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ELVA C. BARROWS
Vol. 3, p. 1277-1278

Coming with his parents to Oklahoma when the territory was thrown
open to settlement, in 1889, and shortly before the formal
organization of the territory, which occurred in October of the
following year, Mr. Barrows has so effectually taken advantage of the
splendid opportunities here afforded that he has, through personal
ability and effort, achieved distinction success. He has been
prominently identified with banking interests, with the real-estate
business, with the development of oil and natural-gas resources, and
with the industries of agriculture and horticulture, in which last
mentioned line of enterprise he has done splendid service in
exploiting the possibilities of fruit culture in Oklahoma. Mr.
Barrows at the present time gives much of his time and attention to
the general supervision of his magnificent fruit farm, which is
conceded to be one of the finest in the Southwest and which is
eligibly located within five miles of the City of Tulsa, which has
represented his home since 1907, the year in which Oklahoma became on
the sovereign states of the Union. Just outside the city limits is
established his beautiful home, the modern and commodious brick
residence occupying a pleasing site and being surrounded with fruit
and decorative trees of the best type, with fine landscape-gardening
effects, parterres of flowers, shrubbery, etc., making it one of the
ideal homes of Tulsa County, even as it is known as a center of most
gracious hospitality, with Mrs. Barrows as its popular chatelaine.
The premises comprise an entire block in a most attractive residence
district instituting one of the numerous additions to or suburbs of
Tulsa. In a preliminary was it is but consistent to make liberal
quotations from an appreciative newspaper article relative to the
fine fruit farm of Mr. Barrows:

"Long before the winding road opens to your vista the long rows of
blooming trees, the faint aroma of peach blossoms strikes in upon the
faculties. Then the road curves around and you see, as far as the
horizon permits in the sandy, loamy hills, what looks like miles upon
miles of fruit trees. It is the first and largest commercial orchard
in Northeastern Oklahoma, the property of Elva C. Barrows, of Tulsa.
It is one of the largest in the state, and prominent horticulturists
have said it is the finest, as regarding upkeep, condition, etc. None
could visit this wonderful orchard without declaring it was a
beautiful sight. Comprising eighty acres and lying five miles
southeast of Tulsa, it can be easily reached by automobile over some
of the best roads in the state. Yesterday there were 4,600 peach
trees, all three years old, in full bloom. The made a brilliant scene
against the background of sandy, rolling prairie land, well
cultivated, with not a weed visible. In addition to this vast amount
of peach trees were hundreds of plum trees, the greater part being
literally white with blossoms. In other directions were thousands of
apple, crab-apple, cherry and other varieties of trees, just budding
out, that will be in full bloom in another week.

"All together there were 20,000 fruit trees and berry bushes and
grape vines on this magnificent eighty-acre fruit farm. Already they
are making preparations for the harvesting of the fruit from trees
and vines. Not a tree will be so tall that a man can not stand on the
ground and pick fruit from every limb. Near the farm house is a large
packing shed, two stories in height, which is filled with all kinds
of baskets in the knock-down state. In one corner is a stapling
machine which is used for making the complete baskets. In a large
barn on the premises is found a specially constructed wagon which
will be used to haul a maximum load of fruit to the market. This was
made to order especially for Mr. Barrows. Here are all kinds of
modern farm machinery especially designed for work in orchards. Then,
last of all, there is the latest design of a spraying machine
equipped with a gasoline motor, and this will be used to keep the
trees and bushes free from all infection. In the farm house, occupied
by the manager of the farm, is a blueprint of the entire eighty
acres, so arranged that every tree or bush or vine on the place can
be located in a minute's time."

Relative to this fine demesne it may further be stated that Mr.
Barrows has devoted the closest study and care in the selection of
and care of the manifold varieties of fruit grown on the place, and
brings to bear the most modern and approved methods in all details of
the business, his personal study and investigation having made him
virtually both a scientific and practical authority in fruit culture.
On the farm are to be found forty varieties of peaches, sixteen of
plums, fourteen of cherries, four of crab-apple, eight of early
apples, eight of grapes, and the best types of blackberries,
raspberries and dewberries.

The owner of this fine property was born in Richardson County,
Nebraska, on the 29th of March, 1873, and is a son of John R. and
Alice G. (CLINTON) Barrows, the former a native of Iowa and the
latter of Kentucky, the paternal grandparents of the subject of this
review having been honored pioneers of the Hawkeye State. Elva C.
Barrows is the eldest in a family of three children; John H. died at
the age of eighteen years; and Mrs. Edith B. RUSSELL is a resident of
Oklahoma City.

David Barrows, grandfather of him whose name initiates this article,
was an early settler in Missouri, from which state he removed to Iowa
in an early day, but shortly afterward he numbered himself among the
pioneer settlers of Nebraska.

John R. Barrows acquired his early education in the schools of
Missouri and Nebraska and as a man of affairs in later years he was a
successful and prominent dealer in live stock, his operations
extending through various parts of Kansas, Nebraska and Oklahoma. In
1889 he removed with his family to Oklahoma City, and in the newly
created Territory of Oklahoma he became one of the extensive dealers
in cattle, as a representative of which line of enterprise he shipped
principally to the markets of Kansas City, St. Louis and Chicago. He
became a citizen of prominence and influence in the new territory,
served as a member of the first city council of Oklahoma City, and
served two years as sheriff of Oklahoma County, an office to which he
was elected in 1897. He was a republican in his political
proclivities, was a man of sturdy rectitude and much business ability
and he commanded the respect and confidence of those with whom he
came in contact in the varied relations of life. He was a resident of
Oklahoma City at the time of his death, which occurred on the 10th of
October, 1899, and his widow still resides in that city.

The public schools of Richardson County, Nebraska, afforded to Elva
C. Barrows his early educational advantages and he was a youth of
sixteen years at the time of the family removal to Oklahoma City, and
here he earned his first money selling papers, his interposition as a
newsboy having occurred two weeks after the new territory had been
thrown open to settlement. This service gave him a predilection for
the newspaper business, and he held thereafter a position on the
reportorial staff of the Oklahoma Daily Journal, one of the pioneer
daily papers of Oklahoma City. Of this position he continued the
incumbent one and one-half years, and thereafter he was employed
about two years in the United States land office at Oklahoma City. He
then assumed the position of bookkeeper in the State National Bank of
the city, and during an incumbency of somewhat more then three years
he gained an excellent knowledge of the details of the banking
business. At the expiration of the period noted he made advancement
by assuming a position in the Band of Commerce, in which he won
promotion to the Office of teller. After remaining with this
institution about one year Mr. Barrows accepted the postion of
Cashier of the First National Bank of Weatherford, Custer county, and
after retaining this post about four and one-half years he resigned
his executive office to identify himself with the Choctaw Townsite &
Investment Company, which was engaged in the establishing and
platting of townsites along railway lines. Later Mr. Barrows engaged
in the real-estate and loan business in Oklahoma City, and there he
built up a successful enterprise, in connection with which he was
enabled to aid not a little in the furtherance of the civic and
industrial development of the territory that was now aspiring to the
dignity of statehood. He was one of the representative real-estate
dealers in Oklahoma City for a period of about three and one-half
years, within which Oklahoma became a state. In that year, 1907, Mr.
Barrows removed from the capital city to Tulsa, where be became
prominently identified with the development of the oil and natural
gas industry in this celebrated field. He has continued his
association with this important industry and through its medium has
realized a substantial competency.

For the past three years Mr. Barrows has found pleasure, recreation
and satisfaction in developing his magnificent fruit farm, concerning
which adequate mention has already been made in this context. In the
year 1914 he and his family indulged in a most interesting tour of
the Northwest, and in the same they visited Montana, Idaho,
Washington, the Yellowstone National Park and other points of
interest in that section, after which the trip was continued into
California.

Broad-minded, progressive and public-spirited as a citizen and
taking vital interest in all that touches the welfare of the state
that has represented his home from early youth, Mr. Barrows has had
naught of ambition for public office, though he is found aligned as a
staunch supporter of the principles and cause of the republican party.

In the time-honored Masonic fraternity he has the distinction of
having received the thirty-third and maximum degree of the Ancient
Accepted Scottish rite, this honor having been, conferred upon him in
Washington, D. C., on the 22nd of October, 1909. He is an
appreciative student of the history and teachings of this great
fraternal organization and is influential in the same in Oklahoma. At
Oklahoma city he is affiliated with Siloam Lodge, No. 276, Ancient
Free & Accepted Masons; Cyrus chapter, No. 7, Royal Arch Masons; and
Oklahoma Commandery, Knights Templar; and at Tulsa he holds
membership in Akdar Temple of the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles
of the Mystic Shrine and is also a member of Oklahoma Consistory, A.
A. & A. S. R., at Guthrie, Oklahoma.

On the 14th of March, 1901, was solemnized the marriage of Mr.
Barrows to Miss Katherine KRAMER, who was born at Rockport, Spencer
County, Indiana, and they have one son, John Kramer Barrows. The
beautiful family home, just outside the city limits of Tulsa, in
"Morningside" Addition, is a center of much of the representative
social activity of the community.

Typed for OKGenWeb by Charmaine Keith, January 26, 1999.