USA > Texas > Tarrant County > Fort Worth > History of Texas : Fort Worth and the Texas northwest edition, Volume III > Part 52
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James Roberson was born in Tennessee and spent his life as a farmer in Dry Valley, within two miles of the Tennessee River. He voted the democratic ticket for president in 1860. When Tennessee seceded from the Union he said he had as good right to secede from the state as Tennessee had to leave the Union, and he left it to volunteer his services with the Union Army. He and his oldest son, William Henry, now a resident of Era, Texas, then a youth of fifteen, while the father was forty went into Kentucky to join the Fifth Tennessee Infantry as privates. James Rob- erson was a participant in many battles, one of which occurred at his old home. He and a few comrades who had returned were dis- covered by Confederates, were surrounded, but managed to stand off their assailants, who
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finally went for reinforcements, thus permit- ting the Union men to escape. James Rober- son was in the Atlanta campaign. While on that march he was stricken with the smallpox, which disabled one arm and left him a per- manent cripple. He remained with the army until honorably discharged, refusing to accept his dismissal as a disabled man. The war over and peace restored, he resumed farming in Dry Valley, and subsequently built a dis- tillery for the manufacture of whiskey. James Roberson was born in 1822 and died in his home locality at the age of seventy-four. He married Miss Lucinda Robinson, two years his junior. Her father, Jack Robinson, was a farmer of Hawkins County, Tennessee, and died before the Civil war. Mrs. Lucinda Roberson finally came to Texas and spent her last years among her children near Era, where she died in 1905. Her children were: Wil- liam H., of Era; James D., who lives at the old Roberson home near Loudon, Tennessee ; John Wesley; Mary Ann, who married D. N. Yeary, and died at Pilot Point, Texas; Nancy J., wife of Wiley Carson, of Era; Joseph M., who is with his brother John W .; and Thomas M. whose location is unknown.
John W. Roberson was about ten years of age when the war broke out, and during the troubled times that followed he gained little from the brief terms of rural school main- tained in his section of the state. He was past his majority when he completed his edu- cation. As a pay scholar he swept the school- house for his tuition, and by other efforts bought his books, boarded himself, and at the close of school had a balance of five dollars in his pocket. Having applied himself with a strong purpose to his studies he qualified as a teacher and taught in a rural district for two terms at thirty dollars a month. He was then recommended for the position of deputy sheriff, and Sheriff Jo Turner appointed him to that place. He served a term, was then elected constable and collector, being the choice over four opponents, and polled more votes than any two of them. He was there- fore one of the very popular and useful citi- zens of Loudon County, and he resigned his office there to come to Texas in the interest of Major Rhea, one of the extensive land owners in North Texas. For Major Rhea he brought a carload of mules and horses to Texas, having his fare paid for the trip. He reached Fort Worth August 14, 1877, and was seven days in getting his stock to Valley View, where he arrived the 14th of Septem-
ber. He reached Cooke County with a cap- ital of sixty dollars, and paid some of that for a stove installed in his bachelor's hall. He was a stranger to the whole country, and he earned his first dollar in the state as a farm hand for Major Rhea. Subsequently he worked the Major's farm on the shares, being furnished a team and implements. His crop was almost a failure the first year. He then bought a team on time, rented land from Major Rhea, and the little log cabin where he lived as a bachelor was the one that old Bobbie Wheelock built and located in when he came to the country. Mr. Roberson re- mained its tenant on the Rhea land for three or four years. On leaving Major Rhea he contracted for ninety acres, which is the home- stead and the nucleus of his present extensive farm holdings. On going there he had to erect a small box house as a home and he also finished fencing the place.
While his experience had not been alto- gether profitable, Mr. Roberson regarded him- self as a fixture in Texas and about that time he married and took his wife into the two- room house, with one room above, a simple abode which nevertheless was about as good a home as could be found in the locality at the time. In the meantime he had contracted a debt of six hundred dollars, and to pay it he began raising grain. Cotton also took a place on his program, and from year to year he was able to note some progress. Even- tually he paid out on his homestead, but at once burdened himself with the purchase of another tract of land. Mr. Roberson was one of the few men in his locality thirty or forty years ago who realized the future of the rich black soil. He expressed his belief among the neighbors that it would be worth fifty dol- lars an acre. He was laughed at for this prediction, and was offered any quantity at that price. His visions of the future did not interfere with his practical program of rais- ing grain and cotton and live stock. His sur- plus profits were always invested in land, and there was seldom a time when he was not in debt for additional land purchases. His pro- gram of expansion stopped in 1918, when he believed he had sufficient for all his needs. Five dollars an acre was the price of his first purchase, and the last cost him a hundred and ten dollars an acre. Thus his own experience more than vindicated his early prediction of land at fifty dollars an acre.
The house to which he took his bride is still on his farm, but is now used by a tenant,
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The permanent improvements, residence and other buildings for family use were erected about twenty years ago. Mr. Roberson has been a real farmer, has invested a large amount of capital in buildings, and has pro- vided numerous barns for his stock. His landed estate of sixteen hundred acres is divided into eleven different farms and fif- teen houses now provide homes for his family and tenants. His success as a farmer has been remarkable. Sheer good management and almost unexampled industry have brought him his success as a land owner and finan- cier, and his achievements stand out conspic- uously among those of the early settlers. Mr. Roberson was for a long time the only repub- lican who voted at the Era precinct.
January 8, 1881, a little more than three years after he came to Cooke County, Mr. Roberson married Miss Ada Stephenson. She was born in England, daughter of George Stephenson, and was five years of age when the family crossed the Atlantic. She came to Texas from Illinois. Mr. and Mrs. Roberson became the parents of twelve children. Most of them are now established in homes of their own and in the same community with their parents, while there are fifteen grandchildren to represent the third generation of the family in North Texas. Of the children the oldest is Lucinda, wife of Walter Hudspeth, and they live on a farm near Era; Isa is the wife of Clifford Hudspeth, and their farm is near the Roberson home; Melissa is the wife of J. B. Sparkman, of the same locality; James T., a young farmer with his father, married Nellie Underwood; David D. lives at Spring- town, Texas, and married Minnie Smith; Clara is the wife of J. G. Roberson, of Era; Catherine is Mrs. George Kennedy, of Era; Susie is the wife of Ernest Clements and lives on one of the Roberson farms; Ruby is a teacher at Miami, Texas; Lyda is a student in the State Normal College at Denton; Henry is completing his education in the Baptist Col- lege at Decatur, Texas; and Nannie, the youngest, is still attending high school at Era.
HERNANDO MASON RUSSELL. Born and reared at Pilot Point, Hernando Mason Rus- sell has spent long years of successful and progressive identification with local commer- cial affairs, has built up and is at the head of a big store in that community, and has dutifully accepted various opportunities to do his part as a public spirited citizen.
The founder of the Russell family in North Texas was his father, James K. P. Russell, a native of Springfield, Missouri, who ac- quired a fair education in that locality of Southwestern Missouri before coming to Texas. He reached this state before the war, and from Collin County enlisted in the Confederate army. He was in service throughout the period of struggle and was a lieutenant in the Infantry, his command for the most part operating east of the Missis- sippi River. He was never wounded or cap- tured. Soon after he came out of the army he moved to Pilot Point, and for a time was engaged in the horse raising industry and later for a number of years of year kept books for G. W. Davidson & Co. After expending the vigor of his life he removed from Pilot Point to West Texas and lived retired at Hereford, though he died at Pilot Point in 1906, at the age of seventy. He was laid to rest in the cemetery at Pilot Point, and his wife, who survived him a few years and passed away at the age of seventy-five, was laid beside him. She was Josie Flow, a well remembered pioneer woman of this locality. She was liberally educated under the instruction of old Doctor Learned of Ozark, Missouri. She taught the first school ever held at Emmerson Chapel, near Pilot Point, and continued teaching five years in Texas, after which she gave her time and en- ergies to her home and children. She and her husband were members of the Christian Church and he was a democrat, a member of the Home Camp of Confederate Veterans, and very active as a Mason. Their children were: Hernando Mason; Ida, who died at Hereford as Mrs. L. Gough; Alice, of Sher- man, Texas, wife of T. E. Goff ; James N., in the oil business at Muskogee, Oklahoma ; Dollie May, who died at Sherman, the wife of John L. Scott; Birdie L., of Dallas, wife of L. S. Lacey; and Maude, wife of A. W. Morris, of Pilot Point.
Hernando Mason Russell was born at Pilot Point September 1, 1865, and his early instruc- tion was in a private school conducted by "Uncle George" Davidson. He finished his education in old Franklin College, and when he abandoned his studies there he became a clerk for G. W. Davidson & Company in their general store at Pilot Point. He was with this old established concern for eighteen years, continuing when the Davidson inter- ests were sold to W. S. McShan, and later
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under L. L. Bryan for two years was buyer and salesman.
Mr. Russell engaged in business independ- ently in 1897, when he bought out the firm of Hearn & Wilson, continuing the business as Russell Brothers & Cooper. Their store was on the site of the present Russell store. When Mr. Russell bought out his partners he gave it the name under which it is now conducted, H. M. Russell & Company. This is a high class dry goods store, and at the beginning of his first partnership Mr. Rus- sell and his associates had a stock valued at eight thousand dollars, on which they paid thirty-five hundred dollars cash and paid out the remainder during the first year of busi- ness. There has been a steady growth and enlargement in successive years, and the aver- age stock now carried is rated at seventy-five thousand dollars. The first building of the firm was 25x70 feet and later they erected the present store, 52x100 feet, with plate glass front, modern fixtures throughout, the rear of the store being double-decked, with a millinery department on the second floor and a basement for carrying reserve stock.
This great and prosperous business has not demanded all of Mr. Russell's time and ener- gies. He has been a dealer in farm lands, has carried out some farm improvements, and has given the strength of his influence to improved livestock and grain seed. He has been an active member of the local school board for twenty-five years, and gave his com- plete influence to the establishment of a free public school system, against which there was much opposition. He adopted this attitude long before he had children of his own to be educated. He also encouraged the second incorporation of Pilot Point, was one of the first members of the City Council, and subse- quently served four years as mayor. His administration was characterized by the in- stallation of a fire department that saved the people thousands of dollars and lowered insur- ance rates, and he has helped maintain and give new equipment so as to render the serv- ive adequate for a town of this size.
For many years Mr. Russell has been affil- iated with the Masonic Order, is a past master of Pilot Point Lodge No. 270, is also a mem- ber of the Royal Arch Chapter, and belongs to the Knights Templar Commandery at Den- ton and the Shrine at Fort Worth. For twenty-five years he has been an active worker in the Christian Church and Sunday School. In politics he is a democrat and has always
possessed the courage of his convictions. He cast his first vote for prohibition and has done everything he could to extend the area of prohibition over the state and nation.
At Pilot Point in July, 1898, Mr. Russell married Miss Agnes N. Holford. She was born at Pilot Point in 1874, daughter of Colonel Willis and Mary (Taylor) Holford. Her father came from Tennessee to North Texas in pioneer times and represented Grayson County in the Texas Legislature before moving to Denton County. He was a democrat and leader in the Cumberland Pres- byterian Church and died at Pilot Point about 1901. Mrs. Russell had an older brother, Monroe, who died at Pilot Point. Mr. and Mrs. Russell have three sons: James Hol- ford, Hernando M., Jr., and William Norris. The youngest is in the grammar school at Pilot Point. The oldest is a graduate of high school, of the Terrell School for Boys at Dallas, and spent three and a half years in the University of Texas, but married six months before graduation and is now actively associated with his father in business. He was attending the Officers Training Camp at Waco when the war ended. His wife was formerly Miss Ava Lee Mars, of Fort Worth. The second son, H. M., Jr., is a graduate of the Pilot Point High School, spent one year in the Terrell School for Boys at Dallas, and graduated from the University of Texas in 1921, having been prominent in University athletics. He is now associated with the Guaranty State and Trust Company, Dallas, Texas.
WILL D. BURKS. A lawyer, former mayor, and a citizen with a long record of participa- tion in the welfare and progress of Pilot Point, Will D. Burks represents an old and honored name that has been in Denton County more than half a century.
He is a son of Dr. Doric B. Burks, who was a native of Alabama, a man of liberal educa- tion, and shortly after graduating in medicine at the Louisville Medical College came out to Texas and began practice at Clarksville about 1860. The war coming on soon afterward, he joined the 11th Texas Infantry as a pri- vate in a company raised at Clarksville by his uncle, John Burks, who subsequently be- came colonel of the regiment. When the reg- iment reached the battlefront and began fight- ing, with a growing list of wounded, Dr. Burks was assigned to duty in charge of the hospital, and finished his four years in the
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army as a surgeon. Once while carrying on . ninety-four. He was a farmer, and his old his surgical duty on the battlefield a spent homestead still stands as a landmark in Bowie County. Of his twelve children Mrs. Burks was the youngest, and her own children were four in number, two of whom are now living, Will D. and Joe B., the latter being vice pres- ident of the Farmers and Merchants Bank of Pilot Point. minie ball struck him on the left breast, and but for a little memorandum book he carried he would probably have lost his life. This sacred book is still preserved by his widow. He had married about the time the war began, and after his assignment to duty as a surgeon in charge of the hospital Mrs. Burks joined him and was his helpful assistant throughout the remainder of the war. After peace was restored they returned to the birthplace of Mrs. Burks at Dalby Springs in Bowie County and about 1866 they came to Pilot Point, where Mrs. Burks' brother had left her three hundred acres of land. Thus they established their home on a tract of land that is now largely covered by the north part of Pilot Point, and the home of the Burks was on this land for many years. Later Doctor Burks took up his medical practice and made his rounds, dutifully discharging the obliga- tions of his profession until his death in 1876, when only forty-two. Exposure while in the army and a continuance of hard service after he located at Pilot Point brought on the ill- ness which caused his early death.
Doctor Burks proved himself not only a benefit to his locality as a physician but also in every other matter that benefited the com- munity. He was a druggist, his store being located on the site now occupied by the First State Bank. He was a law and order man, and enjoyed the friendship and esteem of all the rival factions of Pilot Point in the early days. On one occasion, on Sunday, while returning to his store, he found two armed parties, each about eight strong, lined up on two sides of the Public Square, waiting for the signal for starting hostilities. He opened his store door and one party rushed in to secure protection. Doctor Burks immedi- ately interposed his influence with both sides and averted a conflict. It was his disposition to be a peacemaker among quarrelsome citi- zens, and whatever part he played in behalf of the community this phase of his influence stands out prominently. He held no public office, was a democrat, a member of the Cum- berland Presbyterian Church, and active in the Masonic Order.
Dr. Burks married, at Dalby Springs, Sal- lie S. Boothe. Her father came to Texas while it was a province of Mexico, took part in the war for Texas independence, and later settled at Dalby Springs, Bowie County, where he lived until his death at the age of
Will D. Burks was born at Pilot Point November 25, 1868, and spent his boyhood on the townsite. He finished the work of the local schools, spent two years in the Agri- cultural and Mechanical College at Bryan, and began the study of law at Pilot Point, in the office of Judge Gouch, who is remembered as having lived here a few years before moving to Missouri. Mr. Burks abandoned his study before qualifying for the bar and for two years was a bookkeeper. In the meantime he married and subsequently determined to fol- low out his original idea of a profession, and in order to provide a living for himself and family in the interim he sought the office of justice of the peace, was elected and served four years, an experience of great benefit to him in his subsequent career. None of his decisions as justice of the peace were ever appealed to a higher court. Before the end of his official term he was admitted on exam- ination in May, 1903, and in November, 1904, retired from the office of justice of the peace and began the regular practice of law, a work in which he has continued and in which he has won success and honor.
Mr. Burks has been city attorney and in April, 1912, was elected mayor to succeed Mayor S. I. Newton. He was the third mayor of the town. During his administration the first bond issue was carried providing for the improvement of streets, and the streets lead- ing to the Public Square were made passable and improved out toward the limits. During his administration another bond issue was effected to provide a waterworks system, which was built after he retired from office.
As a citizen Mr. Burks has taken an inter- est in the community welfare in every way, has aided the public schools, and has been an active member of the Calvary Baptist Church. He was for a number of years secretary of the Masonic lodge and is also an Odd Fellow and Woodman of the World.
At Pilot Point, October 24, 1897, Mr. Burks married Miss Georgie Morrison, a native of Denton County. Her father, George Morri- son, was a Kentuckian, and died at Parvin in Denton County when his daughter Georgie
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was an infant. She was born at Parvin October 23, 1879, and the other child of her father was Fannie, now living at Dallas, widow of E. H. Smith. Her mother died at Denton as the wife of S. I. King, and by that marriage had two other daughters: Hattie, Mrs. G. C. Davis, of Amarillo, Texas; and Johnnie, wife of C. Frank Lockridge, of Iowa Park, Texas.
The children of Mr. and Mrs. Burks are: Will D., Jr., Charles O., Edwin Morrison, Joseph L., Lalla Frances, Elizabeth and George Boothe. Will D., Jr., is secretary of the local Retail Merchants Association of Pilot Point. While Mr. Burks had no son old enough to take part in the World war as a soldier, he and his family were patriot- ically associated with all local movements. He served as local food administrator, assisted in the success of Liberty Bond and other drives, was a member of the Advisory Board and for weeks gave all his time to service men in filling out their questionaires. His office was one of the busy centers of busy thought and activity in Pilot Point during the war.
HOWARD BENNETTE is secretary of the Mid- Continent Oil & Gas Association, Texas- Louisiana division, with headquarters at Dal- las. A brief account of the history of this association has a very appropriate place in the history of North and West Texas in general.
The Mid-Continent Oil & Gas Associa- tion was organized at Tulsa, Oklahoma, in October, 1917. The association is strictly a business organization of oil men for the pro- motion and protection of the oil and gas industry in the Mid-Continent field, and serves as an agency furnishing those engaged in the business an opportunity for concerted, harmo- nious expression and action-an opportunity to co-operate in the regulation of the indus- try's own problems, large and small. Legis- lative and administrative bodies contain few members who have any technical knowledge of the oil industry, and the association, there- fore, undertakes to furnish individual mem- bers and committees with statistics and infor- mation that would permit just and equitable framing and administration of laws.
It secured an adequate depletion allowance based on valuation within thirty days after discovery. Also a revision of Articles 220 and 221 of Regulations 45, by which the scope and effect of the depletion provision was lib-
eralized and made applicable to a vastly greater number of producers. This provi- sion applies not only to the producer but to the royalty owner also.
It secured the enactment of Sections 211 and 337, which provide for a twenty per cent limitation of super taxes in case of a sale of oil production properties discovered by the taxpayer.
It co-operated in securing a modification of Circular BL C 180 relating to the loading and unloading of Casinghead gasoline, and secured an agreement as to a method of val- uing Casinghead gas contracts for invested capital and depletion purposes.
The Association offers a standing reward for evidence leading to the arrest and con- viction of any person stealing from a lease or from the premises of a member of the Association. This reward has been paid in a number of instances.
It co-operated in inducing the National Federal Reserve Board to issue instructions accepting oil paper as security for loans in all Federal Reserve Banks.
It took the initiative in calling a national conference of all lines of business with a view of devising a more equitable system of taxation for the Federal Government, and the new revenue legislation now pending reflects to a great extent the recommendations of those conferences.
It maintains a statistical department which not only collects and records information but makes a specialty of analyzing the mass of data collected, reducing it to serviceable, prac- tical value and passing it on to the members of the Association in the form of a "Barom- eter of the Oil Industry," which shows at a glance the relative trend of production and consumption.
These "Barometers" and bulletins contain- ing timely suggestions and information on many matters also summarized outlines and interpretations of recent laws, and department rulings are issued and mailed to all members frequently.
It maintains a tax service, free to members, whereby personal advice and information may be obtained as to the application and inter- pretation of the Federal Tax Laws as they affect any personal transaction.
In the point of membership the Mid-Con- tinent Oil & Gas Association is the largest organization of its kind in the world. It covers the largest light oil producing area in the United States. On its committees are
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