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. ===================================================================== D. K. HATHORN Vol. 3, p. 1096 - 1097 Oklahoma is a state of "new comers." Only a small percentage of the young business men of this section have been reared or educated here. Twenty-three years ago, where now flourishes the Town of Ravia, the wind grass grew waist-high, while the woods were inhabited chiefly by deer, wolves and wild turkeys. The habitations of white men were scarce, and the red man was monarch of the land. It was at that time that the subject of this sketch, then ten years old, came to this locality with his parents. He was born in Roanoke, Randolph County, Alabama, in 1882, and is a son of Hugh and Sarah (TAYLOR) HATHORN. His father was a native of Alabama and his paternal grandfather of Ireland. The lure of an easy fortune to be made in the Indian country drew Hugh Hathorn with his family to this section, and he settled on a tract of land owned by Governor WOLF of the Chickasaw Nation, near where Ravia sprung into being several years later. Here the Hathorn family remained for fifteen years and here young Hathorn grew to manhood, acquiring such elementary knowledge as was dispensed by the country schools of that period. This, however, was later supplemented by a course in the Selvidge Business College at Ardmore, Oklahoma. In 1904 he entered the First National Bank of Ravia as bookkeeper. Here he showed adaptability to the business and persevering industry which in due time brought him promotion, and in 1910 he was elected cashier of the First State Bank, which succeeded the First National Bank. His next promotion was in 1915, when he was elected active vice president of the institution, in which position he is now serving. The bank has a capital stock of $12,500 and is the only one in the town that is situated in the midst of a rich and growing agricultural region. The other officials are Harold WALLACE, of Ardmore, president, and Clyde FAUGHT, cashier. For eight years Mr. Hathorn has served as city treasurer and for a similar length of time as clerk of the school board. Taking a lively interest in the encouragement of agriculture and the improvement of agricultural methods, he is serving as a member of the Johnston County Fair Association, and has done good work in this connection. Mr. Hathorn has three brothers and three sisters, all of whom are residents of this section. Sam Hathorn is a blacksmith at Ada. Ray and Gordon Hathorn are engaged in oil operations in the Glennpool field. Mrs. Winnie WEAVER is the wife of a farmer near Ravia; Mrs. Mabel HERRIN, the wife of an oil man in the Glennpool field, and Miss Minnie Hathorn is a telephone employee at Stratford. Mr. Hathorn belongs to the Odd Fellows and Modern Woodmen of America lodges, also to the Johnston County, Oklahoma State and American Bankers associations. Although still a young man his mind is a mine of information in regard to early events in Ravia. He recalls the fact that E. A. FORBES built the first house here in 1895, that the town was established on the land of Joe RAVIA, an intermarried Chickasaw citizen, from whom it acquired its name, and that Ardmore, thirty miles distant, was the trading point for farmers and merchants here for a number of years; also that Tishomingo twenty years ago was an inland town of no commercial importance. Mr. Hathorn was married in 1907, in Ravia, to Miss Lena FIELDS. He and his wife are the parents of one child, Ruby, now five years old. Typed for OKGenWeb by: Dorothy Marie Tenaza, November 24, 1998. [NOTE: March 1999 Dawn (Hathorn) Geddes' Great Grandparents were Hugh & Sarah Hathorn. She is a descendant through their son, D.K. Hathorn, and his son, Jimmie C. Hathorn, who was her father. Hugh & Sarah Hathorn contracted TB and died within weeks of each other. Contact Dawn if you have additional information on this family]