary Baptist church, and for the following forty years he divided his time about equa1ly between the farm and the pulpit. Since 1905 he has been a merchant at Dixie, Oklahoma, in partnership with his oldest son. He is a Democrat. For his first wife Rev. Jackson married Rebecca Lilburn, who died at Crab Orchard, Kentucky, in 1873. Their children were: Thomas L.; Joanna D., of Stephens county, the widow of J. J. Hallett; John W., of Duncan; and Jacob J., of Purdy, Oklahoma. After his first wife's death Rev. Jackson moved to Burnham, Missouri, where he married Mollie Petrie, who died there five years later. His third wife was Mrs. Malinda Bridges, now deceased. There are no children by the later marriages.
    John W. Jackson married, October 15, 1892, while a resident of Montague county, Texas, Miss Lizzie Brown, who was born in Texas, October 17, 1871. Her parents were William J. and Fannie E. (Dabney) Brown, her father being an early settler of Denton county, Texas. The other children of the Brown family were: Ben S., a dentist of Denton, Texas; Lula, wife of H. F. Granstead, of McAllister, Missouri; Nola, wife of Rev. J. J. Creed, of Dallas county, Texas; and Buford 0., who has just finished his studies in the State University of Missouri. Mr. and Mrs. Jackson's children: Myrtle, who died in infancy; Royal Hal; John W. Jr.; Frank; Beula; and Rebecca. For his success Mr. Jackson has given much of the credit to his wife, whose even disposition under fortune and adversity, valuable counsel and ever-ready effectiveness as a helper have kept him in the straight line of progress. They have had two homes in Duncan. The first was totally destroyed April 30, 1899, by a cyclone, and the family were saved only by the wife's timely warning to seek shelter in the cave. The family are members of the Methodist church, and for five years Mr. Jackson was either vice president or president of the Epworth League, and during the past five years has superintended the Sunday school. In November, 1905, Mr. Jackson was elected a lay delegate to the general conference of the Methodist church, south, which met at Birmingham, Alabama in May, 1906.

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TAYLOR PERCIVAL. A third of a century has passed since Taylor Percival, now a farmer of broad and profitable interests near Marlow, Stephens county, first identified himself with the Chickasaw Nation, whose lands are now incorporated into the public domain of Oklahoma. Like many who came into this country as pioneers, he arrived as a cattle foreman, being identified in this capacity with Captain Williams' herd, which was driven across the Texas line to the present site of Madill, on Whiskey creek. He also had a financial interest in the roving enterprise, and, after passing two winters in that locality, returned to Texas; but in a few months he was drawn back to the newer country, and, following his marriage in 1878, engaged permanently in farming. Following the family fortunes, Taylor Percival passed a rather uncertain boyhood and youth, being shifted from the border of Missouri to that of Kansas, as a rather unwilling participant in the vexatious times of border ruffianism and the Civil war. Much of this period he lived with an uncle in Linn county, Kansas, and well remembers the troops of Colonel Jennison, who served along the border in the interest of the Free Soilers, and watched the Missourians with eagle eyes. Of a necessity, the boy's education was of the most irregular and unsatisfactory kind. Almost immediately after the war Mr. Percival entered the cattle business in Greenwood, Labette and other counties of eastern Kansas, his employers of this period being John Steele, Amos Chaffin and Bug Brazell. After thus spending several years on the frontier ranges, he returned to Bates county, Missouri, where he joined other members of the family in the migration to Texas. Taylor Percival is one of the three children born to Edwin and Sarah Daniels) Percival. He is the eldest of the family, the second being Jane, now Mrs. Samuel Surder, of Fort Worth, Texas, and the third, William Percival, of Stephens county. Our subject remained in his first location on Whisky creek until 1885, when he drove his stock into what is now Stephens county and settled on a tract of splendid land on Wild Horse Creek. Here he began the work of opening a farm, secured his family allotments of the acres he cultivated, and finally amassed a rich landed estate of 1.400 acres, cultivated to corn, covered with great herds of cattle and also rich with the improvements of modern and commodious buildings. His first residence was a cottonwood log cabin, which still stands, but his present home and its surroundings give his homestead a substantial appearance which is to his credit and an addition to the prosperous aspect of the country. His most serious setback was caused, some years ago, by the failure of Ladd, Swazee and Penn, Kansas City commission men, while six car-loads of his cattle, valued at $16,000 were en route to the firm named. As the shipment proved a total loss to him, this was certainly a hard blow to his prospects; but the damage to them has long since been repaired, In his politics, Mr. Percival has always been an ardent Republican, and in 1907 was appointed a delegate to the convention which nominated the first officers of Stephens county. Later in the year Governor Franz appointed him a delegate to the Farmers National Congress hold at Oklahoma City in October, but, to his regret, he was unable to attend.
    The founder of the Percival family in the United States was Robert Peter Percival, grandfather of Taylor, who came from England and established himself and family in Western Missouri, Johnson county. With the agricultural industries of that section he was identified until his death. His children were: William, who went to California, where he, died; Gadfly, who also died in that state; Alfred, of Howard county, Missouri; Camelia, who married and passed her life in the county named; and Edwin, the father of our subject. Edwin Percival was born and reared in Johnson county, Missouri, and was both a farmer and carpenter. He was a leader in the Free Soil movement, and at the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska bill in 1854 crossed the Missouri line into Linn county, Kansas. There he took up land, built a house, located his family and contributed of his earnest efforts to bring Kansas into the Union as a free state; but, as his services were needed in the cause, he was a temporary resident of either Kansas or Missouri. He finally died in Bates county, the latter state, and after his death his widow married Rev. Rutherford Tennison, a southern Methodist preacher, a noted Copperhead, who was widely known during the early agitation of the slavery question, and long a presiding elder of the district along the Missouri-Kansas border. He died in Bourbon county, Kansas, and Mrs. Tenni-

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son passed away in Denison, Texas.
    Taylor Percival married Kate Bawland of Chickasaw Nation, and they have children: Edward, married Alta Timsey of Stephens county, Oklahoma, one child, Blanche; Effie J., married Conrad Short of Stephens county Oklahoma; Lelar married R. A. Mitchell of Stephens county, and died in 1906; Fred married Stella Whitson of Stephens county, they have one child, Vera; Claud, Brit and Otis are at home.

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cont.

WILLIAM A. PROCTOR. The pioneer lawyer of the town of Marlow was William A. Proctor, who located at this settlement in 1894 and has ever since been actively identified with the bar of Stephens county. When he came to Marlow he built a little shack on the lot where the First National Bank has since been erected. His first case was a civil action in which he defended on J. F. Shield. Since then his practice has extended to all the courts of the county, and he has handled mainly such cases as originated in his own community. He has a good business and is completely in the confidence of the citizens of his part of the county. He has been identified to some extent with Democratic politics, having been a delegate to the territorial Democratic convention of 1904, and also a delegate to the single statehood convention held at Oklahoma City.
    Judge Proctor was born in Heard county, Georgia, April 22, 1846. Of a southern family, his grandfather, Jesse D. Proctor, was descended from a trio of Proctors that came to America and founded their name and families at Greenville, North Carolina. Jesse D. Proctor left the home of his forefathers and moved into South Carolina. He lived on one farm and attended the same church for seventy-four years. He reared a family of eight sons and three daughters, among whom was John M., the father of the Marlow lawyer. John M. Proctor learned the tailor's trade and when a young man left South Carolina and became a resident of Heard county, Georgia, where he spent an uneventful life, dying in 1850 at Corinth. His wife, whose maiden name was Permelia Adams, then brought her family to Arkansas and made her home near Holly Springs until her death. Her children were: George A., who has been tax auditor in the controller's office of Texas for more than twenty years; Rissa, who married Benjamin Van Sickle and died in Ouachita county, Arkansas, leaving a family; William A., mentioned below; Mary F., who married J. B. Wheeler and lives in Dallas county, Arkansas; and John M., who died at Hearne, Texas.
    William A. Proctor was six years old when his mother made the migration from Georgia to Arkansas. He was brought up on a farm and had some of the advantages offered by the primitive country schools. But before reaching manhood he became an active factor in the country's civil strife on the side of the Confederacy. He enlisted in Company D, Twelfth Arkansas Infantry, commanded by Colonel E. W. Gantt, serving with Beauregard's army east of the Mississippi. His first engagement was at Belmont, Missouri, then at New Madrid, and at Island No. 10, from which he escaped when the federals captured it. Being attached to the Sixth Arkansas Infantry, he was in the battles of Corinth and Farmington, and after several months in a hospital at Columbus, Mississippi, he joined Bragg's army and took part in the engagements at Murfreesboro before his discharge and return home. He later joined General Cabell's brigade, and in the Trans-Mississippi service was stationed at Marshall, Texas, when the war closed.
    On resuming civil pursuits he hired to a farmer for a period of eighteen months, with the stipulation that he was to get ten months' schooling at Holly Springs in return. He continued farm work until he had made considerable progress toward a liberal education, and while following the plow had begun the study of law. Coming to Texas in the spring of 1879 he helped organize Concho county and became one of its first officials, serving as county clerk and district clerk two years, and for the same length of time was county judge. He later moved to Runnels county, where he also took an active part in public affairs, serving as countv judge, and during Cleveland's administration was postmaster of his home town of Ballinger. From Texas he moved into the Chickasaw Nation, and his career at Marlow has already been sketched. On June 3, 1868, Judge Proctor married, in Arkansas, Mary E. Sloan, daughter of Alexander Sloan, one of the foremost families of northern Arkansas. Alexander Sloan married Sarah James.
    Mr. and Mrs. Proctor are active Methodists, and he has been either steward or trustee of his church for many years.

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EDWIN J, WYATT, The industrial history of Oklahoma is often epitomized in the career of one of its prominent citizens, Before the building of railroads and the development of towns, the industry of the country consisted mainly in stock-raising and a small amount of farming. With later progress have come many changes, until the business and industrial affairs of Oklahoma are quite as complex and well developed as in older states. The careers of some of the old residents illustrate these changes. In Marlow and vicinity one of the best known cattlemen of the old regime is Edwin J. Wyatt. From range cattleman he gradually turned his attention more and more to farming and cotton raising, and within recent years has become an active factor in the business affairs of one of the thriving towns of southern Oklahoma, He has followed and has been identified with the successive epochs of industry which characterize the history of the old Indian Territory and new state of Oklahoma,
    Mr. Wyatt was born to Choctaw citizenship, his birth occurring in the southeast corner of the Choctaw Nation, December 19, 1862, His father, Montgomery Wyatt, was born in Kentucky, came to the Choctaw country before the war, and married Minerva Harkins, daughter of Willis Harkins; and his Choctaw wife. Willis Harkins, was a Scotch-Irishman, living in old Red River county of Choctaw Nation, was a owner and large landowner, and a soldier in the Confederate army. Montgomery and Minerva Wyatt had two children, Edwin J, being the older, and the younger, Jennie, being the wife of ex-Governor Robert Harris of Tishomingo. By the death of his father in 1867 and his mother in 1871, Edwin J. Wyatt was left an orphan when nine years old. For a time he made his home with Governor Isaac Garvin, and acquired some knowledge of books in the Indian schools and in Spencer Academy in Towson county, At the age of fourteen he began learning the saddler's trade with Sam Hamilton at Fort Smith, Arkansas, and later began working at his trade with R. E. Gibbons in Gainesville, Texas. A change of occupation became necessary, and while still a boy he became a range rider for W. A. Wade, who had one of the large outfits of northern Texas and Indian Territory. He helped transfer the cattle to Indian Territory and for a time had his headquarters two miles from the present site of Marlow, Though he commanded good wages as an expert cowboy, he lived the easy life of the range and accumulated nothing. For five years he was foreman in the employ of John Stone's cattle ranch. After some years of this life he determined to settle down, and after his marriage in 1891, rented a place and began farming on Courtney Flats. He farmed for five years at Wild Cat, and finally located on Bear Creek, where, when the Indian country was given in severalty, he took his allotment. Mr. Wyatt has a splendid estate of fourteen hundred acres, and in its care and by its products he contributes a large share to the aggregate resources of this .section of the state. General farming and stock-raising have been his principal interests, and in this line he is one of the leaders in Stephens county. His ranch is equipped with houses for twenty tenants, and the thousands of bushels of corn and the hundreds of bales of cotton hauled from his farm form one of the largest individual aggregate of products handled in the town of Marlow. 1n 1900 Mr. Wyatt moved his family to Marlow to be near good educational facilities, and as a citizen he has become one of the active builders. He erected the opera house block, a two story double brick building known as the Wyatt block. He gives his political support to Democratic principles, and is well known fraternally, being affiliated with the Odd Fellows, the Woodmen of the World, the Ancient Order of United Workmen and Modern Woodmen. Mr. Wyatt married, April 29, 1891, Miss Vancie, daughter of Joseph Allen, who carne to Oklahoma from Texas, where Mrs. Wyatt was born January 29, 1872., They have four children; Roxsie, Edwin, Jr., Mary and Ernest.

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cont.

JACOB J. WALL. One the early settlers of Stephens county as it now is, and one of the first business men of Duncan, is Jacob J. Wall, who has continued a substantial interest in the business affairs of the vicinity from what may be caned the pioneer period to the present date. The history of his life contains many features that also indicate the progress of this county. His family history has always been connected with the southern states. The forefather lived in Maryland, being of German antecedents, and later moved to Tennessee. Jesse Wall born in Tennessee, while a young

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man went to the state of Georgia and became foreman on a plantation, and eventually married the daughter of his employer. He reared a family of ten children. Although he acquired much property as a planter, he devoted it all to the cause of the Confederacy, exchanging it for Confederate money as late as 1884, and with the final disaster of war was left dependent upon the resources that remained after an already long life.
    William E. Wall was one of the ten children of Jesse, was born in 1816, and by occupation a planter. Strongly opposed to secession, he stood out for the Union until the war actually came and then joined the army of his country, being made a lieutenant and giving his best service for the cause of state rights. A Whig before the war, he later became a Democrat, and sometimes held county offices. He married Lucinda, daughter of Jacob Bridges, of one of the oldest families in that section of Georgia. Mrs. Wall died in 1893 and her husband in 1907. Their children were: Mrs. Mary Jane Elizabeth Grimes, of Elk City, Oklahoma; James B., of Nocona, Texas; W. Thomas, of Collingsworth county, Texas; Jacob J.; Mattie, wife of H. M. Thompson, of Comanche, Oklahoma; Sallie, who died in Montague county, Texas, the wife of George King; Benjamin H., of Texas; G. Radford, of Ochiltree, Texas; and John, of Elk City, Oklahoma.
    Jacob J. Wall had very little schooling during his boyhood. He took up farming on the shares, and after paying all expenses connected with his first crop, he had only five dollars. The army worm was the factor of devastation. He and his brother then tried farming together, on a farm purchased on time, but with no better success. He began, after this discouragement, clerking in a store in Arlington, Georgia, at ten dollars a month, and made himself so useful that his employer raised his wages ten dollars a month for the next three months and also furnished his board. He left this position for Texas, in company with his parents, and farmed the place which they rented near Sherman. The following year, the father having bought a farm in Montague county, the son rented a place on Court flat on the north side of Red river, but instead of farming it worked in Fannin county and saved up one hundred and fifty dollars. Next season he gave eighteen dollars for a mule, twenty-five dollars for a wagon and four dollars for a plow, and with this outfit began farming. For several years he was engaged in laying the foundation for substantial success. One year he gave twenty-five dollars for a claim near Spanish Fort, and after farming it one season sold it for two hundred and fifty dollars. In Clay county he bought a school claim, and in this way, by a series of trades. and constant application to business, he finally bought four hundred acres of land in Montague county, built a house and put in glass windows---which were a new feature in that vicinity, and also furnished it with a cook stove and bedstead, which are likewise luxuries. He continued successfully for several years in the cattle and sheep business, and finally disposed of his interests with sufficient capital to enable him to embark in another line of business.
    Illinois Bend was a small village on Red river in a rich community, and he decided to prospect it as a possible location. The populace offered no inducements for a stranger to come among them, and he could not buy a lot on the townsite. He finally found a farm that adjoined the business section of town, and bought a small part of it. He hauled lumber from Gainesville and his carpenter was preparing to erect a store building before the inhabitants realized that he was a fixture in the town. It was customary in those days to keep a little alcoholic refreshments in all grocery stores, but Illinois Bend was under the domination of a preacher and liquors were under the ban. Mr. Wall had not signified his intentions as a prosspective [prospective] merchant, and the inhabitants came to him requesting his signature as an upholder of the general prohibition character of the town. He refused to sign and disposed of his lot for $150. This did not end his connection with Illinois Bend. Discovering a drug store that was unprofitable, he secured its ownership with limitations as to liquor sales, and though he knew only one or two simple drugs, like quinine, by sight, he had to be quickly converted from farmer to druggist. He did a paying business, but in time closed out the drug stock and devoted his store exclusively to groceries By that time he was well established in the confidence of the community, and made plenty of money. After disposing of his business in 1892, he came to Duncan, and invested his resources in a mercantile establishment at this new settlement. He was a member of

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the firm of Wall and Fowler, which did a wholesale and retail business for four years, and on closing out that interest Mr. Wall moved to Marlow, with which town his interests have since been identified. After engaging for a time in ranching, he returned to mercantile life in company with J. J. Adkins. In 1901 he joined a few business men and established the First National Bank of Marlow, but soon afterward exchanged his bank stock for Mr. Adkins' share in their store, and became sole proprietor. Mr. Wall also helped organize the bank of Atoka, and is holder of some of its stock. Mr. Wall is a Democrat, and in Masonry ranks high, being a member of the chapter, commandery, Scottish Rite and Shrine. His political service is best indicated by his record as mayor of Marlow and as a member of the board of education, in which capacities he directed his own ability in business to the administration of affairs for the public welfare. Mr. Wall was married at Burlington, Texas, May 7, 1886, to Miss Florence E. Pendley, daughter of Martin Pendley. She was born in Illinois, but reared in Palestine, Texas. By their marriage they have the following children: Jesse; Annie, wife of J. B. Teague, of Fargo, Oklahoma; Ina, Irl and Nora at home.

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cont.

JAMES M. LITTRELL is widely known as a successful farmer and stockman, whose large interests lie near Marlow, Stephens county. He is one of the pioneers of Oklahoma, for he came into what was then the Territory in 1885 and located near Ardmore, Carter county, and during the twelve years of his residence there, as well as the succeeding eleven years which he has spent at his present location, he has demonstrated his high capacity as an agriculturist and his honorable traits as a citizen. Born in Missouri, on 10th of January, 1865, James M. Littrell is a son of Joseph G. and Parrie (Simmons) Littrell, both of whom are dead, his mother passing away at Simon, Oklahoma in 1890. The parents afterward moved into Parker county Texas, where they continued their uneventful agricultural lives It was from this section of Texas that James M. Littrell guided his little overland schooner into the Indian country, his wife, wagon and team constituting the substance of his wot;ldlyp.ossessiol1s. At the age of eighteen he has earned his first money as a cowboy, soon afterward he married, and two years thereafter located at Ardmore, Texas. The twelve years which he spent in that locality resulted in some advancement in his worldly status, so that when he came to Marlow in 1897 he brought with him about one thousand dollars' worth of property, chiefly in cattle. His interests have since increased to such extent that he now has a farm of 1,200 acres, and owns 130 acres, with a fine herd of 400 cattle. Be also raises good crops of corn and cotton, twelve tenants assisting him in the operation of his estate.
    Joseph G. Littrell, the father, was born in Alabama in the year 1836, and at the outbreak of the Civil war was a farmer in Carroll county, Arkansas. He served throughout the conflict, and at its conclusion removed to Carroll county, Arkansas, where he attained local prominence as a Republican, being elected sheriff of the county named. He afterward returned to Missouri, where he remained until his departure for Texas. The paternal grandfather, Fielden Littrell, was identified with the farming interests of both Missouri and Arkansas, dying in Carroll county, of the latter state, at the age of about ninety years. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph G. Littrell were: Arminda, wife of Gilbert Johnson, of Greer county, Oklahoma; James M., of this notice; John L., Of Garvin county, Oklahoma; Edward, of Wetumka, that state; Elsie, who married Robert Funderburg, of Greer county, Oklahoma, and Shelby, of Nowata, that state. James M:. Littrell was married April 12, 1883, to Ella Morgan, a daughter of Robert Morgan, of Jasper county, Missouri. Mrs. Littrell was born in that county May 31, 1868, and is the mother of the following: Ida, wife of Henry Carson, a Stephens county farmer; and James, Corbett, Katie, Bertie, Maggie and Wade.

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cont.

RANSOM H. DREWRY. A citizen who has been identified in several important relations with the town of Marlow since 1900 is Ransom H. Drewry. He came to this new country with a small amount of money, and planted a nursery near town. This venture supplied something to the work of general development as well as being profitable to himself. Two years later he turned his attention to real estate brokerage, buying vacant property and building houses, and in this way has advanced the growth of the town. He is the owner of cottages and business houses, and is one of the young business men whose confidence in Oklahoma towns has been fully justified and who is one

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of the leaders. in the progress of the state. Politically he has also, been a factor, though not with the dominant party. He has been a member of the Republican committees of the county, was a delegate to the Tulsa state convention, is a member of the state committee, and was his party's candidate for the office of treasurer of Stephens county at the first election under statehood, receiving a gratifying vote though insufficient to overcome the Democratic support.
    Mr. Drewry is a native of Arkansas, born in Searcy county, December 18, 1872. The first member of the family whose history is definitely known was his grandfather, George Drewry, who was born in Nash county, North Carolina. In Tennessee he married Susan Hendrix, and prior to the Civil war moved to Arkansas. He reared a family of seven children, and he and his wife are buried in Searcy county. One of the children of this pioneer was Dr. James H. Drewry, who was born in DeKalb county, Tennessee, in 1851, and has spent most of his life and professional career in Searcy county, where he sti1l occupies a prominent position. His early education was limited, but he prepared himself for the profession of medicine, studying in the Little Rock School of Medicine. His political sentiments were acquired in opposition to the regular party of Arkansas, and he has always voted with the Republicans. He married Miss Martha Deene, daughter of Martin Deene. Their children were: Lurena, of Newton county, Arkansas; Ransom H., the Marlow real estate man; Elmer, of Searcy county; Herman and Lucy of Searcy county; Mrs. Lola Hendricks; Lillie, wife of Harmon Castleberry, of Searcy county.
    Ransom H. Drewry received his educational advantages while growing up in his native county. By attendance at Marshall Academy and College at Marshal Arkansas, he prepared himself for teaching, a vocation, he followed some eight years. At the time he decided to locate in the Indian Territory he was a resident of Fort Smith. Mr. Drewry married, September 1, 1901. Mrs. Callie Kelley, daughter of Will Davis, who settled here from Montague county, Texas. They have one child, Autis Fairbank, born in March, 1901.

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cont.

JAMES P.BLEDSOE, of Marlow, was for many years prominently connected with the stock and farming interests of the district now included in Stephens county, but for the past few years has been at the head of a rapidly growing business in the hardware and farm implement lines. He was born in Stone county, Missouri, on the 8th of April, 1857, son of Captain Isaac and Sarah A. ( Shumate) Bledsoe. After passing unscathed through the Civil war, he was accidental1y killed in a deer hunt near Dallas, Texas, in 1866. Thus, at the age of nine years, the boy was partially orphaned, thereafter living with his widowed mother, in Collin, Dallas and Wise counties, Texas, until her death at the age of fifty-six years. He grew up a thorough stockman and farmer, but with only a fragmentary education. His first independent effort was on the Morrison farm on Trinity river in Dallas county, and he raised a good crop of cotton. After remaining in that locality for two years he was married and spent several subsequent years in Dallas and Wise counties. West Texas was then being exploited, and he removed to Shackelford county and there resumed farming and the handling of stock. This section of the state was then a frontier country, liable to be raided by the Indians and the few settlers who had ventured into it were obliged to depend upon eastern Texas for their sustenance; they went to Weatherford for their flour and meal and to Fort Worth or Dallas for their other supplies. Trips to these points and return were not infrequently interrupted by attacks either by Indians or outlaws. But Mr. Bledsoe's chief connection with the Indians was while as a resident of Wise county, when he was one of a party who followed a band of savages into Parker county, came up with them at Stringtown and there had a brisk engagement with them. At another time he participated in a skirmish with the Indians on the Little Wichita river. Mr. Bledsoe bought a tract of land in Shackelford county at about a dollar per acre, and remained with his stock and other effects until 1891, when he decided to return to civilization. He then established himself on Clear creek, and, with the assistance of other members of the family, prospered for twelve years as a farmer. In 1903 he decided to enter into mercantile pursuits, in which field he reflected that his sons could better develop their business talents and escape much unprofitable drudgery. He therefore sold his farm and purchased the hardware and implement business of S. J. Fuller in

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Marlow, proceeding to develop the house. It was then transacting an annual business of about $23,000, which, with the enlargement of the stock and an energetic, up-todate management, has been more than doubled. In 1908 a new two-story brick structure was erected, 75 by 100 feet in dimensions, it qeing one of the best business buildings in the city. In his business relations, Mr. Bledsoe is careful, progressive and successful, and as his citizenship is of the best his associates have rewarded him with places of public responsibility. He has efficiently served his school district on the educational board, and is a Master Mason of high standing. Captain Isaac Bledsoe, the father, was born in Tennessee in the year 1820, leaving his native state as a single man, settling in Missouri and marrying Sarah A. Shumate, daughter of Daniel Shumate, believed to be of Choctaw blood. At the opening of the Civil war Isaac Bledsoe was an industrious, modest farmer, but popular among his neighbors. Throughout the bloody four years of warfare he served under General Price as a brave Confederate captain. While yet in the army he transferred his family from Missouri to Texas, personally accompanying them to the Red river and then returning to his company. At the conclusion of the war he joined his family in Dallas county, and had scarcely arranged his domestic affairs when he met the accident which caused his death. In 1866, while engaged in a deer hunt near Dallas, he was accidentally shot, and a few months later died from the wound.
    The children born to Captain Bledsoe and his wife were as follows: Josiah, who died in Wise county, Texas without a family; Jemimah, wife of J. C. Moffett, of Tuttle, Oklahoma; James P., of this record; Samuel, who died in Brown county, Texas, without issue; Frank P., who died in Pott county, Oklahoma, in 1907, the father of four children, and engaged for some years in the ministry of the Baptist church; Sterling J., of Tecumseh. Oklahoma; Robert, who left Norman., that state, in 1899, and went to parts unknown; and Martha C., who married William Hood and died in the Choctaw Nation, the mother of several children. On the 24th of March, 1874. James P. Bledsoe married Caroline Piles, daughter of William Piles, a native of Tennessee who came to Texas in 1849. He died in Dallas county, Texas, and his wife in Marlow, Oklahoma. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Bledsoe are: George Irvin, who married Levina Williams and is the father of Odessa, Richard and Fred; Martha D., wife of A. J. Lowe, of Marlow, Oklahoma, and the mother of Beulah and Jerrall; Laura, who was the wife of A. B. Lowe, of Marlow, has become the mother of Ethel and Irvin; Robert E. and Marion R., who are yet living at home.

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cont.

CAPT. WILLIAM C. THOMPSON. One of the first settlers and the second merchant at Marlow was Capt. William C. Thompson, who during a long-and active life of nearly seventy years has been distinguished by varied and some very noteworthy activities. Material success has not been steadily in his favor, and when he came into the Chickasaw Nation, crossing Red river on November 25, 1887, he had experienced such vicissitudes on the Texas ranges that he was reduced to the necessity of beginning all over again. He lived about Ardmore for several years, without finding substantial gain, and on May 1, 1891, reached the townsite of Marlow. With the help of his friend, Rube Hardy, he engaged in selling goods in a small building that stood about six hundred yards from his present residence. Times were good and conditions favorable, and he found himself moving toward prosperity. Business conditions demanded larger quarters, and he built a store room on Main street in which he conducted his business until 1895, when he sold out and engaged in other pursuits.
    Captain Thompson has the distinction of being one of the oldest native residents of Oklahoma. He was born at old Fort Towson, in southeastern Indian Territory, February 6, 1839, of parents who had emigrated thither the year before from Simpson county, Mississippi, and who died the year following the father in August, and the mother in September. The parents were of Choctaw stock, mixed blood and the father was a "run-away boy" to Mississippi, probably from Tennessee. He was about twenty-five years old at death. His wife was Elizabeth, daughter of James Mangum. They had two children, William C. being the younger. Arthur J. was a Confederate soldier, enlisted from Covington county, Mississippi, and lost a leg near the old "gin house" at the battle of Franklin. After the war he served several years as a county official. He died at the mouth of Washita river in the Chickasaw Nation.

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Both brothers had been taken to Mississippi after the death of their parents, and in Simpson county grew up on a farm, getting very little education in the meantime. Nine months' schooling would sum up William C.'s advantages. He was a young man when the war came on and responded to patriotism's call by enlisting in the Simpson Fencibles as a private. His first battle was Shiloh, and though he was wounded while charging the first fortifications there he was back with his command in two days and was elected captain of his company. At the fight at Port Gibson in May, 1863, his skull was fractured by a shrapnel, and he was in the hospital for some time before able to rejoin his command. He then took part in the Atlanta campaign. At Peach Tree Creek his company (H), being detailed to support Cowman's battery, encountered a regiment of federals well posted, and without hesitation charged them with bayonets and captured forty-seven. He was also at Resaca and other conflicts during and before the siege of Atlanta, From Atlanta he accompanied Hood back to Tennessee, and at the battle of Franklin was shot in the thigh and captured. He was taken to the prison hospital at Nashville, and was not again on duty during the war. In the meantime he had received promotion to the rank of lieutenant colonel of a Mississippi regiment, formed by consolidation of the Sixth and Twentieth regiments.
    While in prison Captain Thompson received remarkable proof of the fraternity of men, even when divided by the issues of war. When he was taken to the federal hospital he wore the Masonic emblem of the square and compass. A federal soldier gave him the fraternal recognition, and took charge of his personal possessions, including pocket knife, gold pen, the Masonic emblem and four thousand dollars in Confederate money. The superiority of the fraternal power over military rules was given proof in several ways during his confinement in the hospital. The prison fare consisted of a weak meat broth served twice a day in a cup. His fraternity brother smuggled in rations of cheese and crackers, concealing them in his sleeve, and the prisoner ate them with head covered to prevent detection and exposure of his friend. Through the same friendships Captain Thompson's brother, who was also a prisoner, was placed in the same ward, where he could benefit by similar attention from their Union friend. On one occasion a fire threatened to destroy the hospital and all its crippled inmates, but here again the federal soldier proved true to his friends and stood ready to carry them out of danger as soon as the fire should come too near. Finally, when ordered to another point to be exchanged, Captain Thompson had all his personal effects returned to him. In token of the sincere gratitude that he felt for his fraternity brother the Captain gave him the gold pen and the badge as mementoes of their relations, and he parted from that splendid soldier of the Ninety-Second Indiana with pledges that no bonds of loyalty to country could restrain him from offering assistance to such a friend when in need.
    From Nashville, Captain Thompson was sent to Camp Chase, Ohio, thence to Baltimore, and by boat to Richmond, where he was paroled a short time before the dose of the war. He reached home June 1, 1865, and began preparations to move to Texas. With a yoke of steers and a wagon and his wardrobe in an old trunk, he made his way across the state of Louisiana to Dallas county, Texas, where he arrived in December, 1865. His educational training, gathered largely in the field of personal effort, made him competent, according to the standards of the time, to teach school, and he taught one term near Lancaster. He spent some time in Cherokee county, and in Trinity county began farming and stock raising. While in the latter county he was elected the second probate clerk of the county, and later to the office of probate judge, and on retiring from office continued his farming until May, 1878, when he moved into Palo Pinto county, which was then on the western border of Texas. In Parker county he was engaged for a time in merchandising: and milling, and it was in the dry years of 1886 and 1887, which were also a period of financial distress, that he suffered such serious business reverses as to be reduced almost to poverty. He encountered adversity with courage, however, and in the following year entered the Chickasaw Nation to begin all over again. Captain Thompson, being of Choctaw stock, succeeded in 1905 in establishing his claim to being placed on the citizenship rolls, but in March, 1906, his name was stricken from the rolls by Secretary Hitchcock on the opinion rendered by Attorney General Bonaparte. Mr. Thompson then went to Washington and began suit in the court of the District of Columbia to compel the secretary to reinstate

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him, and on June 27th of that year judgment was rendered in his favor. He selected his land ner the town of Marlow, and his time is now devoted to his real estate interests and to his duties as justice of the peace of Marlow township. His Democratic friends made him mayor of the town of Marlow in 1901, and whether in or out of office he is always ready to support in substantial manner anything that promotes the welfare of town, county or state. Captain Thompson was married in Trinity county, Texas, May 29, 1867, to Miss Sarah S. Estes, daughter of Thomas J. Estes, who came to Texas from Alabama in 1854. They have three children: Mrs. Mary M. McNees of Marlow; Arthur M., a leading merchant of Marlow; and William C., Jr., a farmer of Stephens county. Captain Thompson became a member of the Masonic fraternity at Mt. Olive, Mississippi, April 16, 1862.