Rogers County Oklahoma Obituaries - presented by Genealogy Trails

Rogers County, Oklahoma Obits

Thomas Binks Lafferty
OBITUARY: April 21, 1936
Thomas Binks Lafferty was born in Harrison, Arkansas, August 16, 1846, and died at Claremore, Oklahoma, April 21st 1936, at the age of 89 years,eight months, and five days. he was the son of Binks and Sarah Lafferty. He was united in marriage with Araminta Josephine Johnson on July 26th, 1868. To this union six children were born, two of whom survive, Mrs Laura Messer and Roy H. Lafferty, of Foyil. The deceased leaves to mourn his death twenty-one grandchildren and 22 great grandchildren. Early in life, Lafferty joined the Methodist church and was a steadfast and diligent worker in connection with all its religious and charitable activities.
He maintained a ridged and systematic discipline in all his activities and relations with his fellow man and his private affairs. He belonged to that fast vanishing race of real and true pioneers. His career was checked by many trials and hardships, but he never wavered or shirked his duty toward his family, his associates, his country or his maker. The most of his life was spent in tilling the soil--a high calling which he loved and pursued successfully. He left no financial, religious, fraternal or other obligations unfulfilled. His life was an inspiration, his passing a benediction and he died quietly and at peace with all mankind and his God whom he loved and trusted supremely.
(Courtesy of Violet Higgins Redman.)

News paper article: The Claremore Progress April 21, 1936
DEATH CALLS T.B. LAFFERTY
Foyil Octogenarian Passes Away At Local Hospital After A short Illness.
T.B. Lafferty, Foyil octogenarian, who would have been ninety years old August 16th, passed away at 3:15 o'clock Tuesday morning at the Franklin hospital, following a short illness.
Deceased is survived by one son, Roy, and a daughter,Mrs. George Messer 1892. both of whom reside in the Foyil neighborhood, also a host of grandchildren, including Lloyd and Harold, Clayde and Alta Fay Lafferty; Clarence and Amabel Messer, of Foyil; Kara, Ernest, and Juliette Lafferty of Claremore; Mrs Bill Redmond of Tulsa; Mrs. Homer Paul, Pauls Valley; Mrs. Bryan Steiger, Jess Messer and Mrs. Ethel Blankship, of Mount Morris Ill; Luther Lafferty, Visalia, California; Ted Lafferty, Bethleham, Penn; Alice Lafferty, Colorado; Mrs. G.D. Kirtlley, Van Buren, Ark.; Bruce Lafferty, Columbia, Mo.; Joe Lafferty, of Fort Sill, also 22 great grand children. Four children preceded him in death.
Lafferty was pioneer citizen of Rogers county. He moved here in 1900 and has resided on the same farm near Foyil continuously for the past thirty-six years.
He was a loyal and devout member of the Methodist church and an ardent Mason. He was the last surviving charter member of the Claremore Masonic order.
The white-haired pioneer was active physically and mentally within a few days of his death. he was a frequent visitor and familiar sight on the streets of Claremore. Lafferty took a keen interest on the affairs of government and the world and kept himself well informed. he was especially interested in politics although he never sought public office.
In Lafferty's death, The Progress has lost one of its most enthusiastic readers. He was a subscriber for many years and only a few days before he was taken to the hospital, stopped in the Progress office to pay his subscription, at that time expressing his appreciation reading the paper.
Deceased was a civil war veteran serving in the non-combatant division as a wagoner.
Funeral services will be held from the First Methodist church in Claremore, Wednesday afternoon at 3 o'clock, conducted by Rev. Fisher, pastor of the Methodist church at Chelsea. Rev. H.F. Patton, Local Methodist Minister and Rev. James Miller, pastor of the Christian church. Masons will participate and act as pall bearers. The Parker Bernhardt Funeral Home will be in Charge. [Transcribed by Mary Lafferty Wilson]

Dr. Emmet Starr
A man familiar with the early days in Claremore, a student, is dead. Reference is made to Dr. Emmet Starr who was found dead in his room at St. Louis, Mo., Friday morning. News of Dr. Starr's death was received in a telegram to Dr. J. C. Bushyhead, asking what disposition was to be made of the body. Dr. Starr was operating a book store at St. Louis, Mo., at the time of his death. The telegram came from Dr. Joe Mayes, of St. Louis.
Dr. Bushyhead immediately notified Dr. Starr's sisters who reside at Cement, Okla., Dr. Wade Vann, a brother-in-law, residing at Cement, instructed that the body be sent to Claremore and it will be cared for by the Kaff-Musgrove Funeral Home. The day of the funeral is not yet announced.
Dr. Starr never married. He is survived by two sisters, Mrs. Mary Vann, wife of Dr. Vann, at Cement, and Mrs. Lettie Raspberry, also of Cement, and one brother, Caleb, who lives near Hanson, Okla.
Dr. Starr was the author of several books on the Cherokee people. One entitled "Early History of the Cherokees," another "Cherokees, West," and a "History of the Cherokee Nation." He commenced the collection of material for genealogical and historical work in 1894.
Dr. Starr was a charter member of the Pocahontas Club, one of the oldest Indian clubs in existence. He was at one time president of same. Dr. Starr was a citizen of Claremore some twenty years ago. He was always of a studious nature. Possibly there was no living man who was as well versed in Cherokee history as this man. He had many warm friends in Claremore who will learn with regret of his passing.
Emmet Starr was born December 12, 1870, in Going Snake District, Cherokee Nation, or in what is now Adair County, Oklahoma. His parents were Walter Adair and Ruth A. (Thornton) Starr, the former born at Cane Hill, Arkansas, and the latter near Webbers Falls, Oklahoma. They were both members by birthright of the Cherokee Nation. The name Starr is of Irish origin, and Doctor Starr's great-grandfather, Caleb Starr, was a native of Chester County, Pennsylvania, was a Pennsylvania Quaker, and early in life went south and married into the Cherokee Indian Tribe. Doctor Starr's mother was a descendant through her father from the Virginia Thorntons of English lineage, and on her mother's side was also of Cherokee stock. The forebears of Doctor Starr came to what is now Eastern Oklahoma prior to the year 1831. He is the oldest in a family of five children, and the other four were: George Colbert Starr, who while in discharge of his duties as a deputy sheriff was killed by a bootlegger or whisky peddler on September 20, 1912; Mary B. Starr, wife of Dr. Wade H. Vann, formerly of Porum but now of Cement, Oklahoma; Miss Lettie B., who lives with her brother Doctor Starr; and Joseph M. the mother of these children died when the youngest of them was about six years of age. The father married for his second wife Ella Christie of Christie, Adair County, and she became the mother of two children named Jennie and Caleb L. Starr.
In 1871 Doctor Starr's parents removed to what is now Rogers County, Oklahoma, and he grew up in that locality on a farm. His father was a very prominent man in the Cherokee Nation, and for fourteen years held the position of district judge, and was still on the bench when the national government of the Cherokees was dissolved. Doctor Starr was graduated June 28, 1888, from the Cherokee Male Seminary at Tahlequah, and in 1891 took his degree in medicine from the Barnes Medical College at St. Louis.
He practiced medicine first at Chelsea and then at Skiatook, but after five years of successful work in his profession abandoned it in order to devote his time to his great work as a Cherokee genealogist and historian. On August 5, 1901, Doctor Starr was elected from the Cooweescoowee District to the Cherokee National Council, and he served in that body with credit for two years, one term. That was the last but one of the councils of the Cherokee Nation. In politics Doctor Starr was a democrat, and is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. He was a Master Mason.
[From the Claremore Progress, of February 6, 1930 - Submitted by Linda Craig]