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[pg. 497]L. YOUNT. In the annals of Ellis county, which, owing to its comparative youthfulness, are necessarily brief, the name of L. Yount, of Gage, holds an honored position among its active and valued citizens. A native of Ohio, he was born, November 9, 1851, in Miama county, where his early childhood days were spent. Taken by his parents to Iowa when he was five years of age, he was there bred and educated, until fourteen years old assisting his father in the labor incidental to an agricultural life.            [pg. 498]   Beginning the battle of life when very young, L. Yount worked for a while at various employments, subsequently being for twenty years identified with the music business of the Central states as a wholesale and retail dealer in pianos and organs, six years of the time having his headquarters at Kansas City, Missouri. He was afterward a travelling salesman for twenty-one years, continuing in that employment until 1897, when he located in that part of Woodward county now included within the boundaries of Ellis county. The ensuing nine years Mr. Yount was engaged in mercantile business at Gage, in his well-kept and wel-managed store carrying a complete stock of general merchandise. In 1906 he was elected city justice, and given charge of al1 business pertaining to elections, and is now serving as justice of the peace for the town and the county. In his present official position, Mr. Yount is giving most satisfactory service, his rulings being almost invariably considered just and commendable. He has achieved success in financial matters, owning town property of value, including his store building.
     Mr. Yount married, in 1872, Evelyn Park, and their pleasant home is a center of social activity, ever open to their many friends and acquaintances. A stanch Republican in politics, Mr. Yaunt has been an able assistant in winning Elis county over to his party, making it a Republican stronghold. Fraternally he is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and does what he can to promote the good of that organization.

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cont.

J. W. McNEAL, president of the National Bank of Commerce, Guthrie, has been a resident of Oklahoma since the opening of the country to white settlement, April 22, 1889, During this period of nearly two decades he has also lived in Guthrie, and, with a long and varied experience behind him as cattle raiser, lawyer, county official and successful man of affairs, he established a private banking business at once, and since that time has continually developed his interests is that line until he stands among the leading bankers of the state. On July 1, 1890, he merged his private interests with the Guthrie National Bank, which was the first institution of the kind to be chartered by the territory, and in 1902 he disposed of his holdings in the bank. Until July 1, 1904, he did not engage in active business, but then became one of the principal incorporators of the National Bank of Commerce. He has since been its president; L. W. Baxter is now vice-president; H. C. Arnold, cashier, and R. E. Cardwell, assistant cashier. The directors are the officers named, with Ed C. Petersen. The National Bank of Commerce is capitalized at $100,000, has a surplus of $50,000, its deposits are over $500,000 and for several years it has been a United States depository.
     President McNeal is a native of Marion county, Ohio, born in the year 1851. As the family settled in that section of the. state in 1819 it was an undoubted element in the pioneer agriculture of the northwest. The grandfather had been a Pennsylvania farmer and when he moved to Ohio to carve out a farm and establish another home in that frontier country his son, Allen, was twelve years of age. This son could not but become a farmer, and when his condition would warrant it married Rachel Brownlee, a native of Washington county, Pennsylvania, of Scotch descent. After their marriage at the home of the bride they returned to Marion county, which thereafter was their home. The mother died in 1860, when J. W. was nine years of age, the father surviving until 1884, or until his seventy-seventh year. Allen McNeal not only prospered as a farmer, but was a man of active and influential citizenship, being for some time colonel in the state militia and of such prominence as a Republican that he received the nomination for Congress.
     J. W. McNeal is one of eight children; a sister, Mrs. Lizzie McNeal, resides at Guthrie; a brother, T. A. McNeal, is editor of the Mail and Breeze, of Topeka, Kansas; others are scattered throughout the country and some have died. As a youth of nineteen, after receiving a good common school education, he left his Ohio home for the west. He resided successively in Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri and Kansas prior to entering Oklahoma at the time of the opening in 1889. He farmed, raised cattle, read law, was admitted to the bar and practiced for five years while a resident of Kansas. In that state he became a leading Republican and served at different times as county commissioner, county treasurer and county attorney. His record as a banker since coming to Guthrie has already been given. In Masonry he also stands high, having joined the order since becoming a resident of this city and being now a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite at Guthrie, and a Shriner

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at Oklahoma City. In religion, he is a member of the Presbyterian church. He is one of the active directors and has for many years been treasurer of the Oklahoma Historical Society.
     Mr. McNeal was married at Medicine Lodge, Kansas, to Miss Mary S. Iliff, a native of Iowa, but a resident of Kansas from early girlhood. Mrs. McNeal is also a Presbyterian. The children born to them have been, Ethel M., now the wife of A. J. Niles, cashier of the Farmers and Merchants Bank of Mountain View (Oklahoma), paymaster general of the state militia and formerly adjutant general under Governor Frantz; Lizzie B. and Ruby K., living at home; and Paul, employed at the National Bank of Commerce of Guthrie.

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cont.

CHARLES NATHANIEL HASKELL was inaugurated the first governor of the state of Oklahoma, at high noon, November 16, 1907. He was then forty-seven years old, a lawyer by profession, but during most of his active career had been identified with more constructive enterprises. Until his entrance into the field of politics, and his rapid rise to prominence during, the statehood movement, he was probably the most active promoter of large industrial and business affairs in the city of Muskogee. One of the current bits of news concerning the governor is to the effect that when he arrived in Muskogee in 1901, he found the capital of the Creek Nation a dry, sleepy village of some four thousand, five hundred people, but that immediately on his arrival, the town took new life, business blocks were constructed (the governor built the first five-story business block in the Territory), street car lines and railroads were promoted, and through his influence Muskogee grew to be a center of business arid industry with twenty thousand inhabitants.
     Governor Haskell impresses the stranger who is unacquainted with his identity as governor, first of all, by his evident business ability, and this distinction of practical and astute executive capacity is more prominent than some of the less-valuable characteristics that are often associated with statesmanship. In dealing with Mr. Haskell, either in official or business affairs, one would expect straightforward, incisive handling of the subject under consideration. Circumlocution and specious argument would be out of place in the governor's office.
     Governor Haskell had been identified with Indian Territory nearly seven years before he became governor. He came to Muskogee in March, 1901, as a railroad contractor, and has the honor of having organized and built all the railroads running into that city with the exception of the M. K. & T., these being the O. & C. c., now part of the Frisco, the Muskogee Union and the Midland Valley, formerly the Muskogee Southern. It is said that he built and owned fourteen brick buildings in the city.
     By birth and early training he was identified with the old state of Ohio. Born at West Leipsic, Putman county, in 1860, the son of a cooper who died when the boy was three years old, he had to begin life at an early age and worked hard for all he has attained. He became, when ten years old, hired boy to a farmer named Miller in Putman county, and grew towards manhood and developed strength and capacity during the eight years that he continued that relationship. Too much work interfered with regular attendance at school, and in studying books he experienced difficulties similar to many described in the careers of other eminent Americans. At eighteen he had fitted himself for the responsibility of teaching district school, and for three years he taught in his native county. By 1880, having studied law in connection with other duties, he had become one of the successful lawyers of the county-seat, Ottawa, and was also an influential Democrat in that section of Ohio. To that profession, in 1888, he added the practical phases of general contractor work, and for about sixteen years his business career brought him into close touch with this important department of American industrialism.
     The political career of Mr. Haskell included as its first important event his active membership in the Sequoyah convention, in which he wrote a large part of the Sequoyah constitution. With this he became a permanent power in the politics of Indian Territory. For the constitutional convention called in response to the enabling act of June 16, 1906, he was elected a delegate from the seventy-sixth district, including Muskogee, by the largest majority of any member in the entire new state. Mr. Haskell owned the New State Tribune, and through its editorial columns advocated certain specific propositions for the new constitution, most of which he eventually saw, in substance if not in form, incorporated in the basic law. Among these provisions were some that affected the labor problems, and which

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had been advocated by representatives of organized labor. It is said that Governor Haskell, during his business experience covering, many years of handling and dealing with the various classes of labor, was particula.r1y successful in avoiding difficulties, and never had a strike among his men. In 1905, when all the contractors of Indian Territory were having trouble with the labor unions, he immediately signed the scale and his men lost not an hour.
     As constitutional delegate, Mr. Haskell was present at every roll-call and voted on every proposition during the eighty-seven days of the session. At Tulsa on March 26, 1907, during the recess before the final adoption of the constitution by the convention, was held the big Democratic banquet and love feast, attended by five or six hundred of the leading Democrats of the new state, at which the first campaign was formally inaugurated. It was during the course of that evening that Charles N. Haskell was presented by his friends for the honors of the gubernatorial candidacy. Thomas Doyle, of Perry, and Lee Cruce, of Ardmore, were already in the field for the governorship, and with the primaries set for June 8, Haskell had only brief time to present his cause to the people. During the campaign, Mr. Haskell made eighty-eight speeches in forty-five days, and reached nearly every county, while the lieutenants of the respective candidates were vigorously working in the school districts and securing support in every community. The intensity of the campaign will long be remembered by those who passed through it. Haskell's victory in the primaries was carried by over four thousand majority, and he immediately confronted a new opponent in the opposite party, the Republican territorial governor, Frank Frantz, who was nominated at Tulsa. A former Rough Rider, a friend of the president, and with the federal prestige and support backing him, he was the strongest candidate the party could have presented. There were several interesting features of the campaign between the two candidates. Mr. Haskell challenged his opponent to joint public discussions throughout the state, and every problem concerned with the administration of the new state came up and was debated during the campaign. It is claimed that the large corporate interests of the country joined in the opposition to the Democratic candidate, and that material support was furnished Haskell's opponent by the railroads and other trust interests. It is of interest to recall that both Mr. Bryan and Mr. Taft spoke during the campaign, and the latter's disapproval of the constitution and his advice that the people vote against it undoubtedly reacted in favor of Democratic success. After Mr. Haskell's election and the approval of the constitution on September 17, a Republican approached the governor-elect and is reported to have said, "You have so written the constitution and carried on this fight in a way that the Republicans can't get anything in the state for fifty years." Mr. Haskell's eyes had a twinkle in them when he rejoined, "Well, that's soon enough, isn't it?"
     It is too early to summarize the work of the first executive of the state, but it seems just to state that above the confusion and small talk of party and factional politics, an observer can recognize an increasing sentiment and belief that the governor is a strong and effective leader, an organizer of variant factions when possible, and a fighter when necessary, and that besides being successful in the game of politics, he has also shown the qualities of fearlessness and initiative that mark statesmanship and devotion to the public welfare. It will be interesting to know how closely future historians will identify his name with the constructive legislation and administration of the new state.
     Mr. Haskell was married October, 1881, to Miss Lucye Pomeroy, of Ottawa, Ohio. The three older children are by this marriage—Norman, a Muskogee lawyer; Murray, a bank cashier; and Lucie. Their mother died in March, 1888, and for his present wife, Mr. Haskell married Lillie Gallup, also of Ottawa, Ohio. Their three children, Frances, Joe and Jane, are charming young folks in the younger social set of the capital.

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cont.

ROBERT L. WILLIAMS, chief justice of the supreme court of Oklahoma, located at Atoka on July 10, 1896. After about six months he removed to Durant in the Choctaw Nation, and has resided there ever since. He was the first attorney for the town of Durant, elected without being an applicant for the position; was a member of the constitutional convention from the 109th (Durant) district, and was elected one of the first justices of the supreme court of the state of Oklahoma, and on the organization of that court was elected the first chief justice of the supreme court.
     In the constitutional convention he was a member of the committees on public service

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corporations, judiciary, revenue and taxation, legislative department, and primary elections, being chairman of the committee on public service corporations; was also chairman of the legal advisory committee, in the constitutional convention, and author of the public service corporation provisions incorporated in article 9 of the constitution of the state. He is also author of the two-cent fare and the fellow servant provisions incorporated therein, and of the provision therein to the effect that every license issued or charter granted to a mining or public service corporation, foreign or domestic, shall contain a stipulation that such corporation will submit any difference it may have with employes in reference to labor, to arbitration, as shall be provided by law, the first time that any such provision has ever been incorporated ion a statute or in any constitution. In the year 1904, at the National Democratic Convention in St. Louis, he was selected and became a member of the Democratic national committee from the Indian Territory.
     Robert L. Williams was born on a farm near Brundidge, Pike county, Alabama, on the 20th day of December, 1868. His great grandfather on his paternal side, Jonathan Williams, was born about 1772 in Connecticut, his father having immigrated to North America from Wales about the middle part of the century. Young Jonathan Williams while a boy, according to the Puritan custom, became an apprentice at the mechanic's trade; but tiring of the Puritanical methods, about the time he reached his majority- he migrated to North Carolina, and settled near Wilmington, where he married a Miss Cowart, who was likewise of English extraction. The paternal grandfather was the Rev. Simeon Williams, who was born in North Carolina near Wilmington about the year 1796, and about the year 1824 with his father, the said Jonathan Williams, and his brother, the Rev. Elisha Williams, and another brother by the name of Jack Williams, settled on Bear Creek in Pike county, Alabama, the settlement being known as "Williams' Settlement," and in which is located a Methodist church, which is known even at this time as "Williams' church." The paternal grandmother of the chief justice was an Adams. The Williamses and Cowarts from the earliest days of the Republic have always been Democrats. The Adamses were Whigs.
     Judge Williams' father is Jonathan Williams, who was named after his grandfather, and resides at the present time in Pike county, Alabama, within three miles of where he was born. His mother was Miss Sarah Julia Paul. Her father was named Robert Paul, who died in the Confederate service near Richmond, Virginia, being an officer in the Fifteenth Alabama Regiment. Moses Paul, the grandfather on the maternal side was a hardshell Baptist preacher, and the maternal grandmother was a Stallings. The Pauls were Irish people; the Stallings were English, and all settled in South Carolina and Georgia, and were Democrats from the earliest days.
     When a boy, Robert L. Williams had the advantages of a country school, and also fair advantages of a village school up to the time he was sixteen years old. At which time he went to work for himself and earned sufficient money to pay his way through college, and was educated at Southern University at Greensboro, Alabama.

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cont.

JOHN H. BURFORD. In the history of the territory of the supreme court of Oklahoma the majority of the decisions and the direction of its opinions were in a great part molded by the influence of its chief justice, John H. Burford, who held this office, under federal appointment, from 1898 until the territory passed out of existence in 1907. Judge Burford was one of the revered figures in the history of Oklahoma Territory and though now engaged in private practice of law maintains the dignity and distinction which were his with connection with the chief court of the territory.
     John H. Burford came to Oklahoma soon after its opening up for settlement having located at Oklahoma City in July, 1890. He was president of the early Mercer Club of the city and was active in promoting the statehood organization, as has been mentioned elsewhere in the general history of the state. For the first eighteen months of his residence in the state he was register of the United States Land Office at Oklahoma City and was then appointed associate justice of the supreme court of Oklahoma, located at El Reno. This first connection with the territorial court lasted four years and his duties in the new country were such that he has the distinction of holding the first terms of court in some nine or ten. of the new counties that have recently been opened by presidental [presidential] proclamation, and included in Oklahoma Territory. At that time

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the lack of railroad facilities compelled him to travel by team to court and he often camped out at night when traveling from one session to another. His appointment as chief justice was followed by successive reappointments so he had a continuous term of service from that time until his removal to Guthrie where he is now engaged in the practice of law.
     Judge John H. Burford was born in Parke county, Indiana, in 1852, his parents being farmers. His education was received at the State University of Indiana and after graduating from the law department in 1874, he took up the practice of law at Crawfordsville, Indiana, where he was married in 1876 to Miss Mary A. Clark. Their son, Frank B., was a graduate of the Guthrie high school and the Kansas State University and of the law department of the University of Virginia, and is now a practicing attorney at Bartlesville, Oklahoma. Fraternally, Judge Burford is a Mason, belonging to the Knight Templar organization at El Reno and the Shrine at Oklahoma City.

-502-
cont.

H. HANCOCK, cashier of the Citizens' State Bank of Blair, and a member of the firm of Sanders & Hancock, which transacts a business in real estate, farm loans and insurance, has been prominent in the development of this section of Jackson county since the building of the town. He is a native of Tennessee, born on the 3rd of January, 1878, and is a son of Christopher C. and Priscilla J. (Donnell) Hancock. His parents were also both born in that state, where they were also married. John Hancock, the paternal grandfather, a native of North Carolina, was a prominent planter and slave owner who settled in Tennessee, dying in the state prior to the Civil war. He became the father of these children—Wesley, Mart, and James, all farmers and stock men; Eli, who died in California; John who moved to Arkansas in an early day; and Christopher C., the father of H.
     Mr. Hancock, of this sketch, was brought by his parents to Texas when he was a young boy, and in years became a thorough farmer and stock raiser. His earlier years were spent in McLellan county, and when he was eighteen the family removed to Greer county, Oklahoma. The son received a common and high school education, and afterward pursued a normal course at the University of Oklahoma, as well as a business course at the Chillicothe Normal and Business College, Chillicothe, Missouri. In 1902 he assisted in the organization of the Blair State Bank, the first financial institution of the town, with a capital of $5,000 and the following officers: A. L. Elliott, president; F. R. Wildman, vice-president; H. Hancock, cashier, and James W. Sanders, stockholder and director. The last named is also a member of the real estate firm then formed of Sanders & Hancock. This first banking enterprise continued successfully for eighteen months under the above management, when it was transferred to the present owners, who are still conducting it. In 1903 the firm also made a more permanent organization in the realty and insurance business, adding to their patrons a number of standard insurance companies and enlarging- the scope of their transactions in town property and farm lands and loans. In 1906 Sanders & Hancock assisted in the organization of the Citizens' State Bank of Blair, capitalized at $10,000, with J. D. Tinsley president, J. W. Reid vice-president, H. Hancock cashier and J. W. Sanders stockholder and director. The present division of duties throws the active management of the bank upon Mr. Hancock, while Mr. Sanders has immediate supervision of the realty and insurance business. The result is that their large and complicated interests are conducted with precision, smoothness and most profitable results. As manager of the banking interests, Mr. Hancock is conservative, courteous, practical and judicious, and the bank has greatly prospered accordingly. During the late stringency it issued some cashiers' checks, and in the cotton season it handled 3,000 of the 5,000 bales marketed in Blair. The bank has fully conformed to the guarantee law of the state, so that its depositors are well protected.
     Christopher Hancock, the father, married and settled on a farm in Tennessee, and was a prosperous planter until the opening of the Civil war. He served bravely until the very close of the conflict, being attached to General Forrest's famous cavalry during nearly the entire period. He participated in many severe engagements and hard campaigns, and upon one occasion was sent to hospital with a bullet wound through his body. Upon his recovery he promptly and eagerly rejoined his regiment. He finally served as an escort to Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederacy, on his way to Macon, Georgia, where it was expected at the time that he would

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surrender the remnants of the southern armies. Mr. Hancock received a most honorable discharge, as far as his Confederate superiors were concerned, and returned to his Tennessee farm, engaging both in agricultural and stock raising operations until 1884, when he located in McLellan county, Texas, to continue in those lines under more free and favorable conditions. In 1896 he disposed of his large interests there and came to Greer county, Oklahoma, at the first opening of lands in that section of the territory, being the third man to file a claim among the new comers. He improved his claim with industry and good judgment, and in 1905, his fortunes still further advanced, sold his property and bought four sections of good land in Hansford county, Texas. Thither he took a herd of cattle, and has since developed large stock interests in that locality, and placed 400 acres under thorough and profitable cultivation. His improvements have been permanent and modern, and he is a well-to-do and highly respected citizen of the Lone Star state. His wife was formerly known as Priscilla J. Donnell, a niece of Robert Donnell, one of the stanch promoters and reformers at the Cumberland Presbyterian church. The children born to their marriage have been as follows: Birkey, a farmer; Jesse C., a farmer and stock raiser, and H. Hancock. The last named was married in Oklahoma in 1906 to Miss Mayme Wilson, a Kentucky girl born in 1890, a daughter of John H. Wilson, a well-known farmer. Mr. Wilson is a Republican and served as a lieutenant in the Union army during the Civil war. He was a farmer and lumberman in Kentucky until 1904, when he located at Blair and engaged in the furniture business and also dealt in coal. Selling this business, he returned to the more familiar avocation of farming. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church South and of the Masonic fraternity, and is a useful and honorable citizen. The children of his family are: Ticia, now Mrs. Sandusky; Alice, Mrs. Harvey; Ada, Mrs. N. Aiken, all still living in Kentucky; Ora, Mrs. L. Aiken who lives near Watonga, Oklahama; Rutick, a farmer of Hill county, Texas; Amon, still at home; Mayme, Mrs. H. Hancock; E. O., living also at home; and Alta, Mrs. J. Fletcher, of Blair, Oklahoma. Mr. Hancock is an active member of the I. O. O. F., having filled all the local chairs and served as representative to the grand lodge. In his religious faith he adheres to Unitarianism. He has served as treasurer of his township, also, as justice of the peace; and bas been a notary public for over six years.

-503-
cont.

JESSE P. ORR, editor and proprietor of the Altus News, the leading Democratic Organ of Jackson county, Oklahoma, is also a lawyer, has served on the Texas bench, was a successful school teacher prior to his admission to the bar, and is in every way a determined, rugged and broad man, who has attained a high standing wherever he has resided and labored by his ability and honorable force of character. He is a native of Ohio, born February 8, 1850, son of John T. and Jane (Thompson) Orr respectively of Pennsylvania and the Buckeye state. He is of a north of Ireland Protestant family, the paternal grandfather, who first came to America, located with his family in Pennsylvania. The father was a wood turner in his earlier years, but afterward farmed in Illinois, and the son, Jesse P., assisted him in bath of these avocations.
     Mr. Orr's education was so neglected in his earlier years that when he was eighteen years of age he had only a passable knowledge of reading and writing and had barely mastered the multiplication table. But his determination and ambition were proof against unfavorable circumstances, and he commenced to study nights (often well into the morning), thinking nothing of walking four miles to school after many strenuous hours of work and study. Such work soon commenced to advance him in his studies, and he finally completed a high school course and received a teacher's certificate. The money which he earned in his district school labors enabled him to attend the United Brethren College at Westfield, Illinois, where he again demonstrated his capacity for hard work and his aptness as a pupil by completing the three years' course in seventeen months. Thus qualified to assume positions of greater responsibility, Mr. Orr became principal of the public schools at Ludlaw, Illinois; and one step in advance only led to another. He now commenced to carry out a resolve which had formed in his mind through these years of onward struggling, and in 1875 begun his legal studies under Captain T. J. Smith. In 1877 he came to Dallas, Texas, and later taught a district school south of Fort Worth for a period of three years.
     Judge Orr was admitted to the bar at Fort Worth, Texas, on July 3, 1879, and there commenced the practice of his profes-

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sion, but after a few months located at Throckmorton, where he continued until 1882. In the year named he removed to Vernon, Texas, where he engaged in private practice and was also elected both county attorney and county judge, being chosen to the judgeship over two opponents. After serving in the latter capacity for two terms of two years each, he established the Vernon Globe, a weekly Democratic paper, which, within the succeeding six years, he developed into the leading Democratic journal of the county. In March, 1900, he founded the Altus News, placed it in charge of a competent manager, and in the following year discontinued the Vernon Globe and removed his entire plant to Altus, the combination making his office complete and up-to-date. At the same time he transferred his family residence to Altus, thus doubly making of himself a permanent citizen. Since that time he has made the News the leading Democratic paper of the county, with the greatest influence and largest circulation. When the proposition was made by the constitutional convention for the division of Greer county and the erection of Jackson county, thereof, Mr. Orr and his paper were foremost in its support. It was largely through his efforts that the fight was so decisively won. He also used his strong abilities and influence in getting the railroads to Altus; and was at the head of the tree-planting movement by which the town square was transformed into a beautiful grove. No proposition in the line of wise public improvement has been advanced, since he became a resident of Altus that has failed to receive his effective aid, and in many instances he has been the originator. He has not only conducted a live influential paper, but his job office is one of the necessary industries of the place. He is still serving as alderman of the First ward; resides in a large modern residence in the midst of forest and fruit trees, and is one of the most substantial citizens of the place, who is thoroughly convinced that industry, economy and fair judgment will bring advancement to anyone who chooses to locate at Altus or in the vicinity.
     Thomas Orr, the paternal grandfather who emigrated from the north of Ireland to Pennsylvania, passed the remainder of his life in that state, the father of the following: William H., Matthew, Robert, James, John T. (father of Jesse P.), and Susan (now Mrs. Ramsey). After his death Mr. Orr's widow married a Mr. Mitchell, by whom she had Samuel, Frank and Nannie. John T. Orr, the father, was born in Pennsylvania in 1820, migrating to Ohio in 1846 and continuing his trade of wood turning. He married in the Buckeye state and followed his trade until he removed to Illinois in 1867, when he engaged in farming. He remained thus engaged until his, children had all matured and were out in the world themselves. When his wife died in 1895 he was left alone, but remained on his Illinois farm until 1908, when he joined his son Jesse at Altus, where he now has a comfortable and congenial home, and at the age of eighty-eight is enjoying the rewards of a useful and industrious life, the least of which is not the affectionate reverence which he receives from his children. His wife was a daughter of Jesse T. Thompson, of Pennsylvania, a prominent farmer and local Methodist preacher who long lived and labored in Ohio, where he prospered and was also widely known for his unbending morality and strict integrity. Besides Mrs. John T. Orr, (the sixth in order of birth) the children of his family were Benton, John J., Milton (also a Methodist preacher), James (a farmer), Tennie (who remained single), Sarah, Mrs. Ellis and Samantha.
     The children born to Mr. and Mrs. John T. Orr were as follows: William, a farmer of Kansas; Jesse P.; Frank, a farmer residing near Tyrone, Oklahoma; and George and Matthew, both Illinois farmers. The deceased mother was an earnest Methodist, and John T. Orr is still steadfast in the faith. Jesse P. Orr married at Vernon, Texas, Mrs. Lizzie Hogsett, who is the mother of three children by her first husband. She was born in West Virginia, February 13, 1855, and is a daughter of Vinson King, a respected farmer who still resides in her native state. There are no children by the present marriage, but Mrs. Orr, by her first marriage, became the mother of the following: Samuel Hogsett, assistant cashier of the Waggoner National Bank of Vernon, Texas; Charles W. Hogsett, assistant cashier of the Altus National Bank, and Electa, who married J. E. McConnell, the merchant who is also identified with the bank at Frederick, Oklahoma.

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cont.

JAMES E. KELLY is editor and proprietor of the Eldorado Courier and United States land commissioner at Eldorado, Jackson county, being one of the strong Republicans and in

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luential men of southwest Oklahoma and especially representative of the vigorous and progressive younger element of the state. He was born at Winfield, Kansas, July 23, 1874, and is a son of the venerable and honored James Kelly, now a resident of Mangum, Greer county, who for so many years was a power in the Republican journalism of the southwest. James E. moved with the family from Kansas to Indian territory and Oklahoma, assisting his father in his various newspaper enterprises and becoming thoroughly competent in both the mechanical and editorial departments of the business. When the United States land office was opened at Mangum in 1896 and his father appointed to the receivership, the son removed to Altus (now Jackson county) and, although the place was then only a tiny settlement, established the Altus Plaindealer, a Republican weekly. The young man soon drew to it a good patronage and operated the printing plant successfully for five years, when he sold the entire business and located at Granite, Greer county. He there bought a one-half interest in the Granite Enterprise, a weekly Democratic paper, which he transformed into a strong Republican organ. In January, 1903, he advantageously disposed of his business, settled in Eldorado and purchased the Eldorado Light, also a weekly Democratic journal, which he also completely remodeled to Republican uses. He put in modern machinery and adopted power for not only his press but for all other branches of his business, changing the name of his paper to the Eldorado Courier, by which it has become favorably known as one of the most influential Republican weeklies in western Oklahoma. Mr. Kelly is strong with his party personally, and this fact, as well as his able executive qualities, was recognized by the national administration in his appointment as United States land commissioner in 1904. Well versed in civil law, as well as possessed of a large fund of common sense, he superintends the various steps in the perfecting of homestead titles and also handles all contests through the courts. In 1907 he was a candidate for representative of the state legislature, but although he polled a larger vote than any other Republican on the ticket it was not sufficient to elect him. He is an accepted leader in his part of the state, both in politics and journalism, and his citizenship is one of breadth, activity and superiority. Married at Eldorado in 1903 to Miss Clara B. Matlock, of Quanah, Texas, he has become the father of Josephine, born in February, 1904. His wife was born in Denton county, Texas, in 1887, and is a daughter of J. R. Matlock, a plasterer by trade, who has acquired considerable local prominence as a Democrat, having held the office of sheriff among other public preferments. He is the father of two daughters, Neva, the younger, being the wife of R. A. Brooks, deputy sheriff. Mrs. Kelly is an active worker in the Methodist church, and is president of the Ladies' Home Missionary Society, as well as of the Eastern Star lodge. Mr. Kelly is a stanch supporter of the fraternities, being a York Rite Royal Arch Mason, a Knight Templar, a Shriner, a member of the Knights of Pythias and of the Woodmen of the World.
     James Kelly, the father, has had a notable and most honorable career. When nine years of age he came from Scotland with his parents, and was reared on their farm in McDonough county, Illinois. He received a liberal education and chose the law as his profession, but his course was broken by his enlistment in the Union army and his service with the Army of the Tennessee throughout the entire period of the Civil war. At its close he returned to his Illinois home, completed his law studies, and then went west, locating at Winfield as a Kansas pioneer. He first located on a quarter section of land near that place, plowing the ground with an ox team, which he also used for all transportation purposes. Later he located in Winfield itself, which even then contained only about half a dozen houses. He was the first justice of the peace to serve in that town, later received the appointment of postmaster, and then founded the Winfield Courier which became the leading Republican organ for southwest Kansas. Throughout this period he practiced law, in connection with his other occupations. He also married his first wife at Winfield, Miss Augusta Polk, who was a native of Iowa. The years of his residence in Winfield gave him strong standing as a Republican, and in 1879 he closed out all his business interests at that point and started on a prospecting tour, which before its conclusion took him into old Mexico and resulted in his removal to Pratt county, Kansas, in

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1881. There he continued his law practice and became a leader in the contest which resulted in locating the county seat at Pratt. Later he founded the Pratt C 01tnty Times) and made it another leader of Republican journals in Kansas. Mr. Kelly remained thus engaged until the opening of the Cherokee strip in 1889, when he went to Alva, Woods county, Oklahoma, and established the Republican, whose development absorbed his entire time for two years, In 1893 he sold his newspaper business and located in Oklahoma City, there establishing Oklahoma City Daily Republican and giving vigorous support to McKinley and his administration for the two following years. His next move was to El Reno, where he purchased an interest in the Canadian County Republican and was its associate editor until the winter of 1895-6, Disposing then of his interest in the paper, he became a candidate for secretary of state, but met with such strong opposition that a compromise was effected with the party leaders by which he received the receivership of the United States land office at Mangum. He therefore removed from El Reno and opened the office July 3, 1896, continuing to perform the duties of the position with credit until his resignation four years later. He was then in his seventy-third year. In March, 1896, the United States supreme court had rendered its decision in the case of Fox versus the United States, settling the title of Greer county in favor of Oklahoma. Many settlers had taken and improved their sections of land under Texas laws, but under the jurisdiction of Oklahoma territory they would only be entitled to a quarter section as a homestead. Finally, however, through the efforts of James Kelly and others an arrangement was effected by which these homesteaders were allowed a second quarter section upon payment of $1.25 per acre. For the bringing about of this act of justice the elder Mr. Kelly is given his due share of high credit. He has also probably done as much as any other one man for the furtherance of Republicanism in Kansas, Indian territory and Oklahoma, and is well worthy a place in a history of this character. The first wife of James Kelly died in Winfield, Kansas, in 1879, leaving two children—James E., of this sketch, and Delphine, still unmarried. At Pratt, Kansas, Mr. Kelly married for his second wife Miss Maggie Nugent, of Indiana, by whom he became the father of Charles C., now a resident of Altus, Oklahoma, and Augusta, yet single. Mrs. Maggie Kelly died at Oklahoma City.

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cont.

DEWITT C. BUCK, M. D., an able practitioner and an active, influential citizen of Eldorado, Jackson county, is a native of Lexington, Mississippi, where he was born on, the third of January, 1869. His father was a leading planter of that section of the state, and the son was reared amid agricultural surroundings, receiving a good education in the common and high schools of his native place. At the age of twenty Dewitt commenced reading medicine with Dr. J. T. Buck, of Lexington, and after about a year, (in 1890) commenced a regular course at the medical department of the University of Kentucky, at Louisville. In March, 1892, he graduated from that institution with his degree of M, D. and in the following year located for practice at Anaqua, Texas.
     Dr. Buck remained at this point engaged in a growing practice from 1893 to 1898, when he established himself on a tract of land two miles west of the present site of Eldorado, bringing hither a bunch of cattle to tide himself over any professional contingency. His choice of a location was most fortunate, and at the founding of Eldorado he opened his office in that place and has thriven with its growth and waxed prosperous and prominent with its increase of business and commercial importance. For two years, however, the Doctor was obliged to keenly look after his stock and his practice, but at the plotting of Eldorado in 1901 he bought a lot and erecting the first dwelling house of the town, commenced his practice in the infant settlement. He has since remodeled his residence, making it into a modern and fine home, and has been closely identified with every step of Eldorado's progress from a paper town to a flourishing community of 1,000 people, with all branches of business well represented and a fine graded school in operation, attended by four hundred pupils. He has firmly established a large practice and gained the general confidence of the community in his professional ability and sterling character, and not content with attainments which were already thorough and broad, he has taken post-graduate studies in Chicago (1906) and is still an earnest student as well as a skilled practitioner. He is not only fully equipped with medical literature, but has a good library of ancient and modern works, of which he

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makes intelligent use and which is the source of much instruction to his associates. He has been president of the Eldorado school board for six years, during which period was erected the fine brick school house of eight rooms which is so creditable to the enterprise of the town. The system, in fact, is so thoroughly up-to-date that not a few scholars are drawn to Eldorado from surrounding districts. In his strictly professional relations, Dr. Buck is a member of the American Medical Association, and the State Medical Society, and was president of the first medical association of Jackson county. He erected the first brick business house jn the place, now occupied as a drug store, assisted in the organization of the First National Bank (of which he is a stockholder and director), and in the furtherance of railroad, as well as all other enterprises of practical promise, he has been among the foremost. In the Masonic fraternity he has attained to the Shriner degree, and has served for four years as master of the local lodge. His religious faith is Methodism.
     In 1892 Dr. Buck was united in marriage with Miss Katie Stevenson, born in Victoria county, Texas, in 1868, daughter of J. M. and Frances (Terrell) Stevenson. There is one child of this union, Elmar, born on the 22d of November, 1908. Mrs. Buck was a widow, Mrs. Sims, at the time of her marriage to Dr. Buck, and was the mother of four children. Her parents were J. M. Stevenson and wife, both of North Carolina and early settlers of Texas. Mr. Stevenson was a Mexican war soldier, and a well known stock farmer, dying at his old homestead in 1891. His children were Frances, Mrs. J. F. Tucker; Cornelia, Mrs. J. Pascal; and Katie, Mrs. Buck. Both the Doctor and his wife are members of the Methodist Church South, and Mrs. Buck is identified with the Eastern Star and is president of the Home Missions. Dr. Buck is a son of James T. and Nurry (Stighe) Buck, the wife having previously been married to a Mr. Evans, by whom she had one son, Thomas W. Evans, whom Mr. Buck reared and educated and who is now a prominent citizen of Delta, Mississippi. James T. Buck and his wife were both natives of Mississippi and were married in that state, where the husband had large plantation interests, many slaves, and was altogether a substantial and honored southern gentleman. They were both worthy Methodists and died on the old Buck homestead, the father in 1881 and the mother a few years later. The children of the Buck family were as follows: Fanny, now Mrs. D. H. Hobbs; Kate, who became the wife of Dr. Johnson; James T. Jr., a leading physician of Lexington, Mississippi; Edwin T., a farmer; Dewitt C., of this sketch; and William H., who resides in Memphis, Tennessee. In the above mentioned family, the sons have all reached the Shriner degree in the Masonic order.

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cont.

W. F. WASHBURN, a prominent farmer identified with the development of Blair and Jackson county, and an early settler of Greer county, Texas, represents one of the historic pioneer families of the Lone Star state. His grandfather was a comrade of Davy Crockett the year before his death and settled in Grayson county with his family after the formation of the republic, while his father served both in the Mexican and Civil wars. The Washburns came to Texas from Missouri, were stanch patriots and southerners, but before all advance agents of American civilization in the southwest. Mr. Washburn is a native of Hood county, Texas, born on the 8th of May, 1858, and when thirteen years of age moved with his parents to Tarrant county, where he reached manhood. After the death of his father he remained on the homestead, assisting his mother in the maintenance of the household, and at the age of twenty-nine married and himself commenced farming in Grayson county. There he remained for seven years, when he located at Vernon, Wilbarger county, and for three years thereafter was engaged in janitor service in connection with the public schools and the opera house. In 1892 he settled in what was then Greer county, Texas, about a mile from the present town of Blair. He purchased a squatter's claim comprising three quarter sections of land, and had made few improvements upon the land by 1896, when by the decision of the United States supreme court the title to his property became vested in Greer county, Oklahoma. Under judicial rulings he secured a homestead claim of 160 acres, and purchased an equal tract at one dollar an acre, so that his re-established homestead comprised 320 acres. At the time of his location the country was open range, the cattle men flourished, and antelope, deer and wild beasts were plentiful. He had traded his modest Vernon property for his original

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Greer county claim, and his means were small. At first oxen were his only motive power, and his first crop in this region (that of 1893) was little short of a failure. Unfavorable weather continued for several years, and his crops of wheat, oats and corn, which he marketed at Vernon, were barely sufficient to support his household. But the few neighbors were kind, Mr. Washburn knew the land was good, he had faith in the final development of the country, and he worked hard and "held on." Both crops and prices improved with the settlement of the country, he commenced to raise cotton in 1896, soon afterward he successfully experimented with alfalfa, and for several years past his fortunes as an agriculturist have been advancing in bounds. He now resides in a handsome and commodious residence, a large model barn and other modern farm buildings are seen on his estate, and groves and orchards are other attractive features indicative of taste and prosperity. Fully 250 acres of his farm of 360 acres are under thorough cultivation, and there is no better piece of agricultural property in the neighborhood. Mr. Washburn has also a fine herd of Jersey cattle, and owns some property at Blair which he has rented to advantage. His manly pluck, ceaseless work and hard common sense have finally brought him to a station in life where he can commence to enjoy the honorable fruits of his industry, his self-denial and his ability. In politics, he is a sturdy Democrat, but has never been a politician. As to the fraternities, he is a member of the I. O. O. F. and of Masonry.
     The parents of W. F. Washburn were Josiah and Elizabeth (Alred) Washburn, the father being a Missourian and the mother, a Tennessee lady. They both came to Texas in 1836 from their native states, and were married in 1850. Samuel Washburn, the paternal grandfather, migrated from Missouri to Texas in 1835, making a prospecting tour of what was then a province of old Mexico in company with the famous David Crockett. One of their camps was at Oak Grove, where they found some bees and an abundance of honey in the trees which they cut, and from this circumstance the place is now the site of the city of Honey Grove. Continuing further west Mr. Washburn decided to locate in what was afterward Grayson county. Mr. Crockett went on, soon after joined Sam Houston and the band who declared for the independence of Texas, and in the following year met his death at the Alamo. Mr. Washburn returned to Missouri, and in 1836 brought his family to the site of their new home. With the proclamation of the republic it became a portion of Grayson county, and as head of a family he secured a claim of two sections, or 1,280 acres of land. While getting his land fairly under cultivation so that the property was assuming the aspect of a comfortable country home, he was killed by the Indians-the first white man in the republic to meet that fate. Later the republic made an additional grant of land in Knox county, to his heirs, the family remaining on the homestead and becoming prominent settlers of the formative period. The sons became farmers and stockraisers, and two of them were also killed by the Indians—James at Belknap and Gabe near Jacksboro. The children of Samuel Washburn were as follows: James, killed by the Indians, as noted; Josiah, father of W. F.; John; Samuel, Jr., a Confederate soldier who died while a prisoner at Camp Douglas, Chicago; Gabe, killed by the Indians; Frankie, Mrs. William Alred; Sarah, and four other daughters whose names are not accessible. All of the sons of this family were honest and brave supporters of the Confederate cause.
     Josiah Washburn was eleven years of age when his father brought the family from Missouri to Texas, and after the death of the head of the household the youth was of untold assistance in the support of the widowed mother and the family. In 1846 he joined the American army for service in the Mexican war, in which he served to the close. The result of his active campaigning was to contract a chronic disease from which he never recovered, although he resumed farming and assisted his mother until 1850, when he married and established a farm and live stock interests in Grayson county. In 1857 he sold the property and located on a farm in Hood county, where he remained until 1870, when he removed his homestead and his agricultural interests to Tarrant county. In 1878 he returned to Hood county on business, was taken suddenly ill and died. He was buried at Cranberry, the funeral rites being attended by the largest concourse of Masons which had heretofore assembled in that part of the country. Although the deceased enlisted for service in the Confederate army, he was soon discharged on account of age and physical condition, and not because

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of any doubt as to willingness or bravery. He was an ardent Mason, a stanch member of the Missionary church and widely known and honored. His wife, who is seventy-eight years of age, and a member of the Christian church, is a resident of Graham, Texas, and receives a pension for her husband's service in the Mexican war.
     Mrs. Josiah Washburn is a daughter of Renna Alred, a native of Tennessee, in which state she was also born. Her brother, William Alred, was also born there. Renna Alred came to Texas after his second marriage, in 1836; settled in what was afterward Grayson county, and passed many years as a successful farmer and stock raiser. His second wife died and left two daughters: Adeline, Mrs. Kelley, and Rittie, Mrs. Moss. By his third marriage he had seven children: Chimp, Lucinda, Susan, Harriet, Vina, Emory and Albert. Renna Alred was a worthy Mason, died on the old homestead in Grayson county and his remains were deposited on the old farm burying ground. The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Washburn were as follows: Jack H., a farmer and stockman of Young county, Texas; Samuel R., who died at the age of thirty-three without family; Maragaret A., wife of G. W. Curtis, and W. F., of this review, who are twins; Tinney C., who married J. C. Witten, proprietor of a livery at Hobart; Joseph, who has lost two wives and now resides with his mother at Graham, Texas; Mary B., who first married J. R Poindexter, became the mother of four children, and after death married Web Duly, of Young county, Texas.
     In 1886 W. F. Washburn was united in marriage with Miss Harriet Lollar, who was born in Missouri in 1863, and is a daughter of D. F. and Mary (Albert) Lollar, both natives of that state. D. F. Lollar was a son of Henry and Nancy (Jones) Lollar, who moved from Kentucky to Missouri at an early date, where they raised their family, whose names are: James, Mary, Louann, Ellen, Rebecca, D. F., Catherine, Arch and Martha. When the war between the north and south began Henry Lollar, being too old for service, remained at home, where he was killed by Union sympathizers, his wife surviving him for many years. Mary Albert, wife of D. F. Lollar, was a daughter of Matthew and Emeline Albert, who also lived in Missouri at the time of the Civil war. Their children were: Mary, George, Martha, Jasper, Frank, William, Eliza and Laura. Matthew Albert and his three eldest sons served in the Confederate army until the close of the war, Jasper being killed, after which the others joined the rest of the family in Texas, where the father lived until his death, which occurred at the age of sixty-five. His wife (Emeline), though always delicate, reached the age of 88 years, and out lived all her children and grandchildren, the exceptions being Mrs. D. F. Lollar, who raised eight children all living, and Martha, who lives with Mr. and Mrs. Lollar, also one grandson, William Albert (son of George Albert), now living at Sulphur, Oklahoma.
     Mrs. Washburn's father (D. F. Lollar) served as a soldier of the Confederacy from Missouri until the close of the Civil war, his family having migrated to Texas in 1864. After the close of the Rebellion he joined them in Grayson county where he engaged in farming, and later became an agriculturist and stock raiser of Runnels county. His operations there were conducted on rather an extensive scale and with decided success until 1904, when he disposed of his interests and located at Blair. Although he owns a good farm he is living a retired and comfortable life in town, and, with his wife, is thoroughly enjoying the harvest of his faithful and ably conducted labors. The eight children of the D. F. Lollar family are as follows: Harriet, wife of W. F. Washburn; John, engaged in the hotel business in Pennsylvania; Tennie, wife of Mr. H. Stephens, who is an Oklahoma farmer; William J., also an Oklahoma agriculturist; Rosa, who married I. Meadows, of Abilene, Texas; George, residing in New Mexico; May, Mrs. R Bell, of Alpine, Texas; and Della, now Mrs. T. Smith, a resident of Mountain Air, New Mexico. The children of Mr. and Mrs. W. F. Washburn are: Berty C., who died at the age of two years; F. Leroy, born November 13, 1891; Mary E., born November 16, 1896; William H., born June 9, 1900; and Lillie M., born April 20, 1902. Mrs. Washburn is a member of the Christian church, as are her parents and grandparents.