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. ===================================================================== HON. LEWIS HUNTER Vol. 3 p. 1117-118 Book has photo A resolute and aggressive member of the Fifth Legislature, where he made his impress on current legislation, Lewis Hunter comes from Comanche County, is an able member of the Lawton bar, and has been identified with that section of the state since the opening of the Kiowa and Comanche Reservations. Born on a farm near Greenville, Illinois, February 18, 1878, Mr. Hunter is a son of Robert M. and Elizabeth (WILLIFORD) Hunter. His parents, who now live at Lawton, were natives of Illinois, where his father for many years was a prosperous farmer. The earliest ancestor of the family in America was Thomas Hunter, who came from Tyrone County, Ireland, and settled in the colonies during the Revolution. Mr. Hunter's maternal ancestors were from England, and on coming to America settled in Virginia. During the Civil war both the grandparents of Mr. Hunter, though living in the North, were sympathizers with the cause of the South. As a boy he attended the public schools, and later the University of Valparaiso in Indiana, graduating in the scientific course in 1899 and in the classical course in 1900. He had already begun the reading of law in a private office, and in 1901 was admitted to the bar. In the same year he came to Lawton and began his professional career there. During the days preparatory to the opening of the Kiowa and Comanche Indian lands he registered at Lawton, but did not draw a lucky number. Later he bought a homestead in what was known as the "Big Pasture" in the southern part of Comanche County. Mr. Hunter is accounted one of the most successful young lawyers in Southwest Oklahoma, and his particular forte is the criminal law. He was one of the organizers of the first Democratic Club in Lawton, the organization being completed in his office. Congressman Ferris and United States Senator Gore, then young lawyers, were among the charter members, and George D. Key of Tulsa, twice a candidate for attorney general, was its first president. In 1903, when W. J. Bryan visited the new Town of Lawton and was guest at a banquet of democrats, Mr. Hunter was also a guest of honor and delivered an address on Jackson Democracy. He has been an active participant in every democratic campaign in his county since locating there, makes a powerful appeal whether in the court room or in a political speech, and in 1912 took the stump in favor of Champ Clark's nomination for President. Elected to the Legislature in 1914, Mr. Hunter was made a member of Judiciary Committee No. 2, Congressional Redistricting, School Lands, Oil and Gas, Geological Survey and Levees, Drains, Ditches and Irrigation. He introduced a bill forbidding the taxing of mortgage indebtedness of homesteads, which was passed in the House of Representatives, but failed in the Senate. Another bill of his made an appropriation for the Cameron School of Agriculture at Lawton. Mr. Hunter is an ardent state's rights, democrat, and let the fight in the House against a resolution favoring national prohibition on the ground that such a measure trespassed on state's rights, robbed the states of police power and centralized the government in opposition to the principles of Jeffersonian democracy. He also fought another bill giving the governor power to suspend and dismiss elected county, city or state officials found remiss. Mr. Hunter was married in 1903 at Lawton to Mrs. Nannie J. WILSON, a native of Boonville, Indiana. They have one child, Robert Thomas, aged seven. A brother of Mr. Hunter, Jesse E., a teacher in Comanche County, died in 1913. His four living brothers are: George L., a teacher at Lawton; John G., superintendent of schools at Faxon, Oklahoma; Alvin A., a farmer at Fletcher, Oklahoma; and Willis M., a farmer at Lawton. Mr. Hunter is a member of the Presbyterian Church, of the Masonic Lodge and of the Comanche County and the Oklahoma Bar Association. Typed for OKGenWeb by: Earline Sparks Barger, November 5, 1998.