Day after Governor Landon pledged himself in his acceptance speech to purge relief of politics (see p. 9), acting WPAdministrator Aubrey Williams dismissed seven Oklahoma…
Edward H. Moore of Oklahoma By Ray Hill There was a time when Republicans in Oklahoma were pretty scarce in many areas of the state. Yet there were traditionally Republican areas in the Sooner State and during the decade of the 1920s, Oklahoma boasted two GOP United States senators. John W. Harreld had been elected […]
BRYAN COUNTY HISTORY: The many roles of Arthur Neal Leecraft
Bryan County Genealogy Library
“A. N. Leecraft, the merchant prince of Colbert, was in the city today, taking in the livestock and seed train. Durant Daily Democrat, 1911
The 1880 census shows Arthur Neal Leecraft living in Denison with his mother and at the tender age of thirteen he listed his occupation as “clerk in store”. According to his Dawes testimony he worked at Stowe & Myers Mercantile in White Bead (Garvin County) from May 1, 1883 to October 1, 1885.
In January of 1893 he married Lela Maupin. Arthur and Lela were actually married twice- once at the Presbyterian church in Denison and once under an oak tree on Chickasaw land. Arthur and his bride resided in Denison for a year before settling in Colbert where he established the Leecraft General Mercantile. Arthur stayed away for long periods of time doing his civic duty, so it was managed by his son, Bertram. Leecraft’s sold everything from farm wagons