John B. Doolin. A resident of Oklahoma since 1899, Mr. Doolin has been one of the vigorous, progressive and public-spirited citizens who have brought to bear dynamic and well directed energy in furthering the civic and material development of this favored commonwealth.

He has been one of the influential figures in the councils and activities of the democratic party contingent in Oklahoma, served as state fish and game warden from 1911 until the 1st of January, 1915, achieved a splendid work in bringing efficiency to this department of the state government, and as a business man he has been specially successful in his operations. He maintains his home at Alva, the judicial center of Woods County, where he is one of the interested principals in the Schaefer-Doolin Mortgage Company, one of the leading concerns of the kind in the state. Since 1906 he has been prominently identified with the affairs of the democratic party in Oklahoma, as a loyal and public-spirited citizen, and his influence in connection with the industrial progress of the vital young commonwealth has of recent years been specially directed in the development of oil and gas producing enterprises, in which line he is classed among the representative independent operators in the state.

Mr. Doolin was born in Caldwell County, Missouri, in 1879, and is a son of John and Alice (Tobin) Doolin, who were early settlers of that section of the state, where the father was a prosperous farmer and merchant at the time of his death, which occurred when he was only thirty-two years of age. His father Was a native of Caldwell County, Missouri. The parents of Mrs. Alice (Tobin) Doolin came from Ireland to America in 1830 and first made settlement in the Dominion of Canada, whence they removed to Missouri in 1874.

John B. Doolin acquired his early education in the public schools of his native county and his discipline included a course in the high school at Cameron, Missouri. Thereafter he was engaged in farming and in the mercantile business in Missouri until 1899, when, at the age of twenty years, he numbered himself among the pioneers of Woods County, Oklahoma. He engaged in the general merchandise business at Alva, and two years later, at the age of twenty-two, he was elected register of deeds of the county, a position of which he remained the incumbent one term. Upon his retirement from- public office he engaged in the farm loan business, and his enterprise, fairness and well formulated policies made the business successful from its initiation. In 1906 he amplified the scope of his operations by entering into a partnership association with John H. Schaefer, and this effective alliance has since continued under the title of the Schaefer-Doolin Mortgage Company. The company has extended its operations over twelve or more counties in Western Oklahoma and its business in the extending of loans on approved real estate securities is now more extensive than that of any other independent firm or company conducting business in the state west of Oklahoma City.

Well fortified in his opinions concerning governmental and political matters, Mr. Doolin has been an active and effective worker in the ranks of the democratic party during the entire period of statehood in Oklahoma. In 1906 Judge Jesse Dunn, chairman of the Oklahoma Democratic Central Committee, appointed Mr. Doolin a member of the committee assigned to the drafting of rules for the primary election of that year in which were to be nominated delegates to the State Constitutional Convention, and the rules formulated by this committee were observed in lieu of a definite primary law. In the first state campaign, that of 1907, Mr. Doolin was selected manager of the campaign of Hon. Lee Cruce, the democratic candidate for governor, and he distinguished himself for his finesse in the maneuvering of the political forces at his command.

In 1908 Mr. Doolin was chosen assistant treasurer of the National Democratic Campaign Committee, and under Governor Haskell, treasurer of the committee, he served in this important capacity at the national headquarters of the party, in the City of Chicago, his work having there been continued after Hon. Herman Ritter, of New York, had succeeded Governor Haskell as treasurer of the committee. In 1910 it again became the privilege and pleasure of Mr. Doolin to render gallant aid to his valued friend, Hon. Lee Cruce, in the latter’s second and victorious campaign for Governor of Oklahoma, and as assistant campaign manager he was associated closely with Hon. John R. Williams, of Hobart, in effecting the nomination and election of Governor Cruce. In 1911 Mr. Doolin was appointed state fish and game warden, and of this office he continued the able and valued incumbent until the close of the administration of Governor Cruce. He devoted much thought and time to systematizing and making effective the work of his department and one of the noteworthy achievements of his administration was the establishing of the bird day in Oklahoma–a day set apart for instructing children in the public schools in knowledge and appreciation of the wild birds, and their proper treatment, protection and perpetuation. Two official reports issued by Mr. Doolin are interesting records of outdoor and wild life in Oklahoma, and the same have received special commendation in the representative publications devoted to game and sportsmanship in various parts of the Union, the while similar tributes have been paid by the newspaper press. Under the regime of Mr. Doolin the department of the fish and game warden adopted a policy based on the consistent assumption that fish and game were to be held for the benefit of all citizens of the state rather than for the select coteries of anglers and sportsmen, and every interest of the people in this connection was carefully considered in regulations regarding the propagation, conservation and killing of fish and wild game. Special provisions were made for the study of fish, bird and general wild animals by proper instructions to the pupils of the public schools, and the enthusiastic efforts of Mr. Doolin brought to his department the earnest co-operation of teachers, clergymen and loyal devotees of sports afield and afloat. At the beginning of Warden Doolin’s administration his department was one of slight influence and importance, and upon his retirement from office it was one of the most widely known and definitely valued departments of the auxiliary branches of the state government.

In addition to his extensive operations in the mortgage loan business Mr. Doolin has been prominently concerned with the oil industry in Oklahoma since 1912, when he and his associates became actively identified with development work in the Schulter field of Okmulgee County, where they now control some of the best producing properties in the district. Mr. Doolin is a member of the board of directors of the Aetna Building and Loan Association of Topeka, Kansas, this being recognized as one of the largest organizations of the kind in tho United States. He is affiliated with Alva Lodge, No. 1184, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, having been one of the five men who applied for and obtained the charter for this lodge.

On the 3d of July, 1913, Mr. Doolin wedded Miss Lee Museller, daughter of Judge A. R. Museller, who is one of the advisory editors of this history and concerning whom individual mention is made on other pages of the publication.