Bios.Tulsa,OK CLINTON, Fred S. (M.D.) ======================================================================= USGenWeb NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free Information on the Internet, data may be used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or for presentation by other persons or organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for purposes other than stated above must obtain the written consent of the file contributor. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. ====================================================================== Posted by Earline Sparks Barger on Sat, 26 Dec 1998 Surname: CLINTON, ATKINS, BRICKNER, ZIEGELER, BLAND, HEARD FRED S. CLINTON, M.D. Vol. 3, p. 973-975 One of the native sons of Indian Territory and thus of the present State of Oklahoma, there are few citizens of the state to whom can be ascribed such large and worthy achievement along varied lines of endeavor as to this representative and influential citizen of Tulsa, in which vigorous and ambitious city he is engaged in the practice of his profession, as one of the leading physicians and surgeons of the state. The doctor has been a dynamic force in the futherance of civic and industrial progress and prosperity in Oklahoma, is a man of high academic and professional attainments, takes just pride in claiming for himself a strain of Indian blood, his mother having been a southern woman of fine Creek Indian lineage and his father having been a white man of education and sterling character. Doctor Clinton merits special praise for the deep research and study he has given to the history of what is now the State of Oklahoma, and few can be found who have broader and more exact knowledge concerning early Indian history and of the varied agencies that have worked to the development of the present fine commonwealth of which he is consistently to be designated a representative citizen. Doctor Clinton was born near Okmulgee, Creek Nation, Indian Territory, on the 15th of April, 1874, and is a son of Charles and Louise (ATKINS) CLINTON, his father having been one of the pioneer white settlers of the Indian Territory, where he established himself in the early '70s and where was solemnized his marriage to Louise ATKINS, a young woman of noble character and one who combined the best traits of her white and Indian ancestors. Charles Clinton was a man of great business acumen and marked progressiveness, and through his well ordered endeavors he became one of the influential cattlemen of Indian Territory, where his operations were of extensive order and where he commanded high place in popular confidence and esteem. He was not only foremost in the development of the cattle industry in the territory, but was also one of the first to suggest the vast mineral wealth of the Creek Nation. He died in 1888 and his wife survives him. The following succinct record concerning Doctor Clinton's early life and later activities is entirely free from fulsome eulogy, but indicates much of the one who can read between the lines, so that its reproduction without more than minor paraphrase may consistently be indulged, as its subject is a man who has manifested no desire to exploit his individuality or his achievement, large and benignant as the latter has been: "Both for business and professional life Dr. Clinton received the best educational preparation the schools of the country could afford. From the well maintained schools of the Creek Nation he went forth to become a student in the St. Francis Institute at Osage, Kansas, after leaving which institution he attended in turn Drury College, at Springfield, Missouri; the Gem City Business College, at Quincy, Illinois; the Young Harris College in the State of Georgia; and the Kansas City College of Pharmacy, in which he was graduated with honors, in Pharmacy, in 1896. He had simultaneously prosecuted his studies in the University Medical College in Kansas City, and in the same he was graduated as a member of the class of 1897 and with the well earned degree of Doctor of Medicine. The Doctor first engaged in the practice of his profession at Red Fork, Oklahoma, and after his novitiate he established his residence in the city of Tulsa, where he has continued his earnest and effective endeavors, controls a large and representative practice and holds precedence as one of the leading physicians and surgeons of the State. "Much credit in the medical profession is due to Dr. Clinton for his efforts in keeping alive the interests of the Indian Territory Medical Association, which is now merged with the Oklahoma State Medical Association, and further distinction is his for his effective work for the advancement of professional interests in Oklahoma and those of generic or national order as well. He served in turn as secretary, treasurer, vice-president and president of the Indian Territory Medial Association, and in 1906, the year prior to the admission of the State of Oklahoma to the Union, the Doctor represented this association as delegate to the convention of the American Medical Association, in the city of Boston. In 1908 he was a delegate from Oklahoma to the International Congress on Tuberculosis, held in the city of Washington. He was one of the organizers and president for nine years of the Oklahoma Hospital Association, which owns and operates the Tulsa Hospital. He was active also in organizing the Oklahoma branch of the American National Red Cross Society. In addition to the exacting demands of his substantial and important private practice, Dr. Clinton is retained as local surgeon at Tulsa for the St. Louis & San Francisco Railroad, the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad, the Midland Valley Railway, the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad, and chief surgeon of the Sand Springs Railroad, the Sapulpa and Oil Field Railway, besides being chief surgeon of the Tulsa Street Railway Companies, of which he was one of the organizers and of which he was the first secretary. He is surgeon for various accident-insurance companies." Special reference should be made to the admirable service given by Doctor Clinton in the development of the hospitals of Tulsa, in which he as a builder and lecturer on surgery, nursing and hospital technic [sic], was a pioneer and has raised the standard of medicine and surgery by establishing the first hospital and training school for nurses in Tulsa. He was for nine years president of the Oklahoma Hospital Association, and as such he delivered in 1911 the commencement address before the graduates of the training school for nurses. He is known as an able public speaker and his exceptional literary ability has found fewer published evidences than could be wished. It is specially worthy of note that he prepared a most interesting and graphic, but brief, history of Tulsa, as chairman of the entertainment committee he prepared this article for the Oklahoma State Medical Association on the occasion of its convention in Tulsa, in 1910, and it was published in the May issue of the association's official periodical, the Journal, in that year. On December 14, 1915, Doctor Clinton, together with Miss H. C. C. ZIEGELER, for nine years superintendent of the Tulsa Hospital, and H. J. BRICKNER, prominent contractor and builder, organized the Oklahoma Hospital of which Doctor Clinton was elected president; and in February, 1916, was begun the erection of an entire modern, fireproof, four story hospital to be known as the Oklahoma Hospital. No citizen of Tulsa has shown a higher degree of civic loyalty, liberality and progressiveness than has Doctor Clinton, and his influence and practical co-operation are ever given in support of measures and enterprises tending to advance the best interests of his home city, county and state. His liberality found a most pleasing exemplification when he added much to the physical and metropolitan attractiveness and prestige of Tulsa by the erection of the fine office building that bears his name. This is an eight-story structure of the most modern type of reinforced concrete and steel construction, and is one of the few fireproof buildings in the Southwest, none in Oklahoma excelling it in design, appointments and modern facilities. Though he is not at the present time actively identified with the oil and natural gas industry in Oklahoma, Doctor Clinton had the distinction of completing, in association with his professional confrere, Dr. J. C. W. Bland, the first oil well in the now celebrated Tulsa district, this well having been at Red Fork. Concerning this promotive and practical undertaking on the part of the two enterprising Oklahoma physicians the following pertinent statements have been made: "They successfully promoted the drilling of the first well in the Tulsa district and this attracted to the field eventually some of the most experienced oil men from the older fields and resulted in the opening of what is probably the great oil-producing territory in the world. The remarkable development of these natural resources, including the operations of the Glenn Pool, may be said to have originated with the work of these doctors. Dr. Clinton is one of the leaders among the men of enterprise and initiative and constructive ability who have made Tulsa one of the most important centers of the oil and gas industry in the United States." Doctor Clinton is actively identified with numerous professional organizations, including the American Medical Association, the Oklahoma State Medical Association, the American Association of Railway Surgeons, and the Tulsa County Medical Society. He is a charter member of the Tulsa Commercial Club and has given effective service as a member of its board of directors. He is also a member of the Tulsa Press Club and other civic organizations in his home city. In the Masonic fraternity he is affiliated with the Scottish Rite bodies and also the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. His political allegiance is given to the democratic party and both he and his wife are communicants of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, the while they are leaders in the representative social activities of Tulsa, where their beautiful home is a center of gracious hospitality. Mrs. Clinton is one of the talented musicians of the state and is specially influential in the development of musical art and interest in Oklahoma. As president of the Hyechka Club she took a prominent part in the splendid work instituted by the loyal women of Tulsa in raising the funds that provided for the city's fine convention hall. The magnificent pipe organ was installed and dedicated May 10,1915, under the auspices of the Hyechka Club, the instrument having been installed at a cost of $11,500. This is the first municipal organ in the state, and a local paper referred to the enterprise, shortly before the same was realized in a practical way, in the following terms: "It is a splendid tribute to the culture and refinement of the city of Tulsa that this is the only community in the state which supports musical organizations like the Hyechka Club, the Apollo Club and the Piano Students Club. The organ will be a monument to the good and loyal women who proposed the plan and carried it out." In 1897 was solemnized the marriage of Doctor Clinton to Miss Jane Carroll HEARD, of Elberton, Georgia, and she is the gracious and popular chatelaine of their attractive home, "Clinton Ingleside." Transcribed by: Earline Sparks Barger, December 14, 1998