OKGENWEB NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any
format for profit or presentation by any other organization or
persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must
obtain the written consent of OKGenWeb State Coordinator.

Presentation here does not extend any permissions to the public. This
material can not be included in any compilation, publication,
collection, or other reproduction for profit without permission. Files
may be printed or copied for personal use only.
=====================================================================

JOHN W. BURNS
Vol. 3, p. 1050-105l

Of the progressive man of affairs in the younger generation in
Oklahoma City not a little precedence must be accorded to John
William BURNS, both as a lawyer and as a progressive business man of
much constructive ability. In the practice of his profession he is
associated with Patrick J. HODGINS, under the firm name of Burns &
Hodgins, and he is president also of the Credit Reference Company, of
which Mr. Hodgins is secretary and general manager, a brief review of
the career of the latter being given on other pages of this
publication.

Mr. Burns takes a due amount of pride and satisfaction in reverting
to the fine old Hoosier State as the place of his nativity and he is
a scion of a sterling pioneer family of the state, within whose
borders were born his parents, Oliver P. and Mary C. (CONNER) Burns,
both of whom still reside on their well improved and valuable farm in
Spencer County, that state, this old homestead having been the place
of the birth of their son, John William, the date of whose nativity
was February 17, 1880.

John W. Burns attended the public schools of his native county and
after completing his studies in this high school he entered Westfield
College, at Westfield, Illinois, in which institution he was
graduated as a member of the class of 1899 and from which he received
the degree of Bachelor of Arts. While attending college he devoted
his attention at intervals to teaching in the district schools. In
preparation for his chosen profession Mr. Burns was matriculated in
the Indianapolis College of Law, in the beautiful capital city and
metropolis of his native state, and in the same he was graduated in
1902, with the degree of Bachelor of Laws, besides receiving the
second prize for the best general work as an undergraduate. He was
admitted to practice in the State and Federal courts of Indiana and
initiated the practice of his profession at Rockport, the judicial
center of Spencer County, where he remained until 1910 and where, in
1906, he was appointed prosecuting attorney to fill an unexpired
term. In the election in the autumn of the same year he was duly
elected to this office, that of prosecuting attorney for the
Thirteenth Judicial District, comprising the counties of Spencer and
Warrick, his term being of two years' duration and his administration
having marked him as a resourceful and versatile trial lawyer and
effective public prosecutor. From the time of his appointment until
the completion of his regular term in January, 1909, he thus served
nearly three years in this important office, and his personal
popularity was shown in the fact that he was elected as candidate on
the republican ticket in a district that normally gives a heavy
democratic majority.

In the autumn of 1909 Mr. Burns came to Oklahoma and engaged in the
individual practice of his profession in Oklahoma City, and after
building up a substantial law business he formed, in 1912, a
partnership alliance with Patrick J. Hodgins, his present valued
coadjutor, their general practice extending into both the criminal
and civil courts of the state, as well as into the Federal courts.
This law firm also figures as general counsel for the Credit
Reference Company, in which its members are interested as principals,
as indicated in a preceding paragraph.

Mr. Burns has been president of the Credit Reference Company since
1912, and the business is incorporated under the laws of the State of
Arizona, with a capital stock of $5,000,000. The company does a
general mercantile reporting business besides interposing in the
collecting and settling of accounts and the adjusting of
controversies between business men. The home offices of the company
are in Suite 606-11 American National Bank Building, Oklahoma City,
and with branch connections established at eligible points, the
company has facilities for the handling of business in all sections
of the United States. Its inception dates back to 1909 and its record
has been such as to make its reputation unassailable. Mr. Burns is
president also of the Schrimpsher Oil & Gas Company, which was
organized in January, 1914, and which has valuable holdings and two
producing wells in the Healton District of Oklahoma at the time of
this writing, in the spring of 1915.

In politics Mr. Burns is a stalwart advocate of the cause of the
republican party, he and his wife hold membership in the First
Christian Church of Oklahoma City, and he is affiliated with local
organizations of the Masonic fraternity and the Independent Order of
Odd Fellows, besides being a member of the Evansville Lodge, No. 114,
Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, in the City of Evansville,
Indiana. It may be noted in a retrospective way that the paternal
grandparents of Mr. Burns immigrated from the vicinity of Aberdeen,
Scotland, to the United States, though they came at different times
and their marriage was solemnized in Kentucky, whence they later
removed to Indiana and became pioneers of that state; the
grandfather, Stephen Burns, attained to the patriarchal age of ninety
years.

In the year 1902 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Burns to Miss
Maude CLEMENT, who likewise was born and reared in Spencer County,
Indiana, and who had there been a successful and popular teacher
prior to her marriage. She is a daughter of George J. Clement, owner
of an extensive grain and milling business at Chrisney, that county,
where he also conducts a hardware establishment, besides having
severed twelve years as a member of the board of county commissioners
of Spencer county. Mr. and Mrs. Burns have three children, Ruth, Mary
Catherine and John William, Jr.

Typed for OKGenWeb by: Dorothy Marie Tenaza, December 10, 1998.