Joe Abraham.
Only a little inquiry is needed to
establish the fact that Joe Abraham has been first and foremost in
all the commercial development at Bristow. He came when the town
started, and by shrewd and intelligent management, by faith in his
fellow men, by judgment in handling his resources, and by great
enterprise and public spirit in supporting everything that would
benefit the community, he has risen to such a position as any
native American might envy. Mr. Abraham is a Syrian so far as his
birthplace is concerned, but there is no more loyal American citizen
in the State of Oklahoma. His career would make an interesting story,
and his interests and activities reflect the real substantial history
of the town which is his home.
In his native City
of Beirut, Syria, he lived for about thirty years. His experience
there was confined to employment in a silk factory. In 1896 he set
out for the New World. He landed in New York City with only $10.50 in
his pocket. At the end of a week in that strange and bustling
American city he found himself without any money at all. A friend
loaned him a few dollars in order to get him to Buffalo, and there
another friend stood responsible for $15 worth of merchandise. With
this on his back he started peddling through the country, gradually
working his way to the West. He lived on the roads, selling to
farming people, and practically living among them. He repaid the
friend who had advanced him money and sent more back to buy
additional stocks of goods. In the course of about eight months he
had walked from Cleveland to St. Louis. In that city he made his
headquarters for eighteen months, and went out into the country
districts of Missouri and continued his work as a peddler. At the end
of that time he had saved $200, and this he at once sent back to his
father in Syria as return for the passage money which he had borrowed
to bring him to the New World.
In 1898 Mr. Abraham
again took up his journey westward, and for eighteen months peddled
goods along the way until he arrived at Chandler, Oklahoma. Here he
established a little store with such goods as he still had on his
wagon when he arrived. He was a good salesman and at the end of
eleven months in Chandler he had a stock of goods valued at $1,250,
practically all of which had been made in those eleven months. At the
advice of a friend in Chandler he next steered his course, to
Bristow. Bristow was then just beginning, and only three or four
buildings were on the town site. His own little store was among the
pioneer mercantile establishments, and since then, for a period of
about fifteen years, there has been practically no interruption to
his business activities in this community. In that time merchants
came, set up their stock, and many of them failed for one cause or
other. Much of Mr. Abraham’s success has come from the buying up of
bankrupt stock. To his own store he added one department after
another until he had the largest assortment of general merchandise in
the town. Perhaps the most noteworthy fact about his work as a
merchant has been his willingness to sell on credit. He sold to
negroes, Indians and whites with little distinction among them, and
his faith is justified by his collections. It is said that he has
lost very little money in spite of the generous credit he has
extended to his customers. After a few years land was placed on the
market for sale, and Mr. Abraham turned Ins surplus into a new
channel, and bought altogether about 30,000 acres, and has ever since
continued the buying and selling and handling of
lands, acquiring much of the old Indian and Freedmen’s lands. In this
likewise he has been prospered.
He also got into the
cotton business. He finally bought a cotton gin, and at the present
time he has five gins and during the last year he operated twelve
different establishments. He ships great quantities of cotton east
and abroad and is one of the leading cotton merchants of Eastern
Oklahoma. On October 1, 1914, he sold his large mercantile stock to
his brother Ed. Mr. Abraham was influential in bringing two of his
brothers to this country, Ed, who subsequently was followed by Jusif,
who now conducts a store of his own at Bristow.
Mr. Abraham also has
four large gas wells, and they supply nearly all the illuminating and
heating fuel to Bristow. He has extensive holdings in the oil
district and altogether has about 4,200 acres of farming land. He
owns the four best business blocks in the town and a number of
dwellings. He has been at numerous times identified with the local
banks, but has disposed of most of his stock. He has been one of the
main promoters in the establishment of the glass factory. In
everything he is public spirited and has been distinguished for his
readiness to help others who were not so fortunate and he perhaps
derives his greatest pleasure and satisfaction from the careers of
several men whom he started on the road to success. As a loyal
American he believes there is no other country in the world that
responds so quickly to the efforts of an honest man as the United
States of America. Tor a man whose dealings have been so extensive,
and with all classes of people, it is an indication of his judgment
and character that he has never had a law suit, dispute or
misunderstanding.
Another striking
fact about this Syrian business man of Bristow is that he is unable
either to read or write the English language, although he speaks it
with sufficient fluency to carry on a conversation or transact any
business. In former years he sold merchandise valued at between
$40,000 and $50,000 a year, largely on credit. He kept a bookkeeper,
but seldom relied upon the records of his books. The transactions
were all recorded in his keen memory. Without referring to the
bookkeeper, he could recall whenever he desired the information just
when a note was due, where the man lived who owed the account, and
what quantity of goods he had sold him.
Out of his
extraordinary prosperity Mr. Abraham some years ago sent back the
money and directed its investment in a fine orange and tropical fruit
plantation in his native land of Syria. That plantation is now the
home of his father and mother, who are spending their declining
years in peace and comfort, in the shade of their own vine and fig
tree, in a country that has long been the storehouse of biblical and
secular history and story. Joe Abraham was born there March 20, 1865.
His parents’ names are Abraham Nahra and Jamelia Harb. They have
spent all their days in Syria and have never been more than 200 miles
from their birthplace. The father is now seventy-six and the mother
seventy, and both are well and happy, and take a great deal of pride
in the achievements of their son, who took out his citizenship papers
and has been an American since 1902. In
the family were four sons and six daughters, and as already stated
three of the sons are now living at Bristow.
Joe Abraham was
reared in the faith of the Catholic Church. In 1900 he married Fannie
Lonaker, who was born in the State of Missouri. Their five children
are: Louis, Herbert, Frances, Jack and Pauline.
During the last four
years Mr. Abraham has spent about $45,000 in his efforts to develop
the oil district around Bristow. His endeavors have brought him one
small oil well, but in the meantime he has developed 12,000,000 feet
of gas. He still continues his investments in this line, and his
faith will probably be rewarded by an oil strike of no mean
proportions in the near future. Mr. Abraham has his offices in the
Bristow National Bank Building, which he owns, and which is a
re-enforced concrete building of three stories. In conclusion, the
testimony of other citizens of Bristow may be summed up by saying
that Joe Abraham has done more than any other citizen for the
upbuilding and welfare of his community.