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Biographies
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JOHN E. WHITE.
One of the prominent merchants of Lenapah, Nowata county, is John E. White, who was born at Boyds Creek, Tennessee, on the 21st of March, 1875. His paternal great-grandfather came to America from England and was a missionary to the Indians in North Carolina. His father, N. B. White; was a farmer and is now deceased. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Charlotte Huffaker, is still living and is residing on the home farm. John E. White was named for his mother's half-brother who died in the prison at Andersonville while serving in the Civil war.
In the acquirement of an education John E. White attended the public schools of Tennessee and later enrolled in a prep school, after which he became a student in the Carson & Newman College, from which institution he was graduated with the class of 1898. In the latter part of that same year he came to Indian Territory and located at Lenapah, where for three years he was engaged in teaching school. He was instrumental in building the first schoolhouse here and was for many years a member of the board of education. On the 23d of January, 1904, he was appointed postmaster of Lenapah, in which office he was 'active for nearly ten years. From 1914 to 1917 he worked in the post office at Nowata and for a time in 1908 WM active in railroad mail service but resigned after a few trips. Subsequently he was offered a position in the post office at Muskogee but declined and returned to Lenapah, where he established a mercantile business, in the conduct of which he has since been active. Mr. White has won for himself a prominent place among the successful merchants of Nowata county and has built up an extensive and ever increasing patronage. While acting as postmaster here he applied himself as closely and intelligently to the duties of the position that the office became third class and his fellowmen find that he conducts his store on the same conscientious basis, thereby achieving more than substantial success.
Mr. White married Miss Sarah E. Ferguson, a native of Tennessee, they being childhood friends. To their union the following children were born: Gladys, who is the wife of Lee Oendy ; John Allen, fifteen years of age and a senior in the Lenapah high school; and Leilla, Helen, Mary and Clarence, all students in the grade schools.
Mr. White is a progressive and public-spirited citizen and may always be counted upon to give aid in the furtherance of. any movement for the development and improvement of the general welfare. [Source: Page 10-11; John Downing Benedict. "Muskogee and northeastern Oklahoma : including the counties of Muskogee, McIntosh, Wagoner, Cherokee, Sequoyah, Adair, Delaware, Mayes, Rogers, Washington, Nowata, Craig, and Ottawa." Chicago: S.J. Clarke Pub. Co., 1922. Submitted by Nancy Piper]
FRANK MASON
Frank Mason, president of the Title Abstract Company of Nowata, in which connection he has established for the company a well merited reputation for accuracy, progressiveness and reliability, was born in Monroe county, Ohio, January 18, 1861, and is a son of Dr. George W. and Janet (Park) Mason, both of whom were natives of Ohio, the former of Irish descent, while the latter was of Scotch lineage. Their respective families settled in Ohio as pioneers of Monroe county and became identified with the early development and progress of that state. The early home of the Mason family was a log cabin that in later years was replaced by a more modern and attractive residence but the pioneer home still stands as a monument to the labors and spirit of that early generation of the family which was so closely associated with the period of primitive development in the Buckeye state. In the family of Dr. George W. and Janet (Park) Mason there were five sons.
Frank Mason, who was the third in order of birth, was reared on his father's farm, aiding in the task of clearing and developing the land while his educational opportunities were those afforded by the public schools of the neighborhood. He was a young man of twenty-two years when he became a candidate for the office of registrar of deeds in Monroe county. Something of his popularity and the confidence reposed in him by his fellow townsmen is indicated in the fact that he easily won over sixteen other candidates. Later he was reelected to the office and continued to fill the position for seven years.
It was in August, 1905, that Frank Mason came to Oklahoma and took up his abode at Nowata. Here he organized the first abstract company in the county under the name of the Mason-Park Abstract Company. At a subsequent period this business was consolidated with that of the Nowata-Bartlesville Abstract Company under the present name of the Title Abstract Company and today they have the only records in existence that antedate the fire of 1909. This company is one of the best in the state and has made approximately twenty thousand abstracts. The company is capitalized for ten thousand dollars, with Frank Mason as president, and B. G. Dowell as vice president. There is no one who has more intimate and accurate knowledge of property and of realty transfers in this section of the state than has Mr. Mason and from time to time he has made investments in farm. property, having some valuable holdings at the present time.
On the 22d of October, 1893, Mr. Mason was united in marriage to Miss Oella Shankland, a native of Ohio, and to them have been born three children: Charles Walter, the eldest son, was born on his father's farm in Monroe county, Ohio, December 11, 1887, and was educated in Grant University at Chattanooga, Tennessee, and in the law department of the Washington and Lee University, from which he was graduated in 1911. The following year he -was appointed city attorney and in November, 1914, became county attorney of Nowata county. He is now filling the office of judge of the district that includes Nowata and Rogers counties; Ronald S., the second of the family, is engaged in the oil business. F. Claris, the youngest son, is now employed in the Indian Irrigation Service at Albuquerque, New Mexico. He is married and has one child, Ellen Marie.
In his political views Frank Mason has always been a stalwart democrat and was chairman of the first democratic county committee of Nowata county, which position he also holds at the present time. He has done much to further the successes of his party and he stands loyally as a supporter of all progressive public interests and projects, his aid at times being a very vital force in bringing about desired results in connection with the city's improvement and expansion. [Source: Page 45-47, John Downing Benedict. "Muskogee and northeastern Oklahoma : including the counties of Muskogee, McIntosh, Wagoner, Cherokee, Sequoyah, Adair, Delaware, Mayes, Rogers, Washington, Nowata, Craig, and Ottawa." Chicago: S.J. Clarke Pub. Co., 1922. Submitted by Nancy Piper]
S. T. WYCKOFF.
One of the alert and enterprising business men of Lenepah is S. T. Wyckoff, who was born in Canton, Illinois, on the 8th of October, 1858, a son of H. C. and Eliza (Powelson) Wyckoff. At the age of twelve years he removed to Kansas with his parents and his brother H. C., and the father engaged in mercantile business at Howard and Langton for many years. He achieved more than substantial success in that enterprise and lived in retirement for a few years before his demise, which occurred in 1885. Mrs. Wyckoff died in Langton, Kansas, in 1883.
S. T. Wyckoff received his education in the public schools of Texas and in 1882 removed to Indian Territory, locating near Choteau. For two years he engaged in the cattle business there and then removed to Lenepah, where he has since resided. In 1898 he started in the livery business here but after three years converted his establishment into a garage. He sells gas and oil and does a taxi business. He has built up a large patronage and is conceded one of the representative business men of Lenepah. From 1889 to 1895 he was deputy United States marshal, serving under Colonels Thomas B. Neeles and J. J. McAlister, and he had many thrilling experiences, at one time having his horse shot from under him while pursuing a notorious gunman. He did, however, take the man prisoner. He has been deputy sheriff of Lenepah for the past two years and a member of the city council for several years.
In 1882 was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Wyckoff and Miss Susie Jackson of Iowa, her parents having come to this state at an early day. They have an adopted son, Frank, who is married and living at Bartlesville. He is connected with the Empire Company there. During the World war he was stationed at various training camps in this country but the armistice was signed before he got overseas.
Mr. Wyckoff has many friends in Nowata county who appreciate his true personal worth and many sterling characteristics, and he has the esteem and confidence of his fellowmen in Lenepah. He is a public-spirited citizen who always has the best interests of the community at heart, and his aid may always be counted upon in the upbuilding of the community. [Source: Page 51-52, John Downing Benedict. "Muskogee and northeastern Oklahoma : including the counties of Muskogee, McIntosh, Wagoner, Cherokee, Sequoyah, Adair, Delaware, Mayes, Rogers, Washington, Nowata, Craig, and Ottawa." Chicago: S.J. Clarke Pub. Co., 1922. Submitted by Nancy Piper]
H. CLAY FISK
H. Clay Fisk, superintendent of the city schools of Nowata, was born in Altoona, Kansas, on the 8th of August, 1887, a son of F. M. and Mary (Matkin) Fisk. The father came to Oklahoma at the opening of the Cherokee strip, making the run on the back of a bucking mule, and secured a claim of one hundred and sixty acres near Cherokee in Alfalfa county.
In the acquirement of an education H. Clay Fisk attended the rural schools of Alfalfa county until he had finished the eighth grade, when he enrolled in the Stella Academy at Cherokee, where he was a student for, some time. He was graduated from the Northwestern State Normal School at Alva, this state, in 1910, and for the following year was principal of the Cherokee high school. He then returned to the Northwestern State Normal School as assistant instructor in the chemistry department and was active in that connection for one and one-half years, at the termination of which time he resigned and took a course at the University of Kansas for an A. B. degree. Professor Fisk was then superintendent of the schools at Cherokee for three years, again resigning to take the B. S. degree at the University of Kansas. After receiving that degree he was, in 1917, elected superintendent of the city schools of Nowata, a position which he has continued to hold. Since he assumed the duties of superintendent the new high school building has been erected and also a new high school for the colored children. When he first took charge of the schools there were but eighty-five pupils in the high school, while today there are three hundred and twenty-six, and in the colored high school there are seventy-five pupils. The high schools now boast physical training departments, commercial departments and musical departments, and courses in journalism and public speaking have been added to the curriculum. A salaried playground supervisor is now maintained by the board of education and a Y. W. C. A. has been organized for the girls, while the Hi Y Club is the boys' society. The high schools have strong debating and literary societies and Professor Fisk may well be proud of the Institutions of learning in whose development he has been the dominant factor. The Nowata high school is now a member of the North Central Association of High Schools. Next spring a pageant is to be put on by the pupils of the Nowata schools, depicting the history of Nowata and this section of Oklahoma from the days when this land was under the control of the Indians to the advent of the white man and the subsequent evolution of the cow-puncher. The pageant will include over a thousand people, and moving pictures will be taken of it for display throughout the country.
In 1913 was celebrated the marriage of H. Clay Fisk to Miss Jennie Vinson, a daughter of A. G. and Mary (McGill) Vinson, the latter a native of Tennessee. For eighteen years Mr. Vinson has been head of the geographical and agricultural departments of the Northwestern Normal School of Oklahoma.
Fraternally Professor Fisk is identified with the Masons and he is conceded to be an exemplary member of the craft .. While attending the University of Kansas he became affiliated with the Acacia fraternity. As a public-spirited and representative citizen of Nowata he is one of the active members of the Rotary Club. He is tireless in his devotion to the educational interests of this community and that the residents of Nowata have every faith in him is evidenced by his continued election to the office of superintendent. [Source: Page 52-54, John Downing Benedict. "Muskogee and northeastern Oklahoma : including the counties of Muskogee, McIntosh, Wagoner, Cherokee, Sequoyah, Adair, Delaware, Mayes, Rogers, Washington, Nowata, Craig, and Ottawa." Chicago: S.J. Clarke Pub. Co., 1922. Submitted by Nancy Piper]
JOSEPH E. ROBERTS
Joseph E. Roberts, conducting a furniture and undertaking business at Nowata, is one of the wide-awake and alert young men of the city; whose- success is the result of thoroughness and enterprise. He was born October 23, 1892, about twelve miles east of the city in which he still makes his home. His father, Edward Taylor Roberts, was a native of Indiana, his birth having occurred on a farm near Lebanon in Montgomery county, his parents being James Thomas and Lydia A. ( James) Roberts. His parents were Kentuckians but were married in Indiana, to which state they had removed in early life. James T. Roberts there followed farming until 1870 and also engaged to some extent in merchandising.
He then removed with his family to Liberty, Kansas, where he carried on farming, stock raising and mercantile pursuits until 1881, at which time he became a resident of the Indian Territory settling on a farm six miles south of the present site of Nowata. His remaining days were given to agricultural pursuits and he won a substantial success as the years passed by. He was a democrat in his political views but took no active part in politics. He died in 1903. His wife passed away in 1904, at the age of sixty-seven years.
Edward T. Roberts was the second in order of birth in a family of seven children and was largely reared in Kansas, to which place he accompanied his parents when a lad of seven years. He was a youth of eighteen when he came to Oklahoma, residing on the home farm near Alluwe, in Nowata county. In 1895 he took up his abode in Nowata, where he engaged in the mercantile business in partnership with his elder brother, William E. This association was maintained until 1897, when Edward. T. Roberts established a furniture and undertaking business, which he conducted individually until 1908 and was then joined by his son, Joseph E., thus forming the firm of E. T. Roberts & Son. The father was associated with the enterprise to the time of his death, which occurred January 11, 1920. He was interested in civic welfare and gave his support to every plan and project for the public good. He served on the school board for about a decade and also was at one time a member of the city council. His political allegiance was always given to the democratic party and fraternally he was connected with the Elks and the Modern Woodmen of America. He was married August 13, 1885, to Miss Luella Conner, who was born in Kansas, and they became parents of a daughter, Della, who is now the wife of J. Ruby McKnabe of Newport, Tennessee; and a son, Joseph E., of this review.
Joseph E. Roberts has spent his life in Nowata, He pursued his education in the public schools, being graduated from the high school with the class of 1908. He entered business as a partner of his father and the association was maintained until the father's death, since which time Joseph E. Roberts has been sole proprietor of the large furniture and undertaking establishment. The latter is conducted along most scientific lines, while the furniture store includes an attractive stock of high grade and medium priced furniture. The business methods of the house have always been such as to insure a liberal patronage and Mr. Roberts has ever recognized the fact that satisfied patrons are the best advertisement.
On the 4th of February, 1912, Mr. Roberts was united in marriage in Nowata to Miss Addie Lowerance, a native daughter of Oklahoma. Her parents were Everett and Emma Lowerance. She was of Delaware extraction and came here with the immigrants at an early day. Mr. and Mrs. Lowerance passed away during the infancy of their daughter, Mrs. Roberts. Mr. Roberts is also of Delaware. extraction through the maternal Iine and by this marriage there has been born a daughter, Katherine May, who is now in school. Mr. and Mrs. Roberts occupy a very enviable social position and the hospitality of the best homes of this section of the state is freely accorded them.
Mr. Roberts is a veteran of the World war and possesses a military spirit that would serve him well as a commander of forces. When attending high school he was one of the football team, weighing one hundred and sixty-seven pounds. Today he is a muscular man of two hundred and seven pounds, six feet and two inches in height. Following America's entrance into the World war he became an officer in the Ninetieth Division, with which he remained for ten months, winning the rank of second lieutenant. He was at Camp Travis, Texas, and was sent thence to Camp Pike, Arkansas, and later to Camp Perry, Ohio. His next transfer took him to Camp Grant, lllinois, where he was discharged December 5, 1919. He was training the boys and his division was ready to go overseas when the armistice was signed. He has recently returned from the Legion convention in Kansas City, where he greatly enjoyed meeting his "buddies" and forming many new acquaintances among the khaki-clad hosts that defended the cause of democracy on the battle fields of Europe. He was first sergeant in the early part of his service and won his commission as second lieutenant through capability and effort, his only regret being that he did not get overseas. With his return he has concentrated his attention and efforts upon his business affairs and he has large independent interests in oil, aside from his commercial investments in Nowata. [Source: Page 20-22, John Downing Benedict. "Muskogee and northeastern Oklahoma : including the counties of Muskogee, McIntosh, Wagoner, Cherokee, Sequoyah, Adair, Delaware, Mayes, Rogers, Washington, Nowata, Craig, and Ottawa." Chicago: S.J. Clarke Pub. Co., 1922. Submitted by Nancy Piper]
EUGENE B. LAWSON
1871-1931
It will be the privilege of but few men to create a greater influence upon the history of Oklahoma than has the life of Eugene B. Lawson whose passing on June 25th., 1931, at his home in Tulsa, Oklahoma, after a brief illness, came as a distinct shock to his friends and to the State at large.Born near Shelbyville, Kentucky, on May 27th, 1871, the son of the late William H. and Polly M. Lawson, he attained his early education in the Public Schools of Shelbyville and at Scearces Academy at that place—at nineteen he was teaching school in Archer County, Texas, for five years supported himself by teaching, devoting his unoccupied hours to the study of law, and at the age of twenty-four was admitted to the bar at Wichita Falls, Texas. As soon as he was admitted to the practice of law young Lawson cast about for a suitable location and decided upon Nowata in the Indian Territory, and began the practice of his profession there in 1896. His efforts were marked with success from the beginning and in a few years he attained a reputation for ability, honesty and integrity which brought him an extensive and lucrative practice.
On October 31, 1901, at Alluwe, Oklahoma, Mr. Lawson married Roberta E. Campbell, daughter of the late John E. Campbell and Emma J. Campbell, and he is survived by her and by their son, Edward C. Lawson, who was born at Nowata, Oklahoma, October 7, 1905, and who has succeeded to his father's business.
Upon coming in to the Indian Territory, Eugene B. Lawson quickly aligned himself with every man or group of men who desired to obtain for Oklahoma and Indian Territories better living conditions, better government, better law enforcement and the early admission of these Territories into the Union as a sovereign State, and the attainment of each of these objectives was assisted by his influence, energy and his means.
A republican in politics, he became the standard bearer of his party for member of the Constitutional Convention of the State and later for the office of Lieutenant Governor and proved himself an able and active campaigner. A man of great energy and almost unlimited capacity for accomplishment of every purpose, it was not unnatural to find that his profession did not keep him from becoming one of the organizers of the First National Bank of Nowata and interested in the banking business, a producer of oil, a manufacturer of ice with plants in five cities in Oklahoma and Kansas, and with it all a love for the fields and streams and the sea, and time to hunt and take what God gave man dominion over.
At the height of a successful law practice Mr. Lawson determined to retire and to devote his entire time to his other business enterprises, and in 1914 he discontinued the practice of law and began enlarging his interests in the oil business, extending his operations into Kansas and Texas, and becoming one of the largest independent oil operators in the State. In order to be more centrally located for the conduct of his business he removed from Nowata to Tulsa in 1927 and resided with his family at 1008 Sunset Drive in that city at the time of his death.
Mr. Lawson was a member of the Presbyterian Church, a Mason, and a member of a number of civic and social organizations and clubs, and in these as in all other activities of life his talents were not buried.
On June 27, 1931, he was laid to rest in Memorial Park near Tulsa, on a hill-side looking toward the rising of the sun, and his family and friends standing at his sepulcher with one accord could say—here lies a man whose friendship was sincere, whose love was genuine, whose sympathy was unlimited, a gentleman.
"He that followeth after righteousness and kindness
Findeth life, righteousness and honor."Written by—J. Wood Glass.
[Chronicles of Oklahoma, Volume 9, No. 4, December, 1931]
Eldon E. Sams
SAMS, ELDON E., lawyer, Nowata, born Anamosa, Iowa, March 9, 1868, son of Stephen and Mary J. Sams. Is a graduate of the Nebraska State Normal, the Wesleyan University of Lincoln, Neb., degree Ph. D., 1897; University of Washington, degree LL. B. Is a Republican and served one term as city attorney of Pawhuska. At this time is a member of the Oklahoma legislature from Nowata county, and prospective candidate for congress. Is a Mason and an Elk. Married August 18, 1897, to Miss Irene Shields, of Dudley, Iowa. Two children: Genevieve, grown, and Gerald A., 9 years. [Men of Affairs and Representative Institutions of Oklahoma, 1916] - Submitted by Vicki Hartman
George B. Schwabe
SCHWABE, GEORGE BLAINE, lawyer, Nowata, was born at Arthur, Mo., July 26, 1886, son of George W. and Emma R. Schwabe. Was educated in high school of Sedalia, Mo.; law and academic courses at Missouri State University, Missouri Bible College; was graduated from the law department Missouri state U., 1910; was
mayor of Nowata, elected on Republican ticket from May 18, 1913 to May 18, 1914. A. F. & A. M., R. A. M., A. A. S. R, 32d degree McAlester, A. A. O. N. M. S., Akdar, Tulsa, B. P. O. E., I. O. O. F. [Men of Affairs and Representative Institutions of Oklahoma, 1916] - Submitted by Vicki Hartman
Floyd A. Calvert
CALVERT, FLOYD ALLEN, lawyer, Nowata, was born at Oberlin, Kan., July 13, 1888, son of John L. and Ella Calvert, of Guthrie, Okla. Educated in common schools of Oklahoma; graduate of Logan county high school; sutdied law under Hon. Harper s. Cunningham, former attorney-general of Oklahoma Territory; also under Hon. Matthew J. Kane, supreme court chief justice. Mr. Calvert is a Democrat, and is the present county judge of Nowata county, bearing the distinction of being the youngest in years of any in the state, being but 26 years of age when elected. Is a member of the Masons, Elks and American Bar Association. Married and has two boys. Lived in Oklahoma all his life. [Men of Affairs and Representative Institutions of Oklahoma, 1916] - Submitted by Vicki Hartman
Walter D. Humphrey
HUMPHREY, WALTER D., lawyer, Nowata; was born in Richland, N. C, March 5, 1876: son of George F. and Annie (Thomas) Humphrey. Graduated from high school and from Bingham Military school at Asheville, N. C. Admitted to practice law in 1901. Is a Democrat. Was mayor of Nowata in 1903-5-6, and was a member of the constitutional convention of Oklahoma. Was appointed by Gov. Williams member of the corporation commission of Oklahoma to fill out the unexpired term of Mr. Watson. Was married in June, 1906, to Miss Eva Sudderth of Nowata, and he is the father of two girls. Mr. Humphrey's principal recreation is horseback tiding and romping with Russian hounds, of which he is very fond and of which he has quite a collection. [Men of Affairs and Representative Institutions of Oklahoma, 1916] - Submitted by Vicki Hartman
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