USA > Texas > Tarrant County > Fort Worth > History of Texas : Fort Worth and the Texas northwest edition, Volume III > Part 20
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FRED MAKIN has been a factor in Fort Worth's essential industries for a period of fifteen years, is a busy and public spirited citi- zen and is a representative of the city's manu- facturing industries, being junior partner in the firm of Lauritzen & Makin, owners of one of the leading planing mills in this section of the state.
Mr. Makin was born in England in 1874. He received some of his education in his native country, but in 1885 was taken to Can- ada and lived there for seven years, until he was nearly grown. For several years he had his home at Rochester, New York, and also in St. Louis, Missouri, and in 1905 came to Fort Worth to take charge of the Fort Worth Planing Mill. He acquired his first experience as an operative in a planing mill when a youth, and his familiarity with that industry is the result of fully thirty years of work and man- agement. He remained with the Fort Worth Planing Mill until 1912, when he and Mr. Lauritzen established their present business. They have a modernly equipped plant, employ a large force of hands, and the quality of their service and output brought them a steadily increasing business.
Mr. Makin married Miss Mattie Harris. By this marriage he has a son, Clarence H. In 1905 he married Lillian See, and they have
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two children, Raynard and Marjorie E. Mr. Makin is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias and is a member of the Fort Worth Rotary Club.
V. LAURITZEN. An industry that goes far toward giving complete effectiveness to the industrial efficiency of the City of Fort Worth is the extensive wood working and planing mill plant of the firm Lauritzen & Makin. The senior member of this firm has had a practical experience in the operation of plan- ing mill equipment over thirty years, and has been a busy citizen of Fort Worth since 1905.
He was born in Denmark, October 26, 1873, and was thirteen years of age when he came to America in 1886. After living for a time in Chicago he removed to Springfield, Illinois, and in that city was employed for twelve years in a planing mill, going through and acquiring a practical knowledge of every detail of the industry.
Mr. Lauritzen came to Fort Worth in 1905 to take charge of the Southwestern Planing Mill. After a year he became manager of the Texas Planing Mill, and was with that firm until 1912, when he and Fred Makin organized the firm of Lauritzen & Makin and began the business which they have carried forward by progressive stages until they have one of the most reliable plants of the kind in Texas. They employ a large force of men, work up immense quantities of raw lumber, and send their products to all the towns and communities around Fort Worth.
In 1895 Mr. Lauritzen married Miss Hulda Arnesen, a native of Norway. They are the parents of three children, Arthur W., Mabel and Helen. Mr. Lauritzen is a representative of the planing mill interests in membership in the Fort Worth Rotary Club. He is active in fraternal affairs, being a Royal Arch Mason, Knight of Pythias, and a member of the D. O. K. K., the Yeomen, the Modern Wood- men of America, Royal Neighbors and East- ern Star.
HOMER LYNE. Homer Lyne has supplied most of the initiative and aggressive business ability that has enabled him from a modest start in the automobile supply business, with only a few hundred dollars capital, to develop one of the leading institutions of the kind in the state known as the Texas Automobile Sup- ply Company of Fort Worth, of which he is president Mr. Lyne acquired his early busi- ness training in Fort Worth, later was in the
East for several years, and made a success as an individual salesman before he returned to Fort Worth to take up his present business endeavors.
He was born at Palestine, Texas, August 19, 1899, son of John P. and Ida (Mayfield) Lyne, the former a native of Pennsylvania and the latter of Texas. His father died when about fifty-three and his mother at fifty-one. Homer is the youngest of three children, all of whom are still living. He was seven years of age when the family came to Fort Worth and he attended the grammar and high schools of the city.
Mr. Lyne was thirteen when he went to work in one of the first packing houses at Fort Worth. Subsequently he was collector for the local telephone company. For several years he carried on the study of medicine but did not complete his studies, finding a more congenial field in commercial lines. On leav- ing Texas he went east to Richmond, Virginia, and for about a year was timekeeper with the locomotive works. During 1909 he was a book salesman and then joined the Richmond Sales Company of New York City, selling vacuum cleaners. For over a year he trav- eled for this firm as an individual salesman and then on his record was made branch man- ager at Rochester, New York.
Mr. Lyne returned to Fort Worth in 1911, and with only $800 of capital at his com- mand began dealing in automobile supplies and accessories. He has been in business now for nine years and every year has witnessed a notable increase and expansion of his com- pany's affairs. In 1912 the business was in- corporated, a stock company with a capital of $9,000. At that time a competitive business was acquired. In 1915 the capital was in- creased to $25,000, in 1919 another increase to $75,000 was made, and at the present time the Texas Automobile Supply Company is a wholesale concern, and recently the capital was increased to $200,000. .
Mr. Lyne is one of Fort Worth's public spirited and progressive business men and citizens. He is a popular member of the Fort Worth Club, Glen Garden Country Club, the Rotary Club, is a prominent Mason, having achieved the thirty-second degree of Scottish Rite and is a member of the Shrine and also belongs to the Elks.
ALFONSE AUGUST. Permanent residents of Fort Worth and many who have temporarily sojourned in the city at any time within the
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past thirty years know by name at least Alfonse August and the business conducted under his name, a high class clothing and men's furnishing store that has been a familiar institution in the shopping district for years.
Mr. August was born in Germany but was brought to the United States when a child. He grew up and received his education in the public schools of New York City, and also attended school after coming to Fort Worth, where he has lived for thirty years. He ac- quired a thorough business training here, and eventually engaged in the clothing business, a business widely known as the A. and L. August Clothing Company, of which he is president. Out of his prosperity Mr. August has also contributed to the upbuilding of Fort Worth as a commercial center. He is builder and owner of the August Building and also of the Handsome Majestic Theater. He is a member of the Fort Worth Chamber of Com- merce, Knights of Pythias, Credit Men's Association, is a director in the Texas State Bank and in the West India Cigar Company of New York and Porto Rico. He is a mem- ber of the River Crest Country Club and the Young Men's Christian Association. Mr. August married Miss Hattie Bann, of Roches- ter, New York.
S. A. MENCZER is president of the Collins- ville Manufacturing Company, a large metal industry of Fort Worth. Mr. Menczer learned the sheet metal trade as a boy in Dallas and has been identified with the business through- out his mature career. He is also well known in oil circles.
He was born at New Orleans, Louisiana, June 23, 1870, son of Jacob and Regina (Hecht) Menczer. His father was a native of Hungary, came to America and located at New Orleans in 1865, but in 1872 moved to Dallas, Texas, where he lived until his death in 1890. His wife died in 1916. Of their six children one died in infancy and S. A. Menczer was the fourth child.
He was two years of age when his parents moved to Dallas, and that city he knew as his first environment. He was educated in the public schools and as a boy began an appren- ticeship at the sheet metal trade. After serv- ing his time he traveled about the country as a journeyman, but in 1902 became associated as general manager of the Collinsville Manu- facturing Company. He did much to build up that local industry of Fort Worth and in
1914 bought out the business and has since been principal owner. The plant has an equip- ment for every class of work in sheet metal and fireproof building supplies, and the busi- ness is one employing about thirty people.
Mr.Menczer is president of the Contractors Oil Company and the Sixteen Oil Company and is owner of real estate properties both in Dallas and Fort Worth.
In 1911 he married Miss Lulu Reeve, of Albia, Iowa. He is affiliated with the Elks, the Knights of Pythias and the Rotary Club, and is a member of the Jewish Church.
MELVILLE E. PETERS. One of the wealthiest and fastest growing cities in the country, Wichita Falls has attracted able men in al! the walks of life to share in its activities. One of them is Melville E. Peters, who for nearly a quarter of a century was a leading lawyer of Denver before coming to Wichita Falls.
Mr. Peters was born at Hillsdale, Michigan., in 1870. His parents, William J. and Roxey (Troup) Peters, were natives of the State of New York. He grew up in Southern Michi- gan, was educated in public schools, and grad- uated in law with the class of 1891 from the University of Michigan. For several years he practiced at Coldwater, Michigan, but in 1894 moved to Denver, Colorado, and was a resident of that western city twenty-four years, and all the time had his law offices in one building. He handled a large general practice as a lawyer and was known as an attorney of solid substantial attainments, ap- pearing regularly in important litigation in the various State and Federal courts.
In the meantime Mr. Peters had been attracted by the growing prominence of Wichita Falls, and having a great faith in the future of that city and Texas in general, moved south in 1918, and his talents and abil- ities soon opened a wav for a large profes- sional program, in which he is now engaged. Mr. Peters is also a member of the Chamber of Commerce, the Wichita County Bar Asso- ciation, and the Wichita and University clubs. He married Miss Lola Johnson, of Illinois.
SHEKAR S. KOURI. A great deal of romance surrounds the oil industry when it is viewed from a distance, but those who are connected with its everyday operation realize that it is governed by the same principles as any other line of business. There are honest men in it, and those who do not hesitate to defraud
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when an opportunity arises, but the ones who gain a permanent standing in the development of oil interests must work and plan just as they are compelled to do in many other indus- tries of the country. At Wichita Falls there are certain men whose names, as connected with the oil industry, are synonyms for up- rightness, ability and practical experience, and whose lives stand out as examples for others to follow. One of these is Shekar S. Kouri, who is ranked throughout the oil circles of Texas and Oklahoma as an expert on the location and development of oil properties.
Shekar S. Kouri was born in the Town of Mardjoun, Syria, in 1879, and is a descend- ant of one of the highest caste families of ancient Syria. The place where he was born is twelve miles from the River Jordan. There he was reared, and he was carefully educated in the Syrian College of Damascus.
In 1895 Mr. Kouri came to the United States and for a time lived in New York City but left there in 1897 for Texas, first locating at Terrell, where he was engaged in a business enterprise. From there he went to Oklahoma and was the principal builder of the Town of Duke in Jackson County. Having completed that undertaking he went to Duncan, Okla- homa, and embarked in the oil business, and has since then continued to devote himself to this line. In 1915 he located permanently at Wichita Falls, and has invested in some producing land of great value. He is a man of the utmost practical experience in the oil business, and his remarkable success has been fairly attained. Mr. Kouri belongs to the Wichita Falls Cham- ber of Commerce, and through it is rendering an effective service in securing further im- provements for the city. A Mason, he has attained to the Knight Templar degree and is a member of Maskat Temple, Wichita Falls. Like so many of the oil producers of the Wichita Falls district, Mr. Kouri is an edu- cated gentleman who could have made a name for himself in one or other of the learned pro- fessions had he cared to enter them. Using his knowledge of books and men in his business he has forged ahead, and stands today one of the leaders in the oil industry of Northwest Texas.
ORVILLE BULLINGTON came to Wichita Falls before it was known as a center of the petroleum industry, and for more than ten years has practiced law. He is senior member of the law firm Bullington, Boone, Humphrey & Hoffman, one of the busiest law firms in North Texas.
Mr. Bullington is a native of Texas, son of W. I. Bullington. He graduated in 1901 from the Sam Houston Normal at Huntsville, and attended the University of Texas Law School in Austin, graduating in 1905. He practiced for four years at Benjamin in Knox County, and while there served as county attorney. Mr. Bullington has been a resident of Wichita Falls since 1909, and his abilities have well earned his position as head of one of the largest law firms in this section of the state. At the beginning of petroleum devel- opment he became an investor in properties in Wichita County and owns production in several pools in the county. He is a member of the Chamber of Commerce, the Rotary Club and the Elks Club. Mr. Bullington married Miss Sadie Kell.
WALTER B. PYRON acquired an expert knowledge of petroleum production in the Gulf Coast oil fields of Texas and Louisiana, and for several years past has been one of the prominent oil men whose business interests are centered at Fort Worth, where he is well known in business, civic and social circles.
Mr. Pyron was born near Charlotte, North Carolina, April 10, 1882, oldest of the four- teen children of T. P. and Helen (Fesper- man) Pyron. His parents were native North Carolinians. His mother died at the age of forty-five and his father is now living at Blos- som, Texas.
Walter B. Pyron was twelve years of age when brought to Texas, and finished his edu- cation in the common and high schools. He acquired his initial experience in the oil busi- ness in the fields of Southern Texas, where he was a worker for five years, and for eight years was in the oil districts of Louisiana. Since coming to Fort Worth in 1918 Mr. Pyron has been vice president of the Gulf Production Company and has also acquired other interests in a business way in this city.
He is prominent in Masonry, a Knight Templar and Scottish Rite, and also a Shriner, is a member of the Fort Worth Club and River Crest Country Club. He is vice presi- dent of the Mid Continent Oil and Gas Asso- ciation, and a vice president of the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce. In 1907 Mr. Pyron married Mary Greer, of Beaumont, Texas. Politically Mr. Pyron is a republican.
BERT J. BEAN. Physically and in popula- tion and business Wichita Falls is a new city. Men who were here ten years ago are referred
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to as old timers. One interesting case of sur- vival from a much earlier period is that of Bert J. Bean. The Bean family came to Wichita Falls about the time the first railroad was built, nearly forty years ago. Bert J. Bean has exemplified that quality of enterprise that has enabled him to keep his business ex- panding and growing in proportion to his en- vironment. When Wichita Falls was little more than a country town the O. W. Bean & Son wholesale and retail grocery house was one of the institutions that attracted trade to the city from a large surrounding country. Bert J. Bean is still in business, but in recent years has specialized, eliminating groceries, and is now proprietor of the finest coffee roasting plant in Northwestern Texas.
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Mr. Bean was born at Jackson, Michigan, November 18, 1868, son of Otis W. and Jennie (Butler) Bean. His American ancestry goes back to the very earliest Colonial period, where one Sir John Bean came to the Colonies from Scotland. Members of the family have been in successive generations identified with nearly all the new states and districts in their development. Moses W. Bean was born in New Hampshire, and in 1834, when two years of age, was taken by his parents to Southern Michigan. His father, Sinkler Bean, estab- lished a home in the wilderness at what is now the City of Jackson. Otis W. Bean became a merchant and also for a number of years was a tanner in Michigan. His home and his land at Jackson included the historic spot known as "under the oaks" where the republi- can party was born in Michigan by formal organization in 1854. Otis W. Bean attended that meeting which launched the Grand Old Party. The old Bean home at Jackson is . still standing, and on the property is a tablet commemorating the historic meeting of orig- inal republicans.
In 1883 Otis W. Bean brought his family from Tecumseh, Michigan, to Wichita Falls, Texas. Bert J. Bean was then fifteen years of age, and had acquired his education in the public schools of Tecumseh. His older brother, Charles W. Bean, is now living in California. There was one sister, Mrs. Nina Butler, of Long Beach, California.
In 1889 was organized the grocery firm of O. W. Bean & Son, Bert being junior partner. Otis W. Bean built for his store building a two-story brick on Ohio Street near Sixth. This structure is still standing and is one of the landmarks of the early commercial dis- tricts of Wichita Falls. From a retail busi-
ness the firm began jobbing and extended its wholesale trade in groceries all over Northern Texas and Southern Oklahoma. Otis W. Bean was a fine type of merchant and made his name synonymous with the strictest com- mercial honor. He died in 1900, and after his death Bert J. Bean continued the business as a grocery until 1913.
He then organized the Bert Bean Coffee Company, wholesale coffee roasters. His plant was on Indiana Avenue until the fall of 1919, when he moved into his present building, which he built for the purpose at the corner of Sixth and Ohio streets. This building is a brick and concrete structure, one story and basement, 100 by 3712 feet, fronting on Sixth Street. It is absolutely fireproof and was de- signed and built exclusively for the business, and exemplifies all the value of Mr. Bean's long experience. There is no other coffee roasting plant like it in Texas, but more im- portant than the mechanical facilities is the knowledge Mr. Bean has gained from thirty years of experience. He is a real expert in the ranks of coffee roasters. At this plant coffees are selected, blended, roasted, ground and tested for "cup quality" before being mar- keted, and the extensive business is a tribute to the faultless quality of his product.
As the city's oldest merchant Mr. Bean has likewise been one of the most public spirited citizens. He is an active member of the Cham- ber of Commerce, being formerly one of its directors, is a member of the Rotary Club, the Elks, and in former years served as a member of the city council and was also a second lieutenant in the Wichita Rifles of the Texas State Militia. He has long been prominent in the Texas Retail State Merchants' Association, and at one time was vice president of the Wichita Falls State Bank. In 1896 he married Miss Bessie M. Bean, a first cousin, daughter of Lorenzo D. Bean. She died at Wichita Falls April 20, 1911, leaving one son, Walter L. In June, 1914, Mr. Bean was mar- ried to Mrs. Virgil McMahon.
BEN G. ONEAL is a product of West Texas, began the practice of law at Weatherford, and since coming to Wichita Falls his practice has been largely confined to civil and corporate affairs, his firm handling the legal interests of some of the wealthiest corporations and indi- viduals in North Texas.
Mr. Oneal was born near Grenada in Gren- ada County, Mississippi, in 1875, son of J. M. and Elizabeth (Lamb) Oneal. He was a
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small child when his father died, and in 1879 his mother and her family came to Texas. The maternal grandfather, Nathan Lamb, located in Stephens County when it was out on the frontier, and became identified with the cattle industry. The home of the Lamb family was a little north of west of Brecken- ridge, county seat of Stephens County, and in a locality now central in one of the greatest oil booms in history.
Ben G. Oneal grew up on a Texas ranch, but spent about seven years in college and uni- versity, attending both the University of Texas and the University of Nashville in Tennessee. After three years in the law school of the University of Texas he received the Bachelor of Laws degree. When he took up practice at Weatherford, the county seat of historic Parker County, his partner was the Hon. Fritz Lanham, now congressman, and son of the late Governor Lanham. Mr. Oneal continued general practice at Weatherford until 1916, when he removed to Wichita Falls.
In Wichita Falls he is a member of the firm Martin & Oneal, his partner being Mr. Ber- nard Martin. They represent oil companies and other corporations and have handled cases involving values running into the millions, and their firm is one of secure prestige in the North Texas bar.
Mr. Oneal has never aspired to political office of any kind. He was chairman of the Democratic Executive Committee of Parker County, has assisted many friends to political office, and rather reluctantly has been drawn into politics at Wichita Falls, though never as a candidate for office. He is a successful law- yer and his whole ambition is within the strict limits of his profession. Mr. Oneal married Miss Cora Maude Norton, of Fort Worth.
CHARLES EDWIN WATSON is one of Wichita Falls' progressive young business men, a painting contractor, and has developed an or- ganization equipped and expert enough to carry out his advanced ideas in what is one of the most important branches of the building trades.
Mr. Watson was born in Shelby County, Illinois, in 1888, and was reared and received his early education in his native county. Later he worked and earned his way through college at Valparaiso University in Indiana. He also served an apprenticeship as a painter, and worked at his trade in Chicago and other large cities.
A few years ago Mr. Watson came to Texas and for a time took contracts for painting in the southern part of the state, especially ranch houses. He has been at Wichita Falls since 1917, and had located here and become ac- quainted and established in his trade in time to benefit from the great building boom that followed the oil development of 1918. He was the painting contractor who handled the work for many of the large and costly residences of the city, including those of T. P. Adams, N. H. Martin, Clint Wood, J. J. Perkins, Freear, Norton and Cline. Mr. Watson has never been satisfied with the mere routine handling of his trade and business. He has artistic ideas and endeavors to make his business a medium of expression of the very best and most advanced processes in the use of paint as a decorative material. In line with this he spent some weeks early in 1921 touring the eastern cities, studying modern methods in his business, both as found expressed in exterior painting and interior designing and decorat- ing. In the spring of 1921 he began his busi- ness on a practically reorganized basis as a first-class metropolitan painting shop, with an expert decorator in addition to a complete force of skilled workmen. This business is at 805 Lamar Street.
Mr. Watson is a member of the business council of the Wichita Falls Chamber of Commerce, is a Knight Templar Mason and a member of Maskat Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Wichita Falls. He married Miss Geneva Jolly, who was born at Hamlet, Starke County, Indiana, not far from Val- paraiso, where he attended college. They have one son, Kenneth Watson.
J. W. POINDEXTER, president of the Poin- dexter Furniture & Carpet Company, one of the large wholesale and retail concerns having their home in Fort Worth, for a number of years past has been prominently associated with that city's mercantile affairs.
Mr. Poindexter was born in Southern Texas, near Navasota, Grimes County, March 10, 1875. His parents, J. W. and Jennie M. (Brodnax) Poindexter, came to Texas at an early date, his father being a native of Vir- ginia and his mother of Kentucky. In 1885 the Poindexters moved to Fort Worth, and J. W. Poindexter, Sr., died here in the same year. The son was ten years of age, and had to hustle for himself after that, making his own living and also assisting in rearing the younger two brothers and two daughters of
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