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FRED E. SUTTON
Vol. 3, pp. 1063-1064
Book has photos

Now secretary and treasurer of the Mid-Continent Oil Company and one
of the leading business men of Oklahoma City, Fred. E. Sutton has
been an Oklahoman since the historic opening of April, 1889. During
the last half dozen years he has been particularly prominent in the
development of the oil resources of the state. While Mr. Sutton is
one of the first citizens and well known in business circles, he
shares the honors of prominence with his wife, who under the maiden
name of Jennie COX taught the first school in Oklahoma City, was the
founder and first president of "The Women of 1889," and for a number
of years has been a leader in women's affairs and in the civic life
of the state.

Fred E. Sutton was born at Dowagiac, Michigan, July 9, 1860, a son
of Peter D. and Mary (ALLEN) Sutton, both of whom are still living,
the former at the age of eighty-one, with home in Kansas City,
Missouri. The father was born in New York State, came west to
Michigan, and at the outbreak of the war was residing in Illinois. He
was among the first to enlist, and became a member of the Illinois
Cavalry, a command with which he saw service till the end of
hostilities. Discharged with the rank of first lieutenant, he lived
thereafter for several years on a Michigan farm, and in 1869 moved
out to Kansas, where he followed farming through the many ups and
downs of agriculture in that state until his retirement in 1904.

As a boy Fred E. Sutton was prevented by ill health from regular
attendance at school, and in place of schooling had the rugged
training of the plains school, on the cattle range and in the rough
and tumble existence of the wild West. He can vouch for the saying of
that day that, "there was no law west of St. Joseph, and no God west
of Fort dodge." It was in 1878 that he went to Western Kansas and
became a cow puncher, with headquarters at Fort Dodge, where he
remained until 1882, and then located in St. Joseph, where he was
employed in various capacities until 1889.

On the opening day, April 22, 1889, Mr. Sutton was among those who
sought homes in the new paradise. His first year was spent in
Guthrie, and since then, for a quarter of a century, he has been
identified by residence and business activities with the now capital
city. For a number of years Mr. Sutton was associated with Adolphus
BUSCH of St. Louis, acting for him in a confidential capacity and
attending to his investments in Oklahoma City. These investments up
to1907 amounted to a million dollars. After a year and a half spent
in travel, Mr. Sutton turned his attention to the rapidly developing
oil resources of Oklahoma, and for several years was also a bank
official. Between 1909 and 1912 he was cashier of the First State
Bank of Oklahoma City and at the same time president of the Harrah
State Bank of Harrah. His present business position is chiefly as
secretary and treasurer of the Mid-Continent Oil Company, dealing in
oil lands, secretary and treasurer of the Osceola Oil Company, and a
Stockholder in the Mincing Lane Oil and Development Company.

His fraternal associations are with the various bodies of York Rite
Masonry, including Oklahoma City Lodge No. 36, A. F. & A. M., Cyrus
Chapter No. 7, R. A. M., Oklahoma Commandery No. 3, K. T., India
Temple of the Mystic Shrine, and Order of the Eastern Star, and also
with the Order of Amaranths of Oklahoma City Lodge No. 417, B. P. O.
E. He is a charter member of the Old Time Trail Drivers' Association
of San Antonio, Texas, and of the National Order of Cowboys and
Rangers of Denver, Colorado. These two orders are composed of ex-
cowboys and rangers. He belongs to the Oklahoma City Men's Dinner
Club, the Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce, and is a member of the
Christian Science Church both in his home city and at Boston,
Massachusetts. For eight years he served as a member of the board of
education.

Mr. Sutton's first wife, whom he married in 1882, was Miss Margaret
GRAHAM, a daughter of Judge William Graham of Atchison, Kansas. She
died January 6, 1892. On October 17, 1895, occurred his marriage to
Mrs. Jennie (COX) MCKEEVER, a daughter of James A. and Mary C. COX of
Oklahoma City. Her father has spent almost his entire career on the
frontier and on the cattle ranges. He was a settler in Iowa when it
was a territory, then followed the westward moving frontier to
Nebraska, went into Kansas in the early days, and was in the run of
April 22, 1889, to Oklahoma. Now at the age of over eighty he is
still pioneering in Arizona.

Mrs. Sutton was educated in the college at Topeka, Kansas, and after
graduating and when but seventeen taught her first school. She joined
in the Oklahoma rush on the eventful April day of 1889, located and
eventually proved up a good farm on the South Canadian River. There
for the first month she lived alone in a brush house until able to
get a more suitable dwelling erected for her. In that house she
taught what is believed to have been the first school for white
children in Oklahoma. A little later in Oklahoma City, in the rear
portion of a hardware store, she opened the first school in that
city. In all the subsequent years education has had no more sincere
friend and active supporter in Oklahoma than Mrs. Sutton. In 1912
Governor CRUICE appointed her one of the state commissioners to the
Panama-Pacific Exposition at San Francisco, and her associated have
entrusted to her practically the entire management of the plan for
raising funds to erect the state building and make the Oklahoma
exhibit. She was appointed by the present governor, Robert WILLIAMS,
and the Panama Commission as custodian of Oklahoma State building,
and had absolute charge and control of it until the close. She spent
the summer of 1914 in San Francisco, has worked steadily for two
years, and Oklahoma's excellent representation at the fair is mainly
due to her efforts.

She is a member of the Oklahoma Historical Society and originated
the movement for the erection of a separate building on the state
capitol grounds as an adequate home for the splendid collection now
owned by the society. She is a past matron of the Order of Eastern
Star, a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution and of the
Colonial Dames. Mrs. Sutton organized the society, "Women of 1889," a
state-wide organization, and became its first president and was
unanimously elected life president of the organization. One of the
recognized leaders among Oklahoma women, she enjoys that position
both as a pioneer and as a broad-minded and vigorous worker for
everything affecting the welfare of city and state. While a member of
a number of literary clubs, her time is mainly given to movements for
the social welfare. She is also a member of the Christian Science
Church at home and in Boston, Massachusetts.

Mr. And Mrs. Sutton reside at 1111 North Broadway. The children are:
Edwin B. Sutton, auditor of the Security Trust Savings Bank of Los
Angeles; LaVerne, a graduate of Phillips University and an
accomplished musician, is the wife of Dr. W. A. AITKEN, of Enid;
Monte C. is state bank examiner of Oklahoma; and Inez E, a graduate
of the Kansas City College, is now engaged in teaching.

Typed for OKGenWeb by Sherry Van Scoy Hall, November 1, 1998.