William Lewis Couch was a leader of the Boomer Movement

Boomers (Oklahoma settlers)

Boomers is the name given to settlers in the midwest of the United States who attempted to enter the Unassigned Lands in what is now the state of Oklahoma in 1879, prior to President Grover Cleveland officially proclaiming them open to settlement on March 2, 1889 with the Indian Appropriations Act...

 and the first mayor of Oklahoma City

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Oklahoma City is the capital and the largest city in the state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, the city ranks 31st among United States cities in population. The city's population, from the 2010 census, was 579,999, with a metro-area population of 1,252,987 . In 2010, the Oklahoma...

, Oklahoma

Oklahoma

Oklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...

.

He was born in North Carolina

North Carolina

North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...

, later moving to Kansas

Kansas

Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...

 as a farmer. He joined the Boomer Movement in 1880 and became the sole leader of the movement after David L. Payne

David L. Payne

David Lewis Payne was an American soldier and pioneer. Payne is considered by some to be the "Father of Oklahoma" for his work in opening the state to settlement....

's death on November 28, 1884. He participated in the Oklahoma Land Run on April 22, 1889 and was elected mayor soon thereafter on April 27, 1889. He remained mayor until November 11, 1889. On April 4, 1890, he was shot by J. C. Adams in a duel involving a dispute over his homestead claim, and died on April 21, 1890.