Chronicles of Oklahoma
Volume 14, No. 1
March, 1936
NECROLOGY
Page 127
WILLIAM HENRY EDLEY
(1860-1935)
Born in Warren County, Kentucky, January 2, 1860. Son of John Edley and Mary Jane (Hays) Edley. His maternal grandfathers
were James Hays and John Linn, who were natives of North Carolina and Revolutionary soldiers. His paternal grandfather John
Edley, Sr., was a land owner in the Province of Bolnas, Sweden, and traced his ancestors back 400 years, one being an officer
under Gustavus Adolphus. One of his father's uncles, on his mother's side, was a member of the Swedish Parliament. One of
his mother's uncles, A. B. R. Hays, was a Paymaster General in the Confederate Army. William Edley was educated in private
and public schools at Bowling Green, Kentucky, and attended Ogden College in Bowling Green, Kentucky, for four years, which
college has since been merged into a state institution. He was also, for a short while, a cadet in the U. S. Military Academy
at West Point. At Bowling Green he was chief deputy for the Circuit Court Clerk and an Adjutant in the 3d Kentucky Regiment
Infantry, also a bank clerk, and held the office of County Court Clerk of Warren County, Kentucky, for four years. At the
time of the erection of the State of Oklahoma he was a resident of Comanche County, being elected as a delegate to the Oklahoma
Constitutional Convention in 1906 from the 53d District. He took an active interest in the Farmers Union movement during that
period. In 1909 he removed to, Wyoming, where later he was appointed by President Wilson as Receiver of Public Moneys and
Special Disbursing Agent, holding said position from 1914 to 1922. In June 1899 he married Suzanne White, of Eufaula, Alabama,
and after her death in June 1902 he was married to Henrietta Desobry, of Plaquemine, Louisiana. From the latter marriage he
had three daughters and four sons.
Mr. Edley came first to Oklahoma in 1891 and later was at the opening of the Cherokee Strip in 1893, and in 1901 was at the
opening of the Kiowa, Comanche and Caddo lands. Not succeeding in locating a homestead, he later obtained a lease on school
land near Sterling, in Comanche County, which he improved with the expectation of making a permanent home, but later obtained
a reclamation irrigated homestead near Powell, Wyoming. Whilst Receiver of Public Moneys in Wyoming he resided at Lander,
Wyoming. He was active, not only in the Farm Bureau while he resided in Wyoming, but also in politics as a Democrat. The late
John B. Kendricks, U. S. Senator from Wyoming and former Governor of said state, was his political friend.
At the time of his death Mr. Edley lived near Copan, Washington County, Oklahoma, his post office address being Caney, Kansas,
Rural Route 2. He was president of the first Association of Farmers on the Shoshone reclamation project of Wyoming. He was
an active member of the Episcopal Church, serving as senior warden in Powell, Wyoming. The names of his surviving children
are Edward and William, of Plaquemine, Louisiana; Mrs. Gladys Holm, of Greeley, Colorado; Mrs. Jane Lucas, Mary, Phillip and
Hayes Edley, of Copan, Oklahoma. He is also survived by one brother Lawrence Edley, of Miami, Florida, and numerous nephews
and nieces. Mr. Edley died at 7:30 P. M., Monday, May 27, 1935; at the Memorial Hospital, Bartlesville, Washington County,
Oklahoma, and is buried in the Memorial Park Cemetery at said city.
Page 128
In 1906 Mr. Edley was elected as a delegate from District No. 53 to the Constitutional Convention for the State of Oklahoma
and served on the following committees: Executive Department; Immigration; Banks and Banking, Loan, Trust and Guaranty Companies;
Insurance; and State Militia. He also presented the following petitions to said convention: Child Labor; Pensioning Firemen;
Liquor Traffic; Sale of School Lands. The following propositions for incorporation in the Constitution were introduced by
him; to-wit: No. 50, School Lands; 56, State Militia; 57, Commission of Agriculture; 58, Bank Deposits; 346, Salaries of Deceased
Officers; 347, Railroad Corporations and 423, Cities of First Class.
—R. L. W.
Page 129
TADDY OWEN JAMES.
(1863-1934)
Born on January 15, 1863, Dodgerville, Wisconsin. Son of Rev. William Eynon James and his wife Hannah Edmund James. Was married
to Mary Elizabeth Maughan September 30, 1897. The following children born to them survive, to-wit: William Edmund James and
Mrs. Elsie Mae Park (Mrs. C. E. Park), both of whom reside at Des Moines, New Mexico. Taddy Owen James settling in Oklahoma
Territory in 1897, acquired what is known as the Davis Ranch, located about eight miles south of where the City of Guymon
is now located, it being then in old Beaver County within what was known as "No Man's Land," but now located in Texas County,
Oklahoma. About 1922 having disposed of said ranch he removed to a new location near Des Moines, New Mexico. His wife died
February 23, 1926, and he died on July 8, 1934. As a Democrat he was elected as a member of the Constitutional Convention
of Oklahoma in 1906 from District No. 1, and served on the following committees: Agriculture; Revenue and Taxation; Privileges,
and Elections; Salaries and Compensation of Public Officers; and State and School Lands, and introduced the following provisions
for incorporation in said Constitution: No. 28, relating to Lands for Schools; No. 128, relating to Sale of Indemnity Lands,
and No. 353, relating to Control of Eleemosynary Institutions.
—R. L. W.
Page 130
SILAS MARION RAMSEY
(1845-1935)
Born December 5, 1845, in Lewis County, Missouri, son of Silas Ramsey and his wife Henrietta (Baker) Ramsey. His paternal
grand parents were Seth Ramsey and Martha Ramsey, and maternal grand parents were Martin Baker and Hester Baker, all of his
grand parents being born in Kentucky. He was educated in the common schools of Lewis County, Missouri and at Monticello High
School in said county. During his lifetime he was engaged in farming, living in Lewis County, Missouri, until August 4, 1891,
when he located in Pottawatomie County, Oklahoma Territory, at the opening of the Pottawatomie, Reservation for settlement
on September 22, 1891. He was Register of Deeds for Pottawatomie County from January 1, 1897, to January 1, 1901. He married
Mary A. Barkelew on September 13, 1871. He died November 27, 1935, and is buried in Brown Cemetery in Pottawatomie County,
Oklahoma, near Tecumseh. The following children survive him: Francis M. Ramsey, Flomot, Texas; Archie. B. Ramsey, Quitaque,
Texas; and Florence R. Banks, Tecumseh, Oklahoma. He was under sheriff of Pottawatomie County from January 1, 1921, to January
1, 1925. In 1906 he was elected as a Democrat as a delegate from District No. 30 to the Constitutional Convention for the
State of Oklahoma, and served on the following committees: Suffrage, General Provisions, Public Debt and Public Works, and
Public Health and Sanitation, and during said convention presented the following petitions: relating to Religious Liberty,
Woman Suffrage, Liquor Traffic, and Location of Capitol; and by resolution introduced the following provisions to be incorporated
in the Constitution: No. 144, relating to veto power; No. 145, relating to Establishing Depots, and No. 247, relating to Dual
offices.
—R. L. W.
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