USA > Texas > Tarrant County > Fort Worth > History of Texas : Fort Worth and the Texas northwest edition, Volume III > Part 33
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"President Roosevelt, succeeding to the office of president upon the death of President McKinley, having been a ranchman and being attached to the west and its people, was induced by our organization through their activity to recommend and insist upon the en- actment of the necessary laws as subsequently accomplished. At his request and through the request of Senator Dolliver of Iowa I went to Washington and in large measure prepared the original Hepburn Bill which was endorsed by the president and subsequently enacted practi- cally without change. In this work the Ameri- can National Livestock Association and the Cattle Raisers Association took the leading part and have since been among the great organiza- tions of the country. The American National has been from the beginning and is now an organization of the state and local livestock producers from all of the different Western states. I have had the honor several times of representing the Interstate Commerce Com- mission as special counsel, employed by it in some of the most important cases, so that my work for the past fifteen years has been very largely confined to such matters. In 1896 I went in partnership with I. H. Burney, one of the very best lawyers and business men of Texas. I have been in large measure looking after matters of transportation and state and interstate commission matters for many years."
It is not difficult to understand therefore why the name Sam Cowan has appeared so frequently in the news dispatches and why he
is one of our best known figures in official circles at Washington and one of the coun- try's leading authorities on transportation questions. Livestock men of Texas and other states have long reposed the utmost confidence in his judgment and ability and also in his in- tegrity, and impute to him the highest degree of public spirit and unselfishness that call out his best powers, the value of which cannot be measured in terms of money.
After the passage of the Hepburn Bill it is. interesting to record that in a personal letter President Roosevelt asked Judge Cowan if he would accept appointment on the Interstate Commerce Commission, but which he would not do because it would be to fill the place to be made vacant by not reappointing Judge Cowan's friend, Judge Clements. Judge Cowan insisted that he (Clements) be reap- pointed rather than take the place of his friend, for which generous act he was highly complimented by a personal letter from Presi- dent Roosevelt.
Judge Cowan is one of a host of Texans who never lose an opportunity to pay a tribute to Captain Paddock. "I have met no man," says Judge Cowan, "of greater public spirit, of continued honesty of purpose, and whose life has been more devoted to the public inter- est of his own county and the state than Cap- tain Paddock, and that without even the ghost of suspicion from those who may be disposed to criticism. All his actions and all his pur- poses have been above reproach and he is re- vered as a great and loyal citizen of Fort Worth by everyone. A patriot and soldier of the South, he has lived through these many decades true to his country, true to his friends, charitable of mind in measuring the acts of others, worthy of their confidence, forceful to guide them right, and in his ripened life a liv- ing example of great citizenship and honor- able manhood."
At Galveston in 1883 Judge Cowan married Annie Schoolfield. She was born and reared in Tennessee, and they were schoolmates in that state. After their marriage their first little house was built at Sweetwater, next they had a home at Big Springs, and for over a quarter of a century their residence has been in Fort Worth. Judge Cowan ascribes a great deal of the credit for what he has done in life to the aid and loyal co-operation of his wife. Mrs. Cowan has been prominent in Fort Worth outside of her home, particularly in hospital work and charity work of all kinds, and for a long period of years was associated
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with All Saints Hospital as a member of the board of managers. They have two daughters, Mrs. Florence Scheuber, wife of John Scheu- ber, of Kansas City, who is prominently con- nected with the Drovers National Bank, and Mrs. Helen Thomas, wife of Roy G. Thomas. Mr. and Mrs. Thomas live on the Seminary Farm at Fort Worth, the country home of Judge and Mrs. Cowan.
"We bought this place," Judge Cowan said, "for a home. We believe everyone should have a home. It ties a family to a sacred spot for the living. It makes and keeps while it finally protects Americans. It is the hope, the joy and the pleasure and the anchor of Amer- ican citizenship."
JAMES C. ROBERTS has the distinction of being the youngest bank cashier at Fort Worth. He is one of the city's able young business executives, and has achieved a great deal in the thirty brief years of his life.
Mr. Roberts was born on a farm in Denton County, Texas, January 18, 1890, a son of A. B. and Mary (Kelly) Roberts. His father, who died in 1910, was born and reared inTexas and was a successful cattleman and farmer. James C. Roberts was only six years of age when his mother died. He grew up on the home farm, living there to the age of sixteen, when he started out for himself and on his own responsibility. Besides the common schools he had six months training in college at Denton. Coming to Fort Worth, he was employed for a time as office boy and book- keeper in a dry goods store, and later was bookkeeper for Armour & Company.
In 1912 Mr. Roberts entered the service of the North Texas State Bank, his first duties being to balance the pass books. He has held every post of responsibility in that institution up to cashier. He was cashier when the bank changed its name to the Guaranty State Bank, and holds a similiar office in the latter institu- tion. In eight years time he has progressed from the lowest round of duties in a met- ropolitan bank to be one of the chief execu- tives.
Mr. Roberts is also vice president of the million dollar corporation, the Mid-Texas Petroleum Corporation. He is a member of the Elks Lodge. In 1911 he married Janie Dixon, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. G. Dixon. They have one daughter, Mary Jane Roberts.
CHARLES BLAINE BURKHART has been a resident of Fort Worth for eighteen years,
and after following the trade of carpenter for a few years engaged in the building contract- ing business, and has since accomplished a notable program in building construction, handling real estate and loans.
He was born at Smithville, Monroe County, Indiana, October 10, 1879, a son of J. H. and Melvina (McCubin) Burkhart. He was a small child when his mother died. His father is still living in Indiana, and for many years has been a building contractor. Charles B. Burkhart was the fourth of nine children, and is the only one to leave Indiana. He was reared and educated in that state and on January 1, 1901, married Miss Ella Eads, also a native of Indiana.
In 1903 Mr. Burkhart came to Fort Worth and for a time did day work as a carpenter. Later he was building foreman for W. H. Murphy, and in 19-10 took his first independent contract and has gradually enlarged his scope of business, buying unimproved property, de- veloping it and selling, and in that way has been the means of contributing to the hous- ing program of the city. He also handles real estate and real estate securities, and has been very successful in this field.
Mr. and Mrs. Burkhart have a family of six daughters : Mabel, wife of Compton Bull, who served with the rank of lieutenant in the army during World war; Edna and Louise, attending the Fort Worth High School, Olive, Beatrice and Dorothy.
J. W. CHAMP is an old time telegrapher, first came to Fort Worth nearly thirty years ago as an employe of the Western Union, but in later years has developed a prosperous business as a real estate dealer and is one of the city's live and public spirited citizens.
Mr. Champ was born in middle Tennessee December 15, 1870, being the third among the four children who grew to maturity born to J. W. and Elizabeth (Hamilton) Champ. His parents were also born in Tennessee and both died when J. W. Champ was five years old. He lived in his native state to the age of twelve, and during that time had few school advantages. He has been entirely on his own resources since the age of twelve, and has good reason to be satisfied with the solution of the difficult problems which con- fronted him as a youth. Leaving Tennessee he traveled about until he reached Texarkana, Texas, working at any employment that of- fered, and eventually became a messenger at Marshall, Texas, and while there learned teleg-
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raphy. He became an expert operator of the telegraph key, and for about twelve years was employed as an operator by railroad com- panies, by the Western Union and also in newspaper offices. Coming to Fort Worth in 1892, he remained with the Western Union Company for about a year, and subsequently was operator with some brokerage firms. Grad- ually he took up real estate and for the past seven years has concentrated all his energies in that line. He does a large business han- dling farms, ranches and city property.
Mr. Champ is a member of the Knights of Pythias and the order of Elks. He married in 1888 Lillian Morris. Their three living children are John M., Dagmar and Marjorie.
HENRY W. WILLIAMS, JR., has been identi- fied with the drug business since his boyhood, was associated with his father in this line of enterprise first at Sherman and later at Fort Worth, Texas, and in the latter city was his father's valued coadjutor in the development and upbuilding of the large and far-reaching wholesale business now controlled by the H. W. Williams Company, of which he is vice president. The business is recognized as one of the leading wholesale drug concerns in the Southwest.
Mr. Williams was born at Atlanta, Arkan- sas, on the 8th of September, 1872, and is a son and the only surviving child of Henry W. and Amanda Elizabeth (Storey) Williams, both natives of the state of Georgia. Mr. Williams was a child at the time of the family removal from Arkansas to Texas, and after having profited fully by the advantages af- forded in the public schools of Fort Worth he pursued a higher course of study in the Bing- ham School at Asheville, North Carolina. As a boy he began to assist in the work of the drug store which his father established at Sherman, Texas, and in 1884 his father re- moved to Fort Worth and established the enterprise from which has been developed the representative wholesale drug business now controlled by the H. W. Williams Company. He whose name initiates this review has been an interested principal in the business for more than a quarter of a century and has played a prominent part in the upbuilding of the now important enterprise. On the 1st of January, 1918, the business was incorporated under the laws of the state, and he has since been vice president of the company. The large and well equipped establishment of the H. W. Williams Company gives employment to a
corps of about eighty-five persons, and the enterprise is one of the most important of its kind in the Lone Star state, with operations based on ample capital and the best of tech- nical and executive management. Mr. Wil- liams holds membership in the Fort Worth Club and the River Crest Country Club, and he and his wife are popular figures in the rep- resentative social life of their home city.
In 1904 Mr. Williams married Miss Maidee Callaway, daughter of William H. Callaway, of Fort Worth, and the one child of this union is a winsome little daughter, Maidee, who was born in the year 1916.
SAM LEVY is president of the Casey-Swasey Cigar Company of Fort Worth. This is a business which has been intimately associated with the commercial history of Fort Worth for a long period of years. Sam Levy first came to Fort Worth in 1874 when it was without a single railroad, and is one of the pioneer business men of northwestern Texas.
He was born in Germany, July 28, 1856. He arrived in America in September, 1872, landing in New York, and the following month reached Texas. His first location was at Dal- las, then a new railroad town, but in October, 1876, he moved to the real frontier at Decatur in Wise County. He had been in the grocery business in Dallas, and in Decatur he engaged in the wholesale and retail grocery business, supplying groceries to a wide territory to the west of Decatur. He was a business man of Decatur until January 1, 1893, and in June of that year came to Fort Worth as a partner and associate in the old firm of Casey-Swasey. This house for many years was one of the leading wholesale firms handling liquors and cigars, and they now do a wholesale business in cigars and tobacco. The firm employ in their Fort Worth offices fourteen men, and they have twelve traveling salesmen.
Mr. Levy is one of Fort Worth's honored business men and is a stockholder in a number of local enterprises. He is a member of the Fort Worth and River Crest Clubs. In 1884 he married Addie Kramer. Their son, Dan A. Levy, is associated with his father in busi- ness and is also an active member of the Fort Worth Club, River Crest Country Club, and is a Mason and Elk.
DAVID COLE is one of the oldest business men in the town of Caddo, Stephens County, and has lived there and played a varied and
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prominent part in its affairs for upwards of thirty years.
Mr. Cole was born in Panola County, Missis- sippi, in 1861, but has lived in Texas since he was eight years of age. His father, R. A. Cole, was a practicing physician and planter in Panola County. He was a veteran of two wars, first the war with Mexico and later wore the uniform of a Confederate soldier all through the struggle between the states. In 1869 he brought his family to Texas, first locating at Eagle Lake in Colorado County, and in 1876 moved to Stephens County. The Coles were among the first settlers in the southern part of the county at Wayland. R. A. Cole died in 1901.
David Cole came to manhood on his father's ranch at Wayland, and continued there for several years after reaching his majority. When he moved to Caddo in 1893 he was for ten years bookkeeper and office man for R. Q. Lee, then the principal merchant of the village. Subsequently Mr. Cole was in the drug business and for a time was in the postoffice. In 1904 he was elected county and district clerk, being reelected in 1906 and serving until 1908.
Mr. Cole helped to organize the Guaranty State Bank of Caddo, which opened for busi- ness October 27, 1919. He is cashier of that institution. In Sumter County, Alabama, he married Miss Jennie Giles, of that county, daughter of Dr. J. H. and Martha (Wright) Giles. They have two children, Kinloch and Evelyn. In the solid business as well as the civic affairs of Caddo Mr. Cole enjoys an honored place.
JOHN A. STAFFORD. Fort Worth is the home of the largest plant in the southwest for the manufacture of office stationery and engraved stationery, lithographing and general printing. This business is known as the Staf- ford-Lowdon Company, whose plant at Hemp- hill and Daggett is a most complete and mod- ern printing industry, with 66,000 square feet of floor space devoted to the business and with every department equipped with the most up-to-date machinery and appliances and under the direct supervision of a member of the company.
The president of the company is John A. Stafford, long identified with Fort Worth as an executive in the packing and stockyards center. Mr. Stafford and associates a year or so ago bought out an old established business, and he now gives most of his time to the
Stafford-Lowdon Company. The other exec- utive officers are E. C. Lowdon, vice presi- dent ; W. C. Lowdon, secretary-treasurer and Roy E. Cooper, superintendent. The annual volume of business done by this company aggregates nearly three quarters of a million dollars, and the company's pay roll is fully a quarter million dollars, constituting a big asset to the prosperity of Fort Worth. During the year the average number of employes is about one hundred and fifty. The company does business all over the southwest, having a sales force to cover Texas and all adjoining states.
Mr. Stafford was born at Cleburne, Texas, July 17, 1876, son of J. M. W. and Sarah (Roberts) Stafford. His father, a native of Tennessee, was brought to Texas by his par- ents when a boy and the family first lived in Cherokee County- in eastern Texas. The father became a well known contractor at Mineral Wells, and died at the age of seventy- three, and the mother no seventy-nine, is still living in Mineral Wells. Of their four sons and three daughters John A. is the only sur- vivor.
Mr. Stafford grew up at Mineral Wells, had a high school education there, and at the age of seventeent went to work as a messenger boy in the railway station. He continued to do railroad work until 1903, when he accepted the opportunity to go in the traffic department of Armour & Company. After three years he was made traffic mana- ger for the Kansas City house, being on duty there two years, and was then called to the Chicago headquarters as assistant traffic manager.
In 1910 Mr. Stafford returned to Texas and located at Fort Worth as traffic manager and assistant general manager of the Fort Worth Stock Yards Company and the Fort Worth Belt Railway. At the death of W. B. King in 1915 he was promoted to vice presi- dent and general manager of the Stock Yards and the Belt Railway Company.
In 1916 Mr. Stafford gave up his executive responsibilities in North Fort Worth to be- come financially interested in the Reimers Printing Company, and was general manager until 1919. In that year he and his associates bought the business, and then organized the Stafford-Lowdon Company, of which he is president.
On October 14, 1901, Mr. Stafford married Miss Nelle Nowlin. She was born at Nash- ville, Tennessee, daughter of Dr. Bennett
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Weaver Nowlin, who at one time was a mem-native of Arkansas. The father established ber of the faculty of Vanderbilt University. Mr. Stafford is a member of the Fort Worth Club, River Crest Country Club, and belongs to the Methodist Episcopal Church.
O. V. COLVIN is one of Fort Worth's mer- chants of twenty years' standing, and the community takes pride and honors him for the earnest and capable way in which he has performed his service in supplying meat and provisions to the retail trade throughout these years.
Mr. Colvin was born in Howard County, Missouri, October 5, 1867, a son of Chris- topher and Elizabeth (Amick) Colvin, now de- ceased. His father was a farmer and devoted special attention to the raising of stock. There were nine children in the family, five still living.
Sixth in age, O. V. Colvin was a small boy when his father died, and for that reason he had rather limited opportunities, though he attended country schools in his home com- munity and remained there until he was twenty- one. He then came to Texas and located at Colorado City, where he was in the livery busi- ness for nine years. In 1900 he moved to Fort Worth and engaged in the meat and grocery business at 1606 Main Street. His store at that location became a familiar one to hun- dreds of the best families of the city for seven- teen years. When he removed he located at 1210 Houston Street, where his business has continued to grow and prosper. Mr. Colvin is a democrat in politics and a member of the Presbyterian Church. He also holds member- ship in the Fort Worth Chamber of Com- merce and the Meadowmere Club.
On March 16, 1898, at Colorado City, he married Miss Addie Polsgrove, daughter of W. G. Polsgrove. Mrs. Colvin was well edu- cated in the public schools and high school and is deeply interested in church and mission causes. She is a member of the Christian Church. They have four children : George H., Margaret V., Mildred and Virginia Colvin.
SAM J. CALLAWAY is one of the valued citi- zens of Tarrant County, where he has served in two professions, education and the law. He is a former county superintendent of schools, and has been a highly regarded member of the bar since 1915.
Mr. Callaway was born in Johnson County, Texas, October 4, 1884, a son of William H. and Mary E. (Weir) Callaway, the former a
his home in Johnson County, Texas, in 1870, and for many years was actively engaged in farming. He and his wife now live in Fort Worth. They reared seven children, all of whom were born and reared in Johnson County.
The sixth of the family, Sam J. Callaway, spent his boyhood days on the farm. He at- tended country schools, Grand View Col- legiate Institute, the Denton Normal School and also the Polytechnic College at Fort Worth. He taught school in the intervals of his student career, and largely paid his own expenses while in college. He was elected in 1912 and served one term as county superin- tendent of schools of Tarrant County, resign- ing that office to take charge of the Juvenile Court at Fort Worth. He was admitted to the bar in January, 1915. Mr. Callaway served as assistant county attorney until December, 1918, when he resigned to devote his time to the general practice of law as a member of the firm Callaway & Shed. This firm have their offices in the Dan Waggoner Building.
Mr. Callaway lives in the city of Polytech- nic, is attorney for the municipality, and both as a lawyer and citizen has done much to pro- mote the interests of that handsome Fort Worth suburb. He was at one time candidate for the office of county attorney, and main- tains an active interest in the democratic party. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, is a past master of Polytechnic Lodge No. 925, F. & A. M., and is also affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and Knights of Pythias. February 6, 1914, Mr. Callaway married Colen Penelope Hamilton, of Mount Vernon, Texas. They have two sons, Sam J., Jr., and William H., Jr.
BRETZ H. REID was one of the pioneer automobile dealers of Fort Worth, and is still head of an important garage, tire repair and accessory business, which has furnished serv- ice to practically every car owner in the city at some time.
Mr. Reid was born in Alabama July 8, 1875, a son of Thomas L. and C. J. (Branch) Reid. His father was born in Tennessee and his mother in Columbus, Georgia. Thomas Reid moved from Tennessee to Alabama, spent his early life as school teacher and later became a farmer, a vocation he followed the rest of his years. He finally brought his family to Texas. All of his seven children are still living, Bretz H. being the fifth in age.
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Mr. Reid had a public school education, and at the age of twenty-three he left home and went out on the range as a cowboy. For three years he also operated a ten cent store and in 1909 removed to Fort Worth to engage in the automobile business. He was the first dealer in the city to carry a general stock of tires, and in the changing developments of his business he finally abandoned the sale of automobiles altogether and has concentrated on tires and accessories. At Eighth and Com- merce streets he has a well equipped garage and car storage plant, with facilities to accom- modate 125 cars, and also does a general auto- mobile tire repair business.
Mr. Reid during his residence here has taken a keen interest in matters of civic welfare. His favorite recreation is boating and motoring. On Lake Worth he was one of the first men to operate a motor boat, and all visitors to that beautiful body of water have been attracted to the large and commo- dious houseboat which he built and equipped. It is in fact a private residence on water, has electric lights and fans, and other conven- iences, and has been the scene of many sum- mer parties at which Mr. and Mrs. Reid are hosts. Mr. Reid is a member of the Rotary Club. He was married January 19, 1918, and has two children.
EDMUND CECIL LOWDON is vice president of the Stafford-Lowdon Company, whose printing, engraving and manufacturing sta- tionery business is one of the largest concerns of its kind in Texas. Mr. Lowdon is a thor- ough business man, was trained as a banker and brought a mature business judgment to the work he now has in hand.
Mr. Lowdon was born at Brooklyn, New York, September 30, 1883, a son of J. G. and Gertrude Alice (Crane) Lowdon. His parents were also natives of New York, and about 1885 they came to Texas and settled in Abi- lene, a town then enjoying its chief distinction as the center of the West Texas cattle indus- try. J. G. Lowdon was in the cattle business and was also president of the Abilene National Bank and one of the men of large influence in financial affairs in that section of the state. He died in 1907, at the age of fifty-five. His wife passed away in 1898, when about thirty- seven. Of their seven children six are still living: Gertrude, wife of J. N. Dodson, of Oklahoma City ; James G., who is manager for Swift & Company in Buenos Aires, South America; E. C. Lowdon; Robert R. Lowdon,
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