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ALLEN J. JETER, M. D.
Vol. 5, p. 1866-1867

Engaged in active general practice as a physician and surgeon,
Doctor Jeter now holds precedence and priority as the dean of his
profession in the thriving town of Foss, Washita County, where he
established his residence in 1902, no other physician who was his
contemporary in the early years of practice here being now a citizen
of this village, so that he is the veritable pioneer of his
profession here, his practice being extensive and of representative
order --implying due recognition of his high attainments, effective
ministrations and personal popularity.

The original American progenitors of the Jeter family were two
brothers who emigrated from Denmark in the colonial era of our
national history, one settling in either North or South Carolina and
the other in Virginia, the one who figures as the ancestor of Doctor
Jeter having been the Carolinian. James Jeter, grandfather of the
Doctor, was a soldier in the War of 1812 and participated in the
battle of New Orleans, under General Andrew Jackson. He became one of
the prominent planters and slaveholders of Louisiana, and in 1862,
after the initial activities of the Civil war, he sought refuge in
Texas, his death having occurred in Hopkins County, that state, after
he had reached venerable age. \t

Doctor Jeter was born in Union Parish, Louisiana, on the 14th of
February, 1862, and, his father being at the time a soldier in the
Confederate ranks, the Doctor was taken by his mother and paternal
grandfather to the Lone Star State, the removal to Texas having been
made to escape the perils and ravages incident to the war. He is a
son of Allen W. and Susan (SEALE) Jeter, whose marriage was
solemnized in Texas, from which state he and his wife returned to
Union Parish, Louisiana. He was born at Columbus, Georgia, in 1832,
but when he was very small moved with his parents to the State of
Louisiana, and was reared and educated in that state whence, as a
young man, he removed to Texas.

He was a resident of Louisiana at the inception of the Civil war and
promptly tendered his service in defense of the cause of the
Confederate States, his service as a soldier having continued four
years--virtually the entire period of the great conflict between the
South and the North. In 1865, soon after the close of the war, he
established his residence in Van Zandt County, Texas, where he became
a prosperous agriculturist and stock-grower. He was preparing to
establish his home in New Mexico many years later, and while making a
preliminary visit to that state, which was then a territory, his
death there occurred, in 1907, after he had passed the psalmist's
allotted span of three score years and ten. His widow, who was born
in 1840, still maintains her home in Van Zandt county, Texas, she
being a devoted member of the Missionary Baptist Church, of which her
husband was an active member for many years prior to his demise. Mr.
Jeter participated in many engagements during the civil war, was
wounded and taken prisoner, but after his exchange had been effected
he resumed his service with his old regiment, his interest in his
former comrades being perpetuated in later years through his
affiliation with the United Confederate Veterans. He was for many
years actively affiliated with the Masonic fraternity.

The children of Allen W. and Susan (SEALE) Jeter whose firstborn is
he whose name introduces this article; Sarah Jane is the wife of
Thomas G. HAYDEN, a prosperous farmer and stock-grower of Van Zandt
County, Mary Elizabeth died at the age of one year; Elias D., a
clergyman of the Missionary Baptist is now a resident of Lawton,
Oklahoma; Dr Thomas M., who was graduated in the Fort Worth Medical
College, is now engaged in the practice of his profession in the City
of Fort Worth, Texas; Minnie is the wife of James M. GILLIAN, a
farmer of Denton County, Texas; Ella and her husband, Wm. COMFORD,
are missionaries in China; Joseph J. is engaged in the drug business
at Maybank, Texas and Dr. Drayton, likewise a physician and surgeon
is engaged in practice at Murkison, Texas. James and William Jeter,
son of the second marriage of Allen W. Jeter, are representative
agriculturists of Western Texas.

As previously stated, Dr. Allen J. Jeter was an infant when he was
taken by his paternal grandfather to Texas, where he attended the
public schools of Van Zandt County until he had been graduated in the
high school. In accordance with his ambition and well formulated
plans of a future career, he finally entered the Memphis Hospital
Medical College, in the City of Memphis, Tennessee, and in this
institution he was graduated as a member of the class of 1893, with
the well earned degree of Doctor of Medicine. His progressiveness in
the line of his profession has been manifested in the insistent care
he has made to keep at all times in touch with the advances made in
medical and surgical science, and in this it should be noted that in
1895 he completed a post-graduate course in the New Orleans
Polyclinic, and that in 1904 and 1907 he took effective post-graduate
courses in the Illinois Post Graduate Medical School, in Chicago.

From 1893 until 1897 Doctor Jeter was engaged in the practice of his
profession in Ellis County, Texas, and from the latter year until
1902 he practiced successfully in Plano, Collin County, that state.
In April 1902 he established his residence at Foss, Oklahoma, where
he has continued his able and unremitting service as a physician and
surgeon, with well appointed offices in the Temple Building. He has
been one of the loyal and progressive citizens who have contributed
to the development and upbuilding of the village along both civic and
material lines and he is known and honored as one of the
representatives of his profession in Washita County, his circle of
friends being coincident with that of his acquaintances. He has
served as village health officer, and he is actively identified with
the Washita County Medical Society, the Oklahoma State Medical
Society and the Southwestern Medical Society. The Doctor is
affiliated with Foss Lodge No. 204, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons,
and also with the local lodge of the Knights of Pythias. At Clinton,
Custer County, he is the owner of a modern business building, known
as the Jeter Building, and in addition to the ownership of his
attractive residence property in the western part of Foss he has in
his possession a small tract of valuable land near the village. His
political allegiance is given unreservedly to the democratic party,
and both he and his wife hold membership in the Missionary Baptist
church.

At Allen, Texas, in 1901, was solemnized the marriage of Doctor
Jeter to Miss Anna SPRADLEY, daughter of James R. Spradley, who still
maintains his home at that place and who is a retired farmer and
stockman, Doctor and Mrs. Jeter have one child, James Rolater, born
July 3, 1908.

Typed for OKGenWeb by Lee Ann Collins, October 6, 2000.

SOURCE: Thoburn, Joseph B., A Standard History of Oklahoma, An
Authentic Narrative of its Development, 5 v. (Chicago, New York: The
American Historical Society, 1916).