Joseph O. Denton. One of the broad-gauged and progressive citizens who have played an important part in civic and material advancement in the thriving City of Sapulpa, Creek County, is Mr. Denton, and his hold upon popular confidence and good will is shown by his having served, and that with marked ability, as mayor of the city in which his interests have been varied and his influence potent and benignant.

Mr. Denton was born at Granby, Newton County, Missouri, on the 27th of January, 1877, and is a son of Alexander and Frances (Northcott) Denton, the former of whom was born in Ireland and the latter at Columbia, Missouri. Alexander Denton was a lad of thirteen years when he accompanied his father and stepmother on their emigration from the Emerald Isle to the United States, and as a young man it became his privilege to manifest his loyalty by serving as a soldier of the Union throughout the Civil war, in which he participated in many engagements, in one of which he received a severe wound in one of his arms, though the injury did not long incapacitate him. For many years he was engaged in the livery business and identified with agricultural pursuits in Missouri, where he achieved independence and prosperity and gained secure place in the esteem of his fellowmen. He died at Washburne, Barry County, Missouri, in January, 1903, at which time he was seventy-three years of age, and his widow passed to the life eternal in April, 1905, at the age of fifty-three years, the subject of this review having been the fourth of their five children.

Joseph O. Denton is indebted to the public schools of Missouri for his early educational discipline and remained at the parental home until 1895, when, as a youth of eighteen years, he came to Indian Territory, his settlement at Sapulpa having occurred in 1897, so that he became one of the youthful pioneers of what is now one of the most vital cities of the State of Oklahoma. In the little town, which at that time claimed a population of about 150 persons, he engaged in the grocery business, in which line of enterprise he continued successful operations six years, when he sold the business. In later years he has conducted extensive and profitable operations in the handling of real estate and has been prominently identified with the development of the oil industry in this section of the state. Through his energy and circumspection in availing himself of the advantages offered in the new and vigorous commonwealth of Oklahoma he has become a substantial capitalist, and his attention is now given principally to the supervision of his various properties and financial interests.

From the inception of the development of Sapulpa Mr. Denton has taken a deep and helpful interest in all that concerns civic and material progress and stability, and he served two terms as mayor of Sapulpa, 1907-1911, his administration having been distinctively liberal and efficient and having been prolific in advancing the best interests of the community, as well as in careful direction of all departments of the municipal government. In politics he accords staunch allegiance to the republican party. He is the owner of the Denton Building, a substantial store and office building which he erected in 1903, at the corner of Dewey and Water streets. He has extensive real estate interests in Sapulpa and in other parts of Creek County, and he is one of the well known and distinctively popular citizens of this favored section of the state. Prior to his election to the office of mayor he had served as a member of the city council and also as city assessor. In a fraternal way he is an appreciative and valued member of Sapulpa Lodge, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.

In 1905 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Denton to Miss Alice McCray, who was horn at Kingston, Caldwell County, Missouri, in 1881, and who was there reared and educated. She is a daughter of Andrew F. and Hortense J. (Rhodes) McCray, who still maintain their home in Caldwell County. William McCray, grandfather of Mrs. Denton, was born in 1818 and was a pioneer settler in Caldwell County, Missouri, to which state he removed "from Illinois. His wife, whose maiden name was Nancy Carroll, was born in Maryland, but was reared in Kentucky, and their marriage was solemnized in Missouri, where both passed the remainder of their lives. The Rhodes family was early founded in New England, and representatives of both the Carroll and McCray families were found arrayed as patriot soldiers of the continental line in the War of the Revolution.. Mrs. Denton is thus eligible for and is affiliated with the society of the Daughters of the American Revolution, her great-great-grandfather, John Carroll, having won special distinction in the great struggle for national independence.

Mr. and Mrs. Denton became the parents of five children, of whom four are living,—Joseph O., Jr., Frank McCray, Harry Will, and Jane Eleanor. The third child, Lyman J., was born in August, 1909, and died in November of the following year.