Among the leading farmers and stockmen of Washington county is numbered M. C. Ware, who resides on a well improved and valuable ranch near Bartlesville and is recognized as one of the large landholders and substantial citizens of his community. He was born in Collin county, Texas, October 11, 1857, his parents being James and Nancy (Howe) Ware, who became pioneer settlers of the Lone Star state, residing in the home in which their son M. C. was born, until called to their final rest. The father, a native of Arkansas, passed away in 1904. The mother’s demise occurred in 1903.
In 1890 M. C. Ware came to Indian Territory, acquiring a tract of land five miles south of Pawhuska, on which he engaged in farming and stock raising until 1908, when he took up his residence on his present place, four tunes west of Bartlesville, on the Pawhuska road. After living for four years on this property he returned to his farm near Pawhuska, which comprises eight hundred acres of rich and arable land, but at the end of three years he moved back to his ranch near Bartlesville. This is a highly developed tract of thirteen hundred and eighty acres, on which he raises Kaffir corn, oats and sugar cane, while he also devotes considerable attention to the breeding of cattle, having at present three hundred head. He has made a close study of the soil and climatic conditions here and through long personal experience has gained an expert knowledge of his occupation, keeping pace with all modern developments along agricultural lines.
In 1891 Mr. Ware was united in marriage to Miss Agnes Martin, who was born in the Cherokee Nation, and they have become the parents of eight children : Julia, the eldest, married Gordon Wells, by whom she has a scan, Junior, and they reside one mile west of Robinson; Nancy is the wife of Robert Robinson, by whom she has three children, Queena, Mary Nancy and Jane M. They are living on the home farm near Bartlesville; Beulah May became the wife of Ray McKinnie of Oklahoma City, and they have a son, Alonzo; Henry E. wedded a Miss Burton and they have one child, Milton; Rosalie is the wife of Martin Murray, a farmer living near her father’s farm, and they have become the parents of a son, David Arthur; David, aged eighteen, and Marie are attending a college in Arkansas, and James, ten years old, is also a student in that school. Each one of the children owns six hundred acres of land in Oklahoma and the family has played an important part in the agricultural development of the state.
Mr. Ware has spent his life on the broad, open ranges and he is a typical western rancher, tall, bronzed and sinewy, possessing the coolness and courage to meet any emergency with quickness and decision and hospitable, generous and straightforward in his attitude toward his fellowmen. His life record illustrates the power of honesty, diligence and determination in insuring success.
His labors have always been of a constructive nature and intelligently carried forward and his worth as a man and citizen is widely acknowledged.