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HON. ALONZO MCCROY
Vol. 5, p. 1841

It has been frequently observed that politics is America's oldest
pastime, and a great many men take as naturally to politics as others
do to baseball. Since the pursuit is so well established among the
activities of men, it is not surprising that its duties and
responsibilities rest so lightly on the shoulders of the majority who
are thus employed. That citizenship is a duty as well as a privilege
is not so frequently exemplified as to be commonplace. The individual
who assumes an earnest attitude for the public welfare has been
sufficiently rare at all times. For this reason there is much promise
for the future and commendation for what has already been
accomplished by such an able young political leader as Alonzo
McCrory, who is the present speaker of the House of Representatives
in the Fifth Legislature. As a profession Mr. McCroy is a newspaper
editor and publisher, with residence at Ringling, in Jefferson
County. He has gone into politics actuated by certain ideals and
schemes the basis of which is the fundamental principle of service,
and there are a great many who predict for him a splendid career as a
public leader far beyond what he has already accomplished, creditable
though that is in every sense.

Born in Fayette County, Texas, September 10, 1878, Alonzo McCrory
was educated in the Texas public schools and was a student in Baylor
University at Waco, for two years, 1896-98. He did not complete his
college course, but took up a business career, and in 1903 moved to
Durant, Oklahoma, and for a time manufactured soda water, extracts,
syrups, etc. In 1904 he became bookkeeper in a general mercantile
establishment at Comanche, Oklahoma. December 1, 1905, he removed to
Cornish, Oklahoma, and continued the mercantile business as secretary
of the firm of BENNETT & SPRAGINS. He sold out his interest in that
business in 1909, and on the 18th of June of that year founded the
Cornish News, which he published there until May, 1914. At that date
the Town of Cornish was moved bodily to the new site of Ringling, and
the newspaper went along, changing its name at the same time to the
Ringling News.

Mr. McCrory represented Jefferson County in the Fourth Legislature,
having been elected practically without opposition after over 500
representative citizens of the county had signed a petition offering
support in the race. He came into the Legislature with an unusual
equipment gained both by observation of practical politics and by a
close study of politics as a science. He had participated in county
and state conventions of the democratic party, and for a time was
clerk of the County Court at Cornish. He was president of the first
democratic club organized in Cornish after Oklahoma became a state.
As a member of the House in the Fourth Legislature Mr. McCrory was
chairman of the Judicial and Senatorial Redistricting Committee, and
was author of a bill, which never became a law, that provided for
decreasing the number of district judges from thirty-one to twenty.
When he returned to the House in the Fifth Legislature he was elected
speaker after a brief campaign, the other candidates having withdrawn
from the contest. He accordingly obtained this much coveted honor
without prejudice, and has used his office with one idea to secure
the utmost efficiency from the body over which he presides and also
to maintain an effective harmony among the members and between the
Legislature and the governor. Among important measures that have
claimed Speaker McCrory's attention was the one amending the bank
guaranty law so that the guaranty system would be on a better and
more substantial basis.

Mr. McCrory is a son of A.S. and Clara (WIER) McCroy. His father, a
native of Tennessee, was a Confederate soldier under Gen. Sterling
Price. His mother, a native of Mississippi, was of Irish and Dutch
descent. Among the father's ancestors were two Irish boys who came to
America and participated as soldiers in the Revolution. A.S. McCrory
died in 1913, and his widow now lives at Waelder, Gonzales County,
Texas. There were seven boys and five girls in the family. A.W.
McCrory, the oldest, is a stockman and farmer at Waelder, Texas; Mrs.
Sallie JOHNSON is the wife of a stockman and farmer at Jeddo, Texas;
Mrs. Maggie GALLOWAY, is the wife of a farmer and stockman at
McCaulley, Texas; William is a stock raiser at Flatonia, Texas; Mrs.
Katie MILLER is the wife of a farmer and stockman at Waelder; Sam
Houston, nicknamed "Pug" and who named himself Sam Houston when four
years of age, is a teacher and stockman at Flatonia; Mrs. Cora FIKE
is the wife of the second assistant superintendent of a tramway
company at San Antonio; Mrs. Bessie COWAN is the wife of a stockman
and farmer at Waelder; Marshall E. is a bookkeeper at Waelder; and
Dorsey is a farmer and stockman at Waelder. Speaker McCroy was
married July 26, 1902 to Una B. COCHRAN of Fayette County, Texas.
Their four children are Staton, aged twelve; Lucile, aged nine;
Claude, aged six; and Harry Lee, aged four. Mr. McCroy is a member of
the Ringling Lodge of Woodmen of the World, and is a member of the
board of directors of the Cornish Orphans Home, a state institution.

His political career has been primarily characterized by straight
forwardness and an absolute integrity in all his relations. At
different times he has been offered support in politics during county
seat fights and other contests that would have compromised him, and
has rejected all such overtures and his success is entirely due to
methods eminently fair and above board. He is a fine type of young
man with wide experience, unusual executive ability, unassuming, and
ambitious only for the good service he can perform.

Typed for OKGenWeb by Connie Ardrey on Tues, 20 July 1999.

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).