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CHARLES WALTER HOBBIE
Vol. 3, p. 1171

Credit for opening the first grocery store at Alva must be given to
the late Charles Walter HOBBIE, who was a participant in the original
opening of Oklahoma in 1889, and permanently identified himself with
the state when the Cherokee Strip was opened for settlement in 1893.
He was not only a pioneer merchant, but in many useful ways was
identified with the early growth and development of the City of Alva.
He possessed the solid virtue of integrity, was prospered by years of
work and business judgement, and always kept himself in public
spirited relations with the community of which he was a part.

Charles Walter Hobbie was born September 28, 1858, at Utica, New
York, a son of Uriah and Anne Sophia (WILCOX) Hobbie. His father was
born October 26, 1798, and died at Omaha, Nebraska, September 26,
1878, and gave all his active career to mercantile pursuits. The
mother was born August 22, 1817, in New York State, and died at Alva,
Oklahoma, November 11, 1897. The parents were married October 26,
1842, and they had six children, two daughters and four sons: George,
who was born July 8, 1846; Elizabeth Cole, who was born September 23,
1847 and died November 13, 1891; Sarah Louisa, born August 8, 1848
and died February 28, 1884; Henry Clay, who was born August 25, 1849;
Francis Wilcox, born March 19, 1854, and died October 8, 1855; and
Charles W., the youngest of the children.

His boyhood was spent in Utica, New York, where he obtained his
education from the public schools. As a young man he went West and
located at Omaha, Nebraska, and for a number of years was actively
engaged in merchandising in the western country. He was one of the
thousands who were attracted to the first opening of Oklahoma
Territory in 1889, and was for a brief time located at Guthrie. He
then returned to Kansas and continued merchandising at Kiowa until
1893. In September of that year he secured a location at Alva when
the town was established, and brought in the first stock of groceries
from which he developed the first permanent grocery house of the
city. He continued to sell this class of goods to the people of Alva
and surrounding country for a number of years, but finally opened an
exclusive shoe store and subsequently a drug store. Mr. Hobbie
retired from active business in 1900 on account of ill health and his
death occurred at Alva August 20, 1902.

Fraternally he was affiliated with the Knights of Pythias and the
Independent Order of the Odd Fellows. In politics he was a
republican. From the first he was recognized as a man of broad and
public spirit, interested not only in building up his individual
concerns, but in doing all he could for the general welfare of the
community. For two years he served as mayor of Alva, and was also a
member of the first school and secretary of the Commercial Club.

Mrs. Hobbie is still living in Alva and one of the social leaders of
that city. As Miss Gertrude ALLEN she was married to Mr. Hobbie at
Kiowa, Kansas, December 25, 1892. Her parents were Hiram and Harriet
(SWEET) Allen. Mrs. Hobbie was born in Springport, Indiana, December
10, 1872. Her family in its different members has always manifested a
strong literary and intellectual interest, and her niece, Mabel
Potter DAGGETT, is a well known magazine writer in New York City.
Mrs. Hobbie was a charter member of the first woman's club organized
at Alva, the Bay View Club, and she has also filled the different
offices in the local chapter of the P. E. O. She takes much interest
in the Presbyterian Church. There were two children, and the first, a
daughter, died in infancy. Mabel Allen, born January 16, 1897,
completed her education in the Oklahoma Northwestern Normal School at
Alva.

Typed for OKGenWeb by: Susan Bradford, November 19, 1998.