Post by Eric Standridge on Nov 14, 2011 11:34:05 GMT -6
Joseph S. Terry, the first chairman of the board of county commissioners and a well known contractor and lumber dealer of Poteau, whose connection with the building of the county seat has been prominent and substantial, was born in Lamar county, Alabama, November 12, 1868. His father was Reuben F. Terry, born in the same state April 3, 1833, and throughout life was a tanner and a farmer. His place of business was situated in Sulligent, near his early home, and whither the grandfather, John Terry, emigrated from his English home in the first part of the nineteenth century. The grandfather mentioned first located in Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, but in 1818 established himself in Alabama, where he was a mill man as well as a farmer and where he died at the age of eighty years. He was in sympathy with the institution of slavery, for he owned black men and passed them with his estate down to his children. Reuben F. Terry married Marjory Hawkins, a daughter of John Hawkins, a farmer of Ripley, Mississippi, and she passed away in 1887, the mother of the following: Jabous J., who died in Poteau, Oklahoma; George W., one of the well known citizens of that place; Joseph S., of this notice: Henry S., who passed away in Poteau; and Knox, also a resident of LeFlore's county seat. Circumstances willed that Joseph S. Terry should enjoy only about nine months' schooling, and at the age of sixteen years he entered the shops of an iron bridge builder as a laborer at one dollar and seventy-five cents a day. J. H. Rousseau and A. V. Gude, of Atlanta, Georgia, were later his employers, and he remained with them for nearly eight years, and when he left their employ he was principal assistant foreman of bridge construction and had built bridges in all the southern states but Louisiana. He then went to Knoxville. where he became identified with the Union Bridge Company of Buffalo, New York, and covered the northwest and middle west as their assistant fqreman of bridge building. In 1894 he abandoned bridge work and came out to Indian Territory to visit his brothers. He became interested in the town of Poteau and the country, and devoted a few years to farming. Leaving the farm, Mr. Terry then engaged in carpenter work about a coal mine, rising to the position of assistant superintendent of the mine. This place he resigned to become superintendent of buildings and bridges for the Arkansas and Western Railway, then under construction. He resigned this position and began contracting and building, and his handiwork is seen in nearly all the prominent business houses in Poteau and many of its residences. He built the high school, the water works reservoir and pumping station at that place, and the school buildings at Heavener, Howe. Wister and Shady Point, Oklahoma, as well as at Mena, Arkansas.
Recently Mr. Terry engaged in the lumber business at Poteau, where he is president of the McKenna-Stevens Lumber Company and of the Poteau Grain and Produce Company, and also manager of the McKenna-Terry Coal Company. His interest in Democratic politics led him to enter the race for membership on the first board of commissioners of Le Flore county, and upon its organization he was chosen its chairman. The board has accepted plans for a new court house to cost (with furnishings) $150,000, and a modern fireproof jail to cost $13,000, and called an election to vote for bonds for roads and bridges to the extent of $200,000. so that there is a certainty that responsibilities of weight are in store for the chairman of the board, with equal certainty that they will be discharged gracefully, promptly and ably.
On November 3, 1895. Mr. Terry married, at Poteau, Miss Maggie B. Griffin, a daughter of Alonzo L. Griffin, of Baldwin, Mississippi, where Mrs. Terry was born in 1876. Their children are Joe F., Marjorie and Pauline Terry. Mr. Terry is a charter member of the Knights of Pythias, the Masonic order and Woodmen of the World.
Recently Mr. Terry engaged in the lumber business at Poteau, where he is president of the McKenna-Stevens Lumber Company and of the Poteau Grain and Produce Company, and also manager of the McKenna-Terry Coal Company. His interest in Democratic politics led him to enter the race for membership on the first board of commissioners of Le Flore county, and upon its organization he was chosen its chairman. The board has accepted plans for a new court house to cost (with furnishings) $150,000, and a modern fireproof jail to cost $13,000, and called an election to vote for bonds for roads and bridges to the extent of $200,000. so that there is a certainty that responsibilities of weight are in store for the chairman of the board, with equal certainty that they will be discharged gracefully, promptly and ably.
On November 3, 1895. Mr. Terry married, at Poteau, Miss Maggie B. Griffin, a daughter of Alonzo L. Griffin, of Baldwin, Mississippi, where Mrs. Terry was born in 1876. Their children are Joe F., Marjorie and Pauline Terry. Mr. Terry is a charter member of the Knights of Pythias, the Masonic order and Woodmen of the World.