PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF OKLAHOMA 1901
Biographies on this page:
Nelson, W. H.
Pourcin, Constatine
Rice, Theodoric Bland
Roberts, S. F.
Simpson, E. J.
Schwartz, Absalom
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W. H. NELSON.
This gentleman is an energetic and industrious citizen of El Reno, where he is pursuing his trade as a blacksmith and carriagemaker,and being a master of his calling, has established a good patronage. He was born March 27, 1860, in Kansas City, Mo., and thus is in the prime of life.
The Nelson family is of English origin, descendant of Lord Nelson, who at one time was an admiral of the English navy. Our subject's great-grandfather, Obed Cook, was one of the patriots that shouldered a gun in the War of Independence, and his grandfather Price was in the war of 1812. The family emigrant was our subject's father, who was born near London, England, and upon coming to this country he at first settled in Pennsylvania. From there he moved to Iowa, thence went to Kansas City, Mo., and at the time of his death, in 1861, he was living in Atchison county, Mo. He married Miss Amanda Price, a native of Missouri. Her parents, natives of North Carolina, moved to Iowa, but only remained there a short time, when they went to Missouri, and while en route to Iowa from North Carolina our subject's mother was born. Her grandfather, Obed Cook, was a farmer residing in North Carolina, and upon his death his wife moved the family to Iowa. Our subject's mother now lives in Colorado Springs, Colo.
Our subject was a year old when his father died, and he is his parents' only child. Reared in Atchison county, Mo., where he received his elementary training, in 1878 he went to Washington county, Ark., thence to Leavenworth county, Kans., where he learned his trade as a blacksmith, which he has successfully followed ever since. He then took up his residence in Washington county, Ark., where he remained nine months, when he went to Burlington, Kans., and there continued to work at his trade in the shops operated by J. J. Weigand. In 1885 he went to the Chickasaw Nation, I. T., and on the Chisholm trail at Silver City started a shop, his customers often coming seventy-five miles to have him do their horseshoeing and other work. In the spring of 1886 he started a shop five miles south of Prairie Grove, Ark., but was there only a short time, when he went to Burlington, Kans. In 1889 he engaged in business at Watson, Mo., and in the latter part of the year returned to Silver City, I. T., where he purchased his old shop, and there continued in the blacksmithing and wagon-making business until 1890. Then building a shop at Minco, I. T., he managed the same until November, 1896, when he took up his headquarters in El Reno. His patronage had increased so rapidly that in the following year—1897—he was obliged to erect a larger shop, so he accordingly built his present one, 25x60 ft., and put in three fires. One block distant from hisbuildinghe has a paint shop, as he makes a specialty of carriage making and repairing. As a horse-shoer he cannot be beaten, and since being in this section of the country has made many breaking plows. Our subject is a practical blacksmith and merits his good patronage.
Mr. Nelson was married in Jasper county, Mo., to Miss Jennie Schoffner, a native of Alabama, and they have five children, as follows: Minnie Belle; Ollie May; Charles Henry; Frank and Mabel. He is a member of the Knights of Pythias, of which he served three times as chancellor; Modern Woodmen of America, and Ancient Order of United Workmen. He is a solid Republican in politics. Mrs. Nelson is a member of the Methodist Church.
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REV. D. CONSTANTINE POURCIN, O. S. B.
One of the poets gave utterance to a sentiment which undoubtedly finds an echo in the hearts of millions of the human family:
"I care not what his name nor what his creed, For lie who helps me in my hour of need Hath done a work for God, and placed his name Beyond the reach of what the world calls fame."
When reviewing the grand work which Father Constantine Pourcin is doing among his people, and when looking backward along the pathway he has pursued, even an enemy to him, should there be one, must acknowledge that he has been animated by genuine love for his fellow-men and that he has earnestly striven to help and uplift them in every possible way. He possesses great talents and a wide, sympathetic nature, and thus he enters into the sorrows and joys of every one of his flock, and in return, is beloved by the high and the lowly.
The family whence Father Pourcin sprang has long been numbered among the mercantile class of Marseilles, France. His father, Stephen Pourcin, was a native of that flourishing city and for many years he was occupied in business at Aix, Provence Bouches-du-Rhone, near Marseilles. He attained the age of fifty-six, his death taking place in 1882. His widow, who is still a resident of the city mentioned, had the maiden name of Mary Clotilda Guyen, and her father was a merchant of Aix, her birthplace. Her elder son, Jean Baptiste, is a successful commission merchant in Marseilles, and her only daughter, Mrs. Louise Quintran, is the wife of a captain at Romans, France.
The birth of Rev. D. C. Pourcin, O. S. B., occurred June 4, 1857, in Aix, France, and in the excellent schools and academy of that town he received his education. He also pursued special lines of study under the instruction of private tutors, and when twenty-one years of age was exceptionally well informed in all of the classics, the sciences and mathematics and kindred subjects. In 1878 he became a member of the Benedictine Order, and two years later, when the French government passed a law whereby all monks were to be expelled from the land he went to England. There he continued his theological studies in Buckfast Abbey, near Plymouth, and on the 24th of July, 1884, was ordained to the priesthood by the Rt.-Rev. Vaughan, bishop of Plymouth, and uncle of Cardinal Vaughan, the archbishop of Westminster.
Beginning the more responsible and serious duties of his chosen career, Father C. Pourcin remained at Buckfast Abbey for eleven years, acting in the capacity of assistant priest of that parish. In 1895 he came to the United States, and for about three years was connected with the Sacred Heart Abbey in Pottawatomie county, Okla., being appointed pastor of Sacred Heart parish. While laboring in that field he succeeded in organizing a thriving congregation and built a substantial house of worship.
Since Easter, 1898, Father C. Pourcin has been established as pastor of Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Er Reno, in addition to which he is in charge of churches at Fort Reno, Calumet and Geary. In the early history of El Reno, when but two Catholic families dwelt here, the church was organized and from that day the congregation has steadily grown, until to-day there is a membership of about six hundred souls. The immediate predecessor of our subject was Father Germanus, also a member, of the Benedictine Order, and now pastor of the Shawnee parish. The prosperous school, which was founded here in 1899, by the indefatigable efforts of Father Pourcin, is conducted by the Sisters of Mercy, who now have over one hundred pupils in their charge. In 1900 he had the great pleasure of beholding the completion of the new Catholic Church at Geary, and Calumet also boasts a new place of worship. The El Reno congregation is in possession of a beautiful building site, about half a block of land, and here, if all goes well, an imposing and commodious church will be erected in the near future.
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THEODORIC BLAND RICE,
a prosperous farmer and highly respected citizen of Purcell precinct, Canadian county, residing on section 8, was born in Bath county, Ky., a son of Marshall C. and Katie (Roe) Rice, also natives of Kentucky. His ancestors were of English origin, and among the early colonists of Virginia. His grandfather, Holman C. Rice, a native of the Old Dominion, served as a captain in the Revolutionary war under General Washington, and in the early part of the nineteenth century settled in Kentucky, where he followed farming for many years. He lived to the age of ninety-four. The father of our subject spent most of his life in Kentucky as a cabinet maker and died at the age of seventy-two years. Of his eleven children, five are still living, our subject being the eldest of the family, while the others are as follows: Belford Donop. a resident of Oklahoma City; Kosciusko, of El Reno: Elmer, of the Chickasaw Nation; and Mrs. John Myers. The mother is still living at the age of seventv-eight years, and now makes her home in. El Reno, Okla.
The first eleven years of his life Theodoric 1J. Rice spent in his native state, and then lived in Missouri and Arkansas until eighteen years of age, when he went to Champaign county, Ill. While there the Civil war broke out, and he enlisted in Company K, Sixty-eighth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, for three months, at the end of which time he re-enlisted in Company I, One Hundred and Fifty-fifth Illinois Volunteer Infantry. With the armies of the Potomac and Cumberland he participated in many engagements, and when the war ended was finally mustered out at Murfreesboro, Tenn., and discharged at Springfield, Ill.
Mr. Rice later went with his parents to Sedalia, Mo., where he learned the printer's trade and followed the same for several years, making his home there for twentv years. In 1887 he went to Kingman county, Kans., where he spent nearly a year and on leaving there went to the state of Washington. In 1889, at the opening up of Oklahoma, he came to Canadian county, and contested his present claim on section 8. Purcell township. He now has seventy acres under a high state of cultivation and is successfully engaged in general farming and stock raising, making a specialty of Short-horn cattle and Poland-China hogs. He has about one hundred and twenty of the latter upon his farm, and thirty-five milch cows for dairy purposes. Besides his home place, he owns a farm of one hundred and sixty acres, six miles northeast. Success has attended his well-directed efforts and he is now quite well-to-do. ln Sedalia, Mo., Mr. Rice was married, in 1870, to Miss Elizabeth Ridenour, a native of | Indiana, and to them have been born ten children, namely: Lorena, wife of S. D. Morgan; William, a resident of Oklahoma City; John L., Rehoboam, George B., Maude, Carl, May, Almaa and Lenore.
In politics Mr. Rice is independent and was a candidate for the senatorial council in 1891, but was defeated by thirty-eight votes. He was also a candidate for the Kansas state legislature in 1874, and has been an efficient member of the school board since coming to Oklahoma. Being a strong temperance man, he has been an active member of the Good Templars, and for several years was a member of the Grand Army post and the Ancient Order of United Workmen at Greenridge, Mo.
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S. F. ROBERTS, M. D.,
a very successful physician and surgeon of El Reno, was born in Corydon, Wayne county, Iowa, May 3. 1869. He is of Scotch descent, and his grandfather, Dr. John Roberts, a native of Scotland, was graduated in the medical department of the University of Edinburg. Upon coming to this country, he settled in Portland, Me., but later removed to Marietta, Ohio, and thence to Iowa, where he had a saddlebag practice among the Indians. He was pioneer of his profession there and died soon after locating there. John Roberts, the father of our subject, was born in Marietta. Ohio, and was reared on farms in Ohio and Iowa. In 1850 he crossed the plains by means of ox teams to California, and engaged in mining there for four years, with good results, then returning home by the way of the Isthmus of Panama. He stayed in Iowa until 1859. when the Pike's Peak excitement mastered him, and again he made his way over the plains with ox teams to Denver, but returned shortly afterwards. He was all through the Civil war, serving in the Thirty-fourth Iowa Infantry at the battles of Pea Ridge, Pittsburg Landing. Shiloh, Banks' expedition, and the siege of Mobile. He was mustered out at New Orleans at the close of the war, but he never fully recovered from the effects of the hardships rmlured. He died in 1885, at the age of fifty-six years, at his home in Wayne county, Iowa. He was a member of the Grand Army of the Republic. He was united in marriage with Susan A. Crook, who was born near Frankfort, Ky., and is a daughter of Jonathan Crook, who was born in that state and was a planter. He served as warden of the state penitentiary for some time.
The Crook family is of Welsh extraction, and is related to the family of General Crook. Mrs. Roberts now resides at the home of her son in El Reno. Eleven children were born of this union, seven of whom grew up, namely: Mrs. Mary Morris, of California; James Washington, a stock dealer; John, a stock dealer near El Reno; Willis, a farmer near El Reno; S. F., whose name heads this sketch; Sally, who died at the age of twenty-one years; and Ray, who died at sixteen.
Dr. S. F. Roberts was reared on the farm until he was sixteen years old, when his father died. At that time he was attending Corydon High School, and in 1885 went to Rising City, Neb., where he remained for one year. Then returning to Iowa, he attended school there for six months, after which he went to Arkansas with his brother Willis to look after timberland at Wiener. During the next winter he taught school in fowa, in order to obtain the means for his higher education. In the fall of 1888 he entered Humiston Normal School, and was soon appointed a teacher, serving as such for two years. In 1890 he entered the normal school at Valparaiso, Ind., in the fall of that year receiving the degree of Bachelor of Sciences. He then taught school in York, Iowa, until 1892. Meanwhile he had studied medicine under preceptors at Valparaiso, Ind., and in January, 1892, he resigned his position as a teacher to enter the Kentucky School of Medicine, at Louisville, Ky. At the end of the first term, in 1892, he located in Oklahoma, and practiced for three months at Okarche, Canadian county, a new town. He then lived in Rush Springs, I. T., until 1893, when he returned to Louisville, Ky., and was graduated from the Kentucky Medical School with the degree of Doctor of Medicine, in June, 1893. He then located in Somersville, W. Va., and practiced there until 1898, when he located in El Reno. In the meantime, in 1895, he had returned to Louisville and had taken up postgraduate work in the City Hospital and Hospital Medical College. He has a large practice in medicine and surgery in El Reno and vicinity, and has met with wonderful success in handling every class of cases. In 1898 he was appointed to the board of pension examining surgeons, and now is secretary of that body. He also serves on the county board of insanity, and is examining physician for seven different insurance companies.
Dr. Roberts was united in marriage at Somersville, W. Va., with Vina Bell, who was born there and comes of an old Virginia family. They have one child, Ray. Religiously he is a Baptist, fraternally he is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America; the Woodmen of the World; the Royal Tribe of Joseph; the National Aid; the Independent Order of Redmen; the Odd Fellows, and was made a Mason in Iowa. He is a member of the Oklahoma Medical Society.
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E. J. SIMPSON.
As a prominent attorney and editor of the El Reno Daily Bee, Mr. Simpson has acquired an enviable degree of popularity. The newspaper business is an open door to him, for he has been connected with several leading periodicals and is familiar with every department of the work, from writing editorials to the condition of the printers' towel. In other respects his life has been varied and full of activity in several directions. He first came to Oklahoma in 1887 as superintendent of the Indian schools at Darlington agency, which position was creditably filled until 1889.
Mr. Simpson was born in Alexandria, Va., March 23, 1850, and is a son of Henry L. and Julia A. (Cross) Simpson, natives of Virginia. The paternal grandfather was of Scotch descent, and was a soldier in the war of 1812. The greater part of his useful life was spent on a ifarm. Henry L. Simpson was a shoe merchant in Alexandria, where he terminated his enterprising existence. The Crosses, from whom the mother was descended, originally came from England, and were an old and distinguished people. She died in April, 1899. Of her thirteen children five attained their majority: French and Henry were in a Virginia regiment and died after the war; and George L. is the mayor of Alexandria, Va.
While passing his boyhood in Alexandria, Va., Mr. Simpson was educated in St. John's Academy, from which he graduated in 1867, with the highest honors of his class. This training was supplemented by a post-graduate course in the same institution, after which, in 1869, he engaged in the dry goods business, and later in the commission business. In 1873 he removed to Baltimore, Md., where he continued the mercantile business until 1880, when he went to New Mexico, and edited the Santa Fe Daily Democrat. Always progressive, Mr. Simpson began the study of law a few years ago in Mar-tinsburg, W. Va., where he was admitted to the bar and practiced law until 1887, when President Cleveland appointed him superintendent of the Arapahoe schools at Darlington. In 1889 he located in Reno City, took a claim and practiced law until 1890, when he removed to El Reno, where he devoted himself exclusively to his profession. At the first session of the territorial legislature he was appointed chief clerk of the council or senate, serving during the four
months' session and two extra months, while the records were being completed. In the spring of 1891, at Canadian county's first election, he was elected county attorney, on the Democratic ticket, and filled this office for two years. At the-same time he was chairman of the Territorial Democratic Central Committee and had charge of the McCoy campaign. During the early days of El Reno he served as city attorney for two terms, was in charge of the city attorney's office during the incorporation of the village into a town, and later into a city of the first-class, drawing up the ordinance papers for the same.
In 1899 Mr. Simpson purchased the daily and weekly Supper Bell. It is the only daily paper in the county and is devoted to the interests of El Reno and Canadian county. There is a job printing office also in connection with the Bell.
In Washington, D. C., Mr. Simpson was married to Amy C. Hedges, a native of Washington, and a daughter of Rev. John W. Hedges, of the Baltimore Methodist Conference. There arc three children living: Mabel, who is married to the Rev. James Noble, of the Methodist Episcopal church, and living in Brenham, Tex., and Roy, the business manager of the Bell: and William.
Mr. Simpson has contributed much to the social and intellectual life of his adopted town and is a charter member of the El Reno club. In religious convictions he is affiliated with the Christian Science movement.
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ABSALOM SCHWARTZ,
a representative farmer of Canadian county, whose home is on the southwest quarter of section 2, El Reno township, was born in Morrow county, Ohio, February 24, 1856, a son of Henry and Rebecca (Lentz) Schwartz, both natives of Pennsylvania, and of Pennsylvania Dutch extraction. His paternal great-grandfather was a native of Germany and came to this country prior to the Revolutionary war. The father of our subject was born in York county, Pa., and at an early day moved to Morrow county, Ohio, where, in the midst of the timber, he cleared and improved a farm, making it his home until death. He was twice married, and by the second union had seven children, five of whom are still living, namely: Jonas, a resident of Michigan; Jacob. of El Reno township, Canadian county. Okla.: Absalom, our subject; Elizabeth, wife of LaFayette Henry, of Michigan, and Samuel, also of Michigan. His first-wife was a Miss Snyder (or Schneider, as the name was formerly spelled). Four children born of this union are also living: John, a resident of Indiana; Henry, of Ohio; William, of Indiana; and Leah, wife of J. Tischer, of California. In his native state Absalom Schwartz grew to manhood and learned the carpenter's trade, but in 1878 he removed to Holt county, Mo., where he engaged in merchandising lor five years. On account of ill health he was obliged to give up that business, and, purchasing a farm, remained there one year, and for three years did nothing, owing to the state of his health, after which, for the following five years, he devoted his attention to photography. In 1893 he homesteaded his present place of one hundred and thirty-five acres of fine farming land on the river bottom, later purchased sixty-one acres, and now is successfully engaged in raising corn and wheat, though also giving some attention to stock. He has built a good frame house and substantial outbuildings, and has set out a fine orchard and small vineyard. His success in life is due to hard work and strict attention to business, and his career has ever been such as to commend him to the confidence and respect of all with whom he has come in contact. He is a supporter of the Republican party.
During his residence in Missouri Mr. Schwartz married Miss Ellen Meryn, and to them have been born two children, Edith B. and Ralph H. Airs. Mrs. Schwartz's father, Henry Meryn, of German descent, was a native of New Jersey, where the family has made its home for four generations and where many of its representatives are still found. At an early day Henry Meryn moved to Ohio, and from there to northwestern Missouri, where, as a pioneer, he cleared a tract of timberland and transformed it into a good farm. There he made his home for thirty-three years, his death occurring when he was sixty-three. He was quite a prominent farmer and stock-raiser of that locality. He married Elizabeth Metier, a native of New York state, who also died in Missouri. Seventeen children were born to them, ten of whom are still living, namely: Lucy, wife of Roily Ramsey; Mary E., wife of Samuel Evans; Mrs. Lodema Smith; Harriet, wife of John Stultz; Jane; wife of George Pollock; Ellen, wife of our subject; Emma, wife of Elza Kirk; Rosetta, wife of Jacob Hornecker; and Robert and Lyman, both residents of Missouri.