PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF OKLAHOMA 1901
Biographies on this page:
Clark, Ben
Douglas, Henry L.
Hegler, Edmund Milford
Hennessy, Richard
Morrison, Jesse Stewart
Mundell, Cyrus A.
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BEN CLARK
is a typical frontier character, having the freedom of the sweeping prairies in thought and movement, and a breeziness and fearlessness about him engendered by long end intimate association with the red men of the plains, whose bravery, cruelty and picturesqueness are fast receding to the happy hunting ground, and into the dim wood shadows of the past, and whose strong, bold and ofttimes terrifying faces will soon live only on the painter's canvas, in the song of Hiawatha, and in the Alessandro of Ramona's dream.
Without a peer as a scout and Indian interpreter, Ben Clark has won his spurs, and for a life spent in such service has received the appreciation of the country, and the friendship of the Indians. That he could ever feel at all kindly towards the Indians argues a broad spirit of tolerance, for his father, Silas Clark, was killed by the Apache Indians in the Arizona desert in 1849 while crossing the plains for California. Silas Clark was young in years and enthusiastic for a life in the far west, and his untimely and cruel taking off at the age of thirty-four was indeed a blow to his family. His wife, Mary M. (Peters) Clark, died in Peoria, Ill., in March, 1865. An elder brother of Ben Clark, who lived in Jopiin, Mo., was actively engaged in business there.
Ben Clark was born in St. Louis, Mo., February 2, 1842, and there spent his early childhood, going in 1855-6 to Fort Bridger, where he entered the government as post courier. From the very first he was engaged in adventures of a more or less adventuresome nature, and began with his appointment in 1857 with the expedition of Albert Sidney Tohnslon against the Mormons. He afterwards entered a battalion of United,
States volunteers, and was engaged against the Mormons until mustered out in 1858. At the beginning of the Civil war he enlisted in an independent company of cavalry under command of Capt. Charles Clark, which company was subsequently attached to the Sixth Kansas Cavalry. They served during the entire war, mostly engaged in frontier service along the borders of Arkansas. Missouri and the Indian Territory. He acted as guide for General Blunt during Price's raid into Missouri and Kansas (1864). At the close of the war Mr. Clark was employed by Indian traders to take charge of their mule trains and freighting through their country, and in this way was thrown into close relations with them, and became familiar with their language and customs. His advice was highly prized by the traders, who often consulted him when an outbreak was feared.
At the beginning of the Indian wars in 1868, Mr. Clark's services were eagerly sought by General Sully, in command of the government forces, at the time of the outbreak among the Cheyennes, Apaches, Arapahoes, Comanches and Kiowas. He was next attached to General Sheridan's command, as scout and guide, and spent several years with the western division of the army, giving valuable and conscientious assistance. After the Indian troubles had subsided, he was transferred to Camp Supply as post guide and interpreter, and was later sent to Fort Reno, and has since been on the government pay roll. He was several times called upon to guide the army across the plains, and through the country where the Indians were troublesome. In 1874 he was with General Miles during his campaign against the Southern Cheyennes, Kiowas and Comanches, and was next with General Crook during the Sitting Bull outbreak. He was also in the Dull Knife campaign of 1878, and took an important part in the subduing of the northern Cheyennes.
To the commanders of the western posts, the services of Mr. Clark have been of inestimable value, and he has in his possession many letters from the various famous men to whom he has been a guide and counselor, as well as many relics which attest the friendship and confidence of the Indians. Through all the troublesome negotiations, and at times critical situations, he has ever been on friendly terms with the red men, who have trusted in his honor and have never been disappointed. He has often gone among them when they were on the point of rebellion, and by his diplomacy and tact has dissuaded them from their course. He is most complimentarily mentioned by General Sheridan in his memoirs, and in General Miles' book.
Mr. Clark's marriage was no less romantic and adventurous than the other incidents in his career. His wife was a full-blooded Cheyenne, and the mother of eleven children, seven of whom are living. All have good educations, and some are graduates of the Carlisle Indian School, while others are now acquiring their education.
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HENRY L. DOUGLAS.
Lying on section 25 of Mustang township, Canadian county, is the farm which for some years has been owned and operated by Mr. Douglas. The land is rich and fertile and responds readily to the owner's care and cultivation. To some extent it is devoted to the raising corn and wheat, but the larger portion is in pasture with horses, mules and hogs, and the produced grains are used entirely for feed for the stock. It is said that the stock owned by Mr. Douglas is as fine as any in the county, or, indeed, in the entire territory. He is the owner of two valuable stallions, one a Clydesdale, the other a Morgan; and also owns three thoroughbred Kentucky jacks, the grandsire of which sold for $1,500.
The Douglas family was early established in Kentucky, from which state Henry L. Douglas, Sr., grandfather of our subject, moved to Boone county. Mo., and purchased a sawmill and five hundred acres of unimproved land. The management of the mill was given to his son, William G., when the latter was only seventeen years of age, and, notwithstanding his lack of experience, he proycd himself a capable superintendent and manager. Afterward he bought a sawmill, which he conducted in connection with the one owned by his father. At the same time he owned and improved a farm. His last years were devoted largely to agricultural pursuits, and he made his home on his Boone county property until his death in 1896. He had married Mary
A. Harris, a native of Boone county. Their son, Henry L., of this sketch, was born in Boone county in 1860 and received his education in local schools. At an early age he became familiar with general farming and stock-raising, which twin occupations he has since conducted successfully. For some time he cultivated land in Missouri, but in 1891 he came to Oklahoma and bought a tract of unimproved land. This property he later sold and bought a farm in the Mustang bottom, afterward trading that place for a Missouri farm, which in turn he sold and bought the farm he now owns and cultivates.
In 1889 Mr. Douglas married Miss Sudie Biswell, daughter of Sheldon Biswell, a Missouri farmer. They are the parents of four children, Marvel, Lena, Howard and Mary.
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EDMUND MILFORD HEGLER.
A young man of talent and ability, broad and progressive in his views, Mr. Hegler has been actively identified with the legal and judiciary affairs of Oklahoma since taking up his residence in El Reno, in 1892, having been connected with the second district court as clerk or deputy clerk for several years.
He was born in Attica, Fountain county, Ind., September 15, 1869, a son of Capt. Benjamin F. Hegler, now clerk of the supreme court of Oklahoma.
His paternal grandfather, Jacob Hegler, a portrait painter by profession, was a native of Switzerland, whence he emigrated to America while yet a young man, eventually settling in Indiana. He married Julia A. Richards, belonging to an influential family of the Old Dominion State, her father and grandfather having both been prominent ministers of the Baptist denomination.
Benjamin F. Hegler, father of E. M. Hegler, was born in Fort Wayne, Ind., November 27, 1842, and received his education in the public schools and at the printing press, early in life entering the fields of journalism and law. The very day after the fall of Fort Sumter he offered his services to his country, enlisting in Company A, Fifteenth Indiana Infantry, of which he was made sergeant. During the summer of that year he was in West Virginia, under Gen. Joseph Reynolds, in the Elkwater and Tygart valleys, taking part in the battle of Greenbrier and in the operations at Cheat Mountain. In the fall of 1861 he came down the Ohio river to Kentucky to join Nelson's division of Buell's army, and was soon afterward promoted to the rank of first lieutenant, as such participating in the battle of Shiloh, the siege of Corinth, in the Buell-Bragg campaign to Louisville, and in the engagements at Perrysville and Stone River. In the last-named battle the heaviest loss in the Union army was in his regiment, one hundred and eighty-eight men having been shot, among the number being twenty-eight men out of the forty-three men composing his company. He was then captain of Company A, being then but twenty years of age. A month later he was captured by the enemy and confined in the Atlanta and Libby prisons until exchanged.
On rejoining his regiment, he was appointed provost-marshal of his brigade, and under General Rosecrans took part in the operations against Tullahoma; was with his brigade when Chattanooga was occupied; was at the battle of Missionary Ridge, where his regiment, the Fifteenth Indiana, belonged to Sheridan's Division, which, with Woods' Division, made the assault on the center. In that battle he was assigned as ranking captain to assist in the command of the regiment, of which he afterwards had the entire command, his superior officer having been wounded before the ridge was taken, while the loss to the regiment was two hundred men killed or wounded out of a total number of three hundred and thirty-four, the entire loss being inflicted in the ascent of the ridge, that lasted but forty-five minutes. Captain Hegler, who then lacked two days of being twenty-one years old, was hit three times in the fight, had his horse shot under him, and was stunned by concussion, but he maintained his courage, and for his gallant conduct received special mention. He continued in command of his regiment through the Knoxville campaign for the relief of Burnside, in the winter of 1863 and 1864, remaining in service until June, 1864.
On returning to Indiana from the army, Captain Hegler, then but twenty-one years of age, became editor and proprietor of the Attica Ledger, Fountain county, Ind., which he edited for ten years, making it one of the leading Republican journals of the time. He became very prominent in municipal, county, and state affairs, having been actively engaged in every political campaign in the state, either as writer or worker, from the time of taking up newspaper work until his removal to Oklahoma. For eight years he was postmaster of Attica, Ind., which he also served as mayor, and was city attorney four terms, resigning in 1891, when he came to Oklahoma. Here the captain began the practice of law, but was soon appointed clerk of the United States court, second district, under Hon. John H. Burford, now chief justice, and served the term of four years. Resuming his profession, he continued in practice until 1898, when he received his appointment as clerk of the supreme court of Oklahoma, a position which he is now filling.
March 24, 1864, Captain Hegler married Arthena A. Milford, of Attica, Ind., who died in May, 1879. Two sons were born of their union, namely: Frank Marshall, who was accidentally killed when but fourteen years old; and Edmund Milford, the special subject of this sketch. In 1880 the captain married Barbara J. Campbell, of Fountain county, Ind., and they have two sons, Benjamin F., Jr., and Leon Burns, the former now at Kansas University, the latter in the Guthrie high school. Captain Hegler is prominent in the Grand Army of the Republic, having been commander of the first post organized in Attica, Ind., and in 1898 was inspector general for Oklahoma. He is also a member of the Territorial Bar Association.
Edmund M. Hegler was a pupil in the public schools of Attica until entering Wabash College, at Crawfordsville, Ind., where he remained three years. He subsequently spent six months in Talladega, Ala., engaged in newspaper work as reporter on the News-Reporter, then returned to Attica, where he remained as one of the staff of the Attica Ledger, of which his father was proprietor, until, in 1892, he joined his father in El Reno, of which he has since been a resident, and was appointed deputy clerk of the United States court, second district, under Captain Hegler, and when Judge J. C. Tarsney succeeded Judge John H. Burford, Mr. Hegler was appointed deputy clerk of the same court. This position he retained until after the resignation of J. H. Warren, clerk, September 11, 1898, when he was appointed clerk, an office that he has since ably filled, devoting his entire time and attention to its duties, which are many and varied, this district being the largest in area of any in the territory. Mr. Hegler has been active in city affairs, having at two successive times been elected city clerk of El Reno, the first time serving the full term of two years, but being obliged to resign at the expiration of a year and a half during his last term, on account of his appointment as clerk of the district court. He is now clerk of the second district, having been reappointed to that office by Judge C. F. Irwin, the successor to Judge J. C. Tarsney.
On February 7, 1893, in Turon, Kans., Mr. Hegler married Miss Lillie Seltzer, who was born in Richmond, Ind. Politically, Mr. Hegler is a warm advocate of the principles of the Republican party, and fraternally he is a Knight of Pythias and a Knight of Honor.
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RICHARD HENNESSY
is a well-known farmer, residing on the southeast quarter of section 1, El Reno township, Canadian county, where he located on the day the territory was opened for settlement, April 22, 1889. He was born in Ireland, and at the age of fourteen years came to the new world, locating in Brooklyn, N. Y., where he grew to manhood, making that city his home for twenty years. When a young man he learned the carpenter's trade, serving a five years' apprenticeship, and for the same length of time was in the government employ during the Civil war, having charge of the construction of ammunition boxes. He also made the gun carriage and slide, used during
the Civil war on the men-of-war. Later he had charge of the men building the Bethel Sunday-school on Brooklyn Heights.
He was married in Brooklyn to Miss Margaret A. Farrell, and to them were born seven children, three living: Thomas, a resident of El Reno, Okla.; Mrs. Mary Frances Murphy and Mrs. Margaret R. McIntire.
In 1868 Mr. Hennessy removed to Chicago, Ill., where he had charge of the county jail some time and was foreman for Hennessy Brothers, contractors, superintending the erection of the Chicago Cathedral, a Polish church on Noble street, the Webster Avenue Church, and the West Side Catholic Church. After the great Chicago fire, in 1871, he moved to Lake Forest, a suburb of Chicago, and lived there two years, following his trade. In 1875 he went to Crawford county, Kans., where he bought a farm, and in connection with its operation continued to work at his trade, securing some large contracts at the county-seat and erecting some of the best buildings in the place. While a resident of that county he served as township trustee four years.
In 1889 Mr. Hennessy went from Purcell to Erin Spring, thence to Fort Sill, from there to Anadarko, then to Fort Reno, and from there he made his run on the opening day, April 22, landing on his present claim at twenty-seven minutes past twelve. He filed his claim in due time and he then began its improvement and cultivation, he built a house, set out fruit trees, fenced the entire tract, made two wells, and placed acre after acre through the plow until he now has a highly cultivated and well improved farm, which stands as a testament to his thrift and industry. He is successfully engaged in general farming and stock-raising, and also does some contracting and building. He erected the first hotel in El Reno for the land company, and has worked for the government at Fort Sill and Fort Reno, erecting quarters for the soldiers stationed there. Politically he is a stanch Democrat, and religiously is a member of the Catholic Church.
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JESSE STEWART MORRISON,
who may safely be said to be the oldest inhabitant of Oklahoma, is a typical representative of the hardy pioneers of the western plains. He served as scout for many years and was also an Indian trader. He acted as interpreter as well as scout for the generals in command in the west, speaking several Indian languages, including the Indian sign language. Many thrilling adventures characterized his early life, and his many friends never tire of hearing of his buffalo hunts and exciting experiences. He is now a prominent real-estate dealer of El Reno and was agent for Lemps Brewing Company of St. Louis for some time.
Mr. Morrison was born at Ridgebury, Orange county, N. Y., December 25, 1840, and is a son of Andrew and Jane (Kerr) Morrison. His father was born in Paterson, N. J., and engaged in farming in Orange county, N. Y., until 1849, when he went around Cape Horn to California, where he died. He married Jane Kerr, who was born in Orange county, N. Y., and died in New York City at the age of thirty-four years. Her father, William Kerr, of Scotch-Irish parentage, was born in Ireland, and because of political persecution came to this country, locating in Orange county, N. Y. He married Elizabeth Stewart, who came of a prominent New York family, Gilbert Stewart being a cousin of her grandfather. Her grandfather served in the war of 1812. Mr. and Mrs. Morrison were the parents of two children: Jesse Stewart, and Emma J., wife of A. L. Jones.
Until fourteen years of age Jesse Stewart Morrison was reared in Orange county. From that time until he was sixteen he lived in New York City and Brooklyn. He attended school at Williamsburg, Long Island, completing his course at the age of sixteen. In 1856 he went to Cedar county, Iowa, and lived with an uncle, Robert Kerr, for one year, after which he lived one year in Gentry county, Mo. In 1858 he went to Texas, near Sherman, Grayson county, and before the Civil war went to the Indian territory, but shortly afterward located in western Kansas. He followed hunting and traded with the Indians during the war, spending several years on the plains. In 1865 he came with Indian traders and located five miles above the present site of Darlington, where they established a trading outfit and spent the winter, and their return in 1866 opened what has since been known as the Chisholm trail. In 1866-67 he was employed as scout and interpreter for Col. E. Wynkoop, Indian agent for the Cheyennes and Arapahoes at Fort Larned, Kans., Colonel Cody and himself serving at the same post. On his return he had many robes and other goods, and built a log house where Council Grove is now situated, leaving them there until he could send for them. They went to Council Grove, Kans.
Taking an outfit from Great Bend ranch, or Ellensville, Ark., to the Cimarron, now Oklahoma territory, Mr. Morrison traded with the Cheyennes and Arapahoes. Then, with Colonel Wynkoop, he started as scout to establish an agency near Fort Sill. Colonel Wynkoop returned east before this was accomplished, and Mr. Morrison joined Sheridan at old Fort Cobb and came with him to establish Fort Sill. He was also with General Custer on various expeditions during that winter. When General Sheridan returned east he was employed as interpreter for General Hazen as long as he remained on the frontier. He then left the army, and from Fort Leavenworth was sent by way of Fort Gibson to the Cherokee Nation to put in some bids for the forage contract at Fort Sill. He continued to follow Indian trading for some years in western Oklahoma, and has traded for as high as ten thousand buffalo robes in one winter.
Next Mr. Morrison engaged in the cattle business on his ranch on the North Canadian, with headquarters at Council Grove. After this he was one of the original lessors of the Cheyenne and Arapahoe reservation, where he started in the cattle business, but later sold out to Wert & Bugby. He then went into the cattle business at Council Grove and had over five thousand head. About 1887 he sold out his cattle and embarked in the mercantile business at Darlington until the opening of Oklahoma, when he became one of the first settlers in Reno City, where he engaged in merchandising until the Chicago & Rock Island country was opened. He then went to Arapahoe and carried on a similar line of business, but his health failed and he removed to El Reno to recuperate. For some years after 1896 he was agent for the Lemp's Brewing Company of St. Louis, and he is now interested in real estate. He laid out Morrison addition, a tract of thirty acres in the west part of the city, and besides owns one hundred and fifty acres adjoining El Reno on the west, and one hundred and sixty acres three miles north of El Reno, on the North Canadian river. He is a highly respected citizen of El Reno and is a member of the Masonic fraternity.
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CYRUS A. MUNDELL.
No resident of eastern Canadian county is better known than the genial proprietor of Hotel Yukon, and certainly none is more deserving of the high position he occupies in the public esteem. Possessing a very enterprising nature, he has worked his way to prosperity where a man of less determination would have succumbed to adverse circumstances. Much of his active life has been passed on the frontier, for which existence he is admirably qualified by nature. In addition to the management of his hotel, which is the leading place of its kind in Yukon, he manages the farm that he has owned for some years, and superintends the crops that are raised upon it. He also does considerable business in the buying and selling of land.
Mr. Mundell was born in Woodford county, Ill., in 1855, a son of James O. and Sarah (Clingman) Mundell, natives, respectively, of Indiana and Ohio, and both of Pennsylvanian ancestry. His mother's father, John Clingman, of Ohio, descended from an English family who owned a ship line from Liverpool to Australia. When Cyrus was a boy, he assisted his father in the cultivation of the home farm in Woodford county. At the age of twenty he went to Texas and settled in Young county, where he engaged in the freighting business for four years. During the winter of 1877-78 he engaged in hunting buffaloes. The hides of the animals he left on the prairie until April, 1878, when he loaded them on his freight wagons and hauled them to Sherman, Tex., disposing of them at $1.75 each. The best of the buffalo meat he saved by drying, and sold one thousand pounds of the dried meat in the markets. While this venture did not bring him large financial returns, yet his experience will always be treasured as among the most interesting epochs of his life.
During the winter of 1878-79 Mr. Mundell settled on leased land adjacent to the Washita river, in the Chickasaw Nation. I. T., and there he embarked in farming. However, he had much to contend with. Not only was the land raw and unimproved, markets remote and people scattered, but, in addition, a severe and protracted drought caused a partial failure of the crops, and left him with practically no financial returns for his labor. Believing he could better his condition in Illinois, he returned to that state and engaged in farming, but again his returns were less than he might reasonably expect; so, after three years of floods and disaster, he concluded even such a dry climate as the Indian Territory would be preferable, and accordingly returned to the Chickasaw Nation, where he leased farm land. As the land was raw and the surroundings those of the frontier, it took him some time to get a start, but finally a measure of success rewarded him efforts, and at the time Oklahoma was opened he had two teams, a few head of cattle, and $400 in cash. Coming to Canadian county in 1889, he secured a claim on Shell creek, near Yukon. His money he used in the improvement of the claim. At the same time he had an income from his leased land in Chickasaw; having sold his lease to his father-in-law, some years later, he then gave his entire attention to farming and stock-raising in Canadian county. After a time he met with success. From his wheat crop one year he realized $1,000 above expenses. With this money he bought another farm, which he sold a year later, clearing $700 in the transaction. Later he bought a house in Yukon, for which he paid $100 down and the remainder in installments. After a time he traded the house for Hotel Yukon, paying the difference in cash. Since then he has given his attention to the management of the hotel.
In 1880 Mr. Mundell married Mary Frances Doss, a native of Alabama, and daughter of Henry Lee and Wealthy (Clements) Doss, of old southern ancestry. Her father was in the Confederate service for a time during the Civil war. Afterward he moved to Missouri, thence to Texas, and, after the marriage of his daughter, settled in the Indian Territory. Both he and his wife are now deceased. Six children were born to the union of Mr. and Mrs. Mundell, but one died in infancy, and another, Sadie M., in childhood. Those now living are: Carrie S., Alpha Pearl, Ida May and Wealthy A.
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