James Osman Wharton, M. D. While building up a successful practice as a physician and surgeon at Duncan during the past ton years, Dr. Wharton’s name has also become known over the state at large in medical circles through his service on the State Board of Medical Examiners, and his service and attainments are such as to give him rank among the best representatives of the medical fraternity in Oklahoma.

James Osman Wharton was born at Russellville, Arkansas, October 15, 1879, a son of Dr. J. T. and Kate (Williamson) Wharton. The Wharton family has been one of distinction in this country since it came from England prior to the Revolutionary war and settled in Virginia. Dr. J. T. Wharton was born in Louisville, Kentucky, in 1840, and died at Duncan, Oklahoma, in 1911. Both before and after the Civil war he studied medicine at the Eclectic Medical Institute of Cincinnati, and was in practice for many years in the State of Arkansas. In 1889 he became the pioneer physician at Duncan in the Indian Territory, and lived there and practiced until his death. He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church and the Masonic fraternity. His wife, a native of Arkansas, is still living at Duncan. Some mention should be made of their ten children. Minnie, the oldest, is the wife of T. J. Smith, who is in the lumber and timber business at Gautemala City in Gautemala; Jesse Lawrence is a graduate of the Memphis Hospital Medical College and a practicing physician at Salina, Oklahoma; Susie May married W. F. Angel, in the insurance business at Collinsville, Oklahoma; Dr. James O. is the fourth in age; John Thomas is a graduate of the Bennett Medical College at Chicago and a physician and surgeon at Ketchum, Oklahoma; Cloyd W. Is bookkeeper for the Caddo Cotton Oil Company at Caddo, Oklahoma; Alonzo is clerk of the postoffice at Duncan; Bettie, a twin sister of Alonzo, married Guy C. Short, a member of the Duncan Hardware Company; Annie is the wife of Carl Erymire, a jeweler at Fort Sumner, New Mexico; Sydney Phillip is connected with the drug business at El Reno, Oklahoma.

James O. Wharton has lived at Duncan the greater part of his life since he was ten years of age. Following his graduation from the Duncan High School with the class of 1899 he became a farmer, and was engaged in looking after a herd of cattle seven miles southeast of Duncan until 1901. His ambition was for a profession, and he followed in the footsteps of his father in his choice. In 1903-04 he attended the Memphis Hospital Medical College, and spent the years 1905-06 in the Physio-Medical College at Dallas, Texas, where he was graduated in the class of 1906 with the degree M. D. He began practice at Duncan but during the years 1907-08-09 was located at Chickasha, with which exception his practice has been confined to the Duncan community. His offices are in the City Drug Store Building on Main street. Besides the large private practice which has come to him he has served for the past five years as city physician of Duncan, and for the past four years has been a member of the State Board of Medical Examiners. He is a member of the County and State Medical Societies and the American Medical Association, and has served as secretary and treasurer of the State Association of Physio-Medical Physicians and Surgeons in Oklahoma.

Dr. Wharton is a republican in politics, and a member of the Presbyterian Church. In Mistletoe Lodge No. 17 of the Knights of Pythias in Duncan he is a past chancellor and is now serving as chancellor, and other fraternal relations are with Duncan Camp No. 515, Woodmen of the World, with Grove No. 33 of the Woodmen Circle, with the Modern Order of Pratorians, and he is also active in the Duncan Chamber of Commerce.

As Chickasha, Oklahoma, in 1908, Dr. Wharton married Miss Oma Guthridge, whose father, Reuben Guthridge, is a farmer at Cement, Oklahoma. Dr. and Mrs. Wharton have one daughter, Winifred Jewell, who was born December 18, 1913.