H. G. Laughlin, who follows the occupation of farming, his home being situated about two and two-thirds miles northwest of Ramona, in Washington county, was born in Milan, Texas, August 27, 1867. He is a son of James McClellan Laughlin, who was a native of Mississippi and went to California in the year 1849. There he engaged in farming in the Sacramento valley for several years, after which he returned to Georgia and was married in that state. He then started again for California but became water bound while en route and returned to Texas, where there was no danger of a water famine. From California on his first trip he had brought a souvenir ring made from the native gold, the design being an Indian digging gold with an arrow.
H. G. Laughlin now has this ring in his possession and prizes it greatly as a souvenir of his father’s mining experiences on the Pacific coast. Upon returning to Texas, James M. Laughlin settled at Milan, where he carried on farming until advanced, age forced him to put aside his further work. He then removed to Bartlett, Texas, and passed away there, at the advanced age of eighty years. During the Civil war he engaged in freighting for the government. In early manhood he wedded Mary Ross, a native of Georgia, whose father was a Methodist preacher and went to Texas prior to the Civil war. Mr. and Mrs. James M. Laughlin became parents of seventeen children, the others being: Jimmie, Ed and John, twins, Jack, Carroll, Nannie, Mattie, Sarah, Robert, Thomas, Henry, Louis, Mary, Letitia, Alice and Dora. All are living with the exception of four of the sons.
H. G. Laughlin came to the Indian Territory in 1891 from Texas. The period of his boyhood and youth had been passed in the Lone Star state and his education was acquired in the schools there. He assisted his father with farming in early boyhood and after removing to the territory he engaged in running cattle throughout this section until 1902. In 1904 he took up his abode on his present place of four hundred and twenty acres, which is situated two and two-third miles northwest of Ramona and here he carries on general farming and also raises some stock. His farm is splendidly improved with the latest modern facilities and accessories and his farm machinery includes a tractor. He has a good residence of seven rooms and there are substantial sheds and outbuildings for the shelter of grain and stock.
On the 25th of July, 1900, Mr. Laughlin was united in marriage to Miss Nancy Victory, a daughter of John and Betty Joel (Quinton) Victory of Cherokee extraction, who came here at the time of the Cherokee immigration. They located in the Canadian district of the Cherokee Nation. The mother is deceased. The father makes his home in Collinsville, Oklahoma, where he has married again and is now engaged in farming. There were ten children in the Victory family: Henry, Nancy, Tensy, Samuel, Charlie, Andrew, Susie, Telee, Donna and Aleck. Mr. and Mrs. Laughlin have become the parents of three children : James Guy, twenty years of age, who is attending the Norman University, where he is specializing in the study of electrical engineering; Bettie, who is senior in the high school at Ramona; and Mary, who is a freshman in the high school.
The family are prominently known here and they have many friends. Mr. Laughlin is a progressive and alert business man, whose, energy and perseverance have enabled him to attain substantial success through his farming operations.
