Carter County, Oklahoma Genealogy and History - presented by the Genealogy Trails History Group

Carter County, Oklahoma

William R. Bleakmore, lawyer, Ardmore; was born in Richmond. Va., September 22, 1872: son of Wylle H. and Mary K. (Goddard) Bleakmore. Attended the public schools of Fairfield, Iowa, graduated frmn high school. Came to Oklahoma City in 1890, and began study in law in the office of H. H. Howard. Was admitted to practice in 1892, and moved to Ardmore in 1894. He was a partner of Will and A. C. Cruce for eleven years. Is a Democrat and always been active in politics. Was county attorney of Carter county in 1914. on the death of Hon. Stillwell Russell. Mr Bleakmore was appointed to fill out the unexpired term as an associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the state. Thus Mr. Bleakmore had the distinction of returning to the place where he struggled through the early hardships of law-learning as a member of the highest legal tribunal in the commonwealth. Is a Mason, Guthrie Consistory, a Shriner and an Elk. Was married in 1891 to Annie Hazen of Oklahoma City. Four children, Frank W., 21; Jack Kilgore, 18; Robert, 16; and Kennett, 11. Mr. Bleakmore was appointed by Gov. Williams member Supreme Court Commission, which position he now holds, with temporary residence in Oklahoma City.
[Source: "Men of Affairs and Representative Institutions of Oklahoma", 1916 - Submitted by Vicki Hartman]

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]

Thomas W. Champion
Since 1909 Judge Champion has been a representative and honored member of the bar of Carter County, 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 stockgrowing, 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]

Jake Lewis Hamon, lawyer, railroad promoter and oil producer, Ardmore, born in Kansas in 1875, son of Franklin and Nancy Elizabeth Hamon. Graduate in law from University of Kansas; came to Oklahoma in 1901, and located at Lawton, where he became a factor in town building. He made several trips to Washington in the interest of the city, and served the city as mayor. Is a Republican and always been active in party. Was chairman of the territorial central committee, and chairman after statehood. Built the Ringling railroad from Ardmore to Healdton oil field, and owned townsites of Ringling and other towns on line. Is heavily interested in the oil business. Is an Elk, Odd Fellow and member A. O. U. W. Was married in 1898 to Miss Georgie Perkins. Two children: Jake Lewis, Jr., and Olive Belle.
[Source: "Men of Affairs and Representative Institutions of Oklahoma", 1916 - Submitted by Vicki Hartman]

Charles W. Richards
Like other of the progressive counties of Oklahoma, Carter County has signalized its civic loyalty and popular appreciation of true valuations by enlisting in the service of its public schools the interposition of an able and vigorous chief executive and a corps of efficient assistants—the teachers in the various schools of the county. He whose name introduces this paragraph is giving a most effective administration in the office of superintendent of the public schools of Ardmore, the metropolis and county seat, and has proved himself one of the able representatives of the pedagogic profession in this favored young commonwealth.
Charles Walter Richards was born at Sumach, Murray County, Georgia, on the 10th of October, 1877, and is a scion of stanch old southern stock on both the paternal and maternal sides. He is a son of William M. and Mary (Hawkins) Richards, the former a native of Georgia and the latter of Tennessee. The father, who was born in 1852, has been a resident of Georgia during virtually his entire life and has there been actively and successfully identified with the great basic industry of agriculture. He and his wife still maintain their home at Sumach, that state, and he is one of the substantial landholders and representative agriculturists of Murray County—a citizen of very high standing in the community. He has always been zealous in his advocacy of the cause of the democratic party and takes lively interest in the questions and issues of the day. He has long been affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, and served many terms as master of his lodge. For the past thirty years he has been a deacon of the Baptist Church, of which his wife likewise is a devoted and zealous member. Of their children the eldest is Charles W., subject of this sketch; Freling was born in 1879 and died at Sumach, Georgia, in 1899; Warren B. is actively identified with agricultural pursuits in his native county, near the Village of Sumach; Grover C. is a successful teacher in the schools of Whitfield County, Georgia; James L. H. resides at Eton, Georgia, and is devoting his attention to farming and to teaching in the public schools; Leach H. is a member of the class of 1917 in the college at Rome, Georgia; and May is a teacher in the schools of Deep Springs, that state.
After making good use of the advantages afforded in the public schools of his native village Charles W. Richards there entered Sumach Academy, in which he was graduated in 1898. In pursuance of his higher academic studies ho thereafter continued a student in turn in the normal school maintained in the City of Nashville, Tennessee, under endowment from* the Peabody fund, and in the University of Nashville, in which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1903 and from which he received his degree of Bachelor of Arts. In 1905 he completed an effective post-graduate course in historic old Harvard University, in which he specialized in pedagogy, under the preceptorship of Doctor Hanus.
Prior to his graduation in the University at Nashville Mr. Richards had devoted himself to teaching in the rural schools of his native state, and his experience in this field covered a period of four years. In 1903 he assumed the position of principal of the high school at Springfield, Tennessee, and of this office he continued the incumbent until 1907. Thereafter he served as superintendent of schools at Princeton, Kentucky, until 1911, in the autumn of which year he came to Oklahoma and assumed his present position, that of superintendent of the city schools of Ardmore. Here his work has been marked by progressiveness, high executive and didactic efficiency, and his administration has been accorded unequivocal popular approval and support. Under his supervision are six schools, fifty-two teachers and 2,500 students', and his work has been fruitful in bringing the Ardmore school up to a specially high standard of efficiency.
Mr. Richards is essentially an enthusiast in his chosen profession, and has the happy faculty of infusing enthusiasm in both teachers and pupils working under his direction. He is an appreciative and valued member of the Oklahoma State Teachers' Association and is actively identified also with the National Education Association, besides which he is vice president from Oklahoma of the National Federation of State Teachers' Associations, and is in active fellowship with the National Geographical Society.
Mr. Richards swerves not in his allegiance to the democratic party, though he is too thoroughly en rapport with the work of his chosen profession to have any predilection for the activities of so-called practical politics. Both he and his wife are zealous members of the Baptist Church at Ardmore, and in the same he is serving as superintendent of the Sunday school. He is affiliated with Ardmore Lodge No. 31, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and other bodies of the York Rite, and in the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite of Masonry he has received the thirty-second degree and is affiliated with Indian Consistory No. 2 in the City of McAlester. He holds membership in Ardmore Lodge No. 648, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and Ardmore Camp of the Woodmen of the World, besides which he formerly maintained active affiliation with the Knights of Pythias and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
Reverting to the family history of Mr. Richards, it may be noted that he is a direct descendant from William Richards, who immigrated from Wales to America and settled at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he married Miss Mary Ball. He became a wine importer in Pennsylvania and owned a fleet of ships, and was a resident of Philadelphia at the time of his death. In 1800 he leased in that city a large portion of the land now represented by Chestnut and Walnut streets, this lease having been made tor a period of ninety-nine years. From the old Keystone State certain of his descendants eventually removed to the South, and the subject of this review is descended from one who established the Georgia branch of the family.
On Christmas day of the year 1905, at Springfield, Tennessee, was solemnized the marriage of Charles W. Richards to Miss Anna Corinne White, daughter of Dr. Alpheus G. White, who is now living retired at that place, he being a dentist by profession. Mr. and Mrs. Richards have one child, Charles Walter, Jr., who was born on the 10th of October, 1912.
[Source: A Standard History of Oklahoma Volume 4 By Joseph Bradfield Thoburn - Submitted by a Friend of Free Genealogy]