OSCAR R. McMORDIE, county and district clerk of Hemphill county, with residence at Canadian, has been identified with this county and town ever since their corporate existence, so that he is truly one of the old-timers, although in the years of his own life he is still on the lee-side of middle age. The fact that he has been the incumbent of his present office for four terms indicates the high esteem in which he is held by his fellow citizens, and his great capability as a public official, and it is his creditable record that he has been uniformly successful in the various enterprises and undertakings of his career.
Mr. McMordie was born at Round Rock, Williamson county, this state, on April 1, 1866, his parents, Frank and Mary (McGuire) McMordie, both natives of Tennessee, being now residents of Quanah, Texas. His father came to Texas and located at Round Rock, Williamson county, about 1852, living there until 1885, when he moved to Coryell county, and since November, 1892, he has been a resident of Hardeman county, living in a retired life at Quanah. In his early life he was a stockman, and when the big Texas ranges began to be divided up he became a prosperous farmer, which occupation he followed until his retirement. He has served one term as commissioner of Hardeman county.
Mr. McMordie was reared in the cattle business and followed it exclusively until his election to his present office. He lived at the old homestead in Round Rock until 1884, and in that year, being then eighteen years old, he went to Abilene, this state, and was a “cow puncher” on a big ranch there until the following fall, when he returned to Round Rock to spend another term in school. He enjoyed a practical and fundamental education, and has always been recognized as a man of much intelligence and close observation and insight into the affairs of local and general importance. In April, 1885, he went to Wyoming territory, where he was a cowboy until February, 1887. In April 1887, he located in the northern portion of the Texas Panhandle, where he has been ever since. He was engaged in herding cattle in Lipscomb and Ochiltree counties until 1892, and then continued the same occupation in Hemphill county. In 1896 he was elected county and district clerk of Hemphill county, and by regular biennial election he has served as such ever since, which is the best testimonial that could be given of his worth as a citizen and ability in public office. He gives conscientious, business-like care and attention to the details of his position, and his administration has caused universal satisfaction. Mr. McMordie owns a section of good farming land in the county and also his comfortable residence in Canadian, and is contentedly prosperous from the standpoint of material circumstances.
Mr. McMordie affiliates with the Masonic order, and is a member of the Presbyterian church. He is well known throughout his section of the state, and when he came here in 1887 the counties were just beginning to get organized, that being the date of the organization of Hemphill county and the establishment of the town of Canadian. Mr. McMordie was married at Canadian in 1892 to Miss Kathleen Montgomery, a native of Minnesota, and they have two sons, Hobart Bruce and Frank E.
Source: B. B. Paddock, History and Biographical Record of North and West Texas, Vol. II (Chicago: Lewis Publishing Co., 1906), pp. 207-208.