Richard W. Hicks was born in 1855, the son of the late ex-Judge Jay Hicks, of the Flint district, who died in 1869. Richard’s mother was a Miss Kate Levi, a full-blood Cherokee. Although a most successful schoolteacher, Richard Hicks’ education was confined to the neighborhood school at Pleasant Valley, which he attended for about four years. In 1886, at the age of thirty, he commenced teaching in Sequoyah district, after which he taught two terms at Rabbit Trap, Tahlequah district. He was next sent to open the Hickory Creek School, in Coowescowee district, and proved his adaptability for his calling by successfully taking charge of sixty-nine pupils. He held this position for five years. During the last term he taught at Four Mile Branch School, in Tahlequah district, and is at present (during vacation time) looking after his farming interest twelve miles west of the capital, where he has forty acres in cultivation and some cattle, horses and hogs. Mr. Hicks married Miss Emma Dora Scovell, daughter to Thomas H. Scovell, of Illinois, in September 1890. By this union he has one child, Claude Jay, born October 7, 1891. Mr. Hicks, although an active supporter of the Downing party, has never offered himself as a candidate for office, although well fitted to represent his people in the legislature. He has had great success teaching, and is a straightforward, reliable man, quiet and unpretentious in disposition.
