William H. Douthitt. By the exercise of an ability which seems to be native in the Douthitt family and a persistent energy coupled with fair methods, William B. Douthitt has succeeded in making a reputation and successful position for himself in the real estate business in Oklahoma, and for the past five years has had his home and offices in Duncan. In recent years an important feature of his business has been the handling of oil leases.

William B. Douthitt was born in Russellville, Arkansas, January 12, 1874, a son of W. A. and Belle (Bowden) Douthitt. The Douthitts came from Ireland to America before the Revolutionary war and settled in South Carolina, from which colony the name has spread to many different sections of the United States. Mr. Douthitt’s maternal grandfather, J. W. Bowden, was the pioneer settler in Arkansas, having come from Virginia. He owned a large tract of land, and though espousing the cause of the republican party in a strictly democratic state he was elected a member of the Legislature. He was killed at Russellville by bushwhackers during the Civil war. W. A. Douthitt was born in Missouri in 1847, and is now a business man at Muskogee, Oklahoma, having lived in this state for many years. He moved from Missouri to Russellville, was a farmer there, and in 1892 located at Shawnee, Oklahoma, where he continued farming and stockraising, and since locating at Muskogee in 1913 has been a merchant. He is a republican, a member and deacon of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and affiliates with the Masonic Fraternity. His wife, Belle Bowden, was born in Arkansas at Russellville in 1856, grew up and married there, and died at Shawnee, Oklahoma, in 1912. Their children were: J. T., who is a stock man near Guymon, Oklahoma; Lizzie, who lives at Duncan, widow of the late J. W. Paul, a real estate man; Lulu, who lives in Muskogee, married T. J. Stephens, now deceased, who was a school teacher; G. F. is associated with his father in the merchandise business at Muskogee; H. B., also in business with his father and brother at Muskogee; Jennie, wife of Hoyt Davis, a farmer at Shawnee; and May, wife of Ray Toney, of California.

William B. Douthitt attended public school in Russellville, Arkansas, and finished his education at Shawnee. The first twenty-four years of his life was spent on his father’s farm and this experience as a practical farmer has been valuable to him in his business of real estate. In 1898 he engaged in the real estate business at Shawnee, but in 1901 became one of the pioneers who located at Lawton at the opening of that section of Oklahoma, and lived there until April, 1902. From 1902 to 1910 he continued in his regular business at Marlow, Oklahoma, and since 1910 has been at Duncan. He does a general real estate business, handles farm lands and loans, and his operations cover Stephens, Jefferson, Carter and Garvin Counties. He is the individual owner of about a thousand acres of land in these counties. He has handled a number of oil leases, and is the president of the Safety First Oil and Gas Company.

Mr. Douthitt is a republican, a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and affiliates with Mistletoe Lodge No. 17 of the Knights of Pythias and with Duncan Camp No. 515 of the Woodmen of the World.

In 1905 at Sterling, Oklahoma, Mr. Douthitt married Miss Jessie M. Utter, whose father J. F. Utter is a passenger conductor living at Sweetwater, Texas. To their marriage was born a son, William J., on June 4, 1909.