John L. Boland. No other state in the Union may consistently boast of having as large a percentage of towns that possess or are seeking individuality as does the vigorous young commonwealth of Oklahoma. This statement is amply verified by men who have made a study of the economic features and phases of the profession of the &ldsquo; booster” in Oklahoma, for it is the booster spirit that inspires the search for something new or distinctive to set out a town or community as individual–as something different or something ahead of its neighbor. The thriving little City of Caddo, Bryan County, lays claim to being the only town in Oklahoma, and probably in the United States, that holds an annual corn carnival. It is certain that in Oklahoma the name of the Town of Caddo is as familiar to the people as those of some of its important cities. This pre-eminence rests largely upon the fact that Caddo is the seat of the corn carnival. From 10.000 to 15,000 persons annually attend this carnival, which attracts not only citizens from all sections of this state, but also from several neighboring states. The above statements may not prove specially apropos in introducing John L. Boland as one of the representative members of the bar of Bryan County, but they are consistent by reason of his splendid work as secretary of the Caddo Corn Carnival, a position of which he has been the incumbent since the inception of the striking municipal and civic enterprise, in 1909. His ideas, policies, progressiveness, loyalty and industry have contributed much to the success of each successive carnival, and that success has been so great that, in the words of a member of the interested company that promoted the carnival, “ all the people of southeastern Oklahoma want to know each year in advance the exact date of the carnival, so that due preparation may be made for attending the same.”

Mr. Boland was born in the City of St. Louis, Missouri, in the year 1879, and is a son of Cornelius and Josie (Farrell) Boland. Cornelius Boland, who was a native of Virginia, early settled in St. Louis, in which city he served thirty-five years as drill master of the mounted police. He also was a member of a detachment of United States soldiers that gave excellent service in the restraining of Indian uprisings in the West. He thus served under Gen. Nelson A. Miles and was a member of the party that captured, in Arizona, the celebrated Apache warrior, Geronimo.

John L. Boland acquired his early education in the parochial and public schools of his native city, where he attended also the Jones Commercial College. His preparation for the legal profession was accomplished largely through home study, and in 1910 he was admitted to the bar of the State of Oklahoma, having previously served several years as justice of the peace at Caddo, where he had established his home in 1902. Here he is successfully engaged in the practice of his profession, and he has been a vigorous figure in the progressive movements that have conserved the splendid development and advancement of this section of the state along both civic and material lines, the vital little City of Caddo having in the early days been the county seat of Blue County, of the Choctaw Nation of Indian Territory. Mr. Boland is the owner of valuable agricultural land in Bryan County and takes the deepest interest in its improvement and cultivation, with a desire to exploit fully the best methods of agricultural industry as touching the soil and climatic conditions in this section of the state. He is a member of the Bryan County Bar Association, of which he served one term as district counsel of the state association and is identified also with the Oklahoma State Bar Association. His political allegiance is given to the democratic party and both he and his wife are communicants of the Catholic Church. Mr. Boland has two brothers and three sisters, and all reside in the City of St. Louis: Edward A. is assistant superintendent of the parks of that city; Charles J. is an electrical engineer by vocation; and Misses Estelle, Bernedette and Amorita remain with their widowed mother.

At Caddo, Oklahoma, in 1906. was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Boland to Miss Elizabeth Turnhull, daughter of Turner B. Turnbull, who was one of the influential Indians of his day in the former Choctaw Nation. Mr. and Mrs. Boland have three children–Marguerite, Zuleika and Mary Adeline.