Throughout history, many notable people made their lives in Bryan, Marshall, Cooke, and Grayson Counties, today’s Texomaland. We do not have enough information on some of these historical figures, but we can find a bunch on others. 

Marshall County Oklahoma

William H. Murray (1869–1956) 

Also known as "Alfalfa Bill". Murray was a prominent Oklahoma politician who served as the 6th Governor of Oklahoma. His leadership and contributions to the state's early development are well-remembered. He is buried in the Tishomingo City Cemetery in Tishomingo.

William Henry David Murray, or Alfalfa Bill, left his father’s farm in Montague, Texas, at age 12 to attend school. Bill was born in Toadsuck (present day Collinsville), Texas. In 1869, Bill’s mother, Bertha Elizabeth Jones, the daughter of one of the first settlers in Grayson County, Texas.

When young Bill took sick with pneumonia in Whitesboro, the doctors gave no hope to Uriah. An elderly man showed up at the mill and told Uriah to harvest some green hackberry bark, brew a strong tea with ginger, add a little whiskey with the bark, and let the child sweat it out. 

Bill’s father, Uriah Dow Thomas Murray, operated a freighting business with five yoke of oxen after the Civil War and then worked with Bill’s maternal grandfather operating a grain mill in Whitesboro, Texas. It took 16 oxen or 32 steers to produce the mill’s power. 

Bill’s grandfather earned the name “Old Honest John Jones” from the townsfolk because he always asked his customers to watch his measure when he sold them grain. Bill still used his pneumonia remedy for colds when he was writing his memoirs in his 70s, but advised not to go out into cold weather because you will take more cold.

Bryan County Oklahoma

Benjamin Siegel (1885 to 1955)

Ben Siegel’s Marker is in Caddo, Oklahoma, in Bryan County at the Ben Siegel Building and reads:

Ben Siegel at age 14 came to America from Lithuania. He established a business in Caddo, Indian Territory in 1895. One of Bryan County's first merchants, he was an important part of the early trade area. The earliest Jewish people in Oklahoma worked peddlers who traded with native tribes.

By 1890, about 100 Jewish people lived in Indian Territory. Indian Territory did not attract many Jewish immigrants directly. It was a hard life at that time. The only way for immigrants to acquire property in Indian Territory was to marry an Indian.

From Prairie Peddler to Merchant King: Life of Benjamin Siegel by Mary Maurer is available for $15 from the Bryan County Genealogical Library.

Robert Lee Williams (1868–1948) 

Robert L. Williams was the third governor of Oklahoma and later served as a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. He is buried in Highland Cemetery in Durant, Oklahoma. Governor Williams grew up in Alabama and practiced as an attorney and Methodist minister.

When he moved to Indian Territory, he became involved in local politics and a leading organizer of the Democratic party in Oklahoma. Its first Governor, Charles Haskell, appointed Williams to the Supreme Court, where he served from 1907 to 1914. He ran for governor in 1914 and Oklahoma inaugurated on January 11, 1915. 

Williams addressed Oklahoma’s severe economic issues by consolidating state agencies, reducing appropriations, and increasing state agencies, reducing appropriations, increasing state revenues, pushed for a highway construction bill, a state insurance bond, and an office of pardons and paroles. 

He is buried in Highland Cemetery in Durant. 

Cooke County, Texas

Colonel William C. Young (1812–1862) 

A Confederate prominent early settler, Colonel Young was influential in the early development of Cooke County. Colonel Williams was shot and killed on Hickory Creek during the horrific events which surrounded the Great Hanging at Gainesville in 1862 during the Civil War. 

He is buried in Fairview Cemetery. This small cemetery is located in a remote area in northeast Cooke County, near the Red River and 4.2-miles north of the Walnut Bend School on CR 127. This is part of the former plantation of the widow, Ann D. Black, who married Col. William Young in 1858. 

Grayson County, Texas

Thomas Volney Munson (1843–1913)

Munson was an internationally renowned horticulturist and grapevine breeder. He is credited with saving the French wine industry from a phylloxera epidemic by providing resistant rootstock. He became one of the leading experts in native American grape species. Munson was known as the “Grape Man of Texas”. 

Munson moved to Denison, Texas, in April 1876. For the rest of his life he traveled throughout Texas and forty other states and Mexico, Munson racked up more than 50,000 miles by rail, and hundreds of miles on horseback and by foot investigating grapes. He quoted that these trips "rekindled my passion for experimental work with grapes."

Munson is buried in West Hill Cemetery in Sherman, Texas.

William Henry Kirsch (1888–1956) 

William Henry Kirsch played a key role in the pioneer era of aviation. He is recognized for his early work as an aviator and aircraft designer in Texas. Kirsch is not be widely known in mainstream historical accounts, but his contributions are highly recognized by early aviation historians.

During the early stages of aviation, which is marked by technological progress and experimentation, Kirsch was highly respected. He was actively involved in designing and building aircraft and made significant contributions to the advancement of early aviation technology.

Kirsch's work included designing and constructing several aircraft models, which were integral to the broader initiative of enhancing aircraft performance and safety in the intial years of aviation.

He is buried in St. Mary's Cemetery in Sherman, Texas.