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John W. Harreld

American politician (1872-1950)

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJul 18, 2026
Entity authorityQ1663143 ↗
Source-derived summary

John William Harreld (January 24, 1872 – December 26, 1950) was a United States representative and senator from Oklahoma. Harreld was the first Republican senator elected in Oklahoma and represented a shift in Oklahoma politics.

Early life and career

Harreld was born in Butler County, Kentucky, near Morgantown to Martha Helm and Thomas Nelson Harreld. He attended public schools, the normal school at Lebanon, Ohio, and Bryant & Stratton Business College of Louisville, Kentucky, where he taught while studying law. Admitted to the bar in 1889, he begin his practice in Morgantown. He was prosecuting attorney of Butler County from 1892 to 1896. After marrying Laura Ward on October 20, 1889, and having a son, Ward, he moved to Ardmore, Oklahoma, in 1906. He was a referee in bankruptcy from 1908 to 1915, when he resigned to become an executive with an oil corporation. He moved to Oklahoma City in 1917 and engaged in the production of oil and continued the practice of law. After his first wife's death, he married his wife's sister, Thurlow Ward, in 1931.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “John W. Harreld” as american politician (1872-1950). Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA useful biographical orientation record, particularly for establishing names, roles and a first chronology. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1872, 1950, 1889, 1892—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1872-01-24. The account is most persuasive where John, Harreld and American can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as american politician (1872-1950). Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 18, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1663143. VIAF identifies the subject as 65530108. The Library of Congress control number is n87839679. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1872, 1950, 1889 and 1892.

Critical limits

Public reputation and documentary evidence do not always develop together; absence from a summary is not evidence of historical absence. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “John W. Harreld”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow John W. Harreld primary sources, John W. Harreld archive and John research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “John W. Harreld”?
  2. Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
  3. Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “John W. Harreld” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.