A history of Texas and Texans, Part 61

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 61

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minor places of responsibility until 1906. He came to Wichita Falls in that year and established an office in the real estate, oil, and cotton business, and by his square methods of doing business has built up a large trade, and is considered one of the best men in his line in the county.

He has taken an active part in Democratic politics, and has served as delegate to the state convention. Fra- ternally he is a Knight Templar Mason and a Shriner, and also affiliated with the Benevolent and Progressive Order of Elks. He is a member of the Wichita Falls Commercial Club, and his church is the Presbyterian.

In Wichita Falls, March, 1908, Mr. Stehlik married Miss Johnnie Berry, whose father was a farmer and now resides at Fort Worth. The four children of Mr. and Mrs. Stehlik are: Melba Ruth, born at Wichita Falls, January 15, 1909; Otto and Williard, twins, born August 28, 1910; and Thelma May, born March 6, 1913, Wichita Falls being the birthplace of all the children. Mr. Stehlik is very fond of all outdoor pursuits, and is a man whose career with its great promise of success is still largely before him.

EDGAR P. HANEY. One of the best managed and most influential newspapers of North Texas is the Wichita Searchlight, the founder of which is Edgar P. Haney, who has had an active career in journalism and in educa- tional work during the past ten years. Mr. Haney is a young man a little more than thirty, and yet has accom- plished many things that stamp him as a man of ability and worthy achievements.

Edgar P. Haney was born at Prospect, in Clay county, Texas, February 3, 1882. His parents were Wallace W. and Candace Myria Haney, both of whom were reared in Tennessee, and were among the pioneer settlers of Clay county. Mr. Haney attended the local schools of north Texas, and in May, 1902, was graduated from the Oakland high school at Oakland, Oklahoma. For several consecutive summers he attended summer nor- mals and his first professional experience was in teach- ing. He spent five years as superintendent of schools at Byers, Texas. During the school sessions of 1907- '08-'09, Mr. Haney was a student in the University of Texas. In the meantime on October 13, 1905, he had established at Wichita Falls the Searchlight and is now president and general manager of the Searchlight Pub- lishing Company, printers and publishers.

While his work as a publisher and as a teacher has absorbed much of his time, Mr. Haney has also taken a prominent part in public affairs, particularly in state legislation. He represented the One Hundredth District two terms in the lower house of the legislature, being first elected in 1910, and re-elected in 1912. At Austin, Mr. Haney was chairman of the committee on education during the thirty-second legislature, and during the thirty-third session was chairman of constitutional amendments. To his credit must be assigned the author- ship of the text book law, the rural high school law, and the bill raising the scholastic age. All of these are progressive measures increasing the efficiency and scope of Texas educational system. In politics Mr. Haney is what is called a Progressive Democrat. He has mem- bership in the Texas Press Association, and fraternally has been a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows since 1904, having served as district deputy from 1908-1909. He is also affiliated with the Wood- men of the World, the Modern Woodmen of America, and the Knights of Pythias. Mr. Haney and family worship in the Methodist Episcopal Church south.

At his native town of Prospect in Clay county, on June 25, 1902, Mr. Haney married a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. J. A. Blalack, of Prospect, her parents hav- ing been pioneers of Clay county. Mr. and Mrs. Haney have known each other since infancy, were reared in the same neighborhood and attended the same local school. Their three children are: Leo Draper Haney, aged ten;

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Gladys Fae Haney, age six; and Mary Louise Haney, age two.

JOSEPH E. DANIEL, M. D. A physician and surgeon with a good record and with a growing clientage in Wichita Falls, Dr. Daniel is a native Texan, was reared in the northeastern part of the state, and has been ac- tively identified with his profession for more than ten years.

Joseph E. Daniel was born in Red River county, Texas, May 31, 1878, a son of W. C. and Mary (Parker) Daniel. At Clarksville Texas, resides his parents, his father at the age of seventy-eight and his mother at the age of seventy-three, both hale and hearty old people, who have well carried the responsibilities of life, and have been blessed with a large family. They had fifteen children, of whom the doctor was one of twins, and the tenth in order of birth. The father and mother were both born in Georgia, and after the Civil war moved to Texas and located in Red River county. That was before the first railroad line was built through that section of the state, and the father was for many years active as a farmer and stock raiser. During the Civil war he enlisted in the Seventeenth Louisiana Regiment, served from the be- ginning to the end, and was never wounded. He fought at Shiloh, was at the Siege of Vicksburg, and partici- pated in many other engagements of that long and bloody war.

Dr. Daniel was reared in Red River county, attended the local schools, and then lived at home and by hard work obtained part of the means which enabled him to complete his preparation for his profession. He' entered the Memphis Medical College, where he was graduated in 1901, and subsequently took post graduate work at New Orleans in 1903, and in 1907. His first practice was in his home county of Red River, where he remained for five years. He then moved to Olney, where he spent another five years and built up an excellent business. In 1910 he came to Wichita Falls, and has since come into favor of a great many residents of this vicinity. He has membership in the Wichita County Medical Society and the State Medical Society. His fraternal affiliations are with the Knights of Pythias, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and the Benevolent and Protective Or- der of Elks. His church is the Methodist Episcopal South, and in politics he is a Democrat. Besides his private practice Dr. Daniel serves the Wichita Southern Life Insurance Company as its medical director.

At Olney, Texas, December 19, 1909, Dr. Daniel mar- ried Miss Estella Campbell, a daughter of W. T. and Frances (Wolf) Campbell. The parents of Mrs. Daniel still live at Olney, and were formerly residents of Lamar county.

CLIFFORD BRALY. Although Clifford Braly is one of the younger attorneys in Dalhart, Texas, he is one of the most successful and popular, not only in Dalhart, but also in this section of the state. A professional man who has started out a poor boy in life must always be credited with an unusual amount of courage and per- severance, for the way of the student who would be- come a lawyer or a doctor is long and wearisome, and what is perhaps of more importance, expensive. That Clifford Braly won his struggle by his own efforts, is only another way of saying that he has the qualities necessary to success. A hard and close student, a bril- liant lawyer, and a conscientious business man, Mr. Braly has made a high place for himself in Dalhart.

Clifford Braly is a native of Texas, having been born in Milam county, on the 12th of July, 1881. His father W. T. Bralv came to Texas in 1880, when the state was just beginning to attract attention. He is a farmer and is living in Milam county, Texas, having reached the age of fifty-six. He married Mary Louise Frierson, who was born in Lee county, Mississippi, he himself also being a native of that state. Mrs. Braly is now aged

fifty and lives with her husband in Milam county. Of the six children born to this union Clifford Braly was the eldest child.

When the lad was old enough he was sent to the common schools of Milam county, and after completing the work offered in their curriculum, he left school temporarily, and entered the attorney general's office at Austin. Here he remained for five years and dur- ing this time he studied law. At the end of this period he matriculated in the law department of the Univer- sity of Virginia, where he was a student for one year. He then returned to Austin, this being in 1905, and entered the land office, serving here for several months. He next entered the treasury department and served under state treasurer Robbins and remained here from the fall of 1905 to June, 1906. In 1905 he entered the University of Texas attending lectures as many hours as possible when not on duty in the State Treasurer's office. After finishing his examination in June, he was nomi- nated for the state legislature to which he was elected during that year 1906.

He served in this thirtieth legislature which convened in July, 1907, as the flotorial representative from Milam and Robertson counties for one term. In the fall of 1907, he came to Amarillo, Texas, and began the prac- tice of law. He was thus engaged until 1909, during the summer which year he removed to Dalhart, and there he has been living ever since. He has built up a flourishing practice and has won many friends since coming to this section. In connection with a general law practice, Mr. Braly together with his associate, W. B. Chauncey, are the local attorneys for the Fort Worth and Denver City Railway Company for Dallam and Hartley counties. He has interested himself in busi- ness matters to the extent of being vice-president of the Rowe Hardware Company, one of the important firms of Dalhart.

In politics Mr. Braly is a Democrat and has always taken a keen interest in the welfare of his party. He is a member of the national college fraternity, Sigma Alpha Epsilon, and belongs to the Arrowhead Club at the State University. He is also a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and the Knights of Pythias.

On the 14th of June, 1910, Mr. Braly was married to Miss Mabelle Allison Cousidine, at Amarillo, Texas. Mrs. Braly is a daughter of Thomas J. and Angela Considine, who are living in Amarillo, where Mr. Con- sidine is director of the United States Weather Bureau. Two sons, Clifford Braly, Jr., and Thomas Considine have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Braly, the elder born on the 16th of May, 1911, in Dalhart, and the younger October 12, 1913.

HARRY PORTER NOAKE. In that group of business men who might be accounted the founders and upbuilders of El Paso's commercial prosperity during the last thirty years, the late Harry Porter Noake had a con- spicuous rank. Mr. Noake came to this city a quarter of a century ago, at an early period in its modern prog- ress, and established here a manufacturing plant, which under his supervision and active control became one of the largest and most prosperous of the kind in the south- west, and at which he continued to be the head until bis death.

Harry Porter Noake, whose death occurred at his home in El Paso October 8, 1911, was born at St. Thomas, Canada, May 13, 1858. The family moved to near Cleveland when he was a boy, and in that city he grew up and attained his education. At an early age he was apprenticed to learn the carriage manufacturing trade, and became thoroughly skilled in that work. After a considerable experience in his regular line of manu- facturing, Mr. Noake came to El Paso in 1888, and in this young western city established the H. P. Noake Car- riage Manufacturing. That industry absorbed the greater

Harry P. Acake

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part of his time and energy for more than twenty years and its success was largely a monument to his ability as a business builder.

In Socorro, New Mexico, on July 31, 1884, Mr. Noake married Miss Elvenie MeGalliard, a daughter of H. D. and Carrie (Zeigler) MeGalliard. Her father was born in Franklin, Warren connty, Ohio, in June, 1837, and her mother is a native of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, but they were married at Troy, Ohio. The mother and father are still living, making their home in El Paso. The one child of Mr. and Mrs. Noake is now Mrs. Carrie Adine Stafford, wife of T. J. Stafford of El Paso, where he is engaged in the banking business. The late Mr. Noake was affiliated with the Masonie Order through the thirty- two degrees of Scottish Rite and York Rite, and the various subordinate branches, and was also a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. In politics he always maintained an independent attitude. A branch of his retail and wholesale business was maintained in Chihuahua, Mexico. At the time of his death, Mr. Noake had become one of the wealthy men of the city, and left his family in very comfortable circumstances. By his large business operations he had become well known over a wide extensive country throughout the southwest, and while admired for his business success he was likewise esteemed for the thorough integrity which accompanied and characterized all of his transactions and relations with the business world.

ELMORE PATRICK GREENWOOD. A degree of success in business such as most men attain only at the high tide of their career has been vouchsafed to Mr. Greenwood before completing his thirties. He began to lay the foundation of success when a boy, borrowing money in order to complete his schooling, and working hard for every stage of advancement. His steady persistence has won him a place among the representative business men of North Texas, with the best part of his life before him in which to magnify his success. Mr. Greenwood is now active vice president and general manager of the Wichita Southern Life Insurance Company, and is well known among insurance circles throughout the south- west.

Elmore Patrick Greenwood was born at Cassville, in Barry county, Missouri, August 4, 1875, and is of Scotch- Irish ancestry. His father, John F. Greenwood, was born in Bentonville, Arkansas, and during the Civil war moved to Missouri. He was a Confederate during the war, and was a son of a distinguished Arkansas citizen. Grandfather Alfred B. Greenwood was for eight years a representative in congress from the northern district of Arkansas, and during President Buchanan's adminis- tration served as commissioner of Indian affairs. John F. Greenwood, was a blacksmith by trade, but followed the lumber business for many years, and in 1877 came to Texas, settling in Red River county, where he still has his home. He is a Democrat in politics. The maiden name of his wife was Miss Florence Wright, who was born in Lynchburg, Virginia, and who died in Red River county at the age of forty-seven, in February, 1896. There were eleven children, of whom Elmore P. was the fourth.

As a boy he spent all his years in Red River county, grew up in the country, attended the common schools, and later secured the means to complete his education in a high school. At the age of eighteen he started out for himself, qualifying for teaching, and practiced that profession with success and ability in Hopkins county for seven years. During that time he took up the study of law for two years, but never entered the profession, which did not prove thoroughly tasteful to him. From teaching he entered the life insurance field as a coun- try solicitor. He first wrote business for the Equitable Life of New York. He began in life insurance in 1903, and from the beginning showed exceptional adapt- ability and successful powers in that line. From a coun-

try solicitor he went ahead, was soon known as one of the largest business getters in Texas, and eventually became the chief spirit in the organization of the Wichita Southern Life Insurance Company, of which he has since been active vice president and . general manager. He devoted all his time and attention to this company, and its record is one of which both he and the entire city of Wichita Falls may well be proud.

Mr. Greenwood is a Democrat in politics, and when twenty years old, and while teaching school, served a term as justice of the peace in Hopkins county. He resigned from the office before the expiration of his term. Fraternally he is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias Lodge at Sulphur Springs, with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Sulphur Springs. He is also an in- fluential member of the Chamber of Commerce, and is on the board of stewards of the Methodist Church South in Wichita Falls.

November 12, 1899, at Pine Forest, in Hopkins county, he married Miss Edna E. Minter, a native of Texas, and a daughter of R. A. and Susan E. Minter, who came from Georgia, and were among the early settlers of Hop- kins county. The three children born to Mr. and Mrs. Greenwood are: Ruby Ethel, born December 31, 1900, at Pine Forest ; Patrick Minter, born October 4, 1906, in Sulphur Springs; and Elizabeth, born August 10, 1908, at Sulphur Springs.

JAMES C. A. GUEST, M. D. With professional con- nections of the highest order, Dr. Guest, since 1906, has become one of the leading physicians and surgeons of Wichita Falls. His ability and experience are backed by a talent for making one's services count for the most profitable, so that his success has never been a matter of doubt.

James C. A. Guest was born in the state of Texas at Kingston, December 13, 1873. He is a son of Joseph J. and Mary T. (Williams) Guest, the father a native of Texas, and the son of a pioneer, and the mother a native of Arkansas. The father is a lumber dealer, and a successful man, and now has his home at Haskell, is a Democrat in politics, and is a member of the Methodist Church South. The mother is also still living. The old- est of eight children, Dr. James C. A. Guest received his early education in the public schools of Celeste, and also attended high school, and in 1903 was gradnated M. D. from the Memphis Hospital Medical College. Immediately on graduating he began practicing at Lingleville, Texas, where he was in practice for three years, and in the fall of 1906 moved to Wichita Falls where he has since enjoyed a large general practice. In 1910, he took post graduate work in the New Orleans Polyelinie. He is a member of the Wichita County Medical Society, the Texas State Medical Society, and is examiner for a number of insurance companies, in- eluding the Amicable of Waco. the Guarantee Life of Houston, the Great Southern Insurance Company, the San Antonio Life Insurance Company, and is also ex- aminer for the Woodmen and the Woodmen's Cirele. and for the Wichita Southern Life Insurance Company. Fraternally the doctor is well known as a member of. Masonry, and has taken all the degrees of the York Rite including the Mystic Shrine, belongs to the Eastern Star, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Knights of Pythias, the Woodmen of the World, and the Knights and Ladies of Honor. His connections with social and official activities comprise also membership in the local Chamber of Commerce. He is a steward and has served during the past year as chairman of the Board of Stewards of the Methodist Episcopal Church South at Wichita Falls.

At Sulphur Springs, Texas, June 28, 1897, Dr. Guest married Miss Minnie May Sweeton. Mrs. Guest was born in Tennessee, but was reared and educated in Texas, her father being Rev. J. M. Sweeton. Their

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one son James Wilbur, was born in Wichita Falls, Feb- ruary 3, 1913. Dr. Guest owns a comfortable home at 1602 Tenth Street, and his offices are in the Kemp- Kell Building.

REV. CONSTANTINE MARTIN BEYER, pastor of St. Paul's Lutheran Church, Wichita Falls, Texas, was born August 24, 1882, at Altenburg, Perry county, Missouri, son of George M. and Sarah (Kramer) Beyer, the former a native of Bavaria and the latter of Saxony. George M. Beyer was brought to America by his parents about 1851, when about eight months of age, and was reared and educated at Fort Wayne, Indiana, where his par- ents settled. His whole life has been devoted to the work of teaching. For forty-three years he was a parochial school teacher at Altenburg, the cradle of the Missouri Synod of the Lutheran Church, and the past ten years he has been retired, still living at Altenburg. His wife was about one year old when she came to America with her parents, their settlement being at Altenburg, where she was reared and married and where she is still living. They became the parents of twelve children, of whom Constantine M. was the eleventh born and is one of the nine now living.

Constantine M. Beyer received his primary education in the parochial school, under his father's instruction, and remained at Altenburg until he was fifteen. At that age he was sent to Concordia College at Fort Wayne, Indiana, where he spent six years, and following which term he took a theological course at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Missouri. He graduated at the last named institution in the spring of 1906, and in September of that year he entered the ministry and took charge of the mission field extending from Big Spring to Abilene, Texas. After five years of efficient work there, he was transferred to his present charge at Wichita Falls. He is the fourth pastor of this church, which now has a mem- bership of 145, and which under his pastorate is in a flourishing condition.

Mr. Beyer is an aggressive worker and exerts an in- fluence for good that touches alike the old and the young people of his own congregation and also is felt outside his own immediate charge. Ardent sincere earnestness characterizes all his work. He resides at 1411 Eleventh street, Wichita Falls, and is enthusiastic over the future outlook for this city. Mr. Beyer is unmarried.

G. C. DAVIS. All his life G. C. Davis has spent in Texas, where he was born in Robertson county, on De- cember 31, 1884, and in consideration of his early ad- vantages, or the lack of them, it must be conceded that he has made an exceptional nse of such opportunities as came knocking at his door. He is today, by common consent, regarded as the leading real estate operator in these parts, and he is known to be a genuine builder and booster, sparing no efforts to further the progress of his town and county. He was only twenty-two years of age when he first identified himself with real estate activities in Byers. Having been up to that time occu- pied in the operation of his mother's stock farm in Archer county, the young man proved that he had within him qualities that ever make for success, and he has forged rapidly ahead in the years that have passed.

G. C. Davis is the son of John E. and Mollie (Sim- mons) Davis, both natives of the state of Georgia. In 1882 the father came to Texas, and all his life he was engaged in farming. He died in 1899, when he was only fifty-one years old, and is buried in Archer county. He met and married his wife in Georgia, and she died in July, 1911, aged about sixty-eight years. She was a lifelong member of the Primitive Baptist church and was a devout churchwoman and a genuine Christian char- acter. Seven children were born to John and Mollie Davis, and of that number G. C. is the youngest.

The public schools of his native community afforded to G. C. Davis such education as he received, and he

did not extend his attendance thereon beyond the age of seventeen years. From then until he was twenty- two years of age he remained at home and busied him- self with the care of his mother's stock farm after the death of his father in 1899, and in 1906, he came to Byers, here becoming identified with the real estate business in which he has since continued with much suc- cess. In addition to that department of his business, Mr. Davis also operates throughout the county as an insurance man.

Mr. Davis is the owner of some exceptionally valuable farm lands in and about the county, and is everywhere recognized as oue of the most enterprising and success- tul young men of the county. Not merely as a coming man, but as one who has already arrived.

A Democrat, as any man should be who writes the initial "C" after the Christiau name of Grover, he gives his moral support to the principles of the party, but is not active in the party ranks save as a voter. He is a member of the Commercial Club, and is espe- cially interested and active in any movement planned to further the best interests of Byers, and with a view to aiding in its growth and prosperity. He and his wife are members af the Methodist Episcopal church.

Mr. Davis was married in Wichita Falls, Texas, on June 15, 1907, to Miss Hattie King, the daughter of I. C. King and his wife, residents of Denton, and of an old Pioneer Texas family. They have had two children Ed- win Q., now deceased, and Lucile.

Mr. and Mrs. Davis have an excellent social standing in Byers, where they have a host of good friends who love them for their many excellent traits, and they par- ticipate in the representative social activities of the com- munity.

JOHN C. WATTS. In the sudden and tragic death on Sunday morning, July 7, 1912, of John C. Watts, Tex- arkana lost one of its best loved citizens. Mr. Watts, while prominent and successful in business and civic affairs, was best known to his fellow citizens for the sterling integrity and intrinsic beauty of his character. After his death many were heard to remark that "he was the best man in Texarkana." He possessed to a peculiar degree the very attributes of a good man in the general estimation. He was generous to a fault; his kindness was conspicuous on every occasion; he was never known to hold a grudge. Among all classes of citizenship he was held in affection. The colored people of Texarkana not only respected him, but would do any- thing in order to serve him and gain his commenda- tion. On the morning of his death Mr. Watts had just placed upon a train his daughter Lizzie who was start- ing on a visit. As he stepped from the train he was struck and run over by a locomotive in the Cotton Belt yards and was instantly killed .. The circumstances of the event were especially grievous to his wife and children, and as a matter of fact, to the entire eiti- zenship of Texarkana.

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A history of Texas and Texans, Part 61

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