Bio of John W. Riddle (r340) - Latimer County, Oklahoma Submitted by: Ginger McCall 11 Sep 2003 Return to Latimer County Archives: http://www.usgwarchives.net/ok/latimer/latimer.html ========================================================================== USGENWEB NOTICE Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm ========================================================================== John W. Riddle Transcribed by G McCall from: A HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA By Luther B. Hill, A. B., With the Assistance of Local Authorities, Volume II, Illustrated, The Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago / New York, 1909, Page 313-314, Illustration JOHN W. RIDDLE. A native son of Oklahoma and one who has been entrusted with the duties of maintaining the peace and order of Latimer county is John W. Riddle, the county sheriff and the subject of this review. The Riddles are one of the old families of Oklahoma and were founded here along with the settlement of the Choctaw nation early in the forties, when the first settlers of the band came hither from Mississippi in fulfillment of their agreement with the federal authorities and for the establishment of a permanent abiding place in their new land. The patriarch of the family was John Riddle, born in 1891. He finally located in Gaines, now Latimer county, where he was known as a stock man and farmer and where he died in 1863. He was a half blood Choctaw, and the records of the Indian courts of the county show him to have been a court judge for some years. His first wife was Eve Riddle, who died leaving a son, George W., now a well known citizen of Latimer county, and by a second wife there were four children, two of whom are Henry and William Riddle. George W. Riddle was born at the old Riddle station a few miles east of Wilburton, October 25, 1841, and he matured under the influence of social and political conditions among his race, for there were few white people here then and they had no voice or interest in Indian affairs. His schooling was such as could be had from the facilities then established, chiefly domestic in character. Eastern teachers were the masters of education in the household or in the public place, and they were seldom persons without education and character themselves, and therefore shed a beneficent influence upon the young Indians who were placed under their charge. When the war between the north and the south came on Judge Riddle was approaching man’s estate, and his interest was enlisted in behalf of the southern cause. He served under Colonel Cooper, in command of Fort Washita and a member of the Trans-Mississippi department operating in Missouri and Arkansas. Judge Riddle took part in the engagements of Pea Ridge and Newtonia and saw much active service until the end of the war. On leaving the army he turned his attention to the stock business and took up as much land as he wished near Wilburton, which he improved and where he has ever since resided. He was finally drawn into Indian politics and was made the county judge of Gaines county, an office which his father had also filled many years before. His union with Isabel McCurtain, a sister of Governor Green McCurtain, was a strong social alliance and provided the Judge’s home with a mistress of much personalty and force. She became the mother of three children: Virginia, the deceased wife of L. Dunlap; Andrew, who died before marriage; and Susie F., the deceased wife or Robert Ball. A sister of his first wife, Elsie McCurtain, became the second wife of Judge Riddle, but she passed away in a short time without living issue, and in 1877 he married Elvarine Edon born in Arkansas, May 6, 1853, a daughter of Richard and Ella (Griffith) Edon. Richard Edon born in Tennessee in 1813 and his wife in Arkansas. Richard Edon died in 1882. The children of the last union of George W. Riddle are: Richard, of Ashland, Oklahoma; John W., mentioned below; and Edmund, Mellinee, Samuel, Eureka and “T. J.” John W. Riddle was born on the old Riddle ranch May 25, 1882, and as he matured he familiarized himself with the handling of stock and acquired his education in Jones Academy, Harrell’s Institute at Muskogee and in the Fort Smith Commercial College. He then spent a year as a bookkeeper in Canadian, Oklahoma, but was again at the ranch and on duty when the preliminaries for statehood were being arranged. He entered the Democratic primaries with three competitors for the nomination for sheriff, and winning the race was elected over his Republican opponent by a good vote. He took the oath of office on the day of the admission of Oklahoma into the Union and became the first peace officer of Latimer county. And he is probably the youngest sheriff serving in Oklahoma. On the 11th of January, 1905, Mr. Riddle married in Latimer county Miss Jessie Russell, a daughter of William and Minerva A. (Spivv) Russell, both of Graysville, Tennessee. The father was born May 13, 1836, and the mother, May 17, 1847. They were married in Graysville where Mrs. Riddle was born June 5, 1884. The mother died at Graysville, July 11, 1898. Mr. Riddle is a member of Eureka Lodge No. 111, Independent Order of Odd Fellows and of the Junior Order of United American Mechanics, Jeff Davis Council No. 35. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Return to Latimer County Archives: http://www.usgwarchives.net/ok/latimer/latimer.html