Modern progressive agriculture finds a worthy representative in J. S. Fouts; who owns a valuable farm near Dewey, in Washington County, on which he has placed many improvements, while his land also contains oil, from which source he derives a large addition to his income. A native of Kansas, he was born April 14, 1862, and his father died during his infancy. When but five years of age he was brought by his mother to the Cherokee Nation and three years later her death occurred, so that he was left an orphan when very young. He is of Delaware extraction and was reared by his maternal aunt, Airs. Susie Elkhair, the wife of Charley Elkhair. His education was acquired in the mission schools in the eastern part of Oklahoma and after laying aside his textbooks he chose the occupation of farming, which he has since followed successfully, also engaging in stock raising. He resides on a ten-acre farm situated three miles north of Dewey, on the main road to Copan, on which he has built a good home and substantial out-buildings, and he also owns a tract of one hundred and fifty acres on the Little Caney River, a mile northwest of his home place, this land being rich in oil, from which he draws about five hundred dollars a month in royalties. He likewise has a ranch of forty acres situated two and a half miles north of Copan, a portion of which is used as pasture for his stock, and his farming operations are conducted along the most practical and progressive lines, resulting in the attainment of a substantial measure of prosperity.
In 1899 Mr. Fouts was united in marriage to Mrs. Minnie (Bullet) Longbone, who by her former marriage to William Longbone became the mother of a son, Ray. Her parents are both deceased. She owns forty acres of land a mile northeast of the home farm and although no oil wells have as yet been drilled on this property it will no doubt be developed in the near future, as it lies within the oil section. She likewise has an eighty-acre tract a mile distant from the home place and from the oil wells on this property she derives a good revenue.
Mr. Fouts is the possessor of a fine physique, being six feet, one inch in height, and weighing two hundred and fifty pounds. He is a self-made man, deserving of all the praise which the term implies, for he has worked his way upward entirely through his own efforts, placing his dependence upon the substantial qualities of industry, perseverance and integrity, and Washington County numbers him among its leading agriculturists and substantial citizens.