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.
=====================================================================

H. A. LEDBETTER
Vol. 3, p. 1279

Few members of the Oklahoma bar have accomplished more of the
pioneering and foundation work in legal procedure than this well-
known Ardmore lawyer, who has been identified with that city
professionally, in church affairs, and in business for almost twenty
years. Mr. Ledbetter gained a reputation for himself and constituted
some lasting precedence in Indian land cases when he directed, for a
period of nine years, one of the causes celebres originating in the
state. In 1906 he commenced a lawsuit involving 200 acres of the
townsite of Middleburg, Oklahoma. This involved the allotment of
Buckner Burns, an intermarried citizen. The first suit was tried in
the Grady County courts, it went into the higher state courts, into
the Federal District Court, and finally into the Supreme Courts of
the United States. Mr. Ledbetter secured a mandamus proceeding in
Washington for the issue of patents, and after nine years of vigorous
contest against opposition and the forces of delay and obstruction he
obtained in February, 1915, a final judgment in favor of his client.
The array of precedence brought forward in the course of this
litigation and wrought into the final decision have already settled
and will continue to settle more cases of Indian land litigation than
any case ever brought before the court. The states of Minnesota,
Wyoming and others have already made use of this decision rendered,
and it is one of the most conspicuous cases ever originating in
Oklahoma and reflects great merit upon this Ardmore attorney.

Mr. Ledbetter is a native of Texas, born in Fayette County, February
18, 1876. The Ledbetters originally came from England during colonial
days and were pioneer settlers of Tennessee. From Tennessee T. A.
Ledbetter, father of the Ardmore lawyer, and who was born in Middle
Tennessee in 1831, was taken by his parents to Texas in 1836, the
year that Texas gained its independence from Mexico. The family not
long afterward settled in Fayette County, where they cleared and
cultivated some of the best land redeemed from the wilderness. T. A.
Ledbetter grew up in Fayette County, became a farmer and cattleman,
there, but many years later, in 1899 moved to Ardmore, Oklahoma,
where he lives now practically retired. Although he has interest in
business and real estate in Texas. He is a member of the Methodist
Church, is a democrat, and during the civil war served with the Home
Guards of Texas. T. A. Ledbetter married Miss Almeda ROBINSON, who
was born in Texas in 1834, when Texas was a Mexican province. She
died at Ardmore in 1910. There (sic) was a numerous family, and most
of them are well situated in there prospective spheres. W. A., the
oldest child, is an attorney at Oklahoma City. Ada, who lives at Fort
Worth, Texas, married R. E. DORTCH, who went to the Philippines
during the Spanish-American war, having enlisted in 1898, and has
never returned form the Far East and probably died while in service.
H. C. Ledbetter is in the real estate and loan business at Ardmore.
Annie married R.E. GREEN, a sculptor, and they reside in Australia.
Lena J. married John W. TEER, who is manager for the Westheimer &
Daube mercantile establishment at Ardmore. Seth has a position in the
Oklahoma state administration under Governor WILLIAMS at Oklahoma
city. Guy T. is in the real estate business at Ardmore, and the
eighth child is H. A. Ledbetter. Amie married J. R. COX, who is
auditor for the Texas & Pacific Railroad at Dallas. Bertha married
Homer WILSON, who is in the lumber business at Terre Haute, Indiana.

The career of H. A. Ledbetter has been one of constant seeking after
opportunity and active service since he was a boy. He attended the
public schools in Fayette County, Texas, was graduated from the
LaGrange High School in 1894, and subsequently at Gainesville, Texas,
took special work in the high school and studied law under W. O.
DAVIS. His arrival in Ardmore was on May 27, 1896, and he is one of
the oldest white citizens of that town. Here he entered the office of
his brother, W. A. Ledbetter, and S. T. BLEDSOE, and took charge of
the commercial end of their business until the fall of 1903. He then
became general representative for J. S. MULLEN in his varied land
litigation, and looked after his interests until 1913.

In the meantime, in 1898, Mr. Ledbetter was admitted to the Oklahoma
bar, beginning practice in the Circuit Court, and was admitted in the
fall of 1911 to practice in the Supreme Court of the United States.
In 1913 he opened his offices in the Baird Building, on the south
side of Main street, and from this point has since directed his large
law practice, which is exclusively confined to land litigation.
Outside of his profession he is connected with several oil companies
and has interesting farm lands in Grady and Carter counties.

Mr. Ledbetter is now vice president of the Oklahoma State Bar
Association, and for four years was chairman of its grievance
committee. He also belongs to the American Bar Association, is a
democrat in politics, attends the Episcopal Church, and is affiliated
with Ardmore Lodge No. 648 of the Benevolent and Protective Order of
Elks; Ardmore Lodge No. 31, A. F. & A. M.; Ardmore Camp of the Modern
Woodmen of America; and also the County Bar Association.

In 1899 at Davis, Oklahoma, he married Miss Mabel ELLIS. Her father,
D. F. Ellis, is a banker, merchant, cattleman and prominent citizen
at Davis. By this marriage there are three children: Huge Ellis, born
April 1, 1901, now in the eighth grade of the public schools at
Ardmore; Alma Louise, born March 12, 1903, and in the seventh grade;
Ruth Anita, born March 4, 1906, and in the fourth grade of the public
schools. In 1911, at Oklahoma City, Mr. Ledbetter married Miss Lela
DUKE, daughter of the late B. A. Duke, who was a cattleman at Paris,
Texas.

Typed for OKGenWeb by Charmaine Keith, January 27, 1999.