1858–1928

Introduction

Born: Jan­ua­ry 15, 1858, Coo­sa Coun­ty, Ala­ba­ma (near Nix­burg).

Died: May 16, 1928, Stig­ler, Ok­la­ho­ma.

Buried: White­field Ce­me­te­ry, White­field, Ok­la­ho­ma.

portrait

Biography

Stephen was the son of Will­iam Smith Os­lin and Jane Eli­za­beth No­len, and hus­band of Mol­lie Pe­ne­lo­pe High­fill of Green­ridge, Ar­kan­sas (marr­ied 1888).

In the fall of 1868, he moved with his fa­ther to Wal­ker Coun­ty, Ala­ba­ma, where he grew up on the farm.

On July 15, 1880, he be­gan his ca­reer as a teach­er at Mt. Plea­sant Church in Scott Coun­ty, Ar­kan­sas. At one time, he stu­died at the Fort Smith Con­ser­va­to­ry of Mu­sic, Fort Smith, Ar­kan­sas, un­der Pro­fess­or W. D. C. Bo­te­furh.

After leav­ing the Con­ser­va­tory, he re­sumed his work as a teach­er in ear­nest, at in­ter­vals at­tend­ing the nor­mal schools of the day.

He moved to White­field, Ok­la­ho­ma, in the 1880s, where he taught mu­sic and or­gan­ized the first sing­ing school there. He al­so served as a min­is­ter in the Me­tho­dist Church South; found­ed the Eu­re­ka Pub­lish­ing Com­pa­ny in Stig­ler, Ok­la­ho­ma, in 1905; and was pre­si­dent of the Eu­re­ka Nor­mal School of Mu­sic.

He ed­it­ed the month­ly mu­sic­al jour­nal The Tem­po for three years, ed­it­ed and pub­lish­ed the Eu­re­ka Mes­sen­ger, and was west­ern field ed­it­or of The Mu­sic­al Mil­lion for sev­er­al years.

Works

Sources

Lyrics

Music