Joshua Ross, Muskogee Agriculturalist

Joshua Ross is usually remembered as one of Muskogee's first businessmen. Overlooked today is his involvement in the promotion of improved farming practices.

Ross' move to Muskogee's east side brought many benefits. One arose from the railroad connection with eastern states. The Katy brought improved mail service. That meant Joshua received timely delivery of his "Illustrated Journal of Agriculture."

The magazine began publication in Saint Louis, Missouri in 1860, and then restarted after the end of hostilities. Printed much like a newspaper, farmers were reading its agricultural articles all across the American Southwest by the early 1870's.

The articles had a direct impact in Indian Territory. Joshua himself purchased a variety of merchandise from the magazine's advertisers. These items included knives, Berkshire pigs and a sewing machine for his wife.

Ross passed advice from the articles along to area farmers and customers. He especially talked about the benefits of raising a better breed of hogs. He encouraged area farmers to upgrade the quality of their pigs by offering his for sale at $10 each. Joshua was able to use his Berkshire pigs in demonstrating the animal's worth. Farmers commonly raised leaner hogs at the time.

Raising Berkshire pigs brought about a change to the way pigs were raised in Indian Territory. In the past, hogs roamed freely. Berkshire hogs were more valuable. Consequently, farmers learned to keep them in pens, which is the practice today.

Joshua Ross promoted other areas of improved farming as well. He was the first person to plant an orchard in Muskogee. Yes, there were many orchards already in Indian Territory. His planting one so soon after establishing his residence in the new town demonstrated further commitment to agricultural improvements. The trees he chose for his orchard were among the finest varieties of apple, peach and plum trees.

Ross' interest in improving agriculture in Indian Territory also included his promotion of farming practices among the civilized tribes. His service on the General Council of the Indian Territory began as early as 1873.

This council formed in 1869. It promoted improvements in many conditions affecting residents of the territory. The Civil War caused widespread destruction of homes, farms and businesses in Indian Territory. Joshua's focus on improving farming conditions led to his chairmanship of the council's Agriculture Committee.

In the spring of 1874, Joshua began acting as an agent promoting the "Cherokee Advocate," the Tahlequah newspaper. His connection with the newspaper provided him with a new outlet for his promotional efforts. The newspaper publisher encouraged its agents to communicate news of local events.

Ross' first effort in using a newspaper as an advertising medium was a simple announcement. He reported the forthcoming meeting on the last Wednesday in June 1874.

The paragraph called for a meeting of people interested in establishing a fair. It was to be held later in the year the announcement said. This meeting was the initial effort in planning the fair.

The subsequent fair inspired local residents to improve their farming practices in addition to providing entertainment. Many farmers entered livestock and crop samples in judging contests. The competition encouraged farmers to work on improving their crops and livestock in preparation for the following fair.

While Joshua Ross did not work alone in promoting agricultural improvements in Indian Territory, he certainly was a strong promoter. His adoption of improved practices on his own farm shows that he was an early Muskogee agriculturalist himself.

Muskogee Station's Christmas, 1872

That Christmas morning the road to Muskogee Station reached the Arkansas River. Continuing on the western side of the river meant leaving behind the established settlements of Fort Gibson and Tahlequah. In a sense, it also meant leaving civilization.

Ahead the muddy road was not yet dry from a winter storm. The prairie grass along side the road was now brown and blown over. Quail and rabbits populated the underbrush.

A deeply rutted and wider path marked the intersection of the main north to south road west of the Mississippi river leading to Texas and the American Southwest. There were no travelers this day on the Cherokee Road.

On the north side of the intersection stood a two-room house with an attached lean-to on the back. Not really much to look at now, but in a year or two it would soon be famous as the "Red Front" store operated by Joshua Ross.

It barely kept the wind out because it was built partially with freight-box wood. Nothing stopped the cold temperature. Getting dressed was the first action of the morning after throwing back the old handmade quilt.

The Ross house marked the eastern boundary of the settlement. With no other building nearby, the slightly curving road led to the heart of the settlement ahead.

Most of the settlement's buildings were on the western side of the iron ribbons of the railroad tracks. Wooden boxcars blocked the view of some of the buildings. There were three sitting on the side-track end-to-end. They functioned as hotel and restaurant for traveling railroad passengers. Men hawking merchandise sometimes stayed there to in order to break the monotony of camping along side the Cherokee Road.

The railroad tracks were laid on logs across the countryside. Crossing the tracks meant cracking the whip sometimes or else the team would not pull the wagon across. There was no grading for a crossing yet.

A new restaurant already provided competition to meals found at the boxcars. The diner's dirt floor and dim lighting misled the hungry traveler because the food was good. The cook welcomed customers every day of the year. There was no closing for Christmas.

The Atkinson and Robb store was the most important building in town. It was not much to look at despite being built of sawed lumber. It was only a couple of rooms big. Yet, the increasing business was forcing the partnership to consider adding another room to the store.

Muskogee Station barely had a street. It ran along side of the Katy tracks for about a hundred yards. Nevertheless, there was a sense of permanence growing in Muskogee Station.

The tent structures were disappearing, and so were the gamblers and roughs. They followed the railhead as the laying of track pushed southward.

The decadence of the rough life had driven Muskogee Station's merchants to build their homes away from the tent saloons and gambling dives of the previous Christmas season. The houses sat out on the prairie in isolated outcroppings. One day, they would be in the middle of Muskogee.

In a few homes, there was awareness of the Christmas holiday. Jessie Robb, the first white child born in the settlement, was too young to understand. Most of those who did lived away from the settlement.

Muskogee Station's population totaled less than fifty souls that Christmas. The town has come a long way in both population and celebration during the past one hundred and thirty-six years.

Muskogee's Second Church

Muskogee's first church burned to the ground the first week of October 1875. A former slave supposedly set the fire in a drunken stupor. He reportedly opposed its construction for unknown reasons. The only other fact known about the fire is that the church was a total loss.

The destruction of the church was deeply shocking. With barely enough money to support their minister, there surely were insufficient funds for rebuilding. Reverend John Elliott had little time to begin over again. He left within days for Atchison, Kansas for a synodical meeting of the Presbyterian Church. He hoped he would obtain assistance there.

The news of his church's burning down motivated many fellow ministers in Kansas to support the building of a new church. In the end, most support came from benefactors in Kansas and in Missouri.

Support was especially strong in Saint Louis. Thomas Munson donated fifty chairs. Others from St. Louis donated a pulpit Bible, twelve hymnals and a chandelier. More benefactors donated another pulpit Bible and fifty gospel songbooks. The Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad provided free freight for these items.

Following Rev. Elliott's return, the Muskogee church elders realized that the fire was a blessing in disguise. Growth in membership of the first Union Church caused the trustees to realize that the former building was simply too small to serve the congregation very long. Consequently, the trustees planned on a new church twice the size of the first one.

The trustees also realized that the first church's location prevented close supervision of the building. In choosing a new location for the rebuilt church, the trustees selected a location on the northwest corner of Lake and Okmulgee streets.

Lake Street became Second Street after the 1899 fire. In 1875, the town mostly consisted of six blocks strung out on either side of Main Street. The church's new location was on the edge of downtown Muskogee, two blocks from the railroad tracks.

There was no sawmilling in the area yet. According to a later photograph, the trustees built the new church with milled wood. This lumber came into Indian Territory in railroad boxcars, too.

Work in erecting the new church progressed quickly. At the completion of construction, the congregation was debt free. It was for many years the only church in town.

In many ways, the Presbyterian Church functioned as a public meeting place. The white wooden fence and the shade trees surrounded the new church provided an inviting environment for the many public speeches delivered there.

With the encouragement of Reverend Elliott, ministers of other dominations conducted services for Baptist and Methodist faiths before churches for these dominations existed. H. F. Buckner and Dr. Theodore F. Brewer often preached for their respected congregations in the Presbyterian building. In the process, the Presbyterian Church became the mother church for many future churches in Muskogee.

Muskogee's First Church

Muskogee's first church was Presbyterian. Thirteen residents of Muskogee established it on April 18, 1875. The charter members came from the town's businessmen and their families.

It was one of the first three Presbyterian churches established in the Creek Nation. The other two Presbyterian churches largely served Indians located elsewhere in the Creek Nation.

The night of April 19, a Monday, was rainy and cold. The new congregation gathered in the small building where Margaretta Robb taught school. She was the sister of Andrew W. and David N. Robb who joined with her in chartering the church.

Margaretta, who went by the nickname of Retta, operated a subscription school in a small framed building located near the intersection of Main and Okmulgee. On Sundays, she taught Sunday School lessons to her regular pupils and any others children who showed up.

During that first April night, store crates served as the pulpit and as some of the pews. Family members filled the crowded room as Rev. John Elliott delivered the sermon on John 1:46. While it was not the first sermon delivered in Muskogee, it was the first sermon given to an organized congregation.

Rev. Elliott found only one member of the Presbyterian Church in town. That night he baptized sixteen adults and some children.

Presbyterian ministers were long active in the education of Native Americans in Indian Territory. Most notable among the missionaries were the Robertson family at Tullahassee Mission on the north side of the Arkansas River. The elderly Rev. W. S. Robertson, however, had his hands full running the school at Tullahassee.

Rev. Elliott was not in Indian Territory by accident. Reverend Timothy Hill, of Neosho, Kansas, saw the need for Presbyterian churches in Indian Territory as early as 1868. He believed that the 1870's were time for establishing churches.

His missionary effort began with spending a few days in Muskogee preaching and talking with area residents. He followed this effort by recruiting Rev. Samuel Augustus Stoddard to serve the Cherokee Nation. Rev. Hill recruited Rev. Elliott as a second minister to establish a Presbyterian church in the territory.

After preaching in a small log church in Fort Gibson for a while, Reverend John Elliott relocated to Muskogee. Rev. Hill continued supporting the Presbyterian missionary effort by raising funds in the Neosho Synod.

Rev. Elliott brought many talents with him when he arrived in Muskogee. One of those gifts was the ability to manage money well. Though he preached at many brush arbors and homes in the surrounding area, his focus was building a congregation in the railroad town. It took him only two months to raise enough funds to build their church because Rev. Elliott and his family travelled to eastern states to raise money.

The congregation built their church on the prairie near where the Severs Hotel stands today. The church trustees named it the "Union Church" after the US government's establishment of the Union Agency.

The new church house held about fifty worshipers. It was a simple wooden building about the size of four bedrooms. The carpenters built the bell tower next to the right wall near the front of the simple gabled structure. The congregation entered the church through a round topped doorway in the bell tower.

The small brick chimney punctured the wooden shingled roof near the front of the building. Also at the front is a round topped window. The single gate in the wooden plank fence provided access to the churchyard.

This building did not last long. Its destruction is the story for next week.

Sir Stanley at Fort Gibson?

A hundred years ago, contemporary publications stated that Sir Henry Morton Stanley taught school in the Fort Gibson Garrison Church. This gentleman, who was born in Wales in 1841, found Dr. Livingston in darkest Africa in 1871.

The church was described in that day as being worthy of preservation because of its connection with prominent soldiers and statesmen despite its poor condition. Such historical significance is still valued justification for preservation.

Sir Henry came to America as John Rowlands, a runaway who rebelled against his schoolmaster. Debarking on the Windermere from Liverpool, he reached the Port of New Orleans in the fall of 1859. Within the year, he adopted the name of a friendly merchant and became Henry Morton Stanley. He used this name the rest of his life.

Hundred-year-old reports state that he taught school in the fort's church building. This would be a natural occupation for Stanley because he served as a school monitor as a teenager by overseeing the pupils' behaviors.

Before the outbreak of hostilities in 1861, Stanley followed the Arkansas waterways with his merchant benefactor. No record, however, indicates that he went up the Arkansas River above Fort Smith. Moreover, none mentions him teaching, either.

After the war, Stanley spent two years out west while writing for American newspapers. In 1868, he begins his foreign reporting from the Middle East, Asia and Africa. In 1871, though some doubt it, he is quoted as saying, "Dr. Livingston, I presume?"

Sir Henry's autobiography is fairly concise about his time and location for the years he lived in America. There hardly is time in his career for him to have taught a term, what we call a "semester" today, much less a year in a school.

IF Sir Henry did not teach in the Garrison Church building, then who did?

Only one clue has been uncovered so far. In his three-volume history entitled Muskogee and Northeastern Oklahoma, John Downing Benedict refutes the claim that Sir Henry taught in Fort Gibson. Benedict has this to say about the claim: "The Stanley who taught school there was a Scotchman."

Historians are taught to be critical of their sources. When it is possible to set the record straight, a historian is obligated to do so. Perhaps J. D. Benedict read the autobiography of Sir Henry. It was a popular book for many years. He certainly knew that a Welshman would never claim to be a Scotchman, and vice versa.

With that in mind, Benedict determined that the explorer could not have taught a term of school in Fort Gibson. He published that opinion in his history. Perhaps this clue will lead to the identification of the true Henry Stanley who taught at the Fort Gibson Garrison Church.