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Page 874

We, your committee on necrology, report that we find that fourteen members of our craft have died since the midwinter meeting in Oklahoma City.

RESOLUTION: Whereas, since the last meeting of the Oklahoma Press Association, the grim reaper of death has visited our ranks and taken from our number fourteen persons, all of whom were well known to the members of the Oklahoma Press Association, and their passing brings a sense of deep sorrow to the hearts of those of us who have been left behind to carry on;

Now, therefore, we the members of the Oklahoma Press Association in annual convention assembled in the City of Clinton, Oklahoma, do by these resolutions extend our heartfelt sympathy to the families of those who have suffered the loss of loved ones since our last meeting; and we authorize the incorporation of these resolutions, together with the names of those who have departed, upon the records of the association, and direct that a copy of these resolutions be mailed to the families of those who have died.

B. A. Drake, publisher of the Hitchcock Clarion, died January 18 in Hitchcock.

Newt S. Graham, Jr., editor of the Mayes County Democrat, Pryor, died February 8 in Tulsa.

Mrs. Hattie Goit, former editor of the LeFlore County Sun, Poteau, died February 14 in Oklahoma City.

M. V. Crockett, publisher of the Haileyville Signal, died February 7 in Haileyville.

R. Edward Bagby, former editor of publications at Oklahoma A. and M. college, died March 18 in Stillwater.

Hamilton Gray, former journalism instructor in Oklahoma Baptist university, Shawnee, was killed March 23 in Des Moines, Iowa.

Elias Smith, Canton, one of the founders of the Oklahoma Leader company, Oklahoma City, died about April 1.

Mrs. George Connell (Vera Shidler), former women's editor of Oklahoma Daily, Norman, died April 26 in Sheridan, Wyoming.

W. T. Cleeton, former Cimarron newspaperman, died in Tulsa about May 1.

Sylvester Dean, compositor for McAlester News-Capital, died April 27.

Mrs. Clarence B. Douglas, wife of a former publisher of the Muskogee Phoenix, died April 20 in Tulsa.

Miss Elizabeth Clampitt, linotype operator for the Blackwell Tribune, died April 27.

J. A. Showen, father of W. E. Showen, editor of the Mayesville News, died March 11 at Minco.

Mrs. A. L. Kates, wife of the publisher of the Claremore Progress, died May 7 in Claremore.

Introduced and passed at the regular annual meeting of the Oklahoma Press Association, in the City of Clinton, Oklahoma, on this, the twenty-seventh day of May, 1933.

W. E. SCHOOLER
JIM BUTLER
DAVE VANDIVIER

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Born at Blantyre, Scotland, on December 14, 1864. Son of Bernard Hanraty and his wife Catherine (McGuire) Hanraty. He came to the United States in his youth, working in the coal mines in the mining regions of Pennsylvania and Illinois. He located in the Indian Territory in 1882, working in the mines at Old McAlester. From McAlester he removed to Coalgate, Indian Territory, where, in 1898, he was elected mayor. In 1900 he was elected District President of the United Mine Workers of America, holding said position for eight years. He was also Vice President of the State Federation of Labor. In 1906 was elected as a delegate to the Oklahoma Constitutional Convention as a democrat from District 96 comprising the City of McAlester. He was elected as vice president of said convention, serving on the following committees: Mines and Mining, Oil and Gas, County Boundaries etc., Municipal Corporations, and Labor and Arbitration, of which he was chairman. In September 1907 at the election as to the ratification of the Constitution he was elected Chief Mine Inspector for the State of Oklahoma as a democrat, serving during that term, which expired in January 1911. Afterwards he was elected and served as mayor of the City of McAlester. Later he engaged in the mining business, as a small operator, so continuing at intervals until he sustained an accident in which he lost both of his legs. He died September 7, 1932, at which time he was an employe in the Capitol at Oklahoma City. In 1888 he was married to Louise Jung, to which union were born eight children, four boys and four girls, to-wit: Charles Hanraty, Miami, Arizona; Mary (Hanraty) Talbot, and John Hanraty, Oklahoma City; Louise, now Mrs. H. E. Hatchett, Springfield, Mo.; Nell, now Mrs. D. S. Barclay, Oklahoma City; Peter Hanraty; Margaret Hanraty; Joe Hanraty, all of Oklahoma City.

Frank Nicholas Korn was born in Breckenridge, Caldwell County, Missouri, September 26, 1870. He was the son of John Nicholas Korn, of Saxony, Coberg, Germany, and Alida Van Allen Korn, of Canajoharia, New York. As a youth, while attending the Breckenridge Highschool, he learned telegraphy under the tutelage of his brother, Will S. Korn, operator for the Burlington Railway. At the age of fourteen, he was employed as a messenger boy for the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad (Burlington Route), in Missouri. At the age of sixteen, he was promoted to telegraph operator with his first position in the St. Joseph yards, remaining with that company in the capacity of operator and station agent until 1890. The following year he was employed in the service of the Santa Fe Railway as operator at Las Vegas, New Mexico. Resigning from this position, he entered the service of the Rock Island Railway at Trenton, Missouri, in April, 1891, a month later being promoted to train dispatcher, under W. S. Tinsman, chief dispatcher.

On October 28, 1891, Mr. Korn was united in marriage to Anna Lee Brosius, of Hamilton, Missouri, daughter of James Henry Brosius and Mary Frances Davis Brosius. Mrs. Korn's grandparents, Captain Albert Gallatin Davis and Julia Ann Penney Davis were founders and builders

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of Hamilton. Two children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Korn in Trenton—Frank Marvin, who died in infancy, and Mildred Lillian.

From September, 1894, until August, 1901, Mr. Korn served at different periods with the St. Louis, Southwestern Railway (Cotton Belt Route) as operator and as station and express agent at Clarendon, Arkansas, and as chief dispatcher at Jonesboro and at Pine Bluff; with the Kansas City Southern Railway as dispatcher and later chief dispatcher under General Superintendent Wm. H. Coughlin, at Pittsburg, Kansas. In August, 1902, Mr. Korn relinquished his position to accept a position with the Denver and Rio Grande Railway, under its general superintendent. At that time, an article in the "Headlight," a paper of Pittsburg, Kansas, stated: "It appears that the Kansas City Southern Railway is the training school for the railroads of the country. Whenever a railroad wants a good man they take one from the Kansas City Southern offices. The latest man selected is the genial, hard working chief dispatcher, Frank N. Korn. * * * The whole office force hate to see him go. They feel as bad about it as they did when Superintendent Coughlin left and that is saying a great deal for the popularity of Mr. Korn."

Mr. Korn commenced his duties as dispatcher and chief dispatcher for the Denver and Rio Grande at Salida, Colorado, in April, 1903. A year and a half later, Mr. and Mrs. Korn lost their only child, Mildred Lillian, a sorrow so great that a change of locality was necessary for the bereaved parents. In November, 1905, he accepted a position with the Rock Island Railway, in whose service he continued until his death in 1933. He was trainmaster of construction in the building of that part of the road from Haskell through Eldorado, to Crosset, Arkansas. From 1906 to 1917, he served at various times as dispatcher, chief dispatcher, and trainmaster of transportation, with headquarters at Chickasha, then at El Reno, and for a time in Missouri. From 1917 until a short time before his death, on April 16, 1933, Mr. Korn made his home at El Reno, where his headquarters as dispatcher, chief dispatcher, and night chief dispatcher for the Rock Island were also located.

Mr. Korn was a member of the Kiwanis club of El Reno and a past president. He also served as a district trustee and secretary of the club. He was chairman of the underprivileged child committee, which had charge of the distribution of milk and ice to worthy, needy families in the summer of 1932. Mr. Korn was also a member of the Oklahoma Historical Society, the Oklahoma Memorial Association, and an esteemed member of the El Reno Lodge No. 50, A. F. & A. M.

During his last illness, while a patient at the Rock Island hospital at Halstead, Kansas, his faithful wife ministered to him constantly. Through her prayers with him and for him and through her reading of the Holy Scriptures, he obtained great spiritual comfort. He was led to a profession of faith in the Seventh Day Adventist Church on February 22, 1933. Funeral services for Mr. Korn were held in the Central Methodist Church of El Reno, on April 18. Many beautiful floral offerings were the tokens of the love and esteem of a host of friends and associates. Interment was made at Highland Cemetery, Hamilton, Missouri, by the side of his two children. The Masonic burial rites were conducted by the Masonic Lodge of Hamilton, in which Mr. Korn was initiated over twenty-eight years ago.

M. H. W.

Benjamin Franklin Creason was born July 20, 1871, in Audrain County, Missouri. His parents were Benjamin Franklin Creason and

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Tabitha Henryetta Creason. His early education was received in the country schools. Later he attended the State University at Columbia, Missouri, for two years.

At the age of twelve years he united with the Christian Church at Antioch, Audrain County, Missouri, and while still a boy declared his intention of becoming a minister. On June 11th, 1901, he graduated from The College of The Bible, Lexington, Kentucky, and began his ministerial work at Unionville, Missouri. He afterwards held pastorates at Lathrop and Weston, Missouri, also Renfrow, Oklahoma.

Mr. Creason gave up regular pastoral work in Oklahoma. However, his love for Christ and humanity never weakened and he continued his Christian work along other lines. For many years he taught a large class of young married people in the Bible School of First Christian Church, Oklahoma City, and at the time of his death was teaching a similar class in the Maywood Christian Church of Oklahoma City. He was actively engaged in the campaign for the endowment of Phillips University, Enid, Oklahoma, and two Christian Colleges in Texas. His love for the cause and his love for humanity, coupled with a keen sense of humor, endeared him to a host of friends.

In 1905 he married Myrtle Leeper, of Norman, Oklahoma, a daughter of William Perry Leeper and Minerva Ward Leeper. Mrs. Creason is a Choctaw Indian on her mother's side, being a descendant of the Hyahpah-tuk-kala.

One son, Lathrop S. Creason, was born in Lathrop, Missouri in 1909, and graduated in June 1933 from the University of Detroit, Detroit, Michigan, in Mechanical Engineering.

On July 30th, 1932, Mr. Creason died suddenly while sitting in his car in Oklahoma City. He was laid to rest in beautiful Memorial Park, Oklahoma City, August 2nd.

Since 1915 Mr. and Mrs. Creason had made their home in Oklahoma City, where Mrs. Creason still lives.

In addition to his wife and son, Mr. Creason is survived by his mother, now in her 87th year, two sisters, Mrs. Meda B. Kirkland and Sallie Creason, all of Oklahoma City, and one brother, Goodwin Creason, of Kansas City, Missouri.

In December, 1872, Jessie Robb was born in the little new town of Muskogee, Indian Territory. From the fact that the baby girl and the town came into existence at about the same time, she was always known as "The First White Child Born in Muskogee."

Her parents Mr. and Mrs. Andrew W. Robb, were among the foremost pioneers in the upbuilding of Muskogee. J. S. Atkinson and Mr. Robb started the first store in the town opening their place of business in April, 1872. In 1876 Mr. Robb became associated with James A. Patterson in a mercantile establishment which led all others for many years. Later in life he became president of the Territorial Bank and Trust Company of Muskogee.

In 1902 Miss Robb was married to D. H. Hobart who died four years ago. Mrs. Hobart died in California February 11, 1933. She is survived by her daughter Mrs. Clarence W. Swanson of Oklahoma City, and her sister, Mrs. A. Grant Evans of Santa Barbara, California.

C. T. F.

Page 878

Mrs. Anna DeWees Fears was born in Cullodon, Georgia, in 1847. She was educated in a private school and became interested in missionary work early in life. She was sent as a missionary teacher to the Choctaw Indians by the celebrated Bishop George F. Pierce and reached her post at New Hope in 1880. After teaching one year at the New Hope school Miss DeWees was transferred to Chilocco. She found teaching among the western Indians very different from the civilized Choctaws and at times her pupils were difficult to control. On one occasion she turned from the blackboard unexpectedly and found one of the boys whom she had been obliged to discipline frequently pointing a pistol at her. She happened to be holding a heavy wooden pointer and as she realized her danger, without hesitation, she struck the boy across his wrist with the heavy end of the pointer and broke the bones, the pistol falling to the floor. She had no further trouble with that boy and her other students treated her with marked respect thereafter.

After teaching three years Miss DeWees was married to Isaac W. Bruce who had some contracts for building at the mission school. The wedding took place in September, 1884. Several years after the death of Mr. Bruce his widow in 1897 became the wife of Judge Stockton S. Fears of Muskogee, who passed away in 1902.

Mrs. Fears was a lifelong Methodist and a charter member of St. Paul's Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and of the Woman's Missionary Society of that church in Muskogee. She was also a charter member of the Daughters of the Confederacy.

Mrs. Fears who had been in failing health for a year, died Sunday, July 31, 1932, at a hospital in Ardmore where she had gone for treatment. She was survived by a grand-nephew, Edward C. DeWees of Spartanburg, South Carolina; four step-sons, Burt and Hoyt Bruce of Fort Smith, Arkansas, and W. D. and L. A. Fears of Leonard, Oklahoma; three step-daughters, Mrs. George R. Cullen and Mrs. William A. Porter, of Tulsa, and Mrs. Thomas W. Leahy of Muskogee.

Funeral services were held Tuesday, August 2, at St. Paul's Church and Mrs. Fears was laid to rest beside her husband in Greenhill cemetery in Muskogee.

—C. T. F.

Few women of Oklahoma led a more useful life than Mrs. Mitchell, lovingly called "Aunt Katie" by her hosts of friends of Old Indian Territory days.

Born in 1848 in Xenia, Ohio, Katie Edwards braved the perils of a trip to the Indian Territory in 1870 when she was only twenty-two years old in order to become a teacher in an Indian School. At that time the railroad ran only as far as Girard, Kansas, and Miss Edwards made the rest of the trip overland to Tullahassee Manual Labor Boarding School in the Creek Nation.

This school was in charge of Rev. and Mrs. William Schenck Robertson, the parents of Mrs. N. B. Moore of Haskell, Oklahoma, and the late Hon. Alice M. Robertson of Muskogee, both of whom taught at Tullahassee. The school which was under the care of the Presbyterian Board of Home Missions then had as pupils fifty Creek boys and the same number of Creek girls.

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After a year and a half Miss Edwards moved to Muskogee to teach in one of the schools established there. Muskogee at that time was "a long, straggling, miserable railroad town . . ." which had only recently been reached by the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad. The records of Muskogee were bloody. During the five weeks the terminus business and stage offices were there and at Gibson Station sixteen murders were committed at these two places.

In 1873 Miss Edwards visited her relatives in Ohio and soon after her return to Indian Territory she was married to John Douglas Bemo; he was a Creek Indian, the son of John Bemo the celebrated Seminole teacher and preacher who had such a romantic career before coming to the Indian Territory.

Mrs. Bemo continued her teaching for several years after her marriage. She and her husband lived on their farm near the Creek Agency for many years.

The old Creek Agency was situated about five miles northwest of Muskogee and it was housed in a double log cabin set in a beautiful grove on a slight elevation. It was located in the midst of some fine plantations in the Arkansas River bottom near Fern Mountain. It was an important trading place and year after year the Osage Indians brought their pack laden ponies with buffalo hides to barter for goods at the stores.

For many years Mrs. Bemo lived there, her home surrounded by great trees including the one called the "Creek hanging tree." There her son Leon was born and there she and her husband cared for John Bemo until his death about thirty-five years ago. There she led a busy and active life until 1898 when her husband died. She carried on alone until 1904 when she married W. S. Mitchell who died in 1929.

Mrs. Mitchell was a woman of charm and even in her old age she was vivacious and she had a keen wit. Although she had suffered hardships she never complained and she was a fine specimen of the pioneer women who settled Oklahoma.

"Aunt Katie" passed to her reward Saturday, February 11, 1933. She is survived by her son Leon Bemo and his family of Muskogee; by a brother, Charles Edwards and a sister, Mrs. Jessie Hudson of Xenia, Ohio. Funeral services were held Sunday afternoon and she was laid to rest in Greenhill cemetery, Muskogee.

—C. T. F.

Mrs. Sarah Motley Anderson Scott, a pioneer of Indian Territory days, died at Muskogee, Sunday, October 16, 1932.

Mrs. Scott was the widow of James A. Scott, who passed away in 1928, and the daughter of Churchwell and Elizabeth Anderson. She was born on the Anderson plantation in Davison County, Tennessee, June 8, 1854. Her father engaged in business at Nashville in 1836.

Mrs. Scott's two brothers, Lieut. Col. Paul and Frank Anderson fought in the Fourth Tennessee Cavalry during the Civil War. Gen. Don Carlos Buell made his headquarters at Nashville after the Union forces captured that city and one of Mrs. Scott's favorite stories of her childhood was of the occasion when she was sent by her mother with a note to General Buell. He received her with stately courtesy and returned with her to her home. As a result of this visit Mrs. Anderson turned over the first floor of her handsome house to General Buell and his staff for headquarters and the property suffered no damage from the invading army.

In 1876 Miss Anderson was married to James A. Scott at Nashville

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and they left at once for the Indian Territory locating on Cow Skin Prairie in what is now Delaware and Ottawa counties.

Mr. and Mrs. Scott in 1886 moved to Muskogee where they resided until their deaths. Mr. Scott was very prominent in Masonic affairs and Mrs. Scott was a leading member of the Order of the Eastern Star and had served as chief officer of the organization in Indian Territory.

Mr. and Mrs. Scott were the parents of five children, Mrs. Frances Scott Ahrens who died July 25, 1626; Mrs. Elizabeth Scott Henson of Chattanooga, Tennessee; Mrs. Anne Scott Henson of Muskogee; William Denckla Scott of Muskogee; Julia Estelle Scott (deceased); and Mrs. Lillian Scott Lambert of Joplin, Missouri. Three grandsons and two granddaughters survive: George Norris Henson of Chattanooga, Tennessee; James Scott Henson and Horace Henson, Jr., of Muskogee; Mottie Bess Ahrens and Lee Cameron Scott of Muskogee.

—C. T. F.

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