Guarantee State Bank. One of the substantial financial institutions of Stephens County, which has grown out of the needs of its community and has been backed and developed by men of standing and substance, is the Guarantee State Bank of Marlow. Since the time of its founding, in 1901, it has occupied a substantial place in the business affairs of the county, and its reputation in banking circles of the state is high. Of more recent years its rapid growth and development may be attributed to the energetic efforts and fine abilities of two of its officials, John Joseph Adkins, its president, and Penn V. Rabb, its cashier, a brief review of whose careers follows.

John Joseph Adkins, or Joe Adkins, as he is more familiarly known, perhaps, was born at Decatur, Wise County, Texas, January 8, 1861, a son of J. M. and Bettie (Craghead) Adkins. He belongs to a family which originally came to America from Scotland prior to the Revolutionary war, settling in Virginia, in which state J. M. Adkins was born in September, 1830. From the Old Dominion he removed to Missouri, and thence to Wise County, Texas, and in 1861 to Denton County, in the Lone Star state. He enlisted in a Texas regiment in the Confederate army at the outbreak of the war between North and South, being with General Wheeler’s forces throughout that conflict, and at the close of the war returned with an honorable military record and located again in Missouri. He later went to Collin County, Texas, subsequently resided in Denton, Cook and Montague Counties, in that state, and in 1890 came to Indian territory, where he was engaged in extensive farming and stockraising operations until his retirement. He is now living quietly at his home at Marlow, Oklahoma. He has been a lifelong democrat and member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mr. Adkins married Miss Bettie Craghead, who was born in Missouri in 1834, and died at Rush Springs, Oklahoma, in 1896, and they became the parents of twelve children, as follows: Susan, who was married first to the late Enoch Boatman, a farmer and stockman now deceased, and is now the wife of Zach Warren, an agriculturist of Apache, Oklahoma; Minnie, who was first married to the late J. M. Carpenter, a farmer and stockman now deceased, and is now the wife of John Gardnershire, a farmer in the vicinity of Hobart, Oklahoma; John Joseph, of this review; Minerva, who is the wife of Charles Tilleson, a farmer near Duncan; Elizabeth, who is the wife of Albert Dennis, a farmer of Cook County, Texas; James, a farmer residing near Bradley, Oklahoma; William, a cattleman of Texas; Charles, who is deceased; Sallie, who is the wife of Joe Plemmons, a farmer of Duncan, Oklahoma; Kate, who is the wife of Fuller Game, a farmer of near Doyle, Oklahoma; Oscar, who is engaged in agricultural pursuits near Duncan; and Walter, who is carrying on farming near Marlow.

John J. Adkins was educated in the Denton County, Texas, public schools and was reared on his father’s farm, on which he lived until twenty years of age. He then became a cow-puncher in Western Texas, and in that capacity came to Indian Territory, locating in what is now Mud Creek, Jefferson County, in 1872. After a short time he returned to Western Texas, but in 1881 came back to Jefferson County, where he followed the vocation of cow-boy until 1887. During this time he had carefully saved his resources, and in the year mentioned located on the present site of Bailey, Oklahoma, where he engaged in farming and handling cattle. The year after the Cheyenne country was opened he settled in that locality and resided for five years, and in 1896 came to Marlow, where, until 1910, he was successfully engaged in the handling of cattle. Since that time he has devoted the greater part of his attention, aside from his banking interests, to farming.

In 1901 Mr. Adkins assisted in the establishing of the Guarantee State Bank, becoming its vice president, and held that office until 1910, when he became president of the institution, which has developed, under his capable management, into one of the strongest banking concerns of Stephens County. A life-long democrat, he has been active in political and civic affairs, was deputy sheriff in 1907 and 1908, the first two years of statehood, and has been a delegate to numerous county and state conventions, being recognized as an influential member of the democratic party here. Fraternally, Mr. Adkins is affiliated with Marlow Lodge No. 103, American Free and Accepted Masons; Marlow Chapter, Order of the Eastern Star, and Camp No. 93, Woodmen of the World, at Marlow.

Mr. Adkins was married at Bailey, Oklahoma, to Miss Addio Clemons, daughter of W. A. demons, a well known banker of Elk City, Oklahoma. Eight children have been born to this union: Roxie, who is the wife of Earl Bledsoe, proprietor of a cotton gin at Marlow; Ora, a clerk in a dry goods store at Marlow, who is living with her parents; Sadie, who died at the age of one year; J. Fred, who is engaged in farming at Marlow; Rosie, a graduate of Marlow High School, class of 1915; and Dave, Jessie and Ada May, who are attending the public schools.

Penn V. Rabb, cashier of the Guarantee State Bank of Marlow, is a member of a family which originated in Scotland and settled at an early date in North Carolina, where was born his grandfather, Rev. J. B. Rabb, a Methodist Episcopal preacher, who for many years had a charge at Lone Oak, Texas, where he died. W. J. Rabb, father of Penn V., was born in Alabama, in 1850, and as a young man removed with his parents to Lone Oak, Texas, where he resided until 1890, then removing to Wynnewood, Indian Territory. In 1909 he located at Waurika, Oklahoma, where he is now engaged successfully in merchandising. He has been a lifelong democrat and faithful member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. W. J. Rabb married Mattie Ulmer, who was born in 1855 in Arkansas, and died at Lone Oak, Texas, in 1884, and Penn V. was the only child of the union.

Penn V. Rabb was born at Lone Oak, Texas, November 25, 1877, and received his education in the public school at Wynnewood, Indian Territory, and the Polytechnic College at Fort Worth, Texas, from which he was graduated in 1894. His first employment was in a wholesale grocery house at Wynnewood, where he assisted in establishing the Southern National Bank, in 1901, being made assistant cashier of that institution. He was made cashier two years later, and in 1907 was made state bank examiner. While holding this responsible position, he established himself in the mercantile business at Wynnewood, continuing to be thus engaged until February, 1910, when he came to Marlow, Oklahoma, as cashier of the Guarantee State Bank, a position which he has retained to the present.

The Guarantee State Bank was founded in 1901, as the First National Bank, and adopted its present policy and name in September, 1909. It occupies a modern bank building, with offices on the second floor and in the rear, built in 1901, on the corner of Main Street and Broadway. The present officers are: John Joseph Adkins, president; S. M. King, vice president; and Penn V. Rabb, cashier. The bank has a capital stock of $25,000, with surplus and profits of $6,500, and has always had the confidence and patronage of the people of Stephens and the surrounding counties. Mr. Rabb, personally, bears an excellent reputation in financial circles, and his own well known integrity has been an important factor in attracting deposits. He is an active democrat, having been a delegate to numerous county and state conventions ever since attaining his majority. During the four years in which he served as city treasurer of Marlow, he introduced numerous innovations in the office which have resulted in benefiting the people and finances of the municipality in no small degree. Fraternally, he is a popular member of Lodge No. 648, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, at Ardmore, Oklahoma; Marlow Lodge No. 103, Free and Accepted Masons, of which he is past master by service; Guthrie Consistory No. 1, of the thirty-second degree; and India Temple, Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, of Oklahoma City.

In 1907, at St. Joseph, Texas, Mr. Rabb was married to Miss Lillian Puryear, daughter of J. T. Puryear, a merchant of that place. Mr. and Mrs. Rabb have no children.