For three decades Wade Hampton Kornegay has been a representative of the Vinita bar and with the passing years his clientele has steadily increased in volume and importance. as he has demonstrated his ability to cope with the intricate problems of the law, while he is also recognized as one of the most progressive agriculturists and stock raisers of Craig county.
He was born in Duplin county, North Carolina, April 17, 1865, and was named for General Wade Hampton, the noted Confederate leader.
His parents were Henry and Jeannette (Williams) Kornegay, who were also natives of North Carolina, the former born in Duplin county and the latter in Wayne county. The father was a veteran of the Civil war and his boyhood was spent upon a farm. He afterward took up the study of law and after winning his admission to the bar followed the profession in North Carolina until his demise, while he also engaged in cultivating a farm, being successful in both lines of activity. He was called to public office, rendering excellent service as county sheriff, and throughout his life devotion to duty was one of his marked characteristics.
Reared upon his father’s farm, Wade Hampton Kornegay attended the public schools and afterward was a student at Wake Forrest College, which conferred upon him the Master of Arts degree in 1884. For the next four years he devoted his attention to the profession of teaching at Richland, North Carolina, and then attended the summer law school of the University of Virginia for a year, later completing the course in Vanderbilt University of Nashville, Tennessee, from which he won his LL. B. degree in 1890. Early in 1891 he opened a law office in Neosho, Missouri, but in the latter part of the same year came to Vinita, Oklahoma, where he has since successfully engaged in practice. From 1893 until 1895 he was associated with James S. Davenport, after which he conducted his law business independently for a time, but he is now a partner of Mr. Probasco, a well known attorney of this city. While they conduct a general law practice, Mr. Kornegay has frequently been retained as counsel in cases pertaining to criminal law and has been very successful in that branch of jurisprudence. Close application, keen analysis, clear mental perception and careful preparation are indispensable elements in-the life of every man who attempts to gain prominence in this arduous calling, and that Mr. Kornegay is lacking in none of these requisites is indicated in the fact that he has been entrusted with much important litigation and has won many verdicts favorable to the interests of his clients. He also has extensive farming interests in Craig and adjoining counties and through the breeding of high grade cattle is doing all in his power to elevate stock-raising standards in northeastern Oklahoma.
Mr. Kornegay was married at Vinita to Miss Nanny Stafford, and their children are : Jeannette, the wife of L. Thomason, of this city; Clarence Stafford, who attended the Agricultural & Mining College of Oklahoma and served in the navy during the World war ; Wade H., Jr., who is one of the proprietors of the White Front Garage at Vinita; and Louise.
Mr. Kornegay’s study of politics has led him to support the platform and candidates of the democratic party and he is a leader in its ranks, having been identified with the state central committee ever since Oklahoma was admitted to statehood. He is a forceful and convincing speaker and during the progress of the World war delivered many addresses before public gatherings in support of the various government drives, while he also rendered valuable service as a member of the legal advisory board.
He was one of the organizers of the Indian Territory Bar Association and is now an active and valued member of the state organization. He is much interested in church work and liberal in his support thereof. In fact, his aid and cooperation can always be counted upon in the furtherance of every movement or project that has for its object the development and improvement of his community, county and state, and he is one of the outstanding figures in the up building of Vinita and Craig county., He is a man of liberal education whose mind is well stored not only with lore gathered from law books, but also with facts gleaned from the broad fields of literature, which have been his recreation and his delight. His professional career has been one of continuous progress, and he is conceded to be one of the most talented and highly esteemed attorneys in the state.