Lillian Gallup Haskell (December 12, 1862 – July 13, 1940) was the inaugural

First Lady of Oklahoma First Lady or First Gentleman of Oklahoma is the title held by the Marriage, spouse of the sitting governor of Oklahoma. The first lady or first gentleman serves as the official host of the Oklahoma Governor's Mansion. As of 2011, there have been ...

. She was inducted into the

Oklahoma Hall of Fame The Oklahoma Hall of Fame was founded in 1927 by Anna B. Korn to officially celebrate Statehood Day, recognize Oklahomans dedicated to their communities, and provide educational programming for all ages. The first Oklahoma Hall of Fame Induction Cer ...

in 1939.

Early life

Lillian Elizabeth Gallup was born on December 12, 1862, in

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

, Putnam County, Ohio to Naomi Jane (née Cox) and Josiah Gallup. Her family descended from John Gallup who immigrated with the

Massachusetts Bay Colony The Massachusetts Bay Colony (1630–1691), more formally the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, was an English settlement on the east coast of North America around the Massachusetts Bay, the northernmost of the several colonies later reorganized as the ...

in 1630. Her father was an attorney and Lillian was the second child, and daughter in the family. On 4 September 1889, Gallup married

Charles N. Haskell Charles Nathaniel Haskell (March 13, 1860 – July 5, 1933) was an American lawyer, oilman, and politician who was the first governor of Oklahoma. As a delegate to Oklahoma's constitutional convention in 1906, he played a crucial role in draftin ...

, an attorney practicing in Ottawa and recent widower, who had three children, Norman, Murray, and Lucie. The couple had their first child Frances in 1890, followed by Charles Joseph in 1891, and Jane in 1894. During the time in Ohio, Charles became involved in railroad work and was approached about the possibility of acquiring a line from

Fayetteville, Arkansas Fayetteville () is the second-largest city in Arkansas, the county seat of Washington County, and the biggest city in Northwest Arkansas. The city is on the outskirts of the Boston Mountains, deep within the Ozarks. Known as Washington until ...

, to the

Muscogee (Creek) Nation The Muscogee Nation, or Muscogee (Creek) Nation, is a federally recognized Native American tribe based in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The nation descends from the historic Muscogee Confederacy, a large group of indigenous peoples of the South ...

Career

In 1901, the family moved to Muskogee,

Indian Territory The Indian Territory and the Indian Territories are terms that generally described an evolving land area set aside by the Federal government of the United States, United States Government for the relocation of Native Americans in the United St ...

, where Charles became involved in the city's development and took part in both the

Sequoyah Constitutional Convention The Sequoyah Constitutional Convention was an American Indian-led attempt to secure statehood for Indian Territory as an Indian-controlled jurisdiction, separate from the Oklahoma Territory. The proposed state was to be called the State of Sequoya ...

and the Oklahoma Constitutional Convention. During the convention, Haskell supported her husband's

anti-suffragist Anti-suffragism was a political movement composed of both men and women that began in the late 19th century in order to campaign against women's suffrage in countries such as Australia, Canada, Ireland, the United Kingdom and the United States. To ...

stance, believing that political differences would cause discord in the family. In 1907 Charles was elected as the first governor of the

State of Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New M ...

. With his election, Haskell became the inaugural

. Haskell's immediate task as First Lady was to design a national flag to include the new state. She organized the Betsy Ross Association in Guthrie. The association had ninety-two members from across the state who created the flag. Each woman sewed a single star on the "field of blue", adding forty-six stars to each side of the banner. The flag was flown from the mast at

Independence Hall Independence Hall is a historic civic building in Philadelphia, where both the United States Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution were debated and adopted by America's Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Fa ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

July 4th Events Pre-1600 *362 BC – Battle of Mantinea: The Thebans, led by Epaminondas, defeated the Spartans. * 414 – Emperor Theodosius II, age 13, yields power to his older sister Aelia Pulcheria, who reigned as regent and proclaimed ...

in 1908, announcing the state as the 46th star in the

national flag A national flag is a flag that represents and symbolizes a given nation. It is flown by the government of that nation, but usually can also be flown by its citizens. A national flag is typically designed with specific meanings for its colours ...

. Throughout Charles' tenure as governor, she accompanied him on business meetings, and political ventures. As part of her official duties, she was made president of the Association of Mothers, serving a four-year term. When the term of her office was over in 1911, Haskell continued to accompany her husband on business expeditions, while they lived in New York and Texas. In 1939, she was inducted into the

Death and legacy

Haskell died on July 13, 1940, in

San Antonio ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= U.S. state, State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , s ...

Bexar County Bexar County ( or ; es, Béxar ) is a county in the U.S. state of Texas. It is in South Texas and its county seat is San Antonio. As of the 2020 census, the population was 2,009,324. Bexar County is included in the San Antonio–New Bra ...

, Texas and was buried beside her husband in the Greenhill Cemetery in Muskogee.

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Haskell, Lillian Gallup 1862 births 1940 deaths People from Ottawa, Ohio People from Muskogee, Oklahoma First ladies and gentlemen of Oklahoma