The First Mayor
By Rose StauberIn the first column in this series, I said that we don't know when
Grove was incorporated. Now we have some information which strongly
suggests that the year was 1897, the year that was a likely prospect.
The information comes from and about the first mayor, John Caleb
Starr, usually called J.C. or Cale. His father was James Caleb, or J.C.,
Starr, usually called Hickory. His mother was Emma J. Starr, daughter of John
and Rachel Smith Rider. Hickory Starr was born in 1832 in Tennessee. The
family is listed as Old Settlers, those who arrived in the west before
the 1835 Treaty of New Echota.
J.C. Starr, the son, was born in Flint District October 15, 1870. The
father brought the family north to Delaware District where Hickory
Starr was well-known in the community. The Starr School was on the site of what
is now the Cowskin Community Center on Hwy. 10 east of Grove. The family
is associated with the Cayuga community where they are buried in the
Cayuga Cemetery.
The son attended, it is reported, local schools and then attended and
graduated from the Cherokee Male Seminary in 1890. J.C. apparently was
an ambitious and studious young man. He next enrolled in the Commercial
College at Fort Smith where he graduated from the bookkeeping and
banking department, received his diploma from the shorthand and typewriting
department, and in June 1893 graduated in the plain and ornamental
penmanship department. He had also attended lectures at the college on
commercial law and read law. He then taught school for awhile before
becoming official stenographer for the Cherokee National Council. He
was later appointed assistant treasurer under E.E. Starr who paid what is
called the Starr Roll, the big payment for the sale of the Cherokee Strip.
Somewhere, along with his studies, J.C. met and married in St. Joseph,
Mo., Elizabeth B. Zimmerman, on Oct. 16, 1894. She was the daughter of John
T. and Martha Zimmerman.
With the Starr Roll payment over, J.C. brought his wife home to Grove
where he opened a general store and was appointed postmaster April 2, 1895,
for the remainder of President Cleveland's term. Cleveland was elected in
1892 and served until 1896. Postmasters were a political appointment at
that time, and J.C. had certainly mingled with politicians during his time
in Tahlequah. From the records, it appears the J.C. was postmaster until
succeeded by George P. Dibble May 15, 1897.
"In February, 1897, the little town became incorporated and he (J.C.
Starr) was chosen mayor on the Democratic ticket, receiving fourteen of the
twenty-four votes cast at the polls."
(Joseph B. Thoburn and Muriel H. Wright, A History of the State and Its
People. New York. Lewis Historical Publishing Company, Inc. 1929.
174-175.)
This sentence gives an interesting insight on the first city election.
We have political parties that endure until today. And what seems a
surprisingly low number of voters. Keep in mind that women could not
vote.
During his time in Grove, Starr continued to pursue his law studies,
and in the spring of 1898 he is reported to have moved to Vinita where he was
admitted to the bar of the United States Court of the Northern
District. He spent the rest of his life in Vinita, eventually being admitted to
practice before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Starr died at his home in Vinita Nov. 23, 1930, having served as
Vinita mayor, been prominent in legal areas, the oil business, and farming.
With the loss of the Grove paper, except for a few issues. during this
period until late 1904, we have trouble confirming who served as mayor
to complete Starr's term which presumably was for two years. But we have
proof of who was mayor in 1899. That's another column.
Copyright © 2007 Rose StauberLabels: Grove History
