A history of Texas and Texans, Part 143

Author: Johnson, Francis White, 1799-1884; Barker, Eugene Campbell, 1874-1956, ed; Winkler, Ernest William, 1875-1960
Publication date: 1914
Publisher: Chicago, American Historical Society
Number of Pages: 906

USA > Texas > A history of Texas and Texans > Part 143

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

2055

TEXAS AND TEXANS

to come out unscathed. He was later a member of one of the Texas regiments that fought on the side of the Confederacy during the Civil war. He died at Glen- rose, Texas, in 1884. William MeCamant married Susan Gardner, who was born and reared in Virginia, and there received her education. She was married in her native state and came to Texas with her husband, being an able helper to him in those early pioneer days. She was the first member of the Presbyterian church to settle in Somerville county, and when that church was organized in the county there were only two members, Mrs. Mc- Camant and a gentleman by the name of Mr. David- son. During the war she made many of the clothes that were worn by the Texas soldiers at the front. Mrs. Mc- C'amant died in Glenrose in 1886 at the age of sixty- three. Three children were born to William McCamant and his wife. The eldest, Mrs. Iola Graham Thompson, was born at Granberry, Texas, and died in Meridian, Texas, in 1898. Mrs. Margerie Robinson, the second child, is still living in the old homestead at Glenrose.

Doctor MeCamant was the youngest of the three chil- dren, and, although he was born where Glenrose is now located, at the time of his birth it was a single log cabin a half mile southwest of Barnum's Mill. He attended the old school, known as Presbyterian College, at Glen- rose, and here he was gradnated in 1894 with the degree of B. S. After this he worked for a few years in a drug store in Glenrose and then determined to pursue his scientific studies further and become a physician. He therefore took up the study of medicine in the medical department of Fort Worth University, and in 1902 was graduated with a cum laude, a high honor. He began to practice in Aspermont, Texas, and remained there for nine years, during which time he built up a flourish- ing practice. While living in Aspermont he took an ac- tive part in the political affairs of the community and was chairman of the Democratic committee for Stone- wall county. He was also campaign manager in Stone- wall county for W. R. Smith in both of his campaigns for Congress.

In 19II he was appointed state quarantine officer by Governor Colquitt, and in February of that year he came to El Paso, making this city his headquarters. He has taken up his general practice also since coming here and this, together with the duties attaching to his public position, make him a very busy man. He has a large practice and is generally recognized as one of the most successful physicians in this city.

The doctor is a member of the American Medical As- sociation, of the Texas State Medical Society and of the El Paso County Medical Society. In politics he is a member of the Democratic party. He has always taken a deep interest in the various fraternal societies to which he belongs and he has been an active member of the Masons for many years. He is a member of the Knights Templar of Haskell, Texas, is a Noble of the Mystic Shrine, belonging to Maida Temple, in El Paso, and he is also a Royal Arch Mason, belonging to Lodge No. 157. He holds membership in the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, No. 187, of El Paso, and the Loyal 'Order of the Moose, No. 526.

In 1912 Doctor MeCamant won much praise and made a number of bitter enemies through his work as the in- vestigator of the illegal practitioners of medicine, an investigation that resulted in the indictment of ten illegal practitioners and in the departure of several from the city.

On the 13th of May, 1901, Doctor MeCamant was married to Miss Helen Livermore, of Denver, Colorado, the only daughter of W. B. Livermore, who now lives in Whillets, California. Doctor and Mrs. McCamant have no children.

Doctor McCamant believes that El Paso will become the leading city in the state in time, and he is especially enthusiastic over the local administration, saying that it is one of the best governed cities in the state, every

improvement that has been made having been carried by the vote of the people. Personally he hopes that he may spend the balance of his life in this city, where he has made so many friends.

WILLIAM R. SCHUTZ. A solid business enterprise of El Paso has a history of its own which illustrates both the progress of the town and the career of one of its foremost citizens. This is the El Paso Piano Company, of which Mr. William R. Schutz is proprietor and sole owner, and which is the largest concern of its kind in western Texas. Mr. Schutz in 1900 entered the employ of this piano company at a salary of $30 per month. In 1904 he had so thoroughly learned the business and become so energetic a factor therein that he was made a partner, and in 1908 became its sole owner. In 1910 he bought the piano department in the general business of the W. G. Walz Company, and in the same year erected his own building on his lots at the corner of Myrtle and Campbell streets.

William R. Schutz was born in Hanover, Germany, May 15, 1883, a son of S. C. and Frieda Schutz. Both parents were natives of Germany, the father being a prosperous merchant. The father first came to Texas in 1865 and located at El Paso when it was a small village, consisting of only a few buildings and inhabited almost entirely by Mexicans. He crossed the plains from San Antonio, and it required six weeks for his wagons to make the overland trip, during which several encounters were had with the hostile Indians on the way. Several years later the father returned to Germany, where he remained a number of years. He subsequently returned to El Paso, when it was beginning its modern develop- ment, and was at one time mayor of the city, besides holding various other places of responsibility and trust. The father, who is still living, is now a resident of Mexico City, at the age of sixty-eight years. He is president of the Los Ocotes Mining and Milling Com- pany, whose offices are in Mexico City, and the mines located in the state of Michoacan, Mexico. The mines are silver and gold property, and exceedingly profitable. The mother died in El Paso in 1899 at the age of forty- eight, and of their six children one is now deceased and the others are named as follows: Mrs. Dr. Gustav Hof- gaard, of Fredrikshald, Norway; A. E. Schutz, of El Paso; H. H. Schutz, of Los Lumas, New Mexico; Wil- liam R., of El Paso, and Mrs. J. E. Dutcher, of El Paso.

Mr. W. R. Schutz was reared in El Paso, attended the local schools and immediately after his graduation from the high school in 1900 entered the employ of the Piano Company and began his rapid rise to business success and independence. He is affiliated with the Order of Elks in El Paso. In politics he is independent. He enjoys a large circle of friends, is very popular in the young society circles of the city, and his principal di- version is automobiling.

HARWOOD J. SIMMONS. Successively chief engineer, superintendent, and now general manager of the El Paso & Southwestern Railway System, Mr. Simmons began his career as an engineer when about twenty years of age, and has been identified in similar capacities with some of the largest railway systems of the southwest.

Harwood J. Simmons was born near Adairsville, in Logan county, Kentucky, one of the two children of Richard M. and Nannie (Farmer) Simmons, natives respectively of Kentucky and Tennessee, and both now deceased. The mother died when Mr. Simmons was four years of age. The father was for four years a soldier in the Confederate army, serving under General Forrest and being wounded at the battle of Shiloh. After the war he became a successful mill owner and planter in Logan county and at Adairsville. The other child in the family was Lennie, now the wife of J. S. Lambert, a resident of Bay Minette, Alabama.

Harwood J. Simmons attained his early education in

2056

TEXAS AND TEXANS

private schools in Kentucky and Birmingham, Alabama. He followed his profession of engineering in various capacities up to August, 1893. At that time he was ap- pointed expert civil engineer for the railroad commis- sion of Texas, and rendered services to the commission until 1895. He resigned and accepted a place as chief engineer for the Galveston, LaPorte & Houston Railroad Company. In March, 1899, Mr. Simmons resigned this position to go as superintendent for the Arizona & New Mexico Railroad Company, with headquarters at Clifton, Arizona. That work held him during 1900 and 1901, and then in the spring of 1902 he resigned and came to El Paso as chief engineer for the El Paso & Southwestern Railroad. In the fall of the same year he was appointed general superintendent, and then, in December of 1906, became general manager of the system.

Mr. Simmons is a member of the Toltec and the El Paso Country Club, and he delights in outdoor sports and athletics of all kinds. He was married June 12, 1897, to Miss Nannie Christian, a native of Austin, Texas, and a daughter of Edward Christian, who was one of the pioneer settlers of Texas and formerly a well known business man at Austin. The two children of their marriage are Harwood and Edward Simmons. Mr. Simmons is a member of the State Historical Society. He owns a pleasant home at 1029 Rio Grande street, in El Paso. In politics he is a Democrat. Both he and his wife are fond of travel and they spend their va- cations usually in California.

OTTO H. THORMAN. On the basis of work performed and patronage accorded, Mr. Thorman is one of the most successful architects in the southwest, and yet a young man of but twenty-six years, and is really only at the beginning of a career which promises a very wide and useful field of professional service.

Otto H. Thorman was born April 12, 1887, at Wash- ington, Missouri, a son of Frederick aud Fannie (Langenberg) Thorman, of German stock and natives of Washington, Missouri, where they have spent all their lives. Frederick Thorman, the father, has been for many years engaged in the wholesale commission business at Washington, and his other son, Walter T. Thorman, is associated with him in business. Otto H. Thorman graduated from the high school in Washing- ton, Missouri, and then entered the Washington Uni- versity at St. Louis, subsequently becoming a student in the St. Louis Art Institute. During his career in college and university he devoted a part of his time to practical work as a draughtsman. His first practical experience in the line of his profession was with Mauran, Russell & Garden at St. Louis, and from this varied employment he paid his way through school. At nine- teen he began for himself, having in the meantime demonstrated his thorough talents and ability in archi- tecture and the related arts. The first field of his efforts was in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where be established his office. During the first two years at Albuquerque he drew the plans for a number of the high class and costly buildings, including the Shortle Sanitarium, cost- ing thirty thousand dollars; the Masonic Temple, cost- ing sixty thousand dollars; the Doctor Clark residence at a cost of twenty-five thousand dollars. In November, 1911, Mr. Thorman opened offices in El Paso, however, retaining the original establishment and his assistants in Albuquerque. He has a fine suite of rooms in the Robert Banner Building at El Paso, and has enjoyed even greater success here than in Albuquerque. Mr. Thorman has recently, in February, 1913, secured the work of designing and supervising the construction of the New Commercial National Bank and Office Build- ing, a structure which is to cost two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and will be completed during 1913. He has been architect for an apartment building con- structed in this city at a cost of thirty thousand dollars,

the Western Woodenware Company's warehouse at a cost of thirty thousand dollars; the residence of Charles Davis, of the Mexican style of architecture, costing twenty-five thousand dollars, and for many other buildings.

Mr. Thorman was one of the successful young archi- tects of the city, is very popular in business and social circles. He has membership in the El Paso Country Club and is especially fond of golf. He has a cultured taste in music and is an accomplished performer on the piano. El Paso, he thinks, is the greatest city of its size in the world, and is glad to give his assistance to any project for the continued advancement of this metropolis.

WILLIAM KILLGORE. One of the big men of Gaines- ville, Texas, big in every way-physically, mentally, morally and financially-is William Killgore, president and general manager of one of the most important houses of Gainesville. He has won his success by taking the hard road, industry, close attention to details, abso- lute honesty being some of the qualities through which he has won success. No one is more admired nor more thoroughly liked in Gainesville than is Mr. Killgore, for he has not only a fine personality but he is very public spirited and generous hearted, with many warm friends and admirers.

William Killgore was born in 1847 in east Tennessee, a son of James and Mary (Foucher) Killgore, both of whom were natives of Tennessee. James Killgore was a harness and saddle maker and did not come to Texas until after his son had moved here to live. It was in 1876 that the father came and he lived here until his death, which occurred in Gainesville in 1884. The mother died in Tennessee in 1852. They were the parents of four children, namely, Eliza J., who married a Mr. Holden and died in 1875, leaving two children who have since been orphaned by the death of the father; Laura, who became the wife of a Mr. McDonald and died in 1909, leaving one child; William and Hugh M., who died in 1884.

William Killgore grew up in Tennessee, where he received his education. He married Miss Mary Dobson in 1868, and with his young bride set out in the fol- lowing year for Texas. His brother Hugh accompanied them and they located near Dodd City, Texas, renting land from Major Dodd. Here they farmed for two years and then Mr. Killgore moved to Grayson, Texas, where he bought some land. He afterwards purchased one hundred and sixty acres of land near Grayson and went into the cattle business. He continued in this line until 1881, when misfortune overtook him and he lost his money and was forced to give up his ranch.

It was at this time that he came to Gainesville and here opened a small grocery store, his capital being $275. He was a hard worker, however, and soon his business began to increase. It continued to grow, for people began to discover where the best groceries and best serv- ice could be found. In 1902 he incorporated the busi- ness under the name of William Killgore Company, In- corporated, with a capital of $60,000, which he had made by his own efforts alone. In the meantime he had been building up a large trade throughout the surrounding country, shipping goods all over this section. He was elected president and general manager at the time of the incorporation, and has held these offices ever since. Mr. Killgore also organized a branch house at Marietta, Oklahoma, under the same firm name, but he has since sold this business and devotes his attention to the Gainesville business, which is the largest general mer- cantile establishment in the city.

Mr. Killgore takes the keenest interest in his landed estates and spends much time planning and carrying out improvements and in the management of his two large places. He owns an eighteen hundred-acre cattle ranch four miles from Gainesville, five hundred acres of

2057

TEXAS AND TEXANS

which are under cultivation. All of this land has been paid for and is worth $100,000. Here he raises wheat and oats and has made the place his hobby. He spends much of his time here and has added so many improve- ments that he has made it a show place in this section. At present he is building a $500 fish tank and expects to stock it with government fish. He also owns a smaller place of three hundred and fifty acres four miles south of the city which is worth $75 an acre. In addition to these properties, Mr. Killgore has built a whole block of brick buildings in the business section of Gainesville and he owns other business properties. He is also the owner of five residences which he rents and of his own beautiful home.

Mr. Killgore has always been very active in religious affairs. He is a member of the Christian church and has been for thirty-eight years, and is now a deacon in this church. He is one of the advisory board of Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas, and gives a great deal of money as well as time and personal inter- est to this institution. Politically he belongs to the Democratic party and he has served in the city council of Gainesville for two terms. In the fraternal world he is a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons and has been for many years. He also belongs to the Knights of Pythias.

Mrs. Killgore was a native of Kentucky. Her father died in that state years ago and her mother died in Gainesville at the home of Mr. Killgore in 1902. Mrs. Killgore was one of seven children and her death oc- curred on the 19th of April, 1911. Two children were adopted by Mrs. Killgore, namely, Maggie, who is the wife of Val Horton, a stockholder in the William Kill- gore Company, Incorporated, and Lucy A., who was married and had one child, both mother and child being now deceased. On September 21, 1913, Mr. Killgore married Miss Lucy Spires, who was born August 12, 1894, in Faulkner county, Arkansas, and there was raised and received her early education. She came to Texas in 1905 where she finished her education in St. Mary's Day School. She is a daughter of G. W. and Gertrude (Danley) Spires, the father a native of Mississippi and the mother of Arkansas. By occupation he is a farmer and they reside on their ranch north of Gainesville. Mrs. Killgore was the sixth in order of birth in a family of seven children, four daughters and three sons.

AARON STOLAROFF. As a citizen and business builder of El Paso, none have been better known or regarded with greater esteem than Aaron Stolaroff. In the busi- ness district at 112 San Antonio street is located the china palace of which he is proprietor. This is a whole- sale and retail establishment carrying a splendid stock of crockery, glassware, graniteware, tinware, and house furnishing goods. This establishment is not only a center of trade where the annual volume of sales repre- sent a tidy little fortune, but to a large number of El Paso citizens this store stands for the business home of a man of sterling character and one who came to El Paso a little more than twenty years ago a poor young man from a foreign land and whose energy and integrity have won him a splendid success.

· Aaron Stolaroff was born August 24, 1862, at Ko- idanow, in Minisk, Russia, a son of Fabian and Toibe Stolaroff. The father, who was a cabinetmaker, fol- lowed his trade and lived quietly in his native city until death came to him there in 1873. The mother is now a resident at Jerusalem, in Palestine. There were three sons who composed this worthy family, and the other two were Joaquim, who is owner of the large Boston Department Store at El Paso, and Isaac, who is a Jewish rabbi and a prominent author and religious au- thority among his people.

Mr. Aaron Stolaroff received such education as the primary schools in his home city afforded. Lack of advantages, however, have interfered little with a man Vol. IV-30

whose intellectual energy has never been dulled, and who has carried with him through all his experiences a natural curiosity which he has satisfied by extensive observation and by almost constant reading in the litera- ture of various tongues. He has devoted all his spare time to study and reading, and is thoroughly versed in history, and speaks fluently five languages-English, German, Hebrew, Spanish and Russian.

Mr. Stolaroff arrived at New York City on the 10th of May, 1890, and received his first impression of America and experiences in New York City, where he remained six months. From that city he came west to El Paso, arriving here with practically no capital, al- though with considerable business experience, which at once became valuable to him. His brother Joaquim had come to El Paso in 1886, and was already established in the china and glassware business. Under his brother, Aaron began his career in El Paso, and at the end of eight months as a clerk had progressed so far that his brother turned over to him the management of the busi- ness. At that time Aaron bought a half interest in the establishment, and at the end of five years had become sole owner. He has built up a splendid establishment and there is nothing superior to it in the entire south- west. They have lately established a new warehouse with over four thousand square feet, and a new store with six thousand square feet of floor space, located at 109 South Oregon street, in the rear of their present china parlors. Fourteen people find steady employment in this store. The average value of stock carried is more than forty thousand dollars, and a large wholesale trade is carried on throughout Texas, Mexico, New Mexico, and Arizona. Along with his success as a business man and merchant, Mr. Stolaroff has acquired large and valuable interests in real estate and residence properties in El Paso and at Cloudcroft, in Mexico, and is one of the large stockholders in the Ascot Valley Land and Improvement Company.

The secret of Mr. Stolaroff's success as a merchant is not only due to his native ability in trade, but per- haps even more to his unusual energy and application. For twenty-three years, ever since coming to El Paso, he has been on duty at his place of business at seven o'clock in the morning, every day, with only one ex- ception, the period spent in 1912 on a vacation travel, when he traveled throughout Europe and the Holy Land, visiting his mother in Jerusalem. Mr. Stolaroff has a life membership in the Elks Club of El Paso, is a Mason with thirty-two degrees of the Scottish Rite, and a member of the Mystic Shrine; also a member of the Maccabees and one of the founders of the Jewish Syna- gogne at El Paso. Both socially and in business circles there is no citizen of El Paso who enjoys more thorough respect and esteem than Mr. Stolaroff.

He delights in his home and family, and is said to possess one of the finest and largest private libraries in this city. In this modern world, when mien are so ab- sorbed in business activities, it is a pleasure to con- template the life of a man whose own energies have been so persistently directed to business, and yet who has found time and opportunity amid the many dis- tracting cares of business life to devote hours to study and the wholesome recreation furnished by books.

Mr. Stolaroff was married in his native city in Russia on November 1, 1888, to Miss Sarah Schnarzbord. They are properly proud of their fine family of four children, whose names and positions are briefly mentioned as fol- lows: Annie, who is a graduate of the Institute of Musical Art of New York City with the class of 1910, and an accomplished young lady is a leader in El Paso society; Mary, who graduated from the El Paso High School and the State Normal at San Marcos, Texas, is also an accomplished musician, and is now the wife of Harry Hyman, of Waco; Rose is a graduate of the State Normal and now a student in the University of Texas, at Austin, she having graduated from the

2058

TEXAS AND TEXANS

Normal College at the age of seventeen; Solomon, the only son, is now a student in the eighth grade of the El Paso public schools.

GEORGE R. LE BARON. Texas in the eyes of George R. Le Baron, of El Paso, is certainly the land for young men. He is barely thirty and is ranked among the live and successful business men of that city. He is filled with the modern spirit of progress and with the en- thusiasm which belongs to young men has handled his real estate business in such a way as to merit and win the admiration and respect of his business associates. With the solid foundation of real value which the real estate business in Texas, or at least in the section in which he operates, is built upon, Mr. Le Baron, with the use of energy, good advertising, a thorough knowl- edge of the field, and tireless attention to business, has been the cause of considerable exchange of property, with the resultant benefits to the city.

George R. Le Baron was born in Pensacola, Florida, on the 25th of October, 1881. He passed an uneventful boyhood, except that his ambition always urged him to get out into the world and accomplish something. He received his elementary education in the public schools of Pensacola, but he had to leave school as a young boy. Feeling that he would never make anything of himself with so scanty an education, he went to work and earned the money to go through St. Barnard's School, at Cullman, Alabama, and also to take a special course at this school. He later had a course in Rock Hill College, in Baltimore, Maryland. Upon leaving school he returned to his home in Florida and found employment in a small real estate office in Pensacola. He remained here until he was twenty years of age, when he went to Alabama and entered the iron and steel business. He was thus engaged for about two years, at the end of which time he returned to Pensa- cola, this time only for a short stay of one year.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

A history of Texas and Texans, Part 143

Author: Johnson, Francis White, 1799-1884; Barker, Eugene Campbell, 1874-1956, ed; Winkler, Ernest William, 1875-1960 Publication date: 1914 Publisher: Chicago, American Historical Society Number of Pages: 906

Author: Johnson, Francis White, 1799-1884; Barker, Eugene Campbell, 1874-1956, ed; Winkler, Ernest William, 1875-1960
Publication date: 1914
Publisher: Chicago, American Historical Society
Number of Pages: 906