PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL
RECORD OF OKLAHOMA

H. B. HUESTON

Now the proprietor of the Pacific Hotel and of the Hueston House, of Stillwater, is best known throughout the west on account of the part which he played, with other officers, in the desperate fight with the Dalton gang.  This terrible affair, of which further mention will be made later, may be justly called one of the last protests of the frontier element against the advancing civilization which now reigns supreme in Oklahoma, the pride of its pioneers, one of whom is the gentleman whose name heads this sketch.

The paternal grandfather of H. B. Hueston was born in the northern part of Ireland, whence he came to America at an early day, settling in Delaware.  Samuel Houston (as he spelled his name) subsequently was numbered among the farmers of Knox and Richland counties, Ohio, and his death took place in Sandusky county, same state.  His son, Alexander, father of H. B. Hueston, was born in Delaware, and in his turn he, too, was one of the prosperous agriculturists of Knox, Richland and Sandusky counties, Ohio.  His wife bore the maiden name of Nancy Phelps, and her entire life was passed in her native state, Ohio, where her father, Nevin Phelps, was a well-to-do farmer.  Of the thirteen children born to Alexander Hueston and wife ten grew to maturity, and eight yet survive.  Albert died in this county; V. A. lives in Paulding, Ohio; F. O. operates a farm near Stillwater; C. A. is an attorney of this city, and Dr. Elmer C. is in California.  Thomas J., who was serving as a deputy United States marshal at the time of the fight at Ingalls, Okla., between the officers of the law and the outlaws, the Daltons, was killed.  His brother, H. B. Hueston, also was actively engaged in the conflict as a deputy.  Three of the marshals were killed and four citizens were wounded, while one of the Daltons was killed and two crippled, one of whom was captured.

 The birth of H. B. Hueston took place in Knox county, Ohio, March 27, 1850, and his youth was passed quietly upon a farm.  When he was in his fifteenth year his father died, and soon the battle of life commenced in earnest for him.  In the fall of 1866 he became an employee in a saw-mill in Warsaw, Ind., where he remained for about two years.  Then, returning to Sandusky county, Ohio, he carried on a farm for a period, and then operated a saw-mill, manufacturing lumber for a year or more.  Then he followed agricultural pursuits, and was a merchant at Rising Sun, Ohio, until the spring of 1881, when he pre-empted eight acres of land in the neighborhood of Grenola, Kans.  Four years later he sold out and went to the Chickasaw Nation, where he leased land on the South Canadian, near Silver City.  At the end of two years he returned to Grenola, and , building a mill, embarked in the manufacturing of lumber, in company with his brother, T. J. Hueston.

 Thus occupied until April 22, 1889, Mr. Hueston then located a claim three miles southwest of Stillwater, and for about six years devoted his attention to the cultivation and improvements of the property.  In the spring of 1896 he located in Stillwater, and since 1898 has been the owner of the Pacific Hotel.  He served as under-sheriff from May 1895, until 1899, by appointment of Atherton and Annis, and now is deputy to the sheriff and in charge of the jail.  He has made a fine record for fidelity to his duties, and in the fall of 1900 was prominently mentioned for the office of sheriff.  For about two years Mr. Hueston has been the owner and manager of the Pacific Hotel, and succeeded so well in the enterprise that in 1900 he built a new hotel known as the Hueston House.  It is a modern hotel in all its appointments, the building being three stories in height, having a street frontage of forty-seven feet, while it is seventy-five feet long.  He still owns his farm, and by degrees is accumulating valuable property in this region, with which all of his interests have been connected for the past eleven years.

 Thirty-one years ago Mr. Hueston married, in Indiana, one of the native daughters of the state, Miss Irene J. Webb.  Their eldest child, Merton is living in Stillwater, and their two eldest daughters, Mrs. Irene Nichols and Mrs. Daisy Bassel, reside near Stillwater.  The younger children, Bruce, Forrest, Fred and Clifford, are at home.

 In the Odd Fellows order Mr. Hueston is a past officer.  He also belongs to the Encampment and the Daughters of Rebekah, the Ancient Order of United Workmen and the Fraternal Aid Society.  In national politics he uses his franchise in favor of the nominees of the Democratic party.

Portrait and Biographical Record of Oklahoma (Chicago: Chapman Publishing Co., 1901),  925, 926.

Transcribed for OKGenWeb by Mary Charles Dodd Hull,  mchull@flash.net  November, 1998.

H. B. Hueston died in Tulsa Co. [OK] and is buried in Creek Co. [OK].