-270-
cont.

ANTHONY A. BRENNEMAN came to Jefferson county (Comanche county then) in September, 1903. He had been a Missouri farmer for many years, by severest economy and hardest labor had managed to accumulate a little money, and on coming here invested it in farming land in the recently opened Kiowa-Comanche country. It is Mr. Brenneman's opinion, spoken gratefully as he reviews his present circumstances, that the rewards of diligence in this southwest country are very much more generous and satisfying than in his former home. In proof of which he cites the fact that he has multiplied his substantial assets by three, and has improved the general situation of the family many fold from the standpoint of climate and health and contentment. On his arrival in the Oklahoma country he bought a half section land less than three miles northwest of the town of Waurika, and after making a living on it for three years sold it for more than three times its cost, and then reinvested in another half section adjoining the one sold. His home place, which he has improved attractively, occupies a sightly elevation overlooking Waurika, and Hastings may also be seen, with a fine intervening view of delightful landscape. At his former home in Clay county, Missouri, Mr. Brenneman had carried on, at Liberty, a grain and feed business four years, at the same time having a farm in Caldwell county. He had also been identified with the farming interests of Caldwell county.
    The Brenneman family was founded by a German ancestor, who came to America during the era immediately following the establishment of American independence. Being Mennonites, their European home has been conjectured to have been one of the Swiss cantons. Pennsylvania was the mother state of the family, and it was there that Christian Brenneman, grandfather of Anthony, was born shortly after the Revolution. He died in Rockingham county, Virginia, during the period of the Civil war, at an advanced age. By his marriage he reared a large family, of whom the following were members: David

-271-

C., of Rockingham county, Virginia; Franie, wife of Christopher Funk, both of whom died in Rusnville, Virginia; Lydia, who married Isaac Wenger, of Linnville, Virginia; Mottie, wife of Christopher Brunk; Martin, mentioned below; Hannah, wife of Jacob Wenger, and a resident of Kansas; Rebecca, deceased, wife of Jacob Geil, of Edom, Virginia; Esther, wife of Lewis Ridenour, of Indiana.
     Martin Brenneman, who was born in Rockingham county, Virginia, February 9, 1826, became a man of vigorous activities, with plcnty of native ability but ordinary education. Inherited the religious principles of his ancestry, he opposed slavery and also participated in the events of the Civil war only by proxy. His ambition was satisfied after the acquirement of a modest competency, a good home and the comforts of the average household. Brought his family to the west in 1868 and made his home on a farm in Ray county a few years, then moved to Caldwell county where he lived until he passed away, January 24, 1898, just eleven days after the death of his wife, having led an upright and industrious life. His wife: was Susannah, born January 26, 1828, daughter of John K. Beery. The Beerys were among the colonizers of Pennsylvania, the family having been established in America by Abraham Beery, October 19, 1736. Born in Switzerland in 1718, this emigrant landed in Philadelphia when a youth, and later settling in Adams county, married Mary Gochenour. Among their many children was John, born in 1767, who married Barbara Kagy, moved to Rockingham county, after the Revolution, and was the father of eleven children. Among the latter was John K. Beery, born January 4, 1801, and died October 11, 1885, at Edom, Virginia. His wife was Magdalena Wenger, who was born at Edom, Virginia, November 6, 1800, and died April 12, 1876, the mother of fifteen children. At his death John K. Beery left one hundred and twenty-five surviving grandchildren, one hundred and fifteen great grandchildren and one great great grandchild. By the marriage of Martin and Susannah (Beery,) Brenneman there were the following children: Jacob, of St. John, Kansas; Fannie, wife of, E.M. Winger, of Elmira, Missouri; Jennie, wife of W. K. Strope, of Turney, Missouri; Hettie, wife of John Hardman, of Polo, Missouri; Martin D., deceased; Emma, wife of Charles Smart, of Polo, Missouri; Minnie, deceased, wife of Jesse Moyer, Millville; Mollie, wife of C. C. Brewen, of Cowgill, Missouri; and Anthony A.
     After a brief attendance at the common schools Anthony A. Brenneman began the pursuits to which his ancestors had been devoted for generations. A few household goods and a team constituted the chief capital with which he and his young wife began life as renters in Caldwell county, Missouri. They arranged for a place of their own in a few years, and this they tilled until their removal to Liberty, Clay county, Missouri, September, 1899, where they lived four years prior to their emigration, to what is now Jefferson county, Oklahoma. Their stuccess during the twenty-seven years of their continued labor on Missouri farms would average less than three hundred dollars a year, if measured in money, and it is with that as a basis for comparison that they find so much to be grateful for in their removal to the new country of Oklahoma.
      Mr. Brenneman was born in the ancestral home of the family, in Rockingham county, Virginia, February 14, 1852. His wife, Lucretia Winger, was born in Roanoke county, Virginia, May 8, the same year. Her parents were David M. and Ladonia A. (Peterman) Winger, the former a carpenter who died in Ray county in 1858, and the latter died in 1907, aged seventy-nine years. The Winger children were: C. Jefferson, of Polo, Missouri; Lizzie, wife of Leonard Ballew, of Lathrop, Missouri; G. Irvin, of Oklahoma City; J. W., of Dexter, Texas; E. M., of Elmira, Missouri; Mary S., wife of E. A. Sharp, of Liberty, Missouri. Mr. and Mrs. Brenneman's children are: John L. of Waurika, who married Ora Altman; Oscar H., of Waurika, who married Linnie Altman; and Mollie Myrl, wife of G. E. Evans, of Waurika. The family are Baptists, and their political affiliation is Democratic.

-271-
cont.

EARLY COUNTISS. Probably the best farm home and one of the sightliest in Jefferson county is that owned by Early Conntiss, two and a half miles northwest of Waurika. From his dooryard one may overlook for miles the attractive landscape of southern Oklahoma, and within the range of vision lie the three towns of Hastings, Waurika and Addington. Several years ago Mr. Countiss came to this locality and bought the Brenneman half section, which was the first home of another well known farmer of this vicinity. On it he built the best farm house in the county, at a cost of

-272-

$5,300, an ample barn at a cost of $1,400, and has otherwise beautified and improved this estate.
    Mr. Countiss is a successful man, prosperous beyond the average in his career, and in a comparison of performance and actual work done it would not be easy to find one who excelled. He had been reared on a farm in Mississippi, where he was trained by hard work rather than by the institutions of culture, though he obtained a fair knowledge of reading, writing and ciphering before he ventured into life alone. During the first few years he acted as foreman over negro farm hands in his home county. With the savings from this labor he purchased a two hundred acre timber tract and during the next eleven years made a farm of it. He cleared up about five thousand dollars as a farm and when he sold the place for $8,400, he had nearly a thousand dollars to represent the labor of each of the past sixteen years. Coming to Texas he invested some money in the famous black-land belt, but experienced difficulty in cultivating the soil and navigating it in wet weather, and also was dissatisfied with its productiveness. Having disposed of his Texas lands he located in what he believes to be an ideal farming country, and has since been known as one of the prominent citizens and highly successful farmers in the southeast corner of the old Kiowa-Comanche country.
     Early Countiss was born in Calhoun county, Mississippi, July 13, 1861. His father, Hosea Countiss, born in Tuscaloosa county, Alabama, in 1830, was a farmer of moderate means, owned a few slaves, was a Confederate soldier during the war, and died in Calhoun county, Mississippi, in 1893. His wife was Mary Woodall, daughter of John Woodall. The Countisses were from Delaware originally, and the family was introduced into the south by John Countiss, grandfather of Early Countiss, who settled in Alabama, reared his family in comfort, and furnished seven sons to the cause of the Confederacy. One of them lost his life in the service, and the others were John, Daniel, Reuben, Peter, James and Hosea. There were also three daughters, Litha, Rachel and Jane. The mother of these children was Nancy Ray. John Countiss died in 1880, when about eighty-four years old. Hosea Countiss and wife had the following children: Clemmie, wife of Jefferson Hogg, of Miles county, Texas; Early; Annie, wife of George Edwards, of Sugden, Oklahoma; Ollie, wife of Joseph Sheffield; Ella, wife of Hanley Davis; and Marvin, of Arkansas. The mother lives with her son, Denton, in his comfortable home near Waurika. During the years of his effective labor in creating a competency, Mr. Early Countiss remained unmarried. During his eight years' residence in Bell county, Texas, he was married, August 6, 1903, to Miss Maggie, daughter of Bud and Kate (Hambrick) Buckley. The other children of the Buckley family were: William, Marion, Martin, Alonzo, Reginald and Bronson, all of Bell county, except Marion, who lives in Miles county; Lena, wife of William Miller; and Lula and Era, of Bell county. Mr. and Mrs. Countiss have three children, Alton, Angie and Marx, all of whom, by an unusual coincidence, were born on Sunday.

-272-
cont.

JONAS D. HUFFMAN, head of the Huffman Real Estate Company, of Waurika, Jefferson county, has had a varied experience in the southwest, but his prospects and standing are now of the most substantial character. He was born in Iowa county, Iowa, on the 23rd of May, 1852, and his father was a minister of the United Brethren church, a pioneer of Iowa and Kansas. The son came to man's estate on the paternal homestead in Miami county, in the latter state, and his education was of the most incomplete as the period of the Civil war had its disorganizing effect on the schools of the far west ad on all other institutions of the country. For a time also, at this critical national juncture, the boy carried the government mail from Osawatomie across the country into Missouri. Upon one occasion bandits rifled his mail pouch. Until he was twenty-two years of age Mr. Huffman remained at the old home, when he moved to Mount Ida, Kansas, and resided there for three years, chiefly employed as a hay baler. His next home was at Minneapolis, that state, removing thence to Liberty, Missouri, and continuing his work already begun as a builder and contractor. The health of his wife forced him to depart for New Mexico, but when his family and household goods (loaded into two wagons) had reached Waukomis, Oklahoma, Mrs. Huffman's condition, as well as the state of the household purse, necessitated a halt. The husband there secured employment in a real estate office. His prospects were little improved when he commenced his eighteen months' of residence in what is now Waurika;

-273-

but during that period the health of his wife improved, and the quarter section of land which he had purchased in the vicinity enabled him to assist a son who had drawn a claim in the Comanche country, as well as to finally improve his own financial condition. Being provided with a team, he also conducted a thriving transportation business in the location of new settlers, and was appointed the Rock Island immigration agent, which position he held for four years. In that comparatively brief time .he was the personal force which induced fully three hundred people to locate near Waurika, and his advice in the purchase and improvements of land has since been followed by many of them to their great advantage. He also platted Huffman's addition to Waurika, comprising sixty-five acres, and since his location here in 1902 he has transacted more profitable business than during the first fifty years of his life. In politics he is a Republican, is a member of the board of trustees of Waurika, but has little inclination for political activity.
     Jacob Huffman, the paternal grandfather, came to the United States from Germany, settled near Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, and there married and reared a family. William Huffman, his son and the father of our subject, was born in the locality named in 1812, and when a young man of about twenty-six entered the work of the United Brethren church as a minister. After his first marriage he moved from Indiana to Iowa. As this was the early forties he thereby again identified himself with frontier life, and for a third time, when in 1856 he settled in Miami county, Kansas. In the county named he filed a claim, improved it and made it his homestead for the remainder of his life, dying in 1898. He was a neighbor of John Brown, was an earnest but modest opponent of slavery; was a member of the Home Guard during the Civil war, and for three terms served in the state legislature as a vigorous Republican. In addition he furnished two sons to the Union army, and the greatest fact in his active and useful life was that for a period of sixty years he faithfully preached the Gospel. The wife of his youth and the mother of his seventeen children was Alice, daughter of Edmund Davis, who at an early day moved from Ohio to Iowa. In 1868, Mrs. Huffman died in Miami county, Kansas, the mother of the following sons: Andrew P., of Osage county, Kansas; Gabriel M., of Topeka, Kansas; Hayden, of Florence, Kansas; John D., of this review; David S., of Waurika, Kansas; Charles, of Fruity, Colorado, and Elam, of Randlett, Oklahoma. The daughters of this family were: Lovica, wife of Calvin Tracy of Miami county, Kansas; Rebecca now Mrs. Albert Walley, residing in Wyoming; Patsy, who married Ambrose Karr and died in Miami county, Kansas, leaving a family, and Angeline, who married a Mr. Packard, and also left children. John D. Huffman married in Miami county, Kansas, on the 30th of August, 1875, Florence, daughter of Harvey Campbell, a native of Wisconsin, where Mrs. Huffman was born in 1854. The children of this union are as follows: Clarence, who married Blanche Boyle, and is a farmer of Jefferson county, Oklahoma: Percy, married and. a farmer of Comanche county; Frank, who married Maggie Stowe and lives in Waurika; Roy who was drowned in Beaver creek in 1905, and Hallie, a young business man of Waurika.

-273-
cont.

ARTHUR L. WALKER, head of the Walker Realty Company and president of the Waurika Commercial Club and founder of various newspapers and banks in Comanche and Jefferson counties, is a typical promoter of the new southwest. He is full of energy and superb confidence in the future of the country, and yet a man of broad business ability and sound judgment. Born in Johnson county, Texas, on the 16th of December, 1879, his father is a widely known railroad contractor of the Lone Star state. The city schools of Fort Worth and Waco, Texas, provided the educational equipment of Arthur L. Walker, and the newspaper had an early and a strong attraction for him. From a newsboy on the street he graduated to the position of a circulator in an office, and fin311y to that of an advertising manager. While living in Texas he was successively connected with the Fort Worth Gazette, Waco Evening Telephone, Times-Harold, Corsicana Sun and the Waco Evening Enterprise —the last named being a penny paper issued by striking printers. During the opening of the Comanche country he also managed the Lawton State Democrat, the Botsford Tribune, Temple Tribune and Randlett Enterprise. The last two he founded, and is still owner of the Temple Tribune. He was interested in the companies which laid out Waurika and Temple, establishing also the Citizens' State Bank in each

-274-

of the places named and afterward selling his interests. When Waurika was founded he opened a real estate office in the place, which business has since chiefly occupied his time, with the operation of a 3,600-acre lease in the vicinity. He also owns resident property in Waurika, and is actively identified with every movement to create a greater city. As stated, he is president of the Commercial Club, which has been at the foundation of the important industrial and civic improvements, including the location of a $25,000 hotel. In his fraternal relations, he is a Royal Arch Mason, an Elk, a Knight of Pythias and a Modern Woodman.
     Thomas F. Walker, the father of Arthur L., is a resident of Cordell, Oklahoma, who has passed much of his life as a grading contractor on the Fort Worth & Dallas Railway and as a street contractor at Fort Worth. He is a native of Palestine, Texas, born in 1848, and spent his early years as a farmer in his native locality and Johnson county, Texas. The American branch of the family originated in Georgia, whence the paternal grandfather migrated to Anderson county, Texas. He was a planter and a slave owner in his native state, and was the father of the following: William and John, residents of Paris, Texas, and ex-Confedederate soldiers; Harriet, who married a Mr. Walker and resides at Clarksville, Texas, and Thomas F. The last named married Cornelia E. Williams, of Birmingham, Alabama. She died in Waco, Texas, August 6, 1906, mother of Arthur L. (our subject) and Edgar, Raymond F. and Ruby, of Cordell, Oklahoma. Arthur L. Walker was married at Duncan, Oklahoma, March 1, 1906, to Miss Prudie Morgan, of Waurika. His wife is a native of Omaha. Nebraska, born on the, 14th of October, 1889.

-274-
cont.

WYLIE B. FISHER, a druggist and pharmacist and leading business man of Terral, Jefferson county, is a native of Dallas, Texas. where he was born on the 4th of August, 1877. He obtained a thorough education in the public schools of that city, and after leaving school became a cash boy with Sanger Brothers. Following this employment he was associated with his father in the livery business for some three years, and then began reading medicine with Dr. J. M. lnge, of Denton, Texas, his studies being mainly directed to the mastery of pharmacy. Becoming well gr0unded in the theoretical knowledge of that subject, he came to Davis, Oklahoma, and engaged in the drug business with J. W. Mashburn, where he became thoroughly trained in the practical part of the specialty. There he was elected a member of the Indian Territory Pharmaceutical Association, and in 1901 founded his drug business in Terral. Since that time he has become a representative business man and an active citizen of the place. In 1906 he erected a two-story brick structure for the accommodation of his prospering enterprise, and served as a member of the building committee of the Odd Fellows lodge when the han of that fraternity was erected. He is one of the brisk, mettlesome young men of the locality, who promptly do things the kind most valued as citizens by the young, growing communities of the southwest. Mr. Fisher has passed an the chairs in the subordinate lodge of Odd Fellows, and has served as a delegate to the State Grand Lodge. He is an outspoken Democrat, and takes that active and intelligent interest in politics which demonstrates his conscientious regard for American citizenship.
    Wylie B. Fisher is a, son of William H. and Emma (McGuire) Fisher, his father coming from Whitehall, Illinois, to Dallas, Texas, as a pioneer of 1848, and being engaged as a livery man for many years. Father and grandfather migrated together from Illinois, the elder man being a substantial German farmer, Anthony by name, who married Mary E. Taylor, both dying in Dallas, the husband in 1861. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Anthony Fisher were as follows: Alfred, of Munday, Texas; Joseph, living at Stamford, that state; Pleasant, of Florence, Colorado; William H., of Ada, Oklahoma; Nannie, now Mrs. Charles Alexander, of Cleburne, Texas; Virgie (deceased), who married A. B. Rawlins; Dennie, wife of George Riggs, of Tishomingo, Oklahoma, and Lizzie, who married William Conway and died leaving a family. William H. Fisher; the father, was a native of Illinois, passed his early life on his father's farm, and, coming with his parents to Dallas, Texas, enlisted in the Confederate army as a youth, at the close of the Civil war. He commenced business life as a clerk in that city, and, after some years of this service engaged in contract work on the construction of railroad beds and other heavy work of a similar character. For several years he was afterward engaged in the livery business, but returning to the business of contracting, eventually became interested in the O'Neill Construction

-275-

Company of Dallas, and is still so identified. He married in Dallas county, Texas, Emma McGuire, whose father was a resident of Bowling Green, Kentucky, and the children of their union were as follows: Chester, of Ada, Oklahoma: Wylie B., of this sketch; Margaret, wife of L. J. Crowder, of Ada, Birdie, wife of J. C. Lester, of Davis, Oklahoma, and A., still living at home. Wylie B. Fisher married, April 23, 1898, Ola, daughter of J. M. Alsabrook, of Bowie,Texas, but originally from Alabama, where Mrs. Fisher was born in 1875. Before marriage, her mother was Laura Stallings. The children born to Mr. and Mrs. W. B. Fisher are: Madge, Louise and Valree.

-275-
cont.

JAMES W. COLBERN, a lumber merchant of Terral, and otherwise a substantial citizen, has been identified with the growth of the locality for a period of twenty-one, years. In 1887 he located in the old town of Doss, Clay county, Texas, having come hither from Johson county, Missouri, where he was born March 16, 1861. While yet an infant he lost his father by death, and when only a boy of seven years was thrown upon his own resources, working for wages and board at various kinds of farm labor, while at the same time struggling to get a fair education. At the age of twenty-six, he left Missouri for Texas, driving through with a team to Clay county, Where he joined his uncle who had preceded him some years before. His relative was a member of the firm of cattle men, Colbern & Powell, and the young man's first work in their interest was performed on, the back of a pony. By economy, prompted by manly forethought, he saved a small capital within a few years, purchased a bunch of yearling steers, and started in business for himself at Doss, Clay county. He there met with a fair degree of success, but in 1902 brought the remnant of, his herd to Terral, disposed of them and entered another field of business. As Terral had no lumber yard he proceeded to establish one, which has since fully met the demands of the community. He also owns a home in the place and is the proprietor of some land in the county. Mr. Colbern is a Democrat in politics and is prominent in Odd Fellowship, being past grand of the local lodge.
     Thomas M. Colbern, father of James W., was also born in Johnson countv, Missouri, and for some years followed agriculture in that section of the state. He was killed in 1863, in a political disturbance of the troublous war times. His father William (the paternal grandfather of James W.) was a Kentuckian, a saddler by trade, and a pioneer settler of Warrensburg, Missouri. He married a Miss Simpson and they became the parents of the following: William H., who died at Belton, Cass county, Missouri, as a member of the banking firm of Scott & Company; Sallie, who married John Davis and died in Johnson county, Missouri; Thomas M., the father of our subject; and George Colbern, who passed his last years at Warrensburg, Missouri. Thomas M. Colbern married Angeline, daughter of Samuel McNinch and Rebecca (Myers) McNinch, and his wife died in 1868, the mother of these children: Laura, wife of W. P. Tucker, of Ringgold, Texas; Addie, now Mrs. W. A. Wadell, a resident of Warrensburg; James W., of this review; and Thomas, who passed away unmarried. James W. Colbern was married in Clay county, Texas, on the 7th of December, 1892, to Miss Lue Briscoe, a daughter of Gerard and Charlotte (Smith) Briscoe. Their marriage occurred in Kentucky, when the family came to Texas. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Briscoe are: Mattie, wife of Benjamin F. Denson, of Kansas City, Missouri; John, who is a resident- of New Mexico; Elizabeth, Mrs. William F. Benton, of Belcherville, Texas; Mrs. James W. Colhern; and Peter F. Briscoe, of Terral, Oklahoma. The children born to Mr. and Mrs. James W. Colbern are Charlotte and Ruby.

-275-
cont.

JAMES McADORY LEWIS, the well known hardware merchant of Terral, brother of Dr. Arthur R. Lewis, is a native of Mississippi, born in Kosciusko, December 25, 1873. When he was seven years of age his father, Dr. James M. Lewis, migrated from that state and settled at Mexia, Texas, in whose, public schools the boy received his prepatory education and commenced business as a clerk in a confectionery store. In preparation for a professional career he attended the, Southern Medical College at Atlanta, Georgia, where he pursued a course in dentistry. This completed, he opened an office in his home town and after a year removed to DeQueen, Arkansas, there entering employment in a sawmill and stave factory. Contracting a bad case of ague in that swampy country, he returned to his Kosciusko home, but two years afterward removed to Fleetwood. Oklahoma, and after serving for two years as a clerk in

276-

the general store of O. C. Walker, of that place, located in Terral for the practice of his profession. Not many months thereafter he sold his business and good will, purchasing a share in the hardware stock of D. B. Bradshaw and soon aftenvard being joined by his brother, Dr. A. R. Lewis, who had bought Mr. Bradshaw's remaining interest. Under the firm name of Lewis Brothers thev conducted a growing business for about two years, when James M. became sole proprietor of the establishment. He now carries a general stock valued at six thousand dollars, does a strictly cash business, is keen but straightforward in all his transactions, supplies the goods required by the community, has the confidence of the home people, and is therefore rapidly gaining in financial strength. He owns his residence, and the progress he has made as a merchant since he settled in Terral is most gratifying. He is a large, social and genial man, albeit energetic and executive, and is especially adapted to the field he has finally chosen. He is also quite widely known in the fraternities, having served for four years as secretary of Terral Lodge, No. 109, A. F. & A. M., and he is also a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen. In politics, he is a Democrat. Mr. Lewis' wife was formerly Lottie Agnes Malone, to whom he was married at Chickasha, Oklahoma, May 26, 1903, and the other children of her family are as follows: Mrs. T. J. Hightower, of Terral; Mrs. R. E. Schoolfield, of Ryan, and William C. Malone, of Terral. Mr. Malone died when his children were small and Mrs. Lewis was reared by her maternal grandfather. Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. James M. Lewis: Agnes, born September 22, 1905, and James Malone Lewis, who died December 28, 1907, at four years of age.
     James M. Lewis comes of an old and prominent southern family, whose members have been leaders both in the professions and in the agriculture of the south. His grandfather, Dr. Oxias Lewis, was a native of Culpeper county, Virginia, of Scotch-Irish parentage, but passed his active life in Kosciusko, Mississippi. Throughout the war he was an opponent of secession, and a stanch Union man. His children, by his marriage to Emily Comfort, of Connecticut, were as follows: Harriet, wife of James Hammond, died in Kosciusko; William, a dry goods merchant of Flint, Michigan: John, a traveling salesman who resides in Cincinnati; one daughter, deceased, who was the wife of J. M. Comfort; and Dr. J. M. Lewis, the father of our subject. The elder Dr. Lewis was a graduate of the University of Michigan, and a deep scholar in various fields of knowledge. He was also actively engaged in practice until his death December 28, 1889. For many years he was local surgeon for the Houston & Texas Central Railway, and during the yellow fever epidemic of 1878 was prominent as an assistant health officer of the county and state. Dr. J. M. Lewis married Sallie J. Rimmer, her father, James Rimmer, being a Connecticut man by birth, and by occupation a wealthy planter of Attala county, Mississippi. He was an ardent Confederate. The children of his family were: Dr. Arthur R. and Dr. James M. Lewis, of Terral; Oxia;, of Mexia, Texas; Louise, wife of John Davis, also of that place; Esther, now Mrs. G. A. Lyall, of Mexia; Mabel, who married Vi. C. Schutts, of Fort Worth, Texas; Mattie and John W., of Mexia.

-276-
cont.

BENJAMIN H. SANDERS, a substantial merchant of Terral, Jefferson county, is a brave son of the south, typical of its best element, which knows not the meaning of permanent defeat. He has greatly prospered in his business ventures several times, and various unfortunate combinations of circumstances have also brought his fortune low, but he has pluckily and cheerfully commenced the fight anew, and now, although well advanced in years, is energetically and rapidly coming into the front ranks of Oklahoma merchants. Born in Barnwell district, South Carolina, on the 4th of March, 1841, Mr. Sanders is the son of a farmer of that state who was practically ruined by the devastations of the Civil war. He himself received but an imperfect common school education, and in 1862, when he had just passed his majority, enlisted in the "Edisto Rifles," incorporated into the Confederate service as Company G, Twenty-Fifth South Carolina Infantry. His command was stationed on the islands about Charleston harbor, and acted as a coast guard under General Hagood. It participated in the battle of Fort Fisher, where Mr. Sanders was captured January 14, 1865, being taken thence and confined as a prisoner of war at Elmira, New York, until the following August. On account of the termination of the war, he was then liberated. Among the first of his ventures in civil life, after the war, was his management of a sawmill in Snake Swamp, Orange coun-

-277-

ty, South Carolina, after which he served, successively, as a plantation overseer and as a clerk in a store at Bamburg, also in that state. In the latter capacity he accumulated a small capital, with which he removed to Atlanta, Georgia, and began buying cotton. This venture absorbed his savings, and more, but he secured a salaried position as a buyer for S. M. Inman & Company, and in a responsible position was sent to Houston, Texas. Prior to this time (1881) he had also failed in business at Tennille, Georgia; so that he really came to Texas, in the year named, after having met with his second adversity. From Houston he removed to Cleburne, central Texas, where he bought cotton and engaged in the coal and grain business. His transactions in cotton were both in the foreign and domestic trade, and were so disastrous as to force him across the Red river into Oklahoma, in 1899. A man fifty-eight years of age, of varied business experience, he was still undaunted, and finding no other opening went into the cottonfield and drew his wages as a picker. He next kept books forAnderson Brothers, at Terral, and then ventured into the restaurant business as a proprietor, and subsequently purchased a stock of merchandise. He has continued in the mercantile business with unflagging zeal, confidence and characteristic ability, and may yet retire from his strenuous career in well deserved affluence.
     The parents of Benjamin H. Sanders were John T. and Mary (Howell) Sanders, his father being a slave-owning farmer in South Carolina. The elder Sanders was left an orphan when a small boy, accumulated some real estate and personal property before the war, and by that event was practically divested of his possessions. Both father and mother died in South Carolina, the former in 1885, their children being: William C., who died at Atlanta, Georgia, and was a member of a firm of cotton brokers (Inman & Company) ; Benjamin H., of this notice; Sue and Julia, who died single; Henrietta, who married a Mr. Williams and died in South Carolina, and Emma, who became the wife of Carlton Brown and passed away at Savannah, Georgia. In 1872 Benjamin .H. Sanders was married in Jasper county, Georgia, to Miss Bettie Leverett, daughter of W. C. Leverett, a farmer of that county. Two children were born to them,—Lyman, who married Anna Eakin and died in San Angelo, Texas, leaving [page 277] one child, Annie Lee; and Lela Sanders, who died in Texas unmarried.

-277-
cont.

DR. FINIS W. EWING, an active and rising young physician of Terral, Jefferson county, comes of a famous professional family of the south, his father having long been a practitioner of prominence in the medical field. He is a native of Johnson county, Missouri, born on the 10th of January, 1876, and after receiving a good common school education he pursued the more advanced studies is the Kansas City High School. Graduating from the latter, he soon after took up his professional studies, was matriculated in the Kansas City Medical College, from which he graduated in 1899. He then came direct to Terral, and after a year's practice removed to Blue Grove, Texas. Another year of professional work there was followed by a return to Terral, where he has since resided and established a practice which is large and lucrative, yet select. He is a member of the Jefferson County Medical Association and the Northwest Texas Medical Association, to both of which he has contributed, valuable papers. Dr. Ewing's people have always affiliated with the Democratic party, and he has acted with the organization since he became a voter. He was active in the first political campaign of the county Democracy in 1907, being secretary of the county committee, as well as secretary of the Fifth Congressional Convention, which met at Hobart in that year. Professionally, the Doctor is local surgeon of the Rock Island Railway, and fraternally is past master of the Blue Lodge of Masons, and past grand of the Subordinate Lodge of Odd Fellows.
     Dr. Lee D. Ewing, the father of Finis W., was born in Lafayette county, Missouri, in July, 1847, and in 1870 graduated from St. Louis Medical College. He has since been engaged in successful practice at Ringgold, Texas, except during the construction of the Fort Sill, Texas & Oklahoma Telephone Company's lines. Having originated and promoted this extensive public enterprise, he had active charge of the construction of this System, which for a time he also operated. This broad and useful work absorbed all histime and strength to the complete exclusion of his practice, but having placed the telephone system in working order he sold the plant and returned to his professional work. He has been financially and professionally successful, in the highest sense of the word, having ac-

-278-

cumulated valuable property interests in Terral and elsewhere, and his capital has otherwise assisted in the substantial prosperity of Terral and the place of his residence. The elder Dr. Ewing is an old soldier of the Confederacy, enlisting in Texas and serving for two years and a half under the noted General Kirby Smith. During this period he was captured and exchanged. In 1892 he removed from Johnson county, Missouri, to his present location in Texas. The paternal grandfather was Henry H. Ewing, a native of Tennessee who, in turn, was the son of Rev. Finis Ewing, of Cumberland, that state, pastor of the local church and one of the founders of the Cumberland Presbyterian church. He died at the scene of his pioneer labors in behalf of that denomination. Henry H. Ewing came to Texas before the Civil war and farmed in Travis county until 1866, when he returned to Missouri and died in Vernon countv three
years later. He married Martha, daughter of Judge Ephraim Ewing, one of the judges of the Missouri Supreme Court, who passed his life in that state. The children of this union were: F. Y., of Harwood county, Missouri; Perry, of Canadian, Texas; Mrs. R. A. Barr, of Kansas City, Missouri, and Dr. Lee D. Ewing. The last named married Elizabeth Harris, daughter of Duke Harris, who came from Lexington, Kentucky, in 1866, and located in Lexington, Missouri. He was a landowner, had been a Confederate soldier and died in 1868. Mrs. Ewing died at Ringgold, Texas, in 1899, the mother of the following: Delmer H., of Lawrence, Kansas; Dr. Finis W., of this notice; Dieugueid, wife of P. F. Briscoe, of Terral; Lee B., of Fort Worth, Texas, and Forest C., also of Terral. At Blue Grove, Texas, on November 21, 1900, Dr. Finis W. Ewing married Sallie E., daughter of James M. Watts, a pioneer of Texas, who was originally from Florida. By the marriage of the latter to Marian Hughes he became the father of the following: William E., of Clebume, Texas; Arch, of the same place; Marion L., of Decatur, Texas; Thomas J., of Blue Grove; Addie, wife of E. J. Brown, of Cleburne, Texas, and Mrs. Dr. Ewing. The issue of the marriage of Dr. and Mrs. Ewing are: Finis W., Jr., born December 19, 1903; Marion L., born October 4, 1905, and Marguerite, born November 11, 1907.

-278-
cont.

JOSEPH H. PEALOR, a substantial farmer, proprietor of a busy gin at Terral, and a householder and citizen of sterling worth, is a representative of that fine type of Oklahoma settler who, over the rough path of adversity, has mounted to a firm foothold of independence.. He was born in Drew county, Arkansas, February 16, 1859, his father (with his family) moving to Austin, Texas, during the period of the Civil war. In that city Joseph H. was reared and received his education, first in its public schools and then at the GermanAmerican Academy. Later he became a carpenter, and when twenty years of age he accompanied his parents to Bastrop county, Texas, where the real work of his life commenced. For eleven years he was employed as a, gin man on Elm creek, and then removed to Ford county, that state, to engage in wheat raising, then extensively prosecuted in that section of Texas. On account of successive drouths, however, the four years there spent were so unprofitable that on his return, stopping at Belcherville, just twenty dollars remained in his pocket of all his worldly possessions. With this as a basis for a "new start," he bargained for some old machinery and erected a little gin on Red creek, east of Terral, running it for three years with indifferent results. He then moved his plant to town, and operated it until it burned uninsured, his obligations now consisting not only of the undischarged portion of indebtedness incurred by the purchase of the plant, but the added loss by fire. Encouraged by his creditors, who had unshaken faith in him, he made contracts for new machinery and erected another plant. This he has since thoroughly modernized, having now five seventy-saw Munger gins with Lumpkins air blast. When it is unseasonable for ginning operations, Mr. Pealor cultivates his leased farm of 1,100 acres. He also owns a comfortable home in Terral and a small farm near town, so that he is now classed as one of the well-to-do, progressive settlers of the locality.
     The first of the family to come to the United States was a Frenchman, known as Pealore orPelow, one of the patriots who accompanied Lafayette to this country to assist the American cause. After the Revolutionary war, in which he played a good part, he founded a home near Lancaster, Pennsylvania, where one of his sons married Margaret Miller and became a well known millwright of that section. They had two children, of whom Joseph, the first born, became the father of our subject; the daughter, Ann, married a Mr. Wingard,

-279-

moved to Ohio with her husband, and in that state the family spent their lives. Joseph Pealor wedded Nancy A. Jane Red, daughter of Robert Red, of Edgefield district, South Carolina, whither the husband had migrated from Pennsylvania. During the Civil war be removed to Texas, his first location being in Wharton county, whence, after a residence of three years, he went to Austin, the state capital. There, for some time, he followed his trade as a cabinet maker. Before mastering this vocation he had pursued a course in dentistry in one of the Philadelphia institutions, and practiced the profession in Arkansas and Texas until after the Rebellion, when he resumed his trade as a means of livelihood. On leaving Austin, Texas, he took his family to Bastrop county, built a small gin there, and after being thus occupied for five years died in 1884. He was sixty-nine years of age at the time of his decease, having been born in Philadelphia in the year 1815. Joseph H. Pealor, the son, was married in Bastrop counTexas, to Viola Perry, daughter of Dr. J. F. and Martha (Edward) Perry. They came from Kansas to the Lone Star state, and the children of their union were W. Frank and Viola Virginia (Mrs. Pealor). The only child of Mr. and Mrs. Pealor is James Perry Pealor, a native of Ford county.

-279-
cont.

HENRY W. FLOYD. Hastings became a town in 1902. One of its pioneer settlers was Henry W. Floyd, the history of whose activities since then contains the resume of the most important points in the town's development. He has been a town builder because of unstinted contributions of time and money to promoting the welfare of Hastings. He was
chiefly instrumental in securing title to the townsite and thus effecting a substantial means of growth. He was chosen justice of the peace for the purpose of being able to prosecute the work of clearing up the town's title. After a determination of the real powers of that officer by the courts, it was found that the mayor and not the justice of the peace was the chief officer of the town. But he proceeded with great rapidity in the work as he had begun, and within a few months his mission was accomplished when it became possible to issue clear and sufficient deeds to the owners of the town lots. His work in this connection must be remembered as one of the important achievements by which the town was founded.
     As is well known, public education in the towns of the Territory was until recently largely left to voluntary co-operation of the residents. The school indebtedness of Hastings became a serious obstacle to its progress. A committee was appointed to handle the matter, and with this committee Mr. Floyd worked out a problem of finance that is a matter of gratification. While safeguarding the effectiveness of the schools, the result has been that, the public taxes of the year 1908, had they not been remitted, would have placed the educational matters of the town out of debt. Mr. Floyd has served as president of the Southwestern Academy, now the Eaptist College of Hastings. He helped organize the Union Sunday school, the first that was started in Hastings, and helped sustain it as a contributor of time and money. He is a member of the Christian church.
     As a business man, Mr. Floyd has also been identified with the town from its beginning. He was one of the pioneer merchants, put up a wooden building, twenty by forty feet, and installed a stock of dry goods valued at four thousand dollars. That was an ample establishment for the time, and an that his personal resources could maintain. Both town and his own business grew, and within three years his success warranted the construction of a one-story brick building on the same lot, 25 by 80 feet in dimensions, and in it he placed a stock of dry goods and clothing valued at $15,000. When financial difficulties overtooK the Hastings Brick Company, Mr. Floyd came to its assistance and as president of the company soon placed it on firm financial foundation.
     Henry W. Floyd was born in Lawrence county; Tennessee, September 28, 1852. His grandparents, Merrit and (Sands) Floyd, were early Virginia settlers of this section of Tennessee. Merrit Floyd, being opposed to slavery, moved to Sangamon county, Illinois, about 1862, where he passed away. Some of his children, however, upheld the cause of the Confederacy. His children were: Paralee, wife of John L. Burton, who moved to Missonri and died there; Ann, who married Ransom Ayres and spent her life in Tennessee; Loulsa and Teresa, both died single; Cahal, died in Tennessee during the war: William, father of the Hastings business man; Blackburn and George, who went to Illinois with their father and passed their lives in Sangamon county; Wilson, who died in Missouri. William Floyd, who died in Maury county,

-280-

Tennessee, May 22, 1861, aged thirty years, married Nancy McNiel, daughter of Hugh McNiel, a farmer from Virginia, and had the following children: Henry W., of Hastings; Sallie, wife of Henry Love, of Maury county, Tennessee; Cahal and Lucy, of Maury county, the latter being the wife of David Hicks; William and Allen, also of the home county in Tennessee; Nancy Floyd, after the death of her first husband, married again, and by this husband, named Voss, had three children, Elihu, Emma and Tenny.
     Henry W. Floyd, being nine years of age when his father died, soon after had to contribute his assistance to the support of the family, which had been left without means. When thirteen years old he hired out to a farmer for whom he worked eight years, and for the first four years gave half of his wages to his mother, who was still striving to support the family. Throughout this eight years he was able to attend school but for one three months' term. He studied alone and gained at least a fair share of the rudiments of education. At an early age he married and began farming with only a team and wagon and fifty dollars in cash, besides a few household effects. With this inadequate equipment he rented a few acres and by the application of industry and persistent good management became known in the community as a very able farm manager, and ultimately leased a tract of four hundred acres for seven years. After renting for sixteen years he came west with sufficient accumulations to engage in business. Before moving to Hastings he was engaged for a time in merchandising at Comanche. Mr. Floyd is a member of the Masonic and Odd Fellows fraternities, and in the former has passed all the chairs of Meathery Lodge, No. 192, Hampshire, Tennessee. He was married, first, in Maury county, Tennessee, in March, 1871, to Celia J. Wetherly, daughter of John Wetherly. She died in February, 1885, the mother of: Idella, wife of Robert King, of Maury county; Ozro, a graduate of the Knoxville school of engineering and now a civil engineer of Thebes, Illinois; Earl, a graduate of the same school and an engineer with the Louisville and Nashville Railroad, stationed at Gallatin. Tennessee. For his second wife, Mr. Floyd married, February, 1889, Issia Delk, of Maury county, daughter of William Delk. She died at Hastings, December 26, 1904. She was the mother of Evan, Masel and Rosey.

-280-
cont.

JOSEPH M. STEPHENS. The Stephens Sanitarium of Hastings is the best known medical and surgical institution of Jefferson county. It was founded and has
since been managed by one of the earliest physicians of the town, Dr. Joseph M. Stephens, who possesses professional prominence and also a well marked position in the citizenship of his community. On moving to Hastings in 1902 he soon acquired an excellent practice and in the following years established his sanitarium. His friends warned him that such an institution in this locality would prove financially disastrous, however much it might be a credit to the profession of medicine, but he proceeded to carry out his plans undeterred. Within eighteent months from the opening of the sanitarium its patronage had repaid its original cost. The institution has become a popular one, and in it are treated all diseases except the contagious, surgery being the doctor's specialty. Besides his professional interests, Dr. Stephens is a partner in the Ostrander drug firm, is owner of the National Hotel building, and is a director of the First National Bank of Hastings. A Democrat in politics, and thoroughly public spirited in his citizenship, he is serving as city health officer and also as a member of the citv council.
     Dr. Stephens was bom in Denton county, Texas, February 1, 1872. His grandfather, Joseph, a native of Virginia, migrated to Kentucky when a young man, later settled the land on which stands the town of Bunceton, Missouri, and spent the remainder of his life in Pettis county, Missouri. His children were Thomas Benton, Andrew J., George, John D. and Sallie (the latter being the mother of Judge Wolfe of Sherman, Texas). Dr. Stephens' father was Andrew J., who moved to Denton county, Texas, during the Civil war, engaged in the stock business there, and continued it until the influx of settlement shut off the range, and then purchased a large ranch on the boundary lines of Knox, Baylor and King counties, where he carried on his successful enterprises until his death in 1901, when seventy-four years of age. He was a man of unusual business ability, had been a Confederate soldier, was a thorough Democrat, and as a strong friend of Governor Throckmorton had been offered political position, but declined. Andrew J. Stephens married Alla, daughter of John Holford, a Presbyterian

-281-

minister who spent his life near Sherman, Texas, where their marriage took place. Mrs. Stephens still resides at Aurora, Texas. Her children are: George, of Chandler, Texas; Lula, wife of John L. Slimp, of Amarillo, Texas; Walter L., who was killed at Fort Worth when nineteen; Dr. Joseph M.; Hattie, wife of R. Pink Boyd, of Boyd, Texas; and Thomas, of Rhome, Texas.
     Dr. Stephens attended Trinity University at Tehuacana, Texas, where, he graduated wifh the B. S. degree in 1889, and at once began preparing for his profession in the College of Physicians and Surgeons at St. Louis. On finishing his course in 1893, he began practice at Denison, Texas, later located in Decatur, Texas, and from there came to Hastings in 1902. Dr. Stephens was married in St. Louis, Missouri, August 3, 1902, to Miss Bertha Bickley, daughter of Mrs. Minerva E. Bickley. They have one son, Earl W.