Coming to Miami in 1916, Dr. John Daniel Bewley has thoroughly demonstrated his ability as a physician and surgeon and his professional labors have been attended with a gratifying measure of success. He was born in Dover, Pope County, Arkansas, March 25, 1874, of the marriage of Benjamin V. and Triphenia (West) Bewley, the former a native of Tennessee and the latter of Arkansas. Her father was a major in the Mexican war and was stationed at old Fort Gibson, Indian Territory. Prior to the Civil war he retired from the United States army and made his home in Arkansas until his death. Benjamin V. Bewley became a resident of Arkansas, where he enlisted for service in the Civil war, and was commissioned a Colonel. He was one of the most successful farmers and prominent men of Pope County, where his demise occurred in 1907. He was an active and helpful member of the Methodist Church and fraternally he was identified with the Masonic order. The mother is still living. Their family numbered nine children.
John Daniel Bewley, the sixth in order of birth, attended the public schools and a select school at Russellville, Arkansas, after which he devoted three years to educational work. He then entered the Memphis Hospital Medical School, which he attended for a time and later went to Witts Springs, Arkansas, where he practiced for two years, subsequently opening an office at Webbers Falls, Muskogee County, Indian Territory. From there he went to Tahlequah, in the Cherokee Nation, where for a time he engaged in practice, and then returned to Memphis for the purpose of completing his medical studies, receiving his degree in 1903. For six years thereafter he followed his profession at Tahlequah, during which period he also engaged in stock raising, and afterward went to Locust Grove, Oklahoma, where he continued in general practice until 1916, being also active in civic affairs, and he is still a director of the First State Bank of that place. For the past five years he has successfully practiced at Miami and has won recognition as one of the leading physicians of the city. He has taken postgraduate work in the medical schools of Memphis, Tennessee, and Kansas City, Missouri, for the purpose of fitting himself for the treatment of diseases pertaining to the genitourinary organs, in which he intends to specialize, and is continually striving to increase his knowledge and promote his professional skill and ability. He carefully diagnoses his cases and thoroughly understands the practical as well as the scientific side of his profession. He is also interested in other lines of activity, being the owner of the Evergreen Stock Farm near Lamar, Missouri, on which he raises pure bred Hampshire hogs and registered shorthorn cattle, being very successful in the conduct of his stock raising affairs, which constitute one of the chief interests in his life.
In 1901 Dr. Bewley was united in marriage to Miss Anna Templeton, who passed away in 1904, leaving a son, Lee V., and in 1909 he wedded Miss Maude Sanders, a daughter of S. R. Sanders, a prominent and successful business man of Tahlequah, Oklahoma. They have three sons: Lawrence, Knox West and John Daniel, Jr.
During the World War Dr. Bewley served on the Ottawa County exemption board and prior to the signing of the armistice he was commissioned a Captain of the Medical Reserve Corps but was not in active service. He gives his political allegiance to the Democratic Party and his public spirit finds expression in his membership in the Miami Chamber of Commerce, whose well formulated plans for the development of the city receive his hearty support. Fraternally he is identified with the Masonic order, belonging to the blue lodge, the consistory at McAlester and the Shrine at Tulsa, and his professional connections are with the Ottawa County and Oklahoma State Medical Societies and the American Medical Association. Prompted by laudable ambition and actuated by high ideals, his professional career has been one of continuous advancement and his life has been an exemplary one in all respects, his worth as a man and citizen being generally acknowledged.
