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. ===================================================================== ELISHA B. CLINE Vol. 3, p. 1176-1177 One of the oldest business men of Tulsa is Elisha B. CLINE, who became identified with that little village nearly fifteen years ago, and has not only witnessed but has been a personal factor in its growth and development. When the city government was entrusted to the management of a commission, he was elected auditor of the city, and has held that office continuously to the present time. There is no more popular nor more efficient public servant of Tulsa at the city hall than Mr. Cline. Elisha B. Cline was born in Fulton County, Illinois, October 30, 1875, a son of John and Ruby (BRENENSTAHL) Cline. His father was born in Ohio in 1826, and lost his life in Tulsa, Oklahoma, December 27, 1911, at the extreme age of eighty-five years. His wife was born in New York State and is still living at the age of eighty years. To their union were born ten children, seven sons and three daughters, among whom Elisha B. was next to the youngest. The late John Cline moved out to Illinois when a young man with his parents and after finishing his education in that state took up farming and stock raising. In 1878 he removed to Ralls County, Missouri, locating on a farm near Hannibal. He continued farming and stock raising until 1898, but in the meantime had become prominent in other directions. He located the Town of Honeywell, Kansas, and for several years was employed by the St. Louis & San Francisco Railway Company in locating town sites. He located the Town of Caldwell, Kansas, and was thus an important factor in the early development of various localities in the Southwest. His home had been in Missouri, but in 1898 he removed to Kay county, Oklahoma, and was one of the early white settlers in that part of the state. He continued farming and stock raising in Kay County until his retirement from active pursuits in 1901, when he took up his residence in Tulsa. While a resident of Fulton County, Illinois, he was honored with several county offices, including that of county collector. He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church and in politics a democrat. Elisha B. Cline was reared from the age of three years in Ralls County, Missouri, up to the age of seventeen. In the meantime his education had come from the district schools, after which he took a four years' course in the Van Rensselaer Academy and subsequently graduated from the Hannibal Commercial College in 1895. The succeeding twenty years have been well spent either in private business affairs or in public responsibilities. For two years he was deputy collector of Ralls county, and then for four years was deputy recorder. In 1898 he came to Oklahoma, locating in Kay County, where he was successfully engaged in farming and stock raising until November, 1901. At that date he removed to Tulsa, then a very inconspicuous village with little promise of becoming the great and thriving city that it now is. Here he established a general transfer business, and continued that until 1908. In that year he was appointed city clerk and in 1909, when the city passed under the commission form of government, was elected on February 16th to the office of city auditor and has succeeded himself in the same office until he is now in his fifth consecutive term. Mr. Cline is a member of Tulsa Lodge No. 71, A.F. & A.M.; of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of Tulsa Lodge No. 946, B.P.O.E., of the Knights of Pythias and of the Modern Woodmen of America. In politics he is a democrat and is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. On November 16, 1904, Mr. Cline married Miss Cary NORMAN, of Chicago. To their union have been born five children, three sons and two daughters, namely: Norman, Carolyne, Elwyn, William and Mary Genevieve. Typed for OKGenWeb by Linda R, December 10, 1998.