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© Shawnee News Star Shawnee, Oklahoma April 5, 2001 Whitten Wilson "Whit" Hyden July 7, 1845 - July 17, 1917 Born in Lee County, Virginia, on July 7, 1845, Whitten Wilson "Whit" Hyden was the second child of Samuel Monroe Hyden and Nancy Duff (Lockhart) Jones. Whit spent his early years moving west with his family, first living about three years in Anderson County, Tennessee, then moving on to Jasper County, Missouri for a couple of years. Evidently, the family next moved north to Clay County, Missouri, and finally came back to southwestern Jasper County by July of 1860. Settling in this location brought Whit's family into an area of terrible political conflict. Apparently, the people of southwestern Missouri tried to remain neutral in the controversy surrounding slavery, but most felt that their near neighbor, Kansas, should be admitted to the Union as a slave state like Missouri. Since Kansas had been settled by abolitionists, the controversy raged between these neighboring areas. Southwestern Missouri in the 1860s was the wrong place and the wrong time for any able-bodied young man. The raiding parties from both sides inflicted great damage to the families living in the area. Tempers flared and strong loyalties were formed. People chose sides and much bloodshed took place. Whit was young and impressionable, so it came as no surprise that "When a boy of sixteen", Whit Hyden was said to have left the farm "in Clay County" to serve the Confederate cause. Whit served about six months as a Private in the Missouri State Guard and then joined the First Missouri Battalion of Partisan Rangers. He is also listed as having been with Company A, Fifth Missouri Cavalry, as well as Col. John T. Coffee's Regiment. According to recollections of Whit's younger brother Dave: "My brother, Whitten, chose to fight with the South, and joined the company which was operating in this vicinity. Later he knew that this company was not a recognized branch of the Confederates...it was known as Quantrill's Band...Whit and a group of men withdrew from Quantrill and organized a company and selected Livingston, son of Gip Livingston, as their leader". According to recollections of his brother Dave, when Whit Hyden returned home after the war, "he was advised for his safety to leave". So in 1865 or 1866, Whit moved to Falls County, Texas, where he married Martha E. (Patricia/ "Pattie") Withers in 1867. Over the next 25 years this marriage produced five sons and three daughters: Frank S. (born in Falls County, TX on July 10, 1869; Leonard H. (born at Gainesville, TX in 1879); Ida (born at Saint Jo, Texas, April 11, 1881); Whit Wilson, Jr. (born at Gainesville, TX on April 30, 1883); Ella (born at Jimtown, Indian Territory, May 5, 1886); Grover Cleveland, born in 1888; and Benjamin Lockard, born on February 17, 1890 (both at Gainesville, TX); and Ruth born at Ardmore, Indian Territory on August 17, 1892. Whit and his family left Falls County in 1875, and moved to Jimtown, Indian Territory, which was across the Red River in the Chickasaw Nation. For the next few years after leaving Jimtown, they moved around Texas. After that, Whit moved to Ardmore, Indian Territory, where he worked in the mercantile business for six or seven years. Frank Hyden (Whit's son) stated that Whit's family moved to Ardmore in 1881, 1883 or 1884, while Whit's estimate was 1885. A pattern seemed to be apparent in that Whit, Dave, their sister, Sarah, and her husband, Adolphus Muer Jackson, often lived in the same area and frequently were partners in some business venture. They often moved as a family from area to area in Texas and Indian Territory and later in Oklahoma. There is some confusion as to the exact times that the family arrived in various places. Whit stated that he moved from Ardmore to Davis "somewhere about" 1898 - which seems to leave six or seven years "unaccounted for". Whit was very enterprising during his years in Indian Territory and later in Oklahoma. Sometime during this period he was commissioned as a Deputy United States Marshall. His commissioning was in the Western District of Arkansas at Ft. Smith, Arkansas. Whit served under Judge Isaac Charles Parker (Whit's last name was misspelled Heyden). Whit also served as a government surveyor, and laid out the town of Lawton in 1901. When they left Davis, Whit moved the family to nearby McGee in about 1899 and purchased the Mercantile belonging to Mr. Long. It was recorded in 1901 that "Whit heads the largest mercantile establishment in town, the store being well equipped with a very large and complete stock of everything found in a general establishment. (He was the senior partner in Hyden Brothers & Hart - the company comprised of his brother, Dave, and C. Loss Hart, another Deputy U.S. Marshal. "Loss" Hart was known for killing the famous outlaw, Bill Dalton.) "The business methods of the house are commendable and reliable, and the trade of the firm is constantly and steadily increasing. Mr. Hyden also owns about 1800 acres of land, devoted to pasture and cultivation, the greater part being divided into fields, which are planted to the crops best adapted to this climate and soil and which bring a good return. The family is a prominent one in the community, the members of the household occupying an enviable position in the social circles in which they move." Whit's wife, Martha, died on April 22, 1906, and was buried at the McGee Cemetery, in Garvin County, Oklahoma. Less than five months later, on September 3, Whit married Dovie Lou Farriss, daughter of William Jasper Farriss (a Garvin County Justice of the Peace) and his wife, Martha Hester Southard, originally of White County, Tennessee. After Whit was 62 years old, he had his seventh child, Joe Bailey Hyden. Joe was born to Whit and Dovie Lou Hyden on November 6, 1907. Whit Hyden died on July 17, 1917 at Stratford, Garvin County, Oklahoma. He is buried at the McGee Cemetery, in an enclosed area, which contains the graves of his second wife Dovie Lou, their son Joe Bailey Hyden, and Joe Bailey's son, Thomas C. Hyden (as well as Dovie's parents, brothers, and sisters). [This biographical sketch was compiled and written by Eugene Edward Hyden - great-grandson of Whit's younger brother, James William "Will" Hyden and Mallory R. Harvey, Ph.D. - great-grand daughter of Whit's younger sister, Sarah L. Hyden Jackson.] |
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