James Brooks Ayers Robertson | |
---|---|
4th Governor of Oklahoma | |
In office January 13, 1919 – January 8, 1923 | |
Lieutenant | Martin E. Trapp |
Preceded by | Robert L. Williams |
Succeeded by | John C. Walton |
Personal details | |
Born | Keokuk County, Iowa, U.S. | March 15, 1871
Died | March 7, 1938 Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, U.S. | (aged 66)
Political party | Democratic |
Spouse(s) |
Olive Stubblefield Robertson
(m. 1898; died 1914) |
Children | 2 |
Profession | Teacher, lawyer, judge, politician |
Signature | |
James Brooks Ayres Robertson (March 15, 1871 – March 7, 1938), sometimes called J. B. A. Robertson, was an American lawyer, judge and the fourth governor of Oklahoma. Robertson was appointed by the state's first governor, Charles N. Haskell, to serve as a district judge.
Passing a bar exam at the age of 21, Robertson became one of the most resourceful trial lawyers and legal counselors in the Oklahoma and Indian territories, before statehood.[1] His gubernatorial term was marked by Oklahoma's ratification of the Eighteenth Amendment, for Prohibition, and the Nineteenth Amendment, for women's suffrage, to the United States Constitution, the Tulsa Race Massacre, and scandals. He also served as Grand Sire (now known as Sovereign Grand Master) of the Sovereign Grand Lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows from 1915 to 1916.[2]
Robertson died in 1938 from cancer and is buried in Chandler, Oklahoma.