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He has continued his residence in this thriving little city, the judicial center of the county of the same name, during the long intervening years, has been a valued and honored factor in civic and material development and progress in this section of the state, where he is now serving on the bench of the Twenty-sixth Judicial District, and where he commands the unqualified respect and veneration of all who know him. A deplorable physical infirmity has not been permitted to curb his spirit or his usefulness, and he has proved himself in the fullest extent the friend of humanity. He has aided many young men in making their way to positions of honor and usefulness in connection with the varied activities of life, has shown at all times the deepest human sympathy and tolerance, has accounted well in all phases of his stewardship and his life offers both lesson and incentive. Nearly half a century has elapsed since the community of Atoka, one of the oldest in the Choctaw Nation, was established, and yet an approximate quarter of a century had fallen into the abyss of time ere the community reached a stage of progress whereby a city government could be created, with a mayor as its executive head. In Atoka have lived some of the really great men of the Choctaw Nation, and here for many years was maintained the most important seat of learning in that vigorous and progressive nation, yet when Atoka put on the garment of municipal government a white man became its mayor. That mayor was Judge John H. Linebaugh, to whom this brief sketch is dedicated. The modern Indian in Oklahoma retains little more than a dim recollection of the prejudice of his father against the white man, and he has stepped aside many a time out of deference to the white man when he believed the latter possessed superior qualities of leadership in thought and action. There is a breath of important history in this fact, in that it shows the effect of civilization and education upon the loyal and high-minded Indian and a contrast in outline with the minority element of the Indians who still defy and despise every form of organized government. To have been the first mayor of a town that was the seat of the joint conventions that led to the signing of the historic Atoka Treaty and the supplemental treaty--two of the most important and far reaching documents that have ever been executed in the West in connection with Indian affairs- -is a distinction that is worthy of prominent record on the pages of Oklahoma history. Judge Linebaugh has been a valued counselor and leader in community affairs during the entire period of his residence at Atoka--has been a veritable guide and friend to all who have come within the sphere of his influence. He assisted in the organization of the first banking institution at Atoka, the Atoka National Bank, which in later years has been succeeded by the present Oklahoma State Bank of Atoka. In the decade prior to the admission of Oklahoma as one of the sovereign states of the Union, the influence of Judge Linebaugh was constantly cumulative in connection with community and general governmental affairs in the aspiring efforts that culminated in the desired end, and his activities contributed much to the triumph of the democratic party over the republican party in the election of a delegate from his home county to the constitutional convention -- a triumph of special significance in view of the well established belief that the district had been created by a republican Congress for a republican delegate. This district was laid out by three judges- -appointed by Congress. As a partial reward for his party services the democrats of Atoka County after the admission of Oklahoma to statehood, elected Judge Linebaugh the first county judge of the county, a position which he retained four years. In the meanwhile Hon. Robert M. RAINEY, who first represented the county in the State Legislature, had been appointed to the bench of a new judicial district created in this section of the state. In 1914 Judge Rainey was a candidate for a position on the bench of the Oklahoma Supreme Court, and the democrats of the district elected Judge Linebaugh to his present office on the bench of the Twenty-sixth Judicial District, which comprises the counties of Atoka, Coal and Johnston and embraces a part of each of the former Choctaw and Chickasaw Indian nations. Judge Linebaugh was born at Bardstown, Nelson County, Kentucky, on the 4th of December, 1861, and is a son of Rev. Daniel Haden Linebaugh and Margaret Elizabeth (SWEETS) Linebaugh. His father, who was a native of Tennessee, passed the greater part of his mature life as an itinerant minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and at one time he filled the office of presiding elder. In 1871 Rev. Daniel H. Linebaugh removed with his family to Texas and established his home at Temple, Bell County, a and in the Lone Star State the father died. The mother died in Oklahoma. He and his wife passed their lives secure in the affectionate regard of all who came within the sphere of their benign influence. Rev. N. L. Linebaugh, who is a brother of the Judge, is a degree man, having won the LL. D. and D. D. degrees. He is now a leader in the general organization of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. He studied law and initiated a successful career at the bar, but later abandoned the legal profession to enter the ministry of the church mentioned. At Temple, Texas, Judge Linebaugh began the study of law and laid the foundation of a successful professional career. He devoted in his youth careful attention to the study of medicine, but never engaged in active practice. Later he studied theology and was ordained a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. The Judge is a local preacher at this time, preaching quite regularly. His studies of medicine and theology had greatly broadened his mental ken, but his ambition further prompted him to prepare himself for the legal profession. In 1891, at Belton, Texas, he was admitted to the bar, by Judge William A. Blackburn, then presiding on the bench of the twenty- seventh Judicial District of that state. He initiated the practice of Law at Temple Texas, where he continued his activities successfully until 1898, when he came to Indian Territory and established his permanent home at Atoka. On the 7th of October, 1882, he had been stricken with paralysis, as the result an attack of cerebro-spinal meningitis, and from that time, about two months before he attained to his legal majority, he has never been able to walk. Enforced confinement but spurred his ambition for learning, and his physical infirmity has been but slight handicap to one of such indomitable spirit and such abiding faith in the wise orderings of the Everlasting Will. His own infirmity has sweetened and broadened the mental makeup of Judge Linebaugh, rather than tending to pessimistic embitterment, and he has thought and lived and learned, has gained appreciation of the real values in human life and has striven earnestly and with much of inspiration to be helpful to others. To him and his wife no child of their own has been vouchsafed, but, with characteristic loyalty and affection they have reared in their home eight boys whom they took under their care for the purpose of educating them and training them to lives of usefulness. To Judge and Mrs. Linebaugh there comes compensation and enduring gratification in the knowledge that all of their boys have entered upon successful careers. In the office of Judge Linebaugh, Hon. Haden Linebaugh, now United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Oklahoma, studied law and made ready for his successful work as a representative of his chosen profession. The office of Judge Linebaugh in Atoka has always been open to young men of good character and the right caliber, and he has assisted many such ambitious youths in preparing for the legal profession. In his office Judge Robert M. Rainey, previously mentioned in this context, began his legal career. There also were initiated the activities and studies of J. W. CLARK, who is now county attorney of Atoka County and who has served as a member of the Legislature of this state. Another student of Judge Linebaugh who likewise has made an admirable record is Judge C. M. THREADGILL, of Coalgate, Coal County. During his administration on the bench of the County Court of Atoka County , Judge Linebaugh, careful of the finances of the office, caused all of its expenses to be paid out of fees received, and over and above this expenditure the office under his administration earned for the county $10,000 in the four years of his service. He witnessed the opening of the United States Land Office at Atoka and later the establishing here of the enrolling office of the Mississippi Choctaws who sought allotments in Indian Territory. He wielded much influence in connection, with the establishing of the office first mentioned. Judge Linebaugh is an appreciative and valued member of the Atoka County Bar Association and the Oklahoma State Bar Association, is a resourceful and stalwart advocate of the principles and policies of the democratic party and both he and his wife are most zealous and devoted members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, in connection with which he is at times still called upon to exercise his ministerial functions. At Atoka, on Christmas Day of the year 1898, was solemnized the marriage of Judge Linebaugh to Miss Annie YOUNG, of Magnolia, Arkansas, and she has been to him a devoted companion and helpmeet. Typed for OKGenWeb by Lee Ann Collins, November 11, 1998.