Ira J. Banta, my great-uncle, was born in Yantis Texas in 1891. His parents and sisters moved to Caney in 1908, but Ira didn’t join them until 1909.
An ambitious young man, he was already involved in business and education. In 1910 he bought the Caney Leader and vowed to make it a “paper of interest”. The editor of the Atoka Indian-Citizen Democrat urged citizens to give him their patronage.
In 1913 the Caddo Herald announced that Ira Banta had passed the bar in Oklahoma City and would be practicing the law in Caney. He later moved to Atoka. He obviously retained ties to Yantis, because in 1914 he married Miss Ruth Price of Yantis. The Atoka Jeffersonian described him as “one of the most able of our young attorneys”.
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