Livingston County Genealogy Trails
Biographies
Thomas W. Champion
Since 1909 Judge Champion has been a representative and honored member of the
bar of Carter County (OK), for in that year he here associated himself in
practice with his twin brother, Joseph B., who had preceded him to Oklahoma by
about six months. The firm of Champion & Champion forthwith assumed a position
of priority at the bar of the county and the active alliance of the twin
brothers continued until the election of Thomas W. to the bench of the County
Court, in the autumn of 1914, since which time Joseph B. Champion has continued
in active charge of the substantial and important law business built up by the
firm at Ardmere, the judicial center of the county. He is made the subject of
individual mention on other pages of this publication.
Judge Thomas W. Champion was born on the homestead farm of his parents in
Livingston County, Kentucky, and the date of his nativity was July 21, 1879. His
father, Joseph B. Champion, Sr., was born in that same county, in 1849, and
there passed his entire life, his active career having been marked by close and
successful identification with the fundamental industries of agriculture and
stock growing, of which he was a prominent representative in his section of the
old Bluegrass State. He was a man of strong mentality, well fortified
convictions and impregnable integrity of character. His political allegiance was
given without reservation to the democratic party, he was affiliated with the
Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and both he and his wife were zealous and
consistent members of the Baptist Church, on the official board of which he
served many years. He died at the old home in Livingston County, Kentucky, in
May, 1912. and his widow passed the closing years of her life with her sons, at
Ardmore, Oklahoma, where she was summoned to eternal rest in 1909. Her maiden
name was Ella Nelson, and she likewise was born and reared in Kentucky, the year
of her nativity having been 1859. Of the three children the first born were the
twin brothers, Thomas W. and Joseph B., and the younger brother. Robert, is a
successful and popular teacher, being established in the work of his profession
at Wagon Mound, New Mexico, at the time of this writing, in 1915.
The excellent schools of his native county afforded to Judge Champion his
preliminary educational advantages, and in 1896 he was graduated in Hampton
Academy, at Hampton, Kentucky. He devoted the ensuing two years to teaching in
the schools of Livingston County, and thereafter pursued a course of study in
the Kentucky Southern Normal School, at Bowling Green, where he was a student in
this institution two years. In preparation for the profession of his choice he
entered the law department of Bowling Green University, in which he was
graduated as a member of the class of 1902 and from which he received his degree
of Bachelor of Laws. He was an active member of the Justian Society, maintained
by students in the law department of the institution, and was active and popular
in connection with athletic affairs at the university.
After his admission to the bar of his native state Judge Champion was signally
favored in that he was able to serve his professional novitiate in the office of
Hon. Ollie M. James, at Marion, Crittenden County, Kentucky, Mr. James having at
that time been a representative of his district in the House of Representatives
of the National Legislature, and is now a United States senator, and the twin
brother of Judge Champion likewise was associated in this initial stage of their
law practice. In 1904 the two brothers opened an independent law office at
Marion, where they continued to be associated in practice until 1908. In
September of that year Joseph B. came to the new State of Oklahoma and
established his residence at Ardmore, Carter County, where he was joined by his
twin coadjutor in the following February. The firm soon built up a successful
law business, extending into both the civil and criminal departments of
practice, and the effective alliance continued unimpaired until Thomas W.
Champion was elected judge of the County Court, in November, 1914. On this bench
Judge Champion is giving a most able and satisfactory administration, and he
holds high vantage-ground as one of the representative lawyers and jurists of
Southern Oklahoma. He is aligned as a staunch supporter of the cause of the
democratic party and is essentially progressive and public spirited in his civic
attitude. At the primary election in which he was nominated for the office of
county judge he had four opponents, and the popular estimate placed upon him was
distinctively manifested at this time, for he received more votes than did the
four other aspirants combined, and carried every precinct in the county except
one.
Judge Champion is vice president of the Carter County Bar Association, and is
identified also with the Oklahoma State Bar Association and the American Bar
Association. He is affiliated with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks
and the Woodmen of the World. Judge Champion is the owner of 500 acres of
valuable farm land, in Carter and Jefferson counties, and also owns improved
residence property in Ardmore, including his own attractive home, on G Street
Southwest.
It may be noted that Joseph Benjamin Champion, the grandfather of Judge
Champion, was born in Livingston County, Kentucky, in 1811, and there passed his
entire life as a farmer and stock grower, his death having occurred in 1903,
after he had attained to the venerable age of ninety two years. His father was a
Kentucky pioneer from North Carolina, and the original American progenitors of
the Champion family came from France, in the colonial era of our national
history.
In November, 1904, was solemnized the marriage of Judge Champion to Miss Daisy
Towery, daughter of Judge Aaron Towery, who formerly served on the bench of the
County Court of Crittenden County, Kentucky. Judge and Mrs. Champion have one
child, Charles, who was born on the 4th of October, 1905, and who is attending
the public schools of Ardmore.
[Source: A Standard History of Oklahoma Volume 4 By Joseph Bradfield Thoburn
- Submitted by a Friend of Free Genealogy]
James B. Champion
This able and representative member of the bar of Carter County is engaged in
the successful practice of his profession at Ardmore, the county seat, and as a
practitioner he has been closely associated, here and elsewhere, with his twin
brother. Judge Thomas W. Champion, who is now presiding on the bench of the
County Court of Carter County. On other pages of this work appears a brief
review of the career of Judge Champion, with due incidental data concerning the
family history, and so close has been the fraternal and professional alliance of
the twin brothers that the two articles presented in this volume effectually
supplement each other and may well be read consecutively.
Joseph B. Champion was born near Salem, Livingston County, Kentucky, on the 21st
of July, 1879, and after duly profiting by the advantages afforded in the public
schools of his native county he entered Hampton Academy, at Hampton, Kentucky,
in which he was graduated in 1900, with the degree of Bachelor of Science.
Thereafter he passed a scholastic year as a student in the University of
Kentucky, at Lexington, and in 1902 he was graduated in the law department of
Vanderbilt University, in the City of Nashville, Tennessee. After thus receiving
his degree of Bachelor of Laws he engaged in the practice of his profession at
Marion, Kentucky, where he was associated with the law firm of James & James
until 1904, and thereafter he and his twin brother there maintained a
professional alliance and substantial law business until 1908, in February of
which year he established his residence at Ardmore, Oklahoma Territory, where he
formed a law partnership with Hon. Stillwell H. Russell, who was a member of the
Supreme Court of Oklahoma at the time of his death. In 1909 Mr. Champion was
here joined by his twin brother, Judge Champion, and they resumed their
professional association under the firm name of Champion & Champion, which still
obtains, though Judge Champion now finds the major part of his time and
attention demanded by his service on the bench of the County Court, the subject
of this sketch continuing in control of the large and representative law
practice of the firm and maintaining his. office headquarters in the State
National Bank Building.
Mr. Champion is an effective and unswerving advocate of the principles and
policies of the democratic party, and represented Carter County in the Oklahoma
Legislature in 1910-11. He was a member of the democratic central committee from
1907, the year when Oklahoma was admitted to statehood, until 1915, and for
several years past he has been president of the Ardmore Democratic Club. He is
affiliated with Ardmore Lodge .No. 648, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
In 1915 Mr. Champion wedded Miss Ethel Lawson, daughter of the late William W.
Lawson, a representative cattleman of Carter County at the time of his death.
[Source: A Standard History of Oklahoma Volume 4 By Joseph Bradfield Thoburn
- Submitted by a Friend of Free Genealogy]
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