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C. A. Sellers
EARNEST ORATIO GILLAM was born on a Kansas farm known as Spring Valley, located near Canton, McPherson County, on July 24, 1884. In 1905, at age 21, he moved to Lawton, Oklahoma, with only $14.00 i...view moreEARNEST ORATIO GILLAM was born on a Kansas farm known as Spring Valley, located near Canton, McPherson County, on July 24, 1884. In 1905, at age 21, he moved to Lawton, Oklahoma, with only $14.00 in his pocket and a pair of track shoes. He planned to return to Kansas after he finished high school and enter the University of Kansas for a course in law and business, but never returned to Kansas to live. In Oklahoma, Gillam worked for his brother Robert, the first elected Register of Deeds in Lawton, and he studied law at night. He met his wife, Merl, and the pair were married on October 21, 1908. They had a daughter, Jane. The family resided in Bartlesville and then moved to Texas, where Gillam was offered the Texas territory to sell gypsum plaster for S M Gloyd Lumber Co. His territory was enlarged to include not only Texas, but nineteen other states, and by 1919, Gillam had firmly established himself as the top performer in sales for the S M Gloyd firm. He then went into property leasing, and the Gillams moved to Fort Worth in 1921. Earnest also branched out into other enterprises, including the very lucrative handling of Texas oil leases from 1918-1923. In 1930, he went into the soapmaking business with Gillam Soap Works, which would occupy him for the next 25 years and make him very wealthy. He died in Tarrant County, Texas on August 5, 1963, aged 79.view less