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NAPOLEON B. MAXEY
Vol. 3, p. 1195-1196
Book has photo

Not only as one of the prominent and influential members of the bar
of Muskogee County, but also as representative of the county in the
Fifth Legislature of the state does Hon. Napoleon B. Maxey merit
definite consideration in this history, but also by reason of his
being one of the pioneer lawyers of Indian Territory and one who has
attained to marked precedence as one of the leading exponents of his
profession in the State of Oklahoma.

The ancestral history of Mr. Maxey is one of interesting order and
designates long and worthy identification with American annals. Three
centuries ago three brothers of the Maxey line who were French
Huguenots and lived in the Province of Lorraine, now a part of
Germany and the present stage of bitter conflict between the great
contending forces in the most frightful warfare in the world's
history, were compelled to flee their native land on account of the
religious persecution incidental to the revocation of the Edict of
Nantes and found hospice in England. From the "right little, tight
little isle" they came to America and became members of a Huguenot
colony and settlement know as Monokin Town, near the present site of
the City of Richmond, Virginia. It is altogether probable that from
these worthy progenitors are descended the great majority of those
bearing in the United States the name of Maxey, and the lineage is
traced in an authentic way by him whose name initiates this article,
the maternal ancestors of Mr. Maxey have come to America from
Scotland and the paternal grandfather of his mother having been John
Douglas O'DAY.

Napoleon B. Maxey was born in Smith County, Tennessee, on the 15th
of July, 1853, and is a son of Thomas J. and Mary B. (O'DAY) Maxey,
who continued their residence in that state until the time of their
death. Mr. Maxey is indebted to the public schools of Tennessee for
his early education, which was supplemented by a two years' normal
course in the old Chicago University. He left that institution in
1878 and thereafter was for seven years a successful teacher in the
schools of Union County, Illinois, in the meanwhile studying law in
the office of Judge Monroe C. Crawford, who has held for nearly half
a century a position on the bench in Illinois. At Jonesboro, that
state, Mr. Maxey was admitted to the bar in 1881, and thereafter he
continued in the practice of his profession in Union County,
Illinois, until the autumn of 1888, when he removed to Gainesville,
Texas. A year later he came to Indian Territory and established a
charter member of the first bar association organized in the
territory, so that he is eminently entitled to be considered one of
the pioneer members of the bar of the present State of Oklahoma,
which he has dignified by his character and achievement.

During the long years of his residence at Muskogee Mr. Maxey has
been influential in political affairs but that he has considered his
profession worthy of his maximum fealty is shown by the fact that
never until 1914 did he consent to become a candidate for public
office aside from the direct line of his profession. In that year
there were ten candidates for representative of Muskogee County in
the State Legislature, and in the primaries Mr. Maxey was nominated
by a plurality of 650 votes. Illness contracted the day before the
announcement of his candidacy prevented his making a personal
campaign incidental to the primary election, and the illness of his
loved and devoted wife, who was summoned to eternal rest November 9,
1914, made impossible his participation in the canvass of the count
incidental to the campaign that ensued. Thus his election attested
even more fully and significantly his inviolable place in the
confidence and esteem of the people of the county that has been his
home for thirty years and to whose civic and material development and
progress he has contributed his quota.

In the Fifth Legislature Mr. Maxey was chairman of judiciary
committee No. 2, and a member of judiciary committee No. 1, besides
holding membership also on the following named committees or the
lower house: Legal advisory, congressional redistricting, public
buildings, insurance, constitutional amendments, and penal
institutions. In consonance with the democratic platform, he
introduced a bill providing for the reorganization of the judicial
system of the state and the election of nine members of the Supreme
Court. He introduced also a bill creating a board to fix fire-
insurance rates and have general supervision over the agencies of
fire-insurance companies operating in the state. Another important
bill introduced by him was that whose object was to enlarge the
province of the state fire marshal to such and extent as to permit
him to condemn unsafe buildings, to regulate the storing of
explosives, and to define and direct additional measures for the
prevention of destructive fires.

In his home city Mr. Maxey is affiliated with Lodge No. 18, Ancient
Free and Accepted Masons; Muskogee Chapter, No. 3, Royal Arch Masons;
Muskogee Council, No. 1, Royal & Select Masters; and Muskogee
Commander, No. 1, Knights Templar, as is he also with Muskogee Camp,
No. 525. Woodmen of the World. For the past sixteen years he has been
a director of the Sovereign Camp of the Woodmen of the World. He is
past grand high priest of the Oklahoma Grand Chapter of Royal Arch
Masons and also has the distinction of being a member of the Grand
Chapter of the United States. He is actively identified with the
Muskogee Chamber of Commerce and takes vital interest in all that
touches the welfare of his historic home city.

It is specially interesting to record that Mr. Maxey's credential to
practice before the United States courts in Indian Territory is the
fourth in number of the first five that were granted, on the 1st of
April, 1889, and by virtue of the same he became a charter member of
the first Indian Territory Bar Association. Credential No. 1 was
granted to Z.T. WALROND, now deceased, who was the first United
States district attorney for the territory; No. 2 was held by D.
Stewart ELLIOTT, who as a member of the Twentieth Kansas Volunteer
Infantry, under Gen. Frederick FUNSTON, was killed in the Philippine
Islands at the time of the Spanish-American war; No. 3 was held by T.
N. FOSTER, who died a few years ago, at McAlester, Oklahoma; and No.
5 is held by W. A. LEDBETTER, a member of the bar of Oklahoma City at
the present time. Mr. Maxey is a member of the Muskogee County and
Oklahoma State Bar associations.

On the 25th of December, 1881, at Jonesboro, Illinois, was
solemnized the marriage of Mr. Maxey to Miss Augusta C. MILLER, whose
death occurred November 9, 1914, as previously noted. His brother,
John D. Maxey, is serving a second term as county auditor of San
Joaquin County, California, of which Stockton is the judicial center,
and her sister Maggie (Mrs. DAVIS) is the wife of a prosperous
stockman living at Mule Shoe, Texas. Mr. and Mrs. Maxey became the
parents of four children, of whom three are living: Susanne, who is
now at the paternal home, was graduated in Henry Kendall College, at
Muskogee, and in Hardin College, at Mexico, Missouri, after which she
was for several years a popular and efficient teacher in the public
schools of Wagoner and Muskogee, Oklahoma; William, a graduate of
Henry Kendall College and of William Jewell College, at Liberty,
Missouri, is a civil engineer by profession but is serving in 1915 as
deputy county clerk of Muskogee County; Louise is the wife of Henry
S. SHULER, who is president of Muskogee Chamber of Commerce and also
the head of one of the leading general insurance agencies in
Muskogee; Thomas Miller, the youngest of the children, died October
30, 1895, at the age of five years and six months.

Typed for OKGenWeb by: Earline Sparks Barger, October 27, 1998.