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SELWYN DOUGLAS
Vol. 3, p. 964
Book has photo

One of the senior members of the Oklahoma bar is Selwyn DOUGLAS, of
Oklahoma City. It lacks only three years of half a century since
Selwyn Douglas was admitted to practice and while a resident of
Kansas he watched with interest the progress of the movements by
which the original Oklahoma Territory was opened to settlement, and a
few months after that historic opening he himself came to Oklahoma
City, where he has been a resident and a member of the bar since the
4th of July, 1890. Mr. Douglas has had a life of unusual experience,
as soldier, plainsman, scholar and lawyer. While his knowledge of the
law is regarded as specially [sic] profound, among the circle of his
immediate friends he is also held in high esteem for his interest in
many other subjects outside of his immediate profession. From early
life he has trained his keen powers of observation, and is regarded
as almost an authority on the subject of natural history in the
Southwest.

Selwyn Douglas was born at Ann Arbor, Michigan, November 29, 1841, a
son of George and Alma (MACGREGOR) Douglas, his father a native of
Edinburgh, Scotland, and his mother of Painted Post, New York. In
Scotland his ancestors were members of the old Douglas family, which
in the course of generations has furnished hundreds of soldiers to
Great Britain, and members of which have become prominent in all the
civil activities of the world. George Douglas was for many years a
newspaper man, and was one of the pioneers in Ann Arbor, Michigan,
where he located during the decade of the '20s.

Selwyn Douglas grew up in and near Ann Arbor, attended the local
schools, and when less than twenty years of age enlisted for service
in the Union army, three of his brothers also volunteering. He became
a member of the First Michigan Cavalry in Custer's famous brigade.
His service continued until 1866. Most of it was under Col. Peter
STAGG, under whose command he was at Five Forks, and at Appomattox,
Virginia when Lee surrendered. After the war he went with the First
Michigan Cavalry in the Western Indian service and covered a vast
section of territory ranging almost from the Canadian line south to
Utah. He was mustered out at Fort Bridger, Utah, March 10, 1866, and
in returning home walked most of the way across the plains.

After his return to Ann Arbor Mr. Douglas entered the University of
Michigan, where he had been previously a student in the collegiate
department, took the course in law and was graduated with the class
of 1868. From the day of his graduation Mr. Douglas has made the law
his profession. He soon afterwards went out to Kansas, locating in
Linn County, practiced at Mound City and also at Paola, and from 1878
to 1884 was county attorney of Linn County. He was a member of the
Board of Registry of the University of Oklahoma during the
administration of Governor FRANTZ, the last territorial governor.

Since his location in Oklahoma City Judge Douglas has always held a
position among the ablest in the local bar. He possesses a sound
learning, broad experience in legal affairs, combined with a
soundness of judgement and a gravity of character which have made his
counsel and service invaluable. He has also been active in the
progress of his home city and state in a civic way, and has been a
factor to be reckoned with in any public movement. While a friend of
the statehood movement and using his influence to secure its
principal object, he was fearless in the expression of his
convictions during the constitutional convention in 1907, and
vigorously opposed many measures that were included in the organic
law of the state at that convention. A republican in politics, he has
always been an ardent supporter of Theodore Roosevelt, whom he
regards as the greatest man of modern times.

For years Mr. Douglas was regarded and accepted as one of the
brightest Masons in the state, serving as grand master of Oklahoma in
1894-95, and during the same time as grand high priest of the Grand
Chapter of Royal Arch Masons of Indian Territory. He is also
affiliated with the Knights Templar and the Mystic Shrine branches of
the fraternity.

In December Judge Douglas married Sophia J. COLMAN at Boone Iowa.
Mrs. Douglas, who died at Oklahoma City in 1902, was one of the
founders of the Oklahoma City Carnegie Library, and a memorial
fountain was afterwards placed in front of the building bearing her
name. She was also prominent as the founder of the Federation of
Women's Clubs of Oklahoma, and during her lifetime was one of the
most active in the educational, religious and social life of her home
city. Mrs. Douglas was educated at Ypsilanti, Michigan, and at
Vassar. The only child of their union, Macgregor Douglas, died at the
age of thirty-three years, but left a wife and three fine sons, all
of whom Judge Douglas cherishes most kindly and with whom he makes
his home. Judge Douglas has his offices in the Baum Building, and his
home is with his daughter and grandsons at 48th and Western Avenue.

Typed for OKGenWeb by Linda, February 9, 1999.