USA > Texas > Tarrant County > Fort Worth > History of Texas : Fort Worth and the Texas northwest edition, Volume III > Part 28
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).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69
JACK B. ROBERT, who was a captain of cavalry in the National Army during the late war, is a native of West Texas, and since leaving the army has achieved a place of con- spicuous success and honor in the great oil districts of Breckenridge and Stephens County.
He was born in Shackelford County, Texas, in 1896, a son of H. and Amanda (Baker) Robert. His father was born in Washington County, Texas, lived for some years in McLen- nan County, and in 1884, settled as a pioneer in Shackelford County, which was then a domain of cattle outfits almost exclusively. His own business associations for many years have been with the cattle industry. During the early '80s he served seven years as a Texas Ranger. His cattle ranch was on the eastern edge of Shackelford County, adjoin- ing Stephens County. He and his wife now live retired at Albany, Texas. Amanda Baker was born in McLennan County. Her father, the late "Tank" Baker, was well known in McLennan and in many other counties of Western Texas through his extensive dealings in horses and mules.
Jack B. Robert was reared at the home ranch in Shackelford County and as a youth he looked forward to a career in farming and the livestock business. He finished his educa- tion in the Agricultural and Mechanical Col-
146
FORT WORTH AND THE TEXAS NORTHWEST
lege of Texas, where he graduated in 1916, having specialized in agriculture and animal husbandry. He was just twenty-one when America entered the war with Germany, and he forthwith organized a troop of cavalry, and subsequently entered the Officers Training School at Camp Stanley, Leon Springs, and was commissioned captain of cavalry, being assigned to Troop M of the Sixth Cavalry. Captain Robert was detailed for duty at Camp Travis, Texas, until after the armistice.
He made his first deal in oil property at Breckenridge on December 31, 1919, and since that date Breckenridge had been his home and this marvelous oil metropolis ac- knowledges him as one of the most forceful figures in its development. He has been asso- ciated with men of pronounced ability and large resources and has effected some of the largest deals in leases and production in this field. Captain Robert is as public spirited as he is aggressive and successful in business, and he enjoys a high place among the men respon- sible for the great forward development of West Texas.
Captain Robert married Miss Sarah Ada Veale. Her father is Judge W. C. Veale, of one of the old and prominent families of West Texas. Judge Veale, though now a resident of California, was for many years a citizen of Breckenridge and widely known as a lawyer all over the western part of the state. The maternal grandfather of Mrs. Robert was the late Henry Black, founder of the great Black ranch of Stephens County.
JOHN W. MITCHELL of Fort Worth is one of the prominent insurance men of the State of Texas. He has developed in Fort Worth one of the large and general agencies in the Southwest. Long recognized as a successful business man, he has acquired important inter- ests in banks and various industries, and has always been closely associated with that group of men responsible for every forward move- ment for Fort Worth's prosperity and prog- ress.
Mr. Mitchell is a native of Northern Texas, having been born at Kentuckytown in Gray- son County, September 24, 1867, son of John WV. and Eliza ( Snell) Mitchell. His father, who was a native of Culpeper County, Vir- ginia, was a minister of the Baptist church and in behalf of his church did a great deal of active evangelization in the sparsely set- tled district of Northern Texas. He was a man of education, of great personal influence
and noble character. He died at the age of seventy-five and his wife was about eighty- five. Of their seven children all but one grew to mature years.
The only son and fourth child, John W. Mitchell, had a high school education. but from early youth has been using his own fac- ulties to advance himself in the fortunes of the world. About his first regular employ- ment was as clerk in a store at Arlington, Texas. Later he was employed in express offices at Fort Worth and also in the local postoffice. Thus he began his career in the ranks and his personal talents and energy have accounted for every promotion in his fortunes. He engaged in the insurance busi- ness about twenty-three years ago, and from time to time has enlarged his facilities until he now has a general insurance business which is easily one of the largest in Texas.
Mr. Mitchell is a director of the First National Bank, a stockholder in the F. & M. Bank, the National Bank of Commerce, Fort Worth, also has financial interests in Houston and Dallas, is secretary of the Fort Worth Power & Light Company, a director of the George W. Armstrong Iron & Steel Works, a director in the Frisco Railway Company, and is a stockholder in a number of other local concerns.
Mr. Mitchell is one of the honored mem- bers of the Fort Worth Club and also belongs to the River Crest Country Club. He was formerly active in the democratic party and served as a member of the party committee. November 11, 1900, he married Miss Maud Kearby, daughter of Jerome C. Kearby of Dallas.
FRED P. MUELLER is junior partner in the firm of Robertson & Mueller, undertakers at Fort Worth, a firm with the most extensive facilities and service equipment of the kind in the South. Mr. Mueller was born at Max- well, Indiana, February 1, 1881, a son of Frederick and Philomena (Leingang) Mueller. His father was a native of Germany, while his mother was born in Pittsburgh, and her Christian name was due to the fact that she was the first child baptized in St. Philomena's Catholic Church in Pittsburgh.
Fred P. Mueller is the youngest of a family of eleven children. He grew up in Indiana, acquired his education there, and at the age of eighteen came to Texas. After a brief period of employment at another occupation in Dallas he apprenticed himself to George W.
Ливия
147
FORT WORTH AND THE TEXAS NORTHWEST
Loudermilk, undertaker. He was with Mr. Loudermilk, making the best of all his oppor- tunities to acquire a thorough knowledge of his chosen profession, through a period of three years, nine months and fifteen days. He began at a salary of $3.50 a week and board. After this apprenticeship he took his first vaca- tion, twenty-eight days, during which he visited his people back home. On March 10, 1904, he returned to Texas and became associated with Mr. Robertson at Fort Worth. He was with the Robertson undertaking establishment for seventeen years, and on January 1, 1921, acquired a half interest and full partnership in the business under the firm name of Robert- son & Mueller.
In 1906 Mr. Mueller married Miss Grace Alberta Alexander, of Evansville, Indiana. They have a son, Louis Robertson Mueller, and one daughter, Mary Alberta. Mr. Mueller has been an active member of the Knights of Columbus and Elks for fifteen years, and is also a member of the Civitan Club of Fort Worth.
W. W. ALEXANDER came to Texas as a teacher, left that vocation to become a farmer, gradually extended his interests to various lines of business, and for several years past has been one of the prominent men in the oil industry whose interests are centered at Fort Worth. The sum of his experiences and ac- tivities in Texas constitute an important in- dividual contribution to the wealth and up- building of the state.
Mr. Alexander was born in Wayne County, Tennessee, September 26, 1867, a son of Rev. J. R. and Nancy J. (Harrison) Alex- ander, the former a native of Bedford County, Tennessee, and the latter of Mississippi. His father gave the greater part of his long life to the ministry of the Cumberland Presby- terian Church, and was widely known as a leader in that denomination in Tennessee. Both parents died in that state. Their seven children are all married and still living.
The oldest of the family, W. W. Alex- ander, grew up largely on a Tennessee farm. He attended country schools, and in 1891 grad- uated from the Northern Indiana Normal School at Valparaiso. With this preparation he engaged in teaching in Tennessee and in 1893 removed to Texas and for one year had charge of the schools of Howard. in Ellis County and for another year at Bardwell. He then became a practical farmer, growing cot- ton and some livestock. He was on the farm
until 1902, when he moved to Hillsboro and became associated with the American Cotton Company (Texas Cotton Products Company ) for two years. He continued in business at Hillsboro in real estate, farms and loans, and later in the same line at Ennis until 1917, when he transferred his resources and enter- prise to the oil industry, with headquarters at Fort Worth. Mr. Alexander has some valu- able leaseholds in the Texas oil fields and has some farming interests in Ellis and Archer counties.
On August 5, 1894, he married Jamie H. McWhorter, of Howard, Ellis County, Texas. They have a son, James R. Alexander, who recently completed the four years' course of the American School of Osteopathy and is now practicing in Houston, Texas. Mr. Alex- ander belongs to the Masons, Knights of Pythias, Independent Order of Odd Fellows and Elks, and is a member of the Hemphill Presbyterian Church.
F. N. GRAVES, who has a veteran's expe- rience to his credit as a newspaper man and printer in Texas, was in the spring of 1921 called to the important duties of purchasing agent in the new city administration of Fort Worth. His was one of the appointments that aroused additional confidence in the new municipal regime, since he is thoroughly well qualified for his task, and his ability and in- tegrity are well known to all interested citizens.
Mr. Graves was born in Bell County, Texas, February 13, 1862. His father, Rev. T. B. Graves, was a native of Illinois, while his mother was a native of Texas. Rev. Mr. Graves, who died August 8, 1916, was a Methodist minister, and for many years per- formed the arduous duties of an intinerant minister of the Texas Conference. The mother of F. N. Graves died in February, 1914. Her memory is cherished as that of an ideal Chris- tian woman, a wife who shared the perils of a frontier preacher, and a mother whose de- votion enabled her to rear her children in spite of vicissitudes and hardships.
F. N. Graves was the oldest of four chil- dren and is the only one now living. He ac- quired a very scanty education in the log schoolhouses of early Texas. He began his career as a sawmill hand in South Texas, later served an apprenticeship as a printer on the Houston Post, and for thirty years or more has been engaged in newspaper work in many Texas towns and cities. For nine
148
FORT WORTH AND THE TEXAS NORTHWEST
years he was city editor of the Cleburne Enter- prise, and for the past ten years was head of a general printing business in Fort Worth. This business he continued until January 1, 1921, and not long afterward was selected as purchasing agent of the city. Mr. Graves is a member of Fort Worth Typographical Union No. 148. He is a democrat in politics and a member of the Methodist Church.
At Waco, Texas, March 10, 1892, he mar- ried Miss Ruby Graves, whose family re- motely descended from the same ancestry as Mr. Graves. Three children were born to their union, but the only one now living is Catherine, wife of Charles E. Cole, of Hous- ton, Texas. Mrs. Cole was born at Cleburne, Texas, and after her common school educa- tion attended Fairmont College at Weather- ford and the Texas Woman's College at Fort Worth.
WILLIAM E. CHILTON, M.D. Some of the foremost names in medicine and surgery in the Southwest are claimed by Fort Worth and among the younger men specially promi- nent in this profession is Dr. William E. Chilton, whose unusually thorough prepara- tion and early training have been supple- mented and matured by years of active expe- rience that place him in the front rank of Texas surgeons.
Dr. Chilton has spent all his life in Fort Worth. He was born in Comanche, Texas, May 5, 1877. son of James W. and Mary Elizabeth (Hatcher) Chilton, the former a native of Tennessee and the latter of Ken- tucky. About 1870 the Chilton family came west from Florida and settled near Louisville, Texas. James W. Chilton was a merchant in Comanche and Coleman until his store was burned, and in 1880 moved to Fort Worth and became associated with the Chambers wholesale and retail mercantile house. He remained active in business at Fort Worth the rest of his life and died when about sixty- six. The mother of Doctor Chilton is still living at the age of sixty-five, her home being at Fort Worth. There were two sons and one daughter, Doctor Chilton being the oldest. His brother James A. has charge of the city ticket office of the Texas & Pacific Railway at Dallas. The daughter, Lula Mabel, is the wife of Paul B. Montgomery of Fort Worth.
Doctor Chilton was three years of age when brought to Fort Worth. He is a grad- uate of the Fort Worth High School, received his Bachelor of Science degree from Bethel
College at Russellville, Kentucky, is a grad- uate of the medical department of Christian University, also of Tulane University at New Orleans, and did advance work in the New York Polyclinic and Post Graduate School of Medicine. After two years of hospital train- ing in Texas, Doctor Chilton located at Fort Worth and was associated with Dr. Bacon Saunders and was one of the valued aids of that distinguished surgeon for five years. Since then he has been engaged in independ- ent practice and has offices in the Waggoner Building. Doctor Chilton is a member of the Tarrant County, the Texas State, American Medical and Southern Medical associations. He also takes an active interest in fraternal and social circles, being a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason and Shriner, a member of the Fort Worth Club, River Crest Country Club, Glen Garden Club, and is a member of the Kappa Sigma college fraternity. In 1914 he married Mable Clare Long, daughter of A. J. Long, and they have three children : William Ernest, Andrew Long, and Mary Belle.
In addition to his personal practice, Doctor Chilton was actively connected with the main- tenance of the Fort Worth University in which he served for five years as professor of anatomy, and for six years as professor of gynecology.
Soon after the entry of the United States in the World war Doctor Chilton was ap- pointed a member of the board of medical examiners for his district, and although exempt, having passed the age limit, he vol- unteered for active service, was accepted, and commissioned a captain. He was assigned to duty, first at Camp Greenleaf, and later transferred to the port of embarkation at New York City. He was honorably discharged from the service July 4, 1919, and resumed his private practice, at Fort Worth.
R. E. RAMSEY, secretary-treasurer and one of the managing directors of the Planters Petroleum Company of Fort Worth, came to Texas from Oklahoma, in which state he was reared and acquired his early experience and position in business affairs.
He was born at Neodesha, Kansas, Decem- ber 22, 1889, son of J. M. and Ella (Brisco) Ramsey, the former a native of Alabama and the latter of Indiana, and now residents of Edmond, Oklahoma. J. M. Ramsey was an Oklahoma pioneer, going into the territory in the spring of 1893, about five years after the
-
16 We, Chicken Kupon
149
FORT WORTH AND THE TEXAS NORTHWEST
opening of the original Indian lands there. He acquired a homestead and made a success of farming operations, in which he was ac- tively identified until he retired in 1919. He is a democrat and a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
R. E. Ramsey is the oldest of eight chil- dren, seven of whom are still living. He attended his first school in Oklahoma County, and at the age of fifteen entered the Capital City Business College at Guthrie. Following his school education he was in the employ of the Ponca City Milling Company of Ponca City, Oklahoma, four years, and until De- cember, 1912, was connected with the Sylvia Milling Company of Sylvia, Kansas. Upon returning to Oklahoma he located at Med- ford, where he acquired a practical knowl- edge of the abstract business under Sam C. Davis. On January 1, 1915, Mr. Ramsey re- moved to Guthrie, where he was associated with the Bronson Abstract Company until March, 1916. At that date he located at the capital city of Oklahoma and soon afterward became associated with the Wyandotte Oil Company. During the past five years he has been continuously interested in the petroleum industry of the Southwest. The Wyandotte Oil Company was organized in 1916 by J. S. Thompson, who remained the executive head and president of the company until 1919. Mr. Ramsey severed his connection with the com- pany at the same time as did Mr. Thompson, and on December 1, 1919, located at Fort Worth and entered the employ of the Planters Petroleum Company. J. S. Thompson had become president of that corporation, with L. E. Lyon, secretary and treasurer. These two men were the managing directors. Mr. Lyon resigned in October, 1920, and Mr. Ram- sey was then elected to fill his place.
Mr. Ramsey is affiliated with Guthrie Lodge No. 10, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, is a member of the Knights and Ladies of Security, and in politics is a democrat. On August 3, 1911, he married Ida Mae Bous- man, of Tonkawa, Oklahoma. She was edu- cated in the public schools of Kansas. They have one daughter, born February 16, 1914.
L. B. WEINMAN. The architectural designer and superintendent of the City Hall Building at Fort Worth was L. B. Weinman, who con- tinuously for over a quarter of a century has been one of the leading architects and build- ing superintendents of the city and has a notable list of professional work to his credit.
Mr. Weinman was born in Germany, March 14, 1867, and acquired his early education and some of his educational training in the old country. He came to America alone in 1882, and afterward attended technical schools in this country. In Chicago he was associated with S. S. Beeman, architect, and later had super- vision of the business of Mr. Beeman over a large territory, with headquarters at Pullman, Illinois.
Mr. Weinman came to Fort Worth in 1889, having been selected to design the City Hall Building. The City Hall Building was erected while Captain Paddock was mayor of the city. Since then Mr. Weinman has been active in his profession as an architect. He was archi- tect for all the business buildings erected by the J. F. Moore estate, including the Moore Building at Tenth and Main streets and Fif- teenth and Main. . Among prominent private residences designed and erected by him as architect may be mentioned those of Gus O. Keefe, J. F. Moore, Zane-Cetti and O. R. Menefees.
Mr. Weinman is a democrat in politics. Mr. and Mrs. Weinman, who were married at Kansas City, October 10, 1899, have four children, Lillian K., Louis B., Jr., Arthur O. and Elmer S.
B. C. EVANS. Many of the most prominent men of Fort Worth during its period of de- velopment have passed away, but the results of their public-spirit, their broad-minded plan- ning and their love of their kind remain and stand as an everlasting monument to their memory. One of the men who played a con- structive part in the initial work of develop- ing the great interests of this part of Texas was the late B. C. Evans, whose operations, especially in cattle, assumed proportions of great magnitude.
Mr. Evans was born in Chesterfield County, South Carolina, December 25, 1844, a son of Albert Evans, who was also born in Chester- field County, South Carolina, and he married a lady who was a native of the same county. B. C. Evans was reared and educated at Charleston, South Carolina. After his school- days were ended he bought a tract of land and began, with the help of a slave given him by his father, to raise cotton. Later he decided to locate at Fort Worth, being far-sighted enough to recognize the wonderful future be- fore the place, and arrived here in 1873, before the Texas and Pacific Railroad was built, and opened a dry goods store. He fre-
150
FORT WORTH AND THE TEXAS NORTHWEST
quently took cattle in payment for merchandise and in this way he was led into the cattle business. Mr. Evans continued in active business until his death, which occurred July 6, 1889, at a time when he was in the midst of useful activities.
On October 25, 1877, he was united in mar- riage with Ella Dryden, a daughter of Dr. P. W. and Margaret (Craig) Dryden, natives of Kentucky and Washington County, Penn- sylvania, respectively. Mrs. Evans was born at Hopkinsville, Kentucky, and came to Fort Worth Texas, in 1876. Mr. and Mrs. Evans had four children, namely : One who died in infancy ; Lena, who is the wife of Edward R. Collier, of Dallas, Texas; Ethel, who is the wife of Walter R. Bennett, of Fort Worth ; and Albert, who is at home. Mr. Evans was a Royal Arch Mason, and both in his fraternity and in his community generally he was held in high esteem. He was a man of high prin- ciples, sterling integrity, and conducted his business affairs with marked ability, and, dying, left a handsome competency behind him to his family. As long as he lived he took a deep and abiding interest in the welfare of Fort Worth, and had he been spared to enjoy present day conditions, would have doubtless felt that they no more than justified his expectations.
PERRY GREEN DEDMON. A high-minded and capable lawyer, equally distinguished for his public spirited citizenship, Perry Green Dedmon is a member of one of the leading law firms of Fort Worth, and has been active in his profession in that city for the past twelve years.
Mr. Dedmon is a native of Tennessee, was reared and educated in that state, and was born near Nashville March 1, 1883, son of W. F. and Mary J. (Potter) Dedmon. He is of Scotch-Irish ancestry on both sides, and both the Dedmon and Potter families were established in Tennessee prior to the battle of Kings Mountain in the Revolutionary war. His grandfather, Jonathan Dedmon, was a Confederate soldier and died at the battle of Seven Pines, Virginia. The maternal grand- father, David Potter, was likewise a soldier in the same war. Mr. Dedmon's mother died in 1920 and his father is still living in Ten- nessee. Of their five sons, Perry G. was next to the youngest. One of them died at the age of fifteen and the others all reached mature years.
Perry G. Dedmon attended the schools of his native community, graduated in the liter- ary course at Pure Fountain College, and com- pleted his law studies in Cumberland Uni- versity, from which he graduated in 1905 with the degree of Bachelor of Law. He was admitted to the Tennessee bar in 1905 and in the same year came to Texas and was ad- mitted to the Texas bar the following year. Mr. Dedmon first engaged in practice at Col- linsville, where he was a member of the law firm of Shores & Dedmon until 1908, when he removed to Fort Worth.
In Fort Worth he conducted an individual practice until 1912 and his abilities quickly won him distinction in the city and judicial district. In 1912 he became associated with Frank B. Potter and the firm of Dedmon & Potter continued until 1915, when it became Dedmon, Potter & Pinney, and in 1919 the title of the firm was changed to Cooke, Ded- mon & Potter. This firm has its offices in the new F. & M. National Bank Building.
Mr. Dedmon is a member of the Fort Worth Club, a member of Worth Commandery No. 19, Knights Templar, and a Noble of the Mystic Shrine. He has always taken a great interest in church work, is a Methodist, and is a steward in his home church at Fort Worth.
Mr. Dedmon married, in 1907, Miss Jessie Allen Blow of Denton, Texas. They have five daughters, Roberta Louise, Mary, Leola Christine, Martha, and Charlotte Mozelle.
In addition to his general legal practice Mr. Dedmon served ten years as a member of the Board of Legal Examiners, under the direction of the Second Supreme Judicial Dis- trict of Texas, his appointment to this position having been conferred upon him by the Court of Civil Appeals, in said district. He has also served, upon numerous occasions, as a special judge in local courts. Also, for more than ten years, he served as secretary of the Board of Trustees of Texas Woman's College and its predecessor, Polytechnic College, an A-grade college located at Fort Worth, Texas.
CHARLES HERMAN FRY lived in Fort Worth as a boy and youth before entering upon the extended course of preparation for his technical career as a mechanical and elec- trical engineer, and when, after an experience that represented successful achievement, he retired from that profession he returned to Fort Worth and has since been prominently
Q. S. Dedmin
151
FORT WORTH AND THE TEXAS NORTHWEST
engaged in the mercantile and brokerage business, handling automobile supplies.
Mr. Fry was born at Crystal Springs, Copiah County, Mississippi, February 28, 1874. a son of Charles H. and Caroline (Lieb) Fry. His mother is still living. She is of German and French ancestry, while his father was of Swiss and English extraction. Charles H. Fry, Sr., died in 1909.
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.