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Judge Bozarth is a thoroughly grounded and capable young lawyer, and has been in active practice of the law and a figure in public affairs at Okmulgee for the past fourteen years. He is of fine stock of American ancestry, and his forebears of mingled French, German with an admixture of other early nationalities tht figured in our Colonial era, were among the first settlers in the Trans-Allegheny District of western Pennsylvania and Western Virginia. The first American of the name, who was probably Caleb Bozarth, came from France during the persecution of the Huguenots and about 1735 settled in New Jersey near Philadelphia. He had three sons, Isaac, Caleb and John, and the first two served under General Washington during the Revolution and afterwards were pioneers in Kentucky. These two revolutionary soldiers became the ancestors of a very numerous group of descendants subsequently scattered over Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri and other middle western states. John Bozarth, who was born in 1743, a son of the immigrant ancestor, was about eleven or twelve years of age when General Braddock came over with the British regulars to fight the French and Indians on the western frontier, and John Bozarth drove one team and wagon and was present at the disastrous Battle of Braddoock's Field. John Bozarth subsequently moved out to Western Pennsylvania and was a frontiersman during the Revolution. In his twenty-seventh year he married Jane Ivers, who was a native of Ireland. The Bozarths took a very prominent part in the frontier life of Western Pennsylvania in the early days, and one of the name Miss Rebecca Bozarth performed some exploits in defending her home against an attack of Indians which has been made the subject of a chapter in a book entitled "Daring Deeds of American Women." George Bozarth, a son of the John Bozarth just mentioned, was born April 12, 1774, near the historic old Red Stone Fort in Western Pennsylvania and not far from the present City of Morganstown, West Virginia. At the age of seventeen he enlisted in a company of Rangers and did much service against the Indians and their British allies in patrolling the country along the Ohio River and as far down as Kentucky. In March, 1795, George Bozarth married Mary Reger, who was of pure German extraction, spoke the German language fluently though after her marriage the English was constantly used in the household. George and Mary Reger Bozarth were the parents of fifteen children, six of whom died in infancy. Of those who reached maturity the names were Anna, Temperance, Mary, Jacob, Lot N., Gilbert, Jane and Ruanny. The descendants of these children became widely scattered in many of the states of the Middle West. One of them, Jacob, who was born in September, 1810, was the grandfather of Judge Bozarth of Okmulgee. Jacob had three wives and five children. The three children of his first marriage were Elizabeth Ann, Amanda and Allen B. By the second wife there was a son named George Gilbert. by his third marriage, to Charlotte Warrington, there was a son Jacob, and thus Jacob Bozarth has for a number of years been a well known citizen and business man of Okmulgee. Jacob Bozarth last mentioned was born in Starke County, Indiana, February 7, 1852, a son of Jacob and Charlotte (Warrington) Bozarth. Jacob Bozarth, Sr., was one of the pioneers of Starke County, and in 1850 had the honor of being elected the first county recorder after the organization of that county. He was married in Starke County to Miss Warrington, who was of a Delaware family. Jacob, Sr., died at Troy, Kansas, in 1880, and his wife died in Indiana, January 1, 1875. Jacob, Sr., had been a teacher in his early life. Jacob Bozarth of Okmulgee had the distinction of being honored in 18182 with election to the same office which his father had filled more than twenty years earlier, county recorder of Starke County. He had grown up on the home farm in Indiana, was given a substantial education, but after being elected county reorder served in that office continuously for eight years. Afterwards he established himself in business at Know, county seat of Starke County, and dealt in real estate, loans and abstracts and in 1891 was admitted to the bar, but confined his practice chiefly to real estate and title law. In 1900 he moved to Okmulgee, Indian Territory, and has since been a prominent factor in the upbuilding of that city, and has conducted a prosperous business in real estate, insurance and has also been a notary public. He built the Bozarth Hotel at Okmulgee and in many other ways has found opportunity to serve the public welfare as well as his own. He is an active democrat, a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and belongs to the Methodist Episcopal Church. On October 4, 1874, Jacob Bozarth married in Starke County Phebe Westhaver, who was born in Ohio. To their marriage were born four children: Judge Mark L., Ernest LeGrande, who graduated from Valparaiso University in Indiana in 1902 and is now a druggist at Henryetta, Oklahoma; Mary, wife of B. w. Christian of Okmulgee; and Daisy, wife of H. L. Allen of Grass Range, Montana. Judge Mark L. Bozarth was born at Knox, Indiana, August 17, 1875, and lived in Starke County until he came to Okmulgee, September 4, 1902. He was graduated in 1902 from Valparaiso University, then known as the Northern Indiana Law School, with the degree LL.B. In the meantime he had taken an active interesting local politics at Knox and served three years as city clerk. Along with a substantial practice he has combined an equal interest in public affairs since locating at Okmulgee. In November, 1912, he was elected county judge, and in 1914 re-elected for a second term, in which he is still serving with admirable efficiency. He is one of the leading democrats of Okmulgee County and for four years was a member of the Territorial Democratic Executive Committee before statehood. He is a member of the Oklahoma State Bar Association and is affiliated with the Masonic Order, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. On November 28, 1894, Judge Bozarth married Grace G. Garner, who was born in Indiana, daughter of J. A. Garner, now a resident of Okmulgee. Judge Bozarth and wife have three children: Mary Garner, born November 15, 1907; Helen, born in May, 1909, and died at the age of ten months; and Kathryn, born November 22, 1911. Transcribed for OKGenWeb by Norma Capehart March 5, 2003 SOURCE: Thoburn, Joseph B., A Standard History of Oklahoma, An Authentic Narrative of its Development, 5 v. (Chicago, New York: The American Historical Society, 1916).