Wilburn Cartwright (January 12, 1892 – March 14, 1979) was a lawyer, educator, U.S. Representative from Oklahoma, and United States Army officer in World War II. The town of Cartwright, Oklahoma is named after him.

Early life

Born on a farm near

Georgetown, Tennessee Georgetown is an unincorporated community at the junction of Bradley, Hamilton, and Meigs counties, Tennessee. The community is located along State Route 60 near its intersection with State Route 58. The Bradley County portion of Georgetown is ...

, Cartwright moved with his parents to the

Chickasaw Nation The Chickasaw Nation (Chickasaw: Chikashsha I̠yaakni) is a federally recognized Native American tribe, with its headquarters located in Ada, Oklahoma in the United States. They are an Indigenous people of the Southeastern Woodlands, original ...

Indian Territory The Indian Territory and the Indian Territories are terms that generally described an evolving land area set aside by the United States Government for the relocation of Native Americans who held aboriginal title to their land as a sovereign ...

, in 1903. He attended the public schools at Wapanucka and

Ada, Oklahoma Ada is a city in and the county seat of Pontotoc County, Oklahoma, Pontotoc County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 16,481 at the 2020 United States Census. The city was named for Ada Reed, the daughter of an early settler, and was inc ...

, and State Teachers College at Durant, Oklahoma.

Early career

As an educator he taught in the schools of

Coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when ...

, Atoka, Bryan, and Pittsburg Counties in Oklahoma from 1914 to 1926. During World War I he served as a private in the Student Army Training Corps in 1917 and 1918. He studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1917. He was graduated from the law department of the

University of Oklahoma , mottoeng = "For the benefit of the Citizen and the State" , type = Public research university , established = , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $2.7billion (2021) , pr ...

at Norman in 1920. Afterwards he began a law practice in

McAlester, Oklahoma McAlester is the county seat of Pittsburg County, Oklahoma. The population was 18,363 at the time of the 2010 census, a 3.4 percent increase from 17,783 at the 2000 census,Shuller, Thurman"McAlester" profile ''Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History an ...

. Additionally he took postgraduate work at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chic ...

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. He served as member of the Oklahoma House of Representatives from 1914 to 1918, and then as a member of the State Senate from 1918 until 1922. Cartwright was a vocational adviser for disabled veterans at McAlester, Oklahoma, in 1921 and 1922. He was an unsuccessful candidate for the Democratic nomination for Congress in 1922 and 1924, and served as Superintendent of schools at Krebs, Oklahoma from 1922 to 1926.

Family

Wilburn's great-great uncle was Peter Cartwright, who had defeated Abraham Lincoln in an Illinois legislative race. His two daughters were Wilburta May Cartwright and Doralyn Emma Cartwright (Lynn Cartwright), who was an actress that was married to actor Leo Gordon. His nephew, Jan Eric Cartwright, was the Oklahoma Attorney General from 1979 to 1983. His siblings were Floyd, Gerty, McKinley, Shafter, Dewey, Cecil, Keith, and Clifford (Buck). The last two were also Oklahoma state legislators. His father, Jackson Robert (JR) Cartwright, was a Baptist preacher and served in the Oklahoma House of Representatives in 1929 and 1931.

United States Congress

Cartwright was elected as a Democrat to the Seventieth and to the seven succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1927 - January 3, 1943). He served as chairman of the Committee on Roads (Seventy-third through Seventy-seventh Congresses). He was an unsuccessful candidate for renomination in 1942. Cartwright was a supporter of the New Deal public works projects in his district.

Military career

He served as a major in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

, Allied Military Government, with service in Africa and Europe from 1943 until he was injured. He returned to the United States as an instructor at Fort Custer,

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

, in 1945. He was employed with the

Veterans' Administration The United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is a Cabinet-level executive branch department of the federal government charged with providing life-long healthcare services to eligible military veterans at the 170 VA medical centers an ...

at Muskogee, Oklahoma, in 1945 and 1946.

Later life

Cartwright was elected Secretary of State of Oklahoma for four-year term in 1946. Cartwright was elected State auditor for four-year term in 1950. Cartwright was elected State corporation commissioner for six-year term in 1954 and reelected in 1960 and 1966. He was a resident of

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, and ...

until his death there on March 14, 1979. He was interred in I.O.O.F. Cemetery,

Norman, Oklahoma Norman () is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Oklahoma, with a population of 128,097 as of 2021. It is the largest city and the county seat of Cleveland County, and the second-largest city in the Oklahoma City metropolitan area, b ...

.Kosmerick
"Cartwright, William (1891-1979)
Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History & Culture. 10-14-09

References

External links

Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture.
"Cartwright, Wilburn" (1891-1979)
Oklahoma Historical Society.
Wilburn Cartwright Collection
an
Photograph Collection
at the

Carl Albert Center The Carl Albert Congressional Research and Studies Center is a nonpartisan institution devoted to teaching and research related to the United States Congress and, more broadly, to strengthening representative democracy through engaged and infor ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cartwright, Wilburn 1892 births 1979 deaths People from Meigs County, Tennessee American people of English descent Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Oklahoma Secretaries of State of Oklahoma 20th-century Members of the Oklahoma House of Representatives Democratic Party Oklahoma state senators State Auditors of Oklahoma Oklahoma lawyers People from McAlester, Oklahoma Schoolteachers from Oklahoma School superintendents in Oklahoma Politicians from Oklahoma City People from Ada, Oklahoma 20th-century American politicians Lawyers from Oklahoma City 20th-century American educators Southeastern Oklahoma State University alumni University of Oklahoma alumni University of Chicago alumni United States Army personnel of World War I United States Army personnel of World War II United States Army officers 20th-century American lawyers Democratic Party members of the Oklahoma House of Representatives