USA > Texas > Tarrant County > Fort Worth > History of Texas : Fort Worth and the Texas northwest edition, Volume III > Part 29
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Third in a family of five, four still living, Charles Herman Fry was brought as a child to Fort Worth, where his father was a mer- chant, and he attended the public schools of that city. From school he went to work in his father's jewelry store, and remained there nearly three years, until he determined to follow his strong technical bent and then en- tered the General Electric Company's works at Schenectady, New York, where he was enrolled in the Students' Course. Following a year of practical study and experience there he entered the Rose Polytechnic Institute of Terre Haute, Indiana, where he pursued the four years' course in electrical engineering, graduating as Bachelor of Science in Electri- cal Engineering. Later the additional degree of Master of Science was conferred on him. For about three years Mr. Fry was engineer and mechanical draftsman at Lima, Ohio, in the motive power headquarters of the Cin- cinnati, Hamilton & Dayton Railroad Com- pany. He then pursued a post-graduate course in railway mechanical engineering at Purdue University, Lafayette, Indiana, where he re- ceived the degree of Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering. With this degree he enrolled in the Special Apprentice Course of the Chicago & Alton Railway at Blooming- ton, Illinois and six months later accepted an appointment on the staff of the Railroad Gazette. Mr. Fry, as western editor, with headquarters at Chicago, was for seven years identified with this old and influential technical and trade publication.
He finally resigned as editor to go into busi- ness as secretary-treasurer and as a director of the Dri-Seal Products Company, then a small manufacturing concern. He retired from this business three years later, and returning to Texas has since been engaged in the Man- ufacturers' Agency and Brokerage business. He has gradually developed a prosperous or- ganization for handling automobile supplies and has a business covering the entire South- west.
Mr. Fry is affiliated with Woodlawn Lodge No. 841 of Masonry in Chicago. For five
years he has been a deacon in the Broadway Presbyterian Church of Fort Worth. He is a democrat in politics.
JOSEPH E. WAGNER when a boy of fourteen became a messenger in the service of a local railroad office at Fort Worth. From that he became a train man with the Santa Fe Rail- way Company, and in railroad work he trav- eled over a large part of the United States and Mexico. For ten years he was assistant super- intendent of trains of the Frisco and Texas Company.
When he left railroading Mr. Wagner en- gaged in the real estate and loan business at Fort Worth, and has been a prominent factor in that field for a number of years. He has offices in the Texas State Bank Building, and has developed a large and competent organiza- tion for handling 'all departments of real estate, including city and farm and ranch property.
Mr. Wagner was born June 21, 1870, in Houston County, Texas. His father, F. H. Wagner, was a native of South Carolina, was liberally educated in medicine and literature, was a slave owning planter in South Carolina, and brought his slave property to Southern Texas. He was also a man of affairs in Hous- ton County, holding such offices as assessor, tax collector and county clerk. He was a staunch democrat and a member of the Baptist Church. F. H. Wagner died about forty years ago.
Of his eight children Joseph E. is the young- est. He acquired his education in the public schools of Houston County, and after his father's death came to Fort Worth, which he has regarded as his home for a third of a century. Mr. Wagner is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias and Elks, the Woodmen of the World and is a member of the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce. On November 12, 1893, at Fort Worth, he married Miss Estella Duer. They have three children, Ruth, Duer and Joseph.
SAMUEL B. CANTEY has the record and achievements of a veteran in his services to the legal profession and the good citizenship of Fort Worth, where he has lived and prac- ticed law for practically four decades. He knew and had professional associations with practically all the leading members of the pioneer bar, and is one of the few lawyers active today who tried cases at the courthouse on the bluff when Fort Worth was the only
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market town for all the vast cattle range in the West.
Mr. Cantey was born in Russell County, Alabama, July 31, 1861, a son of Gen. James and Martha E. ( Benton) Cantey. His father had a distinguished career as a soldier. A native of South Carolina, he was an adjutant in the famous Palmetto Regiment during the Mexican war. In the years intervening be- tween that war and the beginning of the war between the states he achieved wealth and success as a planter in Russell County, Ala- bama. He devoted his personal services and practically all his fortune to the cause of the South in the war of secession. He raised and organized the Fifteenth Alabama Regiment, became its colonel and served in the division under Stonewall Jackson and until the final surrender. He was promoted to the rank of brigadier general, and came out of the war and returned to a home impoverished by the destruction of warfare and the many sacrifices of property he had assumed. His wife was the daughter of Colonel Benton of North Carolina.
Samuel B. Cantey was reared in his native county in Alabama, and during his youth that section was still suffering the poverty laid upon it by the war. Nevertheless he acquired a substantial education, having attended the Annia-Ana Classical Academy in Northern Georgia, and in 1880 graduated from the Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical College at Auburn. He also studied law, and in 1880 came to Texas and in the following year located at Fort Worth. At that time the Texas and Pacific Railway was just being completed toward El Paso. He was accepted as a stu- dent in the office of the pioneer law firm of Mabry & Carter, and admitted to the bar September 19, 1881, the day of President Garfield's death. Since then continuously for forty years Mr. Cantey has been a member of the Fort Worth bar, a lawyer of learning and resources, an able advocate and widely known as a public speaker. He has handled a generous share of the important litigation originating in his home city and district.
On November 18, 1885, Mr. Cantey mar- ried at Fort Worth Miss Italia Brooks, daugh- ter of N. C. Brooks. They have four children : Craig, Marguerite, Martha and Samuel B., Jr.
WILLIAM P. BOWDRY. The name Bowdry has been prominently associated with the his- tory of Fort Worth from pioneer times to the
present. William P. Bowdry is a native of the city, and while he began his career at a mechanical trade he subsequently employed his experience and initiative in establishing and building up an industry of his own and is now active head of an iron foundry, one of the im- portant industries of Fort Worth.
He was born in Fort Worth February 15, 1873, a son of P. J. and Adelia (Orgain) Bowdry, the former a native of Kentucky and the latter of Austin, Texas. The mother is still living, making her home with a daughter at Dallas. P. J. Bowdry settled in Fort Worth long before the town had railroad facilities and was chiefly a market and rendezvous for Texas cattle men. He enjoyed a high place of esteem in the community, and served at one time as postmaster and also as deputy marshal. He was a man of good education and a real leader in affairs.
William P. Bowdry attended the schools of Fort Worth, and when he sought a vocation of his own he began working in a local iron foundry at fifty cents a day. He learned the business, became skilled at his trade, and con- tinued working for others for thirteen years, when he worked for himself. In February, 1905, he organized the Bowdry & Mckinley Iron Works, and in fifteen years has built up a highly profitable business, the annual value of the products and work running between a hundred thousand and a hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Mr. Bowdry has also done considerable buying and selling of local real estate.
On June 20, 1900, he married Clara L. King, daughter of Judge King, of Stephen- ville, Texas. They have two children: Clara, wife of R. G. Whittington, of Fort Worth, and William Perrin, Jr. Mr. Bowdry is a member of the Woodmen of the World.
PERCY COHEN GARRETT. Among the younger representative business men of Fort Worth whose initiative and enterprise have proven potent factors in placing the city among the leading financial and commercial centers of the South and West, the subject of this brief review has achieved honorable and deserved recognition, and there are per- haps few young men who have achieved more with less opportunity than he.
Mr. Garrett is a native of Texas, born near Paris February 4, 1884. His parents, James A. and Elizabeth (Patterson) Garrett, were natives of Tennessee, and had located in Texas at a time which includes them among the pio-
Carico .
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neers of their locality. James A. Garrett died in 1891, and his wife, Elizabeth, in 1889.
Left an orphan at the early age of seven years, Percy C. Garrett faced the problem of securing, through his own efforts, the educa- tion with which he desired to equip himself for his life's work. There are those to whom adversity comes but to call forth greater effort, to quicken into action the self-deter- mination to do and win, and there are always impressive lessons in the story of the lives of those who have, without other aid than a strong heart and a clear brain, achieved hon- orable success despite the handicaps of adver- sity.
Mr. Garrett attended the public schools of Paris and later graduated from the business department of the East Texas Normal Col- lege at Commerce, Texas. In the meantime he had earned the money with which to pay his way through school by working at any honest occupation he could find. He came to Fort Worth June 17, 1907, and, accepting a position with the traction company, he served as motorman and later as conductor. The following year found him in the employ of the Fort Worth & Denver City Railroad, where, as a brakeman, he added to his expe- rience and his capital. In 1909 he accepted a position with the First National Bank of Fort Worth, and remained with this institu- tion for seven and one-half years. His first duties with the bank were those of outside messenger, but by application and his fidelity to his employers' interests he won successive promotions until he was made manager of the savings department.
Resigning his position with the bank in 1916, Mr. Garrett began his active work in the automobile business as a salesman with the Ford Motor Company. When the com- pany changed their selling policy and adopted the present plan of distributing their cars! through authorized district dealers Mr. Gar- rett was invited to accept appointment as a dealer in Fort Worth, and in this line of en- terprise has achieved both wide recognition and a substantial business success.
In addition to his personal interests as president of the Percy Garrett Motor Company Mr. Garrett is also well known in automobile trade circles as vice president of the Texas Automotive Dealers' Association and as presi- dent of the Fort Worth Auto Trades Asso- ciation, in each of which he has taken an ac- tive part. He is also a member of the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce, the Fort
Worth Club and the Temple Club, also a charter member of the Kiwanis Club and the Civitan Club, and is a charter member and one of the sponsors of the Glen Garden Coun- try Club.
In fraternal circles he is a member of the time honored Masonic order as a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason and a Noble of the Mystic Shrine. He is also a member of the Elks.
On July 16, 1911, Mr. Garrett married Mrs. Leula Bates Mahin, also a native of Texas, and a daughter of one of the old and promi- nent families of the state. Mrs. Garrett takes an active and prominent part in social and civic affairs and in the general welfare work of the day. She is also known as one of the skillful players at golf at the Country Club, in which she takes hearty interest.
EWALD HENRY KELLER. Before Fort Worth had a railroad and when nearly all the homes and business houses were a straggling line running south from the courthouse on the bluff, Ewald Henry Keller added himself to the business community and set up a modest blacksmithing establishment at the corner of Main and Tenth streets. That was forty- five years ago, and Mr. Keller is still num- bered among the active business men of the city, a vigorous veteran who has always ex- emplified the characteristic of thoroughness and has shared in the wonderful prosperity and growth of Fort Worth. For a number of years he specialized in carriage manufac- ture, but with the advent of the automobile transformed his industry and it is now the E. H. Keller Auto Works, one of the largest and best equipped concerns of the kind in Northern Texas.
Mr. Keller was born in the City of Galves- ton, Texas, October 22, 1855, a son of Joseph J. and Emma Ida Keller. His parents were born in Holland, close to the German line. They came to America in 1852, landing at Galveston. His father became an American citizen as soon as the law permitted, and dur- ing the Civil war served in the Confederate Army. For a number of years he was a shoe merchant in Fort Worth. There were two children in the family, Ewald Henry and Emma Ida. The latter is Mrs. William Schadt, of Galveston.
Ewald Henry Keller spent his boyhood days in Galveston and had only limited advantages to attend school. As a youth he began paying his own expenses as a newsboy, and soon
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showed an organizing ability, directing all the newsboys handling the issues of the two Gal- veston papers. This was his principal work for three years, and he was paid a royalty of 10 cents a day on the earnings of each boy under him. Following that he served an apprenticeship of about two years at the bak- er's trade, but gave that up and contracted with a blacksmith, whom he paid $10 per month for the privilege of learning the trade, being furnished in return his board and room. This apprenticeship continued for three years, and he also served for another year in order to learn special branches of the trade, being paid then a dollar a day.
Mr. Keller paid his first visit to Fort Worth in March, 1873, walking from Dallas to Fort Worth, since there was then no railroad be- tween the two cities. At Fort Worth he se- cured employment at two dollars and a half a day. In October, 1874, he went to Southern Texas, at Calvert, where he was employed at his trade until February, 1875. Following that he traveled about by wagon and on foot, work- ing in various localities. From Belton he went by wagon to Austin, and in the capital city was able to earn only a dollar a day, paying seven dollars a week for board. He was dis- charged from his job there because he did better work than his foreman. Then for a time he worked for a house painter at two dollars and a half per day.
On May 1, 1875, Mr. Keller started back for Fort Worth. He reached Dallas with four dollars and a half, which was just the sum re- quired to pay his fare by stage to Fort Worth. To save this money he walked and after spend- ing fifty cents for his dinner reached Fort Worth with just four dollars. He was soon working at his trade at two dollars and sev- enty-five cents a day. He left his wages with his employer, who failed in the spring of 1876, leaving young Keller without money. In the meantime he had made some friends, had ac- quired a reputation for skillful work, and after the failure of his employer he borrowed a hundred dollars, contracted for the purchase of a lot on Main and Tenth streets, and taking an ox team to Dallas he bought lumber and some blacksmith tools with which he set up his first shop and forge in Fort Worth. He started business for himself in April, 1876. in 1879 he built another shop on leased ground at his present location at Second and Throck- morton streets. Later he bought the ground, one lot at a time, giving his notes in payment. In the early days his shop was a landmark
and was known as "the village blacksmith." Mr. Keller has been in business at his present location more than forty-two years, and his plant and enterprise have grown with the city. For many years he conducted the leading carriage factory in this part of the state. He built the first spring wagon and the first buggy ever constructed in Fort Worth, and had an extensive output all over this part of Texas. In his original shop he had only a single helper. His business today, employing forty-three men in the different departments, has facilities for repairing automobiles and doing upholstering, painting and other work for motor bodies. He has one of the best painting departments in the state, and in paint- ing and enameling cars he has devised a sys- tem known as the Keller Baking System. When the first street car line was constructed in Fort Worth Mr. Keller's shop was called upon for some of the equipment, and he was awarded a contract for making spikes to hold the rails. He made these spikes out of old horse shoes.
Mr. Keller is one of the directors and for a number of years was president of the Mutual Home & Savings Association. He owns much valuable real estate, and is a man whose long continued work has brought him ample pros- perity. He has always been deeply interested in politics and public affairs, and in early days was assistant chief of the fire department.
Mr. Keller married Miss Carrie M. Turner, daughter of Charles Turner. They are the parents of three children: Carolyn Ida, Cor- rinne Emma and Ewald Henry, Jr. The son is associated with his father in business. The daughter Corrinne is the wife of C. W. Lewis, of Fort Worth. In the Masonic fraternity Mr. Keller is a life member of Fort Worth Lodge No. 148, is a past commander of Worth Commandery No. 19, Knight Templars, a member of Dallas Consistory of the Scottish Rite, and a member of Moslah Temple, Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. He is also affiliated with the Sons of Hermann and the Improved Order of Red Men.
WILLIAM EDGAR AUSTIN at the age of four- teen went to work for a local furniture fac- tory at Fort Worth. He has been in that business continuously for thirty years, and as vice president and general manager of the Hub Furniture Company has been largely respon- sible for giving Fort Worth a manufacturing establishment that is one of the leaders of its kind in the Southwest.
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Mr. Austin was born in Guadalupe County, Texas, August 5, 1872, a son of J. B. and Cynthia (Richbourg) Austin, the former a native of Tennessee and the latter of Missis- sippi. The mother is now deceased. The Austins came to Texas about 1850, and the family lived for many years in Johnson County, where J. B. Austin was a farmer. He is now retired, spending his time partly in California and partly Texas. Of six chil- dren four are still living, two being residents of Fort Worth, one of St. Louis and one of North Carolina.
William E. Austin, oldest of the children, received his early education in Johnson County and attended the business college at Fort Worth. In 1890 he became an employe of the Fort Worth Furniture Company. He was with that corporation continuously for seven- teen years, and in 1907 took an active part in organizing the Hub Furniture Company and has since been vice president and general man- ager. The president of the company is W. G. Turner. This plant now employs about a hundred and forty persons, and they manu- facture library and dining room tables, rock- ing chairs, davenports, kitchen cabinets and other house furnishing goods.
Mr. Austin married in 1895 Ada Nichols, of Fort Worth. They have one daughter, Helen, wife of W. J. Foster, of Fort Worth. Mr. Austin is one of Fort Worth's substantial business men and also popular in social affairs. He is a member of the Fort Worth Club, the Rotary Club, the Glen Garden Club, is a Mason and is chairman of the Board of Stewards of the First Methodist Episcopal Church.
ANDREW WRIGHT GAINES. Numerous com- panies and individuals have found and availed themselves of the exceptional service of the firm of Clarkson & Gaines, architects, in the modern building program not only in Fort Worth, the headquarters of this firm, but in many adjoining towns and districts in North . and West Texas. Andrew Wright Gaines, the junior member, grew up in Fort Worth and acquired his training and practical knowl- edge of architecture in building construction with the nationally well known firm of San- guinet & Staats.
He was born in Bourbon County, Kentucky, December 9, 1884, being fourth among the six children of S. S. and Maria Belle (Wright) Gaines. His parents were natives of Fayette and Bourbon counties, Kentucky. The family
came to Fort Worth in 1895, and the parents still live in that city, the father at the age of seventy-two and the mother at seventy-one. S. S. Gaines is still active in business. For about four years he was connected with the livestock interests at Fort Worth, and since then has conducted a bicycle, sewing machine and repair business. He is a member of the Christian Church and is a democrat interested in the welfare of the party but without politi- cal record. All of the six children are still living.
Andrew W. Gaines was ten years of age when brought to Fort Worth, and he finished his education here in the public schools. He graduated from the Fort Worth High School in 1902, from the Fort Worth Business Col- lege in 1903, and completed his education in the Texas Academy of Elocution, Oratory and Dramatic Art. For about two years he was a bookkeeper and stenographer, and then be- came an employe of Sanguinet & Staats in their Fort Worth office. With this firm be found unusual opportunities to pursue a voca- tion for which he had special talent and in- clination, and he remained with Sanguinet & Staats for a number of years, with promotion from time to time that proved the confidence and esteem in which he was held. On March 8, 1919, the firm of Clarkson & Gaines was established, with offices in the First National Bank Building at Fort Worth.
Mr. Gaines is a member of the Fort Worth Club and Chamber of Commerce, and he has voted as a democrat since he was twenty-one. He is a member of Fort Worth Lodge No. 148, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons; Fort Worth Chapter No. 58, Royal Arch Masons ; Worth Commandery No. 19, Knights Tem- plars, and Moslah Temple, Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. He also holds membership in the Knights of Pythias, the D. O. K. K., Woodmen of the World and the Elks.
On January 30, 1909, Mr. Gaines married Miss Marjorie Buchanan, daughter of D. B. Buchanan, who was born in Franklin County, Tennessee, while her mother was a native of Marshall, Texas. Mrs. Gaines was educated in the public schools of Hallsville, Texas, and during her married life at Fort Worth has taken an active part in the literary and musi- cal clubs of the city and is a working member of the First Christian Church.
OSCAR SELIGMAN came to Fort Worth the same year with the first railroad, and is one of the few old timers of that period still active
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in business. He is now engaged in the loan and insurance business.
Mr. Seligman was born in the Rheinpfalz of Germany, November 8, 1855, a son of Nathan and Fannie (Kehr) Seligman, both of whom were life-long residents of Germany. Oscar Seligman grew up and received his edu- cation in Germany, and in 1874, at the age of nineteen, came to America. He was at Indianapolis for a time, but in 1876, at the age of twenty-one, arrived in Fort Worth. His first employment was with Joe Mayer in the liquor business. In 1879 he became con- nected with Hochstadter & Company, from 1882 to 1899 was with the firm of Case & Swasey, and was president of the business from 1894 to 1899. He then entered business for himself, and in 1906 organized the com- pany of which he was president. He remained a prominent factor in the liquor business until 1918. He then retired for about a year, and, seeking a new business connection, he joined the insurance and loan firm of Seligman, Foster & Company, who have offices on the fifth floor of the Texas State Bank Building and enjoys a large clientage and prominent business relations.
In 1890 Mr. Seligman married Mrs. Euge- nia Hochstadter. He has one step-daughter, Mrs. Stella Sanger, of Waco, Texas. Mr. Seligman is a life member of Fort Worth Lodge No. 148 of the Masonic Order, is also a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason and Shriner, and for over thirty-eight years has been identified with the Knights of Pythias. He is a former president and now trustee of Temple Bethel, and throughout his long citi- zenship has been generous with his time and means in the promotion of all worthy objects.
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