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He is an educator with high ideals and with a keen understanding of conditions and requirements. Much of his work in Oklahoma has been as an organizer and developer. He has laid the foundation for sound and wholesome educational work in Noble County and his name is known among educators all over the state. A native of Vermilion County, Indiana, Charles G. Vannest was born June 7, 1880. He belongs to what was really the first white family of Vermilion County, a county that lies along the Wabash River in Western Indiana. His great-grandfather was John Vannest, who is given the distinction of having been the first permanent white settler in Vermilion County. He came out to Indiana from Virginia about 1816, and secured a tract of Government land on which the City of Clinton in Vermilion County now stands. He lived there and devoted the rest of his years to farming. His family comprised several sons, one of whom was Samuel Vannest. Samuel Vannest married Amanda POTTER, and their lives were spent as farmers in Vermilion County. They have three daughters and three sons: Samuel, Polk, Taylor, Jane, Mary and Serena. The daughter Serena is the wife of J. F. RAINE and lives in Kansas. Taylor Vannest, father of the Oklahoma educator, was also a Vermilion County farmer, where he spent all his life. He died in Clinton in that county in 1913 at the age of seventy-nine. He was a soldier in the Union Army during the Civil war, having gone out with Company D of the Eighty-fifth Indiana Infantry as a private. He was in Sherman's army and after the fall of Atlanta went with that great commander on the march to the sea. The earlier part of the war he was in the western campaign and was wounded in the battle of Pea Ridge, Arkansas. After the war he gave his time with characteristic industry to his work as a farmer, and though an intelligent voter and a republican, he never held an office. He was a member of the Methodist Church. Taylor Vannest married Catherine HENRY, who was one of the five children of James and Mary (TOLLE) Henry, who came from Kentucky. Catherine Henry's brothers served in the Union Army from Kentucky. Mrs. Taylor Vannest died in April, 1915. Her children were: Harry, of Clinton; Claud, of Clinton; Maud, wife of Clint BENNETT of Sidel, Illinois; and Charles G. Mrs. Taylor Vannest by a former marriage to William MITCHELL had one son, Samuel Mitchell, who died in Indiana. The boyhood of Charles G. Vannest was spent in the Town of Clinton on the banks of the Wabash River. He attended the local schools, graduating from high school, and then entered the Terre Haute Normal School, where he was graduated in 1900. His first work as a teacher was done in the rural schools of the native county, and afterwards he became one of the instructors in the schools of Clinton. After five years as a teacher he turned his attention to newspaper work and for a year was editor of the Clintonian, a weekly paper at Clinton. Giving up his connections in his native county, Mr. Vannest came to the Southwest for the purpose of looking up a newspaper location. Instead he was attracted into school work, a turn which has been very beneficial to the country, though perhaps not as remunerative as some other occupations would have been. He was first located at Morrison as principal of the schools. Morrison is in Noble County, and after about two years as principal he was elected county superintendent. Altogether he spent four and a half years in that office. His chief aim in work as superintendent was to secure the proper consolidation of local districts and the correlation of subjects in the curriculum of instruction in the rural schools. His work in that office attracted much attention, and his recognized qualifications caused his nomination by the republicans of the state for the office of state superintendent of public instruction. This was in the campaign of 1912, when the republican party was itself divided, and though Mr. Vannest made a very vigorous campaign there was hardly any chance from the beginning that he would be elected. In July, 1913, Mr. Vannest took his present position as superintendent of schools at Medford, becoming the successor of J. O. ALLEN. He has always given his active support to the teachers association in Noble County, and while county superintendent he was a member of the State Teachers' Association and of the County Superintendents' Organization. Mr. Vannest has accumulated a great fund of experience as a schoolman, and he is now engaged in compiling a United States history and a work on civics for use in the common schools. He cast his first presidential vote in Indiana in 1904 for Roosevelt. While in his native county he took a considerable part in politics and was a member of the county committee and its secretary. He was elected mayor of Perry in April, 1915. Fraternally he is affiliated with the lodge and chapter of Masons and with both the subordinate and encampment branches of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. His church is the Methodist. In Indiana on April 13, 1901, Mr. Vannest married Miss Maud CARMICHAEL. Mr. And Mrs. Vannest are not people who take much account of superstitious belief. They were married on Friday the 13th. Mrs. Vannest is a daughter of C. A. and Ruth (MOSS) Carmichael, her father having been born in Greene County, Indiana, and was a farmer in Vermilion County, Illinois. Mrs. Vannest is the oldest of six children, and was a successful teacher before her marriage. Transcribed by: Dorothy M. Tenaza, July 17, 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).