Seminole County, Oklahoma Biographies George Birdwell was a partner and friend of Oklahoma outlaw Pretty Boy Floyd. He and Floyd robbed the banks in Earlsboro, Konawa, Maud, Morris, Shamrock, Tahlequah, and on December 12, 1931, two banks in one day at Castle and Paden, Oklahoma. The bank insurance rates doubled in one year in Oklahoma. Against advice Birdwell attempted to hold up the bank in the African-American community of Boley, Oklahoma.  On November 23, 1932, three desperadoes rode quietly into the all Black town of Boley, Oklahoma, with the intent to rob the Farmers and Merchants Bank. The group was led by George Birdwell, chief lieutenant to the infamous bank robber, Pretty Boy Floyd. On this day these men would encounter much more than they could possibly handle.   Birdwell and his partners, Charles "Pete Glass, and C. C. Patterson, entered the bank and herded assistant cashier H.C. McCormick into the vault and order him to stay out of the main bank area. The three men now approached the bank counter, where they confronted the bank's president, D.J. Turner. After staring down the men, Turner calmly reached over the counter and pressed the alarm to alert the townspeople.   Birdwell became enraged, and leveved his pistol at Turner. From inside the vault, H.C. McCormick grabbed a gun and fired at the would be thief, and his aim was deadly. Birdwell fell dead, but not before he could manage to pump four bullets into Turner. Turner died before he could reach the local hospital. He was shot from within the vault by a citizen.  He was born  Feb. 19, 1894.  He is buried in the Maple Grove Cemetery in Seminole, Seminole County, Oklahoma. Florence E. Cobb was born September 28, 1878 at Bridgeport, Connecticut to V. B. and Emma Augusta Ruthridge.  Her childhood was spent near Boston, and upon graduating from Everett High school on June 23, 1897 she attended Washington College of Law.  She received her Bachelor of Laws on May 26, 1911.  She continued her education and received hter Master's Degree on May 27, 1912.  She was admitted to practice law before the Suppreme Court of the United States on the 29th day of January 1915.  While living in Washington she was employed in the Census Department, Department of Commerce, Division of Education for a period of twelve years and for five years she worked in the office of Indian Affairs.  In 1914 and 1915 she was listed in Who's Who.  She came to Oklahoma in 1918 and became the US Probate Attorney at Vinita where she servered for two years.  She lated came to Seminole County where she served for one year.  She was admitted to practive law before the Oklahoma Supreme Court on June 3rd, 1918.  Soon after coming to Wewoka in 1920 she married T. S. Cobb, who was a member of this bar and former county judge of Seminole County.  He passed away on May 10, 1929.  She was a writer of unusual ability and many of her poems and articles were published.  She served as a Librarian in Charge of the City Library, as a Justice of the Peace and in 1933 as a Municipal Judge of the City of Wewoka.  During her term she prepared the manuscript for printing the Charter and Ordinances of the City of Wewoka which were published in 1935.  She received no compensation other than her regular law for this long and difficult task.  She died in 1946. Source: Excerpts from H. W. Carver, Seminole County Bar Association (1947) Printed in The Chronicles of Oklahoma, Volume 25 #1, pages 72 pic page 73 Kelly Haney is an internationally recognized artist who exhibits throughout the United States, England, Austria, and Asia. His art has received many awards and recognition.  He has received the title of Master Artist of the Five Civilized Tribes.  In addition to decades of success as a painter, Kelly became the highly esteemed creator of the 22-foot, bronze sculpture entitled, The Guardian that was chosen to top the Oklahoma State Capitol Dome.  Also, in addition to The Guardian sculpture atop the Capitol dome, Kelly has seven, seven-foot replicas of The Guardian at various businesses and college campuses throughout the State of Oklahoma.  He was also commissioned to create the Chickasaw Warrior at the Chickasaw Nation Headquarters in Ada, Oklahoma and the Standing His Ground sculpture in the Enoch Kelly Haney Center foyer at Seminole State College in Seminole, Oklahoma.  Kelly has also created roundels for the Chickasaw Nation Cultural Center and the State House of Representatives and State Senate Chambers at the Oklahoma State Capitol.  These pieces form an extraordinary repertoire of sculptures from an artist who was never formally trained in sculpting and started at age six using the red clay from his front yard to create Abraham Lincoln’s head.  Though professionally trained in painting, by Dr. Dick West at Bacone College in Muskogee, Oklahoma, the recipient of a Rockefeller Scholarship to the University of Arizona in Tucson,Arizona, and a graduate of Oklahoma City University in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma with a degree in Fine Arts, Kelly’s artist ability is God-given. When Kelly was merely two years old, his mother noticed Kelly recreating with crayons what he saw.  After decades of paintings and his most recently commissioned sculptures, Kelly has an impressive art career spanning over 40 years.  In addition to Kelly’s remarkable artwork, he has also been a successful politician.  Kelly had an humble beginning in rural Seminole County, and his modest life has guided his perspective of honesty,  integrity, and fairness which has made the way for his esteemed accomplishments in politics.  Kelly was a State Senator in the Oklahoma Legislature from 1986 to 2002 and was a State Representative from 1980 to 1986.   Kelly was the first full blood American Indian to serve in the Oklahoma Legislature.  He also became the Vice Chair of Appropriations his second term in the House before ultimately becoming the Chairman of the Appropriations Committee in the Oklahoma State Senate.  In addition to this significant accomplishment, he was also the chief architect of legislation designed to develop and implement education programs for at-risk students (Alternative Education) and provided legislative leadership for the development of the $140 million American Indian Cultural Center in Oklahoma City.  Kelly was also one of 20 legislators chosen to serve on the Executive Committee of the Nation Conference of State Legislators.  In 2005, after two decades of accomplishments in the State Legislature, Kelly Haney was sworn into the office of Principal Chief of the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma.  This was not Kelly’s first involvement with the Nation, as he also served as a Councilman, Band Chief, Business Consultant, and Planner in the 1970’s.  Kelly has been involved in tribal and state leadership and politics a majority of his life.  According to Kelly, though, “We get to where we are by standing on the shoulders of those who came before us.”  Since before statehood, the Haney family has been involved in tribal and state politics.  In 1903, Samuel Haney, Kelly’s Great Uncle, was Vice Chief of the Seminole Nation, Grandfather Willie Haney was Chief in the 1940’s and provided leadership to the Democratic Party of Seminole County in the 1930’s, and Uncle Jerry Haney was Principal Chief in the 1990’s.  Therefore, we can probably look forward to seeing Haney leadership in the future. Source: http://www.kellyhaney.com/about.html "The Guardian" is the work of Enoch Kelly Haney on top of the Oklahoma State Capital Dome. Shawnee News-Star O.D. Strother was a shoe salesman from St. Louis who traveled the Indian Territory beginning in 1881 spending considerable time in Okmulgee, McAlester and Seminole.  Strother traveled this land using a two-horse driven  wagon where few roads and virtually no bridges to cross rivers or streams existed. He learned to survive using his keen sense of direction, his wit and excellent salesmanship. Crude oil was discovered in the Indian Territory in 1896 and word of this new source of wealth spread like wildfire throughout the Territory. Strother became enamored with the stories of the discoveries and investigated the early sites of discoveries. He was not a scientific man, but had boundless energy and enthusiasm and began to investigate the early Oklahoma discoveries with the aid of other oil men and geologists. His investigations convinced him that a northeast to southwest trend was established in these early fields which would run through the small farm town of Seminole, and he became interested in buying land in this area. Strother began to purchase land in the Seminole area in 1905, and by 1917 he had purchased approximately 6,500 acres. The accumulated taxes on these properties became more than he could afford. In 1917, he organized The Home-Stake Oil & Gas Company , thus incorporating his holdings, and raised $50,000 to help pay for the property he had acquired. Strother traveled the oil company circuit to Bartlesville, Tulsa and elsewhere to encourage the oil companies to lease and drill on his property in Seminole. He usually brought gift packages of pecans, grown on the trees of his lands, to the oil executives to entice them to lease his property. The Wewoka discovery in 1923 brought a few oil companies into the Seminole area for exploration -- mostly shallow wells, a majority of which were dry. This discouraged many of the oil companies, but not Strother. He had the courage of conviction not to give up on his faith that oil was in the Seminole area. Strother constantly encouraged and prodded oil companies to explore the area. He was a consummate salesman with undying faith, unfortunately he died March 17, 1926. O. D. Stroter Strother Chapel located in Maple Grove Cemetry was named after O. D. Strother.  It was almost in ruins until the Maple Grove Cemetery Association began renovations to restore it.  A portion of their offices is located insdie it.  Most of my families graves are located to the left side of this chapel. Harold Leo Turner was born on May 5, 1898 at Aurora, Missouri.  He enlisted into the armed forces at Seminole, Oklahoma.  He was a Congressional Medal of honor recipient. He was a Corporal in the U.S. Army, Company F, 142d Infantry, 36th Division. He was awarded his citation for his actions while near St. Etienne, France on October 8,  1918.  After his platoon had started the attack Cpl. Turner assisted in organizing a platoon consisting of the battalion scouts, runners, and a detachment of Signal Corps. As second in command of this platoon he fearlessly led them forward through heavy enemy fire, continually encouraging the men. Later he encountered deadly machinegun fire which reduced the strength of his command to but 4 men, and these were obliged to take shelter. The enemy machinegun emplacement, 25 yards distant, kept up a continual fire from 4 machineguns. After the fire had shifted momentarily, Cpl. Turner rushed forward with fixed bayonet and charged the position alone capturing the strong point with a complement of 50 Germans and 1 machineguns. His remarkable display of courage and fearlessness was instrumental in destroying the strong point, the fire from which had blocked the advance of his company.  He died on  March 12, 1938 and is buried in the  Little Cemetery at Little, Seminole County, Oklahoma.  Back ©2008 Genealogy Trails