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Biographies
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Page H. Belcher
BELCHER, Page Henry, a Representative from Oklahoma; born in Jefferson, Grant County, Okla., April 21, 1899, on the claim his father took in the opening of the Cherokee Strip; attended high school at Jefferson and Medford, Okla.; student at Friends University, Wichita, Kans., and the University of Oklahoma at Norman; veteran of the First World War; court clerk of Garfield County, Okla., 1934-1938; studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1936 and commenced the practice of law in Enid, Okla.; municipal judge, Enid, Okla., in 1938; eighth district chairman, ten years; State executive secretary of Republican Party; secretary to Congressman Ross Rizley in 1941; member of Enid Board of Education; elected as a Republican to the Eighty-second and to the ten succeeding Congresses (January 3, 1951-January 3, 1973); was not a candidate for renomination in 1972 to the Ninety-third Congress; was a resident of Midwest City, Okla., where he died August 2, 1980; interment in Memorial Park Cemetery, Enid, Okla. -- Contributed by A. Newell.
Everett B. Hamilton
Everett B. Hamilton has held the office of adjuster and appraiser in the loan department of the Oklahoma State School Land Department since his appointment in 1914. Prior to that he served two terms as a member of the Board of County Commissioners of Grant County, and was chairman of the board during that time. He has been prominent in local politics since he came to Oklahoma in 1893, and has a leading place among his townspeople. Mr. Hamilton was born October 1, 1869, on a farm in Guernsey County, Ohio, and is a son of Robert and Margaret (Sherrow) Hamilton.
Robert Hamilton was born in Ohio on July 25, 1830, and was the son of Irish parents, born in County Killarney, Ireland. Robert's mother died in 1880 when she was 105 years old. Her maiden name was Dorcas Organ. Her husband died when he was eighty-nine years old, and they were the parents of five children, four sons and a daughter, all now deceased. They were Abner, James, Alexander, Robert and Eliza. Robert, father of the subject, died at Derby, Kansas, on February 20, 1913.
He was a farmer and a mechanic all his active life, and was a life-long member of the Presbyterian Church. He married Margaret Sherrow August 18, 1852, and she was born in Ohio December 30, 1833. They were the parents of seven children, all living at this time, as follows: Samantha is the wife of James L. Patterson, of Cambridge, Ohio. LaFayette D. is a resident of Derby, Kansas. Alexander also lives there. Alva lives in Arkansas City. The fifth born was Everett B. of this review. Benjamin Franklin and Della, twins, were born at North Salem, Ohio, and Della is now the wife of Wirt Larrimer.
Everett B. Hamilton moved from Ohio to Kansas with his parents in 1883, and the father bought land in Sedgewick County. With the other children, he was educated in the public schools, and he was graduated from the Derby High School in the class of 1886. He then attended a business college in Wichita, followed by two years of study at Garfield University, after .which he taught in Sedgewick County for throe years. September 16, 1893, Mr. Hamilton was one of the many who participated in the opening of the Cherokee Strip in Oklahoma, and he settled on government land in Grant County, two miles east of Pond Creek. He still owns this land, and has made a success of stock raising on it. Shorthorn cattle have been a feature of his breeding enterprise, and he is counted among the prominent stock men of the county. Mr. Hamilton has been prominent in many phases of life in Grant County since he located here, and has served his town and county well in the various offices to which he has been called. He is a democrat, and in 1907 was elected a member of the Board of County Commissioners of Grant County. He served five years on the board, and the last two years was its chairman. On April 1, 1914, he was appointed to a position in the office of the state auditor, J. C. McClelland. After six months he was appointed appraiser and adjuster with the State Land School Department, which office he is now holding. He is a Mason, and is past worthy master of Pond Creek Lodge No. 125, Ancient Free and Accented Masons.
On September 12, 1893, Mr. Hamilton was united in marriage at Derby, Kansas, with Miss Viola Waugh, daughter of John C. and Susanna (Zaneis) Waugh. She was born April 21, 1874, at Kappa, Illinois, the daughter of native born Germans.
Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton have ten children, named as follows: Ray Wiley: Harold Franklin; Fanchon Marguerite; Max C.; Robert C.; Juanita Lucile; Gretchen Irene: Wanda Viola; and Gail Roberta.
The family are members of the Congregational Church of Pond Creek, and all are prominent in their home community, where they have a wide circle of staunch friends.
[Source: A Standard History of Oklahoma Volume 4 By Joseph Bradfield Thoburn - Submitted by Barb Ziegenmeyer]
Apollo Soucek
Admiral Apollo Soucek was a vice-admiral in the United States Navy, notable a test pilot during the 1920s and as commander of Carrier Division Three during the Korean War. In the 1920s, Soucek became a test pilot in the Navy. He set and held multiple flight records, most notably in 1930, when he set a world record altitude of 43,166 feet while flying a single engined Curtiss Hawk biplane. Soucek was an officer on board the carrier USS Hornet when it launched the Doolittle raid on Tokyo in 1942. In 1945, Soucek became the first commanding officer of the Midway-class aircraft carrier USS Franklin D. Roosevelt (CVB-42). Soucek rose to the rank of Rear Admiral and command of Carrier Division Three (March 1952 – February 1953), with his flag aboard USS Boxer. Soucek also acted as commander of Task Force 77 during line periods. In 1953, he was named as Chief of the Bureau of Aeronautics (BuAer), a post he retained until 1955. Soucek attained the rank of Vice Admiral. He died of a heart attack on 25 July 1955, at the age of 58. In 1957, NAAS Oceana (later NAS Oceana) was named Apollo Soucek Field in his honor. He was the brother of Zeus Soucek and his father was John Soucek of Grant County, Oklahoma
(Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture)
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