The following are two separate biographies of Wade Hampton Kornegay:

The first sketch was written by the famous A. T. Outlaw and was
forwarded to me by William Kornegay of Massachusetts. William notes that he doesn't know when the sketch was written but that Outlaw gave it to him in 1948.

Judge Wade Hampton Kornegay

A native of Duplin County who played an important part in the early history of Oklahoma. Some of  the facts concerning his life and public service.

It was during the late afternoon of a summer day about twelve or thirteen yvars ago and the place was the Cooper Hotel in this quiet little county seat town of Kenansville, Duplin County. The boarders were seated on the front porch. Mr. Cooper, the proprietor observed a short and stocky looking man coming in at the front gate. He was alone. There was no car at the front and no sign of anybody having come with him. Hs was well dressed and appeared to be a man of considerable intelligence. He did not call his name at the porch but only asked for a room in which to spend the night. Mr. Cooper took him to a room upstairs and then returned to the porch where the boarders were seated, leaving the man in his room. He had told Mr. Cooper that his name was Kornegay, and nothing more. Next morning he was out early and was seen walking
leisurely about the little town. He was viewing, very happily, the scences of his boyhood but no one at that time knew his purpose in being out so early in the morning. He had appeared to be very modest with no intention of saying much about himself and certainly no intention of concealing his identity.

During the day he made ready to leave the hotel and not until then did It bocome known to the persons at the hotel, that our visitor was a distinguished son of old Duplin who had played a conspicuous part in the early history of the State of Oklahoma and who was then serving as an Associate Justice of the supreme Court in that State.

Duplin County is justly proud of this distinguished son who possessed all the noble attributes and brilliance of intellect as our Supreme Court Justice William R. Allen, Superior Court Judges Henry L. Stevens and Leo Carr, District Attorney James C. Carr, Colonel Thomas S. Kenan, and other illustrious sons of this good County.

Judge Kornegay was born near Outlaws Bridge, April 17, 1865. His father, Henry Robert Kornegay, was a Baptist minister, Clerk of Superior Court, and a lawyer. His mother was Jeanotte Williams of a well known Wayne County family. He was born In the absence of his father, who was away from home in the service of tho Confederacy, and was the youngest of several children by his father's first marriage. Soon after the war the family moved from the farm to Kenansville where the father was a well known practicing attorney for many years and where the children attended school.

Judge Kornegay attended the old Grove Academy and the Millard Seminary in Kenansville and entered Wake Forest College when fifteen years of age. He graduated from that institution with a Master of Arts degree in 1884 and was valedictorian of the class. The valedictory address was described as especially touching, at times pathetic, and eloquent. Classmates have described him as a hard working student with a brilliant mind and a wonderful capacity for books. At Wake Forest he received a number of scholastic honors, including award of the Silcox Greek medal in 1883, and in all classes his grades were exceptionally high. His chief competitor for the Greek medal was
Archibald T. Robertson who was generally regarded as the brightest member of the class studying Greek and he was expected to win the medal but to the great surprise of most of the student body Kornegay distinguished himself by winning this high honor over so brilliant a competitor as A. T. Robertson who became a noted Greek scholar, Baptist theologian, author, editor, and lecturer. He died in Louisville, Kentucky, a few years ago.

Following his graduation Judge Kornegay taught school at Franklin Academy in Duplin County for a period of five months, at Richlands, Onslow County, for three years, and at Gilmer, Texas, for five months. In this way he acquired the necessary means for the study of law. He took the summer law course at the University of Virginia in the year 1889 and then entered the law department of Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, where he finished a full two years' course in only one year and received a Bachelor of Law degree.

Following his graduation in law Judge Kornegay was immediately liscensed to practice and opened an office in Vinita, Indian Terretory (now Oklahoma), in the year 1891, where he practiced and taught law for the balance of his life, except while in public service. He had lived in Vinita only one year where he issued a call to the Democrats of Indian terretory to meet in convention and name delegates to represent the terretory in the national Democratic convention of that year and from that time he was recognized as a leading citizen of the terretory. He was always proud of the fact that he, as a very young man and a beginner in public affairs, had been the one to call that convention, then fifteen years before the terretory became a State. He was a leader in the movement to form a new State, the State of Oklahoma, served as a member of the constitutional convention of 1906, and drafted the State constitution. He was a staunch supporter of William H. (Alfalfa Bill) Murray for President of that convention and the two men became life-long friends. Murray later became Governor and remembered his old friend by appointing him as a member of the State Supreme Court. Another outstanding member of that convention was Colonel Walter D. Humphreys, a native of Richlands, Onslow County, North Carolina, who had studied law in the office of Judge Kornegay in Vinita. Colonel Humphrey later became Chairman of the State Corporation Commission and held other important places in the government.

After the convention and Oklahoma became a State Judge Kornegay limited his activities to the practice of law. His reputation as a law counsellor spread throughout Oklahoma and he was one of the best known lawyers of the State. Recognizing his great ability as a lawyer his old friend Governor William H. Murray appointed him in 1931 to fill an unexpired term an a member of the State Supreme Court and in that position he served with credit and distinction for a period of about two years. Then again he limited his activities to the practice of law and the management of his large estate.

At the time of his death on Norember 19, 1939, Judge Kornegay had lived In Vinita for a period or 48 years and was probably that city's most widely known citizen. Most of the offices and places of business were closed for the funeral service and among the pallbearers were a number of outstanding citizens of the State, including ex-Governor Murray, Governor Leon C. Phillips, Colonel walter D. Humphreys, Judges Fullerton, Kennamer, Shipman, Stone, and many others of equal dignity.

Of the immediate family the survivors were his widow, Mrs. Nannie Stafford Kornegay, two sons Wade Hapmton and Clarence Stafford Kornegay, two daughters Miss Jeanette Kornegay and Mrs. Fay Louise Confer, all of Oklahoma.

Judge Kornegay was related to a large number of people in Duplin County, including all of the Kornegays and most of the Gradys, Outlaws, Whitfileds, Simmons's, maxwells, and many others, who are justly proud of this distinguished kinsman.

The second sketch (and the photograph displayed at the top of the page) were forwarded by Barbara Justice of Florida and was a newspaper article clipping (paper and publication date unknown).

By Nancy A. Johnson

Wade Hampton Sydney Kornegay was born April 17, 1865 in Duplin County, North Carolina. He graduated in law from Wake Forest University as valedictorian.

Armed with little beyond his scholarly achievements, W.H. migrated to Indian Terretory in 1891. He was undecided where to settle when he saw Nannie Louise Stafford in church. Immediately he decided Vinita was the place and nannie would be his bride. They married November 26, 1892. Nannie was the daughter of Sarah Rebecca (Moore) Stafford who had been widowed early. The Kornegays built their home at 439 N. Foreman in 1897.

Kornegay had as law partners Mr. Davenport and Mr. Probaisco. Several of his peers joined Kornegay in founding numerous businesses, including Central Investment Co., 3-B Land Co., Cherokee Development Co., and Vinita & Chelsea Oil Co.

Kornegay worked on the Oklahoma Constitutional Convention, later was appointed by Govenor "Alfalfa Bill" Murray to the Oklahoma Supreme Court. He was named to Who's Who of America two years in a row and inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame.

The Kornegays spent their lives helping their town to grow. He helped the legal part, she embraced the social development. Both spent considerable energy in furthering religious growth. Nannie and her friends turned Vinita into a garden club city long ago.

Kornegay devised a swimming pool on the home site that was continuously fed fresh water from a nearby artesian well. A Mr. Watson earned $1 a day doing odd jobs for the family. He built six vaults at the Kornegay plot in the Fairview Cemetary. Under Nannie's skillful guidance, Mr. Watson made the south side of the yard a "show place." There was a beautiful rock garden behind the cresecent shaped goldfish pond. There were four circular canna beds and all was set off with white-washed wooden yard chairs. All of the surrounding trees were white-washed halfway up the trunks.

The Kornegays had four children: Willie Jeanette "Net" was born September 2, 1893. She married Louie Thomason. There were no children and the marriage terminated in 1934. "Net" spent two years in Ft. Peck, Montana returning to Vinita to devote her life for caring for her parents in their declining years. Both she and her mother were P.E.O.'s, she avidly interested in Christian Science serving as a reader and frequently as a soloist. "Net" died March, 1965.

Clarence Stafford, "Tooster," was born June 11, 1896. He did not marry and except for a short time when he was in the Navy during World war I, he lived at home helping his mother and father. His life-long telephone hobby started in 1910. At the time of his death, his hobby had received national and international recognition.

"Tooster" had a dance combo during the late 20s and early 30s. Floyd Kapp played the saw. Company gathered around the piano in the Kornegay home singing and laughing while "Tooster" played. Many years later, he became a rural postman until retirement. He died June 4, 1978.

Wade Jr. "Bouzer" was born June 29, 1899. He married Opal Carrington. There were no children. They lived a time in Muskogee and Tulsa, then returned to Vinita to help run the Kornegay estate. Opal was an avid horselady. She devoted her time to forming the all-girl Tenderfoot Riders' Club, teaching the teenagers how to ride and care for their horses.

After Opal's death, Wade kept up his ranching interest and married Beulah Elrod. They had a good marriage until Wade's death in September 1978. Wade left his share of the ranch to Vinita in hopes a Civic center would be built in memory of his father.

Fay Louise "Pris" was born October 10, 1901.

W.H. Kornegay died in 1939; his wife died in 1959. Both are buried in Fairview Cemetary, Vinita.