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FRANK S. WYATT
Vol. 3, p. 976-977

The occupant of the chair of history in the Northwestern State
Normal at Alva is by no means an arm-chair scholar and theorist.
While he knows his subject matter and how to vitalize it in the minds
of the young men and women who come before him, he is also intensely
practical and wideawake in other lines. It will interest many to know
that he homesteaded his claim in Oklahoma in the early days, and has
one of the high-class farms in the neighborhood of Alva, where
scientific methods and fine stock are much in evidence. He is also an
organizer and leader, and has done much to give the Northwestern
Normal some very successful athletic teams.

This Oklahoma educator is not ashamed of the fact that he was born
in a log cabin in Crawford County, Missouri. The date of his birth
was October 17, 1871, and a good many other substantial families in
that part of Missouri had no better homes than the Wyatts - in fact,
log houses were then the fashion. His parents were William H. and
Mary H. (WOODRUFF) Wyatt. His father was born at Hermann, Missouri,
in 1846, the oldest son of Gideon P. and Matilda (WIER) Wyatt, the
former a native of Virginia and the latter of Kentucky. Grandfather
Wyatt was pioneer Missourian, and was elected the first sheriff when
Franklin County was organized about 1835. Later his fellow citizens
in the district sent him as their representative to the Missouri
Senate. Sound, wholesome lives have been the rule in the Wyatt family
for generations. Professor Wyatt's father spent his active career as
a farmer and teacher, and at one time was sheriff of Crawford County.
In 1882 he moved from Missouri to Kansas, locating on a farm in
Harvey County, but in 1905 he came to Oklahoma, secured government
land in Woods County near Galena, and is now living retired in Alva.
He is an active member of the Presbyterian Church, and a democrat.
His wife, whom he married in 1870, was the daughter of Joseph and
Elizabeth (INMANN) Woodruff, natives of Alabama. Mrs. Wyatt was born
in Crawford County, Missouri, in 1850, and prior to her marriage
taught school, so that Professor Wyatt has educators on both sides of
his family. There were only two children, and the daughter, Susie
Cora, who was born in 1873 and was educated at Halstead, Kansas,
married in 1892 Robert S. ARMOUR and they now live on a farm in Woods
County, Oklahoma. The Armour children are Frances, Mabel, Robert,
Janeva and Louella.

The fact that Frank S. Wyatt has a university education is due not
so much to his early opportunities and advantages as to his own
persistent effort and energy in acquiring all the training and
preparation which he considered necessary for his success and
advancement. In 1892 he graduated from the high school at Newton,
Kansas, and then began the routine made familiar by the experiences
of so many successful men-teaching in the summer and attending
normals and the state university as his funds warranted. He has since
been a student in the University of Chicago, and in 1913 the
University of Oklahoma conferred upon him his earned degree of A.B.

He first became identified with Oklahoma in 1894, when he took up a
claim in Dewey County, and while proving up he was superintendent of
the schools at Okeene four years. For two years, in 1898-99, he was
principal of the city schools at Newton, Kansas. In 1906 he was made
assistant in history at Northwestern Normal at Alva, and since 1908
has had the full chair of history in that institution. He is also
coach in athletics, and is not only a capable director and organizer
in this field but is himself an enthusiast for clean, wholesome
sport. He has trained several teams that have carried away honors at
the state meets. In 1911 he was commissioned captain of the National
Guard and still holds the commission. His home is on a fine farm two
miles east of Alva, and there he makes use of his opportunity to
raise blooded live stock, cattle, hogs and poultry.

He is an active Presbyterian and is superintendent of the Sunday
school of his church at Alva. In 1894 at Newton, Kansas, Professor
Wyatt married Miss Louella A. JACOBS. She was born in Harvey County,
Kansas, April 1, 1873. Their three children are: Francis T., born in
1896; Mary H., born in 1898; and William J., born in 1900.

Typed for OKGenWeb by Earline Sparks Barger, December 15, 1998.