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EUGENE A. LILLY
Vol. 3, p. 1032

One of the pioneer business men of Oklahoma is Eugene A. Lilly, who
more than twenty years ago was in the real estate and insurance
business at El Reno, and in the same line of enterprise has been
identified with Tulsa since the early beginnings of that city. Mr.
Lilly has a very important record in Masonry, and is one of the
progressive and public-spirited citizens of this great commonwealth.

Eugene A. Lilly was born at Lilly Chapel in Madison County, Ohio,
May 8, 1858, a son of James and Matilda ( ANDERSON ) Lilly. The
parents were born in Ohio, his father in Ross County in 1816 and
living to 1874. The mother was born in Madison County, and died in
1858. She was the mother of seven children, four of whom are still
living, with Eugene the seventh and the youngest. James Lilly
received his education in Ross County, Ohio, and became prominent as
a farmer, stockraiser, buyer and shipper in Madison County. His
enterprise brought about the founding of an important village in the
county. This had its beginning in a donation by him of the ground on
which a Methodist Episcopal Church was built. This was known as Lilly
Chapel, and it is still known as such at the time of his death, James
Lilly was chairman of the board of county commissioners of Madison
County. In his early years he had voted with the whig party and later
became a republican.

Eugene A. Lilly acquired his early education in the public schools
of Madison County, at London, and subsequently attended the Ohio
Wesleyan University of Delaware and in 1880 graduated from the
University of Michigan, with the degree of pharmaceutical chemistry.
Thus equipped for business by a liberal education, he went out to
Dakota Territory and engaged in the real estate business and in
cattle ranching at Bismarck and in Emmons County. He continued in
those lines in Dakota up to 1887. His next location, after selling
out, was Minneapolis, Minnesota, where he opened his office for the
handling of real estate, insurance and loan business up to 1905, and
then after a year of travel, which took him as far west as
California, he returned to Oklahoma and in the fall of 1906
established himself in business at Tulsa. Tulsa was at that time a
young village with a great deal of promise as to its future, and Mr.
Lilly showed keen foresight in identifying himself as closely as
possible with its destiny. For the past nine years he has handled a
large bulk of the general loan and insurance business in this
community.

Mr. Lilly's Masonic record begins with his initiation in 1881 into
Chandler Lodge No. 138, A.F. & A.M. at London, Ohio. He dimitted from
this lodge to become a charter member of Western Star Lodge at
Weatherford, Oklahoma, and served as first master of the new lodge.
At this time he is an honorary life member of Delta Lodge No. 425,
A.F. & A.M. at Tulsa, having served as its first master. He took his
chapter, degree in Adoniram Chapter at London, Ohio, dimitted to
become a charter member of Weatherford Chapter, A.E. & A.M., and
served as first high priest there. He is a member of Tulsa Chapter,
R.A.M. He became a Knight Templar in Palestine Commandery at
Springfield, Ohio, in 1882, was subsequently a charter member of the
Commandery at El Reno, and served as the first recorder of that
organization. He subsequently jointed Weatherford Commandery, K.T.,
and is now a member of Trinity Commandery at Tulsa. He belongs to
Guthrie Consistory, thirty-second degree of the Scottish Rite, is a
K.C.C.H., and served as grand junior and senior warden and deputy
grand master of Oklahoma, though on account of his vacation and
absence from the state he did not succeed to the office of grand
master. He has held various offices in the grand chapter of the Royal
Arch Masons of Oklahoma.

In politics Mr. Lilly has been a republican, but in 1912 he
supported the progressive nominee. On May 6, 1902, Mr. Lilly married
Mary Veronica MCCARRON. Mrs. Lilly was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Typed for OKGenWeb by Kathy Bridges, August 1999.