Lincoln County, OK Biographies

Frank H. Norwood, M. D.. who practices medicine and surgery at the enterprising town of Prague, in Lincoln county, Oklahoma, is known for his skillful treatment of diseases prevalent in the south- western climate. He located at Parkland, Oklahoma, when he first went to the territory country, and in August, 1902, came to Prague where he has since been in successful and lucrative medical practice. The doctor is a graduate of the medical department of the State University of Missouri, at Columbia, receiving his degree with the class of 1898, and making an enviable class record. In 1906 he took a post-graduate course in the New York Post-graduate Medical School of the University of New York.

The doctor was born in Columbia, Missouri, in 1872, and is descended from a well- known and highly respected family of that city, hut formerly of New York state. The father was F. E. Norwood, a merchant, who married Kate E. Henderson, who was born in St. Louis, Missouri. Here F. E. Norwood settled after his marriage. Two sons and one daughter were born to him : Electa, wife of W. C. Markham; F. H. of this memoir, and Elisha E. who died at the age of twenty-four years. Politically, the father is a Democrat and in church relations is of the Methodist Episcopal denomination. Dr. Norwood is of the Democratic political belief and is Superintendent of the Board of Health of Lincoln county, Oklahoma. He is a member and active in the deliberations of the various medical societies and associations of the Southwest. Though yet a young man  just in life's prime, he is well posted and constantly reads up the latest discoveries in the profession which makes him doubly strong as a practitioner, in these days of wonderful changes in the treatment of the various diseases. He already counts his friends by the legion. He was united in marriage in Lincoln county, Oklahoma, in 1901, to Miss Madge B. McDowell, a woman of education and refinement who was born in Nodaway county, Missouri,, near the pretty city of Marysville. Two children bless this home circle : Ervin, aged six years, and Marguerite.  (Submitted by Janice Rice)

Mr. C. G. Graves, of the firm of Graves & Funston, proprietors of a gin mill at Maud, has through this, channel of trade contributed much to the business stability of the town and surrounding country. The firm began business here in 1903, and their mill, which has a capacity of forty bales for ten hours work, is improved with the latest improved machinery, and in fact no better equipped plant of the kind can be found throughout Oklahoma. Its engine, a Frost, is a sixty- five horse power, with an eighty-five horse power boiler, and during the season of 1907 the mill pressed nineteen hundred bales of cotton. In the summer of 1908 they purchased another gin at Seminole.

C.G Graves, a young man of thirty- three years, came to Oklahoma with his father, W. R. Graves, April 22, 1889. The senior Mr. Graves was born in Tennessee, and is now living in Stroud, Lincoln county, Oklahoma. By his wife, nee Harriet Wade, he has had five children, two sons and three daughters, and when their son, C. G.. was a boy of fourteen they came to Oklahoma, where he was reared on a farm and attended in the meantime the state normal at Edmond. After entering upon his business career he served for a time as an engineer in the saw mills of Logan and Lincoln counties, and from there he came to Pottawatomie county and entered upon his successful career in gin milling as a member of the firm of Graves & Funston.

Mr. Graves was married in Logan county, Oklahoma, when twenty-one years of age, to Kate Funston, who was born in Indiana, a daughter of Henry Funston, deceased. Their five children are Minnie, David, Ethel, Paul and Lillie. As a Republican, Mr. Graves takes an active interest in the political life of his community, and he is a member of the fraternal orders of Odd Fellows and Modern Woodmen.  (Submitted by Janice Rice)

Dr. J. W. McIntosh, well known in the vicinity of Sparks, Lincoln county, Oklahoma, as a physician and surgeon of skill and good training, as well as successful in his practice, has been a resident of this state since August 6, 190S, he first locating at Shawnee. He is a graduate of that most excellent university at Aberdeen, Scotland, having received his diploma from that institution with the large class which graduated in 1867. This entitled him to practice any place in the world, this school of medicine being what is known as the "Regular" school of medicine. He is also a graduate of the college at Kansas City, Missouri, with the class of 1893.

The ancestry of Dr. Mcintosh is Scotch. He was born at Morayshire, Lhanbryde, Scotland, six miles from Elgin, March 6, 1847, of an excellent Scotch family, the members of which were long noted for their honor and uprightness of character. His father, William Mcintosh, was a gallant soldier in the British army. The good mother was Margaret (Scott) Mcintosh.

Dr. Mcintosh was reared mid the picturesque scenes of rugged old Scotland, receiving a good education at Elgin Academy, Scotland. Subsequently, he came, in July, 1867, to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania after which he went to Benton county, Iowa, locating at Vinton, the county seat, and there he practiced some time, but in 1871 he went to Red Cloud, Nebraska, and there in Webster county, took a homestead and became one of the pioneer settlers He remained there ten years, and then moved to Republic county, Kansas, settling at Re- public City, where he was in medical practice for twenty years. He held a chair in the Kansas City Homeopathic Medical College, as professor of Physiology for two years, after Which engagement he went to

Burr Oak, Jewell county, Kansas, and in 1900 came to Oklahoma territory, residing at Shawnee. From that point, 1904, he came to Sparks, Lincoln county, where for the last four years he has been engaged in the successful practice of medicine. The doctor is an exceptionally well informed man on various subjects, aside from that of his profession, and is a great reader and keen observer of people and events. Politically he is a stanch defender of Republican part}' principals.

Dr. Mcintosh was married in Webster county, Nebraska, in June, 1873, to Martha Van Horn, who by reason of her womanly graces, has made him an excellent wife and helpmate for more than a third of a century. Mrs. Mcintosh is a native of Virginia, and is from a family of intelligence and honor. Her father was Abram Van Horn, of Holland descent, but of an old family of Virginia. Her mother was Martha Stout, who died in Fulton county, Illinois. Both of Mrs. Mcintosh's parents were physicians. The father died in Shellsburg, Benton county, Iowa, where he followed farming for his livelihood. In his religion he was a Seventh Day Baptist. Of their nine children, two sons served in the Union army in Civil war days. These were Arthur and Jas- per Van Horn. Dr. Mcintosh and wife are the parents of four children, as follows : William A., of Courtland, Kansas ; Ira Irvin, of Okley, Logan county, Kansas, a druggist ; Silas A., a printer, of Kansas City, Missouri ; Violet C, wife of H. C. Murrill, a loco- motive engineer, of Eureka Springs, Arkansas. The doctor is a member of the State Medical Society, the Lincoln County Medical Society and the American Medical Association. (Submitted by Janice Rice)

Alvarado Tansel, postmaster at Sparks, Lincoln county, Oklahoma, was born in Hendricks county. Indiana, not far from Indianapolis, April 26, 1846, a son of Timothy Tansel, who was born in Kentucky in 1810, and came to Indiana in 1830. The mother of Alvarado was Martha Campbell, who was born in Seneca county. New York and reared in Ohio. The maternal grandfather was born in the Highlands of Scotland. The father of Alvarado was a member of the Christian church and died at the age of forty-six years, in 1856. There were seven children in his family, three sons and four daughters, Alvarado being the eldest.

At the age of twelve years, Alvarado Tansel accompanied the family to Atchison county, Missouri, and in 1858 they became early settlers at Rockport, taking up a farm in that vicinity. The son was reared on the farm and obtained his education at the pioneer schools with what study he could gain at home. During the Civil war period he enlisted as a member of the First Nebraska Cavalry, being in Company D, First Battalion. The date of his enlistment was June 15, 1864, and his service was chiefly on the plains of Nebraska, Wyoming and Colorado. His colonel was Colonel Thayer, and his lieutenant colonel's name was Boumer. Mr. Tansel was discharged March 12, 1866, at Fort Omaha, Nebraska. After leaving the service he located at Rockport, Missouri, and afterwards moved to Washington county, Kansas, where he became the pioneer editor at Haddam for a Republican paper and was also a member of the real estate firm of Vincent & Tansel. He was appoint- ed as postmaster at Haddam, Kansas, in 1880, under President Harrison's administration, and served with much credit to himself and to the entire satisfaction of the patrons of the office. Appointed postmaster at Sparks, Oklahoma, August 30, 1902, Mr. Tansel has been very active in the preliminary work of establishing this office, from which now runs two rural free delivery routes.

In 1875 he was married to Amanda Clark, a native of Indiana, by whom four children were born : Louie Fox, E. Joy, Alvarado. Tr.. and R. B. The wife and mother died March 25, 1882, and in 1884, Mr. Tansel married Sophia Kunz, a native of New York City, who has been his faithful help- mate for almost a quarter of a century. By this union nine children were born: Isla. who is her father's assistant postmistress; Carrie Davis, who was a popular school teacher prior to her marriage ; Ben H. ; Hazel, rural mail carrier No. 1 from Sparks post office; Calvin O. ; Leatha : William McKinley; Mamie and Ora May. Politically. Mr. Tansel is a firm defender of the general principles of the Republican party and has been a delegate to different conventions of this political organization, including those held at Guthrie and Tulsa.

The military history of Mr. Tansel's family shows that his mother's grandfather, John Campbell, served seven years as a soldier in the Revolutionary war, his own grandfather, Elias Campbell, served in the war of 1812 and the paternal grandfather, Francis Tansel, was also in the war of 1812, while an uncle of Mr. Tansel's, W. P. Campbell, was in the Mexican war. It will be seen by this brief reference to the military record of the families herewith connected, that patriotism has run through the family for many generations, and the military service only terminated with Mr. Tansel's army life on the western plains in 1966. (Submitted by Janice Rice)

J. L. McKamy, a representative of the legal profession, at the sprightly town of Sparks, Oklahoma, is well known through- out Lincoln county for his legal ability. He is counted among the early vanguard who founded the new state of Oklahoma, coming to the wilds of this now goodly country in 1898. He has been connected with the law for almost a third of a century, having received his diploma in 1876. He is a native of McDonough county, Illinois, born in 1848, and is the son of one of the best pioneer families of that county. His father, William C. McKamy. settled there in 1834. He was the son of Captain John McKamy. a soldier in the war of 1812, who made a most excellent military record. The original ancestor in this country was Rev. McKamie, (the name was then spelled McKamie) the first Presbyterian minister of the United States. A monument marks his grave in Briar Creek, Virginia, where he built the first Presbyterian church. William C. McKamy was a well-to-do and progressive farmer and died in Illinois in 1887, and his wife still survives, being eighty-six years of age. Her maiden name was Octavia Robertson. This venerable couple were the parents of seven children, four sons and three daughters.

J. L. McKamy was reared on the old homestead in Illinois, where he was early taught the need and usefulness of hard work which usually develops boys into excellent men of character with sound bodies. He received an appointment in the Interior Department, as clerk at Fort Union, Colorado, which place he filled ably for two years. The next twelve years he spent at Auburn, Nebraska, in the practice of law. He was one of the pioneer teachers in Oklahoma. He is well versed in the law and is a peace- maker in his profession. He is a notary public and handles real estate and insurance with his legal business.

Politically, Mr. McKamy of this memoir is a staunch supporter of the true principles upon which rests the Republican party, and he has served as delegate to numerous party conventions. He is a member of the Anti-horse thief Association. No man stands higher in the estimation of the citizens of Lincoln county than does Mr. McKamy. Possessing public spirit, he aids every worthy enterprise in and near Sparks, and in his sense of right and wrong he has the deepest of convictions. He is unmarried. (Submitted by Janice Rice)

H. S. Emmerson, one of the reliable and one of the best known business men of Lincoln county is H. S. Emmerson, at the head of the Farmers and Merchants Bank of Sparks, one of the solid financial institutions of the county. He has been identified with the interests of Oklahoma since the opening of the Sac and Fox Indian lands for settlement in 1891, and as a banker, business man and citizen he is well known for his sterling characteristics.

Mr. Emmerson was born in Campbell county near Lynchburg in the Old Dominion state, Virginia, in 1852, and is a son of one of the old-time physicians there, but both his parents, Dr. B. S. and Virginia (Simmons) Emmerson, are deceased. When he had reached his seventeenth year young Emmerson became identified with mercantile pursuits, and from Virginia he went to Marshall, Saline county, Missouri, and from there came to Oklahoma in 1891. In 1893 he was appointed by Governor Renfrow, treasurer of Woodward county, this state. During his two years as treasurer of Wood- Ward county, he was assistant cashier of the Exchange Bank at Woodward, the county seat. After two years in this place he went to Alva, county seat of Woods county, where he and Captain J. A. Stine purchased the two banks, consolidating them under the name of Exchange Bank, Mr. Emmerson becoming its cashier, and remaining there two years. In April, 1908, H. S. Emmerson and his son, E. H Emmerson, organized the Bank of Stroud at Stroud. Lincoln county, Oklahoma, and the father became its president with E. H. Emmerson cashier. In Tune, 1902, the Emmersons converted the Bank of Stroud into the First National Bank of Stroud. Leaving his son in charge at Stroud, H. S. Emmerson organized the Farmers and Merchants Bank at Sparks, becoming again president, which position he now holds. The Farmers and Merchants Bank was organized with a capital stock of $5,000 but during the period of its existence it has greatly enlarged its scope and is now one of the important financial institutions of the county.

When he had attained the age of twenty- five years, Mr. Emmerson was married to Mollie Godman of Marshall, Saline county, Missouri, who died two years after- wards. To this union was born one son, E. H., a banker in Lincoln county, Oklahoma. At the age of twenty-nine, Mr. Emmerson married Miss Minnie Ament, a member of a prominent family from Bourbon county, Kentucky. Mr. Emmerson gives his political support to the Democratic party, and was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1900, that nominated the great Commoner, W. J. Bryan. Mr. Emmerson has fraternal relations with the Masonic order, the I. O. O. F. and K. of P., his wife being a member of the Eastern Star and the Royal Neighbors. H. S. Emmerson is also an earnest member and an officer in the Presbyterian church at Sparks. (Submitted by Janice Rice)

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