James W. Biffle. At the age of seventeen years, James W. Biffle entered upon his career in true, independent Southwestern style, as a cow-puncher on the open range. From that time to the present (1916, ed.) his life has been one of steady advancement, until today he finds himself the owner of a handsome stock farm, located on Mud Creek, in Jefferson County, and the incumbent of the office of sheriff, a position which he has held continuously since 1912. Sheriff Biffle is essentially a self-made man, and the esteem in which he is generally held has been fairly won. He was born in Wayne County, Tennessee, March 12, 1866, and is a son of Jacob and Maud (Lusk) Biffle. (Ed. note: I have her name as Sarah Ann Lusk; Maud may be a nickname.)

The Biffle family were early pioneers of the State of Tennessee, where Jacob Biffle was born in 1821 [Ed. note: I have a different birth year]. From Tennessee he removed to Cook County, Texas, in 1876 but resided there only a short time, when, in the same year he decided to pay a visit to a ranch which he owned in what afterward became Wichita County, Oklahoma. It was while making this visit that he was murdered by one of his employees. During the Mexican war he served in the army of the United States, and in 1861 when the Civil war came on, his sympathies were with the South and he enlisted in the army of the Confederacy, remaining therein for four years and rising to the rank of colonel. For the former service Mrs. Biffle long drew a pension from the Government. She was born in Tennessee, in 1840, and died in June 1912, having been the mother of seven children as follows: J.T., who is farmer and stockman and resides at Myra, Cook County, Texas; Anna, who is the wife of James Brewer, a resident of Louisiana; Ella, who married John Stout, a railroad engineer residing at Cleveland, Texas; James W., of this notice; William, who is engaged in trading in Kansas; Fay, who is the wife of Carl Shutes, a farmer of Ringling, Oklahoma; and Minnie, who is deceased.

James W. Biffle was only ten years of age when his father died, but the mother managed to keep the little family together and to give her children good common school advantages in the way of education. At the age of seventeen years, after leaving the public schools, he secured a position as a cow puncher in Wilbarger County, Northwest Texas, where he remained for five years, then returning to Cook County. There he followed the same line of work until 1898, when he came to Mud Creek, Jefferson County, and invested his earnings in a farm, and continued to cultivate his land and raise stock until 1912, when he was elected sheriff of Jefferson County on the democratic ticket. His first term in that office won the commendation of the voters, who re-elected him for a second term in 1914, and he still occupies that office. During his administration he has shown himself to be a brave and fearless officer, determined, resolute and untiring in dealing with the criminal element, and possessing the ability to follow a clue to its finish. He has resided at Waurika since the time of his first election, his offices at this time being in the courthouse, on East D. Avenue. Mr. Biffle belongs to the Methodist Episcopal Church, as do the members of his family. He is fraternally connected with Waurika Lodge of Masons, No. 315, and Grady Lodge No. 227, Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Since attaining his majority he has supported democratic principles and candidates and is known as one of the county's active party workers.

In 1887, in Cook County, Texas, Sheriff Biffle was united in marriage with Miss Emma Markle, daughter of the late J.W. Markle, a furniture dealer of Stephens County, Oklahoma, who died there in 1914. Eleven children have bee born to this union: Virgil, who is a stockraiser of Grady, Oklahoma; Jessie, who is the wife of Rube Brown, who is the partner of her brother, Virgil; John, who is a soldier in the United States army, at Fort Meade, South Dakota; Martha, who is the wife of Earl Morris, a painter and paper hanger of Ringling, Oklahoma; Sally, who is the wife of Allen Wright, connected with a furniture business at Fort Worth, Texas; Ruby, who is a sophomore at the Waurika High School; Mary, who is a freshman in that school; James, who is in seventh grade in the public schools; Fay, in the sixth grade; Ruth, in the fourth grade; and Yvonne, the baby.