In a message dated 6/9/02 6:43:18 PM Eastern Daylight Time, k-powdercoating@eagleslair.net writes: This was so good I forwarded it to the list and a number of individuals. Charles Severs > > Charles > I think I told you before That I owned the newspapper about the death of FB > SEVERS that has been passed down in my immediate SEVERS family sinceApril > 23rd 1912. > Even tho the papper is now moldering away to dust, I hand copied it the > 26th of September 1987{ my daughter died 25th November 1987 at age 25} > The newspapper was volumn18 the name is Muskogee Times Democrat, the date > is april 23rd,1912 the price is 5cents, it is the 2oclock edition. > Across the top in large print > CAPTAIN SEVERS DIED TODAY. > on the left hand side is a picture of him and in semi large print starts > the news: Pioneer Citizen of Indian Country was a benefactor to the > Indians and a town builder of the south west- left a large fortune. > > Captain Freerick B. Severs, Pioneer Citizine of the Creek Nation, died at > 8:00 Tuesday morning at his house on Terrace Blvd in Muskogee from the > effects of a stroke of paralysis suffered last Wednesday morning. > With Captain Severs when death came were his wife and three daughters, all > of who live in Muskogee. During the past year Captain Severs has been in > very poor health and has suffered several partial attacks of paralysis. He > became weaker from day to day, until at five oclock on last Wednesday > morning the stroke came which ended his career of rightious, useful service > to the Creek Nation and to Oklahoma. > > Captain severs died without seeing the final monument of his business > life,The Severs Hotel,at State and Wall Streets completed. > > During the past few years of his life it was his ambition to build just > such a structure and afford the citizens of Oklahoma the opportunity to > enjoy the binifits of the fortune which he accumulated during the many > years he spent in Oklahoma. > > Captain Severs would have been 77 years of age on August 13 of this year. > Surviving him are his wife, Susie Anderson Severs; three daughters, Mrs > William J. Cook, Mrs A.Z. English and Mary Severs Owen, all of Muskogee. > Four sisters also survive, they being Mrs W.A. Robb {note: this may be > Bobb. it is in fold of papper so isn't clear. Carol Clouse}of Muskogee, Mrs > W.C. Trent of Muskogee, Mrs Shields of Okmulgee and Mrs Stark of Phoenix > Arizona. > > The funeral will be held at 10 oclock Thursday morning from the residence > on Terrace Blvd. Rev. O.E. Goddard will officiate, and the following > pallbearers will pay homage to the memory of their departed friend; > Honorary pallbearers, C.W. Turner, Leo E.Bennett,Ex Gov. C.N. Haskell, L.C. > Shanklin of Okmulgee, Z.T. Wahond? {note: Carol Clouse not sure about the > name Wahond?}, joseph Sondhiemer?{ same uncertanty as Last printed name?}, > W. ?. Hutchings,Sen. Robert L. ?{Last name unreadable, C.C.} { next three > lines unreadable} Mccusker ?, N.T. Hancock? D. ? FI?,R.W. McClure, D.H > Middleton, M.R. Williams and N.A. Gibson. > > The deceased was born in Washington County Arkansas in 1835. When he was > seventeen he came to Fort Gibson where he clerked in the store of U.C. > Dickinson. From Fort Gibson he went to Concharty as a teacher. In 1870 > he married Miss Sussie Anderson, daughter of George Anderson King of > Concharty Town.{ last 2 lines on page 2, column 1&2 and part of 3Beginning > here} > > In his picturesque and interesting career there was nothing he was more > proud of than the fact that he was a member of the first City Council of > Muskogee. He was a good man, loyal to his friends, upright in life, not a > member of any church, he helped to support them all, and was one of the > large contributors to every church in Muskogee > Commercially he was one of the big men in Muskogee and Okulgee. > At the time of his death he was engaged in one of his biggest interprises, > building the big new hotel which will bear his name. > He is survived by his wife and three children, all living in Muskogee. > > The life of Captain Severs was one of the romances of the Indian Country. > He laid the foundation of his fortune more than fifty years ago shipping > Pecans by steamboat down the Arkansas and Mississippi rivers to St. Louis, > and exchanging them for dry goods with which he opened a general store at > Okmulgee. he looked into the future and he died a millionaire. > > The first venture as a trader was in pecans. He had Indians all the way > from Deep Fork to Concharty picking pecans for him and these he assembledat > Okmulgee, freighted them across to Fort Gibson and loaded them on a boat > for St. Louis. There were approximately 6,000 bushells of pecans in that > shipment. from that beginning his business grew until he became a merchant > prince of the Creek Nation then a cattle king and for a quarter of a > century one of the most powerful men in tribal affairs among the Creeks. > > Like many another who pioneered the Indian Country, Captain was of Scotch- > Irish descent. He came to Indian Country from Arkansas as a teacher and > was sent by the authorities to Concharty Town to teach the settlement of > full blood Creeks at that place. > So well did he ingratiate himself with the Creeks that he soon began to > loom on the poitical horizon as one of the important men in tribal > politics, and in those days Indian politics was a big game. > Among his pupils were Chas. Gibson, Zach Cook and D.L. Berryhill. > > During the Civil War he enlisted under the flag of the Southern Confederacy > under General Sam Checote and was soon in command of a company of fullblood > Creek Indians which made an excellent record in service. > Three years this company of fullblood Creeks was used as a foil for the > Federal troops stationed at Fort Gibson. They patrolled the Arkansas > River, which was a natural barrier between the North and the South in this > region and kept the Union soldiers at Fort Gibson in constant turmoil. > Following the close of the war he was for thirteen years private secretary > to General Checote, including the time when that noted Indian was Chief of > his nation. > > In 1868 Captain Severs, as recognition for his services rendered the > Creeks, was adopted as a member of the tribe. He was one of four white men > upon whom the indians conferred this honor. he was officially made a Creek > by a resolution of the Creek Council. From that date for about twenty five > years there was not a law passed by the Creeks but what Captain Severs was > first consulted about it, and usually he was called upon to draft the law > itself. > > For several years he followed the mercantile business and then embarked in > the cattle business. In 1890 he attempted to get an estimate of the number > of cattle he owned. His men counted until they ran the figures up to > 25,000 and then quit. he never did know how many cattle he owned at that > time. By virtue of his citizenship as a Creek he secured a tribal > concession which gave him the grazing privilege of that vast territory > between the Deep Fork on the south to the Arkansas river on the north,and > from Pecan Creek on the east to as far west as he wanted to go,which at > that time meant the base of the Rocky Mountains. > > His ranch headquarters were at Bald Hill, and the magnificent ranch of > 4,000 acres still owned by the estate is a part of the original grant. He > lived at the ranch and gradually acquired large holdings both in Muskogee > and Okmulgee. It was largely these that made him a millionaire at his > death. > > Captain Severs was one of the best friends the Creeks ever knew. He knew > them all, and his stores were always open to their credit. At one time his > books showed that the Indians owed him $165,000, most of this was advanced > by him to orphans and it was eventually paid to the last cent, the > government reimbursing in part. at one time when there was a famine in the > Creek Nation, at his own exspence he bought a car load of potatoes and one > of cabbage, shipped them to Muskogee and freighted them forty miles to > Okmulgee,where they were distributed to the hungary Indians. It is > estimated at his death his Indian friends owed him at least $100,000 for > which he had absolutely no security except his faith in their honesty. > Even though some of these Indians owed him accounts running for ten or > fifteen years and amounting to $1,500 to $2000 in individual cases, their > credit was still good if they were in need. The Severs stores were open > storehouses for the Indians and they knew it. When he built a home in > Muskogee he placed it in the center of a piece of property containing four > blocks and for many years when the Indians would come to town they would > camp at Captain Severs place. they were always welcome. > > When the present council house at Okmulgee was being built the Creek Nation > ran out of money. Contractor McDermott could not complete the building. > Captain Severs arranged to finance the rest of the work, he advanced to > McDermott not money but cattle, to pay him in full,and then waited until > the tribal funds were recouped sufficiently to reimburse himself. > > The first brick building erected in Muskogee was built by this pioneer as > the home for the First National Bank, the first bank ever established in > Indian Territory. The bank is still in the same building and Captain > Severs owned the building at the time of his death. > > The crowning work of his life was a magnificent ten story hotel which he > was building when death cut him down. It will cost over a quarter of a > million dollars and had he lived three months longer he would hve seen it > completed and occupied. > > The bulk of his property was in Muskogee and Okmulgee and including his > ranch at Bald Hill is estimated to be worth cosiderably more than a million > dollars. His estate will be inherited by his wife and his three living > daughters, Mrs A.Z. English, Mrs W.Z. Cook and Mrs Mary Owen. > > Copied this SUNDAY 9TH DAY OF JUNE 2002 to share over the internet with the > SEVERS researchers.By Carolyn Severs Berry Clouse. > > > > { END OF NEWSPAPER ARTICLE ON > THE DEATH OF CAPTAIN SEVERS} > > > > THIS ISSUE OF THE NEWSPAPER IS OWNED BY CAROLYN L. SEVERS BERRY CLOUSE > >