Volume 10 , Issue 2

Pioneer Thomas Jefferson Dyer - Alva, OK

Thomas Jefferson Dyer was numbered among the pioneers of the commonwealth of Oklahoma having the distinction of being a member of the first colony to attempt settlement in the territory which now comprises the State of Oklahoma. Thomas J. Dyer's property was located 10 miles North of Alva, in Woods county, where he had made his home in 1893.

Thomas J. Dyer was born August 20, 1857, at Des Moines, Iowa, and was a son of Samuel M. and Mary Elizabeth (Gilbrech) Dyer. Samuel M. Dyer was born in North Carolina, September 5, 1814, and was a lad of seven years when, in 1821, he moved with his parents to Terre Haute, Indiana. There he grew up and learned the "tinner's trade," which he followed at different points in Indiana until 1851, at that time moving to Des Moines, Iowa, then only a military post, where he purchased a large tract of municipal property.

During his residence of 18 years at the place, Samuel Dyer became one of the prominent and influential citizens of the community, serving four years as county treasurer and two years as county clerk of Polk County. In 1869 Samuel sold his Iowa holdings and moved to Jasper county, Missouri, but in 1870 left that community for the Osage Indian Reservation, where he bought a "squatter's rights" to a claim. After two years of residence there, he learned that the government contemplated the removal of the 300 "squatters" in the Osage Reservation, among whom were Samuel M. Dyer and his son Thomas J.

Samuel immediately wired to Carl Schurz, at that time secretary of the interior, asking his aid, influence in allowing them to remain, but was answered by wire that they would be compelled to vacate the Indian lands, and they were subsequently removed by the military.

When it was necessary to make room for the Indians who were being removed from Kansas, Mr. Dyer, along with some of his fellow "squatters" moved just over the line into Kansas, and for several years leased land from the Indians for farming and grazing purposes. In 1885 he moved to Barber county, Kansas, and there continued to reside on a ranch until his death, which occurred June 22, 1886, in the faith of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

Samuel M. Dyer was married in 1839 to Mary Elizabeth Gilbrech, who was born February 14, 1821, in Germany, and came to the US in 1824 with her parents, John A. and Mary (Lemer) Gilbrech.

Mary Elizabeth Dyer died at the "Tarrapin Ranch" in Harper county, Kansas, December 6, 1897. She was a faithful member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, the movements of which she always supported. Nine sons, four daughters were born to Samuel M. and Mary Elizabeth Dyer:

John Van Buren, born August 19, 1841, who was a retired farmer of Sedan, Kansas;

Ezekiel Benton, born January 20, 1843, died December 25, 1905;

William Franklin, born June 8, 1844, met his death in a mine accident, May 30, 1906, was a veteran of the Civil war, having been a member of the 23rd Regiment, Iowa Volunteer Infantry;

Samuel Meredith, born May 20, 1846, a retired farmer and resident of California;

Hiram Jennings, born September 17, 1848, died April 27, 1904;

Viretta Harris, born July 18, 1853, the wife of Joseph Pitt, a farmer of Elgin, Kansas;

James Madison, born September 20, 1850, who died May 5, 1853;

Oscar Franklin, born May 3, 1855, postmaster and hotel man of Gazelle, California;

Thomas Jefferson;

Thompson Bird, born January 6, 1859, a railroad man of Provo, Utah;

Mary Elizabeth, born September 5, 1861, died March 15, 1862;

Rebecca Jane, born October 8, 1862, who was the wife of George Maroney, a retired farmer of Attica, Kansas;

Sarah Ellen, born February 1, 1865, who was the wife of William Granger, a farmer of Shandon, California.

Thomas Jefferson Dyer received his education in the public schools of Polk county, Iowa; Jasper county, Missouri; and Chautauqua county, Kansas. In 1878 Thomas dyer went to the Chickasaw Nation, Indian Territory, where for five years he worked as a cowboy on the old ranges, which no longer exist today.

Thomas Dyer followed the same line of work in Kansas, and finally settled on government land in Barber County, Kansas, where he remained until 1893 when he made the "Run" in the opening of the Cherokee Strip in Oklahoma Territory, locating on a homestead 10 miles North of Alva, Oklahoma in the cultivation of which he had since been engaged.

Thomas J. Dyer was a stalwart Democrat, in 1907 when he was elected as the first County Treasurer of Woods county after the admission of Oklahoma to the union, and was re-elected in 1910, continuing to hold the office for five years, seven months, seven days.

In 1914 he was the nominee of his party for the office of County Clerk, but the county had become heavily republican, and he met with defeat.

Thomas J. Dyer had been twice married, his first union being celebrated November 28, 1878, when he wedded Lucretia Burnett, who was born in Trigg county, Kentucky, May 20, 1859, a daughter of Cornelius Burnett.

Lucretia died in Carroll county, Arkansas, December 12, 1879, leaving two children: Lulie Ellen, born August 20, 1879, wife of A. V. Martin, farmer of Woods county, Oklahoma; and Thomas Frederick, who died in infancy.

Thomas Dyer married his second wife, December 31, 1884, in Barber county, Kansas, to Nina C. Cummins, who was born January 18, 1867, in Appanoose county, Iowa, daughter of Scott Cummins, the Oklahoma author and poet widely known as the "Pilgrim Bard." To this union there had been born four children:

Lillian Eldred, born December 20, 1886, a graduate of the Northwestern Normal School, class of 1910, a teacher in the city schools of Alva;

Thomas Lafayette, born April 17, 1889, in Barber county, Kansas, a graduate of the Northwestern Normal School, class of 1910, and Leland Stanford University, class of 1914;

Ethel Burdie, born July 31, 1894, in Barber county, Kansas, graduate of Northwestern Normal School, class of 1915;

Sarah Mabel, born in Woods county, Oklahoma, November 5, 1896, wife of John Nelson Cameron, of Capron, Oklahoma.

This information comes from A Standard History of Oklahoma, pg. 1601, Vol. 4, by Joseph Thoburn.
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