Obit for Rev. Robert Overstreet - Kingfisher County, Oklahoma Submitted by: Barbara Clayton OklahomaClaytons@aol.com Return to Kingfisher County Archives: http://www.usgwarchives.net/ok/kingfisher/kingfisher.html ===================================================================== USGENWEB NOTICE Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm ===================================================================== SKETCH OF LIFE OF R. M. OVERSTREET Source: KINGFISHER DAILY FREE PRESS, Tuesday, March 2, 1915. A SKETCH OF LIFE OF R. M. OVERSTREET. Taken from the Emporia Gazette, we publish an interesting and partial account of the remarkable life of Rev. Robert M. OVERSTREET, who in life was well known to many of our readers, having made frequent and extensive visits here to his son, Dr. J. A. OVERSTREET. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ R. M. OVERSTREET DEAD. The Rev. Robert M. OVERSTREET died this morning in a hospital in El Reno, Oklahoma, following a three weeks illness from bladder trouble. Mr OVERSTREET went to the hospital in the early stages of his sickness from his home in Anadarko, Okla., where he lived with his son, Jesse OVERSTREET and his daughter, Miss Mary OVERSTREET. The body will be brought to Emporia tonight on train No. 12, and interment will be made in Maplewood beside the body of Mrs. OVERSTREET. Furthur funeral arrangements have not been decided upon. Announcements probably will be made at church services tomorrow morning. Robert M. OVERSTREET was born in Oldham County, Ky., twenty miles from Louisville, December 22, 1826. His parents moved to Indiana when he was 7 years old. His father was Samuel OVERSTREET and his mother was Elizabeth HAWKINS. They had a large family - seven sons and seven daughters lived to be grown, and all married and reared families except two daughters, who died in young woman hood. The ancestry of the family traces back through Virginia to England. Mr. OVERSTREET was brought up on a farm in the heavy timbered country of Indiana in the early days which meant much hard work and many privations. A common school education for a boy obtained in such time as could be spared from the farm in the winter, at most three months in the year, was by many people considered sufficient. The three R's covered the course of study. Not many books were in reach, but they were well read - the Bible, Plutarch's Lives, The History of the Martyrs, Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, and Arabian Nights composed the library of the OVERSTREET family. But Robert OVERSTREET, the farmer boy, after this meagre preparation, managed to go to college, forty miles from home. He had to shift for himself, and his struggles to get the necessary money to pay his expenses would make an interesting story. He went back and forth from his home to the college, on foot or on horesback as occasion offered, and worked every minute of his vacation to earn his college money. He was graduated from Indiana University, at Bloomington in 1838. Then he went to Princeton and was graduated from the seminary of that institution in 1851. He began his life-work as a home missionary of the Presbyterian church in Indiana, soon after his graduation form Princeton. In 1852 Mr. OVERSTREET was married to Miss Martha M. BAUGH, of Bloomington, Ind. Mrs. OVERSTREET died in 1905, after more than fifty years of beautiful companionship with her husband. The long journey was often a hard one, amid the privations and the vicissitudes, much of the time, of the frontier. But the burdens were always shared, as were the rejoicings and prosperous times that came to them. They moved to Georgetown, Texas, in 1854, where they lived for twelve years before and during the Civil War. Mr. OVERSTREET in a series of articles in the Gazette a few years ago, entitled, "The Old Texas and the New," told most interestingly of the experiences of these twelve years. The journey from Indiana to Texas was made overland, and the physical hardships endured by Mr. and Mrs. OVERSTREET and their young baby, seem almost beyond the comprehension of a later generation. After the war, the OVERSTREETS moved to Baxter Springs, Kan. The family - there were six children now - traveled in an ox wagon, and Mr. OVERSTREET drove a herd of cattle. Following this, there was three years' temporary abode in Illinois and Indiana, then in 1869 the family came to Emporia. The family has maintained a residence here much of the time since, and for two years Mr. OVERSTREET was pastor of the First Presbyterian church. Mr. OVERSTREET's work consisted largely in occupying new fields and building up church organizations for his denomination. Many of these new churches he supplied till they could afford to hire a pastor. Always his pay was small, and oftentimes he received nothing from the people to whom he ministered. They were not ungrateful - they were poor, and the battle with dry weather and hot winds and chinchbugs and crop failures left them nothing to spare. Some of the Presbyterian communities which Mr. OVERSTREET was largely instrumental in forming were Osage City, Burlington, Florence, Marion, Peabody, Newton, Burrton, Lyons, Larned, Dodge City, Eureka, Council Grove. This was an interesting work and one of great promises, as subsequent history proves. He not only followed the railroads - many time he was in advance of them. But the lure of the frontier again beckoned Mr. OVERSTREET, and in 1887 he moved his family to No Man's Land, where he spent eight years much of the time before law was established in that wild country. In his experience of rough frontier life, he always stood for the best things and truest morals and religion, for temperance, for education, for good citizenship, and with all his powers promoted them. He took an active part in the affairs of his state and community, always. He represented Lyon County, the district including Emporia, in the legislature in 1871. From that time on to its enactment he was a staunch advocate of the Kansas prohibitory law, and lived to rejoice in its enforcement. He was one of the foremost promoters of the College of Emporia and always one of its loyal supporters. He served as a member of the Board Of Education of the city schools, and as a member of the Board of Regents of the State Normal, and always was a warm friend of both institutions. Many of the later years of Mr. OVERSTREET's life were spent on his farm two miles west of Emporia on South Avenue. This is one of the best small farms in Lyon County, made from the prairie under Mr. OVERSTREET's personal supervision. Here he accepted old age gracefully, maintaining a lively interest in all important questions of the day. He kept himself informed by constant and careful reading of the newspapers and magazines and the best books. He was a strong and vigorous writer. Much of his writing was published in different papers and magazines, and for a long time he was a regular contributer to Sturm's Oklahoma Magazine, "The Story of No Man's Land," and "The Old Texas and the New," appeared as serials in this publication. He went with his son, Jesse, to Oklahoma in 1910. Of the actual hard, soul-wearing work of establishing and maintaining the College of Emporia through its crucial period of existence no one did more - perhaps no one person quite so much - as Mr. OVERSTREET. He gave not only his strength and money, but he made other men see it their duty to give. Of the six sons and daughters of Mr. and Mrs. OVERSTREET, Dr. J. A. OVERSTREET lives in Kingfisher, Okla.; Mrs. B. L. KEENAN, in Talequah, Okla.; Miss Mary OVERSTREET and Jesse OVERSTREET in Anadarko; Mrs. L. R. WRIGHT, in Kansas City, Mo.; Mrs. John PARRINGTON, in Emporia. At a family reunion on Christmas, 1908, the children with their wives and husbands, all assembled at the OVERSTREET homestead, and the occasion was joyous one. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Source: KINGFISHER DAILY FREE PRESS, February 27, 1915. REV. OVERSTREET PASSED AWAY THIS MORNING. Dr. A. J. OVERSTREET was called to El Reno on No. 23 on account of the death of his father, Rev. R. M. OVERSTREET, who had been in the hospital at El Reno for some time. Dr. OVERSTREET will accompany his father's remains to Emporia, Kans., for interment. Rev. OVERSTREET had made several extensive visits in Kingfisher and his many friends here sincerely regret his death. ~~~~~~~~~ The funeral service was held from the residence of Dr. PARRINGTON of Emporia, Kans., conducted by Rev. W. C. TEMPLETON, pastor of the First Presbyterian church. An incident of interest to the family is that the presiding minister's father and Rev. OVERSTREET were students together at the theological seminary at Princeton. Music was furnished by a quartette from the College of Emporia. All members of the family were present at the obsequies except one son, Jesse, who was detained at his home on account of the illness of his wife.