Green Jackson. In view of the nomadic spirit which dominates the American public and causes its representatives to wander about restlessly from one place to another, it is most gratifying to come in contact with a man who has passed practically his entire life in the place where he was born and reared. To be a native of Oklahoma and to have lived here for fifty-three years is the experience of but few men in this state, most of its citizens having come hither from the east and south in recent years. The career of Mr. Jackson, therefore, is of special interest for he is one of the few. He has been a factor in the state’s development for half a century and is now known as one of its foremost landowners and ranchmen. His holdings aggregate 3,330 acres and this immense tract is located in Coal County, about six miles north of Centrahoma.

At Fort Arbuckle, Indian Territory, in the year 1862, occurred the birth of Green Jackson, who is a son of William and Laura (Thompson) Jackson, the former of whom was born in St. Joseph, Missouri, whence he came to Indian Territory in 1861 and engaged in the freighting business, and the latter of whom was a quarter-blood Choctaw Indian. Jacob Thompson, grandfather of Mrs. Laura Jackson, was a leading man of the Choctaw tribe for many years and Green Thompson, her great uncle, was at one time judge of Blue County, Choctaw Nation. “Doc” Thompson, another great uncle, was at one time sheriff of Tishomingo County, Chickasaw Nation.

Green Jackson obtained his primary educational training in the neighborhood schools of the Chickasaw Nation and this discipline was supplemented by a three-years’ course in Rock Academy, at Wapanucka, Indian Territory. Subsequently he attended both Spencer and Armstrong academies, pioneer tribal schools of the old Indian Nation. At Spencer Academy he was a schoolmate of Thomas W. Hunter, a member of the Oklahoma Legislature and one of the leading men of the Choctaw Nation, and of William A. Durant, former speaker of the House of Representatives of both the Choctaw and State Legislatures. At the age of twenty years Mr. Jackson went to Wise County, Texas, where for eight years he was employed on the Waggoner ranch. At the end of that time he returned to Indian Territory and entered the employ of Frank Murray at Erin Springs, now Lindsay. Then he went to Wynnewood and worked for several years for his uncle, James Gardner, and subsequently he was employed on the Bar V ranch in the Seminole Nation for three years. In 1892 he removed to the vicinity of what is now Byars and on the 26th of November, 1893, he purchased and established his home on the J. O. ranch, then in Atoka County but since statehood a part of Coal County.

When Mr. Jackson settled on the J. O. ranch his nearest neighbor was a fullblood Choctaw Indian three miles away and the next white settler in that vicinity was Marion Tyner, likewise three miles distant. The third white settler was John Selsor who later built one of the first houses in the Town of Centrahoma. In those pioneer days the nearest postoffice was twenty miles away –three being about the same distance, namely: Coalgate, Allen and Stonewall, now Frisco. The country was wild and frequented by outlaws, several of whom Mr. Jackson assisted in capturing. For a time he served as deputy sheriff under the Indian government to stop the activities of horse and cattle thieves. In 1897 the postoffice of Globe was established on Mr. Jackson’s ranch and he conducted the same in connection with a thriving mercantile business until 1913, when a number of rural delivery routes were established from the Town of Centrahoma, this causing the discontinuance of the postoffice at Globe. The first school in the neighborhood was a subscription school and for a time its teacher was Dick Bunch, present clerk of Coal County.

A splendidly improved ranch of 3,330 acres constitute the holdings of Mr. Jackson and the same is located six miles north of Centrahoma. Some 1,400 acres of this plot are under cultivation and in 1915 500 acres were planted with oats and 100 acres with wheat. Breeded cattle, horses and hogs are raised each year and the place is splendidly equipped with a fine residence and barn; nothing is spared in the way of late improvements in farm implements and other devices to lighten and facilitate work. Mr. Jackson is known as an able manager and his ranch is one of the best and largest show places in the county.

In 1892 was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Jackson to Miss Belle Z. Thompson, the ceremony being performed at the Sacred Heart Mission in the Pottawotamie Nation. Mrs. Jackson is a woman of kindly and attractive personality and she and her husband have eight children, as follows: Leona is the wife of Morris Matthews, a merchant at Roff; Cora married David Hensley, a ranchman at Centrahoma; and Alfred, Ardelia, Simon, Green, Floyd and Onita are at home with their parents. Mr. Jackson has two half brothers and two half sisters: Robert and Lona Turnbull, of San Francisco, California; James Bolin, of Centrahoma; and Mrs. R. S. Moore, of Bokchito, Oklahoma.

Mr. Jackson is a valued member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Globe and he always manifests a great interest in matters affecting the general welfare of his home community, giving his hearty support to improvements of all kinds. He is a man of genial personality and his friends are legion.