PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF OKLAHOMA 1901

Biographies on this page:

Cross, Julius C.
Falkenstein, James D.
Hawk, George W.
Hollenbeck, Granville
Ingle, George F.
Lamb, A. B.

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JULIUS C. CROSS.
As manager of the Pabst Ice Plant, also as deputy grand master of the Grand Commandery of Oklahoma, and as an all around enterprising and successful citizen of Kingfisher, Mr. Cross has won for himself an enviable reputation as one of the most reliable and esteemed dwellers of the newly-opened territory.

Early in the century, his paternal grandfather, who was a descendant of an old New York family, brought his family from New York and settled in Lenawee county, Mich., where he became one of the most prosperous and influential jewelry merchants in the town of Adrian. He became prominent in many lines of interest, amassed considerable of this world's goods, and became the possessor of a large amount of real-estate, having previously owned the site now occupied by the court house. He was a courageous soldier in the war of 1812, and died at the age of eighty-six. Following in their father's footsteps, the sons became jewelers. J. C., who was a jeweler and settled in Three Rivers, Mich., becoming identified with the growth of the town, when war was declared enlisted in 1862 in Company D, Twenty-fifth Michigan Infantry, as captain of his company. His career in the war was unexpectedly cut short owing to severe wounds received at Stone River, which so impaired his health that he was mustered out of service. He is now conducting a flourishing business at Adrian, Lenawee county, Mich. He is a member of the Masonic order and of the Grand Army of the Republic. His wife, Harriett C. (Gilmore) Cross, was born in New Hampshire, and is descended from an old and distinguished family of that state. Her family moved from New Hampshire to Michigan and thence to Savanna, Ill.

To this couple were born three children, two boys and one girl. Their son, Julius C., was born in Toledo, Ohio, January 28, 1850, and is the oldest and only surviving member of the younger portion of the family. He received his education in Adrian, Mich., and in 1860 moved to Three Rivers, where he remained for a short time, and in the fall of 1865 he located in Savanna, Ill. Subsequently he engaged in the railroad business, as conductor, on the Racine division, which position he retained until 1876. He then took charge of the car service at Savanna for a time, after which he resigned and went into the grocery business, with George N. Macken as partner.

In 1885 Mr. Cross took up his abode in Kansas, locating at Protection, Comanche county, operating under the firm name of Cross & Krummer. This association was amicably continued until April 22, 1889, when he came to Kingfisher and located permanently. Until 1892 he engaged in the wholesale feed business, at which time he assumed charge of the Pabst Ice Plant, which was the first of its kind erected in the territory. There are twenty-five machines, which are run to their full capacity during the season.

Mr. Cross was married in Milwaukee, Wis., to Eva A. Risley, a native of Libertyville, Ill. Of this union there are four children: Laura, a pupil of the Hollowell Academy, Kansas, and a graduate of Kingfisher College; Hattie, a student in the high school; William J., also a pupil in the high school; and Mary Adell.

Mr. Cross has taken a conspicuous part in the undertakings of his town, and is politically and fraternally prominent and active. He was for two years city treasurer of Kingfisher and school treasurer for the same number of years. He was further appreciated by his Republican colleagues, who appointed him a member of the city council, fourth ward, for one term, and elected him a member of the high school board for the same length of time. He is an extremely influential member of the Masonic order, being a member of the Kingfisher Chapter No. 8; charter member of the Cyrene Commandery No. 6; charter member of the Grand Commandery of Oklahoma, to which he was elected in 1894, and from which he has risen to his present position of deputy grand commander of the Commandery of Oklahoma; also is connected with the India Temple, N. M. S., Oklahoma City. The Independent Order Odd Fellows, Hennessey Lodge, has him as a member; also of the Ancient Order United Workmen. With his wife he is a member of the Eastern Star. They are actively and prominently identified with the interests of the Congregational Church.

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JAMES D. FALKENSTEIN.
Not unlike the hero of Falkenstein, the subject of this article has crowded into the span of his years much of the adventurous and romantic, though in place of feudal castles and hair-breadth escapes from pursuing enemies have been substituted for the modern Falkenstein the broad sweep and freedom of the western plains and the wild and unhampered existence of the old-time frontiersman and cowboy.

Born in that part of Europe which is now Prussia, but which was at the time a valued possession of France, Mr. Falkenstein is a son of C. A. Falkenstein, who came to the United States in 1849 and settled in Texas, where he lived until 1870, when he returned to Europe. James D. passed his childhood on the ranch in Texas, and when fifteen years of age entered upon an open-air existence on the plains, and for about ten years traveled from the Rio Grande to Nebraska, driving cattle on the trail. His work was not without danger, for the Indians still considered themselves masters of all they surveyed, and the pale face was to them an intrusion and menace.

Following his cattle experience, Mr. Falkenstein freighted for five years between Hays City and Camp Supply at Dodge City and Fort Elliott, as well as over the entire southwest country. When the business was dull he made extra money as a railroad constructor, and in this capacity built the grades on the Santa Fe, Missouri Pacific, and Mexican Central, on the latter of which he constructed several hundred miles of road. When the railroad work slacked up the freighting enterprise was resumed on a large scale, and the long train wound its way over the prairies, composed of about eighteen wagons hauled by mule teams.

In 1887 Mr. Falkenstein somewhat changed his habits of life, and went to Colorado and engaged in mining and building. He superintended the construction of twenty-five miles of a ditch for the Emmett Canal and Reservoir Company. In July of 1889 he came to Oklahoma and for $500 purchased the claim upon which he has since lived. The next year, having secured his claim at the United States land office, he started with his grading outfit for Simmesport, La., and took a contract for building the levees along the river for six miles. Returning to Oklahoma he at once began the improvement of his claim, and among other things set out a fine orchard.

Not having sufficient land to adequately carry on farming and stock-raising, Mr. Falkenstein purchased the northwest quarter of section 14, Center township, Kingfisher county, and at the present time also leases another section, the whole being devoted to wheat, corn, oats and stock. Of this, five hundred acres are used for farming. In 1899 was erected a commodious house, and the other buildings and appurtenances are on an equally substantial and reliable scale. A specialty is made of fine horses and much care and attention given to their best development.

For the first six years of his existence in the territory the erstwhile frontiersman kept exclusive bachelor quarters in a dugout, which lonely condition was relieved by his marriage, in August of 1896, to Carrie M. David, a native of Hennessey, Okla. To Mr. and Mrs. Falkenstein have been born two children, Mary May and James D., Jr.

To Mr. Falkenstein is due large credit for his meritorious rise in Oklahoma, which had little foundation save his own enterprise and ability. He is variously interested in the different enterprises instituted for the well-being of the community and has borne a part in their organization and perpetuation. Fraternally he is associated with the Masonic lodge at Hennessey.

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GEORGE W. HAWK.
The Hawk family is of Dutch extraction, and the first members to come to the United States settled in Pennsylvania. George W. was born in Crawford county, Ohio, in 1849, and is a son of Benjamin, who was born in Pennsylvania, but settled in Ohio, where he cleared a small farm for himself and varied his occupation with work at the shoemaker's trade. After the war he moved to Indiana, where he died at the age of ninety years. The mother of George W. was formerly Catherine Young. Of her ten children, seven are living. Two are in Oklahoma, George, and Edward, who is a farmer in Skeleton township.

Mr. Hawk was reared in Henry county, Ohio, and engaged in farming and railroad work until 1874, when he removed to Pawnee county, Kans., where he lived for three years on a farm. In 1879 he changed his field of effort to Newaygo county, Mich., and bought forty acres of timber land, which he cleared and upon which he engaged in general farming until the opening of Oklahoma. April 22, 1889, he made the run from Big Camp, Buffalo Springs, end May 27 filed the claim on his present farm. After putting in a few acres of corn and building a dugout, he went back for his family and household goods, returning July 26.

Mr. Hawk has worked incessantly to improve his condition in the territory, and has thereby been able to realize many of his expectations. On his original claim are eighty improved acres, the balance being given over to pasturage. This claim was but the nucleus of his possessions, for in 1897 he bought the northeast quarter of sec- tion 13, Sherman township, which adjoins the original claim on the west. Of the three hundred and twenty acres, about one hundred are devoted to wheat, and some corn is raised.

In Pawnee county, Kans., in 1878, occurred the marriage of Mr. Hawk and Maggie Fryberger. To this couple have been born four children, namely: Carrie, the wife of August Wheeling; Jesse LeRoy, Annie Bell, and Mary. Mr. Hawk has evinced his public-spiritedness in numerous ways, especially in the matter of education, in which he is much interested. He helped to build the first schoolhouse in his township and is otherwise interested in all that pertains to its upbuilding.

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GRANVILLE HOLLENBECK.
The ancestry of the Hollenbeck family is German, and the first representatives in America took up their residence in Pennsylvania before the Revolutionary war. They were industrious people, and impressed their attainments upon the communities in which they lived. This later descendant, Granville Hollenbeck, was born in Chautauqua county, N. Y., and is a son of Ashley Hollenbeck, who was born and reared there, and who came west to Delaware county, Iowa, in 1859, entering farm pursuits. In 1900 he moved to Oklahoma and settled on the northwest quarter of section 21, adjoining the claim of his son. Here he conducts a model farm, and is living a prosperous life. The farm in Iowa which was the object of his care for so many years sold for $9,000.

The mother of Granville Hollenbeck was Elizabeth (Clark) Hollenbeck, of New York, and she became the mother of seven children, six of whom are living, Granville being the oldest. The others, are: Mrs. Jennie Farwell; Delsie, who is married to Earl Derby, and lives in Oklahoma; William, in Iowa; Eddie, who is with his father, and Blanche, wife of Joseph Ryan. The grandfather, Daniel Hollenbeck, was born and reared in New York state, and settled in Chautauqua county when it was a dense timber forest. His determination recognized no obstacles, and he succeeded in clearing several hundred acres and in developing a fine farm on the clearance. He died while still in middle life, and with unimpaired faculties.

Granville Hollenbeck passed about the same kind of life that is known to most country-reared boys. His opportunities included a fair education at the district schools. In 1877 he started out for himself, and in Ottawa county, Kans., bought school land, which he improved, and upon which he lived, engaging in general farming and stock-raising. In the fall of 1890 he sought to better his condition in the unimproved country in Oklahoma, and therefore bought the farm in Sherman township, Kingfisher county, upon which he has since lived, and which at the time of purchase had but nine acres broken. As a result of his immediate enterprise, there was a good crop of wheat the first year, and there has been a corresponding general increase ever since. At the present time one hundred and ten acres are under cultivation, and the balance is used for pasturing a herd of fifty cattle of excellent breed. Interested also in raising-horses, Mr. Hollenbeck makes a specialty of standard-bred Hambletonians and other equally good breeds. The farm has an excellent orchard with about a hundred apple trees and other kinds of fruit; also small fruits are grown in abundance. The houses and barns are of good construction, and the place is made attractive by numerous shade trees. An important item, also, is the excellent water facilities. Up to 1899 the farm had yielded thirteen thousand eight hundred bushels of wheat, Mr. Hollenbeck's assistants being six horses and a boy.

Mrs. Hollenbeck was formerly Annie Blanchard, and her marriage to Mr. Hollenbeck occurred in 1875. There are no children of this union. The. family are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and contribute generously towards its support. In politics Mr. Hollenbeck is identified with the Republican party. He is a broad-minded, progressive man, and a credit to the community in which his lot is cast.

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GEORGE F. INGLE.
During the many years of his activity, Mr. Ingle attained prominence in the various avenues of his endeavor, and at all times won the esteem of all who were permitted to associate with him, whether in a business or friendly capacity. His entrance to the territory in 1889 was under rather pleasant circumstances, for there is much in kinship when we are embarking upon untried experiences, and he was accompanied by three brothers, also in search of improved conditions. The brothers succeeded in locating adjoining claims, and the work of improvement was conducted jointly, thereby facilitating matters greatly.

After staking his claim, G. F. Ingle returned to Kansas, from which place he came to Kingfisher county, Okla., and brought hither his family and worldly possessions, and, pending the erection of more commodious quarters, lived in a tent. Twenty acres of his land in Union township were planted with an orchard, which contained one thousand apple trees, six hundred peach, and other fruits in proportion. To the raising of fruit Mr. Ingle devoted almost his entire time and attention, and from his efforts in the line derived the most satisfactory results. The vineyard contains about five hundred vines, and everything about the place is of an up-to-date kind, and all fenced in.

Mr. Ingle was born in Edgar county, Ill., in 1831, and was reared on his father's farm. As one might suppose, the educational advantages of the time and place were indeed limited, and confined to a few months' study during the winter at the district schools.

He was united in marriage, in 1851, with Sarah Harrison, who died in Kansas in 1888. In 1854 he removed to Jasper county, Iowa, and for ten years was engaged in all kinds of general labor, after which he bought a farm and devoted his energies to general farming, and was also interested in a circular sawmill. For twenty-six years he lived in Jasper county, and for four years in Calhoun county. In 1884 the scene of his efforts was shifted to Sumner county, Kans., in the vicinity of Caldwell, where he soon after bought a farm of one hundred and sixty acres, and conducted large farming and stock interests, until his departure for Oklahoma in 1889.

In 1862 Mr. Ingle enlisted in Company G, Twenty-third Iowa Infantry, and was unanimously chosen second lieutenant by the members of the company, which commission he retained for nine months, but resigned owing to illness contracted while in the service. He served in the southwest division of the army, department of Missouri, under General Curtis, and was stationed at Iron Mountain, Mo.

The Ingle family is of English descent, and the paternal grandfather, Nathan Ingle, was born and died in Virginia. During the Revolutionary war he fought with courage and distinction. His son, Nealey Ingle, the father of George F., was born in Virginia, and came to Illinois in 1831, where he was among the very early settlers of Edgar county. From there, in 1857, he removed to southeast Kansas, and in 1861 changed from Geary county to Iowa, where he died at the age of sixty. He was a prosperous and industrious man, and prominent in political and other affairs of his locality. A Democrat, he was vitally interested in the cause of education, and contributed time and money to an improvement of the school system. He also served for several years as justice of the peace. As a member and ardent worker in the Universalist. Church, he exerted an extended influence for good, and was always ready to defend its creed and uphold its methods. His wife, Susan L. Hanson,was born in Kentucky and was the mother of thirteen children, ten of whom are living. William T. is living in Caldwell county, Kans.; G. F. is in Kingfisher county, Okla.; James is living on the home place; Thomas is in southern California; Marnett is a fruit grower in Union township; Marcus L. is also a fruit grower in Union township, and has an orchard of thirty-five acres; Barbara is the wife of Andrew Cashatt of Caldwell, Kans.; Rebecca is the widow of Willis Jones; Susan is married to Benjamin Prenty, and lives in Iowa; and Sarah is the widow of Daniel Camory. Mrs. Ingle died in Iowa at the age of sixty-four.

In politics G. F. Ingle was a free-silver Populist, and held a number of local offices within the gift of the township, in Oklahoma, and in his former town in Iowa. In the territory he was largely instrumental in securing better school accommodations, and helped to organize the first school board in the township. He secured the bonds for erecting the schools, and the bonds sold at a premium of $10. Much attention was given by him to the securing of the best possible teachers, and to the most improved methods of teaching. Fraternally, he was associated with the Masonic order of Caldwell, Kans., and was also a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen for twenty years, and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows in Iowa.

Mr. Ingle died July 1, 1900, and is mourned by a wide circle of friends and the community at large. He was generous and kindly in disposition, and ever thoughtful of the interests of those around him. In his loss the township is deprived of an able and conscientious citizen, and many individuals of a disinterested and helpful friend.

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A. B. LAMB.
Previous to coming to Union township, Kingfisher county, in 1889, Mr. Lamb had engaged in general farming and in railroad constructing and repairing on the Santa Fe and Missouri Pacific Railroads. He was born in Kendall county, Ill. His father. Cornelius Lamb, also a native of Illinois, moved to Missouri, where he conducted farming enterprises, and from thence to Kansas, where he remained until the opening of Oklahoma.

One of the first to recognize the large opportunities of the unimproved land, he joined the vast throng of other aspirants, and succeeded in locating on the northeast quarter of section 7, Union township, where he is at the present time engaged in general farming and stock-raising. The grandfather, Cornelius Lamb, Sr., was a native of North Carolina.

A. B. Lamb was reared on his father's farm in Missouri, and received the average education of the public schools. He came to Oklahoma with his father and filed a claim on the same section, May 25, 1889, after which he returned to Kansas and brought his family and household possessions, June 19, 1889. His claim was covered with timber, and perseverance and patience were required to reduce it to a condition of utility and resource. The first year he erected a log house from the timber on his land, and bought some stock, and began the cultivation of the land by pulling out stumps. Sixty acres are now in an improved state, and a good orchard has been planted, with six hundred trees of different fruit-bearing varieties. There is also a fine vineyard. Mr. Lamb is engaged in general farming and cattle-raising, and keeps on an average from twenty to twenty-five head of cattle. In 1895 was erected a house, 16x24 feet in dimensions.

In 1889 occurred the marriage of Mr. Lamb and Dorothea G. Munsel, a native of Missouri, and to this couple have been born the following-named children: Clara E., Paul C., Alvin B., Ruth Irene and Mary A. Mr. Lamb and family are members of the Church of Christ in Christian Union. Mr. Lamb came to Oklahoma with little save his own ability to depend upon, and he is entitled to the credit given him by his neighbors and friends for the success attending his efforts. He is public-spirited and enthusiastic for the best good of the community, and is accounted one of its reliable and substantial citizens.

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