Bio of Barefoot, George W. - Grady County, Oklahoma Transcribed by: Gene Phillips 18 Jun 2006 Return to Grady County Archives: http://www.usgwarchives.net/ok/grady/grady.html ========================================================================== USGENWEB NOTICE Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm ========================================================================== GEORGE W. BAREFOOT, of Chickasha, was one of the old-time ranch men of the Southwestern trails, one of the more permanent cattlemen of the Indian Territory, and at a still later period in his stirring life a large property owner and developer of that town. He is not only extensively interested in its residence property, but in the Oklahoma State Bank, of which he is the vice president and with whose predecessor (the Chickasha Trust Company) he was prominently identified from its organization. Mr. Barefoot was born in Fayettville, Arkansas, on the 10th of February, 1849. About nine years before this event his father had brought the family from Missouri and in 1859 made another move from Arkansas to Grayson county, Texas. Here he engaged in farming and the cattle business, and furnished his son, George W., with his first real experience in these occupations. The boy developed into a strong and thrifty youth on the Texas frontier, but the primitive conditions of his mental training are well illustrated by the shifts to which he was put to obtain his first slate and pencil- digging the raw material himself from a neighboring slate quarry. Thus armed, he learned to write and "cipher," and at the age sixteen began the actualities of life on the range, with J. C. Latimer, who was one of the pioneer cattlemen of Montague county, Texas. His first service on the trail was incurred in 1867, when he drove cattle across the Indian Territory on the Shawnee trail instead of the more frequented Chisholm route, then particularly threatened by the hostile Osages. He afterward made other trips across the territory to Hunnewell and Baxter Springs, Kansas, and even exposed himself to the fierce onsets of the Comanches in the interests of his employes. He thus acquired the courage and experience to engage successfully in the business himself. From 1878 to 1885 Messrs. Barefoot and Bryant ranched an the extent of country from Henrietta, Clay county, to Wichita Falls, Wichita county, Texas, and during a portion of this period had cattle on Cache creek, in the Comanche country, Indian Territory. During this era their output was extensive, as many as ten thousand head being marketed from their stock annually. They also owned a ranch in the Chickasaw Nation opposite Red River station, and they fed extensively at Gainesville, Clarksville, Denison and Whitewright, Texas, shipping the cattle to St. Louis and Kansas City. Later, Mr. Barefoot himself established feeding quarters at Purcell, having individual cattle interests in the Chickasaw Nation. Eventually he closed out this ranch and all similar interests. He then came to Chickasha, purchased a tract of land south of the place, and, after perfecting his title to it, platted it as the Rock Island addition to the town. After readily disposing of this piece of thirty acres, he bought other property in Chickasha, some of which he has sold and pieces of which he has improved and still handles as landlord. He is one of the large owners of residence property in the city, and his holdings mark him as one of her most substantial citizens. In 1904, when the Chickasha Trust Company was organized he was elected an officer, and in 1908, when it was merged into the Oklahoma State Bank, he was continued on the directorate and chosen vice-president. Daniel Barefoot, the father was born in Kentucky about 1811, and was one of two sons, his father dying when the children were very young. As a single man he went to Ripley county, Missouri, and afterward to Fayetteville, Arkansas, where he married Malinda Stone, who died in Montague, Texas, in 1881, fourteen years prior to his own demise at the same place. In 1867 the father had brought his family to Texas, establishing them in Grayson county, where he was a modest farmer and cattleman. On March, 16, 1868, George W. Barefoot, married Miss Sallie Boone, the ceremony taking place in Grayson county, Texas. Emma, their eldest child, is the wife of E. T. Woodson, of Oklahoma City. Bert B., the eldest son, graduated from the Georgetown (Texas) College and from the law department of the Texas State University; is a rising attorney and Democrat, and is the present county attorney of Grady county, having, as the unanimous choice of his party, defeated his Republican opponent by 1,837 votes. His wife was formerly Mamie Spencer. Clifford, the third and youngest child of Mr. and Mrs. George W. Barefoot, is a student at the Oklahoma State University. Mr. Barefoot is a Democrat, a Mason and an Elk, and a man of balanced character and broad usefulness. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Return to Grady County Archives: http://www.usgwarchives.net/ok/grady/grady.html