USA > Texas > Tarrant County > Fort Worth > History of Texas : Fort Worth and the Texas northwest edition, Volume III > Part 35
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All of this is the record of little more than a year of hard work and concentrated energy on the part of Mr. Carter. He is both an oil producer and contracting driller, and during the first fourteen months of his operations he had drilled nine wells, operating three strings of tools. During the year 1920 the Brecken- ridge Oil & Gas Company sold three hundred and seventy-eight thousand dollars worth of oil and the Guaranty Oil & Gas Company, two hundred and eighty-eight thousand dollars worth.
Mr. Carter married Miss Irene Craighill, who was born and reared in California.
GEORGE W. HARMONSON. While Denton County has been the scene of the enterprise and activities and influence of the Harmon- son family, other counties in Northern Texas appreciate their constructive influence during the years since the earliest pioneer period. It is a name of the highest standing, and one of the active present generation is George W. Harmonson, whose life has been almost en- tirely passed in the Justin community, where he is still one of the active farmers.
His grandfather was the well remembered Peter Harmonson, a native of Indiana, who came to Texas in the last year of the republic, was among the organizers of Denton County,
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and by appointment was the first to fill the office of sheriff. He was active for many years after coming to Texas both in Denton and in Young counties, and his sons and other descendants have continued his pioneer inter- ests in land and livestock.
His younger son was William P. Harmon- son, who was born in Indiana, May 29, 1836. He went with the family to Missouri, so- journed with them for several years in Arkan- sas, and was about ten years of age when they all settled at Lewisville in Denton County. He received most of his schooling there and prior to the Civil war removed to Young County and became interested in ranching and was also associated with the active men on the frontier who constituted themselves rang- ers and guards for stock and homes against Indian raids. He also belonged to an organ- ization for immediate call in case of Indian raids or other hostilities during the war period. The Harmonsons had a government contract to supply beef for the Indians on the old reservation along the Brazos River near Fort Graham.
After the war he returned to Denton County and resumed his connection with the stock business, and acquired an extensive body of land near old Elizabethtown, using this land for grazing and also for growing feed for his stock, and eventually turned it to good account as wheat fields. His cattle ranged both in Denton and in Young counties, and he was one of the prominent stockmen and successful busi- ness men of his time. His old home stood two and a half miles north of Elizabethtown, and its site is now owned by A. Holloway. Wil- liam P. Harmonson lived the last fifteen years of his life at Colorado Springs, Colorado, where he died August 10, 1907. He was a democrat, took an active part in politics in Denton County, and was always a staunch friend of the old soldier. In early years he was a Methodist, and always was generous in his support of religious institutions, though not a church member.
About the time the Harmonsons settled in Texas another family, the Harpers, came out of Tennessee to the Lewisville community. In this family were two daughters. The older became the wife of Jack Harmonson and spent her life in Denton County. The younger was Ann Harper, who came to know William P. Harmonson at Lewisville and on November 19, 1855, they came from Young County to Denton County to celebrate their wedding, there being no officials capable of performing
a wedding out on the frontier. Mrs. Ann Har- monson died January 16, 1891. Her children were : Columbus Frank, born in August, 1856, was killed while a member of the posse which attempted the capture of the Marlow brothers in January, 1889, and left a wife and four children; Missouri, born August 2, 1859, who is the wife of N. H. Graham and lives at Post City, Texas ; Jackson, born December 17, 1860, died in Denton County January 3, 1897, leav- ing a wife and five children; Mary Ann, born January 10, 1862, died in childhood; Charles, born December 15, 1865, in Denton County, died unmarried March 13, 1880; George W .; Ruth E., born March 30, 1871, became the wife of John Fitch, of Chickasha, Oklahoma ; Clem, born March 12, 1873, died November 21, 1901, leaving a wife and daughter; Es- marelda, born May 2, 1876, is the wife of Thomas Duncan and lives in Somerville County, Texas; Benjamin, born April 9, 1878, lives at Decatur, Texas ; Eula, born Jan- uary 14, 1882, died in Denton County, Novem- ber 16, 1915, being survived by her husband, Will Porter, and two children.
George W. Harmonson, of this family, was born October 28, 1868, and spent his early years at the old ranch home near Elizabeth- town. He attended school there and his in- terests were associated with his father's activi- ties on the ranch and farm until his marriage. He began his independent efforts on a portion of the family estate two miles southeast of Justin, and in that locality more than thirty years have been spent in general farming and stock raising.
In Denton County June 12, 1889, Mr. Har- monson married Miss Mae Wilson. Her father, John R. Wilson, came to Texas from Missouri about the close of the Civil war and settled in the Oliver Creek country near Justin, where he engaged in stock ranching and is widely known for his high citizenship. His children were: Willis, Marshall, Alex- ander, Mrs. Mollie Grubbs, Mrs. Bettie Wit- ten, R. J., Mrs. Harmonson, Owen C. and Mrs. Clara Cook. Mrs. Harmonson, who was born October 3, 1872, is the mother of three children : Alvin, the only son, is a farmer at the old homestead. For a number of years he has found both pleasure and profit in spe- cialized farming, growing seed corn that has commanded a large demand, and also engaging in the poultry business. He is a breeder of the White Leghorn stock and one of the chief distributors of that strain of poultry through- out this part of the Northwest. He married
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Minnie Ost, of Minnesota, and their two chil- dren are Orlu and Juanita Jackson. The older daughter of Mr. and Mrs. George W. Harmonson, Ruth, is the wife of J. William Rippey, of Fort Worth and has a daughter, Jessie Dean. The youngest child is Naomi.
MARK L. KENNARD. From the time John- son County was formally organized and prac- tically from the beginning of white settlement there the Kennard family has participated in its work and affairs, largely as substantial agri- culturists. All these years Mark L. Kennard has been a resident of the county, coming here when a child, and he has borne the heat and burdens of the day during an active life, chiefly in the community of Barker Village.
Few American families can claim an earlier residence in Texas than the Kennards. His grandfather, Anthony Drew Kennard, Sr., was a native of Tennessee, married in that state, moved to Alabama, and in 1832 went into the Mexican province of Texas. He established his home in what is now Grimes County, locat- ing close to Anderson, and lived out his life there on a farm. He died before 1853, when about fifty years of age. His wife was Sallie Moore, and they were married near Mur- freesboro, Tennessee. She survived him and died when about eighty-nine years of age. Their family consisted of five sons and one daughter : Mike, who spent his life at Ander- son as a farmer and later as a merchant and died there at the age of eighty-six ; William E., who was the soldier representative of the family in the war for Texas independence, fought at San Jacinto, and died an honored veteran of that war in Johnson County at the age of eighty-two; Mark L., who died in An- derson at the age of seventy-five; John R., who was a lawyer and district judge and died at Navasota when about fifty-five years of age; and Rachel, who married Henry Fan- tharp and died at Anderson in 1867. Long and useful years seem to be a prominent char- acteristic of this family.
Anthony Drew Kennard, Jr., founder of the family in Johnson County and father of Mark L., was born December 8, 1818, at Greensboro, Green County, Alabama, and was fourteen years of age when the family came to Texas. He acquired a limited country school education and in 1853 moved with his family out of Grimes County to the very fron- tier of settlement in what is now Johnson County. The first year was spent at Grand- view and the next year he made permanent
settlement in the country, living about eight miles southeast of Cleburne until 1862 and then moved a few miles south, and spent his last years on the farm. He died October 21, 1885, and is buried at Parker. In Austin County, Texas, Anthony D. Kennard, Jr., mar- ried Miss Sarah Smith, who was born in 1822, daughter of David and Elizabeth (Pugh) Smith. Her father came to Texas from Perry County, Alabama, was a farmer, and in 1850 moved to Ellis County, Texas, and lived the rest of his life at Auburn. He died while visiting at Anderson and is buried there. The wife of Anthony D. Kennard, Jr., died in 1912. Their children were: David S., who died while a Confederate soldier in a military prison at Chicago; Rachel V., who became the wife of Thomas Westbrook and died in John- son County in 1882; Mark L .; and Nannie M., who spent her life in Johnson County, being the wife of M. Hart.
Mark L. Kennard was born in Grimes County March 23, 1850, and was three years of age when his parents moved to Johnson County. His father was one of the first mem- bers of the Board of County Commissioners in 1854 and helped start the new county gov- ernment. His early education was acquired in schools at Covington, Waxahachie and finally at Cleburne. He grew up on the farm and stock range, and was a youth during the period following the Civil war, when much of this region was still subject to Indian raids. His active career has been spent at Parker, where he is one of the old time farmers and stock- men. For years he engaged extensively in the feeding and shipping of livestock to the market in Chicago, St. Louis and Kansas City, but in recent years has gradually curtailed this interest and is now simply a farmer. He has improved his lands with tenant houses and has furnished homes to seven families who help carry on the cultivation of his land.
His name has also been identified with or- ganized movements for business or other pur- poses in the community. He helped promote the Parker Gin, the Hart-Harper Mercantile Company, and is a director of the Farmers and Merchants National Bank of Cleburne. He has always voted the democratic ticket, but his only official service was as a member of the Parker District School Board. He is a past master of Parker Lodge of Masons, and also a member of the Royal Arch Chapter and Knights Templar Commandery. A be- liever in the good influence exercised by churches in a community, he has nevertheless
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never identified himself with any religious body.
In Wise County, Texas, December 20, 1873, Mr. Kennard married Miss Virginia Pinson, who was born and reared in Anderson County, Texas, daughter of T. L. Pinson. She was the youngest of three children, the others be- ing Larissa, who became the wife of G. L. Holmes and died at Truscott, Texas; and Nathan M. Pinson, who died unmarried in Johnson County. Mrs. Kennard passed away December 10, 1891. Her children were: Lorissa, wife of E. F. Aker, of Hill County, Texas; M. Earl, proprietor of the Kennard Mercantile Company of Cleburne, who mar- ried Winnie Phillips and has a daughter; Sadie, wife of Randall McDonald, of Hill County ; Anthony Drew, Jr., who died unmar- ried in 1912; and Sterling A., a farmer and rancher of Johnson County, who married Helen Mobley. On November 29, 1893, Mr. Kennard married Miss Ola Holmes, who was born in Texas, daughter of G. L. Holmes. She died March 14, 1918, leaving two chil- dren. The son, Ranald, a farmer at Parker, married Miss Tom Saunders and has two chil- dren. The younger child, Virginia Kennard, lives at home with her father.
CHARLES D. REIMERS has made for himself a secure vantage place as one of the vigorous and progressive citizens and business men of Fort Worth, where as president of The Reim- ers Company he conducted for five years a large and substantial printing, lithographing, city and county and bank supply business, with an establishment essentially metropolitan in all equipments and facilities.
Mr. Reimers was born at Rock Island, Illi- nois, on the 2d of May, 1872, a son of John J. and Mary A. (Denkmann) Reimers, the for- mer of whom was born in Germany and the latter at Erie, Pennsylvania, where her parents established their home upon immigrating to America from their native Germany. John J. Reimers was reared and educated in Germany and came to the United States in the year 1865.
Charles D. Reimers, the eldest of the three survivors in a family of five children, acquired his early education in the public schools of his native city and after his graduation in the high school he entered the State University of Iowa. When his parents moved to Chicago in 1893 he entered the Northwestern University at Evanston, a suburb of the city of Chicago, in which great institution he was graduated as
a member of the class of 1896 and from which he received the degree of Bachelor of Arts. He forthwith identified himself with the newspaper enterprise as one of the founders of a daily paper, the Citizen, at Centerville, Iowa, a paper that is still published under this original title. After remaining editor and pub- lisher of the Centerville Citizen about two and one-half years, Mr. Reimers sold his interest in the newspaper plant and business and re- moved to Ottumwa, Iowa, where he success- ively was reporter, city editor and managing editor of The Courier, a daily paper. Later he became a part owner and publisher of the Davenport Times, another representative daily of the Hawkeye State, and he remained in the city of Davenport about three years. He then on the 1st of July, 1902, established his resi- dence in the city of Fort Worth, Texas, where he purchased the plant and business of the Fort Worth Mail-Telegram, the title of which was later changed to the Telegram. He erected for his newspaper the building that was occupied until recently by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, and finally sold his newspaper business to the publishers of the paper last mentioned. His career in Fort Worth has been marked by vital progressiveness and by consecutive advancement, and while publish- ing the Telegram he had also published two farm papers, as publisher of which he con- tinued about two years after selling the Tele- gram. After disposing of the agricultural pub- lications he engaged in the general printing business, in connection with which he gained to his establishment the publishing of the Texas Medical Journal, which had previously been issued at Austin. The Reimers Com- pany, of which he was president, developed a large and prosperous business in the handling of all kinds of commercial printing, the issuing of publications of various types, including the Southwestern Oil Journal, and in the splen- didly equipped establishment of this company employment was given to a force of 150 per- sons, the concern being the largest of its kind south of the city of St. Louis, its operations having contributed much to the commercial prestige of Fort Worth. Mr. Reimers was, for two years president also of the company which published the Southwestern Oil Journal, which rapidly became an influential force in connection with the oil industry in the section which it represents. In the fall of 1920 Mr. Reimers sold the stock of the Reimers Com- pany to former employes, who now operate the business as the Stafford-Lowden Com-
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pany. He is a member of the Fort Worth Club and the River Crest Country Club, is prominently affiliated with the Masonic fra- ternity, including the Knights Templar and the Mystic Shrine, and he and his wife hold membership in the Presbyterian Church, in which he holds the office of deacon. He is essentially progressive and public-spirited as a citizen and takes a lively interest in all things touching the welfare and advancement of Fort Worth.
The year 1906 recorded the marriage of Mr. Reimers to Miss Ray Saunders, daughter of Bacon Saunders, M. D., and Ida (Caldwell) Saunders. who came from Kentucky to Texas and established their home at Bonham, Fannin County.
GEORGE W. SMITH has been a resident of Johnson County over half a century. He is a native son of the county, and for a quarter of a century has been steadily building up his prosperity as a farmer in the locality around Rio Vista.
He was born in the Sand Flat locality of the county February 24, 1868, about two years after the family came to the county. His grandparents were Eric and Jane Smith, who were born and married in Virginia. Eric Smith was born in 1774 and his wife ten years later. They moved from Virginia to Tennessee, and Eric Smith died in 1858. Among his children, all now deceased, were the following: Julia Ann, who became the wife of B. E. Estes; Mary, who married G. Milstred; James, an early settler in Shelby County, Texas; Nancy, who married John Swader and died in Tennessee; Delilah, who married Albert Fultz and lived at Easton, Texas; John Wesley; Elizabeth, who became the wife of William Morris, of Shelby County; Sarah, who died unmarried; and Rosa, who died in Tennessee as Mrs. Wil- liam Hobbs.
John Wesley Smith was born in Tennessee and came to Texas in 1847, about eleven years after his brother-in-law, B. E. Estes, located in the state. The first two years he lived in Shelby County at his brother-in-law's home. In 1849 he returned to Tennessee, but after a year came west again and eventually mar- ried and established a home of his own in Shelby County. He was a soldier in the war between the states, joining Colonel Randall's Twenty-eighth Texas Regiment in 1862, serv- ing in Captain Truitt's Company A. He was in service until the close of the war, then re-
sumed farming in Shelby County, but soon made arrangements to move farther west, and accompanied by his wife and two children reached Johnson County in 1866. Here he acquired a tract of new land, two hundred and fifty acres, and before the close of his active career had a hundred of it under cultivation and the entire farm well improved. He was a stockman as well as a farmer. J. Wesley Smith had a country school education in War- ren County, Tennessee, and never took a lead- ing part in politics though he always voted as a democrat. In Masonry he was affiliated with the Lodge, Royal Arch Chapter and Knight Templar Commandery. In 1887 he estab- lished his home on Nolan River. and died there in 1900, at the age of seventy-two. His wife was Jackie Ann Cooper, daughter of Jeb Cooper, who came to Texas from Ten- nessee and was a farmer in Shelby, Johnson and Hamilton counties. He was a man of strong southern sentiment, and four of his sons were Confederate soldiers, three of them losing their lives in battle.
Mrs. J. Wesley Smith was one of a numer- ous family. She died in 1898. Her children were : Caroline, who married Archibald Watts, of Bono, Texas; Merriman W., who died on his farm on Nolan River, leaving a wife and two children; George W .; and Josie, who lives at Stamford, Texas, wife of Elbert Smith, brother of G. Cone Smith.
George W. Smith spent his boyhood in the Sand Flat community, attended country school there, and his youthful strength was devoted to the work of the farm until after he reached his majority. After his marriage he estab- lished his home on the banks of Nolan River, about a mile and a half west of Rio Vista, ac- quiring two hundred acres of his father's place. Since then he has added seventy-five acres and has more than two hundred acres under the plow. His prosperity has largely been due to grain and cotton, and in the live- stock department he has specialized in mules. He and his wife began housekeeping in a three room box house, but for a number of years they have enjoyed the comforts and conve- niences of a modern home of seven rooms.
Mr. Smith was a member and president of the Rio Vista School Board, being president when the new brick school was built. Out- side of his active interest in education he has never been a candidate for public office, though he has never missed voting in a presidential campaign since casting his first ballot for Cleveland in 1892. He was a leader in his
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locality during the Third Liberty Loan cam- paign, and helped in all the other drives for patriotic purposes. He favors churches and church work and is prominent in Masonry, being a past master of the Lodge at Rio Vista, has sat in the Grand Lodge at Houston, and is a member of the Royal Arch Chapter at Blum, the Commandery at Cleburne, and Moslah Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Fort Worth.
On October 7, 1894, Mr. Smith married Miss Rosa Sandusky. She was born in John- son County February 13, 1876, a daughter of Isaac Sandusky, who came to Texas from Kentucky, and of Lucy ( Menafee) Sandusky, who was born in Texas. The father was a Southern soldier in the Civil war and spent his civilian career as a farmer. He died on Haley Branch west of Rio Vista. Mrs. Smith is the oldest survivor of her parents' children, the others being Benjamin, Alonzo, Mrs. Alta Gibson, Mrs. Leila Hart and Mrs. Amy King. Mr. and Mrs. Smith have two children, Elmer and Mamie, and one deceased, Sam Keith Smith. Elmer, who assists his father on the farm, was trained as a soldier at Fort Sam Houston and finally at Fort Morgan, Alabama, where he was located when the war closed. He married Madia Tant and has a son, Elmer, Jr. Mrs. Elmer Smith is a daughter of Elder J. D. and Mamie Yater Tant.
JOHN W. SITTON, M. D. Since 1893, nearly thirty years, Dr. John W. Sitton has given a faithful performance of his duties as a doctor of medicine and surgery at Alvarado. He has gained distinction as one of the ablest surgeons in the State of Texas, and is one of the earn- est and high minded citizens as well as suc- cessful professional men.
Doctor Sitton was born at Elijah, Gilmer County, Georgia, May 23, 1869. He repre- sents one of the old Colonial families. The name Sitton is a corruption of the original "Seton" given by King Malcolm to his nobles and gentlemen. The name had a significance originally as belonging to those who owned land near the sea. Dougal De Seton was the first to record the name in the reign of Alex- ander I of Scotland and in the United States it was first recorded by William Sitton, of New York, in 1758. Their Scotch home is believed to have been at the mouth of the Frith near Edinburgh, and many of them held high positions, including Lords in the House of Commons. Representatives of the family came to America following the grant of land
by King James, and early settlement was made in South Carolina. From one of these ances- tors the Sittons of today claim descent. The name has undergone several changes in spell- ing because of the illiteracy of those who owned it, and took the form Sitton something like one hundred and fifty years ago.
Joshua Sitton, the father of Doctor Sitton, was born in South Carolina, near the Georgia line, July 23, 1835, and two years later his parents moved into Gilmer County, Georgia. He was brought up in a home of wealth. His father went to California in 1849 and accum- ulated much additional wealth in mining and business. A letter was received saying that he was soon to start home, but he was never heard of again. Joshua Sitton devoted his life to farming and stock raising. He was in the war between the States from the first battle of Manassas until the end of the strug- gle, being a non-commissioned officer in the Eighth Georgia Regiment under the command of Col. Tige Anderson. He participated in the hard fighting that fell upon the army of Northern Virginia, but was never wounded and did not fall into the hands of the enemy until the surrender of Appomattox. With the return of peace he resumed his place on the farm. He had never owned slave property and was therefore not accustomed to depend upon that kind of labor, so that his condition was not a serious handicap. He died at the age of sixty-five, and never held public office, joined the church in late years, and took only the Fellowcraft degree in Masonry.
Joshua Sitton married Miss Hannah E. Cloninger. Her father, George Cloninger, was of German stock, a mechanic, and conducted a mill and distillery in Georgia, where he died. Mrs. Joshua Sitton died at the age of sixty-six. She was the mother of six daughters and three sons : Mrs. Emma Kessner, of Oklahoma; Mrs. Mary J. Griffin, of Oklahoma; Mrs. Sarah E. Pruett, of Oklahoma; Mrs. Virginia C. Morrison, of Dill, Oklahoma; Miss Har- riet E., of Oklahoma ; Vina, who died in young womanhood; Wade Hampton, who died in Arkansas; Ben J., of Weatherford, Okla- homa ; and Doctor Sitton, who was next to the youngest son.
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