Dr. Charles Orelton Lively [910]

  General Notes:

Doctor in Durant, Oklahoma, Indian Territory, in 1898.

From the OKGENWEB Project:
Three generations of the Lively Family, the beginnings of which in America are noted in the annals of Kentucky as early as the later part of the eighteenth century, have produced more than fifty physicians, four of whom have been factors in the development of the new State of Oklahoma. The members of the earlier generation helped to found civilization, society and government in LaRue County, Kentucky, so those that pushed into the Indian regions of the Southwest have stamped their influence and individuality on its early history.

In Pursuit of the competence in the undeveloped resources of the Indian Territory, Dr. Charles O. Lively, who has recently brought his wide experience and ability as a physician and surgeon to the attractive resort town of Bromide, came west in 1898, settling in the Town of Durant in the Choctaw country. A little later he moved to Albany, a pretty village also in the Choctaw country, where for nearly seventeen years he passed through the varied experiences that were the lot of pioneer physicians. White settlers were few. It was the era of the cattle range and cattlemen. Tens of thousands of acres of fertile soil and virgin woodland were then under one fence. Native grasses grew waist high and highways were only meandering threads over the face of the country. Church, educational and social advantages were extremely limited. Here was a region permitting the exercise of the best ability and best courage of a young physician. In that early day Doctor Lively exemplifies many of the qualities of the ideal citizen such as the natives had been taught to emulate. In such a country no individual could do more good than the physician. In his visits to hundreds of homes he carried not only the skill of the medical practitioner but also the influence of a wholesome personality and helped to educate the people among whom he worked to better sanitary and moral standards.

Preceding Dr. Charles Lively in the Indian country were Dr. R. A. Lively, an uncle, who was one of the leading pioneer citizens of Durant; Dr. Mark M. Lively of Kay County, a cousin, who was an early resident of Oklahoma Territory and who was at one time connected with the University of Oklahoma; and Dr. Samuel Lively of Grant County, also a cousin, who was one of the pioneers of old Oklahoma Territory.

Dr. Charles O. Lively was born at Magnolia, LaRue County, Kentucky in 1869, a son of Dr. William T. and Jane (Stiles) Lively. His father, a native of Kentucky, was a graduate of the Louisville University, and the paternal grandfather, Dr. James Wesley Lively, was also born in the same state and became one of the early physicians there. Chilion Stiles, Dr. Lively's maternal grandfather was born in New Jersey and settled in Kentucky in 1792. This branch of the ancestry leads back to families which were identified with the colonial period and the Revolutionary War.

For his literary education Doctor Lively attended the public schools of Kentucky and the East Lynn College at Buffalo in that state. In 1892 he graduated M. D. from the Kentucky School of Medicine at Louisville and began his practice in the same year at Willowtown, Kentucky. After six years there he came to Durant, Indian Territory and soon afterwards removed to Albany. Being attracted to Bromide after it became important as a health and pleasure resort, he established his home and office in that village in 1913, and his experience and prestige as a physician has enabled him to acquire a very profitable practice.

At Bokchito, Oklahoma, October 9, 1912, Doctor Lively married Miss Irene Miller. Her father was Dr. Joseph T. Miller of Hartford, Connecticut. Mrs. Lively prior to her marriage had for several years been a teacher in the public schools of Oklahoma. Doctor Lively has two brothers: R. C. Lively, an electrician at Cincinnati, Ohio; and E. D. Lively, who lives at home with the parents at LaRue County, Kentucky. Doctor Lively has filled the chair of Master in the Masonic Lodge and is also a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

Charles married Irene Miller [911] [MRIN: 384], daughter of Dr. Joseph T. Miller [16859] and Unknown, on 9 Oct 1912.