John Henry Pitchford was born on March 8, 1857 in
Walhalla, Oconee County, South Carolina.
He was the son of John Wesley Pitchford and Nancy Margaret Neville.
John’s family was living and working on a farm in Town, Rabun
County, Georgia in 1860. In 1870, the
family was living in Wagener, Oconee County, South Carolina.
In 1880, John was a boarder in the household of John C. Cannon, in
Clayton, Rabun County, Georgia. He was
employed as a lawyer at that time.
John married Lola C. Bauknight around 1884, probably in South
Carolina. Lola was born on April 5, 1859
in Florida, the daughter of Irvin Joseph Bauknight and Maria Harriet Smith.
John and Lola were the parents of six children, however, only two
survived to adulthood:
Joseph Irvin Pitchford born
September 25, 1888
Henry DuVal Pitchford born
June 24, 1893
The following is an excerpt from “A Standard History of Oklahoma – Volume 4,” (google ebook), by Joseph Bradfield Thoburn, American Historical
Society, 1916 - Oklahoma
…There is no district
judge in the state who has better stood the test of service, has more signally
upheld the dignity of the judicial office, and is more generally respected and
admired than Judge John H. Pitchford.
He comes of fine old Southern stock, and as a lawyer has
been identified with the bar at Tahlequah nearly twenty years. Judge Pitchford was born at Walhalla in South
Carolina March 8, 1857, a son of Wesley and Margaret (Nevill) Pitchford. His father was a native of Georgia, and son
[of] Ely Pitchford, a Virginian of Irish Lineage. Judge Pitchford’s mother was also of Irish
origin, and was born in South Carolina.
He was reared in his native town in South Carolina, where
his father was a merchant, and after completing his literary education in the
Newberry College, he took up the study of law in a private law office. He was admitted to the bar the day he was
twenty-one years of age, and began practice at Clayton, Georgia, and was
subsequently in practice at Gainsville in the same state. He was soon marked as a rising attorney and
enjoyed a promising practice in Georgia, but in 1890 removed west to a larger
field, and at Fort Smith, Arkansas, formed a partnership with Col. Ben T.
DuVal.
Judge Pitchford’s home has been at Tahlequah, the old
capital of the Cherokee Nation, since 1896.
In a short time he had gained a remunerative practice as a lawyer and
almost as quickly became a leader in public affairs. His popularity as a citizen led to his election
in 1900 as mayor of Tahlequah. That was
a special distinction, since he was the first white man to hold that office in
the Indian city…
His able work as a lawyer and public leader led to his
election as the first judge of the First Judicial District in 1907, and he was
re-elected to the office in 1910, again in 1914, so that his present term does
not expire until January 1919…
Judge Pitchford is affiliated with the Independent Order
of the Odd Fellows and with the lodge and Royal Arch Chapter of Masonry, and is
a Methodist. He was first married to
Lola Bauknight. The two children of that
union are Joseph Irvin Pitchford, a lawyer at Sallisaw, Oklahoma, and Henry
DuVal Pitchford, now engaged in practice as a lawyer at Stilwell,
Oklahoma. Judge Pitchford’s present wife
before her marriage was Miss Viola Boggess.”
Lola C. Bauknight Pitchford died on March 2, 1913 in Tahlequah,
Cherokee County, Oklahoma. She was
buried in the Tahlequah Cemetery. Lola
was one month shy of her 54th birthday at her death.
John remarried a year later to Viola Isabelle Boggess, a school
teacher from Arkansas. They were married
on January 4, 1914 in Sebastian County, Arkansas. Viola was born on October 2, 1872 in Conway
County, Arkansas, the daughter of James Cicero Boggess and Alice Myrtle Smith.
In 1920, John and Viola were renting a home at 502 East 13th
Street in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma County, Oklahoma. John was the Chief Justice of the Oklahoma
Supreme Court.
John Henry Pitchford died on March 2, 1923 in Oklahoma City,
Oklahoma County, Oklahoma. He was buried
next to his first wife, Lola, in the Tahlequah Cemetery in Tahlequah, Cherokee
County, Oklahoma. He was 65 years old at
his death.
Notes for John Henry Pitchford
Birth & Death: “John Henry Pitchford,” Ancestry.com. U.S.,
Find A Grave Index, 1600s-Current [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA:
Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012.
Find A Grave. (http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi)
Accessed 9 April 2015
1860 US Census: “John
H Pitchford,” Year: 1860; Census Place: Town, Rabun,
Georgia; Roll: M653_134; Page: 493; Image: 488;
Family History Library Film: 803134. Ancestry.com. 1860 United States
Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com
Operations, Inc., 2009. Images reproduced by FamilySearch.
1870 US Census: “J H Pitchford,” Year: 1870;
Census Place: Wagener, Oconee, South Carolina; Roll: M593_1505;
Page: 102B; Image: 209; Family History Library
Film: 553004. Ancestry.com. 1870
United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA:
Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009. Images reproduced by FamilySearch.
1880 US Census: “John H Pitchford,” Year: 1880;
Census Place: Clayton, Rabun, Georgia; Roll: 162;
Family History Film: 1254162; Page: 80A; Enumeration
District: 172; Image: 0773. Ancestry.com and The Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-day Saints. 1880 United States Federal Census [database
on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2010.
Marriage to Lola: 1910
US Census
1910 US Census: “John
H Pitchford,” Year: 1910; Census Place: Tahlequah Ward 4,
Cherokee, Oklahoma; Roll: T624_1244; Page: 25B;
Enumeration District: 0011; FHL microfilm: 1375257. Ancestry.com. 1910 United States
Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com
Operations Inc, 2006.
Marriage to Viola: “Viola
Boggess,” Ancestry.com. Arkansas, County Marriages Index, 1837-1957 [database
on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.
1920 US Census: “Viola
Pitchford,” Year: 1920; Census Place: Oklahoma City Ward 2,
Oklahoma, Oklahoma; Roll: T625_1474; Page: 19B;
Enumeration District: 128; Image: 129. Ancestry.com. 1920 United States
Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com
Operations Inc, 2010. Images reproduced by FamilySearch.
Life Sketch:
“A Standard History of Oklahoma – Volume 4,”
(google ebook), by Joseph Bradfield Thoburn, American Historical Society, 1916 –
Oklahoma. (https://books.google.com/books?id=q4E_AAAAYAAJ&lpg=PA1548&ots=d3UJvWUtEq&dq=John%20Henry%20Pitchford%20Oklahoma%20judge&pg=PA1548#v=onepage&q=John%20Henry%20Pitchford%20Oklahoma%20judge&f=false
) Accessed on 9 April 2015
Notes for Lola C. Bauknight
Birth & Death: “Lola Pitchford,” Ancestry.com. U.S.,
Find A Grave Index, 1600s-Current [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA:
Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012.
Find A Grave. (http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi)
Accessed 9 April 2015
1860 US Census:
“T C Bauknight,” Year: 1860; Census Place: Marion,
Florida; Roll: M653_108; Page: 303; Image: 303;
Family History Library Film: 803108. Ancestry.com. 1860 United States
Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations,
Inc., 2009. Images reproduced by FamilySearch.
1870 US Census: “Lola
Bauknight,” Year: 1870; Census Place: Wagener, Oconee,
South Carolina; Roll: M593_1505; Page: 110B;
Image: 225; Family History Library Film: 553004. Ancestry.com. 1870 United States
Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com
Operations, Inc., 2009. Images reproduced by FamilySearch.
1880 US Census: “Lola
C Banknight,” Year: 1880; Census Place: Walhalla, Oconee,
South Carolina; Roll: 1236; Family History Film: 1255236;
Page: 303A; Enumeration District: 120. Ancestry.com and The Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-day Saints. 1880 United States Federal Census [database
on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2010.
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